Enlightened Ignorance

by Michael Anderle

  Erik needed to ground himself before he rushed away. He might be wrong.

  “Good news, Detective,” Emma announced, sounding chipper. “I’ve reestablished direct control of the drones. I’m searching for Mont or any suspicious people in armor and helmets. I don’t have any drones in your area, but I’m flying some there now.”

  “Jia, Alina,” Erik transmitted, “what’s your status?”

  “We’re in the air,” Jia replied. “We’re looking for them ourselves. Where are you?”

  “Some huge white tent,” Erik explained. “They must have set this up to cover their exit. At least they don’t have so much money they could buy an entire building to hide it. The other two exoskeletons are down, and the agents suffered minor injuries.”

  “We’ll head that way,” Alina suggested. “If that’s where they came out, we might spot them along the way if they’ve run.”

  “Good plan. You’re sure about not calling in the locals, Alina? We might need more eyes.”

  The agent didn’t respond for several seconds. “We’ll do that if it comes down to it, but we’re already playing hide and seek because of some corrupt locals. This should have been much cleaner.”

  Erik emerged from the tent. “I—” He jerked to the right, avoiding the rocket coming straight at him. It buzzed past him, flew through the tent, and ripped out the back. It didn’t explode.

  A loud buzz in the distance revealed it was another EMP rocket.

  Two exoskeletons stood about twenty meters away, their shields extended. One was equipped with a rotary rocket launcher, and the other a heavy rifle and grenade launcher. Their helmeted operators began circling Erik on either side.

  “I’ll get back to you,” he muttered. “I’ve got exo trouble. Agents, stay inside the tent until I take care of things out here. Don’t worry, I’m not leaving you to deal with these guys.”

  “Roger!”

  Erik switched his comm to external broadcast mode. “You guys sure you don’t want to give up? Let me give you a little hint: I’ve been dancing in exos for decades. Right now, I effectively outnumber you one to two.”

  Another rocket streamed his way. He timed his move to spin the exoskeleton, and the rocket missed. The gunner opened up, his bullets sparking off Erik’s shield.

  “FINE! Let’s dance.” Erik pushed his exoskeleton into a sprint toward the man with the rocket launcher and opened fire. His quick bursts struck the terrorist’s shield, his bullets flattening and bouncing off. He sidestepped as the man fired another rocket. The projectile screamed past and exploded behind him, blasting up dirt and rock.

  They had graduated from EMP rockets.

  The terrorist’s friend opened fire, limiting it to controlled bursts. The man must have been smart enough not to let Erik lead him into shooting his friend. A quick jerk to the opposite side saved Erik from another rocket. The closer terrorist backed up with quick steps, but his exoskeleton’s left arm moved too far to the left, exposing a gap between the shield and the operator.

  It was time to demonstrate the difference a few decades could make.

  As Erik knew brutally well from experience, a tactical suit was bullet-resistant, not bulletproof, especially against exoskeleton-sized equipment, and now the operator was exposed. He fired three quick bursts into the terrorist’s chest. The man cried out in pain, blood leaking from the new holes, but he didn’t raise his shield. Erik finished him off with another burst and ran toward him, reaching out with his shield arm to stop the disabled exoskeleton from falling to the ground.

  No use letting a good enemy exoskeleton go to waste.

  “You’ll die for that, government dog!” the remaining terrorist shouted.

  Erik snorted his response. “Given you guys’ track record today, I’m going to go ahead and say probably not.”

  The terrorist fired, and Erik shoved the terrorist exoskeleton toward the danger. Bullets sparked as they bounced off the metal frame.

  Erik fired another blinder through the smoke of the explosion, his automatic optical filters kicking in with the launch.

  The blinder became a bright white star.

  The remaining terrorist exoskeleton stumbled and fired three grenades in rapid succession instead of using his rifle. The grenades flew past Erik exploding against a few unfortunate trees and some mini-flitters behind him.

  With a flick of his finger, Erik switched from burst-fire to automatic and delivered his own stream of bullets as he rushed toward the man. His target managed to keep his shield up, but his clumsy movements made it obvious his vision hadn’t recovered by the time Erik arrived.

  A shield bash pushed the terrorist’s exoskeleton off-balance, opening up the soft target of the operator. Erik shoved his rifle against the terrorist’s chest and released high-velocity hell. His ammo display blinked in his smart lenses. He was down to fifty percent, but given the new hole in his opponent’s chest, he wouldn’t need any more for this fight.

  Erik allowed the exoskeleton to tumble backward. It crashed into the hard-packed ground with a loud thump.

  “Emma, any luck?” Erik asked, looking around. “They could have pulled a whole convoy through that tunnel. If this was a stall job and we surprised them, that means they had to come through this area.”

  “Interestingly enough, some of the local camera density maps suggest possible blind spots around this area,” Emma reported. “That might have been why they chose it. I’m moving more drones nearby from different directions. I’ll find them soon.”

  “You sure about that?”

  Emma snorted. “You stick to killing, Detective, and I’ll stick to the drone surveillance nets.”

  Erik spotted a mini-flitter that had survived the grenades. He released his harness and straps before deactivating the exoskeleton. “I doubt I’m going to catch up to them running around in this thing.” He grabbed the smaller rifle off the back. The snicks cutting into the after-action silence as he started loading clips.

  Once he had them ensconced in his tactical vest, he removed Emma from the exoskeleton’s IO port.

  “I was getting used to having a bipedal body,” she commented. “It’s quaint, but I can see the disadvantages. I don’t know how you stand it.”

  “You get used to it,” he answered. “For now, I need you to help me with this flitter.” Erik pointed to it. “I’m guessing once you find our targets, this is going to go very quickly. I think they played their big cards already.” He jogged toward the vehicle. “You guys still okay in the tent?”

  “We’re good, Detective,” one of them offered. “Head’s still ringing, but we don’t need any immediate medical help. Take a few down for us!” He got a “Hoowah!” from the other.

  “I’ll do that.” Erik arrived at the mini-flitter.

  Taking a second, he located and shoved Emma into an IO slot, then threw his legs over the one-person vehicle. “Give us something, Emma. We’re running out of time. I’ll give Mont’s crew this—they’re damned good at stalling, but it’s hard to win when you’re only on defense.”

  “I assure you I’m not holding anything back,” she replied in a clipped tone. “Ah, there we go.” She sounded much happier. “I’ve located your terrorist gun goblins. Transmitting coordinates and providing drone feeds now. Please finish them off so I can go back to something more stimulating.”

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Jia whipped her mini-flitter around and zoomed toward the coordinates sent by Emma.

  Sweat beaded the side of her head. The enemy had done their best to slow them down and distract them, and she would admit they had done a very good job.

  If they hadn’t had Emma helping them, the terrorists might have even succeeded, but what might have been meant nothing. Now it was just a matter of time.

  According to the transmitted feed, the helmeted and armored terrorists were jumping off their mini-flitters and out of a hovertruck next to a grav tower control facility. The facility formed the base of one of the larger towers.<
br />
  “Why?” Jia murmured her breath. All those sacrifices, and that was all they’d achieved—a handful of terrorists at a single gravity tower.

  To her relief, there were no exoskeletons with the terrorists, but six men left the vehicles to escort a low-flying cargo drone pulled from the back. The drone carried a large gray metal crate. Mont led the group, but the cocky terrorist didn’t wear a helmet or armor. Jia was sure he would regret that soon, but she had no idea what was in the crate. If they took down all the terrorists quickly enough, it wouldn’t matter.

  “Do they have men at any of the other towers?” Erik asked over the comm. “I’m heading your way now, but it’ll take me a few extra minutes to get there. Turns out this flitter took a little damage during the fight.”

  “No, there are no other terrorists at any other tower,” Emma reported. “Unless they’re invisible. The only visible gun goblins you need to stop are at that one location, but I can’t guarantee they aren’t taking advantage of subterranean paths out of the sight of my drones. Given the careful planning they have displayed, it’s not impossible they’ve achieved something like that, but it is unlikely.”

  “Six men left isn’t a lot,” Jia observed. “They had a decent force and brave men, but they have to realize it’s all but over.”

  “It is when it’s so close to being over that desperate men do the most dangerous things,” Alina reminded her.

  “True, but they’re not going to be able to mess up the colony’s gravity by blowing up one tower,” Erik concluded. “They might have had time to arm up and fight us, but we still screwed up their timetable. They probably had to abandon their original plan and are now just going to set off a bomb, so they have something to show for everything.”

  Was it this close to being finished?

  “Whatever their plan is, we’re running out of time,” Jia summarized. “We need immediate reinforcements for the other towers in case they have tricked us. Emma’s right. If they made it this far without being noticed, they might have other tunnels or blind spots. At this point, they might just blow a tower so it comes down and crushes people and damages buildings. Not all terrorists are trying to top the Second Spring.” Her eyes widened. “Alina, send an evacuation notice to the tower.”

  Alina sucked in a breath. She didn’t respond for seconds. “Sent, and you’re right. If they have a spy in the local police, it won’t help them much now. Mont’s got to be running the main mission. I’ll route a request for aid through the CID office and have them head to the other towers, but we can’t sit around and wait for their help. They’ve been doing everything they could and sacrificing men to slow us down, and there has to be a reason for that.” She paused for a moment. “There has to be something more than a basic bomb in that crate.”

  Jia dropped the altitude of her mini-flitter, leading Alina and two CID agents toward the grav tower in the distance. “Whatever this is, we need to end it.” She glanced at the feed projected on the side of her handlebars. The terrorists had entered the building with the cargo drone. They’d left one guard outside, but he was heading around the side of the building. “Confident, aren’t they?”

  “What’s in the crate?” Erik asked. “It might not be a basic bomb. It could be a WMD.”

  “That seems unlikely,” Alina mused. “If they had to rely on locals for something as mundane as rifles and exoskeletons, they didn’t smuggle in a WMD. Barbu had to know that if he somehow got them a WMD, he would end up the target of every CID agent and ID ghost in the UTC. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but they’d have to get it through Customs.”

  “This seems too elaborate for a regular bomb,” Jia considered. “Any idiot terrorist could bomb a grav tower, and it doesn’t matter that he’s an engineer. There’s no special knowledge that will let him take out the grav field by taking out a single tower. Grav-field networks aren’t designed that way. They could have killed more people just taking their rifles and exoskeletons out into the street and attacking, which means whatever’s supposed to happen in that tower has to have more symbolic power than that.”

  “There’s no shame in not being able to get into the mind of a killer, Jia,” Erik suggested. “How about we just shoot first and ask questions of anyone who survives?”

  “I can get behind that plan.” Jia flew closer to the tower and control facility, her heart pounding. With Emma on watch through the drones, Jia set down near the entrance.

  Alina and the agents arrived a few seconds later.

  “The roaming terrorist has entered the building through a different door,” Emma reported. “Perhaps his bravery only extends so far.”

  Alina tilted her head down. “The local cops are gearing up. They’ll be here in a few minutes, but they are insisting they need to come in force for safety. We won’t have backup from them for probably ten or fifteen minutes, but at least they’ll have token patrols near most of the grav towers in a few minutes. Between them and Emma’s drones, that should minimize offsite surprises, and my instincts tell me this is all Mont has left.”

  “That long?” Jia hissed in irritation. “Terrorist sympathizers in the force?”

  “Probably, but we don’t have time to worry about them.” Alina unslung her rifle. “I knew I should have stuck to my standard gear.” She grinned. “But I like a little more plausible deniability when I fight in the open. There’s nothing like getting yelled at by my superiors for using ghost tech where a news drone might be filming. It’s not that hard to throw the public off the scent, but they still complain and complain and complain.”

  Jia and Alina rushed to the door and took up positions on either side. The CID agents with them crouched in front and aimed their weapons. Alina slapped the access panel, but the door refused to open.

  “I suppose I was asking for too much,” she declared.

  “Emma, can you open the door, or do you have to be closer?” Jia asked.

  “I’m attempting to access the facility through proxies,” Emma reported, “and I’m meeting unusual resistance. The terrorists must already have control of the main system.”

  “We don’t have time for hacking games.” Alina reached into a pouch in her tactical vest and pulled out a small breaching disk. “It’s not elegant, but it’ll work.” She stuck her fingers between the notches and twisted to prime the explosive before setting it against the center of the door.

  The two women moved a few meters away.

  “Time to say hello to our shy friends. Breaching!” Alina slapped her PNIU. The disk exploded in a bright flash, blasting the metal door into hundreds of blackened fragments all over the hard tile floor of the interior.

  Jia ducked her head and charged through the smoking hole. Her stomach knotted. Bullet-riddled bodies littered the floor down the hall.

  Some wore coveralls, others suits—all dead city workers. A few security guards lay against the wall, their eyes locked open in death stares. Their stun pistols were on the floor next to them.

  They had not stood a chance against the lethally equipped and ruthless terrorists.

  Alina stepped through the hole and shook her head. “We can’t save everyone today, but we can kill the monsters before they kill more. They’re running out of tricks and places to hide.”

  “Emma,” Jia spat through a clenched jaw, “let us know if any of them run. Do whatever you need to keep them in sight. I don’t want any of them escaping.”

  “No monsters will escape under my watch,” Emma replied.

  Jia, Alina, and the two agents jogged forward, maintaining a loose wedge formation. If a terrorist appeared, he’d get four people shooting him at once with assault rifles. A tactical suit could only do so much to protect a man, even against non-exoskeleton weapons.

  It wasn’t hard to determine the path of the terrorists. All the team needed to do was follow the trail of bodies. After a few turns, Jia knew exactly where they were heading—the central emitter control room.

  The layout of every grav tower faci
lity in Chang’e City was exactly the same, according to her research.

  Jia scoffed. The terrorists were led by an engineer. They were probably relying on the same thing.

  The squad stopped at a corner after hearing murmurs. Jia peeked around, jerking her head back and avoiding a terrorist fusillade. Close. Too close.

  Not today, she thought. And not to you.

  Jia held up two fingers to indicate the number of opponents. Alina and the agents nodded back. Jia then closed her hand, held up three fingers, dropped one, and dropped another. She was about to drop her last finger when the entire building shook.

  “That can’t be good,” Jia murmured, spreading out her arms for balance and trying not to drop her rifle.

  The shaking stopped. The final tremor launched Jia into the air, but she didn’t come back down as she’d expected.

  “Huh?” She threw up her hand and stopped her head from smacking into the roof. Alina was standing perpendicular to the floor, her boots firmly against the wall, but she wasn’t falling. The two CID agents cartwheeled through the air, desperately waving their arms and kicking their legs.

  “Zero-g!” Jia exclaimed, blinking. She frowned at Alina. “You’ve got some sort of slick grav boots that don’t look like grav boots, don’t you? More ghost toys?”

  Alina winked. “Yes, something like that. Ghost privilege. But these are just mag boots. Even ID doesn’t have grav boots this small.” She turned her head toward the agents flying out of control. “And you two—” She winced as they smacked their heads hard into a wall.

  Their bodies went limp. They were still breathing, but they wouldn’t be helping the two women any time soon.

  “That’s less than optimal,” Jia commented. “Then again, this whole situation is.”

  “Having a little trouble, government dogs?” shouted a terrorist from around the corner. He laughed. “Now you can’t win, can you? You never expected this. You don’t understand how well we prepared for this.”

  “Maybe not zero-g,” Jia muttered, “but you’re in a grav tower. It’s not that big a surprise.”