by Clara Woods
Lenah hurried to comply and took the chips, trying not to touch the Craff’s claws. Even so, by coming close to him, she could feel the heat of his body temperature. She quickly counted. “200 credits.”
“Very well,” Cassius said, finally handing over the box. The lizard took it with greedy claws.
Slouch waved them out. “Now hush.”
The door closed behind them, and Lenah took a deep breath of refreshing air. Funny how being inside a hot room could change your opinion about a place. When they first came into the bar, she’d noted the stink of old alcohol and the lack of cleaning; now it felt like being in a refreshingly cool forest. This time, Cassius let her lead the way downstairs, and they were quickly outside in the corridor again.
Lenah felt giddy that the transfer had gone so smoothly. The units she still held in her hand, inside her pocket, were glorious. “Persia’s pinged me a location,” she said, looking at the incoming message on her wristpiece.
“Let’s not go there directly.”
“What? Why?” Lenah asked.
“In case we’re being followed, of course.”
As if that was the most obvious thing. She didn’t object, however, trusting in his instincts. Cassius took them in a few circles, constantly scanning the area, until he nodded, taking them on the route to where Persia was waiting.
Persia waved when they came closer. “You got the units?”
“Yes.”
“Great! I found a guy who’ll sell us a food and water package that should last us a month, including everything from our shopping list, for only 100 units. Over there, we can buy credits for fuel to be used at the dock. With 300 credits, we’ll finally be able to get back home.” Persia shot Cassius a glare, obviously remembering that he was the culprit of them being so far away from Astur.
He didn’t acknowledge her.
“Let’s do it. I want to get to the knowledge terminal,” Lenah said.
“Oh, right. Researching your father’s stuff.”
Lenah glared at Persia in warning. She wasn’t interested in sharing the details of her family with Cassius.
As if not understanding, Persia continued. “You know, you should just be happy with all the money you have thanks to him. Even if you win the Galtaca games, you only make 20,000 credits and then you have to buy all those fancy clothes for galas and such.”
“You won the Galtaca games?” Cassius asked.
“Nah, but I made 15th place once.”
“No wonder you can move but not fight.” Cassius shook his head. “I’m sure it looks great on camera.”
“Well, not everyone can be a cyborg killing machine.”
He snorted, and Lenah thought that was a rather un-intimidating gesture. Maybe she could get used to his humor.
She became distracted when her comm unit vibrated to show an incoming message from Uz.
21 The Data Center
“Help, being followed. Lower level, section 6.”
“That’s all?” Persia asked, craning her neck to read the message off Lenah’s wristpiece.
“Yup.”
“She might just be sensitive to people staring at her cut antennas.”
“And what if she’s not?” Lenah doubted that was the reason. Why would Uz suddenly be more sensitive than normal? “Persia, here’s the money. Go buy all the things on the list, then get the ship ready. Cassius, let’s go to the data center.”
“Why can’t I come?” Persia crossed her arms, tapping a pocket where Lenah suspected she had a weapon.
“Because you didn’t take it seriously,” Cassius grumbled before Lenah could answer. “Besides, Lenah’s a better shot.”
“Thanks for the compliment,” Lenah told Cassius as they made their way to the knowledge terminal.
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
“Oh.”
He looked down at her. “You’re not a hopeless case, and you don’t fight to look pretty. But you’re badly in need of training.”
As much as Lenah wanted to come up with a clever remark, she couldn’t. Cassius was right. The thought to ask him to train her occurred to her, but she wasn’t ready to trust him that much. While he could kill her any time but hadn’t done it, maybe he’d enjoy torturing her in training because of her inappropriate comments.
“The knowledge terminal should be up ahead,” she said instead, and was still looking down at her wristpiece when a metal hand closed around her arm to stop her. At least this time her body didn’t jerk into a full-blown adrenaline rush.
“Someone’s there waiting for us.”
Lenah looked ahead in the same direction as him, but didn’t see anything strange. They were in a busy corridor. Several wide lanes for vehicles and pedestrians led through a high-vaulted hallway. Like a temple, the Lunara Station Knowledge Terminal stood before them. Big stairs led up to a columned entrance. The building itself was a square tower decorated with intricate stone carvings. Large letters in stonework proclaimed it to be built in 198 P.E., Post-Escape from Old Earth.
“How do you know?” she whispered.
“I heard them talking about us.”
“You heard someone out of all these voices?” There were dozens, if not a hundred people around, and Lenah couldn’t even understand the conversation closest to them.
“Hearing enhancements.” He tapped the side of his head, confirming her earlier suspicion. “Let’s turn that way.”
Cassius led her in a big arc around the building. The knowledge terminal was one of the few freestanding buildings on Lunara Station, and had obviously been important in its day.
Before they turned the last corner, Cassius stopped her again, motioning for her to stay back. Then he was gone. A moment later, she heard something clatter to the floor, followed by a heavy thump. Peeking around the corner, she saw that a laser gun now lying on the floor without its owner had caused the clattering, and the thump must have come from one of the two unconscious guards crumpled next to it.
“You know, these are guards, not people trying to murder us. There’s no need to smash them like that.”
Cassius bit his lip and turned to look back to the unconscious figures. Lenah had meant her comment as a sloppy joke, maybe with some truth to it, but without expecting any true reaction.
“It’s easy to forget how fragile un-enhanced people are.” He cracked a smile and shrugged before picking up the laser gun and handing it to her. Then he walked toward the back entrance. She’d seen his eyes grow stormy several times when someone called him cyborg, but assumed it was because he didn’t like to be objectified, like she wouldn’t appreciate being called human by another human. But his guilt seemed real, and Lenah wondered once again how he’d come by his enhancements. The more time she spent with him, the more she thought that he regretted ever getting them.
They entered an empty hallway with only one door leading further into the building, and a service elevator, which Cassius called. He stood totally still while they waited. Lenah couldn’t stop fidgeting with the laser gun, wondering if she was supposed to use it when the elevator came. She didn’t want to mistake a regular guard for whoever was targeting Uz and Doctor Lund.
“It’s empty,” Cassius told her, noticing her nervousness. She relaxed some. They stepped into the tiny cart, and he pressed the button to the lowest level. “No news from them?”
Lenah shook her head. Uz hadn’t gotten back to them, and the message Lenah had sent was unopened.
“In there, you do what I tell you,” Cassius said, scowling down at her from his height.
“Did I ever give you reason to doubt me?” Lenah answered, assuming he was referring to the inadequate comments she could never hold back in his presence. He didn’t acknowledge her.
When the doors opened with a ping, the only thing rushing toward them was heat, not the armed guards she’d been expecting. Lenah looked at Cassius to ask if he could offer an explanation for the heat, but he seemed to concentrate on listening to things she couldn’t pick u
p. After a few seconds, he stepped out of the cart and motioned for her to follow behind. As quietly as she could, she tiptoed behind him. She’d never planned to disobey his orders. She could easily acknowledge that this situation was much more in his element than hers, but his aggressive way to bring up her loose tongue irked her nonetheless.
A soft humming sound became louder as they approached. What would be in the basement of a knowledge terminal of this age? Usually she’d expect archives of data coins, but that didn’t warrant the heat or the humming, given that those coins could be stored practically anywhere and even survive exposure to water or fire.
Cassius drew his weapon, and Lenah mimicked his gesture. When he opened the door, more heat seeped through. Carefully, Cassius moved into the doorway and vanished inside for a few seconds, before nodding for her to follow. Lenah stepped into a dimly-lit hall with rows upon rows of some kind of machines. Every single one of the machines seemed to produce a soft sound, resulting in the loud humming of all of them together.
Over their heads, thick rows of cable provided electricity, and finally it clicked for her. These were data servers, taking up a huge space to store the data the first human settlers had brought into the region. Ancient servers, like she’d only ever seen in history books. Might this even be the downstairs area her informant had referred to? The information she was seeking would probably be as old as the stone, so it seemed plausible.
A few thumps, heavy footsteps, sounded in some corridor toward their left, and Cassius started in that direction. He was walking fast and quietly, and Lenah struggled to keep up. At least with all the noise around, no one would hear her much louder steps.
“You need better shoes.” Cassius turned to glare down at her thickly-heeled boots. They’d been a comfortable compromise to attend her father’s gala, and she’d been proud of the practicality of them before. But she was nowhere as nimble as Cassius with his combat boots. She silently agreed, but held her tongue.
After passing several aisles of servers and stopping a few times to listen, Cassius turned into one aisle. As random as the choice looked to Lenah, she figured he must have heard something. Then he suddenly vanished, and a few seconds later a yell sounded through the corridor, accompanied by the flickers of laser fire. Was he fighting more guards?
Lenah hurried to follow him, realizing that there were intersections inside the long rows. When Cassius came into view, he was engaging four men, a fifth already out on the floor. He spun around, somehow anticipating their fire. Two more went down.
Lenah took a few steps back, unsure if she should engage or let Cassius have his fun. She’d decided it would make more sense for her to stay out of his way when two more figures appeared around the corner up ahead. With their black clothes, they definitely looked different from the guards at the entrance. They already had their guns pointed at Cassius, who was turning his back, busy evading the fire from the remaining attackers. Lenah lifted her pistol and fired two shots. Two attackers went down. She held her posture until Cassius started speaking, having handled the other two quickly.
“Thanks for helping out with these two,” he said. He frowned at her and then looked at the five unconscious bodies spread around him. Was he angry that she’d actually been helpful?
She bit down the remark sitting on her tongue, not yet able to relax. Someone could walk around a corner any second. Then Lenah remembered Cassius’ enhanced hearing, and that he’d realize if anyone else were coming. She stepped closer to help him search the victims.
They were wearing black fighter suits lacking any type of identification. Cassius searched their bodies, but they didn’t even carry visible communication pieces, just weapons. His look became grave, and Lenah saw the black tattoo of a raven he’d revealed on one man’s wrist.
“Dark Raven,” Lenah murmured, but instead of a confirmation, Cassius put a finger over his mouth and got up again, weapon at the ready.
Lenah took position beside him, feeling more confident now that she’d already been useful. Her firing experience so far had consisted mainly of shooting Asturian ducks in her father’s forests.
The seconds stretched, and she still couldn’t hear anything. Cassius crept forward, then vanished around the corner again. Lenah heard more thuds, followed by a small shriek of happiness.
Wait, happiness? Curious, she followed Cassius and saw him whirling around in the air, his enhanced arm outstretched toward an unlucky attacker who wasn’t able to duck out of the way in time. Cassius kicked him hard enough to make him fly a couple of meters back into the corridor, where he collided with a large server cube. Behind him crouched Uz and Doctor Lund, watching the fight. They were guarded by a bulky man who seemed unsure if he was supposed to join his buddies or keep watching the hostages.
Lenah caught Uz’s eye across the corridor and pointed her gun toward the guard. She didn’t have a clear shot, not with Cassius jumping around and felling attackers, but she wanted them to be prepared when a clear line of sight presented itself. Uz seemed to understand and poked the doctor in the arm, pointing to their guard. When Cassius kneeled next to the last man charging at him, Lenah didn’t hesitate. But she shot high to not risk Uz and Doctor Lund getting hit, and her fire only grazed the man. Damn it, she’d been over-thinking it this time.
But Uz was ready, and together with Doctor Lund, she launched herself against the man’s knees from behind, bringing him down. He went easily, as he’d been looking around to find who’d been shooting, and a moment later, Cassius landed gracefully in front of him, grabbing the man with his metal arm and knocking him out.
“You came,” Uz whispered, her big eyes locked on Cassius, who shrugged stiffly.
“What happened here?” he asked without further acknowledgment.
“We were finally getting somewhere with the research when suddenly the lights in the terminal room – that’s where you access the information stored on these”—Uz motioned around—“went off. They came for us, twenty of them. Imagine, twenty soldiers just for the two of us.” She giggled.
“Twenty? I only see a dozen.” Lenah looked around, quickly taking stock of all the bodies here and around the corner.
“What did they say?” Cassius asked, bending down and methodically searching the figures on the ground.
“They knew about the stone. When they realized we didn’t have it, they wanted us to lead them to the ship. We were trying to figure out how to escape when we heard the first sounds of fighting. It was you.” Uz looked like she wanted to hug Cassius, but then thought better of it. He’d gone rigid again.
Lenah just didn’t get him. No matter if you doubted him or hugged him, he seemed irritated about it all. But for now, at least, he definitely seemed to have become an ally.
“A lot of people know you have that stone. Someone must have sent out a message into the underground, declaring us free meat.”
“But we might have learned some interesting stuff, right, Uz?” Doctor Lund said, though he looked at her uncomfortably.
“Or nothing useful at all,” Uz offered. Somehow, she seemed way less excited about that research of theirs, compared to this morning. Doctor Lund shook his head, but his gaze darted from left to right as if expecting more people to jump at them any second. He wouldn’t know about Cassius’ hearing implants yet.
They were a funny pair of researchers, those two, and Lenah wondered how a Cassidian and a disbeliever of magic could conduct research about a magical stone together.
“Now’s not the time to discuss this,” Lenah stepped in. “These are Dark Raven mafia people. Their leader Kahoot likes to take three hairs from his victims to braid on his head. His dead victims. We’d better leave.”
To confirm her words, they heard a door shut somewhere, followed by the noise of running footsteps audible even over the hum of the servers. Cassius motioned for them to move, taking the lead himself and gesturing for Lenah to take the rear. Silently, their little group crept away. Cassius didn’t take the direction they
’d come, but headed further away from it. Lenah thought about questioning his choice. Did he even know if there was another way out? But she decided to trust his better senses. Maybe he’d heard something.
They passed the center of the room and suddenly found themselves caught in a maze of laser light. A sharp beeping went off above their heads, followed by shouts from whoever was left in the room with them.
“This must be the high-security data section.” Dr. Lund had shed all his grumpiness, sounding excited despite their situation. They’d all stopped dead in their tracks, and luckily none of them was directly touching any of the lasers. But they were trapped inside the maze, and crossing or even getting out of here would be tough. Lenah wondered what the laser would do if they touched it. Sting? Kill? Somewhere in between?
“Uz, look at the serial code on that server. That’s the one. We need to get the hard disk,” the doctor whispered excitedly, and pointed toward the one server cube that seemed at the center of the laser beams.
Cassius glared at him but mouthed, “Why?”
“Because we encountered a blockage earlier. The full information we were seeking was classified, and if I understand these archaic servers correctly, one specific server will store that classified information. We couldn’t get access before, but if we can steal the hard disk…” Lund trailed off, shooting another hopeful look toward the cube.
Cassius seemed to fight with himself, but then shook his head. “It’s too risky, and we don’t have the time.”
“It might be the key to the Mapstone. Aren’t you curious?” Lenah said, remembering that this might be her last chance to do “research” in the knowledge terminal. Cassius sent her an exasperated look, but then bent down as if he wanted to sit on the floor. Was he that frustrated? He landed with a thud on top of the server unit, which gave a whining beep under his weight. Cassius bent over, pressing a small blue button to open a thin compartment on the server. A hand-sized flat square was ejected and landed neatly in his palm. A second later, Cassius made another several-meter jump to land on top of another row of server units adjacent to them. Bending down, he grasped first Doctor Lund’s, then Uz’s hand, to lift them up. Finally, he turned to Lenah.