by J M Guillen
We’d barely squeezed in.
I understood little about the way the craft functioned, since I’d only been exposed to such things once before. With my limited comprehension, I remembered that the entire vehicle ran off a similar interface to Wyatt’s Tangler. It used the equations of Rationality and Irrationality as coordinates and sent the ship through reality like a stone across water.
“Wow.” Sofia apparently thought the exact same thing as she let out a low whistle. “So Guthrie slid us in here with less than half a meter to spare.”
“On either side. Yeah.” I turned around and peered down the passage. “And he only has about fifty meters to get us out.”
“I’m certain the Designates are aware of the specifications.” She seemed to think about that for a moment and then nodded with more certainty. “Yes, they’ve already done the math.”
“You’re not just convincing yourself, right?” I gave her a teasing smile.
“No!” She smacked at me, playfully. “You know how logical I am, Michael Bishop.”
“If I remember correctly, you once merged with an alien symbiont so you could garner support for guerrilla tactics against a corporation of metahumans.” I raised one eyebrow.
“Well, but I did that logically. So you can shut up.” She turned and walked down the corridor.
Setting up the telemetric relay will take less than ten minutes. Anya held the case in her right hand, while her left plucked at the invisible strands which comprised her interface. Have you ever been on dossier while a Preceptor makes use of one of the resonator relays?
“I’m certain I have.” I tried to think back, although it’d been several years. The Facility had truly grown reliant on its long-range telemetry, and so now it seemed cumbersome to do things the old-fashioned way.
You worked with Katarina Yakovlev, did you not? Anya nodded, as if she confirmed the fact for herself even as she linked. That might have been the last time you had to work with local telemetry.
“I remember we used local telemetric resonators while in the Yucatán.” I scratched my beard as I thought. “It really didn’t affect me much. Gideon and Kat did all of the orienting themselves.”
Kat. I felt the curiosity in her link. Were you on a personal basis with Katarina? Anya knelt to open the relay pack.
“Personal? I mean, not really.”
I asked because you used a nickname.
“Oh!” I smiled. “Yeah. She hated that.”
I can imagine. Anya pulled a small black sphere out from the pack, and oriented it quite precisely upon the ground. Katarina Yakovlev had very specific ideas about Preceptor associations with general Assets.
“Really?”
Our activity cycles are vastly different. As a result she went out of her way to avoid close association with non-Preceptor Assets.
“I guess I can see that, now that you mention it. She always seemed a bit distant.”
I don’t know that I agree with her philosophy. Anya pulled at the unseen tethers of her interface.
The relay made a soft ping. Slowly the sphere rose into the air, hovering there. Once it had gained one and a half meters, it pinged again and vanished from sight.
I have truly come to enjoy the relationships I have built. I believe that actually integrating personal schedules with other Assets might lead to increased teamwork and comradery.
“Yeah?” I nodded.
I also think it’s very important for Assets to be able to communicate clearly to one another. I think miscommunication can cause unnecessary difficulties.
“I completely agree with you. Listen, can I ask you question?”
Always, Michael. Anything. She looked up at me with a smile.
I couldn’t help but be struck at how blue her eyes were.
“The others seem to think it might be a mistake for us to go ahead and act without waiting for the Designate.” I shrugged. “You didn’t have much to say.”
For a moment, she just stared at me, a slightly perplexed expression on her face. It almost seemed as if she’d expected a different question.
I don’t understand. She cocked her head, just a little bit. You are our Alpha. If you think this is the best way forward, then what good will overthinking do?
“Yeah, I get that I’m the Alpha.” I sighed. “But I’m still fallible. I’m very well known for making mistakes.”
Many times while on dossier, it is simple for things to get confused. I’ve found it more important that there is an individual willing to make a decision, any decision, than to wait for someone to make the correct decision.
“Huh.” I let that sink in. “I’d honestly never thought about it like that.”
“Realmship’s secure.” Wyatt stepped out of the Corvus and his oculus shone with the numerics and equations only he could truly see. “Watch this.” He spent a moment tapping on the keyboard hung at his waist. With a final flourish, he hit the last three keys.
The Corvus faded from sight.
I nodded, impressed. “You can gear the Wraith from the outside?”
“If you set it up beforehand.” He gave me a lazy cat’s grin. “And if you are also brilliant.”
There is more than simply the Wraith in use. Anya turned from the spot where the ship had vanished to gaze at the large man. You initiated the Spectre as well?
“Got it right in one.” He pointed at her. “If Amir the Irrat comes this way, he’ll probably walk straight through it.”
I have him. Anya’s link came suddenly, punctuated with fierce pride. Amir Cadavas is less than two kilometers from our current location. I have him at north 27 degrees, eighteen tack 127, by west 33 degrees, sixteen tack 213. He is moving in our direction.
“That’s brilliant, Anya!” I crowed.
Asset Gardener made it possible. I felt as if Anya’s link held a touch of embarrassment. I do not know another Caduceus who could have remotely integrated the Huntsman.
“Can the cadre have a token on his location? With distance?”
Absolutely, Michael. As she linked, a distant man-shaped token appeared over my visual.
I appreciate the time that we spend talking about how smart we are, Sofia’s link interrupted. But I have something interesting I’d like to share.
Fair enough. I nodded at the Gatekeeper Asset.
Alpha, I’m holding extensive maps for our location. The Gatekeeper updated moments ago, and I received the intel.
“That’s great news!” I beamed at her.
“It doesn’t happen.” She shook her head, as if that wasn’t exactly what she meant. “I have never been on incursion in my life where I received an update like this.”
“I’ve been with a Gatekeeper before where they had intel on our location.” Rachel turned from Delacruz to me. “It does happen.”
“Not this much. There’s nearly eight hundred kilometers of tunnels down here.” Sofia brought her right hand up to the glowing Crown augment that hung at the back of her head. “Not only can I see them all, but eight separate conduit locations have been marked.”
“Tier one conduits?” Wyatt asked.
“It doesn’t say.” Sofia turned from me to Wyatt. “I just thought it strange. The Facility has intimate knowledge of these tunnels.”
“Makes sense to me.” Wyatt shrugged the Tangler onto his back. “We are beneath Rome, after all.”
“So?” I didn’t see the connection at all.
“So, the Catholic Church was an early front for the Facility. Makes sense that we know all about the secret tunnels.”
“Wait a second.” Sofia shook her head as if she didn’t quite believe what she’d heard. “What do you mean; the Catholic Church was a front?”
I said nothing. As Alpha, I felt it important they resolve this for themselves.
Also, I wanted to watch.
“Sure.” Wyatt began to walk down the passageway, and his head made the tiniest tic as he switched his optics on. “If you think about it for just a minute, it makes perfe
ct sense.”
Let’s move toward 3302, I sent via general link. Officer Overalls here can explain while we move. Sofia, will you take point?
Sure. She still stared at Wyatt as if he were crazy.
For hundreds of years the Catholic Church practically ruled Western Europe. Most technological and social innovations came through the church, he began.
Alright, Sofia linked. That’s true enough.
If anyone stepped outside the bounds of what the Catholic Church believed, there were inquisitions. Wyatt gestured as he often did whenever on one of his rants. Witch burnings. I mean honestly, they were doing the work of an Asset eight hundred years ago!
You aren’t saying the Catholic Church actually pursued Irrats? Through her link, I could feel that Rachel didn’t like the idea.
You ever read the Malleus Maleficarum?
I hate to interrupt all the brilliant work being done, Sofia linked. It’s pitch dark up here. I’m turning on optics, and you’ll want to do the same.
Thank you, Gatekeeper, I replied.
There’s a split in the corridor here. I can hear water to my left, and that’s the direction I show Cadavas.
Let’s head that way.
That was just the Latin name, a’course, Wyatt picked up right where he’d left off. Popularly, the book was called The Hammer of Witches, and the only thing that sold better was the Bible.
What does this have to do with… I felt Rachel search for clarity. …the Facility and the Catholic Church being the same thing?
You gotta look for parallels, Rach. Wyatt turned his gaze to where she walked next to him. Just like the Facility, the Catholic Church spread across the world, stomping out Irrats. What do you think the Crusades were? Or how about the conquistadors ravaging Mesoamerica?
“I think it was a lot of history that I ignored,” I mumbled.
All the Catholic Church ever tried t’ do is make everyone think the same way they do. They try to control the world and are willing to use force to do it. Remind you of anyone you know?
A lot of religions do that, I interjected. The truth was I really didn’t know that much about all this, but I did know Wyatt Guthrie.
Once the man got started, it was hard to get him stopped.
The thing you gotta take into account here is the Jesuits.
Oh geez. I sighed.
[What?]
Who now? Rachel wrinkled her nose.
While the conversation progressed, I peered at Anya. She walked steadily forward with her hands outstretched, typical behavior while on dossier. Her fingers pinched and prodded at things I couldn’t see: the Preceptor interface.
I knew no Irrational asshole could take us by surprise while she remained on the job. We were safe.
The Jesuits are the order of Catholics that began taking all kinds of things into their own hands. There is pretty substantial proof they took a secret vow to wage relentless war secretly and openly against all heretics, protestants, and… He paused for a moment, as if trying to remember. And masons. He waved one hand in a gesture that seemed to say ‘obviously.’
I suppose your point is that the Facility is at war with heretics? Rachel seemed to follow, but she didn’t like where the road went.
The Jesuits are responsible for all kinds of things. They fund wars along with the Bilderbergers. Hell, some people think they sank the Titanic to kill political opponents.
Some people? I gave him a sideward glance.
I’ve known Jesuit priests, big guy. Sofia didn’t seem angry but wasn’t exactly her usual playful self. I find it difficult to believe that Father Hector is secretly one of the Designates.
Of course not. That would be ridiculous, Wyatt scoffed.
Oh yeah? Sofia seemed legitimately curious.
The Designates are replicants. Completely inhuman. Probably reptilian in nature.
What! Rachel sounded as if Wyatt had just said he ate locusts, and suggested, by the way, she should have some too. That makes no sense!
Even if you were right, I pandered, what does it say about you that you work for the Reptilian Illuminati?
Well, Wyatt shrugged. I mean, everybody’s got to have their thing, Hoss.
In the shadows behind my heart, I heard a growl.
Machine gun fire thundered down the hallway, punctuated by Sofia’s cry. The moment I heard the sound, stark and burning instinct raised its head.
[Shit!]
Gatekeeper? I frantically linked. Status?
A long moment of silence stretched over the comm. My pulse pounded in my ears, and I felt my skin begin to itch.
Hostiles. Her link came somewhat weakly. Didn’t see them.
More automatic fire. I scratched at my upper arm, and a touch of scarlet tinged the world.
Shit. I’m coming. I drew my disruptors, prepared to sprint down the passageway and slaughter whoever was stupid enough to shoot one of mine.
Mine. I scowled.
“Hoss,” Wyatt’s tone cautioned.
Alpha, we do not know how many there are. Anya paused. Who they are.
Also, your heart rate is peaking, Rachel poked in. Need you to ease back.
“Can’t just run in there, right man?” Wyatt put a hand on my shoulder. “That would be stupid, right?”
“Right,” I whispered and shook my head. “Obviously.”
More automatic fire echoed down the hallway.
Sofia, how badly are you hit? Rachel included all of us in the link. I can see you’re injured.
Left quad. It felt as if she grunted the link. Both shoulders. Bleeding. Safe for the moment though.
“Goddammit.” I paced for a moment and thought. When I linked, I stared squarely at Rachel. The Gatekeeper is automatically queued to the Corvus. Can you create an aperture and make it back to the ship? I can send Rachel there.
I can. I felt a little bit of Delacruz’s traditional fire.
How many of them do you see, Sofia?
Hallway takes a sharp bend and then opens up. There’s three guys ahead of me, around the corner. They got automatic pistols, maybe SIGs.
I’m heading back to the Corvus, Sofia. Rachel nodded at me. I’ll see you in about ten minutes.
Copy that. I’m jaunting that way, Alpha.
“Rachel, go.” I gave her a quick jerk of my chin. “Bubba an’ me will step down with Anya behind.”
I did not have access to the firearms I keep queued at Facility Prime, Michael, Anya informed me. I have been practicing, but never expected events to unfold this quickly.
Mebbe we can pick you up something, Princess. Wyatt gave her a toothy smile as he tapped on his keyboard.
Can you use one of the SIGs? I asked.
I am well proficient in semi-automatic handguns, Michael. I also have the Neural Lacuna should we require it.
Wyatt grinned. With your permission, Alpha, I think we should play gentle with these fellas. I’d like to find out a little information.
What an excellent idea, Artisan. I glanced down at the business end of his weapon. I might know just what you have in mind. I’ll let you take point.
Together, the three of us crept down the hallway.
3
We heard the hostiles long before we saw them.
“[I think she ran back this way.]” The sharp whisper wasn’t nearly as covert as I would have wanted myself.
The acoustics might have had something to do with it. As we progressed, the passageway had narrowed severely. Now it was barely wide enough for two men to walk abreast.
Or perhaps one Wyatt Guthrie with a circus monke—
Wait.
No.
I cursed inwardly. I realized I’d almost set myself up to be insulted. If I let that particular thought out, then I’d be the circus monkey for the entire dossier.
“[I don’t think she ran anywhere.]” Ahead, around a slight bend, we saw the bobbing light of men with headlamps. “[I know I hit her. You saw the blood back there. It pooled along the wall, but the splatters
don’t look as if she got up and ran anywhere.]”
“[Well, then, you explain it!]”
“[I’ll explain it,]” a deeper voice grumbled. “[Silent Ones.]”
“If she were one of the Silent, we’d already be dead.”
These men currently bear no Irrational signature, Alpha.
Really? I frowned a touch.
It is possible that these are a Vatican patrol or Italian police. They might even be the Swiss Guard.
I’m gonna lay down a spike. Wyatt’s link felt slightly distracted, as it often did when he juggled numbers. I’ll pop it right here. A scarlet reticule appeared within my vision to indicate Wyatt’s target. It rested upon the wall in front of us, just before the hallway turned.
Understood.
Smart play’s to not get any closer than here ’til I tell you, he warned.
A second indicator, a thin yellow line, encircled the first and splayed out three meters from the place Wyatt intended to put the spike.
Engaging Wraith. I toggled the packet as I sent the link and activated the Adept immediately after.
I wasn’t certain what Wyatt had planned, but whatever it was, I wanted to be ready.
Wyatt aimed the Tangler down the passageway and struck one final key. WHUF!
The spike bit deep into the ancient brick of the passageway.
“[What was that?]” The end of the passageway suddenly lit up as all three men turned their light sources.
“[Is that something in the wall?]” The deeper voice spoke again, suspicious.
“[Probably just old masonry supports, I think.]” The third voice sounded in no way certain. “[Like rebar.]”
“[Maybe you step up there and poke at the rebar.]”
No response came, however the corner grew slightly brighter. A man’s shadow loomed large as he stepped in front of the others, dutifully headed to check out the wall.
With a savage grin, Wyatt Guthrie struck a single key.
The spike shone with a touch of eldritch green, some castoff energy from whatever weirdness Wyatt had whipped up.