Suzy Spitfire Kills Everybody

by Joe Canzano

  “Is she?” said Maria’s voice. She was in the cockpit now—and she had a gun of her own, and it was pointed at Suzy. “Drop the weapon,” Maria said. “I mean it.”

  Suzy felt her heart skip a beat. She also heard the dangerous tone in Maria’s voice—cool and crisp like a scalpel. She would pull the trigger, no doubt.

  But Suzy didn’t lower her weapon. Instead, she said, “So, Maria, are you part of this bullshit, too?”

  Maria took a step back, making it harder for Suzy to try a tactical maneuver.

  “No,” Maria said. “I have nothing to do with Ricardo’s scheme. But he’s still my brother, and if you don’t drop the weapon I’ll shoot you. Do you understand?”

  Suzy held her breath. And yeah—she understood. She didn’t want to kill Maria, but that wouldn’t happen, anyway, because Suzy’s gun was now set to fire low energy bullets that would only knock the crap out of someone and maybe break a bone or two.

  Suzy whirled fast while dropping into a crouch. She only needed an instant to fire a shot—but Maria fired first.

  Suzy gasped at the impact. It was like being hit by a hammer. She crashed against the console and stood frozen for a second. Then the pistol fell from her hand and she hit the floor.

  ***

  Everything was fuzzy. Then gradually things started to focus.

  Where the hell was she? That’s right, she was late. She was supposed to be in school and she didn’t feel like going. But then Mom would know, because Mom was a teacher and she’d probably notice that her daughter wasn’t there—and then she’d tell Dad, and there would be a big lecture about how “education was the way to a better life,” even though neither one of her parents seemed to be doing any better than anyone else she knew. At the very least they weren’t any happier, and what was the point of doing ‘better’ if it didn’t lead to happiness?

  Wake up, go to work, come home, go to bed—do it again and then die. No thanks.

  Someone was talking to her. Was it Trish? Yeah, she was probably telling her to get up and go to school. She was a good kid. Always trying to save me. Stop wasting your time, little sister—I’m not going to be saved. I’m going to be a train wreck, a swirling catastrophe, a spinning fist in the face of the world, and the most unsaved person you ever saw. I guess that’s why the kids call me ‘Suzy Spitfire.’

  “Suzy, can you hear me? Suzy, are you all right?”

  Suzy blinked. “Maria,” she said. “Where am I?”

  “You’re lying in bed.”

  Suzy rubbed her eyes. “Oh. I thought I was a kid again, back in my parents’ house.”

  “You’re not. You’re in a spaceship headed for Riviera.”

  “Right. I remember that—and I remember that you shot me.”

  Suzy jerked herself upright and whipped her head around.

  She immediately felt a crushing pain rocket through her body, complete with flashing stars and blinking dots, and then the room was spinning, and she felt nauseous. She felt like she needed a wastebasket but in a pinch she’d be happy to barf all over Maria’s skirt.

  “You might want to lie down,” Maria said.

  Suzy stared at her for one long second—and then crashed back down onto the bed.

  There’s a time to fight and there’s a time to puke, she thought. And I hate doing both at the same time.

  Okay, so what was the situation? She was in one of the ship’s cabins and obviously Maria hadn’t killed her. The room felt fresh and new, like something just unwrapped, and Maria was sitting right there in a shiny red chair, looking calm.

  Maria said, “You’ve got some deep bruises. I gave you something for the pain and you’ll probably feel some nausea, but there’s nothing broken or badly damaged. It was a low energy bullet, but it still caused a lot of stress to your nervous system.”

  Suzy understood. Modern guns did not fire bullets in the old style sense that involved pieces of lead being propelled through the air. Instead, they fired highly concentrated blasts of pure energy. Certain clips could only fire low energy blasts; these were the ones sold to the public for self-defense. Military and law enforcement used variable clips that could adjust the energy level using a control on the weapon. They were illegal for private citizens, but they were the ones Suzy always used. Either way, each clip contained a certain amount of energy, and therefore only so many “bullets” that were not actually bullets.

  But everyone still called them “bullets.” It was a term left over from another time, when things were simpler and gentler and—no, wait. Things had been fucked up back in the old days, too. Just like they were right now. And people still needed bullets.

  Then Ricardo walked into the room.

  “Hey, Suzy, how are you doing?”

  Suzy frowned. What did this asshole want? And did he have to come in here when she looked like a wreck?

  “How do you think I’m doing?” she said. “Your sister shot me. I must be getting slow.”

  Ricardo grinned. “Or maybe Maria is quicker than you think.”

  Maria remained stoic, as usual. “Or maybe I was pointing the gun right at you when you tried to spin around and shoot me.”

  “Huh,” Suzy said. “Yeah, I guess that might be it. I should probably work on that strategy a bit.”

  “Right,” Ricardo said. “But then you would be someone else. Anyway, we need to talk.”

  “Okay, talk. I suppose you’ve had time to get your story straight.”

  Ricardo sighed. “I don’t need a story, Suzy; I can tell you the truth. I was sent to the spaceport by my boss, Pablo. He gave me a passport picture of a guy named ‘Steve Yoguchi’ and a flight number. He also gave me a picture of you… ‘Steve Yoguchi’ turned out to be a fake name for your friend, Aiko. Pablo said, ‘Find this guy when he gets off his flight and follow him. He’s probably going to meet a girl named Suzy Spitfire. Together, they’ll lead us to the AI.’ So I followed him to the pub. Then he went into the restroom and you walked through the front door. And that’s the truth.”

  “Are you kidding me?”

  “Not one bit.”

  “That’s impossible. How did Pablo know Aiko’s fake name and all that other stuff?”

  “It’s not impossible because it happened exactly that way. And it would make perfect sense if you knew all the facts.”

  “What facts?”

  “The ones I don’t know yet.”

  “Really? And why would this ‘Pablo’ guy think we would lead anyone to the AI? How does he know we won’t just forget about the whole thing?”

  Ricardo shrugged. “Aiko said the brain was valuable, and Pablo must think so, too. I guess Pablo is thinking you might want to find it and cash in the same as the next guy—or girl. Why not?”

  Suzy swore to herself. She seemed to recall Aiko explaining how this brain should not be sold to anyone. She also recalled that Grandma Jenny needed a new heart, and hearts were expensive. And this AI must be worth a lot.

  “How long until the meds wear off?” Suzy said.

  “About another hour,” Maria said. “But the bruises will hurt a bit longer.”

  “That’s okay.” I’ve had bruises before. “What about the ship’s engines?”

  “One of them is barely functioning now,” Ricardo said. “So our super speed isn’t so super. If we run into trouble we’re dead.”

  “We can still fight.”

  “Sure. Like a two-legged dog.”

  Maria gave a snort. She said, “Suzy, you aren’t going to be fighting anyone right now, but call me if you need anything. I’ll be back later.”

  Suzy watched her go and was glad to see it. Ricardo would be easier to handle than his sister. Suzy also knew they could’ve killed her, but they hadn’t—so something was up. She braced herself.

  Right on cue, he sat down in the red chair. “Suzy, like I said, I was sent on a mission from Pablo, but here’s the thing—I like you. I liked you the second I saw you. I said to myself, ‘Pablo, you did me a big favor, sen
ding me here to meet a sweet summer flower rising from the heart of this wounded wasteland.’ Just a little poetry… I really don’t know what the deal is with the brain, but it’s worth a lot of money, right? It sounds like exactly what I’m looking for—the big payoff. So why don’t you help me find it and we both get rich.”

  “Okay—right. And what about Pablo?”

  “Fuck him. I’ve got that all figured out.”

  “You do?”

  “Sure! I mean not yet. But what’s to figure? We’ll find it and then tell him it was destroyed.”

  “And then do what? Do you think it’s going to be an easy thing to sell on the black market?”

  “Hell, yes, because I’ve got contacts. We’ll sell it to one of the planets or city-states.”

  Not impossible, Suzy thought. Sure, fencing stuff was a pain in the ass, especially a one-of-a-kind super brain that had a squadron of government agents looking for it—but those were Earth agents. Earth was only one government, and it was a loose one at best. The other planets (originally Earth colonies) were independent now—and they weren’t all friendly with Earth. That meant the cloud cities of Venus, the bubble domes on Mars, the moons of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, and the fifty or so city states that were orbiting the sun—one of which was Choccoban. Any one of them might be interested.

  Suzy gave Ricardo’s face a long, hard look. What did she see there? A smile, a chance—a million-to-one shot at something silly. Something she didn’t need.

  But then again, her grandmother needed that heart.

  “It’s a dumb plan,” Suzy said. “Count me in.”

  I’m sorry, Aiko.

  Ricardo’s eyebrows shot upward and he grinned. “Really? I didn’t think you’d trust me so fast.”

  “You call this fast? We’ve been in a bunch of firefights together. And you bought me a drink.”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s true. Anyway, you probably don’t really trust me, right?”

  Suzy said nothing. As Dad used to say, ‘It’s all about the math.’

  “Don’t worry, Suzy Spitfire—you will.”

  “We’ll see. And by the way, change our course. Forget about Riviera. We’re going to Choccoban.”

  Chapter 9

  Captain Andre Banks of the Free Northern States Strike Force team wasn’t in the best mood as he opened the door to his home in downtown Atlanta. The polished decor of glass, crimson, and chrome didn’t do much to lift his spirits—but then he saw his statuesque wife, Danielle, standing on the balcony, and he felt a spark of hope. She was sipping wine from a crystal glass and staring at the winking tapestry of lights and towers below.

  He knew she loved the windy balcony. It was the main reason they’d bought this high-rise in the heart of the city, so she could come home and lose herself in the mind-erasing view. She had the kind of job that made a certain amount of erasure necessary. She needed to come home and drown in something.

  She heard him enter and called out. “I’m over here,” she said. As if he didn’t know.

  She was so beautiful, with her braided ropes of black hair and her deep, chocolate-colored eyes that perfectly matched her skin. He went to her, and he gave her a hug. She smiled and hugged him back and it felt so good, like a river of faith rushing through his body—and in that instant he thought about how lucky he was to be here with her. But she could tell something was wrong.

  Danielle pulled away. “What’s the matter, Andre? Did you have a bad ride?”

  “No, it was fine.”

  She offered him a glass of red wine she had waiting on a small chrome table and he took it.

  “I have to go on a trip with Blurr. We’re chasing somebody.”

  “What? Where?”

  “Out there,” he said, staring into the night sky. “Out in space.”

  She rolled her eyes in disgust. “Really? Can’t he find someone else to go? Another maniac, like him?”

  “I guess not. You know it’s my job.”

  She gave a soft laugh. “It’s your job to work here on Earth—not to go flying all over the solar system with that power-drunk dipshit.”

  “I’ve gone before,” he said. “Besides, this is a step up for me. It’s a promotion. Blurr wants me to be his full-time guy—still a Captain in the Strike Force, but a Special Agent Class One who works right under him.”

  “Oh, yeah? And that’s a good thing?”

  “Danielle, it’s a promotion. Did you hear me? It’s a lot more money.”

  “I heard you, and I also hear your lack of enthusiasm. We’re not desperate for money. Do you really want it? Do you really trust him?”

  He sighed. “I don’t want to go, okay? But it’s my job, at least for now. Maybe someday I’ll have a job like yours that’s actually doing some good for the world, but that day is not today.”

  She was silent for a few seconds. Then she sipped her drink and returned to his arms. “Hey, you’re doing some good,” she said. “You’ve done lots of good things.”

  “Huh, I suppose. But not like you do. You spend your day working with real victims. I just recycle the same old garbage and then wait around for them to get out and do it again.” He squeezed her a bit in his arms. “With the money from this job, we can build up our savings. In a year or two you can open your own clinic. You could help more people than ever… I know it’s your dream, and I want to help you make it happen.”

  She looked away for a second and then gave a soft laugh. “You’re a good man, Captain Banks—maybe too good.” Then she looked back at him. “So who are you chasing?”

  “My lips are sealed. You’ll have to wait for the movie to get the details.”

  “Oh, is that so? And who’s going to play you? Someone sexy and dignified, I hope.”

  “Yeah. Let’s hope they get that part right. It’s funny you should say that; I was looking over the images of the people we’re chasing, and I have to say they’re a good-looking bunch. They could probably play themselves.”

  “What, no ugly scars?” she said. “No broken teeth?”

  “We caught the guy with the broken teeth, but the sexy ones got away. I checked the one girl; her name is ‘Suzy Castillo’ but she goes by the name of ‘Suzy Spitfire’—and she’s wanted on a murder rap. Killed her rich uncle. He was a brilliant architect and businessman who made a fortune with his designs. She blew his balls off and let him bleed to death. No official motive, but I suspect it involved the girl’s sister. She died a week before the murder—a suicide.”

  “Nice. Kind of reminds me of a case I had down at the Center.”

  “I was thinking the same thing.”

  For an instant, Danielle’s eyes got stormy. “It’s a bad world we live in, Andre. Sometimes I think you have to cross a bad line to do any real good.”

  He looked at her, and he was quiet. She smiled at him.

  “You be careful out there,” she said. “You come back alive.”

  Chapter 10

  Suzy woke up in a cold sweat. She was still dizzy and nauseous, but it wasn’t in a ten-slugs-of-whiskey kind of way. Apparently, she was down to about five slugs and that was fine. Hell, she could have five slugs for breakfast.

  She was impressed by the cabin. It was luxurious, at least by her standards, with a fluffy bed, a built-in desk, and a cubicle-sized bathroom complete with a shower. Nearby was a sweet little porthole that showed the splattered chaos of the universe outside. She saw a monitor screen above the desk and a communications panel. She also saw an opportunity.

  It was a crazy idea, but so were most of the good ones. She bounced over to the panel and sat down. As she touched the glass screen, she noticed her fingers were shaking. But the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to do it.

  She was going to call home.

  It was something she hadn’t done since becoming a fugitive. She hadn’t wanted to—but that was only part of the reason. There was also the risk.

  Society was a minefield of surveillance. A basic court order could ge
t every micro-spec of anyone’s communications monitored forever, and it was all automated. Sophisticated devices would analyze faces, voice patterns, incoming locations, outgoing destinations—everything would be sent to a central processor that might flag nothing for years but then one day sound an alarm.

  The old-style, throwaway phones Suzy carried were bulky and obtrusive but they were also difficult to trace and highly popular. She pre-purchased the data allowances in cash, registered them to no one, and used them over one of the many encrypted networks before soon tossing them into the trash. Unfortunately, her mother’s house was not so secure. So if she called there, the automated surveillance would pick it up. At the very least, it would identify the origin of the call. But so what? She was currently on a spaceship, and Blurr already knew this. The basic location of the ship was also known, at least for now. The call would be short, and they were far enough away from their destination that it would be impossible to guess where they were going. And best of all, they weren’t so far away yet that there would be an obnoxious time delay. They could more or less talk in real time.

  But did they want to talk to her? Suzy toyed with the controls. She wasn’t worried about her grandmother, but her mother probably thought she was a monster. Maybe her mom would forgive her, and maybe not—but either way, Suzy didn’t think she was the one who needed forgiving. And did Suzy want to do any forgiving herself?

  She took a deep breath and punched in the call codes—and then her heart jumped as her mother’s voice came on the line.

  “Hello, who is it?”

  “Hi, Mom,” Suzy sputtered. “How are you?”

  There was a hesitation. Then her mother gasped and said, “Suzy? Is that you?”

  “Yeah. I’m on a spaceship. I just wanted to tell you I’m okay. I hope you’re okay, too.”

  “I’m fine, Suzy—I’m fine! I can’t believe it. I’m so glad to hear your voice. I’ve been so worried about you!”

  “Oh. Really?”

  “Of course! You’re my daughter. What are you doing? Are you all right?”