by Amie Kaufman
“The fascists kinda have everyone locked up except—and oh my GOD, you will puke in your mouth when you hear this—Hanna ****ing Donnelly. Oh yeah, you heard right. Her Majesty, the future Mrs. Merrick herself. You should SEE the outfit this fem is wearing, Zo. Ridiiiic. Must have cost the annual GDP of New Petersburg, double true. And my GOD with the push-up bra. I can’t believe Nik is so drooly-faced happypants for this fem. Too much gag.
“Aaaaaanyways, she didn’t get snaffled with everyone else. So Little Miss Trust Fund is helping to get me back onto the Heimdall grid.
“First stop—security cams. I’m gonna rig their feed to show looped footage while I work on cutting them out entirely. Miiiiight mean I get cut out too, ’cuz this system is moodier than you on the razzle, but this is still my home turf. The decker these ****holes brought with them is top tier, but I’m gonna stomp his jelly beans so hard his kids will be born crooked.
“After that, I gotta find Nik. Yes, you’ll be pleased to hear my cousin’s buttocks (ew) were in one piece last I saw. They’ve locked me out of whisperNET, but I gave Nik a palmpad so he could talk dirty to Her Ladyship. I can chat to him on that if he thinks to check it, but so far, nada. Boy def gets his looks from my side of the fam, but he has a bucket of ****s between his ears, as far as I can tell.
“But…you know, at least he’s okay…I mean, they could’ve…
“Zo, they…
“They…
“****…
“Oh Jesus, Zoe…
“…I gotta get back to it. TTYL, *****.”
PALMPAD IM: D2D NETWORK
Participants: Niklas Malikov, Civilian (unregistered)
Ella Malikova, Civilian (unregistered)
Date: 08/16/75
Timestamp: 00:29
Pauchok: This fem got the skills, and the others can’t match it
Pauchok: This fem got an itch, and boy you can scratch it
Pauchok: I don’t wancha money, I just wancha honey *uh*
Pauchok: I don’t wanna ring, I just wancha something something
Nik M: stop
Nik M: PLEASE GOD JESUS STOP
Pauchok: Hey u finally remembered to look at your screen, yay you <3
Nik M: i was kinda busy, cuz.
Nik M: and getting shot at and blown up listening to lexi blue isn’t bad enough? I gotta get it from you now?
Pauchok: u gotta admit it’s a pretty catchy tune
Pauchok: All caps btw
Nik M: zzzzzz
Pauchok: so wat news, my cuz?
Nik M: ****ers found me in bay 17, but I jumped. skulking in the vent shafts now. I am the skulk mastahhhh nff nff nff tsssh nff nff
Pauchok: thought u said they blew u up
Nik M: they threw grenades at me
Pauchok: I never got a grenade thrown @ me before. fun?
Nik M: nnnnot so much.
Nik M: how u holding up
Pauchok: chill
Nik M: if u want to talk…?
Pauchok: I said I’m chill nik
Nik M: u sure
Pauchok: Nik i cannot rite now
Pauchok: soooooo moving on?
Nik M: …
Nik M: ok, so wut we gonna do? u still cut out of the heimdall network?
Pauchok: ya. I got a way back in tho.
Nik M: sigh. wut I gotta do?
Pauchok: u r no good to me locked in Docktown, cuz mine. Server cluster I need is in alpha. Lo, a wild quandary has appeared!
Nik M: so we ****ed?
Pauchok: neg. got me a secret weapon mwahahaaaaaaa
Nik M: oh ya? wut
Pauchok: not wut cuz, WHO mwahahahaaaaaaaaaaaa *ominous lighting*
Nik M: so WHO then jesus
——Hanna D has entered the chat ——
Pauchok: speak of the devil, and thou shalt hear the strangled scream of her c-cups
Hanna D: um, what?
Pauchok: nuthin
Nik M: holy ****, hanna?
Pauchok: teary reunion later, cuz. u get the doings done, blondie?
Hanna D: you tell me
Pauchok: zomgggggg u did. hearts and flowers and teddy bears.
Pauchok: i got serious mad scientist **** to do. This is gonna take time.
Hanna D: find out about the guys on the bridge, Jax is there. if you get eyes on the atrium, check if any of the sec team are still standing. and my dojo master kim too, she’d be an asset.
Pauchok: any other requests, your majesty?
Hanna D: my friends were in the atrium too, but i’m sensing some sarcasm in that question
Pauchok: see, those folks who say you’re an empty-headed rich girl with the IQ of a toe jam scraping, they don’t give you enough credit
Nik M: ella…
Pauchok: Will leave u 2 crazy kids to it. smoke em if u got em. keep the sexty to a minimum, tho, I can read ur chat logs and I’m only 15 remember
Nik M: **** off, little spider
Pauchok: no love D:
////( ” )\\ Pauchok has left the chat ////( ” )\\
Nik M: hey, Highness :)
Hanna D: Hey yourself
Hanna D: How’s your day been?
Nik M: I had grenades thrown at me. so you know, that’s something new
Nik M: look sorry about skipping out on u. I figured my people were our best shot of figuring wtf wuz going on. I’m real glad you’re ok.
Hanna D: “Okay” is probably stretching it
Nik M: hell of a terra day huh
Hanna D: yeah
Nik M: u holding up alrite?
Hanna D: I’ve been keeping busy. I met Ella, and there were some bullets and stuff.
Nik M: which was worse?
Hanna D: are you kidding? Ella and I are meeting up to braid each other’s hair later.
Hanna D: she had some VERY interesting things to say about you.
Nik M: yeah, see i love her and all, but be warned: my cuz is crooked as a dog’s back leg.
Nik M: when she was 6, she convinced me & my bro the NPPD was putting audio surveillance drones into candy to spy on our old man. we gave her all our hallowseve loot three years running. for “safe disposal.” so believe nothing she says.
Nik M: unless she was tellign u how great i am, then she’s on the legit, double true
Hanna D: that is exactly what she said
Nik M: i’m just gonna pretend i believe that
Nik M: where u holed up?
Hanna D: i am taking up real estate in a particularly spacious air vent just now
Nik M: hey i lost your corsage in one of those. sorry. grenades, you know how it is
Hanna D: well i lost my jumpsuit. fully automatic gunfire, you know how it is
Hanna D: the corsage was sweet of you though
Nik M: wait, u serious? 0_o
Hanna D: I am. I know I don’t say a lot of nice things to you, but the corsage was above and beyond.
Nik M: no i mean u serious about having lost your jumpsuit?
Nik M: wtf were they firing magic bullets??
Hanna D: yes.
Hanna D: they were magic bullets, Nik
Hanna D: I’ll be wearing clothes again by the next time you see me, assuming we live that long
Nik M: meaning ur not wearing clothes now??????? 0_o
Nik M: ooooook, then
Nik M: i’m just gonna move on. with no additional commentary on your state of undress whatsoever. because that’s just the kind of classy mother****** i am
Hanna D: you’re just trying to impress me
Nik M: only trying? D:
Hanna D: Nik, is Ella as good as she says?
Nik M: y u ask?
Hanna D: I’m putting a lot of trust in a girl I didn’t even know existed until a couple of hours ago.
Nik M: listen i know she’s got a mouth on her. and if u don’t know her, she can come off a little full-on. but u gotta look beyond that, see who she is.
Hanna D: so tell me who she is
Nik M: a 15 yr
old raised by crims and killers. who has to rely on other people for a bunch of stuff she used to do herself, and who grew some thorns to make sure nobody feels sorry for her about it
Hanna D: I’m missing something. The thorns are hiding what?
Nik M: u never knew she existed coz she never leaves her computer
Nik M: and she never leaves her computer because she can’t.
Nik M: she got the lysergia plague when she wuz 13.
Hanna D: ****
Nik M: yeah.
Nik M: but she beat it. and she doesn’t feel a drop of sorry for herself. So you shouldn’t either
Nik M: it’s not who she is.
Hanna D: i get it. so tell me about Ella the hacker.
Nik M: ok. straight talk then. what do u know about the House of Knives?
Hanna D: that you’re not people to mess with. That you can get hold of things and get rid of people, and the authorities either don’t want to arrest you or can’t
Hanna D: also you’re v into tattoos.
Nik M: u get inked in the HoK when u catch a stretch in slam. u can read the history of every prison stint a member’s done if u see enough of their skin. it’s a pride thing. but also a reminder that u got caught. did time. ****ed up.
Nik M: u wanna guess how many tats my cuz has?
Hanna D: she’s clean, isn’t she?
Nik M: she’s as dirty as a weekend in new vegas. but there’s no ink on her, no
Hanna D: because she’s fifteen and you kept her out of it like a good cousin, or because she never gets caught?
Nik M: the little spider does what she wants. i couldn’t keep her out if i tried.
Hanna D: you have tattoos, Nik
Nik M: yeah, well
Nik M: i’m a ****up, highness. but Ella’s pro as it gets. So u can rest easy.
Nik M: speaking of, maybe u should find some place to hole up and get some sleep, ya?
Hanna D: that’s the plan. Ella will wake me when she’s done some recon.
Hanna D: apparently if I sleep with the palmpad under me she can make it vibrate to wake me up
Hanna D: NOT A WORD
Nik M: …
Nik M: <- classy
Nik M: <- mother
Nik M: <- ****er
Hanna D: Nik
Nik M: ya?
Hanna D: be safe.
Nik M: you too, highness
RADIO TRANSMISSION: BEITECH AUDIT TEAM—SECURE CHANNEL 405
PARTICIPANTS:
Bianca “Mercury” Silva, Corporal, Engineer
Gabriel “Ballpark” Moreno, Private, Engineer
DATE: 08/16/75
TIMESTAMP: 02:04
MERCURY: Ballpark, this is Mercury. How you looking, over?
BALLPARK: Handsome. Available. I work out, you know.
MERCURY: I mean how’s the situation looking, Ballpark.
BALLPARK: Yeah, figured.
BALLPARK: Getting the outer casing off now. This is really a two-man job, you know.
MERCURY: Or one very manly man.
BALLPARK: Awwwww yeah. Handling live hermium brings all the ladies to the Ballpark.
BALLPARK: Looks easy enough. Rods 3 and 4 are totally spent, but there’s no real drama. Four hours, tops. Gimme manual on the system and I’ll start changeover.
MERCURY: Roger that, manual control in five. I’ll patch through sys—
BALLPARK: Holy ****!
BALLPARK: There’s something…****, there’s SOMETHING IN MY ****ING SUIT!
MERCURY: Say again, Ballpark?
BALLPARK: Jesus ****ing Christ, I swear I felt something moving…
MERCURY: Felt something? Are you breaching? Readouts here are green across the board.
BALLPARK: It…
BALLPARK: I…
MERCURY: Ballpark, do you read? Update status, over.
MERCURY: Gabe, this is Mercury, do you read me? Report status, over.
BALLPARK: Yeah. Wow. I…****…
BALLPARK: You ever…looked at all this, Bi? Like, I mean, really looked at it? Out here?
MERCURY: Gabriel? What’s happening? Your biosigns are—
BALLPARK: It’s so…big, yeah? Like, you realize we’re sitting on a…like, a rip in space?
BALLPARK: It makes you think. Really think…you know?
BALLPARK: Bi…I think I ****ed myself.
MERCURY: Gabriel, I’m calling abort. I want you back to the airlock ASAP. Your biosig is all over the chart. Are you reading me?
BALLPARK: You’re really pretty, Bi…
MERCURY: Private Moreno, this is a direct order. Abort refuel op now and return to Airlock 31 for immediate debrief, over.
BALLPARK: Oh…look. It’s an angel.
MERCURY: Ballpark, copy, goddammit. I’m calling abort! Do you read me?
BALLPARK: A little angel inside the suit with me.
BALLPARK: It’s beautiful. It’s so…beautiful.
BALLPARK: So many mouths.
MERCURY: Gabe?
BALLPARK: Beautiful.
BALLPARK: Black.
BALLPARK: Oh…
—TRANSMISSION ENDS—
Footage opens in Commander Donnelly’s office in Heimdall C & C. The space is neat, perfectly ordered, almost spartan. A single framed holoprint of Hanna Donnelly rests on the smartglass desk. Travis Falk sits in the commander’s chair, staring at the picture, fingers steepled at his chin. A mountain of muscle. Eyes like blue ice.
And he’s smiling.
The door sensors ping. Falk speaks without glancing up. “Come.”
Kali prowls inside, burst rifle slung at her back, scowl on her face.
“Fleur.” Falk rises from his seat, indicates the chair opposite. “Make yourself comfortable.”
Kali pulls the chair out as Falk rounds the desk. And as the woman goes to sit, Falk seizes her by the throat and slams her into the wall with enough force to dent the plasteel. Kali’s eyes go wide, and she clutches the hand at her neck, lashing out with one boot into Falk’s solar plexus. Thick rubber soles squeak on his breastplate as Falk smashes Kali into another wall, spittle flying. And with an almost casual brutality, he hauls her into the air and brings her down onto Donnelly’s desk. The smartglass explodes into a thousand glittering fragments. A curse sprays from the woman’s mouth as she hits the ground, Falk drawing a long, gleaming combat knife and digging it in under her chin. He leans onto her chest, brings his face close to hers. Filmed with sweat.
He’s still smiling.
“You should report future radio faults to Corporal Alievi,” he says.
Kali is glaring, breath hissing through gritted teeth. “Sir?”
“I told you and your squad to remain in the Engineering Sector to oversee repairs.” Falk brings his face closer. His lips almost touching hers. “You’ve been chasing Donnelly. Two possibilities present themselves: Either you disobeyed a direct order from your commanding officer, placing this team and mission in jeopardy, or your radio is faulty, yes?”
“She’s placing this mission in jeopardy, Tra—”
The knife digs deeper.
“How can you be one of us,” Falk smiles, “if you’re cut in two?”
Kali blinks. Sees beyond the threat. Breath seething through flared nostrils.
“Whom do you serve, Fleur?” Falk asks. “Your ego, or your mission?”
“I—”
Falk’s commset crackles to life.
“Cerberus, this is Mercury, over.”
Falk touches his earpiece. “Mercury, Cerberus. Go.”
“Something’s happened to Ballpark.”
“Something.”
“He went outside to swap the fuel rods on the interchange. Then he started talking crazy. Babbling about something inside his suit. Biosigns were all over the shop like a madman’s ****. And now he’s not answering hails. Zero brainwave activity on biosig, but his other vitals are fine. He’s just ****ing drifting out there. I don’t know if he’s conscious or—”
“Did he com
plete the fuel rod exchange?”
“Travis, I think he’s in real—”
“Bianca.”
The slightest hint of anger creeps into Falk’s voice. First time I’ve ever heard him sound upset. It silences Mercury like a punch to the throat.
“Did he complete the fuel rod exchange?” Falk asks.
“…Negative.”
“Without this interchange, the jump gate is nonoperational, yes?”
“Transposition sequences traverse the interchange. The quantum accelerator can’t—”
“A simple ‘affirmative’ will suffice.”
“Affirmative, Cerberus. Jump gate is broke ****.”
“Understood. Hold position. I will advise. Cerberus out.”
Falk glances at Kali, still sprawled underneath him.
“Taxman is MIA. Ballpark is offline. Something is seriously wrong in Engineering. The area I told you to monitor.”
Kali glances at the holoprint of Hanna Donnelly, lying amid the shattered glass beside her head. “She’s still out there. ****ing with our systems. X-ing our people. Beta’s KIA. Mona Lisa and Link, walking wounded. I heard Nightingale lost her eye? How many more of us is she going to leave limping or dead, Travis?”
“I have several problems, it seems.”
“And two assault squads left. Charlie and Alpha.”
Falk is staring at the picture of Donnelly now too.
“Charlie Squad can handle babysitting Engineering, Travis,” Kali says. “And those idiots holed up on the bridge aren’t going anywhere.”
Falk looks her in the eyes. Her whisper is tight around the knife still at her throat.
“Give her to me.”
Falk hovers a moment more. Lips twisted. Unblinking. But finally, he stands up. Sheathes his knife. Kali winces, begins to haul herself up off the floor, broken glass grinding into the temperfoam beneath her.
Falk leans down and offers his hand.
He hauls the woman to her feet, muscles creaking under the kevlar bodyweave. Brushes a fleck of stray glass off Kali’s shoulder. Another from her hair.
“Priority one,” he says. “You take Alpha Squad and check for any more loose PLoBs. Sweep this entire sector, along with the grav-rail and Hub, to ensure we have no more surprises in store. I want every centimeter of ground covered. Stones will be overturned, Fleur. You will know the names of this station’s cockroaches when you are done.”