Gruefield 18 (Tarnished Sterling Omnibus)

by Robert McCarroll

  "You're leaving a whole box of stuff behind," she said. I tried not to frown as Ixa pushed the cardboard box from Paragon Logistics towards the back door of the van. With everyone looking at me, I couldn't "forget" to put it on. Opening the box, I pulled the two smaller boxes out. The first contained a limp glove of dark material covered in red circuitry. Except for the emitter disk over the palm, it was almost as thin as silk. Unhooking my wrist computer, I pulled it on my left hand. As I hooked the computer back on my forearm, Nora read the note in Arch Larson's chicken scratch handwriting. "It turns out the leather casing was just insulation. We've replaced it with a polymer film which will do the job just as well, but is a hundred times more flexible. We added a non-slip coating so you won't lose your grip while wearing it. The control circuits were the only straightforward component. The guys at the lab would love to take it apart and see how it works." I crumpled the note in her hand and tossed it back in the box.

  The other box was an off-the-shelf Paragon product. In her unending quest to annoy her little brother, Nora picked up the manual as I slipped it on my right forearm, trying to hide my shame. "Thank you for purchasing the Paragon International Logistics series seven infiltrator gauntlet. This model integrates a new model line launcher and a fiber optic probe into a rugged, shock-resistant unibody." I took the manual from her and tossed it back in the box. The "infiltrator gauntlet" was a fingerless glove attached to a partial sleeve with a box along the back of the forearm. The grip plate was Scyan tech which hadn't made it to market because the tech guys at Future Products still had no idea how it worked. They could make it work, but not reproduce it. The Scyans didn't talk shop much, preferring instead to preach their word.

  "You done?" I asked, surliness creeping into my voice. I felt like I was cheating, using gear I hadn't earned the right to touch.

  "There was a warning to make sure any surfaces you fire it at can hold your weight," Nora said, "And that the motors were only rated to five hundred pounds. Oh, and never attach it to flesh, or grievous bodily harm would ensue. The cable, however, can hold five thousand pounds."

  "Thanks, I knew your speed-reading would come in handy sometime." If I knew Nora, she was making a face at me. Luckily, her '"Blue Streak" costume hid all but the most dramatic expressions. She held up my domino mask, the golden tracery of psychic circuitry facing me.

  "Can't control it if you leave this behind," she said.

  I pushed my goggles to my forehead and donned the mask. After a second of wooziness, the hardware I was carrying felt like a part of my body. I flexed the new muscles, extending the fiber optic probe, retracting it, briefly encasing myself in a force bubble. On my eye, a series of power bars appeared, showing the battery life left on each piece of equipment. Most were full, but my cell was down to three-quarters.

  "Right, that seems to be working."

  "I'm ready to kick ass," Pam said, "So you guys get moving." Five of us set out: Jennifer, Ben, Icerazor, Xiv and myself. Those of us unused to infiltration followed my lead, staying low in the overgrown grass as we moved towards the chain-link fence around the mine grounds. The grass to either side of the fence was mowed short, but further away had been left to grow wild. A raven stared at us from one of the fence posts further down, somehow fascinated by our waddling approach.

  "Hold the constructs, Miss Pain, they glow too brightly for this stage. We climb the fence when the guards have passed." I got nods from the others. It was probably redundant for Icerazor, but Ben and Xiv have never been on this type of action. His silence told me he thought I was speaking to the sidekicks. Fortunately, he wasn't dumb enough to rush off either. I watched the guards approach on thermal. They had night vision goggles, something almost two-thirds of my team was lacking.

  "Xiv, Icerazor, over the fence." The two hurried forward, Xiv briefly taking wing just enough to clear the chain link as Icerazor scrambled over with a practiced ease that almost made me envious. Icerazor dragged Xiv into the best cover, a small dip in the ground where the shadows would be slightly darker than elsewhere. Not good cover, but there wasn't much of that around.

  The next patrol came ambling past, and I held my breath as they approached the patch of dirt where my two very pale teammates were huddled. Neither one was well-suited to vanish into darkness in terms of coloration, but they made up for it by remaining extremely still. I waited for these guards to be more distant before I motioned again. "Cupric, Pain." They were not as silent going over the fence and the metallic parts of their costumes caught the light better. Worse, the next patrol looked to be early. Every muscle tensed up as the two team members in the open went to ground. On thermal, I had an unmatched view of everyone's position as the guards walked towards the patch of grass where my teammates were hiding. I wanted to be able to do something, to lash out and tackle the guards, to cover the team with a piece of camouflage, anything to avoid the disaster I was sure was on its way.

  My gaze went back to the raven. I smirked and fired a tracer at the post it sat on. With a thwap, the post shook and the bird took wing. The guards turned towards the sound and motion, looking away from the young heroes in their field. "Huh," one of the guards said. "Aren't ravens daytime birds?"

  "Who gives a crap?" the other guard asked. They continued on, leaving a very important gap in their sweep of the grounds. As they moved away, I slipped forward to the fence and recovered the tracer. I scrambled over the fence and rejoined the team, urging them to hurry along. We scuttled away from the patrol path, staying low among the grass. The vent was a galvanized steel tube sticking out of a block of concrete set into the dirt. A simple cover kept the rain out without impairing the airflow.

  "Camera test," I whispered as I adjusted the rig clipped to Xiv's right horn until I was looking at myself. Icerazor dropped the bundle of rope next to the vent and began checking the cover for alarms. I assume he found none as he started unscrewing it a short while later. "Are you ready?" I asked. Xiv nodded. Unspooling part of the rope, I tied a loop about his waist. "We're going to hold most of your weight so you can work on whatever we come across," I said. I handed him the toolkit we'd prepared. "If I say stop, you freeze right where you are in the vent. No questions, no adjustments, just stop moving until I can give further instructions. Got me?" Xiv nodded again. "Try to make as little noise as you can, and stay calm. If anything goes wrong, we'll pull you back up."

  Xiv gave me a hug. "I won't let you down," he said. I handed the rope to Ben and Jennifer. Hoisting Xiv on to my shoulder, I nodded to Icerazor, who removed the cover from the vent. Together, we tipped the dragon boy into the vent and took up the slack on the rope as he shimmied down the metal pipe.

  "Stop moving your head so much," I said. "Slow, methodical sweeps of the space in front of you. When you move too fast, the image blurs."

  "Got it," Xiv whispered, the image from his camera feed growing steadier. With four of us on the rope, we stood very exposed in the middle of an empty field. Only the dim light from the crescent moon kept us from being a beacon to the guards. As the last link in the chain, I kept the rope from dragging along the rough lip of the vent. Not only would that make too much noise, but potentially fray the rope as well. As far as I could see, there was nothing special along the length of the pipe. It was dusty and housed a few unfortunate cobwebs, but looked like it has been untouched since the miners abandoned it. To his credit, Xiv didn't complain about the lousy conditions of the space he was sinking through face first. I didn't know many kids who'd put up with that.

  The less security I saw, the less I liked it. This was supposed to be the home of the living embodiment of their God. Not covering every point of entry seemed wrong. As static started to creep into the signal feed from Xiv's camera, I saw what looked like a fan. "Stop," I said. Xiv froze and the others tensed up on the rope. "Is that what it looks like?"

  "If it looks like a fan," Xiv said.

  "W
hy is it not turning?"

  "It's covered in something."

  "What?" Xiv reached out and prodded a still blade.

  "Salt." Even through the camera it became apparent that the components were badly corroded and encrusted in salt. Xiv poked it again, and flinched as the entire assembly broke free and crashed to the floor. "I'm sorry," he whispered, fear creeping into his voice for the first time.

  "That was so loud I heard it," Jennifer said.

  "Is anyone coming?" I asked.

  "I don't hear anyone."

  "We're going to lower you to the floor. Take a look around." I motioned for the others to ease the line forward, and we lowered Xiv a few more feet. The chamber he was in was massive, dark and carved from concreted halite. Rubble and tangled machinery coated the floor where entire layers of the mine's workings had collapsed. If anyone had been in there at the time, it certainly looked like a potentially fatal incident. I guessed that was what triggered the end of the mine operation. Years of razor-thin margins followed by a cave-in doomed the company operating it. It hadn't run out of salt, but there were plenty of other, safer, mines further west.

  In this void, the Final Star had built a whole building. The walls appeared to be made from prefabricated concrete panels held together by some sort of resin. There was no security on the vent because we were staring at essentially a blank wall. But not quite. "Xiv, do you see that grate up by the top of the wall?"

  "Yes," Xiv whispered.

  "I think that's a vent cover. We're going to lower you to the floor. I need you to untie yourself and fly up for a closer look."

  "Okay," Xiv said as I motioned for more rope to be fed down the vent. When Xiv was standing amongst the rubble, he untied himself and took wing within the still chamber. He clung to the wall almost as if he were part gecko instead of part dragon. Moving his head slowly, he gave me a closeup view of what was now clearly a vent cover.

  "There is an alarm on this thing," I said. "Follow my instructions very carefully, and do exactly what I tell you."

  "Okay," Xiv said. I talked him through the process, making sure he didn't act until he'd heard and understood each instruction in its entirety. I was growing acutely aware of how long we'd been standing out in the open, and I motioned for the team to go prone while Xiv fumbled with the unfamiliar tools. Sweat began to trickle down my spine as I watched the static-smattered image of the poor dragon boy trying to disable the tamper alarm. Once I was sure it was no longer a threat, I had him unscrew the vent cover. He lowered the cover to the floor, strewn with massive chunks of concreted salt, before climbing back up to peer down the narrow aluminum duct.

  "You're doing great Xiv. Key thing here is to stay calm as you head on into the duct."

  "This one's smaller. I don't know if you'll fit."

  "Lets get your part done first. We still need to get a hook into their computers. Once we have that, we can revise our entry plan."

  "Okay," Xiv said. He crawled into the rectangular duct, his narrow shoulders brushing both sides. His chin and horns touched the top and bottom almost simultaneously. He was right, we wouldn't fit.

  "Careful not to bang the camera too much," I said.

  "Sorry," Xiv said. I could hear the terror edging into his voice. Was he having flashbacks to the cramped conditions the cultists had kept him in?

  "Are you all right Xiv?"

  "I'm okay," he lied. It was obvious he was on the verge of panic. The only thing keeping it in check seemed to be his determination to not disappoint me. I felt like a cad using a kid like this. I should have pulled him out when we saw the wall, or picked an entirely different entry point. He was too far in to change tracks now. He came upon another fan, this one actually pushing air towards the vent exit.

  "Stop," I said. He froze. "Right in front of you, on the bottom of the vent, is that an inspection hatch?"

  "It's some kind of hatch with hinges."

  "It's to work on the fan and clean the vents. I want you to take a close look at it so I can see if it's alarmed."

  "Okay," Xiv said, his voice trembling. Damn, I should have realized tight spaces wouldn't agree with him. Not after the box I found him in. I could almost hear him fighting to keep the fear in check.

  "There is an alarm. This is going to be a bit more awkward than last time, but bear with me, we can do this."

  "Why does Fearless Leader sound like he's giving a pep talk?" Jennifer asked. I raised a finger to my lips and kept my attention on the degraded signal from the camera. Luckily, she didn't appear to have said that over an open comm.

  "Lets prep the tools you need..." I did my best to keep Xiv's mind on the mechanical task of tracing wires, stripping some to short them, clipping others. After a while, he was able to pop the simple latch and drop the inspection hatch open. Before I could caution against it, he stuck his head out and sucked in open air. Only by happenstance was the plain gray hallway empty. "I know that hatch is smaller than the vent, but see if you can squeeze through."

  "I'm gonna make it," Xiv said, "Cause I'm not staying in this vent." His wriggling sent wildly thrashing camera images to me that were more static than picture. Eventually he dropped to the floor and the ill-defined image settled. "Okay," he said, breathing easier. "I'm in."

  "Lets see about finding a computer." Xiv stood up and looked around. There were ordinary wooden doors off the hallway of prefab concrete panels. He went to the nearest one. It had a room number, "14-03B." He turned the knob before I could say "Stop." He froze, the door already ajar. "All right, it's a bit late now, examine the doorway to see if you set off a silent alarm." He looked around, but we found no sign that the door had been alarmed. "Proceed inside."

  Xiv stepped into what looked like a lab. Rows of workbenches ran through the middle of the space, while tall glass canisters lined the back wall. Most held deformed, twisted, half-human bodies in various stages of development. All appeared to be dead. Two tubes were empty: Fourteen and sixteen. Xiv's gaze shifted away from the tubes fast enough to blur the image. At the new angle the image came to rest on a PC. He didn't seem to react.

  "Xiv."

  "Yes?"

  "Are your eyes open?"

  "No."

  "Don't move, but open your eyes." After a moment's hesitation, there was a slight shift in the camera angle.

  "Will that work?" he asked.

  "It should." Xiv approached the computer and fished the link out of his toolkit. I talked him through hooking it in. Xiv turned, flinching visibly as his gaze passed over the tubes again. "Okay, I need you to find a place to hide. We'll come and get you." There was a yelp over the comm and the camera went to a static-riddled blur. The image settled briefly on a horned visage with a long snout, red or golden-red in color. It spoke with a nearly inaudible, deep voice.

  "Hello, brother," it said, swiping a claw down at Xiv.

  My feed said, "Signal Lost."

  Part 34

  The others could tell from my expression and the fact that I nearly bolted upright that something had gone horribly wrong. "We need to get down there," I said. "Xiv's in trouble." The creature that had jumped Xiv looked more dragonish than Xiv did. I didn't know whether it was the dragoness or their latest attempt to create a viable male. Whatever it was, it was beating on a kid I'd sent into harms way. It was Ben who grabbed my arm.

  "By the time we get down there, that fight will be over one way or another. Either we activate the surface team and go in heavy, or we stick to the plan."

  "He's just a kid," I said.

  "I know."

  I pulled up the link to the lab PC. It was hard to focus on what steps I needed to take to compromise their system with what I knew was going on in that lab. The link sat on its network cable, listening in as the system asked for and was granted an address and began reconnecting to services
. The tools to query the network were all automated, so all I had to do was sit and fret as Xiv faced off against a genetic sibling many stories below ground. When I found the controller for their physical security, I was shocked to discover that no alarms had been tripped. Whatever that other dragon wanted to do, it didn't want the cultists to interrupt its fun.

  "I'm in their system, disengaging major alarms," I said, trying to keep my self-loathing and panic from my voice. I should never have sent him down there. It was the wrong course of action. Of course, everything was clear in hindsight. "None were tripped."

  "Then what's Xiv up against?" Icerazor asked.

  "Looked like another dragon, about his size, give or take." Actually, from the poor camera feed, I had no idea how big the other dragon was. I told myself they were evenly matched so Xiv still had a chance of fighting it off. Of course, Xiv could already be dead for all I knew. "We'll have to go down there to find out."