Promethean Files 2: The Prometheus Gambit

by Andrew Dobell

  Suddenly, the trio of men turned right at the end of the building, disappearing from view. Frankie hustled up to the corner and looked in the direction they had gone. They were only about five meters away and had slowed their pace as one of the officers talked on his data pad, which he held to his ear.

  The three men were between a building and a yard filled with metal parts surrounded by a low fence, which gave Frankie a view over towards more buildings and a police flyer a few hundred meters away.

  There was a sudden roar and whoosh as a large black flyer appeared over the building they were standing next to and swooped down towards where the police flyer had landed. Frankie recognised Duplex Neural logo on the side of it.

  ‘The situation’s changed. Looks like Zhou’s Corporation is here to pick him up from the police; their flyer in landing nearby,’ Frankie sent over the general link.

  ‘Get him now and get out of there,’ William said.

  ‘Copy that, using lethal force,’ she sent back and moved around the corner. She fired two rounds from her suppressed gun that could barely be heard by Frankie over the noise of the incoming flyer, let alone anyone nearby. Her two headshots dropped the officers immediately and elicited a yelp from Zhou as he looked down at the two dead men. Frankie was next to him then with Kalypso close by.

  ‘Zhou, we need to leave,’ she yelled to make herself heard.

  Zhou looked up at Frankie and then Kalypso.

  ‘It’s me. Kalypso. We need to go, now,’ Frankie’s teammate said.

  ‘But you… what did you do?’ Zhou said, looking down at the two dead men, hesitating and cursing in Chinese.

  ‘Casualties of War, Duplex is here. You come with us now, or you go back with them,’ Frankie said, pointing at the flyer as it dropped the final few feet to the deck.

  Zhou looked over to the flyer with its large twin rotors on either side of the central hull.

  ‘Okay, let’s go,’ he said. Kalypso took Zhou by the arm and jogged around the corner with him, back towards the edge of the platform. Frankie glanced back once as she rounded the corner and cursed when she saw a security guard who had just appeared on the far side of the building and seen the two police officers. He looked up and saw Frankie a fraction of a second before she ducked around the corner.

  There was no time to deal with that now, though; they needed to move.

  ‘Run,’ Frankie called to Kalypso. ‘We’ve been made,’ she added.

  2.15

  Frankie followed Kalypso as she picked up the pace. This would be a dirtier extraction than she would have liked, and given it was the first one, she didn’t know if this boded well for the three more to come. Crossing the roadway, they ducked between the first containers they found before continuing towards the edge of the platform.

  ‘We run and jump,’ Frankie said. ‘You’re going to get cold for a few minutes, Zhou. We don’t have time to get you into a wetsuit.’

  ‘Okay,’ he yelled back to her as they approached the final container and ran out into the access way around the edge of the platform. They didn’t stop and sprinted to the edge, jumping off of it into the freezing water below.

  Gibson grabbed Zhou the moment he was in the water and got an oxygen mask on him as quickly as he could, holding onto him as he gripped his sub and brought it up to speed.

  Frankie’s floatation device kicked in again, and, within moments, she and Kalypso were flying through the bay to Hong Kong waters as fast as their subs would go.

  Within minutes they were back board the flyer and warming Zhou up. For now, his health was more important, and they could talk to him about the details of what he could do for them in return for getting him out of China in due course.

  ‘You killed them, right?’ William asked over a link.

  ‘Quickest way to get him out of there,’ Frankie replied.

  ‘Okay, understood. I doubt there will be any trouble. They have no idea who we are, and will likely assume it was a rival Corporation head-hunting. How’s Zhou?’

  ‘Recovering from his ice cold swim. He should be all right. We’ll talk to him soon; we’re about to land.’

  ‘Understood. Keep me informed of any developments,’ he finished and clicked off the line.

  They were in the small flyer that fitted within the cargo plane they had been gifted. It had a nice feature in that it could lift off right from within the hull of the aircraft. It used its articulated rotors to generate lift and rise out from the plane in a VTOL action. It could also land directly within the aeroplane on its return as well and then swing those same rotors back into the inside of the parent aircraft after it landed. The flyer was entering its automated landing sequence now, and smoothly slotted itself in through the open roof of the cargo jet before its engines powered down, and the rotors swung into the cargo bay along the sides of the flyer before the aircraft’s roof hatch closed.

  Within a few more minutes, they were airborne again and heading northeast towards Japan. Parts of the plane had already been partitioned off during its two-day stop back in Neo-London to make it into more of a mobile command base, including an operations bay where Dion was stationed, a briefing room, and a lab, which was currently staffed by a medical doll that was looking after Zhou.

  ‘So, that didn’t go quite as expected?’ Cole said to Frankie as they sat in the briefing room.

  ‘I doubt any of these extractions will be completely smooth and without surprises or complications,’ Frankie answered. ‘All things considered, I think that went as smoothly as could be expected, given the situation. We tied up the loose ends and we have the first programmer.’

  ‘That is true,’ Cole admitted.

  ‘Have you spoken to him about the plan yet?’ Dion asked.

  ‘Not yet, but he seemed grateful for what we did,’ Kalypso said.

  Frankie couldn’t help but feel a little frustrated that the extraction didn’t go to plan, and she did feel bad both about the two police officers she had killed and about dunking Zhou in the sea. He would survive, but it must have been a bit of a shock to him.

  As for the police officers, she had to make a snap decision, and she couldn’t help but wonder if she had made the right one. These guys were just doing their jobs and had gotten caught up in the middle of their fight against the Corporations, but they weren’t the first, and she doubted they would be the last. She did wonder, though, given the Corporations’ reputation for not caring about the lives of others, would they have let those two officers live?

  She had seen the Corporations operators and agents kill for much less, and these two might have heard something from Zhou that might mean, in the Corporation’s eyes, that they knew too much. That was always a good reason for them to kill someone.

  She had no way of knowing, but it was certainly a possibility.

  Frankie had killed before, and she would likely kill again before this mission was over, but part of her just couldn’t help the pang of guilt she felt over her actions. She guessed it was all a question of how guilty they were. How much did they know? How culpable they were? Did they know what they were doing was wrong and do it anyway, or were they innocent bystanders?

  In this case, the police were just doing their job and were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that did play on her mind more than when she killed Corporation forces.

  There was a sudden knock on the door before it was opened by the medical doll. The doll had been designed to look friendly and kind, but also clean and sterile, with its bright white shell, the red cross on its forehead, and the green scrubs it wore.

  ‘Zhou is ready to meet with you, now,’ it said in its soft feminine voice.

  ‘That’s great, send him in,’ Frankie said.

  The doll stepped to one side and ushered Zhou into the room. He was still wrapped in a chrome sheet but looked much happier now.

  ‘Thank you, thank you so much for helping me escape. I don’t know how I can repay you for what you did, but if there’s anything I can do.’


  ‘It’s our pleasure, Zhou, and it’s funny you should say that, because we do have something in mind that you could help us with,’ Frankie said with a friendly smile.

  ‘Name it,’ he said.

  ‘I won’t go into too many details right now, but it’s basically some programming in the area you’re most qualified in,’ she said.

  ‘Sure, sounds great.’

  ‘In the meantime, you should rest up. We have a stop to make in Japan before we head back to Neo-London.’

  ‘Of course, and thank you again,’ he said as he rose from his chair and left the room with a smile.

  ‘Didn’t want to go into details, then?’ Dion asked.

  ‘Not now. He’s still on a high from the extraction, and I doubt he’s fully recovered from his swim in the bay, so, I’d rather he concentrate on recovering one hundred percent first,’ she said. ‘What’s our ETA for arrival in Tokyo?’ Frankie asked.

  ‘We’re two hours out,’ Dion said.

  Ω

  Their flyer zipped through the air from Tokyo airport, heading out into the bay and the city on the artificial island they had built there.

  With their neutral stance on the last two World Wars, Japan had become a desirable place to live, not least because it had also become a world leader in so many areas, including economically and in standards of living. With the migration north by those displaced by climate change, the city needed to grow. But, rather than expand inland, they chose to use the bay area and build upwards.

  An enormous artificial island had been created in the bay, and they built both above, and beneath the water. After decades of construction, which was still continuing today, Tokyo had grown into a metropolis that was only rivalled in size and scope by Neo London. The bay was now a river that ran around Tokyo Bay City, but as the construction continued, the buildings on the island started to reach out for those on the mainland as more and more bridges at varying levels of elevation crossed over the Bay River.

  The towers of Bay City soared high into the early morning sky, covered in glowing lights of gold, blue, and crimson. It had been the evening in Hong Kong during their raid there, but it was just after midnight here after their supersonic three-hour flight.

  ‘Which building is Rin’s apartment in?’ Frankie asked as she stood in the cockpit behind the doll pilot.

  ‘I’ll mark it in your vision,’ Dion said from his terminal in the back of the flyer. Two seconds later, one of the buildings glowed red for a moment in Frankie’s vision before the glow faded, leaving just a floating tag pointing to it.

  ‘And do we know if he’s in and online?’

  ‘From the hack of the building security, we know that he’s in. The video surveillance has confirmed it. I’ve been monitoring his social media feed, and according to that, he’s been online for a while now, and will be online for a few hours more if he keeps his usual routine,’ Dion said.

  ‘Good,’ Frankie said to Dion. She looked over to the doll pilot. ‘Set us down on the roof, but keep it running in case we need a quick getaway,’ she said.

  ‘Copy that,’ the doll said.

  Frankie moved to the back of flyer and picked up her gun, checking it over to make sure it was ready.

  ‘So, you’re taking a leaf out of my book, then, with his one?’ Gibson said, pointing to the ropes that had been secured to the back of the flyer.

  ‘But of course,’ Frankie smiled. ‘You have all the best ideas, and it worked so well last time,’ she said.

  ‘I’m not sure Xenox would agree with that,’ Gibson commented.

  ‘Heh, maybe not,’ she smiled. Xenox had complained endlessly about rappelling down the side of the police precinct.

  Frankie walked towards the back of the flyer and pressed the button on the side wall. With a whine, the rear access ramp levered open to reveal the city outside. Buildings whipped past them on either side and below as they made their final approach to the building Rin lived in.

  Frankie held on as the flyer banked left and slowed, dropping down between the massive dagger-like skyscrapers until it bumped down onto the roof of a building.

  ‘Rin’s apartment balcony should be directly out from the back of the flyer,’ the doll said over the group’s neural link.

  ‘Copy that,’ Frankie answered and grabbed her rope as she walked down onto the landing pad. The skyline of endless skyscrapers and arcologies reminded her of London, but there seemed to be a more multi-coloured glow to Tokyo with much more neon lighting up the city below.

  Frankie walked towards the edge of the building, moving over or around the machinery and air vents on the rooftop, followed by Gibson, Cole, and Kalypso, who each carried a rope that was also attached to the back of the flyer.

  Reaching the edge, Frankie looked down to see the elevated highways and platforms giving the city a multi-level vertical dimension, similar to London’s Undercity, Mid-Levels, and Upper City. Several floors below them and to the right, a balcony jutted out on the side of the building. There was another directly below that and plenty more further down as well.

  ‘Dion, which is Rin’s balcony?’ she sent through the link.

  ‘Second one down; the one right below you,’ he said.

  ‘Aaah, gotcha,’ she said as she eyed it. It was maybe six floors below them and looked empty to her.

  ‘Okay, I need to know now. Is Rin online?’ Frankie asked.

  ‘One moment,’ Dion answered, before coming back to her a few seconds later. ‘He is; time to go,’ he said.

  ‘Excellent, let’s go,’ she said to her three teammates two seconds before she dropped over the edge and started to make her way down the side of the building.

  She moved quickly, not wanting to spend too much time out here in what was a somewhat vulnerable position. But it was better than going in through the interior, where they stood a greater chance of being noticed and running into security.

  Reaching his apartment, Frankie swung upside down and lowered herself slowly to peek in through the top of the window. She could see the whole of the main living area quite easily from here, and, sure enough, sitting within an elaborate looking VR rig sat a Japanese man with his eyes closed and wires attached to his head and neck.

  ‘Can you see him?’ Gibson asked from behind her where he, Cole, and Kalypso waited.

  ‘Yeah. I can. He’s in the rig,’ Frankie said as she took hold of her rope, spun around and detached herself from it at the same time, dropping to the balcony in near silence.

  She paused there, in a crouch, and scanned the living quarters again. She noticed the sliding door that led inside from the balcony was standing slightly open. She smiled to herself. This was looking better. It felt nice to have a bit of luck this time.

  ‘All right, come down,’ she said, and her three teammates dropped to the balcony as well while Frankie approached the door. With her gun up and ready, Frankie took hold of the doorframe with her off hand and slid it to her right. It moved smoothly in near silence. With both hands back on her gun, Frankie took a cautious step inside, scanning the living space, looking for trouble.

  ‘You are not authorised to enter here,’ said a strong voice from a side room from the other end of the living area. Movement caught Frankie’s attention as a doll stepped into the living space from where she heard the voice. ‘Intruder alert…’

  2.16

  Frankie adjusted her aim and fired. Any further outbursts were cut short by her unloading a burst of suppressed, subsonic armour piercing rounds into the android’s head, dropping it to the floor.

  A sudden flurry of footsteps from her left made Frankie turn, just in time to see another doll come barrelling out of a closer doorway, charging right at her. There was no way she would be able to bring her weapon to bear on it in time, but the suppressed mechanical action of a gun behind her caused the android to explode in a shower of electronics and cybernetics that clattered to the floor at Frankie’s feet.

  ‘I gotcha, Frankie,’ Gibson said
through their neural link from behind her.

  She turned to see him pointing his gun at where the doll had been moments before.

  ‘Thanks, Gibson,’ she sent back with a smile before looking over at Rin. He seemed not to notice the noise in here, luckily. She moved over to Rin with Gibson while Cole and Kalypso searched the rest of the apartment to confirm they were now alone. Frankie saw Gibson open the backpack he was carrying and lift out the powerful portable terminal they had brought with them to make the download.

  Frankie sat herself down and scanned the VR rig and the terminal it was hooked up to. She quickly found the wireless port and sent in her most powerful cracking software.

  ‘Are you nearly in the game yet?’ Dion asked through the link.

  ‘I’m getting there,’ Frankie said. ‘Is there a problem?’

  ‘He’s just posted from within the game that he might need to log off for a moment. You need to get in there and distract him.’

  ‘And how do I do that?’ Frankie asked. ‘Distract him, I mean?’

  ‘I don’t know, use your imagination… Well, I guess he likes his women, so, I don’t know, be sexy?’

  ‘Great,’ she sighed. She had no idea how to do this. The plan had always been for her to dive into the game and monitor Rin as they hacked his cyber brain, but now she had to distract him as well? So much for this raid being easier!

  Her cracking software broke through the consumer firewall in a few seconds.

  ‘I’m going in,’ she said over the team’s neural link.

  Gibson nodded as Cole and Kalypso returned from their scout of the apartment. ‘Good luck,’ he said.