Virago One: A Hard Science Fiction Technothriller (Ace of Space Book 2)

by John Triptych

  The girl to his left rested her chin on his shoulder. “Thanks for bringing us here. I still couldn’t believe the bouncers let us in.”

  Vlad was sitting in between them at the booth overlooking the disk jockey area. His arms were outstretched as he placed them around both their shoulders. His English was halting since he had only begun a crash course to learn more of the language over the past two weeks. “I took care of that, no problem.”

  The girl to his left stared into his face. “How? Our IDs were like, totally fake. They scanned it at the door, yet they let us in!”

  Vlad winked at her. “I am … good with computer. Is easy for me.”

  “Wow,” the girl to his right said. “You’re like a hacker then?”

  “More than a hacker,” Vlad said as he kissed her cheek. “Blyad, I am best hacker in the world!”

  The girl to his right recoiled a little bit after his moist lips touched her face. “Hey, easy there, mister!”

  “What is problem?” Vlad asked. “I did favor for you- I got you into club and pay for drinks, now you can pay me back. With kiss.”

  The girl on his right side frowned and slid farther away from him. “I-I can’t!”

  Vlad hissed as he poured another shot of vodka and downed it. “Pochemu nyet- why not?”

  “We’re both … high school students,” the girl on his right said.

  Vlad shrugged. “Ichto. So what? I was in school long time ago too.”

  The girl to his left gave Vlad a kiss on his cheek before turning to look at her friend. “Come on, Kim, it’s only a kiss.”

  The other girl shook her head. “No, this guy is old!”

  “Adevayut, suit yourself,” Vlad said as he turned to his left and gave the more willing girl a long, passionate kiss.

  As he sloshed his tongue inside the teenage girl’s mouth, Vlad heard another woman’s voice from across the low table in front of him. “Okay, you’ve had your fun. Now let’s go.”

  Vlad stopped kissing the teen girl and turned his head. Standing in front of him was a compact, red-headed woman dressed in black. Her intense blue eyes seemed to radiate their own luminescence, reflecting away the radiance of the club’s laser lighting system. He sighed. They found him just as he was about to have some fun.

  The dark-haired girl that had been kissing him got up and stood in front of the redhead. “Hey, he’s taken. Why don’t you go find someone else, lady?”

  The red-headed woman sidestepped to her left and shoved the teenage girl towards the opposite end of the small walkway. She then leaned over and grabbed Vlad by his collar, pulling him to an upright position. “We’re leaving,” she whispered, but her voice was so authoritative that he heard her. “Right now.”

  As the other teen girl ran over to help her fallen friend, the red-headed woman pulled Vlad along while they made their way towards the exit. Reaching into her coat, she peeled away a few hundred dollars and placed it on the bar counter as they passed by. Vlad tried to struggle free, but it only made the grip on his collar ever tighter.

  “Dyermo. Alright, I not resist,” Vlad said as she shoved him out of the club. It was close to midnight, and the street beside the establishment was mostly deserted except for a few parked cars. The bouncers gave the woman an approving glance before returning their attention to the people waiting in line to get inside. It was clear she had paid them to look the other way.

  The woman finally let go of his jacket and pointed at a nearby car parked by the street. “Get in there.”

  Vlad cursed again in Russian as he walked over to the front passenger door and opened it before sliding into the seat. The woman got into the driver’s side, started the car with a push of a button, then drove off towards the south of the city. The bright lights of Las Vegas seemed to echo back down towards the deserted, sand colored streets after initially launching their muted radiance out into the clear desert night.

  The woman kept her eyes on the road even though the car was on autodrive. Her Russian language skills were flawless. “You were told not to leave the house, Vlad.”

  Vlad sighed. “I have been coding for many, many days without any rest. I needed to go out.”

  “So you hacked into the neighbor’s car, took it out for a joyride, picked up a couple of underage teenagers and brought them into a club? You seem to really want to be caught, don’t you?”

  Vlad let out a deep breath. “Come on, Kate.”

  “Don’t you come on, me. You have not only compromised yourself, but you may have compromised the rest of the team too.”

  Vlad shook his head violently. “Nyet. I did not. The car I took from the house beside ours, no one able to trace it back to me. I used a public access com-link for that. I anonymized it through many onion routers.”

  Kate gave him a contemptuous glance. She had tracked the car down an hour prior to getting him and wiped the vehicle clean of fingerprints and DNA before abandoning it at a nondescript back alley. “And what about those girls?”

  Vlad threw his hands up. “They are nothing. I just kissed them is all.”

  “You do realize that the club has a video security system, right?”

  “I remotely disabled it when we were let in,” Vlad said. “As told you, I always cover my tracks.”

  “As we’ve told you,” Kate said. “It was easy enough for me to find you in Saint Petersburg. I found you again tonight without any trouble.”

  Vlad nodded. She must have placed a tracking device in his clothes. Very clever. “Yes, you are very good, Kate. But I was also getting very cocky, and I needed someone to show me I was careless. Now I am back to being the best. Then again, you had training with British Intelligence, so you are almost comparable to me.”

  Kate snorted. “Comparable? I could have let the FSB arrest you in Saint Petersburg, Vlad. If it wasn’t for me, you’d be rotting in a cell right now.”

  Vlad held his hands up to his shoulders. “Yes. Okay. I will not go out of the house without your permission from now on, okay? I do not want to fight with you.”

  “Then stick to the task at hand,” Kate said. “We all have to do our part to make sure we pull off the next phase. You should have finished coding that application that we need to hack into the AI controller module by now- if only you’d have stuck with the schedule instead of acting like a dumb kid.”

  Vlad grinned. “Ah, but my dear Kate, I finished it before I went to the club. I was doing remote beta testing when I got access to the neighbor’s car.”

  “You finished it? Why didn’t you say so? Ganz has been asking me what the situation was for the past few hours.”

  “See,” Vlad said. “You had too little faith in me, but I came through for you and your master, Urizen Group.”

  Kate flashed him an irritated look. “They are not my employer.”

  “Oh? I noticed when I was going through our database. Says you received quite a bit of money from them,” Vlad said. “So when you stopped working for government security agencies and became a mercenary, you worked directly for Urizen, yes?”

  Kate grimaced. Her right hand instinctively curled into a fist, the cybernetic implants in her extremities trembled with barely suppressed power. “I told you I don’t work for Urizen. That money is for our operating expenses.”

  “So we are all under the employ of Urizen now, yes?”

  “No we’re not,” Kate said tersely. He was making her angry, and she had to control her temper. “Urizen is one of many that’s helping us out. I’m a freelancer, and I have no loyalty to them.”

  “So what are you doing this for, Kate? For money? You know we have good chance of dying even if we can succeed and get into the ship?”

  “Why don’t you ask yourself that same question, Vlad?”

  Vlad smirked as he looked away from her, concentrating on the buildings and streets of the city as they drove through it all. “Me? I am not doing this for the money. I want to get my hands on that AI that UN banned and unleash it upon world. I want to
see the Singularity before I die.”

  “You’re an idealist.”

  He turned and looked at her again. “What of you? You are doing this for the money? I know Ganz is doing it for that, he told me so. But our chances are very slim. I think even when you get the money, you will not have a chance to spend it.”

  “I’m not doing this for the money.”

  “What then?”

  “I’m not going to tell you,” she said. “So shut up and stop asking me about my personal life.”

  Vlad rolled his eyes. “Okay. So what now?”

  “Once we’re back in the house, you will show me what you’ve completed,” Kate said. “If it’s to my satisfaction, then I’ll alert Ganz and tell him we’re ready.”

  Chapter 6

  Herbert Eng Wu gasped in pain as he took the steaming pile of food from the microwave oven and placed it onto the plastic table. He was sick of eating instant macaroni and cheese, but the only other meals his handlers offered were hero sandwiches or take out burgers, and he was even more irritated at having to eat those, so he took the packet of imitation pasta from the cupboard and heated it up. Herbert waited until the bubbling stopped before taking the small plastic spoon that lay on the table and began to eat. The powdered imitation cheese wasn’t fully cooked and he almost spit it out before his throat recovered, but Herbert swallowed it in the end. With the charges of espionage looming over him, his one remaining pleasure was to eat whatever he could find.

  Less than two months ago, Herbert had top level security, given to him by the government to work on Project Virago and its revolutionary fusion drive. He had attained his doctorate in physics and nuclear engineering at MIT, graduating at the top of his class and was quickly recruited into ACE Corp. Herbert’s parents were first generation Chinese immigrants, yet his father and mother inexplicably returned to the motherland while their first born son rose through the corporate ranks and was finally promoted into ACE’s elite research and development division. It wasn’t known what the real reasons were for his parent’s sudden departure, until Herbert paid a visit to his dad in China, and the truth was revealed.

  Herbert’s father was an intelligence agent whose task was to sire a son to become a spy- just like him. His father told him of his duty to the country of his ancestors, and of the urgent need to maintain the balance of power. If America were to become too powerful, then it could spell the end of his country- China needed men like him to catch up. After agonizing over his decision whether or not to pass along information to the Chinese government, Herbert decided that his first duty was to his parents. He agreed to do his beloved father’s bidding.

  When Herbert was chosen to be one of the lead engineers in the fusion project, he soon worked alongside ACE Corp’s CEO Errol Flux, who acted as a kind of mentor to the young man. In time, Herbert’s security clearance continued to be expanded, until he was ultimately transferred to Vandenberg Air Force Base, there to help supervise the design of the fusion drive for the Virago spacecraft. He knew that the moment this vehicle became operational, it would change the delicate balance of power not just in space, but on Earth as well. During one fine day, Herbert copied the plans for the prefabricated deuterium fuel pellets that were needed to make the ship run. He stored the data into a small drive about the size of his fingernail, and was able to smuggle it out of the base.

  Herbert had managed to get the contents of the drive to his Chinese contact when they met at a diner, but as soon as he returned to his apartment outside of the base, he found a group of FBI agents waiting for him. He was quickly placed in a holding cell and interrogated relentlessly for days. They never told him how he got caught, but Herbert figured that his contact must have been compromised since he was very careful about his own habits. After a few months, he was transferred over to an FBI safe house in Nevada, there to be further questioned before being brought to trial at a Federal court, they claimed. ACE Corp had persuaded the government not to announce Herbert’s arrest, but everyone was sure that the Chinese had found out, and now they were waiting for word on a possible swap to get back one of the CIA operatives that were caught by the Chinese during a spy sweep in Beijing the year before. Herbert loved living in the United States, so neither outcome was positive for him.

  The door to the room opened, and FBI Special Agent Kordell Jackson strode inside, flanked by a second man that Herbert didn’t recognize. Kordell gestured at him to get up. “Let’s go, Herbert. Finish it up and pack it in.”

  Herbert looked up at him in surprise. “We’re leaving now?”

  Kordell nodded. “They’re early, but we might as well get going.”

  Herbert frowned. “Can’t I even finish this meal?”

  “There’ll be some food at the detention facility, I’m sure,” Kordell said as he gestured at him to get up once again. “If there isn’t any, then I’ll get you some, okay?”

  Herbert sighed as he put the spoon down, took a sip of water from a plastic cup, and stood up.

  The other FBI agent walked over behind him as he took out a pair of handcuffs. “Hands behind your back.”

  Herbert twisted his head and grimaced. “Come on!”

  Kordell put his right palm up. “It’s okay, Maclin. You can cuff him with his hands up front.”

  Agent Maclin looked over at his partner. He had only recently graduated from the FBI Academy at Quantico a few months ago, and he was instructed to defer everything to his more experienced colleague. “Okay, sir,” he said as he shifted to the front of the prisoner and handcuffed Herbert’s wrists.

  Kordell smirked as he shook his head. This new kid was still wet behind the ears. “You don’t have to call me sir, Maclin.”

  Maclin smiled back as they both led Herbert out of the room and up the stairwell at the end of the corridor.

  There was a landing pad on top of the three story building they were in, and the drone helicopter was there, waiting for them. Kordell instinctively placed his hand to lower Herbert’s head as they escorted him into the rear compartment of the vehicle cockpit. Maclin sat in the front seat, right beside the AI control pod that served as the pilot for the helicopter. Kordell sat alongside the prisoner and closed the side door.

  Kordell placed the ear piece from the smartglasses into his left ear as he engaged the microphone. “Agents Jackson and Maclin are in the vehicle with the prisoner. Authenticate bravo-niner-niner-zulu.”

  The helicopter’s AI voice was that of a woman’s. “Biometric and voice authentication confirmed. Estimated time of arrival at the Federal Processing Center in Colorado will be two hours. Please buckle up.”

  Maclin turned around and smiled at his partner as he engaged the seatbelt. “I love it. These things used to have that robotic voice just a few years ago, now you can’t even tell anymore.”

  Kordell chuckled as he pointed to the aircraft controller module beside him. “Sure you could, just look at what’s beside you.”

  “What I mean is the voice.”

  “Right, right.”

  The coaxial rotor blades increased their contra-rotations, and the helicopter was soon airborne. The last rays of the sun were slowly being swallowed up by the far horizon, and the automated lighting system of the city of Las Vegas had engaged, bathing the streets in a continuous illumination until the next sunrise. The chopper began to increase its speed to three hundred kilometers per hour, and the urban sprawl below them started shifting away rapidly.

  Kordell looked out of the side windows and let out a sigh. This assignment was almost finished, and he was planning to use up his vacation time once this prisoner was turned over to the Department of Justice. His wife wanted them to take a cruise, with stopovers at various Caribbean ports, while the kids were clamoring for a stay on the Moon. Even though the UN Child Ban treaty for Mars and the other planets remained in place, more and more space touring companies were emphasizing the much closer vacations to the Moon for families, as well as the station hotels in low Earth orbit. International lawmaker
s had been able to come up with a compromise, drafting an amended law that allowed children over twelve years of age to accompany their parents for up to one week to the Moon’s surface, or in low Earth orbital facilities. New, family-centric orbital hotels and underground facilities in the Moon were now being constructed, while some of the more adventurous families made do with existing structures. While pregnancies and small children were still out of the question, the space tourism industry had begun its inevitable expansion. With his kids in their teens now, Kordell figured that they could just about get to the Moon and back as one family, provided that he could somehow convince the missus. It would definitely be more expensive than a cruise, but he figured it was time.

  The helicopter had now gone past the Las Vegas city limits, and the landscape below had darkened due to a lack of illumination. The only lights that were visible came from the nearby highway, as an occasional car’s headlights would reflect off the road, before making a turn towards another street.

  “That’s weird,” Maclin said as he kept looking out of the forward windshield.

  Kordell raised an eyebrow. “What’s weird?”

  “We seem to be flying parallel to the highway and at a low altitude too,” his partner said.

  Kordell shrugged. “Ah, that’s nothing. These air routes are already preprogrammed anyway.”

  “I know,” Maclin said. “But it just doesn’t seem to be a direct route to Colorado.”

  “Well, if it bothers you, go ask the AI,” Kordell said as he leaned back into the rear seat.

  Maclin chuckled a bit and shook his head.

  A few minutes passed. Kordell glanced over at the prisoner. Herbert continued to sit silently, staring blankly ahead. Maclin kept glancing over to the side window and looking down at the highway below.

  Kordell felt like taking a nap, but even on routine prisoner transfers such as these, it was best to stay alert at all times. Herbert could have reached over and tried to take the pistol in Kordell’s shoulder holster, but the veteran FBI agent figured that this spy wasn’t really the violent type- it just didn’t fit his profile. He had always wondered about these academic ones, and why they would throw their lives away when all they could have done was to follow the law, but they betrayed their country instead. To Kordell, criminals like Herbert were the worst ones, just one step above the child rapists.