With a gap in the formation, the mines shot into the middle and then fanned out attaching themselves to the interior of the convoy. As the rear heavy began to make a desperate turn to avoid the massive collision in front of it, the entire convoy was rocked into the air by the exploding mines. Even the heavily armored tanks bounced as a result of the explosion. The ground cars, in the middle of the formation, were caught in a tornado of flying shrapnel. Their lightly armored exteriors were repeatedly pierced, leaving more of a Swiss cheese resemblance than that of steel plating. All that emerged from the cloud of smoke and debris were a handful of ground cars. The battalion had been reduced to a shadow of itself.
“I hope you had a good view of that Dominic!” Kyle called out as though the city could hear him. “Your day of reckoning has come.”
#
John walked up to the door leading from the mines to the processing center. This time however, he approached dressed in his MARC uniform with a plasma rifle supported in both hands. The entrance had changed as well. A large blast door had dropped down sealing off the entrance. A red flashing light swirled above the blast door, indicating security precautions had been engaged.
John turned and waved behind him. A massive wall of miners filed in from the shadows of the lava tube. In front of them John's new friend, Shu Han, stepped forward to consult.
“I'm going to need your help knocking on the door,” John expressed to his ally.
“How can we help?” the Ksync's translator replied for him.
“Do you have anything that will get me through this?” John asked.
Shu gave what looked to be a grin followed by a bow. He then quickly walked back to his fellow miners. He barked out commands, which were quickly followed by several men heading back into the lava tube. As he walked back, John saw the invention of what he would later call "Shu's happy-scary dance". It was like watching a large wolverine strut like Mic Jagger. Shu stopped at John, pointed at the door, and in a barely comprehendible English said, "You get what you need." He then let out a belly laugh like no other. If Kyle had been present he would have seen the second time on record that John was at a loss for words.
#
Stephanie and Elizabeth found themselves sneaking through maintenance shafts once again. This segment of the shaft was just over five feet high, allowing the women to walk with a duck rather than a crawl.
Peering through a nearby grate, Stephanie saw a main thoroughfare of the city beyond.
“What are those screens I keep seeing on every street?” she asked Liz. “It looks like an image of Dominic on the screens, but I can't make out what is being said.”
“That's him alright,” Elizabeth confirmed. “It looks as though he has taken our citywide information network and turned it into his own propaganda machine. Stop and listen. I can't make it all out either, but it sounds like he's blaming The Order for something.”
The two of them strained their ears to make out what the vidcomm was saying.
“You do not have to look any farther for the source of these ills than the Order itself!” Dominic said in a fury. “Their coddling of MARC sympathizers has undermined everything that we have worked so hard to change. Even now our soldiers defend the city against the war machine of the MARC imperialists.”
“Do you believe this?” Stephanie remarked in disbelief.
“SHHH!” Elizabeth instructed her, with a heightened agitation.
Dominic continued his accusations.
“Would you allow yourselves to be taken again as slaves to an economic machine of greed? Will you peacefully hand over your freedoms, so they can profit while you break your back? No! We will fight them, we will fight them with every last ounce of strength that we have. We will defend our home, our children, and our future!”
Strain as they might, the cheers of the crowd overshadowed the speech's volume.
“This is worse than I thought,” Elizabeth remarked with dread. “We need to move quickly if we're going to have any chance of cutting off the snake’s head.”
They continued on their way, crouching as they went, but with a pace that valued each moment.
#
Tyler and Jessica laughed with joy as they watched the explosions from afar. Their attention was so engrossed with the battle, that they didn't pay any notice to a beat red Wispy entering the cockpit. A small arc of electricity crossed in patterns in front of the hovering companion.
A human voice came from Wispy catching both of them completely off-guard. Jessica nearly jumped out of her chair.
“I'll have the last laugh I assure you,” scolded Dominic's voice through the hovering machine.
Confused with the situation Tyler said, “What's this, a talking Wispy? Who's this really, Glennay? Kyle?”
The electric arc increased in intensity, making a crackling sound in the air and encouraging Jessica to crawl back in her chair as much as possible.
“Which derelict ship did they pull you from Brit?” asked Dominic rhetorically.
“I'm not from Pommy Land,” Tyler responded, as he was now very suspicious of the speaker. “Maybe if you weren't so up yourself you'd know that.” He insulted, hoping to gain more insight into the speaker.
“It's a shame your sense of wit escaped orbit,” Dominic replied. “Maybe I can take care of that oversight now.”
As the voice finished its threat, Tyler drew his blast pistol from his side and aimed for Wispy. He wasn't fast enough, however, to avoid the shock that arced from the floating machine. The pistol dropped from his hand as he slumped over in his chair. Jessica screamed and ran out of the cockpit into the rear of the ship.
Wispy moved to the cockpit controls. With a jolt to the screen, the blast doors leading to the cockpit sealed shut. Several arcs later, the duck had powered all systems. Then with its unique capabilities, the duck blasted off with a magnificent jump. Gliding down from its lofty position, it landed firmly on the ground outside the mining complex.
The unexpected landing of the duck drew the attention of Lieutenant Jennings.
“Tyler, what the heck are you doing?” Kyle reprimanded him across the comm.
Without a response, two pulse cannons extended themselves from both sides of the duck.
“Tyler what...” Kyle tried to ask a question but could not finish as the cannons unleashed their fury upon his defensive turrets. Rotating its torso, the duck mercilessly blasted each turret from behind. Kyle stood and watched in complete disbelief. Luckily his survival instincts kicked in as the duck rotated in his direction and unleashed several blasts. Kyle hit the deck of his own bunker, which remained in multiple pieces above him.
Kyle screamed on the comm. “Tyler have you lost your mind! Stand down! Stand down!”
Watching helplessly from inside the mining complex, Ashley and Glennay starred at the screen in disbelief.
“What are we going to do?” Glennay asked in a partial state of shock.
“I don't know. Jessica… Jessica is in there. Oh my god,” Ashley replied, clearly overwhelmed by the situation.
The duck positioned itself midway between the main complex and the make-shift bunker Kyle was half-buried under.
Kyle sent a private page across his comm to Ashley, prompting her to set up a new channel.
“It's Kyle,” Ashley said, establishing a new link between them and putting it on speaker.
“I'm open to suggestions,” Kyle relayed. “Much as it pains me to say, I'm at a bit of a tactical loss here. This is usually when John comes up with something crazy. So anyone want to play John for this crisis?”
Kyle's humor was lost in the moment. Ashley stood shaking her head as words eluded her.
Chapter 47 Karma
The large drill bit spun down as it finished piercing a man sized hole through the blast doors. Ducking through the opening, John re-traced his steps down the corridor. Unlike the first run, he stopped at the main they had passed on his previous trip.
“All decked out with an army and no
place to go,” he said to Shu Han and several miners following behind.
John looked at the Ksync in his hand. Unfortunately, it was Stephanie's, so it didn't have any maps of the city like his.
“My kingdom for a kiosk,” John joked as Shu gave him a confused look. “Don't worry the jokes don't go over well back home either.”
John leaned back against the wall and bumped the back of his head as if it would help him come up with a plan. If only he had his neuroband, then he could try to ghost to Steph. The anxiety he had buried over his daughter’s safety was beginning to surface. He closed his eyes and pounded his head again, choosing physical pain over the emotional. As his head contacted the wall an image of Stephanie flashed in his mind. She was crawling through some sort of tunnel.
“What was that? Steph?” John asked out loud.
Shu and a few miners around John turned in his direction, trying to understand what he was saying. John didn’t try to clarify his words. Instead he tried to bring up the image of his daughter again, without the head banging. Another image appeared in his mind, this one staying longer. John saw not only his daughter, but Elizabeth crawling through some sort of passage. After a few seconds the image faded. He thought the miners hearing his thoughts was a fluke. This wasn’t a fluke. It felt real. Moreover, he could recreate his actions. Was it possible he could do this without a neuroband?
Closing his eyes, he focused his thoughts and tried to do what was impossible a day ago. He forced himself to remember every last detail about his daughter. The time she broke her finger in a door jamb and cried when she was five. The day he wanted to break his hand on boy that made her cry after junior prom... and everything in between. His past told him this would work. It had to work.
When he opened his eyes, John could see her standing in a cramped room with Elizabeth.
“Stephanie,” John said in a voice that entered her mind.
She stopped and shook her head for a moment. Looking perplexed she replied. “Dad is that you?”
Immediately Elizabeth turned. She looked behind her daughter and to each side trying to see John.
“Yes it's me,” John replied. “Are you OK? Where are you?”
Stephanie rolled out a big smile. “I'm fine, Dad. I'm with Mom. We're on our way to find Dominic.”
“Who are you talking to, Stephanie?” Elizabeth asked. “Your father? Is he here? How are you talking to him?”
Stephanie gave her mother the “just a second” finger, something she was clearly not used to receiving.
“Dad wants to know where we are,” Stephanie told Elizabeth.
“Level fifteen,” she answered. “But the maintenance shaft we're following will reach level sixteen in just a minute. Dominic is likely using the communication room to make those city-wide updates.”
“We're on level 15 going to level sixteen, Dad,” Stephanie said. Pausing a moment as if to listen to someone she continued, “He wants to know how to get to level sixteen. I guess the lift he's in only goes to level fifteen.”
“He's in a lift?” Elizabeth remarked with surprise. “If he doesn't get himself captured, then the only way to get to level sixteen from the lift exits is up the main steps of the city center.”
“He said he'll meet us there, and not to worry about being captured,” Stephanie informed her mother.
Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders and pointed to the ladder leading to level sixteen.
“Okay we have to go, Dad,” Stephanie said out loud, apparently unaware speech wasn't required for her conversation.
#
Three residents of New China waited patiently for the lift to arrive. It was clear that they were in the middle of a very heated discussion.
“Just let those MARC scum try and get in here,” one of the teenage boys challenged.
Another joined in. “Yeah, give me a chance at them. We’ll see who’s running home to Earth.”
A customary bell sounded as the doors to the lift opened. Inside a man holding a two-handed pulse rifle and wearing military armor was packed in front of a half-dozen men caked in dirt and carrying mining tools. The gleam of lights reflecting off their hollow eyes was punctuated by the long claws extending from their hands.
Jonathon Quinn smiled and said. “It's a bit packed in here. You might want to catch the next one.”
The three teenagers responded with slow nods as they stood in a puddle of shock and disbelief.
With a wave, the lead man hit a button inside the lift causing the doors to close. The young men looked at each other quickly, then turned and headed for an alternate lift.
#
Ashley had an incoming page on her Ksync. She nearly ignored it but something told her it could be John.
“Mommy, can you hear me? Mommy, I'm scared,” Jessica's voice trembled out of Ashley’s Ksync.
Ashley dropped down to the floor, her legs giving out on her. She could feel her heart crying out to Jessica.
“Jess,” she struggled to reply. “It's okay sweetie I'm here. Where are you?”
“Mom, I'm in the back of the duck,” Jessica replied. “A bad guy took Wispy over and she shocked Tyler. I don't know if he's okay because he's behind the door to the pilot's seat...” Jessica rambled in fear as she spoke to her mother.
Ashley's thoughts raced like never before, putting the pieces together. A bad guy had taken over Wispy. That didn't make sense. Wispy shocked Tyler. She reasoned that was technically possible given Wispy's interfacing program, but...
It all suddenly made sense: the seemingly harmless roaming, the tweaks to her programming that didn't seem to stick, and the bad man. Ashley remembered an acronym she had forgotten long ago. Wispy was a lab assistant named for: W-band, interface, specialist, and protocol. Jessica added the letter “Y” because she thought it sounded cute. Wisp was built as computer assistant to interface with other computers. The prototype was built by a noted lab assistant - Dr. Dominic Andreou. At the time he was a brilliant up and coming scientist she had studied with a few times. Wisp had been given to her as a token of affection on one of those sessions.
“Wispy is running the duck!” Ashley exclaimed.
“What?” Glennay replied, wondering if Ashley was falling apart.
“I can't explain it all now,” she said. “Wispy is running the duck like a remote, like we are with the mining machines.”
Glennay took her word on face value. "So what can we do?"
“Jessica,” Ashley said, “sweetie, we're going to get you out of there. I need you to do something for me though. I need you to find my experiment in the back. It looks like a workstation. Find it and attach you're Ksync to it, OK?”
“Okay, Mommy,” Jessica replied.
A few seconds later, a light flashed on Ashley's Ksync. It indicated she now had a connection to the plane's computers.
Ashley attached her Ksync to her portable workstation already interfaced with the mining station.
“Dominic,” Ashley said with a staunch determination. “You’ve taken from me, from my friends, and from my family. It’s time I called you up and ordered a little take-out of my own.”
Knocking open the black case attached to her belt, Ashley pulled out a distinctly slim version of a neuroband.
“I can't think of a better time for your test drive,” she said, drawing the band through her hair and around her head.
With a broad swipe across the workstation’s screen, Ashley opened up a tiered network connection. She first tapped into the lab experiment still resting in the back of the duck. Giving it access to the ship's system, Ashley took her first shot at Dominic. Using the connection between the ship and Wispy, Ashley smashed through Dominic's remote safeguards and took over control of Wispy.
She immediately issued a command to Wispy to set the ship on standby and open all doors. Ashley knew she would likely have seconds before Dominic or his software would respond. She used brute force protocols to blast her way into New China's computers using the established connectio
n through Wispy.
“It’s time to place my order in person,” Ashley challenged.
Initiating the routines on her lab experiment, she closed her eyes and waited for her consciousness to fly across the network. A blinding flash transitioned her consciousness to the communication room of New China. Ashley's projection stood in the hidden control room of New China. The room was filled with a dozen vidcomm's that were broadcasting a message from Dominic. He stood in the room gloating over his plan in process. Dominic was cheering for his own speech and agreeing with many of his own statements.
As though he sensed a person in the room, Dominic turned to face her.
“I hope your hands aren't too cold tonight,” Dominic smirked as he greeted her. “I'd hate to see you in any distress.”
Ashley strode straight for Dominic challenging him. “Why don't you feel them yourself?” Using an uppercut she had learned in John's defense class, she thrust her arm upwards connecting right below his jaw. Dominic was caught completely off-guard as the blow landed with the might of a heavyweight boxer.
Dominic recognized the deadly significance of her swing. Like him, Ashley had removed any sort of governor from her own neuroband. Her punches were physically imaginary but not to his synapse. The electrically charged haymaker could have seriously injured him. Dominic threw his arms up in a vain attempt to deflect her next strike. It was a reaction that he knew would not work. His mind, however, blocked her punch leaving him unharmed. Fearing for his own life he had given him the tools to defend himself.
Dominic took to the offensive, lashing out with his anger. Though he had the ability, he was matched against a practiced opponent. Ashley waived off his attack with ease and delivered a counter. Recognizing that his move was ineffective, Dominic's eyes opened wide as another uppercut struck him squarely under his jaw.
Dominic staggered backward, dropping to one knee. The guards stationed inside the room moved to his side and yelled at one another to identify the assailant. With another blow connecting, this time a right cross, he dropped to the floor in a prone position.
Curious Sols (The Sol Principle Book 1) Page 33