by Ivan Shaman
Demon tugged at the door which had a bright red danger icon on it. It was locked. After a cursory look around the room again, he pulled a protective suit designed to work in hostile environments out of a cabinet. So it wasn’t a meeting room after all. It was an airlock.
Checking his assumption, he closed the door through which they had entered, and as soon as the locking mechanism was activated, the second entrance clicked unlocked.
“Put it on,” Demon said, handing Jane the protective suit. “Who knows what awaits us there.”
“What about you?” Jane asked, not seeing another suit.
“I hope, in the next room, there will probably be another one or two lying around. So it’s okay,” Alex said reassuringly as he opened the door. There was a fork there – upstairs, downstairs or an elevator. The latter was out of order, and deciding that there was no point in going down, because there was only water, they headed upstairs.
The building wasn’t all that big. At least, having arrived on the second floor, they found only a few doors the same type as below and another staircase. Looking into each room in turn, they scanned for the nanomachines that were all over the platform, but there were no traces of living people or technocrats.
The laboratory tables were filled with all sorts of devices, flasks and other equipment – the exact purpose of which was unknown to them. Trying to find the answers, the Cannibal scanned each folder he came across.
There were very interesting projects, including artificial photosynthetic trees grown almost entirely from chlorophylls; self-propelled deserted city-domes, designed for the extraction of minerals on Mars; a deep-sea autonomous city for the colonization of Europe; and projects for the genetic modification of animals, plants and even humans and further study of the solar system and the facilitation of life on Earth.
“I’ve looked over everything,” he said sullenly after several hours of examining the second floor. “There are a lot of interesting things, but no projects involving nanomachines. I can only see brochures to get acquainted with the results of the other laboratories’ work.”
“I think I’ve found something important,” Jane said, handing him a folder entitled ‘Phoenix’. “It’s a project relating to merging nanomachines with the human brain.”
Demon opened the offered folder. It was a presentation which said that the laboratory, with the assistance of volunteers, developed a scheme for restoring synopses in the human brain with the help of nanomachines. In practice, however, it didn’t work. Neurons, for some reason, refused to work normally with artificial connections, but their creation was already an achievement. It was also stated that in this laboratory they had developed a method of limited growth in nanomachines without the ability to replicate.
“We’re lucky,” Demon said happily. “Now we just need to find the documents for this laboratory to find out how exactly how they achieved these results.”
“So, we’re continuing the search.” Jane smiled.
“Yeah.” Alex nodded and headed for the stairs to the next floor.
Chapter 23. Plus
“Hush,” Demon hissed strictly when Jane knocked a cup off the table. An infantry drone crawled slowly in their direction, moving along on its caterpillars. Demon swore, gestured a direction, and then gently pushed Jane. They ran over to the high bookcase and froze.
The third floor was for administrative offices: the accounting office, the liaison office and, most importantly, the principal’s office. Nevertheless, unlike the lower floors, it wasn’t empty. Several heavily armed infantry drones crawled along the floor, performing individual tasks.
“Can’t we just break it?” Jane asked, seeing the first half-meter drone rolling along on its caterpillars. “Drop it on its side and it’s over, surely?”
“Yeah, and raise the alarm throughout the building – if we don’t have it raised already,” Demon objected. He wasn’t afraid of the drones, but he thought that in such a laboratory there had to be both active and passive protection systems in place. What would they do, for example, if the system decided to drain all the air? So, they went quietly and carefully toward the principal’s office.
“Unfortunately, we aren’t Ghosts. It would have been easier for us, then.” Jane sighed, trying not to make noise. Her ‘Dexterity’ was low, so she didn’t succeed, and they had to hide behind the bookcase.
Infantry drone, Ant
Armament
9x39 machine gun
Ammunition
400 cartridges
Remaining battery charge:
1 hour 32 minutes
Demon read, looking out from behind the bookcase.
“Well, we’ll wait until some drones are discharged, and then we’ll move forward.”
“How long?” Jane whispered.
Security drone, Bumblebee
Weapons:
paralyzing taser, unlimited charge
Remaining battery charge:
9 hours
It was written above a quadcopter that flew around the room and sat on one of the tables.
“Long. Looks like they’re taking turns recharging.”
“Can you take control over them?” Jane asked hopefully.
“No. I’ve tried already, they’re too different – primitive and at the same time incredibly complicated. I would have to pump my skill ‘Break-in’, but that’s silly as I don’t have many important battle skills,” Demon justified. “We can cheat – we’ll try to divert their attention and then sneak in.”
He took one of the books and threw it into the corridor. The ‘Bumblebee’ immediately rose from the table, but, instead of flying after the book, it moved to the bookcase, behind which they were hiding.
“Damn,” the frightened Alex said, pulling the bookcase over them, keeping them safely away from the drone. The case was bolted to the floor and ceiling, so he only dropped a few more books. But then the ‘Ant’ followed the ‘Bumblebee’, and further drones flew in from the corridor outside. “Well, then we’ll have to fight.”
Demon had released the gun from his palm when Jane pushed him away and pulled out all the drawers. It was a good wall, albeit with some holes. The drones poked into it and then flew away to look for a workaround. The cyborgs were trapped in the corner of the accounting office.
“What now?” He asked Jane softly.
“I don’t know.” The girl shrugged. “I’ve just remembered that I hid this way in my childhood.”
“Great. I still have no memories yet. No pictures or sounds. Only emotions visit me sometimes.” He looked through the slit at the ‘Ant’, which was now banging against the drawers on the other side. “Only one’s left.”
They were sitting in the corner, and Demon decided to look through the papers at their feet. Most of them were bills, contracts and acts, nothing interesting. Suddenly, he came across the personnel files of the lower-level staff. They were common repairers, sailors, engineers, all employed to reduce taxes rather than to improve the productivity of the building.
“Look,” Alex said, handing Jane a folder with a familiar photograph clipped to it. “This is Marcus. He’s a second category service technician. His characterization isn’t very good. He drinks alcohol. I mean, he drank alcohol and used sex toys in the workplace. How did he get to become a Luminary?”
“Show me,” Jane said. She took the folder and greedily feasted her eyes on the text. “They were going to fire him. But they didn’t get round to it. He was lucky.”
“Yeah, he was a grassroots staff member, and he became the Governor of his region.” Demon looked through a few more folders. “It’s odd, there are no other Luminaries here. However, these are only the files of the low-skilled workers. We’re going to need to examine the other drawers.”
“I wonder, how long will they continue to search for us? Do they have fixed time-limit, or will it be until the charge runs out?”
“That’s a good idea,” Demon said. “What if we just discharge them?” With these words, h
e opened his backpack, took out a rope and made a loop with it. Then, pushing one of the upper drawers out, he threw the lasso, catching the drone with it and tugging it off the ground. Rising above the floor, the ‘Ant’ screamed helplessly with its caterpillars spinning, but, having lost its support, it could do nothing.
Suddenly, a huge six-legged drone with two manipulators entered the room. It quickly went to the stuck ‘Ant’ and, grabbing the rope, it tore it away, twisting on its manipulators.
Demon cursed to himself, holding a short piece of rope in his hands. Next, the six-legged drone pushed one of the drawers in the bookcase. Alex, his eyes full of surprise, pulled it back. The drone froze, clicking its relays and servos, and then, standing on four ‘paws’, it pushed three drawers at once and held them firmly with its manipulators.
Demon checked the message above it as he peered out through a narrow slit.
Service bot, Spider
No weapons
Designed to charge and service drones
Powered by electric network
Quickly glancing over the bot from top to bottom, Demon saw a thin cable running across the floor. It was on the other side of the bookcase and the ‘Ant’ was moving right under it. Fortunately, the bottom drawers were still opened, and the combat drone didn’t notice Jane and him inside.
“Look, I don’t know why it hasn’t turned on the alarm for the whole complex, but we should cut it off while we can,” Demon said, trying to pull back the drawers the ‘Spider’ was still holding onto. “The machine gun is in my backpack. Try to damage the cable if you can.”
“I have a better idea. I’ll hold the drawers while you break the cable.” Jane moved him a little and pulled the drawer back towards her. She had less strength than he did, but she tried so hard that the metal drawer bent. Demon leaned over to his backpack and pulled out the machine gun. The ‘Spider’ saw it, squeaked, then released the drawers and quickly disappeared.
Sirens immediately howled through the building.
Attention!
Unauthorized armed presence detected
Threat level: yellow
All staff must evacuate immediately
Five minutes left until the station is locked down.
“We have five minutes!” Demon said bravely, cutting into the ‘Ant’ with his claws. He aimed at the small camera, but he hit the bolt group of its machine gun, cutting the side and the return spring. The drone twitched when it saw the enemy, but it could do nothing. Other drones rushed to help it. If they were armed with tasers or even guns, there wouldn’t have been any problems. Now that the alarm was on, Demon had no doubt that the drones would shoot to kill.
Trying to shield himself with the furniture, Demon confidently shot the control units of two of them. There were still three drones remaining though. Jane, knocked over a table, blocking the passage, but the furniture was easily pierced with bullets. Fortunately, she was wearing a good bullet-proof vest and helmet. After passing through the table and cabinets, the bullets lost most of the energy and didn’t cause any significant harm.
“We need to get out of this room!” Demon shouted as he looked around. The picture wasn’t looking particularly good. The infantry drones couldn’t overcome an obstacle above a yard, but they actively fired at them from behind the door. Trying to look out to consider what was happening in the corridor, Demon almost got shot. “But outside, I’m afraid, is not looking any better.”
“What do you suggest?” Jane asked, turning over another bookcase. “Really, what? We can’t go out into the corridor, as you say it’s too dangerous there, and we can’t stay here.”
“Cover your ears and open your mouth!” Suddenly he had made up his mind.
“Why?” She was surprised but caught his stern look and immediately obeyed.
Demon opened his plasma cannon, aimed as far into the corridor as he could, and fired. A small red ball, one inch in diameter, rushed there and then flashed, disappearing and exploding. The collapsing explosion, which burnt several yards of air in an instant, crashed into the narrow corridor, leaving a shock wave. They saw that the wall was now broken down in places and covered with cracks.
Attention!
Alarm!
Station is sealed
Evacuation is over
Demon heard the ventilation click, switching to exhaust mode. Without hesitating, he shot again at the same place. The crack widened, but there was no hole. He felt his vision begin to blur rapidly. Shot! The fireball barely reached the wall. There was no oxygen, and it just left a small black trail. Last chance. Strongman! Jerk!
Several bullets hit his bullet-proof vest, and one entered near the armpit, but he couldn’t delay. The drones could do without air – unlike Jane and him. Punch! He broke through the cracked wall, and a stream of stale, salty air immediately burst into the room.
Attention!
Depressurization of the elevator shaft
Vacuumization stopped
Urgent repair required
A few more bullets pierced him while Demon was shooting the nearest enemies from close range. Having the opportunity to counterattack while Alex was distracting the drones’ attention, Jane crushed the nearest one with her claws, and then she bent down the barrel of the second one.
It was all over in ten seconds, and the broken and destroyed drones lay all over the corridor. Clutching his bloody side, Demon sank against the wall next to the hole that led into the dark elevator shaft.
Chapter 24. Loot
“That was great,” he said, smiling faintly. “It was necessary to attack at once, using the element of surprise.”
“And get shot.” Jane nodded. “Oh, and stay on a locked floor without air. It’s just luck that you managed to hit the right wall. I think all the doors to the lower floors are closed.”
“We can break them,” Demon said without rising. “But first, just try unscrewing the valve.”
Despite trying her best, Jane wasn’t able to open the door to the second floor. Clutching the wound from which the blood was still freely flowing, Alex lifted himself up a little to look at the partition.
Perception (200+): Opening the door requires: ‘Strength 200’, ‘Punch 4’ or ‘Break-in 2’
Master (level 2): Door made of a layered atomic plastic-metal alloy that can withstand pressures of up to 5,000 atmospheres or an explosion of two pounds in TNT equivalent.
“Jane, stop it,” he said, sitting down. “We’re both too weak to crack it. And we don’t have enough skills.”
“Damnit,” an upset Jane said. “Well, at least, we’re alone on the floor.”
“Yes.” The Cannibal smiled. “It’s strange, but the blood is stopping slowly, although my ‘Regeneration’ is at the third level.”
“Let me see,” Jane said, and, without waiting for an answer, she raised his hand. “Oh, it’s bad.” She sighed. “Glory to the nanomachines – you’re still alive. Your liver is torn along for several inches. I honestly don’t even know how long it will take this to regenerate.”
“Fine, then we’ll have a rest. It probably necessary to clamp the wound, or, even better, sew it up.”
“Lie down on your left side, so the gravity helps then. I’ll find a first aid kit,” Jane said, and she ran away to rummage through the third-floor rooms.
Demon lay with his eyes half-closed, seeking to neither lose consciousness nor fall asleep. He had to open his eyes to make sure that Jane hadn’t returned yet. His thoughts slowly crept into his head like snails in a tree on a rainy day. He thought about the Light, about the Luminaries and their purpose, and about the existence of the God and his meaning.
“Our father, hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come...” he heard suddenly. He stood in front of a rich iconostasis. The prayer habitually flowed out of his mouth, “...our daily bread...” Here he turned back. The church was full of people, though Christianity wasn’t as popular as fifty years ago.
The crowd repeated his movements, almost without thinkin
g. He noticed with pleasure that several new faces had appeared in the church. So, the rumor about the healing of infertility started up in the social networks had been successful. He would give a cash bonus to the media assistant or fuck her properly – perhaps both. Her husband, of course, would be against it if he knew, but, judging by what he’d said in confession, he didn’t know.
People bowed down. He got used to it long ago and paid no attention. Although the first time he had felt unease, when people kneeled down in front of him and started to apologize, now it was the norm. He had a good apartment and a nice car. Very few could boast of that at the age of thirty. Although there were some difficulties.
In the third row, he easily spotted the guard lieutenant, responsible for the gathering of information. It was a new kind of precinct, provided with all information about everything, which led him to confusion. In fact, these people were the first step to achieving the top power in the country, and yet they looked much more modest than ordinary policemen. After the service, the lieutenant entered his cell.
“Hello, Alex.” He patted the clergyman on the shoulder.
“Not Alex, but Reverend Alexander,” the clergyman corrected him. “We are in the church of God.”
“Sorry. I keep forgetting you’ve retired. Well…”
As suddenly as it appeared, the memory faded. He again lay on the white floor made of the plastic tiles. Jane was sitting astride him. Swearing quietly, she put a surgical pistol to his side and pulled. Now it was clear why he’d woken up: it hurt like hell.
“Shit!” was all he could utter, trying not to move.
“I’m sorry, the nanomachines have already healed a little, but there is still an inch and a half left. I thought you might like to get up a little early,” Jane said, her eyes were glued to the wound. “Ferrum isn’t harmful to our bodies.”
“How long has passed?” He asked, looking at the pool of blood that had flowed from his wound.