by M. D. Cooper
From his great distance, he started up the armored vehicle and sent it in. It was programmed to follow the road to the site and not stop until it was made to stop, which the Marines would do without hesitation, Nathan had no doubt. He prepared to let go of the platform, happy that his dreadful ordeal was about to come to an end, one way or another.
When his vid feed told him that the armored vehicle had neared the site and that the Marines were about to shoot, it had been with great relief that he began his descent. He had been holding onto a protrusion on the underside of the platform to prevent himself from floating away in the microgravity. He released his grip and fired his booster to move himself downward. Carthage’s gravity would take its hold soon enough, but until then, he had to give it a helping hand. He was finally moving one step closer to being brought into the presence of Myrrdan, and in some strange, twisted way he would be among humankind again.
Passing the device that lifted the carbon nanotube strands in the a-grav column, Nathan had continued to speed downward. Below, the Marines were shooting the armored vehicle to pieces. In a minute they would stop after meeting no resistance. Their curiosity would drive them out to inspect the wreckage.
Carthage loomed closer, filling his vision as the island of Cyprus grew wider, black in the night, points of light etching the inhabited areas. Nathan could make out the space elevator construction site. He killed his jets and set his a-grav to zero as gravity took its hold. He was no longer flying down, but falling.
He saw the tiny dots of the Marines creeping closer to the wreckage of the vehicle. Nathan could even make out the barrels of their weapons. They were entirely distracted. Now was his moment. He prepared to activate his a-grav. The ground flew up at him, its detail defined in the artificial light of the site’s lamps. The picotech module was there. It was ready. It was waiting for him.
Like a hawk diving down on its prey, Nathan swept down and snatched the module, twisting it deftly to unseat it from the fabricator. He turned his a-grav to full and sped upward.
I’ve done it!
But no. A moment later, Nathan heard a hiss like an angry snake, and sensed the odor of seared metal. He’d been hit. Someone had shot at him. He’d been seen. Looking down, he spotted his assailant. It was the engineer.
Of all the people who might have seen him, of all the Marines and site workers, it had been the woman who had first defeated him. He should have drowned her when he had the chance. He should have broken her neck before escaping into the ocean.
Lights were turned on him. He hadn’t been able to fly upward any faster; his a-grav was at maximum capacity. More shots hit him. They were hitting his legs.
Nathan clung to the picotech module fiercely, agony lancing through him as the shots penetrated his metal carapace. He screamed, but he heard only a modulated ‘Aggghhh’ from his mechanized voice. The pain was unbearable.
The weapons fire cut through his lower leg. It fell away, and as his bulk lightened, he flew up faster. All Nathan’s concentration was now focused on not dropping the picotech module. He could not drop the module. He had come so far. He had suffered so much.
The shots bit into his other leg until it too was severed. Beam and projectile impacts were striking up and down his back. He flew faster. I have to get away. He could do it. Escape lay within his reach.
A flare shot out at the edge of his field of vision…a pinnace had launched. He had forgotten about the pinnaces. Their scanners wouldn’t get a lock on him. The same device that made him invisible to the satellites would prevent that. But as soon as a pilot had a visual….
I’m never going to make it.
Before despair overcame him, however, Nathan’s feverishly working brain dragged a desperate alternative to death at the hands of the pinnace’s pilot. The gas plumes! He had seen how close they were to the site while he waited on the platform. With the aid of his night vision he could see them now. If he could just reach the gaseous clouds, he could hide within them. He could remain there, flying along them until he was out of sight of the pinnaces.
Another light flared. Another ship had launched. If he could reach the plumes and the disruption caused by the a-grav towers in time, he would be safe. But he had only seconds. Even in the dark of night, the pilots would soon see his body—glowing hotly from the weapons impacts and straining a-grav system—with their infrared vision.
Picotech module gripped hard against his metallic chest, Nathan angled himself toward the plumes. Freed of the weight of his legs, he was flying faster than ever. He might make it. He was almost there.
Light burst to his left, and agony ripped through his side. He’d lost his left arm. Only his right remained to hold onto the module. A shot had passed him so closely, its heat had burned and melted him. One of the pinnace pilots could see him. He had to get to the cloud. He had no time left.
Then swirling vapor enveloped him.
I made it!
The gases that spewed from Carthage’s still-cooling mantle welcomed him. For a brief moment, Nathan relaxed. He was safe and he had the picotech. The gases that hid him were warm and comforting.
But they were not warm. They were hot. Too hot. He was burning, and he could not breathe. He choked. He reached for his oxygen. Where’s the tank? Gone. The near-hit from the pinnace had blasted it from his side. Nathan heaved and choked. He was safe from the pinnaces and he had the module, but he was succumbing to the gases. He was suffocating, burning, dying.
As his life ebbed away, the gases lifted him. Higher he rose, borne upward on the searing cloud and its a-grav columns. Consciousness fading, he saw the cloud begin to thin as he soared on the hot vapors. Through the translucent veil of gas, the terrible lonely glint of the stars greeted him.
As blackness gathered from the edges of his vision, Nathan’s remaining limb weakened. The picotech module slipped from his grasp. The sight of it tumbling down, away from him, was the last thing he saw.
Myrrdan! Myrrdan, forgive me.
DEPARTURE
STELLAR DATE: 12.07.8935 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Thracian elevator site, Island of Cyprus
REGION: Carthage, 3rd Planet in the New Canaan System
Her heart heavy, Erin left the elevator’s construction site. Major Usef would deal with the wreckage of the armored car. No doubt he would have it investigated for anything that might give them more information on Hart. The DNA analysis had confirmed that the strange automaton-human hybrid had indeed been him.
Erin wished she could be sure of what had happened to the traitor. He’d almost certainly met his death in the gas plumes. The pinnace pilot had reported that he’d winged him. In the searing heat of the volcanic gases, surely Hart could not have survived, no matter what physical augmentations he had? But without a body to identify, there would always be doubt.
What procedures had he undergone to bring him to his semi-automaton state? Who had performed them on him?
Up until the moment Erin had seen Hart’s altered body, she’d assumed he’d been acting alone. But now it was obvious that he had at least one accomplice, or that there was someone else who knew what he was trying to do. The events of the evening had left questions upon questions to be answered, and she didn’t know where to start. Maybe Tanis would have some ideas when she returned. She was due back any moment.
At least the picotech module would soon be safe and sound. Major Usef had revealed that they tagged it with a delayed transmitter. The screening device that Hart had carried to make himself invisible to satellites and scanners had also screened out the signal, but now they were receiving it loud and clear. The module was floating in the Adriatic, and Usef had sent out a team to retrieve it.
Erin took the maglev to the air and spaceport, and then a shuttle flight back to her apartment in Landfall. All the way back, her mood never improved.
During the long hours while waiting to set up the trap for Hart, Erin had realized the only solution to the problem in her personal life, and she di
dn’t like it one bit.
Erin didn’t like the implication of Walter’s ‘at last’, but he was right. She’d put off communicating with Isa for far too long. The woman had probably given up on her entirely; she wouldn’t blame her.
Erin didn’t really understand how Walter’s suggestion could work out, but he’d proven himself a good, if sometimes unwelcome, advisor. She’d been hoping to see Isa and Martin separately, but after her chat with her AI, she decided to speak to them together.
She contacted Isa first.
Erin asked Isa to suggest a place, then they agreed on a time. After saying goodbye, Erin contacted Martin.
She told him the time and place, then made a reservation, in case the restaurant was busy.
She had an hour or so to kill, so she began to pack her things. Carthage’s infrastructure projects were back up to speed, and Hart had been dealt with—though not particularly to her satisfaction. She couldn't see any reason why she might need to stay on Carthage. There were shipyards needed at the outer reaches of New Canaan, and someone had to build them. Erin wondered how MacCarthy and Linch had been getting along in her absence.
When she was packed, she got ready to go and meet Isa and Martin. Seeing them together might be a little awkward at first, but they were all adults. They could talk things over and be mature about it.
When she thought about it, however, she didn’t know exactly what she was going to say. She would just have to figure it out when she got there.
As she was preparing to leave, she was contacted over the Link.
After sending short messages to Isa and Martin to let them know she would be late, Erin set out for the meeting.
The story of what had happened took a while to tell, and Tanis naturally had plenty of questions to ask. Major Usef was at the meeting, too. He reported that the picotech module had been recovered but not Hart’s remains, aside from his legs. The labs hadn’t found anything on the legs or the armored vehicle that would lead to Hart’s accomplice or accomplices, though they were still working on the lead.
Tanis thanked Erin for her help with the infrastructure problems on Carthage, then, as Erin had predicted, told her she could return to the outer system to continue her work there.
“Have you found some time to relax while you’ve been planetside?” Tanis asked her at the end of the meeting.
“I have. Just a little,” Erin replied, trying not to sound like she was eager to leave.
“Glad to hear it,” Tanis replied with a wink, and Erin wondered if Murry had shared something with the governor.
SOLUTIONS
STELLAR DATE: 12.07.8935 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Landfall, Knossos Island
REGION: Carthage, 3rd Planet in the New Canaan System
Erin walked into the small eatery on the edge of the Party Field. She’d never been to the field before, though she’d seen vids of it. A part of her was saddened that her work in the outer system had precluded her from being a part of the Landfall celebration, but she knew that her work was more important.
The field hadn’t changed much from the vids, she was surprised to see. The long grass and wildflowers seemed to be unchanged, though Landfall had grown up all around it. The only difference was the sculpture of Inner New Canaan that had been erected.
By the time Erin arrived—an hour and a half late, due to her meeting with Tanis—the park was quieting down. Children were being called by their parents to go home, and people were drifting to the cafes and other restaurants, like the one Isa had picked. It was lucky she’d made a reservation. All the places were filling up quickly.
Erin hoped that Isa and Martin wouldn’t be too mad for being kept waiting so long, assuming that they were still there. As she went in, she spotted them. They had both waited. Isa and Martin were sitting together in the far corner of the place. Erin wove through the tables and servitors to reach them.
To her surprise, Isa and Martin greeted her with warm smiles; she’d thought the two of them would have talked and eventually figured out their similar connec
tion to her. It had been on her mind all through her meeting with Tanis, and she’d regretted it, believing things would have gone better if she’d been the one doing the explaining. It was one reason she’d half-expected to find them both gone.
Feeling confused, she sat down and ordered a cream soda from a passing servitor.
“Thanks for coming,” she began, addressing her companions. “I’m sorry I’m late. I had to go to a meeting with Tanis on short notice. She’s a bit demanding sometimes.”
Both of them looked surprised at the name-drop, and Isa gave a small laugh. “I’ve heard, it’s OK.”
“Yeah,” Martin added. “It’s fine. We found plenty to talk about.”
Erin winced a little inside. She cleared her throat, put both hands on the table and said, “I have something I need to speak to you both about, so I thought…”
Isa and Martin watched her expectantly.
“I thought…”
The right words weren’t coming to her mind. She stopped, unsure how to go on.
The pair burst into laughter.
“Oh, that was cruel,” said Isa. “It was Martin’s idea.”
“What?” Erin asked. “What was Martin’s idea?” She looked at the scientist, but he was still laughing too hard to respond.
“He said we shouldn’t tell you that we knew,” Isa said. “He said we should make you explain.”
“He did, did he?” Erin narrowed her eyes at the chuckling man.
Martin finally managed to restrain his mirth. “Come on, Erin, you have to allow me a small revenge after that time on the beach.”
“What time on the…oh.” Erin smiled. “Fair enough.”
Isa asked, “What happened?”
“She took advantage of my ill-prepared state,” he supplied.