The Trade

by Barry Hutchison

  Dr Holiday looked worried. ‘If Van Kleiss continues absorbing nanites he could theoretically keep getting stronger,’ she said. ‘Then there’ll be no way to stop him.’

  ‘And to think, we used to worry about him when he just had the nature powers,’ Bobo said. ‘Hey, wait a minute.’

  ‘What is it?’ asked Six.

  ‘Somethin’s happening in my brain,’ Bobo told them. ‘Might be a migraine, or it might be …’ He clicked his fingers. ‘An idea. Bobo’s got an idea.’

  ‘You do?’ asked Dr Holiday. ‘What is it?’

  ‘You’re not seriously going to listen to the monkey?’ Six asked.

  ‘At this point, I’m open to anything,’ Holiday said. ‘What’s your idea, Bobo?’

  ‘The Petting Zoo,’ Bobo announced. He grinned at them, proudly.

  ‘I knew it,’ Six said. ‘Never take advice from a primate.’

  ‘I ain’t finished,’ Bobo told him. ‘The Petting Zoo, it’s full of Evo animals, right? Which means it’s full of nature. Well, nature that’s been messed up by nanites, anyhow.’

  ‘What’s your point?’ Six asked.

  ‘Van Kleiss’ nanites respond to nature. Our boy there is currently stuffed to the gunnels with Van Kleiss’ nanites.’

  ‘You think maybe the nanites will draw strength from those in the Petting Zoo?’ said Dr Holiday.

  ‘Gotta be worth a try, right?’ Bobo shrugged.

  Agent Six turned to Holiday. ‘Could it work?’

  ‘Maybe,’ Holiday replied. ‘I think … maybe it could.’

  In a single fluid movement, Six hoisted Rex up onto his shoulder. ‘Then what are we waiting for?’ he said. ‘Let’s move!’

  CHAPTER 18

  ‘STAY STILL, I’M HERE to help you,’ Van Kleiss urged. ‘You’ll thank me for this later.’

  A little round Evo, about the size of a large beach ball, screamed in fear as Van Kleiss hoisted it up into the air. The Boogie Pack’s turbines whined loudly, struggling with the weight. Van Kleiss had absorbed hundreds of thousands of nanites in the past few hours. His body was bulging and swollen with them.

  But he wasn’t finished yet.

  Gritting his teeth, Van Kleiss began to draw the Evo’s nanites out from within it. His already bloated limbs became fatter still. His stomach expanded, popping a button on his coat. Held in his fat hands, the Evo gradually became human again.

  Van Kleiss looked down at the terrified young woman he now carried. ‘Thank you, my dear,’ he said, licking his lips. And then he opened his arms and let the woman fall.

  The air whistled around her, drowning out her screams as she plunged towards the distant ground. She closed her eyes, bracing herself for the end.

  WHUMPF!

  The woman crashed down onto a cushion of air. It deflated slowly, lowering her gently back down to Earth. The gloved hand of a Providence Agent reached down and helped her up.

  ‘Th-thank you,’ she whimpered.

  The Agent nodded. ‘All part of the service, ma’am.’

  Far overhead, Van Kleiss wobbled unsteadily across the sky, away from the city and on towards the world beyond.

  THWIP!

  A look of surprise flashed across the face of an Evo rabbit as a tranquiliser dart buried itself in the animal’s neck. It stood perfectly still for a moment, before toppling sideways onto the ground. Thirty metres away, Dr Holiday lowered the rifle.

  ‘Nice shooting, Doc,’ said Bobo, nodding his approval.

  ‘You sure I can’t interest you in working as a field agent?’ Six asked. ‘We could use someone who can actually hit what they’re aiming at once in a while.’

  ‘No thanks,’ said Holiday. ‘I wouldn’t suit the uniform.’

  ‘Come on, Doc,’ said Bobo, looking her up and down. ‘We all know that ain’t true.’

  Dr Holiday didn’t reply. Instead, she lead Bobo and Agent Six across to the fallen rabbit. Rex hung limply over Six’s shoulder. His faint groans were the only sign that he was still alive.

  Bobo stood guard with his laser pistols while Holiday and Six propped Rex up next to the sleeping bunny. It was as large as a Great Dane dog, with metrelong ears and teeth like razors.

  ‘Rex, can you hear me?’ asked Holiday, leaning down so her face was next to him. A low moan escaped Rex’s lips, but otherwise he showed no sign of having heard. ‘Rex, you need to wake up!’

  Six took hold of Rex’s hands and placed them on the rabbit. ‘Up and at ’em, soldier,’ he barked. ‘Or you’re going to have me to answer to.’

  One of Rex’s eyes twitched. A breath hissed out from within him.

  ‘Maybe this ain’t gonna work, after all,’ Bobo admitted.

  ‘Wait!’ whispered Holiday. ‘Something’s happening. Look!’

  On the mud-slicked floor of the Petting Zoo, the bunny had started to shrink. Its coarse, wiry fur was becoming softer and fluffier. Its ears were getting smaller by the second, and its teeth looked nowhere near as deadly as they did just a moment ago.

  It was working – Rex was absorbing the animal’s nanites!

  ‘That’s my boy!’ Bobo smirked, seeing the colour slowly return to Rex’s cheeks. ‘I knew it’d work. Am I a genius or what?’

  With a sudden gasp, Rex woke up. His eyed darted left and right and his nose twitched, like a rabbit sniffing for danger. Finally, he focused on Holiday. ‘Ah … what’s up, Doc?’ he asked, hoarsely.

  Holiday hugged him. ‘Welcome back, Rex,’ she said. Rex lay there, enjoying the hug, but Agent Six quickly ruined the mood.

  ‘You look like death, kid,’ he said. ‘We’d better get you some more nanites.’

  ‘Where from?’ Rex asked.

  Six gestured around at the Petting Zoo, and at the many shapes lurking in the trees and bushes. ‘Take your pick.’

  The Boogie Pack’s twin engines finally gave up, and Van Kleiss bounced hard against the desert floor. He had just absorbed the nanites of a three-headed bat-like Evo, and his body now resembled a balloon filled with runny custard. It made a nasty squelching sound as he rolled down a sand dune.

  ‘N-need m-more nanites,’ he hissed as he tried to raise himself up on his bulging legs. He concentrated, trying to summon the Punk Busters, but the mechanical legs wouldn’t appear. The vast amount of new nanites he’d absorbed were interfering with his control over those he’d stolen from Rex.

  Through sheer force of will, he was finally able to stand. But standing was all he could do. His legs were too heavy to lift. His feet became uncomfortably hot and he realised his immense weight was making him sink down into the sand. All of a sudden, he found himself regretting those last hundred thousand nanites.

  A vast shadow passed across him. Van Kleiss craned his blubbery neck to find the Keep hovering in the sky directly above him.

  On board, a Providence lieutenant barked orders. ‘Lower a hook. Winch him up.’ He peered down at the blob, slowly sinking into the desert floor below. ‘On second thoughts,’ he said, ‘make that two hooks.’

  CHAPTER 19

  ‘HOW YOU FEELING, KID?’ asked Bobo. It was obvious, though, that Rex was feeling much better than he had for a long time.

  He was standing up for one thing, and smiling for another. He had cured eight different Evo animals now, and with each nanite he’d absorbed, the weakness that had been crippling him had faded.

  ‘I’m feeling great,’ Rex said. He flexed Van Kleiss’ golden claw. ‘Although this still feels kinda weird.’

  ‘That’s only to be expected,’ Agent Six said.

  ‘And I have an overwhelming urge to lick my own butt,’ Rex added.

  Six blinked. ‘OK. That one I didn’t expect.’

  ‘Ah, it’s just the animal nanites,’ Bobo shrugged. ‘Happens to me all the time. I say go for it, kid.’

  Agent Six shuddered. ‘I say don’t. Ever. In fact, that’s an order.’

  Rex fired off a mock-salute, and almost knocked himself out in the process. He glared at his metallic
hand. ‘Man, I have got to get rid of this thing.’

  ‘Dr Holiday’s gone back to the lab to work on it,’ Six said. He paused, listening to a voice in his ear. ‘In fact, I believe she’s making progress right now.’

  The door to Holiday’s lab slid open. Rex scampered in and leapt up onto the desk. Six and Bobo entered the room just behind him.

  ‘Down off the furniture, Rex,’ Six told him.

  With a jump, Rex landed on the floor beside him.

  ‘Good boy,’ Six said. He tossed a biscuit into the air. Rex caught it in his mouth.

  Dr Holiday watched them with growing amusement. ‘The animal nanites?’ she asked.

  ‘Trust me,’ said Six. ‘You do not want to know.’

  Holiday nodded. ‘Well, thanks for coming so quickly. There’s something I want to show you. Or rather, someone.’

  She pulled away a folding screen, revealing the bulging frame of Van Kleiss. He was lying on two beds, pushed close together. His blubbery skin hung down over the sides in huge folds.

  ‘Whoa!’ cried Rex. ‘Who ate all the nanites?’

  ‘Laugh all you like, Rex,’ Van Kleiss hissed. ‘I still have your nanites, and you’re still stuck with mine. Away from Abysus, the powers you have now are useless.’ A grin spread across his puffed-up face. ‘Face it, Rex, I’ve won!’

  ‘The only thing you look like you could win is a pie-eating contest,’ Rex said. He gave the villain’s leg a prod. It wobbled like jelly. ‘Ugh. Seriously, Van Kleiss, you’ve really let yourself go.’

  Van Kleiss turned to Dr Holiday. ‘You will take me to Purgatory and offload the nanites,’ he told her. ‘You will restore me to my normal size.’

  ‘Oh?’ said Dr Holiday. ‘And why would I go and do a thing like that?’

  Van Kleiss’ eyes went wide with horror. ‘You can’t just leave me like this! It is Providence’s duty to help Evos wherever it can. You will help me!’

  ‘No,’ said Holiday.

  ‘No?’

  ‘That’s what the lady said,’ Rex grinned.

  ‘But … but you can’t!’

  Dr Holiday smiled. ‘Tell you what. Give Rex his nanites back, and I’ll think about helping you.’

  Van Kleiss’ eyes narrowed. ‘Never! You will help me because it is your duty to help me. What would White Knight say if he knew you were blackmailing a poor, helpless Evo like this?’

  ‘Let’s ask him,’ said Six, as a familiar face appeared on the lab’s video screen.

  ‘Someone called?’ asked White Knight, gruffly.

  ‘White Knight,’ began Van Kleiss. ‘Your subordinates are refusing to help me. Dr Holiday is shirking her responsibilities and going against everything Providence stands for.’

  ‘Really?’ asked White Knight. ‘Dr Holiday,’ he said, sharply.

  ‘Yes, sir?’

  White Knight gave her a curt nod. ‘Keep up the good work.’

  The screen went dark. All eyes in the room turned to Van Kleiss.

  ‘Now then,’ Holiday said. ‘About that transfer?’

  Van Kleiss glared at them all in turn. Hatred burned behind his eyes. At last, though, he gave a sigh. ‘Fine,’ he muttered. ‘Someone pass me the phone.’

  Rex lay on another bed just a few metres from Van Kleiss. Breach and Biowulf lurked at the back of the lab, guarded by Agent Six, Bobo and a dozen Providence agents.

  Rex winced as Van Kleiss’ masked technician connected them both up to the transfer machines. ‘This is going to hurt again, isn’t it?’

  The technician shook his head. ‘It shouldn’t,’ he said. ‘I’ve adjusted the design slightly. You shouldn’t feel a thing.’

  MOOOOOOO!

  The technician hesitated. ‘Did … did you just moo like a cow?’

  Rex blushed. ‘Animal nanites,’ he said. ‘Sorry.’

  ‘Can we please get this over with?’ Van Kleiss spat.

  The technician nodded. ‘It’s just a straight reversal. It … it shouldn’t take more than a few seconds.’

  With a flick of a switch, the technician activated the machines. Van Kleiss let out a howl of pain.

  ‘I thought you said we wouldn’t feel a thing?’ said Rex, watching his arch-enemy squirm and twist.

  The technician shrugged. ‘I said you wouldn’t feel a thing.’

  Rex smiled, then watched in amazement as the golden claw retracted back into his arm. A moment later, it began to reappear, but this time it was back with its rightful owner.

  Rex raised an arm. In the blink of an eye it became a mechanical fist. ‘And the Smackhands are back in business,’ he announced, happily. With a click, the technician switched the machine off.

  ‘I have upheld my end of the bargain,’ Van Kleiss growled. ‘Now uphold yours.’

  Agent Six approached the bed. ‘We will. I’ll arrange for you to be taken to Purgatory Base for nanite offloading.’

  ‘Hey, Six,’ said Rex, holding back a grin. ‘Isn’t Purgatory closed for a few days? Didn’t I hear that somewhere?’

  ‘Actually, now I think about it, you’re right,’ said Six, going along with the joke. ‘You’ll have to wait a week or so,’ he told Van Kleiss. ‘Two weeks at most’

  ‘You tricked me!’ Van Kleiss spat. ‘I shall find a way to offload the nanites myself. Breach!’

  A portal opened up on the floor beside Van Kleiss’ bed. Another opened beside Biowulf and Breach. They stepped through it and disappeared.

  ‘You, too,’ growled Van Kleiss, pointing a clawed finger at the technician.

  ‘N-no thanks,’ the technician stammered. ‘I think I’ll stay here.’

  Van Kleiss scowled. ‘So be it,’ he said, then he rolled sideways off the bed and fell through the portal.

  CHAPTER 20

  THE TECHNICIAN STOOD BEHIND his machine. Only his eyes were visible through his mask. They flitted nervously across the faces of the other people in the room.

  ‘I’m … I’m sorry for the trouble I caused,’ he said. ‘It wasn’t me, it was … it was the mask.’

  Reaching around to the back of his head, the technician undid the mask. Rex braced himself, expecting to see the twisted face of an Evo creature looking back at him. Instead, he saw the face of a young man, not much older than himself. A scattering of soil fell out of the mask as he tipped it upside down.

  ‘Van Kleiss, he put his soil inside the mask. He … he used it to make me do things. He controlled me.’

  ‘Mind control soil?’ said Rex. ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me!’

  ‘The control was broken when his nanites swapped with yours,’ the technician explained. ‘If I’d have gone back, he’d have been able to take control of me again. So I decided to stay here, and face whatever punishment you deemed appropriate.’

  Dr Holiday and Six exchanged a glance. Six nodded.

  ‘How does forty-eight hours a week on minimum wage, with a terrible staff canteen sound as a punishment?’ Holiday asked.

  The technician’s eyes went wide. ‘You’re offering me a job?’

  ‘I’m offering you a job,’ Dr Holiday nodded. ‘You can help keep our equipment running. How does that sound?’

  ‘Thank you! I can’t believe –’

  White Knight’s face appeared on the screen once again. ‘Six. Holiday. Rex,’ he barked. ‘I want a word with you. The rest of you, leave. Now.’

  When Bobo and the others had left the room, White Knight cleared his throat. ‘It appears that I owe you an apology, Dr Holiday,’ he said.

  Dr Holiday could hardly believe her ears. ‘Uh, sorry, sir, but did you just say –?’

  ‘No need to rub it in, Doctor,’ White Knight replied. ‘You were right. I was wrong. Recovering Rex should have been our priority. Had I listened to you, none of this would have happened.’

  ‘Let’s all agree now that recovering Rex should always be our priority,’ said Rex. ‘Can we vote that in right now?’

  Agent Six spoke to Holiday, but didn’t turn to look at her. ‘And, uh, so
rry from me, too. I should’ve gone along with you from the start.’

  ‘Look, I’m voting “yes”,’ chirped Rex, raising his hand. ‘Anyone else?’

  Dr Holiday smiled warmly. ‘Apology accepted,’ she said.

  ‘You all did a great job out there today,’ White Knight told them. ‘But Rex, you’ve been through a lot. I’m ordering you to rest up for a few weeks.’

  Rex’s ears picked up. ‘Rest?’ he said. ‘You mean I’m getting time off?’

  ‘That’s exactly what I mean,’ White Knight nodded. ‘I’ve arranged for a selection of movies and video games to be sent up to your room. I believe Noah’s out collecting pizzas now.’

  Rex bounced up and down excitedly on the spot. ‘You know, White Knight, no matter what Six says about you, I think you’re awesome!’

  Still bouncing up and down, Rex threw his arms around Six and Holiday. Turning his face to theirs, he licked both of their cheeks in turn. ‘Thanks, guys!’ he cried, before bounding off towards the door.

  Six wiped the slobber off his cheek with his sleeve. ‘Tell me the effects of those animal nanites are going to wear off soon,’ he said.

  ‘Uh, yeah,’ Dr Holiday said, unable to resist the urge to laugh. ‘They will. I hope!’

  TOTAL RECALL

  Test your memory of ‘The Trade’ with these eight tricky questions. Remember: no checking back!

  1 Rex fights the slug-Evo in which city?

  a. San Jose

  b. Santa Barbara

  c. San Francisco

  2 What kind of Evo floors Rex in Fremont?

  a. Slug

  b. Scorpion

  c. Spider

  3 Who helps Dr Holiday discover the reason for Rex’s malfunctions?

  a. Agent Six

  b. Bobo Haha

  c. Noah

  4 What is the highest voltage of electric shock Rex receives in the lab?

  a. 900 volts

  b. 800 volts

  c. 700 volts

  5 Who attempts to carry Rex to Castle Van Kleiss?

  a. Skalamander

  b. Biowulf

  c. Breach