by Tony Corden
Leah isolated the four items and assigned each one a colour.
Two images every second. Two noises every second. Two pressures on fingers every second. Two different scents every second.
One hundred and twenty images every minute. One hundred and twenty noises every minute. One hundred and twenty pressures on fingers or toes every minute. One hundred and twenty smells every minute.
7200 every hour. 56,640 in seven hours and fifty-two minutes. In total 226,560 separate packets of information. As soon as the images began, Gèng discovered she no longer had control over any of Leah’s neural connections. Leah lost any sense of time within ten minutes. Within twenty minutes she was allocating the packages seemingly without reference to the mode of sensory input. By the end of the first hour, she was no longer referring to colours but separating them and pushing them in separate directions in her mind. Gèng called Dr Roberts halfway through the first hour and began administering a variety of medications, electrolytes and stimulants before the hour was up. Reed and Tesfaye began working with Gèng to hack the system in the third hour. In the fifth hour, John started cutting through the Annoyance’s bulkheads to see if he could get into the room. And for the last two hours, they just watched.
Then it stopped.
The voice said, “Download complete. Decryption sequence is 9780380973460. You have a message from the broker.”
Another new voice said, “Don’t screw this up, Meredith. This is the big one.”
Then, as the floor and roof released her, Leah heard, “Vacate the room. This space will be deleted in sixty seconds.”
She heard the door open behind her, but she couldn’t move. Her legs and arms didn’t respond to any commands, and Leah began to crumple. Gèng spoke to her for the first time in years—well it felt like years—“Leah, John’s coming.”
Before she hit the floor, Leah was grabbed around the waist and dragged from the room. The door closed behind her and Gèng logged her out. For the second time in less than twelve hours, Leah remembered nothing as Gèng brought her to NREM3, and together with the others she anxiously watched Leah’s neural readouts.
Leah slowly became aware of her surroundings. She was in the Pod, but the cover was down. Gèng's voice came from the speakers, and for the first time, she heard each of them—altogether there were six, six speakers. Six different sound waves that were combined and received as a single waveform but which her brain could separate. She was sure she could point to each one. Gèng repeated what she'd said, and Leah knew that Gèng had increased the volume slightly. Then finally, the content filtered through.
"Leah, you've been in the Pod for five and a half hours. You need to take a break."
Leah processed the words slowly, then said, "Why is the cover down?"
"Mrs Sperry has come to help you if necessary. I thought you should be aware before you exit without clothing."
"Thank you. Will I need her help?"
"It is recommended."
"OK. Then let me out."
The cover opened, and Leah saw Mrs Sperry there, standing ready with a robe. Leah found she was able to move normally and she climbed out, then slipped the gown on. As she did, she winced. Something was wrong with her robe, it was rough, and it grabbed at her skin. She could also feel the warmth where Mrs Sperry had been holding the robe—it was in sharp contrast to the coolness of the rest of it.
Leah thanked Mrs Sperry but said she was feeling well enough to dress on her own. Mrs Sperry left the room after saying she'd wait in the kitchen. As Leah made her way to the shower cubicle, she noted that one of the tiles was not straight, and when the water began to flow she could feel every drop as it landed on her skin. After a few minutes, her awareness of the past finally made it past the sensory bombardment of the present.
"Gèng, what happened?"
"When the download began I was unable to interact with you in any way. A lockout was applied to every connection on the chip, including the additional ones. Your senses were overloaded within minutes, and even your enhanced neural architecture was unable to cope with the magnitude of information being processed. The new connections between the right and left hemispheres were co-opted almost immediately. After that, your brain began activating any connections it could. Dr Roberts has seen this previously, on a small scale, and in controlled studies; it was work she'd done in the area of neural plasticity. But those studies were done over months and years, not minutes. Your cerebral temperature began to rise, and I had to administer medications to bring it down, other medications to increase the blood supply to your brain, and even more to add the chemicals your brain needed but was using at an accelerated rate. Your temperature peaked at 42 degrees Celcius and remained high until an hour ago."
"What about the download?"
"I have looked at the data since you logged out and you assigned the different packets of data according to the scheme we decided for just over three minutes with one hundred percent accuracy. By ten minutes that was down to sixty percent. After twenty minutes there was no significant correlation between the avenue of sensory input and the assigned location."
"So it was all for nothing."
"On the contrary. While I still have no understanding of the content, I was able to apply some complex cryptographic algorithms and other data comparison techniques. After a brief analysis of the data, I have concluded that in the first five minutes there was no or little correlation between source material and assigned location. The correlation began to rise as you made decisions about storage based on an increasing number of parameters rather than relying on which sensory avenue was used to input the data. If an analysis is done without reference to the first thirty minutes, I suggest an accuracy of greater than ninety-six percent."
"How?"
"I believe your conscious and sub-conscious together were able to observe connections in style, or in content, or one of the hundreds of parameters by which humans make comparisons. Instead of your mind applying these connections to combine the data, as was intended, you used the connections to sort the data. It took some time to see the connections, and from then on your brain continually improved the sorting algorithm until you were able to separate them with almost one hundred percent accuracy."
Leah nodded as she thought through what Gèng had said. She sighed and said, "I had best go see Mrs Sperry. What time is it?"
"It is 9.45 PM."
"Wait, why is it so late? I have to get ready to go get mum."
"Leah, I kept you in deep sleep for two and a half hours because of the extreme stress your brain experienced. After your meal, you need to return to the Pod for several more hours at least. John is leaving soon with the team. They have a modified plan to rescue your mother, and he believes it will be successful."
Gèng lost control of the superconductor connections throughout Leah's body as Leah stood.
"Where are my new clothes?"
"They are still with Aker."
Leah left the room at a run. Michael was in the corridor, but she slipped around him as he started to speak and was out of sight before he could turn around.
"Tell John to meet me there."
Leah exited the stairwell and slowed as she entered the conference room. Aker was resting on a foldup bed when Leah stepped into the room.
Without any of her usual politeness, Leah asked, "Is the gear ready?"
Aker slowly sat up and said, "Yes, but John said there was a change of plan."
"John was mistaken. Show me the clothes."
Aker stood and was unfolding the pile of completed clothing when John walked in.
"Leah, you should be…"
Whatever he thought she should be, he never said because she turned and interrupted, "You, wait outside."
He tried again, "Leah, I don't think…"
The next thing he knew, Leah was standing in front of him and pulling his face down level with hers. She said, "John, I am beyond angry, and I'm struggling to remain calm right now. At the moment, I don
't care what you think or what you think I should do. I am coming with you, and I will get my mother back. Now, go wait outside."
Leah let go and turned back to Aker who was standing open-mouthed. The door opened and Michael walked in. Before he could say anything, John grabbed him and dragged him outside. Leah tapped Aker on the forehead to get her attention and said, "We'll talk later. For now, show me the suit."
The suit fit like a glove. Aker had added material to maintain modesty, but even so, Leah's figure and individual muscles were distinctly visible, though muted by the material. Leah finished dressing quickly, putting everything on except the facemask. Aker checked each piece and explained how the top section had a smart connection and how it locked itself to the lower. She showed Leah how to initiate the release and then had Leah practice. There was a similar smart join on the balaclava and others on the facemask and each of the weapons.
Leah practised all of them, then said, "Thank you, Aker. I know you have questions but now is not the time to have them answered. Please stay here until we return and remember we have paid for the 'never talk to anyone, ever' service package."
When Aker nodded, Leah headed for the door. John and Michael were still talking, so Leah interrupted and said, "I'm sorry dad, but there is no time for an explanation. John, we need to go."
John replied, "We do. Just wait for one minute. Gèng's suggested some additions to our medical kit. I know you don't want to hear it, but you haven't recovered from your outing this morning, much less this evening. So please, wait."
She nodded curtly and looked at her dad. He said, "John explained a little. I don't understand much, but I do know why you didn't say anything. Now, I'm not sure what outing he is talking about, but I do know he's been concerned all day. Please take care of yourself. I want your mum back, but I don't want you to be hurt. I love you both."
Some of her tension began to dissipate. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and said, “I’d better not hug you. In the mood I'm in I’m struggling to rein it in, and I don't want to hurt you."
He nodded. "I'm nodding because I'm a good dad, not because I understand what you said. I realise I was mistaken when I said I don't understand much. I don't understand any of it." Then he added, "But I do understand one thing, I am not happy with that outfit. You might think it's OK, but it isn't. I don't mind the colour or even the facemask, but I'm not at all happy with how revealing it is."
Leah blushed and laughed but was saved from replying when one of the security guards ran up with a bag and handed it to John.
John nodded at Leah and said, "We're ready, let's go."
Michael walked with them to the exit where four vehicles were waiting. John got into the first car and Leah got into the second. They were on their way.
As they left the access road to Guàn Enterprises, each of the vehicles headed in a different direction. At this time of the evening, there were very few vehicles on the road, and none of the cars would get anywhere near the remodelled suburb of Teneriffe without being identified. There was even less chance of them being able to approach the property John Welford had pointed out.
Each of the cars took different routes. Their passengers either moved to other vehicles, or they were dropped at a transport hub. They tried every trick they could to make it to Teneriffe unseen. Altogether seventeen people tried to evade surveillance—three made it.
Neither John nor Leah left Guàn Enterprises in the cars. It was the only place they believed they could be almost certain of remaining undetected. Both vehicles had had a section of their floors removed. As the first vehicle stopped at the security gate, John dropped to the ground and lay as still as he could. Leah dropped from the second car. They waited ten minutes before moving carefully off the road and through a side gate.
From there they made their way through the back streets to the Switch. They used all their evasion skills and made their way down to the river. A boat was waiting, and it turned upriver, away from the direction they wanted to go. Peter Johnson, the boss of the Basin Pocket Boys, met them at his private pier and ushered them into a waiting car. From there, it was a series of vehicles and transfers until both arrived at a suburb on the southern side of the river called Bulimba just before eleven.
The team being used to extract Lin had been holed up in Bulimba for days. While others reconnoitred and searched for Lin, the main team had been planning and training. Around Teneriffe itself, John arranged four staging areas where additional but diversionary crews assembled. Even though he hoped these crews hadn’t been spotted, he was almost certain they had been—that was their purpose.
Tonight, they were also tasked to be diversions. John, Lacey and several of the top enforcers from other gangs had chosen four well-guarded expensive homes belonging to friends or business partners of the Kodomans. These properties were assigned to the diversionary groups. They were to conduct an assault on each of these properties ten minutes before midnight.
Lacey met John and Leah outside the Bulimba hideout.
“John, everything is ready. Leah, I expect John has explained everything, do you have any questions before the final review?”
“No, John covered everything.”
“Good, then let’s gather with the others and I’ll do a run through one last time.”
There were five others on the team and Leah had worked with each of them during her days working for Jimmy. None of them were soldiers but they were some of the best thieves and enforcers in the city. The first two, Joel and Marie, were twins and only six years older than Leah. Like her, they’d worked for Jimmy since they were kids and they’d been her first teachers in the art of being invisible. Their father had been one of Jimmy’s enforcers until the day Joel skipped preschool to ask Jimmy to help him protect Marie. That evening, their father hadn’t come home and Joel and Marie became two of Jimmy’s boys. They were on the team as scouts.
The oldest was Martin and he’d been Leah’s main teacher in the second half of ‘break and enter’. He’d taught her how to pick locks, bypass sensors, rewire security systems and then to put everything back together on the way out. He was responsible for getting them undetected through the perimeter sensors.
Wes and Johan were muscle—intelligent, agile, silent muscle. Wes had been Leah’s only firearms’ instructor and that was only for one lesson. All of Jimmy’s boys had to know how to hold and disable a gun but Wes knew much more—he was the only one besides John who had a gun. Johan teamed with John in teaching martial arts but where John taught Leah how to use fighting sticks, Johan had shown her how to use knives. He’d also been her first aid instructor.
After Leah and John had greeted the others, Lacey said, “It’s now eleven and we leave in five minutes. I am overall lead. We will cross the river in two groups to avoid detection. John, you go first with Wes, Martin and Marie. John, you’re group lead. Marie, you’re on point. Leave the river north of Beeston Street, Wes you are to get them through the layer of secure river homes and onto Macquarie Street. John, head up the hill to the park. 11 Mackellar Street belongs to an older retired couple who practically live in their Pods. Every evening at eleven they play Undead Contagion Wars. We will rendezvous with you at the north-west corner of their property at eleven forty. Wes, we need to get through their rear security and into Teneriffe Park undetected.
“Leah, you’re with me, Joel, and Johan. I am group lead, Joel is on point. We’ll cross the river further north and exit onto Vernon Terrace close to Ethel Street. Leah, you’ll get us through the houses, I know John has given you the details. Joel, once we leave the river, I want to cut south-west along Abercrombie then follow Walker to Mackellar for the rendezvous. I know we have further to go but surveillance is less on our route. I know you have all heard this before but this is the last chance: are there any questions?”
Johan said, “Just the same question I’ve asked before. Why is Leah here? I know it is her mum, but she’s been out of the game for years. Even if she were at the top of he
r game, it wouldn’t solve the barriers we still have to find a way around. How do we scale the rear wall? How do we deal with twelve armed roving guards? And how can we defeat the robotic inside security before Lin gets hurt? I’m sorry Leah, but all Lacey says is that John says we need you. I trust him, but it worries me when even Lacey doesn’t know.”
Lacey looked at John and raised her eyebrows questioningly. She had the same concerns. John sighed and said, “A fair question that I still don’t want to answer, but at this stage, we gain nothing by keeping silent. You’ll all have worked out some of the details by the end of the operation. That said, you are never to discuss what I tell you, or what you see, ever—not even with each other. Now you know I dislike threats and I rarely make them, but know this. You talk, and I will exact retribution.”
Leah started to say something but John cut her off. “No Leah, they need to know how serious this is. It is life and death, yours and theirs.”
Leah closed her mouth and gave a small nod.
John continued, “All I’ll say is this: when Leah got her chip installed, there were some glitches. As a result, she developed some new skills and abilities that we can use tonight. Leah is now faster, stronger, and more skilled than any of us. She will be able to get over the back wall, she will be able to deal with the twelve guards and she is capable of getting through the robotic guards. We are all going along as her backup; she isn’t ours. When I thought she wasn’t going to be able to come tonight, I would have cancelled the operation if I didn’t think this the only chance we’ll have. I won’t say anything else and neither will any of you. I know Lacey is leading the operation but if Leah says to close your eyes, stand on one foot, and whistle Dixie, then I suggest that is what you do. Is that clear enough Johan?”