by Adam Thielen
A guard rushed in behind her and started to raise his short barreled shotgun. His body flung backward as if caught by a lasso on his waist. Tamra turned and fired three shots before he could recover. Taq entered the room. Swirling mist rose from the top of his head. He was wearing form-fitting black clothing. He had a tactical belt around his waist. His eyes were covered with a narrow smart-band with several readouts and visual enhancements. His face had a thin layer of stubble.
Kate lay silent as Taq rushed over to undo her restraints. Tamra stood at the doorway. “This is some sort of illusion,” Kate said quietly.
Taq threw Kate’s arm around him and tried to lift her. Her body stayed limp. “Come on, Kate.”
“I won’t fall for this,” she whispered. “Just stop.”
“We are going to get locked down here if we don’t move,” Tamra said hurriedly.
“She can get us out of here.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Come on Kate, let’s go.”
“Stop, stop, stop.”
“Just carry her!”
Taq leaned down and pushed his lips against her, softly mimicking their kiss from the dream world. He felt a hand touch his side. As he pulled away she beamed up at him.
“You came for me…”
“Bet your ass.”
Kate started to sit up. “Help get these neuro clamps off. Carefully.” They both started working on the headband around her crown, finally pushing the correct unlock sequence. It opened and the bar connecting it to the slab lowered back down automatically. Her eyes looked upwards and began to oscillate. “Give me a second, I will probe their defense network.”
Taq saw a line of tear between her eye and earlobe. He looked down at the torturer’s body and shook with anger.
“Probe it while we move,” Tamra barked.
Taq helped Kate off the slab. She was still naked, with blood splattered on her face, neck and shoulders.
Kate’s eyes continued to vibrate. She had never run her codebreaker at such a high petahertz. A drop of blood fell from her nose and splattered across her foot. Her eyes stopped moving. “I’m in,” she said. “I have control of the building.”
“Alright,” Tamra dropped her pistol and pulled the assault rifle from her back. “Where do we go to avoid a fight?”
“You can’t.”
* * *
The silver-laced rounds had poisoned and weakened Matthias greatly. It took over four hours before he regained consciousness. Tamra and Taq had waited patiently with him at the doctor’s residence. While there, they researched all known schematics of Grapeseed, acquired tactical assault gear, and gained the blessing of the university board to infiltrate the corporate headquarters under the guise of intelligence gathering.
At the city of Lovelock, in the region once called California, Matthias said good luck to Taq and Tamra as they went on without him. He traveled to a local safe house for a full briefing and to continue his strength recovery. It didn’t take him long, but every movement he made was painful. The doc told him the pain would subside in about a day and gave Matthias a bottle of hydrocodone. He dosed himself whenever the pain flared up, which was every fifteen minutes due to his quick metabolism. Matthias had no time to clean up after his recovery. His body dank from exertion, he noticed tube passengers giving him wide berth.
Ms. Koch was already cashing in on her deal with the council agent. She made it clear that the favor he owed could not wait until after the rescue of Kate. Of course she wouldn’t care about some human unaffiliated with Noxcorp, but the acquisition of the Mage had made everything unexpectedly complicated, and now a university on her turf had been attacked.
“I can’t let them do this alone,” Matthias told her over com. “If they get captured we’ve lost two actual assets.”
“Then apprehend them both right now,” she suggested. “She’s not our responsibility.”
“She’s important—”
“As far as I’m concerned, all of you are disobeying orders and in violation of corporate law.”
“They attacked us.”
“We will deal with them.”
“I sere doubt we will go to war with the largest corporation in America.”
“This mission to Neuroscape—”
“Which is also a violation of corporate law,” Matthias interrupted.
“This mission, which you will do,” Koch said, “is very likely connected to the Grapeseed attack.”
“What am I missing?”
“Corporate secrets, Matt. The information we need is at Neuroscape.”
“If they get caught…”
“Fine,” she relented. “We will protect them.”
Matthias knew that was a big commitment. Noxcorp was a small fish next to Grapeseed, and it could cost them a lot to barter back detained assets, but such things were a necessary part of intercorp harmony.
From Lovelock, Matthias needed to take a tube to Reno. The tubes were the efficient mode of travel for those without the means to fly. Literally tubes, they stretched from coast to coast, with various branches leading through much of the continent. The vessels, officially called cars, were soon renamed ‘pills’ by the general public, due to their shape. Within fifteen minutes of departing the tube station, the seats of the pill swiveled around as the vessel rapidly decelerated from almost nine hundred kilometers per hour. The only reason the pills didn’t make more stops was due to the time investment just reaching and braking from maximum velocity.
For almost the entirety of the trip, the pill did not come within four millimeters of the tube’s surface. Were the pill to scrape the tube, all passengers would instantly experience over thirty G’s of force. Survivable in theory.
The outer shell of the pill was thick and weighted for inertia alone. Were it not, the G’s during a scrape would be several times higher, crushing internal organs inside of compressed bodies. Unfortunately this extra weight meant much longer acceleration times. The seats were the most expensive component of the entire system. They had to be both light and sturdy enough to come off during a scrape or sudden stop, and they had to absolutely never fail to swivel. They needed no motors to do so. The back was heavier than the front, so simple inertia would put them in the correct orientation so that passengers always faced away from their destination during deceleration. Once at a complete stop, a rubber seal extended from the perimeter of the sliding pill door, limiting the amount of air that had to be constantly pumped out.
As long as you didn’t care about your items breaking and your bags fit into an overhead, the tube transit conglomerate didn’t care what you brought on the tube. Terrorism was rare, and pills carried no more than a couple dozen passengers even when full. If someone damaged the tube, fares went up to cover the costs.
Matthias grabbed his duffel and stepped out into the station. It was already four-thirty in the morning. He didn’t have much time to get in and out.
Downtown Reno was well-maintained. Faux grass decorated any spots not covered with perfectly smooth concrete. Downtown was small, and anyone standing on its edge would immediately see a wasteland of decrepit buildings and abandoned houses right outside of that bastion. Outside of essential shops and apartments, only one corporation had a presence in Reno—Neuroscape.
As Angela had informed him, most of Neuroscape’s security were conducting training at an old gymnasium. Matthias took a taxi to the campus. When he stepped out, he had to check his com to ensure he was in the right place. The two buildings that comprised the campus were clean and fairly contemporary looking, and the grounds were well kept. Several benches lined a wide cement path to the front glass double doors.
With his bag over his shoulder, Matthias strolled up to the doors and peered inside. A single man sat behind the front desk. He walked inside and flashed his ID to the man, who was most likely not named Audrey as indicated by the nameplate in front of him. The man waved him on, the ID Koch provided had worked.
The next test would be t
he elevator. He stepped on and touched the crimson square labeled ‘B3’.
“Verify,” the elevator droned in response.
Matthias placed his ID card to the sensor.
“Restricted,” the elevator decreed.
The man at the desk turned his head around. Matthias gave a curt smile and touched B2. The elevator began its descent. This was a newer elevator without a door. Doors moved. Moving things broke. Broken things cost money to fix. Instead, a simple sensor caused the elevator to brake when a line was crossed. Passengers tended to grip handles on the inside of the car tightly, paranoid that an unexpected loss of balance or sudden jerk of the car could send them hurtling to their doom.
The elevator moved silently downward. No music played. Matthias’s sensitive ears heard no voices chattering. He felt his own heart beat heavier than usual. The car came to rest with a ding. An empty, white hall greeted Matthias in B2. One glass door stood on each side of the hall, which came to an end shortly after, with a hall extending to the left and right.
Matthias hit B1 and stepped out. The elevator traveled up exposing the shaft. To his disappointment, a metal gate stretched across the shaft, sealing off B3. He silently stalked down the hallway. Each of the doors led to offices. Both empty. Matthias continued to the end of the hall. To the left was what looked like a break room with a small kitchen and vending machines. To the right was a large room checkered with clear tubes that reached from the floor to the ceiling. The walls were covered with tiles.
“Alright goddammit,” Matthias muttered. “Time to pull up a map.” He fingered his com and accessed previously downloaded schematics of the building, their accuracy questionable. Light shot from the com into Matthias’s pupils, displaying the images in three dimensions in front of him. The com watched his hands move over the image. Subtle finger gestures activated different modes, while he swept his hands outward to zoom in. No stairwell led to the final basement. Most ventilation ducts were too small, however there was a main duct leading from behind the wall in one of the offices that ended in a ceiling grate of the lower floor.
Matthias pulled his sword from his duffel, then sliced into the wall, cutting all the way through the drywall and aluminum duct. With each swing he shattered the silence of the sleeping building. If anyone was around, they had to wonder at the noise. After three cuts he was able to pull off the drywall and peel back the metal. Peering down he saw the grate. It would be tight, but it would work.
He clenched the duffel to his chest and slid down the duct. His feet landed onto the grate with the grace of a cat. Matthias crouched down and peered through the slits. No movement, no sound. He placed a unitool into the first bolt. The tip expanded to fill the slot then hardened. As he squeezed the grip, it began to spin, removing the bolts.
Once he dropped out of the open ductwork, he heard the first sounds of life. Quiet voices in the distance. The area around him was a series of cubicles. He knew where to go. Down a short hall, the ceiling lights flickered on as he walked underneath them. He stepped into a small office and waved the terminal awake, its angled panel flickering to life. Matthias heard the voices again. They were moving.
He lifted his com in front of the panel. Where the machine was expecting to see an iris, it got the light output of the projector instead. It couldn’t fake an eye, but the software had a vulnerability Noxcorp information specialists had been sitting on for weeks. They remotely programmed his com’s projector to exploit it, tapping into a subroutine that would execute precompiled code delivered via laser light.
The terminal unlocked its default administrator profile. Matthias began downloading the entirety of all synced data on the terminal’s cache via direct lifi. The screen appeared white to Matthias, refreshing at 4096 times per second. Each frame carried sixty-four megabytes of data. In twelve seconds, it was finished. The cache was small, mostly text documents with a few images, videos, and audio recordings mixed in.
Matthias paged Koch and transmitted filenames and short excerpts.
“Is it good?” he asked.
“Yes, very good. Too much to transmit from there, but—” she paused. “Some of it is encrypted. Where is the scientist? His name is Brusson.”
“I’ve seen almost no one here at all and no one in his office.”
“We need him. Please.” She sounded desperate.
Matthias stalked down a longer hallway with several offices on one side. The hallway stayed dark as he traversed the narrow corridor. At the end was a commons area with retinal projectors and some furniture. On a chair grotesquely large, covered with bulbous faux-leather cushioning, sat Frank. He faced the doorway as Matthias entered. Matthias already had his pistol in hand and sword on back.
He wanted to say, “Ah Frank, glad to see you. I didn’t know you were on this mission!” He would go on to curse Koch along with him, in his fantasy conversation. Instead, he stared at the man while his heart raced. He could not justifiably call Frank a close friend, but they had worked together long enough that he felt he knew him.
“Matt,” Frank said warmly. “Come, have a seat.” He gestured to a chair opposite him.
Matthias felt other eyes watching him. He didn’t move. Part of him wanted to run, but instead he subtly touched his com. “Wasn’t expecting to see you here, Frank.”
“Likewise. I really didn’t peg you for an errand boy.”
“What is this, Frank?”
“Will you just fucking sit down and talk to me?” Frank said, his voice gaining in volume. At first, Matthias thought maybe he detected fear, but it wasn’t that.
“Fine.” He sat in the seat, the gun resting on his lap.
“Oh Jesus, put the roscoe away.”
“Frank, if it had been anyone else, we wouldn’t be sitting here.”
“Let’s level with each other,” Frank said, his fingers tapping the armrest cushions. “We are after the same thing. I assume Koch got to you somehow, because I’d know if this were corp sanctioned. Bitch.” He stopped for a moment, glancing around Matthias’s head, but refusing to meet his gaze. “I got what I came for, but did you?”
“What the fuck are you doing, Frank? Are you going to kill me? Who is behind this… What the fuck are you doing?”
“What am I doing?” Frank asked himself. “Matty, it’s like this: I’ve seen the future. The council is the past, and I don’t want to be left behind. Simple as that.”
“Some usurper? You can’t be serious.”
“You haven’t seen what I’ve seen.”
Matthias chuckled, not at all amused. “You haven’t seen what I’ve seen.”
“Fair enough. I’m backing a winner, Matty. Come with me, I’ll show you.”
Matthias shifted in his seat, noting Frank’s minute flinch in response. “I have somewhere to be. Too much is going on right now.” He stood up, despite Frank holding his hand outward motioning him to stop.
“I’m sorry, Matt. I wish they had sent someone else.”
“You fucking traitor.” Matthias knew he was dead, but he wanted to bury Frank first. He aimed from the hip in order to snap off a shot before Frank could react, but the blast from a nearby shotgun had already sent him moving. He pulled the trigger mid-air and shot wide.
Matthias’s body flew across the room. Blood and vapor spurted from various punctures. Silver in the shot reacted with his blood in a way Frank didn’t expect. His body came to rest after rolling into the wall.
The vibration of the shotgun disrupted the stealth field used by the assailant. The man that appeared wore a form-fitting black outfit. It covered him completely from head to toe. He walked over to Matthias’s body.
“Leave him,” Frank said with one hand held against his mouth. “That much silver…”
* * *
“This much silver…” the doctor sighed. He squeezed an I.V. bag methodically before hanging it up above Matthias’s chest. Moments earlier, Tamra had dragged the vampire's body into this man's house, expecting him to go to work in the middle
of the night.
“What are you doing?” asked Tamra.
“Bits of silver are lodged in him. They will work themselves out, but not while they suppress his regeneration.” The man shoved a syringe into Matthias’s neck. Tamra cringed. He continued, “A hyper-sulfuric solution will tarnish the silver. Once tarnished, it loses its poisonous property.”
“You are injecting him with sulfur?”
“Indeed. I have heard that it’s very painful and will be until he pisses it all out.”
“How long will that take?” she asked the doc.
“It varies. One day, maybe two.”
Matthias’s body started to convulse. His back arched and his arms pulled the chains wrapped around them taught. The doctor flinched away. “I think we need more chains.” Vapor began to seep from his wounds as the sulfur reacted with the silver.
“Is this—going to take long?” Tamra asked, coughing on the fumes.
“Yes.”
For the next three hours Tamra watched, waited, and made preparations for a counter-strike.
* * *
“Did we get him out?” Frank asked.
The man in black nodded.
“Good, let’s get out of here.”
Frank started for the doorway and the shotgun ninja followed. His footsteps stopped and he jerked his head to the side. He started to spin around but it was too late.
BANG! BANG! BANG! Matthias fired three quick shots while still prone, knocking the man to the ground. Frank darted out of the room and down the hall.
Screaming, Matthias pushed himself onto his feet and toward the ninja. Using mental commands he learned through his research, he forced his body to secrete adrenaline. As it surged through his body the pain of the sulfur and silver shot dissipated, though it had the side effect of slightly blurring his vision. He continued to shoot at the man as he rushed him. The bullets weren’t penetrating the fibers of his suit. The man stopped fighting against the force Matthias’s assault. Instead, he fell onto his stomach and rolled over, bringing the semi-automatic combat shotgun around to finish the job.