Synchronicity Trilogy Omnibus

by Michael McCloskey

  Feng could see his machine was crippled. It couldn’t move. The main cannon was down. He just waited, watching a cloud of dust flow over the machine.

  “Did you get it?” asked another pilot.

  “I don’t know,” Feng said. He watched the smoke another few moments. His Yongshan didn’t drop completely off. Nothing was happening.

  “My Yongshan is mostly dead. But there was some kind of secondary explosion. Maybe like the one that blew up in the lab?”

  Feng saw dogs moving through the clearing dust in the Yongshan’s video feed.

  “The dogs are here, maybe it ran off,” Feng said.

  “The battle controller is communicating with the dogs again,” came Wenbo’s report.

  “Did we kill it?” Feng asked urgently.

  There was a pause. Then, “Yes! I see fragments in the corridor... one of its arms.”

  Feng exhaled harshly and opened his eyes. He sat in a command cubicle in the Ascending Dragon. He had parked various displays interlaced into his vision across the blank metal walls of the cubicle.

  Success.

  Then the frustration returned.

  We lost four Yongshans. Against one tiny spinning robot.

  The dogs resumed their sweep. Feng could tell the battle controller was there, as the wave of dogs had fallen out of order, with the dogs toward the inside of the ring ahead of the others that had a longer path to follow. The controller re-synchronized the army. Wherever they encountered the locals they efficiently glued them up.

  Feng listened in on the soldiers’ chatter as well, as they seized the rest of the station. After a few minutes he heard something that made him sit up. He opened a channel to Sheng.

  “Slaves?”

  “Chinese slaves. They have Chinese slaves working for them.”

  “Captain Lin won’t let them get away with that,” Feng said.

  “Yeah, he’ll probably put the slaves in charge and make the owners into the labor. That would be fitting. I also heard we have some spies here. Maybe they’ll be able to shed some light on what’s been going on.”

  Spies. Could Xinmei...

  “Where are the slaves at?” Feng asked urgently.

  “I’ll send you a pointer. We’re processing them in a cafeteria. Pretty exciting, isn’t it? We’ve freed them!”

  Feng switched to a feed from the cafeteria where they had herded the slaves. All he could think about now was Xinmei. Could she be here? Had she been hurt? He saw dozens of Chinese men and women dressed in simple black and silver Talisite uniforms. The angle wasn’t good. He couldn’t see all their faces like this.

  He commandeered a dog from the battle controller and sent it into the cafeteria so he could take a look. His dog strode through the room hurriedly, glancing at all the faces. He didn’t see Xinmei.

  “Were any of the enslaved killed during the incursion?” Feng demanded. The officer there blinked, surprised to be addressed by a dog with the authority of a captain.

  “I don’t believe so. Who are you looking for?”

  Feng didn’t know how to answer. “Send me a record of them once you’re finished here,” he said.

  Of course not. She’s probably on Earth. Most of the slaves must be there. And if she’s not, well, there are so many stations anyway...

  Feng felt foolish. Worse, he’d neglected his duty on the assumption that only one spinner existed. Of course, the fact that the cybloc jamming had ceased was a strong sign.

  Admiral Huang opened an urgent channel to his officers aboard the Ascending Dragon.

  “Important intelligence has come through related to the spinners. There is a ship,” the admiral said. “A space ship. It belongs to these things. We’re going to seize that ship at all costs. We must learn more about it.”

  The admiral paused.

  “The ship is on a Western controlled station. We’re going to war. There are UNSF fleet elements in the area. Expect a fight when we get there. The ship is too valuable for us to expect to seize it without resistance.”

  Feng couldn’t believe it. Real war? Against the UNSF? Captain Lin had been right after all. Feng thought about the goal, an alien ship. He understood why they had to fight for it. If the West were allowed to study that ship, then they’d learn secrets that could put them far, far ahead of anything the Chinese had.

  Ten

  Xinmei sat on her guest’s bed. She had put on a turquoise robe provided by VG to hide her body from him. He stared at her hungrily. For a moment Xinmei worried he would want her again. Hopefully she would be able to convince him to wait. The illusion was useful to help ensure his cooperation, but she didn’t want to use it more often than necessary.

  “Well? Tell me your plan. How are we gonna do this?” he asked.

  “Shuttle. We will be on,” Xinmei said.

  “How can we do that? They’ll never let us.”

  “Have others who help. They fool computer,” she told him. It was true enough. They should be able to escape the station. Then the plan was to warn China of the threat.

  “And Captain? Slicer?”

  “We go during challenge.”

  “Tomorrow?”

  “Yes. Best time. Only one chance, I think.”

  Mr. Adrastus considered her words. She knew he would eventually accept her offer.

  He has no choice.

  “Has anyone you worked with escaped before?”

  “No. Haven’t tried.”

  “I wonder what Alec will do if they catch us,” he said. “I mean, I wonder what Captain will do.”

  Kill us both, Xinmei thought. She didn’t dare say this out loud, because she needed the company man to stay calm. Having him on her side could make the difference between getting on that shuttle or being thrown out of an airlock.

  “Where are you from?” he asked.

  “Beijing.”

  “What kind of spy are you exactly? Do you work for the Chinese government or a corporation?”

  Xinmei looked away. “No matter,” she said. She thought of Feng and wondered where he was. This man wasn’t a beast, but he didn’t compare to her Feng.

  “Okay, well never mind about that. I wonder what it’s like growing up in the Chinese bloc. Is it true that you have a billion people living at subsistence?”

  “No.” Actually Xinmei didn’t know how many lived at subsistence. But the huge herds of feral humans existed everywhere, kept at bay only by lack of organization, lack of robotic forces, and the food thrown out by the corporations to keep them from starving to death.

  “Hrm. Well, what bad things did you hear about the West when you were in Beijing?”

  “Americans all use drugs. Drugs to keep happy and stupid. Brazilians are all segui.”

  “Segui?”

  “Sex… sex monster,” she said.

  “Ah. Well, I don’t use many drugs. Although a sleeping pill tonight might be wise. I doubt I can go to sleep given the current plan for tomorrow.”

  Xinmei nodded.

  “I help you sleep,” she said. Should be easy enough to fool him again. I hope, she thought.

  “I was hoping you might say that.”

  ***

  Xinmei spent the morning preparing the details of their escape with Yingtai. They used their last allowed meeting to go over the plan.

  “I’ve obtained tasers you can use,” Yingtai said. “Take your guest with you.”

  “Very well. Although I’m half thinking I should change the plan and leave him here.”

  “He’ll help you. First of all, he can get you out of any of a dozen situations you might get yourself into just by vouching for you. Plus, if something goes wrong on the shuttle, he might be able to help you fight. He might even be able to help get the shuttle working for you two to use.”

  “How can we even get on the shuttle?”

  “You’ll pose as two other people. We’ve knocked out a VG man and a woman and blocked their links. Set up your link with the information I send you.”

 
“What about you? Don’t you want out of here? Won’t there be problems if they find out you helped me leave?”

  “We’re willing to stay here and keep gathering information. Besides, if you succeed, the Divine Space Force will come here. Also, with the spinners in control of everything, we don’t need to fear retribution. Everyone’s mind is on the spinners and their new rules. We’re the last thing on anyone’s mind.”

  “This is my gear?”

  “Yes. It should fit you well enough.”

  “How did you get it?”

  “I said you needed to leave to see the doctor.”

  “Oh.”

  The gear was exactly her size, with blue trim. She started to put it on.

  “Good luck, Xinmei,” Yingtai said. “Get through any way you can. Send messages along the way. It doesn’t matter if the UNSF hears them. Just make sure that our people find out.”

  “Have you sent a message from here?”

  “Yes, we have. I’m sure between all our efforts, the news will make it home.”

  Yingtai gave Xinmei an injector. “This is more of the drug we gave you before. It may come in handy.”

  “Thank you.”

  “The program for the drug can be used for more than pleasure,” she added. Xinmei nodded. She grabbed a knife from the kitchen and put it into the gear.

  “That may not be a good idea,” said Yingtai.

  “The spinners don’t care about weapons,” Xinmei said. “I take it just in case.”

  Yingtai left. Xinmei was just putting on the last bit of her gear when Mr. Adrastus came out in his own gear.

  He saw her new set of gear.

  “Gear for you? How did you get it?”

  “Made doctor appointment,” Xinmei said. She stood up with her helmet in hand.

  “How many of your people are coming?”

  “No room for anyone else,” she said. “We can only fool the security this much. Slicer may know. He has killed,” she said. She put her helmet on.

  “I remember!” he said. He slipped his helmet on.

  They left the room together with Xinmei in the lead. She headed towards the spaceport. She saw four or five people moving about in their own gear on various errands. Xinmei felt conspicuous despite the gear, but no one paid them any attention. The spaceport was mostly empty. Xinmei felt thankful that there weren’t other flights arriving or departing at the time, though she knew it might have provided more cover to have other people checking through at the same time.

  They walked up to a collection of doors divided by rails like racehorse chutes. Xinmei selected one and they walked inside. The robot on the wall wasn’t activated.

  “Wait here,” Xinmei said.

  “Hey, wait! How big is this flight, anyway? How come no one else is here?”

  “Technicians only,” she said. “Not for passengers. Cargo flight.”

  “Really? Oh.”

  “Wait,” Xinmei repeated. “Time must be right; we pretend to be someone else.” She walked ahead out of the room.

  She went to the women’s restroom where Yingtai had left her the weapons. She retrieved the tasers from the recycling bin. Each was roughly tube shaped with two needles protruding from the front. There was a single safety switch and firing trigger on the top where her thumb rested.

  Xinmei went back to retrieve Mr. Adrastus.

  “We get on now,” she told him. He turned around in surprise at the sound of her voice.

  He’s as nervous as I am.

  “Relax. It go like plan,” she said, tugging on his arm. He stepped toward her. She lifted his hand and placed the weapon in his gloved hand.

  “Stunner?” he guessed.

  “Taser,” she said. “For emergency. I take care of pilots.”

  “The computer flies the shuttle, not the pilots,” he pointed out.

  “Pilots control computer,” she said. “They give me the authorization to …” Xinmei hesitated, looking for a word. “Navigate.”

  “But they’re not our people?”

  Xinmei walked ahead. She isolated his link and told her yin xing ji to look like the other VG people who were scheduled to be on the cargo flight.

  They entered the lock corridor and went straight through to the spaceplane. As far as Xinmei could tell, her link did the job and no alarms were raised.

  The interior was dark. There were a few dull colored seats in four rows. Xinmei saw someone entering the area from across the seats. They took their helmet off and Xinmei saw the face of an older man. He was covered in sweat. He wasn’t paying Xinmei and Mr. Adrastus any special attention.

  Xinmei walked over to the man as he worked to remove his gear.

  “You can take your gear off now,” the man said.

  Xinmei targeted the man’s neck and shocked him. The weapon emitted a sharp snap. The man fell to his knees. Xinmei kicked him over. The man had passed out. Xinmei noticed his link drop offline. The weapon had disabled it.

  She took off her helmet and looked at Mr. Adrastus.

  “Leave rest on,” she said. “Just in case. Maybe good protection.”

  He nodded.

  “What about his link? If he wakes up and sends out a message …”

  “Link dead now,” Xinmei said. She pointed at her taser.

  “But if we zap the pilot’s link, the shuttle might—”

  “Know. Have link to take over.”

  “But the pilot’s link must have a series of one-time codes used to communicate with …”

  “Know. We have codes, too. Only need password to make navi … navigation changes.”

  Mr. Adrastus sighed.

  Xinmei moved to the other door and through it. The passageway beyond ran the length of the plane. They moved rapidly toward the cockpit.

  Xinmei made it to the door but her link told her she could not get inside.

  “Your entrance is not authorized,” a voice in her link told her in English. Xinmei sent an open request to anyone inside. The door opened.

  A pilot sat in an acceleration couch in a small room. Xinmei noted he was an older man with some gray hair, though he wasn’t fat. The man was absorbed in his PV.

  “So, what’s up?” asked the man.

  Xinmei shocked him. The pilot yelled and passed out. A little blood came from his mouth. Xinmei wanted to just walk away, but she had to keep going. She tried to pick the man up.

  “Help carry,” Xinmei said.

  Mr. Adrastus helped her with the body. She led him down the corridor to some storage lockers. The area was gently lit by several glow panels. Some chairs were arranged in a small break area, so Xinmei told Mr. Adrastus to drop the man there.

  We need something to tie them up with, she thought.

  Xinmei opened up a locker. She dug around and found some yellow rope.

  “Tie up,” she said, giving Mr. Adrastus the rope. Then she went back to get the other man. She regretted this when she discovered how heavy the fat man was, but she managed to drag him back to the break area. She let Mr. Adrastus take over while she caught her breath.

  He tied them up into the chairs.

  Xinmei retrieved a cup of water from a water station in the wall. Xinmei threw water on the fat one. He slowly woke up.

  “Let us go, you whack jobs,” he said.

  “I change course,” Xinmei said. “We need authorization.”

  “No!” spat the fat man.

  The skinny one shook his head and opened his eyes.

  “We won’t cooperate with you,” he said. “My link does not work. By this time, the vessel is locked down and help is on the way.”

  “Does the ship look locked down to you?” Mr. Adrastus asked. He walked over to a locker and opened it with his link.

  “We need authorization,” Xinmei repeated.

  “Go fuck yourself, Chink!”

  Xinmei glared at him with her meanest look. She took her knife out and brandished it.

  “I’m not talking,” said the pilot. The other man didn’t
speak.

  Xinmei calmly sliced through the pilot’s waistband and slid his pants down to his ankles. The man wore blue undersheers, simple clinging underwear that went halfway down his thigh.

  “You do not want me continue,” Xinmei said. The pilot didn’t respond.

  Xinmei adjusted her taser then thrust it hard into the pilot’s groin. They heard a sharp snap. The man screamed.

  For my country, she thought. I have to do this. Would Feng ask me to stop?

  “You crazy bitch!” the other man yelled.

  “Give us,” Xinmei said. The pilot didn’t answer. His face was red.

  Xinmei grabbed the man’s shorts and sliced them open with her knife.

  “Oh, my god,” whimpered the fat man.

  “I never liked watching this part,” Mr. Adrastus stated matter-of-factly. “Let me know once he’s told you.” He left the room hurriedly.

  He doesn’t want to watch. I can’t blame him. But this is good.

  Xinmei turned the fat man away from the other in the chair so he couldn’t see what was happening. She took out her injection device and put the drug into the other man’s leg near his crotch. He screamed and fought against his bindings.

  The pilot’s eyes unfocused. Xinmei configured her program, selected a torture scenario and ran it.

  The pilot screamed again. It was a long, strained wail of despair. Xinmei’s heart rate sped up even more. She hadn’t expected it to be so effective so quickly.

  The fat man spoke up. “The passcode is Argus five zero five. Argus five zero five. Please, just stop!”

  Xinmei turned the program off.

  “You are wise to cooperate,” she said. She cut the pilot on his thumb, bloodying her knife. Then she emerged from the room. She looked at Mr. Adrastus.

  Don’t show him any fear, she thought. So she smiled.

  “We have authorization,” she said.

  Mr. Adrastus nodded. His face looked blank. She was sure he saw the blood on her knife.

  “I locked them out of computer,” she told him. He nodded again, then stopped.

  “Wait,” he said. “I know you’re good. But he didn’t say the password was argus five zero five, did he?”