'No shit. I told you that.'
'You've got to slow them down.'
'What are you talking about? Slow them down? How am I supposed to do that? Have you seen how many soldiers there are? There must be at least fifty of them, and they're all armed, Riser! This isn't some game in the back streets anymore. These are Security Forces with big fucking guns. They're looking for you, aren't they? How am I supposed to stop them? I'm not a soldier. I didn't come here to be part of your own private army of one. There's only so much your credits can buy. If I get blown to hell by plasma grenades no amount of credits will be of any fucking use to me anyway. What the hell have you done this time? Why are they coming for you like this?'
Riser knew he was asking a lot of his brother, but what choice did he have? 'You don't need to fight them, Damen. I'm not asking you to get into a gun battle. There's no point, and there's too many of them, like you said. Just keep them from finding us for as long as you can. That's all I ask. Use the building against them. I've set it all up for you. You just need to run a few commands and keep an eye on things to make sure everything is going to plan. Buy me some time. I'll come up with something to get us out of this.'
'It's a shitty job, Riser. You shouldn't have brought me into this.'
'I know it is. I didn't think the Security Forces would storm the building. They're even dumber than I thought, but I'll get us out of this.'
Damen grunted.
'Don't I always get us out of things?'
'Everyone has their limits. If you keep digging, sooner or later you'll be in so deep you'll bury yourself and me with you. I don't see why I should get dragged into it every time. I have enough shit to sort out in my own life. What the hell have you done this time? These guys aren't looking for a small time hacker. They have guns. They're expecting something big.'
'It'll be okay, Damen. Just buy me some time. That's all I'm asking. I'll handle the rest.'
Damen took a long time to answer. Riser wondered whether he had pushed him too far this time.
'Okay, I guess,' Damen said. 'What other option do I have? I'm here already, saving your ass again. But this is the last time, Riser. I mean it. How long do I have to go on owing you?'
Riser remained silent. Old memories died hard. He told his complaining brother to get on with it. He didn't have time for this right now. He had other things to worry about. He would have to come up with a plan for dealing with the Security Forces - and pretty damned quick, but first there was something else he had to do.
+ + +
Riser turned off the PA system, letting his attention slip slowly back into the Information Cloud. It felt like sinking into hot fudge. The Sphynx-II controller rack sat purring on his desk. He could feel its smooth vibrations through his arms. Power roared inside the little black box and Riser wanted to be part of it.
Returning to the familiar place in his mind, he reconvened his search. He couldn't see the Sphynx-II logs directly. Like everything else about the Information Cloud, there was just too much data to search in a conventional way. Instead, something floated in the centre of his awareness, an amorphous blue field that swirled and flowed like a hot gas. Riser knew that it contained what he needed to know. Now he just had to figure out how to extract it.
He thought about what he already knew. There had been several satellite strikes in front of Havers Compound. The net-feed droids had logged their exact start and end times as well as the coordinates of the locations that had been hit. He could sense that information at the periphery of his mind.
One thing he hadn't thought about until now was that the Security Forces' Crocs had made several attempts to take evasive action, and yet they had still been hit by multiple satellite strikes. That meant that the satellite strikes were not following a preprogrammed strike pattern. The Kamari wouldn't have been able to repeatedly strike moving targets unless they had been actively targeting the strikes themselves. Riser tried not to directly search for answers. Instead, he focussed on what he already knew. The sensor cap felt cool and comfortable on top of his head. It felt like it belonged there. He was learning how to use it, and it was learning how to understand his own unique way of thinking.
A tingling sensation ran through his mind. Riser opened himself to it. Words dissolved. Language fell away. His thoughts now consisted only of concepts, images, feelings, and needs. Without verbalising anything he brought up an image of the three Crocs in his mind. The Satellite strikes hit them over and over as he replayed the day's events. The Croc's positions moved across the battlefield but the satellite strikes still hit their targets. The Kamari had actively targeted each attack. A strike began. A strike ended. The Crocs ran their evasive actions. Then it happened again. The timings of the strikes throbbed inside the churning blue cloud in Riser's mind - but there was something else too.
There was another signal just before each satellite strike - a control signal broadcast via a narrow beam transmission straight up into the sky. Something was sending commands to the satellite platforms! Only the net-feed droids closest to the signals had picked them up. The transmissions had all come from inside Havers Compound. Riser triangulated the source of the signals from the perspective of the nearest net-feed droids. A grid of droids appeared in his mind, and thin lines shot down from each one, showing the source of their intercepted signals. All lines pointed to one location, a small white building at the rear of the compound. It didn't look like much, but that building was the location of the satellite-grid controller. He was sure of it. That had to be the device that he had seen the technicians trying to hide from him.
Riser felt a wave of euphoria coursing through his veins. His lungs filled with air and a great bellowing laugh poured out of him. He didn't care what his brother thought about his strange behaviour. For the first time in his life he had real power in his hands. The Information Cloud was learning how his mind worked, and he was learning how to use it. The more they worked together, the more their thoughts and actions integrated together, becoming more than the sum of their parts. The Cloud would become part of him and he would become part of it, the two indistinguishable from one another. His powers were growing by the minute. Riser laughed again, tears of joy running down his cheeks. Suddenly everything became clear to him. He needed that satellite-grid controller. That was his insurance policy. The Security Forces couldn't touch him if he had that.
Everybody wanted the satellite-grid controller for the same reason. The satellite platforms held great power. Whoever controlled them, earned the respect of those around them. Respect, or fear - it didn't matter which. What mattered was the Security Forces would have to listen.
Maybe if he could get hold of the controller, he might be able to use it as a bargaining tool, not just against the Security Forces, but against the Kamari too. Sometimes the eye of the storm was the safest place to be. Riser opened his mouth in a big wide smile. He always found his way out of trouble. Always. A strange peace came over his mind. At last, he knew what he had to do. Flicking his wrist controller sideways, he sent a sizeable force of net-feed droids swarming towards the back of Havers Compound.
Missing Numbers
Rachel stood in a small dusty room with white stone walls. Broken chairs leant against the wall and bloodstained debris covered much of the floor around her. The spent munitions clips near the doorway told her that Security Forces had passed through and moved on.
The fighting sounded more fierce than it really was. Everywhere that Rachel went, there were small pockets of resistance, but nowhere did she find the numbers she was expecting. Havers Compound was a huge building. There had to have been a sizeable Kamari force within it when the Beacon Attack Force had arrived. Even accounting for the bodies that lay strewn across the floor, the numbers just didn't add up. Looking down, she noticed that her comms pack was turned off so she switched it back on. Before she could turn her attention back to the sporadic fighting, her collar vibrated.
Rachel accepted the incoming comms call. It was Nick. S
he had to admit it was good to hear his voice.
'Rachel? Are you okay?'
'Yes, I'm fine.'
'What's going on? Why did you turn your comms pack off?'
'I didn't turn it off, Nick. It must have got knocked about when I was riding in on the roach. Those things are never the smoothest of rides.' She considered her next question before asking it, but she realised that she really did want to know.
'Are you okay, Nick? Are you hurt?' He must have been as surprised as her because he took a long time to answer.
'I'm... I'm okay. I'm on my way. Where are you?'
An explosion rocked an adjoining corridor. Chunks of masonry fell from the ceiling, bouncing across the floor in front of her black combat boots. Rachel ducked behind a composite bench and gazed carefully over the top. Light smoke drifted in from the corridor but she couldn't see any active fighting nearby.
'I'm in C-wing,' she said. 'At least I think I am. It's hard to tell in this place. Most of the rooms are nothing more than rubble. They all look the same. I don't like how this is turning out, Nick. It just doesn't stack up.'
'What do you mean?'
'I've only been through about a quarter of the compound, I admit, but so far I haven't come across more than a handful of Kamari in one place. We've met a few small pockets of resistance but nothing more.'
'Their main force must be in a different part of the building,' Nick said.
'No. The other commanders are reporting the same thing. Nobody has seen more than a dozen Kamari in one place. I thought Central Command said —'
'They said thousands, Rachel, but maybe they were just preparing us for the worst.'
'But all these reinforcements - they wouldn't have sent so many ground forces if they were expecting only a few dozen Kamari soldiers.'
'I don't know. I wish I did. The reinforcements were too late for Edwards' squad. It seems more like an afterthought than part of any great plan. Nobody told me they were coming and I'm supposed to be running this bloody operation. What's the situation like now?'
'It's mostly just clean up. I expect by the time you get here there will be little resistance left.'
'Okay, well I'll come and find you soon then.'
+ + +
Nick shut down the comms link and climbed onto his roach. The droid lurched forwards, running across the ever increasing pile of destruction that covered the fields in front of Havers Compound. He leant heavily on the front handrail, causing the roach to swerve between mobile proton cannons that had become stuck in the mud. Weaving his way towards a breach in the compound wall, he jumped onto the soft soil and joined a black mass of Security Forces who were jostling to make their way into the compound.
The sun had passed its highest point in the sky and was now moving back towards the horizon. The light would start fading in a few hours. Fighting would be more difficult in the dark.
Report
The technician's eyes bulged almost out of his head as he entered the cloaked section of B-wing. Bloodstains covered the upper right arm of his long white lab coat and sweat covered his forehead.
'Ah, Dr Senar,' Roy said, standing with his hands in the large hip pockets of his trousers. 'You seem tense. Good news, I hope?'
Dr Senar rubbed his hands together, breathing with slow, laboured breaths. His thin-rimmed spectacles reflected the overhead lights as his eyes darted from Roy to Isor, and then to Jacob and the rubber ball that he was bouncing off the stone floor with one hand. He spoke to Roy but his gaze kept returning to Jacob and his ball.
'Roy, they've taken the satellite-grid controller.'
Jacob's brow dropped into a deep furrow as he caught the ball and squeezed it tight. Isor dropped a half-smoked cigarette and stubbed it out with his boot. He stepped forward with a tightness in the corner of his mouth. Only Roy stood perfectly still, his grey eyes suddenly hard as steel.
'Who has taken the satellite-grid controller?' Roy said.
'The droids.'
'Which droids?' Jacob said.
'The flying droids,' Dr Senar managed. His eyes darted between the three of them, his breathing deteriorating into a wheeze that became worse with every sentence. A thin bead of sweat trickled down the side of his temple.
'You mean the news droids?' Isor said, stepping closer to the doctor with an unpleasant smile. 'How exactly did they manage that?'
Dr Senar's wheezing forced him to bend forwards, leaning heavily on his knees. He rubbed his forehead with the back of one shaking hand, peering over the top of his spectacles as he tried his best to explain what had happened between rasping breaths.
'I ran all the way here. I wanted to tell you at once. My lungs are not so good anymore. Give me one moment...'
'Get to the point,' Roy said, 'save us the sad story. It's not appropriate.'
Dr Senar nodded from his stooping position, 'I'll tell you. There were lots of them... They came swarming into the lab. I didn't know what to do. They had short arms and sharp gripping claws that grabbed at everything... I tried to stop them. They grabbed the controller, and they were grabbed me too. I cut my arm, struggling with them. I thought they were going to drag me up into the air with them. I didn't know what to do, Roy. I'm a scientist, not a soldier... There was nothing I could do.'
'And where is the controller now?' Roy said.
'West,' The doctor looked relieved to be reaching the end of the questions. His shoulders heaved with the effort of breathing, but he managed to stand upright again, a thin mist covering the inside of his glasses.
Isor's frown turned into a half-smile, 'West into the woods, you mean?'
Dr Senar made a choking noise and nodded.
Isor glanced at Roy, who was gazing into the distance as though lost in thought.
'So Trent has taken the controller,' Roy said in a calm voice. 'I wonder what he thinks he's doing. He won't keep it for very long if he's heading in that direction. Inform Adam that he has guests on the way.'
Jacob pulled a hand-held console from his pocket and started tapping commands into it. With his other hand he raised his impact pistol and fired twice. Dr Senar's bloodstained spectacles bounced across the corridor, sliding to a halt on the hard stone floor.
Questions
Ario Neech sat in a small room on the eighty-third level of Tower Four at Central Command. Three of the walls were made of plain white composite material while the fourth was made entirely out of glass, providing a view that looked out over Cinnamon City to the South. When he had first entered the room, Ario had been amazed by the stunning views of the Old Quarter and the faint outline of Skybreaker Mountains on the distant horizon, but now he sat in the room's only chair with his back to that view.
Pulling at his shirt collar with one clammy finger, he tried to straighten his oiled black hair with his other hand. When were they going to bring him some water? His throat had been dry for longer than he could remember. He was going to file a formal complaint against Central Command when all this was over. Somebody today had made a big mistake in bringing him here like a common thief. Who the hell did they think they were? The Security Forces had gone too far this time.
The questions had continued for hours. Who was controlling the net-feed droids? Who had given authorisation for the live broadcast of a major combat operation? How had Riser Trent restored power in the basement of the Mekinet News building? Where was Riser Trent? Who the hell was Riser Trent?
Ario was beginning to regret ever meeting the man. Trent had been one of his employees for many years. He had an attitude problem. Ario had only kept him around because some of his other staff had said that Trent his uses. He was just a low-life hacker, good for dirty jobs but not much else. Looking back on the situation, Ario realised that he had been more trouble than he was worth, in every respect.
The room was quiet now. Ario had been left alone to mull over his thoughts for the last half hour. It was a relief that was short lived. As though summoned by his thoughts, the door opened and two security guards m
arched in, one taking position on each side of the door. Ario wasn't sure whether the guards were meant to protect the Admiral from him or the other way around. Gail Thompson strode between the guards with a look of iron determination. This was the woman who had battered his mind with demands and questions for most of the fading day. He had hoped that the setting sun would bring an end to her aggressive questioning, but it didn't look like that was going to be the case.
'Who is Riser Trent?' she said.
Ario squirmed in his uncomfortable chair. 'I already told you!' His patience had run out long ago. 'Either press charges or release me. I have done nothing wrong. I am the CEO of Mekinet News, not some no-life you can intimidate and harass.'
Thompson stared back at him as though he hadn't spoken. Her ice-blue eyes pinned him to his seat like a struggling moth. She was a powerful woman, he had to admit. In other circumstances... he... no! The long day was confusing his mind.
'Who is Riser Trent?'
Ario couldn't hide his anger. Thick creases formed on his brow. He forced himself to sit still and say nothing.
'Let me make this simple for you, Mr Neech. A member of your staff has spent the best part of the day causing heavy casualties to the Security Forces. He has illegally broadcast live transmissions of a combat operation. He has hacked into our secure communication channels, and he has now stolen a satellite-grid controller.'
Ario blustered, his small hands gripping the chair as though he expected it might pitch him onto the floor at any moment. 'He what?'
'He sent us a threat a few minutes ago, saying that if we do not pull back our forces from the Mekinet News building, he will launch a sat-strike on Cinnamon City.'
Ario's face grew darker by the minute. He balled his fists in front of him in useless anguish.
'As you said, Mr Neech. You are the CEO of Mekinet News. You have shown today your complete lack of ability to fulfil that demanding role.'
Information Cloud: Science fiction and fantasy series (Tales of Cinnamon City Book 1) Page 16