After spending an hour wading through all this I decided to call it quits and get some sleep, it was late now with most people off shift. As I got out of the booth and walked by a news prompter I was startled by an unexpected sight: My face!
I quickly bought a copy and ran off to my hiding place in the air shafts.
Activating the device I looked over the feed. It was a still picture of me alright, taken in a briefing room at a low angle. Fairly recent too. It didn't take me long to backtrack the angle in my mind and figure out who had taken it.
Jaime.
The story itself was a fabrication, but that didn't matter. It said I had gone berserk and killed several people, two Humans included, and that I was free on the moon somewhere. I was glad they had lied on that part, if they had told the truth, who knows how many assassins would have been on my trail. They mentioned several of the others that had escaped with me as well with pictures of the same type. They had similar stories, all ones designed to cause us to be shot on sight.
I wonder if anybody on the moon wondered why there was such a sudden outbreak in violent crime?
But what confused me was where the stories came from. It couldn't have been Corporate, they would have used our Corporate ID photos which were kept on Earth at Headquarters. But the story had been supplied by the government, which had been informed by my Corporation of our transgressions and subsequent escapes. Jaime worked for the Corporation, or rather for Siedman, I realized. But he did work for the corporation. That's where the pictures came from originally.
So was somebody high up selling us out? But not high enough to access our personnel records? Or was this just Jaime pulling her own strings? Was Siedman involved? Why would he be though? He had gotten out the day before the strike, I realized. Maybe he was involved too. It was obvious that Jaime was, and it couldn't have been just her spite for me, the pictures of the others were there too.
The biggest question was however: Now what? I was out on my own and I didn't know who I could contact in my company. I had a contact that went back to my base, which was now destroyed. It may have been re-routed to another spot, Corporate Intelligence was unaffected by this whole turn of events, being located on Earth itself. I had a feeling though that I had been left to my own devices on this one however. The company was trying to put as much distance between itself and my old division as possible.
So going back was out for the moment.
I couldn't stay here either. My face was being spread all over the moon, and the spotting pattern on a Leopard's face was as individual as a finger print. I couldn't even risk going to buy dye at this point. Earth was out, period. For that matter so was any other place in the Solar system.
That left the colonies. Odds were that my description would not have gone out there, after all I couldn't book passage on a ship as a morph. Our travel was highly restricted in the Earth's system, and I didn't even have an ID bracelet to buy a ticket. But that got me thinking, and suddenly I had an idea. And there was really only one place to go of course.
I went back to the computer booths late the next evening. I was just about to turn the corner when I decided to peek first. I ducked back quickly when I saw the peace officers standing guard. I then spent the rest of the night getting the same result at every terminal I went to. The net was tightening I guess, they wanted to make sure they got all five of us before we got away.
So I'd have to act fast.
I staked out a place by one of the Morph bars, and waited for my prey. One showed eventually, a monkey tech who was still carrying his equipment from his day's work. He was inside only about an hour, so he was still fairly sober when he came out. I nailed him as soon as he was out of sight of the entrance. Taking his gear I stuffed his unconscious body behind a vending machine then split.
He hadn't much in tools, but he had a pocket computer, which was what I really wanted. Back in the vent work I found an access panel to one of the cable runs. A little splicing and I quickly was on line. I accessed one of my dummy accounts, then got the shipping schedules of all the local Corps. After finding the ones going where I wanted, I spent six hours hacking into their cargo manifests. I found one leaving in thirty hours with exactly what I needed.
Next I wrote a quick little note, and got it logged onto a fast packet that was due in system in the next 24 hours. My message should show up before I did, hopefully. I just hoped I wasn't asking too much.
I cleaned up my mess, and headed for the locks next. I knew the Monkey had to have been found by now, I just hoped nobody was thinking what I was. They were of course, all the locks where under heavy guard, with everyone going in and out being checked.
"Damn!" I muttered and snuck back off.
I was kicking myself for not keeping that suit I had, and didn't know where to get a new one. Things were not looking good, that's for sure.
I found a quite spot and took a breather to consider the angles. Well, I thought, let's split this out. First I need a suit. Second I need to get out. Sounds easy enough huh?
It was early in the day now, so I went to the Animen quarters and started breaking into rooms. Not that easy, even if they were all empty. I didn't find anything, they had taken their suits with them.
So who would have a suit that they might not be wearing?
Tourists! Of course!
I made for the hotels just as fast as I could, which wasn't very. I got as close as the city air shafts would take me, and I saw that they were under guard too.
The Hotels that is.
Nothing serious, but I think they were afraid of a hostage situation. What, with four or five escapees running about I figure the paying guests might have been a little nervous. But I was getting desperate, I had about twenty four hours to get to that damn warehouse and do my thing. I was still wondering what I was going to do when suddenly all the power went out. And I do mean all. I quickly made for the back entrance I had been watching while the emergency lights started coming up. I made it through the door before the guards on the door figured out what was going on.
I was lucky, they didn't see me sneak past. They were just Humans and they weren't wearing any night gear. Who'd expect a blackout in Imbreum City? It was just luck, and I hoped that one of my former comrades hadn't just run out of theirs. It was obviously the work of one, but a bad move in my book. Attracted way too much attention.
I went straight up to the penthouse suites overriding the alarms, there were a lot of them too. Crime must be high around here I guess. After the day I had been having I figured I wouldn't find anything, but I did. Two very nice high quality suits. I took them both and quickly left.
One I stashed down a waste chute keeping the extra air tank, then went back to the door I came in. The lights were all back up by now, so I just called the guards in from behind the door. They weren't expecting anything of course, trouble came from outside, not inside. I just left them laying in the corridor, I only needed a few minutes to get away and they never really saw me. All of these live bodies shouldn't point to a killer like me anyway, right?
I made for the surface then. I put on my new suit and strapped my gear to my back, what little I had. I headed for the site seeing spots, all those little domes you can go to and look outside while eating dinner. Or whatever. I had to wait a long time for the hall to be clear so I could slip out of the vent work, then I quickly made for an open one. Once inside I quickly went to work on the pressure sensor, and the life sensor. Once it thought nobody was there the lights dimmed, then I got the door closed and locked.
After that I just blew out the glass with the gun I had taken from the bear. It took two shots, but it went. With the pressure sensor out, it wasn't reported so I walked away unmolested, across the Lunar surface.
10
It took about six hours to get where I wanted to go, breaking into the warehouse in question was easy, they were in the midst of loading, so I just waltzed in. The expensive suit I was wearing made me look like some kind of VIP, and I kept
the face plate dark. I found a piece of equipment in the back that was large enough to hide in. So when nobody was watching, I did. Then I fell asleep and caught up with all that sleep I had been missing.
I awoke briefly when they started moving my hiding place, and again when the shuttle I was in boosted up in to space. Once I was weightless I was able to sleep through all of the other transhipping that took place. My suit chronometer said twelve hours had gone past when its low oxygen alarm finally went off. I changed bottles and waited another ten.
When I finally crawled out I was in a ship’s hold. The Fort Worth if I had planned right. I quickly checked the manifests on some of the cargo and had this confirmed. Next I started searching for the particular crate I wanted. It took me quite a while to find it, fortunately the hold was pressurized so I was able to dump the suit. What I had planned would have been a lot tougher if the hold hadn't been of course, but it was common for holds to be pressurized. Most cargo couldn't take hard vacuum.
Once I had the crate in question, I emptied it out, changed the shipping label and prepared it for my occupation. I had added this one by manipulating the cargo lists, it only contained lead weights which I hid in the hold. My next search went fairly quickly, it was a container holding three hibernation units.
Removing one and transferring it to my crate took me a whole day. I had to be careful, there was always the chance of a crewmember coming in to do an inspection. I finally got it all set, climbed in, and resealed the crate from the inside. Next was the tricky part. Hibernation units have a lot of problems associated with them. One was their cost, it was quite high. Another was their survival rate, which wasn't so high. Units such as this one were normally used by hospitals in the treatment of certain diseases and disorders. A supervised unit was quite safe, ones running on automatic weren't obviously. But it was a chance I would have to take.
I set the IV bands on my arms, injected myself with all of the prep drugs, turned the unit on and pulled the door shut from the inside. In ten hours the unit would reach its steady-state. At that point there would be no indications from the crate that its contents had changed or were under power. I fell asleep pretty sure that nobody would find it before then.
After all, my luck was in.
* * *
I stood on a vast plain, looking off into the distance. I started to walk, but I couldn't move my feet. This worried me until I noticed that I was moving anyway. I sped up faster and faster until everything was just a blur, with the wind burning my face.
Suddenly I stopped. I was in the middle of a graveyard, a fairly large one too. I read the inscription, the name was familiar and the epitaph gave the reason - Killed by Jotun. I looked around at the others and noticed the ones nearby all bore similar descriptions.
"I didn't know one dreamed in hibernation," I said to myself.
"Well now you do!" Replied a non-descript Human who suddenly appeared behind me.
"Not the obligatory dream sequence!" I laughed. "What next undead from the graves?"
"Oh, no. Nothing so passe." He smiled. "I'm your conscious."
"Get out of here." I laughed again, "You're Human. Why the hell would my conscious be Human?"
"He's your Corporate supplied conscious, Jotun." I turned and saw Azelett standing on my right side. "I'm your actual conscious now."
"Ah, she's just a newcomer," smiled the Human. "I've been here since you were two."
This was all pretty weird. I knew I had been subjected to some company programming, but this? It was like something out of those old pre-corporation movies I used to watch as a kit. I guess I must have an overactive imagination.
"The Corporation supplied you?" I asked astonished.
"Free of charge!" He smiled again. "I didn't always look like this however. She forced me to change."
I looked at Azelett.
"Yes, he used to look like you."
"Like me? Why?"
"So you wouldn't question of course," He laughed. "You had to follow orders and do your job no matter what. Can't have any loose cannons you know!"
"So why are you still here? If Azelett is my real conscious now, how come you're still on the job?"
"He has a different function now," smiled Azelett, "and I'm not really Azelett. I'm a part of you, you just choose to see me this way."
"Same here," smiled the human. I noticed now who it was, one of my instructor's from my creche days.
"Mr. Tomson! That's who you are." He smiled as I named him.
"The same."
I thought a second, "You have a different function now she said. What is it?"
"Loyalty my Cat. Loyalty."
I suddenly remembered just how much I hated the way Mr. Tomson had always called me that. He never called anyone 'son' or 'daughter'. It was always 'cat' or 'wolf' or 'skunk'. I don't think he exactly liked us.
"But I defended my own you'll recall. I was loyal to my students and I was very loyal to the Corporation."
"And he's here from the Corporation." Added Azelett.
"Free of charge," He smiled again.
"Why is he still here?" I asked her, "Can't you get rid of him?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Cause you don't want him to go. You have to face it Jotun, you're still a loyal company employee."
"And don't you forget it either," He scowled. "Something is rotten in the state of the Corporation." He said badly mangling Hamlet.
"So? What's it to me?"
"Everything," They both said together. "It's the only way you can get out of this mess and you had better start doing something about it!"
Damn, I hated company programming! Was the last thought I had as everything faded away and I dreamt no more.
11
I was cold and I hurt all over. Not hurt as in 'pain' but hurt as in 'sore'. That was it, I was sore and stiff all over. Cold too. And the bright light was killing my eyes, I tried to close them and found they were not open. And a drink, I definitely needed a drink and I didn't care who I had to kill to get one!
"Water!" I said. Even to my ears it sounded more like 'Wun', and I could barely hear it.
"Water!" I tried again louder, it sounded the same but it was slightly noisier then the previous effort. It also made my throat hurt, I tried to move and couldn't. I heard a loud noise then felt somebody touching me.
"Jo, can you hear me Jo? It's Sil."
"Water," I croaked again. This time it sounded almost like the word.
"Sure, drink this." I felt something wet at my lips, I started sipping. "That's right go slow Jo."
I drank all that she offered. It tasted strange, a little sweet as well. It made me tired.
"I have to go out soon, so if I'm not here when you wake up don't worry. Everything's fine and you'll be okay. You're just in hibernation shock. Now go back to sleep.
"Okay" I mumbled, and quickly did.
The next time I awoke things were a little different. I could open my eyes, and I saw that I was back in Sil's old apartment under the building. It looked pretty much the same, but didn't smell strongly of her. Obviously she didn't live here anymore. I tried to get up and immediately got faint and fell to the floor. I was weak as a newborn cub.
I rested on the rug for a while, then spent the better part of an hour getting myself back up on the bed. Once there I noticed a note that I had missed before.
'Dear Jotun' it began. 'I have to be at classes most of the time, and in my rooms for a lot of the rest so I can't be there often now that you are past the worse. Only Raff knows where you are, I did not want to trust anyone else with the knowledge as I felt it was safer that way. And it's obvious that you're in trouble or you wouldn't have risked something as dangerous as hibernation in an unregistered box. So don't worry. Drink the liquid in the pitcher it's a mineral replacement, you need it. If you want food eat the stuff in the cooler next to the bed. Sorry it isn't any better. See you soon! -Sil'
My thirst and hunger fought briefly with thirst wi
nning out handily. It took me a few minutes, but I was able to get the pitcher over to my mouth and drank deeply from it. After I carefully set it down I opened the cooler and looked inside. It was full of meat and high protein rations, I grabbed a little of each. As I pulled them out I noticed something else, a gun.
It wasn't the one I had brought out of the palace of course. I had dumped that along with all of my other equipment back on the Fort Worth. The crate I was in had listed 'Biological Samples for medical experimentation' on its manifest. A gun and computer just didn't fit that category if someone should decide to inspect. A leopard was even pushing it, but I had been hoping that Sil would be able to grease the wheels with the money I sent her ahead of me.
I ate the food first, then checked the gun. It was loaded and had a note attached. 'Please don't shoot me! - Sil'
I smiled and stuck it under my pillow, safety on. Then went back to sleep.
I awoke later to somebody scratching my head. I knew where I was and I could smell who it was.
"Sil!" I breathed opening my eyes and smiling. "Boy are you a pleasant sight!" I looked her over, she really did look good. More mature too. I guess school was agreeing with her.
"You've looked better Jotun!" She laughed, "But you've looked a lot worse too." She finished quietly.
"What made you decide on such a jack brained stunt? Don't you know how dangerous that was?"
"Things went Tokyo in a bad way," I sighed. "It was the only way to get out alive I could think of. But it couldn't have been that dangerous!" I smiled, "After all, it worked didn't it?"
"Just barely." and she rubbed the fur on my head again. "I got your letter the same day the ship came in system of course. So I only had a few days to get that crate out and someplace safe.
"When I saw what was in it I almost died, it took weeks to get it stabilized and your system in order. Those things don't work well without constant maintenance Jo. And getting you out wasn't easy either, your body wasn't in good shape by then."
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