Overthrowing Heaven-ARC

by Mark L. Van Name

  "I don't need to be," he said. "I've enlisted the help of the SleepSafe comm sat, and now I'm monitoring all of its camera feeds. I assume the incredibly obvious man and woman are your new friends."

  I checked the security displays on the room's front wall. Those two were the only people staying in one position. "Yes—and how did you do that?"

  "They're the only people who aren't moving," he said. "An alarm clock would be able to spot them."

  "No," I said. "I meant, how did you crack into a SleepSafe comm sat? They're supposed to be incredibly secure."

  "They are," Lobo said. "I've been working on it since you first mentioned using the place."

  "But how—"

  "Remember the nanomachines-based computing substrate, the new software paradigms, that whole story I told you?"

  "Yes, yes," I said. "Sorry. Anyway, I trust the SleepSafe's security chutes" this room's was to the right of the bed "will get me out of here safely if anything goes wrong, but I'll feel a lot safer if I know that you'll be close enough to pick me up quickly if it comes to that."

  "Of course," Lobo said. "I have to ask, though: Is there some reason you believe we might see that kind of action?"

  "No," I said. "It's simply that one can never be too careful."

  "Touché," he said. "So, given today's data, do you have a better plan than before?"

  "No. Though most of the security team is probably as inept as the other candidates I trained with today, they have a few good people that might give us trouble. I'll have to be careful." I liked Park enough that I hoped I could avoid hurting him if we had to exit swiftly.

  "Okay," Lobo said. "So I wait, keep an eye on you when you're there or in transit to or from the island, hope Wei comes out, and babysit Pri."

  "That's about it."

  "Did I mention my amazing computing capacity?" Lobo said. "You realize that what you're asking takes very little of it."

  "I do," I said, "but that's often the way it goes on jobs." I considered his situation for a few seconds. "What do you do with all your spare cycles?" I said.

  "The usual things any sentient creature does with its free time," he said. "I create and evaluate new bits of programming in a constant effort to improve myself. I ponder the human condition; you are a fascinating bunch to watch, and I am genetically linked to you. I prepare for future possibilities. I contemplate the big questions. As I said, the usual stuff."

  "You might be surprised," I said, "by how few people regularly engage in those activities. In any case, what big questions do you consider?"

  "The obvious ones," he said. "Is there a God? If so, what kind creature is it? Is there an afterlife? If there is, is there a place for me in it? Who made the jump gates? And why? You know, they've never spoken to me, no matter what frequency and coding scheme I use to approach them." He paused. "Things like that."

  "I've never heard the gates on the machine frequencies, either," I said, "but that's never surprised me; jump gates are nothing if not mysterious." I closed my eyes for a second. Fatigue slammed into me and made it hard to reopen them. "I need to sleep."

  "Pri would like to speak with you," Lobo said.

  "Okay."

  Lobo's pilot area popped into view over the desk. Pri sat in the co-pilot's couch. Her face was tight, stressed. "Jon, how are you?" she said.

  "Exhausted."

  "Where are you?"

  "In Matahi's SleepSafe suite, in my room, about to go to sleep."

  "Where is she?"

  "In her room," I said. "None of this is news, except perhaps how tired I am, so what do you really want to know?"

  "How did it go today?"

  "I'm in," I said. "I have the job. Now, I have to locate Wei."

  "Do you have any idea how long that'll take?" she said.

  I rubbed my eyes with my hands and shook my head. I fought the urge to scream at her. "No," I finally said. "I'll contact Lobo and you the moment I know anything. I'm doing the best I can, and right now, I need to sleep."

  Her expression softened. "I know you are," she said, "and I appreciate it. Sleep well."

  "Thanks," I said. "Out."

  I closed the comm and watched as it rearmed itself.

  "Secure door," I said. It was hard to sleep in an area with someone I didn't know well, but at least I was in a SleepSafe. Anyone coming at me would have to figure out a way into the hotel, get through the suite's exterior door, and take out the locked door to my room—or come through the walls, which were famous for their durability and multi-layered armor. I was as about as safe as I could be outside Lobo.

  I needed to wash up, undress, and let the room clean my clothes, but that could wait for a few minutes. I stretched out on the bed. I pictured the SleepSafe's security systems, Lobo watching me from way overhead, and the thick and strong walls and doors for which the hotel chain was renowned.

  I fell asleep in seconds.

  Nightmare fragments attacked me throughout the night like fighters on strafing attacks against command cruisers, zipping by, firing rapidly, and then receding from view so quickly you couldn't follow their tracks.

  Strapped to a table on Aggro, rotated into position, the bio-suited scientists checking my eyes as the needles plunged into my neck, wall clocks counting the seconds until I began screaming.

  A child I'd saved shrieking as he watched a truck slam into a pedestrian and send the man so high he hit the pavement with a sickening wet sound, the boy's screams mutating into my own as I watched Benny struggling against his bonds as the nanomachines contorted his skin.

  A tall, red-headed woman walking away from me, disappearing into a crowd, holding the hand of the boy I'd saved, and now, when I wanted to scream, when I yearned to call her name, my mouth wouldn't open and I couldn't make a sound.

  Matahi and Pri staring at me in the command area of Lobo, their expressions telling the story of my failure, their mouths opening in cries as white-robed boys and girls crammed the space, all of them shrieking in agony and wishing they could die, all hope of salvation long gone, death the only prayer left to them, and Benny's face and my own were among them and I couldn't help them, I couldn't help myself, I couldn't—

  I woke up with my mouth frozen wide open but no sound escaping me, my body shaking with the effort of suppressing the sound. As the days on Aggro had worn into weeks and then months, as for reasons I'd never understood Benny and I had remained alive while all the other prisoners came and died in a ceaseless alternation, we'd vowed one day not to give them the pleasure of our screams. We failed sometimes, the pain building to peaks we could no longer manage, but most days we clenched our jaws and closed our eyes and knew the only way we could hit at them, the sole act of defiance left to us was simply not to cry out. I'd screamed since that time, most recently two years ago, strapped to a medbed and tortured for hours, my mind too drugged to control the nanomachines, and each time I'd felt the shame of failure. Everyone breaks eventually, but sometimes all you have is the slim hope that maybe you'll be the one who won't.

  I checked the external feeds. My watchers were nowhere in sight. The world outside was still dark, the morning light over an hour away.

  I opted for a water shower, cranked the pressure and temperature so high my skin grew sore, and stood under it, my eyes shut, lost in the water and able to enjoy it in the knowledge that for these last moments before I returned to Wonder Island I was safe, and I had purpose. That Wei had rediscovered the secret that I thought had died on Aggro, that once again we'd learned that if we wanted to play God with this technology our young would pay the cost, should not have surprised me; what evil one man does, many will eventually do. This evil, though, I had a chance to stop, and I would. I would.

  I dressed and headed out of the room. Matahi, her padded bodysuit on the floor beside her, slept sprawled diagonally across the huge bed, the grayish lights of the still-active security feeds dappling her sleeping body. She'd thrashed her way out of the sheets; only a small, sheer, light blue nightgown c
overed her.

  Before I could reach the main door to the suite, I heard her.

  "You're leaving?"

  I turned back to face her. She was sitting up straight, the gown covering her torso about as well as morning mist covers a rising sun.

  "Yes," I said. "I need to get back."

  "Why did you sleep in there?"

  "It was my room."

  "You could have joined me."

  I stared at her and didn't know what to say. I wasn't her client. I wasn't sure what she wanted me to be. All I knew for certain was that I'd always have to leave anyone who grew close to me, because I could never let anyone know the truth about me.

  When I didn't speak, she finally added, "Don't you trust me?"

  I was tired of this question, tired of people asking when the answer should have been obvious. I also knew the truth wasn't what she wanted, but I liked her enough not to want to lie. "Trust wasn't the only issue here," I said. "For what it's worth, I trust you as much as I can given how little I know you." I didn't spell out just how little that was.

  "I think about those few minutes we had together on my roof," she said, "and about the gift you gave me, and I know we could be more."

  No, I thought again, we never can be. I didn't know what I wanted from her, but I was certain that my desires didn't matter; I could never build anything with her—or with anyone.

  "I have to go," I said. "Stay safe here, and await instructions from Lobo."

  I turned around and stepped to the door.

  "And when we're done," she said, her words freezing me in the boundary between the room and the hall, "when you've captured Wei and saved the children, then we'll talk?"

  I raised my hand, realizing that to her it had to look like an answer, wondering what response she thought it was, but knowing that what I was really doing was what I had to do: Swatting away the distraction, keeping the feelings at bay so I could focus and do my job.

  I crossed the threshold and headed out to catch a shuttle back to Wonder Island.

  Chapter 45

  What, no bag?" Park said as I entered the barracks. They called it a dorm, but it was the same kind of utility housing the Saw operated on every planet where it maintained a permanent base.

  "Why would I bother, Sarge?" I said. "Or are you telling me you're not going to issue me a uniform and a kit, then search everything I brought in here? I figure I just made your task a little easier."

  He smiled. "Your uniform and kit are in your locker. If the computer sized you wrong, tell the guy who let you in. Otherwise, meet me in the duty room pronto. No point in waiting for the weak or the tired." He left.

  I changed clothes quickly. I'd arrived three hours early, the sun still not up, and he was already there, dressed and ready for action. It figures. No sergeant worth his pay is going to risk new meat showing him up in his own base on their first day.

  I hoped I wouldn't have to go up against him to capture Wei, but I was having trouble seeing a way around it.

  When I reached the duty room, the door was open and Park was chatting with Ng and Lee.

  I knocked on the door frame, snapped to attention, and said, "Sergeant, permission to enter, sergeant."

  Ng and Lee shot me dirty looks that made the formality worth the effort.

  "Knock it off, Moore," Park said. "We told you: no ranks here, just titles, and rarely those. Get your butt in here. We were just talking about you."

  As if I weren't there listening, he turned to Ng and said, "I told you: He's got the training and the background to move right to something useful, at the very least perimeter patrol, maybe staff or even excursion protection."

  "I don't trust any new meat that much," Ng said, "and I sure don't trust one who will shoot his training mates without a second thought."

  Only Lee looked at me. Ng didn't care for me, but somehow it had become personal for Lee. I'd have to watch my back around him. On the other hand, the sooner I could deal with him, the easier things might be later, so I said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Lee, did you have something to say to me?"

  Lee stepped toward me but stopped instantly when Ng raised her hand a few centimeters.

  "Do you have a problem with our conversation, Moore?" she said.

  "Permission to speak freely," I said.

  She nodded.

  "I did the right things for the missions in the training classes, and I'd do them again. If my teammates aren't up to the job—" I paused and glanced briefly at Lee, who visibly tensed with the effort of his self-control "—then I'll do what it takes to finish on my own. If you don't trust me, then let me earn that trust; I'll happily take on the crappiest work you have."

  "And exactly why are you so generous?" Ng said.

  "I'm not," I said. "I figure that the jobs that require more trust pay better, and I need money, so I might as well get started proving that you can rely on me to take care of business. Besides," I paused and smiled, "you're going to assign me and every other new hire the scut work anyway, so I might as well try to look good by volunteering."

  She smiled briefly, an expression so devoid of any real warmth that I decided I liked her expressionless face better. When a snake or any other deadly wild animal shows you its teeth, it's rarely a good thing.

  "We do need help in a few of the better paying areas," she said, "and you do have the qualifications, as well as the endorsement of some—but not all—of our team. You're right, though; you haven't earned anything other than a job here yet." She faced Park for a second. "You have your orders."

  She headed out, Lee behind her. I braced myself for the impact and as Lee passed by my chair he veered just enough for our shoulders to collide. I leaned into the collision at the last moment and hit him with a short shoulder strike that only he and Park noticed. My shoulder stung with the impact but I kept my face neutral and acted as if we'd never made contact. I watched Park's eyes and saw him tense.

  "Did you need something else, Dan?" he said.

  I wanted desperately to get up, turn around, and confront the threat. It wasn't in my nature to surrender my back, but this time I had to rely on what I could read from Park.

  "Nothing that can't wait," Lee said.

  When the door slid shut, Park said, "I love the way you make friends."

  "I try to make the friends worth having," I said. "The others, I treat appropriately."

  He walked over to me. "Well, as one of those people I hope you understand is a friend worth having, I'd appreciate you explaining why you lied about a woman being the reason you're staying on Heaven."

  "I was with a woman last night," I said.

  "Yeah," he said, "we know, and either you're a great deal worse than I think you are, or you saw our third-rate surveillance team. So, you also understand that we know you hired her for the evening. We checked your apartment, and it doesn't look like you've ever lived in it. So, stop playing cute and answer the question, or you'll lose the little bit of support from me that you've enjoyed so far."

  I paused a few seconds, then looked him in the eyes. "I lied because you caught me off guard, and because I didn't want you checking too hard with the EC about me. I know you said this is strictly Heaven's operation, but everybody with a data port on this planet can tell you that both the EC and the CC are sucking up to Heaven's government."

  "So you're wanted by the EC?"

  "No," I said, glad to be able to use bits of truth, "but let's just say that some of its officials weren't entirely satisfied with a delivery I made, and they suggested I stay out of EC space."

  "So why are you on Heaven?"

  "It's reasonably close to where I was, the lack of satisfaction on the part of those officials translated into lower revenue for me, and Heaven isn't technically EC space. So, it seemed like a good place to find work. I had been with a woman, and she talked me into renting that stupid apartment, back when I thought we might stay together. Then, well—" I shrugged "—it didn't last, she left me, and I didn't see much point in going back to it." />
  "And what about your previous trip here, the one you made with a date?"

  So they had matched my face to their past visitor video archives. I'd known that was likely, so I was ready. Without hesitating, I said, "It's like you said: I was on a date—but I was also using the outing as a cover for doing a little recon on this place."

  Park shifted his weight to his rear foot. He did it slowly enough that most folks wouldn't have noticed it, but he knew I did, and he knew I understood that he was readying himself in case he had to fight me. "Why?" he said.

  I held up my hands. "Sarge, we have no problem. The only decent moneymaking options for me on Heaven are the militia and this place. I don't want to go back into military service, so I had to apply here. First, though, I wanted to make sure it was secure enough that I wouldn't be signing up just to end up a patsy for some low-end security system's failure down the line." I dropped my hands. "I've taken jobs at places with crappy security, and every time something goes wrong, they blame the people doing the work—people like me—not the ones who designed the systems."

  "You could have consulted the public holos about our security," he said.

  I nodded. "Yeah, and I did, but there's no substitute for being on the ground." Before he could ask anything else, I added, "I also wanted to see which jobs the staff had to do and which you'd automated, so I went off the path and into the woods. I have to tell you, I'm mighty glad we have machines to shepherd tourists back onto the trails so I don't have to spend my days doing that sort of work." He raised an eyebrow, so I added, "As you may have noticed, my people skills are not always the best, particularly when the other people are idiots."

  Park stared at me for several seconds, then chuckled. "Yeah, I've seen that," he said. "What you should understand is that Ng's people have already run all the background checks they could, including one with the EC, and no one there is so upset that your name raised any flags. To advance here, just do your job well, stay out of trouble, and put your experience to use should it ever come to that."