by A J McKeep
“Are you okay, Dean?”
“Sure. I was in the pod, so I hardly felt a thing. We had a tough time getting you into the pod, though.”
“We?”
“The exo was great, but we had to get you out first because it’s too big to get inside.”
“So…”
“It lifted your feet. I had to carry you in by your shoulders.”
“What happened to the exo?”
“I don’t know. It fell. Looked to me like it just powered down. To be honest, with you unconscious it wasn’t going to respond to me anyway, so I went to see if I could find anything useful.” Garrison frowned. “Okay, the truth? I wanted to just get away for a minute. Being his incarnation is tough enough when it’s just attending meetings. Having him inside me during that bust-up, that was…”
The kid’s face tightened, and he looked down.
Garrison dropped a hand on the kid’s shoulder. “I can’t raise the exo without turning him over, and if I do that he’s going to fall.”
“It’s a long way down.”
“I know. I’m trying to think of a way we could use your belt and mine. Tie them to him. Only I can’t see any way to fasten them to the pod.” Garrison’s eyes lit up, “Maybe I could hover by the ledge. You could push the exo from above and we can ease him across the handlebars.”
Dean frowned, “I don’t know. He’s pretty heavy.”
Garrison shook his head as he climbed back into the saddle. “What if we really had to do it? What if it was life and death?”
“Well…”
“Okay,” the pod-bike lifted, and he moved to down to the ledge. “You ready?”
“No.”
“Fine. I don’t know how much juice I have or how long I can stay here,” Dean started slowly down toward the splayed exo. “I could run out of juice, then I’d fall and die.”
“Okay, okay. I’m coming. Remember I didn’t want to do this, okay?” Dean was in place above the exo. Garrison strapped himself into the saddle and moved the pod-bike as closely into the path of the exo as he could.
Dean hesitated, “It’s a long way down.”
“It would be the same task if it were only a foot.”
“So?”
“So, it’s only a foot. Okay? Go.”
Dean started to push. Garrison wished he could reach the exo. Even a tug on its foot would make it easier for the poor kid. Finally, Dean got the frame to slide. It slipped off the ledge and Garrison tweaked the bike’s position. The legs slid toward him. With one hand he moved the bike so the frame would fall with its legs either side of the saddle. He tried to steady the exo with his other hand as it slipped.
In a rush the frame slumped over the bars. The exo’s chest was in front of Garrison’s face, with the palm-print pad obscuring his view. The weight tipped the bike forward. It almost overbalanced and it was hard to steady but he pulled it up. Dean’s face was wide with horror as he slipped over the soft earth, down where the exo had slid and over the edge.
Garrison moved the bike into his path and grabbed him. The bike plunged, forward and straight down.
Recharge
GARRISON GRIPPED DEAN’S BELT with one hand. He slapped the palm reader with the other. Lights came on. Man, if I ever needed a fast startup sequence.
“Can you hear me, exo?”
The calm, unhurried voice in his headset said, “I can.”
“Fly Dean down to the ground. Gently.”
The exo frame unfolded and straightened up. Lifting Dean over its arms, it slipped off the handlebars. Garrison wrenched the bike’s nose up just in time to make a landing. The pod hit the ground with a thud.
The exo cradled Dean as it smoothly descended to make a soft landing next to the bike-pod.
“The pod’s front track suspension is damaged and unuseable. The rear left track is buckled and needs maintenance. The left jet rear fixing strut is deformed.”
“Thanks,” Garrison smiled, “You okay, Dean?”
“You mean apart from feeling like the helpless heroine in a B-Movie? Sure.” His face shone as he said it, though.
“Nah, you did great.” He climbed off the bike. “You could get down from your rescuing hero’s arms, though. Unless you want to be carried all the way back.”
He asked the exo, “Without the tracks on the pod, do we have enough juice to get back to the container?”
“Yes. With a seven percent margin. Six percent more if I travel under my own power, which would take me down to sixty-two percent charge.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad.”
“Seventy-six percent is the recommended minimum for contingency in any combat situation.”
“So, you and the pod, do you have a way to recharge?”
“The pod has solar, wind and other adaptive power acquisition, but they are slow. My autonomous recharge capability is much less. The container has accumulators and storage cells for faster charging.”
“And can we make repairs to the pod there?”
“More diagnostics will be required. But it is possible that repairs can be made.”
“Lead on.”
Herbal tea
RETURNING, THE EXO JOGGED ahead and guided them to the container and Dean’s transport. Garrison looked out for the black craft, but it was invisible from all angles except directly underneath. With the pod-bike back in the container and the exo starting repairs, Dean invited Garrison into his transport.
He offered Garrison herbal tea. He’d rather have had a beer, but he took it. “Look, I know you think I’m just some geeky wuss.”
Garrison interrupted, “As I see it, you saved my life. And in pretty dangerous circumstances. You’re a solid platinum hero as far as I can see.”
Dean looked down and away. “Okay, well, here’s the thing., I know that you’ve been trying to make contact with someone or something,” Garrison was about to speak but Dean raised his hand. “It’s none of my business. And, look, if there was any life-saving going on, you definitely saved mine. I heard him tell you to just leave me, you know?”
“You’re still there when he… when he does whatever it is that he does? How does all of that work?”
Dean waved his hand, “Let me tell you this first, okay? Whatever it is that you’re doing, don’t do it through the communicator in the pod. Don’t do it through the exo, either.” Dean pointed a finger aloft. “He can easily monitor whatever happens through those channels.”
Rummaging in a drawer, Dean pulled out a tablet. It was white and pristine. “This has a tunneler. I know that it’s safe. I built it and coded it myself.” He handed the tablet to Garrison. “It builds a tunnel around all of your communications. You can use it through the pod’s comms channels, it’s like stealth communication. Anything you do on there, it’s private and it’s secure.”
“Thanks,” Garrison wondered about the kid, how he got into the position where he was. “I’ll try to use it now and I’ll bring it back to you.”
Dean raised both his palms. “No need. Keep it. I can easily adapt another one.”
He began to ask. In his earphone, the too-familiar sarcastic English tone told him, “I’m sending the elevator down. Come up.”
Garrison’s mouth twisted. He asked Dean, “Who the fuck is that ass?”
Dean’s jaw slackened. “You don’t know? You haven’t worked it out yet?”
The host
GARRISON POCKETED THE TABLET and stepped out. The elevator slid down on the four rails and stood open.
Passing it, Garrison went into the container. He asked the exo, “Do you have everything you need, are the repairs going to work out?”
As the exo answered him, the voice from above cut into his earphones. “I’m waiting for you, Specialist Caine.”
Without haste he returned to the elevator. The inside walls were black, almost as dark as the craft. When he stepped inside, his knees bent as the box immediately rose. The jarring stop brought him into the center of a round, sunken floor i
n a large, black room. A tall, empty chair stood in front of him. What light there was all pointed at him. He had to shield his eyes to peer into the darkness.
The elevator box sank away behind him. It left the floor flat.
He heard the voice, but he didn’t see the man. Judging the direction of the sound was difficult.
“You hungry? Like something to eat?”
Garrison looked around, but still saw nobody. Then the voice was at his shoulder. “Maybe a sandwich. Would you like a sandwich, Specialist Caine?”
Shockingly close behind him the man was tall, easily three inches taller than Garrison himself, and shrouded in black. Under a black hood, a glassy blue eye gleamed, fixed on Garrison. A shock of white hair spilled above it. Garrison caught only a darting glimpse of the other eye, but it was pale gray with the hard shine of a crystal.
His voice was even more unsettling in person. The lightness in tone seemed like an act, a mannerism. A deep bass that microphones and speakers didn’t convey resonated, quiet but firm beneath the surface.
Garrison realized that he had been staring. “Excuse me. No, thank you. I’ll eat down in the container.”
“Good soldier.” The hooded head tilted slowly to one side. in the long, pale face, his thin red lips looked somehow odd. “Eat with the men.” He looked Garrison’s face over. Slowly. Thoroughly. “Stay with the men. Even if one of them is a bot.” The smile didn’t make him any less chilling a sight. “Don’t misunderstand me. I have learned long since not to despise constructed company. A mechanical mind may not offer companionship, but there are other compensations.”
The figure moved away, past the tall chair and into the shadows at the far side of the room. He turned back, and an outstretched arm trailed. “Come. Something I want to show you.”
Incarnate
A DOOR OPENED, AND Garrison was ushered through. He was uncomfortable having his host behind him. Especially when he hadn’t been able to get a proper look at him. The door led to a dark, wood-panelled corridor. Soft, cream light and thick blue carpet made the place feel like part of a mansion.
“That instinct. To be with the men.” Garrison turned to listen. That meant him almost walking backward. “Commendable.” He watched Garrison intently but with a detachment like he was watching an experiment. “It isn’t always expedient, though. Being ‘one of the guys.’ Not even appropriate. Not always.”
They passed by doors. Most were closed. Behind one that was open was a room, mostly in darkness. Large metal cases with sloped fronts had thick tubes connected. On top of the cases were glass jars, mostly filled with fluid. Something was inside each jar. Garrison couldn’t tell what it was in the fluid. He told himself twice that he couldn’t tell what it was.
“When I tell you something, Specialist Caine, I expect you to act on it immediately. I require absolute loyalty from all who work for me.”
“Understandable.” Garrison was still half walking backward, “And pretty reasonable, too.” He said, “Only, I don’t work for you.” Another door was open. Shelves in that he room were lined with tall bottles full of red liquid.
He almost stumbled. “I take my orders from USMilCorps and they’ve made it very clear to me that there is no wiggle room on that.”
The tall man was catching him up. “Your orders are to guard and escort me. To assist me and facilitate me in by dealings and my business.”
It made no sense for him to be going first. He didn’t know where they were going. “My orders are to protect Dean.”
“When I use the incarnate, it is for you to guard his body, but only because I am inhabiting it.”
Garrison stopped in the hallway. He wasn’t prepared for how close the other man came to loom over him. Still, he stood his ground. “I was ordered to guard the person who arrived in the transport that’s on the ground below us. That is my mission.”
“Then the USMilCorps have bungled your orders.”
Garrison tried to lighten the tone. “That is possible, I’ve seen it happen. But I’ve never made a point of being the one to tell them that.”
“I’ll have your orders changed.”
“I don’t doubt that you can do that.”
“So. Then you’ll work for me.”
“If those are my orders.”
He was shown into a room, a large theater with a holo screen over the far wall. He saw a projection. An aerial view of the site of the meeting. The flat ground on the hilltop, flattened and pale where the outline shape of a castle showed. It was a panoramic replay of the scene after the meet. Of the departures. The heavy chopper rose and tipped forward.
He saw the image of himself high in the saddle of the pod-bike. Dean stood at the door to the pod. Waving before he climbed in. He knew, watching the playback, Dean ducked in just a little too quickly.
Under his breath he said, “You knew what was coming.”
“It was none of my doing, if that’s what you’re thinking. If I could have prevented it, I would have. But, yes. The moment I heard the bat-fighter engines, I knew what was coming.”
“You didn’t warn them?”
“It was already too late. Watch again in slow motion of you like. You can have full immersion sound. Enlarge, move the view around. you can’t see where the bat-fighters came from because there wasn’t a camera on that axis. But, really. Watch. Study it in all the detail you’d like.”
Garrison didn’t need to do that. He waited. His host froze the scene. “It’s why I have been rerunning it. Looking to see if I could have prevented any of it.” He sighed. “I couldn’t.”
“You did know that it was coming, though.”
“Not exactly. But it wasn’t a complete surprise. The target was Zin Li, Great China AI’s Executive Committee finance representative.”
“The man in the big chopper?”
“Great China makes long plans. Zin Li was groomed almost from birth for the role he played, brining about the meeting and then the part he played in the meeting itself. When all that was done, what mattered most to the committee was that he not tell anyone about it.”
“So the rest of us, we were just collateral?”
“Not even that. If we had let them get on with what they came to do, they would have let us go.”
“But you didn’t tell me that.”
“You handled the situation brilliantly.”
“And you just let that happen.”
The frozen image resumed its motion. Garrison watched his own mid-air dog-fight. The two bat fighters. Stunned and crumpled, wrecked before they fell. Then the huge ship that followed. Seeing it in the virtu, how huge it was, Garrison’s knees felt watery for a moment. When he watched himself take the pod-bike through the middle, blasting the core of it wide and plunging through the flames, his breath hollowed.
Then he saw what had happened afterward. A burning ball of wreckage dropped into his lap and exploded. The exo shielded him but he was blown out of the saddle. He tumbled about thirty feet, down to the edge of the steep slope. The pod bike followed, guided probably by the exo.
On the screen the pod door opened. Dean clambered out. It was clearly Dean now. The assurance that carried him earlier was gone. He was back to being nervy, hesitant. He looked smaller. His movements were jerky. Uncertain.
Dean was talking to the exo, or to Garrison. He couldn’t tell which. Not until he saw the exo climb to its feet with him inside it. Hung in the frame, Garrison sagged, unconscious.
He turned and was startled to see that the bright green eye, just a few inches from his own.
“How do you see the situation, Specialist Caine?”
“The situation on the hillside?” The playback froze again.
“No. The world situation. The combat situation. USComs’ situation.”
Garrison recited the standard briefing as well as he could. “USMilCorp fights for freedom on three main fronts.” The tall man smiled and listened. “In GreatChina, USMilCorp fights to protect citizens and assets of USCom from Grea
tChina’s AI, which would roll over us with it’s evil and crushing ideology.”
His host smiled as he nodded to encourage him to go on.
“In the NuRussian zones, USMilCorp protects our citizens from the criminal regime that would take us over and destroy our way of life. And in the MidEastFed, the AI’s of all three major powers battle the inhuman aggression of misguided religious fanatics.”
“Very good. That’s what the feeds say, almost daily.” He moved to stand in front of Garrison. “And what do you believe?”
“I believe in my orders. I believe in doing my duty.”
“Very well said. A good soldier, as I already knew.” His eyes narrowed, “But as a man. What do you believe as a man?”
“I believe in keeping my views and opinions to myself.”
The blue and gray eyes looked hard into Garrison’s. “You’re searching, Specialist Caine.” The voice was quiet. Low and close by his ear. “You have a quest. You are seeking after someone.”
Garrison didn’t speak. He waited.
“I understand. I have been looking for somebody who is very dear to me for longer than I can say. Longer than you would believe.”
When the thin voice said, softly, “There’s nothing I wouldn’t give to find her. And I think your situation maybe similar. In one way at least.” The man was just inches behind him. Still, Garrison noticed, he felt moving air on the back of his neck but no warmth from the breath.
He shuddered. “Why would you confide in me?”
“I am not ‘confiding.’ I am not trying to bond with you, specialist Caine. I’m recruiting you. We can help each other, you and I. You have seen something of the resources at my disposal.”
“I’m not available. I’m contracted to USMilCorps already.”
The playback restarted. “I shall arrange to have you discharged with full honors.” From the corner of his eye, he watched the exo lose balance as it backed out of the pod. Something must have hit a reset switch or tripped a safety shut off. By the time it rolled to the edge, it was powered off.