by JM Guillen
It’s because your brain is diseased, Wyatt linked to me alone. You’re getting a promotion because your brain is diseased.
You’re talking about —Rachel gestured to the back of her head—his neural pathways. They’re all wonky. She stared at me. Seriously dude, it’s a nightmare putting you back together.
The specific neural structures of Asset 108 may be a unique weapon in the ongoing struggle against Aberration 45171R, the Designate acknowledged. It is believed possible that, with Facility modification, he may be capable of receiving their telepathic communications within his receptive helix.
So like getting a link? From Squiggly? Wyatt sat back, thoughtful. That’s a handy thing.
They just needed an excuse to notice my excellence, I linked to Wyatt and Sofia. I noticed again how heavy the link felt, how difficult it was while my system updated.
This advantage has been explored for some time now, the Designate continued. Hence little action has been taken regarding the Aberration that continually plagues Asset 108 and his ongoing acrophobia.
HA! Wyatt linked to the other Assets and me.
I am not afraid of heights. I crossed my arms. That would be stupid. I blinked as I sent the link. It felt sluggish in my mind.
I had a question? Anya raised her hand a little, the action no less ridiculously cute than the first time.
During the events in Dossier K91-1998, we accepted responsibility for the destruction of one of the Vyriim Broodwells. Anya turned to Wyatt, then me, as if we’d forgotten. If I remember correctly, our actions destroyed one particular clan of the Vyriim.
Do they really have clans? Wyatt shrugged. I can’t figure it out.
The clan, which kidnapped Michael and poisoned him with their ichor, perished, Anya reasoned. Is it possible Michael’s neural structure is only resonant to a clan of Aberrations that no longer exists?
There is no way to know. The Designate cleared her throat as if she’d spoken aloud. But we have our top minds working on the problem.
I distantly recalled my conversation, during the event Anya referenced, with the creature who took my girlfriend’s body:
“No. You have been misled. This is not our death. It is far worse than that.”
“You deserve worse!” I wrenched at the top of the container, but it seemed stuck.
“This is worse than rape, than genocide. You don’t know what you have in your hand. You are stealing everything we are!”
“Good!” The raw vehemence, the bile, thundered through me. “That’s what you do, after all.”
“My head hurts.” I sank my head into my hands. “Rachel, is it possible we’re pushing the receptive helix too much by linking during the updates?”
“It is.” Rachel glanced down at her interface and made some adjustments. “And we are.” She turned from me to the Designate. “Can we speak out loud? There’s really no reason we should add an extra load on Crown resources.”
“I’m good with chatting.” Wyatt leaned back.
“Our data is incomplete.” The Designate gazed at each of us. “We know portions of 108’s brain functions differently than typical human physiology. All we can do is continue research.”
“So fancy pants here is Project Alpha because he has an inhuman brain?” Wyatt chuckled.
“There’s more complexity to the situation than that. Asset 108 also worked very closely with Gideon DuMarque, and we hoped to leverage this mentorship.”
“That at least makes some sense,” Sofia said.
“Yeah.” I faintly smiled.
“If it were not for the fact that our time frames have become so narrow, the Designates might consider reallocating resources. In the moment, we will proceed with the team that we have been constructing. However, regardless of your opinions regarding Michael Bishop and his leadership capabilities, there is another quality we haven’t yet discussed.”
I love it when they talk about my quality, I linked the group, and then squinted in discomfort against the effort.
“Asset 108 has, on multiple occasions, endured situations far outside what Facility protocols were designed to encompass.” The Designate paused as her gaze swept over us. “In these situations, his willingness to step outside the bounds of protocol has proven most efficacious. It is believed that, with guidance, this trait can be used to outmaneuver 45171R.”
“And because you’re crazy.” Wyatt shot me a grin. “You got an inhuman brain and you’re crazy.”
“You’re just jealous because no one likes your overalls,” I sneered.
“Everyone loves my overalls,” Wyatt said loftily. “I’ll buy you a pair. They’ll look great when you go on dates.”
“There is more to discuss,” the Designate interjected. “If the gentlemen can be silent for a few moments?”
HA! Sofia linked, even though I saw the slight discomfort on her face. Gentlemen.
“They really can’t,” Rachel opined.
I rolled my eyes and ignored her. Wyatt snickered but then then turned his attention to the Designate.
The Designate, for her part, continued on.
I faced her, like a good little silent gentleman.
3
“This dossier is highly irregular.” The Designate fiddled with her glasses for a moment. “Even without initiation of the new initiative and recent personnel losses, we expect the unfolding events would tax your resources.”
“Unfolding?” I questioned. “This is about the timeframe you discussed earlier.”
“Indeed. The last thirty-six hours have been utterly unlike anything the Facility has experienced in the last hundred years, and we are scrambling all sectors in our attempt to moderate the disruption.”
“What’s been happening?” Sofia sat forward and rested her elbows on the table. “Aside from the fact that we apparently lost an Asset?”
“I was on dossier with Gideon, just yesterday,” I explained. “He… He didn’t make it back. I couldn’t… I couldn’t do anything.”
Sofia glanced down and took a breath.
“One of the primary difficulties encountered on that excursion was the lack of reliable telemetry,” the Designate smoothly interjected. “A situation that, unfortunately, has only grown worse.”
Long-range telemetry has been down, world-wide for twenty-two hours, Anya linked. It’s exactly as we encountered in Ryuu Tower.
“We’re fucking blind?” Wyatt practically spat. “Worldwide?”
“We have sweeper teams, Preceptor class Assets, who have set up short-range telemetric resonators.” The Designate paused. “The true cause of the outage is undetermined.”
“It’s like those snarls,” I muttered thoughtfully, then addressed Anya. “Right? Like the telemetric snarls we found in Tokyo.”
It is assumed so. She gave a tiny shrug. Yet we can discern no source, no locus for the disturbance.
“Unless a Preceptor is onsite, we are completely in the dark. Without readings of worldwide ambient Rationality, the Facility has strengthened the Prime emanations in an attempt to bolster hyper-Rationality and axiomatic obduracy.”
“So we are fucking blind,” Wyatt repeated. “It might as well be 1960.”
“It is difficult to believe that this situation is a coincidence. When compared with other events of the last thirty-six hours, things become clear.” The Designate turned quickly and stepped over to the terminal orb. She traced her fingers along it for a moment and then nodded once, satisfied.
“Why thirty-six hours?” I scratched my head. “Because of… of Gideon?”
“After a fashion, your assignment in the Pacific Northwest is tied directly to these events.” The Designate traced her fingers along the underside of the orb, and one of the screens flickered to cerulean life. “Before we lost telemetry entirely, we pulled some images from the ARC-scans. This is what we discovered in Washington.”
The screen flickered again, sullenly, and then resolved into a sharp picture. It showed a woman, carrying one of the amphorae
Gideon and I had discovered.
“What is it?” Wyatt screwed up his face.
These items were used by parties unknown to summon aberrations on Michael’s last dossier. They called an amphibious creature, one that spread pestilence, Anya linked.
“That’s not parties unknown.” I frowned. It had taken me a moment, but once I recognized the woman, I couldn’t unsee the truth.
“Who is it?” Sofia interjected.
“Isabella Juarez, Irrational 6604.” I sighed and massaged the back of my neck. “She’s an integral part of the Irrational cabal Gideon and I found in Istanbul.”
“The cult instigated the attack upon Washington,” the Designate clarified. “We believe they specifically lured us into action.”
“They did.” I clenched my fist as my mind scrambled. “Amir seemed so fucking smug, and this is why. They had our number from the beginning.”
“I don’t understand.” Wyatt shook his head.
So I told them. I explained about the dossier in the Yucatán, how almost no one had come out. I told them how I’d killed Amir, how he didn’t have the courtesy to remain dead.
“Fucked up,” Wyatt breathed. “You think they got a hard-on for you?”
“Something like that,” I muttered. “Amir taunted me the entire time we were in that cistern. Then they killed Gideon, just like Max and—” I stopped abruptly as my pulse beat like a wild and violent drum.
The pack. They killed my pack.
Swallowing hatred and bile, I relaxed.
“They just… turned off Asset tech?” Sofia turned from the Designate to Rachel. “How is that even possible?”
“We have no idea,” Rachel admitted. “I watched their holotecture as it happened. It wasn’t as if they terminated any active pathways or disrupted mecha protocols.” She shrugged helplessly. “It was horrifying to watch.”
“It was horrifying to live through,” I muttered darkly. “That’s what I think must have happened to Gideon. They shut him down and then took him.”
For a moment, no one had anything to say.
“The situation becomes even more dire,” the Designate admitted. “During that assignment, we also lost worldwide Telemetry.” She paused. “However, we gained understanding. The Darkened Road is most certainly part of our difficulties with Aberration 45171R and Sadhana.”
“What?” I shook my head. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Actually, 108, you provided the verification.” The Designate nodded at me and then placed both hands on the terminal orb.
After a moment, a new image resolved upon the screen.
I recognized my own hand as it gestured at a sheet of paper on a wall.
I pointed, my finger resting on 11 September 2001. Below that, 23 August 2005 and 8 October 2005 leered at us. The list ended with 18 September 2015.
“That…” I’d thought the final date seemed familiar, and now I felt certain.
Where had I seen it before?
“Oh, shit!” Wyatt sucked through his teeth, as if he realized something I hadn’t.
“Of course we have earlier intelligence regarding items on this list,” the Designate explained. She manipulated the orb again, and an image appeared on a separate screen to the left of the first.
A handsome man peered out at us. His sleek face held lean lines, and his long, dark hair had been pulled back into a low tail. He sat, relaxed in his chair, confident, like a man who knew his place in the world. Yet at the same time, he also seemed… worn somehow. For the barest moment, the view dimmed, and the ID readout changed at the top of the display:
CROWE, JONATHAN, ASSET 081
“Oh no,” I breathed and leaned forward. I remembered exactly where I’d seen that date before. Even though I knew what came next, I couldn’t help but listen raptly to the man’s deep, charismatic voice:
“While there is little that we can say for certain, we do have one vital piece of intel. Aberration 45171R intends on a full occupation before September 18, 2015. This date has no importance to our knowledge, but 45171R seems to believe it quite significant.”
“The confluence of events simply cannot be coincidental,” the Designate said.
“Fuck,” I swore. I hated to agree with the Designate, but in this instance, all of the facts aligned.
Amir and his crew were in it with Squiggly.
“You know I don’t even know who that is, right?” Sofia sat back in her chair. “I hate being in the dark, not having a ported packet.”
“I wonder what that feels like!” I wrinkled my nose at her. “Although, I seem to remember this one time…”
“You can shut it, Bitch-op.”
“Heh.” Wyatt shook his head. “Bitch-op.”
“I’ll catch you up.” Rachel nodded toward Sofia. “If I ever have a free moment where I’m not patching up Bishop.”
“Wait a minute.” I leaned forward and gazed squarely at the Designate. “Does this all lead to a dossier where I get to beat Amir’s ass?”
“This is the reason we adopted the limited timeframe.” The Designate gave me a rare smile. “We have a location on Amir Cadavas, yet we are uncertain how long our intelligence will remain accurate.”
“Why am I still sitting here?” I made as if to stand. “I’ll need my kinetic disruptors, two katana, a Maverick with null-materia rounds, a few dozen dampening grenades, fifteen Tabula Rasa—”
“And a slingshot?” Wyatt smiled.
“Yes.” I chuckled. “A Facility slingshot.”
How do we have telemetry on the location of 3302? Anya’s puzzlement bled through her link. I find it unlikely that we just so happened to have a Preceptor within range of his location.
“The Huntsman.” Rachel gave the rest of us a wan grin. “Gideon managed to tag him with a dart.”
“Right, I was there.” I shook my head. “But the Huntsman is only geared to the Asset who equipped it. How do we have access to that data?”
“Some beautiful genius managed to rewrite over five thousand lines of mecha interface.” Rachel raised one eyebrow.
“Seriously?” I blinked.
“Remotely. Without access to the original Crown.”
“Fuck-me running!” Wyatt gave a low whistle. “And here I like to go on about being the team Einstein.”
“That’s amazing.” I shook my head and tried to fathom how she had done it.
“Yeah.” She gave an earthy chuckle. “Didn’t have a Facility-driven power source, either.”
“You used the target’s own metabolism,” Sofia marveled.
“Yup. Amir probably thinks he has a tapeworm or something. If he’s not careful, he might come down with a case of the flu.”
“Good. Asshole deserves it.” I glanced at the Designate. “So we know where he is?”
“The Vatican.” She folded her hands neatly before her. “We’ve had Preceptor sweeps in the area of the last seven hours. We’re setting telemetric relays, and by the time you arrive, Anya should be in complete control of that network.”
“When does our conduit arrive?” I glanced at my cadre. “I don’t know about these guys, but I could use a white room.”
“We don’t have a usable conduit onsite at the Vatican,” the Designate apologized.
“What?” Wyatt laughed. “I don’t believe that. The larger the city, the more conduit probabilities, in my experience.”
Tier one conduits are regulated by long-range telemetric readings, Anya reminded him. Without long-range telemetry, the Facility only has tier three capability.
“Fuck, that’s right,” I swore. That explained why I had to take the tier three in order to get here.
“So… is there not one available?” Sofia seemed confused. “I probably have the coordinates for several different apertures I’ve opened in Italy somewhere in my Crown.”
“Not even you can use the Gatekeeper over that range,” I scoffed. “Paradox looping eminent or some such.”
“No, of course not.” Sofia star
ed at me as if I were an idiot. “I just thought perhaps having the location within the system might assist with a conduit.”
“That won’t be required.” The Designate gave an enigmatic smile. “We have in mind something else entirely.”
“You know this is a trap.” Wyatt gazed up at me, his oculus baleful.
“You think so?” Rachel rolled her eyes.
“I do. Every time Bishop here goes up against these yahoos, they pull the rug out from beneath him. Yucatán, Washington, Istanbul.”
“Constantinople,” Rachel muttered.
“What’s gonna to be the difference this time? How do we know they aren’t expecting us to show up in Italy?”
“We have to assume they are.” Sofia bit her lip. “We have to assume they are absolutely expecting Asset involvement.”
Anya warned, One of the event dates from Michael’s record occurs in exactly three days.
“Do you think it’s the Vyriim? Another of their invasion dates?”
We have no context, she replied. It simply seems important to take note of it.
“I’m calling this one at seventy.” Wyatt seemed to think for a moment and then nodded his head. “Yep, seventy milli-Bishops.”
“What?” I glanced from him to Anya, and then to Rachel and Sofia.
I believe Asset Guthrie refers to the idio-matrix, Michael. Anya smiled. The system by which we agreed we would assess the foolishness of an action.
“I never agreed to that!”
“It’s entirely possible that the Hidden Road expects an Asset incursion,” the Designate continued as if we weren’t japing like children.
“The Darkened Road, you mean?” It wasn’t every day that I got a chance to correct a Designate, I tried to savor it for what it was worth.
“The group goes by many different names,” the Designate stated. “The Darkened Road is just as accurate as the Hidden Road. The original name was in Etruscan and translates to the Road Unseen.”
I snarled inwardly.
“Asset Guthrie is correct; in every case they seem to be well prepared for our presence.”
“Okay, but I don’t want that.” I gave the Designate a tight smile. “I want Amir to have no idea what’s coming. I want to smash him over the head with a hammer of everything he couldn’t expect and also hates.”