by Isaac Hooke
The wind howled madly from both sides now, with hail bombarding the two upper ramps in separate waves, depending on the whims of the gale.
“Cover me,” Rade said.
He dashed from cover and rushed to the next pillar on the eastern side, moving closer to the clones. He positioned himself so that the exotic car in the previous stall continued to shield him from the scorpions on his rear, while the concrete column protected him from the clones in front.
Rade saw dark veins appearing on the edge of the pillar. The veins quickly crystallized.
“The clones have particle beams,” Rade announced. As usual.
“I hate those,” Lui said.
“You and me both,” Rade replied. He maneuvered around to the other side of the pillar and dropped completely to the concrete floor. Then he aimed his rifle past the edge. He spotted the outline of a humanoid shape crouched behind a pillar near the entrance. Rade centered the targeting reticle over the eye region. He couldn’t see the actual eye, the most vulnerable spot on those clones, but he squeezed the trigger anyway.
The tango dropped.
He pulled back behind the pillar, and a moment later the sliver of the concrete along that edge began to blacken and crystalize as well.
A sudden gale whipped at his clothes and hair. The tornado must have been close for those gusts to penetrate even down here.
He barely heard a crash above the combined sound of tornado, hail, rain, and wind. Flickering shadows drew his gaze to the entrance his team had used to enter the parkade. The tool closet came tumbling into view, landing at the base of the stairs that led up. Then more clones dashed inside from that entrance, bodies illuminated by the third glow stick.
“And now we have tangos to the south,” Manic said casually.
“Die bitches!” Bender said, mowing two of them down.
Rade joined in, but he only got one clone in the eye. More continued to stream down, some of them wielding ballistic shields that protected them entirely from the laser fire. They must have pilfered those from fallen Gendarme, and he thought it odd that they used them, given that the bodies of those clones were essentially ballistic shields themselves. It gave them some extra protection for their eyes, he supposed; if he had been a clone, and he came upon a shield, he would have used it, too. The clones held blasters of some kind, which they had placed in the notches at the tops of the shields and shot with.
“Damn it,” Rade said over the comm. “They’ve got us surrounded on all sides. We have to get to the lobby before it’s too late. Algorithm, Brat, hurry to the alcove behind me. The rest of you, lay down suppressive fire. Cover them!”
Rade targeted the eye region of a clone without a shield that had taken cover behind a pillar, and struck it down. There weren’t any other tangos in view in that direction, save for two clones behind ballistic shields, so he concentrated on the latter. Those two promptly moved behind pillars; that told him that those shields were definitely not invulnerable, and probably from the Gendarme after all, because like any ballistic shield there was a limit to the amount of damage they could take.
“We’re at the alcove,” Algorithm announced.
“Get upstairs with Brat and clear the lobby!” Rade instructed. “Lui, Manic, get to the alcove and cover them!”
Rade continued to defend.
The freight train roar began to recede: the tornado had near-missed again.
And then he heard a soul-curdling scream behind him. At first he thought that Shaw had been struck. But it wasn’t Shaw.
Cora knelt on the concrete floor. Alex lay in front of her. Shaw was beside them, her face contorted in a mixture of shock and grief.
Rade saw it then, illuminated by the light from the alcove: dark veins were rapidly traveling up his son’s arm.
Alex had been hit in the hand by a particle beam.
seventeen
Rade was faced with a terrible choice. A choice no father should have to ever make.
He had no time for thought, only action. He could not think, could not dare contemplate what he was about to do, lest he change his mind.
He scrambled to his feet and rushed out into the open, heading toward his son. He moved as if in a trance, like a man watching his own life seep away before him. All of his being focused on that tiny arm, and those veins, those terrible dark veins, spoiling that beautiful pale skin. The rest of Alex’s body was convulsing; the aReal goggles protected him from the outside world no more.
Rade didn’t care if he was struck by the enemy while he was exposed like that. In fact, he almost hoped a laser would find his heart so he could join his son in death. So he could avoid the pain of what he was about to do.
Rade shoved Cora aside and knelt between the pillar and the car. Shaw looked at him with sheer terror in her eyes. She had no idea what he was about to do. That terror was reserved entirely for their son, who she was watching die before her.
Death, an old friend.
Rade moved faster than he ever had in his life. There was no time... no time...
Rade dropped his rifle and pinned down Alex’s convulsing body, placing one knee on the shoulder, and outstretching the arm. He paid no attention to the black veins underneath the skin he touched. Gave no thought to potential contamination from the nano-machines that were multiplying in the tissues underneath, and poisoning the blood.
Rade unsheathed the X72 knife from his utility belt.
Seeing that knife, suddenly Shaw seemed to understand what he was about to do.
“Rade, no!” she said. “Rade! Stop!”
The corpsman’s voice at the back of his mind reminded him that the cut needed to be clean, aimed directly across the limb so that the blood vessels would seal off and help reduce the bleeding.
Rade obeyed that voice and struck the arm before Shaw could prevent him, or before he could stop himself. The laser edging of the knife activated and he cut clean through with a single hit, the laser coating partially cauterizing as the blade penetrated.
Alex stopped convulsing, apparently blacking out as his arm fell away.
Rade dropped the knife, rapidly removed his utility belt and tightened it around the squirting wound to act as a tourniquet. He fumbled only once, smearing his fingers with sanguine fluid, before securing the belt. The blood flow ceased.
Alex remained unconscious.
Rade glanced at the severed limb. It continued to blacken beside him.
Rade rolled up Alex’s sleeve, lifting it over the shoulder region, but so far there was no sign that the poison had spread.
Rade slumped, unable to believe what he had just done.
“My son,” Rade said, though his voice was lost in the storm, and the continuing battle. “My poor son.”
Something brutally shoved Rade to the concrete.
“What have you done!” Shaw screamed.
She scooped up Alex and embraced the child protectively, remaining crouched between the pillar and the vehicle. Beside her, Mr. and Mrs. Chopra were looking at Rade with an aghast expression. Sil was still held in Mr. Chopra’s arms, oblivious to what had happened thanks to the aReal. When Rade met his eyes, the face of Shaw’s dad contorted into sheer rage, and for a moment Rade thought the man was going to jump him.
Looking away, Rade slumped against the pillar. He had saved Alex. He knew he had. All it took was a glance at the ever blackening arm, and at the pale shoulder of his still living son, to confirm that.
His gaze was drawn to the dismembered limb: metal veins had formed along the perimeter of the limb, burrowing into the surrounding concrete, where they crystallized. In moments the skin of the severed arm itself turned to crystal, as the nano-machines apparently died. They needed a complete human body to thrive, not just an arm.
Rade examined his fingers where he had touched the limb. There was no sign of any nano-machine infection. At that point, he doubted he would have had the strength of will to hack off his own arm to prevent the spread. He was mentally and physically exhaust
ed.
His eyes defocused as the storm and the fighting continued raging around him. He stared blindly ahead. A part of his mind registered that Tahoe had taken over the defense. That was good. That was very good...
“Lobby is clear,” Algorithm said. “As is the stairwell leading to the second floor. There won’t be any attackers coming in from this vector anytime soon: the main entrance is buried in debris.”
Rade hardly heard.
“Boss!” Tahoe said. “The lobby is clear!”
Rade grabbed his rifle. Time to fight.
“Centurions, cover us,” Rade said. “Argonauts, to the alcove! Shaw, let’s go!”
She ignored him.
“Shaw!” Rade tried again.
She finally looked at him, then scrambled to her feet, as did the Chopras.
Rade fired at the enemy as he ran, as did the other Argonauts, while the Centurions still hidden behind pillars laid down suppressive fire.
Rade and the others reached the alcove.
“Bender, Manic, stay behind, cover the Centurions,” Rade said. “The rest of you, upstairs. Centurions, retreat to the alcove, then join us upstairs!”
Rade reached the dark lobby. Like Algorithm had said, a portion of the second floor had collapsed, and the entrance was completely lost in the rubble. There were no visible windows. A few of the robots had released LIDAR bursts earlier, so that a three-dimensional wireframe representation of the room overlaid the darkness.
Rade continued directing the retreat until the party reached the second floor. Algorithm and Brat stayed near the top of the stairwell, and were defending against the clones that had followed into the lobby.
The hallway was dark, illuminated only by the sparse light that penetrated through the windows on the far sides of the hall. Rade didn’t dare give the order to activate headlamps, not wanting to draw the enemy to those windows. He was vaguely surprised to see the glass intact after all the fighting—those were certainly a sturdy pair of panes, a part of his mind noted.
The other part of his mind experienced a moment of sheer exhaustion, and Rade stumbled, falling.
“You okay, boss?” Manic said, kneeling beside him.
Rade sat back against the wall. “I just need a moment.” He glanced at Shaw and her parents, and the twins they held. Shaw cradled Alex close, her tears wetting his unconscious, pale face. The boy was still alive. Breathing. His upper shoulder remained white, though the arm underneath ended in a stump shortly thereafter, the tip below the tourniquet soaked in blood.
Seeing that blood, Rade began to zone out once more. He saw himself hacking away at the body of his son. Hacking and hacking Alex to pieces.
He realized Harlequin was kneeling beside him, saying something.
Rade gazed at the Artificial blankly.
“Boss,” Harlequin repeated. “Boss.”
“I’m here,” Rade said absently.
“We have to get your son to a Weaver,” Harlequin said. He nodded toward the child. “He’s lost a lot of blood. He will die.”
Rade was a universal donor, but he had no means of transfusing that blood.
“I don’t suppose anyone here has a first aid kit?” Rade asked Harlequin.
“Unfortunately, no,” Harlequin said.
“Is there a hospital nearby?” Rade asked.
“The hospital was lost in the first attack,” Tahoe said. “But there is a field hospital at the school. I’m highlighting it on your map.”
Rade glanced at the overhead map. The school was three blocks away to the west.
“I assume you exchanged linkage codes with the local Gendarme?” Rade asked.
Tahoe nodded. Rade received a linkage request from Tahoe a moment later. Rade accepted, connecting himself, Shaw, and the Centurions to the wireless adhoc network formed by the Implants and comm nodes of the Gendarme in the city.
On the overhead map, about fifty red dots now surrounded the school, indicating the location of enemy tangos the Gendarme had spotted. Blue dots representing friendly units also appeared, with the majority concentrated within the school, and others scattered at various locations throughout the city.
“We can’t get to the school, not with those tangos dug in like that,” Rade said.
“If you look at the map, you can see the least number of tangos reside on the eastern side,” Tahoe said. “I remember that vector from the earlier battle. It’s a park, filled with the wreckages of enemy units, and trees, picnic benches, fountains. Ample places to hide. I’ve already been in touch with the lieutenant, and apprised him of our plight. He’s agreed to place extra rifles on the eastern rooftop to provide covering fire. We’ll probably be able to snipe a bunch of enemy units on the way in as well. Assuming we can get a shot at the eyes.”
Rade hesitated. It would be risky.
“The other choice is to wait until the fighting is done,” Tahoe said. “And then we’ll be able to walk right into the school. Assuming it’s still standing. But by then, your son will most likely be dead.”
Rade gazed helplessly at Alex. Shaw glanced at him with desperate eyes. Pleading, begging eyes. She wanted him to do something. Anything.
He glanced at Sil, who yet remained oblivious in the arms of Mr. Chopra. Then he focused on the Argonauts around him. They were waiting for his command. Waiting to follow him to the gates of hell and beyond if he so ordered it.
His gaze finally fell on Algorithm and Brat, who defended at the top of the second floor stairwell, which had no sealing door. The two robots were taking heavy fire, and mostly remained crouched behind the bordering walls.
“We make for the school,” Rade said.
eighteen
But once we leave this hotel behind,” Rade continued. “I won’t blame any of you if you don’t want to come with me to that school. We’ll be exposed, out in the open. And depending on the ruins, our path could be treacherous.”
“Boss, the hell you talking about?” Bender said, coming to his side. “We’re going to give you and your kids an honor escort. None of these alien bitches are going to lay a single goddamn finger on you or your family. Your kids are my kids. And I plan to protect them with my life. I speak for all of us.”
Rade felt himself tearing up, and he quickly looked away, unable to meet anyone’s eye. “Thank you.” He hardened himself, and raised his voice. “Argonauts, I need an exfil.”
“Got a fire escape past the window here,” Harlequin said over the comm. He had taken up a position on the far side of the hallway with a Centurion, and both were gazing out from either edge of the window frame.
“Any tangos in sight?” Rade asked. From his seated position on the floor, he saw smears of rain streaking the pane and that was about it.
“Not to eyesight,” replied the Centurion, Ernie. “Visibility is limited to twenty-five meters, because of the storm. But I’ve detected LIDAR bursts from the buildings across the street. I believe they belong to two enemy snipers, as there are no other friendlies in the area. I doubt they’ve detected our positions as of yet. Though it’s probable the tangos on our rear are in contact with them, and likely telling them to watch for us.”
“Probably indeed,” Rade said.
“Permission to target the source of those bursts and eliminate the enemies?” Ernie asked.
“Permission granted,” Rade said. “On the condition that you and Harlequin target both of them at the same time. I don’t want them to transmit any identifying LIDAR data to any other nearby tangos.”
“We’ll have to release our own LIDAR bursts to properly target them,” Harlequin said. He had purchased LIDAR attachments for his Artificial body a long time ago, and they were embedded within his eyes along with his other sensors. Some rifles had similar attachments, but not these models unfortunately.
“Do it,” Rade said.
Harlequin and Ernie exchanged glances, then they stepped away from the window, dropped to their knees, and positioned themselves underneath the sill. Then they both stood
up and fired in unison at the glass and into the raging storm. Small bore holes melted through the window.
“Tangos are down,” Harlequin announced. “Unfortunately, it’s highly likely that they transmitted our coordinates before dropping, as it took me a few milliseconds to acquire my target after releasing the LIDAR burst.”
“Did your burst return anything else out there?” Rade asked.
“There are no other tangos on the street,” the Centurion replied.
“All right, here’s what we’re going to do,” Rade said. “We proceed onto the fire escape and hurry down. Algorithm and Brat, you’ll stay near the window, covering the hallway. Ernie, Formaldehyde, your job is to stay at the top of the fire escape, and observe both sides. Watch for any tangos that attempt to round the building. If they do, take them down.”
“Roger that,” Formaldehyde said.
Harlequin broke the glass with the butt of his rifle and immediately the wind gusted inside. Rain and hail pelted the carpet.
Rade smelled the dusty scent of fresh rain immediately. That and something else... the stench of burnt wood. There were obviously a few fires raging throughout the city, despite the storm.
The team proceeded outside onto the metal grill of the fire escape. Centurions helped Mr. and Mrs. Chopra through the window frame and into the rain. Rade followed near Shaw. She and her dad had placed heavy blankets over the toddlers to shield them from the rain and hail.
When Rade stepped through, the cold wind and rain bit right through his shirt, chilling him to the bone. The rain stung his eyes, and the wind gusted down into his right ear, causing internal pain.
Rade smiled blackly.
I’ve been through worse.
He momentarily had a flashback to MOTH training, and the terrible cold he had endured at the hand of the instructors. Lying in the cold sea, forced to interlock arms with his brothers to stay warm.
He dismissed the thought and tried to focus on the present moment. He couldn’t help but relish in the pain and discomfort. He felt that he deserved it for what he had done to his son.