Insidious

by Michael McCloskey

  She slid the liquid keys back into her pocket and clambered into the opening. The duct snapped as the thin metal accepted her weight. She winced and shuffled forward again. More noise.

  Aldriena shuffled through the confines of the duct following the green line. The metal screeched and snapped. Her elbows popped the sides of the tunnel causing them to flex. A burst of claustrophobia hit her, but she ignored it, refusing to let it take hold.

  “Whose retarded idea was this, anyway?” she muttered to herself. “Shuffling through the air vents? Someone’s been watching too many vids.”

  All the better to fool idiots into thinking you were on a mission here, said a voice through her link.

  “Shit. You put a sound pickup on me,” Aldriena said.

  No. I’ve already got the whole ventilation system bugged, said the voice again. I know it’s dumb, but just keep going, you’re almost to the spot. You’re making as much noise as a rhino in there, I’m sure they’ve zeroed in on you by now.

  Aldriena crawled up to another grille blocking her way. She fished out her liquid key and pushed it in. The lock didn’t turn.

  “A different key for each one?” she whispered.

  Like you said. Too many vids. There were more security measures as well, I had to go to great lengths to get you this far. You should have another key.

  Aldriena altered the current in the key she had inserted and took a reading of the new lock. Then she melted it away and took out a fresh key. It formed into a different pattern, which she used to open the grille that obstructed the duct.

  “I’m through,” she whispered. She crawled along listening to the clunks and snaps of the duct around her. The green line led her down a straightaway and then to her left. She saw the end of the line, a spherical green node that pulsed just ahead.

  Okay here you are. Another meter or two.

  Aldriena took a deep breath and shuffled forward. She heard more creaks from the duct than before. She slid forward again and then plunged downward in a roar of overstressed metal. A sharp impact followed as she smacked straight down onto the floor.

  “Opa!” she said. She stared up at the gaping hole in the duct above that had disgorged her.

  “Hold it right there!”

  Aldriena looked into the slugthrowers of three male guards.

  “Puxa! You boys looking for someone?” she asked.

  No one replied as the nearest security officer secured her hands behind her back with a glue rope.

  “You’ve been watching too many vids,” one of them said. “We’ve been following you for a while now.”

  “Can’t blame a girl for trying,” she said.

  “Take her in,” somebody else said. Aldriena glimpsed at a group of spectators gathering to get a look. One of them, a Brazilian man in a business suit, actually stared at her with his mouth open.

  “Não há dúvidas de que os gorilas da força do espaço querem apenas uma descupla para se aproveitarem dessa inocente inspetora de respiradouros,” she fired off at him in Portuguese as the officers pulled her away. No doubt these space force gorillas just want an excuse to feel up this innocent vent inspector.

  Her last glimpse of his face showed no change of countenance.

  Two officers marched her through several corridors past more gaping engineers and scientists. Aldriena struck a defiant yet seductive posture, relishing the few moments of attention. They came to a security annex and pulled her inside, away from the public eye.

  They deposited her in a small metal room with a table and two chairs.

  “Oh, nice interrogation room,” she told the retreating security men. “Now who’s been watching too many vids?”

  They didn’t answer. The two walked out and sealed the door with a heavy metal clank that didn’t leave much doubt as to its integrity.

  Aldriena waited for long minutes. She dusted her dress off a bit here and there and inspected it for damage. It seemed in good enough condition given her recent clambering through the ventilation system.

  “Somebody going to offer me a drink?” she called out.

  Still nothing. Aldriena summoned her patience. She hoped they didn’t leave her here too long. Prison was so dull. She found herself already longing for escape, and she hadn’t even seen her cell yet.

  Finally, someone came into the room. Some kind of security officer, not a lawyer type, judging from his uniform. The man had a squat frame and a square face to match. He closed the door behind him.

  “Fala português?” Aldriena asked. The man shook his head.

  “No Portuguese. Uhm, nao falo.”

  Aldriena rolled her eyes. The man pulled out a chair and sat across the table from her.

  “English it is then,” she said.

  He stared at her. Aldriena leaned forward and spoke in a softer voice.

  “Hey. You going to let me go?”

  “Sorry. You’re being detained for the space force. They should pick you up in a day or two.”

  “You’re not space force?”

  “Tell you what, lady. You talk to us first; we can guarantee you some rights that the space force won’t give you. I can file to keep you here—”

  “I don’t have anything to say.”

  “Think about it. I can get you a better deal if you talk to me. The space force, they’ll whisk you off and who knows how long it’ll be before they decide to send you back to your company. If they ever do. Your comment about gorillas might be closer to the mark than you know.”

  “My company will trade to get me back.” She believed it. Corporations traded people every day, just like computer chips, robot chassis, ESC, and carbon credits.

  The man’s eyes narrowed.

  “You think so? You think Black Core can’t do without one troublemaker? They have legions of people ready to take your place.”

  “They’ll trade for me.”

  The man nodded. “Sure they will.” He stood up.

  “Lemme know if you change your mind. Cool off for a while, they won’t be here soon.”

  He walked around to detach her glue cuffs from the chair. “Don’t fight; it’ll just make it worse.”

  “That’s what all my boyfriends say, cabrão.”

  Her needling didn’t evoke any response. He yanked her up and then pushed her down a cramped hall to her personal holding cell. The metal door slid open to accept her, responding to a command from his link. Her Cascavel picked it up, even though one sample wouldn’t do any good.

  The cell looked like a metallic version of an economy hotel room in Hong Kong—a tiny bunk in a closet with a toilet handle that pulled the seat out of the wall. She knew it probably also had a link inhibitor to keep her out of trouble while incarcerated. An old-style video screen and keyboard built into the wall took the place of her usual link services.

  She felt the cool spray of solvent on her hands and wrists. The glue slid off her skin releasing her hands. The officer thrust her head down then shoved her into the cell. She staggered forward and then stopped in the middle of the cell. She slowly bent down to flick a piece of glue off her foot, keeping her back to him.

  Aldriena turned and caught his eyes returning to her face.

  “You checking me out, huh cabrão? You gonna trepar?”

  “Uhm,” the man gulped. “What?”

  “Trepar. You gonna get on this?” She slapped the side of her hip.

  “Oh, uhm. No, ma’am. Please step back, I’m closing the door now,” he stammered.

  She laughed harshly. This lower-grade minion of the local constabulary knew better than to mistreat her, even verbally.

  “Too hot to handle, huh? Yeah, that’s what my last guy told me,” Aldriena said. The deputy shifted uncomfortably again. She turned away from him and sat down on the bunk apron. The metal door slid shut, encasing her in the tiny vault.

  Aldriena relaxed a notch.

  That feels better. I’ve got issues. So sue me.

  She knew she had a lot of anger in her. That didn’
t bother her too much—it drove her. Now the security guard wouldn’t forget about her. When the UNSF inquired about her, they’d be sure it wasn’t a case of mistaken identity. They had her DNA, but that kind of thing could be planted. The whole picture had to fit.

  She looked around the tiny cell more carefully. A small viewing console in the wall reported to her civilian link and blocked out all other services. She had an hour of news-only, old style video access per day. No VR time. Aldriena wondered if some facilities had punishment VRs for prisoners. What would it be like? Standing around in a boring yard with nothing to do? Or would it actually be actively unpleasant somehow? Such a thing probably existed. It would be easier to keep the inmates under control if they were all linked into some virtual chain gang laying an endless railroad through an electron desert that never ended.

  She turned the tiny viewer on to make it easier to notice when the power went out. It droned on about some strike in the United States that threatened the station’s luxury food items.

  Then she saw a clip of her arrest. Aldriena smiled. She managed to look quite fetching even while being picked up off the floor by the artilheiros. The news story had actually gotten some of the locals stirred up, saying that an innocent woman had been detained by the space force dogs for their own lewd entertainment. Someone out there had actually believed her accusation! She laughed aloud.

  Aldriena realized it had been a long time since she’d laughed and meant it. She rolled over in the cot and waited. She considered letting the Cascavel try and get past the link inhibitor, but she decided now was the time to lay low. She didn’t want any attention when it came time to leave.

  Aldriena waited. She thought of a faraway green land where her mother and her father had nurtured her and every day was a wonder. A place that had receded so far into memory that she now doubted if it had ever existed. She wondered if Japan still looked the same despite the political and military changes that had occurred since the Chinese takeover.

  Her tiny view screen went blank. The cell darkened, lit only by the emerald glow of a couple of battery-powered LEDs under her bunk. Aldriena carefully rolled off the bed guarding her head in the cramped quarters.

  Her door unlatched. She opened it and leaned out.

  It was just as dark outside the cell. She saw only a minute glow ahead. Her eyes struggled to discern its size and distance. Something large blocked the corridor. Her eyes were still adjusting; it was too large and motionless to be a person. She reached out to identify the object. Cold metal. It was a security robot. It obviously wasn’t functioning, but she couldn’t help but reach for C4B. She swore when it didn’t come to hand. The weapon was gone and she hadn’t gotten a replacement.

  She snapped out of it. Who cared about the robot? As long as her companions had frozen it up, she didn’t have to deal with it. In the darkness, she stepped around its body and headed down the corridor, the direction from which she had arrived. She tried to envision the central area of the security annex and a route out of it.

  She came to the main chamber. The emergency lights had been blocked from activation, but she saw the dim glow of a few LEDs in the room.

  “This is bullshit,” she heard some voice say from a far cubicle. “Should we head out to the power station on foot and see if we can help?”

  “It can’t be a global outage. I still see lights from the hub through the inner ports,” another voice said.

  Aldriena stepped lightly with one arm probing ahead, trying to move silently. She calmed her breathing. The doors should be straight ahead and to her left, she thought. It’d be a breeze to walk through here and get back to the Silvado.

  A flash erupted in front of her accompanied by a bolt of pain. An odd sensation followed. Aldriena struggled to identify it. Then her back struck the floor and she realized it had been vertigo. Someone had clotheslined her in the dark.

  She instinctively rolled to the side and got on all fours. She heard the sound of a boot stomping the floor where she’d been. She reached out with her hands until she felt a heel, and then wrapped her hands around it. She put her shoulder into the knee of her attacker and shoved.

  “Goddamn!”

  She heard the curse and then a satisfying crunch followed by a clatter. She’d toppled whoever it was into something.

  “What’s wrong? What’s going on over there?” a voice called out.

  “Somebody’s a klutz,” another voice offered.

  Aldriena regained her feet and started to move. She realized she’d lost her direction but kept going anyway, hands outspread.

  “Shut up! Someone else is in here!”

  She thought she heard the sound of breathing from her right. The sound bubbled slightly. Of course. Blood. She’d bloodied him up, and now she could hear it interfering with his breathing. If she could …

  The emergency lights snapped on.

  A man in a guard uniform stood directly before her, his arms spread wide like her own. A crimson mustache ran from his nose, dripping from the side of his chin. Aldriena jabbed him straight in his bloodied nose, putting her body behind it. The man fell back and covered his face with a muted cry. Aldriena dropped her hand and rolled her eyes. The artilheiros took anybody these days. The man appeared incapacitated from her strike.

  She hopped over his legs and headed for the door of the security station. The lights flipped back out.

  “Wait! Stop right there!” a voice called after her.

  Stop. Right. I’ll be sure to stop and allow you to detain me, officer.

  She smashed into a wall. Then she felt a manual door release bar and pushed it. A sliver of dim light appeared, and she pushed toward it until she slipped through the doors of the security annex.

  The light came from the windows above, looking out over the central station hub. As the voice had mentioned, the lights on the hub still gleamed in the vacuum, adding to the starlight from outside the station. The ring of the station shielded the windows from the direct light of Sol. Aldriena took it in for a second, and then she ran down a corridor and turned right.

  Once out of sight of the annex, she slowed and started to walk normally. Her link didn’t see many services. Apparently, her fellow Core members had done quite a number on the local systems. She accessed her cached maps of the station and requested the route back to the Silvado. A ghostly green line appeared before her to show the way.

  Aldriena walked calmly down the corridor. She knew that messages were going out through several channels to the UNSF. A suspicious communiqué encrypted with a cipher known to be compromised would be intercepted. Any minute now, the port inspector would find a crate of mysterious plastic outfits that had been marked as foodstuffs. And of course, there was the escape of Aldriena Niachi right on the heels of her capture.

  She strode along after the green line. Somewhere in the distance, she heard a couple of people talking. Their voices sounded worried. She didn’t slow to listen to their complaints.

  Only a minute or two more and she would be back in the Silvado, ready to ship out on the empty hydrogen barge.

  With any luck, the UNSF would scramble here and give Project Insidious more time. That was the plan, anyway. Aldriena frowned.

  She wasn’t so sure she wanted the project to go on any longer.

  Seven

  Bren came on alert as the UNSF fleet moved within range of the space city of Tanelorn. He moved to the Guts to be closer to the machines and his team, even though he could have directed the incursion through his link from anywhere on the ship. He liked to be where he could smell the lubricant and feel the heat from the electronics. It made him feel closer to the action.

  The UNSF manipulated deep space radar buoys to remove the presence of its incoming fleet from the navigation data published on the net. Electronic warfare pods attenuated and scattered any detection mechanisms in place on Tanelorn, although such measures usually only allowed the fleet to get a little closer before being detected. Tanelorn would still have an hour or two to p
repare for the assault.

  Reiss-Marck Industries owned and operated Tanelorn. Bren knew from his briefing that Tanelorn manufactured building materials that crystallized perfectly in zero gravity. The station had an extensive wing that didn’t rotate with the inhabited part of the base, which contained a giant robotic fabrication plant.

  On board Vigilant, Bren executed the launch checklist with his team of handlers. Twelve ASSAIL units were with Bren in the Guts—Napoleon, Nemain, Nemesis, Neptune, Nerad, Nergal, Nerthus, and Nga joined the Thermopylae survivors Maladomini, Marauder, Meridian, and Mournblade. Foremost on his mind was the spider-bot Red. If another such machine awaited them here, could they win again? Could there even be more than one on Tanelorn? The entire team had done everything they could to prepare for that possibility. The four surviving ASSAIL units from the first raid, bolstered by eight new acquisitions, gave them two more units than they’d put into Thermopylae. Also, they’d start the machines up earlier, before the cruiser touched the hull of the station.

  As they ran down the checklists, Bren monitored the Vigilant’s progress toward the target. Bren half listened to the effort to attach to the hull through reports and radio traffic flickering by in his PV. His part of the mission started once the ship had latched onto the station and forced a breach. It sounded like they had only a few minutes left to wait.

  Bren linked to his old favorite, Meridian, with nothing more than a casual thought. He realized that only the hardware remained the same (and not even all of that) between runs, but he liked to link into the cameras of the lead unit.

  Bren saw Hoffman had already connected to Meridian more than an hour ago to complete the checklists. Hoffman had the experience Bren needed in a lead operator, and Hoffman oversaw Meridian, so it always hit the breach first.