Fairweather

by Jones, Raya

  ‘I guess so.’

  ‘So, it’s a deal?’

  ‘What are you offering to pay me?’

  ‘Not money. It’s wasted on you.’

  ‘I could do with money right now.’

  ‘You charge enough to buy a small planet. I wouldn’t mind it if you bought yourself a planet, but you give your money away to the poor and dispossessed.’

  ‘You could pay me with information.’

  ‘I’m not falling for that one again!’

  ‘There’s nothing else you could give me,’ I lied. There was companionship. But this he gave to me unconditionally.

  ‘Okay, information,’ he conceded, ‘but first tell me what it’s about.’

  ‘It’s not about you or me as far as I can tell. It’s corporate or clan politics, I’m not sure which, maybe both. But it’s not your clan or corporation.’

  ‘Alright, it’s a deal.’

  ‘Then we have a deal,’ I confirmed for the record, and switched off the recorder. ‘I want to know what it was that Fairweather knew about Wye Stan.’

  He cursed. ‘Damn, I’ve stepped right into this one.’

  He could have said that he had no idea what Fairweather knew.

  When we reached the next terrace down, I asked where he was taking me.

  ‘My HQ…’ He laughed at my frown. ‘You really didn’t know it was here, did you?’

  I shook my head, recalling the curious mixture of emotions on his face when the guards who processed us at Callisto said we’d be delivered to OK Intelligence HQ in Phoenix-3. ‘You don’t believe that OK would locate its military nerve-centre in our weakest sector in the galaxy. Do you know why I’ve put it here?’

  ‘Sentimental reasons?’

  ‘No. It’s because here our enemies are stronger.’

  I almost believed him.

  The spiral stairs continued to the next level down. Fred continued to descend, but suddenly turned around and told me to go back up. Someone was down there. Snatches of music rose over the noise of traffic.

  When we stepped off the stairs back on the higher level, I told him, ‘Okay, Fred, you’ve got me. I almost believed you for a split second that your HQ is down there. I’ll be off now.’ My pert was set for Terminal 32, and yet I couldn’t bring myself to press it. He came up close and placed his hands on my shoulders, speaking close to my face so that his lips couldn’t be read. ‘We’re under my firm’s camera here.’

  My suit’s bug-detector detected active surveillance.

  He whispered on, ‘You know things about me that I don’t want them to know.’

  ‘I won’t let anyone know that I’ve stolen your signature.’

  ‘That too, but I meant my association with Version 7.’

  ‘I won’t breathe a word about the Council of Nine. I couldn’t bear the ridicule.’

  ‘I mean the invisible wall he’s created around my personal operations. Nobody else knows about it.’

  ‘Your own ace hackers don’t know? How do they explain why it took me so long?’

  He chuckled and reassured me that my reputation was intact. ‘You are as legendary as ever, O Nameless One. As for Jexu Jiu, we’ll find out what they make of him.’ He ruffled my hair, and stepped back eyeing me critically, ‘Your hair’s a mess. I can’t take you anywhere.’

  The next yard down was at ground level, and even more rundown. The ground shook as trains rumbled past. Fred indicated a ruined building on the far side. The remains of a neon sign, long extinguished, spelled FREE TRADE EMPORIUM with some letters missing. In front of it five teenagers sat on fallen masonry, their music blasting out of a box. They wore gaudy biosuits with garish fashion accessories, and a couple of them had their hair gelled into spikes like a poor imitation of the fashion among executive youth decades ago.

  When we were quite near, their leader jumped up to her feet and pointed a handgun at us. ‘Hold it right there, both of you! Throw down your cards and perts on the ground right now and your bag too or I’ll shoot!’

  The others stood up, almost in a line, their faces tense with thrill and trepidation.

  ‘Are you robbing us, my dear?’ Fred asked, casually folding his arms.

  ‘You bet! Move it! This gun is real and this is our territory!’

  ‘You’re so wrong, sweetheart. This is my territory.’ In mid-speech, a bulky vaporiser gun imploded into being in mid-air inches in front of him. In one sweeping motion, Fred caught it and fired sideways.

  A pile of bricks vanished in a puff and thin white plume.

  He pointed the weapon at the trembling youngsters, raising his voice over the rising din of trains, air traffic and music, ‘Hands up!’

  They obeyed instantly, the leader dropping her gun at her feet.

  I rushed over and kicked her gun towards Fred, out of her reach. I looked her in the eye. She didn’t flinch. ‘Where’s your ID?’ I asked. She started to lower her arms. ‘Keep your hands up. Just tell me which pocket.’

  I collected all their IDs from their pockets and stepped back nearer Fred. He kept silent and his gun in a pose calculated to intimidate, though pointing well over their heads. Two of them were trembling so badly, they kept their hands up with difficulty. The albino boy mumbled, ‘We need our ID. My mother will kill me.’

  ‘I want to know who you are and where you live,’ I told him. The plump black girl started to scream hysterically. Their leader yelled, ‘You’re him! She told us. You are their ninja. Mister, sir, we let her go as soon as…’ her voice was drowned by the whine and roar of a fast train passing.

  ‘I can’t hear you, Marrakech,’ I said loudly over the noise of the receding train. In the corner of my eye I saw Fred’s face darken.

  Marrakech raised her voice, shrieking, ‘It was my idea, okay? It was my idea to kidnap Mandy, only me. You don’t need to hurt them. Let these children go, please. Please, sir, I had no idea who she was. We saw her get on the bus, a rich bitch… sorry. I didn’t know she was a Pan.’

  ‘And what do you know now, what lesson have you learned, Marrakech?’ I asked during a lull between trains.

  ‘Not to interfere with your job.’

  ‘Wrong answer. You have three attempts. Second try.’

  ‘Never mess with Cyboratics?’

  ‘Wrong.’

  I could hear Fred murmur, ‘For the love of God…’

  Her face puckered in frustration and despair. ‘I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m supposed to know!’

  ‘Correct answer.’ I flung their cards to the ground between us. ‘Get your IDs and get lost.’

  Marrakech dashed forward and collected the small pile, her gang already vanishing. Within seconds, only their music was left behind.

  Fred let out a gasp of relief. ‘Do you want this?’ he indicated Marrakech’s gun. I shook my head. He picked it up, examining it.

  ‘Is it real?’

  ‘Yes.’ He put away it in a pocket, and resumed heading to the Emporium.

  ‘How does a sixteen-year-old in your town get hold of a real gun?’

  ‘Quite. There’s potential there. She needs grooming. Don’t give that righteous shock-horror look. She’ll be old enough to be recruited to my firm in a couple of years. But you, you have a nasty streak in you. Did you enjoy terrifying those children?’

  ‘Did it look to you like I was enjoying it?’

  ‘No, but it didn’t look like you were not enjoying it. How do you know those kids?’

  ‘I don’t. I saw Marrakech’s name on her ID.’

  ‘She mentioned Mandy by name. Mind you, it doesn’t surprise me that our mystery woman gave them the first name that came into her stream of consciousness.’

  ‘Mandy was Fairweather’s real name.’

  He sighed. ‘Are you sure you’re not an assassin on Wye Stan’s payroll?’

  ‘It wasn’t me who introduced a monster vaporiser into the picture.’

  ‘It’s a monster, too true,’ he moaned, cradling it his arms with a pained
expression. ‘I’m sure they make it ten times heavier and twice larger than necessary just to sell it to sad bastards with commando fantasies.’

  ‘They saw you coming, Fred. You sure know how to impress young girls with your big gun.’

  ‘It was the only weapon I had ready, okay? I wasn’t preparing for getting mugged by children. Don’t you think it was neat how I plucked it from thin air?’

  ‘Awesome. Your reaction time is scary,’ I meant it.

  ‘I’ve practised the drill.’ Happily, without breaking his step, he showed me a thin bracelet he wore. It let him tag an object and programme it to follow his signal, so that he could yank it into his physical location anytime. It wasn’t exactly a new gadget. I said to annoy him, ‘Did you pick it up in an old copy of Spies Gazette or Espionage Monthly?’

  ‘Mock you may, but that’s the difference between you and me. You dance in the virtual, I operate in the real world.’

  ‘That’s why you’re the head of military intelligence and I’m the one you turn to when you need saving from your own team. Are you expecting a surprise welcome party?’

  ‘No, Jigsaw-san, I’m throwing it. It’s not this gun I’m going to hit them with. It’s you.’

  We entered a large empty hall at the derelict Emporium. Shafts of light shone through holes in the roof, highlighting food wrappers and plastic bottles, dusty and faded. A rat scurried away. A closed door farther down led into what probably used to be an office. My suit disclosed the presence of surveillance. For appearance’s sake, I scanned the place with the handheld device.

  ‘Do you believe me now?’ Fred asked when I put it away. I confirmed that we were under surveillance, but I didn’t know who was behind it.

  ‘I’ll introduce you.’ He strode to the centre of the hall. When I was near enough, he grabbed my arm.

  We materialised in a long cavern, like a blocked off tunnel.

  A dim light came on ahead of us and dimmed away behind us as we walked on. Another light came on, surrounding us with transient monochrome illumination that was just enough to see walls of bare rock laced with thick cables interspersed with maintenance cabinets. The installations appeared and disappeared in and out of pitch blackness. The air was cold, stale and damp. My voice rang strangely in the oppressive silence. ‘Is this the nerve-centre of OK military?’

  ‘You have to find the hidden door. You have three attempts.’

  I took off my rucksack, and sat down on the concrete floor.

  Fred encouraged, ‘I’ll warn you if you’re about to step into a booby trap.’

  Seeing that I wouldn’t budge, he sat down too, placing the vaporiser on the floor. I got a bottle of water out of my rucksack, drank some, and offered it to him. He declined. I put the water away and remained silent.

  After a while he asked what I was going to do. I didn’t reply. He protested, ‘You can’t stay here forever. Humour me, find the door.’

  ‘Assuming that your imaginary HQ is here, for argument’s sake, if you want me to test your home security it’s a separate job. What are you offering to pay?’

  ‘Money, only money, I’ll pay cash!’

  ‘Do you actually know where the door is?’

  ‘Yes. There are three. We keep rotating them.’

  ‘And do you know which one is safe today?’

  ‘I know which one was meant to be safe today, but the booby traps are activated from inside HQ. If someone’s plotting a coup…’

  ‘Okay, I’ll treat it as the same job. Will this door I’m supposed to find bring us into a Teletek facility?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘These are teleport cables.’

  ‘I don’t see their logo.’

  ‘They wouldn’t advertise it. I know the markings used by their engineers. I also know that according to last year’s census, 5.7% of Phoenix-3’s population are Teletek citizens. Perhaps you have a problem with Teletek rising to power so quickly and invading your town. You are here with a vaporiser that can slice through their cables.’

  ‘Trust you to put two and two together. How are you going to stop me?’

  ‘I’m not going to.’

  ‘You’ve exposed my terrorist plot and you are not going to stop me?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘You know that the top bundle is 1Step cables. When I vaporise it, hundreds of people will cease to exist. My own sister could be passing there this very moment on her way to a coffee morning... Now that’s a tempting thought.’

  I said nothing.

  Eventually he couldn’t stand it any longer. ‘Penny for your thoughts.’

  ‘It’s nice here.’

  ‘Nice?’ He spoke angrily in a low voice. ‘You have an obsession with dark enclosed spaces like the womb you never experienced…Damn,’ he the next, angry with himself, ‘I don’t believe I said that. I’m sorry, Al.’

  I got up and walked away, activating my CSG badge.

  Fred too sprang up to his feet, but having to pick up the vaporiser slowed him down. Perhaps he dawdled deliberately.

  A pentagram became visible, shimmering faintly on the concrete floor in front of me—

  Darkness of feeling

  Icy tendrils

  Seeking

  I found myself in a large wire cage in the middle of a room with bare walls, empty but for a few supply boxes piled in a corner. A camera was mounted on the ceiling. ‘Greetings, Jexu Jiu,’ said a tall dark-skinned woman in a sleek black biosuit, standing outside the cage’s open hatch. Behind her was a doorway to a featureless corridor. ‘I’m Swift.’

  ‘Greetings, Swift. Is Blade here too?’

  ‘No, he’s in Sirius B. We’ve never met in the physical.’ She turned and walked briskly towards the door.

  Following, I told her that the two of them were legendary.

  ‘Thanks, I guess. We’re not supposed to be so visible. I need to speak with you in confidence.’

  ‘I must record all the conversations I have here.’

  ‘That’s fine as long as it goes only to the CSG.’ Swift paused just past the doorway. ‘I’m glad you’re here in person. We don’t dare to communicate with you guys online. I need to talk to you about Freedom Cordova.’

  ‘I’m listening.’

  ‘He’s mad.’

  ‘Tell me something I don’t know.’

  She glanced nervously over my head towards the cage. ‘Did he tell you why he wanted us to rig your arrest at Callisto, the whole bogus identity?’

  ‘No, but perhaps wanting a faster transport to Earth had something to do with it.’

  ‘He could have ordered a faster vehicle. He can ask for anything.’ She glanced past me, her face clouding. ‘He’s here. What the hell is that?’

  Fred stepped out of the cage, the vaporiser propped against his shoulder. I looked back at Swift and saw worry in her eyes. Her boss strode towards us, unsmiling. When he was quite near he ordered Swift, without slowing down, ‘Brief him. Then bring him to my workstation.’ He carried on strutting down the corridor, unstoppable, and disappeared around the bend.

  Swift asked, worried, ‘Do you have any idea what he plans to do with that weapon?’

  ‘Return it to the armoury, I guess.’

  ‘What armoury?’

  ‘What is this place? He said it’s your HQ.’

  ‘He would say that.’ She seemed ill at ease. ‘Some of our servers are here but HQ is distributed across several star systems. I don’t know if I’m supposed to tell you that. He didn’t brief me as to what I’m supposed to brief you about. Do you see my problem? If I don’t brief you, he can execute me for disobeying a direct order. And if I tell you anything at all, he can say that I wasn’t supposed to leak it, and execute me for treason. Can you help us?’

  I told her truthfully that the CSG could intervene if her boss was a mad director of a production or marketing firm within OK, but military intelligence is out of the agency’s jurisdiction. She whispered, ‘Yes, I know that. I also know that your agency has made the
arms race its business. That’s why you’re after him.’

  ‘Is this our confidential chat?’ I asked. She nodded and, seeing me glance at the camera, explained that it was visual only. ‘Swift, do you know how close I am to Freedom Cordova?’

  ‘How close are you to busting him?’

  If she had monitored our approach, Swift must have seen the body language. I thought: she’s not informing on her boss. She’s fishing for information on his behalf. ‘When did you find out that I was coming to this facility?’

  ‘Just now when you activated your badge in the Emporium.’

  ‘It was in the Teletek cavern.’

  ‘He took you there? I didn’t know. Perhaps he wanted to delay you from getting here. Heck, I don’t know why he does anything. It might interest you to know that he pretends you’ve travelled together.’

  ‘We did travel together.’

  ‘I don’t mean your trip from Callisto. He insists that you’ve been travelling with him ever since he lost his home in Ronda. There’s more. He claims that you stayed living with him after your job has finished. You seem surprised,’ she observed correctly. I didn’t conceal my stay at his home. He must have done it himself. Puzzled, I asked, ‘Why would he do that?’

  ‘He wants it to appear as if you two are close buddies. I’m only guessing. Perhaps he wants it to appear as if you are his mole in the CSG. I don’t really know. We’ve suspected for some time that he has an accomplice outside the corporation and…’

  I interrupted, ‘Hold it right there, Swift. What you are insinuating is a very serious allegation. Please don’t say anything like that unless you have solid evidence. Do you have evidence?’

  ‘No. Do you?’

  ‘I’ve agreed to hear you out, not to compare notes.’

  ‘Then hear me out. I’m not insinuating that his accomplice is from another corporation. Nobody who knows Freedom Cordova can doubt his loyalty. He’s built this firm himself. He handpicked and personally trained all of us who are in key positions. He taught me everything I know. He’s made OK the second most powerful nation. And he is a Cordova. This is his family business, his kingdom.’ She spoke passionately, but then her tone changed. ‘It’s just that his behaviour lately, you know, it’s so strange. You know about the ronin we call the Retriever, don’t you? That’s his accomplice. We are almost sure about that.’