Superego-Fathom

by Frank J. Fleming

  I came to the relevant part of the file. The date the facility was activated. That would be needed to calculate its current location. The other piece was the key entered into its jump sequence. That was not in the file, but it told me where to find it.

  Dip, are you able to remember all this?

  “I will do my best.”

  That would have to be good enough. It was tempting to try to at least take some photographs of the screen, but I assumed they had some measures to prevent that or would react in some way. The longer we kept things calm, the better our chance of survival.

  I went to the next file, on a certain type of jump engine used in classified vessels, and pretended to read it.

  Morrigan finally sat down in a chair behind us. “This is boring. I really thought hanging out with you two would be more exciting than this.”

  The door to the room opened. There were three helmeted members of Vesa security standing outside. “We need to talk,” said one of them, watching me intently. “Two members of the security team have gone missing. Our understanding is they last were near you.”

  Morrigan chuckled. “Oh. Here we go.” She then took out a small device and pressed a button, and the power went out.

  CHAPTER 27

  “What happened? What’s going on?” asked one of the staff at the desk as Morrigan, Diane, and I walked into the lobby.

  “Nothing good,” Morrigan answered. She then nodded to her two thugs, who produced what looked like shivs. They were on the four staff members before they could react, stabbing each in the neck and dropping them to the floor. Wade and Sylvia stood back, ready to act, while Eldan just looked shocked. I glanced at Diane, whose impassive face was barely holding back her horror.

  “These are all innocent people, for all we know,” Dip told me.

  Nothing to do about it now.

  “I hope you got what you wanted,” Morrigan told me, “because I think it’s time for us to part ways now. And I’d get out of here quick, because I know who is going to get the blame for all this.” She touched me on the nose.

  “Did we get it?” Wade asked me.

  I nodded.

  “Webb. Pierce. Help them to the port,” Morrigan said. “And you have full permission to abandon them if things get hairy.” She looked at Eldan. “No offense.” She turned back to me. “As for me, I think I’m going to get as far away as possible before things get really serious. Good luck to you all. Now go irritate other people.”

  We all headed out of the archives, and Morrigan continued off down another street while two of her people led us to an alley where there was a door in the ground. They opened it, revealing a set of stairs leading down below the street.

  “This maintenance area will take us to the entrance to the port,” one of them told us as we descended into a small hallway, the walls and ceilings lined with pipes. There was little lighting and the place was fogged with water vapor, so visibility wasn’t great. It seemed empty, but that was more ominous than comforting.

  Wade took point, and I almost lost track of him in the mist ahead. “Hold up,” he finally said, “I think I —”

  Wade came flying back, knocking Sylvia down and slamming into the wall with a hard thud. Ahead of us was the silhouette of a woman in a dress. As she approached, I saw her crooked smirk through the mist. “Did you think killing those security guards would help?” she said. “We’ve been following you this whole time. And now I have some pointed questions for you.”

  The first to react was one of Morrigan’s people, who stabbed his shiv at her in a panic. It bounced off her arm like he had just tried to use a butter knife to cut through rubber. The Messenger countered with a blow so hard to the man’s head that his neck bent back unnaturally, and his body dropped as dead weight. Morrigan’s other thug tried to stab at the Messenger’s face, but she dodged, grabbed his arm, and snapped it at the elbow. Then she punched his chest, which caved in. She locked eyes with me.

  I held up a finger, telling the others to wait. “Trying to handle me yourself again?” I asked the Messenger. “What happened to the Shade?”

  “You’re so vulnerable here already, it just seemed like a waste of their talents,” she answered. “I think you already saw how they handled your research into Oron-Damari. What were you expecting to find out there?” She had that smile again, begging me to take foolish action.

  Behind me, Wade was on the ground. Sylvia stood up from checking on him, and she, Diane, and Eldan tried to spread out, but there wasn’t much room in the tunnel. Sylvia kept eyes on the Messenger while fiddling with her clothes.

  “I thought you wanted to make a public example of me,” I said, standing still. “Not very public here.”

  “Not going to kill you here,” the Messenger said, her smile inviting a punch that would surely be ineffectual. “Alive and broken works better. We want to know what you were looking for in the archives. Also, we believe you deserve to see what comes next. You think you turned a planet against us and made us look like fools, but you’re going to see what happens to anyone who aligns against the Fathom. No planet is too rich or powerful to defy us and not face consequences. If you want to know where the Shade are right now, check Calipa’s planetary defense control.”

  “You’re going to bomb Calipa?” Diane exclaimed.

  “With no pleasure,” the Messenger answered. “Losing such a vital city will have economic repercussions, but the Fathom will lead in the rebuilding, among those worthy of their leadership.”

  “My family is there!” Eldan shouted, his eyes pleading with the Messenger.

  She was unmoved. “You killed them by allying with this man here.”

  “Do you have a heart at all?!” Diane yelled, tensing and readying for action.

  “The Fathom don’t have time for a heart,” the Messenger answered and turned back to me. “They have a universe to run. They do have time for entertainment, though, like watching me rip your friends here apart and beat you to a quivering mess.”

  “That’s not going to go as well as you think,” I said, taking my bottle of whiskey out of its brown paper bag and a lighter out of my pocket. I had earlier shoved a rag into it, which I now pulled out to light, but the flame kept doing nothing to the rag.

  “They put something in the alcohol here to make it nonflammable,” the Messenger said, her smile once again needling me.

  I removed the rag and took a drink of the whiskey. “I really hate this planet.” I dropped the bottle, the shatterproof container hitting the ground with an unsatisfying thud.

  I had achieved my goal of giving my associates time to prepare, though, and Sylvia charged forward at the Messenger. The Messenger seemed almost amused by the challenge. She threw a powerful punch, but Sylvia ducked under it and went for the Messenger’s head. Sylvia wasn’t returning a punch of her own, though, and instead tossed a small noose made of the wire from her belt over the Messenger’s head. She threw the rest of the wire over a pipe above us, the other end of it landing in Diane’s hands. The muscular enhancements this Messenger had made her many times stronger than a normal human, but they didn’t make her weigh much more than a normal woman her size. As the Messenger felt the wire at her neck and was still registering what was happening, Diane yanked down on her end of the wire, lifting the woman up by the neck until she was dangling kicking from the pipe above. Diane secured the wire to another set of pipes.

  I gave Sylvia and Diane a thumbs-up. Eldan was not ecstatic, though, and had taken out a handheld. “They’re going to destroy Calipa. I need to —”

  “He’s not going to function worrying about his family,” Dip informed me. “You need to help him.”

  I wasn’t sure if I could, but Dip was right that I potentially would need him. I spoke with the voice of a man in full control. “Send your wife a message to grab the children and nothing else and get in the fastest vehicle she can find. She needs to get as far away from the capital city as possible. Quickly.”

  Diane was helping
Wade to his feet. He looked dazed, and one arm hung limply at this side. “We need to warn the whole planet,” Diane said as she stabilized Wade.

  Oh yeah. The millions of other lives that didn’t personally affect me. “Wade, how are you doing?”

  “Arm and ... I’m guessing ribs broken. And I think a concussion,” he said without looking too punch drunk.

  “If you can manage it with the other arm,” I told him, “see if you can contact anyone with authority on Calipa. Tell them to check on the planetary defense control. And they need to order a full evacuation of the capital city. Quickly — we need to keep moving.” I glanced up at the woman dangling from the ceiling above us. She was still kicking with no signs of slowing down, her hands now reaching up to try to break the wire. “She’s going to eventually get down from there, isn’t she?”

  Sylvia picked up a loose pipe nearby and started whacking the Messenger in the torso. Other than making her sway a bit, it had little effect.

  “Are you trying to make candy come out?” I said. I turned to the rest, Eldan looking dazed and Wade using his handheld one-handed. “Let’s just go. Now.” I took one last wary glance at the dangling woman and led everyone forward at a run.

  We came to another door, which exited out into another city street that led to an open area, in which we could see storefronts and restaurants. But no people. Red lights flashed above us. There were screens all around showing a picture of me. That was not good.

  “Representative Rico is wanted for murder,” announced a calm female voice over loudspeakers. The picture switched to Morrigan — or maybe the actual representative Morrigan was replacing. “Representative Stevens is thought to be his accomplice. They and anyone with them are presumed dangerous. The Guardians are being dispatched. Please stay off the streets. Vesa is in lockdown.”

  “The Guardians are Vesa security with guns,” Eldan informed us.

  Reflexively, I started looking around for things I could use as weapons, but that was pointless. “Normally, I’d be happy when guns enter the equation, but we can’t take theirs, can we?”

  “No.” Eldan thought for a moment. “Too many security measures keep them from firing unless held by a Guardian.”

  We were quite exposed out in the open. I tried the door of a nearby clothing store, but it was locked. I glanced up at the sky again, behind the bulletproof clear shield. This place felt more like a prison than ever. “Where are we going?”

  “Signs say the port is that way.” Wade pointed down a connecting street. “That’s where I assume the Guardians will be waiting for us. Plus, it will all be locked down.”

  I tried a door to a cafe. Locked again. “Eldan, can you get us through a door on lockdown?”

  “Maybe. Yeah. I’ll need ...” He trailed off as he looked at his handheld.

  “Eldan! Focus!” I shouted.

  “Careful with him,” Dip warned me. “He’s dealing with a pain you aren’t able to understand.”

  Diane gently pushed down his handheld. “You got them the warning; they’re going to be fine. But we have to get through this to help them.”

  “I need to get to a maintenance panel near the entrance to the port,” Eldan said, looking away from his handheld with visible effort. “And I need a security chip. Any of the Guardians would have one.”

  “The guys with guns?” Sylvia said. “I’m sure we’ll be meeting them soon, so that will work out nicely.”

  “Positive energy, sunshine,” I told her. The door we had exited from the tunnel burst open, revealing the extremely angry-looking Messenger, her face almost as red as her neck.

  “Move!” I yelled and led us away. Insurmountable odds, no plan, and running — optimism was hard to come by, but I usually operated by assuming I would live until proven otherwise.

  We dashed into an alley. There was someone there, though, coming from the other direction: Morrigan. “Hey, guys! Glad I ran into you,” she said. “Change of plans. Things have gotten a little hot here for me, and I’d like to catch that ride with you off planet.”

  I nodded. “Sure. Couple things, though.” We turned around as the Messenger walked into the alley.

  “Any more tricks?” the Messenger asked, glaring at us, Sylvia in particular.

  I patted Morrigan on the back. “You want to take a shot at this one?”

  Morrigan sighed. “Sure.” She stepped forward and stared down the Messenger. “Do you know who I am, sweetie?”

  “I know you aren’t who you say you are,” the Messenger said. “I know you have muscular enhancements but a much older version than mine.”

  “Don’t discount the value of experience,” Morrigan said. “I don’t know what sort of loyalty the mysterious Fathom engender, but do you want to negotiate a better salary?”

  “You’re all dead people,” the Messenger said. “Your money is worthless.”

  “Fine. Let’s do this.” Morrigan rolled up her sleeves, stretched a bit, and then pulled a gun out from under her jacket and shot the Messenger three times in the chest. The Messenger stumbled back, shocked, but still managed to stay on her feet despite the three holes burned in her torso. A fourth shot went to her head, and she collapsed to the ground.

  “I did manage to smuggle in a gun,” Morrigan told me, “but you really want to avoid using one here.” Punctuating that statement was a sudden loud siren.

  “They can detect any blaster discharge,” Eldan said. “They will definitely come right for us.”

  “Yeah, now we’re in for it,” Morrigan chuckled. We could hear someone shouting orders far off and people heading our direction. Morrigan looked at me very carefully. “I’m going to do the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.” She tossed me the gun. I caught it one-handed, hand on the grip and finger resting on the trigger guard. I could feel my heart rate slowing. Despite the sirens and this prison of a city, everything felt right again. Wade took a step back, looking slightly frightened, and it was then that I realized I was smiling.

  I looked quickly at Morrigan. She grinned at me as if daring me to do the sensible thing. I just knew in my gut, though, it wouldn’t be that easy. As I said before, we were terrified of each other. Plus, for the time being, she was useful.

  “I’ll take point, obviously,” I told the others. “Move when I give you the clear.”

  “One pistol against an army with rifles?” Wade asked. “Are you going to take them head-on?”

  I just laughed. Diane stared me down, though. “These are regular people in the Vesa security force. A lot of them have probably never even seen real combat. Let’s not make this a slaughterhouse if we can avoid it.”

  “I’m more worried about our own slaughter at this point,” Sylvia responded.

  “I agree with the little girl,” Morrigan said and looked at Diane. “Why don’t you donate to an orphanage if we survive this, if you want to pretend to care about people?”

  “Morally, killing these people seems wrong,” Dip told me, “but you are in a situation where it would be extremely difficult not to.”

  Challenge accepted.

  I nodded at Diane and stepped out of the alley as six soldiers in body armor came down the street toward me. “Drop your —” one of them started to say but was cut off as I shot him in the knee. The armor looked like it might hold up to my pistol, so I had to aim for the joints of the arms and legs. I fired quickly and methodically with my pistol. I wasn’t fast enough to keep them from getting off any shots, so I had to just trust they were green like Diane said and the shots would be too panicked to hit home.

  As all six dropped, I ducked back into the alley. Now over the sirens we could hear their cries of pain. A man yelling about his leg. A woman sobbing about her arm. Other screams less decipherable. It added helpful chaos to the atmosphere. “Now they have the wounded to distract them,” I told the others. Mercy has its utility. “Follow me.”

  We dashed out down the street. Three more soldiers emerged, but well-placed shots had them on the ground and cryin
g out in pain like the others. As we ran by some of the wounded, Eldan called out, “We need a security chip off one of them to get by the lockdown.”

  “Morrigan, grab one!” I yelled out.

  Morrigan ran up to one of the soldiers who was trying to operate his rifle despite the burn in his right arm, grabbed him, and slammed his head into the ground. She tossed the body over her shoulder and quickly kept pace with us as we headed down another street. Ahead of us I could see the exit from the city, a metal grate blocking the door and lights flashing all around indicating the lockdown. Three soldiers stood nearby, and I paused for a moment to take aimed shots at them, dropping all three with shots to their limbs.

  “There’s the panel!” Eldan yelled, pointing ahead to an area next to the entrance to the port. We charged forward out in the open, and more soldiers came from behind us. I fired enough shots to make them wary as we ran toward the port entrance, taking cover behind some chest-high barricades near the sealed door. Blaster shots struck all around us, and I peeked out to shoot at whomever I could see, shooting the gun out of one guy’s hand and burning through the arm of another. The others were getting better at taking cover around the building near us, and wounding shots weren’t going to be so easy. I just hoped they would spend some time dealing with the injured instead of coming for us.

  “Surrender, and we will bring you in alive,” yelled one soldier with an amplified voice.

  I looked at Eldan. “Do whatever you’re going to do.” I then yelled out to the soldiers. “We have a hostage here! Stay back, and no one dies!” I couldn’t believe I was using the “Don’t kill me! I have a hostage!” ploy. I never took hostages, because that meant dealing with live people, which would only make me irritable, not optimal in a life-or-death situation. For now, though, anything to slow them down seemed useful.

  Eldan was prying something out of the wrist of the glove of our unconscious “hostage.” “The chip is just part of what we need,” Eldan whispered. “Authorizing the door during lockdown is supposed to involve permissions from two separate panels. I know this system and can spoof the second one, but the rewiring will take some time.”