Deep Hydra

by Michael Formichelli

  “I just want this over with. I’ve had enough.” She shook her head, desiring him and hating that she did.

  “It will be, soon. Give me your CPAd. I’ll contact you on a secure channel with what you’ll need,” Heiress Olivaar said. “And you should go see your sister, Biren.”

  He looked surprised for a moment, then nodded.

  The only sound in the taxicab was the pulse of its dark energy engine. Cygni’s thoughts cycled from her doubts concerning the operation, to what her team would think of the deal, to images of Biren between the heiress’ thick legs, and back again. Was he cheating on Ila? On them? Pasqualina was one of the enemy and related to Revenant too. Could any of his line be trusted? Of course not! Yet, if they went through with their orders they would be baron-killers and hunted down by the Abyssians. From that perspective, the heiress really was saving them—and yet Cygni couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe something else was going on. What was the heiress really up to? Was it as straightforward as she said, or was this some kind of elaborate trap?

  She found herself unable to make up her mind by the time they reached Xikhaz Park. She watched Biren open the entrance to the old tunnel system on the hill. Her eyes traced over the edges of his jacket and his face as he spun the rusty crank. They were more than half-way to the hideout before either one of them spoke.

  “Why do you listen to her and not us?” she said in a quiet voice.

  “What?” The shells in his hair clicked against each other.

  “Why do you listen to the heiress? You know we’ve been missing you, but you didn’t want to come back until she told you to.” It probably wasn’t the best time to bring this up, but she wanted to clear her mind before they got in front of Boa.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You know what I’m talking about. Don’t try to dodge the question. You know the state your sister’s been in since the attack. It didn’t keep you with us, but somehow that heiress is able to send you back. Her hold must be a lot stronger on you than your family’s—or mine.”

  His face tightened. For a moment she worried that she had just undone all the effort it took to get him down here.

  “Fuck, Cygni. This is the kind of shit that made me leave in the first place. You just can’t resist running your mouth, can you?”

  “Nobody and nothing made you leave. I admit, I was out of line—”

  “You’re damn right you were.”

  “—but this is serious. This is about more than you and more than me. It’s about everyone we care for. We need to be able to rely on you. Do you understand? She’s Revenant’s daughter and the fiancée of a baron who is under the control of the VoQuana. When we ask you if we can trust her, we need to be sure of your ability to answer with a clear head.”

  “Are you saying I’d lie to you? To my sister?”

  “That’s not it. You’re not listening to me.” She sighed.

  He rolled his eyes. She felt anger boil in her gut, but she couldn’t risk chasing him off again; there was too much at stake. She swallowed a few times to keep it down. The desire to reach for those cubes in her pocket swelled. The one she took in the bazaar wore off long ago, but she had to keep her head clear.

  “Are you involved with the heiress?”

  “Ah, there it is. You’re jealous of Lina.” He shook his head.

  “You’re with Ila.”

  “The Isinari have a more relaxed view on this stuff. I’d think you’d have noticed by now.”

  “By the Will. You denied it the whole time we were in the Bazaar but now you’re with her? Goddess! What is wrong with you? Have you told nium?” She glared at him.

  He snorted and she found herself fighting to stay in control of her rage. He let her get close to him again, helped her when she needed it, and took her into his arms when she felt weak all just to turn around and treat her like this. It was just like what happened on Minlea. The son of a bitch hadn’t changed at all. How dare he treat her so lightly? How dare he treat their mission, and Ila, with such contempt?

  “There’s nothing to tell. You’re out of control again.”

  “Out of—are you fucking serious?” She trembled.

  “Calm down, Cyg. You wouldn’t want to upset my sister.”

  “You motherf—” she stopped herself. Boa was already trying to push her out and this wasn’t helping. She needed his support. She took three deep breaths before she allowed herself to speak again. “Okay, fine. It’s not my business. I get that.”

  “We’re not sleeping together anymore.”

  “Really? I hadn’t fucking noticed—” she cut herself off and forced a few deep breaths past her teeth. “Biren, it’s not about that. Fuck. Why would you even bring that up?”

  “It’s not about that? You sure?” He cocked an eyebrow at her.

  She ground her teeth together. “Fine. Never mind then.”

  “Good. We’re almost there. Better get a hold of yourself.”

  The words stopped her in her tracks. She glared at him as he moved past her.

  [Elevated sympathetic neural activity detected. Elevated levels of epinephrine detected. Activate combat mode?] her PLIA asked.

  No. Killing him would be counter-productive.

  [Acknowledged.]

  She managed to get the shaking under control by the time they reached the hideout. The grind of the rusty metal door seemed to go right up her spine. Ila and Sanul smiled at the sight of Biren standing in front of her. Boa traced his face with her eyes and gasped in surprise. She leaped to her feet and embraced him.

  Cygni felt her anger start to break down into a weary bitterness at the back of her throat.

  “You got him,” Sanul said. His nostrils flared.

  She nodded, moving around the siblings to where Ila and he stood. They had a portable computer terminal set up between them on top of a grime-stained box. The space was an even tighter squeeze for the five of them with this new addition. Before she had a chance to give it a close look Ila’s long arms came up around her, bumping into Boa’s back in the process.

  “You brought him back. Thank you, Cygni. Thank you,” niu said.

  It wasn’t me, she thought, but she realized that Ila didn’t need to hear that. She hugged nium back for a moment before pulling away.

  “What’s this?” She nodded towards the terminal as Biren went with Boa to her corner.

  “Sanul started to pick up some strange EM traffic in the area. We thought it would be a good idea to try and find out what it was.” Ila explained.

  “What do you mean by ‘strange’?” she asked.

  “We are pretty far underground here,” Sanul said. “The builders of this city dug these tunnels deep enough that they could ignore the topography above them while they moved materials back and forth. That means in some places the tunnel system is near the surface, and in others it’s deep below.”

  “Okay,” she said.

  “EM energy enters the tunnels from a few sources, including the power lines that run just above us. Where the system is near the street level we get radio traffic from the city,” he continued. “Where we are now is deep enough that we only get the power line fields and a minimal amount of radio waves.”

  “That was true up until yesterday. I have been monitoring the local EM traffic since we got down here. I thought that if we got found there would be some kind of anomalous readings to indicate it,” Ila stated. “I detected anomalies last night after we got back from monitoring your meeting.”

  “So, I ran out—”

  “Sanul, I told you not to go out.” Cygni felt a little guilty since she enjoyed the fruits of his ill-advised trip after last night’s meeting.

  “And I told you I have a safe route. We needed this computer terminal. I got it from a pawn shop in Volgoth town. It’s fine.”

  “Leave him be.” Boa released her brother and gave Cygni the sharpest look she’d ever seen.

  She opened her mouth to spit out a response but Ila slid betwee
n them.

  “Haem Cygni, it is my fault. I asked for it.”

  She closed her eyes, tamping down her anger again. “Okay, what did you find out?”

  “The terminal lets me parse out what signals are what,” Sanul resumed. “There’s a signal we can’t account for.”

  “What do you mean?” She felt her gut tighten.

  “It’s intermittent, appearing for very short periods of time and then vanishing before it repeats,” Sanul said.

  “Haem Cygni, I specialized in communications technology during my education. Given the frequency and nature of these radio bursts, I would say this is something not in use in the civilian sector.”

  “What is it?” She clenched her fists and released them. “Are we discovered?”

  “I do not know. I apologize, Haem Cygni.”

  “Do we know where it is?” Biren’s voice startled her.

  “I haven’t been able to locate it from here. If I could wander around a bit—”

  “Out of the question. I’m sorry, Sanul, but we don’t even know if this is about us or something else going on up on the surface,” she said.

  He nodded his horned head.

  “Who are you to control him, Cygni? You’ve done enough,” Boa snapped.

  “I’m trying to keep you all safe!” She gritted her teeth.

  “And what a wonderful job you’re doing. We’re discovered, it’s obvious, isn’t it?” Boa looked at her brother.

  He shrugged.

  “Well?”

  “That could be that,” he nodded. “It could be something unre—”

  “And it’s your fault, Cygni. You’ve run around thinking you’re something you’re not for too long. Our mother is dead, our friends are dead, and it’s all because you stuck your nose where it didn’t belong.”

  “Boa, that’s not—” Biren started.

  “Maybe you’re right about that,” Cygni said, feeling guilt like a punch in her gut. “But I’m fixing it.”

  “Oh, are you?” Boa crossed her arms before her chest and leaned back on her heels.

  She took in a deep breath, both to control her anger and to brace herself for their reaction.

  “We have a deal with Heiress Olivaar. It’s one that might get us off world and out of this nightmare forever, but you’re not going to like it.”

  “I already don’t like it. You made a deal with that double-crossing hussy?” Boa’s eyes were on fire.

  “Hey!” Biren shouted.

  “Shut up! You’re thinking with the wrong head like always.” She gave him a look and he shrank from her. “No, this is the last straw. If you pull these good people into this deal you’re going to be responsible for their deaths. Do you understand that?”

  “No one is going to—” she started.

  “Yes, yes they are, and you know it. Go ahead, tell them that they’re not going to die. Say it to their faces and know you are lying. Everything you’ve done has lead to people dying. Everything that bitch Pasqualina has done did the same. Maybe you two deserve each other, but Ila, and Sanul, and Biren don’t deserve that. Well?” Boa’s nostrils flared.

  Cygni stood before her, trembling with anger and guilt, but she couldn’t bring herself to speak.

  “Yeah, exactly.” Boa deflated only enough to shift from rage to anger. “Now go ahead and tell these good people what you have in mind so they can hear how stupid you are.”

  “Boa, why—” She cut herself off and looked to Biren but found no support. She sighed. “Okay, fine. It’s going to be dangerous, but we might just get out of here. This is what Lina said…”

  She proceeded to tell them and explain why she thought it was their best option while Boa glared and chided her for her stupidity. There was silence when she was done. She hoped it meant everyone was thinking things through, but the sick feeling in her gut said otherwise.

  She had to wonder just how many of her friends would be there with her when she went to IntelSys Tower.

  Chapter Eleven

  Keltan Securities Tower, Ikuzlu City, Kosfanter

  J2400:3231

  He entered the solar and froze with his eyes on the glass coffee table at the center of the circle of couches. Ben, as usual, did a miraculous job of cleaning up the mess, but in his mind’s eye Cylus could still see the blood creeping across its crystal surface. This room would always have special meaning for him, both because it was the scene of his first two murders—and what a strange thing to think about that was—and because of what occurred between him and Pasqualina after. His nostrils flared at the memory of lying on the floor, wedged between the couch and that same coffee table only minutes after the baron and his uncle expired. True, they made love many times since, but nothing could compare to that time. It was so raw, so animalistic, so wonderful, and now so bitterly painful.

  “Master?” Ben said from behind him.

  He stood aside and allowed his manservant to enter the room. Ben took two steps in and turned around, putting the black pinholes of his eyes on him.

  “Are you all right, Master?” Ben asked.

  “Quite. I was thinking this room would be best for the meeting.”

  “This room?” Ben’s tone was level, but somehow he perceived the surprise in it. It was rare that one could surprise an AI, and Cylus took a moment to appreciate it before responding.

  “You are asking because you think I would want to avoid the upper solar?”

  “Considering, Master.”

  “Yes. I suppose you’d be right for the old me, but this room changed me. It made me who I was supposed to be. Maybe I’m the man I would have been had Zalor not taken my family from me.”

  “I sincerely doubt that, Master. You would not have had the same experiences that lead you to this point.”

  He took a moment to think on what might have been, then decided it wasn’t worth the effort or the pain.

  “In any case I feel powerful here. It’s fitting to host Dorsky in this chamber.”

  “Yes, Master. Your will is law.”

  “That’s a strange way to put it.” Cylus cocked an eyebrow.

  “Perhaps it will be true for more than myself one day.”

  “No Premier’s will becomes law. The Barony usually gets in the way of that,” he said.

  “It hasn’t often been in Baron Revenant’s way.”

  He nodded. “I guess you’re right about that. It’s changing soon, though, isn’t it?”

  “By your will, Master.”

  “All right, I’ll give you that. Once I’m Premier, Zalor won’t be getting his way so much anymore.” He smiled, exhilarated by the fear just saying that inspired. He looked through the transparent door leading out to the landing platform. The sky was still blue, but darkening. “How long until they arrive?”

  “Premier Dorsky is slated to arrive in ten minutes, thirty-seconds from mark.”

  He nodded. “Get Meia and Reika up here. I want to go over things with them.”

  “I have sent for them, Master,” Ben said.

  Cylus moved over to the couch and sat down right beside where he and Lina were that day. Spreading his arms across its back, he leaned into the soft cushions. The smartfoam within them molded itself to his contours. He closed his eyes, trying to relax through the nervous buzz in his gut. After tonight he would be the leader of the Confederation in all but name. Once Dorsky signed off on the treasury deal he would own the Confederate government. When he first stood before his family’s monument on Earth, he never dreamed he would be at the precipice of so much power. How had this happened? How had he come to want this?

  It doesn’t matter how. It only matters that it is.

  Yes, he responded.

  “I’m going to need Sophi now, aren’t I?”

  “Master?”

  He frowned in thought. “Elthroa, Ben. She’s made it the ultimate corporate spying agency.”

  “There are Elthroa agents in most baronies, yes.” Ben nodded.

  “And that means Sophi k
nows what most barons are doing. I’m going to need that as Premier.”

  “Of course, master. Those barons who are not on your side will need to be given motivation to see common cause.”

  “Exactly.” He nodded. “And those who refuse to see reason—”

  “—will need to be persuaded. Yes, you have become quite the Baron, Master. Baroness Cronus is a good ally in this regard.”

  He wished it could be someone else, but it couldn’t. Sophi saw to that as she saw to everything that benefited her. She was always thinking ahead, always thinking of herself. He needed her, but he needed to be careful of her, too.

  He felt and heard the heavy footsteps of Meia’s drone approaching. The thing was a beast of a machine, but it was a beast on his side. Although not made for the battlefield like Iapetus was, Ben’s iterations were still quite capable of killing at his command—but they lacked the intimidation factor of the drone.

  “Master, your bodyguards are here,” Ben said.

  He opened his eyes as Meia and Reika entered the room and bowed to him. He could see the hulking metallic form of her drone behind them in the hallway.

  “Sir?” Meia asked.

  “Thank you for coming so quickly. Premier Dorsky will be here soon. We’ll be holding the meeting in this chamber. I will have him and his party sit there.” He got to his feet and pointed across the coffee table to the seats where Vargas and the massive bulk of his uncle once sat. “I trust you know how to position yourselves?”

  “Of course, sir.” Reika nodded. The hologram in her replacement eye rotated within the black orb. He shuddered reminded of the spinning circle of sparks that haunted his dreams.

  “Good. Also, I wanted to ask how your little friend was doing,” he said.

  Meia licked her lips. She cut an intimidating figure in the brown military-style jumpsuit and jacket he gave her. Her big pistol was strapped just below the curve of her hip. His eyes traced up from it to the hem of her jacket hanging a distance from her abdomen. It fit her, along with the buzz-cut hair that made her look sexy in a rugged, exotic sort of way.

  Lina could be betraying me—is betraying me, but Meia wouldn’t. She’s loyal. Images of what could be danced through his thoughts.