Techno Ranger

by Thomas Sewell

  "Three wounded in the firefight. Made it to the primary LZ. Marked it with chemlights just ahead of the bad guys, ready for a dust off.

  "Damn Big Army bus driver refused to land to medevac my guys even after I promised him the area was secure, just because he could see tangos approaching on his IR feeds.

  "Claimed they were in direct fire range of his copter.

  "Without night vision, they'd never have seen him running dark, let alone been able to put effective fire into his copter, but he had a better idea, wanted us to ruck another five klicks to the alternate LZ instead.

  "Lost two of those three wounded men during the egress because that bus driver didn't trust us to secure the primary LZ.

  "So I don't care what nerd skills he has, Harper's gotta prove he's gonna integrate with our team before I'll trust him with my men's lives.

  "Ain't about to write another letter to some guy in my platoon's wife or mother."

  Michelle sat up. Leaned forward. Stared at the fiercely casual Schnier.

  "If Sam flew that copter, they could've had your platoon under machine gun fire and missiles prep'd to blast at him, and he'd still land to pick-up your men. He's dumb that way."

  Schnier uncrossed his arms. "We'll see if he can bust that bronc, I guess. I'll get my men ready to bail him out."

  A black U-shape dropped from the biplane in the sky above them, followed by a puff of green as a parachute deployed behind it. The military dandelion floated on the breeze inland, up the Ryesong River and away from the Yellow Sea, deep into North Korea.

  She hoped Sam knew what he was doing. His wasn't the only career on the line.

  * * *

  Doctor Yang Hyo-jin wouldn't worry about whatever Lieutenant Harper was doing.

  He couldn't even take a few minutes to work on her nuclear materials detector.

  With Captain Rhee under arrest, she just needed her breakthrough to pay off. She'd prove she could run the lab unaided and be free of interference from the bureaucrats who'd always sided with Rhee before.

  With no help from Sam.

  Instead, she took subway trains through the city.

  Pressed among the commuters.

  Checked her tablet computer.

  Refreshed the readings every few minutes.

  Just had to figure out where these false positive alarms came from. She'd had her new conversion composite material installed in detectors scattered around Seoul, then the problems started.

  The composites trapped neutrons, which pass through most matter when emitted by radioactive materials.

  For each neutron trapped, her conversion composite emitted a daughter particle, which ionized gas particles, stripping them of electrons. Those electrons hit high-voltage wires.

  Triggered a signal to the circuit boards built outside the gas chamber. Those circuit boards generated real-time reports of neutron sources.

  Still in test mode, her tablet received strength and direction readings on any sources of neutrons from her network of detectors.

  That let her software triangulate the location of a radiation source.

  She'd expected lots of false positives.

  Plenty of neutron radiation sources in a city like Seoul. She'd detected clusters in the labs at Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul National University, Yonsei University, and Korea University.

  All famous for their physics laboratories, none of those neutron sources moved. Neither did those at Asan and Samsung Medical Centers.

  Could explain all that.

  Expected it.

  Hadn't expected a moving source of neutrons. Doubted a particle accelerator was being hauled from place to place.

  She'd considered one of her detectors was bad, but she'd received the anomalies from multiple detector locations.

  No, must be something wrong with either her new hardware or a glitch in the software receiving the data.

  But she couldn't find any problems at the five installations she'd checked, so that left a software issue.

  Except she'd spent all night going through the software and running unit tests on each individual component.

  Everything checked out fine.

  Finally, she'd gotten so desperate, she thought a new pair of eyes might help.

  Could spend a little time with Sam while she explained the issue to him. Maybe he'd think of something to check she'd been overlooking.

  Busy resting and recovering, Sam wouldn't even come see her about it.

  So she located the source of the glitch on a map with her tablet.

  Tried to find it three times already, but each time she'd left a subway train and rushed outside she'd missed the source of the false positives.

  But neutron emitting equipment doesn't move around like that, which is how she knew it was a bad reading.

  After three attempts, she'd seen a pattern in the false positives. The detected emission spots somewhat lined up.

  The distance from point one to point two was about the same as the distance between points two and three.

  Scant data, but projecting it forward in time, she'd beat the source to the next detection point, or at least meet it there.

  Then maybe she could figure out what was triggering her detectors which shouldn't be.

  The next false positive should come from around Namsan Park, which was ridiculous, as it was just a small mountain in the middle of the city with a big stupid tower and a revolving restaurant on top.

  Nothing remotely resembling a physics lab or advanced medical facility nearby.

  Subway line four to Myeong-dong Station.

  Shuttle bus to the little funicular, a metal elevator crowding in twenty people for each trip. The fixed angle of the funicular kept them level while it glided diagonally up the hill to the cable car terminal.

  A masterpiece of engineering.

  The cable car wasn't as fun. Not solidly attached to the ground, like the funicular.

  Instead, the cable car dangled from wires carrying their enclosed glass box. Over six decades old, those wires might fail at any time, plunging them to their deaths on the tangle of barren trees below.

  Hyo-jin knew how metal fatigued over time. Should she have hiked this last part?

  People chattered. Phones rang in the close confines. Most took pictures out the cable car windows.

  Weren't they scared?

  A subtle bouncing up and down reminded her of the danger during the entire ride up the hill, over the brush and trees between concrete cable car towers, until they arrived at the station on top of the hill.

  She pushed through the crowds at the cable car station.

  Heart-shaped red, blue, and pink padlocks blanketed the walkway fences. She adored the idea of being so in love you felt compelled to lock something to a public fence.

  Too bad Sam wasn't available to investigate Namsan with her.

  Towering over the other visitors, she crunched across the thin layer of snow to a raised platform around the base of the tower.

  Leaned over the fence.

  Scanned the open plaza below.

  A little Korean Army truck with soldiers in the back drove across the paved walking area below. Backed up to the side of the tower.

  Strange, the park didn't allow vehicles up the road to the tower anymore. Must work on the antenna array which topped the tower or something.

  Hyo-jin checked her tablet, but her equipment hadn't detected the neutron source again.

  Nice view of the city from the summit of the 262 meter mountain, though. Perhaps she should ride up to the observation deck on the tower?

  The spiked tower stretched another couple of hundred meters from the top of the mountain.

  She'd have an even better view of her surroundings if her tablet displayed detected neutrons.

  She walked toward the entrance, but families of tourists in puffy coats, wearing knit hats, began pouring out of the base of the building.

  She caught something from the crowd about military police closing the tower down.<
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  Dratz, she'd come all this way and now she'd miss the view. Hadn't even gotten a new reading.

  Ping!

  Too soon to give up. Her tablet alerted her to a new instance of the anomaly.

  Practically right on top of it. Somewhere in the tower near that truck.

  Maybe the Military Police were also here to investigate something.

  She edged her way along the steel pipe railing. Let people pour past her.

  Forced herself around them; into the tower entrance.

  Inside, a starscape tunnel led her to the central tower shaft. The curved roof of the tunnel showed galaxies and planets, while the side displayed a night view of Seoul.

  She barely noticed it as she inched forward along the edge, fighting the even thicker crowd, like a high pressure fire hose spewing people from the tower.

  Reached the other end.

  The people thinned out, then vanished.

  She strode forward to two stainless steel high-speed elevator doors near the tower's center. A uniformed Korean soldier with an MP armband stood guard between them.

  She fished her government credentials out of her lab coat pocket. Presented them to the guard. "What's going on here?"

  "Tower is closed for security reasons. All civilians are to evacuate the area."

  "What reasons? I need to get in there."

  "One moment. I'll call my lieutenant for you."

  The guard turned and reported her presence into an old beat-up radio. "He'll speak with you and clear this up. Step back from the elevator entrance."

  Perhaps she could reason with his lieutenant about her readings.

  If not, she'd call Sam to get an in with the military. Or Sergeant Lee, not Sam. Not again.

  Maybe Captain Grant. He'd know what was going on.

  She stepped backward on the black tile floor until the guard stopped glaring at her.

  A moment later, the elevator dinged.

  She recognized the lieutenant who stepped out. Last seen him on the security monitors in the lab's red zone.

  He'd fled the lab with her data.

  She bolted for the tunnel exit, clutching her tablet, long legs striding out.

  "Stop!" the guard yelled behind her.

  Another MP entered through the tunnel doors ahead of her. Spun to face away from her. Turned a small round knob on the metal bar across the exit doors.

  The knob which locked the doors.

  Trapped. Now what?

  Chapter Thirty-Seven: Railing at Storms

  I ran across the ridges and hilltops. Stayed ahead of the North Korean border guards.

  The hills ran out; I reached a set of rice paddies. Spotted a village of concrete buildings scattered through the paddies.

  Homes for the workers.

  The paddies were dry, so I plunged across them. Traded raw speed for a shorter straight line distance to the Ryesong River two klicks away on the other side of the fields.

  The workers wouldn't carry weapons. Too much risk of turning on their masters.

  Worse case, someone would have a radio or phone to report my presence.

  I churned up the thin layer of mud on the ridges of the irrigation ditches between the fields. Followed a straight line to the river.

  Six concrete huts in a line backed up to the irrigation ditch.

  An older woman appeared in the glassless kitchen window. Watched me jog past, but ducked away when I turned my head in her direction.

  Hopefully, they'd learned from the Party to mind their own business. To stay out of trouble.

  Party officials might also have taught them to report everything. To dodge blame.

  I crossed a dirt road edging the paddies.

  Made it to the muddy bank of the river. Should've seen a parachute by now.

  I'd texted Michelle the coordinates of the shallow mud-flat here on the edge of the Ryesong river.

  Soft enough and close enough to the water to be reachable, but prevent any damage and remove any possibility of my eSurfboard floating away.

  If the border guards showed up now, they'd trap me in the open against the river bank.

  The parachute I'd asked her to use adjusted its cargo canopy to hit a specific set of GPS coordinates. Useful for supply drops as well as precisely targeted bombs.

  Ten meters was a reasonable drift, but unless the winds were too strong for it, or the chute failed, I should be able to see it nearby.

  The sky offshore shook with thunder and lightning among black clouds.

  Periodic waves washed across the mud flats in front of me.

  Perhaps the storm forced the plane to land?

  Conceivably, a giant wave hit the mud flat before I arrived and dragged the eSurfboard out to sea by its attached parachute.

  Perhaps Michelle couldn't even get the stuff I needed and had sent a reply to my message, but my governmentally indestructible phone had failed to receive it.

  Maybe I was just screwed.

  A pair of open trucks full of soldiers appeared at the bend where the road curved around the village.

  Yep, despite the cold air, definitely in the hot place now.

  I scrambled down the river bank. Ducked out of sight of the road.

  Phone vibrated to notify me of an incoming message. Must be working again after drying out!

  No time to look now.

  Hopefully it wasn't from Michelle, telling me she couldn't drop my board to me.

  The ground sucked at my feet as I ran across the mud flat. Seventy yards wide, almost a klick long, the high tide viscous silt followed the side of the river bank.

  Small channels carved by the outgoing tides cut across to create ankle hazards for running surfers.

  I tried to jump a channel. Landed short. Fell on my face.

  Growling truck engines arrived on the road above the bank. Shouting soldiers would soon follow.

  That final explosion as I left the mountain probably cracked one of my phone's internal seals.

  Pulled it out of my cargo pocket. Held it up to keep it dry.

  Crawled up a channel carved from the mud by a foot of water. The channel led back toward the riverbank.

  The only source of cover or concealment in the area which didn't involve me crossing the kilometer-wide river.

  Shouts from the border guards spread out as they organized themselves into a grid search team.

  If their information was out of date, they'd head across the rice paddies instead of looking over this side of the riverbank.

  I rolled onto my back. Hid in the channel. Caught my breath.

  Took a moment to check my phone. Lee had replied to my email.

  Searching the enemy base's database I'd sent him, he'd found a shipping order for what sounded like the stolen drive shelves full of data.

  Connected the order with their railroad timetables. Sent me the train's schedule and route.

  Kwon put the data on a cargo train to head north. A train that would cross this river soon.

  If only enemy soldiers didn't surround me and I had transportation.

  Might be able to do something about that. Again, from my time working in a warehouse attached to a train yard, I knew accidents generally came down to mass and momentum.

  Right now, could barely escape, let alone move even farther into North Korea.

  Enough rest. Needed to continue up this channel. Move into better concealment.

  Reaching the edge of the river bank again, I crawled around a curve in the channel to where the water had pitted out swirling canyons in the mud. Up on the road a border guard grumbled about having to be out in the storm.

  Prettiest thing I ever saw: My eSurfboard laying on its side in the mud.

  Michelle delivered!

  Either a wave washed it in here, or it landed out of sight.

  Either way, all mine.

  I drew my combat knife. Cut the chute away.

  If anyone looked over the edge of the river bank, they'd see that splayed out, so I gathered it up. Stuf
fed it into a mud-hole.

  Grabbed the attached controller. Tucked it into my pocket.

  Picked up my U-shaped eSurfboard at its built-in balance point. Trudged back down the channel.

  Needed to reach the river before the enemy spotted me.

  The open river mouth to the south led into the Yellow Sea. I'd need to surf a 5k to get out of the waters claimed by the DPRK and into South Korean territory.

  My only hope of escape.

  Alternately, could turn north. Farther into the DPRK. Closer to their forces.

  Only hope to intercept the train with the stolen data.

  I'd slogged halfway down the mud channel to the river proper.

  Tired. Didn't want to stay in North Korea a moment longer.

  What'd I been thinking, anyway? Coming here like this.

  A shout behind me from the riverbank.

  I broke into a sort of jog-walk, my right-steps slow to keep from falling over, but my left-steps fast to get to deeper water.

  Bullets thwacked into the mud around me, followed by the report of their departure from the border guard's rifle barrels.

  Reached the edge of the mudflat. Ducked. Dove into the deeper water beyond.

  At least some protection from the riverbank.

  Rolled out of the middle of the eSurfboard. Slithered aboard.

  Please start. Please start. Please start.

  Hit the controller's power button. All green. Yes!

  Full throttle.

  Cut through the growing waves from the river's mouth.

  Held on to the side rails until my board stopped bucking and pitching for a moment; long enough for me to stand.

  Gain situational awareness.

  I'd left the border guards on the river bank. Irrelevant now.

  North or South.

  Duty or Freedom.

  I'd screwed up going it alone in the lab. Messed up not having any backup crossing the border, so Meon got ahead of me.

  Lee and Michelle had made this last opportunity to destroy the stolen data possible. It wouldn't come again.

  I leaned to the right. Turned my eSurfboard North; deeper into the DPRK.

  Maybe the border guards behind me wouldn't be able to keep up with me. Maybe the road they were on didn't parallel the river for long.