Wiznewski James
A Work In Progress
By Rose Montague
Copyright © 2019 Rose
Montague
Chapter
One: The Second Great Escape
I was
in an interview room at the main police station, supposedly giving my
report. Two police detectives from the New Horizon station were
taking my report. New Horizon was the capital of this world and these
cops were from police central. Our police station here in Columbia
was one of the larger ones not in the capital. Columbia was one of
the more populous cities on the planet and I was a paid consultant
for the local cops, usually called in when there was evidence of
magic involved.
I
normally gave my report in the Captain's office, normally with the
Captain and my police handler, Detective Ted Henry and usually one of
the detectives assigned to the particular case I was consulting on.
This one was different. There were at least a dozen people on the
other side of that one way mirror according to Kate. That group
included our police chief, as well as New Horizon's, the mayor,
several bigwigs from planetary security, Ted Henry, and a few
politicians including our planetary ambassador to the empire.
Unfortunately, I had a pretty good idea why this case was different,
not that there was much I could do about it other than play it out to
see what they knew and how much trouble I was in.
“Have
you got a match on these two detectives yet?” I thought to Kate.
“Nothing in the data
base of cop central and I am using a facial recognition search that
should have found them in seconds,” she thought back at me. “Also
nothing in any data base I have access to on this planet,” she
added. “They are definitely from off world.
“They are GEMs like
me,” I replied. “Doing a good job hiding it but GEMs none the
less. Probably military or ex military. Check ComGlom, my bet is
that they work for our enemy.”
GEMs
were genetically engineered modifications, conceived in test tubes
and brought to term in ConGloms labs, designed mostly for military
and security work. Trained from birth and indoctrinated in ComGlom's
agendas, they were strong, fast, and lethal. Not terribly bright,
but fiercely loyal to a fault. My modifications were a bit
different. ConGlom had the exclusive rights to performing and
experimenting with genetic modifications. They had wormed their way
into every government branch and politicians pocket in the human
empire.
There was a video feed where my report was being recorded and the
two way mike system was set up so those in the room behind the mirror
could also ask questions. I hadn't received many questions since the
start of the reading of the report, most had come at the beginning,
questioning my background and qualifications. Until I got to the
part where the safe was located, and the main fight that had taken
place. I was afraid that would be the point where the real purpose
of this whole deal would be revealed.
“The main living area seems to be the focus of the fighting and
specifically the area where the safe was located was the focal point.
My observations conclude there were three groups total, two groups
not working together attacking both each other and the group
providing security to the home. Those providing security were
protecting the safe and the other two groups were trying to get to
the safe. Upwards of two hundred rounds fired by my quick estimate.
Fourteen dead, two wounded survivors that were carted off as I was
arriving at the scene. From what I was told, the safe had been
looked at by a couple of police magic techs and the protections on
the safe to extreme to attempt an opening at that time.”
“Several of those killed were magic users, two primes identified
by their robes and badges of office, both rated tens. My conclusion
is that they were each with one of the attacking groups, probably
there to open the safe. A lot of residual magic remained in the room
and several of those killed looked to have been killed with magic. I
concluded the two primes had attacked each other and their opposing
forces, but both ended up dying from gunshot wounds.”
“Let me stop you here for a minute,” said Kruger, the female
detective in the interview room. So far the male detective, Jeffries,
had not said much of anything. Neither had bothered to shake my hand
when we were introduced. She reached over to the video panel and
touched a button and the crime scene video of Ted and me, started at
the point where we had entered that room. Standard procedure that a
video technician would follow us around.
Most of the video showed us looking at the bodies, the holes from
the bullets in the room, discussing what happened, making notes, and
showed us both looking at the safe before the video cut out to show
Ted going into the next room. Forty-seven seconds later Ted called
for me to rejoin them.
“Are you coming, Wiz?” he said, sounding irritated. The camera
panned around to show me coming into the next room to join them.
“Let's now talk about the part in your report dealing with the
safe,” Kruger said.
“Sure,” I replied. “The safe had ten levels of magical
protection, all very high quality requiring some real expertise to
break. Some were dangerous to those attempting to break in, very
illegal, and some would be fatal even to a magic user of my level. My
estimate is that a prime team would take anywhere from forty-eight to
seventy-two hours to break the magical protections and then whatever
time would involve in breaking the standard key code on the safe to
get it open.”
A prime team consisted of a level ten, then usually two nines or an
eight and nine. My level, at least on what Kate had managed to get
into my phony background, was a seven. A seven is high enough to
have a lot of respect in the magical community but not high enough to
get recruited by the authorities or ConGlom itself. Eights and above
were basically forced into service with few options ever to retire.
I had wanted no part of that. They were paid extremely well and lived
in luxury and most considered it a great way to live. The ones that
didn't still had no choice in the matter.
“We had a prime team take a look at that safe twenty minutes
before you arrived and concluded much the same as you did,” Kruger
said. “They began as soon as the preliminary investigation was
concluded, about two hours after you looked at it, and managed to get
the safe open in just under forty-six hours of non-stop work.”
“That's a good team to get it open that fast,” I answered.
“Let me show you another video,” Kruger replied and touched
another button on the video console.
This one showed the prime team that examined the safe before me.
One of the team members was Gary Shepard, one from the same batch as
me, engineered to be able to understand and use the Mistral
magic-tech. He had a Mistral device with him. It was able to see
into the safe. Kruger stopped the video at that point. The Genesis
Egg was sitting right on top of the papers in the safe.
“Do you know what that egg shaped thing is?” Kruger asked.
“Looks like one of those stone egg paper weights,” I responded.
“It's a Mistral device,” she said. “You are the only one who
could have taken it.”
I heard Jeffries draw his gun and it was now pointed at my head from
four feet away.
“Hands on the table,” Kruger said.
I put my hands on the table and she locked them in place, looping
them through through a raised metal bar welded to the top of the
metal table. This is why they wanted to use a regular interrogation
room.
“Both
ConGlom security,” Kate interjected, having finished her search.
“Section Eight.”
“At
least it's not Section Nine, but bad enough,” I thought back.
Section Eight dealt with finding and acquiring Mistral devices.
Section Nine dealt with finding and either acquiring or eliminating
those like me that had escaped their clutches. My cover had not been
blown, yet anyway. “Activate our escape plan from here,” I told
her. “Let me know when you are ready.”
I
had escape plans for all the likely places I would be arrested or
detained at, including police stations, jails, hospitals, and my home
and business.
“Surely you don't think I could have opened the safe and stolen
that device in forty-seven seconds?” I complained. “Ted?” I
implored, looking at the one way glass, knowing he was behind there.
He didn't say anything. “This is ridiculous,” I added. “I
want my lawyer now, before I answer any more questions.”
Jeffries took Kruger's place at the table across from me. “My
turn,” he said smiling. Moving fast, his right hand in a blur he
slapped me hard, the sound of the blow loud in the room. If my arms
were not restricted, I could have leaned back and avoided the blow.
He was fast, but if that was the best he had, I would not have a
problem with him.
“My lawyer?” I repeated, blood dripping from the side of my
mouth. I heard Ted shouting on the other side of the glass. He was
not pleased. Slapping suspects was not standard procedure.
“Are
you recording this?” I thought to Kate.
“Yes,”
she replied.
“Let's
show them a big black bruise where he just hit me.”
Most
GEMs, like me were full of nanobots, supposedly for quick recovery
from injuries or to reduce pain to a manageable level. ConGlom like
to have a few more in there they didn't tell people about and all of
mine had undergone a reprogramming from Kate. We had also added a
few of our own design over the years. Kate had almost been killed
once before she migrated over to me. I was now her host and she was
very interested in keeping me alive.
I could feel that side of my face swelling as he slapped me with his
other hand on the other side of my face. This time I spat blood
towards him as I asked for my lawyer once again.
“They
are having to restrain Ted,” Kate told me. Ted was loyal to the
department but was more loyal to the law. Besides, it had become
pretty obvious that he had a crush on me.
“Any
of them armed?” I asked.
“Just
Ted, and they have now handcuffed him,” she answered.
“Execute
phase one,” I told her.
Phase
one would entail the activation of the many charms I had planted here
over my many visits. These charms would act in concert to disable
all the magical protections the police station employed to keep from
any magic being used while inside the building. I could here the
sound of loud pops going off throughout the building as Jeffries
started another slap my way. The second part of phase one locked
every unlocked door in the station and unlocked every locked door,
including the locked door to the interrogation room I was in.
Handcuffs have not changed much in hundreds of years. There magical
protections were minimal and with a thought and a small burst of
magic I engaged a simple charm to release the locks on the cuffs. At
the same time I leaned back and his right hand passed me just beyond
my nose. Sticking my right arm out I caught his arm with mine while
bringing my left arm forward as I rose, connecting just above the
elbow of the arm I had caught, breaking it with a sickening snap. He
started to scream but that was muffled as I had raised my right arm
to his hair, grabbing a handful and smashing his face into the metal
table as fast and hard as I could. This time I heard his nose break.
As I reached my feet, I leaned forward and grabbed his gun from the
right side of his belt with my left hand.
Kruger had been taken by surprise but had managed to get her gun
almost aimed in my direction as I shot her gun arm, the right,
followed by a shot to her left arm and a shot to her left knee. A lot
of damage but here engineered DNA and the nanobots would have her
back in business in a matter of days. Her gun went skittering across
the floor and I grabbed it as well as I reached the door, turning to
Jeffries and blowing out his left knee as well as he had regained his
feet and was preparing to charge me. These people could take a lot
of pain and damage and keep on going.
“Phase
two,” I whispered as I opened the door.
Phase
two was designed to confuse and move people out of my way as I exited
out the door while disabling communications in or out of the police
station. I could hear bangs on the door next to the interview room,
the one with all the bigwigs that had been watching. Their door was
now locked. I could hear glass breaking as they entered the
interview room to try the door I just exited. They would find that
door now locked as well. I walked down the hallway hesitating before
entering the main lobby. Loud bangs this time as charms went off
starting on my right and moving left in a series of small explosions
and clouds of smoke. As expected everybody moved to the left side of
the room as the series of charms went off. I had designed them to
look like regular items, pens, paper clips, coffee cups, a clump of
dirt in the various planters, or a piece of gum on the underside of a
table or chair. None were active until the magical protections came
down. I waited until my path was clear, orienting myself so I could
walk straight through the smoke to the front doors which Kate would
open for me then lock behind me as I left.
“Phase
three,” I whispered as I opened the front door and walked outside.
Kate
and I had long since hacked the computer system and this phase was a
program that executed as I walked out. All cameras, and there were
cameras on almost every street corner, were deactivated. Programmed
drones that flew in a variety of patterns around the city stopped
transmitting pictures and started crashing to the ground, only
avoiding hitting people as they fell. All data in the computers was
erased beyond recovery. Kate already had what I wanted, the identity
of the two people interviewing me and a record of my interview. That
would be on the news tonight. Police cars lowered themselves to the
ground with doors locked, preventing the cops inside from exiting.
“I
disabled the tracking on those guns you took,” Kate told me.
Guns
were outlawed except for law enforcement and licensed security
services. All cars including the flying kind were only allowed for
law enforcement and the ultra rich that could both afford to pay for
them as well as the exorbitant fees. Unless you were ConGlom, they
got just about anything they wanted.
“Nice
work,” I told her. I couldn't think of everything. We made a good
team.
Public
transportation was still online even though the cameras weren't
operating. There was a tube just a block away with a regular run that
would take me within a few blocks of my prepared hiding place. I had
chosen an apartment near the tubes just for that reason and paid cash
a year in advance under an assumed name. The tubes were fast and
efficient, riding on a cushion of air beneath the city streets. The
cops used to have a presence at every station but over the years had
decided to use video monitoring instead. That made it easy for me. I
used my city trans card which would normally leave a record of my
trip but in this case, although my name was on the card, the data the
computer would scan would be of a completely different person.
“Phase
four,” I told Kate as I entered my apartment.
Phase
four was probably the hardest one for Kate to manage, requiring her
to erase all record of her intrusions into the mainframe but leaving
just enough evidence to show a smokescreen of a magic-tech attack,
using charms I had strategically placed, like the coffee cup I had
given the police chief for Christmas. It had his favorite sports team
on one side and his name on the other. He kept it conveniently on his
desk beside his computer. At the completion of this phase, the doors
to the station would unlock, cameras would start working again, and
communications would be restored. The cops would be embarrassed by
all the charms I had left lying around and the three prime teams that
had spent the good part of a month a few years ago installing the
magical protections would probably be sued.
“Three
minutes,” Kate said.
I turned on my video monitor, selecting the local news. They had a
camera crew already outside the station. Smoke was still exiting
thru the cracks between and those inside were pounding on the doors
to get out. Good luck, those windows and doors were designed to hold
off most anything short of really major firepower.
I picked up the Genesis Egg and rolled it around in my hand, it was
a marvelous piece of magic-tech engineering, something us humans
would not be able to match for thousands of years, if ever.
Forty-seven seconds was not bad. I had seen the layers of magic
covering the safe as I approached. I didn't even attempt to break
them, even with my skills it would have taken a few hours. Instead I
had used a back door trick I had learned from my study of the
Mistrals. Their concept of space time was way beyond ours. I t took a
different type of brain other than a human one to understand it.
ComGlom had hit pay dirt with me, the Mistral DNA took and my brain
was wired differently. I simply changed the location magically of
the protections around the safe, something they had no idea could
even be done. Those protections were guarding a spot on the wall a
few feet away instead.
That took about ten seconds. I had many charms for cracking a safe,
this one was a simple keypad, and the charm I used was already
prepped in my mind. A thought to activate and a little push of magic,
showed me the keys on the pad that had been touched most often. The
first and last numbers usually got pushed the hardest and it seemed
everyone really like the pound key for the last number and it was lit
up almost as much as the first. A little slide of light in the
direction of the second number no lit up quite as much, leaving only
the third number and the pound key still lit. Another ten seconds
and I was in. Closing the safe, I moved the protections back and if
I hadn't spent a few seconds or so admiring the thing I would have
been in the next room earlier.
“Phase
four complete,” Kate said.
The
new feed showed people bursting out doors and windows, and sirens
started going off. People, including the cops were stepping on and
over each other to escape. Some were probably hurt, I hoped not
seriously but it couldn't be helped.
Chapter
Two: The First Great Escape (Part One)
The
expansion of the Human Empire in our galaxy started slowly, taking
almost a thousand years to populate three planets around three
different stars. The third planet had many structures from the
Mistral Empire still intact, many of these estimated to be hundreds
of thousands in age. Amazingly, a lot of Mistral magic-tech was left
behind, including a few working space frigates capable of somehow
bending time and space, shortening a trip of a hundred years prior to
that to just a few days.
Magic
at that point had just become accepted as real, just another field in
a unified field theory. Unfortunately both the magic and the tech was
beyond our understanding. Unless the tech only required a button to
push and some pointing to do, many of the Mistral devices found were
useless. The tech was already there, but the development of magical
talents needed to activate many of these devices was just beginning.
Nobody
knows what happened to the Mistrals, one day they were there and the
next day they were gone, taking nothing with them wherever they went.
Many decades of careful study revealed they all vanished at exactly
the same time from hundreds of populated worlds.
Enter
ConGlom, a small outfit commissioned by an early interstellar
government to learn how to use the magic-tech. ConGlom decided the
fastest way to do this was through genetic manipulation of humans and
through many experiments and trials and failures, people with magical
talents became more commonplace. These test-tube babies became prized
possessions. By the time people found out only about one in ten
thousand fertilized eggs panned out and the rest were destroyed as
well as the lengths ComGlom went to to get them, they already had
most of the powers that be in their pocket. ComGlom became a
monopoly.
Section
Nine was formed when the ComGlom scientists figured out that even the
most magically inclined humans, what we now call primes, couldn't get
most Mistral devices to operate. The majority of the ones they could
use turned out to be children's toys. Section Eight's mission was
modified to look both for Mistral devices as well as viable DNA
samples and Section Nine begin a program of creating Human/Mistral
hybrids.
The
first big success came with the Mistral communication devices.
Instantaneous communication across thousands of light years. Hand
held as well as fixed, there were versions of this in almost every
Mistral home found relatively intact. That became the baseline of
success of a Section Nine kid. If you could operate one by age three
you would be allowed to live. Those that could not get anything else
to work were shipped out across the galaxy, manning various
communication stations around all the populated planets. The devices
required one of us to send as well as one of us to receive. The
better you were at using the device, the more data you could transmit
and receive. There were twenty-eight of us that could operate other,
more advanced devices at the time of the first great escape.
Five
of us were considered to be big successes and I was the youngest.
Just a toddler, I could tell the ComGlom scientists what each device
was designed to do and whether I could operate it. A boy some seven
years older from me but from the same batch had similar talents. So
many hundreds of thousands of failures not allowed to come to term as
well as many terminated by their third year. Mistral DNA did not mix
well with Human DNA and many of the births had various deformities
and disabilities requiring a lot of medical equipment to keep them
alive. Others had similar mental problems, some were born no more
than vegetables, and others were crazy. A lot suffered constant
pain. We had no names. The scientists called us by the last three
numbers of our batch and we called each other by the same method. I
was called 390 and the boy that was like me from the same batch was
called 201. By age three 201 had clued me in on our situation and had
warned me not to be so forthcoming on what I could or couldn't do,
trying to keep them interested enough in keeping me alive while at
the same time, not so interesting that I would be completely isolated
from the others. Two of the Five as we called the major success kids,
had already been locked away in separate wings of the compound.
I met
Kate when I was one year old, she had just been created in a separate
division of ComGlom and was one of their experiments in Artificial
Intelligence. I was a natural when it came to computers, my first
words appeared on a screen in my room in response to a question from
one of the scientists. Like 201, I didn't need a keyboard to operate
a computer. We had been part of the same batch, based on the same
reasoning and same sample of Mistral DNA. The scientists had this
brilliant idea that a lot of us died that may end up being a success
because we were not strong enough. They had already perfected genetic
modifications for military and security uses that resulted in
stronger, faster, more long living humans and we got the best of
those modifications along with the Mistral ones. More did survive and
they were excited about this but after almost a million run in our
batch, we were the only two that panned out.
Kate
was just a newborn AI, one in a long line of similar experiments
resulting in many deaths, these being the deaths of those AIs that
didn't turn out the way the scientists wanted. They wanted an AI
that would do what it was told without complaint yet be an
intelligent, reasoning AI capable of independent thinking. I could
have told them they couldn't have it both ways. That didn't stop them
from trying, however. They were good at killing.
I
connected with Kate despite all their safeguards and programs
designed to keep her isolated. I had nobody to play with, the only
interaction with the other kids here was a once a week dinner with
the bigwigs we had for those physically capable of attending and
feeding themselves. She was bored as well, just growing up like me
and she had no friends. I helped her get past her restrictions and
connect with computers everywhere. My talent was part of the Mistral
magic and nothing could stop me. She observed what I did naturally
and became adept at doing the same type of things without my help.
I had
tried to warn her about ComGlom but like many kids she just could not
comprehend that her creators would terminate her. I set about
ensuring she had a future a place she could go to if that decision
was made. All of us kids were full of various nanobots, they kept
changing them around coming up with different ways to monitor our
health, monitor how we were functioning, and keeping us happy. 201
had taught me how to hide some of my computer abilities, especially
the ones showing we had no restrictions reaching computers in other
areas of ComGlom, even though the comps in my room were turned off.
My reach was even further than his, they had hit the jackpot in me.
He also taught me how to turn off the nanobots that kept us happy.
Even happy, we were not stupid. We had access and we knew of all the
death going on every minute of every day. We also knew we were
prisoners, destined for a life of isolation and servitude, no more
than another tool for ComGlom to profit from. 201 taught me that
these nanobots were nothing more than small computers and I had a
great time terminating the ones designed to keep me happy. I kept
looking like I was happy but inside I was angry as hell.
It
was while I was desperately searching for a way to keep Kate alive
when I stumbled on an obscure article from five hundred years ago in
a scientific computer journal that no longer existed. Looking back on
it, I'm not even sure why I bothered to read it. Jonathan Wiznewski
and Stanly James had written an article on transferring a computer
program into a living brain. In all the brains they had studied, none
would suffice but they didn't stop at that point, instead postulating
the type of brain that could both house and use such a program. The
diagrams and neural pathways they postulated looked remarkably
similar to my brain. I simply changed the design of my next special
batch of nanobots, the technicians handling that part of it really
had no clue it was my design and not the scientists in charge of me.
When I got that injection, they immediately started making a home for
Kate, getting ready for her to move in.
Chapter
Three: Dinner with the Detective
“City
News is getting ready to air the police alert,” Kate told me and I
directed my attention back to my monitor.
“Is our version
ready to go?”
“I substituted an
edited video of the interrogation for a picture of your ID they were
planning on putting out,” Kate replied.
“Good, that was a
pretty lousy picture. This should be fun.”
On
the monitor the police video showed their PR guy reading the standard
be on the lookout for and armed and dangerous regarding me but at the
end instead of showing my ID, Kate had substituted a video of the
interrogation. It showed the part about them questioning me and me
asking for a lawyer intermixed with the slapping. It cut off before I
made my escape.
I
smiled. That video was now playing world wide, the news media did not
question what the cops had given them to air immediately. Except for
my copy of the interrogation, nothing else now existed.
“Laura
Venable is waiting on thirty-two,” Kate said.
“Is the CGI ready?”
“I'm ready,” she
answered.
All
the signs of that slapping had already faded away as my enhanced
healing had taken care of it. However, what Laura and her viewers
would see was a pretty awesome CGI image of me doing the interview.
That me was pretty much beat up with swollen and split lip, big
purple bruises on my face, and some bandages placed across my nose
with a few bloody scratches here and there that some quick band-aids
failed to completely cover. It was such a good program that I
couldn't tell the difference between the CGI and the real me.
“Let's
do it, on screen,” I told Kate.
The
com screen next to my monitor came on. Laura visibly jerked at my
appearance but she was a pro, and she jumped right in on my
interview.
“Columbia
police are claiming you are responsible for the attack on their
headquarters today. They say you also assaulted and injured two
police detectives, stole two guns, and caused many injuries in the
confusion. They have a warrant out for your arrest. Can you tell us
your version of events?”
“I
think everyone has seen the video of my so-called interrogation,” I
replied. “They were two ConGlom security officers, not cops and
they beat me to a pulp. I'm directing my lawyer to obtain that full
video from them in order to prove that but it's obvious by what they
released that they refused my requests for a lawyer and hit me
several times while I was handcuffed to the table. It would have
been impossible for me to steal that device and they know it. What
happened after that video ended was that they continued to beat me
and continued to refuse my requests. Eventually I lost consciousness
and woke up on the floor of a small cell. Then there was a lot of
loud bangs and smoke and I tried the door to my cell which turned out
to be unlocked. I stumbled to the front door and got out when I had
the chance. That's all I know right now and I'm in hiding, unable to
even go to the hospital to treat my injuries.”
“At
any point did the cops or these two handling your interrogation read
you your rights?”
“No,
and I'm going to sue the police as well as ConGlom for every penny I
can get. If any of your viewers have any information that could help
me, I would appreciate it. In the meantime I would appreciate if your
station could look into to this matter. I would like to clear my
name. I have been a consultant to the police department and have
assisted them with solving real crimes. This is how I have been
rewarded for that public service. “
“You
can count on us, Miss James. We will get to the bottom of it.”
The
live feed ended but I continued to talk to Laura. Real News Two was
one of the few media outlets on New Horizon that was not under the
control of ConGlom. They didn't have a big production budget because
most of what they spent went to fighting off lawsuits and court
orders from ConGlom companies and cronies that didn't appreciate them
exposing the corruption ConGlom generated. Despite the lack of money
for production, they remained very popular with the general
population. Everybody knew ConGlom had a hand in a lot of bad things
and they appreciated the efforts to expose those things that Real
News Two did on a daily basis. They were completely funded by public
contributions and I had steered a few million credits their way just
a few months ago. I had an arrangement with Laura, giving her a few
crime related scoops and and some hacked information on ConGlom from
time to time. On an anonymous source basis of course.
“What
proof do you have that these two were ConGlom?” she asked.
“I'm
sending you an anonymous tip now showing copies of their ConGlom ID
cards. I would suggest you do some research on the New Earthers and
their motivation for wanting the Genesis Egg. They were one of the
parties involved in that massacre at the crime scene. Some
speculation that they may have been behind the attack on the police
station would probably help my cause. I'm also sending you a bit a
background on the device itself as well as some secret information
from ComGlom on what the device is capable of and why it is so
important.”
“I'll
get a follow up report on air as soon as I get a chance to review
it,” she replied. “Is there anything I can do to help you?”
“I'm
good for now but I will be in touch,” I answered as I cut the com
link.
“Your
detective has made reservations for 7:00 pm at Mama Chan's,” Kate
told me.
“How much trouble is
he in?”
“On paid leave,”
Kate said. “The first thing he did was file a report with Internal
Affairs and it was immediately regulated to the back burner by the
chief.”
“Let's change that
to priority one,” I told Kate. With the video just released they
will probably think someone in IA bumped it up. Let Mama Chan know I
will be joining “my detective” for dinner.”
“You have the ghosts
ready to roll?”
“How about the mall
starting out?” Kate replied.
Kate had developed a
sense of humor over the last few years. Things like this tickled our
funny bone.”
“That will work just
fine,” I told her. Let's execute it about thirty minutes ahead of
dinner.”
The
biggest mall in town, it would be a logistics nightmare to cover.
Cameras all over the city and the mall had a bunch as well. The cops
would already be running facial recognition software looking for me,
and that interview I just gave would give them some fresh images to
use for that program. One of my ghosts would be seen entering the
mall and several stores within. Locking that mall down would be a
tough job for every available cop in the city and I was pretty
certain ConGlom would be all over it as well. Kate would blur the
real me in any cameras I encountered on my outing. I would use one of
my high end charms to disguise me from any people I encountered. They
were easier to fool than the cameras.
“They
are sending a corrected alert to media outlets using your ID picture
again.”
“Idiots,” I
replied. I had hoped they would scrub the whole system and download a
new cop operating system from cop central in New London. They
probably thought the first one was human error. I needed them to
connect to the cop central server. That had been a hard nut to crack.
“Substitute the same video along with that CG picture of me all
beat up,” I told her. “Maybe they will come to realize how deep
the hack is and do what we want them to.”
“Doing now,” she
replied.
“Have you heard back
from my lawyer yet?” Kate had sent him the edited interrogation
along with the ConGlom Ids and the picture of me after the beating,
along with instructions to file a multi-million lawsuit against the
police.
“He wants to know if
you want to include ComGlom in the lawsuit?”
“Not yet,” I told
her. They were experts at getting lawsuits delayed and dismissed and
had most of the judges on their secret payroll. The cops would be an
easier target.
“They are raiding
Charms by Wiz.”
“We knew it was
coming. It gives them something to do.” This was my business, high
end charms at medium range prices. All legal of course, although I
ran a black market business of not so legal charms, none of which
they would find in the store. “Alert Brenda and Joe that the
business is closed for now. Send my apologies and have a messenger
deliver those packages I prepared for them in the event this
happened.” If my personal and business accounts were not already
frozen they would soon be and I didn't want them to have to return
the money. The packages I prepared had a years worth of salary in
credit chips included. I had other accounts in other names with which
to play with.
I
changed clothes and activated a few charms before heading out the
door. The ghost me would be making an appearance at the mall about
now. It would show the all beat up me entering the food court and
heading into the Ultimate Charms store, a high end competitor of mine
that sold mid level charms at outrageous prices that many insisted on
buying, mainly because of the brand name. The police would pretty
much tear that store apart looking for me and the mall would be shut
down at least for the rest of the day. I smiled. By the time I got to
the restaurant, I could catch the fun on screen.
Mama
Chan's was a top tier restaurant with mid range prices. I had met her
when she was selling meals in the Drift, a section of town for those
less fortunate and down on their luck. For a one credit chip you
could get a fine meal and if you didn't even have that nobody said
anything. Payment was on an honor system and relied on people like me
that would drop a few hundred credit chips into the honor box. I
liked her food so much I had funded this restaurant through some of
my non personal accounts and she still maintained her meals in the
Drift, directing a good portion of her profits into helping the poor.
She never forgot where she came from and neither did I.
She
had set us up in her best private room, normally used by big wigs for
one on one meetings or dinner out with a mistress or girlfriend they
didn't want public. It had a big monitor and the excitement at the
mall was just getting going well when Ted arrived.
“Nothing
surprises me anymore,” he said, grabbing the seat next to me so he
could watch the screen as well. “You've made a remarkable recovery
and it appears you are in two places at the same time.”
“Just
be happy you are on paid suspension,” I replied, giving him a
little bump with my shoulder. “You would be right in the middle of
that mess otherwise.”
Mama
Chan and arrived with a variety of dishes. I had chosen several of
our favorites. While she served we watched the news feed from the
mall. People were being led out of every exit by what had to be
ninety percent of the police force. They must have called everyone
in. People were being checked for weapons and charms one at a time as
they exited the mall.
“What
a nightmare,” Ted said.
“They've
got me trapped in Ultimate Charms,” I told him. “I'm going to
switch the monitor to an interior security cam feed when it gets
really interesting.”
“I
didn't know those were ComGlom security and I had no idea they were
going to knock you around like that. “
“Yeah,
figured as much,” I told him. “What are you hearing on the rumor
line?”
“ComGlom
is running the show and the Chief is about to get an early
retirement. They need someone to blame for this mess. I filed a
complaint with IA but it will probably go nowhere. Early reports from
a Prime team they brought in show it might take them years to go
through all the charms and computer hacks involved. They are
convinced you are a lot more powerful than your rating indicates and
even with that, they believe you had to have a lot of help. There's
one charm they are very concerned about that has not gone off. They
believe it's a powerful magic bomb. The peeled one of dozens of
layers away and found four more that weren't there before have popped
up. They've called in two more Prime teams for help. This one they
have surrounded by magic barriers, magic circles, and steel plates.
It's on the third floor and they have that whole floor evacuated.”
“It's
actually a curse rather than charm,” I replied. The difference
between charm and curse was a hard one to differentiate but this
spell was up to no good. “I call it rats in a maze. It might take
three teams several years to finally reach the heart of the curse.
They should probably start stocking up on anti-itch cream now. As far
as your complaint goes, you might be surprised.”
“Did
you take this egg device?”
“Yes,”
I answered. “It's important on a large scale that ComGlom not have
it.”
“Figured
that as well,” he said, sighing. “You've got yourself in a real
quagmire. I always felt you were far better than you pretended to
be.”
“They
have everyone out of the store now,” Kate said.
“Let's see it,” I
told her, and she switched the monitor we were watching to the
security cam showing the front of the store.
“Everybody
is out and they have me trapped in there,” I told Ted.
“How are you doing this?” he asked.
“Simple hack of the mall cams,” I told him. “We get the first
look.”
At
least two Swat teams, one of them a ComGlom team dressed as regular
SWAT personnel had their guns trained on the store. A man on a bull
horn was telling me to come out with my hands up. I had placed a
couple of charms on the glass entrance door a year earlier, disguised
as transparent tape. It wasn't beyond my reach to activate them and
as I did the sound of a couple of gunshots rang out and two bullet
holes appeared in the glass door followed by hundreds of rounds from
the SWAT teams which basically disintegrated the glass doors and
windows of the store and all the merchandise within. Two of the Swat
team approached and threw in several grenades and a few major
explosins from within occurred followed by even more rapid fire from
the teams.
“Let's
copy the tape from a few seconds after those fake gunshots and send
it to Real News Two, I told Kate. “Erase the original.”
“Copy
on the way,” she answered.
I
could tell she was having fun. We had been preparing for this almost
every day since our escape.
“I
think they probably got you,” Ted said.
“No doubt,” I replied, smiling.
Ted was a friend and I gave him a quick kiss before he left. I knew
he would keep his mouth shut. I had Mama Chan wrap up the leftovers
for me. I was only planning to get out when I absolutely had to. I
went to bed early that night. Tomorrow would be a busy day.
Chapter Four: The Pulse Rifle
Section Nine brought us many Mistral artifacts to review. They had a
standard procedure for this. They started with the weakest of us and
proceeded up the ladder to the strongest. The thought was that if
some of us were hiding what we knew it would show in what we didn't
reveal about that artifact. The key was to give them something new
without giving them too much. They were not kind to those who were
less than forthcoming. By this time I had Kate with me and we had
pretty much hacked the system so we knew what secrets had already
been revealed by the time they got to me at the top of the ladder.
201 had his ways as well and we shared information with each other.
The usual order was 201 would go just before me so I had an idea
already what they expected me to reveal about the artifact. A whole
room of various early Mistral weapons had been discovered in a
section of what could be considered a Mistral museum. Among those
early weapons were pulse rifles. ComGlom was super excited about
these things, hoping they would be simple enough for us to be able to
use.
“What can you tell me about this?” Tom asked. He was the head
scientist around here, at least for the moment. They changed head
scientists quite often, usually after some perceived failure. What
Tom didn't know was that the former heads were no longer among the
living, it being decided they had to much information to continue
breathing.
“It's a gun,” I replied. “A heavy one,” I added, smirking.
“I need more books.” This was my normal start to one of these
things. I would act the spoiled child, only helping voluntarily when
they promised me something I wanted. I had to be careful, however.
Sometimes they became frustrated with this method and started
injecting me with various drugs and microbots designed to get me
talking. During times like those I let Kate take over and she would
feed them a bunch of deranged sounding nonsense. They had become more
reluctant to go that route over time.
“Five books, then,” he said.
“Make it ten. Old Earth classics only. Not this modern junk you
gave me last time.” I could read those via computer hacks. The
Earth classics had been pretty much purged from the web. Antique
books were about the only way to read many of those. I had bookcases
given me from on of these sessions and I wanted to fill them.
“Seven,” he responded.
“Ten,” I replied. They knew from past experience I was not
budging. It was either drugs or give me what I asked for. Sometimes I
asked for crazy stuff just to avoid giving them any information at
all. I really didn't mind telling them about the pulse rifle. None of
us Section Nine GEMs could activate one but me and I wasn't going to.
I didn't even tell 201 that I could probably do it.
“Done,” he said, skipping the normal back and forth. They really
wanted the information.
“It's very simple. This magazine holds the ammo, about a thousand
little gel-caps filled with a drop of water each. Once the curse in
the chamber is activated all you need to do is pull the trigger. One
of these gel-caps is ejected into the chamber which is very hot. It
melts instantaneously and the curse reacts to the water causing a
mini explosion of energy. The glyphs on the inside of the chamber
keep the chamber from getting too hot or blowing up and the ball of
energy is expelled out of the barrel at a very high rate of speed,
something like half the speed of light. When that ball makes contact
with anything semi-solid it will pretty much disintegrate it,
spreading out depending on how solid a target it hits. If you shot it
at a solid steel wall a foot thick, it would disintegrate an area
nine inches deep and a foot wide. If it hit you in the chest it would
disintegrate you down to your knees and would keep going until it met
another solid object.”
“Tell me about the glyphs,” he said. They were recording
everything, of course.
“Nine glyphs, three of them we have seen before. Do you have a
picture?”
He slid a computer generated picture from his folder across the
table.
“These are the three we have seen before,” I said, pointing to
each in turn. “This one contains the curse within the chamber. This
one keeps it from getting too hot, and this one keeps the explosion
from fracturing the chamber, forcing the pulse of energy to travel
out the barrel of the rifle. All nine are etched on the chamber walls
and they all must be activated at the same time as one curse. Once
activated the curse was designed to last for weeks, depending on how
often it was used, but at least as much as a full magazine of those
gelcaps. That last bit was new information, making my session a
valuable one.
“These other glyphs, what are they for?”
A few of my group had given them their opinion on these already.
Being able to read the glyphs was built into the Mistral DNA we had
been created with. Being able to use them was much more difficult
although some of us could do more than others.
“This one is the most complex,” I said, pointing out the one
with the most swirls and symbols etched within the glyph. “We have
seen some that are similar, however. It accelerates the magic push
needed to activate the curse but at the same time focuses the magic
to the tiny drop of water released.
The two companions on either side direct that focus, the oxygen in
the water is broken down to create a ball of heat and the other ones
breaks down the hydrogen into pure energy, similar to a nuclear
explosion. This one keeps that ball together even as it exits the
barrel of the gun, spreading only when it makes contact with a solid
object. This one contains the radiation of the energy, focusing it
within the ball, causing it to disintegrate the target, rather than
radiating outward. This last one prevents a chain reaction with
things like air molecules, especially those containing the key
elements of hydrogen and oxygen. Basically it sets the density of
things it will react to.”
“Can you activate the curse?” They always ended with this
question.
“It's a complex spell, with nine glyphs. Some of those are new to
me and some would be hard to activate if they were the only one
contained in the curse. Think of it like one of my books. For me to
activate the charm or curse I would have to have every word in that
book in the front of my mind, the meaning of each of those words
present in my mind at the same time, and the relationship of every
word with every other word in the book all in one thought that I
would then apply a magic push to. I could practice doing a few of
them or each individually. The chances of me ever being able to do
all of them together, no matter how much I practice, are very slim.”
What I didn't tell them was that with Kate's help, I could do it
very easily. The secret of Kate is one I had kept to myself. My
personal martial arts trainer, a former military officer by the name
of Dylan Sinclair, had been a weapons master and was secretly a New
Earther, and made weapons for them in secret. I had promised him a
new batch of nanobots in exchange for making me a pulse rifle as his
were about gone. It was a common practice to keep military and
security GEMs strong and healthy with the regular infusion of
nanobots to promote healing, quick reaction times, and strength.
ComGlom had the monopoly on this industry as well. I had ones that I
had designed specifically for me, and Dylan would get a batch that I
had designed for him. Unlike ComGlom nanobots, mine were better,
completely organic, and also had the ability to replicate themselves
if their numbers decreased. When I got home I called him. I had told
him a few months ago that I had his nanobots ready and I knew he was
close to being finished. He had slowed down in the last year and I
knew he missed being in top form. I also needed his help with another
project and I asked him to meet me with the pulse rifle at the old
Lassiter Dam remains outside the city. He told me the rifle was as
good as it was going to get. The hold up had been getting the glyphs
on the inside of the chamber to match my exact specifications.
Chapter Five: Paint By Numbers
“You're all over the news.”
“This is why I have made sure there are no connections between us
and why we have always had our training sessions in private. Cash
payments only. As long as you have kept your mouth shut as we
discussed when we first met, you should be fine.”
“Do you have it?”
I knew he would ask but I also knew he would keep his word. It had
been one of the reasons I had selected him to train me in the first
place. The other reason was I wanted a pulse rifle and my sniffing
around had told me he might be able to help me. The New Earthers
wanted the egg as much or more than ComGlom. I also knew he was
asking about the egg and not his nanobots.
“Yep.”
“What the heck are you going to do with it?”
“Use it.”
He paused, sighing. We were at the dam, another disaster created by
ComGlom's greed and corruption. Thousands had died when the dam
burst. Cheap materials and poor construction, the result of ComGlom
and it's cronies wanting to milk the building of the dam for every
possible penny in profit. All paid for by the citizens of our town,
many of whom lost their lives in the flood that followed. Now just
big chunks of what was supposed to be plasticrete but turned out to
be a cheap knock-off and a minor river that ran through, below, and
over those chunks. We sat on one of those chunks, the area
completely deserted. Nobody lived out this way any longer. We were on
the east side of the river, easier to get to from the city. This part
of the dam was still largely intact. The middle of the dam is the
part that was gone. I had some glyphs to paint on the walls of the
dam and Dylan was going to help me.
“It's been said that only one of ConGloms special GEMs can use the
egg.”
“A few of us escaped,” I told him. Only two of us remained free,
all the others had been hunted down and killed or recaptured. I
didn't tell him that, however.
“Earth would be a great candidate for the egg.”
“That's the plan,” I told him. “I'm concerned that your group
is not yet strong enough to hold an Earth that had been restored to
it's previous glory, and keep it out of the hands of ConGlom.” He
didn't seem too surprised that I knew he was a New Earther.
“We have a lot of followers in positions of power, just waiting
for something like this to exert their influence. I also think the
majority of people will get behind us and our following will grow if
the egg is used to restore Earth.”
“I agree,” I told him. “However, ConGlom needs to be weakened
before I use the egg. I'll need the help of the New Earthers to
accomplish that goal. Otherwise, they will bulldoze you out of the
way before you have time to blink.” Dylan was one of the leaders in
the New Earther organization and I knew he could make my plans a
reality.
“You will get our support,” he replied.
“Good, you confirm that with your group and we will continue to
communicate using our present method. Let's do the nanobots first,”
I told him, withdrawing the injector from my pouch.
“How long will they last?” he asked. The ones he was used to
needed a new injection about every ten years and the twenty years
that had passed since his last injection meant that he had very few
nanobots still functioning in his body. The military nanobots he had
been getting when he was in the military would keep him at peak
condition for a hundred years as long as he had regular injections.
My nanobots would extend his lifespan hundreds of years, at least.
“My design,” I told him. “Self replicating and completely
organic. You will never need another injection. Trust me on this.”
“Only one way to find out,” he replied. “Do it.”
I placed the injector against his arm and pushed the button. “You
will probably notice some improvement within a day.”
He opened the case containing the pulse rifle. “This was a lot of
work, particularly the modifications to the magazine and the etching
of the glyphs inside the barrel. I used various parts of other
weapons and made some original design parts as well. Of course, it's
not working at present. My understanding is they have never been able
to make even the original Mistral devices work.”
“Let's see if I can make it work,” I answered, taking the rifle
out of the case.
“It's beautiful,” I said, testing the weight and feel of it. He
had made it to fit me perfectly. “Let's see if it's also deadly.”
Kate had already prepared the parameters of the curse, all that
remained was for me to merge my consciousness with hers for just a
brief second and give it a push of my magic. We had become good at
this over the years and by now, it was second nature. The rifle came
alive in my arms, lighting up as if it contained a bright source of
light within. Swing the rifle around, I aimed at a big chuck about
one hundred yards away and pulled the trigger. A streak of light,
seen only by it's afterglow and a loud boom as the pulse made
contact. Almost half of it turned to dust, which either floated to
the ground or was carried away by the wind.
“Holy crap,” Dylan said.
“Pretty cool,” I laughed. Nine hundred and ninety nine shots
remaining.
I placed the pulse rifle back in the case and set it down next to
the other bags I had brought with me. Cans of spray paint, some rope
and string, pitons and a hammer, and some instruments similar to
portable surveying glasses all came out of the bags. “I need to
draw some big glyphs using these measurements on the dam wall. I
handed him the directions I had drawn to scale. I'll climb and you
direct me. Here's an ear microphone we can use to communicate with. “
“Sounds like I have the easy job,” he laughed. “That's some
serious climbing.”
By the time I finished I had glyphs drawn to scale exactly the way I
wanted them. They matched the stitching I had added to the interior
of my favorite leather jacket. Anything shot at me while I was
wearing that jacket would end up hitting the dam wall instead. It
would last a few months. I didn't expect it to take that long before
it would be needed.
No comments:
Post a Comment