Authors: David Macinnis Gill
Outpost Fisher Four
ANNOS MARTIS
239. 2. 19. 08:09
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After I relieve the dead Sturmnacht of his uniform and dress in my scavenged duds, Fuse and I hide him in the latrine. According to the rank insignia on the sleeve, I'm a private. Which comes as no surprise since his duty was watching the toilets.
I escort Fuse across the top ridge of the strip mine down a long embankment toward the old tipple. Walking with his hands in the air the whole way, Fuse fills me in on the sad state of affairs.
“So I get all the way back up to Ares Pub in New Eden, where I meet this tall, skinny mercenary with round glasses and a bald patch. He's got a partner, a short towhead with a pretty-boy face. They don't look like much, but beggars can't be choosers, and I give them a down payment to put together a crew to come rescue us.”
Last I looked, the miners didn't have two coins to rub together. “What did you offer as down payment? A tub of guanite?”
He glances back at me and winks. “Try a diamond.”
“A what?” I say, too loudly, and draw the attention of a patrol. To avoid suspicion, I give Fuse a forearm shiver in the back, and he goes flying. “On your feet!” I growl, and then whisper, “Sorry about that.”
“Nothing to,” he says quietly. “I took worse from the Sturmnacht.”
“Speaking of which, how did they catch you?”
“Press-gangs out of New Eden.” At the twisted wreck of the tipple, he makes a right and heads for a pile of heavy beams and a sign that reads,
KEEP OUT!
“They pay this joker and his crew to bring 'em down south in caravans, then pick off the healthy ones to ship down here. Only the hearty ones make it.”
“I think I ran into him,” I say. “He gave me a little advice.”
“What's that?” Fuse asks.
“To watch my back.”
We reach the rubble, and Fuse motions for me to drop. He quickly ducks into a space between the beams. I swing the armalite over my shoulder and crawl after him. My helmet hits metal and rings like a ball-peen hammer.
“Stay low, cowboy,” Mimi says.
“You're a little late.”
“You're a little tall.”
Fuse gets to his feet and reaches above a makeshift doorframe and pulls down a torch and a flint. He sparks it twice, ignites the torch, and leads the way. We follow the tunnel for what feels like forever.
“Three-point-six kilometers on a thirty-degree slope,” Mimi says.
“Which feels like forever.”
The walls are smooth, and the tunnel is almost a perfect circle, a clear indication that it was dug by a Big Daddy, a genetically engineered insect technically called a chigoe. When Fisher Four was worked as a deep-hole mine, Big Daddies were used to dig ventilation shafts and side spurs like this one. There are no maps showing them all. Of all the people on the planet, Fuse is probably the only one who knows the mines intimately. That's because with an almost unlimited supply of C-42 explosive left behind when the mines were abandoned, he's wired almost every one of them to blow.
“So this whole mine could come down around our ears, right?” I ask him as a pinprick of light appears at the end of the ventilation tunnel.
“Not unless some bloke figured a way to set off a couple hundred ignition bombs on that many frequencies,” he says. “Not much chance of that.”
I can smell the stink from the seams of guanite. I can also smell the acid tones of Fuse's breath. I'm not sure which is worse.
“The guanite,” Mimi says. “But only because there is more of it.”
“Back to the diamond,” I say. “You gave a priceless jewel to a mercenary? What makes you think he'll do the job?”
“The promise of ten more just like it.”
“Do you have ten more just like it?”
He winks. “Maybe I ain't that good at keeping promises.”
Sneaky bugger. “So you thought the pair from Ares Pub had hired me?”
“Sure! Why else would you be sneaking around?” He stops crawling. “Which begs the question, don't it? If you ain't been hired, what's your business in Hell's Cross?”
“Would you believe I missed you and Jenkins?”
“There's a fib,” he says. “Did I ever tell you how me and Jenks got decorated at the Battle of Noachis Terra? It's quite the tale, if I say so myself.”
“You have told me,” I say. “Many, many times.”
“Plus if you're wanting a visit with Jenks,” he continues, “you're hard out of luck. That piker cut out weeks ago. Says I've got too domesticated. Just because I've got myself hitched to Ãine and have a tyke on the way.”
“Tyke? Fuse, you're having a baby?”
“Me? Not a chance,” he says, to my relief. “But my wife is.”
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Chapter â-1
The Gulag
User: HackMasterRL -- bash -- 122x36
SCREEN CRAWL: [root@mmiminode ~]
Last login: 239.x.xx.xx:xx 12:12:09 on ttys001
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AdjutantNod04:~ user_Adjutant$
SCREEN CRAWL: [root@mmiminode ~]
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WARNING! VIRUS DETECTED! Node1666; kernal compromised (quarantine subroutine (log=36)....commencing.....
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Running processes:
C:\ONIX3\OSCIPHER\Kernal\HACKMASTER_RL.exe
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R0 - HKCU\Software\... \Main,Start Page = about:blank
O4 - BEKM\..\Run: [IgfxTray] C:\ONIX3\OSCIPHER\kernal\igfxtray.exe
O4 - BEKM\..\Run: [HotKeysCmds] C:\ONIX3\OSCIPHER\kernal\hkcmd.exe
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O23 - Service: Unknown owner â
[root@mmiminode~]
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WARNING!subroutine FAIL!
QUARANTINE_INCOMPLETE!
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OVERRIDDE STRING:'ItsyBitsySpider4$2fGp09
[root@mmiminode ~]
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$ Node1666; (quarantine subroutine FAILURE);
$ Disk recovery sequence suspended:
$ Loop subroutine initialized
$ Node1666; (quarantine loop complete);
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>...
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Outpost Fisher Four
ANNOS MARTIS
239. 2. 19. 08:14
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Winds like spiked javelins cut across the plains, hammering a two-room shack stuck in the middle of the permafrost that is protected only by a low wall and a brick latrine on the north corner.
Six figures in heavy coats fight their way through the battering winds. Their heads are bent forward as they walk, leaving a Noriker parked near the wall.
The tallest figure outdistances the others. She is the first to reach the door to the shack, and the first to find it locked.
Vienne tries the handle twice, then pulls the knife from her sleeve. She inserts the knife between the lock and the jamb and launches a front kick.
The door slams open.
Vienne ducks in, knife ready. She checks the outer room. Then the small bedroom.
She yells out into the drift of snow folding its way inside.
“All clear!” Vienne calls.
Jenkins, Nikolai, Zhuk, Yakov, and Pushkin follow her inside. Snow swirls after them.
Then Mother enters. “Pushkin, start a fire. Zhuk, stand watch. I am not to be disturbed.” She heads into the bedroom with a portable multinet device. “Nikolai, you're with me.”
With a nod to his brothers and Vienne, he follows.
“Pushkin, make tea,” Zhuk says.
Pushkin crosses his arms. “Mother said for me to make fire.”
“
Jaa
, make fire,” Zhuk says. “Then make tea.”
“Is women's work, this tea,” Pushkin says.
“Vienne make tea?” Jenkins snorts. “Like to see you make her.”
Vienne rolls her eyes and grabs the kettle from the stove. “I'll make it if Pushkin builds the fire.”
“Deal!” Pushkin applauds himself. Then he looks around the bare cabin. “Where is wood?”
Zhuk opens the door and bows. “Outside.”
“Be sure to wear your coat,” Yakov says.
Pushkin pulls his collar together and runs into the wind.
“Stupid boy,” Zhuk says, and slams the door, “is going to catch his death.”
Outpost Fisher Four
ANNOS MARTIS
239. 2. 19. 08:47
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Vienne helps herself to a cup of tea from the kettle warming on a capstove. The tea is hot, and she takes small sips. Her face is still frozen from the tundra wind, her eyes and lungs clogged with guanite grit.
Pushkin paces back and forth, anxiously counting off the minutes.
“Are you worried, brother?” Zhuk asks.
Pushkin jumps like he's been pinched.
“
Jaa
,” he says. “About mission.”
“Is simple thing,” Zhuk says. “Why worry?”
“Mission is kaput,” Pushkin says. “Too many Sturmnacht. Too little cover. Is impossible. Better we should take job cleaning sewers thanâ”
“Shh!” Yakov puts a finger to his lips. He points to the bedroom, where Nikolai's and Mother's voices are rising.
“Do not ask such a thing!” Nikolai shouts.
“You will follow my orders to the letter, Nikolai!”
“Better I should kill myself first!”
“I've heard enough!” she yells. “Out!”
The bedroom door swings open. Nikolai takes a second to scan the room, nodding to Zhuk and Pushkin, then barges out of the shack.
“Is there anyone else,” Mother says, standing in the doorway, her face bloodred with anger, “who thinks this job is too hard?”
Pushkin raises his hand.
Zhuk pushes it down.
“That's settled,” Mother says. “At dawn, we enter the tunnels and break the prisoners out. Yakov, put up the map.”
“Jaa,”
Yakov says, and pins the electrostat to a wall. He draws his finger across the electronic ink. “The best route to the pens is these two entrances on the east end of the mines. Here, beside the old tipple, and here, near the old gates. The tunnel by the gates is bigger, so we should take that route.”
“Where did you get this map?” Vienne asks.
“From our client,” Mother says. “Anything else is on a need-to-know basis, and you don't need to know.”
Vienne ignores her and turns her attention to the map. It is a one-dimensional cross section of the Hell's Cross mine. At the top middle of the map is the tipple, which leads to the main shaft. For half a kilometer, the shaft cuts the map almost exactly in two. Then, abruptly, it ends, and a tunnel makes a forty-five-degree turn to the east. It splits into two serpentine tunnels. One tunnel continues east to an area labeled Crazy Town. The other tunnel moves southeast to a structure called Hell's Cross, an underground complex that Vienne and Durango became very familiar with when they fought the Draeu. From Hell's Cross, the tunnel crosses a massive bridge, which ends with another tunnel that leads east and back to the surface.
“Excuse me,” Mother says, and unpins the map from the wall.
“I wasn't finished,” Vienne says, slapping a hand on the 'stat.
“You are now,” Mother says. “Boys, get your gear. We're traveling light, so take only what you need. We can pick up the nonessentials on the way out.”
“How do we get the prisoners out once we've freed them?” Vienne asks. “We can't escape by the same tunnel. It's too narrow.”
“I just told you,” Mother says, “we are operating on a need-to-know basis.”
Vienne meets her glare and doesn't flinch. “I need to know. We all do. Right, boys?”
Jenkins raises his fist in solidarity.
The brothers look down at their feet.
“That is your answer,” Mother says. “Move out!”
Vienne grabs her rucksack and strides to the door ahead of Jenkins.
There, he pauses and looks back at Zhuk, Yakov, and Pushkin. “This susie's got more
cojones
than all three of you put together. I'd take her against a whole Ferro army any day.”
Be careful what you wish for, Vienne thinks. Today might be that day.
The Hive
Olympus Mons
ANNOS MARTIS
239. 2. 19. 08:51
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Lyme rises from bed. Gingerly, he dresses himself, careful not to bump the bruises that cover the veins on the backs of his hands. The insides of his arms are deep purple and dark brown, marks left by the blood doping treatments he's been receiving twice daily.
He slides his feet into his boots and shuffles to the latrine. At the sink, he brushes his teeth and rinses with mouthwash. He spits into the bowl and hears a clink.
“Damn.” He picks up a tooth, one of his lateral incisors, the third one he's lost in as many weeks.
“It's hell getting old,” he says, and tosses the tooth into the trash can.
Walking deliberately, he exits quarters and makes his way to the Nursery. A guard holds open the door for him and offers a salute. But he's too tired to return it and instead just nods.
“Greetings, General,” Dolly says.
“Dolly, tell Riacin I want to speak to him.”
“Lieutenant Riacin is already present, sir.”
“Of course,” he says. “Now I see him.”
Across the room, Riacin and three drivers are gathered around the conference table, hovering excitedly over an electrostat.
“What is so fascinating?” Lyme says.
“General,” Riacin says as he snaps a salute. “Intel reports that Alpha Dog has been identified by security cameras up in New Eden.”
“You did not tell me this immediately?” he says.
“The report just came in.” He brings the 'stat to Lyme. “Also, Dolly reports that a guard was attacked moments ago on Outpost Fisher Four.”
Lyme snatches the sheet of electrostat. “No more excusesâI want that HVT!”
The Nursery goes quiet, except for the sound of Lyme trying to catch his breath. The Drivers look down at their feet.
Riacin calmly picks up the rolled sheath and sets it next to the multinet screen. “General Lyme,” he says, rubbing his hands as if washing them with air, “Alpha Dog disappeared from the grid after the Barrens incident. As I said, we just received the intel from New Eden. It came from local authorities andâ”
Lyme puts up a hand, both to keep him at a distance and to shut him up. “Do give it a rest, Riacin,” he says. “My son is part machine. And a machine can always be found.”
One of the drivers shakes her head. “It's not that simple, sir.”
“She didn't mean it,” Riacin says, signaling the driver to back off.
“What she or anyone else thinks doesn't matter to me.” Lyme shakes a finger at them. “Prep the ExoMecha for the insertion procedure. I will find Alpha Dog
myself
.”
“In the battle suit, sir?” Riacin says. “And your health. The ExoMecha is still a prototype. We haven't completed testing on its capabilities.”
“Damn the testing and damn my health!” Lyme yells. “I will have the HVT, and I will destroy anyone who gets in my wayâeven my son!”