Ken visibly relaxed, saying, “Who in
Kyndra’s Kingdom
are you?”
Damon smiled when he replied “I’m not from her kingdom, I’m
from her nightmares.”
“No one has ever withstood my full EM attack. I can’t
remember the last time I was this vulnerable,” Ken said.
“Lucky for you, then, that I’m here as a customer, right?”
“Apparently, although I could have some more tricks up my
sleeve.”
Damon laughed. “Feel free to try. When you’re done, I’ll
still be sitting here waiting to talk.”
Ken nodded. “Well then, might as well skip that part. One
very interesting thing I noticed about you was your skin. May I?” he reached
out to touch Damon’s arm, hovering and waiting for permission.
“Go ahead,” Damon said shrugging.
“It feels like skin, but not really, and--OH!” Ken jerked
his hand back when Damon turned the armor solid under his fingers.
Ken moved closer and examined the armor with a range of
sensors that Damon did not try to block.
“
Kyndra’s tears!
It’s a diamond-crystal steel alloy!
How . . . but . . . that’s,” Ken continued to sputter
incoherently while Damon laughed.
“I don’t know what you call it, but it’s my armor; it’s D-SAP”
“That’s what I said, but you . . . your whole body
is covered with it?”
“Every square inch”
“But, how can you move?”
Damon laughed again, “I have no idea, but I know some people
who could explain it.”
Ken asked many more questions, and Damon answered everything
he could. He knew it was risky, but he decided that complete honesty was the
best way to gain the man’s trust. Without his trust, Damon would never get his
help.
After a few minutes, when Ken started digging deeper into
the technical aspects of the enhancements, Damon stopped him. “Please, not here
and now. I need someone with your skills, but you’ll have to come back to my
ship. Will you?”
“What choice do I have?” Ken leaned back and crossed his
arms, “You could force me and I obviously can’t stop you.”
“I need your
willing
help. I can’t force you to help
me willingly.”
“Good point,” Ken smiled and stood up. “I’m all yours, when
do we leave?”
Chapter Eight
Alexander Pryke surveyed the room.
Of all his people, this small group was by far his favorite. This was his
intelligence group. He always thought they could improve, of course, but at
least he felt they were better than anything the other dynasties possessed.
“I’ve been trying to figure out what to do about the Demon
program,” he said without preamble. “The Demon is the greatest singular weapon
the Consensus has ever seen. It’s a true game-changer. However, it’s wasted in
the hands of the Council, and I don’t think I’ll be convincing Renard to give
it to us anytime soon.” The group laughed politely.
“I’ve asked
Research
,” his voice dripped sarcasm, “to
imitate the Demon, but as you can guess that will
never
happen.” Again
the group made appropriate sounds of agreement.
“Therefore, as usual, it comes down to us in this room to
take care of business. If we can’t have our own Demon, then I intend to act
through this one.
“I want you to take our target list and create a plausible
case for the Council to destroy each and every one. We need to make them
want
to attack our targets, and never know that we planted the seed. The evidence
needs to compel the Council to act, so it needs to be
urgent.
I want our
choices at the top of the Demon’s mission list. Any questions?”
No one spoke, so Alexander dismissed them with a wave. “What
did my father always say?”
They recited, “Subterfuge and misdirection: the Pryke Family
Jewels!” and filed out the door.
**** ****
When they arrived on
The Abyss
,
Ken spent at least thirty minutes wandering around gaping at the grandeur.
Damon smiled throughout and politely deflected Ken’s questions about where it came
from and how he acquired it.
Finally, in a room that Damon thought was a small guest
room, Ken opened panels that revealed screens, keyboards, monitors, and other
devices that Damon didn’t recognize. In a matter of minutes, he had converted a
plain, empty room into a flashing, beeping, glowing control room.
“Will you look at this!” Ken exclaimed, acting like an
excited child, “We can do everything from right here!”
“Great,” Damon replied, “what is
everything?
”
“Everything! Whatever you normally ask the AI to do for you,
we can run manually from right here. More than that, we can really dig into the
raw data from the scanners and sensors; even the WERA! Oooo, and it’s a
powerful WERA, too. This stuff is high-end military grade! Where did you say
you got this ship?”
“I didn’t say. But I will tell you that I took it from my
first target.” Damon shrugged, “He liked to keep secrets.”
Ken wasn’t really listening; he was studying the various
screens, occasionally nodding and mumbling to himself.
A few hours later, Damon was lounging in the common room
when Ken walked in looking rather distracted. He seemed surprised to see Damon,
but immediately started talking. He tried to explain the various systems and
capabilities, but Damon didn’t understand any of the terminology or jargon and
was hopelessly lost.
“Stop! Ken, I don’t understand any of this.” He held his
hands up in a pleading motion.
“Oh, um, sorry. I guess I can get a little carried away
sometimes,” Ken said a little sheepishly. He continued on with barely a pause, “You
said that you needed my help, but what for? You’ve got the armor, the weapons,
the systems, and all of these resources at your disposal, what could you
possibly need?”
Damon thought for a moment, “Is this ship secure? Can you
tell if we are being monitored here?”
Ken looked quizzical, “Well, the AI is always listening, of
course, and I suppose someone could tap into that. Otherwise, it’s safe.”
“Can you do something about the AI? Either shut it down or
prevent it from being used against us? After all, the program came from them.”
“Who is
‘them?’
This is the part I don’t understand. What
could you possibly be afraid of?”
“
They
built me.
They
gave me the choice
between volunteering or spending my life in jail.
They
trained me and
told me where to go and who to kill. I’ve done a dozen missions for them and I
don’t even know who they are.”
He paused and took a few breaths before continuing, still not
sure how much to say. “My biggest fear is that they control me. Of course they
do in the sense that I follow their orders, but does it run deeper than that?
What if I refuse? Do they install an AI in
my
system and run me with
that? Am I still me?”
Damon stopped, and then realized he still didn’t know if the
AI was secure. “Um, you probably should have answered me about the AI before I
spouted off.”
Ken laughed, “I can take care of the AI. I have blocked all
communications to and from the ship. Oh, speaking of which, your friend is
trying to reach you now as we speak.”
“My friend?” Damon hoped it was Joann.
“Whoever it is that you work for,
they
apparently
have another mission ready.”
“Oh,” he felt somewhat disappointed. “Let him through, as
long as he can’t see you or access the AI.”
Ken tapped out some intricate patterns on his screen and
said, “Done. You’re safe. I’ll be monitoring the communication to see what I can
find out.”
Damon reviewed the mission briefing with Gregor, aware that
Ken was listening. Finally, the Council was trusting him with another big
assignment, much like his very first mission. Thinking about that first mission
still made his stomach flutter, even though he was much more comfortable with
his abilities as the Demon. The target was well defended, and his followers
were militant, but not to the extent of the first mission.
Damon came away from the meeting excited but nervous. He was
ready to get back into some real fighting, despite a few nagging doubts.
After the transmission ended, Ken tapped away at his screen
for a few minutes. Finally, he looked up and said, “Well, it’s heavily
encrypted, of course, but since I have access to both ends of the conversation,
I think I can break it. While you’re out on the mission, I’ll go collecting
supplies.”
Sudden fear stabbed into Damon’s chest as he realized the
position he put himself in. He had to trust Ken, who he didn’t know at all,
with all of his secrets.
“I don’t think so,” Damon said severely. “I can’t let you
leave now that you’ve seen so much. You’re too dangerous.”
Should I lock him
up? Tie him up?
Damon’s mind raced through a series of unlikely scenarios.
Ken laughed, but quickly sobered when he saw the look on
Damon’s face. “You’re serious?” He asked.
“Deadly serious.”
Ken frowned and folded his arms. “Look, you knew there was
risk in bringing me on board. You must have realized what would happen the
minute you brought me here. If I’m going to help you, I need to pick up
supplies. Nice as this ship is,” he gathered his surroundings in a broad
gesture, “it does not have everything I need to get to answers you want.”
“Order it through the AI, have a shuttle pick it up.”
Ken sighed, and spoke levelly. “The equipment I need can’t
be ordered from a store. I need to find friends and have some of it assembled.
I have to get some of the components myself and some of it only I can assemble.”
He looked directly into Damon’s eyes and continued, “What
are you afraid of?”
Trust. I’ve been betrayed by trust before
, Damon
thought. He didn’t let himself think about the trust he placed in that SecForce
captain to keep the Family safe. Things were too dangerous down that road.
Damon didn’t answer for a long time but the fear slowly
released its grip on his heart. When he did answer, his voice was low and
menacing, “If you run, I’ll find you. Understand?”
Ken kept his gaze steady, “I would expect no less from you.”
**** ****
Renard Trueblood did not like where
this meeting was going.
I wish I could call a break and consult with Jeffrey
directly,
he thought as he tried to communicate non-verbally with his friend
and aide sitting across the room.
The Council was discussing the upcoming targets for the
Demon, and much to Renard’s surprise, he found one of his secret allies at the
top of the list. It was a new item on the list, and he couldn’t figure out how
it had suddenly showed up.
Pryke! It has to be.
Renard seethed internally,
trying to keep his face impassive. He felt the blood pounding through the veins
in his forehead and hoped it didn’t show.
How did he find the Kline drives
we were building, and how did he get our agent on the list without us knowing?
Renard and Jeffrey had labored over many years to establish
plants to build Kline drives in secret, taking extraordinary precautions since
Jonathan Kline was a friend. However, Renard coveted the Kline drive technology
more than Jonathan’s friendship and decided to take the risk.
Now he was faced with the prospect of approving the
destruction of the factories and his own ally, whom he had so carefully cultivated.
Pryke’s put me in a corner with this one. I can’t oppose the target or my
involvement might come to light, which would alienate the entire Council and probably
serve me a death sentence.
Unknown to the general populace, the Council’s main reason
for existence was not governance of the Consensus; that was merely a by-product
and a cover story. Their greatest concern, though unspoken, was the
preservation of the power, influence, and wealth of the Big-Five dynasties.
They kept all research under their control so that no new technology would
endanger their income, and they ruthlessly protected the monopolies or
near-monopolies of the most important products.
Renard knew that if any one of the other Council members
found out that he was undermining the Kline drive monopoly, their retaliation
would be swift and decisive. He couldn’t find a way out of this trap without
sacrificing himself.
Renard looked at Jeffrey again, but his tight-lipped scowl offered
no solution. Renard wanted to curse, scream, slam his fists into the table, but
instead held himself rigid, his face forcibly neutral.
“I agree,” he said as naturally as possible, “these
factories should go next.” The words tasted like bile in his mouth.
We’d better send warning,
he thought,
perhaps we
can get some heavy weapons on site in time.
**** ****
“Demon, we might have a problem.” Gregor sounded more
serious than usual.
“What problem?” Damon asked as he stopped his approach to
the target and sat down on the rooftop with his back to the parapet. He knew
what was coming; Ken had prepared him.
“Your control system appears to be under attack.” Gregor’s
voice sounded more surprised than worried, and Damon wondered if Ken was as
good as he thought.
“Attack?” Damon tried to sound concerned, and began running
diagnostics as Ken had instructed him. “I’m not picking up anything on this
end. I . . . I don’t understand. Are you sure? What are you seeing?” The last
question was the most important, yet Damon tried to deliver it with no
particular emphasis.
Gregor didn’t answer right away, and Damon considered
pushing a little harder. When he was about to speak, Gregor finally replied, “There’s
a tracker on our comm link carrier.” He paused for another long moment, but
Damon remained quiet. “I can’t tell how much it can see; we should be secure,
but I can’t be sure.”
This was not the response Damon and Ken wanted, so he added
some persuasion. “I’m not aborting this mission. I’m almost in place, my batteries
are charged, and my weapons are hot. If there’s anything you can do to shut
this down and let me finish, then do it.”
“That’s not the best course of action, Demon, we can’t take
that kind of risk.”
Damon decided blunt would be best. “I’m going in. I’m
finishing this mission here and now. Are you with me? Then fix it now, on the
fly.”
“Don’t be stupid . . .”
“Ha! That’s what I’m best at!” Damon interrupted. “Goin’ in
in ten seconds - you got something you want to do?”
“
Kyndra’s tears,
you’re stubborn. You’re going to get
yourself mothballed, and me relieved of duty.” Damon could
feel
the
conflict in Gregor. He almost felt guilty for manipulating him.
“Five seconds!”
“Fine - belay that! I need thirty.”
Damon smiled and relaxed. He was getting what he—
well,
Ken actually
—wanted. “Now that’s my favorite handler! What are you going to
do?”
Gregor grunted and replied, “First, I’m going to cut our
link and you’ll have silence for about ten seconds while I re-encrypt the
connection. After that, it will take another fifteen to twenty seconds to
completely re-establish our link.”
“Whatever you say, sorry I asked.” The connection dropped
out and Damon’s HUD informed him that he had lost all radio contact. Damon
wondered if Ken’s plan would work. He said he could work through the
disconnect, and use the re-encryption process to gain the command and control
codes needed to get into Damon’s control system. It was easy to believe when
they discussed it on The Abyss, but now in actual practice, Damon had doubts.
Sitting there on the roof in silence, the wait seemed much longer than the
estimate. Finally, the HUD signaled a new connection and Gregor’s voice
returned.