Rogue Stars

by C Gockel et al.

  The girl looked quickly at the other two boys, and then blurted out, “We’re all augments. I have an artificial lung … please don’t leave us behind. Augments are disappearing.”

  “We are all engineers,” said another, shifting nervously on his feet.

  “Students,” said the girl, dropping her eyes. “Engineering students, ma’am … I mean, Sir.”

  Behind her back, Noa’s nails bit into her wrist. “No one is being left behind.”

  The chronometer in her head was almost at zero. She turned to Manuel. “What weapons do we have?”

  “I couldn’t get to the facility we’re using as an armory. We’ve got what Gunny had in his basement.”

  Noa didn’t sigh. The chronometer in her head ticked down to zero. James poked his head in from the garage. Yanking at the hard link he’d used to program the hover, he said, “We’re ready.”

  Hisha appeared on the stairs. She’d tied a complicated-looking sling thing to her front. Oliver was passed out inside of it. Meeting Noa’s gaze, she stammered, “He won’t cry. I … I … sedated him, just as I promised.”

  Noa nodded at her. “It was the right thing to do.” The doctor didn’t look mollified.

  Noa glanced at the rain-spattered window. It was dark at least. “Time to move out.”

  A few minutes later, the hover was set upon by Guard ships as soon as it left the Manuels’ townhome complex.

  Fortunately, they weren’t in it.

  15

  James watched from the roof as the hover sped down residential streets, bright with the shine of lights on rain-slicked pavement. Sirens from the Luddeccean Guard’s hovers screamed behind and above it. He let out a breath of relief. They’d put pillow cases stuffed with hot water bottles into the vehicle and sent it on its way, hoping the vaguely body-shaped pockets of warmth would confuse any heat scanners—not that it had been necessary. The rain had picked up. It was pouring in rivulets off the roof, off the hovers he saw parked in the complex, and down his neck—the cool water would throw off heat scanners. He’d also programmed the vehicle to follow the streets instead of taking flight; Noa had suspected it would be shot down if it took to the air. On the streets, still busy with evening traffic, the Guard would hopefully be more restrained, and hopefully they’d get a little extra time to flee before the ruse was discovered.

  “It worked.” The words from Noa were spoken directly into his mind. They were hard linked. Noa had dispensed with propriety the instant they hit the roof. Noa was beside him behind the wall of the home three doors down from the Manuels’ residence, crouching under the leaves of the neighbor’s rooftop garden. The rest of the “team” was with them. James’s eyes flicked in their direction. He knew they were there, but all that he could see were Chavez’s legs. They’d duct-taped plastic bags over her prosthetics—from where James sat, it looked as though someone had left a bag of garbage out. His gaze went to the roof of the Manuels’ home. They’d gotten out of the house just a few minutes before the Guards dropped men to the roof from a hover. The Guards on the Manuels’ roof were following the hover chase with binoculars, laughing amongst themselves. All that separated them from James and the team were leaves, darkness, and rain.

  The link hummed with equal amounts of determination and focused fury from Noa. It was oddly reassuring. James wondered if the Fleet trained its officers to transmit such feelings.

  Over the link, Noa spoke to him. “The Guards on the other roof—are they distracted by the chase?”

  There was a reason they hadn’t moved farther. There were two more Guards on the next roof. James looked over the edge of the wall separating the rooftop garden they were in from the next.

  “Yes,” he responded over the link and sent her an image of what he saw: two men, rifles slung on their backs, gazing through their binoculars.

  Noa transmitted data on their weapons to him. They were sniper rifles. “With built-in transmitters,” Noa said. “We can’t steal them.”

  One of the snipers said, “Did you see that MX? Just jumped 100 meters straight vertical.” He whistled. “Sweet machine.”

  “Think they’ll ever sell those hovers to civilians? I sure want one,” said his companion.

  “We got ‘em!” said the first sniper, springing a bit.

  The second said, “Not yet.”

  And then there was the crackle of a radio device that looked like it might have been transported straight from the 1990s on one of the men’s thighs. “Team S1, report!”

  “We’re here,” said the first sniper. “All’s well. Almost in position.”

  “Unprofessional,” Noa whispered into his mind. “Lucky us.”

  Noa turned to Chavez, Manuel, and Leung and delivered some quick hand gestures. The three officers nodded.

  Over the link, Noa said, “James, you and I are going to take them.”

  She slipped a stunner from a holster on her thigh—a weapon from Gunny Leung’s “arsenal.” They also each had a pistol and a rifle, but they were too loud. A stunner pressed against a man’s side would be nearly silent.

  “I’m allowed to use deadly force?” James said, taking out his own stunner, but eyeing the Guards on the Manuels’ roof standing outside of the back door.

  “Of course,” Noa said into his mind, eyes on the two snipers. “Try not to let the sound of his body hitting the ground alert the others.”

  “Understood,” James replied across the link. They didn’t just have to worry about the other Guard team hearing. 6T9 was programmed not to hurt humans and to offer assistance in the event of injury. Such programming would override any orders Eliza gave him.

  “Now,” said Noa, yanking out the hard link between them.

  She slipped over the wall between them and the two snipers. Her breathing was steady and even, her movements sure. James followed. Crouching low, they hugged the shadow of the wall that separated the rooftops.

  From the hover chase blocks away, an explosion went off, briefly illuminating the rooftop. The snipers whistled and chuckled. As soon as the light subsided, Noa and James rushed forward. James put his right hand around his target’s mouth. James was wearing a thin, stunner-resistant glove on that hand. Pressing the stunner to the man’s side, he hit the activate button. James heard a soft click as two twin prongs sprang from the stunner’s business end. He prepared for the man’s body to convulse. Nothing happened. Recovering from his mental shock, the man began to struggle.

  James pictured the man flipping him over his shoulder, and the Guard being alerted to their presence in the resulting scuffle. He acted before any of that happened.

  Noa restrained a grunt as she lowered the sniper’s body gently to the roof. In the periphery of her vision, she saw James do the same. She’d known he could do it. Chavez would have been an obvious choice, but her temporary limbs creaked. Leung was out of shape. Manuel was an engineer—he had the training, but not the experience.

  From her right, she heard shouts. Every hair on the back of her neck rose, but then she saw it was just the rooftop team at the Manuels’ house flooding into the dwelling. She heard the front door burst open from below, and shouts as the home was invaded from both directions.

  She signaled the rest of the team to follow James and herself. Chavez launched herself over the wall and the rest followed, with Gunny, Carl Sagan wrapped around his neck like a shawl, taking up the rear.

  At James’s feet a muffled voice crackled, “Team S1, report.”

  “The radio,” James said.

  “Find it!” Noa hissed, rolling over the man James had stunned.

  James plucked a device the size of a brick from the man’s side pocket and began fumbling with the buttons.

  “Mimic his voice!” Noa whispered.

  James blinked at her. “Mimic his voice?”

  “You mimic me all the time!” Noa said.

  “I hadn’t thought about it … ” said James, staring at the radio.

  “Team S1?”

  “What d
o I say?” James said.

  “That we’re in position!” Noa said as Chavez slid over the wall of the adjoining roof and the rest of the team followed.

  “In position,” James said. Noa breathed out a sigh of relief. He’d perfectly mimicked the sniper who’d spoken earlier.

  An order crackled over the device. “Keep your eye on the cul-de-sac, make sure no one climbs out a window.”

  Noa rolled her hands, trying to urge James to keep speaking.

  James’s eyes got wide, but then into the radio he said, “We got ‘em.”

  Noa’s brows drew together. That was exactly what the man had said earlier—maybe he could only mimic phrases he’d heard?

  She breathed out a sigh of relief when there was just a chuckle from the other end. “Yeah, I think we did.”

  Checking over her shoulder, she saw that the two remaining Guards on the Manuels’ roof weren’t looking in their direction. “Keep that,” she said, pointing at the brick-like transmitter he was carrying. James nodded.

  Gunny Leung stepped over the man James had stunned and looked down. Noa followed his gaze on reflex. For the first time, she noticed the sniper’s neck was at an awkward angle and his eyes were wide. His neck was broken … but she remembered James taking out the stunner. Gunny grunted. Noa put her finger to her lips for silence. She looked to James; he was motioning for her to move quickly. She and Gunny loped to the next wall. But the sniper’s empty eyes stayed in her mind.

  The eyes of the dead sniper were still in Noa’s mind a few minutes later as she stood guard in an alley just beyond the townhome complex, pistol in hand. James was across from her, looking the other way. Chavez and Manuel had the other side of the narrow thoroughfare. Gunny Leung and the three engineering students were struggling with a sewer grate while Hisha waited with Oliver in his carrier, and 6T9 stood with Eliza in his arms. On either side of them, tall residential buildings rose steeply.

  Behind Noa and James, Bo grumbled. “I could be more help if I had a rifle or a pistol.”

  Gunny Leung answered. “Lift the grate if you want to be any help at all, son.” Carl Sagan gave a tiny growl from Gunny’s shoulders as though to emphasize the old sergeant’s point.

  “His venom sacks have been milked, right?” asked Bo.

  “Not in a long, long time,” said Gunny. Bo seemed to redouble his efforts.

  “Eliza,” 6T9 whispered, “I am sure one of the gentlemen from the authorities on the rooftop had a broken neck.”

  Noa’s whole body tensed.

  6T9 continued, “Shouldn’t we call an ambulance for him? One of the dwellings in these buildings should have one of those telephone lines.”

  “No, no, no,” Eliza said back. “They were just sleeping on the job. Nothing to worry about, my beloved.”

  “If you are certain,” said 6T9.

  Noa exhaled.

  Gunny’s eyes flitted to James and narrowed. Noa couldn’t decide if he looked suspicious or just appraising.

  “I meant to tell you, the stunner didn’t work,” James whispered. His voice made her jump. He was still facing away, looking out onto the street beyond the alley. “I had to break the man’s neck.”

  He said it so easily … because it was easy for him. She shivered, and it wasn’t because of the rain. She remembered him saying, “I have no misgivings about killing, but I wonder if I should.”

  A history professor, even one that was an avowed adventurist, should not be able to break a man’s neck with such ease. There was more to him than met the eye. She bit her lip. Of course there was. He was the “archangel,” she’d known that since she’d awakened next to him in his parents’ cottage. She’d thought it was a mistake then, just the authorities targeting an off-worlder out of some mistaken intelligence and religious nuttiness. But maybe there was a kernel of truth in their paranoia? A tiny part of her whispered that James was dangerous, that he might be part of some conspiracy. She scowled. Of course, the Luddecceans thought she was dangerous, too—and also part of the Archangel Project.

  “Noa?” said James, holding the stunner toward her.

  Glancing down at it, she said, “Stow it. Maybe Manuel can fix it.”

  “Hmm … good idea.”

  As he slipped it into a pocket, the girl whose name Noa still did not know, said, “I wonder when they’ll realize that the hover doesn’t have us in it.”

  At that moment, the radio in James’s pocket burst with static. “Suspects were not apprehended. Repeat: suspects were not apprehended.”

  “The house is empty,” another voice said over the radio.

  “They were never in the hover,” said yet another voice.

  Behind Noa, Leung said, “Grate’s off. Only room for single file.”

  “Gunny, Chavez, you first,” Noa ordered. She gestured to the students. “You next—help Eliza and Hisha down.”

  As everyone snapped into action, the radio-brick thing hissed, “Team S1, report.”

  James pulled it out of his pocket and stared at it.

  “Say something,” Noa said.

  “In position,” James said in the sniper’s voice.

  “I can’t get a visual on you, S1,” said another voice.

  “In position,” James said again.

  Another voice crackled over the radio. “Is everything alright?”

  James blinked at the radio.

  “Make something up! Stall for time,” said Eliza, lifting her head from 6T9’s chest. “Quickly!”

  Lifting the radio to his lips again, James mimicked the first sniper. “That MX is a sweet machine.” He coughed, and repeated the second sniper’s words verbatim. “Think they’ll ever sell those hovers to civilians? I sure want one.”

  Noa winced. Catching her eye, James shrugged helplessly, looking not so much dangerous as befuddled. Noa felt her heart growing lighter. James wasn’t part of some alien conspiracy. And if he was tied to the “Archangel Project,” it was only in whatever oblivious way Noa herself was tied to it.

  “It was a boring conversation anyway,” Noa said, wondering if he’d catch the reference to that old move-ee he’d shared with her.

  Chatter exploded from the radio again. Someone said, “S1, I’m going to send a team to your position.”

  Noa’s heart beat fast. Hisha was handing Oliver to someone below, and her movements seemed to be in slow motion. They were steps from the townhome complex, and any minute their path would be discerned.

  Over the radio, someone said, “Team S1 is down. Repeat, S1 is down.”

  “Should I tell them we’re having a reactor leak, too?” James asked, apparently having caught the reference. He raised an eyebrow—it was his ‘I am teasing you look.’ And, damn it … she needed someone to joke with at times like this, when everything could go down a mine pit at any moment. Grinning, Noa gave him a wink. That earned her an eye roll. She motioned to Manuel. “You go down, we’ll follow.”

  Manuel slid down through the grate and James said to Noa, “After you.”

  Noa slid through the grate into the darkness and fell into line behind Hisha, Oliver’s sleeping cherubic face just visible above the folds of fabric of his carrier.

  Noa pulled on some heavy, ancient night vision goggles that had belonged to Gunny’s grandfather and only slightly improved her vision.

  She frowned. The darkness and the cluster of frightened civilians in a tunnel brought back memories of the evacuation of New Rio. The colony had been infected with a plague that was incurable at the time. Most of the carriers were oblivious. She felt herself shiver, even though it was warm. Being oblivious to his part of the Archangel Project didn’t mean James wasn’t dangerous.

  It didn’t mean she wasn’t dangerous, either.

  In the sewers, James poked his head around the intersection. He scanned in both directions. All he saw was the glint of the water running through the tunnel. “Clear,” he said.

  Noa slipped past him, pistol raised, and then gestured for the people behind him. />
  “Not clear back behind us,” Gunny whispered. “We’ve got four incoming, 725 meters. Tunnel from the left.”

  “We’re almost there,” Noa whispered. “We’ll make it.”

  James focused behind them. He heard the splash of footsteps, but couldn’t detect the exact location or the number of men. Gunny must have had more sophisticated augmentation. It made James jealous—and that was ridiculous. He was a history professor; he wasn’t supposed to have sophisticated locator apps.

  The team walked a few more meters down the new tunnel. It was cooler in the tunnels, now that it had rained; their clothes were drenched. James felt a tightness in his skin, and knew that if he looked he’d find his bare arms to be as pale as bone. He found himself wishing he’d had a chance for a snack. He had the sensation of his vision and focus tunneling, as it did whenever he was hungry. The footsteps trailing the team faded out of his consciousness, and then he was aware only of himself and Noa. She was slinking through the darkness beside him with amazing stealth. Her breathing was no longer raspy, and her movements were fluid; she wouldn’t need his arm this time. At that thought, he nearly tripped over his own feet.

  Noa’s eyes met his in the darkness. He shrugged, trying to convey nothing to worry about. He blinked, and remembered he had a snack on him. He pulled out half of a protein bar and started to munch. His vision cleared and his focus expanded. Beside him, Noa drew her head back, and then looked heavenward. He recognized the gesture from their time in the freight car, and remembered the words that normally went with it. “Eating again?” she would say.

  He shrugged again, and put the tiny remainder of the bar back into his pocket.

  A slight red glow fell on his shoulder. He spun, pistol raised, and found himself staring at a tiny blinking red light at the side of 6T9’s head.