by M. D. Cooper
A blue blur caught Cheeky’s, attention and as she drove a boot into her attacker’s gut, she turned to see Fina leap over the circle of assassins, coming down behind one and driving her blade clear through the man’s spine.
The blow felled her target, and Cheeky caught sight of Fina slashing at another enemy before she re-engaged with her own adversary…and two of his friends.
Without a word, Cheeky spun, kicking at one man’s leg while slicing her blade along another foe’s arm. The man went down without a sound, and Cheeky flicked a blob of nano onto him, curious about what they were dealing with.
While the tiny robots made their way into his body, she turned her focus to another assassin, her lightwand slicing his hand wide open. His nanoblade fell, and she caught it before it sank into the deck, flicking it toward another attacker and catching them in the throat.
That assassin fell in a heap, gurgling blood from their mouth and neck.
Cheeky would have agreed, except that she found herself moving with the beat, and that would be deadly if the enemy picked up on it.
Cheeky heaved a sigh.
Sabs rolled past one of the assassins, driving her lightwand through the woman’s gut before pulling it out and slashing it across her spine. Fina finished off her final opponents a moment later, and the three women turned back toward one another while the remaining people on the dancefloor cheered their victory.
“Awww, shit.” The DJ spoke for the first time, lowering the volume on her music. “The cops are here.”
Cheeky turned toward the far end of the platform, holding back a disappointed sigh as four members of the local PD rose into view, a-grav packs attached to their light armor.
Sabs shrugged and turned off her lightwand as the four cops advanced, rifles aimed at the trio.
Cheeky nodded and turned off her lightwand, sliding it back into her thigh.
“Drop that!” one of the cops barked “You’re under arrest.”
“What for?” Fina asked as she followed suit. “That was self-defense.”
“Murder,” the man replied. “This is a fucking bloodbath.”
Sabs laughed, nudging one of the would-be assassins with her foot. “They’re not dead. Though I’m not sure they’re alive, either. They just went for us, never saying a word…Some sort of simulacra, I think.”
Two more cops arrived on the pad and began herding the bystanders to one side, while the original four officers fanned out a couple meters from the bodies.
“I don’t care if they’re plush dolls, you can’t have unregistered weapons like that on your person.”
“Like what?” Cheeky held up her empty hands, wiggled her fingers, and laughed. “Look…we’re not exactly feeling super safe here on your planet. You can take us in for questioning, but we’re not going to disarm until we’re in a safe location.”
“Take those weapons…uh…out of your legs, and throw them out of reach,” the cop ordered. “If you don’t, we’ll be forced to shoot.”
From behind them, Cheeky heard the DJ mutter, “Could let me get out of the way, first.”
Fina shook her head. “With pulse rifles? You’re not going to be able to hurt us with those, you’ll just piss us off. Tell you what. You call your commanding officer, and we’ll go down to our VIP nest and wait for them to arrive while you secure the platform up here.”
The four cops exchanged puzzled glances, one of the others shaking her head. “That’s not how this works.”
“Sure it is,” Cheeky said. “Your rifles don’t work, anyway, so it’s not like you can stop us.”
She stepped over one of the twitching assassins, giving the police a wide berth as she walked to the hoverpad with Fina and Sabs in tow. One of the cops shouted a curse and attempted to fire on Cheeky, but nothing happened.
He glanced at his rifle, eyes wide with disbelief, while Fina wagged a finger in his direction.
“Tsk tsk. She told you not to do that. We’ll be just down there, we have some drinks to finish off. Let us know when your CO gets here.”
Fina shrugged.
Cheeky glanced back at the police, who were slowly following behind.
Sabs asked.
The AI laughed as she sank into the sofa.
“So?” Fina asked aloud as she climbed onto the plinth and grabbed the pole. “Thoughts on who’s behind this?”
“My nano came up with nothing,” Cheeky replied. “They’re like husks. I think simulacra is the right guess.”
Fina nodded, spinning partway around the pole before stopping and pinning the other two with a worried look.
She shared a datastream over the Link, and Cheeky’s mouth opened in surprise.
Fina pulled herself up straight.
“Damn,” Cheeky heaved a sigh. “It just hit me. That was our l
ast dance of the night.”
Fina slumped to the plinth’s surface, leaning against the pole. “OK, now I’m depressed…way to kill the after-combat buzz.”
“Speaking of buzzkills,” Cheeky nodded past Fina. “Looks like the big fuzz is here.”
She walked to the plinth where Fina sat, watching as a hoverpad with a woman in light armor, but wearing no helmet, stood flanked by two officers in gear heavier than worn by the ones who secured the dance platform.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve,” the woman said when she was still several meters away. “What gives you the right to order my officers around?”
“Hey there,” Cheeky said with a wave. “I’m Cheeky, this is Fina and Sabs. We didn’t so much order them as ignore their orders—though I can see how that might just be semantics to you.”
The woman reached the VIP nest, stepping off ahead of her guards. “You’ll turn over those weapons of yours and submit to search before we take you in. Then we’ll talk about your little murder spree up there.”
“Hard to murder people that aren’t people,” Cheeky countered. “Like we told your cops, those were simulacra. Golems.”
“They were property, then. Now turn over your weapons.”
Cheeky sighed. “You’re lucky we already agreed to come without a fight, or you’d find that two goons wouldn’t be nearly enough.”
She slapped her thigh and drew out her lightwand, quickly palming the battery. The others did the same—or she assumed they did…this was far from their first time getting arrested in a low-tech system.
They set their lightwands down on the plinth, then climbed out of the bowl, toward the woman and her guards.
“Turn around,” the CO ordered, her tone brooking no further conversation.
Cheeky shrugged and did as she was told, the other two following suit.
One of the officers approached and started with Sabs before moving on to Fina.
Once they were cuffed, the woman collected the lightwands, sliding each one into its own sterile bag.
“Alright, you three, let’s get a move on. When we get to the station, I expect a really good explanation.”
“I’ll take my coffee with extra cream.” Fina grinned. “No sugar.”
“What?” The CO scowled at them as she stepped onto her pad.
“Oh, I was just getting ahead in the process. Don’t worry, I can wait.”
Cheeky laughed into her shoulder, earning her a shove from one of the officers.
“Ow…dammit, it was funny. You don’t need to be an ass about it.”
“Just move,” the man grunted.
The captain glanced at the other two women.
CHAPTER 34 - SAANVI
STELLAR DATE: 01.11.8960 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Sigma 1199 Alien Facility
REGION: Sigma 1199 System, Norma Arm
“Stars,” Saanvi muttered, glancing at Jason, who was working alongside her on understanding the Sigs’ power systems. “This is such a slog. Who would have thought that understanding alien power systems would be so complex?”
“Not me.” Jason sat back on his haunches and wiped a hand across his brow. “OK, I think this might do it. We’ve accounted for everything—the wave form variability, amplitude, triphasic rotation. The whole shebang.”
She cast him an amused look. “Not the first time we’ve said that, Uncle Jason.”
The ancient spacer snorted a laugh. “Been a while since you called me that.”
“Yeah, it has. Not sure why I stopped.”
“Because you grew up, became an amazing scientist and officer, and forgot your ol’ uncle.”
Saanvi laughed and reached out, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I could never forget you. Who else one-upped my dad with crazy flying antics to impress me and Cary when we were kids?”
Jason winked. “You got me there.”
“Alright, you ready?” She turned and placed a hand on the relay control. “Or should we, like…go have lunch first or something. Think through everything we’ve done.”
“Less thinking, more doing. I’m all thinked out.”
She laughed again, glad for his company—and protection. They hadn’t encountered any Sig defense drones in a few days, but she was worried that turning the power on would bring them out in droves.
“Alright, then,” she clapped her hands. “Sig power hookup, take…what, nine?”
He nodded. “Something like that.”
Saanvi drew in a deep breath and toggled the relay.
For a second, nothing happened, but then a glow came from above, and she surged to her feet, whooping for joy as the console came online.
“Holy shit! We did it!”
All around them, consoles initialized and began to display the Sig symbology.
“Whoa…you did it!” Sera’s voice came from the entrance to the room.
“We did.” Jason stood and arched his back. “Stars…this thing doesn’t last as long as it used to. I think I’m due for another spinal replacement soon.”
“Maybe you just need a whole new body,” Sera said as she sauntered up to him. “I could clone mine, and we could transfer you into it.”
The ancient spacer barked a laugh. “You’d love that, wouldn’t you? Alas, no. You know I’m ferociously binary. Love women, but the idea of being one doesn’t work for me.”
A smile tugged at the corners of Saanvi’s mouth. “Sera, you are the least Transcendy person from the Transcend I’ve ever met. Especially given who your father was.”
Sera shrugged. “I was extra repressed. I had to break free.”
Saanvi’s gaze slid to Jason, eyes widening.
“Hey, whoa….” He grunted. “Are you saying I’m repressed?”
Sera held up a hand, pinching her thumb and index finger together. “Maybe a weeee bit.”
“I’m refined. I know what I like. I’ve been around, done a lot of crazy stuff…I’m just content. Besides, Sera, no one repressed would marry you.”
“OK,” Saanvi shrugged, turning to Sera. “He’s got you there.”
The former president of the Transcend laughed and turned to the consoles. “Yeah, yeah. So, what do we know?”
“I was just kidding.”
Saanvi approached Sera. “Do you want to do the honors?”
“Me?” the red-skinned woman asked with a laugh. “I thought I was just the muscle.”
“If you’re not keen, I’ll do it,” Jason offered, a twinkle in his eye.
“Of course I’ll do it.” Sera snorted, then gave her a husband a nudge with her hips. “And who says ‘keen’? That’s so eighty-nine-twenties.”
Jason laughed. “I’ve seen every trendy phrase come in and out of style half a dozen times. I barely try to keep track anymore. Oh, and Sera?”
“Yeah?”
“Push the glyph already.”
Saanvi laughed, and Sera touched a finger to the holographic symbol.
There was a low hum, and then a holoemitter descended from the ceiling, squeaking loudly as it slid from its recess.
“Stars, we’ll need to get some lube for that,” Saanvi muttered. “Hope it works, though. I’d love to see what sort of records they have here—especially pertaining to their research on gates.”
Immediately following her words, the emitter sprang to life, and a three-dimensional star chart appeared above them.
“OK, that was the luckiest button mash of all time,” Sera said with a laugh.
Jen said.
A trinary set of stars lay in the center of the model, and Jason reached up, touching the outermost star. “That’ll be us.”
Sure enough, the view zoomed in, showing the system, the moon with the crater facility denoted with a kinked line, and the Sig’s text labeling it.
“Now how do we zoom back out?” Sera asked.
Sera did as the AI said, and the view reverted.
“Alright, that was simple,” Jason said, looking over other nearby stars. “This one looks promising. A Type-A3 with a G3 companion.” He tapped the star, and the view zoomed in, showing the binary system and over a dozen planets.
