The Last of the Firsts

by G J Ogden

  Maria switched gears accordingly. “I understand, Ashley, and I’ll be ready when you are. Good luck.”

  “Good luck to us all,” Ashley replied, and then she nodded to Byrne and Etta and hurriedly left the basement room.

  Chapter 20

  Lights flashed past outside the window as the transport sped along the main transitway towards the government sector. It was hypnotic and, combined with the drone of the transit’s motor, deeply soothing. As Maria relaxed in the rear seat, she could feel her eyes closing. Sleep had been hard to come by since the destruction of the GPS space station, and restful sleep had been even more scarce than that.

  “Commander?” She opened her eyes and found her head to be resting against the window.

  “Sal, are you awake?” She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Byrne was looking at her, his eyes reflected in the rear viewing mirror.

  “Sorry, I must have zoned out for a minute.”

  “More like forty minutes,” said Byrne, brightly. “I’ve been circling around for a bit; I thought you could use the sleep.”

  Maria yawned; Byrne wasn’t wrong. “Thanks.”

  “There’s only so many times I can pass through sector boundaries without it looking suspicious though, so we’re heading to the government sector now. Won’t be long.”

  “Understood,” said Maria, still groggy. The disorientating effect of waking up in the moving transport was compounded by the fact that she didn’t recognize her clothes, and it took her several seconds to remember why she’d changed. Byrne had suggested that Maria ditch the stolen UEC uniform, because she had been identified wearing it and the surveillance holos and patrols would have been advised to hone in their facial scans on uniformed women. Etta had fetched some clothes from her apartment, including a long hooded cloak which she said would adequately disguise Maria’s face without drawing suspicion, and allow her to move through the government sector without being stopped. The clothes weren’t really her style, but she appreciated the utility of the outfit all the same. Underneath, she still wore her old partner’s PVSM unit.

  “We’re coming up to the tunnel link,” added Byrne, who was the only other person in the transport. “They have stepped up security, but our hacked ident should get us through without additional checks.”

  “Should?” said Maria, suddenly feeling less comfortable.

  “Don’t worry, just act normally and this will go fine.”

  The transport slowed as they approached the gate blocking the center of the tunnel link, and the transport was suddenly bathed in a cool white light. A message then flashed up in the center console, ‘Security Check: Pull in to Bay A2.’

  “Byrne, this doesn’t seem to be going fine…” said Maria.

  “It’s okay, they do this from time to time,” said Byrne, slowing further and then taking a slip road off the main transitway. “Just pretend to be asleep, okay?” He glanced back, grinning, and added, “That shouldn’t be too hard for you…” The waggishness of the comment seemed entirely unbefitting to the seriousness of their situation, but Maria didn’t have time to protest before the transport came to a halt. Maria saw a UEC soldier approach the cockpit and she slumped into the corner of the rear compartment, pulling the hood up so that it draped just over her eyes. She was reminded of how comfortable the rear seat of the transport was, and despite the flood of nervous energy rushing through her body, she felt like she could actually fall asleep again, given half a chance.

  Byrne lowered the side window and waited for the UEC soldier to come alongside.

  “Just a routine check, nothing to worry about,” the soldier said breezily. “Can you tell me the nature of your business in the sector this evening?”

  “We’ve been called back in for a night shift,” said Byrne, casually. “You know what it’s like, with all the extra security and the Flying Corps strikes. It’s twice as much work and half the staff!”

  “Yeah, I hear you,” said the soldier. “If you ask me, the whole place has gone mad.” Then he glanced into the rear compartment at Maria. “What’s her story?”

  Byrne laughed. “She’d only just got off after ten hours straight. It’s the only sleep she’ll get tonight, so I let her get away with it.”

  “Alright for some I guess,” said the soldier, with half his attention focused on a data pad in his hand. “Everything checks out, have a good evening, sir.”

  “Same to you,” said Byrne, affably, before closing the window again. Then the transport began to pull away.

  Byrne waited until he was back on the main transitway and then said, “It’s okay, we’re clear.”

  Maria sat up and drew the hood back so that it was resting on top of her head. “You handled that well, you should be working in intelligence, not… what exactly do you do, anyway, besides being a member of Ashley’s resistance group and chauffeuring me around the base?”

  “I work in a food production lab, in sector seven.” Byrne seemed glad that Maria had asked. “Compared to this, it’s quite boring, really.”

  “I could do with a little boring when this is all over,” remarked Maria.

  Byrne turned down a side street and continued on for a few hundred meters before stopping. “There are extra patrols around the Teardrop and the key ministries, so they’re not allowing transports down the nearby streets. It’s best if I drop you here and you continue on foot. If you approach through the side streets and head for the south side service entrance, you have the best chance of not being seen.”

  Maria nodded; she had already planned her approach, but was glad of having her strategy confirmed by someone else.

  There was a short series of electronic bleeps; Byrne quickly removed the hacked ident from his shirt pocket and slipped it into the console, reading the message carefully. He then twisted around in his seat and fixed Maria with a determined stare.

  “That was a message on the dark channel; Ashley has secured the spaceport.”

  “So, how long do I have to pull this off?”

  “The clock started as soon as we entered the government sector,” replied Byrne. “You have maybe forty minutes before Ashley gets in position to hijack the holo broadcast system. We don’t know how long she’ll be able to hold that position for, before they either shut down the transmitters or force Ashley to leave. Are you sure you can do this alone?”

  Maria knew what he was angling at, but she was resolute about no-one else getting harmed because of her actions.

  “I appreciate the offer, Byrne, but if this is going to work, it has to be me, and me alone.”

  Byrne nodded, though he didn’t look convinced or happy about Maria’s answer. He quietly slipped back into the driver’s seat without a word of protest, and then leaned over and opened the glove compartment, removing a pistol.

  “I understand,” said Byrne, twisting back to face Maria. “Here, you might need this. I see you lost yours.”

  Maria took the pistol, which was an older model UEC-issue weapon, and inspected it, noting that the clip was full and the safety was engaged. “Where did you get this?”

  “Ashley told me to give it to you,” said Byrne, “I think it was hers, from when she was still enlisted.”

  Maria smiled and concealed the weapon in the waistband of her pants, underneath the cloak, “Thanks Byrne,” she said, warmly. “Here’s hoping my performance will be as convincing as yours just was with that guard,” she added, and then she opened the door of the transport and stepped out. It was late evening and the illumination levels in the dome had been lowered accordingly. She pulled the hood of her cloak further over her head and closed the door, before patting the roof to let Byrne know he could leave. The transport moved off slowly, and Maria watched it head away for a moment, before turning to stare up at the Teardrop, suspended near the apex of the dome, looking like a giant bullet balanced on a stem of metal.

  The main streets were still a bustle of activity, which Maria was thankful for as it would help her to blend in. She spotted a two-pers
on UEC patrol and casually turned her back to them and headed for a smaller side-street. She could feel the cool metal of the pistol rubbing against the skin of her lower back as she picked up the pace towards the south entrance of the Teardrop. She knew the labyrinthine back streets of the government sector better than most and she quickly got her bearings. A significant portion of the five years she had spent with Diana, working to further the peace process, had been spent in the various ministry offices, discussing the logistics of combining GPS and UEC resources and coming up with a structure for governing their two societies as one. This had proven to be far more complicated than anyone had expected; after more than one hundred years of independent control the UEC and GPS had developed surprisingly different ways of managing everything from food production to law and order. It was often stressful, but it was also an undeniably happy time. Memories of these days spent with Diana streamed back into her mind, but instead of joy they only served to remind her of the pain of her loss, as well as the magnitude of her own failure and what it had cost. She squeezed her fists together so that her fingernails dug into the palms of her hands, like eight tiny blades, and allowed the pain to blot the image of Diana’s face from her mind.

  She rounded the corner and continued on through the emptier back streets towards the Teardrop. She could see the high fence ahead, which acted as a first-stage security barrier, stopping anyone from reaching the ground level complex. She checked her pocket and felt the rectangular shape of the hacked ident, which she was counting on to get her through the gates, then a more immediate obstacle presented itself in the form of a second security patrol, heading directly for her. She focused on her breathing, trying to remain calm, and covertly surveyed the street for a way out, but there were no exits nearby, and she couldn’t risk trying a random door and it not opening. She considered turning around, but reasoned that this would look even more suspicious, and so reluctantly she decided to pass by the patrol and hope they ignored her. She continued to focus on her breathing and on maintaining a steady pace, despite her fight or flight instincts urging her to speed up. The soldiers drew alongside and she kept her head bowed slightly, painfully aware of the fact that their eyes were upon her.

  “Hold up there, miss,” said one of the soldiers as Maria passed them by; her heart leapt and her gut churned angrily.

  She stopped and smiled, and tried to channel Byrne’s cool-headed acting ability. “Sure, is there anything the matter?” she said as nonchalantly as possible, while forcing a smile.

  “We’re going to need to see your ident; these streets are off limits to anyone except approved personnel.”

  Maria held the smile, “Of course, I am authorized. Just a moment while I find my ident...” she fumbled inside her cloak, pretending to search for her ident card, while stealthily glancing behind the two soldiers and noting that there was no-one else on the narrow street but them. Still, she couldn’t risk a firefight out in the open; while a physical response unit would take a minute or two to arrive, security drones could be on top of her within thirty seconds. She would need to take them both down silently if there was to be any chance of making it inside the Teardrop undetected.

  Maria pulled out the hacked ident card and offered it to the closest soldier, still smiling amiably, but then deliberately dropped it just as the soldier’s gloved handed reach for it. “I’m terribly sorry!”

  The soldier groaned and bent to pick it up, but only made it half-way down before Maria had surged forward and hammered her knee into the soldier’s nose, producing a nauseating crunch. The other soldier staggered back, clearly caught by surprise, and then half-heartedly swung his rifle towards Maria, but she caught the barrel and struck him in the throat with the flat of her hand. Croaking and spluttering, he barely had time to register the pain before Maria had wrestled the rifle from his hands and clubbed him across the temple with the butt, knocking him out cold.

  Maria recovered the weapon to a firing position, and aimed down the length of the street in both directions, but fortunately it was still clear.

  The whole incident was over in only a few seconds, but Maria was conscious that time was short, and that needing to hide the bodies of two unconscious soldiers had not been part of her plan. She checked her PVSM; there were twenty-five minutes remaining until Ashley was intended to be in position to hack the main holo network.

  “Damn it…” Maria cursed out loud. She slung the rifle and then dragged both of the bodies in to the alcove of a nearby double doorway that didn’t appear to be in regular use. There was no time to hide them properly, but unless she was very unlucky, they wouldn’t be discovered until she was inside the Teardrop. She turned to leave, but then had a thought, and crouched down beside the first soldier, searching inside his body armor until she found his ident card. Keeping the card gripped tightly in her hand, she quickly checked the street was still clear, and then sprinted to the security gate that provided access into the Teardrop’s ground-floor complex. She pressed the soldier’s ident to the panel and waited, anxiously glancing up and down the street as several silhouetted figures appeared in the distance.

  “Come on, work…” she said, urging the lock mechanism to activate, but then the panel surround turned green and she recognized the tell-tale clunk of the lock mechanism turning. She pulled the gate open and darted through, letting it swing shut behind her, and raced to the back door of the Teardrop complex. She held the soldier’s ident card to the panel and waited, but this time the panel surround turned red.

  “Damn, come on!” she cursed under her breath, and then tried it a second time. More agonizing seconds passed, but again the lights showed red. Panic started to build in her gut, but she squeezed her fists tightly and breathed deeply and slowly, fighting to remain composed. Discarding the soldier’s ident, she removed the hacked ident that Byrne had given her, and anxiously pressed that to the panel. More long seconds passed, but the result was the same. Maria punched the wall and tossed the ident away.

  “Come on Maria, think…” and then she remembered the PVSM on her left wrist. It was Chris Kurren’s PVSM, and if there was one thing the old man was really good at it was jacking into systems. Hurriedly, she removed the access port on the door and attached the jacking cables from the PVSM to the connectors inside.

  “This was always your job, old man,” she grumbled as she worked through the over-ride procedure, imagining that her old partner was standing behind her, scrutinizing her work. “I just hope I picked up a few of your tricks.”

  She heard distant voices from out in the street, followed soon afterwards by shouting. She worked faster, knowing that the most likely cause of the shouting was that the soldiers had been discovered. She completed the jacking procedure and activated the PVSM’s override program; more tense seconds elapsed and then finally the panel surround turned green and the locks turned. Maria yanked the jacking cables out of the panel, causing them to automatically whip back into the PVSM like the lashing tentacles of some mythical sea monster. The shouts were getting louder and closer, but the sound of her pulse thumping in her ears drowned out the commotion. She closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe, feeling her heart-rate begin to slow, and then she opened her eyes, loaded the rifle and kicked open the door. It slammed against the wall and startled a bored-looking soldier standing guard on the other side, watching a holo show projected from his PVSM. His eyes jerked across to Maria, his expression a mix of shock and embarrassment. He fumbled for his sidearm, but Maria gave him no time to recover his senses, striking him cleanly across the side of his face with the butt of the rifle. The soldier’s head ricocheted off the opposite wall of the corridor and then he fell like a dead weight, the holo show fizzling off to leave the corridor in relative darkness. Maria stepped inside and closed the door; from the schematic of the Teardrop complex she knew that the elevator at the far end of the passage led directly to the concealed back room behind the main conference space. If she could get up there and jam the elevator, she would be abl
e to make her move on Kuba.

  She pressed on to the end of the corridor and hit the call button for the elevator, but as the doors sprung open she was confronted by Lieutenant Zahn; her knuckles were swollen and cut, blood was streaked across her face, and her cold, cruel eyes were fixed onto Maria’s. For a split second, neither moved, and then both burst into action, like the explosion at the end of a delayed fuse. Maria swung the rifle at Zahn’s ribs, but the soldier blocked, smashing the weapon out of her grasp, and then charged into Maria, slamming her back against the wall. Maria winced, and then felt a knee rise into her gut, stealing the breath from her lungs. Zahn moved like the wind, and Maria barely managed to duck a follow-up punch, which slammed into the wall above her head. Zahn yelled in pain, and Maria struck back, swinging a hook into her ribs, but the soldier’s body armor absorbed the blow, and Zahn retaliated swiftly, driving a forearm into Maria’s face. She stumbled back, tasting blood, and was hit again in the gut and then again to the head, which sent her sprawling to the floor. She scrambled back, but Zahn stalked confidently after her, like a predator hunting a lame, but still potentially dangerous prey. The soldier’s jet-black body armor was barely visible in the gloom, but there was still enough light to see her twisted, sadistic looking smile staring down at her.

  “I’ve been looking for you, Salus,” sneered Zahn, venomously. “If I’d known you were just going to turn up here it would have saved me having to beat on your partner, but then again, I did enjoy it.”

  “Savor that feeling while you still can,” said Maria, spitting blood onto the floor and then climbing back to her feet.

  Zahn pressed her advantage and surged forward, flashing kicks and punches faster than anyone Maria had fought before; she blocked and countered, but the armor absorbed the power of her blows, and before she realized it, Zahn had grabbed Maria around the neck and sunk into a choke hold.