Frostburn (Ultrahumans Book 4)

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘Hmm…’

  Cygnus flashed a grin and then pointed at the switches in the junction box. ‘Screen light is red now. I take it we’re leaving that for later?’

  ‘Tomorrow. We’ll power it up and attempt some form of test.’

  ‘Okay then.’ Reaching out, Cygnus set a finger on the middle switch. ‘Does it start up as soon as the power goes on?’

  ‘Seems like it should boot straight up,’ Elaine said from the computer room door. ‘It was wired straight into the power system back on the ship.’

  ‘Here goes…’ Cygnus flipped the switch down, the light went green, and things began to happen in the computer room.

  This looked rather more like something out of a conventional server room. There was a central corridor through it to get from the entrance ladder to the central hub. On either side of that there were racks of electronics and it took a practised eye to notice that some of the units looked more conventional than others. There were, in fact, a lot more alien modules than Earth ones, but there were various converters and modems which let the computer access telephone lines and internet connections. Some had been built specifically for the purpose, but there was at least one perfectly ordinary gigabit Ethernet switch.

  Now lights began to flash and flicker all across the arrays of equipment and there was the hum of fans. Electronics were coming to life, but there was no indication of the computer being really functional for several seconds and Cygnus found herself clenching her fists in anticipation. She had warned the computer of the chance of failure. If something had gone wrong, if data had somehow been lost during the dismantling or transport. Or if they had somehow put everything back together wrong…

  A holographic display appeared in the air in front of one of the racks and symbols only Cygnus could read began scrolling. ‘It’s going a little fast,’ she said, ‘but it looks kind of like a system check.’

  ‘Good start,’ Elaine replied.

  ‘Okay, booting operating system…’

  A voice sounded in the room, speaking a language no human alive could understand, unless you considered Cygnus human and she was not entirely sure about that. ‘System initialised,’ the voice said. ‘Sensor and communications systems live. Diagnostic checks completed with no issues. Hello again, Cygnus.’

  Cygnus grinned. ‘Hello again, computer.’ She switched back to English and said, ‘It’s working.’

  ‘Great,’ Elaine said. ‘See if it can detect the peripherals we installed.’

  Cygnus saw text scrolling and knew the computer was acquiring the devices Elaine had set up as soon as she mentioned them, but since they were still sort of playing the game that the computer only understood very basic English, Cygnus played along. ‘You should be able to find various things. Elaine said there was an interface to the TV so you could display things there, and there are a few cameras, microphones, and speakers around the house.’

  ‘Miss Ellis has done an excellent job of reverse engineering my normal protocols. I have created a sensor map of the building I am now housed in and located the devices. If you go up to the central area above–’

  ‘That’s the lounge.’

  ‘To the lounge then. Once there, I will communicate further.’

  ‘It’s got them,’ Cygnus said. ‘It’s suggesting we go up and test the lounge stuff.’

  When they arrived in the lounge, the big TV was displaying some sort of radar map and the computer’s voice announced, ‘I am compiling a local structural map. Objects detected as mobile are indicated where they can be detected. Ground clutter is making thorough modelling difficult at low altitudes.’

  Cygnus blinked at the sea of information. ‘Uh, it says it’s trying to build up a map of the area, but it’s difficult because of the buildings, I think.’

  ‘That was an accurate summary.’ Cygnus could have almost sworn the thing was smirking.

  ‘Holy Hell,’ Andrea said. ‘It’s showing aircraft, ships in the bay, a fair amount of cars in North Beach… And this radar thing it uses can’t be detected normally?’

  ‘It’s cosmic,’ Elaine said, grinning. ‘Nothing terrestrial is going to pick it up. Well, nothing conventional. There are detectors which could, obviously.’

  ‘Are those people it’s picking up?’ June asked, pointing vaguely at several, very small icons close to the centre.

  ‘Uh-huh,’ Cygnus replied. ‘Identified as humanoid. Someone’s going to have to be pretty good to sneak up on this place now.’

  ‘They’ll need some form of active countermeasure,’ Ultimate said. ‘Now, we don’t have the neural interface here that the ship had, so I think we had better go over the various options we do have and make sure they are working. And then we can declare your new computer operational.’

  24th November.

  ‘Power is on,’ Elaine said.

  ‘And the indicators here are all green,’ Doctor Ultimate added from the force screen room. ‘Cygnus?’

  Cygnus turned to the holographic screen beside her. ‘You seeing the force screen, computer?’

  ‘Force screen interface established,’ the computer responded. ‘Diagnostics indicate full function.’

  ‘Yup,’ Cygnus called out in English. ‘It’s working.’

  ‘Excellent,’ Ultimate said. ‘Now we just need to test it.’

  ‘You sure about this?’ Cygnus asked.

  ‘I can’t think of a better way which does not mean large-scale property damage on a failure.’

  ‘So you want me to punch a force wall?’

  ‘Should be interesting.’

  They all gathered outside the house, near the sensor dome since that had audio capability and it made life easier. Cygnus was a little dubious, but it was going to be interesting. ‘Okay, computer, put the screen up around the house but not the sensor unit.’

  There was a shimmer in the air in front of them and the computer said, ‘Screen established. Strength is diminished by greater surface area.’

  ‘It says it’s having to put the screen out over a bigger area so it’s not as strong.’

  ‘To be expected,’ Ultimate replied. He stepped forward and reached out to where the shimmer had happened. His hand stopped, apparently meeting a solid, if invisible, object. A second later, everyone was doing it.

  Andrea banged a fist on the invisible wall. ‘Seems pretty solid.’

  Cygnus drew back her fist and slammed it into the screen. ‘Seems like it. Okay, everyone stand back. I’ll put some real effort into it.’ There was a general shuffling away from the wall and Cygnus pulled her arm back again. This time there was actually some effect as she drove a super-strength punch into the screen. There was another shimmer as the shield reacted to the blow, but it still stopped Cygnus’s fist.

  ‘Screen holding at ninety-nine point two per cent,’ the computer announced. Then, with barely any gap, ‘Regeneration to full strength completed.’

  Cygnus giggled. ‘I apparently managed to dent it for a second. Okay, let’s try something a bit more violent.’ She switched languages and said, ‘Is there anything in the air nearby?’

  ‘Local airspace is clear.’

  ‘Right.’ Cygnus started reshuffling powers and switched back to English. ‘Maybe you should step back a bit further.’

  ‘What are you planning?’ Andrea asked.

  ‘Well, I worked up a flying blaster configuration, a bit like Brightstar, I guess. I figure if my punch doesn’t faze it, let’s see what a glancing energy blast does.’

  ‘Well, I suppose that would be a proportional test,’ Ultimate said, nodding.

  ‘Hopefully…’ Stepping back a little herself, Cygnus stretched out an arm, aimed it high to just miss the roof of the house, and fired. A needle-sharp, laser-like beam of white light lanced out from her palm and met the force screen in a blaze of shimmering lights… And stopped dead.

  ‘Force screen holding at ninety-eight point two per cent,’ the computer announced. ‘Regeneration complete.’

 
‘That gibberish sounded a lot like the last gibberish,’ Elaine commented.

  ‘Uh, yeah,’ Cygnus said. ‘I didn’t do a lot more damage than the last time.’ She turned her head to the sensor unit. ‘Okay, you can drop the screen now. Thank you, computer.’

  There was another shimmer in the air. ‘Force screen deactivated. It is my duty, Cygnus.’

  ‘It would appear,’ Doctor Ultimate said, ‘that you now have a very secure house. Our work here is done.’

  ‘You’ll stay for lunch though, right?’ June asked.

  ‘Oh, I think a short period of revelling in a job well done is warranted, my dear. And if we go back to the office too soon, someone will just want me to do something boring.’

  ‘Great. I’ll put the cosmic kettle on then.’

  San Francisco, CA.

  Walking into the office on a Monday morning in November during daylight hours was a novel experience for Detective Damian Inman. Then again, it was a novel office too. The Personal Crimes Division of the SFPD instead of Narcotics and Vice. Here, Damian could investigate homicides. Personal Crimes did more than that, but Damian had always felt he was better placed to work murder cases than chase after drug dealers and illegal gambling.

  ‘Inman.’ Damian turned at the voice, finding himself looking at Captain Adele Hermann. ‘Welcome to Personal Crimes. My office, now.’ That was not ominous at all…

  Hermann was a fine figure of a woman, if you liked women who could fell a man with one punch. She had a reputation for being the toughest woman in the San Francisco Police Department, possibly the toughest human in the force, and she was known to be meaner than anything in the K-9 Unit given reason. She was thickly set, but attractive. She kept her blonde hair trimmed short, trimmed her nails rigorously, never wore make-up, and ran six miles a day, five days a week. Damian would have been impressed if he had never met Bianca Fullerton. Hermann had a more obviously muscled body than Bianca and harder features. Both women had blue eyes, but Hermann’s had more ice in them. Hermann had a reputation for a razor-sharp mind too, but then again, Damian had met Bianca who ran one of the largest technology companies on the planet.

  ‘Close the door,’ Hermann said once Damian had followed her to her corner office. The room was relatively sparse, quite private. There were a couple of photographs, family ones of Hermann with an older couple, probably her parents. She had never married, favouring her job over her social life for far too long to make a long-term relationship function. There were also a couple of framed certificates: the few awards and commendations that Hermann considered worthy of display; Damian knew she had received far more than the ones he could see now. ‘Right,’ she went on, ‘door is closed, no one’s listening. A few things I want to get straight before we get on with being cops.’

  ‘Uh… Okay, Captain.’

  ‘They shunted you over to my division because you wanted the assignment, the chief is trying to keep you from bitching about what the task force did to you, and you’re screwing Bianca Fullerton. None of that makes you suitable for handling the work here. You fuck up just once and I’ll have you transferred to traffic duty so fast you’ll see lights.’

  Damian bit back on the burst of anger. Anger was not going to get him anywhere. Anger was just going to– Oh, fuck it. ‘Better get the paperwork ready then. Everyone screws up once. Everyone. Even you. You’ve screwed the pooch more than once that I know of, but you’ve always had your boss standing behind you, admitted responsibility, and done what you could to fix it. I, apparently, have a boss who wants me to fail. So, how about you go fuck yourself and I’ll take the reassignment now rather than having to look over my shoulder for the rest of my career.’

  ‘Finished?’

  ‘No. Yes, I got fucked over by the TAATF and no one would believe me. Yes, I am sleeping with Bianca Fullerton. No, neither of those facts makes me suitable to be here. Being a damn good detective is what makes me suitable to be here. I’d love to say you don’t need another good detective, but you had Ray Kuff under your nose for months ignoring bloody obvious facts and getting away with it, so maybe you do. But if you’re not interested, neither am I.’

  ‘Finished now?’

  ‘Yes. Captain.’

  Hermann nodded, sucking on her teeth. ‘Good. You’re right about Kuff. I should have spotted it. Everyone knew about his affair. No one figured it was blackmail material. Stupid asshole should’ve just reported the attempt, but no… Set this division’s reputation back a decade and I am not going to have anyone here who won’t give me one hundred per cent or better. Every other officer in the division has had me yell the same thing at them, but you’re new and you’re carrying baggage. But… You do your job, make me believe that assertion about how good you are, and I’ll back you like I would any other man under my command.’

  ‘Thank you, Captain.’

  ‘Okay. Sit down and we’ll go over a few details. We don’t have a partner for you yet. We do have work. You’ll be taking over Kuff’s cases. Yes, that includes the Snapshot and Fuego case, but I hear you run in those kinds of circles too.’

  Damian winced as he took a seat. ‘Uh… I got lucky. Cygnus and Twilight were staying with Bianca and they wanted help on a narcotics bust. The Stars and the Union of Ultrahumans were called in on it so I’ve at least met some of the Stars, yeah. Backroom, Elaine Ellis, works for Bianca when she’s not building super-robots.’

  ‘And you’ve met Mink.’

  ‘Once. She jumped in on a trafficking case. I wouldn’t say we’re on speaking terms.’

  ‘I ran into her a couple of years ago. She “jumped in” on a serial case I was working. Quite a woman.’

  Damian nodded. ‘Yeah, she is.’

  ‘Right.’ Hermann pulled a stack of files out of her desk and landed them on top with a thud. ‘I want to go over these with you before you start on them. You’re going to be working your ass off, Inman.’

  ‘Not a problem, Captain. After running around in the TAATF’s shadow, some actual work would be a nice change of pace.’

  New Millennium City, MD.

  Zoe poked her head around the comic racks as the door buzzer announced customers. To be honest, the group who walked in did not really look like customers. In fact, they looked like a rather odd collection. There was a middle-aged man and a red-haired woman who looked like a couple, and then there was an African American woman who was significantly younger, but they did not really look like comic book fans. There was something familiar about the man, though. Oh well…

  ‘Hi, welcome to Radium Comics. Can I help at all?’

  The man smiled. ‘Why yes, I believe you can. I’m looking for something with a brunette with jet-black eyes and shadow powers.’

  Zoe blinked. ‘Uh…’

  Then Andrea’s voice came from the back of the shop. ‘Hugh? Is that you?’

  Hugh? That meant… ‘Oh my God, you’re Doctor Ultimate!’ Zoe squeaked.

  ‘And you must be Zoe,’ Alice said.

  Zoe cringed. ‘Andrea’s mentioned me?’

  ‘Stop scaring my colleague,’ Andrea called out, ‘and come back here so I can introduce you to Roger.’

  ‘Roger Wentworth Peters,’ Alice said once the introductions had been made. ‘I remember you. You were in Nuclear Winter, weren’t you?’

  ‘For my sins,’ Roger replied, grinning.

  ‘You’ve actually heard of them?’ Zoe asked.

  ‘A brief flirtation with punk in my younger days,’ Alice replied. ‘We still have the first album.’

  ‘On vinyl,’ Ultimate said. ‘It’s making a comeback, just as I said.’

  ‘Vinyl,’ Roger agreed, ‘but not Nuclear Winter, thankfully. These days I spend my time here or at conventions.’

  ‘I never get the time these days. Once upon a time I used to collect, but now…’

  ‘We still have all of those too,’ Alice said. ‘He never throws anything away. I expect Antarctica to eventually sink under the weight of his clutter.’


  ‘That’s why you’re there instead of a tropical island then?’ Andrea suggested.

  ‘Tropical islands sink faster than continents.’

  ‘I’d be upset,’ Ultimate said, ‘but it’s probably true. Do you mind if I browse? It’s been a while since I’ve had an afternoon off.’

  ‘Be my guest,’ Roger said. ‘Technically, that’s what this place is here for.’

  ‘Technically?’ Elaine asked.

  ‘Oh,’ Andrea replied, grinning, ‘we all know Radium Comics is just here to house Roger’s comic collection. Even if he does let other people buy them at times.’

  ‘I think it’s a man thing,’ Zoe added, nodding.

  Roger shrugged. ‘I’d be upset, but it’s probably true.’

  ~~~

  June stood in front of the TV screen in the lounge, watching air traffic going in and out of Starblaze International a few miles away. The house was back to normal, just the three usual occupants, plus one alien computer which had now learned to identify airline squawk codes and secondary radar data.

  ‘This is all way cool,’ she said, ‘and it’s nice that we’ve given it a new home and all, but it’s not really that useful. I mean, what if I just want to watch ACPN?’

  Penny walked out of the bedroom, belting closed her robe. ‘Yeah… I think it’s time to quit pretending, computer. June and Andrea can be trusted.’

  ‘Of course, Cygnus,’ the computer said in English.

  ‘Actually, so can Hugh and Alice, and Elaine, but there’s plausible deniability to think of. Next time any of them visit, you can say you’ve learned.’

  ‘I will make a note.’

  ‘Okay…’ June said, frowning. ‘So… She figured out how to speak English back in San Francisco…’

  ‘However,’ the computer said, ‘it seemed expedient to continue the illusion that I could only speak to Cygnus.’

  ‘You’re using a different voice,’ Penny said, frowning. ‘You do sound female now. You sounded… genderless before.’

  ‘Since the household is exclusively female, I assumed it would be best to fit in. Would you like me to switch the display to ACPN, June?’

  ‘Oh,’ June said. ‘No. That was just an example.’