Buck Roger XXVC #00.5 Arrival

by M S Murdock

  He was losing. That thought was foremost in his mind as he dodged the voids on his way to the center, determined at least to go down fighting. Another section vanished in a flash just in front of him, and he frantically changed direction, veered around it-and came face-to-face with the monster.

  He had just enough time to realize who it was: Masterlink, free in the matrix once again, his prison destroyed in the attack, but before he could move to fight or escape, the A.I. bore down on him, driving him backward into the gap and dissolution.

  00000

  The moment he awoke, he knew that something was wrong. His last memory was of preparing for backup-which meant that he was the copy. Something had happened to the original, automatically triggering his restoration. But how long had it been between backup and the present? And what could have happened to kill every real-time copy of Holzerhein in the matrix?

  That was easy enough to answer. Gaping holes were scattered all over, the sort of holes that you could only get if something had caused a drastic system failure. No doubt he had been caught in the middle of it, and—

  Another section winked out right beside him. It was still going on! He rushed off toward the computer center, dodging voids on the way, but slowed to a stop before he got there. There was another presence ahead of him, working frantically at something, sending out command feelers in all directions. A repair program? No. It had a different feel, something more malevolent, something familiar.

  Masterlink.

  The A.l. became aware of him. Another feeler reached out and made contact with him, and Masterlink said, “I would not recommend continuing our fight just now. I have the attackers at bay, but with these pitifully weak lasers I must direct my full attention to targeting.” The attackers? NEO? That had to be it. “You’re holding them off by yourself?”

  Masterlink attempted an electronic chuckle. “You forget who I am. Ah, they have decided to make their escape while they still can.”

  Holzerhein accessed a camera and saw the NEO rebels beating a retreat, but suddenly one armored figure split from the group and ran off down a side corridor. Even though Masterlink held him in the focus of at least two lasers along the entire length of the corridor, the armor held and he continued on unharmed. “He’s trying for my brain!” Holzerhein shouted. Masterlink focused the holo lasers on the joint between the attacker’s helmet and shoulder plates.

  Ignoring it, the rebel reached the doors, fired at one until he had a hole large enough to shoot through, then began shooting into the room beyond. Support machinery erupted in flame, and Holzerhein felt each shot as a distinct twinge of phantom sensation in his mind, but the brain, housed inside its golden case, remained intact and on line. It wouldn’t last much longer, but another NEO rebel ran up and pulled the first away before he could get in the killing shot, shouting, “Forget the damn thing, you idiot; it’s time to get out of here!”

  Holzerhein didn’t recognize the voice, but was that a metallic Skullcap peeking out from under the man’s helmet? A brain augment? The only person Holzerhein had ever heard of with such a device was the pirate, Black Barney, but it couldn’t have been him. Not here. Could it?

  There was no opportunity to tell for sure. The rebel who had been firing on Holzerhein’s brain said, “Yes, sir,” in a voice that indicated that he wasn’t used to being ordered around, but he obeyed this time and the two of them sped off to join their companions. The rebels fled beneath Masterlink’s laser fire, evading guards where they could, fighting their way through where they couldn’t, until they finally broke out into the night. The rebel with the skull cap spoke into a comlink and moments later their fighters swooped down to land beside them. In seconds they had climbed aboard, lifted off, and arrowed straight into the sky, leaving Holzerhein and the palace guard looking up, helplessly, after them.

  The ground began to quake softly. Had they nuked something on their way out? Holzerhein wondered.

  00000

  It took him a few days to sort it all out. He pieced bits of the story together from evidence gathered both in the matrix and out of it. It was an incomplete picture, but he could see the pattern clearly enough.

  The south wing was a ruin. What NEO hadn’t destroyed, the quake in a weakened structure had finished. From there, blast scars on the walls led in a direct path to the computer center.

  Searchers found the captain of the guard and Terendon Freil both dead of shock in the captain’s command station, with laser burns over the lower two-thirds of their bodies. Someone had been interrupted in the middle of torturing them, and from the nature of the torture instrument and the gap in the matrix all around the guard station it wasn’t hard to figure out who it was or why he had stopped when he did.

  Masterlink had disappeared into the interplanetary matrix, but not before threatening that if Holzerhein interfered in his vengeance again he would kill him again, as many times as necessary.

  Ardala had escaped the night untouched, spending it in orbit, where she could watch the comet strike and miss the subsequent storms. When Holzerhein confronted her about the virus program, she paled, but she held her ground. “Sure I gave it to him He told me he was going to use it on a freighter auto pilot.”

  “A freighter autopilot. Then why was it set to trigger on the word ‘Holzerhein’?”

  “I gave it to him blank. He made up his own trigger Word.”

  “And you didn’t even think that he might use it against me?”

  Ardala hesitated, her eyes shifting as if seeking escape routes, but there was no escaping Holzerhein if he chose to attack her, and she knew it. She nodded, locked eyes with his hologram, and said, “Okay, so I suspected. That’s why I gave it to him. I knew it wouldn’t work. The program was made for a whale brain. That’s what they use for navigation on freighters: whale brains, so I didn’t even try to hide the thing. I mean, what’s a whale going to do if it finds an extra memory in long-term storage? Nothing. But I knew you’d find it if he tried it on you.”

  “True enough,” Holzerhein admitted. “Still, you could have warned me.” He winked out of her presence before she could respond, not out of any fear of that response, but simply because he wanted to gloat in privacy.

  In the end, Holzerhein had done exactly what he’d set out to do. The cost had been more than he’d been prepared to pay, but he had done it. He’d developed an adversary worth fighting, and set in motion a battle of wills that would, with any luck, take decades to resolve. Just what that resolution might be was uncertain-the new NEO had already proven itself to be more resourceful than Holzerhein had anticipated-but in truth he was even glad for the uncertainty. It lent a bit of spice to life, knowing that he might lose it. He had paid dearly for the pleasure, but once again he felt the thrill of facing the unknown.

  He felt a phantom twinge of memory at that thought, just a hint that was gone before he could track it down. Deja vu. He had evidently felt this way before, made some sacrifice for the sake of excitement, and this was how he had felt then. When had it been? Sometime in his childhood, by the feel of it, back when he was still learning about the world and its sensations for the first-

  Ah. Ah, yes, now he remembered.

  Glossary

  Aasha

  Security guard on Ardala Valmar’a spaceship, Princess of Mars

  A.I.

  Artificial intelligence.

  Alwu, Prof. Rajiv

  Martian University Professor

  Andresen, Dr. Merrill

  Twenty-fifth century astro-archaeologist who finds Buck Roger's body.

  Arac

  A mutant creature at the Wollongong Outpost, Australia.

  Arcology

  Any large, multilevel living area combining work, recreation, and living space.

  Art Provo

  An angular decorative style of the twenty-fourth century.

  ASAT

  Anti-Satellite missile. />
  Asteroid Belt

  A scattered collection of small solar bodies sharing an orbit around the Sun, between Mars and Jupiter.

  Asterover

  A small all-purpose space vehicle meant for short trips from orbit in surface and back again.

  Astro-archaeology

  The scientific study of material remains of past human life and activity in space.

  Barbarosa

  A minor rock in the Asteroid Belt, home to the Rogues’ Guild and Black Barney.

  Baring-Gould

  Black Barney's first mate and astro-navigation officer with the Free Enterprise.

  Barmaray, Beers

  Leader of Intel-solar Terraforming Egalitarian labors’ Organization (REID).

  Barney, Black

  Space pirate, one of fourteen living genetically modified human: mind by the Dracolyak Corporation.

  Belters

  Person or thing native to the Asteroid Belt.

  Beowulf

  High-ranking member of the New Earth Organization’s (NEO) Chicagorg base, and Wilma Deering’s mentor.

  Bimwilly, Young

  Maitre d’ of Club Noir on Barbarosa.

  Body Nova

  Exercise facility used by Ardala Valmar in the Pavonis Space Elevator.

  Boreal Sea

  Sea in the northern Valles Marineris Basin, Mars.

  Ceres

  Largest, most populated asteroid in the Asteroid Belt.

  Chez Petite

  Posh restaurant in Coprates Metroplex, Mars.

  Chicagorg

  Arcology on the site of the ancient Earth city Chicago.

  Club Noir

  Restaurant/spa on Barbarosa.

  Comlink

  Communications link.

  Coprates

  Vast Martian city on the walls of the Coprates Chasm.

  Coprates Bank Ltd

  Banking facility in Coprates, Mars, used by Ardala Valmar for daily transactions.

  Coprates Metroplex

  RAM dominated urban settlement in Coprates Chasm, Mars.

  Coprates University

  University located in the city of Coprates, Mars.

  Crystal Cathedral

  Glass structure on Martian University campus used for professorial tribunals.

  Cyber-psychologist

  Practitioner of psychology of artificial intelligences.

  D Beam

  A sonic-neuro disruptor beam.

  Dancer

  One of several independent workers’ unions on Mercury.

  Deering, Aurelia

  Wilma’s mother, killed by Terrine guards.

  Deering, Col. Wilma

  Hot-tempered NEO freedom fighter, ex-lover of Cornelius Kane.

  Deering, Roberto "Buddy"

  Wilma’s brother.

  Deering, Robert

  Wilma’s father, killed by Terrine guards.

  Deering, Sally

  Wilma’s sister.

  Deimos

  Mars’s outer moon, housing a major RAM naval base and space academy.

  Dola

  Martian monetary unit.

  Dolph-X

  Crew member on Black Barney’s ship, Free Enterprise.

  Dorning, Walter

  Research assistant to Dr. Merrill Andresen.

  Doxinal

  Drug used by RAM to control dissidents.

  Dracolysk

  Asteroid and prison in the Asteroid Belt.

  Dracolysk Corporation

  Controlling company on Dracolysk. Creators of 150 clone-creatures, fourteen of which still exist; one of them is Black Barney.

  Dracolysk Uprising

  Violent prison revolt that freed the Barneys.

  Duernie

  Dancer who kidnaped Prince Kemal Gavilan.

  Earth

  Third planet from the Sun, Earth is a polluted ruin dominated by the Martian megacorporation, RAM.

  Egon

  Master Musician of Mercury who advises Kemal Gavilan.

  F-15 Eagle

  Twentieth century military support aircraft.

  F-38 Wraith fighter

  Twentieth century military aircraft modified for limited space travel.

  Ferrioom, Inc.

  RAM subsidiary company.

  Flivver

  Ground vehicle.

  Fortuna

  Asteroid in the Asteroid Belt.

  Free Enterprise

  Spaceship of space pirate Black Barney.

  Freedom fighter

  A member of NEO, the New Earth Organization.

  Freil, Terendon

  Vice president of RAM’s executive board.

  Fritzell, Victor

  Owner and proprietor of Trader Vic’s Post.

  Gavilan, Bahlam

  Deceased former Sun King, Kemal’s grandfather.

  Gavilan, Cadet Kenna, Prince

  NEO pilot, self-disinherited son of deceased former Sun King, Ossip Gavilan, nephew to current Sun King, Gordon Gavilan.

  Gavilan, Celia

  Wife of current Sun King, Gordon Gavilan.

  Gavilan, Dalton

  Prince and older son of Gordon.

  Gavilan, Garrick

  Brother of Gmrdon.

  Gavilan, Gordon

  Current Sun King, Kemsl’s uncle.

  Gavilan, Ossip

  Deceased former Sun King, Kemal’s father.

  Gavilan, Tix

  Prince and younger son of Gordon.

  Gene-tech

  Genetic technology.

  Gennie

  Genetically modified human.

  Georgea.dos, Dr. Glynn

  Computer-resurrected Martian University professor of astro-archaeology and professional rival of Dr. Merrill Andresen.

  Gruendziger, Gossamer

  Former pigsmear champion.

  Gwill

  Spacer gennie living at Trader Vic’s Post.

  Gyro shell

  Self-propelled miniature rocket that contains a heat-seeking microcomputer; used in a gyrojet pistol or rocket pistol.

  Gyrojet Pistol

  Weapon more commonly known as a rocket pistol; fires a gyro shell.

  Harpooner missile

  Space missile.

  Hatch

  Gennie assistant to Ardala Valmar, clone to Tanny.

  Heliplane

  Aircraft that can take off vertically and travel at high speeds.

  Holo

  Hologram; a three-dimensional projection.

  Holzerhein, Simund

  Chairman of RAM’S executive board, Holzerhein is a computer-resurrected persona and appears as a hologram.

  Holzheimer

  Trigger word for computer virus aimed at Simund Holzerhein.

  Huer, Dr. Faustus

  Brilliant, eccentric twentieth century scientist, Buck Rogers’s friend and mentor.

  Huer.dos, Dr. Faustus

  Computer-generated persona resurrected from Buck Roger's memory of an old friend of the name.

  Instapot

  Instant pot.

  Interp

  RAM corporate department for data interpretation.