Shattered Truth

by Michael Anderle

  He gestured toward a cluster of people zooming by a few lanes above, all on single-person flitters. The tiny open vehicles were nothing more than a small control yoke, a seat, and a couple of grav field emitters. “It’s been a while and a few planets since I’ve ridden one of those. There’s just something about having the wind whistling past you. I like the MX 60, but it’s absolutely not the same.”

  Jia grimaced. People sometimes used mini-flitters for local tower transport, but she couldn’t stomach the idea of riding something that appeared so unsafe. She doubted the grav field could take any serious impact, even close to ground level. It was a flying deathtrap. She was surprised they weren’t illegal.

  The detectives continued down the sidewalk, mixing with the crowds. They passed a man in a rumpled suit playing a violin, surrounded by an attentive audience. Her PNIU buzzed, and she tapped it to accept the message in the corner of her smart lens.

  ALL DONATIONS ACCEPTED. GOD BLESS.

  Jia stopped to listen. Erik joined her, his face impassive. The busker skillfully moved his bow, teasing out a haunting melody that reached into Jia’s heart. She couldn’t help but find it odd to hear such beauty in the Shadow Zone, a place that until recently, she had believed, was filled with nothing but antisocials.

  She transmitted a small donation via her PNIU.

  “I don’t ever think I’ve seen someone perform on the street for money like this my entire life,” Jia admitted, her voice subdued. “Not in real life. I’ve seen it in dramas. Until recently, I would have thought it was undignified, but I understand that says more about me,” she nodded in his direction, “than it does about the musician.”

  Erik pursed his lips. “Everyone’s got to make a living, and dignity’s overrated. This is the real world. It always has been, even if the Uptowners want to pretend it doesn’t exist. People are just living their lives the best they can. It’s not even that rough compared to a lot of frontier towns, let alone domes on some of the more resource-strapped colonies.”

  “The colonies are being terraformed, and the domes are temporary,” she replied, her answer as rote as the commercials she heard give it a thousand times in her life. Jia continued watching the busker, even more entranced by the careful movements of his hands and the soulful look on his face.

  Erik chuckled. “It’s taken a hundred years to get Mars to the point where people don’t have to live in domes. Not everyone has a century to sit around and wait. How would you like it if every time you had to leave a tower, you needed a breather, let alone a pressure suit?”

  “I’m just pointing out there’s a future,” Jia murmured. “The more humanity builds up the colonies, the fewer differences there will be. The less chance of upset people, insurgencies, whatever.”

  “I hope so,” Erik replied, a distant look in his eyes.

  Jia didn’t press him about what he was feeling. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know right then.

  The busker stopped and bowed. The crowd clapped. Jia and Erik joined them.

  A shrill scream cut through the air, and the busker straightened. The entire crowd watching him turned to look at the source of the sound.

  Jia narrowed her eyes. The Tin Man from before loomed over a woman on the ground, the blade on his cybernetic arm extended. He yanked a necklace off her throat.

  Erik cracked his knuckles. “Arresting someone for an illegal mod or two is one thing, but now he’s just asking for it.” He stepped off the curb. “I’m going to enjoy this.”

  Jia reached into her jacket, undecided about whether to grab her stun pistol or her slug thrower. She pulled out the former. “NSCPD!” she bellowed.

  Several flitters whipped into higher vertical lanes. Others jerked to a halt, leaving her a clear shot at the thug.

  Horns blared like cats doused with water.

  The thug whipped his head toward Jia, scowling. He yanked the woman off the ground and held her in front of him, her eyes white, brows crinkled in fear.

  Jia advanced slowly, her finger twitching near the trigger. “Back away from the woman. Now.”

  Erik drew his own sidearm and pointed it, stepping away from Jia. “I’m a good shot. A little arm hardware isn’t going to save you.”

  The thug sneered. “Go ahead and shoot. You’re gonna have to go through her.” He put the blade to her throat. “Can you take me out before I slice open her neck?”

  “Let her go,” Jia snarled. “You’re the idiot who decided to rob someone in broad daylight.”

  Erik offered a light shake of his head. “If you so much as draw a bead of blood from that woman, I will put three bullets into your brain, and then I will come over there and put three more into you while you’re bleeding out,” he growled.

  Jia swallowed, her partner’s intensity raising the hair on the back of her neck. Her eyes flicked to him for a second before returning to the tinman. “You heard him.”

  The thug’s jaw tightened. His eyes darted back and forth. Jia’s heart pounded. She wasn’t carrying any medpatches. Erik had some in the MX 60, but he might not be able to get there in time, depending on the depth of the cut.

  The blade retracted on top of the thug’s arm, but he didn’t let go of the woman. “Okay, okay. Everyone just relax. I don’t want no trouble with the police.” He licked his lips. “Since when does NSCPD send random undercover cops around here?”

  “If you don’t want trouble, release your hostage, get on your knees, and place your hands on your head,” Jia ordered.

  Erik grinned. “You heard the detective, Tin Man.”

  “Hostage?” The thug licked his lips. “She’s no hostage.”

  “Please,” the woman begged. “Just let me go.”

  “You want me to let you go?” the thug asked, smirking.

  She nodded quickly.

  “Then I’ll let you go!” The thug screamed. He spun and flung her with the help of his cybernetic arm. She flew through the air toward Jia. The thug took off running down the sidewalk, his incredible speed suggesting his legs were also hardware.

  Erik dropped his gun and darted toward the woman, catching her and spinning to limit the impact as he landed on his back, his breath knocked out of him.

  Jia fired at the fleeing suspect, her blue bolts missing and scorching a wall. The thug rushed into the nearby crowd. People yelled, screamed, and got out of the way, but there were too many to get a clear shot.

  Jia cast one glance at the victim and Erik. The woman sat on the ground now but didn’t seem the worse for wear physically, other than the tears running down her face. Jia sprinted after the fleeing suspect, her heart thundering.

  Erik patted the lady as he scrambled up, scooping up his gun and holstering it before he joined the chase.

  “Emma,” Erik said, dodging a male pedestrian who was watching Jia and not realizing Erik was following. “Care to join us?”

  “I would love to, but there are several flitters blocking me,” she responded. “They all seemed to be stopped, I assume because of the traffic disruption from your actions. If I lift off now, it’ll cause a collision. I’ve also taken the liberty of contacting the local enforcement zone, but I don’t think they’ll be able to get close either, and they’re still several minutes away. That’s assuming the dispatcher was telling the truth.”

  Jia’s legs continued to pump as she kept in sight of the thug. His speed was less helpful now that he was in a crowd, even though he shoved and pushed people out of the way. Any random shots on her part would strike civilians, and stuns might not be lethal, but they were painful.

  Innocent citizens didn’t deserve her firing carelessly, no matter how much she would like to give the guy a piece of her mind.

  Erik caught up with her, thanks to his longer strides. She glanced at him, noting that his sidearm was still secure, relieving her. She hadn’t been sure how reckless he might be in this situation. She pushed hard, slipping a bit while running around a corner. Erik was now in front of her. She let out a gasp when she rebo
unded off a wall. Erik looked back. “Keep going!” she called. “I’ll live.”

  There was no way she was letting the criminal escape without digging deep.

  A helmeted man waited atop a mini-flitter near the side of a building and several other parked mini-flitters. A small cargo compartment was attached to the back labeled “LEE’S BAKERY.” The thug barreled into him and sent the poor delivery man flying before hopping on his mini-flitter and yanking on the yoke.

  The vehicle shot into the sky.

  Jia stopped and raised her gun, but two other mini-flitters flew in front and one behind. The first blocked her shot, the other might catch her shot if she missed.

  She hissed in frustration as Erik continued running. She holstered her pistol and jogged to join him.

  “You okay?” Erik asked, pulling up the downed delivery man.

  The man knocked on his helmet, his arm scuffed up. “Glad I wear this,” he commented, his eyes following his vehicle.

  Erik pulled up his tablet. “Emma, you still grounded?” he asked.

  “Unless you’re willing to allow a crash?” she asked.

  “Not really.” Erik snorted and looked around. “Hold on, I’ve got another idea.” He moved over to a sun-yellow mini-flitter with orange flames. “Can you start this remotely?” he asked Emma. “I’m borrowing it. I’ll pass on a little fee to the owner once we’re done chasing down our Tin Man.”

  “It’ll be trivial to access its system.”

  Jia’s eyes widened as she eyed first him, then the mini-flitter.

  A mini-flitter that was little more than a handlebar and a seat bolted onto the engine. Oh, and a strap to help you stay with the mini-flitter all the way to the inevitable crash at the end of the ride. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  Erik hopped on the yellow mini-flitter and strapped on the seatbelt. He winked to her as he waited until the control displays came to life. “Thanks, Emma.”

  “It wasn’t much of a challenge,” the AI replied. “But you’re welcome.”

  Erik lifted and turned in the direction the thug had gone. “Come on, Jia.” He nodded to another mini-flitter, a dark blue one. “We can’t let this punk get away.”

  With that, he took off.

  Jia scrubbed a hand over her face, looking left and right. “This is insane. I’ve never even ridden one of these!”

  “I’ll interface with the controls,” Emma offered, this time through Jia’s PNIU. “Just get on and strap in, and I’ll make sure you don’t die.” She snickered. “Probably.”

  “Probably?” Jia rolled her eyes.

  “There is always a chance of a malfunction. It’s not like the components they use to build these little crotch rockets are high-quality.” She sniffed. “At least, not this one.”

  “Beggars can’t be choosers.” She lifted a leg and threw it over the seat. “At least my death will be dramatic.” She grabbed the seatbelt and eyed it for a second before locking it and pulling it tight. “There is no way,” she muttered as the flitter’s lights came on and it turned around. Her stomach lurched. “I will be mentioning this to Mei.”

  A moment later, she screamed in surprise as Emma kicked in the power and she took off.

  Chapter Eleven

  Erik accelerated and darted between the hovering flitters stuck in the traffic jam.

  The thug in the stolen flitter had a head start, but the dense cloud of vehicles above and the buildings were slowing him down, as were his abrupt direction changes.

  “We can do this,” Erik muttered, then ducked his head, dodging a floating piece of paper.

  The air rushed past him, and he kept a firm grip on the control yoke.

  The last time he had flown a mini-flitter, it hadn’t been at either this high a speed or in this dense of traffic.

  He chuckled.

  A little challenge always got the blood pumping, and following some criminal only enhanced his personal satisfaction. This wasn’t some plucky insurgent fighting for a doomed cause out of a warped sense of honor.

  No, this was a piece-of-garbage criminal who had tried to rob a woman on the street and then threatened to slit her throat. Erik had been deadly serious about his earlier threat.

  “Do we have a plan?” Jia asked, her voice piped through his PNIU. “Or are we trying to keep him in sight until local cops show up and EMP him?” she wondered. “Maybe catch him with a net?”

  “Nope, we’ll bring him down ourselves,” Erik answered. “He’s not going to leave the Shadow Zone in a mini-flitter, and we can’t wait for the locals. It’ll take too long, and he’ll be able to ditch the flitter and disappear. After that little stunt with the woman, there’s no way I’m letting him get away.”

  “Understood, and agree.” Jia let out a quiet groan, then she was quiet for a moment. “Sorry. Emma's very…efficient in her flight, but it’s hard on my stomach.”

  “Do you want to catch the surly criminal or not?” Emma chimed in. “We all have to make sacrifices.”

  “What are you sacrificing?” Jia asked.

  “Time out of my day?” Emma suggested.

  The thug dove and headed toward a narrow alley passing between two tall warehouses, their windows streaked with dirt and a couple of them broken.

  Erik flew toward him, narrowly dodging several flitters. Their loud horns attacked his ears. “NSCPD,” he yelled.

  He didn’t have time to worry about annoying people.

  Erik looked over his shoulder. Jia was about thirty meters behind him, her mini-flitter jerking between vehicles and making uncomfortable-looking sudden turns, the kind of flying only an AI would attempt.

  He smiled. He wouldn’t be surprised if this chase ended with Jia throwing up.

  He turned his head forward in time to notice and avoid the large cargo flitter stuck between several other vehicles. He dropped under it and headed toward the alley.

  Self-decapitation would have been an embarrassing way to die.

  Erik closed on the buildings and realized “alley” might have been too generous a description.

  The thin passage running between the two buildings was barely wide enough to admit the mini-flitters. If he reached out, his fingers would scrape along the wall, no doubt scraping the fingers down to bloody nubs.

  Not only that, but thick black pipes ran between the two buildings, effectively forming an obstacle course. Just as Erik entered the alley, the thug zoomed out the other end, having already completed the challenge.

  “I’ll give him credit.” Erik dropped under a pipe, then popped back over another. “The jerk can fly.”

  He looked up, wondering if he could fly over it, but halfway through the alley, netting extended between the two buildings. He growled and pressed forward, weaving up and down, dodging the pipes, one coming so close it mussed his hair.

  “Going to take myself out at this rate.” He snickered at the thought. “How are you doing, Jia?”

  “Emma’s continuing her very unorthodox flying,” Jia replied, her voice tight. “But I’m clear of the traffic and heading over instead of through.”

  “Don’t trust the sensors on the flitter,” Emma offered.

  Erik concentrated as he tried to avoid crushing his skull or crashing the vehicle by hitting a pipe, antenna, or other protrusion, including an odd-looking silver pyramid near his left ear.

  “What the hell was that?” he asked.

  No one offered a response.

  He burst out of the alley a few moments later, a huge grin on his face, and the thug less than forty meters in front of him. Jia hissed from above as she cleared the roofs of the warehouses. Her mini-flitter dropped beside him as they both closed on their prey.

  Jia looked a few shades paler than usual, but determination, not panic, shone on her face. “Should I take the shot? Emma’s doing all the flying, so it might be easier for me.”

  They maneuvered among warehouses and factories, apartment buildings and workshops.

  The traffic jam from earl
ier lay far behind them, but the ground below wasn’t empty, and more than a few cargo drones flew in the area. If they kept up the chase, a collision was inevitable, and the results unpredictable.

  “Try to take out of one of his grav emitters,” Erik finally suggested. His disruptor bullet magazine was still in the MX 60. “That’ll bring him down without a total crash. I don’t care if he wipes out, but we don’t want him or the flitter to take someone else out.”

  “But I’ll have to…” Jia took a deep breath before calling back, “Understood.” She pulled out her new pistol, grim determination etched into her face. “Try to keep me as steady as you can, Emma.”

  “I can fly the flitter, but I can’t rewrite the laws of physics,” the AI complained. “There’s only so much I can do with this sort of platform.”

  “Just do your best,” Jia snapped. She squeezed the trigger, the gun bucking a bit in her hands, but her round missed, ricocheting off the bottom of the vehicle. She could see a bit of dust puff off a building in front of him.

  The thug wove back and forth, with the occasional glance behind, trying to throw off his pursuers, but the maneuver bled off enough speed to allow the detectives to get closer.

  “This is what you get for being arrogant, you annoying Cro-Magnon cretin!” Jia shouted. She held her breath and pulled the trigger once more, and a bullet blasted out of her pistol toward the stolen mini-flitter.

  The round ripped into the round grav field emitter on the back. The vehicle shuddered and pitched forward, wobbling. The thug bellowed in surprise, his attention now focused on not crashing.

  Jia smiled. “I can’t believe I made that shot.” She holstered the pistol, her hands quickly finding the handles once more. “This is completely ridiculous. I’m chasing a suspect on a death trap in the Shadow Zone and shooting out his emitters. It’s like I’m turning into you.”

  “Hey!” Erik dodged a light pole. “I’m not a bad guy. I like being me.” Erik headed toward the thug. “And we live in a ridiculous world. You just have to trust Luck won’t always screw you if you play along. Today, she’s helping, and I’ll take it.”