Galaxia

by Kevin McLaughlin

  “Well, theoretically, that might work. My mind’s a bit fuzzy now, but let me go over the calculations,” Doug said as Tamara snored beside him.

  “Even if it might work, the question is where?” Michi asked.

  “That might take some more digging. But let’s look at the numbers first. No use getting excited about it. Look at how much time we wasted on the electrical shock idea.”

  5:09 AM

  “Well?” Michi asked, waiting once again to hear why this one wouldn’t work, either.

  “I . . . I think we have a plan!” Doug said.

  Chapter 27

  “Can you get it?” Michi asked while Doug grunted a few steps into the tunnel.

  “It’s a lot harder than it looks!” he complained.

  They had to cut open the lock, or their whole plan had to be scrapped. The lock was to an old access tunnel to the power station, and that was their way out of the park.

  Ledges Park was just to the east of the city along the River Tay. Eons ago, there had been a waterfall at the park, but over the years, the river had eaten its way through, leaving a canyon and some rapids as it made its way to the lower plains. The first Scottish settlers had selected the location for Tay Station because of the rapids. They provided the power they needed to build and run their city. After Propitious Interstellar arrived and built more modern, efficient, and reliable power plants, the old hydro-electric plant was shut down, and the canyon became a public park. The old access tunnels, though, still existed, and they offered another way out of the park to those who knew the tunnels.

  “Here, let me try,” Michi said, pushing past Doug and taking the bolt-cutters.

  She got the jaws around a link in the chain, and with a shout, put all her strength in back of it. It didn’t look like it would be enough, but then, with a snap, the chain parted.

  Doug rolled his eyes but said nothing.

  “Let’s get back so you can do your thing,” Michi hastened to say.

  Doug was not an “Ugh, me man, you woman”-type, but still, having Michi open what he couldn’t had to sting at least a little.

  They strolled arm in arm back to the running path, two lovers out enjoying the sunny day. The park was not in much use during the week, and with martial law, even the evening joggers were few and far between, but on the weekends, it would be packed with people.

  They saw two Marines in their combat suits on patrol. Michi laughed as if Doug had said something funny, then wanted to kick herself for looking too fake. But the Marines continued on their way. The best Doug had been able to find out was that there were four Marines in the park during the day, then eight at night.

  Michi spread out a blanket on the grass where a finger of the cliff jutted out closer to the river. From rock face to the river was less than ten meters, and that included the running trail. Michi and Doug took off their shirts and lay back on the blanket. On her bikini strap, Michi retained her spoofer, set on another of Doug’s faces for her, this one with close to her real skin color. Doug had Tamara’s spoofer, this one set for a face not too different from his own.

  “Wow, boy, you need to get out in the sun more,” she whispered to Doug, taking in his pale skin.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. You can dispense with the ghost jokes now.”

  Michi wanted to get going, but if there were eyes on them, they had to act natural. She lay in the sun, feeling the warmth seep into her. It felt good, and it forced her to relax. Without meaning to, she fell asleep.

  “Hey, I need to go take a piss,” Doug said, waking her up with a start. She sat up and yawned.

  “Take your pack and use the cream,” she said as planned.

  Michi didn’t know what cream she would have meant, but on the off-chance that they were being overheard, they had wanted a reason for him to take his pack.

  “Don’t nag,” he said as he shouldered his backpack.

  As he disappeared behind her, she adjusted her bikini top and looked out over the river. She wondered if there was anyone out there observing them, and if so, were they watching Doug or her? It seemed as if her contribution to the cause always had her half-naked, and that ate at her. She was more than a dress-up doll. It had been Tamara’s idea for the sun-bathing; but then again, Tamara’s mind was always in the gutter.

  Two Marines came down the running trail. She couldn’t see them through their combat suits’ visors, but she nodded at them as they passed only a couple of meters from her. She could actually feel the ground shake as they walked by.

  It seemed to be forever, but finally, Doug reappeared. He nodded to Michi as he sat down. Now, they waited.

  With two Marines just having passed, they knew it might be awhile. The Marines didn’t seem to have a schedule, but still, it could take 30 minutes or more for the other team or the same team to come by again. After 20 minutes, Doug put his arm around Michi’s shoulders and nuzzled her ear.

  “Damn, Doug! You need to learn how to do that better,” she said quietly while lifting her chin and smiling. She turned, stood up, and reached down to take him by his hand, guiding him up to his feet.

  She felt totally weird trying to act like a woman in lust when she felt nothing. If they were under observation, she hoped it looked natural.

  The two of them walked slowly back alongside the cliff finger to the denser foliage at the base of the farther-back cliff face, the same brush that hid the entrance to the access tunnel. She put her arms around Doug’s neck, then pulled him down to the ground.

  Immediately the two parted and went to their bellies. Doug reached out and parted the brush slightly so they could see out. One moment, they were lovers ready for passion; the next they were soldiers in the ambush.

  Michi reached into Doug’s pack. It had carried the explosives, but it also carried her costume. Off came the bikini top and on came the Red Athena’s top. She peeled off her loose pants to reveal the camouflaged bammers she’d had on underneath. Then came the boots and the pistol belt. Finally, she pulled out the handgun and the rifle, and with three practiced pulls, snapped it to its full length. The last two were risky. These were the weapons with which she had been making her recordings, but by telling Cheri that she was going to work on more recordings, she had been allowed to keep them for the day. If they had been stopped for any reason and the weapons had been found in Doug’s pack, there would have been no reasonable explanation.

  All of this had been done lying in the dirt beside Doug. He ignored her gymnastics and watched the running path.

  “Here they come,” he whispered, excitement in his voice.

  Two Marines were striding down the path, each stride seemingly gobbling up meters. They looked powerful, and Michi had sudden misgivings. What if things went wrong?

  But it was too late. As they strode into the kill zone, Doug pulled on the wire.

  And nothing happened.

  He pulled again, and the wire came to him easily. There was no explosion.

  “What the fuck?” he asked as the Marines passed on.

  “You’ve got to check what happened,” Michi told him. “I can’t go out like this. Go to the picnic basket and act like you are getting something for us to drink, then take another pee. And here,” she said, rubbing some dirt on his body. “We’ve been rolling around back here, remember?”

  Doug made his way out of the brush, stretched, and with a satisfied insolence, strolled back to the blanket and their food basket. If Michi didn’t know better, she would have sworn the guy just got laid. Who would’ve known he could act so well?

  He picked up the blanket and two bottles of beer. The blanket was a good touch. It would have been reasonable to have taken it with them in the first place. Then he wandered off to the bushes at the side of the cliff and disappeared. A minute or two later, he came out zipping up his fly. He sauntered over to Michi and got on his hands and knees to crawl in with her.

  “The wire came undone. I fastened it tighter this time,” he told her.

  Doug had mad
e the explosives with some common ingredients. Sensors shouldn’t pick up anything unless they were looking specifically for that combination. But any commercial fuze would be picked up by the Marine’s combat suits, so Doug had rigged up a simple mechanical fuze. With one good tug, a spring-loaded hammer would fall, striking a small percussion cap and igniting the explosives.

  “Let’s hope it works this time,” she said as they settled in to wait.

  They lay in silence, watching for movement. Finally, two Marines, either the same ones or two others, made their appearance. Doug got ready.

  “No, stop!” Michi hissed as the Marines approached the picnic basket and discarded shirts they had left as markers.

  Two joggers were coming the other way, and they would be in the kill zone as well. They had to wait again.

  Just as the Marines passed the kill zone, one of them glanced to where Doug and Michi were hiding. It was a quick look, but Michi knew then that their ruse had been necessary. The Marine had been hoping to catch a glimpse of some action.

  “Did you see that?” Doug asked.

  “Sure did. He must think you’re some sort of stud. What’s it been? Forty-five minutes now?”

  “Yeah, that’s me. Stud,” he said sarcastically. “And now we wait yet again.”

  They were running out of time. They weren’t sure what time the other Marines would arrive, but they didn’t want to deal with them. Four was too many as it was.

  The two Marines had only been gone less than ten minutes when two more appeared. That meant the other two were still close, and that increased the risk.

  “Well?” Doug asked.

  Michi ached to strike, but was the increased risk worth it? She went back and forth in her mind.

  “Now or never, Michi.”

  She made up her mind. “Do it!”

  Doug pulled back on the wire, and the entire cliff face on the point seemed to erupt. Rocks and clouds of dust plummeted to the ground, hiding the two Marines from view. Doug and Michi burst from the brush and rushed forward, Michi with her rifle at the ready, not that it would do any good against a combat-armored Marine.

  As the dust started to clear, they looked frantically for any sign of the Marines. Doug pulled out a sensor and swept the area.

  “I’ve got one! He’s under there,” he said, pointing at a pile of rubble. “He’s alive.”

  “Can he get out?” Michi asked.

  “Well, we’ll find out, won’t we, if he can,” Doug said logically.

  Michi spotted a shape as the dust settled. Her heart lurched, but the shape was still.

  “Over there,” she shouted, sprinting to the edge of the river where a Marine was lying face up.

  He wasn’t moving. As Michi got closer, she could see that the lower half of his combat suit was crushed. The Marine was dead.

  How can he be dead when the one under all the rubble is still alive? she wondered.

  “Quick, over there, from his head,” she told Doug. “I want them to be able to see him.”

  As Doug scrambled over the rocks that littered the river bank, Michi put her foot on the Marine’s head, then moved to beside the Marine, then finally decided on a foot on the chest.

  “How do I look?” she asked Doug as he raised his recorder.

  “Uh, your face!”

  “No, this is what I want,” she said, not turning on the spoofer.

  “You sure?”

  “Yes!” she almost screamed. “Hurry up! We don’t have much time!”

  The red light came on, and Michi calmed herself. She turned to stare into the camera with her best warrior look.

  “My name is Michiko MacCailín. Some of you know me as The Red Athena. I was born and raised here on Kakurega, and this is my home, a home under siege. Propitious Interstellar has not only broken the charter, but they have murdered our citizens, not the least being my fiancé, Franz Galipoli. When we resisted, they called in the Federation to rescue them with the Marines. Make no doubt about it, we have been invaded, and we must fight back. The Marines are not invincible, as you can see. We can win. All sons and daughters of Kakurega, rise up and throw the invaders off our home!”

  “Michi, we need to go,” Doug said, pulling down the recorder.

  There was a strange sound coming from the direction in which the other two Marines had marched. It sounded like a cross between a cargo truck and a plane.

  Doug was already scrambling up the bank. Michi gave him a hand up, and both sprinted to the brush that hid the access door. They were still 10 or 15 meters away when two shapes burst past the cliff point and into the rubble field.

  “Go!” Doug shouted, pushing Michi forward into the bushes. Michi saw the cliff face and thought they had made it when the bushes disintegrated and chips started flying from the rock face. Several chips hit her as she fell more than dove into the entrance and scrambled on her hands and knees to the gate. Her ears were ringing as she reached up to push the gate open.

  She took a moment to look back for Doug when he plowed into her, knocking both of them past the gate and onto the dank floor.

  Michi lay there, trying to catch her breath when Doug picked her up, shouting “Go, go!” They stumbled forward, the only light coming from the entrance in back of them.

  When the light behind them went dark, Michi thought they had gone far enough, but Doug pushed her down to the rock floor. A moment later, all hell broke out over them. A dip in the floor protected them, but chips of rock fell on top of them as rounds impacted, and then Michi felt the tingle of a side lobe of some sort of energy weapon.

  “Keep low, but crawl,” Doug told her.

  Both of them, Michi in the lead and Doug literally on her butt, managed to scoot farther down the passage. When Michi felt the opening to the left, she knew they had reached their route out. She pulled Doug in, and they both sat up, gasping for air.

  “Why did you use your real face for the recording?” Doug asked in the darkness as a few rounds zipped past the opening and farther down the first tunnel. “They’re going to know who you are as soon as we broadcast it.”

  “Have you ever heard the word arinomamade?” she asked him as her heart started to slow down its frantic beating.

  “No. Is that Japanese?”

  “Yeah. My grandmother used to say it. It means the way something is, or maybe ‘it is what it is.’ It’s kinda hard to put exactly in Standard. But it fits why I did that.”

  Some stone chips knocked free by the Marines firing managed to ricochet into their side tunnel, and both friends scooted in another three meters.

  “It is what it is?” Doug prompted.

  “Yeah. I am not the Red Athena. I’m me, a First Family citizen of Kakurega. I’m me, Michiko MacCailín, whose fiancé was murdered by the company. I’m me, a girl who won’t stand for that anymore. That’s who I am, and I’m not going to hide behind a disguise. If people are going to listen to me, they deserve it to be me, not some comic book construct. Arinomamade!”

  “I guess I understand, but your life just got levels more difficult. I hope you realize that. Think about it, OK? I don’t have to release this if you change your mind,” he said, patting his recorder where he’d hooked it to his belt.

  “I won’t. I didn’t quite say what I had planned out there, but what I said was me, too. I want you to run with it.”

  “Your call, Michi. I’ll ask you again before I do, though.”

  The firing down the entry tunnel stopped. The Marines must have given up, Michi figured.

  “Good thing those guys are too big to get in here,” Doug said as what had happened sunk in.

  “That saved us,” Michi said before another thought struck her. “But the specs said they can molt out of their suits. What if they come in after us on foot?”

  “Shit. I didn’t think of that. Let’s get moving.”

  He pulled a flashlight out of his pocket, and the two of them started off at a slow jog down the tunnel. It would take awhile for the Marines to acce
ss the plans, as Doug had erased all copies on Kakurega. They would have Federation copies, but it would take them some time to realize that. Within 20 minutes, the two would be at their exit and changing into the clothes they had left there earlier.

  Michiko had kept her promise. She had taken it to the Marines on her own terms and won!

  Chapter 28

  How about Hanggaju Gozen?” Doug said, looking up from his PA. “That’s in keeping with Tamara’s Highlander Samurai theme. It says here she was an onna bugeisha, or female warrior. Oh, not wait, she was captured and forced to marry the shogun. We don’t want you and the CEO hooking up.”

  The three were sitting in the condo, watching the net as Michi’s camcording was the subject of most social media. The company blocked all official access, but the under-net could not be blocked without shutting down the entire planet, something the company could not do and maintain production. They’d issued one statement, that there had been a “manufactured” camcording released, but that it was all CGI.

  On GC109, a popular forum, one poster had written that given the latest recording, the name ‘The Red Athena” was somewhat inaccurate. That was probably a little too far for even the normally light-handed moderators of the forum, but the three had read it before it was deleted and were lazily discussing a public name for Michi.

  “I still think the Highlander Samurai is brills,” Tamara said, refusing to give up.

  “Some people are calling you, the Kakurega Jeanne d’Arc, you know,” Doug went on.

  “I saw that,” Michi said, “and my ancestors are probably rolling over in their graves. A French heroine? If anyone, it should at least be a good Celtic girl, like Boudicca.”

  “Not everyone has your vaunted Scottish ancestry, and no one knows about her. I wouldn’t have, if you hadn’t pointed her out on the history holo,” Tamara said.

  “Here’s another: Tomoe Gozen. Seems she was a vaunted warrior and cut off the head of some enemy general,” Doug started.

  Michi almost flinched at the “cutting off the head,” part. Both Doug and Tamara knew that she had killed Hokkam, but the security report never mentioned her beheading him, and she had kept that to herself.