The Astral Hacker (Cryptopunk Revolution Book 1)

by Brian Terenna

  “She’s a saint.”

  “Really? What miracle did she perform?” he asks.

  “No, I was—” Sunny’s broad smile gives me pause.

  “I was being sarcastic,” he says.

  I roll my eyes.

  “Are you sure leaving is safer? There’s a–”

  “Hey, Sprite. Talking to your toy?” asks Alexander from the doorway, with a big grin.

  I lower my head, too embarrassed to respond.

  “Come on,” he says. “I’ll show you my guns. It’ll give you a chance to talk to a human.”

  Normally, I’d be wary of a guy inviting me somewhere, especially at night, but for whatever reason, Alexander isn’t setting off my alarms. “Okay.”

  His smile stretches, and he walks toward his room.

  “Sunny, wait for me here. I’ll be back shortly.”

  Sunny glances down the hall, then back at me. “Are you sure?”

  “I’ll be fine,” I say, then catch up to Alexander.

  “You talk to that robot? Aren’t they really dumb?”

  I shrug. “I’ve had him for a long time.”

  We come to a small room with a bed, a bench, and a suitcase with clothes spilling out of it. Some kind of pungent chemical smell hangs in the air. My nose wrinkles.

  “That’s probably the gun oil you smell. Or maybe the solvent. I clean my guns a lot,” he says and waves to the wall behind me.

  I turn around. A long revolver and four military sniper rifles with considerable scopes hang on the wall. My eyebrows rise at the display. I saw similar guns in Silent City, but it’s a lot different to see them in the real world. He takes down the revolver and hands it to me.

  The weight of it pushes down my hand, and I nearly drop it before using my other hand to support it.

  “Forty-four magnum. Six-inch barrel. Eight round capacity. That’s my backup.”

  “You could thrash someone with this.”

  His smile widens. “Those South Americans better watch out.”

  I hand the revolver back. He takes it in one hand as if the weight is nothing. Stronger than he seems.

  “So tell me about your parents,” he says.

  An image of my mom in a hospital bed flashes in my mind. Her skin was so pale, her breathing ragged. I still remember her last gasp of breath as she left me.

  “No? Okay. Do you have any siblings?”

  A chill passes through me. “I…no.”

  “What do you like to do for fun?” he asks as he takes down the sleek rifle that he shot the drones with.

  “I like to program and game.”

  He hands me the rifle, and I stumble under its weight.

  “I’ve never been into computers. I spend most of my time training,” he says.

  I can’t imagine life without computers. He’s so strange. I lower the end of the barrel to the ground and grip the rifle’s textured rubber stock. I could never fire something so big, but it’s cool to hold one. “This is amazing. I’ve never been good with sniper rifles.”

  His green eyes light up. “Oh. You shoot?” he asks, excitement thick in his voice.

  I look down, embarrassed. “Umm. Not really.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I played this first-person shooter a lot.”

  “FPSs are actually decent training,” he says. “But if you ever want to be an expert marksman, I’ll teach you. I’m kind of a big deal around here.”

  I smile at his ridiculousness. But it’s a nice offer and would be a valuable skill in my current situation.

  “I overheard you talking about leaving. Are you going to?”

  I shake my head with a sigh. “I don’t know.”

  He stares at me, an eyebrow raised. “There’s a war going on. You could be killed in your attempt to leave.”

  “Good point.”

  “It will be a lot safer with us until the war is over. Or at least until we start fighting. But even then, you could stay back.”

  I imagine running through the streets to flee the war and a stray rocket incinerating Sunny and me. My shoulders sag. I don’t like the sound of that. At least here, we’re inside a secure building with an armed militia. Besides, it would be nice to have more time with Nav. I sigh. “I’ll stay for now.”

  “Great.” He holds out his closed fist.

  I look at it and then back to him.

  “Bump it,” he says.

  I shake my head, and he shrugs.

  “What’s the deal with Americus? Is he always like this?”

  Alexander laughs. “He’s usually not as coarse. He hasn’t been sleeping much since Naveha contacted us about the Evo. He’s a great motivator and teacher. He’s taught us hand-to-hand combat, battle strategy, tactics…you name it. And no one knows more about the deposed old American government or the revolution. I admire him.”

  He sounds all right. “It’s interesting that he has the same type of pet that Navin did.”

  “Ron Paul is awesome. He even talks sometimes.”

  “Really?”

  “You’ll hear him eventually. Americus also trained him to deliver messages, just like Navin’s did.”

  “His raven did that?”

  “You never heard the story?” asks Alexander. “General Briggs was pinned down, his communications jammed. He was doomed. Then he sent his raven with a message to his reserve force. They arrived just in time and turned the battle.”

  I purse my lips. Impressive. If I’m going to be stuck with a bunch of government lovers, maybe I should learn a bit. “Were things really so bad before the revolution?”

  He chuckles. “Didn’t pay attention in class?”

  I shrug.

  “Things were bad for a while, but after America adopted the social credit system, it became unbearable for people. The government tracked everything you did, everywhere you went, everyone you talked to, everything you bought, and everything you read. They said it was to keep us safe, but really, it was for control. If you had unapproved ideas or spoke out against the government, you’d receive a low rating, which would increase your taxes. If it got too low, they’d take away your universal basic income, healthcare, and ability to travel.”

  I shuffle my feet. “That’s crazy that the government even paid for those things, but I can see how that system would be abused. That would have been the end of free speech, right?”

  He nods gravely. “Yes, and President Toscano says it best when she quotes Benjamin Franklin, ‘Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom…and…’ wait, how does it go? Oh, yeah. ‘And no such thing as liberty without freedom of speech.’”

  “How did people let that happen?”

  “When you make changes slowly, people get used to them and don’t realize they’re being trapped. It’s like that boiling frog thing,” he says, meeting my eyes.

  I look away and pull at one of my curls. Boiling frog? What is he talking about? “I imagine it got worse after that.”

  He picks a piece of fuzz off his military shirt and blows on it to send it flying. “After they had complete control, the real tragedies began. There are so many stories I could tell you, but this one always inspired me to protect our freedom. When Navin and the liberty movement began to take off, the totalitarian regime got scared and wanted to put a quick end to the problem. Do you know what a false flag is?”

  I shake my head.

  “One of the intelligence agencies, we don’t know which, dressed as liberty movement supporters and attacked a big bank in New York. They killed all twenty-seven people inside, then spray painted, ‘End the Fed’ on the walls.”

  I gasp. “The government did this to their own people?”

  “You can see why people rose up. The trick would have worked too if Navin’s contacts didn’t find proof that it was staged. That revelation turned public opinion heavily toward liberty.”

  Hell. “That sounds like a movie. How horrible for those people.”

  “If you think that’s
wild, I’ll tell you some other true conspiracies that will shake your faith in humanity. Meet me in the training room at ten tomorrow morning. I’ll show you around, then we’ll see how good of a shot we can make you.”

  CHAPTER 9

  A SICKENING REALIZATION

  “And those are just a few of the times that the government staged violent riots in order to crack down,” says Alexander.

  Hell, sounds like people had it bad.

  “Now prepare yourself. Your mind is about to be blown.” I follow him to the parking bay, and he motions to a dump truck with a flourish. “Check this out.”

  “I’ve seen dump trucks.” Does he really think I’m that sheltered?

  “Caesar,” he says into his all-black q-link, “drop the vehicle hologram.”

  I squint and then inwardly laugh at his q-link’s name.

  The hologram melts away, and the vehicle grows longer and wider with thick metal armor. The tires transform into tracks, and a long barrel stretches from the front.

  I shake my head in awe. Diablo.

  “Corefense XM20 fast strike tank. With its fusion-powered electric motors, it can reach seventy miles an hour. Its main gun is a sixty-millimeter, no line of sight cannon that can hit targets from ten miles away.”

  “Now that’s impressive. Where did you get it?”

  He grins. “Americus has connections. Maybe we can use it in the war. I wish they’d give us another update.”

  Hell, they mean business.

  He motions me on. “Here’s the training room.”

  We peek into a room with blue padding on the walls. On one side, several people dressed in sparring gear practice hand-to-hand combat. Astrid tests a low kick against a Loyalist I don’t know. He jerks back.

  “You can’t just dodge all day, Silas,” says Astrid.

  Silas lowers his eyebrows and lunges at her. She dips low, grabs his legs, and flips him over her shoulder. Silas flies through the air and crashes to the mat.

  “Come on, Silas,” says Asher, who whips around nunchucks nearby. “Americus taught you better, and Navin knows I’ve reinforced the lessons enough.”

  Large-nosed Silas groans and wipes sweat from his face. “I’m not a natural like you and Astrid. Laser battle me, and I’ll crush you.”

  On the other side of the room, teams of Loyalists run around an obstacle course, rolling under barricades, leaping hurdles, and firing practice guns at each other. The match progresses until Americus stands alone against four Loyalists.

  “Looks like you taught me too well, Americus,” says Brandon, from behind a barrier. “The student becomes the master.”

  Americus growls, dashes forward, and leaps over the tall barrier with the agility of a much younger man. Brandon and the others fumble with their guns, completely unprepared for the sudden attack. Americus fires four times in a blur. His opponents drop to the ground as if paralyzed.

  Hell, I’d hate to fight him. “Americus is talented.”

  “He was a Marine Raider,” says Alexander. “They’re one of the fiercest most lethal small strike forces in the world.”

  Good to have around. “How do those guns work?”

  “It’s the suits. When it registers a hit from the lasers, it temporarily paralyzes that part of the body.”

  Good training method. It would have been cool to have the suits for Silent City.

  Americus helps Brandon stand. “You’re getting better. Always stay alert, though. Let’s finish talking about the improvements the new constitution made over the old one later.”

  Brandon nods excitedly as he removes his suit. “Sounds good. Let’s focus on the ‘no personhood for corporations’ amendment.”

  Alexander motions me away from the room. “Let’s go shoot.”

  We go to another area that has several long hallways, separated by walls. A small window allows me to see two other Loyalists shooting. We enter one of the ranges.

  “Do you mind if I run some sprints before we start?” I ask. “This looks like a great place.”

  “Sure, let’s race first.”

  I shrug but glance at his long legs. Might be tough to beat.

  We line up, he counts to three, and we dash forward. He gets a better start, but it’s not long before I catch up and overtake him.

  When we reach the end, he says, “You sure are fast.”

  I’ve always been fast, and I trained regularly since I never knew when I’d have to run from abuse. I started slacking while with Barbra, though, and need to get back on track. Speed is about the most essential thing in the world right now.

  Not long after, I come to a ragged halt after my fiftieth sprint.

  “Fast and a hard worker,” he says. “I like it.”

  I pull at my damp tank top and try to fan myself.

  “How’s your bullet wound, by the way?”

  I peel up the patch to look.

  “That’s a lot of healing overnight. When I was shot, it took a week to look like that.”

  “You were shot?”

  “Some friends and I were playing the game where you shoot at people’s feet, and they dance away from the bullets. Unfortunately, I didn’t dance fast enough.”

  I definitely never heard of that game.

  “It was no big deal. The bullet slipped between my bones. Ready to shoot?”

  The second most important thing…or probably the third after hacking. I think he’ll be surprised by my skill. I did fire off a million rounds in Silent City. “I’m ready.”

  “Prepare to learn from the master.”

  I chuckle.

  “Safety first, though.” He hands me a pair of shooting glasses and two small sticky dots.

  I put on the glasses, but I’m not sure what to do with the dots. I don’t want to seem stupid, though. What would they be for? Hearing, but they’re too small. Stupid it is. “What are these?”

  “These are great,” he says. “Just put them in your ears.”

  I do, still confused since they’re too small to block sound.

  “Caesar,” he says into his q-link. “Activate hearing protection.”

  The dots in my ears expand to fill the entire hole. I flinch at the strange feeling but then smile.

  “See,” he says, his voice dulled by the hearing protection. “It’s so you can wear them all the time and quickly expand them whenever a gunfight breaks out. They can also be used as headphones.”

  “Impressive.”

  “Let’s see what gun might work best for you,” he says and walks over to a gun cabinet.

  I wish he had a Trexstar K10 laser, but I’ll have to make do.

  He returns with a sniper rifle I don’t recognize from my time in Silent City.

  “It’s a three-oh-eight. It’s smaller than my favorite, the fifty caliber, but you’re small. You can only use the big ones if you’re stationary anyway. All right, first, always check to make sure it’s unloaded or loaded, which it is since I always keep my guns loaded. So here’s how you do that.” He steps up, unlocks the magazine, and shows me the bullets inside. They’re bigger than the guard’s assault rifle I stole.

  “This is a ten shot semi-automatic,” he says. “So each trigger pull is one bullet.”

  Who doesn’t know that? I want to roll my eyes but don’t since he’s helping me.

  “Let me see your stance.”

  I brace myself with my right foot back and my left foot forward.

  “Put your one foot back a little more. Good. Now, raise the rifle.”

  I raise it to my shoulder, my arms shaking.

  “Hold it steady. Umm. A little steadier.”

  My arm shakes even more. Hell, this thing is heavy.

  “I guess you’re weaker than I thought,” he says with a smirk, then takes the gun back.

  I frown at him. “I’m surprised you can carry it. You look so skinny.”

  He barks out a laugh. “You have no idea. My ripped body would put Alexander the Great’s to shame.”

  I eye
him in his long-sleeve military shirt, trying to decide if it could be true. “Who’s Alexander the Great anyway?”

  His jaw drops, and he shakes his head. “You don’t know?” he asks me incredulously.

  I try to think of who it could be, already feeling stupid because of the earplugs. As much as I didn’t pay attention in history class, I feel like I remember the name from somewhere. Alexander likes shooting and guns. Maybe he was someone from the war. “Did he fight under Navin?”

  Alexander throws back his head and laughs.

  I look away, embarrassed. So much for not seeming dumb.

  “He was an ancient king who carved out a huge empire with brilliant military tactics. He was probably the most brilliant tactician, but of course, you have Julius Caesar, and he’s Italian, so that’s extra points. And Navin Briggs, he’s incredible because he also freed us.”

  I nod, not sure what to say.

  “Do you know much about them?”

  I should probably lie to save face. “No.” For some reason, I don’t.

  “I’ll teach you about them and their tactics. You never know when you’ll need the knowledge.”

  I loved devising my own tactics in Silent City, but it would be smart to study existing ideas. “I’m game.”

  “In due time. But let’s get back to shooting for now. “Let’s try a pistol.” He walks back to the cabinet and pulls out a Torg forty-five APC with a reflex sight. It was one of TigerShadow’s favorites. He shakes his head, puts it away, and takes out a much smaller pistol.

  I can’t blame him as I look at my scrawny arms.

  “Torg nine-millimeter,” he says as he puts an extended magazine into the gun. “I prefer Torg to Trexstar for small arms and Corefense for more advanced weapons. They’re smaller than Trexstar. Less likely to hold sway over the government.”

  I loved my Corefense B1 hypersonic rocket launcher and Armadillo Instant Armor. Both won me quite a few advanced weapon tournaments in Silent City.

  He hands the gun to me. “Remember, it’s loaded. Always be careful with your gun safety.”

  I position my hands on the gun.

  “No. No, don’t put your finger on the trigger until you’re ready to fire.”

  I frown at him, starting to get annoyed.