The Ghost and the Machine

by L B Garrison

  “Just now.”

  “I didn’t see you.”

  “Naturally, not. How could you?” The icons flashed, which was likely bad. Bailey opened several floating displays at once, showing maps and images of running shadows. “I’ve got five contacts.”

  “Which way,” Cisco asked.

  Bailey closed the displays and pointed to the trees a couple of hundred yards away. “South.”

  Five dark purple shapes burst from the trees, like spiny cheetahs, but made of bundles of tubes and wires. Machines of some kind. These might be the hunters that flanked her in the forest. The creatures closed the distance with graceful leaps. Mandy stepped to the side, they changed their angle of attack towards her. Her chest tighten.

  Cisco drew his gun. “Bailey, take Mandy and regroup with Alex.”

  Bailey stared at the hunters. “Cisco—“

  “I outrank you. Move it!” Cisco put himself in the attackers’ path and ran to intercept them.

  Cisco would be overwhelmed. Mandy grabbed Bailey by the shoulder. “We’ve got to do something!”

  “Alex won’t lend me a gun.” Bailey bit her lower lip the way Sage always did.

  Cisco fired at the first pursuer. The gun chirped rapidly and three blinding white flashes flared along its spine, sending mechanical parts bouncing across the moss. Its body slammed into the ground and tumbled to a stop. The second creature leapt over the smoldering corpse as Cisco fired. The shot grazed it, cutting a molten scar across its back.

  Bailey shrugged Mandy’s hand off her shoulder and pointed along the lake’s shore. “Alex will be here any moment. Go in that direction. Find Alex and get your arse back here.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Something terribly stupid.” Bailey broke into a run towards Cisco and danger.

  These weren’t the things from the crater. Those giant centipedes might be waiting for her in the forest and at least here, she wasn’t alone.

  “Oh, twisted biscuits.” Mandy snatched a baseball-sized rock from the moss and ran after Bailey.

  Cisco fired at another attacker as it leaped. The shot shattered a front leg, but the creature’s momentum carried it forward. It rammed into Cisco’s chest, bouncing him against the ground. They slid to a halt in the mud and tattered moss, sending his pistol spinning out of reach.

  Bailey stopped a few yards away and threw her arms wide, like a crucifixion parody.

  The other two hunters moved to either side of Cisco.

  Mandy stopped next to Bailey.

  Bailey gave Mandy a sideways glance. “I suppose, neither of us can follow orders to save our lives.”

  The top half of the thing on Cisco’s chest opened like a Swiss Army knife, revealing six scythe-like blades. Cisco struggled to escape, but its weight pinned him.

  An angry buzz filled the air.

  Mandy squeezed the rock. It wouldn’t slow these things for a moment. “Bailey?”

  Bailey frowned in concentration. “The video feeds I’ve been monitoring come from itty insect-like machines. Millions of them.”

  Smoky black tendrils rushed in from the surrounding forest and struck the creature atop Cisco. Black webbing, like cotton candy anchored it to the ground, forming a net.

  “You’re swarming the hunter with the little bug cameras?”

  Bailey nodded. “We call them teensy-spies. They can form surprisingly strong chains when thousands of them hold hands.”

  The thing on Cisco thrashed and tore the webbing even as more strands formed. Cisco clawed the ground, trying to reach his pistol, but it lay just beyond his fingertips. The other two creatures rushed Bailey. The swarm split, striking all three creatures and coating them with threads, but the creatures broke them as fast as they formed.

  Mandy tensed, on the edge of bolting, but she stood by Bailey. What could she do? “Their feet!”

  “Right,” Bailey agreed.

  The threads tangled around the charging creatures’ legs, slowing them, but not enough. The one on Cisco tore free of the filaments holding it, while the other two were almost upon Bailey.

  “Mandy,” Bailey whispered. “You should run.”

  She wouldn’t get far. If only Cisco could reach his gun or if she could distract the thing on him long enough for him to move. She had the rock. Mandy threw it with as much force as she could muster.

  It flashed across the space between them and shattered against the attacker on Cisco, sending pieces of stone and creature scattering. The hunter tumbled back.

  Mandy looked down at her hands. God, I wish I’d just wake up.

  The remaining two creatures slid to a halt and turned to regard her. They were reevaluating her threat level.

  “Nice doggy . . . things,” Mandy said as she backed up.

  The injured creature stirred. The other two moved as one, surging in her direction.

  “Oh crap.” Mandy scrambled backward, only to slip and fall in the mud. It happened so fast, but every detail was crisp. The creatures rushed in, knocking Bailey aside. The lead creature leaped. Cisco was her only hope, but he was just rolling over and reaching for the pistol. He’d never bring it up in time. Mandy’s heart thumped against her ribs. She brought her arms up as the creature came down on her with its blades drawn back to strike.

  A flash of heat and light split the darkness. Mandy lay on the cold, mossy ground and blinked to clear the fuzzy red afterimage. More explosions came. Debris littered the area around her and Cisco lay on his stomach, staring at something above her. She rolled over to see a pair of grimy boots. Looking up, her gaze met the green eyes of a freckled-faced woman with auburn hair. She held a stubby rifle pointed skyward. It popped as it cooled.

  Mandy swallowed. “I guess you’re Alex.”

  “I guess I am.”

  “I was kind of expecting a dude.”

  The woman knelt down by Mandy. “It’s Alexa and I get that a lot. You wouldn’t believe.” Alex nodded towards the others. “Cisco, you alright?”

  Cisco climbed to his feet, pressed his hand to his chest and took a couple of slow breaths. “I’m sore, but okay.”

  Alex glanced at Bailey. “You did well. I might turn you into a half-ass soldier after all.”

  “Don’t even fancy being a full-ass soldier,” Bailey murmured.

  Mandy pulled herself from the mud.

  Alex held up her hand. “Not yet, Mandy.”

  “You know my name?”

  Alex tapped her head. “Implanted comm unit. As a reformed hacker, Bailey is full of electronics. I can experience everything she does, when she lets me. She allowed me to see what was happening the whole time. To hurry me up, I imagine.”

  Cisco and Bailey gathered around them. Strewn across the ground, the remains of the creatures smoldered. Whatever Alex’s weapon was, it was powerful and she was deadly with it.

  Alex snapped her fingers. “Mandy, focus. For the next few minutes, I’m your whole world. Now, let’s see what you’re all about.” She reached her hand out, with her fingers spread. A white aura glowed around her fingertips. It was like ants crawling across Mandy’s skin.

  Alex frowned. “You’re human alright, and you must be enhanced to throw a rock like that, but I can’t find any evidence of it. There’s something . . .”

  The glow faded and Alex stood. “That can’t be right. You aren’t registered.”

  “Unlikely, you must have mucked it up,” Bailey said.

  Alex’s eyes shot to Bailey, fixing her with an icy stare.

  Bailey dropped her gaze. “Ow, make it go away.”

  Alex turned back to Mandy. “Twelve trillion humans and you’re the only one unregistered. Why is that?”

  Everyone’s eyes were on Mandy. Her stomach did a slow roll. “I don’t even know what that means.”

  Alex’s eyes narrowed. “How could you not? It means you’re a mystery. There is no record of your past or predictions of your future behavior and you obviously have potential to do harm. Though it’s rare
, you could be a criminal or even a killer and I wouldn’t know. I don’t like mysteries.”

  “That’s ridiculous. I’m just a girl. Well, not just a girl. I’m a very specific girl—but I’m no killer.” Mandy’s throat dried up. She must seem as strange to them as they did to her and she needed to gain their trust.

  “Look,” Mandy said. “I was a test subject in a hospital, when there was an accident. I lost consciousness and woke up here, in the forest. Nothing makes sense. The world has eight billion people, not twelve trillion. I’ve never seen technology like Bailey uses and the trees are just gross.”

  Bailey shivered. “Aren’t they just. All the plants here are odd.”

  Mandy wrapped her arms around herself for warmth. “I know I won’t like the answer, but where is here?”

  “Demeter,” Cisco said. “It’s a newly opened colony world in the Orion Union.”

  Mandy was lightheaded. “Orion Union colony? Of course it is. This place is just completely disconnected from everything I know.”

  Alex’s expression didn’t change. Suddenly, the night seemed colder and darker. Mandy swallowed. “I can tell you don’t trust me, so what happens next? You aren’t going to leave me here, are you? I don’t know what I would do.”

  “She helped us,” Bailey said, her gaze didn’t waiver this time. “If you even suggest such a thing, I shall be very miffed.”

  “No one is suggesting that, but I can’t take time to do a proper assessment in hostile territory,” Alex said. “Mandy, get up slowly.”

  Alex took a silver capsule from her pocket and held it up. “I have the welfare of my students to think of. This is a level six active sim-net, used for controlling dangerous specimens. It won’t harm you, but it will isolate you from the environment. If you so much as tense a muscle intending to harm one of us, it’ll know and immobilize you. This is the only way you come with us.”

  Mandy looked to Bailey for assurance. Bailey nodded.

  “It’s true. It won’t hurt you,” Cisco said.

  The trees shivered in the wind and a web of orange lightning flashed across the sky. A storm was coming. “I can’t stay here alone, so okay.”

  “Hold your breath.” Alex tossed the cylinder at Mandy. It popped. A shimmering fog wrapped around her before fading.

  Mandy couldn’t see anything on her, but when she moved, she felt a restriction as if her clothes were suddenly too snug. She fought against the claustrophobic panic rising in her throat.

  “What you’re feeling is the delayed reaction time of the sim-net,” Alex said. “Once it gets used to the way you move, that will go away.”

  Bailey stepped next to Mandy. “It’s just a precaution.”

  Mandy nodded. “We’ve got to get used to each other, I know.”

  Cisco retrieved and holstered his pistol. “What are your orders, Lieutenant?”

  “We’re heading back to the transport, which is five klicks that way.” Alex hitched her thumb towards the dark forest.

  Trees swayed along the misty edge of the clearing. Mandy shivered with the certainty that there was more than darkness in the night. She had no choice. It would be foolish to wander the forest alone, but every step with these strangers took her further from the crater and, possibly, the only way home.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  M

  andy slowed to match pace with Bailey. The storm had passed to the west and the air was heavy with bitter aromas. Creepy crawlies clicked and murmured in the shadows. She crossed her arms and shivered in the cold night air.

  With a gentle tug on her sleeve, Bailey urged Mandy to change directions. “We’ll have to go round. Too many hunters that way.”

  Bailey shuffled through the displays and multicolored symbols floating around her. She was plugged into the swarm net for the whole forest, keeping them out of danger, driving their escape vehicle towards them and remotely directing Alex’s one-woman assault through the forest ahead. The swirling techno-magic was so surreal, Mandy had to force herself to look away occasionally to watch her path. A ring dangled around Bailey’s neck. It had black Celtic symbols etched deep into the surface. There was probably a story behind it, but it seemed forward to ask personal questions of a stranger.

  Dozens of red icons, connected by pulsing lines moved in groups to Bailey’s right. Whatever these machine-animals were, Bailey had discovered they were networked together. A green icon moved towards the red ones. The lone green symbol was Alex and the odds didn’t look good.

  Bailey expanded an area map into an image of a centipede crawling through barbed branches. “It hasn’t noticed you yet. See the huge Thorn-Mary tree sixty feet to your left? It’s curled round the trunk, roughly twelve feet up.”

  “Got it. Stand by,” Alex’s voice whispered in the air around them. The bug cameras caught Alex at odd angles as she moved in and out of frame. They struggled to keep up as she leaped from tree to tree, sometimes jumping thirty feet at a time. Everyone here seemed to have some kind of enhancement, as Alex called it.

  Bailey came to a stop and Mandy paused beside her. Wind shook the trees. In the image, the centipede lifted its body on its spindly legs. Mandy clenched her jaw.

  A flash lit the image, splitting the centipede in half. Leaves and bug parts tumbled down the tree trunk to splash into the ruby-colored undergrowth below.

  Mandy realized she was holding her breath and let it out in a rush. She stepped back as the red icons shifted positions and moved towards the icon representing Alex.

  Bailey watched the arrangement change. “It worked. The others are circling round to your location.”

  “Locate another target in line with this one.” Alex said. “I want them to think we’re headed east.”

  Lines spiraled from the enemy icons, as if Bailey was predicting the possible directions the enemies might take. “Hang on. I’m sending you a safe path to a new target.”

  “Received. I’ll hit this one and fall back to the transport. Rendezvous with me there.” Alex’s icon began moving.

  Bailey started walking again. “You have five minutes, eleven seconds until our target reaches the location. Good hunting, Al.

  “Understood, and Bailey, it’s Lieutenant Arden or just Lieutenant.”

  Bailey smiled and rolled her eyes at Mandy. “Yes, Lieutenant.”

  The connection ended. Creatures clicked in the dark. The forest shadows must be brimming with unseen eyes. Mandy had spent all her time in cities and the Wilds had a lonely quality she didn’t like. “How close is the car?”

  Bailey pulled up a picture of a black SUV-like vehicle with six wheels, splashing through a shallow river. “The T30? I should be able to drive it within half a mile or so, not further. After that the river is too deep and the forest too dense. Alex should have let us use flight packs.”

  “You mean as in flying?”

  Bailey gave Mandy a sideways glance.

  Mandy sighed. “I know. It’s like you’re always having to explain potato salad to me.”

  “There could be several reasons you can’t remember. We’ll get you sorted, once the threat abates.”

  “It isn’t that I can’t remember, I never knew this stuff. I’d like to try flying. As long as I stayed low to the ground and not too fast. Why wouldn’t Alex let you use one?”

  Bailey adjusted her path. “Inconvenience is rather the point. It’s supposed to build character or some such rubbish. The Eco-Survey Corp is a paramilitary group for troubled Orion Union youth. I hail from a neighboring star nation and shouldn’t be here. Alora Lux doesn’t have such programs, you see. So, I’m here by court order as part of a plea bargain.”

  Mandy stopped. “You’re kidding. What did you do?”

  Bailey glanced back. “A rumor has it that I have authority issues.”

  “I can see that a little around the edges.”

  Bailey smiled and kept walking through the trees. “Don’t tarry, Mandy.”

  “Coming.” Mandy hurried to catch up.

&nbs
p; Bailey tapped a floating image of Cisco, who had acted as rear guard while a couple of the machine-things passed behind them. “Cisco. Alex has drawn them off. We’ll pass close to a void on our way back. Fancy having a go at it?”

  “That is why we came out here to start with. On my way,” replied Cisco.

  His build really was like Landin’s. Why make that comparison? She really should ask what these voids were. That seemed to be important. “Why is he here?”

  “Cisco? He’s a willing member of the Corp, but that’s his story to tell, not mine. Appealing chap, isn’t he? Very symmetrical.”

  Mandy snapped her gaze forward and swerved to widen the gap between them. Her cheeks warmed. Bailey probably couldn’t tell in the dim orange light. Hopefully, she hadn’t crossed a line. Bailey and Cisco didn’t seem to be romantically connected, but there was something between them. “Appealing? I hadn’t noticed.”

  “Oh?” Bailey’s eyes drifted to Mandy’s jeans.

  “What are you doing?”`

  “You’re lying and I wanted to see the very instant your trousers burst into flames.”

  Cisco came jogging up from behind.

  Mandy whispered, “The truth is, he reminds me of my boyfriend. It’s, I don’t know, nice to find anything familiar here.”

  Bailey smiled and moved closer. “We’re all far from home, Mandy.”

  They fell into silence as Cisco joined them. Only the crunching of the moss under their feet broke the stillness. He must know they were talking about him and he might reason Mandy had brought up the subject.

  “Bailey was just explaining potato salad,” Mandy ventured. Things could get weird if Cisco thought she was interested and she had all the weird she could handle at the moment.

  “Potato salad?” Cisco asked. ”Bailey eats some strange things.”

  Bailey stood still. “Your pallet is unsophisticated—and we’ve arrived.”

  The light filtering through the leaves high above gave the forest floor a scarlet-orange hue with black shadows. The air grew warm and a glowing purple mist wrapped tendrils around the trees.

  “That’s a void?” Mandy whispered, barely daring to break the quiet air.

  “This is the first we’ve seen of one. Here is all we know.” Bailey gathered the floating images as if they were a deck of cards. They crumbled into glittering dust that swirled into a large-scale topographical map of the forest. Littered throughout the map were spheres of darkness.