by M. R. Forbes
The three of them were huddled in the empty rear of the delivery vehicle, wrapped in the blankets and staying close. Mitchell had his arm around Aiko's shoulders, her head resting against his chest. Calvin was next to her, leaning into her side to catch whatever warmth he could.
Every muscle in Mitchell's body hurt. He imagined the others felt the same. At least the shivering was beginning to lessen, and his extremities had stopped itching and regained some regular feeling. He managed to meet Eito's eye and nod. The Kido employee didn't seem to care one way or another that they had lived.
"Come on," Mitchell said. "We need to start moving, or we're going to fall out of the van."
Calvin lifted his blanket off, using the wall to pull himself to his feet. He was a little shaky. He held out a hand and helped Aiko up, and then Mitchell joined them. He forced himself to move his arms and legs, fingers and toes. He could feel the blood rushing through.
"Let's never do that again," Aiko said.
"Sounds like a plan," Mitchell agreed.
He moved forward to stand between the vehicle's seats, looking out at civilization beyond. The streets were busy, crowded with people and a multitude of delivery vehicles, each marked with the name of their business on the sides. Calvin had explained that personal transportation was illegal in the Federation. Only business vehicles and public transportation like buses used the streets and skies. Not only did this approach reduce congestion, but it also afforded the corporations more control of their employees as many provided transportation to their workers.
Tall buildings stood on either side of the thoroughfare, spires of a number of modern architectural designs stretching upward in daring configurations of alloy and carbonate.
"How many people live in Mirai?" he asked.
"Twenty million, give or take," Eito said. "The city also has the highest density of offices and is the home of the Yokohama Exchange. The food is the best on the planet, and in my opinion in the Quadrant, as well."
"Do you have any recommendations on driver services?"
"You want automated or human-piloted?"
"Human. Definitely human. Preferably one without an ARR."
"Hmm... You're one of Mr. Tio's, which means you don't have a receiver. Did he send you with a handheld?"
"No," Calvin said, moving forward. "This was a last minute assignment."
"Aren't they always?"
Eito leaned over and opened the storage box between the seats. He dug down to the bottom. As he did, Mitchell noticed an assault pistol resting beneath a pile of old candy wrappers and garbage.
"Here. You can have this one." He pulled out a small, thin device and handed it to him. "It's untraceable."
Mitchell took it, flipping it in his hand. It was a piece of clear carbonate with a small sliver of metal at the bottom. He had no idea how to use it.
"I'll take that," Aiko said, reaching forward. Mitchell passed it over to her.
"Look up HPT," Eito said. "It stands for Human Powered Transportation. They can get you where you want to go, no questions asked. Transportation services aren't liable here on Yokohama."
"Not liable?" Mitchell asked. "So you can kill someone and then hop in a taxi and drive away?"
Eito seemed offended by the suggestion. "If that was your desire, I suppose you could, but the authorities will catch up sooner or later regardless. This isn't the Alliance or the Rim. Crime in the Federation is nearly non-existent. Why would anyone steal anything when the corporations provide for all of us? Besides, over half of the transportation services on Yokohama are automated. How would a machine know that you did something illegal? The laws must be consistent."
"Thank you, Eito-san," Calvin said.
Aiko had already turned on the handheld device. The screen was no longer transparent, and a small hologram floated above it, providing a view similar to that of a p-rat. He could see her navigate to HPT.
The van slowed to a stop.
"This is you," Eito said.
The back doors swung open, and repulsers lowered the vehicle to the ground. Aiko turned off the device, and the three of them climbed out to the street. As soon as they were clear, the doors closed and the van lifted and rode away.
"Goodbye," Mitchell said to the rear of the fading truck.
"HPT, how can I help you?" a voice said behind him. Mitchell looked for the source, finding the handheld on again, a holographic image of a woman in a suit similar to Calvin's floating between them.
"We just arrived in town," Calvin said. "We'll need a driver for the next forty-eight hours."
"Nonstop?"
"Yes."
"What experience level?"
"Very. I also want them to be implant-free."
"It will cost extra."
"That's fine."
"That will be twenty-thousand Federate. Please transmit your routing keys."
Calvin took the card Ming had provided them from his pocket and handed it to Aiko. She tapped it against the handheld.
"Thank you," the receptionist said. She paused. "I'm afraid I can't pinpoint your location."
Mitchell smiled. Untraceable. He liked that.
Aiko scanned the street. "We're in the center of Mirai, outside of the Justice building."
"Very well. A driver will meet you in fifteen minutes."
"Thank you," Aiko said. The channel disconnected.
"So," Mitchell said, looking around at the city and still feeling a mixed sense of both relief to be around civilization and impending doom for the same civilization. "Where do we find the Black Hole?"
28
The driver picked them up almost exactly fifteen minutes later. She was a petite, serious woman with short black hair and opaque glasses that hid her eyes. She wore a fitted black-on-black suit and gloves and didn't get out to guide them through the automatic doors.
She was silent while she waited for them to tell her where they wanted to go.
"Fourteen seventy-five one-hundred-sixty-seventh," Calvin said.
Mitchell thought he saw the driver's eyebrow rise a fraction of an inch. She headed off without comment.
They rode in silence, reaching the destination ten minutes later. The building looked like many of the others - tall, reflective, rich. Mitchell tried not to think about what it would look like once the Tetron fired a plasma stream down on the city.
"Wait three blocks over," Calvin said.
The driver handed a black card back to him. He passed it to Aiko, who tapped it against the handheld. Then they got out of the car.
"None of this is illegal?" Mitchell asked.
"Technically, no," Calvin said. "Like I told you, transportation services can't be held liable, as long as all they do is drive. If she speaks one word, she becomes an accomplice."
"The Federation has strange rules."
"And the Alliance doesn't? You still arrest people for using natural occurring substances that have been proven harmless for centuries."
Mitchell couldn't argue that. "So she knows we're up to something?"
"Whether she does or not, she would treat us the same. Come on."
Mitchell looked at the building. Men and women in ordinary, fashionable suits were entering and exiting. Even so, it didn't look like anything special.
"This is the Black Hole?" he asked.
"No," Calvin said. "The Black Hole is across the street."
Mitchell cast his eyes that way. The building across from them was more nondescript than the one they were in front of. A higher volume of people in suits were coming and going from that one, both on foot and in dark cars that stopped in front.
"The people there?" Mitchell said.
"Agents? Probably about half of them."
"So now what?"
"We stick to the plan and wait for the right person to come out that door."
Mitchell knew "the right person" meant someone with high-level clearance into the facility.
"How do we identify them?"
"There are maybe four hundred people i
n the entire Federation who would even know what that building is, and you are standing with one of them. You'll know the right person when you see them. Or at least, I will."
Mitchell couldn't help but wonder how fortuitous their procurement of the Federation Admiral had been. So many pieces had to fall into the right place to make these things happen. Had they been prearranged somehow? Had dozens, or hundreds, or thousands of recursions helped them put some grand master plan into motion? He thought back to the Construct, and Katherine. The package had been disguised as the book I, Robot, which not so coincidentally was Liun Tio's favorite novel. There was no denying the connection there.
"Okay," he said. "We can't just stand here. The operatives are bound to get suspicious."
Calvin nodded. "Agreed. There's a restaurant right inside the building here. We can keep watch from inside."
The three of them headed inside. As Calvin had said, there was an upscale eatery on their left. It was crowded, and the hostess tried to seat them in the back. A quick transfer of money solved that problem, getting them shifted to a table at the window as soon as it was cleared.
"Let's try not to be too obvious about this," Mitchell said, sitting down closest to the window. Despite his years of experience with military special operations, he was still a novice at this kind of espionage.
Aiko picked up her menu, scanning it. "Have you ever had bibimbap, Mitch?"
"No, but after three weeks of eating nothing but nutrition bars, I'll take whatever I can get."
"It is one of the traditional Federation staple foods, going back over a thousand years before the Federation existed. This one was from Korea."
Mitchell found it on the menu. Everything looked good to him right now.
"What do you think, Calvin?" Mitchell asked, looking over at him.
Calvin was staring out the window.
"Calvin?"
"Sorry, Mitchell," he said. "You aren't going to have a chance to eat. Aiko, call the car."
Mitchell diverted his attention across the street. A black car like the others he had seen was stopped in front of the building. An older, well-dressed man was approaching it.
"How do you know that's the one?" Mitchell asked.
"The driver."
Mitchell noticed the driver had gotten out of the car and was standing next to the door.
"Good fortune for us," Aiko said. "The car is on the way."
They stood up as the waitress approached. Aiko transferred some money to her for her trouble, and they headed out the door. As they exited, Mitchell noticed he was getting a lot of attention in the form of stares and angry looks.
"Frigging Alliance prick," someone said behind him as they moved towards the street. Mitchell started to turn, finding Aiko's hand on his shoulder, steering him ahead.
"Not a good idea, Mitch," she said.
He nodded. He had to keep his reactions in check. Slow. Steady.
The well-dressed man was getting into his car. Their driver slowed to a stop in front of them, the doors sliding open.
They got in.
"Follow the transport there," Calvin said.
The driver's only response was to pull out and make a u-turn across the traffic.
"Keep a decent distance," Calvin added.
They tailed the car through the city, their driver doing an expert job of keeping them a few cars back and at the same time never losing sight of the target. It helped that the Federation tenets on vehicles kept both traffic and traffic control unnecessary.
They rode in tense silence for nearly thirty minutes as the Federation agent made his way to the edge of the city and beyond, gaining a hyperlane at the outskirts. Their driver made a fancy, likely illegal maneuver to remain behind the car, winding up only three lengths back. The automated systems carried the cars one hundred miles in minutes before their target disembarked, and their driver followed.
Another ten minutes passed, their driver dropping further back as traffic became lighter and lighter. They rode through beautiful grass, flower, and tree covered hills dotted with large mansions and smaller, more dense housing developments, their car falling further and further behind until their target had disappeared.
"What are you doing?" Calvin asked. "Your instructions were to follow."
The driver said nothing.
"I requested someone very experienced. I expected someone who could tail a car."
Still, the driver was silent.
"Aiko, please connect me to the HPT office."
The driver growled under her breath.
"Do you have a problem?" Calvin asked.
"I didn't lose him," she said, surprising him by speaking, and speaking in English.
"What?"
"I didn't lose him." She looked angry that he had forced her to talk. "I know where he lives."
"You know who he is?" Mitchell said.
She didn't answer. She didn't want to know what their business was.
"Fine," Calvin said. "Take us to his home, keep out of sight."
She said nothing.
Ten minutes later, the car veered off the road, floating over a grass median and into the trees beyond. The driver didn't slow much as she navigated them past trunks and shrubs, coming to a stop after a few minutes.
"Which way is the house?" Calvin asked.
The driver didn't answer.
"It has to be that way," Aiko said. "According to the map, we're in a protected forest."
The driver opened their doors. Mitchell and Aiko climbed out.
"Calvin?" Mitchell asked.
"I told you, Mitchell, if a single person suspects anything, everything we've come here for is lost. Let me handle this part. Make your way to the home, but stay hidden until I signal you."
"Are you sure about this?" Mitchell asked.
"Yes. We're still following the plan."
Mitchell nodded. The doors to the vehicle closed, and a moment later it drove off.
"Come on," Mitchell said.
29
"I should have picked a different outfit," Aiko said, grabbing at her heeled ankle boots and pulling them off.
"It hasn't been very practical so far, has it?" Mitchell said, looking over at her. "At least you look amazing in it."
Her face reddened at the compliment. "Thank you, but I would prefer not to feel half-naked, half-frozen, and half-hobbled."
The two of them were navigating their way through the wooded area behind the target's home. They had walked nearly half a kilometer already, and they could just barely see the roof of the house through the trees, in the form of a tall, sloped pagoda.
"At least we didn't have to wait too long to get this far."
Aiko picked her way over the terrain, wincing when she stepped down on a rock without her shoes. "I thought this would be the easiest part."
"It probably will be." He watched her struggle for a few more seconds before approaching her. "It'll be faster if I carry you."
"What?" She tried to protest, but he scooped her up before she could complain too much.
"Heels or barefoot, you're too slow like this."
"Aren't you going to get tired?"
"You barely weigh anything," Mitchell said, picking up their pace.
"Are you saying I'm too thin?"
He turned his head to look at her. The maneuver had put her head on his shoulder; their faces only inches apart. "No. I just told you I think you're beautiful."
She started to drop her eyes away from his and then forced herself to stop. Her blush deepened. "Mitchell-"
"We'll have some time when the mission is over," Mitchell said, feeling his heart rate increasing. He wasn't sure what he was doing. Hadn't he decided not to go down this route? And what about Millie? He had said he loved her, but he had moved on so easily. Was he becoming so jaded to loss that he barely felt it anymore? If so, what did that make him?
He didn't know. He wasn't sure what he was doing or what was causing it. Maybe it was adrenaline. Maybe it was his b
ody recovering from the cold. Maybe he had just been denying what he had felt since they had spent so much time together on the Carver. At the moment, he wanted to kiss her.
"We talked about this, Mitch," she said, still looking at him. "I think you're a handsome man, and you have many qualities that many people, both men, and women, should and do admire. I am grateful for the training you have given me."
"But you aren't interested," Mitchell said, the moment slipping away from him.
"I'm sorry."
He turned his head to let out the tension in a burst of air. "You don't have anything to be sorry for. Though I will admit, I haven't been turned down since the Shot."
She smiled. "I suppose that makes you want me even more?"
He laughed quietly, looking ahead through the trees. They were almost there.
"No means no. Unless you say otherwise, consider the matter dropped. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable."
"Thank you, Mitch. And I'm flattered. You just aren't my type."
"Out of curiosity, what is your type?"
"More thinker, less doer," she said.
"You mean smarter?" he joked.
"I mean the whole soldier thing. I understand why we need to do this, but that doesn't mean I like war, or fighting, or killing, and I don't want to be any more involved with it than I have to be."
"I understand," he said, and he did. He couldn't change who he was.
He carried her in silence for a few more minutes, until they neared the edge of the wood. Aiko put her boots back on, and he lowered her to the ground.
"How do we get in?" she asked.
Calvin had been right about the man's importance if the home was anything to judge by. It was large and designed in a fusion of classical Japanese and Chinese architecture, with sloped pagoda roofs and intricately designed wood and stone. It was surrounded by an eight-foot tall river stone wall with intricate spiked posts to keep people from trying to climb over.
"I don't think we need to get in. Calvin said he would signal. Let's try to get around to the front."
The house was large enough that it took them nearly ten minutes to creep their way to the corner of the wall from where a large front gate was visible. There was no sign of Calvin or their car.
