Ghost Black

by Matthew S. Cox

「You like it?」 Tamashī’s voice rose to a near-squeak, and throbbing cartoon hearts replaced her eyes for a second.

  「Please tell me you don’t kill people like that.」

  「No way.」 Tamashī shook her head. 「I’m strictly a sneaky kitty. Looking like a kid makes people hesitate. Sometimes when I get caught where I don’t belong, I can just say I got lost. Anyway, I’m in. Your boy’s got some serious stuff set up in there, but nothing I can’t get past. I’m a little confused. The hardware feels like it’s mil-spec, but the processing power and memory are limited.」

  「Military?」 Risa blinked. 「If Lars is C-Branch too, I’m going to move to a colony world.」

  Tamashī made a whiny, pondering noise for a moment. 「Meh, I don’t think so. C-Branch has better tech. This is probably a few-generations-old black market or recycled unit. I made their network my bitch.」

  「So they’re not scanning?」 Risa peered out from the maintenance passage, looking left and right.

  「They are. I’m standing behind a monitoring construct now that runs all the eyes and ears on the place. This stuff would’ve picked up your speedware and claws from about two hundred feet. It’s all mine now, so don’t worry. You’re safe to go in.」

  「Thanks. I owe ya.」

  Tamashī’s head quadrupled in size and flashed a wavy grin. 「Yep! You do.」 She resumed normal proportion with a sound like a bubble popping. 「Go on. I’ll keep them blind. By the way, you’re a psychotic dark faerie. It’s a good look for you.」

  「All I need are wings.」

  「They can do that you know.」 Tamashī smiled. 「I mean, you can’t fly and shit, but you can get faerie wings.」

  「No thanks. I’m trying to get closer to human, not go off the deep end.」

  Tamashī giggled, and hung up.

  Risa loped among the emancipated, holding her breath whenever she walked into someone’s vapor cloud. Though she had a Tox Filter installed in her trachea, she didn’t trust it to get all traces of narcotic immediately. With some of those chems, like Lace, all it would take is a couple of molecules getting in and she could wake up an addict. Fortunately, Lace had to be injected, not inhaled. No chance of catching it on someone’s breath.

  About fifteen paces from the alley she aimed for, two guys wearing the logo of the Karnal gang took notice of her.

  “Hey, check out the zoomie.” The one on the left elbowed his friend and pointed at Risa. “Think she’d go for a three-way?”

  His friend shrugged. “Maybe. Easy to find out.”

  She scowled, entertaining a momentary daydream of luring them into the alley and killing them, even if they intended to ask rather than take. Who knew what a person on Zoom would see in the middle of sex. They might mistake the dick heading toward their mouth for food, or a serpent that wanted to swim down their throat and eat their heart… or maybe it would sprout eyes and start talking.

  As much as their assumption she’d freely open her legs for them bothered her, Lars took precedence. She didn’t want to waste time even trying to tell them to piss off. A brief tweak of speedware allowed her to snag a knife from a nearby belt so fast no one noticed the motion. She moved as though pulling the knife out of her coat, hissed, and tried to stab thin air. Risa activated her Fangz, a faint whirr vibrating her skull as cybernetic canines extended, and changed her affect from dazed to wild-eyed mania.

  The emancipated took more notice of her, but those who did all backed away. A few hands settled on weapons, but no one drew.

  “I won’t let them get me,” said Risa in a raspy whisper. “Goddamn clowns are everywhere.” She sliced at nothing, directing her wobble to the alley. “Mommy, where are you? I keep killing the clowns, but I can’t find you.”

  The Karnal thugs halted. They seemed to weigh the odds of being mistaken for a clown against their being able to sneak up on her. She acted as though she ducked a punch, and charged into the alley with the knife raised to stab something.

  As soon as she left the glare of the crimson light, she pressed herself against the wall and waited, letting her weaponized teeth retract to normal. After a minute with no sign of the thugs following, she darted across the alley to the other side and studied the outside of the club. It felt strange being outside and looking at a building with an actual roof, not walls that connected to rock overhead. The exterior offered no way in, only plastisteel panels and grating-covered windows painted black. Whatever went on inside wasn’t meant to be seen from out here.

  At least this isn’t a Syndicate place. Everyone screwing here is at least willing.

  Using square outcroppings of panels, wire guides, and window cages, Risa scaled the wall to the roof with ease. A rattling air handler, plus creative use of Nano claws, provided entry to the building’s ventilation system. She slipped in and lowered herself along a vertical shaft. The fan blade whirring below her feet slowed to a stop.

  「Thanks again.」

  Tamashī’s voice giggled in her head.

  Risa climbed down past the fan mechanism, which started up again as soon as she cleared. A cartoon black cat popped into existence in front of her, waved, and trotted off. Okay, that is the strangest waypoint software I’ve ever seen. She followed the cat along a length of conduit, turned left, and entered another fan chamber. The cat leapt onto the spinning machine, becoming a blur of black. The device powered off, the smear of ink resolving once more into a cat as the fan slowed. When the blades stopped, the animal perched on the tip of one, licking its paw. It jumped off and led Risa around another series of tunnels before diving down a vertical conduit.

  This has to be the ground floor ceiling now. She squatted, leaving a hand on the corner for balance, and looked both ways. The cat trotted off behind her. On all fours, she crawled after it to the first opportunity allowing her a right turn about thirty meters later. A cone of light radiated from the ground a short distance from the corner, painting the top of the shaft with lines from a grille.

  Risa crept closer and peered down at a stage area made to look like a ziggurat carved from obsidian, bedecked with demonic statues and imagery. Two bored-looking guys tinkered with electronics inside an opened hatch, propped up on pneumatic struts like the hood of a car. Open ground surrounded it to at least sixty feet in all directions. Stains, some alcohol and some blood, spattered here and there. Small bots raced about collecting trash, mostly cups, as well as dead inhalers, spent derm patches, or boot-crushed plastic autoinjectors.

  The place isn’t even open yet. Perfect.

  「Meow.」 The cartoon cat cleared his throat with the voice of an English butler. 「This way, ma’am.」

  On two legs, the cat walked off, forepaws clasped behind his back.

  She followed until it made an abrupt stop, holding up a paw. Three seconds after she thought to yell ‘what’ at it, she spotted the telltale glow of a laser grid. Night vision in cybereyes used to make those bright and obvious. 「I almost crawled right into that.」 She clenched a fist, but resisted the urge to punch the ductwork. 「I need to get a better visor.」

  「Got it,」 said Tamashī’s disembodied voice. 「And yeah, you do.」

  The cat brought her down another sixty meters of thin metal ductwork, a hands-and-knees crawl the entire time. At long last, it stopped by another grille and pointed at it like a game show hostess indicating the prize up for grabs. After a bow, the feline dissipated in a swirl of pixels.

  From inside, a male voice muttered in Russian, sounding angry.

  Risa crept up to the vent. A man in his early forties, Caucasian, with tight curly hair burnished with silver over his ears sat behind an ornate desk that appeared to be carved from real wood. Two tall electronic paintings of nude crimson women with draconic wings and long spaded tails flanked the door connecting the inner office to the rest of the club. The succubi writhed and danced, an endless cycle of the same alluring gestures. Another digital painting, covering the entire wall opposite her vent, depicted a massive throng of demons rampaging ove
r a medieval village, copulating, killing, and devouring everything from goats to elderly villagers.

  Risa blinked. Okay, there’s messed in the head and then there’s whatever these people are. A few mental urges activated the Russian language chip still in her head, and started an audio/visual recording.

  “… failure to produce any actionable intelligence on the MLF. We already know their command center is in Primus. You haven’t given us anything to legitimize your continued operations budget. While you’re dicking around with thugs, the target is out there.”

  The man’s eyes swelled with exasperation. “Sir, I―”

  “Interrupt me again, and I’ll have your testicles in a jar on my desk while you’re digging rat shit out of ventilation ducts on a remote mining station. The Senior Vice President of Tactical Operations himself has asked me what the fuck you’re doing up there. You are going to capture this operative, kill this operative, or get your pathetic ass back to Munich for a new assignment.”

  The man she assumed was Lars Staanek bristled. The urge to scream and lash out brimmed in his eyes; the way he glared at the holo-terminal made her think him a psionic about to crush it with his mind.

  “Do you understand, Staanek? You’ve been on Mars long enough to have completely dismantled this group, yet for everything you’ve attempted, they are still there. They are still causing catastrophic damage to our interests, and you are still living like a king in exile. Did you even bother to read the incident report of that fiasco in Bliss last month? Forty-nine-billion credits in damage”―the voice coming from the terminal rose to a near-shrieking rage―“and you’re balls-deep in sixteen-year-olds without a care in the world! This stops now, Staanek.”

  Lars scowled. “Sir, I am trying to present the appearance of plausible random acts of violence. If I were to employ our usual tactics in dealing with this woman, their intelligence operatives would become aware of my presence. The MLF does not possess the financial resources to replace her. I have information that proves she’s recently upgraded her capabilities. Our friends in Japan would take a rather keen interest in learning the make and model of her neuralware. It was only the small hope that we may turn her to our interests that has kept me from contacting them.”

  “Hope? Are you a fool, Staanek? Those ‘worthless rebels’ managed to send a single agent into Bliss of all places, where she proceeded to eradicate forty-seven percent of our military infrastructure on Mars.”

  “All due respect, sir.” Lars spoke in a cold, snide tone. “I’m not the one who decided to run Cryomil over a canyon or fail to install a firebreak between pipe and reservoir tank because it cost too much. Perhaps you should be asking other questions of other people. Or, better yet, perhaps you should look into why the security at Bliss was lax enough that an untrained civilian with a couple of augments could stroll right in and out.”

  The voice emanating from the terminal growled. “You’ve had years to track this bitch down, and still nothing. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s on her knees under your desk right now.”

  Lars leaned his weight on two fists, knuckles whitening, as he loomed over the immaterial screen. “You’re fishing for a scapegoat. Do you honestly think the Board is going to look at me as being responsible for Bliss or the six-thousand people in the Combat Operations division who were supposed to be paying attention to their surroundings instead of each other’s dicks?” He straightened and lowered his voice. “You are the director, are you not? I’d say Bliss security is your responsibility, but there is no Bliss to defend anymore. It’s not my ass in the fire, Nikolas. It’s yours.”

  A jab at a holographic button cut off the call before the other man’s incoherent scream morphed into words. Lars, hands clasped behind his back, paced.

  Risa’s jaw hung open. Son of a bitch. He’s ACC Intelligence. Right here in Elysium. He wasn’t after Gen, he was throwing shit at the MLF in general. Her intent to call Everett resulted in a small ‘signal unavailable’ message floating in space. Shit. Jammer. A cold sweat crept down the back of her neck at the worry some of his equipment might’ve picked up the attempt. She eyed the distance from the vent to the desk where Lars continued pacing, muttering in German.

  Too far. I have to assume he’s got speedware. Both Hotaru-6 pistols felt like lead weights under her arms. They’ll go through the walls and all hell will break loose. I gotta do this silent.

  Risa backed up to the junction and rapid-crawled back the way she came. I’m not an assassin. She continued for fifteen meters and turned left. I can’t leave him. What if he disappears? She scooted up to a ventilation grille overlooking an L-shaped corridor outside the inner office. Left led to the double doors behind which Lars likely still paced. Shadows moved to the right, the sign of at least one bodyguard. Risa huddled against the cold plastisteel. How tweaked is this? I’m part of a false C-Branch operation and I’m doing actual C-Branch work. She wiped sweat off her palms. Beats planting bombs in civilian areas.

  She sprouted one Nano claw from her right index finger and all five on her left hand. After spearing the five into the vent grille, she sliced around the outside with the single claw and drew the loose metal slab into the duct. Claws retracted, she rolled onto her belly and slid out, hung from the edge for a second, and dropped the last few inches to the floor.

  Get close. Take him out. Leave the way I came in. Easy. She stepped up to the double doors feeling like a twelve-year-old sent to the principal’s office. Wait a minute. I’m not an assassin, dammit. What if… She grinned. Deep breath. Dazed expression. Acting scared was easy; she merely stopped hiding her feelings from the world. Risa opened the double doors and stumbled inside as if shoved from behind.

  Lars stopped pacing and glanced at her.

  She clasped her hands in front, kept her gaze down, and trembled. “Blackstar sent me as an apology for not doin’ that job yet.”

  He frowned, speaking English with a perfect regional accent. “Remind me which organization you belong to?”

  “SecSpiders. I’m just a prospect tryin’ ta get in.” She crept up to the desk, kneading her skirt in her hands. Only the thought she had no intention of doing anything let her continue talking. “They said I had ta let you do whatever you wanted to me.”

  Lars unclasped his hands and sauntered around the desk. He lifted her chin with a finger and regarded her face.

  Shit. She added trembles and tried to shy away. CamNano augmented her blush.

  “You’re about sixteen or seventeen?” He raised an eyebrow.

  Risa’s adrenaline had cranked up too far to permit fake tears. She wobbled as if light-headed, and added a trace of daze to her voice. “Sixteen… two weeks ago.” Now’s my chance. She leaned in to kiss him.

  Lars’s light grip on her chin shoved her to the side with enough force to leave her half-sprawled over the desk. “I’m not interested in children. If this ‘Blackstar’ is so keen on apologizing, tell him to send me Risa Black… or at least an adult whore.”

  He turned away, paused a second, and took three steps to a wet bar along the back wall, where he un-stoppered a tall, rectangular bottle a quarter full of a reddish liquid.

  Risa pushed herself off the desk and stood. Did a Corporate just refuse sex with a sixteen-year-old? Now I really think I’m losing my grip. She spun to face him. “Mister Staanek, if I go right back outside they’re gonna think I chickened out and beat the shit outta me.”

  He poured two fingers into a tumbler glass.

  She walked up behind him. “It’s cool you don’t wanna make me do anything. I didn’t expect you’d be like so… honorable or whatever.”

  “Mmm.” He took a sip and loosened a silvery-black cravat. “There’s probably quite a bit about me you don’t know.” Lars grinned at his own joke.

  She hugged him from behind. He tensed, but seemed to have bought her scared teenager act. “Can I tell you a secret?”

  He flashed a half-amused smile, took another sip of his drink, and let out a heavy
breath. “So hard to find decent cognac here. Okay, I’ll bite. What’s your secret?”

  She loosened her hug as he turned to look at her. “I’m Risa Black.”

  Speedware stopped the world. She leapt into a kiss, firing jets of tranquilizer from her Fangz implant down his throat. In her accelerated state, the lip lock seemed to take minutes as the chem flowed. At half a dose, Lars screamed into her mouth, filling it with the taste of harsh, burning liquor. When the streams spraying from her metal fangs stopped, she pushed him away. He bumped against the bar counter and slid to sit on the floor, already showing signs of paralysis. His expression had frozen in a mask of total disbelief. A few drops lingering in her mouth numbed the tip of her tongue.

  “You…” He twitched as if having a stroke.

  Risa let the Caucasian color fade from her skin, and the pink melt out of her hair. His eyes widened as if staring up at the Schwarzgeist that rumor made her out to be, come to take his soul. His leg twitched, his arm lifted, stiff as a board.

  “I changed my mind about killing you, Lars.” She backed up two steps and fell seated in his desk chair. “Mind if I borrow your Vidphone?”

  Lars slumped over to the side, unconscious. Risa swiveled around in the seat, and connected her NetMini to the M3 jack on his terminal with the spare wire she carried in her weapons harness.

  「Tamashī, are you still there? Can you go all bad kitty on this terminal? Go in through my ’mini.」

  「On it,」 said Tamashī.

  While she waited, she resumed her pink-haired ganger girl coloration. Fourteen seconds later, the login prompt became a holographic desktop. Risa poked General Everett’s PID in her contact list, and the desk terminal―which bypassed the jammer―initiated an outbound video call. Her ears caught footfalls approaching in the corridor.

  She leapt out of the chair, pulled the skirt off, and threw it over the terminal in plain sight. After dragging Lars behind the desk where he wouldn’t be visible, she straddled him and moved up and down as if riding cowgirl. When the doors clicked open, she added moans and squeaks.