The Puzzler's War

by Eyal Kless

  “And that is Mannes’s version of events? An inside job caused all of this?” I waved my arm in an arc. “And why is this girl we are tracking so important that he had to awaken a hibernating agent after all these years? And those Lizards, and the tattooed—these are markings from Tarakan puzzle games, I recognise them—how are they all connected?” Sergiu simply looked at me in silence as I kept bombarding him with questions.

  “Who is powering the city, and the bunkers? I heard the emergency bunkers get refilled with weapons and medicine. That kind of printing spends a huge amount of energy.”

  I could see Sergiu shutting down and had to fight rising frustration when he simply got up from where he was sitting and said, “Mannes will fill you in on all the details, Colonel Major, but right now, if you’ll excuse me, nature calls.” He turned and limped away, and I heard the rustling of leaves and branches as he distanced himself for privacy.

  For a short while I was alone, in the wilderness, deep in my own thoughts, deciding if I should continue trying to milk Sergiu for information. I heard the rustle of vegetation again. At first, I thought it was Sergiu but then realised that the rustling was coming from a different direction—behind me.

  The body of a vessel is mostly artificial, grown and printed in a laboratory, but my consciousness evolved from hundreds of thousands of years of human survival. I was being stalked. My skin prickled as my hand reached for the power pistol in my belt. The rustling stopped. Whoever was behind me was either waiting for something to happen or aiming a weapon at my back. In a sudden movement I spun around and stepped away from the fire, raising my weapon while slightly crouching in order to make myself less of a target.

  The Lizard was standing twenty paces from me. Tall, calm, unmoving, but I remembered all too well the speed with which it moved when it charged. It looked at me, then its strange, reptilian eyes travelled to the pistol in my hand, and back to my face. Intelligence.

  I lowered the weapon and straightened up, and as soon as I did, the Lizard began slowly advancing. It was a head and a half taller than me when fully erect, but I had the feeling this was not how it usually moved. It did not growl, hiss, or show any hostility. On the other hand, the slow approach could mean it was either cautious or stalking prey. I was acutely aware that its talons were sharp enough to tear me apart in a heartbeat, and sharp or blunt, those teeth could inflict some serious damage as well.

  Still, I held my ground.

  The Lizard stopped a few paces away. Out of arm’s reach but close enough to charge. The only creatures who stood up so tall were the long-extinct gorillas and the cloned Tarakan military soldiers, the Guardian Angels. I shoved the power pistol back into my belt and watched as it slowly lowered itself to a crouching position. Just like the first time, before it leaped over my head.

  “Can you understand me?” I asked.

  It hissed, softly, then moved its talon on the ground, drawing something.

  From the corner of my eye I saw Sergiu emerge from behind a tree, gun in hand. Without moving my body, I raised my hand to signal him to stop. The Lizard turned its head slightly and saw Sergiu. Its muscles tensed, and I readied myself for another leap, but it turned its head back and finished the drawing. It was a crude but accurate image of a hand with its five digits spread out. The universal sign of “hello.”

  Chapter 54

  Twinkle Eyes

  Vincha stormed out of the bar with both of us at her heels.

  “Vincha, wait,” I called after her.

  “You ain’t coming,” she said, without looking back.

  “You need us.” Galinak was a step ahead of me both physically and argumentatively.

  “Like rust in my bum hole.”

  I was about to try and argue more sense into her but all three of us stopped in our tracks when we saw what was waiting for us. I cursed my stupidity for not checking the area through the bar’s wall, but telling Vincha the gist of it and trying to contain her reaction took my full attention. Now it was too late. A man dressed in brown LeatherFlex armour was leaning casually on Vincha’s shark. He was tall and lean, and had an elaborate goatee, shaped in circles and lines. He was also missing a large portion of his left ear. Two more sharks were parked near Vincha’s shark, blocking its way, and several more men and women were spread out, holding a variety of light but deadly looking weaponry. Worse was the truck that was parked a hundred paces away. It was not built for speed, more likely for a blockade or for gate busting. It was big, heavy, protected by metal plates, and instead of haul space there was a manned heavy power gun. It swivelled back and forth as it covered the entire area. I estimated it could blow Vincha’s shark to pieces with a single shot.

  All three of us stopped as the man leaning on the shark straightened up.

  “Twinkle Eyes, how are your sharpshooting skills?” Vincha whispered behind her shoulder.

  “Untested,” I whispered back the truth. Shooting the gun out of the boy’s hand was one thing—this, now, was a whole different story.

  “Can you take out the gunner?”

  I quickly glanced sideways, as the man waiting for Vincha took a tentative step forward and spread his arms wide. The gunner’s head was only visible through a split between the metal plates.

  “Not sure,” I murmured under my breath. “Can you talk your way out of this?”

  “Vincha,” the man called out.

  “Not sure,” Vincha whispered back. “I only know that if we want to live, you need to take that gunner down. But do it only on my signal.”

  Vincha took a step forward without waiting for my reply, spreading her hands wide. “Scorpion, this is a surprise.”

  “You know, we only asked one thing of you, Vinch,” Scorpion said as he took another step forward. “To stay where you were and wait for orders. That’s what the boss said. Those were her exact words, I heard them with my own ears.”

  “I’m surprised to learn you can hear at all.” Vincha stepped a little aside, and they both began circling each other. “Because I definitely remember telling you to stay out of my business.”

  There were eight other gang members standing, not including the gunner on the truck, very tough odds. It dawned on me that we might all die right here, just as I was making true progress. I wondered, and not for the first time, if Rafik had been lying and there was a copy of me stored somewhere in Adam’s memory. In this case, dying here might not mean I was really dead. However, whatever my intellect might say, my guts were firmly against the prospect of a messy death, and the tremor in my heart seemed to concur.

  “And when it was time to break the blockade, when the order came, what did I find?” Scorpion, unaware of my philosophical reflections, changed his direction to counterclockwise, and Vincha changed her movement as well. They were both circling each other slowly, looking for an opening. Scorpion seemed relaxed and was taking his time, enjoying his control. “I find that instead of helping us jam the Oil Baron’s communications and get a drop on his blockade, you took one of our sharks and now spend your time doing business on the side.” He pointed at Galinak and me.

  “I was not doing business with them.” Vincha moved quickly out of Scorpion’s reach and I felt Galinak tense at my side. “They are just old acquaintances. But speaking of the shark, how did you find me?”

  Scorpion laughed and opened his palm. Even from a distance it was obvious he was holding a tracking device. I saw Vincha pale.

  “The thing is, this particular device”—Scorpion made a show of shoving it into his belt—“the Gadgetier told me it records where you’ve been, not just where you are. All these mysterious disappearances, no one believed the rust you sold us. Sellika is on her way here, to have a personal chat with you, while I am going to learn all about those little secrets you’ve been keeping. We shall see what is more interesting, where you’ve been or how you die.”

  “I’ll need that tracking device, Scorpion,” Vincha said, and I managed to grab Galinak’s coat before he moved.

/>   “Not yet,” I whispered.

  “Come and take it.” Scorpion motioned with his hand, and Vincha charged in.

  She was too desperate, too eager, and went in too fast. Scorpion anticipated her movements and sidestepped, punching her in the ribs and kicking low. Her legs went out from under her. Vincha hit the ground on her back and rolled away from a vicious stomp. Scorpion laughed as he shortened the distance between himself and Vincha.

  “Not yet,” I whispered again. We were at killing-zone distance, and with no apparent augmentations. Unaware of our abilities, the rest of the gang was watching the fight, most of them relaxing, but two were still alert enough to cover Galinak and myself. “You’ll have to drop the one with the eye patch before everyone else,” I said as Scorpion landed a vicious knee to Vincha’s midsection. She grunted but turned and elbowed the man in the face. He backed away a little, but instead of following up on her advantage, Vincha created some distance by retreating, breathing hard and trying to recover.

  Scorpion laughed. “I was looking forward to this, Vincha. I heard you were a fighter back in the day, but I see those were lies.” He suddenly moved in and landed a few more heavy swings which Vincha managed to block but not counter.

  “What is she doing?” Galinak said through gritted teeth.

  “Drawing him away, giving me a shot.” I looked at the gunner. The aiming mechanism in my retina was showing me the right angle my gun should be at, but the problem was that the gunner had shifted his position as well, following the fight, and the gap was simply impossible to breach from where I stood.

  “This is going to be a two-shot manoeuvre,” I said as Vincha was getting punched and kicked.

  “She can’t take much more of this.” Galinak stepped to the side. “When are we going to go?”

  “She’ll give us a sign.”

  Vincha was on the ground again, Scorpion towering above her. Blood flowed freely from her nose and her cheek was swollen. When Vincha and Galinak were going at it in the bar, the old Troll was pulling his punches. Scorpion was not.

  “She is too busy getting beat up to give us a sign,” Galinak said.

  As she protected her face from vicious blows while lying on the ground, Vincha’s hair suddenly twitched.

  “Trust me,” I said, and my hand slid to grip the butt of the peacemaker while Vincha’s hair twisted and turned. “She’ll give us a sign.”

  There was the hum of an engine and suddenly Vincha’s shark accelerated in reverse and swivelled into Scorpion, sending him flying into the air just as Vincha rolled sideways, coming up with a power gun in her hand. Galinak leaped in the air and landed on the man with the eye patch as I pulled my peacemaker and dropped the female Troll standing next to him. The kick of the peacemaker was massive, but so was the hole it created. I raised the peacemaker to the swivelling machine gun, knowing that at least two other gang members were already training their weapons on me. This was not sharpshooting practice, where you can take aim at your leisure. The retina-aiming mechanism kept readjusting and the sun blurred my vision. I took a shot as bullets zinged around me, and missed, then rolled sideways as the power machine gun blasted the wall of the bar behind me. I had no power armour to protect me from the shock wave and debris, which landed on my body as I rolled. I came up, shot two more times, missed again, then felt the sharp pain of a power ray stinging my leg. I threw myself away, to the right this time. A burning sensation was climbing up my body, but there was no time for me to figure out what was going on. I landed on my side as the power gun discharged another blast above me, blowing up the entire second floor of the bar, where Galinak and I had been playing cards for three days running. The gunner lowered the muzzle in my direction, but I squeezed the trigger first, and this time the shot was true. I guess he collapsed on his own trigger because the gun suddenly swivelled to the side and discharged again, blowing out the truck’s front cabin. It continued swivelling and shooting as I got to my feet and tried to figure out who was alive, knowing I had only several heartbeats before the gun made a full circle and shot again. I saw a glimpse of Galinak ducking but I got distracted by my trousers being on fire. I didn’t know if Vincha slowed down next to me because she wanted to let me into her shark or if she was simply trying to calculate where the power gun would swivel next, but I dove into the backseat headfirst.

  As I patted myself down she turned left, away from the truck. She was about to accelerate.

  “We have to wait for Galinak,” I said as a parked shark blew up behind us.

  “Balls we do, Twinkle.” She hit the accelerator and I was thrown back in my seat.

  By the time I got up we were getting away.

  “Go back for him,” I said again.

  “Galinak can take care of himself,” Vincha answered, and shifted gears. “I have my own business to take care of.”

  Former me would have tried to argue that it was more sensible to have a capable fighter on our side. Former me would have tried to persuade, bargain, or even plead with her. Current me pulled the peacemaker and aimed it at Vincha’s head.

  “Go back, you ungrateful bitch. Galinak just saved your ass.”

  Our eyes met over the rear mirror. Her right eye was swollen shut and her left was bloodshot. “You wouldn’t dare, Twinkle Eyes,” she said.

  “Think of it this way. A very capable Tarakan agent whom only I can recognise is going after your daughter, but I’m not going anywhere without Galinak and just in case I’m not convincing you with reason”—I re-aimed the peacemaker—“in a moment I am going to start shooting your shark. I will begin with the steering mechanism.”

  Vincha swore and turned the shark around so sharply I slammed against the side door, thankful that I had the foresight to keep my finger out of the trigger guard.

  When we arrived back, everything that was not utterly destroyed was burning, including the bar, and Galinak was nowhere to be seen. The heavy gun was still swivelling in accelerating speed with the flopping body of the gunner still strapped into the chair. As we approached the whole truck exploded, and I ducked. When I raised my head again I saw burning metal debris everywhere.

  “Still want me to look for your pet?”

  “Yes,” I answered.

  “Well, we ain’t getting out of the shark.” Vincha pointed. “See that drone up there? That means Sellika is close.”

  “Who is Sellika?” I peered around, still looking for Galinak.

  “No one you want to meet, believe me.”

  “You want me to shoot the drone down?” The trick shot I had managed to pull before empowered me with confidence.

  “Save your clip.” Vincha’s hair twitched, and a moment later the drone dropped to the ground. “Still, we’d better get out of here, now.”

  “You’re part of her gang now, is that it?”

  Vincha shook her head. “Outside contractor.” She shot me a smile against her better judgement. “Like old times, eh, Twinkle Eyes?”

  “Like old times.” I nodded. “I’m just not sure when you’re going to try and kill me again.”

  “We’ll keep it a surprise,” she answered when something heavy landed on the roof of the shark. Both of us pointed weapons upwards, but it was Galinak’s smiling face which appeared over the hood. Vincha rolled down the windows with the touch of a button and Galinak slid in, all blood, soot, and smiles.

  “You came back for me,” he cooed.

  “Vincha insisted,” I answered quickly.

  The CommTroll snorted a chuckle at my outrageous lie. “Well, we still have unfinished business between us, you bucket of rusting screws,” she told Galinak.

  “I believe this is yours.” Galinak tossed the tracking device to Vincha. It was broken in half. “But I couldn’t find this Scorpion guy. Too bad. I wanted to dance with him a bit.”

  Vincha nodded her thanks, rolled the window up, and turned the shark around just as I pointed. “I believe the cavalry is coming.”

  “The wrong kind of cavalry.” Vincha
slammed on the accelerator as the ground around us erupted. I was thrown back and bashed my head against the machine gun mechanism.

  “How fast is this shark?” Galinak was fumbling for his seat belt.

  “Not fast enough,” Vincha admitted, “but it’s hard to catch someone you can’t see.” Her red hair twitched in all directions. “Shut your yaps, gentlemen, and let me concentrate. We’re going to cloak.”

  Chapter 55

  Peach

  “He’s bigger than a normal Lizard.” Sergiu followed the creature’s movements as it charged up hill on all fours. I’m not sure what kind of alternatives we had, but it was still a hard sell to convince Sergiu to let the creature tag along. Eventually he chose to have the lizard where he could see it rather than have it shadow us.

  “Faster too,” Sergiu added. “I mean, I’ve heard plenty about these creatures and seen some dead ones, too. This one is definitely a faster, meaner version.”

  I watched the Lizard move across the hilly ground to our left, leaving a dust trail behind him like the exhaust of an antique fossil fuel vehicle. “How do you know it’s a ‘he’?” I said. “I didn’t notice a male sexual organ, or a female one, but those could be well hidden.” Creating a nonsterile vessel was a very complicated and expensive process, although all vessels deployed by Tarakan intelligence possessed all the right anatomical parts and connection to the areas of the brain indicating pleasure or pain.

  Sergiu shrugged and shifted position on the mule. We had taken Summer as a beast of burden and ditched the cart as we cut through the wilderness to save time but also to avoid possible encounters on the road involving armed travellers and a free Lizard.

  “Just a feeling, I guess,” he said. “If he stays with us and doesn’t come back from wherever he disappears to at night to murder us in our sleep, we’ll have to name him at some point. Oh, I think he caught something.”

  It was true. The Lizard had failed to communicate even its name to us, verbally or otherwise. Its first talon drawing turned out to be a onetime wonder, as it seemed it was incapable or unwilling to draw anything else. It showed definite intelligence and reacted to simple command words such as “stop” or “wait” or “over there,” but had not responded to anything more complicated, such as questions regarding its origins or even its name. I could not decipher its hisses, and as far as I could tell they were only meant to draw attention to something or to warn us off.