Crimson Rain

by Tex Leiko

  “I’m ready, throw the switch please,” he said to Crimson, ever grateful that she was here to help him and provide moral support.

  “Anything for the cause,” she replied casually, though Max felt she was showing more than a professional interest in him.

  The arms activated and went to work, extracting his old eye and replacing it. Connecting every nerve no matter how small, every ligament, every piece of connecting tissue with elegance and flawlessness. Crimson sat by and watched, somewhat nervous despite the fact she trusted Max knew what he was doing.

  After the operation was over, Max went to bed. He’d had quite the day and could barely keep his eyes open. The sparring and the operation drained him physically and mentally and he needed some quiet time. Crimson continued to input commands into the data pad she had been working on earlier.

  Right now, Brian was planting devices she had him retrieve from a train station locker in each of the Pilvikones that he had access to. He would do so as a faithful minion then when he was finished, would go about his daily life with no recollection of doing so. What a great device that little microchip was she had planted in his brain.

  He was the last domino in her plot against them. All of the other Pilvikone reactors had already been hacked in a similar manner. Brian was one of her many minions, not the first, and certainly wouldn’t be the last either. But for now, that stage of her plan was complete.

  She would brief Max on his assignment tomorrow. He was done monkeying around for his own designs. It was time for him to craft what she needed. Crimson wasn’t used to having leisure time like this. It was only ten at night. Typically, at this point, she would still be stalking a target for a job, or preparing for the revolution. She now had nothing to do. It felt strange, awkward…but she took advantage of it and went to sleep.

  * * * *

  “There appears to be no movement tonight; commence the two hour watch shifts,” Zax commanded telepathically.

  “Tell me again why we don’t just storm her place?” asked one of the soldiers.

  “Because I told you that woman has a DNA barrier that we don’t know where to begin with disabling it. She programs it with a little computer on her wrist to scan and allow people to pass through into her home. Anyone she doesn’t scan when they pass through the barrier…melt, I guess is the correct term for it. It isn’t a pretty sight, trust me.”

  “Maybe we should work on disabling it.”

  “Shut up, be patient. We wait until they come to the street, no matter how long it takes.”

  The rest of the evening remained quiet. Nobody questioned Zax and the watchmen did as they were assigned.

  * * * *

  Zarfa didn’t sleep at all the first night. He kept thinking about things over and over in his head. How he needed to warn Crimson, what he needed to tell the members of Legion Nine. What he needed to decide. There was going to be blood spilled on all sides in the end, who should he join? And whose blood would be spilled first?

  The following day was a long and boring trip. He got up and paced around the train about mid-day, almost tripping on the musical equipment that the strange, shrouded man was toting around with him. He didn’t care for this character. He gave Zarfa the distinct impression he was being watched, but he didn’t want to confront the man without some sort of obvious issue.

  Zarfa had finally fallen asleep in a crinkled up position later into the afternoon. He woke right as the train was pulling into Ilyeion. As the train slowed, he stood, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and began stretching. His legs felt tense from sitting in a cramped seat.

  The train pulled to a final stop and he took his position at the door. He was first in line, eager to get off. The time was about nine p.m. Ilyeion standard; it would be about six back in Alexarien. The doors slid open and Zarfa glanced around for the closest Public Interface Terminal. He spotted one across the station.

  This is it. After this, I will be an enemy of Synaptix for sure. But I’ve got to tell her. I may not like Polyhelix and the Faraza…but I sure as hell can’t stand the thought of mental slavery.

  He made his way to the terminal and connected. Quickly, he found the com-link number for Crimson Felicia Rose. He logged it into his memory and disconnected from the Interface. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He spun around to meet the person’s face.

  “Zarfa, it isn’t safe here!” Surge said excitedly, pointing to the Illithids swarming down the stairs of the train station toward them.

  “I knew I didn’t like the look of you! You spying on me or what?”

  “Yes, but I have orders not to kill you and to help you if I can. I have never seen this before, but those squid people coming at us have got to be the work of Polyhelix. Get ready to defend yourself. I will do what I can to help!”

  Surge flipped on his audio equipment and threw his guitar over his shoulder.

  What the hell is this ass thinking? ‘Oh I’m so cool I’m going to play guitar at a time like this.’

  “Zarfa, this might sting a little since you’ve only had one treatment. Get behind me!” Surge sounded scared as he commanded Zarfa. The Ilithids and their handlers were approaching quickly.

  Zarfa got behind him and dialed in a call to Crimson. It was ringing.

  Two…three...four… Crap, Crimson, connect already. I need to tell you a secret!

  Finally, he heard on the other end, “Hello?”

  “Crimson, it’s Zarfa! I am in Ilyeion! Synaptix is going to try to assassinate you. I can’t explain more. If I live through this, I’ll contact you again!”

  Zarfa disconnected and took a fighting stance. The odds were not good. Sixty against four, and thirty of these enemies were some sort of squid like monster that he had never encountered.

  It’s times like this I question myself for insisting on fighting with my bare hands. I wish I had a gun.

  * * * *

  Crimson had awoken early, as she usually did. It was six in the morning. She stretched for fifteen minutes, as she typically did. When your life involved fighting, it was good to stay limber. She went down the hallway to Max’s room and opened the door.

  He was lying on his bed, sleeping like a baby. She couldn’t help but admire the peace and tranquility on his face. She decided he probably needed his rest so she went into the kitchen area. She started to look around for something to prepare. She thought it would be nice to surprise him with a real breakfast.

  As she rummaged, she recalled how he had completely raided her food supplies the night before and that there was nothing left in the way of real food. All she had now were the synthesized meal packs and bars. None of those could provide a nice smell to rouse Max out of bed politely.

  She entered back in to Max’s room. She was going to try being nice and thoughtful to him this morning, but it just wasn’t working out. She sat on the bed, placed her hand on one of his shoulders, and began shaking him gently.

  “Max…Max… Wake up, Max,” she said as softly as she could.

  Max roared and grumbled, rolling on to his side facing away from her. She shook him gently some more as he growled from his throat and pulled the blanket over his head.

  “Why are you always waking me, bloody woman?” he exclaimed from under the covers.

  “Because there is work to do, lazy,” she stated, not at all angered by his grumpy morning outburst.

  “Right, right, I got it. No rest for the worker bee, gah! I hate you in the morning, you know that?”

  “You hate everything in the morning.”

  Max grunted and grumbled as he poked his head out from under the covers. His blonde hair was disheveled and his one hazel-colored eye looked tired and worn. His new silver eye gleamed in the sunlight coming in through his window.

  Max had done a great job crafting it. The eye looked almost like a real one; the only difference was that his iris was silver and glistened in metallic majesty. He squinted his eyes and stretched his arms out wide.

  “True, you’r
e just going to have to get used to me not being a morning person.”

  “And you may have to get used to me waking you much more violently.”

  “Touché.”

  “Look, I was planning on making you a breakfast out of real food, but when I arrived in my kitchen, I realized… You ate it all yesterday! So my plan to be nice to you was foiled. So, what do you want to do?”

  “Ugh, don’t worry about it. I’m not much of a breakfast person. What is on the agenda? Maybe I’ll eat in the afternoon.”

  “Fine, suit yourself. I still have meal packs and bars. You should have one. Your first task is another sparring session with Luther.”

  “Again?” Max exclaimed. He was still sore and hurting from his previous day of fighting.

  “Again… Hey, I noticed you picked katanas to fight with… Was the wakizashi sword I gave you a bad pick?”

  “Nah, it would have been good if I hadn’t modified my arms because they are shorter and weigh less. But I don’t need to worry about that now so I decided the katana styled plasma swords would work out better.”

  “All right, I’m taking it back then… I’ve had some good times with that blade.”

  “Oh?”

  “Oh…you’d better believe it, but it isn’t story time now, is it? It’s time for you to get up and go spar.”

  “Can I have some coffee first?”

  Crimson didn’t see the harm in allowing him to indulge in a bit of coffee before he went to the doom of having himself beaten to a pulp again by Luther. The two of them sat in the kitchen sipping coffee for about an hour. Finally, by seven-thirty, Max had made his way to the sparring room.

  He had eaten two meal bars before going in to give himself the calories to endure for longer than he had the last time. He had progressed substantially since the previous day, but as Max improved, Luther pushed further. Max was gaining control and progressing rapidly. Every time he got a bit cocky, Luther was sure to land a blow right to his ribs hard enough to bruise him pretty badly, all for the sake of keeping his ego where it ought to be.

  Max managed to keep it up for about two hours today, but finally, he had enough. He had burnt off the calories he’d eaten and then some. He would lose his small amount of extra weight in no time if he kept this routine up. By ten, Max hit the shower and cleaned up. He was sore and hurting, but the hot shower made him feel refreshed and ready to start on whatever project Crimson had for him.

  He found her in the lab. There she was inputting more data into her tablet. She glanced up from her work when Max came in and scanned him up and down with her eyes.

  “You’re trimming down quickly. How’d you do today?”

  “Better…though Luther made sure to make it known to me that he was only toying around. That guy could crush me flat in no time. I mean, come on, he has four arms!”

  “In a real battle, you may have ten rushing you. My only regret is I don’t have four of him to train you with.”

  “But that would be sixteen arms to defend against.”

  “That’s the next lesson, always expect the unexpected.”

  “Got it. Well, thanks for training me. I know my whole time won’t be spent in the lab. I’m going to need to be in the warzone at some time. I would hate to get killed early on.”

  “Agreed,” Crimson stated slyly, giving Max a small grin.

  “You look like a Cheshire cat when you do that.”

  “Do I now?”

  “That’s what I said. So, what task do you have for me?”

  “I need two more things in order to fight this war. I’ve already hacked the Pilvikone machines around the world so I can control the weather. But what I need from you to make it truly effective is a nanobot that will allow my body to act as a lightning rod so I can control electrical energies. I need to be able to absorb electricity into my body and discharge it from myself without it harming me. I know, it’s a big order because it isn’t a technology that has even been fabricated yet. Unlike your arms, you can’t just take a pre-existing design and add to it. You have to start new. Think you could do that?”

  “It’s going to be tough…but I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Good, the other thing I want from you is a Psyker Scream nanobot that can be airborne,” she stated as she had a video display project a hologram of the nanobots’ schematic over Max’s workbench. “I believe you can reverse engineer it, give it a flight mechanism, and make it smaller. Then I need you to re-write the programming. I want this bot to only infect those who already have Psyker Scream nanobots in them.

  “The purpose of your design will be to have this bot act the same as the old ones. Stripping the nerves’ mylenated sheaths, but instead of re-working the nerves and reconstructing them, I want it to stop there. Leaving them dead. Grisly, I know, but Synaptix has a lot of men in their army and they are growing each day. I don’t know how many will join our cause. I plan to recruit only weeks before we begin. In fact, my recruitment videos will be considered the first act of war. You’ll understand when you see them. We have a month for you to create both of these things. Think you can do it?”

  “Well… The anti-Psyker bots will be easy. I don’t see an issue there. Give me maybe…three days? But the other invention, as you said…well, it’s new tech. Who knows how long it will take.”

  “I’ve got faith in you. You’re the smartest man in the world who has spent his whole life wasting his brain. It’s time that you stop that. You can do it.”

  “One thing, what about Zarfa? For now, he is neither friend nor enemy. Won’t it kill him? He has had a treatment…and very well might finish them.”

  “If he finishes them, he will be under Synaptix control. At that point, he will be our enemy. As of right now, he chose to play on the fence, which means he is against us. It may be hard for you, but you barely even know the guy. View him as our enemy.”

  “Okay, but let’s say he stops and chooses deafness… Let us say he even helps us. Can I develop a bot that will protect him if that is the case? If he turns out to be an ally, I don’t see it fit to repay him with a knife in the back!”

  “If he turns out to be an ally…sure, just don’t let it distract from your other tasks. If it will take too long, scrap the project. We will have a delivery of Quarthonium and Kelmantrium in about a week. Seeing as you used all that I had to fabricate your arms and eye, all I expect you to do is come up with blueprints for them in the meantime.”

  “Very well, you can quote me on this. I will have the anti-Psykers and the antidote to them finished in three days. As for the other task…well, I will see what I can do in such a limited time.”

  “Okay, sounds good. I am not half the scientist you are, Max. That is why I recruited you. I knew you were wasting your brain being some doctor in the slums. But if there is any way I can assist you, let me know.”

  “Can’t think of any, but I will.”

  At that, Max got to work, examining the design of the Psyker Scream nanobots and reverse engineering them in his drafting program. He was making good progress and was very involved in his work. The day flew by without him realizing how late it was.

  Finally, though his stomach growled louder than he had ever heard before and he realized he was feeling sick from not eating, he looked over at the clock that he had been ignoring all day.

  Crap, it’s almost seven.

  Crimson had left him alone to get his work done. She was busy on the other end of the massive laboratory working on another project when he approached her.

  “I got a lot done, but I am hungry. Can we go get something?” he questioned as he stood behind her.

  “Why don’t you go ahead and have another one of those bars?”

  “I had three more after my sparring session. I am sick of them. Let’s go get some real food, please? Not this synthesized crap we are forced to eat. Cursed radiation,” he spat.

  “Fine, fine. Let me finish scanning this in before we go. Go get ready to leave, you big baby. I’ll meet
you in the living room.”

  Max didn’t respond verbally. He gutturally huffed and went out to the living room. He was ready to go and eat; he was starving and sick of the synthesized meals. He felt awful for anyone who could only afford those meals to live off of; real food was so expensive these days because there were very few places it could be grown.

  He was beginning to get antsy as he waited on the couch. It had been at least twenty minutes. Suddenly, Crimson burst into the room. She had an intense look on her face. The same look she had back at the warehouse when she shot Badger’s ear.

  “Max, eat a few of those damn meal bars and get ready. Zarfa called, Synaptix has decided to draw first blood and put an assassination order on my head. I used the scanners built into this building and there appear to be four men on rooftops in our location, snipers. Additionally, there are seventeen more holed up in a single bedroom apartment across the street. They’ve got us a bit outnumbered. Go to the armory, there is a Mk-147 gauss powered burst firing sniper rifle in there. It’s time to test out your eye.”

  “Wait, what? Why haven’t they assaulted us? Why haven’t they stormed?”

  “Because they don’t know how to take down my barrier.”

  “What barrier?”

  “Max, now is not the time for questions. Now is the time for you to steel yourself. Get your damn katanas and that sniper rifle and meet me back here. I am going to go wake Luther. He is going to want a part of this.”

  “Okay. Understood.”

  I wish just one night could be simple and quiet. I wish for once we could go grab dinner, come back here, and keep working on our projects quietly. Man, I wish life was…simple. Well, I guess I did sign up to wage a war with her… Stupid, Max, stupid.

  Max was torn between excitement and regret as he rushed to the kitchen to grab some food. He couldn’t be running out of energy in the battle. He made his way quickly to the armory and grabbed the sniper rifle that Crimson told him to get. He also found a combat suit that would be capable of deflecting a few bullets if he were to get tagged, so he suited up in that as well.