by M. R. Forbes
“Any ideas?” I asked.
“Cogs,” she said.
“What?”
“That’s who this is. The Cogs.”
“And who are they?”
“A gang. A Machine gang.”
“Aldus lets gangs roam the Machine?”
“You keep talking about Aldus like he’s this overprotective mother. You are familiar with the rules of the Machine, right?”
I was. Killing was probably a temporary ban in this case. “What do they want?”
She made a face that suggested she knew what they wanted, but she didn’t say it. “Just wait a second. There’s a certain theatric to the way they operate. It comes with the territory.”
I crossed my arms. “Okay. I’ll just stand here. You don’t have any cheats to get us out of this?”
“Not worth it.”
The three ninjas in front of us parted, and a geisha avatar moved between them, seeming to float over to us.
“Azeban,” she said, her voice light and friendly and impossibly demure. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
I didn’t know whether to be relieved or annoyed that the Cogs weren’t there for me. I quickly settled on annoyed. This was just another roadblock in something that on the surface seemed pretty damn straightforward. Get the spell, find the lich, drag him through the portal.
The devil was always in the details.
“Do we know you?” I asked, speaking before Prithi could.
The geisha glanced at me. “I am Madame Butterfly, the leader of the Cogs. Who might I have the pleasure of speaking with?”
“Night,” I said. “Conor Night.”
She giggled bashfully and then proceeded to ignore me. I guess she didn’t know who I was, so I didn’t rate.
“Azeban, you’ve been difficult to keep track of,” she said. “In fact, it’s as if you’ve been trying to avoid me.”
“Not really,” Prithi said. “I was out of town. Look, I know I owe you some credits, and I promise you’ll get them soon. I’m on a job right now.” She pointed her thumb at me.
The geisha bowed before speaking again. Whoever this person was in real life, they were taking the role totally over the top. I pictured some overweight guy in a wife-beater, sitting in a dungeon somewhere with a spilled beer on his lap. But Amos hated the Machine as much as I did. It was the one thing we agreed on.
“You have a reputation as an honorable trader, Azeban,” she said. “So when you say you will repay me, I believe it. Even so, I too have a reputation to consider. If the word went out that I was soft on one debtor, then all of my debtors would expect me to be soft. Do you understand?”
“I get it,” Prithi said. “I do. I won’t tell anyone. Neither will Conor. I’d let you stab me and be done with it, but this is important. Really important. Like, end of the world important.”
“Normally an exaggeration, but in this case true,” I said.
The geisha giggled again. “I respect your position, Azeban. But no exception can be made. I’m sorry. Good day.”
She turned and floated away from us.
“Damn,” Prithi said. “Conor, say ‘mod armor.’”
I lowered my head. “You’re kidding?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think they’d catch up to me so fast.”
“What do you owe them credits for, anyway?”
“I took up a loan with the Cogs to buy Myra some digital real estate before Death picked me up. It was stupid, I know, but I felt like I was losing her and I wanted to impress her.”
“You were ready to toss her to the curb five minutes ago.”
“Can we forget about that right now? Mod armor.”
As soon as she said it, her entire avatar turned into steel. It was pretty impressive, except it left her unable to speak. She wound up pointing behind me, desperately shaking her finger in warning.
“Mod armor,” I said.
The sword hit my shoulder an instant later, clanging off my suddenly protected skin. The force of it still knocked me back a step, and I cursed as the rest of the ninjas closed in.
I sighed again, putting my hands up to fight. Dannie had taught me what she knew, which was quite a bit. I was nowhere near as good at it as she was. When you could kill someone with a touch, you didn’t need to be.
Too bad that trick didn’t play here.
I managed to block the next sword strike, knocking it aside with my metal hands. I threw a quick punch, almost connecting. The ninja ducked to the side, spinning, and kicking and bouncing off the armor. I had to admit; the mod was pretty awesome. I got my hand on his leg, grabbing him.
“Say ‘mod strength,’” Prithi suggested.
“Mod strength,” I said without hesitation. I felt the change immediately and flung the ninja away. He hit the wall a dozen feet away, going right through it.
“Mod strength,” Prithi said behind me. I heard the thump of her fists against the ninjas, and the crashes of their bodies further away.
I had played video games when I was younger. This was just like that.
We cleared the area in no time, immune to the swords and fists and feet and strong enough that even a soft tap sent the avatars flying. I was surprised to find I was enjoying myself.
“Conor.” Dannie and Ashiira came running around the corner. “We heard fighting or something.”
Dannie slowed to look around at the holes in the buildings and to take stock of our iron man mods.
A ninja sprang toward her from the shadows, dagger in hand.
“Dannie,” I shouted.
Too late. The ninja reached her as she turned, blade coming down toward her chest. My own seized up, reliving that trauma again. Even here, where death was just a toss from the Machine, I felt the pain of it all over again.
“Cheat speed,” Prithi said.
The ninja came to a stop in mid-air. Well, almost to a stop. He slowed down to almost nothing. Either that, or we were suddenly moving ridiculously fast. Whichever. The result was that Dannie turned on the ninja, grabbed him by his gi, and threw him away.
“End cheat,” Prithi said.
The velocity difference must have been incredible, because Dannie’s motion sent the ninja rocketing into the distance. He was going to land somewhere out of sight. He probably died in-Machine, but since he had attacked first, Dannie wasn’t going to be banned for it.
Good riddance.
I was suddenly able to breathe again, and I leaned over, trying to regain my composure.
“Damn, that was close,” Dannie said. “Nice save.”
Prithi’s mouth moved. She must have been lipping “end mods” because the armor faded.
“You’re welcome,” Prithi said.
“Conor, are you okay?” Dannie asked.
“End mods,” I mouthed, dropping the armor and strength. “Yeah,” I said, straightening up. My heart was still pounding like a jackhammer, but I didn’t need her to see. “I’m fine.”
The ninjas were temp-banned. Madame Butterfly didn’t come back.
“Did Aldus catch the cheat?” Dannie asked.
“I don’t think so,” Prithi replied. “It was only a couple of seconds.”
“Can we get a move on?” I asked. “I want to get the fuck out of here.”
“Seconded,” Ashiira said.
“Let’s go talk to Ralphie,” Prithi said.
15
Honeymoon’s over.
“Azeban.”
Ralphie said the word with a playful disdain, layered on top of real dislike, with a cherry of hatred on top. The name oozed from his lips, the lower one quivering as the last syllable left his mouth.
I got the sudden impression that maybe Prithi wasn’t his favorite avatar.
“Now, Ralphie,” Azeban said. “Hold on.”
The Dealer was heavy, with short black hair and a round belly. He was wearing what looked like an old bus driver’s uniform, complete with a gray captain’s hat. He thrust a meaty finger toward the door.
&nbs
p; “Get out.”
“Ralphie,” Prithi said again.
Ralphie’s face was turning deep red. He pointed more forcefully. “I. Said. Get. Out!”
He wound up shouting. Prithi took it, not batting an eye.
“No,” she said.
A rifle appeared in Ralphie’s hands. He didn’t say mod or cheat or anything. It just popped into existence surrounded by sausage fingers. He cocked it and put it to Prithi’s face.
“I don’t want to talk. I don’t want to negotiate. I don’t want to know. Get out.”
Prithi opened her mouth to say something, but it was Dannie who saved the day. She slipped past Azeban, swinging her hips as she sidled up to the counter Ralphie was standing behind.
“Nice stick,” she said, putting her end on the end of his gun and licking her lips.
I had to resist the urge to groan.
“And. And you are?” he asked, stammering as she leaned forward, showing off her cleavage.
“Dannelle,” she said.
“Dannelle. That’s a pretty name for a pretty gal.”
Gal? At least he didn’t say dame.
“I don’t know what your business is with Azzy, Ralphie,” Dannie continued. “But I have business of my own, and I need someone like you to help me with it.”
“You need cheats? Mods?”
“Information.”
He glanced at Azeban and lowered the gun.
“That’s going to cost you.”
“I can pay.”
The gun vanished. “Good. Why don’t the rest of you wait outside?”
Dannie laughed. “I love your sense of humor.”
“Thanks, Dannelle.”
“But I need my companions to stay.”
He sighed. “If they have to. I assume Azeban brought you here, so I also assume you know how this works?”
She smiled, reaching under her shirt and producing a card, handing it over to him. As soon as he touched it, the card transferred account information to him. We were using Tarakona’s account, so there was more than enough credit in it.
He laughed greedily. “Whatever you need me to do to you, I mean for you; it’s yours.”
“I don’t need much, Ralphie,” Dannie said. “I’m looking for a messenger.”
His smile weakened somewhat. “A messenger, or a Messenger?” he asked, his voice making the distinction.
“The latter,” she said. “Someone from the Houses. Someone with access to the Bank.”
“Nobody’s ever asked me for that before. What are you looking for, that you want someone who can find the Bank? You can’t break into it. It’s not possible.”
“I don’t need to break in,” Dannie said. “I have a key right there.” She pointed at Ashiira. “The trouble is, he doesn’t know how to find it.”
Ralphie laughed. “Are you sure he’s legit, sweetheart?”
“Very,” Dannie said. “What do you say?”
“I don’t know. If word gets out that I opened my fat mouth-”
“I’m not going to tell,” Dannie said. “Neither are my companions.”
He reached up and rubbed at his chin. “I’ll tell you what. You cover Azeban’s tab and pay me, say, two million, and I’ll tell you what I know. I can’t give you a name, only a location.”
“Two million for a location?” Prithi said. “Dannie, forget it. I know other Dealers.”
“Time,” I said, tapping my wrist.
“Three million,” Ralphie said in response.
Dannie looked at me like she wanted to punch me. Okay, it wasn’t the smartest move, but Ash could afford it.
“Done,” I said. “By the way, Azzy, what do you owe Ralphie for?”
“It was a really nice property,” she said.
“I hope so,” I replied.
Dannie and Ralphie shook, sealing the deal and sending the payment.
“All right, I know for a fact that one of House Blue’s Messengers spends a lot of time in the Machine, at a place called the Scourge. It’s a nightclub in the Vice district.”
“I know it,” Prithi said, drawing a look from Dannie. She shrugged. “It’s my job to know.”
Ralphie laughed. “Yeah, right. A guy like you? You’ve probably been in every room in the basement.”
“I’m not that kind of Machinist,” Prithi said.
I was going to ask if the Scourge was an adult entertainment facility, but I think I had my answer. Every possible thing in the universe at your fingertips and most people steered straight to sleaze.
“That’s all you’ve got?” Dannie asked.
“That’s it.”
“Three million for that?” Ashiira said. “Fucking rip-off.”
“Excuse me?” Ralphie said.
Smoke snorted from Ashiira’s snout. I winced. He was a dragon after all. Parting with part of his hoard without getting a good return on investment wasn’t going to sit well.
“I said that intel was a rip-off. A scam.”
“Your buddy agreed to it.”
“We expected something a little more useful. For instance, what does this Messenger look like?”
“I’m not a liberty to say,” Ralphie said.
Flame spit from Ashiira’s nostrils. “What? Conor, three million and this is all we’re getting?”
“Ash,” I said. “It’ll be worth it. I promise.”
“Conor?” Ralphie said, looking at me. His eyes dropped to my left hand. The one that was supposed to be missing. “It isn’t Conor Night, is it?”
“It isn’t,” I said. “But what if, hypothetically, it was?”
He smiled, his smile growing as it spread, way past where it should have. Then I noticed that he was growing too, bigger and bigger as the smile expanded.
“We have a mutual acquaintance,” Ralphie said, voice deepening as he reached fifteen feet, his head scraping the top of his shop. “Baron Samedi?”
“Oh, fuck,” I said.
Then his suddenly gigantic fist nearly flattened me, the short-lived Honeymoon quickly over.
16
Cheaters never prosper.
I didn’t know what Samedi had offered Ralphie, but I figured it had to be pretty substantial considering he was willing to destroy his shop to get to me. Then again, he could probably just reboot the fucking thing later to repair it.
That was the way of the Machine. He had to know he couldn’t actually kill me, but he didn’t seem to care. I guess Samedi figured that whatever I was doing, there was a value in stopping it, at least for now.
I managed to roll out of the way of the car-sized fist, feeling the breeze of it as it sank into the floor beside me, the force rippling through the ground and knocking product off the shelves behind us.
“At least it’s not me this time,” I heard Prithi say. I looked over in time to see her change again. Not into steel. Now it was stone.
“Whatever he’s paying you, we’ll double it,” I shouted, getting to my feet and running for the door. A second fist pummeled the ground in front of me, blocking my path.
“That’s not how this works,” he said. “I can’t renege for a better deal, or I can forget about getting any future offers.”
“Future offers? Samedi’s going to eat your life force and use your corpse as a party trick. You can forget about future offers.”
“You can forget about future anything once I get done with you,” Ashiira said. “Do you even know who you’re fucking with?”
“Nope. And I don’t care.”
I didn’t see the finger coming. It flicked out from his hand, hitting me full in the chest. The force sent me flying, right through the doors and into the street.
I rolled a few times and bounced up, at the same time Ralphie busted through the roof, arcing high and coming down toward me.
“Cheat speed,” I said, expecting him to slow. He didn’t. “Mod armor.” Nothing. “Mod stone.” Nothing. “Mod help!”
A row of guns appeared in the air beside me, ranging from smalles
t to largest. I shook my head at the same time I grabbed the biggest one, not needing much time to aim at the boulder dropping toward me. I pulled the trigger, watching the rocket shoot up and hit Ralphie in the chest. It exploded, the force knocking him to the side and giving me clearance to get up and run again.
“That hurt,” Ralphie said, hitting the ground so hard it shook and knocked me over.
A second rocket whistled from his left, hitting him on the side. He rocked again, and a third angled in toward him.
He modded himself before that one struck, a force field blocking the explosion.
“That’s fucking cheating,” I heard Dannie say. She was running toward me, Prithi not far behind. Where was Ash?
I heard the shriek and looked up, finding him airborne and in full dragon form, stretching out the length of a city block.
“How is that even possible?” I said as he dove toward Ralphie.
“I gave him a special mod,” Prithi said. “Tarakona gave it to me to thank me for helping out.”
Of course, he did.
Ralphie got to his feet. He was close to fifty feet tall now, so big he towered between the shorter buildings of the slum. He reached down, grabbing a light post and lifting it easily from the ground. He turned in Ashiira’s direction, ready to knock him from the sky.
Ashiira roared as he approached, opening his mouth and spewing fire. The same force field that stopped the gunfire stopped the fire breath as well, and it washed around him without harm. Ashiira slowed in the air, leading with his hind claws. Ralphie swung the light post with enough force I felt the breeze where I was standing. I almost closed my eyes, afraid to watch.
Ash maneuvered gracefully, turning in the air and catching the post with one of his feet. He pulled back, ripping it from Ralphie’s grip. Ralphie let him, using the few seconds Ash was off-balance to hit him with a solid punch.
Ash roared again, tumbling through the air and then crashing through a building before rolling to a stop. He was there one second, gone the next, his avatar killed.
“Damn it,” I said. “Prithi, what other cheats do we have?”
“I used them all,” she replied sheepishly.
“What? When did that happen?”
