by Bruce Adams
Once again, Sergeant Henderson stepped forward. “No, no, ma’am. You have to draw your pistol on the mark and fire three shots. And hit the target in the head...while it’s moving.” He grinned wickedly. Many of the men were conversing in low tones. Eris saw credits changing hands numerous times.
Lieutenant Diaz was at the gunnery target practice controls. A life-size dummy was suspended on rails. He made it move out to a distance of one hundred meters. The range was indoors, just like everything else on the base. The maximum distance was only one hundred and fifteen meters and the width was only fifteen meters. Eris had to hit the target dummy in the head in three seconds as it crossed right to left, spanning fifteen meters, or five meters per second. This was equivalent to a humanoid performing a fast run. Most observers would state that such a shot was impossible.
Eris had her gauss pistol holstered but unlatched. She waited for the signal to rapidly draw and fire the weapon. Rafael Diaz was at the controls ready to make the target dummy move, and Sergeant Henderson had a holo time program prepped and waiting for the timer to begin.
“Ok, I’ll start at three, count down to zero, and at that point, you need to draw your weapon, and fire at least three shots hitting the target in the head. Ready?” Henderson was practically shouting.
“Three! Two! One! Zero!” When Henderson said the final word, the holo program started counting in milliseconds.
Eris had zoned out everything around her, all the men who had been whooping, hollering and jeering had become intensely quiet. She focused on the target and time seemed to slow down for her. In a practiced motion, she fast drew her pistol and then fired three single shots at the target. It was all over in less than two seconds. Lieutenant Diaz made the target dummy whiz back to the weapons console. As he did so, the men started to talk again excitedly and loudly.
“Hah!” She only hit it once!” Henderson was pointing at the target dummy’s head which had a single gauss blast drilled through the skull. He was exulting to the other TEC security personnel.
“See! I knew she wasn’t shit!” Hey Diaz, you can pay me that five hundred credits right now, amigo!”
Eris looked at the men surrounding her, with no hint of emotion. “Computer, show imaging of target one upon impact with gauss round. Enhance holo image at first point of impact and show time in milliseconds.
The firing range computer flickered into view of those assembled. She was female, of course. Men always liked having a female computer and voice – some things never changed. The computer was sophisticated and could add even more data. “I can project multiple images of the target, shall I do so?”
Eris smiled. “Go ahead. Run the holo recording and let’s see what happened.”
Holographic projection had advanced rapidly in the last decade. A smaller version of the humanoid target appeared, and onlookers could tell it was the exact same target dummy that had just been fired at. A timer showed intervals elapsing in thousandths of a second. A gauss flechette round blasted the head in the middle of the forehead. The timer elapsed three hundredths of a second and another blast hit the exact same spot, widening the hole slightly, then again another blast appeared in the same spot. Three shots all hit the same spot in the same hole.
The evidence was incontrovertible.
“Impossible! No one without any kind of neural implant can do what she just did - no one!” Sergeant Henderson’s mouth was wide open. The other men of his unit had stopped and stared at the display and were silent.
“Just let it go. You lost. Man up and admit it. She’s better then you thought. Hell, she’s better then all of us.” Diaz smiled ruefully.
Eris was already walking out the door. She paused and looked over her shoulder. “Hey Diaz, your good for the two hundred and fifty credits you owe me, right?”
Diaz shook his head slowly and whistled. “Smooth, Commander…real smooth.” The rest of the Division Six men crowded around him and began to joke. Eris left them far behind.
CHAPTER 3
The sounds of traffic - loud honks from cars and the ceaseless whisper of shod feet on pavement woke Eli from a troubled sleep. His head pounded and his mouth was dry. Eli Bowman was over one hundred and eighty six centimeters tall, but at the moment he was sprawled out on his back and lying crookedly against a wall.
Groggily he realized it was night time in a city…exactly what city he didn’t know. He couldn’t exactly remember where he had been and what he had been doing. His mind was in a fog. He thought hard about that, not being able to remember such a simple thing was frustrating. Memories swirled in his mind – moving too fast to focus on. All he knew was that he shouldn’t be here…wherever here was. He staggered to his feet. He noticed more of his surroundings. A constant rush of vehicles streamed by, driver’s blaring their horns seemingly non-stop.
Groups of people on foot also moved by him and if they noticed him they paid no heed. He looked around and noticed that the street signs were in English. Suddenly a memory swam into his consciousness.
He was on Kanpur, at the Dawson Slope mine and men all around him were dying with blood streaming from their eyes. In his mind’s eye he faced an alien opponent, something he had never encountered before. The pain in his skull had felt like the worst headache he had ever suffered multiplied ten-fold. Eli instinctively had known that the alien was a machine. Eli had always been able to control machines. It was a struggle unlike anything he had ever faced. The memory of it made him close his eyes. More memories came into sharp focus. The alien entity had been extremely forceful, probing for weaknesses and constantly assaulting his mind with images of death, destruction and white hot lances of pain.
Where Eli had always been able to mentally interface with any machine and make it do what he wanted, he had struggled with the Entity as if it had been coated in grease – he hadn’t been able to get a firm grip on the thing, and it had been painful throughout the ordeal. He remembered now…something had finally snapped and he had controlled the alien machine and been able to turn it off. However, doing so had triggered something else inside of Eli, and a surge of power followed by pain flowed through his body at that moment. The memory was one of ecstasy – as if the entire universe had flowed through him at once. Now he was here…a familiar place, but at the same time unknown.
He began walking down the street, feeling better with each step he took. The nausea was receding. An ATM up ahead had a few people waiting in line. No one paid any attention to him as he stepped in line behind a portly woman and waited his turn. It was amazing that people still wanted to use hard currency - cash that fit in the palm of hands. Eli had always wondered why. Now he had a reason – anonymity. A few minutes later, he pretended to pull out a wallet and card while his mind linked in with the computer equipment and imperceptibly manipulated the software with his ability. He had been doing such things since he was ten years old. He quietly pocketed the eight hundred credits he had just stolen. Eli had long since come to terms with his ability. He felt no remorse for what he had done – it was a matter of survival.
Looking up, he saw the sun was going down and shadows from the nearby towering skyscrapers had plunged the street into a gray dimness. He shivered as the wind blew, goose bumps appearing on his arms. It was getting chilly and he needed a warm place to stay.
A man in a gray overcoat bumped into him as Eli made his way through the pedestrians and to the street curb. Cabs that were driven by real people moved through the street haltingly, blaring horns at other vehicles. On the side of one yellow car he recognized a cab company name - Auto Cab. This was New York City… his hometown. He raised his arm and waved down the automated taxi. The electric hum of the engine was almost imperceptible as it came to a slow gliding stop in front of him. The android driver had lowered the passenger window on the all yellow electric car. Thoughts had been buzzing in his head ever since he had awakened, thoughts on what he needed to do, plans to be made and how to go about doing them.
The driver was female an
d dressed nicely, if a little provocatively. Her blouse was low-cut and revealed an ample bosom. Eli knew ‘she’ was an android, programmed to drive and interface with customers. She put a human face on the machines that interacted with the lives of hundreds of billions of humans on a daily basis.
“Where to, mister?” she inquired, smiling. Her voice was pleasant with a foreign accent. She had a perfectly perky and happy expression. Her face had been designed by experts - the distance between her eyes and mouth was just over thirty-six percent of the overall length of her face, from hairline to chin. Her facial features had a lasting beauty that a real driver would never have; let alone that there were no organic female drivers. Driving a taxi in New York City in the 22nd century was still a dangerous profession – but not for a computer, or an android. If attacked, ‘she’ could immediately call the police, lock all the doors and either shut off the engine or drive back to her garage. She even had greater strength then most men but was not programmed to do anything except restrain violent offenders until the proper authorities arrived. Most people didn’t think twice about being driven by androids or computers. It was a part of everyday life. Her brown hair shone and her eyes glistened softly in the dim light. Sometimes Eli hated living in this century.
He gave the auto cab the home address of his old friend, Lane Medina. He hoped Lane still lived there. He didn’t want to impose on anyone, but he needed help. He needed to get back to Kanpur and find out what happened to Eris…The thought of her quieted the maelstrom in his mind. She was the center of a hurricane, always so serene and beautiful until it came time for action, and then she became a whirlwind of death. The ride was silent after Eli told the automated cabbie to stop talking. Of course he had had to listen to the fake girl talk about ads first. He was tempted to use his ability to make it do what he wanted, but he figured that the less he used his power, the better. He knew that agents of the TEC were after him. He knew because Victoria Longshadow had told him to beware of the TEC and that it would want someone with his…power…working for them. He hadn’t believed her at first, but over time he had come to accept the situation. Agents had tried to corner him twice before. Since Lane had connections with the Republic government, he figured he could offer them a deal. He’d work for them if they could keep the TEC away from him. He had to stay off the grid as much as possible. That meant no phone calls. He had to do things in person and pay with cash.
Pulling up to a three story brownstone in Brooklyn he paid the auto cab by feeding it a one hundred credit bill. He pocketed the change that was returned. Climbing the steps to the landing, he saw the entrance door was made of heavy steel. He sensed it had an older computerized electronic lock. He buzzed number 115, the apartment Lane lived in.
A feminine voice without an image came through loud and clear.
“Yeah? Who is it? Who’s there?”
Eli stepped clearly into view of the hidden camera that he knew was fixated on the landing. He looked up at the door step viewscreen so the girl could get a look at his face.
“I’m Eli Bowman. I’m a friend of Lane’s. I need to talk to him. Is he in?” Eli was worried. He didn’t know this girl. If she was a new tenant in Lane’s old apartment, he’d have to keep looking. The buzz of the electronic lock being disengaged was loud and distinctive.
“Come on in, Eli. Lane should be home any minute now.”
Eli opened the door and stepped into the brownstone. Lane’s apartment was down the hall and to the left. At apartment number 115, he paused while trying to straighten his shirt. He didn’t look very good for meeting people. He knocked on the door.
The door opened a few inches and he saw a dark haired woman with almond shaped eyes through the narrow slit.
“Eli, in college you and Lane did something together. Something…illegal…what was it?” The chains on the door remained in place. Eli wasn’t too surprised at the question. She had a right to be suspicious, but Lane must trust her if he had told her that story.
“We broke into the NIA’s database…”
He heard her removing the door chains and ten seconds later the door opened. A short woman standing perhaps five feet two wearing casual clothes stood in the doorway.
“I’m sorry…I had to be sure it was you. Lane has told me a lot about you. I’m Mia.” she said, extending her right hand. He shook her hand and stepped into Lane’s apartment. Her tone was guarded and cautious. There was no hint of warmth in her voice. “So…you’re Eli Bowman. Kind of dirty for a legend, aren’t you?” She frowned as she closed the door behind him.
“Uh, yeah, sorry about that...I was just on Kanpur, and I haven’t had time to change my clothes into something clean.” Eli immediately thought the statement odd as it came out of his mouth, but Mia showed no outward sign of being perturbed.
The apartment looked different from the last time he had been here. He remembered that Lane’s furniture had been black leather along with expensive art deco pieces that had been framed on the walls. Now it looked very different. The furniture was covered in red synthetics. Colors of red and ochre predominated throughout the apartment. He guessed that it was Mia’s choices that had shaped the new look.
“Do you want something to drink? I have tea and coffee. There are also some sodas if you prefer…” Mia had relaxed somewhat and was no longer frowning. He thought he saw a hint of a smile on her face.
Eli still had a dry mouth and shivered. “Yes, thanks, I’ll take some hot tea if you don’t mind.” Mia nodded and went into the tiny kitchen. Eli turned his head looking around the living room and looked around using his ability to sense and control machines. The apartment was luxurious but small. Something about the place, or that it was his old friend Lane’s house triggered memories. Eli had been able to interface since he was at least nine years old. He had never told anyone how he could do the things he could do. To everyone that knew him, they simply believed that he was the most talented hacker humanity had ever produced. His hacker handle GhØst was known throughout the Republic. Hardly anyone knew that Eli Bowman was indeed that hacker. But Eris Monroe did. Considered a child prodigy, he had always been fascinated by computers and electronics. At the age of eight he fooled the National Intelligence Agency into believing he was a disgruntled but brilliant sixteen year old. They eventually figured out who he really was, after all, an eight year old can’t keep fooling the most sophisticated spy agency on the planet.
Mia returned with a steaming mug of Earl Gray tea for Eli and a cup of coffee for herself. Her arrival broke his reverie. The inductionwave had taken exactly twenty-one seconds to heat the water to a boil.
“So, what have you been up to Eli?” Mia sat down on the red leather couch and crossed her legs. She was a beautiful girl with long dark brown hair, curled in the latest style, with layers. Her ears had been augmented in one of the trendy body modifications into ‘elf’ ears that were long and pointed. Eli thought about what he would say.
“Uh, I’ve been off-planet and just got back. I was hoping to talk to Lane. It’s somewhat important. Like life and death important…”
He drank some of the tea and began to relax. He was safe here. Nothing in the central apartment computer had given him any alarms – no calls to authority figures, and certainly no surveillance devices, bugs, in the place. His sense told him that and he’d been relying on that information for a decade. It had never failed him.
Mia nodded sagely and offered a wan smile. “If you don’t mind me asking, why do you need to talk to him now? It’s almost seven and you could have called first… She let the words trail off as the door to the apartment opened. Mia rose from the couch and walked over to her boyfriend and gave him a hug and a kiss.
“Honey, your old friend Eli dropped by to visit with you!” She seemed to be happier now that Lane was in the apartment. Lane was dressed in a business suit with a coat and tie. He took his hat off and placed it on the coat-rack just inside the foyer. He shrugged out of his dark winter coat. Eli noticed he had the sa
me type of ears that Mia had. Apparently they were both into being elves. Most people had genetically engineered body mods and practically everyone had neural implants. Every person had cybernetic augmentation chips implanted just below the base of the skull - invisible to everyone aside from those with expensive scanning equipment. The cyber implants were invisible to everyone except Eli Bowman. Eli could tell at a glance that Lane had six implants, the ubiquitous time and location chips, a computer interface gui chip, a retinal chip, a total information awareness chip and longevity nanos coursing throughout his blood stream. Eli nodded inwardly – Lane must have been making some serious money to afford those.
“Lane!” Eli smiled broadly moved over to him and gave his old friend a fierce hug. Lane seemed genuinely surprised to see him but returned the hug just as strong.
“What are you doing here?” blurted Lane, contorting his eyebrows in the mock-serious way he had always done. Lane Medina was a handsome man with straight brown hair, close-cropped to his skull. Lane was a few years older than Eli but was still a young man in his early twenties.
“I…wanted to talk to you…in private.” Eli had wanted help and he didn’t want to involve Lane’s girlfriend in any way. It was safer for her if she didn’t know what he was about to tell his old friend.
Lane looked to Mia and frowned. “Eli…old buddy…old pal. If you got something to say, you can say it in front of Mia, she’s the love of my life. No secrets from her - ever.” His lip curled slightly with the last sentence. Eli knew his friend wasn’t going to back down over this. He concentrated slightly and scanned the apartment one more time, looking for any hidden surveillance devices. The place was clean.
“I didn’t have anyone else to come to; you’re the only one I could trust to help me out. I wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t have any choice…”
