by Chris Bostic
CHAPTER 16
“Great,” Joe muttered. “We were afraid of that earlier.”
“Right. She’s not the only one,” Leisa noted. “Mira did worse than hack some nav sats. She went like fully inside their system.”
“Yes, and I shall have to check her for Trojans too,” Smig replied. “But I can’t do that and restore Jade and drive this bus at the same time.”
“Then I need to go drive.” Connie rose to his feet and gently tipped Jade over into the seat. “Take good care of her.”
“I thought he’d say something like try not to screw her up,” Joe remarked to Leisa. “He’s being almost polite.”
She brushed off the comment to ask Smig, “So what does it mean that they can track us? Are they coming for us?”
Joe noticed Leisa’s eyes had strayed toward the window. He squeezed her hand as he waited for the delayed response from a preoccupied Smig.
“I would speculate that the Republic has their hands full with the battle out there. But that does not mean that the IFP wouldn’t come looking for us.”
“IFP?” Leisa asked. “Never heard that one before.”
“Infiltration Police,” Smig answered. “They are what you might call a secret police. They are tasked with tracking down specific threats to the Republic.”
“Guys in dark suits and sunglasses,” Joe said.
“I presume, though I suspect they are more unrecognizable to the untrained eye. Most likely you would not know an agent until it was too late.”
Joe gulped. “So we’re sitting ducks.”
“Perhaps not anymore,” Smig answered. “Baby sister is clear. We will, however, need to give her a little time for the updates to load.”
Joe looked at the seemingly sleeping Jade and relaxed ever so slightly. “That sounds like good news.”
“For her. More importantly, I need to run a system diagnostic on Mira now.”
“Bummer.” Joe cringed. “Will we need to hold her down again?”
“I suspect not. I erased all of her prohibitions earlier, which was no doubt part of the problem with her temporarily going rogue. But that should keep her from objecting to my updates.”
“Let’s hope.” Joe settled back to rub the scrape on his cheek.
Leisa wasn’t done worrying either. She asked, “Don’t they know we’re in the river?”
“Maybe it’ll seem so unlikely that they won’t send anyone to check it out,” Joe answered for Smig, who ignored the question as he rolled forward to work on Mira.
“You wish,” she said.
“Yeah, pretty much.” Joe shrugged. “I can’t understand all this technology. It’s a bit …overwhelming.”
“I miss the simple life. My chickens, my brother.” Leisa sighed. “And now I’m not going to get to see them.”
“Not yet.”
“Not ever if we’re supposed to sneak into some fortified compound to break Doctor Frankenstein out of his freak show.”
Jade had regained consciousness, and visibly bristled at the remark. “That’s not very nice,” she said softly. “Frederick is not a willing participant.”
“You don’t know that,” Joe replied. “Or have you been sneaking around like Mira?”
“As badly as I might want to find out, I cannot do that without authorization.” She tried to sit up but slumped back down in the chair. “I am very sorry about making myself…vulnerable. I hope you can forgive me. It was not my intention. It was necessary to make sure we could get to the river.”
“So you weren’t helping Connie navigate by memory or whatever?” Joe asked. “I thought you could see in the dark.”
“I see quite well, but it helped to have a map running in the background. The landmarks are easier to find.”
“Guess you learned your lesson, didn’t you?” Leisa said sharply.
“I didn’t mean any harm-”
“I know.” Leisa eyes strayed to the shattered window. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“Again, I apologize.”
“It’s fine,” Joe said to quiet them both. He pulled Leisa back into their original seats in the front of the bus and sighed exaggeratedly. He buried his head in his hands.
“Sorry, Joe,” Leisa whispered. “I know I was probably a little too harsh, but I really wasn’t trying to interrogate her.”
“Maybe you should apologize to her.” Joe kept his head down. “But I don’t care about that.”
“You’re mad at me.”
“Not at all. It just sucks not knowing where we’re heading or what it’s gonna be like when we get there.” He looked up long enough to glance at the broken window. It was pitch black outside, and would no doubt remain that way for several more hours. “Nothing like stumbling around in the dark.”
“It’s not the first time.”
“That’s for sure.”
He thought back to their late night encounters with the hordes of savages north of the border. Their frantic flight back from behind enemy lines, all with only the clucking of savages and slivers of moonlight to show him the way to go.
Then on to the prison camp, where the savages had followed, assaulting the compound with their now familiar ferocity.
And there the savages were on their heels again, having closed in on Jade’s house, pushing their way toward the capitol city of Pasun.
Only the savages weren’t Joe’s biggest concern at that moment. As the ragtag crew floated along, he had more important things to worry about.
Most had to do with how he had gotten himself mixed up with a band of misfit creations, and how he had also come to think of Jade as much more than a machine. She was practically family, meaning he would do whatever it took to help her—and, by extension, her siblings too.
Leisa broke the long silence first.
“I’m okay with not going home first.”
Joe looked at her curiously. “Really? That was a fast change of heart.”
“Yeah. It only makes sense to find this Frederick guy.” She looked across the aisle to Faith and Barta. Neither had moved in the last several minutes. They stared ahead like the prettiest zombies Joe had ever seen. “I mean it’s kinda on the way…and they’ve all really been nothing but helpful to us.”
“That’s true,” Joe agreed. “A shame they don’t have more food, though.”
His stomach rumbled as if on cue, and Leisa laughed. “I heard that. Let’s see what I can find.”
She reached behind the seat to retrieve her backpack. It took her a while to extricate it from underneath Mira, who was slumped over behind them.
“That Mira looks kinda creepy when she’s in the zone,” Leisa whispered.
Joe snuck a glimpse over the seatback. The little girl leaned hard against the window. Her brown eyes were stretched wide open but completely glassed over.
Smig looked up from staring at the connection he had made to her wrist. “So far all is well,” he told Joe. “No trace of any malicious embeds.”
“Good.” Joe slumped back into his seat.
“Have some granola,” Leisa said, handing him a packet. He tore right into it without delay, and was soon begging for a sip of water.
“Almost as bad as the prison camp grit,” he said. “If I could have anything, I’d ask for some real food.”
“I’m craving farm fresh eggs cooked any way…scrambled, fried, poached…”
“Poached?” Joe asked. “Never heard of that.”
“It’s an old person thing. My mom used to crack eggs in boiling water to cook them.”
“That sounds bizarre. Like hard-boiled?”
“No. But those are good too.” Leisa scratched her head as she struggled to explain. “Well, maybe like hard-boiled, but still hot.”
“I don’t even know what that means.”
Leisa shrugged. “Me either. I’ll have to make you some sometime.”
“You can cook?”
“Well duh, Connie. I am a woman. Isn’t that all I’m good for?�
��
Joe settled back in his seat and raised his arms defensively. “I didn’t mean it that way.”
“I have a younger brother. We couldn’t just eat nothing after my parents were gone.”
Joe took her hands in his and smiled apologetically. “Well I can’t cook at all. Maybe heat water to make grit into mush, but that’s pretty much it. Not like we had a lot of food that needed to be cooked anyway, though Mom did the best she could with whatever Dad brought home.”
“I know the feeling. We mostly ate eggs ‘cause we sure didn’t want to lose any chickens.” She stared off toward a darkened window. “To think there was a time I really couldn’t stand the idea of eating another stinkin’ egg. Now I’d kill for one.”
“Fish for me. That was my favorite.” Joe looked around the bus and shrugged. “I’ll bet there’s fish in this river. If I could rig up a little homemade pole and get some line-”
“Then we’d have raw fish. Yuck.” Leisa stuck out her tongue. Joe tilted his head at her strong reaction. Before he could ask, she said, “It’s not like we could cook it here.”
“It’s not the best, but I’d take raw fish over grit anytime.” He tossed a half-empty granola packet back into her backpack.
“And I’d take grit over rubber any day of the week. That texture is gross.”
“Your loss. More fish for me.”
“And more grit for me. At least we’ve got that.” She pulled his packet back out and poured it in her mouth. After gnawing on it for a good long while to loosen it up into something halfway digestible, she smiled. “I reckon it’s a good thing I’m the one who’ll be doing the cooking. I get to make the menu.”
“I’m not liking the menu so far.” Joe turned up his nose. “Didn’t we find more than just granola?”
“Yeah, but it was mostly canned stuff. Most of that ended up jammed in the back.”
Joe stretched far enough to sneak a peek at the two dogs still sitting patiently in the back row of the bus. It was too far for him to expend any more energy.
“Forget it,” he muttered.
“I can go get you something.”
“Nah, it’s okay. Thanks.”
“Sure.” Leisa slumped down next to him in the seat. “Now what?”
“We sit and wait, I guess. Maybe take a nap.”
“Shame we didn’t get to try out that bed,” she said. A spark zipped across Joe’s face. The sudden glint in his eyes made Leisa raise a hand in protest. “Whoa. I didn’t mean it that way.”
“I know, but…”
“Boys.” She huffed away from him to face the window. “You really are the same as Connie.”
“That hurts.” To himself, he added, “But not as much as it used to.”
Joe knew Connie wasn’t the person everyone assumed from their first impression, or their hundredth. The guy had his faults, but Joe had seen a different side of him in the prison camp. And now with Jade.
He snuck a look toward the front at his fearless leader. The big guy sat in the driver’s seat, eyes straining to see where they were going. Muscles rippled in his forearms as he guided the boat at Jade’s every command.
Jade sat on the arm of the chair, alternating between gazing at Connie adoringly and staring out the windshield at the featureless ink of nightfall.
Every time Connie’s eyes met hers, Joe noticed that he smiled almost imperceptibly.
“Our grumpy ole Sarge is in love,” Joe whispered.
Leisa answered with a soft snore. Jade twisted her head toward him and nodded. Her smile lit up the bus.
“At least someone’s getting some affection,” he grumbled and slouched back down next to Leisa.
His eyelids grew as heavy as steel curtains, and he drifted immediately off to sleep.
CHAPTER 17
“Not now,” Joe mumbled. “Need more sleep.”
Connie’s voice carried from far away. “You can sleep when you’re dead…and that won’t be long.”
Joe shot upright. “Say what?”
“Nothing, bud.” Leisa tapped him on the arm. “He’s just messing with you.”
“Jerk.” Joe scrubbed the sleep from his eyes and glowered at his sergeant. “Not cool, man.”
“It got you moving.” Connie chuckled. The rumble in his barrel chest quieted when Jade hopped to her feet and pressed an ear to the windshield. “What’s-”
“Shhh.” She spun back around to the others. “We’ve got company.”
Joe opened his mouth to ask, but pinched it back shut.
“Incoming,” she whispered. She settled back on the armrest of Connie’s chair and pointed through the top of the windshield at the dawning sky. “Low and fast. Headed this way.”
“Tracking us?” Connie asked. “I thought the hovers weren’t flying anymore.”
“Kill the motor,” Jade commanded. “This one’s different.”
Connie did as he was told, and asked, “How so?”
“Later.” She help up a hand to silence him.
Connie muttered under his breath. No doubt he didn’t appreciate being snubbed, but he quieted as instructed. With a sigh, he looked back to Jade for further instruction.
She didn’t provide any. Instead, she turned to Smig. He nodded and asked the others, “Are you all offline?”
Four heads nodded in reply as Jade swiveled back to the front and slunk down to the floorboard so she could look higher in the sky.
Connie’s brow knitted as the bus began to twist to the side. He fought against the wheel, which had become hard to turn without the power steering assist that a running motor provided.
In the total quiet, Joe felt the gentle current tug the craft harder to the side. The bus continued slowly rotating. He clenched his fists on the seat and shared an uneasy glance with Leisa.
Jade reached up and put her hand on Connie’s wrist. Together, they gripped the wheel, but the bus still twisted.
“He’s losing it,” Joe muttered.
Of course, Jade heard him. She nodded as she placed her other hand on the wheel atop Connie’s and helped him try to right the boat.
Joe felt certain the drones would detect them if the bus rammed into the riverbank. Worse yet, the vehicle might very well capsize. Though the river had appeared slow-moving in the dark of night, the tug of the current belied a strength that could flip the boat if Connie lost control.
As his sergeant and Jade fought in vain against the wheel, Joe crept out of his seat.
“Where you going?” Leisa whispered.
Joe didn’t answer. He leaned in next to Connie and added his strength to the wheel. It felt like they were trying to turn a solid steel statue.
“Can’t Smig control this thing?” Joe said through gritted teeth.
“Not without power,” Jade said.
“We’re gonna wreck,” Connie said, veins bulging in his thick neck as he pulled against the wheel. “Can I start the motor?”
“No.” Jade shot a look back to the sky. “It’s too close.”
“They’ll hear us run aground,” Joe argued.
“Maybe not.” Jade looked to Smig. “They’re looking back where they’d pinged my last transmission.” She hung her head in disappointment.
“Forget that,” Connie said. “Just pull.”
The bus was almost sideways at that point. It seemed to Joe like there was no possible way to right it, but he continued fighting the sluggish wheel and bracing for an imminent collision.
“I wouldn’t worry about crashing,” Smig said. “Other than the obvious.”
“Yeah, sinking,” Joe grunted.
Smig ignored the comment to say, “At long distance, the Hunter-Killers are best at tracking mechanical sounds like the vibration of motors, not more natural noises like falling timber and scuffing gravel.”
Joe chafed at the Hunter-Killer name, but managed to croak, “What about metal scraping on rocks? That’s not natural.”
“No, it’s not.”
“And heat signatures?�
�� Connie asked.
“If they activate their infrared, they can track those as well,” Smig admitted.
“If it comes to it, your best bet is to bail out into the river,” Jade instructed. “Stay low and meet us up on the bank when the craft is gone.”
“Seriously?” Joe grimaced. “Do we really need to do that?”
The bus thumped as it crashed into a log or something similarly heavy floating down the river. It was followed shortly after by the thrashing of brush against the windows.
“Once they don’t find anything around where they’d pinged me before, they will expand the search radius. We can only hope they call off the search first.”
“I thought the hovers weren’t flying anymore,” Joe said, repeating Connie’s earlier question.
“There was a virus implanted deep in the computer control system of the unmanned hovers,” Smig explained. “Very virulent. I don’t believe the Republic’s brightest minds could ever fully rectify it.”
“So…” Joe held his breath as the bus again thunked against a submerged obstacle.
“These are IFP’s special Hunter-Killers,” Jade answered. “Piloted, not unmanned drones.”
“They typically survey the outer limits of the city for threats,” Smig added.
“There’s about a million threats coming right in their direction,” Connie noted. “Those savages could keep ‘em busy forever.”
“That would be a problem for the Regulators. The government is very compartmentalized,” Smig replied. “The Regulators are tasked with handling air, land, and sea threats from hostile nations while the IFP is specifically tasked with keeping control of the population. In my opinion, the term Infiltration in their acronym is a bit of a misnomer.”
“A tower pinged my imprudent infraction. An H-K was launched to deal with that threat,” Jade explained matter-of-factly. “It’s lucky for us that we had some time to get away from the area.”
Joe settled back on heels and let go of the wheel. There was nothing he could do to control it any longer. The bus had continued to shift to the point that they were going nearly backward.
He crawled over to Leisa. She pulled him into the seat and nestled next to him.
