Medusa: A Tiger by the Tail

by Jack L. Chalker

  How would they get them there? The train was out—too long and too public. And air traffic seemed limited to local practical vehicles like the copters, which would be too slow. That brought Gray Basin back into focus, for it had one thing several other cities and towns of relatively equal importance and distance did not have.

  It had a spaceport.

  I stood up wearily. I was just barely atop the city, and when I entered it, I would have to do so from below. The access points from the roof were among the most heavily monitored places of all, and I knew it. Still, I wasn’t so far gone that I couldn’t use the vantage point to some advantage. I climbed up a ladder atop a large and dormant stack and looked out in the direction of the spaceport. I could just barely see it, off in the distance: a small cluster of warehouses and a tiny terminal in an ovoid pattern around the landing pad that was otherwise in the middle of nothingness.

  There definitely was no ship in.

  How long I had I didn’t know, but I realized it would be better to lose them through sleeping than to lose them by rushing in as tired as I was. Ironically, I was going from the stone age back to my most nasty and sophisticated technological self for this mission, and, even then, I’d be taking risk after unacceptable risk. I had to rest and renew myself, so I went back and lay down as the sun rose high over the sealed city beneath and was soon asleep.

  I hated going in yet again. I hated risking all, with the odds so totally stacked against me, knowing that even if I got away with anything myself the odds of saving Ching were very slim indeed.

  But damn my filthy hide, I just couldn’t resist the challenge.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Into the Lion’s Den

  I didn’t sleep nearly as long as I needed, but it was a good, solid sleep and just what I needed to restore my confidence and get my brain working again.

  Entering the city wasn’t much of a problem, but once in, I wasn’t at all sure what I could do. The only thing certain was that my theory of breaking the system by transformation was about to get a real test. The trouble was, I would have to be slow and careful to have any reasonable chance, and I just didn’t have the. time for that.

  Having served in the city in Transportation proved invaluable. Of course, to enter I simply waited for a train to come up and stop, then I walked in with the train when they turned off the energy barriers to admit it. Once inside the entry tunnel, though, I was in the yards for the trains and had to make my way carefully to the passenger section. Having worked the station, I knew where the monitor cameras were located and where the inevitable “dead” zones were, although they were hardly conveniently located for my purposes. At this point, naked and hairless, I was an easy mark for a monitor and a sure flag, so getting into position without being observed was time-consuming.

  I was counting on the Rochande passenger train, my old workhorse, to come in late. There were inevitably a number of TMS personnel on board, not for patrol but either coming back from some training mission or arriving after assignment to Gray Basin. It would still be a ticklish operation, requiring a lot of luck, but overall I’d had more than my share of that lately and had to trust that I’d get a bit more.

  There was a spot between the passenger platform and the automatic baggage-handling section that was part of the freight operation which did not overlap two cameras. By a zigzag route I managed to make it across the yards and take a position behind a moving stair that was at the far end of the passenger section. For the first time it hit me that I would have to kill a few people if I went ahead with this; although I wouldn’t feel too badly about TMS or government personnel, an innocent or two would also be necessary. I didn’t really like doing that, but could only remember again the fifty-five who wouldn’t try to escape and who were, in many ways, typical not only of the people here but of the whole system I was fighting.

  I had a pretty clear plan, based on my observations and experiences during my life here- It is in the nature of my business, and of my mind, to file just about everything away, even when it serves no apparent purpose. You never know when you’ll have to use one trivial or not-so-trivial item or another.

  The initial move would be ticklish. There was a clock overhanging the passenger-discharge section that said I had to remain there, undiscovered, for at least two hours. To make my move too early might blow the whole scheme. Several station personnel passed very near me at various times, but thanks to my new Warden sense and my own self-control I was able to remain hidden in the shadows. At least, no alarms went off.

  Finally, it was only ten minutes before the train was due, and I was starting to get nervous. None of the station people had passed in almost half an hour, and I needed one, my first innocent victim, any time now. The train was actually within earshot, stopped for the barriers, before I got my chance. A grade-four passenger-service agent walked from the baggage office up toward the platform. As she passed, I moved fast and silent from my shadowy place.

  The deed was done in a couple of seconds. I had created a sharp, serrated ridge of cartilage on my arm and reinforced the muscle. I decapitated her rather cleanly, then had a nervous moment as the head started rolling out almost into camera range. I grabbed it, but it was messy and unpleasant.

  I had timed the maneuver perfectly and applied just the right amount of force. Decapitation sounds terrible, and it is; but considering the Warden’s amazing powers you had to strike an immediate, certain death blow or you’d have it. The other advantage was that the shock caused the body’s Wardens to snap into futile action to seal the wound, so surprisingly little bleeding occurred.

  I made no attempt to duplicate her features more than roughly; I hadn’t seen them long enough in presentable condition to do so. Still, I managed it, displacing some of my extra mass into height to manage to fit, however uncomfortably, into the clothes which were, mercifully, close enough to the color of Medusan blood to mask the stains somewhat. The girl’s sandals, however, would never fit without a lot of work, and I didn’t even try. None of this disguise really had to last for very long.

  I had an uneasy moment when it looked as if two others were going to walk back by my hiding place with its grisly contents, but, fortunately, at that moment the train rounded the bend and slid into its slip. Everybody snapped to professional attention.

  My luck had held up to this point, but now I’d need more. I waited until the tram was completely in and docked, then watched the doors slide open and the passengers begin to emerge. When I spotted two TMS uniforms with duffels I went into my act, fully aware that the others would also see, but counting on the usual mob inclination on Medusa to let TMS handle things whenever there was a question of responsibility. I pulled the trunk of the woman’s body out a bit, so an arm and leg were showing, then stepped out myself and cried, hysterically, “Monitors! Come here! Please hurry!”

  Nobody calls a cop on Medusa unless there’s terrible trouble. I saw the two young faces, a man and a woman, glance over at me, look puzzled for a minute, then follow my arm that pointed to the exposed limbs. They dropped their duffels, and trotted over to me.

  “What’s the matter?” the woman asked, sounding more concerned than nasty.

  “T-there’s a body there!” I stuttered, sounding scared to death. Both of them looked shocked, then turned and knelt down as I angled myself so that the moving stab: shielded me from the platform. By then most of the people had gone up and we had no curious gawkers, but there was certain to be a couple of curious train people pretty quickly.

  The two monitors were pushovers. I managed to chop them both cold before they realized what had happened, then killed them a bit more cleanly but no less efficiently. I had to move damned fast—their bags were still on the platform, and the camera would at least have seen that.

  I quickly got rid of the transport clothing and pulled off the man’s monitor uniform. I was working against time and just barely got it right. Fortunately, the man was not too far off my size, so I was able to adjust myself for
a reasonable, if slightly uncomfortable, fit. It only had to look presentable.

  I took the risk of rolling the bodies out and under the train when a quick peek showed, incredibly, nobody looking in my direction or even, it seemed, aware that anything was going on. Then I walked back out onto the platform, picked up a bag, turned, and called back loudly, “Okay, I’ll meet you in the main terminal!” Hoisting the bag on my shoulder, I then took the moving stairs myself.

  The main terminal was, of course, still pretty busy, and that helped a lot. I needed another switch, one not so easily traced, and quickly, but no opportunity presented itself. I walked into the lavatory, looked through the bag, found some evidence that this private was a new. transfer to Gray Basin, and decided to take a chance, at least for the moment. The train wouldn’t be turning around until it was cleaned and serviced, about two or three hours. If they didn’t look for that passenger agent too hard, I might have some time before the bodies were discovered. Such callous murder was so totally alien to this society they would search everywhere for the missing agent before looking for a body. The other recruit was almost certainly new herself and unlikely to be missed immediately, either. If, and it was a big if, the computer hadn’t flagged the two of them dropping their bags and running out of view. But who could know?

  Using the private’s card, I took the bus to TMS headquarters. I needed another TMS body because, again, I bore only a vague resemblance to the dead monitor. Luckily, I knew Gray Basin’s TMS building pretty well, including, thanks to the probably late Major Hocrow, many of its own dead areas.

  I got off a couple of blocks before reaching headquarters and managed to toss the bag into a trash receptacle before walking boldly down to the building. If only the people knew how many dead zones there were in any major city there’d be hell to pay, I thought with some amusement. The alley with the trash bin had a camera, but it was mounted high on a wall and easily seen. So by just keeping the trash bin between me and it I couldn’t be seen. They still might send somebody to check the trash, of course, but by then I’d be somebody else—I hoped.

  I entered by the garage rather than the front door, my uniform being sufficient to get no more than nods from a few monitors.

  There was a single camera mounted on a slowly rotating and wide-open mount in the center of the car-maintenance garage. A piece of cake. I just walked along until I found a monitor checking a car for something, struck up a mild conversation, then, when the camera and mark were easily in the right positions, chopped him. This time I had had a few minutes to study the intended victim’s features and the luxury of a less messy kill, so I had no trouble in duplicating her features. She was a fairly large woman and things fit pretty well, and, under the car, I was able to change quickly and efficiently into her uniform.

  I found the replication trick a cinch, at least as far as I knew. Just concentrate on the victim, match his or her Warden configuration to yours, and let your Wardens emulate the pattern. It was kind of weird to feel hair grow out rapidly on my head, and to watch flesh act as if it were something independently alive and fluid; but the actual change was so damned easy, now that I had a few minutes.

  When I climbed out from under the car I was the private, to all onlookers, anyway, and again I timed the camera just right to stash the body in the car’s trunk. With any luck, it might be a couple of days before the body was found, and I didn’t need that long.

  Satisfied, I took out “my” card, called the elevator, and rode up to the desk and central processing area I knew so well. This was always a busy area, and the risk I ran here had mostly to do with meeting some friend of the person I was supposed to be. I couldn’t hold that kind of pose for a moment against somebody who knew the original well.

  The important thing, though, was to look and act as if you belong and you’re working on somebody’s instructions. Usually that’s enough to get by in public areas, where people just don’t expect this sort of thing. I went in back to the small compartments, each with its own terminal, that TMS monitors used when filing reports. I picked an empty one, flicked on the terminal, and started.

  While I expected no trouble in breaking the simple computer codes generally used, I was surprised to find that these terminals needed no codes at all. You just stuck in your card, which certified that you were a legitimate TMS monitor, and that was enough when the computer monitor checked appearance against file. No fingerprints, no retinal check, just a simple method for a society that took far too much for granted.

  I punched up KOR—CHING—LU and then sat back and waited for the data to come up on the screen. I scrolled quickly through the basics to the last entry, which was what I wanted:

  ARRESTED 1416 OFFICERS CENTRUM 17-9-51. PROCESSED GB TMS 0355 18-9-51, JUDG UD,SUBJ. REF. CENTRUM DISTRICT, REL. CENTRUM CUST. 0922 18-9, DEPT. 41 IV GB 1705. CASE CLOSED. REF. #37-6589234.

  It wasn’t hard to figure out what had happened. Ching had been brought here in the early morning, processed, judged guilty and sentenced to UD—Ultimate Demotion—then turned over to Centrum officially. She was to leave at 1705—in less than an hour. The computer didn’t say how, but it had to be via the shuttle. I punched the reference number given and got a similar readout:

  HONO, W-O UNCLASS., ARRESTED 1416 OFFICERS CENTRUM 17-9-51. The rest of the listing was identical to Ching’s, except, of course, that the end reference referenced Ching’s case. So they were both going out on the shuttle. Well, maybe I should, too.

  Bluff and bravado will only get you so far, but it does wonders in a tightly regimented society. I walked out the front door without any problem and headed for the bus to the central terminal. I wasn’t about to risk trying for a TMS car—the motor pool authorizations would be pretty tightly watched. Then I stopped, cursed myself, walked around to the garage, and found the car with the body still hidden inside. This, of course, had to be her car, and that would make things easy—if the damned thing worked.

  It did, and I was soon out of the garage and heading toward a city gate, a dead body under the back seat and a really irritating squeal coming from somewhere in front that had obviously been the reason for the service.

  I reached the road gate to the space terminal with no problem, but had to get out, present my card to the monitoring machine, and tell it that I was going out to the terminal with some special paperwork that some other monitor had forgotten. It was a routine enough thing, and I had no trouble getting the barriers lowered quickly.

  The shuttle was already in, and I made it with almost twenty minutes to spare. I hadn’t been back here since arriving on Medusa, but the place hadn’t changed much. It was small and cramped and not very impressive, since passengers were infrequent. I saw only a couple, both official-looking, sitting around now. No sign of Ching or Hono, though, let alone of the arresting officers. For the first time I began to fear that I’d blown it.

  My confusion must have been all too apparent, for one of the government employees waiting to board, a white-haired man of middle age, stood up and came over to me. “Something the matter, young woman?”

  I was a little startled for a moment, since I’d forgotten I was playing a woman at this point. Actually, this was the first conversation I had had with anyone since assuming this identity, and the change had almost slipped my mind.

  “Yes, sir. I have some papers that never got cleared for a couple of prisoners supposed to go out to Centrum, and now I don’t see ‘em.” The voice sounded funny, but more or less female, which was all that mattered on a world like this.

  He frowned. “Let me see them.”

  I was ready. I had made hard copies of several forms with the dispositions of Ching’s and Hono’s cases for just such an eventuality. They wouldn’t fool a monitor, but they’d get by a bureaucrat, I hoped.

  He looked them over, smiled, then handed them back.

  “Well, it’s easy to see why. They departed on the eighteenth—that was yesterday.”

  I was thunderstruck, and for a moment my
self-control failed. I hadn’t slept a few hours, I’d slept almost a day and a half on that city roof!

  I must have looked really crushed—as I was—because the government man said, “You’re going to have some problems, huh?”

  I nodded, thinking as fast as I could. “Yes, sir. I’m pretty new here, and while I just was told by my boss to get these things down here, when I come back with them and they see the wrong date it won’t be my sergeant who gets the blame. Discipline’s pretty rough up here, too.”

  He seemed genuinely touched. “Give me your card.”

  “Sir?”

  “I said, give me your card. Let me see what I can do.”

  I was afraid he was going to call me in and try and square a nonexistent mission with an unknown superior, but I had no choice. I did, however, eye the exit. I was outside the city here, and all I really needed was some running room. Unfortunately, I was also in the most heavily monitored type of buildings on Medusa—since it was exposed to the outside—and one connected to live evaluators with automatic rifles all over the place. If I made a run for the door now they’d hit the alarm; if I stood here, I was probably trapped. The only thing I could think of was to let this scene run its course and take a last-gasp chance at a panic escape when the right time came.

  The man was back from a small office in a couple of minutes and he was smiling as he handed back my card. “I think we can arrange for you to complete your mission, Monitor. I’ll square things with your superior, since you’re not due back on duty until 0800 tomorrow anyway.” He winked. “Nobody will ever know, huh?”

  I was thunderstruck. “Then you’ll take the papers with you to Centrum and see that they’re delivered?”