Pico's Crush

by Carol Van Natta

  Mr. Lodkar and Ms. Flaurin from her class, and Mr. Ravlenko from the chemistry program, were in the narrow corridor that was the loading side of the food court’s wall of vending machines. Their initial target had been the heating wands and pressure units, for making a bomb they planned to set off in the lifts, but they’d gotten pinned down because the crew had begun using the loading dock, and mercs were in and out of the food court. Andra talked them through using what they had on hand to improvise non-destructive but noisy flash-bangs instead, to cover their exit via the food-court access panel.

  Her earwire came to life. “Professor De Luna,” said Melly Grien, “you can blow the barge anytime. We’re swimming back now.”

  She quickly switched to the secure conference that Foxe Investigations had set up. “Unless anyone objects, I’m blowing the barge in five minutes.”

  After a moment of silence, Jerzi responded. “Luka and Pico ran into some trouble, but they’re handling it. I’ll go meet the Griens at the public transport stop.” Subvocalization flattened intonation, but she knew he was worried.

  “Okay. See you up top.” Their plan was to meet at the Materials Science airpad, hold it until everyone was safe, and fly off into the sunset. Sadly, the sun wouldn’t be setting for another two and a half hours, and a lot could happen between now and then.

  She tapped her earwire to switch to the conference net she’d hastily arranged for her students. “Chao and Hranush, smoke bombs, if you please. Everyone, ping your friends.”

  “Done,” said Chao.

  Andra resettled herself under the mass of blade-like leaves in the raised vegetation clump under the abstract statue in the center of the commons. It gave her the best vantage for picking off mercs from outside, but had some dangerous blind spots. She swiveled the Hellrim on its monopod toward the windows, then picked up her flechette guns. “Truòng and Vandeerink, the catalyst.”

  Truòng carried the bulky tank while the taller Vandeerink sprayed the windows, from bottom to top. Both men wore heat- and chemical-resistant gloves. At the end of the darkened windows, they abandoned their equipment and ran back to the first one, where Dortief, also in gloves, was waiting, and the glass was already deforming and slumping into the frame. They pulled the taffy-like glass out and down, before it solidified, then moved onto the second window.

  “Ganesh’s trunk, but it stinks in here!” said Hranush.

  “The smoke?” asked Andra, worried that the young women would have to find a new hiding place if they got smoked out.

  Hranush giggled. “No, Chao farted.”

  “Did not,” said Chao. “The smoke is already… there goes the suppression mist!”

  “Stay put, ladies. You’re safer where you are. Mr. Lodkar, you and the others get out when you can.”

  “The mercs in the food court are all getting pinged. Yep, there they go.”

  “Go now.” For Ravlenko, the enthusiastic but careless lopar that he was, she added, “Don’t use the flash-bangs until you need them. It’s no fun if it’s not a surprise.”

  “Seawater triggered. Foam’s away!” said Chao.

  Andra was tempted to use her oculars to watch the action at the lecture hall windows, but she couldn’t afford to lose the big-picture focus of the area she was supposed to protect. Several people had already escaped through the first few windows. Four muscular students, big enough to be redball or pelotón players, stationed themselves near the compromised windows and started pulling people out as fast as they could.

  “Barge blowing in five seconds,” she told the student network, then switched briefly to the secure conference and told them the same thing.

  She sent the code and mentally counted down. On the sixth second, she heard a deep, chest-vibrating thump and the rush of displaced water. A good explosion was almost as good as sex.

  The universe must have heard her thought, because the top floor of the Chemistry building suddenly erupted in a fireball of ear-splitting glory worthy of a centennial celebration display. She willed herself to look away from the smoke and ignore the debris raining down so she could cover people still scrambling out of the windows and the several dozen people who had started running in every direction across the commons, away from the Chemistry building.

  “A little gaudy, maybe,” said Jerzi, “but impressive.” She’d forgotten to switch back to her student network.

  “I’m flattered, but it wasn’t me. Busy. Talk to you soon.” She tapped her earwire.

  “…been shot!” Lodkar’s voice was near panic.

  “Say again. Where are you?” She kept her voice calm and deliberate.

  “Santé’s been shot by a beamer. We’re behind the mermaid fountain behind the southwest dock. Rav had a watersled here, but the whole dock is wrecked.”

  “Can Flaurin move? Where’s Ravlenko?”

  “She’s unconscious. I think one of her lungs has a hole. Rav went to the shared labs for a med kit.”

  “What can you see? Crew, mercs, ships?”

  “Nothing. We’re in the fountain’s service well.”

  “Stay there, then, unless you absolutely have to move. Ravlenko, where are you?”

  “At labs door, waiting for military point-person to look away. They try to fix broken boat.” His English wasn’t nearly as good as his Russian.

  She pictured the location in her head. “Lodkar, launch one of your flash-bangs if you have any left, to the southwest. Throw it if you have to.”

  A merc suddenly appeared on the commons, running from the Materials Science building toward the lecture hall windows. “Stop right now,” he yelled, firing warning beamer shots toward the windows. The glass he hit melted even more. He didn’t get a third shot because Andra took him down with flechettes to the unprotected knee and throat.

  “Shit!” yelled Dortief. Someone from inside the window opening behind her was trying to pull her inside by the hips. Before Andra could trigger her oculars, Dortief pulled free, then turned around and punched whoever had grabbed her. A moment later, a red-uniformed figure slumped into the frame. Dortief dragged him out and punched his head again before tossing his body aside. Someone should have told the merc it wasn’t smart to piss off a ramper.

  She spared a glance up at the damaged Chem building. She couldn’t see any flames, but dense brown smoke was rising to the sky.

  “Chao, Hranush, how are you?”

  “Good,” said Hranush. “Shuyun called her Uncle Huan. He’s sending drones for real-time vid.” Chao’s uncle owned Zhàomíng Lùjìng, a very popular news magazine.

  “If you can, stay there, where you’re safe.”

  “We scored a huge stash of junk food from the chem lab, so we’re good.”

  The flood of people from the lecture hall windows had reduced to a trickle. “Dortief, Vandeerink, Truòng, you’re done. Find a place to hunker down and stay safe. Lodkar? Ravlenko?”

  “We’re still in the well,” said Lodkar. “Rav put burn and wound packs on Santé, and I put a breather on her. She’s stable, but she needs a med evac capsule.”

  “Hang tight. Chao, ping your uncle and tell him to get the military to quit fucking around and start doing their jobs. Students are dying.”

  Chao snorted. “Oh, he’ll love that.”

  The university wouldn’t, but she’d bet high that they’d interfered with or delayed the emergency response so it wouldn’t hit the newstrends. They got what they deserved.

  Chapter 24

  * Planet: Nila Marbela * GDAT 3241.149 *

  Jerzi was no longer enamored of real-time communication because he hated feeling powerless when he heard things he couldn’t do anything about. He’d been sealing the third-floor stairway door with more of the waterproof adhesive they’d used for the barge bomb when he’d heard Luka’s announcement that they had trouble from the killer. His heart rate climbed when he heard Pico agree to use her talent to flatline a Davydov beamer, and then brief feedback when their comms got fried.

  Independent-minde
d Mairwen would ask if she needed anything from him, so he left her alone. He was about to head to the airpad when he’d remembered Andra’s backpack. It still had plenty of explosive contents that he wouldn’t want in the hands of merc, crew, or inquisitive students. And because he’d just sealed himself into the stairway, his only choice was to go down three flights, outside, and back up the southeast stairs. He was grateful to whichever university architect had an obsession with multiple stairways for buildings.

  He had to hide in an alcove when he heard several voices coming. From what he could hear, four or five crew were hauling an overburdened cart to the center freight elevator. They were antsy and short-tempered. Jerzi counted the seconds and concentrated on even breaths and slowing his heart rate. Adrenalin wasn’t helping at the moment.

  Once the lift door closed, he listened to the ensuing silence for thirty seconds, then walked quickly down the hall to the lab. He palmed the door lock and it opened. He wondered if a security audit would ever notice the fact that Andra had added his biometric to the “all access” group.

  He stuffed a spare lab coat in the backpack to keep the contents from rattling around, then slung it over his shoulders. At least it wasn’t as heavy as before. He started to leave, then hesitated when he saw the bone regenerator unit the students had pilfered from the lab’s first-aid kit. If anyone else besides Mairwen was injured, more supplies might come in handy. He opened the backpack, removed the lab coat, then stuffed as many med supplies as he could into it. He was sealing it again when the distinctive tone announced Andra had rejoined the secure conference.

  “Unless anyone objects, I’m blowing the barge in five minutes.”

  Jerzi waited for a moment in case Mairwen had something to say, but she was silent. “Luka and Pico ran into some trouble, but they’re handling it.” He fought to let the worry slip away. “I’ll go meet the Griens at the public transport stop.”

  “Okay. See you up top.” She sounded marvelously calm. He was glad she was the one orchestrating multiple amateur teams of students, not him. Gunnin, and now students, followed her because they knew she’d have their backs.

  He re-slung the backpack on his shoulders, grabbed his gun bag, and repeated his careful run down the hall toward the southeast stairs. He ran down them quickly, eased out of the building, and headed northeast toward the public transport stop, using the overgrown vegetation as cover. In the humid undergrowth, the odor of rotting flesh made him grimace. Apparently, no one had yet found the two dead crew Andra told him she’d killed before they could rape an unconscious merc.

  “Jerzi, we’re coming from the Math building entrance. We need help getting to the far east stairway,” said Mairwen.

  He peered out to the empty public transport stop, but saw nothing. “When? The Grien siblings aren’t back yet.”

  “Now. We have the children. Crew and mercs are fighting in the Math building. Crowds are coming.”

  “On my way,” he said.

  He high-stepped out of the vegetation and crossed the permaturf walkway to the artful clumps of flowering plants that hugged the Math building, and followed its wall west. Up ahead where the building rounded, a head peeked out fast. A moment later, Luka came around the corner fast, carrying a tense older boy and a frightened younger girl. Jerzi picked up his forward speed.

  “Help Sojaire and Pico behind me. They have five kids. Mairwen is covering our exit.”

  Jerzi nodded and slipped past Luka. A shout from the commons made him cast an uneasy eye toward the west. If Andra’s plan worked, at least a hundred and fifty people would soon be loose on the commons, and some would head straight for the Mat Sci building’s airpad.

  Andra’s tone sounded in his earwire. “Barge blowing in five seconds.”

  Jerzi got four more steps father before a muffled explosion and a splash meant the barge bomb had blown. He hoped the Griens were far away.

  A second, much louder explosion came from the east. Jerzi cleared a tree and saw that the top floor of the Chemistry building was engulfed in a rising ball of red flame and black smoke. He didn’t think it was Andra’s doing, but he couldn’t resist teasing her. “A little gaudy, maybe, but impressive.”

  “I’m flattered, but it wasn’t me. Busy. Talk to you soon.”

  Jerzi broke into a run when he saw Sojaire carrying three children, and Pico carrying two.

  “Take Pico’s,” said Sojaire. “I’ll give her Parekh.”

  The children, a dark-skinned girl and a pale red-haired girl, tightened their grip until Pico said, “It’s okay, he’s my dad.” She pried them off and handed them to Jerzi. He took them together in his left arm, leaving his right free in case he needed to grab the beamer in his pocket. His camouflage vest was dithering, trying to decide what background colors it should be matching.

  Sojaire handed the littlest boy to Pico, then resettled the other two boys he carried and started forward.

  As Pico was encouraging Parekh to wrap his legs around her waist, Jerzi asked, “What happened to your nose?”

  “Blowback,” she said. “Sojaire will fix me. Mairwen’s still at the door, I think.”

  “You go on. I’ll wait.”

  She nodded and took off. He turned his attention to the commons. He thought he saw movement.

  “I’m Lyssi,” said the red-haired girl.

  “I’m Jerzi,” he said. He switched to subvocalization. “Mairwen, we’re at the corner.”

  “I see you. Go.”

  He turned and followed the path his friends had taken. With his longer legs, he soon caught up to Pico. She looked emotionally spent and physically exhausted, but he’d save his concern for later, once they got off the floater.

  He tried to get a glimpse of the public transport stop as they headed for the far east door, but the vegetation that had given him cover also prevented him from seeing anything but distant water.

  “Jerzi, down!” Mairwen ordered.

  He dove onto his right side, cradling the girls’ heads with both hands. His hip landed hard on his gun bag, and he heard something crunch that sounded like glass.

  About eight meters away, a mohawk-wearing woman staggered into view, then fell to her knees, blood pouring down her front from her throat, where two matching knives protruded.

  Mairwen vaulted in to kick the woman sideways, grabbing her Hellrim rifle as she fell. Ice formed in his veins, until he realized the rifle was almost brand new, not old and battered like Andra’s. Mairwen retrieved her knives and wiped them on the dead woman’s leather pants.

  Jerzi climbed to his feet, his overworked thigh and butt muscles screeching complaints about the strain. Two hot soaks and massages, he told them.

  “Thanks,” he told Mairwen as he half-ran to the doorway to the east stairway. He took a deep breath, promised his protesting thighs three hot soaks, and started up.

  Andra’s tone pinged in his earwire. “Hi, again. What did I miss?” Her teasing voice, even subvocalized, was somehow soothing.

  “A little trouble getting out of the Math building. We’re going up top now, with seven children. You?”

  “Oh, you know me. Sowing a little chaos and distraction. The news media will be here soon, if their drones aren’t already, which ought to speed up the military’s response. As soon as I make sure there’s a med evac capsule on the way for one of my people who got shot, I’ll be coming your way.”

  “Could you get the Griens? I said I’d meet them at the public transport stop any minute now.”

  “Copy. See you soon.”

  “Wait! I have your backpack. And be sure to take the far east stairs.” He hoped she’d heard him, or if she hadn’t, that she was out of flechettes by the time she found him.

  * * * * *

  Andra used the reflection in the Math building’s windows to tell her when the coast was clear enough to pull her gun bag out of the mud. Its bright colors afforded good camouflage from thieves, but not so good when she was trying to hide in a crowd. She slung it over her b
ack like a gym bag, not caring if the mud smeared her clothes. After today, they’d probably have to be incinerated. The reflection told her she had grease on her pants, a singe from a too-close beamer shot, leaves tangled in her hair, and a torn sleeve from when she’d been escaping the custody of the mercs who’d caught her in the hall a couple of hours ago.

  According to the live feed that Ms. Chao’s uncle was live-streaming on all the news bands, the military had arrived with four heavy cruisers. They were in the process of clamping a temporary dock to the south edge of the floater, next to the destroyed dock that had damaged their light cruiser earlier. She’d rather not be rounded up for containment and questioning until after her friends got off safely, and after she’d found a safe place for her gun bag, which wouldn’t go with her professorial image. Thank the universe Jerzi had already thought of her backpack, because the military took an especially dim view of civilians, even ex-military civilians, carrying a veritable sample case of modern explosives.

  Chao’s uncle had also come through with the med evac capsule, and Ravlenko and Lodkar had locked themselves into one of the shared labs’ storage rooms. She’d strongly hinted to all of her students that discretion would be better than pride when it came to describing what they’d been doing, even though it had probably saved lives. She wouldn’t put it past Vestering to use their exploits as an excuse to shut down the Practical Applications class, but she wouldn’t apologize for teaching them to apply their knowledge to the real world, where brains could prevail over brute force.

  She stepped onto the permaturf walkway that led to the public transport stop and walked quickly. The sooner she got the Grien siblings to safety, the sooner she could get up top and, if the universe loved her, long gone before the military brought in air support and Jumpers to lock the floater down.