The Terminus experiment s-34

by Jonathan E Bond

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  Posted to Shadowland BBS by Doktor Freeman and the Deathcore Kid, 22 March 2055

  Sinunu sat in the back of the stepvan, listening to the distorted rumbling of the six Honda Vikings that were acting as escort. She had no idea where the go-gangers had come from, and didn’t care. All she knew was that with the gangers riding wing, her team wouldn’t be hassled by anyone as they made their way through Hell’s Kitchen.

  Sinunu looked to her left, where Truxa sat, calmly staring straight ahead. Without turning, or even seeming to know she was being watched, Truxa slipped her hand into Sinuou’s and squeezed.

  Sinunu squeezed back, then turned her attention to the rest of the van’s occupants. Flak was driving, quietly cursing the swirling dust that made it difficult to see clearly, even with his enhanced vision.

  Just behind the drivers seat, Sandman rested in his sway-couch seat. The seat, a circular couch made up of plastic tubing and tie-down straps, had been installed by Sandman and Flak. Once securely fastened in, Sandman could jack into their satlink system without having to worry about keeping either himself or his deck steady when they were on the fly. Sandman was riding the Matrix right now, eyes closed, mouth half-forming words as he continued his efforts to navigate the potentially lethal minefield of their target’s computer system.

  Even with the codes provided by the vampire’s inside man, Sandman was having the fight of his life trying to get inside their target’s defenses. He’d jacked out, just before they started to roll, sweat streaming down his face, the strain evident in the bags already showing under his eyes. He told them the target system was guarded by drek-hot IC, countermeasures Sandman had never seen before and hoped like hell he never would again.

  Sinunu, however, had caught the gleam in his eye. Sandman was one of the best deckers in the sprawl. Not only was he enjoying the challenge of this run, but he seemed almost in awe of what he was up against. If the team came out of this thing in one piece, their own defensive measures would surely get quite a boost.

  Next to Sandman was the vampire. He hadn’t so much as glanced at Sinunu since their conversation and he seemed to be meditating. Sinunu knew better. After two years with Truxa, she recognized a magician’s pose when she saw one. He was looking beyond, as Truxa would say. Gathering his mojo, and discovering what needed to be done.

  Sinunu noticed that she was seeing him differently now, and wasn’t sure how she felt about that. There was none of the revulsion she’d experienced before their little chat, and she even noticed a bit of sympathy.

  Beside him was the biff. Sinunu frowned. The biff was everything she detested in a woman. Beautiful, yes, but with a strength to her that surprised Sinunu. That was part of the problem. For a woman of strength to bother hiding it just so males would find her less threatening made Sinunu physically ill. The biff was also a stripper, and that was another thing Sinunu had a problem with. A woman who would degrade herself in front of men just to cop a little nuyen.

  The biff caught her staring, and smiled. For just a second, Sinunu felt her breath catch in her throat. When the biff smiled, it was as if the whole van lit up. That smile was so genuine, so warm, and at the same time with just enough fear behind it that Sinunu doubled back on her thinking. In that moment, she thought she understood some of the vampire’s concern for this woman. Thought she might even want to take care of her, to keep her from harm.

  What’s happening to me? First I find pity for a vamp. Then I find myself liking a biff. What’s next? Open a clinic for emotionally depressed ghouls?

  Truxa squeezed her hand again, and Sinunu looked at her. The little elf was watching her closely, a small smile on her delicately featured face.

  “What?”

  The smile widened, and Truxa leaned in close. “You can’t go through life wondering why you shouldn’t hate someone. my love. Sometimes you have to look at people and wonder why you shouldn’t care about them.”

  Sinunu smiled, and felt some of her tension melt away. “Point taken.”

  She turned, and leaned forward, extending her hand to the biff. “They call me Sin.”

  The biff smiled again, turning the wattage way up. “Rachel Harlan.” And shook Sinunu’s hand.

  Sinunu was surprised by the grip. She’d expected something soft and pliant; instead, it was firm and hard. The kind of handshake she’d expect from a warrior.

  “I’ll be looking after you tonight, so just stick tight to me and do what I do and what I say, and we’ll come out of this together, capiche?”

  The smile faded from Rachel’s face. “You guys don’t want me here and I know that. You think I’m putting an extra strain on you, but trust me, I’ll take care of myself.”

  Sinunu frowned. “Flak vouches for you, but that’s not the point. This is a team, and we’re still kicking because we work like a team. You’re a new player who doesn’t know the signs, doesn’t know the calls, and hasn’t read the playbook. If Flak says you’re good enough, then I believe him, but I worry that you’ll zig when you should zag, and it’ll get us all killed.”

  Rachel looked down for a moment, and Sinunu had to lean forward to catch her next words. “I won’t. I promise. But I couldn’t just sit on my hoop when someone I love is in danger.”

  Sinunu frowned again. She didn’t really want this mission to become so personal. She preferred fins to be clinical insertions without any emotional entanglements, but it seemed that everyone was determined to make her care about them on this one. She knew that could work against her at the wrong moment. Sometimes caring too much made you think when you needed to act. It made her uneasy.

  Sinunu sat back. “It’s understood, Rachel. Rest easy though. We’ll do everything to get your man back in one piece.”

  Rachel lifted her head, and there was that thousand-watt smile again. “You don’t know how much I appreciate your help, especially since I can’t afford to pay you.”

  That caught Sinunu off guard. Rachel seemed to think they were doing this as a favor to her, maybe because she and Flak were acquainted or because of that Corinna biz. She seemed to have absolutely no clue that the vampire had already deposited mondo nuyen into their Cayman account.

  Despite herself, she leaned forward again. “I got to ask, and you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but how did you get mixed up with”-she nodded in the direction of de Vries-“him?”

  Rachel looked startled for a moment. “I don’t know what you mean. I’ve only known him for about two hours longer than I’ve known you. He found me. Without him, I’d probably still be sitting in Warren’s apartment waiting for him to come home.”

  Sinunu couldn’t help a small start of surprise. “You mean you didn’t seek him out? He just showed up and offered to help you?”

  Rachel shrugged. “Yeah, pretty much like that.”

  Sinunu sat back and digested this. The vamp shows up to help the lady in distress, pays out major nuyen without even telling her, and lets her come along on a very dangerous run. It didn’t scan. She looked at the vamp again, wondering what angle he was running. Then she thought about what Truxa had said. Was it possible he was doing this our of the goodness of whatever heart he had left?

  Sinunu shook her head. Maybe Truxa was right. She was certainly finding it harder and harder not to like the creature sitting so calmly across from her.

  Suddenly, the rumble of the Vikings, which had become like distant white noise, screamed to a higher pitch, and then was gone as if they had never been there.

  “Heads up,” said Flak from the front. “Escort away. It’s party time.”

  Through the mounted speaker over Sinunu’s head, Sandman’s voice was distant, making him sound like a strung-out chip head. “I’m home free. All systems running like clockwork, but there’s some sort of internal cycle on all the ice in this place. It’s being constantly replaced by different defensive lines. I give us a half an hour, max, from insertion to extraction, before I have to fight this system again. So let�
�s light it up.”

  Sinunu pulled her hood down over her face, fining the air filter into place. She pulled her Heckler and Koch MP-5 TX, checked the load again, and strapped it to her back.

  From under the seat, she took the compound crossbow, complete with forty real wood quarrels, that she’d used the night before to cover de Vries in the apartment. The quarrels had cost a mint, and she would have to be careful not to waste them. Not to mention that the crossbow wasn’t a weapon she’d normally have opted for. Still, she found herself liking its simplicity, as well as its silence. If only they made a faster repeater for the thing. As it was, she only had six rounds before she had to reload. Still, if she was careful, and if she was centered, it would do nicely.

  De Vries had told them their target was full of vampires, and the team had been briefed on how to kill them. He’d told them vampires were as allergic to wood as to sunlight. He’d said that if a vampire’s spine were damaged, it would kill him. He also told them the place was full of vampires with augmentation, something no one had ever heard of before now. They’d have to cross that bridge when they came to it.

  After making sure all of her hand-to-hand weapons were in place and ready, Sinunu turned her attention inward. focusing on her breathing, she let her mind wander through her body, loosening any tensions, focusing her chi into her belly to center her power.

  When she was ready, she opened her eyes and looked at the world with new eyes. Everything seemed to be connected by lilting lines, and she could see how the slightest action or movement of one person or thing affected everything else. Sinunu knew instinctively how an action on her part would cause those lines to waver and snap. She felt perfectly at peace, and ultimately capable.

  She knew, even before it began to happen, that the van had reached its destination and would be coming to a halt.

  “Last stop. Everybody out,” said Flak, his low voice coming through the tacticom built in to Sinunu’s head gear. She was at the door, gracefully pushing it open and stepping out, before anyone else had even moved.

  Dropping to a crouch, she scanned the area. The place looked like they’d suddenly been transported to the dark side of the moon. The night sky was black, and the only light came from behind her, at the front of the van. The light was orange, and cast the whole landscape into hellish relief.

  Even with the air filter on, the smell of the place was overwhelming. Dry and noxious, with just the hint of spoiled eggs over the top. It was the scent of death and decay. The stench of age-old battlefields where the dead have not rested easily.

  To her left, a small collection of haphazardly erected structures formed a small shanty town. She knew this was where the locals had set up camp when the compound had first opened its soup kitchen. That was, of course, before many of the occupants of the little town had began to disappear with alarming regularity.

  Since then, even offers of free food had failed to bring the hungry of Hell’s Kitchen back with any regularity. Sinunu knew that some of the area’s more desperate denizens still came at odd intervals, but now the camp was deserted.

  She felt Truxa’s distinctive movement behind her even before she actually landed beside her. Truxa was practically crackling with magical energy. Something Sinunu could only sense when she was completely centered.

  Satisfied that their six o’clock was clear, Sinunu rounded the left side of the van as Truxa took the right. Flak, the only person on the team who could match Sinunu’s speed, was already standing in front of the van.

  The big Vindicator looked like a toy in his hands. Its trigger housing and grip had been modified to fit his huge hands, as had the belt-driven ammo pack mounted on his back. The Vindicator’s six rotating barrels gleamed dully in the soft light.

  They were just about to move, when an unfamiliar voice at their backs said, “Rocket, muya. Dig the party atmosphere.”

  Sinunu was faster than Flak on the spin. She did a pirouette that dropped her almost prone, the H amp;K leaping into her hand like a live thing.

  Reflexes jacked to the max, she put the whole picture into focus.

  A small figure stood behind her, at a distance of approximately ten meters, gray duster flapping gently around her ankles, her dark skinsuit looking more like dolphin hide than synthleather, Her face was a gentle V-shape, with five data-jacks lining her right temple.

  To her side, Sinunu could hear the telltale whine of Flak’s Vindicator start up as he too slipped into a defensive posture.

  But before they could start the rock and roll, the little one in front held up one hand, palm outward. “Keep it chilly, compadres. I got invites to this bash.”

  Then, faster than even Sinunu’s jacked reflexes could see, de Vries was standing between them and the intruder. “Stop,” he said.

  There was a tableau that lasted almost two heartbeats-nearly an eternity-before Sinunu felt Flak relax his stance.

  De Vries smiled. “My apologies. I should have warned you that she would be meeting us.”

  Flak stood up to his full height, and even though short for a troll, he still towered over the rest. “De Vries, this is getting serious. You’re footing the bill here, but if you don’t keep us on the scan, someone’s going to get hurt.”

  De Vries smiled. “Once again, I apologize. This is a companion of mine, Short Eyes. She’s been with me for almost two years. She is my personal secretary, of sorts. She’s been here throughout the day, keeping an eye out. She has become very good at what she does, and seems to have a natural skill at detecting vampires.” De Vries turned to the young woman and Sinunu caught his smile. “After all, she picked me out of a crowd, and I was actually doing a passable job at staying hidden.”

  The one called Short Eyes smiled back, showing uneven, grimy teeth. “Gotcha all right. Get ‘em all if they get too close.”

  Sinunu shook her head at whatever the private joke was between de Vries and his chummer. Now was not the time, nor the place.

  Flak grunted, and Sinunu’s face pulled into a scowl. Short Eyes smiled at them and said, “Tension’s high. I can do without the stimuli.” Then she laughed.

  “She will not accompany us inside,” de Vries continued as if Short Eyes hadn’t spoken. “Once I realized how this was going to work out, I thought it best if no harm came to your man in the Matrix. He’s a bit vulnerable out here, and there’s no else one to guard him. Without him it’s unlikely many of us would get out alive, sot figured Short Eyes could stay here with him.”

  Sinunu turned to Flak, about to object, but the dark look on the trolls face stopped her.

  “Listen, de Vries.” Flak said. “We got this down to a science. We got no need of, or desire for, anyone else to come along to frag this up.” He turned to Rachel. who was just stepping out of the van, “No offense, Rach, but enough’s enough.”

  Rachel smiled, and said, “None taken.”

  De Vries stepped close, and said something Sinunu couldn’t quite catch.

  “All right.” Flak said finally. “You made your point. She stays.”

  De Vries smiled again, “Excellent. Then I would suggest we get underway. As your Sandman said, we have precious little time.”

  With a jerk of his head, Flak directed Sinunu back toward the wall. When they were out of earshot, Sinunu touched his arm. “You gone whack, completely?”

  Flak looked at her. “No. He just asked me how many times any of us have heard him approach. He said the little one will know if any of those vamps come within a hundred meters of the van.”

  Sinunu shook her head. “What, she got some special vampire sniffer? This is just over the edge, Flak.”

  Flak nodded. “It’s way borderline, but de Vries says that’s something close to what she’s got. Says she can pick out vamps sometimes before he can. I got the feeling he doesn’t even know how she does it.”

  Sinunu was about to say something else, but Flak raised his hand. “Let it ride, Sin. You’re wasting your breath.”

  They had made their way t
o the front of the van again, and Sinunu pulled herself together. She would be on point for the first part of this run.

  Flak looked at Sinunu, only his eyes visible now that his hood was in place, No words were needed. They had worked together too long for there to be anything but perfect communication between them. With the possible exception of Sandman, Flak was the only male Sinunu trusted. After the things that had happened to her at White Oak, that trust had not come cheap.

  She turned and surveyed the scene before her. The stone and wire fence stood almost four meters high, and was topped with concertina wire. Every ten meters, she could make out the distinctive outline of chain-mounted miniguns topped with motion sensors. All of which hung low, obviously deactivated. Above each, mounted on long metal poles, were the orange floods.

  Sinunu knew they were at the rear of the compound, a direct one-eighty from the front gate. She also knew this was where the compound’s best defenses were concentrated. She just hoped that whoever de Vries was trusting on the inside had taken care of things as promised. If not, then this was going to get real ugly, real quick.

  She strapped her bow to her back and bounded across the shallow ditch, and up to the closest rock section. The rock was mostly jagged volcanic, and she scaled it quickly.

  As she went up, the flood directly above her went dark. Cresting the top, she got a view of the first fifty-meter expanse they were going to have to cross. She was glad Sandman had been able to deactivate the miniguns. The space was uniformly flat, with absolutely no cover, and nothing to stop the miniguns from laying down an incredible lethal crossfire. Across the distance, she could see the second fence. The far one was completely mesh, and was sure to be electrified.

  As she started to swing over, a crawling instinct made her freeze, hugging the top of the rock wall, the concertina wire digging into the small of her back.

  Just to her left, about thirty meters out, something moved. She watched it out of the corner of her eye, and for just a moment, she couldn’t figure out what it was or what it was doing.