by Justin Sloan
“Maybe to this mythical North Beach, huh?” he said with a laugh. As if that would ever happen.
Her lip curled into a smile and she shook her head. “Don’t be so quick to throw the idea off as a joke. We’re capable of a lot nowadays.”
“What?” he said and once again lowered his voice as others passed by. “We’d amass a fortune by other means? Dear, this suit likely has at most a few charges left.”
“No, that’s not what I meant. I don’t know what I meant, I guess. Maybe sell that?”
He looked down at the green box, never letting it far from his side. “Not until we know what it is.”
“We’ll make contact with an old friend in Japan. She’ll know where to point us for that,” Alicia said and pursed her lips, considering. “Would it be the worst thing in the world to hack into New Origins and relocate some of their funds? Right before the Earth armies take them down, I mean.
He actually considered that, and grinned. “One step at a time, dear.”
Earth seemed like a dream—the way clouds formed around it, the way the horizon seemed to glow like the whole thing was alive and would turn to smile at him at any moment. He almost dreaded landing, preferring this moment to last forever. The calm was so beautiful, for what it was.
They spent the evening in the dining chamber with a pleasant couple, laughing and making up stories about how they met and where they’d been in the world, although halfway through one of Alicia’s stories about sipping out of a coconut in Cambodia, he had a flash of a horribly stinky fruit and realized that had actually happened. He wondered how much of her stories were real, and he spent the rest of the meal listening, staring into her eyes and trying his best not to look like a slack-jawed, over-infatuated idiot.
When they were tired, they found their sleeper pods, which were like small coffins built into the walls of the mid-deck. Privacy wasn’t lacking, but they weren’t the best for anyone suffering from claustrophobia. Couples were able to take down the wall between two of these, but the doors were a semi-translucent glass. Even though people couldn’t see details through the glass, it was enough to prevent acts of love.
Not that Marick was quite ready for that anyway. The cravings were there, of course, but no matter how much he connected with her, it still felt like he was on an awkward-yet-lovely second date.
More than once during the trip he’d caught her glancing at him with a mixture of love and lust in her eyes, and he’d had to fight the urge to screw the rules and have her hack the simulation room to give them their moment. At night, he even dreamed about where that would be, imagining the two of them in the simulation, sweaty bodies pressed together, moving rhythmically with the waves of North Beach, or maybe changing it up and imagining they were on a flying carpet over the mountains of Peru.
But he couldn’t bring himself to really go through with it, regardless of whether her skills would be up to overriding the simulation room. He didn’t ask. Everything needed to be just right. As far as he was concerned, this was their first time, and it wasn’t like he was some young, horny teen just trying to get off. This was his wife, the love of his life, and he was trying to get to know her all over again.
When the day finally came that they arrived on Earth, the two of them stood with the other passengers, watching as they descended to more green and blue than he ever imagined. In his memories, trees and all the rest of it were there, but they had that metallic feel of the space stations. Not this.
He held her close, feeling the rapid rising and falling of her chest against him, and knew she felt the excitement every bit as strongly as he did.
In a sense, they were home… with a long way yet to go.
8
Alicia: Yokohama Water Base
Emerging onto the water base just off Yokohama in Tokyo Bay, the new arrivals were treated like royalty. Apparently, many of the locals who made it up to the space stations were on the more affluent side, while normal residents of the stations rarely, if ever, made it down via elevator.
Tall glass windows covered one whole side of the water base, giving the new arrivals a stunning view of Yokohama’s massively built-up skyline. While Tokyo was still the hub of business, Japan had become the double-rising sun and its economy had skyrocketed as it focused on space travel. More and more businesses flocked to Japan and built headquarters, and more and more tech started rising over the years to the extent that now the surrounding prefectures were essentially as built up as Tokyo city itself.
“We came here once,” Alicia said, walking toward the exit sign with him, watching as he took in the view. “For my work.
“And what was that again?”
She smiled, pulling his arm close. “At times blue team, others red. Basically all that hacker stuff. I’d be in charge of making sure others couldn’t hack our clients. Sometimes I was setting up systems, other times testing them via advanced penetration tests.”
“You know, some Marines I’ve served with would be pretty damn immature and make a joke about penetration tests.”
“Not you, though?” she laughed.
“Not me, especially not in front of a lady.” He placed a hand on hers and followed the crowd around the corner, then quickly ducked back.
They’d both spotted them—a group wearing black and green was moving their way, but one was wearing black and purple. The Taipans and Nightshade. Of course, they were there, waiting. They would’ve been able to take a ship directly from Horus. And since they were there, they must have actionable intel that Marick and Alicia were there, too.
Behind them was only the passageway they’d come down, and ahead of them was the turn. That left the window, though of course the Taipans would hear if they went that way. Maybe they could see what the hell was in this green box and find a way to use it to get out of there. They hadn’t wanted to risk opening it on the elevator in case it was rigged to explode. But now… now they had no choice.
“Shield at the ready,” Marick said, putting the box down and preparing himself.
“You open, shield goes up,” she replied. “Let’s just hope it’s strong enough to protect us if that’s a bomb or some sort of trap.”
He nodded, knowing he had to move fast. She clicked the shield and he unhinged the box, then stepped back as the bubble force field surrounded them. It opened just as the Taipans came around the corner, instantly opening fire. The shield was up though, and Marick was staring into the box with rising excitement.
“Forward!” he said, and then they were at the box, kneeling over the small arsenal in there. It wasn’t dangerous in itself, but if Gulch had gotten hold of it he could have certainly done some damage while making a move to officially take over Space Station Ramiel.
As shots singed to nothing on the energy field, Marick removed a strap of mines and grenades, quickly slinging that over his shoulder. He took a wrist piece like the one Alicia wore and slapped it over his wrist under the exoskeleton, then handed three slabs of replacement ammo to her.
“This won’t hold long,” she said, hands out, as if that controlled the shield.
“Then let’s move,” he replied, pulling out the last three items—two collapsible rail guns, and a slab of blue that he recognized from his suit. Apparently, Veles had his men on Ramiel working to understand the teleportation suits as well because this was most certainly a replacement energy source.
He took one of the proximity mines and slapped it onto the box, then turned and scanned one of the buildings across the water.
“We can’t keep wasting them!” Alicia yelled, seeing what he was doing.
With a grin, he pointed at his new energy supply that was stuffed into the side pocket of his cargo pants and then grabbed hold of her.
As the counter reached eighty percent, the shield failed.
A shot hit Marick on the back and he cringed in pain, turning to take one of the rail guns. He’d forgotten that scanning a location farther away meant a longer wait time for the machine to kick in. He f
ired the electromagnetic-powered projectile, which released with such great force that it pierced one of the Taipan’s armor and body, coming out the other side in a blaze. The others pulled back at this, surprised to see their comrade fall, and even Marick was stunned.
Nightshade was focused on Marick, her facemask giving her a very stoic, calm appearance. She was running now, two blasters up and firing, but Marick saw the machine’s counter and watched it turn from ninety-nine to one hundred as the shots approached. Then, they were gone in a flash of light.
As they appeared at the edge of the building he’d scanned, the proximity mine went off. The sound of the explosion carried across the water, and the burst of glass as those massive windows shattered caught the sunlight in myriad sparkling pieces that, as the fire blossomed behind them, fell into the water.
“No way they survived that,” Marick said, though he wasn’t so sure. Their armor was strong and their ability to heal unheard of.
Alicia, however, didn’t respond. She was crouched over, face in her hands, and only then did Marick notice the whimpering sound.
“Alicia?”
When she looked up at him, he couldn’t help but step back in horror. Her skin had split in places, blood trickling out, and looked burned and bubbled in others. No! It was horror that he had caused this.
“It… it hurts,” she managed to say and then fell with a shudder of pain.
He caught her, but his touch seemed to hurt her even more.
“You’re going to heal,” he told her, trying to be comforting. She had gone through the enhancements, after all—at least the first stage. She would heal much faster than the average person, but would it be fast enough?
He didn’t know what to do, and already several businessmen and women were stopping as they walked by.
“Daijobu?” an older lady asked. “Is she okay?”
He shook his head, not having an answer. The best he could do was look back through what he’d grabbed from the green box, hoping for an answer. He stared at his wife, who was still in pain, and thought maybe he should take her to a hospital. Or use the pellets to knock her unconscious so she at least wouldn’t have to feel the pain as her body healed.
Going for the pellets she carried, he found that one of the packages wasn’t pellets at all but the drugs that, he had heard, provided a temporary fix, a small enhancement similar to what the PD soldiers received. If that meant faster healing, he had to do it. He knelt beside her, cradling her head, and put the pills into her mouth.
“Mizu,” he said, racking his brain and surprising himself by knowing the word for water. “Mizu, do we have mizu?”
The old lady nodded enthusiastically and then pulled out her bag to reveal a bottle of barley tea. That would have to do.
He took it with a curt bow, quickly unscrewed the top, and then poured it down his wife’s throat to help her swallow the drugs. If this didn’t work—or if the drugs backfired, maybe causing her to overdose since she’d had the enhancements—he could never forgive himself.
The old lady stared on, others gathering now, but Marick didn’t give a damn. All he cared about was Alicia and whether she would get through this.
She coughed, her arms twitched, and then her head jolted up so she was staring at him with wide eyes.
“Holy hell,” she said, her voice cracking. “Is this how you feel every day?”
“What?”
“This… power.” She shivered, but pushed herself up. As she was moving, the lines in her skin vanished, along with the burns. She took a deep breath and blinked, surprised. “I feel amazing.”
The old woman nearby glanced down at the rest of the pills in Marick’s hand and asked, “How much?”
“Not for sale,” he replied, stowing them and then reaching for his wife’s hand. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”
Others were staring in amazement. Most of them were Japanese businessmen, talking excitedly, but some were foreigners, all chatting about what they’d just seen and calling after him to share the wealth or explain what had just happened.
He flagged down a taxi, which hovered down from a street above, waited for them to board, and then started going at a wave of his hand. He didn’t care where they went yet. He was just glad to get out of there.
“Where are you going?” the driver asked with a heavy accent.
“Your closest love hotel,” Alicia said, staring at her hands in amazement.
“Love hotel?” Marick asked, and then added in a whisper, “Those drugs made you feel like—”
“No!” she said with a laugh, glancing back at the crowd before the taxi turned. “They can’t track you there. We’ll pay for an hour or two and get out. Easy as that. We’ll use it to figure out our next step, see if I can get hold of my contact, and then maybe wash up. I could use a damn bath.”
Marick had to admit that sounded perfect. He leaned back, took a breath, and watched the vibrant colors of billboards and flashing streetlights pass by. If he’d been there before, he was almost glad he’d forgotten. Experiencing it as if for the first time was going to be a trip. In some aspects, it wasn’t so different from certain parts of Horus, particularly the West Ward where part of it had actually been set up to mimic a Japanese-style city. He wondered if there were parts of Japan that were like the dirty, rundown lower levels of Horus, with their clans and guilds.
He leaned over to Alicia. “Your friends… I’m sorry we had to leave them behind.”
She nodded, lost in thought for a moment. “Intrepid was your friend first. He’s tough. Scorpio—that guy knows the ropes, and now that Yerbuna’s in the mix I think they’ll be all right.”
“And hey, with Nightshade after us now, how much trouble can they get themselves into?” he asked with a laugh.
“You’d be surprised,” Alicia replied with a chuckle.
9
Intrepid: Space Station Horus
Since the escape of Marick and Alicia, the new Looking Glass had gone low key. They broke off for the time being, sticking to their own with an ear to the floor, each cautious of PD soldiers coming for them. So far, though, it seemed that New Origins hadn’t been able to track the team’s cyber-attack on the dome. Nobody was even asking about Intrepid, Swinger, Yerbuna, or the teens, though an alert had been put out on Scorpio.
This being the case, Intrepid brought his buddy to the one place he thought maybe they would be able to keep him out of the spotlight—the guild.
It was weird coming back here after seeing his brother mowed down by PD soldiers in this very spot, but he’d been working with the guild for a reason, just like his brother. They both believed the guilds, this one in particular, offered the best chance of overcoming New Origins’ leadership. While they were technically a thieves’ guild, their mandate was larger than that. They had a secret message for those sworn to their cause, one based on information uncovered in a raid by Squad Thirty-Two.
What Intrepid hadn’t known until just then was that Scorpio had been an original member of Squad Thirty-Two. They’d been shown a secret entrance to the guild since the old one had been compromised, and the door guard was treating Scorpio like some sort of king.
“What’s happening, exactly?” Intrepid asked.
“You don’t even know who you just brought into our front door?” the guard asked with a laugh, then nodded to Scorpio. “The legend himself.”
Intrepid turned to his buddy, looking up at the slightly taller man, waiting.
With a sigh, Scorpio smiled and said, “How do you think I got my name?”
“I’d heard the story about your ability to kick,” Intrepid replied. “Something about your leg acting like a scorpion’s tail.”
“And that exact legend was born out of a raid on the squad’s headquarters. They caught me, gave me this,” he said and gestured to the branding on his cheek that was like the stars of Scorpio, the constellation. “I wear it with pride.”
“The rest of the squad?”
Sco
rpio shook his head. “Most didn’t survive that raid. We were legends, once upon a time.”
“Much of what keeps us alive and operational down here is thanks to Squad Thirty-Two and their legacy,” the guard said. “It’s an honor.” He stuck out a hand. “Call me Worm.”
“Ah, you’re taking up the old naming convention,” Scorpio said and gave him a smile.
“I’ve heard this one,” Intrepid said, not feeling quite so left out at that point. “The squad used to use names of underground creatures to keep that sense of being the underground.”
“Basically,” Scorpio said and nodded to Worm. “Since our friends have left, we believe I’m going to be hunted, and I don’t want to put you all in danger.”
“Nonsense,” Worm replied. “A legend like you? Every one of us would gladly jump at the chance to defend one of the original squad members. And hell, we’re already wanted anyway.”
“But this might be the final straw,” Scorpio persisted. “We need to ensure they don’t know I’m here. Or maybe ensure I’m not actually here.”
“That’s crazy,” Intrepid said. “Tell him, Worm.”
The guard nodded, motioning for them to follow him. “Listen, we’re set up here to facilitate trade on behalf of Veles, so he’s going to see that we aren’t touched. Many of us work the intra- and inter-station trade routes, officially, so they can’t exactly just kill us all off. Many of the rebels are miners, right? They need us.’
Scorpio shrugged. “The members of the Squad thought the same.”
That caught Worm’s attention and he turned back, tripping but catching himself. “Well, you ask me? We make sure to move fast on taking down New Origins. Between the options of that or turning away you, that’s my vote anyway.”
“Well, I appreciate it,” Scorpio said.
Intrepid was relieved to hear it, too, because he felt an odd responsibility for the man. Marick was gone but would be back. In the meantime, Intrepid felt it was up to him to keep the good ones alive and out of the PD soldiers’ clutches.
