D'Mok Revival 1: Awakening

by Michael J. Zummo

  “Don’t tell me, you were the little hacker from before?” Maro asked, as Toriko climbed out of the vent into the room, followed by Palo, Daleron, and Mencari.

  “That sentinel was yours?”

  A laugh echoed in the empty chamber. “So that was you!” Maro said, equally delighted and patronizing. “I’m even more impressed with it now, little sister. I thought I was losing my touch. But knowing it was you, I’ll accept your escape as unavoidable, at least this time.”

  “We have to get you out of here.”

  “Your concern is so touching,” Maro cajoled. “Don’t you like where I work? Come on Toriko, wouldn’t you KILL to work here. Look around!”

  “The professor’s been kidnapped, and the Nukari took them!”

  “The Nu-who?”

  “You know what I’m talking about, their digital prints are all over the Mauri Dome systems!”

  What was the look in Maro’s eye? It gleamed evilly.

  “You just want me to lose this amazing job!”

  “What are you talking about,” Toriko cried.

  “Don’t play dumb with me!” Maro yelled, as small fans whirred on Maro’s back, making her hair flail dramatically. Even the red of her suit beamed angrily. “All through school I had to play second best to you. It was always ‘Toriko’ this, and ‘Toriko’ that. Now look who it’s all about. Look who’s getting all the attention!”

  “That’s not true!” Toriko said desperately. Okay, maybe it was a little true, but it wasn’t my fault, Toriko thought.

  “Oh, but it is, oh jobless wonder! And now look, I’m working for the most powerful, most advanced company in all of Tericn!”

  “Maro,” a man’s voice echoed through a speaker in the corner. “Why don’t you show Toriko and her friends just what you’re capable of? You can finish your little talk later.”

  Maro bowed in obedience, as a platform rose up beneath her feet.

  “Wait!” Toriko said.

  Maro looked up evilly. “Are you ready?”

  Toriko began to scream. “What did they do to you, Maro?”

  “Don’t make this too easy, Toriko. I really want to show what I’m capable of.”

  Toriko ran to the pedestal, and began pounding on it.

  “Toriko, get back!” Mencari yelled.

  The patter of Spark’s feet drew her attention. He pounced on Toriko, emitting a sonic howl, knocking her down as a black spear flew past to shatter into a fog of tiny dots.

  “Thanks, boy,” Toriko said, shaken with the realization that her sister had just attacked her.

  She got up quickly. Determination steeled her expression. “I don’t know what they did to you, Maro—but I’m going to save you—and Professor FX! Do you hear me? I’m not afraid!”

  Maro’s laugh echoed through the room.

  “I’m not the one that needs saving! But that certainly sounds like a challenge!”

  Panels snapped open around the room revealing zombie-like androids. Their eyes glowed with a deep, unfriendly red. Toriko saw Daleron pull out his heavy firearm from beneath his trench coat. Palo likewise drew his pistol. As they opened fire, Mencari joined, firing from the phaser on his wrist.

  The fog of dots from the black spear had remained floating in the air. They now coalesced, then swarmed Palo and Daleron, whose frantic blasts from their firearms did nothing to disperse it. Their weapons were quickly gummed up and rendered useless, as the pair resorted to swatting the dots away, like clouds of insects circling them.

  “Can’t fight these things off!” Daleron said.

  “Burning! I’m burning!” Palo said, as a distortion of heat radiated from the vibrating fog.

  Mencari held off the androids, and Torkio and Spark ran to the pair. Unleashing his eerie howl, the dots were forced to disperse again.

  “What are those things?” Palo cried.

  “Nanites…” Toriko yelled back. “Little robots.”

  “So far so good, but can you can’t be everywhere!” Maro chastised.

  Thick clouds of new nanites formed at the corners of the room. The masses quickly descended on the group. Spark ran to her side and howled, creating a barrier around them. Gesturing, Toriko summoned her holographic control cube.

  “How cute, when did you come up with that?” Maro said mockingly. “But cute won’t help you!”

  “You don’t need to understand what this can do . . . I do.”

  Toriko ignored her sister and quickly called up her own hacking protocols. Her sister had a nasty habit of leaving obvious backdoors in her systems. Anything she made, Toriko could hack. Activating the program, a pulse ripped from the control cube, instantly turning the nanites gray and sending them plummeting to the ground.

  “I was waiting for that one!” Maro said, sounding happy as the gray nanites instantly rose again and flew back into the air. “I appreciate the extra code segment. It will help make sure other hackers can’t get in like you did!”

  “No!” Toriko cried.

  “This is so much fun!” Maro cheered, when suddenly she let out a gasp.

  The nanites and androids stopped in place.

  “Maro?” Toriko yelled, trying to get a glimpse of her sister up on the platform.

  “You’re . . . You’re right, Toriko,” Maro said stunned.

  The pedestal began to lower. The nanites dispersed into the air, and the cyborgs returned to their panels in the walls.

  “The Professor FX was taken. . . ” Maro said, still in disbelief. “I started a search bot after you mentioned it, I just got the results. But that’s not all.”

  Maro’s face was ashen white.

  “I found records about our parents. I also found plans about you and me . . . ”

  “You useless twit,” the voice boomed from the speakers.

  Robotic tendrils shot from the wall, wrapping around Maro. A new panel opened flooding the room with a brilliant light. Maro screamed as she was jerked back, disappearing into the light.

  Toriko stood in shock as the room fell silent. Suddenly a blood-curdling scream echoed.

  “MARO!” Toriko yelled running towards the panel, as the cyborgs reemerged and hobbled forth, renewing their attack.

  The others opened fire, as Toriko held her eyes on the panel containing her sister.

  “Get back here!” Palo yelled.

  A giant, cyborg-like, holographic version of Maro appeared before Toriko. Her cybernetic laser eye beamed her way, as a modulated version of Maro’s voice mumbled, “Resistance is futile, you will be incorporated.”

  Toriko shrieked. “What have they done to you!”

  She looked around, quickly taking stock. Palo, Daleron, Mencari, and Spark were engaging the cyborgs. Laser cannons protruded from the walls and opened fire. Diving for cover, Toriko watched the others dodging between the cyborgs, using them as shields.

  There was no sign of the nanites. Good. She could take on Maro herself, and this time she didn’t have to worry about her sister’s genius thwarting her.

  There had to be an access port here she could use. She gestured, enhancing the control cube with remote port detection. In moments, she found her way in. It didn’t take any time to locate the master program leading the attack. In fact, it was child’s play, clearly nothing Maro would have created. Toriko smiled as she blew through the ridiculous 8-bit encryptions, and laughed at the path-spoofing attempt.

  “Gotcha!” she said, biting on her lip.

  The holographic projection of Maro cried out. Then the image became scrambled.

  “All. . . your base.. belongs… to us!” the voice groaned.

  Light flooded the room, as the panel Maro had disappeared into slid open again. Even the few remaining cyborgs had stopped their attack

  Toriko and Mencari reached the doorway together. Inside they found Maro unconscious, with panels and circuitry piercing her skin.

  “Oh Eudora!” Toriko cried, sliding into the space and trying to undo the tangle of wires connecting her sister into
the system.

  “This isn’t over!” the voice said from the speakers as an alarm blared.

  “Toriko . . . help get me out of here,” Maro mumbled weakly.

  “Let’s go!” Daleron said, motioning to the vent.

  “I have one more gift to give them,” Toriko said, with a gleam in her eye, as they managed to disengage the last of the circuitry from Maro’s limp body.

  * * * * *

  “How’s she doing?” Mencari asked.

  “It’s a good thing we got her back to our base so quickly,” Daleron said. “It’s amazing how far away Version 6 seems when you’re on the run. Our med team says she’ll be okay—with time.”

  “How’s Toriko holding up?”

  “Okay, given everything that’s happened. She’s talking with Maro now.

  Spark bounded in the room followed by a sulking Toriko. “Maro says I should go with you.”

  “Are you sure?” Mencari asked. “It looks like there’s plenty to do here.”

  “Maro’s going to take my place to work with Daleron and Palo. I’m supposed to help out there,” she said pointing up. “To go with you. Wherever that is. We talked about it and agreed that the Nukari needed to be attacked on more than one front. If Maro needs me, she’ll let me know.”

  “If you’re sure about this.”

  She nodded, still sullen. She didn’t look happy with the outcome of the long talk with her older sister.

  * * * * *

  Osuto turned off a console and walked to the window, leaving Seigie working at the station he’d assigned her. Mencari’s mission was taking too long. What was going on down on Tericn?

  Why hasn’t Rhysus reported back? Did he find the techie? What was her name anyway?

  Seigie called out, “If that was me, I would’ve worn a path in the floor already. Literally.”

  Osuto stopped, realized he was pacing again. “This business of waiting for information isn’t good for an old heart.”

  Seigie waved an unconcerned hand. “If he gets into trouble on Tericn, he’ll let us know.” As she spoke, tiny flecks of crystal fluttered from her hand to rest under her chair.

  Osuto shook his head. “You don’t understand. He’s inexperienced yet. Scarcely a tiny step past the Pre-Sutrite stage.”

  Seigie stopped working and turned around to face him, the chair creaking under her weight. “Just manifested his powers?”

  “Not just, but I don’t have Invokers or training crystals here to get him up to speed.”

  “Invokers . . . I remember them. From back in the D’mok camps—”

  A tone rang out, drawing her attention back to her console. “Well, he’s not dead after all.”

  She opened the communication channel. Mencari’s image appeared.

  “Osuto . . . Seigie,” he greeted them.

  Osuto hurried to the display. “Rhysus. I was getting worried when—” The old man stopped and peered at the image. “Why so somber? And what’s all that stuff piled behind you?”

  Mencari scratched his head and smiled uncomfortably. “Uh . . . Toriko’s equipment.”

  “So you found her then?”

  “Yes. It’s a long story, and . . . it’s too much to go into now, but the Nukari were on Tericn.”

  A young female voice called out from behind Mencari. “Not just on Tericn. Everywhere. In everything!”

  Osuto tried to spot a new face in the image, but saw nothing. “Was that the tech engineer?”

  “Toriko. Yes,” he smiled. “She’s quite a character. But wait until you see what she can do. Amazing computer gadgets and interfaces—”

  “You mentioned the Nukari?” Seigie interrupted.

  Mencari nodded. “There is a leader here, a Commander Jencho, in charge of the operation on Tericn. He has people embedded in everything. Schools, politics, businesses—”

  “Don’t forget Bansa!” Toriko’s girlish voice called out.

  Mencari waved her back. “Yes. There’s a company here on Toriko’s world named Bansa. A supercorporation. They make everything important on her world. The Nukari have taken over the higher levels of leadership. They’ve even carved out a part of their headquarters as a base for the Nukari operation.”

  Toriko’s voice added, “And they used my sister!”

  “Her sister, Maro . . . had been hired as the lead engineer for the Bansa corporation . . . which was controlled by the Nukari.”

  “But she didn’t know!”

  Mencari nodded at Osuto. “She didn’t know. As far as I can tell. Anyway, through Toriko I met up with a resistance group on the planet . . . and they helped us get Toriko’s sister out of the Nukari installation.”

  “But they kidnapped the professor!” Toriko bellowed.

  Mencari took a long breath and forced a smile. “And Toriko had a professor that helped expose the Nukari, who has been captured and taken off-world. But our raid managed to disrupt their operation, at least temporarily. Seems that Toriko managed to delete a large section of their computer core and made the rest of the server publically accessible as a parting shot.”

  “Good luck hiding now!” Toriko said triumphantly.

  Osuto could hear tension building in Mencari’s voice. “It looks like you were able to get away,” Osuto said.

  Mencari nodded. “We’ve left the planet and are on our way. Should be arriving shortly. We’re okay. Thanks to the resistance and her sister, Toriko and I have a lot of intel we didn’t have before, about Bansa and this Jencho character who’s in charge there.”

  Osuto looked over at Seigie and smiled. “Well, hurry back. We still have a lot of work ahead. Oh, and welcome, Tor-ee-ko.”

  Toriko pushed Mencari aside so she could get into the image. She grinned and chirped, “Thanks! I really appreciate this opportunity. I won’t let you down!”

  Osuto tried to stifle his surprise at the big fox ears and red tufts of cheek fur, the odd-looking cartoon fox drawn on her dirty white t-shirt, the nearly indecipherable “XoXo” printed underneath.

  Seeing Osuto’s expression, Mencari added quickly, “I’ll tell you more when we’re back.”

  A dog barked in the background behind Mencari, and Toriko vanished from the image. A second later, Osuto heard her voice, this time in baby talk, saying, “Who’s a good boy! Yes you are! Who’s a good—?”

  The communication closed.

  Osuto turned to Seigie. “She’s bringing a pet? Just what kind of person has he hired?”

  CHAPTER 7:

  A Friend in Need

  “Rhysus?”

  The gentle voice beckoned from the dark, and he felt a kiss on his cheek as the voice repeated his name, this time pleading. Something warm wrapped around him and began constricting his body. As he fought for air, the woman screamed his name.

  Mencari lurched forward from slumber. Beads of sweat flung themselves from his forehead. The burn of adrenaline flooded his body, making his breathing labored. He found his lower body tangled in sheets, unable to move. He touched his jaw, still feeling the gentle lips.

  With a sigh, he said, “Lights . . . thirty percent.”

  The room glowed faintly and Mencari pushed away the covers. Forcing himself from the bed, he stumbled toward the bathroom, eyes probing every shadow for the woman, despite the impossible.

  Damned dreams.

  As he entered the bathroom, he gazed into the mirror and grunted. The partial light gave his skin a sickly color. At least he hoped it was just the lighting. He ran the water and splashed a bit on his face. In the mirror, the wedding band on his finger drew his attention. Then his resolve crumpled, and a broken whimper escaped, then, “Anaka.”

  He couldn’t allow this. Not today. Not one more day. Weary and somewhat puffy, yet defiant eyes met his gaze in the mirror. Anaka would have chided him without mercy, scolding that he looked like an old man when he got like this. Yes, he was tired. But sleep didn’t make things any better.

  When he stumbled back to bed, sleep was merciful and this t
ime held no dreams. At least none he could remember.

  * * * * *

  “Morning,” Mencari mustered entering the control room, where he found a giddy Toriko talking with Osuto. Spark greeted him with a happy yip. The robot dog’s master was so entranced by her conversation, she didn’t see Mencari come in.

  “Uh, no,” he groaned. “You’re a morning morning person.”

  She continued on, still unaware of Mencari. “. . . and all we need is a few components to hook it up, Osuto!”

  Mencari spoke again. “Hook what up, Toriko?”

  She finally noticed him. “You’re up!”

  Osuto gave him a benevolent smile and a wink. “Good morning, Rhysus. Toriko’s been working since three this morning.”

  She gave both of them a toss of her glittery red-and-black hair. “I couldn’t sleep. Something woke me up, and my mind got working on this . . . and I figured, ‘Just get up!’ So I did.”

  Mencari walked over and looked at the device in her hand. “What is it?”

  “Remember how there were Nukari back on Aeun? Well, I ran some tests on the flight-recorder data captured by the ship, and discovered a few interesting particles in the flight paths around the world.”

  “And?”

  “And I was able to put this together,” she said as a projection of Auen appeared with multiple arcs leading to the planet’s surface. “See?”

  Mencari glanced at Osuto, who threw his hands up and said, “I don’t know. She was just telling me when you came in.”

  Mencari nodded and looked back at her. “Lines?”

  She nodded emphatically. “Not just lines, emissions. And look where one leads!”

  He looked, but shrugged, not recognizing the significance.

  “Here,” she said pointing. “Where the Nukari pod was! I thought maybe it’s a trace particle from their engines. So, I checked with Maro, and after some collaboration, it looks like it is!”

  “But wouldn’t we already have to be in their proximity to detect it, and be useful?” he asked.