Paragon

by Rob RodenParker

  Kepp ran his hands through his hair, bowed his head and exhaled sharply. There was a reason, he told himself.

  His implant pulsed again.

  "Tenzen in, I'm discovered, under fire. Need assistance now!”

  Kepp covered Hiro with his duvet, and closed the old man’s eyes, wiping the blood off his face as he did so.

  Reasons be damned for now, his mission crew needed help.

  Chapter 5 – Fortitude II

  Astropedia Entry: Datapads

  Datapads are the common name given to the ubiquitous personal computing devices that most of humanity uses. The first datapad (the Sony VIVGO) was released on January 24, 2075. It was developed as a replacement for the smart-phone, due to an increasing consumer demand for an integrated solution to meet their mobile connectivity and data needs. The datapad market has exploded since then, and has now become a necessary purchase for most humans. It has completely replaced mobile phones, mp3 players and laptops.

  All datapads incorporate the ability to make phone calls, connect to and browse the SolarWeb (with both wired and wireless solutions), and stream media content such as videos and music. Datapads are also equipped with powerful processors and graphics technology so that productivity solutions can be run on them, allowing people to have essentially a mobile office. Datapads have now seen a lot of diversification, as different users want different things.

  Datapads for the military differ in that they do not actually have a display screen. Instead, the soldier wears a contact lens in his or her eye (usually the dominant eye), and the image is displayed by the contact lens. The contact lens is made up of two layers of plasma-treated silicone hydrogel sandwiching a synthetic diamond substrate, which acts as a semiconductor for the high resolution transistor display matrix placed upon it. Color reproduction is not perfect, and there is usually some distortion towards the edges of the image, however, for basic applications they are perfectly adequate. Display contact lenses (or DCLs as they are called) cannot be worn for very long periods of time (a day or so) as they are not very oxygen permeable, and will cause corneal ulcers if the eye is not allowed to re-oxygenate. Nanogenerators are embedded in the blind spot of the display (where the eye cannot see), and they power the lens by translating kinetic energy from the movement of the eye into electrical energy.

  The removal of a fragile display screen allows the datapads to be made extremely rugged and durable for field use.

  Paragon agents, due to the flexibility and power of their implants, are able to forego the contact lenses altogether. The implants themselves receive the display signal from the datapad and it stimulates the optic nerve directly causing the brain to see the display image. The image can be overlaid in one or both eyes, along with actual vision, to create the perfect heads up display. Interfacing with the datapad is also done through the Paragon's implant.

  Paragon datapads typically differ from civilian ones in that they contain a hardware firewall and encryption system, complete with biometric ID scanner. This is required for them to connect to the secure Paradigm network. They also contain such things as a light amplification and an infrared camera for use in night vision, a small explosive charge for self-destruction, as well as software for decryption, data cloning (for extracting data from a computer) and other such useful tools. The typical size of a Paragon datapad is 10 x 10 x 5 cm, and they weigh about 1 kg.

  The emergency klaxon was ringing, its harsh noise penetrating the pre-dawn stillness of the guard barracks.

  Ian was startled from his sleep. He groaned, what was with Sergeant Wallam and his stupidly early drills? Around him, the room began to fill with noise as men were roused from their sleep.

  "This ain't a drill, get the fuck up!" shouted Wallam, as he burst into their quarters. This woke Ian up.

  Wallam slapped him on the head. Ian cursed lightly; he knew he shouldn't have picked the bed closest to the entrance.

  "Ian, get your rifle and man the fucking tower, we got two hostiles running loose in the complex! The rest of you, get your shit together and suit up. We need to take them down!"

  Ian was a sniper. His job was to head up to the sniper tower. From there, he could see the whole complex, and would have a clear shot at taking down anyone in the open. He could also provide visual reference for the men on the ground. At least, that was what the training doctrine said; he had never had to do it for real yet.

  The adrenaline began to pour through him as the realization set in. This was real.

  He dressed in a frenzy, rushed to the armory to grab his gun, and then ran for the elevator. Whoever those bastards were, they weren't going to get away from him.

  Kepp moved in a cautious half run through the brightly lit corridors of the building. He had memorized the layout of the facility, and knew precisely where to go.

  "Tenzen do you have mobility?"

  "Negative. Guards have secured the server room exit, I'm playing cat and mouse among the clusters right now."

  "Keep it up, Haur is closer, I'm bailing him out first."

  Kepp was currently on the first floor, the head office was located on the second, and the server room was in the basement, four floors below him.

  Why couldn't they have been more careful? thought Kepp, this wasn't going to be easy.

  As he moved swiftly towards the stairs, he established an uplink to the Paradigm network, and called the AIC pilot.

  "This is big bird, how may I help?" came the reply.

  Damn flyboys, he thought, always sounding so smug all the time.

  "Requesting hot evac, fifteen minutes."

  "Roger. Rendezvous at LZ beta. Let's hope they ain't packing rockets."

  Kepp switched his implant into combat mode. This would boost his motion detection and peripheral vision clarity, as well as his hearing. He reached the stairs and climbed as quickly and quietly as possible, still, his footsteps echoed around the stairwell. As he neared the second floor, he slowed.

  "Give me some intel Haur."

  "There's four of them, outside the office, it's a stand-off right now."

  The stairwell led out through a door into a hallway, with the head office located five or six meters to the left of the stairwell exit. He guessed his best chance was to storm the guards, who wouldn't be expecting anything from behind. He opened the door and stepped out, silenced pistol at the ready. The guards were all looking the other way; it was four easy and quiet kills. He ran towards the room.

  "I'm outside Haur."

  There was a sound of furniture behind being moved, and then Haur stepped out into the hallway.

  "Tenzen next," was all Kepp needed to say.

  "Wait." Haur said, "The guards called for backup, I don't know whether they'll be coming up the stairs or the elevator."

  Kepp heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

  "Stairs," both said at once, and began to sprint in the direction of the elevator, which was a good twenty meters down the hall. The footsteps grew louder, accompanied by shouting.

  They reached the lift and punched the call button repeatedly. Kepp's heart pounded.

  "Nothing like waiting for an elevator to make you feel alive," Haur said tersely.

  They kept their guns trained on the stairwell door.

  Ding. The elevator opened and two guards leapt out, catching both themselves and the Paragons by surprise. Kepp and Haur had the swifter reactions however and quickly disposed of the men with a few well-placed punches and then relieved them of their automatic rifles. Kepp and Haur stepped into the lift just as the other contingent of guards burst into the corridor. The lift started descending.

  "Tenzen, status."

  "This mouse is running out of tricks, and the cats are getting real nasty."

  "We're in the lift; we're coming."

  The lift hit the basement, and the doors opened, Kepp sprang out left into the corridor, it was empty. He then placed one of the rifles in the elevator's doorway, jamming it open.

  The two Paragons proceeded quic
kly through the hallway, covering each other. Kepp heard more guards descending the stairs, and was ready for them as they crashed through the door two meters in front of him. Kepp reached out with a burst of implant induced force, knocking the front two guards into the following two. Haur let out a burst of automatic fire, and Kepp used his pistol to finish them off.

  They entered the server room, stepping over the corpses of two men. It was scarred by weapons fire. The room was quite large, containing around forty or so server racks, each containing layers upon layers of blinking lights and whirring fans. They were each about two meters high, creating a grid of pillars around which Tenzen could have hid and outmaneuvered the guards. The noise from the fans was loud, and the air was hot.

  "Tenzen we're in, where are you?"

  "Opposite corner to the entrance. Hurry! There’s three of them left in here."

  Kepp motioned for him and Haur to split up. He went right, and Haur took the left. He moved carefully through the room, senses on high alert. Suddenly, a few gunshots were heard further away from the room, accompanied by the scream of a man.

  "Two of them now," communicated Tenzen with some satisfaction.

  As Kepp rounded a server cluster towards the far side of the room, he came face to face with another man. Kepp smacked the rifle down and away from him as the guard pulled the trigger, sending a spray of bullets ricocheting off the floor and into the servers. Kepp then pistol whipped him in the face. The man staggered backwards, but recovered in time to block Kepp's follow-up punch. He couldn't do anything about Kepp using his implant however, and was thrown against the wall by a massive telekinetic force. Kepp then took quick aim and shot him dead center in the forehead.

  As he moved on, he heard some more gunshots.

  "Kepp, I've found Tenzen, he's got the data. We're all good, let's go."

  Kepp checked the time.

  "We got a hot evac ETA six minutes at LZ beta."

  They ran out of the server room, guns at the ready, but no more guards came. The Paragons retraced their steps towards the elevator, which was futilely trying to close its doors on the rifle, and stepped in. The wait in the lift seemed to take forever.

  The elevator dinged to announce its arrival. They stepped out into the reception area cautiously. It was a large space, with a wide open area in the middle containing plush sofas, potted plants and many displays of the company's products running down the whole length of building. Imposing pillars flanked it on each side. Towards the entrance, a circular marble-topped desk stood between them and the glass-walled entrance. The area immediately outside those doors was lit up by a spotlight from the outside. No doubt it was also surrounded by the security force.

  They began jogging in the opposite direction, towards the back door - the one they entered from. It would probably be covered as well.

  "I would say, this is not good," commented Haur dryly, the tension palpable in his voice.

  "Fire escapes?" Tenzen suggested.

  "They're not that stupid," Haur replied.

  "Big bird, this is Kepp. Do you copy?"

  "Loud and clear, I am inbound ETA two minutes."

  "Big bird we are holed up in the complex. They've got all the exits covered. We are going to make a run for it from the back entrance; we need some heat and a distraction."

  "Roger that, I will bring some pain. Sit tight."

  "So what's the plan, Kepp?" asked Tenzen.

  "Our evac craft is going to make some confusion, hopefully blow the guys guarding the back door into pieces, we'll wait for that then throw some smokes and run for extraction."

  "So, we're just going to hope they're bad marksmen? Great plan." Haur said, a little sarcastically.

  "Your humor," Kepp waved a finger at Haur. "I like it."

  Haur smiled grimly.

  The sun was just about rising, flooding its light across the sands of Arizona and casting long shadows across the complex.

  Those guys will never escape now, thought Ian as he watched the ground troops surround the building.

  He kept his vigil however, and took some more diazepam, scanning repeatedly through the glass on the floors that he could see just in case they were there. However, he could spot no signs of movement, which was rather frustrating.

  A dim whine registered on his senses, it sounded like an engine of some sort.

  Missiles streaked past his position and into the ground before the entrance. The deafening explosions shattered the glass of the building, left craters in the concrete and scattered the gathered forces into disarray. Ian swiveled to see an inbound AIC, auto-cannons blazing as it torched the ground on a flyby. He didn't waste any bullets shooting at it - it's armor would be impenetrable to a measly sniper rifle. Confusion and screams reigned over his communications headset, which was quickly drowned out by the high pitched whine of the AIC's engine as it swooped past the sniper tower.

  The craft strafed around the main complex building, dancing around with deadly grace. It fired off more missiles and its cannon at the hapless ground troops, who had been so devastated by the attack that they had not yet brought any anti-aircraft weaponry to bear.

  Ian concentrated hard; this would be when the intruders would make a run for it. He peered through the clouds of smoke and carnage, eyes peeled for any sign of movement.

  He saw a fresh cloud of smoke form near the rear of the main building, and then a flash of movement. Three people running. About five hundred meters away; that was them. He lined up the one in the lead in his scope, and pulled the trigger. It was too quick. The bullet went astray and pinged harmlessly off the concrete floor; a miss. He would have one more shot before they disappeared behind the cover of the airport control tower. He cocked the bolt, ejecting the empty cartridge, and then peered back through the scope, lining up the person in the lead again. He had to make this shot count.

  Time seemed to slow. He talked himself through it mentally, measuring out his breaths.

  Account for the wind. Account for their relative velocity. Account for the Coriolis Effect. Breathe deeply. Squeeze the trigger...slowly.

  Kepp heard the crack of a sniper rifle, and then the unmistakable sound of a bullet slicing through flesh as, ahead of him, Tenzen fell to the ground with a gargled cry of pain. Kepp grabbed the stim pen out of his belt and plunged it into Tenzen's neck. He pulled Tenzen up, with the help of Haur. The stimulants helped Tenzen to fight the shock, and he half staggered and was half dragged towards cover.

  "Big bird we have a sniper!" shouted Kepp over his communications channel. "Tenzen's hit!"

  "Roger that, trying to acquire visual on the sniper."

  They managed to get into cover behind the aircraft control tower just as the third sniper shot rang out across the complex. The bullet cracked into the ground by their feet, showering them with small bits of rock and dust.

  "Stay with us!" Haur shouted at Tenzen, who was slumped against the wall, gasping for breath, a pained expression on his face as he looked at the blood flowing out of his torso.

  "Fuck, it hurts," moaned Tenzen. He tried to say something else, but it came out in an incoherent groan.

  "Shut up," ordered Haur, ripping open a bag of pro-coagulates, and dumped it into the exit wound. “Come on Tenzen, pressure on the wound."

  "Guys," Tenzen slurred, a glazed look in his eyes, "just go."

  Haur slapped him on the cheek.

  "Don't be a fucking idiot. Pressure on the wound! Pressure on the wound!" Haur took off his jacket and stuffed it into the gaping hole in Tenzen's torso. He then grabbed Tenzen's hands and put them over the jacket, pushing hard. "Press it like a man dammit!" he shouted.

  Tenzen seemed to respond slightly.

  Haur jabbed a pain pen into Tenzen, emptying all three doses at once. He turned to Kepp.

  "He ain't gonna make it. We gotta get him some serious help."

  "Let's get him to the other side of the building, but we need that sniper taken care of," replied Kepp.

  Come on, yo
u fucking flyboy, come through for us prayed Kepp silently and fervently, as he and Haur walked along the wall, shouldering the injured Paragon between them.

  Ian felt the rush of elation at making a successful hit. But he was disappointed that the man was still alive, probably not for long though, given that he had been shot through the torso. Probably a punctured lung, or maybe a punctured heart, a punctured something at least, he thought with amusement.

  The elevator doors behind him opened, and Sergeant Wallam stumbled onto the platform, a rocket launcher grasped in his hands. He was bleeding severely from a head wound, and was not walking quite straight.