Hammer Town

by Selina Rosen

  Doc Pherson was a middle-aged man of average size and looks with loads of unruly white-gray hair. He presented himself in jeans and a flannel shirt with a white cotton doctor’s smock thrown over the top.

  He clicked his tongue as he looked at the x-rays, and Elantra walked over to look over his shoulder.

  “Well?” Conner asked impatiently.

  “The transmitter isn’t located in the wrist pin, it basically is the wrist pin. You won’t be able to knock it out with a laser probe without welding the wrist piece solid. The pin is going to have to be replaced,” Elantra answered.

  Doc Pherson stared at the young woman with squinted eyes. “Do you mind?”

  “Sorry,” she said with a shrug.

  “Well?” Conner asked Doc Pherson.

  “The building brat is right,” he said.

  “How complicated is that?”

  “If I had a replacement pin lying around we could fix it today. But it is invasive. About a two inch incision. Pull the muscles out of the way, remove the old pin and subsequently the transmitter, replace the new pin, put it back together. It’d take about an hour, an hour and a half if we run into any complications. Recovery time... Well, once the pin’s back in place, the wrist is as good as new, so all you’ll really have to deal with is the incision and the pain from the incision. Two, three days healing time, and you should be as good as new.”

  “How long is it going to take you to get a pin?”

  “A week if we’re lucky,” Doc Pherson said.

  “I’m running out of time, Doc. Couldn’t you substitute a piece of nail or something...”

  “Do you want to risk infection, Conner McVee?” Elantra protested.

  Doc Pherson walked over closer to Conner. “She a med student?”

  “Uh huh.”

  “She your partner?”

  “Yep.”

  “Then why does she call you Conner McVee?”

  “She says she likes the way it sounds,” Conner shrugged.

  Elantra stiffened, she was pretty sure that they were making fun of her. “Surely you’re not thinking of putting just any ole hunk of metal in her arm,” Elantra said.

  “Well, duh!” Doc Pherson said. He turned to face Elantra. “I’m a Constructionist, not a quack.” He focused his attention back on Conner. “We have an excellent jeweler here in town. He may be able to build what we need, but it won’t be titanium, it will have to be stainless which means the arm is not going to be able to take the sort of abuse it is now.”

  “It will still be stronger than bone. Sounds good to me,” Conner said. It didn’t sound good to Elantra, and she said so loud and long on the walk back to the house.

  Conner mostly ignored her. She was busy looking around seeing if anyone or anything looked out of place. The fact that they hadn’t been found by Tarent, Mishy, or Brakston Agency by now was nothing short of a miracle, and it would be just her rotten luck to get caught this close to getting away free and clear.

  When the arm was fixed she was going to take Elantra and move on. She had a cabin in AxeTown; they could live there. They could be happy there, and Elantra would never have to know that she had kidnapped her, that Conner had taken her to use in her battle against Tarent. She’d get a job as an agent in AxeTown, and they’d live happily ever after.

  “Have you heard a word I said to you, Conner McVee?” Elantra screamed right in her ear.

  Conner put an arm around Elantra and pulled her close. “No,” she answered truthfully.

  Elantra squirmed and pushed away from her. “You are the most infuriating, antagonistic person I have ever known. Go ahead, get gangrene, see if I care.” She tripled her pace to walk in front of Conner.

  Conner smiled at Elantra’s departing form. Elantra had passed her easily and without even breathing heavy. She was young, and she had gotten in shape quickly and without even being aware of it. Elantra was wonderful, full of life and full of passion, and she made Conner feel alive again.

  Conner frowned. If Elantra found out what she had done, she could lose her forever. Conner couldn’t deal with the prospect; she shook her head to clear her thoughts. The jeweler would make the pin. They would remove the transmitter, and she and Elantra and the damned cat would get out of there. They’d start a life far away from FreightCity, the agency, Mishy and Tarent. Maybe someday when they were old and gray and had spent a lifetime together she’d tell Elantra the truth, and maybe she never would.

  Elantra had almost reached the house. Conner ran to catch up with her, grabbed her and wouldn’t let her go.

  “Conner McVee,” Elantra struggled half-heartedly against Conner’s arms. “Let me go. I’m mad at you. I’m...”

  Conner kissed the back of Elantra’s neck, and Elantra shivered and stopped struggling.

  “That is really unfair,” Elantra said. Conner’s arms loosened, and Elantra turned to face her lover, wrapping her arms around her neck. “I’m trying to be mad at you.”

  “I love you, Lanny. Don’t forget that, never forget that.”

  “I don’t usually forget something unless I want to,” Elantra breathed back. “I don’t want you to take risks. I want you to have the operation done right...”

  “Lanny, it’ll be done right. Doc Pherson wouldn’t do anything experimental. I trust him, and you have to trust me.”

  “I do trust you, Conner McVee.”

  Mishy threw the binoculars down. “Is that how she avenges my sister’s death!” He all but screamed. “By screwing around with Tarent Powers’ daughter. Is this how she remembers Peggy? I’ll fucking kill her and the girl. I’ll make her watch while I kill the girl and then I’ll kill her.”

  “We gonna kill ‘em now and go home?” Tank asked. He’d never been out of the city before, and all this nature was creeping him out. They were perched on a dirt road about two hundred feet up a hill from Conner’s cabin.

  Are you kidding, you giant cockroach? Conner McVee is a walking arsenal. If we get any damn closer she’s going to see, hear, or feel us. We intercepted some audio signals. Conner is having some sort of surgery on one of her implants soon. After the surgery she’ll be dopey, drugged out. We’ll make our move then.”

  Mishy didn’t like the woods any more than his men, but he wanted to be in on the kill, and unlike this walking bag of muscle and bone, Mishy knew just what Hammer was capable of. There was no sense taking chances, not when Hammer herself was giving them the perfect window of opportunity.

  Tarent’s screen buzzed to life, and Little Jimmy stared back.

  “Well, don’t just sit there like an idiot!” Tarent screamed. “Do you have something or not?”

  “We followed Mishy and his boys to a Constructionist colony called WrenchTown. About forty-five miles out of town the transmitter started to buzz. Mishy is staking out a house here. According to the tracer she’s there.”

  “Can you see Hammer McVee? Is Elantra with her?”

  Little Jimmy looked over at Big Bobby. Big Bobby was looking through the binoculars trying to see through all the nature. He saw them and he pulled the binoculars quickly away from his eyes as if he’d been burned. “Christ almighty!” he screamed.

  “What’s with him?” Tarent ordered.

  “Miss Elantra’s there all right,” Big Bobby choked out. “She’s in bed with Hammer McVee.”

  “What!” Tarent screamed. “Maybe they’re just sharing a bed.”

  Big Bobby looked back through the binoculars. He looked over at Little Jimmy, grinned broadly and shook his head no, then put the binoculars back to his eyes.

  “Well?” Tarent screamed. Big Bobby didn’t answer.

  “Well?” Little Jimmy asked, slapping Bobby.

  Bobby lowered the binoculars reluctantly. He smiled at Jimmy. “Well, they ain’t sleepin’.”

  “Are they at least using a screen?” Tarent demanded.

  “Oh, hell no,” Bobby said excitedly.

  “Damn it to hell!” Tarent screamed. “Kill her. Kill Conner McVee
and bring my daughter back here. We’ll have Elantra reprogrammed. You kill Conner McVee and get my daughter back before she can be corrupted any further by those stinking religious fanatics.”

  “How?” Little Jimmy asked.

  “I don’t know how, just do it!” Tarent ordered. “Close transmission.” He was gone. Big Bobby put the binoculars back to his eyes, but Little Jimmy slapped him and took them away. He looked through them.

  “It looks to me like the boss’s little girl is pretty much into pussy.” He laughed.

  “Re-program my ass,” Big Bobby snorted. “So... how we going to take the bitch out and bring the boss’s little dyke home?”

  “Mishy ain’t movin’ in for the kill, which means he’s waiting for something. I say we find out what. Let Mishy’s goons get Hammer busy, and then we’ll grab Elantra.”

  “If we wait for Mishy to make his move, the girl might get killed.”

  “So, we tell the boss we did everything we could. Everything we’ve learned about McVee over the last few weeks... I’d rather deal with the boss than the cyborg.”

  Chapter 10

  The phone rang as Conner was towel drying her hair.

  “Hello,” she said, raising the receiver to her mouth.

  “Conner, the pin is finished, do you want to wait till morning?”

  “Is there any reason you can’t do it now?” Conner asked. Elantra came in wearing a towel and draped herself on Conner, resting her head on Conner’s chest. “If you’re too tired or something I understand, but the sooner I can get this over with the better. I need to leave town like yesterday.”

  “I don’t have any help right now, my nurse and my partner are both home sick with some sort of bug, but if your woman can help me...”

  “She can,” Conner said quickly. “We’ll be there in ten.”

  “I’ll get the surgery ready,” Dr. Pherson said.

  “He’s ready to do the surgery?” Elantra asked.

  “Uh huh,” Conner said pushing her gently away. “Come on, get dressed.”

  Conner started towards the bedroom and Elantra grabbed her hand. Conner turned to look at her. “Conner McVee, I... I love you.”

  Conner smiled bent down and kissed her on her forehead. “I’m not going to die, Elantra.”

  “I know that. I just... it’s just I… Just now, in the shower. I knew. I knew I loved you.”

  Conner kissed her gently on the lips. “And I love you, so quit stalling. Get dressed so we can get this damn thing out of my arm, then all our problems will be solved.”

  They started to get in the car, but Conner suddenly whipped the patch off her eye and did a scan.

  “What’s wrong?” Elantra asked.

  “Shssh!” Conner ordered. She listened, but she didn’t see or hear anything that shouldn’t have been there, still she felt something. “Damn sensitivity implant, useless piece of crap! I never know how much of what I’m feeling is my own intuition and paranoia and how much is the machine. Come on, let’s get this over with.”

  They got in the car. Conner put her patch in her pocket instead of putting it on, and Elantra knew her fears were not completely gone. “We’ll leave town in the morning as soon as I’ve slept off the dope.”

  “You shouldn’t drive...”

  “We’re leaving in the morning, Elantra.” Conner told her.

  “But I like it here, I...”

  “We can’t stay. We’ll come back. I promise.”

  Elantra nodded silently.

  Doc Pherson was waiting for them. He looked at Elantra. “Scrub in,” he ordered.

  “But I’ve never worked on a real human, only virtual patients...”

  Pherson looked at Conner impatiently. “Not only did you not ask her, you didn’t even bother to tell her. I swear, McVee, I don’t know how you always manage to have such beautiful, intelligent women around you.”

  “I give great head,” Conner said with a smile.

  Elantra slapped at her shoulder. “You’re rude and arrogant.”

  “That was sort of my point,” Pherson said with a laugh, then added on a more serious note. “I need you to scrub in and assist me. Can you do that?”

  Elantra looked at Conner. “I can’t.”

  “Yes you can,” Conner said gently.

  She looked at Pherson and said again. “But I’ve never worked on a person before.”

  “Well, there’s a first time for everything. Don’t worry, you’ll just be assisting, and I’ll walk you through it.”

  “But I know very little about your primitive implements.”

  “Then now is a good time to learn. After all, we’re only replacing a wrist pin not doing brain surgery.”

  Elantra nodded and scrubbed in the way he told her. “This is not a sterile environment...” she started to protest.

  “Sterile enough, my girl. No environment is completely sterile, I don’t care what they say.”

  Elantra looked at Conner, a look of pure panic on her face.

  “It’ll be fine, Elantra. You will be wonderful. If it helps, pretend like it’s not your favorite hand,” Conner said with a wicked grin.

  “It’s not funny, Conner,” Elantra said hotly.

  “It’s just my arm, Lanny, I won’t even be out.”

  “Oh yes, yes you will,” Doc Pherson said. He nodded, and an anaesthetist walked into the room. Conner looked at him and shook her head no. The man looked at Pherson, who nodded his head yes, and the man started to put a mask over Conner’s face. She protested and waved it away.

  “A local...” Conner started.

  “No way, Hammer. People do weird shit when you’re cutting on them. I need you perfectly still. And to be quite honest, with all the hardware you’ve got in you, I’m afraid if you freak out you might accidentally rip my arm off. This is a very delicate operation, I need your ass gassed.”

  “But...”

  “No buts, Hammer. It’s my way or the highway. Don’t worry. The Contractor made sure you’d be safe.”

  The mask went on, and Conner went out.

  “Now?” Tank asked Mishy as they watched the clinic.

  “No,” Mishy said looking through the binoculars.

  “But, boss... during surgery...”

  Mishy interrupted him, pushing the binoculars into his hand. “Have a look.” Tank lifted the binoculars to his eyes. “See all those people just hanging around down there?”

  “Yeah,” Tank answered.

  “See anything funny about them?” Mishy asked.

  Tank looked close, then answered in a shocked tone. “They’re all packing heat.”

  “Yeah.” Mishy took the binoculars and thumped Tank on the back of his head with his fist. “I told you. McVee is like a hero to these Constructionist dorks. She’s not stupid. She knows she’s in trouble, and she’s got them protecting her while she’s at her most vulnerable. We’ll just have to wait.”

  The operation only took forty-five minutes from start to finish, but Elantra learned more about medicine in those few minutes than she had learned in six years of virtual school. She was surprised by the man’s knowledge, his skill, and his patience with her. She hardly breathed until the incision was closed, glued, and dressed. She collapsed onto the nearest chair, and Doc Pherson laughed at her.

  “You did OK for a building brat,” he said.

  “Thanks. I think. Is she going to be all right?”

  “She’ll be fine. She’ll wake up in a little while. We’ll give her a couple of pain killers and ship her ass home.” He paused, throwing his latex gloves in the trash. “So are you going to become one of us?” he asked curiously.

  “A Constructionist?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I don’t know. I don’t know what I want anymore. These last few weeks... Well, let’s just say they have been rather enlightening. I know I love Conner McVee. I know I want to spend the rest of my life with her. If I have to become a Constructionist to do that, I guess I can handle that, too. I mean – if I
can get used to the sort of bathrooms you people use, I guess I can handle just about anything else you can throw at me.”

  “Good, then we’ll do a little ovum splicing and make an heir for Hammer McVee.”

  “Then again I could be wrong,” Elantra said pulling a face. “Conner told me you people carry your own young. That’s barbaric! I’m not having any infant attaching itself to my insides and pushing my body out of shape until it’s ready to claw it’s way out of me. Let Conner do that if that’s what she wants.”

  “She can’t,” Pherson said. “Too many implants. Bones give, but metal doesn’t.”

  “Wait a minute... Ovum splicing is unnatural, high tech. I thought you people were dead set against our evil technology.”

  “We are only against technology when it stifles creation. Using technology to allow Hammer McVee to reproduce would bring blessings upon me. Each couple should have at least two children, to replace them when they are gone. One person to replace another, if at all possible. No more and no less.” He finished cleaning up. “Knowledge is a tool, Elantra. No tool is evil. Technology is only bad because people misuse and overuse it.”

  “Why is everyone so hot for Conner McVee to procreate?”

  Doc Pherson laughed. “Because she is the only living hero of our history. If she leaves with no heir, who will replace her? Could any but her own child be as brave or daring as she? So... Now you answer a question for me. Why is it that Conner had to have this implant out so badly? The Contractor wouldn’t tell me.”

  Elantra could think of no good reason not to tell him. “There is this gangster... Mishy, he’s trying to kill me and Conner McVee.”

  “Mishy’s trying to kill Hammer McVee? That doesn’t make any sense. Why is he trying to kill you?”

  “He thinks my father killed his family.”

  Pherson looked visibly shaken then. “You’re Tarent Powers’ daughter.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement of fact.

  “Yes. He hired Conner to protect me,” Elantra said.

  “Hammer McVee is working for Tarent Powers!” he exclaimed, seeming completely confused.

  Elantra would have liked to know why the man seemed so incredibly uncomfortable about who she was. She didn’t get to find out because Conner picked that moment to start coming out of the anaesthesia. Elantra moved to stand beside her.