by John Ringo
Wendy turned and let out a shout as she pulled her MP-5 to the front.
“NO!” Elgars yelled, ripping the submachine gun from her hands. “This whole place would go up!”
“Eat nitrogen, asshole!” Shari shouted, firing a stream of the cryogenic liquid at the catwalk and the Posleen.
The normal paused to look at the liquid flying in a foaming arch. It seemed confused as to why the thresh would spray white liquid all over the walkway. But as the catwalk began to shatter from tension and brittleness the Posleen let loose a stream of railgun rounds then fell screaming into the ammonia tank.
“Oh crap,” Wendy said, getting up from having thrown herself on the floor. “Ah, hell, Shari.”
Shari was lying on her back, hands clamped over her stomach, with blood pouring through the catwalk and onto the floor below.
Wendy walked over and rolled her onto her stomach, exposing the massive exit wound of the railgun round.
“Aaaahhh,” the older woman yelled in pain. “Oh, God! Wendy, I can’t feel anything from my waist down.”
“That’s because it went right through your spine,” Wendy said sadly. She put a pressure bandage in place and waved for Elgars to come over. “Put your hand on that.”
“We need to leave,” Elgars said, putting pressure on the bandage.
“Yep,” Wendy answered. “And we will, in just a moment.” She ripped open a Hiberzine injector and applied it to Shari’s neck.
“What’s that?”
“Hiberzine,” Wendy said. “I can’t move you awake like this.”
“I don’t want to be out,” Shari panted. “The kids need me.”
“Not with a great damned hole through you they don’t,” Elgars replied. “You’re not going to be doing them any favors screaming every time we move you.”
“We’re nearly to the elevator,” Wendy said desperately. “We can get you out; getting you up to the surface won’t be that hard.”
“Oh, God,” Shari said, her lips turning blue and going cold. “I can’t die now.”
“You won’t,” Wendy promised. She jammed the Hiberzine injector against her neck and watched as the woman went limp. Her color improved almost immediately as the nannites directed blood to the brain. In moments her face was flushed and her tongue protruded horribly.
“Okay, let’s go,” Elgars said.
“Fuck that,” Wendy answered. “We need to find a medical facility and a stretcher.” She pulled out the medical pack and withdrew some clamps. “If I can put her together even a bit the Hiberzine will keep her from bleeding out while we move her.”
“We can’t operate on her!” Elgars snapped. “We have six hours to get out of this place or we’ll all be jelly. We have to leave.”
“WE ARE NOT LEAVING HER!” Wendy screamed coming to her feet and putting herself nose to nose with the soldier. “NOT! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?”
Elgars met her stare for stare, but after a moment she backed off. “Most of the Class One facilities are where there are people. And there’s not much we can do, unless you’ve been taking night courses as a trauma internist.”
“We can stabilize her,” Wendy said, waving at the console. “Go find a medical facility, one that won’t have the Posleen all over it.”
“This is impossible,” Elgars said, shaking her head. But she keyed in the information request anyway, asking for the nearest full-scale medical facility. Strangely, the database asked her for her username and password. Keying both in, it noted that there was a Class One Plus facility only three quadrants away. The map showed it as being carved out of the wall of the main sector.
“There’s a facility practically next door,” Elgars said. “That door that didn’t appear on the map you downloaded? It’s the way into the facility.”
“Well, then we’re fucked,” Wendy cursed. “We can’t open it.”
“Let’s go back,” Elgars said. “Maybe I can come up with something.”
“What?” Wendy asked.
“I don’t know,” the captain said. “I’ll say ‘open sesame’ or something.”
“Fine, you go get the kids,” Wendy said. “I’ll start dragging her.”
“Great,” Elgars said. “Send me after the kids.”
“They’d argue with me,” Wendy pointed out heaving Shari up into a fireman’s carry. “Oof. You’ll be there before me, I think.”
* * *
Elgars placed her palm on the doorpad as Wendy carried Shari through the door to the tank room. As soon as she placed her hand on the pad, the door opened.
“What did you do?” Wendy asked. She was sweating and panting already carrying the older woman; it had been a long day.
“I just put my palm on the pad,” Elgars said with a shrug. “I’m military; maybe it was designed to open for any military personnel.”
The far room had lockers against both walls and the far door appeared to be an airlock.
“You did ask for a medical facility, right?” Wendy asked, shifting the body on her shoulders. She looked around, but it looked more like the entry to a computer chip clean room.
“Yes,” Elgars said leading the line of children to the far door. It, too, opened at a touch. “It’s supposed to be this way. The map showed a winding path; we’ll have to see what that means.”
The group crowded into the airlock and Elgars keyed the next door, which opened into violet darkness.
The light from the airlock illuminated the far wall and Elgars felt an almost unholy dread shiver down her spine. The wall was clearly a made thing, but it looked organic and the tunnel drifted off to the right in a fashion that made her think, uncomfortably, of the inside of an intestine.
A purple intestine at that; the light that seemed to emanate from the walls was a deep violet. In the distance was a gurgling sound, not quite like a brook or a fountain, but more like an upset stomach and closer to hand there were high, shrill whistles. The smell was odd and alien, and acrid sweetness that told hindbrain that it was no longer in a human environment.
“Well, this is odd,” Wendy said.
* * *
Elgars hefted her rifle and looked around the violet tunnel. “I don’t like this. I don’t like it at all.” She was panting quietly.
Wendy shifted the inert lump of Shari on her shoulder and shrugged as well as she could. “I don’t care if you like it or not; there’s supposed to be a trauma facility in here and we’re going to find it.”
“Where’s an info terminal?” Elgars asked rhetorically.
“Do you need information, Captain Elgars?” a mellifluous voice asked out of the walls.
Elgars pried one of the children’s hands off of her uniform and looked around. “Who asked?”
“This is the facility AID, Captain,” the voice answered. “Do you require assistance?”
“We have a patient,” Wendy answered. “We need a medical facility.”
There was no answer.
Elgars looked at Wendy and shrugged. “We have a patient, we need a medical facility,” she repeated.
“Follow the sprite,” the AID answered. One of the blue glowing micrites appeared and bounced in the air. “It will lead you to the facility.”
The group followed the sprite as it went through a series of turns. The shrill piping and gurgling in the distance never seemed to go away or even change and, but the light would brighten in the areas through which they walked, getting dimmer as they passed.
There were occasional low, mostly empty rooms to either side of the passageway. In a few there were low stools or cushions that looked amazingly like toadstools and one had a low bench and table set that could have been for children. There were many puckered spots that could have been openings to additional chambers or simply odd architecture.
Finally they came to a room that was somewhat higher than most. In the center was a small dais with what looked like a glass-covered altar on it.
“Please place the patient in the chamber,” the AID chimed in as the sp
rite flickered out and flew away. The top to the chamber seemed to disappear rather than receding or even folding away as memory plastic would have.
“What is this going to do to her?” Wendy asked.
“AID, could you answer that question, please?” Elgars said impatiently. “And future questions from that person that are permitted.”
“The nanochamber will repair the subject,” the AID answered. “The choices are repair, repair and rejuv or full upgrade.”
Wendy slowly lowered Shari onto the altar and shivered uncomfortably. “Computer, what is the nature of ‘full upgrade’?” she asked.
“The patient will be given nano-enhanced musculature, fast-heal and bone-structure,” the AID answered emotionlessly. “Along with implanted combat skills.”
“Oh, shit,” Elgars said. “Computer, what is the nature of my access to this facility? Is it because I’m a military officer?”
“No, Captain,” the AID answered. “You are an ongoing patient.”
“Oh, Jesus Christ,” Wendy said bitterly. “How long does repair take, computer?”
“Repair will take approximately ten minutes for the damage that is detected. Full upgrade will take approximately fifteen.”
“Son-of-a-bitch, son-of-a-bitch, son-of-a-bitch,” Wendy muttered. “SON OF A BITCH!”
“It’s been here the whole time,” Elgars said bitterly.
“They could have repaired David any time they wanted to.”
“Or rejuved any of the old people.”
“ ‘It would take months in the regen tanks to fix,’ ” Wendy quoted bitterly. “The question is whether Shari wants somebody else’s memories.”
“Improvements have been emplaced in the system since the experiments on Captain Elgars,” the computer burbled happily. “Secondary memory and personality effects have been severely decreased. In addition, it was necessary to implant a full personality core in Captain Elgars due to complete loss of original function.”
“Say that again in English,” Elgars snapped.
“Anne Elgars no longer existed; she was dead,” the computer said. “Due to extensive brain damage it was necessary to dump all but hindbrain functions and reload a complete personality core. This patient has not suffered significant neurological damage.”
“Oh, shit,” Elgars said quietly, sitting down on the floor. “Who was it?”
“That information is not available to this facility,” the computer answered. “Some personality cores were brought to Earth by !Tchpth!, others were collected on Earth.”
“Computer,” Wendy said. “Full upgrade.”
“That command needs to come from Captain Elgars,” the computer said.
“Concur,” Elgars whispered. “Do it.” At her words the top closed and went opaque, obscuring the view of the badly damaged woman.
“Annie,” Wendy said, sitting down and putting her arm around her. “Don’t take it so hard. They saved you. That’s all that matters.”
“Whoever ‘me’ is,” Elgars said. “The fuckers. They wouldn’t even tell my doctors. No wonder they thought I was nuts; I am.”
“Of course they didn’t explain it to your doctors,” Wendy said archly. “They would have had to explain this facility. And you’re not nuts, we’ve all got multiple ‘people’ running around inside of us. We just show different ones at different times.”
“Sure, but that’s just a way of saying it,” Elgars said. “I’m really multiple people. Like… Frankenstein, but in the head. A patchwork girl.”
“That’s not the way it appears to me,” Wendy argued. “You seem to… manifest a few of the personalities then they go away. You hardly ever have an accent anymore. And that probably explains your speech impediment; you couldn’t decide which accent was ‘you.’ Lately you seem more… whole. I think you’re going to end up okay. Just… Anne Elgars. But…” she snorted. “But ‘upgraded.’ ”
“I thought I was naturally strong,” the officer said, flexing a muscle. “And all this time it’s nannites.”
“And working out,” Wendy corrected. “I imagine it gives you a… a sort of a stronger baseline. You have to improve it from there.”
Wendy looked over at the group of children and shook her head. “We’re gonna get out of here, kids. All of us.”
“Is Mommy going to be okay?” Kelly asked tearfully. The children had been following in near silence since having a rather severe talking-to at the hands of Elgars.
“According to the computer she should be as good as new,” Wendy said, taking her up on her lap and hugging her. “Better, she’s probably going to start looking younger.”
“Can it do that?” Shannon asked, shifting Amber’s carrier. The ten-year-old had been keeping up like a trooper, but she was obviously flagging.
“According to the computer,” Elgars said, pulling the backpack off of the girl and setting the baby on the floor. “We’ll just have to see. Speaking of which — computer, are you smart enough to know that we’re invaded by Posleen?”
“Yes,” the AID said.
“Are there any in this facility?”
“Negative; the closest are in the Hydroponics section.”
“Lemme know if that changes, okay?”
“Hey, computer,” Wendy said. “Where’d all the techs go?”
“Clarify, please,” the computer said.
“Well,” Wendy said looking around. “I didn’t see any Crabs or Indowy running around. And most of the gear in here is theirs. So where did they go?”
“The primary entrance to this facility is separate from the Sub-Urb,” the AID answered, flashing a hologram up in the room. “The exit is on the southeastern face of Pendergrass Mountain.”
“And there’s a back way out,” Wendy snarled. “If I ever find out who set this up and kept it secret I will rip their heart out and eat it while they watch.”
“Well, that’s a bit excessive,” Elgars said. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to just kill them?”
“No, I don’t want anybody to fuck us over like this again,” Wendy said. “God, I’m mad.”
“At what?” Shari said sitting up.
The top had disappeared again so soundlessly that no one had noticed. Except Billy who was sitting up with an amazed expression on his face.
“Mo… Mommy?” he croaked.
“Billy,” Shari said. “You talked!”
“Y… ” The boy swallowed and cleared his throat. “Yo… you’re young.”
Shari looked as she must have when she was in high school. Her hair had actually lengthened slightly, as if time had been dilated inside the shell, and was a brilliant white-blonde. Her breasts were large, high and firm and any sign of an age blemish or wrinkle was gone as if it had never existed. She looked down at the bandages still on her clothes and shook her head.
“Even the bloodstains are gone,” she whispered.
“It didn’t fix the hole in your shirt,” Wendy replied, looking at the tear and fingering the skin underneath. “There’s not even a scar, though. How do you feel?”
“Fine,” Shari said looking at her hands in wonder. “Good. Better than I’ve felt in years. Strong. What in the hell happened?”
“This is apparently the facility that repaired me,” Elgars answered. “We thought you might prefer the full upgrade. Among other things it included a rejuv.”
“Wow,” Shari said, looking at the fineness of her skin. “Mike is going to…” She suddenly stopped and grimaced. “I guess not.” For just a moment her eyes teared up.
“Hey, he’s tough,” Wendy said. “We’ll head out to the northwest; we should be able to get around the Posleen that way. When we get someplace safe we’ll check on them in the refugee database.”
“If we can get out of here,” Shari said pensively.
“It turns out there’s a back door,” Elgars said dryly. “Just another little item whoever built this facility failed to mention to the rest of the Urb.”
“We can go directly to Pendergra
ss Mountain,” Wendy said with a nod. “No waiting.”
“Then let’s go,” Shari said, standing up and pulling off the bandages.
Wendy suddenly looked at the altar with a speculative air. “AID, how long until the first Posleen gets close to here?”
“There are Posleen in the Hydroponics area. Due to the chaotic nature of Posleen movement, precise timelines for their movement to this area are impossible to generate.”
“Hmm,” she said. “Do you think there is enough time for a full upgrade?”
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Shari asked.
“You hearing voices in your head?” Wendy asked. She took Shari’s Steyr and tossed it to her. “Catch.”
Shari caught it and jacked the chamber to see if there was a round in place. Then she flipped it on safe and held it barrel to the floor in a tac-team carry position. “What does that prove?”
“Look at how you’re holding it,” Wendy said with a grin. “Say ‘fire.’ ”
“Why?” Shari asked warily, looking at how she was holding the weapon. It looked odd but… it felt right.
“Just say it,” Wendy said.
“Fire.”
“See,” Wendy said with a grin. “Not a trace of an accent. They fixed the bugs testing it on Elgars.”
“Color me guinea-pig,” the captain said sourly.
“So, computer,” Wendy said. “Do I have time?”
“Unknown. And when Posleen breach the outer door, my orders are to shut this facility down with prejudice,” the AID said. “I will then require that you leave.”
“What happens if I’m in the chamber when that time comes?” Wendy asked.
“You don’t want to be,” the AID replied.
She looked at the other two women. “It’s probably the only chance I’ll ever get for a rejuv. If it’s not eternal life, it’s a close equivalent.”
Shari sighed. “Go for it.”
“Computer,” Elgars said. “Please do a full upgrade on this patient.”
“Very well,” it said, opening the cover. “Get on the slab.”
