I turned and looked out the window. The dusk was turning into night. The thin, long lines of upper and mid-level traffic moved steadily across the sky, the millions of city lights twinkling in the shimmer of the atmosphere. Everything from the luxurious Skypad Hotel seemed so calm before the eruption that would happen tomorrow. Only I and a few others knew what would come bursting through the fabric of society, changing it forever. I was used to going to the moon or Mars or some other place “out there”. Now the bastards were bringing it to my doorstep. That wouldn't do.
I spent some time with Jonah especially, showing him my new gadget which excited him to no end. But Pam eventually put the children to bed and went to bed herself.
“Don't stay up too late,” she said. I nodded and spent a few minutes alone at the window, looking out as the sun sank down. I looked over the holo-vid maps and files again one last time, nearly memorizing them. I shut the computer down and put it away and alerted the bodyguards to take my family to Ellen Vartan's secret lab if anything should happen to me.
I felt good about our plan. It seemed simple enough. And I was going to be nearly invisible this time. What could go wrong?
10
Thursday, October 31, 2154.
Diamond, Chip and I made our way to the convention center. It was the morning of the first day of the convention. Police and security forces were crawling all over the place, numerous protesters were being arrested and those not arrested had been forced to move further away from the center. It seemed that the protesters were finally losing the PR media battle. There was now a blackout on all protest activity when one turned on any major local or national news feed but they were making a big enough distraction at the site that all eyes at the convention center were on them. While security forces were being used to keep them under control there was more attention being focused outward. Or that was our hope.
There were nearly one hundred thousand protesters out there. Down from about one hundred seventy-five thousand.
We were escorted by taxi to the back of the convention center with all the other important attendees.
“Ready for this?” I asked. Diamond glanced at me.
“I'm ready for anything.”
“How about you, Will?” Will was sporting a brand new face. It was the same friendly, boyish looking face but no ugly seams or old, throwaway, discolored plasti-flesh skin grafts and parts. He looked completely human like the rest of us and as always had that innocent look of wonder on his face as he took everything in.
“Ready as I'll ever be.”
”Looks like you got a makeover, Will. It looks good on you!” Will just beamed.
“If you pick up on anything out there that you can recognize as communication, let Chip know immediately.”
“Ay, captain!”
“It's probably best if we don't all enter together,” I said.
Diamond left the taxi first and disappeared into the center. Followed by Chip and Will who made their way towards the front of the convention center to observe the drama there. They would eventually go to an upper floor to watch. I got out, paid the fare and pulled my jacket closer about me. A brisk wind was whipping through the air.
I went inside and sauntered over by a concession stand to get a soda. I bought one and took a few sips and surveyed which restroom was closest to the tube lift I needed. I spotted it, watched how busy it was; compared to the one by the main lobby doors it seemed fairly empty, and threw away the soda in a trash compacter which thanked me for it and made my way to the chosen restroom. I saw Diamond clear on the other side of the lobby in line to get into the main auditorium. I could feel the gate's low, powerful humming, like the fearful rumbling of a waking beast. I could feel it even in my feet bones. There was a different frequency about the sound that I was picking up. The gate was on and working but not ready to receive cargo. My heart puckered with fear. Focus!
I went straight to the restroom, my ghosting shield already strapped about me under my clothes. My com-link. earpiece beeped and then I heard the ping chime. Diamond's voice came in. Diamond had made the connection. I could hear the voices of the crowds around him. He was now in the main auditorium and climbing the stairs to a row of balcony seats.
“Bob if you can hear me, answer. If you can't answer then don't worry. I'll let you know what I can see.”
“I can hear you.”
“Good. The gate looks like it's on but not powered up, if that means anything.”
“So far, so good.” Chip then pinged in.
“Bob, this is Chip. Can you hear me?”
“I can.”
“Alright. A lot of people are being arrested and the police are using tear gas. More protesters just showed up a few minutes ago. Fighting has increased as these new protestors are trying to get close to the center. Police are now barricading the convention center.”
“Barricading?”
“Yes. We've had to move to a pub in the Column where I can continue to see what's happening below. I'll let you know if anything changes. By the way, Will is picking up some faint communications from outside the area.”
“They're not coming from inside the center?”
“No, but they are being sent to the center. They are on a different frequency,” he said this softly.
“Tell Will to record these communications as he picks them up if he's able to do that.”
“Will do.”
I heard the door open. I quickly went behind a stall, turned on my shield and watched as the air and space around me seemed to shimmer and sway as it was activated. Several men had entered the restroom, completely ignorant of my presence. I went for the exit door and turned the corner, down toward the lift that would take me to the Lissler Room. It was an astonishing feeling to see my own self-disappear from sight. The bright lights in the lobby and the restroom could dampen the effect of the shield and I was in a hurry to get to a corner or a dimmer hallway or corridor. If one was paying close attention they might glimpse my image which would look like a piece of glass in sunlight. So I wasn't one hundred percent invisible but it was damned good enough! Darkman had warned me that certain kinds of light and certain frequencies could disrupt the shield. As long as I didn't remain under the bright lights for too long I saw no reason to fear that.
Security officers were milling around and down the corridor I needed to get through, as I had expected. Carefully, I slipped in through this crowd, keeping to the wall, listening to their communications. They were filled with both concerns and messages from the melee outside, concerned with keeping troublemakers away from the auditorium and especially the Lissler Room under it. I spotted the lift that I needed. This particular lift was closed to everyone but security and police. I wondered where Darkman was, adjusting my com-link. earpiece so that I could hear better. I looked up and caught one of the guards frowning, staring in my direction. Then his eyes scanned the corridor behind me. Someone called his attention away and he turned from whatever it was he thought he saw. I broke out in a slight sweat. Moving too suddenly in someone's presence would also reveal my position. I made a mental note to move carefully around people. Most people might think they saw a ghostly apparition of imagination, a fleeting image and think nothing of it. However, police and anyone else working in security might think differently. I continued toward the lift door, moving slowly and deliberately, stopping whenever someone looked in my direction, and finally slipped by all of them to reach the tube lift. I pinged Diamond.
“Diamond,” I whispered, hoping he could hear me and hoping the officers couldn't. I was about ten feet away from them.
“I hear you. What's up?”
“I'm almost in.” And so it goes. Now, how to get into the tube lift without causing alarm. As if to answer my whim the tube lift doors opened and two technicians came out. I slipped in right as they came out the door and tried to indicate my destination on the console by touching it. Nothing happened. Then the Virtual Voice came on.
“Please do not touch
the console! The tube lift is programmed to go to Level Underground 1, only!” It warned sharply. The two technicians and a security guard immediately looked back toward the tube lift, perplexed. The security officer entered the lift, looking around.
“What was that? What's going on?” Said the first technician.
“I don't know. One of us probably bumped it on the way out. This thing's been sensitive all day,” said the second one. Standing under the lights of the lift car was making me nervous. I shifted quickly away from the middle of the car to get beside the panel and away from the eye view of everyone standing in front of the car. I was sweating.
“What? Wasn't there something. . .something weird is going on around here!” I heard one of them say. Oh no! I thought. The doors started to close. I crouched down to the floor. The security officer came back and forced the doors open again. He gave the lift car one last sweep, frowning and looking around carefully. I was crouching below his line of sight. Seeing nothing he shrugged and then finally, let the doors close. I let out a huge sigh of relief as the car traveled down.
The doors opened and I stepped out into the dimmed room. Several security mechs were silently moving along the front of the great structure. I moved slowly toward the pit where the bottom of the gate was lodged. Suddenly, I heard Diamond's voice in my ear. He sounded alarmed.
“Bob, I don't know if you can still hear me but you're going to have company soon! I just glimpsed Darkman on his way out of the main auditorium. He told me there's another loyalist agent around here who he thinks is cloaked. You're not the only one!” Then Diamond cut his connection.
Right, I thought worriedly. I moved quietly into the pit, getting between its thick cables and watching the plasma run silently through each cable like luridly colored river currents. I stopped as a small recorder mech came and hovering some feet above me, its light beam spreading out, searching the pit area of the gate. I heard a voice from a transmitter attached to it.
“Would you check the Lissler Room? Make sure everything is secure down there.”
“Everything is secure down there. We've got mechs swarming the room.”
“I know but just do it again. Or have the probe-bot sweep over it again just to make sure. I've got a weird feeling about this. I got a message from dispatch earlier telling me that the new drones aren't performing the way they should be.”
“Did they say it's a software bug? I told Fiske they weren't ready to be used yet.”
“I don't know. There was a strange incident in the corridor. And the lift. Can't prove anything but just do it again.”
“Alright.”
Hot damn! I may not be easy to detect by mortal eyes but my presence might still be detected by certain high-security mechs through body temperature. And security guards smarter than the average bear. Just as I'd thought, the little owl-like mech came closer, scanning the area I was standing in again as if it might have picked up some type of life sign. Suddenly, there was a soft pop and the mech's lights faded out and it fell like a stone to the floor.
“Hurry up and get it done! We don't have much time!” came the furious, disembodied whisper of Darkman. He came into view suddenly as he admonished me and then went back out of view. I glimpsed the silencing compressor that took the mech out. Then I saw the mech disintegrate in seconds.
“Was that necessary?” I whispered.
“Hide the fallen mechs or destroy them. When it fails to communicate with the other security mechs in its unit someone's going to come looking for it!” He warned. Then he disappeared over the rim of the pit.
I got another message from Diamond. The gate was about to be turned on and the keynote address speech was in progress.
I kicked the ash underneath a nest of fluid cables and got to work. Sidling up to the very column I was looking for I pulled on it gently, then harder. I felt and heard a sudden change in the machine. It was gearing up for activity. I saw what looked like an infinite black vortex above me. Slight winds began to stir. I took out my tools. I needed to cut two plain cords and then one with the pink colored plasma fluid. I set to work with my cutter, turning it on and slowly sliced through the first coil. I then slipped over to the second and began slicing through that one. Finished with the second one, I moved toward the dangerous one filled with plasma. I would have to move quickly out of the way once that one was cut. I saw or thought I saw movement in the pit with me. A security officer came into the room and moved toward the pit. I quickly hid the cut cord under a bundle of other cords and stood still as he moved around the pit with a flashlight, walking around the perimeter, peering at the gate columns and cords. He checked the perimeter of the room itself and satisfied that nothing seemed amiss, he contacted another officer.
“I've made another sweep of the room. Everything looks fine down here.”
“Good. The stargate is about to be activated. We need everyone upstairs.” With that, he left and I continued my work. I was so intent on what I was doing that I hadn't realized that something else had slipped into the Lissler Room a few minutes after the security guard had left. But I felt a weird presence that made me shudder involuntarily and I turned around only to find that another man had entered the room. I froze.
It wasn't Darkman this time nor was it a security guard. He climbed down into the pit under the gate with me, his eyes keenly searching. His blaster was poised to shoot and he was staring in my general direction. His eyes followed the cut cords there and his face transformed into a look of horror and then anger. He looked human but my senses said otherwise. He began sniffing around, moving in an ever closer circle toward me like a hound. He moved his face in an awkward way as if he had far more joints in his neck than his human body suggested. His eyes were shining as bright as moons as if he were a deep water creature peering into darkness looking for prey. He said something that sounded threatening in Hanga. He couldn't see me but he knew I was there.
With effort I cut the plasma cord and swung it toward him, putting him off balance. He lunged forward and I, a fraction of a second too late, tried to duck. He toppled over me and raised his arm to shoot. I hurled the cutter, swinging it at his face, cutting a large gash in his cheek. A thin arc of blood sprayed against the cords. He toppled over and off me and I scrambled to my feet. I still had one more cord to cut. He lunged again, this time catching sight of me. I kicked him hard in the groin. He grunted but this did not stop him. I turned and leaped toward the last plasma coil, clinging to it. Columns of plasma fluid and gas escaped and filled the floor with a ghostly mist as I swung hand over hand under the tangle of mechanical curves and rods between the columns, swinging my way toward the plasma coil. The wind tunnel of the gate was making a soft, ominous sound, like a slow heart beat. I could feel the cold coming from it like a living entity filling the room. He was struggling to get to me when reaching for the last coil I realized that I'd dropped my cutter. Then, the very thing I dreaded was now going to have to take place in order to stop the gate from functioning temporarily until I could get to the auditorium with the key. I took out my blaster and seared the last coil open.
Two things happened. My attacker had just jumped on my back when I shot it open and as I fell under his weight the plasma and other gases spilled out and escaped and the force of it coming out of the tubing coil sprayed his face. He screamed. I could feel its cold energy engulfing the pit. I had to get out! I threw him off as he continued to scream and writhe, and clawed my way out of the pit, feeling both the burning heat from the plasma coil and painful ice crystals forming on my skin. I screamed out for the pain. Several mechs had descended into the pit and I heard a loud eruption of laser fire from it. I hurried to the lift.
The last I saw of the guy in the pit he had reared up from the pit again, tearing after me, surrounded by leaking plasma. I could see the bio-engineered human flesh melting and peeling off his true face. He was a Miku. His true, purple-colored eyes opened through the melted human ones. He screamed a curse at me as the lift closed.
&n
bsp; Sirens and lights suddenly went off throughout the center in a deafening chorus. My shield was still intact as security guards and mechs poured into the Lissler Room. I slipped past them and into the tube lift and up to the main floor where there was now confusion. I called Diamond, struggling to make the call as my left arm was red and painful.
“Yes?” He sounded strained.
“I did it. I'm making my way to the auditorium.”
“The front stage is full of people right now, with the CEOs of some of the biggest international corporations gathered there. And now there's police coming in toward the gate. Be careful.”
In the main room, I slipped in behind a phalanx of police officers. Someone was shouting about a terrorist attack and there was a demand from someone on the stage to turn off the cameras as I pushed my way toward the gate. I looked around for Diamond and at first, I didn't see him. And then I saw him. He was on the first tier balcony watching the gate. It was far bigger than it looked on webcasts and news feeds and I would have to climb it to reach the bay for the cube. People were rushing and screaming as the gate began to move and shake. Diamond was being crushed between the crowds trying to leave and the balcony rail. There was confusion breaking out everywhere.
Barely preserving myself from being crushed in a stampede I pushed my way up to the stage and climbed the steps, free of being seen by anyone in the confusion, even in the bright lights. I climbed up the left side of the round gate. It felt warm to the touch and it was growing warmer. I saw plasma lightening streaks crackling deep in its core. I said a silent prayer and continued up. I could feel the winds of the machine's central point of power growing stronger. It sounded like a million toilets flushing.
Reaching the symbol I was looking for that marked the bay, I took out the cube, stuck the key inside it and tried to fit the cube inside the bay when the outside ring began to move. At once all the symbols and lights on the gate lit up and for a second the entire stage was awash in green and blue light. It was the circle-line symbol I paid close attention to. It had changed from silver to blue. At some point, the fire symbol would appear after it. The gate was powering up from a less active state to a much higher state of activity. If I didn't hurry I would eventually be sucked inside but I kept sliding down each time I took a step up. I would have to wait for the inside arm to move up and hope that I didn't fall into the vortex.
Mission: Blackguard Conspiracy Page 13
