The Harmony Paradox (Virtual Immortality Book 2)

by Matthew S. Cox

  If this guy is really an ACC operative, he’s going to kill me if he thinks I’m not. If he’s with the police, and I claim to be working for the ACC… they’ll think I lied about everything. Deported, executed, or prison. Her jaw clenched. Her mind drifted to an image of Eve pacing around the Naturahealth day care center, waiting for her as the sun set. Guilt made her look down. This is why we don’t get attached. She glanced to the right and huffed out her nose. She’s not my child. She’s not even a child. The girl’s just a roommate with a physical handicap: temporary crippling shortness. Katya stabbed another bit of broccoli and sausage.

  Garlic would make everything better.

  enny stood in the yard behind his house, squinting at his truck due to the strong glare of sunrise behind it. Cases of provisions: water, military rations, some snacks, and the usual array of miscellaneous tools and ‘handy shit’ he always packed up for a trip into the Badlands sat in the bed. He had wanted to get going an hour ago, but he gave up trying to wake the girls before daylight. Besides, Eldon hadn’t shown up yet. He spent a moment meditating in the calm of his scrapyard, listening to the creak and groan of massive piles of junk brushed by the wind.

  I hope that other guy he’s bringing has his head on straight.

  The irony of his thought made him laugh. Anyone willing to go to the Badlands couldn’t be accused of having their head on straight. Behind him, a scrape of metal accompanied the patio door between the kitchen and the deck opening. The clunk of boots on Epoxil boards followed.

  “Ugh. This thing is crushing my boobs,” said Hayley.

  “Not gonna say it,” replied Alyssa in a singsong tone.

  Hayley laughed.

  Kenny glanced behind him. Hayley fidgeted with a dark grey DuraFib armored vest over her black Zombie Ballerinas t-shirt. Brand-new white jeans clung to her narrow legs like a second skin, and her heavy boots made her look ready for Mars patrol. Alyssa still wore a disappointed expression; she’d wanted a set of ‘Badlander’ armor like Kenny’s, protective gear made to look like a cowboy’s duster coat. Western Equipment Corporation didn’t make it in any size she could fit in, so she had to settle for a standard Teradyne vest like Hayley. Companies did make ‘normal’ armor in kid sizes.

  That fact alone made the Badlands feel safer to him than the city.

  The kids’ armor would stop up to a midrange handgun, but the odds of anyone in the Badlands firing modern weapons at them ranked up there with the Syndicate deciding to give him half a mil as a retainer and saying ‘don’t bother going out there and thanks for your time.’ Any prewar firearm wouldn’t have a chance of penetrating it. Of course, despite spending a good nine hours teaching Hayley how to shoot (she’d taken to it surprisingly well, and credited long hours spent playing games in cyberspace) while Alyssa practiced, the two had strict orders to ‘stay the hell down’ if anything got dangerous.

  Alyssa patted the front of her vest. She’d put it on over a tank top, and added a blue flannel on top of the vest. The thigh pockets on her sand-brown fatigue pants clattered with the weight of spare magazines.

  “How’re those boots?” Kenny gestured at Hayley’s feet.

  “I feel like I could kick a dent in the side of the truck.” She ‘Frankenstein-stomped’ a few paces. “Are you sure I can’t wear flops? These things are so hot.”

  “There’s scorpions as big as housecats in some places.”

  Hayley stared at him. He expected a scream, but she blinked twice and yelled, “Cool! Like in The Festering Cistern.”

  “You’ve been to Joey’s place?” asked Kenny.

  “Huh?” asked Alyssa.

  Hayley gave him a serious look, both eyebrows up. “No, his place was worse than the dungeons under Morrh Kizrah.”

  Alyssa stared at her. “What the heck are you talking about?”

  “I’m kinda wonderin’ that too.” Kenny scratched the side of his head.

  “It’s an old Monwyn game.” Hayley rolled her eyes. “It’s like older than I am. They had these giant scorpions in the sewer. They weren’t a big deal if you had arrows or magic, but if they got close, they could do a lot of damage.”

  “Right. Imagine one on your toes.” Kenny smiled.

  “You said there’s tribal people out there who don’t wear shoes… or sometimes even clothes at all.” Hayley squirmed at her armor. “What do they do about scorpions?”

  Alyssa’s face tinted with blush.

  “If they get stung? Usually, they die.” Kenny sighed.

  “Oh.” Hayley looked down. “Boots it is.”

  “Come on. Might as well get used to the weight of a gun on your side.” Kenny walked around to the bed of the truck and de-boxed a pair of Class 2 pistols. Hoping to placate her, he’d ordered Hayley one in bright pink with white rubber grips and a ‘Hello Kitty’ on the handle.

  “It’s adorable,” said Hayley, overacting her gushiness.

  Alyssa smirked.

  The girls attached black nylon holsters to their belts, each with a reinforcing strap around the thigh. Kenny handed the weapons over, grip first. Alyssa pulled the mag and checked the ammo counter while Hayley just put the gun in the holster.

  “Ut ut…” Kenny gave her a look.

  “What?” She blinked at him. “You said always assume a weapon is loaded, so I assumed it’s loaded.”

  “Always check.”

  She drew it, removed the mag, and held it up so he could see the blue propellant blocks stacked within. “See. Loaded. Just like I assumed.”

  He kept staring at her.

  Hayley looked at the ammo counter on the left side. “Chamber indicator is empty. No round ready to fire.”

  “Okay.” He smiled. “Remember―”

  “I know,” said Hayley. “Stay down and hide. Only shoot if I absolutely have to. Are you gonna get mad at us if we get attacked by some creature that doesn’t have a ranged weapon and I fire at it?”

  Kenny chuckled. “I want you to be careful and safe. This isn’t a video game. There’s no respawn if you get hurt.”

  She stared at the ground.

  “What are the rules?” asked Kenny.

  Both girls made faces like they wanted to sigh, but didn’t. Simultaneously, they chanted, “If we can run, run. If we can hide, hide. Finger off the trigger unless we want to destroy something. Stay aware of what’s behind the target. Don’t point it at anything we don’t want to kill.”

  Kenny pulled the both into a hug. “Good. Please remember that stuff. It’s not just to recite.”

  His wife came down the steps from the deck, giving him a meaningful stare. She didn’t have to say ‘if he wanted the girls safe, they wouldn’t be going into the Badlands.’ When she got close, he threw an arm around her back and walked two steps away from the girls.

  “It’s not too late,” he whispered. “We can stash them with Joey, or your parents.”

  “We can hear you,” said Alyssa.

  “There’s a vet place down the block that does boarding. Think they’ve got room?” Kenny winked.

  Kathy’s expression told him two quite different things existed: funny, and him.

  “If you leave me in a kennel for a week, I’m going to have separation anxiety and start peeing around the house and chewing on the sofa,” said Alyssa.

  “Your father is just being an idiot.” Kathy clapped the girls on the shoulders. “Oh… you gave them guns already. We’re still in the city.”

  The high-pitched whirr of a small e-car got louder on the other side of the fence surrounding Kenny’s scrapyard.

  “They’re both old enough with parental permission.” He eyed his wife’s unadorned belt. “Where’s yours?”

  “In the house still. I didn’t think we’d need it until we got out there.”

  “Yo!” yelled Eldon over the yard fence. “We still doin’ this thing?”

  Kenny patted Kathy on the arm. “Better to have it ready and not need it.”

  “Why is he here?” asked Alyssa.
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  “Because.” Kenny squeezed her shoulder. “I am doing everything I can to make sure your first”―and hopefully only―”trip into the Badlands goes well.”

  He jogged across the yard to the fence and hit the button to open the gate. A flat-fronted silver microvan rolled in that had seen better days. Random sparks spat from the seam down the middle of the left front wheel: the telltale death rattle of the e-motor. Eldon waved from the passenger seat, looking far from comfortable crammed into such a small vehicle. The driver, a slender man with olive skin, bushy black eyebrows, and a baggy military green coat, smiled at him.

  Kenny walked back toward his truck, which dwarfed the box on wheels driving past it. The new guy took a wide circling turn and came to a stop with the nose end inches away from the deck. Eldon, already wearing his recon armor except for the helmet, leapt out before it came to a complete halt, and stretched.

  “God damn that thing ain’t got legroom.” He bee-lined to Kenny and shook hands, grinning. “Thought you wanted ta take a break?”

  “Some friends had other ideas.” Kenny nodded at the van. “Who’s the other guy?”

  Alyssa fidgeted, her gaze locked on the ground and a tint of blush in her cheeks.

  “Name’s Nasir Aman. You said you were gonna bring the ladies along and wanted some extra help. He had the best record of the mercs willin’ to work within your budget.”

  Nasir hopped out of the driver’s seat and spent a moment ogling Kenny’s truck. About when he expected the man to get on his knees and worship it, he seemed to snap out of the daze and scurried around to the back doors of the van. Inside lay a number of metal cases as well as one rather obvious sentry gun.

  “Whoa.” Kenny raised an eyebrow. “You’re bringing a bot guy out into the Badlands?”

  Eldon flashed a conspiratorial grin. “He works cheap, you didn’t wanna break the bank… and I get to see if your whacked-out hoodoo is real.” He pivoted and raised his arms at Kathy. “Hey there, K. Damn good to see you lookin’ like you again.”

  Alyssa folded her arms over her chest and kept trying to drill for oil with her eyes.

  “Hey yourself.” Kathy accepted his hug. “Look, sorry if I’ve been a bit less than friendly whenever you came around.”

  “Naw. S’all good.” Eldon winked. “Ken gave me the sit-rep.” He nodded at Alyssa. “Hey baby girl. You keep your head down out there, got it?”

  She nodded, blushing more.

  Eldon glanced from Hayley to Kenny and back four times. “Shit. You’re bringin’ the little one too?”

  “I’m not that little.” Hayley put her hands on her hips. “I’m gonna be twelve in three months.” She leaned to the side to stare around him at the source of a growing mechanical clanking. “What is that?”

  Everyone turned.

  Nasir walked beside a metal spider-bot with a body the size of a footlocker. Where a normal spider would have fangs, the robot had a pair of gripper arms, which carried one of the cases from the van toward the truck. “Loader tarant. He’s not coming with us, just helping me carry stuff.”

  Hayley ran over to it, gawking. “It’s so cool.” She pet it like a dog, and the robot seemed to react with a modicum of affection.

  “Be right back. Been on the road for two hours.” Eldon winked and jogged into the house.

  Alyssa walked around the other side of the truck.

  “What was that?” whispered Kathy.

  Kenny looked from the spider bot to her. “What? ’Bot?”

  “No. The ‘that’ I’m speaking of is the weird feeling in the air between Liss and Eldon.”

  “Oh. That that.” Kenny sighed. “Liss didn’t handle you having to leave well. She went into this wild phase. Got back from that last trip, and she comes traipsing out in one of my shirts open down the front, panties, but no bra. Gave him a bit of a show, tryin’ I guess to piss me off.”

  Kathy massaged the bridge of her nose. “Dammit.”

  He grasped her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. “It’s not your fault. Eldon wasn’t havin’ any of it. He kinda yelled at her and she turned scarlet. It worked out. Hit me like a reality slap. I thought I’d lost the two most important people in my life. You to that shit, and her to anger. We finished that night closer than we’d been in months.”

  “She’s not going to be able to look at him for a while.” Kathy hugged him. “I’ll talk to her when we get a moment to ourselves.”

  He nodded.

  Clank.

  Kenny whirled toward the truck, where Nasir directed the tarant to stack boxes in the bed. “You got anything ready for when all that junk stops working?”

  Nasir let out a noncommittal laugh and patted a handgun on his side. “My stuff’s in good shape. It won’t konk out.”

  “It’s not your hardware I’m worried about,” mumbled Kenny.

  “Oh, where’s that other friend of yours?” asked Kathy. “Joey?”

  “Can’t make it. Boy gone and got himself a real job. Was a mistake even callin’ him. Got stuck listenin’ to him grumble about havin’ to track down some kinda street drug. You’d think it was beneath him.”

  Kathy laughed. “Considering where he’s been living…”

  “Right.” Kenny grinned. “But he’s Division 9 now, so…”

  “Oh ho.” Kathy flared her eyes. “Big leagues.” She winked and trotted over to the truck.

  He sighed, staring at the truck. Eldon, an unknown merc, his wife, and two kids. What am I doing? A moment’s hesitation died in a hail of daydreamed bullets from the window of a long, black hovercar. “This is going to be an… interesting trip.”

  The vast expanse of wide-open flat extended to the horizon in three directions. Behind them, the darkness of West City’s skyline grew more and more faint. Eldon took the passenger seat, his Crusader 10mm assault rifle across his lap as always. Kathy didn’t seem to mind giving up the spot, as she much preferred he play ‘gunner.’ She sat off center in the back row, with Alyssa and Hayley to her left (behind Kenny) and Nasir on the other side.

  Hayley and Nasir had been chatting constantly back and forth around Kathy regarding his tech. She kept asking him question after question about the electronic slab he’d carried with him, some manner of heavily modified net deck he used as a control nexus for all his pet robots. It had the requisite M3 jack, but also eight small physical screens, which Hayley thought simultaneously ‘cool’ and ‘old.’ While his body remained safe in the truck, he could go into any hostile environment in total safety. The bots could also run via autonomous programming, following instructions, or he could control them like an ancient video game using the small screens. Some bot operators even plugged in and ‘became’ their bots, but if he did that, he’d only be able to control one at a time. He’d brought a number of orb bots, one tracked unit with an assault rifle mechanism, and of course, the sentry gun. He’d planned on setting up the sentry only whenever they stopped to sleep. It had the biggest weapon, a 15mm machinegun, but no capacity to move.

  Kenny braced the steering wheel with a knee and tapped at the Navcon, flipping through several potential routes to Colorado Springs. While he’d been piecing together map data over the past years, his information came from rumors posted on artifact hunting GlobeNet sites, or from personal experience. Anything could happen out there, and no giant corporation kept updating these maps like they did for the city interior. He decided to avoid the Nevada desert; Las Vegas had a metric shitload of badness surrounding it. Rough settlers, bandits, and everyone else drawn to the place seemed to feed on strife, as if the Badlands itself fed off ancient history and amplified it tenfold. A more easterly path along I40 would bring them across old Arizona and into New Mexico, but the northern veer by I25 came awfully damn close to North Texas and the Steel Reavers’ stomping grounds. That seemed like an even worse idea. What those augmented crazies would do to his wife and daughters made Vegas feel like sending them to a private school with a cadre of armed guards watching their every move
.

  Plus, he didn’t have to go into Vegas. He could skirt the area wide enough.

  After locking in the route plot to take them up I25 to I70, or at least where the map software believed roads to be, he put both hands on the wheel and drove. It occurred to him after another fifteen minutes that the rumble of the enormous tires on the ground generated the only sound in the cabin.

  He glanced at Hayley via an old-fashioned rear view mirror. She clung to Kathy’s left arm and stared out the window at the desert. The expression on her face made her look as though she’d awakened from a nightmare only minutes before.

  “You okay, Hale?”

  The girl jumped, startled.

  “Hayley?”

  “Uhh. Not really,” she whispered.

  He hadn’t heard such an undertone of fear in her voice since he’d met her, not even when she explained the WellTech mercenaries kicking down the door of her dead father’s apartment and wanting to kill her. He checked the old strip of ancient paving ahead to make sure he had a few seconds of not needing to look, and twisted around to make eye contact. “What’s wrong? You see something out there?”

  “No.” She took a long shuddering breath and let it out slow. “This place. It just feels wrong. It’s like something’s watching us. Something bad… that wants to hurt us.”

  “Oh, here we go.” Eldon shook his head, chuckling. “You got her started on that hoodoo shit too?”

  “I never much talked about it to her.” He faced forward again, eyes on the road. What does she mean, she ‘feels’ it? Some of those stories get pretty wild, but…

  “S’up with the look?” Eldon glanced at him with a raised eyebrow.

  “What hoodoo shit are we talking about?” asked Kathy.

  “Ehh…” Kenny sucked air through his teeth. “She’s already on edge. I don’t want to make it worse with old ghost stories.”

  Nasir nodded. “I’ve heard the stories too. People say there is an ‘evil force’ out here or some such nonsense. Some even go so far as to claim the reason no one has tried to redevelop the interior of the continent is because of this influence.”