He entered the cockpit where Richard was in the process of shutting down the systems. Everything was now controlled remotely from the Academy’s Air Traffic Control centre, it was a smooth ride the rest of the way.
‘Howdy there pard’ner. Y’all...’
‘Drop the jokes Richard. I prefer your Kiwi accent,’ Joshua cut him off. He was exhausted. The six months of gruelling training had hardened him, and not just his physique. The layers of new muscle were still awkward for him, and the constant burn of lactic acid kept him from sleeping. ‘Sorry,’ he added. ‘Just tired.’ He let out a huge yawn.
‘Argh, I shouldn’t have looked.’ Richard followed suit with a yawn of his own. ‘And I’ve gotta drag the rest of your squad back down after I drop you and Sleeping Beauty off.’ He stuck out a thumb, indicating Sarah’s snores echoing up the passage.
Joshua chuckled, slapped Richard on the back, and left to catch a few winks before they arrived back at the Academy.
He sat in the galley, and picked an apple from the bowl on the table. He pulled his knife, forgotten during the long day’s exercise, out of its sheath strapped to his hip, and sliced up the apple. He turned the knife over in his hand, admiring its construction.
His sister Lucia had repaired the handle for him after he’d damaged it trying to pry open a door, back in Chicago, years ago. She’d had a way with tools like she’d had a way with words. The sharpest knife in the drawer. Even now he could see her telling him off for being too hasty, going with the first idea that had popped into his head to open that door.
She was the thinker of their duo, the planner. Always in control. Even at only nine years old, she had looked out for Joshua as much as he had for her.
Had the Confederacy been watching them, even then? It seemed ridiculous, but how else could they have known Lucia had such a gift for building things, a knack for everything but staying silent. He could hear her high voice, the way she stomped around as if she owned the place, but always with a smile, and always in control. He could remember every caper they’d pulled in those days...
Joshua was suddenly pushed awake. He blinked to clear the fog in his head and saw Richard standing over him.
‘Dude, don’t you have a class to get to?’
Joshua leaped up, smashing his leg into the galley table. Pain shot through his leg as he ran for the exit, hopping like a madman.
‘Say hi to Casey for me!’ Richard called after him.
There was no sign of Sarah or Ichiro on the landing pad outside the Nyctalopia. Joshua sped through more empty corridors, the hexagonal shape of the tunnels amplifying his heavy footfalls. He reached the main courtyard, deserted as well.
His first few days in the Academy had been the most alien experience Joshua had ever had. For the first time, he wasn’t trying to disappear in the crowd of people, but interact with them. On top of that, most of the other students were at least five years younger than him. He just couldn’t relate to these kids who had grown up in the safety of the Academy. Not to mention they’d had over a decade’s head start on their training.
Joshua finally reached the auditorium where the class was already under way. It was the same room he had gone to on his first day, where Casey taught him the truth behind the Confederacy’s origin.
Today it was full of students, and when he opened the door all 250 of them turned as one to watch him find a seat. Joshua didn’t feel embarrassed; he had after all just aced the end of term assessment by beating Sarah, the perennial maestro. He looked over the crowd but couldn’t see her anywhere. So many eyes looking back at him made his skin crawl. He chose a seat and the moment passed.
Casey, standing on the podium, at least had the grace to continue speaking without pause. He would probably just dock the entire class their free time for their lapse in attention.
Ichiro sidled over and took the vacant seat next to him. Somehow not a single head turned at his movement. He had the advantage of a small lithe body and dark features, well suited for sneaking as well as acrobatics. But it was Ichiro’s quiet, solemn demeanor that helped him most.
Joshua had a lot to learn.
‘I apologise for just leaving you on the ship, Joshua-san,’ Ichiro said. ‘You looked like you could have used the rest,’ he added with a grin and a jab in the ribs.
‘Thanks, I think.’ Joshua grumbled. He was no mood for games, especially with Ichiro. It was hard to tell when he was trying to be sarcastic.
Casey inclined his head towards Joshua and growled. ‘Perhaps you would be so kind as to assist me with this demonstration Josh?’
Joshua gulped. He hadn’t been paying attention. What was Casey demonstrating? Joshua had mastered all the tricks that the jumpsuit provided. He made a mental checklist.
Active and static camouflage.
Enhanced strength.
Automatic medication.
Partial anti-gravity.
Surface adhesion.
The standard issue ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene launcher. Joshua had decided to stick with Sarah’s name for it, rope. “Ninja rope” if he was feeling pretentious.
And of course the suit could deflect a stray bullet or a knife slash. The boys down in the Academy’s R&D really had built a thing of wonder with that material. It had given them an advantage no one else had.
It couldn’t be anything to do with that. Casey may not like to admit it, but he’d proven to be a quick study. Many of the younger students still struggled to adapt to the enhancements provided by the suit. At first some had resented him for surpassing their efforts, but the story of Joshua’s retrieval of the bio-ID had gotten around, and now he had his own little fan club, like Ryan’s.
In fact the Academy students were for the most part split between him and Ryan as to whom they adored more. Joshua thought the whole thing was stupid. They should be focussing on finding the members of the Confederacy, but instead this popularity contest had distracted the entire school. There was a mixture of hushed cheering and hissing from the crowd as Joshua walked down to the podium, just low enough so Casey couldn’t hear. The stage had been cleared, and Casey waited while Joshua climbed up next to him.
‘That knife o’ yers better be stowed away,’ Casey grumbled low to Joshua. ‘You might be a senior compared to that lot, but as far as I’m concerned, you’re not ready for lethal weapons.’
Joshua didn’t answer. Maybe he was right, Joshua hadn’t ever killed a man, and maybe Casey thought he didn’t have it in him. Sarah was sure to have reported about how he had stopped her from slicing up the last Confederate soldier that day they met on the rooftop.
Would I kill to find Lucia? He’d find out soon enough.
Joshua had just about had enough of waiting for permission to leave this place. There was always some excuse. He hadn’t finished his training. He needed to assist Dr. Prewett’s work accessing the data from the bio-ID. He didn’t know where in the Colonnade Lucia was, if she was there at all.
The last one at least made sense to Joshua. But he wasn’t going to find out by sitting in lecture halls and running around a tropical island all day.
A table was brought out onto the stage, and Casey placed a large cardboard box on it. A few youngsters in the crowd snickered, thinking this might be the object Casey would demonstrate for them.
Kids, thought Joshua. What sort of idiot would hide in a cardboard box?
Casey unpacked his toys and laid them out on the table. Necks craned to get a better view from the audience. Joshua couldn’t help himself either, sidling over to Casey’s shoulder. He kept his hands to himself though, since he still wasn’t in Casey’s good books after his presumptuous enrolment.
Master Casey Jayne ignored the attention and picked up the first item. It was a ball, about the size of a toy marble. He held it up for the students to see.
‘This little guy is yer best friend,’ he meant the ball. He handed it to Joshua then loomed over him, threateningly. ‘When over powered or surrounded by a much strong
er, smarter and handsomer opponent...’ he paused for effect, letting his audience chuckle. ‘Simply throw it at yer feet.’ He nodded at Joshua, indicating the ground, then charged at him. Joshua barely had time to think as he took a step back and heaved the ball downward. A plume of smoke instantly flew up into his face, stinging his eyes and invading his nose, causing him to cough and hack.
Casey meanwhile, instead of the feigned attack, had grabbed an air filter off the table and put it over his face. The smoke quickly dissipated, and Casey addressed the audience while Joshua fought to get himself under control.
‘That was yer standard smoke pellet, fairly harmless,’ he drawled. ‘It will give you just over twenty seconds to get the hell outta Dodge before that handsome opponent comes at you, angrier than ever. A versatile tool, the smoke pellet can be laced with additives to yer preference for mission parameters, such as hypnotic drugs or lethal toxins.’
Casey smiled grimly. ‘We’ve had unconfirmed reports of a Confederate faction using similar tech. So keep an eye out.’
He turned to the table and made a big flourish with his hands as he selected the next item. No one but Joshua noticed the small flat disc he threw, landing softly behind him. He picked up another one, this time displaying it for all to see.
‘Now this is a fun one,’ he turned it over. The device resembled a frisbee. ‘If you have the room to manoeuvre, throw it away from the direction you need to travel. Every distraction disc has a trigger built in to yer jumpsuits. Simply select what incapacitation type, lethal or non-lethal, and hit the activation. The disc will automatically scan its surroundings and emit a noise just loud enough to attract the attention of the nearest person.’
As he spoke, a low whistle came from behind Joshua who turned and walked in the direction of the noise. Joshua didn’t have much choice but to play along, as Casey would take any indication of insubordination to throw him back out on the streets of Chicago. He dutifully stepped on the disc, and his foot became stuck. The disc had become glued to the floor on the underside, and the topside attached itself to Joshua’s foot.
He flailed a bit, but kept his balance, barely. The audience laughed along with him.
Casey folded one of his fingers into his palm and shut off the device. ‘Retrievable and reusable, these “distraction discs” can be the difference between a milk run of a mission, or death.’ Joshua pulled himself off the device and wearily shambled back to Casey.
He could see Casey’s mouth subtly moving, as though he was speaking to someone over a comm link during his lecture. Joshua thought he caught a name. Mr. M-something. Who was that? Casey abruptly stopped and smiled to himself as though he’d won the debate in his head. It happened so fast; no one else seemed to notice.
He selected his last toy for show and tell. It was a hybrid organic and synthetic eye, an iPC. The auditorium fell into a hushed silence. Joshua stared.
‘This contains the bio-ID,’ said Casey.
Chapter 15
Joshua crashed into the door of Dr. Prewett’s quarters, knocking over a beaker when the door slammed open. The doctor looked up at Joshua over his computer monitors.
‘That was expensive,’ he said. Joshua glanced at the beaker, but made no apology as he stormed over to confront Dr. Prewett.
‘When did you unlock the bio-ID?’ Joshua demanded. ‘You didn’t tell me.’
‘Should I have?’ The doc sighed. ‘I don’t answer to you Joshua, or to anyone else.’
‘Casey just waved the General’s iPC in front of the entire school!’ Joshua fumed. ‘Every one of them will be scrambling to get to it somehow.’
‘Is that so bad Joshua? It will force them to work as a team. You’ve seen how there are already two camps in the Academy, split between you and Ryan. This will give them all a common goal.’ Dr. Prewett spread his hands palm up, reassuringly. ‘Casey can look after the bio-ID better than anybody and he won’t waste it on himself if that’s what you’re worried about.’
That brought Joshua up short. ‘What? Why... Who would he give it to?’
Dr. Prewett considered. ‘I think he’ll give it to someone who can put it to the most use.’
‘Don’t you need it?’ Joshua pressed on. ‘You were supposed to be accessing its data to locate the Confederate members.’
‘No, no boy,’ the doc said. ‘I only designed the bio-ID itself. Someone else back at the lab created the interface to merge with an iPC. But they encrypted it. It’s an algorithm I’ve never seen before.’
Joshua looked lost.
‘Suffice to say,’ Dr. Prewett continued, ‘to access and analyse the bio-ID’s data... I need the man who created the interface.’
Joshua shrugged, giving up. ‘Well who is that?’
The doctor swivelled a computer monitor around so Joshua could see. It was an image of a flustered looking scientist with grey hair and deep wrinkles marking his face. The title under the picture said, “Dr. P. Brock”.
‘Find him, and I can access the bio-ID,’ said Dr. Prewett.
Hours later, Joshua had a plan set firmly in mind as he trotted through the Academy’s student housing district. It wouldn’t be long until the reflector panels in the rock formations above his head allowed the morning sun in. Joshua constantly had the feeling that something would fall on his head out here, but no one ever wore a hard hat. It made him restless.
He turned a corner between two buildings and ran headlong into Ryan, who was crouched behind a dumpster.
Reminds me of myself from not long ago, thought Joshua. Maybe he had got the wrong impression of Ryan after all.
A gang of teenage groupies swarmed past, calling out Ryan’s name, shattering any similarities between them Joshua had imagined. He would have loved the attention of all those young ladies. He decided it was best to avoid the subject, since Ryan had gone white as a ghost.
‘Hey dude, thanks for having my back out there this morning... Are you okay?’
Ryan emerged from the dumpster, brushing himself off. ‘Sure thing mate, you’re one of us now right? Whenever you’re ready to go after those Confederate drongos, you let me know yeah?’
They parted, and Ryan walked back out in to the street, checking left and right before heading away from the screaming girls.
Taking off at a jog through the Academy alleys, Joshua finally found the building he was looking for. The fire escape was too tempting, so he leaped and hauled himself up to it.
Old habits die hard, he thought.
On the top floor he reached Sarah’s window and paused for a minute to look in. Then he realised how creepy that would be if he was caught, and tapped on the glass. Sarah opened the window to look out, half dressed.
Joshua crouched so he was level with her face, but also to hide his sudden embarrassment. Sarah probably noticed anyway. She must have been used to men acting weirdly around her.
‘Can I come in?’ Joshua asked, trying to be casual. He wasn’t actually here for a social call anyway; he just couldn’t help his imagination get the better of him while Sarah stood there in her underwear.
‘Do you have any idea what time it is? I haven’t slept in 24 hours,’ she sighed. ‘Well give me a minute, weirdo,’ she pulled her head back inside and went to make herself decent.
Joshua waited, impatiently hopping from one foot to the other until she called out that he could enter.
‘So? What do you want?’ she demanded, arms folded under her chest. Joshua took a moment to appreciate the sight of her in the familiar jumpsuit.
‘I, um, uh...’ His voice locked up, and broke in the way young men’s voices do. Sarah moved closer to him, making him feel worse. He could smell her freshly washed hair. It was intoxicating. He took a sharp breath. ‘I... I’m leaving.’
Sarah narrowed her eyes at him. ‘Leaving? Where? You can’t just abandon your studies here. It takes years to become-’
‘What?’ Joshua cut in. ‘A spy? A ninja? An assassin? What are you? What would you do if the Confederacy didn�
��t run things out there?’ Sarah was taken aback; she had never even considered that possibility. The only world she had ever known was the one under the Confederacy’s control. Joshua didn’t notice her falter, and continued. ‘Look, never mind. I just want my sister back, I’m no puppet of this clan or the other.’
‘No you’re no puppet,’ Sarah agreed, ‘but you’re more puppet-master than you realise. Hundreds of the others here would already follow you if you just pulled their strings. They know a talent for trouble when they see it.’ She smiled, and Joshua almost faltered.
‘I’m trying to pull your string now,’ he said. ‘Once I have the information from the bio-ID, I might learn where my sister was taken...’ He stumbled on his next words, but the admission burst out before he could help it. ‘I need to steal a ship. I need your help.’
Sarah nodded, and strapped on her short sword. ‘I can’t fly one of those things, but I’ll bet I can persuade the guy who can.’
His last stop was the aircraft hangar, where Richard would surely be bunking in his ship. Joshua envied him in a way, his only care in the world just to keep flying.
Still, he mused, each trip in the Nyctalopia was over in a flash, no matter the destination. There was no time to appreciate the journey. It must be hard on Richard. No time-
‘So what is this grand plan of yours?’ Sarah interrupted his daydream.
They were jogging to the East side of the Academy complex where the hangar lay, through the faculty buildings. Joshua hoped Casey couldn’t see where they were going. He would chew him out for an unauthorised departure at the very least. More likely he’d just say Joshua wasn’t ready for a real mission. He wondered what the person that Casey had spoken to under his breath during his lecture tried to convince him to do, before he revealed the bio-ID. He put that train of thought aside for now.
‘The doc said he needs a man called Brock to access the bio-ID’s data. We are going to get him.’
The Covert Academy Page 8
