One Dark Future

by Michael Anderle

  “Alina’s not going to give you everything you want just because you ask.” Lanara pointed with her thumb toward the ship. “That’s already a hefty investment, even before you count the jump drive. You might be her favorite pets at the moment, but you’re not the only ones in the galaxy sniffing around for the conspiracy, and you’ve already been given a lot of toys. I’m sure every ID ghost out there wishes they had a ship bristling with top-of-the-line weapons and the UTC’s only self-aware AI.”

  Erik shrugged. “So what if she doesn’t want to fund it? I’m sure you have some spare parts lying around, or you could tear apart a cargo flitter and turn it into a laser cannon. Alina’s not going to complain if you don’t send in a huge wish list but do something impressive with what you have available.”

  “I don’t know.” Lanara cupped her chin. “I’m not saying I do have that kind of thing lying around, and I’m also not saying I couldn’t do it even if I don’t. But if I’m spending time juicing the weapons, I’m not doing other things. Winning a fight in space isn’t just about the biggest guns, Blackwell.”

  “Sure, but if you don’t want holes in the ship, you need to give us the tools to make sure we end up with none and the other guy ends up with a ton. Your grav shield assist last time was nice, but we wouldn’t have needed it if we could have blown those bastards away in one quick attack.”

  “I’ll look into it, but it’s not anything I can do soon. Just getting everything back to where we need to be is still going to take some time. The Argo’s ready to fly, but I’d prefer if we didn’t get in any fights anytime soon.”

  “I don’t go looking for fights. I just end them.” Erik nodded. “Put it on your to-do list.”

  “Whatever you say, Blackwell. Next time try to—” Lanara frowned as the cargo bay door opened and extended the ramp with a loud whir and a rumble. “I swear, Maras is physically incapable of leaving the ship anywhere other than the cargo bay lately. He probably thinks it makes him look like a badass. Even worse, I think he’s infecting Constantine with his thinking. Tweedledee and Tweedledumb.”

  Erik didn’t respond as he waited for the door to finish lowering. Lanara was right; Raphael and Malcolm stood near the back of the cargo bay, both with ridiculously smug smiles as if they’d already located the rest of the conspiracy. The pair swaggered down the cargo ramp and toward Lanara and Erik.

  “Good morning, Mr. Blackwell!” Malcolm waved. “This is such a nice ship. I’ve been looking into signal relays and that sort of thing with Lanara’s help. I’m trying to optimize things for electronic warfare. You never know, maybe you can hack your way to victory. Fewer holes in the ship that way.” He mimed shooting the ship with a finger gun.

  “Everyone keeps acting like we are going to be able to take on a heavily armed vessel and get away without a scratch.” Erik grunted in frustration. He gave Lanara a meaningful look, and she rolled her eyes in response. “We’ll see what happens when we have more guns.”

  Raphael snapped his fingers. “Oh, oh, oh. Don’t worry about that. I’ve been spending time with both Lanara and Malcolm so we can do our best to control the jumpship from the Argo if necessary, but from what the DD has said, the jumpship is going to be loaded with weapons.” He punched into the air. “If the Argo’s docked with the jumpship, what we’ll lose in maneuverability, we’ll make up for in defenses and the jump drive. We’ll be able to deliver the pain like a straight-up Fleet cruiser.” He punched a couple more times, making what might charitably described as a gunshot noise. “The next conspiracy ship we run into will get blown to bite-sized chunks for messing with the Obsidian Detective and Lady Justice.”

  Erik chuckled, then walked over to Raphael and patted the enthusiastic man on the shoulder. “That’d be nice, but from what you’ve told me, it’s not like the jumpship doesn’t stick out, and we don’t want to park it in orbit where we might be boarded. I’m confident, even cocky, but I’m not stupid. If the conspiracy gets their hands on the drive, we’re screwed. The entire UTC is screwed.”

  Raphael slumped his shoulders. “But what about bringing the pain? It’d be epic.”

  “We’ll do that when we need to, but the standard play’s probably going to be us flying the Argo to missions and keeping the jumpship back.” Erik lowered his arm. “It’s funny, though.”

  “What is? Not being epic?” Raphael asked, with Malcolm nodding his agreement. Lanara wandered off, muttering a stream of unintelligible numbers under her breath. She’d lost interest in the conversation, or maybe she was trying to control her desire to grind Malcolm and Raphael into oil.

  Erik gestured around the hangar. “I used to be a cop with a nice flitter and a big gun. Then I stumbled onto Emma.”

  The AI’s holographic form materialized nearby, a faint smirk on her face. For whatever bizarre reason, she had chosen a puffy light-blue tulle dress with a massive billowing skirt. It was as if she were dressing as the Good AI Fairy of the North. Her sartorial experiments were one of the more obvious consequences of her learning the truth about her creation. Erik had found it was better not to comment. No one liked a huffy AI.

  “I’m glad to see you acknowledge the advantage of having such a useful ally.” Emma bowed over a lace- and tulle-shrouded arm.

  “The point is, you were and are a game-changer,” Erik replied. “But now, I’m not just a cop with a gun and a fancy flitter. I’m working for a ghost, and I’ve got a great partner and a team of experts.” He nodded to Malcolm and Raphael in turn and even Lanara, though her back was turned. “And from what Raphael’s telling me, I’m going to have my own cruiser soon.”

  Raphael clapped once. “Better than a cruiser because you’ll have the jump drive. You won’t be the Obsidian Detective anymore, you’ll be the Obsidian Admiral!”

  “I think I’ll just stick to being Erik Blackwell. All my old Army friends would throw me outside a dome if they found out I was going around calling myself an admiral.”

  Erik stared at the ship, lost in his thoughts. Jia was right. Sophia Vand might or might not have been the head of the conspiracy, but a woman of her stature had to be a major player.

  He was a shark, and blood was in the water. It was time for the feeding frenzy to begin.

  Chapter Five

  April 12, 2230, Neo Southern California Metroplex, Apartment of Jia Lin

  “I don’t think the world’s going to end if we don’t train tonight,” Jia explained to Erik over a PNIU call. She occupied her hands by pouring herself a new cup of tea from the pot on her kitchen table. “So it’s not a big deal if the tac center needed to shut down for a few days. We did all those crazy exoskeleton scenarios the last couple of weeks anyway. I need to give my brain and body some time to rest.”

  “You sure?” Erik sighed. “I was looking forward to it. I wanted to work off some stress.”

  Jia chuckled. “Relaxing is also a good way of working off stress. We’ve spent too much time running from crisis to crisis lately, and it’d be a bad thing if that started to seem normal. Come on. Back in your Army days, you wouldn’t want your guys constantly on the move or fighting, would you?”

  “This campaign is just getting started, but I see your point. We could get dinner.”

  “I already ate,” Jia replied. “Maybe tomorrow? We could go to that Thai place we passed earlier unless you’re off your spicy kick. Then we could work off stress some other way after that.”

  “Okay, that sounds like a good plan. Is that a promise?”

  Jia laughed. “Yes, it’s a promise. Unless we get swept into some bizarre incident.”

  “Don’t say things like that. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I better get some rest so I’ll have more stamina for the night.” Chuckling, Erik ended the call.

  Jia rolled her eyes as she picked up her tea and took a sip. There was something rather domestic about spending time with Erik, even if most of the time, it involved tactical training or dangerous investigations into deadly conspiracies. She understood his eage
rness to get on with the hunt, but she remained grateful Alina hadn’t shoved them right into a new case. Constant work would grind them down, and they needed their strength—and not just for nighttime fun. A lot of things had fallen their way on Venus and in the fight against Vand, but they couldn’t be sure the Lady would always be on their side.

  Her PNIU buzzed with a call. She sighed, expecting an insatiable Erik, but when she tapped to get the caller ID sent to her smart lenses, she frowned. There was no more painful combo than the unexpected and annoying.

  Jared Thompson. She hadn’t talked to him since leaving the force. While she appreciated his kind words during her departure, part of her couldn’t forgive him for moving against her when all she’d been trying to do was be a good cop. Jia took a deep breath. Maybe it was time for true forgiveness.

  “Hello, Jared,” she answered, doing her best to keep her tone polite. There was no reason to start out on a hostile foot.

  “Hey, Jia,” Jared answered, sounding out of breath. “I need to talk to you.”

  “Isn’t that what we’re doing?”

  “Not over the phone. I need to do it face to face. It’s important.”

  Jia frowned. “And what’s this about?”

  “Look, I can’t do this over the phone.” Jared sighed. “Can you meet me at Perseid Park? You know where that is, right?”

  “Yes,” Jia replied. “I’ve only been there a couple of times, but it’s in Residential Tower 546 near the station, yes?”

  “Exactly.” Jared audibly swallowed over the line. “I’ll be there in one hour near the center at Twin Maidens Fountain. Please come. I promise you this isn’t me jerking you around.”

  Jared ended the call before Jia could respond. There were several possibilities, some dangerous, some not. She winced. Everyone at the 1-2-2 knew she was dating Erik. Because of their fake dating plan, those same cops had known even before they were actually dating. It wasn’t impossible that Jared had gotten some personal ideas in his head now that he appreciated Jia’s police style. She was going to have a hard time not laughing if he asked her out. She was grateful that Emma’s omnipresence didn’t extend to her PNIU when she was away from Erik. A touch of privacy could do wonders for a woman’s sanity.

  Jia stood slowly. She could call Erik and ask for backup, but if this turned out to be some idiotic and desperate attempt by Jared to wrest her from him, the last thing she wanted to deal with was the months of jokes that might follow, especially after she’d turned down hanging out with Erik for the night. If it was an assassination attempt, asking to meet her in a heavily trafficked park filled with cameras and drones was a good way to get caught. Plus, she didn’t plan to meet him unarmed.

  “Oh, well. Might as well get this over with. I’m sure it’s nothing important. He probably just wants advice on how to ask another detective out.”

  Jia strolled through the tree-filled park, taking in the details both for security and appreciation. The gorgeous star-filled sky above might be a holographic fraud, but that didn’t make it any less beautiful. For all the complaints of the Purists, not many people cared about heavily modifying non-consumable plants for something as ultimately petty as making sure trees didn’t grow too quickly when living in the middle of a tower with only artificial light in soil filled with chemicals and nanites. They cared even less when the sweet smells of the carefully curated symmetrical rows of flowers lining the pathways or the earthy scent from the dirt and trees otherwise screamed natural.

  She reached into her jacket to feel the comforting weight of her stun pistol and slugthrower. On the way over, she’d convinced herself there was nothing going on other than some misguided romance, but her habitual paranoia had settled in upon her arrival. Happy people filled the park, but there were plenty of dense clusters of trees where a man could use optical camouflage to escape the drones and cameras. It’d be embarrassing to be assassinated after being lured to the park by Jared Thompson.

  Jia continued following the smooth, curving white paths toward the fountain. She could already hear the burble of the water. A smiling teenage couple wandered past her, the girl giggling at some whispered joke.

  Jia missed that kind of innocence, although she wasn’t sure she’d ever had it.

  Before Erik had opened her eyes, she’d believed in a perfect Earth and the UTC as a flawed but great entity focused on justice and human rights. She accepted there were anti-socials and insurrectionists, but she thought that at least she lived in a shining kingdom of perfection among humanity’s finest civilization. But she’d also never felt the relaxed restraint so many others did. She’d become a detective because of her drive to protect her shining kingdom. On some level, she must have always sensed the corruption lurking not far underneath the surface, or she’d internalized the lessons of literature that suggested great civilizations inevitably passed through cycles of decline before their renewal.

  The path widened, and the trees and flowers on both sides gave way to an intricately sandstone-tiled central circle. Two jet-black statues of women in Grecian robes towered over the circle, their backs to each other and their arms outstretched. Small benches were spread out around the circle, most filled with couples or families, but Jared sat on one by himself, staring at Jia with a forlorn look.

  His hand wasn’t in his jacket. If he was there to take a shot, he’d already lost his surprise. The lack of disguise and the meeting place reduced the chance of violence, but there was still something off about the whole thing. She made her way over to his bench.

  Jared nodded to the empty side. “Join me, Jia.”

  Jia nodded and sat. She wasn’t going to initiate the conversation. He’d called her here, and she didn’t know why. The less effort she put into controlling the conversation, the more she maintained her situational awareness.

  Jared licked his lips and looked around the area. “Anyone follow you? I didn’t ask you to check for that, but you’re Lady Justice. You probably check every time you go to a restaurant.”

  “What’s this about, Jared?” Jia asked. She wasn’t about to admit he was right. Her paranoia might have been stoked by the reporter, but it was rare she didn’t consider the possibility that someone from the conspiracy or a remnant of one of the many syndicates she’d helped destroy might come after her.

  Jared leaned closer to her and lowered his voice. “I need your help.”

  “With what?”

  Jared stared at her, his mouth twitching. He took a deep breath before he could finally push out the quiet words. “In the past, here and there, I took certain…bonuses. Tips, you could call them from particular individuals that weren’t always what you might call respectable.”

  Jia’s hands balled into fists and her cheeks heated. “You took bribes? You’re dirty?”

  Jared averted his eyes, shame written all over his face. “You can call it whatever you want, but yes.”

  “The only reason I’m not smashing my fist into your face is that we’re in public,” Jia let out, her words a growl. Her heart pounded, and she squeezed her fist tighter until her nails dug into her palm. “Or pulling out my gun and shooting you, but I assume you have some point other than proving me right, so get to it before I reconsider my newfound pacifism.”

  Jared kept his gaze on the ground as he rubbed his wrists. “I figured it wasn’t a big deal.”

  “You figured a cop taking bribes wasn’t a big deal?” Jia rolled her eyes. “I’m not an idiot, Jared, but apparently you are.”

  “I know. I knew it could lead to something bad, but no one ever asked me to do anything.”

  “You expect me to believe you were paid to do nothing?” Jia released her fist. Blood welled up in her palms from her nail cuts.

  Jared managed to lift his head and look Jia in the eyes. “I didn’t feel great about it, but it was nice to have a little extra money, you know? And I always figured I had the situation under control.”

  “How does that work? Most of the time when you’re tak
ing bribes, the people paying out are the ones in control.”

  Jared shrugged and sighed. “Because I figured there was a limit. If they asked me to do anything over the line, I’d just say no. If anything got out of hand, I would handle it.” He let out a pained laugh. “Like now.”

  Jia’s mouth twitched. It took all her self-control not to laugh in the man’s face, almost more than it took to not hit him. She’d spent her time on the force being called a naïve corp princess, but she was the height of cynicism compared to the self-serving idiot in front of her. She motioned for him to continue.

  “Then you and Erik started doing all your shit.” Jared gestured around the park. “And the internal affairs and anticorruption crap happened. I stopped taking payments around that time, and for a while, I just sat there and waited for them to come for me. It was part of the reason I was even more of an asshole to you.” He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I blamed you for starting it all. I thought I was going to end up in prison.”

  “Yes, because it makes so much sense to blame a police officer for not being dirty rather than not take bribes to begin with.” Jia folded her arms.

  “I know. I know. When I didn’t get tagged by Internal Affairs, I thought about how things were going. With Captain Ragnar, you and Erik out there, it made me reevaluate why I’d become a cop.” Jared smiled, a semblance of pride in the expression. “I figured with all the syndicate purges, I was in the clear. I never was sure who was paying me, but the guy who was my main contact left town last year. I figured it was over.”

  Jia nodded slowly. “Okay, this is all very interesting, but what does it have to do with me? Is this a sad attempt to get me to pat you on the head and tell you you’re a good cop despite taking bribes? That’s not going to happen, Jared. I’m having trouble resisting stunning your ass and calling the 1-2-2 right now to turn you over to IA.”