The S.W.A.T. engineers ran inside, their guns aimed and screaming, “Police!”
Shortcut strode in after them into a musty hotel lobby with faded, floral wallpaper. A man was hiding behind the front desk. Shortcut saw his reflection a hundred times in the chandelier above.
“You aren’t going anywhere,” Shortcut said.
One of the engineers detained the man, preventing him from logging out of the network.
“What do you want?” the man asked.
“I’m looking for someone who’s been making clandestine broadcasts.”
“I have to protect my clients’ privacy.”
Shortcut nodded and shrugged. “Hey guys, what’s the penalty for running a broadcast shop on the black market?”
“Fifteen years in jail, no parole,” one of the engineers said.
The man gulped.
“With no connection to the grid,” Shortcut said. “By the time you get out of jail, imagine how much farther along society will be. You’ll never be able to adjust.” He looked at the counter where a digital screen was playing a pornographic movie. “That’s a lot of porno you’ll be missing, too.”
“And if I talk, you’ll let me go?”
“It’ll be like we were never here,” Shortcut said. “We’re not after you.”
“The lady just left.”
Shortcut slammed his fist on the table. “Where did she go?”
The man pointed down a long hallway lined with black doors. At the end of the hallway was a small window; it creaked in the breeze.
Shortcut dashed down the hallway and several soldiers followed him. He scaled the wall and climbed out the window, then dropped down into an alley. He heard footsteps at the other end.
“Stop!” he cried.
He drew his electric rod and activated it. Sparks flew past his ears as he ran. At the bottom of his lens, he saw a health bar pop up. His avatar could only take so much damage before he got kicked out of the virtual environment. If Jeanette Crenshaw’s was anything like his avatar, she would have a health meter, too.
“You’re in my realm now,” Shortcut said. He sprinted down the alley and rounded a corner just in time to see Jeanette’s avatar jump into a white Mercedes and speed away down an empty street.
Shortcut blinked twice, bringing up a circular menu of weapons. He selected a gun. He saw several parked cars along the street. He broke the window of a minivan, jumped in and entered a command on the dashboard. The engine revved and he accelerated after Crenshaw. Soon, he caught up to her.
“Be careful, Shortcut,” Brielle said through his audio link. “The virtual environment is misleading. Jeanette may look like she’s running away, but what’s really happening is that she’s revoking her signal.”
“It has to travel back the way it came.”
“Once it leaves the virtual environment, she’s gone forever,” Brielle confirmed.
Shortcut rammed the back of Jeanette’s car and it skidded out of control into a light pole. Shortcut fired through the glass. Jeanette dove out of the car and fired a shot back at him but missed.
Shortcut climbed out of the car. “You’re done, Crenshaw.”
“How did you find me?” Jeanette said. She wore her lab coat. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she gripped her gun with her bionic arm.
“I figured you were inhabiting the networks. That’s why you shut them down—so we couldn’t find you. And it’s why you were able to spread around at will, appearing whenever it was convenient for you. But tell me: you’re not in the UEA anymore, are you?”
A health bar appeared over Jeanette’s head as they circled each other.
X grabbed Jazzlyn by the ankles, swung her around three times and launched her toward Xadrian, her guns blazing and her force field of cockroaches swarming around her. Several of her bullets connected with Xadrian’s chest as she crashed into him, knocking him across the room.
“Nice throw,” Jazzlyn said, flipping over an android who swung at her with a katana. She landed, knocked open his skull and ripped out his circuits.
“This alliance is temporary,” X said. He stood in front of Shortcut, who was still sitting cross-legged with the green wall of information around his face.
“Any luck, Shortcut?” X asked.
Shortcut didn’t respond; he kept typing on his digital screen and swaying as if he were trying to avoid something.
X’s algorithm chip buzzed, and he sensed a fist with a brass knuckle coming at him. He ducked, kicked one of the android’s legs from underneath him and delivered several hard punches to the android’s face before ripping out his circuits.
X and Jazzlyn regrouped. Crenshaw’s androids formed a circle around them again.
“There’s just too many of them,” Jazzlyn said. “I don’t know how much longer we’re going to be able to hold them off.”
“We could use some help,” X said.
“Say no more,” a voice said. Nobu and a group of UEA androids jumped in through the broken windows. They all wore black suits and sunglasses like X, and their hands turned into guns.
Nobu winked at X. “I couldn’t let you fight this battle alone.”
“Thanks for the help,” X said.
“Androids in suits won’t stop us,” Xadrian said.
Jazzlyn held out her hand, and her cockroaches formed a swarming ring around it. She pointed to Shortcut, and the cockroaches surrounded him, forming a protective electrical barrier. Smoochums, however, stayed on her shoulder. “The cockroaches are off. Now it’s on, guys.”
Shortcut managed to strike Jeanette on the shoulder with the butt of his gun. She landed a kick against his knees, bringing him to the ground.
Both their health meters were at fifty percent.
“Let’s see how you do in my realm,” Jeanette said, clutching her shoulder. She ran down the street and disappeared down a long tunnel between two buildings that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
Shortcut followed her. The tunnel was dark and wet. As he ran further, the architecture of the world changed; he was no longer in the UEA virtual environment. He was somewhere else—a world that lay between the UEA network and wherever Crenshaw’s physical location was. He didn’t know what to expect. If Jeanette had created this environment, anything was possible.
“We’re no longer in the black market,” Jeanette said. “You’re playing in my territory now, Shortcut.”
The area transformed into a cavern and hot lava appeared around Shortcut. Several rocky platforms stretched across the lava, and Jeanette ran across them. As Shortcut followed, some of the platforms glowed, flashed, and then fell into the lava.
Jeanette climbed into a circular gyrocopter with machine guns at the bottom.
Shortcut studied her gyrocopter, blinked a few times and produced an exact replica. “Nice try,” he said, climbing inside.
Jeanette frowned, and Shortcut chased her through the cave as lava bubbled beneath them.
Shortcut fired at Jeanette but missed. After a few twists and turns, they entered an area with a checkered linoleum floor and stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Jeanette gestured, and they fell around Shortcut.
Shortcut slammed into one of the stalactites—it was surprisingly light, and it flew forward, crashing into the back of Jeanette’s copter. She spiraled out of control and Shortcut fired at the copter, sending it to the ground. Jeanette rolled out, groaning.
Shortcut landed his copter and jumped out. “They always said you were a crappy engineer. Seriously, who sets a virtual environment inside a volcano?”
“I won’t forget this,” she said weakly. “I always win.”
The health bar above her head depleted. She grimaced as her body turned into a swirling green portal.
Shortcut jumped into the portal and felt himself surging forward.
He was inside a digital screen, looking out at a laboratory with tables all over. Through a large window on the back wall, he saw a snowy landscape with a blizzard raging. B
y the way the snow moved against the window, he sensed movement. Wherever this place was, it was flying through the air.
Jeanette lay on the floor in front of a terminal with her hands over her face. The terminal bellowed thick black smoke. She looked up, saw Shortcut looking around, and scrambled forward to disconnect the screen. This time, Shortcut felt himself flying backwards, as if he were a rubber band that had been stretched and let go. He rocketed through the cave, through the streets where he and Crenshaw had fought, and back through the store. The world around him shattered, and in an instant he was back inside the warehouse with X, Jazzlyn, and the UEA agents standing around him. Crenshaw’s androids were piled up on the floor. Through a broken window, he saw Xadrian flying away over the rooftops.
“Welcome back,” X said.
“I beat her,” Shortcut said, breathing rapidly. “It’s over … for now.”
Chapter 19
Shortcut, X and Jazzlyn entered the briefing room. Jazzlyn looked around the room in awe.
Fahrens stood at the head of the briefing table and smiled at Jazzlyn. “Miss Grace, thank you for your help earlier.”
The mention of her surname took her by surprise. “How do you know my name?”
“Just because you live in the badlands doesn’t mean we don’t know who you are,” Fahrens said. “Do you know why you’re here?”
“You’re going to tell me not to tell anyone what I saw, right?”
“Correct. Will you?”
“I don’t tell other people’s secrets. I don’t care about your problems.” She turned to walk away, but X grabbed her. “That’s not all.”
“Let go of me.”
“Why were you working for Crenshaw?” X said, tightening his grip.
“She hired me. You’re leaving a mark—”
“What did she say to you?” Fahrens asked.
“Something about an Android Winter. She wanted your black box really bad, X. She never told me why.”
“She must know about the will,” X said. “That’s the only reason she’d be after my black box.”
“Or perhaps she just suspects something,” Fahrens said. “If she had known, we would have never heard the end of it. She would have mentioned it.”
“So why are you so important?” Jazzlyn asked.
“Classified,” X said. “You’ll just use it against us.”
“You don’t trust me? I saved your life, you know.”
“After trying to kill me.”
Jazzlyn laughed.
“All you care about is android parts,” X said. “You made that pretty clear.”
“Miss Grace, I’d like for you to stay a bit longer to see if you can identify an area,” Fahrens said.
Shortcut brought up a screenshot of Jeanette’s laboratory. Jeanette was lying on the floor, and the window with the snowy view was visible behind her. “Recognize this place?”
Jazzlyn studied the photo. “No. She used an avatar when she spoke to me, and I never could figure out where she was. Looks pretty, though.”
“So you’re telling us that you worked for Jeanette Crenshaw and you have no idea where she is?” Shortcut said. “What kind of crap is that?”
“There’s snow on the ground,” Jazzlyn said. “Half the world is covered with snow at any given time. And remember, she used an avatar. I didn’t even know I was working for her.”
“We couldn’t trace her location,” Fahrens said. “Even though Shortcut was able to get a photo, Crenshaw was still careful about masking her location. Despite the new information, we don’t have any leads.”
Jazzlyn sat in a chair with Smoochums on her arm. “I hate to be Miss Obvious, but she’s clearly in the badlands, guys.”
X whipped around. “Where?”
“Who knows where. But take a look around. We’re on a manmade continent in the middle of the Atlantic. Have you seen any snow around here lately?”
“Astute observation, Miss Grace,” Fahrens said. “I guess this is as good a time as any to tell you that you now work for the UEA.”
Jazzlyn barked a laugh. “What in the bloody hell are you talking about?”
Fahrens pulled up a digital screen. “Android hunting is a Class A felony, punishable by the death penalty. You snuck past the UEA borders without going through customs and attempted to kill a UEA android. You stole a UEA android’s black box and attempted to use it for ransom, accepted money and performed operations on behalf of a known international terrorist, and hacked into a black box and caused irreparable damage. You’re using unapproved cockroach drones—that’ll be thirty counts against you alone, one for each roach. You have five unapproved nano enhancements in your brain. And I also understand that there’s an arrest warrant for breaking and entering into a local bakery: burglary and assault. I believe all of those charges add up to four hundred years in prison, plus capital punishment. And I’m not even counting your criminal record before you snuck into the UEA. Would you like me to continue?”
“What do you want, old man?”
“You’re going to help us find Jeanette Crenshaw,” Fahrens said.
“Hire a bloodhound.”
“Then you’re going to jail.”
X produced a pair of electric handcuffs. “Once these go on, there’s no turning back.”
Jazzlyn looked at X, then Fahrens. “I want half a million dollars.”
Fahrens frowned. “Are you seriously going to try to shake us down?”
“I saw what was in that black box,” Jazzlyn said. “If you lock me up, I’ll tell everyone what I saw. I’m sure you wouldn’t want Dr. Crenshaw’s trade secrets ending up on the black market.”
The words hit Fahrens like a hammer. “Deal. We have a gentleman’s agreement.”
X and Shortcut shook their heads. “Commander—”
“We need all the help we can get, you two,” Fahrens said.
“But we’re the ones that have to put up with her!” Shortcut said.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” Jazzlyn said. She pointed at Fahrens. “And you, sir: gentlemen’s agreement my ass. I want it on video. I’ve been burned too many times by ‘gentlemen’s agreements.’” Her lens lit up, signifying that she was recording. “Say it again.”
“X, record this exchange,” Fahrens said. X focused his lens camera and captured the video footage of the conversation.
“Very well, Miss Grace. In exchange for the apprehension of Jeanette Crenshaw, we will give you half a million dollars.”
“In real money?” Jazzlyn asked.
“In real money,” Fahrens said.
“Awesome.” Jazzlyn’s lens powered down. “Now that I’m a member of this fine organization, do you have anything to eat?” Her stomach rumbled and she gave an embarrassed smile.
X, Shortcut, and Jazzlyn sat inside a white bullet train as it shot out of the station. As they rocketed over the Atlantic Ocean, Jazzlyn ripped into a steak dinner in a to-go box.
“This food is amazing,” she said. “I can’t believe you guys eat like this every day.”
“It beats scrounging around in dumpsters,” Shortcut said, rolling his eyes.
“I never even fought you, shrimp-head, so I don’t know why you’re giving me attitude.”
X put his hand on Shortcut and shook his head. “Let it go.”
Shortcut rubbed his forehead and grimaced.
“What’s wrong?” X asked.
“It’s nothing,” Shortcut said, taking a pill. “Not much sleep lately. Bad headache.”
X gave Shortcut a curious look and was about to speak, but Jazzlyn interrupted him.
“So, what do you guys do for the UEA?” Jazzlyn asked.
“We keep the peace,” X said. “Though we’ve done a poor job of that lately. Your turn: why are you an android hunter?”
Jazzlyn hesitated. “I had a tough life. I’ll leave it at that. I’m only with you guys because I hate Crenshaw.”
“Why?”
“It’s personal,” Jazzlyn
said. “But trust me, she’s no good. And neither was her fat dad.”
“I don’t understand,” X said.
“No one in the UEA does. You might think you live in a utopia, but there’s stuff that goes on in the badlands that would make you mad if you knew about it.”
X looked out the window. “Why do they call them the … badlands?”
The train made its way toward a new shore.
Jazzlyn whistled condescendingly. “What’s that saying about those who don’t remember history?”
“Whatever,” Shortcut said. “You’re just our guide. Finish your steak dinner and shut up.”
“I’m not your guide!” Jazzlyn cried. “I’ll be damned before I have anybody depending on me. We’re just temporary allies. Once I help you bust Crenshaw, I’ll be on my way.”
“We’re not here to be friends with you, either,” X said.
“Got that right,” Shortcut said.
The train zoomed over the North American continent. They sped past a beach littered with trash.
“This place looks normal to me,” X said. “I still don’t understand why they call it the badlands.”
Then the beaches fell away into a rolling field. The entire area, once wooded, was arid and riddled with bomb marks and thousands of fallen trees. The sky was bluish gray and matched the solemn feel of the place. As the train sped over the destroyed landscape, they passed broken cities and towns filled with rubble and people moving among them with guns.
X asked, “What happened here?”
“Here?” Jazzlyn asked. “More like the whole world. What exactly do you think happened after 2199?”
X didn’t respond.
“Oh well,” Jazzlyn said. “You’re not in the UEA anymore, guys. Welcome to the old stomping grounds of the singularity: population, the entire North American continent.”
TO BE CONTINUED …
ANDROID WINTER
Chapter 1
X, Shortcut and Jazzlyn waited patiently as the train rocketed through a coastal forest. Flower fields sprung up around them, green, yellow and red, mixing together in a dazzling blur. Rainbows flickered where irrigation lines sprayed water into the air, giving the sky a patchy, otherworldly glow.
Android X: The Complete Series Page 25
