“Without taking risks, we cannot become greater than we are.”
“I didn’t mean to sound like a Genevolve.”
“I’ve heard that term before somewhere. I…” The girl tilted her head to the left, eyes squinted in thought—another gesture that looked extraneous to Angel. “I don’t know where, though. But I know very little about them. I’ll have to find out more.”
“I’ve run into a few over the years. Can’t say they’re better than any other people I know, but they’re definitely more arrogant.” Apart from all being sociopathic murderers. They’d all killed to remove problems, her partners being among them.
Angel toyed with the gold communication device on the table in front of her. She spun it in a circle to see if the girl noticed. Charlotte-Rose didn’t say anything, which probably meant the program didn’t have a way of visually scanning its surroundings from the gadget.
She stood and picked up the device. “I’ll find a hotel room to hole up in. I need to get safe rather than talk. Will you be around to discuss things in a little while?”
“Um… how long is that?”
“Ten minutes, maybe fifteen.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Angel left the table and paid for her meal using her emergency credits.
•
This time, she chose a dingy hotel in the center of a seedy district. The room was pay by the hour, and she paid for it to be cleaned again and set up with fresh linens. After waiting patiently for the automatons to do their work, she found herself sitting on a lounge, staring at the double bed, not sure whether she should use it. She pulled the gold communication device out of her pocket and held it in one hand.
“I’ve done some research on Genevolves,” chirped Charlotte-Rose. “But I’ve only found pieces. As I said, I have limited access at the moment.”
“They’re humans who decided we should be evolving faster, further,” Angel clarified. “Their founder pointed to the two percent difference between our DNA and that of the apes we were closely related to. He wondered how advanced another species would be if they were two percent different to humans, then came up with the idea of trying to genetically alter human DNA to see what he could create.”
“What happened to him?”
“He was executed. Once other scientists found out what he was doing, and the news got hold of the story, the swell of public opinion against him forced people to act. Unfortunately, he had managed to create quite a number of ‘children’, as he called them, and they were hidden across the thirty-five systems that were inhabited at the time. He destroyed all his research and facilities with a fusion device. Not that anyone wanted to replicate his ideas. The explosion took out half a city.”
“He abandoned his children? Then they were like me?”
Angel frowned. “No,” she said, her tone sympathetic. “They actually went willingly, or so they say.”
“They’ve been in contact with people?”
“Yes. For centuries, no one heard from them, and then they started reappearing as the driving force behind a few legitimate corporations. Most of them didn’t realize they had… siblings out there. They were surviving on their own, for the most part, not working as an organized force. It was decided they shouldn’t suffer for the sins of their father, so they’ve been mostly left alone.”
Angel yawned and rubbed her tired eyes with the backs of her hands. Her palms were sore and itched fiercely.
“Oh,” exclaimed Charlotte-Rose. “You must be tired. I forget sometimes. Why don’t you sleep?”
Angel blinked. “You can see me?”
“No. I heard you yawn. Put the communication device on your wrist.”
“Why?”
“So it will be easier to carry.”
Angel placed it against the back of her wrist.
Slithering across her skin, a sensation that made her arm hairs stand on end, the communication device molded itself around her wrist. In moments, she wore a shiny gold bracelet, the outside still decorated with swirly lines resembling hair. The screen disappeared as the metal flowed over it.
“If you could give me access to your implants, it would make things easier.”
The girl’s—the program’s—request gave Angel pause. Still, with the Inquisitors’ built-in safeguards, there wasn’t anything it could do to harm her. She stared at the electronic connecting socket from the device, blinking in her implant’s request function. She granted admission. “Level three access only,” she said.
[Thank you. That’s much better. Though it’s strange for me to communicate this way.]
“Strange for a program? That seems unlikely.”
[I don’t get to talk to many people, is what I mean.]
“Uh-huh.”
[You’re the fourth person I’ve ever spoken to.]
Even through the subvocalization, Angel could sense the poor girl’s distress. I’m the fourth person she’s ever spoken to? What have these people done to her? Though she seems remarkably well adjusted for a child who’s been kept captive and sheltered.
“Well, I’ll free you; then we’ll look at our options. There’s not much I can do for you at the moment, but I’m sure we’ll be able to place you in someone’s care.”
[I’d prefer to make my own way, if that’s possible.]
“I don’t think it is, but we’ll see once this misunderstanding I’m in the middle of is cleared up.”
[I don’t think it will be.]
Angel knew Charlotte-Rose was right. “I need to set the record straight. I didn’t kill Viktor.”
[But you did kill Xavier.]
“He was trying to kill me.”
[And now you’re on the run with the planet’s law enforcement out to kill you. Coincidence after coincidence.]
She’d been in sticky situations before, but this one was the most bizarre by far. She needed to find out who’d really killed Viktor and set Xavier onto her. The obvious candidate was Mercurial Logic Incorporated. After all was stripped away, Xavier was no more than a paid thug. Someone had to be pulling his strings, but whether it was his employer or someone else behind the scenes remained to be established.
They were going to keep coming after her unless she rescued Charlotte. Her gut told her the girl was key to what was happening—and she could be used as dirt on Mercurial or perhaps as a bargaining chip. But Angel didn’t know whether the door Charlotte opened would lead to answers, or more questions.
Chapter 6
Angel input the circuitous route Charlotte-Rose had given her, and the taxi hummed down the streets of the city. Occasionally, she had it stop, and opened and closed the door, resetting the meter, as if it had dropped someone off and picked up a new passenger. It was chewing through her credits, but not alarmingly so. She had no idea what she would be up against after she’d freed Charlotte-Rose, and that made her cautious.
Her simple search algorithm had turned up an unsolved case of an infant girl’s kidnapping a few years ago. A girl called Charlotte-Rose. There had been no clues, no ransom, and no body, and the case had grown cold quickly. If one of the corporations had kidnapped her and used her for experiments, there would be massive repercussions. Ones Mercurial Logic Incorporated would do just about anything to avoid.
[They won’t know you’re coming, and I’ve planned this to the tiniest detail. You’ll be all right, unless there’s a slip-up. But I’ve prepared for a certain number of contingencies as well.]
“A certain number,” said Angel. “How many is that? I can count about a hundred things that could go wrong, even before I reach you.”
[I’ve calculated there is a seventeen percent chance of interruption, and a three percent chance we’ll have to abort.]
“And what’s the chance I take a bullet?” Angel replied, half joking.
[Less than one percent.]
Angel slunk further down in the taxi’s spongy seat, even though she’d set the windows to maximum reflection and no one could po
ssibly see inside. Nights never became too dark in the city, as energy was cheap and the corporations liked their citizens to be well illuminated, no doubt to make them feel safer and reduce any possible crime.
For the tenth time, she checked her weapons to take her mind off what she was about to do. As if the situation wasn’t complicated enough, she had to agree to rescue a child from inside the headquarters of one of the richest and most powerful corporations since the Desolation Wars.
And she was relying on that uncannily intelligent child to come up with the breakout plan.
Angel shook her head, biting her bottom lip.
Charlotte-Rose had told her that she knew the complex where she was being held intimately from the information her program had brought back to her. And because her program originated from inside the security surrounding the building, it had been able to pick up access codes and passwords to allow it virtually free rein. It was an assertion Angel found almost plausible, apart from the niggling sensation at the back of her mind that it was too easy. Hey, break me out of prison; and by the way, you don’t have to do anything. Just come in and pick me up, and we’ll be on our way.
Too easy by half.
She clenched her fists and breathed deeply, gazing out the window as trees and glowing lampposts flashed past.
“So, I don’t have to worry about getting you out?”
[No, it’s all planned. You’ll see, once you’re inside.]
“But you can’t, or won’t, tell me now.”
[Well… just in case… you know…]
“In case I’m captured? I see. Then your escape plan might become known.”
It sounded an awful lot like she was expendable. What had they done to the poor girl to make her think like this? Nothing good.
Angel knew a lot about isolation and oppression from her own childhood. Cold lonely nights locked away from the others: punishment for misbehaving. The real House siblings treating the adopted children like trash.
Charlotte-Rose’s plight struck a chord with her. It also brought to the surface some memories she’d tried hard to suppress. Her hand moved up to touch her photo through her jacket pocket.
“Charlotte-Rose, can you run through entry to the facility? I’ll need to know where I’m going and what I’m doing, at least.”
There was a pause, as if Charlotte-Rose were considering denying her request.
[Very well. And please, call me Charlotte.]
Thank you, thought Angel. “Will do.”
[The taxi will drop you off at the employees’ entrance at the back. At this time of night, no one’s around. I’ll open the door for you—]
“Won’t that trigger an alarm?” interrupted Angel. “A door opening when it’s not supposed to.”
[No, I can override low-level security. It’s only when you get deeper into the complex that I’ll need your help. Can I continue?]
Touchy. “You may.”
[Once inside, you’ll hide in one of the automated floor cleaners. I’ll reprogram it to head down through the outer security levels, and you’ll get out and make your way through another security door, which will give you access to my level.]
“Easy.” Too easy by half.
[It should be, if all goes well.]
“Then, let’s hope it does.”
Angel’s weight shifted as the taxi took a sharp left turn, her right shoulder pressing into the padding.
[You’re almost here.]
Excitement tinged Charlotte’s voice, and Angel smiled. Whatever the eventual fate of this strange girl, at least she’d be free to make her own way. No court on any of the planets would allow a corporation to lock her up again for whatever experiments they were conducting. This would mean the downfall of Mercurial Logic. If they’d had a hand in Viktor’s death and sending Xavier after her, as seemed likely, that’d be another nail in their coffin. She needed to expose Mercurial and get revenge for Viktor’s death. Helping Charlotte wasn’t the only reason she was here.
The taxi slowed to a stop, and the door opened.
Angel exited and stretched her aching legs. In front of her was a solid metal door with no handles. On the right, a keyboard with a flashing green light winked at her.
There was a click, the door opened outward, and for a brief moment panic washed through her. If this is a trap… Before she knew it, her hand-cannon was aimed at the opening.
Air blew against her from the higher pressure inside, and she blinked at the bright lights illuminating the corridor beyond. Angel breathed a sigh of relief and holstered her weapon.
The taxi drove silently away, and she stepped through the doorway.
[Third door on the left. It’s forty-three meters ahead.]
Angel nodded, assuming Charlotte or her program was watching her through the building’s security cameras. Once the outside door had opened and no alarms sounded, Angel felt slightly more reassured Charlotte knew what she was doing; and that meant she should be able to help Angel clear her name.
“You’re scrubbing the camera recordings?”
[Of course.]
Angel slipped through the door and into a room, which had to be the main scrub-bot warehouse. Rows of sparkling machines sat unmoving in ruler-straight lines, from small brush-covered automatons designed for air-conditioning ducts to the larger floor cleaners.
As Angel paused, one of the floor polishers hummed to life and broke ranks. A yellow warning light began flashing on its roof, and it rolled over to her.
“Can you turn that off?”
[It would look unusual. It’s for safety.]
Grunting, Angel pulled the handle on the side, and a hatch slid open. Inside was a space just big enough for her to fit if she squeezed into a ball.
[I know it’ll be uncomfortable, but it’ll only be for a short time. I promise.]
Angel scrunched into the hole, nose pressing against her knees. She could smell the sweat and dirt on her trousers. It wasn’t long before the air inside became fuggy as the automaton wound its way to wherever it was going.
Why was she doing this on the say-so of a young girl she’d never met? Should she just leave and return when she had more information? But Charlotte had made it clear it was now or never, that all the variables in her plan had favorable probabilities at this particular time.
And she needed to do something to damage Mercurial. For Viktor.
At least no one would be looking for Inquisitor Xia of the House of Liwei in the bowels of Mercurial Logic, inside a bloody scrub-bot.
Her cleaner bumped to a stop.
[We’re here.]
Angel kicked the hatch open, and blissfully fresh air wafted over her. She untangled herself and groaned as she climbed out of her hole.
“There’s only one of us here, Charlotte.”
[I’m with you in spirit. And when we get out of here, I’ll owe you more than I’ll ever be able to repay.]
“Just live a good life.”
[I’ll… live.]
“And stay out of trouble.”
[I’ll try, but I can’t guarantee it.]
“That’s all any of us can do.”
The cleaner beeped, and the yellow light flashed as it moved on, leaving Angel looking around, checking to see if anyone had seen her exit. The place was as quiet as a tomb and just as cold. She shivered and rubbed her arms. She must be close to the building’s main computer servers for it to be so chilly, as they’d be kept at close to freezing.
Two wall panels stood out from the usual gray plascrete, their metal polished to a mirror brightness.
“This is the door?”
[Yes.]
Angel frowned at the brief response. The wall panels were unmarked by any lock she could see, and to either side there was no keyboard or keypad, nor a scanner. Then she twigged.
“I’ll need to blast my way through.”
[Ah… yes. If that’s all right with you?]
“It’s a bit late to pull out now. What’s the door made from?”
[Steel, cobalt, and… uranium.]
Angel licked her lips. “That’ll take some getting through, and I’ll set off the alarms.”
[They’re taken care of, and if you’ll please step aside.]
A humming came from behind her as another floor-cleaning automaton rolled toward the door. It beeped.
[Inside.]
Angel opened the hatch to reveal a midnight black ball the size of her fist. Its surface was covered with dozens of flat hexagons. She recognized the unstable device from her antiterrorist training.
“Where did you get this? And how did you get it through security?”
[It’s from Mercurial’s own stores. It was a simple matter to erase its existence from the records and have it transported here.]
“Why would they—no, don’t tell me; I don’t want to know. Where’s the detonator?”
[You’ll have to shoot it.]
This just gets better and better. “You’re not serious.”
[It’s all I could come up with. It’ll work.]
“It had better.”
Angel struggled to lift the heavy bomb out of the cleaner, only just managing to avoid dropping it on her foot. On the floor, it was easier to manage, and she rolled it against the door.
Glancing back at the ball, she followed the cleaner as it trundled down the corridor, then told Charlotte to have it stop when she was about fifty meters away from the door.
Drawing her hand-cannon, Angel rested it on top of the cleaner and switched her ammunition type to armor-piercing/incendiary. She flipped up the scope and trained the guidance laser on the black ball. Mini-processors collated the data from the laser, which fed back to her retinal display.
INCENDIARY TARGET. CONFIRM?
“Confirmed,” Angel said, and squeezed the trigger.
The ball erupted in a flare of white light, terrifying and pure and beautiful, cascading over the door and down the corridor. Angel’s retinal implants blinked to black to protect her sight, and she ducked behind the cleaner before the reaction could complete.
Inquisitor Page 7
