by JM Guillen
“Right.” I nodded. “And?”
“Michael, the Sadhana Corporation is connected to seventy-eight known and wanted Irrationals, and they are in contact with dozens more. They have a very active force of talent scouts on their payroll, headhunters who know the kinds of things to look for when searching out blossoming Irrational talent.”
“They’re—” I swallowed. “They’re recruiting Irrats?”
“Right.” He gave me a single slow nod.
“So…” I shook my head, like I was bothered by a gnat. “So they want—?”
The conduit behind us began to sing and softly glow.
I raised an eyebrow at it. “We’re expecting more company?” I took another drag on my smoke.
“Oh, yes.” Gideon leaned back in his seat. “You’re a wreck, Asset.” He chuckled. “For a man who has only been active for a little over two hours, you’ve certainly gotten torn up.”
“Hey.” I sat up a touch, as if affronted. “I take pride in what I do, thank you.”
As I spoke, the conduit flashed brighter and a loud CRACK! resounded across the room.
Rachel Gardner, Caduceus-class Asset, strode into the room, a wispy haze making a half-halo around her head.
“Oh,” I sighed, not taking my eyes off her. “Good.” My tone held just the faintest twinge of sarcasm.
“Rachel is the best we have, and you know it.” Gideon smiled.
“Oh, I do know it.” I smiled as she drew closer. “I’ve suffered her tender ministrations before, after all.”
“You only suffer because you won’t do as you’re told.” Rachel grinned at me as she walked over, already tapping the display on her forearm. “Honestly, Bishop, I wonder if you have any idea how much it costs the Facility just to keep you operational?”
“I’m worth every penny; I guarantee it.” I gave her my most winsome smile. “Besides, we both know you’re not in this for the money. I think you request this duty.”
She turned to Gideon. “You can still brief him if I have his viral mecha turn off his speech centers, right?”
“It might actually be easier.” He beamed at me. “Most of the time I can’t get him to shut up.”
I hung my head.
“Don’t mind me, not that you ever do.” Rachel fixed me with sharp green eyes. “You boys can talk about your big important business while I work.” She glanced at Gideon. “Unless you’re discussing things I shouldn’t know about?”
“No.” He gestured for her to go ahead. “You and Wyatt all have the same info on the situation. I only have to get pretty boy caught up.”
“Well…” She made a show of looking me up and down. “He’s not that pretty.”
“Everyone’s a critic.” I turned to Gideon.
“Wait.” Rachel looked from her display to me. “Bishop, have your packets been uncoupled?” She tapped her forearm a few times and blew a strand of hair from her face before looking at me. “How in the hell did you recouple your packets without losing consciousness?”
“Um,” I cleverly replied, “Carefully?”
I thought she might have an aneurism right there.
“Keep still.” She poked at her interface, each finger a tiny jab of anger. “I’ll try not to offload your long term memory while I work. No guarantees.”
Gideon picked up as if we hadn’t been interrupted at all. “So you asked who we’re cleaning up after.” He took a deep breath.
“I hope you’re not going to say me.” I grimaced as Rachel prodded at the hole a certain Artisan Asset had made in my shoulder. “I couldn’t possibly know how important those Sadhana doors would be.”
“No, not at all.” Gideon ran his hand over the scruff on his face. “No, but think: the Facility is investigating a corporation, specifically one that, to all appearances, simply deals with acquisitions and mergers. Now who do you think is going to deal with that sort of thing?”
I knew the answer before he stopped speaking.
“A Facility Liaison.” I breathed the words more than spoke them. “They sent a fucking Liaison to infiltrate the company, didn’t they?”
Gideon nodded. “Of course they did. Facility Liaison 702, Demetrius Stone. Positioned inside the company less than six weeks after you returned from Dossier K91-1998.”
“Six weeks.” That took some thinking. “So you’re saying that while I was kidnapped by a Vyriim provocateur and held in locations unknown, this Facility Liaison had already infiltrated Sadhana?”
“Kidnapped by your girlfriend,” Rachel mumbled under her breath, as she tried not to laugh.
I shot her a dirty look.
“Essentially, yes.” Gideon agreed.
“That was a long, messy mission. The thought makes my head hurt.”
“No, that’s hormonal toxicity.” Rachel gave me a flat look. “It’s because some dumbass uncoupled, then recoupled his Spectre. I’m clearing it now.”
“Stone has been in deep cover for nearly sixteen months. He has transmitted terabytes of data regarding Sadhana’s movements, holdings, and associates. His work has been absolutely invaluable.”
“But—” I winced as Rachel performed some foul act of sorcery, causing a jolt of pain to surge along my spine. “There has to be a ‘but,’ or we wouldn’t be here.”
“Yes.” Gideon nodded as Wyatt shot another spike, this time into the wall. “It started a few weeks ago, when Stone became aware of a top-secret project at Sadhana.”
“A new model of Caduceus, maybe?” I scowled at Rachel.
She gently smacked the back of my head.
“No.”
“Wait. You said that the Vyriim had friends—?”
“Stone claims that Sadhana’s relationship with the Vyriim altered significantly after Dossier K91-1998.” He regarded me thoughtfully. “It’s probable that most of the humans you met during that dossier had actually been hired by Sadhana.”
I remembered all the suits in gas masks and their creepy retro-70s office.
Gideon continued, “No, according to Liaison Stone, the Sadhana Corporation is on the verge of mastering their own form of conduit technology.” He raised an eyebrow at me, as if waiting my response.
“No shit?” My eyes went wide.
Altering space-time could cause significant problems; it constituted one of the foundations for Rational physics. Hell, even the Facility had to be exacting when creating conduits.
If an Irrational organization had the capability to alter space-time at their whim, for large numbers of people…
“Of course, this matter escalated to primary importance.”
“I’d fucking say so!” I could imagine Stone would be immediately commanded to determine the source of their new technology and do everything in his power to disable, steal, or destroy it.
“This is where things get dicey.” Gideon leaned back in his chair. “Over the course of the last week, Stone drew close to the source of the Irrational technology.”
“He’s not getting that and keeping his cover, I’d guess.” I cocked my head, a thought occurring to me. “You still haven’t told me why we have to clean up his mess-sss!” My breath caught with a hiss as Rachel tapped at her interface.
She gave me an angelic smile.
“The extraction went wrong.” Gideon cleared his throat. “Stone was queued to this location—”
“What is this location?” I vaguely gestured around us. “I’ve never heard of a Facility location named The Spire, for that matter, a Facility location with any name.”
“Well…” Gideon gave me a wan smile. “There is a reason for that. This is a Facility black site—”
“Aren’t they all Facility black sites?” I gave Gideon a disbelieving glance. “Isn’t every single Facility location considered a black site?”
“Not like this. The Spire is a black site dedicated to certain Facility transmissions and, more importantly, the maintenance of Hyper-Rationality.” He seemed to search a moment for the proper words. “The entire str
ucture is like one gigantic dampening grenade, but to a factor of ten thousand. When completely functional, it is practically impossible for any non-Facility source to alter axiomatic reality in this location.”
“When completely functional.” I had picked up on the only part of his sentence that truly mattered.
“Right.” Gideon nodded. “When the Gatekeeper Asset created a conduit to Stone’s location, the other locus rested several stories beneath where we stand now.”
“Because no matter how cool Sadhana’s new toy might be, it would be safe there. The Designates figured that the source of Hyper-Rationality down in the basement would keep the Sadhana conduit technology in check.”
“Pretty and smart.” He chuckled. “Although we don’t know the specifics, we do know that when Stone stepped through, the conduit exploded. Rifts into another, unknown topia tore through The Spire like a shotgun blast through soft cheese.”
“Unknown topia?” The pieces shifted together for me. “The source of the symbiont blooms.”
“Correct.”
“And Stone?”
“Location unknown, although believed to still be within the Ryuu Tower, the corporate building where he was assigned.”
“Tech adrift?”
“Affirmative. The same holds true for the Gatekeeper Asset who created the conduit, one Sofia Delacruz.”
“Damn.”
“We still don’t have access to Sadhana’s technology, Stone, or the Gatekeeper Asset.” Gideon rubbed his hand over his face. “It’s cleanup. A whole lot of it.”
“I can understand why it’s the kind of mission you hate.” I took a last drag on my cigarette and then nodded to Gideon. “Lots of loose ends.”
“Right.” Gideon gave a rueful chuckle. “Fortunately, the Designates have their very finest on the job.”
“Does he mean me?” Rachel looked up from her interface. “I’m flattered, but I don’t know that I…”
I rolled my eyes at her, but she smiled.
“I’m done with him, Gideon.” Rachel stood from where she had been squatting in front of me, her eyes focused on the interface attached to her forearm.
“I assume he’s status green.”
“As green as he ever gets.” She looked at me. “Honestly, I don’t know what you did to uncouple your packets, but if you do it again, we’re going to have a long chat.”
“Over dinner, I assume.” I nodded slowly, as if deep in thought, and glanced at Gideon. “Hitting on me is very unprofessional, Rachel.”
“Oh, I’m going to hit on you.” She clenched a fist, pounded it into her palm, and grinned. Laughing, she turned to our Alpha. “I’m going to go calibrate the required viral mecha reserves, in accordance with my dossier.” She let her eyes flick to me and then back to him. “If you need me to deal with frat boy further, let me know.”
“Understood, Caduceus.” He gave her a nod.
Rachel professionally stuck her tongue out at me, and then she walked away.
When I faced Gideon again, his eyes had turned serious. “Finish that up.” He nodded toward the cancer stick in my hand.
I took the last drag on my cigarette and then nodded back. “Ready when you are, Catalyst.”
“I hope so, Bishop.” Gideon shook his head, already seeming tired. He sighed. “I truly hope so.”
12
CRACK!
No sooner had I finished my smoke than the conduit flashed again, a brilliant vermillion light crashing through the room.
Two more Assets came through. I didn’t know these men, but like Wyatt, they geared the Artisan packet.
“Over here, Davis.” Wyatt waved to one of the men. “I need you to hold the end of this variance chain.”
The man named Davis nodded, and then began typing away on his input device.
People doing as Wyatt directed? Weird.
“There are a lot of fronts to this particular battle.” Gideon stood and stretched, inviting me to follow him as he walked. “One of my first goals is to stabilize Rationality in the Telemetry Relay Station. That’s what all the tanglers are processing for us now. I’m to oversee their work and then command the other Assets who will be geared and present within the hour or so.”
“I see.” I faced Gideon as I spoke and raised my eyebrows. “That’s quite a bit of responsibility for an Alpha-on-site.”
“You don’t know the half of it.” He toyed with a few of the keys on one of the bizarre-looking typewriter contraptions and then continued, “I have the Catalyst geared because I’m going to have to secure the site while keeping track of you and that redneck gorilla while we send you on a separate dossier.”
“So we aren’t staying onsite?”
“You’re not.” Gideon’s blue eyes seemed almost gray in this light. “The dossier that Wyatt has in his Crown, which he will share with you shortly, will take you two to Japan, an incursion into the Ryuu Tower.”
“We will…?” I quirked the edge of my mouth up thoughtfully. “We’re setting up another conduit to that location?”
“Right.” He raised one hand. “Since the incident of fifteen November, Facility operatives have successfully created a conduit to that location multiple times.”
“Multiple? …Tests?”
“You got it.” He nodded. “The location is secure; the conduit apparently destabilized only because of whatever Stone brought back with him when he stepped through.”
“I see.” I watched Wyatt, brow furrowed.
“You’ll get the entire dossier, but the nuts and bolts are that you will locate and extract Liaison Stone from the Ryuu Tower. We will provide the means to track his Crown, even if he is tech adrift. From there, we should be able to provide a link for Rachel to do a soft sync.”
“Sounds touchy.” Rachel had made it very clear to me on a previous dossier exactly how difficult a soft sync could be.
“There’s a lot we don’t know.” Gideon met my gaze. “At this time we are unaware of the status of the Gatekeeper Asset as well as Sadhana’s conduit technology.”
“Right. Why are we just after Stone? What about this… Delacruz?”
“Though if Sofia was onsite when the destabilization took place, it is unlikely that she is within Ryuu Tower.”
“But obviously, if we discover her…”
“The Designates would very much like to have their Asset returned, as well as the conduit technology.” His smile wavered, but only briefly.
“Okay.” I blew out my breath. “Well, at least it sounds as if we will be remaining within Rationality for this one.”
“We don’t know what the situation will be like in Ryuu Tower.”
“Of course.”
“You will be in contact with me and Rachel for the entire dossier.” He nodded, as if assuring me that he had my back. “Other than this, we really don’t know much about what you will be dealing with.”
“So… Stay fluid?”
“Correct. Fluid.”
“I think we have things handled here.” Wyatt strode over to Gideon and me. “These boys can finish up and keep everything steady. My Crown is online, and everything seems green.”
“Excellent.” Gideon’s head only twitched the tiniest bit as he activated some function of his Solomon’s Crown. He smiled and nodded at Guthrie. “That’s great work.”
“You about ready to get out of this lovely place and start a party?” Wyatt asked me.
“I am.” I grinned at him. “I never thought I’d be so pleased to see your ugly face.”
“Well, you must be addled. I’m gorgeous.” He paused, giving me an appraising look. “Your comm’s still off.”
Right. I’d almost gotten used to being the only one in my head again. I snorted softly and switched it back on.
No weird-ass woman chanted mispronounced numbers in my mind.
Hey. It’s quiet. I looked at Wyatt. You did all right, son.
I did better than alright. He snorted. Your pretty head couldn’t begin to follow the math.
He’s right. I looked at Gideon. I am pretty. Then I glanced back at Wyatt. Does this mean I can have a dossier now?
You know I love schooling you, Bishop. Wyatt grinned. Have at it. With little more than a nod, he ported the dossier to my memory.
I gasped at the sudden sensation in my mind, like quicksilver pouring through my memories.
Just like that, I knew everything I needed to know. I had access to the specifics of one Mr. Demetrius Stone, including a photo of the man, stern and intent. I also had intel on the lovely Ms. Sofia Delacruz, the Gatekeeper Asset who had been lost.
I even had schematics on the Sadhana building, Ryuu Tower, a fifty-two story skyscraper with another eight stories hidden underground.
We’re stepping in at level forty-eight? I looked to Gideon.
Right. He clapped one hand on my shoulder. We’ll be using deep telemetry to find Stone’s latent signal from his Crown. Your Crowns will be used as triangulators, so you’ll need to make a pretty wide sweep.
I nodded and continued trawling through the dossier. I glanced at a few Facility theories regarding the symbiont, classified as Irrational Species 3878, and I even had access to a full timeline on the events of the past few days.
But in the end, we had one primary goal: retrieve and extract Liaison Stone.
We good, Hoss? I didn’t need to look at Wyatt to feel the grin plastered in his wild beard.
I glanced at him anyway. Yep. Everything is green.
If you boys think you’re ready to set out, I can begin operations here. Gideon looked me up and down. That body armor is spent, Michael. Want to requisition another vest?
Probably wise. I paused. I don’t usually wear it, but so far it’s just been that kind of day.
Gideon nodded. We’ve got some more Assets incoming. I’ll have them bring a new vest. He stepped away, already directing the other Artisan Assets.
I’m sure your day’s going to get better. Wyatt gave me a wink as he linked only me. Why, now that I’m here, everything should be five by five.
Right. I rolled my eyes at him. With you on board, I’m certain everything is clear skies from here on out.
Damn right. Wyatt chuckled. Just gotta stay fluid.
