Edge Of The Stars_A Techno Thriller Science Fiction Novel

by Andria Stone

  It spun around, heading for the last human to finish him off.

  Scrambling to reach the nearest gun, Axel stretched his arm out until his hand found the grip. He rolled onto his back to fire the last three shells directly into the cyborg’s right eye as the metal giant bent down to kill him. Then Axel, rolled to the left just before it crashed face first into the gravel floor.

  For a time, Axel’s pounding heartbeat was the only sound he heard. Forcing himself to practice deep breathing techniques, his pulse returned to normal as he came down from the battle and back to the present moment. Only then did he hear a groan disturb the relative silence.

  Kamryn.

  Axel avoided the cyborg as if it were a live grenade. He located his missing gun before he found Kamryn lying in a heap next to a boxed mechanism. The cyborg had been bent over it before they’d interrupted him. “Kam,” he whispered, patting her face.

  “Arm,” she groaned.

  He gently propped her up, noticing blood trickling from a facial wound as he tested both limbs.

  “Ow!” she cried. “Do that one more time, and I’m gonna shoot you in the good leg.”

  “It’s dislocated, Kam.”

  “Aw, shit.” Kamryn took a few deep breaths, gritting her teeth for what came next.

  “On three, okay?” Axel said.

  Kamryn nodded.

  “One…two…” Axel rotated her left arm back into the socket.

  “Oh, black holes and witch's tits, that hurts!” she growled, pounding the ground with her good hand until the agony subsided. “I knew you were going to do it, but it still hurts.”

  “You need painkillers?”

  “I’ll self-medicate,” Kamryn said, digging into her vest for a mini syringe of battlefield meds. “How’s Mark?”

  “He’s my next patient.” Axel helped Kamryn back to her feet as he stood, then cast his gaze toward Mark. “When you’re ready, can you take a look at this device back here? The cyborg was working on it.”

  Axel walked over to Mark, and crouched beside him just as he tried to move.

  “I got’cha.” With his augmented arm, Axel helped him stand. “You okay?”

  “Shine a light on your face,” Mark said.

  Axel obliged with the beam from his empty gun.

  “I’m seeing double, unless you’ve grown a twin, too.”

  Using his tablet’s light, Axel inspected Mark's head. Blood had matted his hair near the left temple, and an ugly bump had formed on his forehead. He poked it.

  Mark jerked away. “Agh! What the hell?”

  Axel grinned. “Just a little boo-boo. But it’ll be a nice big goose egg in a couple of hours.”

  Mark rubbed his eyes. “Where’s Kamryn?”

  “Checking out the cyborg’s mystery device.”

  ***

  “It’s a bomb!” she yelled. Kamryn recognized the configuration from her days as a DEA agent and the many courses she’d attended on explosives, among other things. “I know what it is, but I don’t know how to deactivate it.”

  Axel guided Mark over to where she was squatting near the apparatus.

  “My vision’s still blurry,” Mark said. “Is it remote controlled?”

  “I can’t tell. Maybe,” Kamryn said.

  “Wires?”

  “None I can see. Not going to touch anything, either.” She broadcast on her comm, “We took out a cyborg in an underground tunnel below the MMC compound. As a bonus, we found a bomb. Send our coordinates to Essex. We’re leaving.” She sent images of the immobile cyborg along with the explosive device to Petra.

  The Terrans retraced their steps according to Axel’s map of Jace’s route into the tunnels. As they exited, Kamryn found Jace in the alley. “What’re you doing here?”

  Wary of their roughed-up appearance, the kid hung back at first, then approached with caution. “Making sure you guys got out okay. I’m still your guide,” he said. “It might help if you told me what you’re looking for instead of where you want to go.”

  “Not what—who.”

  “The Savant?” Jace’s eyes widened as they flicked from one face to another. The hard stares he received were his answer. “Heard talk of a weird hacker in a building over by the spaceport. Could be him, or not. I’ve never seen him, anyways.”

  “Where did this talk come from and how long ago?”

  “Some port workers were drinking in the bar yesterday talking about a shipment from Meridian. How it was kinda creepy cause it made noises like people crying inside. It was delivered to a building not far away. Just so happens this hacker’s place is where it was sent.”

  Kamryn shoved her tablet toward him, thumbing up the map. “Show me.”

  Jace obliged, thrilled with the chance to use her primo tablet.

  Kamryn scanned the area, enlarging the images, noticing various businesses in the vicinity. “What makes you think a hacker lives there?”

  “My friend’s dad teaches Computer Science. Said he’d noticed suspicious voltage surges over there. Wasn’t nothing else to do, so we checked it out.”

  “You see anything?” Kamryn asked.

  Jace nodded. “Scary looking guys with guns behind a fence, so we never went back.”

  “Why do you believe it’s the Savant?”

  “Got a cousin who delivered Zhang’s Chinese to them. He also delivers to us, twice a week.” Jace rolled his eyes. “He overheard one guy talking to his buddy about someone called Savant.”

  “Don’t move,” Kamryn barked at Jace. She ushered Axel and Mark off a few yards, keeping her voice low. “Since Parker made a partial payment to Argus with clones, she’s probably done the same thing with Dreghor. If he treats them like Victor did…well, I don’t even want to go there. Besides, we need Ohashi to verify the voltage surge tip while we scout the area, to check if what the kid’s saying is true. Then we turn it over to Essex. Mercenaries, I can handle, but where there’s one cyborg, there could be more. I’ve already had my workout for the day,” she rubbed her arm, “don’t want another one.”

  “We can do recon and gather intel,” Axel said, “while Petra hunts through construction records for any tunnels under the building.”

  Mark nodded agreement. “If the authorities raid the place, all avenues of escape must be blocked. Dreghor cannot be allowed to get away.”

  “Do you think Parker could be in there?” Axel searched Mark’s face, then Kamryn’s.

  “I wouldn’t be,” Kamryn said. “Close, maybe, but not under the same roof.”

  “Don’t look at me,” Mark quipped. “My experience second-guessing women lately has been piss-poor.”

  “If Ohashi can get a lock on Dreghor’s position, she might be able to trace his comms and narrow down Parker’s location,” Kamryn added. “We’re closing in, Axel. Now’s not the time to get reckless. This can’t be about one person. The whole planet is at stake here.” She studied his face for any signs that he still harbored thoughts of going rogue. She saw no hint of reckless intent, but the pain was unmistakable; not as much as yesterday, even less than the day before. He was working through it. Axel had fought well earlier, saving his friends as he had done hundreds of times in the past. Kamryn put her hand on his shoulder, bending toward him to whisper, “We all have wounds because we’ve chosen to be soldiers.”

  Axel met her gaze with steady, clear, dark brown eyes and the familiar determined jawline, covered in his usual stubble. “I’m on track.”

  “Good.” Kamryn turned to Jace. “Let’s go.” On the way, she broadcasted their destination, plus everything the kid had told them about the place. She also asked Petra to backtrack records on any shipment from the spaceport to that location, with its origination.

  A ten-minute ride in a pink cab placed them in front of a diner a near the spaceport, a block away from their destination.

  “I’m hungry.” Jace walked over to the door, held it open. “You guys look a little rough. Should probably clean up while I order food.”

&
nbsp; Jace got a table as the trio headed for the restrooms.

  Kamryn checked her weapons first, loaded a fresh clip in her gun, then washed her face, paying particular attention to the cut on her forehead. She opened her shirt, dug into pouches on her vest for tiny tubes of antiseptic and surgical glue, doctored the wound, ruffled her hair, and buttoned herself up before rejoining the others.

  The Terrans devoured a platter of bacon, or what passed for bacon on Mars, plates of delicious pancakes drowned in syrup, and washed it down with two pots of coffee. Jace sat watching them in amazement while he had a faux-burger and fries.

  The icing on the cake, however, came after breakfast, as they stood outside the diner while Kamryn commed Petra for an intel update. Her research had yielded no proof of tunnels under the building in question, yet it had provided confirmation of a large crate sent from Meridian to that exact Polaris address yesterday.

  Ohashi, on the other hand, brought major league heat to the game. Her hacking had scored a home run, not just verifying the kid’s story of voltage surges, but she’d traced comm activity to both Aurora and Meridian, which had ended when Valerie left those cities. Plus, since yesterday, a flurry of activity had been traced from the targeted location to an address in the ritzy area of Havenwoods, not far away.

  ***

  Mark stood with his group behind the diner, hashing out a plan to scope out their target. The overhead dome light emitted a shade of twilight not quite dark enough to see your shadow. Traffic had dwindled, making their presence more noticeable than ever.

  “By chance,” Mark asked, “did either of you bring a bug?”

  Kamryn opened her shirt, plucking a black device half the size of her thumbnail out of a pouch on her vest. “Never leave home without one.”

  “You never cease to amaze me.” Mark gave her a quick hug before she could resist it. He palmed the transmitter in his left hand. “I’m going to plant it on their fence. We can’t all go walking past without looking suspicious. I’ll take the kid. We’re a blond father and son. He’s lost something expensive. I’m making him find it.” Mark was dredging up a memory from his own youth. “You two stay here. I’ll leave my comm open. Come on, Jace.”

  As they walked past the diner, Mark grabbed a handful of Jace’s jacket in one hand while gesturing wildly with the other in mock anger. “Don’t be nervous, just watch me.” They moved down the block, scanning the ground, then cut across and came back by the fence surrounding the building in question. A pair of armed guards lounged near the front gate. “Say, either one of you find a new tablet? My kid lost his birthday present somewhere around here.”

  The guard with facial tattoos said, “Naw, we ain’t seen nothin’.”

  The triple negative grated in Mark’s ears like a knife scraping glass. “Jeez, up close this place looks like a fortress. What is it?” He moved closer to gawk through the fake wrought iron fence. Using sleight of hand, he grabbed a black metal bar as he stuck the transmitter on it.

  The taller guard took a couple steps closer to the gate. “It’s a private building, butthead. Back off and take your dumbass kid with ya.”

  “Sure, no need to get nasty, mister. Come on Bobby, let’s get back to the car.” Mark tugged on the kid’s sleeve as they hurried away. After rejoining the others, Mark asked, “Have you activated it?”

  “Done.” Kamryn’s eyes flashed with excitement. “I sent Petra the code to record every conversation it picks up within a twenty-yard radius, which encompasses the distance between the gate and the house.”

  Mark shook his head. “We are not getting into that compound. Those guards wore fresh uniforms, creases so sharp they’d draw blood, meaning their shift’s just started. Two men per eight-hour shifts, minimum of four more guards in the building, plus an unknown number of staff, maybe even a cyborg. Can’t forget about the crate full of female clones, either. We don’t have a clue where they’re at, or what condition they’re in.

  “The main power has to be cut, except Dreghor probably has a back-up in place.” Mark brightened with a thought. “Wait, remember the CME we experienced on Luna that knocked out all the comm signals? The same thing is needed here. A temporary blackout of all communications in this utility grid, with a simultaneous assault by at least one Martian armored platoon, including a cyber unit for the technical support.”

  “Not bad, Captain Warren,” Axel said, grinning like a drill sergeant whose hard work had turned a civilian into a capable officer.

  Kamryn elbowed Mark in the ribs. “Yeah, but they called you a butthead.”

  A self-satisfied smile lit up Mark’s face. “That’s okay. I’m a badass butthead.”

  Kamryn played along, “Should I send this data to Petra and have her forward it to Essex with your recommendations, Captain?”

  “By all means, Sergeant.” As an aside, Mark added, “Do not send it to Dimitrios. He ordered us not to leave the Space Station. Although, I’m sure they knew we were gone within minutes.”

  “Seconds, Mark, within seconds. They’ve known where we were the whole time. How do you think they found us in Meridian?” Kamryn pointed to her neck. “We’re chipped. They can locate us dead or alive, anywhere in the Sol system.”

  “Yes, I know.” Mark shrugged. “It’s like my heart. It’s there, pumping, but I don’t think about it until I get shot.” Mark turned to the kid, who’d been quiet, and tousled his hair. “Jace, you can leave after you take us to the Havenwoods area.”

  Chapter 17

  They hid on a side street half a block from the address under surveillance, in the shadowed alcove of a store closed for the evening. A pair of carriage lights illuminated the double glass doors of the condo’s lobby.

  From 500 feet away, Axel squinted through a thermal night vision monocular at two figures in maintenance uniforms performing mundane chores in front of a three-story building.

  “No body heat detected. I’m looking at a pair of cyborgs.”

  “Oh, goodie,” Kamryn said. “Nice to know we’re at the right address. Mark’s vision is normal again, but my shoulder isn’t ready for another round.”

  Mark checked the schematics on his tablet. “There’s a service entrance with an emergency escape ladder around back.”

  “Wait, I have movement.” Axel observed a pink cab drop off an elderly woman, who entered through the lobby doors. Both cyborgs followed her inside, disappearing into the same elevator. “Apparently Beth Coulter instructed Valerie in the use of disguises. An old lady with a cane collected both cyborgs, then went inside.”

  Mark calculated aloud, “Victor said there were 23 cyborgs. You discovered one in the Galaxy Club, which I’m assuming the military retrieved. We left six on the tarmac in Aurora. Counting the one we just neutralized, plus these two, maybe Dreghor has a couple, which leaves eleven more. Where? Three or four hiding in underground tunnels of each city? Waiting for instructions to do what? Activate explosives?” He threw his hands in the air. “‘Cry 'Havoc!', and let slip the ‘cyborgs’ of war’?”

  Axel and Kamryn traded puzzled looks.

  “No one reads? Shakespeare?”

  “Shakespeare?” Kamryn moaned.

  Exasperated, Mark grumbled, “We’re on an alien planet by invitation to provide security for our scientist, only because I refused to let Eva come alone. We’re no longer military, have no armor, no authority, are outnumbered, and outgunned. We barely took down one cyborg. I may have a concussion, Kamryn’s suffered a dislocated shoulder. You,” he looked at Axel, “emptied two clips into the cyborg before it fell. Pitting ourselves against two more is suicidal.”

  “He’s right,” Kamryn agreed.

  Axel hung his head. “I know.” His dreams of catching Valerie Parker were growing dimmer as night fell under the dome. His visions of avenging Maeve’s death, or, more to the point, his visions of killing Valerie, had begun to fade. Defeat, an unaccustomed feeling, was a hard weight to bear. His heart cried out for justice, executed by his own hands. The distan
ce to Valerie was less than when his search had begun, yet she seemed more unreachable than ever.

  “If we’d gained entrance to her quarters to ambush her, without knowing about the two cyborgs, non-combatants might have been caught in the crossfire,” Kamryn said. “Essex will receive intel to make sure the military strikes are surgical and simultaneous. It would be useless to take down Dreghor without Parker. Then we need to get off this planet. I have no intention of becoming collateral damage.”

  Axel and Mark stared at her in confusion.

  “I’m Terran,” she said. “This is not my planet. Coulter lived on Terra, therefore, she was our problem. We dealt with it. The Parker’s are Mars’s problem, so they need to grow a pair and deal with it. Circular logic.

  “As an agent, then again as a soldier, I damn near died twice. I’ve been to that precipice. Each time I gained a deeper respect for life. I’m not afraid of dying, but when I do, it’s going to be on the blue planet, not this godforsaken crappy little red dust ball. I have not had a good time here.” Kamryn pulled out her tablet. “I’m going to send an update to Petra, pick up Eva and Rayburn, and get back to the ship so we can take off before shit hits the fan.”

  They waited while Kamryn fired off a message to Petra, then commed Eva to prepare for departure. After waiting much too long for one of the ever-present pink cabs to hover by, they hiked down the street toward the busy T intersection leading straight to the condo. Once they’d reached the corner, none of them could resist the urge to scan the lighted widows for any evidence indicating Parker might be inside.

  Axel ducked behind his friends to bring the monocular to his eye once again. What he saw made his heart stutter. To his knowledge, he’d never felt butterflies in his stomach before, but he imagined this must have been what it felt like.

  “Well, shit on a blue moon. Target spotted.”

  “Parker?” Mark asked. “Where?”

  “No, Dreghor.” Axel offered the instrument to Kamryn. “Top floor, second window in from the right.”

  Kamryn held her tablet up to the device and sighted in on the window to record a vid of the unmistakable albino pacing back and forth, flapping his arms like a disjointed marionette. “He’s hot about something.”