Jun chuckled nervously. His obvious effort to avoid looking anywhere near her breasts left him staring into her eyes with a manic smile.
“I might.” Kate rubbed her face with both hands. Yeah, this is going to blow. “Lieutenant?”
“Yes, Solomon?”
“Do you know what my assignment will be when I ‘graduate?’ What are the chances I could get posted in Querq?”
“What is Querq?”
“The Badlands outpost.”
“Oh, that.” Lieutenant Drake raised both eyebrows. “It’s unusual to have someone asking for that assignment. Just about everyone else is scrambling to beg off it. I suppose if you actually want to go out there, it’ll probably happen for you… but, it’s too early to say.”
Kate walked over and sat on her training station. The thick faux-leather pads radiated coolness through her thin uniform. For a moment, she perched on the edge, letting her feet sway back and forth.
“Most trainees remove their utility belt and boots for comfort,” said Jun. “There are lockers.” He pointed to the inside of the alcove that covered half of the thing she’d spend eight hours a day for the next thirty-two ‘sleeping’ on.
“Whatever,” muttered Kate.
She stashed her belt, boots, and left forearm guard with all its electronics in the locker and hopped back on the table. Jun hovered behind the headrest holding a sleek silver helmet with a wire bundle coming out of the side. Once she settled in, he slipped it over her head and walked to the wall opposite the locker. A bank of holo-panels surrounded him with slabs of light. He poked at them, causing the glow to shift and flicker.
“When you are comfortable, pull the visor down. There’s a small sliding switch in the middle of the helmet.”
Kate figured she’d already gotten as comfortable as she could. She reached up, found the knob, and slid it downward. A black visor-shaped shield covered her eyes and made everything dark.
“Relax like you’re going to sleep.”
“Yeah, I know the drill. Been spending a lot of time with my Yume lately.”
“Nice, what game?” asked Jun.
“Requiem Excelsior.”
Beeps and boops emanated from nearby. “Oh, I loved that one, but the third map was so annoying. Took me a month to figure out I had to boost across open space to the other half of the ship.”
“Right? Ugh. I hate that level.”
“Okay, starting the sim now. Try to relax. And there are no aliens in this one.” He chuckled.
Jun’s muted voice sounded far away. Kate took a deep breath and tried to relax. A wave of vertigo came and went, as though she’d fallen down into the chair/bed. She jerked upright, yelping from the sense of plummeting, and found herself seated at a desk in a university-style classroom.
A brilliant point of light, at about head level appeared, split into two, and traced the outline of a humanoid figure entirely of silver wireframe.
“Good morning, Officer Solomon,” said a voice neither male nor female. “I am Gnosis version 6.331. I will be your instructional guide for the foreseeable future. At this time, for maximum comfort in your learning experience, you may customize me to your liking. Please select male or female.”
Kate stared up at the white drop ceiling tiles and beige aluminum strips. Someone had decided to make the room look like a pre-war school, even down to a chalkboard with actual chalk. Well, actual in a virtual sense. She shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, not wanting to deal with that particular philosophical conundrum. David had been a perfect gentleman so far, but the mere thought of him stirred something in her nether regions. She didn’t want to be stuck alone in a room with a man for days unless it was him.
“Female.”
The wireframe changed its proportions to a female outline. Floating control bars allowed for the adjustment of height, body thickness, breast size, hip size, and a thousand other conceivable ways to tweak appearance. Kate had trouble thinking of any woman in her life whom she had admired or had felt the least bit motherly to her. Althea came to mind first, but the AI wouldn’t let her make it short enough to be a child, never mind how awkward it would be to have an eleven-year-old professor. Kate played with the controls.
By the time she finished, Pixie, almost, stared back at her.
Getting her out of a C-Branch facility was the second best thing anyone had ever done for her. Kate propped her chin on her palm, elbow on the desk, wondering what had become of the woman. She couldn’t help but feel a bit bad for her, shivering at the memory of when Archon attempted to overwhelm her mind.
“Confirm settings?” asked Gnosis 6.331.
Something seemed off.
“Can you do a British accent?”
The virtual woman walked to the chalkboard. “Aye. Right, let’s get on with it, shall we?”
20
External Influence
Aurora
The skyline of West City shimmered with an uncountable number of small lights moving within a permanent haze of violet and indigo. Rain fell straight and strong, filling the windless night with a continuous hiss Aurora found soothing. A veritable lake had gathered on the roof, deep enough to cover her feet. The textured surface mimicked thousands of pea-sized stones adhered together, like walking on a massage.
Rivulets of water ran down her bare skin, streaming off her breasts and outstretched arms. Long abandoned by civilized people, Sector 10081 remained quiet, unusually free of gunfire. Even the augmented crazies and fringers sought cover from the heavy rain. At least ten miles in all directions separated her from the still-functioning parts of West City and all the associated noise of it. Not even advert bots ventured here.
A pleasant forest it was not.
However, she did find it preferable to the abandoned power station, or that dreadful hotel in East City. She peered over the edge, watching a pair of young men patrol the grounds. A small spectral army of mutilated cyborgs followed them, still clueless why their guns wouldn’t fire. A huge man rushed at the teens, pale, bare-chested, and with two black metal legs connected to a rebuilt, mechanical pelvis. He rounded a nine-foot-long sword, slicing it through both of them in one swing.
The boys reacted with mild shivers, enraging the giant even more.
Aurora laughed. She always found new spirits amusing.
She moved away from the edge, allowing herself the amusement of dancing in the rain. The only thing that would make the night perfect would be a colder downpour. For the better part of half an hour, she pirouetted, swayed, and leapt about like an amateur ballerina. Maybe someone watched her from one of the distant broken high rises. Imagining the thoughts a voyeur would have made her laugh. She glanced around as she continued, hoping to spot a pair of eyes on her.
Moments later, she got her wish as a man in a long, green trench coat emerged from between two massive air conditioning units. Baggy black pants, military fatigues with too many pockets, clung to his legs in front. A sheen of moonlight made them look wet. Unkempt, curly dark hair hung to his belt, obscuring a dingy t-shirt stained with blood. Sunken eyes fixed her with a malicious stare, unblinking as he strode right at her. His heavy boots didn’t disturb the water.
Aurora stopped dancing, leaving her arms above her head for a few seconds to accentuate her chest. “What’s the matter, Theodore? You look angry. Aren’t you enjoying the view?”
Theodore walked through a waist-high metal box by a broken obelisk transmitter three times his height. His legs coalesced back out of vapor as soon as he cleared it.
“Well, what is it?” She lowered her arms. “What’s got you in a bad mood then?”
“No luck. I think your fucked up eyes are losin’ their mojo. Far as I could tell, that Flatline shithead couldn’t find a trace of the kid’s mom. Say, how old did you say the girl was?”
“Hah.” Aurora lost the ability to speak for a moment, trying to contain the laugh. “First of all, she’s far too young, even for you. Secondly, if I were you, I wouldn’t
provoke that one.”
“Oh, what’s she gonna do? There’s only one person I know who can do anything to me more than scream, and we’re best friends.” He started to smile at her, but wound up sighing. “You could at least act uncomfortable havin’ me stare at your tits.”
“What about your friends? The old ghosts?” Aurora sauntered past him, taking a seat on the electronics cabinet by the antenna in a rather immodest pose. “Is this better?”
“You mean The Kind?” Theodore’s eyes darkened. She grinned at her small amount of revenge for all the women he must have tormented over the years. Her utter lack of embarrassment seemed to anger him.
After a moment of staring, he rushed at her. A weak scintillating glow swept over his hands, and he grabbed her by the throat. Other than being icy, he felt solid. An instant of concentration pulled her bodily across the veil. The color of the world around her washed out to tones of sepia and the rain ceased touching her. A steady breeze blew from the south, pushing her long hair to the right. Theodore took on a luminous, transparent appearance that flickered bright with every small motion, as if an intense spotlight only shone on him.
“If you wanted to touch, all you had to do was ask, Theo.” Aurora winked and grabbed his crotch.
“Gah.” He jumped back. “What the fuck?”
“I’m here.” She hopped down to her feet, hands on her hips. “Are you sure all you want to do is cop a feel?”
“Fuck you.” He stomped around in a circle.
“That’s the offer.” She twirled some hair around her fingers, pouting. “Where are you going?”
Theodore stopped with his back to her, hands clenched into fists. “You know I can’t. No spirit can.”
She almost felt bad. Almost. Of course, she knew that. “Pity. Did you do that little favor I asked of you?”
“Yeah, yeah.” He glanced at her. “You’re a freaky bitch, you know that?”
Aurora held her hands up, as if innocent. “So I’ve been told.” She slipped out of the astral world. Water around her feet burst into splashes as if she had stomped, hard.
“None of The Kind know thing one about it. We felt the blast about eleven years ago, give or take a couple months. Was like the wall between the… the…” Theodore held his hands out as if trying to grab a word.
“Planes?”
“Whatever. I ain’t understanding that esoteric bullshit. Planes, dimensions, realities… whatever. I guess that works. Anyway, this ripple came wobblin’ through the veil, makin’ everything all blurry and shit, right? We figure, was a lot of people probably died in one shot for that to happen.”
“Well, if by a lot you mean about twenty-three, then yes. The ripple was something else. It wasn’t what they were attempting to do, but they managed to open a portal to another realm, rather than a faraway point in this one.” Aurora tapped a finger to her cheek. “Granted, it stayed open for less than one fortieth of a second. Long enough for something to slip in.”
“How the hell do you know that?”
She smiled. “A girl never tells her secrets.”
“Bullshit. You ain’t no girl with tits that size.”
“Oh, fine, killjoy. I had a nice chat with Dr. Hitesh Rao. He’s the bloke what designed the thing that exploded. In return for my assistance in coaching him on the fundamentals of his new ghostiness, he explained it. Most of it went straight over my head, but I got the crucial bits.” She leaned back, enjoying the rain on her nakedness for a moment. “Poor man still doesn’t believe he’s dead.”
Theodore shrugged. “Couldn’t find shit. No trace, no one saw her, nothing. She ain’t alive, she ain’t dead. Like she just stopped being. My guess is she got ganked out there in the nowhere and got a ticket to the silver door right quick like.”
Muted clanking mixed with the sound of the rain.
Aurora slouched. “Darn. Oh, well, I should’ve guessed. You might want to disappear in a moment.”
“Whatever for?” Theodore leaned toward her. “Tired of disappointing me already?”
“James is on his way up here.”
“Oh noes.” He feigned cowering. “Not James. Must be bad if you sensed it before it happened.”
“Suit yourself, and no, I can hear his boots on the stairs.”
“Did you just try to roll your eyes? You do realize they’re like… all black. Rollin’ em doesn’t do any good ‘cause no one can fuckin notice.”
Aurora held up two fingers.
“Two?” Theodore blinked. “Two what?”
“Oh, bloody hell. Fecking Americans.” She switched to a middle finger over her shoulder as she walked away. “There, does that about do it?”
“I think I’ll stick around to watch you squirm.”
“You’ll be waiting awhile, Theodore.”
She wandered to the edge and gazed once more upon the city. Rusty hinges squeaked. Archon grunted, forcing a door that long ago stopped working on automatic. Aurora enjoyed a few more minutes of rain while Archon crept across the roof. The sound of clattering upon sheet metal grew louder. The oddity of the noise made her look; a dented five-foot square slab of rolled steel hovered over him, performing the function of an umbrella.
“Good heavens, Lauren.” Archon made displeased noises while examining his shoes. “Do you have any idea how much these cost?”
“I don’t, but I’m sure you will educate me any moment.”
Theodore, looking disappointed, sank into the roof.
“Why are you traipsing about without a kit?” Archon raised an eyebrow. “It’s raining.”
“If you don’t know me by now, dear. Why are you wearing clothes?” She glanced at him for a second before a distant zooming red light caught her eye.
He tilted his head at her in astonishment, mute for a few seconds. “Why am I… It is what people do.”
“Well, there you ’ave it.” She admired herself. “Given the downpour, I’d rather not be stuck in a sopping wet kit.”
“Forget it. Your wardrobe choices are the last thing on my mind at the moment. Where is my ship? Did you think it would be amusing to watch me fume when Mamoru toddled off with it?”
“I’m clairvoyant, James—not omniscient.”
“So you have no idea if some dogsbody across the alley is about to take a pot shot at us?”
“Of course I do.” Aurora gazed up past rain at the roiling indigo smog. He’ll never understand. “Unless I rather loathed the person, I’d see it a few seconds to a minute beforehand. The more emotional investment I’ve got in their survival, the more forewarning. Remember when Gordon slipped your control and tried to pop Anna in Lord Thompson’s office? Now”—she held a hand up as if stopping traffic—”before you go off on a ramble about the one percent of the one percent that gets precognitive visions about total strangers, yes, I do. However, that does not mean I see every little bloody detail months ahead of time. If someone’s going to blow up a PubTran bus, I won’t know if he decides to stop for a quick wank on his way there.”
“A three thousand foot long starship going missing is hardly a trivial detail.” Archon’s improvised umbrella shuddered as some of his rage leaked into his telekinetic grasp. “How could you fail to see that? I have been trying to convince myself you are not deliberate in your sabotage.”
She pivoted; the rain running over her cheeks made a good stand in for tears on her pouting face. “James… You know I could never act against you.”
He fidgeted, shifting in a futile attempt to keep water out of his overpriced dress shoes.
“I suspect some manner of external influence has altered the course of Mamoru’s destiny.”
“External influence?” He blinked. “Explain to me again, in as much detail as you need, how exactly you failed to see this coming?”
“If I didn’t see it, chances are it will wind up being ultimately meaningless.” She gazed out upon the city over dark towers dotted with spots of light, an obelisk garden standing amid drifts of glowing smog. The quiet
somberness made her kick at the water like a child playing in a puddle.
“You have seen the ship’s arrival then?”
A shiver ran down her back. The soft violet light in the mist shifted to a torrent of liquid flames in her imagination. Skyscrapers faltered and toppled. She closed her eyes to stop the vision. “Yes.”
He put a hand on her shoulder. “Something is bothering you.”
Aurora looked at him, for an instant pondering seeking solace in his arms. The concern in his eyes might have been for her; more likely, he worried for his dreams and what her sudden drop in mood meant for his plans. Of course, it was rather difficult to lie to a man who made a living at it.
She steeled herself and put on a plastic smile. “Not everything comes to pass exactly in the manner I foresee it.”
“You saw something.” His tone darkened.
“That external influence I mentioned. Something wants you to fail. Perhaps Mamoru’s sister found him.”
“Nonsense. The woman is not even psionic.” He scoffed. “She is of no concern.”
“Well, I suppose that leaves the ‘sentient Badlands drivel.’ Of course, you don’t believe in that.”
“Perhaps you should find a proper bed and sleep with thoughts of our starship dancing about in your mind?” He gestured at the metal floating overhead. “This racket is unbearable. You are certain he will turn up then? With the ship?”
“Mamoru will bring the CSS Angel here.” She refused to look at the city, afraid of confronting her estimation of possible versus probable. “Without a doubt.”
21
Soft on the Outside
Anna
Angel Descended (The Awakened Book 6) Page 23
