by Wolfe Locke
Niles was strangely happy to be allowed to go with the team. If Grisham had forbidden him, he might have tried to go alone, but without knowing how many were there, he felt it was basically suicide. Besides, with the Colonel looped in, Niles had support on standby, ready to send in help if needed.
They stopped a few blocks from the address the report had provided. He looked at Zander, waiting for the man to give the orders. The Sergeant seemed to be waiting for the same thing. ” Just waiting for the Colonel to say go.”
Zander turned around and gave him something, it was round like a pebble the size of his thumb. Niles recognized it, they called it “The Burrower”. He pressed its back and held his hands open. The device started to move and vibrate. It deconstructed itself in his hand until it was done and took on the form of a large winged insect.
“You still know what to do with that, Chief?” One of the soldiers asked with a half-serious but mostly well-meaning laugh.
Niles nodded. “Been a while, and it’s an improvement on the Predator line, but I’ll manage.”
Niles reached out with his implant to the AI controller in the Burrower and began to pilot it. The metal wings beat fast and steady. Dependable. This won’t be blown away easy. He made sure to try and keep the connection synced as it flew away from them.
Zander turned around and gave him a flat device that had a screen and when Niles synched up to it, the screen showed everyone in the car the live footage from the Burrower.
The Burrower’s view was disorienting. The screen showed the joint vision of two separate cameras ran through an AI to try and streamline the widest view. So far no one could be seen on the camera as the drone approached the house, though Niles could see the car he had chased earlier.
“We’ve got confirmation. That’s the same car from earlier.” He nodded and they all got out of the car and cautiously approached the house. They kept a low profile in a stack and kept to the side of the house. Niles kept an active synch with the Burrower and pushed it closer to get a visual through a window. The window is open. Inside you go.
They walked towards the house and when they got on the inside they could see nothing moved, and the doorway was clear. They moved in ready to breach. Zander tapped him on the shoulder, motioning for Niles to head back to the vehicle as if to say, Not your lane anymore. Niles understood, though he didn’t like it, he moved away but rather than head straight back, he went to examine the car he’d chased earlier for signs of the owners.
His implant picked up a ping from the trunk and Niles went to check. He heard a faint tick. A tick that he recognized that made his blood run cold. A bomb.
He cursed.
“We have to leave!” Niles yelled, breaking noise discipline. Zander turned to him, furious, as did the team for making noise.
“The car! It’s a VBIED. Move!” Niles was already running and hoped the others heard the warning. He was still running when the explosion pushed him forward and slammed him to the ground. The whole world lit up in lights as Niles struggled to remain conscious.
He could hear a ringing in his head. His body felt heavy, he rolled over and stayed like that for a while. He had hit his leg on the ground too hard, and with it, the masking effects of the amber wore off. The pain was immediate and intense, like a stab wound on a raw nerve. He clenched his teeth to avoid screaming and drown out the pain.
“We have to go, Chief! Get off your ass!” Somebody yelled at him, but it was hard to focus on who it was. The voice sounded like it was coming from miles away.
Niles didn’t want to stand up, he knew it would be painful, and he didn’t think he was prepared for it. He didn’t even want to be ready for it. Two strong hands pulled him up, and Niles screamed when he bounced a leg on the ground. Instinctively, he gritted his teeth to stifle it as the scream became a groan.
“You alright, Chief?” Zander asked. His gun tacked to his back. Niles nodded, though he felt anything but good. Niles looked around. It seemed the explosion wasn’t all that bad. The houses around were all still standing. There was no real fire, except the burning car and a strange acidic smell coming from the house.
Zander had a scrape on his forehead, and blood was oozing out of it.
“You?” Niles asked. The man nodded. They all walked to the car.
“They knew we were coming, Chief. This site was set to Sanitize,” one of the soldiers said. Niles nodded. They had known. He had been so excited, and they had counted on it. If Zander hadn’t removed him from the stack, that explosion would have killed them.
“What was that?” Niles asked. He had expected the bomb to blow out the surrounding building, but nothing happened. The car started and moved.
“I’m thinking Grade 1 Energy Bomb, Chief. They emit a toxin that kills on a cellular level, it’s used for Sanitation.” Zander said. “These two will need treatment or they’d have real problems.” Niles turned to look at the two soldiers
Responsibility weighed on him. It was bad enough people had been hurt. He didn’t want them to die either. He had just started; it would say a lot about how rusty he was. He should have known; they knew more about him than they let on. He’d been let go by the opposition too easily, let go to walk right into a trap.
Grisham had said it best. Don’t assume anything. If you make assumptions, you’ll only get yourself, and those around you killed.
“Alright, Chief.” A voice interrupted, sounding far away. “I know you’re hurting, but I need your help dragging this one back to the car. We need to get him back to base to medical.” Niles recognized the voice, it was Zander. In a fog between consciousness and unconsciousness, Niles responded and moved to help and as soon as they were back in the car, Niles passed out too.
Chapter 16: On the Outside
* * *
He woke up from a nightmare. A vivid nightmare from a lifetime ago. A nightmare of his vehicle losing its grip on the road and sliding into a little girl who, despite his screaming, just didn’t seem to hear him yelling to get out of the way.
Niles’s thoughts were disoriented as he found himself in one of the beds in the facility’s medical ward. His clothing was soaked, covered in sweat. He rolled on his side and cursed when he recognized where he was. His breathing was labored, and his head throbbed badly, like he had a migraine but not quite. Withdrawals from the amber, it’ll get worse soon. It wasn’t supposed to wear off so quickly.
He tried to shake the stiffness and soreness in his body away. Who brought me here, anyway? Zander? Niles looked around and noticed he wasn’t hooked up to anything.
The ground shook underneath him as he was hit by a sense of vertigo and fell back on the bed. I need to get to the Rig. The eRehab module will help. He stayed still for a while as he tried to calm his breathing and gather his bearings. I’m useless right now. I need to fix this.
He shook his head and slipped out of bed, ignoring the medic who tried to tell him he needed to lay back down. Niles saw a faint trace of light through a window. It was almost dawn. He would need to brief Grisham on finding Kubrick.
Niles got up and walked to the mirror and felt an intense nausea and vomited. Always happens with amber. He cleaned himself up and looked in the mirror. Even though he was in his forties and still fit all things considering, he didn’t like the brooding look on his face or the bruising under his eyes. What a night. Water rushed out the faucet when he put his hand under. Niles washed his face and then poured some on his hair. He toweled his face and hair and walked out, and headed straight for his quarters and the Rig within. He needed to dive.
“Activate,” Niles called out, holding out his implant when he got to the room. Even though he was a little sluggish and tired, he knew that feeling would be gone soon. There was one that always made him feel really good and free. The Rig fired up, and once the lid came down, he entered the pod, and the whole world went dark.
SynaCAID Platform
Which Program Would You Like To Run?
Seven Cities Online
eRehab - Mountain Side Retreat
Combat Simulator
LMS – Academy
Religious Services
Entertainment
Government Services
Quickly he set the program for the Mountain Side Retreat and waited with his eyes closed until he felt cool air on his skin. There had never been a time when it wasn’t cold’
SynaCAID Platform
eRehab – Mountain Side Retreat
Select an Option
- Casual Run
-Timed Attack
-Mirror Match
He mentally selected the casual run option as a mountain path materialized underneath his feet, a familiar frozen lake greeting him from just over the path’s ledge.
He started the run, his pace easy and short. Niles needed to forget, and he needed to purge the night from his body.
It didn’t take a long time for him to start feeling warm as he ran, waiting for that first breakthrough where his muscles stopped feeling heavy. That was part of the therapy process. It meant in the real world, the Rig was administering him panic blockers and working to stimulate the leg for future growth and repair of the damaged sections of nerves and muscles in his leg.
It was peaceful. This was his sanctuary. It was where he let the world outside go and allowed himself to be free, and that’s what Niles did. He ran until he couldn’t think anymore, ran until he forgot about the night before and the people who had been hurt.
He continued his run for about thirty more minutes. When Grisham called him, there was a patch of sweat around his neck and his underarms. He was beginning to feel the ease flow through his body as he got into a rhythm. He cursed when he got the tugging notification from his implant. He let the synch happen and sighed as a blue screen opened up in front of him. Grisham was dressed in his uniform, and the man looked anything but happy. He’s pissed.
[Transmission: It seems they know about you now after that stunt you pulled.]
Niles nodded but didn’t say anything. He knew when Grisham was like this, it didn’t matter what he said. It wasn’t a terrible thing though, his movement would be radically limited, and the opposition would be waiting for him. He could use that. Why is Grisham wearing his uniform already?
[Transmission: What do you think so far based off of what you saw? What’s your impression?]
Niles frowned and turned away for a moment as he considered the question. “These people are serious. They mean business, and they have access to high-end military-grade equipment. That’s a problem. That bomb almost took us out. Those two soldiers, are they alright?” Niles asked, remembering they had almost died. Grisham shook his head.
[Transmission: We’ve got two causalities, with one being KIA. We had to medivac the other out. Thankfully, our guys have been able to stop the rapid cell corrosion, but the verdict is still out if he’ll accept the STEM graft.]
Niles nodded gravely, seeing a familiar tiredness in Grisham. They were both men from an older time. They had seen men die from far less, and it had left each of them a little numb.
“I’m sorry,” Niles replied. “How about Sergeant Zander?” On the screen, Grisham shrugged and waved the question away, letting Niles know Sergeant Zander was fine.
Niles completed stopped jogging, his tone changing. “Grisham, I need to find someone called Kubrick,” Niles said. Grisham frowned, shaking his head.
[Transmission: I know the name. One of my men just died, and another is in critical condition, and you’re telling me the only lead you have is a hacker’s handle? ]
Niles shook his head. “No, Grisham. It’s more than just a handle to go on. I have to find somewhere called Underworld in the system.” Grisham’s frown deepened. Niles nodded. “The guy I went to meet said someone there can help, somebody named Kubrick. I don’t know if it is a trap, but I should be ok with the Talon and the team behind me. This is our only real lead.”
Transmission: It might be our only but, but I don’t have any concrete information on this Scheme. I’ll tell the boys to check on it, though. I’ll get a few alternates spun up to join you.
Niles nodded and was prepared to shut the synch down, but it seemed like Grisham still had more to say. The Colonel was silent for a moment, a long awkward pause.
[Transmission: About your leg, are you going to be able to keep pushing? I saw the medical notes when you came in. I know you’ve been medicating with amber. It’s not a fix, but I’ll look the other way for now.]
“I feel the ache a lot. It hurts most of the time, and it’s persistent, but I’m surviving. You know how it is.” Niles replied, and the Colonel nodded.
[Transmission: My guys will be waiting outside your door for when you finish that with your eRehab cycle.]
The window disappeared as the synch ended. Niles sighed. He was beginning to hate the synch system, maybe because he had gotten too much of it in the past few days than he had gotten in the past year. Niles resumed what he was doing and ran on. He still had to finish up.
The running created a small modicum of peace for him. It took away the thoughts, and consequently, the fears drifted away too. There was a time he had been happier outside the machine than in it. That time had vanished long ago, along with the places immortalized for him personally.
He found some happiness in the trees around him, the frozen snow beneath his feet as he ran, and the wind that blew against his skin. The mountains were his solace.
A ping came from his implant to tell him he had finished the day’s target distance to run. His legs were feeling hot, and his muscles felt good and loose, very warmed up. The amount of sweat that ran down his face after a workout always amazed him. As the breeze blew past him, he felt a sense of momentary peace. He laughed and gave the command for the logout to begin. He was still not used to the seamlessness of this new Rig. When he opened his eyes, there was only a brief blur, and when he blinked, everything pulled into focus. I seem to forget the temporary blindness doesn’t seem to be a problem.
He gathered up the pieces of his uniform and put it back on before heading to the door to meet up with the tech team Colonel Grisham had sent over. When the door opened up, he was met by faces he didn’t recognize. They had a hard and uninterested look about them. One was prematurely balding, and the other pressed against a uniform that didn’t quite fit as good as it used to.
They gave him a salute as they reported in. He was going to wave it away, technically they weren’t outside, and it wasn’t his facility, but he decided against it. He’d been placed in an uncommon status that was a bit outside of the normal protocol.
“Chief, the Colonel sent us over to work with you.” The balding one said.
Niles nodded, “Alright, you’ve got your orders then. I need a shower after purging my pores. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
He went to take a quick shower, and when he came back out, the two men were talking and laughing while they worked.
“You guys found Underworld yet?” Niles asked. They shook their heads.
“It is not in the main system. But we’ve been able to find hints of it being off-index, somewhere in the dark sectors. We’re sending crawlers there now.” The other one said, looking at a screen connected to the Rig. He was frowning, looking surprised. “The opposition, they leave footprints, those anomalies everywhere. I just lost a crawler.”
“The dark side?” Niles asked. The other man, the one with glasses. His name was Theo. He nodded when Niles asked.
“Every System has dark sectors. Dark zones, places that are almost impossible to find without direct access or knowledge of them being there. It doesn’t always mean something bad or criminal. People have their reasons, some better than others. Sometimes it’s just a group of activists, a lot of times, its something worse. It’s to be expected, though. No System, not even SynaCAID, is perfect. Most of these people pay well for those un-indexed retreats and rarely give a reason for anyone to check into what they’re up to
.”
“So you guys know about the holes in this System them? Is this how the opposition is gathering? Through these dark zones?” Niles asked.
“Maybe Chief, but we think they’re meeting up more on the outside, probably wherever they’ve stored their dive Rigs.” The balding one said. . Niles nodded. He agreed. Why didn’t they point me in this direction from the get-go? What’s Grisham up to?
Niles’ stomach started to growl. I’m getting hungry. I don’t need to eat, though. I can afford to miss a few meals. Like the other soldier, the uniform he was wearing didn’t fit quite as well as it would have only a few years ago. He didn’t want to think of the past, he reminded himself.
