Corroded Cells, page 10
part #2 of Cyberpunk Saga Series
Anders turned to the three as the thugs tried to right themselves, “Follow me.”
They did, hurrying from the bar to one of the many garages which abutted the dome wall.
“Friends of yours?” Ynna chided.
“Something like that,” Anders told them, watching over his shoulder. “Lots of misunderstandings outside the cities.”
“Lots of misunderstandings inside the cities, too,” Moss said, “just ask the Legion.”
Anders huffed derisively as he punched some numbers into a keypad, “Bikers think they’re so tough. Like to see how long they last out here.”
The door hissed open as the man from the saloon staggered out.
“Anders!” he shouted, “I’ll find you! Be sure of that. No safe harbors left. I’ll find you!”
Anders gave a hand gesture which Moss did not recognize but could understand the meaning of. They hustled into the garage and Anders had the door closing before Gibbs was even entirely through.
“Will they chase us?” Moss asked, rubbing his neck.
“No. Unwritten agreement that we won’t do violence outside the domes,” Anders informed them.
“Why’s that?” Gibbs asked, shaking the hand he had used to pummel.
“No one deserves to get sick. You kill another person outside, and they’ll hang you at the first dome you reach,” he told them, switching on the lights and illuminating his van. While it was the same basic model which Martha had used, this one had been customized with care and looked more like a spaceship than a car. The thrusters had all been expanded and modified to allow for higher speeds. A layer of modifoam was set between the cab and the base for a smoother ride. Twin rows of solar panels were mounted on the top on necks which would turn to face the sun at all times. Machine guns flanked the strip of headlight which cut across the front beneath the windshield. Long fins protruded from the side and one on the top alongside an interference dish. The single word “Bess” was painted in blue on the black exterior.
“Wow,” Moss thought aloud.
“She’s a beaut,” Anders affirmed, seeming now much less drunk than when they had met him.
“She is,” Ynna exclaimed, running her fingers along the vehicle.
“I suppose you’ll be getting what you wanted,” Anders said, “by way of a thank you for your help in there.”
Looking him up and down, Ynna said, “Doubt you needed our help.”
Anders smirked, “Wouldn’t want to show off so soon.”
“So, you’ll take us to Carcer City tonight?” Gibbs interrupted the moment.
“I will,” Anders affirmed. “Though it won’t take just one night’s ride. I mentioned it’s far.”
“Does our help pay off our ride?” Moss asked hopefully.
“Not a chance,” Anders chuckled, “but it helps.”
“We’ll leave now?” Gibbs asked.
“Unless you want to go back into town?” Anders offered with a wry smile.
“Not even at all,” Gibbs said as Anders slid open the side door. The van was spacious with two long seats along the sides. A wall separated driver from passengers with a window between two screens. The space was clearly set up to transport people in style.
“There are tanks in the back, but you shouldn’t need them,” Anders told them as they climbed in, settling into the plush seats.
“What kind of work might we do along the way?” Moss asked.
“Wouldn’t you rather be surprised?” Anders asked with a slight wink.
Moss was not in the mood for games and was worried what kind of action they might be seeing. “No.”
“Well, then let’s say I don’t want to spoil the surprise,” Anders said, sliding into the front seat and turning on the computers.
“What’s with the name?” Gibbs asked, leaning forward to stick his head through the divider window as the van was foamed.
“Bess?” Anders asked.
“Yeah,” Gibbs said, “your mom or something?”
“Grandma. Good guess,” he responded.
“No longer with us?” Gibbs asked respectfully.
“Nah, died a long time ago on Colony 11-76. Named all my ships for her,” he told them.
“You’re an off-worlder?” Gibbs asked excitedly. The garage door opened, and they pulled out into the dark world.
“Yes,” Anders told them.
“Were you involved in the revolts?” Gibbs asked, and while both Moss and Ynna played it cool, they were listening intently.
“How old do you think I am?” Anders chuckled. “That was well before my time. The corporate breakaway happened when my parents were children.”
“Oh,” Gibbs said, disappointed. “I’ve just never met an off-worlder.”
“Well, before you get dreams of spacemen and the free lives in the stars, let me tell you, it’s exactly the same out there as down here,” he said.
“But the colonists rebelled against the companies,” Gibbs said, quoting from his company history class. Anders laughed.
He snorted. “That what they teach you? Guessing they left out the part where they rebelled simply to form their own corporate entities so a whole new slew of people could get rich.”
Gibbs looked embarrassed. “No.”
“Traded the yoke of one master for another, just rebranded,” Anders said, and while it was not at all surprising, it was disappointing.
While teaching of the revolt, ThutoCo had presented the whole situation as an ugly affair where the colonists didn’t realize how good they had it. After escaping the Burbs, he thought of the revolt as being enacted by noble freedom fighters trying to rid themselves of their oppressors.
“You ever want to return?” Ynna asked.
“Not any time soon,” Anders said in a tone which suggested the conversation had come to a close. When Gibbs did not lean back, he added, “Why don’t you all lay down for a bit. I’ll get us a good distance before stopping. We’ll have a full day tomorrow.”
“I’ll take the floor,” Moss offered, noting that it was padded as well. He took one last look out the window, appreciating how truly dark it was. In the Burbs and city, even the dark wasn’t dark—small, flickering LED lights, and the blue glow of screens seeped into everything. Out here, out in the wilderness, it was all black.
“No argument here,” Ynna said and sprawled out on one of the seats. Gibbs did the same, and it was not long before they were all sleeping in a car once more.
Chapter 11
Sun filtered into the van as dark shades lifted slowly.
“I think I’ve slept too much,” Ynna moaned groggily.
“Some pep?” Anders asked from the front, extending a hand with a bottle.
“What is it?” Gibbs asked, raising himself slowly and grabbing the bottle, sloshing the unnaturally green liquid.
Anders grinned with a sweeping gesture toward the sky. “A secret from the stars.”
“Fine, keep your secrets,” Gibbs said in a light voice and uncorked the bottle.
“What’s the day looking like?” Moss asked suggestively, still hoping he would simply take them directly to Carcer City.
“Going to run a quick job, stop by a town and be on our way,” Anders stated.
Moss had known it was coming but had hoped they might have gotten out of it. “What kind of a quick job?”
“Standard smash and grab, no big thing for people like you, I think,” he said implicitly.
Ynna raised an eyebrow. “People like us?”
“Yes,” Anders said bluntly, “capable people.”
“We are that,” Ynna affirmed with a smirk.
“I know it. What’d you take down, four?” he asked her, and it was the closest to blushing Moss had ever seen from her.
“We are—” Ynna began.
“Good in a scrap,” Anders finished.
“So, you weren’t that drunk.” She beamed, and Anders shot a devilish grin.
“I’m never that drunk. Just needed to size you up before granting passage. This isn’t some luxury liner,” he explained.
“Right.” Ynna snorted, patting the seat beside her. “I’m sure it’s a lot of rough and tumble folks who usually ride back here.”
“Sure, I provide a nice ride to some nice people, but I didn’t know you all from a hole in the ground and—” it was Ynna’s turn to cut him off.
“We were trying to cop a ride on the cheap,” she said, and he simply smiled and shot a wink. He pressed a button and the monitors in the back came to life, showing two newscasters sitting before an image of BA City.
“That’s right, Bernard,” one anchor said. “The Miners pulled out a one-to-nil win over the Docksmen, securing their place in the cup semi-finals. Here’s a shot of the celebration on Market Street when time ran down.” They cut to a scene of celebration in the streets, people cheering and screaming as they watched the giant holoscreen. Speeding through fields far from the city, hoping to break their friends out of prison before they met gruesome ends, Moss couldn’t believe the ecstasy he watched. A city, whose friends and loved ones had been saved by them, all blissfully unaware of what was happening.
He remembered being ten years old before his parents had been taken. His mom had been rushed to surgery for a heart condition. They had been ushered from the room, his father taking his hand and walking him to a nearby café in the Burb. Moss had watched in amazement as people went about their days. He couldn’t believe that normal life persisted during something so devastating to him.
The crowd erupted again as they showed footage of the point being scored.
“So, what will you need from us?” Moss asked.
“A little help,” Anders said.
“Is there a reason you’re being so fucking coy?” Ynna asked, and Moss smiled. Sometimes he really appreciated how forthright she was.
“Because there is no reason to jaw about it when we can just do the thing,” Anders argued.
“Burn would have loved this one,” Gibbs said with an exaggerated eye roll.
Ynna snorted. “No kidding.”
“Friend of yours?” Anders asked.
“Yeah,” Moss said, “no-nonsense type.”
“Dead?” he asked.
Moss looked at his feet, remembering his friend and mentor covered in blood in the basement of ThutoCo headquarters. “Yeah.”
“Sorry. Sounds like my kinda guy,” Anders said respectfully. “If you guys want to grab packs and get geared, we can get this going.”
They all moved to a locker at the rear of the cab and began pulling the oxygen tanks on.
“Do we need to worry about our clothes?” Gibbs asked.
“Doesn’t seem to work that way,” Anders informed them. “We rinse our cars to be safe, but it’s more just a precaution.”
Ynna scowled. “Someone needs to get some actual fucking answers about all this.”
“If ThutoCo was weaponizing it, pretty sure they know everything,” Moss pointed out, and Ynna seemed to ponder his words.
“You two aren’t seriously considering breaking back in when we have Carcer to deal with?” Gibbs asked.
“No shit?” Anders raised an eyebrow, understanding what Gibbs’s words implied.
Ynna shot Gibbs a withering look before saying, “Yeah.”
Anders smiled slightly. “This world owes you a debt.”
“A debt you have no interest in paying I presume,” Moss said as he clipped the tank across his chest.
“Correct you are,” Anders chuckled, “but I appreciate what you folks have done.”
“What’s the plan?” Gibbs asked. He sounded nervous and was pulling at the hair at the back of his neck.
“We are going to break in and steal some shit,” Anders told them. Moss looked at the clock and smiled, seeing the time.
“From ThutoCo,” Gibbs said.
“Yes,” Anders said. “Figured you’d like that bit.”
Moss had a distant look, the wheels in his mind turning. “Smart,” he observed, turning his eyes to Anders.
“What is?” Anders asked, though his smirk suggested that he understood.
“We’re going in at shift change,” Moss said plainly.
Anders gave a clever look and winked. “Right.”
“What are you two on about?” Ynna asked, sounding impatient as she tapped her fingers on her knees.
“There is a window between night and morning shifts when the drudges go offline to run internal diagnostics so they can inform their new controllers of any damage. If they are the dedicated drudges which are rewarded to high-level employees, they go offline completely for the day,” Moss told her. “On the ground level, we always complained about this gap and the fact that the scubas could take advantage of it. Management never seemed to care, but it was an obvious failing.”
“And someone was smart enough to take advantage,” Ynna said.
“As he said, it was fairly obvious,” Anders said modestly. “Call us scubas because of the tanks?”
“Yes,” Moss affirmed.
“Not a lot of thought went into that one, eh?” Anders mocked.
“I didn’t come up with it!” Moss defended.
Anders raised his hands defensively and looked over to a chuckling Gibbs. “I hit a nerve?”
“Sure did,” Ynna affirmed with a smile.
“Ready to roll?” Anders asked, mercifully dropping the subject, and they all nodded. He drove them down the crest of a hill to an automated chain-link fence, pulling out a tablet and making short work of the controls. The gate rattled open quickly, and the camera lights turned from red to green.
“Just that easy?” Ynna asked.
“Never been hard to get passwords for a price. A whole lot easier now that the employees know their bosses wanted to kill them,” Anders said with a smile, pulling into the ThutoCo repair yard. The cameras did not turn to follow the vehicle, and no drones left their nests. The drudges sat silently as they pulled up to a large, open hanger door. He backed up and indicated for everyone to put on their respirators.
After they did, he hopped out and came around, opening the door and pointing at some boxes on pallets. Gibbs and Ynna moved quickly as Moss took a moment to look around. The whole place was so familiar. He had spent so many days working in places like this. He looked to the bank of monitors where he would have work orders uploaded to MOSS II, seeing it was in standby.
“I thought you hacked the security?” Moss asked, his voice muffled and tinny.
“I did. Turned it off,” Anders said, and Moss gripped his Kingfisher.
“We have to get out of here!” Moss shouted, but the sound of approaching drones was already beginning to buzz.
“Guess management finally listened,” Anders said as he threw the boxes into the back of the van. “Stand and fight or try and get out?”
“Take the first wave from here then get the fuck out,” Moss ordered, and everyone readied their weapons at his command. The drudges came to life, all of them fitted with hidden weaponry, tasers appearing from wrists and shoulders. Anders continued to load boxes as Moss blasted the nearest drudge, shattering plastic and glass with the powerful new weapon.
Gibbs raised his long rifle, firing multiple shots into the air and sending three drones careening to the ground with tails of smoke. Ynna dodged and weaved as several drudges took aim, firing blue bolts at her which hissed and popped as they missed their target. Her rifle popped as more robots crashed to the ground.
“You plan on helping?” she shouted at Anders as he loaded the final box and slid the door closed. He wheeled around and shot a drudge in the head with a long-barreled silver pistol. He raised the weapon with calm determination and shot two drones from the sky.
“Patience is a virtue, my dear,” he said as he twisted at the waist to avoid a shot. More drones moved in, and Gibbs fired wildly, taking down one before another shot Ynna in the neck. She began convulsing instantly, and Moss rushed to her side, firing an unnecessary number of shots into a nearby drudge.
The machine burst into electric fire, sending plumes of smoke into the air as it fell. Moss checked to be sure her respirator was still in place and began to move her. Gibbs and Anders covered Moss as he heaved Ynna toward the van.
Gibbs rushed to his side, grabbing Ynna’s legs, and snorting. “Lucky she’s light.”
“Cover us,” Moss screamed to Anders, though he already was, and they lifted her limp body into the van. Anders shot down the final drudge and had to reload. A drone fired a blue blast which struck Moss in the chest. His shirt burned but the bodysuit autocorrected, distributing the charge harmlessly.
“Thank you, Powers,” Moss huffed, the impact of the shot having knocked his breath. Anders shot down the last two drones.
“Let’s go,” he said as he jumped into the van. “Lucky they didn’t think to shoot the car.”
“They may now,” Moss observed as the vehicle pulled from the yard.
“Got any stims?” Gibbs asked as he pulled the mouthpiece away from Ynna’s face.
“Sorry,” Anders said, “you can splash her, but I’d just let her sleep it off.”
“Let’s get this tank off,” Gibbs said as he worried the clips.
“Take a deep breath,” Moss advised. “She’ll be fine.”
“Sure,” he answered, worry betraying him, “it’s just—”
“I know,” Moss finished.
“Something going on between you two?” Anders asked, watching the screen for any sign of further drones.
Gibbs flushed and admitted, “No.”
“Good,” Anders said, and Gibbs grimaced.
“I mean, there could be,” Gibbs added quietly.
“Not really your call, though, is it?” Anders said.
“No,” Gibbs nearly whispered, and now it was Moss’s turn to grimace. He thought it was distraction enough the way Gibbs and Ynna carried on and didn’t need another interference.
