Archaea 3: Red (5 page)

“Thanks Jane. I am never going to get the hang of these. Why don't they just use forks?”

“Yak, that's a good question. Confucius felt that chopsticks were more peaceful, and would encourage a more harmonious atmosphere around the dinner table.”

“You mean, after everyone has a chopstick in their neck?” he said with a smirk as Gene and I laughed.

Gene took his leave, and angled off through the crowd towards the nearest escaladder, and we headed the other way, deeper down the corridor and a few levels lower towards a multi-level combination bazaar and dealer market just above the endless racks of rentable row.

This far into the hab, the corridors were more rough, the floors less polished.
No more fake plants and bright lights; the floor plates down here didn't always line up and the conduits weren't tastefully tucked away behind plastiform molding. Gone were the tasteful technical and engineering firms, replaced by nondescript offices with plain signage, industrial firms, shipping companies, utility services. Some areas were dark and quiet, locked solid, and looked like they had been shuttered for some time.

“Jane, we've picked up a tail”, Yak said quietly as we stepped past a rug merchant. The crowds had all but disappeared, and I had recognized a man behind us from a few levels up. 

“I was just noticing that Yak. What do you think we ought to do about it?”

“Not much we can do, just keep on and see what happens.
Are you strapped?” he asked rhetorically.

I am always armed.

I smiled, “Only with my good looks, Yak… and a few guns here and there.”

“Well, that should be enough, let's cut through this corner shop and head into the market. I'll hang back at the corner and hold him up, while you take up a position ahead of us. I'll watch for your signal,
and then head past so you can get in behind him.”

“Sounds like a plan, Yak”, I replied, as w
e stepped into a corner shop at the intersection of two main corridors. I moved through as quickly as I could and stepped into the interior of an adjacent shop, waving back to Yak.

He moved out, looking past me like he was trying to catch up, and walked right past. I was nonchalantly looking
at what appeared to be pressure suit valves, with the rack between me and the corridor. I waited a few moments until the man hurried past. He was staring intently past Yak, almost certainly looking for me.

I moved out behind him, and stepped light, taking a few larger hops to catch up – but casually.

Yak stopped outside of a gunsmith, leaned over towards some items in a display case, and waited. The man walked slowly up behind him, and I noticed him pull something out of the pocket of his coat. A quick side hop and I could see better – it was a hype!

Yak stood up and scanned ahead of him, apparently oblivious to what was coming up behind him, though of course, that was just how he wanted it to look. He moved forward, more quickly, as if he had just seen me, and waved his hand.

The man I was following picked up the pace as well, and I had to stop looking nonchalant, and more like I was actually chasing someone down. I still tried to look as casual as I could, though I was hopping pretty fast for a stroll through the market.

Yak called out, and still waving, dove around another corner into a utility hallway between two shops. The man turned the corner right as I caught up with him, and I was just in time to catch him as he flew back at me from the meaty end of Yak's fist.

“Nice shot, Yak. Grab his legs, and let's haul him back a bit and take a closer look at our new friend”, I said while getting a more secure grip on his shoulders. We hauled him down the utility hallway a little further into a semi-darkened area of shadow from a burned out flouro.

“He's pretty damn ugly.” I said, getting a good look at his face. He had some sort of horrific scar, possibly from a burn of some sort, wrapping around his neck and up the side of his face. His breathing was slow and had that particular snoring rattle of the involuntary nap.

Yak handed me over the hype, and started going through his pockets. He pulled out a small nasty looking needler and handed that over as well. It was a Browning 1mm with a full charge, and the selector set to burst. Nice little gun, perfect for my lumbar pocket. The hype was a standard pneumatic, and it was loaded with an unmarked cartridge that didn't look like it was purchased over the counter. 

I took a quick glance back to the corridor as Yak finished his frisk, but
the few people passing by didn’t notice us.

“Jane, he is carrying a hab resident card...it looks like our sleeping beauty here is a Mr. Ivan Rostov, born in Novy – which makes him
a Lune. Other than that, he has a handset with a biometric lock that I can't access, and this--” he passed over a knife in a sheath, “careful with that, that's a stun knife.”

“Nifty”, I said, and meant it. The knife itself was a tanto-style combat knife, with a non-conductive handle and a thumb switch. It looked like it meant business. “Mama likes!” I said as I tucked it into a leg pocket.

“I thought you might. So what do we do with Mr. Rostov here?”

I thought for a moment,
and then opened comms.

“Janis, we ju
st... well, knocked out a local following us, named Ivan Rostov. His handset is locked, and we need to learn more about him. Can you lend us a hand?”

“Certainly Jane
, though I do not have hands. I have unlocked and scanned his handset, and I am afraid his instructions to tail you were messaged from an account that has already been deactivated. I was able to determine the original message was posted through a node serving level 1, section 90.”

“
That’s definitely up in high roller country, Yak.” I said, while he nodded. “Thanks Janis. I think we've shopped enough for today. Can you please put Gene's location on our screens?” 

“Certainly Jane, he has just left the offices of Applied Dynamics, and is currently headed inwards. His location is onscreen now.”

“What should we do with Mr. Rostov, Jane?” Yak asked, poking him in the short ribs with the toe of his boot.

“Well... maybe we should just hit him with the hype?”

He looked thoughtful a moment, then shrugged. “Yeah, we might as well. If he wanted to kill us, he'd have just needled us, right?”

“That was what I was thinking.” I said, leaning down and zapping him in the side of the neck. He moaned a bit,
and then slid even further into unconsciousness. I waited a moment and checked his pulse.

“Well, did we kill him?” Yak said, though he didn't sound too concerned.

“No, he'll live... for now.” While I wouldn’t have hesitated if it was needed, I wasn't too happy about killing someone just for following us – even someone like this, who was obviously not a good guy to have on your tail. We left him drooling into the dusty floor and made our way back to the main corridor, hopping as quickly as we could through the bazaar. As we neared the escalader, I took a quick look at my wrist holo.

“Yak, you see Gene?”

“Yeah, where's he going?”

“No idea... Janis, it looks like G
ene is headed down into the hab?”

“Yes Jane”, she
replied. “I am tracking his movements at this time. He is currently being escorted by two individuals, Piotr Dragovich and Ilya Scovich, both of which appear to be at least indirectly related to other handsets serviced through that node. I would suggest that in my assessment of this moment, it appears that this is a hostile engagement. Are these individuals known to you?”

“No Janis…
definitely not”, I replied, looking up at Yak with a grim face. We were moving as fast as we could, barely touching down.

“Jane
, would you agree with my characterization that these individuals are hostile?” she asked, calmly.

“That'd
be my guess, Janis.”

“
In that case, please take the next escaladder down three levels and continue heading towards Gene.” I looked at Yak, and he shrugged as we both leaped for the ladder, dropping from rung to rung as fast as we could, both of us leaping for the landing as early as we could and hitting the ground running.

I was starting to get out of breath, though Yak looked as fresh as a daisy. Damn if I am going to let him see me sweat, him and his long legs.

Captain Smith called on comms. “Shorty, Janis just alerted me that Gene appears to have been taken by some gentlemen with Slavic sounding names. What do you know?”

“Sir, we don't know much
. Yak and I just handled a tail a few minutes ago and left him sleeping in a utility corridor, but we don't know for sure how it was related. I am afraid we don’t know anything else sir.”

“
Very well, do whatever you need to do to get Gene back. Keep your eyes open, Janis just flashed a connection between Gene’s captors and whoever is controlling these jackholes. Keep me posted.” His voice was level, and empty of emotion.

“Aye sir” I said, fighting to sound calm.

*****

My heart was racing.

The goons on either side of me weren't talking,
and I pretty much had no other option but to move along, and keep looking for an opportunity to flee.

I tried to think back, to retrace my steps. My meeting
at Applied Dynamics went well, nothing out of the ordinary. They had us scheduled on their dock in a few hours and all seemed to be business as usual. As I left, I was so engrossed with placing some orders for raw materials on my handset, I didn’t notice when one of the men stepped right in front of me – not even ten meters from the front of Applied Dynamics. Before I could react, I felt the unmistakable sensation of a barrel pressing into my kidneys from behind.

I was confused more than scared, but
when I tried talking to the man, his only response was 'No words. You come'. The man behind me prodded me in the back, and I had no choice but to follow as they moved down the corridor.

These were big fellas, nearly Yak-sized, and they looked like they were made of muscle.
The only thing I could do besides what they asked was die stupidly, and that would only slow them down long enough to step over my smoking corpse.

We had gone a few levels down, and the man in front stepped aside, and motioned for me to pass. I noticed that he had stars tatto
oed in blue faded ink on either side of his neck, partly visible above the collar of his shirt.

“You move down corridor, now” he whispered in a low, heavily-accented voice and shoved me in the back, nearly sending me crashing to the floor. Dancing for balance, I tried to catch the eyes of people passing by in the corridor, but everyone seemed to be looking away, or turning. I didn't dare gesture or make any move.

“What's this about?” I asked, as we moved down another level.

“Silence.” the other man said harshly. They said something quietly together in a
Slavic language that sounded Russian, but probably wasn't, then laughed. One of the men shoved me forward again roughly. We had moved down out of the market area and were now passing store-rooms and other vacant areas, and the corridor ahead of me was almost completely empty. The quieter the corridor got, the more desperate I felt.

We were coming up to a pressure door, and I did my customary long skip through when
suddenly it slammed shut behind me with a clang that shook dust out of the ceiling. I nearly leaped out of my skin. The movement and sound was so sudden and abrupt, it caught me completely off guard.

My heart was trip-hammering in my chest, and my mind was whirling. I had to run, but where? I
took a big bounce and spun towards a side corridor ahead and to the left. I started moving as fast as I could, skipping hard. I didn't know how long the door would stay closed, but I knew one thing… I didn't want to be here when it opened!

My poor heart almost stopped for good when I
whipped around the corner, and right into Shorty. Yak was coming in fast behind her.  

“
Gene! Where are they?” she said, looking down the corridor behind me with a small gun in her hand.

“What... how...
where…” I stammered, completely in shock.

“Janis, Gene
. Now, where are they?” she repeated, all business.

“
They’re… uh… on the other side of that pressure door Shorty.” I finally managed to get the words out past a tongue that didn't want to behave. She clicked her tongue while her gun disappeared like a magic trick, and with a light shove, she started me back down the corridor the way they had come.

“Gene, we're going to mo
ve fast. Are you okay?” Yak asked, with a look of concern on his face.

“Yes, I'm fine, just terrified—”
I spluttered. “What’s going on?”

“Gene,
we don’t know, but we’re under orders to get you to the Archaea pronto.” Yak replied, his fingers completely encircling my upper arm as he propelled me forward.

“Gene,
Janis has your new friends boxed away in that corridor, but any minute they're going to work the manuals and lever it open.” the captain called over comms. “Follow Shorty and Yak, they should have the fastest route back to the surface lock.”