Deep Yellow (36 page)

He won’t be around to
answer any questions, his transport was all arranged.

As to the exit
location, he still had to work on this, as Williams had duplicated
many of the tube diagrams. He started searching through Las Vegas
world, following the edges and the power lines conduits. In
particular, he focussed on areas around the tall metal Paris
Tower.

***

Brune shifted in his
seat, unsettled about the events occurring on the Challenge. He
concentrated on the possible scenarios for Williams’ death as he
glanced at the Challenge on screen. Brell had taken down a security
bot in the hotel corridor whilst naked. The sudden hot prickly,
sensation at the back of his neck meant that his full attention
focussed on the unfolding events. She looked good in the Police
Corps style uniform and the car chase was exciting to watch,
especially because she escaped from the security bots to reach the
Living Room. But why were they chasing her? What had she done to
merit this action? In addition, why Carac’s sudden change of
direction when he was standing still in the cellblock?

Brune remembered his
briefing for this job.

"Make sure there are
no embarrassing escapes by inmates or any release attempts by
outsiders. Do not interfere with the Challenge Show, you are just
to provide the safety and security outside of the game zones. The
show is properly licensed for contained episodes of criminal
activity," the Police Corps Commissioner had told him.

Brune had run his
operation according to Corps Regulations, his officers had
performed well, and there had not been any security leaks.

He became increasingly
bothered by what he saw and the death of Williams. Security bots
were pursuing Brell. His door sensor chimed.

"Yes, Scrivvens,
anything?"

"Well, yes, sir
perhaps. The same cleaning bot was used for the two cell visits. It
reported itself requiring a service and returned to its power dock
in the corner position, near a service lift."

"Easy for someone to
instruct the bot?"

"The usual beam code
and recognition systems."

"Would it need a
person to visit the cleaning bot directly?"

"You can programme
another bot remotely to visit another one. Drug dealers regularly
programme a chain of bots to make several exchanges from bots to
personal bots to road cleaners. Difficult to trace the route back
to the original handler, takes days.”

"Okay, you’ve been
following the challenge, why are the security bots chasing
Brell?"

"Part of the
challenge, perhaps, to chase her out for staying in a hotel too
long? It worked, she is on the run now. The bots did previously
imprison Carac for attacking Meren."

"Yes, it's possible it
is a rule change to ensure more activity. What about this,
though?"

Brune replayed the
beamcast snippet where Carac had ran back into the cell block and
looked up before running back into the Living Room.

"There is something
there he has seen, don’t you think?"

"Sir, have you
reviewed the previous images from that area? It is located where
they first started the programme when they set the clue."

"Let’s do it now. I
presume you know a few shortcuts to do this quicker than me?"

Scrivvens displayed
his own keyboard, which instantly connected to Brune’s screens.
First, he replayed the part where Flip and Argenta were introducing
the programme and gave the clue. It focussed on the cell occupants
and the ground floor cell area with the presenters.

"Let's have a look at
the separate viewer cams. Here's one, it's situated on an end wall
looking out along the main cell area." Scrivvens hands were a
flurry of activity. "Yes, here we are, on the edge of the image is
the landing above the inmates cells. Got it. I will just bring up
the original floating cam images from Inhab-47. Hold on." He paused
both images.

"Cell B-206, Al
Capone."

"So that is the
original image. How about from a few minutes back?"

"No problem, that was
where those bots were helping each other to stand up." Scrivvens
zoomed in.

"Cell B-206, Al Capone
from Las Vegas."

"This information has
been added since the challenge started, but Carac has only just
noticed it.”

“Yes. With more time,
I could find out when it was changed. If it has just been added,
then it was just after Brell selected Las Vegas.”

“Not sure we have
enough time. Whilst I think about it, Scrivvens, why was Carac
netted and put in the holding gaol? The bots did nothing when Brell
was attacked by Kellsa, let alone when Meren brained her." Brune
sat back and crossed his arms. "Have you performed undercover
work?"

"Yes, passed myself
off as a waiter bot once. It worked well.”

Brune stared at
Scrivvens and continued. "One tactic is for an undercover officer
to get arrested during a Corps raid to make it look like they are
just one of the gang. Was Carac arrested on purpose to fool the
audience? It appears he has been receiving outside help what with
the tidy bots thing and that Las Vegas message.”

“Williams was zapped
by a bot.”

“Yes, to keep him out
of the way, do you think?”

“Perhaps, but they
didn’t consider Brell.”

“No indeed. Now,
bearing in mind that the clock is ticking, can you control the
security bots? Stand them down?"

"Well sir, following
Corps regulations, we would need a warrant from the on duty Assizes
Judge to break into the Beam Companies matrix. It will take a few
hours to secure the warrant."

Brune
shifted in his seat, rubbed his chin, and placed his
Orders and Regulations
cube viewer into a drawer.

"Break into the
systems, stop the bots. There is criminal activity going on,
outside of the show. I take responsibility."

"Yes, sir," Scrivvens
said uncertainly. "Are you sure, sir?"

"Call it gut
instinct."

The “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign was the first
thing that Brell noticed; a man and woman were standing underneath
it, holding hands. The woman wore an ivory-coloured dress, and a
preacher situated behind them, spoke from a book. Two lanes of
traffic flowed up and down the roadway, appearing then disappearing
into the wall behind her. There was only one way to travel, at
least, and that was straight ahead. Hopefully, the tower was not
far away. She glanced up again into the sky; just under thirty
minutes left. From her memory of the images on screen in the hotel
room, there was just one long road.

She headed for a
colourful, stylish-looking vehicle parked by the side of the road.
Round metal lines and streaks of white were set against the red
bodywork. As it had no roof, Brell jumped over and into the
driver's seat. Accelerating away, she was careful not to knock into
anything in case it was a hard beam transporter. Out of the corner
of her eye, she saw a tall stone obelisk like the one in Meren's
Paris and nodded to herself. This was good.

A wide intersection
appeared ahead, so she slowed to negotiate it as safely as
possible. Every minute counted. An old Police Corps saying came
back to her.

Best to get there
safely a little late, rather than not at all
.

This was ground into
her when driving fast response skiffs to emergency calls on teeming
roads and skyways. Some of the Las Vegas buildings had huge display
boards or advertising structures outside; one had a large animal’s
head. The pavement areas and overhead walkways were busy; this must
be a relaxation place. It was like a basic pleasure city, which
Williams, no doubt, spent a lot of time in.

Driving steadily, the
tip of a tower peeked out from beyond some large buildings. Right
direction, just up ahead. At that moment, a security bot
transporter, travelling on the opposite side of the road, braked
sharply, the bonnet tilting down with the change of speed. It
swerved across the lanes, positioning itself right behind Brell's
vehicle.

Bang

Brell's head snapped
forward and she tightened her grip on the steering wheel narrowly
avoiding a parked transporter. Accelerating harder, she weaved
across the lanes, speeding through the empty holo transporters,
being less cautious.

Ahead, she saw another
bot vehicle coming straight towards her. Instinctively, she swerved
her vehicle out of the way and, striking a raised kerb, she flew
along the walkway through swathes of holo people. Scraping a street
light, she just managed to keep the vehicle upright. Not far.

***

Carac ran out of the
doorway, stopped, orientated himself, and continued running towards
an empty transporter. There was only one direction of travel.
Security bot transporters appeared behind, then overtook him. Just
need to follow the Corps. That’s a first.

***

Brell pulled back out
into the roadway to get a better view of the tower. It was exactly
as she had seen it on the image set in the hotel room.

Look under the
Tower.

Oblivious of the large
water fountains pluming ahead on her left, she tried to calculate
the safest place to stop. Two bot transporters were behind her,
taking it in turns to bump the rear of her vehicle in an attempt to
make her veer off. She accelerated, gripped the steering wheel,
then jabbed at the brake. The rear side bumper crunched as one of
the pursuing vehicles bounced off it and into the centre of the
road. Pushing hard on the accelerator again, she took a quick
glimpse on the rear view mirror. A plain faced bot was leaning out
of a vehicle window lining up for a shot.

One of the tower legs
appeared ahead. Its crisscrossed metal struts jutting out onto the
street. Without thinking, Brell aimed at it.

***

After finding the key,
Meren ambled back to the area by the entrance door. She kept
observation from a discrete vantage position, but there was no sign
of Carac or Brell. Eventually giving up, she wandered around
aimlessly and found a seat overlooking the river. The warm sun,
fresh air, and disappointment had made her feel dozy.

It was the wrong key,
over and finished. No going back to the Living Room to select
another world. Brell would be staggering around, fighting Carac, or
more than likely in a drunken stupor in the same hotel.

"Brell, if you can
hear me, it’s not Paris. Do not come into Paris," Meren said again
in the vain hope that Brell may have access to the live Challenge
screens.

She knew that stopping
her entering Paris at the doorway would be difficult, or there
would be some Williams invention like a double door to stop this
happening. Her best choice would be to stay near the tower; at
least they could turn to ash together. There would be no more
incarceration, no more repetitive daily routines.

All things will
pass
.

With thirty minutes
left, she walked back towards the tower, becoming sidetracked by
the food stalls.

"Une crepe madam?"
Meren nodded. As the auto chef cooked away, Meren browsed around an
intox selection, the drink names written on bottles standing on a
table. One caught her eye, though its name was unpronounceable.

"Border? Bordux?" An
auto chef nearby switched itself on, and then paused as if working
out the request. Then it chugged to life, producing a ruby-red
liquid in a long-stemmed glass. Meren picked up the glass and
examined the liquid in the sunlight. A swill and a sniff later, she
held up the glass.

"Girls!"

The first sip was an
interesting mix of fruit, intox, and something else. She sat back
down on the bench, munched, and drank the wine whilst watching
people go by. Finishing her wine, she set the glass down and ambled
across the square towards the box-squeezing musician.

***

"Come on," Brell
shouted, trying to clear her head. Thankfully, she could move her
legs, but it took some effort pulling them out of the crushed
transporter. The vehicle had skimmed off the tower struts and
smashed into the casino entrance doors, coming to rest just inside.
Having bent down under the windscreen at the last moment and though
covered in plastic and plas-steel, she managed to climb into the
back seat and out onto carpet flooring. The two security bots’
transporters that were following her had smashed straight into the
tower leg. Two broken bots lay on the ground, unmoving.

She found herself in a
huge room full of people sitting, standing, or walking around.
There were rows of machines, the front face of which was a series
of blinking lights. All she could hear were
bing bing bing
sounds. Several of the female tourists were wearing long, white,
fancy dresses, their heads covered by veils. There were also women
in glittery bras and pants with plumed headdresses walking slowly
around the casino. A man's singing voice was audible, coming from
somewhere near the middle of the room. The chair held her weight as
she jumped on it in order to look over the bing bing machines. Yes,
there was a stage and, would you believe it, a man dressed like
Williams' assistant singing whilst being accompanied by a small
group of musicians. She could not quite hear the words due to the
background noise.

A clunk of boots and
two security bots ran in, stopped, moved their heads, and locked
onto Brell. She ran forward, around, and over anything in her way.
Hunkering down, she hid behind a machine whilst reaching out and
grabbing a nearby stool. Straining her ears, she waited and
listened for footsteps. As the steady clank got louder, she stood
up and slugged the approaching bot, sending it flying backwards,
its body crumpling on the floor. The other bot, its netting device
in hand, stopped and aimed at Brell. She ducked around the back of
a line of bing bing machines, crept along to the end of the row,
and crouched while looking back down both aisles. The machines, she
noticed, were solid but not fixed to each other. The bot chose to
follow her.