Mindguard (21 page)

“Wow,” said
Villo.

“That was
incredible,” Tahara said. He looked like he couldn’t believe his eyes. It was
part astonishment and part shame.

“Goddamn, you
barely even flinched,” said Winston Calladan, the man who just days ago
expressed his worries that the team was being lead by a woman. “Most people… ”
He started saying something but then just looked at Tahara and burst out
laughing.

“Hey man, screw
you,” the young enforcer said and stormed off back to the spaceship. Calladan
was shaking with laughter. “You should have seen this guy before, he completely
lost his shit.”

In one single
moment, Tamisa managed to earn the respect that had not been given to her when
she had been placed in command. For the first time, she felt ready. Right on
cue, Timekeeper Kernis informed her that their ship’s radar detected signs of a
Muench-Henriksen gateway near the planet’s orbit. Within minutes, she was back
in the holochamber, where Kernis awaited with a map of Noriado 2, as seen from
space.

The radar
clearly displayed a red energy ring, where the Muench-Henriksen gateway had
been opened. A red dot, representing the Ayers-Ross spacecraft, made its way
towards the planet. Tamisa followed it for various minutes, petrified, unable
to say or do anything. That spaceship carried Sheldon Ayers, her enemy, the man
she had vowed to take down. His mere existence threatened the success of her mission
and her future with the enforcers. Also on that spacecraft was Sophie Gaumont,
who held inside her mind an information package so important it caused the
commander to act in a manner that was completely unheard of. The second that
ship touched ground, the most important day of her life would commence. She
remembered her words to the hologram of Sheldon Ayers.

“One of us has
to lose!” 

Day 29: Today
there was no speaking with him. He was quiet and sad. He spent the whole day
sitting in his favorite armchair, with a book in his hands. I am certain he was
not actually reading from it. He was upset over something that had taken place
this morning. While working on his latest project, a biography of Silas Yurkin,
one of the first explorers to step through a Muench-Henriksen gateway, he
wanted to look up some information in a certain book. He forgot its title. It
took him very little time to recall it, but by then it was already too late;
his mood became dark. He retreated to his office and asked not to be disturbed.
I was, of course, with him when it happened. I think that hurt him most of all.
I wish I could have better comforted him. I wish I could have told him it was
not that bad. But I would never lie to him like that. He is a man with a
monumental memory. He has memorized books of science word for word and equation
for equation. He can quote thousands of works of theater, poetry or philosophy.
He has the ability to notice and remembered every single visual detail of a
particular environment, details a lesser brain might overlook. And there he was
this morning, even if only for a brief moment, frozen with confusion in the
middle of the room, looking lost, like a small helpless child or a deteriorated
old man.

Notes from an
unnamed journal retrieved by High Commander Tamisa Faber from the home of
Sheldon Ayers. The notes are attributed to Sheldon Ayers, though definitive
authentication is still in progress

Compared to La
Khez, where the ground seemed to want to open up and swallow them whole under
the delighted gaze of a sadistic, leaden sky, Noriado 2 was almost charming,
with its small towns and villages of log houses surrounded by thick forests.
Caught in a night that lasted over three months, the town of Kamona seemed to
slumber peacefully. It almost resembled a winter resort. There was no hint of
the dangers that allegedly plagued this world. Sophie pointed that out to Ross,
who smiled knowledgeably.

“In places like
this, the forests are more dangerous than the towns,” he said. “Because of its
distance from the border to the IFCO, Noriado 2 is a hotspot for black market
merchandise. The locals illegally procure it from IFCO planets and sneak it
into their towns through the forests.“

“If you’re looking
to lay low and keep out of sight, it can’t get any better than dense woodlands
and three months of darkness a year,” Ray Manner said.

They had landed
their ship a short distance away from the village and had hiked through the
forest for twenty minutes. In the company of the bodyguards, Sophie had not
felt the danger at all. She had every confidence in Ross and his team. She was
already feeling a lot better than she had felt on La Khez and she suspected
that, after letting her go through the necessary shock of initial exposure,
Sheldon was now sheltering her mind from the effects of the neural
transcendence field.

For the first
time since setting foot on a desert planet, Sophie had actually had the
awareness to notice the landscape that surrounded her. She studied the trees,
observing in fascination how their barks had evolved to grow certain
protuberances which, from the distance, looked like minerals. Isabel explained
that those bulges served to store the sun’s energy for use in the months of winter
darkness. For a brief moment, she forgot about her mission and just immersed
herself in the exotic beauty of the strange planet. When they reached the
entrance to the village, Ross signaled for everyone to stop.

 “We’ll
find a local inn and we’ll bunk there. I’ll tell them that we’re a
thoughtprotection agency so that they don’t get any ideas about you two lovely
ladies.”

“You think that
will keep them at a distance?” Sophie asked.

“We’ll get our
point across,” Luther Brinks said, with a strange smile on his face. The man
smiled very rarely and, after seeing that grimace on his battered mug, Sophie
wished he wouldn’t smile at all. Some faces, she discovered, were just not made
to express joy.

“They’re just
bumpkins,” Ross said. “They can be dangerous, but if they find out we’re a
thoughtprotection agency they’ll know what’s best for them and keep away. We’ll
spend a few hours in Kamona even though we haven’t been on the road long,
because if we leave right now it will be nighttime when we arrive on Carthan
and I don’t want that.”

They proceeded
through the dark and narrow alleys. There was no electricity. The only light
came through the windows of the modest homes, where fires burned in shoddy
stoves, the only defense against the darkness and the cold of a winter night
that seemed to last forever. But it was beautiful, like something out of a
fairytale. Sophie realized how different the place would have seemed if she
were not accompanied by Ross and his team. Perhaps the smoke coming from the
chimneys would not have made her think of home and hearth, but hellfire and
brimstone, and the deserted village square might not have brought to mind rural
charm, but brutal public executions. It was all a matter of perspective, a
perspective that depended only on one’s state of mind.

She wondered how
much Sheldon had to do with the way she perceived this place. Was it the
protective embrace of his mind that made her see things much less threatening
than they really were?

They reached a
place that had a sign above the door which simply read ‘Pub’. It was written in
the city’s native tongue, which was a variation of a language Sheldon could
speak. Ross was the first to enter. He had the unmistakable aura of a leader,
like a victorious general returning from battle. His enormous body barely fit
through the door.

When the entire
team was inside, there was a palpable feeling of tension. Even though a mellow
flame burned in a fireplace, Sophie had the sensation of cold. It was a cold
that no fire could cast away. People with faces of predatory beasts and
stenches that spoke of barns and negligence gawked at them in threatening
stillness, especially Sophie and Isabel. For the first time in their journey,
she could feel the subtle presence of Sheldon in her mind. So far she had only
guessed it but now it was perceptible, like a friend you think you recognize
from far away, but are not sure until the first features of their face become
discernible. It was clear that Sheldon had perfected his protection to be
almost undetectable by his client. Even the slight hint of his mind’s presence
invoked a feeling of familiarity. 

Ross went to
speak with the innkeeper, while the rest of the team waited near the entrance.
The place became as quiet as a graveyard. The patrons stopped their conversations
and just stared at the team, while the bodyguards made every effort to stare
back just as forcefully. The surreal stillness was broken by a single voice.
Sophie turned in the direction of the sound and saw that it had come from an
extremely large man, almost as big as Ross, who was sitting at a table in the
far end of the room. He had asked them something but she couldn’t understand
the language. The massive man got up from his chair and started walking towards
them, slowly, with heavy steps, as if to purposefully accentuate his impressive
size.

The rest of the
patrons remained seated, watching the unfolding scene with great interest. The
large man repeated his question. Instead of answering, Luther Brinks, who was
closest to him, took a step forward, grabbed the man’s left arm and broke it
with such speed and force that the behemoth dropped to the ground before ever
having a chance to try to defend himself.

“Any other
questions?” Brinks asked, sweeping the room with his gaze. Nobody answered. Everyone
looked away, their previously intrusive stares now fixed firmly on the drinks
on their tables. During all the commotion Ross had not even bothered to turn
around to see what was happening. He just calmly spoke to the innkeeper, whose
body language revealed that he was eager to please the giant. When they
finished talking, Ross walked up to Sophie, paying no attention to the man
squirming on the floor. 

“The innkeeper
also owns a few rooms around town,” he said, turning to look at the man behind
the bar, whose face was a complete mask of servitude. “He will kindly put us up
for the evening.”

“Let’s get
installed,” Francois said. He carelessly stepped over the fallen man, who was
still screaming in pain.

●

Tamisa was in
the holochamber studying a map which displayed the position of every member of
team Ayers-Ross. The glowing red symbols had different codes to identify the
targets. The map made her think of a chessboard. The only two pieces missing
were the most important: the king and queen.

Because Sophie
Gaumont and Sheldon Ayers were both prototechs, they could not be tracked by
the neuralfield scanners, while regular genetic trackers could not produce
results in real time.  In this chess game, the roles were reversed. Sophie
Gaumont was the king, the ultimate target; of inestimable value but holding no
power. Sheldon Ayers was the queen, the most dangerous piece on the board.
Remove him and all the other pieces will be reduced to mere pawns.

At first, Tamisa
had had a great aversion to the thought of using the NF scanners because of the
legal repercussions. But now that she was using them, she was excited. Let the
commander answer in front of the Council of Presidents. After all, he gave the
order to use the devices. For now, she was planning on enjoying every second of
the hunt.  She was observing the real time movements of her enemies with
great fascination. She loved the feeling she got from knowing where they were
at all times, while they had no idea that she was even there.

She watched as
the team entered a local establishment. After a while, they all exited and
split up into two different groups. One group was formed of Mensah, Gaultier
and Manner, and the other consisted of Ross, Elden, Brinks and Bayles. They
went to two separate buildings. Tamisa knew from their mission plan that they
would spend a few hours on Noraido 2 while they waited for the night to pass on
Carthan. She also knew that Ross and Elden were assigned with guarding the
carrier’s physical integrity while Sheldon Ayers protected her mind, so it was
easy to deduce that the invisible proto-techs were with them.

While Sheldon’s
team remained in their chambers, Mensah’s group quickly returned to the pub,
presumably to keep an eye on the locals. The team was now divided. One single
but powerful target became two separate, weaker preys. Tamisa had not foreseen
this strategy.  In the Ayers-Ross mission plans there was no mention of
dividing the team at any time. Ross had winged it. His impromptu call worked in
Tamisa’s favor. Ross had unwittingly made the Enforcers’ mission that much
easier. What he had divided, Tamisa would conquer. She summoned the com system.

“Get me
Timekeeper Kernis,” she ordered.

●

The whole team was
assembled in the holochamber but there was no sign of their field unit
commander.

“She’ll be here
in a few minutes,”  Timekeeper Kernis said. For the last fifteen minutes,
he and Tamisa had set up a new plan, as a result of Ross’ decision to split up his
team. When they finished, Tamisa sent out a message to her team to gather in
the holochamber. Then she briefly stepped out, leaving Kernis alone to further
study the new timetable.

When she
returned a few minutes later, wearing a red dress made in the fashion of
Noriado 2, everyone’s jaws dropped in amazement. Even in the modest local
garment, she looked stunning. No one had seen her before in anything other than
a combat uniform. Their eyes all sparkled appreciatively. Only Villo didn’t
seem impressed. He was immersed in a study of the holomap and the positions of
their enemies. Tamisa pretended not to notice her team’s reaction, but in
truth, she was as satisfied by it as she was disappointed by Villo’s
disinterest.

“Yes,” she said
addressing Villo, as if he had just asked a question. “It seems that mission
parameters have slightly changed”. 

“He has divided
his team,” he answered, looking mystified.

“Yes, he has,”
Tamisa said with a contented grin.“ He changed his strategy and I have changed
ours.” She subtly looked over to Timekeeper Kernis, who nodded in
approval.  

“If we react
quickly and use this opportunity accurately, the mission might end a lot faster
than we had expected. Also, there will be significantly less violence. Given
the circumstances and the potential backlash we’ll be facing from the IFCO, I
think this could be a great advantage.”

“Could it be a
trap?” Dieter Muench asked. At the same moment, Villo made a gesture to speak,
but then chose to remain silent. Tamisa figured he was going to ask the same
question. She looked at Kernis.

“We don’t think
so,” she said after a brief hesitation.

“I believe Ross
is confident that the locals do not pose a great enough threat for him to have
to keep his team together,” Kernis added. “He believes it’s more advantageous
to have some members of the team resting, while the others keep an eye out for
risks of any kind and eliminate any threat at an early stage. Basically, he is
saving up their energy for Carthan.”

“So we split up
and intercept them in parallel,” Tahara guessed.

“No,” Tamisa
said. She couldn’t contain a satisfied smile when she saw the team’s confusion.

“Why not?” asked
Villo. He sounded angry. Timekeeper Kernis proceeded to explain: “Field Unit
Commander Faber believes it is better to use our collective force to neutralize
Isabel Mensah’s team first, and then go after Ross and the others.”