Slant (43 page)

Pickwenn and Pent return from their reconnaissance, Burdick between them. Burdick, pale and resentful, gapes at the new machines; Pickwenn and Pent regard them with stony calm.

"We found the emergency elevators," Pent says, rubbing his bull neck. "They're blocked, but we can blow the locks easily. Nothing tried to stop us. The place is empty: no more Ferrets. There is something else... Just a suggestion. There are access points where we can put a current into the internal armor. Cables behind walls that we can re-route, and bare carbon nanotube surfaces."

Pickwenn shows Giffey a sketch on his pad. He can't seem to hold the pad steady. "If the building is using the armor and frame for memory or as an extended processor," Pickwenn says, "and if it decides to get upset with us, Mr. Pent and I have made arrangements to shunt a power cable into the frame." Giffey smiles appreciatively. "Good thinking."

He looks at Burdick and then at Pickwenn. The thin, spectral structures expert gets his meaning and returns Burdick to the lounge and Preston's care. He rejoins them a few minutes later.

The Hammer shivers for several seconds. Giffey looks to Jenner, who shrugs and says, "Integrating, I guess." The shiver stops and the Hammer is still again.

Marcus and Jonathan stand well away from the new warbeiters. Pent and Pickwenn keep close to them, muttering to each other. Pickwenn's hands and one arm jerk slightly and he lifts his head as if hearing someone speak, but nobody has spoken.

Giffey the Hammer and activates it. "Your

ports

name

is

Charlie,"

Giffey

says. The Hammer gives no outside appearance of having heard. As Giffey finishes his first instructions to the new warbeiter, however, it moves its sensor-studded head and says, "I am Charlie. I am integrated and prepared for duty."

Giffey nods. He instructs the Hammer to coordinate with Sam, the first fiexer/controller, and prepare for action.

"Provide access to this lift shaft for Sam."

"Where in hell do you all come from?" Marcus asks Giffey. Giffey ignores him.

The Hammer walks forward on its massive jointed legs, braces itself, drills two holes into the floor with its rear stabilizers, bolts itself down, and sprays a series of powdery white dots on the lift wall. Jonathan looks for and sees the container where the military complete paste's explosive materials have now been concentrated, beneath armor on the hammer's back. The sprayed white dots come from this container.

"Stand back or leave the area," Charlie the Hammer advises them in a simple

must at ten meters explosion to avoid

neuter

voice.

"You

be

least

from

the

/ SLANT 265

The lobby space gives them that much distance and more. Giffey steps back seven paces and adds, "Cover your ears and keep your eyes and mouth closed."

Marcus gapes. Jonathan nudges him and they both shut their eyes and cover their ears.

The blast is sharp and intense. Jonathan's ears ring despite his hands. The hole in the elevator shaft wall is a foot wide, with precise melted edges. Smoke is minimal, but the air is filled with a fine, descending shower of concrete and fiexfuller dust. It smells like burnt rubber. Charlie stands in the middle of the smoke, undamaged and unperturbed.

"Charlie, get out of the way. Sam, get to work."

Charlie the Hammer uproots its stabilizers, inspects the hole, and steps aside. Sam slithers in with clicking feet, rises, and clambers into the hole. Giffey ports the second fiexer/controller as the first disappears, and names it Baker.

"When are the defenses going to kick in?" Hale asks Giffey.

"Any minute now, I expect. Keep close to one of our tourist friends."

Hale approaches Marcus and Jonathan. "You'll be coming with us to the upper level."

"Of course," Marcus says acidly.

"You're the senior in charge," Hale says to Marcus. "I've taken enough sociology and management to know the type. You two seem pretty much a pair." Hale focuses on Jonathan. "He knows a lot about this building, doesn't he?"

Jonathan looks away. He does not feel brave, but there is simply nothing to be said to such questions.

"How much money do you let your people take with them? Securities? Jewelry? Investment account sigs?"

"You don't understand a thing about us, or this place," Marcus says dryly. "I hope you've settled your own accounts back home."

Hale grins at Giffey to show he was just passing time. Giffey is not impressed. Small clinking and whining sounds come from the elevator shaft. Sam will deposit parts of itself along its path, where they will integrate into new circuitry and cables, if necessary. Sam's parts will also attempt to disarm security sensors and search for self-sabotage mechanisms. If sabotage has already been performed, the parts won't have much to do. They will reassemble in a few minutes and crawl out of the shaft, to be reassigned to other duties.

Pent turns to Giffey. "We should fry the building's data stores now. In the frame and walls."

"In good time," Giffey says. Too easy. Have to be fair, /et the thinker have its moment and show its stuff

Pent steps back and looks at Pickwenn, who gives a slow, languid blink with his lemur eyes. They don't understand.

266 GREG BEAR

"Let's go" Giffey says. "Stay here," Hale tells Pent. "Tell the others we're in the shaft and we're going to look around." Pent looks disappointed and gives his colleague a sharp jab in the arm as he passes. Pickwenn pushes Marcus and Jonathan into the shaft. Giffey instructs Charlie, Baker, and the transports to enter the elevator. The machines crowd them against the wall. "What are we going to do with the little fellas?" Jenner asks Giffey. "The beetles." "They'll be in reserve." "We could spread them around us as pickets," Jenner says. "I'm not sure that's going to be necessary." "Jesus, this is going so smoothly," Jenner says, and his lips and scalp twitch. His shakes his head, suddenly anxious. "Do you see what I'm getting at, Mr. Giffey?" "Yeah," Giffey says, but he's not going to think about such things for now. Marcus does not look at all well. He's sweating profusely and his clothing is soaked. He smells sour. Jonathan wonders if he's wearing a complete monitor kit for medical emergencies. He hopes so; he doubts a heart attack will evoke much sympathy in these people. Giffey frowns at the control board and display. The display shows that the elevator goes up forty floors, to an observation deck near the top. But it also shows a ten-floor drop, at least a hundred feet below ground level. "What's down here?" Giffey asks Marcus, pointing to the lower levels. "Infrastructure," Marcus says huskily. "Medical. Food. Plant. Air, water,

I power."

"Too big a drop for a building this size," Giffey says. "Even with fuel cells and hydrogen storage. Where's the security center?" Marcus closes his eyes as if expecting to be struck. He says nothing. Nobody strikes him. He opens his eyes and seems almost disappointed. Giffey rubs his chin, scraping stubble. "Defenses and security below, but I'll bet they have machine tubes, tracks, whatever. Between floors. Pop-up gates on every floor. How many and how large? More Ferrets?" \Vith a look at the others, Giffey smiles and shakes his head. "Just thinking out loud. Let's go up and see what there is to see." "Think we can take out the security?" Jenner asks. Charlie is crowding him. He has both his arms extended and resting on the Hammer's shiny skin. "I'm going to let it make the first move," Giffey says. It's a gamble with high stakes, but the initial response is so light that he's betting Omphalos's defenses are not up to full strength. Jenner looks like he needs a little reassurance, however, and he's no dummy; all of his concerns are justified. "We're being sized up. It's looking for our weaknesses. We just make sure we don't show any."

/ SLANT 267

"Assuming these folks are important enough not to risk killing," Pickwenn says softly. Giffey inclines; that is the assumption. The door closes and the elevator rises smoothly. Giffey catches Jonathan's eye and gives him a wink. Jonathan wonders if the man is out of his head. Jonathan knows the building does not have to meet any federal or even normal state standards; there could be anything from a simple alarm system alerting republic police--which would be almost use-less--to a full-fledged open-market military response, more warbeiters, even human troops, though he doubts that. He can't stay silent. "It's murder," Jonathan says. "I have a wife and children. It's murder to put us into a crossfire or use us as shields." "You wanted to see what this place is about," Jenner says contemptuously. A fleck of spit lands in Jonathan's eye and he blinks rapidly, reaches up to wipe it. Jenner realizes he has sprayed, and his face flushes. Flustered, he knocks Jonathan's hand aside with the flight guide of his pistol. "Leave me alone," Jonathan demands. Jenner lowers the weapon. Giffey senses something is, in fact, going wrong. Jenner is especially twitchy, and Pickwenn seems distracted, as if listening to a voice nobody else can hear. And in Giffey's own head-- "Jonathan's right," Marcus says. "The rest of the world may have gone soft, but they hang murderers here." "Doesn't sound like there'll be anything left to hang," Giffey says dryly. The elevator reaches its mid-point, a floor labeled DISEMBARKATION AND /OUTING. The door opens. The room beyond is surgical white and glacier blue, a broad cylinder with nine man-sized, circular vault-like hatches mounted in the curving wall. Each door is marked by a number in large black letters, 10 through 18. The Hammer does not need to be told to leave the elevator first; it steps forward, pushing between Hale and Giffey, and surveys the area. Baker, the second flexer/controller, follows. The room is quiet. "There are hidden eyes and other sensors in this area," Baker announces. "They are active. We are being watched." Giffey pushes past Jonathan and Jenner and walks slowly to the center of the room. The room remains quiet and cool. Air is flowing freely. Giffey is beginning to wonder if the security system is completely constrained from shutting off air or power. Maybe they're just not in the right place yet for a full response. He visualizes the rough layout of the ground floor and pulls up his pad. The map shows this elevator shaft to be some way toward the rear wedge of the Omphalos. The hatches are arranged in such a way that they could lead to corridors about fifty to sixty feet long. "We could have hibernacula on this level," he tells Hale. "All the floors

268 GREG BEAR

below, down to the ground level, could have them, as well." He shows Hale the map on the pad; the fit with what they have seen so far has been pretty good. The information is sound. "What about above?" "The map says it could be a medical center and more support--cryogenics, mostly, I'd guess." "What in the hell are you looking for? You want to rob the dead?" Marcus asks, incredulous. "My God, you are the cheapest, stupidest bunch of simpletons. Who pushed you into doing this?" "It seemed like a good idea at the time," Hale responds. He gives Giffey another grin, quick, confident. "You're not going to get out of here alive," Marcus growls. "Maybe we won't, either, but that will be a small price to pay." "Bravely put," Hale says, his patience with the old man wearing thin. "I don't believe it for a moment." "I'll show you how confident I am," Marcus says. "I get the impression you think we have a lot of corpsicles here waiting to be resuscitated. Maybe they're stored along with all their assets. You've swallowed that bit of misinformation whole, right?" Hale nods amiably. "Where's your cubbyhole?" Jenner asks Marcus. "We'll slip you in and turn on the refrigerator if anything goes wrong." Marcus ignores him. "There are no dead here, no bodies," he says, focusing on Giffey again. This irritates Hale. "Omphalos isn't a goddamned tomb. You've jumped in way over your head, Mr. Giffey."

[[i Giffey hears Jenner muttering, trying to control a spastic motion of his lips. is left arm jerks. Pickwenn nudges Jenner with his elbow. Jenner can't stop. "Muh, fuh, shi, muh, shi." "Something's wrong with your colleague," Marcus observes contemptuously. The old man steps forward and faces Jenner. "Ever had a little mental tune-up? You look pretty sad to me--maybe you need some help just to keep up." Marcus turns and glares at Hale, Pickwenn, then Giffey, his eyes popped like an angry monkey. "Fugitives from some army training center, taking a few hot weapons with you. Come to Green Idaho to perform a little caper, rob the dead. I pity you. Especially I pity you," he spits out at Giffey. Jenner tries to shove forward and grab Marcus, but Hale and Giffey hold him. Hale nods to Pickwenn, who takes Marcus's arm with some strength and pushes him back beside Jonathan. Giffby decides they'd better get something done before the strain pushes young Jenner over the edge. That's the simplest explanation for his behavior: excitement and stress. But then there's the voice in his own head, a quiet, not-yet-urgent whisper: You are not what you p/ay. For a moment, Giffey wonders if the old man is

/ S L A N T 269

or energy field that disrupts thinking. That would explain a few things... Including the subdued response from Omphalos. "Let's go down a few levels, bust some doors, and see what happens," Giffey says. "Maybe we'll spill out some truth." "Good idea," Jenner says. He swats the air and shakes his head as if trying to shoo flies.

At Seattle-Tacoma Air and Space, Mary carries her own small briefcase and pad and nothing else through passenger exam. Four impassive-looking men stand beside a rank of security arbeiters arrayed in rows behind the automated check-in facades. She comes to the head of her line and places the briefcase and pad under the patient gaze of a Universal Mitsu-Shin security arbeiter. "Are you carrying any contraband software or other intellectual property?" "No," she says. "All of your pad's routines are registered to you personally, or to your employer, which is--" A pause. "Seattle Public Defense?" "They are." "You have checked all officially licensed weapons with the proper aircraft security agent?" "Yes." "You are carrying no other weapons or devices which could cause harm to humans or essential machinery, or could be used to coerce illicit compliance from humans or machines?" "No other weapons," Mary says. "Are you carrying, or have you carried in the past six months, on your person, any materials related to nanotechnology, either nanotechnological substances or their supporting substances, other than items and substances officially registered for household or personal use?" "No," Mary answers. "Please walk between the detectors, and thank you for your time." Mary passes through the dense but shallow forest of poles and plaques and sniffers and emerges with the back of her hand ID-encoded with a simple dattoo for entry to a passenger aircraft. In the waiting area, Mary observes swans and other aircraft and spacecraft taxiing and being shuttled along their ramps and loadways. She is approached by a man and a woman wearing Federal beige jackets and cockaded berets.