Chapter 9

“It’s been a long time since I came into Pan City” Quent Scarfe spoke aloud, causing the other travellers on the Metro Line from Haven to glance at him in faint alarm, wondering who the imposing looking man was addressing.

“Not long enough if you ask me!” Bob-Two said from Quent’s mouth. “I was happy enough making a comfortable living in Haven” He glanced around with ill-disguised contempt at the others in the train carriage, caring little for the looks of concern his conversation with himself was garnering.

“Now, now, Bob-Two” Quent said soothingly. “This offer seems too good to pass up. And they did send us an approved Day Pass into the City, so they must have some influence behind them”

“Well, if someone is setting a trap for us, they will get a nasty surprise!” Bob-Two declared, flexing the new and improved metal right arm he had bought for Quent. Or to be more accurate, the two of them had purchased for the body they shared. It was an old military model with some interesting features concealed within its metal skin, features that had cost a lot extra because they were hard for the Police Auxiliary scanners to detect.

“Yes, yes, hush now” Quent finally managed to silence the belligerent voice of Bob-Two. “If we keep this up they will summon a Train Guard onto us”

“Fine!” sulked the other entity that lived in his flesh and mind. Bob-Two consoled himself with glaring at the other passengers with Quent’s tired old eyes. For all of his bluster, Quent knew his partner was worried about the message they had received.

The pair of them had done pretty well for themselves financially, first taking over the scrapyard where Quent had discovered Bob-Two. The previous owners had not been happy about the takeover, best described as ‘extremely hostile’, during which Bob-Two had shown his unique ability to infect and control other mechanicals.

It was deeply ironic that the fearsome mechanical guard dog at the scrapyard, the one that had so terrified the previous version of Quent, was now his loyal lap dog. It had been especially satisfying to see it chase down the old security guard, the poor man barely able to make it to the perimeter fence before Fang (its new name) had torn him apart.

With the resources of the scrapyard at their disposal, Quent and Bob-Two had managed to build a small and profitable business empire in quite a short time. There had been objections, particularly from some of the criminal underworld of Haven, but the street smarts of Quent and the ruthless cunning of Bob-Two had turned them into one of the new overlords of their small section of the satellite city.

Then the message had arrived, a simple email from an unmarked sender, addressed to The Emissary. When they first saw the message, Quent had sworn the alien presence inside of him had nearly dropped dead of shock. Their shared heart had certainly had some palpitations, making him wonder if they needed to get a new one fitted. Something with a lot less miles on it!

The message was straight forward enough.

“We have a common enemy. Meet me in Pan City and we can discuss plans for our mutual benefit”

A location, date and time had been attached, plus a travel pass that would allow Quent Scarfe (and his unseen passenger) access past the Wall guards and deep into Pan City. To a location in the Eighth District, at a small but exclusive café.

“It’s a shame these train lines all run underground” Quent spoke aloud. “It would have been nice to see how things have changed in the last eight years”

“I like these dark tunnels” Bob-Two answered. “They remind me of home”

.

Quent had been seated for ten minutes past the appointed meeting time, idly eating bread sticks and wondering if this was a trap after all. Or maybe some obscure joke being played by one of Bob-Two’s fellow fragments of the Abyss.

Bob-Two had told his human partner all about his origins, revealing that there were a number of other fragments here in this world, likely even some hidden here in Pan City. Their master, the being they called Abyss, seemed quite happy to send multiple minions into this world to achieve her goals, caring little whether her creatures were destroyed in the process.

The pair had just decided to leave when a young oriental girl, maybe in her early teen years, appeared at their table. She was dressed in a simple school uniform and even had a school bag slung over one shoulder.

“Sorry I am late, Mr Scarfe” the girl had said as she slid into the chair opposite the surprised man. “The teachers held me back when the lunch bell sounded, some issue about my skipping classes yesterday”

“My apologies, young Miss, but are you at the right table?” Quent asked, pondering again if this was some strange prank.

“You have someone inside of you” Bob-Two spoke out, holding Quent’s body still in his chair.

“As do you, Emissary” said the girl, her dark eyes meeting his fearlessly over the table. “She has spoken to me and promised many things. I am guessing you have made such promises to your Host as well”

“Excuse me Bob-Two, is this the one who sent the message?” Quent demanded, his eyes looking at the tall but obviously young girl that sat in the other chair. The girl in question cocked her head to one side, a smile playing on her lips.

“There really are two of you in there, that is so cool!” she said. “Even the voices are slightly different when you speak”

“Indeed” agreed Bob-Two. “And what about you? Who are you and which fragment lives in your mind?”

“My name is not really important” she answered. “I am nobody of interest, but you may call me Miss Smith if that helps. The fragment inside of me has no name either, it is Nothing, so don’t bother to speak to it. You can address all of your questions to me”

“Very well, Miss Smith” said Bob-Two. “I can work with Nothing and Nobody, provided our interests are aligned. What is it you want from me?”

“From Us” corrected Quent, feeling left out of the conversation. “Don’t forget we are a partnership!”

“Yes, yes, of course” Bob-Two replied testily. “Just assume that when I say me I meant us. Is that Okay with you?”

“Okay” Quent agreed with an air of mild hurt. Miss Smith looked at them with an amused expression, yet the partners realised they were not making a very good impression on her.

“Perhaps we can start again, Miss Smith” Bob-Two asked politely. “What is it you want from us?”

The girl’s expression clouded over, becoming far more sinister and determined looking. Miss Smith no longer appeared so young or innocent.

“I want you to destroy the AURA Project, in particular the Dracoris Familia and Dracoris Terminus” she demanded. “Only the boy, Eric Hargeaves, is to be untouched. He is mine and mine alone!”

“I see” Bob-Two replied carefully. “That is a tall order. You know the last attempt to destroy the Dracoris failed quite spectacularly?”

“Yes” said Miss Smith. “I was monitoring the whole affair remotely. You and that plumber made quite a mess of it all”

Bob-Two had no reply to that as it was true. His master, the original Emissary, had been overconfident and underestimated the strength of his foes. It was a big reason why Bob-Two had decided to live a simple life in Haven, rather than fighting any more battles for the Abyss.

“So what do we gain if we help you?” Quent asked in the silence left by his partner.

“I can give you the Brackenridge Transportation company, one of the richest and most influential businesses in the Zone” she responded smugly.

“I see” Quent murmured. He had once been an employee of the smugglers, working on the docks. He still held a grudge about his undignified exit from the company, which he was certain this Miss Smith already knew about.

“And if we choose not to help you?” enquired Bob-Two, always looking for the stick after the carrot had been offered.

“I turn you into Jericho-Two and the Archimedes Network” she answered.

“In that case, I think we have a deal” agreed Bob-Two and Quent added his own affirmation.

“Excellent!” Miss Smith said happily. “To celebrate our new partnership, please let me buy you lunch. Order whatever you like”

“Why thank you, Miss” Quent accepted. “This trip into the City has turned out rather nicely after all!”

Quent stood facing the water, breathing in deeply the crisp afternoon sea breeze as gulls whirled and cried loudly over his head. He stretched his meat and metal arms out wide, feeling his shoulder blades pop as the built up tension was released.

“That feels good!” he announced, his eye roaming over the massive piers that ran out into the water, huge cargo ships dwarfing the automated cranes and loading robots that dotted his view.

“The sun is too bright and we are far too exposed out here” complained Bob-Two, the alien presence quivering like he was frightened of the open sky.

“I told you I wanted to look at the sea again” Quent chastised his partner good naturedly. “Anyway, I want to look up some buddies from the old days. I think a couple of them still work on the docks for Brackenridge”

“Do you think they can help us with the girl’s plan?” Bob-Two wondered aloud. “She seems to have a lot of inside knowledge about the AURA Project and the Brackenridge business, but I don’t trust her”

“Isn’t she just like you?” Quent asked. “She has part of the Abyss inside her head, so wouldn’t she be an ally?”

Bob-Two sighed and directed their shared body to stand in the shade of a towering robot crane, the huge metal legs on wheels offering some respite from the overwhelming glare of the cloudless sky.

“None of the other fragments are trustworthy” Bob-Two reminded Quent. “The one inside the girl won’t trust us either, but that is not the point. It’s the girl herself I am worried about. She has a Quantum Processor implanted in her brain, which means she is an Avatar or servant of Archimedes”

“So she really is working for the AI?” Quent said in alarm. “This is some kind of a trap after all?”

“No, she is not connected to the Quantum Network” Bob-Two assured his partner. “At least not at the moment. She is disconnected for some reason, either by choice or maybe some kind of system failure. But she will be as devious as the others and difficult to take down if she betrays us”

“Well, that is easy” smirked Quent. “She is only a girl, no matter what her brain is like. If she turns on us, she will find out the hard way that we are pretty dangerous too!”

With that, he raised his new metal arm into the air, twisting and turning it to catch the light. Inside it lay weapons that would surprise the girl, of that Quent was certain. Bob-Two regarded their new arm as well with less certainty, despite his previous optimism on the train.

“Either way, we are committed to following her plan now” Bob-Two sighed again. “Let’s hope it goes better than the last time”

“You worry too much!” Quent laughed then lowered his arm. “I reckon it is time for a few beers. There is a pub nearby that my old docker mates used to drink at. Let’s go check it out!”

“And find some helpers for this plan?” asked Bob-Two.

“Sure” agreed Quent. “But mainly I want to drink some beer. It has been a while since I could get drunk and fight somebody for fun!”

Naomi Tengaki was exhausted, her smart business suit crumpled and stained by at least one spilled coffee. Her chief Net Diver, a young Chinese-Malay man who only answered to his handle of Oracle, was in no better condition. The pair of them had been reconstructing EMP corrupted files and chasing data leads since late the previous night.

Oracle ran the latest security camera feed he had hacked into from the Expressway scanners, watching a black clad figure on a sports motorbike turn off at an exit ramp.

“Is that the last image you can locate?” Naomi queried her subordinate, her arms resting tiredly on the back of his contoured net diving chair.

“Yep” confirmed Oracle. “The bike exited at District Ten. Whoever was riding it was being shielded most of the way by some kind of blocking program. It stopped all the traffic monitoring sensors from tagging its speed. They had a very skilled Net Diver watching over them I reckon”

“Okay, let’s recap then” Naomi said to the Net Diver. “Last night our warehouse had two visitors checking out the damage. Our mechanicals only got fragmentary images of them, at least after they were hit by an EMP Grenade. One was in a Chameleon Cloak, very similar to the original intruder. Details are not certain but analysis indicates it was male and had access to high grade equipment, such as provided to the Guard”

“That seems about right” Oracle agreed. “I compared their movement profiles and got a match with images of Guard Units in action. Our male intruder has a high probability of being Guard trained and equipped with military gear. He is too short to be an actual Guard clone but he may be something cooked up by Jericho-Two for undercover work”

“I concur” his superior answered. “The other intruder was female, that much was evident from the images we obtained. Her equipment was pretty standard for a mercenary Freelancer, except for this” Naomi reached over and highlighted a single surviving image from one of the mechanical guard dogs.

It showed the figure holding a glowing blue sword, in the process of cutting another hound in half.

“There is only one thing she could be” Naomi declared. “She has to be an Adept, a spell caster. And I know of only one group that uses this particular type of spell”

“Really?” wondered Oracle. “You know a lot more about this than I expected”

Naomi smiled tiredly, pleased that her expertise was acknowledged by somebody, even if they were a paid underling.

“I know lots of interesting things” she agreed. “That spell is called Perfect Strike, sometimes called Divine Strike. It is used almost exclusively by one organisation here in the Zone. They call themselves the Order of Michael”

“So what does that mean for our investigation?” Oracle asked.

“It means we have got two individuals interested in our operations. A Hunter from the Order and a spy from the Guard, probably reporting directly to Jericho-Two. The woman from the Order should not be hard to identify with our employer’s connections to the Board of Governors”

“What about this spy, the one on the motorbike?” queried Oracle.

Naomi looked again at the image of the rider on their motorbike, exiting at District Ten.

“They live somewhere in the Tenth District, that is my guess. Somewhere in there we have a male agent, trained and equipped by the Guard and with ties to one of the most powerful Avatars in Pan City. Finding them won’t be easy, but that is what we are good at, isn’t it Oracle?”

“Yes Ma’am” he agreed. “Piece of cake!”