Metak Fatigue Part 14

A total of fourteen bodies had been found: three out the front, nine inside, two at the back. Roads was still missing, which wasn't news to him or Barney - or, it .,,seemed, to Chappel herself. "if Phil's there with you," she said, "I need to talk to him urgently." When Barney hesitated, she continued: "I cae a.s.sure you that this conversation is strictly off the record; it isn't being monitored or recorded, and there's no-one in my office but me. I'm calling as a friend, like last night, not as head of RSD. just tell him to call me as soon as possible, if you see him." "I'm not sure -""It's okay, Barney.11.He stepped into the room and came forward to face the terminal. "I have to appear eventually, I suppose. h.e.l.lo, Margaret." "Phil, your little vanishing act had even me worried." "Really? I never knew you cared." "If I didn't, I wouldn't be calling now." Her face hardened. "What happened?"

He quickly brought her up to date on everything that had occurred between his leaving Barney's house the previous night and the explosion. .So the Mole killed them. . ." She frowned. "That's a different story to the one going around HQ." "Which is?"

She shook her head, dismissing the question. "There's a meeting in my office in two hours. I suggest you be here. " "How bad is it?" "Let's just say it would have been worse if you'd died last night." "I see." He understood perfectly; there was only one thing better than a scapegoat, and that was a dead scapegoat. "I'll be there. Thanks for the warning."

Chappel raised a hand. "One thing more before I go." " Yes? " "I strongly advise that you wear your contact lenses. Barney has obviously taken the news well, but I can't guarantee that the others will." "Point taken. See you in two."

Chappel killed the line, and Roads turned back to Barney.

She was staring at him oddly. "She knew?" "From day one. Her father was expelled from the city under the Humanity Laws when she was a child, and she's never forgotten. She helped me get a job when I arrived in '58."

236.

"Anyone else?"

Martin O'Dell guessed. He ran a comparison Mew4s old Missing In Action files and the most recent census; my name came up on both lists. And iMorrow knows, of course." "Why didn't you tell me long ago? You should've 19 me.

"I know, but . He turned away. Even now, he from telling her the real reason. The instinct 0) secrecy that had kept him safe through the last four 7-4-T- was hard to break. "Look, tell me how you felt $140 you first found out." "Shocked, mainly, and a little as if you'd betrayed 0.

"It didn't bother you?"

She looked uncomfortable. "Well, yes, but I'm getting to it." "Are you sure?" He turned back to her, but she didn't J'sm: his eyes.

"Would you have felt that way about 61ki own father?" he asked. "He was like me, an ex- Officer drafted into security after the War. We s= c the same secret."

Barney opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. Her eyes moistened. "I never knew," she eventually said. "No. He made me promise not to tell you until after he died and his body had been cremated. But then, when I had the chance, I couldn't do it. You'd learned the 106MY" in school too well: that biomods were evil and 1011i; who had them was a perversion. If I'd told you then, you wouldn't have wanted to know."

Barney shook her head. "You're right. I wouldn't of*[email protected] believed it. Not of Dad." "And I couldn't tell you about myself, either, without telling you about him. You were a teenager when he 237died. I'd known you since you were a small child. I never guessed we'd be in this situation, where my failure to tell you might threaten he shrugged whatever it is between us." "But you stuck around," Barney said softly. "You took care of me. You've always been there, Phil, unchanging and reliable whenever I needed help. And I rely on you so much. How could I not have trusted you. "I know, I know." Roads nodded. "And I do feel like I've betrayed you -"

"Don't be stupid. I would have suspected years ago, had you been anyone else.

The only reason I didn't is because I wouldn't let myself." She put a hand on his arm. Her face was still serious, but at least her eyes met his again.

"It's not your fault your body ages at a slower pace than mine. G.o.d knows, you'll probably outlive me by decades -"

He smoothed her forehead with a fingertip, trying to erase the frown. -Don't think that far ahead, Barney. You've got plenty of other stuff to worry about.

Right now, I need a shower and a change of bandages. And then I'll show you my box of tricks." "That sounds ominous," she said with the slight beginnings of a smile. "Is it?"

He smiled back. "That depends whose side you're [email protected] The injury to his shoulder was healing nicely, although full movement had not yet returned to the arm. The wound was filling with a ma.s.s of pinkish cellular material that would later migrate and specialise to become dermal, muscular and nervous tissue, guided by shepherd machines as small as red corpuscles.

Within a week, he guessed, his shoulder would be as good as new.

His ribs were still tender, however. Bones were more aff(Mu to mend than flesh, even for his modified After Barney had cleaned away the dried blood that Mr- leaked overnight, and rebound the joint, Roads IRTT T-1 in the clothes he had rescued from his house. @@h, down at the kitchen table, he wiped away the Years of dust ingrained on the leather case, then opened it.

Inside, among an a.s.sortment of old tools, was a spare A K. of contact lenses which he rinsed and inserted. They Jitted snugly, unfurling on contact to cover most of each s surface. Simple machines in their own right, the retinae reacted to light, contracting and dilating as a normal eye would, and came complete with imitation blood-vessels.

You'd never guess," said Barney in admiration. "I certainly didn't." "These were standard-issue for undercover work, for sensitive' situations. Even back then, some people were uncomfortable with biomodification, and didn't like to be reminded." "I can understand that, to a certain extent." "You didn't have to deal with them."

Roads remembered the neo-Luddites clearly. In the late 2030s, the Puritans had preached a modern sanct.i.ty of the flesh: no implants, no gene therapy, no metabolic alteration. They had claimed that it interfered with G.o.d's plans.

On the reverse side of the coin were those who had been denied the new technology, yet craved it bitterly. One such group had hunted biomodified troops during the Dissolution and drained them of their blood. By drinking the bodily fluids of their victims, they had hoped to acquire the micromachine elements standard in all retrofitted combat soldiers."Progress always leaves someone behind," Roads said. "Cars, computers, biomodification - they're all the same in that sense." "And the Rea.s.similation, too." "Exactly. There's nothing to be gained by fighting the future." He replaced the items he had removed and handed her a tiny hemisphere no larger than a grain of rice. "So put this in your ear."

She eyed it warily. "What is it, first?" "A short-range transmitter/receiver.

It'll allow us to communicate directly, without a radio or a phone."

She raised it nervously. .Don't worry. You might feel a slight sting as it anchors itself, maybe a tiny movement, but it won't do any harm."

She pushed the tiny device into her auditory ca.n.a.l, then wriggled as it tickled its way toward her eardrum. "How's that?" he asked, without moving his mouth, and she jumped. "Can you hear me clearly?" "I ... As though you're whispering in my ear. Weird." "To reply, all you do is subvocalise my full name and talk. The bead will pick up the vibrations through your skull and cheekbone."

She tried it, counting slowly from one to ten. Her voice in his ear was gravelly but perfectly clear. "Good," he said. "I wondered if it was still working. It's been a long time since I last used it." "How does it work? At your end, I mean." "One of the most common implants in the old days was the cyberlink; sort of an advanced cellular phone or modem without the visible hardware. Mine is a little more sophisticated, but operates on the same principle. My optic and auditory nerves cae receive data, via an antenna wired along my spinal cord, from about five kilometres."

,"What about power? Don't you have to recharge now and again? Or do you just change batteries?" "Most of the power comes from here." He pointed at @N, gut. "The human body produces its own electric Mine has been boosted, that's all. As long as I overdo it, I'll be fine." She grimaced theatrically.

What?" "Sorry. I was just imagining what would happen if *JkL had a short circuit." "Well "I don't think I want to know. And don't expect me @c share a bath with you." He smiled back. "I won't." They went into the lounge, where the laptop was still estin on the coffee table by the sofa.

Switching it on, 9 ''he took a data fiche from his case and fed it into the drive. The program took a moment to configure itself to the unfamiliar system, then announced its readiness with a simple command screen.

The logo in the top right-hand corner said: 'PolNet.' "Now what?" asked Barney. Roads shook his head and tapped a few commands into the keyboard, opening the modem line to RSO's mainframe and calling up access to its communication towers. When everything was ready, he leaned back into the sofa and closed his eyes.

This was much harder than simply opening a cyberlink to Barney. There were pathways to be explored that he hadn't touched for thirty years - pathways that might have changed or devolved, perhaps even atrophied completely, with forty years disuse - both within him and within the city.

After a moment, he sighed with relief. A list of commands scrolled down the screen."That's it," he said aloud. "That's what?" "I'm on-line." He opened his eyes.

Superimposed at the corners of his vision were glowing green and red menus surrounding a stylised command screen. "My internal processor is broadcasting to. RSD communications at several million bits per second. This means I can interface with the RSD mainframe through the program in your terminal. The complete PoNet command network is gone, but the abbreviated backup here will do for now. I can access files, take calls, run programs - all without even closing my eyes.

Much easier than the old manual interface I keep in my office at HQ."

He experimented with a few commands. The skills were still fresh in his memory. In fact, it was almost too easy.

His two lives, until that moment, had been quite separate, linked only by the implants in his eyes and ears. Accessing the system was like putting on clothes he had worn in another lifetime; he felt as though part of him had been resurrected. But he was no longer the same person he had been. The young Phil Roads had died in-the Dissolution forty years ago, and comfortingly familiar clothes could not change that.

He sent an image in 2-D to the RSD mainframe, then had Barney's terminal display the picture. The process was perfectly clear, but fairly slow. The image grew from the top of the screen down, line by line, in the time it would have taken to download it directly. It showed her staring back at him, eyes wide. "Very funny." She leaned closer and brushed at his temples. "It's hard to imagine all this gear in your head."

He guided her hand to the rear of his skull. "Actually, it's here." "Wherever, it's still unbelievable."

ything we have today, but I really. Better than an the same principles. If not for the berse on rkers, a -technology riots and the Humanity Laws, nti ht still have retained a crude biomod mig He shrugged. "But I doubt it. The technology madvanced for the reclamation factories. You can't F1 nanomachines and biochips out of left-over data Iow and broken computers."

"Which is why we have to Rea.s.similate," she said. [email protected] we end up in the steam age again." "To put it bluntly, yes. You could already see it @rl when I arrived here, ten years after the end of f4i;; War. Datapools were less sophisticated; there had *,-44s, no technological progress at all, and the number of computers was on the decrease. Kennedy's ocosi;@ well to last this long, but it has to open up In five years, we won't be able to repair the 1.1t mainframe any more. There'll be nothing left to Barney folded her arms around herself. "I keep telling U these things, but it-still doesn't seem real." Roads glanced at her, noticing her uncertainty for the first time. "The world is a scary place," he said softly.

She nodded. "It's like growing up, I guess. You want -o be an adult, but don't want to leave childhood ,behind. I feel the same way when I think about Stedman. And you, with all your toys. I feel ... disempowered, if that's a word." "I'm not sure it is," Roads said, reaching to touch her shoulder, "but it should be."

She shrugged, and squeezed his hand. "Don't worryIt's just a mood. Have you got anything else to show me.

With a flick of a mental wrist, Roads banished all but a basic "ready" icon, in the shape of a stylised policebadge, and a clock. The menus he had once known as well as the backs of his hands vanished into the timeless s.p.a.ces of computer memory, awaiting his command. just knowing they were there made him feel more confident. "Actually, it's 9:15," he said. "We really should get going. Better done quickly, and all that."

She brushed her hair back and stood. As he locked the case in a cupboard, she turned to him. "You have a clock built in as well?" "Of course. Do you want to know the time in Sydney?" "No. But why, then, do you wear a watch?" "To make myself normal. I can't avoid my ears or eyes as often as I'd like to - they're just there - but the rest is optional. If I have to use them, I will, just like I did when I first saw Cati, but the less I think about them, the better.

To blend into Kennedy I have to hide the truth even from myself, in a sense.

So no more PolNet, and no more magic clock."

She smiled and shook her head. "You'll never be normal." "Maybe not." He patted the back of her hand. "But that doesn't stop me trying."

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

a.m.

;[email protected] day of the Rea.s.similation promised many things, as h ew eather itself was ambivalent: dark clouds Jhl with irregular flashes of blue for control of the while occasional, startling glimpses of the sun the city to gold below. With atmospheric carbon dioxide levels still high, dustrial emissions being only a fraction of o in M_ they were before the War, weather was unseasonal '[email protected] a rule. Lacking global or even regional data, Kennedy 63(7*11-1 could only guess what each day might bring.

[email protected] efforts - incorporating everything from to casting runes - contributed to this 001ON& When sudden shifts in temperature could halve staple crop's produce almost overnight, everyone 'wanted to have their say.

Barney and Roads arrived at HQ on the dot of ten, breathless from the brisk walk. She went immediately to her desk to prepare for the day while he continued upward to the top floor, ignoring the occasional startled I ce in his direction. The only person he met on the 0 way who seemed at all keen to talk was Roger Wiggs, who accompanied him for the last few floors.

CIS.

omeone told me you were dead," said Wiggs, brushing his hair in the lifts mirror. "Obviously they were wrong.""Obviously." The existence of the rumour explained why people had been staring at him. He wondered briefly who had started it. "You in on the meeting?"

"Unfortunately." Wiggs put the comb back in his pocket. "Any idea what it's about?" "Not really, but I've got a bad feeling." "Me too. DeKurzak has had me going over the files for two days now and hasn't said s.h.i.t. That worries me.

"At least you haven't got Blindeye on your back." "True. But we still don't have anything to go on. We're just as lost as we were a month ago."

Roads said nothing, although he itched to take his fellow officer aside and brief him on Cati. There simply wasn't time to do so before the meeting.

The lift came to a halt and the doors hissed open. Michael, Chappel's secretary, met them and guided them through to the office without a word.

Raised voices, heard behind the door, ceased in mid-sentence when Michael knocked. "Come in."

Chappel was seated behind the desk, facing DeKurzak and O'Dell. A powerful tension filled the air. As Roads and Wiggs entered, the RUSAMC captain looked up with obvious relief and rose to his feet. "Speak of the devil," he said to Roads. "Nothing bad, I hope."

O'Dell hesitated. "No, of course not. The foyer guard just buzzed to say you were on your way up. It's good to see you're still with us."

Roads inclined his head in grat.i.tude. DeKurzak pointedly ignored him. As he took the seat on O'Dell's right, he noticed with a sinking feeling what the liaison officer was holding in his lap.

The X-rays.

When Wiggs had settled into the one remaining chair to Roads, DeKurzak finally spoke. -Perhaps we can begin now, seeing we're all here." '[email protected] voice was flat and expressionless, and his face but beneath the surface clearly seethed the that had been interrupted. He spoke directly Chappel, ignoring the others. "I have an appointment eleven to finalise the security arrangements for Stedman's arrival, and I must not be late." She met his stare. "I know. I have to be there, too." VC Roads and Wiggs she explained: "General Stedman's has been brought forward to three o'clock." "Really?" said Roads. "The timing's been to the splitfor a week now. Why the last-minute change?" O'Dell looked embarra.s.sed. "Apparently the convoy ON better time than we antic.i.p.ated." Roads smiled graciously, allowing the explanation to *M Without believing a word of it. He found it more that the General - and therefore the RUSAMC - Mr, chosen to test the readiness of the city.

DeKurzak cleared his throat pointedly. Chappel #=1 [email protected] printed files on her desk. "All right. As Antoni and Martin know, I received'a 11t;i0re- from the Mayor this morning, which, among k things, makes a couple of recommendations I feel [email protected] should discuss."

"Discuss?" DeKurzak scowled in annoyance. "What's there to discuss? They seem perfectly clear to me." "What does?," asked Wiggs, nervousness showing on OW brow, glistening. "We'll get to that." "Tell them, Margaret." DeKurzak gestured at the letter on her desk. "Or I will."

She glared at him. "Need I remind you, Antoni, that these are simply recommendations? I have the final sayin RSD affairs - not the Mayor, and certainly not the MSA."

He waved a hand dismissively. "it doesn't matter who makes the decision, as long as it's the correct one." "And I remain unconvinced that this is correct." She glanced at Roads and Wiggs, then down at her desk.

"Nevertheless, it seems I have no choice." Her eyes rose again to meet Roads'.

"In his letter, the Mayor recommends that, effective immediately, all investigations into the Mole and the a.s.sa.s.sin be handed to the MSA/RUSAMC cooperative, where they will be jointly handled by Antoni DeKurzak and Captain Martin O'Dell." "The sonofab.i.t.c.h," said Wiggs, shaking his head.

"All we need is a little more time." "'Time'?" DeKurzak stood, on the attack.

The sheaf of X-rays punctuated important points as his hands moved.

"Rea.s.similation is today. Not next week, or next year - today. You've had more than five weeks to produce results. Do you expect us to sit back and wait until the killer hands himself in?"

-We're doing our best -" "Which is obviously not good enough. The moment has come to let someone who knows what he's doing take charge of the investigation." "Like you, I suppose?" "Martin and I have already agreed upon how we shall divide responsibilities," said DeKurzak stiffly. "And I will be a.s.suming control of your investigation, yes." "Great, just great." Wiggs looked at Roads for support. "Come on, Phil. I can't believe you're just sitting there taking this s.h.i.t." "I'm waiting." Roads folded his hands in his lap, trying to radiate an aura of patience he wasn't feeling. "There's more to come."

"Indeed there is," said DeKurzak without looking at returning to his seat. "Read the rest, Margaret." Chappel unfolded the letter.

"Mayor Packard also I$ , I K that you, Phil, be placed under house arrest an inquiry into the nature of what he calls your ifticau: and not infrequent relationship with * criminal elements within the city'. He goes on to that your allegiance may not be wholly with the in this case, and that your judgement may therefore ON compromised." "That's bulls.h.i.t. I'm as straight as they come."

DeKurzak turned on him. "Then how do you justify 111111- secret dealings with Keith Morrow?" "He supplies me with information "Which you fail to include in your reports. Concealing information regarding a known and wanted criminal is alone tantamount to corruption." "Depending on the circ.u.mstances." "RSD regulations disagree with you." "Everyone on the force has a gra.s.s. It's the way things work "Granted, and we might be prepared to overlook it this once - but for these." DeKurzak waved the X-raysClearly visible on the transparent picture were Roads' various biomods. "I can explain "C-n you? You illegally entered the city, forged your date of birth on RSD records, falsified a medical examinatio and lied to protect your secret on a number of other occasions. In this light, any explanation you have must be regarded with extreme suspicion." DeKurzak threw the X-rays to Wiggs, who had indicated that he would like to see. "I can't believe we entrusted a position of such responsibility to a man with ... with machines in his head."

DeKurzak's face was red, madesuddenly old by his anger. "And don't bother protesting that you're a good cop. It's no wonder you're so good given your unnatural advantage over the rest of us. How did it feel to rob the marksmanship t.i.tle from someone more worthy, Roads? Did you feel superior? Was it guilt that made you retire from the compet.i.tion, or had you set your sights on a higher goal - ?"

"Antoni," Chappel tried to interrupt, but DeKurzak rolled on over her. 'No, Margaret. These are questions we should all be asking. Let's see if he can answer them to anyone's satisfaction. "

Roads' face flushed with barely-checked anger. "I never once used my abilities in any other capacity than as dictated by my profession. I am not a cheat, and I do not feel superior to anyone born in a time lessadvantaged than mine -"

"But we have only your word for that, don't we? The word of someone who has already proved to be a liar." "I believe him," put in O'Dell. "And what would you know?" "More than you, obviously -"

"That's enough," Chappel interrupted, scowling at them all across the expanse of her desk. "This is not a trial and I am not a judge but, by Christ, I'll throw the next person who speaks out of line into the can for a week. We're here to discuss the cases first, and Phil second. You've had your say, Antoni, so be quiet."

DeKurzak's lips drained of blood as he retreated into his seat and crossed his arms. Roads tried to read the tangled knot of emotions displayed before him.

What, he wondered, was DeKurzak afraid of?

Only one answer made sense, and that was failure. The cases were still open; neither the Mole nor the killer had been caught. That would have an adverse effect on rs record - unless, of course, he could pa.s.s as a of the blame onto Roads as possible. NU. just righteous indignation, thon, Roads decided, treachery as well. "Roger?" asked Chappel. "Do you have anything d like to say?"

ere - ea ec ine t e opportunity to ta e si es. -Ume staying out of it, Margaret. Sorry, Phil." "That's okay. I understand. "And, as for the case,"

Wiggs added to DeKurzak, Vl be glad to get back on day shift. The f.u.c.ker's all buddy." Chappel intervened before the liaison officer could "Martin?" "I agree with Phil's theory that the Mole might be a kM*MoT;idii4 - in which case I'm the obvious choice to the case." He shrugged at Roads. "But I don't illfflo we can blame Phil for being the way he is, or for trying to hide it. The knee-jerk reaction is even stronger here than back home." He cast a scathing glance sideways at DeKurzak.

"What I'd like to do is to point out a fact in Phil's favour that the X-rays don't show."

Chappel nodded. "Go on." "I am obviously too young to remember either the War or the Dissolution, but I have access to military records that doc.u.ment their history, at least in part. One episode concerns the final days of the Third Mobile Battalion. Briefly, the battalion was ordered to Philadelphia in 2047 to spearhead the suppression of a civilian rebellion. Orders were to kill on sight, not to detain, until such time as the leaders of the rebellion were neutralised. A bloodbath, basically, is what the military wanted, to teach the city a lesson."

Roads closed his eyes with a wince, but didn't speak. He remembered it more vividly than that. Beingreminded of it by the RUSA files the previous day had been bad enough. In this context, it was horrific. "The battalion's third in command," O'Dell continued, "a major on exchange from the Australian Armed Forces, led a mutiny against his commanding officers. He refused along with over a third of the battalion to comply with orders of that nature. Under other circ.u.mstances, he might have been commended for his actions. During the mutiny, however, while defences were down, the civilian rebellion attacked and the battalion was wiped out. Although the force behind the battalion tried, it was unable to gain control of the city without the Third Mobile. The major who led the mutiny - Philip Roads - disappeared, and was subsequently presumed dead. "You can substantiate this?" DeKurzak broke in. "It's all in the files. Files to which, I should point out, Phil had no access. They could not have been falsified." "And your point?" "That his actions displayed strength of character and moral conviction. He may have betrayed his command, but only to further a greater good." O'Dell smiled ironically, and added: "Philadelphia, as you must know, is now the capital of the Reunited States of America."

DeKurzak made a mocking noise, but Chappel waved him silent. ,,Phil?,, Roads stirred himself from the memories O'Dell had awoken. "I have only one thing to say, and I'll keep it quick. I doubt there's anybody in this room who would deny that I'm one of Kennedy's most qualified officers -" "So you've said," DeKurzak sneered. "But that only makes your inability to apprehend the Mole doubly suspicious. "