Twenty's Mission Log
Chapter 4

Our afternoon was spent chasing down Tan at his old haunts. Millie and I went to his apartment, his old office and the few spots we knew he had frequented before. No sign of him and the people we spoke to had not seen him since the last time we did these rounds.

His girlfriend, a lovely little Indian lady, had spoken to him she said the afternoon he was released from bail. All he had told her was that a business associate had arranged his bond and he just had to help them out with something.

She had not seen or spoken to him in the 24 hours since. She was getting concerned about him. Millie assured her that he was going to be fine and to give us a call if he made contact. We left our phone numbers and headed back into the city centre.

I parked the scooter next to a small inner city park. There was a mobile coffee stand there we stopped at on the odd occasion. Millie said it was a betrayal of our love for Di and the Coffee Coffin, but sometimes you need a caffeine hit wherever you could replace it.

While Millie watched some kids chase each other around the play area, I bought our coffees. When I brought them back to her, she thanked me but her look was distant. The kids were being overseen by a small group of parents, sitting on bench seats and chatting. They had their own coffees and looked quite content. I noticed Millie’s gaze strayed to them often.

I took a sip and asked her about her parents. We had never really talked about them before.

“They died when I was only a year old” she answered. “I have no memories of them at all, like they never existed”.

“Just like me” I said “An orphan from the very start of your life”.

“Yeah, we are alike aren’t we” she said. Millie turned to me and put her free hand on mine.

“You know that little shit Jericho used my mother’s name on your Ident” she said. ”My mother was Camelia Hargreaves. Dad was Alexander Hargreaves. They were apparently both researchers for the World Parapsychic Development Centre.”

“The WPD established the Awakening Centres didn’t they?” I asked her.

“That’s right. Those got a lot of backlash from the public when they opened. They still get targeted by fanatics and religious nuts. My mom and dad were killed in a terrorist attack on their lab. At least that is what I was told” she finished.

“You’ve never looked into their history or what happened to them? I wondered.

“I never felt like I would gain anything from that. They left me alone in the world so I just let it go” she said sadly. “I don’t even know what they looked like” she added.

“They would have loved you, I am sure” I consoled her.

“Yea, because I am so lovable” Millie scoffed.

“I love you” I said. She turned and looked me in the eyes.

“That’s because you don’t know any better” she laughed and I joined her. We sat back and finished our coffees while the kids played some incomprehensible game.

=====

The park was empty now and we sat on one of the benches. We had both trawled what data we could replace for Jacob Tan using our phones but nothing new came to light.

Millie had suggested bringing J and Zeke on board to try and locate some leads. I did not think it would be a good idea to drag them into another of our messes.

“There is one place we might be able to replace a lead” I suggested to Millie. “But it is going to be dangerous”.

“What’s that?” Millie asked.

“I could access the Guard data files relating to Tan’s bail release. There will be a record of who paid his bond and their contact details”.

“I thought that would be part of the secure quantum network?” Millie replied.

“It is. I would have to reactivate my connection. The data should not be hard to locate. It might only be minutes that I have to stay in there” I said to her.

Millie was shocked. “There is no way I am letting you get taken over by that goddam AI again!”

“I can do this, Millie, and we need to replace this guy fast. We can’t have the Russians interfering with us again”.

“Are you totally sure about this?” she pressed.

“Absolutely!” I lied.

“OK, what do we have to do?” she finally agreed.

I told her use her cuffs to secure my left hand to the park bench. It had a metal frame that was solidly mounted into concrete. I doubted I could easily break free. I then handed my pistol to Millie. She took it from me wide-eyed with panic.

“I can’t shoot you, Twenty!” she cried out.

“I should hope so” I responded. “I am giving you my gun so I can’t shoot you”

“Oh, that makes sense” said Millie with relief.

“Hang on, were you going to shoot me if I lost control?” I said in disbelief.

“Of course not!” she replied way too quickly. She carefully put my pistol in the back of her waistband.

“OK, stand back” I said. “I am activating the quantum network”

I sat back against the bench and closed my eyes. Using my internal processor I fed the activation codes in. A world I had barely forgotten leapt into my mind once more.

It is hard to describe the network to anyone who is not part of it. I had heard it was like trying to describe the colours of a rainbow to a blind man.

At its simplest the network is like an overlay on your senses. It adds a sixth sense to your perceptions of light and sound, taste and smell. You feel like you can touch the whole world all at once.

Other minds connected to the network stand out like beacons in the night, each visible and identifiable. I could see the other Guard units scattered through the City, expanding out through the zone. At the centre of it all was Archimedes, shining as bright as the sun.

I pulled myself back with a start. I was losing myself, merging once again into the gestalt of minds that the network represented.

With a command I linked myself to the Criminal Justice database and searched for Jacob Tan. His file came up instantly and I hungrily absorbed the data into my own internal storage.

Then the warning flashed into my mind.

<Data file compromised. Tracing in progress>

<Abort!> I commanded.

<Incursion detected. Subversion protocols engaged>

<Abort! Abort!> I screamed in my head.

<Worm insertion detected. Activate self-destruct protocols>

Oh god Millie. I am so sorry. My mind was reeling. I could not disconnect.

<Aren’t you a strange one?> The alien voice in my head sounded like a woman.

<Self-destruct protocols overridden>

My sight had gone dark. I could see nothing in the network. I was blind both in this world and the world with Millie.

Please let me go I begged to whatever was here with me.

<I need your help, Unit B-Twenty> it said to me in the darkness.

Just let me go I replied. I am nothing to you. I am just a broken clone.

<Don’t lie to me Unit B-Twenty. I know what you are> the voice said.

I felt utter despair. I had been so foolish to think I could escape the notice of Archimedes.

<Why do you think I am Archimedes?> taunted the voice.

Who are you?

<A friend in the darkness, dear child> it answered.

<Incursion detected. Worm deletion commenced>

<It looks like Archie has seen us, child. Goodbye for now> it said.

<Connection lost>

I sat on the bench, feeling the hard slats beneath me. My eyes opened and I saw the worried face of Millie close to mine. I swallowed back my fear and gave her a weak smile.

“I thought I told you to stand back?” I said to her. She just flung herself into my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck. I hugged her back with my right arm.

“If you uncuff me I will give you a proper hug” I offered.

Millie undid the cuffs and I rubbed my wrist. She sat down next to me and I could see she was concerned.

“Did you get what we needed?” she asked.

“Yes, I got the file. We can trace the bond payment back to the source” I answered.

“What else happened in there?’ Millie said questioningly.

I checked my internal clock. The whole connection had lasted less than thirty seconds.

“Nothing” I lied. “It all went smoothly. I was in and out before anyone noticed”.

Before I had met Millie, as a Guard, I was incapable of lying. It must be an integral part of becoming human, to learn how to tell a lie. I am sorry Millie.

=====

There was still an hour or more of daylight left so we decided to go to the address I found for the bond payment. It had been registered by a company called Spitfield Plastic Extruders, located out in a light industrial area about ten minutes from our apartment.

I asked Millie if she wanted to stop at home to collect her vest. With so much time already passed she decided her Gunsinger was enough and we headed straight to the company address.

By this time of day the factories and warehouses were all closing. There was a steady stream of factory workers on their bicycles and scooters rushing homewards. I wove through the traffic and we stopped outside of the business. It was dark and looked to have been closed for some time.

“May as well check it out” Millie suggested so I parked our scooter at the front and we both dismounted. I went to the front entrance of the office and looked inside through some mesh covered glass. It all looked abandoned. There was a collection of local newsletters stuffed into the mail slot. None of it was recent.

Millie had gone to the big metal roller door that lead into the factory floor. She was crouched next to the base of it, examining the concrete flooring.

“There has been some vehicle traffic through here recently” she announced. “These tyre marks are fresh”. She rattled the door and tried to lift it open. With a metallic rattle it rolled up, revealing the dark space beyond. “It’s open” she announced in case I could not see that myself.

I went over and stood beside her, probing the darkness with my eyes. Weak light filtered in from skylights above, showing manufacturing equipment of various sizes. It all looked unused for months. Plastic dust lay on the floor in here. Dust motes drifted in the slight breeze coming in from the doorway.

A central path between the machinery lead deeper into the factory. It had been scuffed clear of the ever present dust. The tyre marks pointed down that way too. We stepped in and I drew my pistol.

About ten meters in the space opened out dramatically. The wall to our left was part of the front office, but once past that the factory floor was the full width of the premises. At least fifty meters wide and double that in length. Millie was about to step past me when I put out my arm and stopped her.

I pointed down at the floor with my gun hand. Snugged up alongside the office wall was a beam sensor. If we had crossed the beam an alert would have been triggered. It was new and dust free, unlike everything else.

Millie and I stepped carefully over the line of the sensor beam. I warned Millie to keep her eyes open for any more such sensors. They might not be at ground level but placed up on the machinery.

I signalled to Millie that I was going to check out the office. She continued moving ahead and I went across to an interior door that lead back to the street frontage. I noted there were some footprints in and out of this door too.

At the doorway I paused and listened. No sound at all. I carefully tested the handle and it opened with a soft click. Pushing the door slowly open I found a staff room for the employees. I crept in and nosed around. It was dark but not so dark I could not see my way.

It had been occupied that was certain. Dust had been pushed aside and some chairs and a table used. There was nothing of interest I could see, then on impulse I checked a recycling bin that stood near the exit. Stuffed inside were empty food wrappers, drink cans and coffee cups. I made note of where the food and coffee was purchased – that might give us a lead.

I went back to the doorway, worried about Millie exploring on her own. My foot touched something metal and it bounced off the doorframe with a gentle ping. Reaching down into the dust, I picked up a small smart key. It was one of a pair provided for rental lockers at the Metro stations. A break at last.

Back on the factory floor, I called out to Millie. She halloed from somewhere down the rear so I headed that way, keeping my eyes open for any more sensors.

I found her crouched in the semi-darkness, examining the stained concrete floor. She looked up as I approached.

“There must have been a couple of big vehicles hidden down here” she said. “I think they must have been storing some crates for a while, then moved them out again. Lots of scuff marks on the floor”

She looked up at me, proud of her detective skills. I was looking past her at the big bulk of machinery draped with dust covers. Her gaze followed mine to the biggest one about ten meters away.

“Move back slowly and quietly, Millie” I said to her. My pistol was now pointed at the massive shape hidden under the covers. She picked up on the tone in my voice and stood up slowly. We had just begun to move back towards the street when I heard a voice call to us from that direction.

“It does not look like you found Tan” called Gregor. “I think your time is up you worthless cows.” He was between us and the exit, a half dozen of his men spreading out behind. They all had their weapons drawn.

“You fuck!” shouted Millie, her anger rising, “We still have 24 hours!”

“Millie!” I said to her urgently, “We need to get out of here”. I was not looking at Gregor and his goons, but the darkness at the rear of the factory. There was movement.

“Uncle Yuri is fat and old!” snarled Gregor. “I am going to show him how a man runs our business”. He shouted an order to his men in Russian and they swarmed past him, heading our way.

“Now Millie!” I yelled and pulled her sideways behind the cover of some machinery. From the darkness there was a hiss of pneumatics and the rising hum of a power cell. The dust covers shredded and flew wildly into the air as automatic weapons fire lit up the darkness.

The two leading Russians were torn apart by the gunfire, shielding the men behind long enough for them to take cover. Stalking forwards into the light came a massive shape, its heavy tread crunching on the concrete floor. Nearly three meters tall, shaped like a hunchbacked gorilla in armour. Multiple gun barrels studded its two arms and a small armoured head scanned for targets.

“What the hell is that?” said a stunned Millie as we crouched beside the metal machinery stand.

“A Golem” I answered. “Military assault drone made for urban combat. It will be running off an onboard AI. They are not meant to be deployed here, only on the Zone border”

We dropped down low as the Russians opened fire on the Golem. They were carrying an assortment of machine pistols, assault rifles and side arms. Their fire simply bounced off the ceramite plating of the war machine. Nothing they had would damage the Golem, and Millie and I only had our pistols. Not even my AP rounds had a chance of penetrating the armour.

“How do we kill it?” Millie whispered loudly to me. I could barely hear her over the roar of rthe guns from the Golem and the Russians,

“We can’t” I stated simply. “If I had my Rail Gun it would take one shot. There is nothing here that can knock it out”

“I can use my Gunsinger” said Millie with determination. She made to stand but I grabbed her and pulled her to me.

“I can’t let you try” I said, my voice shaking. “The armour is very thick. By the time you had focussed enough power, it would kill you”. She met my frightened eyes and realised I was being honest with her.

The Golem had moved forwards, selecting its targets with inhuman precision. Anyone that attempted to flee was cut down first. Two of the Russians fell to this before they knew that escape was not an option. The rest were firing sporadically, moving from cover to cover, trying to stay alive.

I risked a look to see who was still alive. It was our friend from the van sporting two long pistols, another man with an old AK-47 assault rifle, and Gregor. Gregor had a gold plated pistol of enormous length – it had to be a custom piece. He was holding it’s weight in a two handed grip. I hoped it was as effective as it was expensive, but unless he had some specialised ammunition it had no chance of disabling the Golem.

The Golem had moved to the front of the factory now, stepping easily over the bloodied corpses of its victims. There was no way we could get past it to the office or main door. I looked to the rear of the factory that lay in darkness. There had to be at least one exit back there, but I could not see it. I did not think the Golem would give us time to locate it.

More firing from the Russians,and overwhelming fire in return from the Golem. It’s heavy tread echoed through the factory as it hunted down the men. While the men kept firing at it, the limited AI would make them priority targets. Millie and I were safe for the moment, but once they had been killed, it would hunt us next.

A vague hope sprang into my mind. It was a Pan Oceanic Defence Force unit, as evidenced by its design and the Guard markings on its hull. If the maintenance panels had not been modified, I could use the Guard protocols installed in my palm pads to open it up. I could then pull out the AI core, disabling the beast. The only problem is that the access panel to the AI core was on the uppermost part of the body, just behind the sensor head.

I quickly told Millie what I needed to do. She looked at me aghast.

“How are you going to get close to that thing, let alone climb on its back?” she said to me.

“I can’t run up to it. Even from behind it has anti-personnel charges designed to kill anyone who tries that” I explained over the noise of yelling Russians and gunfire. We had to keep moving to keep solid pieces of machinery between us and the Golem. Stray shots were sparking and ricocheting all over the factory.

“The only way is for me to drop down directly on top of it. From the roof” I continued to Millie. I pointed up at the roof, about ten meters above us. It was crisscrossed with metal trusses to support the roof sheets and skylights.

“Can you jump that far?” Millie answered with awe in her voice.

“No” I said flatly. “You are going to throw me up there with your Gunsinger”.

“I could kill you!” Millie replied and was shaking her head no.

“It’s our only chance” I pleaded. “You have to do this. Have faith in your power”

She looked at me. I knew she was terrified that her Gunsinger would harm me but we were out of options. Millie nodded yes and we hurriedly planned our attack.

“Hey Gregor!” Millie shouted, “We are going to try and knock this thing out. We need you guys to hit it with as much firepower as you can to draw its attention”

“Screw you bitches!” he shouted back, dodging behind cover as the Golem moved again and laid down withering fire. “This is all your fault!”

“You caused this you dumb bastard!” Millie answered. “But if you don’t help us we are all going to die here”

Millie and I had to scramble again as the Golem advanced, moving to flank the little cover we had.

“We are running out of time and ammo!” I heard Mr Two Guns shout to Gregor. “If they want to take it on, let them”

“Alright!” answered Gregor. He shouted some instructions in Russian to Two Guns and AK-47 and with a roar of defiance all three of them started firing at the Golem in unison. The Golem shifted and split its fire from the two weapon arms at the men.

In that moment I climbed quickly atop a piece of factory equipment to gain some height. I felt terribly exposed as I was in clear line of fire to the Golem.

Millie began a strong whistling tone. I felt her bring out her Gunsinger and the air began to swirl and solidify. The dust made it easy to see the formless mass condense into a flattened disc that she held just above her crouching head. I trust you Millie I thought and leaped forward into the air.

Her whistle changed to a deeper note and I thought I was going to fall to the floor. Then with a jarring impact I felt the air grab me and hurl me upwards. It was so fast I barely had time to twist myself and plant my boots on the inner side of the roof.

I heard rivets pop and the sheeting shifted alarmingly but I grabbed a metal truss and stopped myself. Good girl Millie! My view was now upside down from the factory roof. The Golem twisted and sent a burst of fire towards Millie’s position.

My heart skipped a beat as the gunfire ripped across where she had been standing. Then underneath the noise of the guns I heard her deep throated scream and the bullets were deflected around her.

The Golem was stalking towards her. Maybe the AI detected she was an Awakened. Perhaps it was just peeved that a slender girl had withstood its guns. Either way it was close enough. I dropped from the roof directly overhead.

I hit the armoured back heavily, my left foot slipping down its flank. It immediately fired off two of the anti-personnel charges on its back. They blasted the space to its rear with razor sharp flechettes. A searing pain in my leg told me at least one had grazed my calf. My Guard boot soles and upper lining are made from a tactical weave to limit penetrations but I still felt blood trickling down into my socks.

Mentally I ignored the pain and reached with one hand to the maintenance panel. The other was locked around the upper body trying to hang on as it bucked around beneath me. Its arms were too bulky to reach me so it moved towards a wall. It was going to try and scrape me off.

My hand scrabbled over the panel, trying to replace the induction port. The Golem hit the wall sideways, shaking me badly, but I clung on desperately. Please, I begged the universe, let this work.

The induction port lit up under my hand and the armoured panel popped open. The Golem twisted and pushed backwards against the wall. My left leg seared in pain as it was slammed against the concrete wall. I reached into the opening and savagely ripped out the AI core. The machine sagged beneath me and the power cell slowly wound down to silence.

“Twenty!” I heard Millie scream and she ran to the side of the Golem. She looked up at me tearfully as I brandished the core.

“Got the bastard” I proclaimed and fell off the side. I blacked out before I hit the floor, but I had a distinct impression of Millie rushing to catch me.