Twenty's Mission Log
Chapter 8

I called Uncle Yuri and told him we had Tan.

“How is the little runt?” asked Yuri. “Did you have to rough him up a bit?”

“Not exactly” I replied tiredly. “He was about to be implanted with some illegal cyberware by a rogue AI. He probably needs some medical treatment but I think he is otherwise OK”

There was a long pause at the other end of the connection.

“What exactly are you dragging me into?” asked Yuri suspiciously.

“A revolution of sorts is my current guess” I answered honestly.

“Well that is fine then” he laughed. “For a Russian, revolution is a great time to make some money”

“Yes, anything to get those Pandas. You’ll have to come and collect Tan though. Millie and I are totally beat right now.” I gave him our location and he agreed to send a van.

I disconnected the call and looked over at Millie and Tan. They were both sitting there with their eyes closed. I wished I could do the same but an alley in the Spit was no place to take a nap.

The beeping of a van woke me up with a start. I peered about in confusion until I saw Rico (Mr AK-47) sitting in a black van in front of me. Millie stirred next to me and muttered something about “just 5 more minutes” and settled back against my shoulder. At least our scooter was still there.

Rico helped me get Tan into the back of the van. I told him to make sure Yuri looked after him, as I thought he had information we were going to need. He also gave me a hand towel and some bottles of water from the front glove-box to clean ourselves up.

As he said, we looked like absolute hell right now. We were covered in blood, bits of brain matter and a lot of smoky dust. There were Guard and Police patrols everywhere and we would surely be stopped if we did not smarten ourselves up.

I started to clean Millie’s face with the damp towel until she finally relented and woke up.

“I hope you did not spit on this first before wiping my face” she said and took over wiping herself down.

“Why would I do that?” I replied with a horrified look.

“The Sisters used to do it to us all the time. The nicer ones let us use our own spit” she responded. She had a gleam in her eye so I was uncertain if this was a true story or not. A lot of her orphanage tales were exaggerated I had come to realise.

Once she was deemed suitable for public travel, she rinsed the towel with water and started to wipe my face and arms. I tried to take it over but she pulled the towel away and told me to stand still and let her finish. When she wiped the last stain away, she leaned in and kissed me on the nose. I guess this was her way of letting me know we were going to be OK.

We got on our trusty scooter and rode slowly back through the streets to our apartment. I kept my eyes open for any trouble. We seemed to attract a lot of that lately. For once we were in luck and we did not get stopped by any patrols. Or chased by black vans. Or shot at by complete strangers.

Back at our apartment we slowly tramped up the stairs. Our room beckoned and we tiredly stripped off our soiled outer garments and boots. Millie graciously let me use the shower first so I went in and started the water running.

I peeled off my support bra and boxers (Millie always joked about how rugged my underwear choices were) and stepped under the hot water. It felt glorious and I just let the water run over me for a minute or two, easing the aches in my body.

The bathroom door opened and Millie came in wearing her robe.

“I’ll be out in a few minutes Millie” I called to her over the running water. The door to the shower cubicle opened and she stood there, her robe discarded.

“Is it OK if I take a shower with you?” she asked uncertainly.

“I would like that very much” I answered and gave her room to step in. It was not a very big cubicle but we managed it just fine.

=====

Millie lay curled up next to me as the dusk turned into night. We were both so very tired but I felt contented.

We had weathered a storm of violence and come through to the other side safely. I knew more was to come but for now I felt at peace.

“Millie” I whispered “Are you asleep?” She murmured in her sleep but did not wake up. I kissed her on the cheek and tucked the sheet up over her naked shoulders.

“I just have to go and see someone” I whispered. “I won’t be long”.

In the near darkness I found a clear pair of pants and a t-shirt. I grabbed my set of keys for the door and silently let myself out, making sure the door was secure behind me.

At the end of the hallway on our top floor was a ladder that lead to the roof. We had a couple of deck chairs set up that we used from time to time when the weather was good. I climbed the ladder quietly and opened the inner latch. The roof hatch opened with a soft squeak and I got out onto the roof.

It was warm still and the night sky was cloudless. It would cool off later I knew but for now it was pleasant in just my shirt and pants. My bare feet trod silently towards the figure seated in one of our deck chairs.

“You saw me?” said the figure as I approached.

“I assumed you meant me to see you this time” I answered and sat down next to her in the other chair. “I know you have been watching us but this was the first clear glimpse I had”

I turned in my chair and looked at Sister Venerae. She was as tall as me, with long blonde hair tied back in a plait. Her features were striking now that I could see her clearly in the reflected lights of the street below. It was the first time I had met her but I felt I knew her well.

“Does Millie know?” I asked her, my voice taking on a hint of anger.

“About what in particular, Twenty?” Venerae asked. “I have an awful lot of secrets”.

“That you are related to her” I said. She looked at me with surprise.

“When did you work that out?” Venerae asked softly.

“I was not certain until I saw you just now” I admitted. “But I thought so when I first saw your photo with her from the orphanage. Facial recognition is one of my talents”.

Venerae dropped her head and sighed into the night air.

“Before I took my Orders, I was a young woman named Viola Hargreaves. Millie’s father, Alexander, was my younger brother” she responded.

“So Millie’s middle name came from you?” I wondered.

“In a way” Venerae said. “I was named after our grandmother, the first Viola, and Alexander gave Millie her second name to honour us both” She turned to me and I could see her eyes were moist from unshed tears. “Her parents loved Millie. She was an unexpected child, born long after Alex or Camelia ever thought they could have a biological child of their own. Millie never got to know how much they wanted to be there for her”.

“So why did you let her grow up alone in that orphanage?” I snapped. “If you were her aunt you could have raised her yourself”.

“It was not something I was able to do” she said. “My life has always been a dangerous one. I could not let Millie be with me in those times. Instead I chose to spend what time I could with her at the orphanage as Sister Venerae”

“She loves you, you know that” I stated to Venerae. “So why are you hiding from her now?”

“The forces at work here are deadly, Twenty. You have seen for yourself how willing they are to throw lives aside”. Venerae paused. “I am glad you found her Twenty. She needs your love and strength for what is coming”

“What exactly is coming?” I demanded. “We are being drawn into games we don’t understand. Millie’s life is being put at risk, by Jericho, by Archimedes, by some other AI”

“I know” Venerae responded. “I had always hoped she could avoid being drawn into this world. But once she Awakened, I knew her path was set. She would be part of the war that is coming”

Venerae gave me a troubled look. “You are drawn into this war as well, Twenty. Your fate was set the day you met Millie.”

“So you are a fortune teller?” I asked. “Can you see our futures?” I know the AIs use elaborate formulas to predict outcomes, perhaps she had a psychic ability akin to that.

“In a way, yes” she agreed. “I can see the paths that you are likely to follow. It is my gift”

“Just what exactly are you Venerae?” I wondered aloud. “Are you one of the Awakened?”

“No, I am something else altogether” she said evasively. “Those powers the Awakened have come from this side of the Boundary. My powers are from another side entirely”

“There are powers other than the Awakened?” I demanded from her.

“I am sorry Twenty, I cannot say more to you at this time. But we will meet again, soon” She stood and walked to me. I stood and met her gaze from mere handspans away.

“Please give this to Twenty from me” she said and kissed me on the lips. “Millie is more precious to me than you can ever know. She carries the legacy of our bloodline within her”.

She went back to the chair she had been sitting on and picked up something that had been leaning on the far side. It was a short sword of some kind, old looking, in a scabbard. She slung the baldric over her shoulder, resting the scabbard against her left hip.

“What about Jericho-Three?” I asked. She knew what I was referring to.

“You will need to ask him yourself. I can’t interfere in his plans” she replied and walked to the edge of the roof. With a final glance at me she stepped off into the night.

I ran over and looked frantically downwards, fearing the worst.

Venerae’s hands were lit up with circles of light, held palm down at her sides. She drifted gently to the street below as she looked back up at me. She was another kind of Power indeed.

I climbed back down the ladder and locked the roof hatch behind me. My mind was full of questions without answers.

Unlocking the door carefully, I crept into our room. I undressed and slid under the sheets beside Millie. She rolled over and pressed herself against me. I kissed her lips in the darkness and whispered softly to her.

“Your aunty loves you Millie. You have a family out there”

=====

September 6th, V26

I woke up before Millie as usual. She had sprawled out on her back, forcing me to the edge of the bed once again. Today I did not mind. I sat up and gazed at her sleeping form. Her right breast lay exposed to the cool morning air and I was tempted to tickle her gently.

My hand was reaching forwards when she popped open an eye and fixed me with me a cyclopean glare.

“Don’t even think about it” she warned, and tucked the sheet up under her arms. She closed her eye and settled herself against the pillow.

“Good morning Millie” I said to her. “Did you sleep well?”

“It was OK, except someone kept stealing the blanket” she said accusingly and settled herself even further into the bed.

“I am guessing you won’t be coming on a run with me this morning” I teased her. She opened an eye again and patted me on my bare back.

“You go on without me” she said bravely, “I’ll stay here and guard the fort”. She closed her eye and folded her arms over her stomach.

So I got dressed in my running shorts and top, and sat back on the bed to lace up my shoes. There was a grumbled complaint from behind me.

“If you really loved me you would bring back coffee” said a pleading voice. “And maybe a toasted bacon and egg sandwich”

“It shall be done, my princess” I acknowledged and gave her a short bow. Millie smiled and lifted her arms towards me. I leaned forwards and gave her a kiss. She pulled me down and we lay like that for a few minutes.

“Now go forth my prince” she declared “And bring me back the heads of our enemies. And coffee!”

“As you command” I agreed and got off the bed. At least we had no shortage of enemies most days.

=====

I ran a shorter circuit this morning, covering a half dozen blocks of our neighbourhood. My left leg was recovering well, and the run was easing out some of the sore muscles.

The clones were all designed to heal far more rapidly than organic humans. Our enhanced metabolisms allowed us to repair cellular damage quickly and with little chance of replication errors. In simple terms, we healed fast and were basically immune to things like cancer.

The bulk of diseases that still afflicted humanity were likewise unable to harm us. If it was not for the fact we were basically slave soldiers to the Zone governors we could be considered perfect. This was not false pride – we were simply stronger, faster and smarter than the majority of human kind.

As I ran easily down the nearly empty streets, I pondered why the original architects of the clones kept so many human features in our designs. We needed suppressants in our daily diets to stop us feeling emotions, but also simple things like sexual desire.

I had not been ingesting the suppressants for six months now, and I was well aware how my emotional range had grown in that time. My recent experiences with Millie had shown me that I felt sexual desires too and was able to respond to her in ways I imagine any normal woman would.

My limited talk with Dr Chappel at her medical clinic had made me aware that I was even in possession of ovaries, a womb and all the other required plumbing that defined me as a female. She believed it was possible I could even carry a child to term.

Millie had warned me early on that such changes could occur in my body as the suppressants stopped affecting me. She had been remarkably graphic in her descriptions of what I could expect each month. I had been horrified and thought she was kidding me, until a private talk with Di confirmed it was essentially true.

Which made me ponder again the intentions of my designers. Had they always wanted the male and female clones to be able to breed with each other, or perhaps with organic humans? It had never seemed to be part of the current role the clones played in the Guard.

It was something I did not have enough data to resolve yet. My more immediate concerns were simple. Help Jericho-Three, get Venerae to meet Millie, and stop a psychotic AI taking over the Zone. Oh, and get coffee and toasted sandwiches! I made a last minute detour to the Coffee Coffin.

I ran to a stop at the front of Di’s establishment. It was still early but I was surprised how few customers were getting their morning coffees. I said as much to Di when she greeted me and took my order.

“Have you not been looking at the news feeds?” wondered Di. “All of Pan City is in lockdown and the Guard and Police Auxiliary are on alert. Half the population here in the Spit are staying home if they can”

In my joy at the developing relationship with Millie, I had forgotten what was happening in our city. Events we had been part of, if not the cause.

She got my order ready and once handed over, told me to head home to Millie and stay inside. She was going to close early herself and bunker down.

I thanked her and headed back to our apartment. Now that I took notice, the streets were unusually quiet. A pair of surveillance drones buzzed overhead, scanning the streets below. I picked up my pace and headed back to Millie.

=====

“Thank god you’re here!” exclaimed Millie as I got in the door. She was dressed in her usual street clothes and was tying up her beloved boots.

“What’s the matter?” I replied worriedly. Had she received news?

“I need coffee” she answered and made grabbing motions for one of the takeaway coffee cups. I felt cheated and relieved at the same time. I sat next to her and handed over her coffee and sandwich.

“I want to check up some things with Daniel-san” I told her as I sipped my own coffee. “There has been a lot going on and he might be able to hunt down some answers for us”. Millie had been thinking along the same lines, plus his office was close.

Daniel-san was not in the league of J or Zeke, but he was a pretty talented net diver in his own right. He had forged Millie’s original Bounty Hunter licence details. I had always wondered why he agreed to that. I was pretty sure he was concerned about the risks such a career entailed. Maybe he just got bullied into it by her. She had that effect on people.

I changed into my working clothes as well. The gear from yesterday needed a serious clean, so I put on one of my spare pairs of black pants and shirt. After yesterday’s encounter I strapped on my heavy vest and utility belt. My boots were still stained but I gave them a wipe down and laced them up. My Demons cap was a bit worse for wear these days – I made a calendar reminder on my internal files to buy a new one.

Once we finished off our breakfast, we headed downstairs. Mrs Singh saw us in the foyer and asked when we would be coming for our next singing lesson. Millie suggested that might have to wait for a few days.

“You are so right dear” she agreed. “With all these bombings and terrorist attacks here in the city we should all stay home right now. Are you sure you want to go to work today?”

“Gotta earn them Pandas” Millie replied. “And I have a bodyguard” she added and pointed at me.

“Well, keep her safe please Twenty” said Mrs Singh and smiled at us both.

I like Mrs Singh. She was always friendly to us both and never seemed put out by my size and demeanour, even when I had first been introduced to her.

Of all the people I have met since Millie, Mrs Singh is the only person who had ever commented on my name. “So unusual” she had said. “Is it a traditional name from your people?”

“Twenty is from a really big family” Millie had explained. “It was the easiest way to keep track of all the kids”

“Oh” Mrs Singh had said in surprise. She looked at me “Do you have many brothers and sisters?

“Thousands” I had said matter of factly.

“It feels like that in my family too!” Mrs Singh had laughed. I really did like her.

Out on the street it was quiet. A lone car hummed along and a couple of cyclists pedalled quickly past. A few pedestrians looked about nervously and hurried on their way. It was certainly a city on edge. I wondered what it was like in Pan City right now.

We crossed the road and walked quickly down to Danny’s Bonds & Brokers. By now the office should be open.

With Millie in the lead, we pushed open the door to reception and went in. I gave the nearby rooftops a scan before entering but could not see anyone.

The reception area was empty except for Erika at her desk. She glanced up worriedly as we came in then relaxed when she saw it was us. Even Millie was taken aback at Erika being glad to see us.

“Are you OK, Erika?” Millie asked her and went to stand in front of her.

“Sorry, Millicent, I have just been a bit on edge the past few days” she replied. “With Danny away all the time sorting out his latest run, it has just been me trying to keep the office going. And now with all these attacks, and the Guard on the streets, it has been very worrying”.

“So Daniel-san has not been in the office at all?” asked Millie.

“He has been coming in late at night and early in the morning, outside of the office hours” Erika said. “I think he may have been here early today with some of his crew. They left some of their rubbish behind.” She pointed to the bin near the door to his office.

Something caught my eye and I walked over and knelt next to the bin. There were coffee cups and food wrappers stuffed in there.

“Erika” I said “Daniel-san always gets his coffee from Di, doesn’t he?”

“Yes, always” she answered. “He tells me it would be a betrayal of his love for Di to get coffee anywhere else.” She smiled a little at that.

“Is there a point to your dumpster diving?” Millie queried and came over to stand beside me.

I pointed to the brand name of the chain the cups and wrappers were labelled with. It was not a big chain here in the Spit, being mainly a European based concern.

“These are the same as ones we found at Spitfield Plastics and that office in the Wash” I answered. I looked over to Erika. “The crew Daniel-san has for this run, is it anyone other than Chang and Thorsfeldt?”

“I never got to meet them all, but Danny did say there were some new crew from outside of Spitfield. I think they were from Port August or somewhere like that” she responded.

Millie gave me an apprehensive look. “Do you think the guys involved in Daniel-sans run are part of the same crew working for the AI?”

“As evidence goes, it is purely circumstantial” I said, “But things are looking more and more connected as we go deeper into this. I am worried Daniel-san, Chang and Goody are being set up somehow”

“But why them?” Millie asked, her voice starting to break.

“Because like us, they were part of the Otaki mission” I answered. “It may be revenge, it may be just tying up loose ends”

“Or it could be to send a message to Jericho” said Millie.

“Is there something I need to know?” asked Erika, looking from Millie to me with worry written all over her face. “And who is Jericho?”

“Just lock up the office for today and head home” Millie said to her. “Stay there until you get a call from us or Daniel-san”.

We stood back outside in the street and watched Erika lock the front door. She was flustered but I could see the concern she had for Daniel-san. She paused in front of us both, her purse on her arm.

“Please bring Danny back safe to us, Millie” she said. She looked at me “Keep Millie safe please,Twenty.” She sniffed and walked quickly away, her heels clacking on the paving.

“Oh man, she actually called me Millie” whined Millie once she was out of earshot. “Do I really have to be nice to her now?”

“Suck it up, Princess” I told her and took out my phone. “We need to make some calls”

First was to try and contact Daniel-san but his phone went straight to voicemail. I left a message to call us urgently. We then tried to contact Chang and Thorsfeldt. Same result so we left an urgent message for them also.

“Why won’t they answer?” said Millie worriedly.

“If the run is imminent they can’t risk taking a call” I told her. In fact they could have turned their phones completely off or even left them behind to avoid signal tracing.

“I can only think of one way to track where they may be headed” I said. Millie looked at me in alarm.

“You are not going back into the network!” she shouted. A few pedestrians on other side of the road looked up in alarm then hurried past.

“No I’m not” I agreed. “They will be waiting for me to do exactly that. But we do have someone who can use the quantum network whenever he wants”

“Not him!” said Millie and actually stamped her booted foot on the pavement. “He is such an a-hole”

I dialled a number of last resort.

“Hello, Jericho” I said as he answered, “We need your help”