Legacy of a Mad Scientist (48 page)

Saturday, August 1, 2308

Tired of the cramped sleeping conditions inside the
car, Ash convinced Geoff that they should go camping. Being the
middle of summer, there were dozens of campsites throughout the
city.

That evening, they registered a space over the car's
online connection and landed a short time later. They laid out
their sleeping bags, and watched the stars as thin pale clouds
rippled through the sky overhead.

"Geoff," Ash said. "We have to go home again.”

"We can't, Ashley! They'll catch us if we do."

"It's the only way," she said.

"What about Canada? We could almost be there by
now."

Ashley didn't answer.

Brother and sister fell asleep together beneath a
carpet of stars.

At midnight, Chief Warrant Officer Reid joined the
ex-major general on post, hovering over Dr. Andrew Fox’s sleeping
children.

“Bet you never thought you’d be standing post again,
huh, Sir?”

“You’d be surprised, Chief. Some things never change.
What’s your Seventh General Order?”

“What general order?” Reid smiled, as he saluted
Croswell.

Croswell returned the salute “Clever.”

Sunday, August 2, 2308

At dawn, Ashley awoke under the bright, morning
sky.

Geoff woke up a short time later. "I'm hungry. Let's
get breakfast."

"Look, you agreed. We're not going back into
town."

"We are in town. We're just not out in public."

Ashley said nothing.

"Come on, really? You want to stay out here?"

"You agreed," Ashley said.

"Yeah, but seriously, forever?" Geoff argued.

"For right now. Hiding is all we'd be doing in
Canada. Why not here?"

"But to never go into town? I'm almost out of
comics," Geoff said.

"So read them twice."

"You don't want raisins and nuts for breakfast, do
you?" Geoff asked.

"Geoff. If we don't leave, they will catch us,"
Ashley said.

"Then let's leave! At least if we're camping in
Canada we can go into town for comics, right?" he asked.

"We will go to Canada, but we have to get the
evidence first. So, for now, we camp out until it's safe to go get
it. We're not that far from home. All we have to do is get the
security footage, and we'll go. Okay?"

"Today?" Geoff asked.

"Yes, today. Tonight. We'll go at night."

"I don't care if we go to Canada. I just want to stay
together. We'll be safe; Dad said, whatever happens, just stay with
Ashley and you'll be safe."

Ashley didn't say anything.

"I have to go to the bathroom," Geoff said.

Ash gestured for him to walk well away from their
camp.

"It's too cold," Geoff said. "And I gotta go number
two."

Sunday, August 2, 2308

Von Kalt had returned to the canyon residence across
from the Fox home. Using the Metachron, he created scanning daemons
to read every camera and wired public service employee in the
entire metropolitan area of Angel City. Sure enough, one of them
finally scored a hit.

The Deputy Director rose from his lounge chair and
called the west coast director of the FBI. He explained the
situation and was assured, he would have the bureau’s full and
complete cooperation.

Von Kalt explained that he needed at least seventy
experienced field agents. He had no idea how many agents he needed
or wanted. However, since the director agreed so easily, he felt
compelled to say, “Double that if you can.”

“Done,” came the reply. “Vehicles?”

“Three men to a vehicle. Small arms will be
sufficient.”

“Yessir.”

“You have a bright future.” Von Kalt smiled.

The director nodded humbly.

Bright indeed?
Von Kalt knew he would be well
served to copy a trick or two from this young man, if only his
pride didn’t prohibit it.

Ash and Geoff walked toward the restrooms a few
campsites away.

Behind them, a group of uniformed boys in their late
teens patrolled the park. A few were walking and a few more sat on
the companion golf cart, floating along the path.

They grinned at Ash. She didn't like it. Despite
their slow pace and non-threatening behavior, they were following
them, and they looked malicious, dangerous.

"Can we go out for breakfast, please," Geoff asked,
ignoring the escalating situation as they reached the toilets.

"You know what? Sure, no problem," Ashley folded.
"Just hurry up."

Geoff smiled and disappeared behind the door with the
male symbol.

Without looking at them, Ashley kept a close eye on
the trailing young safety officers. They slowed, and the driver of
the cart stopped their advance.

The three uniforms continued their walk toward
Ash.

One of the cart's riders climbed off to tie his
shoe.

The three boys drifted past, ignoring Ashley, highly
unusual behavior for boys at or even close to her age. Ashley
considered the possibility that she must really look like a mess if
these clowns were ignoring her.

"After this were going into the mountains, I mean
it," Ashley said to the bathroom wall.

"Okay, I hear you," Geoff answered from inside.

Ash watched the walking boys continue, but they moved
with exaggerated slowness as they reached the bend up ahead. It was
as if they didn't want to lose sight of her. The boys on the cart
were talking, not paying any attention to her, but not leaving
either.

Ashley waited for Geoff. She'd heard the toilet
flush, but that was at least a couple of minutes ago. It was too
long ago.

Ash turned around and looked at the structure. The
bathrooms were attached to a much larger building, a Parks'
Services building. The back half of the structure was arched and
curved downward into the hovering facility. Ashley recognized it as
a train access tunnel, leading into the city.

"Geoff?" she said.

"In here," he answered.

Confused by the waiting game with the boys, Ashley
decided to call their bluff and went into the boy's bathroom.

In addition to the sinks, stall and urinals, there
was a half-open door to the structure beyond. The massive garage
was filled with landscaping equipment, two more golf carts, as well
as a locker area and a couple of desks.

Geoff waved to her from the back of the hall. He
stood beside an open panel in the huge hatch, sealing the maglev
tube. Although there were no train cars present, it was obvious
enough that the garage had been built to repair the hover trains
that ferried people throughout Angel City.

"Come on," he yelled, ducking back behind the panel.
"Whoooo!" Geoff's voice slid away from her far quicker than his
ability to run.

Ash sprinted across the hall, jumping down into the
tunnel after her brother. Like Geoff, she slid with one leg
stretched out and the other curled beneath her, flying down the
terillium-laced tube.

When Ashley reached the place where the pipe
flattened out again, she found herself standing. Geoff was ahead of
her, making his way past a couple of gates leading into a hub of
maintenance corridors. Ashley followed silently.

"Ha!" A barred gate slammed shut behind Geoff. "We
got another one!" a young truant officer shouted.

A group of boys materialized from deeper in the
tunnels.

"Hey, there sewer rat.”

“Looks like we got us one more for the stew!"

Geoff spun.

Older boys, their uniforms identifying them as
members of the civil services, had surrounded him. Several of them
held long electric prongs. Geoff saw handcuffs in several hands, as
well.

"Our job is locking up stray dogs, and you are about
as homeless as I've ever seen," one boy taunted.

Another leapt and pinned Geoff's arms behind his
back.

"No orphans in our tunnels," one yelled.

Handcuffs were snapped over the struggling Geoff’s
wrists.

Ashley charged the gates, kicking the iron cross
bars. "Let him go!!"

"Oh, hey, we got us another one! Someone trip the
lock."

The boy jabbed his electric staff through the bars,
grazing Ash.

Ashley grabbed the staff, jerking it away from
him.

The boy reached through the grate and grabbed Ashley
by her shirt.

She grabbed the offending hand and twisted it back on
itself, using the bars of the grate as leverage. He fought her, but
she had an unbeatable position, he was already over extended.

Ashley heard the ligaments of his shoulder begin to
rip and tear.

The older boy screamed.

"Let him go!" Ashley yelled.

The other dogcatchers looked up from their struggle
with Geoff.

Ashley twisted the boy's wrist, he howled in
agony.

She released the tension just enough for him to catch
his breath and stop screaming.

"I said LET HIM GO!" she yelled.

One of the boys stepped forward to say something.

Ashley gave her captive's wrist a quarter turn and
his screams drown out the words of his comrade.

Ashley released the tension and let the pain subside.
He became quiet again. In the silence, Ashley spoke, "Let him go or
I will cut his arm off."

For emphasis, she held up the Micronix and pressed
the button. Six inches of razor-sharp steel jumped into her
hand.

Geoff struggled with his captors, “You heard her, let
me go!”

The forward soldier spoke, "We... We uh... We don't
have a key for that gate. We couldn't even take you with us if we
wanted to."

Ashley wrenched the boy's shoulder from its socket,
the screaming and ripping sounds magnified by the tunnel walls. A
moment later his screams ceased as he had passed out from the
pain.

“Did you kill him?” one of the teens asked.

Geoffrey broke loose and ran. “Ashley!”

Acting on instinct, one of the kids pulled his stun
gun and fired.

Geoffrey went down, out cold.

The teens rushed over to him and checked his
vitals.

Ashley watched and listened, helpless.

“He’s still breathing.”

“Pick him up. Let’s get him in the cart.”

“I’ll get his legs, okay, yeah.”

The older boys carried Geoff back of their segmented
cart.

“If you’re not orphans, just have your guardian come
down to the pound and pick up the little mongrel,” one of the boys
said.

Ashley’s reply caught in her throat.

Lights approached from the distance. Three men
appeared; feds, in suits, carrying guns and flashlights.

Ashley turned and ran from the gate, leaving her
prisoner hanging, unconscious and broken.

Reid was standing his post, the invisible over-watch,
his tank tethered above, a hundred feet overhead. After the
children failed to exit the restroom, he began to panic and called
Ross.

“Major Ross, I think we’ve got a problem here,” he
said.

“What’s going on?” Captain Snow cut in.

“Ma’am, Good to hear you up and about.”

“What’s going on, Chief?”

“They got away from me ma’am. They went down inside
this terra-formed structure, and I’m picking up radio chatter.
There was some kind of incident. The Feds are here and there’s like
thirty of them all of a sudden.”

“Armored Feds?” Ross asked.

“No, sir. Suits. They’re everywhere. What do you want
me to do?”

Captain Snow answered, “Stay put, I’ll be there in
five.”

Sunday, August 2, 2308

Ash didn't want to try going back for the car. The
teens at the top of the tunnel had been too interested in her and
Geoff. She suspected the lot of them had been working together and
turned down one of the branching tunnels.

At first she just walked into the inky black. There
was nothing to see, even if she could see. The trains no longer ran
through these tunnels, the lines had been cancelled long ago.

At one time, this had been a commercial hub; busy
enough to warrant several local lines. Its cavernous malls had been
gutted for distribution chains where faceless packages were sorted
between more upscale and current destinations.

Drifters, parolees, laborers, all drawn to the
low-stress employment offered by the shipping outfits made up the
clientele of the local shops, restaurants and the scattered urban
living structures. Wandering through the tunnel, Ashley doubted
she'd find much assistance, wherever it led. She slowly became able
to make out the tunnel wall, there was light coming in from
somewhere.

Suddenly the earth around the girl began to shake and
rumble. A train roared as it passed by, unseen, beyond the walls of
her dark enclosure. Shocked from her complacency, Ashley ran down
the tunnel, sprinting toward whatever it was that lie ahead of her.
Ashley ran until her thighs burned and her feet ached, until her
lungs stretched to their limit.

Ashley had almost reached the light source. As she
approached it, Ashley noticed the light source was wavering,
wobbling. That was when she heard the voices. She couldn't hear
what they were saying, but these voices were adult.

Light spilled from around a corner at an intersection
up ahead.

Ash crept closer to the edge. Peeking around, Ashley
saw figures in the distance. Several adults held flashlights,
grilling a group of juveniles - the dogcatchers. Ashley saw one of
their vehicles in the background; it was empty. It took her a
couple of minutes, but Ashley was able to work her way closer to
the heated conversation.

These were some of the same kids she'd tangled with
an hour earlier. She recognized them.

She got close enough to make out some of their words,
only when only one person happened to be speaking at a time.

"Well we haven't seen her!"