The Bounty Hunter: Soldier's Wrath (3 page)

Some ships smuggled food or even
livestock. Medical supplies and augmentation hardware were a common commodity
that traveled on the ships Geoff employed. The more precious the goods, the
more the jump carriers taxed it as it transferred between systems.

He was eager to hear from the
newest captain he had given work to: Jess Richmond. Her ship had left the
nearest network point two weeks earlier and she was due to make contact in
three months. Burke’s AI, Cass, had recommended her for the job seemingly out
of nowhere. She had asked not to be mentioned when Geoff reached out to Jess
with the job offer. He had found it strange, at first, to be taking suggestions
from a computer program, but then he had never encountered another AI like
Cass. Burke trusted her, and that was enough for Geoff.

The tablet finished its scan of the
data. A long list of hundreds of entries displayed for him to manually look
through, each ranked by an estimated priority based on the job, the payout, and
how long until the contract expired. Many were shipping orders, while some were
mercenary contracts that he would look through for Burke. Geoff had had trouble
finding work for the bounty hunter since his return, as he wasn’t allowed to
use Burke’s name and infamy to draw jobs, but he was slowly building back up
again. There were more possible contracts than the last time he had checked.

There were nearly a hundred
postings for Burke alone. The thought came back to Geoff and he once again
considered retirement. He knew it would be a decision that would require much
planning. The void he would leave behind would need to be safely replaced. He
had once asked his daughter if she would be interested and she had said no. His
son had been his second choice but he had died in the war on Earth. The thought
that Cass might take over for him struck him as an insane idea and then an
inspired one. Nearly all of his work was done electronically and remotely. He
gave a small laugh, took a sip of his drink, and considered asking his daughter
again.

Something caught his attention on
the computer screen. He looked to see Lucy turn toward the entrance to the bar.
Then, she abruptly turned in the direction of the camera, something she knew to
do if there was any sign of trouble. Geoff sighed and readied himself to go
downstairs and deal with a drunk that had been ejected from another bar, only
to wander across the station and into his. He pressed himself off the chair
just as a flash of light streaked over the bar’s camera. He heard the gunshot
through the floor and looked at the screen to see that the vruan had been shot
in the head. He fell to the floor in a heap and a scream from one of the other
customers roared out a moment later.

Geoff moved quickly across the
room. He stuffed the computer tablets back into the floor safe and locked it.
He went back to his desk, intending to get the gun from the bottom drawer and
go down into the bar. He had the drawer open when someone tried to open the
door to the office. He had the gun in his hand when the door burst from its
hinges and slammed to the floor. Geoff fired only one shot before a bullet
punched into his shoulder and sent him down.

Two women and a man surged into the
room. The man was clutching the side of his stomach. The women moved quickly
around the room, searching every piece of furniture and opening every cabinet.
The man stumbled forward and slumped down on the chair opposite Geoff’s desk.

“The fucker shot me!” the man
cried.

“Shut up,” the two women said in
unison.

Geoff lay still on the floor. It
had been a long time since he had last been shot. The bullet had fragmented and
multiple pieces had tunneled their way through his chest. The memories of his
previous gunshot wounds did nothing to dull the pain. If anything, they made it
worse. He knew what lay ahead of him since the bullet had not cleanly pierced
through his body.

“The room is clear,” one of the
women said.

The other woman walked behind the
desk and threaded her arms under Geoff’s shoulders. He had a fleeting thought
of resisting her until a fresh wrenching pain shrieked out from his shoulder
and chest. He was lifted to his chair and he slumped down on it eagerly. The
woman stepped away while the man hunched forward, showing Geoff his teeth. His
face was pale. His right hand was still pressed at his side.

“I should fucking kill you,” the
man spat.

“Enough!” another man’s voice
filled the room. The woman that hadn’t lifted Geoff stepped forward and placed
a device on the desk. It initially looked like one of the tablet computers he
had been using but it quickly expanded, filling out vertically and horizontally
until it resembled a laptop. The screen faced Geoff. A man’s face was on it.
Geoff didn’t recognize him.

“You weren’t meant to be shot. I
apologize,” the man said.

Geoff stared at him. He was
mentally flipping through every possible enemy that would want him dead. He
almost laughed; he had just been congratulating himself on laying low the past
few years.

“Do you know who I am?” the man
asked.

Geoff shook his head.

“My name is Isaac Paxton and—ah,
there we go. You know who I am now.”

Geoff had erupted in a furious roar
at the man’s name. He tensed awkwardly as he shook with rage, enough that his
shoulder hurt but not enough to stop him from screaming at the screen. Isaac
had continued talking calmly throughout the outburst, although his mouth
quivered as he did so. When Geoff finally stopped yelling, Isaac shakily nodded
his head.

“Finished? Good. Let’s get this
over with quickly. Then you can get your shoulder looked at.”

One of the women laughed. Geoff
kept his eyes on the screen.

“I have questions regarding Burke
Monrow,” Isaac said. “Is he alive?”

“He’s been dead for years,” Geoff
growled.

“Really? Years? I need to know for
certain. I thought he was gone once before, you see, and then his old partner
turned up dead. There’s that pesky price on Burke’s head that seems to counter
your claim. Dead for years?”

“That wasn’t Burke. It was someone
else in his armor,” Geoff lied smoothly, even through the throbbing pain in his
chest. “Burke is dead.”

“Huh,” Isaac said, his mouth open
for a moment. He moved his tongue between his teeth as he thought. “It’s that
simple, is it? Did you find anything in his office?”

“Nothing,” one of the women said.
“A lot of booze and data on the bar.”

“I’m retired,” Geoff said with a
wide smile. A trickle of sweat ran down his cheek.

“Well, if Burke really is dead then
there’s nothing stopping me from coming back. One of you go through his things.
Find out where his daughter is staying.”

Geoff erupted again. The man across
the desk hunched forward and raised a bloodied hand to the office’s computer
terminal. The women stepped behind the desk.

“I don’t want to hear this,” Isaac
said, waving his hand at the screen. “Shut him up, one of you, please.”

“Why you fucking asshole! Why do
you want her you fucking motherfucker! She’s done nothing to you!”

“To see if Burke really is dead, or
just to rectify an embarrassing mistake I made,” Isaac shrugged. He blinked too
many times as he spoke. “Whichever you like more. Shut him up now, please.
Remember what I warned earlier.”

The screen went blank. The women
took turns punching Geoff, his head being sent reeling from side to side from
the force of each hit. The pain from his face became the focus of his
attention. His shoulder became a distant sensation, far away and numb.

“I’ve got it,” the man said, and
then groaned as he rose from the chair. “This fucking hurts. Let’s go.”

“He’s not dead,” one of the women
said.

“Boss said not to kill him. Fuck,
you two never listen,” the man retorted. He took a step to the door and groaned
again.

The women shrugged. They smacked
Geoff once more each. One of the women turned back around to face him as the
others left the room. She put her boot on his chair and pushed it away,
toppling the chair over and sending him onto the floor next to the room’s only
window. He heard their footsteps descend the stairs and were then lost. His
face felt like it was on fire. He tried to open his eyes and he couldn’t see.
Panic was boiling through him, urging him to get up and warn his daughter. Even
as Lucy came into the room sobbing, he barely had enough strength to move his
arms.

* * *

Burke stood in the rear room of the
ship and was unable to follow the conversation between Natalie and Cass. The
body of a heavily augmented woman lay on a makeshift bed in the small room. She
had been experimented on: her arms, legs, and the majority of her skin had been
replaced with synthetic materials. Her mind had also been linked to her
partner, a man that Burke had unintentionally driven to suicide. Since his
death, the neural link had malfunctioned and the woman had been in a coma. Her
name had been Lumen.

“Her memories are completely
erased. Like a formatted data drive,” Natalie attempted to explain to Burke.

“You can restore files,” he said
slowly.

“Not when the space they allocated
has been rewritten,” Cass said, her voice emitting from the sound system in the
room. There were a series of speakers, microphones, and cameras in the walls of
the ship. She was able to move her presence from room to room, or monitor
multiple ones simultaneously if required.

Burke looked over the tangled mess
of wires that he had connected to Lumen’s body. Directed by Cass, he had
removed her prosthetic arms and legs and connected her to the ship. Cass had
been running tests and diagnostics on Lumen’s mind through her augmentations,
bridging her way into the neural link through them. She wasn’t having much
success with restoring any of the woman’s higher brain functions. She was
having even less success trying to explain what she was doing to him.

“So, if she wakes up, she won’t be
able to remember anything about herself?” he asked.

“No,” Natalie and Cass said at the
time.

“What do you mean, no? Either her
memories are gone or they’re not.”

“What we’re trying to say,” Cass
began.

“Is that she won’t be able to wake
up at all,” Natalie finished. “She’d be like an infant. This isn’t like
amnesia, where her personal memories are gone but she’ll still remember how to
walk and talk. If Cass finds a way to revive her, everything would be new to
her. She would be like a child until she learned everything again.”

“But you said you could give her
memories,” Burke said, remembering his prior conversations with Cass. “Have you
tried that?”

“I don’t know if I should,” Cass
replied lowly.

“I think it’s the right thing to
do,” Natalie said. “Her brain should still have the same consciousness. Even if
false memories are required to bring her back, it would be a different version
of the same person. Like when you dream you’re someone else. You have no
recollection of your prior life, but you’re still you. Do you know what I
mean?”

“Yes,” Cass said.

“No,” Burke said.

“How did you put up with him for
three years on that planet?” Natalie asked, shaking her head.

Cass laughed. Burke made a face.
Natalie leaned in close and kissed him.

“I’m joking,” she said softly.

“I know how to create basic memories,”
Cass began. “AIs come preprogrammed with certain experiences and knowledge.
It’s not something I like to think about, but I can build from there.”

The conversation quickly progressed
from barely out of Burke’s comprehension to most sentences including words he
had never heard before. He looked over Lumen instead, frowning at the damaged
dermal plates on her stomach. Her skin was fully synthetic, capable of
restoring its color after taking damage or even being burned away. There were
bullet resistant plates that Burke had fired multiple shots in quick succession
before he caused any damage. He wished that their fight had been an avoidable
one.

“You could attempt implanting a
memory tonight,” Natalie offered. “I could watch over the process if you want.”

“I’d like that,” Cass replied.
“I’ve been afraid of transferring too much. I don’t know how the hardware will
react.”

“You know, if you’re successful,”
Natalie scrunched her mouth up in thought, mulling it over before continuing.
“If you can transfer a full memory, you can transfer something more
significant.”

“I’ve already thought of that,”
Cass said quickly. “I don’t think it would be right. Like you said, she might
have the same consciousness. Would I be killing that by overwriting it?”

“I’m not sure,” Natalie frowned.

“What are you talking about?” Burke
asked.

“Oh the look on your face if she
did it,” Natalie said, smiling. “Come on, let me show you something you’re
interested in. You’ve been patient.”

He felt lost and was only too happy
to follow Natalie out of the room. He felt like something important had just
been said that he couldn’t understand. When they climbed the stairs and walked
into the armory, he tried to push his confusion aside.