Cyber Dreams 4.40 - Synth Encounters

I know, I know. Some of you are mad Juliet is doing this side job. She's in it, though! Let's see what happens. :)

-Plum

Juliet was a little startled when she saw how close she’d been dropped to the station and the target ship. The station filled almost the entirety of her view, a kilometer-long spindle with three rings, all of which had gigantic ships docked to them. Beyond the station, Juliet could see glimpses of Ganymede and, beyond that, the ochre, throbbing glow of Jupiter. She was thankful for the close proximity because it made the enormity of what she’d done by stepping out of the stealth interceptor a little less shocking. With all of those “landmarks” to focus on, it was easy to ignore the fact that she was drifting through the void of space, especially when Angel started firing her maneuvering jets, driving her toward one of the big, factory-like harvesting ships.

“At least that synth pilot really dropped me near a station. Could have been worse.”

“Were you concerned about that?” Angel’s voice, rising in pitch, gave away her surprise.

“Only mildly. There are less complicated ways to kill someone.”

“Yes, that was my thinking; otherwise, I would have encouraged more caution. I see the target airlock; highlighting it for you. Be ready to grab that retention eyelet in forty-seven seconds.” Juliet saw the orange highlight on the aft, starboard side of the ship and watched as it rapidly grew larger with her approach. If she ignored the void around her and focused on the ship, she could almost pretend she was parachuting down toward the side of a building, especially as the ship loomed bigger and bigger in her view.

“This thing really is like a flying factory, isn’t it?” She’d seen plenty of ships similar to this one while flying escort jobs with Nick, but as she rapidly approached the red blinking lights near the airlock door, the up-close perspective was something altogether different.

“Not only is it like one, but it is one. The ship captures air and runs it through a refinery module, separating out the various component gases into tanks. Get ready to grab the eyelet in five . . . four . . .” Juliet held up her gloved hand, extending the soles of her feet so she could cushion her impact with the plasteel door by bending her knees.

Exactly when Angel said, “One,” she hit the door and gripped the big, smooth metal ring. She yelped in surprise as she was almost flung off by the gravitational pull generated by the rotation of the space station. She’d expected her momentum to continue straight into the door, but the ship was oriented so the station’s gravity pulled her “downward” instead. Luckily, her cybernetic hand was strong, and she held on, her body flopping painfully against the metal.

“Oof!” she grunted, digging her toes against the metal lip around the door and straightening herself out. Angel didn’t say anything, and neither did she; it was obvious what she’d done wrong, and she’d recovered fine. The access panel for the door was beneath a spring-loaded plasteel cover, and when Juliet flipped it up, she saw a keypad and a data port. “If I plug in here and the key we got from the pirates doesn’t work, is it going to set off an alarm?”

“It shouldn’t. Most panels like this won’t trigger security alerts unless several erroneous codes are input in a row. Even so, if anyone’s monitoring the ship’s systems, they’ll see that the airlock door was opened.”

“What about Fido? Can he get into the system and, you know, cover our tracks?”

“Yes. He’s ready, but there will be a window between him gaining control and you entering the ship. I can only estimate how long it will take him to infiltrate the security systems—anywhere between a couple of minutes and half an hour or so.”

“Okay. Here’s hoping he gets in quickly.” Juliet pulled her data cable from the port on her suit’s sleeve and plugged it into the access panel. She had time for two nervous breaths before the LEDs on the top of the panel flashed green, and she saw, through the glass on the door, a red light begin to strobe in the airlock; it was venting, getting ready to open.

“The skeleton key program worked, and I’ve sent Fido into the system. He’ll work his way through the ICE.”

Juliet slung her shotgun behind her hip so it wouldn’t get in the way of her movement, and then she drew her needler. She’d loaded it with shredders, but even so, with its boxy suppressor, she knew it would be much quieter than her other guns. The most dangerous part of the job would be right as she first boarded before Fido had a chance to get into the cameras and other ship systems. As soon as the outer door latches clunked open and swung wide, she pulled herself into the airlock.

As soon as she stood on the plasteel floor panel, enjoying the return of normal feeling gravity, she turned and slapped the button to seal the airlock. As the outer door swung shut, she went to the inner door and peered through the Diamatex window into the corridor beyond. She didn’t see anyone, but that didn’t mean they weren’t running her way, weapons locked and loaded. “Do I need to plug in again?”

“Yes! Fido’s not through the ICE, so we’ll need the skeleton key again.” When she heard Angel say “yes,” Juliet was already plugging in. Seconds later, the red light began to flash again, and clouds of air hissed into the airlock, pressurizing it. Juliet stared through the viewport, nervously tapping the barrel of her needler against the armor plate on her thigh, hoping nobody had been monitoring the ship’s airlocks. She wasn’t that lucky, however. Just as the LEDs changed from flashing red to a steady green and the door latches clicked loose, she saw a very robotic-looking synth come around the corner. Juliet ducked to the side of the door as it swung open.

“Angel, get a look with the spider drone.” Angel didn’t answer, but the snick of the drone’s legs extending told her she was on it. While the drone scurried along the wall, its magnetic feet tip-tapping on the panel covers, Juliet activated the jamming field on her data deck, stowed in her vest pocket. She didn’t have to touch or even see the deck; she had an AUI element to control the jammer just as easily as she could activate a comm channel.

A window had opened on her AUI, showing her the feed from the drone. At that moment, it showed her an above-angle view of the airlock with her standing to the side of the doorway, but as the drone lowered itself to the edge of the opening and peeked out into the hallway, Juliet saw the synth striding toward her obliviously. “Three more meters before it’s in your jamming field.”

Juliet watched the synth approach, trying to gauge the distance. She needn’t have worried—as soon as it stepped into her jamming field, it froze, and its blue LED eyes flashed red. Juliet knew it would try to alert the rest of the ship, so she acted without thought. She rotated to her left so she faced into the corridor, lifted and pointed the needler, using the crosshairs on her AUI, and fired two quick shots right into its face.

She hadn’t fired the needler in a while, and it felt almost like a toy after all the practice she’d done with her Texan. Nevertheless, the shredder rounds were effective, and with the low recoil of the gun, they both hit near the dead center of the synth’s face, ripping through the plastic and alloy skull and then into the gel and wire neuro-processing matrix at the center of its head. It fell, twitching, to the plasteel floor, spilling a pool of white, fizzy fluids.

Juliet glanced at the camera in the corner near the airlock door. “Do you think the jammer’s working on that camera?”

“With you this close to it, it may interfere with its digital components. I can’t guarantee it, though. Fido is still working to gain access.”

“Okay, send the drone forward to scout.” Juliet hurried to the synth’s body, grabbed one of its still-twitching, plasteel and wire wrists, and dragged it into the airlock. Then she stepped back into the hallway and punched the button to close the airlock.

“Nothing around the corner,” Angel reported, though Juliet could see that for herself in the drone’s camera feed. She looked at her mini-map and started following the outlined path to the “secret” cargo bay. Angel kept the spider drone ahead of her, always along the same path, watching every corridor junction. Juliet kept her jammer active, hoping it would disrupt the cameras she passed by, but knowing there was a very good chance it wouldn’t; they were all hard-wired.

“What’s taking Fido so long?”

“He can’t communicate with me yet. I have a feeling the ICE on this ship has been upgraded. Have faith, Juliet; he knows a lot of tricks.”

The ship was in good repair, but it was clearly an industrial vessel. The lights were amber, the plasteel panels were gray-brown, and there wasn’t a soft surface in sight. Juliet rather appreciated the dim lighting, finding it easier to feel sneaky running down those long corridors in her mostly black gear as she hugged close to the walls. She’d made it about halfway through the route outlined on her mini-map when she had her second encounter.

The spider drone paused in a long corridor with an open door, and as it peered through, Juliet saw another synth working at a data terminal. It was alone in a room with half a dozen chairs tucked into workstations, and the only lighting came from a single amber LED bulb near the door. It looked to Juliet like the room would typically be staffed with several people, but now, during maintenance, a single synth was monitoring systems, and most everything was offline. She had the drone keep its eye on the synth while she padded past the doorway, stepping lightly on the rubbery soles of her boots.

Once she’d cleared and rounded the next corner, she called the drone forward and sent it ahead, resuming her earlier practice of following it along the route Angel had mapped out. She’d just gone down an access ladder, avoiding the more centrally-located lift, when Angel spoke up again, “Fido’s in!”

“I’m assuming he’s gained control of the network, or he wouldn’t be able to contact you.”

“Yes. He’s well ensconced—full control of the cameras and the ship’s access panels and comms. No alarms have yet been raised about your presence. The synth that you eliminated logged itself as investigating an anomaly with the airlock, and Fido has cleared it. There are nine more synths on duty around the ship, but I can easily steer you around them now.”

“Awesome, what about the cargo hold we’re supposed to check out?”

“If cameras are within, they aren’t tied to the ship’s network. I also cannot confirm if the door is secured or not; it’s not on the ship’s . . .”

“Network. Got it.” Juliet continued on her way, picking up the pace now that Angel had eyes on all the crew. When she came to the last stretch of hallway before the mysterious cargo bay, she paused and let the spider drone take its time investigating. She watched through the vid screen as it peered around the last corner. Angel moved it a millimeter at a time, careful so it wouldn’t set off motion detectors, and it was a good thing she did: a heavily armed synth, completely plated in matte-black plasteel, stood before the door only five meters from the corner. It held a bulky, wide-barreled light machine gun with a drum magazine as though it weighed no more than a banana.

“What are the odds I can disable that synth before it squeezes that trigger and sets off all kinds of alarms?”

“With regard to it dying before squeezing the trigger, not good. It’s got an armor-plated exo-shell, and I’m sure its internals are hardened. It’s a full-combat unit. However, if you’re worried about alarms, you shouldn’t be—Fido has control.”

“What about any synths that might be behind the door?”

“Ah, I see. No, I wouldn’t worry. That’s a blast door, and it’s shielded to prevent noise from coming through.”

Juliet grinned. “Almost like the people who installed whatever is behind it were worried about people listening to their special project.” Juliet stared at her vid feed of the hulking, armored synth with its massive gun and thought about how to tackle it. If she used her Texan, it might punch through its armored skull, but it might not. If she used her shotgun, it would undoubtedly pack more of a punch, but, of course, she didn’t have armor-piercing rounds in it. She had a mag full of armor-piercing needler rounds, but would they do enough damage to stop that thing? It probably had redundant systems. Frowning, she reached into her vest pocket and pulled out a pack of the V.E.G. “How much of this stuff do you think I need to hurt that thing?”

“If you threw it with a detonator and I activated it?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s tacky and may adhere when you throw it, but it could also stick to your gloves, ruining your accuracy. I think you should attach it to the flying drone, and I’ll deliver it to the synth’s face. I believe a quarter of that pack will be enough to knock the synth over and, at least, stun it.”

Juliet reached over her shoulder and detached her other drone. Then, she used her vibroblade to slice off a third of the explosive gel. She stuck it to the front of the drone, right above the primary camera. She took one of the little detonator pins out of the case and pressed it into the gel. A tiny LED winked green at her as Angel synced with it. Juliet set the drone down on the plasteel floor and watched as Angel brought it online and flew it around in a few wobbly circles, getting used to the added weight of the gel.

“This is going to be loud . . .” She nervously gripped her needler, then, thinking better of it, stuffed it into her holster and swung the shotgun forward. If she was going loud, she might as well be ready. “Okay, go for it.” Juliet watched in the spider’s feed as the flying drone zoomed forward, then around the corner. Angel flew it fast, and she hardly registered it on the viewscreen as it streaked straight into the big synth’s face, and then a white explosion rattled the plasteel floorplates and cut out her view.

Juliet hurried to the corner, turned, and, in a haze of smoke, saw the synth flopping on the floor. One arm was bent backward, rotating ineffectually, but the other reached for the LMG it had dropped. It looked like the explosive had nearly knocked its head off, but it was still blindly functioning, weird, partial words emitting from its ruined speaker-grill mouth. The armor plating around its neck was bent and ruined, and its plasteel spine was partially exposed, almost like the explosion had pulled it partway out of its torso.

Juliet stepped forward and, point-blank, fired three rounds out of her shotgun into that exposed spine. As the powerful polyblast shells discharged their payload and the polymer pellets ripped into the spine and synthetic nerves of the commando synth, it jerked and spasmed, then finally lay still. For good measure, Juliet drew her vibroblade and drove it into the thing’s skull several times, ensuring she ruined its synthetic brain so it couldn’t call for help once her jammer was out of range.

Juliet looked around the carnage she’d created. Her drone was in a million pieces. Scorch marks and scratches covered the door and walls nearby, but nothing looked broken. “Any problems with the other synths?”

“Several of them looked up when the explosion rattled through the ship’s hull, but Fido didn’t allow any alarms to go off. They’ve all returned to their tasks.”

“Well, now we’re down to the nitty-gritty. Let’s see if you can get through this door.” Juliet walked up to the control panel for the heavy door and stuck her cable into the port.

“As you feared, the skeleton key does not work on this door.”

“Yeah, I wonder what Mary had in mind for whoever got to this spot? Did she expect some kind of miracle?”

“I think she would expect you to kill all the synths on board and use the tools in the machine shop to cut your way in. Luckily, I think I’ll be able to breach this ICE in a matter of minutes.” While Angel worked, Juliet thought about what she’d said. She would have been at it for hours if she’d had to use the machine shop tools to get through this door. The odds that the ship would be left alone for that long seemed slim to her. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got, and the more she started to believe Mary Moon had sent her to check out this ship as a sort of exploratory hail Mary, no pun intended. If Juliet—Lacy—died in the process, it wasn’t a big loss to the pirate, and if she got the job done, all the better.

“I’m gonna make sure I leverage whatever I find in there to get this stupid pirate job over with. I’m sick of the convoluted schemes that keep piling on top of my problems. Jeez, Angel! All I wanted to do was keep Nick and Larry out of that billionaire’s crosshairs!”

“I know. It is convoluted, but I like your thinking—if you find something valuable enough behind this door, you’ll have a much stronger hand to play when you get back to the pirate base. Also, good news: I’ve found an exploit in the memory buffer. Are you ready?”

Juliet hefted her shotgun and moved to the side of the door so the plasteel wall would shield most of her body. “I’m ready. Let’s see what the big mystery is.”