Anarchate Vigilante (Vigilante Series 4) (2 page)

Suzanne’s armored hand touched his left arm. “Matthew, I precog sense that there will be major violence when we attempt to leave with the captives. And beyond that I sense—”

“Go no further with your sensing than the next hour,” Matt cautioned the Swedish woman over the suit comlinks. “No need for you to perceive the mind-deaths of hundreds of lifeforms.”

“Agreed,”
she sighed as they left the rampway tunnel and entered a large globular hall with multiple levels that rose to its rocky ceiling.

“Matt,” called George from the point position of their group. “How about that Supply counter over there?”

Wishing he could be in
ocean-time
superfast thinking mode, where his mind split into hundreds of attention segments, Matt turned part of his attention to a low counter that fronted a side alcove crowded with boxes, tubes, sparkly stuff and the bodyshape of a Brokeet alien, its giant ant form taking note of their arrival.

“That place w
ill do. Let me handle this. The rest of you go on All Surround, please.”

Their m
ental agreement came to Matt by way of the tachlink node implanted in everyone, while Mata Hari’s mindsense flowed to him over the fiber optic cable that socketed into the back of his neck. Part of being a cyborg were in-body implants like the tachlink node, nanoDocs, heart upgrades, multi-spectral vision and Herculean strength. With Mata Hari’s mindsense came the all-encompassing ‘feel’ of his two kilometer long starship, a place filled with tech marvels he was still getting used to. Matt looked directly at the globular head of the Brokeet and fixed on its two bulging eyes.

“Greetings,” he said in Belizel thanks to Suit’s automatic translation ability. “We require
DL-chirality food items for delivery to our shuttle in the landing dock. Do you possess animal body parts and the new aphrodisiac known as chocolate? From the Human homeworld?”

The golden-yellow chitin skin of the two meter tall Brokeet flickered under the
chamber’s yellow-white radiators. Its four arms, with one pair at the waist and a second pair at the ant’s version of shoulders, spread wide as if in welcome. “Yes,” the Alien clicked in harsh Belizel. “We have flash-frozen canisters of quadruped animal meat, some with bones in them. The meat is DL chirality sourced.” The Brokeet, who stood on two arthropod legs behind the low counter, gestured with one arm toward a nearby pillar stacked with small grey tins. “The Human food known as chocolate has arrived recently. It is very rare. And very much in demand by most oxy-nitro breathers of DL chirality evolution. How much do you require?”

Matt’s hunger for grilled steaks had grown the farther they traveled away from the Irish colony world
of Morrigan and its herds of heifers and steers. But chocolate was essential for the personal happiness of his women pilots like Sarah Vasiliades, Suzanne and Eliana. On his mental periphery he sensed the intense attention of those strong women. He smiled at the hard-skinned arthropod.

“
Two kilos of chocolate,” he said. “And ten kilos of meat animal body parts.”

The Brokeet merchant
hiss-clicked in what seemed a surprise reaction. “That much chocolate? A kilo of such a popular product is—”

“How much?”

“One hundred twenty platinum Standards per kilo,” clicked the Brokeet.

“Outrageous!” said George in
Matt’s mind even as his three allies worked with Mata Hari to maintain an All Surround defense while he spent slow human time on food purchasing.

“Agreed,” Matt said in Belizel to the Brokeet. “The cost for the meat body parts?”

“Thirty-seven platinum Standards.”

Matt showed his own
datapad to the Brokeet. “Displayed here is my account code for Standards deposited on our arrival at the dock. Copy and deduct 277 platinum Standards from the account.”

The Brokeet’s lower arm pair lifted its own
datapad to vidimage the code. “Your business is highly appreciated. Delivery will be made to what location?”

“Our shuttle
Ariadne
, located in the landing dock chamber. Here is the image and arrival ID of the shuttle,” Matt said as Suit told Matt’s datapad to display an image of
Ariadne
. “And one more thing.”

“Yes?” clicked the Brokeet as it looked up from its own
datapad.

“If my account is debited for
any amount greater than we agreed, I will come looking for you.” Matt ordered Suit to aim his right shoulder laser pulse-cannon at the giant ant, fixing its green targeting laser between the alien’s two large eyes. “My upset will become your . . . departure from the living. Understood?”

“Understood!”
harshly-clicked the Brokeet as it backed away, then stood behind the display pillar stacked with chocolate tins. “Uh, your chocolate and meat products will be delivered immediately. Or sooner!”

“Good.
Immediate delivery is satisfactory.” Matt turned away from the Brokeet after Suit verified the store had no hidden or stealthed weaponry aimed at him and his allies. “Mata Hari, any word on the captives?”

“Yes Matthew,” she said over the
ir joint mindlink. “Three of my limpet complinks have tied into the fiber optic cables that enter the base’s Control Mind. Up on Level Four. I’ve decrypted the simple encoding. From the data downloaded into the Control Mind by the 22 visiting slaver ships, the three captives arrived aboard ship
Medontoktic.
One of them is human. They are being held twenty meters above us on Level Four, in a group cell guarded by a Combat Mech and a ship crewperson. A Spelidon ‘rat’, I believe you call the species. Your decision?”

“Lead us to the cell, but take us along routes normally used by visiting slavers,” Matt said, picking up his stride even as he fought back the urge to go to Nullgrav flight. “What is the Offense readout for this base?”

The minds of George, Eliana and Suzanne each drew closer in their shared mind communion. Mata Hari fed them the data over their tachlinks. “Matt, there are twenty-one combat suited Guardians in the employ of the base managers. There are sixteen Combat Mechs with Nullgrav floater ability. Plus ten tracked Mechs with artillery level laser cannons. Every place with air has the usual vidimage monitors that feed real-time imagery to both the Control Mind and to three lifeforms serving duty in their Control Station up top, in one of the skyrises. The Control Station has full ecofield control over the entire asteroid.”

Suzanne’s pale Nordic face fixed on Matt in their mindlink. Her hazel eyes
showed worry as she sat atop the green grass that bordered the pond in the Park habitat of his starship. It was a mental venue popular among his fellow cyborgs. Beside Suzanne sat George and Eliana, each person wearing their normal attire. And Mata Hari the AI wore her chainmail Lady of the Sword fighting outfit. All five of them were ready for battle.

“Matthew,”
said Suzanne softly. “We cannot be trapped inside this asteroid. We are outnumbered. No one is paying us attention at the moment. But as soon as we free the captives, the Control Station will have our images and will send Mechs after us. Plus they may order shuttle assaults on our fake slaver ships. How do we fight on multiple fronts?”

In external real-time
Matt turned to the right and began climbing a ramp that led upward. “Mata Hari, do you have any white noise Remotes in orbit around this base? Any control over reactor power outputs? Any—”

“Yes Matthew,” said the
slim, black-haired AI who had recruited him to be her organic Vigilante seven years ago, as she stood next to the mind-gathered crowd. “There are three Remotes able to block maser and standard radio emissions from this base. Four of my Snoopers are monitoring the two fusion plants that power all devices on this asteroid. And I have several explosive-laden Remotes hugging the rim of the topside dome. They can create dome breaches and a drop in air pressure. That drop will cause emergency airlocks to close. Thereby inhibiting movement by station managers and devices. Any further guidance?”

Matt gave mental thanks for Mata Hari’s ability to ‘read’ his mind and his intentions before h
e spoke them. Each of them was able to think at near lightspeed, thanks to each suit’s fiber optic neurolink, and via their tachlink nodes. But the secret to appearing ‘normal’ at a slaver base like this was to not act at superfast speeds. Until utterly necessary. He smiled at all of them.

“Friends, battlemates and good Mata Hari
, let us tend to the freeing of cloneslave captives!”

The five of them, including Mata Hari’s
real-time holo image of a willowy woman in a black vacsuit, left the rampway, entered a greenery occupied habitat in Level Three, and moved through a crowd of standing, slithering and Nullgrav supported lifeforms who were scattered through the habitat chamber. Each of them saw, on their suit faceplate, a blinking purple route that led them to the end of the habitat. A rampway similar to the one they’d just left loomed in front of them. Two hippo-like Orko Aliens lumbered down the rampway on four legs, paused as his team moved to one side, then headed for a water pool in the park habitat. Matt followed the purple route that blinked to one side of Faceplate even as he PET thought-imaged a series of Threat Alert orders to Suit. “Understood?” he queried Suit’s Tactical CPU.

“Understood Matthew,” said the CPU of Suit. “
Do you wish to monitor the actions of the rest of Hexagon Prime fleet?”

Did he? “Yes. Display. And activate the MHD power units at my waist. My shoulder lasers will soon need extra power.
Convey the same orders to my allies’ suits.”

“Complying.”
Inside Suit, Matt felt the vibration of the magnetohydrodynamic power units on each hip as they activated. Using the fiber optic cable, Suit threw an image of itself into his mind, Faceplate raised partway in an imitation of a Human grin. “Feel better?”

Damn!
No question but this Tactical CPU was being infected by Mata Hari’s sense of humor. “Better. Illuminate nearby space and the fleet.”

A virtual holo filled the right side of his Faceplate even as the central space stayed yellow light transparent. But over his neurolink he sensed the T’Chak AI BattleMind move starship
Mata Hari
, or
Descartes
, away from the asteroid base, turning it onto a vector that would provide a targeting option which included most of the 22 genome slaver starships that hung about the asteroid. On the horizon of his mind Matt felt the AIs of the other seven Dreadnoughts, along with pilots Toktaleen, Sarah, Rafael, and Ben the Australian, move into
ocean-time
linkage with their ship and with Matt and his battlemates. Soon the four of them would also enter
ocean-time
. They came to a stop at the top of the rampway.

“Matt
,” called Mata Hari over their shared mindlink. “We are at Level Four. Moving ahead takes us to a food refectory suitable for oxy-nitro lifeforms. Taking the curving hallway to our left will bring us to the cell of the captives. And the two security defenders. The hallway to the right leads to sleeping quarters for base workers. Orders?”

Thinking quickly Matt ordered Suit to emit a tiny Spy Eye that headed down the curving hallway, its egg shape hugging the high ceiling of the
rocky hallway. Three more Snoopers loaded with retch gas left Suit and headed down the forward hallway. Three other Snoopers coptered down the right hallway,  their onboard datachips loaded with a signal that would lock down the electronic locks of each sleep room. Activating Suit’s pressor and tractor beamer units that adorned his helmet, he turned toward the cell hallway. Walking slowly, he headed down the curving hallway.

“George, hold station at
the intersection,” he called back to his battlemate. “Keep the space clear for our return. Suzanne and Eliana, what do you sense of the thoughts and emotions of the guard lifeform? Is it alert? Worried? Resting?”

“Resting,” Suzanne said a second before Eliana said the same thing.

Eliana snorted. “But the vision of the Spelidon rat guard says the Combat Mech is floating three meters further down the hallway, on the opposite side of the slidedoor that leads to the captives’ cell.”

That matched the image Matt was now getting via the Spy Eye floater that had rounded the curve ahead of them. Time to get serious.

“Everyone, prepare to enter
ocean-time
. Cross-link your shoulder and backpack weapons with mine so we do not fire on each other. Go airborne now and be prepared to use your suit tractor beam to transport a captive.” In his mind Matt ordered the retch gas Snoopers to activate just inside the refectory, the door lock Snoopers to jam slidedoors, and Mata Hari to blow the explosive Remotes while activating the three white noise Remotes. “Enter now!”

In sync and on-line with a super-strong combat suit that feels like your own body is wonderful. It’s ecstatic. Nullgrav plates in his boots shot
Matt up toward the hallway ceiling. A waist Repulsor block flipped him over to horizontal flight. Both shoulder pulse-cannons whirred On Target as the floating Combat Mech and the combat-suited Spelidon came into view.
Ocean-time
flooded his senses. He thought fast. Faster than humanly possible. Picoseconds blurred past. Nanoseconds zipped along. Milliseconds ticked by, slowly.