Marauder Ramses (2 page)

Efra stares at them with wide eyes. “Are those doggies?”

“Yes…,” I say. “Sort of like doggies. They’re just making sure we are safe.”

The spider-dogs start to spray thick foam on the ground, and it builds up and up until it blocks off the entire hallway. While they are still spraying, more spider-dogs clank down the stairways and begin foaming off all of the train platforms. Before we are sealed off entirely in the hallway, one of the drones jumps over a foam wall still under construction and creeps toward us.

“Hello! Citizens!” it shouts in an overly enthusiastic voice.

“Hello!” Efra shouts back, and then she turns to Ramses and me and says, “It can
talk!
Is it Harmony?”

“Who are you?” Ramses asks, standing up. “Check the girl and the officer first. Scan first for nerve agents and other fast-acting –”

“Please sit down, citizen!” the robot shouts at Ramses.

“I’m not a
citizen
,” Ramses says. “I’m a peacekeeper, and I’m from Venus, and who the fuck are you –?”

Without warning, the spider-dog leaps up on all six legs, ramming its top-heavy body right into Ramses’s gut. He falls flat on his ass, and Efra laughs.

“Thank you for your compliance, citizen,” it says.

“It’s on low-level A.I.,” I tell Ramses. “It’s like...on stand-by until something higher-level takes it over.”

“Or until I rip its legs off,” he says, glaring at it.

He looks like he’s about to stand up again, so I take Efra by the hand and sit down against the wall next to Ramses. Maybe if we’re all sitting down, he won’t try to disobey the drone.

I see his body tighten, but he finally sighs and rests his head against the wall.

“So who is going to take it over?” he asks.

“Harmony,” I say.

“Oh,” Ramses says, scoffing. “Your robot overlord.”

“That’s the one,” I say, rolling my eyes.

“My daddy says Harmony keeps us safe,” Efra says, putting a hand on Ramses’s knee. “Don’t worry!”

Ramses grumbles something, and I elbow him. He smiles up at Efra and says way too cheerily, “Nothing to worry about, kiddo!”

He smiles way too wide and ruffles her hair.

“Something bad is going to happen, isn’t it?” Efra asks. “My dad uses that voice when it’s time to go to the dentist.”

I scowl at Ramses, but he takes Efra by the hand and says, “We don’t know what’s going to happen yet, so we just have to sit here and wait. We can play a game to pass the time, it’s better than worrying –”

“
A GAME
?” the spider-dog shouts. “Would you like to play a game?”

“Yeah!” Efra says, clapping. “What game can you play, doggy?”

“I spy,” the drone says, “with my little eye, something...grey.”

Ramses gives me a horribly confused look, and I whisper into his comm link, “It probably noticed she’s scared and is playing along. Much better than you did, asshole.”

“I was
trying,
”
he says.

“Grey…,” Efra says, looking around. The entire hallway is grey, and there’s nothing in it but us. “Is it the hallway?”

“We have a winner!” the drone says. “How about another round? I spy with my little eye, something...pink.”

Efra looks up at Ramses, and then down at her own hand. She whispers to us, “How do I know which one it’s looking at?”

“Probably whichever one you say will end up being right,” Ramses says.

I elbow him again.

“Hmmm,” I say. “It’s probably looking at the prettiest pink thing in here, so what would that be?”

“Is it...me?” Efra asks.

“Another win! You’re on a roll! A two-win streak! Oh, wait, I’m sorry, young citizen, but the game is over now. Harmony is here. Goodbye, enjoy the remainder of your quarantine!”

“
T
his is Harmony
,” the spider-dog says, its voice much more calm and human-sounding. And then there is a woman’s voice. “Can you all please stand up now?”

I stand first, and then I reach down to help Elise and Efra to their feet. I pull them both up. Elise’s delicate hand is wrapped around my hard forearm, and I don’t want her to let go. She does let go, but not before we lock eyes for a moment. I have to force myself to look away. Why does she have to be so damned attractive?

“Hold out your right arms, please,” Harmony says.

Elise holds out her right arm, and Efra holds out her left.

“Other right!” Harmony says, and Efra quickly switches arms.

“Mr. Ivanov?” the stupid fucking droid says to me.

“Yeah?”

“Your arm, please.”

“What for?”

“I need to put arm bands on all three of you to monitor for signs of infection,” it says.

“Damn it, Ramses,” Elise says. “Just do what it says.”

“That’s what they used to say about the Emperor,” I say. “Just do what he says, and then the next thing you know, you had Imperial soldiers swarming all over the solar system, killing and pillaging and –”

She grabs my wrist and tugs it up, holding her hand there to keep it in place. Normally I’d tear my hand away, but I feel overwhelmed by her touch. I wish she’d touch more than just my arm.

“Thank you!” Harmony says, and suddenly the top of its body opens. Three of its legs reach inside of the body, and before I can even consider pulling my hand back, the legs slam wristbands onto all three of us.

I look down at the black wristband, and suddenly a green square appears. Looking over at Elise and Efra, I see green squares appear on their bands, as well.

“You’re all free of infection,” Harmony says.

“How can you possibly decide that so quickly?” I ask in an irritated and annoyed voice. “Grius is from Darkstar. You have no idea what kind of deadly pathogens they’ve been cooking up over the past two decades.”

“I allocated enough processing power to this decision,” Harmony says. “It’s the equivalent of ten humans deliberating for a full year. I’ve considered everything. Thank you for your concern, Mr. Ivanov, but the quarantine is now lifted. You are free to go! Goodbye.”

The spider-dog starts to run toward the foamed-off passage leading to the main lobby, and it blasts a liquid onto the foam. Soon the foam begins melting away, and I see a few men and women standing in wait for us.

A tall man with grey hair and a big gut greets me with a nod of his head. “I’m Blake Warrington. Chief of Police.”

“How many officers do you have tracking Grius and Sanga?” I ask.

“Almost all of them,” Warrington says. “Are you both okay?”

“We’re fine,” Elise says, holding up her bracelet.

“Harmony says we’re fine, sir,” I say, “But….”

“If Harmony cleared you, you’re good to go,” Warrington says confidently.

I can’t help but think that Earthlings put way too much trust in their A.I. ruler.

“I’d like to start tracking them down, too,” I say. “So if no one has any issue with that, I’ll –”

“Fine by me,” Warrington agrees. “Bring Elise with you.”

My nostrils flare, and I feel my ears twitch, but I try to keep them in check. How do I feel about Elise going with me? I feel my cock twitch now just thinking about it. I grit my teeth and try to think with my brain. She’s useful and knows the city. Those are the advantages. The disadvantages are that she’s a human, and we’re going up against a Marauder who potentially has a biosuit. In this situation, a human is a liability – a weakness. Protecting her will get in my way.

“Sir,” I say, “I work best alone.”

Warrington scowls at me. “To be honest with you, Ivanov, I was going to kiss your ass to make your parents and uncle happy. I could use that kind of pull. But you broke all protocol and nearly botched this whole thing. This was a terrorist attack in
my
city, and I can’t have officers running around doing whatever the fuck they feel like.”

I see Elise grinning out of the corner of my eye, but I do my best to ignore her.

“With respect, sir,” I say. “I had a lead. It was time-sensitive, and if I had followed protocol, we’d have been meeting and greeting over coffee while whatever the hell they were planning went down unimpeded in the middle of the train station.”

Warrington grunts. “If you’d have told me about your lead, I’d have cut all the red tape for you and let you follow up on it. I’m giving you one more chance, so follow orders or go back to Venus. You’re here as a courtesy, so do me the courtesy of respecting our chain of command. Elise! This asshole is your new partner.”

* * *

“
S
o where we going first
? Partner?” Elise asks, grinning wide.

“What are you armed with?” I ask.

“Stun baton,” she says.

“No gun?”

“We don’t have guns here.”

“So when Grius attacks with his biosuit,” I say, “and shoots a beam of plasma at you, or stabs you with two-dozen sharp tendrils –”

“I’ll slap him with my baton,” she says, laughing. “And he’ll go down.”

“This isn’t funny, you could –”

“And if I
did
have a gun?” she asks. “From what I’ve read, a biosuit can absorb hundreds of bullets. Would a gun make
any
difference? Police work isn’t just about shooting people, Ramses.”

“I want to go ask some questions around Sanctuary,” I say, changing the subject.

Sanctuary is where all the Seraphim who “go bad” gather in Chicago. Many cities are starting to have areas like this as the first generation of Seraphim reaches adulthood, but the whole situation is becoming especially bad now.

Elise nods. “I figured you’d want to go there. I have a...connection.”

“You’ve got friends there?” I ask.

“A connection,” she says. “We grew up together...we
were
friends.”

“I see,” I say. “Until he was about fifteen or sixteen?”

“She,” Elise says. “And yes. We
were
best friends. Now she hates my guts.”

“Let me guess,” I say. “Her parents don’t get along.”

Elise shakes her head at me. “It’s not a stretch to say that kids from broken homes are more likely to have a hard time.”

“Nah,” I say, “I’ve got my own theory about all these Seraphim who are going bad. You don’t see humans ending up like this.”

“And what’s your theory?”

“The Seraphic Form was this kind of...holy ideal in Marauder culture. It was the end of the line for us, the thing we were searching for as we interbred with species after species. Marauder children always had to find a new species to breed with, otherwise they were sterile. We’ve already seen the first Seraphim having children of their own, so we know that humans – and Seraphim – really are different. But when we first made contact and arrived here twenty-five years ago, both Marauders and humans were over-eager. They….”

I look at Elise, lick my lips, and see her cheeks flush red.

“Let’s just say they couldn’t keep their belts on. Marauders are supposed to mate for life, but we have insane sex drives, too….”

Elise blushes again. I cough into my hand and look away.

“So my theory is that any Seraphim whose parents were not true mates are going to…have issues. I’m not religious like my father, but he’d say something along the lines of “we’ve been given a gift from God, and we have to treat it with reverence.’”

“Hmmm,” Elise says. “That’s not
totally
stupid-sounding, but I see only one hole in your theory.”

“Yeah?” I ask. “What’s that?”

“Your parents are one of the most famous human-Marauder couples in the solar system, and anyone can tell they truly love each other. So how does that explain you?”

I laugh. “Fine, fine, don’t take me seriously. But time will prove me right. I’d go so far as to say that these troubled Seraphim may even be sterile. I’ve talked to a number of them back on Venus, and they seem...restless.”

“I guess that would explain Darkstar’s interest in them,” Elise says. “It’s probably too late for the Darkstar Marauders, but they could obliterate humanity, and these new Seraphim could travel on as a new generation of Marauder.”

“Exactly,” I say, grinning. “Seems like you buy into my theory.”

“I didn’t say that,” Elise says.

She pulls out her phone. “My contact told me to piss off. We’ll have to just drop by uninvited.”

“Let’s go,” I say.

“She won’t be home until after dinner, so let’s get something to eat. You like Chicago dogs?”

“Uh,” I stammer. “I like dogs, but they’re pretty rare on Venus. My mom has a Corgi –”

“No,” Elise laughs. “Hot dogs.”

“What?”

“Hotdogs are one of the oldest surviving pieces of Chicago culture! How did you not look this up before coming here?” Elise looks at me and rolls her eyes in amusement.

“I came on short notice,” I say.

“Chicago was uninhabitable for more than one hundred years,” Elise says. “But most refugees ended up settling way up north in Hudson City, and they took the legendary Chicago Dog with them, protecting it for over a century. That is, until Marauder terraforming technology was able to cool Chicago down enough –”

“You’re talking this up pretty hard,” I say. “Why not let it speak for itself?”

“Fine,” she says. “Let’s go.”

We hail the nearest car, and jump in when it stops next to us.

“Jerry’s Dogs,” Elise says.

The car chirps and floats up into the air en route to our destination.

“Jerry’s is on the edge of Sanctuary – sort of near my contact,” she explains. “We can walk to her place from there, and you can get a feel for the neighborhood. Do you think Sanga or Grius are actually hiding out there?”

“Maybe,” I say. “I think it’s a little bit too obvious for them though, and with Grius’s resources, they wouldn’t need to resort to it. I’m more interested in finding other Seraphim who Darkstar may have reached out to.”

I watch the lights of the other cars flying along the skyline, and it reminds me a bit of Sankt Petersburgh, my home on Venus. The floating cities of Venus are more compact – by necessity – and the tops of the domes are covered in hydroponic forests. Beyond the dome, you can see the thick orange atmosphere, which is quite different from the smoggy grey of Earth. Marauder terraforming technology has rapidly made Earth more habitable again, and some forecasts predict that the sky may even be visibly blue again in some places within the next five years.

“What’s Venus like?” Elise asks. “I’ve never left Earth.”

“It’s….” I can’t think of what to say other than “better than this shithole.” I normally don’t mind sounding like an asshole, but I feel like I’ve given Elise enough of a hard time already. “It’s nice,” I say.

“I grew up mostly in the floating jungles,” I admit. “My parents basically met there, and they wanted me to know about both jungle and city life. It was hard though, going from hunting boar with bows and spears and eating with your hands, to suddenly needing to know about six different types of forks.”

I see the lights on the buildings blurring up as the car starts to descend toward the street.

“You eat hot dogs with your hands,” Elise says. “So you’ll feel right at home.”

I can already feel my stomach churning, though I have no real idea what I’m going to be eating. Ever since my parents bridged the gap between the cities and the jungles of Venus, most of the diet I ate in the cities became quite similar to the food we had in the jungles...just prepared in a more fancy style. The main meat was boar meat, and our diet was heavy in tropical fruits.

We get out of the car and go into Jerry’s Dogs, which is a really tiny building with only a few tables. It’s a bit late for dinner time, so there are very few customers and several open chairs.

“How hungry are you?” she asks me.

My stomach churns. “Hungry.”

“So I’ll get you two,” she says.

“Three.”

“You don’t even know how big they are or what they taste like –”

“Three,” I say, still not sure it will be enough.

“You think that makes you sound tough,” she says, “but you’ll look pretty sad when you have a half-eaten hot dog on your tray.”

We reach the counter, and Elise orders four dogs “with everything.”

When they arrive, I just see two pieces of bread covered in vegetables. I see red, green, yellow – nearly as colorful as the floating jungles. Then I sniff and smell meat.

The hunger tears at me, and I grab the dog and tear into it, biting half off in one bite.

My eyes widen in surprise. The taste is overwhelmingly good.

It’s crunchy, the meat is delicious and juicy, and there’s even a touch of acid to round it all off. I nearly bite in again as Elise smiles up at me, but then my mouth burns. A fiery heat lances across my tongue and fills my entire mouth. The heat bursts up into my nasal cavity.

Elise is raising her hot dog to her mouth, and I dive over the table and slap it out of her hand. “It’s poisoned!”

I slide off the table and roll onto the floor, landing on my feet in a low squat.