Regan's Reach 4: Avarice (13 page)

Tihan looked disappointed at her clear
interest in Reubus. "Hilary, at the end of this period of extended credit,
what happens if we can't pay?"

She turned her head slowly to engage him, a
disconcerting action that made him shiver. "Then Tihan dear, I - will -
own - you." And then she smiled. "But look at it this way, would you
rather I owned your ass, or Reubus?"

He smiled. "Thank you," he
replied, and then he paused, a concern coming to mind. "Hilary, before you
go . . . how is it that Reubus wasn't aware of your presence here earlier?"

She smiled again, craftily. "Oh - I
have my tricks, I learn from the master."

"Ham?"

"Is there another?"

He shook his head. "If he is that
good, how do you know he isn't monitoring us even now?"

She laughed. "Tihan my friend, I find
it is always safest to assume that he
is
always there, and then not
worry about it; you would be wise to do the same. Until next time then . . ."
And suddenly she was all business. "I will leave files summarizing our
agreements, and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me."

Hilary stood and with a swish of the long
white dress, she was gone.

Tihan, left alone to his thoughts now stood
slowly, morphing as he did so back into the sage. He thought of Ham and looked
around the room slowly, nervously . . .

. . . and shuddered.

* * *

The Celestial City, planet Regis, in The Rigel system

Walking among the crowds Ham quietly complimented
Bob on his choice of androids. To Ham they had looked conspicuous when he first
saw them, quite different to the imposing figures he was used to, but here in
the city they were indistinguishable from those around them. Even the quirky
differences he had noticed between the two he could now see were appropriate.
There was nothing that Ham could think of that would give them away, not
visually anyway. Still, he could tell Bob was nervous.

[Relax Bob, this will go fine, we are
simply scoping out the land.]

Bob glanced sideways doubtfully and then
resumed his worrying. [We shouldn't have come, this is madness.]

[I'm actually surprised at you Bob; I'm
completely relaxed about this and so should you be.]

[That's all right for you to say.] He
looked away guiltily.

And then it dawned on Ham why his friend
was so worried. He pulled Bob sharply into an alcove and stood there for a
moment fuming quietly; hardly able to speak he was so angry. [You didn't back
up, did you?]

Bob looked at the ground and refused to
meet Ham's eyes. [I don't believe in backing up and I don't, there is just the one
of me and there will always be only one.]

[My stars you idiot, you challenge me about
religion and yet at least I know how to use it as a tool. I don't practice
faith for goodness sake.]

[I'm not religious!]

[Well that sounds like some kind of faith
to me . . . how could you do this to me Bob? I would never have brought you here
if I'd known you had no backup.]

[What do you mean, how could I do this to
you? I haven't done anything to you; I'm the one taking the risk here.] Bob
pretended to look away.

Ham fumed, [You self absorbed prick. How
can I even contemplate putting you in a position where you might be
compromised? I now have to think about your safety, on top of everything else.]

The crowd of tourists that had been
building since early morning was now quickly thinning, pouring in through the
majestic gates which had just opened. Bob grabbed the diversion and pulled Ham
out behind him. [Come on, we need to go through with the others.]

They joined the tail end of a trailing group
and slipped in through the high walls, just another pair of travelers on a
pilgrimage to the Palace.

Like tourists everywhere in the galaxy the
people clustered in small groups, families and friends, couples and the
occasional individual, each with their small maps and brochures detailing the history
of the palace, the colonization of Regis, and myths about their shared heritage
of originating on Rexis. And, Ham noted, in every brochure there was a story,
some snippet of information that hinted at the day of promise when they would
return to their birthplace planet.

More brochures warned about AI emergence,
the 'Error' of Rexis and the commitment of the Regis leadership to the future
deliverance of their ancestral home. Bob seemed to devour the material
anxiously, nothing really a surprise to him but the act of confirming of his
fears was like wiggling a lose tooth. He worked through them furiously,
scrunching them as he read. Ham glanced at the proffered information only
briefly before flicking most of brochures to a bin. He only retained the
tourist maps which while revealing little did guide them to the central secure
area, marked and highlighted in blue. He casually strolled in that direction
while Bob trailed behind still reading. They drew no special attention and from
time to time Ham would stop, turning on his heels to take in the surrounding
sights while at the same time recording a three sixty degree visual of every
courtyard. His progress was calm, considered, with everything recorded, stored
and compressed. Internally he was mapping, measuring, every footstep, stride
length and timing. His path appeared random, and at times he would retrace his
steps, his progress around the palace looking no different to any other tourist
except that with every pace recorded and every view digested he was slowly
building a picture, a blueprint accurate to millimeters. Bob, while distracted,
nevertheless played his part counting; guards, changes, people, cameras,
everything that suggested a caution or offered an opportunity.

Above the central court in their small
security room three uniformed technicians poured over various screens,
analyzing every visitor, their groups and their progress looking for any
suspicious behavior, anything that might hint at a threat to the senior
hierarchy. All they saw was the usual rag tag groups and individuals, most looking
lost and amazed in equal measure, circulating the courtyards chattering and
laughing.

It was a happy scene until one man stood on
a small child's foot. The two hundred kilo android jumped back immediately but
not before the resulting horrendous scream had drawn all eyes to the spot. At
the same time cameras swiveled to focus on the child who had collapsed to the
ground clutching his ankle and bellowing loudly.

"Zoom in on that area Pero." The
supervisor leant over him and pointed at the young man's screen, then tapped at
the child's writhing form. He called out to no one in particular, "Get
someone down there, now!" Two uniformed coworkers darted from the room as
Supervisor Mendez scanned the various screens, considering the angles and
possibilities. His eyes were drawn quickly to a figure, something about him
drawing suspicion. It was Ham, moving surreptitiously away from the action,
unlike the crowd who seemed to be gathering to see what was happening, and then
he saw the other man, being jostled by several others. The crowd appeared to be
pulling at the man's suit and he looked most uncomfortable, shuffling backwards
and clearly apologizing. There was something about him Mendez could tell, the
look, and the gestures, something . . . too solicitous . . . almost
subservient.

"Lock the doors!" he barked.

Ham watched as Bob tried desperately to extricate
himself from the throng, several men seeming to be glued to him, prodding and
pushing as Bob shuffled backwards. A glance around revealed uniformed men
moving towards the doors, the noose was tightening. Reaching into a fold of his
garment he took out a small ball which he dropped and watched as it rolled toward
the centre drain of the courtyard. There it burst into smoke and sparks and
issued a high pitched screech that caused people to clutch at their ears, some
even dropping to their knees with the pain. Darting toward his friend Ham
grabbed Bob's arm and pulled him away through the rapidly expanding and fetid
cloud toward the entrance archway. Almost completely obscured now the two
progressed on perfect memory alone, slipping through the gap and lengthening
their stride down the twenty meter tunnel, only to be brought up short by the
slam of metal to stone as a huge plate dropped from the roof. They didn't even
need to turn, an ear shattering clang from behind telling them all they needed
to know; they were trapped.

"Ham, we need to jump now, escape to
Rexis, we can destroy the androids by timer."

Ham didn't bother replying, they both
simply exchanged a look and concentrated . . . and nothing happened. As if in
synch they swiveled their heads in a slow motion scan of the archway, nothing
apart from the heavy stone seeming to indicate any kind of technical barrier,
certainly not a cyber barrier. Bob's android seemed to pale and he turned back
to Ham who he could see was chewing the inside of one cheek, a look of
frustration and anger there.

Ham looked him in the eyes and glared,
"You - didn't - back – up." he said dully.

"No, I didn't, I should have." And
suddenly Bob looked extremely sheepish.

Ham turned slowly back to face the door to
the courtyard and muttered under his breath. "You perfect pain in the
ass." Then he looked back, "Has this ever happened before, that you
couldn't jump, from anywhere?"

"Never, I've no idea what is
interfering, I can only think the palace is screened somehow in a way I don't
understand."

Ham turned back to the door. "Okay, we
need to get back to the open air, to the courtyard because that other way there
are only more corridors, it's your only hope."

"Our only hope you mean." Bob
replied.

Ham was chewing the cheek again and didn't
reply to the statement. "Together Bob, we need to break down this
door."

And they commenced to take turns, charging
and shouldering the door, hitting exactly the same spot, over and over. Crash
after crash rang through the tunnel but they ignored it, simply concentrating on
the task and slowly expanding a dent they were producing in the surface. No
bruises showed on the android bodies, but nevertheless the sense of shoulder
pulping was there and still they continued until a fine crack appeared in the
metal. On seeing it Ham held up one hand arresting Bob's latest run. He stroked
down over the crack, considering the thickness of the metal, and its integrity.
Crouching down he then peered through the very fine hole he could see there, out
into the courtyard beyond. He could see it was clear of the public now, they
having been replaced by armed, uniformed soldiers. Ham slumped back down
against the door and gestured for Bob to join him.

"My friend." Ham almost choked on
the word but did not hold back. "You must get out." He stretched out
a hand and tapped Bob’s arm pointedly, an act that immediately transferred his
files, everything he had stored on the palace. "We didn't get everything
we wanted but my people can use this information; get it to them."

"We will both get out, what are you
talking about?"

Ham just shook his head sadly and nodded to
the crack, and Bob followed his eyes there, twisting to peer through the tiny
gap. The assembled weaponry drew a gasp from tight lips and he grimaced knowing
it was hopeless.

"So what's the plan?"

Ham pushed himself upright. "We
continue to break through the door and I will time my last charge to go right
through. I will detonate my android immediately although I will probably be
taking fire by then anyway. You follow through after me and attempt to make
your jump. Just remember to set your own android to detonate too once you're
gone. We must leave them thinking the explosions are the end of the
matter."

Bob paused, considering the implications of
Ham's plan for them both. "But that means you will  . . ."

He couldn't finish the statement and indeed
had to push aside quickly as Ham sprinted to deliver another Teutonic hammer
blow to the surface.

Three blows later and they could hear weaponry
begin to pound on the door outside, clearly opening up in readiness. The power
blows from both sides seemed to speed the process of the doors destruction and
instinctively Ham could tell the breakthrough would be soon. He turned, and
with a last nod to Bob began to accelerate, hitting the metal hard and tearing
through, shredding himself as he did so, peeling soft tissue from the arms on
the jagged metal of the gap. Absorbing shots he pressed on, clambering out and
staggering toward the men firing continually into the android body, and then he
detonated, a massive explosion that rang across the Celestial City.

Bob clambered through into the smoke and
damage, ignoring the many screams he could hear from all around. He simply
stood there a moment under the open sky, then closed his eyes . . . and vacated
the area. The powerful form toppled forward, with a mournful look etched on its
face, a look that would have remained forever except that another massive
explosion wiped the android from the face of the planet Regis.