Shedding the Demon (19 page)

“It’s an autonomous mechanized weapons platform, but it’s a
custom design so I can’t pull up any specifics.

“Didn’t you find any record of these in your research?”
Damon asked sarcastically.

Ken grunted.

The MWP stopped trying to move, and Damon’s HUD flashed
confusing warnings about live weapons.

“What the—” Damon never finished his sentence as the
remaining ordinance in the MWP exploded and sent him flying into the ceiling of
the room where he bounced off a few support beams and girders before falling to
the floor in an ungraceful heap.

“
Kyndra’s soaking tears!
” Damon cursed as he picked
himself up off the floor. He had aches and pains all over like nothing he’d
felt since that run-in with the rail guns on his first mission.

“. . . 33% . . .”

He cursed again. “Ken, what’s your assessment? My power’s
real low and I haven’t hit the third building; not to mention the man himself.”

“Hmm,” Ken said, “I’d say you need a better power plant.”

“Oh, well thank
you
very much!”

Ken laughed.

“Cut the crap, Ken, I’m serious! It’s my butt on the line
here, do I abort?”

“I’m no tactical guru, why are you asking me? Call your
buddy Gregor and see what he thinks.”

“Maybe I will,” Damon growled, then added under his breath, “and
tell him where to find my hacker as well!”

“Oh come on,” Ken said. Then after a short pause, “Give me a
minute, I’ve got an idea. Keep moving toward the next building, this time
avoiding
contact with unknown targets.”

Damon moved cautiously, something he’d not done in a while. He
realized, once again, that Ken was right. He should use his training from the
Family and be stealthier.
There are things out there that can hurt me,
he
thought,
and I’m sure there’s worse stuff than what I’ve already seen.

Since they’re already on high alert and dragging out the
big guns, I might as well hit them with an active scan to get the big picture.
He ran everything in his sensor suite and the HUD displayed a number of
targets, but they were arrayed around a building two blocks away, at the edge
of his effective range.
I wonder where Mr. Metzenberg could be hiding, hmm?
He
took a moment to evaluate their arrangement, but he could not make a complete
assessment based upon his limited sensor information.

“Demon, stop there,” Ken instructed, “and punch through the
wall on your left.” As Damon raised his fists and stepped toward the wall, Ken
added, “Gently, if possible.”

Damon stopped and hit the wall with only one fist, as
lightly as he could while still breaching the masonry. Inside he found a room
arrayed with electrical panels and transformers. On the other side of the room
he saw a Debar reactor humming away. He marveled at how such a small, innocuous
sphere could generate so much power. Viewed in the visible spectrum it gave no
indication that it was even running, but using a broad spectrum he could see
various bands of electromagnetic power sweeping graceful arcs around its
surface, suspending it in the air, and connecting it to the power conduits at
the top and bottom of the safety enclosure. Using passive sensors, he could see
the helical shapes of exotic wormhole energies twisting and writhing between
the electromagnetic fields and the sphere.

“Wow, I’ve never seen one of these up close before,” Damon
said with a sense of awe filling his voice, “do you want me to destroy it?”

“No!” Ken yelled a little louder than as necessary,
startling Damon. “I want you to just stay put for a minute while I figure
something out.”

“Whatever you say,” Damon replied and dropped into a sitting
position to watch his power levels rise ever so slowly. After a few long
minutes, Ken returned.

“Here’s what I want you to do: First, execute this command
file I’m sending to you right now.”

“Do what with what?”

Ken sighed and continued, speaking slowly, “Do you see the
file I just sent to you?”

“Yes.”

“Run it, please. When you see a warning message, approve it
for execution.”

Damon dutifully ran the file, and when a warning popped up
in his HUD he nearly dismissed it without looking at it, but the urgent nature
of the warning made him pause. As he read the message fully, he started to have
second thoughts. “What exactly are you trying to do?” His suspicion rose
ice-cold along his spine. “The warning says you’re trying to make base-level
changes to my system programming, blah-blah-blah.
What
are you doing to
me?”

Ken replied quietly, “I’m trying to help you.” Then his
voice began to rise as he spoke faster, “That D-SAP they covered you with is
really amazing. There are so many different ways to configure the electrical
state it’s mind-boggling. You can change color, texture, reflectivity, and a
hundred or so other parameters, I’m really just scratching the surface!”

“Hey! What is
this
program going to do to me?” Damon
was not in the mood to be inundated with Ken’s excited rambling.

“Oh, yes, right, you’re going to like this, it will allow
you to channel electricity directly from the D-SAP into your batteries.” Ken
paused, waiting for a reaction. “Isn’t that great?”

Damon was not convinced, and couldn’t decide whether or not
to trust Ken this completely. Stalling for a little time, he asked “Will Gregor
be able to detect the changes?”

Ken made a disgusted, offended sound that actually made
Damon smile. “Do you really think I’d load something that could be found?” Ken
started to expound upon his superior programming skills when Damon cut him off.

“All right, I got it, please stop talking!” Damon’s throat
was dry and he had trouble swallowing, but he cleared the warning and let the
program run. It did not calm his nerves when nothing changed that he could
tell. “Umm, I don’t see anything new here.”

“Let me guide you through the process.”

Using verbal explanations and active markers in his HUD, Ken
explained to Damon how to alter the electrical state of his armor in many more
ways than were previously allowed. Immediately after the explanation, Ken
initiated one of the new configurations and deactivated the rest, saying that
they would have to experiment with them later. He then identified two conduits
in the room where Damon should strip off protective shields and insulation
using a low-power laser. The final instructions made Damon step back
involuntarily.

“You want me to
what?
” he asked Ken, his voice
cracking at the end.

“I want you to grab one live conduit in each hand and watch
the power flow from the reactor, through the D-SAP, and into your batteries!
The recharge should take only a few minutes!”

“These are main lines directly off the reactor.”

“Yes.”

“And you just want me to grab hold?”

“YES!”

“How stupid do you think I am?”

Ken paused, “Do you
really
want me to answer that
question?”

“Very funny. Are you trying to kill me?”

“If I was, would I say so?”

“That doesn’t help.” Damon realized he was shaking. He
wished fervently that he could get advice from Andrea.
Talk to me, Andrea,
what would you do?
He pleaded to her memory, but no wisdom came back to
him. There was no training that could help him in this situation.

“
Weeping saint!
” Damon strode forward and grabbed the
conduits before fear could stop him. He felt a warm surge traveling across his
skin in powerful waves. The sensation was disconcerting and uncomfortable, but
not painful.
Well, it’s not really skin,
he thought, purposefully
distracting himself from what was happening.

A blinking icon in his HUD caught his attention:

“. . . 85% . . .”

His eyes widened as he watched the power levels rise to full
power in less than two minutes.

“Unbelievable!” he said to Ken.

“I know! It really is amazing what you can do with the
D-SAP.” The pride was obvious in his voice, and Damon thought he also sounded a
little surprised that it actually worked. Before he could inquire along that
line of thought, Ken continued. “The process is reversible, too, you can use
this configuration,” he marked it in Damon’s HUD, “to discharge energy at a
rate capable of frying people and electronics through almost
any
shielding!
Not energy efficient at all, of course, and you have to be touching the target,
but I think this would be the best way to take out the next weapons platform
you encounter.”

Damon continued to the final factory and met no resistance
there as he placed the last of his charges.

Now he crouched in a building across from the stronghold he
assumed was holding Walfrid Metzenberg. The level of activity had calmed down
in the last ten minutes, but even his passive sensors found twenty-some guards posted
around the building and on nearby rooftops, along with three MWPs prowling the
streets. Damon didn’t worry about the guards too much since he saw no sign of
heavy weapons, but the MWPs might be troublesome. Two of them he was able to inspect
visually, and they were both of the same design of the one he had encountered
in the factory. Their guns were powerful and he was unsure of his chances
against both at once. Luckily, their current patrol routes did not provide
overlapping fire, but once alerted they could move quickly to converge on him.

The third MWP was unique. Sensors picked up a faint energy
signature that indicated a different weapon system, but did not give enough
information to identify it. Ken was working on finding more data, either
through Damon’s sensors, pirated satellite info, or hacked security systems in
the building itself.
I hate waiting,
he thought for the hundredth time.
He checked his power levels, a habit, and something to do while bored.

“...97%...”

At least it made him smile. Ken’s method for recharging was
brilliant, and Damon felt a surge of confidence knowing that he did not have to
worry about power, even this far into the mission.

“I’ve got nothing on the third platform,” Ken muttered,
frustration obvious in his tone. “I don’t know how they keep it secret, but
there’s nothing in any of the local systems, except that all of these platforms
arrived on site only two days ago. I found a useful satellite link that will
help me track it without using your active sensors, which will help, and it
will give me a chance to try something else with your D-SAP. First I need you
to go to ground level, and get close to one of the MWPs, so I can analyze their
sensor spectrum.”

“What if it sees me?”

“Take it out. You’ve got to kill it quick. Which means
either the Trip-PC or direct electrical discharge, so don’t mess around trying
anything else. What I’m trying to do is make your D-SAP stealthier so you can
get up close without giving them time to converge. I think direct electrical
discharge will be best since it will take less energy than a Trip-PC shot, but
you’ll have to be right on top of the target before you’re detected or it’ll be
able to evade.”

Ken’s fast talking still made Damon’s head spin, but he was
getting used to it. He asked a few quick questions to make sure he understood
while he moved to the ground floor as quickly and quietly as possible.

 “I’m on the ground, the MWP should pass by in about thirty
seconds.”

“Good, I see it now. I want you to shut down everything but
these sensors I’ve indicated in your HUD, that should keep you invisible long
enough. I’ll keep the signal active to the explosives so they don’t detonate
yet.”

Damon quickly complied and shut down most of his systems,
leaving him literally in the dark for the first time in a long time. He hadn’t
realized how accustomed he had become to the icons and indicators that always
filled the edges of his vision. It was also a surprise to be seeing with only
his normal eyesight, no longer enhanced with additional data from various
sensors. He shivered as a chill passed through his body; he felt very alone and
isolated.

I even miss Ken’s incessant babbling,
he thought,
trying to keep himself company. Soon he felt a slight tremor in the floor as
the MWP passed on the street outside only a couple meters away. Damon knew that
the armor was always active and always protecting him, but he still felt very
exposed.

The rumbling passed and Ken finally spoke up, “Give me one
more minute before you power everything back up, I need to calculate the
correct electrical state for your armor. I’ve analyzed the sensors and isolated
the spectra, now I just need to determine how to absorb or scatter them. That
should keep you hidden long enough to jump on the unit from behind and shock
it. I’ve entered a new program to perform this attack—here’s the icon—and I’ve
set it to use only 15% of your total power. I suggest that you wait for it to
pass by again, jump on from behind and discharge immediately.”

“Please. Stop. Talking!” Damon covered his ears out of
habit, even though the action would not cut off Ken’s voice. He enjoyed having
company on the raid, but he needed to get serious. There were some truly
dangerous weapons out there just waiting for him to show up and make a mistake.
“I’m sorry,” he continued, “but I need to concentrate.”

“No problem, I understand completely, it’s just that I feel
like I’m there with you. My interface makes it so I can see and hear what you
see and hear, I can almost feel what’s happening . . . oh, sorry.”

The ground rumbled again and Damon’s heart sped up. Shaking
himself mentally, he thought
I’ve been in worse positions than this, why am
I feeling like a rookie?
He waited for the weapons platform to pass by and
he made his move. Breaking from cover, he ran full speed directly toward the
departing machine. Catching up to it easily, he leaped on top and placed both
hands on the surface of the turret. The MWP immediately stopped moving and
attempted to turn its turret, raise its guns, and began gyrating; trying
anything to bring weapons to bear on Damon. Before it could successfully
dislodge him Damon fired the electrical discharge as Ken had instructed.
Immediately, all motion stopped, and Damon’s sensors confirmed the machine was
dead.