Fish Swim in the Lake

Part 5.2 | To have done instead of not doing

It was not Vas Gagarin or alphaDana that screamed, but the mentech, Colin Michaels, silhouetted greenly against blacked out Willson House. He had a flesh coloured plasteen fingerless glove on his left hand.

alphaDana automatically focussed her sensors tight on the mentech's fist and uplinked a voggle inquiry. It was a waver: a crowd control or self-defense device that emitted a mentally destabilizing sound wave. It could, she crossreferenced, be dangerous to corroded, diseased bones like Tony's. Apparently it could be fatal. Apparently it could be disrupted by something sensitive enough to explode when the wave hit. Apparently. She felt fine. It hadn't affected her a bit. This was valuable information. It was worth money.

Colin kept screaming. alphaDana heard his throat tear. She worked the keys from Tony's stiffening fingers and opened the car trunk. She pulled Tony's jacket up over his crushed skull to keep the blood down a little, pushed him into the trunk, and slammed it shut. "Get in," she said to Colin. She had no gun. The waver still wrapped his right hand. But he got in.

She put on her seat belt and started the car. She adjusted the mirror and looked back at Vas. He was collapsed on the back seat but he was breathing steady. She backed up and out, down the hill, into the overgrown parking lot, turned the car around, and drove out onto the road.

"Why did you bring his body?" Colin eventually rasped.

alphaDana concentrated delicately on the uneven road.

She said, "I don't know how his clearance works. It's not something he did. I would have noticed. It's something he carried, maybe his car keys, maybe his watch, I don't know. Or it could be an implant. Either way it's probably kinetically powered -- recharged by his normal movement. That means it won't last much longer. So I didn't want to waste time. Maybe hours, maybe only minutes. If I was making them I'd make it so death would disable the thing fast. So we have to get out right away. Put your seat belt on. Pull the buckle down and fasten it in the slot there."

Colin adjusted and fastened his seat belt.

"I just want to know..."

"What? Vas, are you OK back there?"

"For now. I don't have enough phionine to keep going much longer though. I need to go back to my hotel. It'll be safe. It's sovereign Luna territory. Then we'll figure out what to do with Killer."

"Is that why you brought me?" Colin shrilled. "I didn't mean to kill him! It was an accident."

"Fasten it," alphaDana snapped. "I know that. That's not why I brought you."

"What for, then?"

"You're Vlad's brother. You're a hostage."

Perhaps, she thought, the waver had affected her a little after all.

Posted by gtaylor at May 07, 2002 09:03 AM