Project: MI
Chapter 15

Malcolm wentfrom one screen to another, his hands moving across the keyboards in an attemptto coax some life from them beyond blue screens and static. His base wasdecently shielded thanks to some well-placed adamantine-steel sheets, but theabrupt power disruption had mucked with his equipment.

Auxiliary power is back online at least, he noted with agrimace. But I can’t afford to run thatfor too long without the CHC noticing. Rolling his chair over to a switchattached to the wall, he flipped it on. I’llneed to switch to batteries until I get the shields up and running again.Hopefully those aren’t fried as well. They should have had enough protection…Damn it! Who the hell out there was screwing with me?!

A screen lit upand he rolled over to it.

“Okay… Lookslike I’ve got camera function back in sector three. Something must’ve shiftedin the pile it was in and protected it. That’s good to kno…oh!”

As the screencleared, he saw a young boy making his way over a pile of garbage, metal pipein one hand while at the bottom stood Bob. The lighting from the moon wasminimal, but it was enough for him to recognize his most regular visitor. Hetilted his head to one side, his mind racing furiously.

He won’t be able to get out! The CHC has the entireperimeter sealed off. He’d be caught as soon as he stepped back outside. Howcan he…?

Realizing he hadno other alternative, he got up from his chair. Racing over to his holographicprojector—a ring with three light projectors of red, blue, and yellow—he checkedits systems before firing it up. Of all his technology, this was the one ofonly two he was least concerned about being damaged by an EMP blast short ofthe type set off by nuclear weaponry or being knocked offline by a poweroutage.

Usinghis crutch to carefully pick his way through the hills and potholes of garbagein his path, Teruo came to a stop in front of a pile of flat, metallic-likedisks sitting in a pile—more than he expected. Standing near it was Bob,looking over him.

“Are you all right?”the robot asked, taking in how much Teruo was favoring his leg.

“I’llbe fine,” Teruo waved him off. “I should be better by tomorrow. Now…” He liftedup one of the disks. “…let’s see what we have here.” Picking up one of thedisks, he turned it over, running a hand across its surface.

These are definitely transmatplatforms. Hmmm… He shifted it and squinted. Silver Age model. I can tell by the goldinlay. Not as efficient, but mostly devoid of damage. “Where’d you replace allthese?” he asked, turning up to Bob. “I thought you said that there was onlyone.”

“Transmat devices are not highpriority, and due to the number of layers here it is difficult to maintain anaccurate inventory. I noted one transmat platform the last time I passedthrough the northern section of the yard.”

“Howlong ago was that?”

“Twelve years ago.”Bob noticed the way Teruo raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Space often folds and stretches to great degrees in the yard. Thespace in the northern section was significantly smaller at the time and it waseasier to travel through. The yard has expanded since then.”

“Ofcourse.” Teruo sat down and placed his makeshift crutch on the ground alongwith the transmat device before picking up another. “Just out of curiosity… Isthat safe?”

“The expanding of space?”Bob asked.

“Yeah.”

“It was deemed a necessaryaddition as landfills were being filled to capacity faster than anticipated. Anold spatial distortion core from the Nemesi known as ‘Empress’ was appropriatedto solve the problem. Since then, all remaining debris and technology from theprevious Ages were retired here.”

“Thatdidn’t really answer my question.”

“At the minimum, should thedistortion core be destroyed, the power and material released would destroyClark City. At least, that is what the math said at the time, and it is beingreevaluated constantly.”

“NowI wish I didn’t ask,” Teruo grumbled, not liking the implication in light ofhis earlier EMP blast. Flipping over the transmat device in his hand hecontinued. “You’d think they wouldn’t have let a town spring up around here.Nothing like sitting on a potential volcano to liven things up. I guess this iswhy I hadn’t heard about how big this place really is.” He placed the device onits edge and ran a finger on it. “Very nice… Bronze Age tech. Less loose withits physics and energy budget, but always more accurate.” He turned its surfaceback in his direction. “The crack isn’t good but…I may be able to fix that withvacuum welding. Maybe. Depending on the materials used. I’m definitely keepingthis.”

Placingthe device alongside its Silver Age brethren and picked up the next one. Thispiece was a shining gold piece with a silver center. Teruo tossed it aside likea Frisbee almost as soon as he picked it up with a look of disgust.

“GoldenAge. Model T-304. I recognize this crap anywhere. I’d have better luck ducttaping someone’s molecules together.”

“It was by far in the bestshape,” Bob said, following the disk’s flightpath until it crashed into a nearby refrigerator. “Could you not work around it should the others fail to operate or haveequipment to function with? Golden Age technology is the most numerous andis…robust.”

“Icould, but not that piece. Model T-304 Transmat Platforms killed people 99percent of the time they were used. In one war they were altered and turnedinto a weapon to use against heavy mech bots because that was all they weregood for. I’m surprised one of the original models actually found its way here.I thought they were all melted down in the Silver Age.”

“With the amount of technologythe Golden Age produced, eventually one was bound to survive an upgrade,”Bob noted. “I have a cousin that is stillin his original Bronze Age design. He requires battery-life support to continuefunctioning. He claims that any change to his structure ruins his historicalvalue.”

“Weird.”Teruo sighed and looked over the remaining three disks. These ones were in farrougher shape, with chips and spidery-cracks all along their surfaces.

All late Bronze Age tech. Theyused honey-comb cells in their creation for better memory and energy usage.There’s no way I can fix those without having an entire industry at my command.Oh well. At least the two I have is usable and fixable. Two out of six isn’tbad. Better than I figured.

“Allright.” Teruo hoisted himself back up, picking up his Transmat Platforms andsticking them in his book bag. “After this, there’s the focusing lens and I’llneed to strip down some war bots and power transformers and after that I’ll saythat I’m in business.”

“It is getting late out,”Bob reported. My internal clock statesthat it is rapidly approaching midnight. Do you have a credible excuse for yourlocation?”

Teruowinced. He actually didn’t. John was out, but there wasn’t much of a chancethat he would stay out.

If anything, he’s probably backhome by now. I don’t see how work could keep him busy this long.

Hepondered his situation for a moment. Just dealing with the CHC’s movements had beenproblematic, and he lost so much time because of it…

Oh shit! The CHC isstill out there!

Teruo’sexpression went from numb horror to grim resignation quickly.

“Shit,”he muttered, pressing a hand against his face. I don’t believe this… How could I have been so stupid? So…in ahurry…and not sleeping enough. Every moment when John told him to go to bedearly because he was a ‘growing boy’ played through his head, contrasting itwith every instance when he snuck outside to visit the junkyard or stayed up towork on a project. It was as if his brain were scolding him for hisdisobedience now.

C’mon brain… Cut that crap outand start thinking of a way out of this. I don’t think I have the time to justsit this one out. He rapped on his skull for emphasis,but for the moment it appeared ideas were going to be long in coming.

Fortunatelyfor him, the world outside his head operated on a shorter time plan.

“Is there something I can helpyou with?” spoke up a voice behind him. Whirlingabout in surprise, Teruo brought up his pipe in a defensive gesture and thennearly collapsed as his injured foot again reminded him that it wasn’t up tobearing his weight just yet.

“Mister Maher,”Bob greeted, tipping an imaginary hat at the man suddenly behind them as hecaught hold of the boy, preventing him from falling. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Who…?”began Teruo, readjusting his crutch. Howdid he get here without me noticing? Who is he? He looked the man over witha critical eye. Tall, dark hair, and wearing loosely fitting clothing.

Teruoalso noted that the man wasn’t casting a shadow.

A hologram? Amemory tickled his mind. A memory of a hatch swinging open to allow a costumedgirl to enter. Was this man connected?

“Some introductions are in order,though this isn’t the place to do it,” the man namedMaher replied. “And if I’m to understand,this isn’t the right time either.” He glanced at Bob. “Is the CHC still surrounding the junkyard?”

“Yes,”nodded Bob.

“So you need an exit,”continued Maher, returning his attention to Teruo. “It just so happens that I can provide you with one.”

“Astranger offering free candy?” Teruo asked, pushing away lightly from Bob sothat he was now standing on his own again. “What are you going to do next? Tellme your name so that we’re ‘not strangers’?”

Maherchuckled. “If you want to be caught, thenby all means, step outside and do so. Or if you’re confident, you canreactivate one of the war bots lying around here to distract them. You’ll needa decent power source, of course, but I’m sure Bob can replace something for you.”

Teruoscowled. Although he would have thought of it, it wasn’t an idea he would haveliked. There were too many things that could go wrong and if someone died orgot hurt because of it…

Time is really not on my sideeither, he thought irritably. “All right,” hereplied. Reaching behind him, he pulled out his Doctor device. Its end glowedblue as he activated it, “but if you try anything funny I’m bringing the housedown. Got it?”

“No worries. In fact, it may bein your interest to see my lab. I’ll prepare something for you to look atbefore you go.” He turned towards Bob. “Will you guide him to the nearestentrance?”

“Of course Mister Maher,”Bob replied with a nod of his head. With that, Maher winked out of existence,leaving only a few sparkling shards of light.

Definitely a hologram,Teruo noted. He looked at Bob. “Who is this Maher guy?”

“He is a heroi with abilitiesmuch like your own. I suppose he’s your predecessor. He set himself up herearound twenty years ago. He’s been in and out ever since, but he’s always comeback.”

“Hmmm…”Teruo’s frown deepened. Someone like me.Does that mean he’s got the same smarts? I’ll need to be extra on my guardthen.

“Allright,” he said, gesturing ahead of them. “Lead the way.”

Thejourney to the entrance of Maher’s base of operations didn’t take long, leavingTeruo to wonder whether the man had control over the junkyard’s spatial warp.The shift of the local terrain—more specifically the garbage—from the ruins ofprevious ages to the more contemporary citizen refuse was disturbinglynoticeable. To Teruo, the smoothness at which it occurred, something he had nevergiven a thought to before now, gave him chills.

Did he know that I’ve beenvisiting from the very start? he wonderedas Bob removed a pile of garbage from off a metal hatch. How much has he been helping me? Is he responsible for the weirdgateway?

Somany questions and unfortunately so little time to explore them.

There’s always next time,provided that there even is a next time…

Bobthrew the hatch open with a nasty creek, and gestured for Teruo to enter.

“You must go alone,”he said. “My transmitter would be blockedwithin his base, and that would draw unwanted attention.”

That’s good to know,Teruo thought, filing the thought away for future reference. “My drone bot isstill out there, by the way. It’s compiling a list of material for me. If youreplace it, could you keep it safe for me until I can get it back?”

“I will do so,” Bobnodded.

“Bob?This…Maher… Is he on the level?”

“You will be safe with him,”Bob said. “You are hardly the first youngheroi to work with him.”

“Really?”Teruo’s eyebrows rose, but he didn’t pry any further. Given that Maher appearedto be working secretly, it was highly doubtful that Bob would reveal anythingto him just because he asked.

“Really,”Bob replied before waving. “Maybe you’llmeet her someday. Until then, I hope he can help you.”

Her, huh? That’s interesting… I’dsay that this guy is definitely connected to what I saw the last time I came through here. Hewondered who that girl was…

Bobhelped him climb onto the ladder, and he dropped his crutch down the hole. Oncehe was secured and confident that he could climb down the rest of the waywithout too much trouble, he bid Bob farewell and began his descent. Hisinjured ankle throbbed all the way down, but he made it without difficulty.Using his Doctor device as a makeshift flashlight, he quickly retrieved hispipe-crutch and began to make his way down the long corridor. His heart beat asteadily increasing drumbeat as he went. The darkness was all around him, andthe light from his Doctor device cast strange shadows with claw-like curves.Eerie blue light grew and shrunk, following his every movement.

I am the wolf, with great bigeyes, thought Teruo. All the better to see you with.

Finally,after what felt like an eternity, a light appeared at the end of the tunnel andhe hastened his approach. In the longest minute he could remember, he finallybroke into a large, well-lit room and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Here…I…am…”he panted, stepping past the threshold.

“Welcometo my humble abode,” spoke up Maher—this time in the flesh—as he stood up fromhis desk and approached him. He gave the boy’s ankle a careful look. “Do youneed that taken care of? You didn’t break anything, did you?”

“I’llbe fine.” Teruo hopped, adjusting his balance. “Nothing that a good night’ssleep won’t cure.” He glanced around the mess that was the room—a laboratory ofsorts, full of all kinds of odds and ends from wires to bubbling chemicals.Teruo found himself feeling very much at…home here.

Business is business though.

“I…ah…hearda rumor that you can get me past the CHC blockade?”

“Ican do better than that, but first…” Returning to his desk he ejected a diskfrom his computer and quickly put it in a protective sleeve. Curious, Teruohobbled forward to get a better look at the information displayed on hisscreens. On one was an all too familiar image of a mist-filled city, and nextto it was a grid-like layout of what he assumed was the same city.

Teruowas snapped away from his study as Maher approached him with the disk in hand.

“Here,”Maher said, handing it to him. “From one genius to another, you’ll want to takea look at this when you get home.”

Teruoraised a suspicious eyebrow, accepting the CD cautiously. “What is this?”

“Informationthat I think would be good for you to see.”

“Whyare you giving this to me?”

Malcolmgave him a sly smile. “For the same reason I’ve been giving you every piece ofinformation since we first met.”

Teruotilted his head to one side, confused by this. Malcolm chuckled. “I suppose ahint is in order.” Tapping a button on his keyboard, the closest of hiscomputer screens changed to reveal a cartoonish, orange-furred, fox face.

“Noway…” Teruo breathed in dawning comprehension. “Kitsune? You’re kitsune?!”

“Theone and only.”

“Butyour IP…” Teruo broke off as he took in Malcolm’s devious grin. “I…see.” Henarrowed his eyes at the man. “What did you get from me?”

Raisinghis hands, Malcolm gave him a slow applause.

“Sorryif this hurts. I really do consider you a good friend. If it helps, it didn’tstart out that way and I did give youinformation because I wanted to feed your curiosity.”

“Iwas just convenient though, wasn’t I? For whenever you wanted info from theCHC…” His eyes widened as a terrible thought occurred to him. “Oh gods…” He rana hand through his hair. “My bot! I let it loose in there!”

“Itwas convenient,” Malcolm admitted.“Some of the information you got from me couldn’t have been gathered as safely.The audio helped as your drone was often a…fly on the wall, so to speak. Peopleare looser with their tongues when they think they’re behind safe walls.”

“Icould be executed for treason!”

“You’retoo valuable for that,” Malcolm said dismissively. “You have no idea about yourpotential. All those tests you’ve been taking are only starting to tap thewell. They want this from you.” Hetapped his head in example. “A dead brain is a useless brain and people likeyou are rare. Too rare to risk losing.” Getting up from his chair he beckonedthe boy to follow him. “We can talk more later if you’d like. We should get youhome. You can’t risk your caretaker discovering that you’re missing. Especiallywith your small window of opportunity here and your…injury slowing you down.”

Teruoswore under his breath, following the man. Everything about this whole thingstunk and he hated the idea of dropping everything at once, but… If I get out of here, I’ll be back on top ofthis. Anger flared in his chest. Maybeeven get this guy back for using me.

Yes.He rather liked that idea.

Roundingthe desk, Teruo stopped dead in his tracks. Past the entrance into a new roomwas a glowing disk approximately six feet in length with four smaller disksintegrated into it. His caution evaporated almost immediately and he approachedit, his expression one of awe.

“This…This is a working transmat platform?” he asked, his tone just barely above awhisper.

“Ashort-range one,” Maher admitted, his hands playing across a control panel. “Ican’t afford to draw too much power from the grid, as it would be noticed. It’salso not as good as the ones from the Bronze Age. It loses a lot of accuracythe further away you go, so this is strictly within the range of, oh, abouttwenty to thirty miles at best. Fifty if I’m not bothering to hide where I am.”Maher looked at Teruo. “But for your purposes I can transmit your moleculesstraight into your bedroom.”

Teruocraned his head to one side as his mind took in the device, translating eachand every bit of it with quick glances.

“Thisis a type 16 Alpha D. The last ‘government approved’ transmat rated forcivilian use before the Great War of the Golden Age. One way only. It’s even inperfect working condition. This is…amazing.”

“Itshould be. I worked hard to replace it.”

Teruoran a hand over his mouth. His brain was racing now, taking in all thepossibilities.

“Withjust the proper modifications to the power and transmitters, this could send meanywhere in the world. I could even upgrade it to a two-way…!”

Teruowas broken out of his stream of thought by Maher’s tsking noise. Looking up, he saw the man shaking a finger at him.

“Don’tget ahead of yourself. I’m not letting you compromise my work here for yourprojects. You’re mostly on your own with that. I’m sending you home as acourtesy because we’re friends—or at least I hope we still are. Anything morewill cost you.”

Teruostared at him blankly for a second before finally nodding, his eyebrowsfurrowed in frustration, but accepting of the situation.

Headjusted the weight of the book bag on his shoulders and he heard the clink ofthe transmat disks within.

But… The platform would cut mywork time down considerably, he thoughtmournfully. Just replaceing something likethis is going to take forever. Hel, it’s going to take a while just to buildsomething decent!

Mahercoughed politely and gestured to the platform. “If you don’t mind, could youget on? It’s rather late out and you need your rest.”

“Whatdo I need to do to be able to use this?”

Maherblinked at him. Teruo took that as a good sign.

“I’msorry?”

“Yousaid it would cost me. What’s the price?”

Maherseemed to consider this for a moment before finally speaking again.

“Sleepon it and then get back to me. I’ll think of a price then, if you’re stillinterested. In the meantime, I have things to do. Things that need fixing,thanks to you.”

Teruoblushed at that, but nodded. He was still rather uncertain himself as towhether or not this was a good idea.

“Allright,” he replied, getting onto the platform. “Send me to Oz.”

“Offto the Wizard you go, down the yellow brick road,” Maher replied, tapping abutton. A swirl of gold light surrounded Teruo’s vision. There followed a senseof his consciousness first floating, and then dissolving, brick by brick,before finally coming back together in the familiar surroundings of hisbedroom. Dizziness swamped him then and he staggered to stop himself fromfalling. He heard the clink of his two disks as he righted his balance.

“Steadythere,” he said shakily, waiting for the rest of him to settle down beforeusing his crutch to help him get over to his bed and nearly collapse on it. Theweight of his entire jaunt came crashing down on him. The softness of his bedwhispered sweet seductions of sleep to him.

Got a lot done today,he smiled, pushing himself up, resisting the call of deep dreams. But before I pat myself on the back too muchabout everything I discovered… Got to take care of some things. Got to hide mytreasure.

Slidinghis backpack off from around his shoulders, he shoved it underneath his bed. Itwas far from the most elegant solution, but for at least five hours or so itwas beyond reproach. Plenty of time to catch a nap.

Andthe disk…

Heheld it in his hand, eyeing it carefully. Thiswas by far the one thing he felt the least comfortable about.

Forcinghimself up, he went over to his desk and slid the disk beneath a specialcompartment he made beneath a drawer. As far as he knew, John had not yetmanaged to discover it.

Turning,he staggered and went down onto one knee as he put weight on his injured ankleGrating his teeth, he massaged the limb, cursing himself for his seeminglyendless strings of careless behavior. He couldn’t help but wonder if his offerto Maher in order to use his transmat platform was at all a smart decision.

Beforehe could pursue the train of thought any further, he heard a gentle thump fromoutside his door. Turning, he saw a shadow move beneath the doorframe, justbarely noticeable within the shadow that filled the hallway.

John’s probably just checking inon me, he thought, heading back over to hisbed. Better hop in before he…

Thedoor burst open a second later and the flashlights from a dozen soldiersflooded the bedroom as they stormed in, shouting for Teruo to get down on theground. Shocked, the boy reflexively did as ordered. There was no room forargument here. Anything else would only invite another kind of bad decisionthat Teruo hoped to avoid.

Asa soldier circled above him and began to cuff his wrists together, a manentered the room to observe the scene. Clicking on a small ear piece, the manspoke and Teruo’s ears perked in recognition.

“DirectorDaria?” began Agent Coleman. “We have the heroi Teruo Kato in custody. You willhave him at central command shortly.”