29. Not a Machine

29 – Not a Machine

Before he left the work apparel store—Roughnecks Emporium—Hector pulled his new breather over his head, situated it comfortably over his nose and mouth, and then pressed the activation button on the strap that ran around the back of his head. It cinched up snugly, and tiny fans pulled air in through the filtered panels on either side. It was comfortable, and the air coming through the filters smelled only faintly of ozone.

Satisfied that, combined with the changes to his eyes, the breather would hide enough of his face to keep people from recognizing him, Hector stepped outside.

Evie, did you figure out the sister’s information? He’d gotten Grando’s contact info from Lemon the night before, so he’d put Evie on the job of getting some details about the Redwick situation from the crime boss.

//Yes, Brittany Chevalier works for RMC as a contracted security officer. I’ve marked her apartment’s location on your map. She’s two years younger than Paul…was.//

“Right,” Hector muttered, slinging the cheap, plain backpack he’d purchased over his shoulder. As he started up the sidewalk, he stuffed his hands into his pockets, head down as he moved toward the taller buildings ahead.

He wasn’t exactly sure how he’d approach the sister with regard to the fact that he was wearing her dead brother’s body. He figured he had a few hurdles to get through before he had to cross that bridge, though—like figuring out how closely Tacitianus was having her watched. It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about it, and Hector felt like he had an angle, but it was kind of a Hail Mary, and he was still hoping something else would present itself to him.

//Care to talk about it?//

Care to stop snooping?

Hector stepped around a group of slow-walking youths—hard looking kids with heavy jackets, mean haircuts, and lots of tatts. They ignored him, laughing and shoving each other over a wise-crack one of them made. Hector walked quickly; he always had, but the long legs of his new skin made it even more pronounced, and he left the laughing boys behind.

Redwick reminded him of how industrial suburbs were portrayed in old-Earth vids. There were corner stores, lots of vehicles on the roads, scattered parks surrounded by slatted plasteel fences, and rows of blocky industrial buildings decorated with gang tags and the occasional mural. For at least the third time, he saw one depicting the white-winged angel with the sword, and he paused to look.

She was tall and straight-backed, with wind-blown blonde hair, fierce eyes, and a bloody sword. As in the other versions he’d seen, there were children cowering nearby, looking up at the figure with hope in their eyes.

Who is she?

//Judging by her depiction, I would speculate that she’s meant to represent Agnes Rectus, a former Imperial Praetorian who broke ranks during the quelling of the Tharsis Workers Rebellion. She stood against her commander and his Imperial Guard unit, defending children known as the “rag-crew”—minors used to commit crimes in an attempt to avoid strict punishment. They were caught raiding a supply truck, and, being that martial law had been enacted, the commander wanted to make an example of them.//

“Huh,” Hector grunted. “Good for her.”

//She killed nine legionnaires, maimed her commander, and was put to death after a lengthy, public trial.//

Hector stared at the image for another minute, letting himself process the regret. Some part of him had hoped for a happy ending to the angel’s story, but he’d known better. Deep down, he’d known better. He turned and continued walking.

According to his map, he had a thirty-minute hike ahead of him. The blinking dot of his destination was past Redwick’s downtown area, up the main road toward the mine. There were several apartment complexes in the area, likely primarily occupied by mine employees. He had other stops to make before he inspected the sister’s apartment, however.

I need an electronics store—someplace I can buy a transmitter.

//What sort of transmitter?//

Something we can make a signal jammer out of.

//Oh, in that case, I should do some research on such devices. In any case, there’s a network and home security business just past the downtown area. I’ll update your map.//

After his time in Helio, Hector thought the streets and sidewalks of Redwick felt almost deserted—no trains and sparse foot traffic. The buildings were hotels, bars, and office complexes, most related either directly or tangentially to the mining business. Nobody bothered him; nobody even looked twice in his direction.

Soon he was hiking out into a sprawling retail zone where large business plazas housed dozens of stores catering to the populace who lived on the edges of the city in apartments or the low, concrete and plasteel tract homes that hugged the Martian landscape.

He followed Evie’s directions, and after twenty minutes or so of walking, he came to a retail plaza with a store on the corner called Network Wizards. It was, according to Evie, an outlet for a massive, multi-planet electronics conglomerate. Hector entered the store to find nothing but a pale blue room, from the carpet to the counter to the walls, with a blinking crystal-glass sales kiosk facing the door.

He stepped up to the display and browsed the products, looking for something that might suit his needs. After a bit of digging, he found a TA44 Network Diagnostics Kit. He read through the description and was about to keep looking, but Evie chimed in:

//That would work. I can turn it into a localized denial field. It would be subtle.//

How subtle?

//To the people around you? It’ll feel like bad service—heavy packet loss.//

It sounded like a perfect solution, so Hector added it to his cart, then browsed to the batteries section, choosing a brick-sized one that ought to be able to run the device far longer than he needed. In total, the make-shift jammer cost him 487 bits. When he paid the balance, the terminal chimed and a pleasant, masculine voice said, “Your claim number is 5-1-A. Please wait for your items. We estimate the time to fetch them will be less than five minutes.”

Hector unslung his empty black backpack and set it on the counter. You need any special software or anything, Evie?

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

//No, I found a surprising number of guides for this sort of device on the Heliopolis city net. I simply have to alter some settings in the diagnostic spectrum controller. The device will flood comm bands with garbage data, but only in a limited broadcast area.//

Hector nodded, drumming his fingers on the counter. He didn’t mind a limited area; the idea was to keep the mercs watching Brittany Chevalier from calling for help if he got into a tussle with them—or moved to take them out.

He only had to wait a couple of minutes before the door behind the counter clicked open and a blue-plastic synth emerged carrying a pair of boxes. “Ah, hello, sir. I have your purchases.” The speaker grille under its nose flashed with white LEDs when it spoke, and its chrome eyebrows moved up and down expressively to convey a bit of emotion as it approached.

As far as synths went, it was one of the cheapest models Hector had ever seen, but then, what did he expect from a self-service retail outlet? It set two boxes on the counter, one considerably heavier than the other—the batt. Hector ignored the synth and began unpackaging the two devices.

“Was there anything I could assist with?”

“You can take the garbage.” Hector pulled the sleek, rectangular battery from the box, peeling off the foam packaging. It came with a charging cord, but the top was meant to support contact charging for myriad devices. Hector turned it on, nodding to himself when the indicator reported a 97% charge. Next, he unpackaged the network diagnostic device. It was a plastic triangle with two ten-centimeter antennae that he had to screw onto either side of the top point.

“You don’t want to keep your warranty information, sir?”

“No.” The device had its own battery, but Hector had a feeling Evie’s jamming trick would drain it quickly. That said, he plugged it into the external batt and then, after turning it on and pressing the sync button on the bottom, he put the two items into his backpack.