Copper Rain

Copper Rain Part 10

The Present

"What do you mean from who I used to be?" I demand.

"It's a long story," says Titus. "And you've got to get in the cryo-pods before the sling."

We've now pushed away from the micro-g of the nub, and through an external feed I see the hexagonal panes of the hive disappearing into the blackness of space. My boots click on and auto-lock me to the deck. The massive ship is getting sluiced into the gravity well of the gas giant where we'll accelerated to speeds beyond normal human endurance. So if we are to keep these fun times going, we have to hit the pods. I glare at the vid-feed showing Titus' smug visage, and then wonder why the fuck am I arguing with a simulacrum of a dude whose idea of a good time was to turn his back on his colleagues and sell them out.

"What do you know about this?" I ask of Zoie.

"Christ, you really don't remember."

"This isn't a fucking game. You used the tetracap card. You must know something."

"You remember the bone tanks, at least."

I glance across at Titus—someone's being speaking out of school, there's no way Zoie would know about my trip to the tanks. The whole Xyon City trip was done on the black. I had to get the fuck out. HeXtract wanted my hide. I was the one in charge of the so-called failed mission, so I was going to take the bullet. So I ran and hid. I think back to that time and frown, the details of exactly what happened are a little hazy.

I stumble sideways as the shuddering of the space craft becomes more violent. I still want answers, but time's ticking and I need to get into the pod before the laws of physics spray me over the walls.

I lurch my way past the vid-screen, get myself naked and stow my gear in a storage locker. I then situate my ass on the edge of the open cryo-pod and swing my legs in. As I hunker down the acceleration liquid starts to clot in the coffin, and my body becomes encased in a thick wax-like substance. The lid on the pod then folds closed and an embedded mask seals my face. As I begin to drift off I sense a whisper.

"Enjoy your dreams while you can, Tarquin. Because soon they will only be yours."

* * *

The Past

I flung myself off the roof of the compound just as the missile smashed into the blastcrete. Chunks of busted up material rained down around me, but the combat-skel was more than a match for this type of slo-mo hit. I rolled out of the rubble and staggered to my feet. My command package was still down, but that didn't matter. Because right in front of me I now had a way in. It was time to introduce myself and then do some damage.

"Dali, Ines. Take care of Jael. Titus, on me," I yelled, hoping the message got through.

I slunk up to the edge of the jagged hole and took a quick peek in. One of the cycle-guns laid twisted on its side and belts of ammunition snaked into its guts through a slit in the floor. These were automated response units, keyed into movement and body heat. The real humans would be somewhere deeper in. I limbo-ed under a couple of sparking wires and slammed into the wall as my proximity warning flared a message at me. A maser bolt seared past and a chunk of the already damaged partition vaporized. I poked the jump gun around the corner barrel first and squeezed the trigger. There was a short hum and whatever had been there was no longer a threat.

The traitor executive's report said the compound was manned by eight people; a couple of techies and a military squad of six. From my limited knowledge of corporate governance, this was a pretty standard exploration crew.