Euridice
Part 2
Author: Joyann (joyann@psnw.com)
Disclaimer: Read part 1.
Rated: PG
After some moments, he located her huddled in a shallow doorway farther along the corridor. He quietly surveyed the girl and realized they had met before. She was the daughter of Dr. Felix Latham. She had been held against her will and tortured to force Dr. Latham to work for an underground group. A group with ties to the Consortium, the Assessors Office and god knew who else. The CPB has been responsible for rescuing them several months ago. After that father and daughter had gone into hiding. They did not trust the protection offered by the CPB. He wondered how they had ended up in an off planet back water like this.
"Anna?" He lightly touched her shoulder. "Are you injured?" She flinched at his touch. He could see she was shaking. Thought whether it was from cold or fear he did not know. The moisture from her breath sparkled in the dim light, as it formed ice crystals on the tunnel walls. "Anna, I'm not going to hurt you. It's Detective Farve, do you remember me?" He had seen her only a once in the confusion of the rescue. They had departed before Ian had any time to speak with Dr. Latham. He knew the Dr. had participated in his creation. There were so many questions, so much he wanted to learn. "I was supposed to meet with someone here tonight. Was it Dr. Latham?"
At the mention of her father she turned to him. "Ian?", she whispered. Her eyes were huge, pupils dilated to the maximum. It was obvious she had been sedated with something. "Can you walk? We need to go." He helped her to stand. Her shaking became more pronounced. The running pants and tee shirt she wore were inadequate in the frigid tunnels. He wrapped her in his overcoat. Another item he owned for the sake of blending in with the crowd. The sound of several muffled thuds echoed down the hallway. It was not a laser weapon, something else. The thumps came again, closer this time. An alloy projectile gun, he was sure. An illegal weapon. The possession of illegal weapons separated the average criminal from seriously dangerous people. The exorbitant cost put them out of range of all but the wealthiest and the price often included the blood of whoever was sent to purchase one. Projectile weapons were used by assassins, drug dealers and members of the Eastern Cartel. None of whom
he wished to deal with at the moment.
Ian pulled her with him as he ran. They squeezed into a small branch off the main tunnel. Barely more than a fissure in the rock but it was dark and deep enough to hide them for a moment. Several pairs of feet ran past. Voices shouted, "The girl, did you see the girl?" "She was with the old man. He said she left with another man." Another voice, "Go back! Find out where they are. If he won't tell you, shoot him!" The noises faded away as Ian peered out of their hiding place. He had no weapon, he had surrendered it at the jump station. Private citizens were not permitted to carry weapons on Mars. At the moment that was all he was considered. The CPB had no jurisdiction here, the Consortium had seen to that. He pulled Anna up and hurried her ahead. They disappeared down the first dark side tunnel they came to. Ian desperately wished he knew where they were going.
All he could hope was that their pursuers did not know this maze any better than he did. He could see his was well enough in the feeble light. Better than the average human. Synthetic photo reactive sensors came in handy sometimes. Anna was still too drugged to be aware of her surroundings as he helped her through the darkness. Soon they reached a three way split in the passage way. He sat Anna on a pile of rubble while he listened at each opening for the slightest sound. The first two yielded nothing but silence. From the last came a faint vibration, felt more that heard. "Anna, Anna please get up we have to go." Her delicate face was tipped back against the wall, eyes closed, she was out cold. He hoped it was the effect of the drug and nothing more serious. He sat for a moment to gather his thoughts. CPB training had not prepared him for a situation like this.
He feared going deeper into the silent tunnels. They might go on for miles with no way out. He could survive for a long time in this place but she could not. Even now her body temperature was dropping. His skin was warm to the touch but his body did not give off any heat. He had to find a source of warmth. The vibrations were almost certainly caused by distant mining activity. Which meant surface access and maybe a way out. However, it came with the risk of detection by mine security. They would deal with that problem later. He had to find a place where she could rest in safety. He carried her into the last tunnel. After walking for well over an hour the noise and vibration began to grow louder.
A weak glow coming from a branch off the main passage attracted his attention. It illuminated the entrance to a long unused emergency workers shelter. A concrete reinforced bunker deep underground. These shelters provided emergency oxygen and food in case of a cave in or catastrophic loss of pressure. The small room was filthy from years of dust and neglect, but it would do just fine. Ian laid Anna on one of the fold out cots and covered her with a sleeping bag that had certainly seen better days. A survey of the meager supplies turned up several pouches of sterilized water, 2 cans of protein paste, a pile of dirty coveralls and a tiny radiant heater. Just one problem, was there were no working power cells to be found. After a fruitless search, Ian had to dismantle the beacon light over the door, leaving them in total darkness. He fumbled with the power cell and the heater finally began to work. It provided much needed warmth and even a dim light. It was better than nothing.
Anna tossed in her sleep and cried out a few times. From his cot by the door, he watched over her. He could not imagine what she had been through. They had held her captive, in total isolation for three months. She had not recovered from the shock of her fathers disappearance, when several weeks later she was dragged from her dorm room in the middle of the night. He had proven most resistant to their forms of persuasion. So other means were found to secure the cooperation of Dr. Felix Latham, eminent neurosurgeon and expert in bio-neural cybernetic technology.
Farve settled in for a long wait. She needed the rest and given enough time, perhaps their pursuers would go looking elsewhere. He decided to use this time to run a full internal scan and diagnostic. This was done occasionally when he had several hours of unproductive time. A shrill scream brought Ian to his feet. The heater had gone out, they were in total blackness and Anna was screaming. "Anna, what's wrong?" He reached into the dark, searching for intruders. His mind raced. Armed men had come for them! "Anna?" He fumbled in the dark, searching the cot for her. She was backed into the far corner. He realized no one was there. Nobody had invaded their small sanctuary. He found her arm and pulled her against him and clamped his hand over her mouth. "Be quiet they will hear you!" "Anna, it's Ian Farve from the CPB. Do you remember how you got here?" "Where is here?" "An emergency shelter in the mining tunnels. You are safe here. What do you remember?" "I was with Mr. Cho and
his family. Someone was at the door, they were all afraid... That was you?"
He nodded. "Daddy was not there. I was cold. There were men with guns. How did we get here?" "You were unconscious, I carried you." With some embarrassment he realized he was still holding her tightly against him. He released her and rose from the cot. "Wait, don't go." She called out, "Where are you going?" She found his hand in the dark and held it tightly in both of hers. She spoke words of the same archaic Chinese dialect. "If a man does only what is required of him, he is a slave." Again the answer came to Ian even thought he did not understand the actual words. "If a man does more than is required of him, he is a free man." He marveled at her knowing exactly what he was going to say. It was probably better that she could not see his puzzled expression. "Don't worry, I will fix the heater and then you can explain how I can suddenly speak ancient Cantonese."
She sat sipping a packet of stale water and staring into the flickering light from the tiny heater. She was curled up in the sleeping bag and leaning against Ian. He seemed a little uncomfortable with the arrangement but did not complain. Three months in solitary confinement had left her craving human contact. It didn't matter that he wasn't human. "It was daddy's idea , he added his favorite quotations into your basic neural programming as a kind of password. In case he ever needed to know what, or who, had become of his work. He developed the major portion of your neural network interface but he didn't know what would become of the work he had done. He never saw the completed prototype until you met several months ago. Daddy had a feeling about you. He said that if things got bad I could trust you. He gave Mr. Cho orders to send me with you if he didn't return."
"How did he know I would come here?" She shook her head, "He just knew. Something in the message. He knew you couldn't stay away." Ian found it strange that someone knew his mind better than he did. "Daddy went out to meet a contact. Someone who could smuggle us out to one of the big tourist complexes." "When did you last see him?" "Friday night, but he never came back from the meeting. They found him." Who is they?" "The ones who held us before. Or others, it doesn't matter. Do you know how many in the Consortium would and have killed for the information daddy has?" "What about the message to come here?" "He set it up to send at a certain time." "He knew this might happen", she nodded. "When he was not back by this morning, I panicked. I knew they had captured him again. I had to look for him so I took off. Mr. Cho sent his sons to bring me back." "They sedated you?" She nodded. "They were already looking for me. As long as I'm safe daddy won't cooperate with them." "I'll
do everything I can to find Dr. Latham but we have to get out of here. If we can get to the jump station we will be safe on a transport." "No we can't! They will be watching. Daddy was trying to get us transportation to Olympus." "The recreation facility?", he asked.
She laughed, "The pleasure dome. They have a population of over one million plus thousands of tourists. It will be easy to get lost there." "It seems to me we are already lost." She smiled, "I mean to hide out, until we can get a transport back to Earth. I need to reach Jarred Wong, daddy's contact in Olympus." "Do you trust him?" "Oh yes, Mr. Wong is one of daddy's oldest friends." "Jarred Wong, head of the Takamashi crime family? He is rumored to be one of the most powerful lieutenants in the Eastern Syndicate." "That's him. Daddy saved his son's life years ago and they have been close ever since. Who better to piss off the Consortium than a member of the Eastern Syndicate?" "I believe the Eastern Syndicate is a most dangerous organization. Are you sure Dr. Latham trusted them with his life?" "Not just his life but mine as well. We can't trust the local militia. Mr. Wong can't help us until we get outside the city. It's too tightly controlled for his people to get in. Can
you contact the CPB?" "There is no secure method of transmission from this distance." "Will they come looking for you?" This caught him off guard. Would they come looking for him? CPB policy required a search for missing officers. But was he considered an actual officer? He had always skirted the issue of his status, at work as well as in the world. He had never pressed for an answer because for one thing, his existence was supposed to be a secret, and second he already knew the legal answer. To those who didn't know his true nature he was considered a person, maybe not like any other, but a person nonetheless. It was those who knew the truth that could cause problems. Under the law androids did not have rights. They were not people but simply property. "I don't know."
Part 2
Author: Joyann (joyann@psnw.com)
Disclaimer: Read part 1.
Rated: PG
After some moments, he located her huddled in a shallow doorway farther along the corridor. He quietly surveyed the girl and realized they had met before. She was the daughter of Dr. Felix Latham. She had been held against her will and tortured to force Dr. Latham to work for an underground group. A group with ties to the Consortium, the Assessors Office and god knew who else. The CPB has been responsible for rescuing them several months ago. After that father and daughter had gone into hiding. They did not trust the protection offered by the CPB. He wondered how they had ended up in an off planet back water like this.
"Anna?" He lightly touched her shoulder. "Are you injured?" She flinched at his touch. He could see she was shaking. Thought whether it was from cold or fear he did not know. The moisture from her breath sparkled in the dim light, as it formed ice crystals on the tunnel walls. "Anna, I'm not going to hurt you. It's Detective Farve, do you remember me?" He had seen her only a once in the confusion of the rescue. They had departed before Ian had any time to speak with Dr. Latham. He knew the Dr. had participated in his creation. There were so many questions, so much he wanted to learn. "I was supposed to meet with someone here tonight. Was it Dr. Latham?"
At the mention of her father she turned to him. "Ian?", she whispered. Her eyes were huge, pupils dilated to the maximum. It was obvious she had been sedated with something. "Can you walk? We need to go." He helped her to stand. Her shaking became more pronounced. The running pants and tee shirt she wore were inadequate in the frigid tunnels. He wrapped her in his overcoat. Another item he owned for the sake of blending in with the crowd. The sound of several muffled thuds echoed down the hallway. It was not a laser weapon, something else. The thumps came again, closer this time. An alloy projectile gun, he was sure. An illegal weapon. The possession of illegal weapons separated the average criminal from seriously dangerous people. The exorbitant cost put them out of range of all but the wealthiest and the price often included the blood of whoever was sent to purchase one. Projectile weapons were used by assassins, drug dealers and members of the Eastern Cartel. None of whom
he wished to deal with at the moment.
Ian pulled her with him as he ran. They squeezed into a small branch off the main tunnel. Barely more than a fissure in the rock but it was dark and deep enough to hide them for a moment. Several pairs of feet ran past. Voices shouted, "The girl, did you see the girl?" "She was with the old man. He said she left with another man." Another voice, "Go back! Find out where they are. If he won't tell you, shoot him!" The noises faded away as Ian peered out of their hiding place. He had no weapon, he had surrendered it at the jump station. Private citizens were not permitted to carry weapons on Mars. At the moment that was all he was considered. The CPB had no jurisdiction here, the Consortium had seen to that. He pulled Anna up and hurried her ahead. They disappeared down the first dark side tunnel they came to. Ian desperately wished he knew where they were going.
All he could hope was that their pursuers did not know this maze any better than he did. He could see his was well enough in the feeble light. Better than the average human. Synthetic photo reactive sensors came in handy sometimes. Anna was still too drugged to be aware of her surroundings as he helped her through the darkness. Soon they reached a three way split in the passage way. He sat Anna on a pile of rubble while he listened at each opening for the slightest sound. The first two yielded nothing but silence. From the last came a faint vibration, felt more that heard. "Anna, Anna please get up we have to go." Her delicate face was tipped back against the wall, eyes closed, she was out cold. He hoped it was the effect of the drug and nothing more serious. He sat for a moment to gather his thoughts. CPB training had not prepared him for a situation like this.
He feared going deeper into the silent tunnels. They might go on for miles with no way out. He could survive for a long time in this place but she could not. Even now her body temperature was dropping. His skin was warm to the touch but his body did not give off any heat. He had to find a source of warmth. The vibrations were almost certainly caused by distant mining activity. Which meant surface access and maybe a way out. However, it came with the risk of detection by mine security. They would deal with that problem later. He had to find a place where she could rest in safety. He carried her into the last tunnel. After walking for well over an hour the noise and vibration began to grow louder.
A weak glow coming from a branch off the main passage attracted his attention. It illuminated the entrance to a long unused emergency workers shelter. A concrete reinforced bunker deep underground. These shelters provided emergency oxygen and food in case of a cave in or catastrophic loss of pressure. The small room was filthy from years of dust and neglect, but it would do just fine. Ian laid Anna on one of the fold out cots and covered her with a sleeping bag that had certainly seen better days. A survey of the meager supplies turned up several pouches of sterilized water, 2 cans of protein paste, a pile of dirty coveralls and a tiny radiant heater. Just one problem, was there were no working power cells to be found. After a fruitless search, Ian had to dismantle the beacon light over the door, leaving them in total darkness. He fumbled with the power cell and the heater finally began to work. It provided much needed warmth and even a dim light. It was better than nothing.
Anna tossed in her sleep and cried out a few times. From his cot by the door, he watched over her. He could not imagine what she had been through. They had held her captive, in total isolation for three months. She had not recovered from the shock of her fathers disappearance, when several weeks later she was dragged from her dorm room in the middle of the night. He had proven most resistant to their forms of persuasion. So other means were found to secure the cooperation of Dr. Felix Latham, eminent neurosurgeon and expert in bio-neural cybernetic technology.
Farve settled in for a long wait. She needed the rest and given enough time, perhaps their pursuers would go looking elsewhere. He decided to use this time to run a full internal scan and diagnostic. This was done occasionally when he had several hours of unproductive time. A shrill scream brought Ian to his feet. The heater had gone out, they were in total blackness and Anna was screaming. "Anna, what's wrong?" He reached into the dark, searching for intruders. His mind raced. Armed men had come for them! "Anna?" He fumbled in the dark, searching the cot for her. She was backed into the far corner. He realized no one was there. Nobody had invaded their small sanctuary. He found her arm and pulled her against him and clamped his hand over her mouth. "Be quiet they will hear you!" "Anna, it's Ian Farve from the CPB. Do you remember how you got here?" "Where is here?" "An emergency shelter in the mining tunnels. You are safe here. What do you remember?" "I was with Mr. Cho and
his family. Someone was at the door, they were all afraid... That was you?"
He nodded. "Daddy was not there. I was cold. There were men with guns. How did we get here?" "You were unconscious, I carried you." With some embarrassment he realized he was still holding her tightly against him. He released her and rose from the cot. "Wait, don't go." She called out, "Where are you going?" She found his hand in the dark and held it tightly in both of hers. She spoke words of the same archaic Chinese dialect. "If a man does only what is required of him, he is a slave." Again the answer came to Ian even thought he did not understand the actual words. "If a man does more than is required of him, he is a free man." He marveled at her knowing exactly what he was going to say. It was probably better that she could not see his puzzled expression. "Don't worry, I will fix the heater and then you can explain how I can suddenly speak ancient Cantonese."
She sat sipping a packet of stale water and staring into the flickering light from the tiny heater. She was curled up in the sleeping bag and leaning against Ian. He seemed a little uncomfortable with the arrangement but did not complain. Three months in solitary confinement had left her craving human contact. It didn't matter that he wasn't human. "It was daddy's idea , he added his favorite quotations into your basic neural programming as a kind of password. In case he ever needed to know what, or who, had become of his work. He developed the major portion of your neural network interface but he didn't know what would become of the work he had done. He never saw the completed prototype until you met several months ago. Daddy had a feeling about you. He said that if things got bad I could trust you. He gave Mr. Cho orders to send me with you if he didn't return."
"How did he know I would come here?" She shook her head, "He just knew. Something in the message. He knew you couldn't stay away." Ian found it strange that someone knew his mind better than he did. "Daddy went out to meet a contact. Someone who could smuggle us out to one of the big tourist complexes." "When did you last see him?" "Friday night, but he never came back from the meeting. They found him." Who is they?" "The ones who held us before. Or others, it doesn't matter. Do you know how many in the Consortium would and have killed for the information daddy has?" "What about the message to come here?" "He set it up to send at a certain time." "He knew this might happen", she nodded. "When he was not back by this morning, I panicked. I knew they had captured him again. I had to look for him so I took off. Mr. Cho sent his sons to bring me back." "They sedated you?" She nodded. "They were already looking for me. As long as I'm safe daddy won't cooperate with them." "I'll
do everything I can to find Dr. Latham but we have to get out of here. If we can get to the jump station we will be safe on a transport." "No we can't! They will be watching. Daddy was trying to get us transportation to Olympus." "The recreation facility?", he asked.
She laughed, "The pleasure dome. They have a population of over one million plus thousands of tourists. It will be easy to get lost there." "It seems to me we are already lost." She smiled, "I mean to hide out, until we can get a transport back to Earth. I need to reach Jarred Wong, daddy's contact in Olympus." "Do you trust him?" "Oh yes, Mr. Wong is one of daddy's oldest friends." "Jarred Wong, head of the Takamashi crime family? He is rumored to be one of the most powerful lieutenants in the Eastern Syndicate." "That's him. Daddy saved his son's life years ago and they have been close ever since. Who better to piss off the Consortium than a member of the Eastern Syndicate?" "I believe the Eastern Syndicate is a most dangerous organization. Are you sure Dr. Latham trusted them with his life?" "Not just his life but mine as well. We can't trust the local militia. Mr. Wong can't help us until we get outside the city. It's too tightly controlled for his people to get in. Can
you contact the CPB?" "There is no secure method of transmission from this distance." "Will they come looking for you?" This caught him off guard. Would they come looking for him? CPB policy required a search for missing officers. But was he considered an actual officer? He had always skirted the issue of his status, at work as well as in the world. He had never pressed for an answer because for one thing, his existence was supposed to be a secret, and second he already knew the legal answer. To those who didn't know his true nature he was considered a person, maybe not like any other, but a person nonetheless. It was those who knew the truth that could cause problems. Under the law androids did not have rights. They were not people but simply property. "I don't know."