The Way of the Businessman

"Hi Daley, how are you today?" Linna Yamazaki said with a smile.

"Fine thanks Linna, you?" Daley Wong replied, taking a seat opposite Linna, who was seated behind a rather large Presidential table in a rather large Presidential leather chair. Behind her was a room-height explosion- resistant window that looked out upon the Presidential Palace's courtyard. Daley could see Lt. Samuel's RRT drilling their powerful equipment; the Grasshopper combat suits. Absently he rubbed the swollen side of his face.

Linna notices Daley's attention but didn't need to turn around herself to see what was going on. "Hear about Tokyo?" she asked.

"Yes. Sylia sure was lucky. I guess it was too good to last."

"That a boomer would go rogue?"

"No. That someone would try and kill her." Daley said.

"What? If that was the case, then why did she publicly announce that it was a rogue boomer and a defect Genom has known for years?" Linna said.

"Because releasing the truth would be more harmful to Genom," Daley folded his hands over his lap. "If whoever struck at Sylia knows that she's aware of them they'll become harder to find out about. If the government or media knew the truth, no one would want to do business with Genom. The few investors she has would pull out."

"That's a dangerous game to play," Linna frowned.

"Your Sabre boss seems to be good at dangerous games." Daley tried to smile.

"Yeah. She is." Linna sat back in her chair. Inside, she wished she was back in Tokyo with the others, with her hardsuit. Not here in Sierra Leone running a country and debt-repayment scheme.

/\/\ss/\/\

The crane lifted the prefabricated wall-section high into the air.

Sylia watched it rise with a hand shielding the sun from her eyes. "How is the construction going Foreman?" she asked a squat man in a suit but with a hardhat on beside her. She had a hardhat on too.

"A little behind schedule I'm afraid Ms. Stingray. The use of boomers has been scaled back because the workers don't want to be around them."

"Because they think the boomers will go rogue?" Sylia asked back.

"Yes. I've tried reorganizing the shifts so workers work during the day and boomers in the night but its not as efficient. Parts of the factory have to be built at the same time and the workers aren't as fast."

Sylia nodded, watching as the crane was carefully guided and the wall section lowered into place. Another piece of her new boomer production factory finished.

"Do the worker's mind that they're building a boomer factory?" she asked.

"That's some of it as well, but they're I've assured them that the new models will be safe, isn't that right ma'am?"

Sylia glanced at the foreman. "Yes. They'll be perfectly safe. The previous administration didn't know how to complete my fathers work."

"That's good to hear. I've been nervous myself."

"Well, thank you for the tour foreman. Keep me addressed of the progress and do try to allay the workers fears about the boomers. That's why I have placed so much security here." Sylia said and then walked back up the way she had come to exit the construction site.

The factory was her big gamble. Building it had forced her to increase her debt with the banks and government, and also required foreign investment, some of which she was sure was from her competitors. She'd managed to get the government to consent by hiring a lot of unemployed construction workers - boomers had almost destroyed the industry completely and the remaining firms were lining up to go for the Tokyo reconstruction tender. At least there, she had been able to have contracts ready with each firm on boomer maintenance and security. So, even if she didn't get the tender herself, she'd get part of the proceeds. Still, she wanted that tender. Someone had tried to kill her so she wouldn't. That had just strengthened her resolve. As a sign of good faith she kept Leon's RRT in Tokyo to go through and destroy any rogue boomers that remained in the Quarantine zone. She also wanted them to find the person who had saved her from the hunter- boomers.

The three boomers had been taken back to her R&D facility where Nigel had inspected them and found that they had been remote controlled. If she had heard Daley's assumption of her actions, thousands of miles away that he was, she would have smiled, her choice of taking him in a good investment. Parts of Daley's division were already tracking the boomers movements down: who had owned them previously, who built the remote control equipment and so on. If she was lucky, something would come up but she wasn't expectant; whoever had tried to kill her would have covered their tracks well.

She also was taking measures to increase security at all her facilities in case of a repeat attack. The someone out to get her, or Genom, had means and wouldn't give up after the first attempt. She'd thought that three RRT would be enough, but they were now split up over Japan and in her new country, Sierra Leone. Progress was coming along slowly there as well, but that had always been a long term investment. At least they were having success in subduing the rebels and soon the money from diamond sales would be filling her redline bank account.

She looked at her watch; it was half past two in the afternoon. She had to hurry if she was going to get back her office before the next management meeting.

/\/\ss/\/\

Itto watched as a helicopter flew between the towers of central Osake-Kobe from afar. The buildings over there were massive beasts. All of them built by boomers made by his company. A company that was being run into the ground, money wasted on foolish foreign ventures and pandering to the human workers who cost more than a boomer to run.

"We need that factory gentlemen," he said to his clique who were seated by him in his office. "Our esteemed Chairwoman told the board today that the construction is behind schedule. I guess she doesn't mind because she was half an hour late for the meeting!" he laughed, and the clique laughed with him.

"I've heard from payroll that costs are over budget there as well," a lackey said.

"Yes. The factory is already 20% over cost. Because the workers are too afraid of the boomers and won't work with them." Itto snorted.

"At this rate Genom will bleed to death," someone groused.

"I don't' understand. Why doesn't she just order the boomers in? They would be able to complete factory in no time. Our boomers do it all the time." The first lackey said. "We don't need the workers at all."

Itto gave an exasperated sigh. "Unfortunately we do. Genom has long term contracts with the workers and they're all Union."

"Who made that insane agreement?"

"Guess."

"Yes. Our Chairwoman." Itto snorted. "She said it was the only way for the Government to drop their lawsuits and to give us a . a handout in aid! Like we, Genom, needs a hand out from those politicians! We put them there, they owe us, but when we're weak, they spit at us! They have no loyalty."

The first lackey stood up and cursed. "Genom will crumble because of that woman."

"She must be removed." The second said.

All eyes went to him.

Itto leaned in, staring the man directly in the eye. "And how do we do that? Do you want to kill her? You saw Tokyo, I was almost killed then too."

"No. We don't have to kill her. But,"

"But," Itto prompted.

"If the factory is not finished we are all doomed. If it looks like that will happen, the rest of the board can get rid of her for incompetence. And then a real leader can take her place."

Itto smiled. "What do you suggest?"

"It is the workers who are slowing us down. We have to get rid of them also and in a way that we are the victims. If," the man pondered, "if they go on strike we can shut them out and bring in the boomers to finish the factory and then fire all the workers for breach of contract."

"The Chairwoman wouldn't do that. She would talk to the Union," the first lackey said with a sidelong glance to his superior.

"She would have to be voted out first of course. If the workers go on strike during her talks then she won't be seen to be in control. She'll have no other option but to step aside."

Itto clapped the man's shoulder. "That is a good plan. Now, only a few of us know, and we are all important to the company so we can't be involved. You, brave soul, will organize it all and carry it out. You cannot talk to us about it, but know that when it is over and the Chairwoman disposed, you will be greatly rewarded for your loyalty to the Company."

The man stood. "I live for the Company, Sir."

"Good, good. Now, get to work. We need this miracle of yours quickly if we are to save Genom."

/\/\ss/\/\

Candace LeCourviere breezed into Sylia's 104th floor office, her hip snug cream skirt swaying from side to side as she walked up to her boss.

Sylia looked up and smiled. She had been reading the minutes of the half hour of the meeting she had missed. Damn traffic, she had cursed. She didn't let that show on her face however. "Good that you came Candace."

"Always a pleasure Sylia." Candace replied with her sweet French accent. Her voice alone could relax and bring calm. A good asset for someone in Public Relations. She sat on the table next to Sylia and crossed her legs.

"The meeting didn't go to well did it?" Sylia said.

Candace patted Sylia on the shoulder and left her hand there. "Don't worry about Itto. Marketing types only want good news. They don't have much to do because they haven't been making any big sales."

"That just isn't their problem however Candace. It's all our job to make sure we sell boomers."

"Even if they aren't safe?" Candace raised an eyebrow.

"You know that the incident in Tokyo was an attack. But we have to say that they went rogue."

"Any information on who was responsible?" Candace asked.

"No." Sylia shook her head. "So, what good news do you have for me?"

"Not too much I'm afraid. But there isn't a lot of bad news either. So for that we can be thankful, no?"

"I guess so."

"Ah, mon cherie. No bad news is good news in its self. We've managed to prove that two of our customers illegally modified their boomers and that will swing several lawsuits in our way. Or, the perpetrators can sign lifetime contracts with us for replacement and maintenance."

Sylia grinned. "That is evil."

"Isn't it?" Candace laughed. "My, you are tense." She squeezed Sylia's collar.

"A lot has been happening."

Candace hopped off the table and stood behind Sylia. Before Slyia knew what was going on, Candace had unbuttoned the top button of her blouse and pulled her collar back to expose most of her shoulders.

"What are you?" Sylia said and tried to turn around. Candace pressed down gently, but firmly.

And started to massage Sylia's shoulders.

Sylia let out a long sigh and closed her eyes. The tension was kneaded out of her muscles completely. "That's perfect," she said slowly.

"Good," Candace said, behind her. She drove away the tightness, and there was a lot. She also imagined her hands doing something to the neck between them. "I like to have a proper masseur relax me at least once a month." And she had an idea.

"That would be nice. Unfortunately I don't have the time to spare."

Candace leaned forward and spoke into Sylia's ear: "That's too bad. I know a real good place."

Sylia's nose was filled with the perfume Candace wore. It was subtle, but strong. Like a lure.

Her buzzer buzzed.

"Damn. Looks like my time's up." Sylia said with only a small amount of mock-dissatisfaction. Most of it was real.

"Think about it. There's no rush," Candace gave a final squeeze of Sylia's shoulders, and then innocently enough, a hand brushed over Sylia's breast as she stepped away to leave, the tips touching the peak just enough to send a powerful and jolting serge through Sylia.

Sylia's eyes flew open and her breath was caught. She almost got up but Candace kept walking out of her office. If she said something. she'd sound foolish, or worse. Confused, she let her PR Manager go, then quickly redid her button. Suddenly the room had become too warm, or cold. She didn't know which.

/\/\ss/\/\

Linna looked out the window of her hotel bedroom. She had refused staying at the palace. Working there was hard enough. Seeing the opulent living conditions of the former President, who was somewhere in the Caribbean from the last report she'd read, she had been appalled. So much of the country was in poverty or ruins, and he had lived like a king.

That was the problem of the entire ruling elite as well, and with the army generals. Their neighbourhoods were all in good condition with electricity and water. That couldn't be said for the rest of the country. Even the capital looked rundown.

She didn't know how Sylia expected to get a single yen out of the country, no matter how many diamonds were dug up.

She sighed and drew the blinds shut and took a seat at the small round table in the middle of her room. On it was a small cake that she had managed to find from a delicatessen. She lit the single candle.

"Happy birthday Linna Yamazaki. Happy 21st. You are now an adult. Blow out your candle." She said and did, the small gust of air stirring the flame. For a moment, she thought that it would oppose her and stay alight. It flickered out. Smoke rose.

She pulled out the candle carefully, so not much cake would be stuck to it. She didn't want to waste any. Not on her special day.

The room quiet, she picked up a three-pronged fork and held it on its side. It began its descent.

There was a knock on her door.

"Dammit!" Linna swore under her breath, "Can't I even have this much?"

Her chair scrapped back and she stormed to the door and yanked it open. "What?" she snapped.

Daley recoiled. "Uh."

Linna calmed down. "Sorry, Daley."

"Were you expecting someone else? I'll go get them if you want so you can yell at them."

"No. I wasn't expecting anybody," she emphasized.

Daley recollected himself. "You could have destroyed boomers with the look on you face then Linna."

"Gee, thanks." What she really needed to hear.

"Ah. My turn to be sorry."

"It's okay. What were you after?"

"Nothing official. I was just in my room, thinking. There wasn't anything good to watch on satellite, all those channels and nothing to see, eh? So."

"So you were bored and needed company?" Linna said. She was leaning against the doorframe, a bit of a smirk on her lips.

"Well, if you aren't doing anything," Daley shrugged.

"Oh no, I'm not doing anything." Linna threw up her hands.

"Well, if we're both not doing anything."

What the hell. It does beat being along. "You want to come in?"

"You wont bite my head off?" Daley said with mock-caution.

"Not right away," Linna winked and backed up into the room. Daley followed.

"Cake? Missing home already?" Daley tried to sound jovial.

"Already. A lot."

"Any special occasion?" Daley pressed.

"My birthday. As much as it is," Linna sat down on the edge of her bed. Her work clothes were strewn all over it. Even her unmentionables. She scurried to clean the mess up.

"Don't clean on my behalf. You should see my room."

"I bet it's as clean as whistle."

Daley shrugged. "Maybe. Well, happy birthday. Congratulations."

"Thanks."

"Not what you expected to have?"

Linna snorted. "You think?"

"How old?" Daley asked.

"Twenty-one."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. You can have some if you want." Linna waved her hand.

"That's hardly birthday cheer," Daley smiled.

Linna just looked back at him flatly.

Daley cut the cake into quarters and offered a piece to Linna, which she took. It was small enough to nibble on. The cake was spongy and full of small pieces of fruit.

"This is pretty good," Daley said.

Linna mumbled an agreement around a mouthful.

"Tell me, what kind of birthday did you want?"

"I don't know. The same as every other girl." She shrugged.

"You're hardly an every other girl. A Knight Sabre, a powerful corporate woman, the head of a country."

"I don't mind the Knight Sabre bit. In a way, I'm sorry that that part of my life is over. It was my dream until I got to Tokyo. Then I got to live that dream."

"Then tell me what kind of birthdays Knight Sabre's have."

Linna looked down and blushed. "Why dream aloud?"

"Because," Daley said, leaning forward, "They're the best kind."

/\/\ss/\/\

Satoshi looked at the screen for the final time, satisfied with the changes that he had done. He closed down the application and switched the computer off and leaned back in his chair.

Outside, if he had bothered to look, was dark, and the time on his watch was eleven pm. It had taken him four and a half hours, starting when most of his work compatriots left for a night out drinking in the bars, to get access to the duty roster and make his changes.

He rubbed his tired eyes and packed up his belongings, deciding to stop by a Lawson's 24-hour market on his way to the metro station that would take him back to his flat. Here he wanted to sleep heavily and not think about what was going to happen in the morning. It would be better if he unconcerned.

/\/\ss/\/\

Morning did bring about what Satoshi had planned for.

"I swear the schedule did not have the boomer unit arriving until tonight," a confused and worried junior project planner said.

"Then why are they here now?" the foremen yelled at him. "The schedule didn't change itself, go and find out what happened!"

The planner bowed apologetically while backing out of the room. A construction supervisor replaced him, coming in at a quick walk.

"The Union official has arrived and he's stirring up the workers sir."

"Just what I need, dammit. Is any work being done?" the foreman asked.

"The boomers are doing their bit."

"Well we better go and talk to the union guy before he causes too much trouble."

They did and went out into the factory where the trouble was taking place. Half a dozen boomers were constructing an assembly point while about twice that many workers stood a distance away. The foreman walked up to the union official.

"What's going on here, why aren't you men at work?"

"We're not working with boomers!" A worker said. Others backed him up.

"Are you afraid of the tin men Haruka?" the foreman said back.

"They could go crazy," another worker said.

The foremen ignored the men and addressed the union official. "What are you doing here? My men have work to do."

"This is a breach of the agreement foreman." The official said.

"It was an accident. Somehow the schedule was modified. We're looking into it. Now, I don't want you putting any inflammatory ideas into these guys heads. We're behind schedule-"

"I have every right to be here. I look after the rights of the employees. Your 'accident' could be a ruse to bring in the boomers and break the agreement we signed with your boss. She said herself that the old boomers could be dangerous,"

"That's why we've got extra security."

"That's not enough. I remember the number of rumours circulating Tokyo last year about rogue boomers. The ADP were meant to stop them but they weren't very good at it. And if you haven't noticed, most of your security are ex- ADP officers. That doesn't comfort me very much," the official said.

"Well your just going to have to live with it. And the rest of you," he addressed the workers, "get back to work. That's what you're paid for."

/\/\ss/\/\

It was another busy day. She had just finished two one-hour long consecutive meetings with different teams of her legal department about Genom's strategy to combat the lawsuits placed against them by pacific and sourthern-arfican countries about the damage their nations have suffered when pieces of the space elevator and the array had fallen to earth. Lives had been lost when heavy chunks of the station flattened houses or put huge holes in fields. From Genom they wanted repartitions and damages.

Sylia was sympathetic but knew that a settlement would be disastrous. Her plan was to make sure the actions took as long as possible to resolve, if ever. It would be costly, but less than having to make payments. It was a tactic that disgusted her, literally buying time, but she had to do it. The lawyers more than agreed, their plans were to follow the methods of the tobacco and petroleum industries. They could be in the courts of decades.

In the brief respite before her next meeting, she checked her mail and her frustration grew. There were half a dozen more messages about the latest incident at the factory site. This time the boomers had on the night before completed a piece of work which blocked off a human team from finishing theirs later. The night's work had to be dismantled. Everyone was yelling at each other and relations between workers and management were becoming strained. The schedule was falling further and further behind and that would not do. She quickly wrote up a fiery reply to the foreman to get back on track, or get another job.

/\/\ss/\/\

The situation continued to deteriorate. The incidents continued and the schedule grew to be nearly a month behind. The construction schedule was set and reviewed each night, yet by morning something was always different. There was no trace of intruder access to Genom's computer systems and all internal checks failed to bring up any leads either. The workers began to grumble more openly and the problems appeared in the media. Gemon's already shaky stock price tumbled further and Sylia had to help out Candace in firefighting the increasing volume of calls received about the matter, ranging from the news corps to jittery investors, and even the government: local and national. This took Sylia away from trying to sort out the problem herself, and the IR Manager responsible was a firebrand, which only increased the tensions between the union workers and the rest of the company. Progress reports were not encouraging and the sharks could be seen circling. Secretly, Sylia contacted Nene and had her set up a network dragnet to try and catch who ever was changing the construction schedule. Thankfully, no real rogue boomer incidents had occurred, the trouble looking more like industrial sabotage. That however, did not comfort the Board of Directors. Elsewhere in the company, work continued as normal, but everyone could feel the tensions rising and a showdown looming.

/\/\ss/\/\

It was in Union Hall that old-hand worker Takeda Seijiro assembled the other senior construction crew team-leaders. The Union Official was with them and they all stood in a close circle.

"This can't keep going on!" Seijiro said, thumping a fist into the palm of his other hand. "The suits have broken every assurance about working with boomers, they're up to something and we're the ones who are going to take the fall. It's just like 2029 when Toyota tried to mechanise the entire production facility. Tens of thousands of jobs would have been lost."

"It's not as bad as that Mr. Takeda," the Official tried to placate. "The trouble here is damaging all of us and does need to be resolved, quickly."

"Well it ain't happening. There's only one course of action to get the suits to take notice of us." Seijiro glowered. A grizzled veteran, his crinkled face remembered back to 2029 and the marches through the streets.

"I know what you're thinking, but there are still other options open to us first. If we can get a meeting with Chairwoman Stingray, I'm sure this can be sorted out. She is very responsive to listening to the Union."

"Ha! You've been trying all week, and have you got a meeting? No. They wont listen, its all just been lies and deceit to placate us until they're read to replace us all with boomers - no matter how dangerous they can be."

"I remind you that your, our, livelihood depends on boomers. Genom is on unstable ground. You have to give me more time to get a meeting and a resolution. A strike will only make matters worse," the Official said gravely. An educated man, his father had saved his meager wages to send him to university, where he studied economics, he knew Genom's situation and how the rest of the growing foreign boomer industry was waiting to exploit Genom's downfall. If Genom went there would be no jobs for the thousands of employees. And he would have failed his father. A strike could lead to such a downfall.

The crowd of men grumbled and discussed their options. Finally, Seijiro spoke again. "Our patience wears thin. We'll give you until the end of the week when we will meet again, but if another incident happens before then we will strike."

The Official nodded. While he had misgivings, he had to support his members. That was his job.

/\/\ss/\/\

Nene chewed on her fingers.

It wasn't a habit she had before, but it was one well ingrained now. Maybe she picked it up while waiting to be rescued on the island with Linna after their 'fun' trip into space to fight the superboomer Galatea. Now that had been fun, not. She was more than glad that the whole terrible thing was over and she and her friends were alive.

Except for Priss. No one had been able to find her. They'd tracked her suit down to a remote desert area in northern China but Priss wasn't there. Any foot tracks had been blown away by the shifting sands and wind. It had been depressing, wondering what had happened to the grouchy singer. At least she was alive, they all thought, and that meant she wasn't dead, which would have been a lot worse to bear. However, not knowing didn't make her feel happy. Sylia said that Priss had probably walked away from them all for the last time. And why wouldn't she? Galatea was destroyed and all the boomers returned to their dumb normal selves. Other than the fake rogue boomer incident that had almost got Sylia killed a few weeks ago, there had been no real rogue boomer incidents reported. But that didn't mean it couldn't happen again, which Slyia was very worried about. That's why she now owned Genom and had her, Miss Cyberpunk, working on all sorts of computer problems that the other more mundane programmers couldn't handle - which meant basically all of them - now including searching for an intruders digital fingerprints on the construction schedule. Slyia had been very urgent in telling her to make the task her top priority. Sylia had so much on her mind to trouble her already that seeing her in an almost panic state meant that it was really serious. Serious enough that she decided to take time out of helping Nigel solve Mackey's aging problem.

"Okay Mr. Platypus, lets see if anything happens tonight," the peroxide haired young-woman said. Weasel had been destroyed along with most of central Tokyo. She liked the Platypus, it was a very strange creature, like a cross between a duck and a beaver and all her work mates had asked what is was. They didn't quite get it, or her for that matter, most didn't know what a beaver was anyway, at least not in the way of a real beaver and not some slang term for.

Nene put her mind back to Mackey. He boyfriend was back to normal, which was good, but also bad. He still looked the same, sounded the same, and would forever be that way. While she would age and her gorgeous looks would eventually go bad and people would say that she was a cradle snatcher. She wouldn't be able to handle that. She sighed. The work to solve Mackey's problem was going slow, but she was optimistic. Nigel was a smart man and Mackey was discovering more about boomer phiso-something or other all the time. Everything would be alright in the end, and they'd live happily ever after. Just like on the old stories. Nowadays the stories hardly ever had happy endings, even the children's ones. The world had become so depressing and gray.

Work didn't make it any better. Linna being away, also. They didn't have fun like last year; blowing up boomers and fooling the ADP. At least she still got to work with Leon and call him names. But even that was less often. Genom was a much bigger organization than the ADP and it had become easy to loose track of people.

She sighed.

"C'mon, find something!" she said to the blank screen. In the background, she had half a dozen sniffer's running through Genom's network. It was late and only a few other people were logged into the network, half of them from remote or home locations. She had shadow's on all of them, but like Sylia she believed that who ever was causing all the trouble was on the inside.

/\/\ss/\/\

Satoshi dried is hands with a paper towel, and scrunched it up and threw it into a bin. Leaving the Gents, he fished out the ID card that had a picture of one Susan Odawara, an Genom employee who had unfortunately died in Tokyo last year but had not been taken off the registry. A clever man, Satoshi had been able to find a few others such unfortunates, and see the uses of it. The admin department was so overworked with current activities that they hadn't had time to fix the records up.

He returned to his terminal and logged in using his own ID and password. From there however he switched to using Susan's data and started accessing other computers, half a dozen in all in a chain, the last from where he would make his changes to the construction schedule.

Fools! He thought of the network security people. None of them were good enough to stop him. They still didn't have a clue, little notes dropped by Itto had informed him of that and told him to continue. He listened to the talk in the corridors and by the water machines and knew that everyone was starting to get worried. People were talking about their jobs. Well, that would only make them more grateful when Itto took over and secured the company from that stupid Stingray woman. Genius obviously didn't run in their family, or at least not on the female side. Satoshi never had a good thought about women. They were tolerable as secretaries but didn't have the mental capacity and ethos to do real business work. Business was a man's world and had rules. Just like the Samurai ran the wars and had their bushido code. Women were not welcome. His actions would help restore Genom and put the women back to their rightful place in society.

The window to the server handling the schedule came up. Satoshi cracked his fingers and wondered what he would modify this time.

/\/\ss/\/\

Beep, beep, beep!

Nene ran back to her office, spilling the hot liquid in a paper cup. She growled and dumped the entire thing into a bin.

Beep, beep. The noise persisted.

She sat down, awoke the screen and quickly found which sniffer was paging her. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Port 394! So, this guy thinks he's clever does he? Well, I'll show him."

And the battle had begun.

/\/\ss/\/\

It was a rare thing, Sylia having time to drive. Rarer to do it in her own car, a sporty Alfa Romeo.

Late, she got out onto the near deserted toll ways and let the throttle open. The roof of the car off, her long silver hair streamed out behind her like the trail of a falling star. Osaka-Kobe was a 'long' city and it allowed her to give the car a good work out. She barreled down the road at 100 miles an hour. Nothing ahead or behind her. A little black box specially mounted alerted her of any speed and toll way cameras, and disabled them while she was in range. For the time being, she was free.

I should be getting sleep, she was thinking to herself. But sleep would have been impossible. Too many problems. The factory was becoming a real threat, and no one had any solutions. Until the intruder was stopped, or better, caught, the downward spiral would continue. She wanted to be more involved, she kept having to pass off the Union Official to a subordinate because more important and troublesome people were after her time, and that got her angry. When things went bad she had always been in a position to take care of it herself. He didn't like relying on others to do what she thought only she could handle. This looked like being one of those times.

Her can phone rang.

Who would call me at this hour? How knows that I'm out?

"Yes?"

"Sylia!" Nene's high pitched voice shouted through the speaker, above the sound of the wind and road, "It's happening-"

"What is?" Sylia overrode Nene.

"Someone's trying to change the schedule. He's good."

It would take half an hour to get to the Genom building from her location if she stuck to the speed limit, and another ten to get through to Nene's office.

"I'm coming, I'll be there in ten minutes."

Slyia slammed on the brakes and yanked the steering wheel. Tyres squealed and the car spun around in gray smoke. She swapped her foot to the accelerator and depressed it to the floor. Like a rocket the car speed off, reaching 150 in a manner of seconds.

/\/\ss/\/\

Nene's fingers flew over the keyboard with much the same speed as Sylia's Alfa Romeo. The intruder she was up against was good, real good. But not good enough to beat her.

She'd tried to net him but he'd caught on just in time and threw out a bunch of decoys. He hadn't run off, still trying to break through the security that protected the schedule. It was a silly move, an over confident one. She'd managed to eliminate half the decoys before he decided that sticking around was a bad idea and quickly shot out of the system and into another, trying to shake her tailgate.

"Fat chance, boy. You don't know it yet, but you're up against The Pink Sabre!"

Luckily, no one was around to hear her babble.

The battle and chase ragged through the network. The intruder jumped from system to system, backtracked, and sent out more decoys. She put bloodhounds out and followed everything.

She managed a call to Sylia, then discovered the signal she was after was a decoy. Luckily one of the bloodhounds identified the real intruder and she quickly got onto his tail.

"You're mine. No one escapes me," she kept mumbling, eyes never from the screen.

Sylia burst into the room.

"What's happening?" she quickly rushed over to stand and look over Nene's shoulder. Nene didn't look away.

"He's trying to get away. He didn't have time to change the schedule."

Sylia tried to keep pace with the chase but even for a skilled user like her, she couldn't follow up.

"Anything I can do?" she asked apprehensively.

"No,"

Sylia took a seat and watched and kept quiet. Nene needed all her concentration.

"Haha! Gotcha," Nene exclaimed triumphantly. "Sysid coming in now."

/\/\ss/\/\

Satoshi cursed. Who ever was on his trail was good, better than himself he had to concede. If it weren't so serious he'd like to meet him - there was no way he could comprehend that it was a nineteen-year-old girl - but it was serious and he had to escape.

He watched in dismay as Susan Odawara's record was snatched away. He wouldn't be able to use it again and the others might be at risk as well. Time to leave. First, he needed a distraction.

Slowing just a little, he pulled out a disk from his shoulder bag and slipped it into the disk drive. Accessing the shocker he brought it online and sent it against is pursuit.

/\/\ss/\/\

A blue spark came out of the keyboard.

"What was that?!" Sylia shouted in alarm.

"Ow!" Nene yelped, fingers jumping away from the keyboard. "That - grrr!!!!" The girl scowled, angry, and her fingers went back to work. "I'll teach you!"

Sylia started, amazed. More sparks, a little lightning storm, played all over the keyboard. It smelt. She saw Nene's hair start to stand on end.

"Nene!"

Despite the shocks, Nene didn't take her hands away. She wasn't going to let a pest like a shocker let the intruder get away. On the fly she created shields and masks and an attack of her own. It was quite impressive. When it was ready, done in only a few seconds, she launched her attack.

The attack broke through the shocker's security and gained her control. In a nanosecond she turned it on the intruder and let him have a taste of his own medicine.

/\/\ss/\/\

Satoshi screamed as a powerful surge raced up his hands and arms into his body. He flew back from the chair, shaking.

/\/\ss/\/\

"Got him!" Nene started to trace the intruder's signal back to the original machine.

/\/\ss/\/\

Satoshi saw the trace. Legs weak he stumbled to the machine. Proxy after proxy was found and he saw his doom. He wouldn't be able to get to the machine in time and log off. He'd be caught. He'd fail.

"I won't let that happen!" and energy surged through him. He lunged for the power cords-

three.

two.

one.

The screen went blank.

/\/\ss/\/\

"Noooo!!!" Nene screamed and her fists rained down onto the keyboard.

"What happened?" Sylia gasped.

"He got away!" the blonde sulked.

/\/\ss/\/\

Satoshi got his bag, plugged the cords back in and turned off his machine before it had time to boot. He quickly vacated the Genom building with his bag.

He forgot about the disk in the drive.

/\/\ss/\/\

The next day came quickly.

Sylia was in her vertigo-inspiring office looking over the records of one Susan Odawara. The employee's supervisor and the HR Manager were both with her.

"I haven't seen her since we moved to Tokyo, Ma'am," the supervisor was saying, "the move and all was hectic - what with replacing those we lost."

"My records still have her on our payroll. She might have been transferred to another department,"

"However," Sylia said, "her address still says Tokyo, and central Tokyo." Which meant inside the Quarantine Zone. "I want you to find out what is going on and quickly. Does Mrs. Odawara still work here and where does she live, or if not -"

"We'll get right on it, Ma'am," the supervisor said. Not that he didn't have enough work to do already, but the boss was looking angry and had put it as their top priority. With all that was going on, it wouldn't be good to disobey. They left.

Sylia sunk back into her chair. She wanted to go and stand by the window but there was too much to do. She rang up Nene.

"Anything new?" she asked. Nene hadn't left the building. She knew she was driving the girl, but with the breakthrough she had to keep pressing. Nene would get time off when it was over.

"I'm going through the entire network looking for the intruder's fingerprints."

"How long will it take?"

"There's thousands of machines Sylia." came back Nene's tired voice.

"Let me know if you find anything." And she cancelled the connection.

Susan Odawara. It was a bona fide employee record on the outside, but her instincts told her that something was up, wasn't kosher. She'd thought about sending some security men to Susan's Tokyo address, but decided against it. A permit was required to enter the Quarantine Zone and she doubted anything beyond boomer carcasses and rubble would be found. If Susan existed and wasn't just a made up employee, she was probably dead like many others. In Tokyo, Genom had hundreds of boomers in its offices. When Galatea took control of them and began the rampage, Genom had suffered heavily. Hundreds died as buildings were taken over. The list of dead still wasn't set for the tragedy. She wondered what it would have been like, trapped by mutating boomers, in some building or office. Boomer's were Genom's best friends, the life blood of the company. The propaganda had been so effective to the whole world that no one at Genom would have believed in rouge boomers. Their bodies would have littered the corridors like broken dolls.

Sylia shook her head and wiped away the tears that had come unbidden to her eyes. It was because of that terror she was doing what she did. Galatea had been created once, it could happen again. Boomers could still go rogue. A new outbreak could occur anywhere in the world now that other countries were ready to produce their own copies - ones that wouldn't be as safe as the dangerous ones now. It was a catastrophe waiting to happen.

/\/\ss/\/\

The Union Official looked up at the towering Genom building. It rose up and up, covered in glass. Sylia would be there, at the top. This time he wasn't going to be passed down to some deaf lackey. If she didn't listen to him the workers wouldn't take it any more. There would be a strike.

He walked into the lobby and almost bumped into Marketing Director Itto. He bowed and apologized.

"Sorted out your workers yet?" Itto said snidely.

"If your side doesn't take this matter seriously Mr. Itto, there will be trouble," he retorted.

"Don't tell me, you'll go on strike?"

Itto got a cold stare in return, which made him wonder.

"It's up to Sylia," he said and giving another bow, left Itto in his thoughts and made for the elevator. He wouldn't leave without seeing Sylia.

/\/\ss/\/\

Itto tapped his chin. He had an opportunity. The workers were ready to go on strike then, his work was paying off. Time to give matters that last nudge.

He pulled his cell phone out.

/\/\ss/\/\

Satoshi looked at the message. He knew it had come from Itto, no one else would give him such an order. He also knew that Itto had not sent the message himself, but through outs, yet the origin was easily determined. He also knew what was going to happen to him. But he was a member of the male business world and knew its rules and code. He was faithful to his company and boss.

With time short, he got right to work breaking into the elevator system.

/\/\ss/\/\

Beeping again alerted Nene. While her mind a little dulled from exhaustion, she began her trace.

"Elevators?" she said confused. By then it was too late.

/\/\ss/\/\

The Official steeled himself for the confrontation that was going to take place. He had an appointment, knew that it was going to be with someone who wouldn't listen. Unless he kept going, ignored the secretary and went directly into the Chairwoman's office and got to the matter right away. It was a very un-Japanese thing to do, but it had to be done. Sylia would understand and the worker situation would be resolved. There wouldn't be reason for a strike, Genom would continue and everyone would keep their jobs.

He watched the LED count up the numbers towards floor 104. 86, 87,

The elevator shuddered. It stopped moving. Then it dropped a floor and halted.

He looked around, alarm all over his face. He listened, it was quiet, still. Slowly he started to reach out for the phone-button.

The floor fell away.

He screamed.

The elevator plummeted.

In fell nearly one hundred floors before exploding apart on the bottom with a tremendous crash. Fortunately, the Official had passed out before his body was pulverized.

/\/\ss/\/\

Sylia didn't even hear of fell the demise. It was a second after when her phone rang and she picked it up to hear Nene's horrified voice.

"Sylia, Sylia!"

"What is it, Nene?"

"It's terrible, the intruder's struck again and-"

"What?"

Then, Sylia's secretary burst into the room. Her face was pale. Slowly, Sylia stood up from her chair.

"The elevator fell! And there was someone in it,"

Sylia's face hardened. "No one leaves the building!" She ordered.

/\/\ss/\/\

The knowledge quickly spread through the entire building, as bad news and gossip does. Sylia raced down in another elevator, after Nene had assured her that it was secure, to the bottom basement level where she met with a medical team and security, and surveyed the disaster. Behind her, someone threw up, and she too could feel the paleness in her face. She turned to Leon.

"Who ever did this could still be in the building, Nene is finding out which terminal was used to do this unforgivable act."

"The we can view the camera footage and get a face," Leon finished Sylia's thoughts.

"Yes. Hopefully the perpetrator didn't get out before your men locked the building."

"Even so, Sylia, he could still be trying. There are other ways into and out of here," said Leon.

Sylia nodded. "Get to it, I'll be with Nene."

Sylia took another elevator a few levels up and briskly walked into Nene's office where Chief Roland and a few other security officers were standing around.

"Okay, what've you got?" she said announcing herself.

"I got an alarm from one of my sniffers," said Nene. "It matched today's attack with last night, so it's the same person. But I was too late,"

"It's not your fault, Nene. HR is looking into Susan Odawara but I don't believe that she'll be found responsible. I doubt she's still alive, but certainly not working for us anymore." Sylia consoled practically.

"He wasn't careful this time, the trace should be done soon."

"But he'll have been smart enough to leave as soon as he had done the task," said the Chief. "If he didn't do it remotely-"

"Oh, he was here alright. I would have picked him up if he'd tried to come in from an outside system. Done!" Nene proclaimed.

All of them looked at a screen which came up with a 3D floor plan of the building, racing to the seventy third floor and to a large room. One of the terminals was coloured in red, the others were just outlines. Next Nene pulled up the file for the owner of the terminal.

"Gen Satoshi,"

Roland flipped open his phone and ordered the nearest team to get to the terminal.

"Ah," Nene announced, "this has to be it. I just scanned the drives and found the shocker he tried to get me with last night. He must have forgotten about it."

Sylia sped read the personnel file. She didn't like what she saw. "How could a marketing employee be so proficient with computers? He has a clean record."

"Hired in '34." Roland said. It didn't mean anything though, just that he'd been around for a while and was a young man.'

"Get his supervisor and HR in your office Roland. I want to know everything about this man by midday."

Roland nodded and left the room to make the arrangements.

"Marketing seems to be involved in everything these days," Nene said rather absently.

That got Sylia thinking. She remembered the boomer attack. Marketing's director, Itto, had been there. For a moment her paranoid mind wondered. but then, Itto had been in as much danger as she had. Almost. The controlled boomers had gone after her deliberately, everyone one was just collateral damage.

"Do we know who died?" Nene asked.

"No," Sylia had forgotten all about the victim, considering herself to be one just as much. Someone had died. An employee. It would be a blow for the company. She sat on the edge of Nene's desk and chewed on a thumb, thinking. Why had the attacker decided to strike at the building and not the construction site? Was it because Nene had picked up on him? A resultant change of tactics? Why death, no one had been injured before, killing someone know would increase the stacks and danger. Everyone would know that the elevator would be deliberate. unless she said that it had just been an accident. That could be best, for the company. If word got out that it was a deliberate attack it would be all over the media and her troubles would be worse than ever. The employees would also be extremely worried about their safety. It could paralyse the company entirely. But if it was just an accident the damage would be less. It was a decision she had to take. She called up Candace and told her what to say. She didn't notice the unsure and sick looking look on Nene's listening face, or if she did, she mistook it for the death.

"Find out everything you can," she ordered an exhausted and frightened Nene. Then she left, returning to her own office.

On the way in she tasked her secretary to find out who had been killed, then got to her desk and sat and down and buried her face in her hands, face behind silver hair, hiding the sudden redness that marred her otherwise beautiful features. If someone saw her, they would find her quite terrible to behold.

'What is going on? Someone must be trying to destroy Genom, but who? The charity event and now this, someone on the inside. Or from the outside but hired or turned Satoshi. Did he have any weaknesses, gambling, women? How much would he know - about the ones who hired him - he wouldn't be doing it himself.

Her mind ran through the scenarios.

Her phone rang. She picked it up.

"Yes?"

"They've been able to identify the body, ma'am. It was the Union."

Sylia stopped listening.

/\/\ss/\/\

Word got out to the construction site and the response was swift and unanimous. The workers went on strike.

/\/\ss/\/\

Sylia called an emergency meeting in the boardroom. Everyone came quickly and all they could talk about, in hushed tones, was how terrible the day had been. Sylia scanned Itto's face but she couldn't see anything behind his eyes. He looked as alarmed as much as the others. Maybe she was just being paranoid.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let's get started," she began and the talk ceased. "A terrible tragedy happened this morning. A death by accident is a terrible thing," only she and security knew what had really happened, "and shouldn't be taken lightly. However, this time is even worse. The victim was the Union Official for the construction teams who are building the factory that will save this company. I have just been informed that the workers have gone on strike, when they learnt of the news, and have blockaded the site and some even attacked boomers. Candace," she turned to the French PR woman, "how has the response been?"

Candace tried to give an optimistic smile. "It's not bad so far, mostly council calls but that will change when the media get hold of it and now with the strike." she didn't have to add that the lines would be flooded. "I suggest that we make a public announcement instead of waiting."

Sylia shook her head. "That will only increase the pressure. Just keep towing the line I've instructed."

"But if the workers or Union start making claims-" Itto jumped in.

Too eagerly for Sylia's taste. "Union's always make ridiculous claims. We've had a good relationship with them up until now. I wanted the matter resolved but somehow it continued to get out of hand. The Official was on his way here, to see, me the records from the elevator tell." Sylia regretted saying that, while she didn't say anything deliberate had happened, people might over think and jump to correct conclusions. "The Union wants this matter resolve as much as we do,"

"To their own benefit," someone said.

It was too much for Sylia. She slammed her fist on the hardwood table and glared about the room. Everyone looked shocked.

"And there is nothing wrong with that! They do what they think is best, just as we do. And it is finger pointing like that which as lead up to this crisis," she nearly shouted. The person who spoke sunk back into his chair. Sylia thought about apologizing, she didn't mean to essentially blame him for the death, but she didn't. She was too angry and didn't fully comprehend how the others were looking at her.

"The problems this company is facing are enough to destroy it. I won't let that happen. Genom is too important." Sylia continued.

/\/\ss/\/\

Itto and Candace sat on the lounge and looked out to across the city.

"She looked quite mad," Candace was saying.

"I'd heard rumours," Itto added. Sylia's display had played right into his hands, the rest of the board were more worried about her than what could happen to Genom. He'd assured them that Genom would still be around after the meeting on the elevator trip down. Everyone was very nervous during the right and so more responsible to what he had to say.

Candace too was optimistic. She had a good idea that what was going was Itto's plan to take control. She saw that with some prodding that it could do far more and bring Genom down. She had picked up that Sylia had a good idea of what was going on as well, which made her cautious. Sylia would be doing her best to find the perpetrators so she didn't want to get involved just yet and find herself being caught. Each small blow would weaken Genom in anycase until the foundations were too weak to hold up the tower and it would come crashing down.

"Still, a strike is bad." Said Itto.

"Do you have a way of stopping it?" Candace inquired. She put her hand on his knee.

Surprisingly, Itto ignored the hand. He was too deep in thought. He was wondering what Satoshi was doing now. Another supporter had told him that Satoshi had been found out and fled right after causing the Union Officials death. Unfortunately, that also meant an end to Satoshi and his usefulness. He had an idea. He stood up and looked down at his foreign piece of flesh. She looked back at him, disappointed that nothing else was going to happen. Women were so predictable.

"It's best that we do get back to work. I'm sure that you have enough," he told her.

Candace gave a sigh and stood as well. Her perfectly designed expression read: maybe tonight? While her mind wondered what Itto was up to. She'd like to know and bed always loosened men's tongues.

/\/\ss/\/\

Satoshi had just managed to get out of the huge building and into a taxi. He took it to a subway station and then went across town to Kobe where he got a change of clothes and found a busy meal hall to figure out his next moves.

The former marketing professional, he knew that his career was over. Even if his boss did become Chairman, he would not be able to rejoin Genom. Whoever had found him out had ended that hope. Still, his usefulness to Genom wasn't over. He hadn't heard about the strike and decided that the construction site should be his next and last target. He found a netcafe and picked a machine that was hidden behind a drape, one usually restricted to surfers who looked up more flesh focused websites than the one he broke into: a small boomer maintenance company. He pulled the readouts for the machines and wrote down a list of the equipment he would need.

/\/\ss/\/\

Sylia let her directors continue with their mundane work while she returned to Nene.

"It was Satoshi. We've got footage of him doing it, and unfortunately leaving the premises," Leon informed her. "We've got men tracking the taxi he took."

"Needle in a haystack," said Sylia.

"There's not much else we can do," Leon shrugged. He stopped talking when Sylia gave him a withering glare.

"There is always something!"

Nene and Leon exchanged glances.

"What has Roland found out about this Satoshi character?" asked Sylia.

"He's still in the meeting. Not much more than what the file will say I believe, however. His type will be perfect employee so they aren't suspected."

"Do we know who hired him?"

"Oh," Nene said with some cheer, boy, did the room need it, "that's easy. He went through a . three stage interview. The last was with the Director of Marketing, and he made the decision."

Sylia folded her arms and ground her teeth. People were loyal to the ones that hired them. Not a fool, she had some idea that Itto wasn't at all happy about her being in charge. Still, it was a big leap to think that he'd order a murder just to get rid of her. Or would he? Being a Knight Sabre never had so many difficulties. The enemy there was clear cut: Galatea and Genom. Galatea was gone, Genom remained. She chuckled, maybe the world hadn't changed that much.

"I want you to stat looking into Itto, discretely of course. Don't involve anyone else. Maybe I should call Daley back, he'd be perfect for the job."

"And Linna, too?" Nene asked hopefully.

"I'll think about it," and she would. It looked like she was going to need a lot more than Leon's hardsuit team to take care of Genom's problems. Rogue boomers seemed to be on the bottom of the list of enemies she had to worry about.

"I'm going to the construction site."

"That could be dangerous," warned Leon.

"There's plenty of Security and the Police will be there as well. I don't think the workers will get violent. But I do have to stop the strike and get the construction back on schedule."

/\/\ss/\/\

Candace was back in her office and was mulling over what she could do. All her staff were taking care of the calls and handing out the line Sylia had given to her: the death was an accident. The strike was unfortunate, they didn't say if there was a link between the two.

Sylia's loss of control had surprised her considerably. She'd never thought that the woman could loose her cool, explosively. She wondered if there was some mental problem. It could of course just be stress, but she'd like to think that it was more. It would make her job a lot easier. It also meant that Sylia was venerable, and that she could exploit. On the other hand, it meant she could be unpredictable, which could be dangerous.

She smiled. A little risk, a little danger. Part of the job that she liked. She wondered about Itto then. If he succeeded and Sylia was gone, while she knew a lot about the capricious man, she knew for a fact that he would hardly listen to her once he was in charge. She'd just be his affair. But if she got close to a venerable Sylia, being both women, she might have more influence. Sylia looked so alone, doubtfully had a shoulder to lean on and a face to confide with. Her little acts of innuendo were working, last weeks hadn't drawn any rebuke. That would be new for her as well. She was sure her benefactors in France would approve. It would be a French thing to do. Applauded.

"How then, to expose Itto and get rid of him?"

Her smiled curved, delicious. This job was becoming better all the time.

/\/\ss/\/\

The road into the construction site was blocked by a large crowd of chanting workers. Placards waved in the air. A ring of policemen made sure the strikers couldn't go any further up the road and disturb other activities.

Sylia drummed her fingers on the bonnet of a car while the foreman explained what had happened.

"Who do I speak to then" she asked him. She didn't care about his story. She just wanted a resolution.

"I think they have a committee. We haven't let any other Union officials in so its just workers."

"Well, lead the way."

"What? It's too dangerous."

"I'll go myself then," and she did, walking away from the car and towards the mob. She pushed her way through the thin line of policemen. She had placed Lt. Haruga's squad a bloc away in case any violence did happen. Haruga and another of his men walked a few paces behind her.

A missile flew out from the crowd, but she avoided it deftly. There was shouting in the crowd, between themselves. They recognized her. No more missiles came and she stopped a few meters away.

"I want to speak to who's in charge of this strike."

"We wont negotiate until all the boomers are gone!" someone yelled.

"No boomers! Get rid of the boomers!" others added.

"Boomers are the reason you still have jobs!" she yelled back at them. "Without the plant that you are building, Genom will fail and everyone of us will lose their jobs. I've got money, I can keep on living. What about you?"

"Lies! Rubbish!"

"Let her through," a commanding voice ordered. The crowd parted, at the other end a small cluster of men waited. Maybe the strike committee. Sylia walked through. Everyone went silent as she passed. They stared at her. Her beauty. Her reputation.

"Determined woman," came a whisper.

"Quiet!" a response.

The two security men followed.

"Who do we have here?" Sylia directed to the committee.

The elder of the group took a step forward. "My names Seijiro. You can talk to me."

"Well then, Seijiro. What is the reason for this strike?"

"You damn well know, Chairwoman. There have been problems for weeks and today we heard that our official was killed."

"He died in an unfortunate accident," Sylia replied.

"That still doesn't change our grievances. We've been trying to solve this but your foreman and managers weren't listening. They kept bringing in more boomers and messing the schedule. We had strict rules about the schedule and they were broken."

/\/\ss/\/\

Satoshi put down the binoculars. He was glad to have bought them, allowing him to find a back way into the construction site, and now to see that Sylia had arrived. He grinned to himself and scuttled down some scaffolding to his target: a trio of inactive boomers.

He was a little disappointed that the strike had gone on ahead without him starting it, but now he had a better target to eliminate instead of some workers. The Chairwoman herself! Itto would be ecstatic if she were to die in another 'accident'. While having lunch he recalled the rogue boomer incident in Tokyo. With his knowledge, it wouldn't be difficult to fake another incident. The workers were all afraid of it happening. There was a lot of police about, but they wouldn't have the firepower to take the boomer down quickly enough before it had squashed the bitch.

Coming up behind the boomers, he got to work immediately. With all the boomer details, it wouldn't take long to let him remote control them.

/\/\ss/\/\

The two arguing sides decided to find somewhere to sit down where they could negotiate properly. They went to the foreman's office, air conditioned, and got to work.

"I think it would be in your interests if you had a proper official negotiating for you," Sylia said.

Seijiro wanted to object but the others ruled him out. "Our demands are easy enough. A return to the previous agreement, less boomers."

"That may be impossible now. Work is so far behind that without an increase in boomer involvement, the factory wont be completed on time."

"Hire more workers."

Hagura motioned for his RRT soldier and they left the trailer-room office. "God, that is boring to listen to," he said.

"Better to put guns to their heads," the RRT soldier said. "That'll make 'em agree."

"I doubt its legal."

The soldier grunted.

"Everything looks fine here, I can handle it myself. Go back to the mobile pit and tell them to stand down."

They saluted. While a paramilitary force, the former ADP officers had decided to notch up their discipline. Haruga was left alone. He rubbed his chest. The wound he'd received in Sierra Leone wouldn't heal fully and left a tightness about his chest when he exerted himself. Like a loss of breath. He hoped it wouldn't get any worse, he really liked working for Sylia. The toys they got to play with where amazing. Easily better than the military.

Thumps came from behind him and a shadow fell over.

He turned around, and saw the swinging arm of a boomer come down right at him.

/\/\ss/\/\

The talks had ceased until the official arrived. The workers were in a huddle at one end of the room in quiet discussion and she was at the other with a paper cup of water in hand. She looked around for her security and remembered that they were outside.

The windows had the blinds folded shut. She used her fingers to part two panes and her eyes went wide.

"Boomer!" she gasped.

The trailer office shook.

"What was that?"

The roof caved in. Voices yelled and screamed. Glass shattered.

/\/\ss/\/\

"That's it! Die!" Satoshi sniggered. He watched in satisfaction as the boom raised up its arms, long metal girder held, and swung it down on the top of the trailer again.

/\/\ss/\/\

The strikers and police heard the noise and turned to face it.

"A boomer's gone rogue!" and the cry went up. The strikers fled towards the police who tried to get through them but were unable. Haruga's teammate was caught up in the rout. He looked back and tried to force his way through. He saw the boomer smash open the trailer. He didn't have a weapon, nothing. He turned around and shared shoving, hoping that the others knew what was going on.

/\/\ss/\/\

Sylia screamed. The roof stopped falling about half a foot from her face. It was bashed in all over. Blood ran down from her temple where she'd knocked it against a flying chair. Outside she heard the boomer grumble and growl.

She looked about. The door had been ripped off and a few feet of opening lay exposed. She could get through and make a run for it. She didn't know if the others were alive or dead.

She decided she had to get out. She didn't want to be crushed to death. Rescue would be not far away.

She crawled towards the exit.

/\/\ss/\/\

Satoshi saw her slip out of the trailer. His boomer was on the other side and had finished flattening the far end of it. His target was escaping, in fact, heading towards him. Good idea. He made sure the boomer stayed on her back and kept her coming towards him. He looked around and saw a crowbar. Maybe he'd have the satisfaction of killing her himself. Too bad it wasn't a sword. Then it he could be a real Samurai.

/\/\ss/\/\

Sylia ran.

She gasped for breath, completely out of shape. The boomer thundered behind her, gaining. It had discarded the beam and swiped at her retreating back. She made for the incomplete building.

She reached it just in time. That didn't make her stop running though. She wanted to get in deep and then work her way back outside. She expected the Grasshoppers to arrive at any time. Until then she had to stay alive.

/\/\ss/\/\

Satoshi saw her. He forgot about the boomer and ran down stairs towards Sylia. She saw him.

"Over here!" he yelled, "This way, hurry!"

She listened. He got ready to smack her head in.

/\/\ss/\/\

Sylia saw the man and motion. It was better than nothing. She couldn't hear the boomer over the earthquake noise her heart made. It had to be close behind. Where were the Grasshoppers?

She was a few meters from the man. She wondered why he was smiling.

She wondered why he had a metal bar in his hands and was bringing it up.

She saw his face. Knew it.

The bar came racing towards her.

Sylia leapt to the side. Still, she was hit and she grunted, pain racing along her shoulder. She crashed into the ground but had the wits to keep moving and she rolled away. Metal rang against metal as the bar slammed down where she had been. She came up on her feet and went into a crouch, facing Satoshi.

"You don't have to do this, Satoshi."

He snarled, ran at her.

She dodged behind a pylon. Sparks flew. Around it she kicked at his knee and he yelled in pain. She backed away, didn't have the wind to last in a fight.

"Who do you work for?" she shouted at him, "Who?"

"Don't you worry, I'll tell you just before you die!" and he came at her again and forced her back.

He was too quick and got in close. She caught his next blow on her forearms, numbing them instantly. He pulled back for another swing. She lunged and they both fell in a tumble.

She was on top. She straddled him and punched down into his face. His nose broke and blood spilled out. He growled at her. Then she was falling, immense pain against her skull. He rolled up top and held the bar in both hands, ready to thrust it down.

Blood spurted all over her. His. She blinked it away and saw a long white metal dark sticking through him. He gurgled, foamy blood, and fell off her. Behind, coming into focus, she saw one of the Grasshopper suits.

About time. she closed her eyes.

Dimly she heard voices and feet running. Then she lost consciousness.

/\/\ss/\/\

"Too bad Satoshi is dead," Chief Roland said.

"It was him or Sylia." Leon grimaced.

"I'm not saying it was the wrong choice-"

"Well," Sylia groaned, opening her puffy eyes, "that's good to hear."

"Sylia!" Nene shot out of her chair and raced over to the edge of the hospital bed.

"How do you fell?" asked Leon.

"Probably as bad as I must look,"

Leon chuckled. It was good he hadn't gone all gooey like Nene was, practically smothering her.

"What happened?" she asked.

"All hell broke loose, that's what," Leon started. "We thought it was a rogue boomer, but this Satoshi character had rigged it. When he went after you it just stopped and that confused Haruga's men. When they realized it was almost too late for you. Thankfully not."

"I agree," Sylia tried to smile. She hoped her face didn't look too bad. At least both her eyes were okay. "What about the men in the trailer?"

"Alive, hurt, but alive. Lt Haruga's dead. The boomer killed him first."

"I'm sorry. He was a good man."

Roland and Leon nodded.

"Its all over the news too, Sylia" said Nene. "This time they know it wasn't a rogue boomer but some madman."

Sylia nodded weakly.

"You should rest," Roland said. "Matters are being taken care of-"

"Who by?" she asked.

"Your PR woman, LeCourviere."

"Not Itto?"

Heads shook.

"Fine. Let her handle it for today. Right now, I want to go back to sleep again. I feel dreadful."

"You look it too!" Nene offered.

Leon grabbed the blonde by the shoulders and forcibly removed her from the room. "Leon, don't be such a pooh!" and they were gone.

Sylia stared up at the ceiling, grateful to be alone. She wasn't going to sleep. She needed to think. Satoshi had deliberately tried to kill her. Someone in Tokyo had as well. Her security had saved her, just, on both occasions, along with rescuing Linna and Daley as well (though she didn't think there was any relation there). But she couldn't rely on that being the case all the time. The attacks would continue, someone was after her, or maybe many. She didn't doubt that. Competitors would want Genom out of the way. Someone in Genom wanted her out of the way. She had to find out, and quickly. She might not survive another chance.

What then, to do.

She thought all night.

NOTES:

This chapter is way longer than I originated. The story is also way different that I first thought it would be. It was going to be called the Proletariat and concentrate more on the workers and the strike but I couldn't feel that come along well, and not be very exciting. So Satoshi, who needed to be more involved, expanded and so did Nene against him and the story really started to fire up in pace. I wrote about 60% in two days after the first part of it taking some weeks (that's how interesting it felt to me!). So I'm glad that it turned out a bit better and created some interesting future plot ideas on Candace and her roles with Itto and Sylia, and Sylia's response to her threats. I know that I have to get away from the Grasshoppers saving the day all the time, its too cliché and this series is not meant to be that!! At least Sylia got some action, and Nene too in her element. Hopefully future scenarios will be shorter (I think any more than 5000 words per chapter to read on a PC is too much and this is 12K+) and well focused on the problems and characters. The Linna/Daley pit probably doesn't need to exist here at all.. it was to help pad out the story but I really didn't need to do that in the end. It'll stay cause I want to work more on it later. Daley tends to get the short shift. This series aims to get more involvement out of the other characters: they do really have the best skills for what's going to happen.

Saraba ja,

SurfingSpider

/\/\ss/\/\