Visualizing
Charlotte-17 focused, relishing the sense of unstoppable strength brought on by the MD-Δ flowing through her. Her awareness projected a very short distance, just outside of HQ's main gate. She Watched the sign ordering all vehicles to halt and await inspection. It was dusted with snow.
Zooming in, Charlotte could almost make out individual snowflakes. A patch of bare metal shone in the bright lights illuminating the area.
Focus… focus… Klaus may only have been capable of this due to proximity to Lamia… but right now I'm stronger than he ever was… I need to be able to do this on my own. Her secret plan could not rely on being near Lamia. That would turn a very dangerous mission into a suicide mission.
She intensified her state of controlled tranquility, the somewhat contradictory combination of calm acceptance and burning drive.
You can do it… You must do it…
Imagining herself reaching out a hand, Charlotte poured everything she had into deepening her Trance.
And she felt cold metal.
A handprint appeared in the dusting of snow.
With a surge of elation, Charlotte returned to her body and tagged the footage as low-priority. Ideally, it wouldn't be rendered until after she put her plan into effect.
Tácito Nelson, Head Archivist, poured over old data. Duri's proposal had genuine merit, and Tácito had set a hundred thirty of his subordinates to this task. For more than half a century, all Watchers had been trained in the same way, doing their best to maximize their Trance through calm, nearly emotionless acceptance. This had worked well, well enough that little serious thought was put into alternatives. They had so many examples of a Watch collapsing when the Watcher grew too afraid, confused, or even just tired.
But with this new line of inquiry, and the clear results they were seeing from Peng and Niko, additional options were coming to light. Joaquim-4 had initially been able to Watch reasonably well despite the anxiety disorder that had made him reluctant to go public. When superior medication had effectively cured his condition, he'd initially displayed somewhat reduced max range. This had been dismissed as a side effect of the meds, and the anomaly had been all but forgotten when Joaquim eventually improved beyond his previous limits. But Joaquim had died four years ago, cutting off any serious chance of learning more on that front.
Abdul-9 though… he might be worth seeking out. More than once, he'd apparently joked that his Watching became more clear when he had a hangover. This too had been dismissed, despite some indications that it just might have had merit.
And Abdul is still alive… The ninth Watcher had suffered a stroke thirteen years ago, damaging a region of his brain that was vital for Watching. He'd retired with a massive pension. While retaining his citizenship with most nations, he'd been allowed to reclaim his old surname of Rafiq.
Bringing up Abdul's current holo address, Tácito opened a channel.
Hasina Rakoto stood at the observation deck above the facility's largest training area. Below, four hundred of her security personnel–more than half her total force–fought a mock battle. Before the disappearance of Klaus-21, such battles rarely ever reached such a scale. But all of her soldiers were now utterly driven to excel, to improve, all in hopes of avenging Klaus and ending the mysterious Lamia threat. It was a faint hope. Unless a Watcher was abducted and brought their guards with them, these elites might never be in a position to threaten the girl directly.
It was entirely possible that the only way anyone would ever be able to resist that girl was already being employed. Whenever possible, Charlotte, Anya, and Peng attempted to distract Lamia from the Unwanted she intended to kill. But this was quickly becoming less effective…
Below, Captain Martins dived from cover, firing off two shots before landing behind a low wall. Incredibly, both shots hit home. His targets lost motor function and fell, their implants and light armor temporarily disabling all voluntary muscle control. They were thus out of the fight, but still alert and capable of learning from the rest of the battle. As this training session was intended to test awareness and reaction time, the soldiers didn't fight in their top-tier battlefield armor, with its advanced HUD, internal medical systems, and ability to deflect indirect gauss hits. Instead, they wore lighter suits that mostly functioned to simulate injury and disability.
A well-aimed grenade dropped to the ground right next to Benicio. While the placement was superb, the timing wasn't. In barely half a second, Martins had already tossed the grenade back. It detonated in the air, sending out a signal that would stun any soldier within seven meters. No one was caught within that radius, but the lightning-fast response still impacted the morale of every soldier who saw it.
Today's battle wasn't actually about pitting two teams of soldiers against each other. It was really about pitting Benicio vs Hasina. She commanded the opposing team from where she stood, rapidly issuing orders through a combination of basic mental commands through her implants and more complex orders on her holographic map. Benicio was a decent strategist, but personal combat had always been his area of genius expertise. While he commanded his troops well, and certainly inspired them to push their limits, Hasina's army still moved with far greater precision. She sought ever to exploit blind spots in Benicio's battlefield awareness, ganging up on small squads while avoiding direct combat with the Captain himself. She had her snipers positioned to pin him down, but this was only to give her assault squads a better chance of avoiding him. Fighting against the Captain demanded an entire strategy focused on limiting his personal options.
With a double leap that took Hasina's breath away, Benicio sprang onto a low wall and instantly dived for a nearby window. That move might have surprised even Anya, as it was performed so swiftly and flawlessly it almost looked like the Captain had ricocheted off the wall. Both of Hasina's snipers fired, but he'd changed direction so quickly, one shot missed and the other only caught his left hand. Hasina winced at the sight. Her soldiers' implants could simulate pain for training purposes. In the past, this had generally been used at a somewhat low power setting, but ever since Captain Martins had joined HQ a year before, it had become more common for the soldiers to fight in "hardcore mode." Their pain settings were at one hundred percent, or sometimes even higher. Her troops routinely experienced the full agony of stabs, broken bones, or direct hits from gauss rounds.
And Benicio himself always took this to a vicious extreme.
Quickly checking his biometrics, she confirmed that he'd set his implants to double the simulated pain levels. That fake shot to the hand would thus hurt twice as much as a real hit, while his suit deadened his ability to use that hand.
Landing in a controlled roll, Benicio tossed aside the rifle he could no longer reload and drew a pistol. Other than a clenched jaw and a sheen of sweat on his forehead, he showed no signs of the agony he must be experiencing. Popping up at a window for barely a quarter second, he fired a shot that brought down one of the snipers.
Madness, Hasina thought, reeling with a mix of disbelief, awe at the skill of humanity's best soldier, and chagrin at the likely outcome of this training exercise. True, gauss tech has grown far more accurate than old chemically-propelled firearms, and these training weapons reflect that… but such precision, at such range, from a pistol? While he's suffering from double the agony someone should feel from getting a hand blown off?
While Hasina's flanking squads had the advantage against Benicio's troops, this one champion continued to derail her plans. She repositioned her forces continuously, giving Benicio fewer opportunities to fight directly, but he responded by giving more attention to the orders he issued. His soldiers grew more effective with his direction, and both forces maneuvered continuously.
Eventually, Hasina's strategic brilliance brought down the last of Benicio's men, but only five of Hasina's troops could still move. She tried to surround Captain Martins, but he dashed from cover to cover continuously. He moved with the speed of a sprinter and the skill of a parkour grandmaster, all the while remaining hyper alert to his surroundings. It soon became impossible to predict him, and she realized he was choosing destinations at random. Very few people could be genuinely random, but clearly he could, as Hasina saw nothing even resembling a pattern.
Two of her remaining troops fell, but at last Benicio's pistol shut down, citing ammo depletion. Reacting instantly, Hasina had her soldiers sprint toward each other so they could fight as a tight unit.
Despite all her efforts, the Captain couldn't be brought down by just three men, no matter how well Hasina coordinated them. Lunging and diving with mobility not even Anya could have matched, he soon forced the soldiers into close combat.
It was over in two seconds. Benicio's thrown pistol disrupted the aim of the first soldier that saw him, and his lunging tackle threw another soldier to the ground. Before he even landed, Benicio used his grip on that man to pivot, sweeping the legs from the third soldier. He rebounded upward from the force of his human anchor hitting the ground, and he already held a fresh pistol, snatched from the other man's belt. Making it look like childsplay, he pressed the barrel to the final soldier's head, and playfully said, "Bang."
Hasina hit the command, and everyone's implants released them. Many exhaled in relief. In the past, most soldier's set their implants to stop simulating pain the moment they were declared "dead," but Benicio had inspired most to push harder than ever before. Private Anderson, the first soldier to have fallen during the mock battle, had thus experienced the pain of a torso shot for twenty-three minutes. Hasina noted that Benicio immediately sought out the young man to shake his hand. Anderson, who was the youngest soldier currently assigned to HQ, grinned proudly. It was very hard not to be pleased when Captain Martins acknowledged you, especially for something so quintessentially masculine.
"Congratulations, Team Martins," Hasina said, her voice broadcast through the vast room. "It seems I still can't win with our champion fighting against me."
The young Private who'd endured twenty-three minutes of mortal agony actually laughed. "I just wanna see what happens when you command the Captain in a real battle!"
"Perhaps we'll get that chance," Hasina said. "If we develop a way to take the fight to the enemy, you can be sure Captain Martins will lead the assault."
Syncing his implant with the overhead speakers, Benicio said, "With your leadership, I look forward to seeing what this team can do when we're all on the same side."
Wilma Taibei leaned back in her chair while her computer crunched the numbers. This task wasn't anywhere near as complex as what the SenDep Implant Team was working on, but it was still work to be proud of. When ready, these pumps would allow a Watcher to carry enough MD-Δ for seventy-two continuous hours of enhanced Watching. More importantly, they'd automatically administer a steady dose any time the Watcher entered their Trance, and would stop the moment the Trance ended. Mostly internal, they'd only have a tiny port exposed to allow the pump to be refilled with ease.
Being put in charge of such an important project, even if it was hardly challenging, was quite a step up for the nurse. Her promotion and pay increase were nice, but her true joy was being closer to the action. Once these implants were ready, she'd likely be assigned work even more directly pertinent to the Elpis crisis.
While her latest inputs were being integrated to the design, she absent-mindedly scanned through her earlier investigation. Samantha Gross had done a fairly good job of keeping her work on this drug secret. The moment Wilma had found her files on the research and experiments that went into MD-Δ, she'd focused exclusively on understanding and manufacturing the medication. Now, she looked through Miss Gross' other files. It felt like there must still be a little more to the puzzle, as she didn't know how Samantha had obtained classified data. Though unlikely to be anywhere near as important as the drug itself, such info might still reveal a little more on how it had been developed. Wilma suspected that there might have been a source of outside help, or at least inspiration. If so, there could be someone else out there worth interviewing. The story of MD-Δ would surely make headlines all over the Solar System once it was released to the public. It'd be nice to have a little more information to share…
The computer reported that the update to the design was complete. Wilma brought it up, and frowned. Sure, this design would work, but it was a tad larger than she'd prefer. Little Niko, and even skinny old Fawzia, would likely find the pump uncomfortable. True, they were both accustomed to pain, especially the boy, but Wilma would prefer not to make things even worse for them. Bringing up more research on similar pumps, she got to work streamlining the design.
Fawzia-11 had never felt more useless… or more needed. With all the other Watchers actively attacking the Elpis issue, she was the odd man out. The only Watcher excluded from the most important task the Organization had ever tackled. But at the same time, she was perhaps more busy than any of the others. Every single government request for a Watcher's assistance came to her first, and others were contacted only when she was already on a mission, and the request was deemed sufficiently vital.
This latest mission felt odd. She hadn't even known New Zealand had a counter-terrorism task force, but they insisted they needed her help. They'd been trying with limited success to track the movements of equipment from multiple military surplus suppliers and black markets all over the globe. They'd shared their findings with Chief Rakoto, who'd initially felt the data far from conclusive. But the Colonel on the other line had a good point: New Zealand was one of the closest countries to Antarctica, and yet still generally overlooked when considering possible hot zones. If another attack on Watcher HQ was being planned, those responsible would be taking every possible precaution. They'd likely draw on multiple far-flung suppliers to reduce the chances of anyone making the connection. And preparing their forces in such a peaceful country would further reduce the risk of discovery.
Fawzia currently projected her mind high above the southern tip of New Zealand. She saw Niko's hometown of Rowallan to the east, but her attention would be needed elsewhere.
She moved her awareness to the west, over Lake Poteriteri and then the smaller Lake Hakapoua. Most of the towns she saw were very small, and small towns always noticed strangers, even if these were received kindly. If a nefarious organization was planning something stupid, they'd either be hiding in a far larger city, or in an area genuinely devoid of human habitation.
Continuing her westward "flight," she reflected on just how lucky she really was to be able to experience this. Only twenty-nine humans had ever possessed this ability. Well, thirty, counting Lamia, though they had yet to catch the murderous little Watcher actually projecting her mind. She consistently "saw" Watchers without needing to enter a Trance. As Fawzia searched the countryside, she might not feel the thrill of wind blowing through her hair, but it still looked and sounded like she was flying. Soaring over the lush wilderness, with no fears or constraints. This was far better than any video or even the best three-dimensional holo. This felt real. She passed over little Lake Kiwi, dropping her altitude until she was low to the ground. If tire tracks or other signs were visible from the air, these would have been noticed already through conventional searches. But the New Zealand government hesitated to put boots on the ground in the area where they suspected the enemy might be hiding. There'd be too much risk of being spotted well in advance, giving any conspirators time for a quiet evacuation. But if a Watcher found any clues, these could be pursued without giving anything away.
Personally, Fawzia doubted anything would come of this. It had been so long since HQ had been threatened, and the public didn't know that Watchers could now penetrate the faraday shielding. This would likely just eat up a ton of her time.
But she really had no choice in the matter. Even a faint chance of a threat to the Organization had to be taken seriously. At least MD-Δ makes close-range Watching far easier. The mental pressure from the drug is uncomfortable, but irrelevant when compared to what Watching felt like before. Watching events on earth hadn't triggered a migraine since the drug had been made available to her. It would get even better once Nurse Taibei perfected the implants that would administer measured doses automatically.
Fawzia's perspective stopped near the uninhabited Coal island, stricken by the natural beauty. This will all eventually be dismissed as a false alarm, but at least I can pretend I'm on vacation.
Unlike the others, she remembered the early days of the Organization. Some of the younger Watchers regretted their lack of freedom, but that was due to simple ignorance. Anya missed her gymnastics career, Niko wished he could see his family and friends more often, and Peng still insisted that they were all effectively slaves. But far more than Charlotte or even Klaus, Fawzia had always accepted the hard truth: Any other alternative would be a disaster. Without the protection and public image of the Organization, a Watcher would be the single greatest target in the world. Any criminal organization would move heaven and earth to kidnap a Watcher and force them to do their bidding. Even most governments would eagerly do so if they believed it could be kept a secret. And of course… it could. A Watcher could be held captive deep underground, and the odds of anyone ever knowing about it would be near zero.
And then there were the millions of people who'd gleefully murder any Watcher if they had a chance. The top tier defenses of Watcher HQ, and the ultra-elite soldiers that protected it, were needed. Sixty-five years before, when the first four Watchers had revealed themselves to the world, they'd all but begged the Interstellar Fleet for protection. The Organization was the result.
Peng might think we're all prisoners, and some of the others miss their former lives. But we're exactly where we need to be. Her projected vision lingered on a particularly pristine stretch of forest, with an idyllic little waterfall cascading into a pool surrounded by flowers. And how could anyone feel genuinely trapped, when they can simply choose to see places like this any time they wish?
With a growing sense of pride, Peng-24 came to a stop at the entrance to the cave. He'd found them. The Unwanted they'd helped to escape Lamia were not helpless and lost.
His investigations had been haphazard, due to the frequency with which he received signals to harass the sick little murderer. And that interference had started to grow… disappointing. Even with three Watchers responding at once, their ability to actually rescue the Unwanted was dropping off fast. Lamia was starting to ignore them. Perhaps she realized that actually abducting one of them would be difficult or even impossible with two others disrupting her concentration. But clearly, she needed far less focus to murder someone who was physically present on Elpis.
Their first failure had been a shock. A teenage girl had tried to run, but Lamia had reached out mentally, pulling her back from a considerable distance. First Peng, then Anya, and finally Charlotte had all projected their minds through Lamia's head, but it hadn't been enough. She had jerked, and twitched, and shouted in anger, but she'd stayed focused on her prey. With all three of them Watching, the teenager had died with a pencil through the eye.
Since then, their interventions had been hit and miss. When an Unwanted was especially fast and began to flee immediately, the Watchers had a decent chance of inconveniencing Lamia long enough for the target to escape. But far too often, the evil little girl kept it together long enough to make the kill. The worst such failure by far, the death that left Charlotte weeping in her Chamber and sent Anya into a wild rage, had been the infant. Lamia had brought a baby through, barely old enough to crawl, and they'd all immediately known there was no hope of saving him. Nothing they did, no level of distraction, could be enough. Even if Lamia had completely ignored the boy, one so young never could have survived in the wilderness. Peng had simply refused to stick around. The moment he saw the target was a baby, he'd zipped his perspective off into the woods, refusing to get involved.
Whenever Peng wasn't dancing with death to interfere with Lamia's murders, he explored the surrounding forests. They still didn't have an answer for why animals and insects universally avoided the killing grounds, and Peng had hoped to find some clue. But instead, he'd picked up a trail. Footprints left behind after the last rainfall led deeper into the forest. The tracks were too small for an adult, and Peng had continued in a straight line after the trail ended. He'd come upon recent tire tracks, and diverted to follow those. An all-terrain vehicle, traveling through a forest that seemed otherwise devoid of human activity.
By following those tracks, Peng had found this cave. The small hillside entrance was well-hidden by alien ferns, and on close inspection some had been transplanted recently. After a short descent, it opened onto a surprisingly large, branching network. The first chamber had a low ceiling, but was easily twenty meters to a side. Lights were powered by a small generator. Not fusion of course, this was Elpis. But the air looked clear.
Eleven people sheltered in the large chamber. Peng recognized nine of them as Unwanted that had escaped death due to Watcher intervention. Two, though, couldn't be Unwanted. A young woman and a middle-aged man that looked related, they moved from cot to cot, checking on the others, bringing them water or rice.
Normally, Peng didn't put much stock in humanity. He'd seen too much ugliness, and too many old acquaintances had been barely tolerable. Even the Watcher Organization, which cared for all of his material needs, nevertheless held him prisoner. But despite all of that, the sight of this little refugee camp for the people his team rescued… it warmed his heart.
It made him think of Klaus, and how much he'd believed in a brighter future.
But it also made Peng think of the body he found out in the woods, prior to discovering the trail. An Unwanted teenage boy had barely escaped Lamia with the help of Charlotte, Anya, and Peng. The kid had gotten kilometers away from the killing ground, despite how overwhelming and daunting the unfamiliar woodlands would have been for him.
Only to be killed like an animal.
Peng had brought Duri to the spot, and the former scientist agreed: a hunter must have seen the boy, recognized his nature, and gunned him down for sport.
Charlotte hopes to fix this world. If we can first kill Lamia, she's welcome to try. I'll settle for a bit of vengeance. If Peng could ever figure out which scumbag had negated their success in rescuing that boy, he'd follow them home. And then, if he ever gained the ability to reach this world physically, Peng would pay the hunter a little visit in the night. As a Watcher, he was too important to be seriously prosecuted for something that many would consider justified. What could they do to him? Lock him up in Antarctica? Force him to do a job he hated? Already done. He'd tolerate boring rations and limited holo access for quite a while if that was the price of payback. His life on the Moon had been decent training for such mild inconveniences.
Briefly canceling his Watch, Peng sent the coordinates to Tácito's archivists and the other Watchers. Then he went back in. Exploring the cave network, he quickly determined that at least thirty more people could potentially shelter here. If only the Watchers had a way to guide Unwanted to this place.
Returning to the main chamber, he saw the hazy distortions that represented two Watchers. After a moment, each noticed him, and he recognized the mental touches as belonging to Charlotte and Duri. Confident that anything they needed to know would soon be taken care of, Peng projected his mind back into the woods, hoping to find anything else of use to the investigation.