As dusk fell, the team got ready for departure, taking their time – there was no rush to pack up after all, with no real desire to cross the border at any specific moment. Shimazu seemed to have recovered from the blast of magical energy, and was much closer to his normal self – though he still seemed to have odd moments of staring off into the distance, eyes unfocussed and his body becoming unnaturally still.
Their take-off was routine, and Marius soon had them skimming across the last twenty kilometres towards the border, flying a scant fifty metres above the ground. The terrain was flat and uncluttered, giving them almost nothing to hide amongst – but also pretty much nothing to hit either. Marius tried to find the slight changes in elevation around the rolling slopes that passed for hills here, making use of the occasional stand of trees or large barn to fly around or past, hoping to throw off any tracking or signal monitoring. The border itself seemed to have calmed down significantly – just one airborne sensor system on either side seemed to be operating, flying roughly level with each other a few kilometres to either side of the border. Whatever had happened earlier it was long gone now, and between his deceptive flying and the spirit's concealment they managed to slip across the border without incident.
The journey towards Crate City was still more than eight hundred kilometres long – and Marius kept their speed and altitude down until they were well clear of the border itself, only rising up and joining the band normally used for private planes and crop dusters when he had put fifty kilometres behind him. Cruising along at a thousand metres high though he could increase their speed and get a good view ahead, plotting his route straight across the UCAS to a turning point about thirty kilometres south of the city – Hunter had warned him that the smuggler stop was based in a city near a military base, and that base had a dedicated air-strip and facility just south of the huge complex.
The journey at least was mercifully uneventful, and several of the team dozed in the ninety minute trip – though not Aswon, who kept a close eye on Shimazu, always ready to engage him in conversation or just give him a reassuring smile. He didn't know what events had happened, but he was inclined to take Ehran's words very seriously.
About twenty minutes short of the destination, Kai pulled out the communicator and placed a call, listening to it ring half a dozen times before a female voice answered.
"Tomah Military Surplus?"
"Ahh, good evening. I'm on my way over to come and purchase some supplies. I just wanted to make sure you were still open."
"Yup, still open, will be for a few more hours yet."
"Great. That's good news – hopefully we'll be coming in to land in about twenty minutes."
"Land? You're not ground traffic?"
"No, airborne. We're a tilt-wing, about thirty metres square for clearance. Is that a problem?"
"Um… no, we can make that work I'll get some people to move their cars around though. Head for the employee car park round the back of the building – less likely to have some idiot park right underneath you."
"Thank you – we'll see you soon. Appreciate the help."
"Null sheen." The call disconnected from the other side, and Kai relayed the instructions through to the cockpit, getting a grunt from Marius in return.
As they came in on the final approach, Hunter spotted a small airstrip no more than two hundred metres from the industrial park that was their destination. It wasn't lit or manned, and in fact didn't seem to have a control tower at all. He couldn't see it on the map, though his map of the area was pretty low quality to begin with – but he made the assumption that it was for local traffic only, maybe even something like a glider club. Still – there was a chance of obtaining fuel from there, which they were in definite need of!
Swooping down lower they cleared the edge of the airfield, crossed a quiet industrial road and entered the large warehouse district, soon spotting the Military Surplus store – a massive warehouse built out of several adjoining smaller units. Flying over the top of the warehouse Marius transitioned to VTOL mode as he circled the employee car park once to size the area up. As promised, someone had moved all the cars to one corner of the car park, leaving plenty of space for him to set down in.
As he dropped the aircraft down neatly into the space, his sensors picked up a lone person, leaning against the wall next to the rear door. A heat source glowed for a moment as the figure took a deep drag on their cigarette, then faded as they let their arm fall away from their face. Seeing no cause for alarm, Marius turned his full attention to the landing, setting them down gently and neatly lined up with the white lines painted on the carpark. Sure – he filled up more than one spot, but it was the principle of the thing – nobody was going to accuse him of a messy landing.
Hunter watched as Marius reached for his armour vest and heavy pistol as soon as he'd taken care of the shutdown procedure.
"Worried about the smuggler stop?"
"No – I am worried about the zombie sitting in the back. I have no concerns about the smugglers."
"The others weren't worried?"
"They cavort with demons and spirits on a daily basis, and are barely trustworthy at the best of times. I saw the readout – they put the med-scanner on him, and it said he was dead. Now he is alive, or claims to be. That is not natural." The end of his sentence was punctuated by the sound of the slide on his pistol racking forwards as he chambered a round. Only when he'd slid the pistol into the holster did he unlock the cockpit door and move into the rear section, keeping an eye out for Shimazu as he did so.
Shimazu was already outside though, walking with Aswon and Kai towards the building. The smoker appeared to finish his smoke break and headed back inside while they were crossing the car park, without saying a word, but the door had barely closed before it was pushed open again to reveal a middle-aged woman wearing combat trousers and a plain green top with a mass of orange hair atop her head. Flashes of light revealed rings and bracelets aplenty as she headed over to meet them, reflecting the harsh white lights positioned around the car park.
"Hi, how are ya?" She spoke quickly, and the words seemed to be somewhat clipped and abrupt – they weren't sure if it was a regional accent or personal to her, but it made her speech rapid and a little difficult to follow.
"Hi there. I'm Kai – I take it we spoke on the phone earlier?" He got a nod from the lady, then continued with his introductions. "This is Aswon, Shimazu, and just getting out of the bird are Tads, Marius and Hunter. We understand this is 'crate city'?"
"Not exactly being subtle landing with that thing are ya?" She waved a hand at the tilt-wing, sending a ripple of motion through her bangles and chains.
"Well, sure, it's an aircraft and they only get so subtle. But we do try to blend in, mostly. But we're just after some supplies and some fuel, then to head off and get out of your hair."
"Supplies I can cover. Fuel you probably wanna go to the airport. Course, it depends what supplies you want, too."
"Well, we're always in the market for supplies. And some supplies are better than others. We're hoping that we're going to find some interesting things. We got the details for this place from a friend of ours, Iceman66 up north. We did him a favour, and he recommended we stop here. And he seems to get on ok with our decker." Kai waved back towards Hunter, making the gesture cover the whole group at the last moment to avoid tying it down to one person.
"Yeah, he's ok. So ka, we can do some biz I'm sure. Come on in."
"Do you have anyone that smuggles up towards Anchorage?" Aswon asked. "We have some things to deliver to Iceman66 but we're heading east now."
"Sometimes land trains go up that way, but they're all legitimate transports and traders, honey. Ain't no smuggling here…"
"Of course not. I'm sure Aswon was only joking." Kai gave him a pointed look, before turning back to their host. "But if anyone is making the trip up that way, we have a few chips, very small, that we'd like to get to Iceman66, and we're willing to compensate someone for carrying them, of course."
"Well, come on inside and have a look around." She opened the door and led the way into the massive warehouse, filled with industrial racking from floor to ceiling for the most part with a few larger areas full of crates and bulk containers. Overhead lamps provided slightly uneven lighting, casting shadows in places, and the whole warehouse had a peculiar smell – a musty wet fabric, with undertones of blood, gas, mud and unwashed crotch. Aswon took a big sniff and probably didn't realise that he looked almost homesick for a moment, while Hunter also seemed to have a mild flashback to some other place and time.
"Yo'all have a good look around for what you need. Anything you can't find, holler." Despite her statement, the woman didn't appear to be moving away far or heading off to go and do anything else. Kai looked at her for a moment then gave a minute little shrug and plastered on a smile.
"Ok folks, shopping time! Let's see what we need… you have a look around. Now then – could I possibly get the contact details for someone at the airport? I'd like to try and get some fuel…" Kai and the woman chatted for a moment, while the rest of the team started to wander off and have a look around, apart from Marius who announced that if fuel was coming he'd wait by the aircraft. Kai passed over the contact details of 'Jeffers', once he had them, and Marius called to arrange for a fuel bowser to come and refill the tanks.
"Kai – the fuel will be here in about ten or fifteen minutes. The man seemed a little surprised to be coming here and filling our tanks, but not disturbed. I would estimate that this is not common, but also not the first time he has been asked for this service."
"I'm going to head back to the aircraft as well," Tads announced. "This looks like it's not going to interest me that much, and I'd rather get some more design time in on the formula I'm working on." The two of them headed out, leaving Kai to shuffle after the main group as they started to work around the warehouse. It seemed that Crate City had contacts or suppliers all over the world – there were second-hand uniforms and equipment from more than thirty different armies and another score or more of old uniforms from corporate security forces. Some of them looked as new or were in packages marked up as 'seconds' or 'manufacturing faults', some were clearly second-hand and a few had battle damage – either patched and repaired, or in a few cases showing the bullet holes and staining indicating it had been pulled off of a combat casualty.
The place was a treasure trove for things military and survival based. There were uniforms in just about every colour imaginable, including some that would have delighted the most colour-blind banana republic dictators, there were sleeping bags, tents, cooking stoves, rucksacks, daysacks, patrol sacks, sacks, bags for putting sacks in, ropes in diameters ranging from shoelace to heave lines for aircraft carriers, fuel cans, water bottles, mosquito nets, electrified mosquito nets for when they just wouldn't quit and you were pretty sure you weren't a restless sleeper, electronics of vastly different kinds ranging from tactical backpack radios to low powered training lasers for wargames, and in one area of the cavernous space there were ejector seats with one careless owner, spare bench seats from a variety of trucks or military vehicles, whip-antenna from dune buggies, spare wheels and other vehicle parts that might be needed for some kind of restoration project.
Aswon started to collect some of the smaller survival gear items, concentrating on things they'd had and used over the last year, or that they'd have made use of in some circumstances. Several times they saw him dither over something and grudgingly put it back or pass by, muttering about a lack of space on the tilt-wing. Once he'd amassed an armful of stuff, he started to pass it off onto the others, giving him more room to collect things. By the time he'd got the second armful, their host wandered off for a minute, returning with a large shopping cart to give him somewhere to dump the stuff. They threw in survival blankets, some purification tablets, collapsible containers, flares and a flare gun, some simple medical supplies, rolls of para-cord and a host of other small items that the tribesman felt the team 'couldn't be without'. Kai added a night-vision scope that took his fancy, and Shimazu found a fine grade whetstone and some oil that came in a neat little kit that would help him maintain his sword. That inspired to Aswon to look further – and sure enough found a specialist stone that would handle the ceramic blades they'd picked up back in Iran without damaging them.
Kai also found a large selection of arrows in the hunting area, and worked his way through the variety of offerings from lightweight aluminium shafts to cheaper plastic versions to the expensive and heavier titanium versions. Looking at the promotional material there was a range endorsed by a former Olympic athlete – though when Kai looked closer he could make out the photographic artefacts and imperfections that showed where the image had been manipulated.
"Where can we find ammunition and munitions by the way?" Aswon asked while Kai was examining the arrows.
"Over by the checkout – we keep the stock there, next to the guns and other weapons."
"And we'll find things like flash packs and grenades there?"
"Oh no. They're counted as illumination devices. Over there, Aisle Twelve." The woman pointed at the location, and they wandered that way, Aswon scooping up some more stock once he'd examined the materials.
"Hey look at this!" Kai pulled out a package about the size of a suitcase. From the effort it took to move it, it was clearly heavy, but Kai seemed remarkably happy to have found it. He grunted and swung it around, showing them the picture on the front, displaying a rigid inflatable boat roughly five metres long and about two wide. "Self-inflating boat! I wanna get this. Someone give me a hand, will you?" Shimazu shook his head slightly, but headed over and nudged Kai out of the way before lifting the package up and into the cart with barely a grunt.
"Why do you want a boat? And where are we going to store it?" Aswon looked at Kai with confusion on his face. "Do you know what, never mind. I'm sure if you tell me, it won't make much more sense." Instead he turned towards their host. "Is there anywhere nearby where we could purchase fresh food – real food that is, not soy?"
"Expensive tastes, huh? Well, there might be a couple of stores in the middle of town with a few bits, but you're not going to find much, not round here least." Aswon nodded, having his suspicions confirmed – the town was not that big, and probably not that affluent, so the chances of there being a demand for real food rather than vat-grown or synthesised product was never going to be that high. He thought about explaining that it was to give Tads some variety, but before he made a decision he saw Kai ease over towards her.
"So, this lot is great of course, and we're going to purchase all this. The question is – where's the good stuff. The special stuff. Is there an area behind the counter, let's say?"
"Lemme see your cred. Then we'll discuss." Kai fished out his certified cred-stick and passed it over, watching as she slotted it into her portable reader so she could check the balance. The display lit up after querying the stick and running through the crypto settings to negotiate with the device, displaying the total – 330,199. She didn't seem either impressed or dismayed, but gave a satisfied grunt and returned the stick.
"Let's head over to the counter…" She waved to one wall of the warehouse and started to lead the way, while the shopping party ambled along behind her, pushing their trolley full of gear and keeping an eye out for the things they wandered past, just in case.
Outside, Marius had been waiting just outside the aircraft, standing in the cool night air and just checking over the outside skin and systems, running his hand down the seams between panels, doing a visual inspection of the landing gear and buffing the covers over the sensor pods to remove the build-up of dust and debris that inevitably gathered due to static charge from the electronics within. He heard the sounds of an approaching engine in plenty of time, and was positioned to wave and catch the attention of the driver when a battered pickup truck eased around the corner towing a large fuel bowser. Making a circling motion, he directed the truck around the bird to the refuelling port, ducking down under the fuselage to meet them there.
"Hoi chummer, you after some gas?"
"Ja. JP-8 or equivalent, about nine hundred litres."
"Sure, no problem. Payment in advance though, I'm 'fraid. Don't know ya and all."
"That will be no problem." He switched frequencies and called Kai. "Kai, I need the credstick for thirty seconds to pay for the fuel. I will meet you at the door." He listened for an acknowledgement then turned his attention back to the man. "My captain is coming with the credstick. He will meet me by the door."
"No worries buddy, I'll come over with you, I got ma scanner with me. So, you're from uur-ope huh? Ain't never been to uur-ope."
"I am from Germany, yes. But I have travelled extensively."
"I ain't never heard of extent sively, let alone bin there. Ain't travelled much, really. I'm Jeffers by the way."
"Marius." Marius examined the man, looking for signs of sarcasm or humour, but his face seemed to convey only genuine curiosity. Marius thought about explaining, but decided to stay mum. A moment later Kai appeared, and they ran the credstick through the reader, Jeffers laboriously entering the data on the keypad until the machine deducted just under six and a half thousand Nuyen for the fuel.
"Everything ok?"
"Yes Kai. I will attend to the fuelling, and wait here for you to finish." Kai nodded, the headed back in, scurrying over to catch up with the rest of the team.
"So, I ain't never seen a bird like this before. She sure is pretty. Do you get good mileage?"
"Ja. It is a very fuel efficient design. Exceptional even – we have a range of nearly two thousand kilometres."
"Whooo-wee, that's pretty slick. Course we get all sorts here, but mostly dusters and transports. Some of them are rough and ready, and not much to look at, but they get the job done. Lot of Cessna 42s of course, good solid bird. You ever flown a 42?"
"I have not."
"Solid and reliable they are, handle well in bad weather. Don't care if it's sunny or a storm, they'll just keep on trucking. Say, your bird have them fancy auto-wipers? They just come out on the latest 42s, but I ain't so sure about them."
Jeffers continued to blather away while he set up the hoses and started the fuel transfer using his ancient and very lethargic pumping system, asking all manner of inane questions and talking about some bizarre systems – yet Marius didn't mind. Clearly his education was lacking, but he appeared to be quite adept and proficient in a 'hands on' fashion, and had plenty of practical knowledge about aircraft – certainly he pointed out some features of the tilt-wing that indicated the even though he probably couldn't explain the physics or aerodynamics behind a feature, he knew that it was a good design. He also just seemed incredibly laid-back and without a malicious bone in his body, finding a silver lining for any comment or situation.
Back inside, Kai caught up with the team as they approached the long counter set up against the wall of the warehouse, finding the team examining the rows of racked rifles secured in cabinets against the wall and the well-lit glass cabinets displaying a variety of handguns and boxes of ammunition next to the tills.
"So, most people call me Khaki." Their host leant against the counter, hands on her hips. She let her gaze flick over the team one by one before returning to Kai. "Your rep – well it don't seem bad, though there ain't much I heard about you. But nobody warned me off 'bout you, so that's summat. So what you boys after?"
"Well, some high-grade firearms or ammo – especially ammo would be good. Electronics gear maybe. It depends what's available."
"And where y'all heading?"
"Well, overseas as a final destination. But we're heading east, probably to New York and then working our route from there."
"New York huh? Well, that's interesting. So, listen – I don't know, but like I say your rep ain't that bad – so perhaps we can do some biz. If you're interested."
"Yes, we're interested." Kai smiled and adjusted his body posture and language to 'polite but respectful curiosity' and waited. Khaki pulled out a scanner of some kind and aimed it at the team, playing the device up and down as she ran it across them in an arc.
"You got comms on? I'm picking up a signal, encrypted bursts from each o'ya."
"Yes, we have our tactical sets on, so we can communicate to our pilot and the rest of the team outside. We can turn them off if that's a problem, or if you'd prefer?"
"Yeah, let's just keep things verbal."
"Guys, we're going off comms for a few minutes, just discussing business. Everything's cool." He turned off his comms, shaking out the ear bud and putting it into the charging pod to top up, and gestured for the rest to follow suit. When they had all taken their comms equipment off or out, Khaki ran another scan and then nodded in approval.
"Leave the trolley there, I'll get it rung up for you. Follow me." She walked to the end of the counter and lifted the flap, then beckoned them to follow her through the end of the staff area to a large doorway that had a blanket or cloth hanging over it. Pulling it to one side revealed another large warehouse space, full of racking and even more supplies. They dutifully moved through the doorway and she let the blanket drop, then slide closed a heavy door to further seal the portal. One more quick check with her bug and signal scanner, and she seemed satisfied.
"So, like I said I don't know you, and we ain't done biz before, so trust ain't a thing. But I checked with Icy'boy, and he said you're ok with him, so let's give it a go. It just so happens I got some folks over New York way with a need for some ammo that I got, and if you guys are heading that way, well it seems like a good fit. But I'm after selling you my stock, and you selling it on when you get there – and that don't leave me out of pocket if you just disappear into the wild blue yonder."
"I can understand that, and that works for us. What is it we need to carry?" Khaki waved them over to a pallet sitting on the floor at the end of one of the racks, pulling off a poncho that had been draped over to cover a whole bunch of ammo containers liberally stencilled with military IDs and markings.
"A whole bunch of hot jackets. Got about a thousand kilos here, and a contact in New York who's crying out for me. I'll sell it to you for fifty-six large, you should be able to sell it to him and make a good profit, even after your fuel costs."
"Hot jackets?" Kai enquired.
"Armour piercing rounds, Kai." Aswon clarified. "Hot jacketed rounds are technically those with more powder and thus power, helping improve penetration, while APDS have a special construction designed to defeat body armour. But it's a well-known street name for any round that will defeat protective systems."
"Oh, ok. Then sure, we can sort this out. Presumably you'll give us the contact details of your man in New York, and we'll contact when we arrive, arrange a meet and sell on the cargo to him directly ourselves, then."
"Yeah, It's Don Guisseppe's organisation, but I'll doubt you'll meet him – much more likely one of his junior 'business managers'. But as long as you're cool, it should be null stress."
"Ok. Deal. We're in."
"And do you have any more of this ammo? It's the kind of thing we're after personally.
"I might have some more squirreled away – what kind of calibre we talking here?"
"Well, we've got a couple of accurate 12.5mm weapons, and a rapid fire 12.5mm gun mounted on the aircraft or drones. We've got a 20mm portable cannon, grenade launchers, then the normal mix of pistol and SMGs chambered in 9mm for personal defence. Some high power 5.56 for longer range work. That kind of thing…"
"Let's have a look then, see what we can find you folks…" Khaki took them over to several different rack units, pulling open storage boxes and rooting around with several different options for ammo and equipment. She had a set of tactical comms units that looked to be of very good quality – current military issue, their encryption was much stronger than the sets in use by the team, but the cost was on the north side of sixty thousand, and desirable as they were, that was a little steep. They did manage to secure thirty rounds of armour piercing ammo for Hunter's assault rifle, a tray of improved offensive grenades that replaced the stock used up fighting the horror and some capsule rounds for the sniper rifles – heavily reinforced to survive the punishing action of firing from the large weapon but capable of delivering a liquid payload over a kilometre away. The last item she dug out was a huge box of assault cannon rounds.
"These are interesting. Super-explosive frag rounds. Sorta like a combo explosive head and anti-personal grenade. Only got ten rounds of these bad boys, but it's not a common weapon system. So if you're interested?" Hunter didn't know what they were or how they functioned, but they had 'super-frag' in the name, and he was pretty sure that they'd be impressive to see used against his enemies, and he nodded emphatically. Khaki smiled at his enthusiasm.
"Ok, let's get this stuff on a trolley and go add it to the rest and work out your bill."
"Just one moment, if we may?" Aswon pointed to the pallet of APDS ammo they were supposed to be transporting. "I'd just like to check a random box if I may. Like you said, we don't know each other…." She nodded, and Aswon headed over to the pile, lifting up three boxes and selecting one from the middle of the pile, then another from the end, before opening both and examining he contents. He might not be able to do a full check on the ammo, but both the random boxes selected opened exactly as he expected, revealing the glistening shape of the armour penetrating rifle rounds, neatly laid out in small cases inside. He nodded to Kai, and the team moved their loot through the doorway and back into the main warehouse so they could ring up everything on the till.
A few minutes later and sixty-thousand Nuyen lighter, they had their supplies loaded onto a pair of trolleys and were pushing them out to the tilt-wing, Marius dropping the back ramp to allow them to try and slide the heavy ammo crates straight up into the cargo space. The small diameter wheels on the trolleys made that a risky proposition, even with Shimazu and Hunter to push, so they started to unload some supplies and pack more carefully, accepting that it wasn't going to be a quick piece of work. About half way through, they heard the sound of another engine approaching, and had managed to hide or cover all of the illegal supplies before the nose of the police cruiser eased around the building. It swung around slightly sharper when it saw their tilt-wing, flicking the lights onto the highest setting and momentarily blinding them – but they could imagine the officer inside wondering how to handle this one. A moment later the lights lowered again, and the car crept closer, pulling off to one side a little and easing to a halt.
"Um Khaki – just wondering. Is there…a police benevolent fund in the city perhaps? An organisation that looks after those hard working and public-spirited essential workers who risk so much? I was just wondering if a donation might be in order?"
"Hah… No. But there is a mayoral re-election campaign that would surely love your support!"
"Are you running to be the mayor?"
"Nope, I'm happy here, running ma business…"
The police cruiser stopped and a middle-aged man climbed out of the driver's side, an average height and build man with brown hair just peeking out from underneath his Sheriff's hat. From his uniform it appeared that he was in the city police force – almost unheard of these days, where most cities had farmed out their police services to Lone Star, Knight Errant or one of a handful of other multi-national security companies. But not this place it seemed. His brown uniform was smart and still had a well-defined crease in the trousers, and as he walked towards them he smiled, revealing a gold implant that was replacing one of his front teeth.
"Friends of yours, Justine?"
"Yeah, some new friends from out of town. They're just loading up and getting ready to leave – but Kai here says he wants to contribute to the mayor's re-election fund."
"Well, ain't that mighty kind of him. Let me just grab my reader." He ducked back to the car and grabbed his cred-reader and wandered over to Kai, then held out the reader as Kai keyed in a thousand Nuyen donation and authorised the transfer. "On behalf of the mayor, I'd like to express my thanks to you sir. You have a good night now!"
"No problem – I'm sure the mayor will make very good use of this and help keep the city secure and thriving." Kai looked and sounded sincere, and the sheriff nodded at him before turning back to Khaki.
"Who's cooking dinner tonight?"
"Can you? I'm still gonna be here a while."
"Allrighty then, but you get to wash up, and it's gonna be messy. I'll see you at home later." The sheriff winked at them, then turned and headed back towards his car, starting it up and pulling around in a tight circle to head back out of the car-park and disappear around the corner.
"Well, I'm glad that didn't get uncomfortable. So, we're nearly finished loading – I'm just wondering what kind of flight plan you might suggest to New York, or if there's anything we need to be wary of?"
"Hey, not my department. Ain't nothing to do with me – that's all on you. Look, I passed the contact details on, it's up to you now. I don't know what route you should be taking, and I don't wanna know. What happens outside the store ain't my concern. You sort your shit out and I'll sort mine."
"Ok, fine – I just wanted to check. Well, thanks for your help – and we'll stop by when we're next over this part of the world."
"Y'all fly safe now."
With that, the team boarded the aircraft again and Marius started up the engines, running through the full pre-flight checklist.
"Kai – what cargo did we take on? Sensors show us being considerably heavier than before."
"Yeah, sorry – forgot to mention. We've got a thousand kilos of ammo in the back that we're taking to New York, along with a bunch of personal supplies. Problem?"
"Not now I know. I will adjust the trim. Ensure they are well strapped in, I do not want that kind of load shifting around in the back if we have to manoeuvre sharply."
"Not a problem." Kai felt them lift off, Marius moving carefully and making sure the load was actually secure before he started to change the angle of the craft and pick up speed, heading east once more for the six-hundred-and-thirty-kilometre journey to Detroit.
"Marius – have you got a rough ETA for Detroit?"
"Approximately twenty-two forty-eight, assuming no unforeseen diversions." Kai looked down at his watch and checked the time, seeing it was just after half past nine.
"Ok – so about one hour fifteen or so. I'd best get on the phone to our contact there and warn them we're coming in. Can you send over the details of whatever transponder we're going to be using. Assuming we are using one?"
"Ja – if we are heading directly into the city, especially a city like Detroit, then we must have one. It will be considerably harder to try and approach by stealth, and more likely to be actively dangerous NOT to be on their radar."
A moment later the transponder flicked into operation, squawking a code they'd not used on the continent at all yet, and Hunter shunted the details over to Kai's commlink. Kai pulled up the virtual calling card and directed his assistant to pull out the contact details and contact the number. It rang twice, and then a bland and very non-committal voice answered.
"Logistics department. Do you wish to book an appointment?"
"Yes please. My name is Kai, and I was given this number yesterday, and told to call and make some arrangements."
"Just checking. Oh – I see. And when would you like to book an appointment for?"
"We're actually on our way to Detroit at the moment. We're about an hour and a half from there."
"I see. And how will you be arriving?"
"We're flying in – our craft is just under twenty metres long, with a twenty five metre wingspan, including the rotors. Eighteen thousand kilos weight."
"Ahh – a tilt-wing then."
"Yes, that's right." Kai wasn't sure how he'd determined that, but he didn't see any advantage to concealing the information. "We also have photo-voltaic paint, so we can change to match a particular colour scheme if that will cause less issues or help with any booking-in process."
"Then please head for Windsor Airport, co-ordinates 42.275, -82.958. Tower frequency is 113.27. Please approach in standard Ares livery, but make your logo colour bright red instead of the normal colour. We will have a car to meet you at the airport."
"Ok, got it. I guess we'll see you in a while."
"Thank you for booking with Ares. Have a pleasant night." Kai was about to return the entirely empty pleasantry but the line went dead before he could speak. Instead he relayed the instructions to Marius and Hunter, letting them worry about the route and the camo-skin requested.
"Ok, Detroit's main airfield is to the west of the city, that's pretty extensive – looks like at least four runways in excess of three thousand metres, support for both semi-ballistic and sub-orbital flights. So we want to swing south and circle round that – stay well clear of the airspace there. Ahh, here it is – it's just south of Lake St Clair, only one runway, but it's paved and still over two thousand five hundred metres long. Looks like it used to be a commercial airport, but it's showing as mostly Ares flagged vehicles or subsidiaries now. Suggest you come in about fifty clicks south of the city, head up towards the lake and then turn west to come in for final on runway two-five. Regardless of wind-speed you've get plenty of runway to use, and it keeps you clearest of the heavy traffic."
"Roger that, Hunter. Feed me the course when ready."
They flew east across the former state of Wisconsin, flying a snake-like course that gently bent around major settlements and any corporate presence they were aware of, keeping low and relying on the radar absorbent materials, stealthy design and the guarding spirit to keep them off the sensors of anyone they flew over or past. They had a moment of consternation as they headed for Lake Michigan just north of Milwaukee, when a police chopper and escort drones rose up out of a housing estate before them. Marius threw the bird into a hard turn, diving for the deck and sliding down an avenue that was thankfully quiet at this time of night, shaking windows and setting off car alarms as he put some of the taller commercial buildings between himself and the police presence. It seemed though that it was just coincidence, rather than an active attempt to hunt them – perhaps the police had been responding to an incident and just decided to take off at that moment. They didn't know – but it was clear within a minute or two that they were not being pursued as they crossed the shoreline and streaked across the lake, leaving a huge travelling v-shape in the water behind them.
Just to be sure Marius turned due south for a few minutes, moving off their base course and adjusting to plot a new route to the south side of Detroit. The second half of their journey was quiet though, with no more surprises to interrupt the three hundred kilometre journey. They hit Lake Erie closer to Toledo than Detroit, staying well clear of the Metroplex airport and then slowly bent their course north, crossing some densely populated suburbs and massive hydroponics facilities until they saw the huge sparkling jewel that was Detroit laid out ahead of them.
"Tower control, this is Tango November One-Eight Whisky Tango Foxtrot, requesting clearance and vector."
"Whisky Tango Foxtrot, clearance granted, runway two-five, turn at beacon Lima One Seven, two thousand descending four seven one point six seven metres per minute , visibility good, wind four knots at fifteen."
"Roger that, beacon Lima One Seven, two-kay descending, Whisky Tango Foxtrot out." Marius felt his spirits buoy a little – it was nice dealing with professionals, and it was going to be surreal coming in for a 'normal' landing that wasn't next to a cliff, or on a glacier, or balancing on some magic rocks that had been created only a moment ago or some other crazy situation. Just a nice, long, straight, flat, smooth and beautiful bit of concrete… He flicked over to the navigation map, and keyed in for beacon Lima One seven, spotting it just over thirty-eight kilometres out from the runway, just on the other side of Lake St Clair. A quick bit of mental maths showed that this would put him on a near perfect three degree glide slope, down towards the runway.
"Whisky Tango Foxtrot, we have you passing Foxtrot one seven, at four four five metres, glide slope is good, ILS is green. PAPI should be in sight. Call the ball." Marius gave an internal snort – the tower controller might have been ex-military, but more likely he had delusions of grandeur. Either way, he could see the red and white lights on the runway indicating he was precisely on the glide slope, and he radioed back.
"Roger that, I have the ball. Passing four-fifty, descent steady, eight thousand to threshold." The tilt wing flew on, angling down smoothly and Marius touched down on the runway ninety metres past the threshold, right in the centre of the touch down zone, his centre wheel hovering over the exact centre of the runway. With a runway this long he didn't even need to try and reverse thrust, just gradually reduce power and let air resistance do the rest.
"Tower to Whisky Tango Foxtrot, proceed to taxiway Kilo, turn left and head for hangers via Sierra, Romeo, Delta. You are cleared to cross runway three zero, no other departures at this time."
"Roger tower, Kilo, Sierra, Romeo, Delta, cleared to cross three zero. Good day." Marius blinked as he disengaged the rigger interface, more than capable of controlling the taxi with minimal computer support, and made sure he wasn't transmitting to the tower as he called through to the rest. "Landed fine, we're being directed down a taxi-way to a hanger on the far side of the airport. No further info at this time."
It took a few minutes for them to idle down the concrete taxiway, following the airport markings and crossing the shorter strip that angled up to meet their own to the west. When they arrived at the large strip of hangers they saw a single limousine waiting outside one, with a smartly-dressed man studying his commlink. As they closed on his position he looked up and held his commlink up, as if comparing a picture, then nodded. He gestured towards the hanger, indicating they should head that way, and then pulled out a remote control of some kind, triggering it. Moments later the huge doors to the hanger split and started to open, letting brilliant white light spill out in the dark evening. As Marius rolled forwards he could start to see a number of other aircraft inside the hanger, all variants of the Ares TR55C. It was comparably to their own aircraft in size and shape, though the standard Ares version was kitted out with the soundproofing and aesthetics common to other passenger aircraft, along with the comfy seats, in-flight entertainment systems and other comforts that the average passenger had come to expect. On the other hand, they were about as stealthy as a brick, and you'd have a hard time running a friendly border in one, let alone a hostile one.
Ground crew inside the hanger waved them over to a large bay marked on the floor with hazard tape that appeared to have been cleared for them, and as soon as they were in position and the engines shut down, wandered off – having no interest in the foreign aircraft now that it was safely stopped. The man from the car had stopped a safe distance away and stood waiting for them, hands clasped together loosely in front of them. Mirrored shades covered his eyes, and he gave the impression of being prepared to wait as long as it took for the team to disembark.
"Come on then, let's go find out who this guy is."
"How we handling this, Kai?" Aswon gestured towards his rifles and other weapons.
"Let's go discreet. We were invited here, let's not abuse that. And if they want to take us out, I doubt we can do much to stop them really. So we might as well be stylish."
They disembarked, carrying nothing heavier than a pistol or taser for their ranged weaponry, with Aswon taking his extendable staff and Shimazu carrying his sword. As they climbed out of the door, the man by the car gave them a very plastic and fake-looking smile while staring in their direction. That seemed to be the only indication that he was there for them, so Kai led them over.
"Good evening, I'm Mr. Johnson."
"I'm Kai. This is Shimazu, Hunter, Marius," he swapped to the other side of his body and gestured at the remaining team members, "and this is Aswon and Tads."
"Excellent. Please, follow me, and I'll get you transferred to your destination." He opened the two rear doors of the limo, ushering them inside. "If you'd be so kind as to ensure any blades or equipment are carried in hand, to avoid damaging the seating, I'd appreciate it." He stared pointedly at Shimazu, watching as the bodyguard undid his belt buckle and slipped the scabbard loose, transferring it to his left hand.
They sat down inside on the sinfully soft and accommodating leather seats, looking around the inside of the limo. A small mini-bar was set into a central console, with the seats arrayed around it, along with a small pile of material on the centre table. Mr Johnson closed the doors behind them and climbed into the front passenger seat, then activated the intercom.
"Thank you, and I hope you're all comfortable. Now, we are heading for a secure facility, so I'm afraid there are a few things we need to cover. Unfortunately as you're not Ares or subsidiary staff, we do have a security protocol. On the table in the centre are a number of hoods. I'm afraid I have to ask you to don one each. I hope you're able to comply – it's more comfortable than having to use the gas system, and will leave you much more clear-headed."
Hunter stared at him for a moment, then leant forward and grabbed a hood, pulling it down over his head. Once he was hooded, he leant back and relaxed – then accessed his internal cyberware and turned on his GPS receiver. The car didn't seem to have any active jamming and was picking up the signal just fine. Inside the dark cocoon of velvet, he shook his head slightly in disgust… amateurs.
Marius followed suit, and Kai was reaching for a hood when Tads shook her head and put on her 'stubborn' face, making Kai's stomach fall.
"We're not going to be able to do that – not without a problem." She grabbed the mask and looked at it, pulling it open with her hands and checking the opacity. "Yeah, this is no good." She looked up at Mr. Johnson who was frowning at her. "Sorry. One of our team recently had… an experience. A very bad experience. He's likely to react VERY badly to being in the dark and feeling alone. It's Not. Going. To. Happen."
"Ahh. I see. Unfortunately our protocols are quite strict."
"There must be some way to do this. Can you not render the windows opaque both ways?" Aswon asked, tapping at the glass. "That seems like a simple solution."
"I don't think we can do that. That is a good idea though!" They saw Mr. Johnson make a quick note. "Oh – how about if we put a light in the bag. Would that work?" He looked hopefully at them, and watched as Tads turned to check with Shimazu. He shrugged uncertainly – he had no idea at all.
"We can give it a go. I'm sure you'll be able to tell if it's not sufficient soon enough."
The Ares employee directed them to reach into one of the concealed compartments in the back of the limo and pull out a tablet, and Shimazu held it up to his face as it turned on. Stirring music started to play as the Ares logo appeared, the screen lighting up as the promotional reel started to run. Tads gently pulled the bag down over his head and the tablet, leaving it only a short distance in front of his eyes, only just in focus – but lighting the inside of the bag up.
"I'll be right next to you. Squeeze my hand if there's an issue." She laid her hand on his thigh, just resting it there but trying to give him reassurance and comfort with her presence. Aswon shuffled slightly closer on his side, making his body press up lightly against Shimazu's from that side, giving him another point of reference.
[Welcome! Welcome to Detroit, home of Ares Macrotechnology! Over the next few minutes, sit back, relax and let us tell you about all the ways the Ares family can enrich your business, your leisure and your personal life. Ares – working for a better tomorrow.]
The rest donned their hoods, listening to the marketing spiel as it rolled out, slick voices reading their carefully crafted scripts in time with a finely crafted score, extolling the virtues of the Ares corporation and its subsidiary firms, who were apparently the driving force behind all that was good, and just, and worthwhile, unlike those other mega-corps who all had devious and evil plans and were up to no good. The hyperbole ramped up as they were given a whistle-stop tour of some of the Ares portfolio, outlining the technological advancements that were being made and how it improved the quality of life for everyone that would just put their faith in the company…
Hunter tried to drown it out and ignore it, concentrating instead on his private channel to Marius, describing the route as they made their turns through the city.
"Leaving airport…route 42 westbound. Corner of Walker Road, turning north onto Walker. Passing Foster Avenue. Turning left onto expressway, heading westbound. Past first interchange. Turning north at second interchange, now on route three heading north. Heading for the bridge – yes, definitely on the bridge over the river. Gah – ok, this is a horrid junction – I think we're on the 75 north. Maybe the 96 – can't tell. Ok, 75 it is, bearing east now. Turning, turning… yes eastbound. Past first interchange again. Now turning south, puts us on the 375… and turning eastbound again. Running alongside the river on Jefferson. Ok, turning south now, heading back towards the airport – but heading over the MacArthur bridge onto an island. Ok, slowing, turning into a building, unmarked on my map. Ready for co-ordinates ? 42.33466, -82.99549. Feels like we're stopping."
"Please remove your masks, we've arrived!" They pulled off the hoods, looking out of the windows at the featureless underground garage the limo had stopped in, lit by overhead striplights. The walls were standard grey cermacrete, wiring trays hanging from small wires screwed into the bare ceilings and scuff marks on the bollards near the exit ramp showing where people had taken the turn a little too wide in the past. "Now, if you'll head over into the corner over there, into the door marked broom cupboard. It's likely to be a tight fit, but when you're all inside, close the door and just twist the corn broom in the corner to the left."
Mr. Johnson got out, and moved around to the side to open their doors for them, ushering them towards the corner. He took the tablet from Shimazu's hand, and waved them on, waiting by the car and smiling at them reassuringly. Kai led the way, figuring they were in so far they might as well carry on, and opened the door to reveal the square room with a small sink in the back corner, neat shelves full of cleaning products around the sides and a selection of other miscellaneous cleaning supplies neatly laid out. Shuffling in, he made as much room as he could for the rest as they followed him inside. Aswon had to tilt his head sideways, his hair squished against the light fittings still, and they were all uncomfortably close as Marius pulled the door closed behind them.
"They had better not be…." His voice cut off as Kai twisted the corn broom, feeling some kind of mechanical linkage attached to the end, concealed in the bucket below. The room dropped, and all of their stomachs rose as they experienced a sensation almost like free-fall. A second later Hunter felt his GPS signal drop, followed by every other external feed or radio signal, before losing his link to Marius as they entered some kind of jamming or interference field.
"…messing us about!" Marius finished, the words coming out a little sharp as they slowed abruptly, suddenly pulling about two gees. "Well, clearly we are underground, and from the speed of that journey, quite far." The door swung open, revealing a large corridor built into an octagonal shape, heavy reinforcement buttresses jutting out every few metres. A man wearing a lab coat was waiting for them, hands holding onto his tablet just in front of his waist.
"Good evening. Please come this way to get registered. This way, this way, thank you." He gestured them over to a desk where a clerk took their fingerprints and optical scans, issuing them with an ID card on a lanyard as each was scanned in turn. A pair of guards stood back against the wall, holding their assault rifles across their bodies, but watching them carefully as they submitted to the ID process. "Excellent, thank you, thank you. Now, very important, keep the IDs on you at all times, at all times. Make sure they're visible, or you will be stopped and challenged. This way now! This way, this way, thank you…"
He led them off down the corridor to a T-junction, turning left and leading them into another corridor that looked identical to the first. Colour coded pipes ran overhead, along with a bundle of cables in overhead trays that were as thick as Shimazu's body, and the occasional door was now set into the walls at irregular intervals. Each had a mag-lock reader and optical scanner next to the door, along with a barcode that seemed to indicate room number or some other identification feature.
The corridors looked to have been assembled in sections, bolted together or sealed some way and then the joints reinforced with extra material – every so often they spotted a heavy blast door that was formed in and around the corridor, designed to come crashing down at a signal and separate the base off into sections. All of these blast doors were warded, at a level that made Tads and Aswon exchange glances – whoever had set this up had spared no expense, as the wards here were just as strong, if not stronger, than those on the tilt-wing.
They walked on, further into the base which seemed – extensive, to say the least. Marius started to keep track of the barcodes as best he could, and he didn't spot any repeats, so it didn't appear that they were being led in circles or otherwise toyed with. More corridors branched off down the sides, and they passed some sets of double doors as opposed to single doors, indicating either freight or bulk movements.
They crossed another junction, and both Tads and Aswon glanced down the corridor, as they had with many others – and saw… nothing. An eerie void filled the corridor in astral space, a sucking maelstrom that seemed to devour the light and texture around it, disappearing into something that couldn't be seen. They both staggered, causing the team around them to stumble and stop. The strange void seemed to call to them, sucking at their will, trying to draw them in closer.
"Ahhh, umm – that's quite uncomfortable!" Aswon exerted his will and stopped his perception of the astral, then raised a hand to his nose as a tiny trickle of blood oozed out. "I think you have a problem down there. There's… well, I don't know what it is, but it's consuming the astral space around it."
"Oh dear. Oh, that's not good." He tapped on his tablet for a moment, then raised it up closer to his face. "Operations – this is Doctor Novak, at corridor 47 Delta. It appears we have a containment breach. Please send in a clean-up squad." He signed off, then lowered the tablet again. "Now, move along, move along – quickly now. Let's clear the area and move away! Quickly now!"
He ushered them on, around two more turnings and then stopped at a door that seemed as unremarkable as all the rest. Leaning over the optical scanner he let the machinery authenticate him and then swiped his access card, before holding open the door and ushering the team inside. They moved in and found a small medical suite, the kind of room used for preliminary triage at a hospital or for doing minor surgery at an out-patients clinic. A few hard plastic stools were tucked under the bench at one side of the room, while a couple of terminals hung from the wall, their screens dark and quiet. Inside was another figure, also dressed in a lab-coat, studying some material on a third terminal at the desk he was sitting at. On the screen was a high quality picture of the team coming out of the lift, with the shape of Marius clearly bracketed.
"Ahh – here's the patient! Excellent!"
"What? Nothing was explained to us? What do you mean?" Aswon folded his arms and planted his feet a little wider apart, looking down at the man. "We were just told to come here for a meeting, not for medical treatment. Though if you have any aspirin, I'll take some – I've got a headache from looking at the thing in that corridor back there." The new doctor glanced over at their escort and they saw him mouth the word 'containment' and get a nod in return.
"I see. Of course, let me just get you some painkillers. Here." He rummaged for a moment in a drawer and pulled out a large bottle of Ares Pharmaceuticals branded painkillers. Aswon grabbed a few, then passed the bottle over to Tads, throwing the gel capsules into his mouth and swallowing them whole. He glanced down into the drawer and saw it was quite well stocked.
"Have you got any anti-coagulants? Asking for a friend…"
"Anti-coagulants? Of course, I have some…" he reached into the draw and held some up, then glanced at Aswon with confusion. "Why would you need anti-coagulants for a headache?" Aswon snatched the bottle of drugs and passed it over to Hunter before the doctor could take it away.
"I did say I was asking for a friend – nothing to do with me. Now – do you have any anti-venom for snakes?"
"No!" The doctor slammed the draw shut, locking it quickly and looking over at Hunter. The orc smiled at him, lopsided grin and pockmarked face twisting into a grizzly visage, and there was no sign of the bottle of drugs. The doctor decided not to press the issue,
"No. Now, please sit down." He gestured to the lab stools, ignoring the fact that there was no way the two stools were going to go around the six of them. "Now, I've been told to complete a medical workup on the patient here, to confirm that he's ready for surgery and implantation. I assumed you knew exactly why you were here!"
"No – listen, we had a meeting with Damien Knight the other morning," Kai said, in a casual matter-of-fact voice, "and he passed on the details to us – well, he didn't personally, of course, he told his assistant to, and it was him that gave us the card. But Damian Knight told him to do it, and was standing there – so anyway, Damian said to drop in and come and see you, but we didn't get to discuss the details. We were doing him a favour, see… or well, actually we were doing someone else a favour, along with Damian. Look – it's complicated, but your boss told us to come, ok?"
The two doctors boggled at the casual mention of their CEO and Chairman discussed in such cavalier terms, by a man who apparently considered himself on first-name terms. They could almost see the political ratchet tighten as they wondered who the visitors were and what connection they had with one of the most powerful men on earth, who had apparently authorised the trip personally. Suddenly their demeanour changed somewhat, becoming less prickly and hostile, and considerably less impatient.
"Ahh, well, of course. Maybe Mr. Knight didn't want to reveal the details in a public place. Well, we have a short presentation you can watch…." He turned on the monitor on the wall facing them, then accessed his terminal, sitting motionless for a few seconds after he connected his datajack as he searched through the Ares computer system for the right file. "Here you go – this should answer your questions."
The presentation played, detailing in dry, technical terms the process for implanting the Ares Actuator processing unit – a trademark term – to interface with the Ares Nervous System Motor Control system – another trademark term – to form the basis of the motion accelerator system. The science started to get more complex, then, going into the detail of some gene therapy used to allow greater symbiosis with implanted hardware specially built for the host system, optimising throughput and connectivity. Tads, Aswon and Hunter were lost after the first thirty seconds, just recognising lots of medical jargon and the occasional pretty graphic illustrating some point, while Shimazu struggled along for a little longer before he found himself horribly out of his depth too. Only Kai and Marius seemed to be following along, at least at a superficial level.
The presentation ran for about ten minutes, getting more and more advanced as it went, until it mercifully came to an end.
"So – there you have it. That's the surgery that's been approved – assuming of course that we find no compatibility issues or medical problems. And for that we need to perform a full workup." The doctor pulled open another drawer and passed over a pair of surgical gowns. "So, if you can slip out of your clothes and into these, we can get started!"
Marius took the gowns with deep misgivings, still thinking about what he'd seen. He turned to face the doctors.
"I already have some bioware installed that accomplishes at least part of what you are trying to achieve here. Or what you state you are achieving. I am not sure that any further implants would be compatible or useful."
"That is why we must scan you of course – to determine such things. But we have a very comprehensive regime that has been very effective so far!"
"It looks like it's some kind of super advanced reflex booster, Marius. At least from what I could tell…"
"I know what it was Kai – I was watching!"
"Oh right. Just wanted to make sure." Kai turned towards the doctors. "Well, glad that's cleared up. I take it we'll get a copy of the data afterwards as well?"
"And if you're doing any kind of surgery, I take it that you have qualified medical staff and magical healing on hand to deal with the aftermath?" Tads demanded.
"Of course! Of course we do. All situations are covered, all eventualities foreseen. It's very thorough! Now, come along, let's get you changed and off to the imaging suite, so we can make a start. It's likely the tests will take several hours, so the sooner we start, the sooner we can finish. Come, come!"
"Might as well go along with it, Marius. At least you get a health check out of it!"
Marius grumbled but started to strip, sliding the pair of gowns on, front first then the back, before neatly folding up his clothes and placing them with his pistol on top next to Hunter on the shelf at the back of the room.
"Keep an eye on that stuff, will you?" Hunter nodded to him, and the newer doctor gently steered him by the elbow back out into the corridor and out of site. Dr. Novak sat himself down at the recently vacated terminal and swung around to face them, then steepled his fingers below his chin.
"Now then, this is, as indicated, going to take some time. So it may be worth getting comfortable, hmm?"
Kai checked his watch – a little before midnight – then pulled out one of the seats and parked himself on it. With a quick glance to Aswon, he turned back to the doctor, put on his winning smile and then gestured to the door.
"So – does that mean you do have anti-venom in your catalogue?"
