ABC - Penance

It was just over two hundred klicks in a straight line from Spitfeld to Camp One, at least as the VTOL flies.

Going by road, even using the big, wide ones the Board had built to connect the isolated pockets of civilisation, was closer to three hundred and fifty kilometres. Ghost had plotted us a more indirect route, taking us along the coast for a bit then diving inland.

Overall we would be covering nearly five hundred klicks, right at the limit for my bike’s batteries without a top-up. However, once we left Spitfield and it’s not-so-bright lights behind we effectively dropped off the grid. The roads we chose had minimal camera coverage and little traffic, giving us a chance to spot anyone tailing us or approaching with some warning.

Our plan was to ride until we hit Iron Gully, a small fishing port on the eastern coast about four hours away, then follow the main road into the centre. I had visited Iron Gully only once before, chasing down a lead on a felon who was trying to get a smuggler to take him out of the Zone.

If the guy had been smarter he would have picked a bigger place to hide out in like Port August. In a small community like Iron Gully, a single stranger gets noticed and there is always someone willing to call in for the reward.

Ironically, it was the girlfriend of the smuggler who had called us. Turned out the reward was bigger than what her partner was making from the deal, so she thought she was doing him a favour. Last I heard the girl had skipped town for Port August and the smuggler had gone back to fishing for a living.

The roads rolled by under our wheels, the summer air cool and pleasant as we covered the distance. We chatted occasionally, Ghost and I, using our helmet earpieces and microphones, mostly about when to turn next or how far until I was allowed a pee break.

We stopped once at an all-night diner about halfway to Iron Gully, following the coast now and able to smell the salt air on the breeze. While I hobbled to the ladies room, Ghost ordered us coffees and sandwiches from the solitary owner and cook.

The coffee was hot and strong, a perfect beverage for our road trip. I ate my sandwich, a tasty mix of melted cheese, fake ham and fresh tomatoes while leaning against my bike, idly watching the sparse traffic zoom past.

Back on the road again, we raced like electric demons past abandoned beachside houses and small towns, few showing signs of current occupation. Much of the Zone was like this, same as could be found across the world. When the Virus had hit, so many people had died and the survivors clumped together, valiantly trying to keep civilisation going.

When this continent had first been found by Europeans, they arrogantly proclaimed it Terra Nullius – the empty land. They conveniently ignored the local Aborigines and took the land for themselves. After the Virus had run its course, Australia had nearly become an empty land in truth.

The fauna and flora had thrived in the absence of humans, overtaking the abandoned farms and towns, filling the vast suburbs with new life. If ever there was a case to prove the Virus had been man-made, it was in how only humans had been affected. Even the Primates, so close to our own gene code, had been spared from infection. In time, Humanity had bounced back like the unkillable cockroaches we are. Yet much of the land was still empty, with only the wildlife in attendance.

A trio of young Wallabies bounced into the road ahead of us, appearing like grey phantoms in my headlights. I swore and wove around the suicidal animals, hurling insults at the dumb creatures even as I prayed Ghost didn’t hit them.

He rode through their hopping group like the Ghost he was, barely having to adjust his speed or direction as he zipped past. Undeterred, the kangaroo-like creatures continued their journey on the other side of the road, barely aware of how close to death they had come.

Further up the road my headlights picked out the rotting remains of one of their larger cousins, a big grey Kangaroo, festering on the verge. Hitting one of those would be catastrophic on our bikes and I started keeping a closer watch on the tree line that bordered the road. A wrecked car was a little further on, stripped off any useful parts, testifying to the damage that roadkill could cause.

Iron Gully township, East Coast of the Zone

We arrived at the small seaside town before midnight, cruising at a sedate sixty klicks an hour from the coastal road into the main strip. Ghost was in the lead with my smaller bike following in his slipstream, nursing my remaining battery charge.

The town was quiet and mostly dark, only a few lights showing in the houses as we rode past. In the town centre we encountered signs of life, with the main road brightly lit and a few inhabitants staggering out of a bar to their homes. One end of the road terminated in a long pier, fishing boats and some pleasure craft bobbing at their moorings.

In the other direction the road headed inland so we turned that way. It wasn’t far until we located a twenty-four hour fuel station and diner at the outskirts of the town. The parking lot was empty but for a pair of electric scooters positioned right at the back, near the kitchen doors. I assumed they belonged to the staff, visible inside the brightly illuminated interior of the shop front and eating area.

I parked next to the recharging bay and hooked up my bike. Ghost rode his hybrid machine to the Hydrogen bowser and commenced refuelling his tanks as well. My bike would take a good twenty minutes for a fast charge so I motioned to Ghost that I would be waiting inside. He nodded in reply so I took my helmet off and ambled in the front doors.

“Evening” called out a chirpy looking young man behind the counter. “Welcome to Iron Gully. How can I help you tonight?”

The kid was enthusiastic, way too much for a sour old bitch like me but I mustered up a friendly smile in response.

“Recharge on the bike and whatever Liquid-H my friend is loading up” I replied. “Plus two coffees, no sugar” I added.

“Sure, coming up” the kid answered and went to tell his colleague in the kitchen. I wandered to the eating area and picked a table at the rear. From here I could watch our bikes and the front door, with a solid looking wall at my back.

I had my phone out when Ghost came in, having left his bike still parked at the bowser. It wasn’t likely there would be someone else needing the spot before we left. He sat beside me, both of us facing outwards, looking like a whole lot of trouble I bet.

The kid didn’t seem fazed, bringing us our steaming coffees with a cheery grin. If he wondered at our surly dispositions and heavy biker clothing he kept that off of his face.

“Anything else, guys?” he asked us as he set the drinks down. I felt Ghost turn his head to me, waiting for my response. It had been a while since I had been mistaken for a man and I felt inside of me for a reply. Judy stirred a little, looked at the young puppy face in front of her and decided to let it go.

“No, that’s it for now” I answered evenly. He gave us both another happy smile and headed back to his counter. I waited until he was out of earshot then turned to look at my partner.

“Not one word, Ghost” I grumbled to his flat and expressionless face.

“Copy that, sir” he replied. “Not one word”.

Bastard.

=====

The coffee was good I discovered, if a little stronger than I liked. I added some long-life creamer from a disposable packet on the table, stirring it with my finger. Then I opened my contact list on the phone and called Georgia. She answered on the second ring.

“Hey girl” she greeted me warmly. “Are you at your destination yet?”

“Nah, just taking a recharge along the coast” I replied. “I wanted to see if you had any hits on Victor Kamarov from the street cameras”

“Nothing so far but let me double check” Georgia said. The line was silent for some seconds then she came back to me all flustered. “Oh shit, Luisa, I am so sorry!”

“What’s happened?” I called out, loud enough to make Ghost half-draw his pistol and the serving kid to jump in alarm. I waved Ghost back into his chair while I focussed on Georgia.

“The Sentries I set on the camera servers, they’ve been cloned” she answered me, anger underlying her soft spoken words. “Someone has stealthed up on my code and shut them down, leaving clones in their place. No wonder I wasn’t getting any hits from the cameras!”

“You mean another Net Diver has done this?” I wondered. “They spotted your Sentries and replaced them with duplicates?”

“Yes” Georgia agreed. “That is a pretty slick piece of Diving to take out my code without sending me an alert. There aren’t too many Net Divers here in the Zone that could pull that off”

“I see” I answered her. “Any ideas who might have done it?”

“A few, but I am surprised they would tackle my code” she answered thoughtfully. “They know what kind of reprisals that will bring”

She put me on hold for a couple of anxious minutes then came back on the line.

“The bad news doesn’t end there, Luisa” she told me. “That Sentry I left on the tracing program, that one running on the BOB drive in Port August”

“Cloned as well?” I guessed.

“Uh-huh” she admitted guiltily. “They could have been tracing you all along without me knowing. I am reinstalling my Sentries now, using a modified stealth routine of my own. I’ll leave the clones in place, so hopefully they won’t realise the deception has been uncovered”

“Okay, thanks Georgia” I said, feeling quite deflated. I looked at my phone, the traitor that it was, wondering whether to activate the kill switch Georgia had installed. I lifted the Judas back to me ear and spoke to my friend.

“I’ve gotta go now” I said. “I’ll contact you again tomorrow some time”

“Okay. Luisa” Georgia replied. “Stay safe”

“Of course I will” I lied to her and disconnected the call.

“Bad news?” Ghost asked me, draining the rest of his coffee.

“Yes” I confirmed. “But not unexpected. I knew Victor had a Net Diver watching over him, I just hadn’t thought they were better than Georgia”

Ghost had heard me sing the Changed woman’s praises before and he frowned at my words.

“Who could beat a Pre-Cog?” he pondered aloud.

I could think of only one thing that could outsmart and out-Dive my Georgia. The thought of it left me with a cold feeling in the pit of stomach.

“One of the AI’s” I answered him. “The question is, which one?”

=====

I paid the happy young guy at the counter for our recharges and coffee, then Ghost and I hit the tarmac once more. This time we followed the road out of Iron Gully, heading inland on an almost due West line. The road was newly resurfaced and rose gently upwards as we aimed for the central highlands that ran down the centre of the peninsular that the Zone occupied.

I let Ghost take the lead, his enhanced eye and reflexes making him an ideal pointman for the night’s ride. We had seen another wrecked car on the outskirts of Iron Gully as we rode out, a victim of suicidal fauna it seemed. I had no desire to add my wreckage to the roadside monuments that adorned the Outback. With Ghost up front I would have enough warning to dodge any killer Kangaroos that hopped into our path.

We kept our speed just under the listed limit of one hundred klicks an hour. There was a good five hours until dawn so we had plenty of time to cover the remaining distance to Labour Camp One and its attendant town, Unity.

Like all officers in the Police Auxiliary I had attended lectures on how the Camps were operated, but I had never been to one. Either as a visitor or an inmate, though it had been a close call with the Review Board late last year.

The camps were big affairs, boasting a thousand or more inmates for Camp One and close to ten thousand for the less dangerous facilities like Camp Three and Four. They were overseen by officers of the Warden Corps, affiliated to the Police Auxiliary yet with their own command hierarchy. Some Wardens left their service and became Police Auxiliaries, while other Police joined the Wardens.

Relationships between the two services was generally amiable, as exemplified by the unofficial motto of the Warden Corps: “They find ’em, we mind ’em”. They had a proper motto too yet no-one ever quoted that. It was too boring and full of words like “security” and “dependability”, crafted by a corporate think-tank for an extortionate amount of Pandas.

Each camp was overseen by a Head Warden, working in concert with a Limited AI linked by Quantum Network to Archimedes himself. It was kind of like the situation in Pan City, where the human Board of Governors were officially in charge but everyone knew it was the AI that really ran things.

As we rode our bikes through the sparsely occupied countryside, I wondered about the raid that Tubbs had told us about. It would have taken an exceptional Net Diver to overrun the Limited AI at Camp One, taking control of the PCD’s and the automated Gun Towers. A good Limited AI could probably achieve it, at least for the time it took to conduct the raid.

Georgia would be able to give me a better idea of who or what could have pulled off the hacking. Trouble was I had already drawn her too far into this case and I didn’t want her becoming a target too. Having people try to kill me felt like a weekly occurrence and that was not something I wanted for my beautiful friend.

It was lost in these thoughts, my eyes fixed on the tail-lights of Ghost’s bike, that made me miss the assholes coming up behind us.

Some kind of instinct made me turn at the last moment, sensing the sudden presence behind me. My helmet visor registered the dark vehicle, driving without lights and humming almost silently on its electric engine.

It clipped the rear tire of my bike, sending me off into the overgrown verge and nearly colliding with a road marker. Only the fact I had not been completely surprised by the attack let me hit the brakes and slow down enough before I plunged into the scrubby foliage.

Branches and vines slapped against my body and I was wrenched off the bike, tumbling to a stop about twenty meters into the surrounding bush. My bike flipped and crashed into a thicket of dense bushes, the headlights still shining into the dark trees that surrounded us.

I was dazed and hanging upside down in a prickly bush, the long thin spines sticking into me where my bike jacket had ridden up. At the road edge I could just make out a pick-up truck rolling to a stop, spotlights mounted on its roof top being swivelled in my direction.

“He’s in there” said a chirpy voice I recognised behind one of the lights that blinded me. “The bike is a bit further to the right, you can see its headlights”

There were only two questions I was thinking about at that moment.

One, how many times was I going to punch the fuel station guy’s head in?

And Two – where the fuck was Ghost?

=====

Two dark shapes moved towards me, only outlines against the spotlights that kept me lit up like a Christmas tree. I could not even tell if they were armed or not, which didn’t really matter much as I found I was stuck in the damned prickly bush.

I wriggled and cursed but hanging upside down I couldn’t get any hand or footholds to pull myself out of there. I heard the two figures approach me, talking between themselves and laughing as I struggled. At least one of them was female and I was sure the other was a guy.

That was fine, because I am quite Okay hitting Ladies and Gents in equal measure.

“Think we’ll get much for this one?” queried the woman once they arrived. “Looks a little short to me”

“Size don’t matter on the fishing boats” the man replied. “So long as he can haul in the lobster pots he’ll do”

I had thought maybe this crew were Salvagers, looking to take our bikes and equipment. Seems as though they dabbled in a little slavery on the side too, using captives to work the fishing boats. It was probably not a good time to tell them I was an Inspector in the Police Auxiliary. That would get me killed out of hand, if I was lucky.

“Hey, could you please get me out of this bush, please?” I spoke up, startling them. They didn’t expect their victims to ask for help?

“Cool, we don’t have to wake him up” said the man.

“Listen up dude, we are going to pull you out” the woman said to me. “Don’t resist and you won’t get hurt. Fuck with us and Charlie on the ute will put a bullet in your head, got it?”

“Got it” I agreed and let them drag me off the bush with only a few more cuts and scrapes. They set me onto my feet and after a momentary sway I was Okay. For a wild crash into the dark trees and scrub, I had come out of it with only minimal injuries.

How lucky am I?

Except I was now a prisoner of some human-trafficking Wreckers. Like in the olden days, when seaside communities would lure ships to their doom on the shore, then steal their cargoes. In this case they kept an eye out for one or two travellers like Ghost and I and used their vehicles to run them off the road.

My captors led me to the pick-up truck, which locals called a “ute” in the Australian manner. It was short hand for a Utility vehicle, an Aussie term which like all their language got shortened into the smallest version possible.

The spotlights were no longer being shone into my face, letting me see the vehicle had no-one in the front and two men standing in the open topped rear section. One was the young and chirpy asshole, the other was an older man standing with a rifle trained on my chest. I guessed he was Charlie and by the way he held his weapon he seemed skilled in its use.

“Kelly, go check the bike” Charlie said to one of my companions. The woman grunted an agreement and left my side, heading back into the scrub. That left me with three men, one of whom had a gun aimed at me.

“Pascal, tie him up” continued Charlie. The young guy tossed a pair of cable ties down to the man beside me and as he caught them I saw he had no weapons in hand. Time to let Punching Judy off the leash, before they trussed me up good and tight.

I stepped up to the guy, my hands held together as if I was going to be all nice and compliant. Poor sucker fell for it and reached for my hands with his left, still holding the cable ties in his right. As soon as he was in range, I lunged forward and grabbed him, pulling him around and putting his body between me and Charlie’s gun.

“What the fuck!” Charlie yelled. “Pascal you ass, get out of the way!”

Pascal was confused about the sudden turn of events and was trying to twist around to grapple with me. I let him turn around, but the dumb fuck hadn’t made any distance between us. He was still blocking Charlie and he was still in range of me. So I let him know why being close to Punching Judy was always a big mistake.

I channelled power into my fists and delivered a one-two punch from both hands, sending Pascal reeling backwards into the side of the ute. The impact rocked the vehicle and Charlie and Mr Chirpy staggered back from the edge then fell over. The rifle went off, a big boom and flash as it sent a bullet into the sky.

Without pausing I vaulted into the back of the ute, landing between the two men. I stomped down hard on Charlie’s right arm, focussing my Kinetic Enhancer into my boot. His forearm broke with a wet snap, eliciting a howling cry of pain from the older man.

Young and chirpy was getting back to his feet when I slammed my knee into his face, sending blood spraying from his busted nose. He screamed wetly and slumped back to the metal bed of the ute, sobbing tearfully that the whole thing was not his idea.

I was reaching for the rifle when Kelly appeared at the tailgate, brandishing a small pistol.

“Easy, short-stuff” she warned me. “Hands in the air where I can see them please”

She had the pistol braced in a two handed firing grip, legs well braced from what I could tell in the reflected light. Kelly looked confident in using the gun so I raised both my hands up, level with the side of my head.

“You must be Enhanced or Awakened I suppose” Kelly told me. “Either way you are too much trouble for us”

Her finger was tightening on the trigger when Ghost appeared at her side, his own large calibre Guard pistol pressed into her temple.

“Put the weapon down” he said in his best, flat tone. Kelly, to her credit, barely flinched and I could see her weighing up her chances.

“You’ll never make it, Kelly” I said to her, my eyes locked on hers. She nodded slightly and lowered the gun, which Ghost promptly removed from her grasp.

In short order we had the crew of four secured with their own cable ties in the bed of the ute. Pascal was still alive, however I warned him to see a doctor soon as he was going to be pissing blood from my hit to his guts. Charlie was passed out from the pain of his arm, which happened when I tied his hands together at his back like the others.

Sure, he had a broken arm, but that was his own fault.

“What happened with the lead vehicle?” I asked Ghost once our Wreckers were secured.

“I saw what they did to you so I evaded them” he answered easily. “It took me a couple of kilometres to deal with them and I got back here as soon as I could”

I looked up the road where Ghost had led them. Somewhere up ahead was another wreck on the side of the road. I wondered if he had let any of that crew live and then I pushed the thought aside. He had not said anything so I already knew the answer to that question.

“Okay, what are doing with these assholes?” I asked my partner.

“That depends” he replied.

“On what?” I countered. He looked to my bike, headlights still shining up into the sky from where it had landed.

“On whether you need a new ride”

=====

In the end I was able to wrestle my bike back to the road with the help of Ghost’s considerable strength. I checked it over and other than a few scratches and bits of branch stuck in odd places, my bike was good to go.

While I had been checking my machine, Ghost had been shining a light into each captive’s face and recording their images on his internal processor. He had also snapped their pictures with my traitorous phone, plus copies of the Idents he had found in their various pockets and wallets.

“What are you going to do with us?” Kelly had demanded from her seat on the ute floor.

“Well, my partner is in favour of snuffing you all right now” I had replied coldly. “Then we push this vehicle off the side of the road and set fire to it”

Kelly had gasped and the young guy, who I discovered was named Dylan Redmane and the younger brother of Kelly, had burst into tears.

“Or we leave you here until someone finds you” I suggested. “Then you go to the nearest Police Auxiliary station and hand yourselves in. We’d take you there ourselves but we have some other urgent business to attend to”

Kelly regarded me with pure hatred in her eyes. I was used to that kind of thing so I wasn’t particularly upset.

“What if we don’t?” she asked me.

“You will all have arrest warrants issued. I’ll make sure they specify you are all armed and dangerous individuals, which means they’ll probably shoot you instead of arresting you”

Kelly leaned back against the front cab and nodded her agreement. Dylan sniffled his acceptance too and I have no idea if Pascal or Charlie heard any of it.

Ghost and I went to leave and Kelly called out to me.

“Hey, one last thing” she said to me. “Are you really a guy?”

If I could rewind time, I would have let Ghost have his way and torch the lot of them.

“Fuck you” I answered and stalked away to my bike.