Unity by Carl Stubblefield (epub read online books TXT) 📕

Yuki pulled up a map and began pulling and swiping the air in front of her. Seeing Anastasia’s confused look, Yuki swiped a copy over to the other members of the group. “Here are the Faction’s schematics… and yes! There, if we go this way we can get there.” She tapped on the destination, marking the desired nav-point.

Darik squinted as he looked at his own display before stabbing a chubby finger midair. “Here. I’ve been here before.” He marked another point that populated the others’ displays. “I’m going to do this in a series of four jumps, I think that’ll throw them off. Each jump will get closer to one edge of the facility, and hopefully they’ll think we just left. They can’t track my jumps outside of the walls. But instead of going ahead, we’ll be going down. I really hope none of you had too big a breakfast, because I can pretty much guarantee one of you will throw up with that many jumps in a row.”

The group looked at each other. Yuki turned to Darik. “I don’t think any of us have eaten today. They act like they’ve forgotten about us, and didn’t bring anything up for breakfast.”

“That’s probably for the best. Everyone link elbows and face outwards. Yep, like that. Everyone ready?” Before anyone could respond, Darik opened a portal underneath them, which they fell into. They shot out of another portal vertically aligned, but in midair. “Hold tight!” he warned as they raced toward the ground and another portal opened.

Once again, the ring of supers was jolted in a different direction as the portal spilled them out. There was a loud *horrrk* and elbows tightened as another portal appeared. This one lobbed them slightly into the air before disappearing. The maneuver was calculated to bleed off their momentum and they were able to catch themselves as they lightly fell back to the ground, the mutual support keeping anyone from falling flat.

Artificial lights buzzed noisily in the large room. Elbows relaxed and there were assorted grunts and moans as everyone tried to stabilize themselves.

“Now I know why Grimdark hates those…” Yuki wailed as she wiped the corner of her mouth. Anastasia was whiter than her normal pale complexion.

“Thank you, I think you meant to say,” Darik griped. “It’s not like I can control how your stomachs respond to spatial translocation.” He scowled at the others as they tried to settle their stomachs, some spitting a lot, others coughing exaggeratedly, while the rest tried deep breathing.

“You did it, Darik, we’re underground. Thanks. Next time give us a little warning though, yeah?” Yuki asked, fishing a piece of gum out of her pocket. She waved the pack in offering, which most gladly accepted.

“It doesn’t help. It’s like ripping off a Band-Aid, lass, you just have to do it. The less time your brain has to process everything, the easier it is, trust me.”

The Crew followed the blue chevrons, climbing down two ladders until they reached a rusted door. Yuki pulled on it but could not budge it.

Rory tapped her gently on the shoulder and she stepped aside. A large pull and the knob crumbled in his hands. He then dug his fingertips into the metal by the frame and they sunk in as if it were soft clay. After a little digging, he reached in and pulled the door free from its corroded door frame. He did a courtly bow. “Ladies first…”

As they entered the room, the bite of ozone and the smell of hot electronics hit them like a wave. Despite the worn outer surface, the inside of the room must have been under negative pressure. There was no dust or cobwebs, but it was apparent this area was dated.

“Just what I need! This place will allow me to access the network, but it’s so flipping old no one will be monitoring this workstation. Look—half of these are analog! Can you believe it?” At getting no response from the others, she hurried on, trying out various adapters she had in a small case. Finding a blocky one that resembled a foreign outlet current converter, she slid it into a wide slit. Other contraptions, gizmos, and a laptop materialized from her zippered roll and she deftly connected them in a complicated series and began typing away.

“Just a minute, this will take a bit to connect… aaaand done. That’s going to take a bit to compile so let’s talk.

“I need to fill you in on what I’ve found. There are a lot of things, so it’s hard to know where to begin.” She puffed out a huge sigh. “Okay, first things first. Aurora, we’re going to need you to craft us some kind of jammers so that they can’t track us up on the surface. At first, I was surprised that they even could keep tabs on us. Then I worried we all were chipped without our knowledge. It’s nothing like that. The system uses certain biometric scans, like the way we walk, recognizing voice pitch and it gets collated in a computer processor in HQ somewhere. Is that too complicated a system to fool?”

Aurora thought for a bit, then replied, “I should be able to come up with something.”

“Good. I’ve checked records for the other members of the Crew. Prime and BoJack aren’t here with us on Faction property. I imagine BoJack is at the hospital with Gwen and Tempest, and I haven’t heard anything from Prime after Seneschal dropped her off. I imagine she’s going to go visit her daughter, and we do have a single address for an emergency contact.”

“Now that you mention it, where is Seneschal?” Darik asked.

“Get this—she’s been sacked! No more augments are allowed in the Faction anymore. They have already turned her out with an unimpressive severance package. Thanks, but no thanks. I tried to contact her but all messages are being rerouted through HQ as well. So don’t send anything through your comms! Everything is probably being read,