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

He was glad he had not reformed the skin around his upper torso. Gus’ hands slid on the congealing blood that clung to his pulsing, exposed muscles, not finding purchase. He barely managed to slide out of Gus’ grip, but he could tell in his current state, Gus’ strength surpassed his own.

He blocked the blows that Gus threw at him, feeling their ferocity fully now that his suit didn’t absorb any of the kinetic force. He began to bleed more as capillaries burst and there was no skin to hold it in. Precious MP had to be funneled into healing to stop the bleeders.

Mengele had managed to keep his own feet clear of his own blood, while Gus himself became more coated in it, and had begun to lose his footing. Mengele retreated, feigning fear. Sometimes all it took was a little bait and supers lost all reason. Eager to press their advantage they would rush headfirst into the most obvious of traps. With another flash of his gray pseudo-skin, the blood rolled off of him and he stepped out of it onto the floor in front of him, entirely clean.

The meters ticked down, one-twenty-one, one-twenty, one-nineteen. At sixty meters, he should be close enough to trip biometrics. Gus loped after him, and the distance was being eaten up. Still, he was going to make it.

With a feeling of relief, Mengele stepped past the line visible only on his display. Scans began and Mengele stopped retreating. Gus paused as well, trying to ascertain what had changed. Just a little more prodding. His signature smug smile spread across his skinless face. He hoped it would still have the effect of goading Gus into attacking.

But maddeningly, no. He stood there contemplatively, his attention assessing the corridor. Shrugging, he turned casually and began to walk toward the Vault. Few could resist being dismissed as nothing. That should do the trick. He stopped mid-step when he heard the system announce:

Intruder detected. Scans inconclusive for authorized personnel. Evacuate this area in ten seconds, or retributive actions will be taken.

The system didn’t recognize Mengele without skin on his upper torso.

Oh shit.

Chapter Eighty-Two

Short Change Hero

“BoJack, how accurately can you pinpoint Gus?” Seneschal asked.

“I see a thin thread on my display when I turn in that direction. When I’m not looking that way, I feel an occasional tug.”

“That’s the first task. Let’s see if we can triangulate where he is. We get a reading, I travel due east two hundred miles and we take another reading and compare, then fine tune ‘til we arrive. Can you give me a heading with this thread of yours, or whatever it is you see?”

“It’s just a direction. I don’t even know for sure—”

“Aurora, can you design something that can fine tune his tracking? It’ll make this quicker if each reading is as accurate as possible.”

“I can try, I’ve never really done anything along those lines…” came the sheepish reply.

“It’s kind of hard to believe that you’re in charge of engineering, since your tracker and the scanning blocker didn’t really work out, ya know?” Harmony quipped to Aurora with a shrug.

“Not as hard as believing you’re the empath of the group, and that you’re named Harmony on top of it. Ironic, ya know?”

“Ah, daaamn!” Darik whooped, slapping a knee.

“Everyone stop it!” Anastasia rushed in between Aurora and Harmony as the mood shifted. “I’m sure we can figure something out, no need to turn on each other.”

Aurora spun and seated herself at one of the nearby tables and pulled components out of her kit. Her head bobbed as she looked at her display, pulling and swiping at the air in front of her.

I’ll show that hussy what’s what… she muttered unintelligibly as she connected a couple of components and tried arranging items in her virtual display.

“Yuki, I may need a bit of your help to interface this with BoJack; you up for a sync?”

“Show me what ya got.”

“…aaaand done! Try that, Yuki. It works in the sim. Your mileage may vary.” She handed a small contraption that looked like the guts of a small phone. “You can connect here.” Aurora pointed to a USB port.

“Wow, old school. Weird flex, but okay. BoJack, accept my party invite. Good. Here goes.” She held the compass interface in her hand and blinked. “Oh, that’s actually kind of clever. Let me make a quick adjustment… that should do it. BoJack, accept that widget.”

“Now wha—wow. That’s pretty cool. Seneschal, I’m getting a reading of ninety-five degrees,” BoJack said with wonder. “It’s jumping around a bit but that’s close.”

“Yuki, I’m sure you can triangulate with a couple of readings? Comparing our current GPS with the next reading?”

Yuki nodded as she chomped on her gum. “Then we can extrapolate his position, I get you. Yeah, and I can check satellites as well, and that will tell us something about where we’re heading and what to expect there. Hopefully, the satellite system is still as easy to hack as when I was twelve. Got current coordinates, thanks, Sen.”

“How long should that take?” BoJack wondered aloud.

“Five, maybe ten minutes?”

“You’re really that good?” he asked incredulously.

“You have no idea…”

“Got it! It’s close to Johannesburg, South Africa. Target is about fifty miles southwest of there. Change your heading to these coordinates.”

“Adjusting… ETA is four hours, thirty-seven minutes.”

“How fast are we moving? I don’t feel anything!”

“A smidge over Mach two. I love it. This is the smoothest ride I’ve ever had. The predictive algorithms for the dampers compensate for fluctuations in existing temperature, wind currents. Top shelf. Yuki, what’s it look like where we’re going?”

“Pretty obvious. It’s a huge hole in the ground.”

“A trap?”

“It looks like a mine. Hmm. The world’s deepest mine, deep as ten Empire State buildings…”

Darik whistled, impressed.

“I hate confined spaces,” Yuki pouted.

“This was partly your idea, Yuki…” Harmony reminded her.

“I know. But I still hate it. I can’t sit on the sidelines for this one. You’ll need me to hack the doors and security. I’ll be fine.