Steal the Demon: A Science-Fiction Novella by Robert Roth (free novels to read txt) 📕

“Who are you?” the engineer asked her impatiently. “What’s going on here?”

“Quickly, before–” Paradox started.

Kimiko lunged toward the engineer before Paradox could finish the thought. Reaching down, she pulled the stun baton from the quick-release, then depressed the thumb switch near the base just as she shoved the tip into the engineer’s chest. There was a soft bang as the baton released its charge. The engineer grunted forcefully as they were thrown back into the wall behind them, before slumping down onto the deck. Looking into the open compartment, Kimiko could see the rise and fall of the engineer’s chest, so she knew they were still alive. “That’s what’s going on here,” she muttered.

She glanced around the small compartment, which looked like a storage closet. There was nothing in there she needed, so Kimiko stepped back out of the hatchway, and the hatch slid closed behind her. Looking up and down the corridor, she saw no one else, so she went back across to the input pad and held her hand in front of it.

“Alright, let’s try this again,” she said with some urgency.

“Stand by one moment. Got it.”

The input pad flashed green, and the door slid open, revealing a security guard in a crisp, black uniform seated at the terminal inside. The guard turned toward the hatch to see Kimiko standing there, the stun baton still in her hand. As they opened their mouth to speak, she lunged, pressing the stunner’s trigger button just as she was about to make contact with their body. But the guard reacted fast, knocking Kimiko’s arm aside at the last moment, leaving the baton to discharge into open space. They tried to kick Kimiko away, but she let her momentum carry her past them, raising her hands to catch herself as she crashed into the far side of the small office. The guard spun on their stool, reaching for the blaster hanging at their hip. But Kimiko braced herself against the wall and kicked back, planting her boot into the guard’s chest and forcing them off their stool. She shoved off the wall as the guard tried for their blaster again, twisted around to face them, then kicked the gun out of their hand. As the guard fumbled around, trying to get to their fallen weapon, Kimiko flipped her stun baton up into the air, caught it with the tip facing down, and stabbed it down onto the guard’s chest, pressing the trigger button when it made contact. The guard shook violently as the stun charge coursed through their body, then fell back down onto the deck, limp.

Kimiko’s heavy breathing was loud in the sudden, quiet calm. Her thumping heartbeat boomed in her ears. She nudged the guard once with her foot just to make sure they’d been knocked out.

“Hurry, Kimiko,” Paradox said urgently. “I don’t know yet if that guard managed to send out any sort of alert.”

Nodding to herself, Kimiko collapsed her helmet as she set the baton down, then unsealed her belt pouch and pulled out the QED node.

“Set it on the interface on that desk.”

She found the interface section outlined in blue light and set the node inside of it. The input pad on the node started to flash in rapid pulses, and then the blue lighting followed suit.

“I’m negotiating access through the Net-Sec,” Paradox explained. “This may take a few moments.”

Kimiko’s breathing and heart rate were returning to normal, so she set about removing the Al-Zamani coveralls. They wouldn’t be necessary once Paradox was in the Net and subverting the station’s Sec-System. Once it was off, she folded the uniform, set it down on the desktop, then picked up the baton and attached it to her suit at the waist. She picked up the stool and set it back upright, then sat down on it and looked over the virtual controls projected onto the desktop in front of her. She selected one of the security cams, and the footage appeared in a window on the large, wall-mounted viewscreen. She began to cycle through the cams, continuing until she found the view of the shuttle bay. It was empty, which meant Ernesto was already gone. Good. If she did manage to get caught, they would probably still suspect his involvement, but at least he was no longer on-site, which gave him a headstart should Al-Zamani decide to take action.

The security cam footage suddenly started to flicker, and went black. Then the whole viewscreen did, too, followed by the virtual desktop projection.

“What’s happening, Paradox?”

There was an extended moment of silence before the hacker finally answered her. “The AI Sec-monitor fought my attempts to gain access, so I had to resort to more aggressive negotiations.” The viewscreen came back on, then the desktop did as well. “I am now in the system and in control. The Sec-monitor attempted to escape into the system, but I’ve neutralized it.”

“You killed it?”

“I don’t know that ‘killed’ is semantically the best choice–”

“Okay, okay, you neutralized it. Did you find the Shaitan control codes?”

“I’m searching for those now.”

Kimiko let him work and went back to monitoring the security feeds. She didn’t see any armed guards or bots scrambling to her location, so she guessed things were alright, at least for the time being.

“I’ve located the control codes. I’m downloading them to your interface now.”

“So, we’re cleared for launch, so to speak?”

“We are. I’ve scrubbed you from the security footage. I’ve also set a series of false security alerts on the far side of an adjacent section and dispatched the nearby personnel to investigate them.”

Kimiko smiled. Things were going really well. “You’re pretty greased up at this sorta thing, Paradox.”

“Indeed,” he responded, with maybe a hint of smugness. “You should get moving, though. I may have control of the station’s security system, but there is still the station AI to deal with, and it’s only a matter of time before it notices my presence. You need to get to your ship.”

Her ship. Kimiko