Quantum Cultivation by Jace Kang (simple e reader TXT) 📕

Chapter 33:

The Hacker

W hat little crime there was in Kyoto left plenty of forensic evidence, so much that the Peacekeepers were ill-equipped for interrogation when they had little information to work from.  Even so, Officers Kim and Martin had proven good at backing Aya into a corner with their questions.

She still held one advantage, though: they didn’t know who she really was, nor who Kentaro was.

Feigning defeat, she hung her head. “We’re members of a secret society.”

“What?” Both Kim and Martin nearly choked the words out in unison.

Aya laughed to herself. They hadn’t been expecting that. She looked up and met their gazes. “My boyfriend and I met Guru Ishihara in an EtherCloud gathering. He claimed to be the son of God, and spoke of prophecies.”

Both the interrogators’ jaws touched the floor.

“So far, they’ve all come true: first, about the Purebred woman who appeared at Honnoji Temple. Then, about the demons that would come forth and terrorize the city.” It was time to insert a few half-truths. “Those symbols Guru Ishihara created were meant to protect the people from the demons.”

Martin’s eyebrows clashed together. “How?”

“The power in the circles is strong. Don’t you see? The guru saved that man last night on Shijo Bridge.  He is righteous and powerful. May his light shine on you.”

The two men exchanged glances again, disbelief scrawled in their expressions.

“Um…” Kim wriggled his bent nose. “How many members of your cult?  I mean, society?”

They’d gone right where she’d led them. “Forty-two in Kyoto.”

Kim blanched. “Just in Kyoto?”

“Yes, and several thousand throughout the world, growing by the day as we share Guru Ishihara’s  prophecies and transmit footage of his heroic deeds. Even now, cameras are broadcasting his every action to our members. When you see it, you will understand.”

Martin tapped his ear. “Can you show us the feed?”

Got them.

“I need access to the EtherCloud.”

“Of course.” Kim produced a black cube—an EtherSpace bridge, which interfaced with his holoprojector.

Whose gateway was inside the Peacekeeper EtherSpace.

With a wave of his hand, he brought up a standard graphic user interface. They’d expect her to use that, but instead…

Kim tapped his ear, and his eyes widened. “Trouble. The boy and the Elestrae have escaped medical, and it looks like they are headed this way.”

“It looks like we will have to cut this short.” He reached for the EtherSpace bridge.

Before he could shut it down, she linked up to it through her own bridge.

The Japanese castle town had more Sentinels at higher levels guarding the main gates, but using Officer Martin’s bridge, she would appear as Martin to them—at least until she decided to switch to a Shell. She just had to get past the Level Nine Sentinels first.

Though her Avatar form couldn’t sweat or feel the nerves, her mind was racing. She drew closer…

They let her pass. For the first time in several days, she had entered the Peacekeeper EtherSpace.  Of course, no human user could move as fast as hackers with advanced SI; so she quickly switched her Shell to a Level Four Operator’s and darted to the observatory which represented the surveillance partition.

Inside, most of the human Avatars surrounded one particular telescope. Aya crowded in to get a better view.

Seventeen Peacekeepers were all levelling their weapons at the door to a stairwell…. The central stairwell on level…eight.

Her level.

They were coming for her.

If she helped them in real time, she’d be sitting in the interrogation room, staring off into the distance while Officers Kim and Martin wondered what was wrong with her.  Not only that, if Kim shut down the bridge before her consciousness escaped the EtherSpace, it would kick her out.

If she were lucky.

There was also a chance she could be trapped inside the EtherSpace. Like the most recent time she’d hacked in, she programmed a monitoring app, put it within the Shell of a human Avatar, and tethered it to her.  Then she jumped over to the hilltop communication network and found one of the channels Martin and Kim were listening in to.

Using her own voice, she said, “This is Captain Keiko Oyama. Officers Kim and Martin, hostiles are approaching your position. Leave the EtherSpace bridge connected.”

“Whatever for?” Officer Kim asked.

“Just do it. We are laying a trap for the cultists.”

Would they believe this nonsense?

“Yes, sir,” Kim said.

Like the last time she’d visited, she took control of the holoprojectors and created copies of Siena and Kentaro. In her tethered data stream, she watched as the stairwell door burst open.

Siena rolled in and sprang to her feet, shooting a gun in either hand. Her motions were like poetry as she leaped between incoming fire while simultaneously unleashing blue stun bolts. In a second, she was among the Peacekeepers. Aya sped up her perception to track Siena’s movements. Her opponents seemed to move in slow motion.

On the far side, Kentaro barreled in, now wearing a Peacekeeper jacket. Despite his horrific injuries, no blood seeped into the clothes. He darted in nearly as fast as Siena, driving punches into Peacekeepers and knocking them out of commission.

“Sorry!” he said as some teeth bounced across the floor.

He pulled back from another punch. “Oh, sorry about that rib.”

Each time, he was genuinely apologetic.

So in awe of their abilities was she, Aya had forgotten to engage the holoprojectors to create decoys. Apparently, she didn’t have to. In short order, all of the Peacekeepers had fallen, and Siena and Kentaro were headed this way.

The feed from her app in the surveillance partition showed that Martin and Kim were now rising to their feet, though Kim glanced at her catatonic form.

The general communications channel opened up, and Aya tracked the user.

Keiko.

Since Officers