Up Against It - M. J. Locke [87]
“Confirmed.”
He hung up. The police officers had stiffened and were staring at each other in horror. They wore police radios; they must be receiving similar information to what Sean had just gotten. They both stood, knocking their chairs back.
“We’ve got to get back to our precinct,” one said.
“Wait!” Sean said. “I need you. I’ve got orders to take out transmissions in the Hub.”
“Sorry, sir, but our chief’s orders take precedence,” the other officer replied, “and we’ve been ordered to hightail it back to the station.”
Sean swore. “Give me your radios, then.” Communications—even the high-priority access Jane’s team had—might fail any minute. Police radios were powerful transmitters, and were a local system, not centralized. They would be harder for a sapient to hack. “You can pick up spares at the precinct.”
The two officers looked at each other. Sean had been deputized at a high rank. And he wasn’t the kind of man you said no to, not without a really good reason. They handed their radios over, and then bolted.
Sean put in a call to Shelley. As it went through, the city’s alarm system sounded. A calm voice on the loudspeakers started repeating a short message, directing people to the life shelters. People at the other tables looked around with confused expressions. The server behind the counter, a tall woman with big earrings and neon tattoos, took off her apron, folded it, and walked out the door. That started a stampede of customers pushing their way out.
Sean waved his young companions to stay, put in a call to Shelley, and stuck a finger in his unbudded ear. Shelley came on. Her image wavered and the signal crackled.
“Shelley, we’ve got a feral sapient in our computer systems, and it’s attacking the robotics.”
“I know. We’re under attack up here. I can’t stay on.”
“Understood. But I need warm bodies. Send me a six-member team. Right away. They should meet me in the Hub. I’ll be on a police headset—six-point-five nanometers.” As he was speaking, though, Shelley’s face faded and the crackling ebbed. SIGNAL LOST appeared in big red letters in his waveface.
“Shelley? Shelley? Goddammit!”
He put the police radio headset on, and set it to 36.
“Shelley, do you copy?”
He tried several times. Nothing. He turned. Geoff and his friends were staring at him, wide-eyed. Everyone else had already cleared out. In the street, people were running. The alarm still sounded.
“What do we do?” Geoff asked.
Sean glanced out through the windows. He could grab a couple of adults off the street, but it was very unlikely they would cooperate with his order. And even if they did, how could he count on them having a clue as to how to act in an emergency? Whereas he had seen these four in action. They were young, and had never fought before, but they were smart, fast, and strong. They worked well together. They kept their wits about them. And they were used to taking risks, operating in space.
He looked at their young, scared faces. There would be hell to pay later, even if he managed to get them all through in one piece.
Do what you have to, he thought. For the sake of the cluster. He had thought—prayed—that he was done with making those choices.
“The city is under attack from a feral artificial life form,” he told them. “I’ve been given a mission to stop it from escaping. I need help to do that. It’ll be dangerous, but we are all in grave danger while it’s in our systems. Will you help me?”
Geoff spoke up. “Count me in.”
“I’m in,” Amaya said, and Kamal replied, “Of course.”
“Hell, yes!” Ian said.
“Good. Follow me.”
* * *
They were less than a block from the Nee Spokeway. They headed there at a run, jostling through the crowds. Geoff decided Moriarty had ESP—telekinesis or something. He parted the crowds like Moses parting the Red Sea. More likely he just scared the shit out of everyone.
At the spokeway, Moriarty pulled his revolver, chased people out and commandeered a lift,