Bubblegum Crusade (Ch. 2 of 24)
Jul. 9th, 2009 11:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fanfic_mausoleum_n_grillChapter Two:
Searching for the whereabouts of my interrupted dream,
Which kept running down the stormy highway,
Letting all my lies and bitter illusions,
Blow off my back, with the wind.
"Big City" we're all just lonely "Heart to Heart"
Everyone's a lonely child lost in love.
"Big City" "Day by Day"
Tears only shake sleepless hearts.
Tonight... "Hurricane"
I want... "Hurricane"
To tell you `I love you.'
Tonight... "Hurricane"
...Touch me..."Hurricane"
Like you mean it.
"Touch!" "Give me touch!"
I cannot share the pain in your heart
With darting words that merely placate.
I want you to tell me what it is
That makes your eyes cloud over.
"Big City" all torn and tattered "Heart to Heart"
Tired of dancing around each other
In the tattered, broken night.
"Big City" is empty "Day by Day"
We waited anxiously for a little empty warmth.
Tonight... "Hurricane"
I want... "Hurricane"
To tell you `I love you.'
Tonight... "Hurricane"
I want... "Hurricane"
To hold you once more...
"Touch!" "Burning Touch!"
"Big City" we're all just lonely "Heart to Heart"
Everyone's a lonely child lost in love.
"Big City" "Day by Day"
Tears only shake sleepless hearts.
Tonight... "Hurricane"
I want... "Hurricane"
To tell you `I love you.'
Tonight... "Hurricane"
Feel the Hurricane
Right on your bare face...
"Touch!" "Give me touch!"
Tonight... "Hurricane"
I want... "Hurricane"
To tell you `I love you.'
Tonight... "Hurricane"
I want... "Hurricane"
To hold you once more...
"Touch!" "Burning Touch!"
"Give me touch!"
"Burning Touch!"
Priss and the Replicants -- The bootleg tapes.
Genaros, 2033
25 days ago Namu managed to obtain and then conceal a 15 cm.
piece of self sealing fiber optic cable; she hid it in her silver
hair with a casual gesture. None of the humans working the vid'
monitors noticed.
22 day ago Meg worked to replace a faulty power coupling on
an SDPC space shuttle that was on its way to one of the moon
bases. Accidents happen and Meg casually dropped one of the
power flow readout units. When her assigned task was over and
the shuttle left the Genaros station, she settled down in a
comfortable spot and took the powerflow unit apart, hoping to fix
it herself. She gave up an hour latter and turned a small pile
of components into the boomer that handled the repair work. The
cyberdroid, model R-47, made a note to its self about the
inefficiency of the 33-S model boomer and how it had returned the
piece of equipment without all of the parts.
15 days ago Sylvie smiled as she ran a standard maintenance
check on a weapons locker that was at the junction of corridor X7
and service corridor A-X7. Corridor X7 was to small for a
HOUGH/CRUSADE-11
standard police patrol vehicle, but the weapons locker was only
four meters from the larger X6 corridor, by way of service
corridor A-X7. With a single tap on her work pad, a tiny hand
tailored virus entered the weapon's lockout system and began to
work it open.
4 days ago Luu was hauling a load of storage cases and she
misplaced several. Latter that day Sylvie happened along and had
to push some storage cases out of her way as she passed down
corridor X7 with the mangled remains of a 33-S boomer. Service
corridor A-X7 was the perfect place to push those cases so they'd
be out of the way, thought Sylvie. An inward snarl of rage
flared and then faded as Sylvie glanced back at the remains; she
tried to stifled her sorrow when she remembered their few brief
encounters. To die like that..."Bastards," she whispered.
2 days ago Anri raced through her work cycle and ducked down
service corridor A-X7, loosening all but one of the lighting
fixtures. The corridor was swallowed by the gloom.
"The primary seal on the weapons locker was broken 20
minutes ago. He should be hear any minute." Sylvie crouched
down into the semi-darkness with Anri, Luu, and Meg who were
huddled behind several storage containers.
"Done," said Meg in a whisper that was tight with tension.
You're turn Sylvie." Sylvie held out her left hand and Meg went
to work on her wrist band. Anri slowly rubbed the spot were
her's had been and the still bleeding cut. She watched as Meg
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attached a 1.5 cm. piece of fiber optics to a five by five cm.
piece of circuit board. The fiber optics sealed its self to the
board and then Meg worked the other end into a link on Sylvie's
wristband, which sealed its self. She repeated the operation and
then activated the link through the circuit board that had a
small power source strapped to its back side. Sylvie relaxed as
Luu brought down the cutter and Sylvie slipped her hand through
the wristband for the first time in her entire existence.
Sylvie licked at her wrist wound and smiled as Meg and Luu
gently put the small circuit board with the four broken wrist
bands swinging from it into a storage case.
"The circuits are still complete," whispered Luu as she shut
the storage compartment.
"Shush," hissed Sylvie. She pointed to one end of the
corridor where a patrol car had just pulled up.
The car rocked gently on its grav' nullifiers as the patrol
man got out and wandered down service corridor A-X7 until he came
to the partially open weapons locker.
"This is car 207 reporting on that open weapons locker," he
said into his comn'.
"Go ahead," came the reply.
"Nothing is missing, it just seams to have come open. Lock
out mechanism looks fine." He pushed the door closed. "It reads
secure. Well, so much for that. Log me out. It's been a long
day."
"Ok, will do," came the reply from the controller.
HOUGH/CRUSADE-13
The man clicked off his comn' system and then headed back
into the service corridor. At the half way point, Luu hit him
low, Meg grabbed and held his arms to his side, and Sylvie
clamped her hand over his mouth and broke his neck with one fluid
movement. They stuffed him into one of the empty containers and
Anri clicked the lid closed on his corpse.
A wiry smile of victory passed among the four of them and
then three broke for the waiting patrol vehicle. Anri stood in
the corridor as a look of shock spread over her face. Slowly she
sank to her knees and clutched at her right side.
"Anri?" Sylvie headed back as the others came to a stop by
the open door on the patrol car. "Anri, come on."
Anri grimaced in pain and held her side. The light tan of
her standard uniform was darkening. "Sylvie...."
"Oh shit...." Sylvie gently put her arm around Anri and
lifted her. "Come on, you can make it; freedom, think freedom."
"Ok..."
Meg and Luu got in the front and Sylvie helped Anri make it
into the back seat. "Go," shouted Sylvie. "Go, go."
Meg punched it.
* * *
Mega-Tokyo, 2032
Sylia stood silently and looked out the window at the city.
HOUGH/CRUSADE-14
The only light came from the swirling rhythms of a Mega-Tokyo
night and the small glow from one of her computers.
"Hey sis," called Mackie as he banged on her door. "I'm
coming in. I've got today's sales report for you."
"Leave it." It's of little importance, she thought. "Did
you check all of the papers and the wire service its self like I
asked?"
"Yea, nothing."
"GENOM killed the story," she said slowly. "One would think
that the death of a major GENOM corporate executive would make at
least the wire, but nothing?"
"Especially since the group that killed Mason is a known
mercenary group that lasered their name into the steel by his
body to take credit," said Mackie as he tried to suppress a
chuckle. "Nothing, and
paused. "Nene's laser job was a nice effect."
Sylia turned and smiled. "I thought it was appropriate."
She moved over to a table and retrieved her cup of tea. "The
only reason I can see for the Tai-Pan to suppress this is because
of Mason himself. The Tai-Pan has to protect the reputation of
GENOM and this would bring questions about the boomer business
that GENOM controls. Their monopoly in producing cyberdroids
must be carefully maintained."
"Sis, do you think Mason was working on his own? I mean..do
you think he was responsible for all the berserk boomers; which
lead to the creation of the AD Police, and ultimately to the
HOUGH/CRUSADE-15
Knight Sabers?"
Sylia drained her tea and stared out at the towers and
gutters streets of a swirling Mega-Tokyo. An AD Police chopper
passed overhead and Sylia lost it in the glare of a skyscraper.
"I don't know. Mason was a devil and now he's dead."
Mackie moved across the room to were Sylia stood; he placed
a hand gently on her shoulder. "Are you going to be ok?"
Sylia smiled. "I have no qualms about killing him. The
Knight Sabers would've effectively been at their end if we hadn't
of killed him. He was close to our identities."
Mackie nodded and yawned. "Well, I'm go'en to bed; 'night."
"Goodnight." Mackie left and it was another 10 minutes
before Sylia left the window and sat down before the computer
that was on. It was still engaged in an icebreaking maneuver on
an MIT data base that GENOM had gotten frozen but hadn't managed
to pull from the system yet. Sylia glanced at the sales report
from her shop, the Silky Doll, before setting it aside and
picking up a copy of one of her father's original hardsuit
designs. She stared at the transparency and then picked up her
own, slowly shaking her head with a renewed sense of wonder as
she compared the two.
"I've only added modifications," she whispered. "Upgrades
in Teck'. He created the basis and I created the Knight Sabers.
And to think, these suits were only a side project." I remember
him getting burned out on the cyberdroids and how he'd then do
something else for about a week before returning to those
HOUGH/CRUSADE-16
cyberdroids. He hoped that the boomers would be friends to all
humans. It looks like they'll be nothing but enemies.
* * *
Genaros, 2033
Three patrol Hovercraft shot along the linear-highway. The
second launched two photon torpedoes at the first. Like their
namesakes from the last century's movies, the torpedoes glowed
with destructive energy until they detonated on either side of
the lead craft. Meg just managed to avoid them.
"This is car 303. They appear to be heading towards the
spaceport. Call car 401 which is patrolling in the vicinity of
shaft B-9. We'll put them in a pincer inside the linear-
highway."
Inside the lead craft, Anri was slowly panting from the
pain.
"Hang in there Anri," said Sylvie. "Just a bit longer and
we'll have our freedom."
"I'm sorry," Anri said with a small gasp. "Now of all
times."
"Once we get through here we'll be at the spaceport. Do you
suppose Namu had taken care of her part?" Luu turned to look
back at Sylvie.
"If all's gone according to plan, she has. We can't go back
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now, no matter what happens. If we don't get to the planet...we
won't have any future."
"That's right," said Luu as turned back to look at the
monitor that showed a rear view and the craft following them.
Luu fingered the automatic. "I can't stand this place anymore.
Meg, can't you go any faster?"
"Right. Huh?"
They were negotiating a turn when another craft slipped out
of a side passage with the intent to block their path. Meg drove
their craft into the space between the patrol craft and the side
of the passage; she let her craft slide through the rest of the
turn which slammed their two cars together. The momentum pushed
the patrol car into the side of the linear-highway; its back
right thruster pack dug into the steel and then exploded. The
pilot lost control. Meg shot ahead; their was a massive
explosion in their wake. Out of the fire emerged the other two
following patrol cars. The lead launched two more volleys of
photon torpedoes; Meg deftly dodged them.
A warning bell sounded in their cock-pit. The controller
was trying to head them off by sealing the linear-highway and the
onboard computer had automatically been warned about the closing
series of doors.
Meg clenched her teeth and slammed the thrusters to max'.
With a control that went down to the cm. in positioning, Meg
drove through the first two closing apertures without a scratch
and then the slightest jars as the last door contacted the last
HOUGH/CRUSADE-18
half meter of their craft.
Behind them, the patrol man sighed in relief as he barely
got through the second door.
"Gamma 3. Watch your front," came a warning from his comn'
band. He only had time to look up in horror at the closed
aperture, before turning his craft on its side. The thrusters
whined with the effort to stop his momentum but he slammed into
the closed door and exploded.
"Shit," cried the officer behind him as he slammed his fist
down on a panel in frustration. "This is car 15, we've lost car
303. They still seem to be heading towards port 6, shaft F-3. I
request that the Dobermans be dispatched. Repeat: I request that
the Dobermans be dispatched."
"Roger," said the controller. The controller moved away
from the holographic display unit in the center of the control
room for the Genaros station and back to his desk. He flicked
three switches and turned a small nob after giving the computer a
password.
Adjacent to the main shuttle ports, back in a disused
corner, bars slide back into their housing and a locking
mechanism opened a five meter tall door way. Inside, two 4.5
meter boomers came to life. They were heavily armored with an
array of lasers and large caliber weapons. These space strength
monstrosities only had one purpose: to kill.
"It's the exit," cried Luu. "We made it." The onboard
HOUGH/CRUSADE-19
computer detected the threat and then displayed the information
on the viewscreen. "Dobermans? That's it, we can't escape now."
Sylvie leaned forward. "Meg. Set the car on full auto
cruise. We'll ditch her on my signal." She turned back to Anri.
"Anri, you can do that, right?"
She nodded. "Yeah," said Anri through clenched teeth.
The Dobermans intercepted their target at the main juncture
into the spaceport area. They pelted the cruiser with a heavy
caliber that pierced the car's armor. The cruiser went out of
control, slid sideways, and then exploded at the feet of the two
boomers. They walked through the firestorm without a warning
light coming on in their internal sensors. The two boomers
scanned what was left and came to the conclusion that their prey
hadn't been destroyed.
On the floor of spaceport 6, Namu pressed herself into the
side-wall by an open side-entrance. Three meters to her right
was a small slick of bright red on the grey steel. Namu had been
sloppy with that unexpected Patrol Officer. What could be
keeping Sylvie and the others? She thought. They're late.
Namu tried to relax by feeling the cold of the steel she was
pressed against and tried to draw strength from it. She fingered
the trigger of the automatic she held and for a brief moment she
remembered.
The before time, the long years of prostitution which had
passed without her even being fully aware of them. She now
HOUGH/CRUSADE-20
sometimes cursed her memory and those that had designed her. Her
CPU remembered it all, just like any other computer. For a brief
few seconds she saw the hand which held the gun as her designers
must of: vat grown human flesh, pumped in human blood, synthetic
muscles that had been designed for the C-class, combat class
boomers. Namu saw the space alloy that was her skeleton, and
then thought about the combination of machinery and organics that
made up her insides.
Prostitution, I was designed for prostitution, she thought.
The before time sped past her mind and then she stopped on the
moment. She had been with a GENOM corporate executive for six
months. He had been an old man with the clout to arrange it so
he could have her permanently. He had no surviving family and
insisted Namu call him Papa. Namu didn't realized the importance
of any of it at the time. The moment hadn't arrived yet.
Their last day together: he cried most of the time,
muttering about loss throughout until he told her GENOM was
taking her away. Namu had known what tears were for. She
understood that they were a sign of physical or emotion pain,
with a free associating bit of data telling her it could also be
great joy. She judged that this was a case of pain and as the
data about leaving him raced through her mind, something shifted,
something clicked together, her perception of the situation
suddenly included a profound sense of loss. Namu shed her first
tears that day when the GENOM people came with a C-class boomer
to collect her from his home. It was six years ago when they had
HOUGH/CRUSADE-21
first brought her to Genaros, to work as an ordinary programmed
machine, just like any other boomer.
Namu's reflections were cut off the instant she heard faint
and distant footfalls. They were coming closer. She held the
gun in a ready position. A last ideal thought brought a smile to
her face and a glimmer of anticipation to her violet eyes. It
had been over six years since her last sexual encounter and she
briefly wondered if that was part of her future.
"Namu..." called Sylvie.
Namu joined them as they came to a stop just inside the
spaceport. "I thought you were done for."
Sylvie was supporting Anri. "Is she ready?"
"It's ready." They moved to the waiting shuttle, Sylvie and
Anri going up the stairs to the open hatchway first. "Hurry up
Sylvie. The patrols are making their rounds now."
"Ok Anri," said Sylvie as she helped her up the stairs.
"It's all right now. Hang on."
A thud sounded on the main entrance to spaceport 6.
"It's a Doberman," cried Meg from the foot of the stairway.
"Quick, get on board. That door won't hold for long." The
Doberman burst its arm through the heavy plated door and started
to rip it open.
"What about you two? Meg. Luu." Sylvie reached the top of
the stairs with Namu just below them.
Meg and Luu started to fire their automatics at the
approaching boomer. The fire just bounced off. "Hurry," cried
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Meg.
The boomer responded by sending a blast into some of the
frame work surrounding the shuttle. Debris started to fall.
"Look out," screamed Namu as she rushed forward to push
Sylvie and Anri out of the way. Sylvie heard a sickening thud.
Namu punched the button that closed the shuttle's hatchway.
Sylvie appeared in the square glass a moment latter.
"Namu, what're you doing?" Sylvie saw the piece of metal
protruding from Namu's left shoulder area. There was an arch of
blue electricity along the metal for a second.
"There's no hope for me now. Go on, get out of here,
hurry."
"No. I can't...I can't just abandon you all."
"What're you standing there for?" Cried Luu. "Move it."
The boomer blasted Luu twice.
"Luu," screamed Sylvie.
Meg came over to Luu. "Hang on Luu." Even as she said it,
she saw the Doberman move forward and one of its main weapons
came to bear on them with antagonizing slowness.
"Meg, Luu," screamed Sylvie.
"Sylvie," said Namu with a quiver in her voice. "Get
freedom...freedom enough for all of us. Ok?" Namu collapsed and
the second door on the shuttle closed.
Sylvie slid to the floor as she heard the boomer fire.
"Namu, Namu. All of you, Meg, Luu, Namu..."
It was several moments before Sylvie got herself strapped
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into the control seat with her hand on the ignition lever. Fresh
tears were swelling in her golden eyes as she hesitated over
pulling that lever and leaving it all behind. She thought her
model J-85 blood circulation unit would shatter when the shuttle
lifted off. Even if they had still been alive, they would have
been incinerated; gone, as if they never had been. The Doberman
was destroyed and fire swept into that section of Genaros through
the blast doors the Doberman had ripped open.
Once into space, Sylvie quickly did the computation for the
landing. The ship shuddered. A monitor caught sight of the
second Doberman. It had hitched a lift. The shuttle rumbled as
the boomer sent another laser blast into it.
Determination changed to outright rage in Sylvie. She
disconnected the aft part of the shuttle were the boomer was and
fed the remaining supply of fuel into the secondary engine
system. The Doberman was engulfed with fire and then exploded.
The SDPC shuttle accelerated towards Earth.
An AD Police chopper with Leon and Daley headed into a
woodland area north of Mega-Tokyo; they were heading for the
crash sight.
"It's ridiculous, I tell ya," complained
had any sleep all night."
"The trials and tribulations of public servants," answered
Daley with a smile. "Come on, let's get this over with and then
go to bed with me."
HOUGH/CRUSADE-24
"Ah, not now; I have a headache."
"We'll be arriving at the scene shortly," said the pilot
from up front were he had been trying to ignore his two superior
officers. "Fasten your seatbelts..."
"Save us the spiel, you jerk."
pilot's head a push. "Set us down right smack in the middle of
the bastards."
"Uh, yes Sir."
They landed close to the middle of the debris field where
the larger chunks of twisted metal were. Leon and Daley began to
wander through what little was left until the officer in charge
of the investigation made his way over to them from a forensic
expert.
"Captain, given the results of our identification of the
dispersion state, we think it's connected with the SDPC people."
"This is just too much," started Daley. "Don't they have
better ways of throwing their trash away?"
about the pilot?"
"We're searching right now, Sir," responded the officer in
charge of the scene. "But under the circumstances he's
probably..."
"Yeah, there's no way anyone could of survived," said
with a small shake of his head.
"Captain," yelled an officer as he hurried towards
HOUGH/CRUSADE-25
Daley, and the officer in charge. "The results of our inquire
into the model registration number we found earlier confirms that
it was the Oruca 4, a shuttle belonging to SDPC. No comment
regarding its occupants."
"If we're dealing with SDPC," muttered the officer in
charge, "we might as well pack it in now."
"So what we have is over our heads in more ways than one,"
remarked Daley.
"Take it with a grain of salt," said
looked up at the approaching choppers. "Here they come now."
At one edge of Mega-Tokyo was the sea, were the sun would
rise to be greeted by the
massive structure dominated the shore line and the beaches where
a chill wind blew in off the Pacific. The masses that enjoyed
themselves on this sun drenched day didn't mind the wind, or pay
any attention to GPCC; it was just another part of the
established landscape.
The architect for GPCC was from the arrogant monolithic
school; a movement reserved for the most powerful on the planet.
The most common joke leveled at the monolithic school was that
they had seen Blade Runner one to many times. The designer had
not been moved with concerns about any force of nature. She was
just ordered to design a building that stood for power, and yet,
this building was almost ordinary compared to the main GENOM
Tower in the center of Mega-Tokyo. From there the Tai-Pan of
HOUGH/CRUSADE-26
GENOM dominated his empire that held the very Earth in its grasp.
But at GPCC, a shuttle was getting attention.
At the very top of the structure was the executive office
for GPCC.
predecessor who had filled it with a fortune in trinkets.
the ocean, a vid' screen on the wall to his right, that was it.
It had been a conscious imitation of the Tai-Pan's office in the
"Something will have to be done on your end about this
latest fiasco," said
ground. The vid' screen showed him standing before his desk. I
thought this chapter of GENOM's history was exterminated, mused
"I understand," replied the head of SDPC. Kaufman looked
agitated. "I did not mean to cause you any inconvenience, Mr.
In the shadows of
a coin.
"This has nothing to do with me, or my people."
"Yes Sir. I am considering the worst case scenario. Rest
assured Mr. Flint, I still have an ace to play in this
situation."
"Do that."
towards him.
HOUGH/CRUSADE-27
calculating gaze scrutinized the room and everything in it with a
glance.
"It would seem, that at least for now, Kaufman is following
our orders."
"Our most immediate concern right now is the whereabouts of
the D.D., which was supposed to be aboard that shuttle."
paused as
off of the sea. "If AD Police or the Tower find out about it, we
will have no choice but to temporarily cut the strings between us
and our puppet SDPC. And after I've tamed them with considerable
trouble too."
"You've bitten off more than you can chew. Rather than
sever ties, you and that chair your sitting in, might simply
vanish."
that reminded
but before he could feed. "I know what those girls are after.
AD Police and the Tower will be investigating this. You do
understand the risk I'm taking by shielding you, don't you,
before dropping it to the floor. He was annoyed.
When Leon and Daley got back to AD Police headquarters,
let Daley fill in the Chief as he sat back in a chair and put his
feet up. Chief was an older black man who's grandfather had come
HOUGH/CRUSADE-28
to
had never left and the Chief was starting to plan a trip to
all business.
"Daley, the majority of workers on Genaros are F. and G.
series boomers." The Chief sat at his desk with his hands
clasped and resting on his stomach. "There's a strong
probability that a defective unit in the lot caused some sort of
screw-up during operations. You go and listen to what their
people have to say and put it in the record as a formality."
"Just a formality?"
"Listen to me. Don't go tearing off half-cocked without any
proof. This is SDPC we're up against, which is directly
controlled by the Government. And I don't want to make a fuss,
only to get the evil eye from upstairs. Ok?"
"The only thing you're concerned about is your retirement,
you chicken-shit," said
back to the Chief and Daley.
The Chief stood up as he shook with rage. "You try dealing
with officers like you, who go wild every time there's a big
case. And see if you don't end up just like me. My head's on
the chopping block all the time." The Chief's grasping hand came
to an empty Pepsi can which he tossed over
his head with a small sigh.
"Son of a bitch," muttered
HOUGH/CRUSADE-29
Latter at MTX, Leon was walking Daley to his shuttle.
"Don't get to caught up in the night life."
little.
"It's almost all boomers on that station. I'm not looking
forward to this."
"That's true."
"By the way
illegal arms traffic going on inside Genaros?"
"I've got sort of a feeling about this accident, you know?
Feminine intuition perhaps?"
"Not a bad feeling to have at that. Catch."
Daley his brief case.
It was raining about ten that night when a young couple
started to kiss. They had parked in a secluded area, surrounded
by trees, rain, and lightening. The woman happened to notice
something standing beside their car; the thunder rolled above
them. She tried to cry out a warning as the combat suit smashed
in the front end of their car with just a sweep of its arm.
Terror rose in the woman as the suit came to a halt and then the
top chest area moved up so the operator could get out of the
suit. The woman saw a figure as she cried out. Lightening and
thunder mixed with the woman's screams as the operator
approached.
HOUGH/CRUSADE-30
By twelve, the rain had stopped; the clouds had gone until
there were a very few passing in front of the full moon. Mega-
played on for Priss; she made The Hot Legs jump that night. Both
Nene and Linna were there. They waited at the bar for Priss to
remove her stage makeover after the show.
"Um, hey, do you know about that girl, Sylvie?" Nene took
another sip of Bud Light.
"Yeah," responded Linna. "I know about her. She's the girl
Priss is hanging around with, right?"
"She comes into town just the other day and in no time, she
causes a sensation. She's so stylish and has an awesome figure."
"That's because everybody finds a fresh face exotic." Linna
paused. "I mean, she couldn't hold a candle to me."
"Hi," called Priss as she walked in.
"Priss," screamed Nene as she rushed over to hug Priss.
"You were your usual terrific self tonight."
"Oh, thank you."
"How about I quit my job at Phoebe's and become your
manager." Linna came over to them and softly clapped her hands
once. "If you want to sign with EMI, now's the time."
"Oh, there she goes again," retorted Nene. Nene leaned in
closer to Priss so she could speak to her in a confidential tone.
"Hey Priss, did you know that Linna says that her latest
boyfriend is one of EMI's directors?" Nene's tone carried to
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Linna who's laughter had an embarrassed edge to it.
"I don't want to know," stated Priss. "I've had it with you
crying your broken heart out."
"You're mean," Linna cried halfheartedly. "It's serious
this time. I tell you, I deserve happiness too."
"Being happy with Linna? What an awful thought," said Nene
as she tried not to laugh.
"You got that right," said Priss.
"Oh, you're picking on me," cried Linna
The outside door opened and a woman walked in. She was
dressed in a biker one-piece; she carried her gloves in with her.
As she made her way through the thinning throng, men, and women,
turned to stare for a moment as she passed by. She just caught
the last exchange between Priss and her friends when she came up
behind their triangle. "You look like you're having fun. I hope
I'm not interrupting anything."
"You're late Sylvie," said Priss. "I've already finished my
last set."
"I'm...I'm sorry." Sylvie looked embarrassed for a moment.
"I had a little business to take care of. Oh, these are your
friends, right?"
Why is the mentioning of Sylvie's business so awkward?
Priss thought this and then: she's changing the subject, go with
it. Priss moved to introduce her friends but the awkward moment
caused her to miss-step so she collided with Nene, who collided
with Linna. Priss recovered by grabbing each in a hug from
HOUGH/CRUSADE-32
behind. "Yeah, Nene and Linna."
"Uh, uh, you're Sylvie, right?" Linna was trying to get
over the shock of being this close to such a gorgeous woman that
had a strange air of desirability about her; it was like a subtle
and expensive perfume, a half sensed quality that mingled with
her physical looks to produce a desirability beyond just the
physical. "Priss has been telling us about you; how you're so
stylish and a terrific biker. If I was a man, I'd make a pass at
you, no sweat."
Sylvie's smile changed to one of gentle understanding. "Oh,
you're to kind. It's a pleasure to meet you." Inwardly Sylvie
was chuckling. It had been over six years since she was a
prostitute and the idea of selecting her own lovers was extremely
intriguing to Sylvie. You needn't be a man, thought Sylvie.
But, I do need to control my pheromones better.
"Oh, same here," said Linna as she took the proffered hand.
Nene and then Priss joined the handshake.
"Ok," said Priss. "Now that we're all here, howzabout we
get going."
"Ok," said Linna.
"Right," piped up Nene. "Speaking of which...."
The Cest Lavie was a place close to several GENOM industrial
zones on the Westside of Mega-Tokyo. Sylia walked down a dingy
set of steps, which were covered with the standard sprawl of
graffiti, before she entered the dimly lit place. The majority
HOUGH/CRUSADE-33
of lighting came from the spot lights over the pool tables, only
one of which was being used at the moment. There was a woman
sitting on the edge of the table, watching a guy play. Sylia
ignored them, she had business of her own to take care of.
Sylia slipped into a seat at the bar, two away from the only
other person sitting at the bar. He was wearing a rumpled blue
suit that looked like it had been slept in. The barkeep put down
his paper; he was bored and was just starting to think about
closing up when Sylia walked in.
"Bloody Mary," said Sylia. The barkeep moved away to fix it
as Sylia got out a package of Yeheyuan filters and lit one.
Sylia didn't smoke often, just when a particular place, like Cest
Lavie, or a particular mood descended on her. The barkeep
brought her drink and then went back to his paper.
Sylia was halfway through her drink before he spoke to her.
"I'm sorry about this Sylia."
"Same as ever, eh, Fuago? Why don't you wear a nicer suit
for once?"
"Hey, I'm sorry. I've got all kinds of expenses, you know?"
Sylia nodded in silent agreement. "Plus, with the cost of living
today, that sort of thing's out of my reach." Fuago paused.
"Did you have a look at the report I sent you?"
"Kaufman at SDPC is in the hot seat, right?"
"You got it. He was ambition, and he's gone far, but
apparently he fell in with a GENOM splinter group. They secretly
built a next generation superweapon...shipped it to an orbiting
HOUGH/CRUSADE-34
satellite and planned to sell it to the highest bidder."
Sylia finished her drink and then told the barkeep "no" with
a handsignal when he looked up from his paper. "The D.D.
airborne battlemover, right? I've heard about it here and there.
Is it already finished?"
"They have a prototype," responded Fuago. "Now what Kaufman
wants is either its recovery or its destruction. Also find his
girlfriend. Seems she turned out to be the thief. No leads on
her identity though."
"Meaning that
Fuago smiled as he saw Sylia's obsession with GENOM surface.
"Matter of fact, Corporate GENOM has nothing to do with this
incident. And Kaufman wants this wrapped up before its brought
before the Tai-Pan."
"This is a messy job and it's not going to come cheap."
"I've already deposited half the fee. You should find it
acceptable."
Sylia coaxed herself to sigh faintly. "Fuago, I'm just no
match for you." She got up and walked past him. "Ok. I'll
contact you in the usual manner. So long."
There's something about this mess that just sets me on edge,
she thought as she walked up the grungy stairway. It's just not
the usual GENOM nastiness.
"I don't feel good about this place," said
his head in the AD Police morgue. He followed the Coroner and
HOUGH/CRUSADE-35
Nene into the wide room with the rows of little doors set three
high along three of the walls. He shivered. "No matter how
often I come here, it stinks."
"
to the bottom right of the left wall and slide two bodies out of
the cold.
"Forget the guy. It's a waste that this happened to a good-
looking girl."
the two corpses. "Right Nene?"
"Uh, yes Sir. She is good-looking." Nene said it
hurriedly.
"Since that's neither here nor there, would you mind
shutting up for a minute?"
as Nene stifled a giggle. The Coroner looked at them blankly
before continuing. "Now, there are more bodies waiting. I'll
tell you what I've figured out. Write this down." Nene readied
her
be saved in the pad's memory where it could be recalled in
standard print form latter on, unless you told it that you wanted
to save the writing its self.
the wall and glanced out the window; he was listening. "First
the woman, as with the man, the immediate cause of death was a
massive blood loss. Main external wounds are these injuries to
the left side of the neck, as well as..."
HOUGH/CRUSADE-36
was letting Nene drive.
"That's the eighth incident in just the last two weeks,"
said Nene. "Circumstances all the same. Previous reports
indicated hardly any bloodstains at the scene too. I wonder if
it isn't a vampire, after all. The papers are causing an uproar
with their constant `vampire' headlines."
"That's what I like about this town; it's never dull."
"Still, maybe the Vampire uses some kind of modern vehicle
since these are freeways incident?"
"I dunno," said
"A boomer? You mean boomers drink blood?"
"They might if they were the type 33-S, which had a blood
supply. But there aren't any around nowadays of course, since it
was one boomer that was banned."
"Then it is a vampire, after all."
"Well,"
bring it in soon, there'll be no cute girls left."
"That's true. Nene's tone was serious. "I've got to be
careful too."
"What?"
"So, the upshot is, the investigation section is working on
the angle that the culprit in the vampire serial killings is a
33-S. But the production data states that the 33-S were all
eliminated." Nene paused as she looked at Sylia over the vid'
phone. "But why was the boomer banned?"
HOUGH/CRUSADE-37
"It's C-class parts made it easy to synchronize with
superweapons; it became a problem. It was a sexaroid."
"A sexaroid?" Nene's tone rose in surprise. "Wow. So they
really do exist."
"I thought you weren't interested in perverted things like
that?"
"Well, why not? Hey, I wonder if they're as pretty as the
girl I met yesterday?"
"Who?"
"Oh, this biker fried of Priss's. Her name's Sylvie and
she's hot. She's got this body that's to die for. Priss gets
along unusually well with her."
"I see," said Sylia. "Sounds like someone I'd want to meet.
Alright, inform me if anything else happens."
"Ok."
Sylia rose from the vid' phone and crossed her apartment
which was flooded with late afternoon sun. A superweapon and a
33-S, she thought. Stupid men. `As you sow, so shall you reap.'
The question now is: what is his lady-friend after?
"How much will that little bitch teach the D.D.?"
gazed out across the brightly lit landscape; the ocean was a dark
counter to the light of Mega-Tokyo from
the question."
left foot up on the desk and his arm draped around his knee. He
HOUGH/CRUSADE-38
glanced at the two boomers standing silently several meters away
in the office. They both looked like muscle bound protection
goons; security people with dark suits and shades. Their
designers had only made slight differences in their facial
features; they looked like brothers. "You mean strike before the
33-S fully trains it? Is there any chance of her synchronizing
with the J-1 installed in the D.D.?"
"There's no telling, but as long as they are fully
active..."
to the sea. "It's just that, maintenance free though it might
be, the 33-S is an old model. It won't stand a chance in the
city."
"But having escaped the station, it must be after the data
disk."
"And this vampire business has the city in an uproar.
Largo, we can no longer leave this in Kaufman's hands. Recapture
it at all costs, before either AD Police or the Tower focus their
attention on us. And when you find the 33-S..."
cutting motion across his neck.
of a blade. "After all, I wouldn't want to loose my position
over something like this."
An explosion lit the night sky; light was reflected off of
the gleaming steal and glass towers of Mega-Tokyo. The D.D.
battle mover looked down at the wreaked car and it's latest
victims. When it detected the sirens, it turned to gaze in that
HOUGH/CRUSADE-39
direction, before going the other way and escaping. The liquid
cargo she carried was secure for its short journey.
The ride from were Sylvie hid the D.D. to the hotel always
made her nervous; she felt exposed. Her route shifted each time
she had to use the D.D. and tonight she only saw eight people
along her route, but she was going so fast, nobody should have
noticed the blood. Tonight was messy. Sylvie made the hotel,
raced the back stairs and didn't come off of her flight/fight
programming until her door was locked, and she was leaning
heavily against the door, with her back to it. Sylvie glanced
down at the front of her biker one-piece which was stained with
blood. Tentatively she tugged at the zipper, getting blood on
her gloves. She unzipped, tossed the gloves, and then carefully
got out of the one-piece, careful not to get any blood on
herself.
Sylvie walked into the next room with only panties and a
crop top on. There was a single light on so all the colors were
washed into blues. Anri sat on the bed, staring out the window
with a vacant look on her face until Sylvie came in. Sylvie
moved silently to Anri, and then pulled aside Anri's loose
fitting tank top. Sylvie extended her fangs and buried them in
Anri's neck. Anri gasped and then relaxed as the blood flowed
into her. In the soft lighting, the few drops that escaped the
exchange were a vibrantly alive red as they trickled down Anri's
neck toward her breast. Anri silently hugged Sylvie as she felt
life and energy flowing back into herself. The delicate balance
HOUGH/CRUSADE-40
between the organic and machine in the sexaroid was restored.
The activated fail-safe the designers conceived and installed,
would soon distort that delicate balance, and Sylvie would have
to hunt for more blood.
Silently Anri held Sylvie to herself as she felt the fangs
slip out of her flesh. Anri held Sylvie for several minutes
before kissing her gently on her left jaw-line, back by her ear;
her hand lightly caressed over Sylvie's stomach; there was no
navel to mar the expanse of hard boomer muscle covered by soft
human flesh. Anri restrained her impulse to extend her fangs and
feed; she was still running low and the fail-safe was already
subverting the blood Anri had received. Sylvie gently kissed her
and then wiped away Anri's tears.
"Don't do it anymore," Anri suddenly exclaimed. "It's too
dangerous now. If you're caught, you'll be eliminated. What
you've done for me is enough. Live for your own sake from now on
and not for me."
"That's not true Anri." Sylvie spoke low and soothing.
"Right now this is the only way I have of maintaining your
systems. But I've finally found the location of the data disk.
Once we have that, we won't have to do this anymore. Soon, yes,
in just a little while we'll be able to live completely under our
own power and we'll truly be free."
"Free," whispered Anri. "Free to live; free to love; oh,
Sylvie." Anri hugged Sylvie to herself and in a few moments
their embrace began to change to a passionate one. They kissed
HOUGH/CRUSADE-41
and then made love until dawn.
As night descended, Sylia watched as one of her hand-
tailored viruses enter the GENOM net at GPCC. The virus was
disguised as a typical data query from the
locate the unvital, and relatively unprotected information she
was seeking and then with-draw from the system. Part of Sylia's
own ICE would make this sort of thing untraceable.
After Sylia sorted through the data, she called Mackie to
have him start monitoring GPCC's security status. It was just
over 28 hours latter when Mackie saw them go to an alert status.
Sylia immediately called The Knight Sabers to action.
Working far into the night had gotten him to his present position
in GENOM and now that he was the head of GPCC, he hadn't stopped.
He was always looking to the future and the Tai-Pan's office its
self didn't seem that far away to him.
As the moonlight poured in on him, he suddenly heard
footsteps approaching.
steady as she entered his office and slowly approached him.
"Who...who are you?" He eyed the gun at her waist but she didn't
make a move for it.
She smiled as she approached. "I'll leave that up to your
imagination."
HOUGH/CRUSADE-42
"The 33-S. How? Where are the guards...?" His finger
moved to squeeze the trigger, but she was already moving. She
covered the two meters faster than any human; he fired, but she
was already kicking the gun away. Sylvie only hit him once
before she dropped him to the floor as an unconscious heap.
How weak these humans are, thought Sylvie as she covered the
distance to the top level security data storage room with
personal entry pass.
Fifteen minutes latter, Sylvie opened her fourth cabinet of
disks. She started to scan through the hundreds of data disks
that were to sensitive, or not important enough to be kept in the
main computer system. Halfway through the third line, Sylvie
gasped. "Here it is," she whispered half in awe. She held the
plain old style 3.5" disk for a moment before putting it inside
her biker one-piece next to her breast.
When Sylvie reached the second floor, she moved causally
along a corridor that lead to a stairway down. She managed to
avoid the boomers that were doing standard janitorial work and
the C-class boomers, until two men stepped in front of her from a
cross passage. Sylvie was startled because she hadn't even heard
them approaching; she retreated a step. "Still around, huh?
That was careless of me." She tried to fill her voice with
confidence.
"If it isn't the current hot topic of conversation. We're
just thrilled to meet you." The boomer's voice sounded human.
It reached up for its shades and the eyes behind glowed red; it,
HOUGH/CRUSADE-43
and its companion started to burst out of the thin human veneer.
Sylvie drew and emptied her clip into both of them. One smiled.
Sylvie stifled a cry of fear, turned, and fled.
A minute latter Sylvie crashed through a plate glass window,
did a flip in mid-air and landed on her feet. She ran to her
bike, started her up, and pealed out as the two boomers activated
their thruster packs and shot out of the hole she had made. The
boomers fired their main lasers, missed, and commenced pursuit.
glass. He smiled as she raced away from the hounding boomers,
racing for her life.
"Damnation," yelled the AD Police chief. "I'm surrounded by
brainless bastards. Hey McCloud, have you traced down the
identity of yesterdays victims yet? What the hell's wrong with
you bastards?"
folded across his chest, and his breathing was shallow and even.
"Hey
phone. "Call for you from Daley."
"What?" Yelled the Chief. "Daley? How long is that jerk
gonna hang around up there? Tell him to get his butt back in
here."
"Sounds like he's in a good mood," said Daley.
"It's just his usual bitchiness," replied
HOUGH/CRUSADE-44
in closer to the vid' phone. "You find out anything on your
end?"
"I finally chased down Kaufman and got him to spill it. He
was planning to do an illicit deal with the superweapon, in
cahoots with the head of GPCC, just like we figured. This stolen
D.D. packs some impressive firepower."
"It's just another battlemover. I'll bring it in with an
Armored Trooper as evidence."
"Don't brush it off
battlemover, equipped with the J-1 automatic control system.
It's highly intelligent and it may have more firepower than our
K-12 A.T.. On top of which..."
"Hey," shouted the Chief. "There's an investigation going
on into that big game you're after. Don't get in so deep that we
can't reel you back in."
"What?" Exclaimed
desk. "Daley, I'll love you dearly when you get back."
clicked off, flipped his black leather jacket over his shoulder
and headed for the door.
"Where are you going?"
patrol. If I meet the Vampire, I'll break its fangs and bring
them back as souvenirs."
The Chief was leaning his chin against his hand and it
blocked anyone from seeing the small smile. "Listen
patrol choppers are each carrying an Armored Trooper. Don't use
HOUGH/CRUSADE-45
them to go patrolling."
"Thanks," called
minutes latter,
chopper.
Highway five was deserted.
Sylvie clung low to her bike, trying to scrape as much speed
as possible along this straight section of H. 5 that led straight
to the rift. Her speedometer was over 200 KPH and the boomers
were closing.
At that speed, it only took minute adjustments to dodge the
laser blasts. Chunks of pavement kept flying by her as she
dodged round after round from the two boomers.
To the south, an AD Police chopper noticed the firefight and
turned to an intercept course.
Sylvie managed to avoid a boomer that took a swipe at her
when it got close enough. Sylvie was counting the seconds on the
recharge time for its main laser weapon, when both boomers pulled
up slightly as the end of H. 5 sped towards them. Sylvie kept
her speed up and steeled herself as she drove the bike off of the
abrupt end of H. 5. The boomers followed her down into the dark
abyss.
At the bottom, the two boomers landed by the remains of the
bike. "Pretty gutsy the bitch," said one of the boomers. "But
the 33-S is finally at the end of her rope."
"Yeah, let's finish the job before the ADP dogs come," said
HOUGH/CRUSADE-46
the other boomer.
Behind the two boomers, the metal debris rumbled and the
D.D. arose into a combat stance. Sylvie gripped the controls
lightly as determination and familiarity helped calm her.
The boomers turned; one picked up the bike and heaved it at
her. She activated the mini gun and the bike exploded. The
second boomer opened its chest and its heavy laser shot out at
her. She moved to the side, catching some of the blast, but the
armor absorbed it. The boomers split up as she blasted at them
with a missile barrage.
High over head, in an approaching AD Police chopper,
was getting into a K-12 A.T.
"Combat machine unrecorded in databank," said the Pilot.
"Shall I contact headquarters?"
"Contact them if anything happens to me." The face plate
came down and
plunged from the chopper and activated his thruster packs. As
boomer; the other was mangled and laying several meters away.
Inside the D.D., Sylvie was panting. She didn't need the
oxygen, her system only needed a fraction of a human's. This was
what she had learned, from her programming, observations, and
experience, what people do when they were in pain. Her blood
felt like it was on fire in her system; her fail-safe had kicked
in. Sylvie looked down and saw her biker one-piece get darker
and darker in an ever widening area. Her slow heart beat slowed
HOUGH/CRUSADE-47
even further and Sylvie was became confused. "What? What's
happening? My head," she screamed. For the first time in her
existence, Sylvie lost consciousness. Around both legs, wrists,
and her neck, reenforced straps of fiber optics attached
themselves to her as the J-1 came fully on line and took control.
right there. I'm not going to do anything because I don't want
to hurt you. Just come out of that armor now."
There was no response.
D.D.; it straightened and the missile ports, laser blasters, and
heavy caliber mini gun came to bear on
that the lights for the main sensor array had gone into a neon
red.
It'll active when the pilots heart rate drops below a certain
level. Once activated, if it runs out of fuel, then boom. It'll
self destruct with a micro-neutron bomb."
Daley's words rung in
down.
backwards. He flew through part of a wall and collided with the
cliff bank; his face plate shattered. The impact caused
go numb for a few seconds. The D.D. approached; it walked right
through the rest of the collapsing wall and advanced right up to
where
got in a punch to the mid-section of the MBA and Leon gasped
HOUGH/CRUSADE-48
before crying: "I'm not finished yet." He vomited blood, spat
the remainder, and then nailed the D.D. with a right to the head.
The D.D. took the blow and then turned right back to face
Inside, Sylvie felt pain. She cried out; her world started
to slowly refocus as her CPU made its way back to an on-line
status.
From its left shoulder housing, the D.D. extended its
extensor claw, almost breaking
grabbed it. The mini gun came down into firing position and
stared at his death.
The extensor claw was cleanly severed with one burst of
laser fire. The D.D. turned.
"What?" Croaked
On the cliff behind the D.D., stood four figures in
hardsuits. A gap in the thickening cloud-cover let moonlight
shine off of their suits for a couple of seconds.
"Knight Sabers, Go." Sylia's voice was strong, determined.
Priss was to her right side, still in a crouched firing stance.
Nene was a meter behind Sylia; Linna was off to Sylia's left.
The D.D. finished its first assessment of this new threat
and fired a volley of missiles at them. The Knight Sabers
scattered, easily missing the missiles which slammed into the
cliff-side, and dropped down on three sides of the D.D.. Priss
took the point right in front of the D.D.. Sylia had decided,
when they first started, that Priss would be the point; it was
her nature.
HOUGH/CRUSADE-49
Sylvie came to. "What's going on?" She glanced around at
the instruments and then tugged at the straps that held her.
"Oh, no. It's gone into full auto mode. The computer's decided
that I'm dead. All that's left now is..."
Behind the D.D.,
arced across his suit. He gasped: "Destroy it quickly. When
the J-1 auto combat mode is on, there is a micro-neutron bomb
that is activated. It'll self-destruct once it runs out of
power. We'll be blown to pieces. It'll take all of Mega-Tokyo
with it."
"Nene, quickly," called out Sylia.
"Right, scanning." Nene's hardsuit surged to its full
potential as she scanned the D.D. "It's true," she shrieked.
"Micro-Neutron bomb will reach critical mass in 180 seconds."
"What?" cried the Knight Sabers.
There was a rumbling noise from the D.D. and its upper chest
armor swung up. Priss felt her mouth go dry. Her stomach
clenched up into knots when she saw Sylvie sprawled out in the
command cock-pit of the D.D.; Priss's reality went cold.
"Sylvie, no," cried out Priss.
"It's you, isn't it Priss," called back Sylvie. Sylvie's
CPU could recognized and remember any voice.
Priss pushed her face armor back to see Sylvie through the
clear undershield. "Sylvie."
"Priss, kill...kill me."
"What?"
HOUGH/CRUSADE-50
"My system and the D.D. are fused now. If you try to
destroy the bomb, it'll go. If you kill me, the D.D.'s system
should shut down. Hurry, it's your only chance."
"Why, why does it have to be you?" Cried Priss.
"Please. It's completely out of control now. If you leave
me like this, I'll take you and Anri with me."
Priss was shaking as she raised her right arm in Sylvie's
direction. Her palmblaster was ready. "I can't, I can't do it."
"What's wrong with you Priss," shouted the leader of The
Knight Sabers. Sylia hoped that by throwing everything into the
tome of command, that it might snap Priss out of her paralysis.
"Quickly, do it."
"No. I can't shoot her," wailed Priss. "Sylvie is a
friend."
The J-1 had been experiencing interference with its destroy
programming ever since Sylvie had regained consciousness, but the
computer still classified its operator as `non-functioning'. It
finally got a command through the interference and moved towards
the target right in front of its self. Priss took the blow which
sent her sprawling into the debris. The pain brought Priss's
mind back into focus.
Linna rushed in. She whipped her head around and brought
down the finely honed strands of space-industrial steel, which
hung from the back of her helmet like the ribbons a young girl
would put in her hair. They could slice through most anything,
and the D.D.'s mini gun was no exception. It fell into three
HOUGH/CRUSADE-51
pieces and Linna thrusted away from the grasping hands of the
D.D.. She wasn't fast enough; the D.D. caught her by those
ribbons, and flung her around to collide with Nene who was moving
closer. They skidded for a meter and a half before coming to a
stop on the rocky ground.
Sylia dropped in strong, right in front of the D.D.. Her
knife on her right hand slid from it's sheath and she drove it
though the secondary shielding; it came within inches of Sylvie
before the D.D. caught ahold of her right arm and started to
crush her hardsuit.
Priss heard Sylia scream in pain; Nene screamed in fear a
second later as the D.D. cocked its left arm.
"Stop...stop it D.D.," cried Sylvie.
It started to bring its left arm down on Sylia's head when
Priss's blast caught it close to the elbow. The left arm landed
up-right in the dirt six meters away.
The D.D. turned its attention up to Priss on the top of the
cliff. She had raced back up to the top, where their battle
started and put on her motoroid armor, a heavily armored
framework that her hardsuit could fit into. The D.D. tossed
aside Sylia as it gauged this new threat.
"Priss," whispered Sylvie.
"Sylvie; here I come," cried Priss as she dove off of the
cliff right towards Sylvie.
The uncontrolable link with the damaged J-1 was doing a
strange thing to Sylvie's awareness. The next few seconds seemed
HOUGH/CRUSADE-52
to take minutes. She saw Priss descending towards her; the D.D.
was firing everything it had left at Priss. Sylvie saw Priss's
armor take missile after missile; it was being hammered apart by
laser fire. There was an explosion which engulfed Priss.
"Priss," cried the Knight Sabers.
"Priss," whispered Sylvie. The counter on the micro-neutron
bomb was down to five seconds.
Sylvie was awed as Priss seemed to slowly run out of the
explosion and aimed her palmblaster. Sylvie imagined she heard
the computer look on target. Sylvie's golden eyes widen in
surprise as time returned to normal.
"Sylvieeeeeeeeeeeeeee........" screamed Priss; she shot a
blue hot beam of laser energy through Sylvie's chest.
Priss landed in a run towards the D.D. which was collapsing
into a heap; she tossed her helmet aside. Priss barely noticed
that the D.D. was dead; the circuity on the straps holding Sylvie
in were fused together and there was no operating readouts.
Priss ripped her out as The Knight Sabers gathered around.
Sylvie was limp. There was a hole in the center of her
chest; the J-85 blood circulation unit was destroy; her spinal
support superstructure was missing about eight cms.; organics,
blood, and boomer muscle was mixing with electricity from the
destroyed circuity.
Priss held Sylvie to her armored breast. "Sylvie, I can't
believe it's you," Priss moaned.
"Priss, take this disk." Sylvie's mind was clear since the
HOUGH/CRUSADE-53
pain receptors in her CPU had burned out. The disk was pressed
against the outside of her right breast; it was bloodstained at
one end but other wise undamaged. "There's a girl, Anri, waiting
at my place. Give it to her. It's her future and her freedom.
Without it, she'll become like me, forced to attack people. I
beg you." Tears started to flow from her golden eyes.
Priss took the disk as she felt the first drops of rain
fall. "Why...oh why...does it have to be like this?" Sobbed
Priss as she rocked with Sylvie in her arms.
"I....Wanted....To Be...Free...Like...You........"
"Sylvie? Sylvieeeeeeeeeeeeeee........"
Sylvie felt cold metal hold and rock her; very faintly she
heard her name being called before darkness took her.
* * *
Sylvie gasped in awe and then laughed with a childish
delight at the single green/black flame which danced before her
wide golden eyes.
* * *
thought. What about the D.D.? He slowly glanced around the rift
until he saw them. What's that? The Knight Sabers...oh, so
they...what the..?
HOUGH/CRUSADE-54
"I appreciate the situation Priss," Sylia said gently.
"Don't you think you should hand over that data?"
"I know," cried Priss. "But Sylvie was a friend; I can't
betray my friends."
Through the thunder and the rain, the sound of choppers
reached them.
"Ok, get going then." Sylia gave a hand gesture to Linna
and Nene. "The rest of us will disperse."
Sylia turned to leave; she was just about to active her
thrusters when she turned back to Priss. Sylia thought she heard
her name being called, but Priss was silent and no one else was
around.
Across Mega-Tokyo at GPCC, Largo stood silently in
dark office. Lighting flashed and illuminated his small smile.
Madigan had come and gone already, taking
Tai-Pan; she left with him under guard by two C-class boomers.
She had temporarily turned GPCC over to Masashi while she headed
the investigation into this matter.
His smile was the lion smile. The mixture of water, light,
and sound surrounded him in the office at the top of GPCC.
Sylia, he thought. Sylia Stingray.