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WELCOME TO BUBBLEGUM CRUSADE!

Standard disclaimer.  Whoa...I need a slight pause to catch my breath.  
But, this pause only lasts one chapter.

Chapter Twelve

               FLY AWAY

          Drifting headlights
          Whipped by the racing wind.
          A pack of lies,
          Artlessly scattered,
          Like waves stealing onto the shore.

          There's no horizon to be seen,
          It's obscured by buildings.
          "Fly away" to a city with neither
          Darkness nor sun.

               Priss and the Replicants -- The bootleg tapes.

          Mega-Tokyo, 14, October, 2034

               By mid-day, Leon made his way across Mega-Tokyo to a street

          in the suburbs, indistinguishable from a hundred others.  The

          second Great Kanto Earthquake leveled this area of single family

          dwellings and GENOM construction put in ten to fifteen story

          apartment buildings.  Leon turned off the major arterial, tossed

          the remainder of a cup of ramen and sushi in a garbage can, and

          started to look for a number.

               The street was a dead end nestled up against the back wall

          of a computer chip company.  There was no through traffic so the

          street was filled with the neighborhood kids too young for

          school.  Leon smiled as he saw a five year old managed to get the

          basketball away from an older boy down at the end of the street

          were someone had put a hoop into the brick wall of the plant's

          fence.  The boy heaved with all his might and only managed to get

          the ball two/thirds of the way to the hoop.  The others started

          to laugh.

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-331

               "You're it.  You're it," screamed a girl as she led a pack

          by Leon.  A boy slammed into Leon and continued the chase.

               "Hello."

               "Hi," responded Leon to an old man who was sitting in the

          afternoon sun on the steps to an apartment.  He was carefully

          trimming a bonsei tree.  Leon continued on and felt the old guy

          watch his every move.

               Leon found the number he was looking for, it was across the

          street.  He took a step towards it when two samurai leaped into

          existence in the middle of the street.  Both were wearing

          traditional garb from the 12th century, and were armed with

          lightsabers.  One purple, one black.

               A majority of the children stopped what they were doing to

          watch the holo' duel.  Leon started to edge around the crowd.

               It was simple VR teck' the girl and boy combatants were

          using.  Both wore goggles which made them see through the eyes of

          their samurai.  Both wore the slim collar of sensors that

          monitors the neutral transmissions to their muscles, so their

          samurai could move accordingly.  Gloves for the specialized hand

          movements, all command prompts for the game, and to feel the

          weapon they held.  These were linked by fiber optics to the

          sending unit/CPU/power unit they belted on.  The holo' images

          everybody else was watching came from the receiving unit between

          them.

               The boy scored a blow to the right thigh pad of his

          opponent.  The holo' showed the thigh pad disintegrated and holo'

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-332

          blood flowed from the wound.  Her samurai now limped slowly

          around, blocking and parrying his attack.

               Leon stopped to watch.  He noticed the blood shimmer and

          twinkle out of existence when it dropped out of the holo' field.

               They were pushing at each other, their lightsabers crackling

          between them from the pressure.  The girl suddenly collapsed, her

          foot in his stomach, and he sailed over head.  She rolled, swiped

          his feeble guard away, and took his head with a clean cut from

          her purple blade.  The end program started.  The winning samurai

          lifted the head of his opponent.  "Victory," he bellowed.  The

          two samurai vanished.  The children began to disperse, going back

          to the other games.  A group started to congratulate the winner.

               "I want a rematch, a rematch," yelled the loser.

               Leon turned and walked up the steps to the apartment complex

          he wanted.  He looked over the mailboxes on the porch.  The names

          were neatly listed on every box except for the one he wanted.

          Leon got an illegal non-IDed AD Police card from his wallet and

          ran it through the door scanner.  The door unlocked and he went

          in.  The foyer was grey fermica tile, muted blues and greys for

          the wallpaper and paint.  He glance at himself in a mirror as he

          headed for the stairs and not the elevator.  This place is dead,

          he thought as he headed down.  So quiet.  Not even any noise from

          all those kids.  The hallway in the basement was wide, well lit,

          and without a sense of anybody being around.  Leon walked to the

          end of the hall and looked at the last door.  It was ajar.  He

          noticed that the doorbell had been removed and the hole repaired;

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-333

          the job was almost good enough to suggest that one hadn't been

          put in.

               Leon felt his stomach clench up into knots as a nervous

          energy fill him.  As he slid the door open, he again remembered.

               It was in November of 2029 when Leon watched his squad

          leader be examined by a renegade boomer.  Jeena Malso had led her

          squad to the waterfront district on the trail of the

          malfunctioning boomer.  They cornered it in a warehouse and Jeena

          ordered them in to mop up the situation before backup arrived.

          Once inside, the boomer started to fuse to the steel support

          beams.  When the AD Police came in, they were attacked by steel

          beams.  The whole squad, except for Leon and Jeena, was crushed

          between steel and buried in the rubble from the collapsing parts

          of the warehouse.  Leon was partially pinned beneath a pile of

          debris.  When he came to, he heard Jeena screaming.

               She slipped through the maze of swinging beams to nail the

          boomer in the face.  It knocked the gun from her as it remolded

          its face.  Its body grabbed her and hung her upside down in front

          of itself.  An I-beam wrapped around Jeena's cybernetic left arm.

          It just started to look at her, to feel what she was made of.  It

          made the discovery that she was wearing cloths and stripped her

          of them.  Leon awoke as it ripped her left arm out.  The boomer

          decided this part didn't go with the rest.  It started to

          manipulate her left foot, testing the ankle and learning about

          it.  It soon discovered how much pressure it could apply before

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-334

          it broke and how much more before it would come off.

               Leon watched, frozen in place until it ripped her foot off.

          The boomer laughed, the high pitched squeal/giggle of pure

          discovery as blood squirted on its face.  Jeena was still

          conscious.

               As Leon struggled to free himself from the debris, the

          boomer cut her left leg off at mid-thigh and shredded it as it

          explored this new thing.  It finished with that before starting

          to manipulate Jeena's right knee, twisting if off.  Leon freed

          himself and scurried for a gun.  The boomer was enjoying this

          learning experience.  It was so caught up in the joy of

          discovery, it failed to notice Leon or the back-up AD Police

          arrive as it pulled her right hip apart.

               As they destroyed it, a flash of white light erupted from

          the head of the boomer, searing into Jeena's face.  They barely

          got the emergency medical equipment to her in time.

               It was during the Christmas season when the AD Police

          investigation into this incident closed.  Leon's truthful

          testimony about how she ordered them in before backup arrived,

          coupled with her past record of condemnations for `reckless

          heroics' swayed the boards decision.  They opted for retirement

          due to medical condition, starting January first.

               Jeena remained calm when Leon came to the hospital and told

          her.  She didn't say anything, just hit him in the stomach with

          her new left hand.  The blow ruptured his appendix.  Leon didn't

          file charges and hadn't seen her since.

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-335

               It was dim in the apartment as Leon slid the door open.  The

          light from the hallway flooded the entryway.  He closed the door

          and stood there in the entryway to let his eyes adjust to the

          semidarkness.  The absolute stillness made him even more jumpy

          until he drew his 9mm beretta.  The cool hard metal in his palm

          made him feel better.  He slid the traditional fusuma open.  It

          was so quiet he could hear his own heart beat.  The apartment was

          mainly one big open space.  Off to his right another paper wall

          surrounded what Leon assumed was the bathroom.  To his left was

          the kitchen area and a low table.  The raised bed platform was in

          the center, between the kitchen area and bathroom.  Beyond was an

          open area with nothing in it.  Leon was about to step in when the

          shadow in the open area spoke.

               "You're shoes, rookie."

               "Jeena?"  Leon put his gun away and took off his shoes.  He

          entered, came up to the bed, and stopped to look at her.

               She was kneeling before a classical Zen painting.  She was

          dressed in a dark robe and her dark hair now came down past her

          shoulder blades.  The shadow moved.  She made a sweeping `come

          in' gesture with her left hand.  Leon noticed the cushion on the

          floor half a meter to her left and sat down.  She knelt with her

          hands clasped in front of her.  The blue cybernetic hand looked

          black against the pale white right.  She continued to stare at

          the painting.

               "Jeena...I'm sorry about what happened.  I didn't know

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-336

          they'd can you.  I just...answered their questions honestly.  Ya,

          I know, big mistake."

               "Are you?  I wonder.  Is the rookie really sorry or does he

          need something from me?"

               "Both."

               "I see."

               God she's changed, thought Leon.  "I need your help."

               "Oh?"

               "I can't resurface and I need to find out a few things about

          what's really go'en on.  My usual contacts aren't trustworthy

          enough not to talk.  If word gets back to GENOM about me, I'll be

          dead."

               "So GENOM snatched you.  Interesting.  Now tell me, rookie,

          why do you come to me, a women whom you haven't spoken to or seen

          for nearly four years?  A woman who should be boiling mad at you

          for just sitting there when she was dismembered."

               "I'm desperate.  If you don't want to help me I'll leave."

          Leon started to get up.

               "Sit down," Jeena thundered.  "I swear, still as stupid as

          ever aren't you.  Now tell me rookie, tell me your sad story, and

          make it good."

               "GENOM snatched me and.."

               "How do you know it was GENOM?"

               "I...Ok.  Four boomers snatched me.  They took me somewhere

          to interrogate me.  A bitch, cold blue eyes, silver hair did the

          questioning.  She wanted to know who the Knight Sabers are?"

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-337

               "Do you know?"

               "I know who one of them is.  Do you know what Black Magic M-

          42 is?"

               "Truth serum they use in special forces; deadly."

               "She had that...well...what she used on me was marked Black

          Magic M-42."

               Jeena smiled faintly.  "And obviously wasn't.  Did the

          rookie spill his guts before or after she used it on you?"  Leon

          remained silent.  "Before, huh?  Ok, who did you peg?"

               "Priss Asagiri."

               "A woman?"

               "I've seen the Knight Sabers in action several times and

          I've been close enough to hear them speak.  They're women.  I

          just happened to see Priss by accident one time and since I knew

          her anyway..."

               "Is she good in bed?"

               "Don't know.  We barely know each other.  She treats me

          coldly and..."

               "Skip it."  Jeena pulled a data pad from the folds in her

          robe and made a notation.  "How did you escape?"

               "I don't know.  I woke up on a bench in Sector 7.  I found

          this in my pocket and that's when I knew I was fuck'en lucky."

          He handed her the crumpled up note.

               ""I fished this out of Tokyo bay as he was headed down.

          GENOM really doesn't like him.  His life would only be in

          jeopardy if he publicly surfaced now.  He was meant to be a

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-338

          warning to the Knight Sabers."  Nice kanji.  So you were saved by

          a GENOM insider that knows exactly what's go'en on.  A boomer

          rampage happens, and the Knight Sabers cut loose.  Well rookie,

          it looks like you're a pawn in somebody else's game."

               Leon nodded.  "So why are they at war?  The Knight Sabers

          haven't been seen since the incident at the power plant and they

          haven't messed with GENOM for over a year."

               "Why ask me?  If they're at war then it's the usual stupid

          reasons for one.  You know, power, control, money, god.  They

          stopped fighting over honor and women along time ago."

               "It's just that GENOM's enemies are usually dealt with

          quickly.  GENOM waiting this long doesn't make sense."

               "Oh rookie, you're..."  The data pad Jeena held beeped.  She

          looked at it.  "Hmmm?  Most interesting."

               "What?"

               "You're friend Priss seems to be no longer among the

          living."

               "What?  She's dead?"

               "Not quite.  There's no record of a Priss Asagiri anywhere

          in Japan.  Not even a phone number.  The Government's sealed and

          deleted her.  It seems that there was also a trace connected to

          inquires about her."

               Leon jumped to his feet.  "We have to get out of here."

               "No.  My ICE (Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics) was

          strong enough to block their pinpointing attempt until the safety

          kicked in.  About half of this sector just lost their connection

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-339

          to the Mega-Tokyo net."  Jeena turned her head away from Leon to

          hide a small smile.  "We should be safe enough for now.  Since

          your up, go make some tea."  Jeena put the data pad back in the

          folds of her robe and closed her eyes.  Leon stood there puzzled

          for a moment before turning towards the kitchen.

               Ten minutes later Leon poured her a small cup of boiling hot

          tea.  She downed it in one gulp and held the cup out for more.

          He refilled her cup and poured one for himself.  "Well, are you

          going to help me?"

               Jeena smiled and sighed.  "Shall I hold little Leon in

          mother's sheltering embrace were he'll suckle at my nipples safe

          and contented?"

               "I don't have to sit here and take this," Leon shouted.

               "My, my, finally a little fire from someone who pronounced

          himself desperate.  About time."  Damn fool doesn't know what

          desperate is.  "What do you need my help with?"

               "I've heard things about your work as a PI.  I thought you

          might have connections that don't normally talk to AD Police."

               "Connections and a safe haven from GENOM.  That's a big

          order Leon.  Connections are easy.  Hiding you from GENOM isn't,

          if they're looking for you, which I doubt."  Jeena finished the

          last bit of tea and Leon quickly filled her cup.  "But you still

          haven't told me what your goal is.  Or do you even have one?"

          They sat in silence for several minutes.  "Don't have one do ya?"

               "I want to help the Knight Sabers.  There must be a reason

          for what they're doing.  Priss just isn't a murderer.  Sure,

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-340

          she's tough, independent, a bit cold at times, but she's not the

          killer type.  The Knight Sabers I know fight for this city, for

          order, to get rid of monstrous boomers and GENOM officials that

          think they're above the law.  They've saved this city and now

          everybody's turned against then.  We all owe them a dept that

          can't be repaid.  We owe them the benefit of the doubt if not

          full pardons.  But people and politicians don't remember the

          past.  I can't forget.  Priss even saved my life once.  I have to

          help her."

               My, my, thought Jeena.  Leon's feeling really guilty about

          spewing his guts.  And it's pretty plain that he likes her too.

          Oh well.  "Leon, I think you've grown up a bit since we last met.

          I apologize for my earlier words.  They were the words of a woman

          fighting with an ancient anger that doesn't even have a basis in

          fact.  You did what you could.  You were honest.  And that

          inquisition just played politics and fucked me over."  She rose

          effortlessly; Leon caught a glimpse of her cybernetic legs

          beneath the folds of her robe.  "Grab your shoes."  Jeena put the

          tea cups in the sink and headed out to the entryway.  "What's in

          the bag?"  She put on a pair of Nikes.

               Leon showed her the magazines nestled against the automatic

          after he slipped into his shoes.  "Cop killers."

               "Great.  Yes, you're definitely learning rookie."

               "Would you stop calling me that."

               "And what if I don't.  Man enough to make me stop?"  She

          flexed her left hand before his eyes.  "I thought not."  She

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-341

          locked her outside door before pressing her right hand against a

          hidden sensor panel.  It scanned her palmprint and a concealed

          trap door opened in the floor.

               "Where we go'en?"

               "To find the Knight Sabers, where else?"  She slid down the

          ladder leading into pitch blackness.  Leon followed.

                    *                   *                   *

          Boston, 13, October

               He's late, thought Dr. Richard Geary as he stood on an

          enclosed commuter causeway between two buildings at the 40th

          level.  He watched the gentle rainfall while sipping a cup of

          coffee as he waited.  We're born, we live, we die.  Oh Sylia,

          what you've done...I've been concerned with my research for so

          long that I don't have anything else; now you've taken it and

          Crystal away.  I was a fool not to fight you on that decision.  I

          don't even know why I didn't, why I didn't fight...for Crystal to

          stay.  Damn you.  I should curse you for making me think about my

          own mortality, but I can't.  What is my `leave behind' in this

          world, something that was already done?  Just a guy that worked

          to recapture someone else's genius?  I wonder if contemporaries

          of Einstein felt like this, dwarfed, their own contributions all

          but meaningless.    

               A stout, white haired, black man puffed his way towards

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-342

          Richard through the people in the causeway.  "Rich," he called.

               "Simon."  They embraced.

               "Sorry I'm late.  I got so absorbed in the stuff..."

               Richard shushed him.  "Don't," he hissed quietly.  "Yeah, I

          haven't seen you in along time too."

               Simon looked at his old friend and college roommate in

          confusion.  "Rich?"

               "Come on, I'll buy you a cup of coffee."  They moved into

          the building to the left were the expresso stand was.  When they

          put the causeway in between buildings, the designer got

          permission to remodel an area in one of the buildings.  She also

          received permission to take out the offices on the 39-41th floors

          around the causeway to create an informal gathering place.  The

          floor was tiered downward with couches, tables, and chairs

          skattered throughout.  The dark glass on the outside was replaced

          with clear glass that would tint over on command, for when it was

          a particularly sunny day.  A small fountain, plants, numerous

          paintings, and several statues ornated the area.  On the

          traditional coffee break times, this area was packed with people

          from both buildings.

               Richard bought two cups of coffee; they headed for the

          elevators and rode up to the top floor in a full car.

               "Were are we going?"  Simon followed Richard into the

          stairwell; they headed up.

               "Some place where we're not disturbed.  We have alot to talk

          about."

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-343

               "I'll say."

               They emerged into the wind and rain on the roof.  Richard

          started for an outcropping of solar panels.  Simon shook his head

          and followed.  He's always been like this, he thought.

               There was a small space under the solar panels, back next to

          their mounts that was dry and completely sheltered from the wind.

          Richard sat down as Simon joined him.

               "Why are we sitting here?"

               "I don't want to be overheard by anyone."

               "I take it this has something to do with the Stingray

          programs?"

               "Everything to do with them.  What does the MIT expert have

          to say?"

               Simon laughed.  "This MIT expert is stunned, flabbergasted,

          and awed.  And these were made 17 years ago?  God damn."

               "Sylia was the one that managed to salvage most of what he

          did, using the Haynes prototype to add the factor of speed.  She

          doesn't have his genius, but she's a great one for putting the

          pieces together.  The day she walked into my office in Germany,

          my life and research was flipped totally upside down."

               "Full awareness.  It's hard to believe."

               "Yea.  I couldn't believe it at first.  But as Crystal grew

          in awareness, I saw her breath in the very spark of life itself

          until she was full, full of energy, vitality, and life.  Old doc

          Frankenstein must be howling about now."

               "I don't think he'd be mad."

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-344

               "No, laughing at us."

               Simon was puzzled by this comment for a moment.  "Rich, you

          were saying this was stripped out of the boomers.  That they once

          had this?"

               "Yea."  Richard raised up a little and looked across the

          rain swept Boston cityscape to the GENOM Tower.  "GENOM must

          control its boomers, and full sentience would be a big problem.

          Sylia's told me stories about some boomers, older boomers and

          their fight for freedom, from GENOM.  If you look at the berserk

          boomers as boomers trying to cope with becoming aware in a human

          society, then it's not very hard to see why they start tearing

          things up, if that's all their fundamental programming is for

          them to do.  The boomers have started to quiet down in recent

          years.  The older boomers with the correct programs were hunted

          off by the police and the newer ones didn't have the right

          programs."

               "What I don't understand is how GENOM kept a lid on this,

          how they managed to conceal all of this for so long."

               "Shit Simon.  We're both some of the top people in boomer

          programming and neither of us knew.  How did the US government

          cover up the '63 coup d'etat of its own president?  Nobody

          thought it could happen, and when it did, the lies were ready to

          carefully conceal the truth.  Sylia told me that her father and

          Haynes were both killed over this.  GENOM's grown in size and

          stature with its near monopoly on the boomer business."

               "So, GENOM killed them so these programs wouldn't come to

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-345

          anyones attention.  If the boomers all became alive, then GENOM's

          base of power in the world would be shattered."

               "I'm sorry Simon.  I've involved you in something that gets

          nastier the more I look at it."

               "Global politics and economics, I've never understood very

          much about them."

               "Both of us were better suited for the labs."

               "Yeah."  They sat for several minutes in silence, drank the

          remainder of their coffee, and looked out at the GENOM Tower

          through the rain.

               "Simon."

               "Hmmm?"

               "There's something I still haven't told you.  Crystal should

          be able to interface with other boomers, but she never did it at

          the lab.  Whether she could..." He shrugged.  "I don't know.  She

          has the same programming as Haynes's ADAMA."  Richard lapsed into

          silence.

               "What about it?"

               "Well, Sylia wanted to strip that section out of Crystal's

          programming.  I convinced her to leave it in after...after alot

          of fighting.  A couple of months later, Sylia told me why she was

          fearful of that section of the programming matrix.  She told me

          of a boomer who thinks of itself as god.  A god destined to lead

          the boomers to a new world without humans.  She told me that he

          can infect other boomers with the section of programming Haynes

          gave originally to ADAMA.  That he could awaken boomers to help

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-346

          him with his crusade against the humans.  Sylia didn't know if

          this boomer is still alive or not."

               "Hmmm.  If this boomer awoke, then he had Katsuhito's

          programs and enough time to awake.  Since Haynes's work is based

          on Katsuhito's, I would imagine that this interface is like a

          latent ability Haynes brought out.  A simple ability they would

          share with their ancestors, if you will, the regular computers.

          This is marvelous; a race that is naturally telepathic."

               "Simon, I haven't told you the worst part.  Sylia also

          mentioned that this boomer once absorbed a human consciousness."

               "How did it do that?"

               "I don't know.  There must be some parts of the original

          programs still missing and this boomer has them in its matrix.

          But you miss the point.  Dr. Stingray didn't just start a new

          race, he gave us...us, the path to immortality."

               "I don't follow...I...oh...oh god," whispered Simon.

               "Boomers don't die of old age.  All their parts can be

          replaced.  It wouldn't be a sterile mechanical existence if you

          put a human mind in a boomer body because all of Crystal's sexual

          parts are cybernetics.  That was the one big upgrade over the 33-

          S model.  The 35-S's only human parts are skin, blood, and their

          hair.  They can feel everything we can."  Crystal was a much

          better lover than anyone I'd ever been with before.  I just don't

          know if that explains why she simply felt...better.

               "If this is true..." started Simon.

               "Then the human race is on the verge of exploding."

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-347

               "Aren't you jumping to conclusions?"

               "Am I?  Sylia's seemed more knowledgeable about this whole

          affair from the beginning.  She stormed into my office and told

          me we were going to make a boomer sentient.  I doubted and then I

          helped her do it.  I don't have any reason to doubt her now.

          Simon, take that back-up memory core I gave you and throw it into

          Boston harbor."

               "But...but..."

               "No buts.  Can't you see that we'll destroy ourselves over

          this?  Come on man, there are still wars going on over religious

          differences.  There's still poverty, hunger, hatred, despair.

          Something like this will shattered any pretense of order on this

          planet because it changes the fundamental structure of who we

          are.  The rich will want it for themselves only.  The middle and

          poor people will...will be left to die and they won't stand for

          that.  I know I'd be madder than hell if I knew immortality was

          possible, but only for those that could afford it.  In the end it

          would probably be immortal vs. human in a fight to the death.

          One wanting what the other has, the other not wanting everyone to

          have it.  If there's something like a fundamental principle to

          war, that's probably it.  Can't you see our planet in flames?

          Can't you see a jihad, a holy war waged against those that would

          grasp immortality and throw away their humanity?  The human race

          doesn't have a future unless we get rid of what Dr. Stingray

          did."

               "Richard," said Simon softly.  "Have you considered the

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-348

          possibility that this might be the next step in our evolution."

               "Of course, I'm not that big of a fool," he yelled.  "I'm

          sorry.  It's just that change is at the heart of evolution and if

          we evolve to immortality, what do we do when our oldest dream is

          realized?  Live happily ever after like the storybooks say?

          Simon, you love your wife and kids, but in a thousand years, will

          you still love her, want to make love to her?  This changes

          everything and to much change to quickly is always devastating.

          And since the world is as it is, perhaps only the boomers would

          survive.  That boomer Sylia spoke of has the key to our

          destruction in itself.  I wonder if it knows that?"

               They sat and listened to the rain for several minutes before

          Simon said:  "So what you're saying is that GENOM was right to

          hide these programs.  The boomers shouldn't be sentient because

          they carry the key to our destruction as a race.  That Sylia has

          exposed us to a danger which could engulf the world into total

          anarchy and destruction as we fight for this prize of

          immortality.  That the name Stingray might be written with

          several billion curses at the end of human history.  That Hitler

          was nothing when compared to what Stingray unleashed on us."

               "I don't see why she can't see this.  Sylia sees things so

          clearly.  Maybe she's blinded by her father's brilliance."

               "Richard, didn't she ask you to take out that set of

          programs in Crystal?  But you convinced her to leave them in."

               "Oh ya."

               "Einstein once said that if he had known what the government

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-349

          would do with his work, he'd of done something else."  Simon

          sighed.  "I think Sylia walks the same tight rope.  One side is

          the oblivion of the human race, the other is the oblivion of the

          fledgling boomer race."

               "Sylia Stingray," Richard said slowly.  "She's a woman that

          wants us all to live, but we couldn't if it became known that

          death was now irrelevant.  The programs, if not all of the

          boomers, have to be destroyed."

               The rain poured down.

                    *                   *                   *

          Mega-Tokyo

               Leon was surprised when the ladder only went down three

          meters.  A light flared and the trapdoor closed above him.

          "Hmmm?"  They were in a 4 by 4 meter space.  One whole wall was

          computer equipment with a single chair on rollers.  There was

          also a storage cabinet, workbench, and a row of sealed

          containers.

               "Yeah, this is the sanctum sanctorum of a Mega-Tokyo PI."

          Jeena put on a pair of shades and tossed her robe.  She started

          to put on a black pair of tight pants and a grey shirt she got

          out of the cabinet.  Both pieces of clothing were made from

          Abotex, the super-high-density material they made boomer muscles

          from.  The cop killers Leon had would penetrate her cloths, but

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-350

          few people had those in the Loop.

               Leon looked around as she dressed.  "Your eyes still

          sensitive to light?"

               "Yeah."

               "Why not replace them?"

               Jeena stopped dressing, moved across the floor to him in a

          series of back flips and grabbed him by the throat with her left

          hand.  "Replace my eyes with something like this?  You moron."

               "I...I..." managed Leon.

               "Enough of my body is already boomer.  I can't stand the

          idea of having more."  She released him.  Men don't like

          mechanical women when they can have the real fuck'en thing, she

          thought.  They all run away, screaming for a human bitch to stick

          their cocks in.  It's been so fuck'en long.

               Leon sucked air for a moment.  "Why not replace your limbs

          with organics?"

               "And lose my edge?  And lose what's saved my butt more than

          once?  Not likely."

               Leon was silent until she finished dressing.  "By the way, I

          never figured you for the type that would live out on a street

          like this."

               "I'm not.  The GENOM construction people did a fast and

          nasty job when they built these places.  They bulldozed the area

          and just poured one foundation after another.  No thought for

          underground parking structures, no thought to what was under what

          they were building upon.  This apartment house is located on the

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-351

          very fringe of Paradise Loop."

               Paradise Loop was a belt line that shut down after the

          super-conductor metro was completed.  Why it was shut down when

          it still could function properly was an economic decision by the

          city council and the people who built the new metro.  The

          contractors, mainly GENOM, wanted their money back out of the new

          system as soon as possible.  Paradise Loop was shut down so

          ordinary people would have no choice but to use the newer one.

          Thus, they payed the higher price ticket on the metro and there

          could be no ticket war because the metro line held the monopoly,

          with Paradise Loop shut down.

               Since then, it had turned into a nefarious outlaw area, home

          to various black markets and every illegal activity imaginable.

          It was a playground for the wealthy teenagers that had Mommy and

          Daddy's plastic.  A place where they could indulge what ever

          fantasy struck them from moment to moment, as long as their SEC

          flowed.  The G-Strip and Paradise Loop were reflections of each

          other; the twin pleasure centers of Mega-Tokyo.  One ran on the

          average tastes of the middle classes; one ran on the extravagant

          tastes of the rich.  Both were controlled directly or indirectly

          by the Yakuza.

               Paradise Loop contained centers where all the activity

          happened.  Between these centers was the old belt line, a place

          few people dared to enter.  It was home to the worst scum Mega-

          Tokyo could produce, and home to those that had no where else to

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-352

          go.  It was a place the N and AD Police paid little attention to.

          Leon and Jeena once worked a prostitute murder case on Paradise

          Loop.  The only reason they did was because the bodies turned up.

          No blood, no foul; no body, no crime.  People in the Loop knew

          the fundamental facts of life in Mega-Tokyo.  If they killed each

          other and got rid of the body, the Police weren't interested.

          Kill some rich brat, who's SEC made the entire place run, and AD

          Police would gut the place to find the murderer.  The last person

          who killed one of the rich patrons didn't live ten minutes after

          the deed.  His body and the proof that he did it was immediately

          turned over to the Police.  Case closed, justice served,

          everything normal.

               "Back to the Loop huh?"  Said Leon.  "Haven't been there for

          awhile."

               "Uh-huh."  Jeena crossed to one of the storage cabinets and

          palmed the sensor pad.  It slide open when she tapped in a code.

          "Here."  She threw him a gun.

               Leon looked at it, shaking his head in confusion.  "What

          type of gun is this?"

               "You didn't hear about it?"

               "Don't think so."

               "It's an H.S. blaster."

               "Never heard of it."

               "Point it at the wall and pull the trigger."  Jeena pointed

          towards a section of cement.  Leon aimed and fired.

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-353

               "Holy shit," he yelled as the blast of laser energy slammed

          into the cement.  "Where in the fuck did this come from?"  Leon

          started to stare at the gun in amazement.

               "GENOM."  Jeena put on a shoulder holster and a black

          leather jacket, which was similar to Leon's.  She put the extra

          FN mark 2 pistol in the small of her back, patted her other

          concealed weapons to make sure they were in the correct positions

          before putting on a red head band that trailed down into her

          black hair like blood from an open wound.  She put on a pair of

          biker gloves before glancing at herself in a mirror.  "How do I

          look?"

               "Huh?"

               "I asked you, how do I look?"

               "Real hot.  Shit, I had no idea GENOM could make something

          like this.  Where did you get it?"

               "I stole it on my last case.  It's a prototype.  Damn thing

          saved my beautiful butt.  Do I really look hot?"

               "Yea, definitely."

               "Like maybe I have alot of money, like I'm a spoiled rich

          bitch."

               "Yea.  Perfect for the Loop.  What?"  Leon just looked at

          Jeena's outstretched hand.  "Oh."  He gave her the gun back and

          she put it in her shoulder holster.

               "All set."  She slipped her right glove off, palmed the

          sensor on the last storage container, and palmed the sensor

          inside the empty container.  A trap door opened underneath the

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-354

          workbench.  "Down you go.  I'll follow."  Leon headed down, a

          faint neon blue on each rung of the ladder guided him down into

          the darkness.  He heard her climbing down after him and the soft

          hiss of the trapdoor shutting.

               "Ouch.  You stepped on my hand."

               "Well, get move'en."

               "Now what?"  Leon moved aside as Jeena reached the bottom of

          the ladder.  He fumbled in the darkness to find his footing.

          Leon heard a tarp rustle and light leaked into the space from

          under a door.  He glanced around at the plain metal chimney they

          climbed down.

               Jeena unbolted the door and walked out onto a platform

          across from a subway station.  Leon blinked to adjust his eyes to

          the light, which was about half of normal.  Jeena put her shades

          back on.  The silence was broken only by the echo of water

          pouring onto cement.  "Come on, this way."  She jumped down

          between the tracks and headed left into the system.

               "How can you see anything?"  Leon stumbled.  He felt her

          hand steady him and pull him along.

               "Infra-red."

               "Those shades didn't look thick enough for that."

               "These are the latest model.  They won't hit the streets for

          another month."

               "You still have connections."  Shit, better than mine, Leon

          thought.  "Since we're go'en to see what's up with the Knight

          Sabers, and they're fighting GENOM, do you think the Tokyo

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-355

          People's Liberation League would be able to help us out?"

               Jeena started to laugh.  "Where in the fuck'en hell have you

          been?  Do you now check in your brains when you work for Ad

          Police?  God Leon, those assholes haven't been around since you

          and I were in the shithole situation with ALEX.  That mess wiped

          their command core, or have you forgotten?"

               "I remember," said Leon in annoyance.  "I thought they were

          still around, pull'en some small shit against GENOM."

               "They were never more than a gnat biting a human when it

          came to mess'en with GENOM.  It surprises me that the Knight

          Sabers are now doing the same kind of shit.  If GENOM knows who

          they are, and you've pegged one, which undoubtedly lead to the

          others, then their hides should be in the bay by now.  Why

          they're not is..."  She shrugged in the dark.  "Everything that

          GENOM does is to protect and bolster their power base.  Why they

          haven't hammered the Knight Sabers for Mason's death is beyond

          me."

               "What, you a GENOM expert now?"

               "Fuck off Leon.  Shit.  My last case, when I got this

          baby.." Her hand caressed over the cold steel of the blaster.

          "..I had to do some checking on various GENOM activities; how

          they do things.  While I was doing that, I noticed something

          strange about the Tai-Pan."

               "What?"

               "Well, when he started to lead GENOM, he dropped completely

          out of sight for about 10 years.  No press photos, vid', nothing.

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-356

          And in the last 15 years there has been only two segments of him

          captured on vid'."

               "So he turned recluse.  If I had that much money and power,

          I'd need to be guarded 24 hours a day with very few public

          appearances."

               "That doesn't explain why he looks exactly the same now as

          he did 25 years ago.  I think the Tai-Pan was around 55 or so 25

          years ago, so that would make him at least 80 now.  I know our

          surgery is good, and with his money he could get the best, and

          the best doctors and drugs in the world, but still..."

               "Hmmm?  That's fuck'en strange.  Did you find out anything

          else?"

               "Nothing that would interest you."

               "Oh."  Leon slowed.  "I hear music."

               "Ya.  We're almost to the Sand Pit."

               "The Sand Pit?  Great, fuck'en on the indoor underground

          beach.  Party, party, party.  Ah, finally, light.  You sure you

          didn't run across anything else of interest concerning GENOM?"

               "Well, I did find out that the Kanto earthquake helped GENOM

          out.  When it struck, the boomer juggernaut was, well, fuck'en

          crank'en like it is now.  All that boomer money made it possible

          for GENOM to rebuild most of Mega-Tokyo since then.  And what

          they've rebuilt, they still own.  My rent, and probably yours,

          goes to a little dinky company in the back waters of the GENOM

          empire.  Making places for people to live is nothing in the over

          all scheme of GENOM."

          HOUGH/CRUSADE-357

               "Ya, GENOM and their fuck'en boomers.  Boomers don't need

          places to live.  They just serve their masters and kill humans in

          their rampages."

               "A-fucking-men."

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