Through a Mirror Darkly - Chapter by chapter

[ByteSlinger]

“Through a Mirror Darkly”

Chapter 14

“Broken Reflections”


[19-Aug-2009 23:30]

Byte had just drifted off to sleep in her room when the sound of lightning crackling and booming woke her up. “Must be a nasty storm”, she muttered, and looked outside – to a crystal clear night. “Huh?”, she grunted, and then heard the thud of something heavy hitting the floor on the other side of the room. She turned her head quickly, and reached for the nearby .357. Her optic implant switched to night vision, and she saw someone getting up off the floor. In the middle of the room, about two feet off the floor, was a black disk about 6 feet in diameter. It just about reached the ceiling, emitting crackling sparks and various waves of alpha, beta and gamma radiation.

The figure slowly turned around, and their eyes met. The face was beyond familiar – it was her own! “No! “, she yelled. “How can this be? I’m in this bed? Who are you?”

“I am you – from the future”, the other ByteSlinger said, quietly,” And we have a lot to talk about!”

Byte1 sat up fast, and aimed her pistol at Byte2’s head. “Look, this isn’t funny. I don’t know who you are, or what you’re doing, so you’d better speak fast, or…”

“… or what – you’ll shoot me?”, Byte2 parried. “Look behind me – ever see a portal like that before? And look at this”, as she held up her cybernetic left arm, “Just how many of these do you think Tim made? Let’s face it, you’re more curious as to how I – or you - oh, fuck, I hate quantum relativity – are in two places at once right now!”

Still holding her weapon steady, Byte1 countered, “Yeah, you talk a good game – I’ll need more proof than that if you expect me to even consider believing this story”

Byte2 thought a moment, and then smiled as she said, “What if I told you something that only you would know that you never shared with anyone, ever?”

“So, what deep, dark secret about me can you tell me that’s going to change my mind?”, Byte1 smirked.

“I know what happened to your left eye.”,Byte2 started, “Yes, you lost your arm in that rescue accident years ago, but there’s more to it than that. After the transport was hit, you were lying under the rubble, losing blood and in shock. You were in a lot of pain, and didn’t know if you were going to live or die. Dying was honorable, but you didn’t want to live life as a cripple, always being less than a woman. So, while still under the cover of the wreckage, you took your pistol, aimed it at your head, and pulled the trigger, hoping to kill yourself. But all the blood on your hand made the gun slip, and the bullet pierced your eye and cracked the socket on the way out. With all the gunfire and explosions around you, no one ever heard you pull the trigger. When you realized that you had failed to kill yourself, you took it as a sign that today was not your day to die. So you staggered to your feet and managed to get noticed – and rescued as well.”

Byte1’s jaw dropped open slowly, and she lowered he weapon – and then her head. “I never told ANYONE that. I was too ashamed to admit that I failed twice that day – I failed the rescue mission, and then…so, you really are me? What’s going on? Why are you here? And what the hell is that thing?”

“That ‘thing’ is a Portal that can span space, time and even alternate dimensions. It was developed from a prototype based on the Portal gun from the Aperture Science labs”, answered Byte2,” and I have used it to jump back here so I – er you – oh, actually, it will be “I” - can prevent a kidnapping and an attack on the EGB.”

Byte1 looked puzzled. “Derived from the Portal Gun? How….”

But before she could finish, there was another burst of lightning in the room. Byte2 turned around quickly to see what was happing with the portal – and there, along side it, at an awkward angle, was a second portal! A moment later, a body rolled out of the portal, jumped up and aimed a gun at them both - It was ANOTHER ByteSlinger!!!

“Jeez, three of us – this is getting too weird!”, Byte2 commented. Byte1’s eyes were wide – this was too much to take in all at once.

Byte3, still panting from jumping through the portal, glared at them both, and barked “Look, I can’t let you kill her! You don’t have the right to change time the way you see fit!”

Byte1 looked at Byte2 and asked, ”Were you going to kill me?”

Byte2 answered, “I’m not sure what I was going to do – I figured we’d talk first, and then working something out!”

“LIAR!”, Byte3 screamed. “You know the only way to change the future is for you to do it – not her!”

Another crackle and more lightning – and a third Portal opened, disgorging a 4th ByteSlinger. This one, however, did not have any implants – she was fully human!

“If she must die to make things right, then isn’t that a death worth dying for?”, Byte4 added. “I am here to make sure she carries out her mission – things need to be changed!”

Byte’s private quarters were a decent size, but with three portals flaring and 4 armed woman from various dimensions all arguing at once, things were starting to get claustrophobic. Chaos broke out, and it looked like the yelling would never stop. But it did – when the fourth portal opened up in the ceiling. Another ByteSlinger fell out – this one similar to Byte1 – but her implants were reversed, right to left.

“No more meddling with the space-time continuum!, “yelled Byte5, “All of this unnecessary travel is going to create a tear in the subspace layer! “

“Um, looks like it already did!”, Byte2 commented, as more and more of the room began to lose its shape when portal after portal after portal began to open up.

“Shit, we’ve breached the dimensional barrier! “, Byte3 announced, barely audible above the roar of space-time ripping.

“What does this mean?”, Byte1 screamed, grabbing Byte2 by the front of the shirt.

“It means that we are now in a temporal-causal event that will keep growing exponentially until either all of our dimensions are obliterated – or someone figures out how to stop it. There is a mobius-loop cause and effect problem here. Something has to change here – and quick – or we are all royally fucked.”


In all the chaos, no one notice that one of the bodies that joined the pan-dimensional meltdown looked nothing at all like the others. It looked like a man, but it was hard to tell under the hooded robe. And no one noticed that he took aim with his Deagle and squeezed off one shot…

At the same moment, Byte1 took a swing at Byte2 with her cybernetic arm – and then fell back as the bullet tore through the connections at Byte1’s cyber-wrist. It shorted out the arm’s circuitry with visible sparks.

A second shot followed right behind the first, and this one tore the left hand off completely. This didn’t hurt Byte1, but it did surprise her. She looked towards the direction of the last shot to see her attacker’s face…

The third shot found its mark, tearing through her skull, and leaving an exit wound the size of a softball out of the back of her head. She fell to the bed, dead before touching the covers. Byte2 spun around, her weapon drawn – and all of the other Bytes were starting to do the same.

Then Byte2 gave a puzzled smile to the newcomer – and then her eyes went wide as he removed his hood.

“EagleRock?!?!?”

“Figured you might need some help.”, he answered with an impish grin.

“But how? I should have changed the future already! What happened?”

“If you wait a few moments, you’ll understand what I’m about to tell you a little bit better…”

Slowly at first, and then growing faster, one by one the Portals began to shrink down, pulling in their respective Bytes as they closed.

“You see, right now, in some quantity of parallel dimensions, you are trying to save your future. And all of you will succeed or fail to varying degrees. In some cases, the quantum and temporal outcomes create a paradox or instability, and the entire dimension will eventually shut down – and no one will ever remember it. Some of you will wind up back in the same base dimension as you started in –and others will miss by anywhere from one electron to a completely alternate civilization. But the instance of your consciousness that you call “you” can only perceive the four dimensional version of all of this – so, you will be satisfied as long as everything you think should be right is right.”

“Perceptive reality?”, Byte2 questioned.

“No, it’s beyond that. All realities exist – it’s just that we are limited to which one we choose to accept. We can only comprehend that we exist in one continuum as one soul. But in truth, all of your variations in all of these dimensions are just bits and pieces that make up ONE you. It’s like one toe not realizing that the other toes are all part of the same foot – and both feet are part of the same body.”

“All I wanted to do is go back and make things right”, Byte shrugged. “So, did I? Will I?”

“You will continue on with the path you must take. But you must accept the fact that no matter what path you chose, you can’t save everyone.”

“I couldn’t even save myself”, she said glumly, looking at the bleeding corpse of her past self. “Why did she have to die?”

EagleRock walked forward, and picked up Byte1’s corpse in his arms. “Because if she didn’t die, you wouldn’t be here now.” EagleRock reached into the cyberarm, and pulled out both storage modules, sticking them in his pockets.

Byte2 watched as EagleRock walked over to his own portal, and aimed what looked like a hefty TV remote at it. The portal sparked and pulsated and then complained bitterly as the new signals pierced the event horizon.

Before Byte2 could ask, EagleRock told her what he was doing. “Just reprogramming the other end…ok…there we go!”

And with a mighty heave, EagleRock tossed Byte1’s body into the portal. The Portal hissed like hot steel in a cold bucket of water – and then vanished, with no trace of the body or itself.

EagleRock turned to Byte, and smiled. “You’re a good soldier. Go finish your mission – and don’t forget about me!”. Then, like a Cheshire cat, he faded away to nothing, leaving Byte all alone in her quarters, stuck in the past.

* * * *
[Gamma 3-July-1904]

No one noticed the mountain shake as a portal opened up deep inside the rocky layers. For a moment, a pocket of space had been displaced long enough for Byte1’s body to fall out of the portal. Then the moment the portal disappeared, tons of rock crushed down to flatten it. Everything seemed to be displaced except for her cybernetic arm, still missing a hand, and bent a little at the elbow. It would stay buried like this for almost one hundred years – when it would be dug up by an up and coming technician named “Slinger”…

* * * *
[20-Aug-2009 midnight]

The clock chimed midnight as Byte sat down hard in the chair at her desk. The only evidence that anything had happened at all was the blood stains on the bed and the chunks of brains and skull on the wall. It was odd that no one heard all the commotion, but that was okay. She cleaned up all of the mess, wrapped up the sheets and bed covers, and stowed them in a large, heavy-duty trash bag. Finding clean sheets, she flipped the mattress, remade the bed to military specs, and straightened up the rest of the room. After a much-needed hot shower, she dried off, put on a soft sweatsuit, and crawled into bed. She never slept in pajamas, in case she had to get up at a moments notice to be ready for battle.

Despite all of the questions humming in her brain, the moment her head relaxed on her favorite pillow she fell off into a deep sleep. All of the exhaustion had caught up with her – and tomorrow, she had more work to do.

[20-Aug-2009 07:30]
Byte usually wakes up to the sounds of a very annoying alarm clock that she takes great pleasure in beating on until it’s quiet. This morning, however, her alarm clock had a rank and hovered over her bed, shaking her arm and repeating her name over and over again…

“Byte, Byte, you gotta get up! You’re late for the early meeting with Slash”, Lizzardis was wide eyed, almost panicky. “You know today we unveil the new tank – and one of us gets to be chosen as the first driver! Come on! Get up!”

Byte shook the cobwebs from her head. It was morning, and she had no idea about anything on her itinerary. She had hoped to discuss that with her previous self, but that never happened. And Lizzardis had no idea that the ByteSlinger he was talking to was actually a future version of herself. So far, so good. But she did have this overwhelming urge just to hug him, grateful that he was still alive. However, that might make things awkward for protocol. With an age difference of over twenty years, Lizz though of Byte as his “Auntie” at times – but never called her that in front of the command staff. In turn, she never called him “Tiny Lizz” in front of anybody except Krev, who gave him that name a while back.

“Okay, I’m up. Thanks. Please go tell Slash that I will be there in five minutes, ok?”

“Sure – see you at the hanger!”, and Lizz bounced out of the room, closing the door behind himself.

Byte jumped up, put on her milspec camos, belt and boots, grabbed her PDA and headed into the bathroom to brush her teeth and tie her hair back in a ponytail. “Good enough!”, she said to herself in the mirror, and headed out to the hanger.

* * * *
SlashFirestorm gave Byte a stern look, letting her know that he didn’t appreciate her tardiness. Byte stood front and center in front of Slash, saluted, and said “Sorry about being late, Commander. It won’t happen again!”

“See to it that it doesn’t - or you will be demoted. Understand?”, and he returned the salute.

“Sir, yes sir!”, and she turned on her heels and walked into formation. Only Krev and SlntCobra1 saw her smile to herself and heard her mutter “I should get an Emmy for that act!”. This made them both snicker, and Slash glared at them both. “What’s so damn funny?”, he demanded.

“Cobra farted”, Krev lied, and this made even more of the barracks chuckle.

“Did not!”, retorted SlntCobra, “You didn’t hear anything!”

“Yeah, we know it was you.”, Porkchop added. “You even admit to it in your sig: ‘You’ll know when I strike!’”

Now everyone was laughing – and even Slash had a smile on his face. Slash looked at Byte and said, “Why is it that whenever you get called into a meeting or become part of a conversation, that it’s not long before we get derailed and are reduced to hysteria, innuendos, bad puns, wry humor – and then I lose control of the situation?”

Byte smiled and answered, “It’s a talent I have.”

“Okay, enough!”, barked Slash “Let’s get down to business. We are here today to unveil the first prototype mega-tank that we will use to not only defend the Portal, but to patrol the nastier parts of the General district – and level them if they get out of hand. Fellow Elite Guards, I present to you the first edition M1A1 EagleRock Abrams!”

Slash pulled a long rope, and the curtains fell away, revealing a tank that made everyone’s jaw drop. It had triple 120mm main cannons, dual sub-machine guns, forward and rear flame throwers and heat seeking missiles, special armor plating, and an interior that made the bridge of the Enterprise D jealous.

SlashFirestorm continued his speech “Today, on the two-year anniversary of EagleRock’s untimely death, we celebrate his life and spirit by giving his name to this new line of specialized assault vehicle. We know that like its namesake, it will help us fight the good fight, bring justice to where there is chaos, and bring peace to all – one way or another.”

Everyone started to clap and cheer. Phantom, Coop83, PossiblePancakes and Andrea364 all had tears in their eyes. It was a bittersweet moment for them. They were there when he died – and some wounds never quite heal right.

“There is just one more thing to do.”, Slash picked up a battered helmet off of the table. Across the front the stenciled name “EagleRock” was still visible. “All of you, take off your dog tags, and drop them in his helmet.”, and as the helmet was passed around, everyone placed their tags in with quiet respect and reflection. When they were all collected, Slash shook them around a little bit, and then walked over to Phantom and asked, “Will you do the honors?”

Nodding yes, Phantom reached in to the helmet, swirled his hand around a bit, and then grabbed a chain. He pulled out a set of tags, and handed them to Slash. Slash looked at the tags, and smiled.

“Yes, he will do quite nicely. Staff Sergeant SlntCobra1, front and center!”

Cobra broke formation, and strode directly towards SlashFirestorm. Cobra saluted, and Slash returned it briskly.

“SlntCobra1, you are hereby assigned the additional duty of tank commander for the first edition M1A1 EagleRock. You may select up to three additional soldiers to be in your crew. In your tank, you will be commander, regardless of the rank of those you select as crew. You will be fully responsible for the care, maintenance and well being for the tank and your crew – and in return, you will be able to test it as you see fit, within the general guidelines of the Barracks. Do you accept this assignment?”

“HELL YES!!!!!!”, SlntCobra screamed, “WOOO HOOO!!!! I got me one bad-ass tank!”

Slash smiled at seeing Cobra’s face light up. He knew that Cobra was the perfect man for this duty. But he also knew that from now on, the only place he’ll ever find Cobra will be in, on or under that tank.

Everyone clapped and cheered for SlntCobra. Krev walked up to him, gave him a hug, and said, “if you want, I’ll paint a cobra logo and your name on it for you”.

“That’ll be great. Thanks!”, he answered, still grinning from ear to ear. Everyone started to walk around the tank to get a better look, and as they passed EagleRock’s helmet, they collected their tags back, and realized that somehow, somewhere, he was looking down on all of this today, and smiling with them all.

Byte walked up to Cobra and said, “I have the perfect target you can tackle on her maiden voyage”

“Oh? What’s that?”, Cobra asked.

“Well, I know that thing is powerful – but do you think you can level a mountain with it?

“Mountain?”, Cobra scoffed. “Shit, with this thing, I can level an entire city!”

“Good. Meet me after lunch mess. I think we’ll be going on a little field trip!”, Byte said with a dark grin, and then she saluted SlntCobra, and walked back to her quarters.

“I’ll have him collapse the mountain before the portal is ever finished.”, she thought to herself, “No one will be able to get through to this side, and they won’t be able to kidnap our commanders. Everything will be the way it should…be…”

Then it dawned on her. “EagleRock has been dead for two years now? He died in 2007? No, that’s not how I remember it – he should still be alive!

[End of Chapter 14]

[ByteSlinger]

Through a Mirror Darkly

Chapter 15

Loose Ends

[20-Aug-2009 09:15]

Byte sat at her computer in her quarters, and brought up the current roster for the EGB. EagleRock was not on the active roster – in fact, he was declared a war casualty two years ago. “He didn’t make it out alive”, she thought. “He died, along with twenty other soldiers, in that CS fiasco back in ‘07. That’s why they named a tank after him.”

As Byte read the entire list of those who died in that struggle, her eyes began to well up. “Such a tragedy. If only I bounced back to ’07, I could have prevented that loss as well. But it still doesn’t make sense – I know that EagleRock survived that skirmish – he was barely alive, but he did survive…So why does history now show him as dead?”

There was a knock on the door. Byte closed the Roster files, and called out ,”Who is it?”

“Hey, it’s me, Lizz – and I got Cobra here. Can we come in?”

“Sure. It’s unlocked.”, Byte answered, and rotated her desk chair to face the door.

Lizzardis came bopping in, looking more chipper than usual, followed by an equally happy SlntCobra1. They both looked like they just won the lottery, and Byte wondered if they’d ever stop smiling.

“Guys, those grins are creeping me out. What’s up?”, she asked cautiously.

“Cobra asked me to be the rear gunner in his new tank! So when goes to blow stuff up, I get to help!”, Lizz replied gleefully.

“Congrats to both of you. That’s one cool piece of hardware you have there. Just don’t blow up anything that will piss of Slash, ok? In fact, don’t blow up Slash, either! He probably won’t find it as funny as we would.”

“Thanks. We’ll keep that in mind. Lizz, make sure you put a Post-it on your console that says “Please refrain from blowing up the Supreme Commanders. They won’t find it amusing.”

Lizz chuckled, and Cobra continued. “Byte, I understand you wrote a lot of the AI code for the Tank’s systems, right?”

Byte had to stop and think a moment. She had memories of many weeks of traveling between dimensions and living out of time. For her, this was four or five months ago – and a lot happened in between. But it did sound somewhat familiar, so she decided to play along.

“Hey, you know that’s what I do best”, she offered, without really answering his question.

“Well, would you like to join us as our Tactical and Communications officer?”, offered SlntCobra

“Can I blow stuff up, too?”

“Oh, yeah – you’ll be guiding the long-range remote-view Sidewinders and keeping on top of the onboard systems. You know – geek stuff!”, explained Cobra.

Byte decided to give him a hard time just to break his chops. “Gee, I don’t know. Me stuck in a tank with two sweaty guys…”

“Three, actually”, interjected Lizz. “PorkChop is our pilot and navigator”

“Well, that settles it. How can you turn down an offer to not only run the systems on a new prototype assault tank, but share that experience with three young men who are hoping the air conditioning fails so I get so hot I have to strip down to my camo bra. Sign me up!”

“WOOO HOOOO!”, cheered Cobra

“You really wear camo bras?”, asked Lizz.

“Yes, but nothing with an underwire.”, Byte replied, ”They set off the metal detectors – and I don’t need the extra support, thank you! Now, when do we start playing with your new toy, Cobra?”

“How about we meet later, say around 14:00, in the tank hangar?”

“Works for me. Gives us time to grab some grub before we set out. Okay, we’ll meet up then.”, Byte agreed.

“Cool. I gotta get back to the hangar. Krev is painting a Cobra logo on it for me, and I want to see how it’s going. Lizz, you coming?”

“Actually, I wanted to talk to Byte about something first. I’ll catch up with you later, Ok?”

“Sure. See you guys later!”, and Cobra closed the door as he happily left to go play with his toy.

Byte looked at Lizz curiously. “So, what’s up, Tiny Lizz?”

Lizz smiled at the personal greeting. “Well, Auntie, I’m kinda embarrassed to bring this to you. It could just be my imagination, and then you’ll get upset because I’m making something out of nothing…”

“Lizz!”, interrupted Byte, “How many times have I told you – if it’s important to you, it’s important to me – that’s what friends are for! Now, take a deep breath, relax, and tell me what’s on your mind.”

After a deep breath, Lizz looked at Byte and began his story. “When I saw you this morning, something looked a little out of place. You looked different, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. But, after a while, it came to me. It’s your cyber arm…”

“What about my arm?”

“It’s different. I know you added some modifications to it over time, but they were small. Now, besides being almost completely chock full of parts that I’ve never seen before, it’s also a different shade of grey. And it’s scratched up a lot more than before.”

Byte looked at her arm, and then back at Lizz. Obviously, he thought he saw a difference, and she wasn’t going to call him a liar. So she decided to go on a fishing expedition. “Yes, you’re right. I’ve been doing a lot of modifications to my arm lately. I was inspired by all of the electronics on the new tank, so I’ve been tweaking my servos and circuits a bit. It’s a different color because I anodized it with a titanium coating, and it’s scratched because I was testing how well the coating worked. Not as good as I liked, unfortunately, so I guess I’ll have to polish it up and try again. So, tell me, what do you see that you haven’t seen before – and I’ll tell you what it does…”

Lizz looked at the arm for a moment, and pointed first to a large, odd-shaped honeycombed box, with a small, blue glowing LED inside, pulsating slowly. “That’s new!”, he said.

“Bluetooth Plus”, she answered. “It’s a Bluetooth transceiver, with a signal extender and built-in pin hacker software. It lets me connect to Bluetooth enabled devices, even if protected. Great little gadget for grabbing info from PDAs, laptops, cars and even cell phones.

“How do you control it?”

“Through the pop-up menu in the optic implant”, she answered – and his eyes grew wide. “I thought the implant was only for normal vision – when did you change that?”
“Lizz, l’m gonna let you in on a little secret – promise you won’t tell anyone?”

“Cross my heart!”, he exclaimed

“Ok. Everyone once in a while I take a trip back to a quasi-secret lab, where the people who developed my arm install upgrades and make sure the interface to my nervous system is working all right. I don’t make a big deal of it, and most of the time, you can’t tell from one week to the next. But recently, between what I added and what they added, well, it was a major upgrade”. Byte paused, knowing that this was a load of crap – but hoping Lizz would accept it. There were subtle details all around her that didn’t match up from what she remembered, and she wondered if it was a side-effect of all this time-tripping. Fortunately, Lizz had no reason not to believe her, and he sat back and smiled.

“So, all this time you’ve been sneaking out and getting upgrades, huh? Why didn’t you want anyone to know?”

This answer was easy, and she didn’t have to stretch the truth here. “Because when most people outside of the EGB see me and my arm and eye, either they’re scared, or they call me a freak, or they think they can challenge me to prove to themselves that they can beat a cyborg. I get tired of being the circus side-show, so I try to draw as little attention as possible to my implants. They’re a constant reminder that I’m not completely a woman – or even human…”, and her voice trailed off. She thought about being in the male Slinger body, and although it wasn’t hers, at least it was all human. No one stared at him like he was a freak, because he looked just like everyone else.

“Hey, Byte, I’m sorry!”, Lizz blurted out, misreading the look on her face. “It’s none of my business what you do in private, but I will tell you this – even though parts of you are machine, your heart is all human, and you’re a good friend. Isn’t that what really counts?”

Byte smiled at Lizz, feeling a little guilty she had to lie to change the conversation. “Thanks, Tiny. You’re a good friend, too.’ Then there was an awkward silence, so Byte took this opportunity to change the subject. “You know, being it’s the two year anniversary of EagleRock’s death, don’t you think we should go pay our respects?”

Lizz thought about it for a moment, and answered, “Yes, you’re right. Want to see if anyone else wants to take a ride with us?”

“We’ll first get the OK from SlashFirestorm to take a Hummer to the cemetery, and if anyone asks where we are going, we’ll invite them along.”

“Why do we need the Hummer?”, Lizz asked, a little concerned.

“Because the cemetery is located on the Southeastern side of Newgrounds, down in the eastern section of the Flash Gallery district – and we pass through General to get there. You know how bad that place has been lately”, replied Byte.

“Well, then shouldn’t we take the new tank?”, Lizz queried.

“No, we don’t need that much firepower yet – well, at least I don’t think we do. We’ll pick up some rifles, pistols and blammunition for the trip, in case things get dicey. Maybe try to stay incognito.”

“Then you’d better wear a long-sleeved shirt and some gloves”, Lizz retorted.

Byte picked up the phone in her quarters, and directly dialed Slash’s quarters. After two rings, he picked up

“Yes, ByteSlinger, what can I do for you”, he announced, sounding a bit distracted.

“Commander, with your permission, I’d like to borrow a Hummer and take a few men to pay our respects to EagleRock and the rest of the fallen”

There was a moment of silence, and Byte thought she might have lost the connection – but then Slash answered quietly, “Yes, that’s commendable. You have my permission. Just let the gate guard know who’s going with you.”

“Lizz will be joining me – not sure about who else yet, though. But we will be leaving in about 15 minutes.”

“Very good. Oh, and Byte – try to stay out of trouble…”, and then the line clicked to silence.

Byte looked at Lizz, smiled an evil little smile, and said “He don’t know me very well, do he?”

Lizz followed Byte to the motor pool, where they grabbed a fully-fueled Hummer, and a compliment of weapons and ammo. Along the way they bumped into Coop83 and Porkchop, and invited them both to come along. Without giving it a second thought, they both accepted the invitation. Coop83 drove, Byte sat shotgun, Lizzardis sat behind Byte, and Porkchop was behind Coop83. They left the barracks from the south gate, which would put them on a road that would bring them to the north east side of the general district. From there, after about another ten or fifteen minutes, and they’d be at the cemetery.

No one spoke during the ride. All three passengers avoided conversation by cleaning and prepping the pistols and rifles, making them ready in case they were needed. Even the outskirts of the General District were rough, so they had to be ready. This was going to be a tough enough trip by itself – they really hoped there wouldn’t be any incidents that would mar the visit.

[20-Aug-2009 10:22]

As they drove through the General district, it was as if all the color had been drained from every house and occupant. Even in the morning sun, it was a bleak and desolate place. Many buildings had been abandoned and boarded up; others were burned-out husks. Most of the cars on the street were on blocks; if you wanted to keep a vehicle here, it had to be kept in a secure garage.

Spammers floated around the streets like cheap hookers – they enticed the young men with flashy come-ons and the promise of cheap porn, but in the end, they delivered nothing but empty promises. All the attention made them stronger, and as more of them survived, others became brave and began to join them. Their work was presented by the uncaring bots, and if they lasted through the first few minutes of judgment, they would join all of the other spam flashes flooding General.

Suddenly, Coop83 slammed on the brakes. “Look, over by that burned-out ice cream truck!” They all turned to see half a dozen spammers and a few rogue bots attacking what looked like to be a street bum. They had the poor bastard pinned down, and while some held him, the others took great delight in pummeling the shit out of him

“Let’s do this!”, yelled Porkchop, and they all jumped out of the Hummer and took aim with their rifles. “Aim high – don’t hit the vagrant!”, ordered Coop, and in unison, they fired at the heads of the attackers. Three out of the four first shots found their mark, dropping three of the attackers and causing the others to turn and face their assailants.

“I got one! I got one!”, Lizzardis boasted. His adrenaline was pumping, and he was getting ready to fire another round.

But in that moment, when the attackers released their grip on the bum, he jumped up like a cat, face bloody – and pulled out a very familiar rifle. In the same motion, he fired it at point blank range into the chest of one of his antagonists, and then a moment later, voided the warranty on one of the attacking bots.

Byte zoomed in with her optic, and saw the markings on the barrel and stock. “That’s an EGB blam rifle! How the hell did he get that?”, she exclaimed.

“Well, he sure moves like he was combat-trained!”, answered Coop

“Let’s take him in – he has no business with that weapon. It’s obviously stolen!”, added Porkchop.

They all took a step forward and aimed their guns at the street bum, just as he knocked off the last bot. He was facing away from the Hummer, and starting to stand up when Coop took charge of the situation. “Drop your weapon, and turn around slowly. If you cooperate, you won’t be hurt”

The figure stopped for a moment, and then tossed the rifle to the ground. Byte followed it to get a better look – and managed to zoom in with her optic and pick off the serial number on the stock. But that’s all she got, for as the bum turned around, he dropped a flash-bang from his left hand, and on the way down, kicked it towards the Hummer. It went off, blinding everyone for a moment, and when they could see again, the bum and his rifle had disappeared.

“We have to get him!”, yelled Porkchop, “He can’t be that far away!”

Coop looked around at the area. It seemed kind of familiar – and very unsafe. “No, we’re not ready for that. If he has a stolen EGB rifle, there might be others – and we could follow him into a trap.”

“I don’t know about that”, added ByteSlinger, ”He was fighting the spam and bots as they ganged up on him. Once we stepped in to level the playing field, he tore into them like a shark in a tank of floating cows. And he only used a flash-bang to get away – that could have easily been a thermite charge or a biological weapon. He didn’t want to hurt us – he just wanted to get away.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”, conceded PorkChop, “Well, citizens, nothing left to see here. Let’s move on”, and they all piled back into the Hummer. As they approached the cemetery, Byte replayed the image of the rifle in her optic lens. The serial number was quite clear; now all she had to do was check it against the master database back at the Barracks, and see which soldier got careless – or greedy. She kept this little fact to herself – she would tell the others once she confirmed the owner.

They passed into the gates, and followed the road to the section where the fallen soldiers rested. Solemnly, they exited the Hummer, and slowly walked towards the oak tree where three rows of seven graves laid. As was the practice in the military, the marker stones were actually at the foot of the grave. This was done out of respect, because anyone who stood in front of the stone to pay their respects would not be standing on top of the grave – it would be completely in front of them .

EagleRock’s grave was front and center, and the four of them stood quietly, heads bowed; each prayed silently, remembering the fallen in their own way. Byte looked up, and read the graves. Some of the names she remembered from prior rosters, and others she had even served with for a while. Then she noticed that someone had left a single white lily on all the graves… except for EagleRock’s. Maybe it was taken? Why would someone forget the leader – unless they were angry with him? No one else seemed to notice, or if they did, they didn’t say anything.

Coop stood up, and commanded “Atten-hut!”. All of them stood in a row, straight up, at attention.

He then brought his hand up into a salute, immediately followed by the other three. He held it there for a long time, and Byte could see that a tear was rolling down his cheek. “Two years later, and he still hurts”, she thought, “I can’t imagine the pain he is in now. The pain – and the guilt.”

Coop released the salute, and then spun on his heels, and walked back to the Hummer. Lizz, PorkChop and Byte waited behind for a moment. Byte spoke quietly to the others, “Coop is taking this very hard. Do you think he’ll ever heal from all of this?

PorkChop leaned over, and answered, “No. He’ll never have closure”

“Why not?”, asked Byte

“Because Coop had to reclaim and identify the bodies that were recovered after the massacre. If that wasn’t hard enough, add to it that not every body was recovered.”, replied PorkChop.

“What?”, and Byte stared incredulously at PorkChop, like he suddenly grew a third eye.

“Out of the 21 dead, only 18 bodies were recovered. Three of those graves are empty – and one of the empty ones is Eagle’s. But that’s unofficial. The official stance was that everyone was recovered, but because of their injuries, they all had closed casket ceremonies. Coop knows this, and not only does he not forgive himself for what happened that day – he can’t forgive himself for not getting Eagle’s body back to its final resting place.”

“Oh…wow…”, muttered Byte, understanding it all a little better. But there was no way she was going to blurt out the fact that she had seen EagleRock last night, as he popped out of a trans-dimensional portal and killed her past self in order to shut down a rift in the time-space continuum. “Somehow, I don’t think he’d believe me”, she thought to herself. And in her heart, despite the fact that everyone here thought EagleRock was dead, she just wasn’t sure anymore.

They all started to walk back to the Hummer, not wanting to upset Coop any more by lagging behind him

“Keep this to yourself. We never had this conversation.”, added PorkChop, as they approached the Hummer. Coop was already in the driver’s seat; his face was a little red and puffy, most likely from crying, but no one mentioned it. They all climbed in, secured themselves, and drove away from the graves, towards the cemetery’s exit and back to the main road.

They didn’t notice that they were being watched. Behind one of the tombs not too far away from the gravesite, a familiar looking vagrant with dried blood on his face and hands – and an odd-shaped lump under his tattered coat – watched the tail lights of the Hummer disappear down the road. He turned away, and disappeared into the streets, blending in with all of the grey wasteland that was known as the General District.

The ride back to the barracks was just as quiet as the ride to the cemetery. No one spoke until they reached the guard gate, and identified themselves when asked. Coop drove the hummer directly to the motor pool, and signed it back in. They parted ways at the motor pool, still somber from the trip.

ByteSlinger walked towards the tank hanger, and saw Krev sitting on a stool with her paints and airbrush gun at her side. She was painting the Cobra logo on the side of the tank, as she had offered earlier.

“Hi, Krev!”, Byte called out.

“Hey, Byte! What, now it’s your turn to stalk me?”, she said, laughing. That was the ongoing joke – that Krev was stalking Byte, and enjoyed making comments about it just for laughs. Byte didn’t mind at all – Krev was about as stealthy as a bowling ball in a bag of potato chips. But she had the same twisted and perverted sense of humor as Byte did – and you just had to admire that in a woman!

“Nah, that’s your job!”, Byte answered. “I just came by to see how Cobra was doing with his new toy. Hey, that logo is coming out real sweet! Nice work there, Krev!”

“Thanks. Cobra is inside the tank, adding some of his own touch to the interior.”

“Great. We’ll have the only tank in the area with a gun rack, a six-pack cooler, a confederate flag on the wall, and every country CD ever made”, retorted Byte

Krev busted out laughing, “Damn! How’d you know?!”

“Hey!”, Cobra interjected as he popped up out of the hatch. “Just because I’m from North Carolina doesn’t mean I’m a redneck! That’s just a stereotypical view of all us southern folk!”

“Yeah…well this Yankee is betting 20 bucks that at least half of what I just listed is already in that tank. And if you could fit it, there’d be a sofa lashed to the top deck – you know, the one you originally had on your front porch! Now, let me in and see if I won that bet or not.”

“Fuck you!”, he answered. “I’m not taking that bet. Besides, I’m the commander on this tank, and if I want to decorate it a certain way, I will.”

“So, where DID you put the gun rack?”, asked Krev

“It’s over by the munitions storage…aw, shit! “, Cobra answered, realizing he had just played into the stereotype.

“It’s okay”, added Byte, “I don’t mind the Southern touch. Just make sure you unplug the bug zapper before you leave!”

Byte had to duck as Cobra threw a wrench at her head for that last comment. “Ha! You missed! …I’ll be back at 14:00 – we’ll take this baby out, and see if you can hit a big target first, like maybe the side of a mountain.”

Krev was still laughing as Cobra muttered obscenities about Byte’s parentage as she just walked away…

[20-Aug-2009 11:45]

Byte walked back to her quarters, and logged into the EGB central computer. She accessed the weapon assignment database, and did a search on the serial number of the rifle she had observed earlier. The system took a minute to find the answer, and when it was displayed, Byte just stood and stared.

“Son of a bitch!”, she exclaimed to the empty room. “That was EagleRock’s rifle!”


[End of Chapter 15]

[ByteSlinger]

“Through a Mirror Darkly”

Chapter 16

“Sand Through My Fingers”


[20-Aug-2009 11:50]

ByteSlinger sat on the edge of her bunk, not knowing what to make of all of this. “EagleRock was alive when I started – he had survived the kidnapping and returned to active duty. But now, history is different. He was reported killed in that skirmish, but his body was never recovered. And today, his rifle turns up on the streets of the General District, in the hands of some well-trained street bum who knows how to fight. What the hell did I do? I didn’t go back that far to affect this part of the timeline. I just don’t understand how I did this!”, and in her disgust, slammed he hand on the desk, knocking her mouse on the floor.

She bent over to pick it up, and as she did, she noticed what looked like a small, rolled up piece of paper secured by a piece of tape. She picked it up, and looked at it curiously, half-expecting it to explain itself. Using her thumbnail, she peeled off the tape, and unrolled the paper. It was a short message, written in black ink:

“Hey, ByteSlinger: you’re not the only one who’s on a mission to save the future by changing the past. It may not make sense now, but someday it will. Just don’t believe everything you hear! – E –“

“E?”, she said out loud. “E – EagleRock?!? How did this get here?”, then she remembered that he did show up last night with the express purpose to fix a problem that she was too close to. He must have dropped this note before he left!

“And he didn’t go through a portal – that closed before he disappeared!”, she thought, “which means he knew that by doing what he did, he changed the timeline! Was it possible that he went back further to alter the events in 2007, and met with a different fate? And how the hell did he jump?”

Then she remembered what the future Phantom had said – “EagleRock was going to build his own portal and try to go back and fix it himself.” What if my travels interfered with his? Or were mine part of his plan?” Nothing made sense anymore.

She lay back on the bunk, and stared at the ceiling, trying to meditate and focus her thoughts. After a few minutes of deep breathing, she calmed herself down. “Everything about EagleRock is speculation right now; the only real fact is that I need to get Cobra and his tank to level that mountain before the portal is operational on this end. That will stop the second wave of kidnapping, and the destruction of the EGB. Once I do that, I’ll put back on my Sherlock Holmes cap and figure out the clues to the rest of this puzzle.”

With her mind focused, she sat up, and then got up and walked over to what looked like a blank spot on the wall. With a few touches here and there, a panel slid away, revealing a wall safe. She put her right hand on the access pad, and a few seconds later, it turned green as the magnetic lock released and the safe opened up. She put the message from EagleRock in the safe, and then closed everything up, leaving no trace that she had been there.

It was almost noon. She headed over to the mess hall, and had some lunch, making small talk with a few people here and there. In her mind, she was hours ahead, going over everything that she needed that tank to do to ensure that the past didn’t repeat itself.

It was about 13:30 when Byte wandered into the tank hanger. Krev was spraying on the last coat of clear sealer over the Cobra logo – it looked really sharp, almost 3D. “You have quite the talent there”, commented Byte, and Krev turned around and gave her a big smile. “I do enjoy the painting. It’s the only part of the job I really like…”, and her voice trailed off a bit.

“Hey, what’s the matter, Krev? Something got you down?”, Byte asked, concerned for her friend.

“Look, you know I’ve had a few personal issues that could affect my performance here. Any single one of them I would just work through and call it a day. But there are too many little things – and a few bigger things – that are just getting in the way. I need time to take care of things, to take care of myself.”, and she trailed off again

Byte waited for the punch line. This didn’t sound like it was going to end well.

“What I’m trying to tell you is that I am seriously considering quitting the Guard. There, now I said it!”

Byte’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “Wow. I didn’t see that coming. Anything I can do to change your mind?”

“No, there’s not much anyone can do. It isn’t a matter of who I get along with and who I don’t – it’s just that after serving here as long as I have, I think I expected more – more out of the Guard, and more out of me. I’ve had a lot of time to think about this, and it’s just time for a change. But I’m not gonna up and quit. I’ll finish off a few projects that I have open, and make sure my notes are in order so that the next person in line won’t be in the dark. My guess – I’ve got about another month in me here before I become a civilian again.” Krev’s eyes showed some sadness, but Byte could see the resolve in her face as well. This decision didn’t come easy, but for Krev, it was the path she had to take.

“I can respect that, and I hope that after you leave, you keep in touch. We’re still friends, right?”, Byte asked.

“Of course! You can’t get away from me that easily!” Krev joked. “But one favor – tell no one. I want to do this on my schedule, and I want people to hear it from me first.”

“Done. In the mean time, we can still have a little fun here, right?”

“Hell, yeah!”, Krev yelled.

“Hey, wanna go on the maiden voyage of the USS Doublewide with us?”, Byte asked, pointing to the tank.

“I HEARD THAT!”, screamed SlntCobra1 as he popped his head out of the hatch. “Show some respect for the dead, will ya! And stop it with the damn Redneck references already!”

“Sounds like someone woke up on the wrong side of the sheep this morning”, commented Krev

“And what exactly is the right side of a sheep?”, asked Byte

“Damn you both!”, Cobra continued his ranting, “That’s not funny! Besides, we didn’t raise sheep – we raised hogs!”

“Don’t let PorkChop hear that. It might make him worried!”, added Krev.

Cobra was beet red now, and totally exasperated by the two women who were just completely disrespecting him. Had they been men, he’d be out of the tank and in their faces. But his Daddy told him never to hit a woman – especially if she outranks you and has a titanium cybernetic arm that could crush your cajones in a second.

“Well, don’t just stand there, climb back down – we’ve got a few pre-checks to go through before we leave.”, commanded Byte. “Oh, and Krev will be joining us in the jump seat”

SlntCobra just glared at Byte and Krev, and then as Byte climbed up the side railing to the hatch, she looked at Cobra right in the eyes, smiled sweetly and said, “Now, you know we’re all just kidding with you. Don’t take anything I say too seriously, unless I have a gun in my hand or one pointed at my head, ok? I’m sorry I ruffled your feathers.”

Cobra relaxed a little bit, and said,” Apology accepted. But remember, once you’re in this tank, I’m in command!”

“Of course you are!”, Byte agreed, and winked at Krev.

Krev closed the hatch behind her as she climbed into the neon blue glow of the tank’s interior. Lizzardis was at the rear gunner’s console, Porkchop was at the pilot controls, Cobra was in the command chair, Byte settled into the communications and remote control console, and Krev got comfortable in the jump seat.

“All stations ready for final checklist”, announced Porkchop.

As Cobra rattled off the punchlist of all the components, each member of the crew answered in the affirmative for anything they were responsible for operating or monitoring. Byte sat at the communication console, and began to log on. Suddenly, her optic implant began scanning the console automatically, and in a few moments, a pop-up screen appeared, floating in the field of vision of her implant.

“Console model XR2-7 detected. Maintenance access port model IEEE 455.6 located. Begin automatic interface?”

Byte responded “Yes”… and the fingers of her left arm began to change into a long, flexible probe, terminating with a control plug that matched the maintenance port. The plug connected into the socket, and a second later, Byte was directly connected to the onboard systems. Another pop-up appeared.

“Connection established. Full administrative rights to /root and all subsystems granted.”

Byte was stunned. She had never seen her arm do this before; it must have been a dormant program that hadn’t been run until now. Just as she was about to point it out to the crew, she realized it was completely silent in the tank, except for the sounds of the machinery humming. Four pair of eyes had transfixed on her left arm and the metamorphosis that had transpired.

SlntCobra1 was the first one to speak, “When the fuck did you become a transformer?”, and he was more confused than serious.

“Just now. It’s a beta upgrade that the lab did a few months ago.”, she lied. She actually had no idea how this happened. “It’s the first time I’ve ever used it.”, she added – and that was the truth.

Porkchop looked at Cobra and remarked, ”You do realize she now has full access to the entire tank?”

“And what’s wrong with that?”, Byte countered. “I wrote most of the code for this thing. If something goes wrong out there in today’s test, it will be most likely in some sort of programming module – and I want to be right there to make sure it doesn’t go from bad to worse.”

“She has a point”, quipped Lizzardis.

“Okay, for today’s test, I’ll allow it. But in real combat situations, you need to ask me first, got it?”

“Yes, sir”, Byte answered, trying to placate him a little.

“All systems are green and ready to go”, announced PorkChop.

“Command central has been notified”, added Byte. “We have permission to leave the base and head into testing area Bravo 7. They are aware that we are carrying live rounds, and this will be a full munitions test”.

“Very good”, replied SlntCobra1. “PorkChop, take us out, and head towards the Bravo 7 test area.”

The tank’s dual diesels revved up, making it lunge forward like a horse out of the starting block. By the time they reached the western gate, they were going almost 60 miles an hour – and there was more room on the throttle!

“Are we really doing almost 100KPH?”, asked Lizz.

“Hell, yes!”, answered Cobra,” And she can go faster if we push her! Control, system monitor status, please”

Byte responded quickly, “All systems operating in nominal range. No anomalies or considerable variations detected.”

“Very good. Now, one last thing to do”, commented Cobra, and he pushed a button on his command chair. Some music began to play, and Cobra sang along with it, “If I leave here tomorrow…”

A few moments later, the entire crew was jamming to “Freebird” as the M1A1 EagleRock supertank rocketed towards the Bravo 7 testing area. Which, coincidently, happened to include a certain mountain that needed to be leveled.

* * *

[20-Aug-2009 14:29]
Inside the Mountain Cavern

Three generators chugged along at full cycle, keeping the string of work lights and the balky ventilation system barely running. In the glare of the work lights, an almost-completed Portal stood inert in the center of the natural cavern. A dozen workers were welding braces and brackets in place, while others were testing and installing the various electronic components.

On the far side of the cavern was a tunnel-drilling rig. It could dig a horizontal tunnel about 6 feet in diameter, but given enough passes, it could make one of just about any height or width. So far, the crew of five assigned to the rig had managed to dig a rough opening about 30 feet wide, 20 feet high, and about 80 feet towards the mountainside. They were using all of the extracted earth to level the floor of the cavern, and shore up some of the interior walls as well.

All of the workers looked the same in their maintenance jump suits, work helmets and heavy boots – all but one. One person stood out from the others – a large, well-built man with hazel eyes, short cropped red crewcut, and a scar on his cheek. He wore a lab coat, and was very engrossed in the programming and calibration of the equipment around him.

Just then, a loud chime went off three times. “Break time!”, one worker yelled. “Smoke’em if you got’em!”

Slinger looked up from his desk, and watched as all of the union workers just stopped what they were doing to take a 15 minute break. “Jeez, what a racket!”, he thought.

A moment later, one of the workers who was only known as “Ralphie” walked up to Slinger and asked, “So, will this thing be ready by 17:00, because if it ain’t, my boys will be on overtime if they stay here past that.”

Slinger looked at the shop steward the way he would look at a glob of dog turd stuck on his shoe. “Don’t worry, Ralphie. You and your men will be paid as promised. Don’t worry about when it will open. Just think of all of the huge checks you guys get if it is late.”

Then another grunt ambled up. The name “Lenny” was stenciled on his jacket. “Ya know, today is me and the missus’s anniversary. I really wanted to get home in time to take her to a nice dinner. Why can’t they just zap another hole open and let us go back?”

Slinger shook his head, as if trying to explain calculus to a sock. “Because they can’t reach us here with 100% certainty until this portal is active with the right homing beacon. There is no guarantee that if another free-ended Portal opened up in here that it would lead back to exactly the same time-continuum that we came from. But with the beacon on, the right Portal will find us, and we can get back home again.”

Lenny’s eyes glazed over as his brain tried to handle all of the big words. Then Ralphie interpreted “Lenny, the only way to get back home is to go out this Portal once it’s runnin’. Until then, we stay put.”

“Thank you for that accurate and quasi-informative translation”, Slinger responded, and then went back to work on the console, ignoring the remainder of the conversation. He looked at the programs and the feedback loops, and after a few dozen calculations, figured that as long as the goon squad here didn’t screw up anything major, this portal will be minimally operational with four to six hours. “Looks like the union workers get overtime again”, he muttered to himself.

A few minutes later, the chime rang again, and all of the worker drones went back to their assigned tasks. But none of them felt the ground shake ever so slightly as the juggernaut tank from the EGB approached the mountain base.


[20-Aug-2009 14:46]

The M1A1 EagleRock tank flew down the foothills, approaching the center of the Bravo 7 testing area. From that point, to the south and east were concrete shacks and targets used for gunning practice. There were also scattered half-dead trees, large boulders, cacti – and to the north, a series of small mountains.

Byte manipulated the final stopping coordinates to put them in line with the mountain. “Command control has approved our final coordinates. We are to stay at this coordinates, but we have full 360 range of fire at our discretion. All air traffic and ground transports have been safely diverted from the area.”

“Full stop”, ordered SlntCobra1, and the tank came to rest in the center of the test area.

“So, what do we blow up first?”, asked Lizzardis, ready to see anything reduced to dust by the awesome power of this titan.

SlntCobra1 checked the remote cameras, and did a full sweep. “Porkchop, find your mark at 192 degrees, distance 430 yards. Concrete bunker, red paint”

“Got it, Commander.”

“Load up three of the modified HEAT rounds, and fire all simultaneously at that target”, Cobra said, grinning

PorkChop and Lizz loaded the shells, and prepped the cannon for manual fire. “Whenever you’re ready, commander”, Lizz added.

SlntCobra sat back, and with one finger, pressed the “Main Weapons Manual Fire” button on the arm of his command chair. The tank rocked slightly as the three shells exploded out of the barrels at just over 500 MPH. What was even more amazing was that inside the tank, there was no loud noise – just a muffled thud, like a large rock hitting a steel floor.

“Nice sound proofing!”, remarked Krev.

A moment later, the main cameras went white as the three shells found their mark. The vibrations of the explosions gently rocked the tank, but the noise was barely audible. When the dust settled, the concrete bunker was no where to be seen – and in its place stood a rather large and ragged hole in the ground.

“Woo Hoo!”, screamed SlntCobra. “Now, that’s what I call fire power!”

Byte saw her chance, and took it very discreetly, “Yawn…. Anybody can blow up a concrete box with three shells. I thought this tank had more balls than that!” She knew this would get under Cobra’s skin.

“Balls?!?! This tank has HUGE balls!”, Cobra screamed, still pumped from decimating the concrete bunker.

“Oh, so THAT’s what I’m sitting on?”, quipped Krev. “They ARE big – and SOFT, too!”

“Why not try to take down something a little bigger?”, prodded Byte.

“ANYTHING! Bring it on!”, and he started blasting “La Grange” by “ZZ Top” to accentuate his testosterone-driven rush.

“How about leveling that little hill directly north of our position?”, she challenged.

“Hill? Let me see that hill! “, and he punched up the stereo-optic cameras and pivoted them to the north.

“That’s not a hill – that’s a 200 foot mountain! “, exclaimed PorkChop

“Yeah, it’s probably too big to take down – even by half. Let’s find an easier target”, conceded Byte.

“Hell No!!!”, Cobra yelled as he jumped up from his command chair. “This tank can level a fuckin’ city – it sure as hell can flatten that mountain! Porkchop, Lizz, activate all staged munitions. I want 15 sets of the Type-3 micro-nuke HEATS readied for the forward guns, and configure the 4 forward Sidewinders to strike in a staggered-spray pattern.”

Byte just smiled to herself as she heard the others answer ,”Sir! Yes Sir!”. But she wanted to make sure it was overkill.

“Hey, Cobra – that pile of dirt is over 200 feet high. I don’t think the 15 HEATS and the 4 Sidewinders will take it down below 150 – that’s a lot of earth to move. You’ll have to find a way to start an avalanche.”

“You don’t think this baby can do it, do you? Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is, woman!?”

Byte glared at Cobra for that last remark – but let it pass. She got what she needed – now she had to play along.

“Okay, little man. What do you want to wager, and what is the goal?”, she sneered.

“The goal”, he started,” is to bring that pile of dirt below 150 feet with the 15 sets of HEATS and 4 Sidewinders. When I am done blasting the shit out of that sand pile, we will let the onboard systems remap the height – and whatever it says, we go with as the final result. Agreed?”

“Okay, I agree on the terms.”, answered Byte, “Now, what is the wager?”

“If I win – and I am damn sure I will – you gotta get ‘SlntCobra1 Rocked My World’ tattooed on your ta-tas!”

Krev choked and gargled something incoherently, PorkChop was smiling an inhumanely toothy grin, and Lizz just went wide-eyed and started to drool. But Byte remained calm.

“And when you fail, and I KNOW you will, you will get “Byte Me Hard” tattooed on your ass – IN FLUORESCENT PINK!”

The tank fell silent except for the hum of the engine. The gauntlet had been thrown down. Would he accept the challenge?

“Done!”, he answered, “ We have three witnesses – and no backing out, right?”

“Oh, not at all. I’ll have a nice, padded seat ready for you later – my treat!”, she answered with an evil gleam in her eyes.

As the turret spun around to face north, Byte used her cybernetic interface to access the scanners and the forward monitors. She switched to sonar and thermal – and a moment later, the cavern appeared as a hollow shadow. Using the dimensions of the mountain as a guide, and over-estimating the empty volume of the cavern, she feed her raw values into the simulator, and asked for the best-case scenario – complete collapse of the cavern, remainder of mountain leveled. What would be the lowest new height calculated?

It took the computer only 3 seconds to cycle through all of the variants. The lowest answer: 156 feet. The mountain was just too wide to take it down any further. Byte chuckled to herself, and ended the simulator. She already won the bet – now it was time to watch history get changed.

“Lizz, set the cannons to auto-fire based on the optimal targeting system”, SlntCobra ordered.

“Aye Aye, Sir!”

“Your own program is going to beat you!”, jeered Cobra

Byte just sat there, and quietly smiled.

“All systems ready for firing!”, reported PorkChop.

There was a tense moment as SlntCobra looked around the room to all of the crew, and then as he sat back down in his command chair, he simply said, “Fire.”

The computer had detected the cavern, and aimed the first volley at the hollow spots in the roof. With a muffled thunk, the 3 micro-nuke HEATS shot forward, and in less than a second, buried themselves in the mountainside, and detonated all at once…

[Inside the cavern]

The explosion rocked the cavern, sending tons of dirt falling and knocking out a generator. The lights flickered, and the air ventilation system shorted out and went off-line.

“Earthquake!”, someone yelled, and all of the union workers tried to scramble under vehicles or anything that would shelter them from the falling ceiling.

“No, that’s not an earthquake!”, yelled Slinger, “Someone is blasting on the mountain!”

“Why would they be blasting?”, screamed Ralphie. “There’s nothing down here!”

Slinger thought for a moment, and his eyes darkened. “Yes, there is – us! Our cover must be blown – they’re coming after us!”

“We only got pistols! They’re gonna kill us all!”, cried Larry, “You gotta do something!”


“Oh, I will…”, Slinger answered mysteriously. He reached down, and grabbed what looked like a boom-box stereo. It was very modern looking – state of the art. With the boom-box in hand, Slinger headed over to an alcove that seemed to be out of harms way – for now.

“You gonna hide in a corner and listen to some music, and just wait to die?”, mocked Ralphie, “You’re a chickenshit coward!”

Slinger ignored his rantings, and put the unit down on the ground, near the wall. Then he pushed a few buttons on the front panel, and the box opened up, revealing a small parabolic antennae.

“Hey, it’s a satellite phone!”, Larry squawked, “He’s gonna call for help! We’re gonna get rescued!”

Slinger looked at him, and said sardonically, “You’re half right.”

The transmitter glowed for a few seconds, and there was a slight crackling sound as the unit powered up and began to transmit a data beacon – through a microscopic version of a portal wormhole.

[Gamma, same time]

IB saw the emergency distress beacon light up on the console. Automatically, the Portal started the source trace and began to use the beacon as the target for a free-end portal. The console displayed the status message “48 seconds to target acquisition”

“Looks like Slinger needs a trip back home. He probably just misses me”, IB said sarcastically.

[Back in the Tank]

After the dust from the first volley settled down a little, SlntCobra1 queried the computer. “Damage report”

The main screen displayed statistics; “27 tons displaced. No measurable difference in height. Hollow areas still exist within target. Recalculating optimal strike points - please wait…”, then after a few seconds, the readout changed. “New trajectory calculated. Auto re-aim in progress.”

They heard the turret pivot and turn up slightly – and then heard the familiar thunk as 3 more shells fired into the mountainside.

[Inside the cavern]

Another explosion echoed through the cavern. This time, the partially-dug tunnel collapsed in on itself, and a huge avalanche of dirt fell on top of two of the generators. Tons of dirt buried five workers who had made the fatal mistake of hiding under a heavy metal work table nearby.

The aftershock shook the floor, and Slinger swayed a bit and had to hold onto the wall for support. Fortunately for him, he happened to be further away from that last blast than he was from the first.

“What do you mean I’m only half-right?”, questioned Larry, looking more confused than before.

Slinger saw the status light go from red to yellow, and felt a familiar change in the air behind him. “Well, yes, I did call for help – but, unfortunately, my dear Neanderthal, only one of us is getting saved tonight”, and with perfect timing, a 6 foot portal opened up behind him. Slinger smiled nastily at Larry, Ralphie and the rest of the union work crew, who watched with wide eyes in amazement as he stepped backwards into the emergency portal, giving them all a final farewell finger salute as he disappeared.

“What an asshole!”, Ralphie exclaimed as the portal disappeared.

[Gamma]
Slinger stepped backward into the lab’s control room, none the worse for the wear. IB grabbed him from behind, put her arms around him, and with a big hug said “Good to see you back!” Then she spun him around so he could face her, and in one swift motion, slapped him across the face, leaving a handprint on his left cheek. “Now, what the fuck just happened down there?”

Slinger rubbed his stinging face with his hand as he looked into IB’s eyes and said “They were on to us. The mountain was getting shelled – the whole damn cavern is collapsing. They’re forcing the mountain to cave-in on itself.”

“What about the portal?”, she asked, wide-eyed.

“Total loss - along with the entire work crew. Hey, those are the chances we take. No guarantees, you know that!” Slinger remarked off-handedly.

“So, how do we classify that target dimension now?”, asked IB

“Mark it as hostile, and we’ll just move to the next one. There are so many times and places to choose from – we don’t have to get hung up on any one in particular.”

[The Tank]

After the second volley, the computer detected a massive shift in the contents of the mountain’s interior, causing the overall height to drop 4 feet. “Woo-Hoo!”, yelled SlntCobra, “we’re cookin’ with gas now!”

“Yeah, but at this rate, we’ll have to make two round trips back and forth to the Barracks so you can reload”, snickered Byte.

The computer calculated the next target, and fired shells 7, 8 and 9. Along with that, Lizz fired off the 4 front Sidewinders. “That should take it down a few more feet!”, he commented.

[Inside the Cavern]

The third set of explosions detonated almost within the cavern itself. Huge slabs of dirt and rock fell down everywhere, crushing workers left and right. Just before a twenty-ton chunk of granite flattened them into red goo, Ralphie looked at Larry and said ”Looks like you’re gonna miss your anniversary dinner.”

The cave went black as the last generator was destroyed. The Portal frame was twisted beyond recognition, and the computer console now only existed in two dimensions – which was the fate of most of the men left behind. Their final resting place continued to fill with endless tons of dirt, leaving only empty caskets to be buried back at home.

[In the Tank]
[20-Aug-2009 15:05]

Byte smiled to herself as she watched the console monitor report that the hollow areas in the mountain were all but filled. Minor thermal hot spots still registered, but they were cooling as the bodies they represented bled out and died. “No one will be sneaking in through that cave”, she thought, “now let’s see what happens in the next few days.”

Then she sat back and watched as SlntCobra1 did his best imitation of Captain Ahab, determined to take down that Great White Mountain with all of his ammo. Cobra grinned as he reached the halfway point of his attack. “Ha! Half way through the ammo, and I dropped it 31 feet! Only 19 more to go!”

But he failed to realize that it was the hollow caverns that gave him that wonderful statistic. Now the mountain was just about solid again – and it wasn’t going to fall as easy as it did before.

Round after round was fired, and after another twenty-two minutes of shelling, all of the ammo had been spent. Everyone waited with anticipation as SlntCobra1 raised his hand, indicating he wanted silence. The computer had waited for all the dirt to settle, and rescanned the mountain’s dimensions. It seemed to take forever, but then on the main console, the final status was displayed:

“Recalculation after munitions testing confirmed. 165,398 tons of material displaced. Current target height: 158 feet”

Cobra’s jaw dropped as Byte asked one single question: “Left cheek or right?”

[End of Chapter 16]

[ByteSlinger]

“Through a Mirror Darkly”

Chapter 17

“Devil in the Details”

[Aug 20, 2009 15:52]

PorkChop drove the tank back towards the Barracks at a stately 50 MPH. Everyone was talking about how much power this tank had, and what a great shakedown run it gave. Everyone seemed to be very happy – except for SlntCobra1.

He hated to lose. And he especially hated to lose to a woman. Now, his ass literally had to cash the check that his mouth just wrote. “DAMN, DAMN, DAMN, DAMN, DIGGITY FUCK, DAMN!”, he said out loud, displeased at his own failures. He really thought he could bring that mountain down 50 feet with this bad boy – but it just didn’t work out as planned.

ByteSlinger unplugged from the terminal console, and then reached over, and shut off the music in the tank. SlntCobra glared at her wordlessly, waiting for her to say anything that would get him started.

“Cobra”, Byte began firmly, “if you have a moment, I’d like to discuss something serious with you.”

He looked at her quizzically, still angry, but curious as to what she had to say. “Go on”, he replied.

“You are well on your way to becoming an excellent commander. You have a great understanding of warfare and machinery, and you are passionate in everything that you do. But there is one thing that you need to learn to do if you want to be a truly great leader…”, and she paused for a moment, letting the statement sink in.

Everyone in the tank waited for the answer, and Cobra was getting madder . But before he could complain, Byte continued.

“You need to learn to get all the facts before you go into battle – and you need to trust those that you command”.

“What?”

“Do you know how I won that bet?”

“You got lucky! And you’re not gonna be happy until I get my ass inked, so don’t rub it in!”

“It had nothing to do with luck”, Byte answered gently, “it was because I had all the facts – and you didn’t!”

“What do you mean, you had all the facts? How could you know what would happen?”

“Easy. I asked the computer to analyze the mountain as a target, and based on it’s structure and all of the firepower we had, what would be the maximum damage inflicted, as well as the amount of mass we would move. The computer did all the work, and came up with an estimated height of 158ft. after we were done.”

Cobra looked at Byte angrily, “Yeah, you could do that – you were plugged in!”

“And you could have done it too. The options are all on your main targeting and analysis menu. But you either never bothered to look at those tools, or you didn’t understand them, and were too proud to ask for help. So, which was it?”

Cobra sat up straight and said proudly, “I don’t need a computer to tell me how to take down a target! I know how to fight my own battles all by myself!”

“And there in lies the problem.”, Byte replied, ”You are not an army of one. And this tank is much more than three cannons and a great sound system. It has more computer capability than any other weapon systems that the EGB – or the US Army – has in a hanger. It is built to withstand a direct hit from a small nuclear bomb, and if sunk in the ocean, the hull can withstand pressures up to 100 meters, and run on waterproof batteries for up to 6 days. It can also monitor multiple communication frequency bands – and had 178 different decryption and high-powered decoders to break into over 95% of all milspec encoded transmissions.”

Cobra was stunned for a moment, and then said quietly, ”I never knew that. Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”

“As commander of this vehicle, it is YOUR responsibility to know everything about it. You have to know this thing like you know your modded auto-fire blam rifle. You have to know it – and trust it. Just like you need to know and trust your crew.”

“I know and trust all you guys – and gals – already! How can you say that?”, he volleyed back

“Yes, you do – but not as a commander. It’s different. You need to be the leader – and we need to be confident in your abilities. Like I said, I see it in you – you just have to see it in yourself – and get all the facts before you jump into battle. You let a bunch of little details get the better of you.”

Cobra didn’t like to be chided, but he knew she was right – again.

“Well, if I’m falling short, why don’t YOU be the commander of this thing, then?”, and he started to get angry again.

“Not my purpose here. I’m here to support and help you. And part of taking this tank out was for you to learn how to handle it – ALL of it. I’m not going to push it any further, but I will leave you with this quote from ‘The Ancient Art of War’:

“A truly great leader knows to only start the wars that he can win. This way, all who follow him know that he always leads them into victory. The trick is knowing which wars you can win”.

There was silence in the tank as those words sank in. and then Cobra spoke. ”Yeah, so if I had all my facts straight before I made that bet, I wouldn’t have taken the bet at all – or maybe set the height a little higher. But because I jumped in old-school, thinking that just raw power would be enough to do the trick – well, I made an ass of myself – literally.”

Byte smiled, and shook her head slowly, ”You know, you did the same thing with the bet. You left a lot of details up to interpretation – such as the size of the tattoo, and even if it should be permanent or not, or if it could be removed after it was done. None of that was discussed – you just assumed “big and permanent”, didn’t you?

SlntCobra nodded, “Yeah, of course. Why would I think otherwise? I know you!”

“Yes, you know me – but if you’re going to put your ass on the line, you’d best get all the details first, regardless if friend or foe!”

Cobra smiled,” So, does this mean you’re gonna let me off the hook for that bet, then?, he asked hopefully.

A familiar impish grin returned to Byte’s face. “Not exactly. You did lose a bet, so there will be a price to pay. But not as bad as you think…”, and she paused for the dramatic effect

“Oh, Byte, stop teasing!”, yelled Lizz, “I wanna see ‘Byte Me Hard’ on his ass! That was the bet, wasn’t it?”

Cobra threw a pen at Lizzardis’s head, bouncing it off his nose and ricocheting somewhere under a control chair.

“Funny you should say that, Lizz.”, Byte continued, as she pulled out something from her shirt pocket.

It was a pink Sharpie, medium point. She handed it to Lizz. “Since you want to see it so bad, you’ll get to do the honors. Nothing too fancy, and limit yourself to one cheek…”

“Oh, HELL NO!!!”, yelled Cobra. “He’s not going anywhere near my ass with that pen! I’ll knock him out first.”

“Oh, like that would take ALL your manly strength!”, interjected Krev.

“Well, the way I see it, you have three choices: you let Lizz do it here and now, and what happens in the tank, stays in the tank, or you let someone on base do it, but I will let everyone know it’s there – or you renege on the bet, and we let people know that you are a bad gambling risk”

“That’s blackmail! The only way you’ll keep quiet is if you get your way! That’s not fair!”

“All’s fair in love and war, Cobra. Now, as a commander, choose your destiny. But think it over carefully first!”

Meanwhile, Lizz popped the cap off the marker, and sniffed it,” Hey, it smells like bubble gum – this is bubble-gum pink, isn’t it, Byte?”

“Yeah, it may smell like bubble gum now”, added PorkChop, “but after ten minutes on Cobra’s ass it’s not gonna smell like that anymore!”

Everyone but Cobra chuckled at that remark. He was getting redder and visibly angry. “I don’t like being played the fool here! This isn’t right – and you cornered me into three choices that I hate!”

Byte leaned over, took Cobra’s face in her hands, looked him in the eyes and said, in barely above a whisper “Remember this feeling. Remember that a poor decision can lead you down a path with no easy way out. Remember that above all else, a man is always judged by his actions, even in adversity. Had we been in a combat situation, you would be gambling with our lives – and that’s no place for long shots and sucker bets. Do you understand what I am saying? Do you see why this was an important lesson?”, and she waited for an answer.

Cobra trembled in her hands, angry but scared, hating himself for feeling this way, hating that she saw through him, hating that a moment of bravado put him in such a stupid situation. Byte let go, and slowly leaned back, just watching Cobra’s face. His mind was racing, and inside, he was struggling with what to do next.

The tension was mounting in the tank. No one was used to Byte ever being this serious – or Cobra ever being so shaken up. It was almost surreal.

Finally, Cobra looked up, and said, “What happens in the tank, stays in the tank, right? You ALL promise that, right? No slip-ups, no crossed-fingers, no ‘oops’. Are y’all gonna keep your word, as friends and as Guards?”

They all looked at eachother, and each nodded and answered “Yes.”

“I can’t fuckin’ believe I’m doing this!”, he said, and he turned around, away from everyone – and dropped his pants and boxer shorts, exposing his lily-white posterior.

“Full moon’s out early!”, yelled Krev

“Okay, Lizz – be gentle”, nudged Byte. “Make it quick and simple – and stay away from his asshole.”

“Awww, you never let me have any fun!”, he complained

“You got 15 seconds, and then I’m pulling my pants back up – make it fast!”, commanded Cobra.

“You heard the man!”, added Byte. “Start that graffiti !”

With quick, deliberate strokes, Lizz drew the three words with a few flairs and embellishments, and when he stopped, the rest of the crew took a quick peek just before Cobra pulled his pants back up.

“Okay! The bet has been paid! Nothing is said outside this tank – EVER! – or I will make your life a living hell!”, he stated

“Yes, he’s right”, Byte commanded, “This stays here, PERIOD! No exceptions, no excuses. Are we all clear on that?”

There were unanimous consents among everyone, and the secret was safe.

A few minutes later, they returned to the west gate, and re-entered the Barracks. PorkChop navigated the tank back to the hangar, and after the shutdown sequence, they all filed out of the hatch. Byte hung back a little, and when she had a moment, whispered in Cobra’s ear , “A few rags with rubbing alcohol or turpentine will clean things up pretty fast, if you catch my drift”, and then she smiled, and walked away.

Krev walked with Byte, and asked ,”What was that about? Another secret?”

“Nah, I just told Cobra how to clean up a small problem real fast”

“Oh, so he’s probably going to run back to his room, lock himself in with a can of turpentine, and scrub his cheek until it’s all red and clean, right?”, wagered Krev.

“Yeah, most likely. The next time we see him, all evidence of our bet will be gone.”, replied Byte.

“No, not exactly…”, grinned Krev, and she pulled out her cell phone. She turned it on, accessed her files., and then showed the display to Byte.

“Oh, my – that’s, er, very clear”, Byte commented.

“Yes, this camera phone does take life-like pictures, doesn’t it?”

“Now, remember, we all promised!”, Byte reminded her.

“Of course!”, retorted Krev, “As long as I’m in the EGB, his secret is safe with me!”

Byte smiled at first, and then looked worried, “Hey, wait!!! – didn’t you say you were going to quit next month?”, she asked.

Krev didn’t say another word. She just flipped her phone close and smiled a wry, little smile.


[Aug 20, 2009 17:35]

After quietly eating some dinner at the mess hall, Byte went back to her room, and sat on the edge of her bunk, just trying to get a handle on everything. “I took care of that mountain, but there’s still some questions about EagleRock. Is he dead or alive – and in hiding? “I know I saw his rifle used today, and that bum sure fought like he was military trained. Those rifles are never meant to be used by civilians…”

“I need more answers”, she said out loud to the empty room. “I need to know what happened two years ago – and I know who I want to speak to first...”. Picking up the intercom phone, she punched the access code into SlashFirestorm’s private line. It was one of the few secure channels in the EGB phone network, and only used if absolutely necessary.

After three rings, Slash picked up. “ByteSlinger , this better be good. You’re interrupting ‘Wheel Of Fortune’ and a good bottle of Scotch”

“Slash, we need to talk. It’s very important. I saw something earlier today, and I need to report it to you.”, she answered.

“What is so important that you have to call me on the secure line?”, he replied, a little pissed off.

Byte waited a moment, and chose her words carefully. “It’s about EagleRock. I saw his blam rifle today in the General District, and the bum who was using it knew how to use it well”

The line was silent so long that Byte thought Slash might have passed out or hung up. Then he spoke in a low and commanding voice, “Get here – NOW!”, and then he closed the connection.

“Looks like I hit a nerve”, she said to herself, and immediately left for Slash’s quarters.

A few minutes later, after some double-time striding, she was outside his door, and just as she was ready to knock, the door swung open, and Slash made a motion for her to come in. He closed – and locked – the door behind them, and then turned on the stereo to a local music station.

Byte sat down on a chair at his kitchen table, and Slash sat opposite her, bottle of Scotch at the ready. “Drink?”, he asked. “No, thanks. But help yourself”, she answered.

“Don’t mind if I do”, he replied, and took a swig right from the bottle. Then he looked at Byte, and said “You know, I thought I’d be over all of this by now. But I’m not. Too many loose ends. Too many secrets. It’s enough to drive a man to drink – oh, yeah – it did!”, and he took another swig.

“What loose ends?”, asked Byte. “Is this about EagleRock?”

Slash looked at Byte with steely, squinting eyes, like he was trying to look past her eye and into her soul. “You tell me what you have to tell me first. Then we’ll go from there.”, he replied, not answering her question.

She told him what happened in the General District – about the cornered bum, the firefight, the rifle – and the way the bum escaped. She also told him that she thought the same bum had followed them to the gravesites. And finally, she told him that she knew three of the graves were empty – EagleRocks, TheThing and SilentSoldier. Then she added that she looked up the serial number on the rifle, confirmed that it belonged to EagleRock – and it was supposedly in storage. But she crossed-check the storage manifest, and the location on file was fictitious – it used to exist, but they converted that part of the storage area to a communications closet two years ago.

Slash was silent during her entire monologue, trying hard to keep a poker face. But Byte could see his face change slightly as she spoke, from anger to sadness to almost resignation. She knew she had made him uncomfortable – which meant she was on the right track. When she had finished, there was an uncomfortable silence in the room. Slash leaned back, took a long, hard swig, and through reddened eyes, said simply, “So what? He’s dead, and some vigilante got his rifle. Nothing to see here, folks!”

Byte stood up, and looked at Slash with anger in her good eye. Her optic implant extended an inch, zooming in on his face, scanning the thermal readings from his skin. “Damn it to Hell!”, she yelled. “We hold the same rank, we’ve know each other for years, fought side by side – and yet you think you can just flat-out lie to me when it suits you?”

Slash stood up quickly, knocking the almost-empty bottle of Scotch to the floor. As it shattered, he grabbed his firearm off his hip, flipped the safety, pointed it at Byte and commanded, “Stand down, soldier! Or I’ll toss you in the brig for insubordination!”

“And you’ll be in the cell next to me when they find out that you’ve been selling EGB firearms and supplies to vigilantes – not to mention the insurance fraud you set in motion claiming that EagleRock was dead – when he’s not!”. She was fishing now, not sure of the truth – but she knew she got under his skin, and something was going to pop. Hopefully it wouldn’t be that gun pointed at her.

“And if I killed you here in self defense, I wouldn’t have to explain anything to anybody, would I?”, and he aimed the gun at her head.

She looked at him, not flinching, not moving. Then quietly she spoke. “You’re not a killer – and even if you kill me here and now, the secrets you carry and the lies you are living won’t go away. My death at your hands will just drive you deeper into your bottle – and that will kill you slowly and without honor. How do you know that I’m the only one who suspects your role in a cover-up? What are you going to do – track all of us down and kill us? Bad plan, if you ask me.”

They stood frozen in time. It could have been a moment, it could have been an hour. Nobody moved; in the silence, you could hear the clock ticking on the desk, and the voices of soldiers talking down the hall.

A bead of sweat broke out on Slash’s forehead, and ran down the side of his face. Slowly, he relaxed his trigger finger, flipped the safety back on, and re-holstered his weapon, never taking his eyes off Byte. She was relieved to see him stand down – but she knew he could draw again and shoot her in a blink of an eye. She waited for him to speak.

“I witnessed something no man should see. I saw almost two dozen soldiers under my command die, and I was helpless to stop it. They fought well, but in the end, they all died on my watch. I wasn’t worthy to lead them then, and after two years, still feel unworthy now. I’ve been going through the motions, waiting for a better commander to step up and take the lead. Then I could go retire, and hide in some dark hole in some forgotten corner of the world, where I belong. Two years of guilt. Two years of nightmares. I look in the mirror, and sometimes I can’t even face myself for what had happened..”

“But it wasn’t your fault!”, Byte interjected

“Fault?! When you are in charge, it IS your fault if the mission fails. If you lose someone, accident or not, as commander, you ARE responsible. All those live – all that blood – will always be on my hands. It seemed like there would never be any redemption for that loss. No way to ever try to make it right – or at least stop it from happening again. No way … until ….”, his voice trailed off, as he hesitated to finish the sentence.

“Until what?”, Byte asked.

SlashFirestorm walked around to ByteSlinger’s side of the table, and literally came face-to-face with her. She didn’t move as he spoke in barely above a whisper, “You must swear to me on your life that what I’m about to tell you will NEVER leave this room. If you so much as hint to anyone any of this, I will see to it that your body will never be found – along with whomever you tell. Do you swear that, on your life and on your honor, to take all of this to your grave?”

Byte stepped back a half step. There weren’t too many things that scared her, but this was one of them. “What the hell is this secret”, she thought,” that I need to stake against my life? Do I want to know the truth?”

Gulping hard, Byte looked into Slash’s eyes and vowed, ”On my honor and on my life, everything said in this room will stay in this room, and I will take this secret to my death.”

Slash nodded slowly and said ,”You’re right. EagleRock is still alive – and I see him at least once a week.”
Byte sat back down in the chair, and Slash sat in his as he continued his confession. “He never died in the battle. Even though he was seemingly shot at point-blank range, the bullet actually skimmed across his skin. It hurt like hell, and he fell down hard. But he didn’t die. One of the moderators who were on body patrol were sympathetic to our cause, and when they went to collect his body, discovered that he wasn’t dead. They patched him up in some makeshift hospital, and then snuck him out in the trash. But I didn’t know this until much later.”

“That explains why EagleRock’s casket was empty – what about TheThing and SilentSoldier?”

“TheThing is also alive, living in the same secrecy as EagleRock. SilentSoldier, however, really did die – but his body was never recovered. Some say it was ground up for dog food. Others say it was just tossed in a dumpster. No one really knows. But there is no closure here –we had nothing to bury, and we don’t know if he’ll ever be at peace.”

Byte let it all sink in, remembering the state of the EGB and Newgrounds two years back. It was getting out of hand – not that it was any better today, but it could be worse.

Slash continued. “It was some time later that I received a puzzling note to meet someone in the General District , behind the back alley of a local pub, at night. I was told to come alone, and that I wouldn’t be hurt if I did. I was feeling so bad about the recent fiasco that part of me hoped I would be ambushed and killed – so I went. I found the alley and waited for the meeting time – and two hooded figures stepped out of a door near the end of the alley. I stood there watching them, and as I reached for my sidearm, one of them spoke. “That won’t be necessary”, he said, and both of them pulled back their hoods, revealing their faces. I almost fell over when I saw EagleRock and TheThing. They were both scanned the alley and the rooftops for any witnesses, and as fate would have it, there were none. They told me to follow them, and we went into the cellar of the pub. In there, they told me how they escaped, and how they both decided that they could fight the war better if everyone thought they were dead. They wanted to become deep operatives for the EGB – officially, they didn’t exist, so they didn’t have to play by the rules. They asked me for my help – to give them supplies and weapons, and in return, I would know what was happening in the underbelly of Newgrounds. But I could never tell anyone that they were still alive. I agreed, but later realized that it didn’t lighten my burden – it made it worse. I now had to not only lie about their deaths, but I had to steal from the EGB and hide my tracks to keep them in business. I was doing all the wrong things for all the right reasons – and now, I’m in too deep.”

“But what if EagleRock and TheThing come back to the EGB and tell the truth? There might be repercussions, but at least you won’t have it over your head anymore!”, she asked.

“If they did that, I would be court-martialed and either sent away for life – or killed on the spot. Besides, they are doing more good for us being ‘dead’ than they could alive. But stealing supplies and fudging the records to cover my trail is getting harder and harder. If I get caught, I told them that I would confess to selling them to the black market in the General District, that I needed the money to pay off gambling debts. But I would never mention their names. Just like you never will, right? RIGHT?!?!?”

“Yes, I swore that to you, and I will keep that oath, period.”, she answered, “Now, where do we go from here?”

Slash thought for a moment, and then said “WE don’t go anywhere. You know the truth, but you can’t act on it. You have to pretend this never happened. You can’t help me, you can’t get involved at all, because if I get caught, I don’t want to bring anyone else down with me. I certainly don’t need that shit over my head. I’m already in too deep, but you still can walk away. Now that you know everything, please stop digging under rocks for the answer. If anyone has concerns about EagleRock’s status, you must insist that he is dead – do not offer up any alternatives.”

“So, I’m caught up in this lie as much as you are now”, Byte added sourly, “ and I have to keep it going. But it still doesn’t sit right with me.”

“That is the price of knowing the truth – you have to bury it with a lie for it’s own good. Just Like I’ve done these past years.”

“No, no that’s not what I mean”, she continued. “This is not how I remember it. I could have sworn EagleRock, Coop83 and you were the only survivors. They both continued their command, supporting you and rebuilding the barracks afterwards…”, her voice trailed off, and then she asked Slash, ”Do you have a secure computer terminal here?”

“Yeah, in the back office. Why?”

“Because I have the records from the barracks for the past three years on file in this”, and she pointed to the storage module embedded in her left arm. “I’ll hook up to the console and let you see for yourself. “

“If you say so – but let me unplug it from the network first – don’t need prying eyes to see this”, and he unplugged the patch cord from the wall. The console powered up, and Byte sat down in front of the terminal. “Now how are you going to access the data from your arm?”, he asked

“Like this”, and the two fingers transformed again into a data plug, which connected directly to the console. Byte logged on and found the EGB records. They were password protected, but instead of typing it in, she slid her chair over and told Slash to continue. “These are your files. You know the access codes, and I want you to see for yourself what these files contain”

“When the hell did you learn that trick?”, he asked, staring at her morphed fingers.

“That just happened recently. Must have been a latent program change that just decided it was time to run.”

“Whatever you say…”, he said, shaking his head slowly.

Slash sat down, and keyed in his access codes. They worked like a charm, and he was now granted full read access to the EGB files. He fished around, and found the current roster – it showed EagleRock as active! He went back a little over two years, and found his personal logs. While there was complete details about the kidnapping and the fighting, the last few entries told of the survivors – which did include EagleRock!

“Either you doctored these files somehow, or one of us is crazy! I know I saw what happened – and you saw him for yourself in the General District! How do we remember this differently?”, and his eyes were wide with confusion.

“No, those files I downloaded just recently – they should match what’s on the EGB system word for word!”, and with a few keystrokes, printed the pages to Slash’s laser printer. She logged him out, and disconnected from the console. He reconnected the network plug, and powered his terminal up again. Byte watched as he logged back in, and pulled up the files from the EGB server. He found the active roster, and showed it to Byte.

“See, no EagleRock!”, he said, triumphantly, and then he showed he the old logs, and the death notices, and the funeral arrangements – all of it describing in vivid detail the demise of EagleRock. “These files are different!”, blurted Byte, “But why?”, and she just stared at the data on the screen, trying to make sense of this.

There was an uneasy silence as the question hung in the air unanswered.

SlashFirestorm closed out the files and shut down the terminal. “It’s not just the files that are different. You and I remember the past differently. And there is something different about you – maybe it’s the fact that you’ve done so many modifications to that arm that I’ve never noticed before. Or maybe it’s your face - you look like you’ve aged a lifetime in the past few days…”

“I have”, she interrupted, “and what I’m about to tell you will take some time and sound unbelievable, but maybe it’ll make more sense when I’m done.”

Slash opened the fridge, and grabbed two cold beers. Byte took one without hesitation, popped the top with her cyber fingers, and chugged it down in ten seconds. She put the bottle down, looked at Slash, and belched loudly, very unlady-like. Slash just smiled, and took another cold one out for her. They sat down on the couch, each taking an arm and an end, and Byte began her tale: “It all started with the trip through the Portal…”

[Aug 20, 2009 21:45]

After several hours and several beers later, Byte finally brought her tale to the present. Slash kept quiet during the entire time, occasionally grunting or chuckling at the appropriate moments. “Now, do you understand what I’ve been through?”, she asked.

Slash looked at her, and then began to laugh, almost as if he lost his mind. “You know, I thought you might have been crazy – or pulling my leg – when you first told me about seeing EagleRock. But now, after hearing your story, I am convinced of one thing…”

“And what’s that?”, she asked

“That you’re just fuckin’ nuts!”, he answered, laughing in her face.

“How…how can you say that?”, she cried, “I told you the truth. I told you everything! How can I be crazy?”

“Well, for starters”, he began, “you just based your entire story on a computer game!”

“What?”, she said, very confused.

“Look, you and I both know that you based your whole story on the game “Portal”. There is no REAL Aperture Science lab, and nobody has the technology to even design a real Portal, much less build one. And then, to say that somewhere in an alternate universe, someone managed to tweak it even further to span time and dimensions – that’s just pure fiction!”

Byte heard what he was saying, and tears began to flow from her right eye…


[End of Chapter 17]

[ByteSlinger]

“Through a Mirror Darkly”

Chapter 18

“Cumulative Errors”

[Aug 20, 2009 21:50]


SlashFirestorm watched ByteSlinger’s face for a moment as the tears ran down her cheek. Then he spoke in a quiet but authoritative tone: “Look, this whole EagleRock ordeal took a lot out of all of us. I know it hit me hard – probably as hard as it is hitting you. But quite frankly, I’m worried about you. If the story you told me is all part of your imagination, then I may have no choice but to relieve you of your duties until you’re mentally ready to resume your post. But even if only part of your story rings true – well, I’m not sure where that leads us. But you’ll need a lot of facts to prove the truth. For now, just go back to your room, take a few Sominex, and get some sleep. In the morning things may be a little clearer – that’s an order, soldier! Dismissed!”

And with that, Slash ended the conversation. Byte stood up, gave the Supreme Commander a quick salute, and then unlocked the door and left. At this time of night, the barracks were very quiet, so Byte managed to get back to her place without running into anyone looking for a long explanation about why she had been crying.

Back at her place, Byte locked herself in, set the comm. phone to privacy mode, and then slipped into her nightclothes – a comfy pair of sweatpants and a light cotton t-shirt. Turning out all of the lights, she slipped into bed, and the last thing she remembered thinking was “I need proof…”


During the night, Byte dreamt:

Byte stood in a large room, fire raging all around her. Where ever she turned, all she could see were flames and smoke. The heat was becoming unbearable, and it was getting harder and harder to breathe. She spun around, and saw a black door in front of her. Despite the heat and the smoke, it was a strangely normal looking door. She reached for the doorknob, and it was cool to the touch. Turning it, she heard the door latch open, and the door began to swing into the next room.

As she began to peer in, an explosion behind her pushed her through the door, and she tumbled forward into the cool air. Jumping to her feet, she spun around a moment too late – the door had just clicked shut. Then she realized that she was in the middle of a very long hall, and there were doors on both sides of the hallway. The doors that she could see all looked the same – normal wooden doors, painted black, simple wood frames. Nothing fancy here. The knobs were rubbed brass, as well as the hinges. It looked almost like a hotel hallway, but the hall itself was featureless – no visible lights, just oddly glowing smooth grayish walls, floor and ceiling. If it wasn’t for the doors providing points of reference, there’d be no way to know where you where in the hall.

Looking closer, she noticed that each door had a metallic plate attached, just about eye-level. On the plate on the door that she had passed through, it had a single digit: “1”. Looking at the door to the left of this one, the plate was much longer – in fact, it spanned almost the whole width of the door. On it was a series of digits, and when Byte looked at the leftmost digits, she saw that it started as “0.999999999998748374832344….” . The door on the right had a similar number: “0.99999999999874822341097….”. “That’s odd”, she thought in her dream. “Why would someone put a decimal number on the door?

She continued examining the numbers in both directions, and discovered that the further she walked away from door #1, the smaller the numbers got. There was no pattern as to how much they went down at each step, but they did gradually decrease. Reversing her course, she went back to door “1”, and tried to open it – but it wouldn’t budge. Then she looked at the door directly opposite of door “1”, and saw that there was a “1” on this door as well. She put her hand on the doorknob, and turned it until the latch opened. As she slowly opened the door into the hallway, she suddenly heard the sounds of fire crackling and felt the heat pouring out from behind the door. Quickly, she shut it again.

“Can’t go back there”, she thought. She tried the door to the left of the one she just opened, and it also had an inferno behind it. “Damn, are they all like this?”, she wondered, and she systematically tried door after door down the hallway – and each one was impassable. After about 40 doors, she came to the conclusion that this fire must be pretty big, so maybe if she traveled further down the hall, she’d get past it.

After a few minutes of walking, she checked the numbers on the plates again. This one was “0.99102394323….’ Then she took a step back, and looked at the door. Something was different about this door. It looked like the same door – and then Byte realized that the doorknob and hinges weren’t brass – they were a silvery color, like plated nickel. In fact, all of the doors in this part of the hallway had the same brushed nickel hinges and knobs.

She gave the knob a twist, and opened this door. She didn’t hear any fire burning, or feel any heat blast, so she opened it all the way, and peered in carefully. She saw her barracks apartment, but it had been burned to the timbers. Everything had been destroyed by the inferno, and the smell of smoldering wood made her gag. It wasn’t safe to go in there, so she closed the door, and rested against it for a moment.

In the dream, Byte knew that she couldn’t stay in the hallway forever. She had to find the right door to open – but the choices seemed endless. “And what’s up with the funny room numbers anyway?”, she said to herself. Then she spoke out loud, as if someone could hear her here, “This hall can’t go on forever – I’ll just run to the end and see what my options are when I get there.

She broke out into a double-time jog, and proceeded to mark time down the hall. After about another fifteen minutes, she stopped – and noticed that doors had gradually turned from black to a dark red, with gold-tone hardware. The number on this plate was “.98200028374654…”

“Oh, what the hell...”, she said to the door, and opened it carefully. She peered inside, and there was her barracks apartment – completely undamaged, looking the way it always had. “Okay, that looks about right, but…”

Then she opened the door to the left of this one. It was marked “.9820001998371…”, and it, too, opened up to her apartment. “Two doors to the same place?”, she wondered. To test that theory, she reached into her pants pocket, and pulled out about two dollars in small coins. She tossed the coins into the first room, where she could see them land on the carpet near the coffee table.

She looked in the other doorway – there where NO coins to be seen! She looked back in the first doorway – and the coins were very happily sitting on the floor. “It’s NOT the same room!”, she gasped. “But they both look the same – how do I choose?”. She looked between the two rooms for a few minutes, and noticed that one had darker curtains than the other. Byte always liked her privacy, and if given the choice, the darker curtains did seem to match better than the lighter ones. This happened to be the same room where she tossed the coins, which seemed to make her feel a little better. “Well, you know what they say – always go with your gut choice!”, and she walked through the doorway, stepping into the middle of her living room. The moment she passed the threshold, the door pushed itself close behind her. She turned to reopen it – but it had vanished!

Looking around, everything felt familiar. She looked out the window, and saw the main EGB courtyard as before. The sun was shining, there were platoons performing field exercises, and the trees were swayed gently in a breeze. “Finally, I’m home…”, she started to say, when something caught her attention outside, and stopped her mid sentence.

At first she thought it was a flock of birds. But birds don’t wear camo outfits and boots and carry rifles strapped to their backs. As they came closer, she recognized the faces of her fellow guardsman – and they all swooped and flew in formation on large, white, feathery wings…

“No….”, she said, taking a step backwards, “No! That’s not right!”, and with another step backwards, Byte clips the corner of the coffee table, and trips, falling backwards. “Oh, Shit!...”, she yells…


…And wakes herself out of the dream. Covered in sweat and her heart pounding a mile a minute, she jumped up out of bed. Her clock showed that it was 02:45 on 21-Aug-2009. “Too late to call anyone”, she grumbled. After downing four Sominex with some warm milk and cookies, Byte sat in her recliner, tilted it back a little, and fell asleep watching an old movie channel.

This time, there were no dreams, and she was very grateful for that.

[Aug 21, 2009 08:43]

Byte woke up with a funny cramp in her neck. She had slept awkwardly on the recliner, and it felt like she really didn’t sleep at all. Standing up and rubbing her neck, she realized she missed morning breakfast down at the mess – but being a commander, where she ate breakfast was discretionary. The memories of the dream she had earlier were still clear in her mind – and she had a strong feeling they had something to do with the portal traveling she had been doing.

She took a quick shower, changed into clean clothes, and then had a bagel with cream cheese and a grapefruit for breakfast. “Well, I feel a little better now”, she commented to the empty kitchen, noticing that it was now 09:20. As she was powering up her terminal to check on today’s duty roster, she was interrupted by a P.A. message:

“Attention, all Barracks Officers. ByteSlinger, SlntCobra1 and Lizzardis are hereby ordered to meet Supreme Commander SlashFirestorm in his office at 09:30 hours. No excuses will be accepted. That is all”, and then the P.A. went silent.

“What the hell is this about?”, she asked. “Maybe something about the tank maneuvers yesterday?”, she pondered., “Oh, whatever it is, I know I’m not going to like it.”. Byte finished off her outfit, putting on the regulation boots, tucking in her top shirt, pulling her hair back into a ponytail, and then strapping on her sidearm and ID. With everything in place, she stepped out of her door, and headed directly for Slash’s office.

Along the way, she met up with SlntCobra1 and Lizzardis. “Hey, any idea what this is about?”, Lizz asked the other two “No”, came the same answer from Byte and Cobra. “But it doesn’t sound good!”, Byte added. They walked in uneasy silence towards Slash’s office, like three kids being called down to the principal.

As Byte went to knock on the door, it swung open. SlashFirestorm greeted them with a serious look, and motioned for them to come inside. As they filed in, Slash said “Take a seat, and listen up.” Three sets of eyes showed full attention to their Supreme Commander, who looked very serious in his combat shirt, camo pants, utility belt – and fuzzy bunny slippers. Byte’s first instinct was to crack a joke, but a little voice inside her head told her that would be a bad idea. Between the dream she had last night, and now this meeting, she was beginning to think that her sanity was going on vacation and leaving her behind in a puddle of drool.

Slash remained standing in the middle of the room as he began his speech. “I’d like to say that all of you are fine examples of what an Elite Guard should be.”, and they all smiled a little as he started his compliment. “I’d like to – but I can’t “, The three smiles turned to three puzzled looks. “You see, while all of you each have good qualities that have taken you so far, all of you lack some skills and abilities in one - or more - areas. Some of you have issues with authority, some of you think this is the wild west, and some of you just need to toughen up. Fortunately, as your commander, I have a way to address these problems. You are all going on a mission.”

He paused, and watched the faces of the three Elite who now were more confused than disappointed. They wanted to ask questions, but no one dared to speak just yet.

Slash continued: “We received intelligence that a large crate of stolen blammunition and some high-powered blam rifles will be sold tonight in the General District. Someone inside the EGB is working with mercenaries to peddle the stolen weapons, which in itself is bad news. But the Fulps have caught wind of this, and now they know that the EGB can’t control their own people. We were given one last chance to correct this problem, or they’ll shut down the EGB for good, and we’ll all be dishonorably discharged.”

Byte remembered the conversation she had with Slash last evening. He was the source of the leak, and he knew it. But she couldn’t say anything. She glared at Slash, who looked her back in the eye, and just smiled a little. “This is a setup”, she thought,” Someone is going down for this, and he’s covering his ass. I don’t like this at all…”

“I was also told that this will be a covert operation – if you get caught, we know nothing. The EGB has no authority over civilian matters – only the NGPD does. But they don’t have the skills or manpower to go undercover, find the source of the stolen goods, gather evidence and then arrest those involved. We need an air-tight case – and you three are going to be the squad that will make it happen.”

“Us?”, asked Lizz. “We’ve never been undercover before. We don’t know how to be sneaky!”

“Yeah, we’re just not Ninja material”, added SlntCobra

“WRONG!”, Slash bellowed. “That’s why I’m sending you all – to push yourselves out of your little worlds, and learn what it’s like to get your noses bloodied and your hands dirtied – and how to NOT to get caught doing it.”

“Well, if this is covert”, started Byte,” does that mean that we can use any means necessary to accomplish our task to your satisfaction, or are we still limited to those silly little rules like the Geneva Convention and the EGB Articles of War and Human Rights?”

Slash grinned a little evilly. “Now you’re thinking. I can’t tell you what you’re allowed to do, since it would be wrong of me to direct you to act against those rules of engagement and human rights. But I can tell you that if accomplish your mission successfully, well, we won’t be paying attention to certain details along the way.”

“And if we fail, we’ll be either dead – or spending the rest of our lives in jail”, noted Cobra.

“Also very true”, replied Slash, “but if I were a gambling man, I’d go with ‘dead’. The people you are dealing with aren’t exactly known for their mercy. If they get a chance to kill you, they will.”

“But I’m too young for this mission!”, cried Lizz. “I’m not ready for a life and death battle. That’s not what I signed up for when I joined!”

Slash took a step forward, and glared directly into Lizzardis’ face. “So, you’re telling me you’d rather die a coward’s death? That there is no honor in dying for your position? Do you think that being an Elite Guard doesn’t carry risk and responsibility? It does, every hour of every day. Some soldiers die old, and some die young. It’s not WHEN they die – it’s HOW they die that matters…”, and his voice trailed off as his thoughts went back two years, reliving the nightmare of the loss of his comrades at the hands of Waldolf.

Lizz was shaking a little; Cobra was getting excited about going on the mission. “Finally, a decent mission for once!”, he thought; and ByteSlinger just sat there, waiting for the propaganda to stop.

Slash turned to Byte, and then added, ”You will be in charge of this mission. The success of the mission, and the lives of these young men, are in your hands – so to speak. Here is the mission briefing – you will all stay here, read it and then formulate a plan. You have two hours. I’m going to go take care of other business. When I get back, you will present your plan to me for approval. Understood?”, and they nodded as he tossed three large envelopes in their direction.

He saluted, and they all stood, and returned the salute. Then he left his office, locking the door behind him on the way out.

“Nothing like a heaping pile of steaming bullshit to start your day, right?”, sneered Cobra as he began to open up his envelope. “All this fuss about an undercover mission – what the hell can be so….”

His words ended mid-sentence as he began to read the briefing, and the others quickly read theirs as well:

“Eyes only – Security level 6 document.

Original Date : 12-February-2008
Revised Date: 18-August-2009

From: T. Fulp, W. Fulp

To: Supreme Commander SlashFirestorm

Subject: Operation Hangman

Frankly, Commander SlashFirestorm, we are very disappointed in the long delays and excuses your office has shown us these past 18 months. We had expected far more progress than this, despite the fact that it is a covert operation.

Need I remind you that as each week passes, it will become progressively more difficult for you and your officers to accomplish the two goals of this operation: Discover all the parties involved in the arming of civilians with stolen EGB weapons and munitions, and then destroying the factory and stockpiles of weapons. We know from our intelligence gathering that all of these weapons are part of a larger plan to ultimately overthrow not just the government of NewGrounds, but also the command structure of the NGPD and the EGB. We also know that there are traitors among us in all of these organizations, and no one can really be trusted.

The weapons started appearing in the General District some time around 15-October-2007. At first, it was just a rifle here and there, and we attributed it to nothing more than petty theft. But eighteen months later, we have confiscated a total of twenty three (23) EGB high-powered blam rifles – and they are all crafted copies from the originals. It appears that a rogue weapons factory has a few of your original rifles, and are now making functional knock-offs that are just as deadly as the ones in your barracks.

For every spy we have sent that managed to return with some useful information, we have lost four. Even the careful ones made small mistakes – but big enough to blow their cover, and end their lives. This has to end, and it has to end now. We do not want to exercise our rights as government leaders to pick the task forces ourselves, but you are going to force our hands. If you do not have a team – and a plan - in place within the next 5 days, we will step in, remove you from command, and take over the EGB ourselves.

You have your orders, Commander. You have failed us for the last time.”
- - -

“We are in some pretty deep shit here, folks”, commented Cobra

“Yeah, tell me about it”, added Lizz. “But how come after eighteen months Slash hasn’t done anything yet? What’s the matter with him?”

But ByteSlinger knew what this was about. Slash had told her the truth – to some degree. He was helping out EagleRock to maintain a clandestine undercover operation by providing guns and ammo – but what he failed to mention is that some of them wound up in the wrong hands, and he’s now in way too deep. Then the government wants to know who’s responsible for this, and ironically, it’s the commander they’ve tasked with solving the problem. But Byte swore she would tell no one this, so it was time for a little story telling…

“Look, he was in no shape the first few months after that fiasco with Waldorf”, she began. “It shook him deeply. It looks like while he was down, some people took advantage of the fact that no one was really watching the store, and took advantage of his weakness. Then later, once he tries to start an action plan, he realizes it will be very difficult to cobble together a crew that he could trust. Time keeps passing, and he can’t find anyone. Between his grief and his pain, he just can’t do it. But now, after this ultimatum, he has no choice – and it seems like we’ve drawn the short straw. It all rests on our shoulders now”

“Well, that does make a little sense”, quipped Lizz. “But how are we supposed to help?”

“I’d like to just take the tank to the General District and open up an economy-sized can of whup-ass, but that just isn’t subtle enough for a covert op”, replied Cobra, “no matter how much fun it would be…”

Byte just shook her head back and forth slowly. And then she had a thought that chilled her blood cold. “What if Slash’s only way out is to set up someone else in the EGB? He couldn’t just make up a story – it wouldn’t stand up in court without evidence. No, he’d have to set someone up to take the fall – a frame job. And the only way they couldn’t testify against them is if they were dead. They could find the dead soldiers with incriminating evidence, and then jump to their own conclusions. That means when we go on this mission, we’ll be like three lambs to the slaughter. This isn’t a suicide mission – it’s a cover up…”

SlntCobra interrupted Byte’s mental epiphany with his own question, “So, Commander, what should we do?”

Byte looked at Cobra and Lizz grimly for a moment, and then spoke. “I don’t know, guys. I got a bad feeling about this…”


[End of Chapter 18]

[ByteSlinger]

“Through a Mirror Darkly”

Chapter 19

“Trust No One”



[Aug 21, 2009 09:45]

ByteSlinger, Lizzardis and SlntCobra1 pored over the maps and intel reports for the mission. There were three locations that were identified as possible storage areas for the weapons. All of them involved underground parking, and all of them could be well guarded. The meetings seemed to always take place in one of the burned out or abandoned warehouses on Mortis Grande lane, and with good reason: even though it was a dead end, there was access by train and it was right on the canal. The canal hadn’t been used by the shipping line for years, and it grew shallow with disuse. Only flat-skiff airboats, like those used in the Everglades, could navigate it. Over time, various abandoned and burned out vehicles were dumped in the canal, making it a treacherous maze for any boat over twelve feet long. The train rails have been off the main switch for years, but it was rumored that some modified Hummers and Land Rovers ran the rails on specialized rims that acted like train wheels. Both the canal and the rails provided multiple escape routes from the lane, and with only one road in, it was easy to defend and monitor.

“I think we should divide and conquer”, commented Cobra. “One of us goes in quiet to gather more intel and ID the pricks, and the other two track down and storm the storage bunkers, catching them with their pants down”.

“I dunno, Cobra. “, replied Lizz. “We could hit a lot of opposition, and if we split up, we could be too weak to fight if we get cornered. What do you think, Byte?”

Byte sat back for a moment, and then gave her answer. “There are too many unknowns here. We are stronger as a team than we are separate, so my first inclination is to stay together. Remember, we have two tasks here – find out who is involved, and secure – or destroy – the weapons cache. But it just may be that by acting on one task, we can also accomplish the other.”

“What do you mean?”, asked Cobra.

Byte continued, “Let’s say we first positively locate the weapons cache. We know it’s underground, so we have to figure out all of the exits. Is it accessed only by the street, or are there service access tunnels to the subway? I’m willing to bet it would have both. The subways in that area are minimally guarded, and it wouldn’t take much for a group of men to dress up like a maintenance crew, carry some boxes onboard that would hide weapons or munitions, and then get off to do some delivery work. Street access is tricky – cars can be followed or even electronically monitored.”

Lizz looked at the three choices, and checked against the subway map. “Bingo! Only one of them has subway access! It’s the parking garage for the Gimme5 Games administration offices.” Then he pulled out the blueprints for the building from the packet. “The parking garage goes down five levels – the first four are public access, and the fifth requires a special pass key for employees and maintenance crews. And there are two subway platforms on the northern spur branch that can eventually be switched into the main subway line!”

“Good eyes, Lizz!”, commented Cobra, “That sounds like a perfect place to stash something – a secured underground level with two subway exits. I think we have a winner!”

“Well, that may it – but it’s going to be a bitch to work with”, growled Byte

“Why do you say that?”, Lizz asked

“Because the damn building is still active! The Gimme5 Company has about a hundred and twenty employees working there, and they work weird shifts. I doubt all of them are involved in the weapons smuggling, which means we now have to account for innocent bystanders when we make our move!” spat Byte

They sat silent for a moment, and then Cobra showed a big toothy grin and a glint of excitement in his eyes. “I know how we can do this! It’s easy!”

“Go on – whaddya got?” replied Byte

“Well, first off, we need to clear the building before we make our move. We can do that by setting a fire and forcing an evacuation. But it won’t be any fire – we’ll have redirected a service subway train to the platform, and when it gets there, it will have a full electrical melt-down, causing a fire with a lot of smoke – and also block the escape track. When the fire is called in, we show up dressed as firefighters, but we have everything we need under our firemen outfits. We’ll get to the fifth floor, find the cache, set up C4 charges with timed and remote detonators, and then get the hell out of there. We can also release a canister of some noxious chemical that will force the fire department to abandon the floor. We all get out, and then when the fifth floor is clear, blow it up!”

Byte and Lizz first looked at eachother, and then at Cobra. “Wow. There’s a few details to work out, but that…that is a freakin’ great plan!”, commented Byte. “Just one thing – how in Hell did you think of that?”

Cobra smiled broadly as he proudly replied, “I told you I know a lot about military weapons and tactics. I’ve read about strategies and infiltration techniques. I may not be able to plan a war – but I sure can find a way to get you into that garage!”

“That you did”, Byte replied,” Simple, but effective - create a distraction, get the place emptied, and then we stroll in and do our dirty deeds. But before we do that, we have to make sure that is the right place.”

“Well, if we set off the subway explosion and evacuate the building, and then go marching in to discover that we can’t find the weapons, we don’t have to blow it up – we just leave and let them try to figure it all out.”, parried Cobra.

“Well, that does make sense. It’s going to take a few days to line all of this up, but we can still outline this part for now to give it to Slash”, added Byte.

“But what about finding out who’s involved?”, asked Lizz.

“Ah, there’s the beauty of it!”, responded Cobra. “If they are using the fifth underground garage level as storage, there will be at least one or two people on the Gimme5 payroll that are involved to some degree. They will constantly be monitoring the 5th floor, and most likely be keeping odd hours – and that’s where Byte’s skills come in!”

“Moi?” she answered, coyly.

“Do you think you can hack into the Gimme5 network and access their employee list, security badge listing, and the access logs for all the doors and elevators, so we can track who’s been working where? “, asked Cobra, already knowing the answer would be ‘yes’.

It was a little-known fact that many years ago, ByteSlinger worked as a “white-hat” – she belonged to a group of hackers that broke into networks just for the sake of doing it, and leaving note files behind telling their victims how they broke in, and what they could do to tighten their system security. No one in her group stole data, planted virii or did anything else to hurt the company. It was a combination of bragging rights and trying to be helpful. This was opposed to the “black hats”, who not only hacked into systems, but did malevolent things afterwards. Eventually, due to the negative press that the slanted media always produced, the general term “hacker” became synonymous with “evil” – and the concept of a “white hat” was lost to jaded history.

And now, between her learned skills and the abilities of her implants, there really weren’t too many systems she couldn’t access. Fortunately, her high moral standards (and the innate desire to stay out of prison) kept her out of any system unless she absolutely needed to be in it.

“Well, I guess I could give it a try – but I’ll have to use a few proxies, and bounce a signal between satellites to hide the trail. In case they back-trace the IP we don’t want someone to figure out that the EGB is more like the KGB!”

Lizz reached over and powered up the console on SlashFirestorm’s desk. Byte sat down as her left hand formed the interface connector once again, and linked directly into the management control port. The control menu appeared in her optic implant, and within minutes, she had root access to the EGB servers – and satellite communications control. Lizz and Cobra watched in stunned silence as Byte created masked proxy links from the EGB site to COMMSAT7, to TELSAT42, bouncing a signal down to France, rerouting through England, back up through the HMS Renegade docked in London, off of a British TV satellite, then back down through the HBO network, and finally into the land lines in NewGrounds. “It’s a little laggy, but I think we’ll be safe for a few minutes”, she announced.

With the convoluted proxy in place, Byte located the servers at Gimme5. They were behind numerous firewalls, but after a little discreet probing, she discovered the version of Linux and Apache Server they were using. From there, she cross-checked against a list of known (and unpublished) exploits to find commands and codes to get access behind the firewalls. Eight minutes later, she had admin/root access to the Gimme5 servers, and immediately began to copy and transfer the databases she needed. “This may take a while – I’m using a low-priority maintenance-level program protocol that hopefully won’t set off any access alarms. If you read too much too fast, it could trigger a security bot.”

After another twelve minutes, Byte smiled as she logged out and erased the evidence that she was ever in the system. She had managed to capture all of the files she needed, including the door access and security system codes.

“I think we have what we need. Now, let’s cross check these files and find out who likes the 5th floor...”, and a few queries later, a short list of 3 names appeared. She wrote them down, and showed the list to SlntCobra and Lizzardis:

1- Peter Byrd
2- Francis Leek
3- Steven Sarr

“All of these people have repeatedly visited the 5th floor garage – and here’s the odd part – always in pairs, but never all three at the same time. They cover the two shifts from 07:00 to midnight – the garage seems to be locked down after then…wait a minute…there are some deleted records in here that haven’t been purged yet. Looks like somebody was trying to hide their tracks! All three of these employees accessed the garage after hours, too!”

“Can we find out where they live or anything else about them?”, asked Lizz.

“Nah, I bet they’re all fake names!”, replied Cobra. “Think about it – you’re smuggling weapons through the bowels of a major city, which is considered treason and punishable by death – and you’re gonna give them your REAL name at your job?”

Byte smiled at the obvious answer, but knew that there had to be a way to track these people down short of tailing them. As she pondered her options, Lizz looked at the list and said, “Steven Sarr – that name sounds familiar somehow. Wasn’t he involved with Newgrounds a while ago?”

“No, you’re thinking of Seven Star, of the Star Syndicate…oh…shit… it’s a play on words! Look, take the “t” from “Star”, and insert it into “Seven” – you get Steven Sar!”, exclaimed Byte.

“And Francis Leek – wouldn’t that be Fleek, a known spammer and enemy to Newgrounds?”, added Cobra

“Yes! Yes you’re right! But Peter Byrd – that doesn’t ring a bell”, added Byte. “Must be another criminal nickname. Okay, nevermind that - we’ve got enough to start a plan. Let’s iron out the details; we have an hour before Slash returns.”

In the hour that followed, Byte, Cobra and Lizz worked out a general plan to infiltrate and destroy the weapons cache – and in the process, flush out some of the players behind it all. Fortunately for Cobra, the plan involved copious amounts of explosives and a chance to blow up a subway train and part of a building. He was happy with that, since Byte told him he had to leave his tank home for this one – they just couldn’t use it as a fire truck! “No, even if you paint it red, add blinking lights and hang a few ladders off of it, I just don’t think it’ll pass as a hook and ladder truck”, she said.

“What if we have a Dalmatian puppy on the front?”, asked Lizz. “Everyone would be so busy looking at the cute puppy they may not notice that the fire truck has steel treads and Sidewinder missiles!”

“Nice try, but no tank. We have to travel light on our feet for this one. We’ll save the tank for …later.”, Byte answered with a grin. They just finished printing out the last few copies of the draft when SlashFirestorm returned. He didn’t look happy, and all he said was “Well, what do you have for me?”

They handed him the plan, and sat back as he read it. His frown relaxed a little, and then when he was finished, he looked at Byte and said “This just might work. You did a good job figuring out the entry strategy, and using the fireman’s outfit as cover is simplicity itself. Well done!”

“Slash”, Byte replied, “I didn’t come up with that idea. Cobra figured it out. All I did was help him think through a few details – but the plan was his. He gets the credit for it!”

“SlntCobra set this up?”, he answered, and turned to Cobra,”I see you’ve done your rank proud, Master Sergeant! Keep up the good work! But according to this plan, you’ll need a few days to get the materials together…let’s see what they are…C4, no problem...fireman’s outfits, no problem…night vision goggles and full Kevlar body armor, check…one used self-powered subway car to be converted to fake maintenance vehicle, oh yeah –I have one of those RIGHT HERE UP MY ASS! Are you out of your collective minds?!?!? Where am I gonna get you a used subway car?”

“We could check the Newgrounds Classifieds under ‘Used Vehicles For Sale’ “, retorted Cobra, “and see if they have anything late model available, maybe with a sunroof and stereo?”

But Slash’s glare quickly silenced the room. He was about to restart his tirade when Byte spoke up, “I can get us a subway car. I’ll bring it down off the south access spur, into the canyon pass north of the weapons testing zone. We can make the modifications there, and then we’ll bring it back when it’s ready.”

“And just how…actually, I don’t want to ask that question, because then I’ll know the answer – and I really don’t want to know how you’re going to pull that off. Just remember, this is a COVERT operation! Getting caught swiping a subway car will not look good on your military record!”, barked Slash

“No, but it will be as funny as hell to watch on ‘America’s Dumbest Criminals’!”, Cobra wisecracked. Lizz smacked him in the arm for saying it – even though he was right.

Slash stood up, gathered all the paperwork that was printed, tossed it in a metal garbage pail, and then tossed a lit match in. Everyone watched as the reports caught fire and were destroyed. “No more hardcopies. All files to be 256bit encrypted with password protection, and ALL files pertaining to this operation WILL BE MILSPEC ERASED immediately after final use. No conversations over the phones, internet or any other unsecured line. When you speak about it, do so in a known protected are – like here. Even the smallest leak can be fatal. Do you all understand me?”

“Loud and clear, sir!”, they all answered in unison.

“Good. You are all dismissed for now. ByteSlinger, I expect to meet with you at least once a day to fill me in on the progress of the operation. No surprises, hear me?”

Byte just nodded, and they all left Slash’s office in quiet reflection.

“Hey, it’s a little past noon – anybody want to grab some lunch at the mess?”, chirped Lizz. They all agreed, and headed to the mess hall. Cobra and Lizz chatted about tanks and weapons and puppies, but Byte was preoccupied with all of the thoughts swimming in her head. “The upcoming mission is a distraction to my agenda”, she pondered, “which is to find a way back home. This dimension is very close to mine, that’s for sure – but it’s not the same. And killing off my local double didn’t help matters – if I find a way out, I’ll have to fake my death here and leave no body. But if what Slash says is true – that there was no Portal technology developed in this dimension – then I may just have to face the fact that I’m stuck here.”

Her train of thought was interrupted by SlntCobra who was nudging her elbow and asking ”Hey, if you’re not gonna eat that brownie, can I have it?” Byte smiled a little, and nodded yes. Cobra grabbed it fast, and ate it as if it was his last meal. “So, what do we do now?”, asked Lizz. “We have three days before our mission – how do we get ready?”

“I would recommend spending as much time as you can in the Urban Tactical training ground. Get used to running inside buildings and stairwells, and practice your targeting skills – remember, there will be innocent civilians around, and if things turn ugly, I don’t want anyone but the bad guys dropped, ok?”, suggested Byte.

“That’s sounds good”, added Cobra. “When do you want to go?”

“You and Lizz can go now, if you want. I have to figure out how to steal a subway train!”, and she stood up from the table.

“Ok. See you at the training grounds later!”, he replied, and they went their separate ways.

[Aug 21, 2009 13:30]

Byte walked back to her place without incident, and as she walked in the door, she noticed that the message light was blinking on the answering machine. Looking at the display, it showed that there was one message from the Barracks Operations desk, which was part of the internal EGB secure phone system. Whatever it was, it was important.

Byte pushed the [Play] button, expecting to hear the machine recite the date and time of the message, and then the voice of the caller. But instead, she heard a series of clicks, like an old-style rotary phone – and then the caller-id display showed just one line:

P. Byrd

Her blood ran cold. That was the first name in her list – and only three people knew about it! “Did someone trace my hack?”, she thought. “No, no way. I wasn’t on long enough, and it would take a few super computers and a room full of black hats a whole lot of time to figure out the backwards proxies. Besides, if they figured out I did the hack, why would they let me know that they knew about it? This just doesn’t make sense”

She deleted the message, and looked around her place, just to make sure nothing else was going to creep out and surprise her. “I have to unwind – all of this cloak-and-dagger stuff is getting to me. But I know what will help me take my mind off of it!”, she said out loud.

Unlocking her rifle cabinet, she pulled out her Mark 4 blam rifle. It had a telescopic night scope and a re-bored barrel that takes .357 long-jacket shells. The clip held 16 rounds of the high-powered blammunition, which you could only get once you reached Supreme Commander. These rounds were about 60% more powerful than regular-issue munitions, which usually meant a faster takedown for all of the bad flash that flooded the Portal. The rifle was heavily modified beyond EGB specifications, and theoretically could be confiscated since it was no longer government approved. But her changes were minor compared to what Coop83, Phantom and a few others had done to theirs.

She grabbed a bandolier of 100 rounds of the long-jacket shells, and hung it over her neck. Then she picked up the phone to the Central Command Information Office, and said “This is Supreme Command ByteSlinger. I am leaving for Portal guard duty now – I expect to return by 18:00 hours.”

The clerk on the other side cheerfully answered “Very well, Commander. We will make note of that on the active logs. Good hunting!”, and then they hung up, not waiting for a reply.

She grabbed her helmet and flak vest, her utility belt, and a canteen full of fresh water, and headed out to the transport area. There were other Elite guards waiting there as well – Porkchop, Idiot-Finder, Ismael92 and Sheizenhammer. “Ready to blam and protect, gentlemen?”, she asked as she put on her jacket and helmet, and repositioned the bandolier. Her rifle hung at the ready over her right shoulder.

Sheizenhammer looked at her rifle, and then at the handgun he was carrying, and frowned a little. “Hey, how come all I get is this pea-shooter?”, he complained.

“You have to earn that rifle, soldier!”, commented Idiot-Finder, “and when you work your way to the top, you’ll get one just like it!”

A moment later, the transport Hummer turned the corner and approached the pick-up area. The five Elite climbed in and stowed their gear, and the Hummer drove towards the NewGrounds portal without further delay. The driver on duty was puddinN64, who had been assigned this task for a week after a certain unfortunate incident involving too much alcohol, a puddle of puke, and a certain Supreme Commander who slipped in it before it could be cleaned up. Somehow, the next morning, puddinN64 just couldn’t understand that the phrase “Oops, sorry – my bad!” was not enough to placate the still-angry Aldlv. So now puddinN64 is the town taxi driver, ten hours a day – but not in a row.

It didn’t take too long to arrive at the Portal. Located at the edge of Newgrounds, it was quite a large artifact, with two distinct openings. One was for standard Flash entries, and the other was for Audio and Music. The Flash Portal was by far more active than the Audio Portal, as it seemed that the Flash Portal was more susceptible to spam, stolen work, and low-quality entries. The Audio Portal had its share of problems, but on a smaller scale. Usually, the biggest concern on the Audio side was plagiarized derivative work.

[Aug 21, 2009 15:10]

As Flash submissions popped out of the Portal, they were a distinctive purple color – which meant that they were available for viewing and judgment. If enough positive votes were counted for a flash, it would be protected, and be allowed to enter Newgrounds. If it was popular, it would be given a green marker. If it was very popular, it would be given a blue marker. But if it didn’t get enough positive votes – which meant a majority of blams – it would turn red, and then eventually be killed and remanded to the graveyard.

Part of the job of the Elite Guard was to fairly judge every submission on its own merit, and help it along to either being a protected entry in Newgrounds– or blammed into oblivion. The higher your experience and rank, the more power you had to sway the vote one way or the other. Byte, because of her rank and experience, now wielded power that was almost 11 times stronger than the ordinary citizen of Newgrounds. Her blam rifle, like all the others in the EGB, carried two types of ammo – blammunition, for obliterating unworthy, immoral and/or illegal flashes, and a green low-powered emerald laser. This laser, when aimed at a purple flash, would improve its color and status. This indicated that it was worthy of passing, and had been approved by that particular EGB member.

Working against the EGB – and the Newgrounds PD, too – were special interest and lobbyist groups known as crews. They would work together to attempt to push sub-standard flashes through the Portal and into Newgrounds by working as a group to up-vote their work as fast as possible. Sometimes, there would be a flood of duplicate or unworthy flashes unleashed by a spammer (and their crew) and it was up to the EGB and the NGPD to quickly identify each one and handle them appropriately.

Byte took her position close to the portal, and began to monitor each purple flash. It seemed that for every one that she hit with blammunition, 2 or 3 more would be saved. It was satisfying to hear the sounds of all of the EGB blam rifles being fired when an obvious spam or stolen flash materialized. Byte was feeling less than generous today, and she was more critical than usual with the Portal entries. She did try to vote fairly, but she just wasn’t in the mood for borderline bullshit, so she played the ‘when in doubt, blam it to Hell’ game.

About 45 minutes had gone by when she began to notice the sound of another blam rifle being occasionally fired off to her left. She looked around, and accounted for all of the EGB members that were supposed to be there. All of them were to her right. She watched them all as another bad flash was spit out of the Portal, and after a quick review, she watched the muzzles light up as the blammunition was sent on its way. But she heard another rifle being fired off to her left. Without drawing too much attention, she feigned running out of ammo, and toyed with her own rifle, slowly turning her head to the left. Another shot from her left, and in the extended peripheral vision of her left eye she saw movement in the trees – and the familiar gleam of an Elite Guard’s rifle barrel!

“Why would an Elite Guard hide in the trees to do his job?”, she thought, ”There’s no need for secrecy here – every citizen of NewGrounds has the right to vote as they desire. So, either that Guard has something to hide – or that’s not a guard using the rifle…either way, I want to find out who our introverted friend is…”

As Byte finished her thought, a flood of spam flashes started pouring through the portal, and four crews started to mass up-vote them. Moments later, she heard the EGB firing madly, trying to stop the spam before they could pass. She glanced to her left, and it looked like her mystery shooter was focused on the portal as well, taking shot after shot as each purple flash plopped out of the portal.

Without hesitating, Byte used this distraction to take a few steps back out, hopefully out of the peripheral vision of her shooter, and then quickly and quietly ran across the grass to the other side of the trees. She was now almost directly behind the shooter now, but she couldn’t see through the leaves – and it looked like they might be wearing camouflage.

Switching her optic implant to zoom mode and then into infrared, she could see that the shooter was alone, and standing up, resting on a low tree branch to steady their shots. The body heat signature was highest from the back of the knees to the ankles, and at the base of the neck – which meant the shooter was wearing body armor and full front gear. Part of the body was obscured by branches – but only a few leaves blocked the vulnerable legs.

Taking careful aim at the fleshy part of the calf, Byte fired a single round at the shooter – and then started running towards them. The shot hit cleanly in the right calf, and missing the tibia, passed through the leg completely. It took the shooter by surprise, and they fell back…only to look up into the barrel of Byte’s rifle!

Byte was pumped with adrenaline – but also surprised. This was the same bum she saw battling in the streets a few days ago, on the way to the cemetery! “Drop your weapon, or the next shot goes through your head!”, she commanded.

He glared at her from behind a dirty bandana that covered most of his face, and in those eyes she saw anger and determination. He pause a moment, as if in defiance, and then tossed his rifle away. She didn’t follow it; instead, she took a step sideways to put herself between him and the weapon.

“Roll over on your belly, and put your hands behind your back – NOW!”, she yelled, and aimed her rifle at his head. Slowly, he turned over, and put his hands behind him. Byte took the pair of NGPD handcuffs that she had on her belt (an interesting gift from Lizzardis) and slapped one on his right wrist. As she went to secure the left wrist, her captor twisted underneath her, pulling away from the cuffs, and knocked the rifle from her right hand.

He then lunged forward, and from out of his overcoat, pulled out a knife, and tried to drag Byte closer so he could stab her. He grabbed her right arm with his left, and yanked hard. But what he didn’t see is that her left arm – the one made of titanium alloy and hidden well under her fatigues – had built up a sizeable pulse in the discharge circuit. As he drew closer, aiming for her neck, the taser circuit discharged 10,000 volts into his body. Fortunately, the amperage was low, but it was more than enough to temporarily disable his nervous system – and possibly make him have an involuntary bowel movement.

As he lay there twitching, Byte removed his knife, and finished handcuffing and securing the shooter. She used duct tape to secure his ankles, and to cover a clean cloth that she put over the bullet hole in his calf. No one had seen or heard the scuffle in the trees, as they were all still dealing with the spam flood.

Before he could come to his senses, she pulled the filthy hood off of his head, peeled away the grimy bandana… and then let out a gasp as she finally recognized the grizzled and weary face …

It was EagleRock!

He smiled a little and said to her, ”I’ve been expecting you…”


[End of Chapter 19]

[ByteSlinger]

“Through a Mirror Darkly”

Chapter 20

Sum of the Parts



[Aug 21, 2009 16:05]


ByteSlinger could count on one hand the number of times she was ever rendered speechless by anyone or anything. But now, she had to add one more to that count. She looked into his tired, dirty face and knew it was him underneath all those rags. He looked back at her, waiting for her to say something – and hopefully remove the duct tape from his ankles and wrists in the process.

But even though her body stared motionless, her mind was racing. “It’s EagleRock! I know that face. I’d recognize it anywhere! So Slash was right – EagleRock is still fighting the good fight – but he’s doing it undercover. He’s not dead …”, and then the question that had to be asked finally surfaced. “But which one is he?”, she thought. She had seen many different versions of EagleRock – one in the future, one in her past, one just a few days ago in her room, and now this one. Which one was this? She was too stunned to think up a test question, so she decided to play stupid.

“You’re supposed to be dead!”, she exclaimed. “I saw you buried along with the twenty other of our comrades two years ago! How the hell?!? – explain yourself, soldier!”

EagleRock broke out in a fit of laughter. “Haha!.. Oh… What a hoot! You look so mean and angry – but we both know you’re lying through your teeth! You knew damn well before you saw me that I was still around. And, not only that – you were sent to find me! “

This reaction shook up Byte a little. “Maybe he’s just fishing”, she thought, so she continued on her line of plausible deniability. “Look, the dead just don’t spring back to life. Either you were never killed and faked it all, or you’re just someone surgically altered to look like him. Either way, you’re supposed to be dead!”

EagleRock leaned back a little, and relaxed the best he could, considering how he was trussed up like a deer about to be chucked into the back of a pickup truck. “You can do better than that”, he chuckled, and then, before Byte could answer, he said just one simple phrase: “Phantom sends his regards, and he’s glad your Portal notes were so thorough”

In a world where there was no Portal technology, there was no other explanation – this EagleRock didn’t belong here, either. Byte was stunned to silence, but she answered by cutting the duct tape from his legs and unlocking the handcuffs from his wrists. She looked at his leg, and was further amazed that the wound was already scabbed over. EagleRock saw the look on her face and added, “Even after two years, I still heal fast. Those drugs just never left my system”

Then Byte remembered that when she left Phantom behind during her first Portal jump, the EagleRock in that timeline was dead – and by Phantom’s hand at that! So how could this be the same EagleRock? As he started to slowly get up, Byte took him by surprise and grabbed him by his neck with her left hand. The mechanical servos pressed around his throat, and a slight shock pulsed through her fingertips. She pushed him back down to the ground, looked him square in the eyes, and said “If you so much as flinch, I will kill you. I’m going to ask questions, and you’re going to answer them. If you lie to me, I will hurt you. If you lie too many times, I WILL kill you. Do you understand?”

EagleRock’s face was a mix of anger and fear. He knew that she could kill him in a heartbeat – but would she? “What is her problem?”, he thought “You’d think she’d be happy to see me!”

Byte took a deep breath, and began to speak “So, what exactly did Phantom say to you when I jumped through the portal and left you two alone?”

EagleRock gave her a lop-sided grin and said, “I wouldn’t know. I was dead at the time.”

“Yeah, I know – which is why you shouldn’t be here!”, and her grip tightened a little. “So, tell me how you were resurrected…”

“When you jumped through the portal, Phantom was alone for a while. Then he told me that he felt a strange energy, almost like a pulse or wave that reverberated through his body. Everything turned black for a moment, and at that time, he thought he was dying. But then, the feeling of disorientation passed, and when he looked around, nothing much had changed. He looked around outside – still looked the same. He checked out the EGB headquarters – still just a hole in the ground. He checked my grave – I was still there. From his perspective, your jump did only one thing, and that was to leave him stranded alone in the future.”

Byte was confused. She knew that after her first jump, she had prevented the destruction of the EGB. The future that she was in would most certainly have been changed. Phantom and all of the others would have been restored to their own proper future. Then with the second jump, she prevented the kidnapping of the command staff by destroying the portal in the mountain – which meant that the whole line of history had to be changed. Something didn’t add up.

EagleRock saw the confusion in her face, and continued his response. “There are three important facts that you need to know now. The first is that after Phantom realized nothing changed, he took it upon himself to read all about the Portal you left behind, and with the help of your notes, figured out how to make a jump back in time to prevent my death at his hands. I died because I confronted both of you in the lab, and Phantom knew that the only way out was to let you jump. He jumped back in time, and managed to intercept me while I was on the way to the lab. He told me the truth – that I was speaking to a future version of himself, and that it was vital to let you do the jump.

I didn’t believe him at first, so he told me to go inside and peek into the lab. He said I would see you and him working on the portal. So, of course, I looked in – and sure enough, there was a second Phantom in that room as well. I stepped back out, and he told me to follow him back to the Portal. Again, I was surprised to see a working Portal after all these years. I asked him what I should do – and his answer was simple: just work with us on the Portal, and don’t cause the confrontation that would end his life. Then he shook my hand, saluted, and stepped back into the portal. It closed behind him silently. I realized that he was right, so I went back to the lab, and when I saw you and Phantom again, I told you both that I had a change of heart and wanted to help you with the project. It worked out rather well, as there were no hard feelings – and when you made the jump in that modified timeline, we were both there to wish you well.”

“But, that’s not how I remember it! Shouldn’t that have already happened? Why do I know it differently?”

“You’re thinking only 4th dimensionally. When you jumped back first, you created a new time stream. It affected the dimension you both were in as to what you perceived to be current events. Then when Phantom went back, he split it again – and even though he went back only a few weeks, it was not in the “old” time stream. That version of you remembers that I am alive and well, and we all got along just fine.”

“Hold it – what do you mean by ‘that version of me’? , she asked

“Well, that brings us to the second fact that you need to know. Your first jump back was very close to the mark – you were at 99.99998372% accuracy, which means that you hit a dimension and time that was so close to the one you were aiming for that you couldn’t tell the difference. But it WASN’T the timeline that you started from – so when you changed the future, you changed it for a little different world. Then, on your second jump, you were rushed, and wound up hitting only a 98.215343% match. Again, very close to yours, but that meant that for every 50 little facts, one would be different – such as the concept of Portal technology, which doesn’t exist here. You kind of missed the mark on that one,”

“So, wait a minute – I stopped the EGB from getting destroyed – not MY EGB, though, but an alternate universe’s version?”

“Yes, exactly. But that universe was so close to yours, if you hadn’t made the second jump, you’d have lived there just as happy as can be – and never know you really weren’t home.”

“So, that’s why Phantom didn’t see any change – I didn’t change HIS timeline – I changed someone elses. And now, I’m trapped in a completely wrong dimension – and stuck here with you!” EagleRock could hear the frustration growing in her voice.

“Well, then there’s the third fact: Ever since your first accidental jump through the portal, you’ve never been back to your home dimension and timeline. The future you visited was one similar to yours, but not yours. In that one, you were male. The past you returned to was close, but again, not the same as the future line you were in, so you never affected that one. And now, you’re here in a third different stream, and by know wondering if any of this was worth it – did you really make a difference?”

Byte turned away in anger and shame. “How could I have been so careless? “, she thought. “I didn’t change anything. It was all wrong “, but that she spoke out loud.

EagleRock spoke again, and this time, just a little softer. “That’s why I didn’t want you to jump back – I knew that the damn Trans-Dim portal was never 100% accurate unless you had a beacon that matched your temporal signature. When you jumped, you had no idea just how quickly those little errors could add up. But now you do.”

“Well, that’s a wonderful explanation – but it doesn’t help me. How did you find me, anyway? There was no beacon set – in fact, you might have the wrong version of me now – ever think of that?”, she chided.

“Nope. I have the right ByteSlinger. Remember after your first jump, in your room, you had all those portals open up with different versions of you arguing over what you should do next? That was a temporal nexus, and those occur when a certain event transcends multiple universes. Why was that a nexus? Because in many of the other parallel universes, that was the day you went back to try to set things right. Some versions of you thought this was a good idea, while others wanted to stop you, fearful of the consequences of messing with the time stream. Good thing I showed up when I did to close them all down.”

“How do you know I’m the right one?”, she asked incredulously

“Your beacon. Just had to find it and follow it”, he answered. She gave him a dumb look which he read as “What the hell are you talking about?”, and he continued. “In your arm. Once you downloaded all of the portal information and ran it through your systems, your nano-bots built an internal beacon based on you home dimensional signature. This way, when you traveled through the Portals, you could align the endpoint to match your internal beacon – and really find your way home again.”

“So, you can follow me across dimensions? Great, just what I need – a trans-dimensional stalker! Now, how is that going to get us home – there’s no freakin portals here! You jumped into a dead end!”, she said through gritted teeth.

“Well, uh…yeah, I didn’t know that until after I jumped”, he admitted sheepishly. “So now I’m stuck here. And to make matters worse, I have to keep avoiding my other self that’s native to this dimension”

“So, the version of “you” in this timeline really didn’t die in the fiasco two years ago – he’s been undercover, just like Slash had told me!”, she exclaimed.

“Yes. Well, about that – you’ve got a problem there. You see, in this world, my counterpart lives. Slash knows he’s alive, and tells the few people he needs to that my counterpart is “working deep cover”. But since I look just like him, I have found out a deeper truth – and that is that Slash is using the deep-cover version of me to be a double agent – selling guns and ammo from the EGB to the underground hacker movement, and then go around and kill anyone in the way without the risk of punishment. Slash is the mastermind behind this, but the EGB smelled a rat. He’s sending you and your little troop to be cannon fodder – and to take the brunt of the blame when you’re set up to be the gun runners! This way, the EGB gets a high-level officer to blame for the weapons leak – and it’s not going to be Slash. He’s just saving his own ass at the expense of yours. In this timeline, he’s looking for an easy way to a lucrative early retirement – and he doesn’t care who he has to step on to get there.”

EagleRock paused to let Byte think about all of this. After a moment, she released her grip from his neck, and sat back on her haunches, like a catcher waiting for a fast breaking ball outside over the corner. “So, let me get this straight: I’m in the wrong dimension, and so are you because you followed me here. There is no Portal technology in this dimension, so we currently are stuck here. And the commander of the EGB is actually a criminal mastermind who’s running guns and using dead guys to enforce his own laws. His plan is to set me up as a patsy for doing the dirty deeds, which will mean my court-martial and subsequent demise. Did I miss anything?”, she added sarcastically.

“No, I think you got it. But the big question is this – where do we go from here?”, he asked quietly.

Byte untied him again, and helped him to his feet. “Where can we go to talk in private?”, she asked.

“I haven’t had much time to find a place to live yet – but I did find an abandoned apartment down in the General district that I’ve managed to secure. It’s not pretty, but I can catch some shut-eye there and take an occasional cold shower. It’s about as safe as we’re going to get around here.”

“Well, let’s go already”, Byte answered impatiently.

“You can’t go there in uniform – you need to look like a local. You need to be in dirty clothes and rags, show no weapons or armor, and blend in like all the other refuse in the streets.”, he announced dramatically.

“Oh, and maybe get a glove for this thing and a pair of sunglasses while I’m at it”, as she gestured her left cybernetic hand at her eye implant. “Unfortunately, I left my ‘gee, let’s run away and hide from the EGB’ overnight bag back in my apartment. If you want me to change, I’m going to have to go back and get some other clothes”

“No, too risky. Follow me – I think I can help you with your disguise.”, and with that, EagleRock headed down a narrow path a little deeper into the trees. Byte followed him for a few hundred yards until he came to a sewer grate. It was old and rusty – and unlocked. He swung it open, and climbed inside. “Well, are you waiting for an invitation?”, he asked. “Get your ass in here before someone sees you!”. Fighting off the stench that wafted up through the grate, Byte climbed down and closed the grate behind her. It squealed a bit on the rusty hinges, but settled into place with a little persuasion.

The sewer was dark, and EagleRock took out a small flashlight to guide the way. Byte set her optic implant to night-vision mode with thermal overlay, and had no problems following the pipes – and avoiding the small furry creatures that they were disturbing as they walked.

Her auto-navigation and GPS systems in her arm were useless in these concrete pipes so many feet underground. No signals in – or out. She was literally off the EGB grid now. EagleRock led the way wordlessly, navigating the maze of pipes and junctions like he had done this a hundred times before. “But he hasn’t been here that long – how could he know the way so well?”, she asked herself.

As if reading her mind, he said to her, “If you ever get lost in these pipes, it’s really easy to find your way back to the Portal. When they did the upgrade a few years back, they added a new fiber-optic circuit that runs from the main line, through these pipes, right to the Portals where we just were. If you switch to normal vision and take a look at these lines, you’ll see a thicker, yellowish cable among the copper bundles. Sometimes it goes behind the copper, and sometimes it’s in front. When you use night-vision, you can’t see the color differences – but in white light, it’s the path you need to follow. I found it by accident when looking over some blueprints. I started at the source, which was in the sub-basement access of one of the communication nodes in the General district, and followed it until it ended at the Portal. Along the way, I discovered a few interesting places that you just might need to know about.”

Around the next bend they came to rebar ladder that went up into the gloom. “Let me go first and get the cover off”, EagleRock said, and he clambered up the ladder, flashlight in hand. A few moments later, Byte heard a metallic scraping sound followed by a soft thunk, and then EagleRock’s command, ”Come on!”

Up the ladder she went, and found herself in what looked like a basement to a warehouse. EagleRock closed the sewer cover once she had cleared it, and then slide a locking bar across it. “Well, this is my home away from home. This is where I’ve been hiding since I got here. It’s not where the fiber line terminates – but it does have a tap node here.”

Byte looked around in the gloom, lit by a few bare bulbs. At one time, this was a utility and storage basement – there was a service elevator in one corner, but it looked like it was mangled beyond use. There were access stairways, but they had been barred shut from the inside, much like the sewer cover. There was a power panel in another corner, and Byte could see the jerry-rigged cables that gave power to the lights in the place. Near the power panel was an old office desk, with a dusty – but functioning – Apple computer and a few notepads and pens. Along another wall were two doors – one for janitorial supplies, and the other for a bathroom. An army cot and a small table gave evidence that EagleRock did sleep here more often than not.

EagleRock pointed to a large, open crate along the wall and said, “In there you’ll find clothes and rags and anything I’ve managed to pick up along the way. While it’s not Macy’s, I’m sure you’ll find something that will fit you poorly and make you look more like a street hobo.”

Byte picked through the rag bin, half expecting that she’d be disturbing the nest of something very small with very large and pointy teeth – and an attitude to match. Other than a few wayward beetles, nothing jumped out at her, and she did manage to find an oversized dirty poncho, some long wool gloves, a pair of threadbare but useable painter’s overalls, an old knit cap with a New York Yankees emblem on it, and a pair of beat-up sneakers that might just fit. EagleRock handed her a pair of cheap sunglasses, and told her to change into her street outfit.

He turned away from her and headed towards his computer. She turned to face away from him, looked around, and realized that she might as well get changed here. Leaning against the crate, she peeled off her boots and her camo pants, and pulled off the camo top. She stood there in her underwear and t-shirt, and tried to psych herself up to put on the stinky pile of disgusting clothes.

EagleRock turned from his computer to ask Byte a question, and was caught off-guard by the view of the half-dressed Supreme Commander facing away from him. He could see that the implant on her left arm connected just below the shoulder, and that there were visible wires and some surgical screws visible in the light of the bare bulbs. She wouldn’t have made it as a runway model – her legs and thighs were very muscular, but her hips and top seemed to be well-padded. There were scars on the back of her legs, and one on the back of her neck that normally wouldn’t have been visible, but with her hair up in a ponytail, and from this angle, it was obviously a nasty one.

Feeling a little like a voyeur, he watched her slip on the overalls and size up the shoulder straps. She sat down to put on the sneakers, which were a little big but still workable. EagleRock started to feel some pangs in his soul. He had been lonely for a long time, and this wasn’t helping him to stay focused. His mind started to wander, thinking about the life he had before he began this journey – about the wife he had at home that he’d probably never see again. In this dimension, his counterpart never married his wife, and she moved on and married someone else. He missed her touch, her companionship, everything they shared. Just before he left, she had mentioned wanting children, and the last thing he said to her as he walked out the door was “when I get back from this next mission, we’ll go for it!”

But from his standpoint, that was months ago, in a different time stream in a dimension light years away. A big part of his soul ached to go back to her, hold her in his arms, to be complete again. He wanted nothing less than to be a good husband and soon, a good father. Yet he was stranded here in a reality that was not his own, and his only hope of ever getting back home was embedded in the mind and computer systems of the woman whom he tried to rescue – and failed.

And then the dark part of his soul crept into his thoughts. “What if we’re stranded here? What if we can’t get back? I have no one here, and neither does she. Agghhh!!! I’m even crazy contemplating all of this! What’s wrong with me? I can’t let a little loneliness get in the way of my vows. But what if she gave me up for dead? What if she’s moved on already? What if I get back, but it’s too late?“

EagleRock was so engrossed in his own thoughts that he didn’t notice that Byte had turned around, and was watching him now. She could see he was deep in thought, and he had a pained look on his face. She took a few steps towards him, and he looked up, into her eyes. But when he saw the implant, his own eyes started to well up. For some reason, the sight of her face being permanently disfigured with a mechanical implant made him feel sad. His façade of being tough and stable and a daunting leader began to crumble under the avalanche of emotions racing through his mind.

Byte saw his face go from confusion to anguish, and she watched as he absent-mindedly fidgeted with his wedding ring. Before he could speak, she lifted up her right index finger, put it to his lips, and quietly spoke, “Don’t say a word. I can see it all in your face. You miss your wife, and you think you’ll never see her again. Now we’re here alone, and you’ve seen me without my uniform – and I bet a lot of different things are going through your mind right now.”

He nodded his head slowly up and down in agreement. Byte continued whispering, ”No one would blame you – or me – if we found solace in each-other’s arms right now. We are both stranded here, away from our loved ones, away from what is really ours. All we have is each-other…”

She paused, and looked in his eyes. They were wide now, not sure of what was going to happen next.

Then Byte took a slight step backwards, and smiled a little. “But, my friend, as much fun as it would be to have a romp with you right about now, I just can’t do it – and neither can you. It would be the perfect way to screw up this friendship - and command structure. I plan on getting home, and dragging you along with me. And I certainly don’t want any skeletons to be popping out of our closets when we get back. You’ve become a successful man by being honorable – and I will not take that honor away from you, no matter how lonely you – or I – feel. I will admit that you are a handsome, intelligent and attractive man, and I can certainly see why your wife fell in love with you. She is a very lucky woman, and deserves you at your best. So, for now, for all of us, we need to stay focused on getting back home. “

“I’m…I’m sorry, Byte”, he stammered “I don’t know what came over me.”

“No need for apologies “, she replied. “Unlike me, you’re only human. But before anything happened, you listened to reason, and logic won out over your emotions. You have nothing to apologize for, and nothing to feel guilty about.”

He looked at her with sad eyes, and then reached forward as if to hug her. Byte raised her arms slightly, and as he drew close, he tried to bring his lips to hers…

..but what he found was the cold metal of the fingers on her left arm as she intercepted his maneuver.

“No, Eagle, don’t do this…”, Byte begged

“What could it hurt?”, he asked, and pressed a little closer.

“Actually, quite a bit – for you…”, and then the capacitor in her left arm discharged a high voltage, low amperage taser blast through her fingertips. The shock wave traveled through his lips and face, knocking him backwards. He was unconscious before he hit the ground.


“That’s going to sting when he wakes up”, she said out loud, and she left him on the ground as she finished dressing up as a bag lady. She put on the long gloves and the cheap sunglasses, and then checked herself out in the dirty mirror in the bathroom. “Yeah, this’ll do just fine”, she said.

As she walked back into the main room, EagleRock began to grunt and then slowly get up.

“Time to wake up, sleepy head!”, Byte sang in a scarily cheerful voice.

EagleRock looked at her, shook the cobwebs from his head, and then felt his face and lips. “Did you punch me in the face?”, he asked.

“Oh, no, I’d never do that!”, she sang back, coyly. “I’d never punch a gentleman, no matter how improper he might get!”., and then she gave him a very evil smile.

He then remembered what happened, and decided that the best course of action was to just say nothing and move on. “That little lightning bolt has a way of clearing your mind”, he thought.

“So, are you ready to take me on the tour of the dark side of the General District now?”, she asked.

He stood up, dusted himself off, and answered in his best southern drawl, “Yeah, let’s go paint the town red, darlin’!”

They went back down the ladder into the sewer, and continued on for another fifteen minutes until they came to an intersection of pipe that sloped upwards. EagleRock led the way up the pipe, and as they walked, Byte could hear the sounds of traffic and other street noise. They arrived at a circular grate that opened up under an abandoned overpass, and a minute later, stood quietly on the asphalt, looking towards the center of the city.

“Grab that old shopping cart, and throw some junk in it”, EagleRock said. “Then walk on the other side of the street. Play the crazy bag lady role, but keep an eye on me, and follow my lead”.

Byte nodded and did as he asked. She threw some random junk in the cart, and began to shuffle along slowly, talking to herself. EagleRock walked on the other side of the street, keeping to the shadows. The shopping cart rattled and squeaked as Byte pushed it along; EagleRock occasionally glanced over in her direction, as if waiting for something to happen.

A few blocks later, as they turned down a side street, three guys in battered leather jackets staggered out of a doorway. One of them stumbled and tripped over the shopping cart, sending it crashing to the street. Byte was taken by surprise, but decided to play the role. “Hey! That’s all my treasure! All my treasure! All my treasure is in the street! You can’t have my treasure!”, she cried, and went down on her knees to pick up the junk.

“Stupid Bitch!”, one of them slurred. “Cantcha see we’re walking on this here street? Get the fuck outta our way!”, and he kicked the shopping cart into the gutter.

Then one of them behind her kicked down to the ground, and as the third one said, “Let’s stomp her!”, Byte rolled onto her back to face her attackers. “Please, don’t stomp me! You can have my treasure! There’s always more treasure in the caves!”

This was enough to make the guys think for a moment. “Caves? Around here? You’re nuts!”, and just as they raised their legs to stomp her, she kicked out her own leg and ankle-swept two of them to the ground. At the same time, she brought up her left arm, and discharged a near-lethal electrical blast to the chest of the third guy. His jacket wasn’t zippered shut, so the energy blast had no problem penetrating cloth and upsetting his cardiac rhythm. He grabbed his chest as he fell down.

Following through with the leg sweep, Byte brought her leg over, and then spun around and rose into a ready stance. The other two guys had made it back to their feet, and when they saw their buddy on the ground, they charged like enraged bulls.

Byte sidestepped one, and with a simple judo move, used the mass and momentum of the other one to send him flying upside-down into the middle of the street. His head cracked on the pavement, and Byte wasn’t sure if he was dead or just knocked out. But he wasn’t moving at the moment, and that’s what was important.

The last attacker turned around and pulled out a nasty wavy-edged kris blade. She had seen that blade before – it was only used by gang members who had been in the gang at least two years – and had over 25 kills to their name. This guy wasn’t going to stop until one of them was dead.

“You ain’t no street bum, bitch!”, he sneered. “But that’s okay – you’ll bleed just the same! If you’re lucky, maybe you won’t be all the way dead when I start fuckin’ you!”

Byte had to stall him for a few moments to let the capacitor in her arm fully recharge. “Well…if you don’t cut me, maybe you can get even luckier!”

“How’s that?”, he growled.

“Well…”, and she paused for dramatic effect – and to kill more time, “…if I wasn’t cut, I could definitely make you feel better than if you just dry-humped my corpse”, and she took off her cap, and let her hair out of the ponytail.

At the same time, the internal monitor on her arm indicated that the recharge was complete.

“So, why don’t you put that little old knife away, and let me make you feel all better?”, and she held out her left hand as if to beckon him closer. He didn’t notice that there were scorch marks on the fingertips of the dirty gloves she was wearing. He was too busy drooling to care. “If you try anything stupid, I WILL kill you – slowly!”, and he reached out with his left hand - and grabbed hers quickly, pulling her down to the ground. The knife was still in his right hand.

A moment later, the full discharge of the shockwave capacitor was sent through his left hand, up his arm, and into his heart and brain. Byte could smell the flesh on his hand burning as his heart was shocked still and his neural cortex fried. His body twitched as he fell to the ground, quite dead.

Byte looked around to see if anyone else was going to give her a hard time, and that’s when she noticed that EagleRock had disappeared into the night, leaving her stranded in the deadliest part of the General district. “Some friend you turned out to be!”, she thought.

Fortunately, no one else was on the street. Byte put her hair back up under her cap, and decided that she needed to get back to the sewers and then to the Portal, where she could catch a transport back to the EGB. She skulked along in the shadows, and walked back carefully to the road that would lead back to the abandoned overpass. But the overpass wasn’t abandoned anymore. There were four vehicles there, forming a semi-circle with their headlights. There were eight or nine people standing around in the center of the lights, and when Byte looked a little closer, there were others still in the vehicles.

Byte switched to low-light enhanced vision mode, and saw that there was a beat-up Cadillac Escalade, a very new looking Mercedes SUV, an older but well-maintained BMW – and a military Hummer with EGB markings!

Looking back into the crowd, she couldn’t make out faces – but she could see that two of the people in the lights were wearing military-issued jackets, and carried EGB sidearms. There were three large cases on the ground by the Hummer, and one of the guys in the circle had a large, metallic briefcase. She could hear bits and pieces of an argument, but it didn’t last long. The man with the metallic case handed it over to one of the military figures, while three other men each grabbed one of the larger cases, and placed them carefully into the back of the Escalade.

With no handshaking or other acknowledgments, everyone filed back to their vehicles, and they all left the overpass. The Escalade and the BMW took the first right, so Byte couldn’t see any faces. But she did capture the license plates.

The Mercedes and the Hummer headed her way, so she ducked around the corner and watched as they drove by. There were four people in the Mercedes, but they all had hoodies on, and she couldn’t get any clear facial images. She did manage to get the Mercedes’ license plate just as the Hummer passed.

She looked up into the open driver’s window of the Hummer, and the two faces that were talking and focused on the road ahead never saw her watching them. But Byte’s jaw dropped as they passed. She knew those two faces. The driver was TheThing – and his passenger was EagleRock!

“But which one?”, she thought.


End of Chapter 20