Rebel (The United Federation Marine Corps) (20 page)

Chapter 38

“No, that wouldn’t work,” Doug protested.

Michi took the last piece of pizza.  The three of them had been up for hours arguing, and the pizza was cold, but Italian twice in one day was a treat.

“Why not?” Tamara asked.

“The viral screens.  The company is not stupid, and even without the acts of man, nature can inject a virus as it so wills.  So each bank of tubes has a virus screen at the CO2 generators.  Besides, what would you do?  Just show up and walk down the rows?  You think your little access badge is going to make them let you destroy the algae?  Anyway, even if you did, all that would be is revenge, like I said before.  We’d have no leverage.”

“And I told you, at this stage, revenge would be good enough for me,” Michi said before downing the last bite of crust.

“But that is why the programming would be a better option.  We can threaten to destroy their entire strain.  They would have to listen, then.  And best of all, it can be injected into the matrix at the organics lab.”

“I swear, I still don’t understand how it could work.  How can computer programming affect a growing organism?” Michi asked with Tamara nodding in agreement.

“I’ve tried to explain it.  Let me reword it.  Uh . . . OK, you know that Blue-99 is a genetically modified product, one owned by the company, right?”  When both girls nodded, he went on.  “So, in some ways, the algae is just a programmed matrix that sort of sits on top of the original DNA.  The matrix sends signals to the DNA to do what the company wants it to do. As long as the programming functions correctly, the algae’s DNA follows the instructions, making Blue-99.  If that programming were modified to, let’s say, activate the cell’s suicide switch, then all the algae would die.  So all we have to do is input a worm that will change the programming.”

“It sort of makes sense, but you said it might not work,” Tamara told him.

“In theory, it will work.  But in reality, we need the worm that will change the programming as we want it to.  That’s the hard part.”

“So the simple question is, can you do it?”

“I don’t know, to be honest.  I might be able to, but we wouldn’t know until we try it.  And we might only have one shot at it,” he admitted.

“How long to know if you can pull this off?”

“Probably in a week or so.  I would know at least if I can’t do it.  I wouldn’t know for sure if I can until we send the worm on its way.  Then there is the timing.  Tammy would have to infect the programming while I still have my backdoor, and I don’t know how long that will be.  They’re closing in, and all my evasion techniques are only delaying the inevitable.”

“A week?  Well, I don’t totally understand, but I’ve got to trust you, Doug.  Let’s do it.”

Chapter 39

Six days later, Doug and Michi were back at Tamara’s and his condo.  Michi had already taken off the regen chamber from her hand and put on her costumes.  Her finger was not totally healed, but there wasn’t anything to be done about that.  There was nothing for her to do yet, so she had to just sit with Doug and watch.

They waited nervously, watching the time.  Tamara would be at the lab at any minute, and they might have to act quickly.  Doug had four disposable PAs, and one was on now, a specified AI moving his backdoor around the system at inhuman speeds.  The problem was that the company AIs were rapidly closing off areas in the system, leaving fewer and fewer areas in which the backdoor could find refuge.  It was only a matter of time until it was surrounded with nowhere to go.  At that moment, Doug would be locked out of the system.

“Come on, Tamara, come on,” Michi implored. 

She was more nervous now than before the attack on the Marines.  They were so close, and they might have the means to finally hit back at the company where it would hurt them.

Even if they destroyed Blue-99, however, the company would recover.  It could license out another algae from a competitor while trying to rush one of their own research strains to the market.  That would take time, though, and quite a bit of funds.  More importantly, it was sending a message that Propitious Interstellar could not be trusted to deliver.  In the galactic marketplace, that message could cost the company more than the mere destruction of the algae.

“Shit!” Doug said looking at the PA monitoring the backdoor.  “That was too close!”

Michi didn’t ask for an explanation.  “Too close” was not “it’s over,” so she let it be. 

“She’s running out of time!” he said.

Tamara had been given the worm in a small optical drive, one like any other used throughout the planet.  The lab, like all others in the company, was shielded, against transmissions, so a wireless transfer was impossible.  There was no wireless inside.  It would have to be an old-fashion optical read.  She would have given up her PA as always, but with her clearance and position, they hoped she would not be searched.  If she was and they found the drive, she was to feign forgetfulness and just abort the mission, picking up the drive from security as she left.

Doug had given her the location of the three computers in the lab that would work for their purposes.  All she had to do was to hold the drive in front of a reader, even if for a split second.  Doug would have probably less than five seconds to send the worm to the three Blue-99 farms on the planet as well as the secured foundation library in the vaults.  If he were too slow, the worm would get booted by the lab security AIs. 

Doug wasn’t sure the worm would even work.  He’s cobbled it together from a number of programs, even getting one of his co-workers to complete a tricky part of the programming.  He’d had to think about that, but the string was beyond him, and his co-worker didn’t seem to wonder about what that string could be used for.  He programmed the string in 30 minutes, and then was off on his next project, his curiosity un-piqued.

“I can’t take this!” Michi yelled, just as Doug shouted out, “She’s in!”

He pushed the “send” on his control PA just as the backdoor PA flashed red.  That was the signal that his backdoor had been finally been cornered and destroyed.

“What happened?” Michi shouted, pulling on Doug’s arm. “Did you get it out?”

“I don’t know!  I think so, but I can’t check now.  Look, it says here it went out,” he said, pointing to his PA.

“But did the worms get there, and are they working?” 

“I don’t know, Michi, I just don’t know,” he said, slumping down in his chair.  “What do you want to do?”

Michi thought for a few moments.  She didn’t know if she could get off-planet, and she was not going to live the rest of her life hidden in an apartment.  She had to trust that the worm was delivered and that it worked.

“I’m going through with it,” she said with certainty.

“You sure?”

“Damn diddy well, I’m sure,” she said.

“OK, you’ve got the code?” he asked.

Michi pointed to the side of her head.  “Right here.”

“It won’t take long, so you’d better go.  I’ll leave right after you,” he said.

Michi didn’t know where Doug was going, nor did she ask.  What she didn’t know, she couldn’t give up.

He picked up the disposable PA that the code Michi had memorized would reach.  Depending on what message he received, he’d either have the worm extract itself or allow the suicide switches to be thrown.  The switches would already be cocked, so-to-speak, so if his PA was cut off, there would be no turning back.  Every Blue-99 algae cell on the planet would be destroyed and the matrix hopelessly corrupted.

Michi strapped on the pistol belt.  She didn’t have a weapon and wouldn’t be carrying one even if she had, but they had decided that the more she looked like the Michiko MacCailín of the camcording, the better.  She was not trying to hide, and she wanted attention.

Doug looked around the condo.  “I’m going to miss this place,” he said.

“Don’t worry.  You’ll be back. 
We’ll
be back.” 

Michi leaned over and kissed Doug on the cheek before turning and walking to the door.

“
Gokigenyou,
Michiko, and God be with you,” Doug said after her.

Michi smiled for a moment.  Doug didn’t speak Japanese, but he’d searched for the right thing to say, a version of “good luck.”  She wiped the smile from her face, walked to the elevator, and pushed the button.  As the door opened, she saw one of the ladies from the 23
rd
floor was already on.  Michi didn’t know her name, but she’d seen her out and about.  The lady raised her eyebrows at Michi, but if she seemed surprised at seeing
the
Michiko MacCailín, in full regalia, she showed no sign of it.

They arrived at the lobby and walked to the front door.  Michi held it open for the lady, who calmly thanked her before heading off to the right, probably to the small tea shop on the corner.  Michi turned toward the left, toward the Propitious Interstellar headquarters, leaving the sidewalk and taking the middle of the street.  Within moments, people spotted her and stared.  A few paced her along the sidewalk, those few growing in a bigger group as more people joined.  Whether they were there as some sort of honor guard or to try and cash in on the reward, Michi didn’t know, nor did she care.  Either would serve her purpose.

She’d gone only three blocks before two jacks showed up, running toward her.

“Stop there!” one of them shouted.  “You’re coming with us!”

They grabbed her, pulling her arms in back of her.

Michi didn’t resist, but she shouted out, “I am giving myself up to Propitious Interstellar Fabrication.  I demand a meeting with the board. If my demands are not met, the entire stock of Blue-99 will be destroyed!”

“What?” asked the jack who was about to ziptie her hands. “What are you talking about?”

“Just as I said. You want to take me in.  Fine.  Get your reward.  But take me into company headquarters.  You will still be the heroes.  If you do not, and what I am saying is true, then you’ll wish you’d never been born,” she said quietly but with as much conviction as possible.

“Bullshit!” the jack said.  “Destroy Blue-99?  No blooming way.”

“If I’m lying, then what do you have to lose?  Present me as a prize to the CEO himself.  Get noticed.  If I am right,” and Michi desperately hoped she was right and the worm had gotten through, “then you are still heroes.  Either way you win.”

“What’s she saying about Blue-99?” a voice called out from the crowd. 

Many, if not most of the people there probably worked for the company, and anything that damaged one of the main products would affect them all.  The two jacks paused to look at each other.

“It wouldn’t hurt now, would it?” one asked the other.

“I, uh, well I don’t see how it would.  Like she says, we still get the reward either way.  Let’s take her to headquarters and let them sort it all out.”  He turned to Michi and said, “You got your wish, but you better not try anything, you hear?”

“Lead on,” Michi said.

This had been a tricky point.  If they had insisted on taking her to jail, she would have had a much more difficult time, and the delay could interject more variables.  Simple and to the point was best.

Two more jacks came running up, but her two captors guarded her like dogs over a bone. They were not going to split the reward with anyone.

The crowd grew as they walked towards downtown.  A vehicle came to pick her up, but by that time, there were probably over a thousand people pacing them, a good portion camming the scene.  Overhead, a news drone appeared. 

There were probably fifty jacks present, and after some discussion, the senior jack decided that walking was just as good.

As they entered Prosperity Square, where Michi’s entire journey really began, five black-uniformed fuckdicks in riot gear blocked their path and demanded that Michi be turned over to them.  The one on the end, not saying a word, was Chopra, and Michi thought she could feel his eyes burn into her.

The jacks were having none of it, though, and pushed past the federal officers, escorting Michi up B Street and into One Propitious Interstellar.  They moved around the Cornucopia Fountain and to the front doors where a flunky, a high-ranking flunky, but a flunky none-the-less, awaited her.

The jacks had taken on an almost festive air as they brought Michi forward.

“And what is this all about?” the flunky asked.

“I need to see someone higher on the food chain,” Michi said with what she hoped was a tone of disdain.  “Like the CEO.”

The crowd, many who had their PA directional mics trained on her, hooted and hollered at her words.

“I’m afraid you don’t have much say here, Miss MacCailín, and you are going to enjoy being our guest once again,” he said, his voice dripping venom.

Oh, they picked a good one,
Michi thought despite the intense situation.

“I think you had better contact your bosses.  Ask them about the Blue-99 in the vault.”

This was the key.  If the worm hadn’t made it, and if they even checked, the algae in the vault would be fine, and she would be back in the hands of the FCDC.  If the worm had arrived, but didn’t work, she’d be back in custody.  But if the worm had functioned as designed, then the algae in the vault, the foundation batch, would be destroyed. 

The flunky hesitated, and Michi could see his emotions war with each other.  After several moments, he spoke into this throat mic, then came back to an easy stance, feet apart, hands clasped in front of him, the very picture of cool, collected control.

Do they have a school for that,
she wondered as she tried to portray the same degree of control.

They waited, staring at each other, Michi matching the flunky’s easy smile.  Behind them, the crowd was getting restless.  It took almost ten minutes, but the flunky put his hand over his ear to cut out the crowd noise.  He nodded, said something, then looked up.

“If you will come this way, Miss MacCailín, the CEO will see you now.”

The crowd erupted behind them as the people shouted.  Michi couldn’t tell if they supported her or they thought she was going in to be given her just desserts.  She held out her bound hands to the jacks.  They looked to the flunky, who nodded.  Off came the zipties.  Two more jacks, but jacks on steroids and in designer uniforms, appeared, and the street jacks muttered, but stepped back.  Michi hoped her two jacks would still get their reward.

The four of them walked to the elevator.  Before getting in, one of the jacks searched her for weapons.  Her bammers and top couldn’t hide much, but he was still thorough.  He pretty much checked everything, but with a manner that did not leave Michi feeling violated.

They rode up to the 50
th
floor, hallowed ground within the company.  A woman in another tailored suit awaited them, and without saying a word walked them to the right, down a corridor, and into a conference room with a glass wall, giving a beautiful view of the city.  Michi ignored it, instead, turning to the four men sitting at the end of the huge stone table.  She recognized David del Solar, the CEO of Propitious Interstellar.

“Just what the hell have you done, young lady?” the man sitting next to the CEO said.

“It’s not what I have done that’s important; it’s what you are going to do to save your precious company,” she said as she armed herself for battle.