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Chapter 16

"That's..." Xerian put his head in his hands. He seemed to be crying. "T-That's m-monstrous!"

"Modifying a Synth brain without authorisation and a clear medical reason is incredibly illegal," the policewoman said, looking sickened herself, and even Niall's headwings were drooping at the prospect.

"I told you this guy was an asshole," Quirk said, smoothing out the frills of his shiny dress absently. "But I don't see why this comes as such a shock given that he's already been lobotomising protogens such as myself on a regular basis."

"Our civilisation would not stoop to doing anything as barbaric as that either," Eris snapped. "This is not the dark ages!"

"It will be," Toast said quietly. "If we can't stop the Emperor."

Lautrec tapped on the door urgently.

"Chop chop," he said. "Everyone out! There's a pair of officers coming!"

"Back to the hideout," Niall said, leaving the room quickly. "Via that store cupboard. Let's see if our captive has come to a decision."

While Quirk was clearly put out at the prospect of avoiding a good fight, they hastened to the corridor where they'd left their captive.

"Uh oh," Lautrec said as they approached. The store cupboard door was open.

"That little shit escaped," Quirk said. "I knew I should have shot him!"

Lautrec gingerly stepped into the cupboard, in case of an ambush. He jumped back very quickly.

"No," the cat said slowly. "He didn't escape."

Niall entered the store cupboard himself, and drew a sharp breath. "Oh shit," he said, taking in the scene of the slumped protogen and a red mess splashed across the wall.

"Yeah. I guess he did off himself after all," Lautrec said sadly.

"That's the trouble," Niall said, carrying the corpse out of the cupboard and placing it in the middle of the corridor. "His hands are still tied."

"Quirk?!" Xerian snapped, looking appalled. "We told you not to k-kill him! And how did you manage to..."

"Move," Quirk hissed, looking scared. "It's a trap! Back to the hideout! The other one!"

* * *

A large squad of mooks came around the corner just as they entered the elevator. Quirk took it to another deck, picked at random, and then took it back down to the storage level. Leaving the elevator they scurried into a warehouse, and at length they crept through the cargo and stores area until they reached the opposite side. From there they took the nearest elevator in the opposite side of the ship to the one they had used to enter the deck.

They went down to the medical deck and made a similar detour through a series of laboratories, mostly empty. In one room, a couple of large tanks stood. One was dark and empty, the other glowed faintly revealing a small Protogen suspended in some kind of fluid, a mask attached to their visorless face and a tube apparently connecting to their spine.

"So that's where Protogen babies come from," Niall said.

"Yes," Toast said sombrely. "This one will be ready for the synch pod in a few days. The implants and cybernetic grafting will be automatically performed at that point. Maybe this one is for some new project of the Emperor's... or maybe to replace someone Quirk has destroyed."

The black protogen looked at the ground and said nothing.

* * *

When they reached the elevator, Quirk insisted on going to the executive level before diverting back to deck 1 and his other hideout near the teleportation facility where he had first met Xerian.

Possibly to distract himself from thoughts of impending doom, Quirk immediately went to the mirror, took off his leather gauntlets and began inspecting his dress, opera gloves and leggings.

"Okay," he said, polishing the areas that had gone dull. "Looks like they're onto us. Might have repaired some of the cameras, we'll have to do a sweep of that area and ensure it's safe."

"I hope the officer recovers," Xerian said sadly. Toast nodded in agreement. "Assuming it was the Emperor's men and not some third party, he might end up... processed," the Protogen said unhappily.

"By which you mean lobotomised," Niall said pointedly. "I guess he's about to become Quirk's science experiment after all. If he keeps his marbles intact, we know the hack was successful."

"And they'll know to fix it," Quirk said darkly. "Fingers crossed they'll just revive him per standard procedure... But we'll find out eventually, I guess."

"So.. What do we do now?" Xerian asked. "I still want to get Zuki to safety, you know that. We'll need to steal a charger, but if what you say is true, they may be expecting that now! They know we're interested in the stasis chambers, and I'm sure they can guess the rest!"

"Especially if they've been collating the cyberspace intrusions," Quirk said. "Listen - I think we might have to split up."

"No!" Lautrec said, looking horrified. "Never split the party!"

"If they're running by that playbook, they won't expect it," Quirk pointed out. "Also, it means we can make two strikes at once. Up to now we've specifically gone after one goal at a time. A two-pronged attack is liable to shake them up a bit."

"Okay," Niall said. "What are you planning?"

"Niall, Toast, you see about getting a charger," Quirk said. "Take the lizard lady with you. Xerian, I'd like you to come with me."

"Where would we be going?"

"To the security deck. We need the experimental weapon, and I'd like someone to cover me while I'm hacking. Once I have that, it won't matter whether they're expecting us or not!"

"Sounds like a worthwhile advantage," Lautrec said. "I'll come with."

"Well, I was hoping you could help spy out the land for Niall, Toast and Eris," Quirk said doubtfully.

"But I'm Xerian's bodyguard!" Lautrec protested.

"Well, I guess both are stealth missions when it comes down to it," Quirk said.

"I should be less conspicuous," Toast said. "I can probably do that if you want to take the panther. And while hacking isn't my forte, I know enough to be able to get the doors open if you need it."

"And I can handle a firearm," Niall said, toting one of the rifles from Quirk's collection.

"I have stun-gun training," Eris admitted. "I should be able to help if you need it."

* * *

"All clear guys," Lautrec said softly, padding back from the open area he had been slinking around, to where the Synth and the Protogen were hiding behind an ornate central column. "At least, there's nobody around. But I think there's security cameras."

"Figures," Quirk sighed. "It's not somewhere I've been very much lately."

"It's a bit suspicious if you ask me," Lautrec said. "We made it from the elevator to the grav shaft, and we've seen one person so far."

"A lot of it's automated," the Protogen pointed out. "We did have to slip past a couple of security bots. And the ship is very under-staffed. I suspect the Emperor has recalled a lot of the folks who would be here to work on some pet project like lobotomising your orb robots."

"Don't!" Xerian flinched.

"Point is, we mostly have to worry about the cameras," Quirk said.

"If we shoot them, they'll know where we are anyway," Xerian pointed out.

"No stuttering?" Quirk said, turning to face him with a crazy grin across his visor. "We'll make a psycho out of you yet!"

"Cameras aren't thinking, feeling beings," the Synth retorted irritably. "It's just damage. Anyway... Which is the lesser evil? Having the cameras mysteriously stop working, or having an intruder seen walking around?"

"True," Quirk said. "Okay, let's try this. Can you fire a gun?"

"Not as such... But I've used energy tools and we Synths are quick learners," Xerian said. "Give me an energy w-weapon and I can probably commit vandalism with it, if that's what you mean."

"Take this," Quirk proffered a small pistol in one gauntleted hand. "Might be worth shooting a couple of the light fittings to ensure you have the hang of it. I am going to hack the door in bursts while the camera is turned away. If I yell, shoot it."

"I think I can do that," the Synth said. Unhappily, he examined the weapon closely before narrowing his eyes and shooting at one of the pictures on the wall. A few burn marks later and he was satisfied.

Just then there was a snarl and a thud behind him. Quirk looked around, glanced and the camera and shuffled out of its vision. Xerian, taking care to avoid being seen himself, sprinted back to the source of the noise, to see Lautrec sprawled over a protogen officer.

"Now you stay nice and quiet," the jaguar purred, or I'm going to put one of these claws through your visor!" he tapped the creature's electronic eye with a gleaming razor talon.

"Let him go," Xerian said quietly.

"Boss...?" the jaguar looked up in surprise to see Xerian coming towards the captive with an uncharacteristially cool expression and an energy pistol in his hand. The Synth crouched down, and pushed the gun hard behind the protogen's ear. Lautrec stared in shock and concern.

"Get up," the Synth said. The officer quickly did so, face showing an expression of terror. "You're from the planet," he whimpered. "The red one with the war-robot brain!"

"Yes," Xerian said crisply, relieving the protogen of the keycard around his neck and patting him down for weapons. "Get in the cupboard," he ordered. The creature obeyed, hands raised in the air, and only glanced around nervously as Xerian swiped the card and locked him in.

"Holy gods," Lautrec said. "Boss...? What the hell happened? Are you okay?!"

"Shh!" Xerian hissed as they headed back to the open area.

"Trouble?" Quirk asked, hacking at the door again.

"It was amazing!" Lautrec said. "Kind of scary, actually! I've never seen a Synth threaten to blow someone's head off before! What did you do to him?! I didn't think he could do things like that!"

"I c-can't," Xerian said, collapsing against the wall of the central column in relief. "I'm so glad that worked... He wasn't armed. Didn't try to fight back either, probably a specialist like Toast rather than a s-soldier."

"Ohh," Lautrec said. "You were bluffing?"

"I had the safety catch on," Xerian said. "Only way I could do it. Had to choose my words carefully to avoid stuttering."

"That's my boss," Lautrec said, looking extremely happy. "Congratulations on passing your intimidation roll!"