Mistrunner 3 - Chapter 19 - The Exchange (Patreon)

I’ve never had a normal life. Not really. Even when I was with Cy – brief though our relationship was – I know now that I was just looking for a way out. So, when Mira came back, I was more than ready to believe that she had turned a corner. Now, I wonder if I was just being optimistic. Has she come to terms with what happened in Nova? Or had she just buried her feelings beneath a new façade? She always was good at pretending to be other people. In fact, playing a role – whether it’s the cocky mercenary or a regular person – is the only way she’s ever really comfortable.

Patrick Ward

“How have you been?” asked Simon, sitting next to me as we waited on the call to come in. I’d already used Bastion, which meant that whatever tracker they’d implanted in the gnome child was useless. Her pursuers probably knew we were in New Cairo, but nothing beyond that. And it wasn’t as if they could just start asking questions, what with the quarantine and all. It was one thing to smuggle in a small force, but it was something else altogether to flaunt it in front of everyone. I wasn’t sure exactly how censure worked – I never could get a good answer from my friends in the Bazaar – but the aliens seemed to prefer to stay under the radar. In any case, I felt confident that we wouldn’t be found.

I glanced at Simon and answered, “Fine. You know, toppling alien operations and killing people who probably deserve it. The usual.”

“Probably?” he asked.

I shrugged. “You can never be completely sure,” was my answer. “But as far as I know, I haven’t killed any good guys lately.”

I’d long since abandoned the notion that I was one of those good guys. At best, my life was stranded in a morally grey abyss. Sure, I’d helped people. I’d saved a few lives, even. And I tried not to make evil choices. But nobody with a body count as high as the one that followed me around could ever truly be considered virtuous.

The best I could do was try to keep myself from sliding into the other end of that spectrum. I think I had been mostly successful, but every now and then, I slipped up. The problem was that it was so easy to be the bad guy. After all, who was there to stop me from taking what I wanted? From killing whoever crossed me? There were people out there that could stand up to someone with my power, but there weren’t a lot of do-gooders among them.

It all came back to one, simple tenet: people looked after themselves first, their friends second, and everyone else a distant third. And the existence of that last bit was questionable at best.

“Well, that’s a start,” he said with a good-natured smile. He knuckled his thick mustaches, then took off his bowler hat. “What’s taking her so long?”

Vanna had gone out to get the lay of the land, so to speak. I was reasonably certain that we wouldn’t be found – not with Bastion running and whatever defenses Vanna and Simon had erected around their safe house – but it was always better to confirm that kind of thing with your own two eyes. And Vanna was more than capable of doing so without raising any suspicion.  Not only was she a talented infiltrator, but she was a respected resident of the city. So, she was the natural choice to investigate the situation.

“Are you sure they got the message?” Simon asked.

“I’m sure,” I said. I’d contacted Gala via Secure Connection, and the minotaur arms dealer had in turn contacted an intermediary she knew. That go-between had sent the Dingyts my terms. They were simple enough. Framing myself as a rescuer, I only wanted to give back the girl. In return, I wanted to avoid any reprisal.

Sure, I could’ve probably demanded a ransom, but I truly didn’t want anything else from them. The Dingyts were smart enough to recognize that I’d probably had a hand in the kidnapping, but I hoped my cooperation would keep them from doing anything vindictive. If they took the other route, I would have to do some things I really didn’t want to do.

Only an hour after making contact with Gala, she’d responded with the Dingyts’ agreement to the exchange. Or hand-over, really. I wasn’t getting anything back, after all. And now, we were just waiting. At least, Simon and I were. Vanna was out in New Cairo trying to gauge whether or not I’d have to murder a bunch of gnomes.

On the surface, I didn’t so much mind taking out another alien settlement. They were invaders, just like any others. However, I wasn’t so bloodthirst as to completely ignore the threat such a mighty civilization might pose to my continued survival. Soon enough, the quarantine would lift, and when that happened, I didn’t want to find myself on the wrong end of a galactic manhunt.

Of course, that might still happen regardless of how the gnome issue turned out. It wasn’t as if I’d done thorough background check on any of my previous victims.

“So, you and Vanna settling down for good here?” I asked.

He shrugged his heavy shoulders and leaned back. “I have no idea,” he admitted. I’d always had a much easier rapport with him than with Vanna. “Maybe. Probably not, though.”

“Why?”

“Other than old friends dumping a mess on our table?” he asked with a wide grin.

“We’re old friends?” I countered.

“Something like that,” he said with a sigh.

“But seriously – why not settle down? Seems like you have a good thing going,” I said. And I meant it. The Palace was obviously successful, and, from what I had seen, New Cairo wasn’t such a bad place. Certainly, it was better than Nova had been. Of course, I hadn’t seen enough to make a real assessment.

“We do, we do,” he said. “But Vanna doesn’t really like to sit still. She’ll manage it for a bit, but then something will come up. And then…well, things happen, and before I know it, we’re headed to a new city.”

“Sounds hard.”

“You would know as well as I do,” he said with a knowing twinkle in his eye. “Like back in Chicago. We could’ve smoothed it over with the Capelli gang. Even with what you did –”

“That was an accident. And they were as much to blame as I was!”

“Maybe. But they’re the ones who ended up with a destroyed warehouse,” he said. “My point is that we could’ve probably figured out a way to make it work. But Vanna, she took it as an excuse to move on. That’s who she is. Always looking at the next adventure. Always headed toward the horizon.”

“Are you saying I’m the same way?”

Again, Simon shrugged. “If the shoe fits,” he said.

Was that how he saw me? Sure, I’d never really tried to settle in anywhere, but that was because I’d never had the chance. The moment my uncle had given me a Tier-7 implant, my fate had been sealed. Or maybe the true decider had been when I’d learned that aliens would soon descend upon our planet and enslave us all. How could I live a normal life with that hanging over my head?

How could anyone?

Thankfully, Simon let the topic drop, and I spent the next hour or so mindlessly going through my old Mind training program. It wasn’t a challenge, but it was a comforting way to pass the time. Or to avoid thinking about things I couldn’t change.

Eventually, Vanna returned, and once she had settled in on one of the chairs, said, “Well, they’re looking for you.”

“More of the kid than me, I think,” I responded.

“Same difference.”

Then, she proceeded to outline an infestation of gnomes that had descended upon New Cairo. Most were cloaked in various holographic displays meant to conceal their identity behind a façade of immaturity – more evidence of their advanced technology – but Vanna had seen through their disguises. According to her, they looked like children, but anyone with half a brain could recognize their adult mannerisms.

“It’s actually a decent disguise,” she went on. “Nobody really pays much attention to street kids, so they kind of fade into the background unless you’re specifically looking for them.”

Simon asked, “Where are they set up?”

“By the river,” she said. “An old warehouse. It’s swarming with bots, now. Probably other defenses, too. And there are cloaked drones searching through the city.”

I sighed. “I just want to give the girl back,” I muttered. “Why is this so hard?”

“You poked the bear,” Simon said. “They can’t let it stand.”

I hadn’t told them everything, but I’d said enough to give them an idea of what had gone down. They knew the situation well enough that I could agree with Simon’s assessment. In attacking that caravan, we’d thumbed our noses at an established power. By now, anyone who mattered probably knew about it. So, the Dingyts had no choice but to respond with at least a show of force. Otherwise, people might think they were vulnerable.

“Well, the hand-off is still on,” I said.

“And you’re sure they’ll just let you go?” Vanna asked.

“I don’t really know,” I admitted.

“Such confidence,” she deadpanned.

“Vanna, stop. She’s just trying to work with the and she was dealt.”

“A hand she chose.”

“Be that as it may –”

“And you know we’re going to have to move now,” Vanna went on. “I’ve already talked to Eko about buying the Palace.”

“You think that’s strictly necessary?” Simon asked.

Vanna nodded at me, saying, “She might be an idiot sometimes, but if she’s worried about them, then we should be too.”

“I’m not an idiot,” I protested, though I instantly regretted it. As both of them fixed me with withering stares, I said, “Fine. Shutting up now.”

The pair of them continued to go back and forth about the future, and for a moment, I actually felt a little guilty about dumping my issues on their doorstep. However, I soon remembered Simon’s assertion about Vanna’s inability to stay in one place. Likely, if it wasn’t for my interference, she’d have found some other reason to abandon New Cairo.

Probably.

Still, I couldn’t escape some feeling of responsibility.

Soon enough, I excused myself to go look in on the still-unconscious Dingyt child. She hadn’t moved from the bed we’d given her, but that wasn’t unexpected. Looking down on her tiny form, a different sort of guilt assailed my mind. Sure, I hadn’t picked the target. I hadn’t even known what Askar and the others intended to steal. But I couldn’t disregard my own culpability in her kidnapping.

For a while, I just sat there watching her. Until, at last, my interface’s alarm sounded, telling me that the time had come. Pushing extraneous thoughts out of my mind, I focused on what I needed to do. Gathering the girl in my arms, I marched back into the safe house’s common area and announced, “It’s time.”

“You sure you don’t need any more help from us?” asked Simon.

I shook my head. “No. You’ve done enough,” I answered. Then, I retrieved a small crate of Rift shards from my arsenal implant and set it down on the table in the center of the room. “Should all be there, but I won’t be offended if you count them.”

“We trust you,” he said.

Vanna snorted. “I don’t.”

“She’s joking,” Simon stated.

“I’m really not,” she countered.

“Whatever. Thanks for your help,” I said, not wanting to deal with any more snark. “If you ever need me…”

“I intend to lose your contact information as soon as you’re out of the building,” Vanna said.

Simon rubbed his eyes and added, “Just be careful, Mira.”

“I always am.”

With that, I left the safe house. I quickly ascended to the surface via the elevator and made my way through the club and into the streets of New Cairo. As I went, I couldn’t help but stare at every child I saw. Could they have been gnomes in disguise? Maybe. But none of them seemed to notice me.

Throughout my trip through the city, I continuously backtracked and changed identities. For a while, I was a short, non-descript man. After that, I was an old crone. And after that, I was a teenage girl. On and on it went until I’d used almost a dozen different identities. I also took great pains to hide anytime I saw a group of children.

Thankfully, their tracking system wasn’t terribly advanced. Or maybe it sacrificed some utility for undetectability. I really don’t know. But as I went, I came to realize that it only gave them a general idea of the girl’s location. So, as long as I kept moving, they couldn’t find us. Still, I caught sight of the disguised Dingyts on more than a few occasions, and just like Vanna had indicated, they stood out under any kind of close scrutiny. They looked the part, but the way they moved labeled them as imposters.

Predictably, I also saw evidence that New Cairo was afflicted with a similar disease that seemed so prevalent in any sizable city. The inequality – and human suffering – wasn’t as dramatic as it had been in Nova City, but it was still there all the same. In the shadow of those grand pyramids were ruined hovels filled with addicts, the destitute, and those driven to apathy by an unfair world.

In the years since Nova City’s fall, I had seen much the same in dozens of other settlements. For a while, I’d even joined them in their misery.

But there was some hope, too. For every lost cause, there were people just living their lives. Shopkeepers. Tradespeople. Workers of every sort. I saw families with their children in tow, lovers holding hands, and friends laughing and smiling together. Perhaps those same things had been present in Nova, and I’d just been too blinded by my quest for revenge to acknowledge their existence.

Eventually, I reached my destination.

I looked around the park, seeing only the expected sights. Trees. A few small fountains. Plenty of people lounging about. There were children there, too, but none were unaccompanied by adults. The gnomes had yet to arrive.

Of course, that wasn’t unexpected. I’d spent hours setting up a daisy chain of locations meant to slowly guide them to the park. Hopefully, it would be enough to keep me out of their sights.

After crossing the park, I found my way to a seclude section characterized by well-cultivated gardens. There, I deposited the girl behind a hedge and promptly vacated the area. However, I didn’t go more than a mile before I climbed an ancient wall and drew my Pulsar. There, I waited for the gnomes to arrive.

I’d chosen the area for two reasons. First, the garden was fairly isolated, so I hoped to avoid civilian intervention. Second, the wall – which was avoided by the locals – offered great sightlines so I could observe the pick-up. And, if it came down to it, kill a few gnomes.

As anticlimactic as that would be, I hoped it wouldn’t come down to that.

So, I was more than a little surprised when a high-pitched voice came from behind me. “I hope you don’t intend to use that on my people,” it said. I started to turn, but I was brought up short by the barrel of a gun pressed against the back of my head. “Drop the rifle, please.”

I knew better than to disobey, so I pulled my hands away from my weapon and raised them. Already, I’d started to prime Teleport.

“Turn around,” my assailant ordered.

I did, and predictably, I saw a gnome. He was a bit taller than the others I’d seen, but he had the same characteristically wide eyes, pointed ears, and diminutive stature. He also had a head of wild, white hair that stuck up in all directions. Couple that with a truly stupendous mustache, and he cut quite a striking figure.

“How did I screw up?” I asked.

“You didn’t,” he said. “In fact, you proved quite slippery.”

“Then how did you find me?”

“Superior technology,” was his only answer. I knew I wouldn’t get an elaboration.

“What do you want? I didn’t kidnap the girl. I went to a lot of trouble to put things right,” I said. “None of this was my plan.”

“Oh, I know. That’s why you’re still alive,” he said. “For now.”

“What do you want?” I asked. Even as I uttered the question, I engaged Misthack and got another big surprise when I tried to infiltrate his system. I came up against a completely solid Mistwall. There were no defensive nodes to assault. Nothing to bypass. Just an error message that said:

Misthack Failed.

There was no elaboration, but I must’ve shown some of my surprise, because the gnome said, “Not what you were expecting, was it? After what happened in the Beta-Three satellite compound, I suspected there was a [Mistrunner] involved. So, I took certain precautions.”

My mind whirled. His “precautions” made him completely immune to a big part of my arsenal, but I knew from experience that something like that had to come with a big downside. I just had no idea what it was, and judging by his smug expression, the gnome wasn’t keen on revealing his secrets.

“I thought we might come to an arrangement,” he said.

“What kind?” I asked, resisting the urge to put a few plasma rounds in his face. But I knew that would be counterproductive. It was one thing to shoot some nameless thug like Huascar, but doing so against someone like the Dingyt would have lasting consequences.

“The kind where you do a few jobs for us,” he answered. “No questions. No complaints. And no refusals. I point to a target, and you do what I say.”

“And why would I do that?”

“Two reasons,” he answered. “One, refusing this deal will bring attention you don’t want. You may not be aware, but my people are not like the chaff that usually visit worlds like this. We are well-funded and, as anyone in the galaxy can tell you, very vindictive.”

He left that threat hanging for a few seconds. It was a simple concept. Do what he wanted me to do, or I’d get precisely the attention I’d hoped to avoid. Perhaps it wouldn’t be that bad for now, but the moment the quarantine lifted, there was every chance I’d have an army of gnomes following my trail.

I had no notion of the state of galactic politics, so his threats might have been empty. But Arkis had believed the Dingyts were major players, and so, I had to as well.

He continued, “And second, you’ll get to do exactly what you’ve been doing all along.”

“What’s that?”

“Killing aliens, of course. Isn’t that what motivates you, Mirabelle Braddock? Oh, yes – I know who you are. I know what you’ve done. And most importantly, I want you to keep doing it, albeit with a little direction from yours truly,” he explained.

I hesitated only for a moment before I said, “Three jobs. That’s it. You pay me in useful metals. And only aliens. I have no interest in killing my own.”

“And yet you do it so well.”

“That’s in the past,” I stated.

“Indeed,” he said, stroking his mustache with his free hand. Then, the little pistol in his hand disappeared. “Then we have a deal?”

I knew I didn’t have much of a choice but to agree. Perhaps I would back out when I had some room to maneuver, but for now, he had me right where he wanted me. “Yeah. I guess we do,” I said.

“Good.”

Then, the air shimmered, and a full dozen gnomes came into view. They were all dressed in skintight infiltration suits similar to my own, and each one carried gnome-sized rifles, all of which were trained on me.

“Very good. I didn’t want to do this the other way,” he said.

Only then did I realize just how close I’d come to getting myself killed. Still, I didn’t let my own fear make its way to my expression as I said, “You know my name. Only polite if you tell me yours.”

“Kargat,” he said. “Alistaris Kargat, at your service.”