Protocol, p.24
Protocol, page 24
part #1 of Burns Series
If they could see Octavia in her monstrous altered state, maybe there would be an outcry. Maybe the Commission would be questioned.
It wasn't a very hopeful plan. Octavia would probably resume her beautiful self for the ceremony, after killing me first. Or she would accuse me in front of the commissioners of extreme xenophobia and other-ism. The Accord would be sure to buy it. And even if they didn't, Octavia was invading anyway, so what did it matter?
On the other hand, if she was as mad as I believed she was, the plan might just work. I gave it a thirty percent chance. Then, I immediately revised my guess to twenty percent, then ten.
As for me, well, I pretty much considered my future over. I'd either be killed by Octavia, or by her Marines, or be imprisoned by the Accord for the rest of my life. Probably they would make an example of me as a case of toxic masculinity and patriarchy gone dangerously bad, which I guessed would only fuel more calls for more restrictions.
But there was a small chance I'd escape.
Daydreaming, I told myself. Daydreaming.
None of these plans will work.
But as I thought this, I heard an almighty growl from the rooftops above. It was so loud and unearthly, the people stopped in the street. Stopped and looked up, trying to locate its source. Maybe they thought it was something to do with the Establishment Day celebrations.
Everyone would soon see for themselves.
With the J-Pack hanging from one strap, and clutching the rifle over my chest, I carried on, pushing through the people, towards the harbor front. Everyone seemed to have forgotten to grab at me. They were more curious about the noise coming from above.
The harbor's edge loomed at the end of the street. Now to get across it before the police showed up.
I looked at my watch.
Not long to go.
52
AS I STAGGERED on toward the harbor, people streamed past me, back towards the chaos. Men, women and children of all the genders, most wearing rainbow smocks, hurried to see what was going on. It was so strange that they ran towards danger and not away from it. Was it simply because there hadn't been any real threats to people's safety for years?
I reached the corner of Nathan Road and Salisbury Road. It was a broad area along the harbor's edge. I looked up for signs of Octavia. No sounds. No commotion. She must still be searching for me.
I hurried to the entranceway of the Peninsula Hotel, which I recognized from my sessions in the combat simulator. The hotel was a replica of the original pre-Accord style hotel with all its decadent architecture. Residents of AON sub-territory Hong Kong could visit it on special occasions, such as Accord Establishment Day. They could see for themselves just how much progress the Accord had made since the evil PEA.
The most important thing for me was that it had flat, wide terrace overlooking the harbor and the Establishment Day celebrations on the other side. It was also a great place from which to launch myself, as long as the J-Pack would cooperate.
The front door staff were wary the moment I appeared. One of them stepped forward as I limped up. He or maybe she, stepped in front of the doorway, taking in my limp, bandaged nose and torn uniform. 'Excuse me,' he said. 'Are you a guest?'
'No, are you?' I said, and put my left hand on his rainbow smock and shoved him out of the way.
'You can't go in there,' he called, but I was already hobbling past him. The rifle muzzle banged on the old glass door as I went inside. The guy didn't try to stop me. Instead, he reached for his handheld.
Inside the lobby was an airy cafe. People sat at tables with cups of tea and small towers of cakes and sandwiches.
I walked straight through them all, past every gasp, every man standing up, every open-mouthed waiter, every advancing security guard. I brought the rifle down to my hip. That kept them away.
I found my way to the lift. Thanks to the simulator, I already knew where it was. There were people waiting at the lift entrance. After the lift doors opened, none of them got into the lift with me. So I stood there alone, pushing the button to close the door.
Four security guards came running around the corner.
As they came up to the doors, I leveled the rifle muzzle at them. The four guys looked at it. They backed off. One of them said,
'The whole city is looking for you. You won't get far.'
'We'll see,' I said, as the doors clunked shut.
The lift rocketed its way upwards. The doors opened on a restaurant. It was full of people in Establishment Day rainbow smocks.
More screaming. More open mouths. The people up here were better dressed. It was an expensive restaurant. I decided to keep the rifle at waist height anyway. I didn't want to risk a tangle with anyone who wanted to be a hero for a day.
'Where's the door to the roof?' I yelled at a waiter. He didn't understand. I pointed at the ceiling. 'Roof! Roof!'
The guy pointed to a door at the back. I limped over to it through the tables.
The door was locked.
'Open it,' I shouted to the nearest waiter.
'We don't use that door any more,' he said.
'Open it,' I said.
'I can't open it,' he said.
I took ten steps back, raised the rifle and fired at the door. The blast threw me back into a table. More screams. My shoulder yelped. I looked back at where the door had been. There was now a yawning hole opening out into the rain.
'Now you can use it,' I said to the waiter.
I left him and the diners behind, and walked out through the hole in the wall and onto the roof.
There was scuffling back in the restaurant. The security guys must have arrived. I climbed the short ladder to the rooftop and stepped out onto the terrace. From there I had a high elevation view of the harbor. I walked to the terrace edge. Now, I could see the crowd gathering for the Establishment Day celebrations on the harbor's opposite edge.
Down on the harbor itself, the ancient ferries crisscrossed the kilometer of water, as they'd done for centuries. They were about to have one more passenger.
I made some mental calculations about how much power was left in the J-Pack. Probably only enough to reach one of the ferries and no more.
I made some adjustments to the straps, settling them on my shoulders. Then I set myself in a staggered stance facing a ferry that was now in the middle of the harbor, and prepared to jump.
Right on cue, the security guys arrived. I cursed. Then, I turned around with the rifle in front of me.
'Just stay back, guys,' I said. 'No-one will be hurt.'
The guy with the pistol raised it. 'Stay where you are,' he said. 'The police are coming.'
'See this weapon I'm holding,' I said. 'It's a rifle from the Romans, the intergalactic visitors you've all heard about. Understand this: One blast from this thing will obliterate the four of you instantly. The blast will go right through you. Then it will go right through the wall and blow out a hundred square yards of the windows on the building across the street. You don't want that, do you?' They just stared at me. 'So, go back down the stairs.'
They looked warily at each other, but didn't move. I raised the rifle, aimed at an air conditioning intake. It was about the size of a car. The blast obliterated it. When the dust settled, the group backed down the stairs, but no sooner had they gone when I heard the familiar sound of the police SWAT team coming up them.
I stood up from the recoil and walked quickly back to the terrace's edge.
'Freeze!' came the shouts from the SWAT team. 'Stay where you are or we'll shoot.'
For the third time that day, I jumped over a building's edge.
Once again, the rain drops floated beside me, and the street rushed up.
And as expected, the J-Pack failed to fire.
Once.
Twice.
And then with huge jolt, I was sailing high over the harbor's edge.
53
I HADN'T EXPECTED any shots from the SWAT team. They wouldn't want to hit the buildings on the opposite side of the harbor. But someone must have fired some kind of weapon. I heard the shot behind me, then I felt a sting in the back of my thigh.
I couldn't worry about it for the moment. I was steering the J-Pack to the white top of one of the old ferries in the harbor's middle. That was the plan. Land gently on the wide, flat roof, draw the Octavia monster with me, then draw her into the Establishment Day ceremony itself.
Right where everyone could see the monster in her real form.
If only the J-Pack would co-operate. It got me as far as skimming over the water forty yards up, but then it spluttered out when was I ten yards short of the ferry.
I hit the roof an angle, sliding on slick paint. Then, I lay there swaying with the ferry's motion on the waves. Swaying was good. Snipers can't hit swaying, especially from so far away.
First thing I did was to check that the alien rifle was OK. No damage except a wet barrel, which wasn't any damage at all. It had fired several times in the wet already.
Then I reached round and checked the back of my right leg. My uniform was torn above the back of my knee. I stuck my finger into the tear and found what I expected. An entry wound. Not a large one. No exit wound. The bullet was lodged in my flesh. It hadn't shattered my femur, and it hadn't hit an artery. So, if could handle the pain, I could get by for the next twenty minutes.
Which I hoped was all I would need.
I looked at the harbor side where the Establishment Day celebrations were about to begin. There were marquees, grandstands, a huge TV screen to display the ceremony to the crowds gathered below, a large canopy in the centre of the parade ground.
And, as if ordained by the universe, the incessant rain had ceased to nothing more than a heavy mist.
Using the rifle's sights, I zoomed closer. Already I could see an honor guard of Roman Marines standing to attention. Same slick uniforms. Same closed beavers on their helmets. Same imposing height. No weapons. Ceremonial only--or so they were playing it. No sign of Captain Drusilla and the other officers. They must have been sheltering in the rain somewhere, talking to Admiral Zhou and the others.
Placed around the parade ground were media tents and TV cameras. Each camera had its own small canopy to shelter it from the rain. The arrival of the visitors was being given maximum coverage. Everyone in the Accord would be watching, from AONT South America to AONT Iceland.
If my plan worked, they'd get a broadcast they'd never forget.
But first things first.
I had to find a building top nearby on which to play out the final scene. There was a large, cubed shaped building beside the parade ground. Some TV cameras were already on its top. Perfect. On the building's side, a huge sign read, 'The Department Of Accord Markets.' The logo beneath it read, 'DAM'
If my J-Pack could get me there, DAM was where I was going, and with a bit of luck, I'd be drawing the monster with me.
I slid around to face the Kowloon side of the harbor. I scanned the harbor front through the sights. The roof of the Peninsula Hotel had quite a crowd on it now. The SWAT team was there. So were other police. At least five of them were speaking on their handhelds. Two had binoculars trained on me.
No doubt, an armed helicopter was on its way.
I ranged the sights over the rest of the buildings on the Kowloon side, looking for what I now called the Main Attraction. I didn't have to wait long. First, there was a commotion on Nathan Road, the main road beside the Peninsula Hotel. People fled from the road entrance, cars piled up at one end.
The source of the chaos?
Octavia?
Then, the beast itself appeared. Stomping along the street, as tall as an apartment building. As she reached the end of the road, Octavia's full monstrosity was revealed. This time she was humanoid in form with feet like slabs. And by the way she stomped on cars, buses and people, she was also red hot with rage.
And she was coming for me.
She sniffed the air, as she had done earlier on the skyscraper top. Then, just as before, she sensed where I was and turned towards me. Through the swaying crosshairs of the telescopic sight, I watched as she narrowed her eyes and looked at me.
Then she was in motion--not jumping into the water, but climbing onto the roof of the low, flat Science Museum. Once up there, she clomped to the edge, feet sinking into the concrete. Then, she squatted down as if to jump.
That's when I decided I'd try another shot to make sure I kept her attention.
'Come on, Octavia,' I said. 'Come on.'
I reached for the trigger and braced myself as best as I could on the slippery swaying deck. I breathed out, counted my heartbeats, allowed for the sway of the ferry, and squeezed. The rifle boomed, the pulse raced away, and I was flung back along the slick paint towards the edge, stopping just feet from going over.
Back at the Science Museum, Octavia had disappeared. The shot had missed and hit a building behind. Glass and exploded outwards. But where was Octavia? Had she jumped into the water? Had she gone back into the streets?
Then I saw her.
She was in the air. She must have jumped as soon as she heard the boom of the shot. Now she was up in the sky, coming closer, like a massive bolder.
No time to think any more. I raised the rifle and swung it like a skeet shooter. I pulled the trigger. Boom! Missed. The pulse went right past her, up into the clouds. Octavia kept on coming.
Meanwhile, the recoil flung me back. This time, I went over the ferry roof's edge. I fell past the frightened faces of the passengers, stabbing at the J-Pack control, clutching the rifle.
Then I was in the water.
As I splashed down, I heard an almighty crash, like a bowling ball dropped into a metal sink. The ferry's metal groaned as Octavia crashed through the roof and into the top deck. Then she stood, like a giant ogre on a tiny surfboard, breathing hard, face furious, fists balled, staring down into the water at me, as if working out her next move.
But I didn't wait to find out what it would be.
Treading water, I brought the rifle up and leveled it at her chest, but the change of weight distribution sank me. I lowered the rifle, so that the barrel was just out of the water, the stock below. I made the best aim I could.
I pulled the trigger and hung on.
The rifle boomed, and I was pulled under the water again by the recoil, traveling down at forty-five degrees.
When I surfaced, spluttering and gasping, Octavia was no longer there.
But where had she gone?
I didn't wait to find out.
I twisted in the water until I had a rough alignment to the cube shaped building beside the parade ground and tightened the straps on the J-Pack.
First click.
Nothing happened. No surprise there.
Second click. Nothing happened.
Third click.
Not again.
Then, a cough under the water.
Fourth click.
It fired.
Dragging a veil of water with me, I was flung up in the air towards the parade ground, up and over the crowds of Establishment Day revelers, and the assembled dignitaries of the Accord.
The finale was about to begin.
54
I WAS HALF way to DAM, the cubed-shaped building, when the J-Pack began to splutter, as if it had swallowed too much water. It didn't exactly stop. Instead, the jets faded and surged, faded and surged, letting me drop, then flinging me up. It kept up this pattern all the way over the remaining stretch of the harbor and onto the harbor's edge.
The crowd of people on the shore cleared a space as I dropped down among them and began limping towards the cube shaped building. They'd seen what had just happened on the ferry. Now they could get a close up view of the crazed tall guy in a military uniform, maimed and bloodied--and dangerous.
And so they scattered.
Umbrellas crashed into umbrellas, rainbow smocks crashed into rainbow smocks. People shoved each other out of the way. The men yelled at me in both Chinese and English. 'What the hell are you doing?' was said many times.
'Get back!' I yelled before anyone could stop me. 'Get back!' I brought the rifle around. 'Sorry, but please, get back!'
At the parade ground's edge, police crashed through the crowd, weapons drawn, trying to clear a space to shoot through. I pressed the J-Pack button. Four times, five times. It fired and launched me up high enough so that I was above the roof of DAM.
That's where I wanted to be.
I landed and fell, inevitably sliding on the wet concrete. One of the two television crews already had their camera on me. I caught a glimpse of the giant screen above. It changed from a view of the parade ground, of Drusilla and her officers standing with Accord Commissioners, to a shot of me and the rifle.
So far, so good.
But where was the Main Attraction?
From across the harbor, came the whump-whump-whump of a helicopter, probably carrying another SWAT team and snipers. To minimize my exposure, I ran limping to the far side the building and crouched beside a wall. I didn't want to be killed before I could even begin.
I tossed off the J-Pack. I wouldn't be needing it anymore. Then, I unslung the rifle and looked through the sights along the building tops. Snipers were on top of a building eight hundred yards away, a tripod on the edge. Same with a second building beside it. Both shooters would both be waiting for the right moment.
But I also had a rifle, one that would obliterate them.
To shoot or not shoot?
In the end, the decision was made for me by Octavia.
There was an almighty crash off to my right, a boom of glass panels breaking and metal straining. I looked over at the famous Bank of China building, the building shaped like a shard of glass, another example of the progressive architecture from the pre-Accord era.
Now it served another purpose.
Standing there, her lower half embedded into the side of the building, was Octavia, or at least the life form that used to be Octavia. She was something else now, changed from the monster she had been a few minutes before into something even more bizarre. Never were the words 'alien life form' a more appropriate description.
