Eric and the Quantum Dragon

Hargreaves Apartment, 10th District

Tuesday December 18th, V26 (2046)

Eric Hargreaves was not wealthy, not in the sense that he had lots of money in the bank or piles of gold sitting in a safe someplace. In fact, he didn’t have any money or property of his own. Everything he needed was provided by his guardian and older brother, Jericho-Two.

So when he needed somewhere to live, Jericho-Two leased out a whole floor of an apartment building for him. When he wanted some method of getting around the City that didn’t involve a Chauffeur or an Auto-Cab, his brother obtained a top of the line sports motorbike.

When he needed a weapon, an entire armoury from a pen-knife to a man portable missile launcher was installed in one wing of his spacious apartment.

Eric did not think of himself as wealthy, yet he had everything a wealthy man could ask for. There was only one thing lacking in this luxurious existence. It was someone to welcome him home at night after a long day at school.

“Greetings, Master Eric” announced his robot butler as the boy entered the lobby of his fortieth floor apartment. Robots don’t count of course.

With mechanical efficiency it took his school bag, jacket and shoes from the young man and stored them quickly in their assigned locations. It then listed all the messages, alerts and updates that his brother Two insisted on sending to him, even though the really important ones had already been transmitted directly to his Quantum processor via the network.

“Hold messages and commit to storage, Jeeves” Eric told his butler and walked into the main living room. He dropped onto an actual leather lounge, purchased at an exorbitant sum from an antique store in Melbourne, then activated his connection to the Quantum Network.

In his mind’s eye he saw the vast plain of the network, the soft glows of the Guards and the bright pillar that was Archimedes. With a scowl he turned away from that glow and sought the illuminated icon for Jericho-Two. It took mere nano-seconds until he found his brother, working at his office in the Fortress.

<Two, its Thirteen> he announced. <Do you have an update on the Frobisher case?>

His brother continued to work at his desk while he set aside a portion of his awareness to speak with Eric. It was a neat trick all the older Avatars did with ease, but Eric was still trying to master the knack.

<Good evening, Thirteen. The preliminary testing of the residue confirmed the drug the Frobisher boy injected was HEx. We tested another three ampoules found in his possession and all of those were unmodified Heightened Experience. The labelling on all four ampoules was identical, so it seems unlikely the boy used the HEx by choice>

<So it’s possible that whomever put the modified drug in with that batch did it by mistake?> Eric wondered.

<Yes> agreed Two. <Or the HEx has been randomly added to a batch to see what happens>

<Hmm. Not as likely> suggested Eric. <What did the parents say during the interrogation?>

<They admitted to purchasing Heightened Experience in an attempt to calm their son’s deep anxiety. His prescribed medications were not working like they had hoped and this was a desperate attempt to keep him at the school>

<Did they disclose their dealer?>

<Gave him up to us right away> advised Two. <They were worried about the legality of it in the first place. Once their son was affected by the drug, they could not be more helpful. Unfortunately the dealer has gone to ground so we have the Police Auxiliary looking for him>

<Good. How is Andrew now?>

<He is being held in the Tenth District Awakening Centre, in the Secure Wing. His condition is stable and in a few days we should be able to test him, to see if the Awakening has been maintained or he has reverted to NOMA status>

<Tough break for him, considering what he went through with the Portal affair> Eric replied.

<Do you think the two events are related?> Two asked him.

<There is not enough data to make a projection at this time. I am planning to do some fieldwork myself to try and find some leads>

<Anything in particular, Thirteen?>

<No> he lied to his older brother. It was becoming easier every time he did it.

<Very well. Keep me informed of any developments. Goodnight Thirteen>

<Good night, Two> he ended the connection and focussed hjs mind back to the real world.

Jeeves, the robot butler, stood waiting patiently at the end of the lounge. Eric stood up and stretched, then addressed his mechanical servant.

“Jeeves, I need my black combat suit and chameleon cloak. Meet me in the Armoury as I plan on going out for the evening”

“Very well, Master Eric” it replied with a passable imitation of an English butler. “Will you require dinner before you depart?”

“No, I’ll have supper when I return” he decided and headed for the Armoury Wing.

Brackenridge Transportation Distribution Centre, District Eight

The motorbike hummed efficiently as Eric guided it deftly through the evening traffic, his black bodysuit of advanced armour weave snug against his skin. On his back was a tactical pack containing EMP grenades, spare ammunition for his 5mm pistol, an emergency first aid kit and a powered grapnel launcher.

Rather than a full combat helmet he wore a specially designed face mask, the lower section made from Ceramite and the visor of Ceramiglass. The integral display on the visor was synchronised to his quantum processor and phone, allowing him to see in low light levels as well as project maps and other data into his field of vision.

With the bike he was able to weave through the slower moving vehicles, annoying the human drivers and the vehicle AI’s in equal measure as he zipped past. Every time one of the automated traffic cameras tried to log him as a speeding vehicle, his control of the local network allowed him to negate the alerts.

It was not strictly legal, but Eric was an Avatar of the Great Archimedes. This was his City, so why should he have to pay speeding tickets?

After a fast-paced fifteen minutes he surfaced from the expressway tunnels into the warehousing zone of District Eight. He directed his bike to a small, darkened alley and parked it close against a wall. Dismounting, he took a Chameleon Cloak from a pannier on the bike’s side and draped it over his shoulders, lifting the hood to cover his blonde hair.

Before he left he made sure to smart-lock the bike and activate the anti-theft systems. If anyone was foolish enough to try and steal his ride they would find themselves swarmed by heavily armed Guards and Police Auxiliaries, homing in on the trackers built into the machine.

Moving stealthily from cover to cover, he closed in on the site of the burned-out Brackenridge Transportation warehouse. It sat by itself in a small perimeter of woods and natural scrubland, giving the facility a privacy screen from the rest of the industrial sector it had stood in.

Eric moved silently from tree to tree until he could see the perimeter fence and beyond that the main building. A heavy smell of burnt plastics wafted through the air as he surveyed the wreckage. The report he had seen from Two indicated the warehouse staff had refused offers of assistance from the District Fire Services, insisting their own Emergency crew could handle the fire.

Looking at the fire scarred husk of the building, someone had made a serious miscalculation. From here it looked like over two thirds of the main structure was destroyed and the remainder showed signs of smoke and water damage. Whatever goods had been stored inside he doubted little of it would be salvageable.

His visor enlarged the view and he could see a section of mesh fencing had been toppled, probably by an over-zealous fire truck. Scans showed no movement or heat sources, so he decided to go in for a closer look.

Running low to the ground he headed to the gap in the fence then paused once he was inside the perimeter. No alarms had sounded and he still had not seen any guards, so after a few more minutes he set off at a slow trot into the interior.

Close up he could see the racks of toppled shelving, scorched and water-logged containers lying everywhere. This was going to be a financial nightmare for the Brackenridges and he wondered how comprehensive their fire insurance was. The air was thick with smoke particles still wafting about, making him glad his face mask had new filters fitted.

Breathing as little as possible, he delved deeper into the ruins. Somehow he knew this place had been more than just a warehouse and he was determined to find out what. It did not take him long to find what he was looking for.

At the centre of the warehouse, still partially covered by blackened roof sections, was a literal fortress. The walls were of reinforced concrete and he could see no windows or openings in the thick walls other than one main entrance. He crept closer, noticing the damaged Auto-Labs and Chem-Printers that had already been dragged from within the main structure.

All of them were damaged in some way, by crushing impacts or scorching fire. However, none of that could hide the obvious bullet holes piercing a number of the side panels and covers. Whatever else may have occurred here, there had been one hell of a gun battle!

He examined one of the closest Chem-Printers, lifting off the damaged cover to peer inside. As he had expected, whatever the unit had been producing was all gone now, stripped out by the salvage crew. Eric dropped the cover harder than he expected and a clang echoed off the surroundings.

With a muffled curse he dropped down low, getting himself behind the cover of the damaged unit. Which is when he spotted the small, half crushed plastic ampoule lying in the ash and dust of the warehouse floor. He picked it up and inspected it closely, all thought of the hazards around him momentarily forgotten.

In small letters, laser etched down the side of the ampoule, it said Heightened Experience.

That was when the figure grabbed him from behind and threw him to the floor.

=====

Eric was stunned for only a moment as the strong yet slender arms encircled him, locking his arms tight against his body. With a surge he got to his feet, his strength catching his assailant by surprise. Their arms were locked tight around his own so he completed the upwards movement by throwing himself backwards, driving his captor into the Auto-Lab behind them both.

A heavy thump and a rather feminine sounding yelp of pain stopped him from taking any further aggression for a moment.

“Who are you?” he called over his shoulder, feeling the arms that held him still gripping as tightly as before.

“Just a concerned citizen doing her civic duty” answered a muffled young woman’s voice. “Is that you, Little Birdy?”

“Nata?” Eric gasped in confusion. “What are you doing here?”

The arms released their hold and the boy turned and regarded the masked figure who had grabbed him. It was indeed Nata, the Sword of the Order of Michael and an ally in previous battles.

“I was going to ask you the same thing” Nata replied, reaching around under her armoured long coat to rub at her spine. She lowered her armoured face mask to regard him with her deep brown eyes, a faint line marking her dark skin where the mask had been driven into her by his back.

“Sorry Sister, I hope I didn’t hurt you” Eric said apologetically. He removed his own mask and watched her with his blue eyes, the two people almost exact opposites of each other in appearance. “I was looking for some leads on illegal drug manufacturing. The fire might have been caused by a lab explosion so I was checking it out”

“Same here” agreed Nata. “Although from the damage these units have sustained, it appears they were having a battle of some kind” She ran her gloved hand over a line of holes in the nearest unit, an expression of concentration making her eyebrows draw together in a frown.

“These are heavy calibre rounds, probably a machine gun or rotary cannon” she announced. “Security guards would not be carrying those kinds of weapons, they must have used combat drones or big mechanicals”

“Kind of an extreme response if the laboratory was making legal drugs” Eric answered. “Whomever caused this response by Brackenridge, they did not want the intruder to get away”

“Yeah” agreed Nata. “The intruder must have been damned lucky to get away from all of this unharmed”

Eric was watching her closely and paused when she said that phrase.

“Were you expecting me to be someone else, Nata?” he asked her. “Someone who might have been here last night?”

Her response was left unspoken when they both heard the sound of metallic claws scraping on the concrete floor of the warehouse. Moving quietly they replaced their masks and drew their preferred weapons – a short sword for Nata and his pistol for Eric. Together they lifted their heads over the damaged machinery and surveyed the wreckage about them.

Multiple pairs of glowing red eyes gleamed in the shadows, then the first machine stalked forwards into the moonlight shining through the damaged roof. It was the size and shape of a large hound, probably the size of a Great Dane or Wolfhound, all gleaming metal pistons and dark armour plating. A harsh, synthetic growl came from its jaws, sharpened teeth-like serrations visible within. Like a signal to its pack, the other mechanicals took up the cry and with a mighty leap they attacked.

Eric responded first, his pistol firing with sharp whipcracks of sound as he sent three shots into the leading beast. Two rounds sparked off the armour plating and the third shattered a red lensed eye. The machine did not pause and leaped over the Auto-Lab, its heavy metal claws slamming into his chest and hurling him backwards.

To his side he heard Nata shout a single imperious command, “Lacerata!”, and her sword flared into brilliant blue light. Even as the machine was lunging for his throat, razor sharp jaws ready and willing to rip him open, that blue blade flashed down to sever the segmented back plates. Its jaws closed to within a centimetre of his flesh before the remaining red eye dimmed and the inert body collapsed onto him.

Eric had to use all of his considerable strength to push the mechanical aside, the hound far heavier than it had looked. Nata was standing close by, twisting and turning as she decapitated one beast and fended off another with her armoured forearm.

“We need to get out of here!” she shouted and he was inclined to agree. With a stifled groan he regained his feet, seeing them surrounded by the eerily howling machines. Nata flung the mechanical on her arm to the ground then drove Lacerata deep into its electronic guts. It howled in what almost sounded like pain and then fell silent.

The attackers had paused for a moment, their computer brains assessing the threat that these two intruders represented. Eric reckoned they had at best a dozen seconds before they rushed the humans in a pack, which there was no way they could resist.

He pulled his backpack off and deftly drew a metallic sphere from its depths.

“Nata, you don’t have any Implants do you?” he asked, just to make sure.

“What? No, I’m an Adept” she answered in confusion, then her eyes fell on the EMP Grenade he was arming. “Oh, right” she added and prepared to catch the boy.

The machines had begun their swarming attack when he threw the device up in the air. An invisible burst of Electromagnetic radiation surged across the warehouse, destroying the electronic brains of the hounds and rendering Eric unconscious.

=====

Eric woke up in a fireman’s carry over the shoulder of Nata, his stomach ramming into her shoulder with every step she took. His head was over her back, so he tapped her on the armoured coat to get her attention.

“You’re awake” she said in relief and paused to lower him onto his own feet. She stood up and arched her back, sighing softly. “You are a lot heavier than you look” she complained.

“Sorry, I have a lot of implanted Ceramite bones and muscle augmentation” he apologised, feeling rather self-conscious about his unnatural body all of a sudden. He looked around, noting they were in the small strip of woods that surrounded the warehouse.

“I guess my pulse took them all down” he asked Nata, who nodded solemnly.

“It’s a good trick if you don’t need to run away immediately” she observed. “You and the Guards are affected the same way, aren’t you?”

“Pretty much” Eric agreed, his eyes roaming the warehouse ruins, making sure there was no pursuit. “Our Quantum Processors aren’t toasted by an EMP burst but it takes us offline for a short period until we can reboot”

“We had better get out of the area” Nata suggested. “Those guard dogs would have sent an alert to their controller before we took them out”

“Agreed. Do you have transport nearby?”

“Actually, I ran here” Nata admitted with a laugh. “How about you?”

“I’ve got a motorbike not far away. Do you want a lift?”

“Lead on, Little Birdy” Nata said in reply. “We can go to my place, its closer, and talk about what is going on around here”

“Copy that” Eric answered and headed towards his bike, hoping it was still where he had left it.