Jack Yeovil - Demon Download

Rintoon was flustered. "I'm not sure, sir."

"Hostile action?"

"It…could be."

"Maniax? Some other gangcult?"

"No. The resources used are vast. Only the multinats would have the capability to mount such an action. And they're supposed to be on our side. It's the general datanet that's been hit, not just the Cav links. We'll all suffer if anything goes down."

"Natural disaster? Act of God? Lightning?"

"We're checking that out. It's a remote possibility, I think."

There was a commotion in the background as Rintoon was talking. He was having to keep looking over his shoulder. People were shouting at each other. Younger glimpsed Captain Lauderdale and another officer gesturing wildly as they argued in front of a flashing screen.

"Keep discipline there, Vladek."

Rintoon turned and talked sternly. There was a hush. Lauderdale and the other man, Lenihan, broke apart.

"How badly are we hurting?" Younger asked.

"Difficult to say, sir. What we're losing is input. Finney is shutting down all systems contiguous to those affected. We may be able to seal off our own database that way, but that doesn't tell us any more about the nature of the enemy or the situation in the field. We're just drawing in and readying for a siege. I've alerted Faulcon, Badalamenti, McAuley and Doc King, and they're being recalled to duty."

"Have you asked around the datanet?"

"Finney has had provisional exchanges with the night operators at GenTech and ITT in Phoenix and the Winter Corporation in Tucson. They've got the same problem, and are trying to put up the same blocks."

"El Paso?"

"Nothing yet."

"Well get on it, man, that's the railhead. If El Paso goes down, we'll blank half the United States."

Finney was talking to Rintoon.

"Sir," he said, "we just lost ITT. They've cast us adrift."

"What?"

"We're it, sir. Phoenix and Tucson cut us loose. The disturbance is in the shared datanet, but it's concentrating on us. The corps are disengaging from the shared line. The private sector is out of it. It's just us now, and the federal information exchange, and the Roman Catholic Church and a few other minor leaguers."

"The Winter people slammed the door behind them," said Finney. "They've blown all the links and burned out their interfaces. They must have had them mined. My guess is that they know something we don't. They just shot sixty or seventy million dollars out the window, and will have incurred more than that in fines for damaging government property and violating interstate information passage laws."

"Will their action limit the damage? Are we the only people on the line?"

"Temporarily," snapped Rintoon. "Arizona is sparsely netted. It's easy to get out of it. But El Paso is a computer interface jungle. It would take years to dismantle all the connections."

"And what's between the input and El Paso?"

"We are, sir. The only major node between the disturbance and El Paso is us, Fort Apache. We've got to entrench and stop it…"

Finney cut in, "…it's like a tidal wave, building up out there in the desert and coming our way."

Rintoon said, "We have to break it."

"I'm coming right down."

Finney, headset pressed to her ear, "here it comes. Computer holocaust. ETA twenty seconds."

Younger punched the door controls next to the elevator.

"…fifteen…"

Nothing was shaking, there were no alarms.

"…ten…"

Lenihan handed Rintoon a note. The colonel turned to the screen and said, "we've isolated a point of origin, sir."

The elevator indicator showed the cage was climbing up towards the kitchen. It seemed to take forever.

"…five…"

"Welcome, Arizona. Say, isn't that where…"

"…three…two…"

The elevator was outside. It pinged like a microwave, and the down arrow lit up.

"…one…"

"…that Swiss woman went?"

"It's here."

The elevator doors didn't open.

Finney asked, "Has anything changed?"

Younger stabbed some buttons.

"I don't think so," said Rintoon. "It must be a monitor error."

The elevator doors wouldn't open.

"Cat," said Rintoon, dripping relief. "Don't ever do that to us again. I just shat the World Trade Centre."

Younger turned back to his screen. Rintoon was smiling, but Finney had deep lines between her brow and was punching buttons.

"It doesn't make sense, colonel. It's not registering, but it's here. I've a bad feeling. This is one smart bug."

Behind him, in his perfect kitchen, a rack of electric carving knives buzzed into life.

Younger barely felt the first blade vibrate its way through him.

It must be MOR night down at The Silver Byte. Liberace's version of "Glad to Be Gay" was burbling on the jukebox, and an imbecilic old man in a bathchair was nodding along to it while playing dominoes with a nine-year-old hispanic girl. Stack walked the length of the bar, laid one of his shotguns down, and asked Armindariz if the chilli was still on.

"Sure theeng, Trooper. Commeeng right op. Hey, Pauncho, rustle op a cheellee dog for thee nice man."

A seriously fat individual with a cook's hat perched on his head agreed with Armindariz and spooned out a bowlful of meat stew with beans and peppers. There was a sign over the bar. "WARNING—CHILLI HOT." Stock crumbled his crackers, and stirred them in with his spoon. He hesitated.

"Say, Pedro, just how hot is this chilli?"

Armindariz showed his teeth. His gold fang shone.

"Yiu remember thee A-Bomb tests een thee feefties?"

"Not personally, but I've heard of them?"

"Well, there ees a place op in Nevada where they let off too manee beeg ones, an' now no one can ever leeve there again."

"Yeah?"

"Well, Pauncho's cheellee ees hotter man that."

"Which is cheaper here, whisky or water?"

"Whisky, Trooper."

"I'll have that then."

Armindariz poured him a shot. Stack lifted the spoon to his mouth…

"Before yiu eet, thee government eet say wee have to geeve yiu thees card." Armindariz shrugged and handed over a much-battered oblong the size of a cashplastic.

"The Surgeon General has determined that coronary heart disease is the major cause of death in this country, and you are strongly advised against consumption of foods containing red meat, saturated animal fats, irradiated salts and growth-enhanced vegetables. Have a nice day."

Stack gave Armindariz back his card. They shrugged at each other. Stack shoved a spoonful of chilli into his mouth, then took a drink. He swallowed the combination, and gripped the bar as his entire oesophagus took fire.

Armindariz and Pauncho laughed.

"That's freakin' hot chilli, Pedro."

"Wee got a reputation to ophold, Trooper."

Stack finished his chilli, taking sips of the rotgut between mouthfuls. His teeth were heating up, and his tastebuds would probably be burned clean away, but it felt good to have something in his stomach again. A little more of this treatment, and he would probably feel like a human being.

The chilli over, he ordered himself a treat. "Water."

"That ees expenseeve."

"I don't mind. I've had a bad day."

Armindariz pulled a plastic carton out from under the bar, and filled Stack's glass. He sipped it.

"Why, you cheating sonofabitch," he shouted. "You've been doctorin' this water with your lousy whisky!"

Armindariz cringed. "No, no, Senor Trooper, yiu jost dreenk both from thee same glass. Eet ees natural meestake."

Stack laughed, and finished the water.

"Tell me, Pedro, you got a phone?"

"Si."

"Where is it?"

"Out on thee garbage domp. Eet don' work so good seence thee Gaschoggers reep eet off thee wall and jomp on eet."

"Shame. Radio?"