Jak Koke - Clockwork asylum

"Twenty minutes, give or take."

Nadja sighed. "The Native American Nations loved Dunkelzahn, and Salish-Shidhe is no exception. You'll have the full cooperation of their entire government."

"Thanks. It'll save us valuable time."

"You're welcome," Nadja said. "And Ryan?" The concern was back in her voice.

"Yes?"

"Do you know what you're doing?"

Ryan smiled. "I'm taking care of business as fast as I can so I can get back to you."

Nadja laughed. "Good answer."

The line went dead.

Grind's voice filled his ears. "Frag, Ryan. You have to keep teaching us the basic rules of shadowrunning?"

Miranda looked across the small cabin of the Phoenix. "What basic rule?"

Axler's voice held a note of impatience. "Use all your talents, even if some of them are legal."

The rest of the trip went quickly, and as the team checked their equipment one last time, the LAV howled into hover position and descended. With a soft thump, they were down, and Dhin cut the engines. The doors hissed open, and the team hit dirt to find themselves staring into the barrels of more than twenty assault rifles.

A big man stepped forward into the still-blowing jet wash from the Phoenix. The dark skin of his face declared his Amerind heritage, and his tusked mouth showed his ork metatype. "Name and business, or we open fire."

Ryan didn't even slow his advance. "Check with your superiors. I have clearance to take charge of this crime scene." Ryan's magically enhanced senses were at full alert, and he felt confident. "I don't need you getting in the way. Now get these guns out of my face, or I'll have your badge."

On the tacticom, Ryan heard Grind whisper, "Cojones of pure titanium."

The big ork didn't back down. "I said, name and business, or we-"

Ryan cut him off with a wave of his hand. "I heard you the first time. Get on the horn to your commanding officer, then get out of our way. I'll give you one minute."

Ryan could see the hesitation in the ork's eyes.

The cop stared at Ryan as if to judge his sincerity. "Frag!" he said finally, then turned away. "Get me Captain Novak on the line. Now!"

The ork walked to his vehicle, and spoke quickly through his commlink for a few moments. The conversation seemed heated. Within a minute he returned, his back stiff, his face flushed. "My apologies for your reception, sir. My entire force is at your disposal, of course."

Ryan signaled for the rest of his team to move out. "Just tell your boys to stay out of our way. We'll be gone in a few minutes."

He didn't wait for the man's response, but signaled Miranda to take the far end of the compound, then shifted his sight to the astral as he walked toward the station. It only took a minute for Ryan to see that Burnout had been here. The whole area was polluted. But as he searched, he could not see any trails leading away from the depot.

"Miranda, you see anything?"

Miranda's voice came over the tacticom. "This is odd… I see a lot of background, but no definite trail. If a cyberzombie was here, the evidence should be plain."

Just then, Jane cut in. "Quicksilver," she said, "I've picked up buzz of a murder at the junction of I-200 and Old Route 83. It's got Burnout written all over it. Local law also found the door to a Ford Canada Bison just a few minutes up 83."

"Just the door?"

"Yeah, mangled pretty good, too. Ripped right off the hinges. Looks like our metal monster ditched the truck-train and carjacked himself some wheels."

Ryan turned, whirling his arm above his head in the signal to rally up and return to the Phoenix. "Let's roll," he said, running toward it. "Thanks, Jane. Pipe the coordinates to Dhin. We're on our way."

Then he was through the doors of the LAV, and they were firing into the air. Through the small window, Ryan looked down at the upturned faces of the local law boys. Their confusion was so apparent, he couldn't help but laugh as the Phoenix II shot into the morning sky.

A few minutes later, Dhin's voice came over the tacticom. "Approaching location."

Ryan peered out the thick macroglass side window. He could make out a few cop cars and a lot of backed up traffic, but there wasn't much to see. He pushed his vision into the astral, looking around for the telltale signs of Burnout's passage.

The trail was subtle, like a shimmering wave, heat interference outlined with a green sparkle. It was much less visible than it should be, which answered the questions of why Ryan couldn't pick it up back at the depot. It was only because the astral background was a lot dimmer out here that Ryan could perceive it at all.

Burnout is somehow masking his aura, Ryan thought. Perhaps it's an accidental effect of the Dragon Heart.

"I think I've picked up the trail," Miranda said. "But it's nothing like the slime path of a cyberzombie."

Ryan refocused on the physical and turned toward her. "Can you follow it?"

"I think so," Miranda said. "Let me see." Then her body slumped as she went astral. Miranda was projecting her consciousness into the astral plane and following the trail left by Burnout. It was something Ryan couldn't do. As a physical adept, he could see into the astral plane, but he couldn't separate his consciousness from his physical being.

Axler and Grind sat ready, their eyes riveted to Miranda's slumped form. Suddenly Miranda's eyes opened. "The trail is straight. He's headed north."

Ryan's fists unclenched. He'd worried that Burnout might have doubled back on them, which would have meant he knew he was being pursued. As it was, the cyberzombie was making a buzz line for his destination, and unless he had a very big card left to play, in the form of some heavy friends to help him out, he was unaware of how close the team had gotten.

All the better. If Burnout had time to prepare, their reception could get hot, but if they managed to take him by surprise, they might just smoke him out before he knew what hit him.

Ryan looked at Miranda. "Track him in the astral. Let's pin him down."

Miranda nodded and closed her eyes again.

"Dhin," said Ryan.

"Yes?"

"North, until I tell you differently."

"Copy."

In the cabin, the roar of rockets thundered as the Phoenix II leapt forward. They traveled like that for another five minutes, until Miranda opened her eyes again. "Frag, that boy travels well."

Ryan took the seat facing the mage. "You got him locked?"

Miranda nodded. "Yes, but there's something you should know."

"What?"

"There's a shaman and some kind of spirit with him."

Ryan, who had been lost in his own thoughts for a moment, was snatched back to reality. "What spirit?" He had a sinking feeling inside.

"Don't know," Miranda said. "But it's the most powerful one I've ever seen, and it's inside our cyberzombie."

Lethe, Ryan thought. Who else could it be?

In the heavy morning air, the smoke from the small camp-fire sent dim, gray smoke into the canopy of pines. Off to the east, Burnout saw the dark mass of clouds, growing larger. A storm was coming, he could feel its tension in the muggy stillness.

It's nearly upon us, he thought.

On the other side of the campfire, the Kodiak knelt on a gigantic bearskin, which just fit inside the large circle of talismana he had laid out on the rocky soil. His medicine lodge. Next to the Kodiak sat the Heart, gleaming yellow in a giant bear's claw. The Heart seemed to glow dully in the darkening morning.

Burnout glanced up at the Kodiak. The old man had started his spiritual journey almost an hour ago, beginning with soft chants accompanied by the rhythmic rattle of a bone shaker. Now, his painted face was streaked with sweat, and he didn't speak; instead, he simply swayed to some internal beat only he could hear.