Jak Koke - Clockwork asylum

Alice grinned her Cheshire grin. "So it comes down to this," she said. "Do you have any last words?"

"Alice!" Roxborough bellowed.

The executioner swung the axe behind his head.

"David denies killing Dunkelzahn, and I can't find any concrete evidence that ties him to the explosion."

"He had motive."

"He had some interesting things to say about that, too."

The axe rose in a wide arc over his head.

"Alice!"

"He said you were responsible for the Crash, not Dunkelzahn. Just as I suspected originally. For some reason he was reluctant to tell me."

The axe fell.

"Stop, stop! I admit it. I had something to do with it, but I wasn't alone.".

The blade made a clean cut through Roxborough's neck and struck the wood chopping block with a resounding thunk! Roxborough's head fell onto the wooden planks and rolled over next to the fading cat.

Alice smiled down at him. "I thought you might have more to say."

"I'm still alive," said Roxborough's disembodied head. "I'm still alive."

"Surprise! Now finish your little confession, and I'll let you live a few moments longer."

Roxborough grimaced. "Okay, it begins way back with my corporation, Acquisition Technologies."

"Yes?"

"It was a small corp, but we had a drek-hot programming department. I ran it, and David Gavilan was my top code maestro."

Alice drew breath through her sharp teeth.

"Dunkelzahn had very little to do with the corporation except that he owned a small portion. Until one day, I learned that the wyrm was planning to hire Gavilan away from us. This started a little corporate data war.

"I instructed my programming team to come up with the most deadly computer virus ever constructed. My intention was to destroy the data cores of Dunkelzahn's Gossamer Threads Corporation. Nothing more. Gavilan worked on the project, everyone did."

"I don't believe you."

Roxborough's disembodied face wrinkled into a pained grimace. "Finally, the truth and you don't buy it."

"What happened?"

"We tried a small corp first to see if the virus would work. We unleashed it on Effexx Studios and it destroyed them completely. At first we were overjoyed, but then something happened. It was a complicated program, self-replicating, self-correcting, all that. It got out in the old Internet and infected hundreds of computer systems."

"I remember," said Alice. Perhaps, she thought, this is finally the truth.

"It was an accident, don't you see? We never intended to hurt anyone."

"What happened to David?"

"Dunkelzahn met with him to discuss moving to Gossamer Threads, and he saw the virus in David's mind. Dunkelzahn knew what we had done and he convinced David to quit Acquisition Technologies and go to work for the UCAS government to fight the virus. The rest of us were busy trying to hide our involvement, and with all the computer systems crashing, that wasn't too hard to do."

Alice looked at Roxborough with pity. "You deserve your fate," she said. "You deserve to be a brain in a bottle. But I never did anything wrong. I came in as an innocent…"

"Look, I'm very sorry. I helped fund Echo Mirage. We all fought the Crash virus."

"It mutated and grew into something else, did it not?"

"I don't know."

"Is it still out there?" Alice asked.

"Honestly, I don't know."

Alice faded herself out of Wonderland and into the shining city.

Roxborough's cries fell away into the distance. "You can't leave me like this. I'm a disembodied head, for Ghost's sake.','

Alice ignored him. He was still alive. He should be thankful.

Ryan stood on the street, a chill wind playing through his hair, and looked at the mansion. The Dragon Heart was near, he could sense its power calling out to him.

Nadja, I hope you 're all right.

Carla Brooks had arrived a few minutes earlier and had surrounded the perimeter of the mansion grounds with sec troops. She was around the other side now, getting an infiltration plan worked out in case Ryan was unsuccessful.

His wristphone beeped. He looked at the tiny screen to see Alice's liquid blue eyes. "This is not a good time, Alice."

Alice gave him a sad smile. "I'm sorry about circumstances, Ryan," she said. "This won't take long."

"Go ahead."

"I have new information that Damien Knight never thought Dunkelzahn was responsible for the Crash. Knight did not have a long-burning hatred and probably didn't have a strong motive to kill him."

Ryan just shook his head. "Now you tell me."

"I sincerely apologize," she said.

"I'll want to discuss this further," Ryan said. "But now is not the time."

Alice nodded. "Agreed."

Then she was gone and Ryan took a moment to center himself. He remembered his interrogation with Quentin Strapp. Strapp had grilled him, had made it look like Ryan could have killed Dunkelzahn, and Ryan had done the same thing with Knight.

I guess the appearance of guilt doesn't equal culpability.

Ryan took a deep breath and pushed those thoughts from his mind. Time enough for that after Nadja was safe. He keyed in Jane's number, and her familiar icon faded onto the small screen.

"Ryan, about fragging time."

Ryan kept his voice quiet. "Give me the situation report, and this better be good."

The blonde caricature shrugged. "He's got her in the arboretum. She's tied up in the southeast corner, under the last plant table. Almost like he was trying to keep her clear of the action."

Ryan nodded. "What about Dhin and Grind?"

"With the exception of Nadja showing up, everything went just like you thought it would. Dhin is in the Secret Service van, rigging surveillance and assault drones. Grind is high up in the branches of one of the huge redwoods adjacent to the property. He hasn't had a clear shot yet."

Ryan took a deep breath. He thought about the way Nadja had looked during her call, about the hidden fear he'd seen there. He would save her, there was no other choice, but under that realization came another. He would get the Dragon Heart today or he would die trying. For the first time since losing the Heart to Burnout, Ryan had no doubts about his mission.

His indecision was gone, his uncertainty vanished.

There would be no strategic retreat this time, no fighting to a draw. He finally knew where to strike, and he was willing to sacrifice himself if necessary.

"Ryan, your gear is stored just in front of the main entrance. Get going, and we'll switch over to the Phillips tacticom on your signal."

Ryan nodded and cut the connection. He crossed the street, his every nerve on fire, his hyperaware senses going into maximum alert. He found the gear pack just to the side of the front staircase, under a rose bush.

Quickly, and with a minimum of excess movement, he laid out the gear. It consisted of light body armor, a small tacticom unit, a Vindicator minigun, and a shoulder holster with a Colt Manhunter.

Ryan suited up quickly and checked the load in his weapons. Ready and willing. He pulled the Vindicator's strap over his head, slung the ammo belt, and switched off its safety.

Then he inserted the light earpiece into his left ear and used the mimetic tape to fasten the tiny mic to his throat. "System up," he subvocalized.

"Check," said Jane in Ryan's ear.

"Check," came Grind's voice.

"Check," said Dhin, and there was an edge of humor in the big ork's voice. "Bossman, thought we'd lost you."

"Not quite. What's your position?"

"You drove past me on the way in. I'm in the black stepvan. Got a Condor II in the air to keep track of our chummer if he happens to come out, plus a Rotodrone with heavy armament package ready to rock and roll on your mark."

"Good. Grind?"

"I'm playing birdy in this fragging tree. Me and my Barret one-two-one. Can't tag him unless you move him into the middle of the room."