Shuqba put her feet up on the staffroom table and watched a live feed from one of LeaderCorp’s border wars on her OmniScreen while BIS, the androids and service bots set up the hub for the day.
‘Security alert, Officer Shuqba,’ BIS said.
Shuqba took her feet off the table and stood up. ‘What’s the situation, BIS?’
‘An unidentified non-Citizen is using boltcutters on the rations queue gate. I have deployed the sonic weapon and an android is en route to secure the gate.’
‘Show me.’ Shuqba picked up her OmniScreen.
The screen showed the gate wide open and a crowd of people writhing on the ground, hands clamped to their ears. She should have anticipated an incident. There’d been a larger crowd than usual, and a lot of unfamiliar faces. She’d become lax, too interested in socialising with Alida. Getting too close to folk is dangerous, Karain used to say.
On screen a female wearing some kind of ear protection darted into the frame and discharged a folding machine gun at the android attempting to secure the gate. The android fell onto its back, wheels spinning in the air.
‘Android one is down and not responding,’ BIS said.
The female lowered the weapon to her side and lobbed something at the door of the hub.
The room vibrated with a concussive blast. The lights dimmed for a moment. The vending machines clanged against each other, tilting like Demis after a med procedure, before coming to rest in their original positions. All but one. Shuqba vaulted over the edge of the table and out of the way as the nutrient water machine, heavy with liquid-filled sachets, crashed down on the end of the table. The table tipped up and glass flew through the air. A shard slashed Shuqba’s earlobe. The pain resharpened her focus: Alida was in the hub and in danger.
‘A handheld incendiary device has breached the front door. Another individual with hearing protection is attempting to disable power.’
All available intel insisted Demi-Citizens didn’t have access to hearing protection powerful enough to withstand the hub’s sonic defences. Recent experience had taught Shuqba not to put all her faith in anything her superiors claimed.
‘Can you stop them, BIS? Send the other android?’ Shuqba pressed the cuff of her shirtsleeve to her bleeding ear.
‘An alert from headquarters states all ten LeaderCorp Hubs have been attacked. An immediate evacuation has been ordered.’
‘Evacuation? Surely there’s something we can do?’ The hub was her responsibility. She didn’t want to give it up so easily.
‘Confirming with headquarters.’ BIS fell silent. Shuqba scrolled through the views from the outside cameras on the OmniScreen. ‘Officer Shuqba. The order from headquarters is firm. You must evacuate.’
Shuqba’s first priority was retrieving Alida from the bathroom. She opened the staffroom door and launched forward into a barrage of weaponised sound. The breach in the hub’s front door had damaged auditory protections. Shuqba felt herself collapsing and pitched backwards into the staffroom, pulling the door closed behind her. The thick door cut off the sound. She grabbed two sets of ear protectors from the emergency kit and fitted one to her head.
Back in the hallway, part of the front door was mangled out of shape. Black scorch marks covered the ceiling, floor and walls around the breach.
Alida lay in a heap on the floor outside the bathroom, her hands over her ears. There were no visible injuries to her person. Shuqba allowed herself a moment’s relief and fitted the second set of hearing protectors to Alida’s head. Alida grabbed hold of her, saying something inaudible and touching Shuqba’s torn and bloody ear. Shuqba smiled to reassure her and pulled her to her feet. They ran through the waste room, past the large oval nanodisassembler tanks towards the garage.
The second android was already sitting in the driver’s seat of the ten-seater transport van with the engine running. Shuqba pulled open the rear door and she and Alida boarded. The roller door leading to the outside of the hub glided upwards. Alida glanced around anxiously.
The van was shielded against sound. Shuqba pulled off her hearing protectors and indicated for Alida to do the same.
‘Are you injured? Do you have any pain?’
‘No, no. I’m okay. Spinning out a smidge.’
‘Don’t worry. This van can withstand nine-millimetre bullets and small explosions. It’s likely they used everything they had to blast the hub door. We’re safe now.’ Shuqba hoped she was right. She hoped the attackers would be too busy with the hub to pursue them.
‘I’m just so sick of all this shit. Every day it’s something else.’ Alida grimaced and rubbed her ears. ‘Jeez, my ears are ringing for real.’
The roller door stopped about three-quarters of the way up and the lights in the garage went out.
‘Hub power has been disconnected,’ the android said.
‘Let’s get out of here then,’ said Shuqba.
‘The height of the space beneath the roller door is only 3.27 metres. The van is 3.3 metres high. We will not fit.’
‘Well, open it manually.’ Shuqba peered through the windscreen over the android’s shoulder.
‘Due to security concerns manual controls have not been fitted on hub exit doors.’
Shuqba groaned. Typical LeaderCorp, more concerned about the safety of its assets than its employees.
‘Well, drive through it then.’
‘The van and the roller door will be damaged if we proceed.’
‘We’ll be damaged if we stay. Your priority is to protect Sapiens and Security Force Officers. So proceed.’
‘Consulting headquarters.’
‘Forget headquarters, I’m the SFO here. I say proceed.’
‘Headquarters has confirmed I should proceed. Calculating velocity required for extraction of van from garage.’
Shuqba threw her hands up in the air and sat beside Alida. She had absolutely no power. There was no point even calling her an SFO. Alida squeezed her hand and she squeezed back.
The van accelerated, striking the bottom of the roller door. The tooth-grinding sound of metal on metal filled the van. The roller door buckled and scraped all the way along the roof until they were clear.
The android took the side street and Shuqba assessed the crowd storming the hub. A plume of smoke came from somewhere in the east, possibly another besieged hub.
‘Who are they and what’s this all about?’ Shuqba said without expecting an answer. Access to hub supplies and equipment to sell seemed most likely. Although such a coordinated attack on all the hubs seemed beyond simple theft.
‘They’re Rewilders and anti-tekkers,’ Alida said. ‘Didn’t you see? Some of them have different clothes, clothes not printed at a hub.’
‘Of course.’ She hadn’t been paying enough attention. There’d been so many warnings. The protests and Commander Rayne’s concerns. She hadn’t taken them seriously enough. She hadn’t thought there were that many of them or that they’d be able to access such powerful weapons.
They left the hub behind. The streets were full of fearful, bewildered Demis.
‘Where are we taking Demi-Citizen Alida?’ the android asked.
Shuqba hadn’t thought that far ahead. ‘She can’t stay out here, it’s too dangerous. Contact headquarters and ask for permission to bring Alida into the city. Tell them she’s a LeaderCorp employee in danger and deserves our protection.’
‘Yes, Officer.’
The city was gleaming in the morning light. LeaderCorp’s precious jewel, safe behind a wall manned by trigger-happy androids. The view had not yet been marred by the dust and smoke filling the Demi-Settlements.
Alida leaned her head against the window. ‘They’ll never let me into the city. Just drop me off anywhere here.’
Alida was right but Shuqba didn’t want her to be. ‘Let’s wait and see what the android says.’
‘Permission to bring Demi-Citizen Alida into City 1 has been denied.’
Shuqba shook her head. She didn’t want her out in the chaos. When she thought Alida might have been injured in the blast Shuqba had felt a moment of terror. There was no confusion about duty or protocol or the right thing to do when it came to Alida. She wanted to protect her.
Alida smiled. She looked so tired. ‘It’s okay.’ She called out to the android. ‘Let me out here. We’re near the market.’
The van stopped. Alida hugged Shuqba. ‘Don’t stress about me. I’m gonna grab my stuff and head to my hidey-hole in the burbs. It’s the same old messy Demi shit. It’ll blow over.’
The door slid open and Alida jogged away from the van.