The Vandal's Shadow Read online

a stool behind the bar. "Happy to help. Would you like anything to drink? Tea? Coffee?"

  Kask shook his head. "I have reason to believe that a Helping Hand mole was working on your team."

  "Ah, well I suppose it's possible. There were several in Organics Division. Big scandal. Come to think of it, there was a gentleman recently dismissed from my team by the higher-ups, but I never looked into the reason. Personnel issues are not something I pay much attention to."

  "I'm sure you paid attention to this fellow. Doctor Meyer is his real name. After all, you did use his invention to commit a crime."

  Fearson whitened. "I beg your pardon?"

  "Relax, Doctor Fearson, there's no need to pretend," Kask said. "We know you used his control system and a Helping Hand drone to destroy the bio-bot."

  Fearson laughed. "Where did you get such an absurd idea? What game are you playing?" He continued to smile but added a frown. "If I'm going to be subjected to such nonsense, I'll need a coffee." He said this as he punched a sequence of buttons on a coffee maker.

  With the push of the start button, something came crashing through the closet door--a split-second glimpse of a humanoid form of reflective plastic and dark rubber.

  "Get down!" Kask yelled. The air above them filled with a rapid, twittering pattern of vibration, and a swath of tapping sounds on the wall behind them. Kask angled his stunner upward and fired as he dove. Air compressed and expanded with the usual falling tone, followed by a loud crash of furniture. The robot had tumbled back into the bar from Kask's concussive sound waves. He ran over to the machine and pulled the orange killswitch before it could recover.

  Kask stared a moment at the husky, elegant form spread over the crumpled countertop. The killswitch remained jutting from a side-slot, blinking. Turning back, he saw that the wall was covered with small holes. Hakihea was peeking up from behind a chair. "Are you alright?" Kask helped him up.

  "I think so." He looked at the robot, then the holes in the wall. "What on Earth was that?"

  "A distraction with a remarkably poor targeting system. Fearson's gone--but we're still alive." Kask indicated to the window, which was slid open. "Up for a bit of jog?"

  Hakihea followed Kask through the open glass door. They ran along the external walkway to a docking platform. A quad-copter was flying away from the building. "Back around to the other side!" They ran to the inner face of the building and boarded their craft. "Now you know why I requested an air vehicle." They took off, but Fearson had already slipped out of view amongst the towers. "Ascend straight vertically. We need to see where he's going." Hakihea complied. They rose to an altitude of three kilometers, nearly to the height of the tallest spires of Wellington. Kask pointed through the window at their feet. "There." They swept down, following a helical trajectory until they were outside the city limits, a kilometer above the water of Wellington Harbour. Fearson was also above the water, below and ahead of them, but he soon dove into the buildings again.

  "Keep following the circumference of the city," Kask said.

  "Shouldn't we go in after him?"

  "I'll tell you when to go in." They were circling around toward the land. Fearson popped out of the city again, just for a couple seconds, still ahead of them. "Go to the place where he went in." They tilted swiftly toward the spot, and then Hakihea hovered for a moment while Kask peered through the canyons of titanium and thermoplastics. "There. He's cutting across the city. Go in!" Hakihea began to follow Fearson's path. "Keep visual contact!"

  "I see him!" Hakihea wove amongst the blades and petals of Wellington's dense sky. They wound their way across the two-kilometer diameter of the city and broke out over forest to the southwest. Fearson swept down to a lower altitude, and they followed.

  Two lakes lay in the green valley ahead. Fearson's craft almost reached the second lake, then dropped straight down, out of view.

  "I think he's at the Upper Karori Dam," Hakihea said. They dropped low enough to make out the individual trees. Above them, holding the lake back from the treetops, was an old concrete dam. "I don't see him now. I think he landed among the trees." Hakihea landed on the water next to the dam and turned off the engine. They exited the vehicle warily, stretching their legs from the copter to the concrete, and pulling themselves over the metal railing.

  "Did you see that?" Kask pointed to a hole or alcove near the bottom of the dam, partly hidden by trees.

  "You think he's in there?"

  "Or he ran into the forest."

  "There're rungs leading down. Let's go." They walked slowly along the dam, looking back and forth. Kask took out his stunner.

  Fearson walked out from the trees and onto the other end of the dam.

  "Hands! In the air!" Hakihea shouted. "Brett Fearson, you're under arrest for attempted double homicide, obstruction of justice, and vandalism!"

  Fearson raised his hands and smiled. Kask and Hakihea approached him slowly.

  "He's wearing the glasses!" Kask said.

  "What glasses?"

  "It's a robotic control system!" Kask fired his weapon as he ran forward, and Fearson doubled over, collapsing. "Get the glasses off him!"

  But something was already snaking up from beyond the edge of the dam, above the alcove. Grabbing the back of Hakihea's shirt, Kask dove down toward Fearson as there was a bolt of light. Behind them, an upper portion of the dam turned to concrete dust.

  A thunderous roar ensued as lake water rushed through the gap, into the dawn light. As Kask looked up, he saw the Helping Hand quadruped crawling over the railing, its black neck snaking to aim the asymmetric head. But Fearson was already up, and punched Kask in the face. Hakihea ran toward the robot while telescoping his spear.

  Fearson saw what he was doing. "No!"

  Kask had a split second to react. He was already rolling onto his back. He fired up toward Fearson, who vomited onto Kask before being thrown back. His body hit the rush of water, and he was washed down onto the tree tops below.

  Kask looked back the other way. The robot had its forelegs on the dam, but it was balanced and still. Hakihea's shoulders dropped, and he stood panting next to the metallic statue. Kask turned and watched the new waterfall, its noise occasionally harmonized with the trilling moans of distant moa.

  5:15 AM >

  "What will you do now?" Hakihea asked Kask as they stepped onto the hotel docking platform.

  "Sleep all day," said Kask, taking his hat off.

  "I mean, more generally."

  "Well, tomorrow I'm going to Auckland to look for an apartment. And then I'm going to enjoy my retirement. I have a lot books to read before I die."

  Hakihea smiled and nodded. "It's been a wild night. Good to have you along." They bowed.

  "Thank you," Kask said, and watched the sheriff return to the transporter; then he walked into his hotel. He went to his room, locked the door, and poured a hefty glass of scotch. Then he went onto his balcony and gazed at Wellington in the early morning light.

  After a moment he heard gentle slapping sounds coming from below. They grew louder, rising up. Then, to the left of his balcony, a bio-bot appeared. It clung to the glass and smooth metal by four broad, soft feet. Another appendage sprouted from its upper torso, cleaning the smooth surface with a blue, feathery tongue.

  When it reached eye-level with Kask, it stopped, seeming to turn and look at him with four unblinking eyes. Kask stared back for what seemed like a long moment. Then he raised his glass and said "Cheers." The creature did not respond.

  * * *

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