Anarchate Vigilante (Vigilante Series 4) Read Free Page A

habitat of his starship. It was a mental venue popular among his fellow cyborgs. Beside Suzanne sat George and Eliana, each person wearing their normal attire. And Mata Hari the AI wore her chainmail Lady of the Sword fighting outfit. All five of them were ready for battle.
    “Matthew,” said Suzanne softly. “We cannot be trapped inside this asteroid. We are outnumbered. No one is paying us attention at the moment. But as soon as we free the captives, the Control Station will have our images and will send Mechs after us. Plus they may order shuttle assaults on our fake slaver ships. How do we fight on multiple fronts?”
    In external real-time Matt turned to the right and began climbing a ramp that led upward. “Mata Hari, do you have any white noise Remotes in orbit around this base? Any control over reactor power outputs? Any—”
    “Yes Matthew,” said the slim, black-haired AI who had recruited him to be her organic Vigilante seven years ago, as she stood next to the mind-gathered crowd. “There are three Remotes able to block maser and standard radio emissions from this base. Four of my Snoopers are monitoring the two fusion plants that power all devices on this asteroid. And I have several explosive-laden Remotes hugging the rim of the topside dome. They can create dome breaches and a drop in air pressure. That drop will cause emergency airlocks to close. Thereby inhibiting movement by station managers and devices. Any further guidance?”
    Matt gave mental thanks for Mata Hari’s ability to ‘read’ his mind and his intentions before h e spoke them. Each of them was able to think at near lightspeed, thanks to each suit’s fiber optic neurolink, and via their tachlink nodes. But the secret to appearing ‘normal’ at a slaver base like this was to not act at superfast speeds. Until utterly necessary. He smiled at all of them.
    “Friends, battlemates and good Mata Hari , let us tend to the freeing of cloneslave captives!”
    The five of them, including Mata Hari’s real-time holo image of a willowy woman in a black vacsuit, left the rampway, entered a greenery occupied habitat in Level Three, and moved through a crowd of standing, slithering and Nullgrav supported lifeforms who were scattered through the habitat chamber. Each of them saw, on their suit faceplate, a blinking purple route that led them to the end of the habitat. A rampway similar to the one they’d just left loomed in front of them. Two hippo-like Orko Aliens lumbered down the rampway on four legs, paused as his team moved to one side, then headed for a water pool in the park habitat. Matt followed the purple route that blinked to one side of Faceplate even as he PET thought-imaged a series of Threat Alert orders to Suit. “Understood?” he queried Suit’s Tactical CPU.
    “Understood Matthew,” said the CPU of Suit. “ Do you wish to monitor the actions of the rest of Hexagon Prime fleet?”
    Did he? “Yes. Display. And activate the MHD power units at my waist. My shoulder lasers will soon need extra power. Convey the same orders to my allies’ suits.”
    “Complying.” Inside Suit, Matt felt the vibration of the magnetohydrodynamic power units on each hip as they activated. Using the fiber optic cable, Suit threw an image of itself into his mind, Faceplate raised partway in an imitation of a Human grin. “Feel better?”
    Damn! No question but this Tactical CPU was being infected by Mata Hari’s sense of humor. “Better. Illuminate nearby space and the fleet.”
    A virtual holo filled the right side of his Faceplate even as the central space stayed yellow light transparent. But over his neurolink he sensed the T’Chak AI BattleMind move starship Mata Hari , or Descartes , away from the asteroid base, turning it onto a vector that would provide a targeting option which included most of the 22 genome slaver starships that hung about the asteroid. On the horizon of his mind Matt felt the AIs of the other seven Dreadnoughts,