Rainbows End

How-to-Survive-the-Next-Thirty-Minutes.pdf

"I told you my planning would pay off! Didn't I?" Tommie Parker stood knee-deep in the remains of the library book collection. The shredda towered behind him like dirty snow, flakes as big as your hand. They had found the Librareome storage at the back of Max Huertas's cavern, just where Tommie had said. It was stored in rows of sturdy cargo containers labeled "Rescued Data." The containers had been no match for Tommie's cutter. He had flooded the floor with the contents of "A-BX." This had been most of the fifth-floor stacks. It seems so much smaller when it's in shreds , thought Robert.

Tommie waved at the drifts of shredded paper. "You guys ready to start with the glue? This will jam Huertas's operation up the wazoo. And where's your reporter guy? I haven't seen Sharif in a while." He went around, handing out spray cans.

Finally, he seemed to notice his pals' silence. "We don't really need Sharif, do we? I mean, we've got our own record." He lifted the laptop in its sling.

Robert looked at Carlos and Winston. Winnie gave a little shake of his head. So none of them had heard from the Mysterious Stranger. "Sure, Tommie," Robert said. "That's — "

"That will be fine, Professor Parker." Sharif's voice from Tommie's laptop. "Perhaps you could have Professor Gu act as cameraman?"

They untangled the laptop from its sling, and the voice directed Robert around to the side. The voice was very picky about where it wanted the laptop pointed, across the edge of the shredda, almost in line with their path into this vacant hall.

Then Robert noticed letters painting silently across his field of view. It was sming… and the letters were green.

Mysterious Stranger — > Robert: Hey, my man!

Mysterious Stranger — > Robert: Ah, ah, ah! Be discreet. We don't want Alfred to know I've come back to help you.

Alfred ? thought Robert, but he kept quiet.

No one else seemed to notice the Stranger's arrival. Tommie walked back into the drifts of paper, tossing them up in the air, squirting them with his spray can. "Is the camera getting this, Robert?"

Robert looked down at the laptop's screen."… Yes."

Any other time, the effect of Tommie's aerosol glue would have been a showstopper. He threw another armful of loose shredda into the air, and sprayed a mist of glue. Where mist and paper met, the page fragments were suddenly tumbling as one. The mass drifted slowly to earth. Most of the frags never actually touched the ground, but hung permanently in the air. Tommie laughed and pushed at the hazy something. The ensemble of scattered papers rocked back and forth, like bits of fruit in invisible Jell-O.

Tommie whooped. "Try it yourselves. Just don't squirt each other." He threw another armful up, and another. Arches of paper and mist grew around him.

Robert hung back, playing cameraman.

Mysterious Stranger –> Robert: Look where Alfred has you pointing the camera. See the light? Coming out of the dark?

There was a tiny pool of light, someone running down the steps into the Huertas cavern.

It was Miri. The girl came pounding across the floor shouting, "Robert! Robert!"

Tommie and the others turned to watch, openmouthed.

Miri came around the edge of the shredda. She was gasping for breath.

Winston looked her up and down and then looked at Robert. "This is another Gu, isn't it?"

"um, my granddaughter."

"I thought we agreed to keep this among ourselves!" Winnie's glare was as good as any high-tech messaging: You're going to ruin this for all of us .

But Tommie was more astounded than any of them. "How could she get through security? The cops should be all over."

"No, no." Miri managed to speak between gasps for breath. "Must call police!"

The laptop had its say, too: "Pay no attention to this child. Remember why you are here."

Robert shoved the laptop at Winnie and reached for Miri. "How did you find us, kiddo?"

Her arms went around his middle. "It was Juan and me, and — " She hesitated, looked up at him with her eyes wide. Gone was her usual assurance. Horror looked out. " — somebody's using you, Robert. I think they maybe, maybe killed Juan!"

"Not so," said the laptop. "Uh — " The voice hesitated.

Mysterious Stranger — > Robert: Heh. Alfred put ForgetIt gas ir your belt boxes, and now he's wondering why you're still standing.

"Gentlemen," the voice resumed, "I advise you to remember why you are really here."

Tommie had come out from his fountains of paper. His spray can dangled unnoticed from his fingers. He looked at Carlos and Winston and Robert. "Yes, what is it that we're supposed to remember? Why are we really here?"

Carlos and Winnie wouldn't look him in the eye. Carlos mumbled something in Mandarin.

"We did what we thought was right," Winston said.

Yes, each our own vision of what was right, but… Juan murdered ? He looked back at Tommie. "We tricked you, Tommie. Someone else is behind this."

Tommie walked back to the pile, kicked aimlessly at his masterpiece. "But… I thought I had my touch back." He glanced at Miri and seemed to be putting together all the inconsistencies. His shoulders slumped. "Okay. I was an old idiot. Who was boosting me along, Robert?"

"I don't know."

Mysterious Stranger — > Robert: I could tell you. Maybe I will someday.

Apparently, Winnie and Carlos were not seeing the sming.

Miri's chin came up. "We've got to get word out."

And the laptop said, "It's not safe to move. Stay where you are."

Mysterious Stranger — > Robert: Actually, I would recommend the same. But right now I'm peeved with Alfred. Do what you please, my man.

Tommie Parker looked off into the emptiness of the Huertas cavern. He was shaking his spray can, almost an idle gesture. "The gear we planted in GenGen, I thought I made that. Me, the big genius. It could be anything… bombs, poison, some kind of takeover hardware. But we're at the north edge of the complex." He waved at the wall that loomed from the dimness just beyond the shredda containers. "That overlooks Sorrento Valley. There are some old entrances. We could have used them instead, except my research said the alarms would be harder to disable — but now I don't care if busting through them sets off alarms!"

"Stay where you are," said the laptop. "You are surrounded by lethal weapons!"

Something small and black sidled out of the darkness.

"I saw one of those on Gilman Drive." Miri took a step toward it. The robot turned toward her. There was a metallic click that sounded very much like a round being chambered.

"Miri — " Robert held her arm, but Tommie was coming around from the other side and the robot turned toward him.

Parker stopped about seven feet from the critter. Some of his old cockiness returned. "I'll bet it's just a network-superiority bot. Most of the pay-load is communications and counternode gear. It's not much use all by itself."

"There are hundreds on the floor," said the laptop. "Don't force us to act."

Miri slipped loose of Robert. "I didn't see any others," she said, moving closer to the robot.

Mysterious Stranger –> Robert: There's only the one, but

And then several things happened at once: Robert pulled Miri behind him. Tommie stepped forward in a fencer's lunge that brought his spray can within a foot of the mech. The robot flipped up like a sprung rat trap. Tommie screamed and fell forward.

Robert ran toward the robot and grabbed — hard air. The hardened froth was barely visible, but it held the robot beyond his reach. He spun the gel around, looking for some point closer to the enemy. There! He slammed the carapace into the concrete floor. Again. It was in pieces now, each still embedded in the mist. There was sound of tiny motors, whining to be free. Then Miri and Carlos were stomping on what remained. Sparks flew within the mist, and Robert felt a tingling that raised the hairs on his arms.

And then the robot was just dead composites, the pieces hanging motionless in blocks of invisible fluff.

The only sound was Tommie gasping. Winnie had rolled the little guy on his side. Tommie's face was bluish, his mouth a gaping grimace of pain.

"What happened, Tommie?"

Parker's back arched. "Bastard… fried… my pacemaker."

Carlos was on his knees. He touched Tommie's shoulder. "Wómen shāsi le nàgè jīqìrén . We killed the robot, Dr. Parker."

Tommie grunted acknowledgment, even as he rocked back and forth on the ground.

"We'll get you out of here, Tommie," said Blount. He looked up at Robert. "No more games."

Mysterious Stranger — > Robert: Oh, damn. Parker was such an interesting wannabe. Okay, I'll help you get him out. And if you help me after that, I can still make good on my part of the bargain. How's that?

Robert looked past the greenish letters and nodded to Winston Blount. "No more games."

Tommie still lay twisting in pain. His voice came out between spasms. "Keycard… in my pocket."

Mysterious Stranger — > Robert: Heh. Magical me, that ancient keycard will actually work. My little surprise present for Alfred.

The voice from the laptop — Alfred? — was silent.

Carlos looked down at where the laptop sat on the concrete floor. "We should break this. It's the eye of the enemy."

Miri walked around the antique computer. "I think if we pull the plug on that fiber, the bad guys are gone."

"Yup… unplugit!"

Mysterious Stranger — > Robert: Hey wait. Where do you think I'm coming from! So what if Alfred can still snoop? It's me you need. If you cut me off then well damn I'll have to

Miri picked up the laptop and turned it on edge. She studied the unfamiliar physical connectors for a moment, then reached down —

Mysterious Stranger — > Robert: I hate Miri.

— and popped the optical fiber out of the laptop.

For a moment they grinned at each other like idiots. Tommie squeezed out a weak laugh. "We're… off the leash." He gasped for a few seconds. "Gotta carry me, guys… Sorry. I'll… show you the exit."

Winnie looked down at Tommie. "We'll get you out, Tommie. You'll be okay." He lifted Parker under the shoulders, then reached to support him under the knees. Parker didn't weigh that much, but Blount was staggering.

Robert reached out. "I can carry him, Winnie."

Blount glared back, and Robert shut up. Then Winnie's hands slipped and Tommie almost crashed to the ground. "I got him, I got him!"

Miri ran around Blount and slipped her hands under where he was holding Tommie's left arm. Winnie didn't object; maybe it was because she didn't ask. Robert took both legs and they started off along the wall. Carlos followed, carrying the cutter and what other gear might still be of use.

Nothing more followed, nothing they could see. For what it might be worth, Robert's dumb little waist box showed only utility glimmers in the empty cavern.

Tommie's breathing was a raspy wheeze. Every few paces he twisted within their grasp. "About hundred yards more…" He shuddered and went limp.

"Tommie?" Winston hesitated, bringing them almost to a halt.

"Keep going… keep going." And then after a moment, "So our Librareome protest was… fraud from the beginning, huh?"

"I don't know, Tommie. I knew it was silly, but it seemed worthwhile." Blount looked across at Robert. "I thought it would lead to something I really want."

"Me too," said Carlos, his voice faint. "In the end, Sharif-whoever got to all of us, didn't he?"

"All but Tommie."

Miri was watching the back-and-forth silently, but her eyes were wide. Well, she had earned the right to listen.

Robert said, "So what did he promise you, Winston?"

Winnie's lips pulled back from his teeth. "I sure as hell won't tell you." He hesitated and the snarl became a twisted smile. "But I bet I know what your deal-with-the-devil was." When Robert didn't reply, Blount's smile broadened and he continued, "You tried to disguise it, Gu. All the times we met in the library, and never once did you pull your old tricks. At first I just figured you were setting me up for one of your extreme traps. After I learned about Sharif, I thought maybe you were running him ." Winnie laughed. "But then I began to suspect the truth. You've lost your killer edge, the way you could look inside people and see what would hurt them the most, and then do it to them. You've lost that, haven't you, Robert?"

Robert lowered his head. "Yes." The word came out softly, without anger, almost a sigh.

"And I bet you can't write poetry anymore, either."

"It's the poetry I want back, Winnie."

"Oh."

Tommie twisted in their grasp, trying to suck in breath. "Shut up… the north gate should be in… next hundred feet."

They walked in silence, eyes straining for some sign on the unmarked wall.

And now that Robert was looking, he saw something else. Not more green lettering, but a blinking icon that meant pending mail. One last message before Miri had cut the fiber link. Almost without thinking, he shifted his grip on Tommie's leg, and tapped a go-ahead on his waist box.

A pdf, by God . He hadn't seen anything like this since his teaching days. The table of contents floated in the air above him. The critic in him couldn't resist scanning down the page. The ToC was impeccably formatted, with perfect spelling (at least, if you ignored context). The bullet headers were a mishmash of unparallel constructions and grammatical infelicities. It looked as if it had been thrown together by a gang of par-aliterates in a hell of a hurry.

But what it said was… important:

FIXME: This needs to be replaced with proper formatting, actually doable, but not now.

While We are out of Touch

or

How to Survive and Prosper during the Next Thirty Minutes

by Your Friend, the Mysterious Stranger Dedication:

To the idiots among you who cut the fiber link. Now Alfred can't see you, but I'm cut off, too. Hence, I'm breaking my stealthy cover and shipping down this bolus of bits before Miri pops the connector.

Executive Summary

[none provided]

Table of Contents

Introduction…page iv o How to use this document

Chapter 1, Saving Tommie Parker…page o The Huertas back door o The keycard that should not work, but does!

Chapter 2, Your beknighted wearables…page o Not really hecho en Paraguay , unfortunately for you o The knockout gas — ah, but I already told you about that o What you can and cannot trust about these gadgets

Chapter 3, What Alfred is up to…page o And why you really don't want Alfred to succeed *The animal model — or, world domination out of little fruit flies grows o Why calling 911 is not fast enough to stop him o If you don't believe me, just show this file to Miri!

Chapter 4, What you can do to help…page o Map of Huertas territory o Map of GenGen MCog arrays. Alfred owns this territory, networkwise — but I'm there, too o How to get back to the MCog arrays o What you can do to defeat Alfred o Come be my hands in this glorious struggle!

Chapter 5, What's in it for you?…page o Promises made and promises kept o With your helping hands, I can still deliver

Appendix A…page o Neat stuff that will impress the Department of Homeland Security and which may make life easier after your arrest

Appendix B…page o Why Scooch-a-mout should be the Library's lord and mascot

Robert looked at Miri. She was concentrating on holding up Tommie's shoulder. For the moment all her nerdly interests seemed far away. But we need the nerd as much as ever .

Robert — > Miri:

Tommie did his best to count Winnie's paces. But there were distractions. There was this rock concert playing in Tommie's chest, and every screech of the beat sent fire across his shoulders and down his arms. This wasn't a real heart attack. This was just his pacemaker fallen into wild chaos. The last few years, Tommie hadn't been too envious of other people's diddling medical miracles. So what if his vascular system was falling apart; the pacemaker would keep him going till classic science-fictional immortality arrived. But now all his plans for living forever were in trouble. Count the paces. Count the paces !

And then there would be seconds when the pain would let up, and his heart was a butterfly flutter in his chest. For a few seconds his thoughts would clear, and then he would black out… They were carrying him still, though the ride was bumpy. Ol'Robert was shifting around like he had business with the box on his belt.

"Okay. Stop," he whispered. He would have shouted, but the whisper was all he had just now.

They heard him. And then he was lying on the cold, hard concrete.

Winston's voice came down from high above him. "So where is the door?… I see!" Sounds of Winston fumbling with the keycard. Something big slid aside and there was a wall of faint light, maybe the night sky. He felt cool breeze on his face. The sound of the freeway was like distant surf.

"No alarms," said Winston.

"Maybe… silent alarms?" he managed to wheeze. This exit had been such a wild-ass escape option in his original plan.

Winston was a shadow against the sky. He was tapping at his keypad. "I got 911, Tommie!" Now he was talking to someone Tommie could not hear, telling them about a man down with a heart attack.

"They're on the way, Tommie! They want your med log."

The rock concert was back, whacking a new tune in his chest. "Bet… med log… is fried." He twisted onto his elbows. There were more important things. "Tell'em about the labs, Win!"

"I told them. I just called 911 myself." That was Robert's granddaughter. Her feet were right beside his head. Now she stepped away, became a second shadow, beside Winston. She turned this way and that, the way kids do when they're playing games with their wearables. "I don't like this," she said after a moment.

"You heard the Highway Patrol, kid." Winston's voice was tight, like he was worried as hell. "They're sending a car. We just have to sit tight for a few moments."

Tommie's pacemaker was working upward to the next crescendo. Okay, give it a few seconds more and the pain would lessen — or maybe this time, his heart would break.

The girl's words floated in and out of hearing: " — is an emergency. They should airlift. And the net is screwy. I can't route to my… friends, not even sming. I think someone's spoofed the local nodes and — " Tommie rolled from side to side, pain blotting out the rest of the sentence.

Someone was cradling his shoulders. Carlos? "It'll be okay, Professor Parker." The voice turned away from him. "I'm having some access problems, too. But the error messages make sense. I think the library riot is soaking up too much resource."

The little girl's voice was scornful. "So much that I can't even sming?"

"How about laser direct to the freeway?" That was Robert.

The girl's shadow repeated the strange little dance. "I can't quite reach it from here." She was silent for a moment. "We're just playing into the Badguys' hands. Here. Take a look at this pdf."

Winston again: "There will be a car! If one doesn't show up in five minutes, we'll — we'll carry Tommie down the hill ourselves."

Tommie's heart had stopped. No, it was back in butterfly mode. He'd have a few seconds of clarity. The girl was probably right, but there was no way he was going down that hill. The others should go, see if they could get far enough to put out a real alarm. Or maybe they should go back into the labs and give the enemy a big surprise. Darkness was rising inside him. In a moment or two this would not be his problem. And his friends were too stupid to leave him here. Maybe he could set some of them loose.

Listen to me ! But Tommie's words came out scarcely louder than a sigh: "Guys… we gotta split up." And then the darkness had him.

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