Previous Story: 99. The Raid of Comstock Tower - The Apporach

Just as the third CyMS crashed to the floor, throat sliced open by Gudu’s klewang, Rhino hurried in from the gantry.

“We’ve got company.”

“Do gooders?’ asked Gudu, kicking the dead CyMS so it rolled out of her way.

“Who else?”

“Shut the door,” said H3x, who was already inside the control room: a surprisingly large space with smaller computer stations arranged around a main screen. “Let’s stay out of their way if we can. I need a bit of time.”

Dragging another dead CyMS with him so that the new arrivals wouldn’t see it, Rhino gently pulled the door to, leaving a slight gap. He gazed down at the enemy through the metal bars of the gantry, his CK pistol in his hand.  

“Got that battery?” asked H3x.

Rhino glanced back and watched Gudu remove the small but heavy device from her pack. As soon as H3x had connected it, the room’s main screen flickered into life.

“How long to install the malware?’ asked Rhino, relieved to see that the do-gooders hadn’t approached the staircase.

“Not long – they’re still using Nanoware’s Oriel system.” H3x giggled. “This is stone age stuff.”

“Hilarious,” murmured Rhino. 

—————

Pai and Gadget were already heading down the stairs into the basement. The door marked Generator Room had instantly seized their attention.

Buck was halfway down the stairs, looking back up at Thug. “What is it?”

“That open door. Maybe the Red Dragon guys got in here.”

“I think they did but something scared them off. That bear. Or us. Or both.”

Thug glanced up at the staircase and the gantries high above. It did look quiet.

“Guess so.”

“Hey, can you get down here!” instructed Pai. “We need that gas.”

Thug followed Buck down into the shadowy generator room. The beams from Pai and Gadget’s flashlights illuminated several rows of shelving, a metal cabinet filled with controls and dials and two large generators. Thug saw that Gadget had already removed the fuel cap from one of them.  

Buck retrieved a small gas can and a siphon from his pack. Gadget placed the siphon in the tank and Buck poured in the entire contents of the can.  

Meanwhile, Pai was checking the controls. “Main power’s over here. As long as that generator fires, we should be good to go.”  

—————

“Told you it would be easy,” said H3x, getting up from the chair in front of the main screen.

“You done?” asked Gudu, who was cleaning her klewang blade with a magazine plucked from a trash can.

H3x nodded as she turned the screen and the terminal off. ‘Anyone who tries to use this system is going to get a nasty surprise.”

Rhino had already opened the door and was looking down at the lower levels. “No sign of them. Let’s move. Carefully.”

Pistol at the ready, he led the way down the staircase, Gudu and H3x close behind. As they neared the floor, he could hear the do-gooders talking below and kept his eyes on the shadowy doorway. As the three of them reached the main door, some machine or engine roared into life below.

“Backup generator,’ said H3x with a sly grin. “Lot of good that will do them.”

She headed out with Gudu, who still had a firm grip on her klewang. Relieved that they’d achieved their objective, Rhino followed the two women out of the tower.

—————

Five minutes later, Thug and the others hurried out of the generator room and up the staircase. Pai had studied a schematic and knew that the control room was on the third level.

As Buck had his shockgun, Thug let him go first. Once they reached the third level, Buck kicked the control room door open. Lying there were three dead CyMS. Their throats had been cut.

“They were here,” said Thug. “One of them uses a kind of sword. Look at those wounds.”

“At least they’re not here now,” said Gadget as he and Pai entered the room. In seconds they had activated the systems.

Buck squeezed between two computer stations and looked out of one of the few windows in the tower. “I can see them. The girl with the sword thing, another one and that big guy – I think they call him Rhino. They’re heading down the hill.”

Thug looked at the screen, which now showed the system loading. Pai and Gadget went to the smaller stations, turning them all on.

“Guess they couldn’t get the power on,” said Thug, thinking aloud.

He then found himself looking at the body of a nearby victim; a middle-aged man whose glasses were somehow still on. Like the other two, he was wearing the uniform of the tower employees.

“Oh no,” said Pai, now standing in front of the main screen. Streams of white text were flying across it and the other screens.

“What’s going on?” asked Buck.

“Something on the network is corrupting the operating system,” said Pai as she reached for the main keyboard.

“It’s wiping everything!” added Gadget, who was at one of the other stations.

“Okay, I managed to set up a quarantined environment.” A small box appeared in one corner of the screen as Pai continued typing manically. “I’m connected. I can see the malware. We’ve got no chance of getting a tight-beam signal out – not without corrupting the rest of it.” She shook her head and thumped the desk on which the keyboard sat. “That’s it. We’re finished.”

By now, Gadget had resorted to opening up the back of one of the computers and examining the components. “Maybe not.”

—————

While Pai and Gadget worked, Thug and Buck searched the rest of the tower. They had to take out a couple of CyMS in other rooms but there were no other threats. Buck volunteered to stand guard at the main door, leaving Thug to return to the control room.

“What exactly are you guys up to anyway?”

“You have a very clever friend here,” said Pai.

“Just old,” countered Gadget, “as old as some of these parts.”

“Very modest,” said Pai. “He’s managed to use these components and some we found stored next door to create a new interface. We can bypass the infected wireless network and connect directly to the tower’s controls.”

Thug didn’t get most of that but he raised a thumb enthusiastically.  

“All yours,” said Gadget, standing up and gesturing to the main terminal.

Pai hurried over and began typing. Thug saw blue and yellow text appear. Pai and Gadget exchanged satisfied smiles.

Pai. “Give me a half hour to program. Then we can send the signal.”

Next Story: 101. The Raid of Comstock Tower - The Escape