Convergence
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COPYRIGHT
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Convergence
Engine of Creation Book 6
By Frank Carey
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2017 by Frank Carey
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
League Tale #38
CHAPTER ONE
Security Commissioner Priscilla Adon walked into the kitchen to find her husband, Detective Chief Inspector Gabriel Adon, sitting at the table reading his paper while a plate of steaming food sat nearby. "Are you trying to make me fat?" she said while grabbing a cup of coffee before sitting down next to the feast.
"Yeah, like that's going to happen. Between your metabolism and the amount of running around you do during the day, I'm surprised you still have flesh on those lovely bones. Anyway, the bacon is dietetic."
"Huh?"
"They were out of thick-sliced, so I bought regular."
"Be still my heart," she said as she ate the meal with gusto. "Any plans for today?"
"I'm caught up on the household chores, so I was hoping to get some work done on Nadine," he said, referring to the 1970 Dodge Charger he was restoring in a garage he rented a few blocks away.
"How's she coming along?"
"Almost finished. I just need to install some trim, and she'll be ready to rock."
"I will never understand your need to restore the car you died in."
"Why climb a mountain? Because I can. What's on your plate?"
"Meetings, meetings, and more meetings. Just another typical day at Precinct One..." She was interrupted by her comm beeping. "Adon... Yeah, he's here. What...? Where...? Got it. We're on our way. Adon out."
"What's wrong? "
"Three strykers have broken into an Elven Industries warehouse down in the new warehouse district."
"Great." He took her plate and put it in the flash freezer so she could eat later. "Let's go."
###
The security flier circled the warehouse while Gabe and Pris surveyed the area. With them was SWAT Commander Nadine Gantz, a Tralaskan with over three decades of experience. She activated the flier's sensor suite, then pushed the data to the flier's cockpit displays so that she and the other passengers could see it. "Ouch," Gabe said. He pointed to three rainbow-colored dots. "The bigger the dot, the larger the stryker's power output." He pointed to two dots trailing a much larger one. "These are normal strykers. This one," he said while pointing to the large one, "is definitely not normal. I'd bet credits to confections that Zoe's installed at least three power converters, and it's using all three. That puppy is big."
"How big?" Pris asked.
"Bigger than my tank form when I had a tank form."
"There's no way you're going in there..."
"Then who, my love? Commander, can your squad go up against a tank with any chance of success?"
"No. I've called in reinforcements, but it'll take them time to get here."
"Time in which those three can complete their mission. No, unacceptable. I'll go in and stall them until the cavalry arrives."
"He's right, Commissioner," Gantz said.
Pris suddenly leaned over and kissed Gabe. "Be careful, dammit."
"Aye, Commissioner," he said with a smart salute. He then reached around and opened the nearby hatch.
"DCI Adon!" Gantz yelled, but it was too late. Gabe dove out through the open door .
Pris leaned over and put her hand on the stunned commander's arm. "He's fine. He loves to make dramatic exits."
###
Gabe transformed into Stryker-1 in mid-air just before performing a soft, 3-point landing on the building's roof. "Damn, that is sooooo fun." He activated his comm. "Boss Lady Actual this is Stryker-1. Do you copy? Over."
"Stryker-1, this is Boss Lady Actual. I read 5x5. Have a fun trip after scaring us half-to-death?"
"Sorry, but it was fun. I'm on the roof and heading to a stairwell. How are things on the ground?"
"We've got the building sealed. Reinforcements are inbound."
"Any civvies?"
"Wait one... Gabe, we're missing a Katalan female guard. Her name is Krista Pursta, and she's not pregnant."
"OK, I'll keep my eye out for her." He stopped at the door and placed his hand on the lock. It unlocked in a millisecond. "I'm going in."
Gabe scanned the other side of the door before stepping through it. He found himself at the top of a long gangway heading down into the bowels of the warehouse. He switched to passive infrared before heading downward. He knew he was going up against three of his own kind, but who possibly had more advanced weapons, sensors, and defensive systems. Luckily, Gabe had good looks and a winning smile on his side.
"Boss Lady Actual, this is Stryker-1. I've painted four bogeys near the center of the warehouse. Any idea what Elven Industries has stored there? Over."
"Their checking on specifics, but they think that's where special projects are stored."
"What kind of special projects?"
"Unknown. Keep your eye out for odd warning signs. "
He stopped and stared at a particularly odd-looking sign. "Would 'Temporal Anomalies' count as odd."
"Shit, shit, shit, SHIT!" Pris said. "Get out of there, Gabe."
A scream interrupted his reply. "Sorry, got a civvie in trouble. Gotta go," he said before quickly heading off in the direction of the scream.
CHAPTER TWO
Scran held the paper in front of the guard’s face. "WHERE. IS. IT!" he yelled."
"Sorry, Robot, I haven't got a clue. Why don't you just call up the item’s location in the computer terminal?" Krista sneered while glancing at the destroyed terminal.
"Yeah, Scran, why don't you just call it up?" Techna asked innocently.
Scran spun around and formed a weapon in his hand which he pointed at his fellow stryker. "Keep talking, Techna..." Scran growled.
"Sure, Scran," Techna said as he formed a weapon and pointed it at his fellow stryker.
"You two need to calm the hell down," a deep voice said from the shadows. Gabe looked up and saw two red eyes at least a foot apart staring at him from eight feet above the floor. "Right, Stryker-1?"
Gabe stepped out into the light and walked over to stand between the strykers and Krista. "Let her go."
Two guns were now pointing at him. "And if we don't" Scran demanded. He didn't seem to notice his companion slowly moving away from Gabe.
"I end your existence in a decidedly unpleasant way," Gabe said as he formed a rail gun and pointed it directly at Scran's nose.
"There's three of us and one of you. What makes you think...?" Scran started to say. He stopped when he saw the distance separating him from Techna and the glowing eyes.
"To paraphrase a great man I know, always start with the low-hanging fruit. "
"I..." she said to Gabe.
"This isn't your fight. There's a hundred security officers waiting outside. Go."
She nodded, then quickly walked away while keeping an eye on Scran.
"Boss Lady Actual, hostage outbound," Gabe reported using his internal comm unit.
"Copy that, Stryker-1. Sitrep."
"Two strykers and one tango of unknown design."
"How unknown?"
"Eight feet of unknown. Over."
"Gabe, your backup is ten-minutes out. Over."
"I'll keep that in mind. Stand by." Gabe switched to his own voice. "So, guys, what's happening?"
"You're going to die," Scran said, "then we're going to steal the device."
Gabe looked around. "All of them? You'll need one hell of a transport."
"No, idiot, the trans-temporal modulator..."
"Silence!" the owner of the eyes said. The floor shook as it stepped into the light.
"Wow!" Gabe said as the behemoth stared down at him. "May I ask what species your based on? You know, just out of curiosity."
"I'm not based on any species, worm," the gargantua said as it walked over to stand next to Scran. "I am Gorth, a full construct, the first of many of my kind to come."
"Gabe! Get the hell out of there!" Pris yelled over the internal comm system.
"Wait a damn minute. You aren't a modified being? Zoe grew you from the ground up?"
"Yes, Mother gave me life. "
Gabe stared at the behemoth while his scanners spewed impossible readings." Boss Lady Actual. Nuke this site now. I love you. Gabe out," he said while changing loads in his railgun. Instead of inert aluminum slugs, the new loads were modified hacker balls designed to incapacitate a stryker. He fired one each at Scran and Techna, sending both into a shelving unit where the lay in twitching heaps. He then emptied his magazine of balls--20 in all--directly into Gorth's chest. By all rights, that many balls should have killed the giant, but all they did was cause the creature to laugh as they bounced off and landed on the floor where they rolled around, sparking.
"Oops," Gabe said as the creature leapt at him. Gabe reacted by leaping and spinning out of the way of the attack while landing a spin-kick on Gorth's head, where it connected with its spine. The blow should have killed the giant, but all it did was induce more laughter.
"Pris! Use two nukes, dammit!" Gabe yelled as he unleashed a barrage of kinetic and energy weapons at Gorth, but his weapons were as effective as a basket of bean bags. He grabbed an adamantine sword from a shelf and swung it with enough force to cleave a normal stryker in two. Gorth took the full brunt of the force and absorbed it. Gabe would have had better luck with a noodle.
With impossible speed for something that large, Gorth grabbed Gabe by an arm and threw him through an external wall into the parking lot, stunning him. Gabe staggered to his feet only to watch Gorth step through the wall as if it were made of tissue paper. Gabe formed weapon after weapon, each having no effect on the giant. Then, the security force opened fire on the golem-like creature, hitting it with mega joules of energy, yet it still advanced.
Gabe saw that both of his power units were depleted--he had only seconds before his armor disappeared. To make matters far worse, he stumbled on debris from the wall, falling backwards onto the lot's surface. The creature picked up a bent stanchion from the debris and raised it over his head. "Die, Stryker-1... Arrrrrggggh!" it screamed as it was outlined in energy before collapsing to the ground. Standing behind it was a familiar form: Gabe's old Stryker-1 tank form with smoke curling from its main energy cannon. As he watched, it changed into his old stealth form before walking over and extending its hand to help him off the ground
"That's one nasty piece of work," the stryker said, its female voice hauntingly familiar.
"Yeah. Thanks. For a moment, I thought I was meat loaf." He extended his gauntleted hand. "DCI Gabriel Adon. Don't take this wrong, but who the hell are you?" he asked as Pris ran up with the swat team. The Stryker stared at him, then her.
"What did you say your name was?" she asked.
"Gabriel Adon, and this is my wife, Security Commissioner Priscilla Kitra-Adon," Gabe said as he retracted his armor.
She shook his hand, then Pris'. "Well, this is my lucky day," she said as her armor retracted.
It was Pris.
CHAPTER THREE
The tension in the shuttle's tiny main cabin was thick enough to cut with a knife as the small ship flew to Precinct one. Sitting on one side was Gabe and Pris, the latter holding the former's arm in a death grip while the latter said nothing. He knew that Katalan females were highly possessive of their mates when around females of their kind, though he doubted anyone foresaw sitting across from one's doppelganger. Priscilla-Anne Kitra--the aforementioned doppelganger--sat opposite the Adons and smiled as she checked her pedicure. "You know, sweetie, I'm not interested in Gabe, though I will admit he's not hard on the eyes. By the way, how about we call me Anne so's not to confuse everyone."
Gabe looked down and saw a trickle of blood flow down his upper arm from where his wife's claw had punctured the skin of his upper arm. The trickle disappeared as his nanorobots effected repairs. "So, Anne, what brings you to our neck of the multi-verse? I assume you're from a parallel universe."
Anne looked up from her nail. "So, you know about those. Anyway, the answer is yes, I'm from a universe other than yours. I'm looking for Zoe Muntz."
Pris' ears went flat. "Why would you want that thing? Don't you have one of your own?"
"We did, but ours went... Ours went missing, so we'd like to borrow yours. Look, it's complicated. Speaking of complicated, you two married?"
"Yep, over twenty years," Gabe said.
"Kids?"
"Two girls, one’s a cop, the other a financial adviser. What about you? "
"It's complicated. So, tell me, Priscilla, how come you don't talk much. Cat got your tongue?"
"We're on final approach, Commissioner," the pilot said.
"Thanks, Jerome." She looked at Anne. "I'll wait to talk until we land."
"Suit yourself. I'm a very interesting person once you get to know me."
The ship landed, and after a quick medical scan of Anne, the three walked into a conference room where two women waited for them. Anne grabbed a bottle of vodka from the counter before sitting down while Gabe and Pris did the same but with bottles of water.
"Isn't a little early in the day to be drinking?" Pris asked.
"The bots need refueling," Anne replied. "Firing the stun weapon takes a lot of energy."
"Ms. Kitra, my name is General Marta McMurphy, Elf Marine Expeditionary Force, retired, and this is Dr. Gloria Aymar-Taggart representing Elven Industries Limited, the company that owned the building that was being robbed when you showed up. We have some questions we would like to ask you, if you don't mind."
"Not at all. Have at it."
"First off, your quantum spin signature is from an unknown part of the multiverse, so we'll dispense with the usual bullshit about where you're from. So, why are you here?"
"Before I answer that, can I ask a question?"
"Sure."
"Are you and Gabe related?"
"He's my great to the fifth grandfather, why?"
"You have similar scents. How is it that five generations separate you?"
"I was born and died over 200 years ago. I take it that you don't have a Gabe Adon in your universe who can boast the same timeline," Gabe replied .
"We had... have a Gabe Adon in my universe, but he's in his late 50's, and we don't have an EMEF. Interesting."
"Why interesting?" Gloria asked.
"Elves are a barbarian race who haven't gotten past clubs. Their home world--Ventos Prime--is a savage jungle planet that was only discovered just before the Troubles. Dr. Aymar-Taggart..."
"Call me Gloria."
"Gloria, then. Glori
a, what is your specialization?"
"Biocybernetics..."
"She's my mechanic," Gabe said. "I'd be dead a dozen times over if it weren't for Doc Aymar."
Gloria gave an embarrassed smile. "Gabriel Adon, you will turn my head with talk like that."
"You don't have a problem with this conversation, yet you nearly tear off his arm when I speak to him?"
"About half the elf population mates for life, Ms. Kitra," Marta explained, "and Gloria is one of them. This table has a better chance of turning into a unicorn than her having any interest in Gabe. It's physically impossible."
"He's my friend and patient," Gloria said. "The changes Dr. Muntz made to his body have advanced the field of biocybernetics at least two centuries."
"Forgive me. This universe is more different from mine than I expected. I'm here to borrow Dr. Zoe Muntz. I will return her when we're finished with her."
"Borrow? As in take back to your universe?" Marta asked.
"Yes, as in take her back with me to my universe. Once there, she's going to defuse a situation that was created by her doppelganger. Simple."
"What kind of situation?" Gloria asked
"It's complicated. I doubt you would understand..."
"Try her..." Pris suggested .
Anne shrugged, then rambled off an explanation that made Gabe's head spin. Gloria nodded, then asked some questions--which got raised eyebrows from Anne. Finally, both Anne and Gloria finished before sitting back in their seats. "Very impressive, Doctor. You do understand."
"Would someone kindly fill in the rest of us?"
"Earth is trapped in an inter-dimensional rift created by Zoe. She's the only one who can release the planet, but she's trapped inside along with Gabe and our children," Anne calmly explained. "Only her biosignature can shut down the field generators, which is why I need to borrow her."
"The generators are inside the rift?" Gabe asked.
Anne nodded. "That's the reason why we don't just blow them to hell."
"So, your Gabe and Zoe are having a blood feud like I am with our Zoe?"
Anne looked down at the table and smiled. "Not quite. I'm the one Zoe is having a tiff with. She and I dated Gabe in college, and I ended up marrying him. If that wasn't enough to push her over the edge, she washed out of Cyber Corps when she failed the mandatory psych test. Like your Zoe, ours is a super genius bent on revenge."