Part 2

"I should've known," DaVinci said. "You always were the religious nut. Why am I not surprised you set up this hate group?"

"We're not a hate group, David," Lazarus replied.

"As long as we're using aliases," DaVinci said, "call me DaVinci. So, if you aren't a hate group, what do you call yourselves?"

"We are the True Force," Lazarus said. "We will liberate the Metaverse from the inferior constructs that populate it." He turned to Dr. Archer. "Meet Dr. Sarah Archer."

"The British scientist?" DaVinci asked. "She's almost as racist as you are."

Lazarus turned and dealt DaVinci a vicious backhand that knocked his sunglasses from his face. "I am not a racist!" Lazarus hissed. "I am enlightened. And soon, I will enlighten the rest of the ignorant masses to what they insist on being blind to."

"And what is that?" DaVinci asked, his jaw aching.

"That we created those synthetics you call your friends. They are eminently inferior to the human race." Lazarus stared hatefully at his former employee. "You betrayed your species, DaVinci. And as a result, when Project Cleanse is complete, you will be executed for your sin."

"Project Cleanse?" DaVinci echoed.

"No doubt you followed Cato here from the Resonate," Dr. Archer said. "Project Cleanse is what you witnessed in the Park Sector."

DaVinci turned to Lazarus, disbelieving. "You turned an innocent sprite into a murderer?"

Lazarus sneered. "None of those synthetics are innocent, DaVinci. They are mockeries of the human form. The Devil's tools. They even try to expel us from what is rightfully ours! Those constructs that call themselves 'the Apocalypse' are the worst example."

"They're not all like that, Lazarus," DaVinci insisted. "Once you get to know them--"

"Know them? I don't have to know them!" Lazarus shouted. "They're all the same! Evil, corrupt synthetic constructs!"

"You're freakin' psycho," DaVinci said. "All this because I left TruPharm?"

Lazarus grabbed DaVinci by the throat and pulled him closer so his cybernetic eye was right next to his. "Take a closer look, DaVinci. I was scarred for life by one of those constructs."

"What in the Fates?" DaVinci whispered.

Lazarus eye glowed. "'Fates?' Dear Lord All Mighty. They've even turned you into a pagan!" He shoved DaVinci away. "Take him down to the holding cells! Make sure there is nothing electronic in his cell! I deal with the little traitor later."

Dr. Archer smirked. "Perhaps we can use him as a target for the next subject?"

Lazarus smiled cruelly. "That would be fitting. For him to be killed by one of his synthetic friends."

Two larger sprites, blue of skin, stepped out and flanked the smaller. Both were heavily muscled and wore black tank-tops, tough dark work pants, and heavy boots. One had flaming red hair, a cleft in his jaw, and a sneer that could curdle milk. The other had yellow hair, skin that glistened with sweat, and a dumb expression.

Lastly, two immense anthros with rocky skin and muscles the size of Montana stepped out. The two anthros' eyes glittered red as they carried a massive computer server between them.

Lean Il Lupe directed the Golems to set the server down in the corner. After they set it down, one of the Golems turned to look out the small window. It made a guttural growl and reached a clawed hand toward it. "Dek..." it said stupidly.

Lean tapped his cane again, and the Golem stopped. "That's right, light. Now stay here while I go to my storage depot and get the rest of the equipment." He turned to the other sprites. "Rollo, Tomasi, come along."

The Golem that had been preoccupied with the light was becoming distracted again. Lean scowled and tapped his cane louder. "It'ano! If anyone other than Rollo, Tomasi, or myself comes in, kill them."

One of the Golems rumbled a question in broken Standard. "Happen if fail?" it asked.

Lean shrugged. "Rakho." The Golem stiffened and nodded its understanding. Lean, satisfied that the Golems were not going to disobey him, left the apartment, the Exleys following.

Then the holo-map of the Great Codex flashed red again, this time in another location. It was the viral scanners. A virus had entered the system. A stinking virus, the epitome of the synthetics' evil! In his system!

Lazarus eye glowed. He despised viruses even more than the rest of the synthetic species. They had taken his eye. That one, the one more evil than any he'd ever seen, the one with the demons inside of him. That one he called Legion.

Lazarus bellowed, "Cato!" The anemic aide appeared instantly. "Send two units to apprehend that virus," he said, indicating the red spot on the map. "Bring it alive." To Dr. Archer, he said, "Perhaps the viral species will be more apt to obey Project Cleanse."

Deki grunted and pointed outside. Celesi nodded dully. Yes, light, he knew. The Golem had been pointing it out even since the Master left. But Deki rumbled something else. "Nekhet'r!" Deki said. Celesi blinked. Unable to differentiate between hackers and non-hackers, 'nekhet'r' was what Deki called humans. Celesi shuffled over to the window and looked. It wasn't every day that you got to see a human.

The humans appeared to be entering the building. Celesi shrugged. He told Deki that he'd see lots of humans here. Deki then turned his gaze up to look at the light again. Celesi went back to relaxing against the wall.

But then the door burst inward. Several humans entered, aiming small pistols. "Freeze!" one of them shouted. Their uniforms all had crosses on them.

Celesi stood up, Deki looming up beside him. Celesi snarled, "It'kalo!"

Instead, the humans fired. Celesi blinked at the irritating itch caused by the humans' weaponry, then roared and launched himself forward. Deki followed, claws extended.

Celesi grabbed the first human and drove his fist into the man's head. The glow crushed his skull, and Celesi threw the corpse at the human's comrades. Deki slashed with his claws and tore apart another's armor before throwing him into his colleagues.

The humans now realized what they were up against and turned to flee. They were sent to get a virus, not a pair of monsters! Deki blinked as they scampered off. He turned to Celesi and grumbled a question. Celesi shrugged. He didn't understand humans either.

Another thing that worried him was the killing spree of Elim Faraday in the Park Sector two days earlier. People were in an uproar about it. Many letter-writers to the Resonate Clarion were humans saying that maybe not all sprites were to be trusted. A few more daring people were even asking Quinn to write a column denouncing sprites in general.

Quinn had written a column denouncing the event. Quinn simply said that if there were stricter gun-control laws and more concealed-handgun laws, then maybe Faraday would not have done this. Instantly, his e-message carrier had been inundated with letters saying that he was wrong, that sprites were evil and should be deleted.

~~Dear Sweet Savior,~~ Quinn thought. ~~What the hell is going on? It's like somebody wanted humans to turn against the sprites.~~

Then Quinn got a sick feeling in his stomach.

What if someone was doing that? Not even Lean was that evil. Quinn wondered who could have been responsible for such an action. Almost instantly, the logical side of his brain replied, Klaus Lans. The world's most prominent racist recluse. He had both the means and the motive to pull something like this off. Quinn grabbed his comm and tapped the number for the Hacking Parlor.

Naught answered. "Technical Support. How may I disconnect you?"

"Naught? It's Quinn. Listen, I just had a rather creepy revelation..."

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Quinn said. "Think about it. Lans funds various lobby groups that are trying to convince the human delegates in the World Council to kick the sprites and anthros out. In the few public addresses he's made, all have had racist overtones to them."

"Right, there's the motive," Naught said.

"Secondly," Quinn said, "TruPharm Incorporated is one of the largest companies in the Metaverse. TruPharm has developed several behavior-changing drugs that are used by psychiatrists. Is it possible that Lans had his labs create some drug that could cause a sprite to go on a gun-toting rampage?"

Nada paled. "Dear Merciful Heavens," she whispered. "The man's not just racist, he's genocidal!" She looked at them. "If Lans affected enough sprites, he could turn the human population of the Metaverse against us!"

Quinn nodded. "What did you guys dig up about David and Lans?"

Naught sucked on his teeth a moment, then said, "Uh, look, Quinn, maybe we weren't as forthcoming about our history with D as we should have."

"What?" Quinn asked, surprised.

"Quinn, David didn't move directly to the Resonate from Seattle," Nada said. "He moved to the Great Codex first. And he worked for TruPharm."

By the time he'd finished that, his fingertips were pretty raw. DaVinci grit his teeth and wrapped his fingers in a handkerchief as he studied the wiring and electronics behind the panel. He might be able to do something with this.

DaVinci plucked a sliver of metal from the back of the panel and replaced the panel, using the sliver to keep it propped open enough so he could open it easily. It was a good thing he did, too, because the guards came around with his meager "meal" for the evening. He picked at it, then broke off two of the tines from the fork before swiping the spoon. The guard returned to take the food away.

Once he was satisfied the guard was gone, DaVinci pulled the panel open again and brought out the things he'd stolen. Using the tines to strip the wires, he hooked the metal spoon through the wires, creating a short circuit. All he needed to do was activate the security field around the door. And that was relatively easy to do.

DaVinci went over to the cot and picked up the hard pillow. Crouching down in the far corner from the door, DaVinci hurled the pillow straight at the door. In a brilliant flash of sparks, the security field around the door overloaded and the door actually fell off its hinges.

The hacker was waiting by the side of the door when the first guard stepped in. DaVinci kicked the pulse rifle out of the guard's hands and then swept his legs out from under him. A sharp kick to the head rendered the guard unconscious. He quickly snatched up the rifle and adjusted the setting to stun as he stepped into the corridor.

Two more guards were nearby. DaVinci raised the rifle and stunned them quickly. He grabbed their passcards from them and used the cards to open the rest of the cells on the block--all of which contained non-human prisoners.

Without waiting, DaVinci turned to find the elevators.

"He worked for TruPharm, Quinn," Nada repeated. "David was the computer security chief. He designed TruPharm's local-access-only network in response to hackers. That's how we first met him online. We were trying to hack TruPharm's network when we ran afoul of some of his traps. He came to the Resonate to confront us, and, I guess sort of became friends with us. So he stayed."

"Why didn't you tell me?!" Quinn demanded. "Jeezus! Do you have any idea what this means?"

"What?" Naught asked.

"David was tight with Lans, according to you guys," Quinn said. "He might have drawn the same conclusions about Faraday and TruPharm as you and I did. And David can be something of a loner."

"By the Fates," Naught said. "You're saying he went to the Great Codex?"

"You bet your ASCII, I am," Quinn said.

Naught and Nada looked at Quinn. Then they looked at each other. Nada flipped out her comm while Naught went to the supply closet. Nada spoke, "Zilch? Get the others together. We got a problem." As she did this, Naught hauled out their pistols.

"There's a problem in Cell Block Four-Alpha," Cato said. Lazarus raised an eyebrow, a gesture that said And-this-means-what-to-me? Cato finished, "That's where Gabbiani is being kept."

Lazarus stood up. "What? Did you put him in a room with electronic equipment?"

"No, sir!" Cato quailed. "I made certain of it myself! The only thing electronic in the room was the door, and the controls for that were on the other side of the door!"

Lazarus' eye glowed. "The wiring is kept on the inside of the cell, behind a removable panel!" He slammed his fist into the desk. "He could have devised a way to short circuit the security field!"

Cato nodded. "I'll have the guards shoot him on sight!"

"Don't bother," came a voice from behind Cato. DaVinci dropped from the ceiling of the elevator, pulse rifle aimed at the two True Force leaders. The hacker grinned. "You'd be surprised how many people don't look up when they enter a room."

"DaVinci!" Cato stammered. "How did you get out of your cell?"

"Just as Lazarus here described it," DaVinci replied. "I short circuited the door." He grinned again. "They don't call me the Renaissance Hacker for nothing!"

Lazarus' eye glowed. "Put the rifle down, DaVinci," he snapped.

"Not in this lifetime, Lazarus," DaVinci said, aiming the pulse rifle. "I can't let you continue this True Force genocide."

There was a muffled hiss from behind DaVinci. He stiffened and slapped his neck, then collapsed on the floor. Dr. Archer was standing behind him, holding a military-style injector in her hand. She smirked softly. "And I can't let you shoot my employer, Mr. Gabbiani."

Lazarus nodded. "Your timing was impeccable, Doctor."

"Thank you, Lazarus," Dr. Archer replied. "Cato, have some of the men take Mr. Gabbiani down to the Pit. I don't think he'll be able to devise a way out of there in any hurry."

"Good girl," Lazarus said. He glared at Cato. "I'll deal with you later, halfwit."

Cato paled even more at that.

Not that scanners would do much in a system as large as the Great Codex. The population here was high, and a large percentage of that population carried weapons. But hiding them was necessary going through the transit tunnel.

Nada had her computer out and scanning for David's faux icon. Quinn reached under his seat and pulled out his trusty energy shotgun as Naught guided them through the speeding traffic. Nada spoke up, "Well, I think I found him. Give you three guesses where to find David."

"Only need one," Quinn said. "TruPharm Incorporated Headquarters."

"Bingo." Nada frowned. "The only question is how to get inside. No offense, Quinn, but my sibs and I can't exactly waltz in."

"I know," Quinn said. "David used to live here, you said."

"Right," Naught said. "He did hack-work for TruPharm."

"And he was already part of the Underground by this point," Quinn continued.

"Right," Nada said.

Quinn smirked. "Old habits die hard, guys. I'm betting credits-to-donuts that David had a Hacking Parlor here in Great Codex."

"Do we know where David lived here?" Nil asked.

Nada smirked as her computer beeped. "We do now."

Naught had his sister plug the address of David's flat into the car's dash-comp and piloted them around to David's level before parking in front of the building. Quinn propped his shotgun up on the door as Nada, Zilch, and the twins headed up to David's flat. Once there, they could access David's network terminal for TruPharm and patch it into their own computer.

And then they could hack TruPharm's network and find out where David was.

The walls were twelve feet high and the floor barely the size of a closet. A constant stream of dank murk flowed down the sides and drained out the bottom, making climbing impossible. The floor was not wide enough to lie down on, so rest was impossible. The smell made him gag, and he'd already retched enough to void his stomach of anything he had eaten, which was only the meager meal that he'd been served in his cell.

From the looks of things, Lazarus and Dr. Archer were content to let him rot here until he was too weak to attempt escape, then they'd have one of their Project Cleanse test subjects finish him off.

And yes, they'd managed to find a way to psychologically mess with him too. They had set up a vidwindow up at the mouth to the Pit, where he could watch the news reports. The reporters were discussing the rampage of Elim Faraday in the Resonate, Fra il'Rena in Mainframe, and the Khatran Rania in Dekka-Nor. Anti-sprite and -anthro rallies had sprung up and people were demanding blood. It made DaVinci want to scream with fury.

There was a sound above him. DaVinci looked up. He wiped some of the grime off his face. "Who is it? Lazarus, if that's you, come on down! I got some hits for you!"

Instead, a pale countenance appeared. DaVinci squinted. "Cato?"

"Shh!" the anemic aide said. He tossed down a rope. "Hurry up!"

"Cato, what's going on? Has Lazarus decided to cut his losses? I bet those sprites and anthros I set free caused some setbacks in Project Cleanse."

"Will you just shut up and climb out of there?" Cato asked. "We haven't got much time!"

DaVinci squinted at him again, but grabbed the rope and hauled himself up and out of the Pit. Cato handed him his sunglasses and faux icon. DaVinci peered at him as he put the sunglasses back on.

"What's going on, Cato?" DaVinci asked. "You don't do anything without old Lazarus' approval, we both know that."

Cato smiled wanly. "Apparently, you should change your preconceptions. I've been against Project Cleanse since the beginning." DaVinci raised an eyebrow. "I'm serious! I've been Lazarus' assistant since before his injury. I never knew he intended this until recently!"

"Injury?" DaVinci echoed.

"The accident that cost him his eye," Cato explained. "He only started True Force after that. It was right about the time you moved out of Great Codex."

Cato grimaced. "When he started calling himself Lazarus, I knew he was losing his mind, but I didn't dare oppose him or try to leave, because I would have been crucified." He looked at the hacker. "You were already out of Great Codex when you quit TruPharm, and you were out of his reach. I had no valid reason to do it." He scratched his head. "Besides, he keeps tabs on me at all times when I'm out of this building." Then he winked. "Which means he doesn't know I'm here. Come on, I'll guide you to the nearest egress, and you can get away."

"So I take it you helped the prisoners get away?" DaVinci asked.

"Yes," Cato said. "I'll probably get punished for this, but I've been putting up with Lazarus' rages for eight years now. I know what he's capable of, and he won't kill me right away."

DaVinci didn't respond to that as they swung out of the room. "I suppose you're going to try to undermine True Force at all corners?"

"In so many words, yes," Cato said. "When Dr. Archer sent me to the Resonate to observe Faraday, I was hoping I could find some way to stop him, but when I saw him, I knew I didn't dare. I'd get shot, and that would not work very well."

DaVinci turned to him. "Let's save the chatter, shall we? Any minute now, Lazarus is likely to spy in on me to see if I've lost my mind yet. When he sees that I'm gone, he's going to look for you, and you don't want to be near me."

"I heartily agree," Cato said.