Code Enforcement: Wetware

Things aren't going according to plan. I'm handcuffed, wounded, exhausted, and have a pissed-off cop ready to blow my brains out if I make any hinky moves. I suppose it could be worse, though. She's alone, and it doesn't seem like she's taking me to the precinct. TooBee remains behind, giving me a halfhearted shrug before turning to Clearfield. "No offense Captain, but I'm going to insist on claiming my payment down at impound now. Just in case you die in the next few hours; I don't want to risk being locked out," she says cheerfully, offering the taser back to the woman.

The dark-complected Captain shoots her a scowl, taking the weapon and pinning it to her belt. She pressed a finger against her temple with a grunt. "Fine, I'm giving you access under 'community outreach' guidelines. If anyone asks, they're impounded goods repurposed for social services."

The Synth woman beams. "There's no service more social than providing somebody a body," she says with a wide grin. She turns and sets off without another word, hips swaying as she walks.

The captain frowns at her departing back, examining the curvy bot for a moment, before turning back to me. "Stop staring, start walking. Or I can provide some motivation," she says, tapping the stun stick against the wall.

Without much choice, I turn, flipping her off with my cuffed hands, and start walking on aching legs. The clicking of the Captain's boots behind me are steady; she's giving me at least a half-dozen paces lead. So much for tripping her up or slamming my head back in her face.

As we pass silently through the corridor, she points left, towards an inclined junction. Leading towards the surface, not down towards the precinct. With little else to do, I break the silence as we walk. "So, do I get to ask where we're headed? Admin?"

For a few moments, I wonder if she'll answer. Finally, the taller woman grunts. "We're going to the docks."

I furrow my brow. The docks? "To board Casey's ship?"

Clearfield snorts. "Your girlfriend will be landing there; she reserved a berth."

My eyes widen. "The Chimera is landing already?" She couldn't have gone to Io and back by now. She must have gotten my ping. But why didn't she reply? "Did she stop at Europa?"

"You haven't heard?" I glance back and the older woman raises an eyebrow. She shakes her head, dreadlocks swaying. "Her ship docked at Ursa Miner station for less than an hour; she didn't even refuel. And she filed her flight plan; it has her arriving shortly."

The hair rises on my arms. "Does she..." My words trail off.

But the captain's eyes narrow. "...Have the package? You better fucking hope so, or you'll both be sucking hard vacuum together. Now shut your mouth, face forward, and keep walking."

The docks are a good forty-minute walk from the medical suite, and it's an unfamiliar route. Clearfield seems to be taking me through a residential level, maybe to avoid other officers? We pass a couple individuals wearing civilian clothing, looking like some drunken revelers, but they give the Code Enforcement officer a wide berth. In fact, nobody speaks to her or meets her eye. Maybe she has a local reputation. Or maybe Codes does. With the dampener still on in my pocket, I can't log onto the exonet and do some digging myself. I can't even ping anyone.

Well, the only source of information is armed and right behind me, so I try my luck. While walking, I twist my neck, looking back at the scowling woman. "I have to ask, Captain, why are you carrying out this field-op solo?" Her jaw tightens, but she doesn't respond. "What's wrong, no more Gaian's in your precinct?"

"Mute yourself, or I'll do it for you," she snaps, tapping the stun-stick.

I sigh. "I think you don't have anyone else you can rely on." She growls in response but otherwise says nothing. Not easy to provoke, huh? "Corporal Mei Wong. You recommended her for a transfer to Ursa Miner."

Her lip curls up in a sneer. "Being chatty won't help. If you think I won't stun you-"

"Then you'd be carrying my limp body to the docks," I point out, shrugging my shoulders.

Clearfield huffs. "You're not heavy, and it's fifteen percent Earth gravity. Don't tempt me," she warns.

But I can read the tension in her shoulders. "That might look suspicious, a Code Officer carrying a limp suspect away from the precinct level," I tease. To her credit, she doesn't fly off the handle and stun me, but her eyes lock on mine. I try my luck. "Corporal Wong is Gaian. You sent her there in case there was a chance to nab the squid."

I hear a sharp intake of breath from Clearfield. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

Gotcha. "That's how you know the Chimera stopped at Ursa Miner. It's how you got her flight plan," I say, watching her dark face turn a shade paler. "I worked in that precinct, and we had daily reports, including on every vessel that docked there. She's your asset inside, and your last ally in Codes," I finish, watching her eyelid twitch.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

For a moment, Clearfield lifts the stun-baton, before lowering it again, slowing her pace. "You're making the option of shooting you more attractive by the word."

"Sending her away made you vulnerable," I point out. "Got nobody left to watch your back?"

Her lips press into a thin line, and I hear the Captain's teeth grinding. "Last warning."

I take a deep breath, turning to face her. "What do you need the payday for, Clearfield?" She stops rather than walk into me, and the stun stick rises to my throat. But I meet her eye. "What will the credits buy you, really? You're not an idiot; Codes will be coming for you, sooner or later."

Her jaw works silently for a moment, her eyes hard as flint. "It'll get me away," she says quietly.

I blink. "From Ganymede?"

"From the Jovian," she hisses, pupils constricting. "Away from the Dark District. Away from the shit. Enough to buy myself a spot on one of those Solar-District statites. Air, sun, fresh water, and enough space that I can go days, even weeks without seeing another living person if I want," she says in a stream, before clamping down.

My mouth falls open at the admission. "That's all?"

When I see the rictus of rage, I know I've fucked up. There's fire in her eyes as she grabs my throat with one hand and jabs the stun stick hard into my gut. Pain blooms as the clicking stick makes my sore muscles constrict, tight as a vice. I squeal and thrash in my cuffs, legs flailing as the current runs through me, teeth locked together.

Clearfield slams me back against the ferrocrete wall, bouncing my skull off it with a burst of confusion and light. "You could never understand! You haven't lived in a place where laws are suggestions, where violence gets you whatever you want as long as you're willing to spill enough blood. Do you have screaming nightmares about the things you've done to survive in this flesh-peddling pit of human offal?" she snarls in my face. I try to open my mouth, but she jams the stick into my bruised belly, making me gasp and gurgle as fresh arcs of current rip through me, my limbs locking and trembling. "Do you know what it's like to spend twenty years of your life fighting that tide of shit, and have nothing to show for it? Working to make a difference, only to watch your bosses to sell out and make bank doing it? To see half your pension's value vanish overnight because some local corporation offloaded their debt in a quasi-legal bankruptcy scheme?"

She finally pulls back and lets me fall to the ground, wheezing and coughing. Saliva drips from my chin, my eyes watering and gut seizing. "I... uh, have some idea," I sputter. "I might have been born on Earth, ugh, but I grew up on Luna," I start, leaning against the wall. "I've lived in the Dark District, I know how-"

Clearfield slams me against the wall again, and I bite my tongue hard enough to taste blood. She holds me inches from her face. "You grew up at the binary! Luna isn't the Dark District, not really. Out here, Codes is owned by whoever pays enough," she hisses in my face, eyes manic. "You don't have the faintest notion what it's like growing up this far from the core. Have you had to live underground, with nothing, barely ever seeing the sky? Living without the stars? Wedged shoulder to shoulder with four siblings into a dank hab-module with shitty air recycling? Drinking contaminated water because the slumlord owner is too cheap to replace the purifier? Watching your little brother die because you can't afford gene-resequencing to cure his cancer?"

It's pouring out of her, Clearfield is practically frothing at the mouth, and I struggle to catch my breath and speak. "I'm... I'm sorry that all of that-"

Her fingers grip tighter on my throat, cutting me off. "Shut the fuck up! I don't want your void-spawned sympathy, Cruz! I'm sick of spending my life spitting into the wind and getting the shit kicked out of me for it. I'm done," she roars in my face. "I'm taking my cut and getting the hell out. And if you try to fuck me on this, I'll kill you and your girlfriend and fly off in her ship instead," she shouts before dropping me onto shaking legs, which collapse under me.

For a moment, during her spiel, I doubt myself. Until she threatens to kill Sparrow. Then I'm all in on taking Clearfield down. Thank you for making it clear where you stand, Captain. Pun intended.

But as I gather myself on the ground, watching her pant and recover, what I say is, "Does… ugh, does Wong know you doomed her to a prison sentence?"

Clearfield hisses and grips the stun stick tighter. "She chose to go."

I wipe my lip on my shoulder, looking up at her as the shivers and trembles slowly fade. "Cartwright isn't a dummy. You read my interrogatory answers, you know what went down. Ashton was onto Rusteater, and a new officer from the same precinct applies to take his place? Recommended by the same Captain?"

Clearfield takes a breath and pushes the dreadlocks out of her face, calming down. "Wong made her choices; nobody compelled her."

I shake my head, struggling to stand on wobbly legs. "You know the clues are there. The moment that Rusteater made a play for the squid and sabotaged the station, the clock was ticking," I say, watching her wince. "You expected to get away with your credits before anyone put it together. But Rusteater failed, and now you're screwed." She licks her lips and closes her mouth. But I don't close mine. "Wong is going to be the first to go down, and you knew it when you sent her there. Did you even tell her?"

For a moment, the rage is gone from her face, and she looks... haunted. But it passes like a shadow. "Time wouldn't be so sensitive if you hadn't nuked Europa and attracted the whole fucking solar system's attention," she mutters. "Enough. Move."

She grips my shoulder and pushes me forward. "Do you even care?" I ask softly.

She snorts. "About the 'biosphere'? I couldn't care less about some algae-sucking squid swimming under the ice-"

"About Wong. About Rusteater," I persist. "Even if you get your payday. Do you care what happens to them?"

A moment of silence goes by. "Is that a joke?"

My heart falls. "Purely transactional, huh?"

Our footsteps echo as the light overhead brightens. "That's how the game works," Clearfield says, as we reach surface level.

Looking up at the dome above us, and the dock not far beyond it, I sigh. "That's not how I play."

"Then you lose. It's a rigged game, Cruz. You can't win playing by the rules," she says, pushing my shoulder with the stun stick. Unpowered, thankfully.

Walking to the dock's gate, past the adverts and glowing signs, I don't see the Chimera. Not docked yet? On the other side? "Maybe playing by the rules is a sucker's bet, but it doesn't have to be a zero-sum game for us mooks on ground-level," I say, scanning with my eyes.

To my surprise, Clearfield laughs with genuine amusement. "Holy hell, Cruz; as naive as you are, I'm shocked you're still alive."

"What can I say? I'm a stubborn sort of cockroach," I mutter as we reach the gate. And I don't leave my friends in harm's way.

It's right about then that I catch sight of a modified lunar shuttle. My heart drops further as I see the familiar body of the Chimera making an approach. Sadly, it looks like my girlfriend feels the same way.