Jack Frost
Another Story of Bubblegum Crisis
----
(c) Michael White, July 1996
Author's Note: Anything that isn't original in here belongs to someone else.
If you're that someone else, don't sue me please! This thing is intended for
FREE distribution! Oh, if you're looking for the usual author ramblings,
they're at the bottom. Oh, btw, there are no KS in this 'fic, and there's
some naughty language. If either of those things offend you, I'm sure the
program you're using has a 'delete' command.
----
Episode 7: First Movement, Part I
----
(<April 28, 2032. SIODMP Level 11>)
"Absolutely, positively, 100%, sir."
"A simple yes would've sufficed, Kirin."
The face on the monitor grinned at the group assembled in front of the
multimedia center. Jon recognized the face as belonging to Alexander
Livingstone, former commander of the Jade Resistance camp in the Cameron
Highlands in Malaysia where both he and Kirin grew up, now head of
investigations for the Jades.
"So," Livingstone said, looking to Jon, "you're still one of us, after all."
"Yes sir," he replied. "All the way."
"Excellent. Well, you can now consider yourself an active member of the
Jade Resistance once more, and by the sound of Kirin's evaluation report,
we're all the better for it," Livingstone looked back and forth between the
two men. "I trust you two have made peace with each other?"
Kirin's mouth dropped. "You *knew*, sir?"
Livingstone smiled slightly. "I'm not blind, man. Of course I knew. That's
the entire *reason* I sent you, Kirin. Protocol would've dictated I send
someone who didn't know Jon to evaluate him."
Kirin smiled at the old man, still looking after them after all these
years. "Thank you, sir."
"Bah, don't thank me," Livingstone said dismissively. "I'm just some crazy
old coot who doesn't know any better than to stay out of people's private
affairs."
All three of them chuckled at that, including Sarah, which caused
Livingstone to turn his attention to her.
"Well, doctor, your discoveries have created quite a stir, eh? You ever
consider perhaps joining the Jade Resistance?" he asked.
"Sir..." Jon interrupted hesitantly. "Remember the rules about coercion..."
"Now, now, Jon. It wasn't as if someone wasn't going to ask her at some
point. I just figured it might as well be someone who can make it happen."
Livingstone grinned.
Sarah stopped. Over the past few months Jon had told her very little about
the Jade Resistance - understandably so - despite her extreme curiousity.
Now, however, the offer to have those secrets revealed was before her; she
just had to decide whether or not to seize it. Ulitmately, Sarah returned
his grin. "Actually, sir, I think I'll take you up on that offer."
Jon suddenly brought his palm down on the cutoff switch, startling her.
"Can we have a word?" he asked harshly. "Alone." he added, glancing sideways
at Kirin.
For his part, Kirin was looking around like a trapped rodent. "I... uh...
I'll be downstairs... yeah." He backpedalled, turned, and headed for the
elevator, confused but not wanting to be at ground zero for whatever Jon was
going to say to Sarah. As soon as the elevator doors roled shut, Jon spoke,
cutting off Sarah's tentative query.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he whispered harshly, a hint of
anger in his voice.
"I..." she began uncertainly. "I want to join the Jade Resistance. Why, is
that a problem?"
"You're damn right it's a problem!" he shot back. "You don't even know what
you're getting yourself into!"
"Well maybe I would if you'd opened up a little more over the past months!"
she retorted defensively, shocked by Jon's foul mood. "Clamming up on me
whenever I ask about the Jades... and Kirin's no better! Everything you
*have* told me about them is positive, so where's the problem?!"
"The problem is that once you join, you'll have to send them *all* your
research. *Including* endurium."
"Meaning what?" Sarah asked.
"Meaning that if the Inter-Cell Council feels they are justified, they can
pump out Ice Suits by the hundreds. And then there's the threat of
infilitrat..."
"That's not it," she interrupted in realization. "You're trying to
*protect* me, aren't you?"
"Don't be insane." Jon replied dismissively.
"Alright then," she retorted. "Tell me honestly that you think they'll
pervert my research against my wishes." Something Jon had told her was one
of the founding principles of the Resistance. Allowing for unbridled
scientific research without the fear that any new discovery would be used to
create the next atomic bomb was just as important to the Jades as any of
their other endeavours.
Jon simply fell silent, which Sarah took as affirmation of her suspiscions.
"I'm not a little girl, Jon," she declared. "It still is my life, and I'm
going to make my own choices, with or without your assent." She had actually
planned on asking Jon at some point to see if she could become a member.
Now, however, she was glad she didn't have to.
Jon, meanwhile, was still processing what she said. Was he trying to
protect her? Was it residual guilt from forcing this style of life, if it
could be called that, on her? Looking up at her he saw a woman who was
firmly determined to do what she felt was right. There was still the threat
of spies stealing Ice Suit technology, but since the security crackdown of
2027 such leaks had been minimal. He dismissed the notion; he'd overblown it
in an attempt to get Sarah to change her mind, an effort he now recognized
as wrong-headed. After a moment he turned to Sarah and nodded concedingly,
reactivating the vid-link.
"Is... there a problem?" Livingstone asked uncertainly, having seen Jon's
foul expression when the link was terminated, and witnessing his
less-than-chipper mood now.
"No..." he replied quietly. "No problems."
"Excellent!" Livingstone beamed. "We'll discuss the specifics later, and
your membership packet should be transmitted shortly thereafter. Would you
care to exchange scientific data now, or after your membership has been
processed?"
Sarah looked up to Jon for reassurance. "Transmitting it now would be
construed as an act of good faith," he said to her. "Since Kirin and myself
are already members, they'd probably even transmit their own data to us at
the same time, even though you're not a member."
Sarah nodded once and turned to the screen. "I can transmit the data any
time you're ready."
"Good, good," Livingstone responded, nodding approvingly. "We'll set up the
data transfer for, say, 1300 tomorrow? Is that alright?"
Jon nodded.
"Alright. Until then..." Livingstone smiled, and then the screen went blue,
and then black as Sarah turned it off.
"You're certain about this?" Jon asked her over the silent hum of the
console. "It's not too late to change your mind," He raised his hands,
cutting off her reply. "It's your choice, of course."
"Yes, it is," she replied somewhat impatiently. "And you'd do well to
remember that."
----
(<April 29, 2032, 2:16 PM. SCPD 12th Precinct>)
"Lieutenant! Phone call for ya!"
Lieutenant Maria Perez juggled the stack of paper and data disks she was
carrying, craning her neck to see who had called out to her. It was somebody
she didn't recognize, but obviously someone who recognized her.
"Tell'em to call back, wouldya?" she answered, shifting her burden.
"He says it's an emergency."
"Fine, fine, patch it through to my desk." Maria grumbled.
"'K, line 6, audio only."
Maria merely grunted in response, weaving through the orderly chaos of the
precinct to her desk and dropping her load on it. She sat down heavily in
her creaky metal chair, picked up the phone, and pressed the flashing red
button. "Perez," she snapped, "and this had better be imp..."
"Hello lieutenant." came the calm reply. Maria recognized the voice
instantly and almost dropped the phone.
"Meyer?!"
"Guilty," he answered. "I was wondering if I could interest you in
something..."
"Your surrender?" she snorted, pressing a button on her phone. "That's all
I want."
"Charming. No, something even more significant."
"What?" she asked, looking at the readout on her phone trace request. It
read 1-902-429-366-5220. Her home phone number. Cute.
"An optical data disk," he answered, "containing some information and a
rather enlightening video recording. Meet me in half an hour at the airport
expansion construction site, near the large red lifter crane. Bring your
partner if you want, but leave the assault units home, if you don't mind."
"What's on the..." He hung up. Maria set the phone down and thought for a
moment. A trap? Hah! He could've killed her on over a dozen seperate
occasions. Did he want another little chat? Well, the last one had turned
out to be fairly revealing. Nothing to lose. She got up and went to find Davis.
----
(<2:41 PM. Sable City InterContinental Airport Expansion Site>)
Maria's red sportscar drove through the seemingly deserted construction
site, lifeless save for a handful of builder droids. Maria, behind the wheel
as always, wondered where the workers were but didn't have time to stop and
speculate. 'Probably off getting drunk or whistling at women' she thought
disdainfully.
"Red crane, there." said her partner, Lieutenant Bill Davis.
"I see it." she answered, giving the car a little more gas, throwing up a
massive cloud of dust. 'Even in a city built on an artificial platform
almost one kilometer over the Atlantic I manage to get my car full of dirt.'
Maria stopped the car near the base of the crane, scanning the area for any
sign of Meyer or his cohort. She opened her door and got out, her partner
following her lead. Together, they walked around the crane, searching for
anything significant, but finding nothing. Ten minutes went by.
"Y'know," Davis said, "I don't think he's gonna show. I think he lead us on
a wil..."
"Wild goose chase?" came a familiar voice from behind them. "Hardly."
Maria and Davis spun instinctively, weapons drawn, and came face to face
with the mammoth Ice Suit. "Well?" Maria called out after a moment. "You got
something for us or not?"
"Here, catch." came the voice - Jonathan Meyer's - again. He nonchalantly
flipped a tiny sliver disc at them which Maria caught in her right palm.
"What's this all abo..." Maria had to stop as Jon fired his thrusters,
sending up a cloud of stinging pebbles and dust. She sheilded her eyes, and
when the storm abated, he was gone. "Damn, I hate when he does that..." she
muttered. She then looked down to regard the tiny disc.
"Play it." Davis suggested, offering her the portable A/V disc reader he
had been carrying. She took it, inserted the disc, and pressed 'search.' The
screen went blank for a moment while the disc was accessed, and then the
list appeared. It read 'FILES: NAMES.DBS VIDEO.AVP'
She then pressed 'play', the reader selecting the only .avp file it could
find by default and playing it. She then watched in mute horror the
abduction of a 16-year old girl by two SCPD officers, the recording device
clearly picking up their voices as they threatened her. She was also silent
during Meyer's attack on the car, but she gasped when she saw the faces of
the officers. Jerrad and Farthington... they had an absolutely pristine
reputation - not that she had ever met them.
She listened in as the blue-silver powered armor questioned Jerrad, shocked
to hear a male voice coming from the suit when she had expected Sarah
McInnely's, but more interested in what Jerrad had to say for himself. She
was absolutely stunned by his admission that half the police force in Sable
City had been accepting bribes.
'Meyer was right...' she thought, shell-shocked. As the tape came to an end
she ran a check on its identifier packets, almost in a daze. 'It's
genuine... he was right.' After a moment she ran the other file - a database
compilation of the names of all the dirty cops, judges, lawyers, and
politicians in Sable City. She checked the record total. 549. 'I don't
believe it...'
'It's a fake!' another part of her shouted. 'And what Jerrad said was *way*
too vague to be considered a confession.'
'So?' This, from her rational side. 'We'll turn it over, there'll be an
investigation probably, and if there's any corruption it'll be uncovered.
Simple as that.'
"Can I see that?" Davis asked soberly. Maria simply passed it to him, mind
racing. She didn't see what he was doing until it was too late.
"W... what are you doing?!" Maria asked, staring at the screen. It read
'Delete all? Y/N' "This... this is..." Maria stopped, coming to a horrific
realization. She stepped away from her partner, then man she thought she
knew. "You... you... you've been accepting *bribes*? It... it was all *true*?"
He paused, and then pressed the 'yes' key. After a moment, he turned to his
partner. "So?" he said quietly.
"So? SO?!" Maria screamed, becoming enraged. "You *betrayed* me! Betrayed
your trust, betrayed the people, bet..."
"Shut up, Maria!" he snapped. "Don't get all high-and-mighty on me. It's
your own damn fault for being so blind."
"How could you...?" she whispered, appalled.
"Please..." he snorted. "You're no better than I am. Admit it. The only
reason you didn't accept any money is because they didn't *offer* you any."
"I would *never* stoop so low." she seethed
"Then you're blind *and* stupid," he shot back. "Corruption is everywhere,
who the hell are you to stand against it?"
Maria was mad. Madder than she had ever been in her life. She was also
hurt, hurt by the words and actions of the man she had thought was her
friend. She turned on him now, staring him down. "I'm a police officer," she
said finally. "It's my job."
"Maria," he said cautiously. "Maria, what are you going to do?"
She ignored him, turned, and walked to her car.
"Maria," he pleaded. "Don't. Stay out of it. Look, I'll see if they can get
you on the payroll, Maria, please."
She slammed the car door and glared up at him. "You just don't get it, do
you? Money means jack to me. I put on this badge to haul bastards like you
in. And that's *exactly* what I'm gonna do!" Maria threw the car into gear,
floored the pedal, and sped off. She left the window down, letting the wind
blow away her tears...
"The disc's toast, Jon!" Kirin called out. The two of them were watching
the goings-on from a nearby rooftop, using their built-in optical magnifiers
and the audio bug Jon had planted in the area. "So much for your brilliant
plan."
"Hrmm," Jon regarded Davis as he walked towards the exit, Maria long gone.
"Hadn't counted on that." he admitted. Davis' name was probably on that
list, if only he had taken the time to search for it. Oh well, he thought,
there was no time for fretting over past mistakes.
"So what do we do now?" Kirin asked.
"We could still come out ahead on this. You tail Davis. I'm following
Perez." With that, Jon stepped off the building, firing his thrusters and
riding them down to street level. Below him, he watched the cockpit of the
ISAMU blossom open, and he touched down gently inside it. The sheilding
sealed up, and he drove off after Maria.
----
(<2:42 PM. SIODMP Level 11>)
Sarah watched the scene through Jon's own optical scanners, the entire
situation relayed to the mammoth control console she was seated at. Sarah
would assist Jon, and now Kirin as well, from time to time, performing the
more tedious and routine tasks of running his powered armor by remote,
freeing him up to handle more important tasks like staying alive with his
complete attention.
She also kept an eye on another screen, the one displaying the progress in
decrypting the massive amount of information she had received from the Jade
Resistance just under two hours ago. She estimated the process to take at
least another 52 hours, the sheer amount of scientific data - 647 terabytes
- enough to make her almost giddy with anticipation. She kept up her end of
the bargin, naturally, transmitting 57 gigabytes of her most sensitive
research to the Jade scientists. She hoped one day to be able to confer with
these scientists, either in person or by VR teleconferencing, but for now
she had a more important task to perform.
----
(<3:17 PM. Madeline Avenue, Near the SCPD 12th Precinct>)
"I lost him, Jon!"
"Whaddya mean you *lost* him?" Jon asked Kirin, somewhat surprised.
"He went underground," Kirin responded. "Had him for a while, but he was
taking one hell of a scenic route. I've got nothing now, no heat trace, no
movement, nothing."
"Did he spot you?" Jon inquired.
"I don't think so, but I s'pose he mighta... damn... there's too much heat
from the machines down here, his footprints don't leave any noticable heat
prints."
Jon thought for a moment while dodging in and out of the afternoon traffic,
trying to keep the little red sportscar in sight. "Keep looking for, say,
ten more minutes. Then rendezvous with me. I've got this funny feeling more
is going on here than we know about."
----
(<3:37 PM, SCPD 12th Precinct>)
Maria stormed into Captain Longobardi's office and glared at the two
detectives sitting across from him. "Get out." she ordered them in no
uncertain terms.
The detectives balked, looking to Longobardi for assistance. "What's this
all about, lieu..."
"It's important." she snapped.
Longobardi paused for a moment, and then gestured for the two detectives to
leave. When they closed the door, he looked up at Maria. "Well?" he asked in
his this-had-better-be-*good* voice.
Maria clenched her teeth. Where to begin? "I just saw... a rather
*illuminating* recording, *captain*. Do you know where Officers Jerrad and
Farthington were last night?" She paused, then spoke again, cutting off his
half-formed reply. "Out assaulting a sixteen-year old girl!"
"WHAT?!" Longobardi exploded, "You had BETTER have proo..."
"Oh, wait, it gets better," Maria interrupted. "Know what they said when
they got caught? That they would get off easy because half the goddamned
SCPD and judges were on the take!"
Longobardi froze. He sat back heavily in his chair, exhaling forcibly. "You
have... proof of this?" he asked after a moment.
"No," she admitted," but only because my *partner* destroyed the only
evidence. He's been bought off too."
"Did you witness this assualt, hear this confession?"
"No, I didn't," Maria said, exasperated.
"Then this discussion never happened," Longobardi stared into her eyes.
"You have no proof, you weren't there... how the hell am I supposed to know
if you're right? What do you want me to do? Huh?"
Maria was flabbergasted by his simple dismissal of her accusations. "You
have the power to request a public inquiry, or at least an investigation...
Captain, I'm not wrong. Davis told me he was accepting bribes, doesn't that
count for *something*?"
"I'm sorry, no. Drop it, Maria. Please."
"Like hell." she sneered, and stormed out of his office.
----
(<3:45 PM, Corner of Young St. and Madeline Ave.>)
Maria fumed in her car, waiting impatiently for the lights to change. She
looked at the digital clock on the radio, shocked to discover only one hour
had passed since she saw that recording. One hour. In that hour, everything
she knew, everything she believed had been thrown upside-down. She didn't
know who to trust, who had been bought off. Maria looked up at the
interesection and spotted a sign. It read 'Grand Banks Tunnel to Mainland',
an arrow pointing left hanging underneath it. Perhaps she should leave
Sable, she thought, abandoning this sordid mess for a better place. Someone
else's problem. Let them deal with it.
At that moment, the bells began to ring in the church next to her. Maria
herself hadn't been to mass since she was eleven, not that that was unusual.
In fact, in today's world, there were very few frequent or even occasional
church-goers. Still... she had never fully renounced her faith, and there
was something about that constant, deep, resonating tone that somehow
*solidified* her. She looked up at the magnificent granite tower, the
beautiful stained-glass windows, the flaring architechture. Her eyes
travelled downward to the doorway; smiling men, women, and children filed
into the church for some sort of function. A wedding perhaps, or maybe a
baptismal. They all seemed so cheerful, so optimistic; they were completely
unaware of the dark forces that conspired against them.
The lights changed. Renewed and doubly determined, she gunned the car's
engine, barrelling straight down Young Street towards the SCPD headquarters.
----
(<4:02 PM, SCPD Headquaters>)
Maria put both her hands on the secretaries' desk, trying to keep from
raising her voice. "It's an emergency."
"Aren't they all?" replied the man behind the desk. He didn't even look at
her, continuing to type on his terminal.
"If you don't let me in there, the entire SCPD could crumble to dust. Try
and get another job with *that* on your record."
"Mmm-hmm." he said nonchalantly, ignoring her. "The Chief of Police is a
very busy woman. I believe an appointment can be arranged for sometime in
July... hey! Wait! You can't go in there!"
Maria, however, had decided against the appropriate channels and opted for
brute force. As per usual. She barged right into the Chief of Police's
office, ignoring the secretary until he grabbed her by the shoulder. She
then turned on him with a look that could boil iron and he backed off.
Inside the office, she noticed the chief sitting behind an ornate, expansive
desk. Some white-haired big wig in a business suit sat across from her. Both
were staring at Maria.
"Can I help you...?" the chief, Nancy Torrens, asked, trailing off.
"Lieutenant Maria Perez, sir. I have some information you have to be made
aware of *immediately*. Sir." Maria said, trying to sound respectful but urgent.
"And you've not been made aware of the appropriate channels? Or the
invention of the telephone?" the woman replied dryly.
"Sir, this information is absolutely *vital*. It cannot wait."
The cheif sighed. "Fine, very well lieutenant, speak your piece."
"I'd prefer to discuss this in private, sir." Maria stated, glancing at the
man in the chair and the open door behind her.
"Naturally," the chief replied, a note of sarcasm in her voice. She turned
to the man in the chair. "I'm so sorry," she apologized, "this should only
take a moment. Would you be so kind as to excuse us?"
"I suppose, if it's an emergency... but we really must discuss this...
matter... soon."
"Of course." she nodded.
The man got up and left the room, intentionally avoiding Maria's gaze. He
closed the door behind him. As soon as the door was shut, Maria started to
speak, but was cut off by Chief Torrens.
"This had better be earth-shattering, *lieutenant*, or you're in some
*serious* trouble." she snapped.
Maria balked, but only for a second. "It is sir... I..." Where to begin? "I
have today borne witness to evidence suggesting that a significant portion
of Sable City's justice and political system, including the SCPD, has been
accepting monetary renumeration in exchange for certain... favors."
"You mean bribes." the chief corrected. Maria nodded. Torrens sat back,
steepling her fingers, thinking. "You say you 'bore witness' to this
evidence. I take that to mean you are not in possession of this 'evidence'
at this time?"
"No sir," Maria replied, "it was destroyed by my... partner... who, as it
turns out, has also been accepting bribes."
"And this evidence was...?"
"A listing of names and a videotaped confession of sorts."
The chief's eyebrows went up. "Did you get a look at those names?"
"Only briefly, sir," Maria admitted. "But there was a large number of them.
Over 500, sir."
"I see," Torrens replied after a moment. "Who knows that you saw this...
information?"
"Only Lieutenant Bill Davis - my partner - and Captain George Longobardi."
As well as anyone within earshot of his office, she thought to herself.
"Good," Torrens said, "then the damage will be easy to control."
"Damage, sir?" Maria inquired, confused.
"How far are you willing to take this?" Torrens asked, looking up at her.
"Sir?"
"What are you willing to do to expose this 'corruption'? What are you
willing to risk?"
"Anything, sir," Maria replied eagerly. "Anything at all!"
"Commendable," Torrens commented. She glanced around the room, then looked
up at Maria. "You should know that we are aware of this... problem. A task
force has been designated to handle it. For now, don't say *anything* about
what you saw, it could interfere with our investigation."
"Sir, I cannot sit idley by while this goes on!" Maria pleaded. "There must
be something I can do! Please, sir..."
"You're really that determined, are you?" Maria nodded emphatically.
"Fine," Torrens sighed. She reached into her drawer, pulled out a pad of
paper, and wrote an address on it. She then tore the sheet off and handed it
to Maria. "I'm not... comfortable discussing this situation here, if you
know what I mean. That location is a safe house of sorts, where the task
force meets from time to time. Be there tonight at nine o'clock *exactly*,
and we'll talk about it. Don't be late, and most of all, don't tell *anyone*
about this location. Understood?"
"Yes sir, thank you, sir." Maria looked at the paper. 'NeoChem facility,
warehouse eight' it read. She folded the paper up and slid it into her
pocket. "You can count on me."
For the first time, Torrens smiled at her. "I know I can, lieutenant."
----
(<To be Continued...>)
----
Author's Ramblings: I didn't want to do a two-parter episode, but I guess
I'm stuck with it now. The title might seem a bit out-of-place for a
multipart episode, but I liked the sound of it, so it stays 8^)
Direct all comments, criticisms, whatever, to mikew@atcon.com prior to Sept.
96, aj331@ccn.cs.dal.ca after then. Thanks!
- MW