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"Can you infiltrate their network?" Tucker asked Cass. He didn't like operating blind, but it was one of those things that nearly always happened during a battle. The plans changed, and there were no ways to get updates.

"I'm being slow and careful propagating my forks," Cass replied. "Their security isn't on the level of what Uncle set up, but I don't want to get overconfident and fall into a trap. At first appearance, it does seem Paco told the truth, the security net isn't seeing what is happening right now."

The elevator stopped, and the doors opened to a man and woman about to enter. Tucker grabbed the woman and injected her with a tranquilizer. Theo had the man in a chokehold.

"Damn it, Cass, warn me when you're going to take control, I was going for his gun."

Tucker sent a pulse down the corridor. No one nearby, a handful of doors, no way to know what was behind them. "We need a place to hide them." He felt along the ceiling.

"There's no projector hiding in the ceiling that will hide them," Cass said.

"This is a design from around the time of the cataclysm," Tucker said, "because they're fully mechanical, they had a hatch opening up, for when they got stuck." The finger sensors registered the seam. He pushed, and the panel lifted. It would be tight, but these two would be unconscious for a few hours. "Trank the guy before handing him to me." He pushed the woman on the roof and made sure no body parts could get into the mechanism.

He reached to take the man from Theo, who was now a black panther dressed in gray pants, a tight white shirt, and beige vest over it. The pants were worn, and the vest frayed at the edges. He looked at what the man he took wore. Not the same, the pants were blue canvas, the shirt red and heavier material, no vest, but there were worn. The woman had a vest on.

"We need to blend in," Theo said. "Paco said we have less than an hour, that means we can't take the time to sneak around. We need to walk down there and destroy the AI."

"If he was telling the truth." Tucker hauled the man up on the other side of the roof, made sure he too was away from moving parts, and closed the hatch. "Not something to ever take for granted with him."

"Unfortunately, the only way to test if he lied is to wait to see if they'll release the AI within the next hour. I'm not willing to risk it, are you?"

Tucker sighed and changed his armor into heavy-duty fabric pants and shirt with a leather jacket over it. All in gray. At least he didn't have to sacrifice any sensor data, but he wished he had a weapon within ready access.

"I have the layout," Cass said, and he transmitted a wireframe version. "We're on the 'top floor' of the base. It's the only way in and out. If Paco hadn't dealt with security, we'd have been buried under guards before we'd have known it. They have a thermal generator on the bottom floor." The map shifted down six floors to highlight a room taking a third of the floor.

"What do they have for backup power?" Tucker asked. The map zoomed out and a dozen zones highlighted.

"Any one of those can power the entire base for thirty minutes."

"So longer if they only power the computers," Theo said. "Enough to finish what they're doing and release the AI. Cutting power isn't an option."

"Is this broadcast power?" Tucker asked.

"No," Cass answered, "but to answer your follow up question, there is no main power trunk connecting to the computers. Everything is connected to everything; the only way to shut down the power is to take everything out at once."

"Where's the computer?" Theo asked.

"This is the twenty-seventh century, Theo," Cass replied. "It's in everything, but security, both physical and within the network is highest within this area, there's also an information buffer which I can't cross." On the third floor, four connected rooms highlighted. With three access points, and four guards at each access.

Tucker manipulated the map; two of those access points were within sight of each other, the third was around a corner and on the other side of a wall. "Can you block local communication?"

"Yes to transmissions," Cass replied. The map zoomed out. "But not screams." Down one corridor, after a turn, was an open space with dots representing people, fifteen of them. "This seems to be a fabrication room." Along with another, a smaller room with an indicated open doorway. "This is a dormitory." Nine dots in it. "There is no direct line of sight, but no doors I can close to block sounds or reinforcement."

"They're used to not having full sensors," Theo said, "so have setup redundancies that can't be blocked."

Tucker searched through his armor's functions, located the sound dampener, studied its range. It was designed primarily to keep the armor silent, but he could push it, theoretically get a two-meter bubble. While it was on he wouldn't have power for anything flashy, but that would defeat the purpose.

"Cass, go through the sound dampening schematic of your armor, tell me what you think."

Theo spoke first. "I think we should move. We're blocking the only way in and out, someone will notice."

A route appeared on the map. "This is the most direct route to the secured zone, I can't do anything about people overhearing you, so be careful what you say."

Tucker exited the elevator, following the route.

The men and women they walked by were as varied as they were on the islands, in species, in age, a girl looked to be in her mid-teens, a man doing repairs could be close to two hundred... or not, if they didn't avail themselves of medical technology how young would they start looking old? How young would they be old? Tucker did his best not to shudder at the thought of being old before he was one seventy-five. Maybe even two-fifty, if he could bend the family rules. He fully intended to end his life still being young.

Instead of an elevator, the route took him to a stairwell. Doing a quick check of his surrounding. "Cass? Are those secure?"

"Yes, and they get used by enough people you won't attract attention. I can't get control of the elevators without attracting the network security."

Tucker pulled the door open and stepped out of the way of a woman.

"Thanks," she said and continued on her way.

They crossed paths with six people as they went down to the third floor. Two of which had guns. Nothing marked them as a security force, no set of clothing or insignia, so once they were alone Tucker gave himself a holster at his hip and a gun. He felt better having it.

Theo didn't bother; that was telling.

No one paid them any attention, but Tucker cataloged everyone he passed. It was impossible to get an accurate count, but it would let him get a sense of the base's population. Walking by the fabrication room showed weapons being made, a lot of them. They were getting ready for an attack... or to attack. By the numbers of finished weapons, Paco might have been truthful on his assertion they were running out of time.

The guards at the doors to their destination were in armor, a design out of Ameritech, Tucker thought. They would have decent protection against energy weapons, vital areas protected against projectiles. A blade could slip between the plates, but there would be something to protect the joints.

Tucker loved those kinds of combat problems when they were theoretical. How would he take down a group when he couldn't reach them? When they happened as part of an op, not so much, it was just one more delay to deal with, when he couldn't afford any.

"Those are Ameritech K-32 body armor," Cass said.

"We have a division whose job is to keep on top of what the corporations build," Theo explained.

"The K-32 is no longer used by the Ameritech military because internal armature that allowed for the physical strength increase is susceptible to being overloaded, isn't your military aware of that?"

Tucker chuckled. "Clearly your group is better at getting that kind of information than our intelligence department. We still need to reach them."

Theo rolled his eyes. "We just walked by them, reach out and zap, take them out. This thing has some sort of stun capability, right?"

Cass chuckled as a glove formed over Theo's right hand. "Calling what this does a stunner, is like saying Sebastien's cock is a little above average."

Tucker looked at his arms. Right, he was blending in at the moment. "The next door, unless there are other people in the hall with us, we take them down, armor up, and Cass, if the door's locked, that's your job. Once inside, just punch anyone that moves, your armor can take anything they have."

"Got it."

They rounded the corner, and two guards leaned on the wall on each side of the door. With a woman talking to them, she was dressed casually. They laughed at something she said.

"I'll stun her and take out one of the guards," Tucker said, "I have finer control over my armor," he added to avoid an argument. Theo nodded.

One of the guards, an orangutan, glanced in their direction as Tucker and Theo walked closer and nodded. The woman covered her mouth, trying to stop her laughter as she glanced at them as well. Her laughter stopped, and she frowned, clearly studying the two of them.

She said something Tucker didn't understand, her body language getting the two guards to pay attention. Theo waved, which didn't help relax her. She spoke again, a different dialect, Tucker thought.

No one else in the hall, Tucker covered the remaining distance in six long steps as the ape went for his gun. The armor formed along the tiger's arms as he reached for her and the ape, calibrated at its minimum for her and high enough to blow the capacitor on the Mercury for him. She wasn't a combatant. She went down. The guard blasted against the wall, and remained frozen in place.

Theo's target was getting back to his feet and his brother placed his hand back on his chest. A flash of light under it and the armor stopped moving. "Sorry," Cass said, "they must have worked on it, it was more resistant than the reports we have said."

"Anyone wearing armor is an enemy combatant," Tucker said, "err on the side of overkill, if you give them a chance, they'll do the same to you; armor up."

Once Theo was covered in black armor, Tucker reached for the door's control.

"Cass," Theo said, "a visor, please. I'd like to see where I'm going."

"You don't trust me to show you what's there?" Cass replied with a chuckle.

"I'm not sure you won't decide to run a movie while you have all the fun with this thing. Come--"

"Will you two stop," Tucker said, barely keeping the growl out of his voice. "This is a combat zone, if you can't take this seriously, get out of it."

Theo's visor became transparent as Tucker watched, showing him his brother's stunned expression. "Tuck, this is--"

"No, Theo, this is life or death," This time he growled. "I get you don't normally end up in these kinds of situations, but you are, so stop playing, because I'm not going to watch you get killed just because you keep thinking this is a game. Cass, make the visor one way, we don't want them to see his face, is the door unlocked?"

"Yes," Cass replied, "sir."

Tucker rolled his eyes. Civilians.

He rushed in, his implant building a combat rendering of the large room before he'd punched the closest person. It highlighted people and weapons while removing any details of them as people. He couldn't risk reacting to what was here with anything less than brutal efficiency. Anyone wearing a weapon turned red, marking them as combatants instead of bystanders. Those would be in yellow, only there was only red, fifteen of them. That simplified things. Obstacles were in gray, tables, and chairs. He'd seen equipment on the back table before his sight changed, but that was irrelevant until the room was cleared.

He raised the strength levels of his armor and each punch broke bones, internal organs, bodies. His tally was up to six when his vision went dark, and he felt himself fall, unable to move the armor around him.