Chapter 36: Traps with Traps

Murph grapples with his past as he warns allies about a looming trap, navigating tension and skepticism in a chaotic urban landscape.

Chest heaving, Murph leaned against the cold concrete of the building's exterior.

A grim acidic drizzle fell from a grey under-light sky. The kind of rain that wouldn't even make you wet if the weather was warmer. If it were properly cold, it would be snow. But then again, pure white was not a colour you ever saw down here in the filth.

It slicked his face and gave him a sheen of madness, the flickering neon lights of the inner city reflecting on his bald skull. All except the tower he stood below. A hijacked building they'd turned off the silent screaming nighttime advert. The Numbers had stolen this building, driving out the original owners. How they weren't pushed out themselves by the corporate security division, he didn't know.

Well, maybe he did.

He'd run here, hungover but certain, and now that he'd found the building again, he wasn't at all sure about going in. He would have to fight his way through their guards, just to speak with Omni. Of causing a ruckus to deliver a sane message.

"How would that look, Murph? Hmmm?" His voice trembled as he saw himself—a raving prophet, warnings falling on deaf ears. He saw Omni's face, not just confused but disappointed as if he had failed her. Guards would drag him out, his credibility shot, and his message lost.

He looked up at the tall building near the highway to nowhere. "Like a heat-stroked desert prophet. Promising visions of the future and the Truth."

He shook his head at the thought and pressed his palms to his eyes to clear the stinging rain and think for once.

<She's training right now with Ada,> Syn said, and let that piece of information linger.

Murph nodded and sank down to the wet pavement. Taking on the familiar posture of a luck-forgotten man deep in the bottle, he whispered, "Can you get me in?"

<I might have a backdoor. Are you sure you want to do this?>

"They don't know what they're getting into," hissed Murph through clenched teeth, the words carrying more heat than he intended.

"They have no idea what they're stepping into," Murph's words came out as a growl, each syllable heavy with a desperation he couldn't hide.

Syn appeared in front of him. She reached out and lifted his chin. He felt the touch through his implant, thinking as she did it, that it was the first time she'd ever done this.

<Just remember, they rejected you,> she said, and with that reality bent.

Bullets pinged the wall behind as armed men screamed orders and fired in random directions, emptying their machine gun magazines in every direction but at Omni as she hid behind cover.

Omni shouted to his side, "It's working Ada, keep up the illusions!"

Ada yelled back, "But we're going to spike Compute!"

Omni yelled, ducking lower behind cover as bullets slammed into the wood sending splinters in her direction, "We'll deal with whoever comes after us if we're still alive!"

"What are you doing in here?" said Satya, pausing the simulation with a thought.

He'd noticed Murph's intrusion, and the simulation stopped mid-frame. Ada and Omni stumbled to a stop in the middle of a training pattern. Murph thought he'd recognised it as something Satya had taught him once.

A few steps beyond basic, he thought, you're rushing them. You know they're not ready. Maybe it was something he could use?

And for once Murph was glad he'd broken his Bond with Satya, because his thoughts were his own and he said something else instead.

"I come with a warning," murmured Murph, standing up in the position his mind replicated from the real world.

"More lies probably," boomed Satya, "Ada, this is good practice for you. Cast him out now."

"I invited him," she said, and Satya's gaze snapped toward her. Anger flickered across his features, the thrashing of something violent hidden in dark waters, as his face became a mask once more.

Ada noted his axes appeared at his side and he subtly shifted into the silver-haired warrior she'd faced at the desert bar.

Murph held up his hands. "Wait, this won't take me long. Just wait."

"Let him speak," said Ada.

Omni stared at her, confused, but Ada turned to Murph and nodded for him to continue.

<Let's show them,> Syn said in his mind.

"OK," he said nodding, his memories and sins laid on the table.

The world shifted and spun and then shattered and reformed into the chaotic memory of Murph stumbling down the stairs of this very building years ago. Falling into the front courtyard with the living wild olive tree as the bus he'd stolen slammed into the concrete barriers and an explosion rocked the ground and threw him to the floor. His vision flaring white and then black.

"What does this show us, but your past crimes?" said Satya.

"Wait. Be patient for once, like you always asked of me," said Murph quietly.

After a moment, Syn skipping ahead, the view of a waking Murph tilted and stood up again, and from his point of view they saw the dead Number guards scattered across the road and courtyard.

"No wonder they hate you," said Omni.

Murph grimaced, but said, "There's more to it."

As the past Murph stumbled to freedom, he stepped over a body. Seeing something familiar, he paused and looked down. His hand moved the torn and burnt remnants of a coat aside to see a familiar sigil.

"Robbing the dead?" muttered Satya.

"If you hadn't abandoned me already, you would have seen this yourself."

Satya made to reply and then saw the Company logo on the man's chest.

"Don't you get it? It's a trap," said Murph. "A trap within a trap."

Satya and Omni stared, with what looked like realisation clouding their features. Murph thought he'd won them over. He thought he'd helped them see.

"So what?" Satya's voice dripped with contempt, "This proves nothing," as if even considering Murph's words was a waste of time. His axes faded away, and he returned to his philosopher form.

Murph looked at him like he was simple, like he was mad. He turned to Omni and saw she was siding with Satya.

"They could have stolen that gear, robbed a shipment from corporate security. It doesn't prove collusion. That the Company and one of the worst gangs in the city working together? Conspiracy, Murph? The first answer for every madman. How much has your mind decayed from Dust?" Satya said, punctuating his points with gestures, orating now for the small crowd.

"They've always been working with the Company. They drew me in, they drew Zeke in, and now they know more about the resistance than they ever did before. And they're getting you. It is getting you to walk right in there," Murph paused to let that sink in. "Don't do it, please."

Omni looked pained. She glanced at Murph as if anew and Satya pushed ahead. "I can smell it on you," he whispered.

Turning to Omni and Ada, "He's fallen back into old vices, or perhaps he never left them. Is that what happened to you all these years, Murph? Lost in fairy dust?"

For Murph, the pain hit sharp and quick.

They didn't believe him.

It cut deeper than any knife had before. But he stamped it down. He pushed it deep into that bottomless well for later.

He tried pleading, "You can't go ahead; it's a bloody trap. They know you're coming. Can't you see that?"

"I've scrutinised every bit of Zeke's intel. Your claims don't hold, Murph," said Satya.

"Think about it," said Murph, as he spun between them. "If they wanted to, with their resources, what couldn't they fake? Text, images, videos?"

"Like fake memories?" said Satya, crossing his arms.

Murph squared off with Satya standing so close their noses almost touch, and Ada for a moment looked caught between sides. Syn appeared next to Murph.

"Enough," Omni's whisper sliced through the tension, a quiet plea laced with finality. "Murph, it's time for you to go."

Murph nodded, but said, "Open your eyes. This is not human planning. A trap within a trap within a trap. First me, then Zeke, and now you."

He stood now before Omni. "They caught Zeke in a web and pulled him into the Numbers. That's how he became their leader. He's pulled us in. And now they're reeling in their catch."

Omni shook her head, "Your mistakes are your own Murph," a tear fell down her cheek, and she pushed him back gently, then made a swiping gesture.

Ada sighed, and Murph's image and connection broke up.