So here's the situation: A cloud of Rossum's robots, subtly manufactured under the Rook brand at the behest of Rossum's clone is headed for Halcyon, pursuing Link and Otto, who, with assistance from Leo's AEGIS handler, Waters, has broken Rossum (Leo's father) out of an AEGIS black site before the robots could free him.
Except the robots now seem to have caught wind of Rossum's clone (or he's summoning them to where he is), and they've altered course. That's an equally bad outcome.
Robots. It had to be robots.
What is the collective noun in English for a group of robots? Victorian imperialists took it as a parlor game, to come up with witty collectives -- an parliament of owls, a murder of crows, etc. So ... a clanking of robots? An apocalypse of robots? A rampage of --?
The big car robot (yes, I know) answers over the comms, "Uh, I don't know exactly. I can draw you a line on a map and transmit it over to --"
"Give me the coordinates." I can chart the map in my own head.
He recites a start point and a vector, and I let a map of the region play through my mind.
(Yes, I memorized the map of Halcyon and its environs. Haven't you?)
(I was a fugitive, dammit, and working to be aware of Quill interests, and a dozen other reasons. Shut up.)
Lots of miscellany that seems unlikely and un-useful. Would Rook have Rossum-ish stashed in an apartment building? What sort of security would he want? Or would she want? But what sort of research would we be talking about. He could be moving from domicile (at the moment) to a Rook facility ...
... but if this were one of Father's arrangements (or, frankly, mine), I'd keep Rossum close. Commutes can be spotted. "Hey," says a passing pedestrian (or cop), isn't that Rossum the Minion Maker in that car?" Or can be pulled over for speeding. Or can be involved in a traffic accident --
Don't laugh. A key agent in one of Father's programs was killed in the tsunami that hit Japan in 2011, while visiting his parents. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer, and your essential assets locked down tight in your pocket.
So, if Rossum is designing things for Rook, doing experiments, building prototypes, etc., etc., it's probably not happening in a strip mall, or an apartment complex, or a housing tract. It could -- but that sort of thing is difficult to hide, and ...
Okay, another lesson from Father (I'll let you draw conclusions that I'm applying these to Rosa Rook): anything can be hidden with unlimited resources -- but the more resources you throw at a problem, the greater the risk. Money can be followed. So sometimes it's wiser not to do the unthinkable. Scratch off the mundane.
There are a handful of Rook facilities along that line: a pier / warehouse complex, a light manufacturing facility, a business park ...
Those just don't feel right. Too obvious. Rook doesn't want to be implicated with working alongside a super-villain like Rossum.
So what else is along that line, extending past the city, suburbs, over the --?
Oh. Great. Two Rivers Nuclear Power Plant. Shuttered in 2002. Large spaces. Power access (even if the pile was decommissioned -- assuming it was). Fenced in. It just fits.
Now, what to do with that supposition? How can I prove it?
Father didn't work with Rook, at least not directly. Anything but. There were places where his cut-outs did business with their cut-outs, but Rook Industries as a whole is, in fact, just the sort of organization that Father would gladly have detonated a dirty bomb in the HQ of. An exemplar of late-stage capitalism, a polluter, an appropriator of land and resources in developing countries, a war contractor, a merchant of death.
So, yeah, it would be nice if I had some involvement with Father to hold over her head as blackmail. But ...
... but I have the next best thing.
Rook plays fast and loose, but is always trying to keep from jeopardizing their federal contracts, or becoming so toxic that nobody will by "Li'l Rooky" toys, or eat Rookburgers, or consume whatever other fiendishness they're up to this fiscal year. They don't work directly with criminals; they pay for their mercenaries and super-powered thugs. And their contracts always have outs to get them off the hook for any blow-back.
That's probably not going to work in the present circumstance. Thousands of Rookbots suddenly turning out to be under the control of Rossum the Minion Maker, abandoning their posts and flying off to free their master (and being able to fly, at that)? Yeah, if I worked for their PR Department, I'd be updating my resume, or retiring to a small Caribbean island without an extradition treaty.
Which means Rosa Rook's already off-balance. Which means a push will knock her down. And the last thing she'd want is anyone who can confirm the whole Rook/Rossum connection.
I toggle on the comm line. I know Mercury has a channel open and on speaker in Rook's office.
"So, Ms Rook, what kind of defenses can we expect over at Two Rivers?"
I immediately regret the words: a clear attack, a shot over the bow, a head-on confrontation. I'm sure it will have an effect, but maybe this was an even better time to be subtle, to get a read on her, get some good questions in.
No. This is my first outing with the team. I need to show them a bit of bravado, a willingness to tackle a fiend like Rook head-on, show I'm not afraid, that I can go where they aren't willing to.
"What --?" Her words cut off. Then, after a few moments, I hear feet stomping away, muttering that might be something along the lines of "Recruited someone clever finally ...."
Which tells me what I need to know (and warms the cockles of my heart to boot). I veer off my course to One Rook Plaza, and head for Two Rivers. "That's the robots' target, kids. Two Rivers Nuclear Plant. Pull on your lead panties if you want to join the party."
I notice my AEGIS tablet is signalling a call for me. I let it ring -- distracted driving is unsafe driving.
Except the robots now seem to have caught wind of Rossum's clone (or he's summoning them to where he is), and they've altered course. That's an equally bad outcome.
Robots. It had to be robots.
What is the collective noun in English for a group of robots? Victorian imperialists took it as a parlor game, to come up with witty collectives -- an parliament of owls, a murder of crows, etc. So ... a clanking of robots? An apocalypse of robots? A rampage of --?
* * *
A thin, cold wind cuts through the light pullover I'd put on that morning, whipping about my legs. I want to tremble, but dare not move. I know it's getting closer, and when it get to me, I'll die.
* * *
I shake the cobwebs from my brain. Three miles out from the Halcyon waterfront. All right then -- initial goal is to be where the robots are headed but be there before they are. If that's where Rossum's clone is (it seems likely), then extract him (just as Link did the original) and keep him out of their hands (and, more importantly, vice-versa). "Otto -- where are they going?"The big car robot (yes, I know) answers over the comms, "Uh, I don't know exactly. I can draw you a line on a map and transmit it over to --"
"Give me the coordinates." I can chart the map in my own head.
He recites a start point and a vector, and I let a map of the region play through my mind.
(Yes, I memorized the map of Halcyon and its environs. Haven't you?)
(I was a fugitive, dammit, and working to be aware of Quill interests, and a dozen other reasons. Shut up.)
Lots of miscellany that seems unlikely and un-useful. Would Rook have Rossum-ish stashed in an apartment building? What sort of security would he want? Or would she want? But what sort of research would we be talking about. He could be moving from domicile (at the moment) to a Rook facility ...
... but if this were one of Father's arrangements (or, frankly, mine), I'd keep Rossum close. Commutes can be spotted. "Hey," says a passing pedestrian (or cop), isn't that Rossum the Minion Maker in that car?" Or can be pulled over for speeding. Or can be involved in a traffic accident --
Don't laugh. A key agent in one of Father's programs was killed in the tsunami that hit Japan in 2011, while visiting his parents. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer, and your essential assets locked down tight in your pocket.
So, if Rossum is designing things for Rook, doing experiments, building prototypes, etc., etc., it's probably not happening in a strip mall, or an apartment complex, or a housing tract. It could -- but that sort of thing is difficult to hide, and ...
Okay, another lesson from Father (I'll let you draw conclusions that I'm applying these to Rosa Rook): anything can be hidden with unlimited resources -- but the more resources you throw at a problem, the greater the risk. Money can be followed. So sometimes it's wiser not to do the unthinkable. Scratch off the mundane.
There are a handful of Rook facilities along that line: a pier / warehouse complex, a light manufacturing facility, a business park ...
Those just don't feel right. Too obvious. Rook doesn't want to be implicated with working alongside a super-villain like Rossum.
So what else is along that line, extending past the city, suburbs, over the --?
Oh. Great. Two Rivers Nuclear Power Plant. Shuttered in 2002. Large spaces. Power access (even if the pile was decommissioned -- assuming it was). Fenced in. It just fits.
Now, what to do with that supposition? How can I prove it?
Father didn't work with Rook, at least not directly. Anything but. There were places where his cut-outs did business with their cut-outs, but Rook Industries as a whole is, in fact, just the sort of organization that Father would gladly have detonated a dirty bomb in the HQ of. An exemplar of late-stage capitalism, a polluter, an appropriator of land and resources in developing countries, a war contractor, a merchant of death.
So, yeah, it would be nice if I had some involvement with Father to hold over her head as blackmail. But ...
... but I have the next best thing.
Rook plays fast and loose, but is always trying to keep from jeopardizing their federal contracts, or becoming so toxic that nobody will by "Li'l Rooky" toys, or eat Rookburgers, or consume whatever other fiendishness they're up to this fiscal year. They don't work directly with criminals; they pay for their mercenaries and super-powered thugs. And their contracts always have outs to get them off the hook for any blow-back.
That's probably not going to work in the present circumstance. Thousands of Rookbots suddenly turning out to be under the control of Rossum the Minion Maker, abandoning their posts and flying off to free their master (and being able to fly, at that)? Yeah, if I worked for their PR Department, I'd be updating my resume, or retiring to a small Caribbean island without an extradition treaty.
Which means Rosa Rook's already off-balance. Which means a push will knock her down. And the last thing she'd want is anyone who can confirm the whole Rook/Rossum connection.
I toggle on the comm line. I know Mercury has a channel open and on speaker in Rook's office.
"So, Ms Rook, what kind of defenses can we expect over at Two Rivers?"
I immediately regret the words: a clear attack, a shot over the bow, a head-on confrontation. I'm sure it will have an effect, but maybe this was an even better time to be subtle, to get a read on her, get some good questions in.
No. This is my first outing with the team. I need to show them a bit of bravado, a willingness to tackle a fiend like Rook head-on, show I'm not afraid, that I can go where they aren't willing to.
"What --?" Her words cut off. Then, after a few moments, I hear feet stomping away, muttering that might be something along the lines of "Recruited someone clever finally ...."
Which tells me what I need to know (and warms the cockles of my heart to boot). I veer off my course to One Rook Plaza, and head for Two Rivers. "That's the robots' target, kids. Two Rivers Nuclear Plant. Pull on your lead panties if you want to join the party."
I notice my AEGIS tablet is signalling a call for me. I let it ring -- distracted driving is unsafe driving.