Quantum Troopers Return Episode 3: Forbidden City

By Philip Bosshardt

A high-ranking member of the cartel Red Harmony wants to defect. It’s a potential intelligence gold mine, as General Liu Xichang has priceless inside information about how the cartel works. It’s risky but Quantum Corps decides that such a high-value asset is worth a substantial risk. There’s just one problem. Like all cartel members, Liu sports a ‘halo,’ a small capsule of nanobots in his skull that keeps members in line, under strict discipline and control and that can be used to terminate members who don’t behave.
The cartel has targeted Liu for termination. Thus, Quantum Corps finds themselves in a race against time, trying to complete a harrowing mission of extraction and keep Liu’s halo from erupting and taking his life and those around him.
Johnny Winger is given the mission to extract General Liu. It’s a double mission, with deceptions, disguises, double agents, moles and plenty of disinformation, for there are some inside the Corps who feel the entire effort is nothing less than falling for a Red Harmony sting.
Winger and his special ops detachment, in concert with geoplanes from U.N. Boundary Patrol, must penetrate a cartel compound deep in the heart of Beijing’s Forbidden City and attempt to exfiltrate their high-value target right out from under the noses of Red Harmony. Fighting off their pursuers, chased across the Gobi Desert and then across Manchuria and Russia, battling eruptions from Liu’s halo, always wondering if the entire mission is a setup and the detachment may be heading right into a trap, Winger and his quantum troopers persevere and manage to make off with their prize guest, who is grateful but must be kept contained, lest the troopers fall prey to a covert attack from inside.
Winger and his dedicated atomgrabbers manage to make it back to a safe harbor with their prize, but the quantum troopers don’t realize that Red Harmony may still have a few unpleasant surprises awaiting them.
Third episode in the Quantum Troopers Return serial.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Philip Bosshardt
• Release date: Apr 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463722312

Philip Bosshardt

Philip Bosshardt is a native of Atlanta, Georgia. He works for a large company that makes products everyone uses...just check out the drinks aisle at your grocery store. He’s been happily married for over 20 years. He’s also a Georgia Tech graduate in Industrial Engineering. He loves water sports in any form and swims 3-4 miles a week in anything resembling water. He and his wife have no children. They do, however, have one terribly spoiled Keeshond dog named Kelsey.For details on his series Tales of the Quantum Corps, visit his blog at qcorpstimes.blogspot.com or his website at http://philbosshardt.wix.com/philip-bosshardt.

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Quantum Troopers Return

Episode 3: Forbidden City

Published by Philip Bosshardt at Smashwords

Copyright 2020 Philip Bosshardt

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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A few words about this series….

Quantum Troopers Return is a series of 25,000-30,000-word episodes detailing the adventures of Johnny Winger and his experiences as a quantum trooper with the United Nations Quantum Corps. This series continues the original serial stories of Quantum Troopers, Episodes 1-22 (formerly Nanotroopers).

Each episode will be about 40-60 pages, approximately 30,000 words in length.

A new episode will be available and uploaded every 4 weeks.

There will be 10 episodes. The story will be completely serialized in about 12 months.

Each episode is a stand-alone story but will advance the greater theme and plot of the story arc.

The main plotline: U.N. Quantum Corps must defeat the criminal cartel Red Harmony’s efforts to use their nanorobotic ANAD systems for the cartel’s own nefarious and illegal purposes.

Uploads will be made to www.smashwords.com on approximately the schedule below:

Episode # (*) Title Approximate Upload Date

1 (23) ‘Fab Lords’ 2-7-20

2 (24) "Free Fall’ 3-6-20

3 (25) Forbidden City 4-3-20

4 (26) Deep Encounter 5-8-20

5 (27) HAVOC 6-12-20

6 (28) The Empty Quarter 7-10-20

7 (29) The Hellas Paradox 8-14-20

8 (30) Twist Pirates 9-11-20

9 (31) The Better Angels 10-9-20

10 (32) The Ship of Theseus 11-13-20

(Note *: Episode numbers start with Episode 1 in this new series but the continuation of episode numbers from Quantum Troopers is also provided)

Chapter 1: Defection

Beijing, China

Below the Forbidden City

March 20, 2064

1730 hours, Earth Universal Time (EUT)

General Liu Xichang had wanted out of Red Harmony for a long time. The AI that ran the cartel—a machine entity known only as Configuration Zero—had determined that Liu no longer added value to the organization and it was true, he had messed up some recent assignments.

Configuration Zero had targeted Liu for extermination. But the problem was that Liu’s brain had an embedded halo and he was imprisoned in a containment cell beneath Beijing’s Forbidden City, unable to get out.

Fortunately, the last scans they had done before throwing him in the cell hadn’t discovered everything. Liu waited until late one night, when the guards were away and lay down on his bunk, partially covering his face with a pillow—the all-seeing eye of the camera couldn’t see what he was doing now.

He manipulated a back-molar tooth in his mouth, until the crown came off. Shaking the crown, he dislodged a tiny, fly-sized entomopter into the palm of his hand. He turned over in the bed, pulled up the covers to simulate sleep and with a flick of a thumb, activated the device, itself no larger than one Beijing’s trillions of Musca domestica. The quadprops whirred into action and even gave off a convincing buzz. Liu released the thing and it zipped about the cell like so many other flies that flitted in and out of the dingy row of cells.

Never noticed or detected by the camera or any other sensors, the ‘mopter homed unerringly on the grate of a ventilation duct and disappeared. Moments later, the device emerged into the stiff wind of a late afternoon Beijing sand storm, a yellow pall of fine dust caking everything, sweeping down out of the desert on northwesterly winds.

Programmed to seek, detect and home on a specific target, the ‘mopter circled the Forbidden City for ten minutes, unseen by anyone or anything, passed along a ramp carved with dragons’ heads in bas-relief and over the upswept roof of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Sensing the first faint signature of its target, the ‘mopter dove down through the pall of dust and set a zigzag course more or less paralleling Ch’ang An Avenue. It traveled several blocks through gusting winds before veering sharply down a dimly lit alley, angling off Hsi Tan and homing on a tiny poorly-lit restaurant called Ch’eng-tu, tucked beneath a red and white striped canopy that flapped vigorously in the breezes.

The ’mopter entered the restaurant through a smokestack overhead and rode through hot updrafts until it emerged into the main dining salon, crammed with red plastic booths. In the far corner, sat a single man of Bengali descent, sucking at a plump dumpling dripping with hot pepper gravy.

The fly that wasn’t a fly had now found its programmed target. It buzzed about the Bengali man’s head for a moment, dodging perfunctory attempts to swat it away, until it powered down its quadprops and settled right on top of his meal of bean curd cubes.

Sadi Vishnapuram coughed and made a face. Beast…get out of here! But as he looked closer, he saw that the beast which had settled onto his ma-la tou-fu wasn’t a fly at all. A faint flashing red light winked up at him, saying in effect Press Here.

Vishnapuram pressed the button.

Instantly, a faint 3-d projection emerged from the device. It swelled to the size of a fist and danced across the top of the bean curd. Startled, Vishnapuram whisked the device off his food and dropped it onto the plastic bench, shoving it into the corner of the seat. He looked around and was relieved no one had noticed. Even better, his cartel handler hadn’t shown up yet.

Vishnapuram now watched the projection play out. He recognized the man—it was General Liu—an old contact inside the cartel. The Bengali courier had often worked with General Liu. But now—this—the General was speaking and Vishnapuram leaned closer.

…want out…have to get away…in danger here…they know too much….

The words were garbled, stuttered quickly, didn’t make a lot of sense but Vishnapuram understood that Liu was in trouble with the cartel. The courier had often heard the man talk of his halo and how he had to be careful with what he said. Now, somehow, unaccountably, he wanted out…of the cartel.

Vishnapuram understood perfectly well that such things just didn’t happen.

A shadow crossed his face. He looked up. It was his handler.

Drop something? she said. She sat down and primped her hair and face for a moment using a small lighted auto-compact. Seconds later, the nanoderm in her face began to respond.

Vishnapuram hadn't seen her before. Or maybe he had. Her appearance kept changing; he was no longer sure who she was. Today, for the moment, she was short, petite, straight black hair tied in a severe bun. Her outfit was impeccable: white skirt, white shoes, black and white blouse and latex gloves.

She glared coldly at Vishnapuram. You're late.

The Bengali attempted a shrug, but realized it wasn't visible in the shadows. Couldn't be helped…I had another delivery, right here in Beijing. Near the zoo…San Li Ho Road.

Her real name was Wei Ming, but Vishnapuram didn't know that. Nor did he ask. It was understood that identities weren't important. Only results were important. That much was understood quite well.

Wei Ming pursed her lips, glanced around deeper into the dark of the dining room. It was late and the crowd had thinned. She drew some nearby window shades aside, scanned outside, satisfied, she looked back, partially into the light. Her face was a half moon, pale and unblemished as a ceramic figurine. Why?

Vishnapuram watched her, hoping to detect something, some inkling of where he stood with them. Maybe a twitch, a clench of her fist, but there was nothing. It was a routine delivery, this time. Fully covert. Information, that’s all.

What kind of information?

They’re forming up some kind of reconswarm, to infiltrate and do all-wavelength scans. EM, infrared, acoustic, mag. Grab stuff right off the computers. They're still looking.

Mmm. A question or a statement? He wasn't sure.

Vishnapuram found the silences uncomfortable. They don't have a firm connection yet. Just suspicions.

That is enough. Wei Ming's face hardened. What happened at Lion's Rock? You were supposed to have stopped them--

Vishnapuram knew that was coming. He'd spent hours, trying out different answers, none of them any good. Quietly, resigned, he explained the mission above Kowloon City, what had happened at the Four Winds Clinic, how Johnny Winger--damnable Winger--had managed somehow to grab a Red Harmony mech before they'd been driven out. He tried to put a spin on the story, a certain inevitability, factors beyond my control, I wasn't prepared for--but she brushed him off and got up, pacing again, this time more abruptly.

When she came back into the light of the small table lamp, her face was no longer a half moon. It had morphed into a hard, impassive mask, a carnival mask, an angry clown. Was it the light…maybe nanoderm patches changing with her mood? He'd heard of the trick--

This is no good, she told him. The undulations on her cheeks and forehead seemed to settle down, take on a firmness. If Quantum Corps' got one of our mechs, that's no good at all. She frowned. It was almost a relief to see a normal gesture, something he understood. With one of our mechs, they'll surely develop countermeasures.

It will take some time--

Now she was visibly angry. The skin kneaded itself into a hard fist, making her cheeks bulge slightly like a lioness with fresh kill in her mouth. "They're not stupid, Vishnapuram. Don't make that mistake. You've made enough already. She was thinking, her cheeks returning to normal planes, sleek and alabaster. You have the package with you? The Project depends on it."

Vishnapuram had heard of The Project before. He wanted to ask, but he decided against it. But he was curious.

I have it. He had wrapped the ‘mopter in a fat noodle in a corner of the bench, smothering the projection, but light leaked out anyway. He didn’t know if she’d seen it.