Quantum Troopers Return Episode 8: Twist Pirates

By Philip Bosshardt

A global plague of addictive nanobots called Shiva is sweeping the Earth. The bots are controlled by the cartel Red Harmony, giving the cartel unlimited access to millions of minds, enough to take control of entire countries. A recon mission proves that a drug company named Vivonex is deeply implicated and that an antidote exists, but the antidote is well protected in a Chinese biowar lab in western China.
Quantum Corps assigns a covert penetration mission to Johnny Winger and quantum trooper Stella D’Garza: enter the compound disguised as Chinese scientists, find out what Red Harmony is doing there and grab the antidote, known as X-Shiva.
Thrown into the middle of a well-protected enemy base, armed only with their disguises and their training, the troopers must rely on their wits and Winger’s ability as an angel to assume almost any shape. They manage to seize the antidote and, while accompanying others on a special trip to release experimental upgraded versions of the Shiva device in the atmosphere, Winger and D’Garza make good their escape.
The plan is to make their way west into the forbidding mountains and deserts of Tajikistan and rendezvous with an extraction force coming from below ground, by geoplane. But dogged pursuit by Chinese forces, aided by Red Harmony, puts the plan in jeopardy.
Only a daring, last-minute ploy by Johnny Winger enables the troopers to get away. But after debriefings back at their Quantum Corps base, Stella D’Garza learns she has a new mission nobody knows about...a mission assigned her by her new employer...Red Harmony itself. Unknown to anyone else, the Corps now has a traitor in its midst.
Eighth episode in the Quantum Troopers Return serial.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Philip Bosshardt
• Release date: Sep 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005004149

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 8: Twist Pirates

Published by Philip Bosshardt at Smashwords

Copyright 2020 Philip Bosshardt

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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: Shiva

New York City

June 20, 2067 (EUT)

The back alley off East 20th was dimly lit, rat-infested and filled with trash and puddles of oily water from the night's drizzle. The night was hot and sultry, sticky and sweltering. Into the alley, a car pulled up, crunching over broken glass and gravel. Four men got out.

Three of the men were armed with black-muzzled magpulse guns. The fourth was bound at the wrists with polycuffs. His name was Moto. He was an addict.

Moto was thrown roughly to the ground, writhing in pain. One of the men, short and stocky with a black beard and a black beret, stood over Moto with a sneer, a palm-sized control pad in his hand. The driver, Leo, and Farouk, the enforcer, hung back, while Kent did the job.

Kent swore at Moto for a few minutes. You scamming us, tryin' to vulture us out, huh? Think we have no brains, is that it?

"No…man-- Moto forced out. --I mean…look, man, give me a--" Suddenly, he convulsed, rolling up into a fetal position, writhing in pain, while Leo and Farouk looked on sourly.

Kent was both judge and jury. Too late for excuses, pal. He flicked a switch on the pad and small eye-viewer swung out. A red button was thumbed. Moto convulsed like a fish, flopping and rolling across the broken glass of the pavement. He landed at Farouk's feet, got a boot in the gut for the effort. You shoulda taken out a loan--

Moto groaned, crying, whimpering, struggling with the polycuffs. Farouk used his boot to kick the poor sap over on his side. I…I ain't….I can get… get it--

Kent wasn't through. A man's gotta keep his word, ain't that right, boys?

Mm-hmmm, said Leo.

Kent did the red button again. Moto screamed, bit through his tongue and blood poured from both sides of his mouth. Farouk took the moment to find a rag and stuffed it in his mouth, earning another scream, this one muffled. Leo scanned the alley uneasily. A cat screeched in the distance.

A man don't pay for his hits-- Kent was saying, circling the prostrate form on the ground, --a man's not good for his word…well, we can't have that, can we? Sets a bad example and all. Trust is so important in this business. Can't ever get something for nothing…didn't your momma ever tell you that? Gonna have to terminate this contract for good. For emphasis, he stabbed the red button again.

Moto jerked into uncontrollable convulsions, back-snapping contortions. Leo winced at the sight. Serengeti was bad shit, no two ways about that. Get that bugger in your skull and sometimes, you weren't even yourself, more like a robot or a lab rat.

Kent motioned to the two. Stand him up. Prop him up--over there. He indicated a dingy wall, by a fire escape ladder.

Moto was hoisted up, and held, then tied by the neck to the ladder. The next convulsion would probably strangle the poor slob.

Let's see what we can see now… Kent worked the pad, dialing up a view on the tiny screen. Well, well…what have we got here? Leo and Farouk leaned a little closer.

The image fizzled, then settled down. It was an acoustic view, a snapshot of Moto's brain, the limbic system to be specific. Ventral tegmentum, just above the brain stem. As Kent fiddled with the gain, the image sharpened to a dense, hazy forest of neural tissue. Uncountable millions of neurons throbbed with pulses, while the Shiva nanomechs pumped the gaps with dopamine, and sucked them dry just as fast. Each cycle sent Moto into shudders and spasms.

Kent snickered. Looks like the Indians have taken over the fort, boys. Take a peek. He showed them the image, as the Shiva master replicant cruised through thickening dendrites, sounding ahead, and sending the pulses back to the imager. Moto was a twist addict, pure and simple. His brain was infested with uncountable gazillions of mechs, all working in unison, all stimulating and massaging the neural pleasure circuits, pretty much on command. Farouk chuckled at the sight.

Pusher's dream, huh?

Kent laughed. Right. Addiction on demand. Pay as you go. His laugh melted into a scowl. Or not-- He pressed the red button.

Moto jerked as if stung, pulled at the cord, nearly throttled himself. He hung limp for a few seconds, until Leo stood him up again. On the viewer, a froth churned in dopamine soup, as the mechs plied their trade, working the synaptic gaps like a musical instrument. A symphony of agony played out on Moto's contorted face.

See-- Kent bent down to come face to face with Moto. The addict's breath was sour, bloody. See--when you don't make a payment, the bosses get nervous. You know? They got bills to pay. You miss a payment and we gotta come collect. Kent stood up. You don't want us to do that, do you?

"Nuunnnhhh-- was all Moto could force out. I don't--"

I mean…it ain't like we can just pull the buggers out, now is it. We got an investment in you…you're kinda like stock. That means you gotta pay off. And when you can't pay anymore, well-- Kent half shrugged. Just like a stock--

Moto twisted at the end of his cord, banging his head on the bottom of the ladder. Kent fiddled with a few buttons, sending the mech fleet back in, stoking the dopamine, lighting a fire in the man's head. The back of his skull was bruised and bleeding, the new cranial port a gaping wound, half-finished now that Kent had interrupted the mech program.

All he had to do now was change the program running the Shiva swarm. Instead of exciting waves of neural ecstasy and pleasure, the mechs would put the bite on Moto, slurping up enough dopamine to send the sucker into paroxysms of excruciating, unending pain.

Sorry, man, but a deal's a deal. Kent watched the mech frenzy feeding on Moto's synapses, pressed a few buttons to make it even more exquisite.

From somewhere in the distance, the cat's screech was drowned out by a siren. Tires squealed.

Leo ran back to the car to get it started. Farouk fidgeted. "Kent--come on, man--"

Kent waited until Moto's seizure had subsided. "Sayonara, my friend--"

He dialed in a new program, upping the output of the Shiva swarm inside Moto's head to its theoretical maximum.

The jerk of his head snapped the rope, nearly decapitating the twist addict. Moto flopped on the ground like a dying fish, thrashing and banging his head repeatedly against the wall, screaming through bloody rags at the top of his lungs. As he died an agonizing, gruesome death, crawling through broken glass, rat shit and trash, Kent and his boys climbed quickly back into their car.

Leo gunned the engine and the car sped off into the drizzling, sultry New York night.

And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

Revelations, 15:8

Basel, Switzerland

Vivonex Corporation, Central Laboratory

July 1, 2067

Noon

Theo Souvranamh watched the snow-capped mountains of the Alps growing larger by the minute as the hyperjet from Beijing descended through light chop toward the airport at Basel. It was