Apex Cypher (Prequel to The Techxorcist series) Read Online Free PDF

him. No one had a working vehicle this side of the Dome. He’d heard rumours of a desert-gang who had made their own buggies out of non-electrical mechanical parts, but to have a real vehicle, that’d cut down a huge amount of time. They’d planned to travel to the rumoured outpost beyond the Dome called GeoCity-1. Home to the people who had made their own vehicles.
    At first Gabe and Petal didn’t believe it existed. A settlement that close to the Dome? Why would The Family allow it? But then back at Xian’s they had proof: a network signal. There were computers over there, and a job request. An unnamed individual requested someone with AI knowledge. They only knew about it because Gabe managed to decrypt the information. Xian just thought it was junk data left over from some random computer. Nothing was random these days. With so few computers still working, and fewer people still to actually make any use of them, any piece of data was important, valuable.
    The Ranger would take weeks off their journey.
    Shelley knew he was in. She just smiled and pointed back the way they came, making Gabe walk ahead of her. At every step he wondered if she’d change her mind, kill him, and wear his skin as a robe. He arrived back at the fuselage as Petal poked her head out.
    “What the hell just happened?” Petal said, rubbing her head, squinting her eyes.
    “Nothing much,” Gabe said. “You just died for a bit.”
    “That all? Hah. For a headache like this I was hoping it was for a night of drinking and screwing. No such luck, eh?”
    “Not these days, girl. But we got the job, and it’s a good’un. You up for some covert ops?”
    “If it puts food in my belly, I’m in for anything. When do we get started?”
    Shelley hobbled past Gabe, regarded the both of them. “If you set off now, you’ll reach Baicheng before nightfall.”
    Petal stretched her limbs, climbed down the stairs slowly, and breathed in deeply. “I feel like crap, but I guess it won’t hurt to walk it off. You shot with me ‘Stems, didn’t you?”
    Shelley nodded. “You took quite the shock. A little bit of advice: don’t go touching things that aren’t yours. Quick way to get yourself killed, and maybe permanently one day.”
    “Aye, noted. Thanks for the ‘Stem though, I know they don’t come cheap.”
    “Well, considering I need a job doing, I like to think of it as investment. Just don’t screw up.”
    Gabe saw the look in her eyes and thought back to the pile of skins. There was a reason she still had protein packs left. She was getting her nutrition from somewhere else. And he guessed if they failed, they’d better not return, unless they wanted to be the woman’s dinner and desert.
    “You wanna set off now then?” Petal said. “You got all the details for the job?”
    Gabe looked to Shelley. “Do you have any more info on this Jericho character? Like the whereabouts of his place? Anything to look out for, defense wise?”
    “Just ask around in the town. It won’t take you long to find him—unless he finds you first. And as for defense, he isn’t a schoolgirl; so expect to work for this job. It won’t be a walk in the park, that’s for sure.”

Part 4 - The Betrayer
    “This place is a shit hole,” Petal said as she and Gabe climbed over a three metre high pile of concrete and rubble at the entrance to Baicheng, the former transport hub for northern China. The sun was close to setting, and it bathed the dead city in a wash of crimson light.
    “Everywhere is, but this does seem to be particularly screwed. How ya feeling?” Gabe helped her over an outcrop of rock.
    “Like I died. My head’s killing me. I can feel the ‘Stems at work though.”
    She’d eventually got her balance back halfway through the journey. One thing Gabe had learned in the years spent travelling with her was that she was incredibly resilient. He often wondered if she weren’t some kind of cyborg or something, given her ability to hold AIs and