Judge Anderson: Year One by Alec Worley

Author:Alec Worley
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science Fiction
Publisher: Abaddon
Published: 2019-10-24T22:14:43.920000+00:00

AN ARMOURED JUDGE carrying a Lawrod rifle flagged down Psi-Judge Tzu as he approached the checkpoint on his Lawmaster. He could hear the crowds rioting among the factories a short distance ahead, their thoughts as deafening as their assembled voices. A Manta sat docked beside the road. More Judges wearing tactical armour were tramping up the boarding ramp.

“Heard you guys got a Psi-Judge stranded in the Big Zero Six,” Tzu said. “She asked for a long-range telepath?”

“Sorry, pal,” the Judge said. “Figure you had a wasted trip.”

“How so?” Tzu said, removing his helmet.

A burly Judge with a fearsome red beard was striding towards them from the Manta. His name was Greaves, Tac-Command.

“Didn’t you get the drokkin’ vid-link?” he shouted.

Probably busy meditating or something, Tzu heard Greaves think as he approached, swiping at his data-pad.

Tzu went to reply when a message autoplayed on the vid-screen of his Lawmaster. The face of a young woman with sickly orange hair was screaming and slavering into the camera. The image shuddered as she hammered at it with what looked like a length of pipe. Her face a grimace of fury, her eyes lost in madness as she continued battering the screen until it turned into a square of static. Only then did Tzu realise who he had been looking at.

“Tek Div were trying to get an eyeball inside the block when someone tripped the riot-robos,” Greaves said. “They managed to pick up a relay, and facial-recog found that. Looks like your girl’s gone native.”

Tzu watched the footage again, incredulous, as Greaves departed for the waiting Manta.

“Plenty of action around here, if you feel like pitching in,” Greaves called out.

“Wait.” Tzu climbed off his Lawmaster and scurried after him. “So you’re gonna storm in there and blow Blake away?”

“That’s the plan, son,” Greaves said. “Now those riot-bots have cleared most of the inmates for us, we’ve ordered the power company to shut down the entire block.”

“What about the bomb?” Tzu said, catching Greaves’ arm as he reached the Manta’s boarding ramp. “Your going in there could be just the excuse Blake needs to pull the trigger.”

Greaves almost laughed.

“Frankly, the only evidence we have that this bomb even exists is the say-so of a Psi-Judge that’s just gone nutso. In fact, the Chief Judge has just cleared her as a hostile target. She gets in our way, she’s going down.”

“But she’s a Judge,” Tzu said. “She’s one of us.”

“Not anymore,” Greaves said. “Now go on home.”

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