shadowrun 40 The Burning Time by Stephen Kenson Page A

drone, used primarily for surveillance work, though Val had a slightly different use planned for this run. The Kanmushi scuttled across the roof to the ventilation duct and climbed into it.
    "In we go," Talon said to Aracos. "Hope you’re not claustrophobic.""Likewise," the spirit shot back with a flicker of mirth. Following the Kanmushi, they passed through the roof as easily as through the doors of the van. The ventilation shaft was dark, of course, but that proved no hindrance to Talon and Aracos’s magical senses. The beetle operated through its onboard sensor package, guided by Val. It moved unerringly down the shaft, making its way through the ductwork as the tiny servomotors in its legs whirred faintly. It traveled across the duct and then down, taking the path they had plotted using the building plans Trouble had dug up for the team.
    Talon and Aracos trailed the Kanmushi down the vent shaft, and they could see a faint glow coming from the bottom of the shaft. The beetle didn’t seem to react to it, so the light must have been invisible to its sensors. Talon felt a faint breeze whistle up the shaft. Even though he was immaterial, the breeze was present on the astral plane as well.
    "Air elemental," he muttered. He’d heard that the research facility had "discreet" watcher elementals on site. What better place for an air spirit to hide out than in the ventilation ductwork?
    "C’mon, Aracos," he said. They had to take care of the watcher before it could alert someone to their presence or, worse yet, interfere with the Kanmushi. Even Aracos couldn’t materialize in the narrow vent shaft, but an air elemental’s material form was gaseous. It could fit through any space, but was solid enough that it might damage the drone if they let it.
    Talon drew the dagger at his waist as he and Aracos charged forward. The elemental saw them and tried to flee, but too late. It was not a particularly powerful spirit, and the fight was over almost before it began. Aracos’s astral form seemed to flow like quicksilver as he became a silvery-colored wolf, and seized the wispy form of the elemental in his jaws. Since they were both spirits, Aracos could hold the elemental, although it struggled and tried to flow out of his grasp.
    "Good work," Talon said, rubbing his familiar’s head. "Hold it here and keep it from giving an alarm while I follow the drone."
    The wolf nodded, and Talon continued after the Kanmushi as it completed its journey into the building. It stopped at a ventilation grate. Two of the drone’s spindly legs reached out and tapped gently on the grate. A moment later, a hand reached down and pulled the grate away.
    Talon slipped through the wall into a storeroom filled with office supplies. Kneeling on the floor was Dan Otabi, his aura showing the same mix of excitement and control that Talon had come to associate with runners at work. Damn, he thought, he really does think he’s Ethan Hunt, heroic shadowbreaker, on an undercover mission.
    With cool efficiency, Otabi withdrew an optical chip from his pocket as the silvery carapace of the Kanmushi opened with a pop to reveal a tiny storage compartment. Otabi slipped the chip inside and closed the compartment, his aura flashing a measure of satisfaction and concern.
    "There’s the evidence we need, Vince," he muttered. Vince was one of Ethan Hunt’s teammates in Shadowbreaker s. To Otabi’s mind, the pilot of the tiny drone was another member of "his team," and this was part of a mission. The programming on the personafix chip had done its work as advertised.
    The drone backed into the vent opening, and Otabi carefully replaced the grate. Then he straightened up and wiped his hands on his pants before leaving. Talon passed through the wall again to follow the drone back up to the roof. They encountered no further resistance on the way out.
    "How’re you holding up?" Talon asked Aracos.
    "Well enough, although this thing seems too stupid to know when to give