Freedom’s End
Rewind 717 - Episode 1
Christian Kallias
Contents
Also by Christian Kallias
Acknowledgments
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
5. Mission completion time: T minus 707 minutes
6. Mission completion time: T minus 637 minutes
7. Mission completion time: T minus 628 minutes
Sneak peek of the next episode
Want to read another Cole Seeker story right now?
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Also by Christian Kallias
About the Author
Also by Christian Kallias
The Universe in Flames Series
Book 1: Earth - Last Sanctuary (Definitive Edition)
Book 1.5: Ryonna's Wrath (Novella)
Book 2: Fury to the Stars
Book 3: Destination Oblivion
Book 4: The Beginning of the End
Book 5: Rise of the Ultra Fury
Book 6: Shadows of Olympus
Book 7: Armageddon Unleashed
Book 8: Twilight of the Gods
Book 9: Requiem of Souls
Book 10: To End All Wars (Conclusion of Fury Arc)
Books 1-5 available on Audiobook.
Universe In Flames - Origins
Episode 1: Course Correction
Episode 2: Damocles Fall (Definitive Edition)
Universe In Flames - Dark Legacy Series
Book 1: NEMESIS
Book 2: Unleashed (fall 2019)
Far Beyond Series
Book 0: Across the Galactic Pond
Book 1: Fire at Will
Book 2: Make it So!
Book 3: Battlestations!
Rewind 717 Series
Episode 1: Freedom’s End
Episode 2: Pandemonium
Episode 3: Nightfall
Acknowledgments
Cover artwork by Christian Kallias, christiankallias.com/art & Futuristic city by Tom Edwards, tomedwardsdesign.com.
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www.christiankallias.com
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Production Editor & Alpha/ARC Team Lead
Paula Lavattiata Lopez- myeditcheck.com
Editors
Paula Lavattiata Lopez - myeditcheck.com
Philip Newey
Proofreaders
Paula Lavattiata Lopez
Philip Newey
ARC Team (thanks everyone!)
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 by Christian Kallias christiankallias.com/art (Futuristic city on cover by Tom Edwards / tomedwardsdesign.com)
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
First Printing of original book(s), 2016
Version 1.5
One
I kick open the doors to the conference room on the two-hundred-and-seventieth floor. Thanks to the momentum I’d gathered during my sprint, the weak lock cracks under the pressure of my foot. My ears are still ringing from the flash grenade explosion from seconds ago. Now that I have dispatched the guards in the hall, I am nearing the completion of my mission.
Yet, I begin to doubt that when I see the two heavily armored mechs. Their targeting lasers instantly zero in on my position as I run. Glass shards graze my skin when a nearby window breaks, drawing blood, but I ignore it. My nanites will fix these scratches in a matter of seconds. I barely have time to jump out of the way as a rocket passes over the top of my head. I can feel both the wind and heat from its propulsion engine.
This is going to be a longer day than I initially expected. Part of me wish I had stayed in bed and played sensual holo-fantasies with Sabrina and Kathy.
But, such is my life, and such is my purpose. At least that’s the company’s line. I am a rare breed, nearly irreplaceable, and right now, no one else can do the job. Days like these I wish it weren’t true.
As I roll on the floor ending my dodging moves, I can see another rocket coming my way. The blinking red targeting lasers burn my cornea for a split second as time freezes. TAINHA (Tactical Artificially Intelligent Neural & Holographic Augment) doesn’t wait for my mental order, and she activates the artificial shading augment of my cornea to avoid physical damage as well as to improve my vision during this chaos. She is invaluable, especially during combat. Not only does she know when to act without my consent, but she also speeds up my neuro-link with every one of my augments.
She basically streamlines everything and makes me a more effective agent and killing machine. If I don’t see a punch coming, I know there is a good chance she will block it for me. It feels strange sometimes though, as I believe she could, if she wanted to, take control of my entire body while I sleep. I shrug the thought away; now is not the time.
I enter bullet-time mode. An expertly complex mix of adrenaline, enhanced with short-life nanites, targets my nervous system in less time than it takes the rocket to advance a single meter. It also overclocks my augments so I can react faster. What happens next in my body feels nothing short of a miracle. And, yet, I know this feeling very well. I have become dependent on this kind of augmentation. To achieve my goals and to achieve my missions, these state-of-the-art techs are the difference between life and death on the battlefield. I rely on them every moment of the seven-hundred-and-seventeen minutes of each of my temporal deployments.
I love how it feels though. The bullet-time augment is like a drug when it’s activated. When the nanites seize control of my nervous system and inject adrenaline, serotonin and dopamine are targeted to various parts of my body, and time freezes with diabolical precision. The result is an instant high; for a split moment, in real life that feels like it lasts minutes as it unfolds, I feel like I’m transformed into a time god. It’s intoxicating, but I know I can’t revel in it. There’s a rocket with my name on it flying toward me at high speed.
In this state, however, time no longer has a hold on me. My body and mind are pushed beyond their limits, and it only takes the impulse of a single thought to raise and activate my body shield. Time is stretched so much from my perspective that I can actually see the blue hexagonal pattern of the shield draw in front of me as it comes to life. It takes less than 0.1 seconds for it to materialize, yet I feel like I can take the time to watch it deploy. I’m mesmerized by the resulting light show.
Then again I realize this is the first time I have activated it milliseconds after entering bullet-time. Once the oval shield is fully deployed, it flashes a radiant blue. At this slowed time perception, the flash is almost blinding. I mentally push my cornea shading implant further to avoid visual ghosting side effects on my next move.
Taking care of a mark VI heavy mech on any given day is a not an easy task. But my target, my mark, has brought two of the metal monstrosities along. I should not be surprised. The mission brief did warn of his exceptional hacking skills and determination to complete his objectives. I know from experience that this particular terrorist is one of the most dangerous foes I ever had to deal with.
But, by god, I will deal with this scum. Today is the last day he draws breath. I swear to myself: I won’t let him escape this time.
I’m thrown out of my own thoughts as the shield illuminates whe
n the rocket impacts with the shield and detonates. The effects of bullet-time only last for a few seconds, even though it feels like minutes from my perspective. The fact of the matter is, while my reflexes, speed, and cognitive abilities are amped up to eleven, I can easily lose track of normal time in bullet-time. The exhilarating effect of this augment has played tricks on me before. It has one big caveat though: I can only use it once every ten hours, for risk of frying both what’s left of my natural brain and my augmented nervous system. Honestly, I am thankful for that fact. I think I would overuse this augment if it weren’t for this limitation. Who wouldn’t want to feel like they’re so fast, so strong, and so smart that everything plays in slow motion while they can recall a lifetime of memories at the same time as they’re fixing the problem at hand?
Flames, past the shield, erupt in front of me, its hexagonal pattern now colored orange as a response to the concussive explosion of the rocket. I know I have plenty of time to devise my next move, but I decide now is not a good time to reminisce about how addictive it is to be under the influence of bullet-time.
I check my tactical neural HUD, a holographic interface that is superimposed over everything in my field of view. Immediately, every threat in the room is highlighted in red. Those not in my field of view are arrows in my peripheral vision, pointing me toward said targets. There are three arrows on the left and four on the right. Great—seven more bogeys to dispatch on top of the two mechs. I’m sure glad I decided to activate bullet-time; without it, I can take care of seven targets if they are human, perhaps even augmented ones, but not with the additional two mechs in the room. They are the ones that need to go first before they get a chance to blow me to smithereens.
I calculate a trajectory that will put me exactly in the middle of their line of fire as the dying flames from the rocket turn to smoke. The path draws on my neural HUD. I then activate two more augments. I become invisible at the exact moment the second augment kicks in—a holo-ghost. A holographic projection of myself runs along the target path. I follow quickly in its wake as I don’t want to take the risk that the mechs might see through my deception. I disable heat signature protection from my stealth mode so that my body heat still registers on the mechs’ scans.
Since rockets have failed to inflict any damage on me, the mechs switch to plasma laser fire. These are equally deadly, and I know full well my shield won’t take them for long either. But they should hold until I’m ready to act and take down the mechs. Both myself and my holo-ghost are barely a few feet from the mechs when I somersault high into the air thanks to my super strength augment. I activate the holo-ghost’s camera so that the top right corner of my neural HUD shows me what it sees. The mechs are still firing on my decoy. The ghost stops exactly between them and starts aiming holographic blasters, both his arms extended toward its targets. They haven’t figured it’s a decoy yet. They keep pounding everything they’ve got on to their target, except their fire blazes through my holo-ghost, effectively tricking the mechs into firing at each another. Their shields are very strong, too strong for any of the weapons I still have in my arsenal, but their shields won’t take their own pounding of plasma fire for long. When they realize they are hitting nothing but air, they switch back to rockets.
I feel like smiling from ear to ear. They are doing exactly what I need them to do right now: bring their own shields down. When each of the mechs has fired a pair of rockets at my holo-ghost, it’s too late for them. Their shields are disabled and they stop firing. I’m so pumped up by how precise my augmented mental acuity is right now that I can almost feel them trying to reacquire me. I grab my nano-blade from my belt while finishing my somersault and position myself a good few feet atop the nearest mech. I’m coming at it from above, the last place it will check. Hopefully.
Before I deploy my blade, I quickly throw a mirror bomb in front of the second mech. My plan hinges on each mech not detecting me until it’s too late, but the moment I activate the nano-blade, its light-blue tinge might be enough of a visual stimuli to draw fire upon me. Better safe than sorry.
The mirror bomb, contained in a small metallic sphere no bigger than a grape, hits the ground and deploys. As everything still happens in slow motion from my perspective, I have all the time in the world to position myself perfectly for the kill while keeping an eye on the holographic mirror field deploying upward from the ground. The holo-mirror projects a mirror image to the second mech, the one I intend to destroy next. Since it is already facing another mech, I’m hoping it will be distracted and think the new image it receives is just a glitch. I only need to slow it down for a fraction of a second anyway while I finish my current move.
My trunk and chest are arched forward, and both my flexed legs and arms are arched back as I activate my nano-blade. It comes to life a millisecond before I spring into action and slash my way downward at the center of the mech from above. As the nano-blade cuts through metal, wiring, and silicon, sparks erupt, dark oily fluid sprays, and small pieces of metallic debris are ejected on both sides of the ongoing slash. In bullet-time, it’s an incredible show to behold. If I didn’t have to finish off this mech and formulate a plan to rid myself of its counterpart, I would be mesmerized by what I see and get lost in the moment.
That’s when I hear her in my head. I can’t get enough of her voice. I don’t know who at the company designed her vocal engine, but she feels real. Every inflection and subtlety in her voice, every artificial emotion, can be felt in her sweet, sensual, almost song-like tone.
“Don’t worry, Cole, I’m recording everything; you can rewatch it later. Ballsy move by the way, but I approve of this tactic,” says TAINHA.
Of course, you are. I’m glad you agree, but you ain’t seen nothing yet.
“I’m sure I haven’t, and I can feel my emotional sub-routines tingling with anticipation.”
That’s when I realize that everything must happen to her at slow motion all the time. The rush I feel in bullet-time, she probably feels twenty-four seven. All these billions of silicon transistors firing all at once, she is living life in the fast lane all the time. How we humans live when not using our augments must feel incredibly slow to her, just like everything feels for me now. Except, I probably can’t keep up with her, even in that state. She experiences trillions of cycles every second. While I have no doubt she doesn’t feel a rush while functioning, I wonder how much she does feel, nonetheless. Her last comment was unlike any other AI I have worked with or used before. She is one of a kind that’s for sure. If she weren’t mostly made of synthetic and organically enhanced silicon and graphite, I might even think about asking her out. But, let’s face it, she’s already with me every minute of every day.
“Cole, may I suggest you keep concentrating on your task? You’ll have all the time you want to fantasize about how I look in a tight red dress later on.”
I smile from ear to ear. Ever since she was grafted into my brain, I never really feel alone anymore.
I then realize it’s the first time TAINHA has spoken to me in bullet-time. Usually, she only gives me visual diagnostics, threat assessments, visual augmentations, and buzzing alerts when need be. She must have adapted her speech frequency to match my current perception of time. That is why she is by my side everywhere I go. She’s the most advanced piece of technology ever created on this beautiful blue marble, or what’s left of it, anyway. Her neural net is more complex than the world’s most renowned scientists’ intellects put together. And that sexy voice to boot. Can’t get enough of it, but she is right. I need to get my head back in the game.
The nano-blade keeps slashing and cutting the mech as I descend near its waist. Being a single nanometer thick, the nano-blade will cut through pretty much anything as a hot knife cuts through butter. But it’s a very dangerous weapon. One misstep on my part and I could cut valuable appendages of my own. That’s why I usually keep it for moments like these when I don’t have the time or the payload necessary to dispatch highly armored and hig
hly dangerous foes.
The nano-blade has finished cutting through what would be a scrotum if the five-meter high mech were human. But, it’s not. It’s a hunk of metal, silicon, and wiring driven only by AI and electrical impulses, and I’m about to recycle its metallic ass into kingdom come. I land with one knee on the ground as I safely put my nano-blade on my belt after retracting the blade. It attaches itself to the belt magnetically. As I rise, the mech is only now starting to feel the effects of gravity on its now perfectly cut-in-half titanium body. It’s splitting into two symmetrical parts, neither of which is able to hold on its own. I have most likely slashed the mech’s main CPU in half in the process but decide not to take any chances, should it not be placed at its center.
I raise my now blade-free hand and open my palm toward the still splitting mech. I can feel the nanites inside my hand morph outside of my skin. I feel the nanite-infused liquid metal morph into an upside-down triangle shape. Feeling the erosion of my skin is not the most pleasant of feelings, but my job requires me to hide most of my weaponry inside of my body for the times when I go undercover. I can feel my palm warm up, something I can’t really register outside of bullet-time. I unleash my laser-net shot. Deadly thin lines of cutting laser spin randomly as they advance, dicing through hundreds of small mech parts. I know it is overkill, but I switch my firing mode to incinerate it, nonetheless. The extruded triangle cannon morphs into a perfect circle from which flames of hell propel forward, consuming most of the mech’s debris before it reaches the floor.
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