Absolute Knowledge Box Set (Books 1-3)

by Drew Cordell

  “So? Have you made your decision?” Grez asked, setting the box down on the table in front of me.

  “I think so. The Undercity is dangerous, and this territory in Vermont might be as well. We want armor, and we want to carry a weapon,” Marwin said.

  “Come now, you don’t think that poses a high risk for me? You’re not exactly here on your own free will,” Grez said, shaking his head. “I’ll meet you halfway and give you each the best armor we have available and Violet as your personal guard. Trust me, she’s a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.”

  “With all due respect, Grez, one woman, however proficient, can’t realistically protect and guard all three of us at any given time. Perhaps you could allow us to carry sidearms?” Marwin asked.

  “Try anything and Violet will kill you. I guarantee you won’t see her blades coming, but you will feel their sting and die a slow, painful death. I have no patience for games and neither does she. I’ll permit sidearms, but they’ll be of my choosing.”

  “Thank you. I think we have a deal then,” Marwin said.

  Grez smiled. “Jake, if that’s the case, then we’ll give you some privacy to open your box and give me the map. Like I said, everything else is yours to keep, and you’ll get it back after we return from Vermont. All I want is the map, and one month of your time plus travel,” Grez said, sliding the box toward me and turning to face the opposite direction.

  I covered the box’s keypad with my hand and punched in the code, moving my hand around randomly along the keys to obscure what I typed in case there was a camera recording. This was our best shot at getting out of this on top, and I couldn’t risk everything over a map I could potentially recover later. Maybe this was all part of my father’s plan. No. There was no way he could have predicted Anderson’s defection. It was uncanny how accurate his predictions were. I needed to tread carefully and protect the rest of the box.

  Opening the box, I quickly grabbed the envelope with the data card and letter from my father and shut it, locking it then pressing all the buttons so they couldn’t use my fingerprints to deduce the code.

  Grez extended his hand to Marwin who shook it firmly. He did the same with Mary and me, and we struck a deal. I handed him the envelope, and he smiled. “You three have made a wonderful decision today. We’ll keep Leroy and your box safe while we’re away; I guarantee it. I’ll have my engineers look over the data and report back to me once they’ve verified everything. Obviously, if the data doesn’t contain a map or isn’t valuable to me, we’ll need to have a different conversation about getting the rest of the box’s contents. Like I said, there’s no reason why we can’t be civil and work things out in a way that benefits all of us. I understand this situation isn’t ideal for you, but I’d like to do everything in my power to turn it around. I’m excited for our trip to Vermont and look forward to what we’ll find together. We’re going to do great things, and my hope is we grow our civilization in the Undercity and create an era of peace.”

  I wanted to call Grez out on his newfound quest for peace but thought better of it. However reasonable he seemed now, he was unpredictable and dangerous. I couldn’t forget that. We had no choice but to work with him, but we needed to work on an exit plan if things went bad. Carrying sidearms on our journey to Vermont would give us some flexibility, but it wouldn’t be enough. If things went bad, we’d be deep in uncharted territory without access to the crucial maps we’d need to escape.

  “I think we’re done for the night. I’m not really in the mood for cards after eating so much, and I’m sure you’d like some rest after such an eventful arrival from Olympus. I’ll have my guards escort you to your living quarters, and we’ll meet tomorrow once my engineers have had time to analyze the data you’ve so graciously supplied. Again, thank you for making the right decision and for allowing me to remain civil. I find violence really is unnecessary most of the time,” Grez said.

  Servants cleared our plates and we declined dessert, none of us feeling the slightest bit hungry. With a farewell, Grez left the dining hall with his daughter, and the guards in the room escorted us to our room which was on the same upper-level floor. It wasn’t the best room I had ever stayed in, but we each had our own bed, and there weren’t any other prisoners staying with us. The room was basic and had little more than three beds each with a light blanket haphazardly tossed on top. As soon as we entered, the guard shut and locked the door behind us with instructions to use the phone mounted to the wall if we needed anything. Somehow, I didn’t think the guards would be in any hurry to fulfill any requests we might have. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all simple concrete and no effort had been taken to decorate them. There was a separate bathroom connected to the room which was stocked with toiletries and had a working shower—a small victory.

  “I guess this is home for now,” Marwin said, sitting on one of the unclaimed bunks and pulling off his new shoes. I picked a bunk next to Mary, and Leroy sat on the edge of his bed after we helped him out of his wheelchair. He asked for a cup of water, and I went to the bathroom and grabbed one for him. When I handed it to him, he took a deep drink and popped a few pills from a large bottle in his pocket, swallowing the concoction with a grimace.

  “They’ve got you doped up on the good stuff, huh?” Mary asked him with a smile.

  Leroy grinned weakly. “Yeah, definitely takes the edge off. It’s so good to see the three of you again; it really is. I’m not trying to get all emotional, but you’re family.”

  I couldn’t help but smile with the others. It was incredible he had survived, and it wasn’t something I would take for granted. But the guilt returned. I was responsible for leaving him and despite the miracle he was alive, I didn’t make the right calls at the Docks. It was made worse by the fact that I knew he would never call me out on it. That wasn’t who he was; he would accept the situation even if he wasn’t going to recover from the loss of Caeldra anytime soon.

  Marwin patted Leroy on the back, sitting next to him and facing Mary and me. “It’s great to see you as well, Leroy. Let’s talk about the current situation before we get some sleep.”

  “How much do you know about Grez?” I asked Marwin, wanting as much information as possible.

  “Like I said, he was the former heir to the Supreme Leader in Olympus, but everyone thought he was dead. Not sure I’ll be able to ask him about it, but he supposedly died in an airship crash a long time ago. I guess the stress of Olympus got to him, and he wanted to start over. He used to have a horrible drinking problem, but it would seem he has that under control now, at least from what we’ve seen so far.”

  Mary raised her eyebrows. “Wow. How do you go from luxury living to running something like the Harvesters?”

  Marwin shrugged. “The same way everyone adapts to change, I guess. He was always a bright man; I just didn’t think he’d get involved in something like this. I know we don’t have true privacy right now, so we need to be careful what we say, but I’m not quite sure how we’ll fare if this whole Vermont thing doesn’t work out. We’re dealing with a dangerous man. Most people wouldn’t enter certain segments of the black market like Grez did, let alone pivot an organization like theirs to mushroom farming for the greater good of the New York underground. We need to be careful, and we need to fulfill our side of the bargain so Grez is incentivized to do the same.”

  Leroy shifted and took another sip of water before setting his glass down on the floor. “I didn’t know he used to live in Olympus. I haven’t really been able to gather very much information since I arrived here, but they do have a pretty sophisticated medical facility and some talented doctors. It’s a miracle I’m alive at all. Do you know what to expect in Vermont?”

  Marwin shook his head. “No idea, but I’m hoping we can grab something to give the Champions a much needed boost. Grez made it very clear he has no intention of living under a Champion-run government in New York, but he also wants to build an underground empire. I guess I don’t understan
d why a man like him would limit his ambition and perspective. There is immense potential for a mutually beneficial arrangement of all three of our guilds on the surface of New York if we can take out the Omniscience Engine for good. Only Martinez knows all the details of the EMP and how much damage it’s going to do, but we can create a Government for the people and rebuild the country from scratch under a new set of ideals based on true liberty and justice.”

  Mary frowned. “You said it yourself. He gave up everything before, but it seems like he’s finally ready to come out of the shadows. We never had a name for the leader of the Harvesters or had anyone negotiate with them before all this, right?”

  Marwin shrugged. “I’m not sure. I knew they were an enemy of the Guild, but until we came back to the Slums, I wasn’t really been plugged in with the Guild and certainly wasn’t well versed in their current events or Harvester history. I’m missing pieces from the earlier years.”

  I joined in. “I don’t know either. I ran into a few of their goons with Caeldra in the Undercity, but other than that I was so focused on working with Master Aarlen that I never really spent much time looking into them.”

  Leroy leaned forward. “I can answer that, at least in part. From the eight years I’ve been with the Champions, we haven’t ever had a peaceful talk with anyone from the Harvesters that’s open knowledge. All their goons in the Undercity and on the surface of the streets were drugged out of their minds and didn’t say much. They got their work done and that was that. They didn’t even know the name of their leader at the time, and even when we pressed the limits of the Champion’s Code on interrogation, they never gave up a name. It seems like Grez liked his privacy even then, and it appears he’d like to be the one controlling the status quo of how history develops in the present.”

  “But why limit himself like this?” Mary interrupted.

  “It’s simple,” Leroy continued. “From what I’ve seen, the Harvesters aren’t anything like they used to be. The Champions vastly exceed them in numbers and firepower even now. If our only real oppressor is wiped out, Grez won’t have the leverage he has now. He’s gambling and betting on the fact that the Omniscience Engine isn’t going to come after him like it has us.”

  I shook my head. “That doesn’t make sense. You can’t leverage what you keep in the shadows. Others need to know about your assets in order for you to leverage them.”

  Marwin met my eyes. “Not necessarily true. Threats, promises, and bluffs can all be believable without backing evidence. We don’t know exactly what he has, but he knows we’re hurting from our attack on the Docks which gives him the upper hand.”

  Leroy frowned. “That’s not the point. Vermont could be a gold mine, but Grez is smart to be growing so much extra food right now. We’re at a point where the resources of the Slums have all but dried up. We’re going to be more dependent on what we can produce ourselves, and if we need his food to survive, then Grez has complete power over us. I think Grez is depending on finding something useful in Vermont and either using it to grow the Harvesters’ power or influence over the Champions and Scavengers and rightly so. He’s mitigating his risk and right now, we’re one of his greatest assets. Grez isn’t going to show his cards until he’s ready, and it sure as hell will be on his terms. There’s no getting around that.”

  Marwin grimaced. “Leroy is right. In other words, Grez has no logical reason to fulfill his side of the bargain with us, and we have no option but to play along and hope he doesn’t screw us over.”

  7 PREPARATIONS

  ∆∆∆

  The guards awoke us from our sleep several hours later. Grez wanted to talk to us, and the guard seemed eager to get us to Grez’s office. Grez was sitting when we arrived, working on some kind of computer program on the holo surface of his desk. We took our seats, and I noticed the entire office was deep cleaned. There were no blood stains or any evidence Anderson had ever stepped foot in the office, let alone died a horrible death here.

  Violet stood beside the big man, sharpening the deadliest Nanoedged knife I had ever seen. She was wearing her black combat suit still and showed impressive indifference at our arrival. Grez was dressed in a suit, and there was a bulky assault rifle leaned against the wall behind his desk.

  “Good news,” Grez declared, looking up at me from his work. “The map is legitimate, and we’re going to start gearing up. The bad news is that we have almost four hundred miles to cover, and most of it is going to have to be underground. Even Anderson’s stealth fighter, which is very nice by the way, can’t keep all the radiation out. By the time we get there, we would already have a lethal dose. On top of that, the weapons lab we’re going to isn’t even accessible from the surface. Fortunately, there is a lengthy underground river that will take us most of the way. We just need to get to the river and contract a boat from River’s Port that will get us there. It shouldn’t be a problem, but it could be if we run into Champions or Scavenger Guild members who recognize you. I don’t think anyone will be too happy to see Harvesters either, so we’re all going in disguise and won’t be wearing any of our trademark identifiers. What that means is you’re going to have to lay low until we leave River’s Port. We can’t draw any unnecessary attention. If you do, Violet will have no problems making sure you stay quiet.”

  Violet looked up at us with sharp, clever eyes, flipping her knife through her fingers with deft motion and activating the burning edge on the blade. One slip and she’d burn or cut her fingers off. I was equally impressed and scared as she finished the trick.

  Marwin stood, his body tensing. A flame ignited in his eyes. “So let me get this straight. We’re going to disguise ourselves as what? Merchants? Wandering vagabonds? How exactly do you expect to disguise our whole group? We’ll play your game, but you sure as hell better plan for everything, especially if you want to make it out of River’s Port. The whole city is run by the Scavenger Guild, and I think they’re going to want to take a closer look when they learn there is a fully armed party looking to contract a boat in their city.”

  Grez’s smile faded. “Marwin, you need to sit down please. It will be your group of three, me, my daughter, and ten of my finest people. We’ll have a good mix of specialists and soldiers, and we’ll be very well armed.”

  Marwin took a seat, but he didn’t look happy. “You’ll be well armed,” he grumbled.

  “Did you think we’d be walking the whole way? Perhaps swimming? It’s the only way, and we’re taking our gear,” Grez said.

  Marwin shrugged, and Mary interjected. “We’ll figure it out. Marwin is right that we need to take precautions in River’s Port. Things aren’t that great with the Champions and Scavengers, and we need to make sure they don’t recognize us. As far as I know, we don’t have any forces in River’s Port anymore, and the Scavengers would probably like to keep it that way.”

  Grez remained calm. “I’d like to start packing today, and we’ll work out your role on the voyage.”

  Marwin shook his head. “Why do you even want us to go in the first place? Why not just take your own team and leave us behind? The way I see it, you have no reason to fulfill your side of the bargain.”

  Grez laughed coldly. “How blunt. Frankly, you’re an insurance policy. There is a very real risk that this is all some trap orchestrated by your guild to displace the Harvesters. With you there, we have potential hostages and an insurance policy if things get dicey. I’m all about minimizing my risks and taking you is my best bet at doing that. If it’s a trap, I have an out. If it isn’t a trap, then maybe we all win. Either way, you go or Leroy dies, then we get you to open the box with less pleasant means and then you all die. Do I make myself clear?”

  “We’re on board,” I said quickly. “Marwin, we already have a deal. We’re ready to leave on a moment’s notice and will honor our agreement.”

  “Is that right, Marwin?” Grez’s voice was cold.

  Marwin’s mouth twitched, but he held his tongue, taking a breath before ans
wering. “Yeah, that’s right.”

  Grez smiled again. “Good. Let’s take a walk then. We’ll head to the staging area and head out after an afternoon meal.”

  “How far does the river take us exactly?” Marwin asked.

  “We’ll explain all the details of the trip in our debriefing; I’d rather not explain it more than once. If you’re ready, we’ll head to the staging area and gear you up. Leroy has an appointment with our doctors, but I’ll make sure you have the opportunity to see him before you leave.”

  “Yeah, let’s go,” Marwin said, patting Leroy’s shoulder as we went our separate ways.

  Grez led us to an elevator on the opposite side of the upper level with his guards. The elevator croaked to life and dropped us down several hundred feet into the staging area. The doors opened, and we stepped out onto a large open floor similar to the one we entered on. This one was stocked with metal crates of supplies, and an assembly line of workers tirelessly packaging things from a massive conveyor belt.

  Grez led us through the busy work space to a smaller room at the back where a group had gathered. There were simple metallic chairs facing a blank holoprojector screen in the front. The group in front of us stopped their conversation when we approached and stared with distrusting eyes, clearly upset we’d be joining them on the trip. Four of the men were wearing metal plate armor over hoodies and jeans. The armor was crude compared to Nanotech, but it would help them blend in with the people at River’s Port in similar lines of work. They looked like common mercenaries and for us, that was good. In addition to their double-barreled shotguns strapped to the side of their backpacks, they had Nanoedged swords attached to sheaths hanging from their belts, and assault rifles rested across their laps.