The Quantum Gate Trilogy

by Eric Warren

“Stay right there,” Arista said, her palm open toward Shin.

  He cocked his head at her as if he were a curious cat, unaware of the destructive power of her hand. How could he have traveled down here so fast? It hadn’t been more than a minute or two since she’d exited the elevator.

  “What will you do? Kill me? As you’ve killed my men?”

  She ground her teeth at the accusation. “That body isn’t really you, destroying it won’t do a thing to you. For that I needed to think bigger.”

  “Yes,” Shin said, clasping his hands behind his back and taking a step forward. He wore an immaculate suit; gone were the tattered rags he’d had on before. “Weakening structural integrity. Very clever. I would not survive.”

  “You’re stalling for time,” Arista said. “Don’t think I don’t know. You’re trying to keep me talking until more of your men arrive.”

  “And what good would they do?” Shin asked, a slight smile on his face. “You would just mow them down with your superweapon. As you already know, I need you alive. So I cannot kill you. But you can kill me.” He took another step forward and Arista resisted the urge to step back. She wasn’t about to be intimidated by him.

  “If you aren’t sending more people then why are you here? To beg for your life?”

  Shin smiled again and his eyes traveled the room before landing back on Arista. “I came to see if you would actually do it. Oh, and to apologize for throwing…people at you. You are the first person to make me that upset.”

  “I tend to have that effect.”

  Shin took a step to the left, focusing his attention on the column she’d already destroyed. “This is a powerful weapon you have. Destroys concrete. Warps metal. Very destructive. It should only take you one shot per column, yes?”

  Arista furrowed her brow. What was he doing? “Yes. According to my calculations.”

  “And how many pillars? Forty?”

  “Sixty.”

  He nodded. “Sixty, yes. This building is more resilient than I thought.” He seemed to notice her again. “Don’t let me keep you. Please, continue.”

  Her arm faltered. Did he want her to destroy the tower? What would that get him? She didn’t like where this was headed.

  Of course. Now it made sense. Now she understood.

  “You do have humans in captivity, don’t you? You said you didn’t but you do. They’re in this building somewhere and if I destroy the struts they’ll die too.”

  Shin cocked his head again. “What makes you think that?”

  “Why else would you egg me on about destroying you and your building? Why else tempt me like that unless you knew there was something in here keeping me from doing it?”

  Shin smiled. “There is something in this building keeping you from destroying it, that is true. But it is not humans. I was not lying when I confessed to you. Keeping humans was Charlie’s choice. A disgusting one. We should not have to rely on you to maintain our society.”

  Arista screwed up her face. “Then what? What is in here keeping me from destroying the building?”

  Shin unclasped his hands and touched one finger to the center of his chest. “This. You are not a killer, Arista. Despite all evidence to the contrary. You will not destroy a building with so many inside. You are not Jonn.”

  The words hit her like a car smashing into a brick wall and her arm fell to her side. “How do you know about that?” she whispered.

  “When Charlie was still active, we shared information. We knew the moment it happened.”

  Arista took a step back and stumbled, barely regaining her balance. He was right. She was about to do the very same thing Jonn had done. Destroy an entire building to get to one individual. To kill one individual. How had she not seen it before? How could she have been so callous?

  “I tried…” she began, her eyes filling with tears. “I tried to wait until everyone was out. I thought…I thought it was the only way.”

  Shin shook his head. “You were so concerned with how you would be received, you forgot yourself. You do this because of the humans, yes? You do not want to fail them. You want them to be proud. To say: Arista has impressed us! Let us welcome her!”

  She nodded, unable to speak.

  “Are they responsible for that?” He indicated the hand, limp at her side.

  Her throat burned. “Yes.”

  “What will you do? Use it to make your people proud and kill hundreds? Or choose a different path?”

  “What path?” A single tear spilled from her eye.

  “Your own. I know you care about people. You have a big heart. But you are also lonely.” Shin took a few more steps toward her. Instinctively she put her hand up again, even as more tears cascaded down her cheeks. He was trying to trick her. She couldn’t trust the Cadre. Everything was their fault. He was just using her emotions to get to the colony.

  “Stop. Shin, just stop there.”

  He complied, still watching her. Her arm shook, and it itched. It really itched. But she wasn’t about to drop it now. Shin was doing something to her. Manipulating her.

  “Arista, if you were going to kill me you would have done it already.”

  “What do you know!” she screamed. “I’ve already killed six of my own people, not to mention how many of yours! People who could have had full lives if…if…”

  “If I hadn’t sent them after you. That was my mistake.”

  She’d dropped her head but now looked up, looked into Shin’s eyes. Was that sincerity there?

  “Those deaths are on us both,” Shin said. “We will bear that burden together. But no one else has to die.”

  “What should I do?” she asked.

  “Make your decision. Live with the consequences.”

  Her arm shook so badly she knew if she fired there was a good chance it would swing wide, missing him entirely. If she did as he asked and decided not to bring the building down, where did that leave her? How would she explain it to Sy? But he was right. She had already killed too many. Even if he’d allowed her to destroy more of the pylons she doubted she would have gotten more than ten or twelve in before abandoning it. She had known it before she’d even entered the building. And yet, somehow, she’d convinced herself she could go through with it. That it was the right thing to do.

  Arista dropped her arm and turned her gaze to the ceiling in a vain attempt to keep the tears at bay.

  “You are more than I expected,” Shin said. “And you are strong.”

  “If I were strong we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

  “It is because we are having it that I know you are.”

  “Now what?” Arista asked, still staring at the ceiling. It was nothing but bare beams and sheet metal down here. A rudimentary sprinkler system and a lighting grid. Bare and basic. Her vision shimmered through tears.

  “Now, we take the next step.”

  “I don’t know how many more I can take,” Arista said, taking a deep breath. She looked back at Shin. “Was that you, in the restaurant?”

  “Not at first. I’ve been monitoring since your arrival. You hide well, but not well enough.”

  “Why couldn’t I change her? Or anyone else?”

  Shin smiled. “Yes. Your gift. Charlie became very frustrated. I was amused. He thought you were someone he could use. I told him bad idea.” Shin sat on the ground, crossing his legs under him.

  “What are you doing?” Arista asked.

  “Please, sit. You are exhausted. If I sit you won’t feel as uncomfortable.”

  Now she just felt stupid. Why was he being so accommodating? But she wasn’t going to complain. She mimicked his movements and relaxed her shoulders as she sat. Not destroying the building had removed all the stress from her as if by magic.

  “As soon as you neared the woman I took over. You cannot change anyone who is already changed, correct?”

  Arista nodded.

  “I shielded her. I have shielded them all from you.”

  “That’s clever.�
� Arista shifted on her legs, making herself more comfortable.

  “I knew you were coming. I waited until you were here to instruct the Peacekeepers back in Chicago to randomize their searches, to cut you off from assistance. And I thought I could use you too. I see I was wrong. Surveillance here is not like Chicago. Or San Francisco or Mexico City or Atlanta or Sao Paulo. I monitor all. Charlie was lazy.”

  “So you knew what Gate we came through as soon as we arrived,” Arista said.

  Shin nodded. “I knew I had to ‘herd’ you. Pardon the term. ‘Peacekeepers’ seemed the best way.”

  “But you’d already changed their eye color. They were just regular citizens.”

  “They were citizens designed to protect me. But I do not believe in Peacekeepers. Unnecessary. Inefficient.”

  Arista scratched her arm absentmindedly. “So what do you want?”

  “Harmony. A society that only uses what it needs and nothing more.”

  “Sounds like Charlie.”

  “It is. We were partners. Along with Trymian. But Charlie cheated. He used you…he used humans to make things happen quicker. You cannot cheat. No short cuts.”

  She couldn’t help but smile.

  “But I see now you have your own plight. I think you are being used. But not by my kind. By your own.”

  Arista furrowed her brow. “I’m not being used. I agreed to help them.”

  “Through guilt. Over what you had done.”

  “No, that’s…I mean I wanted to help them. So they could be free.”

  Shin shook his head like she had just said something incredibly dumb. “It is not freedom they want.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Something passed over Shin’s face. “Come. I will show you. Better for you to learn than me try to convince. You’ll understand better.” He stood, quick and silent in his movement.

  Arista pushed herself up, only when she stood blood rushed to her head and the room spun.

  “Are you okay?”

  She put her human hand out. “Just…give me a minute.” Usually this went away after a couple of seconds, but it seemed to be intensifying.

  Pain erupted in her right arm. So much she thought she’d poured the acid on it again. Arista dropped back to her knees and screamed, grabbing for the arm of her jacket.

  “What is wrong?” Shin rushed over to her.

  “I…I don’t know,” she finally said, pulling her arms out of the sleeves. When she looked down at her arm she was astonished. It was covered in dark lines, moving in geometric patterns from where her hand was attached to the wrist all the way up to her elbow. It looked like someone had etched her skin with graph paper. She touched one of the lines with her human finger and pain erupted from it, sending her to the ground in agony. “What is it?” she heaved.

  “Someone has infected you,” Shin replied.

  Twenty-Six

  “Try not to move,” Shin said, standing over her. He said something to someone but his voice had softened, and she couldn’t make out what.

  “Was it you? Did you do this to me?” She grasped her arm, it burned as if she’d been under the sun too long. Memories of writhing on the floor back at Manheim flooded her mind. When she’d first burned off her hand.

  Shin stopped speaking and glanced down at her. “This was not me. It is your hand. The disease is spreading. We must be quick.”

  Her hand? Disease? What was he talking about? The hand didn’t have anything to do with it, it was just a tool. Maybe it was her, maybe there was something wrong with her that had made the hand malfunction. Warnings flashed through her vision. Elevated heart rate, blood pressure. Increased adrenaline and cortisol levels. She reached out with the Device to scan the hand, finding nothing wrong. Nothing at all. Shin must be mistaken. Even if it wasn’t him, it wasn’t the hand either.

  “I have someone coming for you. We are taking you upstairs,” Shin said.

  “Why?”

  “I do not wish you dead, Arista. Even if I no longer plan to use you, your death would be another on my conscience.”

  Panic surged through her. This could be exactly what he was waiting for. Plant some kind of device that “infected” her, then tote her lifeless body up to a container to be stored for future use. But he had seemed so sincere before and now she didn’t know what to think. All she knew was she was scared and powerless. She tried touching her thumb and pinky fingers together but they wouldn’t move. The disease had rendered the hand useless.

  “You have to trust me, Arista.”

  “I don’t…have…aagh.” She rolled onto her back, gripping her arm and sending pain surging through her. Each time she thought she was getting used to it, it intensified in some new way. A special brand of torture, cooked up by the machines themselves.

  Hands reached under her and lifted her up onto a flat surface. It felt hard with barely any cushioning.

  “I’ll be as gentle as I can, we have to figure out what exactly is wrong before we can help you,” Shin said.

  Three people plus Shin stood over Arista, all running in the same direction. She must be on some kind of gurney because she moved in unison with them. The faces of the other three people were pointed forward while Shin’s was focused on her arm, studying it.

  “If you did it, why don’t you know what it is?” she asked, her voice becoming hoarse.

  “I told you, this was not me. I’ve never seen this before. I don’t have a large medical facility, but it is better than leaving you on the floor to die.”

  “I’m going to die?” she nearly screamed.

  “Pardon me. That was presumptuous,” Shin said, continuing his examination. The bell of the elevator rang and they wheeled her inside. The doors closed behind them and the three other people turned in unison to face the front.

  “Are you…controlling them?” Arista asked.

  Shin nodded. “To protect them from you. You are in a highly agitated state.”

  “I wonder why.”

  She thought she caught the hint of a smile on Shin’s face but he remained focused on her arm, leaning closer and inspecting the lines. “How long have these been here?” he asked.

  “What?”

  “These geometric lines. They are reminiscent of a simple circuit board.”

  “I didn’t even know they were there.”

  He reached out with his finger to touch one and she snatched her arm away, folding it over her chest. “Don’t.”

  “I won’t touch. But I want to see if it is hypersensitive without physical contact.”

  Arista unfolded her arm and laid it back on the gurney. Shin reached out again, his finger hovering right above one of the lines. “Can you feel that?”

  “Yes, but not much. It doesn’t hurt.”

  “They are electrically charged. Giving off an electrical field.”

  She crinkled her brow. “What does that mean?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve never seen it before.”

  The elevator bell rang again and they wheeled her out into the bright hallway. It was a gorgeous night outside, and the lights of the city twinkled at her as they turned the corner and moved her deeper into the building.

  “I am taking you to an old medical ward. Barely used.”

  Medical ward. That made sense. This was supposed to be the city-within-a-city after all. It would make sense they’d have a hospital or some medical facilities.

  “Why isn’t it offices?” Arista asked, spots forming on the edges of her vision.

  “Too much infrastructure change. Easier to close it up and work around.”

  “Speaking of infrastructure,” she said. “You really need to do something about those subways.”

  Shin nodded. “Yes. They are in disrepair. Current plans are to shut them down next month, move all traffic to the maglevs.”

  One of the others unlocked a pair of sliding doors and she was wheeled inside. The rooms were all while, with various alcoves along the wall and beds at each. S
mall partitions separated them from each other. In the center was a large control desk and above it a series of monitors suspended from the ceiling all arranged in a circle.

  Someone flipped a switch and everything came to life.

  “We should have something in here to help,” Shin said as the others moved her to the first alcove. “Brace yourself.”

  She stiffened as the three picked her up and moved her to the bed, then pushed the gurney away. She realized it was levitating as well, only a few inches from the ground. She lifted her head to see Shin in the middle of the control unit, his attention focused on the equipment in front of him. Either he was serious about helping her or this was some kind of staging area where they would put her in a coma-like sleep and prepare her for storage. Arista eyed the exit. If she was confident she wouldn’t collapse as soon as her feet hit the floor she would have made a break for it already.

  She moved one leg off the bed and one of the “orderlies” turned his head, his focus on the leg. He gently picked it up and placed it back on the bed, as if it were a pencil that had fallen off a desk. There was no way she’d be able to overpower all three of them and Shin without her hand weapon.

  “I’m doing an initial scan now. Please hold still.”

  “Shin, if you’re going to hold me as a negotiating tool, just tell me. Put me out of my misery.” She winced at the pain in her arm as the electronic scan passed over her.

  “I believe you have trust issues,” Shin said.

  She lifted her head again to see if he was joking or not, but honestly couldn’t tell.

  “Don’t move please,” he said and she dropped her head back down. How did she end up here? This was never supposed to be the plan. The plan had been to get two bodies for her parents, transfer their consciousnesses, then drop back off the grid. Live another twenty-five years without incident.

  But instead she’d ended up in a strange hospital wing half way around the world being scanned by a member of the organization hunting her while her arm slowly burned itself away. She couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

  “Does it tickle?” Shin asked from the panel.

  She didn’t respond. Instead, more tears came, in concert with the laughter. She would never see Mom and Dad again. She’d never feel their cool embrace or hear their soothing voices, telling her everything would be alright. They would die before she had a chance to get out of here and help them and all she could think of was how compassionate they had been when they’d first found her. Or when she’d first found them. They had taken her in immediately, made her their own as if they’d borne her themselves. And they had been happy. Even after they’d had to abandon the farm they’d been happy.