by Richard Dusk
"Tell me about it. Like Whitkis, he-," she fell silent. Lizzie's lips pressed into a thin line and fixed the scarf to cover her neck. "I'm sorry, Garrett told me. Is it better now?"
"I'm sorry, Jillian, but Garrett told you everything you need to know," she pushed the plate away. "See you later," she said with tremulous voice and left.
The last steps to the elevator she almost ran. Jillian sat there at the table full of sketches and papers with the half-eaten meal.
"The joy of being me," she praised herself and took eighty papers thick file to read it.
The record led her through unintelligible paragraphs and quantum of complex equations to beautiful images of tree-sized brush discharges, images of bursting electrons and magnetic field waves. She read the papers, and even though she didn't comprehend most of it, it impressed and entranced her. It reminded talking to a foreigner - she didn't understand his language, but she felt what he wanted to express. She sat there long after the whole canteen emptied.
"You've got to be the new one," sounded energetic woman's voice behind her.
Jillian turned to her left and saw nobody. She turned back, and a fully geared woman sat by her right, eating Jillian's unfinished waffle.
"Hi?"
The woman raised an eyebrow, which disappeared under the black helmet, and chuckled.
"Where are we? Kindergarten?" she sneered and wiped the plate.
This morning is getting better and better.
"If we were in kindergarten, you would have your trap buried in sand by now," Jillian raised a glass to toast.
"You don't say," she leaned back.
She gazed at Jillian to provoke her. Jillian just breathed in and directed her attention back to papers.
"What's with that sour face, girl?" she unbuckled the helmet. "You're the savior with some doc, right?" she fist-bumped Jillian's shoulder.
Jillian turned to the woman wearing the same black uniform as other soldiers. About thirty years old with dark golden brown hair reaching to shoulder blades covering her thin face and setting off prying chocolate-colored eyes.
"I'm not a savior. I'm here simply to help," said Jillian and looked back at the pictures.
"Yeah? You don't seem to be pushing yourself into anything."
Jillian shut the file and turned to her.
"What do you want?" she snapped.
"Kaiden said that some Jillian decided to join our merry group. You would be quite welcomed to join the prep party."
"All right," Jillian stood up briskly.
"You know how to weld, don't you?" she mocked her, but Jillian didn't answer. She didn't want to hear again that she doesn't know anything. "Gee, girl, I'm just teasing you," she stood up and tapped Jillian's shoulder. "Just for the record, I'm Amy, but call me Lex," she said and headed to the elevator.
"Lex?"
"My mother decided to be creative and came with name Amy Alexandra Anderson," she said mannered and turned to counter where she took a can of whipped cream and a full hand of waffles.
"You haven't eaten for days, I reckon," said Jillian when they entered the elevator.
"We've just come from New York. Manta is ready," she pressed the floor button with an elbow.
"What's this Manta? Garrett mentioned it, but said nothing more."
"Garrett's that doc, right? Strange name," she offered Jillian a can. "It's just a ship, nothing more. Eighty-three knots on the open ocean, but you need to see that on your own. Shame we've got the last one."
"And New York?" she refused her offer.
"Same ruin as others. Everything that could fall has already fallen. But it's pretty amazing, though. You drive down the highway and look at all the debris, wrecks, dead people. I kind of like that road. It feels like being on a trip."
The elevator stopped, and they got off into a long white corridor with a blue line running at the bottom of the wall.
"Are you really going with us? You don't look like, you know, the right material."
"Sarah asked me if I want to go, and I agreed. Despite there are not enough people willing to go out there."
"Surprise, surprise. Rosefield is asking instead of ordering?" she wiped her fingers into the vest and placed a palm on the scanner to open the door.
Silver foil on man-wide square tubes reflected the light all over the room. They hanged inches above Lex's head and ran up and down into other floors. The sound of turbine blades pushing air through the tubes filled the room.
"It's a shortcut to the garage hall. This is the place where the air is recycled. We're going to help guys coming with us," she climbed over a tube and nearly hit sprinkler with her head. "It's a mess down there as we're leaving tomorrow, and still a lot needs to be done. Any extra hands are welcome."
"Is it really tomorrow?" Jillian climbed over the same tube.
"What did you expect? Holiday? Kaiden said that whatever they are building down there, it should be ready by the dawn," she walked towards the feebly illuminated end of the room. "We're losing time. With every second gone, our chances to have this trip going smooth are lower. It's eight hours long drive to New York and a day-long sail. I can't imagine how we're going to make this," she tilted her head back, wondering about her own judgment of not refusing to join. "Anyway, we've been sitting here for too long, and it's time to do something about it."
"How long have you been here?"
"My mother, as I said, was very inventive and forced me to live and work for Diamond. It's been eleven years already - since my eighteen. Father fought very long against it, but they got divorced, and he could do nothing about it. She was one of the Hydra's heads here, and people better agreed than opposed her. My whole life had a clear structure for oncoming years. I didn't inherit her white coat gene, so I joined the guys outside. At least I've had a good time with them and as little as possible with her."
"Did she die?" said Jillian.
"Yep. They are all up there," she pointed with a finger.
"Yeah, 'cause heaven certainly exists," said Jillian with a fair amount of irony.
"Hmm, right," said Lex irresolutely. "I've meant a bit closer."
Jillian's mind instantly switched to a picture of dead people lying a few floors over their heads. She wanted to cheer her up, but Lex looked like she certainly didn't need or cared for it. They walked through the rest of the room silently and stopped by the door. Lex reached for the scanner to open it. An angry man voice coming from the other side stopped her hand an inch above it. She listened to it and beckoned to Jillian.
"Something interesting's going on," said Lex and opened the door.
A quarrel between Sarah and some soldier resounded from the stone walls of the garage. He cast a shadow all over her, and his short, thick beard ended at the level as Sarah's eyes. While he argued and frowned his eyebrows, she calmly smiled, ignoring his violent gesturing. She enjoyed her position over him and just waited until he loses strength to continue.
"Are you having fun without me?" said Lex to two guys by her side and sat on the ground next to them.
"You're missing the best part, Lex. Look at Rosefield," said one about twitching corner of Sarah's eye above the proud smile on her face. "I'm waiting for the moment when she flips the lid as usual," he stared at Sarah.
"What's going on?" said Lex.
"I didn't hear the beginning, but Vince is now yelling at her because she's changing the plan for no real reasons. Also, he doesn't like the size of the crew. Five of us are going already, and the fact that some boffin with a girl should come with us started this. Why are we taking them? Just another burden."
Lex hit him with an elbow to his ribs and nodded lightly towards Jillian, who pretended she didn't hear them and was interested in the ongoing fight. The guy didn't see her at first and stood up to walk right in front of her.
"I'm Hodge," his thin, light brown like a tanned face with gray eyes under short chestnut-brown hair pretended a fake smile and happiness of meeting Jillian. "And you've already met Pace,"
he pointed to the guy sitting next to Lex.
"Jillian," she answered icily.
"I know you've heard me, so I'm not going to pretend you didn't. What are you doing here? Are you a soldier or what?"
"You need people."
"We need trained and capable people," he pointed at the arguing couple.
Suddenly the silence spread across the hall.
"I'd like to remind you that sergeant Lawrence had the same notion about following orders. I don't imagine you would like me to terminate your activities within this facility as well. Am I right?" she said calmly.
The soldier's body shivered of the utter anger streaming into his veins. Millions of words had to be running through his mind.
"Fine," he snapped and turned back to her.
As he walked to their group, his eyes fiercely glanced from Jillian to Hodge and Lex sitting next to Pace. He remained standing there breathing deeply until the clacking of doctor's heels fell quiet in the elevator.
"I expected her to blow a fuse," said Hodge. "What was that about Lawrence?"
"Nothing. Get back to the plan. She just told me that we have time until the evening. Don't ask me why," Vince handed him a stack of papers. "Here's the list of supplies we need. Get everything and double-check. We're not going there half geared. Lex, Pace, help him. We must speed the thing up. You, Jillian, welcome. I'm Vince, co-leader of this squad and support for Kaiden. Now come with me. We need to talk," he took her aside, while others went after supplies.
"About what?"
"You're neither a soldier nor you've got any combat skills whatsoever. You and Garrett are civilians in this task, and you'll have to comply with my or Kaiden's leadership. We are not used to making mistakes, and we don't need anyone to make unnecessary ones. Everything has to run like clockwork. Got it?"
"Of course. You've got my word," she nodded quickly.
The feeling that any word that Vince didn't want to hear right now might start another fight radiated around him.
"I'm glad you understand," he sounded a bit relieved. "You've got only one responsibility, and that is not to interfere until you're told to do so. We know what's out there, and we don't need chaos. Now, the plan," he joined hands behind back and walked by the garage wall to two parked vehicles. "They informed me that Garrett's team is almost finished with the work and they'll be ready by the evening. There is some testing required, but they presume it will be ready to be loaded in a matter of hours. Our responsibility is to prepare the route, supplies, firepower, and transportation. We're taking these two. This one is Deimos," he knocked with a fist on the large black vehicle.
Even with arms stretched upwards, Jillian wouldn't reach to its roof. Four-tired with small windows, sharp cut contours, and a set of large headlights on the top. The wheels itself reached to Jillian's ribs.
"Two inches thick ballistic glass, level five armoring, fully convertible from transport to aerial and ground defense, airless tires, takes up to ten men, medium-sized cargo and tank range not less than six hundred miles. We'll use it to transport the weapon. While you're inside, almost nothing can jeopardize you," he said ardently and walked to the second even bigger vehicle. "We're going to take also Menhit to protect Deimos, just in case. It's a custom-made Protector line IFV," Vince leaned against one of eight wheels under black-and-white-colored armoring with the red Diamond symbol. "We mounted that machine gun yesterday. It's a full computer remote with thermal and manual target locking. No one has to pop out his head to shoot. Believe me, you would never want to stand in front of it when the enemy's inside."
"That's impressive," said Jillian to show a little bit of interest.
"You, Garrett, and Lex will drive under my command in Deimos. Kaiden will supervise Hodge and Pace and drive first in Menhit. We should make a good time to catch daylight at the harbor. Then we'll move supplies to Manta and set to sail. After that, we're in God's hands. That's all you need to know for now. Any details you need, I'll give you tomorrow."
"Yeah, right, sergeant?" she guessed the rank. "So, you've got any orders for me?"
"No ranks. I'm not playing soldiers anymore. Even this task force was created less than two hours ago. Go and take the list from Lex and pack some stuff. Anything else?"
"Why did you argue with Sarah? Is it wrong that we agreed to join?"
Vince peculiarly looked at her with sullen and pitying expression at the same time. His eyes showed that there is a lot to tell her but also thinking if he should reveal anything or not.
"We've argued about the number of people going and time when we'll leave, but it's not as important as this. Listen carefully. I'd like to tell you many things that you should know about this place, but neither I do know them all. I need someone to work on the same wave as I will. Things I'm going to tell you are real and may cost me my life, so do not mention them to anyone. Certainly not to Garrett. We can't afford to see him back away. Understand?" he said seriously and looked around for any bystander. "Your arrival set certain wheels in motion. Wheels that we considered stuck forever. You've heard that Nest will break down in a matter of a few days. The official report says that Whitkis's rage caused structural damages, but it's a lie. These damages were done on purpose only because of our trip. Somebody from down here used Whitkis's death to cover the tracks."
"What the devil are you talking about?"
His words didn't make any sense. Why would anyone want to happen anything of that? Vince grabbed her by a shoulder and quickly spoke when he saw Lex coming to them.
"Jillian, I can't tell you more. Open your eyes and trust nobody. Whatever happens, don't step back. Garrett is our priority, and he must live until we destroy X-RON and after that. He is far more valuable than you can imagine right now, and it's all because of Ocrosir. If we fail to protect him, then forget about the future. The plans Diamond has are beyond the possibility to explain now, but everyone is waiting for the moment when X-RON will be destroyed. I tell him what he'll need to know when there will be no point of return. Many things are moving out of your sight."
"Yeah, yeah, I've got it," she said confused. "But what plans?"
"Hey, give her back. There's a hell of work to be done," yelled Lex a few feet away from them.
"Plans to erase the entire humankind from the earth's surface," said Vince. "Go and remember what I've said."
She nodded and pensive followed Lex. They've made just a few steps when the entire base powerfully jerked and vibrated below their feet.
"Earthquake?" said Jillian the first thought that occurred to her.
"No, that can't be. We're isolated from that, and there would be heard a short alarm buzzing in here. This came from inside. It's probably the device they're testing," said Lex who didn't look troubled at all by the fact that something just set the entire base into movement.
She spoke about new weapons they've been packing, but Jillian's brain didn't care about any of her words. Vince completely disconcerted and frightened her.
Why did he tell me and not Garrett? Is he crazy? What am I supposed to do?
Thoughts spun in her mind, and she felt that the relief and peace she got from coming here are gone for good. It felt like being out again. Alone, lost, and terrified of fighting an invisible enemy.
Chapter 15 - One Percent
Garrett stormed into the room, stomping to the chair at the control panel. He threw papers on the table and sat down with shivers. The breakfast scene played over and over in his head even though he knew that nothing serious happened. Anger wore off and turned into regret and confusion of himself. Music played in the room, pushing the thoughts out of his head. Vivian kneeled with a screwdriver between four quarter-circle carbon poles positioned in corners of the square side of CHED's body and tightened the screws. Arthur stood sideways, reading the directions placed on the top of CHED's case.
Garrett sat there for a minute to calm himself. He looked at the bundle of different colored cables lying on the ground, running along the walls and hanging fro
m the ceiling. Iron shelves and cabinets by the wall stood filled with various tools, electronic devices, and white plastic boxes. Tables on the other side got buried under blueprints, tools, and all the parts they used to build CHED. Monitors displaying status hanged above them, and a huge screen showed the three-dimensional structure of the last component they nearly completed.
Garrett stood at the panel and began writing testing sequence procedures on the touch screen. His fingers moved quickly, like the pianist's playing solo.
"How's it going?" he said, but no response came to him, so he shut the music into silence by waving a hand above head. "What's the status, Arthur?" he repeated without raising eyes from the screen.
"Oh, Garrett," said a red-haired guy, surprised by Garrett's unexpected sudden presence.
A trace of a nervous smile appeared on his oval face, and eyes showed the excitement coming from the work.
"We've just finished the poles' circuits and synchronized their adjusting. Now the angles change evenly. We also modified lasers for proper aiming, so they shouldn't overheat anymore. Also, the power source, cables, connections, cooling plates, and the entire case check-up came off well. We found no issues, so everything seems to be in perfect condition."
"What about the simulation? I'm entering some sequences that may be adequate. Did you prepare anything to test the charging and pulse profile?" Garrett quickly wrote.
"We went through various settings, and the most promising is the staircase pulsation form with the sequential growth of intensity. That may fit exactly what we need," said Vivian.
Garrett stopped writing and looked at a pointy nose girl with pink shaded cheeks. Her dark brown fringe, together with square glasses, almost completely covered her face.
"Excellent. You're right. And the initial conditions are..." the blinking cursor in a little square box waited for her answer together with Garrett's fingers.
"I don't know. I didn't have time to do that yet."
"Don't worry. I'll take care of that," Garrett scrolled through settings. "Who wrote the code for energy enrichment of inner field?" he frowned over the screen.