by Eric Warren
“And they began congregating en masse, flooding our world. I still had enough connectivity to know it wasn’t just in Chicago, but all over. The Peacekeepers made a short announcement, saying it was an invasion. Until they were cut off, and husks began emerging from the gates as well. I assume they were stationed here, in the colony.”
“The humans kept them as slaves,” Frees said through clenched teeth.
“I thought I could seek refuge through the gates, since machines seemed to be on the winning end. I didn’t want to be in the middle of a warzone.”
“So, you ran through an open gate because you thought you could hide on the other side. Because you thought it was some kind of machine stronghold.”
Jonn nodded. “I thought perhaps the humans had been released as some kind of hunting game. To be honest I had no idea what was going on. All I knew was I wanted no part of it. But then I found myself here.”
“With a fresh supply of discarded husks to cannibalize,” Frees said.
Jonn stared at him. “They were already dead. I haven’t had to kill anyone in weeks.”
Frees turned to Arista. “If that isn’t proof we should kill him right now I don’t know what is.”
Arista regarded him. He was right. Jonn had tried to kill them both, on more than one occasion. And no matter how much he’d been through it didn’t give him a clean slate. Though, seeing him had brought up some strange feelings in her, feelings she didn’t think she had. Jonn was her last connection to the world she left behind before everything went to shit and she lost her parents. In some way he represented her old life; he was a comfortable part of that old life before she’d lost her hand and she’d met Frees. And while she knew she couldn’t trust him, part of her wanted to spare him if only to spare that tiny connection to her past. But she couldn’t be sentimental; they had a job to do. And she couldn’t afford to be distracted.
“I’m sorry, Jonn,” she said. “But I think Frees is right.” She raised her weapon.
TWELVE
“Arista,” Jonn said, his hands back up. “Please.”
She hesitated, her hand shaking. If Jonn noticed he didn’t say anything. He only stared into her eyes with his one remaining blue eye. Jonn had figured out how to change his own internal code so he could revert his eye color back to its original instead of the bright orange machines’ eyes became when they gained full consciousness. He’d taught the Peacekeepers how to do it as well; that had been how the entire confrontation on the production floor had started. Arista had underestimated his abilities.
“You said Charlie was still alive,” Jonn said, interrupting her thoughts. “Let me help you.”
“Arista, put down your weapon,” Frees said. “I’ll do this. You don’t have to anymore.”
Her finger hovered over the trigger, why couldn’t she just pull it? She’d had no problem impaling Jonn a few months ago. Had it been because she thought he might be able to survive such an event? Or had she just been so angry she’d been willing to take her first life? That had been before she’d been forced—no, before she’d chosen to end the lives of the humans Charlie kept in those water tanks. Jonn had almost been her first victim. And frankly, she was tired of death.
“Help how?” she challenged. She caught Frees staring at her but didn’t return his gaze, instead kept it trained on Jonn.
“I’ve known, ever since that day I survived my injuries I was meant for something. This is it. I’m meant to stop him. Let me help you, and I’ll sacrifice myself to destroy Charlie. That way it works out best for everyone.” He turned his attention to Frees. “You get rid of me and him in one fell swoop.”
“How can we trust you to keep your word?” Arista asked.
“It’s what I deserve. Frees is right. I’ve turned into a cannibal. Let me make amends for my mistakes by doing what’s right. I can stop him. I can initiate an overload in my system.”
Her thoughts went to the key embedded in her arm. What if it wasn’t enough? What if Charlie kept jumping bodies while she tried to get close? Jonn might be able to work his way in, or create an explosion large enough no husk within Charlie’s radius could survive. It was a risk, but the advantage it provided might be worth it.
“What’s to say he won’t blow himself up as soon as we put our weapons away?” Frees asked. “He still could be working for Charlie, and all of this could be an elaborate act.”
“It isn’t,” Blu said, speaking up. Arista had almost forgotten she and David were there. For a moment it felt like she was back in that Quantum Room when Frees was “kidnapping” her and Jonn tried to stop him. Just the three of them.
“How do you know?” Frees asked.
“Because,” she replied. “He looks at her the same way you do. He won’t hurt Arista any more than you would.”
Arista was confident if she had a mirror the reflection of her cheeks would be bright red, but she tried to retain her composure. “Frees, search him for any weapons or any devices that might be transmitting his location or anything else for that matter. I’ll cover you.”
Frees holstered his weapon and strode to Jonn, yanking his dirty cloak off and tossing it to the side. Now that it was gone, Arista saw the full extent of Jonn’s repair work. He looked pitiful; an emotion the remainder of his face betrayed. Frees was rough with him, inspecting every open cavity or crevasse that had resulted from stitching hundreds of different parts together. He turned Jonn around, continuing to search. To his credit, Jonn didn’t move or protest, only held still as Frees outright assaulted him. When he was done, Frees pushed him back and Jonn turned back around in his nakedness, his skeletal hands still up.
“Nothing I can see,” Frees said. “But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have something hidden deep within. Something he’d have to remove a leg or an arm to access.”
“Did your scanners pick up anything?” Arista asked.
He shook his head. She turned to Jonn. “Okay. But you’re not to get within five feet of me, Blu, or David here. You will stay in front of Frees at all times so he can keep an eye on you and if he tells you to do something, you do it. Understand?” Jonn nodded. “Put your hands down.”
Jonn lowered them, then bent down to retrieve his cloak, wrapping it around himself again so only his head was exposed.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Frees whispered.
“No,” she admitted. “But we’re not going to kill him. I’m tired of being responsible for other people’s deaths.”
“I told you I’d—” Frees protested.
“It would still be on my head,” she said. “Don’t you see that? He’s still my responsibility. I’m not going to sentence him to an execution. If he’s going to die, he’s going to be useful.”
Frees shook his head and walked past her, standing between her and Jonn. She joined Blu and David. “I don’t want either of you getting too close to him, understand? He may seem innocent, but he’s clever. And dangerous.”
“I’d love to get a look inside his cortex to see how it is managing all those different parts from various husks as you call them,” David said, adjusting his glasses.
“So would I,” Blu echoed, staring past Arista at Jonn.
Arista thought to mention to Blu not to bring up Frees’ feelings for her anymore. Not only did it embarrass them both, but an enemy could use it against them. They didn’t need any more disadvantages right now. But she stopped short of scolding the girl. “Just do me a favor and stay away from him, okay? He’s high risk and we can’t afford any missteps. Not while Charlie is still out there.”
They both nodded in agreement. Blu pulled her to the side. “You weren’t kidding about his infatuation for you,” she whispered. “It’s painted all over what’s left of his face.”
She snuck a glance at Jonn. Whatever Blu saw she couldn’t see it. Or maybe she chose not to. “Doesn’t mean we can trust him,” she said.
***
“Charlie inhabited your mind, huh?” Jonn asked Frees as they
walked back along the corridor. He’d been quiet in the elevator but as soon as they’d been out of range of the rotting corpse, he’d decided he’d like to talk again.
Frees only grunted in response. Seeing Jonn again was like a slap in the face and he wasn’t about to give him any kind of satisfaction if he could help it. As far as Frees was concerned he was a war criminal and should be treated as such. Despite Frees’ own misgivings about killing his own kind, Jonn was a special case. After what he’d tried to do to him—to Arista—he didn’t deserve to continue functioning. Frees took a bit of perverse pleasure in knowing he’d had it so hard since they’d last met, though he wasn’t happy about all the husks Jonn had killed. How many machine lives had been needlessly lost to keep this monster alive?
“He tried that with me once,” Jonn continued, oblivious to Frees’ lack of response. “But he couldn’t hold it. I think now it might have been a test run.” Jonn, walking in front of the entire group and in front of Frees turned his head. Frees could only see the machine side of his face. “Maybe he was trying a backup, in case his primary AI was ever destroyed.” He paused. “I saw your handiwork by the way. A couple of weeks after I returned to the Cadre HQ through the production facility, saw how you’d destroyed his AI. It was a nice piece of work. And why I thought I didn’t have anything else to worry about. Seems you thought that much too.”
“Stop talking,” Frees growled.
They had entered the primary office corridor, continuing to follow the trail of bodies. Frees hadn’t seen any others that matched the decaying human in the elevator, leading him to believe he was an isolated incident and nothing more than the result of the confined space. But he was grateful to be away from that rotting, decaying flesh. He’d managed to hold it together for this long, but seeing those small organisms writhe and squirm through the body had elicited a nausea in him he thought would never leave. But he wasn’t going to break down in front of everyone else; he just had to endure it. All the bodies disturbed him in their various states of decay. By his count, Charlie had killed a hundred and sixty-three souls. Human and husk alike.
“Here,” Arista said as they came to Echo’s door. Unlike some of the others they’d passed it was completely untouched, no blood, no marks. No bodies blocking the entranceway—half in and half out of the room. She pressed a button beside the doors, and they slid open to reveal a pristine workspace, complete with a desk and map.
“Jonn,” Arista said. “When you were working for Charlie, did he ever mention Echo or anything about this colony?”
“Not to me. I thought he confided in me. It turns out I was nothing more than another lackey. I’m sure had you not intervened he would have had me shut down or reverted in some way into a loyal Peacekeeper.”
“Why revert you when you were already set to kill for him? It wasn’t as if you were rebellious,” Frees said. He couldn’t help but bait him. Jonn had been nothing but a thorn in his side since day one. And it wasn’t as if he had many redeeming qualities; he’d switched sides as soon as he’d had the opportunity.
Jonn didn’t respond, only looked away.
Arista crossed over to the desk, touching the top of the sleek surface. A login appeared beneath the smoky glass, asking for a name and password. “Blu,” Arista said. Blu trotted around the desk and took the chair, setting her backpack in her lap. She unzipped a small section and retrieved a black, square box, placing it on top of the table.
“Give me a few minutes,” Blu said, tapping on the login controls. David crossed the room to the other couch, inspecting the paintings that remained on the walls. None of them were even askew.
Frees kept his eyes on Jonn, who took the room in as he stood off to the side. “I’ve never been in here before,” he said.
“No bodies to harvest?” Frees asked.
“As a matter of fact, no. I only went where I knew I could find spare parts.”
Frees’ eyes narrowed. “Tell me again how you know how to replace all your own systems without shutting yourself down or experiencing any of the obvious side effects?”
“You don’t call rejection a side-effect?” Jonn asked, snapped.
“I call it a fact of life.”
Blu snickered from the desk, but kept her eyes on her work. “I’m in,” she said after another moment.
“Pull up the surveillance feeds and see if you can get the communication equipment working,” Arista said. “We need to know what’s going on out there.”
THIRTEEN
It took Blu another few minutes to pull up surveillance feeds from all around the colony, though most were corrupted. “How far back do you want to go?” she asked.
“Start with the date of the subway incident,” Arista said. “September 2nd. Let’s see what happened as soon as Charlie arrived.”
Blu nodded and touched the appropriate buttons on the desk, a series of twenty-five images arranged in a grid appeared on the wall behind her. She turned as they all watched. Every ten or fifteen seconds some of the images would switch to a different camera or go black indicating there was no feed from that section anymore.
“There.” Arista pointed to one in the lower right-hand corner that showed the room with the massive gate. “That’s it.”
Blu tapped another button and the desired image overtook all the others, filling up the entire wall as people moved back and forth on the screen. The image was running at about ten times speed and people moved quickly from one area to another. A few minutes in Arista saw McCulluh enter with a contingent of guards. They stationed themselves around the gate in what she recognized as a military pattern.
“What are they doing?” David asked.
“Preparing for the worst,” Arista replied. Except they didn’t know how bad it was about to get. “Slow it down here.”
Blu slowed the image to 2x speed. McCulluh manned the gate controls along with another scientist. Arista didn’t see Jessika anywhere; they must have decided they didn’t need her to help operate the gate. Which was fortunate; she hadn’t been there when everything went to hell.
Because the camera was stationed above the gate itself to give the widest view of the room, they couldn’t see the gate activate. All they saw were flashes of light at the bottom of the screen as it moved or changed, and everyone else’s reactions to it.
As if right on cue there was a massive flash of light and the front of the subway car—on fire—came barreling through the gate, crushing two soldiers in its path and slamming into the side wall. People scrambled. McCulluh barked orders from the control station, but without audio she could only guess as to what he was saying.
Fire control teams ran into the room, spraying the car with foam while the soldiers worked to get inside the train.
“They think Echo is on board,” Frees said.
Moments later a man standing close to off-screen walked up behind one of the soldiers trying to get into the subway car and quickly snapped his neck, taking his weapon from him. He then shot everyone else in the room, including McCulluh.
“Charlie,” Jonn said, his voice hard.
Charlie continued moving through the room executing every person in his path, starting with the soldiers and saving the scientists for last. A few managed to get out of the room before being shot. One soldier got a good bead and clipped Charlie in the head, causing him to collapse to the ground, only for another husk to walk up behind the soldier, kill him, then retrieve his weapon and continue the onslaught. He moved quick, taking each person down with only a bullet or two. Arista noticed it was a regular-issue weapon, not like the superweapons the humans had been using to hunt down the Peacekeepers. Within less than two minutes everyone in the room was dead. But somehow the alarms had been set off, as one flashed in the corner of the screen. “Charlie” glanced at it, then turned and left the room.
“Return to the full view,” Arista said. “Let’s see if we can’t track his movement.”
Blu minimized the image, returning to the full grid as they watch
ed the screens.
“There.” David pointed to the upper right-hand side. Soldiers filed down the hallways, taking up positions, only to be knocked back by the string of ammunition coming from Charlie’s weapons. Whenever someone would take him down moments later another husk would walk up and continue the onslaught.
“It looks like he’s only controlling one body at a time,” Arista said. “That’s promising.”
“What’s happening up there?” Blu asked, pointing to an image in the upper left.
Arista squinted. “That’s the main transportation room where Frees and I arrived. Enlarge the image.”
As she did, Arista could finally make out what was happening on screen. Scores of people were filing through the five gates, pushing and shoving each other. “It’s an evacuation,” she said. She watched, trying to find Jessika in the madness, but it was difficult to make out any one individual person. The camera was far away, and people were running for their lives. Someone on screen tripped and it took a few moments before anyone noticed and stopped trampling them. The person then struggled to get up, but only succeeded in getting out of the way, collapsing off to the side, bloody.
“With Echo and McCulluh gone I wonder who ordered the evacuation,” Frees said.
“Could it have been someone else in the military wing?” Arista asked. “An emergency leader?”
He shrugged. “I’m sure it’s possible. Isn’t it odd they left immediately though? He hasn’t even been in the compound ten minutes.”
Blu minimized the image and returned to tracking Charlie making his way through the same corridors they’d just come through, killing each person in his way.
“Fast forward some, let’s see what he did,” Arista said.
Blu sped up the feeds with Charlie continuing to make his way into any populated areas. He eventually made his way down to the barracks, taking out the soldiers that had stayed behind to protect the civilians.