Defiant: Quantic Dreams Book 2

by Elizabeth McLaughlin

  Crucible three fared much better, this time taking a full capacity of metal and only cracking when we tried to pick it up with the tongs. That left us with lucky number four, which had to last through at least as many castings. None of the crucibles had been large enough to pour half of the plow in one trip; Eliza’s best guess was that it would take at least four times the crucible’s volume to fill the whole thing. The person who was to lift and pour the melted metal would have to possess a steady hand and enough upper body strength not to drop it as each trip was completed.

  “I’ll do it.” The small group that had gathered to observe the primitive manufacturing process turned and Fiona stepped forward from the gathering. “I can pour it.”

  “Mom-“ Marcus spoke up and quickly shrank back as his mother whirled on him.

  “What I think your son means to say, Ms. Alvaro, is that you have recovered from the virus not three weeks ago. Under normal circumstances I don’t think anyone here would question your fitness for the task, but you have suffered unimaginable physical consequences as a result of your illness.” Alexander Fang cleared a path to speak to Fiona directly.

  For a moment I had to remind myself that my daughter was a full grown woman and that punching the man who had granted me my—albeit limited—freedom was a bad idea. I should have known that Fiona had it well in hand as she turned to Alexander.

  “Mr. Fang, if you’d like to take over the responsibility as chief botanist for the settlement, you are certainly welcome to have the job.” She paused, waiting for a figurative answer that would never come. “Until such time, I’d ask you to kindly leave me to my area of expertise. As I’m sure my son also understands I will of course be taking precautions and backup should any issues arise. I invite you to personally hold my hand through the whole process-if you think it’ll make you feel better.” The group burst out laughing. Marcus gulped heavily. It was his own fault. He should know better than to mess with either of his mothers, even at his age.

  Watching the metal congeal was a mesmerizing process. Fiona gingerly gripped the crucible and lifted it from the fire. She gave a brief nod to Marcus who zipped from where he had been standing to take a position behind her, ready to help but knowing that insisting on doing so wasn’t welcome. The pours went as perfectly as we could have hoped, red and orange metal flowing into the molds flawlessly, the dirt hissing and jumping as the intense heat vaporized any air and water present underneath. It took almost two hours, but we were left with two cooling halves of a plow. There would be a single guard assigned to make sure nothing interfered with the delicate process throughout the night and the halves would be sealed together in the morning.

  We had a farm.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Colony life started early. By the time the sun fully rose each morning there was already a flurry of activity begun among the people. The acknowledgment that these were the first steps into shutting the shelter for good had become something of a death and rebirth process for everyone. We blended into the environment slowly but surely as humans had for eons before. Gradually the animals started to view us as fixtures, not predators. There were a few dust-ups with the real predators along the way as well. One night an opportunistic cat-thing, the creature that our scientists had now christened panthera venandi, found its way into an unguarded portion of camp. It was only by the cries of a teenaged couple, caught in an intimate moment by the monster that the settlement was alerted to its presence. Thankfully it was dispatched with only minor injuries to all involved. The hunter cat’s pelt now hung from two metal poles, drying in the sun. A symbol of triumph for all to see, and hopefully a warning to its brethren that we were armed.

  Now that things were settled and there was some routine, we were able to explore the environment little by little. Only a few people remained inside the shelter so there were plenty of bodies to be spared. The potato farm was not only surviving, but thriving as the plants were exposed to real sunlight for the first time. WIth exploration also came increased quantities of hunted game to the point where there was finally enough meat to go around-if very little for each person at the beginning. We were slowly upgrading the dwellings, too. A ramp had been built inside the torn apart ventilation exhaust shaft and with the help of some powered machines, the industrial 3D printer had been brought to the surface. The hum of its motors was a constant soundtrack that gave me hope every time the sound met my ears. It was going to take a long time to fabricate enough housing for everyone but seeing the process actually happen appeared to bolster morale significantly.

  Each day’s band of explorers was a mix of young and old, shelter born and the few of us who remembered life before. We would jog at a sustainable pace until we ran across something worth stopping for which often meant that we were doing more exploring than running. The result of such a diverse group was a hilarious combination of people rediscovering pleasures from childhood and the stunned perplexity of those who had never seen the natural world. One of them nearly fell over a squirrel-like creature and jumped three feet in the air. I nearly wet myself as I guffawed, the remnants of my broken ribs protesting the vigorous activity. We encountered dozens of new things along the way, so much so that it was suggested that we take care to log our findings. The information could be distributed to personal tablets and logged in the ongoing history of our foray onto the surface. It was like being the first explorers to land on a new planet. Everything from the smallest weed to the largest animal had to be named, categorized, and studied. Names that I recalled from my childhood and old movies were replaced with new and interesting words. I knew I would forget most of them, but the discoveries were unlike anything I had ever experienced. Hoofed herbivores with two sets of eyes that roamed the grasslands alongside us. Birds with the most iridescent feathers I could have ever imagined. Canines the size of small horses that flanked our groups but never seemed to attack. Perhaps dog was still man’s best friend, even after all these years.

  Put simply, this was so cool.

  Our venturing out wasn’t without some negative consequences; new diseases and reactions were common. A group of unfortunate souls discovered that a particular crop of what looked like edible plants upstream of our settlement were in fact extremely reactive to human skin and saliva. They spent the next day combing tiny needles off of their tongues and arms. It was then discovered that the plants were in fact extremely delicious—as long as they had been boiled first. The colonists also suffered from a range of diseases that hadn’t touched human immune systems in who knows how long. This ranged from manageable bouts of respiratory symptoms to rather severe episodes of gastrointestinal upset. It was quickly decided that increased sanitization was a priority. Field latrines weren’t working to contain this kind of thing.

  While the medical team worked hard to establish sanitary procedures, the daily ventures into the wilderness continued. The group heading out for the day started to bring hunting and trapping equipment with them. There was no use using time and resources without any concrete return. The small mammals that strayed into camp had become a favorite supplement to our spartan diet and the person who came back with the most carcasses found themselves the recipient of untold favors…at least until someone else managed to beat their record. One afternoon I was crouched low in the grass with the full intent of showing the ‘whipper snappers’ a thing or two about trapping. A little chipmunk-like animal tiptoed itself inch by inch towards my snare as I waited with my knife for the killing blow. I slowed my breathing and waited for the tiny creature to get distracted by the bait—a berry that I had brought with me in hopes that the animals would like it as much as I did. Just as I was inching forward for the killing blow a light shone in my eyes so brightly I had to clench them shut. The knife clattered to the ground and scared away my would be quarry. I stood, cursing as I searched for the source of the light. When I opened my eyes again varicolored spots dotted my vision, making it impossible to see exactly where I was going. Ouch. I reached for the knife bli
ndly and swore again as the blade sliced my thumb open.

  Motioning for the rest of the group to stand back, I trotted towards the light. When I came to the spot I found that it glinted from something on the ground. I bent down and picked up what looked like a cracked off piece of a mirror. It was worn at the edges but the center was perfectly intact and didn’t look that old. I turned and motioned to the people with me that the coast was clear. Turning the mirror around in my hands I looked for some indication of how it had come to be there. Something in this pristine condition couldn’t be from before the storms and as far as we knew our shelter was the only one still standing. So where the hell had it come from?

  “Look there,” one of the group pointed to the back of the mirror. “It says 149. See? You can barely make it out but it’s there.” Sure enough, printed in dark ink against a dark brown background. I rubbed my thumb over the material. It felt like something that had been made industrially. Not printed, but not by old equipment. I dropped the mirror fragment into my game bag, taking care to nestle it carefully to avoid cracking the glass.

  “Let’s fan out, folks. There might be something else here.” The group spread out in a pattern originating from where we found the mirror. Each foot of grass and shrubbery looked the same as the last. Just as I was going to call the group back together something knocked against my foot. I reached down and dusted off the object. It was rectangular and fit in my palm. The thing looked vaguely reminiscent of a tablet except for the fact that it was flexible. I felt around the edges of the thing and felt my thumb sink into a button.

  “Greetings! I am X2 Alpha Niner Bravo. How may I help you today?”

  I dropped the thing as if it were aflame. It was a communications device. But something like this couldn’t survive the tempest that had been the surface for the better part of two hundred years. That meant it had to be recent. I picked up the little electronic device, hands shaking.

  “Where are you from, X2A9B?”

  “I am a communications device manufactured for the purposes of Mission Zero.”

  I didn’t notice the rest of the group gathered behind me. When I glanced up I found them clustered around the little device staring at it as if it was a monster ready to jump out at them. I motioned them back. For all I knew, the machine was capable of killing me where I stood.

  “What is Mission Zero?”

  “Mission Zero is classified.” The console spat at me in a monotone. Its voice had changed from an affable, friendly tone to a mechanical one. A shiver ran down my spine at the shift. The little machine wasn’t as advanced as Gabriel, but it was damned close. I didn’t want asking the wrong questions to piss it off.

  “Jacob, is that....?” Defne, one of the women who had excelled at hunting spoke up.

  “It’s a tablet of some kind. There’s no way this thing could have survived out here for all of these years.” I turned it over in my hands. It started to emit a series of soft beeps, which almost made me drop it over again.

  “X2A9B, what are you doing...?”

  “Locating...locating...” The mechanical voice sang softly.

  “Get rid of that fucking thing Grandad! For all you know it could be calling down a hail of missiles on top of us.” Marcus eyed the device suspiciously.

  “I don’t think it is. The missile silos were all destroyed. You’re too young to remember, but there were meltdowns all across the continent. Really bad stuff. It isn’t trying to annihilate us. I think it’s looking for its home base.”

  Sure enough, the machine stopped chanting and pulsed a faint red blip not unlike a radar array on its dirt encrusted screen. Wherever it was trying to return to wasn’t anywhere near the shelter, but wherever it was, it was big. I pinched to zoom back on the screen and the unlabeled point of origin still covered a sizable portion of the screen.

  “Does this mean there are other humans out there?”

  “Is that dot another shelter?”

  “What the hells does this mean?”

  The questions ping ponged through the group. I held up a hand. “We’ll take this back to the settlement. I’m sure there’s someone there who knows more about this than we do. Or who can at least find out.”

  The idea that there were other humans alive on the surface was...well, it was impossible. If there were other people, did that mean there was another shelter operational? Would they be hostile if we showed up on their doorstep? As conversations broke out among us, I turned the device over in my hands and noticed a something engraved into the back of it. A shape like a double-helix was etched into the top of the material. It was reminiscent of a strand of DNA. Was it a logo? A symbol? Or was it a letter from a language I didn’t recognize? No matter what it was, a machine like this meant that there was something else out here.

  Someone else out here.

  The device joined the broken piece of mirror in my game bag and we started our long, slow trot back to the settlement.

  32

  Author’s Notes

  Thank you for purchasing my book! I hope you enjoyed the read. The Quantic Dreams series was a great experiment into how to turn a passion project into an appealing series for all readers. In many ways the conflicts that Jacob faces are ever true. We all want to look out for our families and the responsibilities he faces are impossible problems. Like the rest of us, Jacob does the best that he can with the information that he has. Nothing he does is perfect, and he is all too aware. The events of Deviant and Defiant are something that I believe could genuinely happen in the future. The effects of climate change become more severe every year and we will face increasing drought, storms, and cold as the years pass. The response from world leadership has been slow, so sluggish that the effects we could have negated back in the ‘90s have become reality thirty years later. The ravages of climate change have already had a domino effect. Our economies, our resources, cultures, borders, and our very lifestyles have already been altered far and beyond the predictions of experts at the end of the last century. We are going to see changes on a global scale and the world must find a way to endure. If we aren’t able to leave the planet, we very well may find our great-great grandchildren living in bunkers similar to the one Jacob was raised in.

  Just as larger issues are dominating our lives, technology marches forward in relentless, ever-changing progress. The computers of our grandparents’ generation were the size of entire rooms. The ones of mine contain a million times the computing power and are getting smaller each year. Work on the development of artificial intelligence has already begun. Each of our smartphones, smart watches, and even many of our appliances contain a rudimentary artificial intelligence that is becoming more advanced every second of every day. The greatest scientific minds of a lifetime have warned us against birthing true artificial intelligence into the world. Gabriel was my take on what could happen. I believe that artificial intelligence could be the savior or destruction of humanity. The most essential element will be to treat the birth of a new intelligence with respect.

  The people of Jacob’s shelter also confront a few timeless questions of the human condition. We have always been hesitant to leave our homes from the time of the Neanderthal to now. We also paradoxically crave exploration. Men and women throughout the ages have sacrificed their livelihood, their social standing, and their lives so that the rest of us may reap the benefits. In 2021, we are pushing toward yet another frontier. President Trump has promised that the United States will go to the moon within the decade and plans are on track as of this writing to send a manned mission to Mars within my lifetime.

  33

  Special preview from book three!

  Chapter 1

  You’d think that my father had brought back the holy grail. While I was busy tending our lifesaving potato plants, Dad and Marcus had been busy exploring our new home. When his group returned that evening, word about the discovery of a piece of new tech had spread through the shelter like wildfire. The tablet was passed around from person to person, n
ever far from my father’s watchful eye. Since Gabriel, Dad had developed a kind of paranoia about technology. He found it even less trustworthy these days than before an insane artificial intelligence had tried to murder him horribly. You couldn’t blame him, really. Dad’s insistence to follow the unknown piece of tech everywhere it went earned him a few strange looks but I knew better. He wouldn’t leave the thing alone until he was convinced that it wasn’t going to do harm to him or anyone else.

  The few scientists we had left tried their best to decrypt the nature of the device. They attempted to attach every piece of equipment they had to the tablet in order to give it access to our intranet but nothing happened. The sleek device emitted a few short beeps and spoke no more. No amount of poking or prodding appeared to get the machine to do anything other than continue its random chirping and squawking.

  One night I asked to borrow the tablet. Dad was not a fan of the idea. I don’t think he wanted to let the device be alone with his only daughter, despite the fact that his only daughter is middle-aged and the best botanist in the shelter. No amount of intelligence or expertise was going to convince him that the thing was safe so I went to my tent with a promise to scream loudly if attacked. I got a scowl for that one. No matter our ages, it still gave me a thrill to annoy my grumpy old Dad.