The Haven

by Eliza Green

  Alex smiled. ‘He is exactly who the Collective tried to create: a Copy indistinguishable from a human. If we can learn from him, we might learn the machines’ weaknesses and take down the city.’

  27

  Dom

  Carrying the Disruptor in his hand and a pair of binoculars around his neck, Dom followed Max out of the camp. His leader held on to the Atomiser while soldiers followed with electricity shooting weapons.

  The Atomiser had a crude, boxy design with a short, fat barrel soldered to the front of the homemade weapon. It looked more like a school project than a major weapon built to fight Praesidium’s technology. But despite its appearance, the Disruptor had allowed Max’s team to infiltrate Arcis and rescue the participants who never made it to the portal on the ninth floor.

  The feeling in his left arm had returned to normal, despite the new strength that Dom had yet to test out properly. It made sense, he supposed, that an arm containing Fifth Gen metal bones would prove useful. Maybe the Collective wasn’t just looking for their Copy, Breeder and Guardian. Maybe their search included Dom too.

  He tried not to think about how his upgrades might have increased his worth to the Collective.

  Jason, Thomas and Jacob followed the lead group. Jason carried the bullhorn while Thomas gripped the screen with the remote control for the recorder. Jacob held on tight to the reprogrammed orb that, to Dom’s relief, was still inactive. Bringing up the rear of their group were three more armed soldiers who also carried shovels.

  They entered the valley to the front of the camp, which was nestled back far enough to be invisible to those passing the neck of the Ferrous mountain range. Dom looked up as they approached the anti-magnetic field. The mid-morning sun glinted off the guns belonging to the spotters.

  The air thickened suddenly, creating resistance against his arms and torso. Both the gun in his hand and the binoculars around his neck lifted up as if they had a life of their own. He fought the resistance, not only to the metal he carried, but to the metal inside him. The invisible barrier squeezed him tighter the more progress he made.

  The Disruptor in his hand had weighed little before, but now it weighed a tonne. It resisted the space between him and the field, as the anti-magnetic field repelled the metal atoms.

  Jason struggled to move too with the bullhorn in his hand. In fact, the anti-magnetic field had slowed everyone’s movements down to an almost crawl.

  ‘This won’t work,’ huffed Max. With great difficulty, he removed a walkie talkie from his belt and pressed the button on the side. ‘Dad, it’s no good; we can’t pass it. I’ll need you to turn off the barrier.’

  Max waited a moment. The load in Dom’s arm lightened suddenly.

  The colonel slipped the walkie talkie back into the pouch on his belt. A collective sigh of relief came from the soldiers. Everyone carried on under the watchful eye of the spotters. But the service elevator to their right limited how far the spotters could travel along the shelf. Scopes would provide them with the extra visual distance they needed.

  ‘How far out do we need to go?’ asked Dom.

  Jacob replied from behind him. ‘Far enough so we can get a visual on the orbs.’

  Thoughts of a swarm of orbs descending on his location terrified Dom. He hoped the city wasn’t as armed as he imagined it would be. From his time as prisoner, he hadn’t seen much, except for what medical equipment they used. And he’d been in too much pain to remember much detail about his escape. But Quintus, who had ordered his heart to be replaced on the next surgery, wasn’t someone likely to forget about them.

  They trekked through the rocky terrain of the valley bed, surrounded by walls of sheer rock on either side. The valley floor was dotted with large chunks of rock, dislodged from above. His pulse hammered the closer they got to the mouth of the valley, to the area that would put them all at risk. Revealing their location would hand an advantage to the city. Max went first, followed by Jacob and half of the soldiers.

  Dom gripped the Disruptor tight and steadied his pulse as he stayed back with Jason and Thomas, and the remaining three soldiers.

  He waited for Max to give the signal.

  Max waved his arm once, a sign that it was safe to proceed. Dom emerged from the sheltered valley onto the open plain. The city was too far to see from this distance. So too were the towns. A sigh of relief passed his lips when he saw nothing between them and the next patch of civilisation. If the machines brought the fight to them, there would be no place to hide, except in the camp. It would also be impossible to sneak out of the camp without being seen. The camp provided good camouflage, but it had also trapped them.

  He pressed the binoculars to his eyes and checked for any sign that new orbs were on their way. The one in Jacob’s hand remained idle.

  Jason moved out in front with the bullhorn. Thomas followed with the screen.

  ‘Does the screen act as a remote controller?’ asked Dom, removing the binoculars.

  ‘Among other things,’ replied Thomas.

  ‘How much range does it have?’

  Thomas checked it by walking back from Jason and the bullhorn. ‘I’d say about twenty feet from this rock, if we’re lucky.’

  He patted the rock face that marked the entrance point to the valley.

  Jason counted out twenty feet from where Thomas stood, then stopped. Thomas checked his screen and waved him closer, finally putting his hand up.

  He met Jason where he stood and pointed down. ‘Seventeen feet. The signal drops off any farther out than that.’ He tapped his foot once on the hard, flat ground. ‘We should bury it here.’

  Max checked the landscape through a set of his own binoculars and said, ‘There’s nothing out there, but it doesn’t mean anything.’ He brought them down. ‘These things can move fast. Best get digging.’

  He nodded at the three soldiers who carried shovels as well as weapons. They handed their weapons to Max and got to digging.

  When they’d gone deep enough, Jason told them to stop. He set the device in the bone-dry soil, making sure the amplifier of the bullhorn lined up with the surface. Jason and Thomas dropped to their knees and covered both the bullhorn and the recorder attached to its side.

  ‘It should be invisible to the naked eye,’ Jacob said to the pair. ‘The orbs are also recording devices, so we don’t want them to see it’s out here. But the amplifier needs to be close enough to the surface that it’s not distorted by the clay above it.’

  When the two men finished covering it with a thin layer of soil, Thomas picked up his screen and stood, then pressed a button on it. A muffled whistle played once through the soil. Dom hoped it would be loud enough for the orbs to hear when they came. Two had already arrived, the last one probably on a mission to find the first one. It would only be a matter of time before more came. The orb in Jacob’s hand remained inactive.

  Max checked the landscape through his binoculars again

  He cursed. ‘Activity in the area. We need to hurry.’

  Jacob tossed the orb into the air and caught it. ‘We have a weapon. It’s not much, but it might distract them if it’s seen flying in the opposite direction. They have a hive-like mind.’

  While Max and Jacob discussed tactics, Dom checked the landscape for himself. His heart raced double-time upon seeing dozens of orbs headed straight for their location. That confirmed one of two things: either the first scout had transmitted its location, or Carissa’s brief conversation with Quintus had given up the coordinates.

  And they hadn’t come alone.

  Plumes of dust obscured some of the orbs from sight. Two larger machines hovered above the flat landscape, kicking up the dry dust. Dom readied the Disruptor, which shook with the power it had stolen from the reprogrammed orb earlier. It worked to disrupt the flight pattern of smaller objects like the orbs, then steal their energy to render them inert. But a blast of power to a giant digging machine would do little to slow it down. He kept his shaky finger off the trigger, not wanting
to fire too early. The irony that he was as much machine as the looming threat, and as much at risk from the gun he held, wasn’t lost on him.

  The larger machines approached at a fast clip, but not as fast as the swarm of orbs.

  Jacob cursed and fussed with the reprogrammed orb. Thomas and Jason disagreed over which command was the right one to initiate it. In the end, Max’s bark to hurry up made up their mind.

  ‘Okay, here goes nothing,’ said Thomas, selecting an option on his screen.

  ‘Everyone get back from view,’ said Max. The soldiers slipped inside the valley. ‘That goes for you too, Jacob.’

  The old man protested. ‘Not until I know this damn orb works.’

  Dom refused to move either, mirroring the old man’s concern. Thomas played a whistle at a different pitch through the screen’s speakers. The orb stirred in Jacob’s hand then zipped up into the air. It took flight and sped off towards the approaching machines.

  ‘Everyone fall back, now!’ said Max.

  They dropped back to cover.

  ‘How close do the orbs need to get, Thomas?’ said Max.

  ‘Probably within ten feet of the burial site. It will be tight.’

  Not much room to get this right.

  Dom gripped the Disruptor in one hand and checked progress through his binoculars. The orbs sent from the city were heading straight for them, but the reprogrammed scout was running rings around the two digging machines. It confused them enough to bring them to a halt. But still the orbs came. Dom abandoned his binoculars for his gun. He lifted it and set against the crook of his shoulder.

  They were hidden from sight, but the anti-magnetic field was down. The orbs would have free passage through the valley if the sound from the bullhorn didn’t work. Thomas poised his finger over his screen. Then, when the orbs were just twenty feet out from the burial site, he played the sound. It repeated on a loop.

  The orbs kept flying as though they hadn’t heard it.

  Dom prepared to shoot at the swarm. His hands shook when his finger touched the trigger. Shooting them had to be a last resort. To do so would alert the recording orbs to their presence and show the Collective who dared to fight its machines.

  But his hopes lifted when, one by one, the orbs nosedived and hovered over the buried bullhorn. While they were distracted, the soldiers fired bolts of electricity from their guns at them. The distracted orbs dropped like stones. Dom prepared to fire to deal with the last ones, but Jacob put a hand on his arm.

  ‘I need that for something else. Don’t fire.’

  The soldiers incapacitated the remaining orbs and Max prepared to leave. But Jacob pulled on Dom’s sleeve, dragging him out of cover and closer to the orbs.

  ‘What are you doing?’ said a shocked Max.

  ‘I need one of those machines,’ said Jacob. ‘There’s a young woman with amnesia and I said I could fix her. One of those machines could have the parts I need to reverse her memory loss.’

  Anya.

  Dom nodded at Jacob. ‘Whatever you need.’

  He focused on the machines, still far enough away for him to prepare.

  ‘Hold on,’ said Max. ‘Who’s in command here?’

  Jacob turned and faced him. ‘You are. But Anya’s having trouble recalling regular memories and I think the amnesia is to blame. If we unlock her repressed memories, we could trigger other ones she may have, like the coordinates to the Beyond. One of those machines will go a long way to getting us out of here faster.’

  Max conceded with a sharp nod. ‘Wait a second.’

  He marched out from cover with his Atomiser and checked the scene with his binoculars. Dom mirrored his action. He saw one of the machines had broken off and was following the erratic orb. The second was coming for the valley.

  ‘Looks like we don’t have a choice.’ Max dropped the binoculars and gripped the Atomiser with both hands. ‘All soldiers to the front.’ He contacted base. ‘Dad, erect the anti-magnetic field.’

  Dom heard Charlie reply, ‘But you’re not back inside.’

  ‘Just do it.’

  Dom heard a hum and felt a push as the field was re-established.

  The soldiers with electrical guns created an arc to the front.

  Dom stood next to Max as he explained again how to use the Disruptor.

  Thomas added, ‘The Disruptor won’t do much against a machine that size. Max needs to shoot first to de-atomise the outer structure, then you can use the stored power from the Disruptor to blast the inner sanctum and do damage.’

  ‘Try not to damage too much of it,’ said Jacob quickly. ‘I need as much of it intact as possible.’

  They passed by the inactive orbs and continued towards the machine. It was picking up speed.

  ‘We’ll need to act fast,’ said Max. ‘Even with the anti-magnetic barrier, this thing could steamroll through it in minutes. Everyone fan out. Let’s surround this thing.’ Max handed the Atomiser to Thomas. ‘Thomas and Dom, you two together.’

  Dom frowned at Max. ‘What are you going to do?’

  ‘Become a distraction.’

  Dom and Thomas went left while the soldiers headed right. Max stepped into the path of the machine. The rumble became a roar as the machine’s massive height and width bore down on them.

  The machine didn’t appear to be sentient, unlike the Copies. It had a mission, and that was to break through the barrier. The closer it got to the mouth of the mountain pass, the slower its speed became. The anti-magnetic field was doing its job.

  Dom arced out wider, hoping to find a weak spot in the side of the machine’s design. Thomas kept close. On the other side, the soldiers fired bolts of electricity from their guns, while Max stood in the machine’s path, not wavering from his spot. The machine pitched right when the soldiers’ electricity found its target, then righted itself before coming at Max again. Thomas tapped Dom on the shoulder, pointing at a box visible on the underside of the hovering machine. It appeared to be the location of the control mechanism for the machine.

  ‘That’s right—hit its underbelly,’ shouted Jacob.

  Thomas fired at the box once; it shimmered as it became translucent. Dom fired the Disruptor’s stored energy at the box, steadying against the recoil the gun made. He quickly absorbed the power from the control mechanism. The machine dropped out of its hover and ground to a halt, feet away from a sweating Max.

  A smiling Jacob ran up to the machine and yanked some wires loose. ‘That should render it inactive. Good job, everyone.’

  Max, who had recovered from his shock, said, ‘How the hell will we get this thing back?’

  Jacob said, ‘In pieces.’

  They spent the next half an hour dismantling the parts that Jacob wanted, then buried the rest. The city’s orbs were still inactive. The second digger had disappeared, as too had the reprogrammed orb.

  This was just one non-sentient machine. Dom hated to think what would happen if the Copies came next.

  ‘Collect the orbs. Maybe we can reprogram these too,’ said Max to the soldiers.

  ‘No, leave them,’ said Jacob, when some soldiers picked up a handful.

  ‘Why?’ said Max.

  ‘Because the city will notice if they don’t return. When they wake, they’ll reset and return to the city. The Collective will see they approached the valley and got distracted by a piece of land. They’ll just assume they’re defective and send more. If we take them, they’ll know we have them and hit harder.’

  ‘But what about the digging machine?’

  ‘They’re designed to be expendable. The Collective would expect to lose some in a battle like this.’

  Max relented with a nod. ‘Everybody back to the camp.’ He pressed the button on the side of his walkie talkie. ‘Dad, we’re heading back. Drop the field.’

  Charlie asked, ‘Did everything go okay?’

  ‘As well as can be expected. Give us three minutes to get back, then put the barrier up.’

  They moved as fast
as they could while carrying machine parts, to make it back before Charlie erected the field. When Dom was just ten feet away, a sudden force smacked him against the rock face of the valley wall. It pinned his left arm to the wall. He let go of the sheets of metal, hoping to release the field’s hold on him. But it only slammed them against the wall too.

  Max popped out the other side. He dropped his parts and gun and waded through the field to Dom.

  He pulled on his arm. ‘Sorry, we can’t take the risk of lowering it again.’

  With some effort, he freed Dom and dragged him and the pieces of metal to the safe side. Dom felt his human limbs lighten, though the force still repelled his machine body.

  Safely through the gates, Dom got to his feet, wondering if his physical adjustments would be a help or a hindrance in a fight against the city.

  ‘I hope you’re right about those orbs resetting themselves and returning home, Jacob,’ said Max.

  ‘Trust me,’ said the old man. ‘I’ve been working on those machines for a year. I picked up a few things about their mannerisms and likely behaviour.’

  ‘And what about your reprogrammed orb?’

  ‘The signal won’t reach it, wherever it’s gone, but I programmed it to reset itself in a day. When that happens, it will return here to ground zero.’

  Max released a sigh. ‘It’s a start, but a bullhorn won’t stop those things from coming. We must prepare for the second wave.’

  28

  Carissa

  Carissa watched from the street opposite the alley as Dom and Max carried the remnants of a digging machine to the storage shed. She moved closer but remained outside of the space where Rover had been locked up again. The Inventor entered the space next, followed by Thomas and Jason. An excitable Rover whined for attention.

  ‘We’ll let you get on,’ said Max to the Inventor. ‘Let me know if you hear back from your reprogrammed orb.’

  The Inventor nodded and Max left. Carissa slid inside the space as Jason and Thomas started to dismantle a section of the giant machine. The Inventor looked on, fists on his hips. Despite the lack of tools and equipment in this camp, he appeared to enjoy his work here more than the work he’d left behind in the city.