by Devon C Ford
“No,” Hendricks said firmly. “Information first. Then and only then will we discuss what to do about him.”
Harrison stared at him for a full minute, his eyes searching his face for any hint of treachery, before replying slowly and carefully, “Do you give me your word that once we have shown you to The Source you will help me destroy The Tanaka?”
Hendricks returned the stare before replying carefully, “Tanaka will be dealt with. You have my word.” He extended his hand offering it to seal his statement. Harrison glanced at Tori standing beside him, who nodded her head subtly in agreement, before he accepted the handshake, saying at the same time.
“I must return to my people no later than tomorrow. They know where we are and will accept me being away for one night, but no longer. Otherwise they will become nervous and other voices in the community, voices that may not be as willing to be as friendly to you, may begin to hold sway over my people.”
Hendricks, with the ability to read people, knew there was more to say about the ‘other voices’ but kept his mouth shut.
“Tomorrow at the latest,” he agreed.
Harrison relaxed. He had achieved the objectives of his visit and he trusted the man standing before him. Hendricks was a warrior as he was, and even though a millenia of time and culture separated them, the warrior code was still the same as it had been from the dawn of human’s time upon the earth: he had given him his word and he knew he would deliver on it, or die trying.
Again perceiving Harrisons thoughts, he nodded at him in reply and changed the subject. They still had a mission to complete and the day was not getting any longer.
“Please,” he said with a genuine smile. “Come into the compound and rest while we complete our preparations.”
Chapter 13
Into the Unknown
I’d only walked about five hundred yards but the weight of all the equipment I’d been loaded up with seemed to be getting heavier with every step I took. The weight of the handgun on my hip had, over time, become normal but the rifle felt awkward and I had to hold the pistol grip to stop it swinging and banging against me whenever I took a step.
Hendricks and the other super soldiers seemed fine, as they should be, I guessed, and I satisfied myself thinking that they would be just as uncomfortable as I was if I’d asked them to program a few thousand lines of code.
I was soaked with sweat before I’d even got used to moving over the rough ground, not helped by Harrison up at the front with Hendricks keeping the pace fast, moving quickly over the terrain. He said we wanted to get there and back before nightfall, even though Harrison had assured us that we’d all be safe from The Swarm for another month because the moon wasn’t due to be close to full again for almost another three weeks.
I was nestled in the middle of our little wagon train, where the vulnerable ones traditionally travelled, with an engineer in front and behind me. I liked to think that I was classed as precious cargo being well protected—like POTUS or something—but I had to admit to myself that it was likely due to my unfortunate status as the weakest link. I also thought that if that was the case then it was a little harsh, given my newly discovered badassery when it came to killing bugs.
Stevens and Geiger were at the rear, a position where they needed sharp eyes and ears and quick trigger fingers, but what really gripped my shit was that Amir put himself up front behind the two obvious leaders like he was still in charge. One of the things that was becoming obvious to a lot of us was that Amir Weatherby was so far out of his depth it was almost comical to watch. There were no conference rooms for him to dominate, and I was sure I wasn’t the only one to notice a shift in trust leaning toward Hendricks. Cat said I was a hero, which made me blush, but if it came to a vote, I’d be backing Henricks all the way. Don’t get me wrong, I like Amir and I’m only alive, hell Annie’s only alive because of his support, but this wasn’t his world anymore. I worried that him trying to hold onto the reins too tightly now would affect my long-term survivability prospects.
“Wanna speed up there, chief?” Stevens asked in a quiet voice from a few paces behind me. “Keep your spacings. And keep your damned finger outside the trigger guard unless you want me to staple it there.” I quickly moved my finger and muttered something I hoped was under my breath, and forced my tired legs to skip a few paces and catch up to shorten the gap between me and the guy in front who I’d only recently learned was called Knight.
A faint buzzing overhead made me glance up at a gap in the tree canopy where one of the three drones keeping tabs on us zipped by. I liked that, knowing that Annie was watching and listening, figuring it was weird that those were two of the things I’d been constantly pissed at back in the ‘old world’; the intrusive surveillance that seemed to be everywhere was now a shield instead of a threat.
Annie called through our earpieces that she detected movement ahead, and Hendricks dropped to one knee to raise his rifle. I dropped down, hearing nothing but my own breathing.
“Stay back,” Harrison’s voice came through my earpiece, “don’t go near them.”
“What the hell are they?” Hendricks asked, making my heart continue to race as I couldn’t see what they were looking at. Before my mind began to race and conjure up something probably much worse than it was, Harrison spoke again, having his words transmitted through Hendricks’ open mic.
“Dragons,” he said, not making my stress levels lower one iota, “good eating.”
“How many are there?” Tori whispered.
“Too many,” Harrison answered before explaining to Hendricks. “In ones and twos they can be caught easily, but in packs the tables turn on us.”
“Carnivorous?” Hendricks asked.
“Their eye placement and physical attributes would imply that they are carnivores,” Annie said, no doubt having lowered one of the drones to get a better look. “The closest physical match I can find in my database is a bearded dragon.”
“Well that ain’t that sca—” I started to say.
“Only roughly twelve times larger. In terms of size a Komodo dragon is also comparable, however there are similarities to saltwater crocodiles. I would need to study them more to be able to decipher their correct genetic heritage,” Annie said. I shut my mouth.
Harrison led us slowly around them, not wanting to mix it with a pack of things I hadn’t seen but already my mind was coming up with too many nightmare images from watching too many sci-fi B-movies.
“Aren’t they prey for The Swarm?” Geiger asked.
“They climb the trees,” Harrison explained, “so The Swarm can’t reach them.”
I swallowed and looked up instinctively, expecting one of them to drop on me at any point.
~
It took us another two hours to reach Charlie site. We saw more wildlife than I expected, but to my relief none of what we came across was identified by Harrison—now acting more like a wildlife guide—with a name as nerve jangling as dragons. Annie, through the radios both Harrison and Tori had been issued with, asked them questions which, once they had got used to the voice talking in their ears, they answered as she built up her database on the characteristics of the seemingly newly evolved species the land around us was filled with. Hendricks and the other operators discussed the flora surrounding them as well. Reliably informing them that it too seemed to have evolved and many of the trees and plants, although familiar, had changed a lot in the preceding thousand years.
Hunkered down in the shadow of the trees ahead of a clearing with an obvious tunnel heading underground, Hendricks gave hand signals telling me to wait, which I was fine with, and went forward with Harrison and Stevens, both with their guns up ready and Harrison with a machete held in each hand. I held my breath, expecting some kind of insane fur-clad lumberjack to burst from the tunnel and attack them. They went inside, going out of sight for a while before coming back out and waving us to them. I got up, feeling the dampness itching my back where my shirt had stuck to my skin under
the weight of the vest and the pack on my back.
“To extend battery life,” Annie announced, “I have stationed the drones on tree branches surrounding the entrance. I will continue monitoring their camera feeds.”
“Thank you, Annie,” Amir replied. I would have expected Hendricks to reply but I suspected Amir was playing the game of ‘who was in charge’ again.
My eyes took a few moments to adjust to the gloom inside the cave-like entrance to The Source. Harrison had told us he had killed The Keepers, the ones who guarded The Source, on his last visit and I had expected to see their bodies still lying on the ground, but apart from a few darker patches nothing remained of them.
“Harrison,” I whispered needlessly as I stood next to him in the large cavern looking at the dark tunnel that angled down into the earth at the far end of the cave, “where are the bodies of the ones you killed?”
He looked around and pointed to scratches and drag marks I hadn’t noticed in the dry, loose dirt.
“We dragged them outside. The Swarm or Dragons would have taken care of them most likely,” he said simply. My eyes went wide. He chuckled at my display of fear before turning to the tunnel again. Knowing I had just embarrassed myself again I fought to control my racing heartbeat and tried to look as calm as Geiger who even though he was next to me with a nonchalant look on his face, I could see his eyes darting everywhere, scanning for threats.
I looked at him and caught his eye. He smiled at me.
“Don’t worry, lover boy, I’ve got your back. You’ll be back with your little girlfriend before you know it. Just stay calm and follow our lead if any kind of shit goes down.”
Does everyone know? I thought as my face burned red with embarrassment. I looked at the others to see if they had heard the exchange, but they were too engrossed with what lay beyond the dark forbidding tunnel entrance.
“I do not have the talisman,” Harrison said dejectedly, “the door will not open without it.”
Amir looked at him and pulled back the sleeve of his shirt showing him his wristband. “Remember, Harrison,” he said kindly, “we all have them, any one of them should be able to access the site.” He pulled a flashlight from his pocket and a beam of light lit up the tunnel.
Harrison jumped and stared at what was in his hand. Amir, noticing his shock, realized he would never have seen such a common everyday item before, handed it to him. “It’s a flashlight,” he explained. Taking it gingerly from his hand Harrison pointed the beam of light round the cave. A childlike look of wonder and joy spread across his face as he experienced for the first time the simple magic of light being created without having to use a flaming torch or a candle made from animal fat.
“Keep it,” Amir said with a smile and pressed a button on his rifle, turning on the tactical light attached to a mount on its side.
Hendricks, trying not to look annoyed at the distraction, took the lead once more.
“Okay everyone, stay in formation. The entrance door is at the end of the tunnel. Apparently, all the guards have been killed, but you never know, so stay frosty and watch the shadows.” He shone his light at some rocks and piles of earth on the tunnel floor. “I think we should keep the noise down too; it looks as if the tunnel may not be stable. We don’t want to start a cave-in.”
His little speech raised my panic level to volcanic and I fumbled with my pocket trying to get my own flashlight out as fast as possible to add to the light being spread by everyone else’s.
~
Five hundred yard away on a small hill a man turned to the one by his side. “Go tell Tanaka the ones from the sky are entering The Source and they have the leader of Three hills and his bitch with them.”
He nodded and the sound of his running footsteps on the forest floor diminished as he set off at a sprint.
~
My heart was now pounding with excitement more than fear as we stood in front of the steel door at the end of the tunnel. Soon I’d be able to connect Annie to her contemporary, so long as no damage had occurred in the past thousand years, and we should have all the answers we needed. Plus, the extra processing power I could create for Annie when I linked the two systems together would, I knew, most likely expedite her rapid progression from a non-sentient creation to what she was becoming now.
Amir walked toward the door and, unnecessarily I knew, held his arm out with the wristband attached. He still held his arm up, now with a triumphant look on his face, as the door clicked, lights flashed on a panel set into it and it rolled open.
A wash of cool air escaping from the door passed over us. I shuddered slightly, not quite deciding if the colder air was an ominous feeling or not. Lights in the ceiling hummed and flashed once or twice before staying on and lighting up the room beyond. Hendricks indicated to Geiger and both raised their weapons. He whispered, “Stay here,” before they both stepped into the room sweeping their weapons around.
Thirty seconds later he waved us in. With eyes for nothing else I walked straight to the main control panel and shrugging off my pack, undid the zip and pulled out a compact laptop and a selection of leads. Opening it I tapped a few keys to power it up.
“Annie?” I muttered quietly. Her voice sounded in my earpiece. She was a little fainter and more crackly than usual which immediately concerned me, but before I could ask, she answered my unspoken question.
“I am repositioning a drone to act as a relay at the entrance to the cavern.” A few seconds later her voice came back, stronger this time but still a little distorted. “The signal is not as good as I would like, but it should be acceptable for now. As soon as you get me connected, I will be able to utilize the facility’s inbuilt transmitters and create a direct link to me using microwave. Once I am connected, I can tell you how long that will take.”
I looked at the control panel.
“Annie?” I spoke slowly and clearly. I couldn’t help but smile as two voices answered. One a crackly “YYesss,” from the air around us and the other in my ear, “Yes, David?”
“Sorry Annie,” I muttered under my breath. “I’m talking to your… your… sister?” I cringed at my use of words I was sure Annie would take issue with later on. A bleep in my ear told me she understood and would remain quiet.
“Annie, allow my laptop access to your files.”
“Error, you a-a-are not authorrr-ized.”
Annoyed at being told by my own creation I was not authorized I responded, “Annie, override. Authorization Anderson one-two-zero-four-eight-five.”
“E-errorrr. Code nnn-ot authoriiiii-zed.”
“Okay then young lady, that’s how you want to play is it?” I muttered to myself and, selecting the correct lead, plugged my laptop directly into a port on the panel in front of me. Lines of code began scrolling down the screen. To anyone else it would look like an unintelligible jumble of numbers and figures, but I knew every line of the countless tens of millions I had painstakingly—singlehandedly at first, until Amir had employed Kendall and Eades—input. I could read it as easily as a book printed in large bold font.
“I don’t even see the Matrix anymore,” I mumbled. “I just see blonde, brunette, redhead…” I glanced around, a little embarrassed that nobody in earshot seemed to get one of my favorite jokes I had used many times when trying to show off to visitors my world of screens and processors.
My eyes were instantly drawn to a few lines in the scrolling jumble of code. I pressed a button and the screen froze. I linked my fingers and felt a satisfying crunch as I stretched my hands out in front of me muttering under my breath.
“Kendall, you little sneaky little bastard,” I exclaimed as I recognized his style of coding before resting my fingers on the keyboard. I didn’t want to activate Charlie Annie, so I purposely missed out her name knowing my Annie would be monitoring the laptop too.
“Do you see what I see?”
“Yes, David. The authorization levels have been changed. Now you are connected, let me run a remote diagnostic to searc
h for any similar reworking of the code.”
I waited patiently knowing she could perform the task far quicker by a factor of thousands than I could. Looking around I could see others watching me from various places around the room.
Amir was trying—without success—to open the one other door at the far end of the control room. He was waving his wristband over the control panel getting more frustrated at the dull negative bleep that answered each attempt. After a few more efforts he turned to me in frustration.
“Anderson, get this door open! I need to access the rest of the facility.”
Annoyed that he was acting as if he owned the place, where in reality that fact had disappeared into history almost a millennium ago, I decided to give him a lesson on how unimportant he was.
“Annie. Open the door to the facility. Authorization, Amir Weatherby,” I called out to the air around me.
“E erro r…not auth authorized,” the crackly voice responded.
“Annie, who has authority to access the facility?”
“Ac…cess rrrestricted to Hayato Ta-Ta-Tanakaaa.”
I looked at Amir who looked confused at what he had heard. I could almost hear his mind churning as he thought of another way to control the situation.
Hendricks had a smug smile on his face as he answered for me. “It looks like your attack dog had other plans for this place other than welcoming you back.” He turned to me, changing his tone to a more friendly one. “Anderson, can you override the system?”
Almost shocked at the suggestion that I couldn’t access the system, I responded sharply, and I guessed it came across as what Hendricks would call ‘uppity.’ “Of course, once Annie locates the correct subroutine it shouldn’t take too long.” Hendricks just smiled at my little show of being offended before returning to pacing the room, weapon still held ready.
Eventually Annie bleeped in my ear. “I have located the modified access authority subroutine. I’m showing it on your screen now.”
The screen changed to show more lines of code. I could see Kendall’s style worked into lines of my own, just the same as I could recognize someone else’s handwriting in my own journal. I unthinkingly cracked my knuckles again before returning my fingers to the keyboard. “Ann—” I started before remembering not to use her name. “Can you monitor my programming and simulate the tests to save time on rechecking once I have finished please. It will speed up the time needed.”