by Toker, Dor
Natalia sat on the bed next to Adam and caressed his hair. “Do you remember what I’ve told you when we parted on Mars?” she asked, and Adam nodded. “And here I am and so are you…” without interrupting her speech, she lifted her gun and shot the warrior that had emerged at the entrance of the room and drew his weapon. The warrior fell dead on the spot. “I still intend to keep my oath.”
“You don’t have to,” said Adam, “I’ll manage.” Natalia fired another shot, and another body fell to its death at the room’s entrance.
“Quickly,” she hissed, “before Sato gets here.” She helped Adam to his feet, covered him with a large robe Khaled had prepared in advance and turned to the doctor: “Do you have an emergency exit?”
“Touch the wall next to you, a little higher, yes, over there, press it.” Natalia pressed the wall and an opening appeared on the floor. Stairs were leading downstairs. Natalia hesitated. “This section is unmonitored. Run till you get to the end of the tunnel. Its opening is right below the great memorabilia market. You’ll be able to disappear there. Khaled helped Joseph to get up and accompanied the three of them until they disappeared down the stairs. Then he pressed the wall again and closed the hidden opening. He gathered the medical instruments that were scattered all over during Natalia’s attack, and organized them on the bed, sorting them according to their usage, when an Asian looking man wearing a black outfit entered the room. Khaled tried to remember what Natalia had called him, Sako, Sacho, no, he decided, she called him Sato. The man walked from one end of the room to the other, and it appeared to Khaled as if he was recreating the sequence of events that had taken place in the room in his absence. Khaled was certain the recreation in the man’s mind was perfect.
“Where is he?” asked the tall man.
“Who?” Khaled asked back, trying to buy some time for his customers. The man didn’t answer and touched his hand. The light in the room became purple, allowing the man to locate the switch that opened the escape door on the floor by the fingerprints around it. While going down the stairs, he raised his weapon and without looking, fired a laser beam straight into Khaled’s forehead. Khaled was still able to think, “This can’t…” before the ray scorched through his forehead and fried his brain.
Chapter 30
Natalia led Adam and Joseph down the narrow tunnel. Joseph breathed heavily, and Natalia felt a pang of guilt for the pain she’d caused him, but what could she do? That was what they’d paid her to do. She could have killed him for the same amount. Adam, on the other hand, was something else. Ever since he had rescued her life on Mars she often thought of him, he even frequented her dreams. She knew the chance they’d meet again was slim, but couldn’t get him out of her mind. When she’d accepted the current mission, she had no idea the target will be Adam. Once she had discovered Adam was involved, she didn’t hesitate even for a moment and switched sides. It was perhaps the rashest decision she had ever made in her life, but in spite of the risks it involved, she was completely at ease with it. She looked back, now and then, knowing Sato was getting close to them, hoping the exit Khaled had promised them actually existed and that they’d reach it before their pursuer gets to them. Adam was weak and she supported him, allowing him to lean on her while Joseph was running behind her. A strip of bluish light stretched across the tunnel wall and illuminated their way with a murky luminance. Joseph suddenly stopped. She turned to him and saw that he had drawn his weapon. “What are you doing?” she asked with a tense voice.
“I’ll delay him,” said Joseph, “and you’ll get Adam out of here.”
“No one stays behind,” Natalia announced and Adam, in spite of his weakness, placed his hand on Joseph’s shoulder.
“Come on,” he said, “we need you. I need you. We’re almost there. I can feel it.” But what he really felt was the assassin chasing them, approaching and advancing at a much higher speed. He concentrated and called voicelessly:
• Report
• Two hundred and fifty feet southwest of you and closing the gap
• Chances of successful evasion?
• Seventy-two percent
• That ought to do it
• Twenty-eight percent say it won’t
• I’ll take my chances. Inspect and report.
Adam had quickly gotten used to thinking in computerized communication terms in his new mind contact.
• Yes, Nagid
“Come,” Adam said again. Joseph hesitated for another moment, then nodded and continued to march quickly down the tunnel. Natalia and Adam hurried after him. The burrow sloped downward until it abruptly widened into a large cave, blocked from all directions, other than the one they had arrived from. The three looked for an exit, but the earthen walls in front of them were sealed. The only opening was on the cave’s ceiling and daylight penetrated the tunnel through it. “Jump on us,” called Adam and joined his hands with Joseph’s. Natalia hurried to jump on the ladder of hands the two had formed and from there, lifted herself until her hands grabbed the edges of the small opening in the ceiling. She pulled herself up, balanced herself quickly and sent her hand down. Joseph hurried after her and grabbed her outstretched hand. She pulled him up and he, without losing a second, grabbed her feet and dropped her through the opening. Adam jumped and hung on Natalia’s arms and Joseph strained himself and pulled them both up. A shadow lunged from the tunnel and a hand outstretched and grabbed Adam’s foot. But it was too late. Adam shook his leg and kicked the hand that tried to hang onto him with the other until he was able to release himself and was pulled up.
They hurried to emerge into the daylight and found themselves in the middle of a memorabilia shop in the great market on the outskirts of the old city. One could find any electronic gadget created in the past two hundred years in the market shops, from archaic computer game units to photoelectric micro and nanochips (Nano Photoelectric Chips ©).
The three hurried to escape from the store straight into a short, narrow alley filled with merchants and buyers. Joseph withdrew a market map from his external memory and began to direct their way as far as possible from the cave they had just exited. It was clear to the three of them they hadn’t gotten rid of the threat, the assassin must have already exited the pit and was giving them chase. It was only a question of time before he’ll catch up with them. And indeed, Sato blocked their way as they turned to the outskirts of the market and entered a narrow street, lined with fake microchip stands on both sides. He was standing in the middle of the street, waiting. He knew they had no other choice, and they’d reach him soon. The market was crowded with buyers, squeezing their way side-by-side, sometimes even on top of one another. They tried to turn back but were blocked by the crowd. The assassin continued to stand motionless, watching them with equanimity while they turned back toward him. The buyers surrounded them, and the crowd pushed and shoved them toward danger. Natalia looked all around her, then pushed Adam to a narrow opening between two stalls on their right. Adam disappeared from her eyes, and she and Joseph straightened up and continued to advance toward Sato.
• Report
• Continue straight
• Chances?
• Twenty-seven
• That’s not much
• That ought to do it, just like last time
Adam continued to run among the people, quickly moving away from the scene of the battle.
The assassin was momentarily confused when Adam had disappeared, then he hurried toward Joseph and Natalia, jumped in the air and sent a kick in Joseph’s direction, raising his hand toward Natalia’s head at the same time. Joseph’s shoulder absorbed Sato’s kick, and he heard his bones shattering. The force of the blow had spun him, and his other shoulder took a hit from his attacker’s foot as well. Natalia had managed to step aside, so the blow had missed her head by less than an inch and merely chaffed her ear. She immediately sent a counter blow that hit the attacker at the exact same moment he’d struck Joseph. Sato folded on the ground but immediate
ly raised himself onto his feet. He jumped to kick Natalia again, with the same dance-like movement, turned, and struck Joseph again. All that time, the sound of shouting and horrified screaming filled the market. People were trying to get away, pushing and crushing one another, in an attempt to escape without becoming the victims of the mighty battle, which took place right next to them. Sato did not wait to see whether Natalia and Joseph will recuperate and hurried to the place in which Adam had disappeared. Beyond the stalls, there was another street that ended at the edges of the market and opened to the slopes of the Judean Mountains and the outskirts of the arid Judean desert. Sato examined the view that spread before him, trying to locate his prey. In the desert, a little more than a mile from where he was standing, he recognized a dot advancing on the ground and moving away. He suppressed a curse and hurried to follow the escaping Adam. Bit by bit, the STD mission (STD-Saving Target Butt), that is keeping the target alive was becoming more complicated than expected. He wasn’t accustomed to missions in which he needed to capture his target alive but was convinced he could pull it off. ‘It’s all a matter of time and patience,’ he said to himself, while accelerating his pace.
Meanwhile, in the middle of the market, between the stalls that had emptied out of terrified merchants and buyers, a hovercraft landed next to the unconscious Joseph and Natalia. The aircraft’s door opened and Elizabeth jumped outside, hurrying toward Joseph. She shook him till he woke. “Where is he?” she shouted.
“I don’t know,” answered Joseph, “I hope he managed to reach the desert.” Natalia’s voice was heard from behind him: “He went out into the desert. But Sato is still after him.”
Elizabeth turned to her quickly, hands in attack mode. “You’re one of them,” she determined with a threatening tone.
“I was,” said Natalia, “not anymore.”
“She saved us,” said Joseph and placed his hand on Elizabeth’s ready fist, “she and Adam have met on Mars.”
“Where is he running to?” asked Elizabeth, who remained suspicious in spite of Joseph’s words.
“I don’t know, but I think his protective suit is out of order. He won’t last in it for long in the desert.”
They all became quiet. The street, which had emptied during the battle between Sato to Natalia and Joseph, began to fill up with people again, and they surrounded the hovercraft and looked at it with curiosity.
“There’s no other choice,” Joseph said after a moment, “we need to ask for their help.”
“I can’t,” answered Elizabeth, “it’s too dangerous.”
“We have no choice,” Joseph urged her, “that’s exactly the type of situation we were afraid of. We can’t help him anymore. Contact them.” Elizabeth nodded and returned to the hovercraft to make the call.
“Contact who?” asked Natalia, but Joseph didn’t answer. He helped Natalia to get up, and both of them followed Elizabeth into the hovercraft.
Chapter 31
Adam stumbled on a yellow sand dune, protecting his eyes from the sun beating down from above. The heat was unbearable, and the protective suit that had saved his life surrendered to a single bullet fired by one of his pursuers and ceased to function. Elizabeth, Joseph, and Natalia had caught up with him in the Judean Desert a few moments before the corporation agents’ hovercrafts would. They helped him get into their own hovercraft and flew away quickly. But the agents’ aircraft were quicker, and the hovercraft was shot down with a loud blast. At the last moment, before it crashed into the ground, Joseph had managed to push Adam into the escape capsule and fired it with a silent whistle to the maximum distance it could be sent to.
Adam knew his time was limited. Unless he finds water and shelter from the sun, he won’t survive in the vast desert. He assumed the assassin was already aware of the fact Adam didn’t die in the ground-hovercraft blast or the aftershock that followed. He also realized the lone assassin wasn’t the only one after him. Joseph had assumed skill did not want to put all eggs in a single basket and in addition to their contract with Sato, sent corporation agents to search for Adam as well.
From his repeated encounters with the assassin, Adam began to assume he did not wish to kill him, merely to stun him in a way that will make it easier to capture him. But he wasn’t certain about the intent of the corporation agents.
• Report
He called the computer’s brain but received no reply. For some reason, the computer had chosen not to communicate with him, something that led Adam to wonder who the computers were loyal to. Also, ‘If they’d chosen him as their contact person, why weren’t they available at all times?’
Adam worried about his friends. The thought that they might have given their lives to defend him tortured him and desperation returned to govern his thoughts, burdening his escaping feet with weights. After they’d picked him up in the desert, Elizabeth asked him, almost begging, to run away and leave them behind to fight the living, breathing war-machine that chased them. Joseph pushed him to the escape capsule and fired it quickly. And indeed he was saved. But what about them? Adam was afraid for their lives. That’s what he wanted to find out with the computer, but communication with it could not be established.
The moment the escape capsule had touched the ground and landed with a crash, Adam jumped out of it, lunged to his feet and without looking around, began to run as fast as he could. He assumed the assassin was aware of the launching of the capsule and was hurrying after him. He did not wonder where he was, and he didn’t look back. When he was convinced he was far from the area in which he had landed, he turned around and looked in every direction, but couldn’t see anything, just sand and even more sand. He returned to running, crossing the desert with the maximum speed his improvetegrated muscles allowed him, but as time went by, his footsteps slowed down and his head emptied of any thought not related to water and shelter. During his flight, which seemed useless to him, he had become so tired and thirsty that even the little concentration necessary for lifting one leg after another began to seem difficult. His foot got stuck in a pile of sand and he stumbled, lost his equilibrium and tumbled down a high dune. When he’d landed, sprawled on his back, he noticed a movement at the corner of his eye and became tense. He knew he should jump up on his feet and move to a defensive posture, but his strength had betrayed him, and he remained lying on the hot sand. With his eyes half closed, he could barely sense the figure leaning toward him, placing its hand gently on his head and covering his eyes. He tried to resist, but between the thought of resistance and the actual action, utter darkness covered Adams mind, and he lost consciousness.
Chapter 32
When he woke up, everything was dark around him, and he was sprawled on the sand leaning on the dune with his back and warming to the light of a campfire. Adam examined his body with the aid of the inner-body scanner (SR model ©). The scanner signaled his condition was fine, and Adam realized the protective suit was functional again. He rose up and just like Elizabeth had trained him to, immediately examined his surroundings with suspicion. The darkness of the night surrounded him like an opaque wall, and at the center of the darkness, a small fire burned brightly. Something about the fire bothered him. Its color was darker than any he’d seen before, and it appeared liquid, even more than the one he’d seen on the net during the great fire in the last Persian Gulf oil well. He turned from the fire and returned to examine his surroundings, wondering why the assassin hadn’t reached him while he was unconscious.
Even with the aid of his improvetegrated senses, he couldn’t perceive any living thing for miles and miles, couldn’t hear any background noises as well. He felt he was located in a secluded bubble his senses weren’t able to penetrate. Only the fire kept on burning, billowing with a straight, precise vertical trail of smoke. Adam walked slowly and began to move away from the fire, but the moment he was out of its circle of illumination, felt a deep urge to turn around. It was a longing that crawled down his back and up his head, one he was unable and unwilling to
resist. He returned to the fire and as he drew closer, the urge diminished.
“I see you’ve recovered,” the voice of a woman was heard. Adam immediately moved to a defensive posture and tried to locate the source of the voice. It seemed to him that it came from the other side of the fire. He lunged toward it but saw nothing. “The scanners indicate ninety-three percent of Earthly fitness, which should be enough for the moment.” To his great Surprise, Adam realized the voice came from within the burning fire. Then he realized what had seemed so strange about the fire. It was as if the bush was burning without being consumed. He tried to jump outside the circle of light again and once more, the urge made him turn back. “I’m sorry for keeping you like that,” said the fire, “but it appears there’s no other choice. Time is running out, and you’re not ready yet.”
“Ready for what?” Adam finally opened his mouth.
“I think in your English the exact term is ‘to let go,’” said the fire.
Adam did not understand her intention and the entire situation he’d found himself in seemed surreal and inconceivable. He felt as if he was in the midst of a dream, but knew, because his improvetegrated senses told him so, he was awake. “Who are you?” he asked the burning bush.
“I’m not sure I can refer to this question without preparing you for the answer,” said the flickering tongues of fire, “join me,” she invited him and sent a bright flame toward him.
“What should I do?” asked Adam.
“Give me your hand,” the fire instructed, “don’t be afraid,” she added when she noticed his hesitation, “the fire won’t burn your body.” Adam carefully extended his hand toward the fire and placed it within the flames. The world turned blue, then darkened, and the skies turned black. His fisted hand itched and he turned it up and straightened his fingers. A ball of light jumped and settled in the air in front of his face. “Leave the ground,” the ball of light instructed. Adam looked at the ground and to his surprise, discovered his feet had left it. He recoiled with fear and lost his balance. Space surrounded him in every direction, black, deep, strewn with tiny and distant lights. He sought the sun and the Earth, and when he couldn’t locate them, deduced the light must have taken him to another part of the universe. The ball of light around him grew and widened until it wrapped him with its halo. He floated and stabilized inside the ball, which began to move slowly, but gathered speed the more it advanced into the dark emptiness. Adam didn’t feel cold, and realized, much to his surprise, he wasn’t breathing. He tried to inhale and exhale but had no need to do so. His senses behaved normally; he was able to see as much the ball’s halo, and the speed of its advance allowed him to. He could also hear the rustle of the accelerated motion. His nose caught an unfamiliar scent, and he immediately classified it as gentle and pleasant.