by G. R. Carter
“Levi, thank you for joining me here,” Alex Hamilton said.
The hulking redhead nodded, not particularly pleased to be called away from his friends when they needed his help to repair Beardstown. They had plans to rebuild a new home along the river for Buckles and Boars alike. A chance to establish a thriving trading post between the two groups. Finally, after driving off the Caliphate, it was time to clean up and start over. To build something good again.
But the Founder had asked for Levi specifically, and Lori Hamilton suggested that didn’t happen very often.
“I’m not sure if you have any idea why I requested you, but everyone who knows you speaks very highly of your abilities to build things in difficult circumstances,” the Red Hawk leader said.
“I do okay,” Levi said. “Better than average, I ‘spose.”
Alex nodded and smiled. “And humble enough to admit when something can’t be done?”
Levi returned the nod. “Honesty been gettin’ me in trouble since I was a boy. Too old to stop that now.”
Alex pondered the young man in bib overalls for a moment. He couldn’t have been much more than twenty-five. But then again, people aged much quicker these days.
Satisfied with the reply, Alex began to unroll plans and tack them to the office walls. When this facility had been Scott Air Force base before the Reset, each wall had been touchscreens. Now they were simple plywood until enough whiteboards could be found to satisfy the Founder’s obsession with writing every idea down. He may as well have used permanent markers instead of erasable; he never erased anything. Which was just as well because the Wizards hadn’t been able to create a very good replacement for wipe-off markers anyway.
As he tacked each large paper up on the wall, none above shoulder height, he looked to gauge Levi’s reaction. Simple grunts and hums were all he received until the last plan was hanging on the wall. “Pretty optimistic,” was all Levi said.
“Well, I’m nothing if not that,” Alex said. “Can it be done?”
“Course it can,” Levi said. “If you get enough men and materials. That kinda crew’s gonna cost ya big-time wages and food.” He scratched his head. “Have to pull in every tradesman from the whole of the Republic to pull that off. Maybe even some Boars, too, just for grunt work.”
“I’d say we can come up with both food and manpower.”
“I don’t get it, Founder Hamilton. You’ve made it clear you’re a man of the land. Your country’s heart is a field of wheat, not some big city. Why would you put all those resources into building something you’ve said yourself you despise?”
Alex took measure of the tradesman. He was just as deep a thinker as Lori had described. “It’s not the city I despise so much as the customs that seem to lurk there. Look at it this way: we’re going to have a capital city whether we like it or not, right?”
Levi shrugged. “Reckon so. You got your Shelbyville now.”
Alex pointed and wagged his finger. “And I like it just the way it is. But there are people streaming in from hundreds of miles away, looking to be close to the safety and stability we provide. Before long, Shelbyville won’t be the same anymore.”
“You buildin’ a place where folks can come if they wanna, but don’t ruin the place you love so much?”
“Correct. We’ll build it right here, but with plenty of reverence to the things that really matter in this world. We’ll make sure folks don’t forget where their food comes from…where they come from,” he stressed.
Alex thought back to his brief conversation with Robert Culper in the heart of ARK’s capital, about using technology to rebuild a perfect world. The choice had been within his grasp, a seductive call to recreate the life of his childhood. Had the constant electronic noise and distraction really been so wonderful? Was an excess of everything the way to true happiness? He couldn’t remember exactly, those memories of youth seemed like a strange dream.
But the memory of how terribly life went wrong for those unprepared when thrust back into the natural world…that memory was fresh enough to dread ever repeating it. He’d lead his people on a different path. The work would be hard, but life would exist in real time, with no façade between humanity and Creation.
Alex noticed Levi was staring at him, smiling like a youth watching an old man day dream. Despite just a decade of age difference between the two, he didn’t think the comparison was really so far off.
He smiled back and finished his thought. “Lot’s more folks to think about now, Levi. Our new Republic will stretch from the Plains to Appalachia. We need a new capital city, in the middle of all the provinces. Belonging to none, belonging to all.”
“Gonna name it Alexandria?” Levi asked with a chuckle.
Alex laughed out loud. “Not a chance! The women in my life would never allow that, even if I wanted. Besides, I’ve had enough of trying to name towns. I’ll leave that to Old Main’s history faculty.”
Alex was still smiling, glad to be in the company of such a spirited person. He knew he had the big man intrigued. “You up for the job?”
Levi stayed coy. “Sorry, sir. Got my own work, helpin’ your sister rebuild Beardstown.”
“That’s going to be someone else’s job. Lori will be overseeing this project here. That’s who told me to request you.”
“What about your brother, or your other sister?”
Alex’s smile faded just a bit. “Sam will be staying in Independence for a while, helping bring ARK under the Republic’s wing. They’ve stopped the advance of the Nuevos, but they’re not completely safe yet.” The pain of parting from his brother still stung, no less so because he feared it might be a lifelong separation. “The Diamantes relied heavily on their version of RenOne in Independence. Without it, living underground becomes a lot less feasible. Even with our help, it’ll be a pretty tough transition as they rebuild.”
Alex shook off the thought and continued. “Essie will be our liaison with Texas. They’ve got plenty to worry about with Nuevos, also.” Alex found himself worrying about the Nuevo cartels as much as any other group. Even without Cog help, there was still a lot of them. And like the Caliphate, the Nuevo conscripts were used to living in harsh conditions. This would be like no adversary the Red Hawks had faced yet. At least this time he’d have a dedicated ally in the Republic of Texas. “They lost their legacy control systems to Killswitch,” Alex continued. “But they’ll bounce back just fine. It was worth it to them to be rid of the Cogs.” His smile returned to full bright thinking of his little sister getting the battle tested warriors of Texas to do what she wanted them to. They didn’t stand a chance against her will. “Essie will be back here visiting occasionally. I think you’ll like her.”
Levi’s eyes narrowed as he thought through the scope of what the Founder had planned. “This is enough work for three lifetimes. You’ll never see it complete.”
Alex nodded. “I likely won’t see much of it at all. I’m headed east with my Silver Shields. There’s still pockets of Caliphate out that way, we didn’t get them all.” A memory of how he’d eliminated the rest gave him pause. “I’ve got to see what else is lurking, too.” He glanced at the sweeping vistas and massive buildings of their new capital city, existing for now only on the hanging pages. “I’ll be looking forward to reports on the progress, but it will be up to you and Lori to see this through.”
“Sounds to me like you’re not plannin’ on comin’ back,” Levi said, softer than usual.
Alex didn’t answer at first. “You a student of history, Levi?” he finally asked.
“Liam Oliver used to teach me some United States history. Ancient stuff, too, like the Roman Empire. I guess there was plenty of time to read when he crewed on boats as a younger man.” Levi’s emotion almost got the best of him when he remembered his friend. He gathered himself quickly. “He really liked the Greeks. Said their king was the reason you were named Alexander.”
Alex was still smiling. “Something like that. My namesake exp
lored new worlds for his people. He spent his short life conquering enemies, spreading Greek culture throughout huge swaths of the world.” He shook his head and rubbed his good eye. “I’m no Alexander the Great. But I do get the feeling I’m supposed to go east, into the heart of what was Cog territory. I’m afraid if we don’t root out what’s left of their beliefs, it will metastasize.”
“I’m awful sorry, sir. I don’t know what that word means.”
“Oh, sorry. It’s Mrs. Hamilton’s vocabulary rubbing off on me again.” The thought of his wife gave him pause. He missed her terribly already. “Simply put, if we don’t kill the remnants of Continuity now, it will come back to haunt us someday.”
“Ah okay, I get it. You’ll carry the fight to them on their turf for once. Instead of them comin’ after us all the time.”
“Exactly.”
Levi took out a pencil from his front overall pocket, then pulled a paper notebook stashed in another. Without taking his eyes off the blue ink plans, he started asking questions.
“So which building you reckon you’d start with?”
Alex smiled and patted his hand on a stack of hardcover books piled high on a desk. “The Archives, Mr. Marshall. The whole world revolves around the Archives.”
Epilogue – The Dead of Winter
Continuity of Government
Global Communications Center
Beneath Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia
Moments After Killswitch 2.0 is Released
Elias Marburg stood like a captain on the bridge of a spaceship, surrounded by glowing screens in the cool dark control room. Smooth white walls were interrupted only by backlit metal circles, giving the room an unearthly radiance. Bright young faces monitored the entire world from here, the center of the new universe, buried deep inside of a mountain outside what had been Atlanta, Georgia. Nestled beneath them, a nuclear reactor provided nearly unlimited electricity, giving Grapevine all the juice she needed to keep tabs on a world now controlled by Continuity.
Here they were creating a new Eden, hacking evolution by thousands of years. Marburg stopped by this room at least once a day, just to check in on Continuity of Government outposts all over the world. The work made him proud; he’d spent his adult life preparing to lead humanity out of the darkness of the old world and into its bright future.
Not everything had gone according to plan, but what plan ever did? Some Cog outposts fell victim to Grapevine’s aggressive culling of unnecessary peripherals – electronic and biological alike. Still, enough of the upper echelon survived to rebuild a much more advanced society.
He begrudgingly admitted that the human species proved tougher to kill off than expected. The die-off rate of the undesirables wasn’t as drastic as he’d hoped. Here and there enterprising groups banded together after the Culling, remembering how to survive life without an on-off button. Marburg managed to make the best of most of those situations, bringing surviving populations under the control of puppet leaders. A happy side effect was an extra labor force to use for difficult manual tasks unanticipated in his planning.
Across the world, only a few major trouble spots remained, pockets of survivors who didn’t realize they were standing in the way of the plan for humanity’s great evolution. The most troublesome segment of the map was on his mind this morning.
“Any word from the middle of North America?” he asked the young man next to him.
“No sir. Aguilar hasn’t reported in for some time now.”
Marburg cursed under his breath. Just like him to go silent when he wanted updates. Aguilar had taken the whole Caliphate thing way too far. The horde he led needed to be in the gulf coast area by now, getting oil production ramped up. Nuclear was fine for the interior hubs, but they’d still need more fuel for farming and manufacturing. Artificial intelligence had yet to figure out how to make create food or fuel. A minor oversight, he was sure. One Grapevine would rectify quickly.
“Last word was he was in St. Louis?”
“That’s correct, sir.”
“All right. Ask Luna to take a look for us, please.”
The tech winced, not wanting his ruler’s wrath to fall on him the for bad news he delivered. “Luna’s still not replying to your messages.”
Marburg cursed again. The Arab sheik who’d funded the moon base turned out to be a true believer in his religion. When he learned about the way Marburg was misusing the symbols of Jihad, and of his faith, to guide the Caliphate, he’d nearly lost his mind. No matter how much Marburg apologized, Luna remained cut off. It wasn’t critical, just an annoyance. Especially since he thought they’d vetted out all who held beliefs contrary to Continuity.
He was busy second guessing himself, plotting how he might get back control of Luna when one of his techs gasped.
“Miami has gone dark, sir.”
Elias Marburg turned to watch the young woman at the monitor, touching the screen with her hands in a flurry of commands to the interface.
“What do you mean, dark?” he asked.
The tech stammered a little, her voice cracking slightly. “I mean no communication, no uplink. It’s like it’s not even there.”
Another voice from across the room chimed in. “Same with Sao Paolo.”
“And Dubai,” said a third.
The room buzzed with confusion. Techs turned to each other, leaning to look at one another’s screens. Supervisors were up and running back and forth, chaos erupted in a room filled with circle symbols of peace and calm.
One by one, each and every Continuity of Government hub across the world was going offline.
“Systems check!” Marburg shouted to no one in particular. “There must be something wrong on our end. Not every hub could fail at once unless…”
Terror struck him. “Shut it all down!” he shouted. “Disconnect every link, immediately! Do it now!”
He ran to the wall and placed his hand on a small square screen. The sensor read his palm print and flashed green. He punched in a few numbers, then shouted into the screen. “Emergency communication shutdown! Grapevine you have been compromised. Disconnect all links immediately.”
He waited for Grapevine to reply, but she was silent. His order should reverberate through every Grapevine hub on the planet, giving immediate priority to every human tech, and to Grapevine herself. Only a select few could tell Grapevine to override what she was thinking; Marburg’s voice was the most powerful. Grapevine had to answer…but she didn’t.
He hoped, maybe prayed, that his actions would be in time. It took several seconds for data to make the trip around the Earth.
“Status?” he shouted to the techs.
No one answered him, telling him in an instant all he needed to know. Vomit burned in the back of his throat, he’d never been this frightened in his life. “Message to Luna, Launch Project Exodus,” he said to the room. “Verification Zulu Zulu Alpha Six Marburg.”
The lights flashed briefly. “Confirm Exodus?” someone asked.
“Confirm Exodus,” he repeated.
He looked up as the lights flickered again. He heard a man sobbing from somewhere in the room. Screens started to go blank and the lights flickered again. Then each bank of bulbs above went dark, one by one. He yelled into the screen, “Emergency life support protocols!” attempting to shut down all nonessential functions in the mountain, freeing up every ounce of energy into maintaining the reactor. The soft whir of cool air circulating ceased, only apparent now in its absence.
He slumped down to the floor, sitting and staring at the bundle of wires hanging from below the desk in front of him. If the power was really going out, if Grapevine had truly failed, he was a dead man. She controlled everything here, just like she had in the world they’d managed to kill off over a decade ago. But there were fail-safes here, redundant throughout. She could never turn on her creators…
Without Grapevine the mountain’s reactor would melt down, radiation would flood the area, he’d likely be dead within a few hours. He
could run, but where would he go? Not outside, not into the dark like some common peasant scratching his daily bread out of the dust. The thought of all his plans, of the bright new world he was creating…
He was struck by how calm everyone else was, still sitting at their stations staring at blank screens, expecting the warm glow of electronic life to return at any moment.
Luna still held the Vault, a safe place for each and every qualified Profile to reside after mortal death. Would they survive? Did Luna follow his final order for Exodus, the deep orbit launch of Profiles etched into nearly indestructible materials? That would be his last hope…his Profile in the hands of a man who didn’t share his same faith after all.
“Everything gone…in just an instant… What was it all for?” he whimpered to himself as Grapevine shut down for the very last time.
Guide to the World of Fortress Farm
In the world of the Fortress Farm series, a supposedly benevolent artificial intelligence system puts the entire world’s electrical grid to sleep, causing modern society to collapse into chaos. In the aftermath, new civilizations rise up. Good, evil, and something in between struggle for survival and supremacy in a world that feels a lot more like 1930 than yesterday.
Fortress Farm Terms:
Solar Storms — Similar to the Northern Lights, waves of particles from the Sun illuminate the night sky all over the world. While not an overnight catastrophe, the storms do cause inconveniences in a modern world built upon sensitive electronics. The world’s economies are already ailing, and the drain of damaged electronic devices hampers any attempt to jumpstart trade and innovation. In response, the US Government pushes through legislation known as The Reboot which creates trillions of new dollars to pay for grid updates. To pay for the new spending, all US military forces are withdrawn from overseas and onto just a few coastal bases, leading to the omnibus bill’s name. To provide the necessary computing power to control the new network, the artificial intelligence system known as Grapevine is tasked with monitoring the Solar Storms and protecting all electronic devices from its effects.