Neil shook his head. “I don’t know. With a mind as twisted as his, it’s no telling what he has planned. We should be prepared for anything.”
Chapter Nineteen
Diamond Jack ran down the empty basement hallway. His trick had worked. Now the time had come to do some serious damage. Ahead, another one of the security doors was slowly closing. With the entire base on lockdown, everything else would soon be sealed up too. He’d have to move even faster.
He lurched forward, dove through the hatch as the steel door slammed shut behind him and locked into place. After quickly climbing up off the floor, he dashed toward the last great obstacle—the giant door to the top secret chamber. He ran at full speed, hoping to make it to the ultra-secret central control room before everything was sealed up.
The complex’s alarms were now going off. The flashing beacons above each blast door resembled red sparklers. Soon, even more security officers and SWAT members would converge on this base. However, he also had a couple of big surprises for all of them as well.
He dashed forward with desperation. Just a hundred feet away was the great steel door, which was almost closed. In one last massive effort, he sprinted forward and leaped through the entrance hatch just as the giant door closed completely. Laughing with delight, he fell to his knees while gasping for breath. Behind him, the giant hatched locked into place.
***
“What in the hell do we do now?” Steve asked, looking around at Neil. “I mean, there must be some way of tracking him. Perhaps the K-9 dogs can get his scent. If they do, maybe they’ll surround him and we can light up this animal.”
Neil stepped away from the screen and turned around to face Steve. “That idea could work, but the dogs will have to be able to get to him first. With the base in lockdown, the security doors will have to be opened at each level—and that takes time.”
“Where are the K-9 units now?”
“They are on levels three through eight.”
Steve looked at his watch and snapped his fingers. “It’s been fifteen minutes since we shot into that elevator; so if they’ve not picked up his scent by now, he’s somewhere below the eighth level. What’s down that low other than that hanger and the security room that contains the orbs?”
Neil thought for a couple of seconds. “There is a central processing room, the network backup control center, and the nuclear core is two levels below all of that…”
“Nuclear core!” Steve shouted.
Neil waved him off. “Don’t worry, he’ll never get past that giant blast door. It must have already closed by now.”
“This guy is in pretty good shape,” Steve said. “He was an endurance training officer before joining the USG. That chamber is not too far from the service elevator either. He’s had enough time. I think that he could have made it through.”
Neil swallowed. “Even if he did, all of the security doors, computer time locks, and internal chambers all require different passwords just to enter. Besides, if he even tries to mess around with anything down there, the entire chamber will instantly be flooded with poison gas. I know this, and he does too. That is an extra precaution we put in about two years ago.”
Steve sighed with relief. “So you are sure that this guy cannot do any kind of damage even if he gets down there?”
“I’m positive,” Neil replied with a smile. “If he is down in the basement, he’s trapped himself and will be picked up when we sweep the base. He can’t stay invisible in that suit forever either. That thing’s internal battery will run down in about six hours. All we have to do now is wait.”
Steve closed his eyes for a few seconds while thinking. Why would he go down there anyway? Something was not right.
***
Diamond Jack walked into the basement command center. He looked around at the scores of mainframes and dozens of monitors in this high-tech maze. On each monitor, columns of numbers and numeric codes scrolled down the different screens. This was his treasure room. Very soon now, the true hell would begin.
He touched the wristband on his arm and shut off the cloak suit. It was not needed now. He then reached under his shirt and removed the circular disk. Smiling, he marveled at the alien device. This shining metal thing would electronically connect his mind with the network computer. Soon, he’d be in control of the whole world.
He quickly walked over to the large mainframe and placed the circular disk to its side. The device’s magnetic seal locked it tightly to the mainframe’s metal skin. He quickly touched a small button in the middle of the circular machine and waited. The device started vibrating while doing its fiendish work. Soon everything within the mainframe would be corrupted by this alien scanner. All internal firewalls were being stripped away as new information digitally merged with existing programs. Everything was being modified into an advanced alien machine language.
Ten seconds later, all of the numeric codes stopped scrolling down the multiple screens. The other mainframes suddenly came alive with an elevated hum as the room’s lights dimmed. The old numeric codes that had been scrolling down the screen had now been replaced with strange symbols and detailed markings.
Diamond Jack then moved over to the central control panel and took a seat. After putting the alien helmet on again, he then slipped a CD from his pocket into the “A” drive of the central network computer and pressed the “enter” key.
Ten more seconds passed as the alien program loaded into the regional network. A new set of alien codes started scrolling down each monitor. The digital bar at the bottom of the large screen showed that the new program was rewriting all of the regional network files. Soon the two programs would link in cyberspace. Then, the true hell would start.
Diamond Jack leaned back in his seat and smiled. Soon everything would be replaced by a new artificial intelligence that only he controlled. And when the two sets of alien programs linked in cyberspace, he’d be able to download information from the computer directly into his mind. More importantly, he’d also be able to upload his thoughts and commands into the mainframe.
Satisfied now, he closed his eyes as the helmet started vibrating too. Familiar visions as well as strange images started flashing into his brain. This was very different—far more intense than before. His mind was now absorbing more than it ever had before. The pain and tension were both overpowering, increasing by the second. Then, the agony hit him like a bolt of electricity as the transmission hit maximum. He screamed and violently convulsed as his brain was filled with new alien information. A connection to infinity had been made while his body was jolted to sleep.
***
Neil’s office computer snapped on.
“Neil, come in,” crackled a voice on the walkie-talkie. “Our security cards are no longer working. We’ll need you to override the lockdown control system.”
Steve jumped out of the recliner and looked back at Neil. “Hey, your men need help. I can see them on the view screen. They are at the first security firewall door outside the tech lab building. They have the dogs too.”
Neil moved over to the control panel and frowned with confusion. “This should not be happening. Their key cards have the same security clearance as mine.” He leaned closer to the screen. “Reboot the system and give it a few seconds,” he demanded.
“We’ve already tried that, and nothing is happening,” the man on the other end replied.
Neil frowned. He then dialed into the active work file for answers. Perhaps a virus had been planted into the system from an outside source. The screen flashed and then a long string of strange symbols scrolled down his screen. “What in the hell is this?”
“What’s the problem?” Steve asked, moving closer to the screen for a better look.
“I don’t know. I’m locked out of the system, and this strange garbage is coming up on the monitor.”
“Oh my God!” Steve shouted. “
That’s ancient Egyptian. Those numeric symbols are overwriting the computer control codes. Our mainframe is being rewritten. That maniac is somehow hacking the hell out of your entire system from somewhere below. Hell, you said that couldn’t happen! How is he doing this?”
“Oh no!” Neil shouted. His hands then started dancing over the keyboard. “Steve, can you make any sense out of that stuff? We must shut it down before the virus spreads. If that fool gets control of the entire system, we’re all screwed. Do something!”
Steve shook his head. “I can translate a little bit, but I’m no expert. That other guy, Eddie Wexler, is the one who needs to be here.”
Neil snatched up the mic. “Security personnel in my office, get Eddie Wexler up here fast. This is Chief Neil Stone!”
Steve moved all the way to the exit door before looking back. “We’ll need to get that blast door open in the technology building’s parking structure. It’s directly over the tunnel that leads down to the lower chambers.”
Neil nodded. “That’s good thinking. I’ll have my men to start working on the door’s lock with a torch. It shouldn’t take long.”
“Let’s get up there fast,” Steve said, opening the door and stepping into the hallway. “Maybe by the time we get there, Eddie Wexler would have found a way to deactivate the other defense systems in this base.”
“I hope so because we’ll never get past all of the defensive weapons and traps on all of the floors leading to that other control room. He is probably our best hope. Steve, see what you can do until Eddie gets here.”
Chapter Twenty
Diamond Jack was leaning forward in his chair, head resting on the table in front of the keyboard that was connected to the massive computer. Over the last twenty minutes, his breathing had slowed and the twitching had stopped too. The helmet around his head had also shut off, and he was awake again. Everything was returning to normal. The information surge into his brain was over. Now the time had come to see the results of this mission.
Slowly, he raised up and peered into the small mirror that hung above the main monitor in front of him. His face appeared somewhat swollen, and the forehead had flattened. However, the back of the skull was larger as his eyes were more pronounced. The skin was even whiter than before, causing the diamond-shaped tattoos to be even more noticeable. “Oh hell, so this is what the future man looks like,” he said to himself. “Well, no one ever said that a god had to be handsome.”
He then looked around at the scores of other monitors in this giant tomb of mainframes and decided that the time for even more destruction was at hand. The circular alien disk mounted to the side of the mainframe had done its job. All internal defenses were under his control. From here, he could hold off an army while inflicting ultimate damage on the enemy.
“Where do I start?” He then smiled, rubbing his hands together. There were so many possibilities and choices to make. This was like being a hungry child in a candy factory that was the size of a continent. Everything seemed so easy now. He understood so many things too. In fact, running the world seemed like child’s play. However, first things came first. He needed eyes and ears. He had to know what the enemy was doing. He slowly leaned into the console’s digital mic and said, “Computer, activate voice command.”
The main terminal started humming as the internal activity lights flickered. Scores of symbols scrolled down all of the monitors’ screens. “SYSTEMS ACTIVATING,” a robotic voice from the computer’s speakers stated. The image on the main monitor flickered as a long and unbroken string of text scrolled down the screen for over a minute. “VOICE RECOGNITION SYSTEM ONLINE.”
Diamond Jack smiled. “Good. Now, I need to see all of the images from the security systems. Give me a clear view from cameras two through fourteen. I need a wide angle panning from all of them. Automatically focus in on activity shots.”
“REQUEST GRANTED.”
The large monitor on the far wall snapped on. Then, its image was divided into eight parts, each one reflecting the viewpoint of an individual camera. The image from the third camera was highlighted and quickly enlarged to fill half of the screen. Several SWAT members were at the blast door in the parking structure by the technology building. The image showed that they were using a torch to cut into the bulkhead surrounding the security lock.
Upon seeing this, Diamond Jack frowned and took a deep breath. “So they want to enter in through the back door,” he whispered to himself. He thought for a moment about how he’d make an impressive demonstration of his power. Hell, there were hundreds of possibilities. He knew this complex inside and out. All of the booby traps and electronic defense systems were under his control too. However, which ones would he use? Then, he smiled as a thought came to mind. “Activate the Alpha One security droid. Place it on kill mode.”
“ACTIVATING SECURITY DROID.”
Two floors above, a different set of lights started flashing above an iron door in the armory room. A high-pitched alarm sounded off as the door slowly opened. Then, a seven foot metal droid stepped into the dimly lit hallway. Its humanoid iron endo-skeleton was encased in an inch-thick steel frame that shined against the dark cement. External hydraulic lifts supported the robots arms and legs. In fact, this metal man looked like a futuristic version of a middle- age knight.
This thing’s head turned one hundred eighty degrees to the right and then to the left as the thimble-sized cameras that made up the eyes recorded the area around it. The machine tilted its head slightly to the right and then started running down the hallway with amazing speed toward the staircase that led up to the parking level of the technology building that was five hundred feet above.
Chapter Twenty-One
Steve’s fingers danced about the keyboard. He was desperately trying to keep this alien computer virus from spreading beyond the complex. However, the central computer kept locking him out of the entire system. In fact, he was not even able to reboot the mainframe. The desk monitor and the smartboard just flickered with flashes of hundreds of different images that further corrupted the computer’s memory.
“How is it going?” Neil asked with great concern.
With sweat running down his face, Steve looked back with a vicious frown. “This is hopeless. What you’re looking at on the screen is an e-bomb. That monster virus is forcing our computers to download tons of useless information in order to eat up memory while also canceling my commands. Not only can I not get into the system, but I can’t even shut it down or save any files that have not been corrupted. In addition to that, this new alien crap is replicating faster than I can delete it. And without a password to get past its firewall, I’m just hitting keys. Besides, I can only understand about a tenth of what I’m seeing.”
Neil looked down. “Do what you can.”
There was a knock at the door behind them.
Steve looked back again. “Maybe that’s Eddie. He’s the expert on this alien crap.”
Neil turned toward the door. “I just hope that he can figure this mess out. If not, we may have to blow up something.”
Steve looked back around. “I remember what that means from our last case together. There is no way that you’re going to level this whole place. Not even a nuclear bomb can do that. We’re too far underground.”
“Maybe so, but we can bury this fool under millions of tons of rock, concrete, steel, and earth,” Neil replied, while opening the door. “That is still an option.”
The door completely opened and Eddie Wexler walked in. “I hope that I’m not too late to help?”
Neil stepped back and smiled. “You are just in time. We are trying to gain access to the system, but there is this stupid firewall. It’s transmitting some kind of e-bomb that is eroding our computer’s memory. Not only that, but all of our files have been rewritten in that ancient language.”
Steve stepped back to allow Eddie access to the computer’s keyboard. �
��I’ve been working on the password to gain access to the system, but I’ve had no success.”
Eddie sat down and gazed into the monitor for a few moments. He then smiled. “I can break this code. It will take time because I’ll have to translate the ancient language. After that, I’ll start working on reversing all of this mess. The computer can do that too with an advanced reset program.”
Neil nodded. “Okay, just shut everything down. We’re going up to the top so that we can help the SWAT team.”
“Sure, and keep your walkie-talkie on. I may need you to test some of the controls in other parts of this base. I’ll need to know when I’ve gained full control again.”
“Sure thing,” Neil replied. He then turned toward Steve. “Come on, we’ll have to get down to that subterranean control room through the back way. There are not as many blast doors and internal defenses for us to go through.”
“I’m right behind you,” Steve replied, while moving toward the door. He then withdrew his pistol and slammed a clip of armor-piercing bullets into its chamber. It was no telling what internal defenses he’d be facing on the lower levels he realized.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Steve looked straight ahead as the elevator moved toward the surface. His mind was on what new surprises Diamond Jack could spring on them. Too much unexpected stuff had happened already. He looked over at Neil, who was standing beside him. “You mentioned booby traps and internal defenses. Exactly what should I expect on the lower levels?”
Neil swallowed. “Hopefully, Eddie will regain control of the system and deactivate all of the internal defenses. At least I’m hoping that he can open the security doors to basement. If not, we’d better be ready.”
“Ready for what?”
Neil sighed. “Electric fields, poison gas, laser beams, and a few booby traps just for starters. However, I know where they all are. In fact, I can manually deactivate most of the stuff at each level. Just follow my lead.”
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