The Post-Humans (Book 1): The League

by Bassett, Thurston

  “Well, he is yet to learn things about himself, as you are.”

  Athan nodded thoughtfully.

  “You and he are still developing. Who you are will depend on the action you take toward each other and the company you keep.” The Secretary smiled reassuringly, and Athan wondered how any of this was going to make sense to him later.

  “Okay. Is there anything else these Gods are keeping from me?” Athan said sternly.

  “Everything, but you have all the information they want me to give you. And it is time you got back to your friends. Just follow the stairs straight up, and we will place a useful exit.”

  Athan ran his fingers around the, now empty coffee cup and the back of the wooden chair. The objects felt so real, yet they obviously didn’t belong.

  He faced the odd looking being sitting behind the desk.

  The secretary simply watched his movements with curiousity.

  Athan took a deep breath.

  “Thank you, secretary. It has been really weird and I may have a breakdown contemplating all of what you have told me, but right now, as you said, my friends need me.”

  “We will see you again, Athan Harper,” the being said ominously. The being’s narrow pink face took on an air of seriousness.

  “When? You know that I live through this?” Athan crossed his arms.

  “Not yet.” It shrugged its bony pink shoulders. “Go. You will have time later for questions.” The secretary said, making an ushering gesture with his hands and shaking his head.

  “Fine. Thanks,” Athan said to the strange being before he set off up the bony steps, leaving the secretary sitting happily at his desk. This time when he returned, he decided he had better not tell Brad everything. Describing this would sound like the gibberish of a crazy person.

  For now he would keep this to himself.

  Either way, their target was the same. The CEO of Lucas and Associates.

  Chapter 23

  KIRANDA’S CELL WAS about the same size as Nadya’s, the only difference was that Nadya was kept strapped to a bed with computer monitoring her at all times. There was an opaque plastic curtain between their two glass cells, which made communication impossible.

  Her cell was similar to the glass box she had been in for two days when they first caught her.

  It was glass all over and very thick with tiny breathing pores in the floor. Everything about her cell was a deliberate joke, the breathing pores were on the floor and very small, so she couldn’t use her fire in the cell. There just wasn’t enough oxygen.

  The bed was made out of highly flammable cardboard, the chemical toilet contained flammable chemicals, and the only thing they gave her to pass her time was old newspapers.

  All paper and chemicals that burned.

  They wanted her to lose her temper for their amusement, so everything she had would burn, and she would suffocate.

  On the opposite side of her cell there was another cell with, presumably, another Post-Human, but she could not see them and couldn’t hear much either. The prisoner was concealed from her by another opaque plastic curtain.

  Today’s paper fell through a slot.

  “Great. More depressing news about the world going on as it always does,” she muttered as she pushed it about with her foot.

  The facility was clean and white, with about ten staff she could count, not including the various security staff.

  Recently DPHR officers were patrolling around inside the facility. She didn’t know what the place was used for before the DPHR took possession; it may have been a brewery or a food-packaging factory. Some of the machinery seemed excessive for what was happening. Silos and vats were visible, but there were also operating tables and computer consoles everywhere.

  If Kiranda had even a chance of signaling for help from within her cell, she could not begin to describe where, in Melbourne, she and Nadya were being held.

  She picked up the paper and tried to find a dignified way to sit on the cardboard bed in the paper gown they had given her to wear.

  The usual rubbish greeted her as she swept though page after page of sports scandals and Hollywood break ups.

  Nothing to peak her interest.

  The real news from overseas was also familiar, vague and in very small print. How was the planet supposed to unite together against all these threats when civilized countries held these real issues in such a low regard? There was half a page dedicated to some bimbo telling the world about how she got on with her day and her favourite muffin recipe.

  “We are doomed,” she said.

  “You might be. Dunno ‘bout me.” The deep voice was one she knew.

  She turned to see Cal at the front of her glass enclosure.

  “I’m so glad to see you!” Kiranda squealed as she jumped off the flimsy bed. Cal look very smart in his suit and tie, and he had a very military haircut, which looked a bit more respectable than the unkempt hair and scruffy beard he had back when he was in The League.

  She was never a big fan of Cal, he was always a bit rough and not very clever, but he didn’t need to be, he was the muscle.

  “How did you get in here?” she hissed looking about the facility for the guards.

  “Walked.” Cal said simply.

  “You just don’t care do you? Who sent you?” Kiranda asked, her eyes still flitting about watching the guards.

  “My boss. I’m gonna be takin’ care of things for a bit,” Cal said smiling.

  “Well? Are you going to let me out or what?”

  “Or what.” He said flatly.

  Kiranda waited for him to do something helpful, but he just stood there smiling.

  “You do remember me, Cal? Don’t you? I’m Kiranda, Furnace. We used to fight bad guys together!”

  The big man shook his head and smiled. “They told me you were sneaky and they told me your name is Furnace. You know what else they told me?” he leaned forward so his face was against the glass. “They told me to never let you out.” He grinned at her victoriously.

  Kiranda collapsed to her knees, she couldn’t believe what was happening. She was so sure this was her rescue; he was an old friend after all.

  “Why am I here? What are they doing to Nadya?” She had to fight back tears, because with tears came losing control, and with that came fire, and a fire could kill her in this box.

  “How should I know?” Cal screwed up his nose and shrugged.

  “How do you not remember me? The League? Cynthia, Brad, Ian and Athan? They were your friends!” Kiranda pleaded.

  “Shut up and show us how you can burn ya bed. Then you can sleep in the ashes if you don’t suffocate.” He laughed, stepped back and turned to speak to another security guard.

  He was giving the guard orders.

  Oh Terrance, what have they done to you?

  Kiranda wondered what they had planned for her. Was she going to be turned into one of their lackeys as well?

  Her stomach churned with anger.

  “Let me out you bastard!” she screamed and beat with futility on the glass.

  Cal glanced back with half surprise before continuing his conversation with the man outside, the DPHR officer.

  She felt the familiar heat deep inside her body, and she closed her eyes to hold back the coming tears. The heat began to course warmly over her skin making her whole body shiver with what could have been mistaken for goose bumps. She felt it crawl up the back of her head and through her scalp, then down her arms to her hands, where it tingled and stung like tiny pin pricks.

  She opened her eyes and stared at her palm, there was a slight shimmer of flame across the surface.

  A flash of blue and a sparkle of gold.

  She closed her hand and took deep breaths and slowly the heat subsided. She would kill them for what they did to Cal. How dare they take the past of a man who had been a hero and make him into drone?

  She returned to her newspaper on the bed and flipped through the pages. Trying to force herself to read something m
undane to subdue her aggressive feelings. Maybe there was an article she’d missed, something to calm her down.

  The muffin recipe might be nice.

  She’d always sucked at making muffins.

  Chapter 24

  ATHAN WAS WELCOMED back with a cold burger, some deep fried chips and a hot cup of green tea.

  Aadi pulled together a few of his most trusted in the team and brought them in for a debriefing.

  Athan told them about the battle in the Lucas and Associates building with Evan Boothe and Cal. He neglected to tell them about going to the hospital and meeting with Dr Enstein and his journey into the metaphysical landscape.

  That was too weird and no one would understand.

  When the time comes, I will tell them.

  Brad reported his own findings to fill in some of the gaps in their situation.

  There was still a lot of material to sift through, but they were on the right track.

  “So we need to stop Dereck Lucas and we need to save Furnace from this other facility.” Brad said as he boiled up a plan, moving his fingers quickly over his tablet. “We still don’t know why Lucas and Associates needs all of this radiation. We have to assume that it is for some kind of a machine linked to the Seeker girl. The one that can detect Post-Humans. Perhaps they are using it like a giant radar?”

  Athan was silent.

  He couldn’t say that it was to open a cross-dimensional gateway.

  “We probably need to take down the receivers for the device to prevent them from utilizing the radio waves.” Aadi said.

  “We need three targets taken out at once,” Brad said looking at the faces around the table.

  “Eight,” a voice said from the doorway. It was the short blonde girl from the surveillance office. “There are five transmitters, all aimed at the Lucas and Associates building. Five different parts of the city.” She finished.

  Brad made some notes.

  “My people can try to take a couple of the transmitters, but there would be risk,” Aadi said leaning back on his chair.

  “More risk if the machine becomes operational, while we are off beating up PHC.” Brad rubbed at his short beard.

  Aadi shook his head. “It sounds so big, a complex and dangerous operation.”

  You have no idea… Athan thought.

  “We are the people in the right place at the right time, even if we wish we weren’t,” Brad said. “Post-Human lives are at risk. This could enable them to commit global scale xenocide or genocide.”

  ***

  Hours later Brad shook Athan awake with some desperation.

  “Come on! They are doing something!” Brad hissed.

  Athan got up off the bunk and followed his friend upstairs to where Aadi and a few others were doing the midnight shift. There was a bit of excitement in the office, but people weren’t getting excited about the files on the hard drive, it was security cam footage.

  “Sorry to wake you, Sleepwalker, but Apollo and I came upon this three minutes ago.”

  Athan rubbed his eyes and tried to focus on the blur of the screen. He could make out a few symbols and a whole lot of email text.

  “I don’t know what that is, just tell me…” He said.

  “This screen my friend.” Aadi pointed.

  Athan turned to the other monitor and saw security footage of people in protective suits on the top of some buildings plugging in big electronic devices. There were five cameras playing different footage of the same activity happening on five different rooftops.

  “Five rooftops?” Athan said as he watched the screens. “Are they doing what I think they are doing?”

  “Pretty sure that is exactly what they are doing,” Brad said from behind him. “I recognize the equipment they are using to a degree, and it’s heavy duty. They are beginning to transmit and receive the radio waves from the other companies around the world. Dereck Lucas is trying to activate the machine and it’s going to start tonight, Athan. We were late.”

  Athan shook his head. “Bloody hell.”

  The next two hours were continual panic.

  Aadi tried to ready and equip teams to attack the transmission receivers while Athan and Brad gathered volunteers for the raids on the South East Melbourne holding facility where they thought Furnace was being held.

  They also had to break into the Lucas and Associates building where the master receiver was being held.

  “It means we need to be split up,” Brad said looking squarely at Athan.

  “That worked out for us last time,” Athan said sarcastically to his friend, “but I agree.”

  “Hmm…the only way we are going to be able to take any of these targets, is if we take them all at once. Their resources will be thin on the ground, and Dereck, if he is the one calling the shots, will be in the middle of something he needs to supervise personally.” Brad pointed out as they climbed down the stairs.

  “Our only leadership point, other than Dereck, as far as I can see, is Boothe.” Athan said as he slipped on his suit jacket that was hanging on a rack.

  “You’re right.” Brad nodded. “Dereck won’t be unprotected. You will be shot at.”

  “This is Australia! I thought only farmers and the military had guns!” Athan said jokingly.

  After recently being shot in the arm, he knew it was not something he wanted to experience again.

  “Get going you lot.” Brad said slapping Athan on the shoulder. “Good luck. We wont be far behind you. And be careful. If they have Cal, you don’t want a fist fight.”

  Athan looked at the shock glove, once again strapped to his right hand.

  “No. I remember.” Athan wasn’t sure how he was going to face his old friend, but he knew that avoiding that conflict was the safest option.

  It was late in the night.

  Athan got into an old Ford with two of Aadi’s men. They left the garage where Brad and Aadi had arrived late that morning.

  Athan sat in the back seat talking to the two men, Steven and Dempsy. Both had a little military training and could use a gun. He gave them a run down on what he had seen in the Lucas and Associates building and where the security guards would be potentially located during this raid. Aadi had already shown them the schematics. He also told them about Cal and his ability, and that they were not to engage him in close combat under any circumstances. If they couldn’t avoid the encounter, their best chance was to aim for his head, but he hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

  Their driver took the most direct route to the centre of the city, which still felt too slow for Athan.

  He was grateful for being healed by the secretary, or the Gods, whoever it was, in that subterranean place in the metaphysical plane, but he didn’t feel mentally ready for a full-scale assault.

  One epic battle a week was his limit.

  After a short drive through the mostly empty streets they came upon the Lucas and Associates building.

  It looked as quiet as any other business in central Melbourne at one in the morning. There were cars in the car park and the foyer lights were on inside, but overall it didn’t look as if a large scale, universe rending, project was taking place.

  The driver stopped the car a block up from the Lucas building and they crept along the footpath as inconspicuously as possible, until they reached the loading area.

  There were clearly more security guards.

  Steven watched with infrared goggles in the dark.

  “I’ve always wanted an excuse to use these,” he said smiling, clearly enjoying the idea of a secret mission.

  “What do you see?” Athan whispered to him.

  They hid behind some bins near the edge of the road.

  They wouldn’t go rushing in early; they couldn’t risk one of the security guards using their comms to alert the others inside.

  “Two,” muttered Steven. “They look bored, but ready. One is bruised a bit. It must be the one Apollo kicked in the face.” He chuckled a little.

  “Let me see,” Ath
an said, taking the goggles from him. The guard was bruised, but alert. You couldn’t catch a man by surprise like that twice in a day.

  He recognized the second guard. It was the man he had seen in the break room on level 12. The one he had used as an access point before warning Brad, telling him to get out.

  Nice. A conduit.

  Athan smiled, he could take this on his own.

  “Grab my vest, it may not stay on,” he whispered to Steven as he handed back the goggles. “Approach on my signal.”

  Athan had put on a Kevlar vest for the assault, but he found it constricting.

  “Sure thing, sir,” Dempsey said getting his browning handgun from its holster at his side and taking the silencer from his pocket, and screwing it on.

  Athan looked at Steven, then said. “Sorry.” And disappeared into his body.

  The Kevlar flack vest fell to the ground between the two stunned men.

  They took deep breaths and tied to maintain composure. They had been warned about Sleepwalker’s ability, but it was different to see it happen in front of their eyes.

  Athan stepped out of the security guard, turned swiftly and snapped the man’s neck like Cal had taught him years before.

  Without wasting time, he punched the bruised guard in the face with the shock glove and he was thrown a few feet, landing in a broken position on the ground. He was dead.

  They were both dead.

  It was all so quick and precise.

  Steven and Dempsey stood up from behind the bins. They looked at the two crumpled bodies of the security guards, and then at Athan, standing at the entrance gazing back at them as though he didn’t realize what he had done.

  Steven scurried over and handed Athan the vest. “I’ve never seen anyone move like that,” he said.

  “I am a lot faster than you when I need to be. I still don’t feel any better about killing though.”

  “Well, they were probably instructed to shoot on sight, you know?” Dempsey said as he unbuttoned a guard’s shirt. “If this is as big as you say, that Lucas guy will take no chances tonight.”