Death and The Divide

by Lara Nance

  “Hack?” Min sat straight, a disdainful expression on his Asian features. “I don’t hack. I’m a fucking master of the bot universe. I go darker than anyone has ever gone before in SatNet. I’m tight with cyber world like you have no idea.”

  Linc gave him a level stare. “Then you should be able to help us.”

  Min hesitated a few moments then lifted his head. “All right. I can get you out of this hole. But then what? You’ll never make it to Kansas City with these goons all over the place. Have you seen the mondo drones in the air?”

  “We have to try,” she said. “Do you have any ideas that will make it possible?”

  “Yeah,” he said, crossing his arms. “I’m fucking going with you.”

  ***

  “You don’t have to do that,” Linc said.

  They didn’t need to put this guy in danger. Enough people had died already. For him and Ria it was different. They had no choice in stopping the infection. They were committed. This poor guy, still mourning his lost love, had no business in this kind of situation.

  “I know what I do and don’t have to do.” Min gave him a condescending look. “There’s nothing for me in this jerked up capital with Lola gone. I want to do something to hurt these mondo bastards who blew her up.” His face fell and he let his gaze drift as if looking inside. “I also understand the importance of stopping the parasite.”

  Ria moved close to him, softly, as if approaching a frightened kitten. She made a soothing noise and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Min, you could be killed. I can’t stand to have that on my conscious. Please reconsider. If you give us direction, you can help without placing yourself in peril.”

  “It’s not your decision to make,” he said, his expression going firm. “Besides, you two would never make it if I don’t help you. If you’re tight about the necessity of defeating this parasite, then you have to take me.”

  Linc shared a glance with Ria. He was right. They wouldn’t even make it past the shield wall without his technical knowhow. “All right. You’re in.”

  Min’s lips slowly stretched into a grin, his face taking on a shine of determined purpose. He shook Linc’s hand. “Good. I have to pack some scoop that will help us. Then I’ll be ready to go. You guys can raid my kitchen for food to take if you want. There are packs of vitamin water, too.”

  “Are you sure this is the right thing to do?” Ria whispered as she lifted food packs and Nutri-bars from a cabinet. “I feel guilty involving him.”

  “Doesn’t seem like we have a choice,” Linc replied, placing some of the silver vitamin water pouches in his bag. “If we don’t let him go, he won’t help us.”

  “I’ll feel truly horrible if something happens to him.” She brushed straggling curls from her face.

  “Something could happen to all of us.” In fact, it probably would. Their chances of surviving a trip to Kansas City were low. If they weren’t captured trying to escape the shield, they’d likely be found along the way. He gritted his teeth. It didn’t matter. They had to try.

  They finished emptying the kitchen of portable food and returned to the living room. Ria picked up a vid-frame that showed a clip over and over of Min and Lola sliding down one of the tubes at the water park, laughing as water splashed around them. Their faces were so bright and happy. She brushed away a tear and returned it to the table, facing away.

  After about thirty minutes, Minlo appeared. He’d changed into dark green canvas pants with numerous pockets and pouches along with a black knit tunic with a hood and long sleeves. He slung a backpack over one shoulder and handed a clear square chit to Linc. “This is a Northern ID for you. Might come in handy.”

  Ria frowned. “Won’t we need some sort of special I.D.’s to leave the city?”

  He shook his head. “That’s not how we’re getting out. That would never work with these goons, anyway. They’re not going to let anyone out or in until they think they have the city completely cowed into submission.”

  Linc slipped the I.D. into his sealed shirt pocket. “You’re probably right. So what’s the plan?”

  “I’ll have to find a vulnerable area of the shield and drop a grid large enough for us to pass through.” He took a palm-sized device and pressed some buttons.

  “Drop a what?” Linc asked, completely confused.

  Min waved a hand, staring at the device’s screen. “Don’t worry about it. Pack your scoop and follow me.”

  ***

  “This way,” Min whispered, as he ran across the street to one of the city’s power conduit buildings.

  “We’ll never get in there,” Ria said, racing after him. After an hour of dodging soldiers and drones, they’d reached the edge of Omaha and she could see the silver sheen of the shield ahead behind one last row of structures.

  Linc plowed into her back as Min abruptly stopped then ducked under a metal tank protruding from the side of the ten-story building. She grunted at the impact but kept her feet.

  “Under here,” Min called in a low voice.

  She and Linc went to their knees and crawled into the two-foot high space. The buzz of a drone passing above had her holding her breath until quiet again claimed the night.

  “What are you doing?” Linc asked Min who held a pen-like device with a light on one end close to the building wall.

  “I looked up the plans for this place. It used to be a biohazard filtration plant. Once all the waste from the War was dealt with, they converted it to a housing for a digitizer conduit.”

  Ria turned to Linc and mouthed, “Biohazards, great.”

  “There are some extraneous parts of the structure that were closed off in the remodel. We’re going to make use of them.” A panel of metal loosened where he worked and he returned the pen to one of his pockets and pulled the piece free. “We should be able to squeeze through here.”

  He disappeared into the dark square hole that appeared.

  “I hope he knows what he’s doing,” she said and crawled in after him.

  They continued through this unlit literal crawl space until Min stopped and used his pen to open another hole. When that panel came free, a blue light filtered in along with a whirring mechanical sound.

  Min scrambled through the opening. She and Linc followed, emerging into a small room glowing with blue lights on panels that lined the walls. Some of them blinked and some alternated with white lights. Small levers interspersed the lights.

  “This is the bypass circuit control room,” Min said softly. “From here we need to reach the digitizer in the main conduit area.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about, so just go,” she said. His technical mumbo jumbo made her head hurt.

  He exited this area through a door that led to a hall. Overhead lights made her squint after traveling in the darkness. Footsteps ahead caused her to freeze. The sound faded and she released the breath she’d held. This was nuts. They were going to be caught. Her heart pounded so loud she was sure someone would hear it and find them.

  Min had moved ahead and turned down a side hall. She hurried after him. He’d already gone through another door that opened to a larger room of equipment she couldn’t identify. Light here was lower than the hall and cool air brushed her face bringing with it a whiff of silicone and oil.

  Linc closed the door softly behind them as Min continued ahead. “This must be the main housing of the conduit.”

  “Hey, you can’t be in here,” a man shouted at Min and advanced toward him. He wore an orange utility worker’s tunic and pants.

  Linc pulled Ria behind a piece of equipment and raised a finger to his lips. The man hadn’t seen them.

  “I’m, uh, from the new government, um, expecting the facilities,” Min said, taking a step backward.

  “That’s bullshit, you little twerp. Stop right there.” The beefy man hastened his pace as Min ran, dodging behind one of the numerous pieces of machinery.

  “Damn it,” Linc muttered. “Stay here.”

  He
ran from their cover to overtake the worker. She squeezed her hands into tight fists of anxiety and followed. No way she was going to hide while they were in trouble.

  Min and the orange-clad man darted from machine to machine with the beefy guy swearing and panting. Min was thin and quick, but eventually he became cornered.

  “Who are you and how did you get in here? This place is closed to civilians.” The man advanced, arms out, ready to grab her friend who pressed against a wall, eyes wide in alarm, and breathing hard.

  As the worker lunged, Linc shot from behind a metal support beam to the side and whacked the guy over the head with a piece of heavy rubber tubing. The heavy man crumpled to a heap.

  Min’s shoulders slumped. “Thanks, man.”

  “Hurry and do what you need to before someone else finds us,” Linc said, bending over the man. “He’ll wake up eventually.”

  Min nodded, still panting and trotted to the rear of the area. He stopped before a tall structure, staring at it with a grin on his face.

  “What is that?” Ria pointed to the twenty foot high pyramid-shaped structure that pulsed a blue light from its top every five seconds. It was nearly blinding in the dim interior of the power plant. She kept looking over her shoulder for more workers. It was night and likely not highly staffed at this time, but one had already found them. She pressed her back against a wall, staying in a shadow.

  “It’s a quantum energy digitizer.” Min fingered a wheel on his handheld device. “This should be a good place. The energy pulses here weaken the shield, which is just outside this building. I need to mark the exact position of the digitizer, then when we go outside. I can use that to calculate the disruption sequence.”

  She shook her head. Everything he said sounded like, blah, blah, digitizer, blah, blah computer, blah, blah calculate… Linc’s frown and shrug told her it puzzled him, too. Good. She wasn’t completely stupid.

  They’d come this far, threading past guard posts, dodging drones, and using Min’s technology to break into seemingly impenetrable portals. She had to admit, without him, she and Linc wouldn’t have made it.

  “Now I have to coordinate the resonance of this beam, and we’ll be able to drop a grid section outside.” The young man concentrated on his device, rapidly moving his finger across the screen. “Okay, got it!”

  They retraced their steps to a side exit. He reset the door’s alarm system and they slipped through to the paved area that ran around the perimeter of the structure. Linc and Min kept close to the wall, hunkered down as they moved, so she did the same. Bright lights randomly circled the area, so they scurried quickly from one sheltered spot to another.

  “There. See that mondo shimmer?” Min pointed to a glossy shine with a grayish tint. “That’s the shield.”

  “What happens if you touch it?” she asked. Hairs on her arm rose in a static state that tickled and itched at the same time. It smelled the same as just before a thunderstorm.

  Min gave her a strange look. “You die. Don’t you know anything?”

  “Not about this stuff. But I do know about a hundred different parasites that can kill you if you eat them,” she retorted.

  “Whatever.” He shrugged and yawned, then returned to fiddling with his handheld computer. “Okay, when the grid drops, you’ll see an opening about three feet square in the shiny surface. I can only keep it open fifteen seconds without the system reporting a failure. So when I say go, grab your scoop and run like hell. Don’t hit the sides of the portal or, you know, you’ll die. Ready?”

  “Ria first,” Linc said. “Then you, Min, and I’ll bring up the rear. If I don’t make it, you two keep going.”

  “Sorry, Dope, but I got to be the last,” Min said.

  “Dope?” Linc gave him a stern look.

  “Yeah, that’s what we call people who don’t know much about computers. Like you two.” He made a last entry. “Line up.”

  “Shit, there’s a light coming,” Ria said looking to the right.

  “Too late. I’ve entered the coordinates. Just run!” Min nudged Linc who pushed against her back.

  The gray shimmer thinned and then a dark square appeared.

  “Go,” Min shouted.

  She ducked and bolted, keeping her arms tucked close to her body. Adrenalin pumped through her as she hurtled into the black unknown, her heart pounding. A rush of cold met her and she stumbled on something that sent her tumbling across rocky ground. Stones bit into her skin, and she yelped.

  A second later, Linc nearly landed on top of her and rolled to the side.

  “Min?” She sat up, searching in the darkness. “Did you make it through okay?”

  “Here,” he said from a few feet away. The device glowed in his palm, shining up to show his beaming smile. “That was tight!”

  “Where’s Linc? Did it close?” She crawled toward him.

  “I’m fine. He’s here somewhere. I saw him go through. Wow. That was total tightness. It worked!” His face looked eerie in the blue light of the computer screen.

  As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she found Linc and made out a line of small shrubs and scraggly trees about ten feet away. In the direction of the shield, the shimmer was darker than the other side, almost impossible to see if she didn’t know it was there. God help anyone who stumbled upon it unknowingly.

  Linc rose and gave her a hand to help her to her feet. He slapped Min on the shoulder. “Great job, kid.”

  “Thanks, Dope.” Min gave him a lopsided grin.

  “Now to reach Kansas City,” she said, dusting off her leggings and sweater.

  “First, I need to scan for drones. We might not scope them out here.” Min pointed to the sky. “Hmm, looks like one about a mile to the south and another a couple miles to the east.”

  “So they have them outside the city, too.” Ria frowned. “I was hoping they didn’t.”

  “Uh, isn’t that exactly where we need to head?” Linc asked, rubbing his shoulder where he’d landed.

  “Yeah. It is. I’ll keep the screen up to track them. If they get close, we have to hide.”

  “I’ve set the coordinates for Kansas City.” Ria turned on the direction program of her wrist comm.

  “We probably have until morning before they start looking for us,” Linc said, taking his light from his bag. “Let’s get going.”

  Ria led, following the directions on her comm-unit, with Linc lighting the way. Min kept glancing at the drone tracker program and brought up the rear. They headed into a stand of scraggly trees. Their boots crunched over fallen twigs and dried leaves, and occasionally a cricket chirped. Away from the city, the smell of the meager vegetation overwhelmed her senses. The tang of cedar and musty decaying leaves dominated the aromas.

  She wondered if any wild animals still lived in these abandoned spaces between cities. Unfortunately, the bombs and weapons of the civil war had left many areas in the North like this, scorched and almost barren. After that, most available land had been used to provide housing for their overburdened system as thousands of Southern undesirables flocked to the North. Animals not in zoos or protected parks perished without sufficient food and water. Probably some small animals survived, but the larger ones had died out. How different this was from the rich forest where she and Linc had crashed. If she hadn’t been so terrified, she would have marveled at the experience of a large lion in the wild. Okay, well, a cougar.

  “The southern one is headed right for us,” Min said urgently. “We need to find a place to take cover.”

  “Over here.” Linc herded them toward a rock formation. Two boulders had a space between just wide enough to allow them in sideways. Min went first.

  “I have claustrophobia,” Ria said. Panic froze her in her tracks. “I can’t go in there.”

  Linc grabbed her hand and pulled her to him, sheltered under the overhanging rock. “Shh, close your eyes and you won’t know.”

  He wrapped his arms around her, keeping her from moving. A faint buzz passed o
verhead, and even the crickets stilled. A breeze lifted scanty tree limbs, and leaves rustled. She squeezed her lids tight, focusing on the solid feel of Linc’s chest against her back. Her panic slowly subsided.

  “It’s gone,” Min said. “The one to the east is now heading further east.”

  Linc released her, and she bolted from the tight space, holding her chest. “Thanks, but next time, let’s find a bigger place to hide.”

  “I’ll call ahead for reservations,” he joked, straight-faced.

  She had to smile, and play-punched his arm. “See that you do.”

  They set out across the rocky terrain, occasionally stopping to duck under rocky outcroppings or roll into ditches. She collected more bruises and scrapes. Just what she needed.

  “There’s a small town about ten miles ahead,” Min said. “We should try to cop transportation there so we can make better time.”

  “How are we going to do that?” Ria asked. “If they’re looking for us, we’ll be reported.”

  “We’ll have to steal something,” Linc said, brushing dried leaves from his hair.

  “Yep,” Min said eyes still on his pad. “Not a mondo deal.”

  “Right,” she said with a sigh. “Not a mondo deal.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  “What do you think?” Ria asked Linc.

  “If it runs, it’ll work.” He scanned the old mobile van sitting neglected behind a small lettuce hydroponic greenhouse. White paint peeled off the rounded silver surface, and scraggly grass grew around its wheels. “Doesn’t look like it’s been used for a while, so it won’t be immediately missed. What exactly is it?”

  “A food-vending van. After the war, smaller towns used them to deliver perishable products to apartment buildings so there was no waste by selling the items at the local food commissary. After the production caught up with the population about twenty years ago, they went back to mass distribution. Looks like that one stayed in service, though, it’s not that old.”

  “Can you jack it, Dope?” Minlo sat up. “I only know about computers.”