by Jacob Whaler
Jerek sighs. “I’m still working on the implant specs. I’ve run down a lot of leads since we last talked. All dead ends.”
Diego looks up. “Implants?”
“What are the implants for?” Jing-wei shoots a glance at Ryzaard.
He stands behind his chair. “That’s the main reason why I called the staff meeting for today.” The Stones floating above his chest suddenly turn from dark purple to fiery white. “It’s time to tell you about the next—”
He vanishes in midsentence.
CHAPTER 58
Matt dreams.
Jessica’s hand is wrapped tightly around his. Through driving rain, they run down a narrow street at night. Glass skyscrapers rise on either side, their tops disappearing in the dark underbelly of the heavy clouds above. Matt glances behind them. Bright flash. A single beam of yellow energy rips through the flesh between his shoulder blades. Jolts of pain shoot into his arms and legs.
Warm liquid pours out of the hole in his chest.
“Hold on.” Jessica kneels down. Her lips are warm against his. “I’ll find your Stone.”
Her fingers dip into his side pocket and wrap around the Stone. She pulls it out and drops it into his palm. His fingers close on it, but it feels cold and dead.
Glass explodes above them. Jessica looks up.
He can see the fear in her eyes.
“Don’t worry,” she says.
He’s lying in a puddle of cold water with a pink hue. Warmth is pouring out of him. His fingers and toes go numb. The Stone rolls onto the pavement.
Jessica rips the pulse rifle off her shoulder. She points the barrel horizontally over his head. As he stares up, her fingers press the trigger, over and over. Fire sparks from the tip of the rifle with each shot. The metal stock recoils against her biceps.
A child screams.
Yarah.
Jessica jumps to her feet. Water runs off her face and hair. She’s yelling, but Matt can no longer hear. Something strikes her in the shoulder. Blood erupts from the exit wound on the back of her shirt. She puts her hand up to it, pulls it back and looks down at a scarlet palm.
Another bullet rips into her chest.
Matt tries to lift his arms, but he can’t feel them. His body is foreign and separate, no longer connected to his mind.
Jessica stands and fires the pulse rifle until it’s empty. She throws it to the pavement and, for a moment, stands over Matt looking down. Her lips move into a smile. Dozens of holes open up across the front of her body. As she falls down at his side, her hand reaches up to his face and caresses his forehead.
From somewhere high above them, shards of glass shower down upon them both, ripping, tearing.
As darkness closes in, he senses a presence standing over him. With the last of his strength, he turns his head and looks up. In the blackness, he sees the Stones, dozens of them, draped over Ryzaard’s body in long strings. The sole of a boot presses against his ribs, slowing crushing the bones.
Ryzaard motions behind him with his hand.
A multitude of people gather around and stare down at him. Their lips move, repeating the same words over and over.
“Wake up!”
Matt’s eyes shoot open. Alexa is punching him hard in the side. A half-empty water bottle lies on the ground next to him. His hair and shirt are wet. Yarah is asleep between them.
“What is it?” Matt says.
Alexa slumps back against the wall. “I thought you were going to take the first watch.”
“Sorry, I must have—”
“Can’t you hear it?” Alexa’s gaze floats back toward the village.
Matt follows her eyes. “Hear what?”
“Listen.”
A low chanting of human voices comes from somewhere behind them in the village. It reminds Matt of a Buddhist priest reading a sutra at a Japanese funeral.
“When did it start?” he asks.
“A couple of minutes ago.” Alexa reaches her hand up and grabs the small pulse rifle leaning against the wall. “Before that, there was loud moaning and groaning. Hundreds of people. I’ve never heard anything like it. The whole village must be gathered in the center. Sounds like some kind of ritual. It’s taken me five minutes to wake you up.”
Matt gets to his feet. “Let’s go.” He nudges Yarah, and her eyes snap open with recognition.
“Where?” Alexa says. “Closer to the village or away from it?”
Matt points his chin behind him. “Follow the voices.” Holding his Stone in one hand, he grabs the large pulse rifle with the other. He digs in his pocket, pulls out the cloaking box with the lid open and hands it to Yarah. “Stay sharp, little one. Your reflexes are faster than mine. If you see Jhata or sense that she’s near, snap the lid shut so we can use our Stones. Got it?”
Yarah takes the box in her hand “Got it.”
Matt swings his backpack onto both shoulders and leads the way as they step out onto the winding path between huts. The chanting grows louder as they move forward. When they pass the outer wall of a square hut, another deep path crosses in front of them. The sound comes from their left.
Dropping low to the ground, Matt points his light at the dirt. “Fresh tracks.” He looks down the path to the left and sees faint light in that direction. “This way.” Moving forward, he throws a glance back at Alexa. “Don’t shoot unless I do. We need Jessica to be alive.”
Alexa nods. “Better hurry. The chanting is getting louder, like it’s building toward something.”
Matt breaks into a jog.
The first thing he sees is the flames arranged in a circle. Then he notices the people sitting on the ground, bobbing their heads up and down to the rhythm of the chanting. Three old women stand in the center of the ring of fire. Four men stand next to them, heads bowed. A long orange object hangs down from each of their hands.
From where Matt stands, it looks like they are holding metallic snakes. But his vision isn’t very good in the dark. The men turn and raise the shiny ribbons horizontally over their head as if they are showing the crowd.
“Knives,” Alexa whispers. “Very long knives. Looks like they’re about to use them.”
“On what?” Matt slips out of the backpack and drops it to the ground.
“You mean who? I don’t think this is a pork-carving ceremony.” Alexa strains her neck for a better look. “They’re looking down at the ground.”
Yarah’s eyes open wide. She looks up and pulls on Matt’s sleeve.
At first, he doesn’t notice. His eyes are squinting and trying to see what is going on.
Yarah pulls again, hard enough to bring Matt to his knees. “I feel something familiar.”
“What do you mean?” Matt says.
“Jessica is here.”
CHAPTER 59
“—phase of our project.”
Ryzaard finishes speaking and looks down where the crystal conference table and his young helpers should have been. Instead, Jhata is standing five meters away, arms crossed over the red silk kimono.
“Welcome back,” she says. “Hope I didn’t interrupt anything important.” She unfolds her arms. “Then again I don’t really care. I brought you here to show you this.” An index finger points behind Ryzaard. “I’ve accomplished my end of the bargain. Now it’s time for you to fulfill yours.”
He turns and stares at golden spheres piled in pyramids. Ten black boxes two meters high stand like over-sized dominos. Next to them is a single steel cube four meters on a side. The sound of pressurized air floats out of the cube’s interior. A slot opens up in its smooth face and slowly ejects one of the domino-like structures.
Jhata walks to a large bin a few feet away and dips her hand in. Walking to Ryzaard, she opens her palm to reveal a fistful of small blue jewels.
Holding out both hands, Ryzaard receives them with a short bow.
“The implants, I presume.” Quickly slipping them into a pocket, he brings one up close to his eye to admire the delicate white veins
in lapis stone set in the shape of a tiny claw. “Beautiful. Exquisite.”
“Did you expect anything less?” Jhata walks close to Ryzaard and arches an eyebrow as she peers up into his face. She continues walking by him and stops in front of the spheres piled on the floor. “The manufacturing process is simple enough. Everything you need is right here.”
Ryzaard turns to face the same direction. “Are there operating instructions? A manual perhaps?”
“No need for that.” She plucks a sphere from the pile and tosses it to Ryzaard. “All they require is a steady flow of seawater. I assume you can manage that.”
“What about the power source? Feedstocks? The Mesh interface? Implant protocol?” He picks up a sphere, looks through the eyeball-sized hole in the top and sees nothing but blue solid state components.
Jhata smiles. “Like I said, the manufacturing process is a study in simplicity.” She points to the right. “The large silver cube makes the black boxes. The black boxes make the spheres, and the spheres make the implants. Each unit requires only seawater at the input points. They’re self-powered. Start the flow of water and they automatically begin the process. I’ve designed the implants to autonomously connect to your Mesh.” She produces one of the tiny units out of her sleeve. “As for the implant procedure, it’s as simple as pressing it firmly against the skin. Anywhere on the body close to nerves. Behind the ear works well. It bonds on contact and connects to the brain.”
Ryzaard looks down at the blue jewel. “Incredible,” he says. “Just as I imagined it.”
“You have a physics and manufacturing expert on your staff. Jerek, as I recall. Give him some time with this, and he’ll understand. It’s all very intuitive.”
Ryzaard studies one of the implants. “Have you tested it?”
“I’ve tested the master control units, the ones you and your staff will be wearing.” Jhata opens her palm. Seven slightly larger implants rest there. “They work perfectly.” She picks one up and takes a step toward Ryzaard. “Hold still.” Her fingers move up to his right ear.
He steps back. “Wait. I’m not ready.” His eyes become slits. “How do I know I can trust you?”
Jhata smiles. “You can’t. But we have an agreement, remember? My job is to develop the implant technology. I’ve done that.” A feral stare takes over her brilliant blue eyes. “You will make Earth part of my empire, a model colony.”
“So I am to be your vassal?”
“That was the bargain you struck.” A faint glow flows through the Stones on her belt. “It gives me some reason to keep you alive. Do you wish to reconsider?”
Ryzaard meets her stare with his. “Of course not.”
“I thought that’s what you’d say.” She moves closer and runs her hand up the right side of Ryzaard’s face. “Don’t resist. You’ll find this much to your liking.” Drawing a finger along his jawline, she presses the implant into the skin over the bony bump just behind his right ear.
A brief prick of pain follows the sensation of a needle entering the skin under the jewel. Then all awareness of the object fades. Ryzaard brushes the implant and finds it to be flush to the skin with no gaps around the edges. Laying his finger on top of its metallic surface, it’s as if he were touching his own skin.
The implant has become one with his body.
“Other than the implant sealing itself into me, I don’t feel anything.” Ryzaard drops a glance to Jhata. “Are you sure it works?”
Saying nothing, she looks down at her open palm, her porcelain fingers hovering and then selecting another one of the master control units. Her eyelashes drop down and the hand goes up behind her right ear. It gently pushes the jewel into the skin. Her eyes open.
Now do you feel it?
Jhata’s voice resonates in his mind like the soft purring of a cat. He feels the warmth of another presence inside him. The Stones on his chest blush with a slight vermillion glow.
She draws her fingers up her own arm. Ryzaard senses the soft touch.
A gentle flow of images passes across his eyes. A young girl in a colorful dress playing hide and seek inside a large house. She opens a closet door and discovers a man. They laugh.
My father. The only time he ever played with me.
The young girl is walking through a forest of trees with broad green leaves. She bends over a brook. Dipping her hand in the water, she brings it to her mouth.
Ryzaard tastes the sweet wetness running down his throat. “Do we have full access to each other’s minds?” Instinctively, his head drops back as he drinks in the pleasant sensations.
Jhata’s voice comes again into his mind.
As a Stone Holder with a master control unit, you have full and instantaneous access to the mind of anyone with an implant. You can send and receive. You can take control, if you like.
“But what about you and me?”
Jhata nods.
We have a unique relationship. Each of us will share only what we choose to share with the other. A certain amount of privacy is beneficial to our work. There is one exception that you should always keep in mind.
“And what is that?”
Whenever I choose, I can force unfettered access to your mind. Nothing will be off-limits. Thoughts. Memories. Intentions. That is the price you pay for the power I give you.
“No surprise there,” Ryzaard says. “Tell me how the other implants work.”
The other master control units are for your trusted staff and lieutenants. Because you have a Stone, their minds, like all others with an implant, will be completely open to your control. They, on the other hand, will have only the amount of access to other minds you allow.
The full picture is starting to become clear. “What about the slave units?”
You control them. Your staff can also control them if you allow. The slave units all have imbedded access to your Earth’s Mesh and limited passive access to other slave units. All subject to your control.
Jhata looks up and parts her lips. “What do you think?”
Ryzaard takes a step back and brings a hand up to stroke his forehead. “Incredible.” His head is already spinning with possibilities. “If it really works as you say, it will change everything.”
“It will work.”
“I’d like to test it before taking it back to Earth.”
Jhata nods. “I thought you might.” She walks past Ryzaard, crosses the floor, pushes through a door and emerges onto a courtyard. The smell of the ocean hangs heavy in the night air. Jhata moves across the cobblestones to a high railing at the far end.
Ryzaard follows her kimono figure out into the night and stops at the railing beside her.
Far below, they see the lights of a collection of huts far off in the center of the plain.
Jhata points. “Down there is a village of about 500 individuals I brought here from another planet. I keep them like exotic pets until I tire of them, at which point I dispose of them and draw from some other planet. They call themselves the Chimpotee. They’re a simple people, lacking advanced technology other than a certain talent in the use of hallucinogenic plants. I find it refreshing to have them here and study their ways so I never lose my connection with true humanity.”
“A good test case, but I think there’s a better one.” Without thinking, Ryzaard’s hand goes up to his ear. “Have you lost the girl I brought to you a few days ago?”
“Jessica?” Jhata crosses her arms and stares down at the village. “She couldn’t have gotten far. I’m saving her for special treatment. It will be useful to have leverage when the time comes to deal with Matt, will it not?” She turns to face Ryzaard. “I see in your memories what he and that little girl did to your collection of antique artwork. A pity you didn’t dispatch both of them long ago.”
Anger flashes in Ryzaard’s face. It’s difficult getting used to Jhata’s constant barrage of insults. Anything having to do with Matt is a particularly sore spot. He breathes in deeply, feeling the rage dissipate.
&nbs
p; “I would like nothing better than to dispatch him.” Ryzaard’s hand slips into a pocket, fishing for the packet of black Djarums. He silently curses when he realizes they are on the conference table back in Manhattan. “In fact, I thought you might have already.”
“What do you mean?”
Ryzaard points down at the valley below. “I thought you knew.”
“Knew what?”
“He’s here.”
CHAPTER 60
Yarah stares at her dark, dead Stone and the open lid of the cloaking box. “When will I be able to snap the lid shut so I can use my Stone?”
“Only if there’s an emergency. We have to be careful. The minute we activate the Stones, Jhata will know we’re here.” Matt kneels in front of Yarah. “I’ll signal you.”
“How?” Yarah looks up with fear in her eyes.
Matt pumps the pulse rifle. “With this. If you hear or see shots, that means I need my Stone. Snap the lid shut on the cloaking box. Then be ready for Jhata to come.” Matt kisses the top of her head and looks up to Alexa. “Protect her.”
Alexa pumps her rifle and nods.
Hope I can trust her, he thinks. No other choice for now.
Moving out from behind the wall, Matt creeps to the rear of the crowd.
The chanting of the villagers reaches a frenzy. The sound moves like a contagion through the crowd, across the ring of fire, and to the center. The heads of the three old women in flowing robes appear above the flames, standing next to the four men holding knives. All of them look down at the ground, their lips moving in unison with the chanting.
Suddenly the crowd of villagers jumps to their feet. Fists pump up and down as if they are running in place. They all seemed to saying the same words over and over.
Chim-po-tee. Chim-po-tee.
Matt grips his Stone in one hand and hugs the pulse rifle close to his body. Struggling to see the men with knives, he enters the sea of chanting humanity and pushes through it. No one stops or challenges him. Most of them have closed their eyes, overtaken by mass hysteria. At the edge of the fire, Matt strains to see over the flames.