“We pray first,” Mom said.
“Sorry.” He dropped the cold, hard meat as others got their plates. Ten minutes passed before everyone had been served. Then the servers served each other. What a waste of time. Amos was served. Then he got up and served the one who’d served him. At last, everybody had a plate.
“Bow your heads,” Amos instructed. “Lord in Heaven, be with us here under the earth. Bless the ones above. Multiply our number while the time allows. Bless this food. We receive it as a gift from Your sovereign hands. You are our sustenance. In the name of Christ. Amen.”
Chase waited for the others to dig in.
“Eat,” Amos told him. “Then we need to talk.”
Chase bit into the dried meat, which wasn’t too bad, though it smelled like last month’s leftovers. He folded the stale bread and dropped the meat into it. Maybe the exoself could locate a few jars of mayonnaise. Some cheese would be nice too. Someone broke open an orange. Chase breathed in the aroma and stuck his thumbnail into the top of his own fruit. He gazed at Mel. The best restaurant in the Synvue complex couldn’t compare with what Chase had right here.
“Chase, what’s with the grin,” his mother asked.
Heat rushed to his cheeks like he was a kid with a crush. “It’s nothing, Mom.”
She took a bite of her sandwich.
Switchblade sat beside Amos and kept ogling Mel.
Amos rose from the table before the rest of the group had finished eating. He’d only picked at his lunch. Did he have any idea that he was so ill? Chase had to speak to him about it. But he wouldn’t go alone. He’d talk to Mel first, and then the two of them would go together.
“Friends, I’ve spoken at length with an informant. Chase, I believe you know her. Windsong—she’s a pilot.”
“She hid me in her plane and got me to New York.”
“Since then she’s been delivering equipment for the WR.” Amos regarded his people. “Some of you were in the command center this morning when Chase removed the walls, so to speak, at the detention center. But most of you didn’t see what was hidden there. The device has not yet been utilized. According to Windsong, it’s being set up in detention centers all around the Western Republic. The EU developed the machines and recently began shipping them around the world.”
Chase instantly followed the trail of information as Amos spoke. He’d known what the device was for as soon as he’d seen it. Judging from the reaction of those in the command center, he’d assumed they all knew what they were looking at. But maybe not.
Amos motioned to the pregnant woman, and she and a couple of other moms gathered the children lunching on the blanket and led them out of the room.
Then Amos continued. “Some of you have seen drawings of the device. Production has begun. Several have been delivered to our continent.”
“Two hundred of them,” Chase said.
“You’ve found the information?” Amos asked. “And you know what they will be used for?”
“I knew when I saw it this morning, but I didn’t know how it worked. I wish I didn’t know now. But I’ve got a complete manual.”
“Then you know more than I do.” Amos eased into his chair. “Please, will you explain it to us?”
These people didn’t need to hear this. “If you all stay hidden, which is what I’m here to help you do, then you will never see one of the things up close.” He looked at Amos. “Do I need to explain it?”
“Just tell us, son. We aren’t afraid to die. But we don’t want to be surprised.”
A couple of teenage girls began crying. Chase hadn’t even said anything yet. “Look, Amos, you’re upsetting the younger ones. Can’t we talk about this in private?”
“Tell us what you got, robot,” Switchblade said. “The kids need to be tough. We don’t hold nothing back.”
At least the youngest children had been allowed to leave. Chase stared at Amos, who nodded and waited. “It’s a laser device designed to…It’s a guillotine. A modern, technologically outfitted guillotine.”
The crying girls both left the room, along with a few others. Everyone else waited. Chase reached under the table and clutched Mel’s hand.
“The report doesn’t indicate that any of the devices have been put into operation, but they’ve been added to detention centers.”
“Go ahead,” Amos said. “Tell us how it works.”
Chase pulled his hand from under the table. “I assume you’ve all seen a laser knife. You turn it on and the laser emits from the base and slices through…whatever. It’s the same technology, but bigger. A person is put into position on a platform with his head facing the floor. A metal bar is fastened on each side of the platform, and the laser blade emits from one bar to the other over the person’s neck. And then it… Well, you all know what it does.”
“What is the name of the device, Chase?” Amos demanded.
A chill ran through him. Even the exoself seemed to shudder. “They call it Bloodless.”
“Why?” Mel asked.
“The incision is sealed instantly. The head is separated and the wound is fused. Neither the body nor the head bleeds.” The dried meat Chase had swallowed threatened to come up.
“A bloodless death. How ironic.” Amos almost seemed to smile.
Switchblade laughed. “I’m not going out like that. Blood was spilled for us. We won’t meet death on a machine they call Bloodless.”
“Amen” rose from each table. Mel echoed the word. Amos said it too. And then he began singing.
“Alas and did my Savior bleed and did my Sovereign die…” Others joined in the antiquated tune that the exoself identified as a hymn written in 1707. Confusing words. Mel bowed her head and sang. Mom lifted her eyes and sang. Chase shook his head and left the table. No one seemed to notice.
This was getting to be a habit—going to his room when he didn’t understand the oddities of the underground. Being with Mel again felt so right, but she was one of them. And they didn’t make sense. They were speaking some language he didn’t understand. Even his own mother was a stranger now.
He fell across the bed, flipped onto his back, and propped the pillow behind his head. “What am I doing here?” He closed his eyes.
“They are the ones to tell you what I never did,” his father had told him. He’d talked with his dad in the dreams, or whatever they were, before his escape from the Helgen Institute. He’d set out to find this place, to help the people of the underground. To learn something from them. And his dead father was the one who sent him here.
“They’re not crazy—I’m crazy.”
“You’re not crazy, darling. Just misguided. But I’m here to help you.”
He opened his eyes. His terrified, lying eyes. Was she really here? She couldn’t be. He had lost his mind. He jumped from the bed and backed against the wall. “Kerstin. How…”
“Relax, Chase.” Her dark hair framed her pale face. She wore a red dress—one he’d seen her in a dozen times. “You had to have known I’d come for you. This time, I’ll never, ever let you go.”
9
His mind swam in the confusion. He paddled, reaching aimlessly for the exoself. He’d drown with her watching him. She couldn’t have gotten into his room without someone seeing her. “How did you find me? I covered my tracks.” He grabbed at the white particle board behind him. “How did you know I was here?”
“Where, Chase? At some base of the Underground Church?” She spoke in a loud voice. Someone would hear her. Somebody would come to help him.
How many others had come with her? They’d followed him and they’d haul all these people out of their cavern and deliver them to that machine, Bloodless.
“Where are we, Chase? I want you to tell me.”
She didn’t move, didn’t look around. Didn’t make eye contact. The middle of her body faded. Code appeared for a split second. Then the red dress was just the same as it had been. The exoself seemed to catch it too. The exoself…was how she got here.
>
Chase breathed, it seemed, for the first time since he’d opened his eyes. An elusive calm fell over him and he latched onto it. He inched close to her and swiped his hand right through her.
“What is this?” He stepped to the other side of her and ran his hand through again. She didn’t flinch. “What kind of game is this?” he yelled.
The door cracked open. “Who are you talking to, boss?” Mel asked. “I could hear you all the way down the hall.”
Kerstin vanished.
Chase spun around to face Mel. What was he supposed to say to her? He rubbed his hands through his hair and exhaled. “You know I talk to myself. Old habits are hard to break.”
“Well, you don’t yell at yourself. I know you’re upset about having to explain all that awful stuff. Amos shouldn’t have put you under that much pressure. You’re new to this way of life.” She put her arms around him. “I’m sorry.”
He pushed her away.
“What’s wrong?” She moved closer.
“I need to get out of here,” he said. “I just need to go up top for some air. Can I do that?”
“You know you can’t.”
“Look, somebody has to go pick up those vegetables. They’re in a warehouse just outside of town. There are no deputies left in the area. No drone activity. Switchblade can come with me.” Sweat dripped down the back of his neck. “It’ll be fine. Then we can talk when I get back.”
Mel crossed her arms. Her look was more worried than irritated, but Chase knew her well enough to know when she was miffed. “Fine. I’ll ask Amos if the two of you can go, but he’s not gonna like it.”
“Tell him he owes me. I just explained to his people the likely method of their death, and he could have done that himself. Not to mention I rescued five believers from the Feds today. I think he can do this one thing for me.” Chase reached under the bed and grabbed the knit cap and sunglasses Molly had given him when he’d first come to town.
“All right, I’m going. But just so you know, I don’t like this at all. I don’t want to lose you again.” She headed out the door.
He caught her by both arms, turned her around, and held her tight. “I’m not leaving, Mel. I promise. I’m just going to pick up some beans. And I’m taking a bodyguard with me. He doesn’t like me, but I’m willing to wager he’s got my back.”
“What makes you think he doesn’t like you?”
Chase kissed her. “Because he can see the way I look at you.” He ran his hand through her loose curls.
“Boss, he knows how I feel about you.”
“Stop calling me boss.” He buried his face in her hair. “Melody, I just need to get out of here for a little while. Please, convince Amos.”
She pulled away and cupped his face with her soft hand. “I’ll try. But I wish you would just tell me what’s got you so spooked. You got some other intel we don’t know about?”
“No.” He stepped away from her. “Go talk to Amos.” He slipped on the cap and glasses. “I’ll find Switchblade.”
“He’s in his quarters, I think.” Mel headed toward the command center then turned back. “I only know that because he said he had some reading to do.”
Chase nodded and motioned her on. He went the other way. The thug’s room was in the next set of dorms a few hundred yards down the passageway.
He’d make nice with Switchblade, for Mel’s sake. Besides, Chase could pin the guy to the ground and out-think him, but when it came to presenting an intimidating front, Switchblade was the one with the power.
He couldn’t shake the sight of Kerstin. But she wasn’t real. He was just losing it. Being wired up like he was, interacting with a computer in his brain like it was his best friend. If anything could be learned by the experiments they’d done on him, it was that becoming a transhuman was enough to drive a man irrevocably insane.
He’d hold on as long as he could.
Chase stopped in front of a door carved with the image of a switchblade and pounded his fist against it. The door flew open.
“You want something, robot?” Switchblade held an open Bible in his hand.
“What are you reading?” Chase asked.
“About those head machines. Why do you care? It ain’t gonna happen to you.”
“Let me see.” Chase grabbed the book. Switchblade pointed to the text. Chase read it out loud. “Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” He handed the Bible back to Switchblade.
“Seen enough? Ain’t you got a Bible in your head with all that other stuff?”
“No. You don’t really believe this, do you? I mean, it’s not meant to be taken as reality.”
“You think the Bible isn’t real?” Switchblade asked. “You saw that machine. They’re getting it ready. Right?”
Chase didn’t want to talk about the death machine anymore. “I need you to go up top with me.”
“What on earth? You’re crazy, man. Amos will keep his golden boy in this cave for as long as possible.”
“I’m not crazy. But I will be if I don’t get out of here. I told Mel that I…that you and I were going up for the food shipment. There’s no reason we shouldn’t go. The Feds are gone and the intel is clear.”
“You told Melody one thing, but you’re planning something else.” Switchblade crossed his arms, grinned, and leaned against the door frame. “Am I right?”
“I think somebody might be tracking me. I need to look around and see if there are any signs of a visitor in town.”
“I knew it. I’m taking you up there and leaving you. You’re gonna bring us all down.”
“I need your help. Please. It might just be a glitch in my systems, but I have to be sure.”
Switchblade pulled up the hood on his jacket. “You got all those special powers and you need me to babysit you?”
Chase didn’t answer.
“I’m not going without permission.” He put his hands on his hips. “We got rules here, you know.”
“Mel’s talking to Amos, but I think we should go now. You don’t seem like somebody who follows the rules all the time.”
The big man smirked. “I know a back way out.”
10
Chase followed the hood down the hallway, then up an old rotting staircase and through a dark tunnel. Switchblade didn’t have a light, so he had to feel the walls to keep himself going straight.
“You know I can see in the dark,” Chase told him. “Why don’t you let me lead?”
“You don’t know where you’re going, genius.” Switchblade lifted his arms and ran his fingers along the low rock ceiling.
“I’m going down a dark path. When I see something other than that, I’ll ask for directions.”
Switchblade stopped, motioned with his arm to usher Chase ahead of him, and grumbled under his breath.
“Now maybe we can move a little faster. I know you people have laserlights—I saw them.” Chase stepped forward and Switchblade almost knocked him over.
“Sorry,” he said with an unremorseful tone. “I need permission to take a laserlight. And you seemed to be in a hurry.”
“Just put your hand on my shoulder.” Chase flinched when the man followed his instruction. He’d rather not be so close, but it was better than getting knocked down by the big thug. “I have no intel on this place. No record of it being built. What do you know about it?”
“So, you don’t know everything?” Switchblade laughed. “Poor robot don’t know as much as he thought.”
“It was just a simple question. I guess you don’t know either.”
“I didn’t say that. The artist—the one who did the painting that hides the portal to the bunker—”
“Ciel Bleu Domaine—Bl
ue Sky Field,” Chase said. “The artist was Jean Pateaux. He was a bit eccentric. Spent some time in a mental ward. Never amounted to anything in the art world.”
“That’s all you got?” Switchblade asked.
“I like his work, what I saw of it. Especially Blue Sky Field.”
“It’s a stupid name for our base, but all the ladies liked it,” Switchblade said. “The crazy artist had some crazy friends. They thought the world was going to end, and they built this place to live out the apocalypse. Nobody up top knew what was going on. No permits, no outside help. If the Canadian government—when there was such a thing—knew what they were doing to the natural caves down here, those artsy goofs would’ve been locked up. They all died off before any of them needed a hiding place.”
“I knew about the cavern,” Chase stepped carefully. “I have some pictures taken in the 1940s by explorers.”
“What do you mean, you have pictures?”
“In my…In the exoself.” Chase ran his hand over the top of his head.
Switchblade’s grip on Chase’s shoulder loosened. “Yeah, right. Molly knew about the place because she dated one of the artists. And when the people in her church started getting arrested, she told the group about it. And now, here we are. Living like rats.”
“What did you do up there that forced you down here?”
“Nothin’. That’s why I can go up and not worry about getting caught.”
“Then why don’t you stay up?” Chase asked.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Charlie?”
Chase didn’t waste any more time getting to know the man. “I see some boards about fifty feet ahead. Right side.”
“That’s where we’re going. I don’t know why you had to come under.”
“To move everything Mel hid inside me into the computers. So all the churches around the world will be in one system with an untraceable connection.”
“Why didn’t the girl just program the computer? Why get you and that…exoself involved?”
“Ask her.” Chase reached the boarded-up section of the wall.
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