“She is going to pass,” Hal said after inspecting her thoroughly. “Two minutes, maybe less. There is nothing else that can be done.” Valerie exploded into tears. Felix attempted to comfort her, he himself dropping tears.
Herald looked into his thoughts, and sighed. He thought, what have I done? He knew how skillful the helpers were as medics and if Hal said there was nothing that could be done… But there has to be something we can do, anything! He looked around at the inside of the ship: Amy was still pretending to fly; Ana sat up front with a somber gaze; Jay was steering the ship; Felix moved to cradle Rosita’s head; drenched in tears Valerie held her hand tightly; Jon sat at the control station shaking is head slowly; Red, he was, fucked up; one lender left, his best lender, Manny, unbelievably still asleep—and one empty bed… Wait a second! He had an idea but had to act fast! She was passing. Her eyes rolled back into her head.
Herald burst into action. “Get her on the lender bed. Now!” The group didn’t hesitate. The tone of his voice touted leadership, his intrinsic nature emerged as the situation demanded it. They followed his words unquestionably. If there was any chance, they had to take it. His determined eyes couldn’t be denied, he had something. They carefully lifted her and placed her on the lender bed inside the casing. Herald rushed to the station where Jon was sitting. Jon didn’t hesitate to move aside.
Hal said slowly, “Herald, she’s—”
“I have a plan. Something Rafael had been working on. But we have to act fast. Hal you keep her alive as long you can.” Herald scrolled through lines of code on the screen until he found it. Jon remembered how fast he had worked at VlexCom; he was doing it again, and everyone got a show. Valerie and Felix didn’t care about his incredible speed, they just hoped whatever he was doing would save her, but they couldn’t see how. “Jon, get her ready to log in, just like I showed you yesterday.” Jon pulled up on the two light pods that were beginning to glow blue and positioned them on her temples. Blood was everywhere, on Jon’s hands, and everything he touched. Herald found what he had been looking for and slammed the Enter key. She started convulsing. Hal used is hand to pump her chest but the motions forced up more blood, regardless, he had to keep her heart pumping. The blood poured out of her mouth and nose and her eyes rolled back into her head one final time. Felix spoke in Spanish next to her, attempting to make her remember a memory they’d shared: the kids when they were young, tough times, but good times. And Valerie held her hand hoping, and praying. Rosita clenched, every muscle tightened up.
Her head fell to the side. Rosita was dead.
71. El Paso
Amy was unphased, in her own world swaying her head and body from side to side with the motions. She didn’t look back during the commotion and crying. She was flying the ship; but only in her mind. Next to her Jay was the active pilot. Being a bot, he could interface with the ship and fly better than most humans could, receiving numerous inputs and views, controlling multiple functions simultaneously. They were flying into the morning sun, low to the ground at high speed. With a thought command Jay adjusted the window tint in order to block out the bright rays which had Amy squinting. They had just come over the San Jacinto Mountains. Jay banked south and followed the slope toward the Salton Sea. With a giggle Amy elated at the feeling, like the momentary weightlessness of a high-speed elevator descent. Farmlands stamped the earth ahead, hundreds of crops, a mosaic of tans and bright spring greens, and other greens so dark they bordered navy blue. Beyond that, smoke. A world’s worth, rising from black to grey polluting the stratosphere.
They skimmed the lake now, almost—a mere six feet above it at Mach 1.5. Mist exploded from the underbelly like a cloud. The navigation on the panel directed them to pass over the burning cities ahead. It was eerily clear as the ship neared—war really had begun. Straight ahead: El Centro California, and Mexicali Mexico beyond that; most likely every city of the world had a similar horrible fate. In less than a minute the orange-red inferno could be seen under the smoke. On his own accord Jay decided to change the route, turning back into the rising sun. He kept the ship low, in the cover of mountains, crevasses, and gorges when possible. Within a few minutes they were grazing beige-white bare desert. And they quickly neared the first drop.
Rosita’s death was terrible, a discouraging blow for the group; off to an ominously bad start. It was supposed to be a quick in and out. Ana had her chair spun around and she, like everyone, even the bots, shared in the sadness of the traumatic death. But, she had an idea about what Herald had done, and it was an excellent contrivance, if it could work like he had explained to her not so long ago in their cabin. He’d mentioned to her many of the things he and Rafael were working on, wonderful unbelievable things, but far too many to keep track of.
“We did it. She will live,” Herald said making a fist of achievement at the control panel, confirming what Ana was thinking.
“But, she’s gone! What do you mean she’ll live? My mama is dead!” Valerie sobbed. Her knees weakened as if she was about to pass out. Jerry offered comfort but she shook him off. The mission was a failure as far she was concerned, and she didn't want to have anything else to do with it. She fell limp into her father’s arms, to a degree passing out, and he held her tight. She was always close to her mama; it was a hard blow for both of them. Removing a pill from her pouch, Ana came from the front; she’d feared this possibility and had prepared for it, and with what they were likely to head into next—Valerie needed it. Something to relax—and sleep; Valerie accepted the pill and left her father’s arms. She curled into her seat facing the wall.
Hal cleaned blood from Rosita’s face then covered her body with a blanket he’d gotten from one of the bins. He tucked it beneath her and gently wrapped her tight. Hal was the first bot to be activated, after Rafael. He’d learned quite a bit about humans: the good and bad, compassion and mental anguish, and how to be sensitive to various emotional states. He treated Rosita with respect as he carefully adjusted her body. After he had her neatly wrapped he secured her to the lending bed and closed the casing.
“Herald, we’re nearing Yuma,” Jay alerted from the front, cutting him off just as he attempted to explain what he’d been able to do.
“—I’ll explain everything in detail later,” Herald assured. “The launch went up early; it was something none of us expected. Things could get rough from here on out but me must remain strong. Valerie, if all goes well there’s a good chance you will see your mother again. Now, we have to get this crate out. It, can give us this chance.” He looked Felix in the eye. “And a good chance of survival for your family in LA.” He started to say it could save the world, but remembered, he wasn’t trying to save the entire world, he couldn’t, no one could. Valerie would be distraught for some time to come, but hopefully, with Ana’s great thinking, the pill would allow her some much needed rest. Herald felt bad, at fault for what happened. Against his better judgment he let her family have one too many goodbyes, and it came at a great cost.
“We’re passing Yuma now, just north of it,” Jay said, “altering course, southeast to drop destination. Mountains approaching. We have, about two minutes.”
“We’re gonna need more time Jay. Slow us down.”
“Affirmative,” Jay slowed the ship and recalculated. “Can give you an extra minute, for any more we’ll have to hover or circle around.”
“That should do it Jay,” Herald said. “Everyone except for Jerry and Hal, strap in.” He turned to Felix who hadn’t budged an inch. He was still standing next to Rosita with his palm on he black glass of the lender casing. “Felix. I am very sorry about Rosita. There’s no time to explain now, but she is with us. Now please, strap in.” Felix reluctantly left Rosita's side and took a seat next to his daughter. He moved his head awkwardly, a minuscule glimmer of hope glinted in his deep brown eyes, and he wondered, que esta tratando de decir.
“Hal, we have to secure Vlad. Get a ratchet strap we’ll anchor him to the floor. Jerry, get ready to ope
n the bay door. We have to slide out this first crate soon. Here, clip in.” Herald pulled a retractable safety cable from the ceiling and handed it to Jerry. He wrapped the strap around his waist and secured himself, he and Hal did the same. Herald reached into a side bin and pulled out a couple of heavy duty yellow ratchet straps. The three worked to roll the round-bellied builder toward the right over some floor eyelets and they quickly secured him. Jerry’s brawn came in handy, and Jerry noticed that likewise Hal—much smaller than he—was quite an extraordinary powerhouse.
“Oh my, would you look at that,” Jodi said looking out her window. Black plumes killed the blue day above Yuma Arizona, coalescing high in the sky before being blown east as if a rogue high altitude wind vacuumed the smoke into a thin smothering blanket. Explosions could be seen every few seconds, like firecrackers from their viewpoint, popping almost rhythmically.
Ana had seen it through the front view port and shared sediments quietly with Jay, his eyes met hers and his expression was funereal. They shared a mutual realization—bot or human, black or white—the unbiased acknowledgment of unfathomable worldwide tragedy—occurring right now. She didn’t want to dishearten anyone further, especially after what they had just been through, and really, hoped the others wouldn’t have noticed. Herald had told her for years exactly what was going to happen, in terrible vivid detail as it’d poured from his perspicacious imagination, and after hearing it so many times, his premonitions, she already knew what it would look like—but even then, actually seeing it for real… She also knew, this was just the beginning.
“90 seconds Herald,” Jay yelled back.
“Jerry open the bay door now,” Herald said, “we have to push it out.” Jerry slapped the button and the ramp swung downward letting in turbulent air; with it arrived a foul odor: burnt hair, oil and smoke, melting tires perhaps. They propped themselves to shove the four-foot wooden cube. Hal, Jerry, and Herald pushed on the sides; in the slightest, it didn’t budge. “Push!”
“I am pushing,” Jerry said heaving with all he could muster. “What in the world is in this thing anyway?!”
The builder had loaded them, with ease thanks to his extreme strength. He had tightly packed the two crates in line of the bay door; there was no getting between them to leverage the last one away. Jerry got on top of the last crate and was thrusting with his legs. Hal and Herald took a side. With fingers in between they tried to force it back, but still, nothing. They just couldn’t get any leverage.
“Fuck,” Herald said. “Fuck!” He put his hands on his hips and looked around. Ana’s eyes met his from the front. What else could go wrong?
Vlad’s job. But he’d set down because of the drop in feed! The other lender, Red, was strapped into a seat next to Jon, hunched over and white as a ghost, shaking in a cold sweat, unresponsive as if playing a nightmarish broken record in a ten second loop. The unexpected log out had messed with his mind, possibly made worse by the effects of the passing time wave. Ana was the second person ever to test the system, after Herald himself, and she knew what an unexpected log out would do: one would be messed up for days, and she also knew why the feed had taken a sudden plummet. Any unexpected log would temporarily crash the feed. This time she had the idea.
“45 seconds,” Yelled Jay.
“Herald, check the feed,” Ana yelled. “It might have recovered enough to boot Vlad.” Herald sparked to her idea. The feed could have come back just enough in the time since Red had logged out. And Manny was the top lender, after Herald himself, still logged in building the feed.
“Great idea Ana!” He yelled. Herald hurdled over the crate passing Jerry and rushed to the control panel aside Rosita’s body. Ana was right. The feed was back, at least enough to reboot the builder, but was there enough time? Slowing down to hover was an option but would throw off the schedule even more than it already was, and circling around was out of the question. They had to be in El Paso because friends were waiting, and they were already late; by the looks of Yuma, El Paso couldn’t be any better off, most likely it’d be ravaged far worse by the time they got there. Even for a group holding out far atop the mountain, waiting for rescue surrounded by that kind of destruction had to be dreadfully unnerving. Herald imagined screaming citizens climbing the desert mountains, with an army of bots pulling at their legs, trying to drag anyone who dared escape back into the city of fire below. He imagined his friend Q and his team peering down from the top of North Mount Franklin, helpless to give aid, awaiting their own deaths—and hoping rescue would come in time. He shook it off to regain focus.
Quain Renmore, Q for short, had an off-the-chart IQ. The name, which he picked because his Korean name was unpronounceable in English, further demonstrated his wacky style. He was a human calculator who’d also been knowledgeable about the impending doom, and he disguised his remarkable intelligence with a quirky style. For years he’d worked closely with military research and development teams, and went on to head the communications department for the Venus and Mars missions. He was the first to develop a reliable quantum communication system which had begun its testing only recently for Mars-Earth and was to be used exclusively aboard Warp-1. The new technology made communication instant and 100% secure. Regardless of distance, even from the other side of the universe, the transmission was in real time. He’d known Herald for more than five years, throughout his last year at VlexCom. Herald’s extreme creativity, combined with Q’s off-the-chart intelligence made for a powerful union. And Herald and Rafael were counting on that tech! The day they’d planned for so long had finally come, and they would finally meet in person—if the schedule went as planned.
They had to make this drop!
Rafael had contributed much as to speculate the method of the attacks. He described several phases. Within the chaos of the first phase they should still be able to fly relatively undetected—save for the influence of the ship on the environment which couldn’t be helped. Phase two, stragglers would be hunted, machines would take to the air and space, and even with the ship’s blocker, any hint of a flyer would be targeted, making it a priority take-down. An indirect clue could be just as bad as a spot-on lock. The schedule needed to be followed flawlessly to ensure their safety, everything had been planned to perfection—except the early launch; the wrench stabbed their magnificent engine like a sword. It made things hairy, and now, very-likely-unknowns, more wrenches, would have to dealt with as they arise.
“30 seconds!”
Ana was spot on. The feed had risen and Herald began the boot up procedure.
A blast rocked the ship, tilting it to a 45 and everything got bright. Ana thought quickly, faster than Jay, reaching for the window controls: MAX TINT. Herald fell hard onto the control panel cracking the screen and slicing his forehead open. Regaining his balance he ducked slightly to gaze through Jodi’s window. A huge fire ball—red and black through the extreme welding-helmet-like tint—rose into the sky, mushrooming from the northern outskirts of Yuma. The sight of it elicited a low throat-clearing grunt, grumble grumble—Fear the Troll. No! His shook his head violently flinging droplets of blood. And he forced his thoughts back into place.
His first half-coherent thought—how? How in the world is he still sleeping, Herald thought wiping blood from his forehead and eyes with his shirt sleeve. The hit had undoubtedly shaken Manny turbulently inside the lender case. He’d briefed Manny on the possibilities, and damn if he wasn’t doing his magic to stay asleep. When we get back, if, Manny is getting a case of beer! He said to himself. Blood made its way down his brow, covering his nose and into his teeth; he ignored the flow. Jerry can help us drink it. Make that a truckload of beer.
Jay managed to level the ship after a second shock wave floated them side to side like a boat riding the wake of a cargo ship. Aghast at the sheer size of the explosion—everyone awed. Even Herald and Ana weren’t fully prepared for the scope of that one. A moment later the air became heated as it mixed with the turbulence gusting about the bay.
“Get up Vlad, quick!” Herald yelled through gusts of hot rotten air that harassed their balance and coordination. Vlad spun his head until it locked onto Herald, his composure was complete. He gave a full body nod of confirmation and with that one of the yellow straps snapped. His leaned forward and snapped the other as if it was a string of yarn.
“Drop now!” Jay said.
“Vlad, the crate. Push it out!”
Vlad rose to his feet so fast the floor buckled. He grabbed the crate from the side and the wood creaked in his hands. It gave way, enough to get behind it. Jerry hopped to the side where Herald had been and attempted to help but still it was as solid as if it was meshed with the floor. With a flick of two fingers Vlad gestured for Jerry to move aside, and he did. He got himself behind the crate and his feet imprinted into the metal floor as he gave it a shove. The crate shot out of the ship and plummeted toward the mountains below. At only 2700 feet it was the tallest of the Gila Mountains, but it was perfect. Nearly midway between LA and El Paso, with flat and low elevation desert landscape for hundreds of miles, the signal would transmit clearly from Sheep Mountain, hopefully saving much of the southwest and a good chunk of Mexico—what was left of any it.
Lenders Page 57