Once Tara finished, Marcia bolted to her feet. “I need to use the toilet. I’m not feeling too good.”
“Not alone.” Tara caught her elbow as she passed. “I’m coming with you.”
The girl scowled but didn’t argue as the android followed her down the aisle. As soon as they were out of sight, Domo grabbed his shoulder and said, “Don’t trust either of them, Alec. I think they may be working for someone else.”
This again? Hadn’t Tara proven her loyalty? Alec slumped in his seat. His chest still burned from their mad dash to and through the Metro station. “Domo, listen, you may not like Tara, but it doesn’t matter. She’s risked her life for me more times than I can count. If she was working with Agent Square, we would’ve been caught a long time ago.”
“I’m talking about both of them,” Domo said, eyes wild with intensity. The boy glanced around for the pair and continued in a whisper. “Don’t trust anyone, Alec. Not even Marcia.”
He sounded like a nut. Alec sighed.
The overhead lights flickered, and before he knew it, he was flung into Domo’s lap. Screams rose in the train. The stench of burnt steel stung his nostrils as the emergency brakes activated. His headache, so diminished he thought it was gone, squeezed at his temples.
His friend grinned down at him. “Stay there at your own risk,” he said.
Like hell he would. He scrambled to his feet. Together, they weaved through the shell-shocked passengers. The two women hadn’t even made it to the bathrooms. Marcia sported a bruise, already an angry purple, on her forehead, and Tara was bunched against the corner of the hallway, blood matted in her hair. Between them and Domo’s bruised face, they all looked like they’d lost multiple boxing matches.
“Agent Square?” Marcia said, touching the spot of her bruise and wincing.
Alec helped Tara to her feet.
“I don’t think so,” his guardian said. She blinked blood out of her eyes. “This is probably the same group who killed Marlo.” She said it casually, but there was a hint of accusation tucked in the simple statement.
This was not lost on either of his friends. Both glared. Alec stepped between them before they could start bickering.
“Can we still get off the train?” They would have to. No way, they could escape anyone trapped like crabs in a bucket.
“I can open the doors,” Tara said. “But not alone.”
“I’ll help,” Alec said quickly, eager to jump into action. “But not here. We have to move.”
“They’ll be coming for us here,” Tara said, nodding in agreement.
They went back towards the first-class cars. “Might as well drop the proxies,” Alec said. “We won’t be needing them anymore.”
Shedding their proxies as they pushed through the increasingly frenzied crowds. By the time they reached the rich, red carpet, they were all in their normal appearances. He turned to a silvery door. It stared back at them, almost in challenge. Alec huffed and grasped one edge of the door. Tara did the same with the other side. They heaved.
The door chirped. “Passengers from Car 7 Seat 5A and 5B, do not attempt to open the door at this time.”
Blood pumped furiously into his forehead as he pulled again.
“If you persist, I will be forced to alert the authorities,” the door said. “I have your identification.”
The chirping grew more and more urgent. A small crowd of first-class passengers gathered around them, but no one tried to stop them. Metal crunched against metal, and the door slowly slid apart. His head swam with each effort. His arms burned and trembled, but the door slid apart bit by bit. Glass gleamed on the other side.
“We shouldn’t—” Domo began.
Tara’s elbow shattered the glass.
“We’re leaving,” Alec told them. “You can come or not.”
The pair stared at him as though seeing him for the first time. Without waiting for their answer, he leapt into the mouth of jagged glass. His foot nearly slipped on the wet stone. Wherever they were, it stunk like garbage. Alec rummaged through his system files and activated night vision. They were in a long, winding tunnel. As they sprinted, the semidarkness quickly became pitch darkness. Over his own heavy breathing, his friend’s footsteps crunched against the gravel. Just when he thought his lungs were about to explode, Tara slid to a stop.
“An exit,” she whispered.
Ladder rungs led upward. A quick scan of the map showed an expansive, deserted area. It was a large void near the Atlantic. ‘Restricted Area’ popped up on his screen as he zoomed in for a closer look. Just great.
Marcia stepped up beside them. “This is dangerous. We have no idea where we’re going.”
“We’re going,” Alec said, keeping his back to her. He was done arguing with them. The rungs felt grimy but he climbed anyway. Up the ladder, Tara shoved something heavy and metal-sounding out of the way and disappeared.
By the time he reached the top, he was trembling and not from the cold. The weather hadn’t changed much from DC, cool and humid. No, it was what lay around him that chilled him. Husks of buildings leaned against one another like weary soldiers on a battlefield. Glass crunched beneath his feet as he stepped away from the circular hole in the ground. A thick layer of debris coated everything in a perpetual gloom.
“Not the best place for a hike,” Domo said, trying to lighten the mood. “But better than being stranded in Appalachia.”
Tara crouched to put the circular covering back in the hole. It rang dully as it slid back into place. She straightened. “We go for the sea. Maybe we can salvage a ship and make it to the nearest big city. Keep your systems off and we should be un-trackable.”
What a great plan. Walk around until they found a ship. Alec raked a hand through his hair.
So far, there were no signs that anyone knew their location. As they jogged, the only sound he heard was the crunch of glass against the soles of his shoes and his own shallow breathing. In the distance, one of the hollowed-out skyscrapers groaned suddenly. The echo rippled through the dead city.
Alec froze, not even daring to draw a breath. In front of him, Marcia and Domo did the same. The sound continued to echo. When the sound faded, he waited several heartbeats to breathe again. After a few additional seconds, Tara motioned for them to continue their jog to the coastline. The darkness thickened until the burnt buildings huddled all around them. The street remained absurdly wide, but the buildings packed the sky. Draped across a shattered window, an old American flag with the original fifty stars fluttered, tattered and so dirty the white stripes were dark gray.
They turned a corner onto a road wide enough for an army to march through. This was a city for giants.
Around the corner, he halted, shock ripping through him like very cold wind. A boy stood in the middle of the road. He could feel the others halt behind him, struggling for an adequate response.
Soiled clothes hung in loose rags around the boy’s scrawny frame. More like a piece of cloth, not clothing. The boy’s hands were clasped behind in his back in an almost professional manner. The boy didn’t blink. He stood so still that Alec thought he must be a statue.
Then he cocked his head. “Why are you here?” The boy did not sound threatening or even challenging, merely curious.
Tara stepped forward. “We are running from enemies. Can you help us?”
“Help?” The boy didn’t seem to like the taste of the word. He shook his head. “Help is not freely given, but if you can give something valuable in exchange, the King may help.”
“Can you take us to the King now?”
The boy extended his hands. “Not free,” he repeated.
Alec subconsciously felt the necklace on his chest. Would he have to give it up in exchange for their freedom?
To his surprise, Marcia stepped beside Tara. “Here is a gift.”
The boy’s dead gaze latched onto Marcia with unnerving intensity. A smile splashed across his face. “Gift accepted.”
Chapter 14
>
“This was once a great capital of the world,” the boy said when he noticed Alec staring at the buildings around him. “Millions of people flocked here. They competed for jobs. Companies competed for office space. Those offices grew ever higher in the sky. People with little money paid exorbitant amounts just to live here. When the first bombs came, these inhabitants died before anyone else.”
Millions of people. He shuddered. Scant details remained about the Third World War. His grandparents survived the calamity but didn’t talk much about the horrors.
“This place is cursed,” Domo muttered.
They walked for about half an hour before they entered one of the structures. It was squat and short compared to most of the buildings. Rocks, some larger than drones, scattered the expansive hall. Along the sides, lights blinked and chirped. Servers. In their thousands. All stacked along the walls. His gaze drifted from column to column. He’d never seen so many together.
Tara pointed to a point where two massive craters pockmarked the marble floor.
Another child stood between the craters. A girl. She wore pig-tails and large dusty overcoat. She held a spear in one hand, her other hand at her waist. Her eyes never left them as they approach. She moved aside to allow them through the path marked between the craters.
Then he noticed more children lining a set of staircases just beyond the crater. At the top of the stairs, steel beams slanted and crisscrossed into a throne. Another child, little more than a teenager, sat on the throne. A paper crown adorned the teen’s head, with a word crossed out in black to read ‘King’. The teenage king stared ahead into the gloom.
“Bow,” the girl with the spear said behind him.
The other children lining the staircase glared. He was the first to drop to one knee. Then, the others followed. A sudden sheen of sweat pricked his forehead. He sucked in a breath. They’re just children.
The girl with the spear paddled between them to stand in front of him. Her back of her coat was torn and tattered. She opened her mouth, but instead of human language, a horrible sound burst from mouth. Some mix of a wail and an old dial-up modem. He clenched his teeth and resisted the urge to clap his hands over his ears.
The King listened without expression and responded in the same manner. Alec flinched.
“You have come for help?” the girl asked in plain English, eyes on him.
“Yes,” Alec said, chest tightening.
An intense pressure pulled at him, the weight pushing him to both knees. It was like the air from the hall was sucked in one motion. His ears popped. Then a voice reverberated through his skull. Are you the one?
No, he managed. A tear trickled warmly down his cheek.
The pressure vanished. He risked a glance up the staircase. The other children stared at him in barely contained murderous rage, but the King’s posture hadn’t changed at all. He blew out an unsteady breath. Not just children after all.
The King and his translator exchanged more words. Then, the teen on the throne descended into anger and he barked what sounded like a reprimand.
“The King would be willing to help,” the girl said, turning to him with a slight nod. “But you come with no gifts and without warning. This is unacceptable.”
“We did not plan to come.” He would have to choose his words carefully. “I apologize. We don't have much. If you can think of an appropriate gift, we would be more than willing to oblige.”
His mother’s necklace felt like a beacon around his neck. Would he give it to them if asked? They already knew the location of the Super AI. Would it be enough to show up without the rest of the code?
The girl responded without consulting the King. “We could take it from you if we chose. Alas, it is not our ambition. We want something you have to willingly give.”
“Name it.”
“We want your memories.” The girl pointed to Tara. “And hers.”
Tara blinked. They wanted his memories? Before his guardian could protest, he asked, “Will I still remember everything as normal?”
“Of course. We will do a copy-transfer.”
“Done,” he said before Tara could interject.
“I have—” Tara began.
“The conditions have been set,” the girl cut in haughtily. “One of our vessels will deliver you to Arctic City harbor. Let’s proceed.”
He blinked. How did they know? Unease slid into him like a hot drink. It seemed like he was playing someone else’s game. Still, for the second time that day, he’d successfully negotiated their freedom. Two children, no older than six, sauntered in his direction. They stopped at either side and wailed something that sounded like a threat.
“Get on your knees,” the girl with the spear said.
Alec obeyed, the two children shoving him the rest of the way down. They touched his forehead. It was like being touched by ice sculptures. Then, the hall vanished beneath the wall of agony slamming into his eyelids. The world stretched flat across an endless plain of nothingness.
He discovered himself on all fours, panting and sweating against the marble floor. Sweat pooled beneath him. How long had he been out? The throne was empty. All the people that had lined the staircase were gone. Even the translator was nowhere in sight. Were they going to take their memories and abandon them?
The two boys moved on to Tara. His guardian gasped. Alec turned to see her writhing on the floor, eyes rolling in their sockets. Then she went limp. His stomach twisted at the sight. Was that what happened to him?
A flicker of movement caught his attention. Near the entrance a dark figure disappeared behind a rock. A low rumble shook the floor.
The children hadn’t abandoned them. They had evacuated.
The boys hissed at one another and abandoned their efforts with Tara. Tara collapsed in an unmoving heap. The pair ran and disappeared from behind a rock.
Something was coming. Weapons: Activated?
Alec ran over to Tara and shook her. Her body flopped in his arms. “Get up Tara!” He slapped her.
Domo and Marcia tugged at his shoulders.
“We have to go,” Domo urged.
If you live, meet at this location. The translator. A red dot blinked. Near the harbor, almost a straight shot from their current location.
Take us with you, he sent back.
Not a part of the deal.
Damn it. Alec shook Tara one last time. Her eyes fluttered but did not open. Another rumble shook his feet.
“Here is the location,” Alec said, sending the details to Domo and Marcia. He would’ve given them the necklace, but he suspected it gave him his abilities somehow. “Go!”
Surprisingly, neither argued. Domo squeezed his shoulder as he passed. Marcia kissed him on the cheek. They went the other way in search of an exit.
Twin ember eyes glowed in the semidarkness, and a battle droid emerged from shadows. In the guise of a lion, it crept forward in fluid motions, hundreds of mechanical parts whirling in sync. Jagged spikes circled its giant head. It growled again, revealing rows of metal teeth.
Alec had to meet it before it crossed the crater. &Weapons: Activated.
This close, the battle droid’s breath rumbled like a drone engine. The battle droid roared and sprang forward. Ruby light burst in his palms. A diamond-shaped shield materialized between him and the droid’s jagged jaws.
Rocks crunched beneath his feet as he strained.
He pivoted and smote the lion’s rump. The impact rippled up his arm. Sparks flew.
The battle droid’s tail arced out, stinging the back of his calves. He stumbled back to avoid the droid’s razor-sharp claws.
Behind him, Tara moaned. The battle droid cocked its head at the sound. It crossed the path between the craters. A jet of steam burst from the hydraulics near its hindquarters. The droid charged.
He screamed. His entire body vibrated with the energy of the shield. The shield surged.
He swung the weapon down. Lights exploded behind his vision. The lion bounded
away and surged up the staircase and out of sight. A thin trail of oil smoked in its wake. Alec could hear the scratch of metal on stone from the second floor. Alec resisted the urge to follow. The droid was likely to pounce once he did.
He rubbed his temples. A headache burgeoned between his eyebrows. If there was another battle droid out there, he was dead already.
He needed to end this quickly.
With just a thought, the shield vanished. The semidarkness rushed in greedily. He sagged to the ground, pretending a sudden injury.
Total System Failure Page 9