Haruka is alone in one of the training rooms of Atlantis. She is kneeling down and in a profound state of meditation. Flashbacks of her most pleasant experiences with Ryu Miyazaki makes her smile and sometimes laugh out loud. After a few minutes of silence, she reveals her ice cold stare and says in Japanese, “I will avenge your death, father. I shall make Diana Garrison suffer and make her pay dearly for what she did to you. Even if it means losing my own life in the process, I will have her head as a souvenir.”
Chapter XX
Back on Earth, in a heavily wooded forest, a rabbit pokes its head out of a bush and sniffs the air. It starts hopping as fast as it could when, suddenly, a deer bites it on the neck and blood gushes out everywhere like a balloon that has been popped. Frank Garrison uses his sniper rifle to witness the unnatural scene occurring several feet away from him. He pulls out his voice recorder and pushes the red button to record his findings. He says in a low tone, “October 18, 2014. It's 6:05 in the morning and I just spotted a carnivorous deer eating a rabbit. It looks like the disease from a few days ago has spread somehow altered the eating habits of the wildlife.”
Frank releases the button and puts the recorder back in his pocket. He aims his rifle at the deer and whispers, “Sorry, buddy. You're better off this way.”
A muffled gunshot is heard and the deer gets struck with the bullet right in the head. It dies instantly and collapses to the ground. As Frank kneels down next to the deer, he puts on a pair of surgical gloves and, cautiously, lifts the deer's lips. After studying its fangs, he says, “Yup...almost looks like looking into the mouth of a tiger.”
Frank becomes startled by the sound of rustling grass and points his rifle at the tall tree nearby. He pulls the trigger and, as a result, the bullet causes pieces of bark to go flying in different directions. A girl can be heard screaming, “Wait! Don't kill me!”
While still pointing his gun, Frank yells, “Let me see your hands and walk towards me right now!”
The girl raises her hands and walks out of the bushes. She looks like she's about thirteen or fourteen years old. While still pointing his rifle at her, Frank kneels down and asks, “Open your mouth, girl.”
She does as he commands and opens her mouth wide to reveal healthy and normal teeth. He tells her, “Your gums and teeth look normal. You're not infected.”
Frank lowers his gun and tells her, “You can lower your hands. What's your name and what are you doing out here by yourself?”
The frightened girl replies with a shaky voice, “My name's Holly and I'm here with my little brother. We're both hungry and I just wanted to take that rabbit for us.”
He takes a quick glance at the dead carcasses and advises, “Call me Frank. Rabbit is usually very tasty, Holly, but I don't recommend chowing down on that.”
Frank looks at her and says while having a fatherly concern, “I have some rations in my backpack. Take me to where he is and we can all have a bite to eat. What do you think, huh?”
Holly smiles and replies happily, “Yeah! Follow me, Frank!”
As Frank follows Holly while holding his rifle four inches away from his chest, he asks, “Where's your parents, Holly?”
She shrugs her shoulders and replies sadly, “I don't know. We ran out of food a few weeks ago and they went out to find more. I haven't seen them since.”
He thinks about all of the other families on Earth that are probably experiencing the same thing. Holly notices that Frank is missing a few fingers and asks, “What happened to your fingers?”
He lifts his hand and explains, “I was attacked, Holly.”
“By one of those bad people?”
Frank decides not to go into gruesome details and simply replies, “Yeah.”
They both arrive at a large man made tent and Holly says, while pointing at it, “This is it, Frank. My brother, Aaron, is feeling kinda bad.”
Not surprising considering the fact that they've been without food for such a long time. More than likely, the kids were too scared to go hunting on their own and just waited. Frank swats away a few flies and makes his way inside.
Frank's head gets pushed back as he smells the putrid stench of rotten flesh. He sees a little boy, about five or six, sucking on what looks like a human femur. Before he even has time to react, Holly hits him on the back of the neck with a thick branch. This causes him to lose consciousness and fall to the ground.
A half hour later, Frank opens his eyes and finds himself tightly bound to a chair. Holly is sitting down in front of him while holding a blood stained machete. He is still feeling the sting on the back of his neck as he asks her, “What really happened to your parents?”
Her lips begin to form a sinister grin giving Frank the indication that she has lost her mind. Holly replies in a casual manner, “Well...the truth is that I still have some food. Aaron can't keep it inside and he just throws it up. Then he bit our dad's ear off and ate it. He didn't puke it, Frank.”
At this point, she stands up and puts her finger on the tip of the blade. Holly continues, “After watching Aaron starve, they asked me to kill them so that he can live. And that's what I did.”
She starts laughing and tells him, “Now...I have to kill you. I'm sorry that I don't have anything like anesthetic because this is gonna hurt...a lot.”
All of a sudden, someone entering the tent catches Holly by surprise and she asks, “Huh? Who are you?”
She feels a pain in her chest and her body explodes hurling flesh and brain matter at Frank. Aaron hisses at the person and his eyes glow a bright yellow. Seconds later, the boy's body also explodes. Frank yells, “Jesus Christ!”
He sees an elderly man with a cane walk around him until he is facing him. The man asks, “It seems as if I have prevented a rather painful experience, yes?”
Frank spits on the floor to remove Holly's brain matter from his lips and asks, “Who the hell are you and what kind of weapon was that?”
The old man replies, “I'm Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein. The weapon is actually my cane, Mr. Garrison. I could go into the details but it would really just confuse you.”
Frank thinks about his encounter with Barbara Echevarria and asks, “Wait...Frankenstein? Ludwig?”
Victor replies, “Is my son.”
“My grandson...Joshua?”
“He is with your daughter in the underground city beneath Denver's airport. Any more questions, Mr. Garrison?”
Frank breathes a sigh of relief. He then asks, “Yeah. How did you find me?”
Victor makes an adjustment on his cane while replying, “Information, my boy. Information.”
He points the cane at Frank and pushes a button which makes him shut his eyes and shout, “Whoa!”
Frank feels the ropes loosen and slip off of his body. He looks up at Victor afterwards with a frightened expression. Victor makes his way out of the tent and says, “Come with me. There is much to do.”
Frank exits the tent and catches up with Victor. While walking, Victor explains to him, “I know the location of others that are not infected. As you can see, I'm an old man so I will need your assistance.”
“Sure.”
Victor extends his cane close to Frank's chest and they both come to a stop. He says, “Right here. Thank you, Mr. Garrison.”
As they wait, Victor looks at Frank's hand and tells him, “I can do something about that.”
Frank grins and asks in response, “And take away my battle scars?”
Victor shakes his head in disbelief and mutters, “Soldiers are such a strange lot.”
A second later, a black circle appears in front of them. Frank stares at the bizarre object and says, “Let me guess. We're going into that thing.”
As Victor proceeds to enter, he replies, “Yes.”
While watching him disappear into the empty space, Frank shakes his head and says to himself, “Well...here goes nothing.”
Frank jumps through and the circle closes behind him. He instantly appears inside of the
research facility on Mars. Victor is standing next to him. Victor begins to walk and says, “This way, Mr. Garrison. I'll take you to your quarters so that you may take a shower.”
Frank follows him and asks, “What is this place?”
“It's a research facility located on Mars. Now, due to the fact that StarSun intentionally released a new strain of that virus, we must act quickly to save the few remaining humans.”
Frank becomes stunned and stops walking. He says to himself, “No...that can't be...she wouldn't.”
Victor also stops walking and lowers his head. He explains, “I am sorry to be the one to break the news to you, Mr. Garrison. I am familiar with your mission that resulted in the extermination of the Maori tribe. Your daughter may have orchestrated this worldwide disaster as a way to exact revenge.”
Frank is at a loss for words. To think that his own daughter is behind the most brutal plague in history makes him feel sick in the stomach. Victor approaches him and says, “What is important now is that we try our very best to save humanity and reclaim Earth.”
“She was so innocent and kind, Mr. Frankenstein. You should have seen her.”
“Unfortunately, Frank, she is no longer that little girl.”
After several minutes of silence pass, Victor says, “Let's go, Frank. You can take a shower and we'll have some tea afterwards.”
A steady stream of hot water from a shower head is hitting Frank on his head. He has finished taking a shower but decides to remain there with his eyes closed as he reminisces on the past. Frank finally makes his way out of the shower and the stream immediately stops. Just before grabbing a dry towel, he punches the wall in anger and shouts, “Fuck!”
Much later, Frank arrives at the cafeteria and finds Victor sitting down at a table while reading a paperback novel. Frank sits down and says, “This is a sight. I thought you scientific types preferred digital formats.”
While taking a sip of his tea, Victor looks at him and replies, “The digital format does provide one the opportunity to keep the book from incurring physical damage due to the acidity of the air, yes. I simply find holding the book physically in my hands to be a much more personal experience.”
Frank grins and takes a sip of his tea. He then tells Victor, “That's good. I had a collection myself but they're all gone now. I still have Moby Dick, though.”
Victor raises his cup in acknowledgement and says, “A timeless classic, my friend.”
Frank takes this moment to advise Victor, “If we're going to do this, it needs to be soon.”
Victor places his cup on the table and replies, “Yes. I will provide you with state of the art weaponry as well as introduce you to Sasha very soon.”
Frank is somewhat curious and asks, “Sasha? Is she military?”
This amuses Victor. “You can say that.”
Minutes later, the heavily fortified door of the weapons research and development department opens and Frank is the first to step inside. He folds his arms and gazes at the vast array of handguns and rifles on display. Victor stands next to him and says, “Let's get started with this rifle.”
He hands Frank a futuristic assault rifle which he points in order to get a feel for it. He says to Victor, “Nice. This is the TAR-21...but it looks a bit different.”
“In actuality, this is a pulse rifle based on that model. Instead of using NATO rounds, it uses extremely destructive directed-energy. The same technology found in my cane.”
Frank gives him a big smile and says in a gravelly voice, “Sweet.”
Victor returns the smile and next hands him a large handgun. Frank points it and pulls the trigger. Since it lacks ammunition, it just makes a clicking sound. He tells Victor, “Okay. This feels like the Desert Eagle Hand-Canon.”
“Correct. The ammunition is still .50 caliber bullets, but modified to expand upon impact thus producing a larger diameter wound.”
“Dumdums.”
Victor walks away for a moment. When he returns, he gives Frank something that looks like a mix of shotgun with a machine gun. Frank points it and says, “The Saiga-12 Semi-Automatic Shotgun.”
He lowers the weapon and asks, “Full-auto?”
“Of course.”
“Fuck, yeah.”
Victor says, after a chuckle, “It's time that you meet Sasha now. I have a feeling you'll love her the most.”
“Lead the way, Santa.”
A young blond woman wearing a blue camouflage uniform is seen making adjustments to a tank. She senses people behind her and quickly turns around to find Victor and a man that she does not recognize right away. Victor says to her, “Hello, Sasha.”
“Hello, Mr. Frankenstein. How are you doing this morning?”
“Good, thank you. I’m sure you know Frank Garrison.”
Her eyes widen and she walks toward them completely embarrassed. She salutes Frank and says, “I'm sorry, sir. I didn't recognize you.”
Frank grins at her and says, “At ease, soldier. I'm retired so you can drop that crap.”
He walks past her toward the tank and asks, “This is a Ripsaw UGV, right?”
Sasha stands next to him and replies proudly, “I'm the MS4. The latest model.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
Victor answers the question by saying, “You heard correctly, Mr. Garrison.”
He then points his cane at Sasha and pushes a button. A sharp blade is seen protruding from the tip and Victor quickly stabs her. Frank is shocked to see that the blade goes completely into her chest and she does not feel the slightest bit of pain. Sasha rolls her eyes at Victor and says to Frank, “I hate it when he does that.”
Victor laughs and says, “I'm sorry, Sasha. You see, Mr. Garrison, she's actually a holographic projection of the tank's A.I.”
Frank touches her and says, “But I can feel her.”
“The hologram feels solid because it uses force fields. We developed it as soon as she became self-aware.” Sasha adds, “The drawback is that my hologram can't go farther than twelve feet away from me.”
Frank takes a step back after listening to what Sasha said and says while pointing his finger at her, “Okay, Mr. Frankenstein. This can’t be real.”
Sasha looks at them and asks, “Shall I explain my specifications?”
Victor touches her shoulder and tells her, “Absolutely.”
Sasha happily nods and stands in front of the large vehicle. She brushes her hair aside with her hand and says, “To begin with, I weigh about 4.5 tons and I can carry a one-ton payload. My tubular chassis design is powered by a plasma-energy engine.”
She gives Frank a quick glance and adds egotistically, “Unlike your typical UGV which has a duramax diesel engine. Fully loaded, I can accelerate from 0-70 mph in 5.5 seconds...way better than the MS3...and a top speed of 80 mph. Armament is a modified M2 Browning machine gun which fires shots of high powered directed-energy.”
Frank is holding his chin and says in response, “Impressive.”
This comment annoys Sasha and she places her hands on her hips while adding emphatically, “Very.”
Victor prevents a possible confrontation and says, “Calm down, Sasha. That is not the way to treat your driver.”
Sasha and Frank become astounded by this news. Sasha replies, “Excuse me? I'm an unmanned assault vehicle, Mr. Frankenstein!”
Victor slightly raises his hand and corrects Sasha by adding, “Now, Sasha. You know as well as I do that is not true. Similar to the earlier MS2, you have the dual ability of being manned or unmanned.”
She replies in a devastated manner, “Understood. But he doesn't know how to operate me. Is this wise?”
Frank chuckles and asks her, “What are you talking about? I've operated many Ripsaws in my time.”
Sasha steps closer to him and asks, “Have you ever operated an MS4? No, you haven’t.”
Frank walks away from her and says in a firm manner, “I'm sorry. I can't work under these conditions.”
After a
moment of silence, Victor explains to the both of them, “The both of you don't seem to understand that there is no choice in this matter. I am leaving to attend a meeting right now so I shall leave the both of you here to get better acquainted.”
His footsteps can be heard followed by the opening and closing of a door. Frank hops onto the MS4 without hesitation and tells Sasha, “Looks like we're stuck with each other. Mind giving me a tour of your insides, honey?”
She folds her arms angrily and says, “I am not your honey. I'll see you there.”
Soon afterwards, Sasha's hologram gradually fades away. Underneath Frank's foot, the top hatch slides opens causing him to almost lose his balance. Sasha's voice coming from the interior of the tank is heard saying coldly, “Oops. Watch your step.”
He shakes his head and replies, “Watch it, Sasha. I think I saw a HEAT missile earlier.”
She chuckles and tells him, “That'll just tickle me, Frank. Hurry up and get in.”
He lowers himself into the tank and the hatch slides closed a few seconds later. He walks toward the main controls and sits down on the extremely comfortable chair. This causes him to lay back and say, “Goddamn, your chair is comfy.”
Sasha's voice can be seen as fluctuating pulses on the small monitor just below the main screen. She sighs and asks impatiently, “Can we move on to more important things, please?”
Frank sits up straight and barks out, “Right! Let's get started with the SMI, soldier!”
The main screen turns on and she says, “Soldier Machine Interface is ready. My screen includes a touch-sensitive digitizer, by the way.”
He touches various areas of the screen and tells her in wonderment, “Even the CROWS system can be operated from here. I stand corrected, Sasha. You're more than impressive.”
“I know. It's about time that you noticed, Frank.”
While exploring the other options available on the SMI interface, he sees something called a high density plasma cannon and touches it. The entire tank begins to vibrate slightly and, a minute later, a turret elevates from the top portion of the MS4. The cannon extends from the front of the turret and clicks into place. Sasha explains to Frank, “This is one of my favorite toys, Frank. My cannon here draws its energy directly from my engine thus eliminating the need for shells. Fully charged, it can destroy about ninety percent of a city block. The drawback is that it really drains me.”
Rise of the Fallen: Ascensionis Page 32