by Mike Essex
March, Tom, Grace and Chris, they had all given their lives to try and make this world a better place. I looked out of the window and thought about the people who had survived the night. They lived because of heroes like my friends.
The Deck may not have all been saints but those I held close were all heroes in my eyes. The public may not have known how much my friends sacrificed but I did. They wouldn’t be forgotten as long as I had air in my lungs.
I heard a loud roar coming from behind the building and dashed back to the window. Within a split second the noise charged its way across the building as two dots soared through the sky. I watched as they flew off into the distance before they disappeared altogether.
I wasn’t their target but I dreaded to think what could be. Their intense speed made it hard to tell if they were missiles or some form of jet but either way it was a bad omen for how Jacobi’s meeting had gone.
If the UK went to war then the efforts of my friends would have been in vain. I couldn’t let that happen. I needed to get back to Jacobi and QWS.
I pulled myself away from the window and made my way through the Vanir’s building. The bodies of those I’d killed lay strewn across each of the rooms and I kept my head high, not wanting to look at them. They’d wanted to kill me, sure, but I still didn’t want to look at what I’d done to them.
The more I walked, the more I could feel my strength starting to come back to me. I could tell March had been gentle with me as I felt very little pain despite the damage the core could have done to my body. My mind switched back to visions of him saving me. His last act, replaying on a loop.
March may have betrayed my trust many times but he’d always done it as part of some wider plan to help me. In the end I decided to just let it all go. There was no point carrying the burden of those choices any more.
Ultimately, the core he’d placed inside of me was the very same device that had killed him. It was somewhat poetic but that didn’t help explain how sad I felt that he was gone. Without March watching over me, Tobias would have killed me many years ago, that much I was sure of. He had saved me and loved me many times and in many ways.
Had things been different and had we met under normal circumstances I could have built a life with March. Without Tobias and Eli’s feud, Grace would still be alive, I’d be together with March and the world wouldn’t be on the brink of war. Together we’d stopped them but what had we really gained?
Our choices had helped us save a few people, even save the entire world once and yet here I was about to see it destroyed. The cycle needed to stop, order needed to be restored by any means necessary. Perhaps my father had been right to take away control.
“Emzie, are you there?”
That voice. Those words. It had to be her.
“Yes! I’m ok,” I said weakly.
Grace came running towards me like the guardian angel her name had always suggested.
“Thank God,” said Rex who followed close behind her.
He scooped me up in his arms and carried me from the building.
“You made it,” said Rufus in the next corridor, trailing behind with Jill.
He gave me a kiss on the cheek.
Jill didn’t say anything but her smile said it all. She had helped save me, I had hoped she’d live to see her redemption.
Grace, Rufus and Jill gathered round my body as Rex lay me down on the soft grass.
“How are you all here?” I said, my arm reaching out to touch Rex’s face like some wonderful mirage.
“You need to rest,” said Rex.
Behind Rex I could see another man, using a cane to support himself. I was thankful to see everyone around me but I couldn’t believe that my brother was here as well.
I rose up to my feet, despite Rex’s protests otherwise and walked towards my brother.
“Slow down sis,” said Will.
“You can walk again,” I said, truly happy.
“Yeah, I guess March is a good doctor after all,” he replied.
Hearing his name gave me pangs of guilt. They didn’t know. They couldn’t have known.
I fought back the tears as I explained to them how March had given his life to save me. Rex took my hand and held it tightly as my words started to break. The two of them had held a fierce rivalry but the time for that was over.
“I should have stopped you,” said Grace.
“It’s ok,” I replied.
“No, it’s not. I made a promise that I’d stop you if you lost control again. I should have been here, I could have talked you down from the edge,” she replied.
“I don’t think even you could have done that Grace. I was too far gone.”
“He should have waited. He was so desperate to be the one who saved you and now he’s gone,” she said angrily.
“March is the reason we’re here now,” said Jill. “He told us where to find you and we came as quickly as we could.”
I looked at them all together and realised something didn’t add up.
“Why are you all here? Will should be in a hospital bed. Did something happen at QWS?” I asked.
“You may want to sit down,” said Jill.
FIFTY SIX
“What’s happened?” I said, panicking.
“Gabe happened,” said Grace.
“Gabe? But I thought I killed him,” I said.
“You did,” said Grace. “After I got free of the river I dragged his body out myself just to be sure. Even checked for Skin 2.0 and had them perform an autopsy at QWS. He’s not coming back.”
“So what’s the problem?” I asked.
“After Gabe died we intercepted a transmission that was made to the Koreans. He must have had it set up to send in the event of his death,” said Jill.
“That transmission contained all of the evidence March had gathered to bring down Eli. It implicates all of us,” said Rex.
“Oh God,” I replied.
“That’s not the worst of it,” said Jill. “He also added to the original file to include evidence that shows how Eli manipulated the world’s Governments with the machine. Every single act he performed is documented. It could be enough to ignite a full scale war against the United Kingdom.”
“I saw something fly over the building. Have the attacks already begun?” I said.
“We’re still alive so I guess it was Jacobi’s forces preparing,” said Rufus. “A couple of nukes and we’d all be gonners.”
“He’s right,” said Jill. “I created the encryption on that file so I could hack it right away but the Koreans mustn’t have broken through it yet.”
“Can we run?” I asked.
“The tape implicates everyone here, you’re the only one who is protected and we’re going to make sure it stays that way,” said Rex.
“We’re going to turn ourselves in,” said Grace. “If we’re seen as traitors to this country then there’s a chance we can prevent the attacks.”
“You can’t do that,” I said.
“It’s the only way,” said Will.
“You too Will?” I said, shocked. “I won’t lose you again.”
“You saved me once. Let me do the same for you,” he replied.
“We’ve got a plane ticket and fake ID for you. There’s enough money in this bag to help you start a new life,” Rex took my hand. “You have to do this.”
“No,” I said, pulling my hand back. “I won’t let you throw your lives away just for me. We’ve been over this before.”
“We can save the entire country Emmie,” said Jill. “If we do nothing we’ll all die anyway; along with millions of innocent people.”
I looked at them all, so eager to give their lives for the cause. They knew that the lives of the many outweighed the lives of the few. Gabe would have been happy with what they’d become. This must have been what he’d wanted all along.
A thought stuck out in my mind. It was just a small idea but it had the potential to snowball into something much more powerful. I kept it t
o myself whilst my mind worked out the details.
My friends led me to a six seater Verro branded 4x4 and we all got inside. I sat in the middle next to Rex, Grace and Jill sat in the front and Will took the back seat next to Rufus.
“It won’t take long to get to the airport,” said Jill. “Jacobi has a private jet and pilot ready to take you wherever you want to go.”
I had no idea where I would start my new life. England had always been my home. The rest of the world was a mystery to me.
“Anywhere but Paris,” said Grace.
“Right,” I replied.
As Jill started to drive I grabbed the gun from Rex’s belt and aimed it towards Jill.
“Woah,” said Jill.
“Emmie, what are you doing,” said Rex.
“Something I should have done a long time ago,” I replied.
“Emzie, come on now,” said Grace. “Put the gun down.”
“Take me back there,” I said.
“Where?” asked Jill.
“To the machine,” I replied.
“What?” said Rex.
“It’s the only option we have left,” I replied. “We can save everyone.”
I looked back at Will, terrified at how he would react. I was asking him to make a huge sacrifice.
He smiled at me and nodded. Will was in.
“That machine nearly killed you both, you can’t be serious,” said Grace.
“I’m deadly serious,” I said, running my finger across the trigger.
“Take her there,” said Rex.
“What?” exclaimed Grace.
“She’s right. We can’t protect Emmie against everything. If she wants to make her own choice then we should respect it,” said Rex.
“Thank you,” I said.
“Ok,” said Grace. “But we’re getting you out of there the second you’re done.”
I didn’t doubt she would. I just hoped the machine would let me go.
FIFTY SEVEN
Jill drove us back towards my father’s old base; where the machine lay waiting.
Even in his death Gabe had found a way to get what he wanted. By leaking the information to the Koreans he had ensured we would go back to the machine.
Trying to stop the attack wouldn’t be as simple as just jumping into a few bodies and he knew it. There were countless people that would need to be influenced over the long term so they wouldn’t attack us as soon as we relinquished control. He wanted me to spend the rest of my life jumping from body to body trying to fix the mess he’d created.
Gabe had created a mission that would never end. He’d found a way to force us back to the machine and fulfil Eli’s wishes. He’d won.
I didn’t share my thoughts with the others. As far as they were concerned this would just be a short term fix. After all it was possible Jacobi could find a way to restore order if we bought him more time but I wasn’t counting on it. I was prepared to live the rest of my life in the machine to keep everyone else safe.
Without the core inside of me and Tobias to protect me all I would see in the machine would be a blank expanse of nothingness. I would be dead to the world.
Jill parked the car.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked.
“I’m sure,” I replied.
“And you Will?” she asked.
“Yes,” he replied.
We got out of the car and Rex handed us guns and ammunition from inside the boot of the car.
“You never know who might have survived from last time,” he explained.
Grace grabbed a familiar sword from the car boot and placed it into a holder on her back.
“Is that Jacobi’s sword?” I asked.
“Yes,” she replied. “That’s how much he wanted us to protect you.”
The sun shone brightly overhead, the heavens looking down on us. Corinna probably would have believed that it was a religious sign, whilst Cleon would have seen it as the stars aligning. Although their reasoning would have been different their verdict would have been the same: this was destined to happen.
I walked alongside Will to the door, helping to support him as he struggled along with the cane.
“Do you believe in Gods?” I asked him.
“Any in particular?” he replied.
“Freyr and Freyja,” I elaborated.
“Are you honestly asking me if I believe a vengeful God created the Tethers out of spite?”
“So you’re heard of them? How?” I asked, knowing he couldn’t have seen the sermons held by the pastor.
“I studied theories around the creation of Tethers at TethTech. I’ve heard pretty much every idea people have and that story is a popular one that goes all way back to ancient Greek times. There was even a mural in our office of Freyr and Freyja because so many of our financial backers believed in them.”
“So you don’t believe in them?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Really? But you studied Tethers your whole life. How could you believe a fairy tale?”
“What else should I believe? Science proves seemingly impossible ideas all the time. In all my years studying them I never found a better explanation for why we have Tethers than ‘because we do’ so why not consider some higher power?”
“Cleon said that we’re descended from Freyja. Do you believe that too?” I asked.
“Hah, that might be pushing it. But if they want to believe I’m the great great great grandson of a God then I can live with that,” he replied.
“Everyone ready?” asked Grace.
We all confirmed we were and slowly walked inside.
Jill hacked the doors inside the base, reopening them one by one. The soldiers we’d left inside had all perished, trapped between the doors without food or water. These were all people who had stood by when their friends at the Deck were murdered, it was a fitting end.
As we descended towards the heart of the base, the world outside grew distant. World War III could start above our heads at any second and we wouldn’t even know until our lives ended. We needed to work quickly.
We split up. Jill, Grace and Rufus heading to the control room to turn the machine back on, whilst I made my way to the machine with Rex and Will.
They could have tried to talk me out of it but no-one said a word. I was glad my friends had accepted that this needed to happen. Arguing about it now would only waste time we didn’t have.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you,” said Rex.
“You did,” I told him. “You did.”
He held me in his arms for the last time and I closed my eyes wanting to savour every moment. The room stretched out into the darkness, hiding the machine from us whilst my friends tried to turn it on.
“I’ll wait for you,” said Rex, kissing me passionately.
The best gift I could give him now was to set him free. I had no idea how long I’d be in the machine and he’d already wasted so much of his life waiting for me. I wanted to be with him but I’d already taken so much from him. I couldn’t destroy his life like I’d done with March.
“Live your life,” I replied, holding back the tears.
FIFTY EIGHT
We faced the darkness together Rex on my left and Will on my right. I took their hands with my own and stared at the dark nothingness around the machine, waiting for it to switch on.
Jill informed us that the Koreans had almost cracked the transmission. There really was no going back now. If we were quick there was a chance we’d be able to stop them from reading it but I didn’t hold out much hope.
“I never thought I’d see the day,” Cleon strode down the walkway behind us. “The last descendants of Freyja, right in front of my face.”
Corinna followed closely behind him. “A miracle of our times,” she said.
Rex aimed his gun towards them.
“I wouldn’t do that,” said Cleon, as the sound of footsteps echoed behind him.
“You should be dead,” I said.
/> “Yes, that attack was quite impressive. It’s a good job we had those glass chambers in our base really. Oh, and remind me to thank your friend for removing the core. He’s made our job quite a bit easier now,” he explained.
“I still have power,” I said. “You shouldn’t have come here.”
“How could I resist? When Glenn King’s satellite network found you heading here, I knew it would be worth a trip. How right was I?”
He started walking towards Will, with one arm outstretched.
“Don’t you dare touch him,” I replied, pulling out my gun and pointing it at him. In unison Corinna pulled a gun and aimed it at me.
“I didn’t think you had it in you,” said Cleon.
“You saw what I did to your men. You’ve seen what I did to the soldiers of this base. Don’t push me,” I replied.
“You really believed you’d defeated the Vanir didn’t you? There’s a lot more to us than you think,” he explained.
March had said the Vanir were part of the three richest families but it terrified me to think how deep they could be buried in our country.
The Vanir had played us perfectly. Now they had us and the machine, they could control Governments, destroy lives and change anything they wished. What more could the three richest families want?
“What’s going on down there?” said Jill over the intercom. “The Korean’s have almost de-encrypted the signal. It’s 97% done.”
“Whatever you’re planning on doing you’d better do it quickly,” I said. “In a few minutes it won’t matter anyway. This country will be bombed to oblivion.”
“Then it’s a good job we’re in a nuclear shelter. Isn’t it?” said Cleon.
“You can’t be serious,” said Rex. “You’re willing to let this country burn?”
“Of course. The Vanir are well prepared for any disaster this country could face,” replied Cleon.
“What good is ruling a destroyed country?” said Rex.
“There are other countries and other people,” said Cleon.