Code Breakers: Beta

by Colin F. Barnes

  Up ahead, a large room branched off to the right. Looking through a small windows at head-height, next to a thick steel door, Petal saw the General in front of ten soldiers dressed in camouflaged fatigues, lined up in a grid formation. He barked orders, his face puffed and reddened. They carried out a gun kata with their rifles.

  Sasha stood at the back of the group. Petal waved at her look-a-like, but Sasha didn’t notice: Sasha’s attention focused only on the weapon in her hand as she carried out the required movements. She looked so much more skilled in there than she appeared in the sub.

  Compared to the other men, she moved faster, more fluid.

  General Vickers yelled at one of the men who stumbled no more than an inch within the middle of the kata. Vickers grabbed the guy by the lapels of his combat shirt, shouted in his face, showed him the movement with the grace of a cobra, and ordered him to start again. Vickers pointed to Sasha as he did so, using her as an example of how to do it right.

  “Intense dude, this general of yours, huh?” Petal said looking into the window. “Do you two get on well?”

  Robertson sniffed with a hint of derision. His easy-going expression tightened enough to create the beginnings of a sneer. “Vickers is a capable military leader,” the doctor said between clenched teeth.

  “Like that is it? Two men of status, vying for power and control?”

  “He thinks it’s something like that,” Robertson said, now standing in front of the other window watching the group of men perform their manoeuvres while the General looked on.

  Vickers looked up, caught Petal’s eye, and gave her a wink and a cheesy-as-hell smile.

  Petal politely nodded back, then looked away.

  “He’s a bit of a douche,” she said as she watched him prance around at the front the room yelling instructions until his face became red.

  “Like I said, he’s a capable military leader, and unfortunately, in these times we need men like him. But don’t mind him. Come on, let me show you your genesis.”

  As they walked away, Petal couldn’t but help feel something far deeper existed between the Doc and Vickers than he let on.

  After a further ten minutes of traversing the dull grey tunnels of the Wake Island underground city, they came to an old steel door covered in dents and patches of rust.

  Robertson took an old-fashioned key from his pocket and unlocked the door.

  “No electronic bolts here, huh?”

  “You can’t hack a mechanical lock remotely,” he said giving her a sly wink.

  He opened the door for her and stood back. She hesitated, but moved inside once she saw two person-sized pods hanging from a series of rails bolted to the ceiling of the room. Inside, the place looked like the rest of the compound: grey and white. It had a tiled floor, a single computer station to the right wall.

  The door slammed behind. Her heart skipped a beat as she jumped. She turned thinking she’d been locked in, but Robertson was in the room, hunched over the door, locking it from the inside.

  Her attention returned to the pods. Although they were tubular than pod-like. They reminded her of the transcendent pods that Enna had in her lab, only they weren’t transcendents in these tubes. They were her.

  “Welcome home, Number Three,” Robertson said, his arms wide and his face beaming with pride.

  Chapter 20

  Sasha left the shower room and headed for Vickers’s office, all the while wondering why he’d requested to speak with her after their kata training.

  It couldn’t be about her performance. She’d carried out the kata with precision and perfection. It was all part of her new programming. Jimmy had seen to that. She performed better than anyone in the facility. She had noticed Vickers staring at her, ever since she arrived back with Petal. Perhaps he had the hots for her? He was a single man in the facility. He must have certain desires. Her stomach clenched at the thought.

  At nearly sixty, and all though he kept himself in good shape, his lanky, wiry form and bloated face kind of repulsed her. What if he tried something on?

  How could she explain that she had to defend herself against him? Would anyone believe her? Vickers was like ‘the man’ around the place, apart from Jimmy of course.

  Just get in, listen to what he’s got to say and keep your distance, she thought.

  His door hung part way open. She stood at the entrance and knocked.

  “Come in,” Vickers barked. His voice never seemed to do subtle. It was like he was constantly stuck on eleven.

  He sat behind the desk, elbows resting on the surface, hands pressed together to form a pyramid. His face gave nothing away. He remained neutral, impassive.

  “Close the door and take a seat.”

  This time he did lower his voice slightly, and he said please, which wasn’t a common occurrence. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last he was ever that polite towards her. He must be up to something. She took a seat and waited. A few seconds ticked by. He looked at her with those penetrating blue eyes of his. “What did you want, General?” she asked, unable to stand the tension.

  “We’ve got a problem.”

  “What kind of problem?” Sasha immediately thought it was something she’d done and squirmed in her chair. She knew it wasn’t about Petal. He’d already reprimanded her for that. It was considered settled.

  He stood from his desk, paced around the room. Heavy footsteps clacked against the tiled floor. Each step making the tension stretch that little bit farther.

  “I managed to get a copy of the data from Petal’s slate,” he said. “We’ve got a problem and Robertson is too cautious to deal with it. It’s time we stepped up, put our skills to use.”

  She looked up to see him staring at her again.

  “What do you mean, exactly?” she said.

  “Action. I’ve been training you and the squad for years now, and for what? Maintenance of the equipment on the surface? It’s a waste of our time and resources. I’m sick of hiding underground always at the mercy of The Family and their damned drones and satellites. And now those Red Widow bitches have somehow swelled their numbers and are eating up hamlets and villages, claiming land, making a home for themselves. They’re planning an attack on City Earth, and we won’t be far behind in their plans. We can’t allow that to happen. I won’t allow a bunch of crazy religious nuts to take over the land and destroy us.”

  Sasha stood, feeling the excitement build within her. Finally, she would put her skills to use, finally have a purpose instead of being Jimmy’s run around. “What do you have in mind, General?”

  “I’m glad you asked. But I need to know if I can trust you. It’s highly unlikely Robertson would agree to any of this, so we’re going to have to find a way around that.”

  She fidgeted at the thought of betraying the man who was essentially her father, but also her friend. Despite how he kept her wrapped in cotton-wool and refused to allow her to extend her abilities beyond the training rooms in the compound, he was still a man for whom she had a great deal of respect. But like Vickers, she didn’t want to sit there and wait for those damned Widows to destroy them all. Attack was often the best form of defence, and with their attentions on The Family and the Dome, it would be a good time.

  “Tell me what you have in mind.”

  Vickers stepped forward, held out his hand. “I need to know I can trust you,” he said.

  She shook his hand. “You have my loyalty.”

  With that he took his seat at the desk again. His voice was lower now as he explained his plans.

  “My men have isolated the exact orbit and location of The Family’s observation satellite. But we need something from you before we can take it out.”

  Sasha knew exactly what he wanted. The Laser-Electromagnetic Pulse—LEMP warhead that Robertson developed over a year ago. The prototype sat in the labs ready to be used. Robertson maintained they needed more time to confirm his research, more time to test it before it was ready. But he said that about everything: the
android army, the sub, even Sasha herself. Petal had proved that the sub’s tech was good. Jimmy didn’t have the balls to use it.

  “I assume you’re talking about the LEMP?” she said, to make sure she was on the same page.

  Vickers nodded. “Can you get it online, use it?”

  “Yeah, I know the codes. I helped Jimmy with the propulsion controls.”

  “It’s currently offline, incomplete. Do you think it will actually work?” Vickers asked.

  “I believe it will.” There was no way that Jimmy would let them have access without putting up a fight. Maybe not literally, but she doubted they could just walk up and launch it without his help. “We should get Jimmy onside.”

  Vickers sighed. “The old man’s scared of his damned shadow. You really think he would be up for this? Let one of his precious inventions out into the wild? He’s too cautious. Look at you.” Vickers jabbed a pointed finger at her. “You’re a freaking killing machine and he has you fetching him coffee.”

  “General, with all due respect, I’m my own woman. I don’t like to be manipulated, I—”

  Vickers slammed on fist on the desk as he stood. “Dammit girl, you really think I’m trying to manipulate you? I’m trying to ensure we all have a future, even your precious Jimmy goddamned Robertson. What do we need to do get him on-board, or what do you need to get full access to the LEMP?”

  “Let me talk with him first. He deserves that much.”

  “I have a better idea,” Vickers said. “I want you to get close to the new girl, Petal. I’ve seen the way Robertson looks at her. The guy loves her like his own child. Hell, I suppose she is his child. Get her on side. Use her as leverage when convincing him. If that doesn’t work, I’m taking the damned thing by force.”

  “Fine, give me a bit of time first.”

  “You’ve got about two hours. The satellite is due back around in about four hours, and I want to make sure we’ve got time to get it setup and ready.”

  “I best get on with it then,” Sasha said.

  “I don’t mean to be such a hard-ass about this, but it’s time we took to the surface. I, and I think everyone in this compound, is sick of hiding. It’s now or never.”

  “What comes after that?” she said. “If this does work, what then?”

  “We deploy the androids and wipe the Red Widows out of Darkhan and GeoCity-1 and take the Dome for ourselves.”

  “The androids? But what about the software?”

  Vickers smiled then. “I’ve had someone work on that. We’ve tested a few out on the surface. They’re good to go, with a bit of fine-tuning. Now, I suggest you work on Petal and Robertson. We could use someone of Petal’s experience in the field.”

  Vickers sat there staring at her, waiting for her to move.

  She nodded once and left the room. She exhaled as soon as she closed the door. Her head pounded with tension and anxiety. She hated Vickers for putting her in this position, but she had to give him credit for being proactive. And deep down, she knew he was right. They couldn’t keep hiding away, waiting. The time to leave had come.

  As she walked down the maze of corridors towards the health unit to speak with Petal, she felt a spring in her step, motivation, excitement. This was it. She would finally go above ground, and do what she had trained to do. Her time had come.

  Chapter 21

  Gerry kept moving, pulling an old rag around his head to hide his optical implant. If the Red Widows by the checkpoint spotted it, they’d have him ground to pieces in no time. He had to pass the checkpoint if he were to get to the tower where ‘the man in the box’ lived.

  The sea of filthy survivors ambled onwards, the fanatics at the checkpoint laughing amongst each other as they drunk hot tea from flasks. Those who starved and were dying of thirst looked on with disgust—but not enough so as to catch their attention and receive a beating.

  Just a few more feet and Gerry would pass the checkpoint, and that great spinal bridge. He tried not to stare, to blend in, but he felt like he had a giant target on his head. A red bouncing arrow saying: ‘This is your man, get him.’

  The laughter stopped as he shuffled close. Had they noticed he wasn’t one of the other desperate survivors barely clinging on to life? Had they somehow noticed that he was a little too full around the body? He wanted to look up, be assured, but he gritted his teeth, stared at the ground, and huddled forward.

  He let out a breath as he continued onwards and no hand gripped his shoulder, no urgent voice called out to him, but still, something behind him stirred. An animalistic panic broke out amongst the shambling horde. Someone cried out as they fell to the ground.

  The guttural language of the fanatics had raised an octave.

  Despite himself, Gerry turned to see what had happened, and as he did, he heard gunfire. He caught a muzzle flash from the side of his vision. He traced it up to the side of the tower looking down on the bridge, directly opposite it. It appeared the man in the box had a gun.

  The skull and brain matter of a Red Widow sprayed against a bunch of Darkhan survivors. That’s when the panic kicked in. Another shot rang out taking down a second fanatic, then a third and a fourth.

  Heaving bodies had trapped Gerry, tangled him in a pile of writhing meat. Arms and legs sprawled on the ground, entangling Gerry’s progress.

  The last remaining checkpoint Widow lifted her shotgun and fired. The contents of the shell ricocheted against the stone of the tower uselessly. A bullet struck the ground by her feet, missing by a couple of centimetres. She dropped her gun and sprinted over the bridge.

  She got less than halfway when a single shot through the back of her knee sent her sprawling to the black asphalt surface. She screamed, crawled, and dragged herself forwards when a final shot through her spine made her curl upwards like a dead fish.

  That’s when Gerry saw it: a green laser.

  It danced about the dirty coats and faces like a lightning bug. Gerry traced its trajectory, looked up to the tower. And there, about ten floors up, a familiar face: Liza-Marie, the woman who had accompanied Len and his group of Upsiders and the one who had gone on to recover the vaccines after he’d hacked the security. If she was there, it must mean the node was there, the backbone. Omega! The ‘man in the box’ must be the AI inside.

  “Gerry God Damned Cardle? That you?” A voice called down at him. It was her!

  He raised his hand and nodded. He wasn’t exactly sure if they could be trusted, what with Len being killed back at Cemprom while helping Gerry, but either way, it was good to see a familiar face, even if it was behind a rifle scope and a half-mask.

  “Stay where you are, someone’s coming down,” she said, lifting the rifle and backing away into the darkness of the dead tower.

  Despite what she said, Gerry jumped over a struggling pile of bodies, and dashed to the body of the robed-fanatic who carried a shotgun. Already three people fought over her robes and belongings, including the shotgun. He couldn’t let that get loose amongst these people. Desperation and firearms never mixed well.

  With a quick punch to the chin, Gerry knocked out a frail man who had clutched the weapon. He hated doing it, but it was the quickest way to avoid an issue. And given that all four of the fanatics lay bloodied on the ground, it wouldn’t be long before reinforcements arrived.

  A Jaguar hovered on the other side of the city. He doubted it’d take more than a few minutes to fly over and coat the roads in bullets or frag grenades.

  “Give’s it to us, man,” A black-toothed woman said, clawing at Gerry’s face, while trying to wrestle the weapon from him.

  He tried to fend her off gently, persuade her to go, but she kept coming at him. “I’m sorry,” Gerry said as he swung the butt of the shotgun against her face knocking her to the ground.

  From behind him a shotgun exploded, followed by a scream, and the waves of panic started all over again as people rushed for cover and safety, creating a wall of muscle and bone.

  Someone had picked up
the loose gun the Widow on the bridge had dropped.

  It looked like a couple of older men were fighting over it when it went off. A full-scale riot amongst the homeless broke out.

  Before Gerry got stuck in the middle, he yanked himself clear, forcing his way through the melee until he faced the old shot-out glass doors of the tower. Its dark grey stone was pitted and blackened with smoke from decades of fighting. It stood like a beat-up colossus, refusing to die, calcifying with age.

  An old steel and wooden barrier stood in the doorframe. Various graffiti from the disparate gangs who probably fought over its control adorned its surface. The barrier rattled and moved to the side. A dark shape appeared in the gap. Gerry switched on his dark-vision. He saw the half-mask on the man’s face and knew he was one of Len’s men. An Upsider.

  “Quick, before it gets even more out of hand,” the shadowy figure said reaching a hand out to Gerry and grabbing him by the arm.

  “Thanks,” Gerry said, once inside away from the riot.

  The foyer lay in darkness. An old escalator had tumbled out of its shaft and lay on the broken tiles like a dead wardrobe. The reception desk had been tipped over, its surface pierced with hundreds of bullet holes.

  “We’re up on the eleventh,” the man said pointing his laser-pistol to the dark concrete steps.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Pietor,” he said. “I know what happened to Len. I know that you delivered his software package. You’re in no danger from us.”

  “I hope not,” Gerry said. “I really appreciated what Len did and I’m sorry he didn’t make it out.”

  Pietor shrugged. His eyes narrowed slightly and he looked away. He wore a form-fitting black suit and a half-mask that hid the lower half of his face. Gerry remembered their mutated features from when Len had shown him his face, the results of inbreeding and radiation poisoning.

  “Is it still safe? The server?”

  “Come with me. We probably don’t have long before the Red Widows come back in force.”