Got it.
Dumachus stands and taps Titus on the arm, “There’s another plane nearby. Follow me.”
CHAPTER X
Jason
He lost the wind in his sails. Feels alone. All the pureblood Antarcticans are either tedious or vicious, the Guardians are near mute, and bar getting captured a few days ago he hasn’t seen a single survivor.
Grounded in an empty carpark, the two Guardians left to babysit both pick up something in the air and stand at the ready. Jason notices the change in them and it is a well-timed distraction from wallowing in self-pity and fear.
“What’s going on?”
The Guardians ignore him while they concentrate a while longer. Jason thinks he herd one mutter the word Rogues under his breath. They exchange a quick glance and nod before the furthest Guardian runs off.
“Hey, what’s happening? Is it rogues?” The Guardian turns back around at his post and stays on alert. Jason kicks the dirt and waits. After a few minutes he begins to whistle a tune, instantly bothering the Guardian watching over them. Jason can see this is eliciting a response, so he continues.
The Guardian turns around, doing his best to stay composed. “You should be in the plane. Wait there, now.” This is the most a Guardian has ever said to him. As he gives him a little salute Elias jumps out from nowhere and smashes the butt of the gun in the back of the Guardian’s head, knocking him down instantly. He stands over him and puts another hit in for good measure, spins the gun around in his hand and points it at Jason. Jason’s hands immediately reach for the sky as Elias approaches him slowly, occasionally looking towards the plane.
“Mosca?” Jason has no idea what he is saying. “Piloto?” Jason got that one and nods his head yes. Elias then grabs Jason by the scruff of the neck and leads him to the plane.
Jason is strapped in and activates the engines. Once again, flying under duress for the enemy.
Not again.
“Where do you want me to fly? Dirección? Elias stays silent and just jabs him with his gun. Jason pushes a few levers and the hover plane takes to the sky. Elias begins to give him directions via finger pointing.
“Speak English?” Elias smirks a little and shakes no. “Española?” Elias shoots him a ‘duh’ look. At least Jason broke the ice. He holds up his finger as if to say ‘One minute,’ and types into his on-board computer before scanning his hand. He gives himself a second to swallow whatever it was he initiated in his Atom chip. To Elias’s amazement, in perfect Spanish Jason says, “Where are we going?”
“How did you do that?”
“I don’t know Spanish. This technology translates what you are saying or what I intend to say and activates the related synapses in the language centre of my brain. This is technology we want to share.” People usually try and negotiate with their captors, not preach to them, but Jason is a little nervous.
“No thanks. You’re not the first devotee I’ve met and I’ve seen the cost of taking the mark. Be quiet now, we’re close.” Elias diverts his attention back the landscape and a minute later he holds up his hand to stop. “Put it down over there.”
Jason fails to comply, opting to bring the plane to a complete halt. “If we crashed from this height we’d both die. Your life is in my hands right now and I want some assurance of mine if we land.” Elias is listening. “Throw the gun out the window and I’ll land the plane.”
Elias takes a while to think, making Jason itch in his seat for a response. “What are those things your people travel with?”
“They’re called Guardians. I’m told they’re clones. Soldiers.”
“What need does Antarctica have for an army? Unless of course you were preparing to invade.”
“All this chaos started on my first day. The fall has been prophesised for thousands of years however.”
Elias mulls his answer around for a moment before opening the window and to Jason’s relief, throws out his handgun.
“Thank you.” Jason begins to land the plane as Elias buckles himself in. “You’re a soldier right? Understand, this is not a war. We are on a humanitarian mission. Wherever you’re going, whatever you’ve done, I don’t care and no one needs to know. I go my way, you go yours. What do you say?” Jason is holding hard onto the hope he is in the clear.
Elias seems to be cooperating. “No one can know.” Confirmation. This ordeal is nearly over. He picks up speed as he brings it down.
“I have a son, not even a week old. Innocent, you understand? He’s already seen so much death.”
“Of course, if I was a father...”
Elias cuts him off. “You fly those things around. The Guardians.”
Jason assumes it was a question that accidentally sounded like a statement. “Primarily it’s supplies: generators, food dispensaries, demountable shelters, all over the globe…” Elias’s eyes are drawing the truth out of him and he finds himself not stopping. “But yes, I do transport Guardians.”
“These Guardians can read your mind, correct?”
Damn. “Um…”
Elias chops Jason in the neck with the blade of his hand and slams his head into his control panel, sending the plane into a dive. Everything is starting to go black. He can feel Elias unbuckling his seatbelt, the ground rapidly approaching…
“You bring this upon yourself you traitor…”
CHAPTER X
Elder Venark
Wearing these robes in this heat is ludicrous.
Even with the onset of a nuclear winter Australia is still bloody hot. He and Simon are supervising the transport of Mother to another underground facility in the far reaches of the Australian outback. Thousands of Guardian sentries are posted across the desert, with more arriving every hour. The clock is ticking down till they’ll be back online and regain control, but Venark can feel a storm brewing in the horizon. One he’s sure the boy should not bear witness to.
“This heat will take some getting used to. Remember to stay hydrated.” Simon takes a swig from his canteen. “Mother will go back underground and be brought online. In a little over twenty-four hours we will establish order and life will continue as it was written.”
Simon is staring at him, probing with his mind like an expert. “I can sense that there’s a part of you that doesn’t believe that.”
Venark suddenly stops looking down at the boy and takes him seriously. “Can you also sense that we are losing the hold Dumachus had over these Guardians? Look, more and more are being forced a sedative. While it does not fail to incapacitate their demonic proclivities, it does render them basically impotent in battle.”
Simon smiles at that statement, curiously. “I don’t think we have anything to fear from Australians.” Venark is amused with the boy’s misunderstanding. It’s rare for the old man to smile. Simon continues, the cogs in his brain turning, “But rogues do pose a real threat now. And the time taken to get Mother back online would be ample for another attack, providing they know where we are. When did you last hear from the prophets?” Now the kid mentions it, he’s heard no word for many hours. “If it’s going to happen, it’ll be tonight.”
Venark takes a step back to appreciate the young mind of Simon. “Sacro made a good choice making you his protégé. Potential and possibilities. You ask too many questions though.” Simon enjoys the praise and turns back to his duty of supervising. Venark suddenly saw the future generation in a new light. “We might make it through this yet.”
The sound of a fight breaking out between Guardians grabs their attention. He grabs Simon and they both are ushered inside the underground facility.
“Let’s get behind closed doors first.”
CHAPTER X
Nina
Day five into damage control. Nina enters the central control room holding a round of coffees. The other two of the trifecta have been managing operations; bailing water and plugging leaks till help arrives. The room is beginning to smell; a mix of sleep deprivation, stress and cabin fever. The silver lining is that Mo
ther has successfully been relocated and the location’s defences are strong, with only hours remaining till she wakes.
“What’s the news?”
Marta turns in her chair, checking some data over her shoulder before saying, “One hundred and sixteen hours in and there has been minimal engagement with anyone. That is to say, minimal contact with any Guardian. Friendly or rogue. Over one-half of all Guardians are unaccounted for, including three dozen of our planes.”
“Bad news then?”
Decia throws in her two cents of optimism, “The world is a large place and they were already spread out pretty thin. Maybe it’s just a case of casting too wide a net.”
Marta is having none of this naive optimism. “Or the fact that every ship in the Afro-Eurasian continent has come up naught or fallen from radar, and every Guardian on the ground in the Americas has encountered resistance. Yes, bad news indeed.”
“In a matter of hours we’ll have the known locations and full control over every registered subject, which is why our directed effort, as it stands, needs to stay.”
Nina has no idea what about or how long these two have been bickering. Upon quick reflection, the answer is everything, and for years. She takes a seat at an empty station and brings up scrolling pages of code. The other two end their debate for the time being and an efficient silence takes the main stage. That, and the smell.
One of the techs working in the corner pipes up with a badly disguised glee and says to Nina, “Ma’am, we have a communication from Dumachus for you.”
“Good. Put it through.” The tech quickly turns back to his console and happily hits a sequence of keys on his keyboard.
Dumachus comes over the internal P.A. “What’s the status of Mother?”
Straight to the point.
“Mother is underground and secured. The entire operation has been relatively incident free. Although a high percentage of Guardians are faulting.
“Have the missing rogues been accounted for?”
“No.” Marta quick to answer for the negatives--maybe just because she likes her responses to elicit an emotional response.
“Because they’re moving into an offensive position. Tonight they attack. I have Titus with me, we are going to be flying there now to provide support and end this before it gets any worse. Reroute all available units, get as many soldiers as we can. Dumachus out.” The line goes dead, the tech confirms it and shakes his head.
Nina gets out of her chair and approaches the two.
“Did he just say he was with Titus?”
CHAPTER X
Noah
Noah is lying in bed flexing and rotating his new robotic arm. Except for the beatings, the solitary hospital prison confinement is very boring, and playing with his new body parts is the most interesting thing to do. The worst part is not knowing the day or time of day. And it’s probably only been a few days.
The door lock clicks and Noah springs to his feet, arms raised ready to fight. The door opens and a Guardian enters.
It’s that time again I suppose.
The Guardian speaks, “You…”
Being a smart arse, Noah cuts right in with, “I’ve had some time to think and you know what I thought? Actually you probably do, but let me tell ya. This is now the north pole, so this is where Santa comes from. Only Santa is a highly advanced quantum computer that knows if you’ve been naughty or nice, and the elves are demonic telekinetic clones hell-bent on our destruction. So I guess what I’m saying is…”
Guardian turns to interrupt, “You are…”
Noah ever incessant, “Are you the same one from last time? You all look so alike so I didn’t think you’d mind me asking.”
The Guardian is getting annoyed now. “You are being…”
Noah interrupts for the final time, “And if it is you then good, because I think I got you figured out.” Noah does a little Muhammad Ali foot work dance when the Guardian raises his arm and hits Noah with a massive energy wave that throws him against the back wall and pins him there.
“You are being relocated.”
❖
Flying high over the Southern Ocean Noah can finally see daylight and can surmise the time and direction of travel. The hover plane is filled with Guardians and a few missionaries. A particularly attractive one on his left polishing a large laser-ish rifle. Something Noah has never seen before. He doesn’t see the harm is some light conversation. Something he has been starved of for a few days. “What’s that?”
She stops polishing and slowly turns to him with a serious disposition, “This weapon is called a harmonic oscillator; a device that disrupts the resonating frequency of physic attacks rendering the target disabled of powers and vulnerable to attack.”
If only I had one of them a few days ago. “So, looks like the Light never fully trusted their engineered pets to begin with aye?” The Guardian sitting in the row in front sits up and turns his head slightly, eavesdropping without shame.
“You may assume that, but they’re not the only specie who can conjure defensive energy fields.” Before Noah can respond she raises her hand and clenches her fist, tightening Noah’s belt to the point of suffocation. “I don’t like you. It’s one thing to be flagrantly ignorant of our warnings to the obvious protection of the state of humankind. It’s another to take arms against the only institute willing and able to correct such follies of man. These weapons are part of our contingency strategy; a recourse from the actions of the latter, regardless of the species.” She loosens her grip and turns her attention back to polishing her rifle. Drops of blood from her nose begins to run over her lips and land on her legs. She quickly scans her hand on a wall-computer to correct the burst blood vessel.
Noah watches on curiously. “Why are you bleeding? I thought the nanotech…”
“These are the nanotech,” she says abruptly, and that is all he’s getting out of her on this topic. Noah can only infer that while these humans have extra-ordinary powers, they are limited in its use.
“Where are we heading?” Noah might be pressing his luck with this person, but one thing he’s noticed is that Antarcticans seem to be unable to give anything less than answers of brutal honesty.
“Your detail is no part of my concern.” Yup. Honesty. “We, on the other hand, are heading to Australia, the world’s future capital and the final stand against all that appose us.”
Noah eyes light up. He suspected they’re travelling there. Jason will be happy. “Australia?”
“You heard me correctly.”
“You’re going to shoot Australians?”
“I would not require such a firearm for an Australian.”
Noah is getting confused now. “For Titus?”
“He’s of no concern to us anymore.”
Noah is about to keep the fishing expedition going when the eavesdropping Guardian in front of him turns around in his chair and stares at him. Noah sits back down in his chair and lowers his head, playing small until the Guardian faces forwards, but he now has a glimmer of hope. A light at the end of a long dark tunnel.
Katie.
CHAPTER XI
Elias
Taking a life is never easy. Hopefully the plane crash will take care of that, and hopefully his crash restraint will do its job.
He has already lost so much in so little time, now even the faintest threat towards his son warrants a response so much more vicious and permanent than he would have ever been comfortable with. Getting out of the city and away from the clone soldiers was his main prerogative, keeping them away is next. And the pilot Jason is the remaining liability, although Elias would never admit to fully believing that. There would always be more, and if they stay still, they would never be safe.
A one-hundred-foot nose dive into the dirt is enough to ring the bell of any on-board occupants, especially those that have been unbuckled from their seat, and when the plane hit the ground Jason’s body is flung around the cabin, bouncing off the walls like a pin ball. The inertial fo
rce from the dive sends the plane into a roll as soon as it hits the ground, the horizon spinning too fast to gauge orientation. Soil and glass fill the air forcing his eyes shut. The sound of the sustained crash as metal breaks and twists under the weight of the impacts guide his awareness. Elias just holds on tight. It’s a gamble, intentionally crashing a plane to protect his location, but silencing a man with his bare hands is not an option. There has been enough death by his hands in the last week to last a lifetime, and this is different from war. War isn’t personal for a soldier. This is.
The spinning finally stops and gravity settles the debris in the air to the floor. Elias opens his eyes, head spinning, ears ringing, disorientated and combative. He rips open his harness and clambers out of the open side. Looking around for the pilot but he’s nowhere to be seen.
There’s no way he could have survived. The fires at the edge of the city are moving too slowly through the bush to hide his tracks, so Elias decides to help it along. Setting several fires near the crash site, he hopes this will mask his presence. Now, he hopes, it just looks like Jason went AWOL and crashed. Once the fires are set, Elias takes off into the bush and back to his son.
❖
As the smoke from the bush fire catches up with him, Elias reaches the estate and runs inside, throwing open the hatch to the tunnel like a super hero and sliding down the ladder. His approach startling many of the tunnel dwellers, staring at him wide eyed, upon his approach.
Gloria is in the middle of feeding Seth when she hears him coming and waves him over. “We saw the smoke. Thank god you’re okay. Did you find Alejandro?”
“No. A fire from the edge of town made it impossible to cross. I can only assume he found a way though before getting cut off.”
Titus Page 20