by Nick Cook
The hell they’d been. I glanced down at Alice’s left hand and saw a distinct lack of a wedding band.
Oh fuck… I thought, and then immediately berated myself. Where the hell had that come from? What Jack did was his business; I knew better than to react like this. But how was it that this woman had got Jack to open up when he’d been so evasive with me about anything emotional?
If Alice picked up on my discomfort, she didn’t say. She simply finished the last of her coffee and smiled at me. ‘Right, let’s get some serious breakfast going to feed our brains for the day ahead. It’s going to be a significantly long one for all of us.’ She turned her wheelchair to me. ‘Lauren, could you give me a hand in the kitchen?’
I nodded, looking to Jack but he was already staring off into the distance. I stepped towards him but felt a gentle touch on my wrist. Alice had reached out to me from her wheelchair as she passed and held her eyes to mine. She gave me a slight headshake, saying, ‘We’ll leave you to finish your coffee, Jack. Come and join us when you’re ready.’
Jack didn’t so much as turn as we headed for the house.
‘Any chance you can tell me what’s going on with Jack?’ I asked once we were out of earshot.
Alice gave me an apologetic smile. ‘It’s not my place, Lauren. I’m really sorry. I hope you can understand?’
‘Yes, of course,’ I replied, but really I didn’t. As much as I hated to admit it, I felt jealous. I knew I was being petty and should rise above it, but it was hard not to feel like a young girl again who had been abandoned by a close friend for a shinier and prettier version of me…especially when that new friend was a billionaire and brilliant at everything she did.
Stop it, Lauren, you’re better than this.
I needed to get a hold of myself. Besides, who Jack opened up to was his business. But as we walked back towards the veranda a sense of heaviness weighed my steps down, the lightness I’d felt when I’d woken already stolen away.
Chapter Five
Jack, Mike and I sat on the veranda with Alice and Jodie, the remains of a suitably large American breakfast in front of us. It had included a seemingly endless supply of pancakes and a huge pile of fresh fruit that I’d pigged out on.
Over breakfast, we’d brought Alice up to speed with the finer details of what had happened on Orkney that Tom hadn’t included in his report. We’d explained at length about how I’d managed to pitch us into what we’d nicknamed the twilight zone, a reality between our world and the eighth dimension, using the Empyrean Key from Skara Brae. Alice had listened intently as we’d explained how Lucy had constructed temporal physical locations in the E8 realm for us to exist within and through which she could communicate with us. And when we’d confirmed what Tom had already told her – that the Kimprak were heading towards Earth in a solar-sail-powered asteroid craft – she visibly paled.
I sipped my third coffee of the morning and spotted Tom heading along the path towards the house.
He raised a hand in greeting. ‘I see Alice has treated you to one of her famous breakfasts.’
Jack patted his stomach and smiled at her. ‘You, Alice, are the queen of pancakes. Possibly the best I’ve ever tasted.’
She beamed at him. ‘Why, thank you, kind sir.’
At least Jack was brighter after his tears earlier, but it was hard to ignore the growing spark between him and Alice.
Tom helped himself to a mug of coffee and sat down in a weathered rocking chair. ‘So are we all set for the big conversation about what happens next?’
‘I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m certainly thinking more clearly after a good night’s sleep,’ Mike said.
Jodie smiled at him and Mike grinned in return. The two of them had been flirting like teenagers since she’d joined us for breakfast, but it was good to see someone happy after what we’d all gone through back on Orkney.
‘We’d better make a start.’ Alice cradled her hands together in her lap. ‘After everything you’ve told me about this AI you’ve called Lucy, it’s become increasingly obvious that it’s an absolute priority to help you locate her other micro minds as quickly as possible.’
‘I couldn’t agree more,’ I replied.
‘I still think we should blow this whole thing open and get the public on our side about the Kimprak threat,’ Mike said.
‘I understand your view,’ Alice said, ‘but the Overseers control most of the world’s media. You can imagine the spin they’d put on such a revelation if we tried to do that.’
Jack rested his elbows on the table with his hands interlocked. ‘Then one priority will be drawing up a list of likely archaeological sites where we may find the other micro minds. I could put together a shortlist, but that’s going to require some serious research on my part.’ He turned to Alice. ‘Could you sort me out with a laptop with internet access?’
‘Oh, I can do better than that. You can use Delphi – if you’d like.’
I gave Alice a confused look. ‘The X101 AI?’
Alice laughed and nodded at Jodie. ‘You’re our computer expert, among many other things, so it’s probably best if you explain it.’
‘No problem,’ Jodie said. ‘Delphi is actually the name for our cloud-based computer AI. The system runs every aspect of Sky Dreamer Corp, including this whole facility. Delphi is obviously nowhere near as sophisticated as your Lucy, but still very powerful in her own way. For example, you could set up an automatic alert if Delphi detects any news online possibly indicating another micro mind is waking up.’
‘That sounds incredibly useful,’ I said.
Jodie nodded. ‘And, Jack, Delphi’s AI algorithms will be ideal to assist you with your research into Neolithic sites constructed within the same era as Skara Brae. Here, let me demonstrate.’ She turned her head to a speaker mounted on one of the veranda’s posts. ‘Delphi, please display archaeological sites constructed within five hundred years of Skara Brae.’
‘Commencing search using stated parameters,’ Delphi’s voice replied from the speaker.
A pulse of light spread through the gentle scudding clouds displayed in the cavern monitors overhead. A huge computer-style window opened over the sky image, displaying Earth as a globe and a steady green dot marking the position of what I knew was Skara Brae on Orkney. Flashing red dots began to appear all over Earth together with photographs of Neolithic standing-stone sites showing over the cavern’s sky dome, some linked together with green lines.
‘Holy crap, that’s impressive,’ Jack said.
I instantly recognised Stonehenge among the many images.
‘You’re telling us this whole ceiling can be used as one giant computer screen?’ Mike asked.
‘Absolutely,’ Jodie replied. ‘It’s basically a huge interactive whiteboard.’
‘And it’s very useful,’ Alice added. ‘I often use it for brainstorming new ideas, and for little things too.’
‘Like your grocery list, huh?’ Jack asked with a smile.
Alice laughed. ‘Not quite.’
I tried to ignore my stomach twisting at how easy it was between these two.
‘The technology you have down here is mind-boggling,’ I said.
‘As far as human technology goes, that may be true, but it’s like a child’s toy compared to what you’ve told us about Lucy,’ Alice replied.
‘Talking of Lucy, there’s one thing I don’t understand about her,’ Jodie said.
‘What’s that?’ Mike asked.
‘Why not keep all her micro minds in one place? Why would the Angelus scatter them across the planet and hide them?’
‘To be honest that’s been bugging me too,’ I said.
Tom’s eyes narrowed as he gazed off into space. ‘My instinct is that it’s related to security concerns.’
I sat up. ‘How so?’
‘It may be something to do with making the Angelus micro minds more difficult to either destroy or capture.’
‘Well, that didn’t work out as i
ntended, seeing as something managed to shut her down and give her the AI equivalent of Alzheimer’s.’
‘Lucy has no idea about who attacked her then?’ Alice asked.
‘None at all, so the sooner we start recovering these other micro minds to get to the bottom of that, the better,’ I replied.
Tom took a sip of his coffee. ‘Is there anything we can do to help speed up that process? Time is obviously of the essence here.’
Jodie patted Mike’s arm. ‘Go on, tell them your stupendous idea.’
Mike smiled at her before returning his attention to the rest of us. ‘As you know, I was able to locate Lucy’s micro mind in Skara Brae by tracing the origin of the monowave earthquakes rippling out across the planet. But it took me quite some time to pinpoint the exact epicentre through my own sensor readings. As the other micro minds wake up they will send out the same monowave pulse, acting as the equivalent of a fingerprint. We can tap into the existing global earthquake warning system, which uses a network of accelerometers, seismometers and alarms to detect when a substantial earthquake is in progress.’
‘This feels like a great first step, but monowaves aren’t the only way to detect a micro mind becoming active,’ I said. ‘The Overseers were able to locate Lucy when one of their military satellites spotted the neutrino burst activity. I contacted an old colleague of mine at Jodrell Bank, Steve Andrews, who reached out to the team running the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica. They confirmed the activity within the atmosphere. My hunch is another ground-based neutrino burst will give us the earliest warning about another micro mind coming online.’
‘You’re a step ahead of me, Lauren,’ Mike said. ‘And you’re right, we need a two-pronged approach to crack this. The problem is that the IceCube detector can pick up a neutrino burst somewhere on the planet but has no way of detecting where exactly. So we could combine the two approaches and, Alice, as you’re in the space business, I was wondering…’
‘Go on?’ she said with a smile.
‘Would it be possible to build our own network of neutrino-detecting satellites to mimic what the Overseers are doing? If so, between those and our monowave detection, we should be able to locate the waking micro mind with reasonable precision.’
Alice nodded. ‘It all sounds very expensive, but –’ a wide smile filled her face – ‘money is no object when it comes to this. Besides, we can launch a fleet of CubeSat micro-satellites that piggyback on to our commercial satellite launches. It will take some time, but within a year I’m sure we can have a rudimentary space-based neutrino-detector network in place.’
Tom held up his hands. ‘I realise you science types love your toys, but there is another obvious way to detect them – keeping an eye out for any reports of new crystal runes appearing.’
I shook my head. ‘That was the last element of the phenomenon to appear, Tom. If we wait for it, I can guarantee the Overseers will beat us to the waking micro minds.’
‘OK, but having to wait a year isn’t ideal,’ Jack said. ‘After all, according to what we’ve learnt from Lucy, we’ve only six years left until the Kimprak arrive.’
‘So in the meantime we can use reports of neutrino activity from IceCube to alert us and combine it with any monowaves picked up by the earthquake warning system,’ I said. ‘It just means it won’t be so fast for us to locate them.’
Jack nodded. ‘It’s not ideal, but I guess it will have to do.’
‘So what happens when we get a bead on one of these waking micro minds?’ Tom asked. ‘Do we send in a squad of highly trained soldiers to secure the site?’
I shook my head. ‘That’s way too heavy-handed and will draw attention, especially if it’s at another major archaeological site. We’d be better off sending in a small reconnaissance team…’
Tom’s eyes narrowed on me. ‘And I’m sure you can guess who I’m going to suggest.’
My eyes travelled to Jack and then Mike. ‘What do you say, guys?’
‘Damned right. This is our gig,’ Jack said.
Mike nodded. ‘Hell, yes. I’ve come too far to hand over the reins to somebody else.’
Tom nodded. ‘In that case you’ll need an intensive training regime. That is, if you’re really serious about going back out into the field again.’
‘Of course we are,’ I replied.
‘Hang on – would this intensive training involve guns?’ Mike asked. ‘If so, you can count me out.’
Tom held up his hands. ‘I use a tranquilliser gun in the field for that very reason, Mike. It might not be as effective in all situations, but it allows me to sleep with an easy conscience at night.’
‘Yeah, I’d prefer that,’ Mike said without looking anywhere near Jack and me.
Jack gave me the barest shrug, then turned to the others. ‘Look, I don’t know whether to be flattered or insulted that you have Lauren and me pegged as two gun-wielding fanatics. We just did what was needed when the shit hit the fan. But please don’t forget I’m a trauma surgeon with minimal combat experience beyond my basic training. And Lauren had no other choice but to pick up a weapon.’
‘No one is judging either of you, especially me,’ Alice said. ‘I realise that it’s not your area of experience, however by all accounts you seem to have acquitted yourself very well at Skara Brae.’
I couldn’t help but notice that Mike staring at his feet. We were definitely being judged by at least one person round this table.
I decided to ignore it. ‘Whatever the moral arguments, I could certainly do with some training,’ I said.
‘Me too – special ops isn’t exactly my core skill set,’ Jack said.
‘And you, Mike?’ Tom asked.
‘Give me a tranquilliser gun and I’m cool with that.’
Jodie reached out and squeezed his arm.
‘Then starting tomorrow I’m going to turn you into a three-person squad,’ Tom said, ‘but you’ll need someone in charge. It’s better to have a clear chain of command, when, as Jack says, “the shit hits the fan”.’
‘Seriously?’ I said.
Mike was nodding too. ‘Yeah, I agree with Jack. You are cucumber cool in a crisis, Lauren, and I won’t forget how you single-handedly rescued Jack and me from the Overseers. I’d certainly trust you with my life again.’
I sighed. ‘Then I accept.’
Alice sat back in her wheelchair. ‘Then it sounds like we have a plan. Is there anything else we need to discuss right now?’
‘Actually, there is,’ Jodie said. ‘If it’s OK with you, Lauren, I’d like to run a battery of acoustic tests on your Empyrean Key. I’m keen to discover if we can learn how it functions – if you don’t mind helping out with your synaesthetic ability?’
‘I’m more than happy to.’
Jodie beamed at me. ‘Great. The more we know about how Angelus technology works, the more that may help us in the future.’
‘Then I just need to get it from the bag in my room. But please be gentle.’
‘Hey, it’s made from stone and has survived for five thousand years, so I doubt there’s a lot Jodie can do to damage it,’ Mike said with a smile.
‘Don’t you worry, Lauren. I’ll treat it as though it were fragile glass.’
I gazed up at the photos of the prehistoric sites still superimposed on the sky above like a surrealist painting. Maybe one of those would contain the next micro mind to awaken. I for one couldn’t wait to recover
Chapter Six
The next four weeks were a whirlwind of constant activity. Everyone had been working flat out as we tried to locate the next waking micro mind – in my case helping Jodie with her testing of the Empyrean Key. When not doing that, Tom and Niki’s intensive training regime kept me – and Mike and Jack – busy. We’d had only moments to explore the rest of Eden properly in our rare downtime.
Tom’s initial tour had barely scratched the surface. There was everything from a full-blown IMAX cinema to a huge laundry and several amazing canteens that could
easily seat a hundred each. Yet they were more like top-class restaurants thanks to the incredibly skilled chefs who served up meals to suit every palate. And that was just as well, since the people working in Eden seemed to have come from every corner of the globe, all exceptional and gifted in their own specific area. The best of the best. Alice had told us she wasn’t concerned about academic qualifications, but raw natural talent and aptitude that could be moulded if necessary – something that made me warm to her even more.
I could certainly feel the common sense of purpose in the air as I walked through Eden. And when Alice turned up in a room to check on the progress of a project, it was like a rock god had just walked in.
I’d discovered this place had extensive sports facilities, including an Olympic-sized pool and several gyms kitted out with all the latest equipment. There was an indoor ski slope with real snow, and even an indoor artificial ocean complete with wave machine for people to surf. Mike had looked as if he’d died and gone to surfing heaven when I’d shown it to him. Since then, he’d gone surfing every free moment, showing off his moves to Jodie – who was trying to learn how to stay on a board for more than thirty seconds before wiping out.
The two of them had become quite the item over the last month. I’d even spotted Jodie sneaking out of Mike’s room early in the morning.
But I was getting increasingly worried about Jack. He seemed prone to mood swings – either really happy or moping around with a face as long as a horse’s. He had almost completely shut me out and always seemed to be with Alice. There was definitely a natural friendship between the two of them. Whether it was anything more than that, who knew. I kept telling myself it was none of my business, but my heart still twisted every time I saw them together, which was a lot as we were still staying in Alice’s house. Maybe she liked having us around…or maybe it was specifically Jack. I was glad of the training to distract me from my stupid thoughts.
Now I stood outside a room with Niki, waiting for my next training challenge with my Mossad .22 LRS in its holster on my hip.