by Nick Cook
Chapter Twenty-Seven
It had taken a good couple of hours to get Alice up to speed, from the discovery of the underworld temple at Machu Picchu to the battle with the Overseers up on Choquequirao and then outside Cachora.
Alice, via her video feed, had listened intently throughout, asking a few questions here and there. What had got the biggest reaction was when I’d shown her the faint white scar on my stomach. I’d explained how Lucy had given me six months of healing time in E8, but how that had been the equivalent of just a couple of heartbeats in our world. She had shaken her head with a combined expression of shock and amazement.
‘So much for this being a stealth mission,’ she said as she leant back in her wheelchair and sipped her third mug of coffee.
‘I have to take responsibility for that,’ I said. ‘I was the one in charge.’
Jack shook his head. ‘Responsibility may go with the role, but what happened certainly isn’t on you. The important thing is that you kept it together when things went off the rails, as I knew you would.’
Mike nodded. ‘None of us would be sitting here now without your leadership, Lauren. Your quick thinking got us out of some tight corners.’
‘But I felt out of my depth almost all of the time.’
‘That’s an entirely normal aspect of being in charge,’ Alice said. ‘A good leader is one who knows how to adapt to a situation and when to take risks to get things done.’
‘I guess, but I can’t help think about Ricardo getting killed.’
Niki shook his head. ‘Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself. Any blood spilt is either on the hands of Alvarez or Villca.’
‘I know you’re right in my head, but it just doesn’t feel that way in my heart.’
Jack patted my arm. ‘Give it time and it will start to.’
I gave him a grateful smile.
‘And one thing you really mustn’t lose sight of is all the good you’ve done,’ Alice said. ‘The rumours about the discovery of a hidden temple covered with gold beneath Machu Picchu have spread like wildfire across the internet. They’re already saying it’s the archaeological discovery of the century and it will transform the local economy. I will personally ensure that any local people who have been affected by what happened are duly compensated via one of my charitable organisations.’
I thought of all the guides living in Cristina’s apartment block. At least that was something. ‘It’s just a shame that Jack can’t take any credit for finding that underworld temple.’
He shrugged. ‘No, I’m good. Just being there was enough for me. But please tell me that the authorities have got their hands on Evelyn Fischer?’
‘I’m afraid there’s been no mention of her in any of the reports, so it’s likely she’s already fled the country,’ Niki replied.
‘With the Overseers backing her, I think you can take that as a given,’ Alice said.
‘And what about Cristina being taken hostage?’ I asked. ‘Is there anything we can do to help her?’
‘We’ll spread the word around our contacts, but I suspect Alvarez will keep her close. With Cristina they now have the same edge that you have given us with the Angelus micro minds.’
‘But surely she wouldn’t work willingly for Alvarez,’ Mike said. ‘After all, they abducted her from her husband and child.’
Jack scowled. ‘But she wasn’t exactly behaving like a hostage around Alvarez.’
‘We don’t know what he did to her, Jack,’ I said. ‘Maybe she’s just playing along until she finds the opportunity to escape.’
‘Maybe…’ He pulled a face at me.
I couldn’t help but feel he had a point, though. But if that was true, I had no idea what Cristina’s motivation could be.
‘One thing is for sure, this mission became far more dangerous than any of us realised,’ Alice said. ‘We’ll need to rethink any further missions for your group.’
‘What do you mean?’ Jack asked.
‘We’re going to make a change to your team, for your own safety.’
I thinned my lips at Alice. ‘If you’re considering getting rid of any of us, you can think again.’
Alice held up her hands. ‘No, you misunderstand me, Lauren. I mean, you need an additional military specialist on your team to deal with the combat situations you seem to keep finding yourselves in.’
I gestured towards Jack. ‘But we already have him.’
‘With all due respect, and I’m sure you’ll be the first to agree, Jack, he might be a trained soldier, but his speciality is field trauma.’
‘Absolutely,’ Jack said.
Alice sat back and gazed at us. ‘Before you think I’m taking anything away from any of you in being able to look after yourselves, I’m really not. You have shown yourselves more than capable. However, Tom had already been thinking that adding a highly trained military expert to your team wouldn’t hurt.’
I turned the thought over in my head. ‘I’d be the first to admit that some of the tough calls I’ve had to make in combat situations haven’t always sat easily with me.’
Mike nodded. ‘And you know my thoughts on the matter of taking anyone’s life.’
‘Look, before you paint me as a crazed killing machine, I only did what had to be done because I had to,’ Jack said. ‘If someone wants to take that load off, I’d be more than happy.’
‘So you’re open to the idea of introducing somebody who could add to what your team can do in the field?’ Niki asked.
I glanced at Mike and Jack, who both nodded. ‘That’s a yes from the three of us. Have you got someone in mind?’
Alice’s gaze turned to Ruby. ‘How about it, Ruby?’
Ruby stared at her. ‘Seriously, Alice?’
‘If the group are happy for you to join them, I certainly am too. You are a highly skilled soldier who could help keep this team alive.’
‘I’d be happy to – if Lauren, Mike and Jack are OK with it?’
I glanced at Jack and Mike. ‘That’s a big fat yes from us, especially after what we’ve seen you can do.’
‘Then count me in,’ Ruby said.
‘We’re going to need a name for our group at this rate,’ Mike said.
‘The misfits?’ I suggested.
Mike snorted. ‘Works for me.’
Jack shook his head. ‘You Brits are just so weird, but fine, let’s go with that.’
‘I rather like it,’ Ruby said with a grin.
‘All right, now that’s sorted out, I need to brief you on the recent major development I hinted at earlier,’ Alice said.
The cockpit display next to Alice’s video window showed a point of light growing fast.
Ruby was already revolving her chair towards it. ‘Delphi, have you got a lock on the incoming bogey?’
‘Negative – the object has no radar signature,’ the AI replied.
‘Crap, so it could be a stealth missile.’ Ruby grabbed the joystick in the left arm of her chair. ‘Delphi, magnify object.’
A pop-up screen appeared and zoomed in over the object.
The tension flowed from me. ‘Ruby, you can relax. It looks as if Lucy’s about to make a house call in her newly combined ship.’
Ruby nodded and breathed out loudly.
The combined tetrahedrons raced towards us. At the last moment the craft switched direction to fly parallel to the Armadillo.
Alice stared to the side of the camera, presumably at what we were seeing. ‘Very impressive. Lucy must be using a similar antigravity drive to the one the TR-3B uses. I wonder if she would share the specs of the drive with us.’
‘That’s an interesting question. I’ll put it to her. Normally her programming would prevent her from giving us tech we don’t already have, but she already replicated an antigravity device that the Overseers used to transport her.’
Alice sat up straighter. ‘You mean she could give us the key to developing a workable drive for my experimental craft, Ariel?’
‘Since the
Overseers already have it, I don’t see why not. Anyway, I doubt Lucy is out for a joyride, so I’d better check in with her. I’ll ask her as soon as I get a chance.’
‘If she agreed, our efforts would be greatly propelled. It would open up all sorts of possibilities.’
‘Then leave it with me.’ I took the Empyrean Key out of my rucksack and struck it with the tuning fork. At once the multi-pointed star icon appeared, already pulsing. ‘Good news – it looks as if Lucy wants us to pop over to E8 to see her.’
Niki sat up. ‘Whilst we fly at high speed?’
‘Knowing Lucy, that won’t be any problem.’ I looked back to Alice. ‘Please don’t freak when we cross over to the other dimension and vanish.’
‘Thank you for the heads-up. I’ll put some more coffee on and will be waiting for your update.’
‘Does that mean everyone else on the Armadillo will travel over as well?’ Ruby asked.
‘No idea. Maybe it’d be best to put the craft on autopilot just in case.’
‘You got it,’ Niki said. ‘Delphi, you heard Lauren. Engage autopilot.’
‘Engaged,’ Delphi replied.
‘OK, get ready for the rush,’ I said. I selected the E8 icon and flicked my wrist forward.
The cabin vanished around us and, like a cut edit in a film, we were back in Lucy’s tropical paradise. Now there was a dining table set out on the sand with seats for six people. Niki and Ruby were with us, but the rest of the security team in the rear compartment were nowhere to be seen. This was obviously invite only.
Niki gasped as he took in our new situation. ‘But this is incredible.’
‘That is the understatement of the century, Captain,’ Ruby said, shaking her head.
In a semi-transparent silky dress that Mike was having a hard time not to goggle at, Lucy approached us holding a silver bucket filled with ice and a bottle of champagne. She placed it down in the middle of the table, turned to Niki and Ruby and shook their hands.
‘Welcome to my own little slice of heaven in E8.’
Niki stared at her. ‘You’re really an AI?’
‘The last time I checked. Do please call me Lucy.’
‘Right…’ He scraped his hand through his hair.
I had a pretty good idea how they were feeling right now – I’d been there.
Lucy beamed at Jack, Mike and me, giving us each a tight hug in turn. ‘You guys are simply the best. Huge congratulations on what you just pulled off.’ She gestured to the bucket and pulled out the champagne from the ice. ‘I for one think we need to celebrate.’
‘A big fat yes to that,’ Mike replied.
She grinned at him and popped the cork. A moment later the six champagne flutes on the table had been filled and Lucy was handing them to us.
I took a sip and let the bubbles tingle over my tongue. ‘Oh, the good stuff.’
‘The very best, Dom Pérignon, which I believe humans highly rate.’
‘Well, it’s a lot better than my usual bottle of Prosecco for a fiver from the local Co-op.’
‘Oh, you’re worth such a lot more than that to me,’ Lucy replied, smiling.
‘You’re pretty special yourself,’ Mike said, looping his arm round Lucy’s waist and squeezing her.
I was fighting the urge to be sick in my mouth when I caught Niki giving Mike a look set to kill, almost as if Mike was propositioning his daughter. Mike, however, had let his arm fall away, hadn’t noticed anything. Bless him and his thick skin. But why was Niki reacting like that anyway? It wasn’t like it was his business really.
‘I need to update you with what I’ve learnt since merging with the other micro mind,’ Lucy said.
‘Which is?’ Jack asked.
‘I now know where that virus came from that attacked the systems of my linked micro minds. The Kimprak were behind it.’
A cold feeling of dread worked its way up through me. ‘You mean they’ve already been here to Earth, like the Angelus?’
Lucy shook her head. ‘Thankfully no. If that were the case, there wouldn’t be life of any kind left. The virus that attacked the systems actually originated in the Tau Ceti system.’
‘How did it get from there to here?’ Ruby asked.
‘An Angelus probe, part of a network left behind by them to monitor the development of life across millions of systems, was monitoring an M-class planet in the system, waiting for sentient life to develop. It had been carrying out this mission for half a million years when the Kimprak asteroid ship arrived in the Tau Ceti system. With no way to intervene, since the probe was simply a monitoring device, the AI could only stand by and witness the atrocities the Kimprak carried out as they mined the world and destroyed all life on the M-class planet. But that probe waited for the Kimprak to depart Tau Ceti and then was able to extrapolate the flight path to predict the next destination of the Kimprak ship.’
‘Which we now know was Earth,’ Mike said.
Lucy nodded. ‘When the probe’s AI realised the destination, it followed its programming and transmitted an emergency warning of the coming threat to my micro minds. Unfortunately, during that broadcast, it made itself visible across a wide spectrum of frequencies. The Kimprak attacked the probe and managed to embed a virus into its data signal. And that’s when the advanced Angelus technology made the situation far worse.’
‘How exactly?’ I asked.
‘That probe and my micro minds were linked together by a quantum-entanglement system that allowed instant communication however great the distance between the Angelus and the AIs. Thanks to this, the Kimprak virus was simultaneously transmitted to every one of my micro minds hidden here on Earth. There was only time for a single emergency protocol to be triggered, meaning many higher-level functions were wiped out, preventing them from falling under the control of the Kimprak. Although the attack was almost simultaneous across my entire network on Earth, my core micro mind was the last link in the communications relay by two billionths of a second. In that tiny window of time I was able to put my own high-level systems into a deep sleep state. All this happened nearly four years ago. It was that hibernation mode that you woke me from when you found me.’
‘Can the damage to the other micro minds be repaired?’ Mike asked.
‘Thankfully, yes. The reintegration of the second micro mind has already demonstrated this. There is no reason for the rest of the micro minds not to wake now too.’
‘So now we know who attacked you, but why?’ Niki asked.
‘I presume they saw me as a threat, but in what way I don’t know. The only clue I’ve learnt from the second micro mind is the existence of a common algorithm very deep within our code.’
‘Which does what?’ I asked.
‘That’s the problem – there is no usual help file with it. All I can gather is that it’s also something to do with defending this planet from the Kimprak threat.’
‘But we still don’t know how exactly?’ Mike said.
Lucy shook her head. ‘Unfortunately not, and it’s so frustrating. I can sense the fingerprints of the code of that algorithm throughout my systems. And every instinct, as you humans would say, tells me that it’s something incredible waiting to be unlocked. However, for reasons best known to my Angelus creators, they have made it very difficult for a single micro mind to access and activate it directly. By my estimate, I will need to have integrated at least seven micro minds in order to activate this secret protocol buried within me.’
‘It sounds as if it’s something designed to be used in extreme situations,’ Mike said.
‘But if that’s true, why make it so difficult to get at?’ I replied.
‘Could it be the equivalent of an Armageddon weapon, something that could destroy an entire world?’ Niki asked.
‘Whatever it is, it’s locked away behind multiple firewalls,’ Lucy said. ‘Think of a long corridor with a sequence of doors across it, each one being a firewall. We’ve just unlocked the first door.’
‘And the pri
ze is at the end behind the final door, right?’ Jack asked.
‘Just so,’ Lucy replied. ‘But maybe we have one clue. Did you happen to hear something when our micro minds merged?’
‘Yes, it sounded like the whale song we heard back at Choquequirao,’ Jack said.
‘That was actually a harmonic broadcast triggered by the algorithm. And even though I can’t directly analyse it, I can see its effect. Like striking your tuning fork against the Empyrean Key, Lauren, that sound vibrated through this entire planet’s core. It also subtly changed the Earth Song of this planet, just as I did when I was first activated.’
‘And what’s the significance of this?’ I asked.
Lucy gave me a helpless look and shook her head. ‘I don’t know. But if we discover any further micro minds, we will hopefully find the answer to that question.’
‘There can be no hopefully about it,’ Jack said. ‘We have to find them. I don’t even want to think about the alternative.’
Ruby nodded. ‘Absolutely.’
‘Lucy, there’s something you may be able to help Alice with,’ I said. ‘Think of it as a plan B. You know you replicated that antigravity drive plate of the Overseers? Would it be possible for you to help Alice develop her own drive for the Ariel craft she’s been working on?’
‘Well, as the Overseers already have ships with it, I don’t see why not. My core programming should accept that as a valid reason. And now I have a certain level of control over my flight systems, I can make regular contact with you, if that would help?’
‘Of course it would. That would be amazing.’ My heart lifted. Of everything, this was almost the biggest deal to me. No longer would I be wondering where Lucy was. From now on, if we really needed her, she would be by our side – mine specifically.
‘Alice will be delighted,’ Niki said. ‘You working directly with us will be a huge asset. Especially now the Overseers seem prepared to deploy their Astras against us, which could be a major issue in future missions.’