Tree of Liberty (Book 3 of The Humanity Unlimited Saga)

by Terry Mixon

  In fact, this might not be his mother at all. Just because the woman resembled her didn’t make it her. After all, what was more likely? A machine capable of regenerating a human body or one that created a mechanical device that was similar? He couldn’t be sure what he was dealing with.

  Obviously, whatever this was, it had his mother’s memories.

  His eyes narrowed. Or did it? He hadn’t really pushed for any specialized knowledge from her. He’d been too busy trying to save their lives.

  “What are you doing, Mother?” he asked in an even tone.

  She spared him an irritated glance. “There’s obviously no one on this station. Any idiot can see that. If there had been, they would’ve come looking for us immediately. The fact that we have been unmolested means we’re alone. That means we need to go where the people are.”

  “That’s a lot of words to say nothing. What exactly are you doing?”

  She tapped a couple of controls and swiped her hand across the screen. The floor beneath their feet shook and it felt as though an elevator were going down.

  That wasn’t a bad analogy. The large chamber they stood in was dropping to the bottom of the atrium. This was going to be a very short trip.

  “We could’ve just walked down the stairs,” he said dryly.

  “Really? Well then, I’m so sorry to have wasted your time.”

  Looking through the transparent floor, he watched in awed consternation as the bottom of the atrium split apart and separated. The chamber continued through where that barrier had been and took them into space.

  Now he could see the cable hadn’t stopped at the bottom of the atrium. It continued on toward the planet below.

  What the hell were they in? The universe’s biggest elevator?

  The large chamber continued along the cable at a growing pace. He wondered how long it was going to take them to reach the surface at this rate.

  “That’s quite clever,” he finally admitted. “Climb into a large room on the surface, press the button, and go into space. Any idiot can do it.”

  “Apparently so,” his mother said. “The only thing we don’t know is what we’re going to find below. With all the wreckage in space, civilization may be gone. Or perhaps not. In any case, we’ll undoubtedly come across people hostile to us back on Earth. We need allies.”

  “We didn’t need allies until you started us on this harebrained trip. We could’ve stayed on the ship and figured out a way to get home. The ship brought us here. It could still take us back. It’s by far the most valuable artifact we’ve found so far. One that might allow us to crush all our enemies.”

  When she didn’t answer, he considered what to say next. How far could he push her before she snapped? Far enough to find out who she truly was?

  “We haven’t had time to talk since you got out of that machine. What did it do? Make you young again?”

  She walked to the edge of the chamber and sat on a handy bench. “I don’t know.”

  Her voice sounded tired.

  “Well, you have to know something.”

  “Do I? Maybe I’m just accepting that I’ve changed. This alien technology can do all these other wondrous things, why not regenerate an old woman’s body?”

  “Or create some kind of strange duplicate,” he said coolly. “How do I know you’re really my mother?”

  The corner of her mouth quirked up in a cold smile. “Even if I answer that question, how do you know it didn’t just copy my mind? That’s a slippery road you want to walk down.”

  “Oh, I’m not the one walking,” he said as he sat near her. “You are. I’m just trying to decide what to do about it.”

  She sat up a little. “Before you get all excited, you should remember that I have you completely in my power. Could you take this space elevator back up to the station? I doubt you can even read the language. The aliens below probably don’t speak English, either. How is your Asharim?”

  That was annoyingly astute of her.

  He shrugged and eased his weapon over until it pointed even farther from her. “I can’t know anything for sure. Perhaps you should convince me that you’re really my mother.”

  “When you were six, you wanted a dog. I was allergic, so I said no. Anyone might guess something like that, but I’ll wager you remember my exact words. ‘If you want a dog, you can move out of my house and live on your own.’ That’s what I told you. Remember it?”

  He could hardly forget. Even after all this time, it still enraged him.

  The smug satisfaction in her voice also confirmed this was undoubtedly his mother. Only she would get so much pleasure from being a bitch like this.

  The floor under his feet shuddered just barely enough to be noticed. He looked out through the windows and saw clouds. They were already down inside the atmosphere. Unbelievable.

  He’d expected something traveling such a long distance along such a slender cable to travel slowly. Well, he supposed aliens could do what they wanted to when it came to physics. They could manipulate gravity, so he supposed this was related.

  Rather than goad his mother any further, he stared at the floor to see if he could discern their destination.

  After a short time, the last of the clouds cleared away to reveal a wide city stretched out below them. From this height, he couldn’t tell what condition it was in, but he was willing to bet it was abandoned or had fallen into ruin.

  He’d find out soon enough. With their luck, the space elevator would reach the bottom to find the building collapsed and kill them both. If it didn’t, they’d probably find cannibal aliens.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Queen was tempted to fly out to Area Fifty-One but knew it really wouldn’t do him any good. All his presence would do was distract the people trying to determine what had happened.

  Hell, he already knew what had happened. Someone had gotten wind of the Asharim technology and decided they couldn’t afford to let the United States have it.

  This was a fucking disaster, pure and simple. They’d been on the edge of achieving something that would’ve changed the face of the world forever. Someone had taken that from them.

  He even knew who had to be behind the attack. Very few people knew about the aliens and fewer still had the resources to get into such a secure location. That made the suspect list incredibly short.

  It was Cabot. It had to be. The bitch had figured out where they’d taken the captured equipment. As a former FBI agent that had actually seen it, the woman knew everything.

  Her damned secret organization had probably already had people embedded in Area Fifty-One. They were probably so established it would take weeks or months to figure out who he even needed to be suspicious of.

  That was what was so frustrating about this damned illuminati business. Even in cases where the secret organization wasn’t involved, he’d be seeing their shadow in everything.

  A knock at his door pulled him out of his deep funk. His assistant cracked the door and looked inside.

  “A courier dropped something off for you, sir. I think you should take a look at it.”

  He frowned. “What is it and who sent it?”

  “The sender is listed as Brenda Cabot.”

  That shocked him. Then it pissed him off. Had she sent something just to taunt him? He’d have thought somebody with FBI training was smarter than that. It would only make him more determined to bring her down.

  Queen made a gesture for his assistant to bring the delivery in. The man set a manila envelope on the desk and stepped back.

  “Security already looked inside. There’s a hand written note and a thumb drive.”

  “Bring me a laptop. One that we can afford to lose if this has a virus. Make it snappy.”

  He emptied the contents of the envelope onto his desk. It was as described: a folded note on a regular sheet of paper and a thumb drive. He unfolded the paper and began reading.

  Secretary Queen,

  I rather expect me contacting you comes
as an unexpected and unwelcome surprise. I’m not sending this message in order to gloat, as difficult as that may be for you to believe. Rather, I felt the need to give you a warning.

  We heard about the attack you suffered at Area Fifty-One. I want to tender my personal regrets for any injuries or deaths. Based on the images I saw, there must’ve been more than a few of each.

  As difficult as this will be for you to believe, neither I nor my people had anything to do with this. In fact, I believe a third party is involved. One I was previously unaware of.

  The data stick I sent to you contains a call that my people intercepted that we believe was made by people involved in the attack. Since it does not suit my ends to allow another group to upend the applecart, I’m forwarding this information so you can deal directly with the people who are attacking you.

  As unsettling as this will undoubtedly be, if you want to talk about this I’m more than willing to do so under conditions that will assure my safety. I’m not going to be silly enough to give you a phone number that you can trace to me or the area where I’m located.

  If you want to talk, all you need to do is post a note to that effect on your social media account. No need to be coy. Just say that you wish you had more of a chance to talk with an old friend from the FBI. My people will see it and I’ll contact you.

  Because I know you’re a man who likes to nurse grudges, I’m going to say this again. Neither I nor my people carried out this attack against you. We are not enemies of the United States, regardless of what you think. Honestly, the vast majority of my people are fervent patriots.

  It’s still possible we will make common cause at some point. My people only want to keep humanity safe from the Asharim. Keep that in mind.

  Brenda Cabot

  Unbelievable. She honestly expected him to buy that load of crap? What kind of idiot did she think he was?

  He reread the note and found it just as stupid the second time through.

  His assistant came in carrying a small laptop, which he set on the desk. “This isn’t connected to any of our networks and doesn’t have any work-related files on it. It should be safe to use.”

  “Where did it come from?”

  The man shrugged. “It belongs to one of the junior assistants. There’s no telling what kind of crap is actually on there, but I assume you’re not searching for his porn.”

  That forced a chuckle out of Queen. “No. I could care less what his perversions are.”

  He plugged a thumb drive into the laptop and looked at the folder that opened. There were two files: one audio and one text. He turned the speaker on and played the audio.

  The man receiving the call had a voice he found tantalizingly familiar. He played it several times and his certainty grew.

  It wouldn’t stand up in a court of law, but he knew that voice belonged to Ambassador Chen.

  The text file containing information about the cell towers involved with the call and the phone numbers. He could confirm much of that information with the NSA, and he would.

  In fact, he’d have them thoroughly vet everything and try to get the same information without telling them one damned thing about the file.

  If Brenda Cabot was telling the truth—and that was a big if—the United States might be in even deeper trouble than he’d imagined. If the Chinese were aware of the Asharim and their technology, that put a sinister twist on the military confrontation that was growing between the two nations.

  It also made their possession of the Yucatán spaceport much more troubling.

  If they decided this technology was connected with the rogue Mars mission that Clayton Rogers had launched, they wouldn’t be sending scientists to explore the Red Planet. They’d be sending soldiers.

  Not that he cared one bit about what happened to the bastards that had tricked him. His only concern was what they might have found there. Hell, not might. Had. He’d seen more than enough to accept they had a treasure trove of advanced technology at their fingertips.

  He unplugged the thumb drive and pushed the computer away from himself. “Get that scrubbed. I want to make absolutely certain there’s no chance it has any information left on it. Give the guy that owns it a large bonus for his trouble. And this might happen again, so pick up a machine at some random box store for us. Just in case.”

  The man picked up the laptop and nodded. “Will there be anything else?”

  Queen smiled coldly. “Summon Ambassador Chen. I think it’s time he and I had a heart-to-heart chat. Then get me the president. I’m going to need authority to do what needs to be done.”

  * * * * *

  Clayton opened his mouth to say something—he wasn’t sure what—to dissuade the man, so he got a mouthful of blood when Major Logan’s head virtually exploded in front of him.

  Other shots rang out from close by and the Volunteer soldiers threatening Commander Krueger and the rest staggered or collapsed. That gave an opening for the men on his side to pull their pistols and end the threat.

  Clayton was still trying to spit the horrible taste out of his mouth and wipe the blood from his eyes when Krueger grabbed him by the arm and pulled him deeper into the forest.

  “We need to get moving. They won’t be alone.”

  While that might be true, Clayton dug his heels in. Literally. “No. We have to warn Adorno. She has to know they’ve been betrayed.”

  “They’re going to find out soon enough,” Krueger said grimly. “Logan wouldn’t have acted if the trap wasn’t already closing. He was in charge of the sentries. If the Asharim aren’t all around us, I’ll eat my boots. We need to get up the hill.”

  “No, dammit. They’re going to be slaughtered. Being inside the hill isn’t going to do us one bit of good if we’re surrounded by an ocean of enemies. We have to warn them so they can fight.”

  Krueger took a deep breath and visibly gritted his teeth. “Shit. Danvers.”

  The Gunnery Sergeant materialized out of the darkness. “Sir?”

  “Get Mister Rogers and the rest back to the hill and fortify. I’ll take two men and warn the rest about the ambush. Keep an eye out. We’re probably going to be coming back under heavy fire. We’ll need you to clear a path for us.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  The Marine grabbed Clayton’s arm and pulled him forward.

  Clayton knew better than to fight at this point. The man had his orders and he was going to carry them out. If Clayton didn’t want to end up over the Marine’s shoulder, he was going to have to trust that Krueger would take care of business.

  The Marines all around him had extinguished their lights. It was as dark as the devil’s armpit. They had to be using night vision goggles. He made a mental note to get something like that in his gear going forward.

  Hell, he was going to have to have his assistant completely update his bag. His needs and the threats he faced were significantly different than they had been six months ago.

  They reached the hill unmolested. That was actually one hell of a shock. Clayton had been sure the Asharim were going to prevent them from reaching safety.

  Unfortunately, he could hear fighting in the distance. The unmistakable booms of black powder weapons and sharp, controlled bursts of automatic weapons fire. The Asharim had sprung their ambush or the Volunteers had found more traitors in their ranks.

  Danvers pushed Clayton, Mick, and Penny into the cave entrance. “Stay inside. We don’t know what type of weapons they have. I won’t have a sniper picking you off.”

  Clayton stopped just inside the cave. “We need to know what’s happening.”

  “We’ve already got a drone in the air. We should have information in a couple of minutes. You can look at the screen. Inside. The. Cave.”

  Since he’d done exactly that earlier, Clayton really didn’t have any room to complain. He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to observe the fighting personally. Maybe it was his innate need to control his own destiny.

  That was a weakness he’d realize
d he had years ago. Or perhaps weakness was the wrong word. He did revel in overseeing important work.

  One of the Marines had a tablet out and was reviewing information from the drone as he walked into the chamber. Clayton didn’t know much about reading a display at night, but it didn’t look as if the Volunteer army was alone.

  “Tell me what I’m looking at,” he told the Marine firmly.

  “This is an IR image, sir. The group at the center is at the camp you just came from. There are large groups to the east, northwest, and southwest. They’ve encircled the camp. The temperature looks a little off, so I’m not certain we’re looking at human beings. I’ve never seen an alien in infrared.”

  “What do the relative numbers look like? Can they hold them off?”

  The other man shrugged. “I have no idea if they can hold out, sir. I’d say the friendly forces are outnumbered at least two to one. Perhaps three to one.

  “The defenders are going to have an advantage, but if they don’t get out of the pocket, they’re probably going to get slaughtered.”

  Clayton cursed. “And you don’t have enough ammunition to spring them. Hell, you don’t even have enough ammunition for us to hold once they come for us. What are we going to do?”

  “Under these circumstances, I’d call for reinforcements,” a voice said from behind him.

  He turned in surprise and found Harry standing behind him at the entrance to the tunnel leading to the gate. He held a rifle and had several armed men behind him.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Jess turned to Kevin McHugh as soon as Harry was out of sight. “What’s the address of this gate? Can you get me that?”

  The young hacker nodded. “Sure. The address for a specific gate is locked in when it’s created. That prevents any possibility of having two gates with the same address.”

  He tapped his comp a few times. “Got it. What do you want me to do with it? Link it to your phone?”

  She raised her eyebrows. “You can do that?”

  The bald man snorted derisively. “Please. I can do that in my sleep, even if you didn’t give me the number first. Let’s do this the easy way.” He held out his hand.