by Eric Warren
“What the hell is going on over there?” the same man yelled again. He jumped up from his seat and stomped over to Arista. “I don’t care if you’re a bionic. You and your freaky friends need to keep whatever it is you’re doing to yourselves. Or we’re going to have a problem.”
“A problem?” Arista asked, taking the man in. He was at least as tall as Frees, but he wore an impeccable business suit. Though from the width of his shoulders Arista assumed he was probably a pretty strong guy.
Frees stepped in front of her. “Sit down,” he said to the man. “This is between us and the train.”
“The train?” the man replied, his face reddening further.
“There is a rogue AI inhabiting the train,” Frees said and Arista put her face in her hands. He really shouldn’t have said that.
“I knew it! All that talk on the platform was nothing but shit. This is what they’re here to do. Let me guess, the train will kill us all now, is that it?”
“You will not be killed,” Charlie said.
“And how do I know that?” the man asked.
“You will be transported to the other dimension via a Quantum Gate where you will live out a peaceful life with the rest of your humans.”
“I’m not going to any alternate dimension,” the man said. His shoulders were hunched and he looked ready to blow.
“Then I have changed my mind.” The doors beside them opened and the train lurched, throwing the man off-balance. He pinwheeled his arms back but it wasn’t enough and he staggered toward the door, trying to regain his footing.
“Frees, grab—”
It was too late. The man had disappeared out the door and they slid shut again. “Everyone stay away from the doors!” Arista yelled. The other people inside all huddled against the walls in the middle of the spaces between doors. Arista looked up to the ceiling. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“He did not want to come.”
“Why do you want more humans on the other side anyway? Aren’t you all about keeping humans out of the world? Killing them?”
“It was a compromise,” Charlie said.
Echo must have demanded something and she needed more humans to help repopulate. Arista bet she hadn’t even told Charlie why she’d wanted them. But before they’d been stranded here her mother had talked about the dwindling gene pool in the colony. How everyone would die out in a couple more generations. This was an opportunity to inject fresh DNA into a closed system. To give humans the chance to thrive again. Arista glanced around. She had to be on the train somewhere.
“Where are you taking us?”
“I have already told you, back to the parallel dimension. We headed there now.”
“What?” Arista almost laughed. “You’re sending the train through the gate? You’ll never get it above ground and through the park.”
“Arista,” Blu whispered. She bent down close enough she hoped Charlie couldn’t hear. “Remember the readings. He’s moved it.”
“But where?” she whispered back.
“It is on the tracks,” Charlie said. “Not far away now.”
Arista exchanged glances with Frees. “We need to stop this train,” she said. He nodded. She remembered Jennings telling her the conductors sat in the back car. Perhaps that’s where Charlie’s consciousness was. If they could destroy him and stop the train at the same time they could eliminate two hawks with one arrow.
She turned to Blu. “Stay here with your dad. We’ll be right back.”
Blu reached out to her. “Don’t leave. We need to stay together. Sisters don’t leave each other.”
Arista smiled at her. “Trust me. We’re going to take care of this.”
There was hesitation in her eyes. Arista only hoped she wasn’t making a promise she couldn’t keep. She held Blu’s shoulder for one second then turned to run to the back of the train.
Frees had beat her there. She couldn’t help but notice a charred smell emanating from him. She glanced down at his leg; the flesh was seared to his pants and in some areas it had burned off. “I guess so much for a disguise,” he said, following her gaze.
“It’s just a leg. Nothing to worry about. Now. How do we get this open?”
They stared at the small door with a simple latch handle. Beyond was a ledge on the edge of the train car attached to an identical edge on the car behind it.
“It couldn’t be as easy as…” Frees said, trying the latch. It didn’t budge. “Didn’t think so.”
“Passengers must remain in their cars. We are approaching the gate,” Charlie’s voice screeched.
“We have to get back there. Now.” Arista stared through the glass. They were at least two cars from the rear-most car. Maybe three.
Frees put his hand through the glass, gripping the broken frame of the door and working it back and forth until it began to give. He continued yanking in opposite directions until even Arista could feel the heat from the door warping and building up energy. Finally, it snapped from its hinges, allowing the air from the tunnels inside, blowing her hair all around her head.
“That’s one!” Frees said.
“Only six more to go!” she replied over the whoosh of the currents.
“You will stay in your carriage!” Charlie yelled but Arista ignored it. Frees had already jumped from one ledge to the next and was working the door to the next car; the passengers inside becoming visibly concerned. Charlie must have only broadcast his voice into their car.
The door broke the same as the last one and Frees tossed it away just as easily. It sparked as it hit the brick wall zooming by at ninety miles per hour.
She was right behind him as they ran through the carriage, people yelling and screaming at them. Some were profanities Arista didn’t recognize and others were more than familiar. She’d at least had some hope Frees’ actions back at the station might have made a difference to them, but it seemed all they wanted to do was hate.
Frees got to work on the second set of doors.
“You will return to your proper carriage!” Charlie’s voice screamed.
“He doesn’t like it, keep going,” Arista yelled. The faces around her were a mixture of confusion and anger, many of them trying to find where Charlie’s strange voice had come from. Arista noticed two sponsored placing their hands over their charge’s ears. Arista could only shake her head. Disgusted, she tore off her cloak and tossed it to the ground where it landed with a thud. Too late she realized she’d left her weapon in one of the pockets but as she reached for it again Frees ripped the door away, exposing the ledge and creating a wind tunnel through the carriage at the same time. Hats and loose pieces of clothing began flying everywhere as the wind whipped up everything not nailed or held down, including the cloak itself, which was sucked right through the opening and out of sight.
“Fuck,” Arista said under her breath.
Frees made a move to jump to the next car but Arista held him, expecting Charlie might not let them get back there so easily. Had the driver not been in the back he could have easily detached the cars behind them but Arista knew the last car probably had the primary computer inside. And thus: Charlie’s consciousness.
“What?” Frees asked, staring back at her.
“Don’t jump, not yet,” she replied. The two ledges were close and steady, almost too much so. It was as if he was inviting Frees to make the jump.
“I think you forget how high I can jump,” Frees replied. She smiled, letting go. He was right, he could compensate mid-air. “And because you’re probably not wrong, you’re coming with me.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and shot off from the ledge before she could say anything. As she expected the whole train shimmied in an effort to throw Frees off, but he wasn’t aiming for the other ledge. He had aimed for the top of the train itself, landing them both perfectly on top with only inches to spare above their heads.
“I thought I told you never to do that again,” Arista said, though she couldn’t help but be impressed at his pr
ecision aim.
“It was worth the chance. And this way we don’t have to listen to him scream anymore.”
Arista peered ahead. This was definitely the last car. Which meant the controls should be in the back. They would have to break in and disable the entire system from there. She only hoped the gate wasn’t too close. The Device told her it had been three minutes, twelve seconds since they left Blu and David. It felt longer.
They hunkered down and slid across the top of the train, the wind whipping their clothes. But it wasn’t fast enough to knock them off. Another ten or fifteen miles per hour and Arista might have a hard time holding on with her human hand. But both were doing fine so far.
“How do you want to do this?” Frees yelled over the wind.
“Drop down on the back, break in, just like you did back there,” she replied. She’d reached the edge and stared down at the uncoupled back of the train. It had a ledge just like all the other cars.
Frees pushed his way past her, expertly flipping over and landing on the ledge, sending one hand through the glass. Arista waited until he’d successfully pried the door off and it was quickly disappearing into the darkness behind them before she jumped down as well. She landed, using her artificial arm for support and followed him into the control room.
Except it wasn’t a control room. It was more of a sitting room. And Echo sat on a small chair at the far side pointing a gun at them.
THIRTY-FIVE
IN THE SPAN OF .16 SECONDS Arista’s Device calculated a nineteen percent chance she could reach and disarm Echo before she got a shot off at either of them. If it had been thirty-five percent instead, Arista might have tried it. But she couldn’t take the risk.
“I told him you wouldn’t stay in there,” Echo said. “But he doesn’t like to listen.”
“Where is he? Where’s the core?” Arista demanded.
Echo smirked. “Why would I tell you? You’re in no posit—”
“Because you hate him as much as I do,” she snapped.
Echo didn’t reply, only looked at them past the barrel of the gun. No, her attention was focused on Frees, while her aim remained on Arista. Arista’s own weapon was several hundred feet behind them now.
“You,” she growled. “Don’t think I don’t know what you did.”
Frees looked taken aback. “And what exactly did I do?”
“Marcus,” she replied through her teeth. The gun moved slowly to Arista’s right, dead center on Frees.
Frees stiffened. “What about him?”
“Don’t pretend like you don’t know. When we get back I plan on confirming Charlie’s story. I’m going to find my brother’s dead body.”
Arista froze. Her brother? But why would he have left the colony?
“In fact, you’re both to blame,” Echo said. “You for killing him,” she said to Frees. “And you for making him think he could find you. You and all the others.”
“It’s not my fault if your brother went on some suicide mission!” Arista yelled over the roar of the wind.
“Yes, it is! He never would have been out there if you’d just done what you were supposed to do. He never would have met this freak and he’d still be alive today!”
Arista’s eyes slid to the right. Frees still had his weapon and his cloak. He’d discarded neither.
“Frees didn’t kill your brother. The only person responsible for his actions was him. If he was too stupid to stay alive then that was his fault,” Arista said, trying to goad Echo into moving. Into making the smallest mistake. Anything where she could grab the weapon from her.
“The gate is opening!” Charlie yelled. Arista turned to the monitor showing the front of the train. In the distance was a bright shimmering light which was no doubt the gate back to their world. They had moved it like he’d said. But something else caught her eye. The second monitor over showed an overhead view of the subway lines. There was a fork to a different line just before the gate. All Arista had to do was move the train. Somehow.
“We’ll find out soon enough. I know where Mortimer’s farm is located. I’ll just hop on over there and start digging. Or at least send a few of my people to do it for me,” she said.
Frees narrowed his eyes at the mention of his given name. “Not if we stop you,” he said.
“You won’t. We’re already there. It’s over. Arista will go with the crazy machine. And you…you and I will have a nice talk once your cortex is separated from the rest of you.”
A terrible thought crossed Arista’s mind. “What else is on this train?”
“Oh, other than the several hundred weapons, ammunition and explosives stored in the front cars? Let’s see. Another hundred humans to help rebuild our armies. And of course the man who designed the gate himself: David. Since ours is dead.”
“He’s not the same person. This version doesn’t know anything about Quantum Gates.”
“I think if one version of him can figure it out, the other one can too,” Echo said, rolling her eyes.
Arista glanced at the monitor again. The gate was approaching fast. She didn’t have time for better odds. If she was going to do something, it had to be right now. She would have to hope the subway system itself had its own fail-safe; to protect the lives of its passengers.
Beside the monitors were a series of buttons, all of them accompanied by pictograms. But the ones that interested Arista were one with a blue shield and the other with the blue shield crossed out. If she could make the subway think the barrier was still up it might just re-route.
“What are you looking at?” Echo said, swinging the gun back to her. “Get away from those—”
Arista dove for the controls, hitting the button with the intact shield. A shot rang out and when she looked up Frees had jumped in front of her, taking the bullet. Echo—rage burning in her eyes—fired again, higher this time. The shot combined with the momentum change in the train caused Frees to stumble backward just as the businessman had done toward the open doors.
“Oh no you don’t,” Arista said, lunging for him.
“What is happening?” Charlie screamed. “Off course, off course!”
Echo stumbled at the same time the train lurched and Arista grabbed Frees’ cloak. He grinned at her. “Thanks, but you need to let go.”
“What?” she asked.
“Trust me,” he replied, and he slapped his gun into Arista’s other hand. “Let go.”
Behind him was nothing but open air, he’d tumble out and land on the tracks. That was if the fall didn’t completely mangle him. He winked at her.
“Don’t make me kill you,” Echo said from behind her. “I promised Charlie I wouldn’t but if it comes down to me and you I’ll give you a good bet on who isn’t going to make it.”
Frees mouthed one more time: Trust me.
She let go.
Frees tumbled backward and disappeared off the ledge of the train.
“No!” Echo screamed. “He’s mine!”
Using the momentary distraction Arista turned and blindly fired her weapon, catching Echo in the right side of her abdomen. Echo cried out, dropping her own weapon as her hand went to her wound. Arista turned to the computer monitor. They had switched to the other tracks, just as she’d anticipated. The train had been moving too fast to come to a complete stop and apparently Charlie hadn’t thought to safeguard the shield controls.
“What have you done?” Charlie yelled. “Re-routing. You will not be successful!”
“The gate can’t stay open forever. And every delay is less chance you have to get back over there,” Arista yelled.
“I will return. The train only needs to stop and reverse!” he screamed. She could already feel the train slowing as he spoke. She estimated she had three minutes before he was able to back up and switch tracks again. But she was distracted; what happened to Frees? She hadn’t seen him fall on the tracks behind them.
Echo whined in the far corner, blood seeping through her hand. She was on the ground with h
er back against the far wall. “You stupid little girl,” she said. “I’ve been fighting you my entire life. I can control a colony of a thousand people but I can’t kill one stupid little girl.”
Arista pointed the gun at her, steadying herself. “This little girl has you in her crosshairs.”
“You just never would give up, would you?” Echo said, her breathing ragged. “You were supposed to be my ace in the hole. You were supposed to fix everything. But instead you had to go and ruin it all.”
“What the hell are you even talking about?” Arista yelled. “I don’t remember any of that!”
The train came to a stop. She’d bought herself a few minutes, nothing more. She had to find and destroy Charlie’s core before he could get the train back up to speed. Keeping her gaze on Echo she tried to scan the rest of the cabin. Nothing looked like something that might house an AI consciousness. He was probably stored in the train’s memory, wherever that was. Had the Device been able to connect to the net she’d have the train’s schematics in a moment’s notice.
“Of course you don’t. Because of your accident.” Echo produced a fake laugh and leaned back against the metal wall of the train, her breathing heavy. “Someone betrayed me. That was no coincidence.”
“You want to know who betrayed you?” Arista asked, her full attention back on Echo. “Jessika. She orchestrated the explosion. And my memory loss. To protect me.”
Echo smiled. “She really didn’t know what she was doing, did she?”
“What do you mean?”
She took a deep breath and coughed. Blood leaked from the corner of her mouth. “You were supposed to put a cap on everything. Your family had already been disgraced, you being captured by the Cadre would have been the ultimate humiliation. When I found out you volunteered for my program it was the first thought through my mind.” She coughed again.
“What are you talking about?” Arista’s heart was hammering and she had to move her finger off the trigger for fear of accidentally pulling it. She barely felt the train moving backward.