“Where do we go?” He asked her.
“… radio shack..” She stuttered between breaths and pointed with her good side the direction to go.
They stumbled forwards, from behind them they heard JJ mocking the Hunters, covering their escape.
“Let’s dance Gun-guns!” He laughed as he raised a shotgun and pulled the trigger. Seconds later, JJ was disappearing in a cloud of his own blood and tissue as the three Hunters opened fire on him. Mollie cried out as she heard JJ’s last scream ring out.
“I’m sorry,” Reilly said, as he pulled Mollie forwards away from the slaughter.
They continued round a corner, under Mollie’s guidance they tried to stay ahead of the Hunters who were back on their trail.
“Stop, here,” she shouted, as they limped down a small alleyway.
It was an alley just like any other, brickwork running along both sides. Reilly stopped but there wasn’t anything there he could see. Mollie pushed away from him and leaned on the wall. She searched the wall next to her until she found a brick identical to all the others, but she pushed it. As she did, a small doorway appeared, flickering into existence like a fluorescent lightbulb coming on.
“Quick, go through,” she said, looking behind her.
They both went in, moments before the Hunters rounded the corner. Inside was a long corridor leading to a room, inside which Reilly heard a voice.
“It seems those Hunters have been causing a bloodbath in our Nexus, people! All searchin’ for Clone Prime! Stay off the streets! Keep your loved one's safe! We will get through this. And Prime if you’re listening, we know this ain’t your fault, the Nexus is a home to all God’s lost children!” The man speaking turned to look as Mollie and Reilly walked in, he knew who Reilly was immediately and smiled.
“Welcome to the neighborhood, Prime.”
CHAPTER 22
Ally
Ally had showered and changed. Her apartment was modest, with only a living room and bathroom, and minimal furnishings. She had never felt settled wherever she had lived and felt ready to leave at a moment's notice. Laying on the sofa, she was trying to think what to do, when the call came through.
“Hello Ally, Quartz here.”
“Hey.”
“Julian has got in contact, he’s all right. It appears that the people who took him weren’t the same ones that attacked you.”
Ally jumped to her feet and headed to the kitchen.
“What? Who were they then?”
Quartzig gave her an update on the situation and explained that Julian was now working with Yuri to investigate Owen’s missing body and that he was tracking the vehicle which had transported the body.
“Thank God he’s OK. So, who attacked us then?” Ally asked.
“Good question, one which Julian seems to have disregarded I’m afraid,” Quartzig replied. “They had some serious tech and I fear that Julian will end up walking into something he may not be able to get out of.”
It surprised Ally, the care the AI had for Julian, though it made sense as he was Quartz’s creator.
“So what do you want me to do Quartz?” She asked, assuming that was why he called.
“Well, I have chased up on the police case from the attack, and also monitored CCTV and, perhaps I should have lead with this, but it appears they followed you."
“What!”
“Yes, from what I can tell there are several people on their way up to your apartment.”
Ally paused, taking in the information, then grabbed her denim cut-off jacket from the hanger near the door, throwing it over her long-sleeved t-shirt.
“Do you know where they are now?” She asked, as she slipped on her boots.
“Coming up the third floor stairs,” Quartzig updated her.
She lived on the tenth, so she had two minutes to prepare, or run. She took a moment to decide that running was probably the safer choice.
“Fifth floor,” Quartzig said.
She grabbed a small, foot long rod from the coffee table and gave it a click. A smooth hiss escaped from it and within seconds it had extended into a staff six feet long, another click and it retracted back in place. She shoved it into a holster inside her jacket and headed for the window.
“Eight.”
She slid the window away and a rush of air flooded the apartment from the cityscape below. Neon lights twinkled as she looked out over the Boulevard, the tenth floor was high enough to see a lot of the city.
“Nineth.”
The fire escape was bolted onto the side of the building and creaked as she stepped onto it. She took one last look into her apartment and saw the front door splintering as some kind of energy blast destroyed it.
“They are at the door!” Quartzig said.
“Yeah, I noticed!” Ally ducked away and made her way down the fire exit as fast as she could, the metal steps rocking as she ran. She’d made it down three flights when she heard a ping next to her head, accompanied by a spark, as a bullet spun past her, followed by a blast of light, another energy beam.
“Quartz, any idea why they are trying to kill me exactly?!” She asked, realising she hadn’t actually done anything.
“Not enough information to be sure, I’m afraid,” he said. “Though I wonder if your association with Julian is enough for them to see you as a target?”
“Wonderful,” she replied.
“You did beat some of their colleagues up?” He tried to reason.
“In self defense!” She shouted back.
Before they could continue, Ally felt the metal underneath her come away from the building. Confused, she looked upwards, and saw that the entire fire exit had come away from the wall because of the damage from the energy blasts and was now in danger of falling away.
“Oh shit,” she whispered. She looked across to the building opposite, if she was lucky, the framework would hold together long enough for her to jump over to the other rooftop.
“Quartz, can you actually see me?”
“Well, I have hacked into several satellites which orbit, some are better than others and the non geo-stationary ones mean I sometimes have to adjust to whatever is available, also the weather impacts the visibility…”
“Can you see me right now!” Ally interrupted, the fire exit at forty-five degree angles away from the building now.
“Yes, quite clearly.”
“If I stay where I am, will I make it to the building opposite when this thing falls?”
“Oh, no, you are two floors too low, you need to go back up two floors or you’ll catch the side of the building based on your current location.”
Ally sighed then looked up at the exit, the attackers weren’t on the fire exit but she could see them at the window above, guns aimed on her. As if to reply to her stare, they fired a few shots at her , ricocheted off the metal steps. She made her way back up as fast as she could, based on the angle of the stairs.
Noticing her coming up, one of the attackers jumped from the window and onto the exit, as soon as he hit, the stairs fell faster due to his weight. He made his way down as she made her way up.
Ally had got up two flights just as her attacker had reached her, a swift kick came and she narrowly avoided it by stepping backwards. Immediately countering the attack, she jumped forwards. As she did, the stairs momentum was caught by gravity and the whole frame fell, slamming into the adjacent building. It threw both Ally and the attacker from the frame and they landed hard on the rooftop.
“Are you ok?” Quartz asked.
Ally didn’t have time to reply, as she jumped to her feet to face her enemy.
“Who are you? Why are you trying to kill me?”
The man just looked at her and smiled. She drew and extended the bo-staff. It had been a while since she had trained with it, but it felt comfortable in her hand. A couple of swings to get the weight balance and she struck a pose waiting for the attack.
“You are required!” the man shouted.
“Why me?”
The man didn’t reply, instead diving forwards to attack, he swung a fist. Ally ducked and thrust the end of the pole into the man’s chest, causing him to fall to the ground. She whirled the staff around and slammed it down towards the prone body. A roll and he was out of harm's way, back to his feet and running at Ally now. She didn’t have time to respond, and he flew into her, throwing them both to the floor, he pummeled her in the face with a fist as he took position above her. One fist landed square on Ally’s cheek, causing a burst of blood to erupt from her mouth, she used it and spat straight into his face. In the momentary blindness, she retracted the staff in her hand, moved it to the side of the man's head and extended it again. The force of the release smashed the edge of the staff straight into his temple, crushing the whole area of his skull with a wet thump.
She rolled him off and kicked the dead body for her own satisfaction. She glanced back up to her apartment window, there was no one there.
“Can you see the others Quartz?” She asked.
“They appear to be on their way to you now, coming across the street below.”
“Great,” she looked across the rooftops, she could make it across several with relative ease, but not far. She needed to find somewhere she could hide and lie low.
“Quartz, is there an easy way to the Underpass from here?”
“Oh, erm, let me check, it’s not something I usually look for.”
Ally wasn’t surprised that Quartz didn’t know much of the Underpass, few did, unless you had to.
“There’s an access point three blocks down from here, if you go west from your current position over four buildings and down, you will be pretty much spot on. Why do you want to go there?” Quartzig answered.
“Somewhere I know I can find help,” she replied.
“I’m going home.”
CHAPTER 23
Jacob
Jacob was in the manufacturing area of the warehouse now, after Owens had agreed to his terms, with some of his own, he had continued on the next stage of his work.
The manufacturing section comprised of several chambers, similar to that of the main chamber, only smaller. He scanned over them, inside each, a body part was floating in a green liquid. He found the one he was searching for, a leg which was floating freely. It was pristine from the toes up to the thigh, where it abruptly ended with a metallic cap covering the entire area ,where it would be connected to a body. From the metal several cables extended and connected to the chamber's wall, like an artificial umbilical cord.
Jacob pressed the keypad on the side of the chamber and watched as the liquid drained from the chamber through a grate on the bottom. The leg drifting to the ground slowly before resting there. The chamber opened and Jacob reached in and took the leg, disconnecting the cables from their sockets. He pulled a large cloth from a bench near the chamber and wrapped the entire limb in it.
He walked away and headed back to the main entrance of the hotel. Waiting for him in the foyer was Owens.
“Are you ready?” Jacob asked.
“Like I have a choice,” came the reply.
“Quite,” Jacob couldn’t help but smile as he handed the leg to Owens and beckoned him to follow.
They left the hotel and entered the car which was waiting for them. Upon entering it, the car drove away.
“You still use these things?” Owens asked, referring to the self-driving car. “We upgraded to TransPods last year.”
Jacob knew of the pods, a small box which you sit inside and a small propulsion shot them into the sky before returning to the ground at the destination, like a miniature rocket.
“Oh, I know you did, I prefer a more refined style of travel,” He replied.
“Fair enough. Where are we headed to?” Owens resigned to his fate in helping Jacob. For his own survival, he would need to get any information he could.
“To my Church, not that you’ll see it, I need the world to still believe you’re dead. You will be in the lab underneath, adapting the augmented release method.”
Owens looked out of the window, he was still coming to terms with the idea he was no longer in his own body, but that of a clone. He caught a glimpse of his reflection in the car's window. A face he didn't recognise, that of a younger man, a man who had not lived, but grown in a lab.
“I will get you a copy of your own body when this is over Max, I promise,” he said, their years of friendship slipping through in his voice.
“You’re still the one that killed me Jacob, that I won’t forget.”
“I did not kill you Max, that I swear. But I can’t deny it has given me some advantages. You don’t see it, but the reliance of technology has become too much, too far, too dangerous.”
“And you’re the one to make the changes?” Owens turned to look at Jacob in the eyes.
“If not me, then someone else, someone who might not understand how all this works. I can be a scalpel rather than a hammer.”
Owens could tell that Jacob’s mind truly believed that he was doing what he thought was right.
“Why should anyone make the change though? Have we not made the best discoveries through mistakes and errors? That’s how we learn, that’s what humans do. Adapt and survive. We made it this far, why do you have to step in now?”
“Because if I don’t, there will be no more humans, don’t you see? Where does the line blur and we cross over to become more machine than man? Already, we have humans who can no longer survive without the tech implanted in them. When that trait becomes normal in the gene code, then what are we? No longer man without the machine, is that still a man?” Jacob asked.
“Perhaps, but then maybe that is the next step? Did we stop evolving from apes just because we were becoming a new form of Sapien? Or did we embrace the change and the benefits it reaped? Maybe it’s time for Homo Sapiens to evolve to the next stage, to become Homo Deus,” Owen’s knew that would rile Jacob up. He had always been a religious one which to begin with, it had been an interesting part of working with him, but over time it became more of an obsession.
“You dare,” Jacob whispered. “We are not meant to be Gods, you are the reason I have to do what I must to prevent the human race from becoming extinct, and now you will help me achieve this. Or you will die for good this time,” Jacob smirked as he spoke.
Owens didn’t reply, he knew Jacob had the upper hand now. If he didn’t play along and do the work Jacob asked, then he’d lose his chance at life. He knew that Jacob would kill him for good if he thought there was any doubt Owens wouldn’t help.
The car pulled up to the back of the Church and they entered, Owens still carrying the mummified leg. Jacob lead the way through the back door of the church and down the steps to his laboratory underneath.
Jacob took the leg from Owens.
“Feel free to work on the computers,” he pointed at the setup in the corner. “They won’t connect to the Net unless I activate the routing, so don’t bother trying to get a message out. Everything you need should be available to you though. I shall return after tonight's sermon.”
With that, he turned and left the room. Owens heard the slam of a heavy lock drop behind the door. He wasn’t getting out anytime soon. He turned to the computers and began to work.
Upstairs, the evenings congregation had formed as Jacob entered the church. This service would be one of his biggest feats to date. As he approached the alter, he put the leg down behind the alter and scanned the crowd for the woman who had visited him earlier. He hadn’t seen her face; it was a confessional after all, however, knowing of her augmented leg made her easy to spot in the crowd whereas most had already abandoned any augmentations.
“Good Evening Everyone!” He called out as he took centre stage, not heading to the lectern this time.
“Tonight I will show the true power of belief, of redemption and of possibilities.”
He turned to the alter behind him; it was made of grey concrete and was the size of an average human body. Across
it was draped a large silk sheet covered with the varying symbols. Jacob had always maintained the illusion of spectacle he had created for the Church, knowing it helped increase the power of his work.
“I believe there is someone among us who needs cleansing, of release from the bounds of technology and it’s sins.”
A murmur came from the crowd as they all looked around at each other until the woman stood nervously.
“Come up here, child. Don’t be shy,” he called, stepping down from his position to meet her on the way up. “Tell us your name child.”
“Tara,” she replied, a nervous voice.
“Tara, welcome to the church, and congratulations on seeing the light and being ready to cleanse. Tell us all of your sins, start the cleaning with admission,” he promoted Tara to talk.
“Well… I… I was a runner,” she began, “a good one, until my injury. They told me that I would benefit from a new augmented leg instead, that it would help me run faster and be a better athlete.”
Father Jacob bent and helped the crowd to see her leg by raising it slightly, he held his hand directly above the point where the T-Pox had taken root.
“As you can see, poor Tara is infected with the plague of imperfection, as her body rejects the false limb!” He turned to Tara, “but all is not lost child, please lay down.”
He motioned to the alter and helped Tara up.
“Tonight, we will cleanse Tara of her imperfections and bring her closer to the light. Before we do however, I must tell you of what is coming. There is a day of reckoning coming, a rapture where all those who have been cleansed will be spared, but those still bathing in the sins of the technology will be decimated!” Jacob knew how to rile the crowd up before his work.
Turning back now, he draped the bright white satin sheet over Tara’s augmented leg. He had done several smaller cleanses before such as the eye the previous night, but this was the largest limb he’d ever done. He reached behind the alter and pulled out the cloned leg. Made from Tara’s own DNA, using the sample she had given him, it would be accepted by her body and using Jacob’s own work, he knew the metal disc would allow the limb immediate connection to the tissue of Tara’s leg, through a series of chemicals it was imbued with. Once the connection was made, it would attach and release the chemicals, eventually breaking down and dissolving into her blood stream as it became a fully functioning limb. The whole process taking only a few seconds.
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