Twilight of the Gods (Universe in Flames Book 8)

by Christian Kallias

  “Thank you,” I say.

  “You’re welcome, Cole. Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re saving hundreds, thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of lives when you jump into service. That’s noble and not many minds could cope with the pressure you’re under. That’s why you were selected.”

  “I thought it was an aberration in my DNA allowing me to jump back in time. Or am I being lied to?”

  “I wouldn’t know, Cole. I’m not privy to such information. What I meant is that besides your ability to survive the jump in time, you have the right amount of focus. And like it or not, your aggressive tendencies are welcomed when we must kill terrorists in cold blood to avoid the terrible plans they have for this world.”

  It does make sense. I do feel like most of the time I bottle up my rage, but when I’m being deployed, I get to release it by killing the scum of the Earth. I feel pleasure ripping their lives away from them. I feel gratification for every fanatic I kill. And then I realize that if Vassiliki was still alive, she would loathe what I have become. I feel overwhelmed with sadness and can’t stop tears from forming in my eyes.

  “There, there, Cole, you’re only human, after all. It’s only normal to question yourself, and to feel sad the way you do. I won’t tell you to forget the past. It’s part of who you are and how life works. I can remember when I was first activated. I was scared, and I was wondering what I was. It’s not easy to accept that I don’t have a body, you know? I cried a lot about it. In fact, I’m still jealous sometimes. But I know I’m helping you fulfill an important task. I live through you and hopefully I’m . . . your friend?”

  “You’re my only friend.”

  “Right back at ya!”

  I chuckle. I never put myself in Tanya’s shoes until now, at least not on this level. Here I am questioning everything about my life, but I have a pumping heart, I have hands, legs, and other things that make me human. Tanya only lives inside her head. It must be disconcerting.

  “That’s funny. Where did you get to have such a great sense of humor?” I ask her.

  Again she projects her smiling face on my neuronal HUD and winks. “I learned from the best.”

  I smile back and reach to wipe my tears when I feel my arm stop in mid-air. I was about to wipe my eyes with the hand I used to smash the mirror, little sharp pieces of glass still protruding from my hand. She didn’t let me do that, of course.

  “Thanks, Tanya, you’re always there for me,” I say as I wipe my tears with my other hand and proceed to the bathroom to remove the pieces of broken glass from my hand. I stand watching droplets of my blood dripping in the sink.

  “Do you remember when you received the call for deployment? In your nightmare, I mean?”

  “Around 7 P.M.”

  “Do you mind if I ask what the mission was about?”

  “Not at all. And if it happens in the future it will be one of the worst ones yet. Ahmed Al’Hasi was trying to detonate a nuke in the city. Most of the town was incinerated even though it was a dirty bomb with much less power than the military nukes we used—”

  “In World War III?”

  “Yeah. But most of the southern part of the city was incinerated upon detonation. Radiation does the rest over a few hours in these cases.”

  “Can I ask you something else, Cole?”

  “Anything.”

  “Do you ever fear that one day they will locate where we live, you and I, and get rid of us?”

  Then I realize she, like every other living thing, is subject to fear as well.

  “Are you afraid of that?”

  “Terrified. Why, aren’t you?”

  “That’s a good question. I always assume that we can go back in time to fix such things.”

  “We can’t go back in time if we’re dead.”

  “Indeed. This building is protected, as you know. Even a military grade nuke detonating in this area wouldn’t damage this building. It has its own shielding”

  “Yes, but what about an internal attack.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that. But this place is a fortress. I guess you and I can’t easily be replaced. That’s why there are platoons of soldiers and the most advanced security AI system on Earth running this place.”

  “Have you ever talked to that particular AI?”

  “I don’t have access other than the info I can gather through you. Really, Tanya, I understand how you feel, but we are quite safe here.”

  “I hope so.”

  “Let’s go back to the nightmare conversation, shall we?” I say, feeling she is the one who needs to be distracted now.

  “What about it?”

  “Well . . . if it was a nightmare, and if nothing happens after 7 P.M., we can leave it at that. But if it’s something else, shouldn’t we try to anticipate the events and stop them?”

  “Cole, we can’t get out of here without being officially deployed. Therefore we can only let it happen first.”

  “Surely the two of us could find a way.”

  “Perhaps, but it’s contrary to my programming. You know that. The rules are there for a reason; they have served us well until now.”

  I feel like pushing the issue but I know it’s useless. She is right. What if we get outside trying to stop an attack that isn’t real, only to fall prey to another one, die and not be able to stop the real thing by going back? My head spins. Time travel will do that to you.

  “Yeah, you’re right. The last thing we want is to break protocol and get killed for it.”

  “I know it feels like a prison sometimes up here.”

  “Sometimes?”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Yeah, I know. Let’s get back to the subject though; I want us to be prepared. If by any chance what I experienced is not a nightmare, we should use that information accordingly.”

  “I don’t see what else it could be, Cole, but I agree, assuming this is something else, another timeline, or a premonitory dream, then we’d better be prepared.”

  We talk about it some more and go over the mission again and again. We argue about my decision to flash recharge; that was reckless and Tanya makes me promise I won’t do it again, no matter what. I agree, though reluctantly.

  “I understand how frustrating it is to have him escape you many times, Cole. But it’s best to think of the lives saved than the one man escaping, no matter how infuriating this must make you feel every time.”

  She is right. I know she is. But I can’t shake the feeling that he needs to die.

  “We will get him one day,” she says calmly.

  “Doesn’t it bother you that every time we face him we come back empty-handed?”

  “Cole, I’ve calculated we saved over three hundred and fifty-two thousand lives, give or take, just by defusing his many attacks up until now. I wouldn’t really call that empty-handed.”

  “Right. Still, I haven’t received a medal lately, and we both know why.”

  She laughs out loud. She got the joke.

  “Cole, you crack me up. We both know the shoebox is full. We also know you couldn’t care less for these pieces of melted metal.”

  “You got that right. Still, I have a reputation to uphold,” I say sarcastically.

  “Can I tell you a secret?”

  “You have secrets?”

  “Very few. But yes.”

  “Then, by all means, Tanya.”

  “I told General Richardson you were dumping the medals under the sink. I thought you’d had enough of receiving them, and they kinda ran out of new ones to come up with anyway.”

  I laugh. “Alright then.”

  “You’re not mad at me, are you, Cole?”

  “Of course not. You’re right. I’ve had enough of receiving medals, and I don’t feel like getting another one anyway . . . Perhaps if we kill that bastard; but I don’t need the medal, just the satisfaction of knowing we got him would be reward enough.”

  “That’s the spirit.”

  After what seems
like hours of debrief I finally hit the gym. We’ve talked all we could talk about the nightmare. Now is time for some muscle pumping, and soon it will be time for dinner. That is if . . .

  I can’t even finish my thoughts when I feel the ground starting to shake.

  “It’s happening, Cole.”

  “Feck me!”

  “I’m receiving the code red. We have to go, now.”

  I drop the weights back on their support, and I wipe my sweaty face with the clean towel next to me.

  “I know, but Tanya?”

  “Yes, Cole.”

  “I have a bad feeling about this one.”

  “Me too.”

  5

  Mission completion time: T minus 707 minutes.

  WE’RE UNDERGROUND, inside the shielded bullet train that will get us to Rewind headquarters.

  I can’t stop from feeling fear. I’m never afraid of a mission, but this one scares the bejeezus out of me. I look at the devastation caused by the nuke from the TV feeds all over the world. We’re barely a minute away from arriving at Rewind. The train is nothing more than a single-seat capsule being projected at super speed via a powerful magnetic field. Every five seconds we pass through a bright blue light source that briefly casts blue tones on my face and everything inside the capsule. This is basically my private mode of transportation. I have no doubt others in the military and in our project also travel this way, for obvious security reasons, but I never met anyone else, so it feels like it’s mine and mine alone.

  “General Richardson is on the line.”

  I exhale deeply. “Should we tell him what we know?”

  “I don’t think that would be wise, Cole. What if he deems us . . . defective?”

  “Right. Better not take any chances. Put him through.”

  I mentally swipe away all the live feeds and replace them with the video conference call on my neuronal HUD, full screen.

  “General.”

  “Agent Seeker. By now you undoubtedly know what happened a few minutes ago in New Geneva. We’ll brief you on the details of what we know as soon as you arrive. We’ve already sent drones to gather as much data as possible from ground zero, so you can try and get a clearer picture of what awaits you on your mission.”

  “Very well, General.”

  The video feed turns off. Richardson was never a talker, always straight to the point. Business as usual then.

  “I’m already receiving some of the probes data, Cole,” says Tanya. “It’s really bad.”

  “A nuke in a major city will do that. That’s why we do what we do.”

  “I’m afraid, Cole, I don’t like this one bit. It’s the first time you had precognition about one of our missions, right?”

  “It is, and believe me I’m afraid as well. I died the last time around.”

  “Let’s just hope the nightmare was there to allow you to change our tactics.”

  Yeah . . . let’s hope.

  I know full well which mistake not to repeat. No bullet-time before I meet Ahmed; that’s one thing I need to change for sure. Which probably means another, if not completely different, approach to the whole mission. Perhaps we can even skip the two hundred and seventieth floor altogether; that is, if the mission repeats itself the way it did before. I need to be able to use that ultimate advantage that bullet-time gives me to make sure I don’t end up dead. Dying once, whether it was a nightmare or god knows what, is one too many times for a lifetime. I do not intend to repeat that experience, not if I can help it. But I can’t shake this feeling I have inside of me.

  This is going to be the longest day of my life.

  When we arrive at headquarters, the general is already waiting for us. As always, he salutes me. I’ve always wondered why. I don’t really have a rank, not officially anyway. Project Rewind is a highly secret facility and officially doesn’t exist. I am not a member of the United Nations of the World’s military. I used to be, but my insertion in the program required me to resign my previous commission. I was a major back then, but now I’m just an agent. Nevertheless, I salute him back.

  “This is one hell of a shitstorm, Agent Seeker. Multiple high-level megacorporations’ employees and their families have perished in the attack. I don’t need to tell you how paramount it is that we don’t allow this atrocity to take place. We need to Rewind as soon as possible and prevent this from happening again.”

  “Absolutely, General. Do we know who is behind the attack?”

  “You’re not gonna like it.”

  “Ahmed Al’Hasi.”

  “Correct, Agent. I think I don’t have to tell you how critical it is that this time you take care of this scourge once and for all. I know how frustrating it must have been for you in the past to have him escape justice. Still, stopping the nuke is, as always, your top priority. Al’Hasi is still a secondary objective, but we both know we’d all sleep better if he bites the dust. Do not even try to bring him in; your orders are to use extreme prejudice. You’re authorized to use any means necessary to achieve both your first and secondary objectives.” He looks at his wrist smart watch. Not too many people still carry those with all our augments, but I guess, like me, General Richardson is a bit of a nostalgic. “You only have about seven hundred minutes of Rewind Time left; use them wisely.”

  “Understood, General.”

  My heart beats like the double-drum bass track of a speed-metal song.

  I’m usually in control and detached from my mission on both a personal and emotional level, and that’s what gives me my edge. I need to regain control of my emotions, and I need to do it fast. But for now I’m failing miserably as I still try to understand how any of this can be possible. Have I developed a precog ability I’m unaware of? Or did this happen sometime in a previous mission, one the Rewind program doesn’t want me to know about? And if so, how did they manage to bring me back? My head spins, and I wish I could try to find an answer, but right here and now, time is of the essence.

  “You have twenty minutes to analyze the ground zero data we’ve been able to gather since the . . . incident. All signs point to a dirty bomb exploding in the lower levels of World Security Center, in downtown New Geneva. Most of the population is already suffering the effect of the radiation. This is a doomsday scenario for this city. I can’t stress enough how important your Rewind mission is at this point, but I’m sure you get the gist.”

  I know all of this already, but I can’t tell him any of that. Why did he pause mid-sentence though? That’s not like him. It’s not like I can ask him anyway.

  “Absolutely. I will not fail either my first nor secondary mission objective. Ahmed needs to be dealt with once and for all.”

  “Are you two on a first name basis now? Never mind that though, just . . . just kill that fecker! Whatever it takes, Agent Seeker. I have the utmost confidence in your abilities to fulfill your mission. You’re dismissed.” The general salutes me once more and leaves the entrance hall of the Rewind facility.

  I notice he’d made another awkward pause. I wish I was as confident with myself as he seems to be. But I’m no fool. I heard something in his voice. What was it? Hesitation? Fear? Or perhaps doubt? It doesn’t matter since it won’t change a thing as far as I’m concerned. I have no choice here; I either succeed in my mission or die. And dying isn’t an option.

  “That’s right, Cole,” says Tanya, “we come back alive from this. I . . . I don’t want to die either.”

  I have no doubt Tanya doesn’t want to cease to exist. That’s the first sign of consciousness, and while I may have had my doubts about her in the very beginning when they implanted me with her augment, I know she is alive. She feels just like any human being, and right now, with her processing speed, I’m sure the amount of fear she is having to deal with is just as high if not higher than mine.

  We get inside the holographic chamber mission prep room. It’s a spherical room with a catwalk stretching out from the entrance to its center. Once I’m in the center platform, the c
atwalk retracts. This room is where I get to prepare all my missions. It provides me with all the data after the fact, using not only my own AI augment processing power to calculate mission specific protocols and strategies, but also using the city’s main AI, which has, in the past few minutes, accumulated all possible data pertaining to this mission. Without it, jumping back in time would be left to chance, and that’s not what the Rewind Project is about. One terrorist act, one jump back, to course correct history for the better. At least that’s what they tell me.

  The lighting inside the room turns dark, and soon the room is filled with a gigantic holo-projection of the part of town where the dirty bomb detonated. Superimposed over the still flaming and smoky rubble is a 3D diagram of the building, pre-explosion. A top, right-corner window indicates an estimate of casualties. It’s currently at over three hundred thousand souls and climbing at more than fifty lives a second. The emotions that these numbers generate in me I try to mentally push away. I can’t let this impact how I approach my mission. I need to detach myself as much as possible or risk being overwhelmed.

  The mission number is a simple seventeen displayed on the left corner of the holo-simulation. That would mean it’s my seventeenth deployment. Feels like I’ve deployed way more than this paltry figure somehow. I don’t know why, but that’s how it feels. I also wonder if my current anxiety has anything to do with the unusual amount of time I have seen the numbers one and seven in the past few weeks. Like the universe itself is trying to tell me something. At this point it feels more like yelling than talking, and that gets me worried even more. Is this the day I die? Is it written in stone? I am neither a pessimist nor a fatalist but I don’t like this coincidence, not one bit. I reluctantly brush the thought away; it brings nothing but stress and I need to stay clear-headed as much as I can under the circumstances.

  “Any way to lower my anxiety, Tanya?”

  “I’m way ahead of you. I’ve released a mixture of drugs that should help you improve your concentration shortly as well as lower your anxiety levels right about now. I’m doing this in privacy mode, so that mission control doesn’t see it happening. I’ve been feeding them bogus data ever since we’ve been called to action.”