Heart Of The Machine (Soulmates Book 2)

by Don DeBon

  Aleshia smiled. "That's not a problem." She raised her arms and as she did so the Mechand also rose into the air. She flicked a wrist and it slid into the back of the truck.

  "Oh, right, forgot about that." Otis hopped into the drivers seat and they took off as soon as Aleshia got inside the cab. The gate sat closed at the end. "Great, the gate is closed. And we don't have time for me to crack it. I guess Lavine is going to see us leave." He hit the accelerator.

  "Otis! What are you doing?"

  "The only thing we can, go through."

  The Mechand beeped as it held out its hand, it extended forward to reach out beyond the front of the truck. Otis' eyes widened at the arm extending past his window but he understood. He pressed the accelerator further and the truck increased its speed. "Otis!" Aleshia shrieked as they shot towards the gate. But a few seconds before they rammed it, the gate detected the Mechand's clearance and retracted. They shot through with inches to spare. Aleshia's head spun around in time to see the gate closing. "Let's not do that again."

  The Mechand retracted its arm and beeped in agreement.

  Otis chuckled. "For once bot, you have taken the words right out of my mouth."

  Aleshia hit the button on the data tab mounted on the dash sending an encrypted signal. They continued on until they were well out of detection range then climbed into the sky.

  A light lit up on Phoenix's bridge and Minerva gave a facial motion telling Deven everything.

  "Well Chairman, since you can't seem to control your own people, I see no point in staying here any further." A console near him shorted and sparks flew as the ship shuddered throwing him back and forth in his seat. "Not to mention the Valiant is about to punch holes through us." Deven inclined his head. "Another time Chairman." Deven waved before the connection cut. He tapped another button and Galina appeared. "You got the signal?"

  "Yep, overdrive is online but I don't know how long. Gregory patched it once already."

  "I think we overstayed our welcome anyway. Let's get out of here."

  "You got it. Full power in ten seconds." Another shot rocked the Defiant. "Blast it! Port shields went down and the Valiant is moving in for another shot. I can't keep them away from it."

  "Minerva, cover their port side."

  Minerva nodded. "We are moving to intercept." The Phoenix came up and in-between the two vessels. Charged energy particles rocked the carrier. Most of the shots reflected off the shields, but one shot slipped through the hitting the hull on their port side leaving a large hole. "Damage port side, but not in a critical system, I can compensate."

  "Good. Galina? Ready?"

  "Past ready. Overdrive activated. Hang on." The Defiant's engines glowed brighter and a second later disappeared as she jumped into overdrive. The Phoenix followed a nanosecond after.

  Chapter 15

  Halburn sighed as he pushed the button to send the elevator up its shaft to Lavine's office on the top floor. The anti-grav system kicked in and shot him up like a bullet. The car stopped with a jolt and Halburn shook his head, not remembering the car being that fast before. He put a hand over his middle, but his stomach was still on the ground floor. The doors opened to reveal a large man in a black uniform with the letters UN on the patches.

  "Halburn," the man said looking at him, "Chairman Lavine will see you now."

  Halburn sized the man up. The guard was over a foot taller, covered in rippling muscles his uniform couldn't hide, and probably dumb as a brick. Just the way Lavine liked them. "Did Lavine think I would run, so he sent you?"

  The large man shrugged his over-muscled shoulders. "I can't say, all I know is he told me to escort you to his office."

  Halburn sighed again. "Fine, but I know the way." He walked with a dragged gate. The walls were a plain light blue, but the floors were synth marble and very ornate. While the ground floor had real marble, the upper floors had used a more durable synthetic for weight and safety reasons. At least he assumed all the floors had it. It could be only Lavine's did. He stopped at the end of the hall and pushed a button near the door.

  The large man next him shot forward, opened the door, and stepped behind. "No need for that, he is expecting you."

  "Oh I know but—" He didn't get a chance to finish before the guard shoved him into the room and closed the door.

  Lavine was standing looking out the window but turned around as the door closed. "Well well well, you showed up after all. Some of my staff had bets you wouldn't. Of course, they don't know I know, or I would have to fire the lot. And it is so hard to get good help these days." Lavine cracked a grin making Halburn think it was better before he smiled. He regained his composure and nodded.

  "Chairman Lavine, you wanted to see me?"

  Lavine stepped forward, his long robes waving as he did. "Me? Did I? Now why would I want to see you? Perhaps because you have failed me time and time again? Failed to obey me and relinquish command of the Valiant? Or perhaps it was because the Defiant almost lands on top of you and you still can't take them down. Heck, even when they leave, you don't even follow them!"

  "How could we? We were one engine short of an overdrive!"

  "Excuses! All I hear is excuses!"

  "Sir, I—"

  "Silence! You have failed, failed, failed. You won't have command of a row boat from now on."

  "But—"

  "You are lucky I am not throwing you into an electro cell!"

  Halburn blinked and had enough. Anger bubbled up and shot out of him. "Now you listen to me you pompous windbag! I did everything you asked and more! Now sure I didn't take down the Defiant or the Mechand carrier but I was outgunned and outclassed in every aspect. No one could have done better, and you know it! Heck, everyone else would have done far worse. Furthermore, all of that was just a distraction."

  Lavine took another step closer as his teeth grated. "A distraction? You think all of that was a distraction? When I brought the ground defenses online we had them. Doran contacted me to discuss his surrender. I agreed to halt the guns, but you refused my orders!"

  Halburn folded his hands behind his back, turned away then back. "Surrender? I can't imagine that. He had us in the palm of his hand, all he had to do was squeeze. Did he use the word 'Surrender'?"

  Lavine thought for a moment. "No, he didn't."

  "I am certain it was part of the distraction, and to get you to call off your guns. To buy more time, which he did."

  Lavine's eyes narrowed. "Are you saying he played me?"

  Halburn saw Lavine's face and didn't want to lose the progress he had made thus far. "I wouldn't say played, Chairman, more like a tactical advance. I know him, so I can see his methods, but I doubt anyone else could."

  Lavine's look softened. "I see. And for what reason would he have to use such a distraction?"

  Halburn walked over to the large window and gazed down to the trees in the courtyard below. He stood there for several minutes before turning around. "Did you notice the rubber tire marks on the ground floor?"

  Lavine blinked. "Tire marks? Across my marble floor? No I didn't, but I'm sure they weren't there this morning."

  Halburn nodded. "I thought not. I assume you have not checked the security system for an intrusion?"

  "An intrusion? Here? If there was anything of the sort, it would have triggered every alarm in the building," Lavine said with a wave of his hand.

  "Then, why are there tread marks on the ground floor? Don't you suspect it has something to do with the Defiant being here? I sure do."

  "You may have a point." Lavine walked over behind his desk and sat in the padded chair. He typed in his access to the console to the right of his desk and a second later the screen filled with tiny squares. Each square showed a different camera. He tapped on the camera in the main lobby but nothing showed what made the tracks. He backed up and forwarded the recording several times but they suddenly appear at one point with no indication of how. "I have to admit, this is very unusual."

  Halburn leaned
over Lavine's desk so he could see the details on the small images. "Tread marks don't suddenly appear. Something must have made them. I think your security system has been compromised."

  Lavine shook his head. "Not possible. You know as well as I, if the recording was altered, there would be discrepancy in the time stamp. Not to mention the key signature. These are intact."

  Halburn folded his arms. "Something bypassed the recording system at the time, giving us a normal image."

  Lavine sat back in his chair. "No, if someone had accessed the system, it would show here."

  "Unless they bypassed that as well."

  "How? Such an alteration would leave tracks."

  Halburn shook his head. "Not if you built the system."

  Lavine's eyes went wide. "The Nexus?"

  Halburn nodded. "The Nexus. Didn't Mechands maintain this facility for years? It would know every system, and its weaknesses. Check the door locks, were they ever accessed during the time the Defiant was here?" Lavine accessed another screen and several columns of data flowed past. "Wait! Backup two pages. I thought I saw something." Lavine paged back and Halburn's hand shot forward to point at one small line. "There! The main gates were opened, and shortly after the one of the front doors was unlocked. And almost ten minutes later, the same door was accessed again. But there is no signature as to who did it." Halburn turned and started towards Lavine's office door.

  "And where are you going?" Lavine said suddenly annoyed. "I didn't give you permission to leave."

  Halburn turned. "Lavine? Really? You had a major security breach and would never have known if it wasn't for me. I'm going to find what was so important Deven would stage an attack for. You can stay here if you want, but I'm going with or without your permission." He turned back towards the door and continued on.

  Lavine hopped up but held his anger in check. "You have a point. But I will accompany you. Or rather you will accompany me."

  Halburn rolled his eyes then stopped and turned back toward the Chairman, gesturing towards the door. "By all means, after you Chairman."

  "Thank you," Lavine said as he flowed past, his robes rippling with the movement. Halburn rolled his eyes again once the man was in front.

  Down in the lobby Halburn pointed to the marks across the floor. "As I said, tire marks. And they would seem to lead to one of the back elevators. Why that one?" Halburn got down on his haunches to get a closer look at the rubber stretching across the marble. His head came up. "Lavine? Do you have any Mechands in this building?"

  "Only one. It is a simple cleaning Mechand. It is so simple it did not shut down with the Nexus."

  Halburn stood up and rubbed his chin. "And let me guess, it has rubber wheels?"

  Lavine's eyes went wide. "Why, I you're right! I forgot about that."

  Halburn smiled. "When you see something every day, it is easy to forget such details. That Mechand is how they got in undetected, I have no doubt."

  "Perhaps, but still, what for? Nothing has been reported missing. I suspect you chased him off before he got whatever they came for."

  Halburn shook his head and pointed at the floor. "No, there are two sets of marks here. Meaning they got in and out."

  "Or they made a mistake and aborted."

  "I don't think so. Both tracks go to the one elevator in back. Where does it go?"

  Lavine shrugged. "The same place as the rest. Nothing special about it."

  "Then why did they take that one and pass all the others which would have been faster?"

  Lavine looked at the closer elevators along the wall, and the one the tracks lead to it. "You have a point." He saw Halburn quickly walking towards the far end of the building. "Where are you going now?"

  "To find out what they were interested in," Halburn shouted over his shoulder.

  Lavine grunted and ran after him holding up his robes. He reached Halburn a second before the elevator doors closed. They road the car up and down several times checking every floor, but nothing showed any signs of usage. "I told you, nothing was reported missing. And no other doors show access logs."

  "I know. It must be something not obvious." Halburn smiled as he noticed the slot under the elevator controls. "Chairman, do you have an access card?"

  Lavine puffed up his chest. "Of course I do! Although, we don't use them very much since the building was retrofitted with hand scanners long before we came here. In fact, I have never used mine."

  "Do you have it on you?"

  "Of course!"

  Halburn's smile broadened as he held out his hand. "May I see it please?" Lavine rolled his eyes as he reached into his robes and pulled out a small card and handed it to him. Halburn stuck it into the slot and pressed the down button.

  "What good is that going to do? We are in the basement now! It doesn't go down any further than—" They heard a sound beneath their feet, as if something was sliding open and they shot down with increasing speed. "What in the name of—"

  Halburn smiled. "I thought so. I knew it couldn't be hidden above, or we would have found it. That left below."

  "But how did you know my key would work?"

  "I assumed you have the same card the original Chairman had when this was built. And since you didn't change anything, that card still would have access." The car stopped with a jolt and the doors slid open. A slight layer of dust on the floor showed two distinct sets of footprints down the hall. Halburn smiled as he pointed. "They were here." Lavine remained silent as they walked to the far end and he used the card again. The doors opened to reveal not dust but a large room with racks of storage and equipment filling the space.

  "No dust," Lavine said looking around.

  "No, the air must be filtered in here. But that's not what concerns me." He walked over to a large piece of angular smoothed metal sticking up from the floor and pointed. "This on the other hand, does."

  Lavine followed. "I don't know why. This is just bits of an old Mechand hull."

  Halburn pointed at the lines along the metals edge. "Are you really that stupid?"

  Lavine's eyes blazed. "How dare you—"

  "Listen to me. This was not built by humans. Look at the lines and metal of this." He gestured around the room to all the large pieces scattered across the floor, carefully dismantled, moved down here, and reassembled into various sections. Cryptic labels around each section were painted on the floor itself. "We didn't build any of this."

  "Then who did?"

  "That, my dear Chairman, is the question."

  The Defiant and Phoenix emerged from overdrive short of their target. "I'm sorry," Gregory's voice came through the intercom, "this is as far as we are going to get until 'fix it fingers' Leon has a crack at the engines."

  Galina watched the Earth turning far below. "Well, at least the upper Midwest isn't very populated these days."

  "Hey, perhaps Minerva's bunker has parts we can use. It isn't far from here."

  Galina shook her head. "Nope. From what Deven said, the founders didn't plan on the Mechand factories being dismantled. They only gave her the carrier, fighters, and the bunker itself." She togged the link. "How are you over there?"

  Minerva's face appeared. "We are in one piece, other than that, I won't comment."

  Leon's face slid in next to Minerva's. "We aren't that bad. A hole in the hull the Mechands are patching as we speak. It wasn't in a vital area, but you would think so from the way Minerva talks."

  "How would you like it if you had a hole in your arm? It is vital to you, yes?"

  "Yes Minerva, we know. The shields also need repair, along with a few other systems. How is the Defiant? I know the drives are not good, or we wouldn't be here."

  "Good guess. I was aiming for the Pacific not the Midwest."

  "Put Gregory on."

  "One sec." Galina tapped several keys. "Go ahead."

  "Gregory, can you hear me?"

  A clang and swearing came from the intercom. "Yes Leon, I can hear you."

  "He sounds more like yo
u all the time," Galina said.

  "Shhh. What's the problem?"

  "What's the problem? The engines need to be pulled that is the problem! I have tried everything!"

  "Did you check the phasing? I bet they were knocked out of sync again. The last time I fixed it was a patch as we didn't have time at Fenton's to pull them."

  "I did check the phasing."

  "The whole spectrum?"

  "Er … no. I didn't think of that."