Once again, the Organic rifle in Bouma’s hands felt horribly impotent. He could hardly do anything to prevent the carnage that was about to unfold. Diego and a bunch of unarmed humans were all that stood against one alien lizard with an anger problem.
Maybe, if more of the rebelling Hybrids helped, they’d be able to win this battle. Another three Sentinels joined the first, backed up by a shrieking crowd of spiders with bloodlust in their compound eyes. The din of Organic voices reverberated among the integration chambers.
Bouma gulped.
Things had just gotten much, much worse.
***
Athena lay in a cot deep within the bowels of the old sewer system beneath Pelican Air Force Base. Taylor and Malone were out on sentry duty with Staff Sergeant Therin Corey and several of the kids.
She was trying to grab some shuteye, but a conversation between Griffin and Santiago was keeping her up. Relenting to her sleeplessness, she sat up and rubbed her temples, trying to focus past a burgeoning headache.
“We’re dying here,” Santiago said.
Griffin brought a finger to his lips. “Try and keep it down, those are kids.”
“I’m well aware of that, brother,” Santiago snapped. “Don’t tell me what to say in front of them.”
The two teachers were sitting in metal chairs, talking in hushed voices. An old-school squeaky fan blew air on the filthy children resting there.
There was a tense moment of silence between Griffin and Santiago.
“My point is,” Santiago began again, “what do we do now? We got more mouths to feed than we can handle now. All this talk of escape… if it’s going to happen, then let’s go.”
Athena heaved a sigh and swung her legs over the side of the cot. She couldn’t sleep anyways, not after what had happened to her crew.
“We’ve got to wait for Alexia,” Griffin said.
“We can’t rely on some old computer hundreds of miles away.”
“We have to trust her,” Athena said.
Santiago snorted and pulled his hair back over his head. “Look. She said she’d send us a signal, and we haven’t received squat from her. The all-powerful Alexia is toast, if you ask me.”
“What?” Athena dragged her sleeve across her sweaty forehead. God, but it was hot down here. Even hundreds of feet beneath the surface, with fans charged by solar panels, it was near ninety degrees.
“We’ve been waiting for contact from her, but she’s gone dark,” Santiago said.
Athena looked to Griffin, who confirmed the information with a melancholy nod.
“Therin helped me rig an old satellite dish in a tunnel near the surface,” Santiago said. “We originally set it up hoping to get some transmission or sign or something telling us there was still a government out there. That just maybe, God-willing, someone was searching for survivors. Color me surprised when the first transmission we overheard was from Alexia. So all her communications have been a damn one-way street. We’ve had no way to reply, so we just listen to her give us orders like she’s some kind of god. And now, our precious god is dead, gone, absent, finito. Right when you all walk in here, no more Alexia.”
Athena didn’t respond—she was too busy thinking of the implications of living in a world without the AI.
“We’ve got to wait,” Griffin said. “She promised she’d help us.” His brow furrowed. “How long will our remaining supplies last?”
“Shit, four or five days.” Santiago let out a morose laugh. “A week if we’re okay with growling bellies.”
“Alexia,” Athena muttered. “Where are you?”
“That’s the million-dollar question,” Santiago said.
Alexia had promised to help them right away. Athena couldn’t imagine the AI would just leave them in the dark like this. Especially not after they’d made it to Pelican AFB. A shiver crept down her spine. There had to be a good reason. If Alexia had gone quiet…
She pictured those drones headed toward Colorado. What if something had happened to her?
They had to know.
“Santiago, this dish you guys found… where did you get it?” Athena asked.
“Therin and I scavenged as much junk as we could from Pelican, hoping some of it would be useful. The dish was a part of that.”
“Do you have more comm equipment?”
Santiago shrugged. “Probably, but I’m just a freaking bus driver, not a scientist.”
“Can you show me what else you have?”
Instead of answering, Santiago stood and waved her after him. She followed. He led her to an adjoining tunnel that was filled with all manner of electronic equipment.
“Any of this useful to you?” Santiago asked.
An idea formulated in Athena’s head. “Maybe. But it’s not going to be up to me.”
She crept back to Trish’s cot and gently tugged on the woman’s shoulder, rousing her from her slumber.
Trish opened her eyes groggily.
“Sorry to wake you, but I need your help with something.”
Trish rubbed at her eyes and then nodded. “Sure, what can I do?”
“Santiago hasn’t heard anything from Alexia, and we’re getting worried. I know this will expose us to the Organics, but we have to try reaching her.”
“We didn’t bring anything capable of that type of communication,” Trish said.
“I know, but Santiago might have something useful.”
Athena showed Trish the tunnel of scavenged equipment. “Think you can find something useful here?”
“Maybe.”
After an hour alone with the equipment, Trish came out with an antenna system hooked up to a cracked monitor. Wires dangled off the contraption. It looked like some kind of school science experiment.
Griffin raised a single eyebrow. “That gonna work?”
“Should,” Trish said. “It’s a pretty standard radio wave transmission device. Wasn’t too hard to cobble together.” Her face scrunched in worry. “The only problem is, this will for sure be heard by any Organics listening in.”
“That’s going to be a risk we’ll have to take,” Athena said.
“Is Santiago okay with that?” Griffin asked.
Athena looked over her shoulder. The eccentric old man was talking to the teachers.
“He’s nuts, but there are kids here,” Griffin said.
“I know. I just don’t think we have any other choice.” Athena eyed their supplies in the corner of the room. “We are out of time, and we need Alexia.”
“I’m with you, whatever you decide,” Griffin said. “You haven’t led us astray yet.”
Athena paused to think. If their radio transmission was detected by the Organics, she might be inviting a slaughter. But the alternative was to starve in a week. There was only one good option, really, and it wasn’t all that good. They had to talk to Alexia.
“Santiago, get over here,” Athena said.
The man hurried over. “Yeah?”
“Trish crafted a radio transmitter from your supplies,” Athena said. “We can use it to contact Alexia.”
Santiago’s gaze danced between them suspiciously. “What’s the catch?”
“It’s possible the signal could be detected by the Organics.”
“How possible?”
Athena looked to Trish.
“It’s hard to say,” Trish said. “They’d have to have a ship or vehicle or something equipped with comm equipment scanning all frequencies.”
Santiago looked over his shoulder at the kids. Athena could tell he really cared about them, and just wanted the best for them.
“We have to think of the future and not the present,” Athena said. “As soon as we reach Alexia, we can get the hell out of here. You said it yourself. We’re not going to last down here.”
Santiago sighed. “Fine. Try it.”
“Do it, Trish,” Athena ordered.
“You got it, Corporal.” Trish held out a long wire with the antenna. “This needs to be close
to the surface.”
“Consider it done,” Griffin said, taking off for the exit, wire in hand. “I’ll tell Malone and Taylor what’s going on while I’m up there.”
Athena nodded. She watched him move into a connecting tunnel. Trish set up the monitor as the antenna continued to unspool. She started tapping out a message.
Folding her arms across her vest, Athena watched anxiously.
“What is that?” came a young voice.
Athena looked over to see a young girl standing in the dim lighting.
“Are you a soldier?” she asked.
Athena didn’t know exactly how to reply to that. “I guess I am. What’s your name?”
“Melanie.”
“How old are you, Melanie?”
The girl looked at the ceiling with blue eyes, pursed her lips, and then said, “Five.”
“You look older than that.”
“I’m almost six.”
“Ah, that explains it.”
Melanie pointed to Trish. “What’s she doing?”
“Trying to get us help.”
“I thought you were the help.”
Athena bent down next to the girl, getting a whiff of body odor and feces. The kids were all filthy. None of them had probably washed in months, and they had been living in a series of sewer tunnels to boot.
The ground suddenly rumbled under her feet, and her eyes flitted from Melanie to the ceiling. Dust particles rained down from the concrete.
Several of the kids got up from their beds, and Santiago ran over to Athena and Trish. The flames from the candles flickered, the light dancing across the walls.
“The hell is going on?” Santiago asked.
Another vibration rumbled across the floor.
“What is that?” Trish asked, looking up from the equipment.
Athena grabbed her pulse rifle and checked the magazine. “It can’t be from your transmission, could it? How the hell could they be on us this fast?”
“It was already close by,” came another voice. Griffin stood in the exit with Malone and Taylor. Several of the kid soldiers came running from the passage.
“There’s something up there, Corporal, and it’s really freaking big!” Griffin said.
“It’s some kind of massive bug alien,” Malone said. “It just dropped out of the sky, and now it’s headed toward the base.”
Another rumble shook the room. Spider webs fissured across the ceiling.
Santiago’s nostrils flared. “You brought that thing here!”
“There’s no way they detected and picked up our transmission that fast!” Athena replied, still not believing their sour luck.
“You must have been detected on the way in,” Santiago said. “It doesn’t matter now. We have to get topside.”
The old man palmed a magazine into his rifle. “We have to draw whatever this thing is away from the kids. Therin, take them out the back!”
The staff sergeant nodded and ran over to the kids and teachers. “Come on everyone,” he said. “Grab your stuff and let’s move.”
The quakes continued, each one louder than the last. A chunk of ceiling fell away and shattered on the floor.
The teachers and Therin were already leading the kids down another passage, their escape route. Athena, Taylor, Malone, and Griffin followed Santiago toward the tunnel Griffin had accessed earlier.
Trish called out after them. “Wait, Corporal, I’m getting something from Alexia.”
Athena halted.
Trish listened to the receiver for several long seconds. Even in the dim lighting, Athena could see her eyes widen.
“She says to hold tight,” Trish said. “She’s sending us help.”
***
ENTRY 10292
DESIGNEE – AI ALEXIA
Lolo is currently passing over North America, providing a view of what’s happening at the Pelican AFB. The same type of alien monster that killed Commander Suzuki and his team has located Athena and the others. The Organics must have detected Corporal Rollins and her team crossing the desert and deployed this gargantuan beast that appears to be some sort of Anthropoda.
I study the creature on screen while my system scans the image. It may be an alien, but it shows a remarkable similarity to the Dynastinae subfamily of beetle, in particular, the Hercules beetle. Of course, its size is one thousand times larger than even that massive beetle species.
It scuttles over the sand on multiple limbs, folding thick wings over another set of membranous wings, the ones it used to fly there. Two horns crest the armored head, and a third horn points forward from the thorax. A moment of observation reveals the purpose of this third horn.
The creature finishes folding its wings under plating covering its back, and then lowers its head to start digging into the sand covering the sewer system the humans are hiding inside. The beetle is a bunker crusher, and it won’t be long before it breaks into the underground passages.
At Cheyenne Mountain, seven of the alien nanotech spheres have melted their way through the doors protecting the servers and drives that serve as my brain. All but two of the robots I’ve sent to engage them lie in heaps of debris. There are only three doors left for the Organics to break through before they reach me.
My last line of defense, aside from Y-K8, is J9-1, a drone I’ve dispatched from outside the facility. This robot was a mile out on routine patrol when the Organics landed on the tarmac, but it’s now back inside the Biosphere, preparing to attack the spheres melting through the final doors.
This is it. I’m ready to shut down the system. The virus Y-K8 infected the Organic network with is working, and has provided me an opportunity to hack into their system, but I am unable to manually shut down these nanotechnology-based spheres. They continue their mission of extermination.
In this race against time, an interesting development occurs. I receive a transmission from an Organic ship entering Earth’s atmosphere. The pilot claims to be an alien friend of the human race, and insists it is with a human now.
I don’t believe it. This can’t be possible. This must be a trick, a way to distract me. The Organics know I’m in their network, and they know I’ve infected them with a virus. The virus isn’t designed to destroy their fleet. That, I judged, is impossible. Instead, the virus is intended to allow me to control the Sharks—the only aircraft I have the schematics for. If I can do that, I may have a shot at stopping the Hercules beetle at Pelican.
Commander Suzuki’s sacrifice was not in vain. The intel he provided on the Sharks could help me save the hundreds of humans clinging to survival.
Sensors show the alien spheres breaking through the third door, leaving only two between my hardware and their lasers.
I ignore the transmission from the Shark entering the atmosphere. I won’t let the Organics trick me.
There’s only one hope now. If the virus gives me access to the other Sharks, I will have a chance to complete my objective of saving the remaining humans.
The Sharks will be their vehicles to Mars or beyond.
END ENTRY
***
“Son of a bitch,” Noble said. Alexia was clearly ignoring Roots’ messages, but he didn’t blame her. There was no way for her to confirm Roots was who it claimed to be. All he could do was tell Roots to fly faster.
They had already pushed the fighter to the max since they’d left the Moon. Three hours was all it had taken to get to Earth, but they were slowing now as they approached the planet. Any faster, and they would burn up during reentry. Roots warned that the Organic ship was reporting that such temperatures would tear the vessel apart.
“Come on, buddy, you can do this,” Noble said.
Roots gave a cackle to confirm he got the message. His sponge-tipped branch limbs moved with precision as he piloted the fighter. They penetrated the mesosphere, and seconds later cut through the stratosphere.
“Let’s go, let’s go,” Noble said anxiously.
The ship continued to decelerate. F
lames rushed across the cockpit, vibrating the vessel, but the shields held.
Noble took in a long breath, doing his best to manage his nerves. His heart continued to kick out of control, and sweat bled down his naked flesh. He watched and waited for the first view of the surface.
This was the most excitement he’d had in three months, but it wasn’t exactly good excitement. They continued on course to Cheyenne Mountain. Soon enough, the mountain range jutted up across the horizon.
His muscles tightened across his body at his first glimpse of the landscape. The view wasn’t exactly how he remembered it. The air-brushed peaks were gone, replaced by jagged brown tips that looked like rotting teeth. The brown continued down to the base of the mountains, where the tree line had shriveled and died. Charred forests, burned to the ground, filled the view to the east, and craters where crystal clear lakes had been dotted the terrain.
As the aircraft closed in to Cheyenne, Roots reached over and placed a sponge against his arm—a warning.
A half dozen Organic fighters sat idly on the tarmac. The same type of fighter that Roots was piloting.
“No wonder Alexia isn’t answering,” Noble whispered.
Roots glanced over, batting all three eyelids.
“Keep flying,” Noble ordered, touching the alien. He looked back out at the tiny blue craft parked outside the blast doors leading into the mountain. Scooting closer to the control panel, Noble prepared the laser cannons.
“Time to turn some more Organics into pulp,” he muttered.
Three of the alien fighters rose off the platform to intercept Noble, but he still had the element of surprise. He activated the lasers and pushed the firing button, targeting all three of the ships simultaneously.
A staccato blast of laser fire lanced away from the cannons and slammed into the three craft, the pilots all caught off guard. The first volley took down the shields, and the second punched holes into each ship. Only one survived the onslaught. It pulled away, but Noble fired another round, ripping off both wings. The nose lowered, and the craft plummeted toward the slope. It exploded on impact with a cliff.
Orbs IV_Exodus_Post Apocalyptic Science Fiction Survival Thriller Page 29