by Greig Beck
Sam lifted one of his hands, seeing the splatter of slime on his gloves. He turned to her. “Burn?”
“Correct. Prior to removal of suits for destruction,” Sophia said matter-of-factly.
“Okay.” Sam nodded. “Line up people, we’re about to work on our suntans.”
“What’s happening?” Russell asked. “How do we decontaminate up here?”
Sam snorted. “That android is a walking thermonuclear reactor.”
“HiPER fusion, actually,” Sophia said. “HIgh Power Energy Release through fusion reaction.”
Sam nodded. “Her power source can be used to generate enough heat to create a flame. I’m guessing we’re about to take a bath in it. It’ll incinerate anything nasty that might be trying to hitch a ride home, right?”
“Correct,” Sophia said. “Please form a line.”
Sophia stood to the side, and pulled open a near invisible flap on her chest showing a glowing red disc. It began to emit a beam of light that formed a ball in the air that first became oily looking, and then turned to a wall of flame.
Sophia passed the wall over her own body, decontaminated herself, and then she projected it out to the side where it hung like a flaming doorway to hell.
“One at a time, walk into the fire, arms outstretched and turn once. You should be safe as long as you do not stay more than 3.5075 seconds within the heat.”
“Me first.” Casey sounded like she was grinning under her suit. She held her arms out and walked into the searing flame. She turned slowly, and then let out a scream of abject pain and horror. After another second, she walked out the other side, laughing.
“Good God, Franks. That’s some sense of humor you got there,” Monroe said. “Give a guy a heart attack, why don’t ya?”
“You pussies, these suits can withstand just about anything. Hurry the fuck up, as just about anything doesn’t cover a MOAB detonation.”
“Decontamination successful,” Sophia intoned.
One after the other the HAWCs walked into the flame, their suits smoking for a moment, but then cooling quickly in the freezing atmosphere.
Russell shook, his arms folded tight as if for protection as he approached the wall of flame.
“Arms out, please, Doctor Burrows,” Sophia said. “Unfortunately, your suit is not as flame resistant as the HAWCs, so you may feel some … discomfort.”
“Yeah, discomfort,” Casey sniggered and folded her arms, watching closely.
“Shit, shit, shit.” Russell held his arms out, very slowly, lowered his head and shut his eyes. Looking like a man condemned, he walked into the wall of flame.
“Stay cool.” Morag smiled.
Russell jumped and danced inside the inferno. “Fucking hot, hot, hot.” He turned once, and then fell out the other side. His suit smoked and was melted in places.
“Decontamination successful,” Sophia intoned again.
“Jesus Christ.” Russell rolled for a few seconds to put himself out and then got to his feet. “I’m okay, I’m okay.” He looked across to Morag, and smirked. “Your turn.”
* * *
“Oh goodie.” Morag exhaled as she steeled herself. Then she shut her eyes and walked forward. As soon as she entered the wall of fire, she felt the pressure waves go from warm to extreme heat in seconds. She ground her teeth and held her arms out, but exposing the softer areas under her arms turned the pain up to excruciating levels.
Morag screamed as a place on her shoulder turned to white-hot agony and inside her suit she smelled cooking flesh. She dove out the other side of the wall of fire, and moaned and gripped her tormented shoulder. Morag stayed down letting the pain ebb to a level of tolerance that allowed her to think straight.
Sophia turned glowing eyes on her. “Decontamination unsuccessful.”
“You okay, babe?” Casey Franks held out a hand to her, but Sophia’s voice was like a sword as it cut across her.
“Warning, Ms. O’Sullivan’s biological suit has been breached – physical contamination has occurred. Please remain clear.”
“What?” Morag felt her shoulder, and suddenly remembered when the Morg had grabbed her at the shuttle – its clawed hand had obviously penetrated the tough HAZMAT material.
She got slowly to her feet. “I’m fine.” She looked at Sam and then Casey. “I’m fine, really.” She took a few steps toward them.
Sophia held up a hand. “Stop, Ms. O’Sullivan. You risk recontaminating the rest of the team. This will abort evacuation.”
“Lighten up, slim.” Casey stood in front of Morag.
Sophia’s head turned toward Casey. “Contamination protection protocols require no infected personnel be evacuated.” She turned back to Morag. “This order is immutable.”
“Hey, just wait a minute.” Sam also stepped in front of Morag. “Let’s work this through. We can have them shoot down a containment tube, seal her off until we get her back to the labs.”
Sophia’s tiny glowing red eyes never seemed to blink or move from the fixed position on the infected woman.
“Impact and detonation in eleven minutes. Uninfected personnel need to be approximately eighty feet over the rim to guarantee safe shielding from percussive heat blast.”
“This is bullshit,” said Monroe. “We all go, or none of us go.”
“That is your choice.” Sophia remained implacable. “Please be aware that I am authorized to use extreme force to protect the global population.”
“Yeah, well we don’t take threats too well, get it?” Casey snarled and squared her shoulders.
“Stand down, soldier.” Sam stared at Casey for a moment, before turning away.
“Listen everyone; she, the robot, is right,” Russell said softly. He looked to Morag. “Sorry Morag, but if this thing escaped, then everyone is dead. And I mean, everyone.” He shrugged.
Morag slumped. “Oh fuck.” The thing was she did feel kinda headachy, a little dizzy, and had a crap taste in her mouth now. She had been telling herself it was just dehydration, fatigue and perhaps her oxygen running low. But now she knew it was something far worse.
She hugged herself, still feeling the throb from her seared shoulder and looked out over the fog. It boiled and swirled, like a turbulent ocean, and she saw that it was now a lot higher than when they first arrived.
This was why they needed to bomb the mountaintop. If not, then the entire nightmare would soon rise then cascade over the crater rim. She knew what they meant – following that came the slime, then more mist and the hellish abominations hiding within it.
She clenched her jaw to stop it from trembling and turned to Sam Reid.
“I don’t want to …”
Die, she finished the sentence only as a thought, not wanting to say it out loud. She looked away from the stinking smog and carefully undid the top of her suit, pulling the visored-hood from her head.
Morag closed her eyes and sucked in a huge draft of the most beautiful air she had ever smelled in her life.
She opened her eyes and craned her neck to look up at the clear, star-lit sky above her. After the suffocating, soupy atmosphere in the crater basin, it felt like looking at the difference between heaven and hell.
She spoke without turning. “Where’s Alex Hunter? He’ll know what to do.”
“Impact and detonation now in nine minutes, twelve seconds,” was Sophia response.
Morag hated the sound of the android’s voice. “What am I supposed to do?” she asked. “Just sit here?”
“Please, Morag.” Russell’s eyebrows sloped behind his mask. “You saw what happened to the others. Think of your family and friends back home … if this stuff ever got there …”
“Yes.” She titled her head back and looked up at the stars again. “This was going to be the greatest story ever written – a prize winner.”
If Alex Hunter were here now, he might be forced into a dilemma that could slow him down from saving his team … and the world.
“There’s no cure,” Russel
l whispered.
Morag looked to him, remembering Anne’s words. “How do you cure evolution, right?”
“You don’t have to … just sit here and wait for it to happen to you.” Russell looked away quickly.
“You fucking asshole,” Casey spat. The tough female HAWC’s teeth were bared.
Morag stared at him for a moment. Only Casey Franks returned her gaze as she looked between the two.
Casey’s brutal gaze softened, and her shoulders seemed to slump. “Hey babe, remember what you said your mom used to say to you?”
Morag nodded and said the words with her. “Fly free, girl.” The corners of her mouth twitched up.
Coming, Mom.
Morag ran at the cliff edge, shut her eyes, and launched herself out over the boiling sea of mist.
CHAPTER 47
Alex held the photograph of the Russian woman as he watched the horrifying thing that was once a man vanish into the night-thick gloom. He looked down at her one last time, and then tucked both the picture and image chip into a pouch at his waist and turned to the sheer wall.
He began to sprint, launching himself up the near-vertical incline to begin the clamber hundreds of feet to the rim. About half way up, he felt the presence of something coming at him and he clung to the rock face as it shot past. He swung his head, however it had already disappeared into the fog.
But he didn’t need to see it to sense it had been a human being; something was happening topside. And someone was now dead. He threw himself up to the next handhold, climbing so fast now he was almost running up the sheer rock face.
In another few minutes, he came up over the edge and saw his three remaining HAWCs, Sophia, and Russell Burrows. As he suspected, he was one short. Their faces were grim.
“Why?”
Sophia turned her glowing eyes on him. “There was a breach in Ms. O’Sullivan’s suit – she was informed she was infected. She chose to remove herself.”
Franks pointed. “Yeah, coz this metal bitch was going to kill her anyway.”
“Incorrect.” Sophia's eyes remained on Alex. “Contamination protection protocols demand no infected personnel be evacuated. I only informed Ms. O’Sullivan that she was to remain behind.”
Alex exhaled and turned to look out over the crater. “How long?”
Sophia’s tiny glowing red eyes never wavered. “Impact and detonation in four minutes, two seconds, and counting. Uninfected personnel need to be approximately eighty feet over the rim to guarantee safe shielding from initial heat blast.” She opened the small panel on her chest, showing the glowing red rector. “You need to be scanned and decontaminated, Captain Hunter. There are no exceptions.”
Casey pointed. “And what happens if the boss is infected, will you …”
“Shut it, Franks. It’s just a robot doing what it’s programmed to do.” Alex turned to Sophia. “Proceed with immediate decon, now.”
Sophia reignited the wall of flame, and Alex didn’t hesitate to step into it. He felt the searing heat, opened his arms wide and angled his head back. He stayed there and let the fire scald him and blister him, cleanse him, and sear away the frustration and anger rising within him.
Everyone dies, everything changes.
He tried to take his mind to Aimee and Joshua, but something overrode his thoughts.
“I’m not just a robot,” the female voice whispered.
From within the flames, Alex turned to stare at the twin lights glowing from Sophia’s face. Her head was tilted, almost questioning. Alex didn’t step free, but Sophia closed the fire down herself. “Decontamination successful. Impact in T-minus fifty-eight seconds and counting.”
Smoke rose from his seared body. He ignored the pain and the rawness, and instead set the timer on his wrist and it began to countdown.
Fifty-seven, fifty-six, fifty-five …
Alex turned, yelling. “Get to the ropes.” He started to run to the outer cliff edge, where their climbing lines were still tied off.
Forty-five, forty-four, forty-three …
Sam was first and grabbed Russell. “Don’t look down, focus on the rope – go!”
Monroe and Casey took the next ropes, literally picking them up and leaping.
Thirty-eight, thirty-seven, thirty-six …
“Go, Sam.” Alex waited until Sam went over the edge, and then grasped the last line.
Who?
Alex turned.
Twenty-five, twenty-four, twenty-three …
The word had been in his head. Alex looked up and Sophia stood staring at him.
“What?”
Eighteen, seventeen, sixteen …
“No time for this.” Alex moved to the edge.
Who is Aimee?
Alex froze, staring back at the silver figure. The two small red dots seemed to sear into his mind, seeing all. Was this Grey’s programming? Or was Sophia pulling that out herself? And why?
He raised a hand, pointing a finger at her. “Back off.” He shut her out.
Thirteen, twelve, eleven …
Alex went over the edge.
* * *
The HAWCs landed close to the rock face on the ledge and immediately jammed themselves in under a small overhang of solid granite. Sophia scaled down by herself and stood in close to them, but facing out at the distant horizon.
Six, five, four …
“Heavy weather coming,” Alex yelled.
“Bomber is inbound,” said Sophia. “Launch has been initiated.”
Alex expected the bomb would be some sort of big thermobaric device, possibly even a MOAB. It would raise temperatures to 4,500 degrees, igniting the mix of gases in the basin. Nothing inside, or close by, could possibly survive.
Alex watched the sky. The bomb would have its own laser-guidance system and propulsion, and no matter what the weather conditions, wouldn’t miss its target by an inch. He just hoped that they were far enough away, and the crater basin walls would contain the heat within the two-mile mountaintop cusp, scour everything down to the bare rock, and then vent the remaining heat and energy straight upwards.
Anything inside and not made of solid granite would be vaporized. Good. He looked up, hearing the faint scream of the incoming missile.
“Deploy shields,” he yelled.
The four HAWCs energized the shields on their forearms and held them above the group, interlocking them, and then hunkered down at the rock face.
Alex continued to stare out through the gaps, and saw Sophia still standing tall. But now she had turned to watch him.
He saw the dot appear in the sky – it was here.
“Brace!”
The bomb struck and then detonated with the sound of a thousand thunder strikes. The entire mountain shook like an old tree in a storm. Boulders rained down, thudding onto the defensive shell they’d created with their shields, and one, around a couple of feet wide, flew at Sophia. The android swung an arm and swiped it away like it was nothing more than an annoying bug.
Unbelievably, through the hundreds of feet of solid rock, Alex felt the stone heating up, and looking upwards, he saw a plume of molten rock shooting into the air like a volcano erupting. The night sky turned to a white-hot daylight.
The weird buzzing that had been in his head since they arrived abruptly stopped.
It’s over. He knew they’d only won today because of the dumb luck of where the Orlando had come down. Anywhere else and containment would have been impossible.
Alex dropped his gaze. Good men and women died, as they always do, so the world could remain oblivious to just how close it came again to annihilation.
He closed his eyes, and let his breath out slowly as the light faded back to darkness. A successful mission is the one where you got to go home, he reminded himself. He smiled as an image of Aimee and Joshua formed in his mind. Home to you soon.
CHAPTER 48
Viktor Dubkin stared back at President Volkov – the Little Wolf’s pale eyes never blinked, and could have been made f
rom cut glass. The man didn’t move a muscle or even seem to breathe.
Dubkin exhaled, his breath leaving his mouth as a vapor ghost in the icy atmosphere of the bleak courtyard. His hands would have stung from the cold if they weren’t lacking blood from the restriction.
It all felt like a dream, and he wished it were. Everything that could have gone wrong, had, and all he had to show for billions of rubles invested and the entire Kurgan program wasted was one last platform before his president.
Dubkin continued to stare back at Volkov, but knew that arguing, negotiating, or begging was useless. Water dripped from his nose, tickling, but he didn’t shake it away as the chafing at his neck would have been unbearable.
Volkov finally moved; he nodded.
The lever was pulled and the trapdoor beneath Dubkin’s feet fell away. The coarse rope tightened around his neck, and in just the five feet he fell there was an eternity when images of childhood, teen years, and loves won and lost all flashed before his eyes, until the rope hit its end and he jerked hard to a stop.
Dubkin heard rather than felt the vertebrae in his neck separate as a white flash went off behind his eyes. Then nothing.
CHAPTER 49
Alex sprinted across the grass of their front yard, with Aimee coming to him with her arms as wide as her smile. Right behind her bounded Joshua, screaming with euphoria.
Alex grabbed Aimee and spun her in the air before the boy barged in to hug his hips and then all three of them fell to the grass laughing.
“This time, I’m not letting you go.” Aimee kissed him so hard it hurt, and then held his head against hers for several moments until Joshua punched him in the chest.
“I knew you’d make it,” Joshua said grinning. “I saw it.”
Alex looked at the boy. “I know.” He leaned up on one elbow, seeing the dog sitting patiently. It was still only a puppy but bigger than he expected, and given the size of its paws and ears, it was soon going to be enormous.
“Hell, Josh, what are you feeding that thing?”