by Paul Teague
What would happen if they succeeded in overthrowing Delman and Hunter? Was that the objective? Talya wondered what might replace their rule. If the rebels were not destroyed, there would be some monumental changes required in The City. Talya felt overwhelmed by the enormity of it all. On a minute-by-minute basis, survival was all she could think about, her survival and that of those who were in imminent danger. The rest would follow after that.
She had to do what they were asking of her, it would be her contribution. There was still hope for Max, Jena, Mitchell and Hannah if they could turn events in their favour. At least if they failed, they’d have died trying.
Talya was grateful for having had some time on her own. She’d reasoned there was little she could do to impact events until her address on the screens. She needed to eat, build her strength and prepare for what was coming. The rebels had created an impressive base below ground in what must have been a large storage area for vehicles in the pre-plague years. They’d accumulated weapons, medical supplies and Silk Road technology. The resistance was made up of ex-Centuria, Silk Road residents and those who lived in The Climbs. It was remarkable it could have existed for so long without detection. How had they evaded Fortrillium?
Talya shut down her console and left her small room in the Med-Centre. The control area was alive with activity, it was as if they’d been waiting for her to arrive. There didn’t seem to be an appointed leader, it appeared to be more of a collaborative arrangement. Leo had authority, Sivil seemed to command respect too, but she’d seen no clear leader.
She walked around the control area, impressed at what they’d managed to achieve. There was a dedicated medical area – it seemed well supplied, it was clean, organized and as good as anything she’d encountered on Silk Road. If only she’d had access to this when Harry had her accident, might they have saved her?
There were a couple of meeting rooms and offices, some guarded weaponry areas and several military vehicles, including three that were armoured. Talya speculated about how they could have procured those vehicles without detection. Fortrillium must have known about the resistance movement since there was no way that level of deception could have remained concealed.
There were video feeds of the trial all over the control area. These were mixed with other views: of Fortrillium’s main security gate, of the entrance to the President’s quarters, and of the security gates positioned between Silk Road and The Climbs. They seemed to have everything sewn up. Talya could not believe that so much had been achieved by so few. She wished that Wiz had had access to this area. They could have made so much more headway without the constraints of operating from Harry’s cramped apartment.
Her attention was caught by activity in one of the far offices. There was a camera being set up and lights and screens were being arranged. They were preparing for Talya’s address, it would happen soon. This would be her moment. Everything would change forever once the citizens of The Climbs knew there was something else besides the horror of Fortrillium rule. There had been no hope for so many years, but at last a small flame was beginning to glow in the darkness. They would have to move fast and confidently to keep it burning. The minute Damien Hunter saw what she’d done, he’d do everything in his power to snuff out that tiny flame.
Chapter Five
Fifty Years After The Plague
Edward Schaelles was grateful for the solitude of the Cryo-Lab, it was a relief after twenty-seven years of custodianship to have finally reached this day. The man in the Cryo chamber held the whole of humanity in his hands, his awakening would set the world on a new course. If there was one person who could stop it all going up in flames it was JD2022. The level of destruction in the other Sectors had finally been confirmed, it was time to reawaken their only hope.
JD2022 looked calm in his frozen sleep. But once awoken in his new body, he would walk into a firestorm. As a CryoBiologist, Edward hadn’t had much cause to get involved in politics. Most of his work after the plague had been in Centrum, and it had been a long time since he’d bothered to wonder what was outside, it hadn’t mattered for years. There was nowhere to go anyway. But when he’d discovered what Morgan was up to, he’d had to take action for the sake of his son, if for no other reason, and now for his granddaughter.
Edward had vague memories of the world before the plague. He’d been a young man then, twenty-three years of age, just at the beginning of a promising career in Cryogenic preservation. What had once been a way for the rich and famous to try to live forever had quickly become a means of self-preservation for the key leaders of the human race. The ruling elite who’d invested their money in Cryogenic chambers were swiftly thrown out and replaced with more important contents. Their frozen bodies were left on the surface, naked and exposed, never to awaken from their deep sleep. Most would have preferred it that way, Edward believed. The world they would have inherited after the plague was not one they would have chosen.
They’d made considerable progress since he first entered Centrum. JD2022 was lucky to be in there, sleeping soundly and securely, safe from the perils of this new world.
JD2022 was prepared for awakening. The nanotech readings had confirmed all was well physically. The subject was thirty-one years old. In fact it was his thirty-first birthday that very day. There was some poetry in that. This man had requested a rebirth on his birthday. He was actually eighty-one years old, but his physical and mental deterioration had been stalled by the freezing process. He’d need a young man’s constitution to handle what was coming next.
Edward Schaelles was tiring of life. So many years away from the blue skies and beautiful landscapes of his youth had taken their toll. He’d not had much to celebrate since the plague years, and after the death of his wife there was only his work and his son to live for. His life’s work was almost over, it was time to pass the responsibility to his son. Once Philip had a daughter, he’d understand why Edward had had to take such drastic unilateral action.
Taking JD2022 out of his Cryogenic state was his final task. His son would continue his work after that had been completed. Edward was ready to sleep, he envied the slumber that these people had been allowed to enjoy. He’d hang on a little longer because he was desperate to see Philip’s child born. It would be like finding a flower growing in the desert – beauty and wonder at last in a place of desolation.
JD2022’s body began to jump. It was always the same as the brain was reactivated. It was literally a rebirth, a flood of memories finding sudden motion after a break of almost fifty years. As consciousness was confirmed on the console in front of him, the confidential details about the man would be unlocked. His files had been top-level security, and only when his brain patterns returned to normal would the data be unlocked.
Edward had never seen anything like this. Most of the Cryos were politicians or scientists with specialist expertise, put on ice to guarantee the passage of knowledge through the years. Nobody had yet been under as long as this man, he was special.
Edward monitored the screen and waited for the lock to be opened. Although tired of life, he was still fascinated to see how this process worked. He’d been taking care of JD2022 for twenty-seven years, ever since the initial transfer took place in complete secrecy. It felt as if he’d been waiting for this day forever.
He could see that the console was polling the man’s brain, extracting data and matching it with things that only he could know. It was a padlock, and the combination set with uniquely personal information. He couldn’t see the questions or the answers, it was an electronic process, but he was able to watch it taking place on his screen.
There were ten pieces of data, ten bars on his screen. As each challenge was made to JD2022’s brain, the correct answer was received and the bars changed in colour from blue to green.
This was top-level security, it went over everybody’s head. There was no higher level of authority, it superseded everything that had gone before. When Edward had taken on the task of managing this aw
akening, it had been in the strictest confidence. If he’d ever shared what he’d found out it would have been punishable by death, even more so if their leaders ever discovered how he’d deceived them.
It was for their own sake. He had to take action to save them all. If he hadn’t done it covertly, Morgan’s team would have killed him. He hadn’t even told his wife before she died. He regretted that. No man should live with secrets, he’d understood that only after she’d left him.
The console changed again and a password request box appeared on the screen. He’d remembered this information for many years, it would be ill-advised to record it anywhere. He entered the data carefully. The panel unlocked and JD2022’s file was presented on the screen.
There was a security code which would confirm to anybody in authority that what was about to happen overruled everything else. JD2022 would have control of the entire infrastructure from this point on. The agreement between them was clear. Edward would complete this essential process, and then it would be over as far as he was concerned. It would be another fifty years until the final action was taken. He would be long dead by then, but it would save his son and his granddaughter.
JD2022’s eyes opened and Edward looked into them for the first time, searching for clues as to who this man was. He had a name now, and he would need to welcome him back to their terrible world.
Edward pressed a button at the side of the Cryo chamber and the lid slid open. He could see that JD2022 was struggling to make sense of it all so he took the initiative.
‘Welcome back to Centrum. My name is Edward Schaelles. If you recall, I’m the CryoBiologist charged with your awakening. You’ll be unsteady on your feet at first, just take a moment to come round, it can be very disorienting at first …’
JD2022 stepped out of the chamber and walked over to Edward’s screen. There was his file and Morgan’s, just as he’d left them before his long sleep began. Schaelles had been as good as his word, he’d delivered on everything he’d promised. He could feel Morgan’s consciousness, but it was weak and subjugated like a distant echo, it wouldn’t trouble him. He’d got access to everything he needed from Morgan. They’d taken care of that fifty years ago.
Everything he required was there, but he’d have to move fast to cover his tracks. He needed to get to a place where they’d never come for him. When he was ready, he’d come to them. It would be another fifty years until that moment.
He read the data on the screen and committed it to memory. He was still struggling to orientate himself after the awakening, but there was no way he could trust that data to any electronic device. It had to stay in his head. These codes would eventually save humanity.
Once the information had been safely stored, JD2022 began the deletion process. The data begin to erase just as he’d always intended, starting at the bottom and working to the top of the screen. There had to be no history of these events. For him to make his final move, he had to remain undetected and unchallenged.
He and Edward Schaelles had plotted this forty-nine years previously. He’d been a prisoner then, scarred and tortured by the man whose careless and callous actions had created a second pandemic. Schaelles had saved him. He was supposed to have been stored as a replacement host body for President Morgan but instead it was he who was stealing James Morgan’s body, and he would inhabit it for another fifty years until the time came. Morgan had supped with the devil and JD2022 would use his body to put things right, unopposed by Morgan’s political cronies. Schaelles had seen JD2022 as their salvation. He’d been blamed for the second wave of outbreaks of the plague but now he’d be able to make restitution. Schaelles believed him to be an honourable man. He was trusting him with their survival.
Edward was not a brave man, but he’d known that Morgan had to be stopped. JD2022 was their only hope as far as he could tell – he’d learned what Morgan’s plans were and they were not in the interests of Centrum or humanity.
Edward watched JD2022 work through the deletion process. There could be no trace left here – the transition to Morgan’s body would need to be secret. Unknown to Delman, Edward would pass that secret to his son. It was on a timed secure message ready to send after the baby was born. He didn’t want to trouble Philip until the baby had arrived, it would prove a heavy burden for him, just as it had been for Edward. He’d understand when he had a child of his own.
He looked at JD2022 as he stood in front of the computer terminal trying to peer into his soul. Had he done the right thing? They were all going to perish anyway if Morgan had got his way. Edward was taken by surprise as he saw the man staring at him. Before he knew it, a hand was gripped around his throat and he couldn’t breathe. The more he struggled and panicked, the faster the life drained from him. He wondered how this man was so strong. He’d just come out of the CryoPod and it usually took some time to regain full strength.
As Edward struggled to take his final breath, his thoughts turned to more important matters. He’d never see his granddaughter. A tear ran from his right eye, but it was too late to cry, he was as good as dead. As the life drained from him, he placed his finger on the keypad next to the console. This would send an archive of the data to his son’s file area so he’d be able to piece together what had happened. His body slumped to the floor and the grip was finally loosened from around his neck. At seventy-three years of age, Edward had been unable to offer any resistance to his assailant, a man he’d believed to be his ally.
JD2022 waited until he saw the last two words disappear on the screen – his real name – which had been right at the top of the file. He turned, ready to begin the next phase of his life, with his consciousness now controlling the body of the President. He would have to leave Centrum to stay safe, and return when it was time to do what had to be done.
The last text faded from the screen: his name, Josh Delman. The man in whose hands the future of the entire human race now resided.
Allies
‘How did you get caught up in all of this?’ Jena asked as she and Max moved off in the opposite direction to Clay and Julia.
She was nervous about what they might encounter, she’d barely drawn breath since her fight on the stairwell. They’d shot her with an electronic device which had knocked her out on the spot. She recalled waking in a medical area where the lights were extremely bright. Jena was accustomed to The Climbs where, other than sunshine, there was virtually no light. The brightness was ferocious and she was experiencing incredible pain. She woke up as needles were being inserted through her nose – it felt as if they were going directly into her brain. She’d cried out, thinking that they were subjecting her to some form of torture, but it had ended soon enough and she was placed in a holding cell where she’d been joined by Julia shortly afterwards.
‘I work – I worked for Fortrillium,’ Max replied to Jena’s question. ‘I’m here because I got involved with Talya Slater.’
‘Joe Parsons is my son,’ Jena responded. ‘If you helped Talya to keep him alive in there – in here – thank you, I appreciate it.’
‘Doesn’t seem to have done me much good, but no problem. To be honest, I feel terrified, but it feels like the one good thing I ever did in my life. I’ve been a coward, this feels like the right thing to do.’
Jena felt ashamed. She was embarrassed by her reaction to Matt’s death. She saw now that she’d been useless to Joe and Dillon. She understood what Max was saying. Her gunfight on the stairwell had been the first honest thing she’d done in six years. She’d just retreated after Matt’s death, horrified at the enormity of what had happened. When she started to fight back, she finally understood that’s what she should have been doing all along. It was much better to be fighting. She felt a rage that she had suppressed after Matt’s death, it came flooding through her veins and it felt good. With every shot she fired, it seemed that the balance was being redressed for her years of silence and fear.
‘I understand exactly what you mean,’ Jena replied. ‘I kept quiet too lo
ng. My son has been in The Grid setting an example to everybody and all I could do was cower. Well, enough of that. I’m scared still, I’m terrified of what’s happening here, but they’re not going to steal my life one day at a time. If I die here at least I’ll be fighting back. I’ll keep pushing forward until I take my last breath. I owe that much to my sons.’
Max understood. He had a vague recollection of her husband’s trial, but it didn’t take long for one death in The Grid to merge into another. He’d lost count of the times he’d dispatched the bots to clean out The Grid after a trial. He seldom had to make direct contact with the bloody remains, but the regular squelches as the bots expelled the crushed bodies through their pipework served as a reminder that human beings were losing their lives. He’d kept his eyes averted but his silent acquiescence had stolen his soul, one piece at a time.
Like Jena, he had realized that fighting back and helping others was the right thing to do. He knew that the minute he’d decided to help Talya Slater rather than hinder her. It had come as a relief to him once she’d finally forced out the truth about the hidden WristCom. He’d gone through all that pain and resistance – and a mangled hand – to work out that he was ready to change sides.
The moment he’d programmed the bot to perform its maintenance checks at The Core of The Grid, he’d known what the right course of action was. He was petrified yet exhilarated, fearful but alive. He knew the dangers. Of course he didn’t want to die, but resisting Fortrillium, in any small way that he could, made him feel useful. That was it. He was useful again. People needed him. He’d been like a ghost for many years, existing alongside everybody else, but not being a part of anything. That had changed and he was ready for the new journey, whatever it brought.