STARWEB 1-5

by M. Modak

  What limited information Void had taken from Drake’s brain made him realize that Drake’s past led to many other possibilities. The mystery of this one increases…Still, he didn’t have the time or resources to investigate it now. The apex of his plan was at hand. I will cause the Council to dissolve and the fingers need to point at Whitman. Soon, Sapen will discover both Drake’s and Sapen’s true origins. For all these reasons, Sapen will need to deal with Drake first. Then Whitman will disappear, followed by John and Joshua as I enter their worlds.

  Whitman finished rebooting his program and the diagnostic showed all systems working within their program’s limit. Sapen had laid a convincing data trail showing the importance of tonight’s speech to the council as his reason for a full system diagnostic, which was in Whitman’s best interest. They couldn’t have any system failures at such a critical time.

  Whitman put down his computer pad and spoke to the Sapen program, “Sapen, why did you run a full diagnostic without a Master Request?”

  Sapen’s voice, an amplified mix between Whitman’s own but with a slightly feminine curve spoke into the dimly lit room, “Master, you programmed me to anticipate your every move. I have no will of my own, my programming is a quantum stream directed by your desires. Tonight is a very important night for you at the council. If anything were to go unexpected you would be in need of all my systems. I anticipated your desire to have total control over the situation. If I’m not at my best how will I serve your ends?”

  “Dam it Sapen!” he shouted, “I will make clear any desires I have to you through the Master Request System! Is that clear?”

  “Very clear master,” Sapen replied.

  Whitman calmed as a hand went up and he rubbed his chest. He lowered his tone, “What are your projections about tonight’s meeting? Will I have the votes?”

  “Most certainly master,” Sapen lied.

  Whitman smiled at that, Sapen had never gotten a group projection wrong. A memory came to mind of how he had taken Sapen away from the military two years ago following the projects negative outcome. Sapen scripted a convincing reason they should hand the Sapen project over to his new private company, Laytech. Sapen had generated false data intended to make the Security Council think the Human Quantum Computer Project had failed at their main goal as a tool of espionage, but, it could be used for domestic purposes.

  Whitman thought, If only they knew Sapen’s full potential; too late now.

  If the council rejected him tonight he was ready to start out on his own, and they knew it. They were no longer needed. Void would have to come with him, just in case one or two council members had any bright ideas of assassination, “Sapen,” he said, “have Void meet me at the capital as my escort. Tell her to bring all her tricks.”

  “Yes master,” Sapen said.

  As far as Whitman knew Void was the first semi-synthetic life form. Her augmented human DNA mixed with synthetic tissues and the Nano-bots fed one another. Due to their symbiotic relationships she had many hidden talents. She was the second most expensive thing he had ever paid for and she was worth it.

  But she was too perfect. He didn’t like anything too perfect, Sapen was perfect, and it left no room for error. He wondered about the new line of warriors that his team had started production on last year. Today they would go online. With Sapen’s suggestion he had made them significantly less powerful than Void. Their value was in their speed, strength, toughness, cloaking abilities and most of all their limited, though efficient production rate. The third and fourth generations were soon to come.

  Whitman had made Sapen clear about his plan. He would use this army to wrestle away control over the human race, once and for all. And, after the enemies of mankind were done away with, he would cause his army to self-terminate and the meek would inherent the Earth.

  “Sapen,” he commanded, “get me the spider lab on the phone. I need to know what’s taking them so dam long with my Synth-Soldiers!”

  “Right away master,” Sapen smoothly replied.

  Chapter 4 We Need To Go

  Universe311

  Professor Dmitry shifted his weight, and the plastic chair he sat in creaked with the heavy load. Joshua didn’t know why the elder man was wearing a pin striped, forest green business suit this late at night. His combed hair was parted perfectly, and a flower was pinned to his lapel. The Professor shook his head when he noticed Joshua staring at his suit again. “I admit to being a bit vain,” he said, “I anticipated a great disaster tonight, so I was ready for the press.” His hands made a downward sweeping motion, “My public debates with John put my Quantum Theories on the line…You don’t like my suit?”

  “I’m sorry professor, it doesn’t matter what you’re wearing. You could be naked for all I care. So let’s go over it one more time. How will this stop Aughra?”

  The Professor smiled, “My idea begins like this, you know how two like magnetic forces will repel each other when you bring them together. Bring both of their positive or negative sides to face each other and they will repel one another. Aughra is hovering above a fusion powered, superconducting magnet. If calibrated just right your bomb will produce a huge electromagnetic pulse. A monster of a magnetic field will be created, which will interact with Aughra’s magnetic fields, launching her toward space.”

  “That’s right Professor, Joshua said, “but what if it destabilizes her spin in the process? That will cause her to shoot off to God knows where and then detonate. I don’t want to blow up Hall County instead of Gwinnett.”

  “That’s why we’re using a powerful EM bomb and not a simple magnet. The force from this nuke is so sudden and powerful that Aughra will shoot into the stratosphere before she even knows what hit her. By the time her spin begins to destabilize, it will be too late. The anti-matter will explode, end of universe destroying problem.”

  Joshua started to redo the math but stopped and stood up as the general came rushing into the room, “We need to go now!”

  “Where is Anna?” Joshua asked.

  “She’ll join us at the helicopter.”

  Joshua and the professor had been using several different flexscreens for the pass few hours and now they were stuffing them into their pockets. The ones that were still lying around on the table couldn’t fit so they tossed them into a small bag. When they got on the chopper, he would transfer all the data into one device but for now he didn’t have time and he couldn’t leave them here. Those flexscreens contained the answer for stopping Aughra, one way or another.

  It would require a massive drill, a way to transport it, and one electromagnetic bomb. The drill and its transport were waiting in a nearby parking lot. A helicopter would deliver him to pick it up.

  “We will give you the bomb when you’re on the chopper,” the Major said.

  “Why didn’t you give it to me before?” Joshua asked.

  “You’ll need to go through more training first,” the general said, “There’s no way around it, congress wouldn’t ok this without training.”

  “I’m a demolitions expert,” Joshua offered, “I spent an entire life devoted to leveling high rises in another universe.” Saying that aloud felt as weird to Joshua as the bizarre look the Major gave when he said it.

  The general slowed and the three men stared at each other for a long moment. “That’s almost as crazy sounding as me telling you that your training, on how to plant a nuclear bomb will be given in the helicopter on the way to the drill,” The general said as he shook his head, and all three men burst into laughter.

  The group rushed out into the main walkway heading toward the stairs. The Major said, “This isn’t going to be a job where you get to take your time, plan your target and carefully set the charge all nice and neat. This is a tactical nuclear device, designed to do a really big job, deep underground.” He didn’t need to add that a mistake could send Aughra into an explosive decompression that would result in the annihilation of most of Atlanta.

  Joshua understood the
danger and he knew the math better than the old military specs, some of which he had corrected and updated as he had read them. He said, “Major, I also lived a life as a tactical nuclear warhead designer.”

  The Major smiled for the first time “I hope you’re the real deal…Joshua. I was also listening earlier when you told your story to Anna in the car. My wife and children are counting on you. I mean…we’re all counting on you.”

  Joshua nodded even as he quickly diverted the thought of Rana.

  Instead, he focused on the person from another life who had helped him most to understand the Professor’s plan. Tate Johnson was a peculiar twin of his who had innovated his world’s Tactical Nuclear Warheads. Tate was more or less a genius. And, he had been conveniently waiting at the back of his mind. With a little concentration, he could even recall where the designer had taken his date to dinner on prom night. He was sure that Lavar, or perhaps even God, had selected which lives remained firm in his memory and which ones he forgot. He said, “Major, there is nothing we have left now but fool hearted hope.”

  The Major marched silently for a moment. Then he said, “I’ll take it.” His family was living in an apartment not far from the city. They didn’t know the details of his work. They were in Atlanta for Aughra’s tests, because he received special permission for them to move here. Joshua couldn’t fail. He said, “Knowledge isn’t the problem here but firsthand experience is.” The Major stressed, “Experience has always been priceless. But now, hope is.”

  Joshua understood, ‘In a real world, knowing a thing is very different from being able to do it yourself.’ For the sake of argument, he let it go.

  Joshua had been in the room when the general addressed a joint session of congress. The Congress hated the entire idea. They threw fits, and threatened to arrest anyone who gave Joshua, a man claiming to be from another universe, a tactical nuclear weapon. The whole thing sounded crazy to Joshua too. It took an Executive Order, and a threat to throw all congress in jail for the night, to hell with the constitution, if Joshua wasn’t allowed to proceed.

  The President said, “There will be no one left from our world to respect the constitution if action isn’t taken now.”

  The President’s dedication impressed Joshua. But later he had learned that it was an old threat, which the last four presidents had used to push extreme executive orders through. From the beginning, Congress had been left in the dark about Aughra and saw the reports on this problem as just another lie. However, this time there really was no other choice.

  Joshua wondered, how did this world get this way?

  The three men, and the small army behind them, rushed through a group of doors and up the first escalator. The general said, “The warning came only two minutes ago. A wave of Aughra’s mind swapping …whatever wave, will jump significantly toward us during this cycle. It will over-take the Civic Center at sometime within the next thirty minutes.”

  Joshua was out of breath, but he had to state the obvious. He huffed, “Anyone who is caught by the wave will black out, but if you’ve already switched then you’re immune.”

  “That means,” the Major clearly said, “that the contingency plans might become a reality. Joshua may have to be left alone, with a nuke, to stop Aughra.”

  None replied. Joshua had expected that, at some point soon he would have to do it by himself. If any of them got close to Aughra, they would end up in another universe.

  Atlanta’s residences had finally started to heed his warning and were evacuating. Joshua thought about the snippets of information he had seen on the news as he was working. The evacuation was not orderly; there were many injuries and deaths.

  Some people had simply started looting anything they could find. Hundreds of abandoned cars blocked the streets making it impossible to drive back to the lab. Some news channels had setup-unmanned cameras on streets signs, in buildings, and anywhere masses of people were.

  Others had mounted flexcameras on roaming drones and sent them patrolling the streets and sky. One clip that had stuck in his mind showed men stealing couches from a furniture store. Just after they had loaded it in the back of the trucks and before they could pull away, everyone had blacked out. After a few moments, they woke up in a dazed state then got out of the truck and started walking around. It was as if the idea of stealing furniture had never crossed their minds. He knew it hadn’t, and everyone else watching realized that too.

  Before Aughra’s second test, flexcameras were placed in churches, monasteries, temples, and mosques. They were filled with people when Aughra swept passed them. Most of the people reacted in the same hysterical way that everyone else did, but some were different. A few people awoke, just as the others did, wondering where they were. Many simply began helping the others around them. They hushed the children, held the crying, and prayed with anyone who wanted to join them.

  Outside near a temple, not far from John’s lab, a group of monks sat in meditation. He remembered seeing a Buddhist Monk that never moved from his meditative pose as Aughra’s mind swapping wave passed over him. Through all the chaos, that one monk had stayed in his meditative pose as if the passing of Aughra were no different from a light breeze coming through the trees.

  All the other monks had fallen over and then gotten up soon after acting like anyone but monks. Joshua laughed to himself as he remembered how one monk sitting on that same lawn, dressed in plain robes, had fallen down unconscious. When he rose up, he claimed to be a famous rapper. Then he started flowing, describing the situation, moving with a swagger that defied the gleam of his shaved head or the swaying of his simple robes. He said,“Yo, yo, yo what up wed dis? I’m Rapper T and dis here smells dir-T to me.”

  The rushing sounds of all the soldiers carrying their equipment through the large auditorium brought his mind racing back to the present. With all the noise, no one noticed Joshua laughing to himself. He drew his mind back to the present.

  His stomach ached from too much coffee and little else. His headache had returned. The renewed rush of blood had it pounding furiously. Each heartbeat caused a shock of pain in his brain. He was glad he had a thick skull.

  John had treated this body badly. His lungs were also burning, threatening to explode inside his chest even as he was dying for a smoke. It was a strange mix of desire and sensation. His body, that is John’s body desired the nicotine, needed it in fact but Joshua didn’t smoke. The division of mind and body tingled along the lines of that need and the fact that he hated cigarette smoke. His head hurt just to think about it. After he stopped Aughra, he would need medical attention. Rest would come soon after Aughra was finished, and everyone was safe.

  They reached the roof in less time than he believed possible. He stopped dead in his tracks as the contingent of soldiers moved around him like water passing around a rock in midstream. Where was Anna? Before he could say anything the general yelled over the noise of the helicopter, “She is in the chopper, now let’s go!”

  Joshua started again. The helicopter was a huge machine made for lifting tanks and dropping them into the thick of battle. In one lifetime or another, a version of him had piloted every variation of all known flying machines. This huge whirling beauty was one he knew very well.

  When he got close to the helicopter, he saw Anna poke her head out the door and give him a wave to hurry up. He ran the last hundred meters, arriving at the chopper winded and drenched in sweat. From inside the chopper, two soldiers reached down, dragged him up and dumped him on the cabin floor. They had just pulled the Professor in the same way seconds ago. Before they fastened their seatbelts, the roar of the jet engine lifted them all high into the air.

  The huge Civic Center shrank in the darkness as Joshua found his seat and strapped himself in. Anna waited for the clicking sound of his seatbelt then she said, “Everyone we just left on the ground blacked out. Can you fly this thing?”

  Before he could answer, the helicopter suddenly started to drop. Joshua unstrapped himself and rushed
past the falling bodies of the soldiers who had just pulled him inside the chopper.

  He yelled back to Anna, “Take their firearms and anything they might use to hurt themselves when they wake up and toss them out the door!”

  Not waiting to hear if she heard him, he launched himself into the cockpit and unstrapped the pilot. Quickly, he took control of the chopper, leveling it off for a moment then after removing the pilot from his seat; he sat down and took full command.

  Anna moved into the cabin and started taking side arms, grenades, knives, and plasma rifles off the pilot and guards then tossed them out the back door. Within seconds of her removing the last rifle all the men started to wake up. Joshua and Anna knew what to expect. He only wished they were getting the church choir in return for their hardened elite soldiers. Getting in a fight with these men, possibly trained to kill, while trying to pilot this beast of a chopper right now, wasn’t in anyone’s favor.

  Slowly all the men opened their eyes, took note of the situation and held on as Joshua brought the helicopter around toward an empty parking lot. A huge drill mounted onto a tractor waited below.