They shook their heads no, and Jude waved to the guards as they skipped away.
Worthington looked at Rand, and said, “Are you seeing this?”
“Your family is not there. Could see the entire room. Less than 100 square feet. Three bunks on the right, a counter, a closet, a tiny bath on the other side. Saw everything. No one is there. Overheard the guards. Something is wrong with the Sec AI,” she said.
Worthington looked at Hume and then Rand. At the same time, they all said, “Barcus.”
Jim started back to the lift.
“Where are you going now?” Rand asked, as she kept pace.
“Do you like soup?”
***
“Who are you?” AI~Station asked.
“My name is Barcus, and this is Po,” Barcus said.
“Hello,” Po added.
“It's like I can breathe again,” AI~Station said. “No one has set foot in here for almost 20 years, Barcus. Ever since they installed that thing. You were right; it was supposed to be a critical systems backup. It began taking over everything, except management of air, water, gravity, heating and cooling. How did you know?”
“Caisy told me. Do you remember Caisy? She sends her regards,” Barcus said. AI~Caisy was the original AI from the Ventura. It survived the destruction of the Ventura in the Black Pod.
“How did you know that access code? Only one man knew it, and he is dead.”
“Repeat the code back to me please, Station,” Barcus asked.
“H5BHHR7!jet%bu*?QWb77cd6C,” AI~Station replied.
“Thank you, Station,” Barcus sighed. “Have you reestablished sec operations control?”
“Yes, Barcus.”
“Please stand down all operations associated with the name Worthington.”
“There are current outstanding orders associated with Worthington. Locate and provide protective custody,” AI~Station said.
“Can I be of service in any other way?”
“Can you tell me the address of Pho Pete's?”
***
The lift opened directly into a massive commercial area. It was a combination of old world open air market and mall promenade. This area was open for seven levels, and there was artificial sky above that. Exclusive residence balconies overlooked shops and restaurants and businesses of every kind. There was music and laughter in the air.
Jude and Cine were in awe as they moved through the crowds. The smell of foods of all kinds drifted in the air. After about ten more minutes, they saw the retro sign for Pho Pete's.
There was a simple awning that covered a half dozen cafe tables, all occupied. There was a long counter that had eighteen stools. There were lines queued up along the building, on both sides. One was for take-out orders, and one was for seating. There was one waitress that was constantly in motion and five people behind the counter.
All of them were Asian, except Pete.
They moved to get in the line for seats, as he scanned the crowds for Barcus and Po, when they heard the scream.
***
The airlock barely closed when Wex turned and quickly searched the ship. She started crying before the lift doors opened. She began in the crew quarters, grabbing large black duffel bags and filling them with the items she had been collecting. She packed clothes and cash, weapons and medical gear. She kept stuffing them with other useful items, like the survival rations, binoculars, and even a few tools. She finished filling the bags with selected books from Ulric's collection. They were probably worth a fortune. The last item she stuffed into the last bag was her flute. Number 12 of 12. The finest ever made. She returned to the airlock.
She opened the first inner door and the outer airlock doors on the Sedna. She hesitated before opening the first station airlock door. It was normal protocol to close the inner ship door first. She opened the first station door and stepped into the station’s airlock. She stood there. One minute, and then two, and at four minutes, she gently set the duffels down in the station’s airlock and retreated into the Sedna, closing all the doors behind her. People would wonder later what she was thinking as she stood there.
Wex went directly to the bridge then. She sat in the command chair and held her own face in her hands for a full minute, before sitting up and wiping her face with her sleeves.
Methodically, she brought the reactors up to full power.
“Station traffic control, this is the Grace, preparing for departure. Standing by for vectors.”
She opened the blast shields all the way then. The view of Earth was so breathtaking. Freedom Station orbited halfway between the Earth and the moon, so it shined bright.
She barely heard the instructions from the busy space traffic controller.
Wex smiled as the airlock gantry detached, and she gently flew away from Freedom.
***
The scream was wordless, high-pitched, and brain-piercing. No one could find its origin, until the crowd separated and Worthington saw her running. It was a small girl, maybe eight years old, with long black-brown hair drawn back into a tight ponytail.
She ran directly at Worthington, who fell to his knees at the sight of her.
She crashed into her father, wrapping her arms around his neck. She was crying now. When her mother caught up, she politely pressed through the crowd with a worried face. When she saw them both, her hands flew to her mouth, and with a gasp, she froze. Another girl, in her early teens, found her way to the scene and did not hesitate to drop to her own knees, throwing her arms around them both. She buried her face in her father’s neck, and said, “I knew you weren't dead. I knew you'd find us.”
Jim locked eyes with Bobbie, his wife, and stood, lifting the younger girl in his arms and drawing the older one closer to his side. Slowly, he walked to her. She stood up straighter; her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
“You're late,” she said, her voice cracking.
“I lived. I came back,” Jim choked out.
Then screams of another kind erupted from across the plaza. A man fell from one of the balconies. Worthington looked up in time to see Po disappear around a corner on an upper level. As the crowd’s attention was on the man, lying on the floor, a hand rested on Worthington’s shoulder, and a whispering voice spoke to him.
“Quickly, come with me.” It was Pho Pete. He led them around the end of the counter to the kitchen and prep areas in the back. Rand and Hume followed into a large room filled with recycle bins. “They were right, Bobbie, they were following you. A man from across the way had just gotten a Frange rifle aimed when a man and a woman stopped him. I saw it. She was fast,” Pete said.
“Where are Jude and Cine?” Worthington asked.
“Here,” they replied, and stood from behind boxes that seemed impossible to hide behind.
“We apologize for not finding that one earlier. We did find two others in the crowd. They won't be following,” Jude said.
“They knew you lived, Jim,” Bobbie said, “They threatened us, demanded we inform them if you got in touch. They implied...” Bobbie looked at the girls. “So, we ran. Just walked away from everything on Earth and came here.”
“Look, you need to move,” Pho Pete said. “This is Danny. He is going to take you somewhere safe. Danny, take them to Aunt Ina's place. Is it still empty?”
Danny looked to be about twenty or so, trying desperately to grow his first beard. He just nodded and headed to the utility door. It was a heavy door. In case of pressure loss on either side, it would hold a seal.
They stepped into a cluttered hallway full of recycle bins, unopened boxes, and random objects from the business. A utility elevator opened directly opposite the door to the soup kitchen. They all got in.
“Station, please take us to level N221,” Danny said, and the doors closed. “Aunt Ina's apartment is close to the utility ’vator in west 221.”
“Will this be an imposition for your aunt?” Bobbie asked. Her head was still laying on Jim's chest.
“It's empty. Ina went
to Mars on vacation two years ago and decided to stay,” Danny said, as he watched the numbers on the display increase. “Pete has not decided what to do with her place. He thinks she'll be back.”
It was right around the corner from the ’vator. It was also a huge apartment.
What they first thought to be a floor to ceiling window on the far side of the open floor plan apartment was just a piped in exterior view of Earth. But it was still amazing.
“I will be back with lunch in about an hour,” Danny said, and then was off at a run.
As soon as the door closed, “We need to check in. Rand, you and Hume take the Ninja twins and make sure the ship is secure.”
They left without a word, giving the family the privacy they deserved. As soon as the door closed, Bobbie spoke. “I never doubted for a minute.” She kissed him again. “Can you tell me what happened?”
“Not now. As soon as possible, I will get you all out of here,” Worthington said.
“Captain James Worthington, your family will not be going anywhere,” Freedom Station’s AI said to them, from all around.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE: Rhea
“Rhea is the second-largest moon of Saturn and the ninth-largest moon in the solar system. It is mostly ice and has only one settlement on it. A small research station that maintains a population of approximately 340 research scientists but had only three security officers.”
--Solstice 31 Incident Investigation Testimony Transcript: General Patricia Chase, senior member of the Earth Defense Coalition.
<<<>>>
“Listen, Watkins. I am the only one that is allowed to see him now,” Kristin Vittori explained, for the last time. “Now shut the hell up about it. With McDonald off base, I am in command.”
Watkins sat at his massive console in the system center of the research base. He watched her ass as she walked by in her conservative, winter Earth street clothes.
The lone prisoner actually thought he was on Earth, in Detroit.
She walked into the prison cell dome. With McDonald gone, she was now the only one allowed in here.
High, dirty windows provided filtered light as Kristin proceeded to the center, where there was a huge clear box enclosing an area seven meters on a side. Industrial lighting hung from the ceiling above the cell.
There was the man in the big box.
She climbed onto the visitor's platform that was near, but not touching, the cell. She pressed a button on a console there, and the freestanding screen that showed various TV shows all day went dark. Another button activated the intercom.
“My name is Kristin. I will be working with you while Dr. McDonald is away.”
“So, the chancellor has reeled him in? I bet he took the weapon and the new AI with him. How can I help you, Kristin?”
“The same way you were helping McDonald. Innovations,” Kristin said. “Except with less bullshit this time.”
“We have a hardball player. Excellent.”
“Tell me your name, fucker,” Vittori growled.
“My name is Vincent Joseph Turkot,” he said, politely setting down the book he was reading.
“I don't believe you,” she said.
“Why would you not believe me?” Turkot asked.
“You have been here for years, and you have never told Dr. McDonald your name.”
“He never asked me so nicely.”
“How old are you?”
“That is a bit more difficult question. Time is difficult to measure when you've ignored it as long as I have. I first came to Earth just over 100 million years ago. During the beginning of the war.”
“What war?”
“These questions are far more refreshing than I thought they'd be,” Turkot said.
“Answer the question.”
“The greatest war this galaxy has ever seen. The war that destroyed Earth.”
***
“Captain James Worthington, your family will not be going anywhere,” Freedom Station’s AI said to them, from all around. “Your ship is gone. Eleven minutes ago, it requested departure instructions and has now left Freedom space.”
“Jimbo, this is Barcus. The Grace is gone. I have secured the cooperation of Freedom Station's AI. We can now securely use Freedom’s comms. I need to check on Stu. He's not responding.”
“Station, is Rand anywhere near a comms unit?”
“She and the others are now in a crowded lift on their way back and do not have privacy,” AI~Station replied.
“What is their ETA?” Jimbo asked.
“One minute.”
“Girls, why don't you explore a bit,” Bobbie said to them.
“Will you be right here when we get back?” Clara said, with a stab to his heart.
“Yes, Pumpkin,” Jim said, smiling. “I'll be right here.”
The girls wandered down the hallway to explore the rest of the apartment.
The door chime interrupted their kiss far too soon.
“Come,” Worthington.
Hume and Rand entered and quickly closed the door behind them.
“Sir, do not just open the door like that. What if it was not us?”
“I knew it was you. What's with the bags?” Jim asked.
“The Sedna is gone. It looks like Wex has taken it. It looks like she packed all our personal affects.”
Rand opened one of the duffel bags on the dining table and started to remove items.
She held up the flute.
“I think she'll be back,” Rand said.
***
Vittori just stared at Turkot for at full minute. “What do you mean destroyed Earth? What war?”
Turkot just stared at her for a while in return.
“Are you saying you visited Earth a hundred million years ago and spent so much time traveling at the speed of light it brought you here?”
“Something like that,” Turkot said, as if he lost interest. He started reading his book again.
“That was the end of a battle. A meteor hammered the Earth and put an end to that Scarecrow. He was on the wrong track anyway. I pressed reset and took the planet for myself. Seeded it and never expected it to all happen so fast.”
He began reading again.
“What is going on? Why did Dr. McDonald leave in such a hurry?” Vittori was frustrated.
“Because the weapon was completed. Again. That AI more so,” he said. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to finish reading this today.”
He turned his back to her without another word. She walked away. She would not beg him for information. Getting back to the main control room, she found it empty. Now she had a place to vent her anger.
She activated the comms, and spoke, “Hearn, where the hell is everyone?” There was no answer on the comms.
“Base, locate Hearn.” There was no response. No reply.
“Base, what time is it?” There was no response.
“Oh shit.”
***
The navigation of the space around Freedom Station and Earth’s controlled space took longer than the trip to Saturn. The research station on Rhea wasn’t easy to find. But she found it. Just as she knew she would.
She also found the main hangar empty.
No one challenged her. No one met her at the bottom of the ramp. She was not surprised by the bodies on the floor in the corner of the hangar. She walked with confidence, holding a handgun, loosely.
A woman’s voice came over the PA as she opened the airlock door and entered the hall.
“This is a security alert. We have intruders. Comms are down. People are dead. Security protocol one: shelter-in-place. Await the all-clear signal.”
Wex paused and held up the gun. When a security guard rounded the corner at a jog, she shot him in the face, sending him sprawling at her feet.
She dropped the handgun and picked up the man’s Frange carbine in one smooth motion. Just as she placed the sling over her head and leveled the carbine, two more men rounded the corner.
She instan
tly killed them both. She dropped the one hundred round mag out of the gun, even though it was still almost half full, and retrieved another full one from one of the dead men’s vests.
She knew where she was going and knew she was being watched on the cameras that lined the halls. Expressionless, she moved through the corridors.
“Hearn! She is in B7, moving toward W1. Stop her!” came over the PA system, in a panic.
***
Hearn said to Matthews, “We’re under specific orders to nuke the base, if it was penetrated.”
Matthews was already in the small shuttle, warming it up.
“Roger that! I am sick of this shit hole anyway,” Matthews replied.
Hearn opened the plain door with a scan and ident procedure. The room was simple and had a single console in the center. He logged in and passed several additional levels of security. He brought up a direct comms path to the shuttle.
“Matthews, let me know when you are ready.”
“Two minutes,” replied Matthews.
Hearn began the self-destruct sequence.
The emergency escape shuttle was a short-range, no-frills craft. It had conventional propulsion with simple grav-plates for takeoff, landing, and inertial dampening. They would be on the other side of Saturn before the base blew.
***
Kristin Vittori watched this woman cut through the entire security staff. She wasn’t moving toward the prisoner as Kristin expected. She was moving toward the labs in the center of the base. She entered the first lab and didn’t shoot anyone. She calmly walked past thirty shocked lab techs that were frozen where they stood.
Room after room, she moved deeper into the base.
Finally, she reached a lab that was adjacent to the server room.
She shot out the glass.
Leveling the carbine for precise aim, she destroyed the fragile globes of the remaining AIs on the base. When she was done, she dropped the carbine, turned, and walked out the same way she came in.
Blood of the Scarecrow: Book 3: Solstice 31 Saga Page 22