Paragon

by Rob RodenParker

  More worrying still were blueprints of the Paradigm headquarters; on these diagrams there were a lot of highlighted spots. James had asked two people to investigate, but so far they hadn't turned anything up.

  There has to be an insider. Paradigm HQ blueprints don't leak themselves.

  He suddenly remembered a thought he'd had much earlier, and called Jess to his office.

  Whilst Jess was en-route, James' mind worked overtime.

  Battleships. Bombs. Education. Seventy years ago. Why start this archive seventy years ago? What happened seventy years ago?

  James looked up notable events in 2140. One leapt out at him.

  "The first Life Enjoyment Center opened."

  Someone knew! Someone knew that the state of education was going to deteriorate. It can't just be a coincidence.

  If they knew, why didn't they do anything?

  He began to do research on the education bills passed by the government. All were resisted heavily by a political group known as the Russell Group, originally a collection of the highest performing universities in the UK, it merged with the Ivy League and other top academic institutions to fight for the academic world.

  So they tried, but failed.

  Suddenly, it came together in his mind. I need to call Saro.

  There was a knock on his door.

  "Jess? Come in."

  The cell door swung about its rusted hinges with a tortured shriek and slamming into the wall as it was forced open. Two men dressed in full combat gear holding leveled pulse rifles stepped in, they quickly scanned the room, and then lowered their weapons.

  "May I help you?" asked Kepp.

  One of the men walked up to him and removed his balaclava, revealing a smooth skinned, square jawed face.

  "I'm Lieutenant Hill, SAS. We're here to get you out."

  "I'm Kepp, it's a pleasure. By the way, you have less than four minutes," he nodded at the timer on the floor, which was still resolutely counting down.

  Hill spoke into his comm-link, "I've got Kepp here. How are we doing with the others, over?"

  There was a short period of static before the reply came through, "Negative so far, we are still sweeping the basement floor. Over."

  "Speed it up, we've got timed explosives here. Four minutes. Suspect that all charlies have evacuated. Over and out."

  Hill dropped his weapon and unsheathed his combat knife, slicing efficiently through Kepp's bindings.

  "We have a transport parked outside - turn left and head up the stairs," said Hill.

  "There should be two others held here, one man, one woman. I'll help you find them," replied Kepp.

  Hill decided that it was better not to argue, and motioned to his partner to continue the search. He gave Kepp a knife and a radio unit.

  "We'll see you on the transport."

  "I don't know why there are only eleven results," Jess admitted, somewhat nervously, "I'm sorry, I must have made a mistake."

  "Don't worry about it. We'll just run the twelfth now."

  James brought up Hao's file, and fed it into the algorithm.

  They watched it run in silence. Finally, Jess spoke.

  "Er, do I have to wait here?" she asked, "I was doing some work in the lab and I'd like to get back to it - it was interesting stuff."

  "Just wait until this finishes."

  Kepp battered down another door, his fourth so far. They had located Haur already - he was unconscious still.

  Fuck, how big is this place? He glanced at the timer - 90 seconds to go.

  He stepped into the room similar to the one he was held in and relief welled up in his chest. Liza was there, strapped to the chair in an identical manner, also unconscious.

  Kepp quickly cut her bonds, and lifted her limp form onto his shoulders.

  He barked into the radio unit. "I've found her, we can go. Repeat, I've found her, we can go."

  Moving quickly out of the room, he located the stairs, linking up with the three search parties as they filed up the narrow stone staircase.

  They exited into a small antechamber, which led out to a huge chapel. King's College Chapel, Cambridge.

  They moved at a brisk jog towards the exit, located at the far end of the Chapel. Suddenly, an explosion rocked the building, it was all Kepp could do to keep his balance and not drop Liza. He then heard gunfire, a tense voice crackled over Hill's radio.

  "Transport under fire, we can't stay here."

  "Hold on for 30 seconds, we're nearly there!" shouted Hill.

  They broke into a full run. The muted sounds of gunfire could be heard through the thick stone walls. The whine of the transport's engines spooling up could also be heard. Hill barged the wooden exit open, and waved the squad through. The blast of jetwash whipped dust and grass into their faces.

  "Come on, move it! Move it!"

  They ran out onto the lawn.

  Tracer rounds streaked through the night, lighting up the interior of King's College like a demented fireworks party. The transport, a medium sized 10-personnel vehicle which the SAS used widely, was under fire from multiple directions. It hovered about twenty meters away from them, barely a hair's width above the grass. The two engines sat on stubby little wings that extended over the side of the craft and the door, which was a ramp at the tail of the craft, was lowered. Several men were taking cover behind it and returning fire as best they could.

  "Transport, go go go!" shouted Hill, pointing at their exit strategy. They broke into a full sprint across the lawn, hoping that the transport would draw all the fire.

  Kepp's eyes were suddenly drawn to a flare of light from a hovercar above the opposite end of the lawn. It took him only a second to register what that was.

  "RPG!" he screamed, throwing Liza down and covering her with his body.

  Another explosion rocked them as the RPG exploded into the side of the armored transport, batting the craft into the ground. The engines groaned and whined as the pilot compensated and brought it up to a hover again. The craft swiveled to face the source of the RPG, and the pilot fired off a missile. It flared through the air and sliced into the hovercar, destroying it in a shower of metal fragments.

  "This is all she can take, one more and we're all dead!" he shouted into the radio.

  Kepp glanced at the timer clutched in his hands, 12 seconds. His head rang from the explosion, he fought the dizziness. Around him, the rest of the squad picked themselves up as best they could.

  He shouldered the prone form of Liza and they ran for all they were worth. Bullets thudded into the lawn around them, throwing up chunks of mud and grass. The sounds of men shouting, the monotonic rattling of automatic weapons fire and the whine of the transport echoed around the lawn, turning the usually serene College into a war zone.

  He reached the transport, and handed Liza over to waiting hands, before jumping on board.

  The pilot increased power to the engines, and the transport lifted with effort. It powered into the air, the pilot fighting to keep control of the damaged craft, and out of range of the weapons fire.

  Behind them, the ancient chapel of King's College collapsed in a shower of splintered glass and crumbling stone as the explosives were detonated.

  Two of the SAS crew had been hit; Hill and the onboard medic were treating them. Kepp couldn't see the severity of their injuries, but he hoped that they'd be okay. The airframe juddered, and the craft pitched and banked as the pilot struggled to fly against the damage.

  Kepp dragged Liza up the row of seats, and put her into the first empty one he saw. He fell into an empty one on the opposite side of the craft. He closed his eyes briefly, exhaling deeply, feeling the adrenaline draining from him. He looked over at Haur, who was still unconscious as well.

  Shit, that was close...

  Chapter 11 – The Chase

  "Lock the door," commanded James.

  Jess obeyed without hesitation; the tone in his voice had demanded instant compliance.

  She cast her glance at the
display screen; Hao's file had been processed, and some abnormal use of the communication channels had been found.

  "So, does this mean he's a spy?" she asked, watching him scan through the highlighted logs.

  "It depends on who he's been talking with," he replied, without looking up.

  There was a knock on the door. Jess glanced over, unsure of what to do.

  "Leave it," said James, "If it's really urgent, they'll call me."

  The knocking turned to pounding, then fell to silence.

  The datapad on his desk began vibrating with an incoming transmission. He accepted it.

  James listened, then rubbed his forehead, which was creased in consternation.

  "Get the rest of the security team together. Send notices to the staff to be on standby for evacuation. Protocol 15. I'll give further instructions soon."

  He turned to Jess.

  "He's a spy."

  Jess realized then that James had still been scanning the logs whilst listening and talking.

  Damn, he's good, she thought.

  "I need to call Saro, just sit tight, something big is going down and I promised to take care of you. So stay here."

  "Okay." The urgency in his voice made Jess feel quite uneasy.

  James put the call through, it was picked up immediately. He wasted no time on pleasantries.

  "What's going on Saro? We've discovered explosives here in Paradigm HQ, and Hao's records show he's been communicating with you and an unauthorized third party?"

  Explosives? The thought echoed through her mind, seemingly too wild for her to comprehend.

  There was a pause as Saro replied.

  "Okay, I'll do that, but what the hell is going on? I saw the Alpha Cybernetics documents. This is about the academia policies isn't it? You know something, don't you?"

  Another pause.

  "Fine. I'll do that, but there had better be a good reason why you didn't tell me this before."

  James ended the call and then opened a new call to the security team.

  "Full evac as per Protocol 15. I'll meet you outside."

  He glanced at Jess.

  "Get your things, we're evacuating." He stood and turned to the wall at the back of his office.

  "Wait, why? What's going on? What about Hao?" The questions tumbled out of Jess' mouth like a waterfall.

  "Someone has planted bombs here; we suspect they'll be detonated soon. We have to leave."

  "I...I...all my stuff is in the accommodation block."

  James pulled a tray out from the wall. Arranged neatly on it were two pistols with plenty of ammunition for both, as well as a flak jacket which he quickly donned. He turned to Jess, and saw the alarm in her eyes. He shoved the magazines in his pockets and walked over to her.

  "I'm going to look after you, don't worry."

  He then turned to his desk and initiated the backup sequence, then grabbed his jacket and datapad. He typed in a sequence of instructions, his fingers a blur, and a hidden exit opened up in the back of his office.

  "Come on," he urged Jess.

  They entered the exit tunnel. They had just walked a few meters when Jess felt, rather than heard, a huge blast behind them. The concussion wave picked them up and threw them along the corridor. Jess saw debris and dust thrown at them by the blast, as her world tumbled in a slow motion haze. She closed her eyes, and then something solid slammed into her head, instantly rendering her unconscious.

  How long had it been since he last slept? He couldn't quite work it out.

  Kepp sat in a briefing room in a military base somewhere near London. The transporter had made it, juddering and shaking the whole way. Haur was awake, and sat next to him. Liza was also conscious, and being debriefed elsewhere. The two injured SAS had been rushed to the emergency room, it was unsure whether they would make it or not.

  Kikuchi Saro paced up and down in front of him, evidently anxious from the news Kepp had given him regarding Morian's plans.

  Kepp's tired mind couldn't focus on the big picture, so it kept picking out little details; the walls - wood paneled. The floor - blue carpet. The chairs - really uncomfortable. Saro wearing a combat suit - unnerving.

  Saro rapped his knuckles on the wooden conference table, bringing them all to attention.

  "Gentlemen, this is the situation we have laid out before us. Currently, a transport with Morian and his men are headed towards Mars. There, they will rendezvous with a battleship built by Alpha Cybernetics, which will then head back towards earth. The motivation? Political. The intent? The intent to establish a New World Order. This cannot be allowed to happen."

  He paused.

  "We have a space transport en route right now; it'll be here in ten minutes. You need to track down Morian and stop him from using that battleship. We will provide all the ground based support that we can, and the SAS team will go with you. Go and suit up, you can sleep on the transport - it'll take time to reach Mars."

  Haur stood up and left, shaking his head as he did so.

  Kepp didn't move. He waited until Haur had left and then shut the door behind him.

  "What about the old men?" he asked.

  "What old men?" replied Saro, raising an eyebrow.

  "Morian mentioned to me that he was piggybacking off a plan by the founders of Paradigm. He said you would know, and I want to know what the hell is going on," Kepp's tiredness made him rather aggressive, and his voice held an air of suspicion.

  Saro sighed.

  "There's no time for me to explain it all right now. But it's imperative that we stop that battleship."

  Kepp glanced around the room, looking for some way to vent his frustration at once again not knowing anything.

  "Once we get onto that transport, you owe me an explanation."

  "I won't be going with you - I'm needed on the ground to coordinate the people here, but trust me, you will get an explanation."

  "Fine, but just tell me this Saro," Kepp leaned in close. "Look me in the eyes and tell me this. Are you really on our side?"

  Saro met his look without flinching.

  "Until the end."

  Kepp stared him for a few seconds longer.

  "Fine." He turned and left.

  He had barely grabbed a change of clothes and a new set of Paragon equipment before the transport arrived. It was a large interstellar frigate, dwarfing the 10-man craft they had been on earlier. Four engines howled in the night, located like the SAS craft on small extended wings. At the back of the transport a huge nozzle with a diameter approximately five times the height of a man could be seen - the outlet for the currently inactive PFM drive. The craft maneuvered gingerly across the landing plaza and touched down, blasting them all with jetwash. As soon as it landed, they boarded.

  Kepp found himself walking next to Lieutenant Hill.

  "How're your men?"

  "You mean those two that got stung? They'll be fine. The rest of 'em? Psyched to be on the mission of their lives." Hill turned and cracked a smile, displaying a wide row of perfect teeth.

  Kepp couldn't help but grin slightly.

  "Yeah, stop a battleship from blowing up the Earth, you'd think this was fucking Star Wars or something."

  "Didn't know you liked the 21st Century classics," replied Hill.

  Kepp shrugged, "They're good for a laugh."

  He gave Hill a pat on the back as they entered the craft and went their separate ways.

  They entered on the lower deck; a well-stocked armory greeted them. The SAS unloaded their kit, and began sorting through the various boxes of ammunition, weapons, personal protection and stim pens. Kepp and Haur walked to the far end of the armory and took the elevator up to the bridge deck. The captain was there to greet them. Kepp was surprised to see a face he recognized - Commander Curtis, captain of the frigate Novalith from the Ganymede research station.

  "Oh boy," whistled Kepp.

  Curtis may have baulked at the casual greeting, but didn't show any of it.

  "Kepp, Haur
, I'll show you to your quarters." He stepped into the elevator and thumbed the button for the accommodation deck.

  "So, what happened to the Novalith?" asked Kepp, making small talk.

  "She's being refitted, going to end up like this beauty afterwards," said Curtis, a hint of pride in his voice.