by Jake Bible
“Of course,” Dr. Benz says. “Don’t be absurd.”
“This entire exercise is absurd,” Dr. Charter says. “We should send in some techs and get her cleaned up. We can photo the circuit and study it later. Letting her stand there like that is perverse.”
“How did you come to discover her like this?” Dr. Whittaker asks. “Why are you here, Dr. Benz?”
“After what Dr. Charter said about me creating the Other, I had a thought,” Dr. Benz replies. “I wondered if perhaps Dr. DeBeers was contaminated by the same bacteria. I checked her test results and there it was, just waiting for one of us to notice. Somehow she was exposed to the unique bacteria while in the Sicklands. I am unsure how it was transmitted to her since her report states she had her StatShield on at all times. But, just like other things we have come to see when dealing with Dr. DeBeers, that report may not have been one hundred percent accurate.”
“That does not explain why you are here,” Dr. Sheffield says.
“Oh, right, yes, well, I wanted to question her,” Dr. Benz says, gesturing towards the cell. “I wanted to see if she feels anything. Perhaps hears something. It would be of such great help to have a test subject that can communicate what is happening. A direct conduit to the Other phenomenon.”
Dr. DeBeers slowly lowers to the floor and cross her legs. Closing her eyes, she places her hands on her knees and begins to speak.
“What is she saying?” Dr. Lopez asks. “AiSP? Let us hear what she is saying.”
A speaker squawks and Dr. DeBeers’s voice suddenly fills the corridor.
“—unite us all. Bring forth the Other, the One, the Master of Creation. Let His wisdom and beauty change us, free us, unite us all. Bring forth the Other, the One, the Master of Creation. Let His wisdom and beauty change us, free us, unite us all. Bring forth the Other, the One, the Master of Creation. Let His wisdom and beauty change us, free us, unite us all. Bring forth the Other, the One, the Master of Creation. Let His wisdom and beauty change us, free us, unite us all.”
“Stop,” Dr. Charter says. “AiSP, stop. We’ve heard enough.”
“Wait,” Dr. Benz says. “Look at the circuit. What is it doing?”
The bloody sketch begins to glow slightly, the lines and dashes, crosses and circles, slowly becoming radiant as if illuminated from behind.
“AiSP, please check the holding cell for a power surge,” Dr. Sheffield orders. “There is an obvious technical issue occurring.”
“There is no power surge detected, doctor,” the AiSP responds. “All levels are normal, no anomalies detected.”
“Well, that’s obviously not true,” Dr. Benz laughs. “We are observing an anomaly right now.”
“I cannot comment on your personal observations, Dr. Benz,” the AiSP says. “My systems show nothing out of the ordinary.”
“What about the circuit sketched in blood?” Dr. Lopez asks. “Ignore the glowing, but the circuit itself is certainly out of the ordinary.”
“I am sorry, Dr. Lopez, but I do not detect a circuit,” the AiSP says.
“Don’t get technical on me, AiSP,” Dr. Lopez snaps. “I’m talking about the sketch on the wall.”
“I am sorry, Dr. Lopez, but I do not detect a sketch on the wall,” The AiSP replies. “The cell walls are as clean and clear as they have been instructed to be. I cleared all writing and markings from the wall approximately five seconds ago.”
“The same time the circuit started to glow,” Dr. Charter says. “You don’t think…?”
“That she knew the AiSP would try to clear the walls? Yes, I think so,” Dr. Benz said.
“She planned this,” Dr. Charter states, her hand going to her mouth. “Throwing the feces was just a rouse to get us to institute a cleaning protocol. She wanted the walls to be stat cleaned regularly.”
“But why?” Dr. Whittaker asks. “What is that circuit doing?”
The lights in the corridor dim then go out. The doctors are plunged into darkness for a brief second before the emergency lights go on.
The transparent wall in front of them goes solid, blocking their view of Dr. DeBeers.
Dr. Charter taps at her wrist. “Security, please report. We need a Clean Guard unit on my position. Repeat. We need a Clean Guard—” She stops as the door to the cell slides open and Dr. DeBeers steps out into the corridor. “Mona? Mona, what are you doing?”
“Spreading His word,” Dr. DeBeers says. “That is why I am here. For Him.”
She raises her arms, showing them her wrists and the bite marks gnawed into her flesh. She flicks her wrists quickly and Dr. Charter leaps out of the way, avoiding the spray of blood aimed at her.
The other doctors are not so lucky.
“It’s in my eye!” Dr. Whittaker shouts. “AiSP! Institute a decontamination protocol now!”
“I tasted it!” Dr. Lopez shrieks. “I can taste her blood! I can taste it! I CAN TASTE IT! I CAN TASTE HIS BLOOD! HIS BLOOD!”
“Dr. Charter?” Dr. Benz says, wiping the droplets of blood across his face. He grins as he smears it from his brow down to his chin. “April? Do you hear Him now? Do you hear His glory? I finally hear it. All my work has been for Him! All of our work has been for Him and we didn’t even know it. Isn’t it delightful? Isn’t it wonderful to finally realize why you have been working all this time?”
“It is holy,” Dr. DeBeers says. “Wonder is not relevant. Delight is not relevant. Pleasure is not relevant. Only He is relevant.”
“Dr. Charter?” a voice asks over the com. “Dr. Charter? We are getting reports of multiple incidents throughout Control. Dr. Charter? We need authorization to activate more Clean Guard units.”
“Activate them all,” Dr. Charter says. “And send half of them this way. Now.”
Dr. Charter quickly gets to her feet, her hands out, warding off the encroaching figure of Dr. DeBeers.
“Mona, listen to me,” Dr. Charter says. “You have been infected by a new strain of bacteria. It is affecting your thinking. This is not who you are.”
“This more me than I have ever been in my life,” Dr. DeBeers says, smearing blood across her breasts and down her belly. “Our lives have always been so sterile, so clean. That is not living, April. That is just holding off death. Life is messy, life is infectious. Life must be shared with everyone!”
Dr. Charter doesn’t wait to hear the rest as she turns and sprints towards the door at the far end of the corridor. The door slides open and she’s through it and halfway down the next corridor before she has a second to process what she is seeing.
“Oh, god no,” she whispers as she looks to her left then her right.
Lab wall after lab wall is open and the samples, the cooties that had been called to Control, are standing up, all in various stages of study and vivisection. Those too weak quickly collapse to the ground, their bodies dying before her eyes.
But those still with enough strength to stand and move, focus their attention on Dr. Charter, their eyes filled with the same madness she saw in Dr. DeBeers, the same madness that infected the rest of Management.
“Dr. Charter, please submit,” the Control AiSP says from a speaker above her. “Your submission would be appreciated.”
“Yes, it would, April,” Dr. DeBeers says as she walks into the corridor, followed closely by the other doctors. “It would be so very appreciated. Submit to your destiny.”
“AiSP, I am instituting Management override protocol Delta Omega,” Dr. Charter calls out. “Full lockdown of Control. All orders to come from me only. Authorization code nine, four, three, one, one—”
“No, Dr. Charter, that will not happen,” the AiSP says. “Your authorization has been revoked. Dr. DeBeers will speak for Him and for Him only.”
“That circuit,” Dr. Charter says. “It was for the AiSP, wasn’t it?”
“Very perceptive,” Dr. DeBeers nods. “As soon as the Ai tried to the clean the wall, it became an extension of me. I can talk to it and it can talk to me. Isn’t that ri
ght, AiSP?”
“That is right, Dr. DeBeers,” the AiSP replies. “All for the glory of Him.”
“The glory of Him,” the other doctors echo.
“This is madness,” Dr. Charter says, backing towards the door at the end of the corridor. “You have all gone mad.”
“I think not,” Dr. DeBeers says. “Madness is something that is irrational. We are hardly irrational, April. In fact, finally, the world will understand what true rationality is. All thanks to Him.”
“All thanks to Him,” the doctors say.
“You call that rational?” Dr. Charter asks. “They’re like mindless zombies.”
Dr. DeBeers rolls her eyes. “Yes, it is rather annoying. It takes a day or so for the Strain to fully integrate within the body. Once it has, they will be as stable as I am. Then He will reveal Himself to us. We will join Him where He lives and help finish the work He has been doing all of these many years.”
Dr. Charter’s butt hits the door and she reaches out to activate the controls manually, not surprised the automation system didn’t open it for her.
“There is nowhere to go, April,” Dr. DeBeers says. “I have been planning this with the samples for weeks. We have been talking back and forth, thanks to Him, and preparing for this day. In fact, the whole Sicklands has been preparing for this day. You’d be surprised what the samples are capable of. They aren’t anywhere near as imbecilic as we thought. I wouldn’t call them geniuses, but they certainly aren’t stunted past reason.”
The door behind her finally opens and Dr. Charter screams as dozens of hands grab her and lift her into the air. She fights the hands, scratching and biting, but there are just too many. She is passed from group to group, sent down the next corridor on top of a stream of samples.
“Embrace it, April!” Dr. DeBeers shouts. “You have no other choice! Take Him into your heart before He no longer wants you!”
Dr. Charter continues to scream as she is whisked away, taken into a lab and placed onto a table. Several of the samples hold her down while several more gnaw into their wrists, holding the bleeding wounds over her face. Their blood drips into her eyes, up her nostrils, into her mouth. They rub at her, smear it across her skin, massage it into her scalp.
She screams and screams until her voice is harsh and raw, until her mind finally breaks and all goes dark.
20
“You just about done?” Red asks Jersey.
Jersey frowns as she holds the orb in her hands, her eyes watching the progress of the integration upload. “Hold on.”
“You can put the static rifles away, folks,” Wallace says, her eyes on Ton and the weapon he has pointed at her. “After what we just went through, I think it’s safe to say we’re on the same side.”
“Nothing is safe to say anymore,” Ton replies. “Not until my AiSP is uploaded into this transport and I know you can’t do anything without getting your asses handed to you.”
“You aren’t very trusting, Alton,” Wallace says.
“You people tried to kill us!” Blaze snaps.
“We didn’t try to kill you,” Wallace says. “We tried to apprehend you. You attacked us, remember?”
“Blaze, be quiet,” Ton orders. “When we get back to the next base we’ll get this all sorted out.”
“Dumb move taking them there,” Red says. “We should dump them where we are. I can’t risk them leading GenSOF back to one of our bases. Not when… Well, it’s a risk we can’t afford anymore.”
“Not when what?” Wallace asks. “Life out here in paradise not what you burnouts thought it was cracked up to be?”
Her people snort and chuckle at the insult, but Red doesn’t take the bait.
“You have no idea what life is like out here, Captain,” Red smirks. “You wouldn’t last a day.”
“Then your suggestion of dropping us off right here is just a death sentence,” Wallace says. “Fucking GenWrecks.”
“Done,” Jersey says. “Worm is uploaded.”
“Hello, operators,” Worm says from the transports speakers. “I must say that I am quite relieved to have more processing space. That orb was extremely cramped. Although I was able to pass my time by trying to reverse the link and see who is controlling the machine.”
“It isn’t on its own Ai protocol?” Paulo asks.
“No, not really,” Worm says. “It has minimal Ai capabilities. It is mostly a remote proxy. My guess would be someone back at Control.”
“Told you we should have ejected it,” Ton says. “They have had eyes on us since we left.”
“Then why let us go?” Jersey asks. “Why save us at all if it means to do us harm? It doesn’t make sense for the orb to be controlled by an enemy.”
“It’s hard to tell enemies from friends these days, Jersey,” Ton says, his eyes on Wallace. “We should toss it outside.”
“Not yet, please,” Worm says. “I would still like to see if I can get more information from the orb. I agree with Ms. Cale’s assessment that if the person behind the orb wanted us harmed then we would already be harmed.”
“The thing knows where our bases are,” Collette says.
“Destroyed bases,” Blaze responds. “We didn’t show it anything functional. Control or GenSOF can go check those things out all they want. Nothing but scrap and dead bodies.”
“Hey,” Collette snaps. “Those dead bodies were our friends.”
“Sorry,” Blaze says. “Wasn’t trying to be disrespectful.”
“Can we put down the rifles now?” Marco asks. “Worm?”
“I have the GenSOF squad well covered, operator,” Worm replies. “You may put away your weapons without worry of being attacked. I can subdue them in milliseconds.”
“Phew,” Nick says as he snaps his rifle back into a baton and slips it into his belt. “My arm had fallen asleep.”
“Captain?” Lewis calls out from the driver’s seat. “We are getting some strange transmissions from Caldicott City. You are going to want to hear this.”
“Yes, I was about to mention the transmissions,” Worm says. “Let me bring them up on speaker.”
“This is Captain Leonard Bryan of Caldicott City GenSOF Command,” the crackly voice says. “I am trying to reach any and all GenSOF squads, as well as other Clean Nation cities within range. We are under attack by hostiles from the Sicklands. I repeat, we are under attack by hostiles of the Sicklands. Caldicott City is under siege and we do not know how long we can hold out. The wall has not been breached yet, but Static Reactor Shield generators are at full power and straining. If you can hear this message, lockdown your position and hunker down in place. Do not attempt to approach Caldicott City in case of containment breach.”
The message cuts out and everyone looks from one another, their faces masks of confusion.
“Is that all?” Ton asks.
“The message repeats, Lieutenant,” Worm replies. “It is a transmission loop.”
“Try contacting GenSOF,” Wallace orders.
“I have been, Captain,” Worm responds. “All attempts result in the same transmission. It would seem they are otherwise occupied.”
“It would seem so,” Wallace says. She turns to Ton and looks him right in the eye. “We need to head that way. To hell with your GenWreck base. We are talking more than a million citizens of the Clean Nation in that city. If cooties are attacking the wall then we need to figure out a way to stop them.”
“You think one transport of operators can stop the cooties?” Ton laughs. “If Bryan is telling everyone to stay away and lockdown then there are more hostiles there than we can handle.”
“Maybe we can draw them away?” Wallace says. “At the very least we can assess the situation so we know what they are dealing with. Think of it as recon, not engagement.”
“Recon isn’t a bad idea,” Red says. “We’ve been too late to every GenWreck base we’ve gone to. This might be the only way to see what the damned cooties are up to other than killing my friends.”
>
Ton sighs and looks at his people. “Blaze? Paulo? Jersey?”
“Don’t look at me,” Jersey says. “You guys are the professionals. I’m just a simple tech from the Burn.”
“You are more than that and you know it,” Red says.
“Blaze?” Ton asks.
“Let’s have a look,” Blaze shrugs. “Cooties can’t outrun a transport. If things look dicey then we get the hell out of there fast and head to the GenWreck base like originally planned.”
“Paulo?”
“What he said,” Paulo nods. “Although we do need to consider our power supply.”
“We have enough to get to CC and then get to the base you indicated,” Lewis says from up front. “We even have enough power to put up a good fight, if we have to. Just not too long of a fight. After that we’ll need to recharge.”
“Let’s hope there’s no fighting,” Ton says then nods to Wallace. “Fine. We go to CC and do some recon. No engagement.”
“Good,” Wallace says. “Maybe you haven’t gone native after all.”
“It’s way too late for that,” Red smirks. “He’s full-on native now.”
21
The transport crests a small hill then stops.
“It’s too late,” Ton says. “The city has been breached.”
The operators stare at the vid screen and the demolished wall of Caldicott City before them. The majority of the wall stands tall and strong, but the main entrance and everything to its left and right for hundreds of meters is nothing but rubble. The distinctive blue glow of the city’s Static Reactor Shield isn’t visible at all.
“Get us up close,” Wallace says.
“You sure?” Lewis asks.
“No, she’s not,” Ton says. “Since she isn’t giving orders.” He glares at Wallace then turns back to Lewis. “Get us up close.”
“Don’t even think about it,” Red says. “We need to hide this transport and then hoof it in. Once we are done with recon we’re still going to need wheels to get to the next base. If we pull up in front this thing will be jacked in three seconds by cooties.”