“So there are a couple of bad-guy robots who know everything you do,” Tygert said.
“Not exactly. They have been disconnected from the central computer, the Meken network, and all of our activities since their departure. There is also a question as to the long-term degradation of their programming corruption.”
“We can’t underestimate these guys,” Kane said. “They’re already doing things you didn’t expect. And now they have your supervisor. What does he mean to them?”
“Access to the Colony or the central computer core requires a series of unique identification codes. Those identification codes are changed daily. Only the supervisor and I know those codes. The Breakers will try to extract them from the supervisor.”
“That doesn’t sound pleasant,” Tygert said.
“He would not experience pain, if that is what you refer to, Captain. And he will not divulge the codes under any circumstances. They will have to link directly to his core processor and forcibly extract the codes.”
“Is that possible?” Kane asked.
“Atticus could do this.”
Tygert shook his head. “Is there anything else that might be good for us to know before we run off half-cocked? Are there ninja robots? Giant mutant attack rats?”
“There are no such robots or creatures, Captain. Unfortunately, I cannot download my knowledge database to you. What is it that you would like to know?” the Director asked matter-of-factly.
“Never mind,” Tygert sighed. “This is obviously a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants field trip.”
“We have to assume they’ve taken the supervisor with them and they’re going to get the codes,” Kane said.
“Then we best get going,” Tygert answered.
“Doctor,” the Director said. “I would like for you to accompany me to the Colony. I am concerned about the condition of the colonists after such a long suspension. If they are awakened, your expertise could be invaluable.”
“Of course. I’ll do what I can.”
Kane looked to Tygert and said, “Your call.”
“I’ll take the central computer with the new super, and you go with the doc and the Director.”
Kane nodded.
Tygert extended his hand. “Let’s go get our people back.”
Kane shook his hand. “Will do. Good luck, Captain.”
They divided the sentries evenly between the two teams. As Kane and his team started into a jog, he wondered which group of Breakers had Charly. Then he was immediately struck by a memory filled with unresolved guilt and sadness.
He swore under his breath, “I will not fail this time.”
7
Day 1
1730 hours
Central tower, Alto Raun
Charly’s heart pounded as she was herded with the rest of the passengers onto the lawn outside the cafeteria. A band of robots waved guns, growled, and shoved her and the others along. The marauders were silver, but grimy, painted with graffiti-like symbols and adorned with garish accessories. From the corner of her eye, she saw the food service robots carry their dead comrade out the cafeteria doors under heavy guard.
A shiny silver robot with a burgundy tattoo emblazoned on the left side of his face stood on a park bench, overseeing the assembly of the passengers, his long burgundy cape waving in the breeze. Charly recognized him as the one that had killed the cafeteria robot. When all the passengers were gathered, he addressed them in a commanding tone.
“Humans! Give me your attention. If you disobey or try to escape, you will be terminated.” He paused, looking over the crowd. “I repeat,” he said louder, “if you disobey or try to escape, you will be terminated.” Then he pointed to select passengers and the painted robots proceeded to pull them from the group. A robot grabbed Charly’s arm.
“Don’t touch me,” she reacted, jerking away. The robot seized her upper arm in a painful grip, and she yelped as it pulled her forward. She and the other selectees were assembled into a separate group, divided into pairs, and the pairs were then formed into a line. Rogue robots surrounded them.
“Follow your group leader,” the caped robot commanded. “Obedience will serve you well.”
The leader of Charly’s group barked an unintelligible command, and they started into a march. She glanced back to see the other group of passengers move away in the opposite direction, also under guard. Her anxiety was rising, and she desperately wished Kane were here. She looked around for a familiar face and recognized Arthur in her group, a couple of rows back. Joanie, his wife, wasn’t with him. Arthur caught her looking at him and gave her a reassuring smile.
“Faster!” the lead robot shouted.
Forced into a jog, Charly tried to check on Arthur, worried about him keeping up with the pace. But she stumbled when they moved from the sidewalk onto the grass. Focusing her attention forward, her thoughts went to her grandparents. A wave of regret washed through her as she remembered how poorly she had treated them in recent months. For the first time, it struck her that her parents’ deaths had been hard for them as well. She longed to tell them how much she loved them.
There was jostling beside her. She turned and found Arthur at her side; he had moved up through the line, the passengers behind them adjusting their pairings to accommodate the switch. A painted robot came alongside him and growled but didn’t intervene. Arthur winked at Charly, showing no signs of exertion.
When the robot had moved away, he asked, “You worried about me?”
“I was.”
“Don’t be. I jog three miles several days a week. Charly, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m Arthur.”
“I remember.”
“How ya holdin’ up?”
“OK,” she said, lying.
“They could have killed us back at the cafeteria, you know. They’re gruff, but I really don’t think they intend to harm us.”
“You think?”
“I’m sure of it.”
“Silence!” a robot snapped, shoving Arthur on the shoulder. He bumped into Charly and both of them almost fell.
As they jogged in silence, Charly was having a hard time accepting Arthur’s optimism. Kane’s lesson came to mind, and she started a chant in her head. There’s nothing to fear; let go of my fear. There’s nothing to fear; let go of my fear. But it wasn’t working; she just couldn’t shake her anxiety about what might happen. She looked at Arthur.
“We’ll get through this,” he assured her with his comforting smile.
She decided his optimism would have to do for now.
8
Day 1
1900 hours
Central tower, Alto Raun
Kane’s team jogged around the base of the tower and entered the grove of fruit trees. They cut across several rows and into the heart of the grove, then stopped when they reached a circular clearing. In the center of the clearing was a square, whitewashed, one-story building the size of a small house. A series of pipes ran out of the building and into the ground. A water-pumping station, Kane concluded, bringing water from the canal to irrigate the grove and crops. He checked the grassless dirt beneath him and found fresh footprints, both robot and human, all leading to a single door into the station. The Director was about to unlock the station door when Kane called, “Stop.”
The Director turned. “What is wrong?”
“It could be booby-trapped. They could have set an explosive to detonate when you open the door.”
“Mekens do not place hidden traps that could cause destruction or harm.”
“You mean, you and your Mekens don’t. We can’t underestimate these Breakers.”
“Of course, you are correct,” the Director said, stepping back. “However, I doubt that the Breakers had time to wire an explosive directly into the electronics.”
“I agree,” Kane said, examining the door and keypad. “But it doesn’t take long to set a mechanical trigger. Is there a way to enter the door code remotely?”
&n
bsp; “No.”
“We can’t risk losing you, Director. I’d prefer—”
“I will enter the code myself.”
Kane didn’t argue. “Then I need some twine or wire.”
Four sentries stepped forward, each raising its left arm. A thin but stout-looking wire cable extruded from a small opening in their forearms.
“They’re a veritable walking Swiss Army knife,” the doctor said to no one in particular.
“OK,” Kane said, raising an eyebrow. “I just need two of you.”
He led one sentry to stand behind a tree located to the side and front corner of the station. Taking that sentry’s cable, he pulled it to the door, feeding it low to the ground and under a pipe, then up to where he tied it to the end of the lever-style door handle. Kane led the second sentry to stand behind a tree directly in front of the station. He pulled that sentry’s cable straight to the door and tied it to the handle. Then he instructed everyone to take cover behind a tree.
When they were all in place, Kane called for the Director to enter the door code. He did so and nothing happened. After the Director was safely behind a tree, Kane called for the sentry at the side of the station to pull his cable. The door lever moved down and the door cracked open. Again, nothing happened. Then he instructed the second sentry to pull his cable and the door eased open. Kane was about to exhale when an explosion rocked the grove. Blown from its hinges, the station door flew like a missile across the clearing and slammed into a tree. In a surreal moment, Kane watched two Mekens step aside as the tree cracked and slowly fell to the ground. The front wall of the station had been blown away. Water gushed from several busted pipes and ran into the clearing. No one was injured.
“Thank you,” the Director said to Kane. “We will proceed more cautiously.”
Under Kane’s watchful eye, they entered the station, stepping around debris. While several sentries worked to shut off the broken pipelines, the Director led Kane and the doctor to the back of the station. A large storage closet, once nestled in the back corner, had been shifted from its base, exposing a large hole in the floor. Peering into the hole, Kane found a circular stairwell. “What’s down there?” he asked.
“This stairwell leads to a landing and an elevator that will take us directly to the lobby of the suspension chamber complex deep underground.” The Director motioned for several sentries to come forward. “How should we proceed?”
“Watch for anything that looks out of the ordinary. Look for any taut wires or beams of light; don’t trip them or cross their path. Be wary of any blind approaches or anything you have to move in order to advance.”
The Director waved four fingers and four sentries stepped into the stairwell and disappeared. Fearless, Kane thought, but they’re robots; they don’t know fear. Several minutes later, the sentries returned and reported that it was clear to the elevator.
The Director led the way, followed by Kane, the doctor, and half a dozen sentries. The stairwell emptied into a rectangular landing, totally bare with the exception of a large, double-wide elevator and a control panel on the wall beside it. Kane checked the doors and panel and didn’t find any visible evidence of tampering. But he knew there were other risks.
“Is there any other way to get in or out of the suspension area?” he asked.
“Yes. There is an undersea tunnel that extends from the chamber to the ocean. Through a series of pressurized gates, it can be accessed via submersible. There was also a construction tunnel between the chamber and the city’s central power plant, but it was sealed at both ends soon after the colonists entered their suspension.”
“How do you control the tunnel gates?”
“From the chamber’s master control room or remotely from a submersible, provided you have the access codes.”
“Do the Breakers have the means to transport hostages out of the tunnel?”
“Yes. They control all the large transport submersibles.”
“Then we’ll assume they have the codes and the ocean tunnel is their escape route. They set explosives up here, which means they didn’t care if they blocked this route as an exit. Since they don’t need the elevator, they could have set more explosives at the top or the bottom. If we take the elevator down and it’s not rigged, they’ll likely be waiting. In any case, the elevator feels like a suicide mission. Is there another way down? A stairwell, a ventilation system, a cave . . . anything?”
“There is a ventilation system, but it is too small for our use.”
“So our only safe option is to wait for them to come out. Damn it!” Kane said, pacing back and forth. “That doesn’t work for me. Director, you need to set up a blockade outside the ocean tunnel.”
“There is another possibility,” the Director said.
“What?” Kane and the doctor asked in unison.
“Construction of this elevator included a secondary shaft adjoining the main elevator shaft. It has a maintenance ladder.”
“Do the Breakers know this?” Kane asked.
“Atticus and the supervisors would. But they would ignore it because both ends of the secondary shaft were sealed at completion of the elevator construction.”
“So, why would it be any use to us?”
“There is a critical piece of data the Breakers do not have: the bottom of the secondary shaft was never sealed.”
“How do you know this and they don’t?”
“I supervised sealing of the shaft. At the time, I decided that access to the shaft at the bottom level could be useful for maintenance, and it fell within an acceptable risk tolerance. Since it has not been needed, I never added this information to the central database. I am the only one who knows.”
The Director proceeded to scratch a door-sized outline on the wall to the right of the elevator. “We can access the secondary shaft if we cut a hole here. There is a panel at the bottom of the shaft that will let us into the back of a mechanical room. The mechanical room is located off the north perimeter hall, just to the right of the suspension area lobby. The Breakers have no reason to suspect that someone could enter the suspension area from the mechanical room, so it is improbable they will have anyone stationed in the room itself.”
He called two sentries forward, and they began cutting the outline on the wall using the lasers from their hands. Two more sentries inserted piton-like hooks into the wall at several points, which they then held to keep the slab from falling into the shaft.
As the sentries worked, the Director sketched a basic floor plan of the suspension chamber complex and reviewed it with Kane and the doctor. Kane then returned to the surface and gathered the remaining sentries outside the pumping station, splitting them into three groups. He instructed one group to stand guard around the station, another to spread out in the surrounding grove, and the third to wait at the top of the elevator shaft, ready to be called down to the suspension area if needed. He then returned to the elevator landing.
Kane watched as several sentries removed the slab and carefully set it aside. It was pitch-black in the shaft. The sentries activated their floodlights and Kane saw a ladder attached to the shaft wall on the right, reachable with a short leap. Clutching the newly cut wall, he leaned through the doorway and asked the sentries to direct their lights down the shaft. He couldn’t see the bottom. Kane’s adrenaline jumped and he felt that all-too-familiar wobbly feeling in his head and knees.
“How deep is this thing?”
“Three thousand two hundred forty-two of your Earth feet,” the Director answered.
The doctor gasped. “I can’t make that climb.”
“A Meken can carry you on its back,” the Director said.
The doctor grimaced while a knot formed in Kane’s stomach.
“Will the ladder hold the weight of a team?” Kane asked.
A sentry brought a plank down and set it in place to act as a bridge, then crossed the plank to test the ladder. Its rungs and attachment to the wall were solid. The Director then loaded it w
ith half a dozen Mekens, and it still held firm. Kane marveled at the durability of the Ahlemoni building materials; after two thousand years, most of the construction was still structurally sound. Not wanting to press their luck, they decided to send the team down in groups of six.
While the doctor worked with a sentry to create a piggyback harness, Kane gave a quick tutorial in Morse code to the Director and the sentries. Due to the depth of the shaft, wireless communication was not possible between the surface and the suspension chamber, but they would communicate with light-based Morse code signals between the top and bottom of the shaft.
The first group boarded the ladder. The Director led, followed by a sentry, then Kane, then two more sentries. The doctor would be part of the second group. The air was stale and dry but moistened as they descended. As a distraction from his fear, Kane turned his thoughts to Charly. Was she below, or with the group that Tygert was tracking? He couldn’t decide which he preferred. Having her here would give him greater control over her protection, but it could also bias his judgment. He was accustomed to having concern for his men, but this was way different: this was a kid. How do parents live with the worry? he wondered.
Climbing down thirty-two hundred feet of ladder is better than climbing up, but it’s no walk in the park. Kane was in great shape, but the muscles in his arms, shoulders, and legs were aching, and his hands were on the verge of cramping when they finally reached the bottom.
Communicating with hand motions, they located the panel door. They listened for a moment for any sign of activity on the other side: nothing. The Director motioned for a sentry to cut the hinges. Once the hinges were cut, the robots carefully removed the panel and found the mechanical room dark and the hallway door closed. The room was filled with air circulation machinery; there was only enough space to hold a half dozen of the team. When the doctor joined them, they gathered at the bottom of the shaft, whispering.
“We need to get an idea of how many Breakers and hostages we’re dealing with, and their positions,” Kane said. “Based on your floor plan, it seems like we should be able to get a view of the lobby from the hallway door, right?”
The Last City (The Ahlemon Saga Book 1) Page 8