by Blade, CG
“March along, sing our song, with the Army of the free
Count the brave, count the true, who have fought to victory
We’re the Army and proud of our name
We’re the Army and proudly proclaim
First to fight for the right,
And to build the Nation’s might,
And The Army Goes Rolling Along…and The Army Goes Rolling Along!”
Suddenly Petra pitched forward with the force of a sledgehammer hitting concrete. She hit her head on top of the thick table and bounced twice, mimicking a tree that had just been felled. The force of the impact caused an indentation in the grainy wood surface. The sound of the crash reverberated throughout the room. Everyone in the room jumped out of their chairs and scrambled over each other trying to help her. They covered her up with their own clothing. Carefully laying her flat on the floor, they began to check her vitals calling for the emergency medical team. Everyone was hovering over her discussing what the next step should be. Jackie stood over her, closed her eyes, and pressed both of her lips together tight. She covered her face so no one could hear the word—stable come muttering out of her mouth. Petra lay motionless on the floor seeping cobalt gel from a wound on her forehead. The corners of Stephanie’s mouth began to slightly curve upward as she grinned, sitting motionless in her chair.
Wednesday October 14th 10:00 AM
“Okay? So you thought this was the best plan of action?”
“I’m what you would call a renaissance woman. I’m the newest breed of womankind. Unlike Miss America that is—”
“No. What you are is filthy go get cleaned up. Wow you stink!” Emily was standing in the front foyer of the mansion pinching her nostrils together staring at Dreama’s singed blood-spattered dress and blended burnt auburn hair. She was holding a long chrome dog leash with a grinning old man attached to the other end of it wearing a thick black leather collar. His bright red aloha shirt and shorts were unkempt and wrinkled. His face was covered with dried blood, dirt and bright red lipstick smeared all over his face and eyelids. He stank just as bad as Dreama did. He was sans shoes and his normal eyeglasses that he had worn just about every day of his life.
“Who are all these fucking people you invited over for coffee? Emily this looks like a book club meeting on Dopra.” There were several people sitting on the couch and in chairs in the living room staring blindly into space as if they were looking through each other. They were motionless. An Arcing machine was in the corner of the living room on top of an end table misting charcoal vapor throughout the mansion. The sun shining through the windows was illuminating specks of sparkling blueish green particles floating around the room. The occupants were inhaling its sweet odor. This was the criminal underground’s newest contribution to society, Arc 18.
“These dear, are our newest accidental recruits. Meet Honolulu’s finest Deputy Richard Ward of the Hawaii County Sheriff’s department. He was investigating the disappearance of Miss Kukani and Mr. Leuthold.” He raised his hand and put it back down on his neatly uniformed blue pant leg.
“Over here is our new neighbor from across the street Bonnie Emert who invited herself in without asking.” She also raised her hand and returned it to her lap.
“This lovely young lady is Cynthia Rhodes. She’s just nosy about who’s who in the neighborhood and brought us these delicious oatmeal cookies.” Cynthia repeated the gesture saluting Dreama as Emily finished swallowing a half-eaten cookie. The smell of fresh baked warm goodies combined with the sweet smell of arc smoke filled the air.
“You of course remember Dean. He’s been a big help, haven’t you boy?”
“Yes Emily.” Dean said softly, drooling and rubbing his head against Emily’s leg like an affectionate dog as she stroked his hair. His back leg moved quickly imitating a bicycle rider’s stroke as she petted his head.
“So is that the doc?”
“Yep he’s all ready to go aren’t ya boy—aren’t ya?” He smiled as Dreama rubbed his belly through his shirt.
“Yes Jane.” One of the world’s most impressive and knowledgeable Latin professors, Doctor Parsons Trefoils, now reduced to a subservient pile of giggling goo, as obedient and compliant as all of the guests now in attendance.
“Take him to the garage and have him start. I’ll have these mutts carry the box in there and start assembling the spire.”
“Emily, who’s the priest sitting in the corner of the kitchen?”
“Actually he is a Kahuna dear. You know the term ‘Big Kahuna’. He is an ancient Hawaiian sorcerer. He is a magician or something. Anyway he came over to bless our new house and now he is obviously staying for lunch.”
“Why does he keep repeating Anāʻanā?”
“Not sure he’s nuts or something. He also mentioned Da Hui or some shit.” The bald tattooed priest in the dark corner of the kitchen was a Hawaiian shaman dressed in an orange robe with a green and white lei fragrantly hanging around his neck. He was rocking back and forth mumbling incoherently. Each one of Emily’s new catatonic parolees was a former shell of themselves, resembling pale antique dolls with a ‘cracked and glazed’ look to them. Their limbs creaked when they moved and their darkened sunken eyes were sullen and robotic looking. They responded to commands without uttering a single word.
“Lights, why is there a cat in here?” Dreama had slowly cracked open the door leading to the garage. A cat was sitting on top of a warm crimson tank cleaning itself. Geckos chirped in the dark corners of the room choosing to stay hidden.
“I don’t know? I didn’t let it in.”
“Shoo—shoo—kitty cat! Scat!” The fluffy orange tabby, startled by Dreama’s voice, ran through her legs and scurried out of the mansion escaping to the free world courtesy of the open front door leaving small crimson paw prints behind on the tile floor. A sweet smell of corrosiveness filled the air as it scurried away down the driveway.
Chapter 8
FLEXIBLE
“I believe you two are right!” Jackie threw her hands up in the air and slammed them down at her sides smacking her thighs in the process. She rubbed them hard with her palms wishing she hadn’t done that.
“Should we delete it?”
“Yes delete it now dammit!” Jackie yelled forcefully at Jerry. Upset and frustrated her emotions were now overriding her intellect at this point. Petra was lying on a cold steel table in the Preservation Room jacked into a chirping digital diagnostic stand. Ray was standing next to her as Jerry was manipulating the Vidscreen and controls. Code was running across the screen as he started to delete string files and sentence structures that had invaded Petra’s core processor.
“Goddammit Ray! Who the hell is doing this?”
“I know you’re pissed Jackie but I think we’ve got it under control now.”
“It was that video at the White House I just know it was. It had to be. They knew she would watch and record it. What in the hell is going on? They have our code, and now this!”
“Your guess is as good as mine. This video was definitely a virus though and it was a good one.” Ray was examining the files on the crystal screen as Jerry deleted them from the microchip in Petra’s brain “Jerry stop right there!” Jerry put his hands up in the air and scooted backwards in his rolling chair “I think—yes I think I’ve seen parts of this virus before. While this is brand new stuff it’s definitely reminiscent of a leech virus.” Ray was pointing to the screen examining the paused bits of information.
“What the hell is a leech virus Ray? Why haven’t I heard of it?”
“I read about a data-slicer working on this on the blacknet. You know leeches, the things that suck on warm-blooded mammals, well this sucks information out of a binary host, attaches itself to the network and then transmits the information to somewhere…out there. You don’t need a Pseudosynth to do the dirty work. You just need a way to get the virus into a digital host. After it finds access to the target files, it corrupts the host’s processor and destroys any evi
dence it had ever been there. This code is very hard to detect and remove unless you know what you are looking for. The leech retrieves information then actually eats physical data and corrodes the chip structure. It is very intricate and unique. Whatever or whomever did this had intended to kill Petra when they were done with their information retrieval. This was intentional—and lethal.”
“I hope to God we aren’t connected to, or transmitting to the network NOW are we?”
“Uh no Jackie but it shows here that—um Captain Dace was connected to the network at around 2:00 a.m.—syncing for—three hours and um forty-six minutes.” Jerry was wincing and ducking staring at Jackie, afraid he might become the recipient of an outburst, or even worse a slap. Ray frowned nodding his head in agreement with Jerry.
“I was with her earlier this morning when she—”
Jackie felt her heart start to beat faster and faster as she stared at Ray and Jerry. She began to feel lightheaded and everything around her was starting to move closer and closer funneling in on her eyes quickly. Perspiration was forming on her forehead and arms. Her face became hot and flushed. Her eyelids closed before she fell over and hit the concrete floor with a loud thump and the sickening sound of cracking bone.
Wednesday October 15th 8:00 AM
“Hey are you Okay?”
“Yes why do you ask?”
“You seem out there—somewhere.”
“No. I seem to like being in here with you. Are you going to join me soon?”
“I hope so. I am not one-hundred percent yet but I am working on it, soon Petra, soon.”
Petra gasped as she suddenly woke and jumped up in her bed like a tightly coiled spring that had become unwound. She quickly adjusted her vision to her surroundings.
“I was with—Jim.”
“That’s impossible Petra. He’s still in Cobalt.” A lab tech standing next to her bed scoffed at her out of the side of his mouth as he went over her vital info on his virtual clipboard.
“I am telling you I was with him, just NOW!”
Petra reached up and swiftly grabbed him by his blue lab coat collar and pulled him to within one millimeter of her face. The other techs in the room quickly inched their way out through the contamination chamber.
“Tim is it?” Petra asked eyeing his holographic name badge hanging off his lab coat. Her cobalt eyes lit up and pierced his like blinding lasers.
“Yes—um—Tim Rhoad ma’am please don’t hurt me.”
“Listen very carefully Tim, I am not joking around. I do not dream and I most certainly do not sleep. So Tim, if these two facts confuse you, please get someone who will understand them!” Petra let go of his lab coat staring him down.
“Yes Captain Dace I’m, I’m—sorry.” Tim straightened up his wrinkled attire rushing out of the room and into the control room. He felt Petra’s eyes following him as he left and as she stared into the glass separating them as he started discussing something with Dr. Sanders and Ray Nelson who were now staring back at her. Petra dressed only in a hospital gown had a look of perplexity on her face.
“Petra?”
“Yes Norman?”
“How are we doing?”
“WE are fine doc. Will someone please tell me why I am in bed again?” She asked looking around the room surveying her situation.
“Hold on I’ll be in there in a sec.”, their conversation echoed through the speakers in both rooms simultaneously. Sanders and Nelson were both holding their chins now nodding to each other. They eventually made their way through the contamination chamber dressed in full scrubs, masks and gloves as if they just recently finished a surgical procedure. Petra was sniffing the air in the room and she could sense some sweet goodness might be coming her way.
“Petra—um—” Sanders was trying to spit out the information that he knew to Petra. The ramifications of the data-slice were showing on his face.
“You two are hiding something Norman.”
Sanders instructed the Vidscreen on the wall in front of Petra to play the scene from twenty-four hours earlier at the War Room meeting.
“Why am I in bed Norman?”
The video of her meltdown was playing out in front of her eyes.
“You have no problem with nudity Petra. In fact you seem to enjoy it.”
“That’s funny Ter, very funny. What is wrong with me Norman? I feel fine!”
“We know Petra. You’ve been data-sliced.”
“What?”
“The video at the White House was the catalyst that fueled the slice. They used you as the conduit to get to our network and now our deepest darkest secrets are vulnerable to anything or anyone.”
“Stop video!” she commanded loudly to the Vidscreen.
Petra was staring at the still video scene now frozen on the Vidscreen on the wall in front of her bed as everyone tried to cover her up with their clothing. Her mind was trying to compute how she could have let this happen to them, all of them.
“Am I okay?”
“Yes Petra. We purged your system and there does not seem to be any lingering corrupt strings of code or leech virus remnants left. We think we’ve got them all cleaned out of you.”
“What about the facility? I was syncing with the network—”
Ray Nelson interjected quickly. “—Petra we don’t really know at this point how much damage was done. We are currently working on that but we think it goes all the way to the satellites through the Blade Drives. We have shut the facility network down and are currently running tests.”
“Where’s Jackie, why isn’t she here?”
“She’s—um—well she is in another room lying peacefully in a bed” Norman tried to contain Petra as she leapt out of bed and made her way into the contamination chamber. The door to the control room was electronically locked making escape impossible until the chamber software made sure she was free of impurities. They were watching her as she pounded her fists on the transparent walls in her hospital gown. She began causing cracks in the walls of the chamber as the blasts of air and lasers that surrounded her evaluated her biological and chemical systems. The door finally opened releasing her to the control room area on the other side. She ran into the adjacent hallway, peeked through a door window, and froze. Realizing the gravity of the situation, she slowly opened the door, stepping inside and walking to the side of the bed.
“Jackie,” she said softly. Her head wrapped tightly with bandages. An electronic cast was calmly playing her favorite harmonic melodies compressed on her right elbow. “What happened to her?”
“She passed out when she realized you were sliced and it had wormed its way to the network. She fractured her elbow and received a concussion when she fell.” Norman and Ray had followed Petra into the room and were now standing behind her.
“Hey there,” Jackie turned her head slowly on her pillow and smiled at Petra.
“Jackie are you coherent?”
“I think so. How are you? You’re up and about so you’re doing better than me right now.”
“I think I am running on all cylinders. Ray and Norman purged the virus.”
“That’s good.” Jackie was groggy and slipping in and out of consciousness.
“I am going to leave now Jackie. Norman and Ray are here to help you.”
“Okay Petra you take care of yourself.” An intravenous remote plugged into her arm was feeding her fluids and nutrients.
“Can I talk to both of you outside?”
“Yes Petra by all means.” Norman opened the door and stepped out into the hallway with the others in tow. They retreated to the control room. Norman began spilling the beans to her. “We don’t know where the virus in the video came from and we can’t find the source. After today, you are no longer going to be able to link to the satellite to get information or access help. Any attempt to leave this facility right now would be suicide. We are flying blind right now. We shut the main Blade Drives down.”
“Where is Stephanie? Was she infected? What about
the rest of the cobalt patients, and Jim?”
“We shut down Project Cobalt disconnecting all of the subjects from the network. As far as the reach of the virus, we are running independent tests on each of them to see if they were infected. They’re currently stabilized on basic life support. Stephanie was not synchronizing with the network when we found the virus. She is on her way to Hawaii and we currently cannot reach her. We can only track her by her vital monitor.” He pointed to a Vidscreen showing a green GPS route indicator across a map of the United States. It was slowly moving across Oklahoma towards Mexico. “She is linked to our only isolated satellite network, Eagle 1. She is on her own.”
“Why is she heading towards Hawaii Norman?”
“Well,” Norman locked his fingers together tightly, frowning slightly, “before Jackie went down we got a report of a quadruple homicide. The figure on a news feed looked an awful lot like someone we might know. So, we all decided to send Stephanie there to check it out while you were being purged.” Ray Nelson looked at Petra worried about the outcome of this decision. He knew what was coming and he had the same frown on his face.
“Do we have video of the homicide?”
“Yes Petra.”
The three of them walked back into the control room. Petra stood staring at the Vidscreen panels hanging on the wall in front of her and began to morph into her dark blue camos. She yanked the hospital gown off her body and laid it on a table in front of her. Ray Nelson stared at Petra in amazement, shaking his head in awe as several techs in the room sat motionless knowing what was about to play out in front of their eyes.