Absolute Power (Book 1): Origins

by Queen, Grayson

  The Jungle

  Night came, and the two platoons made camp on the side of a hill. They set up a watch and those who got a chance to sleep took it. Angie slept lightly, always aware when her people changed watch or stirred. In the morning she felt rested enough, then after a brief stretch was ready to go.

  Captain Torres handed her a cup of coffee when she went to see him. “I want you to take your platoon ahead,” he said. “Give the jungle a cursory sweep, and we'll come through and follow any leads you find.”

  “The rebels knew the village,” Angie ventured. “That means they've been there before. So they must have a trail.”

  “If they do, I haven't seen it,” Torres said. “Get moving. It's a bad idea to leave Muir alone for too long.”

  “Yes, sir,” Angie agreed. To her team she shouted, “Green, get up and get moving.”

  Mallory sat up with a grumble. Orlando and Santiago kept their complaints to themselves. For once, being a man short was going to work in their favor. Smaller scouting parties could move faster.

  “We're taking the lead,” Angie explained to Orlando. “Organize a sweeping pattern. I want you on the far right. I'll take far left.”

  Orlando nodded and turned to the others. “Sweep the jungle. Santiago center right. Mallory center left.”

  They had been walking along for several hours when Angie came across an animal path. The underbrush almost hid it from sight. It would make an excellent route for anyone who didn't want to be found. Not only that, but it went in the same direction that they thought the rebels might be hiding. Angie followed it for a couple of miles until it let out at a stream. She crouched and listened to the jungle. The animals went on with their daily routine, undisturbed. There was no one else out here, but that didn't mean the rebels weren't using the stream and paths to travel.

  After wetting down her head and neck, Angie pulled out her radio and switched channels. They were observing tactical communication, which meant cryptic conversations. “Green to Yellow, come in.”

  “This is Yellow, go ahead,” Captain Torres answered.

  “I'm approximately two miles south of your position,” Angie said. “There’s a stream here that could be what we're looking for.”

  “Copy that,” Torres said, “We'll check it out.”

  The next five hours were uneventful and slow going. Angie's platoon had covered ten miles of jungle. At sundown, they regrouped and made camp. Sometime in the middle of the night a call came over the radio. The sound snapped Angie awake.

  “...enemy contact,” she could just make out Muir's accent, “...bad... …support... We're under heavy fire.”

  Torres cut into the radio transmission, “Green team fall back to the village double time.”

  Orlando already had the team packing their bags. There was no way they would make it back in time to be of any help. Still, they moved fast incase the minutes made a difference. After having scouted the area, they already knew the quickest path.

  The Village

  “Green to Yellow, come in,” Angie said into her radio quietly

  “What's your position?” Torres asked.

  “Five hundred meters from the village,” she reported.

  “Blue team is moving east,” Torres said, “In pursuit of three tangos. Red team is not responding. Secure the village and be careful.”

  “Copy, secure village,” Angie replied.

  From her pack, Angie pulled out binoculars to scan the village. It looked deserted and as far as she could tell there were no signs of a fight. That probably meant Red team was somewhere in the surrounding jungle. The fact that she couldn't see any villagers troubled Angie. It was best to assume that the village was under enemy occupation.

  “Orlando, take Mallory and swing left to give us some cover fire,” Angie ordered.

  “We're short manned; it’d be easier to blast the village out from around them,” Mallory argued.

  Angie ignored him. “Santiago, you and I will clear the buildings.” She turned directly to Mallory. “Don't let anyone get behind us.”

  This time Mallory kept his suggestions to himself. He nodded and then went with Orlando. The two of them moved through the concealment of the jungle. Angie followed their progress with her binoculars. When they were in position, Orlando waved. Angie and Santiago slipped their packs off. They had to cross a lot of open ground, and they needed to move fast. Santiago would make the sprint easier. She had the ability to distort physics, changing inertia, mass and force. It would make the two women fast and agile, more so than they already were. Santiago took a second to make sure her hair was pulled back tight. When she was ready, she nodded to Angie. They dashed out of the jungle at full speed, heading for the nearest house. Angie went left and Santiago right, as they zigzagged across the open field.

  Five seconds later they were crouched next to a rickety house. No one had taken notice of them, or at least indicated that they had. Angie peered between the cracks of the wood-plank house, no one was inside. There were three large buildings across from them. If the rebels were in the village, they were most likely in the big buildings. From past visits, Angie knew the closest of the three was used for food storage. The entryway was facing them, so Angie motioned her intention. The women sprinted to the door, stopping on either side. Santiago counted to three, then pulled the latch. Angie charged in, extending her claws. The building was empty.

  Following Angie in with her assault rifle, Santiago looked confused. “What the hell,” she whispered.

  Angie was thinking the same thing. She kept her focus on the two other buildings. One was the common hall, where the villagers met and held religious services. The other was a recent addition. In fact, it was so new, that Angie had never been inside. It became apparent that something wrong here. Angie looked out the doorway toward the new building. It was far, but there was a house and a well that could provide some protection. She looked toward Orlando, who was watching them from a distance. Signaling where she was going and that they needed cover, Angie made her move. Santiago stayed close with her rifle, scanning the area. Before Angie could reach the well, a burst of gunfire broke the silence. The bullets hit her square in the chest, knocking her off her feet. She cursed at herself for being stupid. If not for Santiago’s powers, the bullets would have torn her apart. Instead, she would be left with bruises and embarrassment. She could worry about that later. Angie rolled over onto her knees and crawled behind the well. Meanwhile, Santiago had gone right and ducked behind a wood cart. Another burst of fire hit the stones of the well, sending pieces of rock flying. Santiago was also pinned down. She did her best to return fire, but she couldn't get a fix on the shooter.

  Angie grabbed her radio. “Flank them and take out the building,” she ordered Orlando and Mallory

  “Copy.”

  More rebels joined in the shooting. The stone well would hold, but the cart Santiago was behind wouldn't.

  As Orlando came up on the rebels’ flank, he lit the roof of the building on fire. At the same time, Mallory began disintegrating the key building supports. The walls shuttered and threatened to collapse while the smoke choked the people inside. The gunfire intensified for a minute, and then someone was shouting.

  Angie couldn't see what was happening, but could smell the smoke. Then she heard the yelling and the telltale thump of a grenade. Santiago saw it hit the ground, and her eyes went wide. Without a moment of hesitation, Angie jumped up and ran towards her. They hadn't been working together for long, but they were well trained. They knew what they could each do, and they trusted that they were capable of doing it. So when Angie tackled her at full force, Santiago altered their weight and inertia. The two of them flew across the village and came to a sliding stop a safe distance away. The grenade exploded somewhere, adding to the chaos.

  “Orlando is down. Orlando is down,” Mallory said over the radio.

  Angie rolled off of Santiago and took stock of the situation. The rebels were running out of the burning
building. Most were dazed from the smoke. Those who could see were converging on Orlando and Mallory's position.

  She looked at Santiago, who was recovering from their impact. “Take them down,” she ordered.

  Santiago knew what she meant. The One didn't kill, but it could maim. She checked her rifle, then sighted down the scope. Using her powers, she altered the bullets’ velocity to penetrate flesh with a minimal amount of damage.

  As Santiago rattled off rounds, Angie ran across the main road ignoring the incoming fire. She smashed through the door of a house. Then she kicked out the side wall and went out the back.

  The gunfire was beginning to die down. Santiago had cut through or frightened off most of the rebels. There were still a few of them falling on Orlando and Mallory. Here the smoke was thicker with the fire burning a few feet away. Angie charged out of the haze like a nightmare. She slashed her claws with vicious accuracy, cutting the fingers off of one man before he could shoot her. In her next movement, she spun around using the momentum to kick another man, shattering his femur. A rebel, who had witnessed her fury, ran away and that caused the rest to scatter.

  Angie found Orlando and Mallory wedged behind a stack of wood. Mallory was swearing as he was blind firing with one hand; his other hand was pressed against Orlando's leg, as he tried to keep him from bleeding out.

  “Will you catch us someone to torture,” Mallory said when he saw Angie. “Go, he's fine.”

  She didn't need much more prompting. They had been tricked by the villagers and the rebels, led into a trap and attacked. Her blood was running hot as she sprinted after the fleeing men. They were all headed in the same direction; into the jungle. There was a woman standing at the tree line. Not a local from the look of it. When she spotted Angie, the woman smiled and raised her hands. All around her plants sprung from the earth and grew at an astonishing speed. Vines and trees covered the rebels escape. Angie was blocked.

  She swore under her breath, “Free Flight.”

  October, Colorado

  It had begun to snow, and it was the first time Eve had seen anything like it, other than in books. The pictures in the books didn't compare to the real thing.

  Puffs of tiny white ice drifted down from the sky. The gentle way they fell made the world feel peaceful. Eve could almost imagine that time had slowed to a stop. The cold air reminded her of home, making the entire experience pleasant. That was at first. As winter progressed, the snow built up on the ground and started to cover everything. With the buildup, the patterns of light began to change. The levels of ambient light had increased, knocking out the shadows that Eve had grown accustomed to. For everyone else, this was nothing of consequence. Classes went on, and Eve had to cope. Every day as she walked out into the snow, she took a deep breath and swallowed her panic.

  It was Sunday, the previous day Eve had received a message that she and Koji were to report to R&D. She met Koji in the Residence cafeteria. He had already grabbed a tray of food and was eating. Eve picked up a sandwich and sat across from him. A moment later Jess came through carrying a pile of papers.

  She hardly slowed down as she asked, “Hey guys, if you aren’t busy, can you lend me a hand?”

  “Sorry, we’re supposed to go to R&D,” Koji replied.

  “What for?” Jess stopped and turned back.

  Koji looked at Eve and said, “I’m guessing you don’t know any more than me.”

  “I don’t know anything,” Eve replied. She was getting better at understanding human speech patterns.

  Koji nodded as he swallowed a bite of pizza. “I know it has something to do with Doctor Schreier,” he said.

  “Do you know what he’s been working on?” Jess asked.

  “As far as I know, he’s only been working on that automated surveillance system,” Koji answered. “Maybe he wants us to help test it?”

  “There are far better options than two cadets,” Eve said then regretted it. There was no point in the comment, and it didn’t make either of them feel better.

  “We better get going,” Koji said.

  “Hey guys, don’t worry, I’ll look into it,” Jess said.

  The two of them left the cafeteria in silence. Research and Development wasn’t very far away, and time went by too quickly. The kids kicked through the sludge brown snow and arrived a few minutes early. Koji watched his breath condense into a cloud.

  He blew out a big white puff then asked, “You nervous?”

  “There’s no reason to be,” Eve answered, “But yes, I am. It’s strange, because we don’t know what is happening. Sergeant Schreier has always been nice to us, so there should be nothing to fear.”

  They stood at the front door and stared.

  “The moment I got the message, I felt something was wrong. At least we have each other to watch our backs,” Koji said.

  “Agreed,” Eve said and went inside.

  After getting off the elevator at one of the sub-basements; finding Henry Schreier was easy, because he was having an argument. Eve and Koji heard him from down the hall and made their way to the lab. When they turned the corner, they were surprised to see Director Kelley. He was standing with his arms folded while Schreier shouted. They both stopped when they saw the kids.

  Henry made no effort to pretend they weren’t arguing. To Kelley he said, “When Porter finds out you’re screwing with his OSO project…”

  “He won’t, because this is classified Ultra,” Kelley said. “Besides, I think he has enough requisitioned resources for his project. And if I were you Doctor, I’d start playing something other than the Colonel Porter card, he’s getting closer and closer to retirement. Now, if you’re not going to cooperate we can figure out an alternate solution.”

  Henry was about to speak then stopped. Nothing he said would change Kelley’s mind, and nothing short of punching him in the face would make Henry feel better. He turned to the kids and said, “Follow me.” They did what he said, trying their best not to look Director Kelley in the eye. Henry led them into a test chamber. Inside was a seven foot tall metal frame. “This boys and girls, is designed to do what Eve does naturally.”

  There was a moment of awe as Koji gawked at the contraption. “You’ve built a dimensional portal?” Koji questioned.

  “A four-point matter stream regulator,” Henry corrected him, “Or FuPuhMSir for short.” He tried a laugh, but it was weak. “And we pulled it out of storage. Up until now we had been systematically trying coordinates, hoping to find one that was useful. That is until Eve came along, and now we know exactly where to find a singularity based dimension.”

  “This is awesome,” Koji exclaimed.

  “May I ask why you need us?” Eve questioned.

  Henry frowned. “Every previous attempt at…” he made quotes with his fingers, “’teleportation,’ has resulted in catastrophic failure. There’s the same potential here. We think that since this is based on Eve’s abilities, she might be able to control or collapse the portal if something goes wrong.”

  Koji was still walking around the machine. “And what’s better than one failsafe,” he said.

  “Yup,” Henry confirmed.

  “I want to see this thing work,” Koji said, as a way of agreement to participate.

  Eve was less excited than him. Her eyes had narrowed, and her jaw was clenched. “I recommend against this,” Eve said.

  Reflexively Henry looked toward Kelley, who was in the observation room. “Why’s that?” He asked.

  “Much of my ability comes from the intrinsic understanding of dimensional movement,” Eve said. “In the same way that you can blindly estimate how much time has passed, I can determine dimensional coordinates.”

  “I’ve taken that into account,” Henry assured her. “The four points required will be calculated by the super-computer.”

  “There are more than four points,” Eve said.

  “Time, space, dimension and origin,” Henry said.

  “Origin is three points,” Eve told
him.

  The overhead speaker clicked on, and Kelley’s voice came from the observation room, “We’ve condensed the origin point with a simple calculation,” he said. “Let’s get started.”

  “If you don’t think it’s safe, you don’t have to participate,” Henry said to the kids.

  “I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Koji replied.

  Looking at Koji, Eve felt the burden of not letting her friend down; then she looked at Director Kelley and guessed what might occur if she didn’t participate. “I will help,” she said.

  “What… I mean,” Henry was obviously trying to communicate something, but didn’t have the words. “This will be dangerous. Don’t do anything you don’t want to do.”

  “You need help so I will help you,” Eve said.

  “You’re not obligated. You can say no,” Henry said.

  “I will be here for my friends,” she said, also trying to use subtle communication.

  “Koji copy her powers,” Henry said morosely. “Then each of you stand in those green circles,” he said and indicated to two painted spots on the ground. Henry left the room closing the massive steel door behind him. A second later he reappeared in the observation room. His voice came on the overhead speaker, “Charging capacitors. Thirty seconds till full power.” He looked to be tapping at a computer.

  “Do you remember how to close portals?” Eve asked Koji.

  “No problem,” he replied.

  “This will take more concentration,” Eve told him. “It will feel like you’ve done too much, but you must keep going until you have no more strength in you.”

  There was a second of silence from Koji then, “Eve,” he said. “I’m in over my head aren’t I?”

  “You are only the secondary failsafe,” she replied. “I can handle this.”