Retaliate

by Alex Albrinck

  It was possible that a human being could reach Eden, enter his lab, figure out how to access the control computer despite the security he’d set up, and assume control. But his physical security systems were designed so that only one human could possibly do that.

  And he’d killed her.

  Micah locked up his lab for no reason than habit and entered the cleaned up and cleaned out flying sphere. He sent it into the sky, racing toward Eastern territory on the other side of the planet, selecting his initial target, a cityplex where the human population was large and the Ravager swarm was—at this point—small. Many cityplexes were already overwhelmed, and turning his limited anti-Ravager nano swarm loose when all human lives were already lost was pointless. He was there to save as many lives as possible, not engage in futile heroic gestures that in the end saved no one.

  He urged the ship forward, pushing it past the recommended speed limits that were part of its design. It didn't much matter if the ship cracked apart under the pressures generated by its supersonic flight; if he didn't get there quickly enough, there'd be no lives left to save.

  He shut down his processing centers after ordering the ship to “wake” him when they neared his destination, or if unexpected problems arose. He let a small background process run simulations as new data came in from the East; that program could interrupt if it found a more optimal path to maximize the number of human lives saved.

  With that done, he “slept,” wondering what alert would wake him first.

  It wasn’t one he’d hoped for. He snapped online to catch a repeat of a message broadcast to his public communications stream.

  “Unidentified aircraft, you are operating without permission in this airspace. Reverse course immediately.”

  Micah scanned the detailed Eastern maps he’d downloaded to storage while he’d waited for Sheila’s hoped-for return, allowing his face to form a frown. There shouldn’t be a “secret” military base in this area. Unless his information was outdated. He allowed a sigh to escape his lips. He suspected that even those unsurprised to find aircraft flying around their airspace wouldn’t be accustomed to seeing a silvery sphere like his. He scanned the surrounding terrain, increasing the optical zoom level, trying to find the hidden base. But he saw nothing.

  He also didn’t see any Ravagers nearby. If the base was in this area, they didn’t seem concerned about a swath of death and destruction heading this way. It likely meant Delilah’s plan for the Eastern Ravagers avoided areas she wanted undisturbed. Like military bases other Phoenix elites didn’t talk about openly, where all the top leaders were loyal to her.

  Good plan.

  Or was it? Maybe they just didn’t see any Ravagers yet. Was it a good plan? Or ignorance of their dire predicament? It didn't matter at this point from his perspective. He maintained his heading and airspeed.

  And he didn't reply.

  The hidden military base wasn’t amused. “Unidentified aircraft, this is your second and final warning. Desist or face consequences.”

  Micah offered a rude gesture at the radio. But he said nothing and changed nothing. He did wonder how they were tracking an invisible craft; apparently, the tracking systems here weren’t fooled by the ancient invisibility technology. A key data point to upload to his remote memory banks.

  Fifteen seconds later, every screen inside his ship turned red, and his visual sensors and the link he’d formed with the ship’s computer all registered the same message simultaneously. The bastards had fired missiles at him… and those missiles had locked onto their target.

  He could take evasive action, avoiding contact until the missiles ran out of fuel and crashed harmlessly to the ground. But that would take time, time he didn't have. Every minute he spent evading missiles was a minute he couldn’t fight the active Ravager swarms, and every minute lost cost an untold number of human lives.

  There would be no evasive action.

  He urged the craft forward even faster, far beyond what was safe. He knew he couldn’t fly faster than the missiles, but that wasn’t his purpose. He needed to get as close to his target before the missiles caught him; the extra seconds he bought with the unsafe travel speeds were too valuable to waste.

  He checked the instructions transmitted to the dormant swarm of nanos filling most of the ship's interior: find living humans, surround them, and emit a Diasteel chemical signature. If that didn't deter the Ravagers, then lock together tightly enough to keep the destructive machines away from living human flesh.

  The craft lurched wildly.

  He'd been hit.

  Dammit.

  His forward momentum kept him moving closer to his target, but he knew the ship wouldn't remain airborne much longer. When the second missile hit and cracked the pristine silvery hull, he sent the nanos on their mission, ordering them to fly to a specific coordinate set before executing his original code.

  He then flipped the failover switch himself, sending control back to the computer on Eden. This brain and body form would soon perish, and the revived version would take their places. He kept transmitting his experience, just in case his sensors detected anything that would help his revived self return and save more lives.

  The third missile hit, and the flying sphere split open.

  Micah fell through the opening. His body twisted in the air with the wind currents. He did nothing to alter his experience, made no effort to lengthen the amount of time he had before he’d hit the ground. He left his processors focused solely on data gathering, accepting this body form’s demise.

  It had done what it was meant to do.

  His body hit the soft ground face down and plugged itself deep into the dirt. He ignored the normal limitations of human anatomy and turned his head around one hundred eighty degrees so that it faced upward, allowing his visual sensors—or eyes, as humans called them—to gather visual data. He couldn’t turn off the repair systems, though; those went to work immediately, assessing the physical damage, determining what parts of him could be saved and what couldn’t.

  He saw the sky overhead, clear and blue, wispy clouds not telling the story of the destruction wrought against so much of the ground. He pulled his head free, allowing the audio sensors—or ears—to move clear of the muck he’d landed in and record the sounds around him.

  But there were no sounds.

  He wondered if his ears had stopped working, damaged in the fall, clogged with the mud and muck he’d landed in.

  But his ears were working perfectly.

  The silence was due to something more sinister than a malfunction or damaged set of ears.

  The slushy muck he’d landed in wasn’t a quagmire of mud.

  It was a swirling mass of hungry Ravagers. Activated Ravagers.

  He’d expected this body form to shut down on its own. Or that some distant swarm would eventually swirl over him, consuming his body. He wasn’t protected any longer, for he’d sent all his nanos away to protect human lives.

  He knew his revived form would have some explaining to do, and to quite a number of people.

  He shut down everything but his audio and video sensors and his transmitters, ensuring that everything made it to his memory stores.

  He knew he’d need every memory to explain things, and to answer questions he’d hoped would never be asked.

  The world went dark.

  —27—

  DEIRDRE SILVER

  DUSK FELL AND GAVE way to the darkness of night.

  Deirdre didn’t yet know how to determine the charge capacity of the batteries in the all-terrain vehicle. She knew the batteries that propelled her forward would also provide light, heat, and security while she slept.

  Since she wasn’t anywhere near her destination, she elected to conserve battery power by shutting down the engine and stopping for the evening.

  She rummaged through the refrigerator, selecting a bottle of fresh water and a small sandwich. The beer had been tasty, and the light buzz helped her relax. But there were only a few l
eft, and she was worn down by the events of the day. A small meal should be enough to put her to sleep.

  She studied the map as she ate. Good progress, given that the day began with her locked in a cell inside a water-walled fortress managed by enemies of her parents who’d threatened her life. The escape had been its own form of chaos, first the switch with Miriam and the walk through enemy territory in plain sight, and then of course the crazy dash through the parking garage and the final chase, where she’d cleverly left her attackers behind as fish food.

  She wondered more about her plan as she studied the map. She’d remembered the large north-south river, but she’d forgotten the many lesser varieties that would prove just as difficult to cross. Her eyes fell on the delta at the mouth of the great river where it emptied into the sea, and she wondered if, perhaps, that might be the best place to cross. Somehow slide over, and she should have a relatively straight line to drive to New Phoenix.

  And she might find a working bridge on the way.

  That seemed a better plan than the original. So when she woke up, she’d still head due west, and after reaching the river a day or two from now, she’d turn left and head south until she found the best place to cross.

  With her plans settled, she finished the sandwich and the bottle of water before hopping out of the vehicle. There was an odd lack of Ravager presence here. The land was scraped clean, but the oozing—if dormant—oil slick-like patches were nowhere to be seen. She thought that odd. She relieved herself a dozen paces from the vehicle, enjoying the breaths of fresh air, and then climbed back inside, opting for the passenger side this time.

  She locked everything up out of habit before promptly falling fast asleep.

  She woke up when the sun rose, blinding her with bright light. She squeezed her eyes shut tight and turned to face the floor, letting her eyes adjust. Sleep hadn’t been great. Her dreams had been awful, filled with visions of dissolving bodies and the sounds of collapsing buildings, a forced reliving of the worst moments of the last few weeks. It was her mind’s penance, being forced to see firsthand the horrors of the plan she’d suggested, and she accepted it as such.

  While her eyes finished adjusting, she decided that she’d get out of the vehicle and stretch for a bit, then eat a bit before heading out for the day’s drive. She knew her muscles would ache if she sat still too long. Best to loosen them up first.

  She sat up, blinked to make sure her eyes could handle the bright morning sun, and moved to unlock the door.

  She screamed.

  She’d always thought there were no large human populations living outside the cityplexes. There were a few daring types who’d sleep in huts just beyond the walls. But all humans lived in close proximity to the plexes if they didn’t live inside the walls. Everyone knew that.

  Everyone had been wrong.

  The twenty women and men who surrounded her vehicle with rifles all aimed directly at her were proof.

  It was going to be a very long day.

  —————

  This story arc concludes in Eradicate,

  Episode 5 of The Ravagers

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  A Note to the Reader

  Many of the older characters first came to life in a series called The Aliomenti Saga. If you’d like to get a better understanding of who “Will Stark” is and why Oswald Silver is so spooked during their encounter, you’ll get your answers there. You can start with the first three books in the Aliomenti Saga by clicking here.