The Omega Device (The Ha-Shan Chronicles Book 1)

by S. M. Nolan

  Thorne nodded to it, “Three guesses what it's for.”

  Maggie understood his meaning, “A religious sacrifice for war.”

  “It must be here somewhere, but—” Russell stopped at a stone relief.

  His light bounced between a gray panel and the yellowed sandstone of a crumbled section of pier. He ran a hand across it, his mind working.

  Maggie stepped beside him, “What is it?”

  His mind was locked in a rapid analysis, “The stone's different here. Not as porous. More like clay.”

  Maggie ran her hand over the two sections, “It must have been replaced by the Protectorate at some point.”

  “Watch out.” Russell tossed his bag down, produced his rifle.

  He raised its butt, heaved it against the stone. A portion cracked, fell away. He wound back, unleashed a series of blows to pulverize the false-relief, then laid his rifle aside.

  “Knife?”

  Reese passed hers over. He chipped and chiseled away small fragments of plaster, exposed the bare-pier beneath until only a small, unidentifiable rise remained where the plate had been. Thorne held the flash-light over it as Russell's fingers traced small lines and subtle ridges. He closed his eyes, forehead dripping with sweat, while an unmistakable symbol etched across his mind.

  “It's inverted.”

  “Reorient it,” Thorne instructed.

  Russell attempted to twist the stone, failed. He banged the knife's hilt at the edges of the rise, hammered it sideways. His blows came faster, more frantic. It gave way, turned. He pounded the symbol's edge again to right it. It budged, slid into place, then sank backward.

  Grinding stone emitted somewhere beyond the Humvee. The ground trembled beneath their feet. A section of pathway slid open far ahead, faintly exposed a set of stairs in the monument lights. They descended into darkness, and presumably, toward the Omega Device.

  “Holy Christ,” Thorne breathed. “We actually found it.”

  32.

  The Omega Device

  October 9th

  12:30 AM

  Ha-Shan Vault beneath Leptis Magna

  They hesitated at the top of the stairs, humbled. For better or worse, ahead lay the conclusion of a war thousands of years long. It was possible they were the first to enter this chamber in longer than that. The feeling was clearly mutual. It forced a deep pause over them.

  Russell finally breathed and led the group downward cautiously. Darkness broke from his flash-light as the stairs leveled off twenty or more feet below the surface. A narrow, sandstone passage led forward until it opened on a large, high-chamber that swallowed Russell's beam without a hint of its definition.

  He cast it nearer his feet, the light's edge billowing toward a silhouette ahead. As they approached it, the room flared with a low, blue-light.

  Reese saw the distant walls and ceiling glow, “What the hell?”

  “Christ, the size of it,” Russell said.

  The chamber spanned not only tenfold the width of the arch, but also a hundred feet at either end. The arch's position was apparent from four, tall columns of black-stone rising to meet the piers' positions above. They were formed equidistant of the innermost sections of the piers, encircling a black, stone-slab atop a raised dais where the arch's center was above.

  Through the onyx-stones ran thousands of white lines, giving it the appearance of marble, though something made them doubt any similarity.

  Maggie judged the distance from the entrance to the center of the piers, mentally compared it to the ruins above. Though the columns were distinct beneath the ground, their height and apparent layout made it clear the Arch's piers above hid the upper-components of the weapon.

  “The Arch's piers, they're some kind of cover for the columns. The Arch is part of the weapon.”

  Russell stared in disbelief, “Hidden in plain sight all this time.”

  “Amazing,” Reese remarked with a pained breath.

  “How's that even possible?” Maggie asked.

  “The stone,” Thorne said, approaching the dais and slab. “It would be like a natural formation of marble. Then, when Severus built his arch, all he had to do was say he was getting rid of it, but actually covered it up. This has to be the control panel.”

  “How could they have hidden it before that?” Reese asked, coughing. “This place is, massive…”

  Thorne shrugged, stepped up the dais to examine the slab, careful not to touch anything. Atop it, a half-hundred, raised, cuneiform characters were arranged in groupings around four palm-sized ones. A sliding sounded, forced him back. His hands flattened outward in defense.

  Before he could plead innocence, fluid misted the air, glowed the same blue as the walls and ceiling. An image flickered over it, projected above the slab. It formed the rough outline of a human, faced outward as a voice began to speak.

  Maggie felt the sound in her mind as she might her own thoughts, rather than heard it around her. The voice echoed not through the room, but through their minds.

  “You have found the Ha-Shan's legacy.”

  “Is anyone else hearing this?” Thorne asked aloud, marveling at the whispering surf of harmonies. The others nodded absently. He hurried down to watch the projection.

  The figure's outline focused. What looked down upon them, however humanoid, was clearly inhuman. A Ha-Shan stood before them with the countenance of an early-stage embryo, its webbed hands and feet on distended arms and legs.

  Blue-gray, leathery skin sheathed thick, defensive, bone-plates across its torso and limbs. Vestigial tubes formed a mock hairline that broke on the sides for mere holes in place of ears.

  The embryonic features were clear in its face and chin, and the silvery, elliptical eyes covered by a thin film that opened and closed slowly as if to blink. Its mouth, shut tight, was barely more than a slit between the jaws. Its presence seemed unneeded by the message that spanned the millennia.

  It was naked, and judging by its anatomy, female; though her genitals were disproportionate to her groin. Her legs were thick, muscled beneath the bone-plates and her body hardened by an active way of life.

  Her voice sprayed harmoniously as they stared on in awe,“If you are here, then you know our history. What you must know is the true purpose of this device; total annihilation of our enemy. Forgive us, it was necessary.”

  “Why?” Maggie asked beneath her breath.

  The Ha-Shan continued without recourse, “The weapon was constructed with knowledge of our enemy's internal structure, learned from our studies. The device contains a disease which we have engineered; a cruel, cunning creature, only capable of surviving within our enemy's body. It is easily spread, frightfully effective, and eviscerates our enemy from the inside.”

  Thorne's eyes widened, “It is a virus!”

  The Ha-Shan paid no mind to their suppositions, continued to deliver the message she had prepared eons ago. “Though much of our history is lost, some fraction no doubt remains. With hope, it is enough to decipher what choice is left to you.” It turned back to look down on the slab, “Destroy it, or destroy yourselves.”

  The image dissolved. The Ha-Shan's last words echoed through their minds. The slab lit up and the mist shifted to lines of cuneiform letters as clear as the most advanced image displays.

  Maggie looked to the others; each one mirrored her innermost fears. The room was deathly silent, their minds still ringing from the voice.

  Russell shook his head, “A bio-weapon meant for us.”

  “With global dispersal,” Reese wheezed.

  “Even with a lengthened incubation period it would only take a few months to completely wipe us out,” Thorne estimated. “Why do this? I thought they were peaceful?”

  Russell shrugged, “It was the last hope for their world. We were their enemy, newly evolved. They sensed we'd destroy each other and everything in our path.”

  “Yeah, but…” Thorne trailed off, sickened.

  “Genocide?” Maggie said. She swallowed ha
rd. “That was their legacy?”

  “No.” Reese shook her head, “It was a contingency. An end-game weapon for a war they dreamed up. It's no wonder the Protectorate's kept it so close. Could you imagine if this weapon were used like a nuke? We can't even keep each other in check without having our own. This—”

  Thorne finished the thought, “Would put anyone at an unrivaled advantage.”

  “There would be endless wars,” Russell surmised. “World Wars, nuclear wars—anything and everything to keep this weapon out of one person's hands too long.”

  “Unless Omega gets it,” Maggie said.

  “And if they couldn't keep it, they'd take everyone out,” Reese assured.

  Thorne agreed, “They have ties to every major industry sector and political affiliation. It wouldn't take much, working in secret, to put a stranglehold on the world. If they couldn't keep it, they'd take out whoever stood between it and them, or set off the weapon.”

  Russell began, “Whatever risks it presents, it still begs the question—”

  “Do we really have the right to do this,” Maggie said.

  There was a moment of contemplative silence. Reese, Russell, and Maggie exchanged looks.

  Thorne interjected, “Woah, wait a minute. We're not considering leaving this thing intact, right?”

  “No, Thorne,” Reese said, her eyes locked with Maggie's. “It has to be destroyed.”

  “Then why aren't we doing it?” He asked, stepping around to the console.

  “Well?” Russell asked, they nodded to him in agreement.

  Maggie sighed, defeated, “It's just a moral question; is it our place to judge?”

  “Who else—”

  Beams of light caught their attention from the corridor.

  “Shit! West!” Reese hissed.

  She hobbled for cover behind the far-side of the dais. Maggie and Russell followed. Thorne ducked behind the console. Russell threw his bag off his shoulder, readied his rifle.

  West led a group inward that scanned with tac-lights mounted to their weapons. Russell took aim just as something heavy landed behind him. He fired in an angry burst. A flash-bang erupted.

  The four were instantly blind and deaf. Effectively neutralized, they scrambled for cover, forced down by hands that grappled them. Limbs flailed. Maggie and Russell resisted. Reese, too pained, knelt without a fight.

  Thorne cowered, shouted a swear-laden surrender. Maggie's captors knocked her unconscious with a heavy blow to the back of the head. Russell's arms and legs were restrained.

  Reese knew it was futile to fight, “I won't fight, but don't you fucking—”

  A single blow knocked her unconscious. Her body fell motionless beside Maggie's. West approached Thorne as his sight returned, raised his gun to Russell's head. Thorne cried out through a man's strangling grip on his throat.

  “No! Stop! West… don't.”

  West's upper-lip curled, he sneered, “You're not in any fucking position to tell me what to do, you little prick!”

  Thorne struggled to breathe, their lives in his hands. He lied, “There… image told us… decipher it.”

  “So?” West asked, shoving the gun against Russell's temple.

  “S-so,” he gasped. The man loosened his hold. “Fail-safe…. Machine isn't deciphered properly, it'll set it off. It'll kill us all! You keep them alive, I'll do it.”

  West chewed the inside of his lip, one side pulled taught. He growled, slammed his pistol against Russell's head, knocking him out. He turned his gun on Thorne shoved it against his forehead as the guard behind him stepped away.

  “How do I know you're not playing me?”

  Thorne was shoved to his knees. West's barrel followed. “Is it worth risking your own life? You know I'm the only one that can do this. I already have the program.”

  “I could take it from you,” he said through his teeth, cocking his pistol's hammer.

  Thorne took a moment to regain his breath and confidence, “C'mon West, you know if I don't access the drive, it's fried.”

  West contemplated his words, slid the hammer back up, “Decode it or I kill them all.”

  “And once we're done? We can go?”

  West gave a laugh through his taught face, turned away. He whirled 'round fast, slammed his fist into Thorne's gut, and knocked him once more to his knees.

  He ordered his men, “Get them up! I want a cage welded on the left wall, and I want them in it. Don't take your eyes off them. You've got twenty minutes.”

  “Yes, sir,” a man said. He rushed off. More people began to enter through the corridor.

  “Jesus Christ,” Thorne choked as he rose to his knees. “This has to be the whole damned Eastern section! Are you insane? If you bring them here and something goes wrong they're all dead.”

  “Shut up. There's a revolution going on here, and I'm not losing this site.”

  Thorne pulled himself together, “Libyan rebels, but… I thought the civil war ended in '11?”

  “These people crave war. I respect them for that,” West said with a deluded brotherhood. “Set up the tech, or fuck off.”

  Thorne had forgotten how much he truly despised West. He helped Omega's reservists set up their systems, stalled as much as possible, then kept himself busy with his own workstation to wait for the others to regain consciousness.

  When Omega was finished, the chamber looked more like a small field compound than an ancient hideaway. Everything from tents to massive computer-banks and surveillance equipment had been brought in to monitor every inch and angle of the room.

  Thorne's own workstation was placed atop the dais, beside the stone console. He positioned his six, mounted screens to overlook the others' cage. He pasted every detail of the room into the back of his mind, ran through a dozen futile plans of escape, his eyes on their unconscious bodies through the cracks between monitor-mounts.

  No matter what, everything was now on him. He ran a background program, hacked the comm and surveillance equipment to keep his eyes and ears alert to the chamber. He put his headphones on, listened to the guards' chatter beneath low music.

  His chest tightened as he began a purposely slow process of manually drawing each Cuneiform symbol to scan and search his databases with. Every few minutes, his eyes drifted helplessly to the cages.

  33.

  Execution

  October 9th

  5:08 AM

  The Omega Device

  Maggie felt cold stone beneath her cheek. She opened her eyes on feet that passed beyond metal bars through the vague, white-noise of Omega working through-out the chamber. She shifted sideways to check Russell, her side, head, and back aching. He was still unconscious, but Reese sat with her legs drawn up in a corner of the cage, her head leaned against the bars in a stare.

  She looked over at Maggie, “You okay?”

  Maggie rolled Russell on his back, listened to his heart beat, then heaved a sigh and slid to Reese's side.

  “Yeah, I'm great,” she replied sarcastically.

  “Took a hell of a hit,” Reese said in a breath.

  “Getting used to it by now. What about you?”

  Reese shrugged, her chest stuttering as she inhaled. Maggie caught it, interrogated her with a look.

  Reese wheezed, “I think my lung's collapsed.”

  “What? How?”

  She took a second deep breath, “When we hit. I didn't want to—” she paused for another breath. “Say anything. But it's getting worse.”

  “What can I do?”

  “Unless you've. Got a chest tube on you.”

  Maggie surveyed Omega's stronghold. Directly ahead, atop the stone dais, Thorne sat behind his bank of computers. Maggie's gaze shifted sideways to the two columns ahead of him, a second bank of computers set up there. West paced behind them as he delegated orders to a blonde woman. He yelled something, then stormed off to a line of tents across the chamber. Thorne watched West disappear, then jumped up and sprinted past a pair of patrolling guard
s.

  He crouched to look in at them, “Are you guys alright?”

  “We'll be—” Reese began.

  Maggie whispered, “Reese needs a doctor,”

  “I know,” he said helplessly, rubbing his forehead. “But we're screwed right now.”

  “Do you have any ideas on getting out of here?”

  “No.” He paused to survey the guards behind him, “And we've got other problems.”

  “What now?”

  “There's a revolution going on across this country. Something about radicals and an election—I don't know—but that's not the point.”

  “They're headed for us aren't they?”

  He nodded, “Yeah, and they've got a penchant for destroying ancient ruins. Something about erasing past tyranny—Whatever that's not important. Look, there's an entire fucking platoon here. What's down here's only a fraction of what's on the surface.”

  “So we're not getting out?”

  He looked to her with despair, “Maggie, I made a deal with West—”

  “You what?”

  He checked behind him, “Just listen. I agreed to decipher the console, but that's as far as I'm going. If his techs want to turn the damned thing on they can figure it out themselves.”

  “Are you mental?”

  “I'm hoping we'll be gone before then—”

  “Do you have any idea how this thing works yet?” Maggie asked.

  “Nobody does.”

  “It was meant to annihilate our species. It isn't going to stop once it starts.”

  “There's nothing I can do,” he stressed. “Look, I know how to—”

  “Thorne!” West screamed. He charged the cages. Thorne scrambled. West shouted after him, stopped beside Maggie. “You son of a whore! Get your ass back to work or I'll bleed one of 'em like a hung deer.”

  “Good to see you too… West,” Reese breathed.

  “Shut up,” he spat, whipping toward them.

  Maggie saw his red face, cracked a sly smile, “Looking a bit worn-out, West. Might want to go easy on those binges.”

  He leaned in with a low growl, “I'll have your fucking head for what you've done.”