Reboot

by Larry Buenafe

  Ava…

  “Hang on, I’m accessing the prison layout… ahh, I see. They can only access the secure cell they are taking you to by going through the center of the men’s prison. Let’s assume these guards know what they’re doing, at least for the moment.”

  A sudden, screamingly loud horn sounded, then shouts and hollering from all directions as the prisoners slowly went down onto their stomachs.

  Over a loudspeaker, a call went out: “Any prisoners attempting to stand or move will be shot immediately. Maintain your position until the all-clear alarm has sounded.”

  Ava, do you think they’re serious?

  “Oh, I don’t doubt it at all. Let’s hope we don’t have to find out.”

  Through my eyelashes I could see that it was about two-hundred meters across the prison yard, and, although we had a clear path, there were prisoners on either side of us within two or three meters. Ava, how many prisoners are out here?

  “I estimate just a little over two thousand are out here on the yard. They come out in shifts, depending on which gang they belong to, so this is only a small portion of the total population.”

  Are… are all the prisoners, gang members?

  “Oh, no. Many are here as ‘political militants’, which basically means the president had them sent here because they publicly opposed him.”

  I guess this president really is a bad guy.

  “No doubt. The US government doesn’t care so much about those things, though; they want access to the natural resources, and he won’t negotiate with them, so they need him gone.”

  And we’re supposed to do it.

  “Now you’ve got it.”

  Oh, boy.

  As we rolled across the yard, I heard calls from all around: “Hey, just leave her here, we’ll be nice to her!”

  “Come on, we won’t hurt her! Not for a while, anyway.”

  “Hey, look, chained up, just the way I like it.”

  Oh, boy. These guys aren’t very nice, either.

  “These men are mostly just punks, street thugs like the kind who tried to rob us last night. The more hard-core gang members come out in the next shift.”

  How do you know that?

  “Access, sonny boy. I got into their system and reviewed their schedules.”

  We continued rolling, the comments getting more and more vulgar as we went. Finally, one prisoner said something that got to one of the guards, because he stopped, turned, and stomped on the man’s extended hand; the prisoner screamed, and several other prisoners around him rose angrily to their knees; a flurry of shots rang out from the four towers that loomed above the yard, there were a couple of ‘splat’ sounds, and two of the men went down quickly. The rest of the prisoners dropping back to their stomachs.

  From the loudspeakers, the message blared again: “Any prisoners attempting to stand or move will be shot immediately. Maintain your position until the all-clear alarm has sounded.”

  Ava, they just shot two people right in front of us!

  “I guess we just found out whether they were serious. I know it’s terrible, but you must continue to focus. Eyes closed, no moving.”

  Yeah, but… oh, you’re right.

  The comments from the prisoners had abruptly stopped, but I heard some whispering: “This must be a special one. I wonder who she is?”

  “I don’t know, but shut up. You will get us shot too, stupid.”

  “Look at her, she’s just a girl. Do you think she’s even eighteen?”

  “Shut up, idiot!”

  Finally, we reached the other side of the yard, and went through two sets of massive steel doors, then down a long, curving ramp again.

  Ava, how far down are we?

  “We’ve leveled off at twenty-two meters underground. Ah, here’s our new home.”

  We made a sudden left turn, and the temperature felt twenty degrees cooler; the guards quickly backed out of the room and the solid steel door swung shut with a piercing clang.

  I opened my eyes to the sight of a totally empty room, five meters square, lit from above by a single, flickering lightbulb that looked like it was from the last century. The entire room was lined with solid, cold, grey plate steel. Ava, could we get out of this room if we had to?

  “The laser would get us out fairly quickly; if we didn’t have that, I don’t know. Luckily, our plan is still on course, so we won’t have to break out. They left the door unlocked.”

  31

  DIRECTOR’S NOTES

  MEETING WITH SVC

  121652 07:43

  -How much will it cost?

  -It appears five million will cover it, although we will probably need to double it just to be safe.

  -Huh. So, maybe as much as ten million to get how many? Five thousand people out there?

  -Yes. There are many who would do it for free, but it seems a little unlikely that we will have the time to do it from the grass-roots level, so we must be prepared to pay.

  -I don’t know, ten million seems kind of cheap, anyway. Especially if it works. Who do we have on it?

  -We have (WK), utilizing the Bright Hand connections. Their communications division is organizing. Let’s see… Zoey Perez and Jim Early lead that division.

  -Why do those names sound familiar?

  -You’ll remember Zoey Perez; she is the one who was working for the FDA while undercover for the Bright Hand. She helped the boy and his group escape.

  -Oh, yeah, the looker. Wasn’t she sweet on John Taylor?

  -It seems that the feeling may have been mutual. She has a clear interest in his survival at any rate. Jim Early is from the Aboriginal’s nation; his sister is traveling with the Aboriginal and their group. He clearly has a vested interest as well.

  -Well, they’d better get moving. We only have a few days, right?

  -Yes, assuming the boy survives. If not, we will have to regroup. Plus, Area 51 is near Las Vegas. They’ll find no shortage of gate-stormers as long as we pay them.

  -Vegas… lots of great restaurants out there. Hey, isn’t it time for breakfast?

  ****

  I can’t believe they shot those prisoners. This place is even worse than I thought.

  “We haven’t seen the worst of it yet, sonny boy. That was the tip of the iceberg. Let’s release these chains that bind us, shall we?”

  Do you think I can break them?

  “Yes, but it would take a while. Try one, but don’t waste too much time on it. We’re on a schedule, sonny boy.”

  I reached up and grabbed one of the three lengths of chain around my chest; I examined one of the links, and noticed that the metal was almost as thick as my wrist. I got a finger into one of the links, and a finger from my other hand through the next link, and pulled in opposite directions. I increased my effort until I was shaking with the strain; the links were stretching slightly; come on, Lucas, you can do it… I can keep up this pressure for quite a while… but we can’t… wait… that long… I gave a frantic burst of energy to my arms, and one of the links cracked.

  Ha! Now I just have to work it apart… I twisted the link with both hands, and it bent outward, just enough to slide the other link through the gap. Yes! I did it… it will take too long to break all of them, though…

  “If you’re done with your display of machismo, why don’t you use the laser?”

  I… yeah, that’s what I was going to do. I was waiting for you.

  “Sure, you were. You’ve turned into quite a jokester lately. I think it’s clear I’m rubbing off on you.”

  I aimed my fist up at the remaining two chains around my chest, and in a few moments had them off. That allowed me to sit up and make quick work of the rest, and we were up off the stretcher within seconds.

  I peeked out of a thin slit in the imposing steel door, and the darkened hallway appeared empty. Okay so far… next, have to get out some of the gear we’ll need…

  I returned to the stretcher and pulled off the sheet covering the top, ripped it in half,
and Ava opened the zipper-like gaps in the front of my thighs to off-load spider grenades, the tiny canisters of camera spray and heat sensing spray, ten extra flechette pellets, and the artificial gill mask; I wrapped them up in the sheet, tied the bundle around my neck, and slowly pushed the door open. Careful… use your ears…

  The door creaked slightly as it opened, but I heard nothing else coming from outside the cell; I pushed the door open a bit more, then heard a skittering sound. I froze, listening intently… that sounds like… I’ve heard that before… on Alexy’s boat…

  Slowly, carefully, I leaned my head until I could see into the unlit hallway… rats. Big ones… and lots of them. Okay, I know logically they’re more afraid of me than I am of them… unless they’re the kind that have lost their fear of humans… there’s nothing they can do to hurt me, but still… oh, boy…

  I took a deep breath and stepped out into the hallway.

  The rats scattered, but not too far. They appeared to be watching me, waiting to see what I would do. The only light was the weak beam coming from the metal room; I activated my heads-up display and turned on the night-vision function. To my right was the ramp leading up to the surface and the men’s side of the prison, but I was not going that way. I turned left, and even with the night-vision activated, I couldn’t see the end of the concrete hallway, but I could see rats clearly now. Hundreds of them, their little eyes glowing green, their thin tails swishing from side to side.

  “Okay, listen, guys. I have to go down to the end of this hall. If you don’t mind, could you like, move to the side, and let me through?” I whispered. If the rats heard, they gave no sign, so I took another deep breath and trudged toward my goal somewhere down the black hallway that was suddenly seeming more and more like a tunnel.

  “Hang on, sonny boy. Take some deep breaths. This is no time to panic. You caught lots of rats back on the boat.”

  Yeah, but there weren’t this many, and they weren’t all looking at me.

  “There’s nothing they can do to you, and this isn’t the worst thing we will have to go through. This is the plan, remember?”

  Yeah, but talking about it and having it in front of your face are two different things.

  “Okay, do this: fire a quick laser pulse down the hallway. It’ll light up whatever is at the end with a bit of a glow, and that will be your guidepost, your lighthouse on the stormy seas.”

  But… we’re not out to sea.

  “It’s a metaphor. Just do it, Nike.”

  Okay, at least I’ve heard that one before.

  I pointed my fist down the hallway, pressed the raised mole on my forearm, and a glowing spot fifty meters away lit up what appeared to be an ancient stone wall.

  There’s our target… get through that, and we’re into the women’s side of the prison… if I don’t pass out from the smell of all these rats first… Why are we going this way again?

  “You know why. This was the only way that didn’t result in us having to kill people to get to the other side.”

  Oh, yeah. Umm… are we sure this is the only way?

  “We’ve been over this ad nauseam, sonny boy. Every other alternative ends up with dead people.”

  Those guards out in the men’s side of the prison didn’t seem to have a problem with that.

  “Are you saying you want to be like them?”

  No, it’s just… okay, it’s kind of scary, and totally gross. I’m ready, though. Let’s go.

  32

  DIRECTOR’S NOTES

  MEETING WITH SVC, BG, LPJ

  121652 11:48

  -Has Oakes worked his way free yet?

  -He has just boarded the plane. It’s a long flight; with one stop for refueling, it will be about fourteen hours total, barring any problems.

  -Did he use the health excuse to get the Americans to release him from the duty?

  -Unknown, but it’s not an excuse. He has a terminal condition.

  -Yeah, I know, but he’s not above using that if it suits his needs. And by the way, we all have a terminal condition. That’s why we formed this group, remember?

  -(Door opens and closes, chair scraping sounds) Hey, (BG), (LPJ), thanks for coming in. I know it was a hassle, so I appreciate it. As you might have guessed, the plan for extraction of Dr. Taylor that we discussed in open meeting was a non-starter decoy. Parts of the plan are salvageable, though, and I needed some clear-headed assessment of people who can keep things quiet until we complete the deed. Obviously, I thought of the two of you.

  -(BG and LPJ make eye contact, exchange high five) (BG, to LPJ) I told you there was no way that plan would fly. Knowing you the way we do, I, or I should say we, assumed you intended it as a misdirection, just in case any of the members had loose lips, as the saying goes. And it appears we were right.

  -Look, some might spin it as dishonest, but my mama didn’t raise no dummies. Do you think any of the other members have leaked the faux plan?

  -(BG and LPJ make eye contact again) (LPJ) I don’t think there’s any way they could not have leaked, even unintentionally. One email to an assistant or secretary, for example, and it could easily get to the wrong hands.

  -Good. Just to make sure, I want you two to ‘accidentally’ leak it out, and set the time frame to a month from now, as we said in the meeting, and make it convincing.

  -(BG) You want us to leak the original plan? What’s the endgame?

  -We’re not going in a month. We’re going in two months, with a different plan. If they think it’s coming in a month, and it never materializes, they will be in a relaxed state when we do enact our plan. I know two months is a long time, but if we rush, we’ll make mistakes. This has to work, so we have to cut off any variables that could interfere with success.

  -(LPJ, to BG) Well, what do you think?

  -(BG) All right, it seems a bit simplistic, but I assume you’ve run the numbers and it makes sense, right?

  -I’ve run them into submission. This is the plan. It will work. Hey, can you guys stay for lunch?

  ****

  O h, boy… the floor is sloping down a little… why is there water on the floor? Even though logically I knew nothing in the blackened hallway could hurt me, sometimes your imagination takes over and you remember those illogical fears from your childhood.

  That’s all it is… AHH! Stupid rats… get off my leg! Why is there so much water in here? It was now ankle deep and totally black, and I was only half-way to the end of the hall. If the floor keeps sloping down at this angle, it’ll be up to my knees when we get to the wall… GET AWAY, rat! I didn’t know rats could swim… I wonder what else is in this water… oh, man, it stinks in here… WHAT IS ON MY LEG? “AAAAH! Get off of me!” I screamed, then remembered that I was supposed to be quiet, so I slapped my hand over my mouth. I reached down and… that’s not a rat… it’s too big… I can’t even get my hand around it… it’s all the way around my leg… “SNAKE! GET OFF, GET OFF!”

  It was so large I had to use two hands to grab it, and I still couldn’t reach all the way around; I yanked it away from my leg, but its tail whipped around and coiled up my left arm; Oh, crap, this thing is strong… two meters away, its fat head popped out of the water, and it appeared to be watching me, its tongue flicking out. Meanwhile, its tail was constricting around my arm and reaching for my neck…

  “Hang on, sonny boy. I have a little trick we haven’t needed to use before, but this is the perfect test. Ready?”

  YES! Get this thing off of me!

  “Okay, now, you’re panicking and that’s not like you. Take some deep breaths and let me deal with these critters.”

  I felt a sudden crackling around my exterior, then a flash of light, and the snake slumped off my arm; the rats nearby that had been swimming were now bobbing slowly in the ripples of shin-deep water.

  What was that?

  “Carbon nanotubes are an excellent conductor of electricity. For a fraction of a second, I can reverse our electrical potential and do what I just di
d, resulting in the electrocution of anything in contact with us. In this case, since we’re in water, and that’s also an excellent conductor, it will also electrocute anything in the water nearby.”

  And you’re just now telling me about this?

  “The need hasn’t come up before, and it’s a double-edged sword. It scrambles the system for a few seconds; you’ll probably notice that you can’t move right now, not even your eyes, so we only want to use it in a situation like this, where we’ve been thrown to the wolves.”

  There are wolves in here, too?

  “No, it's… oh, help me, great computer. Will this boy never learn?”

  Oh, boy, I did not like that… she’s right, though; I panicked, and that’s not like me…

  “Okay, you are unfrozen now, so focus. We shouldn’t run into any more animals in here; not live ones, anyway. It’ll be smooth sailing.”

  Finally, we reached the rock wall, with the spot where the laser struck still glowing. “On the other side of this wall is an underground creek, so we’ll need to climb up as high as we can before going through the wall. Then, follow the stream and before long we’ll reach a grate. That’s where we make our entrance, assuming we don’t drown first, or get eaten by a crocodile.”

  We couldn’t really get eaten by a crocodile, could we?

  “Nah, as soon as one bit us, they’d decide we don’t taste good. Plus, their teeth couldn’t get through our skin, so it would just end up toothless. Sounds like one of those corny jokes; ‘he’s as worthless as a toothless crocodile!’”

  Oh, ha ha, yeah, I get it. I don’t really get it. I mean, of course a toothless crocodile would be worthless. Why is that funny?