Like magic, a pathway opens in the hallway as everyone presses to the walls. I start making my way to the next set of elevators.
“Sharron,” I sub-vocalize, “what’s in this cart I’m pushing, anyway?”
“It says ‘Subject Sample 108.’” She pauses. “Brandt…you don’t really want to know.”
Yeah, I do. “Show me.”
A rotating 3D image floats in my suit’s faceplate. I can make out an exoskeleton, tendrils, grayish fibers, and jagged openings and orifices. It might once have been human. That could just as easily have been me.
I’m sorry, whoever you were. No one should die…like that. I’m going to shut this all down, I promise you.
“Brandt, this…symbiont. Is this what they did to you?” Sharron asks softly.
“Yeah.”
“Is it still alive in you?”
“Afraid so.”
“Is this going to happen to you too?”
“Hope not.”
The elevator to the lower labs opens. It is packed with staff and crates and boxes of God knows what. They all rush out and start pushing and shoving.
“Sharron,” I sub-vocalize. “Open the cart.”
“What?!”
“It’s dead, right?”
“Yeah…” she hesitates. The crowd from the elevator pushes me, sending me back. I need to get down in a hurry.
“There isn’t time. I need a distraction.”
With a soft click, the hatch on the cart opens and chill fog pours out. A segmented leg seems to rise from the mists.
“Look out!” I yell. “It’s loose!” I dump the cart sideways, and the horribly mutated body falls out in a spray of chill fluid and fog. As it slides along the floor, it seems to move and twitch.
Everyone goes nuts. A stampede forms behind me as the guards and staff race for the elevator. Ahead of me, the people that were pushing out of the elevator cram back inside. One fellow pushes the panel as fast as he can. The doors begin to close.
I glide in just in time.
They all stare at the doors in horror, ignoring me. Big mistake. They wanted to escape from the monster, and they just let it inside.
* * * * *
Chapter 83
We’re going down fast; there isn’t much time. I have some skill in demolitions, but I’m still not sure what I’m dealing with. It’ll take a lot to bring this whole complex down and destroy all the evidence. Likely, either a series of electro-plasma explosives wired together at key locations or a fusion bomb. The bombs are sure to be set up down here in the labs; they could be set up without detection, would be more likely to destroy the evidence, and could collapse the rest of the compound on top of the lab. If I spend my time searching for the bombs, they could go off, or be set off, if my search is discovered. I need a way to find the explosives and neutralize them. Since people are moving with a purpose, they might not be totally hidden from the staff.
“Think we’ll get it all out in time?” I ask over my shoulder.
“I hope so, I don’t want to die,” sobs one of the staff, collapsing in a corner. Yep, they know.
If they know, the master systems for this complex will know. From there, I can likely disarm the bombs, cut off communications, call for help, and finally get some answers.
“Sharron,” I sub-vocalize, “how do you feel about taking on the laboratory master systems?”
“Let me at ‘em.” Her image grins.
That’s my Sharron. “OK, stop the elevator at the main computer level, and put some reason to be there in my suit’s computers.”
The elevator stops, and I get out at the main computer level. Two guards in full hardsuits, carrying black ceramic, laser carbines greet me. While they check out my authorization (and I’m hoping Sharron has done it perfectly), I check out the laser hardware pointing my way. The IL-54 is a versatile weapon; it can fire a single pulse that can burn right through a man in light armor or fire a continuous cone of light that blinds and burns. It makes sense; you wouldn’t want railguns or blasters or anything else that puts out a powerful magnetic field near your main computers.
My forged authorization checks out. Either that or they don’t have time to give it a proper examination. The halls are packed; staff and robots rush from room to room with arms and carts filled with memory crystals and logic bricks. They let me go, and no one pays me any mind as I make my way deeper into the brains of the beast.
The walls are a heavy, flat gray. Anti-magnetic coatings with coils underneath—cutting this whole floor off from the rest of the world. No transmissions can come in or go out except through an authorized, physical channel. Someone could subvert a remote system, falsify data, and send that false data to the master systems (and that’s just what I’ve been doing). But doing what I want to do—taking control of the whole lab and finding and disarming the bombs—can only be done from the secured, main system.
I’m hoping security is going to be looser in the rush. It’s not. There are lots of guards here, and cameras are everywhere. I can almost feel the super-human focus of the master systems watching me, scrutinizing me for the slightest error—any behavior or anything else that might be suspicious. Those computers aren’t going to panic, rush, or have their attention distracted. They’re watching me with the lidless eyes and patience of a coiled viper.
It’s almost like they don’t want the wrong people in here.
My heart is racing and sweat is pouring off me in the hot spacesuit. The monster wakes up and begins to move under my skin, seeking freedom.
Breathe. Long, slow, deep breaths. I cannot give any hint of distress. Sharron is sending out fake bio data and vitals from my suit, but body language can still give me away. Control. My training helps. Still, I’ve been in combat for a long time now. Eventually, everyone loses focus. Just a little longer.
There they are, the doors to the main core. Just another set of heavy metal doors ready to slide back, with a control panel and camera by them. If you don’t know which one, you don’t belong here.
When I insert the code breaker, Sharron goes to work. The doors open to reveal a gleaming, mirrored, metal wall, curving out slightly, distorting my reflection.
Now what?
There is a low hum and faint vibration. The wall slides smoothly to the side to reveal a small, round, brightly lit room. The thick curving metal walls form a rotating C shape around the room. A security lock. The rotating C of the walls makes it impossible for the inner and outer doors to be open at the same time. The walls are about 20 cm thick and will likely have superconducting shielding, thermal conductive diamond, mono-fiber weave, super-carbon, and ablative and radiation shielding. Basically, warship hull metal. Nothing short of a particle-beam cutter and support rig is getting through this.
As I step inside, the C slowly rotates back, sealing me in the room. Soon, I’ll be in the computer core.
A cold, clear, and slightly feminine voice says, “Disrobe and standby for comprehensive biometric identification.”
Crap.
* * * * *
Chapter 84
I hesitate for just an instant too long.
Alarms begin to go off, a high-pitched shrieking fills the air, and orange lights strobe. The master system commands, “Place your hands behind you head, fingers interlocking. Get down on your knees, and drop your face to the floor. Any failure to immediately comply will be met with lethal response.”
As the computer continues on about the wonders of surrender, the entire room begins to vibrate with a low hum. The C of the walls is slowly rotating again, getting ready to open back into the guard-clogged corridors.
The interface to this chamber must go directly to the master system. It won’t be a full interface, but it is as close as I’m going to get any time soon. “Sharron,” I sub-vocalize, “I’m going to plug you into the bio-interface.”
“That won’t give me full access; it’s not a real computer interface.”
“It’s the best I can do, Sharron.
You need to get control of that door, or we’re all dead.” No pressure. I plug the code breaker into the access port, hopefully before the master system realizes it’s compromised and cancels access.
Nothing happens. Maybe I’m too late, and the computer disconnected from the port. Maybe the master system overpowered Sharron and isolated or deleted her. Or, maybe, she is fighting for her existence against a much more powerful system. If so, Sharron is going to need all the time I can buy her.
I lose the spacesuit; it will only slow me down. All the guards on this level and beyond are on the way here, and I have no weapons. It’s just me. Me and the monster.
The monster stirs, sensing the upcoming fight. It wants out. Do I become a monster to fight monsters? This won’t be something that was done to me. It won’t be an accident. Will I ever be able to recover from this? I don’t know, but I don’t see any choice.
God, help me, I let the monster loose.
Pain burns through me, and I arch and bellow. Through a red haze, I can see my muscles swell and shift, claws grow, and the gray hardened skin sheathing my body. Is it really my body anymore?
Yes. I force it to stop. I will remain a man. The monster rages and surges within, my skin threatens to split, new limbs want to grow, and my brain is on fire. I am a man…a man…not a monster.
We stop somewhere in between for now, the monster and me. Who’s really in charge? I tell myself I am. Either way, we both want the fight that’s coming.
The door begins to open. The hall is packed with security. It’s just the three of us, man, machine, and monster, against a whole world of hurt.
Bring it.
* * * * *
Chapter 85
A grenade rolls in through the crack in the door. I barely turn away in time from the blinding flash and roar of thunder. I blink it away and see again. It was just a flash bomb, and the stinging smoke rising from it is probably some kind of poison gas. None of this can affect me in my current state.
They don’t want to use weapons that could actually put the monster down—plasma blasters, particle beam projectors, SPGs, and plasma bombs. They don’t want to risk damaging the only access to the main computer; they need what’s inside too badly. They may not even risk using lasers and railguns.
That’s going to be a big mistake. They should have rolled in a plasma bomb from the start and taken the loss. If it were me on the other side, I’d nuke this thing.
The door gets halfway open, and the first guard rushes in with a sonic screaming in one hand and a power blade in the other. He pivots to me, hits me with the sonic full in the face, and brings up the power blade for a thrust. He’s fast, boosted, and well-trained.
Right now, he may as well be moving in slow motion. I catch his knife arm and twist, and his carbon fiber-reinforced bones break as he drops the power blade. He screams but doesn’t let up on the sonic until I spin him around and sink my claws into his back.
I use him as a screaming meat shield to plug the opening doorway when the next two come to attack with power blades, sonics, and flechette weapons. He stops screaming as I use him as a bludgeon to beat those two to death. His limp, armored body still makes a useful weapon, as I flail him into the crowded hallway, knocking around the tightly packed, armored guards. Eventually, my weapon comes apart, and I’m left holding a severed leg.
They try to rush me, pouring in en masse to overwhelm me and pin me down. Still, only a few can come at me at a time, and I lay into them. Visors shatter under my blows. Necks snap. Limbs are bent into unnatural positions. Their armor is the only thing keeping the floor from running with blood.
I get stabbed and hit with sonic disruptors, low-power lasers burn me, needles and flechettes fill the air, and caustic chemicals roll off my skin like rain. I feel none of it. The battle has taken me to that place where everything else just goes away, and all that remains is the fight. The battle madness is on me again, and the monster makes it worse. I can’t feel any pain, and there is no exhaustion, no fear. I feel like I can do this forever.
It’s a lie.
Eventually, even the monster gets tired and runs out of energy, or hate, or whatever it is that keeps the infernal thing going. As I start slowing down, I can feel the wounds all over my body, and the burning fire of deep exhaustion. My vision wavers, and the world begins to blur and speed up.
Someone decides they’ve had enough and finally cuts loose with an X-ray laser rifle. The focused beam shines right through my midsection, and a cloud of steam and ash rises up. Or is it rising because I’m falling? There is no pain as the floor rushes up to meet me.
* * * * *
Chapter 86
Up…up…up…I need to get up. Why? A heavy boot kicks in my teeth and reminds me why. Everything is a hazy blur. I feel cold; something’s wrong. I can’t seem to move my legs, and I smell charred meat.
A big, heavy, armored gauntlet wraps around my neck and hauls me up. Another bundles into a fist that slams into my face. The world shakes, but there is no pain. I get the feeling all this hurt is being saved up for later somehow. Soon, if I live, my brain is going to tell me just how bad it is.
There are faces…masks? Masks! The guards! Another hit in the face; an armored gauntlet driven by a piston of boosted musculature flattens my nose. There is one guard holding me up, and there are others behind him in the corridor. The one holding me up is turning me around toward one holding a long, black, rectangular something.
An IL-54 configurable laser carbine. The emitter is lining up with my head.
Nope.
I’m pretty sure they didn’t expect me to move, because I grab the emission barrel and shatter the ceramic weapon in my hand. Shards of black ceramic are imbedded in it, so I strip off the mask of the surprised guard holding me and rake the ceramic shards across his face and eyes.
He emits a high-pitched scream as he drops me, and when I fall on my back, a thunderbolt of pain is unleashed, waking me the rest of the way. I can’t tell our screaming apart.
More goons are coming. I already know I’m going to die here, that Sharron has been deleted, and that this is all over. But I’m going down fighting.
The next one in trips over his screaming, faceless friend. He lands on me, and pain blasts up from my wound.
Prone, he raises his power blade to open up my chest. I grab his wrist with one hand, as my other is useless now. It’s his boosted strength against mine, and the monster’s about to check out. It can’t take it anymore; it’s just me, now. He’s got a basic, overhead grip on the blade and is driving it straight down. It’s a powerful, but clumsy, strike. I’m able to force it to the side, and his blade screams into the metal floor next to me in a shower of sparks. When he tries to pull up the stuck blade, I wrench back, breaking his grip on the weapon.
The floor is vibrating, and there is a low hum. The security lock is rotating again, and the door is slowly closing. That’s why no one else is in here with me. Sharron got through!
The guard realizes that his lower body is still outside and tries to get up. I grab him in a hold with both arms, even though I can feel the skin on my wounded hand tear. He’s stronger, but I have a better hold; he’s not going anywhere.
Pain blasts up from my midsection out through the top of my head as he starts punching my laser wound. I hold on. Just a little more.
He starts screaming, then his screams rise to a high-pitched, inhuman shriek as the closing security lock slowly cuts him in half.
The floor is awash with blood, his and mine, as my cauterized wound breaks open. The world wavers and threatens to go away, and everything is distorted in waves. I can’t check out now. People are depending on me; I can die later.
“Brandt,” Sharron’s voice comes to me faintly from kilometers away, “are you OK?”
“Great,” I gasp.
* * * * *
Chapter 87
I almost black out when I roll over onto my stomach. I can see the melted metal where the laser that went through
me hit and the glowing anti-radiation coating under the metal. Over there is the panel with the code breaker I’m going to need.
I pick the remaining chips of black ceramic out of my ruined hand and then start crawling over to the door panel. The blood makes it easier to slide across the floor. Now, all I have to do is reach up and get it. It’s out of reach of my hands.
My wound opens up again as I work my way up the side of the wall. I’m losing a lot of blood. As I reach up for the code breaker, it seems to go farther and farther down that dark tunnel of my vision. Sight comes and goes with my heartbeat. Just a little more…got it! It falls and rolls across the floor, just out of reach.
My scream wakes me back up as I fall back to the floor. I only need to slide a short distance to get the code breaker. Why do I need this? Right. Sharron is loaded in. It’s important…somehow.
The door is opening. In there is where I need to go. Computer…or something. I put this metal thing in my mouth and slide over to the opening door. I’ll need it…I think. Why?
Sliding across the floor. Burning pain from my stomach, hot pain from my ruined hand. Keep going. Left…right…left…right…it’s only forever.
The computer speaks to me. “You have sustained severe abdominal wounds and are suffering from advanced blood loss. You will shortly expire without immediate treatment. Further action will only exacerbate your injuries. Cease movement, conserve your strength, surrender, and medical attention will be provided shortly.”
It’s trying to demoralize me, make me quit. It just pisses me off.
In the room. At the far wall is the computer. I…I need to…get up to it. Sharron…something…Sharron! She can break into the computer. With this thing…this code breaker in my mouth. I just need to get up there.
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