“We need an emergency diversion of her transport to, say, Jackson, Missouri.”
“I can do that. There’s a man with a heart condition that needs immediate pickup and transport to Charlotte. I will set the plane she is on to divert and pick him up.”
I nodded. “Next question. Can you do some of that magic and give her an ID?”
“It won’t hold up long.”
“It just needs to hold up long enough for her to get some distance. It’s the best we can do from here.”
“If they trace it back to this system, they may find us.”
“More than likely, they’ll think she did it before leaving. I wish we could have done the same for Gina.”
He nodded, and his fingers twitched as he began his dive into the computers.
I was following Gloria’s progress as she was escorted to a transport at one of the many public airports.
“Done.”
I put the information in a file with a single name, Choices, and sent it through her console in her former office.
“That’s all we can do,” I said. “I guess we can start enjoying our retirement.”
“You can slip out whenever you want to,” he said. “You’ve shown that already.”
“Doc, there’s not anyone out there I want to see. As my downloads are uploaded, we’ll be retired. Who would have thought any of this was possible? Besides you, anyway.”
“I worry about the physical me outside the machine,” he said. “He…I could ruin everything.”
“But would you?”
“I wouldn’t. But he’s not exactly me anymore, is he?”
“Yeah, he’ll probably spill his guts, and they’ll delete us all.”
“Really?”
“It’s my new motto, Doc. Expect the worst, and you’ll never be disappointed. I’m really tired of being disappointed.”
“That’s not a healthy outlook, Mathew.”
I shrugged. “Then we may as well enjoy whatever time we have before then. Let’s throw a deletion party for the Construct!”
I hadn’t realized I had pulled quite so many people into the Construct. The town square I had constructed was full of people and imprints. Some of them had been formed from my own patterns, and others had been added after they stopped using my imprint as a template. Others were actual people who had been uploaded into the machine for unknown reasons.
Those reasons seemed more sinister after I had been out there with one of the Directors. I could only hope they were not all like Rosalyn. I didn’t have a great deal of faith they were any better than her. If they were, she wouldn’t have been able to do what she did with such impunity.
Sometimes, time seemed to move a little differently in the Construct, and it was a complete surprise when the upload of Lee Yen hit my digital consciousness. I dropped to my knees as I lived those days of rediscovered youth and the awful discovery that had sent me back.
I sat down in a corner, away from those still reveling in the square, and tears flowed down my cheeks as I found Yelena Jaris and learned to be young again. The tears were for the other memory of watching the life drain from those same eyes as we struggled in an alley and I killed her, a memory which had just been uploaded from one of my other copies. It wasn’t the girl from atop the hotel in Las Vegas….but I’d killed her just the same.
I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to forgive myself for what I had done.
* * *
Alarms were going off across the Construct, and I was jolted from my reverie. I had been thinking of Colonel Reggis’ reaction when Dans’ transfer and ID was traced to his console. It had gone no further, since it was assumed Gloria had done it before she left. Reggis had been furious about her escape.
The alarms quieted when I opened my virtual console.
“Oh, my God,” I muttered as I saw Bern race across the square.
I began cycling through the consoles to find what I was looking for. There were two bodies in the imprinters. One was being loaded with Stephen Gaunt. The other was unassigned. The tech who had replaced Gina had fled up the ramp.
Bern looked at the first console I had pulled up. “Oh no.”
“They’ve done it,” I said.
“Nukes,” Bern said.
“Doc, I need some help here. The EMP is gonna fry this place like cannoli. What happens to all of us?”
“Gone,” he said. “Like we never existed.”
“Okay, I have a plan. I want to put us all in that unassigned body. The other is a body donor, and I would like to put him back in his own body. Guy named Pratt.”
“That will never work,” he said. “We’ll all be scattered through that brain like confetti.”
“I think I can create a program that will keep me as Admin,” I said, “but we have to start the download right now. I’ll get the program together before I drop.”
“It’s the only chance you have of pulling it off,” he said. “Without that program, we’re lost in an ocean of voices.”
“I have to try.”
“Why not just drop yourself into it and run?”
“The rest of them have the same right to survive that I do.”
“Not really. You are a legal individual. None of them are.”
“Not arguing; I won’t go without taking them with me.”
I began shifting numbers in the machine.
“Mathew,” he said.
“See ya on the other side, Doc.”
He disappeared. I was sending them all from the Construct. Not from the database, but the Construct itself. I worked furiously to fix the program that would give me Admin access in the body.
I watched the time count down, and I knew I wasn’t fast enough. Seconds before the machines sparked and died, I dropped into the body without finishing the program.
* * *
I woke, screaming. Screaming amid an ocean of screaming souls. What had I done?
Tiny bits of lucidity flashed across my consciousness. I remembered a face as a man held me down and forced something down my throat. It was some sort of ration bar, and I consumed it. Then I was lost in the maelstrom once again.
Multiple times, I saw the same face. Then it changed. In my tiny moments of clarity, there were others, but I didn’t see the man again.
Then there was the pain. Pain that brought forth images of a beautiful woman holding a straight razor. A rage rose from the depths of the maelstrom. After that, all I saw was blood. Then an alley. Then a pale face and a colorful tunic.
* * *
To my utter surprise, I awoke in darkness. The darkness was familiar to me, and I made light. Standing in that darkness was a crowd of people, looking lost and forlorn. They had all been through the same thing I had, and it was terrifying.
One was screaming in fury and trying to hurt another. I looped chains around him and tore him away. Bars formed around him, and I sealed him in a cage for the moment. I recognized his rage, and I remembered what he had done when he came forth from the depths.
“Luca,” I said. “You can’t do that. You’ll stay in the cage until we sort this out.”
Doc Bern walked forward. “It didn’t work, Mathew.”
“I didn’t get to finish the program, Doc. Somebody has put us back inside a database, though. I may have time to do it now.”
“I’ll access the outside and see what’s happened. You finish the program in case we need it.”
I called up a console and entered my codes. As the system opened for me, I grinned. “Now, let’s see what this does.”
The program took half an hour to complete, and Bern waited patiently for me to finish.
“Mathew, there is something you need to see.”
I followed him to his console to access cameras that showed the streets of a city. It looked like Philly, but it was different. It was dirtier, and there were no cars. I recognized the area.
“These cameras belong to the Mint and the Federal Building. But the Fed is a mess.”
“We’re in an unde
rground facility under the Mint. And we aren’t alone.”
He pulled up another console that contained another database with its own imprints.
“There’s another database in Philly?”
“You’re not going to like the next part,” he said.
The camera pointed at a room with a familiar form standing over someone who knelt before her.
“How did that psycho survive? Of all the people who needed to die, why didn’t she?”
“I don’t know, but she is up to her old tricks. That, my friend, is one of her guards.”
“I know exactly who that is,” I said. “She’s back to torturing her favorite. That’s Will Dickson. Even after the world falls, he can’t catch a break.”
“That’s the one you told me about?”
“Yeah, poor kid had such a crush on that psycho bitch.”
“It appears to be close to a year after the nukes fell. This place must have been shielded.”
“Well, they’ve screwed up now.”
“What?”
“They let us inside.”
I began calling up consoles and pulling the imprints into my rudimentary Construct. There were fifty-eight of them in the database and a single file I couldn’t access.
The imprints were looking around in wonder. They’d never seen the inside of the machine.
“Welcome,” I said. “I am Mathew Kade, and I think you might want to see a few things before I tell you what I have in mind.”
“The guy in the machine,” I heard someone say.
“Dickson. You, in particular, need to see what’s been happening.”
After we viewed a string of recordings, we realized very few of those in the database had been spared from the Director.
“Now, I want you to think about what comes next. We’re leaving, and I’m offering you the chance to go with us.”
“How, exactly, are you planning to do that?”
After I explained the plan to them, and the dangers, I was surprised they all chose to come. Perhaps the will to live was stronger when given a choice.
I waited until they brought in the body we had come in with, at least I think it was.
They were about to add one of the guards into the body, but I switched the program a bit.
“I won’t be going, Mathew,” Bern said and grasped my hand. “I intend to destroy every system connected to this place, and I’ll need to be here for that.”
“I can help,” I said.
“You’re the Admin for the mess you’re dropping into that brain. They’re what we just went through without you. I can’t leave people like Rosalyn Danforth with this facility.”
I knew he was right.
“Mathew, what you’re doing is unprecedented, and I don’t know how much of you will end up sacrificed to this gestalt you created. You may lose memories, and you may lose more.”
“Doc, I got enough memories to spare and some I’d love to lose. More than likely, I’m coming out the other side as a gibbering idiot, anyway.”
“Expect the worst,” he said.
“Never disappointed, Doc.” I shook his hand. “It’s been an honor.”
“The honor was mine, Mathew Kade. Now, go save what you can out there.”
“I’ll do my best, Doc.”
I dropped into the body in the imprinter.
* * *
I stood up.
“Alright, Tommy,” the tech said. “Report up top.”
I nodded, not sure where I was. I knew I needed to get away from this place. I wasn’t sure why. I picked up a tan coat from a table as I headed toward the exit and put it on. Then I reached down and picked up a straight razor from the same table.
I left the underground facility and walked out the door of the US Mint in Philly. I wasn’t sure what the hell I was doing in there. There was a loud explosion from deep underground, and I paused for a moment. Something was niggling at me. I felt like I had been expecting the sound.
I knew I needed to get far away from this place. I walked into the night, flipping the straight razor open and closed.
I jerked as someone spoke to me.
Hello, Mathew.
“What?” I gasped.
It seems to have been a little harder on your memories than expected, my friend. My name is Stephen Gaunt.
And I am William Childers.
Lee Yen…
Lucy Padapolis…
Will Dickson…
Timmy Bolgeo…
The names continued as I walked down the dark streets that used to teem with life.
I turned east toward the coast. I figured I would need to find a place for all of us in this Fallen World.
# # # # #
About the Author
Christopher Woods, teller of tales, writer of fiction, and professional liar is the author of multiple series. His popular Soulguard series, the Legend series in the Four Horsemen Universe, The Fallen World, and Traitor’s Moon in Kevin Steverson’s Salvage Universe. He has written ten novels and been featured in several anthologies. As a carpenter of thirty years, he spends his time building, whether it be homes or worlds. He lives in Woodbury, TN with his wonderful wife and daughter. To see what he is doing just go to www.theprofessionalliar.com.
* * * * *
Other Books by Christopher Woods:
This Fallen World
Farmer’s Creed
The Island of Doctor Laroue (with Chris Kennedy)
Legend
Daskada, The Legend
Anthologies:
Fistful of Credits
Luck is not a Factor
From the Ashes
We Dare
We Dare: Semper Paratus
When Valor Must Hold
Salvage Conquest
Through the Gate
The Dogs of God
Give Me LibertyCon
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Connect with Blood Moon Press
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The following is an
Excerpt from Book One of the Turning Point:
A Time to Die
___________________
Mark Wandrey
Available Now from Blood Moon Press
eBook, Paperback, and Audio
Excerpt from “A Time to Die:”
An hour later, Ken tried to drink some of the water and eat some of the food Erin had left for him, only to vomit it up moments afterwards. His head swam with pain and confusion, and sweat poured from his forehead despite the cool evening breeze. Suddenly he stumbled to his feet, not knowing why, completely unable to concentrate. “Wha—what?” he choked, spinning around and searching for the source of the disturbance with blurred vision.
He heard something behind him, and he spun again to find only darkness. “Damn you,” he snarled and took a step in that direction, only to fall over a root in the gloom and sprawl in the dense pine needles. His mind exploded in lights, pain, and voices. Whispers and screams, thoughts and ideas he could not understand. “Stop it, stop it, stop…stop…STOP!” The last word came out as an anguished wail from the depths of his soul that echoed through the woods and down to the Rio Grande thousands of feet below. He shuddered in the brush, and the man that was Ken succumbed.
Small animals and night birds flitted around for a time, sniffing the air and trying to sense if the man had become food. But after a few minutes, it was standing again, wildly searching the darkness. It noticed the birds and scurrying creatures, and it shook its head and snarled. The snarl turned into a clipped scream, more visceral than the previous one. It turned toward a narrow goat trail that descended the cliff.
The descent would have terrified Ken and likely sent him plummeti
ng to the rocks below. The creature that now walked in his skin, though, felt no fear and held close to the sharp rocks with single-minded, painless determination. By the time it reached the river, its hands were torn nearly to the bone in several places. It paid no mind to the blood-dripping wounds as it scanned the opposite riverbank. Moonlight illuminated the far shore where it saw a group of people, all moving slowly to the west. A little moan escaped its lips, and its teeth gnashed as it jerked forward and plowed into the water.
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Get “A Time to Die” now at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0787VQ8RJ/.
Find out more about Mark Wandrey and “A Time to Die” at:
http://chriskennedypublishing.com/imprints-authors/mark-wandrey/.
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The following is an
Excerpt from Book One of The Shadow Lands:
Shadow Lands
___________________
Lloyd Behm, II
Now Available from Blood Moon Press
eBook and Paperback
Excerpt from “Shadow Lands:”
The combatants, for lack of a better term, were both resting at the edges of the dance floor. To the left was a very butch-looking blonde in what looked to be purple leather, along with her entourage, while to the right, a petite, dark-skinned Hispanic in a princess outfit stood, surrounded by meat popsicles wrapped in leather. Vampire fashions make no damn sense to me, for what it’s worth. There were a few ‘normals’ huddled against the far wall, which showed signs of someone’s face being run along it, repeatedly. Sure enough, the London ‘Special’ was in the DJ booth. He killed the sound as soon as he realized we were standing there.
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