Fortitude, p.5
Fortitude, page 5
“Are you ready?” Denise’s voice reached the two youngsters through a speaker at the side of a large clear partition, roughly ten feet away.
Constance nodded. The weird helmet they had placed on her jet black hair, was a little heavy and sent a mild buzzing into her skull.
She responded to Kevin’s question. “I don’t know how long, Kevin Riley. But it will help—”
Beyond the large clear barrier, Denise, Dr. Meyer and a tall, gray-haired man stood and watched.
“Do you think she even knows she’s hearing Kevin’s voice in her head?” said the man, whose name tag gave the title ‘Colonel Sebastian Helms. Chief medical officer.’
Denise shook her head.
“It’s quite remarkable,” said Meyer. “The nanites are allowing them to communicate with a form of telepathy.”
“Maybe they have known each other so long,” said Denise. “That she was doing that before the arrival of the AI. There’s so much we don’t know about neurodiverse people.”
Meyer nodded and started to reply but it turned into a cough, which had him bent over slightly before he produced a cloth from his pocket and subdued the exertion.
“Let’s get this show started,” said Helms. He looked off to a man in a similar white lab coat sitting at a desk, one of five people in the small room, and nodded. The young man pressed a key on the keyboard and immediately a pattern of color danced on the nearby monitor.
Helms leaned forward on the desk, studying the display. “The nanites are distributed throughout the neocortex as predicted.”
“We’re not picking up any electromagnetic radiation from her or the boy,” said a woman at a similar computer console.
Meyer looked to a third scientist. “And sub-atomic?”
The young man to his right, nodded. “The neutrino radiation is holding steady. But our algorithms cannot appear to make out any kind of modulation.”
“It makes sense that the AI would use a form of communication that we can’t even conceive of—”
“Or have the technology to listen in to,” said Helms, interrupting Denise.
Meyer looked back to the two young subjects. “Even if we could properly record the signal, it is sure to be encrypted…”
There was almost a joint sigh between those inside the room.
Denise nodded. Then turned to Helms. “Are the other nanites ready?” He nodded. She walked to the door. “Then I need to talk to the special agent.”
*****
Yellow, pink veins flowed through the hewn walls of Alexis’ room. As if she was inside a living organism, not beneath thousands of tons of cold, hard, rock.
“I can make this room more pleasant to look at, if you like?” said Travis.
“Sure…”
Immediately the rough, gray surface of the rock was removed and instead she was looking out over an ocean, with waves lapping up against a sandy beach, beneath a pale blue sky. The sand stretched some fifty or so feet to the left and right of her. She always imagined what it would be like to have a Malibu beach front property and now she didn’t have to anymore. Despite the peaceful scene her mind was at war with her emotions, which wanted her to kick and scream at the unfairness of it all. She had accepted the inevitable, even welcomed it to some degree. It would give some chance to those on the surface who were trying to survive in the AI’s broken world, but what she couldn’t accept was not seeing a particular man again…
A figure appeared in the surf, he was wearing jeans and a white short sleeved shirt. Mike smiled and waved to her. He looked good. Still not shaved, but the darkness which she had seen creep into his complexion was gone, replaced with an expression not burdened by the last week.
She looked away. “Please, stop.”
The rock face instantly reappeared.
“I was only trying—”
“I know… Thank you… but I need to stay focused or I’m not sure I can go through with it.”
“Okay…”
Travis looked up at the ceiling.
“What?”
He tilted his head somewhat. “I don’t know. There are no cables that I can easily penetrate to learn what is happening beyond the walls, but—”
A clunk came from the secure door at the far end of the fifteen foot square space, and it sprung open. Denise stood in the doorway with two soldiers behind her. She stepped forward, over the threshold, the door closing behind her.
“What’s happening up top?”
“Everything that should be,” replied Denise. A cryptic answer which produced a frown from the questioner. Denise walked forward and sat on a small plastic bench. One of a few pieces of furniture which was made of the same substance. “How are you?”
Alexis let out a long breath then produced a quick smile. “You would think my training would allow me to deal with what needs to be done, but…”
“That’s understandable. If it makes you feel any better, most of my colleagues think you’re something of a hero…”
“Well, I haven’t done it yet, and there’s a good chance our plan will fail.”
“I’ve gone over what Travis proposed with Meyer and Cary. And the general has authorized me to put the plan in motion… I presume Travis can hear me?”
Alexis nodded. Travis was leaning up against the rock wall to her left.
“We have more than enough nanites for your plan, but the effect on—”
Alexis forced a smile, which quickly faltered. “He has told me what they will do to my body. The cellular degradation. He says I can survive perhaps two days, before I… literally fall apart.”
Denise looked shocked, but not for what it meant for the woman in front of her. She looked at where Alexis kept glancing. The empty space at the back wall. “You think the AI will be here within the next two days?”
Alexis answered before Travis could. “He say’s there’s a ninety-eight percent chance of that. With the first wave of attacks coming much sooner…”
Denise stood, her attention somewhere else, plans being made beyond her eyes.
“Umm…”
“Yes?”
“He say’s if he could—”
Denise shook her head. “It’s out of the question. No part of the AI will be allowed access to our systems.”
Alexis nodded. “I had to ask… he doesn’t shut up about it.”
The scientist looked back at the prisoner. “Are you ready?” Alexis nodded. “Good. A guard will come for you within the hour to implement the procedure.”
“Okay…”
Denise moved to the door, knocking on it, but paused before leaving. She looked back into the room. “He would be proud.” Before Alexis could reply, Denise moved outside and the door quickly closed.
Travis was standing just a few feet from Alexis. He looked confused. “Why did you try to assert that I wanted access to the bases network?”
“Can’t you guess…”
He sighed, looking down, then back to her. “I’ve only known my father for a short while, but I think you will see him again, before…”
“Before the end…”
“Yeah…”
“What will it be like after?”
“After you die? I do not possess enough processing power to—”
“No, I mean on the surface. If we succeed, what will the world be like?”
“The AI will lose the ability to network…”
She looked shocked. “That’s it? It will still exist? I thought—”
“The AI cannot be destroyed, only subdued. I thought—”
She looked away. “I know… I just thought…”
“The AI will still exist within people, some more than others. It will always be an enemy to humanity, but without the ability to network, humanity will have a fighting chance to survive against it… I think you know what the alternative is…”
“Extermination…”
CHAPTER NINE
The frost and smattering of white that clung to the evergreen trees was taking on an increasingly yellow-pink tinge as the sun headed towards the western horizon. Shadows though smothered the road the motorhome and truck were on, which wound around the edge of a river, hidden within banks of forest.
Mike looked at the turbulent waves. For a moment he saw the AI sphere in the New Mexican desert, full of the souls of the damned, and… his son. He couldn’t think of anything worse. An undying death. A prison that was literally impossible to escape. Locked within a machine’s mind for all eternity.
Except my son did escape…
Casey got up and walked past and he moved his leg further beneath the table in front of him. It looked like a polite gesture, but he knew the ‘Alien’ metal the Grant clan obtained was anything but. Someone within one of the vehicles was not who they appeared to be. The AI had taken up home in their skull and he had no way of knowing who that was. It was obvious if the AI wanted him dead, he would already be. A drone strike, controlling the motorhome to drive off the mountain pass they were now driving along, or just picking up one of the kitchen knifes that Casey had used to make sandwiches and slamming it into his neck before he had a chance to react. A hundred different ways to end him, but yet whoever the AI was controlling had not altered their behavior at all. At least not that he could see. There was also the possibility of the AI jumping ship, from the body they inhabited to him. Control him as he made his way to Alexis.
A muscle spasm made its way across his body. Actually, he could think of something worse than being locked in the AI’s white room and that was being used to kill the woman he… loved.
Not going to happen…
He felt the flask in his pocket. Its solid weight eased the tension in him slightly, but he still lacked an answer for an obvious question. Would he know if the AI was inside him? Maybe it was lying low at the back of his—
“Here,” said Casey, making him jump slightly. He hadn’t noticed her standing just behind him. He turned in his seat. She was holding a thick, dark-green jacket, with a fur lined hood.
“Used to belong to my husband. Figured you might not need to freeze to death.”
Mike instinctively started to reject the proposal, but then the picturesque scene outside had been growing more wintery by the hour and he had heard from colleagues who had visited the field offices up north, just how cold it could get up here. “Thanks,” he said taking it from her, then trying to make his examination of anything metal on it, not so obvious. On being satisfied he placed it over his back, then slid his arms in.
“Getting pretty dark outside,” said Shayne. He stretched his neck to peer up, out of the side window.
Mike looked out of his own side. The young guy was right, it was dark. Too—
The motorhome jolted as Jared who was driving, hit the brakes.
“What is that…” said Casey now back in her passenger’s seat.
Mike craned his neck to try and better see what was in the sky, but the angle was too acute. He stood, walked to the side door and opened it…
“What the fuck,” said Dale behind him, as Mike studied the scene just below the clouds. Dark shapes, mostly triangular were silently sliding across the sky, thousands of feet up. He slowly walked down the metal steps to the two lane highway, not being able to take his eyes from the heavens.
“What is that? Is that birds?” said Jarad, now standing near the hood, squinting at the darkened sky.
“Yup,” said Gregg. He was leaning on his truck’s doorframe, looking through binoculars. “Thousand of them… never seen anything like it.”
Most were now outside their vehicles, standing in the gloom.
“Don’t birds migrate south during the winter?” said Shayne.
Wave after wave, a mass so thick it appeared solid moved across the sky above them. An unnatural eclipse.
Mike was glad for the padding around his arms and shoulders, but as he watched the spectacle he couldn’t help but shiver.
They were heading towards Alexis and Travis… He was sure in his bones of it.
“Could they be scared or something?” said Paige. “Flying from the alien—”
“Not an alien,” said Shayne.
“Ugh, you know what I mean.”
“Yeah,” said Mike. He turned, moving past the teenager. And stepped back onto the motorhome. “Let’s get going.”
*****
Alexis looked at the faces through the glass barrier. Some contained a smile, others curiosity and others sadness. She wasn’t sure which was worse, but she had a strange feeling of knowing what the condemned must feel in their last moments before what was inside the syringes took effect. She looked at the straps across her arms and legs, and the IV lines connected to her arm. Metal discs were across her chest and on her head sat a small helmet of some kind, which was explained to her as an advanced scanning device, similar to an MRI machine, but a tenth of the size. If her brain exploded within the next few moments, at least they would have a high definition recording of it.
She sniggered.
“Your brain’s not going to explode,” said Travis, standing to the left of the chair.
“Is everything okay?” said Denise through the intercom.
“Everything’s just fine.”
“Are you ready for us to proceed?”
Alexis took in then let out a long breath. “Yes.”
Will it hurt? she thought within her mind to Travis.
“Did it hurt when my nanites entered your system?”
“I was unconscious then…”
Silver liquid started to ease its way along the plastic tubing attached to her. Her heart rate started to increase.
“Please stay calm, agent Adams,” said Helms.
She was trying, but couldn’t take her eyes from the mercury looking substance that was making its way towards her veins. She glanced back at the large window. The faces were now all of concern.
I… I don’t know if I can do this.
The nanites were now inches from her skin as her heart thundered in her chest.
“I’m not—”
She felt the cold in her toes and fingers before her breath turned to mist in the air. She was surrounded by trees, her boots a foot deep in show.
“What…” She suddenly realized what happened.
“Sorry, but your heart rate was dangerously high. I needed to take you out of there.” She turned around, the snow crunching beneath her and looked down upon the town she had driven through earlier. Travis was standing near the trunk of a tree, a few feet away. He was wearing a dark green winter jacket.
She held her hand up in front of her face. The skin was red with the cold. “None of this is real… Are the nanites inside me now?”
“They are.”
She looked back at the town, and the people and vehicles flowing through its streets. “So the clock is ticking…”
“It…” He tilted his head in the fashion she almost had gotten used to. He took a step forward, closer to the edge of the cliff then looked up at the sky.
She joined him, trying to make sense of the dark smudge many miles off. “What is that?” An alarm broke out from hundreds of feet below. The military vehicles were racing between the streets, people were running. She looked back at him. “What’s happening?”
He turned to her. “It’s here.”
CHAPTER TEN
“For the record, I still think it was a mistake you being here.” Cary Bell stood next to Olivia Hendricks.
She leaned forward on the desk. One of ten rows which sloped down to a rock wall full of screens, a few of which were much larger than the rest. “Duly noted, General,” said the President. “What am I looking at?”
Cary started to reply, but Meyer beat him to it, despite coughing first. “Tens of millions of flesh and blood drones, each one more intelligent than a human being.”
She remained looking at the shadow which was spread across the darkening sky from the external camera, the image displayed on the largest of the screens in the CIC. “Going to need more than that.”
“Birds,” said Denise, standing to the left of Cary.
“It’s quite ingenious,” said Meyer. “Why use the military hardware it has at its disposal when it can turn our feathered friends into soldiers.”
Hendricks looked at the scientist. “What does it think it will achieve with controlling these animals? We’re under thousands of tons of mountain.”
Cary looked to the officer at the desk in front of him. “We’re about to find out.” He nodded and the young man spoke into his headset then looked back to the screens at the front of the room. He gestured to a smaller display, another external camera which was tracking the shadow on the horizon. “That’s a view from one of our twenty-seven anti-aircraft emplacements on the surrounding hills and mountains. These are twenty-millimeter cannons, mounted on top of Bradleys. Old but still effective. If anything is still alive after they have opened up, there are twelve remotely controlled CIWS cannons at the perimeter of the base.”
“And everyone else on the surface is safely now in the facility?” said Hendricks.
“Everyone that needs to be, yes ma’am,” said the general.
The view from the gun’s camera darkened even further until no sky was visible and the remaining light from the setting sun was completely extinguished, smothering the mountain town in an almost complete blackness.
“Open fire,” said Cary.
Light burst from the turrets featured on the various displays, neon streams pouring out into the darkness. Other camera views high above the town and entrance to the base, showed the streaks tearing holes through the blanket of animals descending, lower and lower, diving in a frenzy, smashing into the weaponry ranged against them and buildings alike.
