The Quantum Gate Trilogy

by Eric Warren

  “I’ve got him hooked up!” Zubrowski called from the room.

  Obsidian helped Arista over the rubble strewn all around them, toward the back room. The bodies of the humans she’d killed still lay on the ground, some of them covered in pieces of Charlie. “Is he dead?” Arista asked.

  “This was his mainframe, I don’t see how he could exist without it,” Obsidian said. “But I’m not an expert.”

  “He said something about others? Two more somewhere?”

  Obsidian shrugged. “Sorry, I don’t have any information on that. He only told us what we needed to know. Speaking of which…” He turned abruptly to the last Peacekeeper who was picking through the rubble. “Marco, barricade that door! We don’t need those Peacekeepers he called breaking in here until we get these two to safety.”

  “Yes, sir!” Marco called from across the room.

  “I’m sorry you had to shoot your own man, but thank you for doing it,” Arista said as they entered the room bathed in purple light. Six still-empty containers hung on the gantries above them, their liquid still sloshing from the force of Charlie’s destruction.

  “I am too. There’s going to be a lot of that in the coming days,” Obsidian said. “But if I’m honest, Xian was always an asshole.”

  They reached Frees. Zubrowski had set him on a white cube, about the size of a chair. The cube glowed blue but Frees remained motionless.

  “Will he be okay?” Arista asked.

  “Still waiting, ma’am. I’m not sure if we got to him in time.”

  “Damn.” She got right up in his face, placing her hand on his damaged shoulder. “C’mon, Frees. Don’t make me live with the guilt of killing you too.”

  His eyes flickered. “Would serve you right,” he said, his voice very soft.

  Arista drew a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. Thanking whoever was responsible for keeping him here. When she reopened her eyes, he had the hint of a smile on his face. She shoved him backward.

  “What the hell did you do that for?”

  “It needed to be done,” he said. “We had to get rid of Charlie. If for no other reason than so he couldn’t inhabit anyone else.”

  “What’s your power level?” Zubrowski asked him.

  “Seventeen percent.” He glanced down. “Wait, am I on a cube?” He jumped up, severing the connection. The cube went dark.

  “It was the only way,” Arista said.

  Frees screwed up his face. “Maybe they didn’t get it all. Maybe not everything uploaded.”

  “What do you mean? Charlie is dead. And with him, the Cadre, right?”

  Frees shook his head. “It’s bigger than just Charlie.”

  “Sir!” Marco came running into the room. “I’ve barricaded the door, but they’re back there. How do we proceed?”

  Obsidian glared at them. “We need to get you two out of here. Unless you’re up to trying to change a building full of Peacekeepers,” he said to Arista.

  “Frankly what I did to you was a gamble. I still don’t have full control over it yet.”

  “We can get back out using the Gate. All the machines on the other side should be de-activated by now.” Frees said.

  “Then get to it!” Obsidian yelled. “We’ll hold them off as best we can.”

  “Why don’t you come with us?” Arista asked even though she saw the warning in Frees’ eyes. Resources were already bare. Adding three more machines to Jill’s list might overwhelm her.

  “No, we’ll stay here. We can camouflage our eyes, remain undetected. I need to monitor what happens to the other Peacekeepers without Charlie. If we don’t have some sort of order we could be looking at utter chaos.” Obsidian touched his arm. “We’ll tell them you were crushed under the rubble. It should be weeks before anyone comes to clean it up. Here is my number, contact me if you need to.”

  Arista instinctively raised her own arm, only to remember she no longer had a phone. She touched Frees’ lifeless arm instead, which accepted the short data transfer.

  They ran back to the Gate. “It’s still in diagnostic mode,” she said, inspecting the control panel.

  “Can’t you stop the diagnostic?” Frees asked, watching as the Peacekeepers ran to reinforce the door.

  The Device ran through a myriad of options based on her limited knowledge of the Gate. “Maybe a shutdown and restart?” she said, wondering how long it would take.

  “Whatever you’re going to do, do it quickly,” Frees said.

  Arista entered the commands for a restart. The humming from the Gate grew quiet as all the components shut down.

  “C’mon, c’mon,” she said, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

  “Ma’am, hurry!” Obsidian called from across the room.

  “It’s taking too long,” Frees said. “We’re going to have to hide.”

  She grabbed his arm. “Just wait. It’s almost there.” The humming started up again and various bits of the Gate lit up as the massive device began its operational cycle. “See? Shutdown and restart. Fixes everything.” Arista tapped the control panel and the wall in front of them shimmered until it became the picture of the production facility. On the other side, hundreds of machines stood, frozen in place. “You sure they’re deactivated?” Arista asked.

  “We’re about to find out.”

  She hit the control panel again and the wall vibrated, sending ripples across what was once concrete. Arista grabbed Frees by the arm and pulled them both through.

  Thirty-Five

  AS SOON AS THEY WERE THROUGH Arista tapped the other control panel again, turning the machine off. The image behind them shimmered back into a solid wall again erasing their view of the three Peacekeepers standing by the door on the other side.

  “There,” she said. She turned to inspect the machines standing in front of them. Some had been frozen in different poses, others lay sprawled on the floor before them, victims of Charlie pushing himself out of the way she supposed. But none seemed active. “I guess you were right.” She turned to Frees. “What now?”

  “We do what we came here to do. Take two of these husks back with us, store them until we find your parents.”

  Suddenly Arista found she was exhausted. She’d never wanted a bed so badly in her life. She nodded. “I need a good night’s sleep. This has been one hell of a day.” She glanced around. Most of the husks were in various states of having been built. Very few were finished and none of them had their skin coverings. “I guess this is better than nothing,” she said.

  “At this point, take what you can get.”

  Arista glanced across the production floor. “Jonn, he’s still over there, isn’t he?”

  Frees followed her gaze. “What do you want to do with him if he’s still alive?”

  She wasn’t sure. It was unlikely she’d ever be able to trust him again. “Maybe without Charlie he’s back to normal.” Arista weaved her way through all the standing bodies until she came to the control panel where she’d pinned him with the robotic arms. “Frees,” she called upon inspecting the area.

  He jogged over, slower than normal. “He’s not here.”

  The arm had been raised at some point, probably by Charlie when he stopped all activity on the production floor. A pool of fluids lay where Jonn had been pinned, then a messy trail of oils and other lubricants led to one of the far exits.

  “Damn. Should we go after him?” Frees asked.

  She wanted to. She wanted to see if he was back to the same person she’d known, without the interference from Charlie’s programming. Or if he was still losing his mind, a potential threat to face. It only now struck her that Jonn had met the humans at some point, they had been the ones who implanted the new program in him. Had he been conscious for it? He should have told Arista about them when she first saw him on the other side of that Gate. But then again, she couldn’t trust anything he’d said after the Cadre had gotten a hold of him. It all could have been a lie.

  “No,” she said, firm. They wo
uld deal with Jonn later if he didn’t bleed out. “He’s not our priority. Let’s choose two who are mostly finished and get out of here.”

  Frees nodded in agreement.

  ***

  Frees had been right, they could call up as many hyperloop pods as they needed. After a few trips back and forth they’d finally had both husks loaded, Arista accompanying one and Frees accompanying the other. Within seconds they were back in the giant Atrium. Frees got out to shunt the power back to the line that would take them to Jill’s again while Arista explored the area with a newfound interest.

  This had been the pinnacle of human travel. The last great innovation before the machines wiped them all out. And now the machines had developed something even more advanced. It made Arista want to hold on to this place, to keep it in her memory as somewhere important. Somewhere she might feel at home. This was the last connection she had with her own people that hadn’t been corrupted by machines in one way or another. She felt safe here, despite all evidence that it could come crumbling down on them at any minute.

  “Ready?” Frees asked, hopping down from the power control panel.

  She turned to him. He’d removed his last bit of skin. She couldn’t help but smile and wonder what had prompted such a decision. “Hand me that phone I gave you.”

  He reached into his pocket, producing the small, flexible piece of material. “Are you going to try now?” he asked. “Down here?”

  “I can’t stand it any longer. And if the Cadre is in panic mode they might not care about tracking it.”

  “You need rest. Take a break, we just destroyed a giant self-intelligent machine who helped orchestrate our entire society. I think that gives you the night off.”

  “I have to find them,” she said, taking the phone from him, but allowing her hand to linger on his newly clean appendage a moment longer than necessary. “Then I can rest.”

  Frees stood back as the Device ran through the bypass codes again, allowing her to produce the holographic display. She dialed.

  One ring.

  Two rings.

  If it went to five she needed to hang up. There were no two ways—

  “Hello?” a hushed voice said.

  “Mom?” Adrenaline shot through her system. The Device registered it in her vision.

  “Arista? Oh my God, Arista.”

  “Mom, are you guys okay? Where are you?”

  The signal broke and her mother’s words on the other end came across garbled.

  “What was that, Mom? You’re breaking up. Say it again.”

  “I can’t—” The line went dead.

  Arista glanced up at Frees. His orange eyes were wide but set with renewed determination. “What do you need to do?” Frees asked.

  Arista set her jaw. “Start hunting.”

  To Be Continued in DUALITY, Quantum Gate Book 2

  Prologue

  Frees stepped through the gate, back into the production facility. It hadn’t changed in the brief time they’d been away; bodies littered the area. Half-completed robotic bodies that had once been inhabited by the giant AI Charlie lay about as empty husks. They wouldn’t be replaced. Without Charlie, no one would come around to pick up the mess. Because they’d stopped him, everyone had the chance to be free. If only he could figure out how.

  “There.” Arista tapped the control panel for the Quantum Gate; the instant transportation technology designed by the machines. Behind them, the image of the imposing Peacekeepers standing guard in Charlie’s inner sanctum disappeared as the barrier became a solid wall once more. “I guess you were right,” she said, indicating to all the immobile forms in front of them. “What now?”

  “We do what we came here to do,” he replied. They didn’t have much time until he’d need to recharge again; he’d only gotten a small boost back there and he still didn’t feel quite right. His limbs responded slowly and his cortex felt sluggish. He’d never been this low on power. “Take two of these husks back with us, store them until we find your parents.” Arista was the last human on the planet, and they had been searching for her “parents”—the machines that took her in as a child—ever since she’d been discovered.

  Arista exhaled, then nodded. “I need a good night’s sleep. This has been one hell of a day.” The dark circles under her eyes gave Frees the impression she wasn’t exaggerating.

  He couldn’t believe it had only been hours ago when he’d broken her out of Cadre headquarters. They hadn’t even known each other for a full day yet. Time could do strange things when one wasn’t paying attention.

  “I guess this is better than nothing.” Arista stared at some of the immobile husks in front of them.

  Frees scoffed. “At this point, take what you can get.” He had no desire to go back through the past few hours. Breaking into the production facility, engaging in not one, but two firefights. Then meeting Charlie himself; the giant artificial intelligence who ran the Cadre. He’d even tried tempting Frees, to turn him against Arista. He’d said they had the same goals. Frees had never heard anything so ludicrous in his life.

  Arista’s voice broke him from his reverie. “Jonn, he’s still over there, isn’t he?” Frees followed her gaze across the production floor to the area where the firefight had originally begun.

  “What do you want to do with him if he’s still alive?” Frees knew what he would do. Jonn had tried to kill them both, all under the guise of friendship. And Frees didn’t suffer traitors easily. If the felp still worked, he’d go over there and shoot him in the face.

  “Maybe without Charlie he’s back to normal,” she suggested. Jonn argued Charlie had gotten in his head, made him change. But Frees knew men like him. Men who would say anything to save themselves.

  Arista jogged over to the area where she’d pinned Jonn with the giant mechanical arm and Frees shuffled to keep up. His power levels were holding steady for now. “Frees,” she called, her voice slightly panicked. “He’s not here.”

  When he reached her, he saw the mechanical arm had been raised, allowing Jonn to wiggle out from being pinned. A trail of fluids led from there to the closest exit on the far side of the room. “Damn,” Frees said. He hated leaving loose ends. “Should we go after him?” Jonn was a potential liability, though with a gaping hole in his abdomen he might not survive very long.

  “No,” Arista said, her voice firm. “He’s not our priority. Let’s choose two who are mostly finished and get out of here.”

  She was right. He neither had the power or the equipment to go searching for a rogue machine. Not now. They’d have to do it another time. Frees nodded and turned to inspect their options.

  It took more trips than he was comfortable making, but eventually they got the two husks Arista had chosen into the hyperloop pods back to the atrium. Now they needed to shunt the power over to the section that would lead them to Jill’s place. There they could store the husks and take time to recoup.

  Frees exited his pod, watching Arista do the same, however she didn’t accompany him to the power grid. She seemed more interested in the space itself. She craned her neck in awe and Frees considered how odd this must be for her, standing in what could be one of the very last human-built structures; one that hadn’t been touched since the machines took over. It must feel lonely.

  Frees hopped up on the shelf holding the main power grid controls, his hand catching against something sharp as he did. The edge ripped part of the tissue away, exposing his covering underneath. He stared at the hand a moment, the very last part of his false humanity. Was it really worth keeping anymore? He’d managed to tear the skin off all his body except this one hand. He’d told Arista it was because he used it to get into his apartment, but that wasn’t true. He could reprogram the entrance easily. And having a human-looking hand wasn’t a necessity when he went out, that’s what gloves were for. The true reason felt too painful to admit. If he removed this last part of himself, he would have removed the very last part that connected him to Marcus. To that old li
fe and the days before he’d become autonomous.

  Arista explored the area with almost a child-like wonderment as he folded the small piece of skin that had been torn back in place. She was such a strange creature, so unlike Marcus it was hard to believe they were part of the same species.

  He stared at the torn hand again.

  Maybe he shouldn’t be so preoccupied with looking back. Maybe he needed to look forward instead. They still had to find a way to free everyone, and he was convinced Arista was the key to it. But it wouldn’t be as easy as he thought. She’d risked herself for him and he couldn’t just pretend like she was someone to be used and discarded. Arista was his future, there was no denying that. And it was a brighter future than he’d imagined. Reaching down, he grasped the edge of the skin and pulled it back, degloving his hand. “Goodbye, Marcus,” Frees whispered, tossing the useless skin to the side. “Thank you for getting me this far.” It was time to stop looking back.

  His hand, now free from the constraints of the skin, moved fast and with purpose. Within minutes, he’d finished shunting the power.

  “Ready?” Frees hopped down.

  Arista walked over to him. Her eyes dropped to his hand and a smile tugged at her mouth. “Hand me that phone I gave you.”

  Frees dug in his pocket, producing the flexible comm device. “Are you going to try it now? Down here?” She was more desperate to reach her parents than he’d thought.

  “I can’t stand it any longer.” Her voice echoing through the large chamber. “If the Cadre is in panic mode, they might not care about tracking it.”

  Frees screwed up his face. She was exhausted. “You need rest. Take a break, we just destroyed a giant, self-intelligent machine who helped orchestrate our entire society. I think that gives you the night off.”

  “I have to find them,” she said, her voice urgent and full of hope. She reached out for the phone in his newly naked hand and kept hers against his a moment longer than necessary. A warm feeling he thought impossible moved through him. “Then I can rest.”