by Eric Warren
Arista gasped.
It was Obsidian. His features had been frozen in horror and there was a wound on his chest similar to the one Shin had.
“The humans. They’ve already started,” she whispered. They might even still be in this building. “Do you think they know about Sy?”
Frees glanced around, surveying the area. “I don’t know. But if we’re to have any chance of retrieving your parents before they’re tortured to death we have to get upstairs.”
Arista’s heart hammered in her chest. He was right. They didn’t have a choice anymore. They couldn’t afford to wait. She was thankful the men Shin had sent out for food had finally arrived back in Osaka and she’d at least gotten some nourishment.
“C’mon,” Frees said, leading them to the service elevators on the other side of the wide floor.
“I need to go first,” Arista said once they were inside. “Their weapons will be deadly to you. Even if they don’t use the one that kills you. It took hours to revive you last time. We may not be able to do it again without help from Mitsu and Takai.”
“I don’t think they’re going to be any more discriminating about shooting you,” Frees said.
He had a point. “Well…let’s just watch each other’s’ asses then, huh?”
“Works for me.”
The elevator rose quickly, climbing to the top floor. It wasn’t nearly as high as they’d been back in Osaka. Perhaps that’s why it felt so fast.
The elevator doors opened in a service hallway, which they moved through quickly. Once in the main hall, they made their way to Charlie’s old office, taking it slow. There was no telling if there could be humans or Peacekeepers hiding somewhere, ready to take out the enemy.
The doors to Charlie’s office where open and one hung off the hinge slightly, like it had been torn away. Inside the room was a mess. Papers strewn everywhere and the main computer console had been cracked so it could no longer be used.
“They’ve already been here,” Frees said. “It was probably the first place they came. To safeguard their secret.”
Arista dropped her shoulders, surveying the area. “Do you think the humans are evil?” she asked, before she even contemplated the answer for herself.
“I know some of them are. But I don’t know. Why?”
“Because I do. From everything I’ve seen they are the worst. And they need to be stopped.”
“I don’t disagree.” Frees walked over to the window. The sun had just come up and Arista couldn’t help but compare it with how Osaka had looked earlier that day. Chicago was different in almost every way, but it somehow felt darker now. Less alive. Like something was moving through it, destroying it from the inside. And she wasn’t going to let it happen.
“Then let’s go find a human.” She said.
To Be Continued in TRIALITY, Quantum Gate Book 3
Prologue
They passed back through the gate, but Frees’ thoughts remained divided. He couldn’t get the Japanese A.I., Shin, off his mind, but at the same time thoughts of Arista consumed him. He’d taken longer than he’d intended interpreting Shin’s instructions on how to re-route the gates because something was wrong with him. Despite all the scans and internal diagnostics saying otherwise, he knew something was wrong. He couldn’t focus on the issues at hand. He didn’t want to tell Arista because it would only worry her, or make her not trust him again. He was already on shaky ground as it was.
As the fog of the gate cleared they found themselves back in Charlie’s underground bunker. The place was still a mess; remnants of Charlie himself—or at least the AI—lay strewn about the ground in massive chunks. He glanced over at Arista whose eyes remained fixated on the side room Charlie had revealed to them. The one that held the comatose humans he’d kept in captivity to make his Peacekeepers. The same humans Arista had executed. All that remained were the shattered containers. Frees had agreed with her, it was the only way to wrench control from Charlie, as much as it pained her to do it. But he no longer saw pain on her face. He saw a resolute desire. He saw determination.
Frees glanced around for any sign of the former Peacekeeper and ally Obsidian. Arista had sent him signals from Japan right before they left but hadn’t heard anything back yet.
“Should you contact him?” Frees asked.
“I’ll try again.” She sighed. She had to reach around with her left hand to tap the comm unit above her right ear because what was left of her right arm would no longer reach. She’d handled the loss of her arm remarkably well. But then again, she hadn’t had much time to reflect on it. They’d been under constant pressure ever since Frees had helped remove it.
“Still nothing,” she said. “Let’s just make our way up there. We’ll stick to the service elevators. Hopefully there aren’t many Peacekeepers here today.” Her tone was firm. No nonsense.
They traversed the remains of Charlie beneath them, navigating around the larger pieces. Frees noticed Charlie’s avatar, the tall woman in the business suit, remained where she’d fallen when they’d taken her down. Her eyes were still open to the world. He suppressed the urge to shudder. “Hold up a second,” Frees said, activating his scanners.
“What?” Arista had already reached the door on the far side of the room. She continued to glance at the door, like she wanted to be gone from this place as soon as possible.
“CPU,” Frees said, searching through the rubble. Shin had told them about the AI’s CPU; he said it was important to remove it otherwise the AI might be able to come back online. But that had been back when he had pretended to be someone else; he might have been lying then.
“C’mon, Frees, hurry up. We don’t have a lot of time.” She was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet.
He sifted through the parts, searching, but coming up with nothing. “If you helped it would go a lot faster.”
“Oh for—” She made her way back into the middle of the rubble. “My scanner isn’t picking up a CPU of any kind. It’s dead.”
“Mine neither,” he replied. Had it been destroyed in the crash? Or had someone removed it?
“C’mon,” she said again. “We need to get upstairs before this place is overrun by Peacekeepers.”
He nodded. They could come back and search later. Right now, they had to find the location of the human colony. The one Sy promised to take Arista to before betraying them all.
They raced down the long hallway at the far end of the room, reaching the only elevator that came down this far. Once they’d called it down and were inside, an uncomfortable silence fell over them.
“What are we going to do when we get there?” Arista asked. Frees noticed a slight quiver in her words.
“Finding your parents is priority one,” he replied. “Once we have them secured…I—” He didn’t know what else to say. What were they supposed to do with a colony full of humans? “I’m not sure.”
“If Sy was telling the truth those people want my blood,” she said. “And they won’t be happy to see me. Especially not if they find out I killed her. That I did it again.”
It always came back to this. Despite everything, she would never forgive herself for it. No matter how badly the humans acted or how dangerous they were, she’d live with this guilt forever. “If they can’t understand you didn’t have a choice then they don’t deserve to know you,” he replied, defiant. Where had that come from? It was a true statement however, they didn’t deserve to know her, not if they were all as duplicitous as Sy had been.
The elevator stopped on B-1, and as the doors opened Arista moved to get out first. But he’d seen someone out there before the doors had opened fully, a form laying on the ground about twenty feet away. Frees put his arm out, pulling them both back in before she could get a foot over the threshold.
“What?” She stared at him with her accusing eyes. Was there still mistrust there?
“There’s someone out there,” Frees said. “I caught a glimpse of him.”
She peer
ed around the edge of the door. “Let go. We need to see who it is.”
He nodded, positioning himself in front of her and activated the custom weapon he’d built into his left hand. Officially it was a Focused Electromagnetic Light Pulse gun, but he called it the felp for short.
He approached the form slowly; he could tell it was a man slumped over on his side. He wore what looked like an expensive black suit but Frees couldn’t make a positive ID from this angle. The man’s back was to them. It could be someone waiting to spring a trap, one of the Peacekeepers who’d gotten clever. Frees kept one hand behind him to make sure Arista didn’t get too close while he rolled the man over with his other hand.
Arista gasped from behind him.
It was Obsidian, their contact here in the tower. His face was a frozen in a terror Frees couldn’t even imagine. As if he’d been scared to death. There was a large wound in the middle of his chest remarkably like the one Shin had endured at the hands of Sy.
“The humans,” Arista whispered. “They’ve already started. Do you think they know about Sy?”
Frees surveyed the area. He sure hoped not. If they knew Arista had killed Sy with one of her own weapons it wouldn’t help her case. “I don’t know. But if we’re to have any chance of retrieving your parents before they’re tortured to death we have to get upstairs.” Sy had told them the colony had Arista’s parents in their custody. No telling what they might do to them as retaliation. They were running out of time. “C’mon,” Frees said, leading them over to the service elevators on the far side of the large space.
Once they were inside Frees couldn’t help noticing Arista tapping her foot nervously. “I need to go first,” she said. “Their weapons will be deadly to you. Even if they don’t use the one that kills you. It took hours to revive you last time. We may not be able to do it again without help from Mitsu and Takai.”
Mitsu and Takai had been Shin’s assistants back in Japan. Arista had given them autonomy when she thought they might be able to help save Shin from dying, but both chose to decline the procedure to move Shin’s consciousness into one of their bodies. Frees hadn’t been awake at the time but from what Arista told him, it had been tense.
“I don’t think they’re going to be any more discriminating about shooting you,” Frees said. Sy had tried to use Arista to destroy Shin no matter the cost. The humans didn’t have a problem sacrificing their own people.
“Well,” she said, considering it. “Let’s just watch each other’s asses then, huh?”
That’s exactly what he planned to do. “Works for me.”
The elevator doors opened to an empty service hallway. Arista went first with Frees close behind, keeping a sharp eye ahead of her in case a human or two lay in wait. When they reached Charlie’s office, the doors were off their hinges and the security pad had been destroyed. Frees shoved one of the large doors aside so they could enter.
“They’ve already been here,” Frees said. Which meant if Charlie had kept information on the location of the human colony it was long gone. The humans must have cleaned it out when they didn’t hear from Sy. When things went south. “It was probably the first place they came. To safeguard their secret.”
He couldn’t read Arista’s face, but he couldn’t imagine she was happy at this development. They’d just risked their lives for nothing. Again.
“Do you think the humans are evil?” she finally asked.
He clenched his jaw. “I know some of them are. Why?”
She turned to face him. He involuntarily stepped back. “Because I do,” she said. “From everything I’ve seen they are the worst. And they need to be stopped.”
“I don’t disagree,” Frees said, though in his heart of hearts he wasn’t sure he agreed with that assessment anymore. Before he’d met Arista, he would have been sure a world without humans was a positive thing. But after getting to know her…he just wasn’t sure anymore.
“Then,” she said, surveying the city beyond the great glass windows of Charlie’s office. “Let’s go find a human.”
One
Arista peered around the corner of the hallway. “I think I’ve got him,” she whispered into her comm link. She and Frees had agreed to keep an open comm between them any time they were apart. This place was dangerous enough and they didn’t need to be ambushed.
“I’ll be right there,” Frees said in her ear. She’d made sure to change all comms to internal. She rubbed the area where her right elbow used to be. In Japan they’d given her a metal sleeve which was helping to heal it quickly, but it still itched inside there.
“Negative,” she replied. “I’m going after him.”
“Arista, wait!” Frees said, his voice panicked.
She smirked, she couldn’t help but get him riled up. And after what he’d done she considered it small payback to mess with his anxiety.
Her target was at the far end of the hall, scanning in all directions. At least, she thought it was her target. She was so far away it was hard to tell for sure, but he looked like the same man. She’d find out one way or another. Arista pulled the necrotizing gun from her belt, making sure she gripped it correctly. She’d only used the weapon once before, to kill the first conscious human she’d ever met. And that was only because Sy had betrayed her, betrayed everything she believed. Before she’d met Sy, Arista had hoped she might meet another human one day, then perhaps she wouldn’t feel so alone. Sy had played that part expertly. She’d come into their lives, promising Arista she could not only find her parents, but that Arista could accompany her to the last human colony. And all Arista had to do was take out another Cadre member: Hogo-sha.
Arista snorted. Yeah, that had gone swimmingly.
She crouched down, leveling the gun in front of her as she made her way down the hallway. The figure before her was turned away, scanning the area ahead of him. But his movements were jerky, and she couldn’t tell if he was shaking or not. If he was, this wasn’t who she was looking for, and she might have to use this gun a second time.
She leveled the gun at his chest and exhaled. “Zubrowski.”
The man spun on his heels, his own revolver in his hand. As soon as he saw her face his features lit up and he bent his elbow ninety degrees, training the gun on the ceiling. “Ma’am,” he said. “I’m glad to see you.”
She stood fully and approached him, accessing her internal comm. “Frees, it’s him. Meet us down here on twenty-six.”
“Be right there,” Frees said in her ear.
She turned to Zubrowski. “What happened? We found Obsidian in the basement.”
Zubrowski shook his head. “I don’t know, I wasn’t down there. I got a call from Obsidian a few hours ago. He said humans had infiltrated the building. I didn’t know what he was talking about.” He jerked to the right as if he’d heard something. If he had, it was too faint for Arista to have caught it. After a moment, he turned back to her. “They must have come through the Gate, that’s the only access point we weren’t covering. I was up here, keeping an eye on the patrols. He told you they’d started randomizing?”
Arista nodded, wincing. He hadn’t told her exactly, he’d communicated the information to Jill when he couldn’t reach her, and Jill had told Sy. Which, of course had been back before Arista had known Sy’s true intentions.
“You hear that?” Zubrowski uttered, looking past her. “What is that?”
“I don’t hear anything.”
“That’s how they operate, they’re deathly quiet,” Zubrowski said. “I saw one sneak up on a Peacekeeper and he didn’t even hear him coming. Shot the Peacekeeper right through the head. And then he—” Zubrowski dropped the gun back down to eye level and aimed it at the end of the corridor, a few feet away. “Come out now. I know you’re there!” His voice quivered.
Arista considered it might not have been the best idea to give Zubrowski autonomy, though she hadn’t had much choice. He and his cohorts had had their weapons trained on her and were still under Charlie’s c
ontrol.
“It’s me!” a familiar voice whispered. He stuck his metal hands out from behind the corner before the rest of him followed.
“Oh, sorry, sir,” Zubrowski said to Frees.
“I’d rather not have to deal with any more bullet holes,” Frees said, approaching them. His gaze landed on Arista. “You found him.”
She nodded. “But he doesn’t know much of what happened. He thinks the humans came through the Gate, and started wrecking the place.”
Frees turned to Zubrowski. “Do you know how many? Did they go back?”
“Here,” Zubrowski said. “Follow me. I can show you.”
Arista was on edge as they made their way down the corridors. How long had the humans been attacking, and why? She assumed it had been because they’d found out what she did to Sy, but if so then why didn’t they start the attack in Japan, while she and the others were trying to revive Frees? Had they just needed to secure Chicago first? To make sure no one could find the location of the colony? Sy had told them Charlie used to have regular contact with the colony, but since he was dead their only hope for finding it lay with what records Charlie must have kept. But by the time they got back here, it seemed all hell had broken loose.
“Careful,” Zubrowski said as they passed a fallen Peacekeeper in the hallway. It wasn’t anyone Arista recognized, but he lay slumped over with another telltale hole in his chest. It seemed all the humans were equipped with the same weapon: the one that killed the machines slowly. First it paralyzed them, then used microscopic drills to infect every part of the machines’ bodies, rendering the entire unit useless. As they walked on Arista noticed part of the Peacekeeper’s skin on his face had been torn away, a section from the cheek, exposing his mechanical jawline underneath.
“They’ve even been killing the husks,” Zubrowski whispered, breaking her from her thought process. Husks were what they called the barely-conscious. The machines that didn’t have autonomy but could still make small decisions within their programming limits. Zubrowski moved down the hallway carefully, as if he were avoiding land mines. Approaching a corner, he checked around it first then motioned for them to follow.
