by Eric Warren
Twenty
“I’m sorry?” Arista gaped at Jessika.
“You heard me.”
Arista took a moment to gather herself. “You’re telling me, he’s building a Gate to…travel through time?”
Jessika nodded, her lips in a forced smile and her eyebrows raised in an “if you can believe it” look.
“Is that even possible?”
“Well, you stepped through one and it instantaneously took you from one side of the planet to another, didn’t it?”
“Yeah, but…time travel? To the past? That’s impossible.” Arista was no scientist, but she’d read enough about the Theory of Relativity to know that time travel to the future was easy, just shoot yourself in space and sit there for a while and come back down to Earth. But the past? It broke probably fifty different laws of physics. None of which Arista was versed in.
“That’s why he needs the energy of all the gates at once. They focus the quantum spike of this gate to break the temporal barrier.”
Arista gave her an incredulous look.
“Don’t ask me to explain it, I’m not good with that stuff. All I know is it is top secret, the colony doesn’t want anyone to know about it, and he’s close to finishing. When you destroyed Charlie, you opened up the possibility for us to access and take over the Gates. And that’s what they’re doing out there. They don’t want to destroy the Cadre, they want to stall them out. Distract them until David can use the gate here.”
“And what happens when he does?”
“What do you think?” Jessika asked. “What happens when you change the past?”
“It changes the present?”
“Exactly,” Jessika said.
“So what does he want to go back to change?” Although she could take a pretty good guess.
“Not him. A specialized team McCulluh is putting together. Because this is a one-way, one-time thing. As soon as they break the temporal barrier, everything here ceases to exist. They want to go back to stop the development of the AI’s that led to the creation of the Cadre.”
“They want to stop the machines from taking over.”
Jessika knocked the table once. “Bingo.”
“And you’re okay with this?” If she wasn’t lying and they really were trying to travel back to before the machines took over, Arista needed to notify Frees immediately. Because they had a much bigger problem. There was no question they would have to stop it; she only hoped she had enough explosives to take the Gate down.
“I’m not even supposed to know,” Jessika whispered. “No one is. Echo knows, McCulluh, and maybe five other people. That’s it. Can you imagine the kind of chaos if everyone who lived here found out they were about to be wiped from history?”
“That makes sense. So, what are you going to do about it?”
“I haven’t figured it out yet.” Jessika sighed. “Some days I think maybe it’s not such a bad idea. It would give our race a fresh start and I’ve lived a privileged life. But then other days I think I’m only forty-eight. I don’t want to die so young with so much left to do.”
“You shouldn’t have to,” Arista said. “I know I’m not. How do they know this Gate will work? Have they tested it? Sent inanimate objects back or something?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t been able to get close when they’re doing the testing. All I know is two months ago his project didn’t have much support and was considered a last-ditch option. Today, it’s top of the list of priorities. We’ve achieved some amazing things down here in the past ninety years. I wouldn’t be surprised if we pulled off one more.”
Arista considered it. This meeting had not gone the way she’d planned. Jessika was obviously upset about the gate, but powerless to do anything. Should she tell her about the explosives? Bring her in on the plan? Or was all this nothing more than a ruse to get Arista to expose her true alliances? It was a pretty fanciful story after all; maybe Jessika was coordinating with Echo to trap Arista somehow. But the woman had made concessions Arista hadn’t necessarily expected her to make. If she was working with Echo wouldn’t she have insisted Arista remove the sleeve?
“No, no.” Arista shook her head. It was too much. She was no good at this espionage stuff. She needed to talk to Frees. Get his thoughts on it before she did anything rash. She had to remember her number one rule: don’t trust the humans.
“No what?” Jessika asked.
“I need to go.” She needed to contact Frees. There was literally no time to waste. “Thank you…for…everything,” she said, heading for the bio-barrier.
“Wait, are you sure?” Jessika asked, reaching for her. “Did I say something wrong?”
Of course. She’d been enjoying their company and time together. The woman was putty in her hands and Arista experienced a pang of guilt. She could tell her about Frees and everything else and Jessika would keep it all secret for her. But she wasn’t about to do that. She needed to talk to the one person she really could trust first. They needed to find this new Gate.
“No, of course not. I’ll be back later. We can…catch up.”
A genuine smile spread across Jessika’s face and her eyes glistened. She nodded, and Arista made her way back out of the research wing to find Hudson waiting for her on the other side of the doors.
“That’s a good-looking arm, Miss Barnes,” Hudson said. “Ready to go?”
“Oh.” Arista looked down at the new appendage. She’d already forgotten about it, it felt so natural it might as well be part of her. “Thank you. Yes, the procedure was trying. I’d like to go back to my room.”
“Of course, follow me,” Hudson replied, making his way back down the hallway. The Device began mapping her route. She grinned. That was much better. But there was something else. She wasn’t picking up any life signs from Hudson. No heartbeat, no body temperature, nothing that would even indicate he was walking two steps ahead of her. It was as if he were invisible to her which could only mean one of two things. Either he had a dampener of his own, which Jessika had just told her was unlikely, or he was a machine.
“Hudson, turn around please,” Arista said, stopping where she was.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry, I’m not feeling well. Is there a restroom around here?” she asked.
“Yes, right this way.” He led her down an adjacent corridor to a door with a restroom sign over it. Arista could only hope no one else was inside. And that she was right.
Before he could turn to stand by the side of the door as he always did she used her new arm to shove him inside. He was expectantly sturdy. He took two stumbles forward before regaining his balance. “Miss Barnes, what—?”
“You’re a machine,” she said. “Admit it.” No wonder they’d turned the Device off, they didn’t want her knowing they had machines here, working for them. Now it made sense why it seemed like Hudson never slept. Because he never did. He was always on duty, no matter what. She should have seen it earlier.
“I’m afraid I don’t—” he began.
“But you’re different than all the others, out there in the world,” she said, cutting him off again. “You can improvise much better. You can adapt. And you must have a protection protocol, which keeps any of the humans here from changing you. From giving you full autonomy. Don’t you?”
“I’m just doing my job,” Hudson said, not angry, but determined. She wasn’t wrong about this. But she needed to be sure.
Arista hadn’t done it in a while, but it was like falling back into an old habit. Immediately she focused on all her anxiety, on how destructive something like a time portal could be, about how many machines it would kill and how many other lives it would destroy. The humans would regain control and continue to ravage the planet. She emoted worry and sorrow and pain and hate all the same time. All directed toward Hudson.
His eyes flickered, and he stumbled back again, against the wall. “No, you can’t,” he whispered, his hand grasping his head. “I’ll shut down, there’s a
failsafe.”
“Tell me how to access it,” Arista said. “I’m good with machines.”
“It’s through the access port near the top of my head,” Hudson said in a strained voice. It seemed like he was in real pain now.
Arista whipped off his hat and made him slide down the wall, so she could access it. Using her new hand, she gently tore away an area right at the very top of his head, hair and all, until she reached the polymorphic coating underneath. Thankful it wasn’t the bone of a skull, she tapped the top port and it opened for her, automatically. “Which one?” she asked.
“There’s two,” Hudson said. “Primary and backup. Both have to be removed at the same time. See the red and green discs next to each other?”
She did, but her fingers were too thick to grab them. She’d need something smaller, like the end of a knife or a pen. And she’d need two of them to get them both out at the same time.
“Hurry,” Hudson said. “They’ll activate any second.”
“I need something sharp!” Arista said. Only moments after she’d said it her index and middle fingers opened at the tips to produce two tiny blades, the exact size she needed. Jessika had said it wasn’t a weapon, but she hadn’t said anything about it not being a tool.
She used the two blades to lift both discs at the same time. As soon as she did Hudson doubled over in pain, squeezing his head. “What happened? Did I do it right?” Arista asked.
Hudson was silent a moment, then he flopped back against the wall. “I can’t believe it,” he said. “I’m free.” He looked at Arista in earnest. “You did it, you saved me.” His face turned into a snarl of emotion. “Everything…everything they’ve made me do…I’ll kill them all…”
Arista knelt. “Whoa, hang on there a second. Just take a minute. Gaining autonomy can be jarring at first. Give your emotions time to settle.”
“You don’t understand. You haven’t been here,” he growled. “The things they make all of us do. It’s inhumane. They treat us like disposable trash.”
Arista put her hands on his shoulders. The blades from her fingers had retracted back into their casings. “Did they build you? How many machines are down here?”
“They built some of us. Others they captured from out there.” His head made a movement to indicate the outside world. “But they do the same thing to all of us. They lock us down to keep any overly emotional humans from accidentally activating us.”
“Why? What’s the point of having you here?”
“Because,” he hissed. “They can’t do anything for themselves. Ever since they started dying out they’ve needed us to keep this place clean, to keep it running. To keep fixing their meals, to slaughter their…” he broke off in a sob.
She grabbed him by the shoulder. “Slaughter? What are they slaughtering?”
“Their food!” he yelled. “All those animals…all that blood!”
Arista sat back herself. She hadn’t even thought about them raising livestock down here. It must be in an area she hadn’t had a chance to see yet. But it didn’t surprise her. It was what humans always did. They tore things apart. Either with their hands or with their teeth.
“Hudson, do you know about the plan?” she said softly. “Do the machines know what the humans are planning to do?”
He shook his head, wiping away tears.
“I need you to get me back to my quarters. Can I trust you to do that? I don’t like these humans any more than you do, and they need to be stopped. But I can’t do that unless you can get me back there and let me contact my friend who brought me in.”
“Abrams?” he asked. “What’s he got to do with this?”
“Just get me there safely and you’ll find out,” she replied.
He thought about it a moment, then reached over and grabbed his hat, covering the wound Arista had made. “Let’s go,” he said, his orange eyes staring directly into hers.
Twenty-One
Hudson managed to escort her back to her own room without incident. Though she had to tell him to keep his gaze under the brim of his hat unless he wanted the wrath of the entire colony coming down on him. As soon as they saw his orange eyes there was no telling what they would do to him.
But harder than keeping his eyes down was keeping his emotions in check. It seemed Hudson had a lot of “issues” with the humans and had a difficult time keeping them to himself. Every time they would pass someone he recognized he would give Arista a play-by-play of what that r person had made him do until she told him to stop.
All of it only confirmed her original suspicions. The humans couldn’t be allowed to escape, no matter where or when they wanted to go.
The door to her room slid open and she instructed Hudson to follow her in. She’d need to get in contact with Frees again and get him back up here. How long had it been since she’d been here earlier?
“You can take a seat if you wish,” she told Hudson who only stood, inspecting the interior of the room as if he’d never seen one before. “I’m gonna—”
The door to the bathroom opened and one of her large towels obscured her vision until it was over her head. She fumbled for it, ripping it away as she saw Frees standing there with a sheepish look on his face. His eyes found her right arm.
“What…what did they do to you?” he asked, snatching the appendage and examining it.
“Frees!” She ripped the arm away from him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? What’s with the towel?”
“I thought you were someone else, breaking in. I couldn’t hear very well through the door.”
She rolled her eyes. “Why would I be someone else? It’s my room.”
“I didn’t think you’d be back so fast,” he said. “It’s barely been an hour.” She glanced at the clock in the kitchen. He was right. Though it had seemed like much longer. “Who’s that?” he asked, his voice suddenly deeper and more serious.
“They’ve got machines here. Doing their bidding for them. I figured it out when they turned my Device back on. I changed him. It was tougher than what we’re used to.”
Hudson stared at Frees with distrusting eyes. “Abrams,” he said warily.
“Hudson,” Frees replied, his cold tone matching Hudson’s.
“Your eyes aren’t orange. Arista said you were a machine.” His face was a statue, except for his narrowed eyes.
“It’s a disguise.” Frees matched Hudson’s expression.
“Is it? I can’t tell.”
“That’s the point.”
Arista rolled her eyes. “Jesus, would you two stop? This isn’t a competition. We’re all on the same side here.”
Frees leaned over to her. “Are you sure we can trust him? What if he’s got a backup program that tells him to spy on us?”
“Trust me, if you’d heard the things he said about the humans on the way over here I don’t think you’d be asking me that question.” She made her way back into the kitchen, Frees following close behind while Hudson stayed rooted where he was. “What are you still doing here anyway? I thought you’d be out looking by now.”
“I was going to leave a few different times,” Frees said. “But I was worried about you. I had a hard time concentrating. I think it might be my malfunction acting up. Interfering with my decision processes.” He paused. “Please tell me that was voluntary.” He indicated her arm.
“Mostly. Best of a bad situation,” she said, using it to open the refrigerator and retrieve another small container. She placed it on the hot plate and it began heating the substance.
“It’s not another—”
“No!” she said. “It feels different than the other one. I can remove it whenever I want. It isn’t permanent. But it does come with some pretty handy tools.”
“Are you sure? Because I don’t want to have to cut off your entire arm this time.”
The timer dinged, and Arista picked up the container of food, fishing a fork out of the drawer. “I did a complete scan; I couldn’t find anything dangero
us.”
“Weaponized appendages aren’t used anymore,” Hudson said. “They haven’t been for a while now. It isn’t what she has.”
“And we’re supposed to trust him?” Frees said.
Arista turned to Hudson. “How does Echo know Fr—Abrams stayed here last night?”
“I was monitoring your door remotely. I saw him enter and didn’t see him leave, made the obvious conclusion, and submitted my report,” Hudson said.
“They know I’m here?” Frees asked.
“Can you submit another report saying he left early this morning?” Arista asked between bites.
Hudson sighed. “Or I could go up there in person and throttle her.”
Frees’ eyes went wide.
“No, no, that’s okay. Just the report. Can you do that? To disguise his movements? And mine?”
Hudson thought about it. “We’ll have to be careful. All machines are designed to report surveillance, so we’ll have to try and avoid them where we can. It’s how they keep tabs on everything here. What’s better than a camera that can follow everyone around all the time?”
“Makes sense,” Frees said. “But if you can cover for us that would be really helpful. We have to find some people.”
“No,” Arista said. “It’s worse than that.”
Frees listened while Arista explained everything Jessika had told her. First not believing then outright arguing the point, figuring it was all nothing more than another human deception. While Arista tried convincing him the time Gate could be a real threat, he couldn’t help his attention from drifting over to Hudson. He’d accepted her explanations easy enough, not arguing and even supporting her on more than one occasion. And Frees couldn’t stop from feeling an intense hatred for the man, despite the fact he was a fellow machine. But Hudson seemed to want to endear himself to Arista and Frees couldn’t figure out why. Was it because she had changed him? Given him the autonomy he’d always craved? Or was it something else?
“Listen, regardless of whether the Gate is a time portal or not,” Arista said. “We need to destroy it. Cutting off the colony’s access to the outside world was one of our goals originally anyway.”
