The Secret War

by Matt Myklusch

  “Not necessarily for no reason,” Skerren corrected. “There is the Rüstov spyware virus.”

  “Doesn’t excuse what Smart did here,” Jack told Skerren. “He didn’t even know about the virus.”

  “That doesn’t mean he didn’t take any infected Mechas prisoner,” Skerren replied. “We’ll never know, one way or the other. They’re all gone now.” Skerren looked around and listened to the silence. “This place is deserted. It doesn’t look like there’s any trace of Obscuro, and I don’t think we’re taking any Left-Behinds home with us either.”

  “Maybe not live Left-Behinds,” Jack said. “There might be something down there we can salvage. If Smart had any Rüstov locked up here, that is. Let’s see if I can narrow things down.”

  Jack walked up to the busted computer kiosk and tried to connect with the prison’s cameras, map-finder programs, and anything else he could think of, but everything was either broken-down or not hooked up to a live power source. The best he could do was light up three tunnels that split off from the main path. They were positioned at the top, middle, and bottom of the winding down-ramp and ran deep into the rock walls. The children agreed that they needed to check out what was in there.

  “We should split up,” Skerren said. “We’ll cover more ground that way.”

  “That makes no sense,” Allegra disagreed. “There’s a reason we came here together. This place is dangerous.”

  “This place is empty,” Skerren countered. “This is just a salvage operation now. We’re not going to come across any live Rüstov. Jack already said as much. If they were here, he would have sensed them.”

  Skerren and Allegra both looked to Jack for confirmation on that. It was true; if there had been any live Left-Behinds in the area, Jack would have picked up on it. “I think it’s safe to split up,” Jack said. “But we should stay in contact just in case.” He went into his messenger bag and took out two bracelets. “I made these a few weeks ago. Here, take one,” he said, offering one of the bracelets to Allegra.

  “What is this?” Allegra asked.

  “I meant to give one of these to you a while back,” Jack said. “I guess they got buried under all the junk I have in my lab. I totally forgot about them until I was in there with Trea this morning.”

  “You made bracelets?” Skerren asked.

  “They’re two-way communicator bands,” Jack said. “Kind of like mobile phones you wear on your wrist, only they’re just hooked up to each other. If you get in trouble, just call me.” Jack showed Allegra how her bracelet worked, and put the other one on his wrist.

  “Thanks, Jack,” Allegra said, looking over his gift. “This is really cool. I even like the design.”

  “Do you really? I hoped you would.”

  “Yes, they’re very nice, Jack. Very impressive,” Skerren said. “I can’t help but notice that you didn’t make me one.”

  “What?” Jack replied, caught off guard. “No, I have more back at the lab. I just didn’t think you’d want one. I mean … it wouldn’t even work in Varagog.”

  “It’s fine,” Skerren said. “You’re right, I don’t need it. I just thought it was funny. That’s all.”

  Jack gave Skerren a curious look. “I’m still not used to your sense of humor, Skerren.”

  Allegra slid the bracelet onto her wrist. “It fits,” she said. “Check, check,” she added, speaking into her wristband’s microphone.

  “Copy,” Jack said, speaking into his own. “All right. Should we get going?”

  “Absolutely,” Skerren said. “Now that we’re all wearing the proper accessories,” he added with a grin.

  The three children split up, with Allegra taking the first tunnel, Skerren taking the second, and Jack taking the last one all the way down at the bottom. It was darkest down there at the base of the ramp, with the emergency lights glowing just brightly enough for Jack to see where he should put his next step. When Jack reached the bottom, he saw a row of footlights leading from the end of the down ramp to the mouth of the tunnel. Beyond the light’s edge was an endless void, a sea of blackness that anything could be hiding within. Jack didn’t even know for sure if there was a ground out there. He didn’t stray from the path but went straight into the tunnel and down the long hallway.

  Most of the way down, it didn’t seem like there was anyone else there. Jack followed the tunnel past empty interrogation rooms that reminded him of the places Smart had used for his stress tests a year earlier. The drip, drip, drip of leaky pipes above Jack’s head created puddles beneath his feet that brought him back to the watery basement at St. Barnaby’s. They were both bad memories. Jack was starting to think that memories were all that was left in the prison. He didn’t see any Left-Behinds, and he certainly didn’t see any trace of Obscuro. That was a major disappointment. The outside chance that he might somehow get a message from his father was still nagging at his brain, even if he did know that he was supposed to be focusing on more important things.

  Jack passed through a set of gates and found himself in a guard’s break area. There was a large kitchenette filled with boxes of prepackaged instant meals, the kind of food that people put in bomb shelters because it never went bad. Looking around, Jack saw something funny. Someone had recently washed the dishes. A set of plates and silverware were stacked neatly in the drying rack, still wet. Was this where Obscuro was staying? Maybe he was still here after all? Pressing on, Jack found a locker room and barracks in the back. Countless bunk beds with bare mattresses filled the room, but one of them was made up with sheets and a comforter. It had been slept in recently.

  “Can I help you?” a voice asked from behind Jack.

  Jack jumped, spinning around to see Lorem Ipsum standing in the doorway behind him. She was leaning against the door frame, keeping one eye on Jack and one eye on the phone in her hand. Jack instinctively went for his wristband communicator to call Allegra, but Lorem leaped into action like a cat. Before Jack could even blink, she had her hand in front of his face, threatening him with her gibberish touch.

  “If you want to go on speaking English … don’t,” she told him. “I’m not bothering anyone here. Don’t give me a reason to bother with you.”

  Jack moved his hand away from his wrist, and Lorem dropped hers to her side. She walked past Jack to her bed, where she sat down and plugged a set of headphones into her phone. She stuck one earbud in her ear and let the other one hang down over her shoulder. She isn’t here to fight, Jack thought, intrigued. That was good, because Lorem was a couple of years older than Jack, and he was no match for her speed. Luckily, she was content to just type away on her phone, looking disinterested and very cool.

  “What are you doing here, kid?” Lorem asked. “Looking for me?”

  “No,” Jack replied. “I’m here for Rüstov parts.”

  Lorem scrunched up her face. “Rüstov parts?” she asked. “Why?”

  “Either that, or Obscuro,” Jack added, looking around. “Have you seen him?”

  “Who?”

  “Obscuro. The Rogue Secreteer,” Jack clarified. “He came through here last night.”

  Lorem shook her head like she didn’t know what Jack was talking about, and raised the free, hanging earbud up toward her ear.

  “It’s really important,” Jack said. “He definitely came through here. Are you sure you haven’t seen him?”

  Lorem Ipsum stopped just short of sticking the additional earbud into her left ear. She looked annoyed. “It’s a pretty big place. You can see that, right?”

  Her answer left Jack frustrated and curious. “Yeah, I can see that. What are you doing in it?”

  “I live in it,” Lorem said. “At least I have been recently. Second time around for me in this place. I lived here before, too, but in a much smaller room.”

  “You were a prisoner here? A prisoner of Smart’s?”

  Lorem nodded. “This was my home for way too long back when the place was active. This is where he kept me. You know. Off the books.
”

  “Really?” Jack asked. “I thought he only kept Mechas here. People he suspected of Rüstov stuff.” Lorem Ipsum just shrugged. “Why’d he put you in here? Was it because you’re a supercriminal?”

  Lorem burst out laughing. When she finally stopped, she said, “Oh, that was good. Really. I needed that.”

  Jack didn’t see what Lorem found so funny. “If you’re not a supercriminal, what are you doing running with Speedrazor’s gang?”

  “Please,” Lorem said. “I’m not in Speedrazor’s gang. I just wanted to hit back at SmartCorp. I owed the old man that much.” Lorem got up and looked around the sad, empty barracks. “My life was supposed to be different. Way different. I was in the School of Thought too, you know.”

  “I know,” Jack said. “Midknight told us you had to leave because of … your father.” Jack paused a moment, trying to remember Midknight’s exact words. He had called Lorem’s father a very controlling man. Jack thought about what Lorem had just said about wanting to hit back at SmartCorp. The sound in her voice when she’d called Smart the “old man.” “Smart’s your father?” he guessed.

  “Close,” Lorem replied. “He’s my manufacturer.” Lorem pulled back her sleeve to reveal a UPC bar code and a SmartCorp logo tattooed on her wrist. “I was grown in SmartCorp labs. I’m Lorem Ipsum Smart, lab test 212973, genetically engineered to have a specific power. ‘Daddy’ was going to grow his whole Peacemaker army that way, so he wouldn’t have to recruit questionable sorts like Speedrazor. He cut me loose when he couldn’t control me. Or more accurately, he locked me up.”

  “I don’t believe it,” Jack said. “Well, I do believe it, but seriously … he locked you up? That’s crazy.”

  Lorem shrugged. “I wasn’t supposed to have a personality. That was the one flaw in the experiment.” Lorem pulled her sleeve back into place. “What do you expect? You don’t get sentimentality from a man with no heart. I don’t have to tell you that, do I, Jack?”

  Jack didn’t know what to say. Lorem clearly knew who he was and all about his bad blood with Smart. He wanted to tell her that he thought her story was far worse than his own. That every time he didn’t think Smart could sink any lower, he did. The man was constantly inventing new ways to be less of a person. But before Jack had a chance to say any of that, there was a crackle-static noise on his wrist, and Allegra’s voice broke the silence.

  “Jack … Jack, do you read me?” Allegra asked over the wrist communicator. “My tunnel hallway looped in with Skerren’s. Neither of us found anything. We’re heading back to the entrance. Do you want to meet us there, or should we come to you?”

  “You call them down here, and I’ll be gone,” Lorem warned, raising a finger toward Jack. “And you’ll be incomprehensible.”

  Jack’s back stiffened. “Why?”

  “It’s bad enough you’re here,” Lorem told him. “The last thing I need is more people knowing where I live.”

  Allegra called Jack’s name again. “Jack. Jack, do you read me?” Jack didn’t reply. He was busy thinking. “Jack, are you okay?” Allegra’s voice asked, sounding concerned.

  “Better get going,” Lorem told Jack. “Don’t want to keep your girlfriend waiting.”

  “Allegra’s not my girlfriend,” Jack said quickly.

  Lorem raised an eyebrow. “Okay,” she said with a smile. “You’re funny.”

  “Jack, do you need us to come to you?” Allegra asked.

  “No,” Jack said into his wrist, holding down the talk button on his bracelet. “No, this is Jack. I’m fine. I’m on my way back too. Don’t come to me. I’ll be up in a minute.” Jack let go of the talk button and looked up at Lorem Ipsum. He didn’t move an inch. Regardless of what he had just told Allegra, he wasn’t ready to head back just yet. Jack thought about Smart’s fifty-million-credit offer and what would happen if Obscuro sold him out. By some crazy stroke of luck, he was standing three feet away from his best chance of stopping that from happening.

  “Lorem, how long does your gibberish-touch power last?” Jack asked.

  Lorem almost looked intrigued, but not quite. “As long as I want,” she replied.

  “As long as you want,” Jack repeated. Perfect. “Lorem, we’re after the Rogue Secreteer. He’s telling everyone’s secrets, causing trouble. He’s about to cause me a whole lot of trouble.”

  Lorem shrugged for what seemed like the hundredth time. “And?” she asked.

  “And I was thinking …,” Jack said. “What if he couldn’t talk? What if every time he opened his mouth, nothing came out but gibberish?”

  “Wouldn’t that be something?” Lorem asked. “What’s in it for me?”

  Jack turned his wristband all the way off. “How about a guarantee that it’ll drive Jonas Smart absolutely crazy?”

  Lorem Ipsum smiled. “I’m listening.”

  CHAPTER

  16

  Secret Alliances

  Stendeval had told Jack earlier, “Whenever you encounter a problem in life, it simply means that your situation has changed. What you need to do is take steps to deal with the new situation.”

  With a little help from his friends, including some new and unexpected friends, Jack was now doing exactly that. A plan was starting to come together in his head. He didn’t have all the moves mapped out just yet, but he had the players. If Trea liked working alone, maybe that was for the best, Jack thought. Considering where his head was at lately, she had a much better chance of curing the virus than he did. Having Trea’s help on the virus also freed him up to go after Glave and to try to keep Obscuro quiet. If everything went perfectly, there was even a chance he could be reunited with his father when this was all over. Unfortunately, if Jack’s plans were going to work, some very big pieces of the puzzle were going to have to fall into place at exactly the right time, and that was something that rarely ever happened. For Jack it had never happened, and it wasn’t about to start now.

  Jack, Skerren, and Allegra got back to Cognito in time to find out why. They entered Jack’s apartment and found Trea still there, watching a SmartNews broadcast on Jack’s holo-screen. Her eyeballs were glued to the set, and the news anchors commanding her attention looked especially excited. That was never a good sign. As Stendeval might have put it, Jack’s situation was about to change once again.

  “What’s going on?” Jack asked Trea.

  “I don’t know,” she answered. “I just turned the screen on as it cut to a special report. Looks like something big, though. Something about Smart.”

  “Again?” Jack asked. He groaned and turned his eyes toward the holo-screen. Jack knew he wasn’t going to like anything he saw there, but Stendeval was right—he was better off knowing what Smart was up to.

  “Welcome back,” Drack Hackman began, smiling into the camera. “We’re just moments away from going live to Hightown, where we’re told former Circleman Jonas Smart is getting ready to make a major announcement. No word as of yet regarding the subject matter of his statement, but whatever it is, you can bet it’s going to be exciting. And important.”

  “I know I’m excited,” Hackman’s blond, cold-eyed coanchor agreed. Jack scowled at the screen. The woman looked like a snake wearing a wig. “Jonas Smart recently revealed that since being voted out of office, he’s spent nearly all his time and a large amount of his personal fortune on a powerful defense system called the SmarterNet. Is he finally ready to tell us all about it? SmartNews has the story.”

  “The SmarterNet,” Hackman repeated. “I get chills just thinking about it. Hang on,” he added, touching a finger to his ear. “I’m being told Jonas Smart has left his office and is about to take the stage at SmartTower. Let’s go there now.”

  Jack and the others watched as an image of Jonas Smart striding confidently toward a press conference stage overtook the screen. Flashbulbs went off as he worked his way through a sea of microphones, reporters, and loyal supporters. He took his place at the lectern and prepared to address the crowd. Jack noted
that Smart didn’t bother to thank anyone for coming to hear him speak.

  “Good evening, Empire City,” Smart began in his usual grim tone. “As everyone within the sound of my voice already knows, my name is Jonas Smart, and I am the smartest man on the face of the Earth. But what concerns me tonight, and should also concern you, is what we don’t know. With just over forty-eight hours left before the Rüstov strike, I have yet to be contacted by the Rogue Secreteer regarding Jack Blank’s secrets.”

  Jack breathed a momentary sigh of relief.

  “While I wait, my Real World business concerns have been raided once again,” Smart revealed. “No doubt the work of Rüstov spies trying to sabotage the same key components of the SmarterNet that Jack Blank destroyed once already,” he said. “The raid was unsuccessful, but it is still indicative of a greater problem. Our enemies move freely about the world at large, and nothing is being done to stop them. Meanwhile, here at home”—Smart tapped the lectern a moment and grunted—“a disturbing development in Machina has just been brought to my attention.”

  Jack traded apprehensive looks with his friends. Machina? What was going on there? Were infected Mechas succumbing to the spyware virus ahead of schedule?

  Smart cued in a holo-screen for the crowd, and the SmartNews producers cut to an image of the Hightown-Machina border. What Jack saw on the screen surprised him—a giant wall was being built around the Mechas’ borough.

  “What the …,” Jack began.

  “The Mechas are sealing off their borough!” Smart’s voice called out over footage of the wall’s construction. “Days before an attack, they are fortifying their position in this city and refusing to explain why!”

  Jack and the others watched the holo-screen as it played footage of Virtua overseeing construction of the wall. “No comment,” she told the SmartNews reporters on the scene, turning away to avoid their cameras. “No comment,” she said again as her security detail moved in to block the frame.

  “Yeah, that’s not going to freak anyone out,” Trea said.