Immortal
Page 35
CHAPTER 43
A few days later, Tim’s Flat, North London
Still nothing from the Ankor. Their craft had retreated to the orbit of the moon and had reformed itself into a cubic lattice. Analysis of its composition indicated that it had been reduced to just under two hundred physical pods: some had been jettisoned in the Chimera attack, some had melted in the nuclear explosion, and others had been cut loose subsequently.
Only one hundred now appeared to be at operational temperature and there were none at the so-called suspended animation temperature of 220K. Neither Tim nor Sam had any indication of how the internal struggle between the Ankor’s warring factions had progressed, but clearly no energy was being wasted on Ankor members who were ‘asleep’.
Tim walked through to his living room.
‘Sam,’ he said, gently shaking her arm – she was wired into her VR headset.
Sam had had a large portion of the MIDAS kit from Butler Street moved into Tim’s flat. The computing power at her disposal was ten thousand times more than she possibly needed to run OrcLore, or any of her other games.
Sam pushed the VR headset off her face. ‘On my way.’
They were due to have lunch at a nearby restaurant.
‘I heard a rumour,’ said Tim.
‘Whispers of a nameless fear,’ said Sam.
‘Unfortunately,’ said Tim. ‘Apparently the Ankor have done a deal.’
‘When you say rumour … you don’t mean they told you directly?’ said Sam.
‘No,’ said Tim, speaking theatrically to the ceiling, where he was sure the British army had replaced MacKenzie’s bugs with their own. ‘The Ankor have not contacted me.’
They really haven’t. Honest.
‘So you got it off the internet,’ said Sam.
‘Toby sent me a link,’ said Tim. ‘He’s still with his parents, who’ve made him swear never to come back to London.’
‘I spoke to him yesterday. He’s fine,’ said Sam, smiling. ‘So … this rumour?’
‘The Indian launch facility is showing significant unusual activity,’ said Tim. There was a lot of activity at other launch sites too, but they were all doing medium-term decommissioning.
‘They won’t launch,’ said Sam.
‘I hope not.’ Smiling, Tim helped her up from the sofa – she let him do that now – and they headed out for lunch.
‘Did you read about Kusr?’ asked Tim as they walked.
Sam chuckled. Xandra Kusr had been found, alive – and incandescent with rage. Having been locked below ground for four days with little food and zero information, she was rescued from an alien invasion she knew nothing about and was immediately arrested for being complicit. Tim was sure it would be sorted in the end.
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A few days later, Tim’s Flat
A scream of joy from Sam caused Tim to wake up and get out of bed in the same movement.
‘Thank fuck for that!’ she shouted at the television.
Sam, lying next to him on the bed was watching live stream feed on her laptop. It showed a burning launch pad … in India.
‘What?’ asked Tim. ‘Did they launch?’
‘No,’ said Sam. ‘Controlled demolition.’
‘How many others?’
‘About half the launch sites have done the same.’
Tim nodded. In a world that was still reeling from major atomic explosions in large cities across the globe, and with ticking A-Gravs still in place, every piece of good news was worth savouring.
‘Any news on the A-Gravs?’ asked Tim.
‘Sort of,’ said Sam. ‘Investigation of their emission patterns implies that there are three categories of A-Grav. And …’ Sam opened a new web page and scanned it. ‘People think it could be only one type that are City Buster bombs.’
‘How many of those?’
‘Just under a hundred, but no-one is sure. The tests weren’t performed on the A-Gravs that actually did explode. It could be many more, or less …’
‘The bombs were only one lever,’ said Tim. ‘Given their technological superiority, they could have paralysed hospitals, power stations, airline flights, payroll systems … automated farming systems.’
‘I guess you’re right,’ said Sam. ‘Just as well we beat them!’
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A few days later, Tim’s Flat
There was still nothing from the Ankor, who were now in orbit around the moon, constantly keeping it between themselves and the Sun.
The only new item of note was a ‘tell-all’ breakfast television interview from a Dr Xandra Kusr. Who, released from custody, had decided to attempt to clear her name by doing a series of ‘tell all’ interviews.
Tim and Sam watched in wonder. If Kusr was to be believed – and she seemed very credible – then she knew nothing about what MacKenzie had been trying to achieve.
On a much more sombre note, a global week of mourning had been announced to honour the memories of those murdered by the Ankor.
Still nothing on the location of MacKenzie’s private army – the Leafers. It was fairly clear that MacKenzie had taken that secret to his grave.
EPILOGUE
Months later
Bank Holiday Monday, the hottest day of the year. Sam hobbled into the flat on her crutches and slumped onto the sofa, reaching for the VR headset. She had sweat patches on her sweat patches and longed for a shower but had received a text from Tim that he was keen to play OrcLore, so she’d cut short her chores.
‘Tim!’ she called through to the bedroom. ‘Are we going to play?’
‘Yes,’ said Tim from the doorway. ‘I got your text.’
I got yours …
Booting up the game, Sam’s customised load screen appeared, and she chose the rainforest start zone.
‘Jungle start?’ asked Sam, feeling Tim sit down on the sofa next to her. He’d be using the television monitor as his screen – noob.
‘Sure.’
Their characters materialised in a jungle clearing. Instantly, Sam’s VR headset started providing her with the sights and sounds of exotic fauna and flora. Somewhere high up in the trees, the OrcLore equivalent of baboons were cavorting. It was not beyond Sam to shoot a couple down in order to brew up a health potion, but this time she didn’t.
In game, Sam turned to look at Tim. His character – a dwarven barbarian called DismemberLong – was pacing the clearing, inexpertly swinging a massively oversized axe like a scythe. ‘Where do you want to go?’
‘Don’t mind,’ said Tim.
‘Something’s out of place,’ said Sam.
‘What’s wrong?’ asked Tim.
‘Not sure.’
With her headset on, she could hear Tim’s voice and the jungle foliage sounds. It was normal gameplay but … a little off.
‘What’s that?’ said Tim, looking towards a bush.
Sam looked.
From amongst the dense green bush an elven head was protruding, watching them.
Sam was using her Valkyrie Slayer. It was level eighty, had full dragon scale armour and a vorpal blade. No single elf could even cause her to break a sweat.
As they approached, the elf disappeared back into the bush. In fact, although it looked elfish, it wasn’t quite that simple. Sam pushed through the bush. The elf, a little way ahead, did not turn but kept moving. It was beefier than a normal elf. Half-Elven.
It also has a yew bow.
‘It’s Eddie,’ said Sam in a hushed whisper, watching the elf pushing through low bushes as it continued up the densely wooded hill.
‘Who?’ asked Tim
‘It’s not his usual skin,’ said Sam. ‘He usually wears Greenstone livery. But I recognise the bow.’
‘Eddie?’ asked Tim.
‘Edward Mariner,’ said Sam. ‘Charlie’s main character.’
As she spoke, the half-elf disappeared over the top of the hill.
Sam sprinted.
Over the hill, a small valley lay before her, with a
river meandering along its base. Eddie disappeared into a cave halfway down the slope.
Sam turned to see Tim struggling along – dwarfs were not fast in OrcLore, albeit they had plenty of momentum.
‘Into that cave,’ said Sam.
The cave was pitch black.
Sam keyed her microphone. ‘Hello?’
‘Eddie? Charlie?’
The sound of her own voice echoed back at her through her headset. ‘Eddie? Charlie?’
At that moment, a faint light started to shine a few metres ahead.
As the light got brighter, Sam could see it emanated from a necklace that Eddie was wearing.
On the floor at his feet was a chest. Eddie signalled for Sam to open it.
Sam waited for Tim to get to her side, then did so.
Inside the chest was a scroll.
The scroll had an IP address.
231.12.3.43
‘On it!’ shouted Tim, throwing down his game controller and getting up from the sofa.
Sam focused on Eddie. ‘Are you okay?’
The half-elf simply stood there with the generic smile on its face.
‘I need to know if you’re okay?’ she repeated. She felt something for this man. Not love, but … something.
‘We’ve thirty seconds,’ said Tim.
‘Charlie?’
The generic smile on Eddie’s face broadened a fraction and then the character blinked and faded out.
After waiting a few more seconds to be sure he was truly gone, Sam ripped off her headset.
Over at the table, Tim was scrolling through pages and pages of data on his laptop.
‘Have you saved it locally?’ asked Sam.
Tim turned his head. ‘To three different drives, of which I have already isolated this one,’ he said, waving a small zip drive in the air.
‘And? What is it?’ asked Sam.
‘I’m no expert,’ said Tim. ‘But I think it is an exact DNA, biochemical and physiological analysis of you, Samantha Turner. With detailed genetic engineering schematics showing how the damage to your spine can be reversed.’
Sam looked over his shoulder.
The file was three hundred pages long and, skimming the contents page, Sam saw that four surgical procedures had already been mapped out. They appeared to be based on non-invasive chemical triggering of stem cells to stimulate neural regeneration.
‘Want to find a doctor?’ asked Tim.
‘I guess we could ask Dr Hung to take a look,’ said Sam.
‘Was that Charlie?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Maybe all the Blessed retain some individual awareness when they join an Ankor pod.’
Sam shrugged. ‘Seems unlikely … would a brain work with so many conscious voices?’
‘Maybe he was given MacKenzie’s pod?’
‘Or,’ said Sam, with a sad look on her face. ‘Maybe the Ankor just simulated him to make us more likely to trust the information.’
Tim remained silent, watching Sam as she appeared to process her thoughts.
‘It was him,’ she said, leaning over and kissing Tim on the cheek. ‘That's what I choose to believe.’
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nick M Lloyd
Independent author, living in London.
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Also By The Author
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