Resurrection (The Stork Tower Book 7)

by Tony Corden

  When the woman first heard the voice from the small speakers, she turned to Lacey, her mouth dropping open. When Leah addressed her, her head snapped back, and she took Leah’s hand and said, “Um, it’s my pleasure. I’m Abcde, but most people just call me Dee.”

  Behind her, John said, “Leah, Kevin wanted me to check if the suit and helmet have opened any of your wounds. Take the helmet off and let me check, then go with Lacey and she’ll check your back.”

  Leah removed the front half and could see Dee’s reaction when she recognised Leah. Leah gave a crooked smile as she removed the rear portion. She could now see what was happening behind her and so observed John wincing. She said, “What is it, John?”

  He looked up at her knowing he hadn’t said anything, then looked down at her suit. Leah said, “Yep, that’s right, John, now I have eyes in the back of my head. What’s wrong?”

  “John: Nothing new, Leah. Every time I see the burns, it still bothers me. They look the same. You-know-who did a great job with the helmet.”

  Behind John, Welford had closed his eyes for a moment then opened his mouth to say something before closing it quickly. Leah said, “Mr Welford, what were you about to say?”

  He looked shocked for a second, then said, “I forgot about your hair. That needs to be shaved. I hadn’t given it a thought. That facet of the implant process comes under a different administrator. I’m sure your programmer will be able to get into the area and reset the access and logs, but I’ve never used the equipment. I doubt it’s difficult, it’s just that I’ve never used it. I have used everything else. The only problem is that the cleaning routine automatically cleans the cut hair and other waste. I don’t know how to access the automated cleaning machine to remove the hair. Mr Loo told me he wanted no evidence left behind. I know how to clean and empty the insertion machinery but not the hair removal.”

  John said, “Can we remove her hair here?”

  Welford nodded and said, “You can, but the process at the hospital also covers the scalp with a small nanoparticle anti-bacterial cover to help prevent infection. The insertion machine checks for this. I think I could over-ride the machine, but I’ve never heard of it being done. I have no idea when or where that exception might be logged. I’d assume your IT resource person slash hacker could isolate that if everything you say about them is true, but I don’t know.”

  John looked thoughtful, but Leah interrupted and said, “John, there isn’t time to worry about it now. While Lacey checks my back, see if you can get our ‘IT resource person slash hacker’ to look into it and then get a razor so Lacey can shave my head.”

  Half an hour later, Leah was sitting still while Lacey carefully shaved her head as Dee watched. Dee had hardly said anything, so Leah said, “So, Dee, how did Jimmy rope you into helping?”

  Dee shook her head slowly and said, “I don’t know a Jimmy, the person who talked to me was the man called John. I was mid-race in a TRAX tournament when I get a message from my sister in Sydney. She asks me to drop everything and meet her in her world. I thought maybe something had happened to my nephew. He was one of those you rescued from Pneumatica. When I arrived, Xayah, that’s my sister, is there with my nephew and John. Ernest, my nephew, says, ‘Aunty Dee, this man works for Atherleah. He needs a favour. Will you promise to hear him and to keep it quiet?’

  “Now, Xayah and I had been worried about Ernest for years, it was as if he’d dropped off the face of the planet. The police weren’t interested in helping, and we had tried everything. I don’t have kids, and it was like losing my own child. I’d also lost Xayah, she was a shadow of her old self. Then, just over a week ago, he shows up at Xayah’s house. He’s pale and looks like a ghost. His eyes have this haunted, lost look. He told Xayah everything that had happened, then she told me. So when he said, ‘Atherleah needs a favour’ I turned to John and said, ‘Whatever you need, I’ll help.’

  “He made me promise to keep quiet, then he met me in my space and explained what had happened to you and that you needed a place close to the hospital to use as a base and he wanted to tunnel from my warehouse to the outer edge of the Busway tunnel. He was very clear that what you’d be doing was illegal and that there could be repercussions if it was found out I helped you. None of that means anything really. I have my nephew back, and I have my sister back. Whatever you need, all you have to do is ask.”

  Leah said, “I’m glad you have your nephew back.”

  “Abcde: How do you do that? How can you talk? How can you see what’s happening?”

  Before Leah could type a brief explanation, John interrupted, “I’m sorry Dee, but I’d rather Leah said nothing about that. She’s far too open about things. It’s best for her, and for you, that she says nothing.”

  Leah said, “Sorry, Dee, John’s kind of overprotective, but that’s his job.”

  Dee smiled and said, “No complaints from me. I’m just sincerely glad you aren’t as bad as you seemed in the media I’ve seen.”

  Lacey said, “Dee, she is that bad. What you’re seeing is a workaround Leah’s been able to arrange. John, stop glaring at me like that. Dee needs to know that Leah really needs this favour and that it isn’t just some whim of hers.”

  John glared for a moment longer, then nodded. There was silence in the room for a while as Lacey finished shaving Leah’s head. When she was done, she called Welford over to check it. He said, “I think that’s good. The biggest issue will be setting up the machine to clean the charred channels.”

  Leah said, “At least half of the channels won’t be in the same spots. There is no point in inserting the microfilaments to the same places. I expect the entrance points will be different.”

  Welford said, “Where are the new electrodes going?”

  Leah shook her head slightly and said, “Sorry, Mr Welford, but that is need to know. When we load the AI onto the chip, I’ll reprogram it. All you need to do is run the machine when it’s inserted.”

  “Welford: Ms Carroll, I know you distrust and despise me. I understand that, and I hope I’m changing. I would say I’ve changed, but I can’t prove that. I know you control my life, but I’m no longer happy to just do something without thinking of the consequences. If those electrodes go in the wrong places, they could do even more damage.”

  Leah actually turned to face Welford. She stared at him for a moment with her sightless eyes then said, “It’s a start. I won’t tell you where they will be inserted, but I will say I haven’t simply chosen the places at random. I’ve looked at current research and discussed options with a former research psychiatrist. She’s checked and rechecked each choice with her colleagues, including both a neurobiologist and a neurosurgeon after sanitising the data to make sure people don’t know the real reason she’s asking for their advice. Some of the placements are experimental, but each has been researched thoroughly. That’s all I will say, and I expect it to be enough. Now, will you still help tonight?”

  Welford did nothing for a moment then nodded, “Yes, with that assurance I’ll still help. I’m not sure I had the option.”

  “Honestly, you probably didn’t. It is happening anyway. Still, I would rather not go against whatever conscience you are slowly developing.”

  Leah turned toward John and typed, “What about the over-ride logs?”

  “John: That’s all taken care of. They said it should be straight forward, and once we’re online, they could talk us through how to clean the scalp cleansing device. They suggested that it was the best route to take.”

  “What now?”

  “John: It’s time to go. We have an hour to get you to the top of the utility tower. Lacey will stay here and bring Welford once you’re inside.”

  Lacey helped Leah get the helmet in place, then John led Lacey and Leah deeper into the small warehouse. In the back corner, a hole had been made in the concrete floor where it angled down through the bedrock for ten metres before ending at the outer layer of the Busway tunnel. John lowered himself down the
vent using small handholds that had been inserted on the upper edge and grooves on the lower edge. Using a strong carbon-fibre cable, Lacey lowered an angle grinder with a ceramic diamond blade. John unhooked the grinder and hooked the cable to the pair of D-rings that had been attached to the top of the upper side of the tunnel layer. Jimmy’s boys had already cut through most of the layer, and all John needed to do was to cut through the final section. Each cut had been angled inwards to stop the piece falling into the tunnel. When John had finished the cuts, he climbed back up the vent, then watched as Leah pulled the hundred-and-fifty-kilogram block up and out of the vent.

  When it was clear, John took his and Leah’s backpacks down the vent and into the upper utility section of the Busway tunnel. Leah then descended while holding the cement plug above her head. Lacey was helping by lowering it using the cable. When Leah was through, she held the piece John had cut out just above the hole while John covered the cut with an expanding cement sealant. As soon as he’d finished, he helped Leah hold the plug in place until the sealant had filled up the cut, sealing the plug back in place. John scraped off the excess sealant and using a spray can, covered the whole area with a cement coloured seal. Looking up at the area, even he couldn’t tell where the cut had been. Nodding, John put everything back in his pack then said, “Follow me.”

  When the tunnel had first been built there had still been fossil-fuel driven buses, and emergency vehicles, using the bus lanes. Back then, the upper section of the tunnel had been sectioned off to deal with the fumes. Huge fans had sucked the polluted air into the upper area where it was then funnelled through exhaust towers to partially filter the air before releasing it into the atmosphere. With mandatory electric vehicles, the upper area had been dormant for several decades before being repurposed as a utility well. Besides water, data and power, there was also a miniature automated rail delivery system to supply the hospital from a warehouse outside the CBD with goods it no longer had the space to store on site. Everything from food to laundry supplies was delivered using the system.

  John and Leah moved along a service platform running down the centre of the tunnel segment. Then, after a hundred and fifty metres, John led the way down a spur, or branch line, that had been added when the delivery system had been installed. This led to one of three central disbursement areas in the hospital. Fifty metres along this line was a door set into the wall of the tunnel. This led to an external access way used by service personnel. The door had a keypad access.

  John put his hand into his pack to get his tools out to bypass the lock. Leah stepped past him and using her right hand, she did what she’d done with Gèng at the gate when she’d been going to get her mother. This time Leah understood what Gèng had done. She looked down at John and said, “I can just punch in the code if you like?”

  John was pulling his tools from the bag and said, “Are you certain?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “OK, this was the one small snag. Here was the only clear evidence anything had happened. Give it a try. Reed said it allowed one error.”

  Leah was able to trace the circuit, and after entering the first number sensed the small changes which led her to the next number. After entering six digits, she pressed the hash key and the door unlocked. John and Leah moved through the door and up a stairwell to a second door. The upper door was a safety door from their side, and John stepped through into a small unmanned maintenance room on the outer perimeter of the main building.

  From here, Leah and John moved to an alarmed fire exit. This time John used his tools to bypass the alarm system. The next step was one of the riskiest. Both John and Leah had to be careful as they left the hospital to stay close to the ground and not bump the door. They were moving into one of the areas not easily visible to prying eyes—it had been designed to hide the movement of maintenance personnel. With the manicured hedges they would be out of sight of the security cameras. Reed had checked the security system, and from its description said that as long as the door opened no more than thirty centimetres and did so over an extended period, the movement would not trigger the security AI.

  John attached a small device Jimmy had ordered constructed to the lower part of the door and then pressed the button. Using Reed’s description, the automatic ‘door opener’ opened the door to the thirty-centimetre limit over fifteen minutes. John wiggled his way out first, followed by Leah. Once out, John attached a similar device to the outside of the door, and after removing the first device, he activated the ‘door closer’ which took another fifteen minutes. While the door was closing, John left Leah to watch it while he started the next step.

  They were now leaning against the outer wall of the hospital. John crawled on the ground and made his way to a decorative groove set into the outer wall of the hospital ten metres away. It was one of two such grooves. Between the grooves was an enormous retro sign where the hospital’s name and logo were proudly displayed. The lowest half-a-metre though was still a sensor blind-spot. John pulled a roll of nano-fibre cloth from his bag and carefully positioned the roll, so one end was on each side of the groove. After checking their placement several times, he activated the device.

  From either end, a spiked wheel was extended until the roll was firmly held in place. John attached the base of the roll to the hospital wall using a retractable bar. Once this was set he initiated the second step of its design. The wheels began turning and started lifting the roll of nano-fibre cloth up the outer edge of the decorative groove, letting the nano-fibre curtain unravel.

  John made his way back to Leah, and when the door finally closed, he was able to pull loose the temporary bypass he had made to the alarm. Leah followed John to the groove. While Leah waited at the base, John began climbing up the hospital wall on the inside of the channel. He was hidden by the curtain, which was designed to reflect sensor signals and show an empty groove. It took John ten minutes to climb to the roof. Once there, he wriggled onto the roof and lowered a thin cable down to Leah. She shimmied into the chimney and John used a winch to pull her to the top.

  Once they were both on the roof, John activated the attachment at the base of the curtain. Small wheels extended from either end and as the reel at the top turned, the curtain was slowly rewound. Neither John nor Leah waited for it to arrive but made their way to the utility tower. Once there, Leah helped John remove part of the security mesh, and John lowered a sensor through the chimney stack to warn when the incinerator in the neurology department was switched off. Altogether it had taken them fifty minutes, and they were all set up by five minutes to six.

  With Leah watching the sensor and everything put in place for her to descend the exhaust, John went to collect the curtain. Once everything was in place, they rested against the edge of the utility tower to wait for the signal which would start the ten-minute countdown for Leah to get into the neurology department.

  15

  December 23 2073

  REAL WORLD

  As they sat and waited, Leah was reminded of the dozens of times she’d had to wait during a job when she was younger. She’d been partnered with John for many of them and looking back, she realised how patient he’d been with her and how much she’d grown to trust him. She wanted to tell him, but they’d agreed that they would restrict communication while they waited unless it was necessary for the operation. Instead, she moved into one of the meditative poses and focussed on her breathing.

  Leah had found the trip to this point very draining, as she’d been concentrating on all the signals she’d been receiving across the entire surface area of her body. She needed a break and purposefully slowed the speed at which she processed information. As she did that, she realised the rate at which her brain dealt with information had become almost automatic. Almost instinctively, her brain slowed or increased the speed of processing to suit her needs. This became clearer when she felt a resistance to her attempt to slow the rate. She also recognised that a part of her didn’t want to lose the awareness of her surr
oundings.

  With some effort, she forced herself to let go. It was similar to when she’d learned to meditate with Master Ning. Leah still received the stimulation from the sensor circles, but she let it wash through her without focussing on it. She discovered that she still had a sense of what was happening around her. Her mind subconsciously filled in the image. Leah’s thoughts slowed and became still, her mind at ease. When she was calm, she brought one aspect of her plans for the next few days before her and considered it. She tried to be objective as she could be. When the plan settled, she let it fade and brought up another aspect.

  Leah wasn’t sure how long she’d been sitting, but she was brought out of her thoughts when the sensory pad under her right pointing finger spelt out ‘John: Leah’.

  She turned toward John, her perception increasing naturally. He said, “Are you OK? You’ve been sitting without moving for an hour and a half.”

  Leah nodded, “I’ve been meditating and thinking. Trying to sort through the various plans and trying to solve some of the quandaries I still have.”

  “How are your back and neck holding up?”

  Leah had been expecting the question. John had been given strict instructions by Kevin not to let her overdue anything.

  “They’re much better. Three days of fairly light activity has been good for them. I know the wounds are still open on the surface, but I think the nanites have got most of the pieces back in their right places and attached internally. My knee, fingers and ribs ache. Without Gèng, there is no one to reprogram them.”

  John reached for his bag and took out several capsules and an energy bar. He helped Leah remove the front section of her helmet and take the medicine. When she’d taken everything, he said, “I forgot to ask how you plan on dealing with two AI?”