Socrates and the Ionian

by Thomas Fay

  ‘That is a logical assumption.’

  ‘What else did we miss?’

  ‘The city is still in chaos with reports of riots, looting and violent attacks against Iona Corporation assets. The Sentinels are co-ordinating with police and emergency crews to restore order but they are stretched to their limits.’

  ‘It looks like the Ionians have brought us right back to where we were during the GEC. Damn Frost and his kind. This should never have happened again. They were supposed to have saved us from ourselves but instead they just made it worse.’

  John leaned down and took another long drink from the water fountain.

  ‘John.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I am detecting several heat signatures converging on our location.’

  Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, John peered into the darkened trees around them.

  ‘How many?’

  ‘I am detecting three. Converging on our location in a wide arc.’

  John drew his handgun and reloaded it. He had no idea if it would still work after its inter-dimensional journey and he only had one spare clip left.

  ‘Any idea who they are?’

  ‘I have analysed their heat signatures and movement patterns. Based on the data I have collected previously, I am eighty-five per cent certain of my conclusion.’

  ‘Which is …?’

  ‘They are not human.’

  ‘Androids?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Any ideas?’

  Socrates looked at him for a moment, his eyes blurring.

  ‘I have broadcast a call for assistance across all frequencies. While I can confirm it was received by a number of agencies, none have responded. I will continue to broadcast until I receive a response.’

  ‘Any other ideas?’

  Socrates extended his arms out to his sides. Both his hands split apart, revealing the hidden arc cannons, the advanced Ionian electrical weapons. They spun up, accelerating the plasma contained within his forearms. They began to glow with an azure ambience.

  ‘We must hold them off until help arrives,’ Socrates said.

  ‘This isn’t going to go well, is it?’

  Socrates turned to look at him. While his eyes were incapable of conveying human emotions, John could have sworn the android was worried.

  ‘Our chances of surviving an encounter with three androids is less than five per cent.’

  ‘I really hate it when you tell me the odds.’

  ‘Would you rather I had not said anything?’

  ‘Probably. It doesn’t matter now. Hit them hard and don’t let up. We know the arc cannons can’t destroy them but they can certainly slow them down. Hopefully long enough for help to arrive.’

  John gripped his handgun tighter. He knew they had been lucky to find a way back to their own reality. Now they were about to face three unstoppable androids. He had begun to question Manson’s theory over the years. Now he was certain Mason had been right. There was no way this was a coincidence—no one had this much bad luck.

  The sound of heavy footfalls resounded around them. John raised his handgun to a firing position as Socrates’s arc cannons filled the air with a high-pitched sound. A flicker of movement appeared in John’s peripheral vision. He spun around, bringing his handgun around in a wide arc.

  The android struck him a powerful blow, sending him backwards. As he sailed through the air he watched as Socrates lit up the darkened park with energy blasts from his arc cannons. Then he hit the ground.

  Sixty-Three

  John’s vision was swimming and his head was throbbing. He tasted blood in his mouth. He lifted himself up on his elbows. His left arm felt like it was broken in several places.

  The rogue androids had surrounded Socrates. Their metallic endoskeletons, visible through their scorched clothing, shimmered in the reflected light cast by the park lamps. A police siren echoed in the distance. Socrates unleashed beams of azure energy. They struck two of the androids, sending them backwards. The third one dodged the blasts.

  ‘Socrates …’ John managed to whisper.

  The rogue android lunged at Socrates, trying to immobilise him. But Socrates managed to sidestep out of the way. The android’s momentum carried it into a tree. The hundred-year-old oak groaned and cracked. Another android grabbed his left arm, just above the arc cannon. Socrates twisted and pushed him back. But the android held on. Socrates lashed out with his leg, snapping the android’s head back. But it was no use. The android had locked on.

  Another android grasped Socrates by the other arm, effectively rendering his arc cannons useless. The first android rose from the ground and joined the one holding Socrates’s right arm. Socrates swung from side to side, attempting to free himself. It was no use. The rogue androids had him immobilised. Then they pulled.

  ‘No …’ John whispered.

  The sound of metal tearing filled the silence of the park. Socrates fell backwards. The android on his left held his severed arm. The arc cannon stopped spinning and went cold. The other two androids picked him up and threw him backwards. He landed hard on the paving stones, shattering them to pieces. The rogue androids leapt into the air, aiming for his head. Socrates rolled aside. Rising to his feet, he lashed out with his leg, sending another android into the trees on the side. But there were too many of them. Again they pinned him down. One of the androids pulled his fist back and smashed it into Socrates’s face. Over and over.

  ‘Socrates!’

  A voice echoed over the sound of metal crushing metal. The androids stopped and turned towards the sound of the voice.

  Qallan Frost stood on the edge of the footpath. His eyes shone with an inner fire as his voice carried on the night air.

  ‘Socrates—initiate Omega Protocol.’

  Socrates’s eyes became a blur as previously hidden data was released into his neural pathways. A surge of power ran through his damaged body as he rose, dragging the rogue androids with him. Then he activated his secondary power source. A surge of electrical energy exploded outwards from his body. The rogue androids were thrown backwards. They landed hard on the paving stones, smoke rising from their synthetic bodies. A final surge of power ran through them. Then they were still.

  Socrates approached John.

  ‘Are you alright, John?’ he asked.

  ‘I’ve been better,’ he replied. ‘Guess I’m not the only one.’

  ‘My systems have suffered substantial damage but I remain functional. I also now have access to my secondary power source. Do you require assistance?’

  ‘I could use a hand …’

  Socrates used his remaining arm to lift John up. He stood slowly, struggling to focus on his surroundings. He was lucky the rogue android hadn’t killed him outright with one hit. Councillor Green had told him they had been engineered to withstand deep-space missions. Not that he could trust anything she had told him. Not now that he knew the truth about the Ionians. The real truth.

  Qallan Frost approached them. He was dressed in a dark-blue pinstripe three-piece suit.

  ‘Good to see you made it back,’ Qallan Frost said.

  John reached down and picked up his handgun. He aimed it at the Chairman of the Iona Corporation.

  ‘This is all your fault,’ John said. His hand was shaking and his vision was blurred but he felt a sense of anger welling up within him.

  ‘I’m sorry, John. My deception was necessary but I believe the time has come to reveal the truth about who we really are.’

  ‘You mean that you’re like us?’

  A thin smile spread across Frost’s aged features.

  ‘To a degree, but there are subtle differences at a molecular level. Which is why we had to bioengineer our bodies to survive here in the long term.’

  ‘What happened to Iona? Why did you leave?’

  Frost took a deep breath. Socrates stood to the side, watching the exchange between them. Minute sparks of light flickered across the remains of his ruined left arm
.

  ‘We had no choice. The environment had become hostile to Ionian life. I’m sure Socrates detected the EM radiation levels?’

  ‘Yes, I also noted the solar radiation and high gravity,’ Socrates said.

  Frost nodded.

  ‘Iona’s proximity to Vanstaad, what you call Saturn in this reality, combined with its substantial mass, resulted in a higher gravity. It made us stronger, denser, at a molecular level when compared with people in this reality. The high solar radiation provided steady energy, which fuelled our singularities before we developed an equation for stable energy transference.’

  John listened intently, his mind remembering the desert landscape with its alien cityscape. He also recalled the heat, the desolation and the lack of any living creatures.

  ‘It sounds like you had everything you needed to create a utopia. What happened?’

  Frost took a deep breath as he stared into empty space.

  ‘We underestimated the delicate nature of the reality we existed in, the interplay of so many fundamental forces. It took a long time, centuries in fact, but eventually the sheer number of singularities we used on a daily basis affected those forces on a subatomic level.’

  ‘You did it to yourselves?’ John asked.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘But isn’t that the same technology in the Flux Cell? That you brought here?’

  ‘No, John. We tested it, for years, before we released it. Believe me, it was hard to watch the world tear itself apart during the GEC but we had to be certain. This time.’

  Frost fell silent and stared off into the distance. John slowly lowered his handgun.

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me the truth?’ John asked.

  Frost looked at him for a long moment.

  ‘I’m sorry, John. My deception was necessary at the time. But no more. The time has come for you and for Iona to know the truth. First we must stop Gage, otherwise there may not be an Iona left.’

  John nodded. Then he winced in pain, doubling over.

  ‘Are you alright, my boy? You took quite a blow back there.’

  ‘I think something may be broken,’ John admitted.

  ‘That won’t do at all. Things are escalating rapidly and you may still have a part to play in all of this. We’d better get you patched up. Socrates, if you could assist John while I secure transportation.’

  Qallan Frost pulled out his phone.

  ‘We could use a lift,’ he said and closed the phone.

  Moments later a sonic boom reverberated among the surrounding buildings across the road as a Ruling Council transport ship descended from the darkened sky above. Its side hatch slid open. Simone jumped down onto the damaged pavement. She was dressed in a dark-grey one-piece bodysuit. It appeared to flow across her body, an intricate mesh material densely interwoven with integrated circuitry that glowed with a faint amber colour visible between the seams.

  ‘John!’ she exclaimed. Running over, she held his face in her hands. ‘Are you alright? What happened?’

  ‘We disabled Gage’s androids,’ Qallan Frost said. ‘Unfortunately, it looks like John here took quite a hit from one of them. Can you give him an infusion?’

  Simone turned to look at her father. ‘An infusion? Are you sure?’

  ‘Yes. We need him functional. Besides, there isn’t much he doesn’t know already and he’s about to find out the rest anyway.’

  Simone nodded. She helped Socrates half carry, half drag John towards the transport ship. Once inside, they deposited John on one of the seats. Qallan Frost entered the flight deck as Simone retrieved a vial from a secure locker. Inserting a hyper-syringe, she injected it into John’s neck.

  ‘What was that …?’ he asked.

  ‘An infusion of … well, let’s just say you’re going to feel like new in about five seconds.’

  John’s vision cleared. His breathing returned to normal. The pain in his head disappeared. He looked around the inside of the transport ship.

  ‘That’s incredible! What was in that?’

  ‘Medibots. Microscopic robots designed to reconstruct living tissue on the cellular level. They’ll repair all the damage your body’s sustained.’

  John held his left arm up. The blood disappeared as the bruised skin reconstituted in front of his eyes. Within moments his arm was completely healed.

  ‘That’s incredible!’ he exclaimed, again.

  Simone nodded. Then she looked at Socrates.

  ‘I’m not sure what we can do for you, though. They’re not designed for repairing androids and reconstructing your arm is a time consuming process.’

  Socrates turned his head to look at her. His metallic endoskeleton shone through his face where the rogue androids had pummelled him. One of his eyes glowed with a deep azure ambience.

  ‘My functionality is at seventy-two per cent. I have lost one arc cannon but the other is still operational and I now have access to the Null Cell. I believe I am still capable of assisting all of you, even in high-collateral combat situations.’

  John lifted himself up from the seat. He looked at his android partner. He shook his head.

  ‘I’ll say. What exactly is this Null Cell?’

  ‘Think of it as an antimatter version of the Flux Cell,’ Qallan Frost explained as he re-entered the rear cargo area. ‘While the Flux Cells draw power from infinite dimensions, they do so from dimensions which have the same underlying properties as this one. This results in freely usable energy. The Null Cell accesses specific higher-order dimensions which have very different underlying properties to this reality. While not technically antimatter, the resulting effect is very similar, particularly for any electrical system.’

  ‘I think I’ve been hanging around all of you too long,’ John said.

  ‘Why?’ Simone asked.

  ‘Because that actually made sense. So, what now?’

  Qallan Frost’s eyes narrowed dangerously. ‘This time Gage has gone too far. He’s undone everything we’ve worked so hard to achieve over the past decades. What’s worse is that he’s tapped into subsets of space–time in this region, which could create a shockwave through reality. We lost one world—I will not lose another.’

  Sixty-Four

  The transport ship’s quad engines propelled the vessel into the darkening sky. It rose effortlessly above the park, passing through a thin wisp of cloud. Rotating, it aligned on the Ruling Council Chambers. The sky before them was punctuated by a single beam of light shining from within the Council Chambers into the sky.

  ‘What is that?’ John asked.

  ‘Energy transference on a massive scale,’ Qallan Frost replied. ‘Gage collected an enormous amount of energy from all of the Flux Cells across Iona. He then fed them all to the Ruling Council Chambers’ main reactor.’

  ‘But why?’

  ‘He’s using the energy to power up our fleet. Gage and his followers want to leave Earth.’

  John turned to look at Frost. ‘I thought all that stuff about interstellar travel was a cover story?’

  ‘It was.’

  ‘Then why do you need ships?’

  ‘How do you think we left our planet and travelled through infinite dimensions? It took us a long time to find a planet we could survive on. The ships sustained us during our voyage through the multiverse. They were essentially portable biolabs with hibernation chambers and gateway generators.’

  John nodded, not really certain he understood any of it. Everything that he thought he knew, that he believed in, had changed completely since he’d learned the truth about the Iona Corporation. Now it seemed even that truth had been surpassed by a greater, more shocking, truth. The Ionians were humans, from an alternate reality. He looked at Simone, whom he had come to think of as half human, half alien. Now it seemed she was all human. She smiled at him. He found himself smiling back. He suddenly realised that when it came to her he didn’t care what she was.

  ‘So how do we stop Gage?’ John asked.

  ‘First we have to
get inside the Ruling Council Chambers,’ Frost said. ‘It won’t be easy. Gage has undoubtedly engaged the force field barriers and he has several squads of Council operatives under his command. There may also be a handful of androids left.’

  ‘At least Socrates can disable the androids.’

  ‘His Null Cell will need to recharge before he is able to use it again. Which means we’re going to need assistance.’

  ‘I guess that’s where the Sentinels come in. Isn’t that why you created us—to protect Iona and its citizens? I guess I never fully appreciated that meant we were created to protect you.’

  Frost shook his head. ‘No, John. The Sentinels were created to protect all of us. We are not that different to you in the final equation. We have made our home here and I will do anything it takes to save it.’

  John nodded. ‘I guess it’s time to call in the cavalry.’

  Reaching inside his jacket, John’s hand stopped as he remembered what had happened to his last two phones. He turned to Simone.

  ‘Can I borrow your phone?’

  ‘Sure,’ she said, extending an arm that was covered in the strange fabric.

  ‘Thanks and … nice outfit, by the way. What is it?’

  ‘Force field suit.’

  Simone stretched her arms out as she twisted from side to side. The material flowed across her body, its integrated circuitry glinting between the seams.

  ‘I forgot how comfortable these are,’ she said. Then, looking directly at John, she said, ‘Ready to try yours on?’

  ****

  Dense force field barriers shimmered in the night air. They surrounded the five-metre-high titanium-reinforced walls around the Ruling Council Chambers. There was no way anyone on the ground, not even someone driving a tank, could get inside. Even if someone did manage to get through the force fields they would have to contend with dozens of heavily armed Council operatives positioned on top of the walls. The Ruling Council Chambers had never been breached. It was easy to see why.

  ‘What are you doing?’ John asked.