Ionic Attraction

by D. R. Rosensteel

“Where is he?” Michael tapped wildly at the keyboard. “Why did we lose the picture?”

  “He’s in the underground.” Jane was sick with dread and the memory of her time with Benson. “That thing he’s strapped to is the machine Benson used to torture me.”

  The Large Hadron Collider is operational. It seems that it has a modified beam that will throw an asteroid off course. According to my estimate, the asteroid they chose will survive passage through the Earth’s atmosphere and strike Deer Lodge, Montana in twelve hours.

  “Zach needs us now!” Nolan’s voice shook with rage. “And so do all those people in Montana.”

  “LYDIA, access the Large Hadron Collider,” Jane said. “Give Michael control.”

  The Collider is on the same network as the underground. I can see it through the connection to Dr. Reddington’s system, but Michael will need to find another way to control it.

  Michael went at the keyboard again. Images flashed across the wall monitors as he worked. “Okay, I found the LHC code. But it’s not good.”

  “Meaning?”

  “The algorithms that power the Collider. Quite extensive, extremely complicated…it’ll take forever to analyze them.” Michael’s face became grim. “LYDIA, how deep can you get into the network?”

  The next level is as deep as it gets. Hidden paths and encrypted folders. I’ve given you access.

  “Now we’re getting somewhere,” Michael said. “I’m opening the equipment files, Nol. Detailed photos. Build breakdowns. See what you can make of them.”

  “What is that?” Jane asked as images popped up on-screen. She had never seen such an array of equipment. It was right out of a sci-fi movie. Massive rings with tubular channels flaring out from their centers like gigantic flowers, brightly colored and arranged in perfect symmetry. Under other circumstances, Jane would have thought it was beautiful.

  “Photon synchrotron booster, super proton collector, antiproton decelerator.” Nolan stood and stared at the monitors. “Wow. This is the most powerful collider I’ve ever seen. That might be in our favor. It’s got to generate an enormous amount of heat. That can’t be good for the circuits. Mikey, can you take out the heat sinks?”

  Michael began to tap furiously at the keyboard. Finally he leaned back in his chair. “That should do it. Once I upload this virus to HAVOC’s system, it will shut down the Collider’s cooling system and fry its circuits the instant they try to fire it.”

  “Do it,” Jane said.

  Michael tapped at the keyboard again. Suddenly his brow furrowed then, “Crap!”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Their security is tighter than I expected. I hit a dead end.”

  “I thought you could hack anything.” Jane threw her arms in the air.

  “I can.” Michael folded his hands and kicked back in his chair. “I cracked their firewall. Pretty sophisticated, but I got through. The first one.”

  “Multiple firewalls are normal. What’s so hard about the second one?” Jane didn’t like the sound of this.

  “Low tech. No way to hack it.”

  “How is that possible? It’s just code, isn’t it?”

  “They’re using the same trick ORDER uses with profiles of the Halo Agents.” Michael slowly shook his head. “A physical switch somewhere inside HAVOC has to be thrown. The system that controls the Collider is completely cut off from the world. There’s no way to hack a physical switch. You have to be there to flip it.”

  Jane’s heart threatened to seize. “Is there no work-around?”

  You can’t hack wires that don’t exist.

  “No, LYDIA, you can’t.” Michael pushed his finger against his cheek. “But what I can do is upload my virus to the first firewall. Once the switch is opened, the bug will pass through and shut down the cooling system.”

  Jane was close to passing out. She inhaled quickly and pulled herself together. Zachary needed her, even if he did hate her. She had to make this right. “LYDIA, download the seismology plots to my watch.”

  Done. I included maps of the caves beneath the Mastermind Complex and highlighted the shortest route to the underground.

  “Thank you,” Jane said. “I’m going in.”

  “We’re coming.” Michael pushed his chair back and jumped up.

  Jane nodded. “We’ll have to split up. We have two objectives—find the switch, and rescue Zachary. And just so you know, finding Zachary is not your priority. It’s mine.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Zach

  Zach glared at Benson from inside the cage. Benson waited smugly outside, holding the electrotherapy machine’s remote control. Zach tugged against the leather binders that held him in the chair. He noticed bare wire running along the outer edge of the binders, touching his wrist. That made him flinch, but what he saw next paralyzed him with fear. How had he not noticed it before this?

  Darkside was also in the cage.

  Suddenly, his body lurched as forty thousand volts shot through him. He gritted his teeth and held the chair’s arms in a death grip. His muscles strained so hard he thought they would pop, but no way would he give Benson the satisfaction of hearing him scream. The electrical surge stopped as quickly as it started. Zach expected his arms to be smoking where the bare wires touched his skin, but the skin wasn’t even red. Benson’s machine left no mark. He dimly realized that the pain was emotional. He also realized that Jane had felt the same agony.

  Benson would pay.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Benson said. “My machine leaves no marks, therefore the pain must be simulated. But you’re wrong. The machine has two modes. One fries you emotionally. The other fries you physically. Neither leaves a mark. The mode I’m using routes high voltage through your body just like an electric chair. You’ve already proven that emotional torture misses the mark, so I’m breaking you physically. Then Blackbody will be completely effective. But first, I need to know how you did it. How did you survive Darkside?”

  That sucked. “I’m a little disappointed, Benny.” Zach’s words came out slurred. “You’re using a remote control from way over there. Come inside the cage so I can beat your slimy face.”

  “I prefer to be called Benson. My face and I will stay out here, thank you very much.”

  “You’ve got no imagination, Benny.” Zach raised a finger and pointed behind Benson. “I thought you’d at least have the theatrics to throw that Dr. Frankenstein switch when you fry me.”

  “The two-blade Trumbull?” Benson turned to the antique switch on the wall behind him. Then he turned back and shrugged. “You’re right. Would have been more dramatic. Maybe next time.”

  “No flair. You don’t know what it’s for, do you?”

  “I don’t,” Benson said as he adjusted his electrotherapy machine. “And I don’t care. Now, back to my question. How did you survive Darkside? Every other prisoner we tested it on was broken.”

  Every breath he took shot knives through his chest. “Why would I tell a coward like you anything? You don’t even have the guts to come inside. What are you afraid of? Oh, wait, your mouth is a conductor.”

  Benson grinned, showing off his metallic smile. “Can’t you find anything more interesting to insult me with than my braces? Maybe if I crank the machine up to fifty thousand volts, you’ll be more creative.”

  Zach stared at the wires running around his wrists, and an idea struck him. “Out of curiosity, how much juice does your machine have?”

  Benson’s eyes gleamed. “If I crank her up to max power, I could melt this room. The floor grid is cuprate-perovskite ceramic.”

  A superconductor? That explained the liquid nitrogen tanks outside the cage. They used the sub-zero fluid to cool the cuprate-perovskite ceramic. If Zach could take control of Benson’s machine, he could use it as a power source to turn the floor from an ordinary superconductor int
o a superconducting electromagnet. That would come in handy for disarming guards with guns.

  “But no need for that,” Benson said. “Just a fraction of max power will fry your brain. That’s what I’m going for. Just short of enough to stop your heart. For reasons that I cannot comprehend, my mother and Professor Mamont want you alive.” He shrugged. “Not my first choice, but I can live with it.”

  “I can’t believe Mamont’s a Synthetic,” Zach said.

  Benson nodded. “Believe it. You do realize that the only reason they told you is that Darkside is going to erase your memory, right?”

  “Benny, I gotta tell you, I’m not buying the whole teen genius thing, you know? Not seeing it. It’s not you.”

  Benson grinned and pushed a button on the remote.

  Getting hit by a train would’ve been more pleasant. His muscles spasmed and cramped and he felt like his head would explode. Then the voltage stopped. Zach slumped into his chair.

  “I prefer it when you don’t cooperate,” Benson said. “I need answers, but there’s no rush.”

  “I don’t know how I survived Darkside. I just did.” Zach’s breath came in gulps. His heart pounded as though he’d run a marathon. He wasn’t sure how much more he could take and remain conscious.

  “Does Jane love you?”

  “No.” Zach tensed for the next jolt. “What do you care?”

  “You made me believe that you two were an item.”

  “She’s the reason I went to jail. She told the police I stole the quark detector.”

  “Interesting.” Benson set the remote down and put his hands in his lab coat pockets. A huge grin split his face. “And you question my genius. Don’t tell me you’ve written Jane off. Did you two break up?”

  Zach didn’t need to be reminded. “Leave her out of this.”

  “Oh, you did! This is good. I won’t need Darkside to break you. All I have to do is tell you the truth. You’ll break yourself for being stupid.”

  “Give me a chance and I’ll break you.” The leather strap around Zach’s wrist was soaked in sweat and stretched from tugging against it. If he could just keep Benson talking, he might be able to pull free.

  Benson laughed. “My mother stole the quark detector. When the police came to the university asking for our help, they brought us a name. Zachary Keen. They said that he had written a paper, but he wasn’t a suspect. They said there was no way he could have broken into the high security building the detector was stolen from. My mother saw you as the perfect scapegoat, since it would have been only a matter of time until they traced the crime back to her. So we looked you up, hacked your laptop, and hid a few files. Then I made an anonymous call. Jane didn’t betray you, you fool. From what the police told us, she tried to protect you.”

  She…what? Zach was suddenly numb. What had he done?

  Benson took his hands out of his pockets and leaned against the cage, the sadistic grin still in place. “So let’s move on to my next question. Is Jane good at kissing? Or should I say, was she?”

  “Kiss my—”

  Benson slammed his hand on the remote. The agony was unlike anything Zach had ever felt before. Between jolts, he tried to pull the straps off his arms with his teeth, but the muscle spasms made it impossible to bend his neck. The jolts kept coming. The pain was unbearable, and Zach was on the edge of begging. Then, just as he thought he was going to black out, they suddenly stopped.

  “Sit tight, buddy.” Benson laid the remote down. “Gotta let my circuit boards cool down. Don’t want to overload the machine. I’m stepping out for a minute, but I’ll be back. Try not to miss me.”

  Benson turned and sauntered out of the room, leaving Zach trembling and soaked in sweat.

  Zach’s mind raced. He had to get back to Jane. Tell her he was sorry. Would she forgive him? He was such an idiot! His body ached, but the angst over what he’d done was far worse than the stabbing pain in his muscles. He tugged against the leather straps with everything he had. They stretched and slipped, just a fraction. His arms were saturated, and so was the leather. He tugged once more and pulled one arm free.

  Zach gritted his teeth in anger as he unbuckled the second strap and released his other arm. He tried to jump from the chair, but his legs were wobbly and he nearly fell. He forced himself to stand and, stumbling to the cage door, he grabbed the latch and tugged. It was unlocked. Just as he was about to open it, he stopped. Benson and the guards would find him if he simply tried to escape. He’d never get a second chance.

  “Crap.” He knew he was in a race against time, but he needed to build a trap. Zach turned to the bench behind him and noticed an amazing assortment of tools. He methodically worked his way through the drawers. Power supplies, wire, solder, torch, electromagnets… Immediately, his mind jumped to the broken watch in his pocket. He removed it and laid the pieces on the bench. Taking a magnifying glass off the shelf, he bent down to examine the shards. Not as bad as he thought. The hammer had glanced off the side of the titanium case and popped out the crystal lens. It was cracked but functional. It took several seconds to reassemble it, because his hands were still shaking, but when he put it on, it powered up.

  His first thought was to contact Jane, but there was nothing she could do for him. Better to escape first then contact her. He found a spool of wire and ran to the electrotherapy machine. His legs were beginning to feel less wobbly. He made a set of cables, attached one end to the machine’s conductors and twisted the control knobs to full power. He picked up Benson’s remote, went back inside the cage, and attached the other end of the cables to the cuprate-perovskite ceramic floor. If he could get the guards to come inside the cage, the electromagnets would be powerful enough to pull the guns right out of their hands. But if they stayed outside…

  The liquid nitrogen tanks gave him another idea. Zach noticed metallic pipes running from the tanks to a bank of pumps along the wall. One of the pumps was made for handling liquid nitrogen, but the others were water pumps. He found wrenches inside the cage and rerouted the liquid nitrogen lines into a high-pressure rotary pump that was perfect for water, but never meant to handle a quickly expanding medium like nitrogen. When the pumps kicked on, the pressure would be uncontrollable. Liquid nitrogen would blow, and everything it touched would freeze solid at 321 degrees below zero.

  Satisfied that his traps would work, Zach decided to try contacting Jane. “Is anybody out there?”

  Nothing.

  “If you can hear me, I’m inside the underground.”

  Zachary? Jane’s voice filled his head. Zachary, are you okay?

  “Jane!” Zach said. At the sound of her voice the danger was suddenly insignificant and the only thing on his mind was apologize. “Jane, Benson told me what really happened. I—”

  Whatever you’re talking about has to wait. Your brother has written a virus that will destroy the Large Hadron Collider, but the Collider is on a separate network. We can’t access it. There’s a manual switch somewhere in the underground. Michael has uploaded the virus to their main system, but it won’t attack the Collider unless the switch is thrown.

  “Okay, I was trying to—” Zach looked at the wall on the opposite side of the room. The Dr. Frankenstein switch. “Wait, what about a switch?”

  All I know is, they have low-tech protection, and you can’t hack low tech. It’s got to be a manual switch, because they have to connect to the other network somehow.

  Voices drifted to him from the hall. “I gotta go. Benson’s coming back.”

  Zachary, wait!

  He took off the watch and shoved it in his pocket, then ran back to the metal armchair and sat down, pushed his wrists inside the loose straps. He glanced at the Frankenstein switch. HAVOC was using that old two-blade Trumbull switch as a firewall. Unhackable. The Trumbull switch was covered by a titanium grid. Low-tech, high security.

  The door clic
ked open and Benson walked in.

  “Did you miss me?” he asked. “I think my machine should be cooled off by now. Shall we take her for another spin?”

  “I noticed your belt buckle is unusually large, Benson.” Zach glanced quickly at the remote in his hand. “Probably made of steel.”

  Benson arched his bushy eyebrows. “Wow, I think I gave your brain a wee bit too much juice. You’re giddy.”

  “And your shirt buttons. Are they metal, too?”

  Benson looked down and shook his head. “No, I think they’re plastic.”

  “No matter,” Zach said. He pulled his arms out of the braces and stood. “Your teeth have enough iron on them to do the trick.”

  “You’re loose,” Benson shrieked.

  “Remember I said I was going to knock your teeth out? This is your lucky day, Benson. You tortured Jane with that thing, so I think I’ll put you in it instead.”

  Benson took a step, then reached behind his back and drew a taser. He aimed it at Zach and smiled. “I’d like to see you try.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Jane

  “This is where we split up,” Jane said as they reached a crossroads in the underground. “Be careful. You let me know when you find the switch. I’ll let you know when I find Zachary.”

  They had moved through the maze of corridors undetected, but Jane was anxious the entire time. The caves were dark, and the underground was darker. Headlamps improved visibility, though, and the maps that LYDIA had uploaded were helpful, but after her brief contact with Zachary, Jane couldn’t concentrate. She just wanted to find him and throw her arms around him. But he hated her. Would he ever forgive her?

  She was about to find out, because light shone dimly from the corridor ahead. They were close.

  “We’re not splitting up,” Nolan said. “We’re going with you. He’s our brother.”

  “The plan was to split up,” Jane said. “You have to find the switch. I wouldn’t know it if I saw it. That’s your expertise. Look, we can’t be in two places at once. If we stay together, we don’t have time to find Zachary and the switch and still get out undetected. I can track Zachary now that his watch is working again. He’s that way.” She pointed straight ahead toward the dim light. Then she pointed to the dark corridor on the left. “And according to LYDIA’s scan of the electrical system, the switch is probably that way.”