by Terry Mixon
Interestingly, the kitchen was situated in the center of the room right next to the stairwell and defunct lifts. The exterior of the room was one large circle with a panoramic view of Frankfort. Even from the center of the room, it was breathtaking.
The windows here had suffered just as severely as in the large room they’d been in yesterday. All the glass was gone. The gusts felt even stronger than in the level below, and Kelsey could strongly smell wood burning. That probably came from the horde city.
It was also chilly, even now during the summer. She imagined that this kind of wind would kill in the winter.
Someone had obviously taken the time to sweep the debris off the floor and to break out the rough shards that had remained in the frames. They’d also rigged up a makeshift rail along the outer edge of the room to keep anyone from getting too close to a lethal fall.
The winds might just snatch the unwary off their feet and send them out into the void. That included her, so she’d be cautious and keep an eye on her friends.
Seemingly unconcerned about all of that, Leader Mordechai stood beside the railing, gazing out at the horde city. From her current vantage point, she could see a good number of smoke plumes, so the blazes were severe.
At their arrival, Mordechai half turned and gestured for them to join him. They all did so, moving carefully.
“Thank you for taking the time to meet with us, Leader Mordechai,” she said as she stepped up beside him, grasped the rail firmly, and got a better view of the horde capital.
The fires were worse than she’d expected. At a guess, maybe a fifth of the city had already been consumed by flames and was now just a smoldering pile of rubble. The active fires seemed to be burning out of control amongst the poorer sections of the city, where most of the construction was of wood.
Even the buildings made of a mixture of wood and stone seemed to be suffering. Whatever they had for a fire brigade was obviously overwhelmed and unable to deal with the scale of devastation they were experiencing.
Under other circumstances, she’d have felt sorry for those killed or rendered homeless by the flames. She didn’t, though. Those people had killed almost three hundred of her people and their allies.
While specific individuals below might be innocent of wrongdoing, collateral damage was a sad fact of war, and that’s what this was. She’d used the weapons she’d had at hand to escape their captivity before they could torture and murder her and her friends.
No, she had no sympathy for them at all.
“While my knees don’t appreciate the climb to get here, I don’t begrudge you your meeting,” the older man said. “I realize that I could’ve done so in my offices below, but I do so love the view from up here. It’s also good exercise to climb those stairs every day and overlook the city of my ancestors.
“I mean that quite literally, by the way. I can trace my lineage back to the Imperial mayor that ruled Frankfort at the time the computers crushed Terra a century ago. Even before then, our family controlled the city in the name of the emperor for generations, though I couldn’t tell you precisely how many.”
He turned and gazed toward her, his expression serious. “Like those that have come before me, I take my responsibilities to this city and its people very seriously. The rule until this time has been that any who dare intrude are never allowed to leave.
“Another rule is that those who work for the computers are to be executed. I must determine if you fall into that latter category. I will tell you now that I’m of two minds on the matter. Yet I will not rush to a decision. I will give you a chance to convince me of your honesty and expand upon why you’ve come to Terra.
“If I decide that you’re telling the truth and that it serves our interests in assisting you, I’ll not only allow you to depart in peace, but I’ll do what I can to assist you in your task.
“That doesn’t mean that it will be easy to convince me. My son and I have discussed this, and we believe that the only way to determine your mettle is to put you under pressure.
“So there will be some tasks that we want you to complete. Tasks that only someone with your evident technological skills could manage. They will not be easy, and they may yet prove impossible. Yet how you proceed with them will tell us much about you. I suppose you could consider them quests, just like in the old stories.”
Part of her was excited to hear this, but the cost of failure could be drastic, so she was wary of being too pleased. “What kind of work are we talking about?”
“It’s my understanding that you have three individuals with high technological skills. Is this correct?”
Kelsey nodded. “We have one man who is a specialist with hardware, another who is a specialist with software and computers, and a third who is brilliant at making breakthroughs in all of the above and more.
“I have to warn you though, we don’t have a lot of tools with us. Only what we could recover before we had to flee the horde city. I’m not certain what you have in mind, but without the correct equipment, it might be impossible.”
Mordechai smiled thinly. “We shall see. I will send guards to summon your remaining people to a meeting that Jebediah is already holding underneath the city. It’s best if I gather you all together before I tell you what I have in mind. My apologies, but that will be quite far under the city, so you have more exercise ahead.”
Kelsey almost smiled at how her companions’ expressions fell. Now, after having climbed all those stairs, they’d have to go right back down and then even deeper under the city. She wondered if that was some kind of test as well.
“Whatever your tasks, we’ll do the best we can,” she said with all the assurance she could muster. “You have my word on that.”
They really would give it their best effort. This was the one chance they had to leave Frankfort peacefully. If they failed, they’d have to fight their way out against a foe that knew the ground a lot better than they did. She’d like to avoid that if at all possible.
Carl sat in the large room with his associates. He’d known Ralph Holstead since Kelsey had captured the man and his parents during an operation inside the Rebel Empire. Unlike the man’s mother, Ralph had passed the test given to him by Fiona, the newly constructed AI they had aboard Persephone.
He’d been working with his mother, spying inside an Imperial research facility that Kelsey had raided. Carl had to admit that running into someone else stealing from the Rebel Empire while they’d been doing the same had been unexpected. Circumstances had demanded that they take Ralph and his parents with them when they left.
They’d turned Ralph’s parents over to the resistance. Not that he expected they would deal harshly with the woman and her husband. They’d only been engaged in industrial espionage against the Rebel Empire, something the rebellion probably approved of.
But those people were better positioned to keep an eye on the mother. She was wily. If it was worth money, she’d try to find a way to sell it, so maybe mercenary was a better word.
Ralph, on the other hand, had jumped at the chance to go with Kelsey and the rest on their mission to Terra. He’d passed multiple loyalty tests since then and was seemingly becoming well integrated with the science teams.
Carl was glad he’d survived the horde massacre. There’d been an inordinate number of research personnel on the mission because they’d expected to explore the Imperial Palace. All of them were now dead. It tore at his heart. Deep down, he wanted some payback, but he just wasn’t sure how he could manage to get any.
In any case, Ralph was a hacker. While Carl could claim to know a lot about computers and programming, he was wise enough to admit that Ralph was his master in that arena. His friend had grown up inside the Rebel Empire and had learned from masters in the field at cracking and hacking into Imperial technology via software. Then he’d practiced that art for most of his life.
That put him almost completely at odds with Carl’s other new friend, Austin Darrah. Unlike the lowly born Ralph, Au
stin had been a member of what the Rebel Empire called the higher orders. Their version of the nobility. His family meant something inside the upper strata of the Rebel Empire.
Not that that had interested Austin in the slightest. He’d found himself drawn to understanding how mechanical items worked due to the influence of his uncle when he was young. Oscar Fielding had owned and controlled a shipyard supplying the Rebel Empire version of Fleet and various civilian interests.
Sadly for Austin, his expertise in working with virtually every kind of Imperial hardware meant that he’d been forced onto the mission that was supposed to deliver a lethal virus to Terra: the Omega Plague.
Even worse from Austin’s perspective, his uncle was neck deep in the project. He’d not only overseen the teams that had developed the weapon, but he’d also been the one that had sicced the AIs into pressganging his nephew.
The older man sounded like a real ass to Carl. He was glad that he hadn’t had to meet the bastard. It amused the hell out of them that Admiral Mertz had found a way to maroon Fielding without a good chunk of his money after the guy had double-crossed the AIs and tried to do the same to the admiral and his crew.
So Carl now had both a software expert and a master of hardware. Combined with his own flair for working with Imperial tech, he felt confident that the three of them could do just about anything when it came to Old Empire machinery.
And that was what probably brought them to this meeting. He’d expected their captors to keep them in the quarters assigned to them, but they’d been led deep under the ground beneath Frankfort.
The group that had gone with Julia had already had some kind of meeting with Jebediah, the son of the ruler of this ruined megacity. They had joined them.
Considering the hodgepodge of work that was being done with the air-handling system just outside this meeting room, Carl was confident that they’d be tasked with doing something to improve the efficiency of moving the air.
Not that the man was talking about the work that he wanted them to do just yet. He seemed to be waiting for something.
A minute later, Carl figured out what the holdup was when Kelsey, the admiral, and the rest of their people walked into the room. Everyone except Doctor Stone, who was likely still struggling to save lives.
Along with the last group came another bunch of guards and Leader Mordechai, the ruler of this city. It looked as if this was going to be it. Whatever was going to happen, they were going to find out about it now.
Part of him almost didn’t want to know. It seemed like the last week had been filled with tragedy following disaster. Almost nothing had gone right for them. In fact, it was hard to imagine how things could’ve gone worse, other than them all dying in the process.
Once everyone was seated, Mordechai joined his son at the head of the table. The overhead panels were dead, so the room was lit with oil-filled lamps. Those had a peculiar smell that wasn’t wholly unpleasant, but it certainly wasn’t something Carl would have sought out.
“I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve brought you all together again,” Mordechai said solemnly. “As I told Kelsey Bandar and Admiral Mertz, my mind is not yet made up about your sincerity and truthfulness. I’ve decided that a test is in order. Perhaps the first of several. I’m told that some of you have particular gifts with mechanical items and old technology.”
As he said that, he looked right at Carl. Not sure what to do, Carl decided to respond directly. He rose to his feet and softly cleared his throat as he put his hands behind his back.
“Yes, sir. Two of my associates and I have the skills you’re talking about. What kind of task did you have in mind? Something to improve the air handlers outside the room?”
“No. Something significantly more dangerous. Deep beneath the city, at levels that have not been accessed in almost a hundred years, lies the fusion plant that once powered Frankfort.”
The older man smiled slightly when Carl blinked in surprise. “Oh yes, I know what a fusion plant is, at least in general terms. My father saw to my education when it came to Imperial technology and how the city used to work. The diaries kept by my ancestors have much information about what equipment worked and what didn’t, as well as how such items could be maintained in a general sense.
“The fusion plant was shut down before the AI struck. The level of resistance against the computer’s occupation had reached a plateau that the Imperial mayor felt would invite retaliation. So when the number of ships orbiting around Terra began to rise precipitously, she decided that lowering Frankfort on the list of potential targets would be wise.”
His expression grew dark. “My great-grandmother was a brilliant woman. I knew her briefly as a child before she passed. According to the words she wrote in the leaders’ diary, the fusion plant was shut down in good order, and they had even incorporated shielding to keep it from being detectable from above ground. What I want you to do is venture deep, deep under Frankfort and bring it back to life.”
Carl grimaced. That wasn’t going to be an easy task, particularly with only the equipment he had available. He couldn’t trust that anything down there still worked. Imperial technology was very long-lived, but components failed, and a century was a long time.
Still, it wasn’t exactly as if they had a choice in the matter. If he and his friends wanted to earn their freedom, he’d have to find a way to make this work.
“I’ll do my best, but I can’t promise success,” Carl said. “I’m going to have to look at what’s down there. Even getting to the fusion plant is going to be tricky, because the air is probably foul. I’m not exactly sure how we can protect ourselves.”
The older man smiled thinly. “If it were easy, it wouldn’t be a suitable quest. I’ll grant you access to all of the equipment that we have. Perhaps something among it will allow you to construct some type of protection.
“But make no mistake: your success will reflect upon your compatriots. As will your failure, should success elude you. I would suggest that you do your absolute best.”
Yeah. No pressure at all.
10
Julia stared at their captor. “Are you crazy? The AI can sense that kind of thing. I don’t care what kind of shielding you have. If you reactivate it, lights all over the city are going to come back on, and somebody’s going to notice. Hell, everybody is going to notice! The least bad thing that will happen is that the horde is going to come looking for what’s going on.”
Mordechai nodded. “That’s certainly a possibility, but I’m counting on your people being knowledgeable enough to disconnect all of the power lines into the city itself until you can figure out which ones can be energized safely. That is within your control, is it not, Mister Owlet?”
“If we can get the system operational, we can certainly isolate it,” Carl agreed. “If it has shielding like you say, then it probably won’t be detectible on the surface, much less in orbit. So long as there are no visible indications above ground that power is back on, no one should be any wiser.
“The problem is going to come in when you decided that you want something specific powered up. Even if the equipment is operational—which is not guaranteed—then you’re going to run into the problem of there being other things on that circuit.
“There are far too many connections through the power linkages in the city to be certain of turning everything off if you want to energize power to the basement of this building, for example. It’s just not going to be that easy.
“It will take a lot of work to be absolutely certain that everything on a line is disconnected. Then rechecking it, probably with a separate set of people to bring fresh eyes to the work. And, considering the risk, probably a third group. It’ll be time consuming and dangerous.”
“And that’s only the beginning,” Julia added, already thinking of other potential problems. “What about the danger down there? You’re talking about going into an area where the atmosphere is going to be full of carbon dioxide and perhaps other che
micals that were released once the power went off.
“It’s not exactly like you have access to vacuum suits, Carl. How do you intend to stay alive long enough to even reach the fusion plant? Putting that aside, let’s say that you do. How are you going to be able to stay there long enough to do any work?”
“I have a few ideas on that,” Carl admitted. “If we search the area around us on this level, I’ll bet we find some emergency lockers that have air bottles. Many of them are still going to be charged, at least to a degree. We’ll have to make certain the equipment still works, and it’s going to be something of a gamble, but I think that problem can be solved.
“Once we get the fusion plant back online, I feel pretty confident that we can at least set up some of the life support down below to get the toxic elements cleaned out of the air. The scrubbers should still be intact, even after all this time. The components aren’t meant to break down over time to the point that they degrade past their useful operational life.”
Julia wasn’t convinced, and she was pretty sure that her expression conveyed that. Not that her opinion was likely to deter the pigheaded scientist.
“I can’t stop you from going, but I think it’s too dangerous. Is it really worth the risk?”
Mordechai raised an eyebrow. “Is your potential freedom worth the risk? Because I can assure you that without completing this task, you will not leave this city.
“And before you start to think that your enhanced physical attributes are going to make a difference in that, we have areas that we can isolate the three of you that have that capability and be certain that you won’t escape. I’d rather not do that, but if you choose to be recalcitrant, then I won’t have a choice.”
Julia threw up her hands. “Of course you do! You’re making the active choice to force us to do this work in exchange for our freedom. We haven’t done anything other than trespass on your property.
