The Link

by Isaac Hooke

  He focused on the isolation program and activated it. The code worked rapidly, spreading through his system like a virus, and a moment later the entity left his mind and Jain was in control once more.

  Just in time. He had retrieved a grenade from his harness, and was about to throw it at Eric, who had walked ahead of him to survey the passage.

  “I just executed the code,” Jain said.

  Eric glanced over his shoulder distracted, and when he saw that Jain held a grenade, he did a double take, and turned around completely, aiming his weapon at Jain’s chest.

  Jain raised his hands in surrender. “I’m in control again. The alien AI almost made me throw this grenade at you. I’m going to put it back in my harness, okay?” He slowly slid the bomb back into his harness.

  Eric gave him a suspicious look. “How do I know it’s really you?”

  “Because I would have thrown that grenade at your back,” Jain said. “Rather than letting you know I’d flushed the enemy AI.”

  Eric frowned. “What took you so long to execute the program I sent?”

  “The AI had moved it to my trash folder, but forgot to delete it entirely,” Jain said. “I still had access.”

  Eric’s eyes widened in sudden alarm. “But if you were so easily controlled, then that means…”

  A shout came behind Jain, sourced from the transformer compartment. It was followed by rifle fire.

  Jain turned around and raced frantically back toward his friends. Eric followed on his heels.

  He reached the edge of the transformer and leaped up. He landed next to the coil, and peered past it to survey the situation.

  Cranston was hidden behind a transformer nearby, and he was firing at the others, who had taken cover around him. They, in turn, were returning fire.

  “He’s gone crazy!” Frogger shouted.

  Meanwhile, the termites continued to close with them all. They were close to Frogger’s position, in fact.

  As their unofficial commanding officer, the Void Warriors had given Jain override access to their AI cores, for a situation just like this. He used that access to attempt a log on into Cranston’s mind, and was relieved when he succeeded. He uploaded the inoculating code and executed it.

  Cranston stopped firing.

  “I’m back!” Cranston said.

  “He had a virus,” Jain explained. “I inoculated him. Void Warriors, I’m going to access you minds and inject the inoculating code into all of your minds, as a precaution.” He glanced at Eric. “I suggest you do the same with your Bolt Eaters.”

  Jain used his access rights to inject the code into the other Void Warriors in turn, executing it.

  He turned toward Eric, and was about to ask him if he’d installed the code into the Bolt Eaters, when he saw him kneeling on top of a transformer nearby. Sprawled out next to the coils lay the body of Bambi.

  The top of her head had been blown open.

  “She’s not dead,” Eric was muttering. “She’s not dead.”

  Remembering the pain that Jain himself had felt mere moments ago when he looked at the remnants of Mark, he leaped onto the transformer beside Eric, hoping to console him.

  His landing seemed to startle the Bolt Eater. Eric looked up, and his eyes were filled with a sudden hate.

  “Your man did this,” Eric said through gritted teeth. He shoved past Jain and leaped between the different transformers in a blur until he stood next to Cranston. He promptly held his rifle to Cranston’s head.

  Cranston did nothing to stop him. He simply remained there on his knees before him.

  “Don’t fire!” Jain shouted. “I’ve executed the inoculating code. He’s back to normal!”

  Eric kept his weapon in place, but didn’t fire, at least.

  “Lower the weapon,” Jain tried.

  Eric ignored him.

  Jain glanced at the termites, which were ever encroaching on the group. The others had already shifted positions, moving away from the micro machines and toward the exit in the far wall. Eric and Cranston remained in place, the termites almost upon their particular transformer.

  Jain leaped between the transformers until he stood on the structure next to them.

  “Stay back!” Eric warned.

  “We don’t have time for this,” Jain said. “The micro machines are almost here. We have a mission to complete. It’s not his fault. Lower the rifle.”

  Eric still didn’t move.

  “It wasn’t his fault…” Jain pleaded a final time.

  Sergeant Marlborough leaped onto the transformer, joining Eric and Cranston. Eric didn’t respond, not at first. But when Marlborough laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, he glanced at the older android.

  “We’ve all lost brothers and sisters in this life.” Marlborough smiled fleetingly. “Though that’s changed a little now… we get them back. We always do. It’s the nature of our existence as Mind Refurbs. When this is over, Bambi will be back, stronger than ever. But only if we win. So you have to let this go, son. We have to complete this mission, if you ever want to see her again.”

  Eric shook his head. “But the way she died… so horribly…”

  Marlborough rested a hand on his shoulder. “Let it go. The lad wasn’t in control of his faculties. We have him back now. I’m sure the guilt is eating away at him, more than you can imagine. He wouldn’t have let you target him so easily otherwise. Let the guilt be his punishment.”

  Eric hesitated, then finally lowered his rifle. He glared at Cranston, and then turned away, leaping onto the transformer next to Jain, and proceeding toward the next one.

  Still on his knees, Cranston slumped, though he seemed disappointed somehow.

  Eric reached the far transformer next to the bulkhead, and leaped down toward the exit. “Let’s go before I kill someone.”

  Jain glanced at Marlborough. “Did he install the inoculating code into the rest of you?”

  He seemed distracted, but answered: “Yes, he did.”

  “All right, we’re changing our encryption keys and channel band,” Jain said. “To prevent something like this from happening again.” He sent the new keys, and switched to the new band using the keys. The others logged in one by one, joining the comm line.

  Marlborough leaped onto Jain’s transformer, and when he passed him, he said: “You probably should go to your man.” The Sarge jumped onto the next transformer, and joined the other Bolt Eaters who proceeded toward the exit. The Void Warriors meanwhile waited for Jain and Cranston next to the bulkhead.

  Jain joined Cranston on the transformer. The micro machines had reached it, and were crawling toward his body.

  “We have to go, Cranston,” Jain said.

  “I killed her,” Cranston said, gazing downward. “In cold blood. I couldn’t stop myself.”

  “You weren’t in control,” Jain said. “It was the vessel’s alien AI. It got in your head through a back door.”

  “But I’m supposed to be stronger than this,” Cranston said.

  “Sometimes it doesn’t matter how strong you are,” Jain said. “Sometimes, your own brain is going to betray you, because of the nature of your mind, and there isn’t anything you can do about it, except fight on when you get control again.”

  Sparks appeared on Cranston’s calves as the outlying termites reached his kneeling form.

  “Maybe it’s time to let me die for good,” Cranston said. “Maybe you should let me go here, and never restore my backup. Delete that backup.”

  “Can’t do it,” Jain said. “You know that. You’re a special operator. You know that we never give up, no matter how grim the situation becomes. The training weeded out those of us who had the most heart. You can’t tell me you’re going to lose that heart after all these years.”

  “But I’ve never killed an innocent before,” Cranston said. “My own team member.”

  “It wasn’t you,” Jain repeated. “It was never you.” He offered a hand to Cranston as the sparks caused by dying micro m
achines increased. Jain’s own boots began to spark, too, as termites reached him as well. “Come with me Cranston, we need you. Show this enemy that they can’t control our minds. Show them what happens when they try to break us. Show them that it only makes us stronger. Come with me, Cranston, and fight again. ”

  Cranston finally looked up and there were tears in his eyes. For a moment Jain forgot that Cranston inhabited an android, an advanced humanoid replica equipped with tear ducts meant to keep the artificial eyes moist. In that instant, Cranston was completely human.

  As was Jain. And his own eyes became wet.

  Cranston stood up. “Let’s kick the ass of these fuckers.”

  17

  Jason and the others were deployed inside blast craters next to the north side of the construction site, close to the next shield generator. The forest was quiet around them.

  At first Jerry and Jones had remained in Cataphract form to pile the bodies of the porcupigs in protective barriers around the new position of the War Forgers, but when that was done, both returned their clones to the separated state so that the constituent Mind Refurbs could have a chance to function independently once more—the clones had to give up their individuality when combined.

  After separating, Tara 3 volunteered to have her teleportation device extracted to serve as the transport medium for the next bomb. Tara 2 worked on her.

  Meanwhile John took his team around to the west to eliminate the final defense turret; when he radioed his success, Jason told him to stay there to guard against attacks from that quarter.

  “Remember when we used to be professional gamers, back when we were human?” Jones said while the Taras worked.

  “Yeah, I do,” Jason said.

  “Those were some of the best days of our life,” Jones said. “Getting up when we wanted to. Following our own schedule. Living alone. No responsibilities. No girls. I miss those days.”

  “Yeah, but I bet you don’t miss the wild sex!” Jerry said.

  “True, that,” Jones admitted. “But there’s more to life than sex.”

  “Don’t tell that to Lori,” Julian quipped.

  “Someone say my name?” Lori 6 asked.

  “Should’ve muted the women!” Jerry said.

  Jason expected some retort from the women, but none came. They were too busy watching the trees around them, and the construction site behind them. Jason didn’t blame them. He was nervous as hell, too.

  “I don’t know how you guys can do it,” Aria finally said. “I mean, talk so casually, at a time like this.”

  “It’s how we deal with the stress,” Jones said. “If we kept our lips shut like you ladies, I don’t know how we’d manage. Speaking of which, how do you control it?”

  “Keeping alert is good enough for us,” Aria said. “We don’t need dirty jokes, or to tease each other, or to brag about our exploits. It’s enough to watch the trees around us. That calms our minds.”

  “All right, well, whatever works for you,” Jones said.

  “Not all women are the same,” Lori 3 said. “Some of us like to tease right along with the guys, too! Nice tits, Jerry!”

  “Uh, thanks,” Jerry said. He lowered his voice and leaned conspiratorially toward Jones beside him. “She’s obviously not very good at this.”

  “I heard that!” Lori 3 said.

  “Let’s get some quiet here,” Jason said. “The shit could hit the plasma injector any time here, you all know that.” He connected with the admiral. “How are things looking up there, Tanis?”

  “The forest is dead silent around you,” Tanis said. “I’ll let you know the moment that changes.”

  Tara 2 only just finished repurposing Tara 3’s teleportation device when the ground began to shake.

  Tanis connected. “I’m detecting a disturbance in the forest to your north.”

  “Tara 2, place the bomb!” Jason ordered. “Aria, join her! John, get your team back here!”

  Aria shielded her as the pair raced toward the energy field.

  Jason gazed through the thin line of trees that lined the edge of the forest; some of the boles were being knocked aslant as the dirt underneath was displaced. The dirt formed humps that spread across the ground in long lines, heading directly toward the War Forgers and their clones. When the forefronts of those humps passed near blast craters, sometimes the edges of the craters fell away, and the open cross-sections gave him a view of slimy, ribbed flesh, like that of some huge worm, though colored a sickly gray.

  “Looks like we have more bioweapons!” Jason said. “Fire at will!”

  He unleashed his energy weapon at the forefront of the closest approaching hump. It didn’t stop the advance of the displaced dirt.

  He heard an explosion behind him.

  “Bomb teleported, and detonated!” Tara 2 said. “That’s another shield generator down.”

  “Start working on the next one!” Jason told Tara 2. “Tara 5, let her extract your teleporter!”

  Jason fired again, and the dirt of the closest approaching hump exploded outward and an angry worm-like head emerged. Eight segments parted like the petals of a flower, and a green liquid sprayed Jason and the War Forgers.

  “Acid!” Jason said.

  “Warning, hull armor is weakening,” Z said.

  Jason dodged to the side as that huge worm came in. Another worm emerged directly underneath him, wrapping its jaws around his legs, and pulling him down. He pummeled it with his fist, and fired his energy cannon at point blank range until its body burst open.

  Around him, worms erupted from the ground left and right, keeping the War Forgers occupied.

  Jason scrambled to his feet. He upped his time sense and glanced at his damage screen: his hull armor had stabilized. Apparently the acid had dissipated after a few seconds. That was a relief. His chest was no longer smoking, another good sign.

  Jason still operated at his heightened time sense when his eyes were drawn to movement behind the screen overlaying his vision. He dismissed the screen, but was too late to dodge the next worm, even at his current time rate. It slammed into him, sending his body careening to the right; another worm emerged and hit him in the opposite side, veering him to the left, so that his body was suspended between two competing forces.

  He fired his laser, and one of the worms screamed, but the other was wrapping around his body like a python. He tried to counter it, but it had already squeezed his arms to his sides, and began to crush his acid-damaged chest assembly.

  It released another coating of acid from its mouth, spraying it across his chest and face.

  And then its head was unceremoniously chopped off.

  Cheyanne stood beside him, sword steeped in the black blood of her enemies. Jason returned reality closer to its normal speed, though still operated at a slightly accelerated rate, and gave her an appreciative nod. She was already turning around to jab at the next creature.

  Two more worms headed toward him, but a giant sword swept in front of him, and cut both in half. It belonged to a Cataphract: Jones had combined once more, and Julian had joined him, and fought, towering, nearby.

  The other nearby War Forgers had formed a protective formation around Tara 2 and 5 so the two could work on the next teleportation bomb.

  Jason retreated to the ring so that he was standing with them.

  John’s team arrived, and reinforced their ranks against the attackers. The Cataphracts were doing a good job of deflecting the worms, but enough got through that Jason and the others remained under constant pressure.

  “Combine?” Aria asked.

  “It’s time,” Jason agreed.

  All of his War Forgers were relatively close together, so he engaged combine mode.

  The world faded as he entered virtual reality. He was holding hands with Tara, Sophie, Lori, Aria, and Xin, forming a ring. They were all dressed in white, and standing in a meadow of flowers beneath a bright sunny sky.

  “It’s been a while,” Lori said.

&nbs
p; “Can’t say I’m looking forward to having you in my head again,” Sophie said.

  “I can’t wait!” Lori said.

  Sophie rolled her eyes.

  Energy pulses fed into his body from their hands, pulses that traveled up the virtual ganglia of his arms and into his chest. When they touched his mind, those pulses caused a change in cognition. His viewpoint zoomed far inward, so that he was observing the raw connections of their neural networks, as their different minds interlinked. They shared their most sacred memories, their most closely guarded secrets. Yes, everyone had a secret, even Mind Refurbs. He always forgot the memories when they separated—it was the nature of their join—so he was still shocked by some of the things the women had done while they were still human. Some of which were positively evil. Not that his past was any cleaner.

  But none of that mattered anyway. Not here. Here, all was forgiven.

  His consciousness returned to the real world. The six mechs involved in the join ran toward each other, ignoring the worms. They interlocked limbs, forming a body with the sum of their parts. Jason formed the head, Aria the chest. Tara became the right arm. Sophie the left. Lori functioned as the left leg. Xin the right. Panels opened, revealing hidden tracks that allowed weapons and body parts to reposition as necessary. Sophie’s micro machines clumped together in specific locations, enlarging Aria’s ballistic shield, Tara’s sword, and Lori’s tail.

  And then he was towering over the battle field at roughly three times his former size, gazing down at the treetops, and the worms that now reached only to a height of just above his knees. He felt so powerful, he could have laughed.

  I missed this.

  “Try not to get too full of yourself,” Aria said.

  “Who me? Full of myself? Never!” Jason swung his massive sword before him, cutting off the heads of three worms that rushed him.

  In addition to the sword, he had inherited Lori’s cloaking ability, Tara’s teleport ability, Sophie’s jumpjets and energy shield, Aria’s shield and lightning weapon, and Xin’s plasma beam, which fired from his right hip courtesy of Xin’s current positioning. He also had his original energy cannon, which was now positioned on his shoulder equivalent, instead of his forearm.