A shimmering carpet of silver nanites melted from their cube configuration and swarmed over to Allie and the major, climbing them rapidly and covering them once again in a protective cocoon, this time fully visible. They seemed so alive. Allie had to remind herself that they hadn’t acted alone, that Hoyer must have issued telepathic orders.
She scanned the tiled views on the eighty-inch monitor beside the door and her breath caught in her throat. In the kitchen above, the decapitated heads of two of Hoyer’s men were on the floor, with their bodies having collapsed beside them. The heads had been sliced off at the neck with surgical precision, so quickly that the men’s hearts continued to drive blood through their bodies, which gushed from the gaping hole above their shoulders like a fountain.
On a tile showing the great room, the other two mercs were firing wildly at nothing, and as Allie watched their necks were also severed. Their heads toppled to the floor, almost in unison, as blood exploded from their necks. Their bodies remained standing for seconds, as if unaware of their sudden change in status, before finally collapsing to the ground. Their necks had gone from fully intact to fully severed in an instant, as if felled by an invisible light saber wielded by the fastest Jedi in the galaxy.
The scene was more horrific than anything Allie had seen in the most gory horror movie, but she couldn’t look away. Blood continued to gush. She couldn’t imagine that a human body could contain so much of the sticky red substance, nor that it could be expelled so violently.
She was frozen in place, fighting to breathe, when Hoyer shoved something plastic into her right hand. A pair of glasses. Her two companions were already putting theirs on, and she broke from her paralysis to do the same. She gasped the moment they came down over her eyes to reveal a silver stream of nanites rushing under the door, racing toward them like a horizontal waterfall.
At the same instant she became aware that Hoyer’s nanites had dissolved from around his legs and waist and were now swarming up Reed’s body. They stitched themselves together around the commander’s head and neck in the blink of an eye, finishing only seconds before the incoming nanite stream reached him.
Reed had already closed his eyes, bracing for death, but the protection around his neck held. Allie was too terrified to even scream as the incoming nanites attempted to penetrate her neck as well, her heart only starting again when it became clear that they were failing.
At least for now.
She took a quick glance at Hoyer, and his neck, too, was ringed with angry nanites attempting to relieve him of his head.
But the major was ignoring them, barking instructions to his AI, which zoomed in on a man studying a tablet computer at the edge of the safe-house’s grounds, almost a hundred yards distant.
“Ava, send drones to tranq this guy!” Hoyer shouted at his AI. “Immediately! I want his ass out cold. Now!”
The tile showing the distant intruder expanded to take up half the monitor while nanites continued to claw at Allie’s neck. On the screen, four drones screamed into view, reminding Allie of diving falcons, in both size and speed, armed with both bullets and tranquilizer darts. The man who had been consulting his tablet computer collapsed to the ground as one of the darts hit its mark.
The moment the intruder fell, the attacking nanites ringing their necks became visible and slid to the ground, purposeless, forming the small cube that was their default position, awaiting the next telepathic instruction from their master.
Hoyer removed his glasses, and his two guests did the same.
“Wow,” he said, exhaling sharply. “That was too close for comfort.”
“Way too close,” said Reed. “Thanks for saving my, ah . . . neck,” he added, as if he didn’t realize how literal this was until he was about to say it.
“Don’t mention it,” said Hoyer. “I’m just glad you managed to keep your head about you.”
Hoyer glanced at Allie’s stunned, horrified face. “Sorry,” he said. “Too soon, right?”
“What just happened?” said Allie.
“What happened is that we got lucky. The only thing resistant to nanite digestion are the nanites themselves.”
Hoyer was minimizing his actions, but Allie found them to be both decisive and heroic. Donating the lower half of his protective suit to Zach had been fast thinking—and gutsy.
Allie stared at the unconscious man on the monitor, who was well-muscled and tall, and appeared deadly, even while on the ground.
Reed was also studying the monitor beside her. “Is that Aronson?” he asked.
“No,” said Hoyer, “but clearly someone he employs. I know he’s hired mercs, like I have, and scores of them are hunting for me.”
“It looks like one found you,” said Allie. “Would he really let them use his nanites as a weapon?”
“Apparently. But only a limited amount of them, with limited functionality. Which is the only reason we’re alive. If they weren’t dumbed down, we’d be road kill. My guess is that Aronson lends them to a few of his men, but they’re programmed solely for decapitation. So that the only power the mercs have is to choose the targets. Notice how the nanites stubbornly kept trying to chop off our heads, even after it didn’t work. If Aronson hadn’t narrowed their functionality, they’d have been smart enough, adaptable enough, to change tactics.”
“You mean like cutting through our exposed waists once you sealed off our necks?” said Reed.
“That’s what I mean exactly. Or burrowing through our eyes and into our brains.”
Allie shuddered and closed her eyes. “Thanks. I feel a lot better now.”
She held out the magic glasses Hoyer had given her for him to take back, but he shook his head. “Keep them,” he said. “In your pocket. You too, Commander. After what just happened, we should have a pair on hand at all times.”
“Amen to that,” said Allie.
“Commander, come with me,” said Hoyer. “We need to retrieve our unconscious friend. Allie, be ready to leave when we return, say three minutes.”
“I’ll start packing.”
“No need. The clothing and belongings you have here aren’t the originals. I had them digested and remade, so they’re all in nanite memory. We can make duplicates anywhere we go.”
“That’s convenient,” said Allie as the two men bounded up the stairs.
“Stay in this room until we get back,” Reed called down from the top of the stairs.
In less than three minutes they returned, carrying their human cargo down into the basement. Hoyer sent his nanites streaming into the raw materials room, and he and Reed returned with a steel chair and four zip-ties that had magically materialized in front of them. Less than a minute later the intruder was bound in place on the chair, which Hoyer had the nanites affix to the floor. He then had them construct a mesh helmet, with straps that even Houdini couldn’t remove, and affixed it around the intruder’s head.
“Are we just going to leave him here?” asked Allie.
“Yes,” said Hoyer. “Because we’re coming back. Aronson is brilliant and connected, but he was never in the field. So we’ll be able to put one over on him. I’m jamming all signals to be sure this guy can’t be tracked. My guess is that he freelanced and just got lucky to find this place—and us. If not, Aronson would have sent an army. Regardless, the place is compromised. So we’ll make a show of fleeing. We’ll drive to a private airfield nearby and into my private hanger. It has a tunnel exit we can take to a nearby street where I have another car. I’ll have my pilot take off and lead anyone watching on a wild goose chase across the country, while we double back here.”
“Right?” said Allie slowly. “Because Aronson would never think you’d have the audacity to return to a site he’s already cracked.”
“Exactly,” replied Hoyer. “We can lie low here for a few days and figure out where to go next.” When he didn’t hear any objections, he continued. “Okay, then. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
“Not quite yet,” sa
id Reed. “Why have Allie go upstairs until it’s been sanitized? Can you send your nanites to ah . . . clean up the mess?”
“I’ll need to go with them to make sure they get everything.”
“Not a problem,” said Reed pointedly. “We’ll wait.”
Hoyer started up the stairs, and his living carpet of silver nanites trailed behind him.
The commander watched him disappear and then turned to stare into the beautiful green eyes of his companion. “How are you feeling?” he asked softly.
“Like I just saw four men get their heads cut off,” said Allie wearily. “So pretty awful.”
“Hang in there,” said Reed. “You should know that you’re amazingly strong. Amazingly resilient. Most people would be curled up into a fetal position by now. So dig deep, Allie. Because I know you’re going to change the world forever.”
31
Even after traveling to Hoyer’s private airfield and circling back to the safe house, they still had to wait almost two hours before the man they had captured finally awakened. Reed insisted that Allie not be present while they interrogated their prisoner, but she had insisted right back that she wasn’t going anywhere. She was in this too deep and had seen too much already. She needed to be present to hear every word and observe every facial expression and nuance of the proceedings.
Their prisoner was clean-cut and in his thirties, with a perpetual scowl on his face.
“Who are you?” demanded Hoyer, inches away from the man’s no-telepathy helmet while Allie and Reed observed from several feet away. “And who are you working for?”
“My name is Rico Gillespie,” spat the prisoner. “And that’s all you’re getting from me. So why don’t you save us all some time and kill me now.”
“I have bad news for you, Rico,” said Hoyer. “You won’t be getting off that easy.”
“Torture won’t do you any good.”
“I’m not planning on torture. At least not the physical kind. Because I have all the time in the world. People are wired to take pain. You know what we aren’t wired for? Solitary confinement. So I plan to leave you alone in a dark room for a few weeks. I’ll even feed you, you piece of shit, even though you killed four of my men and tried to kill us. Believe me, you’ll be begging for physical torture. Begging to tell me anything I want to know, just for the human contact.
“But why go there?” continued Hoyer in his most reasonable tone. “Answer my questions and I’ll let you go. Despite what you’ve done. And what’s the point of silence? It’s obvious you’re working for Bryce Aronson. And it’s obvious why you’re here.”
“You’re dead already,” said the prisoner. “It’s only a matter of time. Aronson has loyal men like me who would gladly die for him, and mercenaries he’s promised a big payday to.”
“What? You’re willing to die for him? Gladly? Why?”
“Because he’s a great man,” said Gillespie, with all the fervor of a true believer. “And powerful. Almost like a god. He can control matter itself. He can conjure up anything out of thin air.”
“He’s using technology, you idiot!”
“No technology can do what he does. And he can even transfer his power to me, letting me control matter also.”
“Yeah, but only to tell it who to target.”
“How did you know that?”
“Maybe because I’m not a thumb-sucking moron,” said Hoyer in disdain. “Aronson is a psychopath. One with enough charisma to play Jedi mind tricks on idiots. Psychopaths can charm and con and manipulate the hell out of people. It’s their greatest gift. And he’s done a number on you.”
“He’s going to save the world from itself. You’ll see.”
Hoyer shook his head. “But who will save the world from him? And if he’s such a god, able to transfer his epic powers, why isn’t this magic matter of his trying to kill me now?”
Gillespie shot him a look of pure hatred, but didn’t respond.
“I’ll tell you why. Because you have a cage around your head that blocks brainwaves. Because his tricks are nothing but applied technology, which can be nullified by other technology. Like a simple helmet.”
“Believe what you want. I know the truth.”
“It’s people like you, Rico, who make me wonder if humanity deserves a utopia. I’m pretty sure a chimpanzee could outthink you. And the chimp wouldn’t murder other chimps to serve a con artist with delusions of grandeur.”
Gillespie glared back at the major but didn’t respond.
“You mentioned there’s a price on my head,” continued Hoyer, trying a different tack. “How much?”
“Ten million. But only for nonbelievers. Men like me don’t need a reward. Seeing you die in agony is reward enough.”
“Ten million. Wow. I feel special.”
“Don’t,” said the prisoner. He looked past Hoyer and nodded at Allie Keane. “Because as of a few days ago, she’s as good as dead too. And for the same ten million. In fact, Aronson’s more keen on collecting her scalp even than yours. She’s a pretty little thing—doesn’t look like much—but, apparently, she’s his kryptonite. He’ll never stop coming until she’s dead, you can count on that.”
Allie visibly swallowed but didn’t look away. Hoyer shot her an apologetic glance and continued. “Where can I find your boss?”
The prisoner laughed. “You can’t. But he’ll find you. Believe me. The smart money says you won’t live out the year. You’re lucky to be alive right now.”
“I need you to tell me where he is,” persisted Hoyer. “Last chance. If you refuse, we’ll try isolation for forty-eight hours and ask again. You’re a crazed zealot, so I expect you to hold out for a while. But you’ll break eventually. I guarantee it.” He leaned in intensely. “The smart money says you won’t last a month.”
Gillespie smiled. “Good luck with that,” he said. “Because I’ll be dead in minutes.”
“I told you, I don’t plan to kill you.”
“Aronson supplies his loyal followers with a fake tooth. With a cyanide capsule inside. I’ll be able to open the tooth with my tongue and bite down hard enough on the capsule to break it open before you can stop me.”
Hoyer stared at his prisoner in disbelief. “A cyanide capsule?” he said. “What is this, a 1950s spy movie? You’re bluffing.”
“We’re about to find out.”
“You’d really give your life for this man? Just like that? What kind of spell has he cast on you? If you’re really serious, let me explain who he really is. What is really going on. Let me help you see that he isn’t the man you think he is.”
“I feel sorry for you,” said Gillespie. “My death will be fast and painless. But when Aronson finds you, it’ll be death by a thousand cuts. Over a period of months. You might consider getting a cyanide capsule of your own.”
With that, the prisoner known as Rico Gillespie bit down violently on something unseen, and almost immediately began foaming at the mouth. Seconds later, his eyes rolled back into his skull and he ceased to exist.
Hoyer shook his head in disbelief. “He might not be as easy to break as I thought,” he mumbled miserably.
PART 6
32
The two military men stayed behind to dispose of Rico Gillespie’s body, while Allie showered for a second time that day, feeling a desperate need to cleanse herself.
An hour later, Tom Hoyer entered the first-floor kitchen in the Henderson safe house hauling a heavy bag of potting soil, dropping it unceremoniously onto the travertine tiled floor. Zachary Reed and Allie Keane followed closely behind, and all three took up chairs around a glass kitchen table, exhausted.
It had been another brutally long day.
“Thanks for joining me for dinner,” the major said to his guests. “What would you like to eat?”
“What do you have?” said Reed.
Hoyer raised his eyebrows. “What don’t I have?” he said with a smile. “You’ve been living in a world without nanites for too long. For
more than a year now, whenever I have a new meal, I have the nanites digest it first and then remake it. There are many hundreds of dishes in the nanites’ collective memory. And if I have them digest a quart of Chunky Monkey ice cream, they can create a new quart of Chunky Monkey ice cream identical to the original, container and all. A quart just as cold as it was when originally digested. Or, through the always impressive wonders of alchemy and 3D printing, they can create French Onion Soup that’s still piping hot. Think Star Trek replicators again. Whatever you want is likely to be in their collective memory. I’ve ordered entire menus worth of dishes from top restaurants and taken it all home for nanite digestion.”
“Kind of puts the microwave to shame, doesn’t it?” said Reed with a wry smile.
Allie’s head tilted in thought. “But how can the nanites possibly have a memory capacity this large?” she said. “I wanted to ask about that earlier. The memory storage required to catalog every last constituent atom of a cell phone alone would choke the capacity of every computer on Earth, combined. I get that they can use data compression when the material is uniform, like a glass touchscreen. So they can use the shorthand of ‘knit together two trillion touchscreen atoms here’ instead of accounting for each of them individually. But still.”
“You know the answer,” said Hoyer. “But you won’t let yourself believe it.”
Allie sighed. “You’re right. At least Star Trek seems sane. But this is more like Alice in Wonderland stuff. Utterly preposterous.” She paused. “But the answer almost has to be higher dimensions again.”
“Why is that?” asked Reed. “Couldn’t it just be that their memory storage density is very high?”
“I’m sure it is,” said Allie. “Probably millions of times better than our best efforts. But given the limited space the nanites’ occupy in the 3D realm, this wouldn’t be enough. Most of their memory storage has to take place in higher dimensions, just like their mechanics. We can only see an infinitesimal fraction of the whole with our limited 3D senses.”
The Immortality Code Page 20
