It was quiet. It was much too quiet.
Chapter 7
Gunfire broke the silence. It began slowly, with one shot, then grew, and grew some more, until it was raining down on the Marines.
Shane hit the floor, then raised her head slowly and looked around. The others had scattered, but she could see that the AIs had gotten Sterling. He was on the other side of the small room. Dead.
She shifted her attention to Nathan. He was unclipping the grenade from his belt. He pulled the pin and tossed it.
Shane watched the tiny gyros and fins on the grenade guide it. She watched it stop in midair, then hover above the fleeing AIs.
It stayed there, waiting. And then it moved again, zooming through the air, zeroing in on its target.
The room came alive with a flash of light as the grenade exploded on the other side.
When it landed, the 58th was ready.
"Let's move!" Shane shouted, above the roar.
The 58th leaped to their feet and charged deep into the maze. Still in pairs, they pushed into the next room and leapfrogged forward.
Once again, gunfire awaited them. The AIs were everywhere. Every step forward seemed to attract more of them.
"The next time they'll get me," Shane whispered to herself as she dove for cover. "If it isn't in this room, it will be in the next one. Or the next." She was working her way through a maze. Toward what? Death?
She lay there, unable to move. Frozen with fear, her heart pounding, she lay on the cold, damp floor.
Cooper slid over and gave her a nudge. "We have to get out of here. Fast!" he said. But she couldn't move.
"Move, Shane," he shouted above the gunfire. "Move!"
She stayed there, immobile.
Cooper shook her. "You dead, Vansen?" he asked. She could see that he was concerned. But then, when he realized that she wasn't hurt, his eyes turned angry. She knew what he was thinking. She was supposed to be their leader.
"So stay there!" he hollered. "Who needs you?"
Shane watched as he jumped to his feet. She wanted to call to him, but she couldn't move.
I am the leader! she wanted to say.
But all she could do was lie there and watch him go. She watched him slam a clip into his rifle and move out. She watched gunfire blast from his rifle, but she still couldn't move. He didn't look back.
She wondered if he was thinking that they would all be better off if she stayed right where she was.
Cooper was an In-Vitro, a Tank. He despised that name, because only hateful people used it. They called him names for the same old reason: to make themselves feel better and bigger.
But that's what he was. A Tank. He had been created in a giant test tube. Humans had farmed him to fight their battles.
And that's what he was doing.
He swung around, found the enemy, and fired. Three AIs fell before him. Others rolled for cover. But it was not enough. He fired again. He was going to get them all. Shane knew that he was ready to destroy all enemies everywhere.
Cooper fired again.
He turned. There was another one. It was racing toward a room marked ATMOSPHERIC CONTROL.
Shane saw it too. They both knew what it meant. The AI was on the way to shut off their air.
Nathan must have seen the AI too. He came over to Shane and saw the fear in her eyes. He knelt down and touched her hand.
"Me and Vansen will stop him," he told the others. "The rest of you will rendezvous with Wang and Gordon. Move!"
Tears sprang into Shane's eyes as Nathan gave the orders. She was supposed to be a leader. But she had done nothing.
"Okay," Nathan whispered to her. "So they're AIs. And yes, they killed your parents. But they're not after you, Shane. They're after the mining facility. You're stronger than they are. You're human. Humans invented these machines. They're just vicious computer scum. Are you going to let them—"
Nathan's words finally got through, and Shane's fear turned to anger. She rose from the floor and faced Nathan.
"Computer scum?" she said. "I like that. Now let's go!"
They moved together side by side.
When they reached the Atmospheric Control Room, they stopped. Nathan hugged the right side of the door and listened. Shane took the left.
After a moment, she kicked the door open and checked the room.
"All clear!" she whispered.
Cautiously, Nathan and Shane moved inside. The room was dark except for the light coming from the lamps on the tables.
They recognized the room at once. At one time, they knew, it had been a control room, regulating the air flow of the facility. Desks were everywhere. There was a computer monitor on every desk.
Shane hesitated, her trigger finger poised. She peered through the shadows and waited for... something.
A bang shook her, sending her for cover. When she was safe, she peered out. Nathan was hiding nearby. And over there? What was it? A shadow on the other side of the room. Moving.
The shadow was an AI. She would know the shadow of an AI anywhere. This one stood in front of the nitrogen-oxygen-flow control panel.
Slowly, carefully, it began to destroy the control panel.
Shane and Nathan stood. They raised their weapons. They did not want to kill this... thing. They needed it. It contained information that might be useful later.
"Stop! Drop your—" Nathan shouted.
The AI turned. Then it dove for cover.
"Fire!" Shane cried.
They fired together, trying to bring it down without killing it. Then they froze and listened.
The room was eerily silent.
"We've gotta save the air supply!" Nathan whispered. "And fast! Let's check out the panel."
"I don't know," Shane said. "We don't know where he is."
"Cover me."
"I don't know," Shane said again.
Nathan moved closer and stared into her eyes. He was beginning to get angry now.
"We'll die without air, Shane," he said. "I've got to see what that AI did to the panel. So cover me. Okay?"
"Okay. I'll go first. Just watch your back."
She crept out into the shadows with her weapon raised. Moving sideways, she kept her eye on Nathan.
They were almost at the panel when she heard a noise off to her right. In the shadows.
Nathan was still moving. He hadn't heard it.
She stood in front of him at the panel and raised her weapon, listening. She could hear the sound of Nathan's fingers as they touched the controls. But that was all.
She was out in the open, an easy target. If the AIs were looking for her, they could shoot her down now. Easily.
Chapter 8
While Nathan examined the control panel, Cooper waited. Somewhere in front of him were the AIs. And somewhere behind him were his backups, Damphousse and Gwynn. He needed their help to open the door in front of him.
Or did he?
He tried again, but it was no use. It would take more than strength. It was just too complicated. It would take skill.
"Move!" Cooper whispered as Damphousse and Gwynn approached.
Gwynn hurried to the entrance to the underground facility and looked it over. The first thing to do was to disable the sounding device. He worked quickly. Beside him, he could feel the tension of his fellow Marines. When the red light and horn were finally disabled, he stepped back. Now it was Damphousse's turn.
It took some time, but the door finally swung open. Cooper rushed ahead. Wang and Gordon stood there, rigid and tense. They could feel... something... somewhere... behind them.
"Well?" Cooper said. "Get in here."
Wang stood frozen, staring straight ahead. Cooper was about to say something else, when he saw the two shadows hovering behind Wang and Gordon, weapons raised.
"AIs," Cooper muttered.
"Watch your back," Wang whispered to him. Cooper turned slowly. Behind him were two AIs. The Marines were surrounded. They lowered their weapons and stood very
still, waiting.
They did not have to wait long.
Feliciti OH 519 was an AI like the others, but she was also different. She had been created to command. At one time she had been very beautiful. But now she was worn. She had seen many, many battles, and her plastic skin was torn in places.
Feliciti OH scanned the Marines with cold, piercing crosshair eyes.
"There's some information I'll be needing," she hissed. "So get ready to give it."
Cooper and Damphousse glanced at each other. What was the AI searching for?
In the Atmospheric Control Room, Nathan was still checking the air-supply panels.
"The AI shut off the air," he announced. "Now there's no way to get it back on. It looks like we have an hour of residual 02 before we have to use our re-breather packs."
Shane crouched and searched the shadows for the missing AI.
"Maybe we shot him, Nathan," she said. "Maybe he's dead."
"I don't know. But I do know we'll be dead if we don't do something about this air."
Shane took off her helmet. Nathan disengaged his, then checked a gauge on his suit.
"I'm down to twenty percent," he said. "That should..." He hesitated and looked over toward the corner.
"What's the matter?" Shane asked.
"Shhh. Listen."
They stood side by side, silently scanning the room. They heard a shuffling noise.
Shane raised her weapon and tiptoed across the room. When she was almost there, she heard a soft whimper.
Someone was crying.
Shane moved in closer and shoved the butt of her rifle behind the metal boxes.
"Please," a voice said. "Don't—"
"Identify yourself," Shane said.
"I'm a miner. I've been working here. I escaped after—"
Of course! The tenth miner. She had almost forgotten about him.
A small old man with a soot-covered face emerged from behind the boxes. His hands were raised above his head, and his eyes were filled with tears. He was clearly terrified.
"Have you been here all the time?" Nathan asked gently.
The man nodded and lowered his hands.
"We don't want to hurt you," said Shane. "We've been sent to protect you during the ice ore transfer. "
"Too late," the man said. "I'm the only one left. Nobody will be transferring anything."
Shane wanted to ask the man what had happened. But she was afraid of the answer.
Nathan did it for her.
"What happened?" he asked.
The man closed his eyes. In a moment he opened them again. A look of horror passed over his face.
Shane knew that look. The old man was remembering something terrible.
"They were my friends," he said. "I had worked with them most of my life. They were my family. These... these... things... came into the mine and slaughtered them."
"And you?" Shane asked.
"I managed to get away. What were they? They sounded like computers. But they looked like people. Have you caught them?"
Shane told him about the AIs.
"It was very terrible," the old man said. And then he started to cry.
"I know," Shane told him. "But it will be all right."
She wasn't sure it would be. But she had to tell him that. And she needed to hear the same thing herself.
They stood in silence, not knowing what else to say. The room was very still. They took short breaths, because the air was running out.
And then... what was it? A faint crackling sound. Beeps. Static.
Nathan and Shane tensed. They listened, then moved toward the sound.
"Take cover!" Shane whispered to the old man.
When he was safely hidden, Shane and Nathan took cover themselves and waited. On the count of ten, they spun out with their weapons raised.
Shane saw the AI first. It was lying behind a machine, and it wasn't moving.
"It's all right," Shane called.
The miner came out and stood nearby. He held back, trembling.
Shane and Nathan went to the AI together.
The beeps and static were indeed coming from an AI. But there was nothing to be afraid of. The AI was lying on the floor, dying. Its plastic skin was in shreds. Dark brown conducting fluid oozed from its ears. Its crosshair eyes were focused on something unknown. Staring, staring... at what?
"He's had it," Nathan whispered to Shane.
They stood above the AI together, listening to its final beeps and crackles.
And then, suddenly, they heard something else: words from a speaker inside the AI's chest. A painful groan. A scream. A struggle. Another scream, louder this time. And then—
"My name is Damphousse," a voice said weakly, through the speaker. "Vanessa Damphousse. Lieutenant Vanessa Damphousse. My serial number is 5BS1927. WAIT! STOP! NO! LEAVE HIM ALONE!" And then... Cooper's voice. Shane could hear the pain in his words.
"Don't tell it nothin', Damphousse," he moaned through the speaker. "Don't say..."
Cooper's pleas faded then. He screamed. It was a terrible scream, a scream of terror. It was the scream of a man who was being tortured.
And then, another voice. A voice with no emotion. The voice of an AI. "You will tell me..." it said. "You will tell me where your leader is."
Shane jumped back and stared at Nathan. "Why...?" she cried.
Nathan shushed her. He leaned down and listened to the AI's chest.
"It's Cooper," Nathan whispered. "And Damphousse. They're being..."
He didn't finish. He didn't need to. Shane understood.
The sound of weapons crackled through the speaker. Just one at first, then several. Somewhere, their friends were being tortured. Weapons were being fired. And then... only static.
Shane closed her eyes and shivered. Her knees were weak. As she listened to the last beeps of the dying AI, the picture of her parents came back to her. She tried to push it from her mind. But it just stayed there. Reminding her.
This was it. The time had finally come.
Chapter 9
Shane had heard the sounds of Cooper being tortured, but she did not know the extent of his pain. No one could know that. Except Cooper.
On the other side of the facility, Cooper's eyes were closed. He winced. The rope around his wrists cut deep as the AI yanked his arms and tied them to a pipe. His body ached from the beating he had taken a short time before.
Cooper was hanging from a pipe near the entrance to the facility. Four other members of the 58th were strung up beside him. Their eyes spoke of their pain. But they did not cry out. Not this time. Not anymore.
They were members of the 58th. They were Marines.
Below them, Feliciti OH was barking out orders to her AIs.
"Keep loading the helium three onto that vehicle! Be ready to hit and run! We may not know the location of their leader yet. But we will, we will."
A piercing screech followed by a series of digital beeps interrupted her.
Feliciti OH turned. Justin EB's modem was beeping wildly.
"Brandon IM remains functional," Justin reported. "He's a prisoner of two Carbonites."
"Position?" Feliciti OH asked.
"Unknown," Justin EB said. "Due to a malfunction."
Feliciti OH turned to the dangling Marines. Her delight in their predicament changed to hatred. "Where are the other members of your unit? Where is your leader?"
The Marines remained silent and Feliciti OH's face twisted with rage. "If our unit cashes out," she hissed, "then you cash out too. Tell me where your leader is! I need your leader!"
They wanted Shane. But why?
"I am a leader," Feliciti OH shouted. "Leaders are the important ones. Leaders give the orders. Tell me how to find your leader!"
Cooper shook his head and managed a smile. These computers were crazy. It wasn't Shane that they wanted. They wanted to capture a leader. Any leader.
They had no idea who Shane was.
Inside the Atmospheric Cont
rol Room, Nathan and Shane were studying the dying AI. The digital pattern coming from inside his body sounded desperate. "I didn't hear Wang and Gordon," Shane said to Nathan. "The AIs must have found Hawkes and Damphousse."
Nathan leaned closer to the convulsing AI. "This unit's still functioning," he said. "But—"
Suddenly, the digital pattern grew louder and began to screech. Shane covered her ears and shuddered. "That's an awful sound," she said.
"It's how they communicate," Nathan explained. "They're networked through a wireless modem. This thing, this AI computer, is probably trying to relay its position to its unit."
"Then they'll be coming," Shane whispered.
But Nathan had another plan. "Not if we find their position first," he said.
Nathan yanked his K-bar knife from its sheath and cut into the plastic AI. A dark pool of oil leaked out of the computer and settled on the floor.
"I'll try to call up its Random Access Memory," said Nathan, twisting the blade. "Maybe the other AIs have transmitted their position to this unit." Nathan cut deeper into the computer and sat back. Like a doctor performing an operation, he studied his patient. Miles of circuitry snaked through the AI. Inside the skull were the holes of a radio transmission speaker.
"Quick, Shane. Crack the bulb in your flashlight. But don't damage the filament."
Shane yanked her K-bar from her belt. She cracked the glass of her flashlight and exposed the two small filament wires.
"Hurry, it's shutting down," Nathan whispered. "Put the wires behind its right temporal."
"I wouldn't know a right temporal from a—"
"BEHIND THE EAR! DO IT FAST!"
Shane jabbed the wire probe behind the AI's ear. The digital signals began to race. After a second, they settled into a distinct pattern. Then the signal faded and the sound of a female AI voice crackled through the AI's speaker.
"They're attacking the Carbonite colony at Vesta," the voice said.
"That's old stuff," Nathan said. "It's in the memory. Try a quarter of an inch higher."
Space Above and Beyond - #2 Dark Side of the Sun - Dina Anastasio Page 3
