“Cain is very near now. That would be unsafe. He might reach through and hurt you,” Li warned, then looked toward the direction of the village. “They are here.”
“Please tell me, this will turn out well.” Novia pressed. Li shook her head. “The paths are all colliding. There are too many possibilities to see clearly.” “I am so afraid,” Novia admitted, a tear rolling down her cheek.
“I would take that fear from you, if only I could. Do what you must, as will I. I will pray we both receive the blessings and strength we need to persevere,” Li assured.
Damus rounded the corner nearly out of breath from the run. “Novia. Novia--they are here.”
*** “What's going on?” Kutch asked with confusion. “You know him?”
“Pricylia!” Keja called out again.
“You've got that all wrong, she's--”
::STOP!::Alex held up her hand toward Kutch to interrupt. “Keja--what are you doing here?”
“It's complicated. I need to shut down the protocol nodes in an effort to stop the Earth humans’ control with the protocols.” Keja shook his head. “I knew you were still alive--after all these years. I knew it!”
“That's what we're--”
::QUIET!:: Alex hissed over the secure link.
“I registered the compeer forms and processed the shares--” Keja added.
“I know.” Alex answered.
“Seriously? You know each other?” Kutch pressed, before getting another stern glare from Alex.
“You must be Kutch. I feel as though we've met before; I should have known she would be with you. Pricylia was the best Security Data Systems, Program analyst ever.”
“Really? For which division?” Kutch asked with sarcastic skepticism.
“With me at Corporate Security,” Keja answered.
***
“The scans have a lot of interference,” Presley1522 reported, as he adjusted the view on his holographic display. “That is to be expected with the frequency generators going full force, as well as some of the natural rock formation distortions,” Presley1477 explained.
“What are you seeing?” Reed asked, feeling his adrenaline rise, as he tried to get a closer look.
“It looks like they have sent out three small groups of five individuals. They are encircling the village and moving up the canyon,” Presley1522 announced.
“The three groups of five appear to be checking the area. Their pattern of search is familiar; they are securing the area around their flying craft,” Damus stated. “But what are those other dots, showing up?”
“I'm not sure,” Presley1522 replied. “Could be more interference.”
*** “CORPORATE SECURITY? HA!” Kutch shouted with a chuckle. “You've got that all wrong!” Alex gave Kutch a menacing look that was anything but reassuring.
“We worked together for years. You've changed your hair, and your nose, but I'd never forget those eyes,” Keja continued.
“We don't have time for this,” Alex stressed. “We only have a few minutes to finish this.”
“I understand, but I haven't configured the remote nodes yet, they'll--”
“I've done that already. The thirty-six hour window is nearly over,” Alex explained.
Keja smiled and chuckled. “Ah--I should have known that too. The thirty-six hour window--I forgot you showed me that flaw in the security system a long time ago.”
“We're nearly out of time. We need to continue with the manual shutdown,” Alex pressed as she put the data cube into the slot and reached for the power handle.
“HALT! WHO IS DOWN THERE!” the unseen voice demanded, from up the ramp.
Keja turned to look, then back to Alex and Kutch. “Go, I've got this. I'm authorized to be here. You're not! Go...go!” Keja ordered.
Alex turned to Kutch. “Go!”
“Are you serious? You're going to trust this guy?”
“With my life!” Alex turned to Keja. “Remember, ninety seconds minimum to clear the circuits.”
“I know! GO!” Alex grabbed at Kutch's long coat taking him with her around the corner down the corridor.
“YOU! HALT! Why are you down here?” the first of the two large Earth humans from the ramp asked, as the translation to Corporate echoed from devices around their necks. Keja could see they were two of Cain's men. Seeing them up close was intimidating, but Keja held his ground.
“I assure you I am authorized to be here. I am running a maintenance routine,” Keja said, as he pulled the power handle into the off position. He could hear the strange translation of his words echoing from the devices around their necks. The lights flickered and the two large Earth humans took a defensive stance. The ever-present, soft, droning background noise dissipated and the corridor became very quiet.
::Ninety seconds and counting,:: Xria announced.
“Your GOD, Cain did not inform us of this activity.”
“Well, then I would guess that’s because it’s just part of my regular duties--to the glory of Cain,” Keja added, keeping his hand on the large power handle, waiting to pull the handle back up.
::Eighty seconds and counting,::
“Step away from that panel,” the second large Earth human ordered.
“I will as soon as I have completed my duties. God Cain would certainly want me to complete my duties,” Keja resisted.
The two Trupes pulled their long blades out and turned on their plasma fields. A blue hue glow surrounded the blades.
::Seventy seconds and counting. Remote nodes are reporting a shutdown in process. Initiating MotherII safety protocols.::
::MotherII--?::
“Step away NOW!” the first Trupe ordered again.
“You must understand it is imperative I complete my duties for the Cain God. I have been entrusted with this and must complete this maintenance! GLORY TO CAIN,” Keja improvised for added effect.
The first Trupe stepped forward to grab at Keja's arm, but the PPD force field pushed away the large human’s hand. Keja turned to face the panel and reestablish his hold on the power handle.
::Thirty seconds and counting,:: Xria continued.
The light blue glow of the plasma-covered long blade lit up the area of the panel shaded by Keja's body for only a moment, before sliding back through his body without a sound. Keja knew in an instant there was a problem as he could no longer feel his feet, but he leaned toward the panel. The sound of the Earth human’s commands continued distorted and distant.
::Twenty seconds and counting...:: Xria reported. Keja realized how much he loved the sound of Xria's voice, now the only clear sound in his head, even as he lost his grip on the power handle. He slid down the face of the panel and onto the floor with no apparent control over any part of his body. Everything dimmed to a strange darkness.
::Ten seconds to power on...::
::I think I'm dying Xria,::
::Yes, please stay calm, you will be fine. Eight--::
::I have always loved the sound of your voice.::
::Seven...I know.::
::I have always loved working with you.::
::Five...I know.::
Keja felt a strange tingle starting from his core and moving out to his extremities. : :Is that my PPD cocooning?::
::Yes...safety protocols completed. Two--::
::I always loved y--::
::-
*** The Cap led his team through the thick undergrowth, following, what appeared to be a trail. Paced a few strides apart, they all scanned the surroundings in the early evening darkness, their night vision still very astute, after generations of night operations at Drelund.
The last man in the line of Trupes turned to see the cause of some rustling in the bush not far behind as the rest continued.
“Report,” the Cap ordered in a hushed tone. “Clear--”
“Clear!”
“Clear...”
Silence replaced the final report. The Cap turned to
see he was missing a man. With precise hand
gestures, the Cap ordered the last man in the line to investigate while the rest waited, scanning the heavy brush and trees. They heard the distinct sound of the rush of wind, brush rustling, then a loud thump, followed by silence once more.
The Cap ordered a defensive stance and the remaining three grouped up, with their backs to each other, long blades drawn. They could hear brush rustling in the distance from all directions, when without warning something rushed by, followed by another loud thump on the ground. The Cap turned to see he had lost yet another man, while their attacker was still unseen.
The surrounding forest became more silent than the Cap thought possible. But the silence didn't last long. Once again, there was a sound of rushing wind, rustling brush and a loud thump to the ground; the Cap was alone. Feeling a fear he had never experienced before in his life, the Cap turned to run back down the trail, desperate to get a massage back through his necklace communicator. His lungs burned and his legs ached from the increased air pressure and gravity, not felt since the day they left, so long ago. He heard a familiar sound of something rushing toward him from behind. He wanted to scream, but there was no time, the savage force of pressure on his throat was too quick.
*** Alex led Kutch down the corridor at a full run, when she realized something and stopped.
“What?” Kutch asked as he caught up.
Alex pulled a proximity scanner and started a sweep. “The system hasn't turned back on yet. The cooling system is still shutdown. Something went wrong,” Alex answered.
“You said you could trust him. Now you're saying we can't trust him?”
“No. I'm saying something went wrong. The node didn't get turned back on.”
“So we need to go back and turn it back on.” Kutch started to head back.
“No, I'm saying--” Alex was interrupted by a low, and powerful thud, felt through the flooring and even shaking some dust from the overhead.
“What was that?”
“No, no...no, no--not again!” Alex stammered with great concern.
“What?” Kutch asked.
“Run! Run NOW! RUN!” Alex grabbed at Kutch's long coat again and continued down the corridor at full speed.
“WHAT'S HAPPENING?” Kutch yelled as the mechanical noises in the corridor became much louder. The flooring began a violent shaking, causing more dust to fall from above.
“THE SUPPORT EQUIPMENT AFFECTED BY THE NODE SHUTDOWN, IS NO LONGER GETTING ANY COOLING! EVERYTHING IS OVERHEATING!” Alex shouted back over her shoulder. “RUN FASTER!”
Kutch could see they were fast approaching an exit door. Alex reached the exit first, and flung the door open to the outside, just as a low, but very powerful rumbling shook the entire structure and a brilliant orange glow was building back down the corridor from behind.
“IT'S GOING TO BLOW! KEEP RUNNING!” Alex shouted and grabbed at Kutch's long coat once more, helping to fling him, and herself over a safety rail toward a cooling system water overflow holding pond, a few meters below.
In that same instant, the exit burst with a large ball of flame and debris as they dove into the water below.
*** The entire structure comprising the Great Hall shuddered, followed by a deep groan from below. Cain turned from the image of Li, drifting not far away within the large room. There was a sensation of familiarity; he could sense someone-
“You're weakness is catching up to you,” Li interrupted Cain's thoughts.
Cain turned, his entire body bursting into a ball of flame, and reached for Li, feeling as though he was close. “I am not WEAK! I grow stronger each passing moment. YOU will soon be within my grasp, one way or another!”
“My Lord, there has been an explosion. I have lost communications with two Trupe guards!” K’nal Ja'Nier entered the Great Hall with the last two loyal Trupe guards. “The structure is collapsing!”
“This building will not collapse, unless I WILL IT TO COLLAPSE!” Cain bellowed, glowing even brighter with flames. Ja'Nier backed away from the intense heat projected from Cain. “MORE TRIBUTE!”
“Yes, My Lord,” Ja'Nier bowed and left the room, the two Trupes by his side.
*** Cyan came back in from his reconnaissance outside the main cave entrance. “The night-singers are singing-their song of a kill,” he said with surprise.
“Those are the other dots on the sensor scans,” Presley1522 surmised.
“The night-singers?” Damus wondered. “There are too
many, the local pack has only nine or ten members.” “Easily accounted for with the distortions we're seeing
due to the frequency generator,” Presley1477 offered. Cyan shook his head, still catching his breath from the
run back for his report. “I counted three, possibly four
distinct pack songs and directions.”
“Blessed be, Shola Rai is answering our prayers for
help,” Novia concluded.
*** “K'nal, we have lost communications with two more patrols,” the Trupe announced. “That's six patrols missing.”
Lluxi slammed his fist down onto the console next to the Trupe. “What kind of men are these NorWes warriors, that they hide themselves so well, and attack unseen? Send more patrols. I want the surrounding area secured to off-load the main forces and supplies before daylight!”
“Yes, Sir!”
*** If the concrete embankment were any steeper surrounding the cooling system, water overflow holding pond, Kutch felt he might not be able to climb out. He looked around to see Alex a few meters away, having similar difficulty. After a few minutes struggle they both reached the top, several hundred meters away from the continued rumble of explosions under the complex. The lower, sub-structure part of the building where they had come out, was nothing more than a pile of smoldering rubble.
“Plunkgrease!” Alex complained.
“What's wrong?”
Alex pulled her long coat off for a better examination.
Kutch could see the damage right away. Large portions were scorched and burnt to a crisp. Kutch took a cursory glance at his own to find similar damage, though not as bad. “I guess that was closer than expected, huh?”
Alex pulled a proximity scanner from a pocket of her long coat, and tossed the burnt remains to the ground. She took some readings in the direction of the main Corporate campus building. The rumble of more explosions from deep within, could still be heard, while some portions of the main building began to crumble from within. “I don't understand,” Alex mumbled. “This shouldn't have happened.”
“You think? Parts of that structure should not still be standing after what just happened.”
“No, that's not--”
“Seriously, that main structure should be collapsing by now,” Kutch interrupted. “By the way, you said something back there.”
“I say a lot of things,” Alex answered.
“You said something about, 'not again.' What did you mean?”
“I had always blamed Toolkit for doing something wrong, but--”
“Toolkit?”
“I double-checked the configurations--”
“You've never done anything like this before, so why would you say...” Kutch stopped himself, when he saw a strange look on Alex's face.
::There have been reports of a catastrophic protocol channel system failure,:: Alex's tactical AI reported. Alex glanced back at the billowing smoke raising from the building remains. “Plunkgrease!”
***
“That can't be correct! The protocol channels are failsafe, with redundant systems. They can't all fail at once!” Director Huir shouted at the holographic display of the Security Officer tendering the report.
“All the remote sensors are indicating catastrophic failures with three local field officers witnessing explosions,” the security officer continued his report.
“KEJA! ROTH! REPORT TO MY OFFICE IMMEDIATELY!”
*** “We're switching our main communications channels from the failed protocol channels to various sub-space freq
uencies,” Presley1285 explained. “But there will be serious consequences with the loss of the protocol channels.”
“What went wrong? I thought there was to be a reset in progress, not--”
“I have assigned an analyst to attempt to find a cause,” Presley1285 assured Anthony.
“How could this happen--how?” Anthony wondered, shaking his head in disbelief.
*** “How could this happen?” Kutch asked. “The protocol channels have failsafe protections in place, that--”
“That we bypassed,” Alex interrupted.
“We? You did all the reconfigurations...”
Alex looked hurt. “Okay, ME! I bypassed the protections!”
Kutch felt the sting of Alex's retort, and realized his comment was far more harsh than he had meant. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like...”
Alex turned away to make her point, and stared at the main structure. More explosions could be heard and felt shaking the ground. She could see just over the brush landscaping surrounding the pond, a section of the main entry several hundred meters away, with a wide path for pedestrians that had been packed with people attempting to enter and praise Cain. Now, only a few were attempting to enter and the rest were trying to leave.
“Look,” Alex pointed.
“I understand--I came with you and I will take my part of the blame for--”
“NO! LOOK!” Alex pointed again. Kutch wasn't sure what he was looking at. “Some of them are leaving.” She took another proximity scan of the area.
“Well, of course--the explosions would...”
“The protocol channels are offline. Cain's protocol command changes have been stopped,” Alex explained.
“Can I help you?” a female voice sounded from a clearing not far from Alex. “You appear to have been close to the explosions, are you injured?”
Alex and Kutch were startled to see a woman wearing a medical technician's uniform emerging from the bushes.
::Did you turn your AI telemetry back on?:: Kutch asked over a secure channel.
::NO! It's still OFF!:: Alex answered Kutch, but continued to ignore the woman who was now closer. Alex ran another scanner sweep of the woman and other people behind her. ::None of those people are running their AI telemetry either!::
Birth Of A Goddess Page 44
