by M. R. Forbes
“That isn’t my place to say, sir.”
“No, I guess it isn’t. Stacker out.”
He motioned for Nathan to cut the link, which he did. They stared at one another in silence for a number of heartbeats.
“How can one fucking Spacer be so hard to kill?” James said. “Or one fucking Earther, if that’s what he is. The virus is one hundred percent effective, and if it isn’t? If he breathed it in and didn’t die? Fuck!” He brought his hand down on the other armrest of the chair, crumpling the metal. “You look so fucking smug right now, Nathan. I want to wring your fucking neck.”
Nathan fought harder to contain his emotions. He couldn’t help it. James let Hayden live because he was convinced the virus would kill him. Only the virus didn’t kill him. He had gotten out ahead of it, or he had avoided it somehow. Was it some incredible luck?
“I’m sorry James,” he replied. “I really am. But maybe that’s just fate?”
James’ eyes shifted. For a moment, Nathan was sure the general was going to ring his neck. He didn’t stand a chance against James’ stronger replacement limbs.
Then James’ face loosened, his lips spreading into a smile. The smile turned into a small laugh, growing louder until he threw his head back and roared out loud.
“He’s going to be gunning for Tinker,” Nathan said. “And you, I would guess. He’s going to want to stop you from spreading the virus, which means he’s going to be headed for Edenrise.”
James looked at him again, his laughter quieting. “Why the fuck do you think I’m laughing? All of the effort we made to kill him and he’s going to come right to us as if he has a chance of getting to Tinker or me there. Come on, Nathan. Let’s get a move on. I want us back in Edenrise to welcome him when he arrives.”
Chapter 24
Nathan and James went to the back of the Pulse. Nathan hadn’t noticed the supplies they had brought on board earlier. James was in such a rush to leave they had gone directly to the bridge.
Three large crates were resting in the hold -- square metal boxes that came up to Nathan’s chin. James approached the first one, using his fingerprint to open the biometric lock on it.
“Those aren’t big enough for your armor,” Nathan observed.
“No,” James replied. “I don’t know how tight the quarters will be inside.”
He pulled open the door to his crate, revealing more traditional Space Force armor beneath. Not the jumpsuits like the majority of the grunts wore, but the armor-plated bodysuits initially worn by the United States Marine Corps and improved over the centuries. A helmet rested on a shelf beside it, above a large plasma rifle and what looked like a Centurion laser pistol.
Nathan walked over to the crate next to it, putting his thumb against the scanner. The crate unlocked. He pulled the door open, finding nearly identical equipment inside. The only difference was the insignia on the chest plate of the armor. His had an eagle stenciled against it, while James had four silver stars.
They dressed in silence. James was still angry about Hayden. Nathan understood why. The sheriff was proving to have a store of extra lives, managing to survive when all of the odds were stacked against him. He couldn’t help but respect that. He knew James did too, even if his Stacker anger was still the most powerful emotion. More than that, Hayden had saved the Liberators in Fort McGuire from the trife, and from one of Tinker’s genetically engineered monstrosities. From the sound of things, the Hellion was a powerful and dangerous creation.
Hayden was headed to Edenrise. They would meet again, once more on opposing sides. Nathan had until they arrived to decide how he was going to handle it. He didn’t owe Hayden anything, but he felt a sense of guilt for agreeing to join him and then almost immediately abandoning him. At least he had prevented James from taking his life in Crosston.
Besides, they might not meet again. There were more than enough soldiers in Edenrise to handle the sheriff.
Maybe.
He smiled at the thought. It was strange, but he felt more of a connection with Hayden than he did with James, despite their shared root genome.
It took about ten minutes to get loaded up. It had been years since Nathan had last worn full military body armor, and he spent a few minutes walking back and forth in the hold, crouching and jumping and getting used to the feel of it on his body. Hopefully, they wouldn’t even need the armor. There was no outward indication that anyone or anything was living inside the military base. Hopefully, they would go in, grab the data they needed, and get out.
“If you’re done,” James said.
Nathan returned to where he was standing, in front of the third crate. He put his thumb to it and opened it up, revealing a pair of robots. They were bunched together in the space, their small metal bodies resting amidst eight tightly folded legs lined with barbs. The legs ended in a trio of curved blades, currently resting lightly on the surface of the crate.
“Spiders,” James said. “Like C-Dog, but intended for smaller spaces. Lower the visor of your helmet and activate the system.”
“Roger,” Nathan said. He reached up to the helmet and pulled the front visor down, snapping it into place. The combat system activated immediately, a HUD displaying a networked link to the rifle magnetically snapped to his back and apparently to one of the robots too.
“Comms check,” James said. “General. Check.”
“Relentless. Check.”
“Copy that. You’re familiar with the Advanced Tactical Combat System?”
Nathan recognized the ATCS, though it had been modified from the Space Force version he was accustomed to. “This one’s a little different.”
“Yes. Tinker added an interface for external machine control. CSF prefers to have base operators manage their robots or to set them to automatic. I like having more intimate control. Blink your left eye twice.”
Nathan did.
“Spider Two awaiting orders,” a synthesized voice said.
“It has similar artificial intelligence to the companion robots,” James said. “Speak to it normally, and it can interpret the commands. You can also set it to specific modes. Follow, scout, defend, attack. I brought them along mainly for scouting ahead, and squeezing into places we still might not fit. We aren’t the smallest soldiers around.”
“Roger that,” Nathan said. “Spider, follow me.”
“Affirmative,” the spider voice said.
Four blue eyes began to glow on the robot, and its body rose, the legs uncurling beneath it. It started forward, pointed legs tapping on the surface of the deck. It came to a stop two meters behind Nathan.
James’ spider did the same a moment later, taking up a position behind the general. Then James went over and tapped the control to lower the ramp to the outside.
They exited the Pulse onto the salt flat. The compound was on their left, four smaller buildings with a massive blast door blocking the entrance to a cavern. A smaller metal door intended for people and small vehicles to enter through was fixed to the rock beside it. Nathan hadn’t noticed the doors during the descent. They were tucked beneath the mountain, out of sight from the air.
“It’s bigger than I thought,” Nathan said.
“Which is why we need to get our asses in gear,” James replied. He started jogging toward the compound, the body armor providing a boost of strength and stamina through the assistive musculature that lined the inside.
Nathan broke into a jog behind him while the robots followed, keeping perfect pace with the humans. James sped up as he covered the ground, and Nathan accelerated with him. They were at a near-sprint by the time they reached the buildings and James began to slow.
“It’s been a while since I got a good run in,” James said. “What we’re looking for isn’t going to be out here.” He pointed, and his spider broke away, running as fast as its eight legs would carry it toward the smaller blast door.
It came to a stop in front of the door, while Nathan and James continued to it at a walk.
&nb
sp; “What’s it doing?” Nathan asked.
“Scanning it for potential traps,” James said. “I don’t know how much effort the USSF went through to keep this place protected when they bugged out.”
They reached the door. The spider had finished its scan by then, backing up and waiting for them.
“It’s clean,” James said. “Locked, but clean.” He grabbed a small device from his belt. “We can take care of the lock.”
He put a device on the side of the door with the hinge and then waved Nathan back. They retreated a dozen meters before James triggered the detonator.
Nathan could feel the heat of the thermal explosive despite the distance as it flared with bright white heat. It sizzled lightly as it burned, cutting into the metal and through with intense energy.
“Won’t that kind of energy bring the trife running?” Nathan asked, forced to look away. It was just too bright.
“Potentially, but I don’t have another way through a military grade blast door. Do you?”
“Negative.”
It took close to thirty seconds for the explosive to burn out. The door was compromised before it finished, toppling to the ground with a loud thud. Nathan looked back at the entrance and the red-hot metal.
James sent his spider in first. It moved to the door and leaped over it, landing smoothly inside. There wasn’t much light in the area beyond. The base had been without power for years, possibly even centuries.
Even though his helmet filtered the air he was breathing, Nathan could still smell the staleness of the atmosphere that wafted out from the unsealed doorway. It left a taste of iron on his tongue, thick and heavy. There was another smell mixed in with it, one he was becoming accustomed to the more time he spent on Earth. He hoped it wouldn’t always be that way. Maybe once the war was over things would change.
It was the smell of death.
Chapter 25
Nathan instinctively grabbed his plasma rifle from his back, flipping the switch to power it on. Immediately, a targeting reticle appeared on his overlay, moving across his vision as he shifted the weapon in his grip.
He stepped past the fallen blast door, careful not to let it burn him on the way. His visor shifted again, the embedded night vision activating automatically as he entered the darkened area.
“You smell that, Relentless?” James asked.
“How could I not?” Nathan replied.
The interior of the area slowly materialized in front of him, the algorithms in the ATCS smoothing out the feed from the twin cameras mounted in his helmet. The combination gave him a more unobstructed view of his surroundings than his eyes ever could, even with the help of IR.
They were in a large hangar that seemed to stretch on forever, the rear of the space vanishing outside the limits of his vision nearly half a kilometer distant. There were aircraft arranged on both sides of the hangar, neatly lined up one after another, organized by type and size. Nathan didn’t know enough about Earth aircraft to identify any of them, but the lead craft looked sleek and fast and aggressive, and there was no mistaking the ordnance hanging from beneath their wings. The airplanes farther back were more blocky and less dangerous looking, but still impressive.
Smaller equipment was chaotically spread around the aircraft. Ladders, crates, loading vehicles, and even racks carrying additional missiles were resting near the machines. A fuel truck was sitting nearby, its line still tethered to one of the planes.
Mingled in with the supplies were bodies. Dozens of bodies. They were old enough to have deteriorated, but the dry air and protection from the elements had left them nearly whole. The flesh was dehydrated but still present, revealing the full expressions of the men and women who had died violently and afraid.
Some wore jumpsuits stained with blood around what looked like bullet wounds. Others were carrying guns of their own but had been killed by claws or blades or some other sharp instrument, the flesh on their necks deeply scored. They weren’t grouped as though they had been defending themselves, they were spread out, as though the attack had come out of nowhere and left them with little time to react.
“It almost looks like they killed each other,” James said. “At least some of them.”
Nathan noticed that some of the soldiers with guns were facing some of the other soldiers who had been shot. He also realized the armed soldiers didn’t have any visible wounds but were dead all the same.
What the hell?
“I have no idea what happened here,” he said.
“Me either,” James agreed. “Somebody was alive after this happened, though.”
“How do you know?”
“Somebody locked the door.” He paused, motionless while he sent a command to his spider. “Set your spider to scout ahead.”
“Roger,” Nathan said. “Spider Two, engage scouting mode. Send a feed to my visor.”
“Confirmed,” the synthetic voice replied. A moment later, a video feed from what served as the spider’s eyes appeared in the bottom left corner of his visor.
The spider made its way toward the back of the hangar, taking a route that brought it beneath the aircraft on the right side. Nathan got a closer look at a few of the bodies as it passed them. They had definitely been taken off-guard.
The spider’s feed revealed more vehicles in the rear of the hangar. Trucks and transports and support vehicles. There were dark stains on the hangar floor ahead of the remaining vehicles, suggesting some of them had been taken out of the complex and hadn’t returned.
“Somebody got out of here,” Nathan said.
“I see it,” James replied, watching his spider’s feed. “I’ve got a corridor at the rear. Let’s head that way. Eyes and ears open.”
They advanced cautiously, scanning the area around them as they moved. The place seemed deserted, and the dead had been that way for a long, long time. Still, there was a general uneasiness about the place, strong enough to put James on edge. They swept past each of the aircraft with their rifles, monitoring the area as though the dead might come back to life.
They reached the ground transports a few minutes later, sweeping past them as well. Nathan’s height gave him a higher perspective than the spider, allowing him to see into the cabs. Two of them had dead drivers behind the wheel, bullet holes in the windshield and side of the door. One of them had a dead soldier with a gun at its back. Nathan paused to look into the rear, feeling sick when he found a dozen dead people inside. The people weren’t dressed like soldiers. They were wearing civilian clothes and the white lab coats of scientists and researchers. Had they created whatever killed them?
Was it still here?
It was a ridiculous thought. Over a century had gone by since anyone had been here.
They reached the passage at the rear of the hangar. There was a second corridor to their right, against the wall.
“Send your spider down that one,” James said.
“Roger that,” Nathan replied, directing his robot along the second passage.
He and James followed the other spider into the primary corridor. It was large and wide, big enough to drive a smaller transport through to carry supplies into and out of the hangar. It ended a short distance later at another blast door. This one was hanging slightly open and leading into more darkness beyond.
“Lift shaft?” Nathan guessed.
“Affirmative,” James replied.
James’ spider reached the door, adjusting its approach and shifting its legs to squeeze itself through the opening and into the shaft.
“Standby,” James said.
Nathan shifted his attention to his spider’s feed while they waited. Its corridor was longer and smaller, taking a turn to the left and angling slightly downward. He could see a t-junction up ahead and a few doors placed on both sides of the passage.
“Tell me if your spider gets anything useful,” James said.
“Roger,” Nathan replied. “Nothing interesting so far, unless you like random generic corridors.”
Nathan smiled, exhaling some of his tension. This place was just like the people in the hangar. Dead. He looked back at the spider’s feed. It had reached the t-junction and decided to turn right. It started forward.
A bright light filled the feed’s window, followed by static. He heard the explosion a moment later, a small rumble that echoed through the corridors.
“What the fuck?” James said.
“Something just attacked the spider,” Nathan said. According to his ATCS, the robot was offline. “It's gone.”
“Did you see it?” James asked.
“Negative. I didn’t see anything.”
“Shit. Okay, let’s check it out. I don’t want to take any chances of something sneaking up on us.”
“Roger.”
They started back the way they had come, passing into the hangar and across to the secondary passage. They found the spider a moment later. Its body was black and mangled, its legs shattered by the blast.
Nathan stared down the corridor, rifle up and ready. He didn’t see anything. There was a turn in the passage a dozen meters away. He started forward, staying close to the wall.
“Relentless, wait!” James barked.
Nathan stopped. James was coming up behind him. He stopped next to Nathan and knelt down, putting his hand on the floor. “There. Do you see it?”
Nathan looked at where James’ finger was pointing. It took him a few seconds to recognize the faint outline of something placed on top of the floor, perfectly blended with it.
“We call them paper mines,” James said. “Pressure sensitive. As soon as the spider touched it -- boom.” He stuck his gloved finger beneath the mine and lifted it from the floor. There was a single narrow circuit on the bottom, and James used his finger to disconnect it. “Harmless now.”
“Why do you think they would put mines in this corridor?” Nathan asked. “I thought our target was below?”
“There’s definitely a research facility under us,” James said. “My spider is feeding me a view of it. I think the mainframe is up here, but I still want to go down there.”
