“Any cache or stores around?”
“There is one alongside the old highway heading towards the middle of Omaha.”
“Then we need to focus on there. Have you seen anything there we should know?”
“Not really. You know, I haven’t really scoped it out, or even thought about weapons at all until just a few days ago.”
“Ok. I think our first plan of attack is to find out how we can make a raid on the place. I have some of my devices…you know the type, that we can use to help us get past their systems.”
“Sure. It’s about five miles from here. Maybe we should go now.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
Tobias threw a glance at Kerry Ann who had been listening in as she sipped a cup of coffee. “Oh, don’t worry about me. I’ll take care of your place. You can trust me.”
“She’s Ok Tobias.”
“Hey, don’t take it the wrong way, but you know…”
“Sure do. How do you think I survived these years in the west?”
“Check on Frieda for me while we are gone, won’t you?”
“No worries honey. She’ll get the good treatment from me. You two go off and see what you can find. This is kind of exciting, don’t you think?”
“You could see it that way. Ok, Tobias, what tools do you have? Something to get us through wire fences or similar?”
“Come to the shed. I have a few that should do the trick.”
They covered the five miles in good time, encountering very few people on their way. “See, I told you it is fairly deserted around here. Not many people seem to be able to endure life this far into the fringes. They need the authorities I guess.”
“Yeah, the old dependency thing, but what do they have to depend upon? It is not like the authorities are doing all that much for anyone these days. Anyway, the first thing I need to do is to run a scan of the systems they have guarding this place.” John calibrated his scanner device via the holographic controls and quickly intercepted the data they required.
“Gee, that was quick.”
“Yeah, over the past few years I have been honing my skills.”
“What about flux. I heard the authorities are developing something to counteract the amplifier the Agent has.”
“They didn’t get it from me that is for sure. I can only speculate on where it came from or what they are doing. I suppose it is just a progression of what they had when they were trying to get the information out of me through that device they implanted in my head.”
“So they are basically lying in a way.”
“More or less. The flux technology is still cutting edge. In all the years since those days, I have not met even one individual who had any notion on how to make it work, besides Tim.”
“I wonder how or where he is.”
“Beats me, but Carmel was a bit upset. She has not seen him in a long time. Ok, now I have the readings. With this data, I can decode their security and fool their sensors.”
“What about locations? We need to know where they keep their weapons.”
“I’ll have that in a minute. We just need to wait whilst the algorithm aligns with theirs.”
A few moments later, John had what they required, “Right. We need to go to the northern side of the building and find access there. The weapons store is on that side. We are going to have to be fast though. I am going to take video surveillance off line in the section we enter. You can be sure they will be onto any discrepancy in a flash. I estimate we will have about three minutes.”
Tobias cut through the wire permitter fence as John attended to maintaining the correct data feed to create false readings for the sensors. As soon as he had cut through, they ran to the doorway that was already opening as they approached. “This way,” John whispered.
Ten meters onward, they reached the weapons cache doorway, where John entered a sequence to open the door. Inside was an array of weaponry. “Just grab some rifles and power cells, while I make sure this data keeps working.”
Tobias took four rifles and filled a bag with power cells, “Ok. I have enough. Let’s go.”
The moment they had made it back to the external doorway, alarms began to sound throughout the building. “Leave the tools,” John said seeing Tobias about to bend over to pick them up. They ran through the hole in the fence and then headed to the east to give the impression they had come from that direction to anyone who might have caught a glimpse of them by sight, or through surveillance.
“Keep going this way,” Tobias said as they ran as fast as they could. “I know a way we can circle around and then go back to my house.”
Two hours later, they arrived back at the house to see Kerry Ann had organised a stash of supplies, and was waiting for them in readiness to leave. “Did you get us some weapons?”
“Sure. We are going to have to move fast though. We might have tricked those officers back there, but soon enough, they could be around here looking for anyone they suspect of stealing them. How’s Frieda?”
“She’s great, and ready to go. I harnessed some bags onto her and packed them with food and blankets. There is a bit of straw, but we don’t have a lot.”
“We’ll head for the old farm where I found those truffles and stay there for a while. We can get some of the wild grain there for her.”
“What about the authorities, won’t they go there?”
“It is a risk we are going to have to take…as if life these days is not full of risks anyway. Besides, if we go and establish ourselves, hide the weapons, and look as if we live there, then it could increase our chances. We need a base to plan our next moves. Staying here is just too risky, and with so few people about, they are bound to scope all the houses in the vicinity.”
Just before sundown they were at the farm and Frieda was happy to be inside the barn, eating some wild grains. John decided it was best they all stay in the barn so they could be close to her, and to give them a tight close knit area should anyone come visiting.
“We should take a heading to the north and then attempt a crossing there,” John said putting his finger on Jamestown in North Dakota.
“But that will take us far too long honey,” Kerry Ann replied. “Why don’t we go back and get my vehicle. It will be much faster that way. Surely you can use that brain of yours and come up with some device thing to help us on our way. Travel by foot with Frieda is just too slow.”
“She’s right John. Maybe we should go back for the vehicle.”
“I had considered doing that, but the risk…”
“You said there is going to be a lot of risk involved. Why don’t you and Tobias go and get it. I’ll stay here and see what I can find on this farm.”
“There is another road we can take it along from my house back here.”
“Ok, you’ve convinced me. I guess Frieda has done a lot of walking by now.”
“So what do you have in mind?” Tobias asked John as they walked the eight miles back to his house.
“A shielding algorithm. It should work, but it is not a guarantee. We are going to have to be very careful and travel mostly at night without lights. The authorities won’t be expecting anything like us so near the fence with all their efforts concentrated on guarding the permitter.”
“How long until you have it up and running…the algorithm I mean?”
“About a minute. It is just a few configuration parameters and floating calculations that change in real time as we drive.”
Around midnight they were gathered again in the barn with the vehicle parked inside, where John and Tobias were working on some modifications to the rear compartment to give Frieda some more space.
“Look girl, they’re making some room for you. We can’t have you lying down all the way.”
When they had finished, John suggested they hide the vehicle in the old shed a few yards behind the barn with a cover and by scattering old debris and broken machinery over and around. His thoughts had proven worthy, as the next morning
as the curfew hour passed, two officers of the authorities had arrived, waking them all from a deep sleep.
“What have we got here? How come you are living here? Why aren’t you in town?”
“There is wild food here. It just seems like a good place to stay.”
“For how long? When did you get here?”
“A few weeks back.”
“This horse. Who gave it you?”
“It’s mine,” John said. “I’ve had her a long time.”
“We can take it. Any reason why we shouldn’t?”
“None I can think of. But I was going to ride her to have my identification chip update. You know, there was the advice the other day.”
The officers stood silent for a few moments considering the merit of this statement from John. “Why don’t you walk? A lot of people do.”
“I have a sore leg and it is much more efficient for me to ride. After all, I want the update as soon as I can for protection from the Agent. I was going to have it done today,” John said whilst showing them an old scar on his leg that did not affect his capacity to walk at all.
“How did you get a sore leg?”
“I’ve had it for years. It happened when I was helping an officer like you apprehend a dissident non-complier when the chip first came out.” This lie seemed to have some merit with the officers.
“Do you have any weapons?”
“No. What for? Life on this farm is fairly safe so far. Anyway, they are illegal.”
“Indeed they are. We need to take a look to make sure. Is there anything you would like to tell us?”
“Um, only to say, I hope they authorities can get rid of the Agent. He is making life very difficult for all of us.” The others nodded in agreement.
The two officers looked around the barn without finding anything, and then they went outside to look in the shed. When they went inside, this instilled a degree of nervousness in the three of them as they stood at the door to the barn watching. “Stay calm,” John said. “Give nothing away.”
“Come here,” one of the officers shouted.
“What is it?” John asked.
“Did you know there are illegal machines in this shed?”
“What machines?”
“These farm implements, and that old produce transport.”
“We had seen them, but we are not interested. They are of no use to us.”
“Have you tried to operate them?”
“No, they look broken.” John was thankful for the extent they had gone to in hiding their vehicle, as it was stashed behind a pile of machine debris and so well disguised and out of reach to the officers, they simply looked in its direction, and then moved on.
“You are clear. But…make sure you all get your chip upgrades as soon as possible.”
“We will,” they all said in unison.
After they had gone, they could take a few deep breaths. “You know how lucky we are?” John said as the officers drove away from the farm.
“What do you mean?”
“They were absent minded enough not to scan us for chips with their hand held scanners after I said the lie about the upgrade.”
“I entirely forgot,” Tobias said.
“I’ll make some of those dummy chip devices I built years ago now, in case we need them.”
“Good idea.”
Something inside him, told John there would be no requirement for hurrying to the aid and rescue of Carmel. He could not exactly tell what it was giving him this confidence, but he felt sure she would have the strength to survive. Perhaps it was her essence as a person that would carry her though these times of travesty brought on by the Agent. The three had agreed they would stay a while at the farm to prepare plans for the mission to Seattle, and to lay up for some time, before the arduous conditions of travel in the western sector. It would take a concerted effort to make it to Seattle and even more so, to rescue Carmel and take back the Torus of Eternity from the Agent. Nevertheless, they would not delay and as soon as they could move, they would.
When he had finished building the false identification devices and had tested them thoroughly with dummy signals he generated through his scanner three days later, John joined the other two in living a little at the farm. Winter’s grip was still holding strong with each morning an icy start to the day, giving way to clear sunny weather and for the first time in ages, all three adults finally relaxed enough to consider this very thing. As reliant as they were upon their own individual types of ingenuity for survival, they all felt free of the burden of running, of hiding, and of worrying for a time, enabling them to feel more alive than they had for weeks.
Tobias no longer felt alone as he had for so long, just surviving in his house on the fringes. Kerry Ann finally had the company of people whom she could trust, and who lifted her own spirits and John had time to contemplate how long he had been running up until this point. They had gathered as much of the wild grain they could find, each of them enjoying the activity and each other’s company as they scoured the open fields in search of food. All of them felt a renewed sense, akin to being at the frontier where the challenges before them were not just counteractive measures against forces of oppression as had been the case for many years now. It was a sense of living for themselves and for each other, in the spirit of what it took to be a human with drive, with heart, and with sensation. In their own ways, they all felt how it would be a good life to continue on at the farm and live without the confrontations that lay ahead, finding as much peace as they could and to feel such peace.
As John rode Frieda through the wavy grasses at full gallop, she too seemed to have a renewed spirit as if she felt similar to the others and for all he could tell she was thoroughly enjoying the ride, despite her heavy breathing and the strain of her muscles. She let out a heartened call as she reared up before they were off again on a return route back to the farm buildings. A few minutes later when they pulled up at a stile, John could see the weather would soon change when he felt a gusty wind in his face. He then looked to the northwest where a cloudbank was building. “Come on girl. One last run.” With a pull on the reigns, they were off again, headlong towards the barn amongst the stand of old Oak trees.
By midnight, the weather had closed in, bringing freezing temperatures and a gentle snowfall. Then by morning, there were a few inches of snow on the ground under laden skies of grey. The cold weather lasted for the next few days, bringing constant snow, and a bitter cold coming in from the north. On the fourth night, Tobias and John discussed the technology options they had and what they thought would serve them well along the journey ahead, and then further on when they made it to the Agent in Seattle.
“I still have the flux resonator and the teleport configuration, so we have that on our side. If he or the authorities ever are able to get hold of this technology, we would be in much more trouble than we are now.”
“They would use it to accelerate atomic resonances wouldn’t they?”
“Yes, and if the Agent was able to do so, he could unleash viruses with much more devastating effect than he has so far. And, the authorities would have sufficient technological advantage that no-one would ever be able to challenge them…or even come close.”
“So it would stabilise his amplifier?”
“Precisely. The unstable nature of that beast is what makes his viruses have only limited impact and it is why they only last for short bursts before breaking down. With the flux algorithms, he would be able to open up voids in the continuum and then he could end up sending the entire planet into oblivion. It is fortunate he is not aware enough of its potential. Otherwise, I am sure he would pursue it much more than he has. Lucky too, that he knows nothing of my ability to make it work, otherwise I would also be his captor and be forced to work for him, which is something I would never do.”
“What about the authorities and their capacity?”
“Limited. They are still probably at the pseudo flux stage, where they rely on theoretica
l physics, rather than actually working with the real thing. I have a fair idea on what they are missing, but for them to obtain it would mean they would have to change their intentions…or the way they look at the technology. You see, you can only access the pathways to the algorithm based on your instigating angle. A bit like how at the quantum level, particles respond to the investigation placed upon them and so they change relative form and resonance to show the intended test results.”
“So they would be able to accelerate atomic fields and open up connections through dimensions?”
“Yeah. It is pretty simple after you get the algorithm. One thing leads to another basically, and then you can control the vortexes. My worry is what the Agent might be doing with these unstable viruses. Those holes I’ve seen in people and how they tend to congeal together, means there is a sub-atomic squandering happening, and that could lead to unstable vortexes basically disrupting the integrity of time and space. He doesn’t know what he is doing, or care about it. But if he continues, then literally all hell could break loose.”
“Seems like it already has. Those people you told me about, and the looks I have seen when they do the transports at the gate, make for pretty horrific experiences.”
“I’ve seen a few of them too,” Kerry Ann interjected. “They look pretty scary to me and in such misery too. It is hard to imagine human beings appearing that way and seeming to be so miserable. It puts pay to any misery I have seen before. It is more than desperate too.”
“What I saw near Salt Lake City was weird in the least. The fusion of organic mass and the entanglement of their atoms made for a macabre sight.”
“So their bodies begin to blend with each other?”
“That is about it. I can only guess it is because the viruses loosen the integrity of their cohesion and so they literally float about until they re-attach with other organic matter, which then leads to issues of endocrine rejection and the formation of bad lesions, and the fetid smell…hey, let’s change the subject, I think we get the picture.”
“Yeah I’m with you on that one honey. How about a nice hot drink with a touch of that whisky we have?”
Höllenbadt: Book two of the Torus Saga Page 17
