Jeep grabbed his standard toolbox filled with every size socket and screwdriver known to man. It was amazing how much you could disassemble using just those simple tools. When he grabbed several sets of pliers out of the drawer of the main cabinet, he made sure to ‘accidentally’ snag a large pair of wire cutters. He quickly stuffed them all in the back pockets of his stained denim jeans.
As he walked over there, he casually glanced around, making sure no one else was in cavernous space. As far as he could tell, he was all alone. As he drew nearer to his target, he realized he was nervous. He wasn’t sure exactly why he was nervous. The computer couldn’t hurt him. It had no defense capabilities that he was aware of. Granted, until today he would have said it didn’t have any thermonuclear bombs at its disposal, either.
He immediately went to the bike closest to the wall and set his toolbox down at the edge of the rear wheel. He had made sure to face the corner as well in order to try to see this access panel. He had admitted to himself that he had a shred of doubt about the general. He was an old man and he must have been under a crushing amount of stress with the events of the past few days.
Jeep was kneeling down and glancing just over the seat of the dirt bike. The more time that went by without finding the panel, the more he started to doubt himself, as well. Maybe he was just paranoid with massive trust issues. Perhaps Kate was right after all. He hoped that if he was wrong, she never found out about this minor betrayal. He had, after all, promised not to do anything.
Just as he was about to give up, he saw two sets of bolt heads that were totally out of place. Glancing along the rest of the wall, he could see all the other heads of the reinforcing rods gently poking out of the concrete, but these two didn’t make any sense. He knew that had to be it. It was actually really clever. Instead of hiding the access panel behind a locked down security panel, they had simply made it nearly invisible. The designers must have known that everyone would wonder what was behind the locked panel until they finally broke into it. This hidden panel had simply never been discovered. Even looking for it, Jeep had barely noticed it.
He thought long and hard about the fastest way to get into that panel. Like any good mechanic, he settled on a combination of tools and brute force. Jeep snatched the small crowbar screwdriver out of this toolbox. He still had the wire cutters in his back pocket as he speedily covered the distance over to the panel.
As he crouched next to it, he could see the bolt heads were entirely different from the standard ones along the rest of the wall. With a quick tap of his screwdriver, he discovered the heads were simply false caps. They popped away and clinked on the ground, making it sound like someone had just dropped a few pennies. Beneath the caps he saw simple Philips head screws. Jeep snapped that bit into place, lined up the screwdriver and pushed the button. In less than five seconds, the first screw popped out.
It had taken less than minute to remove the whole panel, and he was still waiting for alarms to start going off. By now, the AI certainly knew what he was up to. Jeep tried not to dwell on what might happen and instead continued searching the panel for his prey. After several minutes of digging amongst the wires, he discovered what he was looking for. It was a thick blue cable with the words ‘Fiber Optic’ stenciled up and down its length. It was totally out of place inside this access panel.
Seeing the fiber cable inside that panel cemented his belief in the general, and swept away any lingering doubts. A trunk line should not be inside that panel on the bluff side of the garage. The only reason for it to be there was if there was some other building or networked structure inside the bluff itself.
Without hesitation, Jeep reached into his back pocket and tried to pull out the cutters. They were tangled in the group of pliers, and everything came spilling out of his pocket at once, in a heap of clanging metal onto the concrete floor. Now he was very nervous. His blood started rushing harder and he felt his face flush as his skin broke out in tiny beads of sweat all over his forehead. Quickly, he pushed aside the pliers and noticed his hands were shaking. He couldn’t think about it anymore as he finally worked the cutters free from the tangled mess of small hand tools.
It took more pressure than he expected to cut the fiber optic line, but it was oversized for the tool he was using. With a very unceremonious snip, it was done. Jeep leaned back and wiped the sweat from his brow that had started to drip down his temples. He could feel his entire body covered in the salty brine. He had just had the very definition of a flop sweat. Still, no alarms had gone off. He was wondering if it had been the wrong cable. Certainly cutting a main fiber line in a military installation should elicit some kind of response.
He decided it was best not to wait around and see. He was all packed up and trying to come up with a way to alert the general that the deed was done when that voice finally drifted to his ears.
“You have just sealed the fate of eighteen major international cities. You and Bahn are always so impulsive. It was exactly what I was counting on.”
From somewhere off in the distance, Jeep felt a steadily increasing rumble filtering through the concrete floor.
+++
Kate heard the alarms just as she felt the entire facility start to shake. It felt like a train was rumbling right next to them, but she knew that was impossible. It had already gone on too long to be an earthquake. She hurried on to Laurel’s lab, hoping she might have some answers. As she rounded the corner and could see into the lab, she witnessed Laurel hastily throwing things into boxes.
“Hey, what’s going on? Why are you packing stuff up?” She looked around and saw most of her memory files had been pulled out of their banks and were tightly packed into a large backpack. The tremors still hadn’t abated either. “And what’s the shaking?”
Without looking up, Laurel said, “Probably the nuclear warheads that Shunka just launched. Grab those black memory sticks over there please,” she said as she pointed at a small bank of sticks under the counter.
Kate was thoroughly confused, but she fetched the sticks and carried them over to her. “What the hell is going on, Laurel?”
She stopped for a second and Kate got a look at just how red Laurel’s face had become. She was sweating profusely as she turned to speak to Kate. “Look, we don’t have much time here. The AI has been trying to start a global nuclear war; it just explained the whole thing to me. First and foremost, we need to get everything of research value out of this lab and off of this level. It’s going to be sealed soon.”
Kate was breathless. Was the general right? She knew that Laurel wasn’t prone to dementia or paranoia. “Why is this level being sealed?”
“Because the AI doesn’t want the president to escape this place. She is already sealed in on their side, but the AI is going to lock down the whole level. Shunka was planning on killing her in the explosion at the high school, but that gunman ruined her plans.” Laurel went back to cramming things into another pack. “Grab all those samples over there, the ones inside the coolant box.”
Kate did as she was told even though her mind seemed to have gone into a fog. The whole idea of an evil computer didn’t make any sense. Someone had to be controlling it, if what they were saying was true. She did feel bad thinking back to how she had essentially ridiculed Jeep for believing the general. None of this even felt real to her.
Kate walked the coolant box over to Laurel, and she hastily shoved it into the pack. “Okay, that should be everything.” Laurel picked up the backpack and held it out to Kate. “Put this on, we need to get upstairs. We’re going to be cutting this close.” she said as she glanced up at the digital time display that was high up the wall.
The pair quickly slid the backpacks on and then attempted to run out of the lab, but realized that was impossible with the poorly organized packs on their back. When they tried to run, things started shifting, and it was throwing off the balance of both women. “We just need to walk fast, but controlled,” Laurel said as she stared at Kate. “This is all sensiti
ve equipment and we can’t damage it. Now move!”
Once they had hit the steps, Laurel seemed to relax more with the sub level fire door now at their backs. It had never slammed shut, she felt good about that too. “Can you explain to me what is going on now?” Kate said between gulps of air. Even walking fast was very strenuous with the heavy pack on her back.
“Not yet. Come on, we need to get upstairs and into the back portion of the facility, to the extra area where the supply rooms are. Shunka told me that was where the pills were being deposited once they were done.” Laurel didn’t seem as winded as Kate as she bounded up the steps toward the backdoor.
When they finally reached the back of the facility, Kate was spent. She was panting like a dog, and sweat was dripping down her face and into her eyes. She could even taste the salty liquid as it ran down over her lips. Looking over at Laurel, she could see the obvious signs of fatigue showing all across her face as well.
“Let’s rest here for a second, and then we need to go get those pills.” Laurel said.
“Are the pills the gene therapy you have been working on? Is it completed?”
“As close as it’s ever going to get, at this place anyway. It slows things down and that’s good enough for now.” Laurel shrugged out of her backpack and Kate followed suit.
Suddenly the door leading to the steps down to the garage burst open, and Jeep came flying out. “Jesus Christ, why are you both sitting down! We need to go!”
Laurel looked at him, still red faced and said, “Just relax, big man, we can afford a second to catch our breath.” Then she looked around Jeep back to the stairs. “Is Marcus with you?”
“No, I haven’t seen him yet today. Damn, we need to find him right away!”
Kate had never heard him talk even half as fast as he was now. If it wasn’t such a serious situation, it would have been funny. The thick accent was never meant to move at that speed. “Will someone tell me what the hell is actually going on now?!?”
Laurel turned to her and took a deep breath. Just as she began to speak, everyone heard one of the doors to the main section of the facility snap open. Before they could even see who had exited, they all heard the familiar sound of the fire doors thunking into place, sealing the main facility from the outside.
A voice came ringing down the hall immediately following the slamming of the heavy fire doors. “What the hell?” it said.
Jeep looked up with a grin, “That’d be Marcus.”
Laurel smiled as well. “Good, at least the four of us made it out. Now we need to get the pills.” Bender came peeling around the corner, apparently running from the raucous noise caused by closing of the emergency fire doors. He ran straight to Kate, who began absent mindedly stroking his shiny black head. The poor dog was shaking slightly and still staring back down the hallway.
Marcus saw them all in a heap at the other end of the hallway and sped up his trot to get to them. “Hey, what the hell is going on? I got a message from the computer that I was supposed to meet you all here, but then the place went into lockdown once I got out. I think the dog tried to kneecap me. And what’s with all the shaking?” Marcus was clearly as confused as Kate. Kate wasn’t sure if that made her feel better or worse.
“I think I can explain everything,” Laurel said. “Let’s grab the pills first; they’re all that matters anymore. They were supposed to be packed into a box inside supply room one. Then we can go over by the outside doors and get all this sorted out. I don’t want to be too deep inside this place ever again.” she said ominously, as she glanced around at her small group of friends.
23
The small group of four leaned against the walls of the barren hallway as the sounds of Jeep vomiting echoed down the corridor. Kate was happy he had at least made it to one of the bathrooms inside the extra bunkrooms rather than hurl all over the hallway. As it went on, it became apparent that his stomach had gone way past empty and he was dry heaving violently.
“I’m going to go talk to him for a second and get him to come back out here,” Laurel said as she disappeared into the room. Kate was still crazy with frustration at not knowing what was happening, but she couldn’t bring herself to force the issue while Jeep was doing his best to turn his stomach inside out.
Kate couldn’t hear Jeep getting sick anymore, so that was a good thing. She was trying to make out what was being said but Laurel spoke too softly and the big southern boy wasn’t talking. She almost thought she heard sobbing, but quickly wrote it off as the standard sniffles and moans that tend to come along with a violent retching session. Kate wondered how long it had been since she had vomited but couldn’t remember. Even when she had the virus her stomach never turned sour on her.
Finally, after what seemed like ages, the odd pair emerged from the bunkroom. Laurel, who was as skinny as a stick and at least a foot shorter than Jeep, had her arms wrapped around him as they appeared. Kate was slightly worried that if Jeep actually put a fraction of his weight on her she would simply crumble. He wasn’t fat, not by any means, more like ‘farm boy thick’.
Marcus quickly went over to help his friend. Kate was heartened to see the true depth of their friendship, she knew it was much deeper than generic insults and smacks to the back of the head. This is what friends do for each other, she thought. Even though she had extensively studied the personality traits of all the staff her at the facility, she was very touched to see the tenderness that Marcus had for his buddy.
Kate had a serious look on her face as she asked, “Are you feeling any better, Jeep?”
Jeep face was still flushed and his forehead was covered in sweat. He turned his heavily bloodshot eyes towards her and said, “Not really, Doc. I kinda feel like a hollowed out pumpkin at the moment.” Looking back down and the ground, he mumbled, “I think this will haunt me for the rest of my life.”
Kate wanted to question him further, but a glance towards Laurel convinced her to drop any other questions at the moment. Laurel was very good with nonverbal communication when she wanted to be. Marcus leaned Jeep against the wall and handed him a cool glass of water, which was pushed aside.
“I know you both have many questions.” Laurel said while looking at Kate and Marcus. “This is all totally new information for me as well, so please understand nothing was being kept from either of you. The situation unfolded rapidly and we all needed to react to it.” A heavy ‘thump’ came from the supply room again. “Hang on, that’s another box of pills.”
As Laurel came back with the newly created box, she set it on the pile of the others. “First, anytime we hear that sound, we go get the box. No exceptions. We need every pill this place creates. It will stop making them before long, and then we will need to leave.”
Marcus looked up suddenly. “Wait, like leave, leave? Are we even cleared for that?”
Jeep chuckled after Marcus finished his questions. “Yeah buddy, we’re cleared for that. Hell, we’re cleared for all kinds of stuff now. We can pretty much do whatever we damn well please.” The words sounded amused, but tears began slowly slipping free from his eyes again.
Laurel began gently patting him on the shoulder and it turned into a circular rub. Everyone was silent until Jeep drew himself back together. “So, basically, the AI system has been monitoring the climate change and modeling things forward. It decided the only way to save humanity was to try to drastically reduce our numbers.”
Kate interrupted her, “Wait, how do you know all this? Did you get a note from the general also?”
“No, Shunka told me the plan.” Laurel waited until Kate and Marcus were done appearing bewildered before continuing. “Look, in a nutshell, the AI decided to kill off a minimum 50% of humans on the planet. It chose to do this using nuclear weapons. The AI is the one that shot the missiles at U.S., not hackers, or whatever the running theory is now.”
Marcus looked over at Jeep. “It’s a damn evil computer after all!”
“Please take this seriously; billions have just
been murdered by that machine.” Laurel snapped at him.
“Oh, I promise I’m taking this seriously. I just can’t believe he was right.” he said while nodding toward Jeep, who was still on the floor.
Laurel continued, “This site also had nuclear missiles hidden; no one knew about them except for the general. They were meant to be a last ditch resource in the event of widespread war. All eighteen of them were just launched by the AI against other countries.” She paused and looked up at the ceiling. “Those warheads are in the air right now. Other countries have probably already launched a counterstrike.”
Without hesitation, Marcus spoke up, “Our own defense shield should be able to cut those down before they even leave our airspace.”
Jeep started laughing, but it was not the laugh of a happy man. “Don’t you get it? This was all planned. Those defenses are shut down to allow the warheads to fly. Any other major country has also had its defenses neutralized. This was caused by a hacker, it just happens to be a super computer that did the hacking.” Jeep continued laughing. “Shunka even convinced me to shoot the missiles by default. It couldn’t fire them without someone entering the launch sequences, but it created a subroutine so that if the main trunk line to the network was cut, the missiles fired automatically.” His last words were filled with fury.
Kate suddenly understood. Jeep had gone ahead and done what the general had asked, and the whole thing had backfired. She thought about it for a minute and realized it was excellently planned. “Shunka is a supercomputer that has been watching our every move and analyzing us for months, and in some cases for years. The AI knew exactly how to get us to do whatever it wanted. This isn’t your fault, Jeep.”
Jeep began to say something else, but was interrupted by Laurel. “It doesn’t matter. What launched from this facility represented a miniscule portion of the total strike. Shunka had been trying to goad the world into a nuclear war, but when that failed it decided to just launch them all from the U.S. This country has enough missiles online to blow up the surface of the world several times over.”
Finding Their Path (Down The Path Book 3) Page 14
