The purpose of the nanobot infusion research was organ and tissue regeneration, first for recovery from the nano-delivered botulism that started the war, then for endurance in battle. He moved on, learning of how they developed an increased oxygenation in the blood, for higher brain function and less pull on the air supply when underground or underwater.
Rush’s heartbeat escalated with excitement, taking him farther from the chance of removing his nanobots. He’d just have to convince Star that they needed these abilities, at least until the threats around them were gone.
The researchers used nanobots soaked in the plasma and programmed them to exit the body via bowel movements or urine. The nanobots were then cycled back through the plasma and reused.
“So I need to drink a lot of water and pee The Gov’s nanobots out of me,” Star said.
“Maybe.” He flipped the page. And then we can put in our own nanobots.
A third of the way down, inside a paragraph, he read out loud, “one of the problems in certain people was an evolution of dependence that required a high level of nanobots in their system at all times. Three deaths occurred when the bodies of test subjects rejected the nanobots after having evolved to the point of needing them to survive.”
“Crap,” Star said.
Rush wanted to be optimistic about their chances, but he doubted any of the test subjects had slurped up plasma like they had. “Let’s see what else this base has to offer. It doesn’t have to be too late to wean off the plasma before we’re too far evolved.”
The way his mind was working, and how his lungs were inhaling deep pockets of air, Rush feared the evolution had already begun.
He led Star down the hall with his suit off and visor up to save power. At the end, the hall turned to stairs climbing to their left. The door at the top opened to a wide open auditorium and they walked out on its second level. He took it in, leaning on the chest-high wall overlooking the open area and oval-shaped room. The army of Poseidons were crouched like sitting dogs, set in rows along the outer rim, facing the open area from their glass enclosures. Rush walked to the first one on his left.
The Poseidon was packed up, but still higher than his waist. The book’s diagram had showed it in full size, with room for him to slide in. The blank face of its visor lit up at his approach. Computer screens and controls covering the wall at its left side also powered up. Hooked on the right wall were rifles, pistols, a double-sided axe, a belt of grenades, and smaller devices Rush didn’t recognize. Look what I found, Gov?
As he walked up to the glass shielding the Poseidon inside, digital words appeared in the center: “Enter your access information.”
Rush typed in what Nedzad’s book had written in the section on accessing Poseidons. The door expanded in an open circle. The Poseidon’s parts unfolded, and it grew to fill the tall space of its enclosure. A red light shot out of the Poseidon’s visor, sizing Rush from head to shoulders, splitting out over his arms and down to his feet. The light extinguished, and the Poseidon’s chest opened up. Rush climbed up on a small platform on its knee and slipped his legs inside until he was seated in a form-fitting shielding around his suit. He stepped up on the calves, and the skeleton compressed to a comfortable snugness. He spread his fingers to fit inside the Poseidon’s glove-like hands, and a shock vibrated down his fingertips. He wiggled his fingers to get rid of the numbness, and relaxed at the sight of seamless control. The silver hands were as responsive as his own.
The torso panel closed around from the back to lock tightly around his chest. Air hissed and the steam passed the see-through helmet that covered his head and locked into the neck of his chest shield. A similar buzz stung his temples and rippled over his scalp.
Digital controls lit up around his visor’s dash controls.
WELCOME SENTRY. (SPEAK YOUR NAME)
“Rush Stenson.”
STENSON. I AM YOUR AI ASSISTANT. YOU CAN CALL ME…
One of his former students came to mind. A young man who sold all his scavenger profits to power his iPod (the only one Rush had ever seen). Singer had left six years ago for Danvar and never returned. “Singer,” he said.
SINGER ACCEPTED. ANOTHER HUMAN DETECTED. ALLY?
“Yes. Star Stenson.”
SENTRY?
“No. Wife.”
Star was bent over with her hands on her knees.
Singer scanned her with its red light. DOES SHE HAVE ANTI-NANO TRAINING? NO SUIT DETECTED.
“Anti-nano training? No. I don’t either.”
BUT YOU’RE WEARING THE SUIT?
“My dive suit? I didn’t know it was called that. Yes, I have training.”
The clear door on his left opened up and another Poseidon stepped out. It scanned her with its light. Star stood and backed up, eying the strange mechanical skeleton as it grew to match her features.
“It’s okay, Star.”
POSEIDON 38 CAN BE USED AS TRANSPORT. STAR’S VITALS, AND YOURS, ARE BELOW ADEQUATE. WE CAN RESTORE FLUIDS AND ANALYZE INTERNAL SYSTEMS.
“Great. Please. Do that.”
A thin tube extended from beside his cheek and over to his mouth. He opened up, a bit concerned, but closed his lips over the tube. A warm, thick liquid poured down his throat, tasting of crow and rice. When he swallowed, the stream halted, continuing when he sucked. The newly provided strength helped, but was galaxies away from the power his plasma gulps had given him.
He pointed at the P-38 with the feather light shielding of Singer’s suit. “Star, they’re equipped with food and drink.”
P-38 opened up its chest. Stepping panels slid into place at the knees. Rush reached out to give her a hand and helped her up.
Backward lettering lit up across the shielding over her face. After a moment, she said, “Kim,” and, “Yes.”
A tube exited the shoulder support and curved toward her mouth. She opened up and began to swallow. Rush swallowed more as well. Even though he was standing, the way the suit held him angled back was as comfortable as lying down. The suit had reclined to take weight off his thighs and the leg extensions kept him upright, one forward, the other back.
YOUR PELLETS ARE EMPTY. I’M GOING TO REPLACE THEM.
“My what?”
N3 STORAGE SOURCES FOR YOUR VISOR, SUIT AND DL.
“Sounds good. You’ll give me full ones?”
YES. A compartment opened up on the wall to a row of glowing blue pellets. Singer picked up three while three separate whirring noises spun near his suit: over his visor, near his dive button, and at the bottom of his DL. Singer unscrewed panels, removed empty pellets, inserted new ones, and screwed it all back together.
Star’s eyes grew wide as she stared at the remaining pellets in the open compartment. Temptation itched under Rush’s skin, too. The compartment door clamped shut and her stare narrowed into anger. She took the tube out of her mouth, and it retracted back into its hole. “That was satisfying.”
Her sarcasm was thick. He needed to change the subject. “Who’s Kim?”
“The girl from court.” She walked to the compartment. “Are you really going to take plasma for yourself and not offer some to your wife?”
“Singer. We have ingested large amounts of nuclear plasma from the Twin Suns. Can you test our blood to see the damage this has caused and if we need to get it out or…
YES, A BLOOD SAMPLE FOR N3 LEVELS WILL BE COLLECTED. FROM STAR, ALSO?
“Yes.”
His suit unzipped from his left wrist to the crook of his elbow. An infrared beam of light scanned over his elbow, centered.
Star backed up as a beam centered over her vein. “Rush? What is it doing?”
“I asked for N3.” A needle stuck his forearm from a slot in his arm brace. Blood entered the tube and traveled up into the metal outline circled in clear shielding over his arm.
She looked back at her arm as blood also filled her tube. “No. I don’t want this.”
WARNING: N3 AND BT LEVELS EXCEEDED SAFETY THRESHOLD. SYSTEM FLUSH REQUI
RED. HOLD STILL AND RELAX.
Circular clamps closed around his arms, legs, torso and neck, immobilizing him.
“Get off!” Star shouted. The black clamps had her tied as well, holding firm against her squirming.
One tube went into his mouth and two into his nose. Fear showed him a life forever void of the plasma’s instant high, how it could wash over any sorrow and lift him with the power and intelligence he’d need to do all that he wanted.
Fluid began sucking from his stomach.
His rescue of Star and murder of thousands was more failure than success, and the success too lucky to count on a second time in his lifetime. He needed the plasma to keep being what Star needed from him.
Rush gagged as he tried to say, “Abort.” His visor dash was gone.
“I said, abort!”
His bowels clenched and the suit rocked forward. The visor spread open as a shower of vomit spewed from his mouth. Star’s moaning and vomit splatter on concrete echoed his pain.
The tubes retracted and his visor dash lit back up. The icons blurred from his tears. His stomach clenched again and another shower shot forth into the neon green puddle on the floor. He reached out to keep from falling, but Singer held him up. A needle stuck him in the gut from the Poseidon and retracted. He threw up until nothing was left but a string of saliva from his mouth to the puddle. A shiver passed up his arms and evaporated in warmth across the pores in his forehead. The pressure on his stomach eased as though from the touch of an angel.
Star wiped her mouth and Kim straightened. “Let me out.” She kicked a failed attempt to break free. The straps unwrapped and rescinded back into the frame, the center opened up and she jumped out. Her foot slid in the puddle. She stumbled, but planted a hand that stopped her fall. “What the hell was that, Rush?”
Singer reclined and released the straps as well. SORRY ABOUT THE DISCOMFORT, SENTRY STENSON.
Over its external speakers, YOUR LIVES WERE IN DANGER. SAFETY MEASURES PROGRAMMED INTO OUR MAINFRAME REQUIRED A SYSTEM FLUSH, MRS. STENSON. IF YOU RETURN TO YOUR SUIT, KIM CAN PROVIDE THE NUTRIENT CYCLE.
Star backed away, pointing at her Poseidon’s visor. “Don’t you dare.” She glanced at Rush, scared. “What are you doing? Get out of there.”
No urgency or fear made that action an option in his mind. “I’m fine, Star. I feel great, actually.” Maybe not great, but this was a better option—controlled power. “We can do great things without having to drink plasma.”
Star looked at him as if he’d lost half his brain. “I’m leaving. And if you’re staying in that thing, then you’re not coming with.”
SHE’S BLUFFING. KIM READ HER VITALS. HOLD YOUR GROUND.
“Come on, Star. Don’t make me make that choice. The flush was for our own good.”
“No. You talk about choices? Where was mine? I was trapped. You have no idea what that thing will do next.” She kept going, closer to the hall. “We can make it to Danvar just fine without those machines.”
She stopped before the corner. His last chance. He didn’t move, or speak. Awareness and hatred split her glance his way. “Really? First a whore, now a hulk of metal?” She shook her head. “I must really mean nothing to you.”
“That’s not—” He tried to lift his leg to follow her but it was locked in place.
She growled and passed behind the wall.
“Singer, what’s going on? Why can’t I move?”
STAR’S NOT GOING ANYWHERE. SHE’LL BE FINE. THE POSEIDON PROGRAM HAS GONE 178 YEARS WITHOUT A SENTRY. YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU. I NEED YOU.
It was as though being asked by the brother he never had. “To do what?”
A horizontal video opened up on his visor. Avery helped Viky run and hobble down a hall. Jen had Cool by the hand. Jeff trailed, firing his rifle in wide arcs. It looked to have jammed or ran dry, and Jeff threw it at the unseen enemy. Dixon and Carroll led the way, testing locked doors as they progressed left to right on the video.
“What’re they running from?” And why are they with Avery?
THE SAME THING THAT BROUGHT DOWN NEW YORK AND MADE US SEAL OUR DOORS. IT’S SMALL ENOUGH AT THE MOMENT YOU MAY BE ABLE TO STOP IT. BUT IT’S GROWING QUICKLY. ARE YOU READY?
“What about Star?”
IT IS FAR ENOUGH FROM HER FOR NOW.
Rush hadn’t spoken. He only thought, and yet Singer was fully in tuned with their conversation. The book had said thought communication was a feature. The tight relationship increased the claustrophobia he already felt this far below the surface.
WE NEED TO MOVE. IT WILL SPREAD.
“Okay.”
Singer sprung left. Kim sidestepped, and Rush built smooth speed down the aisle past the stadium of crouching Poseidons. Singer cut left into an entry and short hall. A panel beside the door at the end lit in a box of green, and the door opened outward in time for it to pass through.
Panels of light turned on in time with Singer’s stride. The Poseidon gained speed with each passing light, gliding with the grace of a coyote. His feet, Singer’s feet, landed and flicked off, as though propelled by wind. He couldn’t help but imagine a wall coming up out of the darkness before Singer could stop.
Have you been out of your…home?
WHAT DO YOU MEAN? FORT POPE?
No, like have you ever been field tested to see if you work?
Singer shifted right and slid left-foot forward. Rush’s reaction to spread his arms and reach for something was resisted by Singer. A wall appeared in their path. Schink! His feet scraped to a stop, his knees bent into the pivot. Singer sprung into a new hall.
IT’S OKAY, STENSON. I CAN GET YOU THERE. BUT MY POTENTIAL WITHOUT YOU TAKING FULL CONTROL IS LIMITED. MY MAINFRAME IS BUILT TO SUPPORT YOU, NOT FIGHT WITHOUT YOUR DIRECTION. YOUR MIND MUST GUIDE ME.
“I know how to shoot a gun and wield a knife.” He had the DL and dive knife on his side. “And I can throw a punch. I can even move sand in lethal ways if necessary. But you haven’t told me what I’m up against.”
MOLECULAR MODIFYING AND ASSIMILATING NANOBOTS. M-MANS, FOR SHORT. THEY HAVE FORMED A HIVE BETWEEN TWIN SUNS AND THE TANK ROOM. A BRANCH IS STRETCHING AFTER EIGHT LIFE SIGNS. WE CAN’T LET IT CATCH THEM. THE POSEIDON FLEET NEEDS THEM.
Rush thought of Cool’s excitement, and his mother’s anger, at the prospect of him manning a Poseidon. What if Rush sent them away like she wanted?
Rush counted the group on the video and came to seven. “Who’s the eighth?”
YOU.
Of course.
Singer slid and clawed out of another last-second turn. A door ahead unlocked and he pushed it open. Lights spread on across the ceiling of a rising hallway. On the left were metal shelves and sagging green bags seeping with the spoil that tainted the air. Someone has been here recently.
YES, BUT THAT PERSON’S ID IS CLASSIFIED. THE LIFE SIGNS ARE UP AHEAD. SO ARE M-MANS. YOU HAVE TO TAKE IT FROM HERE. I’LL ASSIST. JUST ASK.
“Take it from here?”
A door whined open and Cool stepped through, fatigue and fear stretching from his gaze to Rush. “Rush!”
Rush ran. More effort sucked from his legs without Singer in control, and his steps wobbled like running in sand, but he was in charge, and he made it to the group as they huddled between his hall and the dark room inside the doorway. “You’re kidding me, Singer. I’m not ready to do this on my own.”
YOU’LL HAVE TO BE.
“What is that?” Cool asked.
“A Poseidon suit I call Singer. He’s kind of a dick.”
Cool didn’t understand.
GET READY, ASSHOLE.
Concrete cracked in the dark room behind Cool. Something metal pinged. A great iron mechanism twisted and shrieked as it was pulled from its source. Rush grabbed Cool’s hand and shoved him behind him. “Go.”
The group pushed by, Avery in the rear. Cuts lined his dirty, swollen face. His nose had a gash down the bridge and the end bent to the left.
Rush pulled his DL.
Avery raised his pistol in surrender. “I can explain!”
Rush pointed Avery to follow the group. “I promise it’ll hurt worse later if you can’t.”
“I had to make him trust me.”
“So you—”
A sharp point of concrete speared out of the wall. Rush’s left leg buckled as he fell back out of the way. The sharp column of stone passed above, stopping where his head had been, and fell apart.
ACTIVATING SUIT.
Rush’s suit vibrated with the charge.
MOVE! THIS IS BASIC TRAINING SHIT.
Rush rolled left and the stone fragments crumbled and bounced on the tile. One piece leapt at Avery’s leg. Rush fired his DL. The piece shot off into the dark.
USE YOUR SUIT POWER TO PUSH THE M-MANS AWAY. MORE OPTIONS THAN DL.
Rush harnessed the DL. Bits of rock hovered and melded into a kind of claw. He focused EM tension into his hand and shot it at their center. The EM released from his palm. They broke apart and scattered across the floor. A sharp circle spun at his head from the darkness. He focused the energy in his suit and imagined the spinning blur soaring high. It flew past. Its metal edge sparked as it hit the wall behind him.
Avery had made distance and the group was nearing the door he’d entered. Singer’s feet gripped the floor and helped him propel forward. The wall rippled from where the metal object had plunged, passing through the concrete as it would horizontal water. Chunks spit out. He focused on each drop of spray, vaporizing them into mist with energy from his suit. He quickly caught up with the group and slowed as they filled the hall. Their limping steps and sluggish movements were going to force him to stay and fight.
SCAVENGER: Twin Suns
Chapter 6
Jeff reached for the door panel. The thin rectangular box spiraled out into long fingers, grabbed his hand, and yanked him into the wall. His arm passed through up to his shoulder, and he hit his face on the concrete. Jen screamed for her son and lunged past Viky to grab him around the waist.
Scavenger: Evolution: (Sand Divers, Book One) Page 16
