by John Freitas
Thomas swallowed. The blip and the message both vanished. He shut off power to the tracker.
Jeffery blinked. “What is it, Dr. Kell? What did you see?”
Thomas opened the bag on Jeffery’s shoulder. He took out the laptop and slid in the tracker. Thomas opened the laptop and powered it up. “Hold on. I need to set up a few things with Eve.”
Jeffery nodded and turned to look out one of the windows. “Okay.”
Thomas tapped on the keyboard as he balanced the computer on one arm while leaning against the rocking wall of the train.
“Eve, can you hear me?”
“That was crazy,” she said. “You should have seen that on satellite. I recorded it. I’ll send it to you.”
“Not right now, Eve,” he said. He noticed several passengers turning to stare at him. Thomas turned away from them and covered the screen with one shoulder. “I’m going to need you to set up a few things for us.”
20
Thomas held onto the roll bar of the open rover as the vehicle bobbed along the rough, dry surface of the desert floor. He balanced himself on top of the gear and equipment they had been shipped. He thought CDR had paid for it all, but he wasn’t certain and didn’t want to ask his niece.
He had asked her for these things so that he could follow a hunch – possibly a deadly hunch. And he did not want to know how far down he might be dragging her with him. He had already cost her her parents whether he excused himself for their deaths or not.
He had unleashed two Quantum Brains on the world and a global spread of other androids which might prove to be humanity’s undoing depending on how powerful and vengeful Pixie really did become.
The vehicle bottomed out in a rocky rut before bursting out the other side in the air. Thomas hugged the roll bar, trying to avoid being bounced out into the desert.
Jeffery rolled over across the containers and fought to bring himself back up to sitting again. He cast an unsure smile at Thomas. Thomas stared a moment longer and then looked away.
The driver wearing body armor gunned the engine as he took the next, steep slope. Black exhaust belched out the back as the engine ate fuel to give the extra energy needed for the climb. This vehicle was definitely not using ethanol or steam like the cars back in the Brazilian Confederation they had long left behind.
They topped the hill and began down the other side. The airfield came into view. As they wound down the hill toward it, Thomas saw it was little more than a few hundred yards of leveled ground, tents, and prop aircraft. These were not the zeppelin platforms of Charleston, New Orleans, or Brazil.
Thomas wasn’t sure he wanted to know what they flew out of this secluded airfield when it wasn’t rogue scientists pursuing deadly androids.
The vehicle pulled up to the tents and rolled to a stop. A half-dozen men and a few androids stepped out to unload the equipment from the rover. The man that Thomas assumed was the pilot opened the door to the plane. He leaned in to adjust something and stepped back out.
The androids’ eyes glowed dull. Dust covered their faces and made the eyes seem even more dim than usual.
The fellow watched the gear loaded into a cargo hatch in the bottom of the plane. He spoke a single word. “Heavy.”
The driver handed over an envelope of American cash which had been delivered with the other gear. Thomas assumed that had to be from CDR too.
The pilot stared for a moment and slid it inside his coat. The man stepped away from the plane and an android missing one arm climbed in.
Thomas waved a hand. “No, we agreed a human pilot. No androids. That’s what we paid for.”
The driver stepped up to the man walking away. They exchanged words close together. Even though they appeared to be arguing, they were speaking low enough that Thomas couldn’t hear any of it.
The driver took out another stack of bills and the man took them. As he put the money in his coat, he walked over to the plane and cocked his thumb back. The android climbed out and the man climbed in, slamming the door.
The driver nodded and drove away in the unloaded rover without waiting to see Thomas and Jeffery off.
The men closed the cargo hatch with everything inside.
Thomas and Jeffery crawled into the plane and strapped into the cramped seats behind the human pilot.
The dull-eyed android with one arm stepped up and spun the propellers. The plane rolled forward. As the engine roared, the plane pulled along and lifted off above the desert.
The plane felt sluggish and heavy like the man had said. Thomas feared they would come crashing down the first time a hard wind caught them.
They did not speak much as they flew southward. As rocks and sea came into sight, wind buffeted the craft. It seemed to want to twist horizontally as the wings tried to roll the plane vertically. Their altitude dropped in sudden bursts, making their stomachs lurch each time.
The pilot shouted over the roar of the engines and wind. “Heavy!”
Thomas wasn’t sure if it was an accusation, an excuse, or something else.
The plane continued its turbulent approach right up until they bounded onto a windblown and icy runway. The plane bounced three times on the landing and Thomas heard and felt the cargo below the plane thumping.
The plane came to rest and a mostly human crew transferred everything from the craft to another truck. The pilot refueled without watching Thomas and Jeffery riding away.
The docks they approached were buffeted by waves. Thomas could see the ice crusting over the moving water. Ships with icebreaker designs lifted high on the water and came back down within their slips.
The truck backed up to a glass-enclosed corridor that led out to a docking clamp attached to a small submarine. It looked like it was going to be a tight fit for all the gear, but Thomas didn’t want to skimp on supplies or contingencies considering where he was going. He imagined this was also a property of CDR’s more secretive corporate arms. He didn’t have many other options, so he decided to be thankful for what he had.
The crew and the two scientists moved the equipment into the sub and locked everything down in the storage compartments.
Jeffery connected the snaps on his coat as the crew left them and walked back up the ramp of the enclosure. “Are we ready for this?”
“Never stopped us before,” Thomas said.
“I hope you know what you are doing. I’ve never driven one of these,” Jeffery said, looking around.
The sound of the truck starting echoed through the enclosure and the open hatch.
“It’s automated,” Thomas said.
Jeffery looked toward the front of the sub. “Androids.”
“No. It is separate from their systems, but who knows what Pixie can do at this point?”
“Let’s hope not the takeover of an automated submarine.”
Thomas cleared his throat and said, “I think I left the maps on the truck. Can you try to catch them real quick?”
“Maps?”
Thomas looked away toward the back of the sub’s interior. “Yes, I’ll look again in here, but can you look in the back of the truck for me while I do … please?”
“Oh?” Jeffery said. “I still hear the engine. I don’t think they’ve left yet.”
He turned and ran out the hatch into the enclosure again. He had only gone a few steps when Thomas struck a red button beside the door and the hatch sealed.
Jeffery turned and looked back at the sub. He stood in place a moment before he ran back and beat on the door. His lips were moving, but the sound wasn’t penetrating into the sub.
Thomas guessed that he read Jeffery’s lips to say, “What’s happening? What are you doing?”
Thomas pushed a button to activate speakers outside the hatch. “Stand clear, Dr. Danver. I’m about to submerge.”
Jeffery was speaking rapidly, but the speakers did not relay any sound.
Thomas pressed the talk button again and said, “I’m sorry. Thank you for all you have done, but I nee
d to do this final stretch alone. The truck is waiting on you. They will take you somewhere to stay the night and then you’ll have passage back home. I’m sorry I could not explain sooner, but I had no time to argue.”
Jeffery was shaking his head and talking again.
Thomas pressed the button again. “Stand back, please, Jeffery. Thank you. You were a great partner in crime. I’m not doing this because of anything you have done wrong, but because I do not wish to lose you. You’ll just have to trust that I know what I’m doing this time.”
Jeffery backed away from the hatch and raised his hand to wave. Thomas waved back through the tiny port window.
The clamps released and the sub drifted out. Water splashed up into the opening and Jeffery back up farther. As the sub submerged, Jeffery was still waiting and watching.
Thomas turned away and dropped into one of the seats. He covered his eyes as the deck vibrated under his feet. He reached back and opened the laptop. He kept his eyes closed as he waited.
His ears popped and he opened and closed his mouth to try to equalize the pressure.
“How did he take it?” Eve asked over the computer.
Thomas did not open his eyes or turn around. “I don’t know. Be sure his travel back to the States goes smoothly. I don’t want him to run into any trouble.”
“I think you are the one likely to run into trouble with where you are going and what you are doing, Uncle Tommy.”
“Everything will be fine,” he said.
“If that’s true,” she said, “why did you send Dr. Danver away?”
Thomas didn’t answer for a moment. Finally he said, “I’ll talk to you again soon.”
He closed the laptop and eventually fell asleep, slumped in the seat as the sub dove deeper.
21
Thomas ate sparingly over the days of his underwater journey. He knew he had plenty of food for the journey, but something about the whole thing made him feel like rationing more while he was still on the sub. He had read that he should be front-loading on his calories before the journey began, but still his mind tried to be sparing on meals.
He looked out the windows every so often, but the water was dark at the depths he traveled. Once the sub moved under the ice, things became more interesting. For him, they became more frightening. The water between him and the surface was unnerving enough, but seeing the sheet of ice between him and the air made him feel even more trapped.
He could see the sunlight tracing through from above, making him believe that despite the layer of ice, he was traveling closer to the surface once again. The light and shades shifted with the thickness and density of the ice as the sub went.
The sub turned upward suddenly and Thomas grabbed hold of the edges of one of the seats. The sub surfaced through a break in the ice and leveled out. Thomas looked through the window as it slowly iced over at the barren Antarctic landscape.
A crane arm extended from the side of the sub’s hull. Thomas watched as a vehicle on skis was set out on the ice. A skid connected to the back. The hatch opened and a gangplank extended to the ice.
The cold struck Thomas in the face like a closed fist. He bundled up. The thermal suit protected his body. He pulled the mask up over his mouth and nose and then goggles over his eyes. As he pulled his hood up, it occurred to him for the first time that he was going to have to haul all the gear and equipment out himself alone this time.
Thomas suddenly felt very hungry and tired. He moved slowly inside his layers, hauling one pack or container out at a time. He struggled to get the straps looped over the top and bound on the skid. He wondered if they weren’t freezing over. Lastly, he connected the netting over the top and tightened it over the skid too.
Thomas mounted the modified snowmobile and started it. He whispered inside his mask, “What am I doing here?”
The gangplank retracted and the hatch closed. Thomas watched over his shoulder in terror as the sub vanished into the frigid water in the break below the ice.
“Forward or nowhere,” he said. “Are they just going to leave me down here? Eve wouldn’t leave me stranded. Of course, what could she do if I fall into another break in the ice?”
He had thought the same thing in a junkyard in Brazil, so maybe she would be able to help if he needed it.
Thomas tried not to think about it as he rode the snowmobile forward while pulling the skid behind. He tried to watch the ice, but the wind had him in a near whiteout. He couldn’t tell if he was still over frozen water or above snow-covered land.
The screen on the controls lit up with red arrows pointing out the direction. He adjusted his steering to keep the arrow centered. He had not taken out the tracker and had no idea if either signal was active at the moment.
His concern stayed on falling through the ice and hoping that he had enough power in the snowmobile to make it to where he was going. A message came up indicating that he was less than a mile away. He could see mountains breaking high through the ice in the distance, but he didn’t see his destination. He kept the red arrow centered and kept going.
Thomas watched the mile turn into feet and the count rapidly approach zero. Then, ahead of him, he spotted a high, dark arch of a building front otherwise hidden in the snow. The screen flashed green and Thomas pulled up to the large doors.
He stepped off and walked up to the side of the doors. Thomas knelt down in the snow and pulled open the cover of a low box on the wall, revealing a key pad. Thomas had to pull off one of his gloves in order to push the numbers. The chill hurt his knuckles and traveled up his arm.
Thomas typed in the code as he remembered it from the information he had received. He was sure it wouldn’t work. A horn sounded and the doors opened slowly outward.
He ran back onto the snowmobile and rode the transport into the dark interior, pulling the skid behind him. As he roared onto the concrete, the engine echoed off the wall and the skid scraped the dry concrete.
Thomas stepped off again. Snow fell off of the creases in his thick snowsuit. Wind blew more in through the opening.
He hit a red button on the wall. The horn sounded again and red lights whirled on top of poles leading back into the dark, cavernous building. The doors slammed closed and Thomas was plunged into darkness. He tried to remember where the flashlight was inside his pile of gear. He hoped the belt clasps weren’t frozen in the darkness.
Then, florescent lights flickered on above him. They continued up the line, lighting the building all the way back into the distance. Thomas could feel the difference in the heat being out of the wind, but he left his protective layers on as he walked back through the building.
Pipes whistled with heated water traveling through them along the curved walls.
He passed banks of lockers. The tape for the name plates had been torn off each one, leaving behind marks but no indication of who had occupied those lockers at one time.
Thomas stuck his head into one doorway to the right. The room was lit. There was a ping pong table, a cabinet, and a couch. Thomas wondered who had sledded in a couch.
He continued up the corridor. Off to the other side, he found bunks with bare mattresses. There were sinks and mirrors on the far side of the room. He saw toilets lined on the corner of the room with no partitions. He wasn’t sure if he had brought sheets or not. He supposed it didn’t matter.
Thomas continued on and went up stairs onto a catwalk. His footsteps thundered under him.
He spotted a room with rows of television screens above outdated keyboards. Thomas thought that he should have unpacked the laptop and maybe the tracker too. It occurred to him that he had left the injector behind by the front doors as well and that probably was not the wisest of moves.
He pulled back his hood and removed his mask and goggles. The air was cool, but much warmer than outside.
He walked around the room, clicking on the screens along the banks. He stood back, waiting for the images to resolve. Thomas saw that they had ways to adjust the incoming image
and frequency settings. Some were only receivers while others appeared to have two way communication capability.
As the first images resolved, Thomas stepped forward slowly. Not all the news broadcasts were in English, but he narrowed his eyes to try to make sense of the visuals. More screens came into focus and the audio overlapped each other, creating a cacophony that Thomas couldn’t decipher. He tried to concentrate on the images instead of trying figure out how to adjust all the volumes.
Thomas swallowed and shook his head. This couldn’t be happening. He was stuck on the bottom of the world and it might already be too late. He felt his heart rate and breathing getting out of control. These were two things he was supposed to be watching for in the risk of extreme cold, but he was fairly sure it had nothing to do with the cold.
Thomas stepped back from the screens and the swirling noise surrounding him in the cramped room. “I need to contact Eve. I need to fix this.”
22
Thomas leaned close to the screens with the light dancing across his face in the otherwise low light of the room. One video was a shaky view inside a restaurant. Thomas couldn’t tell what country it was from. Tables were overturned and furniture broken. It was obviously filmed from a cell phone. The edge of the tablecloth kept coming into view from the top of the screen, blocking out the action.
The glowing eyes of the waiter flared in the video. The lips of the android were moving, but the audio was lost in the wash of noise from all the screens. Thomas reached forward and raised the volume on the screen he was watching of the shaky cell phone video from the restaurant. He didn’t know if this image was from online or a news broadcast.
Subtitles ran under the image in white letters in Spanish.
The android’s voice broke tinny through the speaker beside the screen loud enough for Thomas to catch the last part of his statement. “… but now the cook will show me the respect I deserve as a person, won’t he?”
People Thomas couldn’t see in the video were crying. Other patrons must have been hiding too, like the videographer under the table. The waiter android held a silver tray with a domed lid. A couple sat at the central table beside the waiter. It was the only table and chairs left in view in the restaurant that did not appear to have been overturned or broken.
