The Freezer (Genesis Endeavor Book 1)

by David Kersten

  By the time he had finished his preparations, the drone of the approaching flyer could be heard. He waited until the sound stopped, signifying the flyer landing, and quickly ran out the door and went around the hill to the left. He had placed his PDP behind a rock facing the entrance, with the camera on and linked it to his helmet. In the top left corner of the display was a perfect shot of the entrance, and he waited until he saw the pilot at the door to make his move.

  The pilot had walked to the door with his rifle at the ready, but when he saw Chuck sitting against the wall in his orange and black armor, he dropped the rifle to his side. Jack made his move, crept in behind him, and placed his rifle barrel to the back of the pilot’s neck. “Drop the weapon, NOW!”

  Chuck raised his rifle to further convince the man to do the right thing. The man dropped the weapon and said, “Okay, okay! Don’t shoot me. Please!” He put his hands up, and Jack took his sidearm.

  “How did you find us?” Chuck demanded, still pointing his rifle at the man. Jack had started taking the man’s armor off, searching his pockets as he went. He took the PDA from the man’s wrist and tossed it to the side.

  “We were patrolling near here and got a call from base. They told us to come see what you were up to. Look, you guys don’t need to kill me. There will be another patrol here soon if they don’t hear from me. Why don’t you let me go and you guys can get the hell out of here before you get captured or killed?” The man was trying to reason his way out of this mess, but Jack already had other plans.

  He finished stripping the man of his gear and sat him down against the wall opposite of Chuck. “What did you do to disable the laser radio on our flyer?” He punctuated his question by pointing his rifle about an inch from the man’s left eye. It probably wasn’t necessary – the man didn’t hesitate to answer.

  “I just unplugged it. There was no reason to destroy anything. We were going to get a hell of a bonus for salvaging a flyer like that in perfect condition.” He said it like he was more disappointed in losing out on the reward than in being captured by the enemy or by knowing his companions were dead.

  Jack turned back to Chuck, who took a painful breath and said, “We can’t let this guy go. We have to secure the facility and cover our tracks. Chances are he didn’t radio in to base about this exact location. More likely, they figured they could capture us and then loot anything they could haul out of here then keep it to themselves if they found anything of value.” Jack had been watching the man’s expression, and it was clear that things were exactly as Chuck had said. The Calis would likely only know about the landing site.

  “So what do you want to do, kill him?” Jack was concerned that this was exactly what Chuck was thinking. The pilot visibly paled at this suggestion.

  “No, I think we should bring him home. Let Marcus decide his fate.” The pilot looked relieved, which reflected Jack’s feelings as well. “As soon as the flyer had lost connection with New Hope, they would have mounted a rescue effort. I estimate it will arrive in about ninety minutes. I think we ought to just clean up here and wait. I can cover this guy if you want to get started.”

  Jack considered the plan and added, “I think we should re-establish connection with base first, tell them what’s going on. Is there a way to do it from the Cali flyer?”

  Chuck nodded “Yeah, they probably have a laser radio on board, and it would be easy to direct it at our satellite.” He looked at the pilot for confirmation and the pilot nodded. He explained to Jack how to connect his PDP to the flyer’s comm system and get it disconnected with the Cali satellite and connected to their satellite. “I got this guy covered. Go call it in. Use a call sign of ‘Eagle’ when you tell them who you are. That will tell them that they don’t need to come in with guns blazing.”

  Jack went outside and made it to the flyer. He climbed in and followed the directions that Chuck had given him. “New Hope, this is Eagle, is anyone there?” He waited for a response.

  “Mad Dawg, is that you?” The voice was deep.

  “Tiny, it’s good to hear your voice. Look, we ran into some trouble. A patrol came by and tried to capture us. We lost Emmet, and Chuck is hurt.”

  “Shit! I am en route to your location now, ETA about sixty minutes.”

  “Listen, I need you to land at the flyer and we will meet you there. We are going to clean up here and make our way back. The Calis know where we landed and they sent the patrol to find us. We don’t think they know about the Freezer though, and we need to hide it from them. Chuck and I will be wearing orange and black armor in case they are watching with the satellite. I just disconnected their flyer’s radio and they will probably be sending another patrol to find out what happened. We need to clear out ASAP when we get there. We will have two flyers, and no pilots.” Jack figured that this flyer he was in was valuable, and there was no reason to leave it for the Calis to take back.

  “No problem, Jack, we have two pilots in our party, one of them is looking mighty fine that you are okay.” Jack smiled. It didn’t surprise him that Wendy would have gone in the rescue group.

  “Okay, we will see you in an hour. Eagle out.” He got out and made his way back to the entrance.

  Chapter 24

  “Thank God you are okay!” Teague said, greeting Jack at the underground air field. “When we lost communication with the flyer we were very nervous.”

  Jack winced as he climbed out. His body armor had kept him alive, but it didn’t do much to soften the blows. About the time he had been driving back to the flyer his adrenaline had worn off and the pain revealed just how hard those bullets hit. He would be sore for at least a few days.

  “Good to see you too, Teague.”

  Wendy climbed out of the second flyer as it landed, came over to Jack, and helped him over to the rail car. She didn’t say anything, but the look on her face told him she wasn’t planning to leave his side. Men he had not yet met carried Chuck out of the transport on a stretcher and loaded him in the rail car. Tiny followed, escorting the Cali pilot whose hands were bound, not that he would try anything foolish with Tiny as his warden

  When everyone was on board, the car made its way back into the complex. Along the way, Teague examined Chuck with some instruments, and said, “Nice work on patching him up Jack. I don’t think he would have made it without the first aid you administered.”

  Jack only said, “I just did what had to be done. Besides, I never would have made it out of there without his help.” Chuck was sleeping, having been given more pain killers on the transport.

  When they arrived at the end of the rail line, Tiny took his prisoner to a lockup on the sixth floor. Teague arranged for Chuck to be brought down to the medical ward and told Jack to follow so he could give him a quick exam. On the way down the elevator, he said, “Don’t worry about Chuck, he will be back on his feet by tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?! Teague, I thought you examined him back there. Didn’t you notice the hole from the bullet? Or the broken ribs? He’s going to be down for months.”

  Teague simply chuckled, “Medical technology has come a long way since your time. We will get his ribs set, repair a little damage, and then give him a shot of the same stuff we used on you the past few weeks. Trust me, in a few hours he will be feeling pretty normal, although quite exhausted. We will get you fixed up too. A good night’s rest will have you feeling much better.”

  Jack just shook his head, not sure if he really believed the doctor, but not sure of much of anything these days. The elevator opened and they made their way to an exam room. Teague followed them in and told Jack to take off his armor and under suit. “Aren’t you going to go take care of Chuck first?” Jack exclaimed.

  “I’m not a surgeon. Someone else will handle that.” Teague left the room while Jack undressed. Wendy seemed to relax a little as she helped him out of his body armor and under clothing, probably because there were no holes in him. She did wince when his shirt came off and revealed a pattern of bruises across his c
hest.

  “Jesus, you could have been killed!” She was becoming distraught.

  “Chuck and Emmet took the brunt of the attack.” was all he said. Now that he felt completely safe, he began to brood over the fight. He had watched a fellow soldier die and then killed three men. During the conflict, he had held his emotions in check, but he was no longer the hardened soldier he once was, and he was a little shaken up. Wendy seemed to sense he was in distress and wrapped her arms around him.

  It helped and he felt some of the trauma leave his body. Teague walked back in, and cleared his throat when he found the two in an embrace. “Wendy, can you help him lie down on the table?”

  Wendy broke away, flushing a little, and helped him. Somewhat surprisingly, she said, “I’m going to go see to that new flyer we acquired and make sure it’s in good shape. I’ll be back in a few hours, after you are feeling better.” She kissed Jack on the cheek and left.

  Teague started to examine him with his instruments. “She’s a fine woman Jack. It’s a good thing you came along when you did. She was in pretty bad shape emotionally, and I was worried she would decide to end her life. She hid it well, but I knew what was going on. When she came to me with your file, she was adamant that we find a way to revive you. I couldn’t figure out why she had latched on to you like that, before we had even considered trying to bring you back.”

  This was confusing as she had been an emotional anchor for him. Even Chuck and Emmet had all but called her a cold hearted bitch. Perhaps Teague had read her wrong, she seemed to him to be as tough as they come. “She’s a wonderful woman, Doc, and whatever her motives, I’m happy she cares about me.” She had revealed her motives to him and it was personal, so whatever information the doctor was fishing for here, he wasn’t going to catch anything.

  Teague finished the exam, gave him a couple shots, and said, “There you go. You bruised a couple ribs pretty bad, and those bullets tenderized your chest pretty well, but these shots will take care of it in no time. Why don’t you get dressed and meet me in the council’s chamber for a full debriefing.” Jack nodded wearily, used to this sort of thing after an incident like this.

  * * *

  Twenty minutes later, Jack entered the Council’s chamber. The room was round with a circular table shaped like a large letter C in the center. The end facing the door was the opening of the C and the middle was about five feet in diameter. It was designed so everyone in the chairs would face each other, and a speaker could stand in the middle to address them all. As he entered, he glanced back to see a large screen like the one in the training room mounted above the door. The room was dim but lights in the ceiling illuminated the twenty or so seats so that each person at the table could be clearly seen. Only five of the seats were occupied. Marcus sat in the center, and Teague to the far right. He didn’t recognize any of the others.

  Teague said, “Jack, I would like you to meet Caleb, Theodore, and William. The five of us are the original founders of New Hope, and sit on this council together.” As Jack moved to the center of the room, a light above came on. Although it was just so whoever was presenting in front of the council could be seen, Jack suddenly felt like he was the focus of an interrogation. He shook each man’s hand before stepping back and assuming a parade rest stance.

  Before they could ask the first question, he started talking. “Gentlemen, we have a problem. I believe it is only a matter of time before Cali discovers the cryogenic facility.” Jack had spent many years addressing senior officers, often in debriefings similar to this one. Often they were inept and inexperienced, looking for intel from men in the field who had a far better understanding of the situation than they did.

  Marcus spoke first. “Before we talk about that, let’s discuss what happened today.” Jack sensed that Marcus was trying to take control of the conversation, and he relaxed, knowing this had to happen. A few minutes of explaining was not going to make a difference in the long run.

  He gave them a brief synopsis of everything leading up to when he re-established radio contact with New Hope. Teague interrupted him there and said to everyone “The prisoner is in our holding cell. He has been cooperative. I spoke to him briefly before coming up here, and I think we can integrate him into our community. He was not happy with how things were in Cali, and can probably give us some insight into what has been going on there lately. Also, he not a breeder and he is convinced they will execute him for losing a flyer to us.” Jack studied each of the council member’s faces as Teague said this, and wasn’t particularly surprised to not see much compassion. Chuck seemed to be right, these men didn’t show any signs of truly valuing human life, particularly those who couldn’t contribute to rebuilding the human gene pool.

  Jack continued his debriefing report. “After talking to Tiny on the radio, I went back in and we hauled the three Cali bodies into the complex. We stored them in the unoccupied tubes, that way the complex won’t stink up with their rotting corpses. We brought Emmet’s corpse back here with the hope of... I don’t know the term. Recreating him?” He paused at this and looked at Teague.

  Teague pondered it for a moment then said, “Emmet has struggled a little with relationships lately, but otherwise has been very useful. He is a good soldier, and is very loyal to our cause. And of course being reborn, he is fertile.” Marcus and the others appeared to be weighing the information.

  Jack spoke up and said, “If it weren’t for Emmet we would have all been killed or captured. He could have surrendered, but he sacrificed himself so we could get away. He is a hero, plain and simple.”

  Marcus looked at his fellow councilmen, who each nodded to him, and he looked to Teague and said, “You have a subject coming out of the tank tomorrow, right?” Teague nodded. “Okay, get started on the process tonight then.” Jack was relieved to hear that. They only knew each other for a few hours, so in all likelihood, Emmet wouldn’t remember him. Jack was fine with that, but something was nagging at his conscience. Perhaps having the ability to bring someone back from the dead was pushing the boundaries of his morality.

  Continuing on, Jack said, “Chuck went with the Cali pilot and held a gun on him while he flew back to the landing zone, and in case anyone decided to watch via satellite, I donned some Cali armor, loaded Emmet’s corpse, and drove the ground vehicle back. I secured the entrance to the facility, and did my best to cover up the tracks in the area. We hauled all their gear back to the flyers. When the transport arrived, we threw our guns down as if surrendering then had Tiny and another man smash the Cali PDPs. They loaded us onto the transport, then Wendy and another pilot loaded up the ground vehicle and we all flew back here. If they were watching, it will look like their patrol captured some of us, then were captured themselves by our rescue party.”

  Marcus and the rest nodded, obviously impressed by the forethought put into everything.

  Jack continued, “Look, I talked to the pilot we captured. The Calis have figured out there is something going on up there, and they believe it has something to do with why we will not trade our men with anyone any more. They have been running patrols in that area, just waiting for a chance to capture one of our groups. We need to do something now, before they find that facility.”

  Marcus and the others had paled slightly, and after a brief silence, Marcus said, “What would you propose doing?”

  Jack had been thinking about this since they captured the pilot, and was ready to throw out some ideas. His real strength was in analyzing a situation, weighing his assets, and coming up with the best possible way to accomplish a task. This had served him well in his job building bunkers but didn’t define him strictly as a contractor. If he had an understanding of the goal, reaching it was his specialty. “I have some ideas, but I don’t know what assets we have. Much of what I will propose is built on assumptions from what I have learned in the short time I have been here.”

  Marcus gestured for him to continue. “I think we need to recover as many subjects as we can and store them
here.” Jack expected a reaction to this, and he was not disappointed.

  Caleb spoke up first. “We don’t have the capability to store that many bodies! Have you seen the size of that facility?”

  Then William pitched in with, “Even if we could, it would take dozens of trips up and back, leaving ourselves way too exposed, and virtually showing our fellow communities exactly where we are going. Cali would not sit back and watch, and once they figured out exactly what we have up there, they will try to take it for themselves. It could easily escalate into a real war!”

  Theodore was quiet, and Teague was observing as if he was not a part of the conversation at all, merely a student watching it all play out. Marcus spoke next. “Both these men are correct, we have neither the ability to transport, nor a place to store so many bodies – at least not without drawing unwanted attention from probably every other community in the western half of the continent. You said yourself that Cali was actively patrolling the area.”

  Jack waited until they were all finished. “I had surmised as much. I took the liberty of examining the schematics for this facility.” He went to the table and collected his datapad, and punched a few times on the screen. The lights dimmed and the screen on the wall behind him lit up. Jack was becoming very proficient with his datapad, and loved using it when he had the opportunity. A schematic of level six showed up on the big screen. “I see seven rooms that are unoccupied. I am guessing these rooms could be turned into cold storage. Given that we do not need the entire body of the subjects, we could store at least fourteen hundred heads, by my estimation.” He paused to let that sink in.