by J. G. Martin
Atlanta had decent defenses centered on a series of bunkers in Stone Mountain, a small mountain just outside the city. Despite the destruction of the troops sent to Savannah, the Georgian Regulars and militia still greatly outnumbered the U.S.T.G. forces. The city and its defenses were also too widespread to lay siege to. So again the U.S.T.G. had a very simple solution. Bombers with chemical weapons, specifically nerve gas, were dispatched to bomb the city. The U.S.T.G. army didn’t even stop to attack the city, they just headed home. They couldn’t hold the territory yet, they just didn’t want another rival to gain strength. And they wanted the city more or less intact in the future.
Derek still managed to convince himself that the U.S.T.G. was just making the difficult decisions that had to be made for the survival of America. They were at war and the ends justified the means. He tried not to think of all the innocents that had been killed by the nuke and the gas attacks. The allies they had betrayed and all the destruction they had wrought. The final straw was the massacre at Mason, Iowa.
He and his unit had been told that a small group of anarchist terrorists were holed up in neutral town just outside U.S.T.G. territory. They were told that the terrorists had enough explosives to level the town. The town itself seemed abandoned when they got there. No cars, no people, and all the windows were boarded up. They went in and took out the building the terrorists were in. A simple operation, they came in through the windows and doors and systematically killed everyone inside. When they cleared the building, they found no literature or bomb making materials. Nothing was inside except the bodies of armed civilians who had barricaded themselves in the building.
As regular troops moved in, Derek had tried to question the General in charge of the operation, General Merkel. The General was a short man with a Napoleon complex who had gotten his position by being a loyal lackey of the new military leaders. He had little combat experience and was more of a politician than a commander. He had only said he was following orders to secure the town after being invited by the townspeople, and then shoved past Derek to organize the construction of a garrison fort. Construction vehicles and armored vehicles crowded the main street.
Derek thought that was odd, but plausible. It wasn’t until the black trucks full of Federal Police showed up and started rounding up the citizens that Derek realized he had been lied to. They weren’t harboring terrorists; the town just didn’t want to join the U.S.T.G.. They wanted the town intact so they hadn’t stormed it with regular Army troops. The civilians he had killed were probably the militia for the town. Without them the others would just surrender.
He was angry and confronted General Merkel again. The General threatened to arrest him and have him court martialed. Derek was going to back down but then he heard gunfire. It sounded like concerted volleys of gunfire, several minutes apart. He couldn’t believe it. They were executing the townspeople. He punched the little martinet in his smug face and raced towards the gunfire. Other soldiers tackled him and beat him into unconsciousness before he got very far. His last sight was of the bloody nosed general pointing at him and screaming.
Derek awoke shackled in the back of a truck. They transported him to Chicago where he was put on trial for mass murder and treason. It was a show trial and his defense lawyer didn’t even really try to defend him. He shrugged when Derek told him about the massacre. The judge ordered him muzzled when he tried to tell the court about what had really happened and his mistreatment on the trip back. Derek’s nose was still splinted and he had four broken ribs.
They trotted out multiple “witnesses” including the General and former team members to describe his murderous and out of control behavior. They blamed the massacre on him and claimed he also killed U.S.T.G. soldiers attempting to protect the civilians. The entire trial lasted only about two hours before the judge pronounced him guilty and sentenced him to death. The state controlled media ran a piece trumpeting how the government applied the law equally and was punishing one of their own for heinous crimes. Footage was shown that supposedly proved his guilt. Old friends and colleagues ignored his pleas for help.
They stuck Derek in a small cell to await his televised execution. They had scheduled his death by lethal injection for two days after the trial’s conclusion. His last meal was cold oatmeal. That General really knew how to hold a grudge and he must have had powerful friends. The day of the execution they shackled him and marched him down a long corridor towards what he had assumed was the execution chamber. Instead he had been placed in the back of a small armored transport van. No one had spoken to him so he had no idea what was going on.
The transport had taken him to a waiting helicopter which took them over the border of UTSG territory at the time, near St Louis, MO. While still in the air he had been dragged to the open door of the helicopter and unshackled. The guards had kept him at gunpoint while one had approached. His old combat knife was shoved into his hand and he was told he was dead if he ever entered UTSG territory and that if he was captured by U.S.T.G. troops he would be executed on the spot. Then the soldier had said, “The General says goodbye.”, before he had shoved Derek out of the helicopter.
The helicopter had only been at a five hundred feet when the tossed him out, but that probably should have still killed him. Derek remembered a story about a pilot falling thousands of feet and landing perfectly flat on his back and surviving, so he tried to imitate that. He must have succeeded because when he regained consciousness in a pile of brush after hitting the ground he was still alive. Miraculously he had no broken bones, only a few cracked ribs which healed quickly. Not that this was much better than being executed, they had left him lying in the wasteland all alone in nothing but his light green prison uniform and a knife.
To this day, Derek had no idea what poor soul they had executed in his stead. It was probably some innocent political prisoner. He had also had no idea why they had exiled him instead of executing him. He had assumed one of his old friends had come through for him and saved his life. Shoving him out of the helicopter had been General Merkel’s broad interpretation of his orders to release Derek. Now he was starting to think they just didn’t want to get rid of a very valuable asset they may want to use again in the future. Like for example, to have deniability in retrieving a device for them.
Chapter 5
June 9, 2029
Near Colorado-Kansas Border
The girl just stared at Derek. Finally he sighed and approached her. She shrank back a little as he got closer. He put his hands up in front of him to show he wasn’t armed, “I’m not going to hurt you. I made a deal with your father. You give me the device and I will take you to NASA.”
He felt a little guilty about lying, but he needed that device ASAP, and a long trip to NASA first would be way too long to get it. Plus he wasn’t convinced she really knew where it was. There was also the possibility that NASA didn’t exist anymore. He had heard there were people holed up there, but that was years ago. Anything could have happened. They could get the device, collect payment, and he could drop her at NASA or somewhere safe. Then he could go enjoy his retirement.
She glared at him. Obviously trying to figure out what her next move was. Finally she responded, “I don’t have the device. My father hid it.”
“I know, he told me you had the numbers that would lead to the device. You give them to me, I confirm it’s there, and then I take you to safety at NASA. That’s the deal.”
“You let him die, why didn’t you save him?” She demanded in an accusing tone.
“He sacrificed himself for you. We would never have gotten away otherwise. Where is the device, we don’t have much time.”
“What is to stop you from killing me once you have the numbers?”
“I didn’t come all this way and rescue you from slavers just to kill you once I know where it is. Plus you could lie to me. I’m keeping you with me until I have it and then I can take you to NASA or you can go wherever you want.”
“Take me to NASA
first.”
She literally stamped her foot as she said it. She had a pout on her face and looked like a petulant child. Derek groaned inwardly, this was proving challenging. She had been isolated for years probably, and was also probably spoiled. Not having real world experience would make her very difficult to deal with.
“Look, NASA is very far away and will take us at least a week to get there. I need the device today. I am on a deadline. If the deadline passes and I don’t have the device, you are of no use to me anymore and there is no deal. Besides if I was a bad person I would be torturing you for the numbers not negotiating with you.”
She thought about it for a while and looked Derek up and down. “What do you want the device for?”
“What?” Derek was a little caught off guard by the question.
“What do you want to use the device for?”
“I don’t even know what it does. Someone hired me to retrieve it and that’s what I’m doing.”
“Who hired you?”
Derek didn’t really want to explain the helicopter, the phone drop, and the subsequent conversation. Nor did he want to share his theories on his employer. Who knew what she thought or had been told about the U.S.T.G.. So he played dumb, “I don’t know. They are anonymous.”
“How did they hire you then?”
Damn, she wasn’t stupid. Actually now that she had calmed down she seemed rather intelligent.
“They called me.”
She laughed, “I’m not stupid, no one has cell phones anymore and you don’t look like you lived in a town.”
“They dropped it out of a helicopter.” He held up the phone to show her.
She snatched it from his hand. Quick reflexes too. Derek was faster than almost everyone he ever knew and she was faster. She turned it over in her hands examining it. She started pushing buttons and playing with it. Not knowing what that would do, Derek grabbed it back from her.
“Cutting edge. Very cool. Do you have an earpiece for it?” she asked.
“Yes” he replied simply.
“Can I see it?”
“No. Enough with the twenty questions. Where is the device?”
“You don’t know what the device does, but you are just going to hand it over? What if it contains a sample of the crop virus that decimated the planet?”
This was getting old. Derek had had enough of her questions. “Tell me where it is or I will leave you here.”
“But then you don’t get paid.”
“I’m not getting paid enough to deal with you. You are a spoiled smartass brat who has no clue how the real world works.” He replied cruelly.
At that the girl started to cry. Great, now he had hurt her feelings. Derek sighed internally and attempted to recover the situation. “I’m sorry I said that. I’ve been living out in the wasteland for the last couple of years and I don’t have a lot of social interaction. You just got grabbed by slavers, watched your dad blow himself up, and your home is destroyed. I know this must be very hard for you. But I did save you and your father and we made a deal.”
Derek felt some remorse for twisting the truth, but he needed that device. He would still take her to safety after he had it and had gotten paid. She stared at him through red, tear filled eyes.
“The device is at 36.1, -92.33, -6.21.”
“GPS coordinates?”
“I guess…Daddy never told me what the numbers were, he just made me memorize them.”
Derek plugged that into the GPS system on the phone. “Well; if they are GPS coordinates, that’s near Harrison, Arkansas. That is approximately a three day ride from here. What is the box number?”
“I’ll tell you that when we get there. Daddy told me to keep that to myself as a bargaining chip.”
Derek rolled his eyes. This girl was impossible, but also smart. “I need to make a call.”
He walked off a short distance and hit the contact button for the Voice. The phone rang twice before it picked up.
“Major Storm, you have the device I presume?”
“Not exactly, but I know where it is.”
“What do you mean you don’t have it? The deadline is in six hours. Will you have it by then?” The Voice sounded frantic.
“The doctor had been captured by slavers by the time I got to his location. I searched the location, but the device wasn’t there. I tracked down the slavers and attempted to rescue him, but he blew himself up in the escape.”
“WHAT?”
“He created a distraction so I could escape with his daughter. She gave me the coordinates for the location of the device. But it is approximately a three day ride from here.”
“Unacceptable. We need the device now. Where is the location, we will send someone else to get it.”
“No way. Our deal still stands. I get you the device and I get a pardon and gold. You just need to extend the deadline.”
There was long pause as the line went quiet. Derek assumed the Voice was checking with his superiors.
“We will pay you two hundred and fifty thousand in gold plus the pardon for the coordinates.”
“No deal. I will retrieve the device and you will pay me full price for it. It’s in a bank vault and the girl still hasn’t told me which box. You need me.”
“Very well. You have three days. After that the device will be worthless.”
Derek grinned. There was some urgent need for the device, maybe he could get even more money after he had it.
“Deal.”
With that the line went dead.
Chapter 6
June 9, 2029
Slaver Camp Near Lamar, CO
Maximillian stood amongst the wreckage of the slaver caravan. All of the vehicles in the outer circle were blasted apart and burning. The bodies of the slavers and their prisoners were scattered about the site. They lay where they had fallen, the bodies scorched and broken. The only survivor knelt before him begging and pleading for his life. The leader of the slavers was a short man. He was heavyset and it was obvious he indulged himself in whatever pleasures he could find. He was becoming increasingly desperate as Maximillian stared down at him.
“Please, don’t kill me. I have a family.”
Maximillian laughed. “You traffic in human misery; breaking up families and ruining lives and you think that because YOU have a family, you deserve mercy.”
“It wasn’t my fault. Someone intervened and rescued the girl. The crazy scientist blew himself up.” The slaver leader whined. Sweat was beginning to run down his face as he became more and more afraid.
Maximillian’s face was a stony mask as he talked to the man. No emotions were visible as he spoke, “You failed to get the device or keep them for me. That was the arrangement. You assured me it was a simple task. I need the device. Failure is not an option.”
“He didn’t have the device and it wasn’t in the village anywhere. We looked.”
“Then you should have brought me the scientist and his daughter.”
“I’m telling you, this guy came and got her. He must have been ex-military. He moved like a ghost and shot like a sharpshooter. He freed the other slaves and gunned down four of my guys plus slit the throat of another. Blew up a truck too. He moved so fast and was so accurate it was inhuman.”
Maximillian smiled at that. It wasn’t a pretty smile; in fact he knew it made him look predatory. The reconstructive surgery on his face had left many of the muscles inoperable along with his nerves. So the smile did not look natural at all. This only made the piece of scum kneeling in front of him more afraid. The fact that much of the rest of Maximillian was made of titanium alloy and was therefore inhuman was probably not helping either. The slaver froze when he realized what he had said. With his enhanced senses Maximillian could smell the urine as soon as it started trickling down the man’s leg.
“One last chance to redeem yourself.” Maximillian told him, “Where did they go?”
“It was dark, I have no idea.” The man stammered.
&nb
sp; “Then I have no use for you.” Maximillian informed him as he drew his pistol.
The energy blast vaporized the slaver’s head and his body slumped forward to the ground. Maximillian turned and surveyed the camp and scanned for any possible clues to the escapees’ route. The cybernetics in his left eye was able to process the site in several spectrums and with greater focus than his human right eye. He detected nothing unusual. It had been too long to see the footprints they had left and there were no emissions or tire tracks to indicate a vehicle. His drones walked among the ruins searching bodies and making sure no evidence of their attack remained.
Maximillian turned his focus inward and accessed the LINC. The Layered Integrated Neural Connection allowed him direct access to the entire Collective. The entire Collective was connected to the LINC at all times. Every drone, humek, and computer system was all linked together. Created by Father before the Collapse, it allowed them to utilize the processing power and data of the entire Collective simultaneously. It made them the most powerful supercomputer ever created. He had heard it compared to a hive mind by those not a part of it. At first it had been difficult to get used to something being open in his mind all the time, but after a while he got used to it. Now it was comforting that he was never alone.
He accessed the satellite system and viewed the satellite tasked to the now dead scientist. He ran the footage backwards until he reached the slaver attack. He zoomed in and watched the slaver attack in great detail. They had indeed overrun the village and quickly captured the scientist. Then they had searched the houses and properties. Finding nothing they had bundled him and his daughter onto the wagon and headed off.
The satellite followed them as the caravan moved away and then camped for the night. The footage switched to infrared and he could no longer follow individuals except the scientist, who appeared as purple blob instead of green due to the radioactive markers the Collective had placed in his body. Maximillian could see them set up camp and set up the sentries. New heat sources indicated campfires and torches lit as they settled in for the night.
