As they were reaching the end of the corridor that lined the upper section, one of the men wearing a lab coat reached across and dragged one of the larger images of the rings—which appeared to Jane to be part of a construct of some kind—and brought it over to the center of the table where they had gathered and were working. This produced a series of sighs and groans from the other scientists, as though the man had introduced a tired and worn-out subject.
As Marie and Jane walked further into the ship, Jane looked back periodically to make sure her friends were following. Eventually, after descending through five decks of the interior, they stopped at a large, open corridor. There was a door on their right. Marie ran her wrist over the security device and the door opened with a hiss. Marie stood back and raised her hand toward the entrance, gesturing for Jane to enter.
Jane walked inside. After a moment, her friends followed her.
“Make yourselves comfortable in here,” Marie said in a flat tone. “I may—or may not—be back for you. Depending on how things go, Jane.”
“Good luck,” Jane said in a sarcastic tone.
Marie’s brow furrowed, and she seemed ready to respond when Morris passed behind her slowly. His eyes were half open. A man in a white coat was holding him by the shoulder, guiding him.
Jane gasped and took a step forward. “Morris!” she yelled. “Where are they taking him?” she asked Marie.
Marie shot her an angry look and ran her wrist over the external security panel. The door closed automatically, a giant slab of metal turning on heavy hinges.
Jane heard metallic grinding noises as the locks moved inside the doorframe. She turned around to her friends and walked over to them. “Are you OK?” she asked.
“Yes. Fine. Glad we’re somewhere other than one of those damn facilities,” Ciara replied.
“More surveillance,” Mike added, nodding at the long screen that ran along the length of the front of the room.
Jane walked toward it now, but had only moved a few feet when another sound came from the doorframe as the heavy locks moved inside it once again. This time, as it swung open, Lucas stepped inside, holding a weapon filled with tranquilizer darts. He lifted the gun and pointed it at Jane.
“No chances this time,” he said, and fired the weapon.
She only managed to breathe in sharply; there was no time to react further. The dart hit just below her right collarbone. First, there was the familiar pain—she had felt this exact sensation before. A second later, as she saw Lucas turn and shoot her friends in the same fashion, her senses began to fade, and she quickly fell on her side. The world began to swim as Lucas turned back to her.
“We’ll wake you if we need you.” Then he exited the room, and the door slammed shut behind him.
“Jane,” she heard Ciara say as she blacked out.
***
Zoe Delahunt was in her office with Noah. She was sitting on the chair at her desk with her feet drawn up beneath her; he was half-lying on the sofa at the back of the room, where a partial glass wall separated them from the other offices. She held a cup in her hands that was only one quarter full with a double-shot latte; it was all that remained of her morning meal. She had arranged this meeting in the afternoon, when she knew the offices around them would be quieter.
“Do you think there’s anything we can do to stop it?” she asked Noah.
He snorted, and his breath caught in his throat just a little. Zoe realized that he had briefly fallen asleep.
“What?” he asked.
“Do you think we can stop it? Whatever’s happening to Trey?”
He wiped his eyes and sat up. “I’m not sure. The suppression field’s already at maximum—less than half what it was at NY-1.” He looked up at her and waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “But that’s nothing, as you well know,” he said as he lifted his cup to his mouth, emptying the last of his coffee down his throat.
“Yes, nothing.” She looked at her computer monitor, where the display showed various case files of Ethereals from around the world. “No Ethereal has ever exhibited the ability to levitate themselves—to turn their power back on their own body. Such a level of control has never been recorded in human history.” She thought of Jade again, and of the incredibly innocent tricks she had performed during the time they had spent together at university.
“You know it’s not just that, Zoe. Whenever he does that, we get readings that have never been seen before—by anyone. I mean, we’re the first. Good thing you took his feed off the Committee’s network. Why the heck haven’t they questioned us about him?”
“I have my ideas. I took a look through some more of the many files you hacked.” She glanced at him with a half-grin and a raised brow, then turned back to her screen. “I had Lucy scan them for references to the Atlantic Object because,” she glared at him, almost afraid to use the word, “I had an instinct.”
“What did she find?”
“Evidence of a plan for some kind of huge operation. They’re going out there, into the ocean. They’ve built a vessel, and it’s been designed to withstand extreme gravitational forces. It’s cost them three hundred million US dollars. Some of the money came from private backers, and some from governments—many governments, ours included. There are support vessels, but the main ship has incredible technology: transmitting devices, a holographic testing room, and weapons.”
“Weapons?! What kind of weapons?” he asked as he sat up further, leaning forward on the sofa.
“Strategic laser defense systems. Shockwave-disruption technology. Electromagnetic-interference technology.”
He had left the sofa and was leaning down over her now, looking at the images that were displayed on the screen. He gaped as he looked at a partial blueprint of the vessel. “Oh my God.”
Zoe felt his arm drape over her shoulder, and she reached up and took his hand in hers. She saw him glance at her, then back at the screen. She swiped the image aside, and now a full-sized image appeared.
Noah let out a breath. “This can’t be for real. If you say some of this is government money, I can’t imagine they know exactly what the money’s being spent on.”
“No. They don’t appear to. I took a good look at the paper trail. It leads all over the place, and if anyone goes looking, it’s certainly not going to lead them to designs for a highly experimental ship. As far as anyone on the outside is concerned, this thing doesn’t exist.” Zoe had been leaning with her elbows on the desk and her chin resting in her palm. Now she shifted position as she addressed her AI assistant. “Lucy, I’m having a conversation with my colleague, Noah. Could you please confirm for him what the image on the screen is?”
“Of course,” the pleasant voice of the AI responded. “The image, according to best speculation and predictions, is the vessel that is intended to be used in an upcoming operation financed by and initiated by the Committee. Based on all information retrieved from the recent network hack—approximately twenty-six terabytes of data—the most likely use of this vessel has something to do with the Atlantic Object.”
“What is your best guess about its specific purpose?” Zoe asked.
“Although predictions fall below acceptable ranges upon further speculation, the most likely use for this craft, based on all information currently available, is to raise the Atlantic Object from the bottom of the ocean. All previous attempts to raise the object have failed. It appears invulnerable to almost all scans and all physical probes. It has been ascertained that it does respond to specific psionic signatures: those of a few captives who were held in the first New York facility. Specifically, Jane Connor’s telepathic and psychokinetic powers seemed most connective to the object, as it seemed to have the highest energetic output when she was pressured to use her abilities by Lucas, both during her last interrogation by him and during her escape from the facility.”
“Do you think it’s possib
le that her escape was allowed—perhaps even engineered?” Noah asked.
Zoe turned to face him, frowning. “You’re asking… did they set the whole thing up to gather the data they needed?”
Noah shrugged.
Zoe turned to face her monitor once more. She didn’t think the AI would have any better luck than them, but she thought to ask anyway. “Lucy, is possible that Jane Connor’s escape from NY-1 was engineered in some fashion?”
“It is, Miss Delahunt, but there is not enough data to speculate further with any degree of accuracy about that specific subject. However, it is suggested that whatever influence Jane Connor introduced to the facility—be it psychological or otherwise—it shifted the balance of power.”
Zoe glanced at Noah.
He shook his head, bewildered.
She turned back toward her monitor. “What would be the most likely outcome if they are successful in raising the object?” she asked Lucy.
“Insufficient information to speculate with any degree of accuracy.”
“Humor me.”
“I can only liken it to a transcendental event, something beyond which neither I—with my vast access to computational power—nor you, can see.”
“Continue speculating anyway.”
“A transdimensional gateway, implying transdimensional travel. A transgalactic communication or travel device. Time travel. Einstein-Rosen bridge—”
“Stop.” Zoe sat up straight and turned around to face Noah. “Why do you say time travel, Lucy?”
“It is just barely within the range of acceptable parameters for the function of this Machine. Given what we know about life, how quickly it evolved on Earth, and what we know about our own technological development, there is of course the possibility that a separate race may have figured out a way to harness this method of travel. Add in the separate factors of the emergence of the psionic faculty in the human race, and the recent speculations in the science community that were proved to be accurate, and more credence is given to this hypothesis. Although I must reiterate that this is pure speculation, Miss. Delahunt.”
There was silence in the room for a moment. Zoe turned back toward the monitors.
“What is it?” Noah asked. “What is it about…that that makes it more significant?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. Something just clicked when Lucy said it.”
“Why don’t you ask—”
“There’s no point,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “She’s guessing. Practically making things up at this point. We’d have just as much luck as her. Jesus himself could walk right out of that Machine, and I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“You’re not convincing me. There’s something about that last possibility she read out that’s different, isn’t there?”
Her only answer was a heavy, burdened sigh. Her shoulders rose and fell, and she sank back into the chair. Once again, she locked eyes with him, and she thought that at that moment, although unspoken, he, too, feel the enormity of what was about to unfold.
CHAPTER 11
THE SIGNAL
As the well-secured elevator that led to the control room rose, Marie stood with her arms crossed in front of her, facing the ground. The upward motion made her think of the schematics she had seen of the artifacts in the water. As the images ran through her mind, it suddenly became more than just a matter of simple thought. She gasped as a single vision of something rising out of crashing water penetrated her consciousness. She stumbled to the corner of the elevator, where she held on to the firm, metallic surface there.
The elevator stopped as it reached the top floor and chimed. Marie took a deep breath, and as the doors slid open and the light of the brightly lit corridor fell on her, she glanced upward. Ahead of her was a thirty-foot walkway that was built to protect the control room from anyone who didn’t have access to it. The elevator was the first defense; the corridor and the remaining door at the end were secondary security measures. She thought about what she had just seen. It had been unlike anything she had ever experienced before, and in truth, the only word that she could use to describe it was vision. But she was no Ethereal, and such activity was reserved for them and them alone.
“Must be something to do with… this mission…” she found herself saying aloud as she glanced back into the hallway. Knowing she couldn’t linger any longer, she took a deep breath, composed herself, and walked into the corridor, blinking briefly at the bright light. As she approached the door, a scanning system automatically spread a wide laser beam across her.
“Please place hand for DNA scan.”
A panel opened in the wall to her right, revealing a small square platform, just big enough for Marie to place her hand. She did so, and then she heard a beep that she had become familiar with in the previous weeks as she had been introduced to the ship and its workings back at the dock. She heard the locks begin to turn, and after just two seconds, the massive door slid open. Marie walked inside.
She made her way to the center of the room, where a gap in the rows of computer terminals ran up toward the main screen that covered the entire front wall. As she reached the top of the room, she faced the large bank of screens.
Varied information was displayed here—ship schematics, information about the Atlantic Object, and various other readouts such as weather reports. She turned to Ranger, the man who operated the main console just to the right of the large screen in front of her. It was through him that most of her commands would be relayed. The people working behind her were prepared to run various scans, which would include measuring levels and types of psionic activity, be it telepathic, psychokinetic, or other. Indeed, they were all expecting that they would find some new and heretofore unknown energy.
The one remaining thing that Marie could not get out of her mind was Jane Connor. What was her connection to the object? True, the other Ethereals they had kept at NY-1 demonstrated some response to it. But Jane was different. Her response to the object had been orders of magnitude greater than theirs—truly very unique.
The well-secured door that led to the corridor and the elevator beyond opened behind them. Marie turned around to see Lucas enter the room. He found her eyes immediately and walked over to her.
“It’s done,” he said.
She nodded. “It was a minor dose, though—right, Lucas? Like I instructed.”
He sighed. “Yes. Nothing major. It will keep them out for two hours at most.”
“Good.” She paused as she turned back to the main monitor. “Because we want to test the signal without their possible interference, but… we may still need her. “Are we in position?” she asked, turning and directing the question at Ranger.
Ranger nodded. “Yes,” he replied.
Marie could almost feel the beat of the Machine in her mind. Pulse. Pulse. Pulse. They were close now, closer than they’d ever been, and her eyes gleamed with rapture. “Good,” she said. “Give me a satellite visual on the main screen.” She stepped back to take in the full view of the large monitor. The central section of the screen changed. It displayed an image of the ocean from above.
“Focus on our exact coordinates and zoom, please.” She looked at Ranger and saw him work the controls on his monitor. His fingers ran across the screen deftly, making beeping sounds as he input commands. The image cropped immediately, and the smaller area—which Marie guessed must have still been hundreds of square meters—now filled the screen. The four vessels could be seen clearly on this grid.
“Good,” she said. “The other ships?”
“The other vessels are in coordination with us. As you can see, they’ve taken position on the remaining three corners of the quadrant. One of them has been knocked off course just slightly; it will take it a few moments to adjust.”
“OK,” Marie replied.
The vessel they were occupying had one destination, one po
int of origin, and some emergency contingency locations that only Marie, Lucas, and a few other people were aware of. They had been programmed into the navigational system in the event that something catastrophic occurred. The many scientists who worked on the project had predicted this possibility—that something beyond their capability of apprehension could occur, forcing them to turn tail rapidly. The ship was capable of several of these contingencies, including a rapid-evacuation protocol.
Another moment passed, and Marie watched on the screen from the center of the room as the satellite image depicted the position of the four ships from overhead. Their larger, more sophisticated lead ship was in the top right corner, occupying the eastern quadrant. The others were less sleek, less maneuverable, and less technologically advanced. These were spread out into the other corners. Finally, it seemed as though the last vessel had clicked into place.
“That’s it. The final vessel is reporting that it has reached its respective coordinates,” Ranger said.
There was a bulkhead door that led to the outside deck, and Marie turned toward it now. She walked to it and ran her wrist over the security panel there. As the door swung open in front of her, the metal grinding on its hinges, she looked out at the shimmering skyline. In the distance, she could see two of the vessels—one on the right and one almost straight ahead. The other was on the far left, and her view of it was partially obstructed by the exterior structure of the deck that she was standing on. They were separated from the other ships by a few hundred meters in any direction, and their formation was perfect.
She turned around once again to face the interior, standing just inside the doorframe. She felt all eyes in the room slowly turn to her. The clicking of the various consoles stopped. Ranger turned in his small swivel stool and stared at her. Still, she glared toward her left at the images on the screen, where the live satellite view still displayed the four ships clearly.
Rise (The Ethereal Vision Book 2) Page 12
