by John Freitas
“What’s wrong, Doctor?” Mark asked.
Dr. Kell didn’t know how to answer. He needed to get a good night’s sleep in an actual bed, he thought.
He looked up and opened his mouth to try to explain, but the words caught. He saw the small china cups of the tea set lift off the table behind Mark and spin slowly in the air as if they were about to begin a dance in some musical about a magic kitchen. The silver case scrapped and lifted into the air as well. Thomas Kell pictured the ghost of Hazel Conrad leaning forward from her chair to lift the objects to bring fear from beyond her fiery grave.
The silver case tilted to one side in the air and banked like an unbalanced aircraft. It pinged against the porcelain statue, turned it so that the warrior was displaying his dying lion for Dr. Kell again. A white chip broke loose from the shoulder and twirled up into the air reminding Dr. Kell of some rogue asteroid flying off course to destroy the world.
At the noise of the impact, Mark turned around to look behind him. He had heard it too. This was not all in Dr. Kell’s head which made Thomas Kell even more afraid.
Mark’s turn caused him to waver on his feet. He tilted backward with the motion and lifted up on his toes at an odd angle. He looked like he was performing some ballet or modern dance. He was not falling. It was as if he was being lifted up too.
Dr. Kell gripped the desk harder. The laptop slid and then hoisted into the air with the tether of the power cord dragging behind it.
The clock drifted off the shelf and rolled in the air causing the ticks to change tone. The guts of the clock were coming off balance. Books fell in the absence of the clock and drifted off the shelf as well. The leather covers opened and the golden edged pages splayed out. Thomas imagined birds taking flight with leather bound wings. He thought that would be a better description of a bat or something demonic.
“What’s happening?” Dr. Kell whispered.
Mark did not answer.
Thomas Kell felt his weight come back and objects fell around the room. Teacups bounced off the table like ping pong balls. The silver case smashed the statue and cracked the table’s surface. The warrior’s decapitated porcelain head rolled away. The clock crashed to the floor and gears exploded out of the clock’s broken face. The books landed around it. The laptop landed on Dr. Kell’s hand and he staggered away from the desk like he had been bitten.
He turned toward Mark Spencer who was straightening his shirt. Dr. Kell shook his head. “What was that? What happened?”
“I signed a non disclosure agreement,” Mark said. “Everything that happens in this room is a secret, I’m told.”
The door to the office flung open and bounced off the wall. Calvin Hall ran inside and looked around the floor. He looked up at Mark Spencer and Hall’s expression went from surprise to anger. “What happened here?”
“Nothing yet,” Mark said.
9
Mark Spencer stretched the belts down over the front of the refrigerator in his apartment. His hands shook as he tried to reach the bottom, front edge. They needed to be taut, but he thought he might have bought the wrong size. He had been so careful with everything else, but securing the apartment had been an afterthought. He had used the quality belts and bolts to secure his computer equipment. Even his chair was attached to the floor now. Most of the rest of the living room furniture was moved into the bedroom and tied down. If it flew loose in there, he could care less. As long as the Russian’s couch or entertainment center didn’t come crashing up through the floor, everything would be fine. Having the wrong size straps for his refrigerator made him doubt all his other preparations including the configuration of the vest, the boots, the timing, mapping the route through CDR, and all of it. He hated doubting himself. Doubting himself made him hate himself.
He growled as he put all his weight on the strap. He missed the eye bolt he had screwed into the floor and caught the vent on the bottom. Mark knew it was a mistake, but he lost his grip. The strap pulled and the vent tore off the bottom of the fridge soaring past his face. Mark rolled away slamming his shoulder painfully against one of the bottom cabinet doors. The grill slingshot up against the ceiling. Broken bits of the pop corn ceiling sprinkled down. The impact knocked the vent loose from the hook and it crashed back to the kitchen floor next to Mark with a clatter. He shielded his face with his forearm and squinted.
The strap whipped back and forth in the air like an angry snake around Mark’s head. The hook struck cabinets and the refrigerator door as it finished its dance. The refrigerator rocked on its uneven feet. He heard the metal crashes inside as one of the wire racks fell loose from the jostling. Three more crashes following along with shattering glass and something leaked out from the under side of the door where the seal was going bad. Mark could smell vinegar. It must have been the pickle jar that broke.
He leaned forward over his bent knees where he sat in the kitchen floor and covered his face.
Someone beat the ceiling underneath where he sat and shouted up at him in Russian. Mark stood and stomped his feet. He shouted back at the floor in Russian too.
He left the kitchen and stood in the living room with his back to the monitor. The light from the streaming video he had up was playing off the far wall in the low light. He saw the images inverted and blurred over the curved face of the clock. He found himself thinking about the thing in the CDR lab creating its own light.
“I need to get rid of that clock before it flies off and breaks something.”
Mark turned and looked at his computer. The sound was off as he had on the video everyone in the world was watching. He didn’t need to hear it because he already knew what the astronomer was telling the world. Mark had calculated out every micro gravitational wave right up to the big one the world was finding out about now.
The subtitles on the feed were in English. They had figured it out. Mark’s secret was now known to the world. His element of surprise was lost. Everyone was going to be in a panic and they world was going to burn as a result. Everything had become more difficult because of everyone else.
“Same as always,” Mark whispered.
There would probably be curfews and military blockades out the day of the actual wave. Mark might have trouble getting to CDR for the break in. CDR would be locking down as well. He’d need to bring equipment with him in case he could not get back to the apartment.
They might change the security Mark had already put into place and everything would become infinitely more dangerous. A lesser man would give up, but Mark was not going to be dissuaded. He was not letting the trouble of others get in the way of his victory. He had worked and planned too hard. Maybe the chaos and panic would serve as more cover.
“Look on the bright side.” Mark shut off the feed.
He checked and saw he was still streaming data from CDR. They had not messed with his backdoor into the system yet. They were probably only now finding out about the gravitational wave just like the rest of the world too.
Mark went back into the kitchen. He looked at the loose strap on the leaking refrigerator. He looked at the dishes in the sink with knife handles sticking out. Mark shook his head and started throwing the dishes into the trashcan. Standing water spilled off of them onto the counter. The putrid smell made him gag. He tossed the sticky, crusty knifes and other utensils into the trash as well.
Mark started to lift out the bag, but saw the knives had cut the plastic. He lifted the entire trashcan and strained to haul the weight. Mark shuffled to the door. He set the can down to open the front door out onto the walkway. As he lifted again with a grunt, he shuffled out and tried to pull the door closed with his foot. It bounced on his ankle and swung back open a few inches.
He hissed in frustration, but kept going down the stairs and out toward the curb. He heard sirens in the distance as he set his entire trashcan out on the curb. Horns honked over the blaring sirens in the distance. He wasn’t sure if that was normal Chicago trouble or the first signs of the panic.
Mark turned back toward the apartment building to get back inside. His phone rang and he worked it out of his pocket to answer.
Mark sighed and said, “What is it, John?”
“Are you watching the announcement?”
“Of course, I am. Are you calling me because your family won’t talk to you even during the end of the world?”
“No … well, they won’t, but that’s not why I’m calling. I have a job for you right now.”
“Are you kidding me with this?” Mark asked. “I have to prep for this thing just like everyone else. You’re calling me about someone’s firewall. Come on, man. People need to take care of themselves now.”
John said, “It’s CDR again. They already have security updates for their systems related to whatever this thing coming through space is and they need help with security for a vault.”
“A vault?” Mark stared at the ground. “I don’t build vaults.”
“They want to modify an onsite electronic lock integrated into their systems. There’s no time to clear anyone else and they are willing to pay more than before to have you come out right away,” John said.
Mark shook his head. He could only think of one thing they would be planning to put in a vault and if he wasn’t the one to design the lock’s security, then he wouldn’t be able to get “It” out. “Okay, I’ll do it. When do they want me out?”
“Right now. I appreciate …”
Mark ended the call.
He took a deep breath and lifted his foot to take the first step. He tried to put it back down, but couldn’t find the ground again. Both of Mark’s feet lifted up behind him and he couldn’t feel his own weight any longer.
He thought about the date and time. He had calculated every mini wave leading up to the big one, so technically he saw this one coming even though it now caught him by surprise.
He reached out and tried to grab the railing for the stairs. Mark missed and floated away from the ground. He lost his grip on his phone and watched it twirl away in the air. Behind him, Mark saw his trash can tip over several feet in the air. Plates and knives were already spinning behind him.
Mark screamed and covered his face.
He heard thundering footsteps. Mark turned his head and saw a fat, hairy man running toward him. The man had a faded tattoo of a dragon on his shoulder. He was wearing baggy sweat pants that billowed around him in the failing gravity.
The man grabbed the railing and reached out to snag Mark’s wrist in an iron grip. Mark cried out in pain, but the beast of a man held on tighter. He spoke with a thick accent. “I have you. Don’t worry, man.”
Mark felt his weight return and his feet touched the ground once more. Plates shattered against the street behind him and metal clanged against the ground. The man let go of Mark’s wrist and Mark clutched his hand to his chest.
“Thank you, sir,” Mark said.
The man crossed his arms over his bare chest. “You are welcome. Try to walk more quietly upstairs now, man.”
Mark’s clock rolled out between bars on the railing and fell to the bottom level. The face smashed and shattered against the concrete.
“Excuse me,” Mark said. “I think I need to go close my door.”
He had only just begun to unpack the secrets Miles Decker had been trying to hide from Hazel Conrad’s computer. He wouldn’t have time to see it all, but he wanted to take one last sweep to see what Miles Decker and CDR were up to in the wake of the announcement before he ran down there again.
10
Dr. Thomas Kell picked himself up off his office floor. Papers and trash were everywhere. He felt around his head and brought his hand up to his eyes, but did not see any blood.
He righted his chair and swept aside open books. Thomas sat down and held his head. He heard shouts from the hallway, but did not go to check.
The announcement of the coming wave had just completed. This must have been one of the smaller waves that the astronomer had warned of. It was like what had happened in Hazel Conrad’s office. The last one was going to be even bigger.
CDR had already emailed about security upgrades and meetings regarding preparation and continued work. Thomas had not finished reading all of them, but he wasn’t sure where his laptop had landed after the mini wave.
He blinked and brought his phone out of his pocket. The screen was cracked, but it still powered on.
Thomas hesitated. He scrolled through his numbers and found the one for the facility where his father was cared for. He called the number. It rang once and he got a message about lines being busy. He tried twice more. Thomas tried information for another number, but got no answer. He went online. The Internet was still working and CDR wifi was still up, but the site for the nursing home was down. Other sites were down too.
He scrolled through his numbers again and called his brother.
The other end picked up on the third ring. “Hello? Are you okay?”
“We just had one come through here in Chicago,” Thomas said. “It was the second one we’ve had here, I think. It was pretty scary.”
“We haven’t had any here in Arizona. So this thing is real then?”
“Yes, Seth. I tried dad and couldn’t get anyone.”
There was silence on the other end for a moment.
“I need to go get my daughter.”
Thomas had to think for a minute. “How far? Where is she?”
“She lives with her mother.”
Thomas swallowed. “Listen, there are going to be travel restrictions. The roads might be clogged with people anyway. There could be accidents and debris from these mini waves. You’re not going to make it several states. You need to lock down where you are. We can both try to call until we get through and warn her and her mother to get to safety too. That’s the best chance for everyone, Seth.”
“I can’t do that,” he said. “I have to go to her. I have to try. She’s my daughter.”
Thomas blinked and rubbed his head again. “It’s a bad idea, Seth. You could end up getting yourself killed. We’ll be looking for you then after this is all over. Everyone needs to stay where they are and lock down.”
“I have to try, Tommy. I have to.”
Thomas’s office door burst open and he yelped. One of the project managers was standing there heaving for breath. It was the one that started kissing up at the last emergency meeting and hadn’t stopped since. Thomas found himself wishing again the guy had gotten fired.
The manager said, “Mr. Decker wants you in the conference room right away, sir.”
“I’m on the phone. I’ll be there in a minute,” Thomas said.
Seth said, “I’ll call you from the road, Tommy. I have to go now.”
“No, Seth, don’t go yet. Let me try to call you back in just a minute after I take care of things here. I’m closer to them. If we decide one of us needs to go, I’ll do it. But let’s try to call them and be rational first. Please.”
“Dr. Kell, he wants to see you now.”
“Shut up and get out now,” Thomas shouted.
The manager stepped out and closed the door.
“Seth? Seth, are you there?”
Thomas tried to call back, but Seth didn’t answer. Thomas called again and when it went to voicemail, he said, “Please, don’t do anything stupid, Seth. As soon as I can get away here, I’ll call you again. Lock down, call your family and tell them to lock down, and wait for my call. Do not try to drive out there. I’ll call you again and we’ll figure it out together. Do not get on the road. I’m begging you, Seth.”
Thomas hung up and worked his way down the hall to the conference room. The security guy was already there – the one Mark had called Hall. Thomas couldn’t remember his first name.
A few chairs in the room were overturned. Hall was standing by the table. The monitor on the far wall was crooked. On the video feed, Miles Decker was in a closed room with concrete walls under florescent lights.
Thomas started to ask where Decker was, b
ut Miles Decker spoke first. “What took you so long, Dr. Kell? There’s work to be done.”
“I hit my head. I was looking for my laptop to try to finish reading the e-mails,” Thomas Kell said.
“Nevermind all that,” Decker said. “We are bringing back in the Spencer contractor guy for some new security upgrades and including a new electronic lock on the vaults on twenty for our more important projects. We will have them secured and safe before the event occurs.”
“We had a smaller wave,” Hall said. “We might need to get everything secured now, sir. We can lock the vaults with the current system without involving outside people. We may not want to wait.”
“I’m not asking opinions. I’m giving orders, Calvin.”
“Yes, sir.”
“We are going to speed up production in all our facilities world wide,” Miles Decker said. “You will need to focus on guiding the various designers through a crash course on what each android needs. I want a fleet of these things ready for after the wave. We’ll perfect the Q2 and have the android bodies ready to go when we do. This will be a windfall for CDR. It’s going to save us from what would have been disaster for our company.”
Thomas stood at the same spot he had when the conference room was full with his back pressed to the wall again. “I don’t understand, sir.”
“Which part?” Miles Decker stared into the screen with the stark, concrete room behind him. It was more unnerving to have his full attention in this environment than it had been when he was distracted with a picturesque scene behind him. With the screen hanging crooked on the wall, the entire world seemed to be off balance. There was a funhouse surreal feel to watching Miles Decker at a dutched angle. It spoke to the horror of the world and what was coming.
Thomas shook his head. “Any of it, I guess, sir. Why is it a windfall?”
“We lost a partner and our stock was about to go into freefall,” Decker said. “Now the world will fall and we will be left standing to pick up the pieces. Our androids will be needed to rebuild the world and to support humanity. We will be the new standard. Our products will become ubiquitous in the new world. Our competition will be staggered. It will be like after World War II when the rest of the world was rebuilding and one, real economic super power was left to reap the rewards. CDR is about to become the lone super power with the only product worth buying. Waffling government contracts and politics won’t be able to touch us anymore.”
