Children Of Earth (Tales from the 23rd Century Book 1)

by Paul J. Fleming

  Even so, he remained still for a moment, the reality of his sudden, unexpected freedom quite obvious, but taking a moment to register with his conscious mind after his utter helplessness a few moments earlier. His muscles felt like he had just finished a rigorous exercise program as he flexed his arms experimentally, whilst his gaze raised up to look out of the transparent canopy shortly before it too began to open.

  Bringing his hands up from beside his hips, he managed to take a hold either side of the pod and sit himself upright, albeit slowly as he had been advised.

  ‘Ezri?’ He quietly whispered as he took a look about the core chamber, his hopes of seeing her stood at his side being dashed, but he could have sworn he had heard her voice speaking to him.

  ‘Yes, Captain, I am here. It would seem that our hosts are rather overconfident about their endeavours, which does give us a distinct advantage presently. However time is very much of the essence as the AI had begun to upload its main database to the Martian vessel, giving rise to my suspicion that it is preparing to depart imminently. Are you capable of free movement?’

  Maddox flexed his arms and legs a few times, the sensation of strained muscles still present, but when compared to the pain he had endured only moments before this sensation was very easy to live with. Carefully planning his movements he descended from the pod to the floor of the cavern and looked about, searching for any evidence of both his assailants and Praia, who he sincerely hoped was not beyond help in her current state.

  ‘I feel like I’ve been put through the wringer, but otherwise I’m mobile. It’s good to hear your voice Ezri, I guess that’s another one I owe you now eh?’

  ‘Yes, Captain, in fact, even with my advanced capabilities I am beginning to lose track of the total,’ she replied and Maddox could not help but laugh. It certainly felt good after the agony he had endured.

  ‘The young girl, Praia. Can you determine where she is? The shared mind seemed to take over as we entered this cavern.’

  ‘Certainly, Captain. She is located in a pod akin to your own and only a few feet away from your current position. If we attempt to rouse her, I must advise that in her current state she may give away any advantage we hope to have by alerting the AI to our flight from capture.’

  Maddox moved over to the pod nearest to him and glanced through the transparent panel, his gaze resting on Praia’s young face seemingly so peaceful as she lay there. He had to reluctantly admit that Ezri was correct. Even if he refuted her statement, the concept of disturbing such a serene sight to introduce mayhem and uncertainty into the young girl’s life actually repelled him. For now he had to take solace in the fact that she was safe and content, displaying no signs of ill effects at the hands of the Sentinel earlier. With a heavy heart he stepped backwards from the pod.

  ‘Captain? Would you like me to override the control system and try to bring the young lady around?’ Ezri asked delicately. She knew him well enough to know his thoughts at this moment in time, but she had to proffer the option.

  ‘No Ezri, let her sleep,’ he instructed as he turned from the pod and took another look around him in the large cavern and the pods lining the walls. Finally, his gaze rested upon the centre column and he moved over towards it, his mind racing as to what his next move should be.

  ‘I have no idea how long I was in that thing for,’ he muttered as he came to a halt before the column, ‘nor how much they managed to scrape from my mind, but seeing as my marbles appear to be intact, I can only assume the process was not as thorough or invasive as they had suggested.’

  ‘I have located the temporary storage area within this section of the computer core into which the recorded memories taken from you were filtered,’ Ezri said.

  ‘Wipe it.’

  Maddox’s voice was calm, but certain. There was no way he was contributing to the maniacal AI’s plans if he could help it, and this was the start of his retaliation. Hearing Ezri’s vocal confirmation that it was erased, he proceeded around the column and inspected the various controls as he moved. It seemed to him that this was more of an auxiliary control station, which replicated those panels he had witnessed in the operation centre, which made sense if the atmosphere above was compromised, making that location unavailable for command and control, thus you would retreat down here to establish a command point until you could repair the damage and re-establish the environment above. He could not help but think that this was where Praia’s experience would be of benefit, but still he refused to disturb the serenity which encompassed her.

  ‘Ezri? I know we may be discovered or set upon at any moment, so my fiddling with these panels to try and deduce their operation is a waste of what precious time we have. You said the AI is uploading it’s database to the Martian ship? Do they have full control over the ship?’

  ‘No Captain. The AI has a low level of influence on the vessel itself, more akin to maintenance operations than actual flight and navigational control. There are multiple levels of security protocols around higher functions within the computer core which are currently being worked on by the combined consciousness of the colonists here. They are working to crack through this barrier to give them overall control.’

  ‘Hang on though, they brought the ship out here?’

  ‘I believe that, from the logs I have already reviewed since my arrival here, the AI resident within this computer system has had much more thorough contact and support from sources back within the established colonies of the core worlds than even these colonists here may be aware of.’

  Maddox stepped back slightly from the controls and glanced upwards along the surface of the column as it reached up and met with the ceiling a good distance overhead.

  ‘So you’re saying it has had help from back home?’ He asked as his eyes traced the various loops of wiring that reached out high above his head to various tether points along the walls of the cavern, then down to the uppermost rows of pods. Then he paused as a thought overcame him.

  ‘Ezri, do you know who has been helping the AI?’

  ‘Not exactly Captain, the logs I had access to were not thoroughly detailed for such analysis, however, I can advise you that the signal source for the AI’s contact originated from Mars. There is no way to trace the actual person or group aside from the general point of origin without further investigation into data held within protective storage here within the core.’

  ‘Mars.’ He exhaled as he said the word.

  ‘Yes, Captain, Mars. However, I must stress that I can only deduce the source as being from the general location of the planet, and as it is a very open and commercial location which hosts many different groups who trade and exist within the established boundaries of the colony, I cannot accurately identify Martians themselves as the culprits.’

  ‘You don’t have to,’ Maddox said with sarcasm in his tone. ‘We know that the Marshies are always up to something, it just so happens we’ve stumbled across one of their schemes and now have to put a stop to it before anyone else it hurt.’

  ‘Captain, that is a rather general view and I would even suggest slightly racist.’

  ‘Racist?’ Maddox almost spat the word out as he focused on the column before him. Although he could hear Ezri as she spoke through the system and her voice emitted from the vicinity of the column itself, he could not see her and for want of a better place to focus his attention, the column seemed like a good place to glare as any. ‘They’ve been caught with their pants down so many times over secret projects or clandestine testing of weapons within the ruined sprawls of Earth. Each time they cover it up somehow, spin a good tale or divert attention by creating a focus point elsewhere whilst they sweep the grubby details under the carpet. It’s not racist, it’s just an opinion based on historical fact which I will happily retract and apologise for if we ever make it out of here, speaking of which I think we had better decide upon our move rather than argue. This wiring hooks all these pods together to the computer system, but probably also allows the automated s
ystem to monitor the vitals of the occupants within. I think causing any damage here will be a mute point as they’ll just send one of their mechanical murderers in to deal with the problem and then have the dutiful colonists effect repairs. It may harm the colonists too for that matter without the system being able to supervise them while they sleep. No, I think our focus is landed not too far from here on the surface. Whatever its main agenda for bypassing the security systems to gain full control, the AI needs that ship to be able to leave this place. We stop it from leaving, we strand the AI out here.’

  ‘Together with ourselves if Maia has not been able to repair the damage to the Erstwhile, and the colonists too,’ Ezri added in as if to remind him how his decision would affect such a large group of people.

  Maddox closed his eyes for a moment and sighed with relief at the mention of Maia’s name, albeit balanced with self-reprisal for not enquiring about both the status of his newest crew-member and his ship earlier. It simply reinforced the concept to him how individuals may be lost within the bigger picture if one was not too attentive to the detail, innocent individuals whose wellbeing should be of paramount importance even in the face of adversity. Individuals like Maia, and like the young girl who had risked her own safety to secure the Venusian’s release as well as recruit the Captain to put a stop to these plans which threatened the safety of so many more.

  Realising a new determination to his actions, Maddox opened his eyes and fixed his gaze upon the column before him.

  ‘The AI was about to abandon them out here, I’m not sure why. Maybe they’ve served their purpose or maybe it’s something else but the fact is once we have stopped it from leaving this place we can then try and deal with it here and now. No matter what it costs, it must be stopped before it can harm anyone else.’

  There was no response from the column.

  ‘Ezri?’ Maddox said with curiosity towards the structure.

  ‘Apologies, Captain, however, I would urge both caution and haste as the internal monitoring program has reported the activation of the airlock a short while ago which leads out onto the surface of the moon. I apologise for the late arrival of the warning, but if I were not trying to avoid detection I would have much wider access to immediate readings. I can only surmise that your progress is about to be checked up on, so I would suggest departure from this vicinity immediately. It could be that our interference in the process has been detected in which case…’

  ‘In which case I am about to have rather unpleasant company,’ Maddox cut across her. ‘I am going to try and make it to the operations centre, you try and work out what the deal is with this computer and its pals back on Mars, as well as a way for us to ground that ship out there!’

  Quickly glancing about the cavern he saw the main exit door on ground level which obviously led out to the passageways which made up the main routes through the colony under the moon’s surface. The probability was that his impending company was about to enter from that direction and therefore his options were limited to his previous method of entry. Turning quickly he sprinted across the cavern towards the lift platform which waited dutifully for him at floor level, ascending only when he stepped aboard and stabbed at the control panel to instruct it to do so.

  His attention was drawn by the doors at the far end of the large chamber opening to admit the unpleasant sight of a Sentinel, quite obviously scanning the vicinity and looking for something, most probably him. It strode across to the open pod which he had occupied and then turned slowly towards the lift platform, it’s movements being slow and precise, but at the same time menacing as it began to move slowly at first, then with increasing speed towards the lower station of the lift itself.

  Maddox had to wonder if the thing could over-ride his ascent and bring it’s quarry back down within its grasp, but one thing he was certain of was that the thing was not using its in built weaponry mounted atop it’s arm to blast him to smithereens. For that small detail he was quite pleased, although he had to admit that it probably did not want to fire a weapon within the core chamber in case it damaged something vital as opposed to not wishing to hurt him. The chances were that if it managed to lay a mechanical paw upon him it would hurt him, a lot.

  Thankfully, it came to a halt aside the lower station of the lift, patiently waiting for the platform to complete its travel and then descend once more towards it. Maddox knew that the Sentinels were not all too clever, thus it would now follow his path of departure whilst gaining ground all the time. They were not smart, but they were annoyingly persistent.

  Not wanting to waste the small head start he had upon his pursuer, Maddox did not wait until the platform had fully locked into the top most point of its travel and stepped up onto the rocky outcropping, moving quickly over to the archway tunnel in the rock which would lead him into the narrow chamber beyond.

  A crackle and fizzing noise made him pause at the threshold of the archway and turn about, sudden fear that the Sentinel was not complying with orders and trying to fire at him. But the noise was not one of the chamber of a rifle spitting energy bolts after him, rather electronic circuitry going horribly wrong.

  He saw smoke drifting upwards from the control unit on the lift and the whole lift suddenly dropped at high velocity from his view, descending down towards the cavern floor. Once again he realised that he probably owed this interruption to Ezri, who had interfered with the power distribution to the list mechanism to send it plummeting.

  Whether through a strategists need to scout the level of remaining danger still posed to himself, or just through a basic human whim to see what had happened as the lift crashed down, Maddox moved back towards the edge of the rocky outcrop and tentatively peered over the edge.

  The lift platform itself was away from its running guides and obviously in need of repair before it would be able to carry anyone upwards to the ledge on which he stood, but unfortunately the Sentinel had the sense not to be under the thing when it crashed down. It was a small hope, which had not come to fruition. Instead the mechanical soldier was now standing against the rock face, it’s alloy fingers gripping small hand holds and in some cases, forging new ones as it made its own way, climbing slowly and steadily one handhold after another up to the ledge.

  Maddox watched for a moment as the thing pulled its body up relentlessly, just by the strength of its cybernetic arms and fingers. He still despised these things, but at least it’s progress was slowed considerably. A quick glance about provided no source of heavy item he could rain down upon it to knock it away from the wall, so he could only resign himself to the thought that once it had arrived at the top it would proceed with its dogged pursuit.

  Turning to the archway he ran through it and into the narrow chamber beyond.

  20 Re-United

  As Maddox passed through the narrow chamber which contained a few of the life pods, one of which stood open and had previously played host to Marcus, he paused for a moment and considered the original adults who occupied the nearby tubes. They had found themselves in a dire situation and had fought against harsh conditions and the every day opportunity for death to swoop in and claim them. Their actions were one towards survival with the ultimate goal of one day returning to Earth and the core worlds, to be away from this place and back amongst their friends enjoying beers and jokes.

  Maddox had no doubt in his mind that the direction the colony’s goals had taken in recent years had not been their intent, nor would they have re-activated the computer and just handed themselves over to it if they had suspected it’s true ill-intent.

  Being acutely aware of the Sentinel which was making it’s own way up the rock face in pursuit of him, Maddox took a moment to move closer to the pod next in line to the open one, which had previously been occupied by Marcus, glancing in at the face of female occupant and then down towards the controls set along the side of the unit. They were basic medical pods with the regular controls still found in modern use but as the triage camps on Earth regularly used any sa
lvaged technology they could lay their hands on, Maddox was quite confident with a variety of different systems.

  He quickly determined the right control to manipulate, releasing the lock on the device and opening the top of the pod, a hiss being emitted as the system released the clamps and also seal for the stale atmosphere which escaped all about him as he pulled back slightly.

  Just as he had so desperately hoped for, the desiccated body was fully clothed but also had a sidearm stowed in the holster at his hip. It may have been a while, but there was a slight chance that it may still be fully functional, or at least have enough charge for one or two shots.

  Reaching in, he unclipped the retaining strap and removed the pistol whilst inspecting the charge meter set into the grip. It was an old model laser pistol, but after fighting resistance skirmishes for so long Maddox had become used to a wide variety of energy weaponry from various stages of the conflict and before, for the simple fact was that you utilised what you could get your hands on to try and fight back, from energy weapons to ballistic pistols and even those electromagnetic rail guns which had enjoyed a short burst of popularity.

  It was a gleeful moment when the charge meter came back with a reading of just under 75% charge on the capacitance cell. Now he had a working pistol once more it levelled the playing field a little more.

  ‘Thank you,’ he muttered quietly towards the figure in the pod, then pulled the top of the pod closed once more and ensured it re-engaged the lock, simply out of respect for the occupant who had fallen victim to a set of circumstances beyond her control.

  He departed the vicinity of the pods and made his way through the narrow passageway back to the ladder which led up to the small chamber which was aside the operations centre. With a quick glance backwards as he pondered on the progress of the Sentinel he quickly ascended the ladder, through the hatch and exited into the small confines of the room above.