First Light: Book one of the Torus Saga

by Berg, Michael

  Chapter 11

  On their way out of the city, they stopped to obtain some supplies for the trip along National Highway three one two, leading to Wuwei. Lyle bought four laser pulse pistols from a licensed weapons dealer next door, just in case they ran into any trouble or encountered bandits as they had been told before.

  After driving two hours they arrived at the Qilian Shan Mountains where they met with the Great Wall at ground level for the first time. Under the clear night sky, the wall was alight with modern versions of ancient lanterns following its course into the distant mountainsides. To compliment this sight, the moon provided enough glow to light up the distant snow-covered peaks of the mountains bordering the desert, making for a spectacular almost dream like scene.

  For the next few hours, they continued their drive under the clear night sky, flanked by the mountains to the left, and the wall to their right. Very few other vehicles were using the highway and it felt to them as if they were venturing towards a frontier. As they traveled together, each enthralled with this notion, they grew even closer as companions, enthusiastic for each other’s company. When finally they left the wall as it headed away to the mountains and eventually to its end, their sense of companionship grew.

  Immediately the road deteriorated showing signs of a route far less traveled and reminiscent of the highways of old. Their vehicle now on manual control, continued to provide a smooth ride, but Jake as driver had his work to do negotiating the uneven surface. The scenery around them was quickly turning to desert with great silvery dunes beginning to appear on either side of the road under the moonlit sky.

  Headlights appeared to be coming from a distance to their left, confounding them, as it appeared as though no roads branched off the one they were traveling. For a moment, they disappeared behind a dune, only to re-appear again this time much closer.

  “I think they are driving over the dunes. We should be careful,” Jenna said as Jake drove on.

  Again the lights disappeared behind a dune and this time they did not re-appear for a minute or two. Then as they rounded a bend, threading their way between two towering dunes, the vehicle could be seen directly ahead and was stationary in the middle of the road. It was evidently not a ground-based vehicle, as it was hovering some ten feet off the ground. Jake brought them to a stop about one hundred feet from the craft in front of them.

  “What the hell is that?” he said as they peered out the front window. “I don’t like the look of this.”

  “I have a hint on what it might be,” Jenna answered. “You know I work in propulsion systems. Well, it looks like a working version of a craft I thought was still experimental.” A moment later, three armed officers exited the craft via a ramp protruding from its’ side.

  “Now I really don’t like this,” Lyle said as he gave them each one of the laser pulse pistols he had bought. “Don’t show these, we need to keep the peace here as long as possible. I’ll be our talker. I’ve been negotiating with various types of locals in many situations for some years now.”

  He began to get out of the vehicle when an announcer voice sounded. “Do not get out of your vehicle. Remain where you are. This is the first and final notice. Any further movement will be met with force.” The three officers were now only fifty feet away with their weapons at the ready.

  “That guy in Lanzhou said it would be dangerous, but these three don’t look like bandits to me,” Jake said just as Raynie took his left hand squeezing it a little. The four of them then waited in silence as the officers covered the remaining ground to their vehicle. When they reached them, they could see all three of the officers were Chinese, dressed in national military uniforms. Two of them stood just a slight distance away, whilst the third came up to the driver side window.

  “Show me your passports,” he was short and straight to the point. They all handed their passports to Jake who presented them to the officer. “What is the purpose of your trip?”

  Lyle answered, “We are touring on our way to Dunhuang.”

  “Why?”

  “We are two couples seeking the origins of the Silk Road.”

  “Why?”

  “We are interested in historical places.”

  “I see. Why are you traveling now?”

  “We left Lanzhou when it was evening and decided to keep traveling through the night.”

  “It is dangerous on this road at night. Did you not know this?” One of the officers who was looking at a scanner readout, indicated something to the questioning officer. “Our scanner tells me you have weapons.”

  “Ah…yes. We thought in case there was trouble.”

  “Wait.” He left the window and went over to the officer who was reading the scanner. After checking their passports and reading some details, he returned to the vehicle window. “Your passports are OK. Again, why are you here?”

  “Like I said, we are touring.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where did you get this vehicle?”

  “We hired it in Lanzhou.”

  “Yes, that checks out. You can go. But you must continue to Dunhuang. Do not stop, otherwise you will be arrested on suspicion.”

  “Suspicion?”

  “Yes. This location is within the patrol radius of the national space launch facility. Any traffic that has been warned and does not heed warning within three hundred miles will be detained.”

  “I see officer. I was aware of the launch area, but I did not think we would be near enough…”

  “Did not think. So common of you Americans, and you Australians. Now leave and do not stop.” He handed back the documents then indicated to the other officers to return to their craft. They all watched them go back in via the ramp and then silently move away from the road to allow them to pass. Jake hit the accelerator and they sped away.

  “Perhaps there is a launch tonight,” Jenna said breaking their silence. “With all the action going on in the US, I can imagine everyone is at a high state of alert, and feeling a bit sensitive.”

  They drove on for about another hour, winding their way between the towering dunes when headlights appeared in front of them and heading their way.

  “Another patrol?’ Raynie said.

  “Cannot be sure, we are over four hundred miles from the launch facility now, but you never know,” Lyle replied as he checked their position on the heads up display. As the oncoming vehicle approached, they felt sure it was ground based and therefore unlikely to be another patrol. Then it stopped at about a distance of five hundred feet.

  Jake kept going thinking of the warning not to stop given by the officer, though he slowed down a little. “Take the four pistols out of the overhead compartment Lyle. Hand them out.”

  “OK girls be ready. Take these.”

  “Just to be sure,” Lyle interjected. “Don’t get trigger happy.”

  The other vehicle had started moving again and was now two hundred feet ahead. Jake slowed to twenty miles per hour, “Be very cautious. This could be a scene.” When they were within eighty feet of the oncoming vehicle, it stopped, turning sideways to block the road.

  With dunes reaching high on either side, Jake realized there was no means to avoid the other vehicle, so he brought them to a halt. “We need to be real smooth here.”

  “That’s what us two women are all about,” Jenna said to reassure him they knew what to do, despite their feelings of nervousness at the potential danger they were about to encounter.

  “Don’t anyone get out. I have been in a similar situation to this before,” Jake said. “Best stay in the vehicle, it will give us cover.”

  Two men disembarked the other vehicle and started towards them, both brandishing laser pulse rifles. Jake was busy keeping one eye on them, and the other assessing any possible means of escape. The only way, was to either back track from where they had come, or to give the vehicle full revs and traverse the sand dune on the right side of the vehicle parked ahead. As the two assailants e
ntered the headlights of their vehicle, they raised their rifles aiming directly through their front windscreen shouting ‘come out Chan Lee!’

  The second they did this, Jake switched the headlights to high beam, monetarily blinding the two men. Immediately after, he gunned the accelerator to full and swerved quickly to pass around the other vehicle. They hit the dune fast, pitching almost sideways as Jake fought to keep control on the shifting sand. The two assailants began firing at them after coming out of their temporary daze, their laser pulses striking but bouncing off their vehicle harmlessly. As they passed around the other vehicle, the two men were running back to get in, still firing their rifles as they ran. When they were in, their driver then stepped hard on acceleration, following them in pursuit.

  “Don’t fire,” Jake said busily steering the vehicle at high speed. “They want Chan, so they’ll want us.” He drove on, fighting hard to keep control. High-speed proximity warning lights and sounds began to scream at him as he drove as fast as possible, barely avoiding the dunes and rocks beside the road. Then he failed to adjust in time and the vehicle struck a large rock, with the impact knocking Jake unconscious. Automated systems on board then brought them to a halt, allowing their pursuers to close in on them rapidly.

  Lyle took hold of Jake’s arm and pulled him out of the driver seat, with the two women then shuffling him into the back seat. Lyle then trod on the accelerator and they were off again amidst a volley of laser pulses.

  “How’s he going?” he asked noticing Jake was becoming conscious.

  “He’ll be alright,” Raynie replied as she applied pressure the open cut on his forehead.

  “Yeah, I’ll have full brain ops back soon,” Jake smiled as he stroked his temple. “You just keep driving, and fast.”

  Jenna scrambled through to the front seat as Lyle kept going hard at the wheel. Distance was now beginning to grow between them and their pursuers, with no further laser volleys showering them. Soon enough, the other vehicle was lost to sight behind them but in no way did Lyle let up on the intensity in his driving.

  Another hour of fast driving saw them finally reach the sandy city, its’ lights a welcome sight in the pre-dawn morning after their eventful journey and confrontation. “We are at a good time. Let’s find somewhere to stay and park this vehicle out of sight.” Lyle took a sweeping left turn as he sighted lodgings complete with indoor parking used to keep vehicles out of the regular sand storms affecting the city. Ten minutes later they were all inside, finally able to relax and take stock of their journey.

  “I think we should all have some rest,” Jenna said eyeing the comfortable beds. “We are going to need our wits and to be sharp.”

  Chapter 12

  Tobias and John had been working hard all day on a design to counteract the signals emitted by the personal microchips. John had spent the first half of the day sourcing one of the chips from numerous contacts he had throughout California. He was finally able to find one, so he had taken a JetCab over to Oakland and returned with some additional programming language information, useful for their work. The early evening light had caught his eye on his return trip as the cab traveled across the bay. Whilst observing the lights of the city, he had noticed several incoming military HyperJets. As he watched them quickly land at the civilian airport, he was struck. “Why are they landing there?” he said aloud to himself.

  “What was that mate?”

  “Oh I just wondered why the military was landing here in the city,” he said to the cab pilot.

  “Not sure mate, maybe to do with the latest news today. Don’t tell me you don’t know.”

  “Know what?”

  “They announced we are on high level alert. Practically in a state of war, but don’t ask me who with.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean we are almost at war. Those detonations and some other stuff has the big office all edgy. They are clamping down on everything. I reckon on those jets being part of proceedings.”

  “Proceedings?”

  “Yeah. Proceedings. I’ll bet there are some surprises in store for us yet.” He brought the JetCab in on approach to the central city terminal. John’s last clear sky vision was of yet another group of military on approach to the airport, before the cab became immersed amongst the towers and skyscrapers. The terminal was very busy with people hurrying everywhere and numerous cabs landing and taking off. Situated at the elevated pedestrian transit level, John could see to the streets below which seemed even more frantic than the activity at the terminal.

  Now he had decided to take a break, as he and Tobias had been working on algorithms and programming the chip for the past four hours. “I’ll grab a beer hey. I trust you bought some this afternoon?”

  “You bet. Tobias never forgets his beer.”

  “Where are we at time wise?” John asked returning with two beers.

  “Eleven past eleven to be precise,” Tobias replied. They sat for a moment in silence, each savoring the fresh, cold ale.

  “Plenty of action in the sky tonight. I forgot to tell you when I arrived back.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Military. I think we are going to see something happen. Two sets of military landed at the airport instead of at their base.”

  “What? Surely they are not after us. On that scale.”

  “Nah. I reckon there is some big end stuff going on somewhere. The cab pilot said were are almost at war.”

  “Who with?”

  “Well that’s the question. Nothing is too clear on that front. Those bombs, the action up at HAARP. Who knows?”

  “Now, this programming thing. My contact in Oakland gave some advice on the floating point signaling they are using to authenticate these little bastards. The stuff we have worked on today mostly concerns the actual identification algorithms used to spot each device in the system. I think we need to begin on the authentication as no doubt, this is going to tie in real time with the ID systems. It isn’t going to be easy to crack because they are going to appoint the best, actually, they probably already have, to develop a feasible regenerating algorithm for people as they transit, purchase, or check in to anywhere in the system.”

  “I figured there would be some nano technology involved aside from the obvious chip components. With those medical systems being wide spread, they are likely to be using some type of link to establish a number of gateways for authentication…and security I suppose,” Tobias added.

  “Yep, sounds right to me. We are going to have to stay one step ahead of them, which is why I have asked the guy in Oakland to keep us in the loop. He has access via someone else, to the central ops where these bastards are developed. They are certainly going to be working overtime trying to make this entire system foolproof and so it cannot be compromised. What is on our side to an extent is the fact these systems are relatively new. The previous attempt some years back to bring them in, failed due to the incompatibility of many systems to integrate the sets of algorithms required to generate the nano signals. As we now know from my trip to Oakland today, those signals are extremely complex in nature as they re-build themselves in real time. Some can be almost in a constant state of flux, but there has to be a key there.”

  “Something to keep a core linkage or authentication, which is where we are now looking?”

  “Precisely. Whilst they can float about all the time or whenever they so choose, one point remains in the capacity to link in to central processing and feed data through…well authenticate data. I suggest we have another beer though before we start on that one.”

  Tobias laughed in agreement at John’s suggestion. “I’ll fetch them this time.”

  “You know?” John said half an hour later feeling a bit tired of the work. “I think we need to go out for a bit of fun. I have been up in Alaska for a while, and so have you and we had that bloody hectic time being chased all the way past Seattle. What do you say to a bit of an excursion to China Town or to the wharves? It is never too late to go o
ut in this town.”

  “Alright then. I think you make a good point there. Maybe it will help us relax and perhaps think of some new ideas on our issues here.”

  “OK. Let’s go then.” They left Jenna’s house and walked generally in a direction where they could still choose either the wharves or China Town. As they strode along the pavement, they noticed there was a general hum in the air coming from people conversing around them, and from holographic projections encountered along the way. A hyped sense could indeed be felt, as if the city was on alert, or an event was about to occur.

  “I wonder how the others are faring.”

  “Yeah, me too,” John replied looking skyward. “Chan Lee was sure of impending danger, but not too clear on what it was. I think the girls can look after themselves though, same with Jake and Lyle.”

  “Just the dangerous ones whoever they may be are the ones to keep a look out for.”

  “Yeah. I do think we are onto something though. It seems a little too co-incidental that suddenly this contact was made and we were all brought together on all this. I mean, otherwise we would have been living out our individual lives watching this other stuff develop. Now we are all cast together and working on things we could have barely considered just a few days back.”

  “Well, all good I say. I am glad you helped me out of that situation at HAARP considering where I could have ended up through no fault of my own. I am beginning to understand why you left few years back.”

  “You could say I saw something coming. There was just too much secrecy and similar crap for it to be anything other than trouble. One step out of line, or too much knowledge, and suddenly you disappear.”

  “Yeah. I am a pretty quiet person, happy to go about my business, then before I know it, I am branded a fugitive.”