Forever Until Tomorrow (War Eternal Book 5)

by M. R. Forbes

  "I guess I am," Mitchell said.

  He wasn't convinced that luck had anything to do with it.

  46

  Mitchell stood next to Michael while he plugged in the data card and connected it to his AR equipment. It was similar to the stuff Evelyn had used, except larger and more powerful.

  "I've been working on a machine learning algorithm and AI that enhances human interaction," Michael said. "Improving our brains, instead of taking over for them. Personally, I think AI is a cop out, a lazy man's dream. But what happens when the intelligence takes control of everything? If a machine is doing everything for us, how do we keep our minds from atrophying?"

  "I agree completely," Mitchell said. "I think AI will cause more problems than it solves."

  "Don't get me wrong, basic AI has its place. I mean, Hyper Troopers would be boring if the Arachoids just stood there while you shot them, but control of critical systems? Just look at what happened with the maglevs. It's so sad."

  He tapped a few buttons on a pad in front of him and then put on a pair of opaque glasses.

  "Interesting," he said less than a minute later. "Where did you get this?"

  "I had it on me when I was committed to St. Mary's."

  Michael took the glasses off and looked at Mitchell. "That isn't possible."

  Mitchell had heard something similar from Evelyn. He was surprised at how much faster Michael had come to the same conclusion. "I'm not joking. Whatever is happening with Major Asher, and with me, the answers are in there somewhere."

  "Okay. It's just. Well. The code in here? I recognize it. It's a derivative from the language I've been working on. The interface language. I used it for the calibration stuff I delivered to Nova Taurus last week, even though they sent it back for some changes. There's no way you could have gotten it twenty years ago when I just finished creating it."

  "It's a long story that I'll share with you later," Mitchell said, glancing back at Daisy. She was standing near the steps up, a link between them and the two Marines, who had taken up positions defending the perimeter just in case. "If you wrote it, then it should be easy for you to get to the data."

  Michael put the glasses back on. "I don't know if I can get it that fast. I said it's a derivative. It's changed a little bit." He was silent for a handful of seconds. "Oh. I've got it. I mean the encryption. I recognize this. How did you get this?"

  "You cracked it already?" Mitchell said.

  "I'm really confused," Michael replied. "And kind of freaked out. For one, the volume on this thing is about one hundred times greater than anything I've ever heard of, and it's filled with some kind of runtime or something. It's way more complex than I can break down right now. There's also a second partition on it. Let me see." He paused again. His breathing was getting heavier, his face flushing for a second time.

  "Michael, are you okay?" Mitchell said. Michael looked like he was about to have another panic attack. "Michael?"

  "What's an eternal engine?" he asked.

  "I told you, it's a long story. What about it?"

  "I don't know. It's a binary-encoded message. All it says is, 'return to the source.'"

  "That's it?" Mitchell asked. He had been hoping for answers, not more riddles.

  "Yeah. That's - oh. Uh-oh."

  "What?"

  Michael tore off the glasses, pushing himself forward, falling out of his chair in his effort to grab the data card and pull it from the reader. "Damn it, damn it, damn it," he said, getting his hand on the reader. He tried to pull the card out and failed. Tried and failed again. Finally, he smashed the entire thing on the ground.

  "What the frig are you doing?" Mitchell said.

  "What am I doing?" Michael's face was beet red, and he was almost in tears. "What are you doing? You said you wanted to help. Shit. Damn it. Where did you get the card?"

  "I told you, it was on me when I was admitted to St. Mary's. I picked it up on my way out."

  "Gah. No. That can't be."

  "I'm telling you it is. What is your problem?"

  "It's infected. The card is infected. I opened the message, and it sent a heartbeat out over the net. Then it started deleting everything."

  "What?" Mitchell said. He closed his eyes tight. He couldn't remember what had happened before he arrived at St. Mary's. He thought he and Origin had caused it.

  Had it been Watson all along?

  Why? Why would Watson capture him and let him go? Why would he pretend he didn't know where he was when he had put him there in the first place? Why would he be so desperate to kill him?

  Was this even the first recursion since he had arrived here?

  A sense of his own panic began creeping up on him. He forced it back down. Return to the source. That's what the message said. Had Watson been able to decipher it? If he had, he wouldn't have needed Mitchell.

  Had the Tetron ever needed him at all?

  If Watson had captured him, the intelligence had twenty years to break the encryption that Michael had undone in a matter of minutes. How could it be possible that the Tetron was incapable of achieving that? Or, if Watson knew he needed Michael to do it, why not pick him up and make him do it? He had done far worse to the Knife.

  Unless the virus hadn't come from Watson. What if Origin had planted it, to ensure that once Mitchell knew the message, it would be lost forever? That made more sense.

  Return to the source.

  That's what he was supposed to do. It was the simple answer he was looking for, regardless of who had left it for him.

  "We need to go," Mitchell said, looking back at Daisy. "No matter who caused the heartbeat, we aren't safe here. If Watson's listening, he's going to notice."

  "Colonel," Max shouted from somewhere above them. "We've got company."

  47

  Mitchell grabbed Michael by the arm, pulling him up. "Come on."

  Michael stumbled to his feet, cold sweat beaded on his forehead. "What's going on?"

  A pop sounded above them, followed by the clink of a spent casing. Daisy was already running up the stairs, and Mitchell pulled Michael behind her.

  "We're in trouble," Mitchell replied. "Stay close to me." He had a handgun tucked into the back of his suit pants, and he pulled it out.

  "Oh, man," Michael said. "This is the third time in a week. I'm starting to wish I had never met Kathy."

  A second pop sounded. Then a third.

  "Sitrep," Mitchell shouted.

  "Drones," Max replied. Mitchell still didn't know where the Corporal was sitting. Somewhere on the top floor.

  "Military?"

  "Hard to tell from this far. Police issue, I think."

  Echoing pops in the distance. The windows along the south wall began to shatter.

  "Get down," Mitchell said, pulling Michael to the floor.

  "Okay, maybe at least a few of them are military," Max said.

  Gunfire sounded from the east side where Lyle was stationed.

  "Colonel, I hear sirens," Lyle said.

  "Daisy, get the car," Mitchell said. She was crouched behind a sofa and dashed toward the door at his order.

  "Wait here," Mitchell said, leaving Michael on the floor in a doorway. More bullets were still raining in, the volume decreasing as Max and Lyle hit the drones with their heavy rifles.

  Mitchell crossed the floor to the doorway, covering Daisy as she crossed the street. The sirens were getting louder. It was going to be too damn close.

  Return to the source. The words passed through his mind in the middle of the chaos. The source? Origin had to mean XENO-1 - the part of the wreckage that remained buried in the Antarctic ice. There had simply been too much of her to move it all.

  But what was waiting for him there?

  Daisy reached the car, getting it moving, turning it toward him and driving it up onto the lawn. Mitchell spotted an approaching drone, turning his gun on it and firing shot after shot, emptying the magazine to hit it. He managed to do something, because it started shooting wide, t
he bullets spraying the houses around them.

  "Haul ass," Mitchell shouted. "We're moving out."

  He ducked back into the home, retreating to where Michael was still crouched on the floor, tears in his eyes.

  "I'm sorry for this," Mitchell said. "The good news is, you're going to help me save the world."

  Michael looked at him with big, red eyes. Then he brought himself to his feet. "I'll try."

  They moved across the floor a second time, pausing once as a hail of bullets poured in from a drone that got too close. An echoing boom sounded from upstairs, and the shooting stopped.

  "Sorry, I didn't see that bastard," Max said a moment later, hiking down the steps.

  Lyle joined them in the front of the house. They all jumped into the car, with Max firing back at the remaining drones. The flickering light of the oncoming law enforcement vehicles bounced across the houses around them.

  Daisy accelerated, the repulsors below the van thumping with power, the electric engine whining. The police vehicles we coming in from both sides, trying to barricade them in.

  They went up onto the lawns, racing across the grass. The officers tried to compensate, rearranging their vehicles to block. Some stopped and climbed out, taking aim and shooting at them. Bullets clanged off the metal, one cracked a window. Max and Lyle returned fire with their pistols, their aim worthless in the moving, bouncing vehicle.

  "Colonel," Daisy said. Mitchell looked forward. Some of the officers were running toward them, and one threw himself in front of the car, hitting the corner and bouncing off, his body heavy enough to throw the car sideways. "Frigging hell."

  A second officer moved in front of the car, and they slammed into him as well, denting the front of the vehicle and bringing the car to a stop.

  "What are you doing?" Mitchell said.

  "Collision detection systems," Daisy said. "Automatic shut down."

  "Shit. Can you override?"

  "No."

  They were dead in the water.

  "Open the access panel below the steering column," Michael said. "Down there." He leaned forward, showing them the place. "There's a circuit board in there. Shoot it or something. It will either crash the onboard computer and force it to emergency manual, or leave it irreparably broken."

  "We've got nothing to lose," Mitchell said. "Do it. Max, Lyle, we need a few seconds."

  "I've got it," Max said, moving toward the back of the van where the duffel full of firearms was resting. He fished a wide, heavy weapon from it and then pushed open the back doors.

  Daisy reached down, finding the access panel and tearing it away.

  Mitchell heard a thunk, and then one of the police cars exploded.

  "Give me your gun," Daisy said.

  Mitchell handed it to her. Another thunk, another burst of chaos and flame. Daisy pushed herself back in the seat and shot the panel.

  "Now, hit that switch and pray," Michael said.

  Daisy hit the switch. The car whined to life, the repulsors lifting it back off the ground. Max dove into the rear of the van, and they started to pull away again.

  Bullets riddled the side as they skirted the edge of the barricade, punching holes in the sheet metal. Mitchell held his breath until they were past and then watched the rear view. A remaining drone trailed behind them, vanishing a dozen seconds later when Lyle poked it from the sky.

  "Champion marksman," he said with a smile when he ducked back in.

  They all settled for a moment while Daisy got them further from the scene.

  "We can't keep this car," she said. "It's too easy to spot like this."

  Mitchell turned back toward Michael, who was breathing heavily, his face red and sweaty. He looked terrified, but focused. "I don't suppose you know how to break into cars?" he asked.

  Michael nodded. "I only have one real friend in the world, and that's Kathy. If she's in half the trouble you are, she needs us. I can help you steal a car if that's what you need."

  "That's just the start of what I need."

  "We're going to save her though, right?"

  "We're going to save everyone if we can. That's the reason I'm here. We can't go to her directly, as much as we might want to. It isn't safe for either of us, and I think Origin and I had a different plan for me, anyway."

  "Origin?" Michael said. "Huh?"

  Mitchell glanced at Daisy, and then back at Michael. "You both need to be fully debriefed when we have the time, but that time isn't now. First, we need a car. Then we need to find a way to get to Antarctica without the AIT catching up."

  "Antarctica?" Daisy said. "Why?"

  "XENO-1," Mitchell said. "There's something I'm supposed to do there."

  "What?" Lyle asked.

  "I don't know yet. I guess we're going to find out."

  48

  "Are you lost?" the configuration asked.

  Katherine considered reaching for her knife, deciding against it. It was too soon.

  "This isn't my office," she said. "I was looking for-"

  "A quiet place to sit and think?"

  Katherine moved toward him. She would try to get out of the room without making a scene.

  He shifted to block her path.

  "Or did you have something else in mind? Maybe you were waiting for me?"

  Katherine took a few steps back. "Waiting for you?"

  "I saw how you looked at me in the elevator."

  "I didn't appreciate you grabbing my ass."

  "Didn't you?" He smiled again, lip quivering as if it took a lot of effort.

  "That depends. Do you have Level Five security clearance?"

  He laughed awkwardly. "What does that have to do with anything?"

  She smiled, reaching up toward the buttons on her blouse. "It has everything to do with this."

  The configuration's head tilted at an odd angle and then began to shake as if he were struggling with himself. He stopped after a few seconds.

  "I do have clearance," he said. "Do you want to go to Level Five?"

  "I bet it's quieter down there."

  "I'm not going to bring you to Level Five."

  "Why not?"

  "I can't wait that long. I have needs. I have-" The configuration paused, shaking again for a moment. "Wants."

  He stepped toward her, reaching for her shoulder. Katherine slipped her hand beneath the top of her blouse, grabbing the handle of the small knife. Trevor had said his former squad mates had been acting strangely. This was more than strange, and she still didn't know if she had been targeted because of the way she looked or because they knew who she was.

  Katherine tensed as a hand pressed down on her breast. She didn't want to miss, and that meant letting him touch her.

  "Cole," a voice said from behind them.

  The man straightened immediately, taking a step back from Katherine. She looked over his shoulder, to where another of Trevor's teammates was standing. He was small and muscular. Ng, most likely, based on his features.

  "I'm busy," Cole said.

  "We have other business. You can find another one later."

  Another one?

  "But-"

  "Cole!"

  The configuration glanced at her one last time and started to turn.

  Then they both froze.

  "Katherine, they're onto us," Origin said in her ear. "You need to-"

  She didn't hear the last part. She brought the knife to her hand and jumped on Cole's back, pushing hard as she slid it across his throat. She felt nauseous as she rode his body down.

  "You!" Ng said. "Two of you?"

  She slid her hand beneath Cole's body, grasping for one of the guns. Ng charged her.

  She pulled the gun, throwing herself backward and shooting at the same time. Her first four rounds went wide. The fifth hit him in the shoulder throwing him sideways. He caught himself on the wall.

  Katherine braced herself and fired twice more. The bullets hit the configuration in the chest. It wasn't enough to stop him.

&nb
sp; "You won't get out of here," he said. "Either of you. Not now."

  She shot him in the head. He was still coming, reaching out for her. She shoved him aside, into the wall again. This time, he stumbled and fell over.

  "Origin?" Katherine said.

  "I'm pinned down. Katherine, you need to escape."

  "We haven't gotten what we came for."

  "It's too late. He was expecting this."

  "Frigging Coates," she said out loud.

  They should have been smarter, but what other options did they have? She knelt down and replaced her spent pistol for Cole's other sidearm, and then moved next to Ng to grab his weapons as well.

  She paused as she reached under his suit jacket. She had an idea.

  "I'm not giving up yet," she said. "Can you hold tight?"

  "I'm barricaded. Trapped."

  "Good enough."

  "Katherine, what are you planning?"

  "To be the hero you want me to be, I guess."

  She didn't feel like a hero. Her entire body was shaking, her breathing was ragged, and she wanted to vomit. Shooting down bogeys was one thing, killing an enemy soldier another. Cutting a man's throat was something else entirely.

  She lifted Ng, throwing him up and over her shoulder and trying to ignore the warmth of the blood on her blouse and arms. She carried him from the room, checking both ends of the hallway for more guards. She was alone for now. It didn't seem as though they had raised an alarm in this part of the building.

  She grunted and continued down the hallway, past the offices. There were people in some of them, and they drew back in shock as she passed, but didn't confront her. Not everyone in here was under Watson's control.

  She rounded the corner, winding up only a few feet from the next security checkpoint. The guards there stared at her in disbelief as she dumped Ng's body from her shoulder and pushed it through the scanning arch.