The Last Revolution

by Carpenter, R. T.

  “You guys need to look at this.”

  Alden and Gabriel focused on the screen again. It shifted slightly from one monitor to the next. Rows of bright lights lined the walls of a small room. What were they looking at? Then it hit him. “They’ve created hundreds of these suitcase sized bombs,” Alden said.

  “It gets worse,” Mary responded. “Daniel, show them.”

  The screen switched once more. They stared at an underground train station. Dozens—hundreds of workers moved around the platform as they ripped stuff out of the stationary train. They welded sheet metal in place to reinforce the external structure.

  “Are they doing what I think they’re doing?” Daniel finally asked.

  Gabriel nodded. “They’re retrofitting the train to carry the reactors out of here. With the attached tunnel system they could be shipped anywhere in the world. We…we have to get out of here. We have to let the Council know.”

  Alden shook his head and paced away from the computer terminal. “There’s no time.”

  “What do you mean there’s no time? This place isn’t going anywhere.”

  “It’s not, but those bombs are,” Daniel responded.

  Alden continued, “It looks like the train will be operational in the next few days. For this one moment we know exactly where all of these reactors are. Once that train leaves, these reactors could be spread out to every corner of the world. We have to take action.”

  Gabriel stepped in, “Our orders were to recon the situation, find out what the SRF was up to and then get out. They wanted a status report on the situation, not a full-scale attack on a military installation.”

  “Once the SRF finds out they’ve been infiltrated, which they will in about three hours,” Alden gestured at one of the unconscious guards, “This place will go into crisis mode. They’ll scatter along with all the fusion reactors! The Council wouldn’t have sent our team if military action wasn’t a likely outcome. It’s practically implied in our directive. This is our shot; we have to do this. It’s what the Council would want.”

  Gabriel turned. “You’re violating a direct order!”

  “No, I’m stopping the worst proliferation of weapons in a hundred years. Why are you fighting me on this? If even one of those reactors makes it out of here and it’s used on another nation, just think of the fallout that will occur. We have the opportunity to end all of that now. Get on board and let’s end this.”

  “It’s the right thing to do,” Mary added.

  “For what it’s worth, I agree,” Daniel chimed in.

  “What do we have to do to take this place out?” Alden asked.

  “The station’s equipped with a self-destruct sequence,” Daniel said. “My guess is they wanted a clean way to hide the evidence when they were done. Once the sequence is initiated, a hard coded evacuation alarm will go off. It’ll give everyone ten minutes to escape.”

  Alden stared at the holographic image of the train, and swiped his hand to return to the feed of the nuclear reactor. “Daniel, could Gabriel and I get down to the reactor?”

  “Why would we do that?” Gabriel asked.

  “The reason the Three Nations are in a constant state of cold war and not actual war is that their military capabilities are pretty much even. No one is assured a quick and clean victory. At this point, none of the nations are willing to face their own annihilation to take one of the others out. That balance of power goes out the window if the SRF has more facilities like this one. If they believe they’ve got the upper hand, then it’s only a matter of time before they use it.”

  “What does that have to do with us and the reactor core?” Gabriel asked.

  “We have to bring one of those fusion reactors back with us. The Council will know what to do with it, and they may determine that it has to be given to the other nations to balance the power. Or they may decide to find ways to harness the energy in order to keep the nations in line. We have to bring one of those reactors back to the island for Polemarch Vasentus.”

  “I don’t know, Alden…” Mary trailed off.

  “If we destroy this facility, and return with the only working reactor, we’ll be heroes.”

  Daniel cleared his throat. “There are guards on every level between you and that room. Outside of it are four heavily-armed guards with standing orders to kill any unauthorized personnel. If you can get a hold of some badges, I’ll download your pictures and handprints into the system. When they go to scan your hand, you shouldn’t have any problems.”

  Alden turned to Gabriel. “You know I’m right. Help me with this. Help me steal one of those reactors.”

  “I’m a good soldier and it’s your command, but I want to go on record against this entire course of actions.”

  He moved to the door and took a quick look outside. Two scientists happened to be walking down the hall. “Excuse me, could I have your help in here?”

  The men entered the room and were shocked to see the four guards, one of which was bleeding all over the floor. There were two quick psst’s as Gabriel fired darts into their backs. They crumpled to the ground.

  A few moments later, Alden and Gabriel stepped out of the server room dressed as scientists. Stop. Look. Listen. The door clicked shut. Daniel would make sure no one entered the room while they were still down there. They descended several more flights of stairs to the lower chamber. Neither was prepared for what they saw. The massive cylinder loomed large and immense. It was as if a mini star lived inside. The light was so bright that most who worked around it wore safety goggles. That would make it easier for them to hide their identities as well.

  They kept a low profile and walked along one of the exterior planks to the back of the room. They kept with the general unhappy mood and didn’t bother to nod or make eye contact with anyone. Another set of metal steps in the back led to the ground floor. The fusion reactor towered several stories above them. What scientific magic had they achieved down here?

  Gabriel tugged at Alden’s lab coat and they continued on past the device into the hallway that led towards the storage room in back. Unlike the benign but somewhat pleasant environment above, this area was solid concrete. Three blast doors were built in at intermittent points. All it would take was one slip and they’d be caught—imprisoned, tortured and killed.

  Alden pushed the thought out of his head as they reached the last blast door. As expected, the four guards stood at attention. Each lifted their rifle without hesitation and pointed it directly at them. They slowly rested their fingers on the triggers.

  In fluent Russian, Gabriel addressed the one who appeared to be in charge. “Good evening. We’re here to do a nightly check on containment fields.”

  “You’re early,” the Russian said with a heavy accent. He leaned in closer. “And why don’t I recognize either of you?”

  “We just arrived last night on the 11:13. Shift change.”

  He sneered. “Is that so? I wasn’t aware of any shift changes.”

  “I’m sure they forgot to send the information down, if you check our passes you’ll see everything is in order.”

  I hope you’re listening to this and are one step ahead of these guys, Alden thought.

  “Check their request,” the soldier said to one of the other men behind him. The other soldier lowered his weapon and typed on his deck. “Press your finger here.”

  After what felt like ages, he said, “They’re clear. Everything is in order.”

  “Roger.” He lowered his weapon and then almost as an afterthought, said, “Don’t kill us.”

  “Huh?” Gabriel responded.

  “With that stuff back there, don’t drop it.”

  Alden tried to refrain from letting out a deep sigh of relief as he walked betweenthe last guard and into the storage room. Alden pressed a button on the side wall, and the large vault door shut behind them.

  “That was crazy!” Gabriel said.

  Alden stared at the room. There must have been a dozen rows filled floor to c
eiling with little orbs of glowing light. It was now very apparent how precarious their current situation was. They were a hundred meters below ground, with an entire army on high alert ready for any sign of intrusion. When they were upstairs this had seemed the right course of action, but now he wasn’t so sure. Had he just led them into a trap? Every sense he had was freaked out.

  From outside the room came raised voices, “What are you doing in here? You don’t belong here!” He wheeled around expecting the worst, but the vault door was still shut. It had come over their comm devices.

  The other half of their team was in trouble.

  “Mary! Mary! Is everything okay?” Gabriel shouted in his quietest voice.

  The only response was static.

  Alden grabbed Gabriel’s arm. “We have to get out of here now. Quick, grab one of those and let’s go.” Alden gestured at a pile of carriers stacked against the wall.

  Gabriel snatched one off the rack and hurried to Alden.

  They eased the nearest reactor off the shelf and unplugged it from the cradle. A light clicked on, and a timer began to count down on the little screen in front. They had 48 hours until the containment field failed. Once that happened, the reactor would destabilize and rupture. Alden grabbed a spare trolley sitting by the door, and set the device on it.

  “Alright, let’s go!” Gabriel said.

  “Wait, one more thing.” Alden ran to the back of the room. He reached behind one of the reactors and fished around until he found the cord that powered its containment field. He pulled a knife out from under his lab coat and slit it. The backup light came on the reactor and the countdown started.

  In the background, Gabriel attempted to raise Mary and Daniel on the comm.

  Alden hurried back to Gabriel and fell in line behind him. “We have to go now!” Gabriel dropped his hand from the comm and moved towards the vault door. He pressed a button and then waited as it silently swung open. Outside one of the guards waited with a data pad.

  “You know what to do.”

  Actually he didn’t know what to do, but the designated space on the pad was barely big enough for his fingerprint. It wasn’t held at a level for visual verification so he placed his thumb on the pad. Hopefully Daniel had finished uploading their bio-metrics into the system. None of the alarms had gone off in the facility yet, so they still had time.

  “Move along,” the guard said. None of the other soldiers even looked up.

  They headed past the stairs they’d arrived at, and stepped into the elevator. The mini reactor sat on the trolley behind them. After what seemed like ages, they reached the first level. They walked down the hallway and then slipped back into the room they’d first arrived through. They were both relieved and surprised to find Daniel and Mary waiting for them.

  “Mary.” Gabriel started towards her, but Alden shot him a stern glance. “Gear now!”

  Daniel balanced on one leg as he slipped back into his winter camouflage. “We planted a virus in their system to wipe our tracks.”

  “Smart,” Gabriel said.

  Alden pulled the reactor off the trolley and slipped it into one of their bags. He put his jacket on, hoisted the rifle and then the bag over his back. The reactor was heavy; its straps cut into his shoulder.

  “Everyone up the steps, we’ve got less than twenty minutes.”

  As they climbed, Mary said, “Why do we only have twenty minutes?”

  “I disabled the battery power on one of the devices in the reactor storage area. This whole place is about to be one big crater.”

  “Wait, what? What about all those people?”

  “Daniel…” Alden said.

  “The general evacuation alarm will go off in a few moments. Once that happens, this whole place should be able to empty out in time. Those high-speed rails will get them beyond the blast radius. The confusion will also allow us to escape unnoticed.

  “Oh God,” Gabriel responded. “Climb faster!”

  Mary reached the top of the ladder and pushed the cover open. She lifted her head out a few centimeters. Without a word, she pushed the hatch the rest of the way up and slipped out into the night.

  “Go! Go! Go!” Alden yelled over his comm device. “Make it to the extraction point.”

  Alden was the last one out and he followed the other three into the frigid air. They ran past the shed and then made a break for it across the wide-open plain. They ran over a small hill, and continued to sprint until the outpost was out of sight.

  “Daniel, now!” Alden said.

  He pressed a few buttons on his wrist deck; an alarm sounded deep below.

  “What the hell is that?” Gabriel yelled as they continued across the open area.

  “We have to give everyone a chance to get out alive!” Alden said.

  A line of trees appeared ahead of them and they sprinted into the woods. It was hard to run through snow, but their lives depended on it. The trees thinned out as they emerged in another large clearing. Alden raced towards a large box covered by a white parachute.

  “I’ve got the chute.” Mary yanked the fabric off and rolled it up.

  The three men each grabbed a rope that hung from a corner of the box. The sides landed in a thump in the soft snow. Inside was a small launch pad with a bullet-shaped missile pointed at the sky. Wings that had been tucked in against the side sprang out into place. Towards the top of the missile was a long canopy window, with just enough room for four people to sit inside.

  “Wait!” Daniel stopped them. “The launch controls aren’t coming online. I think it was damaged in the drop.” At that very moment the silence was broken by the sounds of engines, dogs, and raised voices.

  “What’s it going to take to fix it?” Alden yelled. “We need to leave now!”

  “Just give me a few minutes. I should be able to bring it back online. Just cover me.”

  “You heard him,” Alden said. “Mary, over on that hill, provide us sniper cover and act as our eyes and ears.” Alden dropped his shoulder and let the bag slip off. It came to rest at his feet. “Gabriel, you’re with me. Weapons hot!”

  Gunfire erupted all around them as yellow streaks cut through the darkness. Tree limbs exploded and little tufts of snow popped up in every direction.

  “Contact!” Mary yelled.

  Alden reached the edge of the open space. He threw his body against an ancient fir tree for cover. He dropped the magazine of darts from his rifle, and slammed in a new magazine with live rounds. He bent around the tree and fired into the woods. Bullets flew at him and he quickly pulled back into safety. A few meters away, Gabriel cursed the enemy as he unloaded his weapon.

  Alden pulled a grenade off his vest, clicked the button, counted to three, and then chucked it as far into the woods as he could. There was a loud explosion, followed by screams of pain as it went off. He squeezed the trigger of his rifle. Vibrations shook his muscles as the bullets ripped through everything in their path.

  “It’s fixed!” Daniel yelled.

  Behind them,their escape craft was all lit up, including light inside the cockpit. Now it was his turn to work. “Daniel, grab your weapon and take my position.”

  Daniel sprinted over. Alden sucked in a few chilled breaths and then ran towards the craft. Bullets ricocheted off its sides. They had to get out of here now.

  As he got closer, he pressed a button on his wrist deck and watched the canopy slide back into the body of the craft. He grabbed the reactor on the way up the ladder and jumped inside. He tucked the bag securely under his seat. Alden turned the engines on and checked the gauges. After a few tenacious moments, they were ready to go.

  “Get back here, it’s time to go!” Alden looked up just in time to see a mortar round hit the tree near Mary’s position. It exploded against the trunk. The giant structure split in half.

  “Mary, get out of there!” Alden yelled.

  She was already on the move. Mary rolledout of the way just before it crashed down on top of her. She jumped up and
dashed down the hill. Gabriel fell back halfway to the craft before he stopped to lay down some cover fire for Daniel.

  Terror surged through his veins as he heard a mortar round sail through the air. Daniel galloped through the snow moving as fast as he could. It was already over. The only thing he could do was watch with horror as the round made contact next to Daniel. A fiery cloud of blood and debris burst into the air.

  Gabriel screamed and sprayed his gun across the tree line. Mary stopped outside the craft, loaded another clip into her sniper rifle, and fired on the soldiers that rushed at them through the trees. Gabriel sprinted back towards them. Just as he reached Mary, a series of bullets ripped through her chest and slammed her back against the metal. A blood trail followed her as she slid down and slumped to the ground.

  Gabriel let out a startled cry and dove to her side. He bent over, and placed his hands on the wounds to stop the bleeding. He screamed at her to move. Alden jumped out of the cockpit; they had to go. With tears in his eyes, Gabriel leaned over and kissed her lips. Alden slid into her side and put a hand on Gabriel’s. “We have to go now.” They lifted her into the back seat. Gabriel pulled himself into the middle and tried to administer first aid.

  Alden’s hand flew over the controls. The launcher geared up just as the canopy closed and locked out all noise. The SRF soldiers sprinted across the field towards their position. Dozens of assault rifles could be seen firing at the launcher. Bullets bounced off everything. The engine roared to life and before Alden could strap in, they rocketed away from the surface. He turned enough to see a red crater where Daniel had been standing. He’d failed him, left him behind; it was all over.

  As they streaked across the sky, dots appeared on their radar—fighter jets. There was no way they could catch them. And as they broke the sound barrier, everything sank away, including the surface. A crater began to form in the distance. The reactor had detonated. Streaks of bullets from the fighter jets followed their path but they were already beyond reach. A moment later, they had reached the apex of their journey. They would splash down close to the Island soon. They’d be home.