The Sixth Extinction

by Bob Blink

  "I have seen them," Raobot revealed. "I could carry one. It weights a couple hundred pounds and is about my size. We should take all three. They are important to the overall plan, although I don't know the reasons. There are no more anywhere."

  "There aren't any in this storage area of yours?" Greg asked.

  "I am not knowing," Raobot replied. "It seems that would have been a wise choice, but my knowledge of what is stored is very limited. I know of the weapons simply by chance. I was there on a day a delivery was being made."

  "This is nuts," Ray said as he considered all that was being suggested. " I can have a look tomorrow at Security, and see what I can figure out to overcome the alarm problem at the airlocks, but there are a lot of problems with this raid idea. Of course, if Raobot can't get the gear back we need, it all is moot anyway. One thing at a time, I guess. When do you want to make an attempt to reach this storage center?"

  "I am thinking soon would be best," the synthetic voice replied. "Can you be ready in a day or so?"

  Chapter 41

  Sequoia Facility

  Agreeing on a plan, or whether they should even be making one took hours. They argued about every aspect of the mission outline they tried to create that might have any chance of success. Nothing they devised was risk free, and in fact, there were many things that could go wrong with every variation they came up with. They were too few in number, in the wrong job descriptions, and access to the surface was not something that was left open to the casual individual with an interest on what might be happening out there.

  "This is dumb," Jessica said after too many hours thinking about the problem. "Why haven't Walker and his people gone out there if this place is so stocked with stuff? They have Cyborgs, as many as they want."

  "It is likely that he might not possess any memory that the place exists," Raobot explained. "Like Ho, that is something he might not be slated to be given until a much later cloning session."

  "You are certain there are weapons in this place?" Greg asked.

  "I saw them with my own eyes," the Cyborg confirmed. "I know little about such devices, but they were obvious in their function."

  In the end, they reluctantly agreed that the risk was necessary and fought out the details of how they would proceed. This was partially driven by Ray's report of how Mark had informed him that Walker fully intended to increase the intensity of his searches for them. Ray also sensed Walker had something in mind for those in the Sim as well.

  The entrance to the wide tunnel leading to the airlocks to the surface was barricaded and locked, but that could be overcome with Ray's ID. As a member of Security he needed to be able to check the area. Part of their job was to monitor the integrity of the caverns, and repair any potential leaks where the outside air might get in. That was especially true of the tunnel and the triple airlocks that sealed the main path to the outside. The information would be logged, but it was something that was never looked at, and the monthly inspection wasn't scheduled for several weeks.

  While the alarm could be easily overcome, there were motion sensors in the tunnel which were computer monitored. Fortunately, Raobot knew the secrets to controlling the devices that were not normally available to operators within the cavern. He was able to disable all of the monitors and alarms in preparation for his trip up the tunnel.

  The mission would begin when Ray headed off to work in the morning. Raobot would ride with him in the Security vehicle, taking care to remain out of sight, not an easy task for an oversized Cyborg, but they would be starting the day early, so it should work. Ray would take the Cyborg to the tunnel entrance, let him in, and then drop by Security headquarters as he did most mornings before joining Mark Savage to continue the search that Walker had requested. His presence at the office was also very important if the plan was to succeed.

  The gate had closed and locked behind him as he started down the tunnel. Raobot didn't look back to watch Ray drive away. He had a schedule to maintain, and while he'd come this way before, that had been a very long time ago and via vehicle. He didn't know how long this might take on foot. He should have ample time, but he'd feel better once he reached the first checkpoint.

  The lights that had once burned brightly to light the way through the mountain were dark now. Not even the widely spaced low intensity illuminators were active. Power was too precious to waste, and even those were only activated when one of the scheduled inspections was planned. He had both his built in light source and a powerful flashlight to aid his vision. Fortunately his low-light vision far exceeded that of any normal human, and as a result the route was easily followed.

  The path was wide, and well laid out. Along the right side was the roadway headed in his direction, wide enough for large construction trucks to pass easily. A similar path was along the left edge, heading back the way he had come. Up the middle, separated by a sturdy fence on either side was the footpath that he was following. It was wide enough that three could have walked abreast, the concrete cracked in places, but generally in excellent shape given the number of years it had been in place.

  He walked quickly, the uphill trek having no effect on this mechanical muscles. He didn't get winded or tired, and was able to make his way to the first of the airlocks in record time. He'd monitored the time on the heads up display he could command to overlay his vision, and knew he was here considerably ahead of the agreed to time. That would give him time to familiarize himself with the layout, although Ray, who had been here in person, had given him a careful description of what to expect.

  The sealed doors were massive. They were designed to open inwards, driven by powerful motors that would unlock and rotate the multi-ton barriers of steel. Even with his Cyborg strength, Raobot knew he couldn't have begun to move them. Fortunately it wouldn't be necessary. Those doors were meant to be opened when conditions on the surface were safe enough that large machinery could pass through. At first, individuals would pass to the surface, and there was a separate, man-sized set of doors off to the left side. He walked through the gate built into the fence and crossed over the flat expanse of roadway to the door.

  Built much like the water-tight doors on military ships, he had a large wheel that could be turned to retract the heavy bolts that held the door securely locked tight against the special seals. It hadn't been used during the long years, but was supposedly designed to remain operable despite that. Raobot knew he had an advantage due to his mechanical strength if the mechanism proved resistant.

  Getting through undetected was the problem. These doors and airlocks were critical to the security of the cavern, and as such were alarmed. The alarms were both visual and audible, and had to be acknowledged, or would continue their alert indefinitely. Designed to be monitored in the Security control room, there was a time delay between the visual indicator and the audible triggering of the horn that would sound throughout the facility. This time delay was adjustable, and allowed the operator who should detect the visual indicator to respond before the annoying sound was necessary. They had increased the delay time to the maximum of ten seconds earlier this morning, but someone would still have to acknowledge the visual indicator to prevent everyone in Security from knowing of the breach.

  That was Ray's job. The effort had to be time-coordinated. They had no radio contact capability, the special radios that were used by Security when they entered this space were not available and any transmissions would be detected. Ray would stop by the control room as he frequently did at the start of his day to BS a bit with the on-duty operator. Having worked the position before, he knew exactly where the control light would be triggered. His job would be to distract the controller at the proper time, and acknowledge the visual alarm before the audible was triggered. The acknowledgement would also turn off the flashing indicator so the controller would be unaware of the issue. The indicator would transition from flashing red to a steady-state amber, still something the controller might spot, although given the number of other lights on the panels it wa
s unlikely it would immediately earn his attention. Even so, Raobot would have to move through the door quickly, closing it behind him, which would return the light to its green, off state.

  This procedure would have to be repeated for each of the three airlock doors that Raobot needed to pass through to reach the surface. They had agreed on exactly five minutes between doors. They were spaced two hundred feet apart, so that gave the Cyborg sufficient time to make his way to the next door, check everything, and be ready to quickly open, slip through, and close the door behind him. He would know if they had a problem, because the audible alarm would trigger in the tunnel as well as in the Control Center.

  All of this meant Ray would have to be able to engage the controller for ten minutes so he could remain in place to disable the alarms at the appropriate time. The process would have to be repeated when Raobot returned, scheduled for the end of the day tomorrow, when Ray was nominally finishing up his shift. They had chosen a time an hour later than normal, to allow Ray some margin in getting back to Security to be in place. The later hour worked well because there would be fewer people in the building at that hour.

  The first two doors had gone smoothly, with Ray finding something to distract the controller the first time, and a call conveniently holding his attention as the second door was opened. Both indicators had returned to their normal green color, so were of no interest to the controller, and telling Ray that Raobot was now between the second and third airlocks. The last one would place him on the surface, where no one had ventured in a thousand years.

  Ray listened to the controller's joke as he paid attention to the clock on the wall behind the man. As the time approached, he picked up his cup and checked the level.

  "Do you need more coffee?" he asked.

  The controller, turned, and reached for his cup at just the right time. Poised, Ray was ready to press the acknowledge button, but the light didn't initialize. Ten seconds passed, and still nothing. Raobot was late. There was some kind of problem. The controller was turned back, his cup in hand, holding it out to Ray.

  "Looks like I could at that," he said.

  Ray took the offered cup, his eyes shifting back and forth between the cup and the alarm he expected to trigger at any moment. Thirty seconds had passed, and nothing. He had to hope that Raobot remembered their plan and was waiting for the next window. They had agreed that any delay that caused a time to be missed, would invoke an automatic delay for an additional five minutes.

  Wondering what might have happened, his heart hammering in his chest, he stood with the two cups and reluctantly stepped away from the control board where he had sat. As he walked away he noted that the controller was making a complete scan of the board, making sure everything was as it should be. Ray knew that Raobot was between the second and third airlock doors. He couldn't go forward or back without triggering an alarm, and once that happened and the situation investigated, it would be apparent to everyone that Ray, who was sitting there, had been involved in masking the penetration.

  Taking his time with the coffee, filled the two mugs from the freshly brewed pot, adding unwanted cream and sugar to his own just to delay a bit longer, then headed back to the controller, still uncertain what he would do if Raobot failed to open the door at the proper time. It would be difficult to linger any longer without generating suspicion, yet leaving would leave the Cyborg trapped.

  With ten seconds until the appointed time, Ray handed the cup to the controller.

  "Yikes, that's hot," the man said, and quickly turned to set the hot cup off to one side.

  Ray had hoped for the reaction when he'd chosen the very hot just brewed coffee, and was why he'd loaded his with a lot of the cold cream. Now, as the man's eyes were turned away momentarily, Ray sighed with relief as the light on the panel switched to red. Quickly he hit the acknowledge button, and watched the indicator go amber. By the time the controller was turning back to him, it shifted to green. Raobot was through.

  "Guess I'd better get going," Ray said, still standing by his chair. Walker's guy should be ready for me by now." He raised his cup in a salute, and headed toward the door, hoping that the entry effort would go smoother. He tossed the heavily loaded cup of coffee into a trash bin as he exited the building.

  Raobot sighed with relief as he closed the third airlock door behind him. The control wheel had been frozen in position when he'd tried to open it at the designated time. Even with his great strength it had taken a concerted effort to break it free, and by the time it started turning, it was too late to meet the agreed to time. He stepped back, and impatiently waited for the five minute window to pass. As he waited he studied the heavy concrete walls that formed this part of the tunnel. The rough contour of the natural rock had been carefully sealed and filled in, with more than two feet of reinforced concrete carefully laid in place. The end caps were even thicker, almost five feet based on the two he'd passed through, with solid steel fittings designed to help support the massive doors that would have to be opened to allow the trucks through one day.

  Finally, the long wait passed, and with more than a little trepidation he turned the wheel and pulled the door open. He half expected to hear the raucous clanging of the alarm, but thankfully all remained quiet. Ray had realized what he was doing. Quickly he stepped through and pulled the door closed behind him. Turning around, he faced the outside world for the first time.

  Actually, other than a bit of natural light there was really nothing to see. He was still in a tunnel, and had to walk almost fifty yards before he came to the tunnel entrance. Like the walls of the airlocks, this was all sheathed in concrete. Every effort had been made to ruggedize the entrance against the years it would be left exposed to the elements. The walls were unmarked, but the roadway was cracked and showed the effects of long exposure to the harsh cold.

  He stepped forward toward the tunnel entrance. He could see the sky, a colorful blaze up high, and mostly dead white lower. He knew the color was an indication of the toxins that were being dumped into the atmosphere by the cloud that the Earth was passing through. His instruments indicated that the levels were still much higher than a normal human could tolerate. It was also cold, fifty degrees below zero Fahrenheit. In the distance he could see white mountains.

  As he stepped from the cave entrance, his confidence in himself plummeted. He was alone out here, the only person to set foot out of the cavern for more than a thousand years. He also knew that going forward or not, he would be unable to return to the safety of the Facility for a day and a half. Any other attempt would trigger alarms that would send a team to investigate, which would be the end of their plans.

  He checked his status panel. All indicators for the Cyborg's body were in the green. This environment wasn't hostile to his current form, and he felt none of the cold, nor did he need to breath the contaminated air. All he had to do was make the eight-plus mile hike to the storage cavern, and hope that entry there was as simple as he'd been told all those years ago when he'd visited it was supposed to be. If things were different, and something had been changed, then all of this might be for naught. He couldn't help thinking that he was far out of his element. He was a programmer, and didn't know half of what he might need to accomplish the task ahead of him. Just trying to remember the descriptions of the kinds of weapons Ray had him memorize was disconcerting. They'd only get one chance at this, and he was fearful he might screw it up. That was on top of all the things outside of his control which could make the mission a failure.

  The roadway that had wound through the forest to allow the massive trucks and tunneling gear to reach the complex could easily be seen. It had been built well to handle the kinds of equipment that used it. It snaked between the broken forest and curled around the low hills leading into the valley. The trees were all dead, of course. Many had fallen over, and those still standing, dark fingers pointing upwards had shed some of their branches. The toxins and cold had long ago killed every living thing on the surface of the Earth. Pl
ants were even more susceptible to the poisons than humans. It was depressing to look at the scene, his mind reminding him of the majestic forest he had visited the last time he had been here.

  There was far less snow than he had expected. Well, it probably hadn't snowed in a very long time. With temperatures that were always far below freezing everywhere, most of the water would have frozen out of the atmosphere a long time ago. It would be replaced by sublimation to some degree, so some snow would continue to fall. That which had fallen was blown around by the winds, but even that over time would settle and become ice, no longer being thrown about. Before that had happened, the winds had drifted the stuff clearing many of the flats, and building deep drifts in other areas. The crunchy hard surface ice was about a foot thick where he walked. It was grainy and the combination of his weight and the coarse surface gave him reasonable purchase for walking.

  He was operating strictly on memory. There had been nothing to study before leaving as to the route. There were no maps or records. It was likely he was the only person in the world that even knew the place existed.

  He headed down the road, broken in places outside the caves. It was the smoothest, and the road would hopefully reveal the turnoff he thought was about two miles down the hill. If he couldn't find that, his mission was a failure before he even got a good start. Fortunately he didn't get tired, and he could plow through stuff that would have been a problem for his flesh and blood self. He was not used to this kind of weather, and felt a shiver as he moved away from the tunnel entrance, looking back every now and again to ensure he would recognize it on his return, which was dumb because all he'd be doing was following the road.

  It took almost four hours to cover the distance to the storage caverns, but when he made the last turn he knew he was there. The Cyborg body running flawlessly, he marched up to the opening, walked inside, and fifty feet in came to another of the familiar airlocks.