by Bob Blink
Walker sensed his communicator signal, and picked up the call. Luke was back with the rest of his team.
"Okay, we circle around to the front where the doorway is, and we'll come at it from both sides. There'll probably be fierce firing as we go in, but once inside, Zack can relocate us in there the next go around."
"How many more times can we do this?" Luke asked.
Walker hadn't been thinking along those lines. He didn't know how many times Zack could re-spawn them. He hated to think they might exceed what Zack had planned for, and lose the battle as a result and have to do this all over again, if these people relocated while they were getting set up again.
"We're good," he lied, not really knowing, but not wanting his people focused on that problem.
Walker terminated the call, and signaled for an advance. Carefully, half expecting to be met by gunfire from some unexpected location. As he made the turn, he spotted Luke coming the other way. The stone of the front wall was cool in the evening air, but the door was only a short distance ahead. Grimacing in anticipation, he was stunned to see the wall growing, the door being covered over by more of the same stone that covered the rest of the walls. In less than a handful of seconds, the door no longer existed. He met Luke along a smooth expanse of continuous wall.
"What just happened?" Luke asked, surprise evident on his face.
"I don't know how they are doing it, but they can change the environment at will," Walker said, realizing what was happening even as he spoke. "It doesn't matter. Blow it. We know there is a door there."
Luke nodded and signaled for Steve to place one of the explosive charges in position. As he was doing so, Walker spotted a pair of men coming up behind the other team. One of them he recognized as Sgt. Lee from the Washington Police Department.
"Look out!" he yelled as he pushed backwards for the protection of the side of the building. The sound of the two automatic rifles drowned out his words and he saw his men falling under the withering fire.
Turning toward the side of the building from which he'd advanced just a short time before, he saw other armed men stepping out of an opening in the solid rock side of the mountain that hadn't been there moments before. Before he could react, he was struck by multiple rounds from a pair of weapons.
"Crap!" he cursed as he sat up back in the Resort once again, his chest still throbbing from the impact of the killing slugs.
"What is happening?" Zack asked, confused by the lack of success the men were having, and their repeated return.
Walker explained what they had seen.
"That's not possible," Zack said.
"Clearly it is," Walker disagreed.
"How are we going to get inside?" Luke asked from the couch next to Walker's.
Walker thought and looked at Zack.
"You have a fix on where we were just killed, right?"
Zack nodded. "So?"
"I was right at the side of the house. I want you to drop us twenty feet south of that position, at a level where the roof would be."
"That would be sending you in blind," Zack protested. "I have nothing for reference beyond your position. I might drop you in the middle of a wall, or so high you break a leg upon arrival."
"So, then we'll simply end up back here. It may not be pleasant, but ultimately there is no real danger. We've got to get inside that building. Send me and Luke, about ten feet apart. If we don't come back, then assume we are okay, and place the rest of the team, half around each of our positions."
John Morrison was scanning the area near the front of the house, as close as he could see from his elevated position when he heard the thump of something landing heavily on the concrete surface of the rooftop.
"Sammi, look out!" he yelled as he pushed her aside, knocking her to the ground but out of the line of fire. He was unable to move quickly enough to do the same for himself, and felt the stunning force as a pair of rounds caught him in the shoulder and along the edge of his ribs. Knocked back, and momentarily stunned, he knew the next burst would finish the job.
He saw the rifle center on his chest, but he had nothing other than his handgun, and his right arm simply wouldn't obey his commands to draw it out of the holster. Then he saw the body holding the rifle jerk under the repeated impacts of the unforgiving number one buckshot from one of the combat shotguns.
Rao had been coming up the stairs to ask Sammi and Morrison to relocate, since the next round of engagement were expected to be close in and the roof wouldn't offer them any shots. He saw the man materialize and promptly shoot Morrison. Before the shooter could finish the job, Rao put what he had recently learned to good use and fired two quick rounds into the man's back. Unfortunately, he didn't notice the second man who had arrived just afterwards. By the time he realized someone was there, it was too late. Rao only momentarily felt the pain of the rounds that killed him.
Stunned, but fortunately still armed, Sammi watched Morrison take the rounds that had been meant for her. Then Rao shooting the killer, only to be killed himself. With a skill borne of long practice, she brought her own rifle to bear, and quickly dispatched the remaining shooter, and then another who materialized as she acted. The rooftop was momentarily clear as she ran over to check on Morrison. She could see that Rao was finished. One of the rounds had taken him in the back of the head.
"Damn it, John," she said when she found him alive and still conscious.
"Warn the others," he directed.
"In a minute," she countered, and slinging her rifle grabbed him under the shoulders and began dragging him toward the stairs. She shouted at those below as she pulled the heavy cop. She need not have bothered. The sounds of the shooting had been heard, and Rodriquez, Lee, and Luther were already charging up the stairs. Don wasn't too far behind, his shotgun held ready.
"Help me," Sammi directed, and Luther quickly shouldered his rifle and helped her get the wounded Morrison down the stairs. They were only partway down when more of Walker's men suddenly started materializing on the roof. Rand took a shot to the head even before he could attempt to shoot at the intruders. Rodriquez shot one, and Lee another, before they were forced to back down the stairs under the intense fire. Don took a round in the thigh, dropping his weapon and stumbling down after them, trying to contain the blood.
Their situation had suddenly turned grim. Morrison and Don were out of the fight, as were Rao and Rand who were both dead. That meant they were also cut off from their help in the Facility, although hopefully their situation was being monitored, but Sammi realized that there was only so much they could do. When plans had been discussed, no one had thought Walker and his men would be able to keep reappearing like this. Knowing that it was her, Lee, Rodriquez, and Luther against Walker's full force, she put a compress on the worst of Morrison's wounds and pushed his hand over it to apply pressure.
"I'll be back once we deal with these bastards," she said, and kissed him lightly on the forehead. "Thanks for saving me," she added.
Rodriguez and Lee were firing up the stairwell from across the room, and an intense stream of automatic weapon's fire was being returned. Sammi hoped those up top didn't have any grenades, or they were in deep trouble. Even as she had the thought, a sharp blast shook the building, and a ragged hole appeared where the door had been. Clearly the enemy had access to explosives. Two men came charging through, weapons blazing. One of them exchanged shots with Luther, each killing the other. She realized that Rodriguez had taken a hit about the same time from a ricochet of one of the bullets fired from above. Sammi raised her weapon as the surviving assailant on the lower level spotted her and raised his own weapon with the intent of finishing her off. She thought she was faster, but wasn't sure. She was in the act of pulling the trigger when the man simply vanished.
"What the hell?" she mumbled, then as she scanned searching frantically for a target half expecting to feel the bite of bullets striking her from some unseen killer, she suddenly realized that it was quiet. Rodriguez and Lee had stopped
shooting, and none of the attackers were firing at them.
After a moment, Lee said, "I think they are gone."
Chapter 48
Sequoia Facility
"What happened?" Rao asked Raobot as they watched the enemy vanish all at once.
"I do not know," the Cyborg replied, still studying the monitors before him.
"They all just disappeared," Rao pointed out.
"So it would seem," the Cyborg agreed. "All at the same time."
"On purpose? They were winning."
"It would seem they were extracted from the Simulation," Raobot said. "I cannot say why."
Rao was getting the same indications. He just hadn't believed them, and had wanted Raobot to point out what he was seeing incorrectly. Apparently the Cyborg was seeing the same information as himself.
"Our people should leave," Raobot said. "They need medical help, and we are not prepared to defend them should Walker and his people choose to return. We were actually less prepared than I expected. I did not envision multiple re-appearances in the Sim."
"I did not design the pathway into the Sim with that possibility in mind. There is no reason you should have considered it. Someone Walker has on his team made that modification."
Rao was making contact even as he spoke. Then he was in, with the survivors gathered around the wounded, talking.
"You must go," Rao urged them. "Walker might return. We do not know why he withdrew when he did."
"That wasn't your doing?" Sammi asked.
"No. We are trying to discover what happened, but they have surprised us with what they were prepared to do. If it hadn't been for this unexpected event, I fear all of you would have been lost."
"We lost your avatar," Lee reported.
"I am seeing that," Rao said sadly. "It cannot be helped. At least Raobot and I still live. You must leave the dead and get the wounded help. We will contact you when we have more idea what has happened and we might better be prepared to fend off Walker and his killers."
"No place is safe," Sammi said, as he helped Morrison stand, "but we'll be ready if they try again."
As Rao disconnected, Raobot glanced at him. "I am trying to make it impossible for Walker to make such rapid returns with his people, but I am not seeing how it can be done. They are inserted as a different entity each time, and there is nothing to block that."
"What if we put an artificial person into the Sim with their core characteristics," Rao suggested. "They would be restricted by the same restrictions that would prevent two of me visiting the same node. That does not rely on the ID."
"That would work, but we have no kernel to draw upon. If they had not been killed by Rossetti, we could use that. Now, the best we can do is be alert to their return, capture the temporary kernel inserted, modify that so it is say a damaged version of themselves, and install that somewhere. It would prevent their return. I will work on how that might be done quickly should we get the chance."
"What happened?" Walker asked, intensely pissed that their victory had somehow been wrestled away from them. He pushed the cover away, glaring at Zack, thinking he might be somehow responsible for the withdrawal.
"Everyone was rejected from the Sim, and from the Resorts as well," Zack said.
Walker suddenly realized the lighting was poor, and that the emergency lights along the walls were activated, something he had never seen in the caverns in all the years he'd been here.
"Power failure?" Walker asked.
Zack nodded.
"The automatic shutdown and extraction has taken all of the visitors here at the Resort out of their travels. You and your men were taken from the Sim for the same reason."
"This cannot be coincidence," he shouted. "This has to be the work of Rao and his buddies. See who is in charge of this place tonight and what happened. I want to know how quickly we can be operational again and be able to get back in there and finish off those bastards. At least we got the Rao they had hidden away. And killed and wounded a couple others. There aren't as many of them any more. Another ten minutes and we would have gotten them all."
While they were considering the situation and tracking for a possible return, Cindy and Jessica scurried into the control area.
"It was Ray and Greg," Cindy said, sensing the confusion exhibited by the two Raos.
"Excuse me?" Rao asked. "What did Ray and Greg do?"
"They blew up the power lines to the Resort," Jessica said with a smirk. Cindy called them a bit ago when it became clear that things were not going well."
"You knew they were planning this?" Raobot asked.
"They said you would disagree with the plan, so they made us remain silent. Greg knew where the underground power came into the lower levels, and a back way they could probably slip in. With all of Walker's guys busy and the late hour, he felt the risks were low."
Sam knew about this?" Rao asked.
"He was their lookout," Jessica admitted.
"What about all of the other people at the Resort?" Rao asked.
"The system is designed for safe extraction in the event of power failure," Cindy said. "They are coming back," she added before either Rao could ask, "They called us on the secure channel, feeling Walker wouldn't be monitoring it just now. They'll be here in about ten minutes."
Chapter 49
Sequoia Facility
"You blew it up?" Rao asked a grinning Ray Burke when the three cocky saboteurs made their way into the security of the bunker.
"Not the Resort," Greg replied for his partner. "We just trashed the power and data cables from the Resort to the rest of the facility. Without those, it's just an isolated and, nearly worthless, building."
"What about everyone who was in there at the time?" Rao asked.
"They were never in any danger," Ray explained. "We used a careful set of charges, and they were set in the second level basement. They did a lot of damage, but it was all contained."
"And the people in the transfer couches were in no danger from the power loss," Greg added. "It has never happened before, as the units are designed for a graceful removal of the clients from their simulations if something like that happens. They were pissed at the interruption, and will probably continue to be for some time, but no one was hurt. I feel a bit sorry for the interruption in their holidays, but given what was happening, it was an easy choice."
"Who thought of this?" Rao asked.
Ray and Greg exchanged glances.
"Well, Greg came and asked if I knew how to use the explosives that your buddy brought back from the surface," Ray explained. "When I told him I'd had experience with the stuff before, he told me what he was thinking."
"I've been at the Resort for some time," Greg explained. "I'm a bit of a curious sort, and like to poke around and learn as much as I can about things. Engineers are like that. I figured out a long time ago where the power and data lines were located. I even noted when you and your friend Dale started using some of the lines for data routed to someplace other than intended. You were sending data out on what was supposed to be an input line. I wondered about that, but figured I'd watch and see what was going on."
"We both wondered if this plan to isolate and protect the people inside the Sim was going to work," Ray added. "It seemed that Walker held all the cards. We decided a back-up might be needed. It turns out we were right."
"Can they bring in emergency power to get operational again?" Jessica asked.
"They could probably jury-rig something to get a dozen of the travel couches up and running," Greg said after a moment's thought, "but that won't help them. The real problem will be the data lines. I doubt there is anyone in the caverns who knows exactly how those were configured. They were built to last, and only required change-out level of maintenance. Figuring out how to restring them will take some doing. It wouldn't surprise me if they need to bring someone in from the Sim who knows how it should be configured. That'll mean cloning a body, which will take a month or so by itself."
&nbs
p; "Or a Cyborg," Raobot reminded them. "That would be faster."
"We hadn't thought along those lines," Ray admitted.
"Even if they go that way, I'm betting at least two weeks, maybe more to get it sorted out," Greg declared.
"So we have some time," Rao said, "even if not a permanent solution. It will give us time to better prepare against Walker's new tactics. I will inform those in the Sim of the situation. They will be glad of the news. They have wounded to deal with."
"How bad was it?" Ray asked. He and Greg hadn't been told any more than things were falling apart.
"My counterpart in the Sim was killed," Rao said sadly. "I feel as if I have lost a part of myself. The two friends of Lt. Rodriquez who really had no part in this were also killed. The lieutenant was wounded, as were Sgt. John Morrison, the detective from Chicago and the reporter Don Russell. Only two of our people escaped without injury. You were right about needing a back-up plan. A few more minutes and they all would have been killed. Walker's team was inside the residence when you killed their power."
"I'm sorry," Greg said when Rao finished his summary. Greg knew that the Raos were like twins, and the loss must have hit the programmer hard. He had now lost both versions of himself within the Sim.
"What are we going to do about Walker?" Jessica asked. "After this, he is going to be livid and spare no effort in trying to find us. It is likely he will go public with his hunt for us. I wouldn't be surprised if he uses the explosion at the Resort as a tool against us. He'll need to tell the public something. Hundreds were affected by the outage."
"We can no longer be passive," Ray asserted. "We have weapons and we know what lengths he is willing to go to. We must organize and go after him before he is able to regain his ability to affect those in the Sim and before he figures out where we are. We have the advantage for the moment, but you can bet that won't last. We've shown him we are a force to reckoned with."
