The Sixth Extinction

by Bob Blink

  "I thought Ray was coming?" she asked Jessica when she returned and told her what she had found.

  "He's late," Jessica said. "I hope he didn't run into Walker. I heard something that might have been a shot earlier."

  "Can you handle this one alone?" she asked, but without waiting for a reply J-Bot turned and ran toward the Security building and the tunnel that would take her to the surface. If Walker was going out there, she intended to go after him. He might die topside, but she intended to be there when he did. Maybe he was being tricky. Maybe he had a plan. She knew she would never rest easy until she saw his lifeless body. That was the reason she'd wanted to be implanted into one of these machines, after all. As she ran she contacted the other Cyborgs and told them everything she had learned.

  She also informed Raobot that Ray hadn't shown up. Rao called Security who had been trying to reach him also. They explained that someone had passed through the airlocks to the surface. They had wanted to inform Ray, but hadn't been able to reach him.

  J-Bot found Ray Burke's body halfway to the tunnel. He'd obviously been hurrying toward the node, not expecting anyone to be anywhere near this area. He'd been told that all but Walker and Gunner had been killed, and they had specific targets, the closest of which was still a considerable distance from here. Even if Walker had been headed toward the bunker, he wouldn't have been expected in this area. Ray hadn't seen a need to be cautious, and had chosen speed. She could see he'd been shot at close range with a handgun, and now his rifle was missing. They were losing too many carelessly.

  When she called in Ray's death, Raobot informed her that Walker was probably on the surface, explaining what Rao been told by Security. Hesitating no longer, she sprinted at top speed toward the tunnel that would take her topside.

  Stepping through the third and final airlock onto the surface, she was shocked at what she was seeing. This was what Raobot had described to them. White was the predominant color. In places the snow, ice really, was drifted high and nearly buried the trees or filled the valleys between hills. In other areas it was nearly swept clear, and the ground looked to be covered in only a foot or two of the frozen stuff. Trees were bare limbed, without leaves or needles. Branches had broken off in some, while others were buried almost to the top in ice. Still others were almost undisturbed, except they all looked dead. All of the mountains were covered in snow, and where she could see where the road had once been, she saw a snow covered trail. There was barely any breeze, and the sky was a deep orange color, that almost looked like a sunset, but she knew it wasn't. Mostly it was quiet, with no movement anywhere. Nothing was alive.

  She scanned the area, but could see no sign of Walker. The hardened ice didn't leave any useful footprints, so she couldn't tell where he had gone. But she knew he was out here somewhere.

  After a moment's reflection, she decided it made good sense that she couldn't see Walker anywhere on the slope heading downward. He'd come out here to see the world. He wanted a view before he died. That probably meant he'd be headed up where he could see the most.

  The view immediately behind her was blocked by the tunnel entrance, but off to either side there were slopes that headed in the right direction. The right side looked marginally easier, so she gambled on that route. It veered off sharply, taking it away from the path the left side would have shown her, so if she guessed wrong, Walker would be getting even farther away. But this route led to a large outcropping with a valley overlook some hundred and fifty yards farther up the hill. She felt confident in her choice, a feeling that was enhanced when she spotted a scrape in the ice some ten minutes later. She guessed that Walker had slipped on the smooth section of frozen snow.

  Periodically she scanned the route ahead of her, but thus far had seen no sign of movement, the most likely giveaway in this dead place, especially against the white background. The protective suit that he had to be wearing was a bright red color.

  Obviously he had seen her. She didn't think he'd be looking back, but the sharp crack of a rifle shot that was followed by a solid 'thunk' in her right thigh proved otherwise. There was no pain, but her damage indicators lit up showing he had struck something at least marginally important. She wasn't certain just what the display was telling her, but there was no mistaking the grinding sound now in her right knee.

  She moved quickly behind one of the large dead trees, and considered her next steps. Following the route she'd been taking would leave her in the open far too long. Another route circled through the drifts and barren trees, and looked far more difficult, but offered at least some protection from Walker's eyes. She chose that route, but the more difficult climb was clearly not agreeing with her damaged limb.

  As she walked, she considered what she was doing. Walker was dead. He had decided to die out here. Why did she need to see it happen? She just knew that whatever the cost, she had to be certain.

  After a time she caught periodic glimpses of him. He was heading to the spot she had guessed. She chose to adjust her course, taking a longer route but one which would bring her out of the trees off to one side at a spot he might be less likely to be watching. Twenty minutes later she was at the right altitude for where she believed he was going, and she shifted direction to bring her to the edge of the trees.

  Another shot, surprising her once again. Clearly she wasn't good at this tracking stuff. Another set of warning messages flashed on the display behind her eyes, but these were predominantly red, and she saw that the bullet had struck in one of the worst possible places. Her power unit was damaged, and from what she could decipher from the readings, in a bad way. If she was reading it right, it was unlikely she'd be getting back down off this mountain.

  "Why can't you just go away and leave me alone," a voice reached her. Walker was using the suit's short range radio. "You've won. Let it go."

  "You're dead Walker," she radioed back in her Cyborg voice. "I just want to be there to watch it happen."

  "Go away," he tried again.

  "Once you are dead and cold," she replied.

  "Who are you?" he asked.

  "Don't you like my new body?" she asked. "It's me, Jessica."

  "You bitch," Walker hissed. "You betrayed me."

  "You betrayed everyone," she countered.

  "Nothing I did would have mattered to most if you'd just stayed out of it," he said.

  "It would have mattered to those you killed."

  "How many billions died because of all this? What's another dozen or so? I owed them."

  J-Bot had been focusing on the slight movements rather than the voice, and had spotted Walker about fifty yards away. She knew where he was now, and chose a path that would get her there with little chance of being spotted. One of the advantages of talking over radio was that location lost all meaning. She'd hope that Walker was intent on their discussion and not where she was, believing she was where he'd last seen her.

  She could move stealthily for such a heavy machine. She had the shotgun ready, and thought she might be able to club him with it, but when she was five yards away, he spun suddenly. He was raising the rifle when she shot him, pumped the action and shot again.

  The heavy shot tore through his suit, exposing him to the cold and poisons all around him. Most of the shot also ripped into his body, although most was lower than she planned, tearing his legs and causing massive bleeding. He dropped the weapon as he collapsed to his knees, dying.

  "Oh, by the way. We managed to get to your bombs before they could damage the nodes," J-Bot informed him.

  "So, I was cheated out of that little victory also," he said breathing raggedly. Those were the last words he spoke.

  She stood with the shotgun ready just in case, until she was certain Walker was dead. She'd done it. Maybe it didn't matter, but there was satisfaction in not allowing Walker to check out the way he had chosen. She felt she'd robbed him of something, which was only fair given what he'd taken from so many others. A quick glance at her condition, and she knew she was finis
hed as well. Well, she'd be still alive back in the caverns.

  With a final glance at the still form on the ground, she made her way over to the large stone outcropping that Walker had been making for. She found a comfortable spot and sat down. She knew she wouldn't last until sunset, but until the power system failed, she could look upon the Earth once again. Her only regret was that she couldn't share Walker's final moments with her flesh and blood twin.

  Chapter 60

  Sequoia Facility

  One Week Later

  Some degree of normalcy was starting to return to the caverns. The Ring and the Simulation were safe. More people had been arrested, and while not everyone who had been a supporter of Director Walker had been discovered, those most directly involved with his efforts were now contained. There remained the matter of what should be done with them. At the very least, the actions of all were carefully documented against any future thoughts of cloning them back into the caverns, or even during the repopulation of the surface. Arguments for and against capital punishment had been resurrected, and only time would decide the fate of those being held prisoner. The strongest argument for capital punishment was that the caverns could not afford the resources needed to deal with non-productive and potentially dangerous individuals.

  Cyborg Don Russell and Ray's girlfriend Cindy Masters had become a popular pair on the Facilities info circuit, hosting a daily show and live questions and answer sessions for those citizens who wanted information about Walker's activities. A reporter from inside the Sim, Don was able to present the situation that had been developing in his world, while Cindy had access to what had been developing here in the caverns. The more information that was circulated, the stronger the case against Walker and his supporters grew.

  The bodies of Walker and J-Bot had been found after a two-day search topside. Don had been part of that effort, in part because he felt he needed to do more than he had during the actual shooting conflict, and because he wished to film holo videos of the outside world, both for the people inside the caverns, and for the documentary he hoped to create for future generations. Intense interest in the outside world had developed when the story developed of Raobot's excursion outside and the planning the founders had put into the special facility waiting out there. In addition to the news report showing the two bodies, which confirmed to everyone that Director Walker was truly dead, Don was editing additional footage for an hour long view of the valley and the trip made to the storage facility that Raobot had taken him to. Jessica was immensely pleased when it was confirmed that her Cyborg counterpart had outlasted the encounter with Walker, and had lived for a short period after the Director had died to savor her success.

  The threat against the Ring had been thwarted, with Harper and John Morrison discovering and defusing the explosives designed to interrupt the power to the Chicago site. Zack refused to acknowledge Gunner's claim that modifications had been made to the operational software which would have caused a cutoff of all node power if the primary were interrupted. Fortunately, Rao and Raobot had found the deadly alterations and corrected the situation. Speculation circulated that Walker had wanted the modification initially so he could create a more subtle shutdown of a node power source, and then be 'surprised' at the latent glitch that took down the node altogether. Raobot speculated that his original target had been the Washington node in the event he wasn't able to eliminate all those he was targeting in that city.

  The small band of rebels had been able to leave the bunker and return to the general environment. Sgt. Mike Lee and John Morrison were chosen to oversee the running of Security. They were from outside the cavern, and concern remained that Walker might have moles within the organization, which was too closely connected to the safety of the Facility. A careful screening of all that worked there was being conducted. As non-tiring Cyborgs, most everyone was a bit in awe of them.

  Sam was now in charge of the Cloning Clinic. There was no plan on bringing Dr. Ho back. The losses from the conflict cut deeply in some cases. Both Ray and his Cyborg Burke had been lost in the conflict, but fortunately the mapping that Sam had performed some days earlier meant there was a slightly dated copy of his kernel in the Sim, and a new body was being grown so he could be cloned back into the caverns. That was also the case of Greg Harper. His Cyborg had come through, and had decided that the Cyborg's memories would be transferred to a normal body once it was grown, and the Cyborg retired.

  It was more complicated for John Morrison and Mike Lee. They hadn't been residents of the cavern, and their normal Simselves were still healthy and functional in the Sim. In fact it had been recently learned that the Sim versions of Sammi and John were planning to get married. While their Cyborg versions could be copied, inserting them into the Sim would create second versions of them, which had no natural place to fit in. They couldn't even return to the cities they were used to, because their other selves were there. As a result, both elected to be cloned into bodies, and would remain as members of the caverns.

  The person who faced the most difficult problem adapting was Don Russell. His Cyborg clone faced the same reinsertion problem as the others, and he knew his wife would not be happy if brought to the Facility. This wasn't an environment she would thrive in, especially without her children. There were no children in the caverns, and even if an exception was made and they were brought, they would have been isolated and alone. He elected to be cloned into a human body, and would work on his histories of the Facility and the efforts of Walker to disrupt the society as well as his history of the outside world. He also would work on his novel, which he hoped to send to his Simself for publication inside the Sim. Time would show he integrated well with the people of the caverns, but he died early due to a latent, unknown heart issue. It could be corrected when his Simself was later re-cloned upon re-entry topside, but there was no reason to clone him in back to the caverns, where he had never remarried, and had been seen as a lonely person despite all the friends he had made. His works became the only existing detailed history of the Facility effort and the people who had maintained it.

  Rao and Raobot had accomplished some minor magic using certain characteristics of the Sim, including the code that caused forgetfulness of the residents there. The copies of Jessica, Greg, and Ray that had been inserted into the Seattle node after Walker's team had killed off their Sim version, were carefully reinserted into their former lives, friend's memories of their being killed modified into something else, so that this was possible. A copy of Sam's kernel was finally made, and also returned to the Sim.

  A lot of questions remained on how future cloning in the caverns would be conducted. Evidence that Walker had been holding back from the populace showed that a possible return to the surface in less than a hundred years was now being forecast. There were arguments that the minds of aging cavern members should be cloned into the replacement bodies rather than extraction from the Sim as had been the norm for so long. It would take time for the details to be worked out, but the possibility had ignited a very positive outlook in everyone.

  "John?" a synthetic voice asked, and Morrison looked up from what he was doing. Another Cyborg was at the door of his office. The chest was devoid of any marking of identification, so he decided it must be Raobot. He was the only Cyborg that hadn't been marked for identification.

  "What's up Raobot?" he asked.

  A little uncertainly he thought, the other Cyborg stepped deeper into the office and closed the door.

  "John, it's me, Sammi," the Cyborg said carefully.

  That got his attention.

  "Sammi?" he asked, not daring to hope. "How can that be?"

  "I asked Sam to clone me from the Sim into another Cyborg. I know that my original Cyborg was killed."

  John was having difficulty thinking and speaking.

  "Why?" he finally managed, but was hoping against hope that this was real.

  "The Sim versions of you and me decided it was a good idea. Rao relayed how depressed you have
been of late. I didn't want you to be alone here."

  John hesitated before replying.

  "Why now, into a Cyborg? Why not into a normal body?"

  "Sam is growing one, but I didn't want to wait. Each day we become different people. A month more waiting was too long. I'm only a few days different than the Sammi who came here with you initially. I don't recall all you did here, but that's something we can talk about. I also figured as Cyborgs together we could do some things that we couldn't once we have normal bodies. I still want to see the world topside. Can we go have a look together?"

  "Who knows about this?"

  "Not too many. Sam, of course. Jessica, and the Raos. That's it."

  John stood a little uncertainly, and made his way over to her. Embracing was awkward. Cyborgs weren't really constructed to make it easy or comfortable.

  One more change was coming soon. The caverns were going to lose Raobot. He had transferred all the knowledge he could to Rao, who was comfortably settling in with Sarah. Rao didn't wish to be cloned into a twin body here in the caverns. Two of him in this small space seemed too many. He had decided he would rather wait until the move to the surface to return to human form. He also had come to accept the current world, and the loss of everyone in India, including his Mina. There had been a woman at Berkeley, from his home city in Mumbai actually, that he'd been close to, but a true relationship had never been pursued because at the time he had been waiting for the day Mina would join him. He now wanted to be copied back into that world where his Simself had been eliminated, his Cyborg retired, so he would pursue that relationship. Perhaps, when he was brought back into the world a hundred years hence, they would come together. In the meantime, if his special knowledge were required, he would be there in the Sim available to help.