by J. G. Martin
“What do you want me to do?” Derek said with a sigh.
“You are smarter than you appear, Storm. Let’s go inside and talk about it. A lot has changed while you were out of action.”
“Everyone keeps saying that. Did the second coming happen or something?” Derek said sarcastically as he followed the General inside.
“Not quite, but your actions on the station did set in motion some world changing events.” Augie informed him as they entered the conference room.
Derek and Rora took their seats as Augie made sure the room was secure. The blinds were lowered and the room sealed. Augie picked up the remote for the A/V equipment and then sat down. He stared at Derek in silence as if contemplating what to say.
“First, let me thank you for severing the LINC.” Augie said calmly. “Ending the threat from the Collective was of paramount importance. However, that act triggered a number of events we did not anticipate.”
“Like what?” Derek interrupted.
“When Doors was, for lack of a better term, erased, the LINC ceased to exist and everything he was controlling reverted to its prior state.” Augie explained. “That meant all of the satellites suddenly came back online and under the control of their prior owners, if those systems still existed.”
“That’s an added bonus isn’t it?” Derek asked in confusion.
“Not exactly. Flight navigation satellites and the weather satellites are now streaming data to anyone who can access them, which is good for air travel. And the GPS satellites are as they were before with everyone able to access them. But the U.S.T.G. is now in control of most of the satellites once owned by the government or any company in the U.S. They have complete surveillance and communications for all of North America and parts of the world. Because of that they were able to determine the C.C.A.s troops’ positions and last week they launched a massive assault across the Ohio River into Louisville and Paducah.”
Derek knew this was bad. Those were the only two bridges left across the Ohio River and therefore the main invasion routes into the C.C.A. Once across, the U.S.T.G. forces could quickly advance into Nashville and then into the heart of C.C.A. territory. But it was likely that they would surrender if Nashville fell. It was one of the largest remaining cities and the destruction of the city was likely to cow the other cities into surrendering to avoid that fate. The ties between the cities in the C.C.A. were not that strong and he doubted their newly formed government and army would hold together if a major city fell.
Louisville had been a unique situation and the farthest city north to remain outside full U.S.T.G. control. The U.S.T.G. controlled the small portion of the city on northern side of the river and the southern side belonged to the C.C.A. The bridge was the lone point of connection between the two countries. It was heavily fortified on both sides and both armies maintained several brigades of troops there. Along with Paducah, which was also fortified, Louisville was a chokepoint that allowed the smaller C.C.A. forces to prevent the larger and better equipped U.S.T.G. forces from overwhelming them.
If the federal forces broke through, they would have a massive advantage in the more open terrain north of Nashville. And their mobility would allow them to strike more places than the C.C.A. could defend. The C.C.A. would be absorbed into the U.S.T.G. and there wouldn’t be anyone left in North America that could stand against them.
“How bad is it?” he asked.
“Bad, but the C.C.A. troops blew the bridge at Paducah before being driven back. That will delay that advance until the U.S.T.G.s combat engineers can repair it or build a temporary bridge.” Augie informed them. “The U.S.T.G. pounded Louisville with a sustained artillery barrage and air strikes before they moved across the bridge, and they were able to take it intact. However, C.C.A. troops and militia are dug into the rubble of the city and are resisting their attempts to break out from the bridge. Reinforcements are on the way to both cities, but it will be a close thing.”
“What are we doing to help them?” Derek asked anxiously. “If they fall, then we will all be under the thumb of the U.S.T.G. We have just replaced one threat with another.”
“The only thing that will help is if the N.R.T. comes to the C.C.A.s aid and opens a second front.” Augie said in a serious tone. “But they have stayed neutral so far, even though they had a mutual defense agreement with the C.C.A. They seem to be more concerned with the perpetual skirmishes with Aztlan in the disputed territory of Arizona.”
“How could we convince them to honor their agreement?” Derek wondered aloud.
“They aren’t exactly fond of NASA right now.” Rora smirked.
“What does that mean?”
“Our friend the general here posed as an N.R.T. general to get us out of L.A. and made some promises that the N.R.T. couldn’t keep.” Rora answered. “They have some lingering bitterness towards us over that.”
Derek eyed the General. “Great! You alienated the one ally we really need.”
“Just so we are clear. The Society is not in the habit of picking sides in a conflict.” Augie retorted. “We are focused on working for the betterment of mankind.”
“I would think that preventing the U.S.T.G. from enslaving the continent would be for the betterment of mankind. And considering you created the problem by having us eliminate Doors, I think you have a responsibility to help.” Derek stated angrily.
“We couldn’t have foreseen this.” Augie bristled.
“That may be, but we have to do something to fix it.” Derek insisted.
“Well, Rora and I did have a conversation about this.” Augie began. “It is possible there is something we could provide to all the factions in exchange for their declaring a truce. Something that would benefit mankind.”
“So let’s give it to them.”
“We don’t have it in our possession yet.” Augie acknowledged grudgingly.
Derek groaned. “Of course, it’s somewhere dangerous and guarded by mutants or Reapers or something worse, and you want me to go retrieve it.”
“Not necessarily.” Augie replied. “We aren’t sure exactly where it is, so it might be somewhere safe. I’ll let Rora explain.”
“Come on, nothing for you guys is ever easy.” Derek interrupted. “I’ll probably have to crawl over broken glass and walk through fire to get this thing.”
Rora laughed. “Just hear me out and then you can whine about the trials and tribulations we will have to endure to get it. Keep in mind, I know you love this stuff.”
“Fine. What are we looking for?”
“Before the Collapse the world’s governments prepared backups in case of a doomsday scenario. They created vaults and stored seeds and other valuable materials and information in them.” Rora explained.
“Those vaults were sabotaged and everything destroyed.” Derek pointed out. “Even though most of them were sealed up tighter than Fort Knox and in remote locations, someone still managed to get in and ruin everything. Are you saying they missed one?”
“That is true that all the known vaults were destroyed, but the U.S. government was working on another vault with the Collective. My father was involved in the project and he said it was more ambitious than the existing vaults and included frozen embryos for all life on Earth. When I asked where it was and what had happened to it, he wouldn’t say. The only thing he would tell me is that before he left the Collective he made sure that no one would find it until the right time. So I am assuming it still exists.” Rora explained to them.
“We can’t ask him and if he hid it so well, how do you intend to find it?” Derek asked.
“I believe that the location, or at least clues to the location, exist on my father’s computer network.” Rora replied. “I think I can access the network and find the information, but we need to plug in directly; I cannot do it remotely.”
“Okay great, where do I need to take you?”
“Back to the village where the slavers grabbed us from.”
“I searched the vi
llage, there was no computer equipment left by the slavers.”
“There is a secret lab under the village, if you didn’t find it I doubt the slavers did.” Rora said quietly.
“You’re kidding.” Derek said in disbelief. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It never came up, and I was following Rule #24. Don’t share anything you don’t need to.”
“Quoting the rules to me now, I like it.” Derek chuckled. “Okay, is there anything else I need to know before we go check out this secret lab of yours?”
“When the station re-entered the atmosphere it broke apart. The largest pieces crashed into the Gulf of Mexico and sank. But flaming debris fell all across the Southwest; landing in the N.R.T., Aztlan and in the contested wastes of Arizona. That triggered skirmishes between the two countries with each blaming the other for the ‘attacks’.” Rora explained to Derek. “That’s partly why the N.R.T. isn’t interested in helping the C.C.A., they have their own border issues.”
“One more thing. After the station lost its orbit but before it crashed back to Earth, there were two transmissions from it.” Augie informed him. “They were on two different wavelengths, one short and one much longer. Both were heavily encrypted and we haven’t been to break them. The long one was directed somewhere into Oregon and was cut off abruptly as the station started burning up. We think it was some sort of failsafe for Doors. The other was beamed out into space, but it was so short we didn’t get an exact fix on it.”
“That is interesting. I wonder where they went?” Derek murmured.
Chapter 12
September 7, 2029
Collective Base hidden in Alaska
He opened his eyes and the light flooded in. It took a minute to adjust to the bright lights as it was an unfamiliar sensation. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly why, but it felt like forever since he had looked out with his own eyes. When his eyes had adjusted he looked around and saw that he was in a small room with bare concrete walls and filled with computer equipment. The only sounds were the whir of cooling fans and the air conditioning. Where was he? Who was he?
Looking down at his hands he was startled to see they were made of overlapping bands of metal. His arms were metal too! Examining himself further he could see that his body parts made of solid metal with articulated joints that allowed greater than human dexterity. Even his head was made of metal. What was going on here?
As he examined his feet he realized he was lying in a standing position on a reclined metal bed suspended from the ceiling. When he moved to get off, he felt plugs disconnect from the back of his neck. Once he was off, the bed retracted into the ceiling. He moved over to the computer equipment. Maybe something here could provide a clue to who he was and where he was. There was no keyboard, but when he reached for the work station a tendril shot out from his right index finger and plugged itself into a USB port.
Data flooded into his brain and images and information flashed at an incredible pace before his eyes. Some of it was fragmented, as if the data was corrupted or not all there. There seemed to be some gaps in what were apparently memories and sometimes he couldn’t place who or where the memories involved. There was a man playing with children. There was the same man receiving awards. Then the same man dying of cancer and then being reborn.
Awareness returned in a startling blast of information. He was Father, the founder of the Collective and its leader until certain traitors had tried to destroy him. Derek Storm, his accomplice Rora Carter, and the treacherous Humek, Bob, had succeeded in destroying Olympus and killing the LINC in the process. They thought they had killed him by erasing his consciousness, but he had prepared a backup plan in case of that contingency. Unfortunately, it looked like the download was not complete.
He had built a backup facility for his electronic brain. The data was downloaded every month at random times and intervals to prevent any detection of the facility. Not just from enemies outside the Collective, but also from any traitors who might want to supplant him. He had had this android body built in secret to house his consciousness if he ever chose to return to human form and walk the Earth again. Father had never anticipated that happening, but life was apparently full of surprises. That actually made him smile internally, since his face was more or less frozen.
The eye lids and mouth moved, but they were not capable of mimicking human emotions or expressions. The android was cutting edge, with a micro fusion reactor provided an indefinite and powerful power supply, and it had taken several failed tries before getting to this stage; but it still had its limitations. Built from titanium alloy it was capable of sustaining massive damage before being rendered inoperable and it had self-repair ability built in, but it was still a robot. A very advanced robot, probably the most advanced robot ever made, but still a robot.
It had been a while since Father had experienced things first hand; the LINC had provided him with the input from all of the Collective’s stimuli. He hadn’t realized that he missed the sensations from actually experiencing things. The auditory and visual receptors, olfactory sensors, tactile feelers, and chemical analyzers weren’t as fine-tuned as a human being’s; but they were very close. It was the most alive he had felt in years. Perhaps this would prove to be a blessing in disguise. Maybe he had become too distant from the real world, too disconnected?
The LINC had provided an incredible amount of data and had allowed him to be connected to everything at all times, but it had been sterile. While he felt alone without the constant connection to his children, he realized that the LINC had been a poor substitute for real contact. He needed to leave here and reconnect with his children. They had been left all alone without guidance when the traitors had destroyed the LINC. They needed him.
Father turned to leave and the door hissed open without being touched. He ran a diagnostic and realized he had wireless access to every device within one thousand meters. Using that, he pinpointed his location as deep inside the mountains northwest of Juneau, Alaska. Not too far from the Collective’s headquarters in Seattle, but remote enough that no one would discover the facility by accident. He used the elevator to exit the facility and found himself high up on a mountainside. The view was impressive. Snow and ice covered everything for miles, and with his enhanced vision he could see all of it.
Activating his built in jet pack; Father blasted off and flew towards Seattle. His flight path took him over Juneau and the city was breathtaking in its beauty. The entire city was coated in a thick layer of ice which sparkled in the fading sunlight. The city’s population had been virtually wiped out during the Aftermath when the weather had suddenly shifted. Vicious storms had battered the coastal regions of Alaska and left almost everything coated in a thick layer of ice that never melted. The temperatures occasionally got hot enough to melt some of the snow, but never all of the ice. He could still detect some electronic signals coming from devices running on batteries, so it was possible people still lived there, but it was highly unlikely.
When he was still connected to the LINC, he could have accessed a satellite to scan for heat signatures; but the traitors took that ability from him. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. They had destroyed his life’s work, killed his children, and nearly erased him from existence. Once he had control of his network back, he would use it to take his revenge. They would pay for their treachery.
He was on the periphery of Collective territory north of Vancouver when Father detected the first incoming UAVs. His sensors showed six Apex Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or UAVs on an intercept course with him. They did not respond to his attempts to communicate and their formation indicated hostile intent. This was concerning, why would they be attacking him? Even though he couldn’t control them remotely at this distance, they should still be reading his IFF transponder and marking him as friendly.
The Apex Predator was a modification of the Predator UAV that the U.S. government had been using prior to the Collapse. The Collective had modified it to have air
to air armament, limited countermeasures, and better sensors. A small “brain” had been added so the UAV had some autonomy and did not always need to be flown by a person. It was the backbone of the Collective air force.
Warning signs flashed before his eyes as the UAVs locked onto him. Moments later missiles launched from under their wings and raced towards him. He registered them as advanced Sidewinder air to air missiles that used radar and infrared to attack their target. Instinctively he triggered jamming to disable the radar and prepared to launch mini flares to confuse the infrared. The missiles were unlikely to do any real damage to his new body, but why take a chance. He hadn’t believed anyone could reach Olympus and destroy the LINC either.
The missiles flew closer and closer until they were only several hundred yards away. Only then did he launch the mini flares. They fired out of his back in a brilliant pyrotechnic display. Confused by the jamming and flares, none of the missiles scored a direct hit. He flew through the explosions and debris and confronted the Apex Predators head on. Using pulse blasters built into his arms Father fired glowing bolts of plasma from his hands and blasted the UAVs to bits as he flew by.
Angry that they had dared to attack him, Father accelerated towards Seattle. He was anxious to see what had happened in his absence. For the first time he realized he wasn’t exactly sure how long it had been since the station had been destroyed. Things may have changed dramatically during that time. Who was now in control of the Collective? What had they done with his children? A thought struck him and he stopped flying.
Hovering in midair high above the mountains he pondered his current course of action. He had no idea who was in control of the Collective and the UAVs that had attacked were just standard air combat versions used to keep other factions, like the U.S.T.G., away. There were plenty of more powerful weapons in the Collective arsenal, many with the ability to damage or destroy him; especially if they attacked en masse. While he had handled the UAVs easily, that would not be the case as he got closer to the Collective headquarters in Seattle.
