‘Can I help?’
Holi’s voice made Eoin look up in surprise. ‘No! Uhh, no. Can you dial me another stimulant, Holi?’
‘It will be a reduced amount, you shouldn’t have a full amount this close to sleep.’
‘Sleep?! What time is it?’ Eoin went to stand but remembered something first and slapped the silver tablet hanging around his neck to the microscope. A second later it hummed as it downloaded the genetic makeup of the virus. Holi watched him with a flat expression, eyes cool.
‘It is after six in the evening. Ally should be home.’
‘She should,’ Eoin agreed and he stood. ‘I’d better-’
‘Eoin. How does the new design look?’
Holi’s familiar tone had gone, returned to the cool clinical robotic voice from when they’d first entered the lab. Eoin held eye contact with her and kept his voice calm.
‘Like the previous designs. Only time will tell.’
Holi didn’t blink or display any of the ‘human’ tendencies she’d adopted while working with him. Now the holographic image seemed more computer than ever. She made a deliberate step, feet apart and arms crossed behind her back. A tone, sudden and sharp, emitted from her lips, making Eoin wince.
All the equipment within the room slid back to behind the walls, leaving Eoin standing in an empty room.
‘Promethean, your design has breached the programmed standards of this laboratory. You are no longer permitted to work. Your data is being erased. The laboratory is now closed.’ The light that projected Holi’s image snapped off, along with every other light, plunging the lab into darkness.
‘NO! Holi, WAIT!’ Eoin shouted. In the dark, frozen in position as he wondered what the hell to do, Eoin realized he could hear a rapid thudding sound that seemed to be getting louder. Seconds later something hit the outer door with a thud.
‘Eoin?! EOIN THE DOOR!’ Ally’s yell propelled him through the room, cursing as he took a corner too tight, shoulder slamming into it. Hands out, he managed to find the staircase.
‘Hold on!’ Damn Holi, why shut down everything?
Reaching the top of the stairs Eoin dropped to his knees, hands skimming over the smooth surface of the floor. Days ago he’d spotted a small handle, a red handle, which from experience suggested emergency controls. Or so he hoped.
‘Hurry! Hurry!’
‘I am! Just give me a second,’ Eoin yelled back, the sound mostly flinging back to his face thanks to the thick metal door. Ahh there it was. His fingers closed around the small latch and he yanked back. Instantly the rectangular space beneath lit up. There in old English was a button that said ‘Door release’. Pressing it Eoin sighed in relief as the metal door shot up and Ally fell in.
Muddied, scratched, hair a mess, Ally’s eyes were wide and dilated, body humming with energy and tense, ready to fight. Eoin gaped at her.
‘Raiders. We’ve got an hour if we’re lucky.’
15 Raiders
‘What the hell is wrong with the lights? And the door? Eoin, what’s happening?!’ Ally stared into the darkened space with a look of shock.
‘Holi realized what I was doing, shut the lab down,’ Eoin said while peering into the emergency box to see if any other switches were in there. Groping inside, he felt another button and pressed it. A sharp ting rang out as a few lights flickered to life; emergency lighting, just enough to get around by. Motioning Ally away from the door, Eoin used the button to close it and ushered her down the stairs. ‘Tell me what you saw.’
‘Four separate vehicles, decent ones, each with six to eight men. Several with,’ Ally made a moue of distaste, ‘adaptions.’
Eoin made a similar expression, upper lip wrinkling. ‘Severe?’
Ally nodded grimly. ‘Three arms, a set of legs. Possibly something to the neck.’
He made a hiss of concern at that. Raiders with such extreme adaptions required almost constant access to Promethean blood to prevent infection and rejection. ‘The neck,’ he said to Ally. ‘Why would you do that?’
She shrugged then pushed past, jolting down the stairs at speed and headed for the living quarters. ‘An hour max, we need to grab supplies and go!’
‘Ally, I can’t!’ Eoin hurried down the stairs after her. ‘I have to get the virus complete! I need,’ he paused mind scrambling. ‘I need two hours!’
‘Eoin!’ Ally pivoted on her heel, her face inches from his a second later. ‘Are you insane!’
‘Without this we’ll never be safe!’
‘I can’t keep you safe against them, we HAVE to run!’ Ally’s voice didn’t raise but her eyes flashed. ‘I am not taking you home in a box dammit! You know what they’ll do!’
‘Please Ally,’ Eoin begged, backing away from her, moving backwards into the lab space, edging for his desk. ‘Please I can do this, I know it! I know I had it right!’
‘I swore I’d bring you home alive, Eoin we HAVE to leave!’
‘This could change everything!’
‘Or you could DIE! Nothing will change!’
He could see and hear the warning sounds of her building up to simply removing him. And he knew, at full capabilities, he couldn’t beat her. Switching tactics, he tried again, ‘An hour, you’re sorting out a plan? Let me have a shot at this, we leave when you’re ready for us to.’
Ally flicked a hand up in frustration. ‘Get moving! And get me those screens on, I need to see!’
Propelled into action Eoin raced past her, into the living quarters and scrabbled through the large cabinet beneath the seating/sleeping area. Behind him he could hear Ally going through the tall shelving unit in the cupboard outside the living area, grabbing things.
‘Eoin!’ she yelled at him just as he found what he wanted. ‘Come look!’
Shoving to his feet Eoin took a couple of long strides and landed beside where she crouched, peering beneath the bottom shelf in the cupboard.
‘Look!’
Bending down, head sideways and pressed against the cold smooth floor, he saw switches. A lit display proclaimed REBOOT SYSTEM.
‘Yes! Yes Ally! Clever girl.’ Reaching in he flicked the main switch off, throwing them into darkness again. Counting to three, following the instructions he’d swiftly scanned in the manual that had been beneath their bed, he flipped the switch back on. A tinkering sound rang out as far more than just the emergency lights flicked back on, the lab flooded with light again. Pulling back out of the compact space, Eoin flicked back to the page he’d sought and re-reading he reached in, flipping several other switches.
‘What’s working?’ Ally demanded as he pulled back out.
‘Lights, screens, monitoring- oh! Hang on.’ A button titled ‘Security’ sat beneath the main switches. A brief glance at the manual didn’t go into detail. Mentally crossing his fingers, Eoin pushed it.
A heavy hum juddered the walls. Pushing out of the small space he exchanged a concerned glance with Ally then hurried into the lab, pressing the bottom for the monitors. The screens on the walls flicked on around them and Ally gave a gasp.
‘Look! Look! Oh, that’s awesome!’
Eyes flashing to where she pointed, Eoin stared in astonishment. At the end of the tunnel they resided in, just before you stepped out into the open area they’d fallen down, a massive spiral door had wound shut stopping any access to the tunnel.
‘Oh Eoin!’ Ally almost danced, bouncing on the balls of her feet. ‘You have your hour! Maybe even two! Get moving!’
They dashed past each other, him towards the bench where the equipment was now accessible, and her toward the cupboard she was pilfering. Thumbing the controls he ordered the microscope, and most importantly, the machine that would create the actual virus. As he leaned forward to adjust the microscope the beacon around his neck swung forward, touching the instrument with a metallic ting.
The microscope vibrated.
Blinking in surprise, Eoin made a sound of disbelief.
The beacon still contained the entire new
formula.
Holi hadn’t been able to remotely access it, he realized with surge of delight. Turning to the other machine, a biological printer, he pressed the beacon to it.
Alarms shrieked, lights flashing by the monitors.
‘SHIT!’ Ally’s voice bellowed out alarmingly close. Eoin looked up to see her staring at the screens in horror and he craned his neck, looking at the huge images on the walls beside him. Framed in flashing red with the word BREACH across the center, an image of an opening he’d never seen before showed. The spiral door was attempting to close, but couldn’t, jammed against dirt and debris.
‘That’ll make noise!’ Ally yelped, dropping the bags she’d filled with supplies. She dove back into the cupboard, emerging with a small tool kit which she pointed at him. ‘Get to work! We may not have an hour. I’m going to see if I can fix it!’
About to protest he bit back the words, watching her vanish up the stairs and out the door. Taking a breath, Eoin sat back down.
‘Focus,’ he muttered to himself and flicked on the microscope menu, beginning to calibrate the tool to his requirements.
Rushing down the tunnel, heart steady though her mind felt to be going at a million miles a second, Ally ran through all the training she’d had at home for fighting humans. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that. Ideally they’d escape and then simply outrun them. But with an unknown vehicle, that might not be an option.
‘Hands first, always hands first!’ Her teacher’s favorite line. ‘You can knock out a human with the lightest blow, and if you can get your hand on their head or neck, kill them. Always hands first!’
Training for all Prometheans was mandatory in their town. Some of the humans who lived with them joined in, but they couldn’t learn much of what was taught. Still, a little self-defense was better than none. Being a hunter Promethean, Ally had been required to train daily. Hunter’s nano-virus enhanced strength, speed, agility, and the ability to swiftly think and execute plans. Her father and mother were both hunters, and normally Prometheans only mated like with like. It kept the numbers of each type strong. Another reason her parents were less than impressed with Eoin.
‘What if you can’t conceive!?’ her mother had demanded, father nodding when she’d told them of her choice. The memory brought a mirthless smile to her lips. ‘Will be a hell of a lot harder to test if I don’t get him back alive. And can’t have that, gotta see who wins the gene race!’
When she’d made the straight faced suggestion that Eoin’s genes, as a Scientist, might overpower the Hunter genes, her father hit the fury max of his nano-virus so fast he’d passed out in seconds. It had been a momentary thrill to get back at him for his comments.
Rounding the corner, footsteps echoing lightly off the tunnel walls, Ally saw the daylight streaming through as the winding door opened fully again before attempting to spin shut. The metallic groans and screeches caused a flinch across Ally’s shoulders as she gritted her teeth. That sound!
Reaching the door, she dropped to her knees beside a flashing panel in the rounded wall next to the door. Beneath the clear covering she could see the manual controls for the door.
‘How’d I not see you last time?’ she whispered, running her fingers over the smooth covering, trying to detect a way to open it. Unable to find purchase she sat back and grabbed the tool kit by her knees, flipping it open. Seizing a scalpel tipped tool, she tried again around the edges of the panel. As she made her way around the corner her elbow stuck out while she attempted to jam the sharp point into it. A light and vibration made her jerk back. Hovering, activated by the close presence of her body, an access remote flashed red, highlighting the hand image on it.
‘Ha!’ Ally cried and held her hand out. An instant later the clear covering over the controls slid away. Reaching in, she punched the OPEN button and exhaled in absolute relief at the sudden stop of mechanical sound.
The sterile, unnatural silence of the jungle snatched the relief away in a blink.
Mind switching to readiness for a fight, everything slowed down as Ally’s nano-virus opened cranial pathways never usually accessed.
Silently Ally moved to the door and crept out.
16 Extreme Stakes
Tangled growth marred the way, with gentle hands Ally eased a path through. The moment her head cleared the blanket of plant life she jerked it back smothering a gasp.
Idling only twenty meters or so away was a vehicle with four raiders in it.
Four, Ally thought with muffled panic, where the hell are the others?
Holding her breath, Ally moved ever so slowly forward again, until her eyesight was able to focus on the vehicle. Narrowing and widening her eyes briefly triggered her sight to adjust, her hearing intensifying.
‘Amico, tu excutiocussum le Prometheans?’ called one of the men, causally sitting half out the vehicle one foot on the jungle floor, a net launcher lying across his thighs.
The language, a mix of Italian and ancient Latin struck home with Ally, as did the answering voice from right above.
‘Non ancora,’ grunted a male in an obvious tone of frustration. ‘Divieto di ingressus’
Just stopping herself from jerking away and alerting them to her presence, Ally felt a tiny amount of relief at their obvious annoyance at not finding an entry way. But the sound of the door trying to close had caught their attention.
‘Riesci a audio quell sonitus?’
‘Si fermo!’ shouted the angry sounding male alarmingly close to where Ally hid.
‘Festinatio! Festinatio!’ the man in the vehicle shouted with a smirk and excessive gesture.
‘Fatuus! Zitto!’ snarled the one above Ally, his voice seeming even closer as he insulted the man in the vehicle, who simply laughed then made a rude hand gesture in reply.
The sharp scents of metal and blood made Ally’s nose twitch with a sneeze. She jammed her tongue against the back of her front teeth and squeezed her hands into tight fists, fighting the urge. It vanished into shock when the man above leapt down, hitting the ground close in front of her. The leap to the ground had to be a good ten meters but he landed solidly on the ground, the leg adaptions hissing and sighing as the hydraulic cylinders within the coiled mass of metal adjusted to the weight changes. Seconds later with a long hiss from the cylinders he rose back to normal height and stomped over to the vehicle. From where she stood Ally could see the dark blood seeping at the edges of the fittings near the top of his thigh, where the remaining flesh and metal melded. The slightest sweet touch to his scent warned of infection along with the arid stench of hydraulic fluid. Ally licked her lips, tasting the scent and clenched her hands tight again to stop a shudder of revulsion.
She didn’t want to risk moving quite yet.
The idling engine ramped up a notch and the snub nosed solid front with viciously spiked maw of a grill began to vibrate, the metallic rattle humming through Ally’s teeth. As she watched others came running, piling into the open sides, held in only by the steel wrapped tubes of glittering solar liquid that wrapped around the length of the vehicle, scooting under metal covers and reappearing, zigzagging over the partially open roof before vanishing beneath the solid front.
These raiders clearly had access to impressive funds. Ally chewed her lip while watching them bring the massive wheeled buggy around.
Another figure appeared, dressed in the leather armor like the others, the stains of blood dark on the tan leather. It didn’t appear this one had any adaptions but he shouted and waved, a small black communicator box held to mouth before he shouted to the others as he reached the buggy. ‘Gli altri hanno iniziato sulla januae!’
Ally’s understanding of the Italian/Latin blend was fairly good and those words made her turn ice cold in an instant.
They’d found the other entrance. They were working on the huge door.
Backing up with the lightest step she could manage, Ally kept her eyes locked on the vehicle until it vanished with a roar, driving up and over the tunnel.
>
Pivoting, she bolted.
The tunnel felt painfully long as Ally sprinted along its length. The sound of her breathing, steady and strong, provided a constant rhythm to her mind helping her to keep focused.
Could they cut through the door at the end? She knew the titanium alloy would be more difficult than probably anything the Raiders had encountered before, but their vehicles suggested they were well equipped and that, in turn was another concern.
Raiders were humans who chose to live apart from normal human society. Some scavenged for materials and made a living from selling the desired materials back to the cities and towns of humans, others robbed the cities and towns, taking what they liked. Others still chose to solely hunt Prometheans. The money to be made off a single Promethean’s blood was excessive and fleeting. Blood, unless carefully contained, wouldn’t last long, and in turn the nano-virus, dependent on the high production of megakaryocytes natural to Prometheans, would die out within a week in a human body.
But those raiders she’d seen, those adaptions. They had to be some of the most extreme. Where, and who would do such things? They must have found a human lab, Ally thought while considering it all again. Or at least stumbled across an old medical center.
Someone else in their town, a scientist like Eoin, had stumbled upon such a center once. Preserved beneath the smothering ruins of ancient enormous towers, the center had flared to life as soon as the scientist entered. By the time they’d brought a team back to examine the center all that was left were the smoldering remains. Raiders had cleared out everything they could and destroyed the rest. A devastating end to what had been the find of a lifetime for the scientist.
The soft echo of her steps grew louder and Ally realized she’d reached the end of the tunnel, the massive spiral door shut tight. Stopping, she stood still, staring at the door and relaxed, letting her hearing expand.
The soft hum of the tunnel’s power system was audible, and the nosier hum of the lights overhead. Breathing as quietly as she could, she walked softly across the dirt packed floor of the tunnel to the door, and gently laid her hand against the cool metal.
Prometheus, A New Dawn Page 11
