Code Breakers: Delta

by Colin F. Barnes

Robo-freak stopped within striking distance of Petal.

  She considered attacking, but she couldn’t risk Holly or Gerry. They were too outnumbered. She’d have to just wait. That they weren’t already dead meant either they would be interrogated, executed in some over-the-top ritualistic manner, or prepped for eating. Either way, she knew now wasn’t the best time to fight. And Robo-freak knew it too.

  Its body was charred and blackened. It wore no clothes, and dull patches of titanium or other metals shone through its knees and elbows and where its skin had worn away.

  “Take them to the camp,” it ordered, its voice bellowing out around the clearing. “And strip them of anything useful. As for the AI—take him apart, piece by piece.”

  It bent lower and brought its face directly in front of Petal’s. “Aren’t you an interesting little thing. So frail… yet so strong. You, I will enjoy the most. You’ll be my… pet.”

  “Who the hell are you?” Gerry demanded.

  “My dear Algorithmist, how honoured are we to be blessed by your presence. It’s a shame you’re to meet your end once more after your fresh resurrection. Have you ever considered that you’re cursed, and your friends would be safer if you were dead?”

  “Have you considered just fucking off?” Petal asked, stepping forward, bringing her spike to her side.

  “Now, now, little pet, no need for that. Save your strength for later. I like them when they fight.” He grabbed her by her throat and lifted her clear off the ground. His arm extended out, so that her spikes no longer reached, and he threw her into the baying crowd of mutants. She hit one of them in the face, knocking it to the ground.

  Before Petal could stand and fight, the mob were on her, kicking, clawing, punching, until she was completely overwhelmed. Throughout the melee they managed to manacle and handcuff her. When they stood her up, she saw both Gerry and Holly in the same predicament.

  “Answer me!” Petal screamed. “Who are you?”

  “Take them away,” he ordered.

  From all around him, the mutants gathered together and carried Petal and the others off. She wrestled to free herself of her bonds, but they were too tight. Strong hands around her arms and legs lifted her from the ground and carried her through the jungle to the east of their position.

  They joined a well-trodden path. Along the way, torches in sconces attached to trees lighted their direction. In the distance, Petal saw a larger fire burning and, around the outside, a series of huts made from scrap pieces of metal and wood.

  Behind those dwellings, a dark metallic pyramid rose into the air, its pointed top finishing just beneath the edge of the tree canopy. It must have been at least thirty metres tall. The outside was dark, almost black. It seemed to absorb the light.

  A deep hum came from all around.

  When they entered the camp, she heard Jachz screaming from inside one of the huts. He then became silent, and a group of five mutants lifted his body out and stepped inside a small entrance to the pyramid.

  “No!” Petal screamed.

  A hand clasped around her mouth, smothering her protests.

  She tried to reach out to Gerry with her processors, but the suppression remained total.

  “Throw them in the bunker,” came the order.

  The group turned away from the pyramid and headed towards a single-storey building with a flat roof and sloped sides. A heavy, thick metal door opened as they approached. Inside, it smelled of blood and crap.

  They shoved Petal into a cell after removing the manacles and cuffs from her and the others, making her wonder what horrors awaited.

  Gerry and Holly joined her before the door slammed shut, the crash reverberating around the space. Petal backed off until she found the rear wall. Her vision could only just make out the barest of details and shapes in the gloom.

  Something crawled over her foot.

  She reached for the glow rods in her belt, but everything barring her clothes was missing. Somewhere in the corner of their prison came a whimpering sound.

  Chapter 18

  Gerry nursed the lump on his head and tried not to vomit. The heady stench plus the assault on his ribs and stomach had left him weak. Sweat poured from him in the humid air of this terrible place.

  “Everyone okay?” he asked, keeping his voice low, unsure of who or what else shared the darkness.

  “Fine,” Petal said. “A little bruised, but otherwise okay. Holly?”

  “Could be better,” she said. “One of the bastards kicked me in the crotch. I feel sick. What the hell is this place?”

  “I only got a brief look at it coming in,” Petal said. “It looks like a Family-built bunker. There were some buried under the sands beyond the sludge. Gabe and I found some once. Ours didn’t stink this bad, though. And I think we got rats in here.”

  “Great,” Holly said. “That’s just wonderful.”

  “They took Jachz into the pyramid,” Petal said.

  Gerry didn’t care too much at that point. All he wanted was to make sure Petal and Holly were safe. Jachz would have to look after himself. He wanted to be sentient, more like a human, he’d have to learn what it meant to be abused by the Family—if any of this was still Family influenced.

  “Who are these people?” Holly said.

  Gerry and Petal didn’t respond. Neither knew.

  “They don’t have a name,” a voice said from the far corner of the prison. “They were those left behind.”

  “Who said that?” Gerry called, turning his face toward the source of the voice. He held out his arms and slowly made his way forward, sliding his feet so that he didn’t trip over something.

  A small light flickered in the corner. An old man, human, wrinkled and gaunt, stared up at Gerry beyond the white-green pale light of a glow rod. He flicked it off. His image still hung in Gerry’s eyes like a phantom.

  “Who are you?” Gerry asked.

  “Part of the system,” the old voice croaked. “Part of the game. It’s all we have left now.”

  Petal joined Gerry and wrapped her arm around his waist. Even through the stench of effluence and rotting rat corpses—or worse—he could smell her perfume. A tinge of rose scent within a jasmine musk.

  “Screw the riddles,” Petal said. “Tell us where we are and who the Robo-freak is.”

  “You’ll need to keep your spirit, girl,” the man said. “The game likes that.”

  Holly sighed. “That’s just so much bullshit. Listen, old man, I know you’re probably a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic, but can you at least concentrate for one moment and perhaps fill us in on the details before we bust out of here and leave you here on your own. I can’t imagine you get many guests.”

  “We’re stuck here,” he said. “Left behind by the Family. We can’t go beyond the fence, and there’s nothing else for us south of the facility. The Family were kind enough to at least give us a labyrinth to keep ourselves entertained. Why don’t you play? You’ll find all the answers you want if you just go through the door.”

  “What door?” Gerry asked. “And you’ve still not told us who you are or what all this is. We’ll take you with us if you help us. You look like you know a little about this place.”

  The old man chuckled a wet, phlegmy laugh.

  “You fools, I wouldn’t want to go with you even if I could help you leave. Here is safe. Here I feed and shit and sleep and while away the hours. Safe.”

  “Yeah,” Petal said. “That’s not going to work for us. You see, we’re not completely bat-shit mental and don’t fancy dining on rat or God knows what else you’re feeding on. So why don’t you be a kind old psycho and throw us a bone—not literally mind. Anything, something, just point us in the right direction and we’ll let you get back to sleeping and shitting.”

  “The door,” he said again.

  This time he lit the glow rod and pointed to the far west corner of the bunker. Gerry turned and, indeed, there, cut into the thick steel walls, a door.

  “Where doe
s it lead?” Gerry asked.

  “The games; it’s the only thing we have left.”

  “Yeah,” Holly said, “you already told us that. About the mutants and the cyborg thing—what happened there?”

  “Experiments, some went right, others went wrong. Doesn’t matter now that we’ve been—”

  “Left behind, we get it,” Petal said. “Why can’t you go beyond the fence?”

  The old man brought the glow rod close to his face and widened his eyes. With a balled fist he unfurled his fingers and blew out with his cheeks, simulating an explosion. “We’re tied to this place like the fish are to the sea. We fought, we survived, we won. Now we stay here, manage the game. Go, while you still have a chance. Endymion will execute you shortly.”

  “Is that the cyborg, the dude with the peeling skin?” Petal asked.

  The old man nodded. “He’s the general of the pit.”

  Gerry didn’t need to ask which pit.

  “One of the Family’s most successful combat ’borgs. Single-handedly defended the old dome and the labyrinth.”

  “Wait,” Gerry said, leaning in closer. “There’s another dome?”

  “Of course,” the old man said. “Go through the door and enter the labyrinth. You’ll find all the answers to what you seek.”

  “Just who are you?” Gerry asked. “Tell me that, at least, before we go.” The more Gerry looked at him, the more he felt like he recognised him. It could just be that he shared a similar feature to some other random person, but it was strong enough that Gerry had to know for sure.

  The old man just smiled, exposing his rotten stumps in the light of the glow rod. “I am chaos. My entire existence is to present people like you with the choice. Some days I don’t tell them about the door, other days I do. It’s a game I play with Endymion. We all need something to pass the time, no?”

  “I’m sick of your riddles, old man. We won’t be coming back for you.”

  “Of course not. No one ever does. I am chaos. Now go, find your destinies—or deaths, it all depends on which way the wind blows.” He laughed then and pointed his finger to the door. Petal and Holly stepped away, heading for the door. But Gerry leant in closer.

  There was something tattooed on the side of his index finger. Small inky numbers: 5-9-2-1-5-8-3-1-5-7-4-1. Gerry committed this to memory before the old man extinguished the glow rod.

  Even in the darkness, Gerry could still see his ridged face. He wasn’t imagining it—there was something familiar there, but Gerry couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

  “Good luck, son,” the old man said as Gerry approached the door.

  “Thanks,” Gerry replied and pulled the handle.

  The hinges at first resisted, but soon it was swinging open. Petal and Holly helped it. The waft of stale, dry air came out, thankfully it didn’t carry the scent of blood and death. Just the dust fragments of many passed days.

  Deep in the tunnel, a blue light glowed. It was barely visible, but it was enough to give them something to aim for.

  “Ready?” Gerry asked.

  Petal took his hand and squeezed her answer.

  “Let’s do it,” Holly said. “Better than being executed by a mental ’borg. Well, I hope so anyway.”

  Although he couldn’t say why, Gerry had a sense that the old man was doing this to help them. He didn’t buy that it was just a matter of chaos, but then perhaps that was the hopeful thinking of someone without any other option.

  Gerry stepped forward, and Holly and Petal joined him. The low-ceilinged tunnel was wide enough to accommodate all three of them, and they could just about walk upright if they didn’t bounce too much.

  “You feel that?” Holly said as she took the lead.

  “The hum?” Petal asked.

  “Yeah, it’s all around us. Like the place is alive.”

  “It’s not alive,” Gerry said. “That’s EM shielding. It’s why we couldn’t communicate. We must be in the pyramid, if I remember the layout right. It’s probably all connected to those electrical towers and the fences.”

  “Whatever it is, it’s disconcerting,” Petal said.

  They carried on down the corridor for some time until they reached the end. The blue light was a single strip of OLED embedded into the surface of the corridor. The light actually pulsed in sync with the hum.

  They crossed through into a second corridor that branched off at a ninety-degree angle to the left. Following it, they ended up at a junction with a choice of either left or right.

  “Which way?” Holly said.

  “Wait, listen,” Gerry whispered, raising his hand. He tilted his head and held his breath. From the right side he heard a faint shuffling noise. “Something’s down there.” He pointed down into the darkness of the right tunnel.

  “Then we go left,” Petal said.

  “Plan,” Holly said, bumping fists with Petal.

  “Okay, quietly,” Gerry said, heading down the left path.

  On and on they walked, taking one turn then another, always going in the opposite direction of that weird shuffling sound, but it occurred to Gerry that they were either being manipulated in the directions they were taking, or they were never actually getting away from whatever they could hear.

  The old man had something right. It was all just a game.

  Though as long as Gerry had breath in his lungs, he’d keep playing until he found his way out. There must have been a reason why he was shown those numbers, but so far, he’d found no use for them, the walls of the corridors were smooth and featureless. Occasionally, they’d come to the end, where more of the blue light outlined the tunnel, but it didn’t seem to signify anything in particular.

  “We’re probably going in circles,” Petal said. “I need a break.”

  “Okay, let’s take five,” Gerry said.

  The three of them stopped at the end of another corridor and rested their backs against the walls. Gerry sat down and stretched out his legs. His muscles ached and he yawned. “I could sleep for a decade,” he said.

  “Sleep when you’re dead and all that,” Holly said. “We still need to find a way out.”

  Holly slumped next to him and leaned her back against the wall. She stared up at the ceiling of the corridor and cocked her head to one side.

  “What is it?” Gerry asked.

  “It just occurred to me that if we are in the pyramid, then we must have walked throughout the entire bottom floor by now in one direction or another. Yet we’ve not gone up or down. There’s still a lot of space above us.”

  “And?” Gerry inquired, not having seen any means of traversing to a different level.

  “We ought to go through one of the trapdoors.”

  “Wait, what?” Petal said, standing and stepping over Gerry’s legs. Holly held out her hand, and Petal helped her up. Groaning with the effort, Gerry joined them.

  “What trapdoor?” he asked.

  Holly fished around inside her jacket and pulled out a six-inch dagger.

  “Where’d you get that from?” Petal said, her mouth dropping open.

  “Oh, I lifted it off the old guy. He had it on the floor next to him.”

  “Now you tell us!” Gerry said, shaking his head in disbelief.

  Holly shrugged. “There was no call for it until now.”

  “I still don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

  “You’d make a useless thief, Gerry,” Holly said, giving him a flash of a smile as she reached up and placed the tip of the blade into a seemingly invisible crack. She twisted it and pushed up with her free hand. Something shifted, and a plume of dust belched down into their faces.

  Gerry coughed and waved it from his face.

  “Give us a hand,” Holly said.

  Both Gerry and Petal did as she asked. With all their efforts they managed to shift a stone tile to the side, exposing a narrow tunnel. The humming noise grew louder and came from somewhere off in the distance.

  “That’s not just EM shielding,
” Holly said, sticking her head up into the gap. “That’s the sound of a huge mother of a server. I’d know that sound anywhere.”

  Petal filled Gerry in on Holly’s background with maintaining Alpha at Jericho’s place. Before Gerry could say anything, Holly squatted on her haunches and launched herself up, pulling herself into the tunnel. A second later she held her arm down and lifted Petal up.

  “Come on, Gez, it’s tight, but I can feel a cool breeze. There must be a way out from here,” Petal said, offering her hand to him.

  He took it and lifted himself up, pressing his elbows down and hauling his body into the tight gap. It was only tall enough for them to crawl on their hands and knees, but Petal was right. There was a definite breeze coming from the right side. And Holly was right in that it did sound like a server.

  Buoyed by this progress and change of scenery, even if they were still stuck in a black tunnel, he urged his body on and crawled along with Holly and Petal like ants on a mission.

  The sounds of the server grew louder and more defined by every minute, and now they could see light at the end of the tunnel. Not just the blue strip lights from the level below, but white light, indicating they were entering some kind of lab or server room.

  Behind them came that shuffling sound.

  “Wait,” Gerry said with an abrupt whisper.

  He looked back and saw the darkness moving.

  Something was coming for them.

  And fast.

  “Go, go, go,” Gerry urged.

  They scrambled forward toward the light, all the while the shuffling kept pace behind them. Gerry’s knees flamed with pain, but he carried on, not wanting to slow down for a moment.

  Twenty metres from the end, something grabbed Gerry’s ankle.

  Chapter 19

  Jachz wrestled with his restraints to no avail. Cold stone chilled his bones, and the voices chattering around him spoke the language of the insane. A hand gripped his neck and bent his head to the side while another ran its fingers over his neck port.

  Under the blindfold, he saw the legs of at least two people, both wearing Family uniforms. Tatty and torn, they’d seen better days.