“This won’t hurt,” a voice said. Female. But distorted. “We just want to look at your systems.”
“Who are you?” he asked but, as expected, received no answer.
Someone plugged a lead into his port, and the familiar connection buzz raced through his brain, joining him to the wider network.
There was just a single server on this one, however.
His initial scans told him it was one of the Family’s supercomputers. An older model than the ones he had worked with on the station and the Mars base, but still highly capable.
Before they could scan his system, he coded a defence program to deflect any attempt at reading his systems. Now that he had sentience, he found this a trivial task.
Like Kabuki, Jachz became code and filled the network, shutting off all ports and overriding the interface busses.
Outside of his body protests screamed out.
“No, no, no! This can’t be. He’s… evolved!”
Jachz found a video feed attached to the server. Although fifty-three percent of the cameras no longer provided data to the machine, there were enough that Jachz could see most of the room in which they had placed his body.
They had strapped him to a table.
All around the room were terminals connected up to the mainframe deep within the pyramid, which now that he could see the layout, he knew to be a kind of data labyrinth.
He’d heard of these while working up on the station.
Constructed to provide the Family with an indestructible means of keeping its data secure, the labyrinths held most of their research. Jachz navigated through the mainframe, running searches for maps or blueprints—something, anything, to help him know the full layout of the place.
The search spider returned with the addresses of the data he wanted. He copied them to his internal memory and then accessed the power regulator programs. He switched off the lights, dousing the room with darkness.
“Stop him,” the female voice said. “Disconnect now.”
Jachz scanned the immediate network and found three nodes. Two must be the Family members here, but he didn’t know who the third was. Tracing the data flow, Jachz identified the address of the woman who seemed to be in charge and her accomplice.
Bridging their connection directly to his own systems, Jachz let his mind out in a single spike of data. He remembered what had happened when Enna had tried to download Gerry’s mind to the lower capacity transcendent—it couldn’t cope.
He knew by the capacities of their systems on the network they wouldn’t be able to take all the data. He let himself spread out, much as Kabuki had told him how to, seeking out new connections, new networks, only there were just two places for him to go, and that was just fine.
They couldn’t handle the data flow.
Their screams filled the room. The woman collapsed to the floor. Jachz flowed his mind back out and returned it to his own body. The second target he kept on the edge, overloading his internal systems just enough to cause permanent brain damage.
Jachz had to fight the urge to kill. It had become too easy. He knew he couldn’t let the power get to him.
“Do you want to live?” Jachz said via his physical voice.
He heard a strangled, strained voice: “Yes, please, oh god, stop the pain.”
Jachz eased the data flow to this other’s internal processors, but only enough so that he was capable.
“Let me go, and I’ll let you live,” Jachz said. “The choice is yours.”
“Okay, okay, please just stop.”
“The restraints first.”
With fumbling hands, the man released the restraints on Jachz’s arms and legs.
Now free, Jachz sat up and pulled off his blindfold.
The man in front of him sank to his knees, blood dripping from his ears and eyes. He leant forward and grasped Jachz by the ankles. “Please,” he begged. “Make it stop.”
“If I do, you’ll tell me everything you know about this place.”
“Yes, yes, I’ll help you, anything, please, just end the pain.”
Jachz hesitated for a moment, debating just killing him like the woman. A rage built within him. He wanted to lash out at those who had captured him. They would have tested him like some kind of lab experiment, just like those up on the station. But the killing could be avoided.
He wasn’t Elliot Robertson or Kabuki.
“Please, you’re killing me.”
He was something different, unique.
Powerful.
Jachz looked down on the pathetic human by his feet and withdrew the flow of data from his incapable brain. The man slumped backwards, gripping the side of his head. “Thank you,” he choked out as he turned onto his front, coughing up blood.
Jachz reached down, grabbed him by the hair, and pulled him up to his feet. The AI turned his attentions to the woman on the floor. She had a blade attached to her belt. Jachz pushed the man into the table and bent down to retrieve the knife.
When the man turned round, Jachz stood and launched himself forward, bringing the knife to the man’s throat.
***
Petal heard Gerry scream out and looked over her shoulder.
He was struggling with something. “Gerry!”
“Help!”
Holly and Petal turned around in the narrow confines and scuffled back. Petal grabbed his outstretched arms and pulled him closer. Holly slid down the side and jabbed the knife into the dark. It thudded into something hard.
With a kick, Gerry had got his leg free.
“Go!” Holly said. “I’ve got this.”
She arced the knife in front of her body, scraping against the target.
“No chance,” Petal said. “Gerry, out of the way.”
Gerry rolled to the side as Petal crawled forward to join Holly. She extended her spikes and thrust out into the gloom. She could just about see the shape of something disappear into the shadows, shuffling back away faster than Petal could move.
“Back up and head to the light,” Petal said, shuffling backward on her hands and knees. Holly, next to her, did the same, but kept hold of her dagger.
The shuffling noise had gone completely now, whatever it was deciding to crawl back into its hole. It took about ten minutes, but eventually, crawling backwards while Gerry led the way ahead, they made it to the end of the tunnel.
“What do you see, Gerry?”
“A control room of some kind.”
Petal risked turning around and looked out of the tunnel exit. Gerry was right, the room was a deserted control centre. Desks lined three walls, and large OLED screens hung above.
“There’s a door on the north wall,” Petal said, pointing forward. She looked down and saw they were only a couple of metres from the floor.
“We’re clear, Holly,” Petal said. She turned to Gerry. “After you, sir?”
“Ladies first.”
“Age before beauty.”
“Christ’s sake, I’ll go first, then,” Holly said, pushing herself between them and dropping into a crouch and roll. She turned back to them. “There, that wasn’t so hard, was it? You two coming, or do you want to stay up there for some private… shit, watch out!”
Petal spun round and saw the darkness shift again.
She pushed Gerry out of the corridor and followed after him.
They landed awkwardly and turned back to the opening.
A black-shrouded ’borg, like the one they had encountered in the jungle, launched out and landed with the control and poise of a panther behind them in the middle of the room.
It rose to its feet and settled into a crouch with its legs wide and arms brought up to its chest. Petal, Holly, and Gerry surrounded it, circling around it, waiting for it to attack.
Holly held out her dagger, Petal her spikes. Although unarmed, Gerry brought his fists up, ready to throw down with the cyborg.
But it seemed to hesitate, back off and spin around, assessing its options.
Peta
l inched forward, bringing her spikes up, ready to strike. Before she could launch an attack, the ’borg stood upright and held up its hands.
“No, please,” it said, its voice muffled behind the mask. It sounded like a young boy. A teen perhaps… Reaching for the facemask, it lifted it up and over his head, revealing that he was, in fact, a teenage boy. One of the mutants. His face was twisted and contorted like the others, but his eyes were bright and aware with intelligence.
He fell to his knees and held out his hands. “I give up. I don’t want to fight.”
“What the fuck, man?” Petal said, still keeping her spikes at striking distance. “What the hell is this?”
The boy looked from Gerry to Petal to Holly and then over their shoulders to the door behind them as though he were expecting visitors.
“You better start talking,” Petal said. “We’re really not in the mood to screw around. You’ve got three seconds before I run you through.”
He held up his palms. “Okay, listen, I’ll explain, but we’ve got to move soon before they send a tracker after me. They’ll know I’m missing when they find the body.”
“What body?” Gerry asked.
He nodded his head toward the tunnel entrance. “I fixed your problem for you,” he said. “A tracker ’borg. I’ve been living here, undercover.” He indicated his own tracker suit. “I can get you out of here if you help me out.”
“Get talking,” Gerry said. “What do you want?”
“There’s a data archive at the heart of the labyrinth. I want your help to crack it. I know who you are, Gerry Cardle. Chaos told me you were here. We’ve been waiting for someone like you for years. This is finally our chance.”
“Chance for what?” Holly asked.
“Escape, freedom. We can’t go beyond the fence. The Family control system keeps us prisoner here, and now that they’ve abandoned us, we’re dying, the land is diseased, Endymion is insane… come on, you get the picture. We need to switch off the automated defence ring, but we can’t get in.”
Petal looked to Gerry and Holly and shrugged her shoulders. “Sounds legit, kinda. What do you think?”
“We’ve few other options,” Gerry said. “Could give him the benefit of the doubt and at least get out of here.”
“I’m in,” Holly said. “Not the first time either of us have hacked a system.”
“Okay,” Gerry said to the boy. “You get us out of here and show us this data archive, and if we’re sure you’re not up to anything, we’ll help you, but we won’t hesitate to end your life if you even think of double-crossing us. You understand?”
“Of course. My name’s Galvin, but you can call me Gal. And thank you.”
“Keep your thanks for later,” Petal said. “We might not be able to do what you want.”
“We’ll see,” Gal said. He turned to face the door. “Come on, I’ve got the security codes to take us into the labyrinth. It won’t take long to get there, but we have to hurry. Endymion will soon find out and come after us.”
“That’s just great,” Holly said. “But then why would that be any different. Every hack job seems to have its own resident nutter attached.”
“I hear you on that, girl,” Petal said with a smile. They fist-bumped again and followed Gal as he approached the door.
A scream came from the other side. A terrible, pain-etched, primal scream.
“That’s not good,” Gerry said.
Gal hesitated before Petal and Holly both said, “Do it,” and raised their weapons.
Chapter 20
Gerry smelled blood as soon as they stepped through the door into the next room. Two people in old, ratty uniforms lay dead on the floor in a pool of blood. A man had his throat cut wide open. Restraints hung loose from an old wooden table.
Gal moved slowly and methodically through the room, checking the dark corners and beneath the row of terminal desks. Miles and miles of cables ran from behind the terminals through a pipeline in the wall, heading deeper into the pyramid.
The screens themselves were clearly old, pre-OLED panels. Dust covered their surfaces. Mechanical keyboards were fixed into desks beneath.
“What is this place?” Holly asked. “What happened here?”
Gal checked the bodies. “Their weapons are gone,” he said. “Their knives… we all carry them.”
“Another one of Endymion’s prisoners escaped?” Gerry asked.
“Of course, it must be him,” Gal said.
“Who?” Petal asked as she circled the room, taking it all in.
“The AI that was with you. I saw him taken into the pyramid. It makes sense he would be interrogated here. They’d try to get Family information out of him.”
“How do you know about him?” Gerry asked.
At first the boy was hesitant. He looked away from Gerry, thinking of what to say.
Petal stepped behind him and placed the spike against his spine. “Keep talking,” she warned.
“A visitor passed through shortly before you arrived. It’s how we knew to expect you.”
“The viroborg?” Holly asked.
“Yeah, him.”
“Did he have someone else with him?” Gerry asked.
“A small girl. I don’t know much else than that. Endymion dealt with him. Gave him passage through our settlement.”
“To where?”
“The old dome. The Family’s old HQ. I don’t know why. He’s the first visitor we’ve had from the Family for decades.”
“Wait,” Gerry said. “How old are you?”
The boy smiled and shook his head slowly. “I know, I know. I look about seventeen. I’m coming up on fifty-something. I don’t know the exact date. It’s easy to lose count out here. But as much as I’d like to tell you about my illnesses, I think we ought to move on. It seems like your AI’s gone rogue.” He pointed to the bodies.
Petal and Gerry shared a look as if to say no shit. What AI hadn’t gone crazy at least once?
“If we help you with the data vault, will you help us get to the old dome?” Gerry asked.
“Yeah, of course. You’ll need to go there if you’re to switch off the defence system anyway. There’s only so much you can do from here. The Family built in several layers of redundancy to avoid its workers and… experiments from taking over the farm.”
“Lead the way, then,” Petal said.
Galvin entered a code on a panel next to the door. It slid open, revealing a wide, long hallway with vaulted ceilings. The air was cooler inside. Great columns created a colonnade through the hall. It must have stretched on for nearly a hundred meters, and at least twenty-five wide. At the far end, illuminated by an amber glow, was a heavy-looking vault door.
“Down here,” Gal said in a hush. Even with his low voice the words still echoed.
He led the way. Gerry noticed footprints in the dust.
Jachz, he thought. Just what the hell was he up to?
Walking three abreast behind Galvin, Gerry and the two women followed, all watching above and beside them for any potential attacks. The gathering shadows in the edges of the hallway were perfect for hiding some psycho, or perhaps another tracker ’borg.
“I don’t like this. It’s far too quiet,” Petal whispered.
“I know what you mean,” Gerry said.
Despite their nerves being stretched, they weren’t jumped or attacked by the time they reached the door. The keyboard’s screen, OLED this time, indicating it had been installed after the terminal room. It had room for twelve digits.
“I don’t know the code,” Gal said. “It looks like your AI friend did, though.”
The amber light from a discreet source above the door illuminated the blood on the off-white keypad. It was smeared all over, making it impossible to see what order and what number Jachz may have used.
“Are you still being suppressed?” Petal asked Gerry.
“Yeah. We’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way.”
“A screwdriver and a battery?
” Petal asked.
“Nah, I’ll cheat.” Gerry wiped the blood off the keys with the sleeve of his jacket and closed his eyes to recall the numbers tattooed on Chaos’s finger. If the numbers weren’t for this, then he had no idea what they would be for. He recalled the numbers and punched them in one at a time: 5-9-2-1-5-8-3-1-5-7-4-1.
With a clunk and a whir, gears and servos within the doors activated.
“How the hell did you do that?” Petal asked as both Holly and Galvin looked at him with a mix of confusion and awe.
“Oh, you know. Lucky guess,” Gerry said with a smile.
He stood back and pulled Petal to the side of the door while Holly and Galvin stepped opposite. Once the doors finished opening, a white light burst out. Inside, the silhouette of three figures moved away from a central shape. When Gerry’s eyes adjusted, he recognised at least two of the forms: Endymion and Jachz.
“Come in,” Endymion said. His cybernetic eye glowed red in the bright room. “And bring that fool Galvin with you.”
Gerry hesitated. The door behind him at the other end of the hall slammed shut.
“You’ve played the game well, Gerry. Why stop now? Come in, bring your friends, and let’s finish this.”
Seeing as he had little choice, Gerry stepped into the room. Holly and Petal followed him inside. Gal hesitated before he, ultimately, joined them also. Once inside, the door whirred shut. The lights dimmed, reducing the harshness and allowing Gerry to take in all the details.
Jachz was in a heap in the middle of the room. A strap across his chest crackled with electricity, keeping him pinned to the white-tiled floor. The tiles themselves showed the scuff marks of decades of footsteps.
“Jachz?” he called. “Are you okay?”
No answer. His body remained still, but at least his chest was moving.
“He’ll be fine,” Endymion said. “We just needed him under control for a while.”
Standing either side of Jachz were two of the dark tracker ’borgs. Both carried rifles: the ones confiscated from Gerry and the others. The room was no larger than ten meters square, and apart from the front panel of a server embedded into the rear wall, it appeared utterly featureless.
Code Breakers: Delta Page 16
