Code Breakers: Delta

by Colin F. Barnes

  A buzz indicated he was now one with Jess.

  He no longer felt his body. The pain now just some physical aspect he had no access to. Jess’s mind was vast and incalculably powerful. He felt overwhelmed as though he would drown in the depths of her data and processing, but like a dove, an avatar in her form floated into his vision and spoke to him not with words, but binary commands.

  His mind slipped into the digital aspect, and his essence became code once more.

  With Jess’s guidance, he navigated out into the wider world, beyond the dome, through the trees, until he found the pylon that acted as the facility’s microwave transceiver.

  He saw his software patch from earlier and removed it, breaking the suppression. The router filled with data from all around. Fifty-three nodes, all of them belonging to those large towers with the domed tops, came online, connected together by the miles and miles of charged fencing.

  “You’ve done it,” Jess said in binary form.

  Gerry couldn’t respond, he was just working on instinct at this point, led by Jess.

  She severed the connection, and the pain hit him all at once.

  Holly was kneeling by his side. She pulled a syringe out of his chest—a shot of ’Stem from the medpack, and that weird itching, twitchy feeling took over, spreading warmth around his wounds as the millions of nanocells got to work.

  Gerry tried to speak, but his injuries and the ’Stem injection sapped his energy. Still, he managed to squeeze out a single word, “Petal?”

  “On it, man. Just hold on,” Holly said, vanishing out of his field of vision and revealing Jess sitting in front of the mainframe, her head down and arms outstretched.

  He looked up to the screen and before he passed out saw the words:

  Missile 1 – Interception.

  Missile 2 – Interception.

  Missile 3 – Interception.

  And so it went, counting up to fifteen—the full complement of the silo’s warheads.

  Gerry slipped into unconsciousness knowing that Jess had done it.

  But Petal…?

  Chapter 26

  Gerry pushed the guard outside of his hospital room aside and headed down the corridor. The smell of disinfectant and cleaning products filled the place. All the white surfaces, white uniforms, white screens made him think for a brief moment that it was all a dream, that Jess hadn’t brought the defensive system online and that Holly hadn’t jabbed him with ’Stems in time.

  But the surprised expressions of the doctors and orderlies told him he was most definitely in Libertas’ General Hospital.

  For the previous ten minutes, he’d argued with his doctor about his condition requiring full rest. He didn’t care what they said, he had to see for himself to be sure, not trusting what anyone told him about Petal.

  He was happy to believe the news about Jachz, however. Although his physical body was dead, his AI code was suspended in his memory chips—which were now locked away in Cemprom’s vault, never to be accessed again.

  Although he died with the best intentions, Gerry was glad the interim government had decreed that after Enna’s betrayal and the viroborg’s effects, that there would be a complete ban on AI and cyborg integration with humans.

  There were to be no more cloning, no more ’droids, and no more posthuman experiments. All the evidence of those fields pointed to unequivocal failure and a risk to humanity’s natural evolution.

  Even the use of AIAs was banned for new births.

  Which made Gerry and his generation the last of the Family’s experiments.

  “Mr. Cardle, please, you shouldn’t be out of—”

  Gerry pushed the slate-carrying grey-haired middle manager out of his way and continued on down the corridor, looking for the right ward.

  He grabbed a young man in a blue uniform controlling a hover-mop by the lapels. “You, where’s Ward Fifteen from here?”

  “Oh, erm, it’s down there and to your left, go through two doors.”

  Gerry grunted his thanks and headed off, ignoring the aching pains in his chest and back and his shortness of breath. He’d been worse before. Hell, he’d died a few times before. What was a near-fatal gun wound in the scheme of things?

  Following the young man’s directions, Gerry burst through the doors, resisting the urge to run. As he came to the main set of doors that led into the ward, he reached out to go through, but they opened ahead of him, and he fell through, losing his balance.

  Right into the arms of…

  “In a hurry, hero?”

  “Petal!” Gerry gathered himself and stepped back, holding onto her shoulders. “I thought… well, I didn’t…”

  “Shut up and kiss me, you ass.”

  He did as he was told and stayed in her embrace until he felt someone tug at his trousers. “Hey,” he said, breaking away from Petal and looking to his left.

  Smiling up at him from the seat of a hover-chair, with a small scar on her forehead, was the real reason they were all still alive. Jess.

  “Hey you,” Gerry said, kneeling down. “How are you feeling?”

  “Groggy still since that little coma.”

  “Don’t underplay yourself,” Petal said, draping her arm around Jess’s shoulders. “What you did was truly epic and no mean feat. Hell, even Gerry and I didn’t win this one. It was all on you.”

  Jess blushed and looked away. “We ought to go somewhere and talk. I know you’ve probably got questions about Enna and the whole thing. While I was with them, I learned a few things you two might want to hear.”

  “Okay,” Gerry said, standing, “let’s go find a private room somewhere. But only if you’re up to it; you’ve only been awake for a few hours, and I don’t want to have to fight off another zealous doctor. I’m still recovering myself.” He flashed her a smile.

  “Really, it’s okay,” Jess said. “I wasn’t hurt much.”

  Gerry shook his head. “You’re the toughest person I know, you know that?”

  She shrugged and smiled, making her cheeks dimple.

  Petal and Gerry escorted her through the hospital until they found an empty conference room. Once inside, he closed the doors and sat down at the table. Petal handed out bottles of water she had got from the canteen and sat opposite, all the while looking at Gerry with the essence of a new person.

  With her Mohican shaved off and wearing the hospital gown, she almost passed as acceptable in the eyes of society. Though Gerry loved her punkish ways regardless, he liked how she seemed to be more relaxed, no more tension in her body.

  Even her eyes shone brighter without the shadow of some impending doom dulling their lustre.

  “So,” Petal said, turning her attentions to Jess and hiding the blush on her cheeks with her hand. “About Enna’s betrayal, what the hell happened there? And what was up with that viroborg?”

  “Jachz was telling the truth when he said he didn’t know about it. I traced messages here in Libertas from Enna to the AI calling itself Kabuki. They were working together. Kabuki’s role was to destroy the Family’s Mars base while the Enna-clone was to rid the world of the domes.

  “They took me to bypass the security on the silo’s mainframe. I tried to refuse, but the Enna-clone… she… well, she knew how to activate my abilities and forced me. I didn’t want to do it; I tried to resist. But with the viroborg’s malicious code, I couldn’t stop them.”

  Petal shook her head in resignation. “I should have seen it before,” she said. “How could I not have noticed Enna was a two-faced bitch?”

  “You couldn’t have known,” Jess said. “I only noticed the difference after the viroborg arrived. When it kidnapped me, I got into its head and saw the messages from the Enna-clone.”

  “So where’s the real one?” Gerry asked. “And why bring me back, knowing I’d only fight against them? It doesn’t make any sense.”

  Jess took a sip of water and stifled a yawn. She suddenly looked so very frail, but she continued on. “It was the real Enna who b
rought you back. Jachz did send her the technology and information, as she said. The clone, I found out, was undercover in the city, waiting, biding its time. When the viroborg made its move, taking me, I saw…”

  Jess closed her eyes to mask the pain, but it was still etched on her face.

  “Go on,” Gerry said, “it’s okay.”

  Petal held her hand, giving her strength and support.

  A tear tracked down Jess’s cheek. “I saw the clone kill the real Enna after we had left. It was waiting for us to be out of the way when it attacked. Enna didn’t stand a chance. They thought you’d perish at Endymion’s hands. I tried to get a message to you, but the suppression and the viroborg in my head stopped me from finding a connection. I thought I had lost you both.”

  “We made it out in one piece,” Gerry said. “Endymion wasn’t exactly on message.”

  A heavy silence filled the room as Gerry thought about the real Enna and all the help she’d given them. The weight of guilt for thinking Enna had betrayed them sat heavily within him. If it wasn’t for her, he wouldn’t be here now.

  That thought, however, wasn’t entirely comforting, knowing he was only here because of the cloning tech that had created all the mad ones from the Family.

  “So what’s left?” Petal asked. “With the Enna-clone dead, the viroborg and Endymion gone, and Jachz’s AI in stasis, is there any more left of the Family?”

  “I don’t think so,” Jess said. “Kabuki has dealt with those on Mars. I think we’re finally free.”

  Thinking of Nolan and all the others that had perished, Gerry knew it to be true. After all this time, this bloodshed, all the innocents lost, Earth finally had its freedom. “There’s one more thing I don’t understand,” Gerry said.

  Jess looked away as though seeing into his mind and knowing what was coming. Petal looked at Gerry with a curious expression, her eyebrow arched.

  “Who made you, Jess?” Gerry asked. “Who are you?”

  “I don’t know,” she said.

  Gerry knew without a doubt it was a lie, but he didn’t press her on it.

  “Well,” Gerry said. “All in all, I think it’s time we all had a rest. It’s been a tough, emotional ride.”

  The door to the private room burst open. Gerry spun round, fully expecting another clone to come and finish what the others had failed to do.

  “So here’s where you’re all hiding.”

  Holly. Gerry sighed quietly with relief and beamed a smile. She was carrying a basket and placed it on the table. A bottle of champagne poked out of the top of the basket. “I brought gifts for the heroes!” Holly said.

  Petal stood and crushed her friend with a bear hug. “You stupid woman, you’re the hero,” she said. “Without you, I’d have been sliced and diced by that ’borg, and Gerry would have been toast. Hell, we’d all be crispy shells of death right now if those warheads got past the defence system.”

  Holly grinned and shrugged when Petal released her.

  “What was I gonna do, eh? Let you guys down? Besides, it was kinda fun in a death-defying by the skins of our teeth kind of way.”

  “What will you do now?” Gerry asked.

  “I was thinking of going back to the mutant village and nabbing one of their vehicles, maybe go exploring. Who knows what other wonderful crap the Family has got in their secluded little empire.”

  “Nothing,” Gerry said. “Beyond the old dome and the data pyramids, the rest is rubble.”

  “Huh,” Holly said, dejected. Then she smiled at the group. “Well then, I guess you lot better help me get citizenship to this place. If you’re staying, so am I.”

  “I’m sure we’ll figure something out,” Petal said. “You did help save this place from almost certain destruction, after all.”

  “Ooh, do you think they’ll make statues of me like yours? Perhaps I’ll be a pin-up and snag me a hot husband or two.”

  Gerry grinned at the two women, their infectious positivity burning away any remnants of depression. Although he knew it would take him a long time to get over everything he had done and experienced, with these people in his life, he would get there in the end.

  Holly and Petal dug into the basket and chatted about the various confections and baked goods inside. Gerry stretched and stood and made his excuses. He needed to get back to his doctor to finish his current course of treatment.

  Before he reached the door, Jess hovered over to him.

  “You’re never going to tell me, are you?” Gerry said, keeping his voice low.

  “You already have the answers,” Jess said, pointing to his head.

  And there for a very brief moment, he saw a series of numbers on the inside of her index finger: 5-9-2-1-5-8-3-1-5-7-4-1. He blinked and they were gone. A figment of his imagination, perhaps? A flashback? Before he could say anything else, Jess patted him on the arm and left the room.

  It couldn’t be… she couldn’t be…

  Chapter 27

  Two weeks later

  Gerry and Petal dashed down an alleyway and avoided the main street going into the downtown zone. Gerry’s lungs burned with the exertion, his legs ached with fatigue and lactic acid. Despite the physio and the use of ’Stem treatment, he still felt far from fighting fitness. Perhaps he was just getting old—even with the cloned body.

  “Keep up, old man,” Petal said from the end of the alley with that mischievous grin of hers that never ceased to make him feel like a teenager finding his first crush.

  “Where are you taking me?” he asked. “And why the hurry?”

  “Stop with all the questions. Just go with the flow, hubs.”

  Gerry pressed the wedding ring with his thumb and thought about their wedding. Their guests would be waiting for them at the reception, and his wonderful wife was taking him on a parkour exercise through the city.

  “They’re gonna freak out when we don’t turn up,” Gerry said. “That hall wasn’t cheap to book.”

  Petal crooked her finger, indicating for him to follow. She hitched her wedding dress up and vaulted over the six-foot-tall wall as though it were nothing. Gerry took a running jump and eased over, being careful not to ruin his suit.

  “If you want me to follow, at least give me a chance to catch up,” Gerry said as Petal ducked out of the alley and turned right into the street. He jogged on and exited into a road. He recognised it at once. Petal was standing by a door. An old wooden door.

  One that had been repaired or perhaps replicated.

  As Gerry approached, voices and images from his past echoed within his memory. Petal disappeared inside the house, leaving him outside on his own. Looking back down the road, Gerry looked back through his past and saw the ghost of his former self walking towards the house, propped up by Gabriel wearing his dreadlocks and padre’s hat.

  Gerry smiled as he followed that same route to the door, almost feeling Gabriel’s strong arms holding him up as they approached the door.

  Only this time, it wasn’t Gabe who opened that door, and thus opening the world to Gerry. The door this time wasn’t a portal into the truth and the revelations that his life was all a lie.

  With a creak, the door opened, and Petal’s face appeared in the crack. She smiled, recreating the first time they had ever met, sans Mohican and goggles, substituted with a white wedding dress. She still wore a leather choker around her neck, and her lips were still the bright tattooed purple.

  Her eyes were still majestic.

  But then he remembered Jasper. How he and his goons had set fire to this place, gutting it from top to bottom. And yet, through the crack, it looked almost like it did back then, the very first time he entered.

  “Well?” Petal said. “Are you coming in or what?”

  “How?” Gerry said. “Who did this?”

  Petal opened the door wider and pulled him into the living room. The walls were paneled with wood like the last time, and the furniture was identical. Gerry took a seat on the sofa and remembered Gabe sitting opposite, tel
ling him the truth of things, giving him his old man’s revolver and the book on hacking.

  Petal walked through into the kitchen, leaving Gerry on the sofa.

  He looked over, saw the open doorway, and thought of his old boss and best friend, Mike. Gerry tried to wipe away the memory of having to kill him, the AI manipulating his systems. But there was still peace there as he looked around the room. Mike had found peace here, and he had met Petal and Gabe, and ultimately, he had survived against all the odds.

  He’d come full circle.

  Gerry heard heavy footsteps from the kitchen.

  He stood and approached. When he stepped through, a great cheer went up.

  Sitting around the table were Gabe and a young girl, Petal, Holly and Jess.

  Gabe stood and reached out to shake his hand. “Congratulations, man, ya did the right thing marrying this one. Finally gets ’er off my back.” He beamed a wide smile even as Petal slapped him on the back of the head.

  “Thanks,” Gerry said. “For everything and for coming here.”

  “I’m just sorry I couldn’t get here sooner,” Gabe said. “I’d have liked that best-man spot.”

  “You’d have been my first choice,” Gerry said. “But it was kinda spontaneous; you know what it’s like.”

  “Yeah, man, I get it, it’s all cool. Hey, let me introduce you to my daughter.”

  Gabe made the introductions and explained the whole situation. Gerry had already heard it from Petal, but as he sat at that table, drinking and listening to his tales, Gerry knew that this was what it was all about.

  A real family, not of blood, but of bonds that run far deeper.

  Petal sat next to him as Gabe talked up some daring job he and his daughter pulled off for Figgy. Petal and Gerry held hands under the table, their bodies pressed together.

  “I love you so much,” Petal whispered into his ear.

  “And I you, you crazy, wonderful woman.”

  For the rest of the night, they drank, told tales of their adventures, cried and toasted over the ones lost on the way, and celebrated those who had survived. Petal had informed Gerry that they were given the house as a gift from the City along with a symbolic key of freedom, meaning they could live out their lives without working or fighting. They were offered ambassadorial roles to teach the new generation about the city’s history.