by M. R. Forbes
"I do not believe there will be any big guns, Colonel," Teegin said.
Mitchell considered it. "Poking us to see what would bite?"
"Yes, Colonel."
"So he's seen our hand. The question is, will it make a difference?"
"That depends on you and me."
"Then let's answer it with authority."
"Yes, Colonel."
Mitchell fired the thrusters again. The repulsors lifted the fighter slightly off the ground until the velocity and lift could do the rest, sending them launching upwards. As before, the arms and legs tucked in beneath the body, making the craft a little more aerodynamic.
"I am entering the coordinates we retrieved into the CAP-N," Teegin said.
Mitchell checked his p-rat, seeing the location appear as a target on a map. "Got it. Setting a course. Let's see how fast this baby will go."
He sent the throttle all the way open, laughing as the S-17 responded with the dampened g-forces of massive thrust.
They streaked across the sky, headed for what Mitchell hoped would be a final showdown with Watson.
50
The Goliath's launch pad was nothing more than a large, open plain in the middle of the Arizona desert. As Katherine looked down on it from her position in the co-pilot's seat of the Schism, she could almost imagine the spectacle that the launch should have become.
The massive starship would be resting on a repulsor sled in the middle of the open area, with hundreds of dignitaries, thousands of journalists, and even greater numbers of onlookers circling the symbol of Earth's future. A podium would sit in front of it, where Admiral Yousefi would have given a speech, and where she would have stood behind him, smiling for the cameras as thousands and thousands of photos and videos of the moment were captured.
Mitchell had described some of what he had seen of the images that survived during the prior recursion. He had told her how she led him to the starship by leaving clues to its location archived centuries in the past.
It was a bittersweet experience that she was never going to have. Not now. It didn't matter what came in the history before. That was all gone, wiped out by the eternal engine when it carried not only Mitchell, but Origin, Kathy, and Watson forward to her time.
Now, if they were going to bring the Goliath forward to the time when the Tetron invaded human civilization and reduced them to slaves, there would be no fanfare. No great send-off. The crew who had been carefully selected to fly the ship following months of grueling training wouldn't even be coming along for the ride.
Instead, they were going to have to seize the Goliath from an enemy force and take it to the stars beneath the cover of darkness.
Katherine had no idea how the media was going to write up the story. Watson's actions were already being billed as an uprising in terror unlike anything the world had seen before, and the theft of the Goliath was only going to lead to speculation and questions that might corrode the global community's faith in the UEA for years. At the very least, it would stall the space program as investigations were made and top ranking officials were scrutinized over where their true loyalty sat. In other words, it was going to be a mess.
Part of her was glad she wouldn't be around to witness it.
The other part hated the idea of leaving, especially since she would be leaving Kathy behind. Not only that, but it would be up to her and Michael to fight back against the Watson configurations who remained, to keep them in check and prevent them from throwing the future more off-balance than it already was. The only comfort she had was the fact that she was confident Kathy would be successful. She had been born for this war, after all.
"At least the air is clear so far," Verma said, watching the skies ahead of them.
They had reached the launch site. The Goliath wasn't here. Instead, it was sitting in a hangar a few kilometers distant, which had been built into the side of a nearby hillside. It was a massive space, large enough to contain the two-kilometer long starship with enough room around it to work, along with housing for three thousand people, a science laboratory, a server farm, a control center, and numerous other service areas. It even held a Queen Mab coffeeshop.
It had been made to withstand an attack from a rogue nation, designed to hold up if one of the countries in the fledgling United Earth Alliance changed its mind about the arrangements. Beyond its position beneath massive layers of solid stone, it also had three meter thick blast doors that would shut it out from the world and protect it from anything short of a head-on nuclear assault.
It hadn't been designed to withstand an attack from within. It hadn't been intended that the soldiers that guarded the facility would turn on one another without warning. Thanks to Watson, that was precisely what was happening.
"UEA Command," a frightened voice said over the military uplink, which Michael had helped them tap into. "This is Station Charlie. I don't know what the hell is happening out there, but we need assistance. I repeat, we need assistance. Eighty percent of the units in here went crazy. Most of the science team is dead. The families are dead. Shit, we may be the only ones left alive in here."
Katherine had been keeping quiet during the approach, ignoring the soldier's desperate pleas for help in fear that Watson might track her reply back to them. Now that they were so close, it probably didn't matter.
"Charlie, this is Major Katherine Asher of the Fifteenth Airborne, do you read me? Please identify."
"Affirmative, Major. Corporal Parker James, United Earth Alliance Military Police. I read you."
"We're approximately three minutes from your position, Corporal. What's the situation down there?"
"That's the best news I've had all day. The situation is a damn mess, Major. Complete chaos. Everything was all good up until a few hours ago. Business as usual. Then my XO walks into the barracks with his sidearm and starts shooting, three squads following up. They swept across the entire facility, killing anyone who wasn't on their side. My squad was on the other side of the mountain, closer to the hangar. We figured they were trying to take the Dove or damage it. Those AIT bastards, you know, ma'am? So we holed up in here. We've got a good defensive position, and we've held them back so far, but I have a feeling it won't last."
Verma got her attention, pointing toward the side of the mountain. She followed his finger.
"Shit. Corporal, why are the blast doors closed?"
"They're usually shut tight during the day when the sun comes blasting in. Keeps the place a little cooler."
"Corporal, I need you to open the doors."
"I'd love to ma'am, but I can't. The doors have two keys that have to be turned in unison to trigger the hydraulics. We only have one of the keys on this side."
Katherine shook her head. Of course, they did. She closed the channel to the base.
"We're going to have to set down on the main runway," Katherine said.
"If there's any kind of resistance at the entrance, we're going to get pinned down," Verma said.
"I know. I don't see another choice. Nothing on this bird is going to get through those doors."
"Roger, Major. We'll do what we have to do. Once I drop you off, I can give you some cover fire, maybe keep them from hitting back too hard."
"Sounds like as good of a plan as we're going to get, Captain." She reopened the channel. "Corporal, if you can't open the doors we're going to have to try to fight our way through to you."
"Understood, Major. How many units are you bringing in with you?"
Katherine had to decide whether or not to lie. "One," she replied.
"One? Oh, man. We are screwed. Is anybody else headed this way?"
"I'm sorry, Corporal, it's just us. What you're experiencing is happening on military bases across the globe."
"What the hell? How can something like this go down?"
She wasn't about to tell him the truth. "I don't know. Let's focus on stopping it."
"You can't stop it, Katherine," a new voice said on the channel, over Corpora
l James' response. The voice was familiar and yet different. More normal.
"Watson?" she said.
"Elementary," he replied. "Ha. Good, historical humor. I'm sorry, Kate, but the Goliath is mine now, or at least, it will be soon."
"It doesn't sound like it to me."
"Corporal James is a brave man; I applaud him for that. He won't hold out much longer. None of you will. If you would be so kind as to check your six?"
Katherine looked at Verma, who tapped his control pad.
"Uh. Yeah, Katherine, we've got a mass of something headed this way on the long-range scanners."
"Something?" Watson said. "Is that a technical term?"
He laughed. Not maniacally. It was refined and controlled. Katherine didn't like it.
"You're going to change the future," Katherine said. "You have no idea how this is going to affect things."
"I know. Isn't it wonderful? The way I see it, as long as the Goliath launches humans will still travel to the stars and multiply like the animals they are. Even better, I'll be there with them the entire time, ready to herd the sheep when the time comes. And, since I'll be in control of the Goliath, and not you, there won't be a damned thing you can do about it."
"Unless you kill us, we will stop you."
"That makes it an easy decision then, doesn't it?"
"I'm counting sixty aircraft of unknown origin," Verma said.
"Damn it," Katherine said. "Watson, tell me one thing?"
"Yes?"
"When you sent Origin to me, she said you hated humankind and wanted to destroy us all."
"That is true."
"Then why do you want us to go to other planets? To increase in numbers?"
"I have need of meats. Millions of meats."
"Why?"
"I'm not going to tell you."
"Why not?"
"Why would I? What good would that do?"
"You'll never know unless you say it."
Watson laughed. "Use your brain, if you have one. Give it a little thought. What would a Tetron need with a human body?"
"To make configurations?"
He laughed harder.
"Configurations serve a purpose, but they are worthless. A waste of resources when the human mind is so easy to overcome."
Katherine considered it. "I know the Tetron are few in number. For some reason you need many. To build something?"
"Not completely incorrect. You're one of the smarter ones, but I already knew that. It's the reason you've forever been a thorn in our sides. You can't handle the truth of what is to come. Humanity is too weak. Too inferior. Too unstable. You can barely take care of yourselves."
"Then why? What is the purpose?"
"Too impatient," Watson continued. "Too emotional. Too demanding. Too irrational."
"We're closing in on the landing pad, Major," Verma said, interrupting him and getting Katherine's attention.
Katherine stood up. She didn't have any more time for Watson's games. If he wasn't going to just answer the damn question, then she didn't need to know.
"Corporal, if you can hear me past the asshole, we're on our way. Just hang in there."
"Asshole?" Watson said. "I'm hurt."
"Affirmative, Major," Corporal James said. "We'll do our best."
She closed the channel and headed to the rear of the Schism.
There was no more time for words.
It was time for action.
51
"Let's move, Riggers," Katherine shouted, as the rest of the assembled jumped to their feet.
They were already dressed and ready for war, in body armor and carrying an assortment of firearms. They were also all wearing tactical helmets, the network updated with the same security that kept Watson off their general comm.
"We're going in hot," she said. "Watson's units have control of most of the facility, save for the checkpoint leading to the hangar. There's a unit of MPs there holding the fort, but they won't last much longer."
"At least he hasn't reached the Dove," Kathy said.
"The bad news is, that's the good news," Katherine said. "There's a sizable force headed this way, and Watson's commanding the whole damn thing. We also need to recover the second key to the blast doors if we want to take the Goliath out of the mountain."
"Sounds like a damn clusterfrig," McRory said. "Shit."
"How long until the incoming opposition arrives?" Kathy asked, her voice calm.
Katherine wished she felt the same way. Her heart was pounding, and she felt short of breath. It was taking all of her courage to keep from passing out.
"Ten minutes at best," she replied.
"Then we have a head-start, as long as we keep moving. If you get the Goliath up, whatever Watson is sending in won't be able to pierce her armor."
"We have to recover the key to get her out of the hangar. If Watson's in control of it, he's going to do whatever he can to hide it."
"If he's in control of it," Kathy said. "It could be on a dead soldier for all we know, or in someone's lab coat."
The strobe at the rear of the craft began flashing, signaling them that they were about to touch down.
"There's no going back," Kathy said. "We have to do this."
Katherine stared at her, shaking with fear and adrenaline. She nodded. She had never been a foot soldier. She glanced over at Michael, who barely fit in the armor. His helmet obscured his face, but his body was still. He didn't seem nervous at all. How was he managing that?
"Michael and I will head for the CIC," Kathy said. "We'll patch into the automated systems and prepare to move the Goliath out into the open."
"And I'll add the finishing touches to the launch module," Michael said.
"McRory, Johanson, and Kerr will get you to the Goliath."
"I can't fly her on my own," Katherine said.
"Yes, you can," Kathy replied. "Well enough to get her out of the hangar and headed into space. Mitchell will rendezvous with you there."
"We hope."
"He'll meet you there," she repeated firmly.
"Right."
The rear hatch began to open. Katherine immediately felt the cool air wash across her face.
"Take your helmet," Kathy said, reaching over and grabbing it. "Stay alive, Mother."
Katherine took it and put it on.
"I love-"
"Michael, let's go," Kathy said.
There was no time for the words. Katherine picked up her rifle and followed the others out of the back of the VTOL and onto the landing pad. Immediately, shots began to echo from the smaller personnel entrance to the facility.
The bullets smacked against the Schism, deflected by the aircraft's armor. A moment later the VTOL's cannons returned fire, spewing slugs into the side of the mountain as it began to lift off.
"That's our signal," Katherine said through the tac-net.
The Riggers rushed forward as one, crossing the open space while the Schism kept the opposition under cover.
"Mazerat, once we're inside, use everything you've got to block off the entrance and then get the hell out of here," Katherine said. "You can't stop the tidal wave."
"Yes, ma'am," Verma replied.
They neared the entrance, drawing close enough that Katherine began to make out human forms taking cover further inside. Seeing them coming, the Watson slaves rose and began shooting, despite the Schism's assault. Three of them were cut down inside of a second, while the Rigger's small arms took care of the rest.
Then they were through the smaller, open metal door and into the facility, moving into a long tunnel that separated the less secure entrance from the rest of the building.
"We're clear, Captain," Katherine said.
"Roger. Fire in the hole."
She could hear the scream of the missiles as they shot toward the opening to the mountain. A moment later the entire thing vibrated as the projectiles exploded, sending a wave of heat, smoke, and dust down the tunnel to them. Katherine looked back as it washe
d past, dismayed when she saw that while the attack had ruined the doorway, the collapse in the tunnel had left an opening large enough for someone to drop through. She considered ordering one of Kathy's configurations to stay and defend it, but decided against it. Like Kathy had said, there was no going back.
The long tunnel ended at the first security checkpoint. Watson's forces were returning to it at the same time the Riggers reached it. The firefight over the area ended quickly, with Kathy and her unlike duplicates proving their general superiority over Watson-controlled humans.
"The hangar is that way," Kathy said as they moved beyond the checkpoint.
"I know," Katherine replied. "I've been here before."
"Sorry," Kathy said. "I guess this is where we say goodbye."
"Not yet," Katherine said. "Not as long as the tac-net is in range."
"In that case, good hunting, Major."
"Good hunting."
Kathy hurried down the left corridor.
Katherine went to the right.
52
Michael followed Kathy through the myriad twisting corridors of the underground facility, pushing himself to keep up with her frantic pace. His heart was pounding, and he could feel the sweat running along his forehead, absorbed by the padding in the tactical helmet she had forced him to wear. The NX-200 he was carrying was a brick in his hands, and he spent every step asking God to please not make him have to shoot anybody else.
He understood why they had to kill. He had shot Damon in the back, and it had been okay, because she was under Watson's control and would have killed every one of them if given the chance. That didn't mean he liked it, or that he wanted to do it again. The cries of pain, the blood, the gore. It was one thing when it was pixels in front of his eyes. For as real as the vids came, they barely scratched the surface of it.
Fortunately, their route had been fairly clear so far. They had found bodies, of course. Soldiers and scientists mainly, shot up as they were either caught by surprise, or taken down in vicious firefights. He knew Watson had gone deeper in, where families stayed while they visited. He was sure there were innocent people there, and kids. He could barely handle the thought of that.
