Stones: Experiment (Stones #3)

by Jacob Whaler

  Diego arrives at the entrance to Ryzaard’s office, out of breath, slate in hand. He pauses at the entrance until Ryzaard waves him in.

  “Where exactly is this new Stone?” Ryzaard paces back and forth in front of the window.

  “Inside a large freedom camp just outside Vancouver.” Diego looks up from his slate. “We have a satellite image of its location.”

  “On screen, please.” Ryzaard turns his back to Diego and looks out the window, hands clasped behind his back.

  Diego nods. The fingers of one hand drop to the slate and move in a circular motion.

  The view of Manhattan through the office window vanishes, replaced by a solid white background. A few seconds later, a satellite image appears, the words Stanley Park 49.30N 123.14W below it. It looks like a sea of green bordering on a sea of blue, dotted here and there with white and orange squares.

  “The area is full of large cedar trees, making visibility difficult.” Diego walks to the window and turns to face Ryzaard. “But you can definitely make out the freedom camp and see people walking and moving.”

  “Where exactly is the Stone?”

  Diego’s eyes drop to his slate. “Give me one second to overlay the location algorithm on the satellite image.” His fingers play over the slate like a master pianist might play a Mozart piano concerto. “Got it.” He looks up to the window.

  The satellite image zooms in and pans to the right and down. On the screen, a red dot appears in a sea of green next to a brown patch.

  “Looks like it’s under the trees, out of sight.”

  Ryzaard stands as rigid as a bronze statue, staring at the red dot.

  As he watches, the red dot slowly moves out of the green into the brown.

  “What’s going on?” Ryzaard says. “Why is the dot moving?”

  “The Stone Holder himself must be moving.” Diego’s fingers brush over the slate.

  “Is that the best resolution we have?”

  “One moment.” Diego drops the slate on Ryzaard’s desk and uses both hands on its surface. “I’m requisitioning additional satellites nearby. It should give us a cleaner image.”

  Ryzaard stares at the red dot. It’s now in the middle of the brown patch. Grey smudges move around it.

  The satellite image zooms in, and the grey smudges resolve into the shapes of running kids. The dot is flying back and forth between them.

  “What the hell is going on?” Ryzaard walks closer to the window and peers into the glassy surface.

  “Looks like a gathering of children.” Diego’s voice drops so it’s barely audible. “They’re playing catch with the Stone.”

  Ryzaard can’t believe his eyes.

  “Keep tracking it.” He turns away and takes his jax out of his pocket. “Captain Riley.”

  “Yes, sir.” A small blue face appears above the jax.

  “I’ve got another mission for you and your men. I’m sending you the coordinates now. It’s a freedom camp, just like the others you’ve seen.”

  The blue face nods in acknowledgement. “Will you be coming along for the ride, sir?”

  “I have other business to attend to at the moment,” Ryzaard says. “I’ll meet you there later.”

  “What exactly are your orders, sir?”

  “Orders?” Ryzaard looks surprised at the question. “Your orders are simple. Wipe them out. All of them.”

  CHAPTER 27

  Matt stares at the empty cloaking box.

  When he looks up at the blonde woman who handed it to him, his hands are shaking and he speaks slowly, with measured words, trying to suppress the urge to howl that wells up from his belly.

  “There was an object inside the box. It’s important. I need to get it back.” His voice grows louder with each word, rising to a crescendo. “Did you see it?”

  The woman’s eyes grow wide and her head slowly shakes back and forth. When she opens her mouth to speak, lips trembling, her voice drops to a whisper.

  “It was empty.”

  A wave of panic surges through Matt. Starting in his chest, it radiates out, up into his shoulders and abdomen. A cold sweat breaks out on his face. His legs start shaking.

  It’s been too long. Ryzaard knows we’re here.

  He turns to Eva, the woman with the black hair. “How long have Jessica and I been here in the camp?” He hopes she will say something like ten or fifteen minutes. Then they might have a chance.

  “Two, maybe three, hours. Why?”

  The panic turns to nausea. The contents of Matt’s stomach start to rise. A sharp pain jabs at his eyes from inside his head. His pulse begins to pound in his ears, and he loses his balance, stumbling forward, dropping to a knee.

  As he stares at the ground inside the tent, Matt’s eyes drop shut. A white light flashes. He hears the ringing of a distant bell.

  Through the white, he sees quad-rotor heli-transports shooting toward them like a swarm of black locusts. They land in an open area between trees, their side hatches bursting open, spilling out mercenaries in battle armor. Men and women rush into the trees to escape. Dust and smoke fill the air as the red lightning of pulse cannons rakes the camp. Magnificent trees explode and fall. Tents burst into flames. People scream and run into the sea.

  Matt opens his eyes to see dirty white canvas a couple of meters away. He blinks and realizes he’s on his back, looking up at the roof of the tent. A circle of eyes stare at him, and Jessica’s in the center. Her soft hand slips into his and gives it a firm squeeze. Someone puts a wet cloth on his forehead.

  “You blacked out,” she says. “Breathe.”

  Matt fights to sit up. “Evacuate the camp. Everyone has to leave. Get away.”

  “Why?” Eva pushes the others back and kneels in front of Matt, her hands on his shoulders. “Why evacuate the camp? That will take hours, if not days. We’ve been here for years. We don’t have anywhere to go.”

  Matt pulls Jessica’s face closer. “There’s no time. I’ve seen it. He’s coming.” He fights back another rising wave of nausea.

  “Who’s coming?” Eva says.

  “Ryzaard,” Matt says. “Attack ships. Just like what happened to Little John.”

  Eva staggers backward, her eyes sweeping the room. She speaks in a low voice, as if recalling a bad dream. “MX Global. They destroyed Little John’s freedom camp and tortured him. He warned us in his last message.” Her eyes meet Matt’s. “How long before they get here?”

  Matt shakes his head. “I don’t know. Minutes. You have to evacuate the camp. He’ll kill everyone.”

  “Where do we go?”

  “Into the city,” Matt says. “Spread out. Blend in. Wait for us.”

  The tallest man in the room stands up and walks forward. He has no hair and a dark beard and speaks with a deep voice, reminding Matt of a bald Abraham Lincoln. “Back to Vancouver? Blend in?” His eyes go to Eva. “It’s full of Abomination. I’d rather stay here and die.”

  Murmurs of agreement among the crowd.

  “No!” Eva says. “He is the Leader. Little John promised he would come, and he has. You saw the sign, just like me.” She picks up the statue of the monkey and waves it in front of everyone. “You all did.”

  “But he’s trying to lead us back into Abomination.” The tall man moves among the people in the tent. “Is that what a leader would do?”

  “There’s no time to argue!” Matt pulls himself into a standing position, leaning on Jessica. He rushes to Eva and brings his face close to hers. “Listen to me. Take all the people that will follow you. Make your way back to the city. Don’t take anything with you. Move under the trees, out of sight from above. Now that he knows where we are, Ryzaard will be tracking us with satellites. I’ll stay here and do my best to hold them off. Give you time to escape.”

  “But Matt. They’re after your Stone. We have to leave, too.” Jessica says.

  Matt shakes his head. “No, Jess. I brought the danger to these people. They’re innocent.” He bends to touch his f
orehead on her’s. “Go with them. I need you to stay safe and alive.”

  “But what can you do?” Jessica grabs his arm.

  “This will protect me.” He reaches under his shirt and touches his navel. The blue armor crawls over his body, becoming one with his skin.

  Everyone in the tent moves back, leaving only Jessica and Eva at his side.

  Eva turns to Jessica. “Come with me.”

  “No,” Jessica says. “I’m not leaving you, Matt. We’ve already talked about this. There’s nothing left to discuss.”

  “Then you’ll need this.” Eva runs to a corner of the tent and pulls up a blanket, uncovering the pulse rifle. She grabs it and tosses it across the room to Jessica, who snatches it out of the air with one hand. Then Eva goes to the tent entrance.

  “Eva, wait.” Matt bends and picks his jax up off the ground where the bald man threw it only moments before. “Keep this so I can find you.” He turns and tosses it to her.

  Eva catches it and holds it away from her body as if it carries some kind of contagion.

  “Abomination,” the bald man says.

  Eva sweeps the faces of the people in the tent. “The Leader has spoken. All who believe in him follow me. The rest of you prepare to die.” She disappears through the entrance.

  Out of fifteen people in the tent, nine leave and follow Eva. The rest stay inside crowding the bald man with the beard.

  “Come on Matt.” Jessica takes his hand. “Let’s get out of here.”

  On his way out, Matt grabs his backpack, swings it over a shoulder and rips the map of the camp off the side of the tent.

  When they emerge into the open air, the faint thump, thump, thump of approaching attack-helis is already coming from the south.

  CHAPTER 28

  Doesn’t look much like a weapon. All the better.

  Ryzaard palms it in his right hand. Shaped like a smooth sphere of carbonite and glass, it has no handle. A sunken handprint embedded in its surface serves that purpose. Where the ends of the fingers touch the sphere, slots appear for Stones, four of them already filled, tips pointing at the center.

  The fifth slot will be filled shortly.

  And the sixth open slot, directly underneath the palm, is reserved for Matt’s Stone.

  Walking the narrow dusty road between apartment buildings in the Moharam Bek district of Alexandria, it’s just past 3:00 AM local time. Ryzaard checks the blue holo map rising above his jax. Two dots, a blue one marking his location and a red one marking the target, are in close proximity, separated by only two blocks.

  In his tweed jacket and khaki pants, he looks like a ghost from the past, a professor of archeology from the latter end of the last century.

  Even at this late hour, the streets are crowded with Egyptian men and women, dressed in western clothes or flowing galabaya robes. He moves among them like a man passing through a vast wax museum, brushing against their still bodies as he makes his way closer to Dr. Hasina Kamel’s apartment.

  Even though he’s in time-freeze mode, she may still sense his presence.

  On the left, a string of new buildings looks freshly painted in blue and white. Ten meters directly across from them, on the other side of the road, there’s an older section of apartments, its colors indistinguishable from the thick dust that coats people and buildings alike.

  Glancing at his holo map, Ryzaard walks past two more side streets. He bumps into the rigid form of a solider with a pulse rifle dangling from his shoulder and turns sharply to the right, out of the crowd, down a crooked alleyway narrow enough for him to stretch out his arms and run fingers along both sides. Under his feet, a black rat the size of a Chihuahua stands in the middle of the cobblestone path, frozen in the act of darting into a crevice between buildings. Ryzaard looks closely and sees a kitten hanging from its mouth.

  Mice eating cats. The world truly is upside down.

  He moves on and passes another crevice marking the end of one building and the beginning of another. He glances at the jax. Five more paces and there should be an open doorway on the left.

  He looks up, and there it is. Dr. Kamel lives in this building, three floors up.

  Letting go of the present moment, time starts again. The sound of nighttime hustle and bustle filters in from the main street he has just left. Shadows move in both directions at the end of the alley. The rat disappears into the walls with its doomed quarry.

  Ryzaard balances the killing device in his right hand, palm underneath, steady and comfortable. The Stones burn with a low blue light, barely visible through the transparent surface in the darkness. With the exact GPS coordinates of Dr. Kamel’s apartment, he could easily jump there. But it’s too risky. If she is as well-trained in the use of the Stone as he fears, she will immediately sense his presence and react.

  The element of surprise will be lost.

  Better to approach slowly, carefully. He checks the holo image on his jax coming directly from hidden v-cams in her apartment. Dr. Kamel is asleep in bed, tired from a long day’s work.

  Ryzaard moves past an open hallway to the right and lifts his foot, resting it on the bottom step of a stairway leading up. He slowly ascends twelve creaking steps and comes out onto the second floor. A random voice yells at the far end of the hallway, and a door slams shut. He freezes in the darkness.

  A man in long, dusty robes walks the hallway toward him.

  Turning and stepping onto the stairs leading to the third floor, Ryzaard moves upward, closer to his destination.

  When he reaches the fourth step, he hears the man stop behind him at the foot of the steps.

  Ryzaard keeps moving.

  A hand grabs his shoulder.

  “Ana bhajh ela almal.”

  Ryzaard turns, inhaling the smell of cheap gin and looking directly into the crazed eyes. “No, I don’t have any money, but I’m happy to give you what I do have.”

  He grips the sphere and thrusts it forward, making contact with the man’s chest. At the same time, he pours his mind into his Stones. Four faint lines of jagged yellow shoot out of its center and into the man’s body.

  Bloodshot eyes look up at Ryzaard for less than a second before an intense fire illuminates them from within. The man’s mouth opens into a round O. A second later, his face and hands vanish, along with the rest of his body.

  Empty robes and gray ash drop to the steps.

  Ryzaard cocks his head and stares at the pile. Turning, he ascends the steps into darkness. At the top of the stairs, he walks down a corridor, passing closed doors on the right and left.

  He stops in front of number 313 and checks the image on his jax one more time.

  Dr. Kamel is still asleep.

  The door abruptly opens. “Come in, Dr. Ryzaard.” It’s a woman’s voice coming from within the apartment. “I’ve been expecting you.”

  CHAPTER 29

  “Can we go?” Yarah jumps in place, arms flapping like a chicken. “We could have so much fun with her in her world.”

  Leo looks away from Jhata. “I don’t know. We promised we’d stay here until Matt and Jessica come back. If they come back and we’re gone . . .”

  Yarah focuses her eyes up at Jhata. “We won’t be gone long, will we?”

  “Of course not, child.” Jhata bends and smiles at Yarah, reaching out a hand and stroking her long black hair. “Just a few hours. You can come back whenever you want. I’ve got so many interesting things to show you. And I just might be able to help Leo.” She stands up and touches him on the shoulder.

  Leo looks up from the ground. “Do you really think you could show me how to create my own world?”

  “It’s not that difficult.” Jhata smiles to show two lines of perfect teeth.

  Yarah pulls on Leo’s arm and screams with delight. “Let’s go!”

  “OK,” Leo says. “But just for a little bit. Then we have to come back.”

  Jhata stretches out her arms. “Gather around, children. I’ll take you there now.”

&
nbsp; Leo and Yarah each walk to the side of Jhata. She puts her hands on their shoulders, squeezes her fingers and pulls them in close. They all close their eyes.

  “Here we go,” she says. “You’re going to love it.”

  CHAPTER 30

  “Where do you think they’ll land?” Jessica points the barrel of the pulse rifle at the ground and stops, out of breath.

  Matt drops his backpack and stares at the map of the camp he ripped off the tent wall. A large open field at the center catches his eye.

  “Here.” Matt points at the field. “It’s the only place large enough for attack-helis.”

  He swings his gaze, trying to get his bearings. Through the trees, he can see the water of the bay a hundred meters to the south. A massive boulder juts out of the ground to the height of the treetops just on the right of the tent. Its top tapers to the water like a giant wedge.

  The roar of heli-transports is noticeably nearer, beating a rhythm that resonates in his chest. An image of burning trees and tents flashes before his open eyes.

  His muscles tense, and he freezes.

  Jessica grabs the map out of his hand. “We’re here.” She points to the red dot, and then looks up. “The open field is due north. This way.” She runs off through the trees with the map in one hand and the pulse rifle in the other. “Come on.”

  Matt pulls his backpack off the ground and sprints to catch up.

  As the two of them run hard through the forest, under the towering canopy of the cedar trees, a throng of hundreds of men and women, some pulling children with them, runs toward them from the opposite direction. The eyes of the crowd grow wide with surprise and fear when they see Matt and his blue skin, and they part to the right and left to let them through.

  Matt and Jessica stop in the center, watching the people move past them like a flood toward the city.

  Good, Matt thinks. Eva’s getting the word out.

  “What about the Stone?” Jessica drops the pulse rifle and leans on the reddish bark of a cedar tree. “You know we don’t have a chance without it.”

  Matt nods and looks in the direction of the fleeing people, chest heaving. Walking to Jessica, his hand reaches out and touches the bark close to her head. He leans in close.