There was a chorus of interest and questions from the children. Kassandra approached the group. Annabelle’s face lit up on seeing her. “Kassie!”
“Have you got a minute?”
“Sure.” Annabelle got up, and walked out to the catwalk.
“Where are you going, Miss Fortier?” several children asked.
“I’ll be right back,” Annabelle said, looking over her shoulder. She then turned back to Kassandra. “What’s up?”
“I’m in the Defenders now. Or at least training.”
“That’s fantastic!” Annabelle threw her arms around Kassandra. Then, she backed up, and looked at Kassandra’s face. “Why do you seem sad about it?”
“Because I won’t be living with you guys anymore. I’ll be at the training camp. I might not see much of you at all.”
Annabelle looked downcast. “Oh.”
“Yeah.” Kassandra said, in a resigned tone.
Annabelle sighed. “Well, you’re going to gather food for the rest of us. You’re the most important guys in here.” Some of the children began to leave the platform and walk towards them, oblivious to protests by the other teacher.
Kassandra and Annabelle’s eyes met. Kassandra smiled, and they hugged. “Don’t be a stranger,” Annabelle said, her eyes moist.
“Your kids need you,” Kassandra said.
“Yeah.” Annabelle turned, on hearing small footsteps. Some of the children had now reached the pair.
“Who’s that, Miss Fourtier?”
“Go back to class, André. I’ll be there in a minute.” Most of the mob headed slowly back. Annabelle turned back to Kassandra. “Get back when you can.”
“Will do, sis. Love you.” Kassandra turned, and headed towards the stairs at the center ring.
“I love you, too.”
----
“Are you the real leader?” David said, as he and Lord August sat on lawn chairs on level thirty, looking out over the vast depths of the silo.
“Yes, I am,” the old man said. “I started this place, over forty years ago.”
“Okay.” David said, awkwardly. “On our first night here, JC seemed to…”
Lord August flipped his right hand. “He’s a pretender to the throne. He’s been trying to convince everyone he’s in charge for years. And when I eventually go to the big silo in the sky, he will take over. Make no mistake, though. JC is essential to our survival. I can’t imagine a better military leader.”
David nodded. “What’s actually in there?” he asked, jerking his right thumb behind them, at the inner silo.
“A power station and a vertical farm.”
“How much space is taken up by each?”
“The power plant goes up to about level twenty-five,” August said, “and the farm goes from there all the way up to the surface.”
David approached the next sentence carefully. “Do you think it would be possible to tunnel through the wall, and get food directly from the farm?”
Lord August smiled. “I’ve thought about that many, many times, believe me. Everything needed to supply an eighth of a big city is right on the other side of that wall. However, there’s four meters of hardened, reinforced concrete between us and it.”
“But surely it could be done, given enough time?”
The old man’s brow furrowed. “Nobody’s got that much time. It would have to be a sustained effort for decades, probably. It’s bad enough we’ve got to clear out all those years’ worth of trash. That one’s on me, though. We didn’t know what else to do with it in the early days.”
“Robots,” David said, simply. “We capture some fluid robots and put them to work on those tasks. They can chip away at the wall, without ever getting tired, for however long it takes. The power consumption isn’t huge… we could spare it from other places.”
Lord August fixed David with a stare. “How would you propose we do that? It’s hard enough just to get food.”
“I don’t know. Get some brains together, confine them to one platform, and don’t let them off until they come up with a plan.”
“Fluid robots are expensive machines. People will pay a lot more attention to the theft of one of those than a few bits of food. You really think it could be done?”
David’s face was set. “Yes. Few things are truly impossible.”
“I’m not willing to risk our Raiders on something so foolish. Drilling through that wall is impossible.” Lord August folded his arms.
David opened his mouth as if to say something, and then stopped himself. Silence reigned for half a minute. Then, he said, “Those tunnels that go out either side from level fifteen. I hear they go to some kind of vertical shafts?”
“Yes. They allow access from the lower level of Lyon to the infrastructure.”
“Right.”
“The tunnels then continue to the next silos over, numbers six and eight.”
David raised his eyebrows. “Oh. So we’re connected directly to other silos like this one?”
“Yes. They also contain communities. At the moment, we have kind of an uneasy peace with them. As food grows scarcer in the city above, however, we’re competing with them for limited resources.”
“Not good.”
“No, it’s not. Number six—we know them colloquially as Sixers—is run along very militaristic lines. They have ties to the criminal underworld. A General Thayer is in charge, and he’s not someone you’d want to meet in a dark place.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The Fuse is Lit
Kato ran a hand through his hair, as he sat in his white leather seat the on the circular bridge of Revenant, and pressed ‘record’. “All the crew of Revenant, and I personally, thank you, our passengers, for your patience during this difficult time. The main news I’d like to convey is that Interplanetary Space Industries is building, at its own expense, a private Earth orbital transport interchange. Our engineering crews on Earth have labored around the clock to make this possible, and on-orbit construction is already at an advanced stage. Once complete, we will have our own private facility, independent of the Earth Transport Interchange, to transfer to and from surface shuttles. You will then be free to travel to and from the surface once again, and service to most of the Solar System will be resumed——apart from Mars, of course. Transportation to and from the Alpha Centauri system is unknown at this point. Further updates will be provided as soon as they are available. Again, thank you for your patience.” Kato pressed ‘broadcast’, and then sat back in his chair. He blew air out through puckered lips, and watched the panoramic display of Earth. He remained in an almost trance-like state, as California, the Pacific, and then Hawaii moved by below. “Susan…” he muttered, as he focused on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
“Tell me some good news,” Korolev said, from behind Kato’s right shoulder. “I could really use hearing some.”
“Oh, right. Yeah.” Kato swiveled his seat to face Korolev. “I’m afraid I don’t have any. I was just looking down on Hawaii, and thinking about the times my wife and I spent there. I miss her so desperately. But, I don’t wish this on her. Living through these times, that is.”
“I agree.”
Kato’s eyes narrowed, and his voice raised. His and Korolev’s eyes met. “You know what I think? I think that bastard sitting out there in the middle of that asteroid knew civilization would pretty much end without his having to do anything else, once the whole planet was given a death sentence. Six months is plenty of time for anarchy to take over, and most places to end up back in the Stone Age. Everything is then his for the taking. He might not even need to use his so-called Extinction Switch.”
“Good point. Either way, he’s got us all by the balls.”
“Unless our first strike works. They’ve already requisitioned the Arcadantera, so they must be getting her hold ready for the payload. By the way, I talked to General Phillips the other day, and things are going well with the nuke development. They have a plan to test them beforehand. T
hey’ll take one warhead a couple of light years away, offload it in space, and set it off at a good distance from the ship. Nobody on Earth will know—at least until well after this whole thing’s resolved itself.”
“We’ll do it, Kato. We’ll get to Seung Yi before he gets to us.”
----
Time check: 5 AM. Zara got up, turned the window glass clear, and looked outside. The street was picturesque and charming. People were already walking in both directions, their heads bowed. A fuzzy rainbow of colored light washed over everything, as sunlight refracted through the glass edge of the nearest pillar, a few hundred meters to the east (left from the window). As Zara looked that way, the blaze of the low early morning sun obscured almost everything, including the Fourvière hill that marked the city center. The grand jade cathedral roof completed the picture, as the great arches stood out in sharp relief. Other pillars, marching into the distance, shone brightly with reflected light. No drones could be seen. It was hard to imagine in that moment that anything bad could be happening. She just watched for several minutes. “Beautiful place,” she muttered. “I sure hope it survives.”
Akio stirred on the other side of the room. “Hi,” he said, shielding his eyes against the light.
“Hi, love. Ready to get back to it?”
“Wha… oh, yeah.” He rubbed his eyes. “I thought I’d dreamed it all…”
“If you look outside, it does look like something out of a dream. But, sadly, it’s not. She’s still out there somewhere.”
Akio nodded. “We should write Marie a thank-you note, if she’s not up yet. And note the address, so we can thank her properly once all this is over.”
“Yeah. Well, lazy man, let’s go. I’ve got about a million of these pictures to hand out.”
A few minutes later, they were standing on the street. Dazed, frightened people headed west, out of the city. Parents barked at crying children, who could barely stand with the loads in their backpacks. One little boy fell over and bawled. His father poked at him and shoved him with his foot. “Davide! Get up!”
“Stop! Let him rest!” his frantic wife admonished.
“There’s no time,” the thick-eye browed man replied. Two small, blonde girls either side looked around. There was a rushing sound overhead, and several of the car-sized black darts flew by in a line at low altitude. “See!” the man said, pointing up. He grabbed Davide’s backpack, yanking him to his feet.
As the family was about to pass them, Zara approached them, holding a picture of Kassandra. “Have you seen this woman?”
“Out of our way!” the man said, and they trudged on.
Zara turned to Akio. “Where are all these people going? How are they going to get there?”
“I don’t know.”
Others were heading into the city. Akio approached an elderly couple with a small dog. He handed them a picture. “Please, if you see her, get in touch. Details are on the back.”
The man nodded. “I’ll keep a look out.”
“Thanks.” Akio approached another inbound family. After giving them a photo, he asked: “Where are you going in Lyon?”
“We’re trying to find somewhere underground,” the mother said. “It’s our only hope. Don’t care where we have to sleep.”
“It’s getting dangerous here, though,” Akio said. “A lot of people are trying to escape this place.”
“We know,” the father said, crossly. “We’ve seen lots of them. But, what choice do we have?”
----
“I’m sorry you didn’t get to do your AVA or go through the graduation ceremony,” Asterope said.
“Yeah,” Kassandra said, wistfully.
“At least you’re partially trained,” Taygete said. “I just hope it’s enough. Your knife-throwing skills are great. I wouldn’t want to be your enemy.”
Kassandra smiled. “Thanks.” All around them, other Raiders, perhaps thirty in all, were suiting up in black pants and long-sleeved polo neck shirts made of a lightweight smart material. Kassandra pulled hers on. Both garments shrunk automatically to fit her body, without being overly tight. Taygete and Asterope then pulled on their black ski masks, which fit in the same way. Kassandra’s hair had been cut short so it didn’t protrude from the mask. Then came boots and gloves. After she was fully dressed, all three girls pulled on black backpacks, and then stuffed sheathed hunting knifes into each inside pants pocket.
Once everybody was ready, JC said, “You’ll be exiting from C and F tonight. It is precisely 2:05 AM. You’re due back by 3:50. If you’re not back, we’ll come looking for you. Everybody ready?”
“Ready,” Asterope said. Other pack leaders replied in the affirmative. JC raised both forearms in front of his face in an X salute. The Raiders did the same in reply. Then, one by one, the packs of three filed out along the catwalks towards platforms C and F, on opposite sides of the silo. Kassandra’s pack was the last to leave.
As they began to walk, JC put his hand on Kassandra’s shoulder. She turned to face his stony stare. “Don’t let me down, Nishimura.”
“Yes, sir.” She turned to follow the others.
JC’s grip on her shoulder tightened, and he spun her back around. “Did I say you were dismissed?”
“Um, no sir.”
“Those girls are some of my best. Do not screw up. I can’t afford to lose them. Am I clear?”
“As crystal, sir.”
“Get going.” Kassandra ran to catch up with the others.
“Verbal scorching?” Taygete asked Kassandra when she had re-joined them.
“Yeah.”
They walked across platform F, to the solid metal exit hatch, which stood open. Asterope exited first, then, Taygete, then Kassandra, into a long, featureless corridor that led directly away from the door.
“Ready to go ghost?” Asterope said.
“Ready.” They pinched a spot on the waistbands of their pants. The girls’ garments instantly turned into the static gray pattern of vertical lines which had made Josiah so hard to see.
“What’s so special about this pattern?” Kassandra asked.
“It confuses the cameras,” Taygete said. “And people.”
“Right.”
They headed down the corridor. It came to a T intersection. Another Raider pack had headed right, so Asterope indicated left. Another corridor, then a right turn. They were at an emergency exit, with its red EXIT sign lit. “This’ll be the first time I’ve been outside since we came here, nearly four weeks ago,” Kassandra said. Taygete nodded.
“Alright, the plan is this,” Asterope began. “We’ll exit onto Rue Louis Loucheur, which is an artery. Not much there. We’ll go left, then a hundred meters down is a right turn. That leads to a goods distribution network hub, maybe half a klick away. With luck, there’ll be nobody there. We’ll hit it for as much food as we can get and then head home. Got it?”
“Got it,” the others replied.
“Let’s go.” The exit led directly out onto the street, from a featureless gray concrete wall. It was empty, and resembled Rue Borchal in its depressing, utilitarian sameness——except for the smoke-blackened walls and roof. Small pieces of metal and glass littered the asphalt. Asterope pointed across the street, and then down it, to the left. The other girls silently followed. They snuck quietly along the wall, past several pairs of wide metal doors. All were closed. They were still twenty meters from the turnoff when headlights appeared in the distance, heading towards them. “Quick!” Asterope said. They sprinted, and made it around the corner while the vehicle was still far away.
“My God!” Kassandra said, surveying the street they were now on. “What the hell happened out here?” Wrecked vehicles covered the asphalt. The ground was burned around them, and pieces of exploded glass and parts lay strewn around. It was an industrial area, with loading docks, office doors and shutter doors lining the walls. Most were smashed in. There were no signs of life.
“Shh!” Asterope said. They ran along the right si
de of the road. Asterope suddenly pointed at a burned out vehicle. They scrambled to take cover behind it. “I thought I heard something.” All three girls listened intently, trying to control their breathing so they could hear properly.
Taygete peeked out, then looked at the others and shrugged. “Can’t see anything.”
“Let’s go then,” Asterope said. They resumed their run down the thoroughfare, and came upon an intersection. Taygete peeked around to the right, while Kassandra checked to the left.
“Soldiers to the left,” Kassandra whispered. “Down a ways.”
Asterope came to look. “They’re at least a hundred meters away. Just sprint.” They moved quickly across, out of sight of the squad. Another intersection, safe this time. Then more debris. Asterope indicated a doorway to their right, and they slipped into it. Once they were out of view from the road, Asterope pointed across the road, a little further up, and turned to Kassandra. “That’s the hub,” she said. “The GDN containers come up in there, and the contents are sorted. Trucks then take deliveries out to the apartments around here. Some of them are full of NBH, and those get emptied into a hopper, which sends it down the pipes to people’s homes.” Kassandra nodded. “We’ll rip the packages open, to try and find food,” Asterope continued. “If there aren’t any, we’ll try and get NBH. You can cook it.”
“It’s disgusting, but better than starving,” Taygete said.
“Right.”
“Let’s go.” A metal door faced onto the road. It was not recessed, so there was nowhere to hide. Taygete produced a device the size of a large penknife, and put the end against the lock. It emitted a soft hum and a clicking sound. Kassandra examined it. “Automatic lock pick,” Taygete said. “It hacks the electronic countermeasures as well as working the tumblers.” Asterope scanned their surroundings carefully, for signs of movement.
After an excruciatingly long time, the lock clicked open. “Sweet!” Taygete said. They entered a large, dirty warehouse, being careful to shut the door behind them. Hundreds of yellow, one meter-wide, cylinders stood on the left side. Some, towards the wall, were stacked three high. An automatic crane, with a three-pronged grapple, moved across a rail at the ceiling. It grabbed one. It was lifted and moved to the back of the space, out of their sight.
The Extinction Switch: Book three of the Kato's War series Page 13
