The GODD Chip (The Unity of Four Book 1)

by K Patrick Donoghue

Cassidy backed away. “If it’s a flaw, could it cause the repair to break down?”

  “It’s possible.” Yon returned her gaze to the holoimages. “But there’s something more basic I don’t understand.” She pointed at Hoot’s gutation repair. “Why substitute the blues for any of the reds in Billy’s binds? Hoot had her GODD chip for over twenty-five years and this repaired gutation is still intact. There’s no evidence of breakage, no indication of any structural weakness. That tells me this particular original smart protein is sturdy, reliable. So, why fix something that wasn’t broken by substituting a new protein?”

  Yon turned and discovered Cassidy’s eyes pulsing like Ellie’s often did when she transmitted or received data. Probably Maj. Spiers finally calling in, thought Yon. Bet he’s pissed about Takoda’s call too.

  CHAPTER 23: BITE OF THE VIPERS

  Sir Bryce Collins’ residence

  Malibu, California, Pacifica

  Sir Collins stared out the window and watched wave after wave crash onto the Malibu beach below. All the while, the latest communique from Sir Tripp weighed on his mind. That damned Jordyn will ruin everything! And if she does, I’ll have no one to blame but myself.

  While Collins had counted on the android’s determination to foil Beacon, he had underestimated her ruthlessness. She understands the nature of the threat with greater clarity than I anticipated. That circumstance was okay with Collins so long as Jordyn remained blind to his plan. But now, especially given the newly installed prefect’s communique, Collins wondered how much longer she would keep her Olympia brain core focused on Beacon instead of turning her attention to the Guild.

  Collins had never dreamed Jordyn would pose such a problem. As he had conceived her role, she was supposed to have been a pawn, like all the others in his plan, some of whom were witting—such as Rodrick, Antoinette and Miriam, as well as his agents inside NASF and Beacon, most notably the carefully cultivated Hawkeye.

  Others of Collins’ pawns were unaware of his invisible hand moving them about, including Sarah Hearns, Thompson, Munoz, Wells, Fujita and Spiers. Even Hoot and her NASF infiltrator, Willow, had unwittingly abetted the Guild grandmaster’s aims.

  It was among this latter group of clueless pawns Collins had intended for Jordyn to reside, but her fervor for protecting New Atlantia’s interests had driven the android to act as a chess piece with moves of her own.

  At first, Collins had tolerated her unexpected incursions into Carapach, believing they kept pressure on Beacon to find the chip. But Jordyn’s later moves, including the brutal interrogations of Hearns and Thompson, and sending Vipers to Kauai, risked waking other unwitting pawns. Worse, those moves had increased the likelihood she might actually succeed in blocking Beacon’s effort to acquire the GODD chip.

  Collins had employed hasty countermoves to thwart Jordyn by replacing Munoz with Tripp and enlisting Hawkeye to send forces to confront the Vipers, but there was no guarantee either counter would be successful.

  And now, her latest move threatened to unravel Collins’ entire plan! According to Tripp’s latest message, Jordyn’s commandos in Thunder Bay had wrested the knowledge of the family connection between Miriam and Mariah Bloom from the landlord of Miriam’s office. How stupid of Miriam to be so indiscreet! It was crucial for Beacon to connect with Antoinette. Miriam knew that! Why blab about her cousin to anyone? Foolish woman. Now NASF may beat Wells to Antoinette!

  That was an outcome Collins could not abide. Too much was riding on the chip finding its way into Beacon’s hands, especially now that the traitorous Lila was making so much progress in her jakali research. There was only one solution left. It was time to remove Jordyn from the game…peacefully and discreetly, if possible. By force, if necessary.

  Outside of the gutant refugee village

  Limahuli, Kauai, the Hawaiian Islands

  Caelan aimed his binoculars at the line of Vipers creeping toward the village from the west. In a whisper, he spoke to Elvis through his earbud radio. “Where are the rest of the buggers?”

  “Holding in place on the north side.”

  Lowering the binoculars, Caelan slid down behind the mound of volcanic rock and tapped his holoband. “Show me.”

  A second later, the video feed from one of Caelan’s nano drones appeared in the air above the holoband. Caelan could see the Vipers hiding on both sides of a trail that cut through the jungle.

  “Which squad is closer to the beach?” he asked Elvis.

  “The Vipers on the north.”

  Caelan turned to Ellie, who was crouched beside him. Next to her was her Steel, the one she called Ake. “The Vipers to the west are going to create a diversion to draw the villagers to defend that side of the village. The others will sweep in from the north. They must have already ID’d the girl. They must know where she is. Do you know what she looks like? Can you transmit an image of her to Elvis? He’ll route it to the others.”

  “I have several stored, but they are two years old.”

  “Doesn’t matter. Send them all.”

  “Okay…done.”

  “Good,” Caelan said. “Elvis, you have them?”

  “Affirmative. Received and distributed.”

  “All right, send Devo into the village. See if he can spot the girl. Start on the north sector of the village. The Viper squad is on the north side for a reason. They’ll want to get in, grab her and get out quickly. Report back the girl’s position ASAP.”

  While Caelan waited for a response from Elvis, he once again turned his attention to Ellie. “Do you trust me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then, take Ake, work your way down to the cove. Stay off the trail, keep clear of any Vipers. As soon as you hear the fireworks start, destroy the Vipers’ raft. It’s a sitting duck. If you can, take out the guards too.”

  Earlier in their reconnaissance, one of Caelan’s nano drones, Devo, had spotted two of the Vipers in a small cove. They were guarding a large, motorized raft sitting on the beach. Caelan suspected the NASF androids had used the raft to come ashore, which meant they most likely had a larger ship or seaplane waiting out in the ocean. While there was nothing he could do about the vessel out at sea, he could contain the Vipers on the island.

  “No,” said Ellie, “we were sent to protect Avana. We will enter the village and bring her out.”

  Caelan smiled and cupped his hand on her cheek. “Aye. I believe you would, luv. But you can better protect Avana by doing what I say. There are too many Vipers. You won’t get past them. Neither will my Makoas. We can confuse them, flush some of them into a kill zone and thin their advantage, but they’re going to get the girl. And when they do, you and Ake will be the last ones standing in their way. Pin them down as long as you can and, hopefully, we can finish them off together.”

  “What if they don’t intend to take her from the village?” asked Ellie. “What if they intend to kill her on sight?”

  “If they wanted to kill her, they wouldn’t be setting up a diversion. They’d rush the village from all sides and kill everyone they encountered. No, luv, trust me, these Vipers intend to capture Avana and take her down to the boat in the cove.”

  “He’s right, El,” said Ake. “My chassis may be Steel, but my brain is still Makoa. The Vipers are arrayed for a snatch op, not an assassination. And he’s right about another thing. We’re outnumbered and outgunned. Stringing them out, picking them off, knocking out their escape route is the way to go.”

  Elvis’ voice cut through the conversation. “Devo found her. Transmitting coordinates to all units.”

  Caelan leaned forward, touching his forehead against Ellie’s. “If you trust me, luv, you’ll do as I ask.”

  He felt her tug away. Looking up, he saw Ake pulling Ellie by the arm.

  “Come on,” Ake said. “Time’s a-wasting.”

  Ellie fought against Ake for a moment, her eyes locked on Caelan. Then, without a word, she turned and began to run with Ake at her side. Caelan tapped his earbud and spoke to
Elvis. “All right, boys. Time to make a little noise.”

  Lotus’ jakali colony

  North Shore, Kauai, the Hawaiian Islands

  Akela was still arguing with Lotus when he heard a rumble sounding like distant thunder, which struck him as odd given it was sunny and the sky was clear of clouds. He turned around in a circle, unsure of where the rumble had originated. Had the jakali hunters from the plane already found some prey? The rise of a second roar seemed more like the echo of a mountain tremblor, but this time Akela was able to narrow in on the general direction of the sound’s origin.

  “What is that sound?” Lotus asked.

  A third and fourth tremor shook the ground. Akela began to walk toward the jungle, his mind now confident of the direction of the sounds. The rumbles were too loud to be coming from far away and there was only one landmark in between the sounds and Akela. With Lotus at his heels, Akela trotted through a hundred yards of foliage before he caught a glimpse of smoke rising above the jungle. He turned to Lotus. “The village! Something’s wrong. I have to go.”

  As he bolted away, he heard Lotus close behind him. “Wait! Wait up.”

  Ignoring her plea, Akela raced onward, his mind moving as fast as his feet. What could be happening? Did the fuel tanks explode? An accident at the Makoa garage? Through the slap of palm fronds against his arms and the crunch of branches beneath his feet, Akela heard the spit of laser rifles and the staccato of gunfire. He came to a halt and spun around. Lotus was nowhere in sight but he could hear sounds of disturbance in the jungle. Akela shouted, “Where are you? What have you done!”

  Lotus shot into view and collided into him. Akela grabbed hold of her shoulders and shook her. “Listen! You hear that? The village. It’s under attack. You lured me away and sent in your mongrels.”

  Another explosion staggered both of them. Gasping for breath, Lotus grabbed onto Akela’s waist and steadied herself. “No…you’re wrong…I have nothing…to do with it…”

  “Liar! Devil!”

  Akela threw her down and took off again. More smoke billowed up above the trees. Akela charged forth, branches and vines raking his bare torso, arms and legs. Another two hundred yards passed by before he realized the explosions and gunfire he was hearing were being traded back and forth. There was a battle going on, all right, but unless jakalis had suddenly acquired rifles and bombs, it wasn’t between his villagers and the beasts. A raid by another village? Akela wondered. There were several others on the island, but Akela could not fathom a reason why any of them would turn on his village. Pirates, maybe? He knew they roamed the waters around the islands, picking off supply vessels and sinking ships loaded with exiled jakalis. Are they targeting villages now, too?

  Pressing past the waterfall where he and Avana had been surrounded by jakalis just two days ago, Akela picked up his pace until he staggered into a clearing with a view of the village. Looking down the hillside, he stopped in his tracks.

  The melee was incomprehensible. The flash of laser beams and tracer bullets crisscrossed in every direction, inside and outside of the village. Fires dotted the landscape. To Akela, it seemed as if dozens of independent battles were underway.

  Ducking low, he looked down the trail toward the Makoa garage. It was only a few hundred yards away and, by the looks of it, was not part of the battle. If there were weapons to be had, it was the only place Akela would find one between him and the village. Keeping as low as he could, Akela began to scurry along the trail, but just as quickly as he started, he froze. There was a sharp crack of a snapping branch from behind. He whipped his head around and saw Lotus stumble into the clearing and splay onto the hillside’s red clay. In a sharp whisper, he said, “Stay down. Don’t move.”

  He crawled toward her as new explosions rocked the valley below. She lifted her head and gaped at the battle engulfing the village. “What in the hell…”

  “Shh,” admonished Akela. “Lower your voice.”

  On her hands and knees, she scooted forward. When they met, she whispered, “What’s going on? It looks like a war.”

  “I don’t know, but we can’t stay here. Come with me.”

  Rising into a crouch, Akela headed for the garage. Lotus followed close behind, her hand pressed against Akela’s lower back.

  “Those aren’t jakalis,” she whispered.

  “I know, I know. It’s either a raid by another village or pirates.”

  When they neared the garage, Akela ducked behind some bushes and tugged Lotus beside him. “You stay here. I’m going to see if I can find a weapon in there.”

  “Why?” Waving her hand toward the village, she said, “You can’t do anything against all that.”

  “Just stay here. Keep out of sight. If I don’t come out in a minute or two, get the hell out of here. Go back into the jungle.”

  Against her protests, he pushed up and ran for the garage. A bay door was wide open, no doubt all the docked Makoas had rushed out after the first explosion. Definitely has to be pirates, thought Akela. The chiefs of the other villages knew where Akela stored his android militia. If they were the attackers, the garage would have been their first target.

  He dashed to the edge of the bay and ducked down. Peeking into the shadowed interior, Akela saw no signs of activity and, just as he had speculated, all the Makoa docks he could see were empty. After a deep breath and quick prayer to the four gods, Akela entered. He swept his head left and right to scan the rest of the garage as he hustled to the weapons storage locker.

  As soon as he saw the lock was still intact, he turned and headed for the side office where the key was kept. Akela was within two steps of the office when he heard two sounds. One was the voice of Lotus. “Akela! Come quick! I know what’s happening!”

  The second was the sound of a crying child. Akela looked into the office and saw RJ curled up under a desk, hands covering his ears and teary eyes shut.

  Miriam Heinz’ farmhouse

  On the outskirts of Thunder Bay, The Northlands

  Throughout the hitched ride to the outskirts of Thunder Bay, Takoda had been consumed by nagging questions, puzzles that had continued to dog him during the five-mile walk to Miriam Heinz’ farmhouse after parting ways with his ride. Riddles that even now, as he hid behind bushes next to Miriam’s property, demanded answers. First, how did Toni Gilbert acquire the GODD chip? To Takoda, it seemed strange that an evvie would end up in possession of Mugabe’s technology.

  The story peddled to the public was that all of Mugabe’s research, including her inventory of chips and smart proteins, had been burned at the stake along with the scientist. Takoda was skeptical enough to believe that story untrue. He could easily imagine Mugabe stashing away duplicates of her work before publishing her heretical study. She had to have known the blowback would be fierce.

  The romantic in Takoda wanted to believe that her elusive patient-zeros, her so-called Zeros, or trusted colleagues had banded together to protect Mugabe’s secrets all these years. But the longer he pondered that theory, knowing now that an evvie possessed the chip, it caused another uncomfortable question to arise. Why now? Why had Mugabe’s Zeros waited over twenty-five years to reintroduce the chip? His romantic premise was further shaken by the discovery that Hoot had been a Zero, leading to more troublesome questions. If Mugabe’s Zeros were the ones behind the reintroduction of the chip, why hadn’t Hoot been in the know? Why had she been searching for it herself?

  If Takoda put his romantic premise aside, stepped back and started with a clean slate, asking the same question – how and why had the chip reemerged? — several thoughts came to mind. Someone had found a stash of Mugabe’s research. Someone had come in contact with another of Mugabe’s Zeros beyond Hoot. Someone had started afresh with Mugabe’s concept and created their own chip and proteins. Of the three alternatives, the most probable to Takoda was the first. Someone had come across whatever Mugabe tucked away.

  Building upon this theory, it seemed reasonable to assume the “somebody�
� had been a geneticist. The average Joe wasn’t capable of gleaning the technology’s secrets. Even for a skilled geneticist like Takoda, it would have required years of study just to understand the technology’s secrets, let alone try to replicate it.

  So, following that logic, Takoda assumed the geneticist, or a team of geneticists, had been studying the technology for some indeterminate period. And then, within the last year, or maybe longer, he, she or they began testing it. Given Sarah’s description of Billy’s recruitment, it seemed clear he had been targeted to receive the chip. Was it an early-stage test? Or had the chip already been perfected? Was Billy the only recipient of the tech? If not, how many others received it? These and other questions needled Takoda. But they wouldn’t for much longer.

  Staring at the Miriam Heinz’ garden from the cover of her neighbor’s bushes, Takoda watched Antoinette Guilbert pluck vegetables from their vines. She sniffed and handled each one as if trying to decide their worth before dropping them into the basket crooked in her arm. As she turned and headed back toward the farmhouse, Takoda emerged from the bushes and announced himself.

  Glick’s team had Takoda in their sights long before he snuck into the yard of Miriam Heinz’ neighbor. It would have been so easy to rip off a few blasts of their lasers and fell the man, but counselor Jordyn had been adamant. She wanted him captured. She commanded the same for the wispy, barefoot blonde picking veggies in the garden.

  That suited Glick just fine. His commandos had both properties surrounded. With additional Vipers at each corner of the street, there was zero chance either target could escape. So, take your time, Beacon rat, Glick thought. We’ll wait ’til you cozy up with the dishy blonde.

  Moments later, Glick watched Takoda appear from the bushes and walk toward the farmhouse. “Target is on the move. Get ready to close in on my command.” Turning to the commando next to him, Glick said, “Patch me through to counselor Jordyn.”