“That’s part of why I was reaching out.”
Kay’s brow furrowed and the pulse in her neck quickened. “Go on.”
“The missiles from Vandenberg impacted that ship, that part is true. But the propaganda the government’s putting out that the ship was destroyed isn’t.”
That sinking feeling in Kay’s gut was getting worse. “I did get a bunch of PMs from friends at the European Space Agency refuting the ship’s destruction. I suppose I just didn’t want to believe it.”
“I’m sorry.” Ramirez went away for a few minutes and then returned to write. “There’s something else and I wanted you to be the first one to know about it. President Taylor was taken off life support.”
“What? On whose order?”
“President Myers, but he’s claiming the ex-First Lady made the decision.”
“Oh, no.”
“Myers also expedited the executions of the cabinet members he accused of orchestrating the downing of Marine One. Myer’s grip on power has officially been consolidated.”
Kay felt the world swimming away from her. To be hit by so much in one shot was almost too much to bear. With Sentinel digging in its nails and the doomsday ship still on its way, only one thing was clear. In less than eighteen hours, the human race would top the list of endangered species.
Chapter 38
18 hours, 22 minutes, 57 seconds
Jack was standing next to the pedestal, struggling in vain to get it to light up again, when he caught sight of Grant in the distance, plucking a wisp out of the air. At once, the biologist hurried over to a folding table and microscope he had set up.
Stokes and his men continued to sweep the rest of the chamber, ensuring nothing aggressive was using this place as a den.
Not far from Grant, Anna appeared to be teaching Ivan about humor, Yuri looking on like the one boy at prom without a date.
“I don’t get it,” Dag said, rubbing the round surface the way a man might rub a prized bowling ball. “Grant was the only one that had any luck with this thing,” Seconds later, his grimace deepened when the light show still failed to start. “Guess I’m not the chosen one,” he joked.
“That’s too bad,” Jack replied. “Maybe we could have gotten some answers.”
Dag starred down at his feet. “You realize this ship is not only twice as big as the Atean craft, it’s also far more advanced.”
Jack nodded. “The thought had crossed my mind.” He glanced at Gabby, who came to stand next to him.
Dag straightened. “I mean, the power requirements alone for something this size are so much greater, not that the other one wasn’t impressive.”
“No, but I see what you mean,” Jack said. “We know the first ship impacted sixty-five million years ago, wiping out the dinosaurs along with a flourishing Mesonyx civilization. We also know they built an entire city on top of the ship we’re in now. Which means this must have crash-landed on Earth long before that.”
“Well, two hundred and fifty million years ago was the Permian extinction,” Dag said, drawing the next logical inference.
Gabby tightened an arm strap on her exoskeleton suit. “Since we’re quite certain the arrivals of these ships are tied to the major extinction events in Earth’s history, then it could be even older.”
A light went on behind Jack’s eyes. “The Cambrian explosion?” he asked, breathless.
Dag shook his head in disbelief. “But that was five hundred and forty million years ago.”
“It’s a long time,” Gabby replied. “I think you two are missing the most obvious point.”
Jack caught her eye. “Which is?”
“How is it possible that the older of the two ships is also the more advanced one?” she said.
Both men grew quiet, contemplating the magnitude of Gabby’s question.
“Time travel?” Dag said, jumping as usual to the wildest solution.
“Given the similar shape of both craft, we simply assumed this was an Atean ship,” Jack said, trying to rid himself of preconceived notions. “Or at the very least from a civilization closely linked to them. But you’re suggesting they may not be connected after all.”
“Not only might they not be connected,” Gabby replied, “but the mighty beings who built this vessel may not be the ones who created the Ateans in the first place.”
“Stop, you’re blowing my mind,” Dag said, clutching the sides of his helmet.
Jack laughed. They were almost there, he could feel it. A single outlying puzzle piece was all that remained for all of the disparate clues they’d found to fall into place. He was sure soon enough, this whole mess would all make sense.
“Well, I’ll be a green jammied bugger,” Grant swore in his uniquely British way.
“Add another wisp to your collection?” Jack asked, about to suggest they wrap it up and head to the main structure.
“We couldn’t have been more wrong about these wonderful creatures,” Grant said, rushing out the words before they could get away from him.
Anna turned and began heading toward him. “What have you discovered, Dr. Holland?”
From Jack’s point of view, describing the creatures here as wonderful seemed almost inappropriate, given one of them had killed Peterson and another had turned Diaz into a human shish-kabob.
Slowly, the team members filed in around Grant. “They aren’t animals,” he said, breathless. “Not as we understand the term. Do you recall in the lab when we were first analyzing the samples you brought back?”
“How can I forget?” Jack said. “You told us they didn’t have any DNA.”
“And that they weren’t carbon-based,” Dag added.
Still seated, Grant spun to face them. “That’s right. They had a completely different molecular arrangement. The first authentic silicon-based life ever discovered. But you see, that’s where I was wrong. The millions and billions of units which make up the bodies of these creatures aren’t cells. They’re highly advanced self-replicating nanobots.”
Jack felt the muscles in his jaw go slack. “Say that again?”
Grant stood and held him by the shoulders. “Tiny molecular-sized robots programmed to perform specific tasks. One of those tasks is self-replication. In this case, it appears to happen when one creature consumes something from its environment. Don’t you see? It’s a perfectly balanced ecosystem inhabited almost entirely by robots.”
“So these nanobots gain energy from their environment,” Gabby said. “And use the food they eat as the raw molecular materials to build a copy of themselves.”
“Yes,” Grant said emphatically. “Which implies there must be some form of communication between these nanobots for them to know what sort of cell they’re supposed to be. In humans that’s the work of DNA. In these creatures, there may be another mechanism at work.”
“Perhaps they’re more flexible,” Jack suggested.
Grant threw him an inquisitive look. “In what way?”
“I’m not sure,” he continued. “Perhaps given the right instructions, a nanobot coded to be part of a toenail might reconfigure itself as a skin cell. Imagine the ultimate stem cell. I did notice the soil shimmering when I first arrived. You said yourself it was largely composed of discarded nanocells. Perhaps they’re using some form of biophotonics.”
“But Dr. Holland,” Anna interjected. “If these nanocells continue to replicate, what might that mean for the most successful among them?”
“They would become huge,” Grant replied, the full impact of his words hitting them all at once.
“I guess we know how the behemoth got so big,” Jack said, his mind still reeling.
Stokes readied his M4 rifle, the whiskers from his handlebar mustache twitching in the soft glow of his helmet light. “Nanobots or not, I suggest we get moving before dark settles in.”
Chapter 39
Soon, Jack and the others were out in the open again. The sun, or the artificial light source that was tasked with mimicking one, wa
s well on its way to setting. But fading light wasn’t the biggest problem they were facing.
“I thought you said head east,” Stokes shouted impatiently at Kerr. “Make up your mind.”
“Don’t you see, Sarge,” Kerr replied, pointing at the overhead image they were using to guide them. “In here, there is no north, south, east or west. About all I can do is point this way and that.”
“No wonder we’re lost,” Dag stammered, scanning the imposing thicket of brush around them.
“Lemme see that,” Jack said, moving in and taking hold of the overhead view. Anna’s drones were still flying above them, but the challenge was identifying any kind of usable landmarks. “Okay, so we’ve got what looks like a high peak about three hundred yards to the left of the main structure. And both of them run parallel to the strip of swamp we crossed. The way I’m reading this thing, we’re heading back towards the water.” Jack rotated until he was facing a hundred and eighty degrees. He lowered his hand in a chopping motion dead ahead of him. “I bet if we head in this direction, we’re sure to cross the main structure.”
Jack was no sooner done speaking when he felt the ground tremble beneath his feet. He and Stokes shared a knowing look.
“Please tell me that isn’t what I think it is,” Grant pleaded.
The trembling grew louder.
“The behemoth,” Dag murmured in terrified awe.
“All right, Jack,” Stokes snapped, moving forward at a brisk pace. “I sure hope you’re right about this.”
“Me too,” he whispered.
They continued hacking their way through the undergrowth, but the shaking was only getting stronger.
“We’re not going to make it,” Gabby shouted.
“Stay calm,” Jack said, falling back behind her. “Let your exoskeleton do the walking.”
“Walking? I want it to fly.”
“What the hell is this guy’s problem anyway?” Dag asked, powering past them. “What’d we ever do to him?”
“It’s clearly territorial,” Grant said, panting. “And for all we know of its biology, maybe it’s in heat.”
“Very reassuring, Grant,” Jack said. “Why don’t we put the theories on hold for now?”
Close behind, trees were getting knocked over like blades of grass in a high wind.
“I see an entrance up ahead,” Stokes called out with noticeable relief.
Toward the back of the line, Ivan was steaming forward, his upper torso rotated so that his twin guns covered their escape. But behind him were the two robotic pack mules, their thin legs pistoning up and down as they struggled to keep up.
Jack spotted the opening and then made the mistake of turning around. He could see snapshots of the creature in the fading light as it stomped through the alien jungle after them. It was nearly half the height of the tallest tree, with thick legs and flat rounded feet. Its torso was bulbous and jiggled as it moved. Nevertheless, Jack saw hints of muscle rippling beneath its grey flesh. Further up the torso, the beast’s head was a rounded, neckless mass, dotted with dozens of glowing silver eyes. But the mouth was what stayed with him the longest, a giant maw filled with sharpened teeth that hung open, waiting to be filled. Protruding from the center of its chest was a single arm punctuated by a three-digited claw it now used to swoop down and scoop up the closest robotic mule. The animal’s legs continued jostling through empty air as the behemoth shoved it into its mouth and crushed it with a single bite. A second later it repeated the act on the other mule. Ivan was next in line and he sprayed the creature’s torso as they ran for their lives.
“In the face,” Jack shouted over the radio. “Shoot it in the face.”
His treads whirring up and over an embankment, Ivan did so, tracers marking a path up its chest and peppering its eyes and face. The creature lowered its head, Ivan’s shots hammering the top of its incredibly thick skull. They were less than fifteen feet from the opening now and Jack could see Stokes and Kerr had dropped down on one knee and were firing back at it. That was when that giant claw swung down for a third time, closing around Ivan and lifting him straight into the air. Its fingers locked in a crushing embrace, Ivan continued firing until he disappeared into the creature’s mouth.
Jack reached the opening in time to see it turn and fade back into the jungle. Uncharacteristically, he felt a surge of sadness welling up within him. Ivan was dumb as a brick, but he had been loyal and he had saved their lives more than once. But most of Jack’s sadness wasn’t for himself. What weighed on his heart most was knowing how crushed Anna would be. Worst of all, he didn’t relish being the one to tell her.
Chapter 40
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Mia barked. She was standing at the door to her research lab, her fists clenched, white hot with anger at the sight before her. Alan’s men were in her lab, pulling out drawers and dumping them on the floor. In a pile ten feet away, she saw reams of data on the twins she had carefully organized into folders.
In the middle of it all was Alan, calmly sitting before her computer terminal, clicking through the files she kept there. He glanced up at her and tisked, waving his finger at her. “Mia has been a naughty girl. You’ve been holding out on your old boss, haven’t you? Been keeping secrets.” He stood. “Oh, don’t forget, darling, I was a researcher too once. Not to mention, I’m the one who got you started, took you under my wing. I recognized the lure of uncovering perhaps the greatest evolutionary leap forward in human history would be too much to pass up. All I needed to do was provide you with the tools you needed and a little motivation and you would work your magic.
“It’s hard for the average man on the street to understand what it’s like for people like us. That feeling we get when we’re on the trail of a major breakthrough. When you catch the smell of blood in the wind.” Alan lifted his nose as he sniffed the air about him. “There’s something almost primeval about it.
“Don’t get me wrong, I had faith in your talent, even though it lacked refinement and above all confidence.” Alan tapped the top of the monitor. “But let me say, I never expected your achievements to exceed my wildest dreams. Which, of course, brings me back to the lying. You remember the legend of Blue Beard. I’m sure you do. The one where he offers his wife everything her heart could possibly desire with but a single caveat. She is never to enter the room in the cellar. Short of breaking that little rule, a life of eternal happiness awaits her. For a while she manages to ignore that teeny, tiny voice whispering in her ear to take the key. It’ll only be a little peek and he’ll never know. Soon enough that whispering voice becomes a roar and she starts to weaken and does the one thing he specifically told her not to.” Alan rose to his feet, glaring at her, his chest heaving, his eyes ablaze, and suddenly Mia was down on the ground in that hotel room again, staring up at that same bristling, demonic face. Her legs began to buckle and the blood drained from her face. She steadied herself against the doorframe and fought to regain control.
“I want you out of my lab right now,” she shouted, charging forward with enough force that two of Alan’s men had to grab her by the arms and hold her back.
Alan hardly seemed to notice. He picked up a handful of printouts, scanning the page. “When I first saw the 47th chromatid I wanted to believe it was nothing more than a dumping ground for garbage genes,” he said. “An ingenious method for thinning out the least worthy. Then came a strange pattern in the DNA, something that went beyond the typical distribution of ACGTs. But it wasn’t until the 48th showed up that I knew we had something truly special on our hands. The first few genes for increased bone density and resistance to radiation—well, those are good for cockroaches. It was with the last two that things really started to get interesting. Minds reaching across space and time to speak with one another. There’s poetry and beauty in that, no doubt about it. But in my estimation, MRE11 really steals the show. Imagine, a gene that repairs errors in your DNA so effectively, it can quintuple the average human lifespan.” The lig
ht in Alan’s eyes began to dim.
“As smart as you are, Mia, you were always slow to see the bigger picture. This isn’t really about stopping kamikaze spaceships. Believe me when I tell you there’s nothing to worry about there. And yes, your friend Ollie is up to his old tricks again. He blew up one of my rocket pads. I can tell you this because you’re bound to find out sooner or later. But rest assured, there is always a backup plan, my dear. How does the saying go, ‘save the best for last’?
“What you also missed is that this isn’t about scientific breakthroughs. We are in the midst of a biological revolution and you and I are on the losing end.”
Mia stared at him, beginning to see the disturbing direction this was heading in.
“The extinction of the human species. Ha! That’s a joke. This is about the extinction of Homo sapiens 1.0. In other words, those without Salzburg. It took me a while to see it myself, I won’t lie. But once I did, the clarity hit me like the blow from a hammer. Pow!” he shouted smacking the palm of his hand against his forehead. “At first I wanted to know what the syndrome was and the code buried deep inside of it. Then, when I realized I could never have it, I wanted to destroy it. Now, with your help, I’ve reached a brand-new epiphany. On nearly every level, those with Salzburg are smarter and stronger than the rest of us. Doomsday ship or not, over the next few centuries, they will eventually replace us, the way we once replaced Neanderthals. Fighting them directly will prove a fruitless pursuit. Which is why I want to join them.” He waved pages of Mia’s research in the air, wielding it like a weapon. “And you, my dear, are going to marshal all of the knowledge you’ve gained at my expense to start the process.”
“You’re mad,” she said, her feet sliding on the floor as she tried to back up. Alan’s men held her in place.
“You love those twin girls, don’t you?” he said, his silver eyes locked on hers. “Love them almost as much as you love your daughter. Let me assure you, they will be the first to die and I will make you watch every excruciating second of it.”
Extinction Crisis Page 18
