RIFT (The Rift Saga Book 1) (11 page)

Chapter 12

DAVE

“You shouldn’t tinker with that.” Dave sat up and removed his hands from the keyboard as Senior Technician Hasle entered. Hasle had gone easy on him for the last week since Dave returned from his stint out in the field. The old man probably knew. Probably been there once. Dave couldn’t remember all the details, only that there had been something frightening, something trying to kill them all. Monsters. They had gotten Greer. He vaguely remembered being told in debriefing, but everything else was shrouded in a haze. He had one image of Greer lying face down in a pool of blood. Another image of a senior Warden pushing him aside and shooting at something on the ground. Blurry images of firing his weapon, of a flicker inside his goggles disturbing his vision, of Greer shouting something.

What was he shouting? Dave gave up trying to remember. When he thought of it, he didn’t really want to remember. He’d had nightmares three nights in a row now. Nightmares of monsters trying to grab him, clawing at him, before they suddenly morphed into a familiar face. Greer, or Liz, or his mom. “Please,” they would say, and he’d wake up, sweating and shivering.

“I’m just trying to see if the firewall can hold against a Trojan hidden inside a secure file. You know, using the secure file to gain access, old style, but with better camouflage for the Trojan,” he said. Hasle just laughed.

“Come on, Wagner, you don’t think that hasn’t been thought of? There’s a reason they call it old style, you know.” Dave nodded. He’d been less creative lately. Probably the nightmares and lack of sleep. Or the drugs. He knew the vaccine had protected him, but why did it have to make him so groggy?

“I think I need a break,” he said. Hasle just smiled, and walked over to his own workstation.

“It gets better. Just give it time,” the old man said, and Dave suddenly felt enormous gratitude toward his mentor.

“Thanks,” Dave said, and walked out.

Outside, he squinted in the harsh sunlight. He walked over to his favorite spot and sat down. He closed his eyes, feeling the warm rays and the cool breeze, and listened to the chirping of little birds in the trees above. A fly buzzed by, and he raised a hand to swat at it.

He sat up, eyes wide open.

The buzzing.

The drone.

SUE

“Who is Buchanan,” Sue asked. It sounded like an English name, but that couldn’t be.

“Who, and what,” Renee said, and got up from her chair, closing her infopad and taking her empty cup with her.

“I’m sorry, Susan, but you will have to find out for yourself. There’s so much you should know, and we have so little time…” She checked her watch. It had a small screen, and a voice suddenly came out of it. Sue couldn’t hear the words, though. She strained her neck and recognized the face of Dr. Marsden. Renee closed the screen with a quick swipe, hiding the face of her twin brother.

“They are coming. Took them long enough…” she said, removing her sidearm from its holster. Sue looked at her quizzically.

“I would love to stay,” Renee said, “but I’m afraid our time is up, and I’m needed elsewhere.” She smiled briefly, extending her right arm.

“Ordered elsewhere, that is. It has been a pleasure to meet you, Susan Atlas. I hope we’ll meet again, someday.” Sue shook her hand, still too surprised to say anything, and Renee quickly walked out, closing the door behind her.

What was that?
Sue thought. She looked over at poor Rory, who would never wake again, would never learn what she had learned. Who would soon be just one more victim of the lies. Lies that had formed their lives, and the lives of those before them. Centuries built upon lies.

She sat for a while, considering the implications. How her life had turned upside down in just a couple of hours. Renee should have been an enemy, but instead she had shown her that there was a world outside the Covenant, and that nothing was as it seemed. Nothing was as she had been taught. It was too much. What was it Renee had said?
They are coming
. What did she mean?

The realization came slowly to her, and a chill went down her spine.

“No,” she whispered, “I’m not ready. Oh please, not yet.”

The explosion shook the ground beneath her, and the door burst open.”

“Two located. One incapacitated, one possible recovery,” the Janissary said. Sue managed to get a good look at him as three others entered the room behind him. No, not Janissaries, although the suits looked similar. The weapons looked wrong. And the helmets were different, too.

“Sub Tacticus Susan Atlas?” the first one asked, and she nodded. He removed his helmet. There was no mistaking the features. Pure Moon blood.

“No,” she whispered again, although she didn’t think anyone heard, or cared.

“Ingolfson, Igorov, stand by for exfil. Olsen, you know what to do,” he said. The one named Olsen walked over to Rory and had a look. Then he shook his head.

“Terminate subject,” the leader said, and Olsen raised his gun. One shot to the head, and Rory was dead. Sue heard a scream grow louder and louder until she couldn’t remain standing and had to cover her ears with her hands.

“Let’s move her out,” the leader shouted above the scream. Olsen came over and grabbed something in his breast pocket. Sue never felt the syringe before the substance began to make her feel dizzy. Only then did she realize the scream had come from her.

Olsen leaned over.

“Ignorance is Bliss,” he whispered in her ear.

Chapter 13

SUE

She heaved for air as she sat up. The sheets were wet with sweat, and her heart was thumping hard. A dream. A nightmare. She’d had a few of those since being snatched back from captivity. She mostly dreamed of Rory, of strangers speaking to her in a friendly manner, before her head exploded in pain. Sometimes, she could see the faces of her team members from the QRF, all dead now. Julian and Keisha came to see her, and she had hugged them both. She had been so relieved when she heard they were both alive and well. She hadn’t seen either of them after that, though, and she had a feeling she wouldn’t for a long time. She felt a slight sting that Julian hadn’t shown up again, but he was probably too busy. Besides, they were just friends. Nothing more.

She got out of bed and pulled on her bathrobe. Her shoulder was stiff, but the pain was gone. She flexed her arm a little.
They enslaved you
. A woman’s voice, faint, like a whisper. That was one of the memories that seemed to haunt her. Once she took the pills the doctors administered to her, though, the voice faded away. She knew it would return, but every day the memory got weaker. The dizzying feeling any time she tried to remember something only got stronger, though. She had no idea what it all meant; it was as if everything was buried just below consciousness, trying to break out into the open but kept tightly behind a barrier that grew stronger every day. She walked over to the water cooler and got herself a drink.

She didn’t remember much from her days of captivity, but it didn’t seem like the intel officers cared much. All they seemed to care about was that she was all right. It was touching, in a way, but it still made no sense. She answered their questions whenever they came, though, and cooperated as much as she could.

But some thoughts she kept to herself. Like the words that pressed on in the back of her mind.
They enslaved you
. And some details were so blurry, she didn’t entirely trust them. Like that of the woman’s face, looking so similar to the doctor. As far as she knew, it could be one of the doctors in Camp Gustavson, tending to her after her release. They had both spoken English, so she was probably just confused.

A knock on the door broke her train of thought.

“Come in,” she said, tying a belt around her waist to keep her robe in place. A tacticus in a fresh uniform entered. He looked around, and Sue was suddenly aware her drapes were still shut, keeping the light out. She smiled and walked to the control panel. She pushed the button, and the drapes folded up along the sides of the great window. She looked out for a moment and saw it was a sunny day. The view toward the green hills was magnificent, and she found herself staring. She turned back to the tacticus.

“I’m sorry, sir. What can I do for you?” The stone-faced tacticus produced a flat envelope and delivered it to her. She cocked her head, and he didn’t wait for her question.

“You are requested in Legacy, Sub Tacticus Atlas. Personal request from Counselor Novak himself.” Sue heaved her eyebrows. She opened the envelope, tearing off the seal and accidentally ripping into the letter inside. She took it out and held the torn piece so that she could read it.

Counselor Novak had signed the letter, an order to immediately take the first airlift back to Legacy. There she was to present herself to Strategos Command, where they would find a suitable assignment for her. He ended the letter by congratulating her on her heroic performance, and her new rank.

She upended the envelope and a single iron bar fell into her palm.

The tacticus finally smiled.

“I would help you with that, if you wore your uniform,” he said.

“Congratulations, Tacticus Atlas.”

MARK

He stood on the high balcony overlooking the atrium of Strategos Command, watching as she entered. The young woman had impressed him the first time they’d met, and he had great hopes for her still. It could go one of three ways. She could do extremely well, if she managed to shed all doubt and trust her superiors. If she would give herself to the Covenant and all its splendors, she could be one of the first not of Moon blood to rise all the way to high command. That would be evolution, and Mark Novak would be happy with such a development. If the Covenant changed from within, nothing could be better.

But he had a hard time believing it would happen that way. There were too many obstacles, too many ways for such a person to meet with an abrupt end. That would leave her a medicated citizen who told stories of glory days past, a wreck of a human being inside a near perfect exterior, a poster girl to set an example for future generations of the English, from every corner of the Covenant.

The third possibility was the one he feared the most, but secretly dreamed of. To finally tear down the injustices, the false truths, and the villainy that kept a nation of murderers and slavers afloat. If she saw through the lies and managed to resist, she might have what it would take to succeed. She would have to be careful, though. A lot of people would go to great lengths to keep the status quo.

Mark chuckled. Time would tell, and either way, he had more cards up his sleeve. The man could make a lot of changes, as well. He wasn’t as charismatic as Susan, but he commanded respect, and he had seen through many of the lies already. His greatest obstacle was his heritage, his loyalty to his people. Even though he had done his best to deny it for years, he was still of the Moon blood, and he didn’t stand a chance of leading the English if it came to blows.

Perhaps if the two could be brought together…

That had been one of his ideas when he sent the letter, requesting her presence here. Of course, he had other plans, as well, but making sure these two weren’t far from each other was part of his scheme.

A sub tacticus was leading her away from the atrium, and he figured he would stay in the background for now. His interest in her might raise suspicions. After all, nobody was above suspicion, when the integrity of the Covenant was at stake.

No, he would see how this played out, keeping his cards close to his chest, and wait for one of the others to make the first move.

He walked back to the lounge chair and sat down. Lately, his joints had begun to give him some grief. But what could you expect? He definitely needed the treatment soon. He chuckled again.

He was the oldest man alive, and he intended to keep it that way.

Chapter 14

SUE

Strategos Command was an impressive building, and especially the great atrium. Flags hung from the balconies, black and white Covenant banners surrounding the great open space, where men and women in every uniform she knew, and quite a few others, milled about. She recognized every Janissary variation, of course, but also a few she had never seen in person, such as the Intelligence operatives and Military Academy staff. The Warden uniforms were familiar to her, but only because she had seen the First Warden at Initiation Day. There were few from the Corpus, as expected, while the Students had a number of scholars assigned here, it seemed.

Other uniforms were completely unfamiliar to her, and it surprised her that there were so many of them. But then she had never seen Moon blood units, except for airmen, and she knew there were entire units, numbering thousands of people, that were comprised entirely from Moon people volunteers.

Everyone she saw, regardless of unit or Service, had one thing in common, though, with hardly any exceptions. They were all Moon blood. Even the few from the Corpus had the distinct features of the Moon people.

She wondered why Counselor Novak had sent for her.

“Just follow me through here,” the sub tacticus leading her said. He was young, barely seventeen, but had an air of authority about him, the kind that came from the knowledge that he was born to command. She had seen it so many times now, she didn’t pay attention to it anymore. She just followed the youngster, wondering where they’d end up.

“This is the Janissary education office, where all basic and advanced training for Janissaries is planned,” he said, opening the door for her. She entered, and saw three officers, from head tacticus to meridian, sat in front of computers, swiping documents and images back and forth.

“You will sit over there,” he pointed at the desk in the back of the room. The others will fill you in. Just get yourself familiarized with the tech and get to know your colleagues, and tomorrow you will receive your orders.”

Sue took a step toward her desk and turned toward the kid.

“My orders?” she said, wondering what she could possibly contribute with here.

“Your task. A word of your advice,” he said, puffing out his chest. Sue almost laughed, waiting for him to dispense wisdom gained from his vast experience, “Just do your job here, whatever it is, and you will be on your way to greatness. I saw you, you know.” Sue looked at him quizzically.

“The ceremony. With Head Servant Lunde,” he said, extending his hand. She took it.

“It’s an honor, Tacticus Atlas,” he said, and pivoted before he marched out.

As soon as the door closed, someone guffawed from behind her. She turned around and there was Evan Hordvik, grinning at her.

“Tacticus Atlas. How on Earth did you end up in this place?” he asked. Sue let out a somewhat relieved gasp and walked over to him.

“Evan,” she said. He smiled knowingly.

“Finally learned my first name, Susan? Well, you couldn’t keep calling me Tac now,” he said, his silver star stating the obvious. She smiled back.

“Head Tacticus now. So you finally abandoned that foot soldier-forever thing, did you?”

“Hell no! They had to give me a star for me to work here, but if they try to make me meridian or something, I’d like to see them try,” he said, grinning even more broadly. Then he walked with her to her desk, where a computer stood waiting for her command. A blue disc flashed softly on the screen, inviting her to touch it. Sue had never used one of these before. The computers they used back in Charlestown were all but obsolete, and fixed up more than once. This one didn’t even have a keyboard. She sat down on the perfectly ergonomic chair, and looked at the screen.

“How am I going to write? I assume they want me to write something,” she said. Evan leaned over and pressed a finger to the blue disc. It turned red, but nothing happened.

“See? It’s already configured for you. I can’t open it,” he said. Sue put a finger on the disc, and it expanded, revealing a landscape of icons and groups of images.

“So, here on the right are your communication tools. On the left are shared and personal files. Access to shared files depends on your security level. On top are utilities, such as clock, calendar, notes, and so on, and once you get started, all your active stuff will be down at the bottom. In the center, you will find your current assignments. Don’t worry, that one tends to fill up quickly.” Sue saw there was only one icon in the middle. Welcome, it said. She assumed that was a good place to start.

“How do I control it?” she asked. Back in Charlestown, they had swipe pads and control sticks in addition to the keyboard.

“Look, try to forget how you did things back home. This system is designed to be intuitive. See an icon you’d like to open, just press it, tap it, or spread your fingers from the middle. You can do it directly on the screen, or just on the desk in front of you. The system will learn your habits. Wanna switch screens while multitasking? Just use your palm, swipe from side to side. Wanna close something? Just bring your fingers together or double tap. Everything is designed so that you figure stuff like that out yourself and find methods that work for you.” He looked at her as she tapped the Welcome icon.

“Thanks,” she said. “Just one more question.” She looked up at him.

“Where is the keyboard?” He laughed.

“All right, just look.” He opened her message folder. It had just one item, some kind of standard welcome message. He tapped an icon to produce a new message. A cursor blinked in the recipient field, and he tapped it. A blue light projected a perfectly ordinary keyboard onto her desk, right where a physical keyboard would have been placed.

“Now you can write,” he said.

~

The welcome icon produced a tutorial for using the computer and several documents regarding her work in Strategos Command, rules, regulations, work expectations, and so on. There was also a long questionnaire, and she filled it out meticulously. A few seconds after she had completed it, she received a message.

The message was automated, a profile sheet based on her answers on the questionnaire. She didn’t pay attention to it—after all, her answers were only partially honest, so an analysis based on them would be faulty in any case.

She looked around. Evan sat with his face to his screen, working on one thing or another. The other two hadn’t even said hello yet. As far as she could tell, they were too preoccupied with their tasks to even register her presence.
Some people might think this was a good job
, she thought. She dreaded the prospect of spending her days in this room, in front of this computer, with people who didn’t even speak to her. Why had Counselor Novak wanted her to come? She sighed deeply and turned back to her own screen.

A new task had appeared at the center of her screen. She tapped it, and a map opened up. It showed an area stretching from just west of Camp Gustavson to east of Camp Sharpe. The only town on the map was Fort Winter, Keisha’s hometown.

The message below the map read: Please indicate the location of your capture. She was puzzled. Was this her task? She tapped the map once, just north of the small dot indicating Camp Gustavson.

The map disappeared, and an image appeared. It was a woman, who looked vaguely familiar. Below her face was a short résumé.

Colonel (Covenant equivalent: Sub Strategos) Renee Marsden

Wanted for subversive activity, specification restricted

Status: Missing

Last known location: North of Camp Gustavson

Extremely dangerous

Terminate on sight

Sue remembered.

Renee, who had told her of the world, and how the Moon people had enslaved them all.

The image disappeared.

“Please answer the following questions,” the instructions said.

Sue waited, a knot forming in her stomach. What was going on?

Do you remember this face?—YES

Did this woman speak to you?—YES

Do you remember anything she told you?—YES

Do you remember everything she told you?—NO

Did she mention the history of the Covenant?—YES

Do you believe she told you the truth?—…

Sue hesitated. She knew she shouldn’t answer YES. That would condemn her in an instant. She ought to tap NO, right now. She moved her finger closer to the screen, but still she hesitated. Maybe it was a desire to finally stand up to them. Maybe it was uncertainty—after all, she had no way of knowing. Maybe it was the memories, pushing through a barrier somewhere in the depths of her mind, tearing it down, bringing it all back. Even the memory of how the Covenant soldier had stood over Rory while he lay helpless in bed.

A second-rate citizen, expendable
, Renee had said. And while that had felt like a blow, it hadn’t shocked her. Not really. She had known.

Terminate subject
. Like mandatory euthanasia. Once you’re spent, you get terminated. She felt her blood boiling. They had tried to make her forget. To make her a pliable little subject again. Medicate her; take away the memories that had shown her the truth.
Ignorance is Bliss,
the soldier had said as she’d passed out.

She remembered now.

And still she hesitated.

She tapped the NO icon frantically. Too late. She turned away from the screen.

The men who had been sitting in front of their own screens got up. They looked straight at her. Both were holding guns, pointing at her. Evan stood up, as well, looking confused and angry at the same time.

“What the hell is going on?” he said.

“Sit down, Hordvik,” one of the men said, moving his weapon slightly.

The door opened, and a man walked in, followed by armed soldiers. She instantly recognized the face. The last time she had seen it, he had been looking straight at her, a threat apparent in those ice blue eyes. She had almost forgotten. He stood in front of her now, all six feet, hovering over her. That same black suit, white close-cropped hair and a face set in stone.

“First Janissary Ivanov,” Sue said, knowing she had lost. He didn’t even speak her name.

“Take this traitor away,” he said.