Psion Delta (44 page)

All
Jeffie could do was watch him die.

* * *
* *

“I
don’t care if you’ve proven yourself right with your social experiments. It’s
still wrong. You’re still wrong.”

“Am
I?” the fox asked. “Like I mentioned before, you carry some sort of noble
belief with you that everything is black and white. You’re on the white side,
and everything against you—everything you don’t agree with—is on the black
side. Sammy, you are the one who is wrong, and I’ll prove it to you. Come back
in, Katie.”

Katie
reentered through the main doors. She had changed her clothes, now sporting the
traditional Thirteen uniform. She carried with her a brown box big enough to
hold a basketball.

“I
have a present for you,” she said brightly.

The
fox gestured to her, and she placed the box on the floor next to Sammy. “Thank
you, Katie. You may leave us. I don’t think Sammy is in his right mind with you
around.”

Sammy
watched her go with disappointment. How could he kill her if she wasn’t here?

“Remember
what I told you when I spoke to you on your com?” The fox pointed lazily to the
box as he spoke.

Sammy’s
eyes flickered to the object on the floor. He did not want to know what was
inside it, but he knew he was going to find out regardless. His answer was
quiet. “You told me a lot of things. All of them were lies.”

“I
told you to come alone, but you didn’t listen. If you had listened, my man at
the lake would have told you to take elevator 13, not elevator 1. If you had
listened, I wouldn’t have sent my soldiers into the parking garage to handle
your friends. If you had listened, that box wouldn’t have the head one of your.
. .
Psions
in it. But I can assure you it does. And Katie tells me that
the rest of them are all lined up in the garage having their heads removed one
at a time. You see, Sammy? You think you know more than everyone. You think you
know more than me, and what I am trying to tell you is that you do not. I can
teach you. You don’t know everything. If you would humble yourself, and let
me—”

“Shut
up!” Sammy said. “You didn’t kill my friends. There isn’t a head in that box.”

“Open
it.”

“No.
I don’t want to open it. I don’t want to see what’s in it. You lied to me about
my parents. You lied to me about yourself. You tricked me into coming here. And
now you’re trying to trick me again. Why would I believe you?”

“Because
I am telling you the truth. Your friends are all dead. They had no chance
against my Hybrid clones. That’s what I’ve been telling you. Stop seeing the
world as white and black, good and bad, dark side and light side. Nothing is
that simple!”

“You
kill your own people to terrify them. You terrify them so they’ll believe
whatever you tell them! I know enough to know what you are.”

“And
what am I, Sammy? I’m a man who wants to make the world better. So a few people
die? It matters little in the end. With the help of your DNA, I have created a
small army of Hybrids who will end this civil war and bring peace. With that
peace, I will be able to use my genetics to end the suffering of all mankind. I
will
eventually heal every disease. I
will
conquer hunger through
genetics. I
will
make sure that every man, woman, and child no longer
needs what you call liberty, because I will offer them true freedom. And that
freedom will be real.”

“It
won’t be real because I won’t let it happen.”

The
fox shook his head at Sammy, who saw real anguish in his host’s face.
“Disappointing. Your sight is so limited. Did you really think I would bring
you all the way here just to talk? To play chess? I spared your life tonight.
Everything I described to you began tonight. We launched an attack on the NWG
almost three hours ago.”

25.
Chess

Monday September 2, 2086

As
Byron flew
his cruiser away from the Tensai Research Center, he
scanned the horizon for any sign of danger. He still couldn’t wrap his head
around what was happening. Such an extreme breach of security could only mean
an open act of war. The term
Silent War
that the NWG insiders had used
for the last several years no longer applied. The dire shortage of time forced
him to make a very difficult decision: go first to Al and Marie’s home and warn
them, or head to the War Offices and activate the failsafe to reboot all NWG
systems?

His
knee-jerk reaction was to go straight to his son’s home, but something deeper
told him that by doing his duty he might save a greater number of people.
Perhaps he might even avert a total disaster. Ignoring the air regulations, he
flew over the Alpha headquarters and landed the cruiser right in front of the
entrance to the War Offices. He wasted no time scanning his palm, his eye, and
stating the required vocal command for the voice match.

“You
are not recognized,” the computer voice stated.

“Emergency
code Walter alpha alpha one charlie romeo four mike four four yankee Byron.”

“You
are not recognized.”

Commander
Byron was on the verge of swearing for the first time in seven years. He racked
his brain for the last code. “Master key unlock failsafe . . . seven . . .
yankee . . .
What is the rest of it?
Four two . . . hotel echo zero lima
papa zulu zero eight five.”

“Master
key unlock failsafe accepted.”

Byron
said a quick prayer of thanks and hurried to the next door, repeating the code.
He dashed recklessly down the steps. The War Offices were empty save for a few
technicians and programmers who seemed to think nothing was wrong.

“Hey,
Commander Byron, is your com working?” one asked him as he passed.

“Not
now,” he said.

He
wasn’t worried about the safety of the technicians. The War Offices,
constructed deep in the earth, were built to withstand any aerial attack that
mankind had invented. Right now, his concern was for everyone not inside. He
sprinted past the conference rooms and war rooms, past everything until he
reached the end of the long hall. To his left was a door that he knew revealed
a tunnel. About two and a half kilometers away, that tunnel connected the NWG
President’s Mansion to the War Offices. To his right was a large cache of
weapons. Directly in front of him was a steel door marked:
AUTHORIZED
PERSONNEL! EMERGENCY USE ONLY!

Commander
Byron opened the door and an alarm blared. Several people came running down the
hall toward him. The room was really a small closet. Nothing was inside it
except a glass case mounted onto the wall. Posted next to the case were the
instructions for activating the failsafe. Byron had been briefed on all the
information years ago, and quickly scanned the words.

“Stop!
Stop!” three Elite shouted at him as they raced down the hall.

Commander
Byron shut the door behind him and blasted the glass panel apart. Behind the
glass was a column of switches almost like circuit breakers in his house when
he was a kid. One by one, Byron flipped the switches until only one remained.
He closed his eyes and flipped that one as well. The instructions said to wait
two minutes, so he counted out the seconds in his head. When he reached one
hundred twenty, he counted ten extra seconds just to be sure, and then flipped
the switches again in reverse order. Then he left the room.

The
Elite waited outside. “Sir, you’re going to have to explain to General Wu why
you activated the failsafe,” one said.

“Gladly.”
He went back down the hall, turned into the room marked:
Strategic Air
Surveillance
, and tapped on the door as he entered. “Get on the horn to
your buddies in the towers around headquarters. Do it now. Find out if they see
anything. Tell them to use visual and satellite feeds and whatever else they
got.”

“All
systems are still rebooting, sir,” one of them said.

“Are
your coms working again?” Byron asked.

“Yes,
sir.”

“Then
call them!”

“Yes,
sir!”

Byron
waited behind the two technicians. Above their heads, near the wall, was a holo
projection of NWG territory. Green dots marked all the air towers across the
map and blue dots marked the satellite receivers. All of them displayed normal
readings.

The
commander ordered his com to call Khani Nguyen. She picked up immediately. “The
failsafe worked, Commander,” she said. “We aren’t detecting a tunnel anymore.”

“Okay,
keep me posted if anything else happens.”

Khani
ended the call. Byron’s attention returned to the technicians. One of them
looked over his shoulder and spoke. “They say systems are coming back online
now. Visuals are negative.”

It
didn’t make much difference to Commander Byron. He still wanted Al and Marie
down in the War Offices.

“Wait,
sir, they’re picking up something.”

A
beep sounded from the computer’s speakers. The holo map showed several blue and
green dots now flashing red. Siberia, Sydney, Tokyo, and Reykjavik.
“Unidentified objects approaching. They believe they have them on visual.”

“Sound
the alarms! Get General Wu—”

“Sir,
my com line went dead again! Alarm systems are all offline.”

Byron
ran out the door and to the stairs. “Keep the bunker doors open until I get
back!” Up and up he climbed until he reached the top. Three small cars were
parked outside the bunker door. He jumped in the closest one and sped off.
Though he did not know the exact time, it was still long before daylight. He
pressed harder on the gas pedal, but it was already against the floor. The
drive to the housing units was short. Byron honked his horn the entire way,
driving across the lawns and sidewalks to shave off time.

“WAKE
UP!” he screamed. “WAKE UP! ATTACK!”

The
car hadn’t quite come to a stop when he jumped out at Al and Marie’s unit. He
didn’t bother with the door; he banged on their bedroom window. “GET UP!” he
bellowed into the glass. Al’s sleepy, confused face appeared in the curtains.

“Hurry,
Al! Get Marie! We have to go!”

Al
didn’t wait. Twenty agonizing seconds later, they emerged from the house. A few
adjacent lights had turned on, and Byron saw a dozen other people looking out
their windows or doors wearing confused expressions. “ATTACK!” he shouted to
them. “Get to the War Offices now! GO! GO!”

The
Byrons raced to the car. Again he laid on his horn as he drove, screaming out
the window. In the distance, he heard an explosion and the ground trembled
slightly. Marie yelped.

“Hurry,
Dad!” Al shouted.

A
second
BOOM!
echoed behind them, and the ground shook a second time.
Byron checked in his rearview mirror and saw clouds of smoke rising in the
distance. Enemy battle cruisers flew onto the scene, approaching them quickly
from behind.

“Dad,
look out!”

Byron
tore his eyes away from the mirror and saw three Alphas running across the
grass, terrified of the car coming at them. He jerked the steering wheel hard
to the left, barely missing them, and smashed into a tree.

“Get
out,” he told his children. “Run!”

Shaken,
but all right, the three Byrons sprinted across the lawn with several other
Alphas toward the bunker. Byron could see it not too far ahead. Behind them, a
third missile struck. The sound seemed to come from everywhere. It took all of
his balance to not fall over as the ground bucked and trembled.

The
battle cruiser drew closer, its next target unknown. Commander Byron shouted to
Al and Marie, urging them on. They sprinted just ahead of him. Panic had spread
through the entire campus. Dozens upon dozens of people yelled and raced about
like angry ants.

Then
Byron heard the whistle: the sound of a large air-to-ground projectile coming
their direction. The bunker was barely too far away; they wouldn’t make it.

Byron
put his hands on the small of Al and Marie’s backs as if he were gently and
lovingly encouraging them forward. He summoned everything that was inside of
him and blasted them ahead. Several meters back, the missile struck the ground
with incredible force and detonated. Byron hit the ground and covered himself.
As the concussion and heat slammed into him, the world itself seemed to
disappear.

* * *
* *

Jeffie
did not believe it at first.
Kobe can’t die.
Not him. Not the boy who
read her poetry, made her laugh so easily, and spent hours thinking up romantic
ideas for their dates. She knew him as well as she knew anyone. She held strong
feelings for him.
Not Kobe.
Other people could die, but not him. He was
special. Invincible. But all of her disbelief didn’t stop his blood from
running out across the concrete floor as crudely as Antonio’s had less than an
hour ago.

A
sound of primal rage came from the other end of the garage. Kaden, who had been
running down to help with the rest of the team, stared at his fallen twin. He
left the pack of Betas and sprinted alone toward the Thirteens, his hands in
front of him to shield. The Thirteens turned at him and fired. Though Kaden
blasted to protect himself, he seemed oblivious to the bullets, his eyes only
on those enemies standing nearest to his brother’s body.

Jeffie
looked on, too stunned to do anything but observe and hold her defenses. Li
reached her first with Brickert close behind. Kaden battled the Thirteens with
a ferociousness Jeffie had never seen. He screamed at them, taunted them,
cursed at them, and fought them with both his blasts and his bullets. His
movement was fluid and exact. The Thirteens looked like children trying to
tackle a professional athlete.

“Brickert,”
Li said, “help me lift Jeffie.”

They
used their arms to create a seat for her. Li had given his weapon to Rosa.
Miguel took Jeffie’s gun and reloaded it with one of Li’s ammo clips. Natalia
and Kawai stood in front and used hand blasts to provide a solid defense.
Jeffie craned her neck over Kawai’s shoulder to see Kaden still fighting with
two of the remaining six Thirteens already dead.

“Kaden,
come on!” Li called. “We can hold them off.”

But
the Reynolds brother held his ground while the Thirteens tried to fend off
attacks from him, Parley, Miguel, and Rosa.

“Hurry,
Kaden!” Miguel pled.

Either
he didn’t hear them or he didn’t care. He launched into a new attack, jumping
and blasting at the Thirteens who weren’t sure if they should try to surround
him or defend themselves from the shooters. Two of them fired at Kaden in the
air, but Kaden blocked their bullets with perfect timing. Before he landed, he
aimed another blast at a third Thirteen, knocking him to the ground.

“Now,
Kaden! Run!”

It
was his perfect chance, but he turned his back to them. That was when Jeffie
understood.

“That’s
an order, Kaden! Fall back!”

“He’s
not coming,” she told Li and Brickert. “He won’t come.”

Li
ordered his team to move out.

“But
Kaden—” Miguel protested.

“MOVE
OUT!” was Li’s final order of the night.

As
the Betas hurried away, the Thirteens turned their attention to Kaden. From
what Jeffie could see, this only emboldened the surviving twin. He fought on,
beating the Thirteens back only to have them return and press him again. He
tried to shield from all sides, using a spectacular array of moves and
acrobatic blasts. Finally a Thirteen caught him in the foot while Kaden
performed a move almost exactly like the one that had gotten Kobe killed. Kaden
still landed, but his foot gave out on him. Jeffie saw all this as her friends
carried her toward the ramp to the top level of the garage.