Extermination Day (15 page)

As Jeff was reflecting on history and destiny, Dr. Chen’s voice came over the speakers in their bio-suits.

“Are you two almost ready? Something’s happened. As soon as the vortex takes form, you’ll need to make the jump. We’re not going to have much time. Take a look at your portables; I’m sending you a video feed from the surface.”

Jeff lifted his arm so he could see the portable on his wrist through the clear visor of the bio-suit.

The video feed from the surface showed something hitting the ground at a high velocity, just outside the base. The fireball came crashing in from the sky with an explosive impact that churned up dirt and asphalt as it hit the parking lot. The few cars there went flying from the force of the blast and were left in charred humps circling the impact crater.

Moments later something rose up out of the crater.

Holly gasped and Jeff stared in wide-eyed shock.

8:45 am EST, January 16, 2038

Greenbrier Resort

After the dust from the impact settled, everyone sprang into action.

“We need eyes above,” Paulson said, turning to Demetrius. “Colonel, see if you can find a fighter drone in this hole.”

“Yes, sir.” Demetrius ran out of the command center.

Moments later he returned with a helmet and a drone control suit.

“This was
all I could find in the munitions area. It's one of the older style human-operated drones, not like the AI controlled ones currently in use, but it should do the trick. The actual drone is in another section of the base, where it can be launched. I’ve had some brief training on drone operation, but I’m no expert.”

Damn budget cuts, thought Paulson
, again—leaving the entire base with just one old drone fighter.

“Does anyone have drone piloting experience?” Farrow asked the group.

Christine Cutright, who worked in Diaz’s office, raised her hand.

“I flew drones in the military before I joined the president’s staff, sir. It’s been a couple of years, so I may be rusty, but I’m sure that my training will come back to me. It’s just like playing a video game,” she said with a smile.

“Okay, get to it then. We need to find out what’s up there,” Paulson said.

Christine climbed into the suit, sat in the bio-swivel chair that came with it, and put on the helmet. The suit was used to control the flight of the drone. Subtle body movements would
bank the drone left or right, up or down. Someone skilled in using the interface could maneuver a drone with unmatched precision. With the helmet on, the pilot would also be able to see through the drone’s onboard cameras. It was a means of complete immersion.

Demetrius plugged his portable into a connection on the drone suit as Christine initiated the start sequence. The connection would allow everyone to see the video from the drone. Paulson and about a dozen others huddled around the colonel’s portable as he switched it to display mode. A larger holographic image flashed up from the device in clear color.

A darkened interior, which had to be the drone hangar, was the first image to appear. Then a buzzing noise started and an opening appeared at the top of the hangar, showing the morning sunlight and dark clouds overhead. The drone shot out of the hangar.

It was still snowing, and the grounds of the resort were covered in white. On any other occasion Paulson would consider it beautiful. The drone flew rapidly over the area, gaining altitude. Nothing looked amiss until it flew over the golf course.

“What’s that?” someone yelled.

The drone banked and returned to a spot on the golf course. It paused and then hovered over a large impact crater, one that hid the charred remains of something burned deep into the ground. Whatever it was, it was still smoldering in the cold air. The crater it left behind trailed out from it about 100 yards, leaving the ground blackened
with ash.

“What is that? Something’s coming out of the crater!” Farrow yelled.

Something silvery and green slowly rose out of the impact crater. It floated up and out into the morning light. It was shimmering and flowing through the air as it started moving forward, heading straight for the resort.

“That doesn’t look good,” Melinda Rider said. Paulson glanced over at her,
and nodded his head in agreement.

“Any ideas, gentlemen?” he asked. “I don’t think that’s Chinese.”

“It could be a probe of some sort,” Demetrius said. “Maybe we should just lay low. It may not find us here.”

“Oh, it knows we’re here,” Paulson said. “It hacked and downloaded our files, including those concerning this base. I don’t think there’s any doubt about why it’s here.”

“Sir, we can use the drone to attack it while it’s out in the open,” Christine said as she banked the drone high to the left. “I have all the firepower I need to take down an entire tank division. That little green ball won’t have a chance.”

As they talked, weighing options, the silvery green ball continued floating across the grounds toward the resort’s main building.

Paulson knew how scout drones behaved. They covered a large area in organized sweeps, observing and looking for potential threats. This thing was coming straight for the resort and the underground base; there was no scouting involved. It knew exactly where it was going.

“Maybe we should try to contact the probe,” Melinda said. “Perhaps whoever is behind the attack can be reasoned with. Shooting at this thing first would mean w
ar without talking or negotiating.”

Paulson thought for a moment. If they attacked this probe right now, there would be no turning back. There wo
uld be no peaceful negotiation, no compromise, no end to the carnage. It would mean all-out war with an unknown assailant, and Paulson knew the horrors of war. It should be a last resort only. But he had also seen the destructive power of the virus. There was no doubt it was designed to kill Americans. That was not any mistake in communication. Releasing the virus was not the action of anyone who wanted to negotiate in any way; it was a tactic to kill as many of the enemy as possible, as simple as that. No, this invading force didn’t want to talk. They didn’t think America was worthy of a discussion. They only wanted them dead.

“Fire everything you’ve got at that ball!” he yelled.

Christine’s fingers instantly twitched, and five missiles streaked away from the drone. Just before impact, the ball spread apart like a cloud of smoke. The missiles simply passed through it, ramming into the front of the Greenbrier. Several huge explosions rocked the bunker as the missiles blasted the hotel.

The entire front of the building was ripped apart in a ball of fire that stretched to the sky. Pieces of debris flew out in all directions, covering the beautiful landscaping in front of the hotel. Trees and shrubs burned as the great white columns at the north end of the hotel crumbled.

The probe was untouched.

The attack drone was still hovering above the carnage when the probe came for it swiftly and silently. Christine reacted by moving the drone away from the rushing cloud, but the front end of the cloud brushed the drone as it was speeding away.

“Firing heavy rounds,” Christine said as the drone started chugging away with heavy munitions fire.

“What is that on the video screen?” Paulson asked as a small blue-green creature crawled across the camera lens.

“I don’t know, sir,” she said. “But I’m having trouble controlling the drone now.”

The drone continued speeding over the resort, then suddenly it turned down, and the ground rushed toward it faster and faster. Christine was jerking in her seat, trying to maneuver the drone
up and back on course. She had no luck. The ground continued rushing forward and then the screen went black. She jerked in her seat and pulled her helmet off.

“The drone is down, sir. I lost all maneuverability. I’m sorry.”

“You did what you could.” Paulson moved to stand, then, when his leg screamed at him, he merely shifted positions. “Can we pull up any video feed from the hotel? I want to see what the ball or cloud or whatever it is, is doing.”

Mr.
Theobald stepped up again and plugged his portable into one of the terminals.

“Even though these computers aren’t functioning anymore for outside access, I can still reach the hotel’s internal systems.”

After a few moments, Theobald had a display of one of the hallways off the main entrance. Fires were burning and the hotel lobby had been destroyed by the missile strike. The cloud had reformed into a tight ball and was coming down the hallway.

It was constantly changing shape, like liquid metal, and s
himmering in the hotel’s lights. The video feed switched to the hallway leading to the bunker blast doors. The ball continued its slow and methodical advance toward them, reflecting images of the hallway around it as it came.

“What the hell!”
Theobald exclaimed loudly. “I’ve just picked up a signal being sent out from that thing. And, sir, the signal was sent using the same encryption code as the signal that was sent from here earlier.”

“Where was it sent to?” Paulson asked. Perhaps they would be able to track the saboteur using the signal.

“Tracking, tracking,” Theobald said. “It looks like it was sent to this control room.”

Everyone looked at each in disbelief, knowing that the traitor could be the person standing right next to them.

All the computer screens went suddenly blank.

“Shit, someone’s blocking our every move,” Paulson said. “Whoever you are, you
goddamn dirty traitor, I’m going to kill you.”

“Mr. President, we need to mount a defense,” Farrow said. “That thing, whatever it is, is coming for us. We need weapons, and lots of them.”

“I’m on it, sir!” Demetrius said. “The munitions locker is this way.”

“Colonel!” Paulson yelled out as Demetrius was running out of the room. “I have a feeling I’m
gonna need a big fuckin’ gun.”

Buddy Paulson was ready for a fight.

9:30 am local time, January 16, 2038

Project
Chronos

Jeff watched as a greenish-blue reflective ball rose from the crater and started floating toward the main ground-level building of the Chronos Project.

Multiple cameras tracked it as it cleared the parking lot and hit the wall of the facility, which melted away as the object passed through it. Once it was inside, more cameras followed it until it reached a small break room where it hovered briefly over an abandoned laptop on a table. A small bit of the ball dripped down onto the laptop.

Chen’s voice came over the portable as he spoke to someone else in the control tower. “It’s hacking our system. Can we remotely turn off access from that laptop?”

“I’m trying to cut it now,” someone else yelled out. “Damn, that thing is fast. It managed to get some basic data, but most of the core information on the project was hidden. I’ve cut all wireless feeds to any remaining electronic devices on the surface.”

“Cut the video feed as well,” Chen said. “That thing is looking for us, and I don’t want to leave it any breadcrumbs.”

“Trying to, sir, but there appears to be a virus already in the system. I’m losing remote control to the surface. All systems underground remain functional, however.”

The video feed continued to play. The sphere floated away from the computer and moved silently out of the break room. It passed from room to room, pausing briefly at any electronic device. In the hallway it moved up to one of the cameras. Suddenly the camera switched from a view of the greenish-blue ball to the control room. Several people, including Dr. Chen, were huddled in front of a computer screen.

“It’s tapped into the camera system! It can see us! Quick, cut the link!” Chen hollered.

“Trying, sir,” said a man at the console as his fingers slid rapidly across the screen.

Suddenly the screen went blank, and there was nothing but darkness.

“Dr. Chen, can you hear me?” Holly yelled into her portable. There was no response.

Jeff turned to Holly. “I think we better hurry up. That thing is hunting us, and it’s only a matter of time before it finds us.”

Jeff waved to a nearby technician who hurried over and helped him into his launch suit, then he and Holly moved out of the staging area and down an enclosed, windowless white hallway toward the dome and the launch room.

A clock in the hallway was slowly ticking down the time until launch: 19 minutes, 31 seconds. They passed through the hallway and entered the main dome, which rose twenty or thirty feet overhead, enclosing them on all sides. Several scientists in clean suits hovered over computer terminals. At the center of the dome stood a white plastic and steel doughnut device connected to a platform. The doughnut was probably twenty feet high and the center circle, which was much smaller than the entire device, looked to be about seven feet in diameter.

On each side of the exterior of the doughnut were large upright cylinders attached to the base. The entire mechanism was then attached to the tubing that ran outside the dome.

“The tubing runs around the entire base out into the cavern and out underground for several miles,” Holly explained. “It’s the particle collider that produces the fuel for the vortex. The cylinders on the side are where the microscopic black holes are collected.” She pointed at them.

“When enough fuel has been stored for a specific destination in time, based on the mass of the material to be transported, the fuel is injected into the doughnut. Once it’s inside, high-graviton magnetic devices and other specially engineered materials send the micro-black holes spinning concentrically. The resulting gravimetric forces are enough to bend space-time, creating a vortex in the center of the doughnut. After the calculated amount of matter goes through the vortex, it closes up. We then have to wait to collect more material from the particle collider. It’s an extremely tedious process.”

“Sounds like it,” Jeff said. He understood the basic concept behind the device, but the science and engineering were way beyond him. “Not something a guy could build in his garage.”

“Not unless he had about a trillion dollars and four hundred of the brightest scientists in the world working with him,” Holly said sarcastically.

Chen, wearing a clean suit, emerged from the hallway behind them.

“I wanted to come down here personally to make sure there were no screw-ups,” he said smugly. “Follow me.”

Chen strode to the platform. “This is where you enter the vortex when it forms. You’ll come out on the other side about two feet above the ground, so expect a drop. I suggest jumping through instead of simply taking a step.”

“Inside the vortex, what should we expect?” Jeff asked. He was surprised to find himself sweating inside the bio-suit.

“Animal testing has shown the vortex trip can be pretty jarring. Stepping through and emerging on the other side will feel instantaneous to you, so inside the actual vortex you probably won’t feel anything, but when you get to the other side you can expect a fair amount of vomiting. Several of the larger primates came out unconscious, so that’s a possibility. When they
recovered, they were disoriented for about ten minutes. In case anything serious happens, you each have a full combat MedKit built into your bio-suits.”

“Great,” Jeff said. “Scrambled eggs are never good the second time around. And what about our arrival time?”

“We’ve set the date for you to arrive as April 22, 2017, ten thirty a.m. That puts you arriving three days after the tunnel to this cavern has been built and the area cleared for the first pieces of equipment to be shipped in from my lab at Harvard. The ground should be smooth and there should be a few construction workers here planning the next stages of the base.”

“And what if one them happens to be walking right where we come out?” Jeff asked.

Holly opened her mouth, but deferred to Chen when he said, “When the vortex forms in the past, it will push all matter out of the way. Rather forcefully, I might add. If there is any fixed matter on that side impeding the formation of the vortex, like rock—which it shouldn’t be—it’s blasted aside in an explosive manner. If it’s just air being pushed aside, then a forceful wind will shoot out from the vortex into the surrounding space. If a person is standing right where the vortex forms, then he or she will be shoved violently away. Whether that shove would be hard enough to severely injure or kill that person, we don’t know; we haven’t been able to get accurate readings on the exact force exerted by a new vortex forming in the past or future. We’d planned to test and measure that in the coming weeks.”

“And the data drive?” Holly asked.

“It’s here.” Chen passed her the small hand-sized device. “It contains all the project data and everything we currently have on the virus. The information is date coded and authenticated using the methods and technology available to people twenty years in the past. When you get this to the younger me, I’ll know it’s the real deal.”

“Thank you,” Holly said as she placed the data drive into a pouch in the top of her suit and sealed it up.

“Great, then, any other questions? It looks like you have about ten minutes before launch,” Chen said.

Before Jeff could say anything, an alarm sounded. It was the same tone as the breach alarm that went off earlier.

A panicked look hit Chen’s face as he looked down at his portable. “Whatever that thing was that we saw on the surface, it's found us. It just came through the elevator.”