Extermination Day (25 page)

One was the file marked “Top Secret” by President Clinton. It contained not only a message from the past, the warning sent by William Clinton to the unnamed president in
2038, but a message from the future. After passing through many hands over the years, through some chance mistake the file had ended up in Secretary of State Cameron Farrow's full in-box. And that was where it stayed, buried under other papers and files on his desk until it was too late.

The pages of the file flipped end over end, revealing to an empty room crucial data about the viral attack and Project
Chronos. One report in the file told of a telegraph message sent in Morse Code, a warning from the future that was supposed to go back in time one month but instead ended up thirty-seven years in the past. A catastrophic mistake, but just one of many.

As the documents
scattered across the floor, the ceiling of the Oval Office began to crumble, and plaster and tiling rained down.

In seconds
the file was covered from human eyes.

F
orever.

10:00 am local time

Holloman Air Force Base

Jeff and Holly lay side by side in the recovery room in the military hospital at Holloman Air Force Base just outside of Alamogordo, New Mexico. They were clean and showered. About an hour ago Jeff had woken up from surgery to repair his broken arm. Now it was covered in a cast and sling and he was swimming in pain killers. He wished they would give him something to dull the pain and anxiety in his mind as well.

Th
ey'd just finished their breakfast and had been watching the news. That was when they discovered the actual date. It was May 23, 1992 and not 2017. So they’d landed twenty-five years earlier than planned. Project Chronos was not even a dim spark in anyone’s imagination. That was why they’d found no construction crews in Lechuguilla Cave.

After shared whispers, they’d decided that jumping to 1992 was actually better for their cause. They had even more time to get ready for the co
ming attack. And from what they'd seen with Dr. Chen, they would need all the time they could get.

They’d been through a
harrowing, life-changing ordeal. A true trial. A week ago Jeff never would’ve thought any of this was possible, not in his wildest dreams and not even if he were loaded up on the latest designer drugs. Who would believe a world-wide deadly virus, attacking nanobots, and time travel? He ran a hand over his face. Now that they were safe, at least relatively, he was having trouble believing all that had happened.

He looked at Holly and was struck by regret. Her missing arm declared the nightmare, every painful moment of it, had been true.

They were lucky to be alive. If the military team hadn’t come in when they did, Chen would surely have killed them both. Jeff wondered how Paulson—geez, Buddy Paulson!—had known to rescue them. He had an idea he would find out soon. And be asked to provide information in return.

Holly was quiet. He guessed exhaustion had finally caught up with her.
She was staring at the wall, cross legged on her hospital bed, her lips moving in silence. She was obviously traumatized and likely suffering from some sort of PTSD.

Her arm was healing remarkably well. Those organic mesh field bandages were amazing; They actually grew into the skin. In just over five days, the bandage had induced tissue regeneration and healing to the equivalent of six months of natural healing. They’d probably need to explain that to the military as well.

“How do you feel, how’s the arm?” he asked.

Her lips stopped moving and she glanced over at Jeff, moving
her hand over to where her other hand should be. “It’s weird. I’ve been getting this phantom pain and my missing arm itches. I guess I won’t be getting any biomechanical appendage for a while. What do they have in this time, anyway? Hooks?”

Jeff laughed. “I think you’d look good with a claw. It would give you some character.”

“That it would,” Holly said, chuckling halfheartedly.

Jeff nodded
, at least he managed to get a smile out of her. He kept reminding himself that cutting off her arm had been the only way to save her. They both knew that. He had a quick flashback of nanobots devouring her flesh, eating her fingers down to the bone. He swallowed and put the thought out of his mind.

There was an awkward pause as they looked at each other. Jeff couldn’t help but think how beautiful she was, even with circles under eyes dulled with fatigue and the residue of fear. He was starting to have that feeling in the pit of his stomach that he used to get when he and Sarah, his ex-wife, first started dating.

He shook his head to try to refocus his thoughts. “You know we should start thinking about our next steps, and we need to figure out what role the military is going to play in this.”

“Chances are they already know quite a lot since they showed up and rescued us,” Holly replied. “We’ll need to coordinate with them eventually, so why not start immediately?”

“Let’s see what our young future President Paulson has to say when he comes in.

Holly turned her head to stare vacantly at the wall again.

“Jeff, what if Paulson hadn’t shown up when he did? Chen would’ve killed us. What then?”

“Well, I guess this mission would’ve been over before it even started. You’re the time-travel expert, what do you think? If Chen had killed us, what would’ve happened to this timeline?”

Holly looked back, finger tapping her chin. “With us dead, this timeline would've likely continued on the same path as the last, with the nanovirus catching the world unaware in forty- five years and killing everyone."

“And Chen?
"

"Your guess is as good as mine. Who knows if he could've gathered his senses again and blended into society somehow.
But what's done is done, there's no point in speculating on it," Holly said firmly. "That monster is dead. We don't have to worry about him now. We need to look to our own future."

“I agree.
” His gut clenched. They still didn’t know who was behind the virus and who was manipulating history. If they couldn’t figure that out, billions of lives would still be lost.

Knock, Knock.

Buddy Paulson opened the door and walked into the room interrupting their speculations.

"It looks like you two are feeling much better. How are the arms?"

"Painkillers are a true godsend," Jeff replied.

Holly didn't say anything but grasped in the air where her missing arm should've been.

“Well, I have to say it feels like we fought an army. We were lucky to make it out alive, but many of my men weren’t so lucky.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Commander,”
Jeff said. “Words aren’t enough to thank you for saving us. What you and your men did was truly incredible. How did you even know we were out there in the middle of the desert?"

"The United States Navy has a wide range of specialized surveillance abil
ities."

So that was how he was going to play, cards close
.

"Perhaps you can tell me how it was you ended up in that cave chased by that creature, Dr. Chen." Paulson was firm in his speech and Jeff could tell he didn't trust them at all. He decided the best option here was simply to come clean. They were after all fighting a common enemy.

"This is going to sound crazy, but we come from the future. The year 2038 to be exact."

Paulson' facial
expression didn't change at all. He kept those steely blue eyes fixed right on Jeff.

"How about you, Holly?" Paulson said turning towards her as she sat quietly, staring at the wall once again and counting in a whispered voice. Paulson touched her arm. "Is that true?"

Holly jumped, startled out of her trance, and turned to look Paulson square in the face. "We've been through hell. Of course it's true. Let's cut the crap. You fly into the desert with a small army, equipped with advanced weapons, including an EMP device. You arrive at the exact time we need you. There's no coincidence there. You were ready, waiting, for us. You knew we would be there. Now we need to get on the same page and work together. Because I'll be damned if I'm going to let history repeat itself and have to live through the hell I just went through, again."

Holly jerked her arm away from Paulson and climbed out of bed, dragging her IV
and blanket behind her. She walked to the other side of the small room and glared at Paulson, hand on her hip, blanket draped over her body along with her scant hospital gown.

Jeff was shocked at Holly's outburst, but he supposed everyone had their breaking point.

Paulson smiled and said, "I like the fire in you, Holly Scarborough. With folks like you on our side, we may win this war after all. You're right, we were waiting for you to emerge from Lechuguilla Cave. Each time anyone or anything is sent through time and a vortex opens it emits a particular type of chronal radiation. That radiation can be detected. Our special tracking devices registered a temporal vortex opening deep underground five days ago, but we couldn't pinpoint the exact location through all of that rock, so we just waited at the only entrance to the cave."

"And the EMP device?" Jeff asked. "Were you expecting a
nanobot swarm?"

"Swarm? Y
ou mean nanovirus, right? We were prepared to decontaminate the area using munitions and the EMP."

Holly jumped in. “
Buddy, there are two separate threats we are facing. The first is a deadly nanovirus that can infect and kill in less than an hour. The second are swarms of millions of tiny nanobots that devour metal, human flesh, and other materials.”

“The swarm attacked us just as we
time jumped,” Jeff said. “Plus a group of the bots came through the time portal inside of Holly’s hand.”

Jeff pointed at Holly’s missing arm.

“A two-pronged attack,” Paulson said. "I knew about the nanovirus, but not about this swarm. Tell me more."

Jeff recounted the rest of their harrowing tale, with Holly adding salient points
about Project Chronos. When they were done, Paulson nodded his head.

"This confirms it without a doubt then. You see
, I received a portable from my future self, over a year ago."

"From President Paulson?" Jeff asked.

Paulson looked surprised.

"Yes, President. . . Paulson."

"That sly old dog. I knew he had a plan." Jeff stood, smiled, balled his fist up and shook it.

Holly
raised her eyebrows in understanding.

"Chen must've sent that portable through just before we jumped."

"Well, this is all good information," Buddy said. "We have a lot to work with here, but we're still missing the most important piece of intel. And that is who is behind these attacks."

Everyone just stood there in the hospital room looking at each other in silence.

Two Weeks Later, 10:00 am, June 6, 1992

Holloman Air Force Base

"Thanks again for everything, Buddy," Jeff said shaking Paulson's hand just outside of the debriefing headquarters at Holloman Air Force Base.

"Good luck to you both. I'll be in touch," Paulson said.

Jeff had no doubt about that. Despite Paulson having some reservations and not completely trusting them, Jeff knew that he needed them if he expected to win this war in the future. Hell, they needed each other.

They'd spent several days recovering in the hospital and the rest of the time in meetings with Paulson and his key operatives. They'd discussed everything they knew about the viral and nanobot attacks as well as future historical events that they could remember. In the end Holly and Jeff both offered up their services as paid government contractors to help with kickstarting Project Chronos and to advise on any other issues related to the coming attack, and other threats to US national security. They also all agreed that they should get Patrick Chen involved as soon as possible.

Both
Kaahtenay and Ranger Hicks were released from the hospital with minor injuries and told some concocted story about Chen being an escaped super soldier they had been training. They were of course told to keep quiet about the whole thing. Besides who would believe them.

Overall the whole incident was kept pretty hush. Families of the men killed were told that they died in a training accident. And the whole area around
Lechuguilla Cave was swept clean of any remains and crash debris from the downed copter.

Paulson was kind enough to give them an
advance on their government contract so that they would have some cash to get them back on their feet. He seemed a little reluctant to let them go, but there was really no reason to hold them captive. Jeff suspected that he'd keep a close watch on them anyway.

He and Holly climbed into the government rental car, waved goodbye to Paulson and drove away, heading off the base. Jeff told Paulson that they wer
e going west, to California's Silicon Valley where he had a "good feeling" about some investment opportunities.

Jeff cracked a slight smiled. With the tech bubble of the late nineteen-nineties just around the corner he was poised to make a fortune with his knowledge of the future.

But first they had to make a little stop.

Jeff
scribbled a note to Holly in a small pad he was carrying. "They're listening. Let's drive a couple of hours west, change rental cars, then come back."

Holly nodded.

He knew that there was probably a tracking device on the government car so if they were going to make their stop secretly then they would have to change cars. Parking the rental car and pretending to stay at a hotel would rouse the least suspicion. Then they could return, switch back to the government car and continue on their journey north west.

Jeff was no spy, but he could certainly learn a few tricks very quickly when he needed to.

#

Hours later
, under cover of darkness, Jeff and Holly rode slowly over the rocky desert on two horses they'd rented from a local rancher. Soon they found the site of the battle from two weeks ago. Blood still stained rocks near the entrance to Lechuguilla Cave. Jeff shuttered, trying not to think about the fight. He didn't want to bring Holly out here, but he couldn't climb alone, not with his broken arm still in a cast. They were being as careful as possible because Jeff was sure that Paulson would still have the area under some type of surveillance.

Despite the cool desert air Jeff was sweating
. He was nervous to be back here—nervous about descending again into the depths of Lechuguilla. At the cave entrance they set up the climbing equipment, attaching ropes to the horses so that they could pull him up when he was ready. After checking and double checking all of the ropes and harnesses, Jeff descended down into the cave. The darkness was overwhelming and the stretches where he was suspended in mid-air were terrifying. He'd had enough of caves for a lifetime and if he could help it, this would be the last time he'd be going underground, at least until his burial.

Finally at the bottom he walked over to where he'd hidden the
prize they'd been searching for—the bio-suit, MedKit and their portables. Everything was still there, hidden under the rocks, intact.

Thank God.

Despite their desire to work with Paulson, they decided it was best that they keep this little stash of goodies from the future secret from him and the government. You never knew who you could truly trust.
There was simply too much at stake.

He grabbed
everything, tucked it away into a backpack and signaled to Holly to get the horses moving, pulling him back up to safety.

#

Several hours later they were driving back to the dusty hotel where they'd left the government rental car. The morning sun was just peaking over the horizon, brightening the highway in front of them.

"We should pull over now," Holly said.

They were basically out in the middle of nowhere, somewhere between Roswell and Albuquerque. The interstate was empty and they hadn't seen a car pass for at least an hour, so Jeff drove off the highway, a little ways down a long dirt road. They got out of the car and walked over to a boulder next to a tall cactus. As they sat down a small green lizard scurried out of the way. Jeff pulled out the data drive from his future self and let the first rays of the morning sun strike its surface. In seconds the device powered back to life, its solar batteries recharging.

He plugged it into his portable and the screen flashed. A
3D hologram appeared above the device. It was the same older Jeff from the future, that they'd seen in the cave.

“Hello,
Mr. Madison. I hope you’re sitting next to Holly. If so, then I’ve succeeded. I also hope that I’m there with you as well. I will have explained much of what you’ll find on this drive. If I’m not . . . well, I never planned on a suicide mission, but I knew the risks before I jumped. The nanobot swarm is dangerous and these new EM pulse guns my company has developed may not be enough to take them all down. That’s why I’m taking high-yield grenades to do the job, just in case. If I’m not there, no need to grieve. I’ve probably already changed things to the point where I don’t exist anyway. At least not this version of me. But I’m starting to ramble. Here’s the deal.”

It felt strange to be looking at himself
from the distant future. It was like looking at his father.

The hologram Jeff shifted, then said, “Let me tell you the story of my time jump all those years ago. As you probably already know, you landed in 1992, not 2017. The first time around I had no choice but to leave Holly to the
nanobot swarm and save myself. I’m sorry, Holly."

Old Jeff looked down and paused for a second. Holly grabbed his
arm suddenly and glanced over at him. He knew that she was probably thinking about how close she truly was to dying, deep underground in Lechuguilla Cave, devoured by the swarm.

"I barely managed to escape from
Lechuguilla alive," continued future Jeff. "When I finally got to Cambridge, I found Patrick Chen and told him my time-travel story, which he didn’t believe at first, despite the proof from my portable. It wasn’t until I was able to convince him to come back to New Mexico with me and kill off the remaining nanobots that he fully believed.

“I knew that the
nanobots would eventually reach the surface, so they needed to be destroyed. Chen and another genius engineer in the MIT graduate program, Franklin Whittenhouse, were able to figure out the communication mechanism that the nanobots used. When we were at Lechuguilla Cave, they sent out a mimicked signal to call the other nanobots that had spread out in the cavern and were tunneling to the surface. Those nanobots then gathered in a small underground chamber. Chen, Whittenhouse, and I were able to use a modified non-nuclear EMP pulse bomb, that Whittenhouse had constructed in his lab, to destroy the remaining nanobots. That’s the short story, but it was very, very difficult to pull off.”

Jeff couldn’t imagine how hard that must have actually been, to devise a way to destroy the
nanobots. But after hearing that news, hope started to spark within him. The nanobots could be killed. Humanity had a chance after all. He squeezed Holly’s leg in his excitement, almost giddy, but only shook his head when she lifted a brow in a wordless question.

Jeff thought about the blast and the cave-in at the future site of Project
Chronos. It had been nagging at the back of his mind for some time now, and he wondered if all the nanobots had been destroyed in the blast. As strong as they were it was entirely possible that there might be a nanobot or two left alive, deep underground.

No
. Jeff put the thought out of his head. They certainly must have died. He looked over at Holly and her eyes were wide with fear.

She
paused the video and said, "We need to tell Paulson to keep watch on the cave. And when we start digging to build Project Chronos we'll need to have a security crew on site with EM pulse cannons, just in case."

"Agreed. It's better to be safe than sorry, especially when dealing with this level of technology."

Jeff started the video again.

"
Chen was eventually able to set up Project Chronos, although no earlier than in my original timeline, since my data drive from the future was lost. I was able to remember a little bit of history and made a fortune in the stock and real estate markets. Since no government officials would believe our story, I had to fund a large portion of Project Chronos on my own."

"He doesn't mention Buddy Paulson helping," Holly said.

"Nor does he mention Chen coming through the portal after him," Jeff said. "Seems like his timeline was significantly different from ours, somehow."

"We salvaged some of the dead
nanobots from the cavern and have been studying them for years. Scientists working for me have been able to make quite a few technological breakthroughs over the last several years as a result of those studies. Plus we have some pretty powerful weapons ready for the attack.

“However, I still don’t think we’re completely ready, even though we are in a much better position this time than we were the first go round. And, most importantly, we unfortunately still have no idea who is behind the attacks. I’m making this recording on August 16, 2037, five months before people started getting sick on
January 15, 2038
. We now call that day Extermination Day or E-Day. I’ll be time-jumping tomorrow; I won’t be coming back. The scientists and government officials here don’t want me making the jump, one because of my age, even though I’m in fantastic shape and we now have pills to prevent the time-jump nausea. But mainly they don’t want me going back because they’re afraid I’ll screw things up. You see, they think they’re ready for what’s coming, but I don’t believe it.

“No one here has seen the death that I’ve seen, the utter annihilation of billions. Even though it was a long time ago for me, it’s burned into my memory, like it happened yesterday. My children from my other life, gone. And in this life, my wife, sons, and grandchildren will be killed if I don’t make sure we’re ready for the coming attack.”

Jeff
handed the portable to Holly and stood up to stretch his legs. He thought about his own children who had yet to be born. He knew he would never get to see them grow up. But if he was able to stop the coming apocalypse then they would at least have a chance at a future.

“So, I’ve made different choices in this life. I’ve done what I had to do, what I thought was right, but more importantly what I think will save the human race in the future. But I still don’t think it’s enough. In over forty years, we have only begun to scratch the surface of what makes these nanobots tick.

“The technology used in
those things is so far beyond anything we are capable of. Our scientists tell me they feel like apes using sticks trying to figure out how a computer works. I fear our defenses against their attack will be nothing more than throwing spears at a tank. That’s one reason I want to go back to try to change the past, to make better preparations, get the project up and running quicker, and get the government behind us sooner."

A car
drove by on the highway in the distance, kicking up dust as it sped by. Jeff watched it pass, the desert sun already starting to feel warm on his face, despite the early hour.

“The other reason that I want to jump back is that despite everything, despite the passing of the years, I still feel guilty about running and leaving Holly behind. I know there was nothing I could have done to stop the
nanobots, and I probably would've died myself, but despite that, I still feel tremendous guilt. And instead of going away, it’s only grown as time has passed. Holly was the scientist, the more valuable member of the group. I should have been the one to die in that cave, not her.”

Holly took a deep breath and
grabbed Jeff's hand as he stood beside her. Hearing about how close she had been to death must be shocking. Jeff felt much the same way. He couldn’t imagine what it would've been like to have left Holly behind to be consumed by the swarm. The guilt must have been overwhelming, must have festered as the years passed, eventually growing into an obsession.