Spheria (33 page)

“Brothers, we must now do the unthinkable. We must slaughter our own kind. We must redeem the wrong done to our society – the wrong done to the very fabric of our culture. We must end every life that participated in this disgrace! The Workers’ act was an attack on us all, and we must respond in equal measure.”

Cheers erupted among the Soldiers. They danced around, revved up to complete their mission. Ga∙zo raised his whip, holding his leg in the air. He twirled it around and caught the end with another raised leg. Stretching the strap over his sensors, he shouted, “For the Colony!”

“For the Colony!” the others said in unison.

Just then, both scouts returned. They rushed through the crowd to Ga∙zo.

“Commander,” the first said, “the wall goes all the way to the Rift. There is no way around in that direction.”

“It’s the same the other way,” said the other, “it goes all the way to the river.”

“So we’re completely blocked,” brooded Ga∙zo. Then to the entire gathering, “We must find a way through. It’s time we learned to work without the Workers. Let’s breach the wall!”

The Soldiers huddled and began speaking with each other as they discussed his request. Ideas began to form. Ga∙zo watched in anticipation, waiting for someone to come up with a plan.

The first to do so were Te∙zo and We∙zo, who’d been traveling together. They returned to the foliage and brought forth a large branch that they noticed when they arrived at the wall. They lifted it and attempted to lay it across the wall. But it bounced and bobbed until it was finally thrown back at them. A couple of other Soldiers joined them and attempted to hold the end of the branch to steady it over the wall. It bobbed, but remained pointed at the other side. We∙zo began to climb across it. But as he approached the wall, his weight lowered the branch, and the blue rock repelled it more forcefully. The branch thrashed violently, throwing We∙zo back into those holding it. The branch flew up and landed on the other side of the wall.

Ga∙zo watched with disappointment. He glanced at the branch on the other side and wondered if they could somehow do that with a Polyan. Before he could verbalize his thought, a group of five Soldiers began picking up brown rocks. These they hurled at the blue rocks forming the wall. Before colliding with the blue, the rocks were each deflected. Some shot upwards, some backward, and some went over the wall. None made contact with the blue columns.
 

“Come,” said Ga∙zo to the group. “Five of you, pick me up, and throw me over.”

The five that had been throwing the rocks each took one of Ga∙zo’s legs. They hoisted him so that he was standing on their backs. They approached the wall as close as they could get. There they knelt, and in unison stood, flinging Ga∙zo into the air toward the wall. It wasn't high enough. He was deflected backward and landed on top of a gathering of Soldiers, who sprawled about in a tangle of legs.

Ga∙zo looked up from the morass of Polyan bodies. There stood Fa∙ro looking down at him.

“I'm disappointed in you Ga∙zo,” he hissed. “You're unable to solve this simple problem without my help. I bet any Worker would be able to find a way through. This is why they need to be destroyed. They’re a danger to us all for as long as they live.”

Ga∙zo and the others watched. Fa∙ro had a bunch of red rocks stuck to his back. He used a brown rock to detach one of them and held it like a handle. He flung it at the obstruction. Unlike the brown rocks alone, the red rock struck the wall with sudden force, knocking one of the blue columns aside. Fa∙ro repeated this four more times, hitting away four more blue segments of the wall. Finally, there was an opening big enough for them to pass through single file.

A cheer rose from the crowd, and more than one statement of “Long live Fa∙ro,” and a couple of “For the Colony.”

Then they began to storm through the breach, heading toward the fallen tower.

#

No one was in the real server room. Had they been, they’d have seen several entire panels of blue Qubes begin to shift to red.
 

Chapter 43 - The Incinerator

“When you're cornered, there are two things you can do: move or fight.” - Josh Fox

Max stood motionless, looking at both Min and Dana, who faced him like cornered animals. The rage was gone from his eyes, but a tension existed like a wall of frost.

Dana took two steps away from Min. She shifted her eyes from Max to Min and asked, “Can someone tell me what the hell is going on here?”

Min thought,
thanks for throwing me under the bus.

Max’s eyes followed the voice and he stared at Dana, realizing who he’d been chasing. A look of confusion washed over his face, then paralysis, as he wondered what to do next.

Anger returned, and his face turned red. He spoke to Dana, slowly and deliberately. “I would like
you
to tell
me
what’s going on here!”

“Sure,” Dana replied, her body language relaxed as if it was no big deal. “Min came to find me because she thinks you're trying to kill her.”

His eyes snapped back to Min.

“Kill her?”

“Yes,” said Dana.

“Min, why would I be trying to kill you?”

Min was shaking. Her shoulders slumped in a posture of defeat. She mumbled, “Because you found me in your secret server room.”

“Min,” he said, “nice try bluffing your way out of this. That was the first time I was
ever
in that room. You're obviously the one running it. I want to know right now what it is. What were you doing in there and why does it even exist?”

Min glanced at Dana and back to Max.

“Max, how do you even have the nerve to pin this on me? I hacked into the computer in the room. I know what you've got to hide – the weapons. How could you do this? How could you compromise our values for money? And murder!”

Max looked shocked.

“Yes,” continued Min. “I know Olivia was murdered. She discovered the same thing I did, and it cost her her life. I hacked her journal and knew she was onto you.”

“No, no, no,” stammered Max, confused. “Something isn’t right here.”

He stepped forward and grabbed the sides of Min’s shoulders. She’d given up and didn’t resist. She noticed his grasp was lighter than expected.

Max continued. “I swear. I was at your desk and saw your computer had crashed. I rebooted it and logged in to see what might have happened, which is when I found Olivia’s journal. I read the whole thing, and something jumped out at me. There was a message embedded there. Every first letter of each entry spelled a message, ‘F-L-O-O-R-6-C-O-D-E-2-4-6-5.’ Floor 6? I knew we had a storage closet down there for paper files. And I remembered seeing a keypad in there but never thought much about it. Until now. I grabbed the key, let myself into the storage room, and Olivia’s combination worked – at least once my eyes adjusted enough to enter it correctly. The room that lay beyond, the red server room... that’s the first time I saw it. I was trying to make sense of it all when you attacked me.”

Min was processing what he said. “I wish I could believe you, Max. But that’s a huge coincidence.”

“It’s the truth. And I agree it’s a big coincidence. Why were you in the room?”

“I was in the real server room above and spilled my coffee. I was cleaning it up when I found a conduit under the raised floor…”

“Enough!” shouted Dana.

They both looked at her. She stood blocking the exit from the cage. A silver and black pistol in her hand pointed in their direction.

Max looked at the gun and said, “It all makes sense to me now.”

“Of course it does,” spat Dana. “You two brainiacs make a cute couple. But that’s enough. This little secret must remain a secret. Believe me, I'm fond of you both, and I hate to kill you. It’s going to slow the Spheria project. And your disappearance will be harder to explain than Olivia’s. But I don’t intend to leave evidence this time.”

Min asked, “Why are you doing this?”

“What do you think I am? Some kind of super villain about to explain my motives before killing you? Not going to happen. I’m sorry, but I've got no choice in this matter. It’s your lives or mine. Now turn around and climb through that door.”

They both turned to look in the direction where she was pointing the gun. There was no other exit. Then they realized that the door she was referring to was part of the substantial boiler-like apparatus taking up the bulk of the room. It was a walk-in medical incinerator. It was massive, large enough to wheel gurneys into before dumping the bodies for disintegration to ash. The roof of the chamber was high enough that Min could stand upright.

“Otherwise,” Max clarified, “you will... shoot us?”

“I’ll shoot you and drag you in there. So, either way, you're going in. But if you won’t go in yourself I will first make it painful.”

“Burning to death isn’t exactly painless.”

“True, but the burn is quick.” She was right. After a brief pilot lighting period, the incinerator would heat to 2,000 degrees Celsius in about 15 seconds. Death would come in about 4 seconds. Not even enough time to realize the flames had begun to blast from the injection ports.

“Now in!” Dana ordered.

Max took a step toward Dana. Without hesitation, she fired a shot into his foot. She had good aim, and he fell sideways into Min, who caught him with her body. Both tumbled to the ground.

“Owww. Fuck!” Max yelled.

Tears began to run down Min’s face. Her eyes shot daggers toward Dana. “Please don’t do this,” she pleaded.

Dana said, “Get into the incinerator
now
and I’ll give you the explanation you desire. Consider it your dying wish. Don’t get in and I’m going to start shooting body parts until you can’t fight me. Either way, you're going to die. One way you'll know why, one way you won’t.”

Min started sobbing but grabbed Max around the torso from the back. She began dragging him into the doorway. He helped push with his functioning leg, wincing in pain when his other foot jostled over the threshold. A trickle of blood left a line on the floor like a crimson arrow.
 

Satisfied that they’d complied, Dana kept her word. “I'm truly sorry to have to do this, and sorry about Olivia also. I was convinced that it’d look like a suicide, but Captain Brennan wasn’t so sure. He investigated her death and almost discovered the truth. This time, I can’t have any bodies.”

“But why?” Max asked through gritted teeth.

“Isn’t it obvious? You know we’re having funding issues. DARPA had its eye on your pet project since the Solvay Conference. But Graham’s contract preventing military investment was an issue for their administration. So they approached me, and we worked out a deal. Not only did we get enough funding to keep this going, but I also will receive a beautiful piece of land in Costa Rica for my retirement. I’ve worked for Graham a long time, and I’m not getting rich doing it. I'm sorry you got caught in the crossfire, Max. But I promise you, I’ll keep your project going as long as I can. Good stuff will come of this. I wish you luck in the afterlife.”

“I doubt we will meet there,” Max spat.

“You sound ungrateful. I could just shut your project down.” As she said this, she walked up to the large iron door and slammed it shut. She locked it with a large metal latch.

Min and Max were in pitch darkness – at least until a small pilot light in the corner flared on, casting a blue hue in the chamber.

Chapter 44 - The Great Divide

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” - Desmond Tutu

Hi∙ma entered the open end of the tower. It now lay horizontal instead of standing vertical. In this position, the four sides of the structure created a tunnel. Its zig-zagging girders formed enough of a surface to stand on. Hi∙ma moved ahead, and the ground disappeared, revealing the chasm of the Rift below for as far as she could see.
 
She paused, then continued more slowly since there were plenty of significant gaps. For a second she got dizzy and lost her footing, but caught herself before falling in. Looking straight through the tunnel steadied her, and she resumed moving again. Others began entering behind her. So much had changed, it was hard to accept this was actually happening.