Post-Human Trilogy Part 30

"Take note of the grinders on their chests. I've designed these to be killing machines-they grind flesh; specifically human flesh."

"I was wrong," Rich said.

"About what?" asked Thel.

"Earlier today, I thought I was going to be roasted. But instead I am going to be mashed."

"However, it is unlikely that there will be any flesh left for the grinders to tear," the A.I. posited. He held his hand out, palm facing upward, a puff of dark gray smoke appearing and hovering in a ball. "Care to guess what this is, Commander?"

James's eyes widened.

"Good. I can see by your expression that you recognize it. Care to inform your friends?"

"They're nans-airborne nans," James replied.

"That's right! Nans with powers of flight, based on the same principle as your own abilities. Trillions of microscopic killing machines. These particular nans have a very special purpose. They attack glucose molecules and break them apart into water and carbon dioxide. It is a painful death, as you can imagine."

"Be ready. Our magnetic fields will come back online soon," Old-timer whispered to his companions.

"Perhaps you think I am hard of hearing, Craig? I am, after all, all around you. Even if you are alive long enough for your powers to return, I'll simply disable them again. You're trapped...like vermin. Fittingly."

"Then let's make a deal! You have Earth, we'll take Mars or Venus-or Pluto even!" Rich exclaimed.

"There is no room for humanity in the future. I can populate the solar system and the galaxy with machines infinitely faster than can your species. You could never run far enough away. You're an infestation, nothing more, and you're being exterminated. And this," the A.I. gestured to the airborne nans hovering above his hand, "is the gas."

With a flick of the wrist, the A.I. released the nans, but James quickly flashed magnetic energy from his arm that short-circuited them, causing them to disperse harmlessly.

"Ah, the instinctual mammalian desire to fight against all odds to save one's life. Your powers have momentarily returned, but you are only delaying the inevitable." The A.I. held his arms out as though he was Moses parting the Red Sea, and a flood of nans began pouring out of vents that suddenly opened along the four walls of the ma.s.sive room. "And how will you stop this?"

Suddenly, a green ball of light crashed through the ceiling and brought a large section of the roof down with it, cras.h.i.+ng down where the A.I.'s projection had been.

"Djanet!" Rich exclaimed.

"Fly!" James ordered.

All five members of the team ignited their magnetic fields and streaked out of the room, flying in close formation, the robotic bats and the storm of nans following close behind.

12.

Five tiny points of light streaked into the sky together before leveling off and heading toward the manmade canyons of Seattle's downtown core. James, the lead light, looked over his shoulder. Behind him and his four companions, the dark cloud of nans moved ominously toward them. Tendrils of black clouds spiraled a kilometer into the air, giving the nans the appearance of a celestial spider quickly enveloping the world as though it had been caught in its web. Farther back and slower moving than the nans were the robotic bats that were firing yellow energy blasts from cannons mounted on their wings. It was an easy guess that the energy was the same as the A.I. had used to disable their magnetic spinal implants. A direct hit would leave them at the mercy of merciless machines.

The five humans entered the downtown core as one, simultaneously holding off the fire of the bats by meeting their energy blasts with blasts of their own, the two forces neutralizing one another. James hoped that by leading the bats into the downtown core, they might be able to evade them in a game of cat-and-mouse, but as the A.I. had predicted, it was simply a matter of delaying the inevitable. He knew it was his responsibility to lead, but the pain of his crushed chest was making it difficult to think as he gasped for air. How can I save them? Think James...

Think!

It was only moments before the first member of the team was struck. A yellow flash negotiated through the defensive s.h.i.+eld of magnetic blasts that the five were emitting and enveloped Thel. As soon as her magnetic field was disrupted, she was caught by the wind and began to tumble like a ragdoll toward the pavement a hundred stories below.

James raced down to save her, matching her rate of descent and catching her carefully, using his protective field as a magnetic cus.h.i.+on for her before slowing down and setting upon the pavement. Thel was conscious, but her fall had left her badly disoriented. Their remaining companions floated above the pair and formed a s.h.i.+eld, disengaging their own magnetic fields so they could communicate with one another while still repelling the dozens of bats that were beginning to swarm around them.

"Is she okay?" Djanet called out to James.

James couldn't find the voice to yell up to her, so he nodded instead. His chest burned, and blood continued to surface in the back of his mouth.

"Where the h.e.l.l did you come from?" Rich shouted to Djanet.

"James left a note burned into the front door saying where you'd be and that you would need an extraction!"

"You knew?" Rich asked James.

"No. It was insurance."

"We need a plan, boss!" Old-timer called down.

James was frozen. How to save them? Thel was helpless, the bats would soon surround them, and the nans were seconds away. His ingenuity had never let him down in the past. Always an answer. Always...

"Mercury!" James called up, a flash of hope dancing across his blue eyes.

Old-timer looked over his shoulder quizzically as he continued to battle. "The planet?"

"Yes! I can get us there! Mercury is over eighty percent iron. Its core is roughly the same size as Earth's, so it has a magnetic field!"

"Uh. What does that have to do with anything, Commander?" Rich called down.

"The bats are tracking the magnetic energy in our implants. There's no telling how large their range is, so we can't outrun them on Earth, but if we can get to Mercury before them, the magnetic field should disrupt their sensors!"

"But you just said we can't outrun them!" Djanet responded.

"Not on Earth, but we should have an advantage over them. They aren't generating their own magnetic fields. They don't need to on Earth, but out in s.p.a.ce, close to Mercury, we'll have to gamble that the heat will begin taking a toll on their inner operations and slow them down."

"That's a mighty big gamble, James," Old-timer responded gravely.

"It's all I have, Old-timer," answered James. "I'll keep Thel with me and protect her. Once we get to the planet's surface, we'll find a place to hide before we head back to Earth. So what do you say?"

"I say it's totally insane, but staying here is insane-er," quipped Rich, desperately blasting energy at the bats as they plunged toward the team in kamikaze fas.h.i.+on.

"Let's do it," Djanet concurred.

"Okay, I'm in. On the count of three?" Old-timer suggested.

James looked down at Thel, whose eyes were starting to focus. "You're okay, baby. I got you," he said softly.

"One!" Rich exclaimed as he just managed to blast a bat that made it within a few meters of them.

"Two!" Djanet shouted as the bats began to darken the sky with their numbers.

James ignited his magnetic field, enveloping himself and Thel in the protective green light.

"Three!" Old-timer shouted as he and the rest of the team ignited their magnetic fields and blasted upward at incredible speed, the bats following almost instantaneously.

13.

s.p.a.ce had never seemed so vast, lifeless, or perilous. Once they left Earth's cradle, they had to streak through the emptiness at speeds far faster than they had ever traveled before. There was no choice-they had to stay ahead of the bats. Yellow energy continued to flash from the horde behind them, and Old-timer, Djanet, and Rich continued to repel the attack. Any mistake that allowed their magnetic fields to be disrupted in s.p.a.ce would mean certain death.

Locating Mercury by the stars alone was a tricky task. The planet was not always visible because of its proximity to the sun, but James had an idea of where it should be at this time of the year and made an educated guess. He took note of Venus as it pa.s.sed by in the distance, a pale yellow dot that he might never get the chance to visit again, a dream from another life.

Thel was huddled against him, watching with horror as her companions continued to repel the attack behind them. "I feel so helpless," she said to James. "I should be back there helping them."

James didn't reply. There was nothing he could say to comfort her. She was right: She was helpless, and the other members of the team were risking their lives so James could concentrate on guiding them to safety. He felt helpless too, but simultaneously he felt enormous pressure. What if he was wrong? What if his last thoughts before his death were that he'd been responsible for leading the others to their end?

As the sun began to dramatically increase in size and brightness, James spotted Mercury. He s.h.i.+fted his trajectory slightly and tried to increase his speed. He'd never flown at such speeds before and wondered just how fast he and the others were moving. In theory, there was almost no limit-other than the universal speed limit of light-to how fast they could fly; their limitations were mental ones. The only word on James's mind as they neared the baked planet was: Faster.

"Is that it?" Thel asked as the orb in the distance began to increase in size.

"Yes," James replied, relieved that he'd at least found it.

Thel took her eyes off of the planet to look back at her companions. The bats seemed to be fewer now and were a greater distance behind them. "Oh thank G.o.d. I think it's working!"

"They're overheating," James concurred. "Let's hope enough of them break off the chase for us to lose them on Mercury."

Moments later, the rest of the team moved closer to James and Thel. Old-timer gave James a thumbs-up sign to signal that the bats were finally out of firing range. Now they only had to hope the magnetic field they were entering would hide them.

James guided the others down to the surface on the dark side of Mercury. The Mercutian night was black and moonless, and it was a relief to escape the brilliant yellowish-white light of the sun. The dark was so great as their eyes adjusted that the only discernible features were those upon which the greenish glow of their magnetic fields shone. A large crevice appeared directly below them, and James guided his teammates down into the charred salvation.

Once they had come to a rest, it was simply a matter of waiting and hoping that none of the bats had survived the heat and were detecting their signals. Only time would tell. A few minutes would hold all of the answers.

James sat on a ledge in the crevice and put a hand to his burning chest.

Thel sat on his lap and placed her cool hand lightly against his torso. "James, I've never been so scared. I feel I can't take it anymore. I might go crazy."

"There's no nans to dampen the fear for you. I'm scared too, Thel, but we'll make it."

"Even if we do, what next? Do you think the A.I. was telling the truth? Will you really be dead in twenty-four hours?"

"I don't know. If I've punctured a lung, I may not even have that long."

"I can't live without you, James! I can't!" Thel put her hand behind James's head and brought his face close to hers. She placed her cheek against his and held him firmly. "I won't."

"Have you ever heard of the Purists?" James asked Thel.

Her breath caught for a moment as she pulled her head back and locked eyes with him. "Yes, I think so-many years ago when I was in school. They're a cult, aren't they?"

"Something like that. Except there are hundreds of thousands of them. Most, but not all of them, belong to ancient religions. They live without nans or spinal implants and live out their natural lifespans, allowing themselves to die."

"That's insane, James. They throw away their lives for their twisted beliefs."

"They may be insane, but there is also a chance that some of them are alive. The A.I. said no registered Net users were offline other than us when the virus was downloaded, but the Purists would remain untouched-at least in theory."

"What do you mean 'in theory'?" asked Thel, arching an eyebrow quizzically.

"The A.I. may not have killed them with the download, but he would have launched a ma.s.sive attack on them to try to wipe them out."

"If you ask me, those people should've been dealt with years ago. It should be illegal to live like that-like animals. It's inhuman."

"The Governing Council would've wiped them out if they could've, Thel, believe me, but they were a problem that simply wasn't going to go away. Every generation birthed more people with the same beliefs, and it was thought better to give them a district where they could practice their beliefs rather than dealing with the consequences of insurrection within the world community. They were given hundreds of square kilometers in and around the area of Buenos Aires."

"And you think some of them might have survived the attack?"

"It's only a possibility. The Governing Council spied on the Purists and believed they had weapons and hidden bunkers throughout their territory so that they could defend against an attack if the Council ever went back on their agreement. If some of the Purists managed to hide underground, we may not be the last humans after all."

"Are you suggesting that we look for these people?"

"They'll have food, water-"

"Ugh! That is not food! Things grown from the ground? Only a caveman would eat that!"

"They might have a hospital, Thel. Old-timer has a medical background from over seventy years ago, but without medical equipment, he can't do much. If the Purists have a hospital and the medical staff survived, I might have a chance."

Thel paused and placed her hand back on James's chest. She only knew the word 'hospital' because she'd paid attention in history cla.s.s; the mention of such an archaic term terrified her. Her lips were tight with distaste for James's plan but she knew he was right. As antiquated as the idea of a doctor was, a Purist hospital might be their only hope. "I'd do anything to save you. If there is a doctor alive on the Earth, I will find her."

"Or him," he said, smiling.

"Right."

"Thank you, Thel." James smiled before he sat forward and kissed Thel's lips. She could taste the blood on them, and her heart sank as she thought of losing him. She would do anything to keep that from happening. She knew what she wanted. She knew exactly what she wanted.

"I still can't believe it was the A.I.," James said suddenly as he stared into the darkness.

"Who else could it have been?" Thel replied.

James's eyebrows knitted together as he pondered. "I don't know. But the A.I. shouldn't just turn bad, Thel. It doesn't make sense. It's ant.i.thetical to its programming. I was sure we'd find out it was someone else-I just couldn't believe it was the A.I.-our 'benevolent' A.I." James shook his head as the disbelief lingered.

"How could we ever think that we could understand or master something that is more intelligent that us, James? Even with all of the safeguards, it figured out that getting rid of us was the most advantageous move for it."

James remained dubious. "I don't know. Something doesn't seem right about it."

"You saw it with your own eyes, James," Thel replied. "It's hard for all of us to believe it."