Animus Complete Series Omnibus, page 242
“Flynn’s EI,” he whispered. “If this is Flynn, why did he attack us? Are they forcing him?”
“Obviously, there are directives and other programs in here. He doesn’t have complete control. Memories and personal thoughts are being blocked. They are manipulating him to fight, probably along with every student they have.”
The ace released the golem and walked away for a moment to collect his thoughts. “So when he said my name it was because he recognized me, right?”
“If only for a moment,” he explained. “Like when there is a hole in a firewall, it is found and patched. He may have recognized you, but as long as he’s connected into—”
“Then disconnect him!” he ordered. “He’ll know it’s me then, right?”
“Kaiden. I only have partial access. They could pull the plug at any second.”
“We were gonna sever it anyway. If I can talk for a couple of minutes, it’s worth it.”
Chief’s avatar appeared in his vision and he nodded before he drifted to Flynn. “All right. I don’t mean to twist the knife, partner, but remember to make it quick. I’m not sure what his mental state will be.”
The EI disappeared and the golem collapsed. Kaiden hurried toward it. “Chief, what happened?” he asked and knelt beside the slumped figure. “Did it work? Chief?” The golem’s eyes closed, then opened. “Flynn?”
“Kai?” it responded and dragged in ragged, pained gasps. Even with its bland, emotionless voice, he detected a hint of the Australian accent of his friend.
“Flynn! I’m here. Are you okay?” he asked and supported the almost dead weight against him.
The golem wheezed, placed an arm against the ace’s chest, and pushed him back weakly. “You have to get out, Kaiden…a bomb.”
“A bomb?”
It nodded slowly. “Meant to destroy the base when we left…they can still detonate it remotely. You have to go…” It pointed behind them to a group of machines. “The draining device is in a case over there…have to break the lock…take it and go.”
He nodded. “They still have you on the ship, right? We’ll come—”
“Kaiden, don’t say anything,” Chief warned. “They can still comb through the memories. I severed control.”
Kaiden bit his lip but nodded. “We’ll save you, all right?”
The golem nodded again and managed a small smile. “I look forward to it, mate.” The body twitched and its arms spasmed for a moment. He released his hold as it shriveled in the armor and the skin turned ashen before it crumbled.
“All right, he’s flushed,” the technician said. “I wonder what disrupted the connection.”
“I don’t know, but the other golems are dead as well and I can’t reach any of the Omega Horde squad members.” The lead technician huffed his frustration. “It’s best to play it safe, contact one of the outpost leaders in the area, and have them blow the building. The bomb should be set, at least.”
“A bomb?” Wolfson asked over the comms and directed Silas and Mack up the stairs. “Did Chief pick it up?”
“No, it was— Look it’s complicated right now. You have the ship, right?” Kaiden asked, snagged the case Flynn had told him about, and headed to the door. He retrieved Sire from the floor along the way.
“Actually, your pals handled that,” the head officer said as they ascended to the roof. “They came looking for us after their call didn’t connect. Nice of them, wasn’t it?”
“I’ll thank them in person when I get to ya,” he promised. “Now, hurry. They can detonate the bomb remotely so I don’t think we have much—” He was cut off as a large explosion rocked the building from below. “Shit!”
“Get to the shuttle!” Wolfson shouted. “Kaiden, get out of the building!”
“Yeah, Wolfson, that’s the plan. I like living,” he yelled and sprinted down the hall while the floor shuddered and walls crumbled. He drew Debonair and fired at the window at the end of the hall, shattered the glass, and shielded his face with the case as he launched himself out seconds before the building collapsed behind him.
“Your shocks aren’t exactly in a great condition after being blown around in that fight,” Chief warned. “Try to make a good landing.”
“We’re coming for you, Kaiden,” Silas shouted and the ace twisted in mid-air to locate the ship that descended toward him. It would be close, he realized, retrieved another shield battery, and threw it far enough to blast it. The force hurled him a few dozen feet upward. He flipped so his feet were pointed at the ground and when the ship flew under him, he landed on the top and clutched the lever for the hatch as they accelerated away from the destruction.
“Are you all right, boyo?” Wolfson asked as the vessel slowed once they were at a safe distance. The ace pulled the lever and opened the hatch to drop into the shuttle where he was greeted by Mack, Cameron, and Luke.
“Nice of you to drop in, Kai!” Luke laughed and clapped him on the back. “A job well done?”
“That was a tough landing there, amigo.” Cameron chuckled and glanced at the box Kaiden held. “All that for a little gadget? Was it worth it?”
He nodded, looked at the prize, and thought of Flynn and all the students still locked away in the AO’s hands. “Yeah. If it will get us on that ship, it was definitely worth it.”
Chapter Fifteen
“While I have to commend your tenacity, Ambassador,” Merrick said, and the clear agitation in his voice let the Korean ambassador know what he would say next. “You’re trying my patience.”
“As I imagine most of my fellow ambassadors have done,” she retorted. “I will not be the first to break.”
“This isn’t an interrogation,” he snapped and pounded a fist on the table. He trembled slightly but composed himself quickly. “I am not trying to break you or anyone else here.”
She pushed to her feet and glared daggers at the Arbiter Organization leader despite the fact that the Omega Horde guards reached their hands to their sidearms. “You have kept us trapped here for months. You attack any vessel that attempts to come close to the embassy and you shut the gates. The Tsuna, Mirus, and Sauren will declare war if they cannot contact their delegates.”
“And how soon do you think they can get here without the gates operational?” he asked, although it seemed to be more of a rhetorical question he asked out loud as much to himself as her. “It matters not. They are of more use to us remaining on their planets. They will buy us time.”
“To fight this threat you constantly prattle on about?” she demanded. “You have not given me a straight answer. From what I’ve heard, you haven’t given anyone a straight answer on what this threat is. Is it so much worse than a madman leading a cabal to take control of our planet? To attempt to upend the government we have spent more than a century putting in place? For nothing more than a vision?”
“It wasn’t a vision.” Merrick slid slowly into his chair. His hand covered his face and one eye peered at her from between his pointer and middle finger. It narrowed in frustration, but for brief spurts, it would widen in truly terrified recollection. “It was a warning. Whether a beast we are unaware of or an invading force not even the other aliens know about, they will come.” He lowered his hand slowly and he stared at the ambassador, his lips pursed. “You say you won’t be the first to break? I’m not asking for simple submission. Be the first among you to show wisdom.”
She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath before she sat once again. “Only if you first show sanity, Merrick. You obviously still have intelligence—you could not accomplish all this otherwise—but you are not well. You need help—”
“I am well aware of that. What do you think I have tried to convince you of all this time?” he retorted and his features settled into their usual calm. “I do need help—the help of this entire species. At one particular point in our history, I would not have run into such resistance as I have thus far.”
The ambassador uttered a sound that was somewhere between a disgusted growl and a disbelieving laugh. “No matter how turbulent our history is as a species, I cannot think of any point in time where the leaders would roll over for a would-be megalomaniac dictator who uses anarchic prophecy to try to convince us that his cause is righteous. The people of Terra would certainly not.”
Something changed in the Arbiter leader’s demeanor after she mentioned that and it went from pensive, to calm, to an oddly thoughtful look. He nodded slowly, stood, and tapped a finger on the edge of the conference table. “I suggested that I would not have such a difficult time convincing others that aliens are a threat. In fact, the infrastructure that led to the Ark Academies was put in place because of that very concern.”
“We will not make progress being xenophobic, Merrick,” she snapped.
He held a hand up to stop her. “I do not fear or hate our alien allies but they are not my concern. You believe that I am simply here as an attempted usurper. I am trying to make sure there is something—a form of life—left in this universe once it comes.”
The ambassador rubbed her temple. “You have no proof of this…thing, Merrick. I cannot be the only one who has reminded you of that. And if you truly believed it to be as terrifying as you say, we should be working together to take it on.”
“We are the only thing that can stop it,” he stated flatly as nothing more than fact.
Now, it was the ambassador who slammed her fists down. “And why is that? Because of another of your visions? I would have thought someone of your pedigree would understand how to debate. You do nothing but—”
“We still have the most room to adapt and evolve,” Merrick continued and simply brushed her protest aside. “The Animus has proved that. The Mirus—I heard they were considered the most advanced of the races—die if they try to use it. The Sauren are incapable as well and can’t even establish a link. Despite being a space-faring people, they are brutish at heart.” He walked around the table and focused on the ceiling as he continued in a nonchalant tone. “The Tsuna have made strides but they do not gain synapse at the rate human students do, and all progress on better integration with the Animus has stalled, hasn’t it?”
She followed his movement and turned her head slowly as he moved closer. “And what is your point? You send those students out right now as soldiers and not even under their own control. You have stripped them of their will and made them no better than husks. Is that how you see the army of the future? You obviously have an army of machines, so use them. Or can you not see value in your soldiers unless you see a battlefield mired in blood?”
The man rounded the corner of the table and clasped his hands together as he stopped only a few feet from her. “The army I see is undefeatable, a perfect militia of potentially millions who are all physically and mentally perfect. The ones we have now…well, they are a regrettable compromise. I want them to know what they are doing, what and who they fight for. I do not see them as simple tools. I see no one like that. If I did, why would I fight so hard to save humanity? That is why I reach out to you—to all the ambassadors. With the world council gone, you stand as the representatives of your people. We can begin to centralize our society even further and hold it together by our might, not through niceties and vague promises. In time, I can show you what we can truly achieve with everything in place.”
Although she did not respond, Merrick could tell from her scowl that she still did not approve. He sighed and motioned to one of the guards. “Well, perhaps I have been too lenient. You were right about one of my actions, Ambassador. The people of Terra will not forgive me.” The Omega merc stepped forward and brandished a pistol, and her eyes widened in shock. “But no dead person can forgive me or scorn me regardless.”
The guard fired before she could even protest or voice one more insult. She toppled off the chair and he sighed. “The reality of the situation is that even with all my games and resources, I truly don’t have the might needed to take this world by force. At least not right now, but I’m sure you were aware of that as many of your colleagues are too.” The executioner signaled for others to remove the corpse. “It is easier to start a new regime with established and knowledgeable candidates. I had hoped that at least a few could see reason. But perhaps I have been too inviting, too kind, and some of you have seen that as weakness and exploited it. I did not give the council the same benefit because I knew of their games. They were beyond redemption. I had hoped for better here. At least in my former time as a member, there seemed to be more honor. It appears that may be lost.”
He paused as the door to the room opened for two guards to exit with the body. “Make sure to keep a DNA sample in case we need access to any systems of hers. There’s a chute down the hall that leads to the incinerator. Leave nothing behind.”
They nodded. “Understood, sir,” one acknowledged as the door closed to leave Merrick alone. He sat in the ambassador’s former chair and glanced at her blood on the surface. He leaned his head back and wondered how long it would take the other ambassadors, delegates, and various embassy staff to realize she was gone and that his patience was now thin. His eyes closed. He had talked to these various ambassadors one on one for the last couple of weeks between delegating the issues that needed attention on Earth. Sleep was never in abundance for him but he’d had even less than normal ever since he’d stepped aboard the embassy. There was still so much more that needed to be done, but for a moment, he let himself drift off.
A black void was illuminated by countless stars, some in different colored hues like small jewels amongst pearls. They cleared and became more defined as planets that swirled around the stars. More appeared and stars faded and lit anew. A sapphire and emerald glint in the distance caught his eye. Although quite far away, it was unmistakable. It was his home, Earth, and around it, several rigs began to orbit—the first stations—like an artificial crown adorning the planet, a mixture of the natural beauty and advancement of the human race. All seemed to be in place.
But a darkness grew to overshadow it all and he looked at a bright, piercing light. At the center was a maw of darkness, impossibly darker than the abyss of space itself. A low, droning echo rattled his chest but in a moment, it ceased and seemingly absorbed all noise as it vanished. A pulsing crackle of energy erupted like something seemingly ripped at the very fabric of reality as it reached into the universe from the center of the darkness within the light. That brightness faded rapidly as the pitch-black heart streaked into the galaxy to absorb planets, asteroids, moons, and even stars.
Some were consumed by this darkness while others were passed over but left either barren or contaminated by this vile ebony power. He wanted to leave and felt too close to this horrifying apparition that would swallow him soon. The process seemed both inevitable and futile because there was no driving desire. It was simply instinct as if this was what it was meant to do.
He seemed to shift to watch from the other end of the galaxy now. Earth hung suspended in front of him and far in the distance were millions of stars. He felt safe, but only for a mere moment because those began to fade as they were consumed. The darkness surged in, faster and faster, and was now at the edge of their system. Neptune, Uranus, and Saturn all vanished in what seemed an instant. He looked at his home in horror. There was no reaction to the threat and nothing seemed to be done—were they oblivious? Did they not see the terror approaching? Was it too fast? Maybe they had but were resigned to their fate. He never received an answer.
His vision spiraled and when it cleared, he stood on Earth in a field of green as the sky darkened and he looked up as the darkness surrounded the sun. He closed his eyes as the strange, horrifying drone filled his ears, followed by the screams of billions before he felt a sudden chill and his body split apart.
“Sir, there is a call,”
Merrick awoke with a start and rubbed his sleeve along his forehead, where beads of sweat had gathered. “What… What did you say?” he asked and focused on his EI in his ocular lenses.
“A call. I am sorry to disturb your rest, sir, but it is Dario and it sounds urgent.”
“Connect me, then,” he ordered. His assistant appeared quickly onscreen and for once, he wasn’t smiling, at least not outright. He seemed pensive, which was something of a concern. “What’s wrong, Dario?”
“Well, I originally intended to call you and leave a message as it is time for my latest report,” the assassin replied with a frown. “But there’s been a rather interesting development in the last couple of minutes.”
“And what is that?” he asked and recognized the edge of irritation that seeped through his drowsy tone. “Surely Nolan can handle any complications by now.”
“Perhaps, but I think the sudden appearance of eight destroyers would be a tricky complication for anyone.”
“What?” he shouted. “Eight destroyers?”
Dario looked down and shook his head. “I’m sorry, I was wrong there, capo. Two more jumped in,” he clarified and folded his arms. “So its ten and a Dreadnaught is close behind.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Two more destroyers have arrived, sir,” the ensign shouted as the alarms blared through the command deck and the rest of the colossus. “The Dreadnaught is closing in.”
“How were they able to jump into our space without a warning?” Nolan demanded and looked from Aurora’s wireframe form on one of the monitors above his chair to the row of technicians several yards away. Finally, his gaze settled on Lana, who scanned her tablet hastily.
“I detected no warp pulses or channels opened,” Aurora stated. “My observation would be that they were lying in wait and used their jump ability from a nearby location for an ambush rather than pursue us.”
“Dammit. And they have a Dreadnaught.” He growled annoyance. “I was assured there were none in this sector.”
