Resilience, page 21
Eli brought his hands to the panel and closed his eyes. Una flickered red on his shoulder as light funnelled down his arm. With a hiss, the door slid open.
Inside, operators hunched over their terminals. They turned and stared at Robyn. “Is there a problem?” one managed, her voice strained.
“Change of ownership,” Robyn snapped. Eli and Ariana surged past her, rippling with red and blue light. The operators froze. “Up against the wall. Don’t move.”
Chris and Sara barricaded the door with the vacated desks. Sara jabbed her launcher into the control panel, frying it. The overhead lights flickered but held.
Robyn took a deep breath and studied the enormous screen. Hundreds of video feeds. Hundreds of enslaved animal-human pairs. A complete aberration of the natural link of convergence.
The door shuddered and sparks arced through the middle of the door. “They’re cutting their way in,” Sara warned. “We don’t have much time.”
“No, you really don’t.”
Robyn spun around. Ariana and Eli quickly moved to flank her.
Out of the shadows emerged dozens of convergers. Mikey slowly descended the stairs. “But you just locked yourself into your worst nightmare.”
Chapter 26: Nyx
Mikey calmly raised his blaster and issued the order; “Fire.”
The command centre filled with electroshock blasts. Ariana and Eli’s auras blossomed from their skin, but even they could not withstand the relentless barrage. Hit, Eli stumbled. Before he could recover, Mikey had him in his sights. Yellow electricity raked Eli’s frame and the air filled with the smell of scorched flesh.
Ariana growled and expanded her energy field to encapsulate Eli. Dropping to one knee, Sara kept up a steady return fire, but it was hard to know where to aim as the MRI convergers disappeared in and out of the darkness. Robyn couldn’t tell whether she’d hit any of the shadowy figures hiding behind the rear terminals. Chris pushed Fletcher roughly behind him and tossed Spencer a spare launcher.
“Thanks.” Spencer grinned, already sighting down the weapon.
“It’s good to have you back, Captain,” Chris said, ducking low beside his polar bear. Iki stood beside Eva, huffing nervously and watching the quiet brown bear at her flank. Eva’s eyes were dark and her fur rippled with black energy as electroshocks flashed around them. Fletcher sat unmoving, eyes closed, a whisper of a smile on his face.
“Robyn!”
At the sound of her name, Robyn turned. Further along the wall near the door, Catherine stood wedged between Derek and a thin Asian woman. Fang, she realised. It had to be. A knot of six convergers surrounded them, blasters raised, but all Robyn felt was relief. Catherine’s all right. She’s alive. For a moment, the rest of the command centre faded away and all that remained was Catherine’s face.
Robyn forced herself to look away, to make sense of what was happening. She surveyed the command centre. Above the main terminals sat a larger terminal. It stood unattended, in the no-man’s land between them and Mikey’s convergers. And Catherine.
“Cover me,” she yelled and sprinted for the stairs. Robyn ducked under an electroshock blast and skidded sideways as another brushed her shoulder. With a silent scream, she dived behind the central terminal. Around her, electroshocks ricocheted off metal like lightning.
Commotion erupted behind her as Fletcher twisted free from Chris’ grip and dashed the converger’s head against the floor. Iki growled a challenge, but Eva snarled at the polar bear and rose on her hind legs. Iki stepped back to protect Chris, who lay unmoving on the floor, his forehead a bloodied mess. Without a second glance at the wounded converger, Fletcher walked across the battlefield of the command centre, trailing his hand across the row of terminals.
At the sudden wrench of Fletcher’s tether, Robyn scanned the room. Chris lay unconscious on the floor. Iki and Eva sidestepped each other, neither ready to make the first move. But when the earth walker turned in her direction, his eyes dark, her stomach lurched.
Fletcher pressed a hand against one of the computer terminals. Tremors of black light danced across his skin and the computer screen flickered.
“This is beyond even what I imagined,” Fletcher said and released a deep, maniacal laugh.
“Get back!” Spencer yelled, moments before the door exploded inwards and the screech of cleaving metal filled the air.
Soldiers in MRI fatigues poured through the door, their footsteps echoed by the powerful thuds of dozens of paws.
Robyn stared in horror at the lions and bears beside the soldiers, at the heavy-duty armour on both humans and animals. She could see the implant chips glinting at the base of their skulls. Robyn drew a shuddery breath. So many. They needed more time, damn it!
Spencer crouched beside Chris, shaking him and urging the converger to his feet. Iki, a low growl in her throat, pushed them toward Robyn and the others.
The soldiers parted to make way for a stooped man with a cane who shuffled through the melee to the centre of the room. “This is completely unnecessary,” Vulcan declared, waving his cane at the operators cowering against the wall. “Get back to your stations.” Casting nervous glances toward the soldiers and their animals and Robyn and the walkers, they resumed their seats. Out of the gloom strode Mikey and his team. With a crisp salute at Vulcan, they joined the other soldiers.
Robyn motioned to Eli and Ariana to desist. The walkers’ skin flickered with their energy auras, their faces lit with determination, but there was only one guide. One chosen to wield a power borne of millennia of evolution and bring balance to the world. Against her was one who believed that snatching power and bending people to his will justified death and terror. Robyn stood tall as she met the polemarch face to face for the first time.
“Drop your weapons,” Vulcan ordered.
His gaze pierced Robyn like a knife. When Sara sought her confirmation, Robyn hesitated before pulling her own launcher from her shoulder and placing it on the ground.
The smallest smile, no more than a twitch of muscle on Vulcan’s face, told Robyn what she wanted to know. Vulcan believed he had the upper hand.
“Step away from the hub, that way nobody gets hurt,” he barked.
Robyn looked to Catherine and, in response, her girlfriend raised an eyebrow. He’s lying. He’ll say anything to protect his control over his converger armies. Robyn regarded the enormous terminal, spreading her hands across the screen. The hub. They were supposed to have more time. Kara was supposed to be in her ear, talking her through the takedown process. And now she had run out of options.
Robyn looked at the control room filled with convergers. Then she turned her gaze towards the head of the MRI, so certain he was the man in control. This is what Robyn had come here to do. I have to destroy the implant chip connection. She studied the images playing out on the enormous wall screen. Every single one of them around the world.
Robyn closed her eyes and tuned into the energy coursing through her limbs and looping through her chest. White light blazed beneath her eyelids then energy cascaded through her fingers and surged into the hub terminal.
“No.” Fletcher’s confident voice carried across the command centre.
Robyn met his resistance, his dark energy unfurling against her own, stopping her efforts. Gasping, she released her grip on the hub terminal.
Fletcher stood calmly at the front of the room, his hands behind his back. Eva swayed beside him, her eyes lost in a gleaming mass of shadows.
“Stand down, boy,” one of the soldiers spat. The lion by his side snarled, shaking its mane.
Fletcher smiled and the white light on Robyn’s skin dulled. Ariana and Eli yanked her away from the terminal. Eyes watering with pain, she heard Chris swear under his breath as he sagged against Spencer’s shoulder.
The soldier’s lion roared, the sound reverberating against Robyn’s chest. Fletcher’s tether thinned to a wispy cord of energy connecting her to the earth walker. The main screen flickered as hyphae of dark energy spiralled across hundreds of video feeds.
With a desperate glance at Catherine, Robyn slowly reached for her launcher. Run. Get away, she wanted to scream. The air crackled with energy. The ranks of bears and lions froze and went unnaturally quiet. Silence blanketed the command centre. As one, the animals turned to face the soldiers.
Vulcan rapped his cane against the nearest desk. “What is going on?”
The operators threw up their hands. “It’s not us, sir. The system is glitching.”
A soldier went to give his lion a reassuring pat. Fletcher tipped his head and the lion snarled then crushed the soldier’s arm in its jaws.
As one, the lions and bears advanced. The room filled with agonising screams as claws slashed skin and sliced muscle. The operators rushed toward the door, trampling over one another, desperate to escape, but the crazed animals struck them down. The very animals they’d been monitoring and controlling for months.
Fear froze the scream in Catherine’s throat. The bravest of the convergers guarding them raised their blasters, although their arms trembled. Mikey screamed as his lion lunged, its powerful jaws latching onto his arm and flinging the converger across the room. He landed with a sickening thud and did not move. Catherine slipped between the two convergers directly behind her. Fang pivoted, slamming an elbow into one converger’s throat and sent him reeling. The remaining convergers scattered in horror.
Catherine ran through the carnage. A soldier dropped beside her, deep bloody gashes gouged into his chest. She stumbled when a lion pounced on another man’s ribcage, splintering bone as it ripped out his throat. The animal raised its bloody maw and growled, defending its kill. Catherine backed into a body and desperately scrabbled for a weapon. Legs, hips, holster … The lion advanced, blood dripping from its jaws as it bared its teeth. With trembling fingers, Catherine raised the rifle. The lion lunged. Crack. The recoil jarred her shoulder, sent her head spinning. With a low whine, the lion dropped, eyes rolling back in its head. She fought the urge to vomit, clutching the rifle to her chest. I have to get out of here. A hand grabbed her shoulder. Catherine yelped and spun around. It was Fang, a rifle in her hands and brains smattered across her shirt.
“Let’s go,” Fang cried, pointing upstairs.
Ahead of them, Derek sprinted through the battle, leaping over fallen desks, intent on only one thing – reaching the hub. Numb, Catherine followed Fang.
“Fire!” Robyn yelled. Her heart hammered in her ears, displacing all sense of time as she focused on the fighting around Catherine and Fang. She picked out targets, sending down a barrage of inhibitor spheres. The animals roared as the dye splattered them, shaking their heads to get rid of it. Fletcher’s tether pulsed against her ribcage. She spotted him standing by the terminals, hands outstretched, dark energy rippling over his arms. With rising horror, Robyn watched as, one by one, the animals recovered. Nyx is using the MRI system to control the implant chips.
Ariana pushed Robyn’s blaster down. “It’s no use.”
A man bounded up the steps and stopped in front of them. Derek. Beside her, Ariana’s skin flared with blue energy.
Derek held up his hands. “Please. I can help.”
Blue light expanded around Ariana in a rush. “Can we trust you?”
He appealed to Robyn. “The hub. I know my way around the system. I can help you. Please, believe me,” Derek pleaded.
Robyn refused to look at him. She turned to Ariana. “Watch him.”
Derek leapt over the desk and booted up the hub.
Catherine and Fang ran side by side, skirting around fallen soldiers. “What the hell is happening?” Catherine yelled.
“All I know is that the MRI no longer controls its assets.” Fang paused and glanced around the room, then turned her attention back to the bloody obstacle course at their feet. “Can you see Vulcan anywhere?”
“No,” Catherine replied, feeling stronger with the weapon in her hand and the hope that Vulcan was no longer in control.
“He’s either dead or he’s escaped. My money’s on him escaping. That man has nine lives.” Fang pointed at the stairs, dropping to one knee in front of Catherine. “Derek’s at the hub. He should be able to reign this in. Go – I’ll cover you.”
The moment Catherine saw an opening, she took it, racing up the stairs to where Robyn stood, launcher raised, streaked in blood. A goddess. She ran headlong into Robyn’s strong embrace and pulled her in for a desperate kiss: wet, crushing, exhilarating. With a sigh, Catherine released her girlfriend and raised her rifle. “About bloody time, babe.”
It was dark, all dark. Fletcher floated in the void, adrift. Visual flashes blazed across his mind, gone as readily as they appeared.
Through the blackness a girl appeared. Ana. She flickered like a video-game glitch, her expression sorrowful. “Don’t do this, Fletcher. You can fight this.”
Fletcher tried to answer, but his body was no longer his. He was just a vessel, trapped inside his mind, the in-between, fading away.
“I know you can,” floated Ana’s voice.
Fletcher desperately tried to focus on Ana. “How,” he managed before an invisible force slammed into him. Cold tendrils spiralled through his limbs, locking his body in a terrifying spasm. His entire world contracted to the pain coursing through his body. “How do I fight something I can’t even see?”
But there was no answer; Ana had gone.
A section of darkness lifted like cinema curtains retracting to reveal the main show. Eva roared, spittle flying from her jaw, defending her position in a sea of chaos. We’re at the MRI compound in Alaska. There was a trek through the snow, a skirmish with Mikey in the hallway then nothing.
Fletcher focused on the flickering images. A room, filled with computers. Fallen bodies barricaded the doorway. A wall of flesh. A reinforced internal glass window shook as animals hurled themselves against it. He felt the brush of their minds, heard their single purpose. Kill them. No! It was his voice, hurled back at him in a chorus of death. Kill them. Kill them. Kill. Them. Lions and bears with bloody jaws and froth at their lips. The mauled bodies of convergers littered the command centre. Animals heaved shuddering final breaths. This is my fault. It’s all my fault. Despair filled Fletcher as he realised he was powerless to stop Nyx’s puppetry of his own body. A black aura blossomed inside his body like a disease.
Horrified, Fletcher watched it spread. He pushed all his strength into a single thought. Stop this.
Through the blackness surged another voice that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere all at once. You are my vessel, earth walker.
The animals continued hurtling against the glass. Tiny cracks whispered across its surface.
You will all be removed from this Earth and I shall be free once more.
Fletcher saw Ariana and Eli by Robyn’s side, Sara, Spencer and Chris behind them.
Desperation filled his mind. But it’s not yet the solstice.
Yes, but you have delivered to me something so much stronger.
Fletcher saw an image of the radio array. But we destroyed it.
Not for long. A small sun, yet powerful enough.
Then crippling pain, as if he’d grabbed hold of a live wire. Fletcher shuddered, trying to maintain a grip on his mind. The quartz collar around his neck cleaved in two and clanked to the floor. A moment of relief before Nyx’s dark energy surged through his system and choked him.
It is time to reclaim this planet. Remove the scourge of humanity and the feeble spirits who chose you.
Whoomp! The window shattered and tiny shards of glass rained down. Oblivious to the razor-sharp fragments lacerating their paws, the animals leapt into the room: wolves, coyotes, bears, tigers and jaguars. Trailing bloody footprints, they stalked the group huddled in the centre of the room. Around and around they circled, closing in on their prey. Through the thick haze of pain, Fletcher saw it was his friends. Blackness tightened its grip around his throat.
Chapter 27: Attack
“Robyn! Robyn, can you hear me?” Kara screamed in her ear.
“Oh thank God, yes!” Robyn yelled over the chaos. “Fletcher’s up to something, I don’t know what …”
A deep hum filled the command centre.
“What the … I’m getting abnormal energy readings here,” Kara said. “Oh, shit.”
“The radio array is back online,” Fang called out over the cacophony of terror and pain. She dropped to one knee and shot an advancing bear. With a bleating wail, the animal collapsed.
“I recognise them,” Spencer whispered. “These animals are from the convergers’ gym, or at least, the ones that used to be paired with convergers.”
A cold chill ran down Robyn’s spine as Fletcher’s tether warped, and the world teetered around her.
Catherine grabbed her arm to steady her. “What’s happening?”
“Fletcher,” Robyn forced out, eyes locked on the earth walker. “Nyx.”
A chorus of howls echoed around the command centre.
“Iki, what’s wrong?” Chris’ polar bear shook her head from side to side, her shoulders tensed. Chris moved to comfort her, but the polar bear reared and knocked him to the ground.
Ming squirmed in pain then turned to Sara with dispassionate, savage eyes.
“Please, Ming, I know you’re still in there.”
The leopard pounced. Sara desperately tried to fend her off, but Ming managed to sink her teeth into Sara’s leg. She screamed in agony. Blue light flared on Ariana’s skin and she used her aura to force Ming to retreat. The leopard hissed and prowled to a safer distance.
Just as Iki lunged, Eli’s energy aura pushed Chris sideways.
Robyn realised what was happening. Nyx, via Fletcher, had co-opted the MRI’s implant chip system to control the animals. Except why were Iki and Ming no longer responding to Chris and Sara? Then she understood: because they’re both terrestrial animals. Somehow, Nyx had used Fletcher to control every earth-bound animal. Whether they had a chip or not.
