Cyberdrome (43 page)

Herschel looked
at them all and then at the beam. “I hope you don’t mind if I choose to return
home,” he said. “I have seen enough of this place to last a lifetime.”

“You’ve suffered
enough,” Alek said. “And someone has to tell them what we are attempting.”

Herschel turned
his head toward the group. “Goodbye, Alek,” he said. “Thank you—thank you all
for what you did, and what you hope to do.” He then turned and stepped into the
glowing beam and disappeared.

A moment later,
the Comport beam vanished, sealing their fate. As they moved away from the
spot, the Watchport spiraled up out of the ground and reformed itself into a
sphere.

Alek scanned the
group surrounding him and then addressed them all, “We have a new mission,” he
said, “and this is our new team.” He glanced up at the Survey Vessel in the distance
and added, “And that, I guess, will be our new home for a while. Let’s go check
it out.”

o     o     o

Several hours
later, Alek and Maya sat alone on the bridge of the Survey Vessel. The Dragon,
Rover, and several of the damaged—but repairable—Tracers had been recovered
from the Mole tunnels and stored away in the lower hangar. Since this was a new
Survey Vessel, built specifically for this mission, it had never been properly
named. No one complained when Alek chose to call it the “Mathew Grey.”

Alek switched
one of the bridge’s internal monitors to the lower hangar and saw Cloudhopper
and the others in the middle of a discussion.

“The Watchport
was designed to be transported by this ship,” Cloudhopper was saying.

“At least,
according to the female,” Jas Kaido added.

“I trust nothing
Lorena says without verification,” Cloudhopper replied, “which is what I did
less than an hour ago. The tow beams should hold as long as we don’t push it
too hard.”

“Now that we
have access to more Tracer vehicles,” Kay Broon said, apparently ignoring their
conversation, “my mate and I will be able to defend your position while you are
searching for your people.”

“We will need to
work out patrol shifts,” Cloudhopper began as Alek muted the sound.

He turned to
Maya who was busy entering data on one of the other terminals. “Did you notice?”
he asked.

“What?” she said
without looking up from her work. “Are they arguing already?”

“No. Actually
the opposite,” he said looking back at the screen. “They’re starting to act—and
even think—like a team.”

She stood,
stretched, and then walked over and stood next to his chair. “So, are we ever going
to talk about it?”

He glanced up at
her. “You mean how I created that swarm gun out of thin air? I told you—”

She put a finger
to his lips. “No, I’m talking about the Queen program you’re thinking about
building.”

He leaned back
in his chair. “So you have superpowers now too? Reading people’s minds can be
very dangerous, you know.”

“Not as
dangerous as trying to bring your father back.”

He looked back
down at the floor. “I know. Even if I could recall the swarm and somehow revive
him, it would release Ceejer as well, and we’d be right back where we started.”

“Not to mention
that even trying to create something with your mind again could kill us all.”

“Yeah, there’s
that…”

She kneeled in
front of him. “So, if you can’t risk using your new ‘abilities’ and we don’t
have any Sentinels to help us; can we really complete this mission of yours?”

“I think it’s
safe to say that we are the Sentinels now,” he replied. “Or at least, that’s
what we’re going to become in the weeks and months ahead.”

She stood up and
gently stroked his hair. “My God, you actually look happy, Alek.”

He started to
deny it but then realized that she was right. As he looked up at her, the
height difference between them reminded him of his life before the interface—a
life confined to a wheelchair. He stood and hugged her. “You know, when I first
met Javid, he told me that I was a Sentinel in training. He said I was sent
here to ‘bring order’ to Cyberdrome.”

She looked up at
him. “You don’t honestly believe that, do you?”

He gave her
another squeeze. “Of course not,” he said as he gently pushed her toward the
door. “Go tell the others that the
S. V. Mathew Grey
is ready to leave
this sector. Strike that—ask them politely if they are ready to leave.”

She glanced at
the monitor showing the hangar. “Couldn’t I just...”

“Some things
should be done in person. I don’t want Cloudhopper thinking we’re up here
making all the decisions.”

“But we are,
aren’t we?” she asked straight-faced.

“Get out of here.”

When she was
gone, he turned to a screen showing a wide-angle view of the Core. It really
was beautiful, he had to admit, but in a way he couldn’t easily put into words.
Javid called it HomeSpace, and now he knew why. Something about it just felt
familiar—like returning to the place where you grew up. It felt like home.

He shook his
head.
Either I’m going crazy
, he said to himself,
or maybe Javid was
right after all
. He looked at his hands, then back at the monitor, and
realized the truth of it.
Maybe this really is where I belong
.

— End —

IMAGE

GALLERY

3D COMPUTER MODELS
DESIGNED FOR CYBERDROME

A large number
of computer-modeled interior sets, virtual vehicles, robotic machines,
furniture, hand props, and people were built for Cyberdrome over the years.
This was undertaken primarily to provide images for both the planned Cyberdrome
digitally-illustrated eBook and Graphic Novel projects, but also helped greatly
in writing the Cyberdrome Novel by giving us real 3D environments in which to “live
in” and write about.

All of these
models were designed and rendered by coauthor, David Rhea. Note that all models
and images are copyrighted by David Rhea, and may not be scanned, photocopied,
or used for any reason without his prior written consent.

GALLERY CONTENTS

Interior Sets (8
images)

Virtual Vehicles (5
images)

Living Machines (6
images)

Cast of Cyberdrome (1
image)