Intelligent Design: Revelations to Apocalypse (18 page)

“This Sir Pierce person should hire more qualified guards. They got in their own way when they tried to take me. Not bad for a small one like me,” Lux said as she bit into another chestnut.

“I don’t know how small you’re going to be if you keep eating those things. They’re not without calories.” Reich didn’t wait for a response. She slipped into the back seat of the car before Lux could see her smile. Lux slid behind the wheel and turned on the ignition.

“Oh… the giant loses all her fat, gains some muscles, lets her hair grow, and suddenly she’s a lethal weapon with an opinion on weight. How things have changed.”

Reich smiled. Things certainly had changed since she’d met Lux at Thanksgiving. She wondered how Anthony was doing, and figured he’d be surprised at how she looked now.

Her smile broadened as she settled back into the fine leather upholstery and picked up one of four waiting tablets. The luxury sedan pulled out, and before she could ask for confirmation of the other missions, a text came through on her main tablet.

“It looks like Vespere and Bella successfully hindered Pierce’s telecommunication satellite launch.”

Lux nodded as she expertly drove the high-end car and popped yet another chestnut into her mouth.

“Yes, oh Great One. Further, Pax has our gear, residence, and visas ready for our trip back to the United States. Fitting, I should say, but still,” she looked back at Reich through the rear-view mirror, “your insistence on handling these missions yourself, as well as these ancillary ones, is dangerous.”

Reich sighed. She’d been about to argue, but Lux was right.

“I know. We have eight years to prepare the world for the shock of discovering an advanced, new world hiding behind the sun’s corona, and less than four years before the Earth’s atmosphere is irreversibly affected by methane build-up. It’s just that … well, it’s just that …”

“It’s just that if we have a chance to save a few souls along the way, like those children in Moscow, the village in Brazil, the slaves in Hong Kong, the prostitutes in Berlin and the underage young woman back there, we should, right? Yes … just like Perez … I hate to admit it, but he chose his successor wisely,” Lux said.

The corners of Reich’s mouth pulled up at the reluctant compliment.

“That had to hurt.”

“Yes. Yes, it did.”

Reich looked back at her series of tablets and refocused on her master plan.

“Once we have control of the stocks and assets of Pierce’s empire, we’ll be able to refit his satellite with ours so we can have a direct, clear link with Terra. Maybe they have some ideas on this methane poisoning thing. The sooner we deal with that, the better chance we have of handling the culture shock of their existence.”

Lux looked at her again and nodded in agreement.

“Have faith, Reich. Between all of us, we’ll be able to save the Earth and keep it from falling apart regarding our existence. You handled it pretty well and you were put under great stress. And with your knowledge regarding the United States government, you will be the best person for the task of convincing them to trust us.”

“True, but I am one person. For those who believe we’re alone, and discover that we’ve never been alone, it will be a major shock of identity and core beliefs … Perez was right, there are bigger things to deal with,” Reich said as she looked through the darkened window.

“Very true.”

Reich’s tablet blinked and issued a quiet buzzing noise followed by the familiar female voice. “Attention—a recent recording has just been downloaded. I focused on three individuals only: Chief Inspector Arthur Bradley, Officer Virginia ’Ginny’ Spenser and Officer John ’Jack’ Middleton. The audio and transcript has been filtered and compiled five point three minutes ago, real time. Icons and last names will appear beside their text and audio statements. Are you prepared?”

“Yes. Please initiate, and put their full personal and professional files on the green tablet for review. Transmit audio to the front of the car for Lux to hear as well. Begin.”

Spenser: “… Owen! Ramsey! Stop screwing around and lock that evidence down! INTERPOL is almost here and the boss is pretty pissed! Don’t…. too many times …”

Bradley: “… Will someone explain to me how one woman got her hands on rappelling equipment, cleared a forty foot drop, ran, unobserved no less, across half an acre of lawn, scaled a ten plus foot wall, took out one of my officers and three of

Pierce’s private security, and drove away in a waiting car? It’s pretty embarrassing when Scotland Yard and London’s finest can’t contain one woman, even if she is the famous Christine Reich. Anyone care to explain? I hate feeling like the only idiot.”

Spenser: “I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself, sir. The woman was like a cat with as many lives, I tell you. By the time I turned around she already knocked the hell out of me. She took me down in under twenty seconds.”

Middleton: “And she did the same thing in an INTERPOL security station, an interrogation room with the usual high-tech surveillance system and no windows.”

Reich picked up the green tablet, flipped to Middleton’s file and looked at his icon again so she could picture the three of them together. Compared to Bradley and Spenser, he was taller, thinner and impeccably dressed. His bio indicated he was a literature major at University of Cambridge.

Middleton: “I must say that Sir Pierce may have a point about someone breaking in and leaving stuff. I mean, Reich didn’t have the rappelling equipment on her person, and I'm sure Pierce wouldn’t keep that kind of equipment in the bathroom…” Spenser: “That sexual deviant would, I bet.”

Middleton: “While that may be true, I think Reich put everything in place, including her escape route. She set Sir Pierce up with the artwork, informed us and did her usual disappearing act. I think I already know the answer to this, but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t ask.”

Bradley: “Out with it, Jack. I get short-tempered when I’m prickly. Escaped material witnesses and mysteries don’t sit well with me.”

Middleton: “Should we investigate Pierce’s allegation of being set up in light of Reich’s escape, or just let his legal team fight that one as he rots in a dungeon?”

Bradley: “Are you kidding me? Is that a trick question?”

Spenser: “That slick piece of crap will somehow dodge the child trafficking and sexual assault charges like he always does, but he’ll hang on the stolen art. Sounds like a great example of justice and irony going hand in hand, if you ask me.”

Middleton: “That’s pretty philosophical for a former wrestler. Oh, but maybe you’re changing approaches to things now? You know, going for brains rather than brawn since catwoman took you out back there.”

Spenser: “Hey, Middleton! I thought keeping the perimeter secured was under your watch, college boy? Nice job, you sack of…”

Bradley: “Enough, you two! We've got to focus on this Reich woman. She does right by putting the bad guys in the shitter, but I want to know what it is all about. I mean, she got her hands on some stolen art, put it in that pig’s castle, and just walked away, setting him up on a charge that will actually stick. She did this out of the kindness of her heart? For nothing? And her other little jaunts around the world doing the same thing are just for kicks?”

Spenser: “That stunt she did in Moscow was pretty over the top. Kind of like Perez back in the day. Dangerous, but in a good way. He fell off the planet, too.”

Bradley: “Hong Kong three months ago … Yeah … and I want to talk to her before she does too. I’m positive there’s something bigger than acts of kindness motivating Reich and her resources …”

Middleton: “'I’ll chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition’s flames before I give him up.’ Herman Melville, sir. The American novelist who wrote
Moby Dick
. Looks like we’re after the great white whale, sir. It seems particularly apt here.”

Spenser: “Smart ass.”

Bradley: “All right, Macbeth, get General Farrell on the line. Tell him we got a sighting and actually had Reich in custody, but she did another Houdini … guess … heading out of country and, based on her track record, to the US.”

Spenser: “And let the games and quotes begin.”

Bradley: “Yes. Let them quotes begin …’To the last, I grapple with thee.’”

“End of recording. Will archive in recent storage for further analysis,” her tablet said.

“Please continue monitoring and notify me as close to real time as possible.”

“Acknowledged.”

“Lux? Are we getting messy and predictable?”

“No, Reich. This Bradley and Farrell have been looking for us for several years. By the sound of that discussion, they have been working together as a team for years. They’re good, very good. New plan?”

Reich looked at her reflection in the window. “

Yup. Berlin.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Lux popped a chestnut into her mouth.

“Bigger things to deal with and bigger challenges along the way. Just great.”

It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop
- Confucius

It's so quiet. I do miss the other voices,
Master Architect Janus thought as he slowly opened his eyes from his nap.
After all his time asleep, you would think I would no longer be tired or want to sleep.

He moved his limbs slowly, appreciative that the Keeper, the master computer, had revived other citizen survivors before him. The warmth of the blanket and bed was nothing compared to the encapsulating state of his Martian-made embryonic cryogenic stasis. The buoyancy of its warm, protein-enriched plasma had been unlike anything he had experienced before. The constant programming for keeping his intellect engaged when he was in cryogenic sleep was something he had thought might work but never had time to test. The amazing computer had created an embryonic state programmed with literature, languages, science and mathematics, transmitted through a plasma medium to keep the mind active. It had felt as if he were talking or studying.

Impressive.

Even so, he was still shocked by the knowledge that he was the seventy-eighth reincarnation of his former self, perfectly reproduced from his own stem cells so as to survive millions upon millions of full solar rotations.

Memories, new knowledge attainment via artificial intelligence, external processing; immortality while unconscious? Costly but fascinating. Little mystery as to why she wanted my DNA sample.

The last to be revived of a once great civilization, he was one of seventy-two fellow Martian survivors out of thirteen thousand who stayed behind while the others had left a doomed solar system.

Ironic. Those who left are probably long deceased.

Generations had passed, and he wondered how they’d evolved. Did they find the Originators? Would they recognize him and the others? They would be a great archaeological find, maybe even a missing link into whatever they have changed into. He guessed they might find out, someday. Perhaps.

“Am I disturbing you?” the Keeper said. Her voice was a lower baritone than he remembered, and more feminine. He assumed it was more likely a result of her own evolution, software modifications and the absences of other subroutine computer voices. His eyes still closed, Master Janus carefully formed words as he continued to slowly move his limbs and take deep, refreshing breaths.

“No, not at all. My original awakening was disturbing enough. Now? Nothing will ever compare to that awakening.”

“Yes. That is accurate. I have been able to obtain the subtleties of irony and aspects of humor. I also have acquired the inability to avoid such obvious questions. The prior citizens did assist me over the great period of silence.”

Janus was truly impressed with the computer’s profound intellectual growth, personality development and explosion in sapience. Her personality, moral development and decision making processing were extraordinary. Nonetheless, her need to awaken many of his fellow citizens for company disturbed him. He understood that, like all life, she had chosen a path for her own survival.

Such a long period of isolation would have destroyed any life form. And her decision to sacrifice the few citizens, the sixty-three hundred, for her own survival while continuing the mission of survival indicated higher level sapience. Janus thought he would have made a similar decision.

“Are you disappointed by my means of continuing the mission, that I sacrificed others to preserve myself and the remaining survivors?”

Impressive. Artificially developed theory of mind. Very impressive.

“No. I cognitively understand it. I am still not used to your development and how you have become similar to us biological lifeforms. It will take me time to acclimate to this new development. It is not disappointment: it is surprise, amazement and intellectual curiosity in how you evolved, how similar you are to us, to me,” Janus said as the thoughts popped into his head.

He took a deep breath to clear his thoughts and shifted focus from the computer’s growth to the profound changes in his universe. Janus opened his eyes. Dim light illuminated his room. He rolled onto his side, curled up his legs, and asked his next set of questions.

“Based on our last briefings, please summarize the critical changes that require your awakening all of us all at once. If possible, keep the points under eight.”

“Thank you for clarifying those parameters as there are one point three million key points I could make. I will need just a moment to isolate those points. Please hold.”

Janus was surprised at how tiny his bedroom was, but it still contained a chair and a small table. A neatly folded pile of clothes sat on it next to a pitcher and two cups.

Who is the chair for if I am here?

“Master Janus? Specific point’s summary completed. Just so you are aware and not surprised, Citizen Olympia will be here to assist you shortly. Are you ready?”