On Distant Shores (Exiles Triology Book 1) (34 page)

Pang took her hand off of the pistol, “Now that I have your attention, there is now no such thing as a security clearance.  It is now us, verses whatever the hell wants to kill and eat us.   If you have information, bring it forward so that we can use it to keep everybody alive.”

Mike turned to Bobby, “What did you want to tell us?”

Bobby hadn’t been prepared for the intensity of the situation between Pang and Randall.  His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he started to talk, “We have it all.”             

Mike looked into his eyes, “All of what?”

“Well, everything.  The Library of Congress, the patent office, DARPA, Apple, Microsoft, you name it.  If it was digital, we have it.”

Mike looked at Bobby, “How can you have everything that’s digital?  You would need hundreds of servers to hold all of that information.”

Bobby looked back at him, “We went quantum, quantum computing.  That’s how we were able to figure out the quantum batteries, how to create graphene in large amounts and weave the strands of atoms into fabric.  Our knowledge base started climbing exponentially, about the basic questions in science.  Then, we used the Prism program to copy the entire digital world that existed, and put it into a cube on the third floor.  We have the specs to everything that has ever been invented.  We have all the research that was being done in the world.  We just have to search for it across the digital spectrum.”

Mike was stunned.  It was true.  Everything that he read about in magazines and online was completely true.

Pang spoke, “You mean everything that the USA invented or researched?”

Bobby shook his head, “No, I mean we have everything.  We preserved the entire web.  If it was in a phone, a cloud, a server, or an individual computer, we have it.”

Everybody was stunned.  The room was silent.

Bobby continued, “We were able to decrypt everything.  It would have been another ten years before anybody was able to encrypt to keep us from cracking their servers.  None of them knew that we cracked quantum computing.  Now, our server has the records of all the tech that we used to dream of.  All the chemical and physics research is in there.  All the engineering is there.  The only thing we didn’t capture was the porn sites.  But banking, engineering, science research, we have it.”

Mike cleared his throat, wondering at the implications.  “What about tech that foreign countries were working on?”

Bobby just nodded, “Yeah, everything.  We have it all.”

Mike looked at Bobby, trying to keep his mind from straying too much to thoughts of Area 51, “You can search all of this information?”

Bobby continued, “Yeah, the nice thing is that once we downloaded everything, it becomes static, and we can search everything.  It’s like taking a very big snapshot of what was on the web.  It doesn’t matter what they had on there.  It is just a big model of what used to be a dynamic, interactive web.  So, in theory, they didn’t even know that we took the picture.”

Mike just looked at him, stunned.  Bobby looked back, kind of sheepishly.  Mike turned to Russell and Weitz, “And you didn’t want to share any of this information with us?  Why?”

Russell spoke, venom in her voice, “Because it’s my project.  Everything in there was going to take me to the top of the D.C. pecking order.  And then it was going to make me millions.”

Mike just shook his head, “Lady, do you not understand that everything has changed.  That’s all gone now.”

Russell just crossed her arms and looked away.  Mike wasn’t going to let her off the hook.  He walked over and crouched down in front of her.  He put his hand on the side of her face and gently tried to make her look at him.  When that didn’t work, he grabbed her chin and made her look.

“I’m not making any of this up.  If you don’t believe me, climb to the top of the ladder, walk down the tunnel, look out the cave, and see for yourself.  Hell, ask Weitz if you don’t believe me.  He’s been up there.”  Bitterness and hatred was all he could see in her eyes.  Mike shrugged, and then stood back up and walked over to the middle of the crowd.

“In fact, all of you need to come up and see the new reality.  And you’ll have to.  No pissing or crapping down here.  If the call of nature hits you, climb up the ladder and do your business up there.  I hope all of you’ll sit down with me so that I can give you the grand tour, topside.  I’ll pull over the skull of the dragon-dinosaur, and the skulls of the big pack bears that tried to kill everything top side.”

He turned back to Hank and Will.  “We need shovels, picks, hammers, and any other tool that you think we might need.  We’re going to need some wheel barrels, some four wheeled carts, and earth movers.  Let me know if you have enough materials to fabricate parts.  If you don’t, we may have to find some way to recycle what we can out of this facility.  It has a lot of metal in it.”

One of the fabricating team, Sherry, spoke up, “What do you mean?  You mean we’re going to leave this place?”

Mike looked around the crowd, “Look at this facility.  There are already cracks developing around the walls because this building is tipped on its side.  That means that the materials, concrete and metal are taking stress that they aren’t meant to handle.  This entire facility may come crashing down, and I want to make sure that we have a place to move to before it does.”

Nobody spoke, and the crowd seemed stunned at the news that they would have to move, so he continued, “We have to build another building.  One that we can move our power supply into, with a level floor, and construction that can defeat any of the large beasts this world might throw at us. Like the largest monumental construction”

Luis was next to speak, “When you say monumental, what exactly do you mean?”

Mike smiled at him, “I’m talking construction like the pyramids, or the structure at Tiahuanaco.  The dragon dinosaur . . . “ 

John Smith spoke up, “Dragon, man, just call it a dragon.  We know what you mean.” 

Mike conceded the point with a smile.  He pointed at Matki Awrani, “Our friend here has indicated through a pidgin sign language, that the dragon we killed has larger relatives.  And monumental type building, with large stone, maybe the only way we can keep these large beasts from killing us.”

The crowd took everything in, talking amongst themselves.  Some of the debate became heated, depending on who was talking. 

Mike held up his hands again, and said, “Anymore questions? No?  Okay, I’m going to head back topside, and make sure everything is okay there.”  There were no more questions, so Mike turned and started walking towards the elevator shaft.  Matki Awrani appeared at his side.  His ankle was wrapped, so he wasn’t limping as bad as previously.  Matki Awrani was eating M&M candies from a small bag.  He looked positively ecstatic.  Lenny Reitch, one of the bio mechanical engineers, was with him.

“Ah, hey Lenny, where are you going?” Mike asked.  Lenny pointed at Matki Awrani, “This man is what every anthropologist dreams of, a new culture to study.”

“Yeah, he kind of fell into our encampment.  There were two big uglies trying to eat him.  He was lucky that we were there to save him.”

Lenny smiled a wry smile, “No, Mike, he probably wouldn’t have been in any trouble if we hadn’t shown up.”

Mike frowned, “What do you mean.” 

“Well, if you look at this gentleman, he’s from this world, and probably quite skilled at hunting.  He’s probably quite aware of what animals he can hunt, and those animals that hunt him.  It is probable that he got caught unaware of the threat that was in the area.  And when I say threat, of course I mean us.”

Lenny paused for breath, and Mike muttered “of course,” to keep Lenny talking.  Lenny continued as Matki Awrani wet his finger and ran it around the bag to pick up the stray slivers of chocolate.

“He probably didn’t know that we were going to contest this area with the dragon that you and your team killed.  How could he?  He probably wasn’t aware that there was going to be the carcass of the dragon to draw other predators and scavengers into the area.  So he was probably surprised at all the dangerous animals that were suddenly in the area.”

Mike thought about it.  Everything that Lenny was saying made sense.  Matki Awrani was probably trapped in the vicinity due to the actions of the team.  Not that Mike would have changed anything in the way he did things.  He still would have proceeded the way he did to ensure the safety of the team, and the people inside the facility.  “Possibly.”

Lenny beamed at acceptance of his theory.

A voice spoke up behind them.  It was Dr. Randall, “So your actions probably put this stranger in harm’s way, just as your actions have endangered the lives of everybody else in this facility.”

Mike barked a laugh, “You go ahead and believe whatever makes you sleep better at night.”

Lenny frowned, and Matki Awrani smacked his lips at the last bit of chocolate.

Randall spoke, “I’m going up to see for myself what you have alluded to.  I think that you’re lying to the rest of us.”  Her nose had stopped bleeding, but her blouse was covered in blood.  No doubt she would talk to Mitchem about it.

Mike smiled without looking back, “What, you think I’m keeping you down here for no reason?  That the world that you knew still exists up there?”

Dr. Randall’s attitudewas deprecating, “I think that for whatever reason, you have chosen to keep us trapped here so that you can uncover all of the secrets that we have and sell them to the highest bidder.”

Mike thought about this as they reached the elevator shaft, “Ma’am, if you said that to me just two days ago, I would have been rather upset with you for denigrating my honor.  I’m not a man that betrays my country by exposing its secrets to foreign or domestic enemies.  Now however,” He stepped into the elevator shaft, walked over to the ladder, and looked back at Dr. Russell, “I no longer have a country to defend, and could care less what you think.”

Mike motioned for Matki Awrani to start climbing.  Matki Awrani scrambled up the ladder like a monkey, despite his ankle.  Mike called over Lenny, and showed him how to use the ascender and harness to make sure he didn’t misstep and fall down the shaft.

Dr. Russell looked up the ladder.  Mike could see the fear in her eyes.  Mike gently put his hand on her shoulder, feeling her flinch as he did, “How is your arm feeling?  Do you think you’ll have problems climbing?”

She stared at his hand until he removed it.  “My arm is feeling much better, though it has a large bruise on it.”

“Well, if you think you’re going to have problems, tell me, and I’llhelp you get back down to the elevator.”

She stared at him, “I don’t think there will be any problems.”

Mike spread his hands in placation, “As you wish.  The ascender will keep you safe as long as you stay in the harness.  You can’t detach it without pulling a safety out.  All you have to do is move it up with your hand as you climb.  Make sure you maintain three points of contact as you climb the ladder, two hands and one foot, or two feet and one hand as you climb.  Make sure you climb, then move the ascender when you’re stationary.  If you do this, you’ll be very safe.  If you get tired, stop and rest.  If you have a problem, I’ll be right behind you.  Don’t worry, take your time.”

Dr. Russell looked at Mike, suspicious, “Why are you helping me?”

Mike shrugged, “it’s what I do.”

Doctor Russell put on the harness, but she was wearing a skirt, so that made things interesting as she started tucking and poking things into place.  She showeda little more leg than she cared to.  She glanced at Mike, who was studiously looking everywhere but at her.  She was happy that she was wearing flats today instead of her regular high heels.  She got the harness in place and started climbing.

Mike waited, then started climbing when she was about ten feet up.  He maintained her pace, which was much slower than he would have used.  Mike maintained the leisurely pace up the ladder, ensuring that he gave her distance.  The last thing that he wanted with this woman was to be accused of being a pervert by accidently ramming his head into her butt.

Mayhem

              Mike spent downtime, trying to keep his mind off of Jo.  It was hard.  Every moment of every day, he thought about her and the baby.  Worry ate at him.  He would think about her, and tears would well into his eyes.  He wiped the moisture away, hoping that nobody saw the tears.  He couldn’t afford to show weakness.  They had to view him as an unemotional, capable leader.  He knew, wherever Jo was, he couldn’t help her right now, and these people needed him.  Still, he prayed constantly for her and the baby.