RATH - Redemption
Authors: Jeff Olah
RATH
REDEMPTION
Volume 3
Jeff Olah
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by Jeff Olah
All Rights Reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. The characters, locations and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, events or locales is merely coincidental and not intended by the author.
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Contents
Contents
Staring into the building storm, the questions came in rapid succession, each one more complex and only leading to another. Had the man who saved what was left of humanity thirty-two years before finally lost what was left of his sanity? And if Emerson Booth had been behind the destruction of the Districts, why now? There didn’t appear to be a rational explanation for the elimination of his own people, only a massive overreaction to a yet unknown situation.
Also, were these events somehow related to the murder of Rath’s father all those years before? Was this Boothe’s way of finally exacting revenge for something he actually set in motion? Why had they detained hundreds of innocent residents along with Sarah and why had she been moved to another location? There was only one reason to take his wife and Rath was sure it had everything to do with getting his attention. Whether or not Emerson Boothe was anticipating his arrival was irrelevant; he was going to find his wife.
Unflinching, Rath stared into Vera’s eyes. “Where’s Sarah? What has that psychopath done with her?”
Vera wiped the tears from her cheek and turning from the landscape she said, “It’s a bit more complicated than just running out the back door and going after her.”
“Vera, I appreciate you being straight with me and for the information you’ve shared with regards to Boothe, although I honestly don’t care about anything but finding my wife. You know where she is and although you’ve said it’s nearly too late, I’m still going…before it is actually too late.”
She pointed to the door and asked him to follow. “There’s something I need you to see before you plan your next move. Things aren’t exactly as they seem. A whole lot has changed in the last several years.” Passing back through the massive stainless steel doors, Vera waited for Rath to move into the hall before securing the area and moving back in the direction they’d come.
Another ten minutes and the maze of twists and turns left Rath disoriented as perspiration began to pool above his brow and in the folds of his arms and legs. Vera removed her oversized smock and delicately laid it over her left forearm as she moved by a set of translucent doors, the thunderous vibration of cooling fans coming from just inside eliminated any form of verbal communication.
Vera turned to Rath, held up her index finger, and moved to the next doorway. Quickly sliding the key in the lock, she disappeared through the door and closed it behind her.
Three minutes had gone by before she emerged; now holding the door open and motioning for him to enter. Rath’s ears popped and a rush of cool air instantly dried the pooling sweat as his eyes adjusted to the dimmed lighting of whatever this place was.
A quick count told him there were forty-two computer screens lining the north and east walls. The two men seated in front of the displays stood and moved to Vera’s side. They were quickly introduced to Rath and were back in their respective ergonomic chairs before Vera began to explain the details of the room. “Rath…this is the nerve center of the Patch. Everything that happens inside the mountain is either executed from this location or can be seen on these monitors.”
She pointed out that the screens displaying video feeds were the responsibility of the sinewy, dark haired young man named Tyler. He smiled and quickly returned his attention to the second screen on the left, intently watching the activity taking place in one of the two warehouse bays. Without turning away, he addressed Vera. “Archer looks pretty upset, what’s going on?”
She didn’t respond.
Situated along the intersecting wall, the remaining monitors streamed multiple lines of code much faster than Rath could comprehend. They were under the close scrutiny of Samuel, an older gentleman with greying hair and a belly so fierce that it exploded from under his stained white t-shirt. His eyes tracking the rapid movement of three of the more active screens, he simply tilted his head backward and said, “I remember you. Benjamin Rath…good to have you back in the building. Try not to kill anyone.”
Vera slapped at the back of Samuel’s head, sending him forward in his chair and before Rath could respond, she said, “Samuel’s got an odd sense of humor.” And turning to Rath she continued, “Don’t pay him any attention; he’s been locked in this room for far too long.”
Samuel nodded and turned away from his work momentarily. “Yeah, I’m joking. I actually hope you’ve come back here to go after that scumbag. Emerson Boothe deserves whatever you have planned for him; I mean that.”
“Uh…alright, although it didn’t quite go down—”
Vera stepped between the men and pointed to the last screen on the right. The grainy black and white video feed showed three individuals removing a small exterior hatch near the cockpit of the massive drone now sitting silently at the rear of Terminal One. They moved quickly, each with a distinct set of tasks to accomplish, not an ounce of wasted effort among the trio.
“Do you understand what you're looking at?” Vera asked.
“Yeah,” Rath said. “That’s the piece of scrap metal my wife disappeared into the last time I saw her. So what is this, your way of telling me it’s over, to give up?”
“Not exactly, although that’s the more likely—”
Slamming his hand on the desk, Samuel nearly came out of his chair. He motioned for Vera to look at the screen. “We’re online, it actually worked.” He quickly turned to Rath and continued. “How you knew that’d work is beyond me, but whatever. You may just get back to your wife after all. When you see Boothe, shove a fork in his neck…and tell him I said hello.”
Looking closer at the video feed and then at the zeros and ones twisting and turning before Samuel, Rath furrowed his brow. “What exactly is happening, what are you talking about?”
Back to Vera, Samuel laughed. “He doesn’t know? Oh boy this is gonna be good.”
“I needed to show him this place first,” Vera said. “What comes next is not going to be easy, whether he’s up for it or not.”
Samuel held up his hands in surrender. “Ok, but you’ll need to take your little party out in the hall. Tyler and I have to get busy if you plan on getting that thing airborne before nightfall.”
Grabbing Samuel by the shoulder, Rath began to squeeze. “Okay, time to talk. No more riddles or ominous threats. What the hell is going on?”
“Vera...” Samuel said. “I need to work.”
She nodded, pointing to the door. “Let’s talk outside.”
Moving aside, Rath waited as Vera made her way through the door and into the hall. He followed as she strode down the short hall and onto the landing two levels above the North warehouse, also known as Terminal One. Sixty feet beyond and much smaller than he remembered, the massive black drone sat among the half dozen pallets of supplies now being loaded into the rear cabin.
The men, who minutes ago worked on the exterior, had since moved on and could be seen through the cockpit windows, now hammering away at the controls. Their rapid fire movement and the occasional fist slammed into the dash gave Rath the impression that whatever was taking place wouldn’t be to his liking. “So…let’s have it. What am I not seeing?”
“Open your backpack,” Vera said. “You’ve brought us life.”
The air above the massive Terminal One felt much colder than he remembered, although it hadn’t yet been a full eight hours since he arrived back at his former home. The temperature, he assumed, was pushing down toward sixty degrees and although he’d suffered through more harsh conditions in the last several days, this was odd. The cavernous safe house was built into the side of the mountain, specifically to withstand the worst-case scenario as Emerson Boothe and his team of engineers foretold the end of humanity. Rath moved his pack from his shoulder, placed it on the railing, and looked to Vera.
Before unclasping the thick metal buckle and unzipping the main compartment, he knew something was wrong and glancing back at the drone, things began to come clear. He shifted the contents to one side and then the other, shaking his head as he turned back to Vera. “You knew what I’d brought here all along, didn’t you?”
“No, not exactly,” she said. “Before I had them bring you inside this morning, I had one of the men go through your pack. I think I understand how you obtained it, although the good fortune you’ve been granted in your journey here is inconceivable.”
“Good fortune?” Rath chuckled. “Please tell me you’re not serious. The things that Chloe and I have had to endure over the past two days could never be classified as anything near good fortune. We both came within seconds of losing our lives many times, not to mention the unique welcome that Archer doled out. Your opinion is a bit insulting.”
Nodding, Vera laid her hand on his shoulder. “You’re right, although that’s not what I was referring to. You see, the part you removed from the smaller drone has a tracking device that becomes active when separated from its housing. Eventually, it would have led Boothe and his men to your location.”
“So, the men in black that followed Chloe and I from Extinction, they were tracking us?”
“Yes and another team will be dispatched once Boothe finds out about the failed attempt, so there isn’t much time.”
Motioning toward the drone, Rath said, “Isn’t time for what? What are those men doing and how is any of this related to what’s happened at the Districts over the last several days?”
“Walk with me,” Vera said. The pair made their way to the end of the hall and down the four flights of stairs that led to the cold concrete floor of Terminal One. The area was now teeming with residents hustling from one side of the massive warehouse to the other, many huddled in small groups, whispering and pointing. It was fairly obvious what they had come to see.
The rear cargo door to the drone now open, Rath ran the short distance, stopping just short of entering. Something was off; he realized it only moments before she confirmed his suspicions. The emptiness in his stomach grew as he turned to her. “This isn’t the one…is it?”
“No,” Vera said. “This isn’t the ship that Sarah was taken away on. This is the prototype that was used to refine that transport drone. It hasn’t functioned in about a year, and until today we never thought it would again.”
“You’re trying to use the piece I pulled from the smaller drone to repair this one, why?”
“I think you need to hear the story from the beginning.” Vera moved up the ramp and into the rear cabin. She took a seat and asked Rath to join her. “Emerson Boothe was wrong.”
“And how does that get us here?”
“The longevity of the human race is completely dependent on the earth’s positioning relative to the sun. One of Boothe’s advisors miscalculated three years’ worth of data showing our trajectory around the sun.”
“So…why’d he pull up stakes?”
“Beginning in roughly sixty days, the surface of this planet will become uninhabitable. Everything and everyone will freeze to death in a matter of days. Temperatures will drop rapidly…up to 5 degrees a day. Not a single living thing above sea level will survive, that includes the Andros.”
“We all knew that would happen at some point,” Rath said. “That still doesn’t explain where Boothe went and why he’s been murdering his own people over the last few weeks.”
“One of the researchers in my group noticed this error a few years back and when we brought it to Boothe’s attention, he became very depressed and even went into seclusion for a short time. A few weeks later, he emerged with a new plan. He’d found one location that could support life through the drastic climate change that was imminent, although we didn’t have the time or the manpower to rebuild this size facility a second time. The new space was going to be much smaller and would hold less than five percent of the remaining population. There wasn’t another option and the clock had begun ticking the moment this anomaly was discovered.”
“So he moved everyone from here to another location; why’d you and the others stay? Why eliminate the Districts? They would have died off on their own at some point anyway.”
“He’s only taking a few hundred with him. Boothe calculated that within twelve years, the planet would begin to normalize. Things would slowly go back to the way they were. Our planet’s path around the sun would be such that the surface would again sustain life. His plan was to take the chosen candidates and head to the bottom of the ocean. The closer to the core of the earth, the better chance they’ll have to survive. Deep caves or mine shafts would come close; although the deepest part of the ocean is the only place that he’s assured is close enough to the core of the planet that won’t freeze.”
“So, what…Boothe plans on taking everyone to the bottom of the ocean in a giant submarine?”
“Not exactly, he had an entire society built that will be submerged in the next twenty-four hours. He has somehow made an anchor point in the Seamount just off the coast. He says that the deeper they go, the better. His new home will be over a mile and a half below the surface of the ocean where he says and I quote, ‘there’ll be plenty of geothermal energy to power his new society.’”
Part of him didn’t believe what Vera was saying, although with everything that he’d seen since his eighth birthday, he knew better than to simply dismiss the events she was forecasting. “So why are you still here? If you were in his inner circle, why’d he leave you and so many others behind?”
Out of the corner of her eye, Vera noticed the group of four men enter the terminal and start toward the front of the drone. She motioned for them to join her and continued her explanation. “The short answer is that Emerson Boothe analyzed every single individual who would share his new home at the bottom of the ocean and only took those he was assured wouldn’t rock the boat…so to say. No one with an opinion of their own and definitely no one who would challenge him would be allowed in. He also has an age limit, and that’s where I found out that I wouldn’t be included.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I’m not; I’ve lived a full life and at the time wouldn’t have gone if he’d asked. I wanted to stay here with these people, although with everything becoming so real over the last few weeks, I‘m scared. If we can help these people, I’d like to try.”
Rath smiled. “Did anyone here in the mountain fight him on this?”
“Yes, and they were the first to die. They were thrown out into the cold with no food and left to suffer a horrible death.”
“Andros?”
Vera nodded. “Yes.”
Looking back into the rear bay of the massive drone, Rath said, “And why was the tracker that I brought here so crucial?”
“I think you know,” Vera said. “Or you wouldn’t have taken the risk of ripping it from the scout drone…that we took down.”
“Before my father’s death, we talked about many of the projects that Boothe had planned for the future, big picture stuff. He told me about the drones that would service the Districts and how they would operate. I knew if I brought something back from the wreckage of that craft… something of significance, that I may be able to trade it for Sarah. I was right, wasn’t I?”
“You weren’t wrong, although what you brought back was much more valuable than you could possibly imagine. It not only gives us access to this aircraft, but a backdoor into Boothe’s network. We will see what he sees and if Samuel works his magic, we may just be able to get to his location undetected. It’s a longshot, although since you arrived this morning, we’ve been running through different scenarios that can get us close to Boothe and luckily for you, Sarah.”
Cutting his eyes at Vera, Rath paused a moment. “How’s all of this gonna play out? I can’t fly this thing and I suspect that Boothe didn’t leave any of his pilots behind.”
“We do have one man here that can fly this thing, although there’s a problem.”
“Problem?”
Vera again motioned for the men lingering at the edge of the drone to come and join them. Single file, they moved to her and stood in silence awaiting instruction. They looked to Vera and then to one another, pausing as Rath had yet to turn from the group loading supplies into the rear cabin. As he did, the men straightened up as if asked to come to attention for uniform check.
Three of the men he’d absolutely never laid eyes on before today. Of this he was sure; the trio all appeared to be in their late teens and not one maintained eye contact for more than a few seconds. Quickly moving left to right and focusing on the last man, Rath’s face began to go flush as he instantly realized who was standing two feet away.
“Benjamin…” Vera said. “You remember Symon, don’t you?”
