The Age Atomic (20 page)

Carson looked across the table, but his eyes were unfocussed. He held one hand out, like he was reaching for something, but he was lost in his memories.

“That was… many years ago. I ran. There was ice and fog, and darkness. Eventually the Enemy turned away, or perhaps I simply got used to it. But one day I felt I was alone, and I could get back to tracing the signal. I had a device, a radio of sorts, but I had run for so long from the darkness that I wasn't sure where I was, or how far I had gone, or whether I would even be able to find it again. Time passed – how long I have no idea – but then I heard it, the signal. It was far away, so off I went.

“I found other places. A great city they call New Amsterdam was my home for months as I recovered from my flight. But I had to follow the signal, so as soon as my strength was back I continued.

“I saw war and horror. I saw cities burning, cities destroyed, cities empty. And then I found him.”

Rad blinked. “What? You found Byron?”

Carson smiled and seemed to snap out of his reverie. He turned slowly to Rad, and Rad saw a tear roll down his cheek.

“Yes, I did. He's upstairs, in the ship.”

 

Carson led them back to the ship, via the main concourse. This time, as they approached along the incomplete platform, Rad had the opportunity to view the ship clearly, although much of it was obscured by the curve of the tunnel.

It
was
the
Nimrod
, although it was different. Larger, longer – the lines were harsh, the armor plating pierced and pitted. The Captain's original airship had been in a poor state of repair when Byron had piloted it away. This machine was the same, but a nightmare version. It felt
wrong
somehow.

Rad felt a hand on the small of his back. Carson leaned in to him.

“It's a different ship, yes. Well, it is the
Nimrod
, but a
Nimrod
from another world. I had to fight for it,” he said, tapping his eye patch. “But I found him inside.”

Kane walked back from the ship's door, leaving Jennifer to gaze up at its dented walls.

“How many other worlds are there?”

Carson's eye narrowed again. Rad decided he didn't like it when the Captain got that look.

“I thought there was only us and New York,” said Rad. “And the Enemy, of course.”

Carson nodded. “So did I, or at least that was as far as Byron and I had been able to penetrate. But I had always surmised there were more realms, further out. Perhaps even an infinite number of other universes and worlds.”

Kane folded his arms. “And you were right,” he said.

“Indeed,” said the Captain, and he smiled the smug smile that made Rad laugh and think of tea and sawdust shortbread in the Captain's palatial residence. Then he realized that those days were a very long time ago for the Captain.

“If Byron was in this ship, how did you know it was really him?”

“Oh, that was easy. He had the taken the signal device from the
Nimrod
– the other
Nimrod
– and kept it with him. He knew I would be listening.”

“So why didn't we meet him when we came back here? You're saying he's still inside the ship?”

Kane said, “It was empty when you picked us up.”

Jennifer ducked into the
Nimrod
's side door. “Ah, everyone?” she called out from inside. “There's someone here all right.”

Rad looked at Carson, and pulled himself into the doorway. Ahead of him, a black shadow seemed to sweep past Jennifer. She stopped and looked around her in surprise.

Rad turned back to the Captain, his eyes wide. Carson laughed loudly.

“Byron can't leave the ship, detective. He's a ghost. He's haunting it!”

 

THIRTY-SEVEN

 

Carson led them onto the flight deck, where he directed Jennifer to sit in the co-pilot's chair while he occupied the pilot's.

Kane pulled on Rad's arm, leading him to the side while the Captain examined Jennifer's metal face. Rad kept one eye on them, well aware of what he'd found in the freezer.

“You're telling me you believe this?” Kane's whisper was muffled behind the mask.

“Believe what?” Rad hissed out of the corner of his mouth. “That this really is Captain Carson?”

“That, and that he thinks his airship is haunted by his dead friend.”

Rad's eyes darted around the cockpit. There were plenty of places for someone to hide. Plenty of places for shadows to collect.

“The past few days, I'll believe lots of things,” he said.

“I can hear you, gentlemen.”

Rad and Kane pulled back from each other, each glancing around the room. The voice had been a low whisper too, as though from a third person standing close. The voice was deep, accented like Carson's.

Rad saw the Captain looking in their direction, he face split by an annoying smile.

Rad looked at the ceiling. “Byron?”

“At your service,” came the voice, this time from behind Rad. He spun around, but there was no one there.

“OK,” said Rad, nodding as he turned back to Kane. “Byron, fine. Hi, there.” He raised his hand, unsure where Byron was.

“A pleasure to see you again, Mr Bradley,” said Byron.

Kane laughed. “Well, I'll be damned.”

“And Mr Fortuna,” said the voice, and Rad could have sworn Byron gave a little bow, even though he was nowhere to be seen, nothing more than a dark moving shape in the corner of his eye.

The Captain turned back to Jennifer.

“It is no use,” he said, slapping his hands on the top of his thighs and leaning back into his seat. He glanced up at Rad. “The mask cannot be removed. It, dare I say it, appears to be part of her face now. It's a remarkable design, remarkable. The improvements in technique are quite staggering.”

“So,” said Rad, his eyes on Jennifer. “You know what happened to her? What the mask is?”

Carson nodded, but before he could speak, Jennifer shook her head.

“It's fine. I know what happened. It was James. He did this to me. He started the process.”

Rad shook his head in disbelief, but Jennifer stood up and walked toward him.

“He wanted to save me,” she said.

Rad pursed his lips. “Look, there's something I have to tell you,” he said.

Jennifer tilted her mask, her hands on her hips.

Rad rubbed his chin, looking at the floor. “I found something in the theater, when we were looking for Skyguard's suit.”

“Well?”

“The King has parts in storage.”

Carson shuffled in his seat. “Robot parts?”

“Body parts,” said Rad, shaking his head. He pointed at Jennifer. “Look, point is, that mask can't come off, Agent Jones. Not unless we can pull the Corsair – your brother – out of there, maybe see if he can reverse the process.”

Carson let his hands fall into his lap. “I see.”

“It's OK,” said Jennifer. “We'll get him back, and he can fix me.”

“He thinks he was doing that already.” Rad held his hands up in apology. “What I mean is, I'm not sure we can count on that.”

“How did you find us?” said Kane. Rad turned to him, leaning against the wall, arms tightly folded. He was grateful for the change of subject.

“Ah,” said Carson. He barked a laugh and pointed to Kane. “This time I followed
your
signal, my friend. Your timing was exquisite, as I had been watching the city for some time, but I was unsure. Until, that is, I received your signal. Then I knew.”

Rad glanced at Kane, who was now peering at the panel on his wrist. Rad turned back to Carson. “You've been trying to get back?”

“Oh, yes,” said Carson. “Once I found Byron and this ship, it was imperative we return to the Empire State. But after so many years of travel, it was… difficult to plot a return course. On the way out, detours to avoid the Enemy aside, I had Byron's signal to home in on. But coming back, we had nothing to follow. We came to city after city, never sure whether we had seen them before, never sure whether they were real, or illusions, or echoes of the Enemy.

“And then we found a bridge, and we followed it until we reached the shores of another place. A dark city, cold, so very, very cold. But there was something about it, I could feel it. But we couldn't be sure, so we stayed just outside its perimeter while I investigated. But then came the signal, and that was the final piece of data I required. We came home.”

Kane pushed himself off the wall and stepped closer to the group.

“So now you're home, what do we do? Go back to the theater and bring them out? Go down to the Empire State Building and come back with agents and police?”

“We have to go back,” said Jennifer. “James is still in there.”

The Captain puffed out his cheeks. “That would be unwise. If the King has activated his robot army early, it will be to recapture Kane. We have no idea how many machines we may be up against.”

Rad pulled at his bottom lip. “There's still the New York connection. If Kane's dream is going to come true, it sounds like the gateway only operates in one direction now. We don't know how long we have before we have another army knocking on the door. But if New York is still there, maybe there's a way of getting in touch with Nimrod.”

The Captain looked up at Rad, his small eye wet and bright.

“Actually–”

“Mass detection,” said Byron, his voice booming out across the flight deck.

Kane and Rad looked at each other. The Captain looked at the ceiling.

“Byron, report!”

“Units approaching Grand Central from all sides.”

Rad looked at the Captain. “Units?”

“Confirmed.” Byron's voice rang out in the cabin from everywhere. “Grand Central is surrounded by robots.”

 

They stood outside on a large balcony, in front of one of the great arched windows that allowed light to fall into the main concourse. Rad brushed the frost off the glass and peered inside; the concourse floor looked a very long way down.

There was a railing in front of them; Carson stood at it like a general surveying a battlefield, complete with binoculars. Rad noticed that when the Captain brought them up to his eyes, he flipped up the eye patch.

Rad didn't need to use the binoculars to see the problem.

The streets were filled with machine soldiers – the perfect, silver models that Rad and Jennifer had found hidden in Cliff's warehouse. The King had activated his army, and red eyes shining in the night they marched slowly, in perfect step, towards the building on all sides.

Kane shook his head. “How many of them are there?”

The Captain lowered the binoculars, his eye patch flapping against his cheek. “Hundreds, certainly. Thousands, perhaps. The entire robot army may have awakened.”

“To get Kane back,” said Rad. “They need his power.”

The Captain nodded. “Indeed.”

Rad looked down the street, Park Avenue, heading south. Grand Central was a roadblock, the avenue splitting into two around it. In front of them was a square, into which jutted half a bridge, connecting Grand Central with thin air, the unfinished end coming to an abrupt halt one hundred yards out.

The square was filled with robots, as was the street that ran horizontally across the front of the square in both directions. If this was the southern aspect, then Rad imagined it would be worse on the other side of the building. They were totally surrounded.

“Can they get in?” he asked.

“No,” said the Captain. “Or at least not for some time. I had this building fortified, but I did not expect to face an army of robots.”

“What about the police? Surely they can't have missed this?”

Carson tugged his beard. “As with the general populace, I imagine they are keeping well away. There were not many left. My fault, I'm afraid. So eager was I to change the city that I fear I may have weakened its defenses.”

Kane stepped forward and looked back at the building, leaning to see the dark sky directly above. The perpetual cloud was very high, barely visible, the cold almost pushing it away from the city. Kane pointed up. “Can we fly out in the
Nimrod
?”

“Possibly,” said the Captain. “If they haven't blocked the tunnel exit.”

Rad pulled at Carson's shoulder to turn the old man around. Rad pointed at robots out in the street, the square. They were eerily quiet, just a low-level ticking and thrumming disturbing the cold night.

“We can't stop them, can we?” said Rad. “Four people and one ghost against that lot. And even if we could get out, and gather up all the police and all the agents we could, we can't deal with this. There is a whole damn
army
. We can't face this alone.”

Carson frowned. “What are you suggesting, Mr Bradley?”

Rad sighed. “I mentioned Nimrod before, and you were going to say something. Do you know how to contact him, with the Fissure gone?”

Kane joined them. “What if Nimrod isn't in charge anymore? What if my vision comes true? We'll have two robot armies going to war.”

Rad waved a hand. “Maybe, but we don't know for sure, do we? Not unless we can get through to Nimrod and find out. They've got resources, people. If anyone can help us it's got to be Nimrod and the others in New York.”

Carson tugged his beard, and turned to Jennifer. She was leaning across the railing, scanning the crowd.

“You're very quiet, Ms Jones.”

“I'm looking for him.”

“James? The real King of 125th Street?”

“Yes,” she said. “Maybe he's here, leading his army. Maybe we can talk to him, make him understand.”

Kane shifted and folded his arms. He looked at Rad, and Rad had a bad feeling.

“Yeah,” he said. “Maybe. But let's keeping work on plan A. Captain?”

Carson nodded, and was about to speak when a voice came up from the street below.

“Your new friends can't help you, Jenny.”

Jennifer raced back to the railing, the others on her tail. In the street below, the robots parted in a clatter, forming a corridor between their ranks, allowing another of their kind: tall, silver and shining, new, different. Upgraded. Rad peered down at the machine.

“Is that Elektro?”

Jennifer shook her head. “No, it can't be…”

The silver robot laughed, its voice reverberating around the streets until it came from every direction at once. It held its arms out as it addressed the group on the balcony of Grand Central. “Elektro was the first. He was a test, a metal man, my creation.

“I am James Jones, the King of 125th Street, and I am the second.”