The Extinction Switch: Book three of the Kato's War series (4 page)

CHAPTER FIVE

Crash

Five minutes prior to landing in Lyon, the captain’s voice was heard over the intercom: “The French Government has temporarily suspended all public transportation between major cities, in response to the current civil unrest.” Kassandra, Annabelle and Antonio looked at each other in horror. “This is to prevent suspected agitators from propagating violence, until order is re-established. So, it is with our deepest apologies that we must announce connecting flights will not be available from Lyon, effective immediately.” A chorus of anger immediately filled the cabin.

“Oh no,” Annabelle groaned. “We
have
to get to Paris.”

“It’s outrageous!” Antonio growled. “I wonder if international flights are affected. Hopefully
I
will still be able to get home.”

Annabelle looked at Kassandra, on her right, and mouthed the words “I hope so, for our sake!” Kassandra grinned. On landing, the trio shuffled along the jetway out into the terminal. “Oh f… crap,” Antonio said, as they stood halfway down a shallow ramp to the building’s floor and looked out over a moving mass of people, yelling and shouting. Some broke down in tears. Other threw possessions to the ground in fits of rage.

“Crap!” Annabelle said. “Now what?”

Kassandra’s tiredness showed. “I honestly don’t know.” A cigar-sized display unit, like the one they had seen on the plane, went spinning across the floor between the forest of legs, and came to rest five meters away.

Antonio looked around for its owner. “I think that is surplus to someone’s requirements,” he said, pointing at it. He then jumped nimbly over the railing to the floor, and pocketed the device. He re-joined the girls on the ramp, pushing against the current of tired, agitated passengers going down in order to reach them.

“We have no other clothes, nowhere to stay, and no transport,” Kassandra said. “This is getting worse by the hour. I still can’t get a hold of my dad either. I’m still getting ‘no bandwidth available’.”

“I expect there are shops in the airport, where we can at least buy clothes,” Annabelle said.

“Possibly. Let’s have a look.” The tired trio took an escalator and a long moving walkway to a shopping mall.

“Let’s stick together, since I’m not sure we’ll be able to call each other if we get separated,” Annabelle said.

An hour later, Kassandra held up a pair of cargo pants, a blue and white checked shirt, and a green sweater. “I guess I’m dressing like a guy,” she said. “The women’s stores have already been picked over, like a bunch of piranhas went clothes shopping.”

“Me too,” Annabelle said, holding up a pair of men’s jeans and a similar shirt to Kassandra’s.

“I get the classiest end of the deal,” Antonio, holding a pair of beige slacks and a long-sleeved black shirt with a collar.

“We also need to ditch the heels,” Annabelle said. “Practical is the new sexy.”

“Good point,” Kassandra said. “We may be doing a lot of walking.” Having equipped themselves with flat-soled brown fake leather shoes, Kassandra said: “Now let’s try and figure out a hotel. Let’s each take a few letters of the alphabet, and call… never mind. Try online…”

“No bandwidth,” Antonio said, frowning.

Annabelle sighed. “I just want to get home.” Kassandra put her arms around her. “It’ll be okay, you’ll see. Things will get back to normal.”

“How can you say things will ever be normal again?” Antonio said. Kassandra glared at him, and shook her head almost imperceptibly, as if to say
shut up
, from over Annabelle’s shoulder as she hugged her.

“I guess we'd better figure out somewhere to sleep,” Annabelle said.

“Yeah…” Kassandra sighed. She looked around. “There must be a terminal somewhere that doesn’t have people sleeping on all the seats.”

“Good luck,” Antonio said. “Still, we should look.” His face brightened. “Let’s go to the space terminal. Since there are no flights leaving from there any time soon, it’s probably empty.”

“Best idea you’ve had all night,” Kassandra said. He smiled. Once they reached the space terminal, it was indeed almost empty. “Nothing but those awful hard plastic seats,” Annabelle said. “Still, it’s all we’ve got.”

“3:10 in the morning,” Kassandra said. “About ten hours since our lives, and everyone else’s, changed.” She laid down across five seats, which were joined together. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

In what seemed like no time at all, when the sky was still only half lit, a rough voice was heard: “You can’t sleep here! This terminal is now closed. Move along.” A blue-uniformed gendarme stood over the three friends.

“Uhh…” Kassandra stirred.

“You have to move along,” he said.

Kassandra sat up, rubbing her eyes. “What time is it?”

“6:50 AM. This terminal is now off limits, and sleeping is not permitted anywhere in the airport. You must leave.”

Kassandra sighed. “Okay.” She roused the others. They got up, grumbled, and shuffled back towards the moving walkway that had conveyed them there.

“Now what?” Annabelle said.

“I don’t know.”

----

Kato lay in his spacious cabin aboard
Revenant.
He had not been able to sleep at all. His display, which had been showing the news for a long time, was now switched off. Kato had changed the wall to display an underwater scene, instead of a view of Earth. His eyes followed a manta ray as it swam through the blue above him, momentarily blocking the dappled sunlight. “Call from Peter Phillips,” was heard in his ear.

“Answer.”

“Kato! Since when was the entire human race a bunch of complete pussies?”

“What?”

“Turn on the news. The FSE has just announced they’re surrendering!”

“Surely not!”

“See it for yourself!” Kato switched on the news.

A press conference was shown, with the leader of the Federated States of Earth, Akachi Afolayan, at the podium. The camera flashes were so frequent that the scene looked like a flickery old time movie. “It has been decided that the greatest good of the greatest number must be placed first. The planet Mars will be ceded to Seung Yi and his followers.”

Kato jumped up from his bed, and swayed unsteadily on the spot. He rewound the broadcast and watched it over again. “It can’t be…” he said slowly.

“Oh yes it can!” General Phillips roared. “I always knew the FSE was a liability. Now they’ve failed us in our moment of greatest need! You guys better put a ‘do not disturb’ sign on my door for a while. I gotta cool down, else I won’t be held responsible for my actions…”

Kato sighed. “God damn… so we’re just going to roll over and submit to this tyrant?”

“Yep. Just like that! Unbelievable!” the general said.

“How in the heck are we even going to get thirty-nine million people off the planet in six months?”

“I don’t think they’ve thought through the logistics yet.”

“They’ll be calling ISI, wanting my entire fleet to move them,” Kato said. “They’ll need every ship they can get.”

“They ain’t gettin’ your entire fleet. I’ve already talked to the Secretary of Defense. America’s gonna fight back, and we’ll need warp ships to do it. Some of your biggest and best.”

“I’m in it to fight too, General. You have whatever ships you need.”

“Good. Obviously, the war effort is top secret, since it’s only being launched by one country so far, but I’ll keep you apprised on a need-to-know basis.”

“Okay. I’m also going to convene a meeting of ISI’s chief scientists, and see what help we can be, especially in the nanotech area. We have a sizable contingent on Mars, so I may end up moving the ship there so I can telepresence in,” Kato said.

“Very well. Just means I’d have to converse with a few minutes’ delay—unless they’ll let me get back to Earth.”

----

Akio and Zara watched the broadcast on one entire wall of their large cabin. “This is Earth News Network, with continuing coverage of the unfolding situation of what is being dubbed the Vesta Crisis, due to the transmission for the ransom demand having been traced to that location. Twenty-four hours have now passed since Seung Yi’s continued existence became apparent, and he demanded an entire planet be ceded to him. The knowledge that somebody has already used the so-called Extinction Switch to terrible effect, and can end the life of every person on Earth, has caused complete panic in every country. The US stock market reopened just over an hour ago, after the weekend break, and stocks immediately slid twenty percent, causing a halt to trading. The plunge echoes similar routs in Japan, China and Europe.

“We now turn our attention to the worsening civil unrest. In the USA, the New York pyramids were nearly evacuated after fires broke out at ground level, filling the inner spaces with smoke. Looters and rioters clashed with police, as they attempted to move large amounts of stolen goods out of the city. The entire subway and airway systems have been shut down until further notice…”

“Switch to France,” Akio said. The words ENN FRANCE appeared in red italic across the top of the screen. The picture was of Paris, through a telephoto lens from very far away. That city’s crowning glory, a vast, thick, arch that housed millions and spanned the city from east to west, was still intact. A pall of smoke hung over the giant spires beneath. There was only an eerie silence.

Zara turned to Akio, who stood to her right, and buried her face in his shoulder. Akio held her tight. “I just wish we could get through to her,” Zara said.

Akio sighed. “Me too.” He spoke to the wall to his left: “Show news feed for France.” Blue turned to white. A pane appeared at the top, with thick black text:

Government attempting to re-establish control. Army engaged.

Only 5% of communications networks still functional. Department of Cyber Affairs taking control to restore them.

High-speed transit networks closed until further notice.

Confirmed death toll by city: Paris: 192 Lyon: 105 Marseille: 89

Zara glanced at the screen, then scowled at Akio and pulled away. “Why would you pull up information about death tolls when you can see I’m upset?”

“Uh… I didn’t know it was going to show that… I’m sorry. Display off.”

Zara looked at the floor. “I just feel so helpless. She’s our baby. I couldn’t live with it if anything happened to her.”

Akio held her again. “She’ll be okay, love. She’s smart and resourceful.” He pulled away slightly, and looked at her. “Just like her mama. She gets it from you—the one who pulled off the greatest theft of all time, and then survived another encounter with Seung Yi.”

CHAPTER SIX

Underground

Kassandra, Annabelle and Antonio looked up as loudspeakers boomed throughout Lyon Air and Space Port. “Due to the shutdown of the entire aviation and spaceflight network by the Directorate General, Lyon Air and Space Port will be closing. This is a temporary measure, until the current civil unrest has been quelled. All civilians have until 10 PM to exit the facility. Extra buses to Lyon will be provided. Thank you for your cooperation.” A cry of outrage swept through the already agitated crowd.

“Oh no,” Kassandra said, quietly. “Where are we going to sleep?”

“Still no way to check on hotels,” Antonio said. “I can’t get a signal.”

“I sure don’t want to be sleeping on a floor tonight,” Kassandra said.

“You may not have much choice,” Annabelle said. Antonio sighed. Some people moved slowly towards the exits.

An elderly woman leaned into her husband’s shoulder and began to cry. “My Megane,” she said. “I just want to see her one last time.”

“The end will not come for six months,” he said. “We will have plenty of chances to see her before then.”

Kassandra looked stricken, on overhearing the conversation. She looked at Annabelle. “I wish we could help them.”

“We are the ones who need help,” Antonio said, prodding his chest with his fingertips.

“We’re young and able to look after ourselves,” Annabelle said. Antonio sniffed.

Kassandra closed her eyes and sighed in exasperation. “We have to figure out what we’re doing. All I can think of is getting on one of those buses. I guess we’ll have to find somewhere in the city to sleep.”

“It sounds dangerous there,” Antonio said.

“Do you have a better idea?” Annabelle said.

“No.”

----

The seats on the bus’ upper deck were arranged in circular clusters of eight, facing inwards. “Damn them! Who do they think they are?” a young man to Antonio’s right said. “This is a free nation. The government cannot tell us where to go and what to do!”

“They must have good reasons, Pierre,” the woman beside him said. “They are just trying to get things back to normal.”

Pierre’s face reddened. “Normal? What is normal anymore? The most any of us have is six months to live! We should be allowed to go where and do what we want in the little time we have left!”