The Genesis Code 1: Lambda (31 page)

“Don’t worry, you still have much to offer, my dear Ares,” Dead Eye spoke with a sinister edge to his voice.

Ares voice turned flat. “I’m overjoyed.”

He was about to disconnect from the call when Dead Eye spoke up once more.

“Ares, could you do me one small favor?”

The line was quiet for a moment as Ares rolled over the question.

“What would you ask of me?”

Dead Eye lowered his voice to a whisper. Ares could hear him snickering.

“Do be so kind and clean up the mess the dogs make. They are really quite sloppy and useless, I must say.”

Ares didn’t quite follow Dead Eye’s words. “I fail to see what you mean. With the Zero Barrier up, there won’t be any need for a cleanup crew once we secure the boy and Lambda unit, no?” Ares was still confused.

Dead Eye erupted with laughter. It was several seconds later that he regained control over himself from his wicked fit. He wiped tears from his eye as he caught his breath.

“My dear Ares . . . I’m not telling you to fix what they destroy.” He stifled a laugh as he leaned back in his seat.

“I’m telling you to clean up their corpses.”

*
      
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[January 7th - Abingdon, Virginia - County Park - Day]

Both Zack and Lambda seemed to be lost in each other’s eyes. The lingering feeling between the two was nurturing and pure. Neither wanted to say a word for fear of breaking such a fragile serenity. However, they couldn’t spare anymore time.

“All right, let’s get-” Zack barely took three steps before suddenly feeling lightheaded and stumbling to his knees. Along with the sudden bout of fatigue, his head was hurting as well.

Lambda rushed towards him, alarmed. “Zack! Are you all right?!” She scanned his vitals. Everything seemed normal; but for some reason, his body appeared to be heating up. Fearful of the strange occurrence, Lambda was unsure of what to do.

“What should I do, Zack?” Lambda asked, holding him up.

Zack shook his head. “Maybe I’m more tired than I realized.” He cursed under his breath. “Why is this happening right now?”

Lambda ignored everything around her and focused her attention on Zack. Everything was tuned to him. She didn’t even acknowledge the sudden ripple in the sky as the morning light shimmered like water for but a second.

“Well, I guess you may need to assist me as we move,” Zack said weakly as his vision began to blur.

Lambda appeared worried. “You must need rest. Surely resting here could be-”

“Not an option. We have camped here too long. That silver knight and the Void Reapers could find us at any moment,” he replied firmly.

Lambda continued to gaze at him with plagued eyes. “But you seem so weak.”

Zack groaned. Honestly, he was more embarrassed than anything. He wanted to help Lambda, but in the end, it was her yet again that aided him.

“Say, Lambda . . .” Zack began, unable to look Lambda in the eyes.

Lambda eyed Zack curiously.

“Do you regret me choosing to get involved with you?”

The question left Lambda with no idea of how to respond. Normally, everything would have dictated for Zack to stay away from her at the start. However, Lambda was certain that his choice wasn’t simply for her sake.

It all comes back to Rachiel . . .

Had he never created Rachiel, he would have surely avoided Lambda like the plague. The thought of that weighed heavy on her mind and body. She could even feel her chest constrict.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” Zack said with a weak smile as he felt his knees give out from under him.

Lambda tightened her grip on Zack, but her mouth hung open as she tried to speak. She wanted to say how she felt, but nothing but empty gasps came out. She had lost her voice, and couldn’t understand why. What made it worse was the fact that the words that hung on her tongue were not, “No, I don’t regret it,” but rather . . .

Are you here because of Rachiel?

Lambda shook her head violently. That wasn’t what she wanted to say, but at her core, it was what bothered her the most. After all, if she had never met Zack, she would have never gotten to know him, and he would have never taught her about these feelings that laid dormant inside of her.

Lambda looked down on Zack as she noticed his breathing becoming irregular. He looked like he was having a heat stroke with a spiking fever. All of her compiled data told her how to treat Zack’s symptoms, but she didn’t understand how to put it into practice.

Lambda’s eyes began to quiver. “I’m not human. I don’t understand . . .” The words hung out like a tattered flag, bruised and broken. The more Lambda thought about those words, the more they left her feeling insecure. What was she exactly? She could only draw from her own logic and remind herself that she was just hardware and code. She had a physical form, but no soul. She was just data in human form. A puppet. A simple imitation.

She looked to Zack, who looked like he was about to pass out. She slowly raised her hand as she knelt down beside him and placed it on his cheek, lightly brushing it with her fingertips. His face was hot. Inside, she could feel her chest begin to flutter and her body start to get warm as well. She didn’t fully understand what her body was trying to process, but the sensation she felt was intoxicating. She felt drawn to Zack.

Zack didn’t even notice Lambda or what she was doing. He was having too much trouble trying to stay conscious at the moment. It was soon proven to be a fruitless endeavor, as he finally blacked out, falling into Lambda’s arms.

Lambda held Zack tightly. Her gaze never broke. She could only think of him as she peered down at his defenseless body. In her arms he breathed heavily as sweat dampened his face.

Even at rest, he still can’t recover,
Lambda thought as she looked upon Zack’s sleeping face.

A sudden urge crept up in her as she watched Zack sleep restlessly. She didn’t understand what she was feeling, nor what it meant. All at once, she found herself lost with Zack at the center. Her finger touched his chapped lips as she began to lean forward. Many things were going through her mind, but everything was starting to blur. These feelings she was having were out of control. Every neuron and bit of code was firing at light speed, creating so many different surges in her body that she had no hope of comprehending. There was no way for her to keep up.

I c-can’t think . . .

She could hear her own brain process, warning her of hundreds of ignored variables, yet she didn’t stop. She ignored everything except what was in front of her. She didn’t want these feelings that her body was generating to stop. Lambda realized that it was these feelings that made her feel real. It was these feelings that made her feel human.

“Zack . . . I . . .”

A rush of wind blasted the area with all the force of a turbine engine. The intense current of air was so violent that several trees began to crack at the trunk from the pressure.

Lambda held her hand out, producing a spherical dome around her and Zack to protect them from the strange phenomenon. Still, she knew that this wasn’t an act of mother nature.

The black holes split open just ten meters above the ground, producing three figures clad in armor. Lambda lowered her shield once the wind vanished, and materialized her black visor over her eyes. She burned inside with a new type of feeling . . . hate.

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[January 7th - Washington D.C. - Cyber Research Plant - Day]

Karen and Richard both hung over their keyboards, staring up at the large monitor before them. Their expressions were full of unrest.

“Do you think it was wise to let her go alone?”

Karen shrugged. “Margret is a grown woman. She knows the dangers. Besides, her need to know everything makes it impossible to talk to her when she gets like this.”

Richard wasn’t convinced. He crossed his arms, diving into his thoughts.

Karen shook her head at the sight. “Stop your worrying. It’s not like she-”

The door to their lab swooshed open to reveal Margret standing on the other side. Karen quickly noticed the grim look on her face.

“Karen,” she said sternly.

Karen stared back, completely unfazed.

“I need a favor from you,” Margret said gravely.

Richard spoke up. “Margret, what has happened? You look pale.”

Margret ignored his observation and entered the lab, allowing the door to close behind her. She knew that she didn’t have a lot of time.

“I need an exit, Karen. You are the only one I know who could make this work.”

Karen eyed Margret oddly. “What are you talking about? Perhaps it would be better if you explained-”

Margret slammed her hand on the table beside her. “Can you do it or not?!”

Now Karen looked annoyed. Richard was starting to feel that the situation was only going to get worse. Instead, he made the first move.

“Margret, stop! This solves nothing. What is going on?”

Margret leered in Richard’s direction, but managed to get herself under control. She took several deep breaths before speaking.

“Looks like I wasn’t careful enough.”

Margret explained her situation as quickly as she could without losing too much time. She knew that Dead Eye would be arriving soon, and there was little time to prepare. Marcus’ warning was very clear, and she knew that the best course of action was to get as far away as possible from the High King.

“Not good. Of the three High Kings, Dead Eye has a certain
reputation
,” stated Richard in a foreboding manner.

Margret turned to him intently. “What do you know about him?”

“Enough to tell you he is worthy of his title: the Lord of Pandemonium.”

Karen pushed herself out from under her keyboard, spinning on her chair to face Margret.

“You should have been more careful in your digging. Babel doesn’t like its secrets being pooled together in one person.” She chuckled lightly. “Very unlucky to attract a wild dog like this though.”

Margret held back her urge to slap Karen. “Hardly the time to start criticizing. Can you help me or not?” she said firmly.

Karen stared coldly. “Depends . . .” Her eyes were so dark. “How much collateral damage do you want?”

“I would prefer you not set everything on fire,” she shot back rigidly.

Karen stared at Margret with her soulless eyes. She seemed bored, if not detached by the request as she scanned with those dark eyes of hers. She let out a sigh as she spun around on her chair to face the monitor.

“A friend’s request . . .” She turned her head over her shoulder. The smirk on her face made Margret’s skin crawl. “How can I refuse?”

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[January 7th - Abingdon, Virginia - County Park - Day]

Overseer gazed upon her two targets with great satisfaction as she fell from the cracked slit in the sky and landed not twenty feet from Lambda and Zack, followed swiftly by Foresight and Clairvoyance.

Upon landing, she rose with heightened awareness. What intrigued her was the Lambda unit. Its behavior while in the presence of the boy seemed erratic and sloppy, but most importantly, distracted. That alone gave her the confidence she needed to ensure her victory.

“So sorry, did I interrupt you?” she said with a vile tone. She was enjoying the situation, perhaps too much.

Lambda stood rigid and cold, not uttering a word. The lack of response didn’t bother Overseer as she took a few steps forward.

“I’ve noticed that your actions toward the boy seem rather odd for just an AI program. You almost look like you’re trying to mimic human emotion.”

Lambda looked down at Zack’s motionless body. It appeared that he was in a small coma. Lambda’s concern soon turned to Overseer, as she felt a dark presence coming from the metallic woman. The woman’s words were starting to get to her.

“A shame the boy can’t be awake to see you defend him,” Overseer mocked, paying no mind to the fact the Zack lay in pain beside Lambda.

Lambda had enough of the woman’s words. “Appear, Chaos Weapon 69: Distortion Ellipse,” Lambda said in a frigid tone.

Lambda’s words sent a strange feeling up Overseer’s spine.
Was that malicious intent I just felt?
she thought. Her thoughts were quickly derailed as a large black saw blade appeared over Lambda’s head. The blade began to spin at an incredible velocity. The humming of the blade seemed to push all the air around them out of the way, as if creating a vacuum within the small area around it. Regardless, Overseer stood her ground. She still felt that she had an edge.

It’s fine. I will just taunt it, play on its weakness. The boy is a perfect target for that.

“Rearing to fight, are we? What if you harm the boy?” she joked.

Lambda held her hand up. “Be silent, maggot,” she said harshly as she threw her hand forward, signaling for the saw blade above her to attack Overseer and her men.

Surprised by the sudden action, Overseer leapt to the right, barely dodging the blade as it crashed into the ground and sprayed dirt in all directions. She thought she was in the clear, but before she could recover, Lambda rushed her.

What?! Why is it still so-

Her thoughts couldn’t finish as her chest cavity suffered a tremendous blow from Lambda’s knee. She was sent flying backward as if hit by a train. She crashed into the ground, bounced, and landed just at the edge of the lake behind them before coming to a rolling stop.

“Overseer!” Foresight yelled out, making an effort to head over to her.

Lambda didn’t waste any time targeting him.

“You fool!”
yelled Overseer as she struggled to rise, but it was too late. In but a flash, Lambda ordered the saw blade to rush Foresight, cleaving the man in half so quickly that it took several seconds for gravity to register the split in his body. The two pieces of dead flesh crashed to the ground, quickly soaking the ground a dark red. For a moment, only the humming of the saw blade above could be heard.