Touched by a Phoenix (53 page)

Brad glanced at his watch. Memories of Alexis flooded his senses. He took a deep shuddering breath—8:00 PM—that left him seven and a half hours. He grimaced…could he finish in time?

“What else did he say Brad?”

“He’d call back at 6:00 PM.”

Brad launched the power sequence, waking Rescue One from her slumber.

“Good evening, Brad,” called the familiar voice.

He dropped his head—he had been dreading this part. Rescue One was programmed with Alexis’s voice pattern and it ripped him apart to hear her voice.

“Brad, are you there?”

“Yes,” his voice cracked.

The tears began to fall. He couldn’t breathe as his heart raced…he had to escape this madness. He took off in a dead run pushing through the hanger door with such force it slammed against the wall and bounced violently before it began an unnatural closure.

The dusk cloaked him as he staggered towards the deep purple night. The faintest hint of moonlight shadowed his despair as he sank to his knees. The darkness could not hide his doleful cry, “I miss you,” as it echoed against the nothingness.

He wept as the solitary night cast its obscure haze around him. The flood of tears that came would not be stopped–boiling hot against his cheeks as his heart broke.

“I feel you here with me,” he sobbed, “I cannot touch you…cannot see you…cannot hold you—but I can feel you.”

There was no point in pretending he could be strong without her? He was nothing if she was not by his side. He let them fall as he sobbed until a cold chill—a shiver rose from the base of his spine…her breath against his lips. She needed him, he couldn’t falter now.

He stared straight into the face of his greatest fear…losing Alexis. Something else began in the pit of his stomach…she was counting on him. Alexis was the most courageous person he knew. My God, she is my fire—the fire from which he would rise. He dug deep and found a strength unbeknownst to him; he must finish this. To save himself—he must first save Alexis.

He rose to his feet, his resolve strengthening with each step, with each breath. He would be with her soon—one way or the other.

“Rescue One.”

“Yes, Brad?”

“I’ve modified your programming with new data. I need you to run diagnostics. Access chip 129-file extinction 3,493.

“Location found, running diagnostics now.”

He waited, holding his breath. What would he do if she couldn’t handle both her and ACES’s DNA?

“Brad, what am I to do with this new DNA string?”

“We have a search and destroy mission. I need you to recognize the string, but do not absorb it. We must locate, track, and destroy the live string.”

“This is a new ability. Shall we test?”

“Yes.”

“Scanning for new DNA.”

All was quiet—too quiet. If she were human, he imagined she might be frowning as she struggled to distinguish between the two strings.

“Brad, I cannot locate the DNA from here. Shall we fly?”

“Not yet. Sleep for now, I need to make some adjustments.”

Brad went back to work on the programming. What had he missed? He went through the code again…line by line.

He jumped as his phone rang, “Hello.”

“Are you ready?”

“No, I ran into a problem with the software modifications. Give me two hours.”

“I will call at eight.”

“No, wait…how is she? Please….”

“I like hearing you beg, Mr. Scott. It is comforting. Her temperature is climbing faster now. She is at 105.2˚. Your time is running out. You should hurry.”

“How will I know where to make the delivery?”

“I will give you a number to text me when you have exited the base. I will respond with the address.”

“I will be ready.”

The line was silent.

“Rescue One, try again.”

“Location found, running diagnostics now.”

Several minutes passed by before her soft, “Diagnostics complete,” could be heard.

He waited in silence not realizing he was holding his breath.

“Brad, I cannot locate the second DNA.”

“No,” he whispered.

He had failed. What now? He had less than two hours and still needed to boost her power. What good would any of this be if Rescue One couldn’t track ACE? He might save Alexis, but fail the rest of the world.

“Brad…if I can only recognize one string, can you load my DNA into ACE?” The familiar female voice was soft, as if she somehow recognized the urgency of the situation.

Brad’s head popped up, his mind racing. How fast could he copy and upload the data into ACE?

“Rescue One,” he kissed her as he raced to the computer, “you’re a genius.”

“John!” he yelled, “get in here. I need your help.”

“Yeah?”

“I need you and Jim to unload ACE and bring her to me.”

He worked furiously removing the new software from Rescue One’s programming. He copied her DNA and began the upload to ACE. Once the upload was complete, he had John and Jim reload ACE on the truck.

“Jim, how good are you at nuclear power equations?”

“Okay, I guess.”

“Here, I need you to start working on this.” He thrust the papers at Jim as he rushed by.

Jim looked down at Brad’s latest design. He was more than a little nervous. He knew the basics but what Brad needed him to do was out of his league…could he do it?

“Okay, Rescue One. I need you to reboot quickly.”

“Yes, Brad.”

While he waited, he checked on Jim.

“Here let me help you,” as he rifled through several papers, “start here, this is what I need you to begin assembling.”

He turned to John and shoved a paper into his hands, “Gather what’s on this list for Jim,” he barked.

His attention back to Jim, “Take these nuclear pellets and align them in the fuel rods. I’ll get John to work on removing Rescue One’s current power supply while I work on the thermal reactor.”

Jim swallowed hard as he looked over at John.

Is he thinking what I’m thinking?
he wondered. What the hell had they gotten themselves into? If this went wrong…it would be very bad!

John was the first to take a deep breath, “Let’s do this.”

Rescue One said, “Brad, I am back up. What now?”

He worked furiously as he spoke to Rescue One. “Run the diagnostics again and tell me what you find.”

A few minutes passed before she spoke, “Diagnostics complete.”

“Run the scan for your DNA and tell me what you find.”

He didn’t realize he was holding his breath until she spoke again.

“Brad, there is a second string located in a truck on the other side of the wall directly behind you.”

The exhilaration burned through his veins like lightning. He reared backwards and pushed both fists towards the heavens as he sank to his knees. He released a thunderous roar as if he had conquered the depths of hell.

“Power down, Rescue One. I am going to install a new power source, which will boost your power and support your laser system.”

“Yes, Brad.”

A sense of relief flooded all three men. Brad glanced at his watch…forty-seven minutes left. Everyone did their part, working towards the same goal—save the girl—save the world.

“John, check on Alexis for me, would you?”

“Sure thing.” He stepped away to make the phone call.

“Brad, she’s in trouble. Her fever is picking up fast…106.1˚.”

Brad did not wavier, the distressing news pushed everything else aside and forced him to focus. As John watched Brad’s eyes turn to steel, he thought…talk about being able to work under pressure. You could almost see the man turn to machine and switch into overdrive.

“Help me load the reactor.” He paused as John started to pick it up, “John, you do realize that if we drop this it is over…right.”

John took a deep breath as he steadied both his thoughts and his heart. Beads of sweat popped up all over his entire body, he wasn’t sure he had ever been more nervous about a mission in his entire life. He rubbed his hands against his pants legs to dry them and nodded. He was as ready as he would ever be.

“Let’s do this,” he breathed.

The two men gently lifted a small nuclear reactor and moved towards Rescue One. Brad took the reactor, “John move the cables so I can sit the reactor in her fuselage.”

Brad held his breath, until he stabilized the reactor and connected the cables; it wouldn’t be safe for any of them. Hell, if he had to admit it, it wouldn’t be safe for anyone in a fifty-mile radius, but if it worked….

“Jim, bring me the cushioning and cooling system.”

No one asked questions—now was not the time. They just did as they were told.

“Thanks, now give me a few minutes.”

Jim kept track of the time. “You have four minutes before he calls.”

“John, listen carefully, I’m going to give you the codes to start powering Rescue One up. Go to the computer and enter exactly what I tell you.”

“Can we do that before you’re finished?”

“I guess I’d better hurry then, wouldn’t you say?”

John rolled his eyes, “This is not the time to be funny.”

A cavalier smiled caused the corners of Brad’s lips to turn upwards, “It’s all I’ve got at the moment. Please just do it.”

Brad started spouting off a long series of alpha, numeric, and special characters for John to enter.

“Tell me when the command prompt comes up.”

He double-checked the last cable connection and began tightening the loose connections.

“Got it.”

“Type the command in exactly as I tell you and hit enter, got it?”

“Yeah, got it.”

“Okay, here we go. 01000010 01110010 01100001 01100100 01101100 01101111 01110110 01100101 01110011 01000001 01101100 01100101 01111000 01101001 01110011 00110010 00110000 00110001 00110100.”

“Done. Are you finished?” Beads of sweat dripped from his eyebrow hitting the keyboard.

“Almost…just hit the damn key!”

“Not until you’re finished!”

“Do it…now,” Brad bellowed.

John’s heart pounded, feeling as if a stampede of wild animals was running through his chest cavity. His finger hovered above the enter key. One hand had unconsciously tightened down around his thigh so tightly that he was cutting off the circulation to his leg below the knee. This could not be happening—his hand was not moving…fear gripped him.

“Now…John…
now!
”

Brads’ thundering voice was enough to set John’s hand in motion. His finger came down on the enter key with force. He closed his eyes and prayed that Brad’s hands were free of the connection before the power reached her.

Silence—dead silence. Nothing happened. Brad felt like everything was happening in slow motion as seconds turned into a minute…a minute and a half. Then…a bubble—the first bubble. Rescue One accepted the new power source and began her sequencing.

The corners of Brad’s mouth quirked upwards in a strange sarcastic smile. He had done it. Probably the greatest technological advancement in modern history and it was simply a means to an end.

He felt odd…this wasn’t what he thought success would feel like. He looked at both Jim and John and saw immense pride written on their faces, pleasure in their participation…and pride in what they had witnessed, as if they had just beheld an unthinkable feat.