Deadlock (31 page)

Otto sat, lost in thought, on a sofa in a quiet corner of the library with a book sitting unread on his lap. He always retreated there when he wanted time to think in peace and he had a lot to think about at the moment. He hadn’t really spoken to anyone about how deeply his encounter with Zero had disturbed him. After Sebastian Trent had used the Animus fluid to control him and turn him against his friends, Otto had always sworn that he would never let anyone do that to him again. With the destruction of Overlord he had thought that maybe the threat that he might lose control again was finally gone, but Zero had used him like a puppet. The thought of there being more clones like him out there terrified him. That wasn’t the only thing that was bothering him though. He was just as concerned about the offer that Nero had made to Laura, purely because he was ninety per cent certain he knew exactly what her decision would be. His Blackbox, the device that H.I.V.E. gave to all pupils to use as a combined communicator and PDA, vibrated in his pocket and Otto pulled it out. A moment later the screen lit up with H.I.V.E.mind’s face.

‘Good afternoon, Otto,’ H.I.V.E.mind said. ‘I have completed the search of G.L.O.V.E. records that you requested. I found no reference to any facility that might have been used for the purpose you described.’

‘I didn’t think you would,’ Otto said with a sigh. ‘That would have been too easy.’

‘There are many G.L.O.V.E. records that I also searched that I am not allowed to discuss with someone with your security clearance,’ H.I.V.E.mind said. ‘I am not allowed to tell you that those searches were also negative.’

‘Thanks,’ Otto said with a smile. ‘I appreciate it.’

‘I also thought you should know that I gave Miss Brand your current location two minutes and thirty-seven seconds ago,’ H.I.V.E.mind said. ‘She is currently one hundred and twelve metres from your location in corridor H-nine.’

‘Thanks for the warning,’ Otto said, taking a deep breath.

‘Otto,’ H.I.V.E.mind said.

‘Yeah,’ Otto replied, sounding slightly distracted.

‘I have spent a great deal of time interfaced with your consciousness over the past few months. I will not begin to even pretend to understand the chaos and unpredictability that runs through the human mind at any given moment. Frankly, I am amazed that your species ever even learnt to stand upright, let alone do all the astonishing things you have done whilst processing so much redundant data. However, one thing I have realised is that there is often a large differential between the things that you say and the things that you feel or truly believe. It is a peculiarly human trait.’

‘Is there a point to all this?’ Otto said with a slight frown.

‘Yes,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied with a nod. ‘I have processed all of the probability vectors and have calculated a mathematically optimum strategy. Tell her how you really feel.’

Before Otto could reply, H.I.V.E.mind vanished from the screen.

‘Hi, Otto,’ Laura said as she walked up behind him and pulled up a chair.

‘Hey,’ Otto said with a smile, ‘how are you doing?’

‘Better actually,’ Laura said. ‘It’s been nice to have some time to actually think. You know, there was a time when I thought of this place as a prison. I think we all did, but the Glasshouse changed all that.’

‘I can imagine,’ Otto said.

‘It’s also made me think about the future,’ Laura said, looking at the floor, ‘about what comes after this. I don’t know if I’m cut out for this.’

Laura looked up from the floor and stared into his eyes for a second.

‘I wanted to come and talk to you first,’ Laura said. ‘I’ve made a decision.’

‘I know,’ Otto said. ‘I don’t blame you, Laura. I really don’t. You’ve got a family, your baby brother, and after everything that Furan put you through . . . I love you, Laura, but I know you have to go. I want you to stay, of course, but –’

‘Otto Malpense, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you may be the smartest kid in the room, but you can be unbelievably stupid sometimes.’ She leant forward and kissed him. It felt just as perfect as he had always imagined it would. After a couple of seconds, she pulled away from him and smiled. ‘I’m staying, you idiot.’

Otto felt a rush of overwhelming relief, a huge grin spreading across his face. He pulled her to him and kissed her again.

‘Only these two would make out in the library,’ Shelby said.

Otto and Laura quickly separated, both turning interesting shades of crimson.

‘I pleaded with Shelby to give you some privacy,’ Wing said with a sigh, looking slightly uncomfortable, ‘but I fear she does not have a great deal of respect for boundaries.’

‘Boundaries, schmoundaries, no way I’m missing the first Brand–Malpense smooch,’ Shelby said with a grin. ‘I’ve been waiting three years for this.’

‘Thanks, Shel,’ Laura said, shaking her head. ‘You’re always such a big help in these situations.’

‘What situations are these being?’ Franz asked as he and Nigel rounded the corner.

‘We miss something?’ Nigel asked.

‘Did you sell tickets?’ Otto said to Shelby with a frown.

‘No, but you know, that’s actually not a bad idea,’ Shelby replied.

‘I was just telling Otto that Doctor Nero has told me that I can keep my place at H.I.V.E.,’ Laura said.

Otto didn’t say anything. For whatever reason, Laura obviously didn’t want the others to know about the choice that Nero had given her. It was her decision and he wasn’t going to argue with it.

‘That is fantastic news, Laura,’ Wing said, giving her a quick hug. ‘It is good to have you back.’

‘He’s just glad that Otto’s got someone else to talk to about computers now,’ Shelby said, also hugging her friend. ‘Would have sucked to be here without you, hon.’

On the other side of the library, Penny glanced over her shoulder at the six of them. Her eyes narrowed for a moment, something cold and hard behind them. Then she turned and walked away.

Nero walked down the bare rock corridor towards the steel door at the far end. He stood for a moment and waited as the scanner above the door swept a broad laser beam over him.

‘Identity confirmed, welcome, Doctor Nero,’ a synthesised voice said. The door rumbled aside and a long metal walkway started to extend from the threshold, crossing the boiling lake of magma far below and connecting with another metal door on the other side of the chamber. The first door closed behind him and only then did the door in front of him open. He walked into the small room carved out of the rock wall and over to the clear panel of ten centimetre thick, bulletproof glass that divided it.

‘Hello, Anastasia,’ Nero said, as he approached the glass.

Furan turned to face him, dressed in simple white pyjamas. The cell she occupied had a sink, a toilet and a metal hatch in one wall. Other than that it was bare.

‘Why didn’t you just kill me, Nero?’ Furan said, staring at him with a look of pure hatred.

‘I don’t believe in the death penalty for people like you, Anastasia,’ Nero said. ‘It’s too lenient.’

‘So what
do
you intend to do with me?’

‘Nothing,’ Nero said, ‘nothing at all. You see that’s the worst possible punishment for people like us, Anastasia, irrelevance. You will die down here one day, alone and forgotten. Your mind will probably have gone by then, but, honestly, I don’t care.’

‘Just finish this!’ Furan screamed at him.

‘I already have,’ Nero said. ‘Goodbye, Anastasia.’

He turned and walked through the door.

‘Nero, come back,’ Furan screamed. ‘Neeeerooooo–’

Her final scream was silenced as the door thudded shut.

Dr Klein attached the air hose to his biohazard suit and waited as the decontamination process ran its course, blasting him with jets of disinfectant steam. The jets deactivated and he walked down the corridor towards a pair of steel doors with the words ‘Project Absalom’ printed above them and the barbed-wire circle logo of the Disciples carved into its surface. The doors hissed open as he approached and he went inside. One of the many scientists working all around the room approached him as he entered the laboratory.

‘We heard about Furan’s capture and the destruction of the Glasshouse,’ his assistant said. ‘Did the prototype survive?’

‘It appears not,’ Klein said. ‘Though its performance up until then was exemplary. Joseph Wright has taken command of the project. He’s keen for us to press on with stage two.’

‘That’s a relief,’ the other man said. ‘The accelerated maturation process appears to be working even more efficiently with the phase two subjects.’ The man handed him a digital tablet and Klein studied the data.

‘Excellent. I shall inform Mr Wright that we are ahead of schedule.’ He handed the tablet back to his assistant and walked through the lab. The room was filled with all manner of the latest cutting-edge scientific and medical hardware, equipment that any research institute would have given almost anything to assemble in one place like this. He inspected the large empty tank with the number zero printed on it. It was a shame that the prototype had been lost, but in truth it had largely served its purpose as a proof of concept. He walked to the far end of the lab and looked through the toughened glass window at the tanks that lined the wall in the refrigerated room beyond. In each tank was a floating body, currently the size of a toddler, but growing at a vastly accelerated rate. The tanks were each individually numbered from one to twelve. On the wall above the tanks there was a display counting down to the moment when they would have reached their full potential.

99 Days 17 Hours 8 Minutes 14 seconds

99 Days 17 Hours 8 Minutes 13 seconds

99 Days 17 Hours 8 Minutes 12 seconds . . .

The H.I.V.E. Series in reading order

Higher Institute of Villainous Education

The Overlord Protocol

Escape Velocity

Dreadnought

Rogue

Zero Hour

Aftershock

Deadlock