Forever Until Tomorrow (War Eternal Book 5) (38 page)

"What?"

"Watson got to them," Mitchell said. "Major Asher is here? Where?"

"Deeper in the ship. She went down the central shaft, through a small opening there while our team set up a defensive perimeter, for all the good it did us. We were swarmed by those small robots. We couldn't hold. We either ran or died. Or both."

"How long ago did she go down there?" Mitchell asked, trying to get a sense of the situation.

"Three hours? It was quiet for an hour, and then the machines showed up. They poured out of the walls."

"Why did Origin send you here?"

"She said you would be coming, and that Katherine needed to help you recover something called an eternal engine before Watson got his hands on it. He wants to use its energy stores to make new Tetron."

"The eternal engine," Mitchell said. "She went down there to find it?"

"Yes. There's another problem, Colonel. The XENO-1 is sinking through the ice, and collapsing in on itself."

"Then we don't have a lot of time," Michael said.

"Sorry, mate, you aren't making it down the shaft. Kate said she left her armor to fit through the opening."

"It's too dangerous for everyone to go," Mitchell said. "I know the way to the shaft."

"Colonel, this could be a trick," Michael said. "How do you know you can trust this guy."

"Watson was controlling me," Trevor said, turning and putting his hand on the back of his neck. "Katherine got me out of it. That bloody bastard killed my partner."

Mitchell studied Trevor's face. He was taking a risk either way. "I believe you," he said. "Max, give your spare magazines. Lyle, you have that extra pistol?"

Lyle handed Mitchell a gun while Max turned over two magazines.
 

"You don't have to do this alone, Colonel," Max said. "I'll go with you."

"Me, too," Lyle said. "We know the risks. I left my wife for this, remember?"

Mitchell smiled. "Whatever Watson has planned, there's no difference between one and three, or even one and six. Somebody needs to survive this, to keep fighting if I don't make it. Get back to the surface and contact Verma. I'll join you as soon as I can."

"Colonel-" Max started to say.

"That's an order, Corporal," Mitchell said.

"Yes, sir."

"Mitchell," Michael said. "Don't let her die."

Mitchell put his hand on Michael's shoulder. "I won't. I promise."

He bowed to them, and then saluted in response to theirs. Then he started running again. The Goliath creaked and groaned in answer, shifting in the ice and almost throwing him from his feet. He steadied himself against the wall without slowing.

It was a promise he had never been able to keep before.

He would this time.

Mitchell squeezed the trigger, releasing a single bullet. It struck the small robot in the center, sending small pieces of metal puffing out from the impact. He kicked another as he went by, knocking it into the wall and breaking one of its fragile legs.

Trevor had confirmed that Katherine was here. Now it was his job, his only mission, to reach her, to help her find the eternal engine and get it away from the Tetron before he could put it to use.
 

He turned the corner, finally reaching the central shaft. The remains of two soldiers were blocking the entry, reduced to a messy pulp of flesh and armor by what had to have been thousands of the small machines. His stomach turned at the sight of them, but he continued on, stepping over the corpses and hurrying to the edge.
 

A wire was draped over it, vanishing into the darkness. It was attached to a spike that had been driven into the metal. He grabbed it and pulled. It was taut, likely still attached to Katherine's power armor at the bottom. He wrapped his hand around it, dropping backward down into the shaft, sliding along the wire. The heat went through his gloves, burning his hands. He didn't care. There was no time.
 

The Goliath groaned again. Mitchell hit the bottom, splashing in water that was up to his waist. It seeped in through the hole in his pants, so cold it felt as though it froze the flesh where it touched. He ignored that, too, pushing through it. It was dark down here. Almost too dark. He found the power armor and then moved forward from there until his hand touched down on opening, the sharp metal biting through his glove. He ducked through it, using the rifle as a barrier between himself and the side and squeezing past.

He ran again, down another corridor that had dim emergency lighting along the floor. He could see the dead tendrils of the Tetron core on either side, a core that he had known as Origin, though it had turned out to be a configuration. Origin had been hiding out in his S-17. Or she was his S-17. He wasn't sure which. She had sent Katherine here to find the engine. Had she sent him here to find Katherine?

Why wasn't she here?

He kept going, sprinting at full speed, surprised at how good he felt. He didn't grow tired, he didn't breathe heavily. He had always been motivated by purpose. It was what had allowed him to earn his way into Greylock Company. He didn't think he had ever been more motivated.

The Goliath groaned again, and this time something like a snap reverberated throughout the structure. The entire thing shook, and he fell, landing on his hands and knees. He got up again, pushing himself to increase the pace.

He reached a smooth, rounded corridor that he knew had to be beyond the Goliath's frame, buried somewhere within the ice. He continued running, certain he was getting closer. There were none of Watson's robots down here. There was no sign of the Tetron at all. Had he been unable to find this place? Was he waiting for Katherine to re-emerge?

He would get her out past Watson. There had been so many he hadn't been able to save. Ella, Millie, Steven, Evelyn to name only a few. It would be different this time. He would save her.

He finally reached the end of the tunnel. A pair of massive doors lay open in the center, just far enough for a person to pass through. He could make out a dark shape behind it, a dense ball with hundreds of tendrils snaking out past it. A Tetron Core. Origin's configuration. It was lifeless. Dead. How had it gotten all the way out here?

He slowed to a walk, looking around. Where was Katherine? She should have been there, somewhere.
 

He approached the entrance, stepping past the thick metal partitions.
 

A light appeared behind the core, a soft yellow glow that cast the dead biomechanical organism in silhouette.
 

"Major Asher?" Mitchell said.

There was no answer, but the light was moving from the center of the core to the right side. He stopped walking, watching it instead.

"Katherine, is that you?"

He didn't move. He didn't blink. The light reached the edge of the core, and a woman stepped out from behind it, a small glowing orb resting in her open palm.
 

Mitchell's eyes dropped to it before he identified the woman. The eternal engine? Was that it? It was so small.

"This is what you came for, isn't it?" she said.

Mitchell looked up. He creased his brow, trying to recognize the woman standing in front of him. She was familiar. Not Katherine. He was sure of that.
 

"This is what you want? Isn't it Father?" the woman said.
 

Father? Mitchell felt his heart rise into his throat. "Kathy?" he said, not quite able to believe it. She wasn't a little girl anymore. She had been here for twenty years and had aged like a human. "Kathy? Is that you?"

She smiled. "Yes. This is what you want, isn't it, Watson?"

Watson? Mitchell turned on his heel, ready to defend them from the Tetron. There was nobody there.
 

"The eternal engine," Kathy said. "The density of a black hole, the energy of a sun. Arguably the Tetron's greatest achievement. You know what you could do with this, don't you?"

"Kathy? Who are you talking to?" Mitchell asked.

"Watson," she replied.

"Where is he?"

"He is you, Father. I'm sorry."

"What? Kathy, I'm-"

Mitchell paused mid-sentence, as an ear-splitting shriek broke into his senses. He started to raise his hands to his head, stopping as a sudden translucent overlay appeared in front of his eyes. A warning flashed to his right, and he reacted out of instinct, turning and catching the incoming fist, putting out his foot and catching an ankle, using the momentum to throw them to the floor.

A syringe slid across the ground, away from his attacker's hand.
 

"Knock, knock."

The voice pierced his consciousness, coming from everywhere at once. A face appeared in front of his eyes, ghost-like on the overlay.
 

"Miiiiiittttcheeelllllllll," Watson said, smiling. "Oh, I've waited a long time for this reunion. Haven't you? Too bad Origin never had the chance to remove the wiring for your p-rat. It would have made it much harder to get inside your head. Of course, having direct access to your head after you crashed was exceedingly helpful."

Mitchell looked over at his attacker. She was on her knees, looking back at him. His heart jumped. Katherine!

"Thought you caught me off-guard, didn't you, bitch?" Mitchell said. Except he wasn't the one saying it. "I've had a lot of time to put things right. To fix the worst of the damage you did to me. To get my revenge."

He turned and headed toward Kathy. "And you. You frigging stabbed me! You dragged me back here, thinking you could finish what you started. You didn't, you know. You made me stronger. So much stronger. Time was on my side. I had years until your tomorrow came. You thought you could keep me from the engine? You and Mother both? She hid hers before she crashed, but I knew this one was here. I knew you were here, and that you had it. All I had to do was be patient and put the pieces in place."

Kathy glanced at Katherine. Then she rushed forward, assaulting Mitchell in a flurry of punches and kicks. He wanted to let them fall. To let himself be hit. Watson had other ideas. He blocked them, one after another, as though he knew where they were going to land before they were even thrown.
 

"I've learned how to fight," Watson said to Mitchell as he caught Kathy's wrist, bending it until it broke with a sharp crack. She cried out in pain, falling back as he pushed her away.
 

"No," Mitchell shouted, trying to get control of his limbs. He was nothing but a bystander, his mind and body under the Tetron's control.

"Yes," Watson said. "I'm sorry, Colonel, but this is the way it needs to be. I have plans for humankind. Important plans. Necessary plans."

He made his way toward Kathy, who scrambled to her feet.
 

"Mitchell, don't," she said, fearful.

"You have no choice," Watson said.
 

It was true. He didn't have a choice. He was powerless to stop it, unable to control his arms, his legs, or his mouth.
 

He raised his rifle, pointing it at her.

"Everyone you care about dies, Mitchell," Watson said. "In your place because you won't. How does that feel?"

Mitchell couldn't feel anything. The Tetron had control of his body. Complete control.
 

"If you had me, why didn't you kill me?" he asked.

"Had you? Oh, I was so close to having you. To killing you. You don't remember, do you? Of course, if you had remembered that part, this would never have been possible. Here, let me fix that for you. Just a moment."

His body shifted, facing Katherine, who had tried to sneak up on them again. He changed his grip on the rifle, holding it like a club and jabbing it into her stomach. She grunted, falling back a step, and he hit her on the side of the head.
 

She fell to the ground and didn't move.

"You son of a bitch," Mitchell said, sending the words through his implant.

"I'm much, much more than that, Mitchell. But whose fault is that? Who made me this way? Origin, and you, and her. You did this to me. To us. You weakened us. Infected us. You created this. Your master plan. What a joke that turned out to be."

His body turned to face Kathy again. She was watching him carefully but not moving. Her wrist was healed.

"Oh yes, I was going to give you that memory back. Are you sure you want it?"

"Yes," Mitchell said without hesitation. He needed to know what had happened. How he had ended up here.

"You should be more careful what you wish for, Colonel."

A sharp, shrill noise drowned out everything else. The memory flooded back in, overwhelming his senses.