Guardians of Eden (14 page)

He brought them both to Miller and he called the rest of us in. Our orders were to execute all stowaways on site. No exceptions. When I got there Miller already had a gun to Mitch’s head. I knew I couldn’t speak out or I’d have put my head on the block next to him. All I could do was stand and watch. Mitch didn’t say anything, just looked at me with desperation in his eyes. I don’t think he cared if he was going to die. All he cared about was that his daughter was safe, right to the moment Miller blew his brains out.

I tried not to react, but Miller saw it in my face. He handed the gun to me and ordered me to finish the girl. Part of me just wanted to get it over with. All I had to do was shoot my 6-year-old niece in the head and I’d be safe from Miller’s wrath. In some dark place in my head I tried to justify it by telling myself that Mitch had betrayed me by running off to protect his family. The only thing that stopped me was when she looked up at me, tears pouring down her face. She recognised me. I know she did. She’d watched her father die while I just stood by and did nothing and she recognised me.

I grabbed hold of her and ran for the ship. The last few passengers were still getting on board so I reckoned if I could just get her into the line she could slip in. I nearly made it, but Shaw caught me. He tackled me to the ground and I begged her to run, but Shaw didn’t go after her. He held me down until she was inside, then we watched the ship take off and disappear into the clouds. I never figured out why, but he defied Miller’s orders and let her go. That’s what I meant when I said I owed him more than just my life.”

“So she’s here? On Altaris? Do you know where?”

Owyn looked down at the floor to hide the shame in his eyes. “No. I don’t even know her name. She’s the only family I’ve got left but I haven’t got a clue where she is or how to find her.”

“Is that what you came here to do?”

Owyn rubbed his eyes. “I don’t know. It took six months for the offer to come, and by then I just wanted to escape. Honestly I thought I was dead as soon as Shaw brought me in. I expected Miller to put me in the ground beside Mitch but he wanted me to suffer for a little longer first. The whole team turned against me straight away. They wanted me gone. Shaw hardly spoke a word to me. He wouldn’t even let me thank him. Maybe he regretted it. Miller worked us all harder after Boston. In the end it wasn’t just me suffering for what happened.

Maybe I left to find my niece. Maybe I just wanted to get away from Miller, just like he said. I don’t know. Once I was here I realised I had no way of finding her. It was hopeless. I just ended up lost again.”

O’Brien shook her head. She wasn’t buying it – not all of it. “You do know her name don’t you? You just don’t want to say it because it’s the last thing your brother said before he died.”

“What makes you think that?”

“It’s engraved on the barrel of your gun,” she answered.

Owyn smiled weakly. “I thought I had you convinced the name didn’t mean anything.”

“One translation of the Latin word Gratia is Grace. That’s her name, isn’t it? Grace Carter. I’m betting the C90 means something too.”

Owyn nodded. “It’s the designation of the ship she got on. It was the last thing I saw as it left. I’ve no idea where that ship ended up or how to find out but yeah. Everything I know about her is marked on an item I carry with me every day. It makes sure I don’t forget.”

“We’ll find them. Both of them. Ambrose and your niece. Trust me,” O’Brien assured. The way she said it gave no impression that she doubted her own words.

“Why wouldn’t I? You’re family.” Owyn smiled back at her again.

Out of the blue the door opened again and Sully came rushing in. Owyn jumped to his feet, concerned by what might be happening. “Sully? What’s happening?”

“I found him,” Sully proclaimed, wheezing as though he’d just run a marathon.

Owyn’s eyes widened. “Are you sure?”

O’Brien now joined him, scrambling to her feet in anticipation.

Sully calmed himself a little so he could speak clearly. “I found Ambrose.”

RETURN

Sully skipped down the stairs and hopped onto the IC. Owyn and O’Brien followed as quickly as they could, but there was no way they were keeping up. He could hardly contain himself.

“Sully, slow down,” Owyn called. “How the hell did you find him?”

Sully was already hurriedly typing in to the console as he began explaining. “Unlike most chip scanners, the one installed into the IC keeps a log of everyone who accesses it. Since every Operative and Head of Intelligence can access it there needed to be a way to check for any unusual or suspicious activity. Theoretically only the Commanding Officer can see the log, so considering the Commanding Officer is dead nobody checked it. I didn’t think to until now.”

“Theoretically? Meaning you can too?”

“Well, yeah. It’s only a chip scanner; it doesn’t take a genius to get past it.”

Owyn rolled his eyes.

“Point is,” Sully continued. “The most recent entry before me was Lieutenant Ambrose.”

Owyn’s eyes lit up in anticipation. “Are you saying Ambrose has been here; on the station?”

“He accessed the IC a few hours ago – about the same time we were fighting off an army of DPD.”

Owyn was almost ready to let out a cheer before O’Brien butted in. “How does this help us? We know he’s been here but surely he isn’t here anymore.”

Sully wasn’t about to be put off by that sort of pessimism. “He might not still be here, but his signature is.” He finished typing then stepped back.

Upon the holographic image of Altaris appeared a flashing blip right in the middle of the Tajari desert.

“This isn’t just your standard chip scanner – the information on the IC is far too important for that,” Sully continued. “As soon as someone enters the system all of the data from their identity chip is copied into an encrypted part of the system. On the surface that sort of thing’s illegal – even the DPD don’t do it too often. That’s partly to prevent identity theft, impersonation, etcetera, but also because inside every chip, buried deep in the code, is hidden tracking software. It’s extremely well secured, obviously, but if you make a copy of it and manage to crack the encryption you can pinpoint the current location of that person anywhere on the globe. Lieutenant Ambrose…” He pointed to the flashing blue light. “…is right there.”

Owyn patted him firmly on the back. On the outside he managed to keep calm, but inside he was practically bouncing with joy. It was a peculiar feeling. He suddenly had something to drive towards. It felt like an achievement; like his goal was in sight. He couldn’t remember ever having felt that way before.

“Are you sure he hasn’t redirected the signal?” O’Brien wanted to be certain before she thought about joining the celebrations. “We need to be sure this isn’t a trap or diversion before we go chasing it.”

“I scanned that sector to be sure,” Sully assured her. “I picked up one life sign. I can’t guarantee it’s him, but I can’t think who else would go out there alone.”

“It’s him. It has to be.” Owyn hadn’t a shred of doubt. “He wants me to find him, and the Tajari is where all of this started. It adds up.”

O’Brien still had more concerns to raise. “What about the storms? How are we going to get anywhere near there? It’s right in the middle of the desert.”

“Sandstorms aren’t the problem.” Sully said. The other two looked at him with intrigue. The last time anyone mentioned flying into the Tajari he’d reached straight for his pitchfork. “According to all the information on our systems – weather maps, satellite images, everything – it’s a total no-fly zone. All of it. Yet we got thirty miles in without a speck of dust within radar distance. We shouldn’t have been able to get near to that base.”

“What are you suggesting?” Owyn questioned.

“I’m not suggesting anything; I’m telling you that there hasn’t been a single sandstorm of significance in that desert for more than a month. As far as I can tell there are no storms whatsoever.”

“How’s that possible?” O’Brien asked. “How haven’t we realised before now? Are you saying it was an intentional deception?”

Sully nodded. “Turns out there’s an electromagnetic field around the entire desert blocking our sensors. From what I can tell there are underground facilities all around its perimeter – possibly installations like the one we attacked – creating a network large enough to hide everything in the Tajari from long range scanners and broadcast a constant feed of false information. I got suspicious while Ambrose had me circling Installation 3 and I managed to pick up a signal broadcasting from beneath the surface. It took me until a few days ago to finally figure out a way to see through it.”

“You’ve been working on this all this time? Why didn’t you tell us?” Owyn asked.

“It wasn’t exactly relevant. Plus, I thought you were involved until today.” He looked down at the ground as though disappointed with himself. “Point is, storms aren’t the threat – unmanned drones are. Beyond the outermost circle the entire desert is swarming with them. They’re likely to be heavily armed and there’s practically no way to get past them undetected.” He pointed again at the flashing tracking signal. “The area around Ambrose’ location isn’t empty either. There are structures there – towers. Hundreds of them. Who knows what the hell they are.”

“Christ. You’ve been busy,” Owyn remarked.

Sully shrugged. “Well what else was I supposed to do while Miller had you guys locked in training 24/7?”

O’Brien had one last argument to take up with Owyn. “You can bet Ambrose planned this too. Why else would he come back here? He planted a trace that only Sully would find. He wants you to go out there.”

Owyn took a deep breath and sighed. “I know.”

“Are you sure you want take the bait?”

“We need answers. Not just me; all of us. We don’t know how much we’ve been kept in the dark about. We’re sitting ducks until we know what’s going on.” Owyn was firm. He wasn’t going to be deterred. Not this time. “Ambrose knows what he’s doing so he’s probably guessed we’ll figure out this is bait. He knows I’ll go anyway because he left no other choice.”

O’Brien nodded. She knew all that already of course. She was just making sure Owyn knew what he was walking in to. “Alright,” she said.

Owyn turned to Sully. “Can you get us there?”

“We’ll have to be quick if we’re going to make it back, but yeah. I found a weak spot in the drone net so all we have to do is dodge a few of robots with rocket launchers and we’ll be there.”

Owyn stood in quiet thought for a moment. It was a risk in more ways than one but it was necessary. He had to keep believing that. “Okay. Prep us a jet. Let’s go get him.”

“Yes sir,” Sully said, his mocking tone now almost fully restored. He then set off running again, disappearing down the corridor on his way to the elevator.

Owyn smiled to himself. This was the most upbeat he’d seen Sully in a long time, and even in the midst of such a desperate situation he himself felt a flicker of happiness more genuine than he’d felt since he’d lost Mitch the first time.

He turned back to O’Brien. “You’re in charge while we’re gone. Keep Anderson in check and you should be fine.”

Without saying a word O’Brien stepped forward, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tightly. After getting over the initial shock he reached his arms around her, prompting her to squeeze a little tighter still. It was a day full of peculiar feelings. The last time he’d felt the warm embrace of another person was, again, the day Mitch deserted. After that he never had another chance with his brother. This finally felt like the release he needed from the guilt of missing that chance. He finally had a family again.

“Try not to die out there, Carter,” O’Brien said before releasing him and heading back up to the stairs towards the Commanding Officer’s quarters.

“Don’t make yourself too at home,” he called up before she could disappear inside.

“I just fancied taking in the view a little longer. It should be even better without you there to get in the way.” She smiled down at him then let the door close behind her.

Even after he was left alone Owyn stood awkwardly grinning to himself for more than a little too long before he returned to reality. Perhaps she was right; he did have a little hope left after all.

Owyn joined Sully in the cockpit of their jet and as soon as he was strapped in they lurched forwards into the launch bay. As the hangar doors opened before them the engines ignited and roared into action. Below, the Tajari desert was basked in golden sunlight. They wouldn’t be going in under the cover of darkness this time.

“We’re good to go,” Sully reported. “You ready?”

“I’m ready. What’s your plan for getting us to Ambrose in one piece?”

“I’ve got a couple of ideas. Unfortunately neither of them are particularly smart. They should be exciting though.”

“I thought you had a month to think this through.”

“If there was an easy way through I’d know about it. Just relax. Imagine you’re on a roller coaster and try not to be too concerned if gravity…switches directions.”

Owyn smiled. “I think it’s you who needs to relax. I know you well enough to realise you only start spouting dumb crap when you’re shitting yourself.”

“I was talking to myself. So if you could keep your mouth shut for a few seconds that’d be nice.”

Owyn started chuckling to himself. “It’s alright, Sully. There are plenty of things about this to justify being scared shitless, but we’ll be fine. Trust me.”

“That wasn’t particularly reassuring, you know?” Sully replied. “You do realise that risking my life twice in one day isn’t something I do too often, right? I’m usually a good few miles away from the gunfire, not taking part in whatever dumb, suicidal shit you’re getting yourself into.”

“What’s life without a new experience every now and then?”

“God fucking dammit,” Sully muttered with his hands over his eyes. “I think you might actually be making it worse so let’s just get it over with.”

As the thrusters fired both he and Owyn took a deep, anxious breath as they burst out into space and down towards the desert.

For now they stayed high in orbit. They had some distance to go to reach the Tajari and Sully wasn’t about to risk dipping into the atmosphere any earlier than necessary. Doing so would risk alerting the DPD to their presence early enough for troops to be sent in pursuit. If they were going to have any chance of reaching Ambrose they had to at least ensure they wouldn’t have to deal with anything more than unmanned drones.

After the initial rapid descent towards the surface they allowed gravity to carry them in orbit towards their target, meaning Sully could reserve fuel should they need it later on.

“I don’t like sending you out there alone,” Sully said, attempting to distract himself from fearing for his own life. “That place. Ambrose. I don’t like it.”

“Ambrose isn’t going to kill me. If he wanted to then he’s gone to a whole lot of trouble to do something he could have done a hell of a lot easier a few years ago. This is all leading up to something. Once I know what that is we’ll go home.”

Sully raised an eyebrow. “Home? I’ve never heard anyone call HQ home before.”

“We haven’t got anywhere else have we? It’s where we’ve spent most of our time here so I’d say it qualifies.”

“I suppose so, it just never felt all that homely.”

“I never asked. How’d you end up at ISO?” Owyn said, switching the subject.

“Since when did you care about anyone’s past?” Sully asked in return.

“I don’t seem to remember you taking much of an interest in mine either,” Owyn pointed out.

“I had an interest but I reckoned it was better not to ask. I figured most people don’t want it bringing up, especially the type of people who get selected for ISO,” Sully explained.

“That’s what I thought until today, but the truth is they aren’t going to forget about it whether you ask or not. There’s no harm in asking. Besides, we could all be dead tomorrow so why not get to know each other a little better?” Owyn said. “So, what’s your story?”

“I grew up as an orphan in Illinois, a few miles west of Chicago. It was a pretty peaceful place, even after the war started, so it wasn’t too hard getting by. I never knew my parents. Never really had any interest in people either – let alone the annoying ass kids in that damn orphanage – so I was interested in computers instead. We had a reasonably powerful generator at the place so I started by playing around with this little machine they gave me. I guess it was kind of a luxury to have anything like that those days. Most people didn’t have access to power at all while I spent all day digging through files and code.

As I got older I started running off more and more often so I could get away from the other kids, and one time I came across this old computer factory. It was pretty much a paradise for me. It had a century’s worth of tech and all the tools and components I could ever dream of. I kept bringing things back and so by the time I got kicked out of the orphanage at 15 I understood most systems at a pretty advanced level. I figured the best thing to do then was to head into the city.

Chicago was in pretty good shape honestly. Rather than rising up the people there banded together and started working on restoring the power as soon as it went off. It took them about a decade but somehow they managed it, at least in the city centre, so when I got there pretty much everything in the city was controlled by a computer system. That’s when I discovered myself as a hacker. I could get pretty much anything I wanted, so I did.”