Orbs (11 page)

“You sure?” Emanuel asked.

“You can help me if you want.”

With a short nod, the biologist paced over to Owen and grabbed his empty tray. “Let's go for a walk, bud.”

Sophie watched them disappear into the kitchen, where Emanuel was promising the boy a cookie.

“We need to talk for a second,” Holly said. She crossed her arms and leaned closer to Sophie. In a whisper she said, “Owen is going to need a lot of attention. He's suffered through some major trauma and I'm going to need to spend some additional time with him.”

“You won't hear any objection from me,” Sophie replied with a smile. “I trust you, Holly.”

“Owen's not the only one that's going to need more attention.”

Sophie's stomach dropped; she knew what was coming next. She heard the sound of Holly's voice as she continued to talk, but Sophie didn't hear a single word. She didn't want to talk to Holly about what they'd been through, didn't want to think about the horror of what had happened outside, of what had happened to Saafi. She tried to push the thoughts away, but they kept coming back to her: everyone outside was more than likely dead. Everyone she had known, everyone she had cared about.

All dissolving in floating orbs.

“Are you listening to me?” Holly finally blurted.

“I'm sorry, but I need to go. I need to meet with Sergeant Overton and the others. I'll find you later, and then we can talk more about this,” Sophie said. “I promise.”

Timothy flattened the holographic image of the Biosphere, pulling out the clumps representing each biome one by one. “As you can see, this place is a fucking bunker. Nothing gets in without setting off the sensors. And I've already told Alexia to let us know if anything out of the ordinary pops up.”

“What's the energy source?” Bouma asked.

“Two mean-ass generators, shielded from EMP attack by some reptilian-looking armor. They're both run off solar energy and only switch to juice when the sun goes down.”

Sergeant Overton hovered over Timothy's shoulder, staring at the holographic images. “How long until the
juice runs out?”

Timothy ran his hand through his curls. “Man, honestly, they could last years. And when the juice is gone, we can still run them off solar energy if we reroute power to only the critical areas of the Biosphere.”

“Good. So this place is secure and self-sufficient. The perfect place to launch a counterattack,” Overton said.

Timothy stood, shaking his head. “Whoa, wait a second—”

Sophie held up her hand. “Don't start. I want to hear what Sergeant Overton has to say. I'm not leaving anything to chance. All options need to be on the table. There's a lot to discuss right now, so you better sit down.”

The programmer bit his tongue, knowing he had used up every ounce of patience his team had left. He flicked the hologram and watched it vanish before heading over to a pair of monitors hanging on the wall.

“Sergeant, with all due respect, I'd like to know how you expect to launch a counterattack with only two other Marines,” Emanuel said. “And you still haven't told us what happened to the rest of your team.”

Overton resisted the urge to snap at the biologist. He had been anticipating the questions, but still hadn't thought of the answers. He wasn't sure how he was going to lead a counterattack, and he certainly didn't know the fate of his team; all he knew was that Marines didn't hide in bunkers. Especially when the enemy was outside killing those he had sworn to protect.

“No idea about my team, but my guess is they ended up inside those blue things like the rest of Colorado Springs. As for a counter-attack” —the sergeant paused and stroked the metal handle of his .45—“I'm still devising a plan, Dr. Rodriguez.”

“That's reassuring,” Timothy said under his breath.

Emanuel ignored him. “There is one other thing that still doesn't make sense to me. How did Owen manage to escape when no one else
was able to?”

“He's a kid. Kids are good at hide and seek,” Timothy said with a nervous chuckle. “No, but seriously, he probably just hid until they—whatever
they
are—left.”

“Actually, I have a theory about that,” Sophie said. “Let's go over the facts first. Timothy, make note of these on the smart board. Sergeant Overton, tell us what you know.”

The Marine massaged his temples, straining to recall everything his team had been through. “Well, we were dropped off at the decommissioned air force base about a week ago. It was just a simple recon mission: retrieve some old data NTC had requested and head back to HQ. But when we entered the underground facility, everything went dark and the doors sealed us in. That's when I lost contact with my squad. We waited for twenty-four hours before I ordered Corporal Bouma to find a power source. After the facility came back online, he was able to boot up an old analog system—a system that hadn't been affected by whatever disturbance Dr. Hoffman was talking about. The messages we heard came from all around the world. Russia, Japan, Europe, and then the East Coast. Every one of them mentioned a mist or fog. They also described weird colors in the sky. Then radio silence. Whatever happened started over Asia and spread worldwide in less than twenty-four hours.” Overton paused and took a sip of coffee. “That's when we saw your Humvee zipping down Highway 115. There's one other thing, though. Something I'm sure you're already aware of.”

Sophie nodded. “Go on, sir.”

“Water. Lakes, rivers, streams. It's all gone. Everything we came across was dry. Like someone sucked it up with the world's largest drinking straw.”

“You saw this with your own eyes?” Sophie asked.

“You didn't?” Overton asked with a raised brow.

“We were so fixated on the orbs and getting the hell out of Colorado Springs we didn't take the time to look at the scenery. Besides, it was dark,” Emanuel said.

“That's ludicrous. All surface water gone? Not a fucking chance. You don't actually believe him, do you guys?” Timothy asked, his eye
twitching again.

Sophie looked down nervously, recalling her dream of the Kennedy Space Center. It was all connected—it had to be. The Organics had come for the planet's water. But how did she know? And how could she have dreamed these things before they actually happened?

She shook her head and let the rational part of her mind take control. “He has no reason to lie, Timothy. And if what he says is true, then I believe it may shed light on a theory I have. A theory on how Owen survived the attacks,” she said, biting her lip.

“I'm all ears, Dr. Winston,” Overton replied.

“Yeah, let's hear some more crazy shit,” Timothy said folding his arms.

Finley leaned over and whispered something to Bouma. Sophie could barely hear him say, “What is this guy's deal? Why is he even here?”

A chirp from the AI console distracted her, and she turned to see Alexia's blue face emerge in the corner of the room.

“My apologies for the interruption, but external scanners have picked up some sort of beacon,” Alexia said.

“Beacon?” Holly said from the doorway, back from her walk with Owen. She wiped her wet hands on her jumpsuit and paced into the room. “Thanks for the help,” she muttered as she passed Emanuel. “Owen's sleeping peacefully,” she added.

Emanuel frowned sheepishly and moved out of her way.

“Yes, Dr. Brown. There is a signal coming from a set of coordinates on the southern outskirts of Colorado Springs.” Alexia continued.

“Could it be NTC?” Sophie blurted. Her voice was louder than she had wanted it to be. Filled with excitement. Perhaps someone was out there, more people who had made it, like the Marines and Owen. Perhaps they weren't alone after all.

“Preliminary scans show that this is some sort of emergency beacon,” Alexia replied.

“Another survivor looking for help?” Holly asked.

“More than likely,” Emanuel said. “This really doesn't add anything useful to what we already know. So there's a beacon—so what?”

“So it
could
be someone that knows more about what's going on than we do,” Overton said.

“Which isn't saying much,” Holly said. “Considering we don't know much at all.”

Emanuel shook his head. “We know enough to know it's a bad idea to go back outside.”

“I'm going to have to agree with him for once,” Timothy quipped, pointing at the biologist.

Sophie held both of her palms in the air. “Hold on, everyone. We're all jumping to conclusions here. We listened to Sergeant Overton. Now let's give Alexia a chance, and then I'll continue with my theory. Deal?”

The team looked back at her, and one by one they nodded their heads.

“Okay then. Alexia, tell us everything you know about this ‘beacon.' ”

“Certainly, Dr. Winston. At 1900 hours our external sensors began picking up a signal from the following coordinates: latitude 38.643555°, longitude -104.930330°. It's coming from Turkey Canyon Road, along the West Fork Turkey Creek. Please note that the creek is no longer there.”

Sophie saw Overton take out a pen and mark the location on his hand discreetly.
Great,
she mused. Now the Marine would have more of a reason to go back outside and look for his team.

“Due to the timing of the activation, I have concluded this was not an automatic signal. Someone turned it on,” Alexia said. “Considering there are no other emergency signals within range of our scanners, it would be safe to deduce that this is a unique event. Someone out there wants to be found.”

“Or it could be a trap. How do we know this signal is coming from a human source?” Emanuel asked with a brow raised.

“The signal is being transmitted over an encrypted NTC channel. I found it while running a scan. It's likely from a human source, Dr. Rodriguez.”

“So it is NTC?” Sophie asked.

“Not necessarily.” Alexia's image faded and her voice transferred
to the com. “My database does not show any NTC facilities at that location.”

Emanuel ran a hand through his hair and took a seat next to Sophie. “What do you think?” he whispered.

She shrugged and decided to hold off further discussion of the signal. “Let's table this for now and talk about what we know.” Pausing, she looked around the room. Each member of her team shared the same puzzled look.

“The radio messages Sergeant Overton and his men heard indicated the sky had not only changed colors but there was some sort of mist. This leads me to believe surface water was being vaporized into the sky. If there was enough of it, from lakes, rivers, and so on, then it could potentially have this effect. But that's not where my theory becomes stretched,” she said, strolling toward a desk in the corner of the room. She reached for a glass of water and held it for the team to see. “Most people don't realize it, but the human body is 70 percent this,” she said, dumping the water on the ground.

“No fucking way,” Timothy said sarcastically. “Like we didn't all learn that in middle school.”

“As I was saying, the human body is mostly water. What if the Organics have some way of scanning for it? And what if they have a way of removing it from our bodies? What if the orbs are human-sized petri dishes with one purpose: to drain the host of every ounce of water in its body?”

Overton crossed his thick arms. “Is that what happened to Saafi?”

“I believe so. When the drone's beam captured him and Emanuel, I saw some drops of liquid rising from their bodies toward the craft. And . . .” she paused and looked at a camera protruding from the wall. “Alexia, do you recall what Saafi's water composition was when he first got back to the Biosphere?”

“Yes, Dr. Winston. He had lost over 15 percent of his water density.”

“Ding, there you have it,” Emanuel said. “Sophie's right. Owen survived because the Organics didn't pick him up with whatever scanning technology they have to detect water sources. Something wasn't calibrated right.”

“That doesn't mean they won't figure out a way to do so,” Sergeant Overton said. “If they have the ability to suck every ounce of water from the surface of the Earth, then they will find a way to get to the hard stuff.”

“Like the pond in Biome 2,” Holly suggested.

“And whoever's at the other end of that beacon,” Overton added.

“Exactly. I'm guessing this attack will come in surges. Get the easy stuff first and then move on to the rest,” Emanuel said.

“All the more reason to check out this signal, like,
now
,” Overton said. “Maybe this person knows how to stop them.”

Sophie glanced over at him. A single vein was bulging on his shiny forehead. She knew he wanted an excuse to go outside and not only find his team, but also lead his ‘offensive'. This was his excuse—this was the ammo he needed.

But could she blame him? If Owen had managed to survive and make it all the way to Cheyenne Mountain, then other people could be out there, too. Was it worth risking her team for? If someone had asked her a few minutes ago, she probably would have answered no. But the game had changed. A beacon, activated on an encrypted NTC channel—the only channel that was transmitting anything in the radius of their scanners—had been discovered. She knew it didn't necessarily mean salvation, but it could mean answers. And that was worth the risk.

“I think you're right,” Sophie said, pausing for everyone's attention.

“Oh no, please tell me you aren't going where I think you're going with this!” Timothy interrupted.

“If Owen survived, that means other people did, too,” Sophie said.

“She's right. There might be other people out there. Other people that need our help,” Overton said. He could feel the adrenaline racing through his veins.