The Extinction Switch: Book three of the Kato's War series (14 page)

After he released Akio, he said to Zara: “How are you going to land at Lyon? Do the anti-government forces have control of the spaceport?”

“No. But, let’s try and find out the latest news before we set off,” Zara said. They headed back into their cabin. They had one small tote bag each. Zara turned on the wall display with her neural implants.

“In the thirteen days since humanity was thrown into grave chaos, one million people have now been evicted from Mars,” the news anchor said. “Meanwhile, US and allied troops have been traveling
to
Mars in order to root out and arrest those calling themselves the Martian Defense Force, before the movement gathers more followers. That rebel force has occupied the mines around the city of Lowland, as well as underground parts of Marineris. This could make them very difficult to root out…”

Zara sighed. “We
have
to get her off Earth. The conflict on Mars doesn’t look like it’s going to end quickly.”

“If it doesn’t, all else will be for naught,” Akio said. “Seung Yi’s not going to care
why
Mars wasn’t completely evacuated. If what you’ve told me about him—as someone who’s encountered him before—is even half-true, he’ll throw the Extinction Switch without a second thought.”

Zara’s jaw was set. She turned from the display to face Akio. “If Kassie’s got to face it, then I will too. I don’t really see how I could continue without her.”

Akio nodded. “Me too. Now, let’s get to the transfer shuttle.”

They made their way up to the center of the centrifuge section of
Revenant.
They were, of course, now in zero gravity. Akio and Zara glided through a short docking tunnel into the small craft. There were four such shuttles parked in the airlock. They were cylindrical and not much larger than a motor coach. They were intended only to transfer people to and from other points near the
Revenant,
so there was no need for large engines and fuel tanks. Having stowed their bags and strapped themselves in, Zara commanded the craft to make the eighty-kilometer trip to the ETI. The shuttle’s internal hatch clunked shut and sealed itself. The ingress tunnel retracted. A large iris door opened, exposing the small docking port to the vacuum of space. The craft glided out. Once it was well clear of the
Revenant
, its engines began a continuous burn for half a minute to lower their orbit. Forty minutes later, they would intercept the massive orbital station, for the last leg of their journey to Earth.

----

The shuttle craft was through the plasma-burning, streak-across-the-sky phase of reentry, and was gliding through the stratosphere. The cockpit door was fastened open, so that Zara and Akio, seated in the front row, could hear what was going on.

“Lyon space traffic control, we want to confirm approach and landing on ten-A, at fourteen-seventeen hours,” the pilot said.

Silence. Then, a voice spoke up. “Lyon Air and Space Port is now a military airbase of the New People’s Republic of France. No unauthorized traffic is permitted.”

“
What
? We already cleared to land here before departing the ETI.”

“We repeat, no landing is permitted. Force will be used if you attempt to land.”

Zara closed her eyes. “Oh, crap. Now what?”

“I need further instructions, Mrs. Nishimura,” came a voice from the cockpit. “We’ll be in the environs of Lyon in eighteen minutes.”

“Think, dammit,” Zara said to herself, rubbing her forehead. She turned to Akio. “Any bright ideas?”

“Land somewhere else?”

“Not going to work. Like the news said, the highways are shut down,” Zara said. “We’d be far from Lyon, and there’s no ground transportation to get there.”

“Wish we’d have taken a VTOL shuttle,” Akio said. “No need for a runway.” Then his eyes grew wide. “You know what? The highways! They’re probably empty! Let’s land on a road!”

Zara stared at him, blinking, for several seconds. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

She sighed. “That’s both the best and worst idea you’ve ever had.” She turned to face the cockpit door, and relayed the plan to the stunned crew.

“But… it’s too narrow!” the pilot said. “If the wing clips a sign or a light pole, we’ll be dead! Same if there are vehicles on the road!”

“As the owner of this craft, I am ordering you to land on the highway outside the city. If it’s not possible, you can do a go-round and try somewhere else. But, we
have
to get to Lyon, and no surface or air transport is available.” There was silence, but for the sound of rushing air outside. This went on for more than five minutes, bar the sound of chatter in hushed tones between the captain and copilot. The shuttle then began to bank steeply to the right, as it came in lower. This was followed by an equally sharp left turn.

Zara pointed out of the left window. “There it is!” The wide cylinder that was Lyon could be seen in the distance.

“We’re going to attempt the highway landing,” the pilot said. Meanwhile, buildings and roads grew larger below. Two more minutes went by, as the pilots reviewed checklists.

“Very good, Fabio,” Akio said. “Keep us posted.”

“Coming in hot!” Fabio said. “Brace position!” Zara and Akio both tucked their heads between their knees. Fields and highway exits flashed past. The road itself was not visible from the passenger cabin. They came in lower little by little. Zara looked at Akio, on her right. She squeezed his hand. The tops of light poles were visible and then… bump! The rumbling of wheels on asphalt could be heard. The craft decelerated. Then, from the cockpit: “Debris on the road! We can’t avoid it! The left wheel’s going to hit it! Brace! Brace! Brace!”

“Oh crap!” Akio said. The rush of air from outside continued, as they gradually slowed.

“Impact in five seconds!” Fabio said. Zara closed her eyes and held her breath. She gripped Akio’s hand hard. Boom! The cabin tipped violently to the right, and then sank slowly back down to level. “The tire’s burst! We’ll skid off the road!” No sooner had Fabio uttered the words than the craft was filled with a terrible screeching and rending of metal. The windows went dark. The shuttle spun to the left, off the road, and bounced violently on its belly as both undercarriage struts were torn off. Zara and Akio were showered with smashed fiberglass panels, lights, and locker doors from above, as the still-speeding shuttle carved a deep gash in a field. The hull bucked and twisted. They were thrown around like rag dolls, though still restrained by their seat belts.

Finally, the grinding and tearing stopped. An eerie silence and calm descended on the inside of the wrecked craft. Zara lifted her head up slowly from between her knees, and surveyed the devastation. “We’re still alive!” Akio said, as he slowly began to look up. One more interior panel at the back of the cabin broke loose and crashed to the floor. Both passengers jumped.

“Fabio! Are you okay?” Zara shouted. She unfastened her seatbelt, and stumbled over wreckage towards the cockpit. The floor sloped forward, so she had to steady herself on the walls. Akio followed.

“Ugh… I think I’m okay”, Fabio said. He and the copilot were both covered in soil and small rocks. “A window blew in. Look: the nose is halfway into the ground. Are you okay, Pete?”

“Yeah… I’m good. Even though it was my window that gave in.”

“I think it’s safe to say we were very lucky,” Fabio said. “I’m surprised we’re all gonna walk away from this.”

Zara turned and looked at Akio, with anxiety written all over her face. She breathed deeply, and turned back to Fabio. “Look. We’re leaving. We came to go into Lyon and look for our daughter. I wish I knew what to tell you guys to do. I’m not sure where you’ll go, or if there’s even a functioning government anymore that would want to investigate the crash.”

Fabio gulped, and nodded. “Okay. We’ll look after ourselves, ma’am. Go and find her.”

“Thanks, Fabio,” Zara said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Thanks for everything. Oh, how do we get out?”

“Open the rear door and activate the emergency chute. As per the
safety drills.
” He chuckled.

----

Akio and Zara stood halfway between the smashed craft and the eight-lane highway, a hundred meters away. It cut a straight path east, into the city. There was no vehicular traffic, but a stream of disheveled refugees headed outbound on foot. Akio surveyed the vast, round exterior of Lyon, which loomed large in front of them. “Wow…” he said. “Just look at it. It’s a work of art. Those arches must be huge. Each one has a road coming out of it. How far do you think it is?”

Zara shrugged. “Maybe four or five kilometers. We can walk it pretty easily. Let’s go.”

“I wonder what we’ll find when we get there,” Akio said, as they stumbled across the uneven field, towards the road.

“Not sure, but even just knowing we’re within a few kilometers of her makes me feel good.”

“I know what you mean. Even if we did half-kill ourselves and our crew getting here. I’ll try calling her again, on the off chance.”

“Go ahead.”

“Call Kassandra.”

“Network unavailable,” Akio heard.

“Send her a message when it’s back up. Kassie, Mom and I are here in Lyon. We’re looking for you. Please call us when you get this.” Akio and Zara reached the edge of the wide road, and began the trek into Lyon. “Whoa!” Akio said, looking up. “Did you see that?”

Zara squinted. “No. What was it?”

“There are more of them! Look!” He pointed to a stream of half a dozen almost-invisible oval pods, flying directly towards the city, 200 meters up. “Must be vee-tols, with a chameleon-type skin for camouflage.”

“Over there!” Zara pointed. A few hundred meters to their left, a line of arrow-shaped black craft was also streaking towards Lyon, much faster than the pods, heading towards another arch.

Akio’s eyes followed the speeding craft. “Drones. Or missiles.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Dissent

“Zu, take a walk with me,” Zan Tang said. The two men had been sitting in a restaurant area, reserved for Seung Yi’s twelve High Councilors, in the very center of Vesta. Full centrifugal gravity was provided. The walls were a pattern of burnt orange and brown, with tastefully recessed lighting. They walked through the largely empty space. “In fact, let’s leave the Council area,” Tang said. The two men took an elevator towards the center of the wheel that held the Council’s chambers. The gravity declined as they rose, until they were weightless. Tang led the way out, and right into a long corridor.

“We are the only two who experienced the old Entara, before the explosion,” Tang said, as they pulled themselves along using a handrail. “What is your perspective on life then compared to now?”

“Honestly, it was much better, then” Tai Zu said. “It was far more open, as the upper castes had constant contact with the rest of humanity via trade and political assignments. Although"—Zu looked downcast—“we were forbidden to teach or speak about life on other planets to anyone else. So, I suppose life wasn’t open for everyone." Tang nodded. “To the lower castes, day-to-day life is probably no different. Bare rock walls, work, and breeding,” Zu said, “But we’re now making feverish preparations to move to Mars. It’ll be like moving from a mud hut into a penthouse.”

Tang stopped pulling himself along, and grabbed Zu’s arm. Looking him in the eye, he said: “I’m going to level with you, Zu. About all I do any more is replay Earth in my simulator. Open, liquid seas. Plains full of animals, of fantastic kinds, roaming free. Mighty, open societies. They don’t agree on many things. But they live fantastic lives; better than even the ruling classes on Entara.”

“It’ll only be six more months, and we’ll have an entire new planet,” Zu said. “Entara will be able to expand without limits. The Master will have regained his rightful place in humanity. And we will have the best residences available, probably in either Old or New Marineris.”

Tang nodded. “Yes. We have spent a hundred and five years working towards this goal. However, in that time, we’ve been suffocated. Not only because we’re completely sealed off from the rest of humanity, but also because the Master’s control is complete. The High Council is that in name only now: we have no power.”

“Yes,” Zu said. “I wonder how everybody will cope when suddenly given the run of a whole planet. Only three Entarans, us two and the Master, know anything other than a life of labor inside barren stone walls. Some of them may go crazy when presented with choices and large, open spaces.”

“Let’s keep moving,” Tang said. “We mustn’t be overheard. There’s a power distribution room about a hundred meters further.” Once the steel door clanged shut behind them, the men were in complete darkness. The humming machines required no lights.

“What is it?” Zu said.

“I’m about to say something you must never, ever tell anybody,” Tang said, “or I’m a dead man.”

“Okay, so why are you saying it?”

“I just feel like it’s the right time to disclose it to somebody, to unburden my soul.”

“Well, your secret’s safe with me,” Zu said.

Tang began. “Stockpiling the materials to build a super weapon was not the main reason my great, great, great, great grandfather founded the Advanced Antimatter Facility. Although, that was the reason he gave the then High Council.”