Broken Mirror: Apophis 2029 (32 page)

  "And how does he plan on convincing her to do that?" Thorn asked suspiciously, knowing what kind of a stubborn fruitcake Betty could be at times.
"He is going to use that fragment we delivered as some sort of 'primary core sample' or some such.  Apparently, there had been a special room built to secure the meteor fragment, and introducing it into the system chamber will trigger a redundant program to reboot the development lab automations to start utilizing new test specimens from that fragment somehow," I repeating as best I could what Cypher had related to me earlier.

  The transition to the core specimen from that fragment would release the power lock, and allow him to reroute the energy into the coils of the ship.  Cypher would be employing us to do the dirty work, of course; but the offer to walk away with as much supplies as we could carry and a ride off this base was good enough for most of us.  Then there was the question of who among us might want to go to the space station.

  As much as I desired for time alone with him, it was news that simply could not wait.  Thorn relayed the plan to Serena and the other girls in the break room who were picking through the last of the scraps.  It was a dicey plan, considering how large and dark that launch bay was.  It appeared like a giant maze when we had viewed it from the conveyor belt when we had first arrived.  None of us knew crap about space ships or energy coils, so we were leaving those details to Cypher to work out for us.

  A new robotic servant, neither of us had seen before, rolled in and began cleaning up the table as we jumped out of the way, wary of how deadly they could be.  This time it stopped in front of me and a panel popped up on its front, presenting a strange wristband with an elongated bar of black glass attached to it.  With hesitation, I finally grabbed it; whereupon the panel promptly snapped shut and the robot resumed its duties cleaning up our dinner mess.

  The rest of the crew looked at me peculiarly with an air of anticipation, which persuaded me to strap the device on.  After a moment, a glitter of pixels lit up on the black panel and began to stack upon one anther as little lights around the edge of the glass tapered towards them.  A holographic screen materialized on my wrist with Cypher's dull face staring back at me.  It soon switched to a red screen showing a layout of the direct path to the power coupling located in the launch bay.

  "I see you got my gift, good," Cypher stated before the display switched, "we will use this device for communication during your jaunt downstairs, so I can help guide you.  In the meantime, get some rest and I suggest you keep this little toy hidden from Beatrice." At that, the display blinked out and we settled down for the night.  Thankfully, the break room lights dimmed as we laid down to rest, and I wrestled with the strangest dreams that night.

  I woke up next to Thorn on the floor in the foyer, which was certainly not the place I had fallen asleep.  It was already late morning and he began to stir the moment I sat up.  Quite dazed about why we were lying next to the window.

  "How did I get out here?" I yawned in confusion, while glancing out the west facing window to the grey clouds above. 

  "You were having nightmares and talking in your sleep last night," Thorn confessed as he petted my hair, and then plopped back down into the blanket crumpled up on the hard floor, "so I helped you out here because you were waking the others."

  I felt a little embarrassed about that, but I certainly didn't remember getting up and coming out here.  It was all a blur.  I had a lingering feeling of something unpleasant but also a strange sense of relief.  I blamed it on the stress; this day was starting off on an unusual note. 

  A chime came over the loudspeakers throughout the entire floor followed by Cypher addressing us that breakfast would be served shortly and that we should all assemble in the break room.  Large stainless steel bowls with extra gallons of water and a few towels were carted in by another automaton; allowing us to bathe to some extent.  I made a mental note to try to follow one of those robots sometime to find out where they were coming from, since Tasha had reported that all the other doors she found were locked tight.  Any attempt to bypass one would likely be thwarted, as Cypher was likely watching every move we made.

  Another serving of high quality rations were presented for us to gorge ourselves; though notably, there was no alcohol provided this time.  Thorn revealed that he had already spoken with the rest of our companions the previous evening while letting me sleep out by the entryway.  Curiously enough, Betty didn't join us out in the break room for our morning meal.  It was interesting to discover that both Serena and the child were eager to go to the Space Station when we completed our mission.  Tasha and her friends were still undecided, but were leaning toward staying and were thinking about being dropped off somewhere by the coast.

  Thorn did not immediately answer when I asked him about his plans.  I didn't know why he was keeping it a mystery, and felt a little dismissed by his avoidance to give me a clear answer.  For some reason I began to feel slightly guilty because I may have come across a little too anxious to follow his decision.  I rolled up my sleeve to reveal the hologram wrist radio when it began to make a soft ticking sound.  Cypher addressed the group on the holo-screen when it popped up.

  "I've made preparations for the scheduled exercise this morning in the launch bay," be began without pause, "are you all ready to begin?"

  "We haven't even made our final decisions yet about our plans afterward," Thorn responded, a little annoyed that Cypher was presuming we were all going to cooperate with his plan.

  "I overheard your discussions last night, and believe I can provide each of you the final destinations you were searching for.  I assure you there is plenty of room on the Mirage Station for anyone else, including Serena and the child ...whose name I still didn't quite get?" Cypher paused in question.

  "Neither did we," Thorn responded in kind, but Cypher was lost on the personal joke. 

"I had a stack of rations and other useful odds and ends of supplies delivered to the cargo hold in the shuttle this morning," our host mentioned, referring to the prototype ship, "the elevator will be opened at the end of the hour to take you down, please take the time to prepare yourself for the mission ahead" Cypher instructed, about to sign off just before I caught him with a question.

  "So, what's the plan with Beatrice, anyhow; what are we supposed to tell her?" I inquired.

"She slept in her Lab last night, and I informed her that I would release the meteor sample to her care so she may continue her research here at this base, where she would be safe and all of her needs provided for," he added, "and in turn, she agreed to give me her full cooperation.  She will join you at the elevator at the end of the hour," he finished, and signed off.

  Cypher left us wondering if that was merely some sort of ruse on his part; since he was effectively disconnecting her lab from the power supply; but it was likely just a temporary matter until the ship launched.  Whatever his ploy, this didn't sound like the greatest of ideas.  At least the small wrist radio stayed on, displaying a rough digital map of the route we were to follow to get to the power conduit we needed to transfer.

  When we finally fully assembled when the hour passed and we made our way to the elevator to find the meteor sample sitting in the center of the floor inside.  Moments later, Beatrice arrived, flashing an arrogant smile that was quite out of character considering her attitude from the night before.  Cypher came over the intercom to ready us for what would lie ahead.  With decisive grace, he colored in explanations for the few key questions we had.

  There was a floor above the mainframe that was our first stop, which was our first destination were we were to escort Betty and the asteroid fragment.  Once there, she was to install the sample into the bio matrix to initiate new testing of the purified strain.  The automations would take over from there.  He refrained from having a robotic unit deliver the volatile sample to the location itself, as hordes of weepers were known to attack the drones whenever they were patrolling the lower levels.  Though, it would be safer, in this case it wasn't worth the risk of losing the meteor sample.

  Leaving her there, the rest of us were to make our way to the launch chamber to reset the power coil on the power supply.  We had been previously instructed to keep quiet and follow Cypher's lead about what he meant by 'resetting' the coupling.  Regardless, Beatrice didn't make a remark about it in question to our relief.  With that, we load checked our weapons again as the elevator began its long decent.

  Serena felt bad about having to stay behind to watch the boy, even though Cypher had offered to watch over him and assured the child would be safe.  Still, her wound had not yet fully healed and she didn't want to leave the child alone.  Our host had promised that the elevator would be returned to take them both to the bay level once we had cleared the way.  Cypher had related to us earlier that it would be best if Beatrice was not informed that there was actually a ship located on the pad, lest she might use it in an attempt to escape.

  Dropping to the lower levels, we came to a halt at a secured floor.  Betty had to wave her hand by panel so her clearance could be read by the scanner.  The doors slid open and the six of us flooded into the short corridor.  Beyond its edge, there extended a metal walkway from the main structure out into the exposed wall of the massive launch chamber.  We looked down from the high floor at the dark jumbled maze we were about to enter in the moments to follow.

  At the far end of the catwalk rested a thick ominous door of brushed steel.  It appeared far more secure than any others we had seen on the site thus far.  With a death-like grip on the handle of the capsule, Betty lugged the core sample container over to the portal; now it was her show.  She placed her hand on a template which scanned the data on her implant chip.

  With protest from hidden hydraulics, the door parted from its interlocking sections and folded away.  The interior revealed a surprisingly small chamber; lit from floor to ceiling.  A slot, slightly larger than the size of the containment sample box, sat embedded on the far side.  Two blinking screens on either side of the slot still displayed that the failsafe protocol had been initiated all those years ago.

  Betty approached the digital keyboard and punched in a code, whereupon the shield door to the slot slid open with a hiss.  With a moment of hesitation, she admired the stone in the reflecting light, and then finally placed it within the niche.  Back at the control panel, she engaged the device that locked the casing in place and sprayed it with a sterilizing gas to sanitize the outer container.  Just as quickly, a mechanical laser began to cut a hole in the protective glass of the box, spraying red sparks as it melted away the containment shield.

  With a countdown ticking, a clock replaced the lit the screen as a new bar displayed acceptance of the asteroid fragment.  It gave us mere a twelve-minute window before the ejection of the rock sample from its casing and would deposited into the systems testing rig.  That wasn't much time considering where we were heading.  We had not bargained for a limited timeframe to get this done.

  "Twelve minutes?"  Ava exclaimed in dismay, "why didn't you tell us that was all the time we had to get down there?" she demanded towards the old woman, while I kept my communicator with Cypher hidden under up my sleeve.

  "I didn't know what it was set for or what the system would do," she spat back in defense as the timer ticked down to the system reboot, "Cypher said you need to get down to the coupling to make sure we don't lose power by resetting it during the transition," she advised.  This we already knew, but our actual mission was to disengage the power supply completely and redirect it to the fuel coils of the shuttle.

  "What are you going to do while we are down there?" Tasha asked Beatrice, who stood monitoring the screen while a faint growl of countless weepers echoed up from below from the noise of the countdown blaring over the speakers in the bay.

  "I will be fine," she granted, "that door will close behind me, and nothing can get in here without security access.  Just make sure to collect me on your way back up top," Beatrice scolded with her finger. 

  Another glance at the timer and we had time to press as the silent clock ticked relentlessly lower.  We rushed back to the open elevator as the door to the chamber folded shut once again, sealing the old woman within.  Once inside the lift, I felt a tick clicking on my wrist and rolled up my sleeve to expose the communicator device.  Now uncovered, the hologram screen sprung to life. 

  "My data screens show that the introduction of the specimen sample has been confirmed," Cypher concurred, "and it appears you now have a limited span to reach the conduit in time to transfer the connection."

  "Yeah, it sure would've helped if you had fucking told us about that!"  Ava shouted over my shoulder towards the small screen. 

  "As I've mentioned before, that system is protected by a firewall; there was no way of telling how long it would take the infusion cycle to commence," he admitted, "that said, I would suggest a measure of haste and less arguing at this point," he snapped back at her.

  "Why do we need to do this right at the time of the reboot, why not just manually detach and reconnect the power cable into the ship and be done with it?" Kel inquired, as we were not clear on the specific details.  It was a question both Felix or Haiti could have answered, but they were no longer with us.