The Void

CHAPTER 47

Alex held the photograph of the Russian woman as he watched the horrifying thing that was once a man vanish into the night-thick gloom. He looked down at her one last time, and then tucked both the picture and image chip into a pouch at his waist and turned to the sheer wall.

He began to sprint, launching himself up the near-vertical incline to begin the clamber hundreds of feet to the rim. About half way up, he felt the presence of something coming at him and he clung to the rock face as it shot past. He swung his head, however it had already disappeared into the fog.

But he didn’t need to see it to sense it had been a human being; something was happening topside. And someone was now dead. He threw himself up to the next handhold, climbing so fast now he was almost running up the sheer rock face.

In another few minutes, he came up over the edge and saw his three remaining HAWCs, Sophia, and Russell Burrows. As he suspected, he was one short. Their faces were grim.

“Why?”

Sophia turned her glowing eyes on him. “There was a breach in Ms. O’Sullivan’s suit — she was informed she was infected. She chose to remove herself.”

Franks pointed. “Yeah, coz this metal bitch was going to kill her anyway.”

“Incorrect.” Sophia's eyes remained on Alex. “Contamination protection protocols demand no infected personnel be evacuated. I only informed Ms. O’Sullivan that she was to remain behind.”

Alex exhaled and turned to look out over the crater. “How long?”

Sophia’s tiny glowing red eyes never wavered. “Impact and detonation in four minutes, two seconds, and counting. Uninfected personnel need to be approximately eighty feet over the rim to guarantee safe shielding from initial heat blast.” She opened the small panel on her chest, showing the glowing red rector. “You need to be scanned and decontaminated, Captain Hunter. There are no exceptions.”

Casey pointed. “And what happens if the boss is infected, will you…”

“Shut it, Franks. It’s just a robot doing what it’s programmed to do.” Alex turned to Sophia. “Proceed with immediate decon, now.”

Sophia reignited the wall of flame, and Alex didn’t hesitate to step into it. He felt the searing heat, opened his arms wide and angled his head back. He stayed there and let the fire scald him and blister him, cleanse him, and sear away the frustration and anger rising within him.

Everyone dies, everything changes.

He tried to take his mind to Aimee and Joshua, but something overrode his thoughts.

“I’m not just a robot,” the female voice whispered.

From within the flames, Alex turned to stare at the twin lights glowing from Sophia’s face. Her head was tilted, almost questioning. Alex didn’t step free, but Sophia closed the fire down herself. “Decontamination successful. Impact in T-minus fifty-eight seconds and counting.”

Smoke rose from his seared body. He ignored the pain and the rawness, and instead set the timer on his wrist and it began to countdown.

Fifty-seven, fifty-six, fifty-five…

Alex turned, yelling. “Get to the ropes.” He started to run to the outer cliff edge, where their climbing lines were still tied off.

Forty-five, forty-four, forty-three…

Sam was first and grabbed Russell. “Don’t look down, focus on the rope — go!”

Monroe and Casey took the next ropes, literally picking them up and leaping.

Thirty-eight, thirty-seven, thirty-six…

“Go, Sam.” Alex waited until Sam went over the edge, and then grasped the last line.

Who?

Alex turned.

Twenty-five, twenty-four, twenty-three…

The word had been in his head. Alex looked up and Sophia stood staring at him.

“What?”

Eighteen, seventeen, sixteen…

“No time for this.” Alex moved to the edge.

Who is Aimee?

Alex froze, staring back at the silver figure. The two small red dots seemed to sear into his mind, seeing all. Was this Grey’s programming? Or was Sophia pulling that out herself? And why?

He raised a hand, pointing a finger at her. “Back off.” He shut her out.

Thirteen, twelve, eleven…

Alex went over the edge.

The HAWCs landed close to the rock face on the ledge and immediately jammed themselves in under a small overhang of solid granite. Sophia scaled down by herself and stood in close to them, but facing out at the distant horizon.

Six, five, four…

“Heavy weather coming,” Alex yelled.

“Bomber is inbound,” said Sophia. “Launch has been initiated.”

Alex expected the bomb would be some sort of big thermobaric device, possibly even a MOAB. It would raise temperatures to 4,500 degrees, igniting the mix of gases in the basin. Nothing inside, or close by, could possibly survive.

Alex watched the sky. The bomb would have its own laser-guidance system and propulsion, and no matter what the weather conditions, wouldn’t miss its target by an inch. He just hoped that they were far enough away, and the crater basin walls would contain the heat within the two-mile mountaintop cusp, scour everything down to the bare rock, and then vent the remaining heat and energy straight upwards.

Anything inside and not made of solid granite would be vaporized. Good. He looked up, hearing the faint scream of the incoming missile.

“Deploy shields,” he yelled.

The four HAWCs energized the shields on their forearms and held them above the group, interlocking them, and then hunkered down at the rock face.

Alex continued to stare out through the gaps, and saw Sophia still standing tall. But now she had turned to watch him.

He saw the dot appear in the sky — it was here.

“Brace!”

The bomb struck and then detonated with the sound of a thousand thunder strikes. The entire mountain shook like an old tree in a storm. Boulders rained down, thudding onto the defensive shell they’d created with their shields, and one, around a couple of feet wide, flew at Sophia. The android swung an arm and swiped it away like it was nothing more than an annoying bug.

Unbelievably, through the hundreds of feet of solid rock, Alex felt the stone heating up, and looking upwards, he saw a plume of molten rock shooting into the air like a volcano erupting. The night sky turned to a white-hot daylight.

The weird buzzing that had been in his head since they arrived abruptly stopped.

It’s over. He knew they’d only won today because of the dumb luck of where the Orlando had come down. Anywhere else and containment would have been impossible.

Alex dropped his gaze. Good men and women died, as they always do, so the world could remain oblivious to just how close it came again to annihilation.

He closed his eyes, and let his breath out slowly as the light faded back to darkness. A successful mission is the one where you got to go home, he reminded himself. He smiled as an image of Aimee and Joshua formed in his mind. Home to you soon.