Point Apocalypse (29 page)

He
put his hands behind his back and kept clenching and unclenching one strong fist as he stared at the sliding glass door in front of him. It lead into the airlock and further into the "clean" room. Only this one was not meant for the cyber staff but for Mira's studies. There, she worked with viruses - the viruses that had started the whole thing and prompted Blank to accuse me of treachery.

Mira's stare shifted to my side.
To stand there and not reach out to her was more than I could bear. I so wanted to hug her and run my fingers through her fair hair burying my face in it.

General
, I tuned into the open channel and stood to attention.

What did you tell them, Mark?
father asked calmly without moving.

Everything.

Mira could hear us speak. She looked at me, her eyes moist. The general turned around, paused and said,
Why?

I couldn't hold it in any longer. I tried to resist the impulse as I really didn't want to explain anything to him. But my emotions got the better of me.
I blurted out everything I'd bottled up since I'd made the decision to change sides. I didn't want millions of innocent victims on Earth to die as the hostages to a handful of ambitious conspirators.

You tricked me! You extracted the virus without telling
me what it was for. I risked my life in vain back there at the swamps thinking that I was helping people to get the vaccine. And you... You understood everything beforehand. You were aware that I wouldn't go along if I knew your real plans. You taught me how to defend my country and its people and how to kill its enemies, but you yourself decided to wipe out all life on our planet. What do you say to that?

The
general remained silent. He stood there with his head tipped forward, his hands still clenched behind his back.

I
lost it,
Are you still hoping to build a new society here on Pangea? Those flexible decentralized systems of yours without irreplaceable links?
I shook my head.
I'm afraid you can't. People don't change. And you-

I
stopped and looked at Mira's tearful face. Blank came into the room. The general nodded. In one smooth practiced motion the captain drew his handgun from its holster and placed it against the girl's temple.

I see.
Now they would command me to power up the portal. Father wanted to sever all connections with Earth for one simple reason: the deadly assault virus that Mira had extracted in vitro could easily annihilate humanity which was the general's main goal. Once the virus had wiped out all human and animal life forms, it would gradually lose its potency and would allow new settlers to return to the planet. But if the portal wasn't closed, the virus could work its way back to Pangea through new prisoners or soldiers, and then...

If you hurt her
, I looked at the captain but my words were addressed to my father,
you'll never go back home.

Mira, tell him,
the general said.

She ran her hands across h
er cheeks wiping away the tears and raised her blotchy face to me. She stared at me without saying a word.

Mark
...
her lips trembled. She glanced around in desperation.
Mark, they've taken our daughter.

I felt as if
somebody had hit me with a sledge hammer. I hadn't - I couldn't have - misunderstood her because the mental channels transmit every word loud and clear. Vocal chords don't participate in the exchange and the ear doesn't need to detect any oscillation so no spoken phrase depends on the wave length.

I've got
a daughter?
I remembered the crudely made plastic toys in the room next door. The little patterned plates, the baby blanket...

Yes
, you do.

Tears
flowed down her face. She pressed her hand to her mouth to suppress her sobbing. Blank looked at me grimacing. He always enjoyed humiliating others. But he derived even more pleasure from cornering his adversary and enjoying his own superiority as he watched them suffer.

We're together again,
my father said to me.
We're in it till the end.

Smothering the desire to
throttle Blank, I closed my eyes. How I wished that the general hadn't called off the two cyber troopers by the river. It would have been better that they had killed us there and then without having recognized me. The only reason they had left their posts was in order to give us a decent reception. When they'd reported to my father, he hedged his bets and sent an armored personnel carrier and a mobile escort group in three combat vehicles. He was afraid that my motley crew of friends could have a high combat potential and, not knowing our possibilities, wanted to take me alive.

I've got to see my daughter.

Later,
the general said.
When the job's finished.

No
,
I insisted.
Give the girl back to Mira. This way I'll be certain that they'll be all right. Then we'll carry on.

Blank grinned wryly staring into my eyes, his gun still at Mira's temple.

I'll deal with you later,
I said suppressing my anger.
After I've solved the main problem.

The smile
disappeared from his face, replaced by a bitingly cold glare. I wanted to put him off balance. Blank flicked the safety catch off.

As you were, Captain!
the general ordered.
I'm in command here, and I decide when and who dies. Put your gun away.

Unwillingly
, Blank obeyed.

Leave
us,
father added.

Mira
didn't move. The captain grabbed her elbow but she pulled her arm free and thrust her chin in the air as she rose and stepped toward me.
I'm sorry.

She touched my cheek and walked out of the lab.

General,
Blank gave him a cursory nod and left.

We looked through each other without seeing anything. The general was hiding his hands behind his back.
I stood to attention opposite him, mechanically following the regs.

Stand easy
, Master Specialist
, father stepped toward the desk and leaned against it knuckles down.
Let's put rank aside and speak as equals.

He blocked his mental channel and straddled Mira's chair folding his arms on its back.

I waited patiently trying to block out emotions. I needed to know how the general was going to begin because this would affect our later actions. Firstly, I wanted to know how he'd send the virus back to Earth. He had to have a mole among the Feds in the Fort - he must have, otherwise how could you explain that they'd started preparing their mission a week before my arrival on Pangea? The general had most likely used his contact to plant disinformation about his supposed new actions against Earth's security. He then started to demonstrate his strength causing the FSA to start worrying. That's why they'd acted in haste. They'd chemically modified my identity, given me Wong for partner and sent me on a mission to find Neumann and stop the general.

He rested his elbows on the back of the chair and
interlaced his fingers, looking up at me. Probably, second-guessing me too. The longer we were playing this silent waiting game, the further each of us was advancing in his own calculations conceiving a new plan of action.

So - secondly, the general's and
the FSA's objectives overlapped at least on one point. They both wanted me to use the portal machine to disconnect the Continent from the Earth and prevent the Neumann-prophesied apocalypse. The difference was that the general wanted to return to Earth and use the human-free planet as a clean slate to build a new society. The FSA, on the contrary, wanted to isolate Pangea and forget about it for the sake of Earth's security: after all, the unstable wormway and the Forecomers' obscure technologies had instilled terror in many, including governments. No one could foresee the consequences of having Pangea stuck in our back yard and few were eager to maintain relations with the Continent at this cost.

What did it leave us with? Once Pangea was lost, Earth
would lose biocyne, too. But the rich and powerful still wanted to live long so they were now stocking up on biocyne sending out-of-date technology and written-off military equipment to the Continent in exchange for new shipments of carula. Deportees had no idea of its real value and kept sending it by ferry to the Fort, content with what little they received for it.

I glanced at the glass
airlock door. Crossing the room, I looked into the lab and turned back to my father. He raised his brow watching me. A weak smile danced on his face.

"You've worked it out, haven't you?"
he said. "Yes, that's the capsule. The one with the virus inside. It's been here for almost two years now waiting to be put on the boat and shipped to the Fort."

I
peered through the glass. A fat orange tub sat there, looking very much like that of a tactical nuke, only the markings on its sides were different. Orange and yellow, they warned of chemical and nuclear contamination.

How fucking
typical. Varlamov didn't even have to attack the base in order to send the virus back to Earth. The deportees themselves would do his dirty work. The shipment inspections were lax so no one would pay much attention to the virus-containing capsule buried within the seaweed. At the appointed hour, thermite charges would melt the aluminum shell and let death fly. The first ones to die would be the medical staff who dealt with biocyne. They'd spread the virus around their clients in administration. The minister would be one of the first to be affected, and then... then it would be too late.

"Who
do you have an agreement with?" I asked. "McLean? His ferry's taking it to the Fort?"

He nodded.

So that's why McLean was so interested in carula. Varlamov had probably hinted to him that carula shipments were important and valuable. He'd planted this idea in his head leaving McLean to ponder over it until he'd driven himself to a frenzy. So when I had come... "Your man in the agency. Can you give me his name?"

"
You're professional, Mark. Let's do it this way: once the shipment clears the corridor, I'll give you the mole's name. Happy now?"

The general seemed
uneasy - worried probably of me throwing a monkey wrench into his works. I nodded to him. Varlamov wasn't Blank. Which was why he'd become a general to begin with. He'd never departed from the rules when he followed his own designs; he'd thought several moves ahead and disposed of unnecessary steps in order to avoid ad-libbing whenever possible. His reasoning was non-standard, his body was modified, his experience was superior...

"Don't you try to outgame me," Varlamov said. "Your reactions are faster but your abilities are not yet fully
developed. You're now one step away from your dream - my dream. Think well what opportunities it will open up to you once we carry it through."

"
What you gonna do?" I chuckled. "Stuff me with more implants? Replacing regular army with cyber troopers was your idea, but no one will need it when you kill off all your men. Who do you want to defend yourself against, anyway?"

He looked at me calmly, his eyes blank.

"You're quite prepared to kill my own daughter, my own flesh and blood. It means nothing to you, does it? You never had a family. You scoured orphanages for a child with a unique nervous system and you found me. Then you forgot I was human and turned me into another means to suit your own ends."

"You're a soldier," his voice was stern. "You're a natural
master specialist, a born officer. Don't make me think less of you."

Wrinkles formed under his eyes.
He clenched a fist, ran his knuckles along his mustache and rose.

"Sure," I stood up and straightened my shoulders.
"You always put the end above the means. The only thing you forgot was me and that I was human..."

"All words," he
fobbed me off and stepped toward the door. "Words, and nothing else. It's only actions that matter."

"
They do," I nodded. "You're right. Actions do matter."

"Guards!" the general shouted into the doorway and turned to me. "By tomorrow night the shipment will be in the Fort. Do what I ask and you'll get Mira
and the baby back."

He
walked out. The guards arrived. One of them motioned to me with his gun, and I followed Varlamov along the hallway.

Chapter Two

No Way Out

I
awoke and sat up, unable to understand what had disturbed me and how I could see in the dark. My brain, exhausted by sleepless nights, refused to cooperate. My head swam, my belly rumbled, and all thought was suppressed by thirst and hunger.

I finally
pulled myself together and remembered that I was in a cellar under the gasometer. The general had told the guards to bring me here. The memory chip in the back of my head had woken me up after five hours as I'd programmed it to do. The infrared camera lens seemed to be working. "System check," I gave a mental order. The memory chip reacted making me realize that there were no other implants in my body. Okay, I'd have to do with what I had.