REHO: A Science Fiction Thriller (The Hegemon Wars) (18 page)

BOOK: REHO: A Science Fiction Thriller (The Hegemon Wars)
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“Ignore Reeves. He is openly antagonistic,” Slater said. He chuckled then gazed at Rainne. “You’re about to fall asleep,” Slater said as he rested his hand on Rainne’s shoulder. “There are two rooms we use for resting. I encourage everyone to get a few hours of sleep before we go any farther.”

“Thank you so much,” Rainne replied.

“Follow me,” Coder said. “You, too, Thursday. You look like hell.”

“It’s complicated,” Gibson said, smirking and mimicking Thursday’s tough-guy attitude. He dropped into the closest desk chair and slipped on a set of headphones before Thursday could respond.

“You have a room where we can talk?” Ends said, looking around. “All of us.”

***

An hour later, everyone was gathered around a table in a midsize room where Rainne and Thursday had been resting. Ends had spread out the equipment from the taxi and the GPS briefcase.

Slater formally introduced Coder and the two male Black Hats, Reeves and Finch. Slater explained that no one outside this room would ever know what was about to happen.

Everyone peered around the table. Whatever was to happen next, its success or failure rested in their hands. Coder, Finch, Reeves, and Slater: the Black Hats Gibson had heard about since he was a child. None was old enough to have hacked into the Hegemon’s system in the early days though. Reho imagined there had been more of them, some older, at one time.

“Ends, why don’t you catch us up? I have a feeling even your own crew has some questions,” Slater said. “And maybe it’s time for confessions.”

Reho sipped the hot coffee Coder had made them. The night had been long, and there would be little sleep until all the cards were on the table.

“I met Slater more than thirty years ago when he went by the name Graven,” Ends said. “We worked for years as merchants—”

“We were smugglers. Don’t downplay it. We ran guns and even plutonium in the early days.”

“We worked for Kibo II. We ran guns for him until his death. Then the Hegemon appeared around Killa-jaro, and his daughter-in-law was abducted along with a housemaid, both pregnant,” Ends said.

Rainne sat up, her eyes wide.

“My mother. Pregnant with Mar?” she asked.

“Yes. We had heard reports of other pregnant women being taken throughout New Afrika,” Ends said. “Kibo hired us to assemble a crew. Slater and I, along with seven other gunners and an immersant, planned what we all said would be our suicides. But we had to try.”

“You see. No one had ever done what we tried,” Slater said.

“How did you immerse?” Gibson asked.

Slater cleared his throat. “I knew a guy who introduced me to the Black Hats, the ones that were here before us. He had a program that could train an immersant to navigate and fight—not in Arcade or some lesser program, but in a program that mirrored Omega’s mainframe. He called it the Emulator.”

“A training program?” Gibson asked.

“Yes. Its code was scripted by the Hegemon and had been intercepted by accident. He filled in a few missing pieces to make it work, and we trained with it.”

“We planned it out, a way to take out the only domain for the Hegemon,” Ends said. “Without it, they couldn’t remain in our world. They could live for a while in their suits but would be forced to leave or die.” He paused to gather his thoughts. “So we trained our immersant, Blade. He successfully entered the Mainframe while the rest of us stormed Omega’s physical facility in south New Afrika. We blasted our way through the complex. They never anticipated a direct assault, especially one by land. Without their suits, they’re vulnerable to whatever we hit them with; our weapons, modified to work in zero oxygen, ripped through their flesh as though they were animals. We killed more than thirty Hegemon that day. We located the seven prisoners. They were from all over: New Afrika, Eastern Bloc and one from Usona. We tried, but we couldn’t get them all out.”

“We saved four though, each pregnant like Kibo’s wife,” Slater said.

Reho knew the words before Ends spoke them. The woman from Usona, she was his mother. Ends’ attendance that night in the RT hadn’t been a coincidence. It had always felt wrong to Reho. Ends had known Reho’s mother. He and his crew had watched his uncle, waiting for Reho to return to Virginia Bloc.

There was a long pause as everyone waited for Reho to respond.

“How did you know I would return home that night?” Reho asked.

“My job is to gather information and acquire items,” Ends said. “Your arrest in Red Denver was the first bit of information I’d seen since you left Virginia Bloc. We left our job in Brasil early and waited.”

“We know it’s a lot to take in,” Sola said. “But none of this would work without you. Kibo gave up on Mar years ago, and knew we had to—”

“Gave up?” Rainne asked.

“Depression destroyed your sister long before he made that decision,” Slater replied.

Rainne scrunched into a ball. Reho felt her fingers dig into his arm.

“What do you need me for?” Reho asked. But he already knew.

“We need you to train and then immerse. The codes we acquired from the previous mission solved the problems with the Emulator,” Slater said.

“The Hegemon have been taking out major cities in New Afrika for two years now,” Ends said. “You understand that we couldn’t just tell you? We needed you to see it for yourself. What happened in Jaro will happen again. Unless we stop them.”

***

Most had not so much chosen to sleep as succumbed to it. Reho joined the Black Hats and Ends in what Reeves and Finch kept calling the Cockpit.

“You still have the externals?” Reeves asked.

“I do,” Ends said, taking out both devices from a compartment in his case. Finch examined them.

“Kawasaki is out there somewhere,” Reeves said.

“Chances are he knows you're here. But luck is on our side.”

“Why is that?” Reho asked.

“Because he doesn’t know where
here
is, exactly. And he thinks he is the only one with the codes to access Phoenix. But Slater failed to mention that Coder hacked them a day ago. ” Finch replied, chipping off part of the device and inserted a thin plug into it. The cord connected to one of the devices and monitors near the dangling chairs.

“He won’t be able to track anything here though. Our systems are secure, firewalls that Log can’t even get around,” Reeves said. “So that leaves us with some options.” He grabbed a handful of CD-ROMS and shuffled between them.

“We should do Stalingrad or Verdun. Anything else is going to bore this guy,” Finch said. “How did you get those scars?”

“The Blastlands,” Reho replied. “Where’s Coder?”

“Jesus!
I knew you were going to be a real knock-down-drag-out,” Reeves said.

“Coder left to go check on her family. Her mother has been sick with the shakes for several months now,” Finch replied.

“The shakes?” Reho asked.

“Unfortunately, it’s common with our elderly. Living underground comes with its consequences.”

Ends and Slater crouched over a monitor across the room. The plan could work; they all believed that. But it depended on one of them being able to enter the Mainframe and survive long enough to reach the reactor.

“All right, you can sit now,” Reeves said.

Reho took a seat in one of the suspended chairs Reeves had been adjusting. Wires had been laid across the armrest, connected to a medical IV.

“In our practice, the better hydrated you are, the better the experience.” Reeves handed Reho a cup of water and two white pills.

“Don't give him that junk,” Finch said.

“You know as well as I do that it increases focus while you’re in there.”

“Yeah, but not on the first run. He needs to see what he can do on his own.”

“This will be different from Arcade. At first you won’t notice it, but when you walk, you’ll feel it,” Reeves said.

“He’s ready!” Finch said.

Ends and Slater looked down at Reho. Wires connected to his head and chest, sending signals to a machine. He could see the rhythm of his heart, his blood pressure, and blood oxygen levels on the monitor. The IV needle rested in his arm, along with a second needle connected to two bags of colored solution, one blue and the other green. Reeves had called one the suppressor and the other the waker.

“It’s like Arcade in that you can injure yourself. Just remember, it’s real,” Slater said, pointing to one of the monitors. Its blue screen now displayed what appeared to be live video footage. On it, a war-torn town burned. A figure lay on the ground, motionless, in the center of the screen.

“This is the Emulator. It’s constructed from programming built by the first generation Black Hats and has been tweaked over the years with coding that Slater pulled out of Omega. It isn’t a perfect simulation mirroring the Mainframe, but its murkin’ close,” Reeves said. “You’ll wake up and be you, but this is what we’ll see.” He pointed to the display with the live video footage. “We can communicate with you through—”

“But we won’t,” Slater said. “We need this to be just as real as it will be when he immerses.”

“Maybe someone should immerse with him,” Finch said.

“No. He needs to do this alone,” Ends replied.

For a moment Reho felt angry over decisions being made without his input, but he did want to go in alone. He wanted to enter the Mainframe and destroy every last Hegemon. He’d never been asked to participate, but if he had, he’d have said yes anyway. He knew that his destiny hadn’t been to race gasolines in Red Denver or start a family somewhere out in the Blastlands. Years wandering Usona had toughened him and prepared him for what was ahead. What seemed to be another man’s war was his own. His mother’s abduction, his own freakish abilities, and then there were the nightmares. There was Jimmy. Whatever purpose he might find, it hadn’t been chosen for him by Ends or Slater. It had called him years before, while he was still in his mother’s womb.

“Are you ready, Reho?” Ends asked, his hand on Reho’s forearm.

Reho nodded.

“Load the Usona Invasion,” Slater said.

Chapter
15

The room blurred
, Ends’ face morphing into Slater’s as Reho left the Cockpit.

A demolished town surrounded him, its buildings still on fire and smoke hanging in the air like storm clouds. His eyes peeled open; wet ash had hardened on his face.
How long have I been lying here?
Wind stirred the ground around him as a chopping noise filled the air. An aircraft passed over him, low to the ground. Reho moved but stumbled to the ground. The sudden motion had caused his body to rise into the air as though he’d jumped. He stood slowly and attempted again. He lost his balance and flew into a nearby building. A fire raged inside; the bricks were hot. The aircraft kept moving. Reho felt for weapons and noticed his clothes had changed. He wore a black military uniform with a heavy black dust jacket. He removed the jacket and tried to walk again.

By taking smaller steps, he was able to walk in a more normal manner and move his body forward. His strength had been multiplied, but there was something else: gravity
. There was less of it.

At first he saw no one moving on the streets; the only movement came from flames and the aircraft. The war appeared to have had been over for some time, and he imagined everyone was dead.

Reho heard strange, mechanical communications; it wasn’t English. Feet shuffled closer, sounds of metal clanking. Three suited Hegemon walked across the intersection. He dodged behind a smoking truck; it was a ’57 Chevy, its paint burned off. Ahead, a Jeep was parked. It wasn’t burned and looked to be functional.

The military Jeep housed cases of weapons and ammunition. He grabbed two assault rifles he’d seen in films—Colt M16s. He slung one across his back and shouldered the second. He found a belt lined with pouches of M16 clips and grenades. Military gear like this had rarely been seen in Usona.

The aircraft returned, this time dropping two Hegemon onto the street behind him. He hadn’t been spotted, but they were positioned in his direction. Reho ducked between two buildings, sliding farther than he had intended.

Both Hegemon stopped at the Jeep. Behind them, the aircraft lifted and disappeared.

As good a time as any.

Reho unpinned a grenade and tossed it into the back of the Jeep. The Hegemon saw it coming and dove away. The explosion, stronger than Reho had expected, sent debris high into the air, metal fragments raining down around him. He emerged and emptied a clip into the closest alien. The armored suit reflected the bullets, as had the ones back in Jaro. Reho ejected the clip and jabbed in a new one as the second Hegemon fired its pulse rifle. Reho scurried along the buildings, careful to maintain contact with the ground as he ran. Bricks exploded as he ran, blowing a cloud of dust around him. A cloud of fragmented brick and mortar hung in the air as both attackers positioned themselves behind vehicles farther down the street.

Reho shouldered his assault rifle and unpinned two more grenades. Both flew through the air, landing beneath the vehicles where the Hegemon had taken cover. Before they could explode, Reho equipped both assault rifles and waited.

The explosions were intense, sending one Jeep high into the air and into a building, spilling fiery debris into the street. The other vehicle skidded across the street. Both Hegemon recovered just in time to see the bursts of bullets.

Reho aimed for their helmets. He’d spent half his clip before they cracked. As gas jetted from the fractures, one of the creatures flopped on the ground. The other plugged the leak with its hand and returned fire. Reho brought both rifles together and blasted the Hegemon’s weapon. The pulse rifle exploded, taking off the alien’s hand; green fluid spilled from the wound. Reho emptied a clip into the alien’s helmet, killing it. He knelt and pressed a finger into the fluid. Behind the helmet he saw the green, lizard-like skin.
Jimmy.

Four Hegemon fired from the distance. Reho slung both assaults onto his back and ran.

His feet moved like they had in Arcade, only faster. He felt his balance readjust as he zipped through the streets. His body adapted fast. Then he jumped.

His body flew forty feet into the air. He’d always been able to jump higher than was the norm. He thought back to the twenty-foot-high fences cutting off Virginia Bloc from the Safe Zones of the Blastlands. But here, his abilities were magnified; he just wasn’t sure of his potential. Reho ran as fast as he could without losing balance. He spotted a three-story building that hadn’t been touched by the explosions and fires.

Flying upward, he crashed onto the building’s roof. Pain jolted through his feet as he landed. Three figures shot into the air and landed in front of him. Before Reho could access his rifles, bullets tore through the air around him. He dodged the array of shots and leapt to the next rooftop. The bullets made craters in the rooftop around him sending shards of concrete into the air, stinging his eyes. He jumped from the building and crashed through a fourth floor window. The building was also untouched by the war. Reho cut across the apartment building’s hall to the stairwell and proceeded to the ground floor.

On the lobby floor, three Hegemon sat waiting. Their blasts peppered the walls behind him and shredded the columns. Reho felt pain as one of the pulses hit his leg. He looked down and saw no damage. The pain was there, but his pants weren’t even torn. No blood ran down his leg.
The bullets aren’t real.

A bright light filled the room, and his surroundings blurred. He emptied his clip at one of the attackers and tried to reload. His hands fumbled sending the clip crashing to the floor. The firing ceased and his vision cleared as the light receded. They were gone.

From behind, a Hegemon kicked him to the ground, sending him rolling across hundreds of spent shells. Reho went for his other assault rifle and sent a burst in the alien’s directions. The creature dodged the shots with surprising quickness. It grabbed the barrel and ripped the strap off Reho’s shoulder. The pain sent Reho to one knee. Its fist flew across Reho’s face, sending him down onto both knees. Reho swept his feet beneath the Hegemon, sending it to the ground. Reho locked onto it as they wrestled.

The alien’s strength was equally matched.

Reho dodged its punch as he slipped behind the alien and punched its helmet. The glass cracked. Reho removed one of the clips from his belt and used it as a weapon. He dodged and blocked, then jabbed the clip twice into the alien’s helmet. Reho blocked, grabbed the alien’s leg, and sent it back to the floor. Reho crashed the clip repeatedly until gas spewed. Whatever the gas was, it burned like liquid nitrogen against Reho’s face.

Everything went out of focus again as the bright light returned. Reho felt weightless. Then he was gone.

***

The blurred faces of Slater and Ends returned. Slowly, the images separated. Reho took a few deep breaths then reached for his leg and lifted a hand to his face, rubbing where the gas had stung him.

“Feels real. Doesn’t it?” Slater asked.

Finch detached the wires and pulled one of the monitors closer.

The avatar he had seen before was running down the same streets Reho had traveled to escape from the Hegemon.

“We recorded part of it,” Finch said.

“You did good,” Slater said. “But I think you can do better when you understand how the system’s physics work.”

Reho stumbled as he attempted to stand.

“It’s the solutions we used to put you under and bring you out,” Reeves said as he steadied Reho. Finch hit play, and Reho watched a virtual figure mimic what he had done. It bounded onto the rooftop. Reho could still feel the sting in his feet.

“Drink this. It’ll calm your nerves,” Sola said as she joined them around the monitor.

Reho took a sip of the hot coffee.

The video continued. Reho watched as the spread of bullets moved pass him. His feet blurred beneath him. He leaned in close to the low-resolution monitor.

“It's the frame rate, you’re just moving too fast for us to see it clearly,” Finch said.

“You moved fast, but it might not be enough,” Slater said. “You need to get some rest. With some training, you will get better.”

***

Mirrored buildings surrounded him, reflecting a dazzling array of blinding lights from every direction. The sight was dizzying as Reho focused away from the buildings and onto the ground. He was back in Neopan.

Or was it Arcade?

A car raced past him; it drifted as it attempted to make a turn, then flipped into the air and slammed into a building down the street. As Reho approached the accident, glass rained down around him. The car exploded, sending Reho flying backward. He tried to stand, but he was too dizzy. Everything around him pixelated until no light was left.

Something flashed and Reho was in a white hall lined with doors. A phone rang somewhere in the distance. As he walked he saw an open door. It was the same hall he had been in before except now there were no needles, newspapers, or Coke bottles on the floor. Jimmy would be waiting as he always had.

Reho entered through the open door. Inside the room, he approached the familiar black door painted onto the far wall.
Who had painted this picture of a door?
Now, the eye above it looked more like a decal than some gross painting. Reho cringed, as the door he had entered through slammed shut behind him.

There was no Jimmy. Instead, a translucent table with two chairs stood in the center of the room, a red phone atop its glassy surface.

“You want to know who I am? You want to know the future? The past?” a voice thundered.

Reho knew that voice.

“Yes,” Reho replied.

Ring.

Reho picked up the receiver.

“How may I help you?” the familiar female voice asked.

Screams flooded from the speaker and echoed around him. Reho knew the voice. He had always known the voice.

“Who is this?”

“How may I help you?” she asked again.

“I want to know who you are.”

“I’m Mary,” her tone had changed. “When are you going to let me go? Whatever it is you want, you can’t have it. And you can’t have
him
!”

“I can’t have who?” He knew the name. As impossible as it seemed, he knew she would say it.

“My baby. You can’t have Reho!” Her shrieking cracked the phone; it crumbled to the ground in countless pieces. The pieces morphed into piles of cracked, red whistles like the one he had received from the boys in the Blastlands.

“You wanted to know who I am.” The voice was different and came from somewhere behind him.

The man wore a white laboratory coat and held a clipboard and pen. His face was friendly and covered with wrinkles. He wore a name badge: James Sorensen. Above his name was an encircled cross with a curved crossbar and a loop on its lower line.

“I don’t understand,” Reho said.

“That is why you are here. Please have a seat, and I will answer whatever questions you have. But let me caution you to choose your questions wisely. Not all answers will be helpful.”

The man and Reho took their seats at the table.

“Why my mother?” Reho asked.

“Why was she on the phone, or why was she abducted and taken to Omega?”

“Both.”

“The answer is simple. She was on the phone because she is the one thing that will motive you to try and destroy us. And the answer to your second question: We weren’t strong enough to take your planet before your people annihilated themselves with nuclear weapons, and there are not enough of us now to take your planet after the civil war on our home planet. Your mother was one of dozens taken over the years. She was an experiment, an attempt to create a stronger weapon against the rest of humanity. After all, Neopan had been a failure.”

“A failure?”

“It failed to bring humans out of the ash and rubble, off the mountains and away from the jungle. We believed a utopia is what you desired above all things. But only some came and even fewer stayed.”

“You wanted us all in one place. One city. Why?”

“That, I feel, is a question to which you already know the answer.”

“Annihilation.” Reho popped up from the chair and walked away from the table.
Neopan was meant to be a death trap.

“And Log? Arcade?” Reho asked.

“They are just older versions of our own systems. We gave them hoping it would help keep the city full until the others arrived. Then a few years later, we spotted the steam boilers and iron buildings. We saw humankind rebuilding out of the rubble, living in the kind of miserable conditions to which no higher species would ever resort. Apparently, it wasn’t a utopia humankind wanted. It wanted pain and struggle.” He rose from his chair and stood next to Reho.

“And Earth? Once you rid it of us, what did you plan to do with it?”

“The Hegemon are refugees. We fled our planet so long ago that we can’t even remember what it was like to live in our own atmosphere.”

“Are all the Hegemon like you?”

“Yes and no.”

“Then what are you?”

“I am like you, in many ways,” he replied.

BOOK: REHO: A Science Fiction Thriller (The Hegemon Wars)
5.5Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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