The Awakening (4 page)

Max interrupted him. “We realized that we could do more good by focusing our efforts on other areas of our lives. MaxEdDal Pharmaceuticals specializes in effective, low-cost medicines that have certainly saved more lives than I ever could have as a superhero.”

“Don’t you miss those days?”

“At times…but I don’t miss the constant struggles, or the fear that one day a new supervillain might emerge who would be powerful enough to destroy the planet. At least we know that if there are no more superhumans, there will be no more supervillains.”

Max Dalton turned to look directly into the camera. “So for better or worse—and I firmly believe that it’s for the better—the age of the superhumans is over.”

4

V
ICTOR
C
ROSS SAT IN A DARK ROOM, THE
only light coming from the two computer screens in front of him.

His fingers flew over the keyboard as, on one screen, computer code appeared line after line, page after page.

On the second screen, a complex computer-generated image of a large silver ball rotated slowly. Cross watched this as he typed. He didn’t need to watch the other screen. He knew exactly what was on it.

The letters and symbols on his keyboard had been worn away on all but two of the keys: backspace and delete. Victor very rarely used them. He didn’t make mistakes.

Cross was twenty years old, tall with an athletic build. He normally kept his blond hair short, but it had been months since he’d last had time to get it cut, and it now hung over his face.

The phone beside him buzzed once. Victor hit the “Speaker” button. “Talk to me.”

“It’s me. What’s the situation?” The voice was electronically disguised, giving it an artificial, machinelike quality.

“I’ve just heard from the extraction team. They’ve got Joseph.”

“Good. You know what you have to do?”

“Of course. We’re all prepped and ready.”

“The tech team are on their way to you now. They should be there within the hour.”

“Good,” Victor said. “My own team are going to be working around the clock on the nucleus. It’ll take a couple of days. You’re sure that we can contain him for that long?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem. Keep me posted.” The call was disconnected.

Victor continued typing at the same ferocious speed.

He had a complete mental image of the computer program he was writing. All his fingers were doing was transferring the program from his brain into the computer.

Even as he typed, his mind was occupied with several other matters. In the background, he was considering ways to speed up the typing process. The ideal solution would be some sort of human-machine interface through which he could upload his programs directly into the computer. That would save a tremendous amount of time.

At the same time, he was wondering how to deal with the coming situation. He knew from experience that not everything would go according to plan, because other people were involved. Computers did what you told them to do, but people had a tendency to do what they
believed
they were supposed to do.

He set another part of his brain working on ideas for alternative plans, just in case anything went wrong.

Victor was aware that most people didn’t—or couldn’t—use their brains in the way that he used his. The average person could keep no more than six or seven different thoughts going at once, and most of those were of the “what will I have for dinner?” variety.

But Victor could run dozens of different thought processes at the same time; he could program his brain as efficiently as he could program a computer.

A mental alarm reminded him that he’d now been working for eight solid hours and that it was time to take a break.

Victor pushed himself back from the computer terminal, yawned and ran his hands through his hair.

The phone buzzed again. “Mr. Cross?”

“What do you want, Jeff?”

“Can you spare a few minutes?”

“What’s the problem?”

“We’re having trouble getting the nucleus up to speed. Or, rather, we
can
get it up to speed, but then it’s not stable.”

“Sounds like an imbalance in the mag-lev platform. Put Rose on to it. She’s the expert.”

“I already asked her, Mr. Cross. She said you told her the diagnostic scanner was more important than anything else.”

“All right. I’ll talk to her.”

Victor Cross left his office, went out onto the walkway and peered down at the cavern below. Dozens of people—most of them in military uniforms—milled about.

In all, the complex was currently home to over a hundred people, with another hundred expected to arrive within the next day.

As Victor walked along the rough-hewn corridors, he met two workers awkwardly carrying a life-sized glass statue of a girl. Victor stopped them. “I told you to bring her to the upper storeroom. That’s up on level one. She already
was
on level one! What are you doing down here with her?”

The two men exchanged a nervous glance. One of them said, “Er…It kind of fell. Over the rail.”

Victor glared at them.
“What?”

“It was an accident, sir! I tripped and, well, it just fell over the edge. I tried to grab it but it slipped out of my hands.” The man nodded to his companion and they set the statue back on its feet.

Victor walked around it, examining it carefully. It appeared to be intact, other than the finger marks in the light coating of dust.

“She fell from level one down to here? That’s six floors. And no fractures, cracks or chips. Not even a scratch.”

“Yes, sir. Sorry. I don’t know what this thing is made out of, Mr. Cross, but it’s not glass. Whatever it is, it seems to be absolutely invulnerable.”

5

T
HE
W
AGNERS
’ M
YSTERY
D
AY PARTY
passed off the same as it had every year; the adults all drank too much and started singing, and the younger kids fought over board games.

After a couple of hours, Colin and Danny decided that going for a walk was a more attractive option than listening to Colin’s uncle Norman trying to entertain everyone by repeating the same old jokes he’d told the previous year.

Colin and Danny walked in silence for a couple of minutes, shoulders hunched against the rain, until Colin was sure that there was no one around.

“So…How did you do it, Dan?”

“How did I do what?”

“You know what I’m talking about. How did you move fast enough to save Susie?”

Danny shrugged. “Just lucky, I suppose.”

“That wasn’t luck.”

“Of course it was. What else could it be?”

“That’s what I’ve been wondering about all day. The speed that bus came around the corner…I went back there this afternoon, just to have a look. There’s no way any normal person could have run that fast.”

“Well, obviously
I
did.”

“But you’re not a normal person, are you, Dan? You’re a superhuman.”

Danny laughed. “Are you nuts?”

“You lucky—! I’d give
anything
to be a superhuman!”

“I’m not a superhuman!”

“OK, OK,” Colin said. After a few seconds, he said, “So, was that the first time?”

“The first time what?”

“You
know
what I’m asking. Has anything like that ever happened before?”

“No. Of course not. It was a fluke.”

“What did your parents say?”

“Ah, you know the way parents are. My mother kept focusing on the wrong things. Like asking what Susie was doing in the middle of the road and why I hadn’t just come straight home from school—that sort of thing.”

“What about your dad?”

“He just said, ‘Well done!’”

“That’s it? You saved a little girl’s life and he just said, ‘Well done!’?”

“What
else
would he say?”

Colin carefully considered his response. “He could have asked you what
I
asked you. If you were a superhuman.”

Danny paused. “Well, he didn’t ask me that.”

“
I’m
asking.”

“I know.”

“And?”

“And I keep telling you! I’m not a superhuman, OK? Just leave it!” Danny walked away. “I’m going home. Thanks for the party.”

Colin hesitated for a second, then went after him. “Wait, wait!”

Without turning around or slowing down, Danny said, “What?”

“Just tell me the truth. Please. I swear I won’t say anything to anyone else! I just have to know. If you don’t tell me, then I’m going to be wondering about it for the rest of my life.”

“There’s nothing to tell.”

“Nothing to tell
me
. I’m supposed to be your best friend!”

Danny stopped walking. His shoulders sagged.

“Swear that you won’t tell anyone?”

“I swear.”

“Especially not Brian, OK?”

“I promise!”

Danny took a deep breath and looked away. “It started happening a couple of months ago. Like, I’d be listening to a song on the radio and all of a sudden it would slow way down, like it was being played at the wrong speed. I went out on my bike on Saturday morning and cycled all the way around the park. It usually takes me a quarter of an hour, right? I did it in under five minutes. But it didn’t
feel
like I was moving any faster, more like everything else had slowed down. Things…things are changing. Inside me.” Danny swallowed. “It’s…it’s kind of freaking me out a bit. It’s like I’ve got no control over it. I mean, I could run home now and be there before you can blink. Or it might not work at all.”

The two friends stared at each other.

“So it’s true,” Colin said. “You’re a superhuman.”

“It’s looking like that.” A smile slowly grew on Danny’s face. “I really shouldn’t have told you.”

“God, you are so lucky! You know what I’d do if I was you? I’d join the athletics team. I’d win first place every time! It would be great!”

Danny shook his head. “Nah.”

“Seriously,” Colin said. “You should do it. You could be the next…” He paused. “Who’s a good runner?”

“I’d rather be a soccer player.”

“You could do that, then! You could try out for Man United! They’d snap you up in a second!”

Danny grinned. “Or I could even try out for one of the
good
teams.”

“So, show me! Do something!”

“It might not work.”

“Give it a go anyway.”

Danny looked up and down the street. There was no one around. “Watch this!” He reached down to the ground and picked up a small white stone. He handed it to Colin. “You’ll recognize that stone again, right?”

Colin turned it over in his hands. “Sure. I suppose.”

“Now throw it.”

“Where?”

“Down the road.”

“OK.” Colin reached back his arm and flung the stone into the darkness. He didn’t see where it landed, but assumed that it must have hit a patch of grass, because it made no sound.

He turned back to Danny. “So?”

Danny smiled, held up his hand and opened it. The stone was resting in his palm.

“How…?”

“I caught it,” Danny said.

“But you didn’t even move!”

“Yes, I did. I ran after the stone and picked it out of the air.”

Colin laughed. “That’s amazing!”

Danny frowned. “Now the power’s just gone again. I suppose that I’ll be able to turn it on and off at will eventually. In the meantime, I have to be careful—and you’d better not say anything to anyone!”

“I won’t, I won’t…So you’re going to be a superhero! God, I wish it was me! How does it feel?”

“Weird, I suppose. It’s like I
exist
faster. When I’m doing it, I don’t really feel I’m running that fast. It’s more like everything else around me has slowed way down, like the rest of the world has gone into slow motion. And the more I concentrate on it, the slower everything becomes.”

“Are you going to tell your parents?”

“Actually…That’s the really strange thing about all this.” He hesitated. “All right, I know I can trust you. The strange thing is that
they
told
me,
in a way. Once they heard what happened with Susie, Dad told me everything. He said that he was sure I’d figure it out anyway. And he’s teaching me to control the power too. He said that you have to focus on it, kind of like meditation. You let yourself relax, clear your mind of everything except the power. I wasn’t able to do it, though. He said that it takes a while to learn.”

“How does he know all this?”

“You swear that you won’t tell anyone?”

“I swear.”

“Sometimes—though not always—it’s hereditary. Dad was a superhuman too.”

Colin’s mouth dropped open.
“You’re serious?”

“Yeah.”

“Someone famous?”

“Believe it or not, my father used to be Quantum.”

6

J
OSEPH STEPPED DOWN FROM THE HELICOPTER
and looked around. He was wearing a pair of sunglasses one of the soldiers had given him, but the light from the setting sun still hurt his eyes.

The copter had landed at the bottom of a small canyon, barely a hundred meters across. A set of huge steel doors was set into the canyon wall.

“Who are you?” he asked the woman. “What is this place?”

“Call me Rachel. We’re in California. It’s an abandoned gold mine.”

“How long was I locked up?”

“Ten years. Almost to the day. I have to know…your abilities?”

He gave her a weak smile. “Gone, of course. Do you think I’d have stayed there if I’d still had my powers? It was only a concrete cell. Why…Why did you wait so long?”

“After the battle-tank, everything fell apart. It’s taken us this long to rebuild. It’s not as though we could operate openly. And no one knew where you were.”

They began to walk toward the steel doors, which were now slowly creaking open.

A young man walked out and stopped in front of them. “Joseph, I presume?”

Joseph nodded. “Who are you?”

“This is Victor Cross,” Rachel said. “He’s the one who tracked you down.”

Cross said, “We have some quarters set up for you. They should be a lot more pleasant than your prison cell.”

“You know who I am?”

“Of course. I know everything about you.”

Joseph stood in silence for a few seconds, then said, “I know I’m not the man I once was, Mr. Cross, and I’m very much afraid that all that time as a prisoner has affected me. I find it hard to focus and even the smallest of things can distract me, but I’m not
entirely
stupid. Why did you wait so long before freeing me?”

Victor regarded him for a moment. “Honestly?”

“Yes. Honestly.”

“We didn’t need you until now.”

“I see. I feel…different. Clearer. Were they doing something to me in that place? Drugging me—to keep me docile?”

“Almost certainly,” Victor said.

“And what about the boy? What’s happening there?”

Victor ignored the question and called over two workers. “Escort this gentleman to the med-lab. We’ll be there shortly. Give him anything he wants, understood?”

Joseph smiled. “How old are you, Cross?”

“Almost twenty-one.”

“So you’re too young to have been one of us, then? You weren’t a superhuman?”

“No. I was only ten years old when Ragnarök’s machine was used.”

Joseph smiled again and nodded.

Rachel and Victor watched as he was led away.

“What do you think?” Victor asked.

She shrugged. “He was definitely being drugged back at the prison. Some sort of low-level scopolamine to keep him relaxed and compliant. It should be completely out of his system in the next couple of hours.”

“It had better
not
be,” Victor said. “We
want
him relaxed and compliant. Make sure he stays that way, got it?”

“Sure.”

She followed Victor into the mine.

“So…the breakout was a success,” Rachel said.

“Obviously.”

“I’ll write up a full report for you.”

Without looking at her, Victor said, “We have Joseph and you weren’t traced. What’s to report?”

“We left the warden alive, but it’ll be a few more hours before he wakes.”

Victor nodded.

Rachel followed him up the metal stairway. “Don’t you want to know who the other inmates were?”

“Not really.”

“You did a good job locating the prison.”

Victor stopped outside his office and turned to her. “Rachel, I have work to do. If you want to make small talk, find someone else.”

He went into his office and closed the door behind him. He sat down at his desk, switched on his computer and keyed a number into his phone.

The call was answered immediately. It was the electronically disguised voice again.

“Talk to me,” the voice said.

“We have him,” Victor said.

“Good,” the voice said. “You’re at your terminal?”

“Yes.”

“Find the file called
Protégé
. The password is ‘Apotheosis.’ The file will tell you everything you need to know. Got that?”

“Got it.” Victor disconnected the call and began typing.

He found the file, entered the password and read through it.

Then he made another phone call. After a couple of seconds, a man’s voice said, “Hello?”

Reading from the computer screen, Victor said, “Icebreaker.”

There was a pause. “Say again?”

“Icebreaker.”

Another pause and the man sighed. Then he said, “Damocles.”

Victor read the countercode. “Ultimatum.”

The man said, “I…I understand.” After a brief discussion, he gave Victor his location, then asked, “When?”

“Within the hour. Be ready. This is a
code-one
extraction. Do you understand what that means?”

“Yes. It means that you want the boys no matter what it takes. Everything else is secondary. All lives are expendable. Even my own.”