The Genesis Code 1: Lambda (36 page)

Charles tone suddenly changed, now laced with trepidation. “Just what do you mean by that?”

The emergency backup lights flickered and illuminated the worried faces of both Charles and Richard. As the people below them frantically tried to get the lab back online, Richard held his body up over the blank terminal.

“The good news is that Epsilon will probably stay where it is for now. We can use this time to strengthen our server borders to slow it down if it tries to flee, and perhaps work out a fail-safe plan.”

Charles regained most of his stern composure. He still had to wipe the sweat from his brow, which was coming down like a waterfall.

“How much time do we have?”

“If what I did worked, Epsilon will be unable to execute its primary mission objective. Without its target, it will probably remain idle, though I can’t say for how long.” Richard shook his head. “I honestly can’t say how much time we have. What worries me more was how it lashed out indirectly and caused this power failure.”

Charles looked below to see the status of his team. “What is taking so long!? Why aren’t we back online?!” he bellowed.

Several personnel below jumped and replied as quickly as they could.

“The whole power grid has been shut down, and we are currently locked out of the main system. We are trying to force a reboot, but we are having difficulty accessing the backup safety programs that were installed.”

Charles turned to Richard for some solace, but didn’t like what he heard.

“It knows I tried to interfere, but it isn’t completely aware of it yet.”

Charles felt a shiver roll down his spine. “Stop the cryptic words and get to the point,” he added heatedly.

Richard stood up and gazed at Charles intently. “Epsilon shut me out. This blackout is a simple backlash of that. That in itself is cause for great concern . . . “ Richard paused.

“I’m not one for silence, Doctor,” Charles said with a cold tone, but couldn’t help but nervously drum his fingers along his crossed arms.

Richard shook his head, trying to forget the past event with Epsilon. “Prioritize getting power back. From there, we will see what we can do,” Richard said as he began to head out of the lab at a brisk pace.

Charles rushed over and grabbed his arm. The dark gleam in his eyes told Richard that he wasn’t satisfied.

“And what am I to do if the Epsilon unit restarts its awakening process?”

Richard pulled out of his grasp and stared menacingly into his eyes.

“Pray that it doesn’t.”

*
      
*
      
*

Within the rolling blackness, the Epsilon unit hovered motionlessly. Its golden eyes, dead to the world, stared into the abyss around it, not knowing its purpose or mission.

“Lambda unit . . . undetectable, error in frequency setting. Commence auto-correct . . . failure . . . . failure . . . failure,” Epsilon uttered flatly.

The slick design of the unit shined with each pulse of red lightning that leapt off of its body as the swirling chaos of the Zero Zone hugged it tightly.

“Adjusting mission parameter . . . failure . . . accessing server log . . . failure,” it murmured with less life than before.

Epsilon’s head slumped down as if defeated. Slowly, its eyes began to dim as if its lack of purpose was slowly draining its life force. Gently, the Epsilon unit began to drift into darkness, never knowing why it awoke in the first place.

Awaken!

Epsilon’s eyes burst open, glowing as bright as the sun. Billions of lines of code rushed through its eyes at speeds unheard of. Its clawed hands twitched as red sparks danced over its body, and ran through its long, vibrant hair of scarlet.

Amidst all this, Epsilon began to sneer widely. It didn’t understand this facial expression, nor its meaning. However . . . it was starting to remember.

[18]

Tension

[January 7th - Washington D.C. - Mobile Transport - Day]

Margret had to resist the insatiable urge to slam her foot on the accelerator of her car as she raced on the populated highway. Day traffic was mild, but she wasn’t satisfied unless the car in front of her was doing at least ten miles over the posted speed limit. She began to run the events through her head that led up to her blazing through traffic.

Moments after she escaped the research lab, she crushed her Com-Linker and found the nearest payphone in the area. She knew that Babel would be after her, and that they would surely send Dead Eye to hunt her down. She had to vanish fast if she was going to get out of this. Still, it was times like these that she was thankful that older age technologies were never forgotten, and instead simply upgraded with the times.

Before she crushed her Com-Linker, she had quickly looked up the number Marcus had used to call her. Marcus was a master of encrypting secure lines, but Margret had figured out how to crack his code. More than anything, she needed to get in contact with Marcus before she could settle down. The other thing that bothered her was the alternate reason that Marcus had used a secure line with her.

It's like he's hiding from something.
She couldn’t help but worry.

With a quick deposit, she accessed the payphone and quickly dialed the number still locked in her head. On the second ring, someone picked up.

“Marcus, it’s me!” she said urgently.

The line was silent. Margret couldn't help but tap her foot anxiously.

“Lincoln Memorial. 11:30. Make haste.”

In seconds, Marcus’ voice came and went, leaving Margret hanging. She repeated what Marcus said over and over in her head, finding herself incapable of shaking a certain feeling in his tone.

He seemed . . . nervous.

The weary thought at that time quickly dissolved as it was replaced with the need to fly. Margret didn’t have time to dwell on small details. Until she got back in contact with Richard and Karen, she needed to vanish from Dead Eye’s sight. For that, Marcus was the only person she could confide in.

She glanced at her watch and noted the time.

11:04. I’ll barely make it.

Breaking the recalled event, she shifted into fourth gear and whipped ahead of cars as she darted in and out of lanes. She didn’t have any time to spare as the time was now 11:17. If she missed this window with Marcus, there was no telling when he would be able to make contact with her again. Everything was being thrown to the wind now. All was raw instinct as she tried to plan her next move. The roaring engine was the only sound she heard as she raced to her destination.

Margret was still trying to map out her next move after meeting with Marcus when her radio came to life without her help. She glanced down at the radio and noted the frequency set. The station blared with needless static and noise.

Wait, is this-

The radio static vanished instantly and was replaced with a dull humming noise.

“You there, Margret?” came a familiar voice.

Margret glared forward as she rounded a tractor trailer. She found Karen’s bored tone enraging.

“Your blasé nature to the given circumstances doesn’t do well for my mood,” she shot. “Were you at least successful in stalling Dead Eye?”

Karen’s manner didn’t change. “Everything went according to plan. You performed your role very well.”

Margret’
s stomach turned.
“What . . . did you just say-”

“For someone so smart as yourself, you’re a bit slow on the uptake. You have become a splendid decoy, allowing me to disappear easily. I bet they haven’t even found out I’m gone yet.”

Margret clenched her steering wheel till her knuckles went white. Countless thoughts went through her head. For such a betrayal to come now, of all times . . .

Her voice was shaky as she spoke. “So all of this has been a lie?”

Silence hung through the radio.

“Answer me, Karen! What can you possibly be doing to justify this?!” Margret screamed, almost losing control of her vehicle.

Karen yawned. “For the record, I didn’t lie about one thing. I do plan on destroying the AI units.”

Margret’s grip tightened on her steering wheel. “If that is true, then why all-”

“The ones I can’t use anyway,” Karen interrupted flatly.

Margret was left parochially confused, but that didn’t stop her temper from rising.

“Can’t use them!? For what purpose are you trying to-”

“Concerning yourself with my plans is hardly productive. You should be focusing on what you are to do if Dead Eye catches you.” She snickered. “I’ve heard the Three are quite the inventive assassins.”

Margret jumped down Karen’s throat the moment she finished. “How can you do this to me, and Richard, no less?! How could you string me along to your sick little plan, only to use my dire situation to your advantage?!”

Karen groaned. “I’m not taking advantage. I’m merely acting on what I planned from the start. Come now Margret, why else would I bring you into the fold like this? I know you. The moment I brought you in, you couldn’t resist the urge to dig. I knew, from the start, that would create the opening I needed to move my plan into the next phase.”

Margret sat in astonishment as she heard the words coming from the radio. It almost felt like she was dreaming; yet she knew that these were the harsh words of a person she had once held as her best friend.

“Don’t beat yourself up,” Karen continued. “You have always been easy to manipulate, but this was the only time I took advantage of that aspect. My husband, on the other hand . . .” Karen’s tone suddenly turned dark. “He still is a slow fool who fails to see the truth, and even now, he gets in the way.”

Something snapped in Margret’s head at that point, something she had always held back. That being her feelings for Richard. The three of them had known each other since college, but it was always Karen that had caught Richard’s eye. Still, to this day, Margret held feelings for him, despite his marriage. She had never married, barely even dating because of these feelings. She kept them locked away out of respect. Now, these words spewing from Karen’s mouth were an insult to her, as well as to Richard. She wanted nothing more than to bury her fist into Karen’s filthy mouth.

“How dare you speak of Richard like that!”

The blaring of a car horn jolted Margret out of her fury for but a second as she skidded back into her lane. For a split second, she forgot she was still on the road.

“Your lingering feelings for him never seemed to disappear. Tragic really, but irrelevant. Honestly, I don’t even know what I saw in him back then,” Karen replied mercilessly.

Margret’s rage only boiled more as she struggled to keep control over her anger so not to fall off the road. “You are vile, you know that?”

Karen let loose a small laugh, but quickly cut it off and spoke sternly.

“You don’t know anything. What I do is for a greater purpose. All that matters is the end result. You’d be wise to understand this.”

Her words were so cold and strong. It almost made Margret feel bad not knowing the depth of what weighed on Karen’s mind. Just what was so important that it meant the sacrifice of a good friend and devoted husband? Not only that, but . . .

“What of your daughter and son? They are wrapped up in this mess too. You feel nothing for them, your own children?” Margret jabbed, trying to gain some kind of edge from this heated dialogue.

The radio was silent for a moment. Perhaps, for a second, Karen felt a small prick of guilt. It didn’t last long, though.

“Cecilia’s involvement was part of my calculations, but Zack . . .” she trailed off, not finishing her sentence.

Margret pounced on the opening. “What of Zack?! Did he not follow your script like a good son?!”

Margret’s eyes inflamed. She could tell in Karen’s voice that everything came back to her son. Zack was the key to all of this. Why he was involved; why he was now with Lambda. All of this was part of the plan, but yet, something didn’t go exactly Karen’s way. Zack changed something.

Margret’s eyes widened. She recalled Karen’s words of not lying about destroying the AI units, because she could no longer use them. However, it was she that had released Lambda in the first place. If she was just going to destroy it, why have it appear before Zack?

That’s when it all hit her. The full details were still hazy, but Margret quickly picked up on what Karen was doing; or, rather, what she was forced to do because of her son.

“Zack did something to the Lambda unit that you didn’t foresee! That’s why you are destroying it!” Margret could feel her confidence coming back.

“So tell me, Karen, what did your son do that ruined your plan?!”

The radio was silent again, for much longer this time. When Karen’s voice returned, it was abyssal.

“Be sure to tread lightly, Margret. I hear Pandemonium is hard to shake once it sets its eye on something.”

The radio went silent. Only the strange humming noise came from the station as Margret raced on to meet Marcus. Despite her fury, she at least felt like she won the fight with Karen. Now, if only she could figure out a way to win over Babel before they silenced her for good.

*
      
*
      
*

[January 7th - Abingdon, Virginia - Stigma’s Underground Facility - Day]

Corson’s stride was long and quick, which made it difficult for Nerine to keep up given her short stature. She glanced up at Peter on Corson’s right for some assistance.

Peter smiled warmly. “Is haste necessary at the moment, Leader?”

Corson glanced to Peter for a moment, followed by a subtle drop in stride, allowing Nerine to easily keep pace with the two large men.

“You know, it’s that type of attitude that makes it difficult to rally all our followers under your leadership these days. Would it kill you to maybe-”

“That’s enough, Peter. I’m finished wasting words and time on this matter. If those who have joined us feel I’m not doing an adequate job-” He stopped dead and glared up at Peter. “Then they can
leave
,” Corson said fiercely.