Z. Apocalypse (19 page)

‘Adam needs to rest,’ Mr Adlar protested. ‘He and Zoe are children, not soldiers—’

‘Then read them a bedtime story when I’m through!’ Oldman boomed. ‘I don’t like this any more than you do, Bill, but the fact remains – we badly need intelligence on Geneflow, and whatever
Adam knows he needs to spill it.’ He turned to Adam. ‘You’re looking a whole lot better already, Adam. Are you good for this?’

Adam looked uneasily up at him. ‘Do I have a choice?’

‘Yes,’ said Mr Adlar, steel in his eyes as he met Oldman’s stare. ‘He does.’

‘Then . . . I choose yes.’ Adam sat up, his guts full of butterflies. ‘Let’s go.’

Chapter 20: Shadows in Blue

HOURS LATER, HUDDLED
in warm clothing, Adam left Oldman’s command vehicle escorted by his dad and a bundle of armed soldiers. He’d told a bunch of army types everything he could recall of his time in the Geneflow base, raising several eyebrows and arguments in the process. His throat was sore, and he felt drained. But at least the truth was out there now. He’d done
all he could – on that particular front, anyway.

Now it was time to talk with Keera. For what sounded like it might be the last time.

‘Eve reports that no one on her team can get through to Keera, and she’s weakening fast,’ Oldman had said. ‘If Adam’s heard right and that prehistoric freak really
does
has a prime directive, we need to know what it is. For all we know, Geneflow’s sending more
Z. rexes to kill her and to trample all over us.’

Wish
my
Z. rex was here
. Adam imagined him, alone in the forest. He wasn’t sure if Zed felt fear, or stress or loneliness like the humans who’d made him.
Dad had decided to keep quiet about Zed’s presence in front of Oldman for now; they couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t react to the Z. rex as a deadly threat – or try to harness him as a weapon.

The wind bit at Adam’s body as he crossed the camp – a collection of military vehicles, huge metal containers and canvas tents in the churned up snow. At the far end of the camp, beyond a small frozen lake, were two more canvas tents. A long stretch of tarpaulin bridged the two like an extra roof, hiding their purpose from anyone overhead.

‘Keera’s in there?’ asked Adam.

His dad nodded as they
trudged on through the snow. ‘I’m so proud of you, doing all this. You must be exhausted. But if you can just get past the last security barriers in Keera’s head to find that prime directive . . .’

‘What if I can’t?’ Adam murmured.

‘If Zoe’s right and Keera sees you as the one who made her what she is – the one who can set her free – she’ll want to help you. And after what she’s been through
with Zoe, that bond will be even stronger.’ He smiled encouragingly. ‘We can only hope she’ll respond to the two of you.’

No pressure then
, thought Adam.

The soldiers held back at the entrance to Keera’s canvas cave and gestured their charges go through.

Once inside, Adam’s heart plummeted. Keera lay
like a gigantic beached whale under foil blankets, surrounded by men and women in scrubs and
surgical masks, banks of machinery and all kinds of scientific equipment. Her form looked bleached of colour, almost translucent, like a giant grub.

Adam looked away – and saw Zoe was here already in a new wheelchair, her mum connecting a jumble of spaghetti-like leads from the now-familiar bank of controls to her special headset. As he and his dad approached, Eve looked up, smiled and rushed
to greet them, spilling coffee down herself as she did so.

‘Oh, Adam,’ she said, grabbing him in a bear hug. ‘When I heard you and Zoe were all right it was like a miracle.’

‘It sure was,’ Mr Adlar agreed, going to fetch a Think-Send helmet and its various connectors. ‘A double miracle.’

Adam waved at Zoe. ‘It’s official – we’re miraculous.’

‘Tell me something I don’t know.’ Zoe looked sore
and bruised, but so much better already. ‘Have you been telling your story to Oldman?’

‘Uh-huh. I expect it’ll be your turn after this.’

‘Can’t wait.’ She rolled the wheels of her chair closer to Keera, a sad look on her face.

Adam held still as his dad returned and fitted the Think-Send helmet on his head. He looked at the
pterosaur’s pale, sticky skin, the bruised slits of her eyes. ‘Keera’s
dying, isn’t she?’

Eve looked at the floor.

‘It’s those misfiring circuits in Keera’s brain.’ Mr Adlar sounded frustrated. ‘Keera’s desperate to think for herself, but the circuitry still wants her to obey her programming. And that battle’s gone on in her head since her fit in Washington.’

‘I don’t get you,’ said Adam.

‘When Keera broke off from the White House attack and went after you, she
demonstrated free will.’ Mr Adlar started up the U-R software on the nearest computer. ‘That conflict with her programming basically blew a fuse in her head.’

‘She’s tough as hell, bounced back from the initial trauma,’ Eve jumped in. ‘But the more she’s done her own thing, the more the interface between mind and machine has been hurting her brain. Killing more and more cells.’

Adam sighed.
‘Zoe said before it was like lights going off in Keera’s head . . .’ He turned to Zoe for confirmation, and saw that she had rolled right up to the pterosaur, reaching out to Keera’s damaged wing.

‘Zoe!’ Eve jumped up. ‘Get back, love, we’re not ready.’

‘
Keera’s
ready!’ Zoe snapped. ‘She knows . . . knows we want to talk.’

Keera’s eyes snapped open and fixed on Adam.

‘I’m switching on Think-Send,’
Mr Adlar said calmly. ‘Non-essential personnel, keep well back from Keera! Charlie, monitor life signs, please. Eve, are you ready to record this?’

‘Ready.’ Eve jumped into her chair, flicked a line of switches. The other scientists retreated to the walls of the tent, watching in fascinated silence.

‘Blue . . .’ Zoe jumped in her seat, threw her head back. ‘It’s like Keera’s seeing nothing but
blue . . .’

‘Brain activity increasing,’ someone called; Adam recognized the same white-coated man who’d hooked him up in the lab at Patuxent. ‘Heart rate steady.’

‘Thank you, Charlie.’ Eve stuffed half a sandwich into her mouth as the computer screen beside her filled with flecks of light and static. ‘Jeez, something’s coming through already . . .’

Mr Adlar looked at Adam. ‘Ready to talk?’

‘Ready.’ Adam felt a buzz in the back of his head. A fierce feeling of pins and needles started to radiate through his body as he met Keera’s dark gaze.

‘Here we go,’ Eve breathed, as a deep blue permeated the flickering screen.

‘Give me this,’ Zoe called, distantly. ‘Give me the sky. Freedom.’

I can’t yet
, Adam told her in a thought.
There’s still something in the way. Your prime directive
—

Zoe gasped, as if she were the one feeling pain. ‘Can’t talk.’

‘It’s like before,’ Eve fretted. ‘Keera’s thoughts are filling Zoe’s mind.’

‘It’s like the two of them are linked,’ Mr Adlar agreed.

‘Can’t talk,’ Zoe said again.

‘You can,’ said Adam, out loud.

‘Can’t. Metal in head.’

‘Heart rate increasing,’ Charlie called.

You are stronger than the metal in your head
. Adam closed his eyes
and concentrated.
Me and Zoe are here. We’ll help you
.

‘Can’t . . .’

You
can.
You knew me from halfway across Washington because
—

‘You fly through my thoughts,’ Zoe breathed. ‘From first day.’

Right. Because you got more than just my brainwaves when Geneflow trained you. You got a part of my spirit
. He opened his eyes, glanced at the screen. Still static.
And so you should know that when someone tells you not to do something, it makes you want to do it even more
 . . .

‘Yes.’

So tell me. Prime directive
. He tried to shut out the rush and whirr of his dad and Eve’s equipment, the beeping of monitors, even the rustle of canvas in the icy wind.
Come on, Keera. If you can beat the metal in your head now, you’ll beat it for good. You’ll get strong again
.

‘Wow.’ Charlie sounded tense. ‘Big
spike in brain activity.’

‘Image changing,’ Eve hissed. ‘I’m getting something else.’

Adam looked. The screen was a mistier blue. A dark shape, tubular with stubby wings, was just visible.

‘What is that?’ asked Adam.

‘Interference . . .’ Zoe shook her head. ‘Frequency . . . jamming . . . all communications . . .’

‘Her heart rate’s going through the roof. I don’t know how safe it is to continue—’

‘We have to, Charlie.’ His dad sounded unhappy and strained. ‘What’s she showing us, Ad?’

‘The sea,’ Zoe said dreamily. ‘We’re under the sea.’

Adam saw the shadow on the screen grow larger, more substantial. A whale, maybe? A sea-monster?

Think harder, Keera
, he urged her.
Get Geneflow out of your head and there’ll just be me . . . Please, Keera, show us. Show
me.

‘Think. Think to block it.
Won’t hear . . . Won’t receive . . .’ Zoe was nodding her head. ‘Fail-safe. Fail-deadly. Fail-safe. Fail-deadly.’ She went on repeating herself, like a faulty CD.

‘Zoe?’ Eve sounded worried.

‘Keera’s life stats are off the graph,’ Charlie called.

Eve banged her fist on the desk. ‘We need to stop this.’

‘A few moments more,’ Mr Adlar pleaded.

‘That poor animal’s mind is breaking down,’ Eve
snapped, ‘and it could take Zoe’s with her!’

The pterosaur began to jerk and twitch. The sinister, tubular shape loomed again on the screen. Dazzling yellow beams burst from inside it, the screen flared like it was going to explode.

Then Keera threw open her jaws and screamed. Zoe cried out too as she was thrown backwards out of her chair.

‘No!’ Eve shouted, and pulled a whole bunch of wires
from the console. Sparks spat and the screen went dead. While Mr Adlar stabbed at switches, trying to power down safely, Adam yanked off his headset and ran with Eve to help Zoe, who lay on her back, arms spread wide like they were wings.

Keera was lying motionless save for the rapid rise and fall of her battered chest, her eyes closed, curled up in a heap.

‘Vital signs settling,’ said Charlie.
‘It’s OK. Keera’s out of danger.’

Eve was too busy checking over Zoe to comment. ‘Pupils dilating,’ she reported. ‘I think . . . Zoe? Sweetheart, can you hear me?’

‘Mum?’ Zoe smiled faintly, closed her eyes again. ‘We have the sky back . . .’

‘Excuse me?’ said her mother.

Mr Adlar came up behind Adam, put both hands on his shoulders, and puffed out a sigh of relief. ‘You know, I think we just
watched mind beating machine.’

Adam nodded shakily. ‘But does it bring us any closer to beating Geneflow?’

Chapter 21: Zee No Evil

THE CAMP’S DOCTORS
had decreed that for Adam and Zoe there could be no more excitement till morning. Both needed bed rest, and that was what they were going to get. Even so, Zoe had refused to leave Keera’s side for a couple more hours, until she was certain the pterosaur was OK. And Adam had lingered too, his head hot and buzzing with all the beast had left behind.

How long will it take Oldman and his experts to make sense of that stuff Keera shared?
Adam remembered closing his eyes in the near-darkness, longing for sleep to come and soothe away the images. But it was broken sleep, so full of wearying dreams it made the night seem like a marathon.

Finally, grave male voices filtered through his senses.

‘ . . . The apparent sighting of “living weapons” in
the skies over Iran has created fresh turmoil in international relations.’

‘Yes,’ a second voice agreed, ‘Israel has accused its
Middle Eastern neighbours of attacking their parliament amid sensational claims that the Russian Federation has funded and supported these hostilities in association with the People’s Republic of China . . .’

The voices clicked off. Adam opened his eyes to find Zoe’s
fingers at the off switch of a digital radio on the table beside her. The two of them were alone in the hospital tent. Thin daylight skulked at the edges of the canvas walls; the clock read five thirty a.m.

‘Sorry,’ she said softly. ‘Didn’t mean to wake you. How’re you doing?’

‘Better than the world is, by the sound of things.’ Adam pushed himself up in bed and winced. ‘Ow. Headache.’

‘Typical
whingeing pom,’ she said, mock-annoyed. ‘Every news channel is full of experts telling us we’ve never been closer to global catastrophe, and you moan about a headache.’

‘I’m just a wuss, I guess,’ said Adam wryly. ‘How about you?’

‘I’m OK, now I know Keera is doing a whole lot better.’ Zoe smiled for real now. ‘Can you believe it, Adam? We got through to her. Now that the Geneflow tech in her
brain’s been switched off, her cells will recover. Accelerated healing’s already kicked in.’

‘It’s amazing the way the Z. animals can do that . . .’ Adam noticed the time and trailed off. ‘Hey, I just thought – poor Zed. He’ll be out in the forest still, he’s been waiting for more than a day.’

‘Well, he won’t have to wait much longer.’ A figure stalked into the room, bundled up in a big trapper’s
hat, several scarves and a huge fur coat that made him look like a big fuzzy barrel.

Despite the disguise, Adam recognized him at once. ‘Dr Marrs!’ But his welcoming grin stiffened as he processed the doctor’s words. ‘What do you mean, Zed won’t have to wait much longer? How did you know he was near?’

‘Where did you even spring from?’ added Zoe.

Marrs waved away their questions. ‘Detestable
cold,’ he grumbled. ‘I flew here direct from an emergency meeting of the United Nations Science and Ethics committee in sunny New York – although frankly, right now “United Nations” is a contradiction in terms.’ He mopped his furrowed brow with one of the scarves, as if suddenly finding it too warm. ‘Happily, the gathering I’ve just attended was more productive – an analysis of the information you
freed from Keera’s brain, and matters arising.’