knee on the wet bark but barely feeling the pain. The storm was
worsening, sheets of cold rain lashed down mercilessly; however, she
was still able to glimpse the fallen figure in the dell.
The hunter's dead hand was still curled about the rifle stock. For a
second, Emily felt a thrill of terror, imagining the dead man springing
up onto his feet once more. She waited, hardly breathing, her eyes
fixed on the corpse. But he didn't move.
I have killed a man, Emily thought, sombrely. I have killed in cold
blood. It was something she had never gotten used to. The reaction was
starting to kick in, the adrenaline high turning into a bad case of the
shakes. She sank to a crouch, dropping the Gungfu pistol crossbow onto
the ground. Her hands were beginning to quiver uncontrollably.
Lightning flickered nearby and there was a crash of thunder. Got to
keep moving, thought Emily. She rose unsteadily to her feet, and that
was
when the stranger emerged from the darkness.
"Dr Harding?" She whirled round, and even as she grabbed the crossbow,
she knew that there was no way she could reload and fire the weapon in
time. But the stranger was not attacking her but was raising his hands
in a non-threatening gesture. He was a tall man in camo gear, face
daubed with dark crayon.
"Come with me, we don't have much time." His voice was unexpectedly
deep, authoritative.
"Who are you?"
Even in the dim light of the clearing, she sensed the wry smile that
had appeared on the man's face. "You can call me Ray. Now hurry. It is
not
safe here."
Not safe was an understatement, thought Emily, but she held back the
ironic remark that came to her lips. Ray was heading off into the
thicket and she followed, brushing strands of wet hair out of her eyes.
She suddenly became aware of two other men, appearing like ghosts in
the rain-lashed woods. They hurried past without looking once at her.
Ray was almost out of sight, vanishing into the shadows. Stopping for a
moment, he motioned impatiently for Emily to follow. Briars scratching
at her legs, she struggled to keep up.
As they emerged from the thicket onto an animal trail, there was a
terrific flash of lightning nearby. It didn't die away at once but
persisted, flickering, and Emily saw that the top of a nearby oak was
wreathed in eerie, shifting flame. Ray turned to her and she recoiled -
the man's eyes were reflecting the lightning flare, glowing like white
embers. Then the weird flame subsided and there was darkness again.
Ray shrugged. "Foxfire," he said. "Now come on." The night enveloped
them once more.
**********
Returning to the control room, Dr Jessie Jay took an appreciative sip
of his coffee. Hot damn, but that tasted good. He slid into the command
chair, placing his mug on a nearby console. He was already feeling
warmer, drier, altogether human again. His bath could wait until later.
"Glinda?"
"Yes, Doctor Jay". Her voice issued from hidden speakers, seeming to
come from everywhere and nowhere.
"You make the best damn coffee in the world, you know that?"
"Affirmative, Doctor Jay." There was the faintest hint of smugness in
her tone. Jessie smiled.
Murray padded back to his master, having eaten and drunk from a couple
of dog bowls at the side of the room. Jessie looked down at his friend,
reaching out to ruffle his ears. "Well, old buddy," he sighed, "I'm
glad to have you with me tonight, of all nights." Murray, a golden
retriever cross, seemed to grin up at him, pleased to be with his
friend.
The control room of Crane Station was a subterranean geodesic igloo,
lined with banks of consoles and connected by several blast doors to
the rest of the secret complex. This place had existed for decades. It
pre-dated the Cold War, receiving major upgrades as the years passed,
to keep it state of the art. Air filtration machinery hummed gently in
the background, diodes flickered on the steel racks of servers that
occupied
one side of the room. In the past, it had taken a minimum of five
people to run this place, but now, with Glinda's help, one person could
manage
it alone.
Crane Station was its designated name, but this complex, and the
tangled acres of woods around it, was known unofficially as the Hollow.
"Status change, Doctor Jay," Glinda reported.
Immediately Jessie was all business, turning his attention to a nearby
terminal. "What's happening?"
"Subject Greg LeMar has been... discontinued. Heart rate... zero. Body
temperature... falling rapidly."
"What of Emily Harding?" snapped Jay. "Is she safe?"
"Affirmative, Doctor Jay. Subject Emily Harding's vital signs are...
optimum."
A light flashed on the console - incoming message. "Jay? Bolger here."
Jessie reached across, thumbed a switch on a microphone. "Jay here.
Report." It was good to hear Bolger's voice. Jessie had been relieved
earlier to hear that the helicopter had made it - at least something
was
going well.
"Harding is with me now. She passed with flying colors."
"And LeMar?"
"Extreme prejudice, doc. We're in evac mode now. Bolger out."
Jessie settled back in his seat. Another life had been taken, but there
had been no possibility of deviating from the script. He was glad that
Harding had passed, her bioscience knowledge would be vital in the days
to come. And LeMar? He had been fit, ruthless, well-trained. Arrogant
as well - that streak of pure chutzpah had been his fatal flaw.
But a human life had been lost. Jessie gazed sorrowfully down at his
canine friend. Murray looked back at him, those brown eyes expressive
and sympathetic. Picking up on Jessie's sombre mood, the dog whined
gently, licking his master's hand. "I dislike this business as much as
you do," Jessie murmured. "But we have to go on. We have no choice."
He glanced briefly up at the clusters of surveillance equipment
attached to the inside of the geodesic dome above him. Then he returned
to the
matter at hand.
"Glinda, what's the status on the others?"
"Six remaining subjects are moving aimlessly."
"Engage submind Tactician Beta," Jessie instructed her patiently.
"Submind Tactician Beta engaged," said Glinda. "Ah, I see. The others
are not moving aimlessly. They are moving in classic lone-hunter
patterns, with varying degrees of competence."
"That's right". Glinda was an AI, or the nearest thing to it that
existed today. She was also a network, her processors spread across
several powerful arrays buried deep underground in hardened basements
and connected by cable and satellite links. Part of her was here in the
Hollow, of course; Jessie could sense the presence of what he called
her core personality. However, she could draw upon knowledgeable
specialist subminds when necessary, which acted like expert advisors.
She was a formidable machine. But, child-like, Glinda often forgot to
engage her subminds, and needed to be reminded. Jessie had a lot of
affection for Glinda, mixed with sheer awe at the technology that could
produce such a marvel.
If Glinda was pleasant and child-like, her twin (if an AI could be said
to have a twin) was the opposite. Jessie preferred not to think too
much
about Glinda's sibling. He wanted to be able to sleep at night.
"Let me know when any changes occur," he told her.
Jessie slumped back in his chair. He felt suddenly exhausted, as if the
weight of the world was on his shoulders. He glanced down to find that
Murray had curled up on the floor beside him and had started to doze,
twitching uneasily from time to time.
"Wish I could sleep too, old buddy," he whispered. He closed his eyes
for a moment.
Something was wrong. He felt it immediately, opening his eyes and
looking around him. The air was colder, and he could feel... a
presence.
Something was close by, something alien to the enclosed world of Crane
Station.
"Status change, Doctor Jay. There is... an intruder in the environs of
the Station."
"Where, Glinda, where? Give me a visual." He tapped impatiently,
uneasily at the console. A wild animal, maybe a fox, was triggering the
sensors at the cave entrance. Surely that was all it could be.
The screen showed nothing significant - rock surfaces, running water,
everything giving off an eerie greenish glow as it was picked up by the
low-light sensors.
"Intruder, Doctor Jay. There is an intruder in the station."
Jessie got to his feet. He could hear nothing, save for the background
hum of the electrics and the susurrus of the ventilation system.
But then Murray began to growl. Drawing his lips back from his teeth,
the dog was on his feet growling, his hackles raised. Jessie stepped
over to a cubby hole in the nearby wall, drew out an automatic pistol,
a Glock .45 GAP. He checked the magazine - full. Pistol in hand, he
approached the blast door which opened on the tunnel leading to the
entrance.
He placed his palm on the door control. The door rose with a pneumatic
hiss. Beyond it was darkness and silence.
Jessie waited. The lights in the tunnel should have come on. "Glinda,"
he hissed. "Switch on the goddamn lights."
"Unable to comply, Doctor Jay," said Glinda. "Unable to... Unable to...
Com... ply..." Her voice died away to silence.
Then the lights went out.
There was something in the tunnel. He could hear it moving, something
large and ominous. Cold air blew against his forehead and he found
himself backing away. Murray had ceased his growling, had retreated
silently to a distant corner. Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice in
his
mind, as clear as a pool of sunlit water. "Jessie old pal, you gotta
take care."
Sam? But Sam was dead.
"You gotta take care, Jessie. The death angel is loose. Come on old
pal, you gotta move, gotta save yourself. The death angel, Jessie. The
death angel is loose."
He could move backwards no more, he was up against the wall. The thing
was in the room now, he could sense it in the pitch darkness. In panic
he raised the gun, held it out at arm's length, squeezed the trigger -
"Doctor Jay?" He shuddered violently, awakening. He was still seated in
the command chair. The lights were on and all was normal in the
Station. Murray was asleep at his side. Must have dozed, he thought.
I'm getting too old for this.
"Status change, Doctor Jay."
"What is it, Glinda?"
"Two more subjects are engaging one another. Combat is taking place."
"Show me."