The two walked over to the east wing’s extension of the Axiom garden. Which held a garage with five humvees and a gated exit leading away from the compound. Karina inspected the black military vehicles, walking around each one, dragging her finger across the doors, surprised they were without dust or grime. Blue tarps were tied to the beds of the vehicles to carry the precious mounds of the Axiom mineral.
“You’ve been stockpiling for the last ten years?”
“Give or take a year. Getting over the realness of the situation took some time. Either you abandoned me or died. Same with mom or dad. Society certainly fell, but being alone was worse. I didn’t step outside for an entire year because I was afraid to die or that you wouldn’t be able to find me if you came back. I read through as much of your research that I could understand until I couldn’t take it anymore.” Javier paused, attempting to catch the rest of the words for his story. “I didn’t know what would happen when I stepped outside. A drone scoop me up from the sky and put me into a prison or would I just fall in line with the E.I.E.’s programming and forgo my humanity. But nothing. I stepped out here and there was nothing but silence and green. From what I could see on the tv was the environment decaying ever since Inferno Day. But back here was different, and it made me think of your research. That’s how I found the Axiom mineral growing on the property. And that’s when I came up with the plan to ‘Break the World’.”
“There’s at least a few hundred pounds of minerals in these trucks. Just cutting them on is a suicide mission.”
“We’ll be fine as long as we don’t run over a speed bump too fast or ram into a building.” Javier answered, smirking at the vehicle as if it were returning the reassurance. “All things are moving, even the objects we believe are still. The atoms of the Axiom mineral transfers its energy in a way that allows it not to explode on itself as if it were a cushion or a mattress. Only enough force against an opposite material will bring out its volatile qualities.”
“In some way… that explains its fertilizing properties as well. The atom’s movement is constant, which is why it emits a jamming signal in the first place and that very movement is what gives life to organic things around it.”
“Exactly…There’s an area just outside of the Incompatible prison down in the wasteland where plants are starting to grow again. That’s where we will set up in order to begin our prison break.” Javier continued with his plan, pacing around the vehicles in the garage.
Bits and pieces of Javier’s plan leaked through Karina’s ears in that moment, but it wasn’t an immediate focus as it should’ve been. He mentioned recording his voice and burning a message onto CDs fitted into every truck. He said something about using the recordings as a distraction to lure Inspectors of the Incompatible prison down to where the Axiom mineral is sprouting life. In order to short circuit them and learn their patterns. But for all the importance of the moment, none of it mattered to Karina. In this moment, she was simply thankful to have found her brother. The last twenty minutes had made up for a decade of emptiness. A decade of not being an active participant in her own life was behind her. And what stood before her was a dream. Listening to a mature version of her younger brother lay out plans to save the world. All she could do was smile.
A distant hum of thunder rocked the foundation of the Axiom Research Agency. Karina snapped out of her daze back to the present moment. Later in the nights to come, she’d reflect on the sweet bliss froze within her memory from today. She’d unthaw it, nibble on it, then put it back in her mental freezer to snack on again another day, hoping her last bite of a surreal memory hadn’t gone bitter.
She stepped out from under the covering of the garage to a clear sky. Not a cloud in sight. Javier followed her, putting a hand over his eyes like a cap as he scanned the horizon. He looked up and around until his mind concluded what his eyes couldn’t see.
“The E.I.E. followed you here!” Javier yelled over the rumbling as he darted back into the building.
Shocked, Karina’s mouth tried to find the words to explain herself — object to the notion, but her voice failed to come to her defense as the oncoming buzzing grew louder. “Javier, wait!” was all she could yell as she chased her brother inside.
Panic pushed Javier into the A.R.A’s lobby. He went to one of the entrance doors, which had a peep hole opening that allowed him to see past the vines and weeds covering the surface of the building. Karina rushed in and saw Javier hunched over, scanning the outside through a hole only he could use. Briefly, she pictured that’s how he looked as she was walking into the A.R.A. just an hour before.
“Come look. That’s no rain. We’ve got hundreds of V.T.E. Butterfly drones heading our way.”
Karina went a saw for herself. Past branches and leaves covering parts of the imperfect peep hole, her eyes fell upon a swarm of Butterfly drones fluttering in the sky. The multitude of drones in the sky moved like a cloud, blotting out the sun. While the steel on their flapping wings pinged shimmers that signaled their fast approach.
“What do we do now?” Karina asked, turning back to Javier, who was already on his way back towards the garage. “Wait Javier! Where are you going? We don’t have a plan yet.”
“I told you the plan already. We just have to get everyone into the trucks and head to the wastelands outside the prison.”
“Won’t the E.I.E. follow us there?”
“It can’t even see us. Trust me. But we have to go and we have to move fast!”
“Karinaaaaa! Karina Santos, come forward now!” A familiar voice boomed down from the heavens.
Karina paused at the call of her name as Javier continued forward, not falling for the distraction. But Karina couldn’t help herself. The distraction was meant for her, after all. So she turned back and looked through the brush covering the entrance and saw Catherine sitting high in a tactical self-flying V.T.E. helicopter. Still wearing her work clothes from the bakery, Karina could tell Catherine was nothing more than a husk — an emissary for the E.I.E.
Catherine held a loud-speaker to her mouth and called out to Karina over the thundering drones, “Karina Santos, your last known location before disconnecting from the E.I.E. was within this dark zone of the Unified-Network! Turn yourself in now, and you won’t be reprimanded. In fact, you will be honored for your discovery. A discovery of a flaw within MY system. A blind spot that went undetected for a decade until you wandered away from your containment zone. There will be some changes made within the U-Net and that is all thanks to you! So come on out so we can get to work on perfecting this reality.” The E.I.E. said through the lips of Catherine.
“Dammit.” Karina murmured to herself, knowing Catherine was correct about her leading the E.I.E. here. From Javier’s explanation of his past experiments, there was time and space between when the Converted was disconnected from the E.I.E. to where they woke up. So there was no was to track where they had gone. But now the E.I.E. is aware that it has a blind spot, it just doesn’t know how.
“Very well Karina Santos. There is no time to waste. Your corpse will be exhumed and your brain processed for its memories, for the answers I need.” And with a wave of Catherine’s hand, the first line of butterfly drones fell from the sky in a kamikaze like fashion.
Karina ran towards the garage entrance before the explosion knocked her to the floor. There were a few moments of silence as she drifted between conscious and concussed until the ringing in her ears finally began.
“Come on Karina, get up!” Javier said, dragging Karina off the ground. His words fell on throbbing ears as Karina starred at him with a glazed look of shock. “Why weren’t you behind me? We have to get out of here. That thing will drop drones all night until it levels the area.”
Another explosion battered the A.R.A.’s foundation.
“This building might not last long either. Let’s go,” Javier finished, throwing his sister’s arm over his shoulder as he walked her to the garage.
The dozen Transfigured and Reverted humans from Javier’s experiments had already loaded into the various trucks. Packed in seats and even in the beds of the trucks next to the mounds of minerals.
“Here, you’re going to ride with Ralph and a few others who know where to go. I have to bring in the rear to make sure we all get out,” Javier said, opening a passenger door to a truck as he forced Karina inside.
With her ears still ringing and brain settling from knocking against her skull, she barely put up a fight. Her body weight made it difficult to get her in the seat properly until Ralph, a pudgy, partly balding, Reverted human wearing spectacles, helped hull her in from the driver’s seat. Javier fastened the seatbelt for Karina as she held her head, attempting to stay conscious. A head nod of understanding was exchanged between Javier and Ralph. “Make sure you get her to the camp outside of the prison. And don’t wait for me. Add to your numbers and go after the E.I.E. before it’s too late, and it adapts.” Javier finished.
“Thank you Javier. For everything,” Ralph said, over the sound of another explosion that rocked the building.
Javier didn’t answer. He gave his sister a kiss on the cheek and rubbed her hair one last time before closing the door. After two pats against the side of the truck, the caravan was on its way.
Karina locked eyes with Javier one last time as the truck drove away. As she turned back, looking through the window in disbelief, “Javi…”. A whisper of an incomplete name was all she could say before passing out.
Javier watched as the caravan pulled away from the compound amidst the thumping explosions. He waited until they were clear from the back gate and out of view before revving up the engine of his own truck. He imagined the E.I.E. barricaded the surrounding area in order to excavate this site without damaging any Converted humans. So the caravan would make it safely to the campsite under the covering of the Axiom mineral, but how long would it take for the E.I.E. to widen its search to look for negative spots in its system? That’s a question he knew he could delay the answer to. Even if only for a day.
He hopped out of the truck to search the garden for a perfect way to ignite his makeshift bomb. And just like King David took down Goliath with five stones, all Javier needed was a rock. The engine’s fuel would act as a catalyst to the mound of minerals in the truck’s bed once the rock lands and starts a chain reaction, Javier thought. He tossed the stone in the air, as if he were a pitcher in the World Series, and sent it flying with a smile. A grenade filled with hope.
Half a mile away, the caravan of Reverted and Transfigured saw a mushroom cloud emerge. Followed by a shockwave that lifted the cars off the road for a few seconds. Thousands of butterfly drones fell from the sky like rain. While Karina slept through it all.
Up Next, The Conclusion:
Resurrection Protocol!
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