“Focus on who you still have a chance to save,” the A.I. interjected. “Your field will protect the Purists for now, but they need to evacuate.”
“I understand,” Thel nodded, turning to see as hundreds of Purists entered the main hub, alarms blaring and red lights signaling an emergency. “You need to evacuate the complex!” Thel screamed out at them! “Quickly!”
Several Purists joined forces to retrieve both Alejandra and Lieutenant Commander Patrick, dragging the two unconscious bodies away toward the strangely designed vehicles that populated the main hub. Thel wasn’t sure if they were air- or water-vehicles, but knowing that James had designed them, she knew they’d do the job either way.
“The evacuation is underway,” Thel relayed, slightly relieved. “But what happened to the hard drive? Is Rich okay?”
6
“We’re trying to figure that out,” James returned “Hang on. Rich? Do you copy?”
“Where the hell am I?” Rich shouted as, all around him, he appeared to be surrounded by a wall of white. “I don’t see anything! I don’t even know what direction I’m facing!”
“Thank God you’re okay, pal,” James breathed a sigh of relief. “Listen, Thel’s helping the Purists evacuate, and Aldous doesn’t seem to be able to get to you through your magnetic field. He’s trying to buy time—he must think there’s still a way he can prevent us from assuming control of Trans-human.”
“What about the Purists in the command center?” Rich asked as he was suddenly interrupted, the interruption causing him to scream out in a brief call of terror. As if in answer to his question, Governor Wong’s dead body was thrust against the side of his magnetic field. “Jesus!”
“Rich! Are you okay?”
Rich was panting as he tried to regain some semblance of control over his rapid breathing as the governor’s body was swept away in the torrent. “Relatively,” he replied, “but James, the Governor’s dead. I just saw him. Oh Christ.”
James shut his eyes. “That blood’s on Aldous’s hands. Goddamn it, I never thought he’d betray us like this. Not in a million years.”
“Nor did I,” the A.I. echoed. “Aldous has clearly been using his privileged position as the chief of the A.I. governing council to keep a great many secrets, perhaps for several decades.”
“What do I do here, guys?” Rich asked, panicked. “I can’t see. It’s just a wall of white all around me. Just frothing water, man.”
“Where’s Aldous?” James asked. “You should be able to detect his position if you’re in such close proximity.”
“That’s the thing,” Rich replied, “I can’t. His position isn’t coming up on my mind’s eye. Guys, he’s not playing by the rules here.”
“He’s right,” the A.I. concurred with Rich’s assessment as he conferred with James, the candidate standing nearby, transfixed by the drama, yet remaining a silent bystander. “Rich can’t get a position, he doesn’t know which way is up or down, left or right. This is right where Aldous wants him. If Aldous can’t lower Rich’s magnetic field, then at least he can keep him trapped in one place.”
“And if he’s trapped in one place, he can’t reach a signal booster,” James added.
“It also provides a possible answer as to what Aldous is buying time for,” the A.I. said, his brow furrowed as he thought deeply, unraveling the puzzle. “If Aldous can’t lower Rich’s magnetic field, yet he claimed to have been the one who developed the prototype—”
“Then someone has to have given it to Aldous,” James said, finishing the A.I.’s thought for him. “And our top suspect is 1, once again. She’d be in the best position to know how to beat her own collective’s technology, but she wouldn’t trust Aldous enough to give him the key.”
“Indeed, it’s now all but certain that Aldous and 1 struck a deal,” the A.I. agreed.
“But their deal hasn’t gone according to plan, and now Aldous is waiting for the other shoe to drop,” James realized.
“Uh, guys,” Rich interrupted, “I love detective time as much as the next guy, I really do, but I’m sorta trapped here. What the hell do I do?”
James turned to the A.I. and they, without a word, seemed to agree on the only course of action available. “Look, Rich...” James began.
“Okay, already I don’t like this,” Rich replied. “Why did I know your tone was going to be foreboding? Why can’t it ever start with, ‘It’s super easy, Rich! No worries! Have a beer! Chill out!’”