Leviathan(119)
“And then?”
“It’ll just be me and Rachel.”
Beth shook her head. “All right, Frank, all right. Just tell me, how am I supposed to protect you from viral attacks as you go through the light tube?”
He handed her two synthetic gloves and turned on a laser that began passing over a small mattress on the floor. “You'll have to stand on this pad wearing the visor and gloves. As you see the viruses attacking me just point your hand at the virus and make a fist. When your hand closes you'll complete a connection in the palm of the glove and something like a laser will go from you. It's an ability you'll have and I won't have because I'll be in Cyberspace. I won't be able to tamper with the defenses of the computer. Only someone outside the computer will be able to do that.” He paused. “But you've got to hit the viruses before they hit me.”
Beth placed the gloves on her hands. “So I won't be in Cyberspace with you?”
“No,” Frank shouted as he leaped onto the Cyberspace Module, his face glistening with sweat. “You'll be in something like Virtual Reality-IO or Virtual-X. There's no real difference. And the computer won't be able to harm you because you won't be neurally linked. You can get out at any time just by taking off the visor.”
“Will I be able to see you?”
Frank began zipping himself into the Cyberspace Suit. “Yes! You'll have a visual on everything. It will be like you're sitting on my shoulder, flying down with me. But you won't have an icon. And you'll stay with me until I reach the Logic Core. The rest is between me and Rachel.”
Beth nodded and stepped on the knee-high pad, holding the visor in her hand. The pad was bouncy, like a trampoline. The laser screen passed slowly up and down, over her. “What will the viral attacks look like?” she asked. Sweat dripped from her chin.
“The attacks might look like anything,” Frank replied, moving frantically. “Lasers, blobs, walls of fire, whatever. There's no way to tell. I've never done this before.”
Beth almost leaped forward. “What! You've never done this before!”
“Ten minutes until detonation ...”
“No!” Frank spun, glaring. “Of course I haven't! Do you think I'd ever go into GEO without GEO's approval? It's suicide! I wouldn't be doing it now if this fail-safe wasn't going to kill us all!”
“Then how do you know – ” Beth staggered, “ – that this will work?”
Frank shook his head, eyes wider. “This is how it's supposed to work, Beth! But nobody’s ever done this before!”
Silence for a long split second. And then Beth heard herself whispering, “Frank ... this is insane. This is really insane. We're never going to make it. Can't you come up with another way to defuse the—”
“There's not another way,” he stated with conviction. “Just get me to the Logic Core where I can confront Rachel's icon.” He paused, smiling faintly. “Just get me there, Beth. I can do the rest.”
A moment, and Beth's face was grim. She tensed her fist, feeling the contact built into her palm that would ignite the fiber-optic laser. Then she looked up at Frank, feeling herself hyperventilating. She swallowed, closing her eyes, trying to remain calm. When she looked again the scientist had fully enclosed himself in the suit.
“What happens if I miss?” she asked.
“Eight minutes until detonation.”
Frank executed a command and his body was electromagnetically lifted, suspended in the Cyberspace Module. He replied as he completed commands for full immersion in the computer,
“If a virus hits me it could kill me instantly or I might survive the impact. This is uncharted territory. But I'll never be able to survive more than two or three hits.” He paused, staring, fear in his eyes. “Are you ready?”
Beth's mouth came together in a tight line. There was no time to think of her fear, her husband, or her son. It had all come down to this – to this frantic and frightening moment. With a cold movement she slung her long dark hair back from her brow, quickly wiping sweat from her eyes. She lifted the visor and settled it solidly over her head.
Concentrating, she nodded.
“I'm ready.”
She opened her eyes to
Cyberspace.
* * *
Connor desperately raised another vault as Leviathan pounded a path into the passage. Then he rolled beneath the portal with Jordan held tightly in his arms as the beast saw him and unleashed a hellish blast of flame down the dark-red tunnel.
It impacted the vault like a hurricane.
With a roar the beast had charged down the tunnel to instantly strike the portal, but Connor gained his feet on the far side. And as he stood he sensed something... something different in the ravaging attack.