“I splattered it,” he said to Dawkins on his com. “How’s it going on your end?”
He could hear bangs and explosions through his earpiece. It sounded like Dawkins was in a nasty fire-fight. Anson had no surveillance link on his level – so he could not monitor the situation. It sounded like she needed support. He dashed to the elevator and rode it back up to Level 1. He came out prepared to shoot anything – but he was met by Dawkins covered in green strands. She was picking them off her armour, her nose wrinkled in disgust. “One freak got in and tried to zap me. I took care of it with a grenade.”
“What about the launch tubes?”
“Everything is sealed up. They’re not getting in that way.”
“That’s great – but we’ve got a problem. I was hoping to use the launch tubes to send my array of signal boosters up in the air, once the nanoforge finished making them. Can’t do that now. We have to figure out something else.”
A thunderous boom shook Anson almost off his feet.
Dawkins’ eyes widened. “What the hell was that?”
“I don’t know – but I doubt it was good. I’m going to head to the control room to see if any of my drones are still operational outside. Come with me.”
“Shouldn’t I guard the hatch?”
“I need you down in the nanoforge. I’ve thought of something we can make.”
“What?”
“I’ll tell you on the way.”
In the control room Anson could not connect with any of his drones – which was a huge disappointment – but he was receiving a signal from outside. Someone was at the hatch wanting to talk to him. He switched on the cameras and saw a soldier standing outside. He was wearing the uniform of a five-star general from Station Delta. Anson recognised the man immediately. It was General Eric Gerlach. It looked like a whole garrison accompanied him, standing on the smoking battlefield. The General shouted into the intercom.
“This is General Gerlach. Can you hear me, son?”
Anson switched on the link. “General, how did you get here?”
“My people observed a lot of Rippler activity over your position. I figured you needed a little help, son. Is anyone else with you?”
“Yes, sir. Sergeant Dawkins.”
The General frowned. “Did you say Dawkins, son?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Is she with you right now?”
“No, sir. She’s in the basement.”
“Okay. Listen to me. That’s not Dawkins. Dawkins was killed last week in a factory raid. Her body is in the morgue right now.”
“No. She’s right here. It must be someone else, sir.”
The General shook his head. “I saw her body myself. Look, I’ll show you on my handheld.”
The General played a video taken from Dawkins’ helmet camera as she battled against some Ripplers.
Anson watched her die.
“Let us in, son.”
Anson sighed. “Yes, sir.”
He was leaving the room when Dawkins appeared. “The nanoforge is running right now. Hey – what’s wrong?”
“General Gerlach is outside. He’s defeated the Ripplers. He wants us to open the door.”
“That’s good news.”
“No, it’s not. He says you died last week.”
“What? That’s nuts.”
“He showed me a convincing video.”
“And you believed it? It’s fake, Anson. It’s the Ripplers. They want you to open the hatch for them.”
“I know,” he said. “General Gerlach would never get off his lazy ass to fight. Besides which, I know you. If you were one of the enemy, you could have killed me the moment my back was turned. He thinks I believed him. He thinks I’ll open up the hatch for him.”
“Then we can’t disappoint him,” Dawkins said. “Let’s do it. I came up to tell you nanoforge has already finished baking a cake for him.”
Five minutes later, Anson pulled the lever to open the hatch. It was just starting to open when he fired his smart weapon through the gap, unleashing a series of whooshing explosions before the hatch had opened halfway. He raced to the entrance and continued firing, blowing apart dozens of enemy troops lying in wait. The area was temporarily clear around the hatch – but it would not take long for the Ripplers to regroup and attack.
“Now, Dawkins!”
Dawkins sent a command to the kitchen bot beside her. It rushed outside, zooming past him carrying its cargo in its mechanical arms. The bot stopped 100 metres away while Anson provided cover. He continued firing until the hatch was closed again.
As the bot had rushed past, he had seen the timer counting down on the bomb it was carrying, a freshly-made hydrogen bomb. Twenty seconds. That was all he was given it before it detonated. Anson turned and ran down the tunnel, counting down the seconds. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
The explosion was much louder than the last one.
His ears were ringing when he picked himself up off the floor. Dawkins had fallen over too. They both stood up.
Dawkins shook her head. “Are we still alive?”
“Yeah – but they aren’t. That nuke will have toasted them all. And the explosion will be seen from orbit. The real General Gerlach will figure out we need help now.”
“I’m amazed the nanoforge could make a nuclear bomb.”
“It could make anything if it has the materiel and the 3D designs.”
“So … what do we do now?”
“I don’t know about you – but I need a shower before the cavalry shows up.”
Dawkins laughed. “I think I’ll join you.”
Anson grinned. “I knew you still liked me.”
“How?”
“You still have my first name tattooed on your hip.”
AFTERWORD
John Moralee is the author of the crime novel Acting Dead, the zombie apocalypse thriller Journal of the Living, and the comic fantasy Crowning Achievement: The Legend of King Arthur. He lives in England, where his short fiction has appeared in magazines and anthologies including The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper Stories, Crimewave, and the British Fantasy Society’s magazine Peeping Tom.
Several collections of his stories are available as ebooks and trade paperbacks.
OTHER BOOKS BY JOHN MORALEE:
Acting Dead – a mystery novel
Journal of the Living – zombie apocalypse novel
Crowning Achievements: Legend of King Arthur – comic fantasy novel
The Bone Yard and Other Stories – horror short stories
Bloodways – horror short stories
Edge of Crime – crime fiction omnibus
The Good Soldier – short stories
The Tomorrow Tower is a collection of nine science fiction short stories. In the distant future a woman becomes horrified by the actions of her decadent companions. A man’s brother returns from a war with his mind drastically changed. A television falls in love with its owner. A soldier must track down an old friend before he kills. A race of super-cute aliens arrive on Earth asking to help humankind – but what do they really want? A boy dreams of becoming a cosmonaut in an alternate history where the Russians walked on the Moon first. A man searches for his family in a world wrecked by dangerous nanotechnology and warped virtual reality. An immortal dictator fears for his life while building a deadly war machine. And a grieving man starts seeing strange things after a car crash, making him doubt everything he's ever believed to be real.