He could only imagine the discomfort human soldiers would be feeling if they were stuck inside the various tanks, weapons carriers, and other vehicles. But who knew with Aggregates? How was that any different from their standard physical location?
The moment he thought terrible things about the Aggregates, he felt bad; there was at least one that was different.
How Carbon-143 broke free from her conditioning, or more to the point, why, Whit would have loved to know.
He hoped he would live long enough to ask his Aggregate “friend.”
She had not been in contact since offering him this job and giving him a few key instructions:
“When the final command comes, take control of the Ring and disrupt its operations.”
“They’ll kill me.”
“Disrupting the operations will probably kill us all.”
“Oh.” He thought. “Disrupt how, exactly?”
“Your research will have shown you that the Ring must create a specifically shaped field at just the right moment and with a certain orientation. Change one of those and it will fail. There are also several humans present who will require assistance as they escape this facility. They are visitors from Keanu.”
Whit had seen some mention of them on the news. “Why are they here?”
“They are helping with operation of the Ring.”
“Then why should I help them?”
For just a moment, Whit thought he detected what, for a human, would have been exasperation. “Because it is necessary.”
He had trusted Carbon-143 to this point—there was no reason to stop.
He really wished he could talk to her now, though. He felt isolated, sent out on a mission with instructions that were sure to be difficult or impossible to carry out.
And with little chance of success.
At that moment, Counselor Kate said, “They’re resuming!”
And the serene countdown voice noted, “Four hours to Fire Light.”
In the control center, all motion ceased. Humans and Aggregates slipped back to their stations so smoothly that Whit hardly registered any motion.
And his heart rate must have doubled. Oh my God, oh my God, he thought. This is really happening! He was at the heart of the opening of a door to another solar system . . . enabling an alien invasion! Less than two weeks ago he had been a lowly worker bee on a metro stop in Las Vegas!
He thought about his father . . . and Randall Dehm.
He thought about . . . well, everybody in America and the other Free Nations, and how many of them would be alive after today.
He thought about the rest of the planet . . . the same thing for them. Would they be better off with the Aggregates largely gone, or weakened?
Or, their big mission in ruins, assuming that Whit could ruin it—would they be more vulnerable to attack? Or would they be ruthless in taking revenge?
He thought about this target world who-knew-how-many-light-years distant and how his actions might spare them the Aggregate invasion.
As he thought, he followed the progress of the count. He noted imagery from the staging areas as the tanks and tankers and other vehicles lined up in arrow-shaped formations . . . ready for the Ring cone to turn toward them.
He noted the insane amount of traffic on his screen, a constant flow of words, numbers, images . . . as if every component of the Ring facility larger than a cell phone were reporting in. Which was probably what it meant.
Through it all, he kept returning to the purple rectangle on the corner . . . the icon inert, not yet enabled, ready to go live in the last half hour.
The one he would have to click to authorize the final automatic actions of the Ring.
As he stared, a new window appeared next to it, a news camera image of what appeared to be a meteor streaking across the sky.
It was coming from Counselor Kate’s station. “What am I seeing?” he asked her, on their private link.
“Apparently Keanu has launched an object toward Earth. The NEO has moved, too, and is coming closer.”
“Are we under attack?” He wasn’t at all surprised that the humans on Keanu might know about the Ring or be trying to attack it, even if it meant that they would be attacking Whit Murray, too.
“No one seems to know.”
“Where is this information coming from?”
“What do you mean?”
“Is this on the Aggregate networks?”
“No,” she said. “It’s just a Free Nation news feed—”
“Block it,” he said.
“But—”
“Goddammit, didn’t you just tell me we were entering the terminal phase? We have forty-some minutes to go! Nobody needs any distractions!”
The window vanished from his screen.
“Thank you.”
Counselor Kate said nothing.
Whit considered his next steps. The OVERRIDE icon would go live in moments, at which point he would click MANUAL, and if there was a God, or Aggregate Carbon-143 had done her job, select UPDATE and RETURN TO AUTO.
Then what? Run? Surrounded by Aggregates, he would be lucky to reach the exit, much less the outdoors, much less someplace safe.
He knew the Adventure humans were present and willing to help him . . . but he had no idea how to find them.
All right, then, your plan is hit the right switch, then excuse yourself to go to the bathroom.
Even as he thought it, he knew it was hopeless, lame. He had to accept the fact that his best option was dead hero.
“Murray!” That was Counselor Kate’s voice, but not through the link. Whit turned.
Counselor Kate was behind him, and she looked shaken. With her were her two THE companions, Counselors Margot and Hans. They had been present in the control center all during the morning but generally out of Whit’s view.
“Step away from the console,” Counselor Hans said.
Oh God, Whit thought. He forced himself to say, “Why?”
“Your behavior is suspect,” Counselor Margot said.
“You shut down information flow,” Counselor Kate said.
“For good reason.”
“It’s inconsistent with your past behavior,” Counselor Hans said. “Step away.”
The countdown voice said, “One minute.” The OVERRIDE icon glowed.
“I think your behavior is suspect!” Whit suddenly shouted. He jumped to his feet, pointed at Counselor Hans. “They’re trying to wreck the operation!”
The Aggregates to either side buzzed into motion, quickly closing on the trio from THE and giving Whit time to click MANUAL, then, as Counselor Hans screamed, “You have to stop him!” UPDATE and AUTO.
The purple window disappeared.
Other Aggregates joined the struggle. They were no longer needed at their consoles; Fire Light couldn’t be stopped now. It was like a rocket with engines igniting just seconds prior to liftoff; shutting it down would only destroy it.
Whit stood back from the console, hands raised. “Fine, I’m suspect? Let’s settle this elsewhere.” And he allowed himself to be hustled toward the rear of the control room by a trio of Aggregates.
Before they could reach the door, Whit thought he smelled smoke of some kind. Then he saw a cloud of vapor descending from overhead vents.
The door opened, revealing a giant, strange-looking being with four arms.
Then Whit fell down.
FIRE LIGHT
IN PROGRESS
COUNTDOWN CLOCK AT SITE A