Amanda’s eyes watered as she stared at Keiko.
Carmen used the moment of silence to break in. “Keiko, why are you here?”
“Because you needed me.”
“I appreciate that,” Carmen said. “But to be honest, it doesn’t look like you’re in any position to help us. What happened?”
“I was betrayed by Vincenzio Marrese. Somehow he managed to figure out that I opposed everything they are trying to do. I then decided there was no risk in coming here. What did I have to lose?”
“Where did they find you?”
“I came to them.” Keiko glanced toward the guards to make sure they weren’t looking. “I was just with your friends, and I am now here trying to provide them with information.”
Carmen was relieved to hear that the group was now inside. “And do you have a plan?” she asked.
“Yes, but for now it is better if I keep it to myself,” Keiko said.
Immediately the trembling grew worse, shaking the building as though it was going to lift out of its foundation. It was difficult to see in the dim light, but Carmen noticed a change in expressions around the room. Only Marrese seemed calm, his mouth curling into a sinister smile.
“Call me a cynic,” Carmen said over the noise. “But I’m not sure how you’re going to get us out of this while under armed guard.”
Keiko turned to face Carmen and said, “Trust me.” She then turned her head toward the cubicle where Koehler sat. “I just hope it will be in time.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
“Skinner, could you repeat that?” Zane whispered into the microphone attached to his cuff. The operatives were still holed up in two rooms just outside of the lobby of the CERN control center.
“I just received a text from the bot,” came the whispered reply through Zane’s earbud. “She said she is going to make her move in the next couple of minutes and will text us again when she does. And get this — she also said that shortly after we receive the text we will hear a blast. That will be our signal to enter.”
Zane didn’t like what he was hearing. He didn’t like the fact that the humanoid was taking matters into her own hands, particularly when it seemed to be putting other people’s lives in danger. “Did she say what was going to be the cause the blast?”
“Negative.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Zane said. “There are innocent people in there… people we’re trying to extract. Text her back and tell her we have concerns about collateral damage.”
There was a long pause as Skinner typed out his text and then waited for Keiko’s reply. About a minute later Skinner’s voice crackled through the earpiece once again. “She said the blast will be contained with no chance of collateral damage. She’s going to take out the bulk of Mironov’s men with the blast, and that Carmen and the others will be to our right when we enter.”
“There are ‘others’?”
“I’m assuming VanGelder, but I don't really know. She said that her decision was final, and we need to prepare to enter.”
“I still don’t like it.” Zane let out a long sigh. “But we have no choice. Ready your weapons and be prepared to enter. There will be smoke and chaos, so be sure you’ve identified your target. Also, remember that Carmen and VanGelder should be on our right as we enter.”
“Roger that,” Skinner said.
Zane couldn’t quite figure out how Keiko was going to trigger a blast, but he assumed she must possess some sort of internal weaponry. In the end, if she said she could manufacture a blast, Zane had no doubt she could.
“Sir, Reid here.”
“Go ahead.”
“Do you feel that?”
Zane had been lost in his thoughts and hadn’t noticed that the floor was now shaking underneath his feet. It was so intense that it was like a convulsion that rose up out of the bowels of the earth. “I do now. I’m assuming this has something to do with the collider. It feels like she’s ready to blow.”
“Should we instruct the bot to abort?”
“Negative. The blast, combined with this tremor, may give us an advantage. The more chaos, the better. They’re going to be focused on those two things, and we’re going to be focused on taking them out.”
“Copy that.”
Three minutes later Skinner’s voice erupted in their earpieces. “I just received the text. The bot is about to launch.”
Zane reached out and grabbed the doorknob with his left, ready to move at the first sound.
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
“Increase the energy to sixteen TeV,” Marrese hissed. He and Mironov were both standing behind Koehler, staring at the screen as the moment of truth approached.
The German grimly complied. After tapping out several commands and overriding the warning to check the system, he stopped and waited for the results. Various screens scrolled across the monitor automatically before a notice came up indicating that the electromagnets had been engaged once again. Precisely two minutes later, the earth and the building began to shake even more violently than before. Koehler’s face was ash white, and he looked nervously at Mironov.
Seemingly oblivious to the trembling, Marrese’s mouth turned into a sinister smile. This was the moment he had been waiting for; the new era of mankind was upon them. His body tingled as he realized that the visitors would be arriving at any moment. Based on a vision he’d received, he knew that a partition was forming over their heads. In the vision, he had also been given the number eighteen, a number he knew indicated the amount of energy needed in the system. Once there, he would instruct the German to trigger the collision of subatomic particles.
Reminded that the moment had almost arrived, Marrese turned to Mironov. “Have your men been instructed that they are not to shoot, regardless of what happens?”
“Yes,” replied the Russian. “Many times. They would kill themselves before they would disobey me.”
“Good… because we’re almost there.”
As if on cue, the computer binged, and a box popped up indicating that the changes were complete and the proton beams were being catapulted around the twenty-seven-kilometer tubes at a sizzling sixteen TeV of energy. Marrese smiled at Mironov and then placed his hands on Koehler’s shoulders. Lowering his head, he whispered into the German’s ears, “Take us to eighteen and then trigger the collision.”
Koehler hesitated, but then said, “Yes, sir.” He tapped out the commands, and once again overrode the request for the system to be tested prior to increasing the energy. Thirty seconds later, the final request appeared on the screen, asking Koehler to verify that he was aware of the potential safety hazard of increasing the system without further testing.
The German glanced back at Marrese, as if to give the priest one last chance to change his mind, but seeing only a smile, he hit the Enter key and braced for what was to come.
CHAPTER SIXTY
“Your father was a great man,” Keiko said.
Amanda looked into Keiko’s aqua-blue eyes, still finding it difficult to process the fact that she was talking to a machine. “Did you work closely together?”
“As close as any two could work at Renaissance. He built every piece of me, from the gears in my limbs, to my power source, to my personality. All of it.”
“How can one program a personality?”
Keiko paused for a moment, and Amanda heard a whining noise inside the humanoid’s head, almost like the hard drive of a computer. “For years your father had conducted research in artificial intelligence, or AI… more specifically the introduction of idiosyncratic human behavior in advanced humanoids such as myself. He programmed me with certain traits that he said represented desirable qualities in a human being, including loyalty, grace, and putting the needs of others before your own. I could tell you more about the specific programming initiatives, but we do not have the time, nor do I believe that would interest you.”