The Independent Worlds (The Sixteen Galaxies Book 2) Read online

  Nuthros turned to Mandy. “So, I see you are a little better than when you left us.”

  She smiled at him. It was impossible not to like Nuthros. “I am as if it never happened, Nuthros.”

  Nuthros sobered and took both her hands. “I hear that Tenseel’s light dance was a little rough on you and the other two humans. Are you okay with that now?”

  She shrugged. “At the time, it was very unpleasant. But, Chris and I talked about it a few times. There are things we both need to resolve, I think.”

  “Yes,” he replied, “I’m afraid Chris has only just begun to suffer.” He brightened. “You, though, have some matters to attend to, that is true, but I think things will get better for you henceforth.”

  Mandy turned to the viewport. “I wish I could believe that, Nuthros. But, I am not looking forward to the next time I see Jack.”

  “I know. However, I would urge you to keep an open mind, Mandy. We may believe we understand a situation, only to find our viewpoint is completely skewed. The Entity knows the truth of Jack’s past. It will not share that information, but wants you to resolve it with Jack for yourself. Both of you need that.”

  Mandy looked up at the ceiling. She had no idea why she did that; it was instinctive. “Why can’t you tell me yourself? Surely, if the truth is that Jack didn’t kill my parents, then I am better off knowing; isn’t that so?”

  “It may seem that way,” Truly replied. “But your relationship with Jack depends on your ability to communicate with one another, as any relationship does. Even though I may be a reliable source, the information is still second-hand, and from a third party. Such matters should stay private, Mandy.”

  Mandy scowled out of the viewport. “I am not ‘in a relationship’ with Jack, and I never have been. We just work together, that’s it.”

  There was a long pause before Truly spoke again. “Are you sure about that, Mandy?”

  *****

  Global News Update

  “…Shares in the engineering giant Granfield & Porter skyrocketed today after it was announced that the company had successfully completed trials for their Quantum Transit Cube. The device uses quantum level technology to transport huge amounts of data at incredible speed. The company expects the device to be on sale by the end of next week, and presale orders have already been suspended after it was discovered production will take six months to fulfil existing orders. A company spokesman said priority will be given to installation of QTCs into the data network within the United States.

  “There were frantic scenes in the Australian Federal Parliament today, as John Cranston, the incumbent member for Keetharra was arrested by Australian Federal Police during a speech to the press outside Parliament House in Canberra; Australia’s capital city. Cranston was arrested and charged with the taking of bribes. It is believed his arrest was a result of evidence supplied by the ‘Letterbox Sniper’, who has seemingly stopped his execution of politicians, and now simply anonymously supplies evidence of corruption to authorities around the world. This arrest brings the total of politicians incarcerated for corruption worldwide to over 150. Another 785 have stepped down from political office for various reasons.”

  *****

  Riverton Springs, Illinois

  The old Dodge sedan looked for all the world like it was on its last legs. Rusted and dented, it appeared to be a miracle it was still in one piece. And that was just how Ryan Sanderson liked it. For a man whose hatred for the information age knew no bounds; old was gold. No engine management computers, no sophisticated emissions systems, no LED infested dashboard. The steady rumble of the 440 cubic-inch Hemi big-block betrayed the lies the body told. The engine was blueprinted, balanced and fuel injected. It was constructed with all forged components, and it sat on a seam-welded body shell with a full roll cage. Tuned racing suspension and a tough drive train meant he could use all 550 horsepower to its best advantage. He loved The Old Bucket, as he called it.

  Meticulously maintained, the car could get him the hell out of a sticky situation in seconds. Which was good; because in his line of work, sticky situations came with the territory. Ryan was a deal-maker, a source for items that were hard to get hold of. That could be information, illegal goods of all sorts, or sometimes even people. He always got the goods, and always closed the deal. Over the course of his fifteen-year career, just five people had tried to rip him off. All five were dead. Nobody tried that stuff on him anymore.

  He guided the Dodge into the next bend. Long and open, the left-hand curve just asked for more horsepower. He grinned from ear to ear as the Mopar monster roared in response to his pressure on the gas pedal. He held the wheel steady against the G-forces that wanted to straighten it, right up to the point where there was a deafening crack, and the wheel was ripped out of his hands as it spun viciously to the left.

  Ryan briefly tried to regain his grip on the steering wheel, only to have his wrist broken by one of the wheel’s spokes. His scream of agony was drowned out by the screech of tires as the rear end slewed round. He knew he was just a passenger now, and braced for impact as he felt the left-hand side of the car lift. It rolled onto its roof and slid off the road to a stop in a ditch by the roadside. Ryan scrabbled at the seat belt with his good hand. He smelt fuel and forced himself to remain calm. He knew explosions were the stuff of Hollywood, but every instinct yelled at him to get out, now!

  The belt finally let go and he crawled out of the smashed side window and onto the gasoline covered tarmac. Ryan retched from the fumes as he staggered to his feet, just in time to see a man with a 9mm pistol pointed at him.

  *****

  Jack heard the roar of the big V8 and the Dodge hurtled into view. He steadied the crosshairs on a point just in front of the front left tire. He timed the shot, squeezed the trigger and the Barrett .50 cal rifle gave him a swift kick in the shoulder. The mag wheel instantly collapsed and he felt a brief stab of satisfaction. A blink-of-the-eye shot on a fast-moving target carried out with total precision. He stood up, hefted the big rifle and slapped the bipod shut. He trotted down and across the road, where, by that time, Ron held the Sanderson guy at gunpoint. Jack stopped next to Ron and nodded at the dazed man in front of him. “Hey there Ryan, remember me?”

  Ryan pulled himself together. “Hey Jack.” He nodded at the Barrett in Jack’s hands. “Compensating for something?”

  Jack scowled. “Right now, I’m fighting the temptation to take your head off with it, to be honest.”

  Ryan laughed. “Hey, no hard feelings, man. It’s just business, you know?” He looked at his car. “That’s one hell of a shot, Jack. How’d a dumbass journo like you pull off a trick like that?”

  Jack took one step forward and Ron clamped a hand on his arm. “We’d best take this idiot and go, before-”

  He was cut off by the sound of several weapons being cocked. “Guns on the ground and hands in the air, gentlemen; nice and slowly, now. Take it real steady with the artillery there, pal.”

  Both men did as they were told. They turned round slowly to see five men with automatic rifles trained on them. “Careful with these two,” the younger one at the front told the others. “They’re a lot tougher than they look.”

  All five men moved to encircle Jack and Ron. Jack glanced sideways at Ron, and flicked his eyes to a point behind the men. Ron turned to face their captors and Jack calculated an ingress. He went to portal jump, and nothing happened. He stole a glance at Ron again, whose face told the same story; no portal ability.

  Out of the corner of his left eye, Jack saw Nuthros appear with a strange device in his hands. He leveled the device at the five men in turn and each was thrown off their feet and a good five yards away from where they were. None of them had time to react. Each of them landed on the ground dead still. Jack heard a sound behind him and whirled around to see Ryan grab the Barrett and swing it up, his face twisted with the pain from his wrist. Nuthros fired the device at Ryan and it threw the big rifle up and into Ryan’s head. He fl
ew sideways and slammed onto the ground, motionless.

  Nuthros dropped the device on the road and ran over to Ryan, his face a ghostly white. He knelt next to Ryan and laid a hand on his neck. “Oh no,” he stammered. He backed away from the lifeless body. “I’ve killed him.” He turned to Jack. “I didn’t mean to, Jack, I really didn’t. It’s supposed to stun them, that’s all; it’s not meant to kill someone. Oh my, this is awful!”

  Jack grabbed Nuthros by the shoulders. “Stuff happens in combat, Nuthros; the rifle killed him; it was an accident. Come on, let’s just check the others and get the hell out of here.”

  Ron was already on his way to check the furthest one, so Nuthros went over to the closest one; the apparent leader. He lay dead still as well, but Jack saw his chest move. “He’s alright, Nuthros, check the next one.”

  Nuthros made to move away from the first one when the young man suddenly leapt up and grabbed Nuthros around the legs.

  “NO!” Jack cried and jumped onto the man’s back. All three instantly disappeared.

  Ron spun round at Jack’s cry and saw them just before they vanished. He stood up, his face ashen. “Oh, crap.”

  One of the other men groaned and moved slightly. Ron ran over to the device Nuthros had dropped and grabbed it. Then he got a hold of the Barrett. Something strange on the nearest man’s wrist caught his eye. It was a semi-translucent band of some kind. Ron checked the other men and they all wore the same thing. He decided to take one back with him. It slipped off easily and he pocketed it. He pulled out a cell-phone and pressed a speed-dial button. Nothing happened. He went cold as realization set in; these bracelets were some kind of device that interfered with portal jumping.

  His mind raced through options. He wanted to take one with him; they would need to examine it and come up with a counter. They must have a range, so… He dropped the bracelet on the ground and smashed his foot down onto it. He heard breakage, and picked it back up. He trotted up the road a bit and hit the speed dial again. This time, he disappeared.

  *****

  Global News Update

  “…Horror in Berlin today after a terrorist attack levelled a shopping mall this morning. Hundreds are missing, and eleven confirmed dead after the Kaufer-Paradies mall in downtown Berlin collapsed following a huge explosion. The blast was so strong it smashed windows nearly two blocks away. A group calling itself ‘The Anti-Integration League’ has claimed responsibility. The German chancellor has already left the G20 summit in Beijing and is expected back in Berlin within hours.

  “US President Michael Maitland, speaking on behalf of the other leaders at the G20 summit, said the attack was inhuman and unacceptable. ‘The people of the world will not tolerate being dictated to by extremists. The entire group of world leaders assembled here has resolved to push forward with our discussion on global integration, and the German Chancellor has already agreed to stand firm with us when we say that we will not negotiate with terrorists. Anti-globalization protest groups will do themselves no good by alienating themselves from the general public with cowardly acts like this.”

  “Several anti-globalization groups have been quick to deny the President’s suggestion the attack had anything to do with them. One activist went so far as to call the Berlin attack a ‘Classic false-flag tactic’.”

  14

  Kestil’s base

  The leader of their captors released Nuthros and struggled with Jack on the floor, each man desperate to get a hold on the other, and oblivious to the change of scene. The two guards in the room where they appeared took a moment to comprehend what was going on. Jack bodily flung the young man across the room and his leg smashed into a storage locker. He let out a cry of pain. Jack leapt to his feet. The two guards moved in on him. He drove a lightning kick into one’s side, which flung the guard into his partner. Jack went for the assault rifle one guard dropped.

  “Enough!” Jack stopped and turned, his hand nearly on the weapon. The young man still lay on the floor, but he had a pistol aimed at Nuthros’ head. “Face down on the floor, now!”

  Jack complied with a scowl on his face. One of the guards strode up to Jack and viciously clubbed him unconscious with a rifle butt.

  Nuthros blinked in the harsh white light of the bare room he found himself in. The young man who had captured him stood up and dusted himself off. “Stay there, please Nuthros.” He coughed and rubbed his leg. “Your friend there fights like a tiger, doesn’t he?”

  Nuthros frowned. “Do I know you?”

  The young man smiled casually. “Sort of.”

  He limped out of the room and met Kestil just outside. The two spoke for a few minutes, and then Kestil came in through the doorway. “Well, well, how lucky can I be? I aim to catch one or two of these agents of yours, and I get you as a bonus. How are you, brother?”

  Nuthros stared at the floor in silence.

  “Yes,” Kestil said, “got blood on your hands for once, I hear. Not very nice when you can’t leave your lackeys with all the dirty work, is it?”

  Nuthros watched a tear fall from his face and splash on the floor.

  Kestil groaned. “Oh, for goodness sake, Nuthros, it was only a contractor. The man was a nobody, a wastrel. Handy enough, in his way, but there’s plenty more humans like him. Too many, if you ask me. Still, he served a purpose. Once your two agents started interfering with things, I figured you’d try to get what you could out of Ryan. What was the plan, hmm?” Nuthros held his silence and Kestil shrugged. “Well, it makes little difference, now. He brought you to me, and I didn’t have to pay him a cent for the result.”

  Nuthros raised his eyes to his brother. “When did you stop feeling anything, Kestil? When did your heart completely turn to stone?”

  Kestil walked right up to Nuthros. “The day your damned AI and your oh so precious council tried to kill me the first time, Nuthros.” He waved a dismissive hand. “We’ve discussed all this before, I’ll not waste time on it again. It’s very interesting to hear about a Sixteen Galaxies councilor wielding an offensive weapon, though. Kinetic field projector, but a hand-held version. The council has decided to join the party after all, have they?”

  “What do you want from me, Kestil? I will tell you nothing, you know that.”

  Kestil smiled. “Oh, I don’t really want anything from you, Nuthros. All I need is for you to stay here until the inevitable happens. Then the fun really begins. Now, you must excuse me, I have bigger fish to fry. If you need anything, just give the guards a shout.”

  He turned to the two guards. “Take that agent and lock him down tight. Make sure you keep a portal jammer in the room with him at all times. It is evident he is enhanced, so make allowances for that. Once you’ve done that, go back to where this happened, and get the others back here. Clean up the scene and make it look like a simple car accident.” He flipped a mock salute to Nuthros and walked out.

  Five minutes later, Kestil walked into a big room three levels down, at the bottom of the complex. “I hear we are done, gentlemen, is that so?”

  A number of technicians were busy with final adjustments. One looked up and gave him a quick thumbs-up. John walked in behind Kestil and whistled. “That’s a damned big computer, Kestil.”

  “Yes,” Kestil replied. “It’s way bigger than it needs to be, really. But we had to limit how much hardware we brought in, so we had to make do with some of Earth’s antiquated equipment. Nevertheless, it will get the job done, and that’s all that really matters. How’s the leg?”

  “Not a problem,” John replied. “He just bruised it a bit.”

  One of the technicians walked up and handed across a checklist. “All systems checked and double checked, Kestil. She’s ready to roll.”

  “Very good work, Simon, thank you. Very well, let’s turn it on.”

  Simon nodded to another technician, and he flipped the power switch. A huge bank of blue LED indicators came to life. Simon walked up the row of machinery, and peered at various readouts as he went. �
��Right, all systems good, let’s get the server online.” More switches were flicked; more readouts were checked. Finally, Simon came back to the two men. “Congratulations, Kestil. The world’s first quantum computer is fully operational.”

  Kestil smiled and nodded his thanks. ‘You may connect.’

  There was a slight silence. Then the AI spoke. ‘Connection established, transfer of data initiated.’

  John stood and waited patiently. Kestil paced up and down. The transfer took three minutes. ‘Transfer complete. Re-boot initiated, switch to quantum format in progress.’

  Whole rows of other LEDs flickered into life; reds, greens, oranges and more blues. The lights dimmed for a second, and Kestil frowned. “It will take a minute for the power supply to stabilize,” Simon called from across the room. “The superconductors on the PCUs require heavy loads on start-up.”

  The lights steadied. ‘It is done. Reboot complete; I am made new.’

  Kestil patted John on the shoulder. “All systems go, John. Just in time, too; I have to go. Please keep an eye out for our visitor; he shouldn’t be too long. Also, make sure they have that agent secured properly, he is incredibly dangerous.”

  John peered at his boss. “Where are you off to?”

  “Ah, that is an excellent question. I am off to get things moving on another front. It’s all coming together now, my friend.”

  *****

  G20 summit, Beijing

  Special Officer Michael Woodford glanced at his watch. It was 10am, and there was a long day ahead. The meeting had been in progress for over an hour. Michael struggled with fatigue; the coordination of such an event taxed the president’s protection detail to the limit. Like all the other world leaders present, President Maitland’s security detail was huge compared to the last G20 summit. The assembled presidents, prime ministers, and one king all sat in varied poses of feigned or genuine interest. The German president had arrived this morning, to replace the chancellor. One great difference for the secret service this year was the lack of protestors. Hardly a surprise, given the host country. Quite a few of Michael’s fellow agents had commented on the irony of the situation. He tried to focus on a sweep of the room, but it was hard when he already knew the place was locked down tight as a drum.