Earth’s governments fell like dominoes. The increasing solar flare activity rendered any means of defence useless. The powers of East and West fell and the invisible lines separating nations disappeared. Around the world, houses of parliament became garrisons, curfews were enforced, and the people’s suffering increased tenfold. Without a unifying governing presence, disorder reigned. A dark shadow fell across the planet. Its name? The Mitochondrial Research Institute. Its leader? The self-proclaimed polemarch, Professor Vulcan Manning.
Extract from The Last Bastion of the Anthropocene, Ester Akintola, the final UN Secretary General.
Robyn checked her launcher for the sixth time. A thick ridge of quartz was inlaid into the sleek metal barrel of the weapon, a glittering intrusion. She focused on the mineral and felt the quartz vibrate slightly at her touch, the weapon lighting up in her hands.
“Whoa, careful there,” Ariana said, pulling the launcher from Robyn’s hands. With a low whine, the weapon went dark.
“Sorry. Just checking,” Robyn said with a small smile.
Ariana studied the launcher for a moment then handed it back. “It’s beautiful, in a way.”
The sea walker adjusted her carbon polymer armour and sat back down. Across the cabin, Eli spoke softly, issuing instructions to Sara and Chris as they strapped on their armour. Behind them, Ming and Iki lay curled up asleep.
Robyn glanced over to where Fletcher lay wrapped in a blanket, unconscious. They’d had to sedate him and Eva to get them on board. It hadn’t been pretty. When Robyn had activated Fletcher’s collar, it had sparked and the earth walker fell to his knees, eyes rolling into the back of his head as Ariana jabbed him with the syringe.
Ariana noticed Robyn staring at Fletcher. “Why does the quartz listen to us and not Nyx?”
It was a good question. Robyn thought about her meditations at the temple, the surety she’d felt amongst the ancient crystal mosaics that seemed to whisper to her. Ariana had described it exactly – it was like the crystals listened to them. All living things from every branch of life depended upon energy. Each organism interacted with the cosmic electromagnetic radiation that flowed through them, but only some could actively channel it – the walkers.
“Our DNA,” Robyn said. “The walkers’ unique convergence sequence allows us to interact with the cosmic energy field around us and manipulate it. Its power is what we harness to cross over to the spirit world and access the walker state.”
Robyn ran a finger along the opaque crystal surface, thinking back to her time at the temple, the peace she’d felt there. “That’s why the temple was built on a bedrock of quartz. When Liro fought Nyx in the temple, white energy had risen around him and pushed the spirit back, entombing her deep within the Earth. The quartz must have helped. It seems to amplify the walkers’ capabilities.”
“But not Nyx,” Ariana completed the thought. She looked at Fletcher with a glum smile. “I hope it’s enough.”
A surge of uneasy energy pulsed through Robyn’s limbs. She felt Ariana and Eli’s uncertainty and trepidation and it made her sick to her stomach. This was her plan. Her research. If it all went wrong, it would also be her fault.
Robyn shivered as something crawled across her neck and up to her earlobe. It drew her back to the present. “Poppy,” she murmured. “That tickles.” Jacob, the bee’s human partner, remained in Wales helping the tech heads. Yet through Poppy, he was also on this mission. The pair had spent long months of training to expand Poppy’s reach in her hive form, harnessing the energy of the spirit world.
The helicopter flew on through the night. Soon snow arced through the helicopter’s lights. They were getting closer. Robyn found a spot on the floor to settle down and closed her eyes to meditate.
Jacob sat cross-legged on the armchair in Bry’s study, electrodes plastered to his scalp. Poppy flickered on his ear, her russet fur glowing. “This is harder than it looks, you know,” Jacob said to Kate, furrowing his brow in concentration.
Beside him, Kate sat on the floor where she was monitoring the electrodes’ output. “I know, but it’s pretty cool how you and Poppy can skim the spirit world and use its energy to keep Poppy in her hive form and our comms working.”
Kara spun her chair around, first clockwise then anticlockwise. “But it’s weird how it kinda looks like you’re just sitting there.”
“Cut it out, Kara, some of us are trying to work here,” Aster said, glancing over his shoulder from the second monitor. At his laptop, Bohai grinned.
All of a sudden, Kara stopped treating Bry’s antique office chair like a fairground ride. “Jesus! His brainwave activity is through the roof.”
Kara tossed Jacob another chocolate chip biscuit. “Better keep your strength up. You’re the only reason our comms are working through these erratic solar flares. I wish we’d thought of this weeks ago.”
Kate cleared her throat. Kara shoved a biscuit in her mouth and threw her sister another.
“No pressure,” Jacob mumbled through a mouthful.
Kate fist bumped his leg. “You’re freaking killing it.”
“Don’t I deserve a biscuit too?” Aster said, holding his hands like paws and adopting a pitiful expression.
“I’ve been a good boy too.”
“They’re supposed to be for Jacob,” Kara mumbled, begrudgingly sharing the box around.
Bohai raised his hand. “Ssssh. They’ve just touched down. It’s game on.”
Robyn pressed flat against the snow. The chill crept through her jacket and sank into her bones. Around them, the forest was quiet, still, as if holding its breath. She edged forward, bringing her binoculars to her eyes. HAARP was clearly visible past the forest edge; a jagged burst of buildings and bitumen. The deep hum of the radio array thudded against her chest, making the air as thick as soup. Electricity crackled along the wires, sparking high into the air, and Robyn felt the answering surge of energy in her limbs.
Mindful of Poppy, Robyn gently brought her hand to her ear. “Kara? You with me?”
“Roger that. You’re good to go. Parade ground is clear. We’ll deactivate the perimeter security once you reach the compound. Video feeds are already on a static loop of the forest recycled from yesterday. I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
“Yeah, me too.” Kate joined in.
“Uh, forgetting someone?” Aster added, sending a band of static trilling across the connection. Someone snorted – Robyn guessed it must be Bohai.
Kara’s exasperated sigh echoed in Robyn’s earbud. “Guys, we talked about this. I’m in charge of relaying information. It’s confusing otherwise, comprendez?”
Robyn shook her head. What a crack unit. “Would you all please shut up? We have a fortress to storm.”
She stashed her binoculars in her backpack and turned to Eli and Ariana lying flat beside her. Ariana tapped her earbud and grinned.
Robyn pushed up into a squat and the launcher shifted against her spine. The weight of the weapon still felt foreign, unnerving. Eli and Ariana’s energy tethers pulsed against her ribcage, calm and ready. She glanced at the pair. Gone were the normal teenagers they once were. Now they were warriors.
Fletcher sat in the snow, his closed eyelids twitching, the quartz collar a rippling disc of pure energy. His tether pulsated against Robyn’s ribcage in a barrage of darkness and icy cold. Beside him, Eva stood unnaturally still, her fur radiating with wisps of darkness. As if she sensed the danger, Chris’ polar bear, Iki, stood between Eva and Ming, Sara’s leopard, flanking the convergers. Robyn steadied herself. They were out of time. This plan had to work. She slung her launcher off her back and brought it up to her shoulder. With a nod to the others, she led the team through the deep snow and away from the relative safety of the forest.
Robyn hovered her hand against the thick metal fence surrounding the compound and felt the answering thrum of energy.
“Deactivating perimeter security now,” Kara said in her ear.
The pull of the electrified fence faded. Robyn touched the wires to confirm the fence was dead before allowing Eli within range. Red light flaring on his arms, the walker slashed a line through the metal. Sara gripped Fletcher’s shoulder and propelled him through the gap. Robyn went to follow then paused as Fletcher stared at the radio array and smiled. She felt the answering tug of something stirring deep within him. Suppressing a shudder, Robyn stepped onto the bitumen. The plan would never work without him here, but they were taking a huge risk.
“Time to take down the radio array,” Kara said in Robyn’s ear.
By deactivating the radio array, the entire compound would be exposed to the ravaging bursts of electromagnetic energy from the solar flares, disrupting Vulcan’s control of his human-animal armies around the world and rendering him, and them, helpless.
Gripping her launcher tight across her chest, Robyn signalled toward the towering, ominous array, ready to raise hell.
Derek crushed the photograph in his fist. “Now I remember everything – you drugged me, knocked me out.” He couldn’t believe it. This entire time, Fang had been manipulating him, steering him toward her own goals. “I’m nothing to you, am I? Catherine is nothing to you. You can’t see past your own lust for power.”
Fang held up her hands and stepped away from Derek. “I can explain.”
Catherine gathered up the remaining photographs and notebooks and put them in a neat pile on the desk. “Do you two want to explain what this is about?”
Derek snorted and glared at Fang. “Yeah, Fang. Why don’t you explain to Catherine why you tried to kill me?”
“It wasn’t you I was trying to kill, Derek.” Fang wrung her hands. Over the past few months, she’d had fifty versions of this conversation in her head. “It was Vulcan, damn it. Obviously, that was an epic fail. I was actually trying to keep you safe.”
Derek laughed, a deep ugly sound. Fang appealed to Catherine. “You were there. Remember?”
Catherine nodded slowly, recalling their attack on the MRI base in Bulgaria. After the battle in the arena, Fang had appeared in the MRI laboratory right when Vulcan had a gun aimed at Catherine’s head. “You saved me from Vulcan.”
“With a syringe in the neck?” Derek shook his head in disgust.
“Yes, but—”
“Don’t bother. I’ve heard enough.” Derek grabbed his tablet and headed for the door. “You’re right, Fang. This is stupid and I was stupid to trust you. Stupid enough to believe you cared about anyone other than yourself.”
Fang followed Derek, grabbing at his sleeve. Her heart thudded in her chest. She couldn’t lose him as a friend, she just couldn’t. “Derek, that’s not true …”
The room plunged into darkness. Derek froze and Fang bumped into him.
“What the hell?” Catherine said, fumbling for the cord to the blind and opening it manually. Gentle sunlight filled the room.
Derek tapped at the keypad by the door. “Damn it,” he yelled and punched the wall.
Fang joined Catherine at the window. She surveyed the compound. All was still and quiet. Not a soul was on the grounds. The crackling electricity that always arced between the enormous pylons was absent. “The radio array is down.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Catherine saw a faint glimmer of blue and red light. She snapped the blind back down and took Fang by the arm, forcing her to turn away from the window. “Whatever is going on between you two, I think you need to process your feelings. The tension in this room is unbearable.”
“What?” Derek blushed and folded his arms across his chest. “That’s not what this is. I think you’re ignoring the part where she roofied me and left me to potentially die.”
“Screw both of you.” Fang shook off Catherine and opened the blind, letting the morning light shine in. “We don’t have time for this. They’re here.”
As the radio array went dead, Robyn felt the collective sigh from the trees rustling in relief under their snowy blankets. The air cleared and Robyn took a moment to revel in the peace. Before her, Ariana and Eli glowed with blue and red light as they destroyed the main power station controls.
“The compound is in lockdown mode. You have five minutes before soldiers are mobilised.” Kara’s voice crackled in Robyn’s ear, spurring her forward. The walkers ran alongside her, while Sara and Chris flanked Fletcher and Eva behind them.
“Vulcan’s armies are controlled from the main hub in the centre of the compound. Even though the radio array is down, in between solar flares he will still have intermittent control over his armies via the implant chips. You need to destroy the command centre to terminate the link.”
“Roger that.” Robyn skirted the perimeter of the main building. Eli and Ariana kicked open the door as easily as if it were made of paper.
“We’re in,” Robyn relayed to base. She scoped the corridor. Behind the string of closed doors came yelling and the sound of fists hammering. “You sure we’re safe?” she said to Kara.
“Positive. All internal doors are locked down. Head straight. Take the first left. The command centre will be on your right. You can’t miss it.”
“Well, isn’t this great? Trapped in here with a vacuous, cold-blooded, power-hungry villain,” Derek snapped, nursing his throbbing hand. “Are you planning on killing Catherine too?”
“Oh for God’s sake, Derek, get over it!” Fang balled her hands into fists and shoved them in her pockets to stop herself doing anything else she might regret. “Did you die? No. Right now, I think we have more important issues to deal with.”
Catherine placed herself between Fang and Derek. “I hate to say it, but Derek has a point. You did save me in Bulgaria but a couple of minutes later, you also threatened to kill me. In fact, if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be here in the first place.” Catherine stepped toward Fang, her voice laced with steel. “Can we trust you now? Robyn needs to trust you for this to work.”
“If you mean, do I want to control the MRI, then no. At least, not anymore.” Fang appealed to Catherine and Derek. “Vulcan has gone too far. He’s taken my research – our research – far beyond the realm of ethics and morality. Coercion, loss of free will, the use of this incredible bond for war, for dictatorship of the planet. I can’t stand by and watch that happen. We have to do something.”
Fang slumped against the desk. Catherine saw her defences crumbling, her exhaustion showing now the mask had slipped. How hard must it have been to keep pretending to be somebody that you weren’t? Beneath the façade, Fang was just like them – trying to do the best with what she had. “You’re right. We all want the same thing – to stop Vulcan and save the planet.” Catherine shook her head with a wry grin. “I never thought I’d say this, but I believe you. Jesus, what’s the world coming to?”
“Complete and utter destruction, if we don’t hurry up,” Derek said. He turned to Fang and exhaled sharply, his face grave. “Promise not to stab me with any more needles?”
A pained expression flashed across Fang’s face as she realised she might never win Derek’s forgiveness. “Promise. If you behave yourself,” she added in an attempt to lighten the mood, but Derek just shook his head and turned away.
Catherine grabbed a pen off the desk and jimmied it into the door panel. It prised free with a clunk, exposing thick cords of coloured wires. She removed her cardigan, balled it into a glove and yanked at the wires.
“Stop!” Fang cried, pushing Catherine aside. “Lockdown protocol has been activated. We can’t just start ripping the wires out of the wall – the secondary door will seal us in even tighter.” She pulled out her tablet and plugged it into the panel. The smell of singed wool filled the room. Catherine dropped her cardigan on the floor and stomped out the smouldering embers.
“With the radio array down, we’re on backup power.” Fang explained. “The generators cycle every ten minutes, with a thirty-second window during the changeover. If I overload the circuit during that changeover, the panel won’t register the lockdown protocol.” Code flashed across Fang’s tablet. She glanced at her watch.
The panel lit up and with a ding the door sprang open. Fang unplugged her tablet and turned to Catherine and Derek. “I thought you said we were in a hurry?”