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Grannalt stood cautious in the open area staring at the pristine white vehicle unmoving up ahead. He couldn’t figure out how the thing never got dirty from traveling across the territories until he zoomed in on the alloy the thing was made out of. He had seen it before being manufacture in one of the other countries’ facility. The design was sleek and functional which he liked. Despite that, the thing stood out like a beacon.
He decided to take a chance and advanced towards it. At the one-hundred-yard mark, the vehicle lights came on.
“Warning. Further approach will initiate defense protocols. Please reverse course.”
Grannalt recognized that annoying AI voice from the cannon system. He rolled his eyes in exasperation.
“Is anyone in there? Can you hear me? I am not an enemy,” he yelled. He raised his hands up to reiterate his claim as the external minicams protruded out for a better view. “Are you lost? Need help?” He moved closer.
“Warning! Defense protocol initiating in...”
“Oh, shut up! Override command Alpha zero two seven Delta. Code Grandfather.”
He hated that code. It was given to him out of spite due to his age in Earth years.
“Status. Protocol conflict.”
“If you don’t open that hatch, I will relay a kill switch.”
There was a long pause.
“Command accepted. Opening hatch.”
Grannalt pursed his lips and approached the vehicle. The hatch opened and he peered into the cockpit, seeing no one. A hand slapped against the side of the panel behind the drive seat and Grannalt nearly jumped out. He calmed himself, climbing farther in to see who was there. In the back section, hooked up to the medical unit was a young man barely conscious. His eyes were bloodshot and glazed over from pain killers doing their job.
“Who?” Was all he could get out. His hand slid down and lay limp.
“Oh damn. What happened to you?” He turned to the dash and addressed the AI. “When did this occur?”
“Five days, seven hours, twenty-two minutes and eight seconds have past.”
“How far away?”
“Seventy-two kilometers.”
“How long at this location?”
“Five days, three hours...”
“Never mind. Delay that response.” He stroked the young man’s forehead. “Prognosis.”
“Severe damage to internal organs, deep lacerations, head trauma. Repair is at sixty percent. Full recovery in fifty hours. Patient still unable to sustain consciousness for longer than two minutes.”
“What’s his name?”
“Primary operator designation Xander Headland. Combat class. Fourth Gen.”
Grannalt sucked air through his teeth. Creating bioengineered children with compatible DNA was the ongoing thing amongst the scientists in the first decades of his race’s arrival. Modified humans to continue on their legacy.
The wind picked up and Grannalt could smell rain. He saw the dashboard light up and the weather tracker appeared. Not just rain. A massive storm full of sleet and debris.
“Storm approaching in one hour.”
“Close hatch and prep for impact.”
He noticed Xander was not strapped in securely and summated the kid had got himself into the unit in a hurry while commanding the vehicle to take off. Finding them all, Grannalt repositioned him and made sure each strap was tight enough to keep him in place without constriction. That storm looked ugly. It would lift the vehicle off the ground.
For the next forty-five minutes, Grannalt familiarized himself with the vehicle, arguing with the AI regarding protocol and yet again threatening to use the kill switch. He didn’t want to do that because it would wipe out all the data. Finally, she gave up the goods and showed him the destination.
“Why there?”
“Location is last known detection of the Litigator.”
Granalt let his head fall back and he stared at the overhead. He shook his head before bringing it up to look at the display. Certain the kid’s mission was folly, he leaned against the seat and contemplated forcing a reroute. As if reading his mind, the kid’s eyes opened. He reached out with one hand.
“Don’t. Please.” His voice was barely a whisper, full of pain.
The vehicle began to rock. Grannalt looked out the window and saw a giant black funnel, squat in nature with a wide girth. Its top was a gaping hollow void. Not a tornado, something else; something new.
“Holy shit!”
The funnel slammed into the vehicle, pushing it into the side of the bluff and carrying it upwards. He could hear the alloy scraping the rock. It would be pristine no more.
“Warning. Outer integrity critical.”
“You better hold together!”
There was a loud ping like metal popping then...silence.
Grannalt watched horrified as the vehicle was flung out from the funnel’s grip and went airborne. The calculation on the dash showed them rising fast enough to break the clouds in the next few seconds. The bluff below was now the size of a thumbnail. Then Grannalt remembered something about when the vehicle was manufactured.
“Initiate aerial configuration.”
“Vehicle is not at optimal position to ...”
The vehicle had stopped ascending and went into free fall.
“Correct position and do as I command!”
Another long pause. She was angry. The vehicle jerked thirty degrees to a flat position.
“Trajectory corrected. Initiating aerial configuration.”
Extreme turbulence assaulted them as they got closer to the dissipating funnel moving steady across the plain beneath them. The vehicle bounced as wings expanded out from each side and thrusters engaged. The G force knocked Grannalt back into the seat, pinning him down. He managed to take a glimpse of Xander before his body was immobilized.
Out cold.
Grannalt took control of the vehicle as it landed, the wings folding back into the body. He hit the button to reconfigure it to surface mode, not ready to hand it over to the AI. There was silence behind him, and he was thankful for that. From the screen displaying the medical section, he could see the intravenous tubes full of liquid making its way into the kid’s veins. The digital readout had the name of it above. A unique mixture of painkiller and sedative was slowly being pumped into him.
Turning his attention back to the road ahead, he found the terrain vastly different than the one they had left. What used to be mountains were now scattered in chunks along the way. Still majestic in their condensed size, they demanded acknowledgement by the way their positions created a winding pathway. Grannalt felt a bit of sadness for them. Iridescent snow clung to the tops making them appear otherworldly.
“What’s our course status?” The AI remained silent. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Fine. Resume auto pilot.”
“Confirmed. Re-establishing control of vehicle. Stand by.”
“When you’re done having a mini tantrum, can I get our course status?”
“We are off course by one hundred and twenty kilometers. Correcting to original path.”
“Dismiss that. Is your threat assessment program off? That path was too dangerous. We need to find another route.”
The display changed to a roadmap and multiple lines appeared along the trails ending at their destination. Two plausible routes lit up in blue.
“My threat assessment is sound. I calculated that the phenomenon would not likely occur again if we continued with our original plan. It is the fastest route.”
“Well, you’re wrong. Cuz that was deliberate.”
“Explain.”
“The Litigator is making this more difficult.”
Another round of silence from the AI made him irritated. She was being childish.
“After calculating data from the weather anomaly, I have concluded that you are indeed correct. Starting new course.”
The vehicle glided sideways and pivoted to the right at a thirty-degree angle. The map changed again to show they were on the first blue route that went in an arc around the area they had fled. Grannalt looked up at the sky.
Take that, you monster.
With the AI back in control, he undid the safety restraints and climbed to the back. Xander’s breathing was not regulated and beads of sweat covered his forehead. He caught sight of a gash in the bodysuit on the side beneath the ribcage. Tiny nanobots squirmed like worker ants repairing the tissue in a deep wound. A closer observation found more wounds; some already being sealed up.
“What the hell kind of fight were you in?”
“Combat ratio was seven to one,” the AI answered unexpectedly. “Although my charge was successful in bringing the conflict to an end, there was major damage to his body. The assailants had weapons capable of cutting his suit’s material.”
Grannalt touched the fabric, rubbing it between his thumb and forefinger. Reinforced combat material that could withstand bullets, laser fire, and knives. Only one kind of alloy had the ability to slice it which meant that group of humans had found someone who could manufacture it for their purpose. That angered him. Earth was devastated, yet there were humans who had no intention of changing their ways.
He caressed the kid’s forehead and settled into the seat next to the medical unit. Xander reminded him of his children. A need to take care of him emerged. He had to make sure this child lived while he searched to save his own. Feeling hopeful, he reached out with his mind to the two he found. Sharp pain behind the back of his eyes was sent back from his son.
Rejected. Again.
Except this time Grannalt understood why. His children thought he needed protection.
“Don’t underestimate my determination to protect you.” He turned his head towards the front dash. “I need you to find some signatures for me. If they are along the route, I want to intercept.”
“We are already behind schedule. I cannot take responsibility for a failed mission.”
“For fuck’s sake!” Grannalt took a deep breath. “I will take it. I swear...”
“The kill switch is not a valid option. You have threatened this yet have no intention of using it.”
“You want to try me?”
The AI went silent again for a long period of time. Finally, she came back online.
“Please upload signatures. If they are on a similar course, we can veer off for no more than three hours.”
“Good. I’ll let you know when I establish another connection.”
He sat back and let his eyes close.
Wait for me.
****
Xander woke up startled and tried to sit up only to have the tubes attached to him go taut, forcing him back down. A cluster of nanobots were finishing up repairs to his bodysuit, the wounds he sustained already dealt with.
“Patient has resumed consciousness. Detaching from apparatus. Health condition green.”
The tubes went slack and one by one, their tiny tendrils slid from under his skin and retracted into the medical unit for sterilization. He was able to sit up and saw Grannalt sleeping across from him. In a panic, he scrambled to the front and hit the dash icon.
“Intruder alert! AI, why is there another person inside the vehicle?”
“Intrude alert not necessary. Person of concern is authorized user. Grannalt of Karysilan. He saved us from an assault by the Litigator.”
Xander suddenly remembered seeing Grannalt through a fog of pain then slumped against the dash.
“Why would the Litigator attack us?”
“He doesn’t want to talk to you yet.” Grannalt had not moved or opened his eyes. “He’s toying with you.” Grannalt finally opened his eyes. “I’m betting there are others with the same idea.”
“There are others who think they can destroy him and create a new world order.”
Grannalt snorted.
“Yeah, I heard about that. Look,” Grannalt leaned forward. “There’s no reason for you to go about this alone. Your mother was probably hoping you would find a companion.” He gestured to the inside of the vehicle. “This is a bit much for one person.”
A thoughtful expression came over Xander. He had never asked for any details. Just went along with the plan. Now, he saw validity in what Grannalt was saying.
“If that’s the case, then I hope you can fight. These people, these territories, I don’t understand.” He clutched his abdomen, wincing at the remembrance of pain. “What is happening?”
Grannalt smiled at him.
“Sometimes, it’s best not to think about it.”
He crawled up to the front and tapped the Analysis icon on the display screen.
“Ready to send signatures.”
Xander gave him a crazed stare as Grannalt grabbed the electrodes that slithered from the dash and attached them to his temples.
“What signatures? For who?”
“My kids are in danger. I think they’re close by.”
Grannalt closed his eyes and concentrated. A separate screen showed up on the dash. Waves on a graph fluctuated across it then transposed onto the roadmap of the adjacent screen. A third of the way up their route, the signatures blinked approximately twelve hundred miles off course to the left.
“Signatures established. Reiterating time limit of three hours to complete extraction.”
“Understood.” Grannalt opened his eyes and detached the electrodes. They went back into the dash. “Do you not condone this?” He asked Xander.
“Considering I barely came out of a huge fight alive, no. We have no idea what kind of danger,” he put his fingers up in quotation marks, “your kids have gotten themselves into.”
“But,” Grannalt wagged a finger. “There are two of us.”
“I have no idea how good you are at combat.”
Grannalt’s eyes grew bright and Xander pressed further against the dash.
“You’ll know soon enough.”
When Grannalt’s eyes return to normal, Xander eased down into the seat next to him. He finally registered what the AI designated him as. Grannalt of Karysilan. The alien that the then United States of America had abducted from a crash site and used to jump start technology. And other horrors he didn’t care to think about.
Yeah, he could fight. Probably better than me.
“ETA?”
“Detour will occur in thirty-two hours.”
Xander scrolled through the travel data and stopped at one entry.
“What does that mean?” He pointed at it. “There is no indication of being on land.”
Grannalt smirked at him, a mischievous grin spreading.
“Didn’t you know? This thing can fly.”
Xander’s eyes went wide and his mouth gaped open. Grannalt started laughing. He switched screens and went through the settings. There it was in bold letters in the menu.
“Then why are we wasting time driving?” He exploded. “We could cover way more distance in the air.”
Grannalt stopped laughing and gave him a stern look.
“Because it’s dangerous. Do you see anything else flying around? Know why? If there was any inkling that air travel was possible, people would lose their minds. This vehicle would be taken from you in a heartbeat as you lay dead in the dirt.”
Xander reared back from the verbal assault.
“The New Order surely has them,” he mumbled.
“Yeah, and they also know better than to show it.”
Exhaustion hit him like a brick, making his body go limp. He struggled to stay upright. Grannalt leaned over and gently pushed his head down against the window.
“You got up way to quick. Take it easy. We’ll talk later.”
Xander tried to voice protest, but nothing came out. Instead, his eyes fluttered close.
