Extinction Series (The Complete Collection) Page 25

  Mia found the idea of images from sixty-five million years ago fascinating. “How many pods were sent out at the time?” she asked.

  “One thousand five hundred,” Anna replied. “Although there were two to four creatures of the same species in each pod, often two males and two females. It should also be noted that some of the pods travelled vast distances.”

  “The aliens were repopulating the planet,” Tom said. “Like some sort of technological Noah.”

  “How many video records have you found?” Jack asked, feeling the excitement dancing along every nerve ending.

  “I have found recordings for each of the one thousand five hundred ejections. However, there is one in particular worth viewing.” Anna made a swiping motion with her robotic arm. The green glowing hologram disappeared, soon replaced by a flat moving image that seemed to curve in on itself. It was as though the video were being projected on the inside of a sphere, with the effect that it could be viewed perfectly from any position on the bridge.

  Images appeared of a pod speeding toward the earth, slicing through thick white clouds. Moments later, a sparse landscape came into view. From this high up it was obvious the earth had already been blackened and ravaged by the tremendous impact. But it was also clear that life, resilient as it was, had begun to reclaim the devastated lands. Among the ruins, oases of green foliage dotted the area. And it was into one of these islands of life that the pod landed. Clouds of dust rose up as it struck the supple earth. A door opened and two furry plesis charged out. Several seconds passed before two more followed. This last pair approached their new surroundings with caution. They skulked around, listening intently for danger. Anna flipped ahead a few days. By now the animals had all climbed into a nearby tree and created a nest. But only one male and two females were visible.

  “Wait a minute,” Jack said, noticing the numbers were off. “Where’s the other male?”

  Anna scrolled back several hours to reveal a scene where one of the males was chasing the other, squealing and biting. The scene continued for several minutes, those on the bridge feeling as though they were watching a PBS nature show set sixty-five million years in the past. Then it happened. The more aggressive plesi caught up with his wounded brother and sank a mouthful of sharpened teeth into his opponent’s furry neck, staining the jungle floor red with blood. The animal twitched a final time before his body grew still.

  “Do you understand?” Anna asked, as the video ended.

  Jack stared at the image of the dead creature frozen on the holographic display. “It seemed that only one of the males had the aggressive version of the MAOA gene,” he said, the full impact only starting to dawn on him.

  “The violent one wanted both of the females for himself.” Tom said. “Wanted to be top dog and decided to wipe out his competition.”

  “Were any other proto-primates sent out?” Jack asked. So much would hinge on the answer Anna gave next.

  Slowly, Anna shook her head. “No other pods with plesiadapiformes were released.”

  “So you’re telling us,” Tom said, unable to hide his own sense of astonishment, “that the aggressive little bastard who did the killing…”

  “Is man’s earliest ancestor,” Mia said, completing Tom’s thought.

  “And if the other had lived instead?” Sven asked.

  Jack raised his eyebrows. “Then the human race might have been vastly different.”

  Mia thought of the chaos going on in the world above them. “We sure as heck wouldn’t be so eager to murder one another, that’s for sure.”

  Tom ran his hands through his hair. “So man’s legacy of murder and conquest all comes down to a snippet of DNA that got copied wrong.”

  “History has turned on far less,” Jack offered.

  Mia grew quiet, unable to stop thinking about her time spent in Sunday school as a child. There was something about what they’d seen just now that bore a familiar ring to it. She thought of Sven’s question about what the world might have been like had the more peaceful plesi lived instead. And that was when it came to her. “This was man’s fall from grace,” she blurted out.

  They regarded her with surprise, except for Anna, who remained stoic.

  “What are you saying?” Jack asked.

  “I remember the pastor at my church discussing how man’s lust for power and greed had led to his banishment from the Garden of Eden, a fall from grace which has haunted us ever since. I recall wondering even then how I could possibly be held responsible for an original sin I had no part in committing. As a teenager, I discarded what I considered an archaic and outdated belief system without realizing the grain of truth it contained. By killing his rival, the real Adam ensured that his violent genetic tendencies would be passed to his descendants, tainting the entire primate and human family tree.”

  Chapter 64

  They were still reeling from what Mia had told them when the holographic display retreated, revealing the countdown clock.

  “Wait a minute! When did that pop up?” Jack said with alarm.

  Anna studied the alien symbols she now recognized were numbers, counting down to the next blast wave. “I am afraid there is no way to be certain. It must have been obstructed by the video.”

  “That means we have an hour,” Jack told everyone, quickly explaining the clock and its significance.

  “I am sorry to disagree with you, Dr. Greer, but there are only twenty-eight minutes until the next event.”

  A mix of fear and despair lodged in Mia’s chest. “But there’s still so much to do,” she said. She was thinking not only about any insights they might have gained about Salzburg and how to beat it, but also about the other secrets of earth’s evolution yet to be discovered on board.

  They heard a crackle in their ear as Commander Hart joined the radio channel. “Jack, are you there?”

  Was this about the timer? And if so, how could Hart have known about it? “I’m here, go ahead.”

  “You need to get back to the Orb right away,” he said.

  “I know,” Jack replied. “The countdown started again and this time I don’t think the ship will make it through another blast.”

  Jack caught a thread of fear in Hart’s voice. “That’s not our biggest problem,” the SEAL told them. “I just got done speaking with Admiral Stark when he told me the team from the ONI had arrived from Maryland, said they got held up a few days to receive specialized training.”

  “I’m not following you,” Jack replied. “Captain Kelly and the Naval Intelligence team have been here for days.”

  “No, Jack. They’re scrambling up there to figure out what the hell’s going on. There was a Captain Kelly and a Lieutenant Brooks, but they died in Iraq more than ten years ago. Whoever those people are, I can assure you they aren’t Naval Intelligence.”

  “Are we in danger, Dr. Greer?” Anna asked, with the innocence of a young child.

  “More than you know,” Jack replied. Then to Hart. “We’re heading back to the Orb now. Do we have anything to defend ourselves with in case Kelly and the others show up?”

  “I’ve got a pistol,” Hart said.

  Jack couldn’t help but laugh. When he’d asked Hart earlier about weapons, the SEAL had told him there would be no need for them down here. Jack was happy he’d lied.

  Anna summoned the lift up to the bridge. Heavy vibrations rattled their bones. A low hum crawled through their helmets and into their ears. The lift was on its way.

  Jack knew there was still time to escape the ship. But that wasn’t what worried him. It was the imposters on board, a group he could only imagine was made up of Sentinel agents. He gritted his teeth, remembering how they had systematically pillaged everything they could lay their hands on. And then when most of it was gone, they too had disappeared down below.

  “Jack, it’s Hart. I’m prepping the submersible. I need you and your team to double-time it.”

  “Working on it,” Jack replied, feeling the bridge rattle beneath his
feet as the lift worked its way up the long column.

  Hart started to say something else when his voice cut off. A split second later, they heard a loud explosion three levels beneath them.

  “Hart, are you there?” Jack asked, concerned. The lift doors squealed open and they stepped in. In a moment, they were heading down to where the Orb was docked. But despite repeated calls, Hart didn’t respond and Jack was powerless to claw back the sinking feeling all of them were about to die.

  Chapter 65

  When the lift opened, Mia charged along the catwalk and stopped halfway to the platform. Below her, the central core of the ship descended into incredible darkness. Before her, in the distance, was the ladder that led to the Orb. Although her helmet blocked most of the ambient sound, she didn’t need sound to see the water collecting along the bottom rung.

  They continued on, if only to be sure. As they proceeded, Jack gave them hand signals, indicating the alternate channel they should switch to. There was hardly a question that Kelly’s people would be listening in.

  Once at the stairwell, Tom leapt up the ladder in quick order to check on the Orb. Salt water foamed at their feet as the others backed away and waited for him to return. A moment later he came sliding back down, gripping the ladder’s edges.

  “It’s gone,” Tom said, in shock. By the sound of his speech, it was clear the moisture in Tom’s mouth was gone too. “The airlock door connected to the ship is still in place, but it’s been severely damaged. There’s no telling how long before it gives way and the sea comes pouring in.”

  Tom had no sooner finished what he was saying than they felt tremors from a fresh explosion down below. Jack went to the railing along the platform and peered down to see an orange glow on one of the lower levels.

  “They meant to trap us here,” he said, searching around frantically for options.

  None of them needed to ask why. The answer was obvious. Sentinel knew that it was only a matter of time before someone saw through their charade. And there was only one way to make sure the truth of what was discovered stayed buried forever. Like so many fanatical groups before them, they were hell-bent on seeing it through, even if that meant sacrificing their own lives in the process.

  “Commander Hart never mentioned them leaving in the submersible,” Mia said.

  Sven balled his hands into fists. “Which means they’re still here somewhere.”

  “They want to make sure we don’t find a way out,” Tom said, seething.

  For Mia, the sadness of failing Zoey was just as devastating as the idea of dying two thousand feet beneath the ocean. She was battling the sense of panic growing inside of her when she had an idea. “Maybe there is a way off the ship.”

  Jack caught on at once. They could use one of the pods in the lab down below.

  Another explosion shook them.

  “Then we need to get down there before they destroy our only hope of escape,” Jack told them.

  “Hold on,” Tom said, calling them back. “If Sentinel managed to sneak bombs on board, then there’s a good chance they’re armed.”

  He was right, Jack realized with growing alarm. They had already lost their most viable way off the ship, now they had to contend with bombs and firearms. He turned to Anna. “When you were searching through the ship’s computer, did you come across any information on a weapons locker or anything else we could use?”

  “I’m afraid not, Dr. Greer,” she replied, a sullen expression on her face.

  “Wait a minute,” Mia blurted out with excitement. “Didn’t you say Dr. Bishop found a pile of junk a few levels beneath us?”

  Jack nodded. “It was a repair depot. What about it?”

  “Maybe it will have something we can use.”

  With traces of smoke wafting past them, the group hurried back on the lift and headed three levels down.

  “What do you think the chances are they’ll have a laser gun hanging around?” Sven asked, hopeful.

  Mia wanted to smile, but couldn’t. “I don’t know about you, but right now, I’d be happy with a wrench.”

  •••

  Another explosion rocked the ship as they scoured the workshop for anything useful. With laser guns and wrenches in short supply, they each grabbed a patchwork of discarded metal pieces. They were looking for anything with a sharpened tip to stab with or a rounded end they could swing as a club. The irony of their situation was not lost on Jack. They were on the most technologically advanced craft on earth and were reduced to wielding medieval weaponry.

  Within minutes, they were back on the lift, heading down to where the man pretending to be Captain Kelly and the other Sentinel agents were surely awaiting them.

  Jack fought hard to silence the nervous energy coursing through his limbs. They would get one shot at this. And if anything went wrong, all of them were sure to die. “Anna, how long before that next blast wave?”

  “Nine minutes, forty-three seconds and―”

  “That’s good enough.” Addressing the others, Jack said, “Any suggestions on how to handle these Sentinel goons?”

  “Find the biggest one among them,” Tom said, clenching his fist. “And take him out first.”

  The lift door slid open. Through the clouds of black smoke they spotted the archway that led to the pod room. But beyond that appeared the vague outline of a human figure. As they suspected, Captain Kelly had known they would come, known there was no other choice. Behind them, sea water came splashing down the ramp. The airlock door must have blown. Jack wondered whether it was better to be shot or to drown. Something told him he was about to find out.

  Chapter 66

  With time slipping away, they entered the pod chamber, ready to roll the dice.

  Captain Kelly stood before the first row of pods. The composite glass doors were cracked and in some cases completely shattered.

  Jack’s eyes drifted to the control panels. They too had been smashed.

  Kelly caught Jack’s gaze, then tapped the side of his helmet and raised an index finger. They switched to channel one.

  “Took us a while to break the glass,” Captain Kelly told them. He seemed calm, like a man who was resigned to his fate. “Turned out the stuff was a hell of a lot stronger than we thought. The control panels too. What I wouldn’t have given for a material that strong on my dad’s Buick when I wrapped it around that telephone pole. I was young and drunk and might have saved myself from losing my girlfriend and doing six years for manslaughter. It’s amazing how you can turn your life around when you have the time to consider what you’ve done.”

  Lieutenant Brooks appeared from out of the smoke, along with four of Kelly’s men. They moved close to their boss. Jack spun to find the last two Sentinel agents. Each was armed, the barrels of their pistols pointed right at them. They were trapped, but Jack hadn’t expected anything less. As the two groups stood facing one another, water continued to rush in, splashing down the ramps as it collected in the lower levels.

  “I don’t have to tell you your chances of making it out alive aren’t looking good,” Kelly informed them, a sick grin on his face. He pointed to a block of C4 wedged between two pods. “But I’m prepared to make a deal with you.” He turned to Mia. “All the pods are broken,” he told her. “Except for one. Number thirty-seven, way at the back.” The grin on his face showed he knew about her trip to Kathmandu. “Go ahead and hand me Dr. Salzburg’s USB and I’ll let you take your chances on lucky number thirty-seven.”

  “And the rest of us?” Tom asked.

  Kelly snickered. “Traitors to the cause don’t get special treatment. People like you never understood. We’re doing this because we love the human race. Want to prevent the holocaust we know is coming. Fear is man’s greatest weakness, but it can also be his greatest strength, the only shield our species possesses against its own demise.”

  As Captain Kelly justified his lunacy, letters began to appear one by one on the inside of Jack’s glasses.

  S-W-I-T-C-H�
�� T-O… C-H-A-N-N-E-L… T-W-O.

  He glanced over at Anna, who glared back at him expectantly.

  Jack and the others did as they were told. And almost immediately Captain Kelly and his Sentinel agents clasped the sides of their helmets. Then a burst of light shot out from the OHMD glasses they were wearing. Anna was piping in an audio sample of the alien language as well as blinding them with a dizzying array of visuals. Jack and the others charged in at once, darting through the ever-thickening smoke to strike out.

  Jack brought the curved metallic bar in his hands down on the man standing before him, shearing his collarbone in two. The gun dropped from his hand and skittered across the floor, lost in the haze. Wild shots rang out as they clashed in brutal hand-to-hand combat.

  Mia caught sight of Brooks fleeing toward the back of the room and ran after her, a sharpened spike in her hand. Brooks turned and fired as she fled. Mia ducked behind one of the pods, watching sparks fly off the machine’s shattered surface. When Brooks’ weapon clicked empty, Mia swung around the other side to cut her off. They met in the middle, caught between two rows of pods. The auditory and visual assault was still underway in Brooks’ helmet and Mia moved in to take full advantage. She wasn’t much of a fighter, but perhaps the distraction might help even the playing field.

  Mia thrust at Brooks’ chest, embedding the point no more than an inch into her suit. Brooks recoiled in pain as the tip lodged into one of her ribs. She swept her hand down and knocked the weapon out of Mia’s hand. Light winked off the end as it fell to the ground and out of sight. Mia moved in to strike with her fists, but Brooks raised an arm to thwart the blows and countered with one of her own. The force struck Mia in the chest, knocking the wind out of her. She stumbled back as more gunshots rang out just beyond view.

  Now it was Brooks’ turn to charge and both women exchanged a flurry of blows to one another’s torso. When Brooks over-extended with a sweeping attack, Mia hooked a leg behind her feet and pushed with all her might. Brooks tumbled to the floor. No sooner had she fallen than Mia was on top of her, wrapping her hands around Brooks’ neck.