AZU-1: Lifehack Page 12

“That easy, huh? Sure, why not?”

  ~~~

  AutarLabs was quiet. They carefully made their way in, and met no resistance.

  “If this A.I. were so important, you’d think it would protect itself by having a lot of zombies around.” Alisia said.

  “Don’t jinx it!” Regan said. “You should have seen the guy I had to take out to get here the first time after the breakout.”

  Their exploration through the darkened halls continued without incident. After covering a few floors around where Harold’s lab had been, they finally came to an important looking set of doors. They looked at each over and nodded. Alisia wore a nervous smile of anticipation and gripped her P90 tight.

  Regan stepped forward and kicked the right door open. It swung open and bounced back, slamming shut.

  “Too much gusto.” Regan said. “Did you see any zombies?”

  “No,” Alisia said, still aiming at the door, “But I saw computer towers.”

  The two calmly entered, cautious for any sort of trap. Regan had been here about two years ago, but she was looking for Harold, nothing else. It was a large room, lit even worse than the halls. Row after row of server towers stood dark and dead, except for one desktop machine. Its lights glowed faintly from atop a desk in the corner of the room. They carefully crept over to it as if it would jump out at them.

  The screen was on but blank, so Alisia wiggled the mouse, and sure enough a display popped up. Alisia sat down in front of it. It was some kind of list. At the top, it identified this machine as ‘Server 0001’

  “It’s a server list. There’s hundreds..” Alisia mumbled to herself. The list in fact went well into the thousands. “Whatever, let’s just shut it down.” She reached over to the machine’s tower but found no power button. “The hell?” She dragged the tower forward. On the back there was plugs for a keyboard, a mouse, and the monitor. That’s it.

  “Uh, Regan, this computer apparently runs on pixie dust.”

  “What are you talking about?” Regan leaned in, and saw that where a power plug is usually found, there was a smooth metal plate. “Hey, and how can it be monitoring servers if it’s not plugged into a net connection or something?”

  “Well, it could be internal wireless network stuff... and maybe a battery? A... really good battery? Two years?”

  They grabbed the case off of the desk and plunked it on the floor. Alisia found a screwdriver nearby and opened it up. They weren’t terribly familiar with computer innards, but one part was labeled ‘Airnet wireless LAN adapter’.

  “There ya go. That’s probably controlling all the nanites.” Alisia said. “That list must be the separate nanites it’s controlling.”

  “Naw,” Regan hummed, “There’s gotta be millions of nanites in a single zombie. Maybe it represents groups of nanites, like maybe those in one zombie.”

  Alisia looked at where the power supply should be. There was a similar sized device, which looked very sturdy and polished, with only plugs leaving it to supply power to the machine. The word ‘Mana’ was embossed on it. “I guess it is a battery. Whatever.” Alisia tapped on her comm. “Major? I think we have the nanite server. Permission to bash it?”

  Regan spoke softly to herself, searching her memory. “Mana.. mana...?”

  “Bash it?” The Major eventually came on to answer, “Why not unplug it?”

  “There’s no plug. Some kinda battery.” Alisia put her finger on the mana box and aimed her visor at it.

  “Sure, whatever.”

  Alisia and Regan stood back, and Alisia leveled her P90 at the shiny little box. Another voice jumped onto the comm.

  “Captain! Stop!” The voice was not familiar. “Captain, this is General Westmore. Do not destroy the mana box.”

  “Sir?” Alisia was surprised to hear the Major’s superior officer jump in. Short, unnecessary introductions were made. Since the start of the mission, the General was quietly monitoring events from his own office, wherever that was.

  The General decided that events warranted filling Alisia and Regan in on the big bad secret of Autar. First, all others were cut out of the conversation, including the Major.

  “Captain, thanks to you and Ms. Grier, we’ve been able to piece together some things. This A.I.-controlled nanite thing has taken advantage of Autar in order to power itself. You’ve noticed perhaps that many things in Autar have power without any noticeable power lines?”

  “Y-yes Sir. I’d kind of assumed it was something like geothermal... or maybe some kind of automated nuclear reactor, but how is the power getting into this computer?”

  “The city runs off of something called a Mana drive. One of the reasons Autar was expected to be the new way for urban planning, is that it can send power though the air, to be received by devices like the one in front of you.”

  “So.... with this, it’s like you’re pulling power out of the air... I’ve never heard of this.”

  “It was still in testing phases. It’s a government project, but some trusted companies such as AutarLabs, were given receivers for field testing purposes. The drive also is connected to standard power stations in the city which supplied power to a lot of areas in conventional wires. Until now, no one imagined the Mana drive was related to the zombies.”

  “So, if we unplug the mana box from this computer, the nanites will lose their control, and hopefully, all the zombies will collapse?”

  “....no..” Regan said, staring at the monitor. “These servers. This list is over four thousand long. They’re servers just like this one. They’re all doing the same job. We’d have to find them all. Dammit, I think I saw a couple being delivered shortly after the outbreak. The zombies did it.”

  “What? Christ, we should just get out and nuke the damned city!” Even as she said it, Alisia remembered that explosions were not allowed.

  “That would be nice, Captain,” the General said, “But there’s a problem with the Mana Drive. Just as a circuit can have feedback, so can the mana boxes with the drive.”

  “Explosions might damage a mana box, and cause feedback...” Alisia thought out loud, “So what happens? The drive blows and we have some fallout to deal with? No worse than nuking the city... lots of desert around here, who cares?”

  “No, Captain, not fallout. Let me explain. After Autar was taken, smaller-scale tests of the Mana drive took place. One of them suffered a critical failure. There was no explosion, but two hundred or so people in the building died on the spot. No apparent cause of death. We assume that somehow the drive spat its explosion out in the same way it transmits energy to the mana boxes, but was strong enough that it reset the neural functions of everyone nearby. Their biological functions were just... ‘stopped’.”

  Regan and Alisia pondered it. It could be an even worse weapon than the ‘neutron’ bomb. “Ah, Sir,” Alisia feared to ask, “You said this was a small scale project that blew..? How does that compare to Autar?”

  “If the eggheads have their math correct, a blowout of the Autar Mana drive could easily blanket the country.”

  Regan rolled her eyes, and Alisia slumped into a stunned heap. “Serious? And this could be triggered if we nuke the drive? Or even shoot a mana box?”

  “That is the speculation, correct.”

  Alisia thought about how close she was to firing at the mana box sitting in front of her. “Holy fuck.”

  “SOOOoooo....” Regan called out, “If we shut down the drive properly, then, will everything shut down? The zombies collapse in the streets, whoopie yay?”

  “Sounds about right.” The General said. “Come back to base, girls. I’ll meet you there and we’ll get organized.”

  ~~~~~

  Chapter 25: Fix

  ~~~~~

  The two arrived back at base, tired and anxious. In the south bay, Regan headed for the decontamination shower without pestering Alisia at all. Regan stopped by the door, jacket half off, shoulders slumped. She turned back to Alisia.

  “I... could just leave, you k
now.”

  Alisia paused a moment. “What do you mean?”

  “Well... Harold is buried. It’s what I was staying for...”

  “Don’t you want to stay, and see if we can beat the zombies?”

  “......they’re not exactly my highest priority.” Regan slowly turned away from Alisia’s stare, and trodded into the shower.

  Alisia suddenly felt a little of the weight of Regan’s crush. Logically, the crush was just because she was the first person Regan had seen in years... logically. Right?

  An hour later they found themselves waiting in a board room. It was one of the nicer rooms on base, but still fairly spartan with its concrete walls. The chairs and table were a bit nicer than standard issue, at least. A few maps of Autar hung on the walls. Word had just come in that the General’s helicopter had landed.

  Soon, a soldier opened the door, taking a quick look around and saying nothing. He backed out and the General entered. His weathered face bore concern, but he still forced a welcoming smile. His white hair had long ago retreated to the rear flanks of his head, and his dark blue track suit said ‘I’m too old to dress up for every damned emergency.’

  He stopped just after he stepped in and turned to the soldier. “That’ll be all, Corporal.” The General closed the door and made his way to a seat at the table. “Good day, ladies.”

  Alisia saluted. “Sir! I’m prepared to organize an assault team on the mana drive. Some people I’ve pick-“

  The General raised his hand, to stop her. “Easy, Captain. This is a very sensitive issue. We can’t have more people in on all this than need be.”

  “What?” Alisia popped out, with a face that looked like a confused puppy, “But we’re talking about getting rid of all the zombies here!”

  “Yes, but we’re also talking about leaking info on the Mana drive, a potential future threat, not to mention AutarLabs’ partners who are unfortunately very valuable to us.”

  The girls sat back in mild disgust. “Money.” Regan said.

  The General sighed. “Well... yes, that’s what a lot of it comes down to. Besides, it’s not like the zombies are putting anyone new at risk here. The wall and defensive gunners do a good job.”

  Regan fiddled with the strap on her glove while glaring at the General. Alisia looked lost in her own thoughts, staring at the tabletop. The General sighed, and put his hands flat on the table. “Look. You two know all there is to know now. You’ve proven your ability as well. If you think you can, you two are welcome to try to unplug the mana core.”

  “Solo, hm?” Alisia said. She leaned back, and looked at Regan. Regan had obviously decided to go in with or without the General’s blessings. She looked back at the General. “Fine. We go in the morning.” The sound of Regan’s leather gloves clenching spoke volumes.

  “I expected as much. When you disable the core, call me and I’ll mobilize a bombing run. If all goes well, this time tomorrow, Autar will be a crater surrounded by a charred wall.” The General smirked to himself. “At least we get to have some fun with some bigger ordinance.” he thought to himself. He stood and prepared to leave. “Oh, and Regan,” he said, “Unless you have any objections, I’d like to consider you a civilian consultant. We can work out the details later, but given the nature of the work it should pay pretty well.”

  Regan nodded, almost obliviously. The General left, rejoined by his escort, leaving the girls sitting alone in the board room.

  “A crater...” Regan whispered, earning a curious expression from Alisia. “He said Autar would be a crater. I mean... that’s great... but... it’s been my home for so long... and there’s no other place like it. It sounds stupid, but I think I’ll miss it.”

  Alisia got up and put a hand on Regan’s shoulder. Regan took it and held in just under her chin. Alisia began to regret her action already, but to make it worse, Regan gave Alisia’s hand a soft kiss. Alisia retracted her hand, perhaps a bit rougher than intended. Regan sat there, head hung low, just gazing at her lap.

  “Regan...” Alisia uttered, “it’s just that... well, you know... I...” She shut herself up, realizing that her words would fix nothing.

  ~~~~~

  Chapter 26: Ponder

  ~~~~~

  Regan sat in the deep windowsill facing Autar and set a guitar in her lap. The guitar was borrowed from a soldier. She saw him with it and asked. He gave it up with very little fuss after a little suggestive smile. No biggie.

  She leaned back and put her hand over the strings. Her fingertips dangled down to the rim of the hole, where she felt the inner roughness of the wood. It felt familiar, safe, and for that matter, accepting. She tapped the outside gently with her nail to hear the hollow sound it made. It was the only sound in this area of the wall.

  She looked out to Autar, glistening in the moonlight. You could hardly tell it was infested with walking corpses, and this made it easier for Regan to see it as the city she moved into long ago. It was home. What would life be like after tomorrow? Move to some random city and look for a job? It’s just such an alien concept compared to the life she’d been living. Maybe she’s be better suited to run off into the hills and live off the land. Less zombies, too. It sounded easy. But boring as hell.

  Regan looked down to the guitar as if it would reveal answers. She plucked a string softly and listened to it fade into the silence. Slowly, Regan plucked out some old melancholy tune. The notes floated about, washing away the tension but leaving the hopelessness.

  But the notes brought footsteps. Quiet, nearly silent footsteps, but Regan heard them coming up behind. She stopped playing and looked out the window. The footsteps stopped maybe five meters away or so. She could feel who it was and she desperately wished that Alisia would come closer. But she did not.

  Alisia stared at Regan’s back, wondering what to do. This silly little tarzan girl. She felt responsible for her, pulling her out of her... ‘habitat’. It would be good to be her friend, but the lesbian thing was just too much. Well, no, not the lesbian thing unto itself. It was just that the lesbian thing was aimed right at her, and so strong. If Regan would just give it up so she could relax. Well, maybe she’ll get the message.

  Alisia turned away and walked off slowly. She decided that she needed a drink. She wasn’t much of a drinker, but it felt like a situation where you’re supposed to want a drink, so she headed for the base club.

  It wasn’t really much more than another conference room with a fridge, a couple cheesy posters, a stereo, and a volunteer bartender. It was quiet there. The bartender was the only other person there at the time. She ordered a glass of red wine and made herself at home at a small, secluded table in the far corner. She took one sip when Corporal Parker happened by. He stopped dead in his tracks.

  “Uh, hey Cap, don’t see you in here often.”

  “Hey Parker.” Alisia replied, partially lost in thought.

  “Cap? Uh, if you don’t mind me asking, is something wrong?” His tone went quieter, taking his cue from Alisia.

  Alisia looked at Parker. He wasn’t a bad guy, so she decided to tell him. “It’s Regan,” she started.

  “What? The girl from Autar? Is she OK?”

  “Yeah, yeah, it’s nothing like that. She just.. comes on so strong.”

  Parker blinked. And blinked. And blinked. “....comes on...? Uh, are you two....?”

  “God no!” Alisia exploded, quickly restraining herself. She could just see Parker’s imagination running full steam. “No, no.. she wants to, but I don’t play that way.”

  “I see. So uh....” Parker struggled against his dominant thoughts to find something helpful or appropriate to say. “So... has she... uh.. then what...”

  Alisia looked at the poor male with pity. “Soldier, you’ve seen far too much porn for me to have this discussion with you.”

  “Yes Sir, uh, Captain.” Parker stood there still a little stunned.

  “..... Dismissed?” Alisia said. Finally Parker snapped back to reality, and wandered off
blushing.

  Regan sat, holding the guitar, imagining if Alisia had approached. Maybe put her hand on her shoulder again. That was nice. Regan felt the need to relieve some tension and headed back towards her quarters. On the way she ran into Parker, who seemed unusually distracted to talk to her. He did prove useful however, in that he revealed Alisia’s location. Regan thought for a moment about the effects of alcohol and decided that Alisia plus alcohol equaled hope abundant.

  Regan found Alisia and sat down next to her with a confident smile and bedroom eyes. “Hey ‘leesha. How’s it goin’?”

  Alisia’s face looked a bit nervous, but if she knew the extent of what was going on in Regan’s head she would have fled outright. The bartender came over and Alisia said she was buying for Regan. Regan took this as a great sign until Alisia mentioned “You can pay me back when your first cheque comes.”

  “Huh? Oh, I have money. You think I only ever scavenged bare necessities in Autar? There was a lot of money lying around. I popped a few safes out of boredom, not to mention cash registers, so I’m pretty well off financially.”

  “What? You looted safes and tills?”

  “No one complained.” Regan said, bringing her beer bottle to her lips.

  Alisia couldn’t argue the logic, but it still seemed wrong. About an hour passed by while Alisia asked about Regan’s survival tactics and useful experiences with the zombies. Regan downed beer after beer, and looked for some key of wisdom that would help her win Alisia. Regan failed to notice that while she had drunk quite a bit, Alisia was still at the top of her second glass of wine.

  Alisia was talking about the uses of her “bad mojo” gun when Regan lost all interest in talk.

  “Yew drunk enough yet?” Regan slurred.

  “Drunk... enough for what?” Alisia asked, still innocent of Regan’s intent.

  “So’s I ken getcha inna my room, an’ MUUaaaaaahhhhh.....”