David Simpson - Post-Human Trilogy

“Is everyone back up?” Wilson shouted.

Each member of the team confirmed.

“Okay! Then we stick to the original plan. Adjust to thirty-five degrees!”

Craig watched the time to opening tick down on his HUD. They were now only a minute away from their computer-controlled low opening. Their speed was slowing, but something didn’t feel right.

“Commander, have the onboard SOLO systems ever glitched like this before?” Craig asked.

“No. This is a first,” Wilson replied.

“Then I recommend we do a high manual—”

“Cut the chatter, Doc!” Wilson shouted. “Concentrate!”

The yellow dust covering the ground was closing in below them, its surface gleaming in the sunlight as it crawled like a yellow, living fog.

Then, suddenly, something else became visible. A green light, growing larger by the second, was coming toward them, seemingly emerging from the dust below.

“We’ve been compromised!” Wilson shouted as soon as he saw the luminescent projectile moving in. “Break formation! Break formation!” he screamed out.

The SOLO team members broke away from each other, hoping to evade the unknown weapon that was quickly bearing down on them.

Unfortunately for Craig, the evasive maneuver did nothing to help him. The green missile had a bead on him, moving intelligently to match his speed and trajectory, and impact was imminent. The horrifying reality suddenly reached into Craig’s skull and laid its frozen fingers over his brain. “Oh no,” he whispered.

And then, just as all seemed lost, the projectile stopped only a meter in front of him and he saw, what appeared for a moment to be his reflection on its surface. When the reflection moved its lips and urgently gestured for Craig to pull his chute release, he realized this was something else—something bizarre—something fantastic.

With twenty seconds left before his computer-controlled opening was scheduled, Craig pulled the emergency lever, and his chute billowed out above him. When his drop speed settled into a gentle descent, the green light suddenly disappeared, and Craig was left looking at his reflection, unobscured.

“Hey there,” it said. “We need to talk.”

“How am I hearing you over my com link?” Craig’s twin asked him.

“I’ve got a computer in my brain,” Craig replied. “They call it the mind’s eye. I’m using it to connect to your com system.”

“A computer in your brain? That technology doesn’t exist. I’d know if it did.”

“It doesn’t yet . I’m from the future.”

Craig’s twin was momentarily dumbfounded. He looked down at the yellow dust cloud that was quickly approaching and then back up at Craig. “What kind of trick is this?”

“It’s not a trick,” Craig replied. “Look, I’m not an illusion. Trust me—I’m from the future. I know what happens down there, and it doesn’t go well. I’m here to help you.”

Craig’s twin looked down at the dust once again. He knew they’d be entering it in seconds. “That’s heavy fallout we’re about to enter,” he warned.

“Don’t worry about me. I’m good,” Craig replied. “You’re the one who’s in danger. The Chinese A.I. is still active.”

“What?”

“It survived. It’s going to hack into Robbie and use it to kill your SOLO team. We’ve got to stop it.”

“Robbie? Damn it,” Craig’s twin cursed as the yellow dust swallowed them.

The ground appeared a moment later, and they landed. The chute automatically ejected and disappeared into the cloud. “What about my team? Where are they?”

“I’m not sure,” Craig replied as he held his hand in front of his eyes to shield them from the dust. “When I spooked you guys, I changed the course of events. In my universe—”

“In your universe? I thought you said you’re from the future?”

“I did,” Craig replied, “and I am—it’s complicated. Look, in my universe, the Chinese A.I. caused the glitch in your telemetry—”

“I knew it!”

“Yes, and Wilson hit the ground hard. Robbie stole your exoskeleton and your weapon and used it to kill the rest of the team.”

“And you? I mean…me?”

Before Craig could answer, he was interrupted by a short burst of gunfire not far behind him. He turned, stunned.

“Did that come from my team?” the twin asked. “Did they find Robbie?”

“That was Purist ammunition, Craig,” the A.I. warned. “It was located near our Planck platform.”

“How?” Craig asked, astonished as he squinted, struggling to peer into the dust. “I thought we knocked out their electrical systems.”

“It’s almost certain that the Chinese A.I. managed to reactivate them and has commandeered one of the Purists, Craig. You and your doppelganger need to proceed with extreme caution.”

“Commandeered? How? They’re people.”

“With cybernetic prosthetics, controlled by a hackable system.”

“Oh my God,” Craig replied before turning to his twin. “We’re in trouble. We need to get out of—”

“Watch out!” Craig’s twin suddenly shouted as he watched an uncanny figure emerge from out of the yellow dust behind Craig.

Before Craig had a chance to react, the Purist neutralizer had hit him from behind, instantly knocking him to the ground and suspending his powers. As his face hit the dusty ground, he watched as his twin removed his rifle from its holster on his back, only to have it knocked out of his hand by the first of several bullets to enter his body.

Craig listened to the sound of his own voice screaming in his ears. “No!” he shouted as he watched his twin fall to the ground, dozens of bullets riddling his torso, each steaming as their searing heat was expelled from deep inside the wounds.

Craig turned onto his back and watched as Colonel Paine moved toward him with his rifle drawn, the barrel still smoking.

“It’s not me, Doc!” Paine shouted as he squirmed, thrashing his body in an attempt to regain control. “Something’s got control! It shot Degrechie! Christ!”

“No,” Craig whispered as he realized that he’d run out of lives. Without his MTF functioning, there was no way to protect himself. He closed his eyes. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you,” he whispered to the A.I. as he waited for the same fate that had met his twin.

Strangely, there came no reply. Craig reopened his eyes. The Chinese A.I. had still not opened fire, though the barrel of Colonel Paine’s rifle remained aimed squarely at Craig’s forehead.

“Doc?” Colonel Paine asked, confused. “What’s going on?”

Craig’s eyes remained locked on the barrel of the gun. The smoking hole was black and empty. He thought of Sam. He thought of his twin, lying dead only two meters to his left.

“I’ve established communication,” the A.I. suddenly said through his mind’s eye. “Standby.”

Craig’s eyebrows knitted, disbelief painting itself across his face. He dared look up from the barrel and into Paine’s golden irises.

“Doc?” Paine repeated, perplexed as he stopped struggling, waiting for his limbs to move again.

Craig shook his head slightly.

Then, suddenly, the limbs came to life once again, the right arm of Paine lifting the rifle before his feet pivoted, his knees bent, and his left arm reached down to grasp Craig’s shoulder, spinning him onto his stomach.

“What the—”

“Brace yourself,” the A.I. cautioned. “This will be quite painful.”

The sound of the drill started only a second before it sank into Craig’s lower back. With extraordinary efficiency, the Chinese A.I. used Paine’s cybernetic arm to drill toward Craig’s MTF and remove it from his body. Craig heard himself scream once again, only this time the screams were escaping his own lips.