Jeffrey Carver - Eternity's End

Legroeder was not even aware of the sound of the dog barking in the distance until he heard a sudden yelp—and the barking abruptly stopped. Then he heard a loud, sharp voice:

“You must leave at once!”

Legroeder looked up with a start and saw a holoimage of McGinnis standing in front of the fireplace. A faint flicker of the fire could be seen through the image of the man.

“What’s wrong?” Legroeder asked.

“You must leave at once!” the image of McGinnis repeated. “ You are no longer safe here!”

Legroeder and Harriet exchanged alarmed glances.

“Excuse me,” Harriet said. “We can’t leave. Our flyer is disabled.”

The image faltered for a moment. “ Christ, that’s right.” It seemed to freeze, and then spoke again. “ Take my flyer! I’m releasing the controls to you now. But go. GO! Take this cube and take all the documents and HURRY!” With that, the image blinked out.

A small compartment opened in the top of the coffee table. In it was a datacube half the size of a human fist.

Legroeder stared at it in astonishment and indecision, then snatched up the cube. “Gather the documents!” he commanded, jumping to his feet. Pocketing the cube, he hurried to the door. He peered cautiously up and down the hallway. “McGinnis!” he shouted. “McGinnis, do you need help?” There were several closed doors. Did he dare go searching? You are no longer safe .

“Take the documents and go!” boomed McGinnis’s voice again, from hidden speakers. “ If you delay, you’ll lose everything!”

Legroeder cursed, returning to Harriet. “I don’t know what kind of trouble he’s in, but I don’t think we can help him. Let’s do what he says. Let’s get this packed up!”

Harriet stuffed the last of the folders into the archive box. Her voice shook. “Legroeder, what do you think is happening?”

His own breath was tight with fear. “I don’t know,” he whispered, picking up the box. “But remember Jakus? And the missile? All I know is McGinnis wants us to keep this stuff safe! Let’s go! ”

They came upon McGinnis’s dog Rufus outside the house. It was lying on its side, glassy-eyed—twitching, as if with a seizure. Legroeder crouched by the dog. “Look at that!” He pointed to a tiny implant flickering rapidly behind the dog’s ear. He looked up, scanning the estate and the tree line. Was the house under attack? If so, it was by an invisible foe. Legroeder rose. “I don’t think we can do anything for him, either. I don’t know what’s going on, but we’d better get out of here.”

As if in answer, Rufus yipped twice, then was still.

Harriet’s face was white. “Which way?”

“Around back.” They hurried past the damaged rental car to the rear of the house. McGinnis’s flyer was a high-powered Arcturan sports model, for which Legroeder was grateful as they climbed in. Whatever was going on, he wanted all the speed he could get. “Strap in,” he said, scanning the controls.

As the power came on, he squinted, shading his eyes from the glare of the setting sun. No sign of anything in the air; nothing moving within the security field. He wondered if he should use the autopilot. Probably not; better to risk unfamiliarity with the controls. He took a deep breath. “Lifting off.” He pushed the power forward, and the flyer shot into the air. Before he had it fully under control, they were already climbing out through the forcefield boundary and were well above the house and clearing.

The com suddenly crackled, and they heard McGinnis’s voice:

“You will have the only copies. Keep them safe! Get to El’ken if you can!”

Legroeder exchanged glances with Harriet, then banked the flyer in a circle around the clearing to find his bearings.

McGinnis fought for control as he watched his guests’ departure on the remote scanner. He was in a life-and-death struggle now to retain the functioning of his own brain. The chips had not yet decided to kill him; they were still trying to keep him from doing what he was doing, but they were not yet certain what that was. It had taken all of his strength to give Legroeder and Mahoney their chance to get away, and to keep that information locked away from the augment-mediated portion of his brain.

His hand shook over the control board. Jesus; he was losing it. He shut his eyes, opened them in time to see his finger press the stud to power up the defensive laser. “ Damn you, no!” he whispered. It was not him aiming, but the augments. Shuddering, he wrenched control back, and in the instant that the laser fired, he deflected the aim. A lance of death stabbed up from the house…

It missed the departing flyer.

He slammed the power off to the laser and swiveled from the board, shaking. The information was still pouring from his mind, but not reaching his augments, not yet. Iron will. You must keep an iron will .

The information about the Impris conspiracy was out now, and what was done with it was up to others. Maybe, with luck, they’d live long enough to follow the trail to Impris and back again to the bastards who had ruined his life and were using the ship in their web of lies. But the augments didn’t know yet, not for certain. And it was crucial for the protection of Legroeder and Mahoney that they not learn—or at least not transmit the knowledge out. Their masters might suspect that he’d betrayed them in the end, but they wouldn’t know, at least not until Legroeder and Mahoney were on their way.

The thought was lost in a flash of pain that seemed to come from a million miles away. The fun and games were over; they were going to torture him to break down the barrier. He clenched his teeth and turned back to the console. Gasping, he struck the console once with his fist. It was time for the final action. He had always known this moment would come; he was well prepared. The circuits were ready. It took several steps, no mistakes: switch cover up, button jammed down, laser charged.

And then… the code, painfully typed in, grim desperation on his lips, focusing, focusing, over my : D-E-A-D-B-O-D-Y…

Shaking with pain, he fired the laser.

This time, nothing happened…

…except the deliberate overload in the laser capacitors, exploding in the basement. A half-second later, the pyrotechnics beneath the first floor erupted—and then billowing fire roared to life in the center of the house. There was no escape now, not with the fire-arrest system disabled, not with the door lock sealed.

He seized the interface input cable from the console control. Reaching behind his right ear, blinded by pain, he lifted the flap of hair and jammed the connector into the augment socket. A wind howled through his brain.

He keyed the next sequence of switches. A message on the screen began flashing:

ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DELETE MAIN MEMORY MODULE?

TYPE “YES” FOLLOWED BY NAME AND I.D. TO CONFIRM.

He could barely type now, his hand was shaking so hard. He used his left hand to steady his right, as he typed with one finger. He paused for a heartbeat to cry out a silent command, Rufus, run for safety—take what I’ve given you—keep it safe until… Jesus, why didn’t I send you with them? Look for them when you can .

Crying aloud, he pressed START. Good-bye, my friend …

The erasure current was like a balm of flowing water in his skull. The pain subsided as the programming of the augments faded, as the waters washed away all of the jointly stored memories of the last thirty years, all of his memories as well as the augments’. It lasted only an instant, but an instant that seemed to go on forever…