Gary Gibson - Final Days

‘We could still save some people—’

‘No.’ He shook his head violently. ‘At most you’d save a few thousand, if even that. There are billions more who are going to wind up dead, either way.’

When she spoke again, her voice sounded neutral, carefully controlled. ‘And how exactly do you intend to do this?’

‘We can use the Emergency Destruct Protocols to collapse the wormholes.’

‘Wouldn’t work,’ she replied immediately.

‘Why not?’

‘You need a minimum of two people, to activate the codes simultaneously, or it won’t work, and it’s not like they hand those codes out to just anyone who asks for them. You’d need special clearance from an executive committee, and I don’t think that’s going to happen any time soon.’

Saul thought for a moment. ‘Fair point. In that case, who does possess that kind of clearance?’

‘Not many people, for a start,’ she replied. ‘I’d guess a few dozen at most.’

‘Then maybe we need to try and find some of them. We need to track them down.’

‘Jesus.’ She laughed. ‘You really think it’s going to be that easy?’

‘No, I don’t,’ he replied. ‘That’s the one thing I don’t think. But I don’t know what else I can do.’

‘I’m not sure I should even consider helping you do this,’ she said, with a touch of outrage in her voice.

Saul punched the air in frustration, barely able to contain his anger. ‘ Listen to me, goddammit. I’ve been through hell ever since you came asking me for help, so unless there’s some genuine flaw in my logic, some reason why we shouldn’t do exactly what I just described, I can’t see why the hell you wouldn’t want to help mequo;

‘All those people—’

‘Are never going to make it into the Array alive,’ he said. ‘Believe me, I’m here right in the thick of it, and nobody’s going in who isn’t being allowed in. The whole place is surrounded by soldiers, tanks and drones, and I’ve already seen more dead bodies than most people get to see in a lifetime. It’s a war zone, Olivia. No other word for it.’

Another trumpet-like blast from the sonar tanks a way off in the distance briefly drowned out the clamour of the crowds.

‘Do you realize what I’d have to do to find out who has that kind of clearance?’ she said. ‘You’re asking me to hack into the ASI’s own databases.’

‘To which,’ he reminded her, ‘you have privileged access as an ASI employee yourself.’

‘That makes no difference. It’d set off a trail of security alerts leading straight back to me.’

‘I think we’re long past the point where we need to worry about stuff like that. There are much more important things to consider than what happens to either of us, Olivia.’

‘Okay, okay,’ she said, sounding defeated. ‘But I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to locate that kind of information, even assuming that I can find it.’

‘All I’m asking is that you try.’

‘You really do sound like a callous son of a bitch, you know that? Between you and Mitchell, I don’t know which one of you has changed the most.’

Saul stiffened as he remembered Donohue’s unfinished warning. ‘What about Mitchell? How has he changed?’

She made an exasperated sound. ‘Why?’

‘Just humour me.’

‘Nothing I can really put a finger on, okay?’

‘Please,’ he said, ‘just try.’

‘There’s just something about the look on his face that sends chills through me. I don’t know how else to describe it. Maybe that’s because I know what happened to him. Anyway, why? Is it important?’

‘I don’t know,’ Saul replied. ‘Go and find out what you can, and get back to me straight away. We can talk about Mitchell later.’

They spoke for another minute or two, but there was a new brittle quality to Olivia’s voice, as if she no longer quite trusted him. The rain eased off as their call ended, the sun finally breaking through the clouds. Thousands of faces were now turned upwards, while Saul himself leaned, exhausted and weary, against a roadside bollard.

People, he’d already noticed, were giving him a wide berth. He could imagine what he must look like, drenched in blood, mud and sweat. What would they all think, he wondered, if they realized he was trying to take away the one shred of hope they were all desperately clinging to?

Don’t think about that , he urged himself, all too aware of just how easy it would be to sink into a bottomless feeling of malaise. He had to keep moving, figure the rest out as he went along. He was never going to get to Arizona without putting serious distance between himself and the Array, and that meant a lot more walking unless he could find some form of transport. At the very least that would keep him busy while he waited to hear back from Olivia.

Hauling himself upright, he started walking again, wondering where the hell he was going to lay hands on some food. He was still running on adrenalin after his encounter with Donohue, but at some point soon he was going to have to eat.

As it turned out, he waited only a few minutes before Olivia got back to him.

‘Send me your coordinates,’ she told him briskly. ‘I need to know exactly where you are right now.’

Saul did as requested. ‘It’s going to be a lot harder than I thought to get out of here,’ he told her. ‘Every car I come across is either burned out or a total wreck. But I can see what looks like a medical drop zone just south of here, with manned choppers landing and taking off. There might be some chance of swinging a flight back to Orlando, or to somewhere else I can get to Arizona from.’

‘Stay put for now,’ she advised. ‘I’ve got hold of the names of some senior staff who’re cleared to carry EDP codes.’

‘I’m impressed,’ he remarked sincerely.

‘What can I say, I’m resourceful. But under any other circumstances I’d be facing about six life sentences right now. Is that impressive enough for you?’

‘I guess it is. So, who’s on your list?’

‘Turns out one of the people you want is holed up in a hotel near the Array. Place called the Dorican. You know it?’

Saul stared over at a row of hotels a couple of kilometres beyond the medical drop zone. ‘I see it. What’s his name?’

‘Constantin Hanover.’

Saul laughed. ‘You’re shitting me.’

‘You know him?’

‘You could say that. I wonder what he’s doing there?’

‘Go ask him yourself. Maybe he’s waiting to be evacuated. Saul, just to be clear on one thing. I don’t know that he actually has the codes you need, only that he’s authorized to carry them. And, even then, I don’t know how the hell you’re going to persuade him to reveal them to you.’

‘I guess I’ll have to rely on my natural charm and powers of persuasion.’

‘Now I really feel sorry for him. How long before you can make it here to Arizona, do you think?’

‘No idea.’ Saul stared at the drop zone with longing. ‘But it’s going to have to wait until I’ve spoken to Hanover.’

‘Fine.’ He heard her sigh. ‘They’re going to try and hold off one of the launches until you get here, but there’s only so long they’ll be prepared to wait.’

‘I understand.’

‘Good luck, Saul. But, before you go, I want to ask you something.’

‘Fire away.’

‘What made you ask about Mitchell?’

Saul started walking towards the group of hotels. ‘A man named Donohue was trying to tell me something about him.’

‘Tell you what?’

‘That’s the thing, I don’t know. We got interrupted before he could finish.’

‘This isn’t making a great deal of sense,’ she said.