The machine hummed. A low, subsonic vibration that rattled Marcus's teeth.
It stood in the center of the underground vault like an idol to a dark god. Twenty feet of matte-black alloy, tapering to a needle point aimed at the bedrock floor.
[LEVIATHAN TERRAFORMING UNIT]
[FUNCTION: TECTONIC EXCAVATION]
[STATUS: LOCKED]
The red light on the console pulsed. Thump. Thump. Like a heartbeat.
"It's beautiful," Galen whispered.
The physician had followed them down. He stood next to the machine, his face illuminated by the red glow. He wasn't looking at it with fear. He was looking at it with lust.
"It uses sonic resonance," Galen said, running a hand over the casing. "It doesn't dig with a drill bit. It vibrates the stone at a frequency that turns solid rock into liquid dust. It liquifies the earth."
"And the reverse?" Marcus asked.
"If we invert the frequency," Galen said, grinning maniacally, "it doesn't liquify. It shatters. It creates a localized fault line. A man-made earthquake."
Marcia stood by the control panel. Her hand hovered over the biometric scanner.
"The Parthian army is camped in the Orontes Valley," she said. "Two million men. Tanks. Walkers. They are massing for the final assault."
She looked at Marcus.
"The valley floor is limestone. Porous. Unstable."
"If we fire this," Marcus said, "the valley collapses."
"We swallow them," Marcia said. "In one night. The war ends."
"And the civilians in the villages?" Marcus asked.
Marcia didn't blink.
"Gone."
Marcus looked at her.
"That's a lot of ghosts, Marcia."
"Better ghosts than slaves," she said. "Do you think Vane cares about collateral damage? He's turning our dead into soldiers."
She pointed to the scanner.
"Unlock it, Marcus. Be the Emperor."
Marcus stepped up to the console.
The UI in his mind flared.
[DEVICE DETECTED]
[INTERFACE: COMPATIBLE]
[WARNING: UNAUTHORIZED ACTIVATION]
[RISK: DETECTION BY GLOBAL GRID]
If he touched it, the Board would know. Vane would know exactly where they were. It was a beacon.
But outside, the walls were shaking. Dust fell from the ceiling as another artillery shell hit the fortress above.
48 hours until failure.
Marcus raised his hand.
He placed his palm on the black glass panel.
HISS.
A needle pricked his palm. DNA sampling.
[ANALYZING GENETIC MARKERS...]
[MATCH CONFIRMED]
[WELCOME, ADMINISTRATOR]
The red light turned green.
The hum of the machine changed pitch. It went higher. Whining.
The panels on the side of the Leviathan slid open. Cooling vents extended.
"It's awake," Galen breathed.
On the screen, a map of the region appeared. A 3D topographical scan of the valley.
[TARGETING: ORONTES FAULT LINE]
[ESTIMATED CASUALTIES: 2,400,000]
[CONFIRM?]
Marcus stared at the number. 2.4 million.
"Do it," Marcia whispered.
Marcus reached for the confirmation key.
"Wait."
A voice from the stairs.
They turned.
Lucilla stood there. She held the shovel she had been given. She looked exhausted, but her eyes were sharp.
"Don't fire it," she said.
Marcia drew her Glock. She pointed it at Lucilla's chest.
"I told you to dig," Marcia growled.
"If you fire that weapon," Lucilla said, walking down the stairs, ignoring the gun, "you waste it."
"Waste it?" Marcia laughed. "I'm about to wipe out an army."
"You're about to wipe out a pawn," Lucilla said. She stopped in front of the machine.
"The Parthian army is a distraction. The Han forces are expendable. Vane doesn't care if you kill two million of his slaves. He can print two million more in a month."
Lucilla looked at Marcus.
"But this..." She tapped the Leviathan. "This is a Core Bore. It's a Level 10 Asset. There are only three of them on the planet."
"So?" Marcus asked.
"So, Vane needs it," Lucilla said. "He needs it to drill for the Earth's core. That's his endgame. He's stripping the planet. Without this drill, his quarterly projections fail. His stock drops. The Board fires him."
She looked at Marcia.
"You want to kill soldiers? Fine. Fire the earthquake. But if you want to kill Vane... you use this as bait."
Marcia lowered the gun slightly.
"Bait?"
"He's been hunting us with proxies," Lucilla said. "Apex Predators. Hollow Men. He's sitting in orbit, safe. But if he knows we have the Drill... and if he knows we are going to destroy it..."
"He has to come down," Marcus realized.
"He will come personally," Lucilla said. "To secure the asset. He can't trust a machine to negotiate for a machine."
"Negotiate?" Marcia spat.
"Trap," Marcus corrected.
He looked at the map on the screen.
"We don't fire it at the army," Marcus said. "We aim it at the fortress."
"What?" Galen asked.
"We rig it to overload," Marcus said. "We turn this entire mountain into a bomb. We let Vane come to take it back. And when he lands..."
"We blow the Core," Lucilla finished. "The explosion will vaporize anything within ten miles. Including Vane."
"And us," Marcia said.
"We leave," Marcus said. "We set the timer. We evacuate the refugees tonight. We leave the Drill humming. A siren song for Vane."
Marcia looked at the machine. Then at the gun in her hand.
She holstered it.
"He's coming anyway," she said. "If we fire the earthquake, he bombs us. If we use it as bait... we get a shot at the King."
She looked at Marcus.
"Can you rig it?"
Marcus looked at Galen.
The engineer grinned. It was a terrifying smile.
"I can bypass the safeties," Galen said. "I can make the sonic resonance loop back on itself. It will build a feedback charge. Like shaking a soda can for ten hours."
"How big is the boom?" Marcus asked.
"Nuclear," Galen said. "Without the radiation. Just pure kinetic force."
Marcus nodded.
"Do it."
He looked at the screen.
[CONFIRM TARGETING?]
He cancelled the earthquake.
[SYSTEM RESET]
[OVERLOAD SEQUENCE INITIATED]
[TIMER: SET]
He typed in the numbers.
[24:00:00]
"Twenty-four hours," Marcus said. "We evacuate the fort. We leave a skeleton crew to keep the lights on. We make it look like we're digging in."
"And Vane?" Lucilla asked.
"I'll invite him," Marcus said.
He tapped the communication icon on the console.
[BROADCAST SIGNAL]
[DESTINATION: ORBITAL STATION 'OLYMPUS']
[MESSAGE: ENCRYPTED]
Marcus typed the message.
"TO EXECUTIVE VANE. WE HAVE THE DRILL. WE ARE DESTROYING IT IN 24 HOURS. COME AND GET IT."
[SEND]
The message flew up into the ether.
High above the Earth.
Station Olympus floated in the silent vacuum. A white wheel of sterile corporate power.
In the Executive Suite, the air smelled of filtered lavender.
Executive Vane sat in his leather chair. He swirled a glass of whiskey.
He looked out the window at the blue sphere below. He watched the flashes of light on the night side. The war. His war.
A chime.
A hologram appeared on his desk.
[PRIORITY MESSAGE]
[SOURCE: UNKNOWN - SYRIA]
Vane tapped the glass.
He read the message.
His face didn't change. He didn't frown. He didn't smile.
He took a sip of whiskey.
"Alexa," he said softly.
"Yes, Executive?" the station AI replied.
"Cancel my 3:00 PM meeting with the shareholders."
"Reason?"
Vane stood up. He walked to the window.
"I have a business trip."
He pressed a button on his desk.
"Prepare the dropship. The Icarus. And wake the Praetorian Guard."
"Are we deploying assets, sir?"
"No," Vane said. He adjusted his tie.
"I am handling this merger myself."
Back in the fortress.
The ground shook again. Dust fell.
"We have work to do," Marcus said. "Galen, start the overload. Marcia, prep the trucks. Lucilla..."
He looked at his sister.
"You know how Vane thinks. Where will he land?"
"The courtyard," Lucilla said. "He's arrogant. He'll want to walk in the front door."
"Then we mine the courtyard," Marcus said.
He walked toward the stairs.
But he stopped.
He felt it. A vibration.
Not from the machine. From his pocket.
He pulled out the fragment of the Black Box he had kept from his laptop. The charred piece of silicon.
It was cold. Dead.
But for a second... it felt warm.
[SYSTEM REBOOT...]
The text flashed in his eyes. Just for a microsecond.
[AI CORE: DETECTED]
[PROXIMITY: CLOSE]
He looked around.
"What is it?" Marcia asked.
"Nothing," Marcus said, shoving the chip back into his pocket.
But his heart was hammering.
Because the text hadn't been red. Or green.
It had been Gold.
The color of his old AI. The color of JARVIS.
Is he here?
Marcus looked at the Leviathan. At the massive computer banks built into its base.
"Galen," Marcus said. "Does this machine have an AI?"
"A primitive one," Galen said, wrenching a panel open. "Navigation only. Why?"
"Just checking."
Marcus walked up the stairs.
But he looked back one last time.
The red light of the Leviathan pulsed.
Thump. Thump.
And for a second, it blinked.
..-. .-. .. . -. -..
Morse code.
FRIEND.
Marcus froze.
He gripped the railing.
"JARVIS?" he whispered.
The light didn't blink again.
"Marcus!" Marcia yelled from the top of the stairs. "Move!"
Marcus shook his head. Hallucination. Stress.
He ran up the stairs.
But the seed was planted.
The AI wasn't dead.
It was in the machine.
And he was about to blow it up.