Meta (Book 5): New Empire Read online

  Copyright © 2020 Tom Reynolds

  All rights reserved.

  Written in Brooklyn, New York.

  Printed in the United States of America.

  Published 2020

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  New Empire

  Tom Reynolds

  One

  “Should we be doing this without Midnight?”

  “Connor, how many times are you going to ask?” Sarah replies. “He told us we could handle it on our own.”

  “I’m with Sarah. Although, I still argue that I could have done this safely from the comfort of my dorm room,” Jim chimes in.

  “No way,” I reply. “We all need to be here. I couldn’t reach Midnight for a week when he was in Kaldonia. I don’t want to take any chances. Plus, it’s nice to have you out in the field, Jim.”

  Jim groans and glances out the window, where Kaldonia is about fifty thousand feet down. He reflexively jerks his head back to focus on the laptop in front of him.

  The three of us are in Midnight’s “thermal airship,” which is just a fancy way of saying “hot-air balloon.” It’s an unusual mode of transportation but well-suited for this mission.

  Getting in and out of Kaldonia via the ground is impossible. Sarah’s still working out the kinks in her newly rebuilt mech armor, and I flat out do not trust my magtonium nanosuit.

  From this height, I can only see darkness and woods stretching toward the horizon. Midnight and Jim spent the last couple of weeks poring over enough thermal satellite imaging data to be reasonably sure that this is where Kaldonia is keeping its metahuman prisoners. These are the slaves Kyle told me about. The Kaldonian government is forcing them into energy-producing labor to supply power for themselves and their neighboring countries. It’s all to keep up the illusion that they’ve cracked the secret of extracting energy from magtonium.

  “Weather conditions are holding steady for the next hour. It’s 1:45 a.m., local time, so it’ll be a skeleton staff. Now is the time,” Jim says.

  I peer out the window. The air outside is freezing at this altitude, but the night sky is cloudless.

  Sarah rises from the seat next to Jim. “All right, then. It’s now or never.”

  She stretches and shuffles toward a metallic suitcase on the other side of the cramped capsule.

  “Have you tried running another thermal scan, Jim?” I ask.

  “Nope. I told you, Connor, the ceiling is too thick. I can’t pick up heat signatures from this far away.”

  “But it wouldn’t hurt to give it another try.”

  “It wouldn’t hurt, but it also wouldn’t produce a different result.”

  “I want to make sure we know what we’re about to jump into, that’s all.”

  Sarah sighs. “Ugh, you’ve been quadruple checking everything since we started.”

  “How is that a bad thing?”

  “Because we’ve been sitting up here in this tiny little box for three hours.”

  “We’ve been waiting for Jim to ensure we’re in the right place and that it’s safe.”

  “It’ll never be completely safe, Connor. We’re somewhere we’re not supposed to be, doing something we’re not supposed to be doing, to people who hate us. Another sonar scan won’t change that.”

  “I didn’t know we had the capability to do sonar scans from the airship. Have you tried one of those alongside a thermal scan, Jim?”

  “Um…”

  “Don’t listen to him, Jim. He’s stalling.”

  “I’m not stalling. We won’t get a second chance. It’s what Midnight would expect if he were here. Maybe we should call him to get a second opinion.”

  I reach for the telephone embedded in the control console.

  Sarah reaches over and slams it back down. “Enough. If you don’t want to go, that’s fine, but I’m sick of waiting.”

  Sarah kicks the suitcase onto its side, and it reassembles itself into a platform with two distinct footprint outlines. She steps into the footholds, and the case initiates the suiting-up process. White armor plates extend outward from the case and click into place around her sneakers and calves. Once these are secured, more plates telescope out and rapidly work their way up her body. Dozens of pieces click and whir, locking the armor into place.

  The sequence culminates at her shoulders. Two pieces connect to form a helmet, protecting her head and concealing her identity. The new armor is considerably less bulky than the older version, the product of a collaboration between her and Midnight.

  “I know you’re trying to embrace the whole Ghost thing now, but do you think bright white is the best look for infiltrating a prison at night?” I ask, referring to the armor.

  She flips a switch built into the armor’s gauntlet, and the suit darkens to matte black.

  “Does that work better for you?” she asks. “If all goes according to plan, our mission won’t be all that stealthy.”

  She’s not wrong. If the number of prisoners is anywhere near what we’re expecting, there won’t be a way to release them without the guards noticing.

  “Look, I know you’re worried about your nanosuit acting up—” Sarah begins.

  “I’m not worried about the magtonium,” I lie.

  Of course I’m worried.

  “Fine, you’re not worried about the suit. Whatever. I’ll tell you what.” She hits a panel in the wall, and a trapdoor slides open. Ice-cold air fills the cabin. “I’m going to go free those prisoners before we all die of old age. Feel free to join me whenever you feel up to it.”

  Sarah steps through the trapdoor and falls into the darkness. The door remains open for another few seconds, then snaps shut.

  “You’re not going with her?” Jim asks.

  I ignore the question.

  I’m frustrated. Frustrated that Sarah didn’t wait before leaping. Frustrated that we still don’t have enough information on what’s down there to know if it’s safe to proceed. And frustrated that she’s right. I don’t fully trust the nanosuit I’m wearing.

  Midnight, Jim, and Sarah each independently verified that all traces of Kyle’s code were removed from the magtonium’s memory. It should have no thoughts or desires of its own. It should listen to me and only me.

  But no matter what reassurances they give me, I can’t stop thinking about what it did to other metahumans. All the tests in the world won’t change what I witnessed, and I don’t know if I can ever fully trust it. It’s the reason I’ve been sticking to lower-stakes outings lately.

  There’s only so much street crime to stop through. Eventually, I’ll have to get back on the metaphorical horse and take on bigger challenges, like the one in front of me tonight. Now that I’m here, I’m finding it impossible to take that leap.

  I climb into the copilot seat next to Jim’s and swivel a monitor into place in front of me.

  “Sarah’s more than capable,” I say. “If she thinks she can handle this on her own, I think we should let her try. Better for stealth anyway, right?”

  “If you say so,” Jim says.

  He isn’t thrilled with my cowardice and keeps his attention on the monitor. Just because I’m sitting this one out doesn’t mean he can.

  On the screen is a video feed from a camera on Sarah’s Ghost helmet, along with diagnostic information about the suit and her vitals. Her heart rate is elevated, but she is falling at terminal velocity. That tends to cause some stress.

  “How are we feeling, Sarah?” Jim asks into his heads
et.

  “Good. Preparing to deploy retro boosters at five thousand feet,” she replies.

  “That’s too low,” I say.

  “The lower I am when they light up, the lower the chances of someone on the ground seeing me coming,” Sarah replies.

  “Yeah, but five thousand feet leaves no wiggle room if there’s a problem,” I say.

  “There won’t be a problem. I trust my suit,” she says curtly, ending the discussion.

  I check to see if Jim looks concerned, but his gaze remains fixed on his monitor.

  After a few more seconds of tense silence, Sarah’s radio clicks on again. “Deploying boosters.”

  I hear the distinctive roar of the rockets embedded into her suit’s boots. Her airspeed decreases on the display in front of me.

  Neither I nor Jim say anything, allowing her to keep her full attention on her landing. The helmet-cam monitor shows her approaching the tree line of the area surrounding the suspected prison. Her velocity slows to a stop, and she gently glides to the ground.

  “Perfect landing,” she announces.

  Jim smiles and switches his monitor to a map of the facility. The schematic is little more than an outline of the building’s exterior since we have no information about the interior, but it’s better than nothing.

  “I don’t see any activity from the satellite,” Jim says. “looks like you’ve got a clear route to the facility.”

  I lean over and peer up through the window to look for the satellite.

  “You can’t see it from here, Connor. It’s too high up.”

  “Aren’t we high up?”

  “Not high enough to see a geo-orbiting satellite. It’d be pretty dangerous if we were.”

  The radio clicks back on.

  “Uh, guys. I’m detecting multiple hostiles inbound from the prison facility. I think they know I’m here.”

  On the monitors, multiple heat signatures appear outside the prison, and they’re all converging on Sarah’s position.

  Looks like I can’t sit this one out any longer.

  Two

  You know when you sit down and your phone digs into your hip, so you take it out and put it on the table, but then you get up to leave and forget to put it back in your pocket?

  Yeah, well, I just did that with my nanosuit.

  Normally, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal.

  Normally, I wouldn’t have even dreamed of taking it out of my pocket and leaving it on a table, unless I was somewhere where everyone already knew about it and I felt safe.

  I guess I was feeling too comfortable in the airship.

  And the reason it’s a big deal is that I’ve just jumped out of the airship.

  I realize this a second after I fall through the trapdoor. I imagine the last thing Jim heard was something along the lines of, “Oh, sh—”

  The airship is black for stealth purposes, but also because it belongs to Midnight, so of course it would be black. I lose sight of it as I tumble through the air.

  After the initial panic, I notice it’s absolutely freezing up here.

  I also notice my earpiece has fallen out.

  I flail around in the air, desperately searching for my missing earpiece: an incredibly tiny, pink piece of plastic that I couldn’t spot on the floor if I were standing right next to it, let alone while falling from an airship in the middle of the night.

  Deep breath.

  Okay. Don’t panic.

  You’re plummeting from fifty thousand feet with no parachute or other means of landing without a splat, but whatever you do, don’t panic.

  See, this is exactly why I like having a plan. With a plan, I wouldn’t have jumped out of an airship without double-checking that I had my nanosuit with me.

  That’s right, I’m blaming this on Sarah.

  Crap, Sarah. I almost forgot she’s also in trouble.

  Come on, Jim. You must have realized by now that you’re not getting any vitals from my transceiver. That must have raised an eyebrow, and hopefully that raised eyebrow will direct your eye toward my seat, where my disk of magtonium is resting.

  Yup, any second now.

  Any second now and Jim will realize what happened and help me out.

  A second goes by.

  Then another.

  Then another.

  My entire body is shivering. I try to flip over and let my back take the brunt of the updraft but it’s hard to move when I’m shaking this hard.

  I look at my hands. I can’t feel them. I can’t keep them steady and I feel like I’m about to pass out.

  Just as my eyelids begin to feel too heavy to keep open, the magtonium disk slams into my chest.

  I’m jolted back to consciousness as the threads of magtonium weave across my body, covering me in a black metallic suit. The tendrils crisscross down my legs and arms, quickly warming them back to something approaching my normal body temperature.

  The nanosuit covers everything but my jaw, and a soft red O lights up across my chest.

  With the magtonium suit fully activated, I turn over and reposition myself headfirst toward the ground like a missile. The suit reads my intention and propels me even faster.

  “Close one there, Connor,” Jim says through the radio embedded within the nanosuit.

  “Took you long enough.”

  “Wow, I’ll keep that in mind next time.”

  “Fine, I owe you one.”

  “You owe me seventeen, but who’s counting.”

  “Do you have eyes on Ghost?”

  “She’s holding her own for now, but she’s got more hostiles inbound.”

  The suit’s eyepieces switch to night vision, and dark green blobs take shape below. I scan the area for signs of Ghost and orientate myself toward the dark gray concrete facility.

  I’m about to ask Jim for Sarah’s coordinates, when the forest lights up with gunfire.

  Never mind, I think I found her.

  With a stealthy infiltration out the window, I might as well come in hot.

  I slam into the ground, creating a small crater that takes out two unlucky soldiers. A third one hears me land, but I’m on him before he can aim his rifle. The nanosuit makes ripping the gun out of his hands easy. I hold it in front of him and snap it into two pieces. He takes off running into the woods, never looking back.

  Now that she doesn’t have to deal with incoming gunfire from all sides, Sarah makes quick work of the other combatants. A small flap opens from the right shoulder of suit and a dozen tiny projectiles are launched with blinding flashes and deafening pops. With the remaining enemies disorientated, she deftly disarms and incapacitates each one in quick succession.

  A final guard emerges from the underbrush and rushes at her from behind. I raise my right arm, and a piece of magtonium hurtles toward the soldier. The projectile widens and wraps around the enemy, snaring him to a tree.

  “Decided to join the fun, huh?” Sarah asks.

  “It looked like you needed help.”

  “Looks can be deceiving. I had this handled. Nice new trick,” she says, gesturing at the magtonium-wrapped bad guy.

  “That one’s new to me too,” I say, still mystified by what happened. I didn’t know magtonium could do that.

  “See? Jumping in without a meticulous plan isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes, you learn something new.”

  I roll my eyes, although I’m not sure it came across since half my face is obscured. Occupational hazard.

  The lack of heat signatures suggests we’re the only ones here, and without any electrical signals coming from the building, I doubt there are any active security cameras either. With the imminent danger behind us, my magtonium nanosuit retracts from my face. Sarah hits a button on the side of her helmet and retracts her mask as well.

  We walk side by side toward the dark facility.

  “I don't like this,” Sarah says.

  “Huh?”

  “It’s too quiet. It doesn’t feel like this place is even guarded.”
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  “If it’s not guarded, then who were the guys trying to shoot us?”

  “That’s my point. There were, what, fewer than ten guards? Does that make sense to you? This is the most hidden place in an already secretive country. Don’t you think they would have more people guarding it?”

  The actual most hidden place in Kaldonia is likely the site of the crashed spaceship Midnight found, but I keep that to myself. Midnight has been adamant that we keep that information between the two of us until we know more. If word got out, it could cause worldwide panic.

  Worldwide panic wouldn’t necessarily be an inappropriate response to confirmation we’re not alone in the universe. I argued with Midnight that Sarah would already suspect that magtonium is otherworldly. Most people assume metabands are too. The world has seen a lot of strange stuff over the past couple of decades. Would learning that aliens exist really be that jarring compared to everything else?

  Midnight thinks it would, so for now, I’m keeping my mouth shut.

  Sarah and I approach the barbed wire fence of the facility. In front of us is an open gate, no doubt left that way by one of the guards currently taking a power nap on the forest floor. Sarah shakes her head at me.

  She has a bad feeling.

  So do I.

  I step through first. If a bullet, rocket, grenade, or other projectile is fired at us, I can take the hit without it hurting me too badly. I’m still learning how to control the nanosuit, but it does a decent job of protecting me, even when I’m not actively concentrating on it.

  Up ahead, we spot an unmarked door left ajar. We approach cautiously and step through to enter the facility.

  From inside comes the sound of a slow, steady leak dripping onto the dirty concrete floor. We work our way down a hallway toward the center of the building. Sarah activates a shoulder-mounted floodlight to provide illumination. We reach a set of double doors at the end of the hall that leads into the main area.

  Rows upon rows of machines fill the cavernous space. Some look like treadmills outfitted with treads so thick I’d bet they were taken off a tank. Other machines are simple—handlebars attached to machinery through holes in the floor—but there are plenty of machines I can’t figure out, like the complex contraptions attached to metal plates, large mallet-like hammers suspended from fulcrums, solid steel walls the size of doorways propped up a few feet apart, and more.