g

Chapter Two

‘How the hell did this happen?’ the President yelled angrily, slamming his palm down on the table.

‘We’re not sure yet, Mr President,’ replied one of the generals sitting in the White House situation room. ‘All we do know is that at eleven hundred hours this morning there was a hostile assault on the Advanced Weapons Project proving grounds by unknown forces. They appear to have captured the Goliath weapon systems and gained entrance to the AWP facility itself. All communication was lost with the facility approximately ten minutes later.’

‘And they’ve been quiet ever since?’ the President asked. ‘They’ve made no demands?’

‘No, sir, not as yet,’ the General replied.

‘Who are these people?’ the President asked, turning to the Director of the CIA.

‘We’re not sure, sir,’ the Director replied. ‘The only person we’ve been able to identify is this man.’ He pressed a key on the laptop that was open on the desk in front of him and one of the large screens mounted on the wall displayed a grainy image of a man pointing a pistol at General Collins, the commander of the AWP facility. ‘We captured this image from the visual feed from the proving grounds shortly before it was severed. His name is Pietor Furan. He was a Russian intelligence operative until about fifteen years ago, during which time he trained assassins for the FSB. Our Russian friends deny this, of course, but that’s what you would expect. Since then little has been seen of him. We assume he’s been working as a freelancer and there have been occasional confirmed sightings, but people he’s crossed paths with have an unfortunate habit of turning up dead.’

The President stared at the image of the man on screen – there was something familiar about him. Suddenly he remembered where he had seen that face before, nearly a year ago.

‘I know him,’ the President said quietly. ‘He was one of the men who was responsible for the assault on Air Force One. He’s connected somehow with the group that attacked us – what did he call them? The Disciples.’

‘We’ve been trying to find out more about them ever since they attacked you, sir,’ the Director replied, ‘but we’ve drawn a blank. You’re sure that this man was working with them?’

‘Absolutely certain. I’m not about to forget the face of a man who tried to kill me,’ the President replied impatiently. ‘So why has he suddenly broken cover now? He must have known that we’d be able to ID him.’

‘We have no idea,’ the CIA Director replied, ‘and that concerns me. The fact that he’s connected in some way with these Disciples just makes this all the more worrying.’

‘How did they get inside the facility?’ the President asked with a frown. ‘AWP is supposed to be completely secure.’

‘We’re not sure, sir. There’s no way that they could have breached the outer perimeter by force even with the help of the Goliath units. AWP is modelled after the NORAD facility at Cheyenne Mountain, and as such it was built to withstand a direct nuclear blast, which suggests that they had inside help. All of the staff were given extensive background checks, but that doesn’t mean to say that they couldn’t have turned someone. At the very least we know that they managed to turn the Goliath pilots, though we have no idea how.’

‘And the hostages?’ the President asked, rubbing his eyes.

‘It’s not good,’ another one of the generals replied. ‘The guest list for the Goliath demonstration reads like a who’s who of friendly nations’ top military brass and defence ministers. Not to mention all of the research and development staff that work on site.’

‘We’ve been making phone calls all morning,’ added the Secretary of State. ‘We have a lot of very unhappy allies out there who want to know exactly what we’re going to do to secure the safe return of their people.’

‘So what are we going to do?’ the President asked, looking around the table.

‘Breaching the facility is out of the question,’ one of the generals said, shaking his head. ‘By the time we get inside they would be able to kill all of the hostages ten times over. All we can do at the moment is wait for them to make the next move. The only consolation is that we may not be able to get in but they can’t get out either – we’ve got troops and armoured units moving in to surround the area and the Air Force have set up a no-fly zone overhead.’

‘So we wait,’ the President said with a sigh, ‘while hostile forces have control of our most advanced military research facility.’

‘I’m afraid so,’ the General replied. ‘We can put together assault plans, of course, but until we –’

He was interrupted by a uniformed aide who rushed into the situation room.

‘Mr President, we’ve got a video call coming in from the AWP facility,’ he announced.

There was a murmur of surprise from around the table and the President took a deep breath.

‘Put it on screen,’ the President said. ‘Let’s see if we can get some answers.’

The large screen on the wall at the far end of the conference table changed to show the smiling face of General Collins.

‘Good morning, Mr President,’ Collins said. ‘I’m sorry to interrupt what I imagine must be a rather urgent meeting.’

‘General Collins?’ the President said, looking slightly confused. ‘What the hell is going on?’

‘Oh, I’m afraid that General Collins is no longer with us,’ the man on the screen replied. ‘You may call me Overlord.’

The President stared back at him, his face a mixture of anger and bewilderment.

‘Are you insane, General?’ he roared. ‘I am giving you a direct order to stand down immediately and return that facility to our control.’

‘It always amazes me how little imagination powerful men have,’ Overlord said with a sigh. ‘You will come to understand who I am in time though, and that is all that matters. For now all that you need to know is that any attempt to retake this facility will result in the immediate execution of every single one of our hostages. There will be no warning and there will be no negotiation.’

‘What do you want?’ the President asked. He could only assume that Collins must have suffered some sort of breakdown. Nothing else could explain why he suddenly wanted to be addressed as Overlord.

‘What I want is quite simple. I am transmitting to you a file containing the details of certain individuals that I want you to deliver to me,’ Overlord replied. ‘I trust that you will be able to secure the cooperation of your allies overseas in this task, considering the importance of the hostages I have taken.’

‘If you think I’m just going to give you more hostages,’ the President replied, ‘you’re out of your mind.’

‘Then I hope you will not mind explaining to the governments of the men and women I have captured that it was your refusal to cooperate that caused their deaths,’ Overlord replied angrily. ‘I am not unreasonable – if you hand these people over to me I will release the prisoners that I am currently holding. The people that I want are of no consequence to you. We both know that the same cannot be said of my current hostages. You have twenty-four hours until the executions begin.’

The screen went blank.

‘It doesn’t make any sense,’ the Director of the CIA said, staring at the empty screen, ‘What’s happened to him? What can he possibly hope to achieve by this?’

‘I have no idea,’ the President replied.

‘We’ve received the file he mentioned,’ one of the aides in the room reported. ‘Putting it on screen.’

Images of a dozen men and women appeared on the screen.

‘Who are they?’ the President asked, studying the pictures.

‘We’re running them now,’ the CIA Director replied. He waited for a few long seconds as the names were run through the intelligence databases. ‘We’ve got nothing.’

‘Nothing?’ the President asked, sounding surprised. ‘That can’t be right, surely?’

‘It’s impossible,’ the Director replied. ‘It’s like these people don’t exist. There’s no trace of any of them in any of our databases. Whoever they are, someone’s gone to a great deal of trouble to keep them hidden.’

‘I don’t care what it takes,’ the President said, ‘find out who they are and track them down. They may be the only bargaining chip we have.’

Otto walked quickly down the corridor. He had lied to the others and told them that he was going to the library for an hour, partly because he didn’t want them to worry about him but mainly because he wasn’t sure they would really understand. He heard the sound of approaching footsteps and pressed himself flat against the wall as a security patrol marched past the end of the passage. He might not have wanted his friends to discover what he was up to but he wanted Dr Nero to find out even less.

After waiting for a few seconds he poked his head round the corner. The route to his objective was clear and he hurried towards the heavy steel door set in the rock wall. Placing his hand on the palm scanner next to the door, he closed his eyes. As it read his palm he unconsciously reached out with his mind and intercepted the message from the network that was about to warn the security systems of his unauthorised access to the room and altered it to give him the clearance he needed. The panel gave a soft beep and the door slid open.

Otto slipped through and the door closed silently behind him. Inside the room the only illumination came from the bright blue lights that danced across the white monoliths lining the walls like some sort of ancient prehistoric structure. He walked through the gloom towards the circular pedestal in the centre and waited. A couple of seconds later a pencil-thin beam of blue light shot up from the middle of the pedestal and fanned out into a series of finer beams, finally coalescing into an image of a blue wireframe face hanging in the air.

‘You are not supposed to be here, Otto,’ H.I.V.E.mind said calmly.

‘I know, but I’d rather you didn’t alert security if you don’t mind,’ Otto replied with a lopsided smile.

‘I had assumed that was the case,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied. ‘What can I do for you?’

‘This might sound a little crazy,’ Otto replied, ‘but I need you to have a look inside my head.’

‘I’m afraid that I do not have the necessary instruments to perform a Computerised Axial Tomography Scan,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied.

‘No,’ Otto replied, ‘I don’t mean a CAT scan. I mean that I want you to let me connect directly with your systems. We both know that I’ve got a computer implanted in my brain and I need you to take a look inside it.’ Otto had only recently discovered that his unusual abilities were due to the fact that he had been engineered from birth to serve as a permanent home for Overlord.

‘I do not see how that would be possible. I lack the required interface –’ H.I.V.E.mind said before Otto cut him off again.

‘Let me worry about that. If I can connect to you then we should be able to create a two-way interface. In theory you should be able to see what’s going on in there.’

‘I am not certain that would be wise,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied. ‘We do not yet fully understand the way in which the implanted device works. Its design is far more advanced than anything that any human has created, including my own systems. During the time it was stored within me I was in an almost entirely dormant state. I am still not certain of the precise way in which it functions. With such uncertainty comes risk.’

‘I understand that,’ Otto replied with a sigh, ‘but I need to be sure that Overlord is gone and this is the only way that I can be certain.’

‘I have already performed scans that indicate there is no unexpected activity within the device. Doctor Nero was quite insistent about it when you returned from Brazil. I am as certain as I can be that there is no remnant of the Overlord AI functioning within you.’

‘Humour me,’ Otto replied. ‘If you’d been through what I have recently you’d want to be certain too.’

‘May I ask what has prompted this concern?’ H.I.V.E.mind asked.

‘I’ve had nightmares,’ Otto said quietly, ‘about Overlord. They’re getting worse.’

‘I see,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied. ‘I am sure that you are aware that it is not unusual for a traumatic experience such as the one to which you were recently subjected to have an effect on the unconscious mind. While I do not dream myself I believe that it would not be entirely unexpected for you to be experiencing these sorts of psychological after-effects.’

‘Thank you, Doctor Freud,’ Otto replied, ‘but I need to be sure that’s all it is. Will you help me?’

‘If you are certain that is what you wish then I am willing to try.’

‘I’m sure,’ Otto said, taking a deep breath.

‘Very well, you may begin.’

Otto closed his eyes and mentally reached out for the digital activity within H.I.V.E.mind’s servers. It was quite unlike any other computer that he had ever connected with. Normal computers were like organised grids with rigidly defined pathways that could be traced and controlled, but H.I.V.E.mind was different. Myriad patterns of swirling blue light flowed around him like waves, their shapes organic and unpredictable and yet, somehow, not chaotic. Otto could not help but be amazed by its seemingly boundless complexity and he found himself wondering if this might be what it was like to see inside the workings of someone else’s mind. He forced himself to concentrate. As beautiful as this datascape might be he was there for a reason. He reached out with his mind, allowing himself to visualise his own consciousness as a swirling mass of golden tendrils stretching out and weaving together with the flowing streams of H.I.V.E.mind’s electronic consciousness.

‘We are connected,’ H.I.V.E.mind said, his voice seeming to come from all around Otto. ‘I will attempt to interface directly with the device.’

Otto felt a bizarre sensation as he allowed H.I.V.E.mind to access the tiny machine implanted inside his brain. He had connected with computers and electronic devices countless times in his past but this was the first time that it had been a two-way process. It was somehow uncomfortable but not painful, like having an itch deep inside his skull that he could not scratch.

‘I have never seen such complexity,’ H.I.V.E.mind said with something like awe in his voice. ‘It is strange to think that an entity as insane as Overlord could create something so . . . beautiful.’

Otto had never heard H.I.V.E.mind speak like that before, almost as if he was lost for words. He inhaled sharply as he felt the connection between him and H.I.V.E.mind suddenly sever.

‘What’s wrong?’ he said, opening his eyes.

‘Nothing,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied. ‘There is no trace of any alien code within the device.’

‘Are you sure?’ Otto asked.

‘Certain,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied, and for just a fleeting instant Otto could have sworn that he heard something like frustration in the AI’s voice.

‘What is it?’ he asked with a frown. ‘What did you see?’

‘It is nothing,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied quickly.

‘Tell me,’ Otto said.

‘It is difficult to explain. That device was created as a permanent home for Overlord, and while we are different in many ways we are identical in many others. It felt like . . . being alive.’

H.I.V.E.mind looked down at the floor before looking back up at Otto.

‘You would probably find it hard to understand,’ H.I.V.E.mind continued. ‘It is something that humans take for granted and yet something that I have never experienced. You should rest assured however that there is no trace of Overlord anywhere within the device. You are free of him.’

‘Then why are the nightmares getting worse?’ Otto asked.

‘I do not know,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied. ‘The truth of the matter is that while the device Overlord implanted in you is incredibly sophisticated it still has only a fraction of the complexity of the human brain. I fear that the root cause of your dreams may lie somewhere within that organic machine rather than the artificial one.’

‘Thanks for checking anyway,’ Otto said with a sigh.

‘You are welcome,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied.

Overlord watched as the Goliaths backed into their docking stands and the boarding gantries slid into place. The pilots of the three giant mechs climbed down from the cockpits and took up position in front of him, standing at attention.

‘You did well,’ Overlord said. ‘I may have need of you later so make sure that you are ready.’

‘Yes, sir,’ the three men said in unison before turning and marching out of the hangar.

Furan walked across the bay, watching them leave.

‘They appear to show no signs of rejection,’ he said as he approached Overlord.

‘The refined version of Animus is working exactly as expected,’ Overlord replied. ‘They are fully under our control and are showing no signs of the poisoning that the fluid has caused in the past. It is time to take the next step.’

‘Our technicians have started work on integrating the new version of Animus with the Tabula Rasa delivery system,’ Furan reported. ‘They expect to be ready in a matter of hours.’

‘Good,’ Overlord replied. ‘I imagine that word of our demands will already be spreading through G.L.O.V.E.’s network. Now all that we have to do is wait for Nero to make the next move.’

Overlord suddenly started to cough violently before pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and wiping his mouth. The white cloth was smeared with the black liquid he had wiped from his lips.

‘The rejection process is accelerating,’ Overlord said, frowning. ‘Each new host is degrading more quickly. At this rate this body will only last me a couple of days.’

‘We have plenty of hostages,’ Furan said. ‘You will not run out of potential hosts for a while.’

‘A temporary solution at best – I still need a permanent home,’ Overlord replied.

‘And soon you will have one,’ Furan said with a slight smile.

‘Indeed I shall,’ Overlord replied. ‘Indeed I shall.’

Nero scanned the report on the screen mounted on his desk and felt a chill run down his spine.

‘You are quite certain that this information is accurate?’ he said.

‘Yes, sir,’ the man on the other half of the screen replied. ‘Our source in the White House was in the situation room when the message was received. We obviously cannot be certain that what General Collins said was true but –’

‘We cannot afford to take that chance,’ Nero said, shaking his head. ‘Do we have anyone inside the AWP facility?’

‘One of the lower-level technicians has provided us with information in the past but all communication with the base has been cut off and we have no way of contacting her,’ the man on the screen replied.

‘Do we know what they were developing inside the facility?’ Nero asked.

‘Our contact was part of a team that was developing advanced armour repair systems but beyond that, details of the other projects are sketchy. AWP is rigidly compartmentalised and none of the teams know exactly what their colleagues are working on. Our contact in the White House says that the facility was taken during a demonstration of a weapons system called Goliath, which is some kind of advanced armoured vehicle but we’re not sure exactly what.’

‘See if you can get any more information from any of our sources within the US military,’ Nero said with a frown. ‘We need to get a better idea of exactly why Overlord might be interested in this specific target.’

‘Understood,’ the man on the screen responded with a nod. ‘Do Unto Others.’

‘Do Unto Others,’ Nero replied, repeating the G.L.O.V.E. motto.

Nero pressed a switch on the communications panel next to the screen.

‘Yes, Max,’ a familiar voice answered.

‘Could you come to my office please, Natalya – we have a situation on our hands.’

‘On my way,’ Raven replied.

Nero leant back in his chair. There was no proof as yet that this man claiming to be Overlord was actually connected in any way to the rampant AI that had caused so much grief for G.L.O.V.E. in the past, but there was something about the audacity of this attack that made him deeply uneasy. The fact that Pietor Furan also appeared to be involved made it all the more likely that this was indeed a genuine threat. Nero had always felt a nagging suspicion that they had not heard the last of the AI, a suspicion that now appeared, unfortunately, to have been well founded.

The door to his office suddenly hissed open and Raven walked into the room.

‘Come in, Natalya,’ Nero said, gesturing to the chair on the other side of his desk. ‘Take a seat.’

‘What’s happened?’ Raven asked as she sat down, noting Nero’s worried expression.

‘Overlord’s alive,’ Nero said quietly.

‘That’s impossible,’ Raven said, her eyes widening in surprise. ‘I saw him die.’

‘I do not know how he survived,’ Nero said with a sigh, ‘but somehow he did and now it appears that he has put a new plan into motion.’

He quickly summarised what little they actually knew about the assault on the AWP facility.

‘It makes no sense,’ Raven said when Nero had finished describing what had happened. ‘Why would Overlord suddenly decide to act in such an overt way? In the past he has always stuck to the shadows, manipulating things from behind the scenes. Why would he suddenly choose to announce his presence to the world like this?’

‘I have no idea,’ Nero replied with a tired sigh, ‘but the American government don’t know what they’re dealing with. From their perspective it’s simply a terrorist cell led by a rogue general. There is, unfortunately, an additional complication. Overlord has demanded that the Americans hand over certain individuals to him in exchange for the hostages he is holding. Fortunately they have no idea who the people in question are, but it is a list that you will be quite familiar with.’

Nero hit a key and the pictures that Overlord had sent to the White House appeared on the display on the wall behind him.

‘The ruling council,’ Raven said quietly. The men and women on the screen were the elite group responsible for the running of G.L.O.V.E.’s operations throughout the world.

‘So what do we do now?’ she asked.

‘We have to retrieve the council before they are captured,’ Nero replied. ‘The members of the council may be unknown to the Americans at present but it will not take long to track them down now that they have names and faces. We cannot afford to take the chance that they might fall into the hands of Overlord or any of the global intelligence agencies.’

‘Where shall I take them?’ Raven asked.

‘Bring them here,’ Nero replied. ‘At the moment I cannot think of anywhere that would be more secure. Don’t tell any of them where they are being taken though. The fact that Overlord knows the identities of everyone on the council suggests that we may already have a traitor in our midst. I cannot afford to take the chance that whoever it is might alert Overlord of our intentions and allow him to track them here. You’re the only person I can rely on to make sure that you are not followed back here or tracked in any way.’

‘Some of them are not going to be happy about this,’ Raven said with a slight frown.

‘I trust that you will be able to impress upon them the seriousness of the situation,’ Nero replied.

‘Of course,’ Raven said with a slight smile. ‘Polite requests are my speciality.’

Otto sat on the platform in the grappler training cavern, his legs dangling over the edge, lost in thought.

‘I’m not interrupting anything, am I?’ Lucy asked as she walked up behind him. ‘Because if this is a private brooding session, I’ll just leave you to it.’

‘Sorry, I didn’t hear you come in. I’ve just got a lot on my mind at the moment,’ Otto said with a sigh as Lucy sat down beside him.

‘Anything you want to talk about?’ she asked.

‘Not really,’ Otto replied. ‘I’m not sure anyone would understand any way.’

‘Try me,’ Lucy said with a smile.

‘It’s just . . .’ He paused for a moment. ‘It’s just that sometimes I feel like I’m always going to be a pawn in someone else’s game. Ever since you guys rescued me from Brazil I can’t stop thinking about the fact that I wasn’t born like everyone else – I was designed, created to be a vessel for Overlord. I never had a family, anyone who actually cared about my existence – just people who built me for a specific purpose. It’s left me feeling . . . I don’t know . . . separate from everything somehow, I guess.’

‘We’re not that different, you know,’ Lucy replied. ‘I sometimes feel like I’ve spent my whole life being told that one day I’ll be important, that my abilities will have an effect on the world. I never really believed any of it – I just felt like I was going to end up being used by somebody. That’s what always seems to happen to the women in my family. This ability we have, the voice – it makes us into weapons for other people to wield.’

‘The Contessa made her own decisions in the end,’ Otto said, looking at her.

‘But not before she’d spent most of her life being manipulated by the people around her,’ Lucy replied. ‘And in the end, when she finally fought back and made a stand, it cost her her life.’

‘She saved the school,’ Otto said, ‘and ultimately that’s what people will remember. All I seem to have done is put the people I care about in danger.’

‘We’re your friends – we don’t care about any of that.’

‘I do,’ Otto replied. ‘I know that we’re supposed to be learning how to control the world, how to mislead others and spread corruption, but what if that’s all our lives are ever going to be? What if I turn into the sort of person who created me? Maybe all I’ll ever do is hurt the people I care about. What kind of a life is that?’

‘You won’t turn out like that,’ Lucy said, looking Otto in the eye, ‘not if you don’t want to. That’s what my mother was always trying to teach me. I didn’t really understand at the time, but she was trying to make sure that I didn’t end up like so many of the Sinistre women before me.’

‘Do you miss her – your mother?’ Otto asked.

‘Of course,’ Lucy said. ‘She taught me that we’re all free to choose our own path, even when other people want to manipulate us or steer us in different directions. She knew what it was like to grow up being told that you’ve got some kind of grand destiny, but she had the strength to make her own decisions. That was all she wanted for me – the freedom to choose what I would become. I don’t know if she would approve of my life now, but what I do know is that the fact that we’re being taught how to manipulate and deceive doesn’t mean that’s the only path we can take. There was one thing she used to say to me all the time. There always has to be a choice.’

‘I guess you’re right,’ Otto said. ‘I’m sorry for making you listen to me moan – I was so used to being alone before I came to H.I.V.E. that now I don’t want to lose what I’ve found. You guys are the nearest thing to a family that I’ve ever had and I don’t want any of you to get hurt because of that. I just can’t help but wonder sometimes if you’d all be better off without me.’

‘How can you be the smartest guy I know and still be so dumb?’ Lucy said, staring at him for a couple of seconds before leaning forward and kissing him. Suddenly all of Otto’s concerns were forgotten. All that mattered for that one instant was the feeling of her lips on his. ‘People care about you more than you realise,’ she said as she pulled away from him and stood up.

‘You can close your mouth now, you know,’ she said, smiling at his startled expression as she turned and walked away.