RTS System in the Apocalypse: New World

Johannes started the second recording.

The static returned, though weaker than before. Something struck the receiver several times before a voice emerged from the noise.

"Actual, we need to move the container."

"Reason?"

"The pressure has not stopped. It became worse after we brought it inside."

Another agent spoke from farther inside the quarters.

"We already moved it to the rear wall."

"That is still inside the room."

"Where do you suggest we place it?"

"Outside."

A short laugh came through the receiver. There was no humor behind it.

"You should look outside first."

The channel shifted.

Gunfire echoed from somewhere beyond the hidden quarters. Several shots came in quick succession, followed by shouting and the sound of glass breaking farther along the street.

"North Service, report."

"The lane is no longer secure. Civilians started attacking one another after the impact. Several are still moving after receiving fatal wounds."

"Infected?"

"I do not know what else to call them."

"How many?"

"More than thirty inside the lane. Additional contacts are moving between the buildings."

The first agent returned to the channel.

"Then use the main stairwell. We carry the case through the upper floor and leave from the south."

"Negative. The building entrance is compromised."

"We cannot keep it here."

"And we cannot walk through a crowd carrying a glowing piece of whatever fell from the sky."

A woman coughed near the receiver.

The sound continued for several seconds before another agent approached her.

"Your throat?"

"It burns."

"Any blood?"

"No."

"Temperature?"

"Higher than before."

The receiver shifted again.

"Ronnie’s legs are cramping. He says the muscles will not relax."

"I can still move."

"You almost put your foot through the floor."

"That does not mean I cannot move."

Someone muttered from across the room.

"Alan’s body temperature is rising too."

"I am standing right here."

"Then stop pretending you are fine."

Cell Eleven Actual interrupted them.

"Enough. Everyone, complete another medical check. Record anything outside your normal HELIX baseline."

"Actual, the scanner is still unreliable."

"Then use the manual equipment."

The woman near the receiver breathed through another cough.

"There are people gathering outside."

"North Service already reported that."

"No. More of them."

"Can you see the lane?"

"I do not need to."

The room fell quiet.

"What do you mean?"

The woman did not answer immediately.

"They are moving toward this building."

"How do you know?"

"I can feel them."

Static swallowed the next few seconds.

When the recording cleared, Cell Eleven Actual was giving orders.

"Move the case to the storage recess. Keep the interior seal closed. Nobody approaches it alone. Two-person checks every thirty minutes."

"And if Section Control remains offline?"

"We reassess once the southern route clears."

"The southern route may not clear."

"Then we remain here until we have another option."

The second recording ended.

Johannes leaned back from the terminal.

"That was three hours and twelve minutes after the first segment."

Hans looked toward Tyrus.

"You said their symptoms had already changed."

"They had begun separating." Tyrus tapped the transcript with one finger. "Muscular contraction in one. Abnormal temperature in another. Throat irritation. Then the woman sensing a crowd she could not see."

"Those symptoms could have come from the infection," Johannes said.

"They did come from the infection."

"You know what I mean."

Tyrus smiled. "I do. You simply worded it poorly."

Johannes exhaled through his nose.

Hans returned to the transcript.

"Did Marcus identify the voices?"

"Most of them," Johannes answered. "The receiver retained older operational traffic. He matched speech patterns against those files and the personal recordings we recovered."

"The woman?"

"Cell Eleven’s deputy leader. Her name appears throughout the field records, but the later audio is damaged enough that Marcus could not confirm every line attributed to her."

Hans nodded.

He did not need the name to understand what the recording implied. The five agents aboveground had developed physical mutations, while the sixth remained inside the chamber and became capable of extending herself through the infected around Highcross.

Her awareness might have surfaced before any visible transformation. Perhaps that was what HELIX had already reinforced in her, while the infection pushed the enhancement farther without control.

Her awareness may have started before any visible transformation. Perhaps, that was what the HELIX enhanced about her, and the infection simply furthered that enhnacement uncontrollably.

Tyrus rested both arms against the table.

"The others complained about their bodies. She complained about everyone else."

"That does not prove she became the Broodmother because of the fragment," Johannes replied.

"No. The carcass beneath Highcross did that for me."

"It proves what she became afterward."

"And the recording provides the beginning. The explanation. Her alpha."

"You found three ways to say the same thing."

"I am reassured you noticed."

Hans raised his hand before they started again.

"Why did they stay?"

Johannes drew the second transcript closer.

"The routes out continued deteriorating. The main entrance was exposed, the service lane filled with infected, and Section Control never answered. Cell Eleven chose the hidden quarters because it remained defensible and contained supplies."

"The fragment also landed beside their concealed exit," Hans added.

"Yes. Moving it again meant carrying it through areas they no longer controlled."

"They treated the case as a secondary problem once the city collapsed around them."

Johannes nodded.

"That is what the surviving traffic suggests."

Hans looked toward the third file.

"And the last recording?"

"The timestamp is partially corrupted. Marcus placed it before midnight on the same day."

"Play it."

Johannes selected the file.

The recording began with heavy breathing and movement across the quarters. A chair scraped against the floor before someone struck the wall.

"Hold him!"

"I am holding him!"

"Ronnie, stop moving!"

"I said I am trying!"

A hard impact shook the receiver.

The woman’s voice came through next.

"They are outside."

"How many?"

"Too many."

"North Service, confirm."

No answer came.

"North Service?"

Static followed.

Another agent spoke near the rear section.

"The case is glowing through the seal."

"It was already glowing."

"Not like this."

"Do not open it."

"I am not opening it!"

A burst of gunfire sounded outside. It stopped after several shots, then resumed from another floor.

Cell Eleven Actual entered the channel.

"Main corridor is holding. Move the wounded away from the entrance."

"The ones outside are not attacking the other buildings."

"What?"

"They are staying around us."

The woman’s breathing became uneven.

"They can hear it."

"Hear what?"

"The same thing we hear."

Nobody replied.

She continued before anyone could stop her.

"They want to come closer."

"Step away from the case."

"I am nowhere near it."

"Then how do you know?"

"I can hear them thinking."

A heavy thud struck the door beyond the receiver.

Then another.

Several agents drew their weapons. Safeties clicked off one after another.

"Actual, the concealed passage is compromised."

"Fall back to the chamber access."

"The chamber has no exit."

"It has one entrance. We can hold it."

A man grunted from somewhere close to the receiver.

"What is happening to your arm?"

"Nothing. It’s nothing. I—"

"That is anything but nothing!"

"Stop looking at me and cover the door."

The woman spoke again, quieter than before.

"They are listening."

"To us?"

"No."

The pounding against the passage stopped.

For several seconds, the only sound came from the agents breathing inside the quarters.

Then something dragged itself along the outer wall.

The woman released a strained whisper.

"To me."

The recording broke into static.

A final burst of gunfire passed through the distortion before the file ended.

Nobody spoke immediately.

Tyrus’s earlier amusement had disappeared. His gaze remained fixed on the terminal even after the audio line stopped moving.

Hans looked toward him.

"Care to explain that? In plain words."

Tyrus pulled the specimen notes closer.

"The five bodies recovered aboveground showed severe changes centered on whatever their HELIX enhancements had already reinforced. Musculature, connective tissue, reaction speed, vocal structure, chemical production."

"Amplification," Hans said.

"Uncontrolled amplification," Tyrus corrected. "Their bodies resisted the infection long enough for the changes to become specialized. Ordinary people collapse into more common forms before that process can stabilize."

"And the sixth?"

"Her tissue was different."

Tyrus turned one of the pages toward Hans. Several sketches showed branching structures removed from the Broodmother’s upper body and the growth attached to the chamber.

"The Broodmother developed additional neural tissue outside the normal brain and spinal routes. Similar structures extended into the growth covering the chamber."

Johannes examined the page.

"You found that using your Colony equipment?"

"I found enough to know it existed. I cannot tell you how it functioned."

"Yet you already have a theory."

"I always have a theory."

Hans tapped the line describing the additional tissue.

"The fragment’s pressure reached her Cognitive or Perceptual enhancement."

"Possibly both." Tyrus leaned back. "She did not merely endure the voices. At some point, she began separating them, then answering whatever she heard outside. The others changed inward. Her mutation spread outward."

"Can you prove the fragment caused that difference?"

"No."

Tyrus gave the answer without his earlier smile.

"I can prove all six carried the same infection. I can prove all six had HELIX alterations. I can prove the fragment remained close to them while their symptoms developed. The exact bridge between those facts requires better instruments and more than preserved tissue."

"You gave me the same answer before."

"Because you gave me the same laboratory."

Hans looked at him.

"You called it a laboratory."

"I was being optimistic."

Johannes lowered the page.

"So what can you state without another complaint?"

Tyrus turned toward him.

"Cell Eleven did not become six enhanced infected through ordinary exposure alone. Their HELIX resistance delayed the usual collapse. The fragment accelerated the infection and pushed the changes beyond the usual limits."

"Likely accelerated," Johannes said.

Tyrus stared at him for a second.

"Likely accelerated."

Hans let the correction remain.

"Could another HELIX group end the same way?"

"Under the same combination of infection and prolonged fragment exposure?" Tyrus folded his hands. "Yes."

"What about the same mutations?"

"No. That depends on the body, prior enhancements, and whatever unpredictable effect the fragment has on the mind. Another group may produce six completely different results."

Hans glanced toward the storage drive.

Hans glanced toward the storage drive. By the time Cell Eleven understood that the case itself remained dangerous, the city had already collapsed around them. Carrying it outside would have meant crossing routes they no longer controlled.

"What about the Broodmother?" Hans asked. "Could another person become one?"

Tyrus looked toward the specimen sketches.

"I cannot rule it out. I also cannot tell you what made her different from the other five. Her HELIX profile may have favored it. She may have spent more time near the case. Perhaps she reacted to the psychic pressure in a way the others did not."

"Or the fragment chose her," Johannes said.

Tyrus raised a brow.

"You accused me of making the evidence interesting."

"I am showing you how it sounds."

"That possibility remains available."

Hans ignored both of them.

"The fragment stays contained."

Tyrus’s eyes shifted toward him.

"You still have it?"

"I secured it after Highcross."

"And you decided this information was unnecessary for the scientist examining the consequences?"

"You already knew it existed."

"I did not know you kept it."

"You are not receiving it yet."

Tyrus stared at Hans.

"My analysis cannot improve if you hide the most important sample."

"Your equipment also cannot contain it."

"I can construct something temporary."

"No."

"That was very quick. Perhaps we can discuss the laboratory now?"

"You nearly lost several nights of sleep after walking through an empty Hive chamber. I am not placing the source beside your desk because you found additional jars."

Johannes covered his mouth with one hand, though the movement failed to hide his amusement.

Tyrus noticed.

"What is funny?"

"Nothing, doctor."

"You are enjoying this."

"A little more than I should."

Hans collected the three transcripts.

"Have Marcus preserve the original files and prepare a shorter operational report. Compare Cell Eleven’s investigation with Cell Twelve’s records, but keep the fragment findings separate from the financial material. We might need this information in the future."

He could not assume that the entire world had collapsed. Grefort had shown him one part of the disaster; everything beyond it remained unknown.

Johannes nodded.

"We already found several matching companies."

"That comes after this."

Hans looked toward Tyrus.

"You continue comparing the six specimen sets. No exposure tests, even if you find another way to ask."

"You deprive science of its greatest opportunities."

"I am preventing science from growing another chamber beneath my base."

Tyrus opened his mouth, then stopped.

"That is an annoyingly reasonable concern. You would have made a great HELIX research manager, Commander."

The terminal beside Hans released a short signal. Flight Operations entered the secure channel.

"Golden Eagle, Flight Operations. Raptor One through Six are returning to the Airfield ahead of schedule."

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