said through the team comm, pointing at the ghostly ruins.
“You’d be surprised how many ruins there are out here,” Agent Perkins replied. “A lot of cities went down when those terrorists screwed up Cathedral. Compared to back East, this ruin is nothing.”
“Not quite,” Keith said, trudging over to stand beside Luna. “According to Alex’s readouts, that city is where Laboratory 121 is.”
“Well, I guess that’s where we’re going.” Luna replied, struggling to free her feet from the thick swamp muck. “If the team there found this sample, then that’s the best place to look. There may still be some research data in their system’s mainframe. Maybe even some live samples—if we’re lucky.”
Agent Perkins cursed under his breath. “Just make it quick. These ruins give me the creeps.”
Almost a half hour later, the mud-caked team cleared the edge of the swamp and stumbled into the ruin. Keith ordered his men to fan out and provide cover for him and for Luna while they examined what was left of the abandoned research complex.
“Why’d they build this place in the middle of a ruin?” Keith asked, sweeping the entrance to the complex with the powerful LED light mounted to his gun barrel.
“Probably so they could use the city’s power grid to link up with Alex’s land feed,” Luna replied, snapping on a hand-held light. “He has ground-based connection conduits to every active Unitech complex in the hemisphere—including the swamp research stations. Running the land lines through existing AI power grids is way easier then building new ones from scratch.”
She shone her light on the grime-covered walls and wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Wow … the swamp sure takes over in a hurry.”
“All the more reason to finish quickly,” Keith muttered. “Where’s this mainframe you were talking about?”
Luna pointed her light at an open doorway just ahead of her, “It should be through here, in the station’s main control center.”
The two of them walked through the dark doorway and cautiously surveyed the deserted room. There were several chairs positioned around a cluster of holographic monitors, a few desks that looked as if they’d been scavenged, and bits and pieces of research notes scattered across the moist floor.
Luna seated herself in a soggy chair and powered up one of the terminals, the dim glow from its polarized screen casting eerie blue shadows over the abandoned control center.
“Found anything yet?” Keith asked after a few minutes had passed.
“Almost. There’s a lot of data to go through in here. Okay, I’ve got it.” She looked up and pointed back to the main hallway. “There’s a cold-storage room down the hall on the left. According to the last log entry, they have several more samples in there. If the cryostasis systems weren’t damaged in the attack, then these should still be viable.”
“And if they’re not?”
She shrugged. “Then we’ll just have to do things the old fashioned way and find more samples ourselves.”
“Okay then, let’s get moving.”
She stood up and retrieved her light from where she’d set it, then led Keith back out into the hallway. They walked down the long corridor and were nearly to the cold storage room when Keith noticed that a section of the hallway’s wall panels had been removed, exposing the knotted power cables beneath.
“Miss McKelly. Look at this.” He shined his light on the exposed wiring.
“It looks as if it’s been shorted out … look at the burn marks on the wall,” Luna replied, kneeling to get a closer look. “Wait a second … this isn’t a power conduit. This is Alex’s land-line cable.”
“What are you implying?” Keith asked, crouching down to join her.
“I don’t really know … I’m no expert, but it looks to me as if someone were trying to splice into the Unitech data stream from here.” She rubbed her hand over the charred remains of the cables,
“You’d be surprised how many ruins there are out here,” Agent Perkins replied. “A lot of cities went down when those terrorists screwed up Cathedral. Compared to back East, this ruin is nothing.”
“Not quite,” Keith said, trudging over to stand beside Luna. “According to Alex’s readouts, that city is where Laboratory 121 is.”
“Well, I guess that’s where we’re going.” Luna replied, struggling to free her feet from the thick swamp muck. “If the team there found this sample, then that’s the best place to look. There may still be some research data in their system’s mainframe. Maybe even some live samples—if we’re lucky.”
Agent Perkins cursed under his breath. “Just make it quick. These ruins give me the creeps.”
Almost a half hour later, the mud-caked team cleared the edge of the swamp and stumbled into the ruin. Keith ordered his men to fan out and provide cover for him and for Luna while they examined what was left of the abandoned research complex.
“Why’d they build this place in the middle of a ruin?” Keith asked, sweeping the entrance to the complex with the powerful LED light mounted to his gun barrel.
“Probably so they could use the city’s power grid to link up with Alex’s land feed,” Luna replied, snapping on a hand-held light. “He has ground-based connection conduits to every active Unitech complex in the hemisphere—including the swamp research stations. Running the land lines through existing AI power grids is way easier then building new ones from scratch.”
She shone her light on the grime-covered walls and wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Wow … the swamp sure takes over in a hurry.”
“All the more reason to finish quickly,” Keith muttered. “Where’s this mainframe you were talking about?”
Luna pointed her light at an open doorway just ahead of her, “It should be through here, in the station’s main control center.”
The two of them walked through the dark doorway and cautiously surveyed the deserted room. There were several chairs positioned around a cluster of holographic monitors, a few desks that looked as if they’d been scavenged, and bits and pieces of research notes scattered across the moist floor.
Luna seated herself in a soggy chair and powered up one of the terminals, the dim glow from its polarized screen casting eerie blue shadows over the abandoned control center.
“Found anything yet?” Keith asked after a few minutes had passed.
“Almost. There’s a lot of data to go through in here. Okay, I’ve got it.” She looked up and pointed back to the main hallway. “There’s a cold-storage room down the hall on the left. According to the last log entry, they have several more samples in there. If the cryostasis systems weren’t damaged in the attack, then these should still be viable.”
“And if they’re not?”
She shrugged. “Then we’ll just have to do things the old fashioned way and find more samples ourselves.”
“Okay then, let’s get moving.”
She stood up and retrieved her light from where she’d set it, then led Keith back out into the hallway. They walked down the long corridor and were nearly to the cold storage room when Keith noticed that a section of the hallway’s wall panels had been removed, exposing the knotted power cables beneath.
“Miss McKelly. Look at this.” He shined his light on the exposed wiring.
“It looks as if it’s been shorted out … look at the burn marks on the wall,” Luna replied, kneeling to get a closer look. “Wait a second … this isn’t a power conduit. This is Alex’s land-line cable.”
“What are you implying?” Keith asked, crouching down to join her.
“I don’t really know … I’m no expert, but it looks to me as if someone were trying to splice into the Unitech data stream from here.” She rubbed her hand over the charred remains of the cables,
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