Broken Pixels (The Chronicles of Mara Lantern, Book 4) (22 page)

“How will the drug be administered? I don’t see any intravenous connections inside.”

She pointed to Ping’s stocking feet and said, “Those socks we gave you are made of a special permeable and conductive material that allows drugs to be administered from the base of the receptacle through the soles of your feet. They also provide monitoring connectivity between your body and the system. No need for a direct connection to your body that might irritate your skin.”

“Amazing,” Ping said, holding up his feet. They appeared to be ordinary white socks.

Cam leaned forward and offered a hand. “Mr. Ping, do you need me to help you walk up the steps?”

Ping shook his head and gripped the arms of the wheelchair. “No thanks, Cam. I think I can make it on my own.” He eyed the open receptacle wearily as he stood.

Mara sidled up to him and slid an arm around his waist as he walked toward the steps. It was more about emotional support than physical. “Don’t worry. I won’t let you stay in there too long. I promise.”

“Go do what you have to do. I’ll be fine. Do me a favor and keep something in mind when you encounter the Aphotis,” he said.

“What’s that?”

“Don’t just look at the situation from a technical perspective. Whatever she is hoping to accomplish goes beyond whatever tinkering she is doing to these poor people. Her aims are metaphysical in nature. If you are to stop her, you will have to understand what those are. Do you follow me?”

“I think so.” Mara stopped alongside the steps.

Ping patted her shoulder and pulled away as he went up the first stair. “Be careful and keep an eye out for your brother.”

“I will. You just get some rest, and we’ll be back before you know it,” she said. She turned and saw that Sam was red-faced, struggling not to look distraught as Ping took the final step up the pedestal and into the tube.

Ping rotated in place to face them through the open half of the receptacle. He looked at Sam and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll be here when you get back.” He unclipped the strange hearing aid from his shirt and tossed it to Cam. “Doctor, I’m ready.”

Dr. Canfield pressed a button on the console, and the curved sheet of glass rotated from behind Ping and enclosed him in the receptacle. He closed his eyes, and his head tilted up slowly. When Mara looked along the receptacle, she noticed several graphs running across the screen on the console. A part of her expected some kind of sound, like a beep to the rhythm of his heartbeat or something—something to indicate life, that everything was all right. But it was silent.

The doctor’s eyes followed the lines on the graphs as they crawled across the screen, but she didn’t seem concerned. After a few moments, the light in the receptacle dimmed, and the screen on the console winked out. The doctor straightened and turned and smiled at them. “There you go. He’s in stasis and receiving his first Quintivir dosage. I’m sure he will be fine.”

Mara stared at Ping’s silhouette in the darkened receptacle and said, “I assume, if something goes wrong with the treatment, that the system will notify you.”

“Absolutely. There’s a chance that some difference in his anatomy might be problematic, but we got through the second scan without any issues, and he seems to be responding to the receptacle’s systems perfectly. I don’t anticipate any complications,” the doctor said.

Mara’s gaze drifted to the two lit receptacles next to Ping’s, and she asked, “These two are for Sam and me. Correct?”

Dr. Canfield nodded.

“You mentioned they were configured for us. So, which one is Sam assigned to, and which one is for me?” Mara asked.

“The one next to Mr. Ping’s has been configured for Sam, and the third one is yours,” she said. “Why do you ask?”

Mara scanned the room, eyeing the area around their tubes. She looked past their row to the darkened receptacles beyond and said, “Just curious. What would happen if I were to enter one of these other receptacles instead?”

Dr. Canfield looked at her suspiciously. “Why would you do that?”

Mara smiled at her, trying to allay any suspicion. “I don’t mean me specifically, but what if a person entered a receptacle that had not been configured? What does
configuration
signify? Does it change how the receptacle operates, how it interacts with the occupant?”

“No. The configuration is more about loading the person’s identifying information and their medical history. It provides a starting point for the system. For example, if the occupant has a condition such as diabetes, the system would be prepared for that. It wouldn’t have to discover it and formulate a treatment on the fly—though it could do that.”

“I see. So if I entered any of these unpowered receptacles, they would work?”

“Of course.”

“Interesting.”

The doctor frowned. “What is the point of these questions?”

Sam interjected, “She’s sort of a technodork, always asking how things work and why. There usually isn’t a point to it.”

“I see,” the doctor said. “If there are no more questions, I need to get to the lab—and the two of you should get on with whatever it is you hope to accomplish before the virus overwhelms your bodies. I do wish you would reconsider.”

* * *

When Mara walked into the conference room, she found Cam, sitting at the round table, staring off into space. He didn’t seem to notice when she sat across from him. After a moment, she rapped her knuckles on the Plexiglas surface, causing him to jump. Mara held up her hand in a calming gesture and said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Cam collected himself and smiled. “No problem. You just caught me trying to get anything off the Sig-net. I guess I just got lost in the effort.”

“
Trying
? You mean, you aren’t able to?” she asked.

“It appears the network is down. Every once in a while there will be a random signal, but I’m not able to get the news streams to see what is going on outside.” He glanced around the room and past Mara’s shoulder and added, “Where’s Sam? Did you guys find something to eat in the break room?”

“He’s still there. His appetite is more bottomless than mine,” she said. “I wanted to pick your brain a bit about this transceiver node. I suppose with the Sig-net on the fritz, there’s not much more you can tell me.”

“Not really. The last information was about a large gathering outside the facility, and a group of people had attacked. It makes absolutely no sense. We all rely on the node to sustain us, including the people doing the attacking,” Cam said.

“Where is this node located?”

“It’s in northeast Portland on top of Rocky Butte. Do you know where that is?”

“Rocky Butte. I think I’ve heard of it. Isn’t there some kind of park there?”

Cam shrugged and looked doubtful. “Not sure. Because of its elevation, it’s got great line of sight for the signals and power grid. Covers most of the valley and a large swath of southwestern Washington.”

“Is it difficult to get to?” she asked.

“Normally, probably not. Right now I suspect getting anywhere aboveground will be dicey. Why? You’re not planning on going up there, are you?”

“I don’t see that I’ve got much choice. If people are attacking their only means of staying alive, Abby must be behind it. And with the Sig-net down, there’s only one way to find out for sure. I’ve got to go.”

“But you don’t even know if she’s responsible for this. Even if she is, she might not be at the node herself. She never showed up at the church,” Cam said.

“Not in person. But she did get in touch through that crazy old woman. I’m fairly certain she plans to get in touch again, especially if I show up at the party on Rocky Butte. Besides, I don’t think hanging around here will be a much better option, especially if things continue to get worse.”

“What makes you say that?”

“The attendant who did my scans earlier mentioned that some of the folks around here are aware that I come from the same place as the person responsible for what’s going on. I’m not sure how welcome I’ll be when they decide I’m somehow guilty by association, if you know what I mean. Mobs can be a nasty thing once they get started.”

Cam shook his head dismissively. “The people who work here are professionals. They would never do anything to harm you.”

“I’m sure there are some professionals among those storming the transceiver node too,” Mara said. When Cam opened his mouth to argue, Mara nodded and added, “I understand they don’t mean me any harm, and, to be honest with you, they are not my primary concern. I’m not going to the node to get away from the people here. I need to find out what Abby is up to and see if I can find a way to stop her. If I don’t, we’ll all be in trouble.”

“How so?”

“I’m not sure, but we’re dealing with a creature who thinks she’s in some kind of metaphysical battle to redefine the nature of reality. She’s not too concerned about hurting a few dozen—or a few thousand—people. Even if she’s not there herself, maybe Sam and I can find out what’s going on.”

“Very well then, I’ll go with you,” he said.

“I can’t ask you to do that. I wouldn’t even take Sam if I could convince him to stay here,” she said.

“Well, that makes two of us. I’m going, and there’s no point arguing about it,” Cam said.

A sheer rocky wall, covered in foliage and crowned by wispy trees, loomed overhead, rising up from the dark directly next to the road on which they walked. There were no streetlights. The scene gave Mara the heebie-jeebies for a moment. It reminded her of going down the hill in Oregon City on her way to the bridge to save her mother, only to be attacked by FBI Special Agent Suter, who was in the process of turning into some kind of lizard. She shook off a shiver and walked along the deserted street, keeping pace with Cam and her brother, on their way to the transceiver node that sat atop Rocky Butte.

After leaving the tiny railcar station more than an hour earlier, Mara had scanned the horizon and figured out they were in northeast Portland, near the junction of Interstates 205 and 84, not far from the airport.
The airport. That’s where all this got started. It seemed like another time and place. In a way, it was
.

Cam slowed his pace. Mara noticed his profile turn grim as he stared toward a bend in the road.

“What is it?” she asked.

He nodded ahead and said, “A group of people has gathered a few hundred yards ahead of us. I can hear their voices bouncing off the walls. Can’t you hear them?”

Mara cocked an ear. “I think so, but it’s very faint. To be honest with you, I’m not sure if they are ahead of us or behind us.”

Sam shifted the book bag on his shoulder and said, “I think you’re both right. We’ve got people ahead and behind us.”

“Then they must all be headed to the transceiver node. This stretch of road winds around the butte one more time and goes directly to it. No other intersecting roads, and I’m pretty sure no more buildings between here and there,” Cam said.

“The best thing to do would be to pace ourselves to stay between the people ahead and the people behind us,” Mara said. She continued walking but glanced at Cam. “The Sig-net doesn’t allow you to sense when people are close to you? You know, like GPS in my realm?”

Cam shook his head. “We can locate people in times of emergency if needed, but, no, we’re not designed to do that on a regular basis. You have to remember that our physiology is designed to be as true to being human as possible. Constantly knowing where everybody is at all times would significantly change our day-to-day lives. Just because something is technically possible, doesn’t necessarily make it desirable.”

“I suppose it would take all the spontaneity out of life,” Mara said. “But to be perfectly honest with you, I could use a few less surprises in my life, so, if given the opportunity, I wouldn’t mind knowing who’s approaching around the next corner.”

“Even if I could tell you that in normal circumstances, I’d be useless right now. I’m not detecting any Sig-net signals at all. The entire net appears to be down,” he said.

“What about power? Is any energy being distributed to people?” Sam asked.

Cam shook his head. “No, no energy either.”

Mara stopped and grabbed his elbow. “Maybe it was a bad idea for you to come with us. Here we are walking up this hill, and you will run out of power at any minute.”

“I’m good for a few more hours. Although I think people will have difficulties before morning gets here.”

A loud crack of a limb echoed overhead, and the three of them looked up. A cluster of tiny purple lights bobbed like fireflies in the branches some fifty feet above the street. A voice hissed down at them, “See the light! See the light!”

Another loud crack and the lights, harnessed to a knot of falling silhouettes, tumbled from the trees directly toward them. Mara shoved Cam to her right and drove her left shoulder into Sam’s side, knocking him off the path of the falling bodies. What she surmised was a foot and a calf hit her hip, which sent her careening to the pavement. A huge tree limb and a writhing mass of bodies landed with a chorus of
umph
s and groans. Mara spun to her feet, trying to see through the shifting group of people untangling from each other. She wasn’t sure if she had shoved Cam hard enough for him to dodge the falling people, or if he was beneath the pile.

“Cam!” Mara yelled, while swiping hair from her face and getting her balance.

Sam walked up beside her and said, “You didn’t have to tackle me. A simple warning would have sufficed.”

Mara ignored him. “Cam? Are you all right?”

After a moment, four silhouettes separated in the dark and stood in front of Mara and Sam. Each held out one of the crystals and walked toward them, kicking away the large tree limb in their path as they advanced.

Mara said, “Look, guys, those little diodes aren’t gonna work on us, so why don’t you just go shine your light at someone else? Okay?”

The group was now close enough for Mara to make out their features in the faint light of their artificial crystals. They all looked zoned out. Three young men and a young woman, all in their early twenties. They didn’t heed Mara’s suggestion. Other than looking a bit creepy, they didn’t seem threatening. Even so, Mara and Sam stepped back from them as they advanced.