The Extinction Switch: Book three of the Kato's War series (10 page)

“Of course.”

“Right. Food.” Vivianne said, once they were all seated. “We have some cans of Spam and celery sticks, thanks to Annabelle’s efforts to grab them from the kitchen.” Annabelle smiled. Kassandra scowled. “Then there’s some NBH. It’s barely edible when it’s raw.”

“We’ll have to ration our stuff,” David said. “The biggest problem is we only have one liter of water. That’s all we could grab. For all of us.” Concerned glances all around.

“Etienne needs it the most, since she’ll get dehydrated easily,” Vivianne said. “I’ll go without for now. There’s a little bit of juice in the cans, so we can share that.”

“We don’t have even one plate, knife or fork,” David said. “I have a feeling we’re going to have to get used to a lot worse hardships than that, mind, before things get better. Well, if they ever do...”

CHAPTER TEN

The Enigma

Kato, Zara, and Akio sat on the spacious white couch in Zara and Akio’s living room aboard the
Revenant.
Kato had his feet up. “Live coverage coming to you now from the Earth Transport Interchange, where the first immigrants from Mars are arriving,” the newscast said. “Scientists, engineers, doctors, artists, miners, and others from all walks of life are now entering through the ingress tunnel.” The people hanging onto the moving handrail as they floated into the ETI bore expressions of fear, anger, sadness and shame. “As we mentioned, the logistics of moving forty million people in under six months are staggering. Every available warp ship is being pressed into service. Let’s switch to an outside view now. Shuttles are queued up for hundreds of kilometers, waiting to dock, to the refugees onward to Earth.”

“So, the blockade on getting to Earth is now lifted, but we can’t get a damn docking slot at the ETI,” Kato said. “None of us can get to Earth.”

Zara’s eyes were red, and still somewhat teary. “We
have
to be able to pull some strings, Dad,” Zara said. “I
have
to go and find our baby. We don’t have to dock this huge ship there. We can use our short-range shuttles, so we only take up one ETI port for less than an hour. Half the Earth-to-orbit shuttles they’re using to take the Martians down are ours, so we’re good for getting down to the surface…”

“We’d better hope the communications nets in France come back up,” Akio said. “She could have moved on from Lyon by now.”

“I
have
to go,” Zara said. “My little girl’s in that mess somewhere, and I won’t rest until I find her.”

----

The refugees sat on their blankets, on the right sidewalk of the dismal gray Rue Borchal, after a meager evening meal. Etienne, Vivianne and David were closest to the wall. The others sat nearest to the roadway. A few stragglers still plowed along the road. “We have to post a watch through the night,” David said. “There are all kinds of people about, and I bet a lot of them are desperate for anything they can get their hands on. It’s about eight now, so I’ll take the first shift. Then you can take the second starting around 2 AM, pretty boy.” He nodded at Antonio. Antonio grunted. “Then we’ll see what tomorrow brings, I guess,” David said.

“Okay love,” Vivianne said. “I just hope Etienne sleeps straight through. I’m beyond exhausted.”

“I wish we had something to cover up with,” Kassandra said. “At least Vlad has his fur coat.” The cat was nestled in the shopping cart, while keeping his large eyes and ears focused on the goings-on around them.

“Just be thankful we even have something to lie on,” Annabelle said. She pointed to the next-but-one camp. “They don’t even have that. They just ran with the clothes on their backs.” A tear formed at the corner of her left eye, and glistened as it ran down her cheek. “I just can’t believe this situation. So many people displaced and suffering.” Kassandra leaned over and hugged her.

“Yeah,” Vivianne said. “I
have
to go to sleep now. See you guys in the morning.” She grabbed a sweater from the cart to use as a pillow, laid down on her right side next to Etienne, and put her arm over the little girl. She stirred, but didn’t wake up. Someone yelled a few curse words in the distance, which echoed down the street.

“I’ve noticed there aren’t any storefronts on the other side of the road,” David said, nodding his head in that direction. “It’s been a few hundred meters since we saw one.”

“Yeah,” Annabelle said, looking over her shoulder. “It’s just a blank gray wall, apart from a couple of openings that look like loading docks.” She pointed towards an opening they had passed before setting up camp, which looked the right size to accommodate a semi-trailer. There was another one forty meters further down. David shrugged.

The jabbering and footfalls of passersby gradually tailed off as the evening wore on. Soon, everyone but David was asleep. He sat cross-legged next to Vivianne. “What a bloody situation. Wish I had a gun of my own,” he muttered to himself, as he kept an eye on the neighboring camps and the few travelers still heading out of the city. “I guess the good guys didn’t win yet.” Midnight came and went. However, the lighting on the street never varied, and the air never stirred. There was no traffic. At the appointed time of 2 AM, David woke Antonio. “Your turn, fella.”

“Ugh. Okay.”

David was asleep within minutes. Antonio sat up and rubbed his eyes repeatedly as he looked around. There was an orange tent twenty meters to his left. He faced out towards the road. To his right was another group, three adults and three children, lying down on blankets. Other camps lined the sidewalk on the opposite side, by the featureless gray wall. After a while, Antonio laid down again, elbows on the ground, propping his chin up on his hands. Time wore on, and the oppressive dead of night began to take its toll. His eyelids drooped, and he was soon snoozing quietly. A fuzzy gray shape emerged from the loading dock thirty meters to Antonio’s right. It was neither human nor animal. It darted across the road to the third camp along from theirs. It paused there for maybe twenty seconds. It went out of sight, behind their tent. Then it moved on to the next camp, moving towards Antonio and the group. Soon it was at the one next to theirs. Items were picked up and stowed in a black backpack that it carried by the straps. Finally, it snuck slowly towards the friends’ shopping cart. It was now visibly human in outline. It stood upright, but its appearance was of constantly-shifting static, like the screen of an old TV set with no antenna connected. The shape extended an arm into the cart, and grabbed a can of green beans. As it did so, some other cans shifted and settled against a cooking pan, with a soft clunk. The sound was enough to wake Antonio. He looked over his left shoulder. His eyes immediately widened. “Oi! Get away!” The enigmatic shape darted across the road, towards the loading dock, dropping the can as it ran. “What else have you got?” Antonio raged. “Give it back!” He sprang to his feet, and pelted off in pursuit. Antonio’s long legs propelled him quickly across the road. He closed the gap between them, as they entered the loading dock. At the rear of the dock was a rolling shutter door, open a meter or so at the bottom. The being was already climbing through and into the darkness beyond. Antonio dove at the opening, a meter above the ground, and slid along the floor. It was too dark to see anything. He heard a squeak of rubber like that of a sneaker on a gym floor, and pelted in its direction. “What the hell is this thing?” he grunted, as he ran.

Complete darkness gave way to a very low red light. In it, Antonio saw that he was about to run through an open doorway, and straight into a wall. Smack! Antonio still hit the wall head on. He had managed to put his hands out just in time to brace himself. Dazed, he looked around for any sign of the thing, but it was gone. Then, twenty meters to his right, a door opened. The light beyond it was blinding in comparison. Silhouetted in it momentarily was the unmistakable figure of a half-grown boy, fleeing. The metal door clanged shut behind him. It then bounced open again slightly, revealing a vertical crack of light. Its frame was curved at the corners. Antonio ran to it and pushed it open. The mysterious person was already gone. He was now in a corridor, which extended left from where he stood, around fifteen meters long. Its walls were white, its floor tiled with linoleum, and the ceiling was suspended, bearing fluorescent lights. The mysterious figure was nowhere to be seen. Antonio walked a little way, looking left and right through reinforced glass windows into what looked like disused control rooms. Their lights were off, but light that shone in through the windows gave plenty of visibility. There were dark consoles, and marks on the floors where furniture and machinery had once been. He walked along the passageway past the desolate rooms, to the other end, where it opened onto another corridor in a T shape. This was also lit, but shorter, with a door at each end. These were large, sturdy metal hatches, like the ones inside a submarine. Antonio stood for a minute, looking both ways. There was no sign of the boy. He turned right, walked to the door, and yanked on the handle. It didn’t budge. There was a numeric keypad beside it. Antonio examined it for a second, and then retraced his steps. He looked in each of the empty rooms. Some had rear doors that led into other, similar spaces. After checking all of them, Antonio made his way back out through the lit passage, back through the nearly dark one, and then through the loading dock. This time, the letterbox-shaped patch of light coming in from the street was his guide, so he got through the darkness easily. He slipped out of the loading door, not bothering to shut it, and made his way back over to the camp. Antonio paced back and forth for an hour, watching the entrance to the loading dock, while checking all around every so often. A few people passed along the center of the road. None even acknowledged him. Eventually, he sat down, cross legged, but never took his eyes off the dark recess opposite.

----

The night dragged on. Etienne eventually awoke and sat up. Antonio crouched close to her. “Shh! Your mother is still sleeping!”

“What’s for breakfast?” the little girl asked.

“Umm… I don’t know yet. Lie down!” Vivianne opened her eyes and sat up groggily.

“Maman!” Etienne stood up and hugged her. Vivianne rubbed her eyes. Annabelle began to stir.

“What time is it?” Vivianne said.

“7:10,” Antonio said. The sound of loudspeakers was heard in the distance, echoing down the tunnel that was Rue Borchal. This time, it was coming from the west, the direction they had been headed.

“Oh God, what now?” Vivianne said. The sound grew louder.

Eventually, words were discernible: “This area is being occupied by the New People’s Republic of France! You must evacuate immediately!” Bright lights could be seen coming down rapidly down the road. Then, there was a staccato burst of gunfire.

“Oh shit! Not again!” Vivianne said. “Dave, wake up! Everybody wake up! We have to move now!”

“What the?” David said. The loudspeakers were heard again. “Crap! Everybody up! Move!” People scrambled to their feet. Blankets, food, and containers were thrown back into the cart. At once, the armed convoy was upon them. “MOVE OUT NOW! MOVE OUT NOW!” Then, gunfire again.

“Who are they shooting at?!” David said. “We’re going as fast as we can!” There were bangs, followed by pew-pew sound of bullets ricocheting from the walls. Screams from the next camp, as someone fell to the ground. Bullets chipped the concrete above their heads, spraying them with gravel-sized particles.

“RUN!” David yelled. Etienne was tossed into the cart, on top of the blankets, and the group began to run west. One armored personnel carrier passed them at speed. A grinning soldier leaned out of the window, toting an automatic weapon. He sprayed more bursts of bullets. People screamed and ran in all directions.

“I know a safe place!” Antonio yelled. “Follow me!” He pointed across the road.

“How the hell are we going to get over there?” David said, eyeing the next APC in the convoy as it barreled towards them.

“Just do it! Run!” Antonio said. He darted across the road. The others followed. Vivianne nearly tipped the shopping cart over, as she pushed it off the curb onto the roadway. The cat fell out and ran for dear life. David made it just in time, as the next speeding vehicle whooshed by. Antonio led the way into the dark loading dock. “In there!” He pointed to the partly-open loading dock door.

“What?!” David said.

“I’ll explain later! Just get in! Everybody!” Kassandra leapt in and under the door, nimble as a cat, followed by Antonio. Vivianne and Etienne were helped in, before David and Annabelle scrambled inside. They all cowered in the dark, as the next vehicle blasted its message of intimidation. Screams and footfalls could be heard.

“This is absolutely bloody insane!” David said. “They aren’t even giving people a chance to get out, unlike the ones yesterday.” He walked back to the shutter door and pushed it down, sealing them in utter darkness. Their heavy breathing could be heard over the chaos outside. It gradually subsided, as more vehicles came past.

“I think one stopped,” Annabelle said. “I can hear the soldiers yelling.”

“Yep,” David said. “I just hope they don’t look in here.”

“Our stuff’s still outside,” Vivianne said.

“Forget it, it’s too dangerous,” David said.

“Come back this way,” Antonio said. “There’s light back here.”

“Okay.” The group followed Antonio, until they entered the area with low red lighting. “Turn right.” Antonio opened the first metal door at the end, and light flooded the corridor. The others covered their eyes, which were now dark adjusted.