Condition Zero, page 22
part #6 of The Earth Saga Series
Watching the planet grow large in the monitor, Keegan tried to remember what it felt like the last time he had returned to Earth, but so much had happened since that time. He had been with Dr Lysa Johnson aboard the Rock of Cromarden at the time, but that was long ago, and Lysa was dead. So much had happened in such a short period.
“Possible chop, Doc.” Ken said over the comms net.
The first bit of shuddering didn’t come until five minutes later. It was violent and heavy but only lasted for two minutes, which felt like an eternity to Keegan. Cramped into a flying sardine can was not his idea of the best way to travel. Under the circumstances, he was willing to make an exception, certainly if it meant getting to his child faster.
Dropping down from orbit always required some mental adjustment from being aboard a spaceship where the sun could always be in view, to a world that had daytime and nighttime. From the time Keegan had been on the Seven, the place had been lit up the entire time, regardless of what time his watch might have said, which was still set to Central Time in the US after his journey to Kansas. Looking at his watch, a Shinola given to him by the commanding general of the First Infantry Division, he wound it back one hour to mountain time. It was just after nine in the morning. The sun would have been up for almost three hours at that time over Albuquerque.
The raider entered the upper atmosphere above Alaska, flying down the west coast of Canada, then Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, before finally entering New Mexico air space. Under normal circumstances, air traffic control would have picked up the ship, but no one was minding the store anymore, so now the raider went unnoticed.
When Albuquerque finally came onto Keegan’s monitor, he shifted in his seat, trying to get a better view of his hometown.
“76er, give us a slow circle at ten-thousand.” Ken instructed. “Doc, keep your eyes on the screens, let us know if there is anything out of the ordinary going on on the surface.”
Keegan tried to move his face closer to the main view screen, but his restraints kept him firmly in place, but he was able to see the images as they started to come in. The Rio Grande river was the first feature he spotted, running north to south in the western side of town. Looking at the airport on the south side of the city, Keegan instantly noticed that the runway had several jets strewn across it, while the main terminal looked like it had burned down.
“We have limited surface contacts.” Tom said over the net.
“Affirmative.” Ken seconded. “I’m seeing limited vehicular traffic at this hour.”
“Doc, have a look at this.” Tom suggested.
Keegan watched an image of the University of New Mexico’s sports stadium come into view.
“Lot of activity in that stadium.” Tom said.
“Looks like a camp has been set up.” Keegan said.
“But what kind of camp?” Ken interjected. “Looking at these images, I’d say this looks fairly unregulated.”
It wasn’t hard for Keegan to see what the former Air Force pararescueman was seeing. The sports stadium looked trashed, tents were in unorganised bunches around the field, and various cars were parked near the main gates.
“Tom, check the baseball field to the north.” Ken said.
Keegan immediately moved his eyes up the image. “Holy fuck.”
“Those are crosses, aren’t they?” Ken said.
“Yeah.” Tom replied.
“They crucified people?” Keegan asked. “Why?”
No one responded for a moment.
“The whole field is covered.” Tom said. “Must be a few hundred down there.”
“What the hell has happened to my town?” Keegan asked out loud.
“The crazies have taken over, Doc.” Ken answered. “76er, arm all weapons.”
“Wait.” That got Keegan’s attention. “What?”
“Doc, something seriously wrong has gone down in your little hamlet, and we need to be ready for action.” Tom answered. “Your house in the northeast, right?”
“Yes. Across from Rotary Park.” Keegan replied, his eyes still fixed on the high-definition images of the bodies nailed to crosses on the baseball pitch. Men, woman, and children of all colour.
“Found it.” Ken reported. “76er, take us to the coordinates I’ve sent you.”
Keegan was still trying to work his mind around what he had seen when he started to notice areas of town that told him they were getting closer to his home, and for a moment, he felt positive about finding his kid alive and well, and then getting them the hell out of town.
As the raider made its way towards the northeast corner of the city, Keegan prepared himself for what he was going to find. He hadn’t been home in months, and he couldn’t imagine what his house would look like. That suddenly made him consider what he should retrieve from the house. Photo-albums, his favourite t-shirts from the concerts he had been to over the years with Ryan. There was just too much to consider.
“On station in two minutes.” Ken reported.
“Doctor, when we land, Ken and I will set a perimeter with 76er. Once we are set, we’re going to send a drone into the house to check it first. Once I’m happy, we’ll enter your house and sweep it. When we’re confident that it is safe, we’ll let you in. Until then, stay inside the ship.” Tom ordered.
“I understand.”
“Skids coming down.” 76er reported in a metallic tone.
Keegan hadn’t spent much time around droids or bots since he had fled Lasqueti, which made his reaction to 76er a bit stiff. He missed the Sentinel Commander, the one robot that he knew he could trust and he wished was with them now.
“Five hundred. Four Hundred.” The altitude was counted down by the raiders onboard AI, and even though it was in Universal, it sounded more alive to Keegan than the war machine at the front of the ship.
“We’re down.” Ken reported. “Set security!”
Keegan remained strapped in his seat and kept his eyes on the monitors. He watched 76er emerge from the front of the ship with a massive energy cannon move to the intersection of Quintana and Wallace. He knew the intersection like the back of his hand, and it was where he had taught his kid to ride their bicycle before being called away by SETI.
Watching the external cameras, he couldn’t help but notice that the front door of his house appeared to be broken in, just barely hanging by its hinges. It was the same as the house next door.
Looking at the off-white house that he and Ryan had lived in for years suddenly brought a wave of emotion over Keegan, and he suddenly went from being calm and collected to sobbing uncontrollably in a matter of seconds.
Sitting, still strapped in, Keegan was starting to think about the life not lived. The family that he loved more than anything in the world, but he had almost abandoned in pursuit of his career and of science. It was a career that had cost him his wife, and now there was an excellent chance that his kid was dead as well.
“We’re good out here.” Ken said.
“Confirm. No movement detected.” 76er reported in its very machine-like tone.
“Doc, you wanna come out?” Tom asked.
Keegan wiped the tears that were forming in his eyes and cleared his throat. “Yeah.”
His restraints relaxed, Keegan pulled himself out of his seat and gingerly made his way along the cramped interior of the ship to the exit hatch. Poking his head out, he got the first rays of the morning sun coming over the Sandia Mountains just east of the neighbourhood. Taking a deep breath, Keegan closed his eyes, then stepped down from the ship, his shoe hitting the asphalt, and almost at once, he felt like he was back home.
There was a light breeze in the air which ruffled Keegan’s hair which he had let grow. The sun was warming his face, and there was a smell in the air that made him think of all the mornings he had had in this wonderful town.
“Send a drone into the house.” Ken said.
Keegan watched a small object fly out of the ships hold and zoom off towards the house.
“Give it five minutes Doc, and we’ll know if there are is anyone alive in your house.” Ken said. “Although my optics aren’t picking anything up.”
“Me either.” Tom said. “We need to consider that your kid isn’t here.”
Keegan shook his head. If his kid wasn’t at his home, and it was starting to look like he wasn’t, then where were they? School, friends?
“Contact front!” 76er barked.
Keegan swung his head around, looking past the front of the ship, towards Thornton Avenue. There was a group of people, some of them carrying rifles, moving towards the raider slowly.
“One hundred metres out!” Tom yelled as he rushed to the left, throwing himself on the grass of Rotary Park while Ken positioned himself on Keegan’s pebble covered front lawn.
“I have them.” Ken said. “Looks like just over twenty pax. Light arms.”
“Maybe you should get back in the ship, Doc.” Tom added.
Keegan didn’t reply; instead, he walked towards the front of the raider, straining to see the people that were moving towards him when a shot rang out with a loud crack.
“That was an AD.” Tom said, a chuckle in his voice.
Keegan had ducked down when he heard the shot and was now watching the group of people stop, all yelling at one man. After a few seconds of shouting, another member of the group grabbed his rifle, then punched the guilty party in the face. A few more seconds discussion ensued, before a figure dressed in black put his hands into the air, and started moving towards the ship.
“Don’t shoot. In the name of God, do not shoot.” The figure shouted as he continued towards the ship.
“Well?” Tom asked.
Ken got up from his position and started walking towards the approaching figure. “I’ll have a chat.”
“Isn’t that risky?” Keegan asked.
Tom walked over to where Keegan was standing and flipped up his helmet’s blast shield. “Doc, they don’t have a weapon among them that can penetrate Ken’s armour, and unless they’ve got a sniper with a fifty-cal somewhere, Ken will be just fine.” He pointed to 76er, who was standing ten metres to the front of the ship, a massive energy cannon in his arms. “And who is going to fuck with us when we have him?”
Keegan looked at the massive robot that was stood motionless in the middle of the road. Tom was right. Keegan knew that 76er could lay waste to everything in sight in seconds. He was just worried about his kid.
“That’s far enough.” Ken said.
The male in black stopped fifty metres from the raider.
“Where have you come from?” The male asked.
“Santa Fe, originally.” Ken replied.
“No, now?” The male asked.
“A ship in orbit.” Ken replied.
“Is the war over?”
“War?” Ken replied. “I’m not sure about the war, but the planet is back under friendly control.”
“Are you here to help us?” The man asked.
“Firstly, who are you?”
“Oh. I’m Heath Bishop.”
“And what’s with the posse?” Ken asked, looking past Bishop.
“It’s for protection.” Bishop said.
“Protection from who?”
“The ravengers.”
“Who?”
“They’re downtown.” Bishop said. “They come out during the day, they kill, rape, steal.”
“I think we saw them on the way in.” Ken said.
“They’re monsters.”
“Who are they?”
Bishop shook his head. “We don’t know, but once the power went, they took over the university campus and started killing whoever wasn’t with them. We’re far enough from the city centre to have been spared the initial days of their coming to power.”
“Well, we’re not here to deal with them, I’m afraid.” Ken said.
“Oh.”
“We’re looking for a child.”
“A child?”
“They used to live just down the road.” Ken said. “Any idea where they could be now?”
Bishop shook his head. “If they’re not with us at the church, then I don’t know where they could be.”
“Let’s take a walk.” Ken said and started walking back to the ship.
When the pair reached the ship, Ken made the introductions.
“Doctor Beck.” Bishop held out his hand, which Keegan shook. “It’s an honour to meet you.”
Keegan nodded. “Thank you. Are you a local?”
“Yes. I used to live on San Bernardino before all the troubles started.” Bishop replied.
“So, what happened?” Keegan asked.
“As I was telling your friend.” He gestured towards Ken. “Once the power went, chaos happened.” He shook his head. “I don’t know how or why, but things fell apart rapidly. The police disappeared from the streets, and all of a sudden, the ravengers were everywhere.”
“They’re the ones in the stadium.” Ken said.
“What do they want?” Keegan asked.
“I don’t know.” Bishop replied. “They kill men on the spot, take the women.”
“And the children?” Keegan asked.
“I don’t know.” Bishop replied. “You’re looking for your kid?”
“I am.”
“I haven’t seen any children without their parents.” Bishop said. “Maybe they are with friends.”
“That is an option.” Keegan said, rubbing his chin. “I need to look inside the house, see if a note was left.” Turning away from Bishop, Keegan strode with haste towards his front door.
Walking inside, he found the living room in tatters. It was clear right away that the house had been ransacked and almost everything that could have been upended was. Items were smashed and tossed about the room. He was starting to wonder what would have happened to him had he been at home when it had been burgled.
Taking the stairs up to the first floor, Keegan walked into his kid’s room and found it in the same condition as the ground floor. Almost everything that could be smashed was. Leaving the room, Keegan checked the master bedroom. It was also trashed.
“Fuck.”
Walking back downstairs, Keegan went to the rear of the house where the kitchen was and opened the fridge. A rancid smell came out. Shutting the door quickly, Keegan looked around the space. It was as if a tornado had come into his house and done its worst. Looking out the back windows, he noticed that his once pristine lawn was brown from lack of watering, and his swimming pool was empty.
“Pretty fucked up.”
Keegan turned around to see Tom standing at the entrance to the kitchen, his helmet off and his rifle slung.
“What about your family?” Keegan asked.
“They’re on a ranch outside of Austin.” He shook his head. “My brother’s place.”
Keegan ran his hand down his face, then locked eyes with the armoured soldier. “What would you do?”
“If it were my kid?” Tom asked.
“Yeah.”
“Any idea of where he might have gone?” Tom asked. “Friends place? Something like that?”
Keegan shook his head. “I think if he had gone somewhere willingly, they’d have left a note or something. There would be some indication as to where they were.”
“So, what do you want to do?” Tom asked.
“I think we need to go down and check out those people at the university campus.” Keegan answered.
“That might not be an easy thing to do.” Tom said. “Sounds like they’re a rough crew.”
“True. But maybe they’ve taken them, and I need to know for sure.”
“I didn’t see any tall buildings around the park on the way in.” Tom said, shaking his head. “That would have been convenient for an over-watch position.”
“No. That part of town lacks in high-rises.”
Tom activated his communicator. “76er, launch the primary drone and send it down to the ballpark.” Tom looked at Keegan. “Well, let’s see what we can see.”
“We have more pressing problems.” Ken said over the net. “Possible tangos en-route to our pos.”
Keegan shook his head. “What? Who?”
“Snap out of it Doc.” Tom said, pulling his helmet on. “Looks like the freak-show is coming to us.”
Keegan watched as the armour-clad warrior walked out of the kitchen and followed him without a second thought. Walking back out into the morning sun, Keegan shielded his eyes for a moment and allowed them to adjust to the light.
“What do we have?” Tom asked.
“Twenty technicals rolling up 25 towards us.” Ken answered.
“Why would they be coming here?” Keegan asked.
“They might have seen your ship fly in.” Bishop answered. “We did.”
Ken brought his hands up in protest. “It doesn’t matter.” He looked at Bishop. “Why don’t you get you and yours back to wherever you came from.”
Bishop looked at the soldier with a confused look on his face. “What are you going to do?”
Ken smiled. “We’re just going to talk with them.” He looked at Tom and winked. “And if they’re a bunch of crazed psychos who are crucifying women and children, we’re going to kill them.”
“But.” Bishop said weakly.
“But nothing.” Ken put his hand on Bishop’s shoulder. “We’ll talk first. Shoot second.” Ken temporarily looked skyward. “Unless they shoot first. Then we won’t talk at all.”
Tom stepped towards Bishop. “My Air Force colleague is correct, this is no place for you and your folk.”
Bishop righted himself. “You’re probably right. Best not to linger.” He turned sharply and started to hurry back to the group of people that hadn’t moved since their arrival.
“What do you think?” Tom asked Ken.
“Ideally, we get some G2, and if these are the clowns from the stadium, we X them out.” Ken replied.
“76er!” Tom barked. “Prepare to repel hostiles.”
Keegan blinked, then looked at the Sentinel. The machine moved back from its position to the front of the ship and pulled out two large energy packs from the front storage unit.
“Nothing to fear Doc.” Tom said. “But best you get back inside the ship until things sort themselves out.” The operator put his hand on Keegan’s shoulder and was gently pushing him towards the open ship hatch.
