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  The four arrivals from Houston stared back at her with varying levels of comprehension. After a moment, Monique hoisted her eyebrows. “And the significance of there being two micro black holes that day?”

  “At first, I didn’t think much of it, but then later, after we had reset the timeline, I had an epiphany. The Necks hadn’t locked onto the first MBH. That black hole had evaporated in the expected burst of Hawking radiation. The fact that the dataset continued on to a second set of collisions and then ends the moment the collisions reached the required energy level told me that the Necks hadn’t used the first one. The Hawking radiation indicates the first one evaporated, but there isn’t any sign of the radiation in the second peak.”

  Doctor Geller suddenly looked very excited.

  Bingham shook his head. “What is the significance of that? How does that knowledge help us?”

  Rourke spoke before Angela could answer the man. “It gives us a starting point. That first MBH will have left an imprint on the quantum field.” Doubt clouded his features, and he shook his head. “But that doesn’t do us much good. We don’t have the ability to sense things backward in time.”

  Angela grinned. “We do now.”

  Monique’s forehead furrowed. “How?”

  “I saw one other thing on that computer. The Necks uploaded their own code onto CERN’s mainframe. The program appears to help keep this end of the wormhole stable.”

  Wing Commander Bingham’s face darkened. “They’re using our own computers against us?”

  “Yes, they are.”

  Rourke’s eyes lost focus as the man stared at the horizon. Then he slowly nodded and looked at Angela. “To keep it stable, they must be able to maintain the wormhole across every portion of space and time that it touches.”

  “Yes,” Angela said. “And since they must’ve sensed the first MBH in order to latch onto the second one the instant it formed, there should be data about it in their control program as well.”

  Monique’s eyes widened. “You can use that data to link to that first micro black hole?”

  “Yes!” Angela beamed. “Using spatial and chronological coordinates, I’ll initiate a wormhole overload that is tuned to disrupt the formation of the first MBH.”

  Some of the men exchanged confused glances, but Rourke nodded his understanding. “We’ll be returned to the places we were when the first MBH formed. Just like you and Vaughn were, but a few minutes farther back in time.”

  “Yes, but actually, I’m trying to come at it from two different directions. Last time, there was just the reset. This time, I want to improve the odds. I’ll try to do a reset aimed at the first MBH, but I’ll also try to prevent its formation. If we’re sent back farther in time, perhaps we can give him a warning and stop them from forming the second black hole, but if the first one never forms, the Necks don’t find us, and the wormhole collapses. That alone should reset the timeline and return us to the starting point.”

  Confusion clouding his face, Mark Hennessy raised his eyebrows. “This water is getting awfully muddy.”

  “I want to go back to the alien software you found,” Bingham said. “How were you able to read it? Shouldn’t it be … alien?”

  “I wondered about that too, but I guess they must have tailored their code to work on our system. I just know it wasn’t there before, and its math was unlike anything I’d ever seen.”

  Rourke looked at the man and then turned his attention back to Angela. “How are you going to prevent the formation of the first MBH?”

  “I think I can use the alien software to insert an interference pattern that’ll disrupt the stream of protons. The first micro black hole shouldn’t even form. Doctor Garfield will be so confused by the readings that he’ll halt the experiments until they can process the data. That should uproot the far end of the wormhole and collapse it.” Seeing confusion on several faces, she added, “If either approach works, we’ll all return to our starting points, the places we were when CERN’s first high-energy collisions started to occur.”

  Vaughn’s eyes cleared and he nodded. “And this time, it won’t be just the two of us trying to convince them not to continue.” He gestured at the group. “It’ll be all of us.”

  Bingham gave her a dubious look. “Seems like a bit of a reach.”

  Angela pressed her lips together and then dipped her head. “It is. It’s a huge leap, and it won’t be easy.” She gestured at herself and then Vaughn. “I don’t think we could’ve made it in there again. Not by ourselves. We need your help. But you’re right, even with all of us working together, it might be a long shot. Make no mistake: we have a long, hard road ahead of us.”

  A smile crept across the wing commander’s face. “The Royal Air Force specializes in long, hard roads. If it were easy, they’d let everyone do it. So Bob’s your uncle. Where do we go from here?”

  Angela grinned and then nodded thoughtfully. “Geneva, of course, but not yet. There are some things we need first, like supplies and weapons.” She paused and then shrugged. “But not just any weapons. We need some specialized stuff.”

  Bingham’s face twisted. “Stuff, ma’am?” He pointed back toward their helicopter. “We brought some kit, but it’s nothing more than guns and ammunition. Could you please be a bit more specific, Commander Brown?”

  The corner of Angela’s lip curled up. Digging in her bag, she produced the shiny weapon that had accompanied her when she’d reset the timeline and returned to the here and now.

  After glancing at the western horizon with evident unease, Vaughn turned and looked at her. Seeing the device in Angela’s hand, he smiled. “You still have it!”

  Major Peterson looked at her with mounting confusion. “What the hell is that, and where did that come from?”

  “Where?” Angela shrugged. “The future. The past. Another version of Earth … Hell.” She held the palm of her free hand toward the sky. “I guess it’s a matter of perspective.”

  Bill gestured at the gun. “How does that thing fit into all of this?”

  When Angela described how the weapon had disabled the robots, Monique’s eyes had widened. “It caused them to shut down?”

  Vaughn nodded. “Yep, it kills Necks and Taters alike.” A shadow crossed his face. “At least, it did. We have no idea how it’s powered or if it has any charge left. We found it in Hell. Didn’t think it worked until Angela saved my life with it … twice.” His eyes suddenly looked distant. He rubbed at the now bandaged wounds on his right wrist.

  Angela knew that he was thinking of the nearly tragic encounter they’d had with the scavenger bot in Geneva. For the two of them, that event had only occurred a couple of days ago, but to Angela, it now felt as if a lifetime had passed in those intervening hours.

  Vaughn shook his head. “Anyway.” He gestured at the gun in Angela’s hand. “We think it fires an electromagnetic pulse, an EMP.”

  Monique nodded, but she looked lost in thought.

  Bill’s face twisted. “But how did it get here?”

  Shrugging, Angela pointed at Vaughn and herself. “Same way we did. It came through the wormhole with us. I had it tucked in the waistline of my pants.”

  They continued to stare at her without comprehending.

  Angela pointed at Vaughn. “When we were trapped in the time loop, we discovered that anything we were wearing or holding at the moment of the jump would go through with us. The same holds true if you’re sent to Hell by a Tater.”

  As understanding blossomed on their faces, Angela waved a dismissive hand. “But don’t count on that helping us this time. If we’re caught by one of those things and beamed to Hell, we’ll be stuck there forever.” She swept a hand in an arc, pointing at all of them. “If that happens, all of this will have been for naught … We’ll have lost.”

  Angela scanned the collected faces and then nodded somberly. “That’s why we need weapons.” She gave Bingham a meaningful look and held up the EMP gun. It rocked in her open palm. “Specializ
ed weapons like this.”

  She looked at the rest of the group. Then her eyes locked onto Monique’s.

  A smile had blossomed on the naval lieutenant’s face. “I know exactly where to find something that might fit the bill.”

  All eyes shifted from Angela to the wiry woman.

  “Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. DARPA has …” Her face darkened and she shook her head. “… had a large contingent there.”

  Bingham frowned. “DARPA? Isn’t that your government’s advanced concepts division?”

  Monique nodded.

  “How would a naval leftenant know about it?”

  “Because DARPA is not specific to one branch. It is Department of Defense.” Monique pointed a thumb at herself. “And this nuclear and computer engineer spent a couple of months on assignment there.”

  Angela’s eyes widened. “Computer engineer! That’s perfect.” She smiled inwardly as she remembered the director’s words. ‘I found a group with skill sets that might come in handy.’ Good job, Randy.

  Vaughn cast another nervous glance at the western horizon. The dark clouds that lined that portion of the sky had acquired an ominous, green hue.

  He looked back at the rest of the group members. “Wright-Patterson sounds good to me.” He pointed at the approaching storm. “We need to get the hell out of here before the tornadoes start.” He extended a palm toward Bingham. “I know … because this isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with that storm.”

  The Wing Commander’s mouth snapped shut. Then he nodded. “Wright-Patterson it is.”

  They elected to keep the group split in two. As much as Angela wanted to ride with Vaughn, she decided to join the Houston group. It wouldn’t be wise to put the only two of them with first-hand knowledge of what lies ahead in the same helicopter.

  The young man that had been with Monique in the back of the aircraft, Doctor Rourke Geller, asked to join Vaughn, so Angela volunteered to take his seat in the Houston crew’s helicopter. Bill offered to ride with them as well while Teddy agreed to join Vaughn, Mark, and Rourke in the US Customs aircraft.

  Hands were shaken and hugs exchanged, but as everyone started to part ways, Angela held up a finger. “Wait! There’s something I have to do first.”

  She returned to the Soyuz. A moment later, she emerged holding the plastic box and a small shovel. After a few minutes, Angela finished digging out a niche for the mice. She placed the plastic box on its side. It provided a measure of shelter. Then she stripped the tops of several stalks of wheat. Rubbing them between her hands, she allowed the grain to fall to the ground. They formed a small pile in the overturned lid. Then she broke a wheat stalk into several pieces and stacked them up in the other half of the cover. Lastly, she poured water into a small bowl she’d brought for the purpose.

  “Alright, Mack and Nadine. This is your new home. There’s enough food here for a million lifetimes, and I know you’ll find water and more shelter.” She batted away a tear from the corner of her eye. “Your ancestors have been doing it for thousands of years.”

  Looking up, she saw the entire group staring at her. Most of them had confusion written across their faces, but Vaughn was dabbing at a tear of his own.

  Angela looked back at the mice. Mack had already started to nibble on a kernel of wheat. Nadine was looking at her, her little nose sniffing the air. “If we do this right, the next time we see one another will be back on the station, you know, like it was before all this crap happened. If not …” She sighed. “Well … if not, I hope Nate Junior and the rest of your descendants become a serious pain in the ass for those damned Necks.”

  Standing, Angela swiped the back of her hand across her cheek.

  The last eight humans on the planet stared at her wordlessly.

  Setting her jaw, Angela narrowed her eyes. “Let’s go kick some robot ass.”

  Chapter 13

  Vaughn craned his neck to look around Monique. The tall woman was blocking his view of the door. “Are you sure you’re doing that right?”

  Lieutenant Gheist nodded and kept working on the keypad.

  They had arrived at Ohio’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base early that morning, having overnighted in a palatial Indiana farmhouse. Unlike the vast majority of the cities they’d encountered while en route, the airbase remained largely intact. A few small fires had broken out, but it appeared that the sprinkler systems had minimized the damage.

  Fortunately, the base still had power.

  The chiming report of another failed attempt rang out, and it occurred to Vaughn that still having electricity might not be such a great thing after all.

  Monique released a rare curse word.

  Wing Commander Bingham shook his head. “We should skip this. Why all the fuss over an EMP gun when we have an entire nuclear arsenal at our disposal? Let’s go to DC and get the launch codes. If that doesn’t work”—the man pointed at Monique—“the leftenant is a nuclear engineer. Hell, she used to work on Navy nuclear weapons. With her help, we can loft a missile over the robots’ beachhead.”

  “That won’t work, Chance,” Bill Peterson said. “Angela already told you what happened when the President tried to nuke them. They beamed out the warheads before they could even hit the ground, all of them.”

  “The nukes won’t need to get close to the ground. If we detonate just one of them high above Geneva, the EM pulse it generates should fry all of the Necks,” he pointed at Angela, “just like her handy little ray gun, but all at one time, not by the ones and twos!”

  Angela gave the man her best ‘you’re an idiot’ look—a look Vaughn knew well. She made air quotes. “Their ‘beachhead’ is in the ATLAS facility. It’s under almost a hundred meters of soil and rock. It doesn’t matter how good a nuclear engineer Monique is. There’s no way the nuke’s EMP reaches that deep.”

  “You don’t know that it won’t affect them. At least we can stop the ones that are trying to build the machine city you've been warning us about.”

  “We don’t know if they’ve started that city yet. They might all be underground still. Besides, this is an all-or-nothing proposition. If something we do shuts down the wormhole, then we are stuck here in this timeline.” She jabbed a finger toward the ground to emphasize her words. “This here. This now. They’ll be no bringing back anyone.” She paused and pointed at Bingham. “Including your family.” Angela shook her head. “And there’s another thing to consider. If we try and fail, they’ll know that someone survived. The Necks could just as easily pull back and send that light through again. They’ll swipe-left the entire human race.”

  That finally shut up the wing commander.

  The quadruple chime of another failed attempt rang out from the door’s electric lock.

  Monique shook her head. “I do not understand why my code is not working. I still have DARPA access. My assignment was never withdrawn.”

  Vaughn stepped up beside her. “I’ll give it a shot. What’s the code again?”

  Giving Vaughn the stink eye, the woman stepped aside and spouted off a short string of numbers. “But I do not see how you will have any more luck than have I.”

  The corner of Vaughn’s mouth twisted up. “Oh, I have a way with these things.”

  He pulled the shotgun from the holster he’d strung across his back. Lowering the muzzle, he aimed it at the area between the lock mechanism and the jamb.

  Several voices rose behind him.

  Vaughn pulled the trigger.

  Fire belched from the muzzle, and the targeted area disintegrated.

  An alarm rang out, its warbling report echoing off the walls of the nearby buildings.

  Bingham shouted above the din. “What the bloody hell are you doing, mate?!”

  Vaughn reared back and kicked the door. It flew open, vanishing behind the churning smoke left by the shotgun blast.

  Smiling, he turned and held the weapon across his body and then nodded approvingly.

  Monique appeared to be in complete sh
ock. The remainder of the group members stared at him with a mixture of anger and surprise. Only Major Lee had a smile that matched Vaughn’s.

  He extended a hand toward the destroyed door. “Behold the wondrous destructive power of the four hundred-grain, twelve-gauge slug, the key of choice for discriminating apocalyptic pirates.”

  Angela pursed her lips and then sighed. “Captain…”

  Commander Bingham rubbed an ear. “How about next time you give us a bit of a warning, Captain Singleton?”

  Rolling his eyes, Vaughn walked over to the still blaring siren. Attached to the wall overhead, it looked like a megaphone. He cocked the shotgun, chambering another round. Then he fired it into the metallic speaker. The loud squeal ceased.

  Giving the weapon another appraising look, Vaughn nodded. He was really beginning to like the gun. He’d found it while they were raiding the armory for standard armaments and munitions. After loading their booty into the truck they had procured for the purpose, they had followed Monique to the DARPA facility.

  Returning to the door, he slid the shotgun back into its holster and then gestured through the opening. “You’re welcome.”

  Several members of the group shook their heads, but they all proceeded into the DARPA facility.

  As she walked by, Major Lee smiled and gave him a high-five. “Strong work, Singleton.”

  Grinning, Vaughn fell in behind the group and followed them into the facility and down a long hallway.

  Monique passed several rooms that appeared to hold interesting devices and equipment of unknown purposes. A moment later, she stopped in front of a door.

  This one had a lock similar to the last. And like that one, it proved just as resistant to Monique’s efforts.

  Vaughn smiled again as everyone looked at him. “Would you like me to try my code?”