Infinity Cage by Alex Scarrow Read Free Book Online Page B

certainly intend to return. But I won’t lie … this time it feels like we’re pushing our luck.’
    > Maddy’s strategy is a calculated risk. I am sure she will return safely.
    ‘Really? How can you even begin to predict that?’
    He had no idea what they were going to learn from Waldstein, if anything at all. That is, if he didn’t have them wiped out by another group of meatbots ready and waiting to jump them as soon as they came knocking. And, if he
did
lay out some profound revelation before them, what was that going to do to Maddy’s already-troubled mind? Make everything all right once again? Was the truth from him – whatever it was – going to set her free … or send her over the edge?
    > Just a ‘hunch’.
    ‘A hunch?!’ Liam laughed. ‘Jay-zus, don’t tell me even you can think like a mushy-headed human now?’
    The cursor blinked for a moment.
    > Negative. I have no soft-logic circuits. That was just appropriately deployed humour. Designed to make you feel better.
    ‘Right. Darned hilarious.’
    > The humour was amusing?
    ‘Hmm … I suspect you’ve been whispering too much atnight with Becks. Someday I’ll have to teach you and her what actually constitutes
funny
. It’s all about –’
    > Timing.
    ‘Oh, ha ha …’ He slapped his hand gently against one of the monitors. ‘Everyone’s a comedian here.’
    > :)
    Five amber-coloured charge lights were on the board now.
    > Liam, I now have enough power to activate your portal. You and Bob should take your positions, then I will initialize the one-minute countdown.
    ‘Thank you.’ He gestured at Bob to take his place on one of the plinths, then stood beside him on the other one. ‘So, here we go again, big man.’
    ‘Here we go again, Liam,’ Bob rumbled. He turned to look at him. ‘For your information, I believe your objective is the correct one to prioritize. We will soon understand the purpose of those tachyon transmitters. That is important.’
    ‘And what about Waldstein?’
    Bob frowned. ‘I predict he may have some critical information. But not all of it.’
    > Ten seconds, Liam. Remain perfectly still.
    He squinted at the monitor on the bench and watched the last few seconds count down. Listened to the hum of energy reach a buzzing crescendo echoing around the dungeon, and felt the air around him become charged with static electricity, the hair on his head lifting and tickling his scalp.
    Just before the portal opened and engulfed them in a soup of featureless white, he called out above the cacophony of noise, ‘Goodbye, Bob.’ Then regretted it. He was almost certain that the AI wouldn’t have heard him saying that, which was probably for the best. He had no idea whether its heuristic AI had developed enough to feel sadness, loss. Hopefully not. Hismusings on whether computer-Bob could shed the digital equivalent of a tear were instantly forgotten as he found himself, once again, falling through the white stuff.
    Falling … falling … falling.



CHAPTER 7
     
2070, New York
89 days to Kosong-ni
     
    Maddy emerged from the swirling mist, her feet setting down on a crazy-paving pattern of cracked tarmac with knee-high tufts of grass sprouting boldly through the gaps.
    They were standing on the Williamsburg Bridge, on the car lane heading over the East River into Manhattan. It was empty of vehicles. Even abandoned ones. Running parallel to the tarmac was the pedestrian walkway, again deserted.
    ‘It looks like this bridge must have been closed down some time ago,’ said Rashim.
    She nodded, then walked over to the side of the bridge and leaned over the safety rail. She found herself looking down on to the rooftops of what was once their part of Brooklyn: all empty warehouses, industrial units, factories and riverside apartments. Greenery seemed to sprout from every possible crevice. Running along the sides of brick walls, she noted the green-black strata of a high-tide mark and, several feet lower, the dark