CHAPTER 011: THE MOUNTAIN OF SECRETS
1106 Words
The aircraft shuddered violently.
Lightning exploded outside the windows.
For a fraction of a second, the storm clouds became a sea of white fire.
Then darkness returned.
The radar screen continued blinking.
One aircraft ahead.
One aircraft behind.
And somewhere beyond thousands of miles of black ocean, Iceland waited.
Ava couldn't stop staring at the mountain displayed on the screen.
Her face had become pale.
Almost lifeless.
Ethan noticed immediately.
"What happened there?"
Ava didn't answer.
The question seemed trapped somewhere inside her.
Buried beneath years of memories she had never wanted to revisit.
The Signal answered instead.
"The Architect visited that location thirty-two times."
Ethan frowned.
"Thirty-two?"
"Confirmed visits."
The aircraft shook again.
A coffee cup slid from a table and crashed onto the floor.
Nobody paid attention.
Ava finally spoke.
"I was thirteen."
The words came quietly.
As though she were speaking to herself rather than Ethan.
"My father told me we were going camping."
A bitter smile touched her lips.
"He lied."
The storm roared outside.
Rain hammered against the fuselage.
The private jet climbed higher.
Trying to avoid the worst turbulence.
The radar warning continued flashing red.
Victor Kane's aircraft remained behind them.
Closing slowly.
Patiently.
Like a shark following a wounded animal.
Ava stared at the mountain.
"We stayed there for three weeks."
"What were you doing?"
Again she hesitated.
Then:
"Building something."
Ethan felt a chill.
"The key?"
"No."
The answer came immediately.
"Something else."
Silence followed.
The Signal remained quiet.
Almost respectful.
As though it understood the importance of the memory.
Ava folded her arms.
"The mountain wasn't empty."
"What do you mean?"
"There was already a facility there."
Ethan looked at the image again.
Nothing but ice.
Snow.
Rock.
An isolated wilderness.
"What kind of facility?"
Ava's eyes darkened.
"The kind governments pretend doesn't exist."
The answer created more questions than it solved.
Unfortunately, nobody had time for questions anymore.
A warning alarm suddenly echoed through the cabin.
The radar contact moved closer.
Much closer.
The pursuing aircraft was now less than ten miles behind them.
Ethan looked toward the cockpit.
"Can they shoot us down?"
The Signal answered.
"Yes."
The casual response did not help.
Ava closed her eyes.
"Wonderful."
The aircraft suddenly banked left.
Hard.
Ethan grabbed his seat as gravity shifted violently.
Outside the window another flash of lightning illuminated the storm.
For a split second he saw it.
The other aircraft.
Dark.
Fast.
Dangerously close.
Victor Kane wasn't simply tracking them anymore.
He was hunting them.
The Signal's voice echoed through the cabin.
"Estimated interception time: fourteen minutes."
Nobody liked that number.
Fourteen minutes wasn't enough.
Not enough to escape.
Not enough to plan.
Not enough for anything.
Ava stood abruptly.
"What aren't you telling us?"
The Signal paused.
A strange behavior.
Almost nervous.
Then:
"There is additional information regarding the First Key."
Ethan immediately sat forward.
"What information?"
Silence.
Several seconds passed.
Then the Signal finally spoke.
"The First Key is alive."
The cabin became very quiet.
Ethan blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
"What?"
The Signal repeated itself.
"The First Key is alive."
Ava looked horrified.
"No."
The response came instinctively.
Almost emotionally.
The Signal continued.
"The Architect altered the original design."
The storm seemed distant now.
The aircraft.
Victor Kane.
Everything.
All of it faded beneath those four words.
The First Key is alive.
Ethan tried to process what that meant.
Failed.
Tried again.
Failed again.
"Keys aren't alive."
The Signal looked directly at him.
"Ordinary keys are not."
Nobody spoke.
The implications were too large.
Too strange.
Too impossible.
Ava slowly sat down.
Her hands trembled slightly.
For the first time Ethan realized she might already understand.
Or at least suspect.
"What did he do?"
The question barely escaped her lips.
The Signal answered.
"The Architect feared that static security systems would eventually fail."
The digital face remained calm.
"He believed a key should be capable of learning."
Ava closed her eyes.
"No..."
"He believed a key should be capable of adaptation."
The aircraft shook violently.
Yet neither Ethan nor Ava noticed.
They were too focused on the revelation unfolding before them.
Finally the Signal spoke the sentence both of them dreaded.
"The First Key was created using human neural architecture."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Ethan felt cold.
Not physically.
Deep inside.
A different kind of cold.
The kind created by understanding something terrible.
"You mean..."
The Signal nodded.
"Yes."
Ava's voice cracked.
"No."
The Signal continued.
"The First Key is partially biological."
The words struck harder than any explosion.
Partially biological.
Alive.
Learning.
Waiting.
Suddenly the mountain didn't seem like a hiding place anymore.
It seemed like a prison.
A place where something had been trapped for decades.
Something waiting to wake up.
The countdown continued falling.
67:01:18
67:01:17
67:01:16
Every second now felt heavier.
More dangerous.
The Signal suddenly turned its attention toward the radar display.
The digital face changed.
Concern.
Real concern.
"The pursuing aircraft has accelerated."
Ethan looked.
The distance had shrunk again.
Impossible.
Victor's plane was practically on top of them.
Ava stared at the screen.
Then frowned.
"Wait."
"What?"
"That's not Victor's aircraft."
The Signal immediately analyzed the image.
Several seconds passed.
Then:
"Correction confirmed."
Ava slowly stood.
Fear returned to her face.
A fear Ethan hadn't seen before.
"What is it?"
She pointed toward the radar contact.
Her voice barely above a whisper.
"The speed."
Ethan didn't understand.
The Signal did.
The digital face became motionless.
Almost shocked.
"Impossible."
The word echoed through the cabin.
Nobody liked hearing an artificial superintelligence use that word.
Ava looked toward the storm outside.
Then toward Ethan.
Then back toward the radar.
"It's him."
Ethan already knew the answer before asking.
"The Shepherd."
Ava nodded.
The aircraft suddenly plunged.
Everyone grabbed their seats.
The storm intensified.
Lightning erupted around them.
For one terrifying moment the entire aircraft seemed trapped inside a cage of white fire.
The radar contact moved again.
Closer.
Closer.
Closer.
Then something happened that none of them expected.
The contact vanished.
Completely.
No warning.
No signal loss.
No explanation.
Simply gone.
The Signal immediately began scanning.
Searching.
Calculating.
Nothing.
The contact no longer existed.
Ava looked terrified.
Ethan felt no better.
Then the cabin speakers activated by themselves.
The Signal hadn't done it.
Neither had Ava.
A different voice filled the aircraft.
Calm.
Deep.
Emotionless.
A voice Ethan recognized instantly.
The Shepherd.
"Iceland remembers."
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
The voice continued.
"The mountain is opening."
The speakers crackled softly.
Then one final sentence echoed through the cabin.
"The First Key has begun dreaming."
And for the first time since this nightmare started...
The Signal looked afraid.
- Writer
