Bad Code by Leigh Dovey

Author:Leigh Dovey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: sci-horror, sci-fi, horror, robots, action, thriller
Publisher: Leigh Dovey
Published: 2024-10-05T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Marlowe buried his anger and made for the closest desk to check if any of the telephones were still working. Walker and Alvin fanned out through the command centre to try the rest. Walker felt a flush of embarrassment looking at the phones as he hadn’t yet tried to call out.

“Have you tried these?” said Marlowe, snatching up a receiver.

“No, sorry,” said Walker. “I heard Shelly breathing and...”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Marlowe, frowning at the receiver. He punched nine-one-one and waited, but there was only the continuous flat tone of a dead line.

“Dead,” he said.

Alvin stared at him, another receiver pressed to the side of his face.

“Same here.”

“It probably took out the router, maybe even the lines,” said Marlowe.

Walker lifted a third phone to his ear and dialled. He turned to see the others watching him with anticipation, but that line was dead too. He shook his head apologetically.

“No surprise,” said Marlowe. “It makes sense that it would cut our communications.”

Marlowe’s eyes flicked to the login field on the workstation monitor in front of him and began typing.

“What are you doing?” said Alvin.

“Calling for help,” replied Marlowe. “The net’s got a separate, secure line.”

Marlowe clenched his fist in triumph, as a browser window opened and filled the screen. He began to type an email.

“Yes,” said Walker. “Nice one.”

“What the?” said Marlowe, suddenly confused.

Walker and Alvin crowded in and watched the words in Marlowe’s unfinished email erase themselves, eroding backwards line by line. Then the screen pulsed and died. Marlowe dropped down beneath the desk and popped a panel there, revealing a cavity housing the pc and thick looms of cables. He shook his head in confusion then moved quickly to the next desk. Again, he entered his log in and began typing an email, but again the screen died.

Marlowe stared at Walker and Alvin, then looked up. His face darkened as the rest of the computer screens around the command centre blinked and died.

Humourless laughter came from the back of the gallery. Walker turned to see Lynch lingering in the red haze there, idly thumbing fresh rounds into a magazine. He saw that while they had been busy with the phones and terminals, Lynch had been busy too. The unstable veteran had cut Shelly’s corpse down and left it sprawled across the floor of the server annex in its own juices. Lynch now had one boot up, resting on the dead scientist’s raw back, chuckling to himself like a hunter posing with his kill.

“Looks like no one’s going home,” said Lynch, his chuckles subsiding.

“You’ve lost it Lynch,” said Marlowe. “You’re postal.”

“Maybe,” said Lynch. “But I’m still a soldier, and I’m the one that’s going to find that thing and shove this rifle up its ass while you boys play with your computers.”

“Yeah,” said Walker. “Good luck with that.”

Marlowe started towards Lynch, but Alvin pulled him to one side before he could be dragged into another confrontation with the man.

“Come on,” he said. “You’ve seen more of this place than the rest of us.

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