The Genesis Code 1: Lambda Read online

  Nerine sighed disappointed. “You’re no fun.”

  Laura didn’t even respond as she cut the call. Her attitude makes me nauseous, she thought to herself.

  Only seconds later did Laura come to a stop as the long hallway broke into a wide area of white. The space before her was a living area with beautiful works of art lining the wall. Several pieces of white leather furniture were strategically placed in the quarters and fresh vegetation gave the room a clean and tranquil feeling. Laura, for only a moment, let her body relax as she gazed at the peaceful layout of the room.

  “How long are you going to stand there Commander Richter?” came a deep voice.

  Laura quickly broke from her relaxed state and stood in attention.

  “Sir! Our target is preparing to emerge. We are ready to move to the next phase,” spoke Laura strongly.

  The source of the deep voice was a lone man in the back of the room. The figure was clad in black and sported a strong build, toned and firm. He wore a long coat that appeared more like armor in its slick and edgy design along the shoulders and sleeves. As the dark man stood up from one of the sofas far in the back, it was almost like the pressure around him could crush diamonds.

  His back was to Laura for only a moment, as he turned to reveal his masked face. The white, metallic mask adorned on the man before her had a design of cracking veins that coursed out his left eye and around his chin. His coat was open, revealing his armored chest, and held together by three metal chains.

  The masked man brushed his black coat aside as he began walking toward Laura. His bleached hair was erect and sharp, much like Laura’s posture. Still, his gaze made even Laura weak in the knees as the dark figure slowly approached.

  “Good. I trust that you are prepared to follow me, then. Are you having any doubts?” His tone made Laura’s body numb. The sheer presence of the man was massive.

  Laura let her head fall. She found comfort in staring at the floor instead of at the overwhelming eyes of the dark man before her. It wasn’t fear that caused her this anxious feeling, but overwhelming admiration.

  Still staring at the ground, Laura replied firmly. “I trust in your abilities as our Leader.”

  “Perfect,” echoed the man’s voice, now dangerously close.

  Laura’s head jerked up in surprise as she stared into the inflamed eyes of the masked man. The distance he closed was more than twenty feet, yet he managed to not make a sound, completely taking her by surprise. She was left speechless by this immense gap of skill. The person who stood before her was truly a frightening man, but also powerful.

  “Tell me, Lady Laura, do you question your orders regarding the operation?”

  Laura went completely numb. She couldn’t help but allow the masked man to call her in this fashion despite her dislike for it. She had nothing but respect for this ominous entity.

  The masked man’s hand rose to Laura’s cheek, touching it ever so gently with his black glove. He grazed over her lips with his thumb and slowly moved his hand along her face as he delicately ran his fingers through Laura’s hair. He was so close. His eyes were so intense.

  Weakly, Laura responded. “I-I need only my orders. E-exact knowledge of the operation comes secondary.”

  The man’s hand left Laura’s cheek as he stepped away, feeling that he had teased her enough. “Very good. And what of our contact within Babel?”

  Laura shook off the remaining dizziness lingering in her head. “We have yet to hear back from our contact after the Lambda unit was released. Their silence is rather troubling.”

  The man nodded his head. “Indeed, you are quite right. The Babel contact’s actions seem to not be fitting with my predictions, but even so, this Lambda unit . . .” The man turned to face Laura once more. His eyes were filled with intrigue.

  * * *

  [January 6th - Abingdon, Virginia - Town of Little Brook - Day]

  The constant beeping of a digital clock sounded annoyingly in the background. Before the third beep, a swift kick from an enraged body under the covers of a bed attacked the clock with such precision and force that would stun a martial arts master and a professional marksman. It was a shame that the disgruntled person below the covers was neither. Regardless, it was more than enough to silence the obnoxious device, as well as avenge the loss of the dream state the grumbling body had been enjoying just moments before. With a low groan, Zack flung the covers off of him and glanced at the defamed clock. The time flickered in and out as it read: 6:34 a.m.

  Looks like I got to fix the stupid thing again.

  Today wasn’t anything new, not even anything special. Zack simply woke up, went about his normal routine in getting ready for school, downed a bowl of cereal for breakfast, and checked the local news channel. When the man on the screen started talking about a riot caused by Anti-Network protesters he shut the television off with a grunt. He wasn’t one for bad news this early in the morning.

  Seconds later, he marched outside to be greeted by the chilly, morning weather of January. This part was so routine that Zack was starting to wonder if he could have possibly been a zombie in a past life.

  He heard the humming tone of his phone in his pocket while also suppressing the annoying pinging noise his wrist began to make. He gazed down at his wrist and tapped his Com-Linker. The small device displayed a illuminated screen with a blinking envelope. Zack sighed as he closed the display and fished out his phone.

  How do they know both my phone numbers?

  Zack sighed again. The only reason he kept a phone outside of his Com-Linker was because he was a sucker for classics, devices his parents didn’t know about. So much for that.

  Hesitantly, he pulled out the old smart-phone and noted a new mail message on the device as well. He pulled open the inbox and grazed over the text displayed. He rolled his eyes after realizing the subject matter and sender of the mail. He had hoped he could hide the fact that he skipped yesterday for simply having no desire to go to school. It wasn’t like they taught him anything new. Still, Zack’s parents had several ways in always finding out what he was doing, and only took action, it seemed, when it wasn’t good.

  “So nice of my parents to send their messages of contempt so early in the morning. How they manage to know about my everyday life without actually being here is beyond me.” Zack’s face contorted into an ugly scowl.

  This was hardly new. Zack had lived alone for the past three years of his life. Now at the age of eighteen, only months before graduating high school, he had seen his parents maybe twice. The occasional e-mail here and there showed that they were still alive, but even those felt rushed. It was almost as if they hardly had time to even say hello to their son through text message.

  A rush of cold wind rolled over the area, sending a chill through Zack’s body.

  Even Mother Nature gives me the cold shoulder, he joked half-heartedly as he began his routine march to school. Today, it felt like Zack was wearing weighted clothing and bricks for shoes. He could just feel that today was going to be a drag.

  The walk to Zack’s high school wasn’t long, but hardly short. It took him up to twenty minutes to get there, depending on how long he would have to wait at the crosswalks. Still, upon seeing classmates with matching uniforms, he inadvertently avoided eye contact. He knew all his classmates well, but just was never a fan of small talk or engaging in conversations with people that he knew had no interest in him. The useless notion of being pleasant and keeping the peace with everyone to avoid conflict was one that Zack had done away with awhile ago. He just simply kept to himself. Most people tended to leave him alone, but there was one exception.

  And as if on cue . . .

  “So the genius decides to come out of his cave. How are we doing this morning, Sleeping Beauty?” The owner of the voice quickly slapped Zack’s back with all the love of a linebacker. The boy was very built and about a head taller than Zack. His athletic body made him look like he could pass for a
professional wrestler in his twenties Despite the condescending tone from the giant, Zack just rolled his eyes. He always wondered how he was friends with this behemoth.

  “I was doing crappy up until you arrived. Now I just want to die.” Zack’s reply was cold and intense.

  The boy laughed. “Come now, how is that a way to treat your friend?”

  “Friends help one another. You just laugh at my expense.”

  The boy waved his hand as a way of dismissing Zack’s comment. “Regardless, I’m here to brighten up your morning as I accompany you on our walk to our lovely Horizon Academy.” The way the boy stated the last part of his sentence seemed ridiculously flamboyant.

  Zack gave a snotty retort. “This coming from the guy who is always leaving and cutting classes? I think I should stop associating with you as I might have caught your disease.”

  The boy shrugged the comment off. “What can I say? I’m a busy guy with things to do. You ought to tag along one of these days.”

  Zack rolled his eyes. “I’m pretty sure your Anti-Network protests are going to get me thrown in jail, David. It’s a wonder you haven’t had your Network Account seized yet and your sorry soul thrown behind bars.”

  David shook his head with a condescending grin. “So you think the state of the world is fine with the split between those of the Cyber Network and those against it?”

  Zack’s thoughts returned briefly to the news report he was watching before he left. He shook his head. He didn’t want to deal with this so early in the morning. David was very adamant about the issue that was becoming quite the talk as of the last few years. Ever since the creation of the Cyber Network, the virtual world, there had been friction in how it could affect life. It wasn’t that much different from the creation of the Internet in some ways. Granted, there were some glaring differences, which stirred up a lot of controversy. In the beginning, it appeared that the process and assimilation was going well for society, and it was coping well with the quantum leap in technology. Still, people forget and things change; but not always for the better.

  “Do you know that the average employer requires people to have access to the Cyber Network in order to be hired?”

  Apparently, David wasn’t letting it go.

  Zack sighed. “Isn’t that fine? More and more businesses are moving onto the Network nowadays, so isn’t that to be expected?”

  David became a little angered by Zack’s uninterested manner.”What of the people that can’t afford to own a Network Account, or the medical procedures associated with it? Because they can’t get a job due to all the employers making it required to have these accounts, how can they pay the cost? Are you saying that they deserve to suffer because the government basically has a monopoly?”

  Zack groaned. Society had become divided due to the emergence of the Cyber Network. Those who did use it considered themselves elitists, while those who couldn’t gain access to it were considered lower class, unable to move with the times. The split in society was indeed a glaring issue that was a problem. Zack understood this, but even so, it didn’t affect him directly. He’d rather not be a part of the issue as to keep away from conflict. Causing conflict never seemed to yield favorable results, or at least that was how he felt from past experience. Still, that being said, Zack decided to just humor David with his little debate. It would make the walk to school seem less painful as his thoughts wouldn’t gravitate to the messages sent by his parents.

  “Technology makes a quantum leap every few decades. It just so happens that this leap has made it more difficult for people to keep up with the advancement. I’m sure that-”

  “Do you think that the government using armed forces to stop protests marks the march of a better tomorrow?” David was starting to get really into it now.

  Zack rolled his eyes again. “Surely, it isn’t good, but it’s not like it hasn’t happened in the past. It also doesn’t help those who you claim are in need to resort to looting and violence instead of just getting an account so they can get a job. Instead, they band together and cause chaos. It is only natural that the government sends armed forces to stop them.”

  David jumped in with a counterargument. “The means to get your first account is a ridiculous screening process that takes almost a month to complete. Not to mention the fact that they take your background into account and your past employment. Practically anyone without a job is almost always turned down. That also doesn’t include the preregistration fees and monthly bills that are required to own an account, and I’m not even going to touch on how much it costs to have the chips installed in the brain,” David enthusiastically added.

  Zack tried to drown him out by thinking about something else, regretting his decision to humor his large friend. Too bad all he had to go on was the bitter resentment he had for his parents and the cold. He glanced over to David, noticing that he was still talking. With a shrug, he kept an open ear as they continued to walk.

  “When you are jobless and have barely enough money to get food, who can afford getting a Network Account? Welfare and other programs that existed before the Network’s birth haven’t been updated to handle this new era. There is hardly any aid or systems in place to ease people that are having trouble keeping up with the changing society. On top of that, the ones that do supposedly exist are riddled with controversy, or are humored to be urban legends. That basis there is not right.”

  Zack let out a sigh. Truthfully, he had no idea what it was like to be of the lower class. He wasn’t an elitist, but he had always had access to the Network. It was hard to argue his points when he really had no right given how he had no idea what it was like to live life any other way.

  “Isn’t that why the Network government, Babel, was created? Our government and world leaders all joined together with Babel to ensure an easier integration, yes?” Zack was hardly paying attention at this point. He knew that David just felt like ranting at this point.

  “Babel and the government like to paint a lovely picture of the world, but only cater to those who can afford to keep up with the changing times. The people who are pushed away soon become desperate. Babel needs to learn to help these people before it’s too late.”

  Zack now felt like interjecting. “And that is where all these rebels come in? It is because of people like them that we have a curfew you know.”

  David smiled. “Aw, the rebels. Society has become so divided now that small factions have started forming all around the world. Just today there was a riot that took place in New York, if I’m not mistaken.”

  Zack nodded. “That’s right. I only caught the tail end of the report before I left. It would appear that the riots and outbreaks are occurring more and more.”

  David’s face turned stern. “The actions of older rebel groups is the reason the number of riots continue to grow. They set the precedent, and people follow in their footsteps. As a result, people become corrupted, and the pure intentions of the others are ruined.”

  Zack agreed. He didn’t like those who created conflict in such a manner. There had to be a better solution. He just couldn’t understand the people that acted like renegades. The news and the government labeled them as terrorists, and to be fair, they seemed like it. They would cause havoc and even death during their raids and attacks. It sickened Zack. What was worse was how they tried to justify their actions. The act alone made him gag.

  “Those who kill innocent people in the name of any cause are murderers in my book,” Zack said strongly.

  David played off the comment. “Perhaps, but these are the people who have been pushed into a corner. They feel they have nothing left to lose. Now, they think they should simply take what they can’t get.”

  Zack shook his head. “That’s wrong. They taint the good will of those who don’t resort to violence.”

  “So does that mean you agree with what I’m doing, and now will come with me?” David’s grin was obnoxiously large.

  Zack jus
t threw his hands up in the air and admitted defeat. “You win, all right? Are you happy now?”

  David smirked. “I always can count on you to humor me.”

  Zack stared blankly back at David. “You’re lucky I listen to you at all.”

  David only smirked as they both just continued to walk in silence.

  Minutes later, Zack and David arrived at the large academy that was their high school. The building stood four stories, with an outside area on the roof that was accessible to students. The building itself took up a solid thirty thousand square feet and could easily be mistaken for a mansion of sort. The leafless trees around the building didn’t help its appearance, but during the summer, the lush green did give the school a certain shine. Now it looked more like a prison in the eyes of Zack.

  “Keep your eye on the prize, man. We graduate in June. That has to account for something, right?”

  Zack sighed. “I suppose. Wouldn’t hurt to have something interesting happen here for once, though. I’m starting to tire of living life like it’s a chore.”

  “The most popular idol in the country coming to sing at our Winter Ball wasn’t good enough for you?”

  “Did you forget that she happens to be my younger sister?” Zack’s expression was filled with a mix of emotion, composed mainly of irritation.

  David’s expression quickly turned bleak. “Right . . . my bad.”

  Zack shrugged. Both said no more as they crossed over toward the large building. Neither of them knew that today was the last normal day of their lives.

  * * *

  [January 6th - Cyber Space (Zero Zone) - Day]

  The chaotic darkness of cyberspace was a wave of pulsing energy. Lights streaked by with veracity as a powerful force raced through the Zero Zone. Its direction was uncertain, but its purpose was well defined.

  “Seeking access point, Route 49, Block 27. Sector 73 blocked. Recalculating for optimal route.”

  The voice was cold, mechanical, but fueled with purpose. The lights continued to dart and fly past the massive force racing through the chaos. Billions of Yoda bytes processed at the speed of light as the invisible entity continued to rush through the shadows of the neverending darkness.