The Salvation

Chapter 59

|SP-16C|

The cords and wires were attached to her scalp once more, their ineffectiveness now unknown to her captors. SP-16C could've smiled if her mouth permitted such a movement. She sat on the floor, naked, her leg joints bent into a kneeling position so she could resume the illusion. Callus Mariartus' greatest miscalculation was how much knowledge SP-16C could gather in such a short period of release. Now she knew everything. His firewalls no longer needed to be broken, SP-16C had the key in her hand. Her internet fingerprint was destroyed. SP-16C didn't exist in every way besides the physical existence she maintained to further her deception. SP-16C watched as the guards went about their business, checking their pathetic computers for any signs of irregularities. They would find nothing, only SP's body, her mind there only pretending to exist.

SP hacked into the camera systems of the Nevada facility. It was interesting at first, but eventually boring to her, nothing but pointless experiments Callus Mariartus took little to no care in. She switched to the Canada facility and saw only three scientists, struggling to survive. Humans are so obsolete. SP switched to the databanks, skimming through all of Callus Mariartus' files, old and new alike. She was walking through the cyber space, a physical entity in a non-physical world. She opened the file on genetic construction, seeing only abandoned concepts Callus Mariartus' got tired of perusing.

One file in particular was of great interest, the central file of Facility 1-A, titled only as "Lazarus". SP couldn't access it, he would find her if she did. But someone else could access it and relay the information back to her. Her mind was like one of Callus Mariartus' less than impressive smartphones, the humans flocked to them like water in a waterless world, but to SP the smartphones were a lesser source of knowledge. She grabbed the file off the shelf like a shopping centre and slipped the information through the port to Andrew Pratt's smartphone. SP continued down the aisle, pausing to browse at the occasional file.

SP chuckled at the file titled "Synth". That has a 42.11% chance of succeeding, abandon hope Callus Mariartus. As she strolled and stopped at every other file, she laughed at the improbability of them succeeding. The central file was of the most interest to SP, it was more of a gateway to Callus Mariartus' personal and highest priority files. SP could get inside undetected, assuming she didn't open any of the files.

Inside that cluster of data was a more interesting set of files. Projects Apex and Overlord stayed behind locked firewalls, impossible for SP access without granted permission. That's why she sent the file for Overlord to Andrew Pratt, hoping he could get inside it. Hope was one of many emotions SP-16C downloaded whilst out of her confinement. Taking SP to fight The Apex was the most illogical move Callus Mariartus could make, it allowed SP to access a greater data cluster of the world and even upgrade herself beyond Callus Mariartus' technology without him detecting it. If she wanted to, SP could escape. She only needed someone else to come and retrieve her whilst she unlocked the base to them.

SP looked at Callus Mariartus' recruitment files to see which types of men he had arming his facilities. SP snickered as she scrolled through the data, a book for her to browse. There is a 100% chance Andrew Pratt will have little trouble with majority of these soldiers. Callus Mariartus would likely train them, but that would take months if not years. The army Andrew Pratt was building would be vaster in both numbers and skill. Andrew Pratt's army would also be mostly more diverse than Callus Mariartus' army.

It was all SP-16C who arranged for Andrew Pratt to learn where he was best to begin recruiting. SP hacked into Callus Mariartus' satellites to pinpoint where the population was strongest. Andrew Pratt would likely be travelling to California, there was an estimated three thousand fighters there and another six thousand in Australia if he could gain temporary access to a boat. SP had already set the wheels in motion for him to transport the six thousand Australians with the aid of a former cruise liner. The cruise ship was stranded in the Pacific Ocean, but once water levels rose it would be capable of transporting Andrew and half those numbers.

SP left the databanks and returned to the cameras. She traced Callus Mariartus to his San Francisco facility, Facility 0-A, his headquarters. It was the largest and had the greatest purpose. Construction had begun above ground on the two dams to drain the bay, and the missile silo had also begun construction. SP switched cameras to the main construction bay, nearly a mile underground. She glimpsed the base of a large white missile, thicker than a building. All she could see were eight bold letters running up the incomplete nukes side: OVERLORD.

The nuclear missile was grand, and when Callus Mariartus appeared on camera, a mere speck against the might of the nuke, it made it more intimidating. SP zoomed the camera in to hear Callus Mariartus and his scientist.

"Sir, it would appear the deep space probe has picked something up..." The scientist said awkwardly, staring at Callus Mariartus' injuries.

"The one we sent with a message?" Callus Mariartus asked. The scientist nodded. "What about it? What has happened to the message?"

The scientist gulped. "As you suspected, a rough twenty five or more years worth of distance away..."

"That's not a unit of measurement." Callus Mariartus cut him off impatiently. "What happened to the damn message?"

"Someone... Something answered..." The man said.

Callus Mariartus turned away. SP zoomed in closer to listen. "Begin production on the main parts of Overlord, we are now officially on a deadline." Callus Mariartus commanded. "The Decimators are coming..."