THE ENEMY WITHIN

THE ENEMY WITHIN Chapter 15

"Let's think of it a different way. The satellite's transmitting to them when they're on the run. Unless they're carrying some massive equipment, how are they getting the signal?" Jasper asked.

Kitamura weighed the logistics. Mankind was not capable of something like that, but an advanced civilization – who knew what their limitations were? "They'd have to implant some sort of receiver either after birth or in the embryonic stage."

The complexity of the mechanics staggered the mind. Kitamura knew enough about engineering to piece together how it worked. The ship must have an optical transmitter that converted electricity to light radiation signals. Those infrared signals contained the message. Whoever received the transmission must have built in avalanche photodiodes to convert the light back to electricity and decode the message. Perhaps it was through the photoreceptors in their eyes and the messages were converted in the optic nerve. He started to share this excitedly with Jasper, but found himself quickly cut off.

"I'm less concerned with the mechanics. How do I use it?" Jasper said.

"Think about this - Max never made any effort to conceal himself. If anything, his suicide attempt was like a flare in the darkness. Getting found wasn't a worry." Despite the tragedy all around him, Kitamura couldn't help but feel hopeful that things could be done differently now. "What if Max isn't the same as the others and he's just begun to, I don't know what to call it, turn on? Maybe he's not really one of them – not yet anyway. We might have an ally in him."

"Course we did try to kill him and his companions," Jasper said, spitting in the dirt. "He might have some doubts about us after that."

The waters had been muddied. They needed to figure out how to appeal to Max, assuming they could reach him at all. Kitamura raced back to the helicopter and brought his laptop to life. Glancing through the satellite communication patterns, he saw the transmissions were sent on the same frequency each time. He shared this excitedly with Jasper. "If the ship transmits to Max's wavelength, we might be able to replicate the signal frequency and send a message of our own, assuming we know it's his and not one of the others."

Something close to a smile broke through Jasper's expression. "Good to have you back, Rudy," Jasper said, climbing on board the chopper.

*

The Arizona desert came alive at night. Lizards scurried, cicadas played their song, and bats fluttered overhead emitting high-pitched squeaks. But there wasn't a hint of flora. Not even sagebrush grew on this part of the mountain. The rocky, cragged landscape was as bleak as anything Max had ever seen.

All of that faded in the background as the trio stood atop the mountain looking out on the remote scientific compound in the valley. Somewhere within that complex was the device that would let them live – those who made it that far. Max looked back at Noah, who lay shivering beneath their jackets despite the second dose.

Vincent went over to Noah and laid his hand on his shoulder. For a moment, Noah's eyes cleared, and he gripped Vincent's hand in his own clammy palm. "It's time to bring Max in," Vincent said.

"Good, I didn't want to miss this," Noah answered, propping himself up as best he could on the rock.

Jamie moved over and knelt beside Noah, giving him a shoulder to lean on to watch whatever was about to happen.

Wind swirled around them as Vincent approached Max. "There's nothing more I can do," Max said, feeling completely useless and knowing there was no way he'd convince them to bring Noah in. He'd tried once more on the van ride and Noah had awoken just long enough to tell Max to drop it go before falling back into his fevered sleep.