Up Against It - M. J. Locke [86]
“Here.”
Tania gave Jane a look so intense and remote it made the hairs rise on her neck and arms. “Our only shot to contain this thing is to take down the data line up to the surface. Now. Everything else is secondary.”
Quarantine. Jane had read the case studies. The others infected by a feral had tried it, too. “Do it.”
“Damian, blow the trunk line.”
“Now?” He sounded hesitant, incredulous.
“Now!”
They waited. Jane asked, “Should we hear something? How did you rig it?”
“A small explosive. We should have heard it. Damian?”
His voice was grim. “The feral must have found the device and hacked it. The data line is still up.”
Tania gave Jane a wild look. “We have got to shut down that data transmission line!”
“I’ll deal with it,” Jane said. “Trigger the extraction. Move up the time table.”
“Right.” Tania shouted, “Phase Three now! Move your asses!”
Jane grabbed Tania as the other woman started to bound away. “What are its weaknesses? How can I contain it? How much time do I have?”
“It can’t get off 25 Phocaea without breaking through Upside-Down’s barriers,” Tania said. “But those are software barriers. It can hack them.” She grabbed Jane. “It hasn’t finished replicating. I can slow it down some. But you have to disrupt transmissions at the main demarcation point up to the surface before it finishes. The demarc is in the Hub, near the lifts. Say, fifteen minutes. After that, there’s no point.”
“I’m on it,” Jane said. Tania leapt to another platform to where her team leaders were assembled.
Xuan, Jane thought. The rest of the clan. Her heart slammed against her ribs like an angry fist. She couldn’t warn them—there wasn’t time. She had to trust that they were doing what they needed.
Sean came to mind. He was ex-military with combat experience: shrewd, resourceful, decisive. If anyone could mount a counterattack, it would be him. She should also warn him to protect his people up on the surface. She put in a call, and briefed him quickly on what was happening.
“Get that demarc point, or if you have to, disable the gaser-xaser itself. It’s at the base of the buckyball conduit that carries the city signals up to the surface. Hurry!”
“Confirmed,” he said, and signed off.
Jane turned back to Aaron. Marty had alighted next to him.
“Sean will take down the data line,” Jane told them. “Now let’s talk about internal defenses. Does the emergency plan include a feral sapient attack?”
“No,” Aaron replied, “but we have one for hackers, and we can use those protocols. I’ll talk to Hiro, and I’ll also alert Cervantes and Gregoire.” The other towns’ resource allocation chiefs. Like Hiro, they were responsible for their towns’ disaster recovery. “So they’re forewarned, in case…”
“Very good.”
He departed.
“Marty,” Jane said, “activate the emergency call tree, then alert Benavidez and give him a full briefing. And the mayors. Hurry!”
He said, “I’m on it,” and winked out.
16
As they were clearing their table, Sean got a call. It was Commissioner Navio. “Sean, heads-up,” she told him. “We’ve got another damn crisis. A feral sapient is loose in our systems.”
Sean’s breath froze in his throat. “Good God.”
“Communications are in jeopardy. All radio-operated equipment is at risk of being hijacked. Tania is taking it down, but it’s found a way off Zekeston, and I need your help to stop it.”
“Where?”
“There’s a transmission line that runs next to the main lift cables. Xaser transmission through a buckyball conduit. Meanwhile, the feral is mounting a full-scale attack—all our resources are on defending the city.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“Take out the main point of entry located in the Hub. Shut it down. We have to keep the feral contained in the city systems. You have twelve minutes, no more than fifteen.”
“Where is it?”
“It’s supposed to be somewhere near the lifts. If I transmit a location, the feral will likely guess what you’re up to.”
“All right. I’ll figure it out. Who’s covering the city interior?”
“Others are on it. Get that demarcation