Atlantia Series 2: Retaliator Read Online Free Page B

effect a computer. It had evolved out of a major milestone in human engineering, The Field : a digital record of all information that had been accessible to all humans. The growth of human knowledge had accelerated, reaching all corners of the colonies through the sharing of information, and technology had likewise grown and expanded at a phenomenal rate. This massive database of information had been fused with quantum computing to create the Word, a depository of knowledge designed to be able to make decisions based on pure logic and an understanding of myriad complexities that were beyond the human capacity to assimilate and form cohesive responses. Tasked with finding solutions to the most complex problems in history, ranging from space exploration to crime to medicine, the Word eventually became the founder of laws, the arbitrator of justice and the icon of mankind’s prolific creativity.
    The one thing that nobody could have predicted was that the Word, through its sheer volume of thought and understanding, would have concluded that mankind was a greater threat to itself than any other species and thus must be either controlled or eradicated. Thus had been born the Legion, and mankind silently infected long before anybody even realised what was about to happen.
    Evelyn walked out of the elevator banks and headed aft, swerving by unthinking reflex between military officers and civilians hurrying to and fro through the ship’s ever–busy corridors. All personnel were wearing their magnetic gravi–suits and boots, filled with negatively charged particles of iron that pulled them down toward the positively charged cylinders beneath the deck plating. For service personnel spending months on rotation aboard the Atlantia and ships like her, the gravi–suits prevented muscle loss and preserved bone–density that long periods of zero–gravity would otherwise degrade.
    Two of General Bra’hiv’s armed Marines stood guard outside the entrance to the sick bay, a precaution against any possible outbreak of the Word’s Infectors. Both of them snapped to attention as they saw her approach, even her meagre rank of Ensign senior to theirs as ship’s soldiers. They stood aside and as she walked in she caught a glimpse of one of the Marine’s tattoos: gang colours, signifying kills on the meaner streets of Ethera.
    A former convict, now a serving member of the Marines.
    In time of war, one’s enemy could easily become one’s ally.
    Military ships were not noted for their luxuries or comforts and the hospital was no exception. Grey walls, grey deck and grey ceilings of bare metal, patched with ward numbers painted in crude symbols. Rows of beds in each ward containing men with various ailments, injuries and infections. The captain’s wife, Meyanna Sansin, ran the hospital with near–robotic efficiency, but on a cramped and crowded vessel infections spread fast. Even with extra staff her day was busy from start to end, and down–time was a rarity for all aboard the Atlantia.
    Meyanna saw Evelyn coming as she tended to a Marine with a sprained wrist. She finished patching the soldier up and turned to Evelyn, her long brown hair pinned back behind her ears and her smile bright to mask her fatigue.
    ‘You’re late,’ she mocked.
    Evelyn smiled. ‘I know, but I did rush here as I just couldn’t wait for another battery of tests to be run.’
    Meyanna’s hand on her forearm was comforting, and Evelyn could see the veiled distress behind Meyanna’s expression.
    ‘I know,’ she replied. ‘There won’t be many more, I promise. Come this way.’
    Evelyn knew the drill and she followed Meyanna without complaint to a laboratory at the rear of the sick bay, which was sealed off by glass doors. Meyanna led her inside, sealing the doors behind them as she led her to a small cubicle. Meyanna closed the cubicle door behind them and turned to Evelyn.
    ‘More blood I’m afraid,’ she said. ‘I’ve run out of the last