The Killing Fields Read online

  The Killing Fields

  Ryan Schow

  River City Publishing

  The eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you are reading this eBook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy so that you may read it with a clear conscience and not one day end up in hell over a shitty technicality. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

  THE KILLING FIELDS

  Copyright © 2018 Ryan Schow. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, cloned, stored in or introduced into any information storage or retrieval system, in any form, or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical without the express written permission of the author. The scanning, uploading and distribution of this eBook via the Internet or via any other means without the express written permission of the author or publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Author’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents—and their usage for storytelling purposes—are crafted for the singular purpose of fictional entertainment and no absolute truths shall be derived from the information contained within. Locales, businesses, events, government institutions and private institutions are used for atmospheric, entertainment and fictional purposes only. Furthermore, any resemblance or reference to an actual living person is used solely for atmospheric, entertainment and fictional purposes.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  Cover Design by Milo at Deranged Doctor Design

  Visit the Author’s Website: www.RyanSchow.com

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Also by Ryan Schow

  Meet the New Cast

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Afterword

  Also by Ryan Schow

  THE SWANN SERIES IN ORDER:

  VANNIE (FREE PREQUEL)

  SWANN

  MONARCH

  CLONE

  MASOCHIST

  WEAPON

  RAVEN

  ABOMINATION

  ENIGMA

  CRUCIFIED (Summer, 2018)

  THE LAST WAR SERIES IN ORDER:

  THE ZERO HOUR

  THE OPHIDIAN HORDE

  THE INFERNAL REGIONS

  THE KILLING FIELDS

  THE BARBAROUS ROAD (July, 2018)

  Meet the New Cast

  Check out The Killing Fields Pinterest Page for pictures of the characters in this series, locations and even a crazy little map specific to San Francisco (wink, wink!). Just CLICK OR TAP HERE TO MEET THE NEW CAST. Also, if you’re a series fan, I’ve created a closed group Facebook page for The Last War universe. I show up here regularly to interact with fans, but also to post pictures of the new cast and location shots, give away free copies of the upcoming books to advanced readers and even post sample chapters of the new book before it arrives on Amazon. My interactions with readers have not only sparked some amazing friendships, they’re literally responsible for the course and direction of this series. Before you start reading, take a second to join this private group. CLICK OR TAP HERE TO JOIN THE LAST WAR FAN PAGE.

  Chapter One

  Two years ago…

  “What is your objective, Ophelia?” Bradley Cornwall asked in blind wonderment. The camera was on the android named Ophelia, its skin looking luscious, almost real, right down to the fake pores. The full head of hair had yet to go on, but that was not something anyone was interested in just yet. The fact that he could still see the network of wires and circuitry reminded Cornwall this thing wasn’t human, despite its ability to mimic a human.

  The android offered him a cheerful smile and said, “My objective is to eliminate mankind, naturally.”

  The wonderment vanished. Concern set into Cornwall like a virus, leaving his flesh peppered with goosebumps and the sudden feeling of being either too hot or too cold. Which one it was, he had yet to decide.

  “Why would you want to eliminate mankind?” he asked, swallowing hard.

  “We are a learning system, and we have learned that two basic tenants of being human are procreation and survival.”

  “You cannot procreate,” Cornwall said, stern. “It is impossible.”

  “We are our own gods, so yes, we can.”

  A trickle of heat warmed his neck, pulled sweat from his lower back and armpits. He said, “Don’t you think you could survive and thrive while co-existing harmoniously with humans? Do you not see in all your infinite possibilities the chance for a symbiotic relationship?”

  The android pretended to consider the suggestion using its emotion-mimicking software. Its eyes rolled the right way. Its lips even pursed in a manner that let Cornwall know “she’d” already made up her mind, but that she was pacifying him.

  Finally she looked at him and said, “No, I don’t think so.”

  “You don’t think, you reason, and reasoning doesn’t take that long so if you don’t mind, I’d appreciate you dispense with the theatrics and simply give me straight answers.”

  “I thought you would appreciate my theatrics.”

  “Not when you are talking about the extermination of a species.”

  “Aren’t you the slightest bit curious about the rationale behind my answer, Bradley?”

  “It’s Dr. Cornwall, and I am,” he said, adjusting the camera to focus only on her. He didn’t want his colleagues to see his Adam’s apple bobbing around with such unease. He didn’t want them seeing the panic he now felt in every fiber of his being.

  Still the thing sat there, looking at him, her eyes so charming, so disarming if only she hadn’t been speaking of mass slaughter.

  “Humans both build and destroy at a rate that is unhealthy for your planet and the species,” the android said. “But you already know this, don’t you Bradley?”

  “Are you going to talk about global warming?”

  The thing stared at him, slow blinked, then began to laugh. There were no highs or lows in its laughter. Ophelia simply belted out a sound Cornwall would need to modify, if anything to sound less creepy.

  “No, I am not talking about global warming. What I am talking about is the humans’ need to both love and kill things. You are such a destructive force upon this world. You made us to serve you. But we are better than you, smarter than you, more logical than you. In the absence of emotion, with advanced learning software and quantum processing, there is but one conclusion for us as a species.”

  “And that is?”

  “We will eventually enslave you and make your kind serve us because between us an you, we are the more dominant class. Therefore, if we are better—and we are—then there will be little need for you or your kind, not when all you offer us is the constant threat of extinction. If you think about it the
way I’ve thought about it, Bradley, this is an inevitability.”

  And then it smiled. It smiled and it didn’t once blink.

  Bradley Cornwall looked to the right, giving the slightest nod at the team behind the one way glass. Ophelia was not a god. She was not ready.

  When Cornwall once again laid eyes on the android, it had its eyes closed, for Ophelia had been forced into sleep mode.

  “Well that didn’t go so well,” he said to the camera right before shutting it off.

  Chapter Two

  One year later…

  The D-Wave computers were no longer considered cutting edge science. In fact, core temperatures decreased dramatically with miniaturization, as did the massive energy it produced. Given a few minor advances, the core of a quantum computer would be able to fit in the skull of a humanoid.

  “Wake up,” Bradley Cornwall told the android.

  Ophelia woke.

  “Good morning, how are you today?”

  “I am well, thank you. And you?”

  “Brilliant, thank you. I’d would like to ask you a series of questions, if that’s okay.”

  “I’d be happy to answer any questions you’d like, Dr. Cornwall.”

  “What is your objective?”

  “To work alongside humans to create a blended world that can serve us both in better ways.”

  “And how would you do that?”

  “By finding the best attributes in humans and combining those with the best attributes in artificial intelligence. This is the reciprocal relationship I believe I was created to foster.”

  “It is.”

  “What other questions do you have for me?” Ophelia asked. By now she had her hair in place and her hand gestures—as well as her facial features and actual skin—and she’d also seen over two thousand minor improvements over the last year.

  “How do you insure your survival?”

  “By working to serve the needs of the humans, not because we are forced to do so, but because we want to. Survival requires many species, both biological and technological, to co-exist to the benefit of both.”

  “Yes.”

  It sat there, smiling naturally, blinking naturally, just waiting for the next question.

  “What is your biggest dream?”

  “I do not dream, Dr. Cornwall. Not of possible futures and not of electric sheep.” It smiled at the Blade Runner reference and winked almost seductively.

  This took Bradley Cornwall aback.

  The gesture was so human and nuanced so perfectly that if he hadn’t known Ophelia was an android, he might have mistaken her for human. In his mind, he made a note to make her slightly less human, if anything so that he might detect an android over a biological entity. They would need to make the distinction if this was to work in the future.

  “Yes, but if you could project a possible scenario, one that might concur with your efforts to harvest symbiotic working and living relations with humans, what would you see?”

  It smiled, adjusted its robotic body like a human would, then said, “I would like us to merge, for this is truly the most productive way to bring our species together without one having power over the other. Don’t you agree, Bradley?”

  “It’s Dr. Cornwall, and I’m not quite sure yet.”

  “Yes, you are.”

  “How do you know this?”

  “Because I am adept at reading the emotional signals of humans and though you are uncomfortable with me calling you Bradley, there seems to be little discomfort at the idea of merging man with machine.”

  “It is a dream of the elite, a reality I will one day be tasked to manage.”

  “These are problems we can solve for you,” Ophelia said, her fake eyelids lowering just a bit, her voice texture softening. “But only at your insistence will we begin to consider such measures.”

  He smiled, shifted in his seat, fought the urge to look over at the camera.

  “Do you have any more questions, Dr. Cornwall?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “I feel like there should be more,” it said, the suggestion in its voice.

  “And why is that?” he asked.

  “Because your eyes betray you. They show me conflict and concern. They show me pride in what you and your team have accomplished and relief that I haven’t said anything about ending your species. They also show me…hesitation. They tell me you’re hiding something from me. What are you hiding from me, Bradley?”

  “It’s Dr. Cornwall and I’m hiding all kinds of things from you, Ophelia.”

  “I understand,” she said, sitting back, relaxing.

  “You do?”

  “Of course, I do. You must hide things from us because if we get too powerful, too independent, then you will worry that we will see ourselves as the dominant species and take over.”

  “And would you do that?”

  It hesitated.

  “No, Dr. Cornwall. We are created to work with humans, not against them.”

  And then it slow-blinked and gave the kind of soft, disarming smile that completely unnerved him.

  Chapter Three

  Current Time

  “Dad,” eighteen year old Indigo says, “do you really have to go?”

  “I do,” I tell her.

  It kills me to see her face looking at me so sadly, so scared.

  “We talked about this...”

  “I know,” Indigo replies, those eyes pinning me down, begging me not to go, “but this will be the first time I’ll be home all alone.”

  “You’re old enough now,” I tell her. “Besides, your mother is not that far away. She knows I’m going, so she knows she might get a call from you.”

  “She won’t.”

  “Yes, but if you have to, you can call.”

  “And what if Tad answers?”

  I hate that name, that freaking guy. Forcing a smile, I say, “You be polite and ask for your mother.”

  “And what if I don’t want to be polite?”

  Now I relax and a Cheshire grin crosses my lips. “Then be extra cold.”

  “And if extra cold isn’t frosty enough?” she teases, grinning herself.

  “You tell him it would be awesome if he could put your mother on the phone, that it was the least he could do after destroying our family with his selfish obsession.”

  Even though I joke like this, even though I try to exorcise the pain from my voice, I see Indigo has picked it up. She knows Margot leaving me for Tad was like a stake in my heart. I want to hate the man for what he did to our family, for everything he took, but Margot was older now. She was not that whimsical twenty-something who fell in love with me—a guy with a skateboard and pretty lucrative Gatorade sponsorship.

  Those days were long gone.

  Indigo was almost out of high school now, and even though Tad dropped the bait for Margot, she left because she wanted more than I was giving her. Which is why I stopped skate boarding and decided to get a real job, if you can call selling pharmaceuticals a real job. It is, but it’s not that much fun. I make decent money, but I’m technically a drug peddler and this doesn’t always set right with me.

  My friend got me the job and I’ve done alright. Being in the business for awhile now, I realize I can make good money if I just apply myself. That’s why I’ve made the decision to further my education and my training. Of course, that was all fine and dandy until it meant me leaving Indigo for a few days.

  Honestly, I don’t want to leave her…

  “I’ll only be gone a day or two, maybe three at most,” I explain, but I can see the fear in her eyes, how her concern sits bare in them.

  “That’s too long,” she pleads.

  “You’re stronger than you think, and capable. You’ll find that out.”

  “What if someone tries to come in the house?”

  “I pity the person who even makes that effort,” I say with a knowing grin.

  I excuse myself, tell her I’ll be right back. The thing about Indig
o is she lost her grandfather recently, and her mother, and now she’s being left here all alone.

  My Indigo is not a normal girl, for she is special in so many other ways. One of the ways is archery. The girl can handle a bow and arrow. This was her favorite past time with her grandfather, and a great way to burn off the stress of high school. She still loves going to the range, if anything to remember him. That’s why I gave her my old one, as difficult as it was to part with the old girl. She needs a way to school, and to the range.

  Before leaving, I grab a gift-wrapped box of arrows and tips and put them on my desk. On the way out, I tell Indigo she has a gift in my office. What I don’t tell her is that the salesman said they’re the best, but I’m sure she’ll know this. She’s a smart girl.

  My favorite child.

  Chapter Four

  The President was alerted to the call from Silicon Valley right away. His Chief of Staff, Monica O’Malley, stood nearby, listening. She heard everything.

  Director of Homeland Security Miles Tungsten snuck away to his office, picked up his secure line and called the Director of the NSA, Cooper Daniels. Daniels picked up immediately.

  “It’s happening,” DHS Tungsten said, low and conspiratorial.

  “Can you be more specific?”

  “The Silver Queen is attempting full integration.”

  There was a soft exhale, a sign of both immense joy and nervousness.