The Iron Harvest

By Erik E. Hanberg

Hiding is easy. Staying alive is the problem.

Byron Shaw is the focus of a worldwide manhunt, led by the man he once called a friend. Everywhere he turns he finds more danger. Everyone who helps him risks their own life.

With the Lattice destroyed, the systems the world relies upon have come undone. Global communications are down, food is growing scarce, and the weather is spiraling out of control. Shaw must fight his away across two shell-shocked continents if he ever wants to see his wife again. Unfortunately for him, he must navigate between those who are trying to rebuild the Lattice and those who are willing to kill anyone who might have the expertise or the resources to pull it off. Shaw must choose sides, and the future of the world will rest with his decision.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Erik Hanberg
• Release date: Jan 26, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311104588

Book preview

Part One

Shards

One

The ambulance lurched to the right, pushing Shaw’s shattered leg against the restraint on the stretcher. He grunted loudly through clenched teeth.

Sorry! Annalise called from the driver’s seat, for what seemed like the eighteenth time in the last ten minutes. She’d never driven before. No one had.

The ambulance was, conveniently for Shaw’s leg, the only abandoned car they could find that had a manual override for the self-driving computer—computers that were standard in all cars, but that had stopped working thirty minutes ago when the Lattice was destroyed, severing the connection they needed to navigate.

Even lying down, Shaw could angle his head up to watch the world pass by through the back window of the ambulance. The streets of Geneva were empty of people, but filled with cars scattered haphazardly. When the Lattice shut down, they all had simply rolled to a stop in whichever direction they’d been pointing, even if it was onto a sidewalk, against a tree, or through a storefront window.

The bleating sirens had finally stopped, thank God, and now an eerie calm gripped the city. Geneva—and the entire world, Shaw assumed—was holding its breath, waiting to find out what would happen next.

Suddenly the ambulance slammed to a halt, and this time Shaw’s grunt was more of a scream as his leg shifted again.

Roadblock, Taveena explained, peering out the windshield from her spot next to Shaw. He craned his neck as best he could. One hundred meters ahead there was an orange barricade across the road, and some men in black uniforms in front of it. He couldn’t tell whether they were armed or not.

What do you want me to do? Annalise asked.

Into that alley on the right, Taveena pointed. Don’t linger in front of them or they’ll get suspicious.

The ambulance pulled into the narrow street and raced down it. As Annalise took the first corner at breakneck speed, through the rear window Shaw saw the front end of a patrol car turn into the alley to follow them.

Too late! he called. They’re following us.

Annalise accelerated and turned twice more. She charted a random, serpentine path through the old city streets that put Shaw’s leg in a constant state of being jostled and nearly caused him to black out from the pain. Her attempts to lose the patrol car didn’t work. Under Annalise’s uncertain driving, the ambulance lumbered around corners, while the sleek military vehicle behind them accelerated through them. After a few blocks, the patrol car was almost right behind them.

Without warning, the ambulance jerked to the right again, and this time Shaw saw why. A second vehicle came shooting out of a side street, nearly ramming into them before correcting course and joining the patrol car in pursuit.

Weapons? Shaw shouted.

Taveena threw a hand laser onto his lap and pulled another out of her belt. From her position braced against the side wall, she shot out one of the back two windows, and he shot out the other. They began firing at the patrol cars, aiming for the windshields and tires. With the lurching of the ambulance, though, Shaw couldn’t get a clean shot through the window.

Find a straightaway and stick to it, Annalise! Shaw called.

I’m not the one who designed the streets! she called back.

Do it, Taveena commanded.

Annalise grunted, but after two more turns, the ambulance straightened and sped up.

The vehicles hadn’t anticipated the ambulance accelerating, so they were farther away, but perfectly centered in the ambulance’s back windows.

We both hit the left vehicle on the count of three, Shaw said to Taveena. He took his time aiming.

One…

He lined his sights up on the vehicle’s tire.

Count faster! I’m running out of road! Annalise called from the front seat.

Two…

Shaw let the vehicles close the gap, and kept the front right tire in his sights.

Soon, Shaw! Annalise called again.

Three! Shaw shouted.

Two red lasers shot from the ambulance—Shaw’s hitting the front right tire, Taveena’s shot piercing the front windshield. The vehicle swerved once in either direction before it clipped the wheel well of its neighbor.

Almost immediately after they shot, Annalise yanked on the wheel and drove the ambulance into the narrow entrance to another of Geneva’s old streets.

Shaw had time to see the two cars try to separate. After a half-second, the car hit by the lasers over-corrected its course and veered away. It lunged over a curb and smashed into a lamppost, folding around it and stopping cold.

The second car continued after them down the alley, but it never got up to its previous speed. As Annalise was able to put more distance between them, Shaw thought he detected a wobble. He guessed that the tire was out of alignment from the collision.

Annalise continued turning down side streets and alleys, and after a few more of them, Shaw had completely lost sight of the pursuit vehicle.

I think you lost them, he started to say, but was cut short when Annalise slammed on the brakes and his leg jostled again. Jesus! What happened?

Up ahead, she said quietly. Taveena moved forward, standing next to Shaw’s head, blocking his view through the windshield. He craned his neck to try to see what they were looking at.

What is it?

Do you recognize it? Annalise asked Taveena. This is the street we came out of from the tunnels. And there’s the door we came out of.

Great, we just spent a half hour going in a circle, Shaw said, his eyes on the ceiling since he couldn’t see forward.

That’s not the issue, Annalise said, nearly whispering. Almost the whole street is covered in ice.

Shaw tried to turn to look but the restraint on his leg pinched and he grimaced. I can’t see. My leg is still in the restraint.

Don’t worry about it, Taveena said. It’s not a problem we can fix right now. Pull off to the side, Annalise, but askew. Like the ambulance rolled there when the Lattice went down.

Annalise pulled the ambulance onto a sidewalk and let it slowly bump into a small tree. Casual enough for you? she asked. To anyone on the street it would look as abandoned as the rest of the cars. Sorry for the bump, she said to Shaw.

Considering the route you just drove, I think I can handle a little bump, he said.

I can’t believe that worked, Annalise said.

The shooting? Shaw asked.

"No, we lost them. Do you realize that? We escaped their direct line of sight and now they can’t find us. That hasn’t been possible for almost thirty years. Annalise let out a low chuckle. The Lattice is gone. Truly gone! She laughed hard. No all-seeing eye looking down on you. They don’t know our location, they don’t know our thoughts! They can’t look us up on their wraps or jump into our heads on their rings. I didn’t know it would feel this good."

Shaw glanced at the wrap on his forearm. Annalise was right. Normally it listened to the conversation and would be displaying information he might be interested in. But it was a dull, black, and lifeless thing.

He touched his ring to the implant in his temple. There was no rush of neurons, no immersive experience that would allow him to jump to Saturn’s rings or experience the mind of another.

That’s what we worked for, isn’t it? Taveena said, pawing through one of the small storage compartments that lined the interior walls of the ambulance. A return to anonymity.

What are you looking for? Shaw asked her.

This, for one, Taveena said, tossing a tube of nanocream toward his chest. He caught it, grateful for the painkiller. And a map, she added.

Of Geneva? he asked.

Of course of Geneva. The streets are being patrolled and there’s a sheet of ice in front of us for no good reason. We need to get to the rendezvous and out of this city before we’re caught—or worse.

Shaw thought about Helix, one of the members of the small team of raiders that had helped to destroy the Lattice. She had stayed behind on their ship the Walden, which they had left submerged under Lake Geneva. Helix would be able to keep the ship cloaked, and therefore invisible, making it the perfect way to escape from the manhunt that was—to judge by the roadblock and patrol cars—quite clearly underway.

To meet up with Helix and the Walden, they had planned a rendezvous at Parc La Grange at midnight. Shaw immediately understood the problem, though: where was Parc La Grange? Without the Lattice to put directions onto his wrap, they needed a physical map, something he guessed none of them had held in years. When everyone had wraps and rings, why bother printing maps?

Taveena slammed the lid of a bin shut, enraged. She picked up a small glass jar and hurled it through an already-shattered window of the ambulance. Turning away from their surprised expressions, she pinched her thumb and forefinger over the bridge of her nose. What a stupid thing to do, she mumbled.

What is it? Annalise asked, clambering over the back of the front seat and next to Shaw.

When Taveena didn’t answer, Shaw explained quietly, We forgot that without the Lattice we would need maps.

Taveena nodded. I’d settle for a goddamn globe at this point.

I remember Helix saying that the park was near the lake, Annalise offered after a few moments.

And which way’s that? Taveena snapped. It’s a big city and it’s a big lake, even if we found it. You want us to drive up and down the shore looking for the park?

"If we can’t find the rendezvous point, then we need to get out of the city without relying on the Walden, Annalise said after a few moments of silence. Let’s find a way out on our own."

We have all day to find the park, Taveena said.

All day in a city where the only people on the street are the police and us. We won’t last another hour.

We can make it, Taveena said forcefully.

I don’t want to sit in one place waiting for Helix to show up and wondering if a battalion of soldiers is going to find us first, Annalise said.

"They have Wulf, Taveena barked. Wulf had been wounded and taken during the fight in the tunnels—the same fight in which Shaw’s leg had been shattered by his former lieutenant. Do you know what they’re going to do to Wulf? she asked. Everything. The worst possible things you can imagine. If it helps them find us, they’ll do it to him."

He’s the inventor of the Lattice—no matter what he’s done, they aren’t going to torture the famous Wulfgang Huxley, Shaw said.

They don’t know it’s him! Taveena shouted. The weight he’s gained is disguise enough, but you’re forgetting—they can’t use the Lattice to confirm anything anymore. For all they know, he’s just some fat raider who might know our location. Trust me: after what we just did, they’ll be merciless.

Well, we can’t help Wulf if we’re in the cell next to him, Annalise answered. "And driving around this city without a plan is going to land us there. It’s not an option."

Taveena didn’t have a quick reply. She resumed searching the cabinets, though it was almost certainly futile. Shaw was certain there would be no maps here.

The argument over for now, Shaw turned his attention to the medication Taveena had tossed him. He opened the tube and applied the white cream to his legs. It was a disinfectant, but as it seeped into his skin, he felt the small nanobots numb the nerves. The pain began to lessen instantly.

Here, you might find this useful, Taveena said. She set a metal frame on the stretcher next to Shaw and resumed her search. His eyes lit up. It was an exoskeleton.

Excellent! Shaw exclaimed. Between this and the nanocream, I should be able to walk for a few hours—at least until we can find a doctor. Annalise? he asked, holding it up for her.

She helped to gingerly slide his leg into its mesh sleeve, Annalise pulled the exoskeleton up his legs, and he felt the backs of her fingers against his groin, startling him.

Careful how high you go, he said, trying to make it sound like a quip.

Sorry. I’m sure you would prefer to have Ellie doing this, she said. Can you raise your leg higher?

Shaw lay back and lifted his butt into the air to let her cinch the exoskeleton even higher.

Ellie. Now that his wife’s name was in his head, he couldn’t get it out again. This is what she had wanted, right? After his supposed death, he had no way of contacting her from the Walden. Secrecy was paramount for the raiders and there was no promise he could have made that they would believe. But at one point, Wulf had taken pity on Shaw and let him use a ring to jump and see Ellie. Shaw still couldn’t communicate with her, but he could plainly see her grief over her lost husband. When he jumped into her mind and eavesdropped on her thoughts, he was unprepared for how devastated she was, and for the vehemence with which she blamed the Lattice for taking Shaw from her.

The change in her had pushed him over the edge and he agreed to help the raiders with their plot to destroy the Lattice. It wasn’t just because it was the only way he would have a chance to see her again—it was also, he hoped, because it’s what she would have wanted. Now that he had succeeded and the Lattice was destroyed, though, and the chaos in the streets was plain for anyone to see, he wondered whether Ellie possibly could have wanted this.

Taveena interrupted his thoughts by pushing open the back door of the ambulance. There’s nothing left in here. Get that leg finished up. It’s time to move.

We can’t just wander the streets, Taveena! Annalise said.

And we can’t stay in here either! They’ll be looking for the ambulance and we need to get some distance between us and it.

Annalise didn’t say anything but rather focused on the exoskeleton. Once the brace was secure around his upper thigh, she slipped the stirrup under his shoe. Her work complete, the exoskeleton’s mesh surface hardened into a solid but flexible shell around his broken leg.

Annalise helped him off the stretcher and with one hand in hers and the other in Taveena’s, he gingerly stepped down onto the pavement. The exoskeleton didn’t give an inch and the nanocream was doing its job. The shell took all his weight and the nanocream kept the pain away. He’d be able to walk. But could he run if he had to? Shaw bent his knee, testing his range of movement while he looked around for prying eyes—or the possible return of the lone patrol car.

It’s just so insane, Annalise said, facing away from him.

He stepped around the corner of the ambulance to see the ice.

Annalise and Taveena were right—this was where they had emerged onto street level, though it took him a moment to recognize it from this new vantage. After their part in destroying the Lattice, the three of them had searched through a warren of hallways around the old CERN tunnel until they found a promising staircase. It had taken what felt like ages for Annalise and Taveena to get him and his broken leg to the top of the stairs and outside.

The street had been quiet then, and it was quiet now—except this quiet felt like the solitude of winter. There was a circle of ice a hundred feet in diameter, covering the street, sidewalks, and even climbing the buildings. The objects within the circle of ice—garbage cans, flowers in pots, bicycles leaned against railings—were themselves covered with the thick blue frost. A small leafy tree just a few feet away from ambulance had just narrowly avoided the ice. Leaves that had fallen from the tree were frozen to the sidewalk near its base, but the ice had stopped just short of the tree trunk itself. It had been lucky.

Shaw surveyed the ice again, this time focusing on the total area of it, not just everything within it. Unless he was mistaken, the ice was centered on the very door they had exited from the CERN tunnels.

Do you see them? Annalise asked quietly.

Shaw wondered what he’d missed and he looked more closely. Annalise pointed toward an iced-over building. He hadn’t understood what he was looking at before—the ice obscuring most of the telling features—but now that Annalise had pointed it out, he understood immediately. Two figures: a woman and a child at the front door of their building. The child was waiting on the stoop, the mother was half in and half out of the door, pulling it closed behind her.

Neither were moving, and neither would again. The ice had frozen them both in place.

Do you know how cold it must have been to freeze them like that? Annalise asked him, her eyes on woman and child.

I can’t imagine.

There must have been people all through those buildings, too, she said. Hiding from the chaos in the street. And then this gets them.

Shaw knew what she meant, but he couldn’t pull his eyes from the woman and the child. It wasn’t just a woman to him. After Annalise had unwittingly called Ellie to his mind, he couldn’t help but imagine her and his future daughter on the stoop.

What had been happening to Ellie back in St. Louis since the Lattice had fallen? It killed him that he didn’t know. That he couldn’t know anything that was out of his immediate line of sight.

Taveena wanted to rescue Wulf, and that was fine for her. But he was certain he knew where he needed to go: home to Ellie. Nothing else mattered now.

What could have done this? Annalise whispered.

I have no idea. But I bet we had something to do with it.

Annalise pursed her lips. I’m still glad the Lattice is gone, Byron. I knew there would be consequences. But I’m still glad it’s gone.

Consequences like that mother and daughter over there? he spat.

We’re too far away and the child is covered with too much ice to tell the gender, Shaw, Taveena answered. You’re projecting your feelings for your own family. And if you want to see them again, you’ll come with me. We’re getting off the streets.

He sensed more than saw Taveena walk away from him.

Annalise reached for his hand. We can get the world back on its feet again. We can help people recover. This time, without the Lattice. But first we need to be safe.

She squeezed his hand and turned to follow Taveena.

He was momentarily alone, staring at the ice and the two figures encased in it. He felt his anger building up. The raiders had pledged to each other that they wouldn’t intentionally take innocent life, but to his mind, they seemed far too complacent about collateral damage. He was very conscious of the wide gulf between their view of the world and his.

Why not let them go and strike out on his own?

Their shared mission was over, the team of raiders as shattered as his leg. Wulf captured. Erling dead. Tranq and Kuhn were somewhere together in the Nevada desert, now so remote they may as well be on the moon. Helix was alone in the Walden and was in theory supposed to pick them up. Which would be great, if they could find the rendezvous and if she hadn’t decided to abandon them—and after the raiders had voted to kill her lover, Shaw had reason to suspect she might. And as for himself… he owed the rest of the raiders nothing.

So why not?

He looked down at the exoskeleton on his leg. It would protect his leg, but the pain would eventually come back when the nanocream wore off. He had enough left in the tube for a second application, but that wouldn’t get him very far. Maybe twenty-four hours before the bots currently soothing his nerves would start shutting down. He needed medical attention before that happened. Sooner if possible.

Why not just take his chances with Geneva’s police and ask for a doctor? It couldn’t be that risky, could it? Some of the officers would certainly know his face—he was world famous after he had saved the Lattice from the raiders’ first attack. A local police officer might even remember Shaw’s visit a few weeks before, when he and Yang had come to the city as part of their investigation.

And there was the answer.

Yang.

Tim Yang knew that Shaw had worked with the raiders. They had spoken in the tunnels, right before Shaw betrayed him for the cause. After the Lattice was destroyed, they left Yang’s unconscious body in a safe place—at Shaw’s insistence. Yang almost certainly would have been discovered and revived by now. And he would have reported that the great defender of the Lattice, Byron Shaw, had turned traitor.

Of course, without the Lattice to verify Yang’s claim, he would be hard-pressed to get anyone to believe him. Everyone had seen Shaw die. It was more believable that Yang had been mistaken in the dark, or that someone had been surgically altered to look like Shaw, just as Ono had been altered to look like Yang.

But if they found Shaw alive in Geneva, just a few hours after the attack, there would be no doubt. Yang would be proved right, and Shaw would be arrested, if not killed. Shaw didn’t want to live in hiding for the rest of his life, but he did want to live.

And if he couldn’t risk capture by the police, that meant he would need help. Help with his leg, help getting out of Geneva, help getting across the Atlantic to Ellie in St. Louis. He couldn’t see any way around it: he would have to stick it out with Annalise and Taveena until things cooled down. It was the only way to get home.

Shaw pulled his eyes away from the frozen mother and child and made to go. But before he could, a feeling that something had changed stopped him short. The frozen landscape in front of him was immovable, and yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was different. It took only a few moments for him to realize that the blue ice had climbed the trunk of the small leafy tree he’d noticed near the ambulance. As he watched, its branches turned blue and its red leaves frosted over.

The ice was creeping down the curb of the sidewalk and onto the road. The front tire of the ambulance was showing signs of blue. The ice was spreading.

Shaw turned and hurried after Annalise and Taveena as fast as his exoskeleton would allow him.

Annalise looked over her shoulder and saw Shaw hobbling after them. She touched Taveena’s arm, and they waited for him.

His mind was racing as he closed the distance. Taveena—as much as he hated to admit it—was right. They needed to get off the streets. Barring that, they needed a map if they were going to find Parc La Grange and the rendezvous with the Walden. He tried to imagine the places they could lie low. Did he know any place in the city? There was the hotel he had stayed in—briefly—before he died. What was the name of it? Ah, it was no use. It would be full of people. After the attack that morning, and the roadblocks set up by the police, people would have needed a place to hole up and wait it out. There wasn’t going to be an empty room in the city.

Except…

Shaw reached the pair, his brow already sweaty. He might not feel the pain, but his body was clearly having a hard time coping with the broken leg.

You’re going to have to move faster than that if we’re going to have a chance at this, Taveena said.

"I know where we can hide until the rendezvous with Helix and the Walden," he said.

Where?

The apartment of Georges Pelier, Shaw said.

Who? Annalise asked.

One of yours. He was going to flood the Geneva Lattice with acid and destroy it. I was interrogating him the night you— Shaw stopped. The night you killed me, he was about to say. He skipped ahead. "We visited him in his apartment where he confessed. Afterwards they took him