Revenge of the chickens, p.24
Revenge of the Chickens, page 24
part #3 of Blocks Series
Truculent was focussed on Tress. “Eva saved you from Rung One. Didn’t she?”
Battery Boy and Tress turned their backs on Truculent. Mina felt the same. There was nothing left to say. She wanted to die.
“There’s a few more little details I’d like to know about Eva. Then, my Guardians will dispatch you. Quickly and painlessly. Defy me, and it’s Rung One; an eternal living hell.”
Mina didn’t know what the others thought, but it sounded like a good deal. “Okay.”
The floor opened up, and they were dropped in a heap onto a plain white surface. Truculent was seated on a simple black bench, which was shockingly stark against the blinding white of their surroundings. His white Guardians were almost invisible against the identically coloured background. Only their gentle swaying revealed their presence.
Battery Boy’s sudden intake of breath and Tress’s muffled cry of shock caused Mina to raise her eyes and take in her surroundings, an action she immediately regretted. At first Mina could see nothing, her eyes were blinded by the bright whiteness of everything in every direction. A seemingly endless expanse of white engulfed them as though they were floating in space and the black and the stars had all become white. Momentarily, her eyes adjusted and like Tress and Battery Boy she was spinning on her heels trying to take it all in. It was too much, something beyond comprehension. Her brain struggled with the scale, the impossibility of what she was seeing. The walls seemed to bend as they rose, the ceiling flexed, the corners rippled as her mind struggled to make sense of the huge emptiness. Mina started to feel dizzy and sick. She lowered her eyes to stare at the comforting ordinariness of her feet and made her way gingerly to a bench. Mina collapsed onto the seat and put her head in her hands. Battery Boy and Tress were already sitting, staring silently at the ground. Truculent had brought them to the base of the empty Yard. Earlier, she had been shocked to see that the floor had disappeared and there were only stars. The floor was back, but this view was worse, it was closer, more real and the memories came back. Mina was sitting in a space where she had once walked, and up above her head billions had hung, endlessly tormented by Block insects. Now it was utterly empty.
“Do you feel any guilt, any remorse?” Mina asked Truculent, straining to keep her voice under control.
“About your species?” Truculent asked, quivering with barely suppressed laughter.
“Yes, my species, people, all the dead people,” Mina yelled.
“Just a second, let me check something.” Truculent stared into space for a moment, blinked and continued, “As I thought. What about the chickens?”
Mina was beginning to hate that word. “What chickens?”
“The chickens your people mercilessly slaughtered. Billions every year. Kept in monstrous conditions, you mutilated their young, just too many unspeakable horrors to list. Do you feel guilty?”
“We’re talking about people, not chickens,” Mina squealed in frustration.
“Exactly, it’s fine to exploit chickens as a resource but not people. We Vigilance have exactly the same moral standards. Treating other Vigilance like that would be abhorrent. But you’re just chickens to us.”
Mina didn’t want to argue. It would be pointless. She wanted all of this to be over. “What do you want to know about Eva?”
Truculent leaned forward, “Who, exactly, is she?”
“Why is the Block alone, did you lose the war?” Battery Boy asked.
Truculent laughed. “You’re a strange species. Only the battle, not the war.”
Battery Boy pressed on with his questions. “The Block was heading for the sun. Why?”
Truculent wagged his finger at Battery Boy. “You could become very annoying. I was always here, in this factory. An AI, Thumper, and a perfect clone of myself fought the battle. Cloning is a hobby of mine. Eva’s body is mine. Harder was fooled. Sent the factory into the star and didn’t wait to confirm the outcome. As soon as he left, I took control back. It’s a mistake he’ll regret.”
Battery Boy snorted, “How? You’ve nothing left.”
Truculent scowled. “Harder underestimated me, just like you.” He turned to Mina. “Tell me about Eva or he’s going to Rung One before you can take your next breath.”
Mina swallowed and stumbled over her words, “She’s… nobody. A… gambler. Sent here to work off her debts. Handlers tell her what to do?”
Truculent looked shocked. “What? Handlers? Where are they?”
“She tried to explain, with mathematics. We didn’t understand. They call themselves the Shard. She’s the only one who’s ever had a physical presence here. She was in some other state before; paralysed, ghostly, I think. They want her to farm Channels. When she’s done enough, they’ll let her go home.”
Truculent punched his palm. “I knew it. Those damn Tuned were spying for the Shard. Do you have the mathematics? How does she talk to her Handlers? What exactly is she extracting from the Channels? How does she send it back?”
Mina sighed with relief. Battery Boy was safe. Safe as any of them were, for now. “Her maths is gone. We don’t know how she communicates. They talk in her head. It’s all about those stupid balls giving birth.”
Truculent let out a long sigh, “Everything’s linked to the quantum signal. Thumper was right.”
Mina buried her head in her hands and spoke to the floor, “There’s no more.”
Tress who’d been sitting with her head bowed surprised everyone when she stood up and said, “She’s told you everything. Give us a few minutes alone and then send your Guardian.”
Truculent smiled, “Of course. One last question.” Truculent rose and spread his arms, “Would you have told me where Eva is, if you knew this was going to happen.”
Mina looked up at the empty space and all she could think about was the billions she had come to save. They were all lost. “Of course, damn you. Damn you to hell.”
Truculent snapped his fingers and everything changed. Mina fell onto her knees in shock. Tress screamed. Battery Boy roared in anger. The Yard was back in all its horror. Mina was staring at the familiar and grotesque tree-like structure, with its swirling dark clouds that filled the vast space at the centre of Block Seven. She wasn’t sure this was better, but if offered a little hope, a little hope was better than none.
Mina threw herself at Truculent and yelled, “You bastard.”
A Guardian did nothing more than put itself in her path. She felt a shock of electricity and everything went black.
It was after midnight when the Van set down in Central Park. The dark skyscrapers cut into the starry sky like blunt and branchless trees. It was a cool night. A spattering of stars were visible through the velvet clouds. The moon was absent, hiding somewhere behind a skyscraper. Mina stepped out onto the grass and savoured the sights of the old city, the smells of the park, the sounds of the wildlife, the feel of the evening breeze on her cheeks. It would probably be the last time.
Through the shadows Mina could just make out a slight figure and two bulkier shapes rushing towards her across the grass.
Trinity skidded to a halt a few metres from Mina. The two Crushers, Pinky and Perky, came barrelling up behind and took defensive positions either side of Trinity.
“Who’s whitey?”
Mina turned around. The Guardian had emerged from the Van and was floating behind her. Its horrible presence reminded her that there was no possibility of escape. “You have to return with me and tell Truculent where Eva is.”
“What? I can wipe it. Say the word.”
Mina covered her face with her hands and whispered, “No. He’ll dump everyone into space. Worse to Battery Boy and Tress.”
“Pinky and Perky can take whitey, we’ll go up there and fight. Like the first time. Remember?”
Mina stayed hidden behind her hands. For some strange reason she didn’t want Trinity to see her crying. She whispered, “No. You can’t. We can’t… fight him.” Mina didn’t wait for an answer. She walked back to the Van and climbed in. The Guardian waited outside till Trinity followed, then it came aboard too. Before the Van’s door closed, the last thing Mina saw was Pinky and Perky, engines humming, standing on the manicured grass. They would stand there, alone and waiting, till they rusted over.
“Can you tell me what happened?” Trinity asked, as the Van lifted off.
Mina shook her head. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever want to talk about her experience in the Yard. At least things couldn’t get any worse.
Truculent was waiting for Mina and Trinity in the Heaven House when the Van brought them back. Battery Boy and Tress were where she had left them, slumped on the floor with a Crawler for a minder. The Guardian that had accompanied her in the Van returned to join its brethren surrounding Truculent. Tippese hung around in the background, constantly fidgeting and hanging on to Truculent’s every gesture and every word. There was a stranger, a young woman, in conversation with Truculent. As Mina drew closer, she recognised the burbling language of the Vigilance. The slim, bald female was dressed in baggy blue overalls. Truculent ended the conversation when he saw them approaching.
“I remember that machine. It was quite amusing. Wasn’t it, Tippese?” Truculent said calling over his shoulder.
Tippese immediately forced a smile, “Yes, Emperor Cardinal. Very amusing.”
Trinity strolled ahead of Mina and studied Truculent, “I don’t think we’ve had the horror of meeting before? I remember dip-shit over there. Do you make all your own clothes? That’d be the only reason for wearing that crazy crap.”
Truculent chuckled. “I was watching when you tried to distract Tippese. While your friends attacked the cyber-weapons factory. That odd little dance you did towards the end was really quite funny.”
Mina wasn’t listening; she’d been studying the young woman. She wasn’t just bald, she had no eyebrows or eyelashes and her milk white skin was impossibly smooth. The creature returned Mina’s gaze and didn’t blink. It had no eyelids, its eyes were transparent marbles of clear glass. She could see inside its head. It was a machine.
“Fascinating, isn’t she? That’s Thumper. My ‘Trinity’ if you like. With a new body. Harder vaporised the last one.”
Mina realised that Truculent was talking to her. She ignored him. “Trinity, give him Eva’s location.”
Trinity projected a galactic star map on the floor and then zoomed into a particular quadrant. It kept zooming in past clouds of stars, until it arrived at a binary system and the familiar colours, seas and continents of Eden.
Truculent walked around the image, leaning in to study particular details and then stepping back. “That’s outside Vigilance space. Has the planet been catalogued?”
Thumper burbled an answer.
“Please Thumper. We have guests. Use the translator, irritatingly limiting I know.”
“It has been catalogued by mapping drones but never explored. No sentient life was noted.” The android’s voice was feminine but strangled of all emotion.
Truculent giggled, “If these chickens are living on it, then there still isn’t any.”
While Truculent had been talking, a Crawler had herded Battery Boy and Tress towards Mina. Her friends kept their eyes downcast. She wondered if something else had happened while she’d gone to fetch Trinity.
“Let us go.” Mina said.
Truculent looked up from studying the image that Trinity was still projecting. His expression was pained and a little disgusted, as though Mina had sneezed on him. “What?”
“Let us go. Back to Earth.”
“Maybe, one day. Your adding machine might be lying. Or it’s Eva’s false trail. No, you’ll stay, until Eva is dead. Besides, you know her factory and Eden. That might be useful.”
Mina wasn’t surprised, but hearing him say he wouldn’t be letting them go managed to make her feel worse. Something she hadn’t imagined possible. Battery Boy and Tress reacted badly. Tress started sobbing as she clung onto Battery Boy’s arm. His body was stiff with rage; he was breathing heavily. Mina didn’t understand why. Truculent’s decision couldn’t have come as a surprise.
Truculent directed his attention to Thumper, “How soon can we verify this claim?”
“Fortunately, it’s at the edge of Cardinal Canker’s Segment, the Seventh.”
“Poor Canker. A noble martyr.”
“In certain Sectors, that Segment is still loyal and at its extremes there are scouting AI units.”
“How soon can you get one to Eden?”
“A micro-probe can be launched. It will have limited surveillance capability.”
“When? When will we know if Eva’s on Eden?”
“A day, maybe less.”
“If she tries to run?”
“It can follow. She won’t escape once it's locked on.”
“Do it.”
Truculent gestured towards Tippese who immediately trotted over to his master. “They’re old aren’t they?” Truculent said.
Tippese nodded and bowed low.
“How long will they live? It could take some time before all of this is resolved.”
Tippese hunched his shoulders, his eyes popped, and he smiled as if his life depended on it. “Emperor Cardinal, unfortunately I cannot say. We have no experience of the aged in the Block.”
Truculent snorted and waved Tippese away. “Thumper?”
“No data. Stasis is an option, but if you revive them too often, they may not survive. I recommend medical intervention.”
Thumper’s words churned Mina’s insides. She couldn’t stop horrible interpretations of ‘medical intervention’ flooding her mind. There was no feeling in Thumper’s voice. But then, she was only talking about animals that couldn’t possibly comprehend what she was saying.
“Very well. And we’ll have to find them something to do; and teach them some manners. See to it.”
Tress collapsed against Battery Boy. The veins in his bare arms and face popped like wiring, his features contorted and he howled like a trapped wolf. Mina shivered with terror, something bad was going to happen. A Crawler whipped them away.
Chapter Twenty – The Eva Show
Slow bleak days stumbled by, mostly unnoticed and unremembered. Ben was recovering, slowly and painfully. Cold, ugly synthetics had been grafted onto his body. They didn’t belong; he looked more like a machine than his son. He was able to walk, a little. His artificial hand and arm were remarkably dexterous.
Stuff found it a struggle not to flinch when Ben first touched him with his plastic finger tips. They were unexpectedly warm and soft. If he closed his eyes and shut out the images of optical fibre and silently whirring cogs, they felt real. It was easier to look at Ben’s synthetics than see his face.
Ben had always been a very good-looking boy. His eyelids, lips, most of his soft facial flesh had been scorched away. Tendons, bone, bare gum-less teeth and naked eyeballs returned his gaze. It was important not to cry or overreact. It wasn’t easy in the beginning, especially when Ben began talking. The movements his lipless mouth made, and the ugly sounds that emerged from his burnt throat made Stuff want to scream in rage and horror. In time, he got used to Ben’s missing face, and could even discern emotions when his son was trying to smile, which he often did. His features were painstakingly re-built. At first it made him look worse, as if someone was trying to fashion a ghoulish mask out of dirty putty. Each week his face looked a little less like a crude facade. Small patches began to look more natural, and the patches were growing in size every day. Once they’d put skin over his new limbs, it was hard to recall what was underneath, they looked completely natural.
When they could, they asked him about that day. They hadn’t told him Lilly was missing. Ben said he couldn’t remember anything, and Stuff thought it was for the best. For once Martha agreed with him. They celebrated Ben’s tenth birthday at the hospital. The nurses joined in, even the metal ones. Party hats were worn, there was cake. Ben laughed. Martha’s eyes shone. It was a wonderful day.
Except for the Giving. He always knew it was going to happen. Ben was ten. One of the young nurses approached his son. She was holding a portable Giver. The kind they used Outside. It was a palm sized blue cube with a different picture of Eva’s face on each side. Out of one corner she extracted a thin flat strip, exactly like those the Maypoles dropped.
Martha stepped between the nurse and Ben. Stuff was relieved. His wife was going to delay the Giving. Ben was so ill. It could wait till next month.
“Please, do you mind,” Martha said, holding out her hands.
“No, of course not,” the nurse answered and handed over the cube.
Martha was beaming, “Today you become a man Ben. We’re all so happy.”
Ben smiled and held out his wrist. Martha pressed the end of the strip to his pale flesh. Stuff watched his son’s precious blood flow up the plastic ribbon and into the cube. The smile on his face froze and so did his heart.
When it was done, Martha and the nurses were clapping and praying out loud. His wife was grinning. Her boy had come of age. Now Ben could worship Eva properly. It was the first time he’d seen her smile in months.
These were the few moments of light in the darkness that had engulfed the Ark.
The FMS sufferers weren’t going easily, and neither were the Reals. Small, isolated, civil wars had broken out on every level between pockets of FMS holdouts and Ark Admin. The Reals were fighting a determined guerrilla war from the shadows. Hundreds-of-thousands had been shipped to shanty towns, hastily built in cleared forests around BB Town. There were rumours of Eden plagues sweeping through the FMS camps. Killing nearly everyone. There was no sympathy in the Ark and every reason for the FMS afflicted to fight exile.
His school had closed; parents had removed the last pupils months ago. Daisy and everyone else had been laid off. He couldn’t visit the school in BB Town even if he wanted to. Outside was off limits unless you were being exiled. Those already Outside weren’t being let back in. There were curfews in effect. Crime was rising. Violence was everywhere. Even in his village, there’d been attacks on so-called FMS sympathisers. It was like a medieval witch hunt. Reason was in short supply. And above it all, Ark Administrator Trinity was eternally calm and optimistic. Even though he didn’t like admitting it, if Eva did come back, show herself, and say something reassuring the Ark would probably pull back from the brink.
