Blocks

by Tara Basi

  Tress turned to Mina and flicked her eyebrows upwards; she didn’t want to drag this out. Piglet slowly started rising and turning, then accelerated away up over the skyscrapers into the night sky. The flight was long and uneventful, out over the city, across the ocean, over land for more hours till only the Block filled the horizon. As the Block got closer Tress ran a hand over her newly shaved head and touched her earring. Even a fake earring made her shiver with the old fear. She was dressed in the ugly pink boiler suit she hated. Tress climbed over the seats into Piglet’s hold, crouched down among the plastic barrels of blood bomb liquid, and tried to be quietly sick in a bag. She was glad that Mina didn’t say anything or try to comfort her; Tress needed this moment by herself. Heavy rain lashed the small craft and the night was lit up by frequent lightning flashes illuminating the empty greyness of the Block’s vastness.

  “Trinity, how’s it looking?” Mina nervously asked as Piglet got ever closer to the Block.

  “Stupid woman, we fall out of the sky or we don’t. We haven’t, so we didn’t. We’re still authorised. Door’s ready,” Trinity answered, with its usual disdain. Wiping her mouth Tress joined Mina in the cockpit as Piglet flew in low towards the base of the Block sweeping across the wasteland only a few metres above the ground.

  “Why do you let it speak to you like that,” Tress asked, surprised that Mina was so tolerant of Trinity’s acid voice box.

  “It’s a pain but it’s efficient, I’ll live,” Mina answered, followed by a long sigh.

  The night became even darker as Piglet slipped under the Block and headed for the door Trinity had opened deep inside the grid. Tress searched the small circle of illumination in front of Piglet’s headlights for any signs of Worry and his gang or the giant insects that chased Mina out of the Block. There was nothing, just bare earth.

  Mina carefully set Piglet down keeping the little ship clear of the pits on every side. Tress and Mina got out and stood in the glare of the headlights while Mina carefully checked Tress, one final time, for any signs she’d been outside the Block. Satisfied, Mina walked over to the door set in the ground and it lifted up at her approach. Though Tress knew what to expect, the doorway and where it would take her scared her even more than the sight of the Crawler slowly emerging and sliding out to join them next to Piglet.

  “Don’t wet your pants, it’s my bitch,” Trinity announced.

  In a series of smooth movements the Crawler lassoed the six red plastic barrels in Piglet’s cargo hold then headed back to the door and slipped away. The door closed and a moment later it opened again.

  Trinity said, “Stupid plan part two, is a go. The Crawler will take the barrels to a store room in the Heaven House. Tippese will get an urgent message telling him project X is complete and mention Tress. In the unlikely event your mad plot works, and Tippese gives the order to blend the blood bomb with the next shipments, our tame Crawler will collect Tress and bring her back here. She’ll be collected in twelve hours whatever happens.”

  Tress only half listened to Trinity, they’d been through this many times already and there was nothing new except that it was all actually happening. The Crawler had come and gone with the barrels and she would soon be back in the awful white room she’d lived in for so long, fighting to keep her own mind and waiting for Tracy to summon her.

  Tress gave Mina a hug and headed down the stairs, along a short corridor towards a terribly familiar waterfall door. Stepping through she was back at the top of the Block, in her old room. It was just like every dormitory room she’d seen in the Block, a simple bed, desk, chair and small bathroom at the back, white walls and a single door, locked until Tracy called or it was a meal time. She checked the door, it was locked. Unless Tippese came it wouldn’t open till morning. It was horrible, terrifying to be back, she wanted to scream. Tress flung herself on the bed and cried quietly for a while. Later, she got up, washed her face, and rehearsed her story over and over again, trying not to think about the Vat. If she was still in the Block on her twenty-fifth birthday, only two days away, Trinity wouldn’t be able to stop a Crawler coming for her, or rescue her.

  Tress did not have to wait long. After only two hours in her old room a Crawler came and took her away. It was the only time she’d ever been half-way happy to see one of the black machines come for her.

  The Crawler deposited her in a heap in front of a smiling Tippese. She had to strain her neck to see him. He was seated on a ridiculously ornate throne set on a raised dais just in front of one the Heaven House’s vast transparent corners. Tippese had lost his blue boiler suit and his bulky earring. His body was draped in a vast velvet cape trimmed with ermine. Balanced on his still bald head was a gaudy crown studded with precious stones. Tress thought he looked absurd.

  “So you’re the famous Tress. You don’t look any different to the millions of other pink-suits, do you?” Tippese said, looking slightly disgusted that he had to talk to her at all.

  As Tress hoped, he gave no sign of recognising her from the time he’d visited Grain and Sara in the cell, just before the three of them were taken to the Vat. To someone like him she was just another interchangeable worker slave.

  “You were working on some secret project for Tracy, right? Project X? Tell me everything,” Tippese said, expecting to be obeyed without question.

  Tress kept her jaw clenched and said nothing for a moment. Remembering the pain a real earring generated wasn’t hard. In seconds she was mimicking perfectly the effects of the excruciating pain, as she screamed and writhed across the floor. She pretended to held out for a few seconds and then pleaded for mercy.

  “Just tell me everything and the pain will stop,” Tippese cooed, as though she was a baby with colic.

  “Tracy made me swear not to tell anyone, she’ll make me suffer horribly. If Tracy finds out what you’re doing, you’ll go to the Vat. Let me go, I promise not to tell her.”

  Tippese snarled in rage, all traces of a smile instantly wiped from his face, “Stupid old woman, I’m the Boss, Tracy’s dead. Now tell me everything before I get really upset.”

  Tress knew she had to make her performance as convincing as possible, “How can she be dead? That isn’t possible, Tracy is all-powerful, she’s always been the Block Boss. You’re working for Tracy. You’re testing me. That’s it. Did I pass the test?”

  As Tippese’s face started to turn the same colour as his robe, purple, a Crawler rose out of the floor clutching a gutted, decaying body that was once a woman and dropped it at Tress’s feet. She knew it was Tracy immediately and had to fight hard not to smile.

  “It’s amazing the fear this woman commanded in you morons, even when Reference is telling you she’s dead and I’m the new Block Boss. Tell me everything, now,” Tippese yelled at Tress.

  Tress made an elaborate play of touching Tracy’s body as though assuring herself she was really dead. Finally, satisfied her old mistress was really gone, she kicked the corpse in the face, as much for herself as to keep the pretence going with Tippese.

  “Tracy developed a special blood additive, it’s called the BB. She planned to add it to the ships heading out.”

  “Why?”

  “She said it would give her super QQ numbers, a hundred times better.”

  “That’s crazy; a fraction of a per cent is the best anyone’s ever done.”

  “No, it works, she tested it, she was going to be Boss of all the Blocks, get a permanent green pill, never need another one, and she told me the she could live outside the Block, in the sun, take whoever she liked with her, you know, so long as she sent them back, when they got… old.”

  Tippese’s face lit up with interest mixed with the caution that had kept him alive for twenty years, “Where are the details?”

  “It’s in Tracy’s personal store, the file’s called BB, password Trinity.”

  Tippese didn’t answer, he just waved a hand and instantly a Crawler appeared behind Tress, picked her up by the ankle and took Tress back to her ro
om. She found some food and water laid out on the desk, the door was locked. Tippese was obviously going to investigate her claim. With no other options she decided to try and eat, then sleep. A Crawler would be coming for her, the only question was where it took her and who sent it, Trinity or Tippese.

  A Crawler did come only a couple of hours later. The machine took her back to the Heaven House corner where Tippese was waiting, still dressed in his ridiculous royal outfit. He’d descended from his throne and was pacing, trailing an enormous length of ermine edged cloak behind him.

  “Your BB stuff has a use-by-date, and it’s today,” Tippese said, as he stared hard at Tress, looking for something, reassurance?

  “It goes off quick,” Tress answered, trying to look innocent and dumb.

  “If I didn’t know you couldn’t lie, I’d be suspicious; this is all too convenient, coincidental. Makes me think Tracy is setting me up from beyond the grave. Where’s the formula?” Tippese abruptly asked, surprising Tress.

  “Isn’t it in the file?” Tress replied, realising she had no idea what the formula was or where it was. Sara had concocted the blood bomb from a cocktail of the worst diseases and biological weapons she could find.

  “No. It’s not. I’ll find it though, must be in Tracy’s files, somewhere. The only reason I half believe any of this is you don’t have the formula. If it does what you say, she would never trust you with it,” Tippese said, more in conversation with himself than Tress.

  Tress just nodded and stood quietly, staring at the floor, wondering where the conversation was heading.

  “I don’t like you, you’re old, you’re Tracy’s and… Hmm, but I might need you if this all checks out,” Tippese said and turned away.

  Tress half anticipated the tentacle snaking around her ankle but she still gasped. It had worked; she’d be returned to her room and then, in a couple of hours, Trinity’s Crawler would be coming to take her back to Mina waiting under the Block.

  Her relief lasted only a moment as the Crawler passed through a hole in the floor and she wasn’t back in her room. Instantly she recognised the vast space from Mina’s description; she was in the Yard. A squeal of horror escaped her lips as she looked down, endless gigantic growths were leaping up towards her, twisting and turning as they climbed. No floor was visible, the trunks and branches of the crystal tree filled the space below her. Tress couldn’t think straight, she was flying over a monstrous glass weed, tens of kilometres high and that screaming noise was her. Weaving in and out of the crystal forest the Crawler climbed steadily higher. Tress was moving too fast to make out any detail, there was just an ocean of fractured light, swirling brown storm clouds and long streaks of powdered black graphite everywhere.

  Eventually the Crawler slowed and approached a transparent vine wrapped around a gigantic crystal trunk. The whole surface of the trunk was covered in a matted weave of the thin vines, all carrying little specks of black. Diving at an alarming speed the Crawler closed quickly on the tangled mass of glass tendrils. For the first time Tress began to see beyond the vast tangle and make out some detail. The vines were not so thin, each one was a couple of metres thick, and filled with a clear, slowly moving sap, and embedded in the sap were thousands of specks, that became shapes, that resolved into people. Unmoving, naked, wide eyed, looking blankly out from the sap, their bodies covered in ugly red marks. Tress started screaming again when she saw they weren’t dead; their chests were rising and falling.

  Halting right in front of a poor wretch suspended in the sap directly in front of her, there was a sudden, impossibly fast Crawler movement. In a blur, the Crawler slit open the vine, pulled out an unconscious wretch and pushed Tress into the sap and sealed the cut. Tress could just make out the Crawler speeding away, clutching the previous occupant. Unable to hold her breath any longer her lungs started filling with the clear goo. The last thing she saw was the head of giant insect hovering outside the vine, staring at her, its spearing mouth parts poised.

  “You promised to bring her back,” Battery Boy shouted angrily at Mina, looking as though he wanted to strike her.

  “I’m sorry, we tried. We lost her, Trinity’s worm is still searching,” Mina whispered, tears rolling down her face.

  “Take me back, now, I’ll find her,” Battery Boy roared.

  Mina was starting to get frightened, when Jugger wrapped his arms around Battery Boy from behind, pinning his arms to his sides and started to drag him away. Battery Boy struggled, kicked out and twisted but he couldn’t escape. Battery Boy was on fire with rage and howling like a wounded dog. Mina made a move to follow after the boys, until Jugger quietly said, “I wouldn’t, you’ll get hurt, leave him be for now.”

  She stood for a while, slowing her sobbing, getting control. She had to contact the Maxinquaye and let them know what had happened. Straightening up she walked towards the comms tower, passing by Stuff who looked miserable and Pinkie who stared back at her coldly.

  “You’re gonna be sorry you didn’t listen to Jugger, ain’t no good coming from any of this,” Pinkie said to Mina.

  For a moment Mina had a terrible desire to slap Pinkie, instead, she took a deep breath and carried on walking, concentrating on what she was going to tell Cole.

  “We don’t know what happened to Tress. Tippese accessed the BB file and that’s all we know,” Mina explained quietly to a sombre looking Cole, standing behind him she could see Sara in tears and Grain with his head bowed.

  “She was a very brave woman, going back after everything. We’ll leave in twenty-four hours, enough time for the blood bomb to pass through the gateway, assuming Tippese was fooled. Anton will be observing from the Maxinquaye, he’ll relay our signal. Best we do our goodbyes now, there’s still a lot to prepare,” Cole replied quietly turning the screen over to those who wouldn’t be coming back.

  Chapter 13 – Martyrdom

  Grain and the Small Business shivered together as the ship undocked from the Maxinquaye and drifted apart. Grain turned away from the split screen showing a sombre Anton on the Maxinquaye alongside a tearful Mina back on Earth, both waving him goodbye, as he headed for the armoury. His men were already there getting the moon-busters ready for the final arming process. Sara didn’t follow; she stayed behind, chatting cheerfully to Mina. Being married again wasn’t that terrible, really it wasn’t terrible at all. Sara was determined to enjoy every moment that was left. Her crazy enthusiasm for every detail of the ceremony and being wedded afterwards carried him along, keeping his mind off what they were going to do. He’d kept his feelings at bay until the Small Business actually moved and it had begun.

  Grain joined his marines. The armoury was secure and heavily reinforced, to keep the inquisitive out and, maybe, stop any accidents spreading to the whole ship. It was only big enough for one person to squeeze into the narrow space that ran between the racks of weapons and munitions.

  The moon-busters looked very pretty, six bright blue Easter-eggs tied up with a ribbon of red metal around their bellies, each one no bigger than a football. Arming the little devils was a hideously complex process. The marines would go through all the steps, except the final arming, while the Small Business travelled out to the alien gateway, a short journey of only six hours. The eggs were brought out one by one, worked on, then returned, waiting for final collection. While a couple of marines worked on the bombs the others made final touches to the delivery system, and then checked everything, over and over again.

  “Greg, didn’t expect to find you here, thought you were in the Jugger camp?” Grain said, surprised to find Greg helping out at the armoury, floating bits of equipment around.

  “It’s still wrong, but I’d like to help, for Sara’s sake. We’ve been friends a long time,” Greg replied, as he floated past Grain heading for a workbench carrying a bulky harness.

  “I’m sure Sara appreciates it,” Grain answered, puzzled by Greg’s sudden change of heart but happy for the help.

  As expected, everything was progre
ssing smoothly; there were no last minute hitches. Grain turned and headed back to the galley for a final briefing with Cole and Sara. He found them standing at the table where Cole had first broken the news to Mina that mission control had gone offline. Years ago in events, only weeks in real time. Unexpectedly, Sara and Cole were laughing as he floated over and dropped his sticky feet to the floor.

  “What’s so funny?” Grain asked.

  “Sara was just telling me about something Pinkie said, crazy little girl. Amazing kids though, got to admire them, even that Jugger,” Cole said, smiling.

  “And Greg seems to have had a change of heart,” Grain said.

  “Really? From day one he’s been saying we should leave the Blocks alone, God works in mysterious ways and all that. He’s been driving me crazy,” Cole answered, looking surprised.

  “Grain’s right, he’s been telling me he wants to help,” Sara chipped in.

  “Forget him. Are you two ready for this?” Cole asked, his smile was gone.

  “Sure,” Sara answered cheerfully and Grain nodded.

  “OK, what’s the latest?” Cole asked.

  “Bombs are almost ready, an hour more at the most,” Grain said.

  “We’ll be at the drop off point in two hours. You two should go and,” Cole said, blushed and burst out laughing.

  “Damn right, we’re still on our honeymoon,” Sara shouted and grabbed Grain’s arm to pull him away in the direction of their little cubby hole made up of two bunk spaces hidden behind a curtain of sheeting.

  Grain couldn’t help smiling in happy anticipation as he allowed Sara to pull him off his feet. She was right, they were still on honeymoon and he wanted to enjoy every last minute they had together.

  “Lieutenant, we have a situation,” burst out of Grain’s lapel radio just as his feet snapped free.

  “I’ll be right there,” Grain answered automatically as he turned and headed in the direction of the armoury with Cole and Sara following behind. The armoury entrance was located down a short shaft off the exercise room. It opened out into a space just big enough for one person to stand outside the heavily reinforced door.