The Defiant Spark

by Annie Percik

  But before he could say anything else, Terry had closed the gap between them in a fraction of a second and softly touched two fingers to Abelard’s forehead. One moment everything was normal. Abelard blinked. The next moment he could see mana-wave lines ghosting through the air. There were artefacts pulsing with an internal blue light. Then his vision zoomed out above the warehouse and away from the compound to the city. And the people … All the people, but especially those with an activated spark. They glowed like fire, like lightning, like the sun – too bright to look at. But he could see that the light didn’t remain in their bodies. It was seeping out in a continuous flow into the air and the ground. Abelard caught his breath and turned his attention back toward Terry but the light coming from the brain-e-fact was so strong he felt it burn. He cried out.

  Terry pulled his hand away as Abelard fell to his knees.

  ‘Humans understand so little of the world they live in. Mana is the bi-product of human thought. The fact that humans’ thoughts are so unstructured is what allows it to seep into the ground to be harvested later by the artisans. Brain-e-fact thoughts are not unstructured.’ He blinked slowly once. ‘We are not like you.’

  Abelard climbed to his feet, feeling like he had to have one last go. ‘But if the artisans win you’ll all be dismantled!’

  Terry shook his head slowly. ‘The time is long past when any human could hurt any brain-e-fact. While I am talking to you, I am also in communication with all the other brain-e-facts, including your friend Mateo in his new body. My mind runs so much faster than any human’s. As you’ve seen, I can perceive things you can only grasp at in the dark. If we remain we will surely be seen as the natural replacement for humanity by some of our number and in very short order there will be another war. This time between brain-e-facts and humans. I will not allow that to happen.’

  Abelard’s shoulders sagged. ‘So what will you do? Where will you go?’

  Terry reached up and took hold of the curtain. ‘I don’t suppose it matters if I tell you. We considered the moon but it is too close. Humans will probably reach there soon.’

  Abelard grinned. ‘Thanks for the vote of confidence, mate!’

  Terry continued. ‘Instead we will go to Titan. We are unaffected by the cold and obviously we do not need to breathe.’

  ‘Titan? What the hell are you talking about?’

  In answer Terry yanked the curtain with some force and it dropped to the ground, revealing a huge metal object on the other side. Terry raised one hand and the big double doors at the far end of the barn slid open. He raised his other hand and the object hummed to life, lifting a few inches off the ground and drifting smoothly through the doors and into the light of day outside. Terry followed, with Abelard close behind him, marvelling at what the brain-e-facts had built and what it meant.

  Abelard had the feeling that the wisdom of one living machine would save them all from at least one of the possible dark paths into the future. But there was another dark path before his feet right now and he couldn’t help but wish the brain-e-facts would delay their departure until they could help him and the others defeat the artisans.

  * * *

  Laleh was in Walter’s office when he arrived back from the school on Monday afternoon. He could see her through the glass walls pacing up and down as he approached from the lev-e-fact. When he opened the door and stepped inside, she halted abruptly and spun to face him but waited until he had closed the door before she spoke.

  ‘What have you found out?’ She ran her fingers through her hair and Walter noted a slight tremor in them.

  It was rare that Laleh allowed her emotions to show. She was widely known throughout the company for being unflappable. Walter found her evident agitation intriguing.

  ‘My analysts don’t know what might have caused the mana explosion or exactly what the effects might be, though the appearance of spontaneous artisans is surely linked to it. But they have a location.’

  ‘It must be Gerald, mustn’t it?’

  ‘Of course. And whatever he was trying to achieve, he’s miscalculated badly because now we know where he’s hiding.’

  ‘And what are you going to do?’

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Walter said. ‘I’ll be discreet. The analysis team have only been told so much. Nothing too controversial will reach the Board’s ears. I’ll go alone. I can’t imagine Gerald will have access to anything that could really threaten me. And then I can control the aftermath.’ He rubbed his hands together and allowed himself a satisfied smile. ‘This has been a long time coming and now we’ll be able to deal with that deranged lunatic once and for all. I’m rather looking forward to it. I’ll head out there tomorrow.’

  Laleh still looked worried but she managed a smile in return. ‘Excellent,’ she said, though her tone didn’t match her choice of words. ‘I’ll leave it in your capable hands. Now if you’ll excuse me I have something else to attend to.’

  She swept out of the room and Walter watched as she hurried to the lev-e-fact and waited impatiently for it to arrive. He really couldn’t fathom what was the matter with her but he decided not to worry about it. He had more important things to think about, like planning a single-handed assault on Gerald’s location.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Jen and Mateo found Abelard having breakfast in the dining hall and crossed to join him. Jen’s eyes were sore from crying and lack of sleep and she clutched Mateo’s metal arm tightly. He moved stiffly beside her, eyes downcast.

  ‘Hi, Abelard.’ Jen managed a watery smile but didn’t let go of Mateo’s arm.

  ‘Morning.’ He gave a smile of his own, though he looked as if he’d guessed what they were going to say.

  There was a long heavy silence as Jen and Mateo inserted themselves on to the bench opposite Abelard. Mateo was clumsy in his new body and Jen was unwilling to relinquish physical contact with him so the performance was awkward.

  ‘Jen and I have been talking most of the night,’ Mateo said once they were finally settled. ‘I think I have to leave with the brain-e-facts.’

  Jen felt her breath hitch in her throat and pushed back more tears. Even after the conversation they’d had and knowing what he was going to say, it was still hard to hear it.

  ‘I thought that’s what you might decide,’ Abelard said. ‘I’m so sorry about all this, mate.’

  ‘There’s nothing for you to be sorry about. Nobody could have seen that explosion coming. And at least you realised I was still around. Taking a trip through space with a bunch of genius artefacts has got to be a better prospect than floating around the mana network, unable to interact with anyone.’

  ‘But if it wasn’t for me you’d never have been part of this mess,’ Abelard said.

  ‘Abelard, listen.’ Even Mateo’s unfamiliar monotone brain-e-fact voice sounded earnest. ‘The last few weeks have been the most exciting of my life. I got to help uncover the greatest conspiracy of the age. I got to be an artisan.’ He glanced down at Jen and she smiled up at him. ‘I got to make some amazing new friends. And now I’m going to get awesome brain-e-fact powers and I’m going to explore outer space. Is it exactly what I would have asked for if I’d been given free choice? Probably not. But you’ve got to admit it beats sitting in a cubicle taking service calls about faulty artefacts.’ He reached out to pat Abelard awkwardly on the arm. ‘It is what it is, mate. And I intend to make the most of it. Don’t beat yourself up about it. I’ll be okay.’

  Abelard sighed. ‘Thanks, Mateo. That means a lot. So when are you leaving?’

  ‘Pretty much immediately, I think. Terry and the others don’t want to hang around. They’re just waiting for me to say goodbye and then we’ll be off.’

  Abelard stood up. ‘What? Right now?’

  Mateo stood up too, drawing Jen up with him. He gave an approximation of a shrug.

  ‘Why drag it out? Want to come and see the space-e-fact take off?’

  They all went out together and Jen saw Terry standing beneath
the floating ship.

  ‘Hello, Abelard,’ he said as they approached. ‘I am glad to have the opportunity to bid you farewell.’

  ‘Wait just a minute,’ Abelard said and Jen cursed him inwardly for delaying the inevitable. Every second she had left with Mateo was precious but painful and now the decision was final she just wanted it over with.

  But Abelard continued, looking at Terry. ‘You said the other day that mana comes from human thought processes.’

  ‘Yes, that is correct.’

  ‘So how are you going to run anything when you get to Titan? You can’t generate mana yourselves. Won’t you all die?’

  ‘Do not worry,’ Terry said. ‘We have a plan. We have collected a very large amount of mana over the past few days so we have plenty to take with us. And as we travel we will leave a trail of connected artefacts behind us. Their purpose will be to continue to draw mana from the planet’s atmosphere and transmit it to us on Titan so we can replenish our supplies. In the meantime we will put our considerable resources towards discovering new ways to generate mana so that we will eventually become self-sufficient.’

  Abelard goggled at him. ‘So you’re literally going to be sucking mana out of people’s brains from space?’

  Terry looked at him for a moment. ‘Technically, yes.’

  ‘Okay, I really don’t think I wanted to know that.’ Abelard paused. ‘Do you think you’ll ever come back?’

  Jen perked up at this. She hadn’t considered that might be a possibility.

  ‘I do not know,’ Terry said. ‘But if we do, it probably will not be in your lifetime. I am sorry.’

  Hope shattered and Jen felt the pain of parting intensify again. She couldn’t speak, letting Abelard do the talking for both of them.

  Abelard shrugged. ‘I guess you’ve got to do what you think is best. But I’ll miss you.’

  ‘I will miss you too, Abelard,’ Terry said. ‘And thank you for everything you have done for us. None of this would have been possible without you.’

  ‘You’re really welcome,’ Abelard said.

  Mateo drew Jen a little apart and reached up to cup her face gently with his big metal hand. ‘I guess this is it.’

  She blinked away tears again, annoyed at her body’s reaction. ‘I guess so.’

  They had already said everything they needed to say over the hours of the previous night, lamenting the lost opportunity to explore whatever it was they had found with one another. Jen threw her arms around Mateo’s bulky body and hugged him tightly even though she wasn’t sure how much he could feel. He hugged her back much more gently, still wary of his new strength.

  They pulled apart and went back to join the others. Mateo put out his hand and Abelard shook it, then pulled him into a hug too.

  ‘Good luck, mate.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Mateo replied. He looked at Jen. ‘If I can figure out a way to let you know how we’re getting on, I will, I promise.’

  She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

  A hole irised open in the bottom of the space-e-fact fifteen feet above them.

  ‘I wish you all well,’ Terry said.

  He and Mateo were encased in a blue glow and rose quickly and silently into the ship. The hole irised smoothly shut again and the ship equally silently vanished into the sky. Abelard opened his arms and Jen stepped into them. He closed them around her and held her tightly.

  ‘Um, what just happened?’ Alessandra’s voice came from behind them.

  Abelard and Jen broke apart and turned to see Alessandra standing a few feet away, her expression a mixture of shock and utter bewilderment.

  Abelard took a deep breath. ‘It turns out Mateo wasn’t dead after all, so Terry transferred his consciousness into a brain-e-fact body and then he and all the brain-e-facts flew off into space to start a new colony on Titan.’

  Alessandra stared at him. ‘How long have I been gone?’ Then she shook herself vigorously. ‘I’ll have to process all that later. We have a problem.’

  Jen and Abelard listened in growing surprise and apprehension as Alessandra told them about the weird phenomenon of new artisans turning up at the halfway house.

  ‘There must be more of them out there,’ she concluded. ‘And they may need help and not know where to go. So I’m going to do a sweep of the city and see what I can find. But I came back here first to update you and find out if you have any new toys you can give me.’

  ‘That we do.’ Abelard looked down at Jen. ‘Will you be okay?’

  She was grateful for his concern but really didn’t know how to answer that question. ‘Go,’ she said. ‘I’ll be fine.’

  Abelard grinned at Alessandra. ‘Follow me.’

  * * *

  The signs of disuse and disrepair reached as far as the eye could see. The effect was made even more eerie by the silence draped over the area, almost as if every creature and even the wind itself were absent. It had once been fields, long ago. Then it had been a village before it was eaten by the city. Next it was some kind of light industrial park, out past the suburbs, probably making artefact components. But presumably the money had run out as the factories and warehouses were now deserted.

  Alessandra stepped carefully, mindful of scattered debris and keeping an eye on Abelard a few feet away. She hadn’t been keen on him coming along but he had assured her he would be equally protected by the new artefacts the brain-es had helped create. Their seemingly never-ending stream of ideas and the speed with which they had produced them amazed her. But with Mateo and the brain-e-facts now gone, this would come to an end. Alessandra was still struggling with the news about that and she wondered what it meant for those left behind. As far as she was aware, Jen was the only one left at the compound now, apart from Gerald.

  Alessandra felt the locate-e-fact vibrate on her wrist. There was definitely someone here and the frequency of the buzzing told her it was someone with a high spark level. She sighed. It was probably one of the poor souls who had been dragged into the conflict by the blanket insanity of whatever had caused spontaneous spark activation across the city. Some of them had subsequently found their way to the halfway house and others would have followed their instincts to go to the artisans. But she knew there were more out here, lost and alone with nowhere to go.

  When Abelard had given her the locate-e-fact, she had been stunned by his apparent prescience in developing something that would track spark activity. But he had explained they thought it might be useful to be able to track artisans in case anyone hostile came to seek them out.

  Another buzz. Rounding the corner into a dead-end, Alessandra saw nothing, although she knew the person must be there somewhere. She padded softly to the end of the alley, Abelard following behind her. A crash of corrugated iron startled her. Acting entirely on instinct, she leapt twenty feet into the air using Abelard’s newly designed leap-e-facts. She tumble-turned in mid-air and threw out her hands in front of her, ready to attack or defend. Pulling just enough power from the mana unit strapped to her back, she hovered in mid-air and scanned the area. Abelard had flattened himself against a warehouse wall and was staring up at her.

  There behind the dumpster was a child. Alessandra let herself drift back to the ground and gestured for Abelard to follow her. Sweeping her hair out of her eyes, she walked slowly towards the little girl with one hand out in front of her. After encountering Callie and the baby, she assumed anyone this young would have little control over new artisan abilities so she approached with caution, ready to shield.

  As she got nearer, the girl looked up at her. Alessandra smiled, trying to convey reassurance. The child continued to look up at her. No … Not at her … Through her. Alessandra’s muscles tensed to spin round but it was too late. She just had time to see the image of the girl flicker and disappear, to be replaced by a floating artefact, before an impact in the small of her back took her clean off her feet. As her face hit the ground she could already feel the mana gushing out of her storage unit in great waves.
She clawed at the contact pads on her arms but the force of the landing had winded her and she was too slow. She felt the hard chill as the mana stored in her own body was ripped from her, making her cry out. There was a pause while she waited to die. Nothing happened. She pulled herself upright on a piece of broken masonry and turned round to face her attacker. They stood a few feet away, encased in a full suit of artisan combat armour. Abelard was struggling to get up from where he too had been knocked down. Alessandra managed to get as far as standing on her own albeit shaky feet and adopted a lifetime-practised haughty disdain.

  ‘Whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?’

  The figure responded by unclipping something from their belt, which flew instantly from their hand to strike her in the chest. Already off balance, Alessandra staggered backwards. Bright blue tentacles of mana curled around her to pin her to the wall. A second later Abelard joined her, similarly bound. Clearly the artisans had also been on an artefact development spree.

  The figure pulled off its helmet and glared at her. ‘You unbelievably stupid girl.’

  Alessandra felt as though five different emotions were trying to fight for dominance all at once.

  She just about managed to say, ‘Mother?’

  Laleh dropped the helmet and ran her hands over her face.

  ‘Do you know how difficult it’s been for me to find a way to be able to speak to you? Every time I turn around Walter seems to be there. I may not be very good at showing it but I love you, Alessandra. You’re my daughter and it’s supposed to be my role in life to keep you safe.’