Perilous_Hive Mind

by Janet Edwards

  “Hopefully it won’t be too long before they fix the problem.” Linnette sounded much more cheerful now that we had the lanterns working and a message from Emergency Services. “I’m so thankful that I’m not stuck in a lift.”

  I pictured being trapped in a lift with a crowd of frightened people, or worse still a telepath squad, and nodded my heartfelt agreement.

  “To continue what I was saying,” said Atticus, “the water supply pumps will have stopped working when the power went out, but there’ll still be water in storage tanks. Margot and Linnette, you should go round the taps in our corridor, and fill as many bottles as possible. They’ll expand to full size when you fill them. Pick some people to carry the bottles to our community room.”

  “Do we really need to store water?” asked Reece. “The power will probably come back on in a minute.”

  “It’s better to store the water and not need it, than the other way round,” said Atticus. “Now our corridor belongs to an emergency group of ten corridors. While you’re securing the water supply, I need to go and report our status to our emergency group leader, and see if any of the corridors of younger teens need help. Since Forge isn’t here, I’m making Amber my deputy, so she’d better come with me.”

  “Why are you making Amber your deputy instead of me?” Shanna sounded offended.

  “Because Amber hasn’t been arguing with me. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  Atticus and I carried our lanterns down to the end of the corridor. “You have to make allowances for Shanna,” I said. “She’s in a bad temper because she’s terrified of the dark.”

  “We’re all terrified of the dark,” said Atticus. “Well, everyone except you and Reece. Frankly, I wish that Reece was scared of the dark too. If he starts trying to frighten people again, I’ll do more than kick his ankle.”

  I blinked. “It was you that kicked Reece? I assumed it was Margot.”

  “As emergency warden, it’s my duty to take all necessary measures to prevent panic,” said Atticus. “Reece was lucky. Margot would have kicked him a lot harder than I did.”

  I giggled.

  We turned the corner into a wider corridor with a slow belt running along it. There was no sign of light in either direction, and the belt was still and lifeless. Atticus stopped walking and took two objects from his pocket. They looked vaguely like the bulky, basic dataviews used by small children.

  “Aren’t we going to the emergency group leader’s corridor?” I asked.

  “No, we’re going to call in using these emergency communicators, but we don’t want the rest of our corridor group listening to us.”

  “You think something has gone seriously wrong?” I asked anxiously.

  “I know something has gone seriously wrong,” said Atticus. “We should have got a much faster and more detailed message from Emergency Services.”

  He handed me one of the communicators. “These have handles to wind like the lanterns, and a white button that turns them on and off. They display incoming messages from Emergency Services, and you can use them to talk to the other wardens in your emergency group. You can hear what other people are saying at any time, but if you want to say something yourself, then you have to hold down the green button.”

  Atticus wound the handle on his communicator, and its screen came to life, showing the same message we’d all had on our dataviews. “Waste it! Emergency Services haven’t even sent out extra information on the warden network. What’s going on?”

  He didn’t seem to expect me to reply to that, because he held down the green button and spoke into the communicator. “Corridor 11 checking in. This is Atticus speaking. Twenty-one people present. Forge is away having treatment in a medical facility, so I’ve deputized a girl called Amber to help me. First response step three is in progress.”

  “Thank you, corridor 11,” said a female voice. “I’m now just waiting for corridor 15 to report. If they don’t do that in the next two minutes, someone will have to go there and find out what’s happening.”

  “Is that Ruby from corridor 12?” Atticus sounded startled. “You’re emergency group leader?”

  “I’m acting emergency group leader,” she said, with a heavy emphasis.

  Atticus frowned but released the green button without saying anything else.

  “Corridor 15 here,” said a breathless, young, male voice. “Sorry I’m late, but Rufus had a panic attack. He’s scared of the dark. Well, everyone’s scared of the dark, but Rufus is …”

  “Can you give us a situation report, corridor 15?” Ruby’s voice interrupted him.

  “Oh yes, this is Jaime speaking. My deputy is here too. Sixteen people present in our corridor. First response step three is in progress.”

  “Thank you, corridor 15,” said Ruby. “Eight corridors have now reported at least one warden present and first response step three in progress. The other two corridors are totally empty, because all the eighteen-year-olds have gone off to a Lottery candidates’ event in a different area. That’s left us with a hundred and thirty people, twelve trained wardens, and no emergency group leader. My deputy, Pippa, has been organizing our corridor while I filled in as emergency group leader.”

  She seemed to hesitate. “Atticus, you’re the only other seventeen-year-old warden present. Are you happy with me continuing as acting emergency group leader?”

  Atticus briefly pressed the green button again. “Definitely. You’re filling the role far better than I would.”

  “All right then,” said Ruby. “Listen closely, everyone. We’re supposed to wait for instructions from Emergency Services, but we’re approaching the half hour mark now, and we’ve still only received a standard message. That must mean there’s a major power problem, and I want some idea of how big an area has been hit.”

  She paused. “I’m going to break protocol and ask you to message a family member to find out if the power is still working where they are. We mustn’t do anything to spread panic, so just say you’ve heard there’s a power outage and want to know if they’re all right. I’ll wait a few minutes for you to do that, and then ask for updates.”

  I looked at Atticus. “Should we really do this? Emergency Services said we shouldn’t send messages.”

  “Ruby is our emergency group leader, so we obey her orders,” said Atticus. “I agree with her anyway. We need to know the extent of this.”

  I took out my dataview. My parents were on Level 27, so they should be well away from the power outage, but they’d be horrified at me disobeying instructions and sending them a message. I took the safer option of messaging my brother, Gregas.

  The response from Gregas came a minute later. “Dad says you should know better than to message us when our power is out.”

  “Thank you very much, Gregas,” I muttered bitterly. I’d get a lecture from my parents next time I spoke to them, but I was more worried by the fact the power was out on Level 27.

  Atticus turned to me. “The power is out on Level 80.”

  “It’s out at my parents’ apartment too.”

  A couple of minutes later, Ruby’s voice came from the communicator. “I’ll try not to pry into anyone’s home level. Does anyone have a report of the power out somewhere?”

  Atticus held down the green button. “Yes.”

  I leaned over to speak into the communicator myself. “Yes.”

  There was a ragged chorus of other people saying yes, and Ruby groaned. “Does anyone have a report of the power on somewhere?”

  There was dead silence until Ruby spoke in a grim voice. “I’m assuming you all messaged family members at home, so that means they’re on a random range of Hive accommodation levels, but all in areas vertically above and below us.”

  A young girl’s voice spoke. “I messaged my mother, and she was at work on Industry 3.”

  That was followed by the voice of an older boy. “My father was at work on Industry 41.”

  Ruby sounded even grimmer now. “It sounds as if the pow
er is out in area 510/6120 on every level of the Hive, from Level 100 right up to Industry 1. Now we need to know how far the power outage extends horizontally. If anyone knows the numbers of people in other areas of Blue Zone, please call or message them now.”

  “Forge is on the Blue Zone teen swimming and surfing teams,” said Atticus, “so he must know the numbers of team members from all across Blue Zone, but I don’t know anyone outside this area. How about you, Amber?”

  I shook my head. “I’ve only got the number for the Level 1 Psychological Therapist that treated me after my accident, and she’s far away in Turquoise Zone.”

  A tense voice spoke from the communicator. “The power is out in area 230/6910.”

  I caught my breath. Area 230 /6910 was a vast distance away, right on the other side of Blue Zone.

  The next voice wasn’t just tense but shaking from fear. “Jason here. Power outage in area 840/6080.”

  “Try to stay calm, Jason.” Ruby was obviously struggling to stay calm herself. “The power outage is very widespread then, probably affecting the whole of Blue Zone. Does anyone know the numbers of people in other zones of the Hive?”

  There was total silence. Where possible, Lottery assigned people to work in their home zone, so few people would have family members in other zones. Atticus pushed the green button. “Amber has the number of a Level 1 Psychological Therapist in Turquoise Zone.”

  “Call the number,” said Ruby. “We need to know if the other zones of the Hive, especially the ones next to us, still have power.”

  I gave Atticus a panicky look. “I can’t casually call someone that’s Level 1!”

  “Amber, you haven’t had emergency warden training,” said Atticus. “You don’t understand how bad this situation could be. If a power outage is this widespread, and lasting this long, then we need to start worrying about our air supply.”

  I gasped. We’d had lessons in school about how the reclaimed water and stale air were purified on Level 100. Atticus had pointed out earlier that the power cut would have stopped the pumps that supplied our water. I’d realized that meant the fans in the vent system would have stopped as well, but vaguely assumed that fresh air would still drift in from neighbouring corridors.

  If the whole of Blue Zone was without power, then there wouldn’t be any fresh air arriving here at all. When we’d used up all the oxygen …

  “How long will our air last?” I asked urgently. “Is there anything we can do to …?”

  “There isn’t time for me to explain the emergency systems now,” interrupted Atticus. “We need to know if Turquoise and Navy Zones still have power. Call your therapist.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  My fingers trembled as I looked up my medical discharge record on my dataview, and called the number. I was relieved when the call was answered, and then terrified by the fact it was a sound only connection. Buzz must have her dataview in power conservation mode too. That was a bad sign. A very bad sign.

  I moistened my lips. “Buzz, it’s Amber. Is your power on?”

  “Hello, Amber.” There was an oddly wary note in Buzz’s voice. “Why are you calling to ask me that?”

  “There’s a power outage here. We know the power is out across the whole of Blue Zone, and my emergency group leader told me to call you and ask if the power in Turquoise Zone is still on.” It was probably obvious from my voice, but I said it anyway. “I’m scared. We’re all scared.”

  “Ah, yes. I’d forgotten you lived in Blue Zone.” Buzz paused as if she was thinking something through. “There’s been a delay in sending out information because it takes time to assess a situation on this scale. You should get an update soon, but if you’ve already worked out the power outage covers all of Blue Zone, then it’s perfectly understandable that you’re scared, so I’ll give you some details now.”

  She paused again. “There’s been a failure of power supply nexus 7. That took out all the power for Blue Zone. The Hive is designed to have an independent power supply for each zone, so none of the others are affected by the power outage. The safety systems have triggered an automatic closure of the Blue Zone bulkhead doors, but there’s absolutely no need to worry.”

  No need to worry? The other night, I’d watched a test closure of the great bulkhead doors. Now those bulkhead doors had closed on Blue Zone again. We were cut off from the rest of the Hive and running out of air!

  Buzz must have heard my instinctive moan of fear, because she repeated her words in a soothing voice. “There’s absolutely no need to worry. Tell your emergency group leader that the repair work will take time, but Turquoise and Navy Zones have power, and Oasis is already operating.”

  I didn’t know what Oasis was, but I clung to the reassuring fact that Turquoise and Navy Zones had power. The Hive worked together for the good of all. Turquoise and Navy Zones would find a way to help us. They had to help us. Once the air ran out, my friends would die, my family would die, and I’d die myself.

  Buzz was still speaking. I tried to blot out my nightmare visions of ten million people struggling to breathe, and focused on what she was saying.

  “Health and Safety are sending teams through the bulkhead emergency access routes from both Turquoise and Navy Zones to assist with lift rescues and other problems. I’m part of the medical support on one of those teams.”

  “You’re coming into Blue Zone yourself?” I was stunned.

  “I’m in Blue Zone right now, Amber. That’s why I’ve got my dataview set to take calls on sound only to conserve power. I have to go now. My team has just got some lift doors open, and I have patients to help.”

  “I understand. Thank you.” I ended the call.

  “What did she say?” demanded Atticus.

  “She …”

  “No, don’t just tell me, tell everyone.”

  Atticus held down the green button on his communicator, and I leaned over to speak into it. “Buzz said that something important in the power supply has failed. I think she said it was a nexus. Anyway, that’s taken out all the power for Blue Zone, and our bulkhead doors have closed, but the rest of the Hive is fine. Buzz said to tell you that repair work will take time, but Turquoise and Navy Zones have power, and something called Oasis is already operating.”

  Ruby’s voice spoke. “You said this Buzz person was a Level 1 Psychological Therapist. She’d naturally know if the power is on where she is, but how would she know the status of Oasis?”

  “Buzz said Health and Safety are sending teams into Blue Zone through the bulkhead emergency access routes, and she’s on one of those teams.”

  “Your therapist works for Health and Safety.” Ruby gave a relieved sigh. “That means we can trust her information on Oasis. If that’s already operating, the situation isn’t critical, but we should be prepared to implement second response protocols and …”

  Jason’s panicking voice cut in.

  “Turquoise Zone has power and air. We should forget second response protocols and start walking north immediately. We’re at 510/6120, and we only need to get to 510/5999.”

  “You’re seriously suggesting we try walking to Turquoise Zone, Jason?” asked Ruby. “It may not seem far to 510/5999 when you’re whizzing along on an express belt, but it’s a very long way on foot through a maze of pitch-dark corridors.”

  “Those corridors can’t be any darker than the one I’m standing in now,” said Jason.

  “You’re standing in a dark corridor that you know very well,” said Ruby. “We’d soon get lost in a strange area. Even if we didn’t, how many hours would it take us to walk to the bulkhead between Blue and Turquoise Zones, and what would we do when we got there? All the bulkhead doors are closed. If you know how to find the emergency access routes through the sealed bulkhead and reach Turquoise Zone, then please tell me, because I don’t.”

  She waited but there was no reply from Jason. I ruefully remembered dozing through that lecture on the bulkhead doors. If I’d paid attention back then, I’d p
robably know all about emergency access routes.

  “We’re going to forget about walking to Turquoise Zone, and put our trust in the Hive,” Ruby continued. “We know that Oasis is already operating. At some point in the next couple of hours, we should be told to move to the park.”

  “Can’t we move to the park right away?” It was a girl’s voice.

  “No, we can’t,” said Ruby firmly. “Remember your warden training. If everyone tries to move through pitch-dark corridors at once, people will get injured. Top priority areas, like childcare and medical facilities, evacuate to the park first. Then public places like shopping areas. Then corridor blocks get instructed to move in turn.”

  “But what if there’s a mistake, and we don’t get our instructions?” It was Jason talking again. “At the four hour point, we’ll start noticing the first symptoms of …”

  “There’s no need to worry about that,” Ruby interrupted him. “If we don’t hear anything by the two hour point, I’ll give the order to move myself.”

  She paused. “Now get back to your corridors, and warn your friends that the power will be out for a while. You mustn’t let them know how big an area is affected. Don’t say a word about the air issue either. People are already scared, and we don’t want to tip them over the edge into panic. I’ll be listening in to the group circuit on my communicator at all times, so you can tell me if you have any problems.”

  Atticus put his communicator in his pocket and picked up his lantern.

  “What is Oasis,” I asked, “and why will we be moving to the park?”

  “Oasis is the Hive emergency system where neighbouring zones supply power and air to a zone that’s in trouble,” said Atticus. “Turquoise and Navy Zones can’t supply everywhere in Blue Zone without risking overloading their own systems, so the Oasis network only supplies the neighbourhood parks. Right now every park in Blue Zone has power, fresh air, and a lake full of water that can be filtered and drunk.”