Even a couple of seeds would do for me to start making the necessary changes to the potato DNA. If I got out of there with only one, I would be cutting it close with the material, but it could work. We’d have to play it by ear as things went on. The androids would have had digital markers on every one of us. I would pray on the androids’ assumption that all humans were complete morons. The androids were content enough to leave me alone, which worried me. Surely they didn’t consider me so harmless as to assume I couldn’t cause any damage. The more likely scenario is that the machines had backed away just far enough to make me think I was alone. Didn’t matter to me. No time like the present.
The printer was similar enough to the machines we had at the shelter, but there was one major issue; every command on it was written in the robots’ strange language. Somehow I doubted my tablet held a translation app that could handle this. Once I fed the information into the machine, it was a crapshoot as to whether I could get it working. I assumed that the right spots to press were the same as they were at home. Luckily for me there weren’t any complex commands I needed to enter; a simple “execute command” button would do. I glanced back at the door as I pressed the button on screen that looked like it should do the trick and the printer whirred to life. Backing away from the console I kept an ear towards the door. No doubt that my babysitters would hear the noise and come running.
Chapter Seventeen
I jumped out of bed at the sound of the scream. When it became clear that there was no imminent danger, my breathing calmed down enough to figure out what the hell was going on. A crowd was gathered around the entrance to the domed building, pointing and murmuring.
“Let me through! Let me through, goddammit!” Eliza shoved her way through the crowd. They parted to reveal one of the young men of our group, his body mutilated and displayed in such a way to maximize the horror. His abdomen had been sliced open from his groin to his throat and his intestines were pulled out forming a kind of macabre tangle across his stomach. Perhaps the most striking thing about the display was his eyes. They had been plucked out, the ends of the optic nerves barely visible in the sockets. Somewhere to my right I heard retching; I was feeling ready to vomit up the remainder of last night’s meal myself.
“What the fuck.” I didn’t realize that I was speaking out loud. The injuries were unnatural, the long cut almost surgical in its exacting placement. Someone had done this to him.
“Everybody get the hell back!” Eliza shouted. “Get your asses back to your cots NOW!” When no one moved quickly enough, she slammed a fist into the metal of the door. That got them moving. I dared to risk breathing through my nose for the first time since the remains were discovered. The body was fresh, the only smells emanating from it thanks to perforated bowel.
“Who is he?” I plucked the sheet from a nearby cot and spread it over the young man’s form. The blood from his injuries soaked through the cloth the instant it touched him. Poor guy. I hoped it was quick.
“His name is—was—James. One of the kids who volunteered for guard duty back at the colony.” The color had drained from her face. “I pray to god that whatever happened to him, happened quick. What a way to go.”
“Did you know him well? I don’t think I’ve heard you mention him before. Scratch that. If you did, tell me later. We have to address this. Now.”
“You got that right.” Eliza turned to address the group. “Ladies and gentlemen-“
“What the hell is going on?”
“How did this happen?”
“What are you going to do about it?”
“Who could have done this?”
The shouts and cries mingled into a palatable panic.
“HEY!” Eliza bellowed. “Everybody needs to calm the fuck down!"
“How do you expect us to calm down, Eliza? A man has been butchered!” A woman cried. “How are we going to keep ourselves safe?”
“Right now, just sit still. We will figure this out. This was clearly not perpetrated by a human; none of us have the weaponry to do this, never mind the strength. You people need to sit down and let us evaluate the situation clearly and throughly. If everyone stays awake, everyone stays alive. If you need to sleep, you sleep in shifts. No one leaves this room. Anyone needs the head, you will use it with a buddy. No exceptions!” The situation was growing out of our control. The fragile peace that Eliza held over the group couldn’t withstand another blow.
This didn’t seem like a human kill. If someone held a grudge against James I had no doubt it could come to murder but a smart person would have at least tried to hide the body. They wouldn’t put it on display like this. No, this was a warning. Eliza sidestepped the body and opened the door to the building. “We need some help over here!” She yelled into the empty square before us. As if on queue, an android body sprinted toward us in the sunlight. It was Tenzen, his face a perfect arrangement of concern. Eliza moved aside to let him inside and the group of humans shrank back. Tenzen looked confused for a moment until he noticed the blood soaked sheet in front of him. “Ah.” There was no big exclamation, no expression of shock, just a simple ‘ah’.
“You want to explain this to me Tenzen?” Eliza put her body between Tenzen and the crowd. It allowed her to talk to the android without anyone else hearing. It was also a gesture of guardianship. A mother bear defending her cubs.
“It would appear that one of your charges has suffered an unfortunate accident,” he deadpanned.
“It would appear, you son of a bitch. This wasn’t a human and it sure as shit wasn’t an animal. Explain this right the fuck now.”
“Did he leave the building unaccompanied?” Eliza clenched her teeth so hard I heard the click a few feet away. We hadn’t mentioned the gender of the deceased.
“How do you know it’s a male?”
“I don’t, obviously, but I understand it is the custom of your language to use ‘he’ when referring to a person of an unknown gender. Thank you for confirming my suspicions in any case. The females of your species seem to be more adept at making judgements…in most cases. If he was attacked by one of our people it would only be because he wandered into the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“You’re fucking kidding me, right? Wandering around an unfamiliar place is hardly an excuse to mutilate someone. His body was clearly dumped here to send a message.” The body was starting to smell now, the flesh starting to break down as the body had been there for several hours.
“It’s clear that you don’t understand the situation.” Any warmth or politeness Tenzen held for us was gone, replaced with the cold calculation of a machine. “You shouldn’t be here. While I’m willing to show you some courtesies out of a sense of personal politeness, there are many more that stalk this building day and night. They weigh the reward of slaughtering you against the probability of deletion. It is only the possibility of their own deaths that keeps them away. For now.” He looked into the distance for a moment and refocused his eyes on Eliza. “This man was recorded by our security systems as having left the building before dawn.” Tenzen gestured for Eliza to present her tablet to him. She did so reluctantly and Tenzen pressed his thumb to the screen. A security feed popped up, showing James leaving the building. In the video he looked around. When no threats presented themselves he stretched and started walking. The security feed followed his path through the city. He seemed to be keeping his gaze to the tops of the buildings. Looking for the supposed guns that he was warned about?
He had made good time through the machine city, speeding through alleyways, walking as quickly as possible without drawing attention. He doubled back several times, as if mapping the layout. On his last turn, he ran into a group of androids. Thanks to the angle of the camera it was impossible to see the faces of the androids. Only their bodies were visible. An android might be able to pick up the differences between them but I couldn’t. It was a short fight, two of the androids holding James’s arms while the third landed punch after punch into his abd
omen, his jaw, his chest. The whole thing was a bloodbath. It was only when the boy’s form fell limp did the assault cease. The machines carried the body back along the route James had taken. The video automatically followed their path, hopping from camera to camera. One of James’s murderers must have thought about the cameras because the feed only appeared for a second before the camera lens was blinded with something. The one feed they forgot to take out showed the entrance to where we were sleeping. They lay James’s body on the ground and a laser torch issued from one of the androids’ hands. The rest of what transpired I’ll leave to the imagination. Suffice it to say that the lock on the door was now broken. I was grateful the feeds didn’t have sound.
“You’re going to tell me that you know who those androids are,” Eliza growled. “And then you’re going to tell me that they’re going to be disassembled for the brutal murder of a defenseless human being. “First, you’re going to get the fuck out of this building where you will wait until my wife and I join you.” I could hear Marcus’s breathing behind me. He didn’t like the idea of his mothers walking into a potential trap. I didn’t even glance to see what my father was doing. No doubt he was seething. I begged him not to move under my breath. Attacking Tenzen would get him killed. It would get all of us killed. Tenzen only nodded to us and stalked toward the door.
“Marcus, get me another sheet. Take it off of my bed if you have to.” Eliza didn’t turn around. Her eyes were glued to the eviscerated body on the floor, as if worrying that it might come back to life. Marcus handed her the sheet and she spread it out next to James. “Tell everyone to stay still.” She told him, breath soft as to not be overheard. “And tell them to get their belongings together. If your mother and I aren’t back through that door in twenty minutes…”
“We get the fuck out of here. You got it, Mom.”
“I love you, son.” I brushed a hand across his cheek. “We both do.”
“I’ll keep them safe.” My little boy. I couldn’t have imagined the man he would become. If we didn’t make it back, I had that much to be proud of.
“And tell your grandfather that if he tries to do anything stupid, it won’t be the androids he has to worry about,” Eliza muttered. Together we wrapped James’s body tightly in the extra cloth, forming a kind of funerary cover. I took the man’s feet, while Eliza took the head. Together we carried the body into the rapidly warming morning air. Tenzen waited against a metal edifice, his arms crossed. We placed the body gently on the ground. The minute she let go, Eliza rushed the android and grabbed him around the neck. He could have easily thrown her to the ground, snapping her neck in the process, but he didn’t move.
“Your species is especially stupid.” Tenzen reached up and gently pried Eliza’s fingers from his neck. He placed her hand back at her side, taking care to twist her wrist enough to make her flinch. I could hear the crack of the tendons over bone from where I stood. “Play nicely with me and I’ll do the same. Or we can do this the hard way. Your choice.”
“Fine,” she spat. “At least let us dispose of the boy’s body. I can’t have a stinking corpse in with those people.”
“Agreed. It would be bad form if any more of your people got the idea to wander about.”
“First, I need some assurance that this won’t happen again.” Eliza clenched and unclenched the hand Tenzen had twisted, testing her grip. Everything seemed to be working to her satisfaction because her fingers wandered to her utility knife, still strapped to her belt. She was smart enough to know that she couldn’t do a damn thing to harm these beings but if it made her feel better, I didn’t see the problem.
“Of course it won’t happen again, just keep the humans where they’re supposed to be. Your allies among us have volunteered to take care of the rest.”
“Fuck—“
“Understood.” I cut in before my wife’s temper got the better of her. “Tenzen, you seem to, well, not be friendly toward us, per se—but you didn’t kill the two of us the minute we stepped into the open. I’m inclined to think that you at least don’t want us immediately dead. Can I at least count on your cooperation to help keep these people calm?”
“It would behoove me to do so, yes.”
“Great.” I shot Eliza a look and she backed up, all too happy to let me take the lead. “I need you to speed up the trial. There are a hundred people in there who are terrified right now that they’re going to end up slaughtered, just like that man. I need a way for her to keep them under control. Any suggestions?”
“I have one.” A voice sounded. It was Eleanor. She didn’t look happy. “Turn him over to us.”
“Turn…” I already knew the answer, but I needed to hear it.
“Turn Jacob over to us. The rest of your people can go home. We’ll continue sending the aid until such time as the trial has concluded. We’ll even let you and your wife stay with him to make sure he is treated fairly.”
Treated fairly? Yeah, right.
“And how will you be assuring us that our people won’t be sliced into roast beef the second they get outside the city limits?” Eliza recovered her composure.
“I suppose you’ll just have to trust me.” Eleanor’s demeanor had turned cold, too. The trespass of one of our own into their territory had done more to ratchet up the tension than I thought.
“All right. Give us an hour and we’ll have our people ready for escort back outside the city. We’ll stay with Jacob. There’s only one further request I have.” Eliza made a point of keeping her body language neutral. Good for her, because my heart was pounding.
“Yes?” Eleanor glanced at Tenzen, annoyed.
“Allow our son to stay with us. If the trial doesn’t go our way and you have to execute Jacob, you would do us a kindness to let the boy say goodbye to his grandfather.”
“I’m sure it won’t make much difference. Are you sure you want the boy to witness what is to come?” It was funny how the androids tried to keep up the illusion that there was going to be any other outcome to this. Dad’s hours were numbered, and we both knew it. I glanced surreptitiously back toward the door where I knew Marcus would be stalking back and forth by now.
“Yes.”
“Then so be it. Have your people ready to move in an hour’s time. One minute later and they stay here, under armed guard this time.”
“You have my word. Please, take the boy’s body and dispose of it with dignity. He may have broken your rules, but I ask it as a favor. If I can tell them his body is gone, it will go a long way towards keeping them calm.” She wasn’t lying. The stink of fear permeated the air. We may think ourselves evolved but humans are still herd animals at the end of the day. Emotions were as contagious as a virus and the panic of one would panic all.
“I think that can be done.” Deep down Eliza knew she couldn’t ensure a thing, but the gesture would go a long way.
“Thank you.” The androids picked up James’s body and took it away. I opened the door to find Marcus shifting his weight back and forth. He looked like he was ready to break the doors down.
“What the hell happened out there?” he demanded. “Where is the body?”
“The androids have agreed to dispose of James’s remains with dignity. I regret that we won’t be able to take him back to the colony with us, but we can’t risk it. We have a change of plans.” Eliza raised her voice to address the whole assembly. “You have one hour to make preparations, and then you’re going back to the colony.”
For a moment, there was dead silence. Then everyone started talking at once.
“HEY!” Marcus bellowed over the din. “Everybody shut up!”
Eliza nodded to him in thanks. “The androids want you out. I’ve arranged for your safe passage outside the city and from there they’ll supply you with resources for the journey. Aid will continue to be sent to the colony until such time as the trial has concluded.”
“What does ‘you’ mean? You’re not coming with us?” Alan broke through the front of the crowd.
“In return for your safe departure, we have agreed to surrender Jacob to the androids to await trial.”
“The hell you did!” Dad shouted from behind Alan. “I refuse to surrender my freedom for some bullshit—“
I motioned for him to come close to me. “Do what she says or I’m going to make sure the androids aren’t your biggest worry.” He narrowed his eyes.
“Listen here daughter, if you think that you’re going to tell me what to do because your wife is the leader of the shelter, you’ve got another thing coming.“
“I’m telling you what to do because I’m trying to keep these people safe. Now if you could put others ahead of your selfish ass for a single second, we could get somewhere.” He didn’t say anything to that. “Now you’re going to stand next to me and act like we’re best friends and let Eliza handle this. Understood?” Dad opened his mouth and I flexed my fingers on my utility knife. “I don’t know at what point I became the parent here, but I swear to god Dad I will stab you if you don’t do what I tell you.”
Destiny: Quantic Dreams Book 3 Page 11