The Owners

by Tara Basi

  Central Park was a wonder. Everywhere had been gardened to perfection. There were impeccably healthy trees, lawns and open spaces that would put the old world’s best golf courses and bowling greens to shame. Beautiful flowers, bursting with colour, decorated every bed.

  “Fluffy and Killer never got it looking this good,” Pinkie said, remembering her and Stuff’s old yellow gardening robots.

  Stuff tugged at Mina’s sleeve. “It’s so quiet. Where are the birds?”

  Like the rest of the city it was flawed in an obvious way. It was utterly quiet. There were no birds, no insects, nothing but a faint rustle of leaves when a light breeze picked up. The loudest noise was their footfall and chatter.

  “All the wildlife, insects, birds are going to be gradually re-introduced in the weeks before the awakening,” Mina answered. It was easy to say, but a complete impossibility without the black magic of the Block’s technology and swarms of Crawlers. Mina stopped and looked back. The Park wasn’t perfect any more. Trailing behind them was a path of trampled grass. She was suddenly minded to come to the Park every day before the awakening and make as many trails as she could. People needed to know that that was how it should look: used.

  “That’s it,” Tress called out, pointing at a tall art-deco apartment block on Fifth Avenue overlooking the Park.

  Mina couldn’t help grinning. In her day, a penthouse in that building would have been beyond her wildest dreams even if she had come back as a famous astronaut owed a century of back pay.

  The marble lobby with its enormous chandelier was so elegant. Even though she’d watched it happening Mina found it hard to believe that all this had been laid down by some giant printer. Apart from the views, their apartments were identical. With so much to worry about and do, Mina had left the interior design to Tress. Battery Boy and Stuff agreed with Mina that their places would be a copy of Tress’s. Her apartment was wonderful.

  “Tress, how did you know about all this? The art, the furniture, the fabrics. It’s amazing.”

  “I did a simulator course. Actually, a lot of courses on art, aesthetics, art-deco. I got hooked. Most of the time though it was the culinary arts.”

  Battery Boy threw an arm around Tress. “That’s what I wanted to hear.”

  Everyone cheered in agreement. Tress blushed and led them on through one beautiful room to the next. Walls were hung with amazing but unfamiliar works of art. There were delightful surprises around every corner. An eclectic collection of sculptures of stone, glass and metal were scattered throughout the apartment.

  “It’s beautiful Tress. Are all our apartments the same?” Battery Boy asked.

  “The art’s original. I chose different pieces for each. I hope you like them.”

  Mina noticed that Stuff wasn’t looking as happy as Battery Boy at the prospect of his own place. “What’s wrong Stuff?”

  “I want to stay with Tress or Battery Boy. I don’t want to be on my own.”

  Jugger was unsympathetic. “You’re not a kid any more. Grow up.”

  Mina knew he was right. After the awakening, millions of kids Stuff’s age and younger were going to have to make it on their own. He’d have more support than most.

  Tress understood. “Stuff, you can visit me or Battery Boy whenever you want. You’re going to make a lot of new friends when the schools start up.”

  Stuff shivered, “Schools?”

  Battery Boy laughed. “Not those kind of schools, you idiot. These are real schools. Ark schools.”

  “And a lovely little ‘bot like me will be your tutor, till we have enough adult teachers,” Nurse Trinity added, followed by a little dance that made Stuff smile.

  “Come on. The best bit’s down here,” Tress said as she led them down a corridor that led to a lift.

  Mina was surprised: a private lift. It took them all up to the roof. Tress was right, it was the best bit. The large roof had been landscaped to form a single garden, with mature trees, flower beds, lawns and water features. It was beautiful. Mina hugged Tress.

  “It was originally four private gardens. I took the dividers down and blended it into one space. I hope that’s alright?”

  “It’s amazing. You did all this on the virtual model?”

  “It wasn’t so hard. Not compared to designing whole cities!”

  “Anton, did most of that.” Mina took Tress by the hand and followed the others who were off exploring the garden and the views. They stayed up on the roof to watch the sunset. Their first Ark sunset. Mina was impressed. She couldn’t tell that it wasn’t real. Everyone was beginning to feel safe. It was starting to be okay to be proud of what had been achieved. Looking out over the Park, the city and beyond, Mina found it hard to believe that they were flying through space, heading for an alien planet that would become their new home.

  Back in Tress’s elegant apartment, everyone started relaxing. Mina was sure the others were like her and had been steeling themselves for a final act of betrayal by Eva. It hadn’t happened. The relief was overwhelming. Mina wanted to enjoy herself. “Is anybody going to get me a drink?”

  It was a wonderful, happy evening. Trinity served Tress’s dinner and a stream of jokes which were in poor taste but mostly very funny. Slowly it dawned on her that tomorrow there were no battles to plan, sacrifices to make, horrible choices to confront and ever more dead to count. Mina started to think about her own future. Something she hadn’t done since she’d left Earth for the first time on the Small Business. What were the others planning?

  “Tress, have you decided what you’re going to do, after the awakening?”

  “The obvious really, open a restaurant.”

  That announcement was greeted with a chorus of cheers.

  “Battery Boy?”

  “Something in the military. I don’t ever want to feel completely defenceless again. But, for fun, I’d like to learn to paint,” Battery Boy unexpectedly announced.

  Stuff frowned. “Houses?”

  Mina didn’t think he was joking.

  “No stupid. Like that,” Battery Boy said pointing at a large abstract hanging in the dining room. “Maybe as good, some day.”

  Stuff studied the work Battery Boy had pointed out and screwed up his face. “You’ll do much better than that, whatever that is. I want to be a teacher. Is that alright?”

  Mina hadn’t anticipated his choice. “Sure Stuff, you can do whatever you want. The Ark needs teachers.”

  “Pinkie?”

  “Something in fashion. Not sure what.”

  Mina smiled. Pinkie could easily have been a top model in the world before the Blocks. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everybody got what they wanted?

  Battery Boy asked, “Jugger?”

  “Boss.”

  “Boss?” Mina was a little surprised by Jugger’s answer. “I thought you were going to be the first Ark President?”

  “President isn’t the Boss. I’ve been doing some research.”

  Mina and the others tried getting more out of him as the evening wore on but he never elaborated. Nobody in the Ark had to work to live a comfortable life. Their education programme instilled a desire to pursue knowledge, a practical skill or the arts. There were incentives built into the system she’d designed with Anton to encourage that.

  “What about you Mina?” Stuff asked.

  A question that had to come and she’d been thinking about it while the others had talked about their own plans. “After the elections, I think I’ll take a holiday and explore the Ark. It’s a big place.”

  Tress looked sceptical. “Really? That’s it? You’ve always been hyper.”

  “Well. Later, maybe I’d like to set up an institute to prepare for our arrival on Eden. There’s a lot we don’t know. As we get closer there’ll be more to see, study, analyse; and we can send probes ahead. There’ll be a lot to prepare.”

  Tress laughed. “Yeah, exactly. My guess is that it’ll be a very short holiday.”

  Jugger, Pinkie and Junior left for
New Tokyo in the early hours. In the end, and quite unexpectedly it was Pinkie who told a reluctant Jugger it was time to go. Junior needed to be in his new bed. Later, when all the byes had been done and Mina was alone in her own apartment, except for Nurse Trinity, she couldn’t stop herself asking, “Is everything really alright? Shouldn’t we be checking?”

  “Everything’s not alright. You haven’t had enough to drink and I still think my joke about the amorous squid trying to have sex with a Crawler was in perfectly good taste, and hilarious. Get some sleep Mina. You did good and it’s all quiet; on every level. Get it?”

  Mina smiled. Trinity was right, she was exhausted.

  After that they didn’t see Jugger and his family again till the day of the awakening. Mina often found herself alone. She didn’t mind. Everyone wanted some time to heal. Time to absorb everything that had happened and prepare to begin again. They wouldn’t have the luxury of the Ark to themselves for much longer. The only exception was Stuff who couldn’t seem to stand being alone. He’d have to learn but no one felt it was the right time yet. They took turns hanging out with Stuff, even Nurse Trinity. Mina actually enjoyed it. It got her to thinking that she might have her own kids one day. She was still young and there was hope now, for a future without the Blocks.

  The four of them all met up on their apartment roof every Swarm Day. That’s what they called the days the Crawlers fell in their millions from the sky bringing the next quota of wildlife. The things still gave her the creeps and were an unwanted reminder that the Ark was still a Block. Despite that, she had to laugh sometimes. Especially when a flight of Crawlers passed right down Fifth Avenue carrying thousands of worried looking cows.

  Slowly and quietly at first, and then quicker and ever louder the natural sounds of the city returned. Birds were singing, insects were buzzing, dogs were barking and cats made those horrible noises that cats made in the middle of the night. And they started messing up the city. It wasn’t looking quite so spotless any more, even with an army of ‘bot cleaners appearing every night to tidy up. It made the city seem more natural and alive. All it lacked was the people.

  A little over a month after the Ark had left Earth the day of the awakening had arrived. At sunrise, the sky began brightening before the light was extinguished by a thick black smoke raining down. An uncountable number of Crawlers had fetched the sleepers from the Ark’s basement. The ugly, wriggly machines descended on the city like a plague. It wasn’t diseases they had brought; it was human life. Each metal jellyfish carried five or more still sleeping people. As only Block magic allowed, they flew through walls and dropped through ceilings as if the whole city was a holographic projection. If Mina didn’t know what was happening, it would have looked like a scene from Hell. Hour after hour went by without the darkness ending, even though it was already midmorning. As dramatically as it had begun, the people delivery started to slow. The unnatural smoke thinned then dissipated altogether. The Ark sun shone through, and it was over. The Crawlers had delivered the comatose emigrants to their community meeting points across every Ark level, in cities, towns, villages and farms. At exactly noon everyone would awake and wait for the broadcast to welcome them. Mina had spent the days before just wondering what to wear. Even longer, on what to say to fifty-seven million people who had gone to sleep as slaves and would wake, relatively free, and with their heads stuffed full of new knowledge.

  When the last Crawler disappeared Mina, Battery Boy, Stuff and Nurse Trinity made their way to a broadcast studio high up in one of the towering skyscrapers on Madison Avenue. Jugger, Pinkie and toddler Junior were already there, waiting for them. Everyone was smartly but sombrely dressed.

  No one had argued against Mina doing all the talking. And when she started to work on what to say she wished they had. What do you tell the relatively few survivors of a holocaust inflicted by aliens? How would she explain to the survivors their decision to leave Earth and journey to Eden? Survivors who’d known no life but a Block life. In the end, Mina decided to tell the story the way it happened for her, Tress and the others. From their time in the pods, those about to be woken up already knew all the facts. She wanted to convey some of the emotion, the tragedy and how difficult it had been to decide to leave Earth.

  Her speech had been carefully prepared and would be accompanied with images. She would tell the story of what had happened on Earth when the Blocks came. How the Ark had been constructed. Their plans for Eden and, finally, how Trinity would administer the Ark till elections could be organised. For once, Mina thought Eva had shown some sensitivity by absenting herself from the broadcast and letting them keep this first contact, with a bewildered population, a wholly human experience. Mina poured her heart and soul into the hour-long presentation, part memoriam for those lost and a rallying call to face the future with hope. At times she could not hold back her tears or her loathing for Truculent and the whole Vigilance race. Exhausted at the end of her welcome address, she handed over to Nurse Trinity to explain some of the details of their new life in the Ark.

  Nurse Trinity didn’t carry on with the presentation as they’d planned. It was silent. After a long moment Nurse Trinity said, “There’s something wrong.”

  Mina felt a cold grip on her heart, “What?”

  “The broadcast. I’ve just discovered. It’s not going anywhere.”

  A fog enfolded Mina. She hurtled out of the studio, out of the building and out onto the sidewalk. The others followed close behind unsure exactly what was wrong.

  Eva’s face was everywhere, on every screen, every billboard, every information panel, talking to the people, welcoming them to the Ark. Everything Eva was saying was a hideous lie. With rising hysteria Mina desperately raced along the length of Madison Avenue looking for other survivors. She was gripped with the fear that they were the only ones left. Had Eva killed everyone else?

  The sleepers weren’t dead. As soon as Eva’s image vanished from the screens thousands of young people began spilling out on to the sidewalks to the sound of laughter. With smiling faces, and an intense sense of purpose, small groups crowded around white maypoles silently rising out of the paving stones every few hundred metres. Up and down the avenue brightly dressed revellers were dancing exuberantly around the white poles while holding onto rainbow coloured streamers. Mina stared in shock and without understanding. The dancing stopped only a few minutes after it had started. The white poles with their colourful tapes disappeared back into the pavement. Mina ran up behind a teenager who had been dancing, grabbed his shoulder and spun him around to face her.

  “Do you know where you are?”

  “Everyone knows we’re on the Ark, headed for Eden.”

  “I’m Mina, do you know me?” Mina asked. “Them?” she added, pointing wildly at her bewildered friends standing behind her.

  “Sorry I don’t know who you people are, should I?”

  “You know about the Blocks, right?”

  “The Blocks? Are they some kind of band?”

  “How can you not know?”

  “Relax; this is a great day, first day in the Ark, why are you so upset?”

  “What were you just doing?”

  “Praying of course, see,” the boy answered happily, proudly holding out his wrist with its two red needle marks, spotted with blood.

  “Praying?” Mina wailed.

  The young man gave Mina a dreadful pitying look, “Are you well. Maybe you should see a doctor?”

  Mina grabbed hold of his shoulders, startling the young man. “Tell me.”

  “Everyone prays to Eva, the High Angel who saved us from a polluted and dying Earth. We’ll pray and bleed in thanks to High Angel Eva for all time and all generations for ever and ever, amen.”

  All the nearby maypole dancers took up the dedication. “We’ll pray and bleed in thanks to High Angel Eva for all time and all generations for ever and ever, amen.”

  The chant was picked up by others on the sidewalk and radiated like a wild fire in all d
irections until the deafening refrain filled the air.

  Battery Boy said what Mina didn’t what to hear. “Eva deleted us, the Blocks. We don’t exist. She’s never letting us go.”

  “No, no. We’re still in control. We’ll stop this. Trinity, we have to get the truth out, our broadcast.”

  “I’m sorry Mina. Reference has taken back control, of everything. There’s nothing my system can do.”

  Mina covered her ears and tried to drown out the terrible prayers. It didn’t work. She screamed.

  The End