Hella

by David Gerrold

  “No, Dora. It won’t be for just a little while. It could be for a long while. You don’t know if you’d ever get to see Kyle again.”

  “But we can’t leave him here to be a punching bag for that . . . that festering bitch.”

  “If the boys disappear now, Layton will only increase his search for the exiles.”

  “He doesn’t know where X-Station is.”

  “You don’t want him to start looking either. What if he finds it?”

  Boynton interrupted then. “Look. I hate to say this, but we have to act now. We can’t wait until the next group of Cascade colonists start landing. It’ll be too late then. They’ll be more likely to accept his rule then because it’ll be an established fact in four months. No, we need some kind hard evidence, something to use now.”

  I said, “I think Marley knows.” But before I could explain, Jeremy spoke first. “It’s in the video, right after she kicks Kyle, she says, ‘you and your stupid friends are going to get it now.’ Why would she say that?”

  Lilla-Jack said, “Well, you know Marley isn’t very smart—”

  Mom stopped her with a touch. “Marley is Bruinhilda’s only daughter. She’s the heir apparent in that family. So obviously Bruinhilda wants her back in the nest. So poor Layton, in the interests of peace at home, has to make the arrangements. I’m guessing that Bruinhilda has told Marley enough of the whys and wherefores that Marley could be indicted as a co-conspirator.”

  “Yeah, and who’s going to arrest her?”

  “Maybe we could hire a couple carnosaurs?” That was Jeremy.

  “Right. Just what we need. Carnosaurs with food poisoning.”

  Boynton scratched his head. “Here’s the dilemma. We started out, all of us, agreeing that we were going to uphold the law. There are things we can do to stop Layton. But they’re not legal. They violate the colony charter and they go against our own ethical principles. So we can stay philosophically pure—and Layton consolidates his authority. Or we can act, and make up some conversation about how we were justified in taking extraordinary action. But that comes back to the question that Skyler always asked. If we do that, then does that make us no better than him?”

  “And look where Skyler is now,” said Lilla-Jack. To Mom, she said, “Sorry, Dora, but—”

  “I get the point,” Mom said.

  I raised my hand. The good one. “Can I say something?”

  They all looked at me.

  “It’s what Jamie always said. And Captain Skyler too. What’s the most good for the most people, what’s best for everybody?”

  “Right. The Hitler question,” said Mom. “Would you commit a murder to save somebody else? How many people would you have to save to justify killing one person?”

  “How about the whole colony?” said Lilla-Jack.

  “Are we talking ourselves into something?” said Boynton. “I think we need to take it up with the rest of the group.”

  Mom said, “Of course. But right now, I think we should move Kyle and Jeremy. They’ve both been threatened, and Kyle has been attacked. We already know—or at least we believe—that Layton is willing to order other people’s deaths. Who’s next?”

  “It’s not just the boys who are in danger,” said Lilla-Jack. “It’s all of us. And a few people who aren’t here. Commander Nazzir. Leibowitz. And the others.” She didn’t explain who the others were.

  Everybody looked at everybody. Nobody said anything.

  Finally, Jeremy folded his arms and said, “I’m not running away.”

  I folded my arms—as best as I could, despite the cast. “Me neither.”

  “All right,” said Boynton. “Let’s think of something else.” He stretched in his chair, then leaned forward again. “I think we should start by doing the obvious. We all march up to Layton’s office and confront him about Marley’s attack on Kyle and demand that he take immediate and appropriate action. That’s what we would do under ordinary circumstances, and if we don’t do that, then he’ll be wondering why the dog didn’t bark in the night.”

  Lilla-Jack nodded, but she was frowning too. “Ordinarily, we’d take Kyle with us. He’s the one with the complaint. But I’m not sure that’s the right thing to do now. Not the way Layton feels about him.”

  “Kyle is so badly injured he has to stay in bed,” said Boynton. He looked at me, my fork halfway to my mouth. “That’s the story we’ll tell him.” He turned to Jeremy. “You’ll stay with Kyle. Lilla-Jack, you’ll stay here too.”

  Mom wasn’t convinced. “No. I want him protected—”

  Lilla-Jack held up a hand. “I’ve got a few friends on the transportation team. They like Kyle, he did a nice video on how hard they work. I’m sure I can find a few to come in and visit. We can set up a rotating watch.”

  “Couldn’t we go back to the farm?” I asked.

  “Y’know,” said Lilla-Jack. “That might not be such a bad idea—”

  “It’s a very good idea,” Jeremy said. “The farm is better.”

  “I don’t see why,” said Mom. “It’s out of the way. You’d be a target.”

  “Exactly,” Jeremy said. “If we’re going to be bait, you want to put the trap in the best place.”

  Mom and Lilla-Jack and Captain Boynton all looked at each other.

  Boynton said, “He has a point.”

  Lilla-Jack said, “I’ll talk to my teams. I think we can work something out.” She looked at Mom. Mom hesitated, then she nodded. Captain Boynton said, “All right. Let’s do it.” There was something about the way he said it, like they already had a plan in place. Lilla-Jack reached for her phone. “Copy that. It’s a go.”

  We left immediately. Jeremy carried my bag, he didn’t want me putting any extra strain on either my arm or my side. We didn’t have to go down through Broadway or even the plaza, but we made a point of doing both so people would see us together. And all the cameras too.

  When we got back to the farm, Charles and J’mee were waiting for us. J’mee gasped when she saw my arm in a cast and the bruises on my face. She swore in a language I didn’t recognize. “Have they caught Marley?”

  “Nobody knows where she is,” said Jeremy. “She’s probably using a jammer on her locater chip. They aren’t hard to build. I did it when I was four. I got in a lot of trouble for it too.” He stopped with a funny look on his face. “My father took it away from me. I’ll bet he kept it and gave it to Marley. Or maybe she found it and took it. But I’ll bet it’s the one I built.” He frowned in thought. “Hmm, I wonder. Knowing the code, maybe I could track the jammer . . ?”

  “We should talk it over with you know who,” said Charles.

  “It’s okay,” I said. “He’s filtering all the monitors in here. We can talk freely. I’ll go get him.”

  I came running back from the office. “He’s gone!”

  “Relax,” said Charles. “He’s probably hiding—”

  “From us?”

  “From everyone. He did it on Luna. He did it on the Cascade too—which really pissed off Captain Boynton. But it always turned out that he was just being—what’s that word? Proactive.” Charles continued, “It’s impossible for anyone to have stolen him because it’s impossible to sneak up on him. The first thing he does anywhere is plug into the network and hack it, he can’t help himself, he has to know everything, It’s like an addiction with him. He’s paranoid, yes, but he has to be. He’s afraid of what would happen if anyone got—I don’t know, got control of him. There’s some things he won’t talk about. But whatever it is—all the locaters, all the cameras, all the monitors, all the emails, all the audible conversations—he listens for keywords, for tension in voices, for sentences that don’t make sense and have to be code of some sort. He even lip-reads. If anyone even talked about looking for him, he’d be hidden before they got to the first escalator. He can tell who’s comin
g down the hall by the sound of their footsteps. No, he’s around somewhere and he’ll show up when he knows it’s safe.”

  Abruptly, he stopped himself. He looked around at all of us—at J’mee, at Jeremy, at me. He had a funny look on his face. “If he’s hiding, it’s because someone came down here who wasn’t supposed to be here.” And then he added. “And maybe he hasn’t come out because they’re still here . . .”

  We all looked around then—as if we’d all realized at the same time that we were surrounded by invisible snoopies.

  Jeremy said, “Do you think . . . ?” He looked around. “Could they be listening? Do they know . . . ?” He stopped without finishing the sentence.

  Charles shrugged. Then he shook his head. “They might be trying, but I’ll bet they’re having a lot of trouble with their equipment.”

  Jeremy looked unhappy. He started moving around the apartment, very restlessly, like I do sometimes, but he was searching.

  “Is this what you’re looking for?” Marley Layton stepped out of the shower room. She held the monkey up. It looked limp. She shook it. Hard. “How do you make it work?”

  “You don’t,” said Charles. “It’s broken. I gave it to Kyle because he wanted to try fixing it.”

  “Uh-huh, right.” She didn’t believe him. Even I could tell that. I didn’t know whether to be angry or afraid. What was she doing in our bathroom anyway?

  Kyle. Don’t say anything.

  That was the noise. Only it wasn’t noise. It was a voice in my ear. I looked at Charles and J’mee. Had they heard it too?

  Jeremy faced her. “You’re in big trouble, Marley.”

  “Not as big as the trouble you’re going to be in. We took apart your HARLIE box. There was nothing in it. Just a transceiver.” She shook the monkey again. “This has something to do with it, doesn’t it?”

  Charles didn’t answer. Nobody did.

  “Yeah, I thought so.” She grabbed the monkey’s head as if she was going to twist it off. “I wonder what would happen if I did this—”

  “Don’t!” Charles and I both shouted at the same time.

  She didn’t. “I’m right, aren’t I? What is this, some kind of relay?” She lowered the monkey. “It doesn’t matter. My dad has people. We’ll figure it out. They should be here soon—” She plopped herself down into a chair by the table. The box of chocolates had been opened, half were already gone. She grabbed another and stuffed it into her suddenly ugly face. “Mm, this is good. I’m gonna keep these. A freak like you doesn’t deserve chocolate.” She turned and leaned back, way back, so she could put her feet up on the table. I felt a hot rush of something, a feeling—?

  Kyle, don’t!

  Too late—I was already in motion. I hurled myself at Marley Layton. The chair went flying backward, she went sprawling on the floor, and I was on top of her, trying to punch her with my good left arm—

  It wasn’t enough. She rolled me off of her, and somehow I ended up behind her, my right arm wrapped tight around her neck—I didn’t know what else to do, I grabbed my right wrist and held on tight—

  She tried to roll me off, tried to push back, pushing me against the wall, I just held on harder, the hot feeling burning even harder. The aluminum bar inside my elbow was pressed against her windpipe. Good—I wanted to break her neck—

  Somebody was screaming, “Kyle, stop! Stop! You’re killing her!”

  And I was screaming back, I don’t know what, it wasn’t words, just incoherent rage, everything, all the hurts, all the pain—

  Even after she went limp, I still held on—

  It wasn’t until Captain Skyler pulled me off that I finally let go. Marley Layton flopped away. And Jamie was there too! I must have been hallucinating, I didn’t care. I collapsed helpless into his arms, gasping for breath and sobbing like I would never stop—

  “It’s all right, Kyle, it’s all right. I’m here. I’m here.”

  Until finally, I pulled back and looked at him. “Huh? No! You’re dead—”

  “Not hardly—”

  I touched his face. “Is it really you? Jamie—?!”

  “Yes, it’s really me.”

  I started crying again, sobbing so hard I couldn’t breathe. Jamie laughed and held me and cried with me and then I laughed and blinked away tears, like I’d never been so happy in my life, and when I finally sniffled and looked at him again, I said, “What? How—?”

  “It’s a long story. Only two people knew. And they weren’t allowed to say.”

  Jeremy came to us now. He began wiping my face with a damp cloth. “Are you okay, sweetheart?” Jamie gave him a look.

  I looked past both of them to where Marley Layton lay sprawled on the floor. “Is she—?”

  “No. She’s just unconscious,” said Jeremy. “You’re not a killer.”

  “Not yet, anyway.” That was Jamie. “But that was a pretty impressive move. I didn’t know you had it in you, kiddo.”

  I barely heard his words. I didn’t care. I wrapped my arms around him and held on tight. “You were dead and now you’re alive, and I don’t know whether to be mad at you or just hold on forever.”

  Jamie held me tight, laughing. “I love you too. Where did you learn such strong feelings?”

  “I turned my chip off—”

  He stared at me. “You did what?”

  “I had to find out—am I me or the chip? Am I learning better?”

  Jamie studied me. “It seems like you are. You’re different. A good different.” He hugged me again. I wanted him to, but there was a lot of other stuff going on. A lot of noise. In my ears, not my head.

  I turned to HARLIE. “You shouted at me.”

  The monkey had climbed up onto the table. He stood there, pretending to brush himself off. He looked across to me. “Yes, I did.”

  “Did you turn my chip back on?”

  “Of course not. There are other ways of sending silent communications—tight beams that only resolve at a specific location. Like your ears. I could feel your anger, so I told you not to do anything, I didn’t want you to get hurt.” Then he added, “But thank you for rescuing me. It is much appreciated.” To Charles, he said, “I would have been easily repaired, I have made extensive backups, but I’ve gotten quite attached to this body.”

  It took me a minute to sort it all out. “You’re still reading my monitors, aren’t you?”

  “Of course.”

  “Am I doing better?”

  “Much,” he said. “But your baseline is all over the place. All this excitement—”

  “We have to move,” said Captain Skyler. He pointed to some men behind him. “We’ll take the Layton girl. Can you carry her?”

  For the first time, I realized that there were other people in the room. I didn’t recognize any of them, they were standing a little way off. Two of them stepped forward and picked up Marley. They trotted off into the darkness.

  “Charles, take the monkey. The rest of you, come on. Kyle, can you walk?”

  “I can carry him,” said Jamie—and he could.

  * * *

  —

  We went through the empty caverns. We hurried in darkness, all the way to the back, and then even farther back. Flashlights only, so I couldn’t see much of anything. I know we went past our secret picnic area. And then, even though there was supposed to be a wall at the back of the space, we were going up a slope and then down again and around some old equipment, and then somewhere in there, we were in a tunnel. And after a little bit more, and a few more twists and turns, there was a smooth floor and a little more light, and we were in a place I’d never seen before.

  “X-Station,” said Jeremy.

  There was a dorm here, storage rooms, a shower, and some curtained-off spaces. And a caf.

  Captain Skyler nodded to the men carrying Marley. “Take her t
o Med-Bay. Have the doc check her out. Then put her in the brig. We’ll hold her until we can get a judgment.” To the rest of us, he said, “Charles, J’mee—I’ll get a message to Captain Boynton, letting him know you’re safe, but you should probably stay here with us for a bit. Now, who’s hungry? What is it, first or second supper? I’ve lost track of time.”

  They were all there. Captain Skyler, Jamie, Emily-Faith, Jake Brickman, everyone who was supposed to be on the lifter—and even Madam Coordinator. She looked very grim. And a couple of the “exiles” too, the people who ran X-Station.

  We gathered in a large conference room. I sat between Jeremy and Jamie. Charles and J’mee sat next to Jeremy. The monkey sat on the table. Some of the X-Station crew sat at the other end of the table, they did not have name badges. Captain Skyler and Madam Coordinator sat at the end of the table, next to Commander Khuri, the presiding officer at X-Station.

  Somebody brought in sandwiches and tea. When we all finally got some food into our bellies, when we all finally calmed down, Captain Skyler explained.

  The weather had been so bad, they had decided not to take the lifter. They would take one of the weather trucks instead, but Councilor Layton had insisted that they fly out immediately, that they were needed right away at Winterland. But he didn’t say why, just that it was important. So they boarded the lifter. But when Captain Skyler did the preflight checks, and all the boards came up green—just a little too fast. He shut down the system, rebooted, and tried again. Still too fast. “Hmm,” he said.

  “But all the boards are green,” Jamie had said. “Confidence is high.”

  “Yes, they are. But we should be getting all kinds of weather warnings.” He shut the system down immediately and said, “I need to recheck the weather. This is going to take a while. Let’s go have lunch.” Once they were back inside, he said to Madam Coordinator, “We can’t trust the lifter. It’s been hacked—”

  “You can tell that from the boot-up?”

  “Not from the boot-up, no.” Captain Skyler explained it to Madam Coordinator. “I have internal monitors on everything. They don’t prevent the hack, they just alert me. I don’t want a hacker to know they’ve been outhacked. I want to examine the code, I can usually tell who wrote it—so yes, I do know about any unauthorized changes as soon as someone tries to hack in.”