by S. K. Holder
‘Hide it in the folds of your dress,’ he told her.
‘What is it?’
‘Never mind what it is. Just hide it, and hide it well.’
Amelia lifted the hem on the side of her dress. She tore a small hole in the seam and slid the Shard through it.
He had to give her credit for her ingeniousness. He slipped the Avu’lore globe into the folds of his robes, hoping it would get lost in the sea of fabric and his layers of fatty tissue.
He crossed to the leaky chamber. A painting sat on top of the mouldy pile. It was a painting of red flowers. The painting was still intact. He removed one edge of the wooden frame. There was a slot big enough for him to hide the Shard. He pushed it inside and shunted the portion of the frame back into place.
Giddy with panic, he threw his tablet of notes through the hole in the ground and chucked a full bucket of water after it to send it on its way. The tablet held every experiment he had ever done and all his formulas and theories. It was no great loss to him; he could recall most of them by heart.
And then there was the old woman lying on the gurney. Where was he going to hide her? He thought about pushing the gurney into the tunnel. One strong push and it could go a long way, possibly right through to the other side.
He heard the synthesized voice of a sentinel cyborg. ‘Doctor Skelos Dorm. ‘Do not attempt to flee. We have you surrounded. Do not attempt to flee.’
There was no time to flee, Skelos realised. He would have to cover things up as best he could.
‘I think we’re caught,’ said Amelia, throwing a tray of syringes, tongs, and other instruments through the crack of the floor, along with a flask of sulphuric acid, his Bolt-Shot whip, and the laser gun he had set down on the ledge.
‘Not those, you stupid girl!’
‘Sorry, Uncle.’ She threw more utensils through the crack, whatever she could find small enough to fit.
They were seconds away now.
Skelos wrapped Ishara’s body in a white sheet and dragged her off the gurney onto the floor. He then hauled the corpse into the cupboard under the work table and hurriedly slid the doors shut.
Amelia returned to her chair. Her eyes wide with guilt and fright.
A host of Citizen guards marched in. They were joined by Kerss Nysen, a director on the board of the Pareus Scientific Research and Funding Division, Osaphar, and a man wearing the Planetary Protection Committee shields. Skelos had seen him in his former Stores once or twice, but did not know his name.
This is suitably awkward. Skelos couldn’t have been less pleased to see his former best friend. Osaphar gave him a stiff glance of recognition. Skelos smiled back. He wondered if he had betrayed him. Only Osaphar would have the foresight to lead Kerss and the others to the Red Caves. Osaphar knew him too well. He could not make an enemy out of this former friend; he had too much to lose.
Kerss stared around the cave. ‘What are you doing here, Skelos?’
‘Exploring.’
‘Exploring what?’ said Kerss. Her prying eyes darted around the cave again.
Skelos heard a scratching noise outside the cave. There are more of them waiting out there. They’ve come to collect me.
‘It is quite clear to me that you are carrying out experiments,’ she said. ‘And desperately it seems − to have come here.’
What was the use in denying it when he was surrounded by the evidence? ‘How did you find me?’ He glanced at Osaphar. If he wants to renew our friendship – then he should do it at the appropriate time and in the appropriate manner.
‘No matter,’ said Kerss. She beckoned one of the guards over. ‘Search the premises. Leave that place until last.’ She told a guard who had lurched towards the leaky ante-chamber. ‘It probably will be quite anti-climactic after we’ve waded through this lot.’
Skelos and Amelia stood in one corner watching as they conducted their search.
The guards sifted through the beakers and ampules with detector probes: metal wands with laser sensitive tips. They detected all prohibited substances. The guards seemed to take pleasure, however, at using the wands to knock most of his instruments onto the ground, smashing the ampules and beakers. The breaking glass rang in Skelos’s ears. Prohibited items or not, they weren’t looking for anything in particular and were more intent on making a mess.
The detector probes picked up traces of prohibited substances in all the equipment he had brought from the Outsider and a small amount of equipment that Denlor had acquired for him since leaving his former Stores.
The guards were doing a thorough job of their search. Kerss had taken one of the detector probes herself. She tapped it on the gurney and then stabbed at its wheels with the heel of her boot. She did the same on the work table, running the probe along the top surface before crouching to check underneath.
Skelos swallowed.
‘What’s this?’ said Kerss, tugging at the white sheet trailing from the table’s storage cabinet. The door creaked open and the old woman’s corpse slid out. Kerss screamed and jumped back, pressing her hands to her stomach. The body hit the floor: a tangle of grey hair and skin like bleached bone.
Kerss soon composed herself. She stooped down and pulled the rest of the sheet away from the body. She stared into the sunken pale face of Ishara Molari. She lifted the corpse’s right hand, examined it, and then let it drop. ‘One of our own,’ she said through clenched teeth.
‘It’s not what you think,’ said Skelos,’ his voice calm and condoning. ‘She was a willing subject, but old.’ He pointed to the gurney. ‘She died right there on the table.’
‘It’s true,’ said Amelia, taking her uncle’s hand. ‘It was an accidental experiment.’
Skelos snapped Amelia’s hand back with his own. ‘Shut up,’ he hissed.
Amelia quietly rubbed her wrist.
Kerss shook her head and frowned at the little girl. ‘And to think a child has been witness to all…all this. It is clear that you have not learned your lesson, Skelos Dorm.’
She instructed a broad-shouldered guard to remove Ishara’s body. The guard wrapped the corpse in the sheet. He hefted it over his shoulder and took it out to the ship.
Another two guards started loading the prohibited items into metal crates. In essence, they were loading everything. They gathered as much as they could in their gloved-hands and tossed it into the crates as if it was worth nothing, which it most likely was since most of it was damaged or broken.
‘We’ll take all of this as evidence,’ said Kerss. ‘What about your files and formulas? And we’ll need a list of your subjects.’
‘Why would I hand that information over to you?’ said Skelos. He tapped his forehead. ‘It’s all in here. Perhaps if you allowed me to complete my work, you’d have been able to extract that information for yourself.’
Kerss gave him a thin smile. She took a metal case from under her arm. She laid it on the table. She opened it. An electronic syringe lay inside. The drug encased within it contained a serum called Axiom. It was the closest thing the Establishment had to a truth serum. The drug made its patients fuzzy-headed and confused, and likely to talk about anything. Skelos was adamant that no amount of any drug would loosen his tongue. He had too many secrets; too many for the Establishment to ever know about.
‘No need for that,’ said Osaphar, taking the syringe out of Kerss’s hands. ‘We know his experiments failed. And we do not need to do this in front of the child. He’ll have files in his old Stores or in his home. We shall look there. And if we can’t find them, so be it. There is no place for such research on this planet.’
Kerss nodded. ‘Very well.’ She stared into the leaky chamber. ‘What’s through there?’
A guard stalked over to the ante-chamber and prodded at some remnants of mouldy fabric with his detector probe.
‘That’s all mine,’ said Skelos. The painting in which he had hidden the Shard sat right on top of the mound in plain sight. ‘All of it. Don’t touch it. Careful.’
/> The guard picked up the fading piece of artwork. He pursed his lips and scrunched up his nose. ‘It reeks in here.’
Skelos snatched the painting out of his hands. ‘You insult me. This has been in my family for centuries.’
‘Clear this lot out,’ Kerss informed the guard. ‘Let’s see what else you’re hiding.’
CHAPTER 8
Skelos didn’t notice the guards gathering outside the ante-chamber in their face masks and goggles. All he saw were the scraps of debris and junk coming out of it. He had set the painting to one side and was trying to avert his gaze from Osaphar, whose obstinate stare was causing him some discomfort, when they dragged the body out by its arm. It was the bare-chested Greasy-Haired One who had slit his own throat. The wound was caked in blood and debris, but it gaped down to the bone.
Skelos choked back a gasp. He had barely warmed to his surroundings, if that were possible, and now all this.
‘An Outsider,’ said one of the guard’s, checking the corpse’s hand. ‘His throat has been slit.’
‘Anyone could see that his throat’s been slit,’ said Skelos. ‘I didn’t do it. An autopsy will confirm it.’ What are you saying, you fool? He’s an Outsider. They wouldn’t care if you slit his throat or not.
He could not help but wonder if the Hooded Man had planted the body in the ante-chamber on purpose. Given the multitude of tunnels and caves in the vicinity, it seemed too great a coincidence.
‘An autopsy may confirm some anomalies, I’m sure,’ said Kerss. ‘However, I think the atrocity you have created here is enough for us to concede that your time in Odisiris has come to an end.’
‘An end?’ He squeezed his niece’s hand. They’re going to kill me. Right here in the Red Caves in front of Amelia − in front of my former friend. ‘Me, meaning?’
‘Meaning you are to be exiled,’ said Osaphar.
‘Exiled?’ Skelos had heard of tales of exiles. Tales that exile was worse than torture – than death. But as no exiled Citizen had ever returned to Odisiris; such tales could not be corroborated. Crimes were punishable by exile or death. But there was little crime in Odisiris. Sentinel cyborgs ensured that acts of violence were rare. Murders were scarce. As Citizens had the ability to self-heal, acts of abduction were favoured among the criminally minded. The justice system was swift, and no criminal trials were ever publicised.
‘You can’t exile me for this,’ said Skelos. ‘Ishara Molari was coming to the end of her years. She was half dead when I met her. She knew this and, hence, she was a willing subject. More than willing in fact, she begged me. Tell them Amelia.’
‘You used the cords to restrain her,’ said a guard, holding the frayed ropes in his hand. Frayed from the old woman trying to gnaw her way through them.
‘It’s true,’ Amelia piped up, although a little late. ‘She asked to be part of it, rather kindly. She said she always wanted to be experimented on. She didn’t mind being cut open or anything.’
Skelos gave Amelia’s hand a quick jerk for her alluded confession.
‘You were carrying out unlawful experiments on Citizens,’ said Kerss. ‘Do you have proof that she gave her consent?’
She had given a consent of sorts. He had asked Ishara if she would help him and she had said, ‘Yes, if I can.’ She never asked what help he required. ‘Her word,’ said Skelos.
‘Her word won’t help you,’ said Osaphar. ‘We have no choice but to have you exiled to another planet.’
‘On whose authority?’ Skelos’s eyes darted accusingly between Kerss and Osaphar. He was certain the decree regarding his exile hadn’t come from either one of them.
‘The Parliamentary Elite.’
The Establishment consisted of three of Odisiris’s major powers: the Parliamentary Elite, the Planetary Data Protection Committee, and the Pareus Scientific Research and Funding Division.
Skelos guided Amelia back to her chair, and gripping her shoulder, pushed her down on the seat. He pushed up the sleeves of his robes. ‘I wish to converse with them at once.’
Osaphar shook his head. ‘The decision has already been made. You will go there now.’
‘I’m entitled to a trial,’ said Skelos. He shoved Amelia out of the chair and plonked himself down. ‘It’s my right as a Citizen.’
Kerss and Osaphar exchanged a furtive glance.
What are they hiding? Whether they found Ishara here or not, it would appear that the Establishment had sealed his fate.
‘You lost your right as a Citizen when you carried out this disgusting act on your race,’ said Kerss. She tucked her syringe case under her arm. ‘There will be no trial for you, Skelos Dorm.’
‘I can’t leave my niece,’ he replied, mercilessly squeezing Amelia’s hand. ‘There is no one to take care of her.’
‘She can go with you,’ said Kerss. ‘You can take a few luxury items as well.’ Her eyes roamed the cave in search of something one might deem a luxury. ‘You must leave everything else behind.’
‘I don’t have any luxury items, except for this.’ Skelos grasped the painting. He silently cursed Amelia for throwing his Bolt-Shot whip away. It had belonged to his father and held some sentimental value. ‘And this.’ He pointed to the ancient microscope.
‘You’re welcome to that stinking piece of mould,’ said a guard.
‘I’d like a word with Skelos alone,’ said Osaphar, turning to Kerss. ‘I shall meet you on the ship. Take Amelia with you.’
Kerss took Amelia’s hand and waved the remaining guards out. Amelia looked back at him. Skelos wondered if Kerss would dare use the Axiom serum on his niece. It would have been a waste, of course. Prompted with the right questions, Amelia would provide the answers, albeit not in the promptness or order that Kerss would no doubt like.
Not until their footsteps became dull echoes in the tunnel did Osaphar speak. ‘You cannot run from this, Skelos.’
‘What makes you think I would run?’ Though it wasn’t a question of if he would run, it was a question of when. He could wait until they were on the ship and see to it that it never took off. He could use a sentinel cyborg to assist in the transition. As a fugitive, he couldn’t stay on Odisiris. He could take the ship to his vaults, grab what he needed from there, and then go to his home to collect his possessions.
‘Because you have the advantage, and I know you too well.’
‘What advantage is that?’
‘I know of your gift. I witnessed it first hand on the most daring adventure we ever took when we were children,’ he stared around, and then his eyes settled on him once more, and they were colder than they had ever been, ‘to this place. And yet we claim not to believe in magic.’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘I wouldn’t attempt to hijack a ship if I were you.’
‘Do you think me witless? It never entered my head to escape. I have my niece to think about,’ Skelos spat. He had always gone to great lengths to conceal his talents with technology from all but his closest family and that did not include his former wife, of whom he never fully trusted. He couldn’t know. He’s only guessing. My Gift does not simply reveal itself. ‘Surely you’re not going to let them exile me. Can’t you talk to them?’
‘I don’t have a choice as you know. I am not one of the Establishment, nor will I ever be.’ Osaphar leaned on the wall. ‘It’s very difficult to keep secrets when you’re young. You always find you have to tell someone.’
He’s bluffing. He knows nothing. ‘We have left our childhood behind us, and we have – I hope – evolved. I trust you are not burdening yourself with any misconstrued events you witnessed as a child. We all have secrets. I trust you kept mine as I have kept yours.’
Osaphar gave him a hard stare. ‘The world we are going to is Narrigh,’ he said after some quiet reflection. ‘It’s different from here. Given time, you will appreciate it. It’s an improvement on where we are now.’
‘You say we?’
‘Yes. I too have made Narrigh my home.’
‘You are also to be ex
iled?’ His declaration made Skelos feel a little better. Old friends reacquainted.
‘It’s a choice for me, an exile for you.’
Skelos thought of what he was leaving behind, and panic shook him. ‘What will become of me there? All my worldly possessions are here. I need to get items from my vault.’
‘No. You will take nothing more with you. As to what is to become of you, you will be doing what you love most – experiments. You’ll never have another opportunity as great as this.’
Skelos thought he saw a glint in Osaphar’s eyes.
He gave him a knowing smile. ‘I understand perfectly. You needn’t say anymore. How foolish of him. This wasn’t an exile. The Establishment was simply transporting him to another planet where there would be Stores big enough for him to continue his work with more compliant participants. They had seen the value of his research, after all. Kerss had obviously been trying to procure his formulas for herself before he took off – so to speak. He imagined the Establishment was divided over whether his experiments were ethical or not, where others sought it as a weapon that could protect the planet.
He vowed to keep his formulas to himself. They were stored away in his head, ready to spill out when required. ‘Out with the old world and in with the new. So when do we leave?’
CHAPTER 9
Skelos stepped outside the Red Caves. The red dust clung to the air as if suspended by a strange force of gravity.
A larger ship had landed behind the vessel the others had arrived on, dwarfing it. He hadn’t been on many vessels like this one before. It was rather big, sleek, and full of modern techno.
A smaller airship took off, sending the red dust swirling. Skelos covered his nose and mouth with the sleeve of his robe. Everyone else had boarded the airship.
The boarding ramp stood open like a long silver tongue.
‘What ship is this?’ he asked.
‘The Engardia,’ said Osaphar, ‘and this is where I say goodbye.’
‘You said you were coming with me?’ He was suddenly terrified. Up until now, he had always considered himself to be resourceful and independent. He was going to a planet he had never heard of with no one for company but his insolent niece. He would have to make new friends and acquaintances all by himself without Osaphar’s guidance and support.