by Eliza Green
The image showed that Anton’s hipbones and fibulas had been broken in several places and then reset incorrectly. He could see evidence where the body had tried to fix the breaks and knitted the sections of bone back together, but because the breaks had not been clean, the bones had reset incorrectly and were pressing on nerves.
Stephen turned away, not wanting his friend to worry. Anger coursed through him as he considered the idea the humans had done this on purpose to see how Anton’s body would cope. We may heal fast, but we feel everything. He turned back and through blurred vision he counted fifteen separate breaks in each leg.
‘How bad is it?’ Anton strained to see the lower half of his body in the image.
Stephen wiped his eyes. ‘How bad is the pain?’
‘It hurts like hell when I walk.’
Leon motioned two members of the research team over. ‘Get me some painkillers,’ he said to one. To the other, he spoke telepathically.
The second Indigene left and returned with a small piece of wood in his hand and some soft materials. Leon wrapped the materials around the wood and held them in place with some gauze. He leaned over Anton. ‘I need you to bite down on this. This will hurt—a lot.’
Stephen rushed forward as he realised what Leon was about to do. ‘Stop, you can’t. We need to wait for the medication.’
‘There’s no time. I have to reset the breaks now.’ Leon’s voice wavered.
Stephen was about to argue more, but the sight of Anton with the wooden mouthguard between his teeth stopped him. The research team stepped in to pin Anton down. Anton reached out for Stephen, who gripped his hand.
He could barely watch as Leon snapped Anton’s left leg. Anton let out a blood-curdling screech and arched his back. The 3D image showed his heart beating faster while further down his body, the first of the offset breaks aligned correctly. Leon worked as fast as he could. Tears dripped from his eyes onto Anton.
Stephen would confront Leon later about this barbaric treatment. But then he noticed something else. Anton’s skin was ashen grey and in the first stages of necrosis. A continual infection was destroying the skin cells. That was why Leon wouldn’t wait.
The next break was worse for Anton and harder for Leon to perform. Stephen strengthened his grip on Anton’s hand while Anton clamped down on the piece of wood. His back rose off the bed a second time. His fingers turned white against Stephen’s hand, only relaxing when Leon completed the reverse break. Bile rose in Stephen’s throat when he pictured Anton strapped to a similar table while the humans performed the original breaks.
He prepared himself for the third break—the main break in Anton’s leg. Without pausing between resets, Leon twisted Anton’s leg in the opposite direction to how it was lying. Anton uttered a guttural noise and bared his teeth. A female researcher pinned his other arm down. Anton’s eyes grew large, fearful. He grabbed a fistful of her tunic.
‘Let go of him now,’ said Stephen. She did and Anton released her tunic. He suspected the humans had done something similar when he’d been their prisoner.
The Indigene returned with the pain medication. ‘I’m sorry, it took me so long. I couldn’t find it.’
Leon grabbed the syringe from him and injected it into Anton’s arm. Anton relaxed and the rhythm of his heart slowed. As Leon reset the remaining breaks, the skin on Anton’s legs returned to its normal colour.
‘Shouldn’t we give him something for the infection?’ said Stephen.
Leon shook his head. ‘The infection’s been and gone. All we can do is wait to see if the necrosis reverses itself.’
Leon reset the last bone as a heavily medicated Anton slept. He drew a breath and released it slow. ‘That’s the worst part over.’ His hands shook as he rotated the 3D image of Anton’s head. ‘Now, let’s see what’s going on with this device.’
The image showed a small black disc attached to Anton’s hippocampus, the area of the brain that stores memories. Leon pulled the image apart with his fingers and examined the device in more detail. As he did, a pulsing red light became visible.
‘Pierre was right. It’s trying to send a signal,’ said Leon. With slumped shoulders, he leaned against the table. ‘The humans are tracking us and using my son as bait.’
‘But they haven’t found him or the device. The omicron rock is dampening the signal,’ said Stephen.
‘But it’s only a matter of time. We must get your envisioning ability working. Then we’ll know what the humans have planned.’
‘I can’t control it properly yet.’
‘You mentioned one vision came through while you were with Serena,’ said Leon.
‘Yes, for some reason Serena’s presence really helps. Margaux was right about her being an influencer. Her brain activity in those areas is off the charts.’
‘Well, let’s test that theory and bring Serena back in.’
Leon sent one of Anton’s researchers to get Serena. When she arrived, Arianna, Gabriel and Margaux followed her in.
‘How’s Anton?’ said Gabriel.
Leon explained the extent of the damage to his legs and his hope that the necrosis would reverse itself. He was close to tears.
Gabriel patted him on the back. ‘Don’t worry. He’ll get through this.’ He looked around the room and smiled. ‘Margaux and I wanted to witness the geniuses at work. I’ve heard a lot about Anton’s research team. Leon, I hear you taught Anton everything he knows.’
While Leon and Gabriel discussed Anton, Serena and Stephen moved off to the side. Their eyes met and Stephen felt a familiar rush of warmth pass through him. He wondered how much of it was due to her ability to influence him.
‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ he asked her. ‘There’s still time to back out.’
‘Well, if my brain works the way you say it does, shouldn’t we put it to good use?’
She held Stephen’s hands and he closed his eyes, focusing on the darkness in his mind. He tried to relax, to keep his mind open, but nothing happened.
‘Let it happen naturally. Don’t force it,’ said Serena.
Flickers of new visions appeared. He tried to latch onto one of them, tugging on it, but it resisted. Like a word on the tip of his tongue, it remained just out of reach. A new ache built inside his head and he opened his eyes. He saw Anton had roused from his medicated sleep and watched him.
‘Okay, I felt the visions that time,’ said Serena. She gripped his hands tighter. ‘Arianna told me that for my influencer ability to work, I need to concentrate on who I want to influence, think of the outcome I want and transfer that outcome into their mind.’
‘So you’re effectively changing their minds?’
‘Something like that. I don’t actually do anything to change their minds. I just prey on their susceptibilities and doubts so they believe the idea is theirs.’
Stephen shut his eyes again and tried to latch on to the visions just out of his reach. Serena did something—he could sense it—and suddenly he felt less resistance. He tugged hard and the visions knocked loose. Everything came rushing forward as they had when Anton had returned home. Stephen staggered backwards, but Serena kept hold of him and he steadied himself.
Multiple visions whizzed past him from events that had happened and were no longer relevant. He scrolled through the images in his mind, separating the important ones from the irrelevant ones. When the visions became more relevant, they slowed enough for him to see. The first was of them standing inside the tranquillity cave just before they freed Anton from Benedict’s power; the next was of Anton lying down on the bed right before his scan and then Anton awake while a nervous Arianna watched him; finally, he saw the vision of him and Serena standing together and him almost toppling over. Then the visions vanished.
Stephen’s eyes shot open and he shook his head. ‘It’s not working. I can only see the past and present.’
‘You must shut everything else out,’ said Serena. Her touch reassured him in the presence of the others.
He closed his eyes again, and saw the vision of him just having opened his eyes and shaking his head. But then other visions appeared—Gabriel finding Margaux sitting among a group of young Evolvers in one of the teaching alcoves; Arianna and Anton looking at each other the way Stephen looked at Serena. Another vision, different from the rest, appeared in the distance. Stephen gasped when he saw who it contained. He opened his eyes and grinned. ‘I can’t believe it worked.’
‘I knew it would.’ Serena squeezed his hands.
‘You’re not going to like what I’ve just seen,’ Stephen said to Gabriel. ‘I think you’d better get Pierre. His old friend is coming.’
‘Who?... What did you see?’ said Gabriel.
But Stephen’s attention drew back to Serena who looked like she was about to scream.
‘What’s wrong?’
Serena couldn’t talk, or wouldn’t. Stephen broke his promise and invaded her private thoughts.
Random images appeared, memories she had yet learned how to keep private. Through her eyes, he saw a large dark room with thousands of humans trussed up in bucket-shaped seats. Each of them had large metal restraints across their middles. She glanced down at her own body, restrained in the same way, then at a young man opposite her. He had blond hair and blue eyes and had several tubes stuck out of the top of his arm.
Serena stumbled back and pressed a hand to her mouth. ‘Where was I? When was I restrained?’
It looked similar to one of the human stasis rooms on board the passenger ships.
Serena looked up at him. ‘Are these memories of my time before they... changed me? Was I human then?’
‘Possibly.’
‘Why am I seeing these now?’
‘By unlocking my ability to envision we may have unlocked your own memories.’
Stephen saw another memory in her mind. She was in a different room with a low lighting and a rough hewn ceiling. She looked to her right and that’s when Stephen drew in a tight breath. Anton lay on a table beside her. She looked away from Anton to an old man stood next to her. Stephen recognised him from his vision a few moments ago.
‘Who is he?’ whispered Serena. ‘Was he responsible for my... new form?’
Stephen had no idea. ‘All I know is the humans are coming, and the man in your memory is among them. I can’t be sure it’s Charles Deighton but Pierre will know.’
Anton turned on his side. ‘Did he have black hair and cold blue eyes?’
Stephen nodded.
‘Then I’m afraid it’s him.’
‘I think we should leave Pierre out of this,’ said a nervous Gabriel.
‘Why?’ Stephen frowned at Gabriel. ‘He’s our elder. And he says he knew Deighton when he was a human. He should be told Deighton is coming.’
Gabriel grunted and left the room. Stephen looked at Leon. ‘What was that about?’
‘It was something Benedict said to Gabriel... about Pierre,’ said Leon.
‘What did he say?’
‘That Pierre couldn’t be trusted. That he had once been human.’
‘And so were all the first generation Indigenes.’
‘That’s not what concerned Gabriel,’ said Leon. ‘Benedict said that he and Pierre used to work together and were in similar agreement that the Indigenes were vermin. He said that soon, Pierre would return to his old self and turn against the Indigenes. Benedict also claimed that Pierre had already become secretive and that he’d eventually pick a side—the humans’ side. Apparently, Elise’s death was designed to bring out Pierre’s true personality.’
‘Why would Benedict say that? Why reveal so much?’ said Stephen.
‘I’m guessing Benedict wanted to plant the seed of doubt in Gabriel’s mind.’
Stephen refused to believe the lies. ‘We’ve both known Pierre for decades. He’s incapable of deceit.’
Leon leaned on the scanner bed. ‘You have no idea who he was as a human. None of us do and if he’s linked to Deighton...’
‘Pierre has worked hard to help the Indigenes. He wouldn’t betray us, not after what Benedict did to Elise in Deighton’s name.’
‘Still, we should all keep an eye on him.’ Leon moved from the bed to stand before Stephen. ‘None of us know how this will play out. That’s why we need your visions. The humans are coming and we don’t know why. It could be for her’—Leon nodded at Serena—‘or it could be for Anton. Pierre may be the elder of District Three, but all our lives hang in the balance, and not just in this district. Pierre has displayed secrecy ever since you and Anton left for Earth. And he refused to find a way to rescue Anton when he didn’t return.’
‘That doesn’t mean he wasn’t trying to help,’ said Stephen.
Leon sighed. ‘Look, it’s no secret that Pierre and I no longer see eye to eye when it comes to the welfare of my only son. He didn’t even bother to check on him today. But if Pierre has recovered some of his human memories, I don’t trust him to guide us anymore. It’s safer to give Benedict the benefit of the doubt and be more vigilant.’
A noise behind Stephen caused him to turn round. Anton was getting off the scanner bed. He looked much stronger, but not yet his old self. ‘They probably want what’s inside my head. Use me as bait.’
‘Bait for what?’ Pierre appeared at the door.
Nobody spoke at first. Then Leon said, ‘Stephen had a vision that the humans are on their way.’
Pierre glanced at Leon. ‘Can you remove the tracer device in his head?’
Stephen could sense the animosity between the pair.
‘Not without killing him, elder,’ said Leon in a detached manner. ‘It’s attached to his hippocampus and too deep inside his brain.’
‘They’ve come at us before. With Stephen’s help, we’ll be ready,’ said Pierre.
‘My visions are still unpredictable,’ said Stephen. ‘I could only see something tangible with Serena by my side.’
Pierre looked around the room at the others. Other than his animosity towards Leon, Stephen saw nothing worrying in the colours of his aura. ‘We’ll manage, we always do,’ said Pierre. ‘They won’t get a chance to come at us like they did before. Things will work out the way they should.’
‘Pierre, I saw an old human among them—thin, gaunt, thick black hair, cold blue eyes,’ said Stephen.
Pierre nodded as if he already knew. ‘When will they arrive?’
‘I can’t pinpoint timings with my visions, but we could hack into their passenger ship database,’ said Stephen.
‘I can help,’ said Anton.
‘Are you sure you’re ready?’ said Pierre. ‘You’ve been through a great ordeal.’
‘I can’t sit around any longer. I must make my time away count for something more than the deaths of innocents.’
‘Okay, but take Stephen with you. And keep me updated.’
‘I’ll work with Serena to help improve her influencer ability,’ said Arianna. ‘I’d also like to see if Margaux can help.’
‘So what’s left for me to do?’ said Leon.
‘You can help Gabriel and I figure out what to say to the district.’ Pierre glanced at him. ‘We’ll need volunteers when the time comes.’
25
Bill sat on the sofa in his ITF apartment in London and stared at the half-empty coffee pot that had been full just an hour ago. Twenty-four hours had passed since he’d spoken to Simon Shaw and demanded an audience with the board members. Now they made him wait for their call. Laura didn’t have time for games. He needed to get her to Exilon 5 for treatment.
He stood up and paced the area behind the sofa, feeling bad for leaving Laura alone. But Simon had said the board members would only talk to him through a secure ITF line. He’d considered bringing Laura back with him but she’d been too exhausted to travel.
Bill checked the time. Simon had said he’d need a couple of hours to convince the board members to speak to him directly. It wasn’t how they usually did things so Simon offered to act as go-betwe
en. But nothing less than a board member would get Laura the help she needed. He just hoped Deighton didn’t make the call.
The thoughts of speaking to the man who’d ordered his wife’s death made him feel ill, but Laura’s worsening condition trumped everything.
At 3.15pm, the Light Box trilled. With shaking hands, he smoothed back his salt-and-pepper hair and straightened his tie. Simon was fifteen minutes over the time they’d agreed, which meant only one thing: the board members had refused his request. Out of ideas, he answered the image of a rattling telephone on the Light Box.
But when a stranger—a female—appeared on screen, he almost disconnected the call in surprise.
‘Yes?’
‘Hello, Bill Taggart?’
Bill nodded once.
‘My name is Tanya Li. I’m the Chair of the World Government board. We haven’t had the pleasure of speaking before now.’
Shock replaced Bill’s surprise.
‘Mr Taggart?’ Tanya frowned. ‘Were you not expecting me?’
‘To be honest, I expected to see Simon Shaw. I’m a... little surprised to see a board member, that’s all.’
Tanya nodded, her lips thin and drawn the way Gilchrist’s had sometimes been. Her Asian face was line free and she supported her chin on her raised hand. Her sharp gaze that betrayed her real age focused on Bill. Tanya tilted her chin down as though she peered over a pair of glasses.
‘Mr Taggart—may I call you Bill?’ He nodded. ‘Simon tells me you want something from us and that you believe we owe it to you.’
This open and chatty World Government figure before him went against all his experiences. He raised his guard. ‘Since when did you become so caring all of a sudden?’
‘I beg your pardon?’
Bill’s sudden anger made his heart gallop. ‘First you trick me into thinking the Indigenes killed my wife. Then you order my return home and keep me as far away from work as possible. And you didn’t seem too bothered when I disappeared off Earth for five weeks. In fact, you seemed to approve of my trip to Exilon 5 since you never tried to stop me. I’ve worked for the World Government for a long time and this is the first time I’ve spoken to a board member. But here you are now, just dying to help me out.’ He released some of his anger in a single breath. Then he stepped back; this call was for Laura, not to air his own grievances.