“An excellent decision,” said Lucas. “Tell the maintenance workers that Irwin has been escorted off by his therapist and a team of hasties. They can now return to their posts and get the wave machinery working again.”
“We’ll also make a public announcement that the seagull has been captured by the beach Seagull Care Specialist and will soon be released from beach section 4,” said Nicole.
“That seems unnecessarily specific,” said Lucas.
“The people on the beach are very concerned about the welfare of the seagull,” said Nicole. “We’ve had to give progress reports on the seagull chase every few minutes, so I’m sure a lot of people will want to watch the bird being released.”
“But where will you get a seagull to release?” asked Rothan.
“Knowing Liaison’s attention to detail,” said Lucas, in an amused voice, “I’m sure they’ve got a seagull on standby.”
“We have three seagulls on standby,” said Nicole. “The Level 67 Seagull Care Specialist has two recovered leg injury cases and a hand-reared fledgeling ready for release. We think the hand-reared fledgeling will have the most crowd appeal.”
I laughed. My bodyguards and I arrived at the beach entrance, and stopped at the kiosk to study the array of buckets, spades, swimming costumes, and colourful clothing. My bodyguards only had to change their tops for casual beachwear to look inconspicuous. I was wearing a formal onesuit though, so I needed a whole new outfit.
I didn’t like wearing dresses, but the leggings were all too long for me, and the only skirts were for small children. I reluctantly chose a sober-coloured beach dress in shades of peach and beige.
“Don’t forget that whatever you choose has to hide your body armour, Amber,” said Forge.
The neckline of the dress was low enough to show my body armour. I put it back on its hanger.
“How about this one?” Forge handed me another dress.
I held it up and examined it doubtfully. The dress was probably intended to be calf length, but it would be full length on someone as short as me, and it had a high neck. The fabric was a lurid pattern of greens and blues, but it would have to do.
It would look strange for one of us to buy all the clothes, so we queued up to pay individually. I realized this was the first time I’d done any shopping since I came out of Lottery. I usually just asked for whatever I wanted, and it would magically appear in my apartment.
“Amber 2514-0172-912,” I recited my name and identity code to the woman at the kiosk.
She punched the numbers into her dataview. “Confirmation code?”
I had a moment of panic, unsure whether my confirmation code was GIZ or GZI.
“GIZ,” I said nervously.
The woman entered the confirmation code into her dataview, nodded, and smiled expectantly at the next person in the queue.
I carried my dress off to a cubicle, feeling like I’d achieved some monumental task. It only took a moment to strip off my onesuit and put on the beach dress. I stared into the mirror, startled at the sight of myself. I wouldn’t have deliberately chosen a dress this colourful, but it looked surprisingly good with my dark hair.
I went back out of the cubicle to join my bodyguards. Forge thrust all our discarded clothing into a luridly striped beach bag, and then led the way onto the beach. As I walked through the mass of people, I could feel the pressure of their thoughts around me, like a weight bearing down on my mind. I instinctively raised my defensive mental barriers to maximum.
I hadn’t been shopping since Lottery, and I hadn’t been on a crowded beach either. I’d made a few visits to the Level 1 beach, but that was far less busy than this, and Adika always reserved a whole section of beach for our private use. I’d assumed that was just Adika’s usual paranoia about my physical safety, but perhaps it was also to protect me from this problem.
We picked our way between the groups of people sitting on the sand, reached the waveless sea that looked oddly like a park lake, and then turned to head towards the cliffs at the end of the beach.
“This beach is incredibly crowded,” said Forge anxiously. “I don’t think we’ll be able to find space to sit down near the door in the cliffs.”
“There’ll be plenty of space for you to sit down,” said Nicole happily. “We’ve had a nosy patrol standing near that door for the last five minutes, frightening everyone else into moving away.”
Forge laughed.
As we walked on, I sensed the mood of the crowd around me change from happy to hostile, and heard the inevitable chanting of tables that meant people were trying to block a nosy from reading their thoughts.
“Two fours are eight.”
“Two fives are ten.”
“Two sixes are twelve.”
A moment later, I spotted the distinctive group of five figures standing at the foot of the cliff. Four of them wearing blue hasty uniforms, while the other wore the ominous grey costume and mask of a nosy. When they saw us coming, they walked away. As we hurried over to choose the best place to sit, I felt the hostility of the crowd vanish, and sighed in relief.
“We’re in position,” reported Forge.
“You can send Glenna out to the beach now, Adika,” said Lucas. “She’ll remain under the influence of the hypnotics for another couple of minutes, so Amber shouldn’t try reading her mind yet.”
I frowned at the cliffs, wondering where the maintenance door was but too embarrassed to ask the question. A moment later, a perfectly camouflaged door opened. Glenna walked out, with a curiously blank expression on her face, and went to lie down on the sand near us.
“What will bring Glenna out of the influence of the hypnotics, Lucas?” I asked.
“We’ve got her slowly counting to a hundred, after which she’ll wake up. If she heard Buzz’s voice in the next hour or two, she’d still be unduly influenced by her words, but it will be safe for anyone else to speak to her.”
We sat there waiting for what seemed like a long time. I was about to ask if something had gone wrong when Glenna abruptly sat up. She gave a startled look around her.
“Glenna just sat up,” I said.
“You can check her thoughts now then,” said Lucas.
I warily let down my telepathic defences, and reached out through the noise of the crowd to touch Glenna’s mind. She was disoriented to find herself on the sands of a beach.
… in a dream place, running from the hunter of souls. Justice and the light angel came to defend me, and …
… ridiculous to be dreaming about Halloween stories when Halloween was months ago. Ridiculous to fall asleep on my Freedom Day too, but I was so excited last night that …
Then she noticed something that made her forget all about her dream. “Why is the sea so flat?” she said aloud.
Forge smiled at her. “Didn’t you hear the announcements? They had to shut down the wave machinery to rescue a lost seagull.”
A voice came from speakers somewhere up on the sky. “Can everyone please move clear of the sea? The wave machinery is about to restart, and the size of the first few waves can be unpredictable.”
Swimmers and paddlers obediently came out of the water, and everyone turned to look out to sea. Glenna eagerly scrambled to her feet to get a better view. There was a surge of foam out near the far cliffs, and then a small wave came rolling into the beach to be greeted by a round of applause.
The first wave was followed by two more small ones, and then a large wave of the size used for surfing competitions. After another minute, the waves had settled down to the normal size for swimming.
The overhead voice spoke again. “Swimmers may now return to the water. The beach Seagull Care Specialist will be releasing the lost seagull from beach section 4 in ten minutes.”
Some people sat down, and others waded into the sea, but quite a crowd headed to see the seagull that had caused so much trouble. Glenna hesitated before running off down the beach after them. I took a last look at her thoughts before they were lost a
mong the multitude of others.
“Glenna thinks she had a ridiculous dream,” I reported. “She’s happy and proud of herself. She told her friends that she’d go to the beach on her Freedom Day. They didn’t believe she’d actually do it, but she has, and she’s planning to tell them all about how the waves were turned off because of a lost seagull.”
“That’s good news,” said Lucas. “Some more good news is that Rafael has just called the unit to say Zak’s surgery has been completed without problems. Zak should be discharged into the care of our unit’s medical staff tomorrow.”
We all cheered.
“You can all head home now,” added Lucas.
My bodyguards and I went back to the beach entrance, and found Adika and the rest of the Strike team waiting for us. They’d traded their tops for beach wear to match ours, and Eli was staring wistfully at a nearby food stall.
“I’m starving,” he said.
“Nobody cares if you’re starving, Eli,” said Adika.
“But Amber is starving too, and you can’t let a telepath die of hunger.” Eli looked hopefully at me. “You are hungry, aren’t you, Amber?”
I laughed. “Yes, I’m very hungry.”
Adika shook his head. “You’re far too indulgent of the Strike team, Amber.”
“No, I really am hungry. It’s been a very long time since I had breakfast.”
“We’d better take you somewhere that sells higher level food then,” said Adika.
“There’s no need for that.” I pointed at the food stall menu. “I’ll be perfectly happy with the cheese meal deal including chocolate crunch cake.”
“Adika can buy food for everyone,” said Lucas, “but you’ll have to eat it while you’re travelling back to the unit. I don’t want Amber spending any more time on that noisy beach.”
Adika bought half the stock of the food stall, and we rode along a northbound express belt having a sort of mobile picnic. People were laughing at us, but we didn’t care.
Our previous case had turned into a long and complex nightmare. We’d all been desperate for a simple case. A case we could handle quickly, and declare closed with the satisfied feeling we’d made our Hive a safer place.
Apart from the scary moment of Zak being injured, this case had been exactly what we’d wanted. We’d caught someone who was a danger to others. We’d saved a ten-year-old girl and watched her happily run off to carry on with her life. There were no loose ends or complications, so we could all enjoy the mandatory twenty-four hour unit shutdown after an emergency run without any worries at all. Even Adika was smiling benevolently.
We finally reached the dedicated set of ultra express speed lifts that served our unit, stepped inside lift 2, and it started moving. Our unit was right at the top of the Hive, so I watched the numbers on the level indicator rapidly changing as we headed upwards through the accommodation levels and then the fifty industry levels above them.
As we neared Industry 1, I leaned my back against the wall, shut my eyes, and reached out with my telepathic sense. I could sense the comfortingly familiar minds of my unit members above us, and among them the distinctive, glittering thoughts of Lucas.
Then the lift was stopping and the doors opening. I closed down my telepathic view of the world, opened my eyes again, and followed my Strike team out to where a crowd was waiting to welcome us home.
There was an outbreak of loud conversations, with everyone talking at once. The volume of it reminded me of the deafening massed thoughts of people on the Level 67 beach, and I suddenly felt exhausted. Lucas obviously noticed something was wrong, because he put an arm around me and guided me off to our apartment.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“Yes. I just got a little overwhelmed by everyone talking at once.”
“I understand,” he said. “I need to get myself some food now. Do you want anything to eat?”
“No, the cheese meal deal was very filling.”
Lucas grinned. “Megan was appalled at our telepath eating a low level bargain meal.”
I spent a lot of time feeling guilty about Megan, but I refused to feel guilty about eating a cheese meal deal. A few hours ago, I’d been wondering what life I’d be living now if I hadn’t been a telepath but an ordinary girl. It was quite believable that the other Amber would have been rated Level 67, visited the beach, and bought the cheese meal deal. She might even have bought the same dress that I was wearing now.
I liked that thought. For a brief moment, my life as a telepath and the life of the other Amber had intersected.
“It was very good cheese,” I said. “I enjoyed the chocolate crunch cake too.”
“I’ll just order a meal for myself then.”
Lucas went into the room that held our kitchen unit. I was following him through the doorway, when I heard a chiming sound from my pocket. I stopped, took out my dataview, tapped it to make it unfurl, and saw the screen was black except for a one-word message.
“Alone?”
I knew exactly what that question meant. This was a call from Sapphire! It was vital I kept my contact with her secret from everyone in my unit, even Lucas, so I thought quickly.
“I need to talk to Eli about something,” I said. “It’s rather private, so I’ll call him from the bookette room.”
Lucas nodded in acknowledgement, and I hurried off to the bookette room. I carefully closed the door behind me but didn’t bother locking it. Lucas wouldn’t interrupt me when he knew I was having a private conversation with someone.
I tapped at my dataview, answering the message with a single word. “Yes.”
The screen of my dataview came to life. I was expecting to see a beautiful, blonde woman in her early forties, but found myself looking at a much older, male stranger, with precisely trimmed, greying hair.
“Hello, Amber,” he said. “My name is Morton.”
Chapter Seven
I stared at Morton in shock for several seconds before I could manage to speak. “I’ll link your call to my bookette room holo systems.”
I tapped at my dataview, and Morton’s holo image appeared in front of me. At first, I thought he was sitting in an ordinary chair in his bookette room, but then I realized the chair was a more luxurious version of the powered chair that Nicole used. Given all the concern about Morton’s physical health, I’d expected him to look unwell, but he seemed even more worryingly frail than I’d expected.
“I was surprised to see you because I’d assumed the call was from Sapphire,” I said. “She’s the only other telepath that has contacted me.”
I expected Morton to say something in response to that, but he just studied me impassively. I didn’t want to risk saying anything else myself, so there was total silence for at least thirty seconds before he finally spoke.
“I was aware Sapphire had contacted you. I must warn you that she is not an appropriate role model for a new telepath. You would do better to follow the example of Mira, who is an exemplary telepath in both her professional and personal conduct.”
His comment startled me. I’d had the impression that Sapphire was the best of the other four true telepaths in our Hive, working tirelessly in its service. Morton obviously had some objections to her though.
“I called to thank you for taking over my target,” added Morton.
“I was very glad to help,” I said. “Access to beach maintenance areas is extremely difficult, and I’d been told you have some physical issues.”
“Yes.” Morton acknowledged my comment with a single icy word, and immediately changed the subject. “You have been Outside.”
I wasn’t sure if he meant that sentence as a question, a statement, or an accusation. I felt an urge to defend myself, to explain I was a loyal member of the Hive and had only gone Outside in its service, but Morton seemed to disapprove of the most innocuous comments. I took the safest option and limited myself to nodding.
“I came out of Lottery over four decades ago,” said Morton. “I was sed
ated and flown to Hive Futura for my training. Being in our disused seed Hive, a long-abandoned corpse in comparison to our own living, vibrant Hive, was deeply unnerving for me. I was desperately eager to return home.”
I remembered how isolated I’d felt during my first few days in training at Hive Futura, and made a sympathetic noise.
“My counsellor advised that I should be conscious for the flight back to the main Hive,” continued Morton. “She was concerned I might have problems coping with the tumult of a hundred million minds. I couldn’t make myself set foot in the aircraft though.”
There was open fear in his voice and expression now. “I kept remembering all the Halloween stories I’d heard as a child, and their warnings of how the hunter of souls and his pack of demonic creatures patrol the darkness beyond the Hive. Those foolish enough to leave the safety of the Hive become their legitimate prey. Once the pack has tasted your blood, or the hunter of souls has breathed his wild breath into your mouth, then you become cursed like them, doomed to roam the darkness Outside for eternity.”
I’d no idea what to say. Morton was talking about the same Halloween stories that we’d used to help Glenna. I’d read her mind as she came out of the influence of the hypnotics. She’d believed she’d just woken from a dream. She’d remembered being in a weird place, with the hunter of souls chasing after her, and justice and the light angel coming to her defence.
Glenna was only ten years old, but she’d dismissed those dreamlike images and run off happily. Morton was fifty years her senior, but clearly had a far more deep-seated fear of the Halloween stories.
Age wasn’t the only factor in something like this though. Lucas had said Glenna was strong-willed and courageous enough to end up on a Strike team. Morton was like me, just an ordinary member of the Hive who’d been thrust into a role that didn’t suit him.
Morton gave a self-conscious laugh. “My counsellor told me the Halloween stories were myths and the hunter of souls didn’t exist. She told me we’d be flying to the main Hive in daylight. She told me we’d be safely inside the aircraft the whole time. My conscious mind knew everything she said was true, but some deeper part of me was still terrified by the idea of flying through the air of Outside with only a paper-thin barrier of metal to protect me from the hunter of souls and his demon pack.”
Hurricane (Hive Mind Book 3) Page 6