“Lucas, that’s an awful lot of incidents,” said Adika.
“It’s a terrifying number of incidents,” said Lucas bitterly. “Our target has definitely been active for more than three months and quite possibly for more than six. The first incidents were minor and carefully disguised as plausible accidents, so Sea Farm Security didn’t realize what was happening until a woman died a couple of weeks before Halloween. Something must have triggered our target into escalating their behaviour at that point, because there was no attempt to disguise the fact the woman had been deliberately poisoned.”
He sighed. “Since then there have been a number of attacks that resulted in injuries, some serious, culminating in a second death two days ago. You can see on the map that these incident locations are scattered across all four regions of the sea farm, but there have only been two incidents in the Haven itself. That could be because our target is based in the Haven and is trying to divert attention away from there, or because our target is deterred by the mass of Sea Farm Security surveillance equipment watching the Haven.”
Lucas glanced out of the window. “We must be getting close to the sea farm now, so I’ll hand over to Admiral Tregereth. He’s going to give us some basic information about each region as we fly over it.”
The Admiral twiddled with his ear crystal to turn it on. “Can you all hear me?” he bellowed.
Everyone aboard our aircraft, and probably everyone on the other transport aircraft as well, winced.
“Please don’t shout,” said Lucas. “We’ll hear you perfectly well if you speak in a normal voice.”
“Sorry,” said the Admiral. “You often need to shout orders when you’re on fishing boats, or people won’t be able to hear you over the noise of the wind, waves, and flapping sails.”
I saw a bemused expression on Lucas’s face at the mention of sails. I wasn’t sure why. He must have seen people sailing toy boats in the park, and those always had sails.
“The boats in your fishing fleet use sails?” asked Lucas. “Aren’t those a little unreliable out at sea? I’d assumed your boats would have engines.”
I frowned. Lucas was right about sails being unreliable. Toy boats with sails were fun, but every child learned that it was dangerous to play with them on a park lake. The park breeze could catch the sails, and blow the boat away across the lake so you might not be able to retrieve it. A wise child avoided the problem by sailing their toy boat on a park stream or boating pool, but the sea farm fishing fleet would presumably need to go out to sea.
“You can do a surprising amount just using sails, but our boats have reserve engines as well.” The Admiral pointed out of the window next to him. “Those low hills ahead of us are the start of High Fold, our animal husbandry region. It’s mostly sheep and goats that graze on the hillsides, while the cows and other animals are down in the valley.”
I knew about sheep and cows. One of my friends on Teen Level, Linnette, had taken our whole corridor group to visit a specialist animal centre that had some of them. One of the Animal Care Experts had given us a talk about how people had used wool from sheep, and milk from cows, in the days before artificial fibre manufacture and protein vats. Now Linnette was an Animal Care Expert herself and working with the animals she loved.
For a moment, I was distracted into picturing how happy Linnette must be, then I forced myself to focus on the present again. I couldn’t remember any mention of goats at the specialist animal centre. Perhaps they were smaller creatures like rabbits.
I wondered whether I should read the Admiral’s mind during this or not. We had to limit my exposure to sea farm minds, and it probably didn’t matter what goats looked like, but the Admiral would be talking about more crucial details.
“So the High Fold region is where you keep all your animals?” asked Lucas.
“All the official livestock is kept at High Fold,” said the Admiral, “but there’s a lot of unofficial livestock in the other regions. Most families keep their own chickens.”
I coughed. “I think it would be very helpful if I read your mind during this explanation, Admiral. I need to learn as much as I can about the sea farm to help me interpret the images and thoughts I see in people’s minds.”
The Admiral seemed to hesitate.
“I agree with Amber that it would greatly assist our investigation, Admiral,” said Lucas. “I don’t know if you grew up at the sea farm yourself, but you must know everything about it.”
“I did grow up at the sea farm. Someone holding the post of Admiral doesn’t just need imprinted knowledge, but a full understanding of the sea farm lifestyle, as well as the acceptance and respect of the sea farm people. An outsider couldn’t successfully fill the role.”
“Then seeing the thoughts in your mind would be a great help to Amber,” said Lucas. “There’s also another important point. If the sea farm population learns their Admiral has volunteered to have his mind read, and his innocence proved, it will be extremely difficult for members of Sea Farm Security to object to having their own minds read.”
“I will do anything I can to help catch the killer who has been harming my people,” said the Admiral, in a strained voice. “I’m happy to set an example to others by having my mind read. I hope Amber will avoid trespassing in my intimate memories as much as possible though, and avoid sharing any personal information with other people.”
“I will respect your privacy, Admiral,” I reassured him. “I only share the personal details I learn from the minds of innocent people when it’s necessary to make progress on a case. I won’t be able to access your memories directly either. I’ll only be able to see things you’re currently remembering.”
“Which is a fact that shouldn’t be shared with anyone else at the sea farm,” added Lucas hastily. “The less our target knows about our methods and capabilities the better.”
“I fully appreciate that,” said the Admiral. “You can count on my total discretion in all matters relating to your investigation.”
Adika was sitting in the seat behind the Admiral. I noticed him shift his position slightly, and nod at me. Adika was obviously ready to apprehend the Admiral if I discovered he was our target. I couldn’t believe there was any chance of that happening – Lottery wouldn’t imprint someone to be the Admiral of our sea farm without checking every facet of their personality – but it was Adika’s job to be prepared for all potential dangers, however unlikely.
“Please continue your explanation, Admiral,” said Lucas.
I closed my eyes and saw the world with my telepathic sense. The aircraft had vanished, and I hung in the darkness, with a glowing throng of human minds clustered close around me, and other groups nearby. Far below was the gentle background flicker of animal minds. Closer, moving past us at speed, were scattered tiny lights, the sharp, survival-focused thoughts of birds.
The Admiral’s mind was conspicuous among the familiar ones of Lucas, Adika, and my Alpha Strike team, having an even stranger appearance than I’d seen in Juniper. I paused for a moment to have another attempt at working out what made sea farm minds so different, failed, and cautiously touched the Admiral’s thoughts.
“Most of the people who live in High Fold care for the animals in various capacities,” said the Admiral.
The top level of his thoughts was occupied with pre-vocalizing the words he was saying, while the rest was focused on the view from his window. We were getting close to High Fold now, with its range of hills gently sloping down to the riverside pastures. There were some carefully disciplined thoughts about the type of livestock kept at the sea farm, which included some images. I discovered that goats were far more like sheep than rabbits.
Further down in the Admiral’s mind, below the level that could be consciously controlled, were thoughts that were sharp with annoyance.
… cornered like a fish in a net, with no choice but to agree to have my mind invaded. Did Amber and Lucas arrange this between them in advance? Probably not. They’re a surprisin
gly mismatched pair. The girl is guileless, showing her soul to the world through the windows of her eyes, while the boy …
… sure that Lucas set up this situation himself. That’s the reason he asked me to talk about the sea farm. No, I’m sure it’s only one of many reasons. From what Melisande said to me, Lucas is capable of outmanoeuvring me in a dozen ways at a time, but that’s what we need to …
… and Lucas is right. I am bringing a telepath to read the minds of my people, so should set an example by having my own mind read first. The girl must have read hundreds, no thousands of minds before mine, so she won’t be …
… nothing to hide, at least nothing to do with these incidents. I would never harm any of my people. I just need to keep from thinking about Tressa, or …
Inevitably, the thought that he mustn’t think about his wife was followed by a flood of memories involving her. This type of intimate memory, coming from close to the subconscious, was usually either totally wordless or accompanied by jumbled fragments of speech, but these had poetic phrases linked to them.
The images merged into one, a woman with silver hair tumbling loose on the pillow, her lined face smiling as I, as the Admiral, looked down at her and took her hand to kiss it.
Till the seas run dry, the sun darkens, and the Hives fall. C’est mon coeur qui te parle.
I didn’t understand the last few words, but that didn’t matter. I had no wish to trespass into the Admiral’s relationship with his wife, so I swiftly pulled back to the safe, top levels of his mind. The Admiral had been surprised by Lucas and me. I was surprised by him as well. The loud-voiced, shaggy-haired, bearded Admiral wrote passionate poems about his love for his wife.
“As you can see, most of the houses in High Fold are close to the river and the best grazing land,” said the Admiral. “We’re following the river down towards the reservoir now.”
The Admiral was looking at something that reminded me of a park lake. An associated train of thought told me that this supplied the sea farm’s drinking water.
“The river continues past the reservoir,” said the Admiral, “snaking its way out of the hills towards the flatter land of Harvest. That’s our arable region, where we grow a variety of grain and vegetable crops. It’s winter now, so most of the fields are lying fallow.”
“The word fallow means …?” Lucas prompted.
“It means there aren’t any crops growing in those fields.”
I saw the view of the ground through the Admiral’s eyes. The houses were box-like objects that had ridged tops like tents. The fields were square and oblong shapes. Were those the green chessboard images I’d seen in Juniper’s mind? They were the right shape, but the colours were wrong. Perhaps that was because of the lack of crops. I remembered how different park flowerbeds looked when they were newly dug rather than full of plants.
“The houses are more scattered in the Harvest region,” said the Admiral. “The main cluster of them is on the spur of high ground near the bend in the river. The tall, thin building is the Harvest region Sea Farm Security outpost.”
“Are there Sea Farm Security outposts in each region then?” asked Lucas.
“Yes.” The Admiral’s thought levels made some hasty readjustments. “I should have explained that the main Sea Farm Security centre is in the Haven, and so is the main medical centre, but each region has its own small outposts. Similarly, the main apprentice education centre is in the Haven, but each region has an apprentice outpost covering their specialist skills as well as a school for the small children.”
“I see,” said Lucas. “So the system is that you have the main base of each service industry in the Haven, and smaller outposts in each region?”
“Well, that’s not entirely true,” said the Admiral. “The main veterinary centre is in High Fold, the blacksmithing centre is in Harvest, the glassworks in Tropics, and the boatbuilding centre by the river mouth. There’s no real centre at all for the spinning and weaving, because people prefer to do that in their own homes.”
“You’re losing us a little with all these new terms,” said Lucas.
The Admiral’s words made far more sense to me because I could see the associated images and thoughts in his mind. “The veterinary centre is like a medical centre for animals,” I reported. “The blacksmithing centre makes things out of metal, and it’s in Harvest because the iron ore comes from a mine in the hills to the east. The glassworks is near the beach in Tropics because it uses sand to make the glass. The boatbuilding is done where the river meets the sea because the timber gets brought down the river from the lumber mill. Spinning and weaving are about making threads and fabric for …”
My words faltered. The Admiral had turned his head to give me a startled look. It was disorienting to see myself sitting, my eyes closed, busily talking about the sea farm.
“Admiral, I hope you can now see why Amber felt it would be helpful to read your mind as you talked about the regions of the sea farm,” said Lucas.
“Indeed,” said the Admiral. “Amber seems to learn things very rapidly.”
“It’s easy to learn things when you can see an expert thinking about them,” I said. “The understanding doesn’t always last long though, and technical details fade especially quickly. Please carry on with your explanation.”
“The large building you can see by the riverside ahead is our water mill,” said the Admiral. “That does things like grind wheat to make flour for bread. Beyond that is …”
I missed his next few sentences because I was distracted by images of a great wheel being powered by churning water.
“Now we’re flying across the river and heading for the coast and Tropics,” said the Admiral. “You can see the glasshouses ahead that let us grow crops like tomatoes out of season.”
This was another image that I remembered from Juniper’s mind. Overturned glass bowls on a green carpet. Now it made sense. It wasn’t small glass bowls, but massive glass domes, and the green carpet was grassland and trees. I eagerly chased some associated images in the Admiral’s mind.
“What’s inside the glasshouses is a bit like the hydroponics areas in the Hive,” I said.
“Tropics and Harbour cover a smaller area than High Fold and Harvest,” said the Admiral. “Most of the houses in Tropics region are clustered near the glasshouses, and the surrounding areas contain our orchards and herb gardens.”
We flew over neat rows of trees for a moment or two before the Admiral spoke again. “As we approach the main glasshouses, we get our first view of the sea. The large group of windmills over to the left produce a lot of our power. We’re turning to head towards Harbour now, and flying directly over the beach of Tropics. The buildings to our right are where we make our glass, and …”
I lost track of what the Admiral was saying. I was too stunned by the view to think of anything else. Admiral Tregereth surely had to be hallucinating because this couldn’t possibly be real.
I pulled back into my own head, and opened my eyes to look out of the window. No, this was no hallucination, but shocking reality. The beach had some similarities to one of the Hive beaches, but the sight of the sea devastated me.
This sea was nothing like the ones on Hive beaches. This sea was a powerful, menacing grey, with giant waves that threw themselves at the beach in anger, and the far cliffs …
There were no far cliffs. There were no supporting pillars either. The sea stretched on unbroken into the distance, as if it reached to the end of eternity.
Chapter Nineteen
The Admiral kept talking for another minute before noticing that no one on our aircraft was listening to him any longer. “Is something wrong?”
“There’s nothing wrong,” said Rothan. “It’s just that people are a little distracted by the view of the sea. I’m the only person here who has seen it before. We have beaches in the Hive, but the real sea is far more impressive.”
“I visited a Hive beach once,” said the Admiral. “It was … very nice. Small
but well managed.”
I’d always loved the vast scale of Hive beaches, and the wildness of their waves, but now I was looking at the reality of an Outside beach and knew the Admiral’s unenthusiastic description was right. A couple of days ago, I’d been sitting on the Level 67 beach. The sand had been tidy, with people patrolling each night to collect litter and rake the old sand castles flat in preparation for the new day. The waves had been carefully adjusted to be the perfect height for swimming.
Hive beaches were nice, but their seas were a tiny, feeble imitation of the genuine untamed Outside sea, just as the sun-effect lights in their ceilings were a pale echo of the dazzling brightness of the Truesun.
“I brought my surfboard with me,” said Forge’s thoughtful voice on the crystal comms.
“You’re considering surfing on those waves, Forge?” Adika’s voice rose high with incredulity.
“Some of our beaches are good for swimming and surfing in the summer,” said the Admiral. “You just have to check the state of the tides and keep well away from the rocks. I wouldn’t try swimming in a rough winter sea like that one though, and I learnt to swim before I could walk.”
“Absolutely nobody goes swimming or surfing,” said Adika. “It’s far too dangerous.”
“I suppose you’re right,” said Forge, with a sad, wistful note to his voice.
“If anyone spots Forge with a swimming costume or surfboard, they should put restraints on him and lock him up,” said Adika.
I wanted to stay in my own head, savouring the breath-taking view of the sea through my own eyes rather than reading the Admiral’s mind again, so I asked a question aloud. “I don’t understand what’s creating all the waves. There surely can’t be wave machines dropping water into the sea.”
Hurricane (Hive Mind Book 3) Page 18