Gibraltar interrupted, ‘And we don’t think excluding a kid would be the right start to whatever this new future’s going to be. Let’s fill up these sacks and we can hit the road.’
They walked through the house to the orchard.
‘So you have children at the camp?’ Shuqba stood beside Chapelle picking dark red plums.
‘A couple. I’d like to go out to the cloning orphanage to see if there are any kids still there. But it’s not like we have the knowledge or the skills to use the cloning equipment. So all us Neos alive right now could be the last of us.’
Shuqba waved away a wasp. Chapelle was right. Neos had been designed to be infertile. They could be as free from Sapiens as they wanted; however, without them they could die out in a single generation.
♦ ♦ ♦
They made their way north through the wilds. Chapelle travelled in the van with them and Gibraltar drove ahead in the car. Buildings crouched behind rusting vehicles and machinery along the disintegrating roads.
After thirty minutes they parked beside a grain silo, its towering concrete columns graffitied all the way up to the low-hanging sky.
‘We’re just outside the one-hundred-k zone now,’ Chapelle said. ‘Time to turn off the van AI and hand over your communications devices.’
Chapelle took Amud’s OmniScreen and opened the van’s dash display.
Shuqba pulled out her own OmniScreen. ‘Give me a moment.’
‘Sure.’ Chapelle’s tongue poked out of the side of her mouth as she scrolled through the van’s AI options.
Shuqba opened the comms panel. Still nothing from Alida. She sent her another message.
Hi Alida. Me again. Graycie is still safe and well. I’ll be out of contact for a while, however, I’ll try to check my messages every few days. Let me know your location. I hope you are all right. Shuqba
She shut down her OmniScreen and gave it to Chapelle. They resumed their journey through land desiccated by years of drought. The remnants of houses were sparser, their outer layers flaking away like sunburnt skin.
‘We’re still travelling north?’ Shuqba asked.
‘Mm-hm. North all the way.’
‘To the deadlands?’
Bushes cowered on reddish-brown plains that stretched all the way to the heat-distorted horizon.
‘Almost. The camp’s about fifty kilometres south of the southern boundary, in an old underground mining town. The radiation levels are low enough there.’
‘Not the most hospitable country to build a community.’
‘No. We haven’t had much choice in the past, but I hope we’ll be able to come out of hiding soon.’
‘What are you waiting for?’ Amud spoke for the first time since they’d left the rendezvous point.
‘Everything we’ve heard says there are militants, transhumanists and Rewilders attacking Neos right now. The leaders have judged it to be too dangerous.’
‘This is the best chance you’ll ever get. If you don’t act now you never will. You’ll be a bunch of cowards hiding in holes in the ground forever,’ Amud said.
Shuqba kept quiet but she agreed. Living in the part of the country most toxic to life was unsustainable and foolish, especially for a species adapted to a cool climate. If there was ever a time to fight it was now, before the remnants of the Sapiens united to eradicate or re-enslave the Neos.
‘Yeah. There are changes coming. Some of our group need convincing though. You two might sway their opinion.’
All those kilometres behind them, City 1’s shining wall grew duller and more distant as they drove into the bright sunlight of the desert.
CHAPTER 49
Alida woke up on a reclined examination chair in a room of buffed metal and mirror-shine white. For a second she reckoned she was in the medical procedure room at the hub and she could walk out to the tearoom and have a hot chocolate with Shuqba. A plasticface appeared above her.
‘Can you hear me, Alida?’
‘I’m not deaf.’ Her brain must have shorted out for a second. It all came back to her. Katzis had nabbed her from her work in the greenhouses to repair her implant.
Did he think his tinkering could make her deaf? She would’ve said hell no if she’d known there were risks. If saying no actually made any difference to these jerks.
‘Excellent. How many fingers am I holding up?’ Katzis waved three fingers in front of her face.
‘Three.’ She swatted his hand away. ‘Don’t tell me your poking around could’ve stuffed my brain up even more.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. I’m going to activate your implant now. An interface panel should appear within seconds.’ He leaned over an OmniScreen.
‘Doesn’t it have to calibrate with my brain for a stretch or something?’
‘No need. Your neural pathways are already established around the existing hardware.’ Katzis looked up from the OmniScreen, raising his eyebrows expectantly.
Welcome to SEM Brainscapes. Let’s travel together into the future appeared in her vision.
‘Ah. Where’s MindComm?’ The interface panel was nothing like the IntelliEnhance panel.
‘You have SEMComm now. It’s a far superior system.’
‘But will I be able to check my MindComm messages?’ Shuqba would’ve tried to contact her. She could have news about Graycie.
‘You’ll be starting from scratch with a new ID for SEMComm. Although I dare say you could log in to the net version of MindComm. I don’t know why you’d bother. Most MindComm users are dead now.’
Alida smirked. ‘Maybe you’re right.’ There was no need for anyone to know she had a contact who had definitely not been killed by the implant malfunction.
‘Now select Advanced set-up from the menu.’
After Katzis had bullied her through her Brainscapes set-up he said, ‘While you’re here I’ll give you a hysteroscopy.’
‘What the hell is that?’ Alida tried to sit up. Whatever Katzis was on about, it sounded nasty.
‘Relax.’ Katzis took hold of her shoulders and eased her back down. ‘It’s a simple procedure to assess the condition of your uterus.’
He was going to mess about with her uterus? Alida wanted to bolt. It would be worse if she arced up. They would hold her down. It was always worse when they held you down. Shaking, she let Katzis put her feet in stirrups. He had a good perv around inside her. The greenhouse gig was hot and sweaty; she hoped she’d worked up a powerful vadge tang for him to gag on. She repeated the official medical-sounding word – hysteroscopy, hysteroscopy, hysteroscopy – over and over, convincing herself this was legit and not an unpaid-for violation.
‘Excellent.’ Katzis lowered her feet from the stirrups and turned away to fiddle with an OmniScreen. Alida closed her legs and sat up. ‘Everything looks healthy. Your uterine lining is ready to shed any day now so we’ll start you on injections to synchronise your cycle with Zaneela’s. Rest for now and let your brain adjust to the implant. And don’t be alarmed if you have some spotting.’
If all that poking around was to tell her she would have her monthlies soon, he could’ve just asked her. Her boobs felt like they had rocks in them and she fancied munching every crunchy, salty thing in the world.
Alida traipsed to the bedroom and lay down with her legs pressed tightly together to counteract the lingering feeling of cold metal pulling her apart. She logged in to her MindComm account. Ding, ding, ding. Message after message from Shuqba – and one from Ganya, which she deleted.
Tears streamed out of her eyes, wetting the hair at her temples and pooling in her ears. Graycie was alive and well. They were waiting for her.
Alida composed a message and hit send.
CHAPTER 50
Graycie waved through the van’s back window at the three Neo children running through the red dust thrown up by the wheels.She giggled as one of the children tripped and fell face first onto the dirt track.
Shuqba dialled up the air conditioning and accelerated away from the free-Neo settlement. Ven
tilation pipes for the underground dwellings skewered the sterile earth behind them.
Shuqba had thought these rebels would be the core of the revolution. She was wrong. At meeting after pointless meeting they’d voted to stay in hiding and maintain a communications blackout. They’d insisted fighting would get them nowhere. Shuqba couldn’t hide behind the imaginary wall they’d built around their community any longer.
‘Isn’t Amud coming with us?’ Graycie leaned over the front seat and put her chin on Shuqba’s shoulder.
‘No. He needs to rest for a while. And put your seatbelt on.’
Amud had been billeted to a curtained alcove in what had once been a mining tunnel. Since arriving at the settlement he had holed up in the cool, silent dark drinking a brew made by one of the locals from fruit and vegetable scraps. Shuqba didn’t know how to help him.
The barren plains came gradually to life the further they travelled from the deadlands. A spindly bush here, a bird cutting across the blue sky there. Once she was sure they’d passed the hundred-k zone Shuqba stopped the van in the middle of the potholed road and flattened out her folded OmniScreen. Even if she hadn’t been eager to bug out, she would have made the journey anyway to check for messages from Alida.
While the screen booted up she stared at the tumbledown shacks lining the edges of the road. Graycie had asked repeatedly about her sister. She had a naive faith in Shuqba’s ability to track Alida down. One thing they hadn’t taught at the academy was how to resist the quivering lower lip of a child.
Shuqba didn’t know what her next move would be. Other than a change of clothes, a good feed, and a place to rest, the free-Neo community had given them nothing. A message from Alida would change everything and give her new purpose. For a while.
The OmniScreen dinged four times. Shuqba looked down and her stomach flipped, threatening to eject her breakfast of dried meat and fruit. Three messages were from other Neo Security Force Officers and one message was from Alida, time-stamped from the day before.
Shuqba opened her mouth and turned towards the back seat. Graycie was licking the glass on the inside of the window. Shuqba calmed her breathing and turned back, damping down her excitement. She didn’t know what the message would say. She needed to be practical and assess the information before getting the child’s hopes up.
A small spiral swirled in the middle of the screen as the data loaded. The message lit the screen with the intensity of a smile from Alida. Shuqba quickly read it, a smile spreading across her own face.
CHAPTER 51
The earthy salad stench of the greenhouse reminded Alida of the garden market in the Demi-Settlements. She was finally gardening, just not where she’d always dreamed. She roamed the jungly aisles of green, picking ripe tomatoes, zucchinis and beans. She ran her fingers along all the leaves, comparing their textures: smooth, furry, coarse and waxy. Light filtered gently through the thick plastic walls and pollinator bots buzzed through the air. If it wasn’t for the mild nausea from the needles Dr Katzis had given her and the close, armpit-like embrace of the air in the greenhouse, she’d be stuffing juicy morsels into her face.
She smiled at the titchy image of Graycie bouncing around and bursting with agitation like a shaken bottle of soda in the corner of her vision panel. Graycie listed all the things she and Shuqba had done since fleeing City 1 and Alida tried to get a word in whenever Graycie bothered to take a breath.
Rhea came in from one of the other greenhouses, flapping her gums about something. Alida told Graycie she’d call back later.
‘What?’ Alida disconnected and leaned against a bench covered with seedling pots.
She must’ve had blank implant face because Rhea rolled her eyes. ‘You’re a slave to that unnatural intruder in your brain. Just like the rest of them.’
‘Jeez, Rhea. Is that what you came in here to tell me?’ Alida rolled her eyes back at Rhea.
‘No.’ Rhea leaned in closer, her eyes darting from side to side even though there was no one else in the greenhouse. The chick was a dimwit, but Alida had learnt never to underestimate a Rewilder.
‘I saw my brother and my niece out there, in the bush,’ Rhea whispered. ‘God sent them to free me.’
‘No shit?’ So Rhea’s Rewilder mates were out there, somewhere. Shuqba and Graycie were only a few kilometres away, living out of a van while they tried to come up with a plan to get her out of the SEM compound. What if they ran into each other? The Rewilders were likely to shoot a Neo on sight.
Rhea nodded. ‘Stick close to me in the next couple of days. I can’t say when or how it’s going to happen. But it’s going to happen soon.’ She ran her fingers through her hair until it stood as disarrayed as one of the poor Demi sods who had no dosh for LeaderCorp medication. ‘What’s the plan, Tod?’ she mumbled. ‘What’s the plan? If only I had some way to communicate with him. I need to get out before they infect me with one of their soulless offspring.’
Alida pressed her lips together. It would be better if Shuqba and Gray made peaceful contact with the Rewilders before they got into a surprise shootout. And they might be able to help each other. Shuqba reckoned the only way to take down a domeshield was with an electromagnetic pulse or by hacking into the security system. Maybe they could work together. An alliance. Rewilders definitely had skills. She didn’t trust Rhea or her Rewilder mates – in fact, most of the Rewilders she’d had contact with were nasty (bloody Odeene sprang to mind) – but Rhea’s desperation to split was legit. Maybe they could all play nice.
‘Why are you staring at me? You better not be uploading my image or whatever.’
‘Jeez, no. I was just chewing something over.’ Alida pressed her lips together, not at all sure she wasn’t messing up big. ‘I have a contact on the outside.’ She pointed at her head. ‘Through this unnatural intruder in my brain. Maybe your brother and my contact can find a way to work together.’
CHAPTER 52
A crow watched Shuqba from its perch on a tree stump. Long grass swayed in the baking hot wind and the farmhouse wavered, mirage-like, across the paddock. Shuqba held her hands above her head in the universal gesture of non-aggression and walked slowly and steadily towards the building. If Tod and Nanzee were inside, as Rhea had predicted, they would have eyes on her.
Shuqba stopped about one hundred and fifty metres from the house. If they took a shot she might still be able to zigzag away to safety. For Alida and Graycie, for Alida and Graycie, she repeated.
A hot breeze dried her sweat to stiff, salty patches in the armpits of her shirt. She counted her breaths to soothe her nerves. Karain would think she was a fool putting herself at risk for a couple of Sapiens. But Karain and Commander Rayne were both gone and Shuqba took orders from no one but herself now.
Up close the farmhouse was shabby. Its weatherboard walls were painted a chalky green and rust gouged the gutters and the roof. Shutters, like pale metal eyelids dusted with dirty-brown eyeshadow, covered the windows.
A shadow moved behind the flywire door and the barrel of a firearm, possibly a shotgun, emerged.
‘Rhea sent me. I’m unarmed,’ Shuqba shouted.
The door opened and a grey-haired man, wearing green camouflage slacks and a T-shirt, advanced towards her, shotgun raised. Behind him followed a younger woman, blonde hair tied back in a ponytail and also dressed in camo. Shuqba kept her hands in the air and let them advance.
When there was approximately one hundred metres between them Tod shouted, ‘Did you say Rhea?’
‘Yes. She told me Tail of the Donkey is the code and also now you’ll have to change the code because a fucking troglodyte knows it.’
Tod lowered his shotgun and smiled. ‘That sounds like my Rhea.’
♦ ♦ ♦
‘Have a seat.’ Tod gestured to the circular kitchen table.
Graycie, who’d been hiding in the van until Shuqba made contact (along with the assault rifle the Rewilders still didn’t know about), sat on a wooden chair with a blue cushion. Nan
zee took a metal stool and Shuqba perched on the edge of a green plastic garden chair. An ancient air conditioner rattled and chugged. The kitchen benches were cluttered with jars, tins, knife blocks, utensils, spice racks and cast-iron cookware. In the corner a fridge hummed a discordant duet with the air conditioner. Fruit flies hovered over a sweetly stinking bowl of overripe fruit in the middle of the table.
Tod opened the fridge. ‘Can I get you a beer?’
‘Thank you,’ Shuqba said. ‘Do you have any water for Graycie here?’
‘Of course.’
Tod handed out the drinks and leaned against the bench with the arrogance and confidence of a LeaderCorp official. Soon the outside of Shuqba’s beer bottle was soaked with condensation. She rubbed her wet hand on her slacks and took a sip. Bitter, frothy and cold. She resisted the urge to run the cool glass along her arms. Graycie rocked back and forth on her uneven chair, the tapping of its legs against the linoleum tiles like gunshots in the uneasy silence.
Tod put a hand on the back of Graycie’s chair to still her. ‘I don’t usually work with Neos. Desperate times, I guess. Our first priority is to rescue my sister. If you’re agreeable I’m willing to put aside our philosophical differences for the time being.’
‘What about after the time being?’
‘Then we go our separate ways and pray we don’t meet up again.’
Shuqba and Tod regarded each other.
‘Are we going to have a problem?’ Nanzee said.
Shuqba broke eye contact with Tod. ‘I don’t think so. I’m certain we can work together.’
‘We’ve done some recon and our biggest challenge is going to be getting through that domeshield,’ Nanzee said.
‘I agree. I’ve got an idea about –’ Shuqba began.
Tod interrupted. ‘According to Rhea and your Demi with the brain implant, the SEM people are using them as surrogate wombs.’
Shuqba picked up her beer again and took a long swig. Commander Rayne’s words came back to her, about Sapiens always being right, no matter what. She’d let the Sapiens lead. The thought of a Neo in control would cause their actual brains to malfunction. She would comply. For now. They needed each other to make the rescue a success. But things would be different in the future. Sapiens didn’t have the advantage of numbers any longer.
The Shining Wall Page 24