Waking Hell

by Al Robertson

  ‘You might remember how I recently held off an entire swarm? One guided by two fallen minds?’

  ‘Fair enough,’ sighed Leila.

  The knife carved round the top of the cube. ‘Some sort of cardboard,’ commented Cassiel. ‘Clearly a temporary structure.’ A needle reached down to pry it open. ‘Let’s see what’s in there.’ All three of them leant in to see what the box contained.

  The top came off and then, as if spring-loaded, flies leapt out of it and punched into the nanogel dome.

  ‘Fuck!’ spat Leila. The Caretaker flinched back. Cassiel’s back arched, her arms taut. ‘Gods,’ she gasped. ‘Intrusion attack.’ Jagged shards of light flashed within her.

  ‘Are you all right?’ asked Leila. ‘What can we do?’

  Cassiel said nothing. Her head was tipped up. Her body shivered. Tiny wings blurred, pushing the flies further into the nanogel dome. A couple were nearly through it.

  Leila looked to the Caretaker. ‘You’ve zapped them before, can you do it again?’

  ‘No need,’ gasped Cassiel. ‘Under control.’

  ‘Really?’ asked Leila.

  A bubble formed on top of the globe, becoming a soft, round bump, topped by a thin mesh. There was a soft hissing.

  ‘Hey,’ said the Caretaker, waving his hand above it. ‘You’re pumping the air out.’

  ‘Creating a vacuum,’ stuttered Cassiel. A couple of seconds passed, then, one by one, the flies dropped to the ground. They lay on their backs and sides, legs and wings twitching uncontrollably. A minute or so, and all were still.

  ‘Problem solved,’ drawled the Caretaker. ‘Good job.’

  ‘No danger, eh?’ asked Leila.

  ‘Nothing I couldn’t handle,’ replied Cassiel casually. ‘That must have been how they took Dieter. Did he have anything like the globe?’

  Leila shook her head.

  The mind was silent for a moment, analysing. ‘They’d have hit him hard with a very simple, very powerful command. Lay the box on his chest. Let it dig into him. Impossible to resist.’

  It didn’t take long to disassemble the rest of the cube.

  ‘It’s like a little fly city!’ said the Caretaker, amazed.

  ‘More of a factory,’ replied Cassiel. ‘And a very destructive one. Causes considerable decay in any nanogel it’s exposed to. Greatly shortens the life expectancy of any minds that carry one.’

  ‘What about humans?’ asked Leila.

  ‘A combination. It attacks randomly selected body parts and dissolves them. But it will also considerably extend its host’s life span.’

  ‘Weird,’ commented the Caretaker.

  The box’s base was divided into three. A quarter of the base held eggs, little white flecks about the size of a grain of rice. ‘They become maggots. And the maggots feed, and then cocoon.’ Half the base was an incubation chamber. ‘The cocoons sit in it,’ explained Cassiel. ‘And there’s a tiny surgeon here that modifies the maggots as they become flies. Installs the hardware that lets them merge with the swarm. And then they hatch, and they’re out in the world. Half insect, half tech.’ She dissected one of the dead flies. ‘Look at that… Wireless rig, solid state memory and a tiny processor. Every single one’s a little computer. And when they swarm…’

  Half an hour passed and she was done. ‘The flies are all inert, now,’ said Cassiel. The dome split in two as she lifted her arms up and off the table, its two halves quickly reforming into hands. ‘And I can take the important bits into me.’ She squashed a finger down onto one of the flies.

  ‘What are you doing?’ gasped Leila. ‘You’ll fall too!’

  ‘No.’ Cassiel flicked a finger and a broken insect body flew away from it. ‘I’ve just taken the comms hardware.’ She froze for a moment. ‘And now I’ve got full control over it. I can use it to talk with any local swarms. Issue queries, perhaps even basic commands.’

  She pushed herself to her feet. She was moving more easily than she had done the previous night, but it was clear that she was still badly damaged.

  The Caretaker went to her side, ready to support her as she took a few uncertain steps across the room. ‘Don’t push it,’ he said. ‘You’ve got to move at healing speed. And you’ve just been working very hard. You need to lie down for a bit.’

  ‘That was mental effort,’ Cassiel told him.

  ‘Still takes it out of you,’ he replied.

  ‘No.’ Cassiel sounded tense. ‘Enough healing. Now I understand the flies I’ve got to get out there. Track down the pressure men. Stop Deodatus.’

  ‘Well, you get full marks for determination,’ Leila told her. ‘But you can barely walk. And you might be able to talk to the flies, but East knows about whatever you did to her cameras and has every spare InSec operative looking for you and the Caretaker. She’ll nab you before you get fifty metres. If Deodatus’ sharks don’t get you first.’

  ‘How do you know this?’ asked Cassiel.

  ‘I saw the shark myself. The Fetch Counsellor told me the rest. The Rose went to see him. She’s furious with you two.’

  The Caretaker beamed. ‘Right on!’

  ‘I have tools, weapons. I can look after myself.’ Cassiel’s voice had a broken quality to it. ‘I need to hit back. I have a responsibility. You’re not going to stand in my way.’

  ‘Stand in your way?’ Leila raised an eyebrow. ‘Without me you’d still be under the swarm.’ The Caretaker coughed significantly and raised an eyebrow. ‘And the Caretaker helped us both, of course. Look, if you go out now you won’t get anywhere. Please. Stay here, rest up properly. Then we can all move against them. You can help me rescue Dieter and I’ll do what I can for you.’

  Cassiel’s response was surprisingly sharp. ‘Your brother may be important to you. But I have a whole society to save.’ She paused for a moment. ‘I’m sorry. But Deodatus is a cancer. His influence has gone deep. It might have gone wide, too. Fallen minds are impossible for even me to spot. I have to assume that they’re spreading through the Totality with great speed. I need to move against them just as quickly.’

  ‘Now wait a moment,’ said the Caretaker. ‘First of all, you’re both totally free to do whatever you want. Having said that, Cassiel, Leila’s right. Leaving here is just plain dumb. Physically, you’re broken. I don’t care how ninja you are when you’re one hundred per cent, you’re no use to anyone just now. And if Leila’s right…’

  ‘I’m totally right.’

  ‘…it’ll be half an hour tops before you fall into the hands of people who’ll really fuck you up. At best they’ll kill you, at worst they’ll turn you and you’ll be working for them. So you can leave if you want, but I think you’re smarter than that.’

  ‘Yes! Exactly,’ agreed Leila.

  ‘And Leila,’ continued the Caretaker. ‘Cassiel’s right too. Your brother’s important. But this is much bigger than him. East is infected, and it’s beginning to sound like other gods might be too. Deodatus has spread into the Totality. My guess is he’ll be in the Fetch Communion soon, too.’

  Cassiel nodded. ‘He’s only holding back because it’s neither a threat nor a resource for him. But he’ll move against it sooner or later.’

  ‘Of course you’ve got to look out for the people you love,’ continued the Caretaker. ‘But if the whole of the rest of the world is in danger, you might have to start thinking a bit bigger than that.’

  ‘The rest of the world never did much for me,’ grumbled Leila. But an image of Mrs Meeker thrust itself into her mind, refusing to help because she only cared about her husband.

  ‘He’s right, Leila,’ said Cassiel. ‘The Totality helped free the fetches. And the gods look after the society you’re part of. You’re not an island. None of us is. Society is the platform the individual runs on. If your society goes down, you and your brother will too. He matters, but there’s more to
this than just him.’

  ‘I owe Dieter so much,’ Leila replied. ‘And he’s all I’ve got in this world. He has to be my focus.’

  ‘Well, as long as he’s not the only thing you focus on,’ replied Cassiel. ‘And you’re right too. I can’t do anything like this.’ She clenched her fists, her arms shaking. ‘Dammit, I never thought it’d be flies that broke me.’ She sounded furious with herself. ‘I never thought I’d be so useless.’

  ‘Flies with fallen minds behind them,’ Leila told her. ‘It’s pretty tough standing up to your own people. They know all your tricks. And you can repair yourself. How long’s it going to take?’

  ‘A couple of days,’ replied Cassiel sadly. ‘I’m very resilient. But that’s not really the point. I am Totality. We fought the Pantheon – we defeated them – to create a fairer future for us all.’ The soft lightning of deep emotion shimmered through her body. ‘But now we’ve been corrupted. And the corruption runs deep. I can’t contact my colleagues, my superiors, because they might infect me. I am alone.’ She sighed. ‘And the scale of it…’ Her voice tailed off.

  ‘Hey,’ said the Caretaker gently. ‘You always have to fall before you can learn to fly. And you’ve got the two of us.’

  Cassiel looked first at the Caretaker, then at Leila. ‘An amnesiac hippy and a ghost who only cares about her brother.’ Light danced inside her. ‘Though I do have to admit that, between the two of you, you’ve saved my life and taken us several steps closer to Deodatus.’

  ‘Yeah, we’ve done that all right,’ smiled Leila. ‘And that’s just for starters. Now it’s your turn to do some detective work. Cassiel, can you get onweave anonymously?’

  ‘Child’s play,’ sniffed Cassiel.

  ‘Good. You’re going to find out more about our two new Deodatus victims.’

  ‘What about you?’ asked Cassiel.

  ‘I’m going to go and see Dit. I think I need a whole new me.’

  Chapter 22

  Leila set off through the early afternoon streets of Docklands, heading for Dit. She could have jumped, but she wanted a little time to lose herself in the bustling crowds, gather her resources and prepare for whatever was coming next. She let memories of the last few days surge through her, then comforted herself with the thought that she’d started to find a clear, constructive path through all the chaos. She’d protect herself from Deodatus, she’d find Dieter and she would bring him back. It could be that she’d even end up making the wider world a little safer, too. She smiled to herself. She’d never seen herself as that sort of crusader. Cassiel will be pleased, she thought.

  But it was difficult to truly relax. The wider world wasn’t safe yet. Every time she saw an InSec operative, she was reminded of how the Rose had fallen. There were more than usual of them on the streets. Their dark plastic impact armour curved round their soft flesh, making her think of the chitin of the flies. Some had their visors down. Eyeless, their black heads jerked left then right, following anything suspicious. She imagined mandibles dropping down from them, dirty wings stretching out from hard, black backs and pulling them into flight, and felt disgust shake through her.

  She let the Twins’ festival brand imagery rise up around her, but that was no help. The sea creatures were charming, but they reminded her of the broken séance, of the depths they’d all fallen into and of the shark that had been waiting there. She’d only had a fleeting glimpse of it. Her memories baffled her. There had been sharp teeth and grey skin, but also compound eyes and translucent fins, lined across with dirty veins. The shark had something of the fly about it. She wondered what was riding it, and what it would do to Cassiel and the Caretaker if it caught them. She imagined it scenting her, then looked nervously up at the sky and increased her pace.

  She rounded a final corner and saw her old apartment block. There was a gun kiddy on its roof, scanning the street with a pair of binoculars. She closed her eyes and sent out a request to Dit, then leapt through the home she was about to leave and straight into his private space.

  ‘Thank the gods you’re safe,’ he said, turning away from his bank of televisions. ‘Did you get any of my messages? Where have you been?’

  ‘Taking care of business.’ She shared all that had happened, simplifying events where necessary so she wouldn’t reset him.

  ‘I thought I was worrying too much,’ said Dit ruefully. ‘I should have been worrying more. You and Dieter need to sort this out. It’s freaking me out.’

  Leila didn’t want Dit to see how sad his mention of Dieter made her feel. She touched her pendant to comfort herself, then smiled. ‘I’ll do my best. How’s Lei?’

  ‘See for yourself.’

  He nodded towards the screens. They showed a woman slumped on the sofa, nursing a glass of white wine, zoned out as canned laughter tinkled out of a sitcom.

  Leila recognised herself. ‘I wouldn’t be watching that crap,’ she grumbled.

  ‘It was on, it’s an excuse for her to do nothing. But that’s not all. Look…’ He waved his hand. One of the screens flickered, then zoomed in on the ceiling lamp. Black dots danced around it. A high, thin buzzing sliced out at them. ‘They’re watching her full time. Holt brought them round at lunchtime.’

  ‘They came with him?’

  ‘Crawled out of his shirt.’

  ‘He’s like the pressure men,’ said Leila. She imagined a rotten hole in his belly, swarming with maggots. ‘Corrupt.’

  ‘That’s the word. The smell of him! He tried to cover it with scent, but I amped up the flat’s sensors. Decay.’ He turned to Leila. ‘Who are these people? What’s wrong with them?’

  Leila decided it would be too much information. ‘We’re on the case. We’ll sort them out. What did Holt want?’

  ‘He told Lei about Ambrose. Asked about Dieter. He was checking that the new memories had taken. There was something about illegal pre-rebirth access of Ambrose’s fetch, too.’

  ‘Fuck.’ She looked at the ghost of herself, cradled on the sofa, a buffer against a hostile world. ‘How did she do?’

  ‘Beautifully.’ Dit smiled proudly. ‘Talked about how she and Dieter weren’t close. Looked utterly baffled when Holt asked if she knew who might be fishing for Ambrose’s fetch. Swore a bit.’

  ‘Sounds like me.’

  ‘After he left she magicked up a glass of wine.’

  ‘I approve.’

  ‘She’s been on the sofa ever since. Those flies watching her.’

  ‘Good.’ Leila steeled herself. ‘That’s the way it should be. And we’ve got to make sure it stays that way. She needs to start going out and about, living it up a bit – like I would, if it wasn’t for all this. Can we do that?’

  Dit thought for a moment. ‘Well, yes, absolutely. She’s got all your memories. All we really need to do is open up her sense of self. Make her more like a real person. More like me, in fact.’

  ‘Is that a problem?’

  ‘Not technically, no.’ Dit sighed. ‘But you should make sure it’s a decision you’re comfortable with.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Dieter thought long and hard before making me what I am. I’m limited, but I’m self-aware. I know where I am, what I am, what I’m here for. He worried that he was creating a whole new person. But he needed me to be as committed to looking after you as he was.’

  ‘I hadn’t thought of it like that.’ Leila put her head in her hands for a moment, then looked up at Dit. ‘How do you feel about it? About who you are?’

  ‘I am as I was made. And I was made to protect you. Which I do. So I’m happy. When I’m not worrying myself to death when you don’t return messages, that is.’

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘I mean – I look at the world sometimes. I’d love to be out there. Exploring, engaging. I think that comes from Dieter, that need to explore, to understand how things work. But
I know my place is here. In this room. Keeping you safe.’

  Leila felt more than a little infuriated by Dieter’s big brotherly assumption that, without his permanent presence, she wouldn’t be safe from the world. But then Dit had protected her from the pressure man’s attack. Gods, she muttered to herself, pierced with frustrated loss. You’re impossible, Dieter.

  ‘She’ll have a good life, you know,’ continued Dit, breaking into her chain of thought. ‘She’ll be happy. Of course, she’ll mourn Ambrose. Maybe feel a little sad for Dieter. But she’ll think they just died, that it was all natural.’ He smiled. ‘And she’ll have a blast spending all your money.’

  ‘She can’t be like you,’ said Leila. ‘She can’t know what she really is. Too much of a security risk.’

  ‘No. Not with everyone watching her so closely. It’s better for her, too.’

  Leila watched Lei shift on the sofa. Her glass of wine refilled itself. Leila smiled in recognition. One of the great joys of being dead was never having to go to the fridge for a top-up. ‘Will she fool my friends?’ she wondered.

  Dit laughed. ‘At the moment, she’s more convincing than you are. Their memories have been rewritten to match her version of the world. You would completely freak them out.’

  ‘Wow,’ sighed Leila. Docklands suddenly felt like a very alien place. ‘OK, Dit, let’s do it. Create a new me. Send her out there to live my life.’

  Dit breathed out hard. ‘I’m glad.’ He sounded relieved. ‘It’s the safest thing. She’ll be fully herself in a couple of hours. But we do have one more problem. With both of you running at pretty much full capacity I’ll get a bit short on storage space.’

  Leila thought for a moment. ‘You know, that might be a very easy problem to solve.’

  ‘Really? How come?’

  ‘We’ve found a safe house. An old void site. With a full, heavy duty weave server that’s barely getting any use.’

  Dit beamed with pleasure. ‘Magnificent. At the moment there’s a lot of you sitting on my private storage space. Now I can copy it all across to the safe house server. Once you’ve moved, I’ll delete your new location from my memory. That’s such a relief, I’ve been worried sick they’ll come back and start poking around. Find my systems in the walls and just hard rewrite both of us. Now you’re going to be so much safer.’