Nineveh's Child

by Gerhard Gehrke

  From here they could watch a group of the hunters going about their new assignment of taking inventory of all supplies, whether hardware, foodstuffs, or weaponry. Karl supervised them, and they came to him frequently with questions. It reminded Dinah of school, where Karl was the teacher and the hunters students in constant need of direction.

  Clarice was nowhere in sight, having put herself into a heavy rotation of exterior security duty. Dinah’s interactions with her had all been curt but polite. And Karl said that Clarice wanted to stay even after he informed her that Gregory was leaving.

  Redmon nodded in the hunters’ direction. “How’s it going?”

  “Hard to say,” she said. “Slowly. With most of them, they’re starting to get it. They need to be told everything not part of their normal routine. Orders not given through their communication system sometimes need to be repeated, but I have the system down right now for security reasons. I’m trying something with it.”

  Rosalyn added, “Security reasons meaning she doesn’t trust everyone enough to not try what she did and turn them all against us.”

  Redmon considered this. “That could happen?”

  “Eventually, no,” Dinah said. “We control their drugs. Without them they’d get sick. They’re conditioned to receive orders. We’re keeping them busy until we can evaluate what we can use them for. They won’t be venturing far from this place for a long time.”

  “And what of the ones not here?”

  “Eight have returned, which makes twenty-eight in total under our roof. We shut down their remote med printers and jammed their personal radios after Clarice sent out a final call for them to come back home. Twelve more are unaccounted for, along with two trucks. But we expect them back soon. They’ve all fallen in line with Clarice.”

  “But you’re letting them leave if they want to. Back out there into the world where they can kill people.”

  “Yes. We won’t start having executions. And we can’t keep prisoners indefinitely. They get to leave with some food and water, and that’s it. Except for Gregory none of the hunters want to go. A few redoubt citizens have already left, and Clarice has orders not to stop them. Other people say they’re leaving, but it might be a bluff. I don’t see how any of them will make it. But that’s what some are choosing to do.

  “The ones who go will have a hard time regrouping. Basic survival will see to that. For anyone else that leaves, we’re escorting them out just a few at a time. We’re going to give them a lift and drop them off in different spots far enough away that they wouldn’t be able to make it back for days.”

  “What would stop them from trying to come back in?”

  “Our hunters will keep them out. And hopefully the ones that stay will decide they are being fed and medicated to a proper degree. I’m optimistic that with time, treating them fairly will inspire loyalty. They’ll also get a turn in guarding the place. We need to spread that job around to the other residents, too, so the hunters aren’t exclusively in charge.”

  “I’ve seen the other residents,” Redmon said, a scowl crossing her face as she watched the hunters. “They don’t concern me.”

  “This morning I added something to the hunter drug,” Dinah said. “Karl’s suggestion. A biological tracker that shows up on a sensor, like the kind of device they used to find me. It allows us to keep an eye on them and their location. Just a precaution.”

  “Of course,” Redmon said. She shook her head slowly while watching a passing hunter carry a crate to be stacked with other crates. “They give me the creeps.”

  “He can probably hear you,” Rosalyn said.

  A group of residents came out of the elevator, dressed for garden work. They moved past the three and went about the business of tending the plants and the fish pond. Someone turned on the irrigation system, which started to sputter and hiss misting water.

  They moved away from the planters. Redmon managed to walk with her wheelchair in front of her for a while before once again plopping down and letting Rosalyn push her along.

  “What’s troubling you?” Dinah asked.

  “That anyone would go without a place to land. They must have a destination in mind.”

  “It’s possible. The network had dead connections that I never figured out. There are some supply issues that used to get filled a few years back, but from what source I don’t know. I just haven’t had time to track down any of this. We need to interview people and learn what else is out there, but that’s not my focus right now.”

  “And you trust Karl.”

  “I do. But not enough to put him in charge. That’s what I was hoping to talk to you about.”

  ***

  The vacant suite of administration offices hadn’t been used for its intended purpose in years. Dust layered the desks within, and stacks of boxes lined every wall. The half-dozen people working in the office across the hall had all come to their door and watched Dinah, Redmon, and Rosalyn arrive. They, as well as the rest of Nineveh, had been told what was coming just that morning.

  Rosalyn greeted them with a cheery “Hello!” followed by, “Go back to work!”

  “This will do,” Redmon said as she wheeled herself through the door. She didn’t appear particularly interested in seeing anything past the first row of desks, which butted up against each other to form an L. She rose from her wheelchair and dropped down on a chair behind the desk, and started removing stacks of overstuffed yellow envelopes and placing them on the floor. Her terminal powered up, after she took a minute figuring out how to turn it on.

  “Good, it’s working,” she said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen one of these that’s operational. I’ll need access. To everything. Including the hunter communication network.”

  “There’s a communication box that controls that down in my brother’s office.”

  “Can it be moved?”

  “Probably.”

  “Then have it brought up here. And assign someone who can answer my questions on how to run this thing.”

  Dinah handed over a flash drive she had prepared. With some prompting, Redmon inserted it into an open port. That got her logged in. Her terminal now mirrored Ruben’s. Redmon began pecking at the keyboard and leaned in close to the monitor. The blue light reflected on her face as she read.

  “Follow the prompt and set a password,” Dinah said. “And don’t write it down anywhere. Trust me.”

  The Beast appeared and perched atop a large dusty box behind Redmon, a bored look on his face as he watched them with his languid eye. Dinah warned Redmon of the presence of the hell cat, but she just nodded and ignored him.

  They’ll get on fine.

  Within the hour, Redmon had Dinah and Rosalyn fetch several managers and administrators so she could speak with them. A line soon formed out in the hallway. Their expressions ran the gamut of emotions from fear to anger.

  “Would you like a hunter detailed down here?” Dinah asked.

  “No. That will be all. You can go back to watching the prisoners and whatever project you have going on in the lab.”

  Dinah did as she was told. Something felt good and right and normal about someone else telling her what to do. Redmon was now the one with the authority, and handing that power over had her grinning from ear to ear.

  Rosalyn saw the smile. “What’s up your butt?”

  “This part of it is done.”

  “Hmmm. Not even close. It’s only been a week, and this place is a disaster. We barely have enough people to care for the sick, and that takes people off their other jobs. This place needs maintenance and security. It’s just a matter of time before something grinds to a halt, and bam! No more air. No more fresh water. Dead fish. The veggie crop suffers some catastrophe. Someone lets the chickens out or some predator in.”

  “That all could happen. But maybe not for a while. In the meantime, maybe some of the patients get better. Maybe some that lost their homes and farms will want to come here.”

  “Fat chanc
e. And how well do you even know the woman you put in charge? What is this, Dinah? A gut feeling? Just because she organized some refugees into a counterattack against the hunters doesn’t qualify her to run this place.”

  “Maybe I made an informed decision based on intuition.”

  “It’s stupid.”

  “Possibly. She’ll need help, but you’ll be around. And to top it all off, the Beast likes her.”

  “Leaving you to do what?”

  “Don’t worry. I have a job that will keep me busy. You’ll see.”

  ***

  Dinah took her usual stairwell shortcut down to the research wing, bypassing the central elevator and its inevitable wait now that the redoubt had reached a new level of activity. She had dismissed her hunter escort after the first couple of days.

  Clarice was waiting for her on the bottom landing, a hand holding the door to the hallway closed. Dinah instantly realized how vulnerable she was, with no one close enough to hear her scream. And if anyone did hear, what could they do? The hunter had two knives visible and no doubt a dozen more lethal tools in every fold of her garment.

  “You left me a note,” Clarice said.

  It took Dinah a moment to remember that she had. She fought to suppress a tremor in her voice. “Uh, yes. I thought we should talk for minute. In private.”

  “This is private.”

  Dinah nodded. A nervous laugh escaped her. “I wanted you to know that you’re in charge of the hunters. You will continue to hold that authority. Redmon will be calling the shots in the redoubt, and you will have to follow her orders, but when it comes to the hunters and their care, she will back you up as their commander. Karl will be assisting you.”

  “Why are we having this conversation?”

  “Because I’ve been trying to figure you—the hunters—out. Nineveh needs you in place for it to survive. You hunters are like a family, I think, in your own way. But the way you are now, you’re also broken.”

  Clarice’s frozen expression told Dinah nothing. “Go on.”

  “I’m hoping you’re the one who can see clearly enough to know that it needs fixing, however long it might take. I don’t know how much of this was my brother, or this place, or the drugs. I refuse to let the drugs become the solution to this.

  “What are you asking?”

  “I need to hear it from you that you’ll continue to work along with Redmon. And Karl. So this whole place can be saved.”

  “That’s what I agreed to. If you feel it’s necessary for me to repeat myself, then I will. I agree to cooperate, as do my brothers and sisters. But I do wonder what it is you’re planning. I will need to know soon, because it might be within your power to make us better so we’re not reliant on the drug. Maybe that way we’ll be free to make our own choices.”

  “That’s something we all want. Eventually.”

  Clarice nodded and let Dinah pass.

  40. Exit

  The general alert klaxon sounded, three deep bleats with a five-second rest in between.

  Redmon was just finishing giving her third pre-supper speech of the month to a cafeteria full of Nineveh’s residents keen on knowing what was going to happen next. Most seemed content enough hearing that their role in keeping the redoubt running wouldn’t change much, except for that everyone would continue to receive extra hospital duty.

  A half-dozen hunters stood silently against the walls of the cafeteria, disengaged from both the speech and the meal being served on the steam tables, some sort of meat in a fatty gray gravy and trays of cooked vegetables. Karl, Rosalyn, and Dinah sat at a table in front of the room, politely attentive to Redmon’s every word.

  The speech had been short, less than six minutes, but it reassured the listeners that progress was being made and that changes and improvements were forthcoming.

  Then the klaxon started up.

  Redmon had the hunters go see what was going on. She next spoke into her own com. The communication network was back online, but now all traffic could be heard by both Clarice and Redmon. They would always know what the hunters were saying. Soon enough, Clarice came to report.

  “It’s an outside alarm,” she said. “We were already locked down for the night, so the perimeter is secure. All hunters are at their posts. The system hasn’t given us any information, and surveillance hasn’t shown us anything. We’re checking all of the interior hallways and stairwells as we speak.”

  “Best guess?” Redmon asked.

  “I don’t have enough information.”

  Redmon sighed. “Have there been previous general alerts like this, and if so what were the causes?”

  “None like this. Large animals triggering perimeter security wouldn’t trip the general base alarm. An exterior door breach could. All doors and access points have been visually checked, and they’re all secure. Previous alarms have been mechanical in nature from systems within Nineveh. Since the alert is from an outer alarm, this could be a door sensor malfunction.”

  “Fine. Keep the hunters at their positions. Keep me posted. And turn off the alarm.”

  Clarice nodded and began issuing guttural orders through her throat mic. The alarm went silent.

  Redmon said, “Let’s eat.”

  Dinah excused herself. Only Rosalyn noticed. Dinah tapped her temple and shook her head. She feigned a pained expression.

  “I’ll be down with the prisoners,” she whispered.

  She walked the empty halls to the school wing. The pair of active classrooms that still had signs of use made her wonder if her generation had been doomed to fail from the start. Could so few children keep Nineveh alive? She doubted it.

  The klaxons started up again as if a fresh alert had been triggered. Just as she had programmed it. The false alarms would keep the guards centered on the greenhouse.

  She found Dr. M in his office, leaning too close to a monitor as he squinted to read.

  “That’s bad for your eyes,” she said.

  He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his face. At that moment, he looked ancient. The strain of the past weeks, the years under her brother’s thumb, and even just life in the redoubt appeared to have drained him of his life force. Perhaps there was nothing left of the man she had eavesdropped on trying to have sex with Dr. Hel. She felt an odd sense of guilt, as if she’d had some role in his sad life path.

  “Are you ready?”

  “Dinah, are you sure…” He didn’t finish the question, just trailed off.

  “Are the doors to the east stairwell open?”

  He stared at her. She nudged him away from his computer, logged him out, and did her own check. Her fingers danced on his keys. She nodded. He had done as she had asked. All the doors between the White Room and the east stairwell were indeed open, and the two special security doors to the outside at the top were unlocked. The outer alarm was deactivated, not that anyone monitoring the security station would notice if it went off over the blaring of the false alarm.

  “Is he ready?” she asked.

  “I checked the last blood samples you brought me. He’s stabilized. I speculate that the genetic changes shouldn’t reverse, not without extensive therapy. But if you’d only let me go down to the White Room and see him for myself, there are other tests…”

  “No. But thank you.”

  He started to say something, but the words caught in his throat. She gave him a hug. It was at an awkward angle, and he didn’t seem to know where to put his hands, so he just sat there. He tried to speak again, and just shook his head.

  “It’s okay, Doctor M. I know you tried your best. My brother couldn’t have been stopped. This place still needs you. Help them.”

  “But what about you?”

  “I’ll be fine. Now wait for my signal.”

  She left him and went downstairs to the research wing. A howl echoed down the hallway from the White Room. She ignored it and went to the cells where her two prisoners waited.

  Dr. Hel slapped at her metal door. “What is going o
n?”

  Dinah placed two rucksacks she had prepared at each of the doors. She then unlocked both cells. Gregory and Dr. Hel both emerged, Dr. Hel staring daggers and Gregory immediately picking up one of the rucksacks. He wore his odd smile. Dinah backed up to the hallway door. In one hand, she gripped a poison injector.

  “What’s in there will tide both of you over for a couple of days,” Dinah said. “I’m sorry we can’t do this in the morning. It would have been easier for you.”

  Dr. Hel’s eyes were wild, looking at Dinah, then down at the rucksack, and around at the flashing red lights. “You don’t have the authority to do this. I’ve changed my mind. I’m staying.”

  “That’s no longer an option. If you stay, you’ll die. Hiding in your cell won’t save you.”

  As if on cue, another howl reverberated, the sound amplified through the vents above them.

  To Gregory, Dinah said, “Stick together. You’ll have a better chance. Take this hallway to the stairs. The way will be unlocked. And if you return, the orders will be to shoot on sight. I suggest you leave as quickly as possible.”

  “Why?” Dr. Hel asked. “What do you mean? What have you done?”

  Dinah pointed down the hall. “That way. Goodbye, Doctor Hel. Go while you still can.”

  Dinah turned and left them and jogged down to the White Room. Part of her expected Gregory to follow, to try something. He was smart and fast and might have outrun her. She heard Dr. Hel screaming at him to do something. But Dinah made it into the lab and locked the door behind her without incident.

  She set the poison injector down. It hadn’t been loaded. None of the hunters was permitted to carry them anymore. They all were immune to its venom, which was why her brother had survived when she had used it on him. Whether Gregory knew this or not was unclear. But for Dinah, having seen what the poison had done to Michelle had been too much. She hated touching the thing.

  “Doctor M?” she said into a com she pulled from a pocket.