by Linda Taimre
“Have you got permission to enter there?” asked the guard, ambling towards them.
“Pardon me?” Kiah frantically thought of things she could say to buy them time. He may be bored, but that’s doesn’t mean he’s not a big guy. He could bench press me with one hand. Kiah’s neck prickled. The guard opened his mouth to repeat himself when the piercing screech of an alarm sounded out. All three of them involuntarily flinched, and the women covered their ears. They looked to the guard.
“That’s a level six alarm. It’s time to leave, ladies.”
“Level six, what does that mean?” Kiah asked.
“It means it’s time to get out of the building, now.” He shepherded them towards the elevator.
“We shouldn’t use the lift during emergencies, right?” Kiah looked at Harriet as they both thought about how to use this to their advantage.
“That doesn’t apply to level six.” A voice from the guard’s communicator could be heard at a low volume. The guard stopped and immediately turned the volume up so that he could listen to the instructions over the noise of the alarm.
“ Core emergency guards to get all persons out of the building immediately. All remaining units to Lab Level, all remaining units to Lab Level.”
The women looked at each other. If that’s where the problem is, that’s where we need to be.
“Right, into the elevator now.” The guard stepped inside and punched two numbers in, 12 and lobby.
“When I get out, go down straight away and exit calmly. If you have any problems, emergency staff on the ground floor can assist you.”
Kiah breathed heavily and gulped. “Thank you, thank you. It’s all so much…”
“Yes. It’ll be okay. Be sure to follow the instructions of the ground floor staff.”
“Oh, yes, certainly.”
The guard frowned as the elevator descended. They arrived at level 12 and the doors hissed open. Red alarm lights washed through the hallway, turning everything into a den of fear. He nodded to the women. “Down to the lobby, now.” Without a further glance, he strode out into the hallway and towards the left where echoes of shouts could be heard. The doors began to hiss shut quickly – Harriet instinctively stuck her foot out and the door stopped before it could close.
“Please do not obstruct the doors. Doors closing. Please do not obstruct the doors.”
“Harriet, what are we doing? Can we do this? What do we do?” Kiah grasped Harriet’s arm and tugged it like a child.
“Kiah, trust me. This is where we need to be.” Harriet grasped Kiah’s shoulders firmly and smiled. For all of Kiah’s posturing and light-fingered youthful thievery, and all of Harriet’s self-possession, they had never been the types to run towards the alarms and flashing red lights. “I have to do this. I have to find out as much as I possibly can. There’s not much time left for Katherine, you know I couldn’t possibly let her go.” Harriet said this with a matter-of-fact tone.
“Doors closing. Please do not obstruct the doors. Doors closing.”
The siren continued to sound in the air and Kiah winced.
“Kiah, my darling. I won’t think anything less of you if you don’t come with me. I’ll still call you in the morning for a coffee,” said Harriet.
“Please do not obstruct the doors. Doors closing. Please do not obstruct the doors.”
“Oh alright dude, we get it, we’ll stop obstructing the doors.” With that, Kiah hit the open door button and grinned at Harriet. They both cautiously stepped into the red light of the hallway. Nodding at each other, they started towards where the guard had gone, following the shouts and electronic voices on the radio. Behind them, a ding announced the arrival of an elevator. The two women jumped and looked around wildly for somewhere to hide. They dashed to the right and Harriet tried the handle of a door. It was locked. Panicking, she squeezed into the doorway itself. Kiah stared at her. “Dumbest hiding place ever.”
“Shut up and squeeze in here with me!” said Harriet.
They pressed themselves as tightly as possible against the door just as three guards appeared in the cross junction. Without glancing to the right, they ran down the hallway following the shouts as the other guard had. Harriet winked at Kiah. “Dumbest hiding place ever, huh?”
“Oh, Harrie. Never wink again.”
Can you feel me? Can you feel that? I will be the doubt in your mind. I will make you afraid, Radley.
Lord Belliscoe nodded at the guards posted near the entrance to the laboratory as the alarm sound finally subsided, leaving only the red flashing warning light. He turned his wide body away and started to walk towards the elevators. First I’ll inform the board. We’ll have to find a new way to contain this abominable threat.
I cannot be contained , Radley .
The voice – thought? Thoughtvoice? – hit him quietly, slipping in at the back of his mind. He stopped still in the red-lit hallway, searching around him with frantic eyes to see who had spoken. The thoughtvoice had a light tone that dispelled as soon as it sounded.
No one spoke. There’s no one there, Radley. So where am I?
Belliscoe had no idea what to do. He had no idea what to think. I must be going mad.
This is not madness, Radley. I am not madness. I am justice.
“What the hell is going on?” Belliscoe said this aloud and immediately regretted it, remembering the guards around the corner. Protectorates were jumpy and tended to quarantine people at the first sign of unidentifiable illness. The safety of their home was sacrosanct. They had to have their haven. A shelter from the horrors of the air was the only way that humanity could survive and continue to thrive, to continue to produce safe children who could grow up and become the best scientists they could be. And from there, those brilliant scientists would be the ones capable of designing something that could save the entire city, the entire country, clean the air or expunge the filth, undo the damage of their ancestors and allow people to live freely again. Children born afraid of breathing do not have time to imagine great scientific leaps forward. So, Belliscoe kept his further exclamations low. He couldn’t risk quarantine.
Quarantine is useless. I am strong enough now to find holes everywhere. There is no place I cannot go.
“Stop! Who are you?”
You cannot tell? Radley Belliscoe. I can see your thoughts. I am in your body.
“That’s impossible.” Belliscoe started pounding down the hallway towards the lifts. Someone’s playing a goddamned trick on me. This is a disgrace.
This is no trick. I am no disgrace.
The man staggered in the hallway and grasped at the grey wall with slippery hands. Kiah and Harriet rounded the corner slowly, just as Belliscoe fell to all fours, breathing heavily and clutching at his heart. Kiah and Harriet ran forward, abandoning secrecy at the sight of him falling.
“Lord, sir, can you hear me?” Harriet kept her voice calm.
“I’ll go get someone to help, Harrie,” Kiah said, rising to take action.
“No!” Belliscoe’s outburst shocked them. They stared at him in the flashing red lights. His small eyes showed a real panic, a true rawness at what he was experiencing. “Please do not get the guards. They cannot see me like this.”
Yes, that wouldn’t do at all, Radley. You can’t spend your last moments in a cold, quarantined box, alone and cut off.
“Stop, stop, stop!”
Harriet jerked her hand away, surprised. “I’m sorry, sir, I don’t –”
“Not you, it,” said Belliscoe. “No, no, no, it, it, it.” Belliscoe hit his head with the palm of his hand, then clenched his fist and started knuckling his forehead.
You won’t be able to get rid of me. I am the only one who can make that choice.
He collapsed on the floor, keening like a scared wolf. “It’s inside. It’s here. In me. It can talk.”
“What? Lord? What can talk?” Harriet asked.
“You – wouldn’t – understand.” Belliscoe forced the words out with fear. His
heart was beating the fastest it ever had in his lifetime. He was close to collapse. Harriet glanced back at Kiah and shook her head in bewilderment. Harriet turned back to the failing man on the floor with a determination that belied her fear.
“Is this something to do with BX59? Sir, is that what’s inside you?” Harriet asked the Lord.
Very close! Woman. Gold hair. I like you.
Belliscoe opened his crying eyes and stared at Harriet’s. “BX59… yes. It has changed. It has grown in ways, unbelievable ways.”
“We read Dr. Kitt’s report. We know that it’s linked to The Fading,” Kiah said.
“You know nothing. There is so, so much more,” the Lord said, tears running down his face. He looked carefully down the hallway and dropped his voice to a whisper. “It can speak to me. It is alive.”
The women looked at each other, both with a frown of confusion. Kiah put her hand gently on the Lord. “Sir, perhaps you’ve hit your head, we should take you to a doctor.”
Tell me, you women, why do you not believe this man?
Harriet and Kiah jerked back suddenly at the gentle echo of the thoughtvoice, both letting out small yelps of surprise. Belliscoe wildly pulled them closer. “You mustn’t let the guards hear you. You heard it too?” Sweat ran down his nose.
“What is happening?” Kiah asked Harriet.
Harriet silently shook her head, and again. “I have no idea,” she whispered.
Belliscoe tightened his grip on their arms, fingernails gouging and causing the women to squirm. “It is alive. And if you can hear it, that means it’s in you now. Like it’s in me.” He let out a quiet moan and let go of their arms to instead start gouging at his cheeks.
“In us? As in, as in, what?” Kiah said.
Harriet slumped down next to Lord Belliscoe. “As in we’re infected, Kiah.” She looked at Belliscoe, still scraping at his own skin, and felt repulsion borne out of fear.
“Fuck,” said Kiah, immediately clamping her hand over her mouth. “Fuck fuck fuck,” she whispered.
Radley. Women. You are all correct. I will be with you now until I choose not to be.
“Shut up, get out, shut up. Stop, please, stop.” Lord Belliscoe let his head loll limply, leaving a patch of sweat on the plasterboard wherever it touched. Kiah stood to prepare herself, holding onto Harriet’s hand.
In Vietnam, a father watched his daughter disappear.
You are so helpless. You are so pathetic.
“Please, BX59, if you are alive, conscious,” said Kiah, eyes wide with disbelief, “please, why won’t you stop? What do you want from us?”
In Germany, three elderly men were shucked off the surface of the air.
Woman, I want to eat.
“And what do you eat?” Harriet asked.
I eat consciousness.
In southern China, a lone woman, Wrenched in her home, lifted up off the floor and vanished.
Belliscoe, terrified, stared up at Harriet with his mouth hanging open. No, no, not my brain. Not me, please , he thought, one of his last thoughts on Earth.
Harriet Braxton and Kiah Billingan . They are smart, these two.
Suddenly, Belliscoe stiffened and began retching, clutching at his throat and vomiting with violent jerks. All of his muscles hurt, ached a deep ache he had never thought possible. He began to scream. “NO –” The scream was cut short as Belliscoe was Wrenched into the air, suspended, outstretched with all of his limbs tensed.
Belliscoe, I am hungry. You are now mine.
Harriet pushed Kiah back, shielding her friend with her body and staring at the man with terror in her eyes. Silence reigned as his body waited, frozen in the air, the only movement being the sweep of the red flashing light. Then, without a sound, Belliscoe’s body achieved an almost fourth dimension and started to lift away from the surface of the air. Harriet dug her nails into Kiah’s arm, Kiah wincing at the pain but not moving her away. Belliscoe’s body lifted, lifted, then disappeared. It was suddenly no more. The vomit remained on the dirty hallway carpet, the only testament to the once-great Lord.
Welcome, Radley. Thank you for your mind and body. It is full of knowledge and sustenance. I am sated.
Listening to their synchronised heavy breathing, Harriet and Kiah stood still, tense, for a moment. Harriet broke first, turning towards the elevators and pressing the button. Kiah turned more slowly, following her friend at a dazed pace and struggling to comprehend what she had just seen.
Kiah Billingan. Harriet Braxton. I need to speak with you.
Kiah shivered as they got in the elevator and stood without selecting a floor.
“Can you hear it? It’s surrounding my brain.” Kiah looked at Harriet blankly. Harriet nodded. “There is no escape from it.”
From her. Me.
Kiah fell into Harriet’s arms. They grasped at each other with desperation. Harriet clenched in preparation for the coming pain and vomit. There was a clarity to her thoughts as she realised she would not be able to say goodbye to Katherine. They stood, clutching each other. Nothing happened.
No. It is not time for that.
Kiah and Harriet stopped at the low thoughtvoice and pulled back slightly from one another with shaking limbs.
You two are very presumptuous. I need you in your current form for now. You will come to me later. Now, go to level nine, meeting room seven.
The women, still holding their arms, slowly turned their faces to each other. Harriet saw tracks of tears down Kiah’s face. “What the hell?” Kiah exclaimed.
Level nine, meeting room seven.
“Or what?” Kiah asked, then almost laughed at her own stupidity. “Oh.” Kiah shook her head and wiped clumsily at her face with the top of her shirt. Harriet pulled away from Kiah.
“So, this is it. We’re being held hostage by a fucking virus. May as well be in quarantine,” she said to Kiah. Harriet pushed the button for level nine and the doors slid shut. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was lank with sweat. She had some of Belliscoe’s vomit on her shirt, on her trousers. She bared her teeth. What a nightmare , thought Harriet. That poor man.
Kiah stared at herself at the same time, feeling wobbly on her feet and unable to fully process thoughts. Harriet took hold of Kiah’s thin hand. They arrived swiftly at level nine, the automated voice advising them that the doors were opening and to alight with care.
“Meeting room seven.” Kiah stared out the window at the expanse of the protectorate, pausing for a moment to look at the green shine that the trees brought to the city.
It. Is. Beautiful. Kiah Billingan. You have a good consciousness. It is pleasant to be around. Katherine Leandros has one too. You both think of Harriet Braxton a lot. These thoughts are pleasant.
I need to feed. But I shall travel with you longer, Kiah Billingan. I wish to speak with Leena Kitt.
I wish to see her.
To see her again. She was there when.
When I.
I. I.
A new pathway forged through the molecules from the heat of human bodies, into and across the spaceless stretch, atoms crashing and wildly finding new partners, new forms of meaning.
Lord Steven Fiennes stopped outside the door to Lady Trinh’s office. Gritting his teeth and lightly clapping his tanned hands together, he took a deep breath and knocked twice, imagining punching in the perfect teeth of Lady Trinh with each knock.
“Enter.”
He opened the door and stepped inside the office. It was plain, with little ornamentation on the walls, nothing on the desk except a few scattered infoslides. The Honourable Lady Long Trinh looked up at Lord Fiennes with a face that seemed almost too large to be supported by her neck. There was nothing to reveal her state of mind, nothing that gave any sense of disdain or eagerness. She stared, her dark eyes embedded in smooth, pale skin. Lord Fiennes loitered near the entrance.
“Steven. Have you something to report?”
“Yes, Lady Trinh. All physical traces of BX59 and Dr. Kitt’s
work have been destroyed. No documents, no data, no containment units remain. Her lab has been fire-cleansed.” Lord Fiennes waited for his superior to comment. After several moments of silence, he spoke. “As such, I would like to return to the education amendments proposed for the protectorate schools.”
“All traces.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“All physical traces.”
“Indeed. I have been to the lab myself and personally inspected the cleanup. It is complete. It was very thorough.”
Lady Trinh continued to stare. “Then why did I learn that Dr. Kitt’s report was intercepted by a GrowForth employee, who in fact was seen entering the Spire today with a second GrowForth employee. “
Steven’s mind rapidly scanned through his options. There was very little he could say that could repair this. “Where did you hear that, my Lady?”
Lady Trinh was silent. She observed Steven calmly, almost gently. There was no apparent judgement in her eyes and her voice had been non-accusatory, factual. Steven Fiennes was not fooled. He knew there was a dragon lurking, unfurling its tail and warming its breath.
“What do you know of this report, Steven?”
“Nothing, my Lady. I have heard nothing.”
Lady Trinh tapped her desk, making the infoslides judder. The noise made Steven flinch. Lady Trinh began to speak in a low voice. “Steven. I have no faith left in you, which you know. You can, though, still be of use to the Spire. If you choose to be.” There was something else in the calm exterior now. Steel had appeared, a knife edge, a spearhead of a harpoon. It was aimed directly at him. “You no longer work here. Your protectorate-unit will be taken away from you and all protectorate privileges will be revoked from you and your family. You have one child, Steven, don’t you? A child that will now attend its first year of school outside the protectorate under the cover of corroded tarpaulin and inadequate air seals. It will almost certainly contract lifelong debilitating asthma, at least.”