Scavenger Blood

by Janet Edwards

  Donnell kept haranguing the Citadel in jeering tones for several more minutes. He finally paused to get his breath back.

  “I told you this wouldn’t work,” muttered Wall.

  “Let me try talking to Cage,” I said.

  Donnell shrugged and handed me the megaphone. I put it against my mouth and pressed the black button.

  “It’s Blaze here, Cage. Remember me? Yes, of course you remember me. How could you forget the girl who bit you on your arm when she was only eleven years old? How could you forget the girl who turned down your offer of marriage because she’d rather kiss a falling star than your ugly face? How could you forget the girl who stood on a table in Reception, and called general justice against you? How could you forget the girl who hit you with a subway train?”

  I pictured Cage standing in the Security Control Room at the top of the Citadel, listening to this with a sulky expression on his face. I laughed, and heard the sound of that laughter echoing around the immense expanse of Wallam-Crane Square.

  “Why won’t you show yourself, Cage?” I shouted. “Why won’t you answer me? Are you so terrified of me that you’re hiding deep in the cellars of the Citadel? So terrified of me that ...”

  I broke off my sentence, because the myriad windows of the Citadel had begun rippling with rainbows of light. A moment later, the whole building changed into Cage’s head. A head that was bigger than the Wallam-Crane Monument. A head that turned to look directly at me.

  Cage’s colossal lips moved, and his voice seemed to come at me from all sides. “No, I haven’t forgotten you, Blaze. I’ve spent many pleasant hours planning how I’ll punish you for defying me. How I’ll make you suffer for a thousand days. How you’ll beg me to let you die.”

  Chapter Thirty-three

  I wanted to run in panic from that massive image of Cage. I wanted to scuttle back inside the Wallam-Crane Monument, hide in one of its multitude of rooms, and curl up in a ball with my eyes closed.

  I mustn’t let myself do that. I wouldn’t let myself do that. The deputy leader of the alliance couldn’t run away from an image of Cage’s head. It was true that this wasn’t like any image I’d ever seen before. It looked like a genuine human head on a mind-numbing scale. Logically though, it couldn’t possibly be real.

  When Tad first turned on the power in New York, I’d been awed to see a vast girl of light dancing on the side of a building. What I was seeing now must be some sort of variation of that. Far more convincingly lifelike, and even more impressive in size, but still just an image created by the magical technology of the past.

  I clenched my hands into fists, and stared defiantly back at the monstrous face. It gave a thunderous laugh, and I couldn’t help jumping nervously.

  “Cage is using the special visual effects of the old public broadcast system,” said Donnell. “I came to Wallam-Crane Square and watched one of the Wallam-Crane family speeches myself when I was a small child. The visual effects were impressive. The Citadel loudspeakers were so effective that no one could miss a word. The only flaw was that it was an incredibly boring speech.”

  Wall laughed, and my tense nerves eased.

  “The visual effects are definitely impressive.” Raeni’s voice shook slightly. She was only twenty-four years old, so could have few childhood memories of technological miracles. She’d probably been just as unnerved as me by the Citadel changing into Cage’s head.

  Donnell took the megaphone from me, held it to his lips, and pressed the button. “Hello, Cage. If you’re using the public broadcast system, then you must be in the Wallam-Crane mansion on the roof of the Citadel.”

  “Of course I’m in the Wallam-Crane mansion,” said Cage. “I have a luxurious palace here, and the entire top of the Citadel is a roof garden. The flowerbeds are a little overgrown these days, but I have lakes full of fish. Not that I’ll need to do any fishing. The Wallam-Crane family left enough food perfectly preserved in stasis boxes to feed hundreds of people for years, and it’s all mine now.”

  The immense face took on an unpleasant, gloating expression. “I’m eating foods that you haven’t tasted in decades, Donnell. How long is it since you ate chocolate? How long is it since you tasted cake and ice cream? How long is it since you drank real whiskey? Would you like to come and dine with me?”

  Wall shook his head. “Do you think Cage has really got a supply of luxury food and drink in the Citadel, or is he just lying to torment us? Weirdly, out of all the foods that I haven’t had in years, it’s bread that I miss the most.”

  Wall had forgotten to whisper those words, speaking in his habitual loud voice instead, so Cage’s head responded by laughing. “Yes, Wall. I’ve enough food for an army in here, including endless quantities of bread. There are ancient medicines too, so that trivial scratch on my arm has healed completely.”

  Donnell lowered his megaphone and turned to murmur in Tad’s ear. “Has Machico done everything necessary, Tad?”

  “The connection is established and locked open as planned,” whispered Tad, “but there are problems getting control of the security system.”

  Donnell frowned. “If the connection is locked open, then I assume I don’t need to keep talking to Cage. He’ll still be using the cameras as his eyes and ears though. Can we do anything to shut them down?”

  Tad nodded eagerly. “Yes, we’ve got control of the public broadcast system now. We can shut down Cage’s incoming sound and vision from the cameras, and his outgoing broadcast as well.”

  “Shut everything down on my signal then,” said Donnell.

  Cage’s voice bellowed at us again. “You’ve gone very quiet, Donnell. Are you shocked to discover that I’m not the starving, wounded fugitive you expected, but perfectly well and living in luxury?”

  I was startled by a giant hand appearing in front of Cage’s face. A hand that seemed to reach out halfway across Wallam-Crane Square. I sternly told myself that this was just a technological illusion, no more real than the magic tricks Machico performed to entertain the alliance children.

  The giant hand retreated towards Cage’s mouth, and I saw it was holding a glass of liquid now. Cage sipped from the glass and gave a satisfied sigh. “The finest whiskey, Donnell. Are you jealous?”

  Donnell grinned and spoke into his megaphone. “I’m not jealous of anything, Cage. I guessed that you were polluting the Citadel with your revolting presence. I came here to check I was right. I’ve done that now, so I’m going back to the Parliament House. Thank you for obediently coming when called.”

  Cage shook his head. “You can’t walk away without fighting me, Donnell. I’ve taken Manhattan from you. I’ve claimed it as my territory.”

  “And you’re welcome to keep it,” said Donnell. “I hereby give you ownership of every one of Manhattan’s disintegrating buildings. I invest you with full authority over its population of cockroaches, rats, and falling stars. I proclaim you the unchallenged monarch of an empty kingdom.”

  He gave a mockingly ornate bow. “Goodbye, Cage. I hope you enjoy ruling Manhattan.”

  “You aren’t leaving, Donnell. I’m not letting you leave. I’m not letting Blaze leave. I’m not letting any of you leave. I’m going to ...”

  Donnell glanced at Tad, and made a slicing gesture with his hand. Cage’s voice was abruptly cut off, the image of his head vanished, and the Citadel was just a massive building again.

  I sagged in relief. However much I’d told myself that giant head was just an illusion created by ancient technology, I’d still found it deeply intimidating.

  “Cage can’t use the cameras to see or hear us now,” said Donnell, “but Machico is still working on getting control of the Citadel security system. We can’t do anything more to help him, so we’ll start going back down the stairs of the Wallam-Crane Monument.”

  He paused. “If Machico manages to shut down the defence system by the time we reach ground level, we can consider entering the Citadel to hunt Cage. I think we might be wiser to leave and ret
urn tomorrow though, because we’ve climbed enough stairs for one day. We don’t need to worry about Cage finding another hiding place, because he’s far too comfortably settled here to want to move.”

  Raeni was looking puzzled. “I suppose Machico is using the cameras to see and hear what we’re doing, but how does Tad know what Machico is ...”

  Ghost interrupted her, speaking in a sharp voice. “What’s happening on the Citadel roof?”

  I turned to look across at the Citadel. I could see what Ghost meant. There was something moving up on the roof, but I couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing.

  “Is that a flock of birds?” asked Wall.

  “Those things aren’t moving like birds,” said Donnell bleakly, “and they can’t be falling stars either, because they’re heading upwards from the Citadel roof.”

  “What are they then?” asked Raeni.

  “I’m not sure, but they’re starting to move towards us.” Donnell groaned. “Tad, what’s happening with the security system?”

  “We’re still having problems,” said Tad tensely. “We keep getting into the system and getting thrown out again. That should be impossible.”

  “I knew it was a mistake to come to Manhattan,” muttered Donnell.

  “Do we stay here or take cover inside the monument?” asked Ice.

  Donnell’s eyes were fixed on the strange objects in the sky. “The slow, deliberate way those things are moving is very distinctive. I think they’re anti-terrorist, seek and destroy drones. In the fighting days of the Resistance, the United Earth Government used that type of drone against us, but they never launched so many at one time.”

  “Cage can’t be sending drones against us,” said Tad. “The Citadel shouldn’t have any drones.”

  “Cage is definitely sending drones against us, Tad,” said Donnell bitterly. “I can see at least fifty flying straight towards us. Do something about them!”

  “I’m trying,” said Tad.

  “I make it eighty drones,” said Ghost.

  “Do we stay here or take cover inside the monument?” repeated Ice.

  Donnell ignored the question for the second time. “Cage can’t see or hear what’s happening out here any longer. That means he can’t be directing those drones himself, so they’ll be using their inbuilt artificial intelligence to make decisions. Their flight path shows that those of us on this balcony are their primary targets. If they take us down, then they’ll carry on to kill everyone else in the immediate area as well.”

  “Then we have to get our people on the ground out of here right away,” said Raeni.

  “Yes.” Donnell went over to the parapet, held his megaphone to his lips, and screamed into it. “Aaron, get all of your people running back to the Parliament House. Don’t stop until you’re inside. If the rest of us don’t make it back, you’re the new alliance leader.”

  I saw the small figures on the ground looking up at us. Aaron was shaking his head.

  “Chaos weeping, Aaron,” yelled Donnell. “Those drones are targeting us now, but they’ll come after you next. If you don’t start running, they’ll follow you back to the Parliament House and wipe out the whole alliance.”

  Aaron turned to face the others, but no one was moving. There seemed to be an argument going on down there.

  Donnell thrust the megaphone at Raeni. “Tell them!”

  “Queens Island, go!” She screamed into the megaphone.

  Ghost grabbed the megaphone from her. “Brooklyn, go!”

  Ice and Wall shouted into the megaphone in turn, Ice simply giving a cold instruction while Wall added an expletive. The people on the ground finally turned and ran across the Unity Bridge. I looked back towards the cloud of drones. They were much closer now.

  “Tad and Raeni, go into the monument and hide in the first room,” Donnell snapped out orders. “Everyone else, prepare to fight, but be ready to withdraw inside the monument on my command. When we do withdraw inside, we’ll join Tad and Raeni in the first room.”

  He paused. “The drones will use our body heat to track us down, and we can expect them to enter the room through both the door and the windows. Our best method of fighting them will be to throw a coat over each drone as it enters the room. That should blind the targeting mechanism, and knock it to the ground, so you can stamp on the central sphere to smash it.”

  All four division leaders readied their bows and arrows. Tad just stood there, staring at the objects in the sky, and muttering to himself. I seized his arm, dragged him to the doorway, and shoved him through it.

  “Get into the first room, hide in the corner, and keep your head down while you get into the security system and stop those drones,” I told him savagely.

  “Raeni, you should follow Donnell’s orders and take cover too,” said Ghost. “You’re only a novice archer, so you can’t help us.”

  “I’m a division leader, and division leaders don’t run from a fight,” said Raeni.

  “It’s your right to stay and fight,” said Ghost, “but I’m asking you to make the harder decision, give us your arrows, go into the monument, and stand ready to help cover our retreat. We’ve no way to retrieve our arrows here, so we have to make every one of them count.”

  Raeni groaned, handed him her quiver of arrows, and went into the monument. Ghost offered the arrows to Ice and Wall.

  “Keep the extra arrows, Ghost,” said Ice. “You’re our finest archer.”

  “I’m the more accurate archer,” said Ghost, “but you two shoot arrows with more power. We share the arrows.”

  I went back to the parapet and stood at Donnell’s side. As the drones came into the tracking range of my gun, its display appeared showing a mass of white dots, and its voice spoke in my head.

  “Eighty seek and destroy drones. Class 3. Laser beam armament.”

  I could see the drones properly now. They were creepy things made of a sphere and a lot of metallic rods, and hovered in the air in a way that looked completely impossible.

  “Chaos weeping,” said Donnell. “Those drones have laser beam armament.”

  “What’s the range of laser beams compared to our guns and bows?” Ghost demanded urgently.

  “Laser beams are more powerful than the energy pulses of our guns,” said Donnell, “but they’re shorter range weapons, and the damage they do depends on their distance from their target. The drones will start firing when they’re just inside bow range, and inflict nasty burns, but they’re far more deadly at close quarters.”

  He knelt behind one of the high points of the parapet. “Blaze and I will start firing the second they’re in range. We’ll keep targeting the nearest drone, but fire alternately. We mustn’t waste our guns’ power by both hitting the same target.”

  Donnell peeked around the edge of the high section of parapet, and raised his arm ready to fire through the gap. I got into position behind the next high section, and Ice, Ghost, and Wall spread themselves out along the parapet on my other side.

  “Gun command designate approaching drones as hostile,” I murmured, and the cloud of white dots on my tracking display turned red. “Gun command automatic targeting nearest hostile.”

  “You should be giving your gun orders by just thinking commands rather than saying them aloud, Blaze,” said Donnell.

  “I’ll worry about that another time,” I said grimly. “Will the archers be able to fire their arrows through these narrow gaps?”

  I heard Ghost laugh. “Of course. This parapet is built in the style of ancient castle battlements. These gaps are crenels, specially designed for medieval archers to fire their arrows at the enemy.”

  “Save the history lessons for later, Ghost,” said Donnell. “Blaze, I’ll fire first. Once you’ve heard my gun firing, acquire your target and fire yourself. You need to hit the drone’s central sphere to take it down.”

  A second later, the leading red dot started flashing. Donnell fired his gun, the leading red dot vanished as the drone plummeted to the ground, a
nd the second started flashing. I fired, taking down the second drone, and Donnell took down the third. When I fired at the fourth, it confused me by keeping going, and Donnell had to shoot it as well.

  “These are tough,” he snapped. “Some need more than one shot before they go down. Blaze, keep alternating shots with me. Archers, you won’t be able to damage those things with arrows, so get into the monument.”

  “Never underestimate a good archer,” said Ghost. “All three of us will need to fire at the closest drone on my order to maximize our chance of taking it down.”

  All my attention was focused on my gun’s tracking display and firing at my targets, but Donnell effortlessly kept talking and firing at the same time. “Ghost, we’ll try your tactic. Start calling orders to the archers when the drones are in bow range. At that point, Blaze and I will change to taking down the second nearest target.”

  I took another shot at a drone, and then I heard a yell from Ghost. “Bow range. Archers shoot on my order.”

  “Gun command automatic targeting second nearest hostile,” I gabbled.

  “Shoot!” yelled Ghost, and the sound of arrows joined that of guns firing.

  “The multiple arrow tactic works against these,” said Donnell. “I’m impressed.”

  “Shoot!” yelled Ghost again.

  The first few drones had been spread out, so we could take them down fast enough to keep them at a distance, but now the main pack was closing in on us and starting to fire their lasers.

  I heard a gasp of pain from Ghost, and knew he’d been hit, but his voice was still calm when he called the next order to the archers. I took my own turn at firing, and wondered whether there was a gun command to count hostile targets.

  I was startled when the voice of my gun spoke in response to my thought. “Thirty-nine hostile targets remaining.”

  I fired again, and hit my target, but a laser beam from another drone scorched my shoulder as I ducked back behind the parapet. I couldn’t hold back a yelp.