by Waiting for the Machines to Fall Asleep- The Best New Science Fiction from Sweden (retail) (epub)
Ida didn't want to remember any more of those days. Already she had lost her appetite. She had a few sleeping pills left. They were dated more than a year ago, but they would do the trick. She desperately wanted to sleep.
Ida woke up to find that her prayers had been answered, but in a terrible, twisted way. Linus was home again, and he was sick. He and his friends had explored an abandoned house when they accidentally disturbed a hive of wereflies. Linus had been stung, and he would most probably die. She knew it, and his friends knew it. Ida appreciated the effort they had made to bring him home, to let them spend his last hours together. Gently the boys put their friend on his bed. They didn't meet her eyes when they told her how sorry they were.
In their own grief there still was room for concern for their dying friend's mother. They asked if there was something they could do. With tears in her eyes Ida thanked them, but since there was nothing more to be said or done, they left. She made sure Linus was as comfortable as possible.
Ida forced all of her devastation into a tight ball of determination. No way she was going to let her only son die. Now was the time to break an oath she had once sworn. It couldn't be helped. Anything to save her boy.
She crawled under his bed. Lying flat on her stomach, she pried loose a large chunk of cement from the wall. She put her hands into the hole and pulled out a sleek handgun, hiding it under her left arm, using her bra to keep it in place. She was glad she had kept it. Almost everything else Nils had given her was long gone. She cursed herself for so eagerly having traded away the datapad. Everything would easily have been solved had she still had it.
With a last glance at her son she closed the door and all but ran through the corridors, out to the open streets, heading for the Dark Zone. It was a place where decent people didn't go, at least not openly. But desperate needs called for desperate actions, and what she wanted could only be found there.
She suspected that many of the people living underground in the Dark Zone were actually runaway androids. There was a bit too much technology that no ordinary Outskirters could have been able to fix. In fact, she had a feeling that most people shared her suspicions, though no one ever talked about it. The Dark Zoners had never caused any trouble. On the contrary, they had been very helpful fixing some of the communities' various systems.
When she entered the area, Ida was immediately on the alert. No one looked like they cared about her presence, though she was sure her every step was closely monitored. She walked along the main street, carefully scrutinizing every wall she passed. Suddenly, she stopped outside an old warehouse, its walls covered in graffiti. There she saw a marking in the shape of a dorbug, though it was only visible to someone who knew what to look for. Not hidden nor clearly visible, it was there, integrated into the words and designs. The sign she had been looking for.
On the right side of the entrance a tall man was casually leaning against the wall, protected from the rain under a metal roof that extended from the building. She immediately knew he was the one she should talk to. There was no need for him to stand there unless he was on watch. Also, he was clearly not human. His back was a bit too straight, his movements a bit too smooth.
She approached him, showing a confidence she did not have.
"I would like to purchase something," she said, searching for some sort of first contact.
He didn't even look at her.
"I'm not a merchant."
"There are some services that I am in need of," she insisted.
"Sorry, I do not offer any services either."
She stood quietly for a moment, annoyed at how completely he was able to ignore her.
"The dorbug flies at dusk."
Her voice was low, almost a whisper. Still no reaction. That code had been her last hope. She knew this was the right building; the marking on the wall was there. Perhaps the old man who had promised her a favor was dead by now, or maybe he had lied to her. The only thing she could be sure of was that her son was very sick, and this was her only chance to save him.
Then the male android moved. Slowly, he turned away from her and walked towards the large warehouse doors. He opened one of them and held it for a little longer than necessary. Ida decided it was an invitation and slipped in behind him. The door closed, and she found herself standing in total darkness. A dim light came on, and she knew it was only as a courtesy to her. Androids had night vision.
Well-used crates were stacked all over the place, turning the hall into a maze. Ida trotted after her guide like a child. Despite her trouble keeping up with his pace, she was glad he didn't slow down for her sake. The faster she could get to the man she was looking for, the better.
The male she followed acted like he hadn't seen her sneaking in behind him, but, of course, he was fully aware of her presence.
After a rather long walk through winding corridors and up and down various stairs, he halted in front of a door. Ida couldn't tell what level they were on. She had tried to keep track, and her best guess was sub-level 5.
Ida took a quick look around. A spy eye was mounted above the door, and there were signs of high-level technology everywhere. The place was in a good state of repair, with no visible signs of water damage. They must keep busy down here. It would benefit the whole community if they could openly welcome these androids that clearly still had their wits intact. No one else was skilled enough to fix all the devices that, one after the other, had stopped functioning. She knew it must be happening inside the City as well and, when the City collapsed, Serenity would have a huge advantage if they formed a secret alliance with these underground robots. They would be the ones able to restore the technological world, and their lives in misery would be over. At least, that had been her thinking these past years. It was how she had justified her choice to let her son be born as an Outskirter. Now everything had changed. That dream of hers had been threatened the very moment Linus was stung.
The door opened and behind it was, indeed, the person she had been looking for. He was sitting at a large desk reading something that seemed to be of great importance. The light from the screen gave his face a slightly green tint and made him appear sick. Visibly older than last time they had met, his hair had gone thin and gray. Ida had been pregnant then and a newcomer to the community. As it happened, she had saved his life that day. The decision had been goodhearted, but it had also been naive. The reality for these less fortunate people she had so recently joined was much harsher than she could have ever imagined. Had she known the cost of helping him, she never would have done it. That latter part was something she had never bothered to tell him.
By pure coincidence she had found him unconscious and feverish in one of the narrow alleys near her new home. Dark spots had already begun to show on his face, and she knew exactly what was wrong with him. He had been stung by a werefly.
From the inside pocket of her coat, she had taken out a small injector with the antidote that Nils had given her. She gave the man one dose and stayed with him all night, moistening his dry lips with cold water and tending to him the best way she possibly could. In the morning, he seemed a little bit better and she gave him a second dose. Two out of three precious doses carelessly wasted on a stranger. She didn't know then that the antidote was impossible to obtain out here. The third and last dose she had been forced to use herself a couple of years later when stung while scouting the surrounding forests. Wereflies were not common, but if you were unlucky enough to walk into one of their nests and disturb them, you couldn't expect to live more than five days. At the end the poison turned a person's eyes all white, seemingly huge in a gaunt face. The dying victims' uncanny resemblance to the fly itself had been the reason for its name.
The stranger had been grateful, of course, and promised her a favor. He hinted that he had connections that could get him almost anything. Unfortunately, he had fallen ill far away from his home zone and hadn't been able to contact his friends; otherwise they would have come to his aid. Not that they would have
had the means to save his life, but at least they would have taken care of him, not left him alone, dying in the street.
To prove his gratitude – and possibly his power – he had sent her some very useful and hard-to-get things. Apparently he had had her followed. She didn't like it, but at least she was convinced that he could be useful some day. Now the time had come to claim her favor.
"What can I do for you?"
His features were emotionless. Ida had no time for small talk, and fortunately he didn't seem to expect it. She decided to get straight to the point.
"I need access to the Blue Moon."
He said nothing. That was probably not the kind of favor he had expected her to ask.
"I'll see what I can do." He looked at the screen again, as if to dismiss her. But she wasn't leaving.
"I need it now."
He looked up at her again.
"What's so urgent?"
She clenched her teeth. "A private matter." His penetrating gaze told her that he would see through any lies so she decided to stick to the truth. "My son is dying and I need to get in touch with someone. The ground connections don't reach that far. The transmission needs to go by satellite."
She could only hope that he didn't know about her past. That would most probably raise his suspicions.
For a couple of seconds he seemed to consider her answer. Then, without her noticing he somehow gave a signal. The door opened and the very same android who had escorted her just minutes earlier appeared.
"Take our visitor to Green 222. The lady here needs to send a private message. See to it." He turned his gaze towards her again.
"You have 30 seconds."
Ida nodded. That was more time than she had hoped for. Once more she hurried after her guide, who continued to ignore her. Through narrow corridors and down dark concrete stairs they went. These premises were far bigger than she could have ever imagined. A fully developed society was blossoming underground, and because of her it would soon be gone.
No time for remorse, no time to turn back. Time was running out as the life of her son was coming closer to an end. Heavy safety doors with large mechanical locks led them into their final destination. She took a deep breath, pushing all feelings aside. She could do this, she told herself. After all, she was trained to perform tasks that required a mind freed from useless and disturbing emotions.
They entered a tiny room. Three working stations were occupied by older models of androids that would never pass as humans. One of them moved as they entered, leaving his place for her. Not a word was said.
She leaned towards the screen as if her eyesight was bad, discreetly pressing her left little finger on its corner while she wrote a message about her son's condition to an acquaintance in another community. He surely would be confused when he got it. Thirty seconds passed and the screen blackened. If the chip in her finger still worked, and if Nils kept his promise, her son would live. Those were too many ifs, but this was the best she could do. It had to work.
Winding corridors very much like the ones her quiet guide had led her through only minutes earlier eventually brought her back to the ground level. Sudden daylight caught her by surprise. The door she walked out of was not the same one she had entered. Once it closed behind her, it gave no sign of having ever been opened. No handles, no locks. It was barely visible. Had she not just passed through it, she would never have guessed it existed.
It took her some time to figure out which way to go. As fast as she could, she returned to her home zone. She took a quick look at one of the news screens. The clock in the corner told her she had been gone for almost two hours. Too long, she thought. Dread stopped her breath. What if it was already too late?
Sweaty and exhausted, she entered the room where Linus lay, exactly as she had left him. She leaned over him and breathed a sigh of relief. He was hot with fever but still alive. Now she needed to get him up on the rooftop, and that was something she could not accomplish herself. Linus wasn't a baby anymore; he was almost a full-grown man. Slender as he was, he was still too heavy for her to carry. She needed his friends. Again she darted off to find them, only to realize after a few steps that searching for them would take too long. Instead she spotted a large, strong-looking man. He would do fine, she decided. Ida could feel the little gun on her skin. He could have it for helping her. She walked right up to him.
"I need help carrying something to the roof top."
"Sorry. I'm waiting for my girl," he said, looking away.
Ida discreetly put her hand inside the wide neck of her dress to let him catch a glimpse of her elegant little weapon.
"You'll have this as payment for your services. It won't take long."
A spark of interest gave him away. She knew he would do it. He had most definitely never seen any device in such perfect condition as her LM 450. Without waiting for him to confirm, she turned around, back towards her room. She could feel the man following right behind her.
He seemed surprised when he saw what his load would be. Ida gave him a quick explanation.
"He's been stung by a werefly and he is dying. I want him to breathe some fresh air one last time," she said, only partially lying. She no longer cared what he thought of her. The shining gun he knew she carried had now moved into the pocket of her cardigan. It was clear that she was pointing it at him through the fabric. Without a word he lifted the sick boy, whose body lay slack in his arms. It pained Ida to see her child in such a helpless condition.
"Roof top. The quickest way possible. I'll follow close behind."
They pushed themselves through the more popular meeting places, heading for a less crowded area. As they walked up the stairs Nils's words ran through her mind: "If you ever want to come back inside, send the message stored in your fingertip. I will send people to get you. Get up on the roof of the building you live in. I'll know which one."
And yes, of course he knew. It had been childish of her to pretend she was living a free and rebellious life out here. Her brother knew everything.
Climbing the final flight of stairs, she could hear distant humming of copters.
"I'm sorry, Erik," she whispered, and she realized she truly was. But he would never know that. Instead, these words were the final goodbye to her closest friend, one she would never see again. "I might have said yes had things been different."
She cleared her throat and steadied her voice. "Hurry!" she ordered her carrier. How quickly she fell into old habits. Clearly distressed, he kicked the door open and they were out. The quiet rain had turned into a downpour. Not that the man had bought her story about fresh air for the boy anyway.
"Put him there." She pointed. He obeyed. As soon as his arms were freed from his burden Ida tossed him the gun.
"Go," she said. The copters were close now, and he more than willingly left her to meet her fate, whatever that might be.
Linus's temperature was back to normal, and he didn't hiss when he breathed anymore. It had been a close call. A few more hours, and no cure would have been potent enough to save him. Grateful was an understatement, but Ida lacked a better word for what she felt. In a few days her son would be walking around again.
He looked so much like his father, whom she had only known for a brief period of time. She had loved him, gotten pregnant, and then he had died in a work-related accident. That was it. Her only love story. Short and unhappy. And worth every second. It had given her Linus.
"So glad to finally meet my nephew. He's responding well to the treatment, the doctor tells me," Nils said, entering the room.
When she had heard the door open behind her, she had expected a nurse, not her brother. She regained control over her expression before she turned to him. He looked pretty much the same as he had when she had left. With his rank, he could well afford treatments preventing him from aging, an option that had been unavailable to her. Anyone who saw them together would mistake her for the older sibling.
"Thank you for saving my boy."
"I promised you I would come and get you when you were ready to come home, little sister. It took a lot longer than I had expected, but I never gave up hope."
She felt his hand on her shoulders. Nils had always been very protective of her. She was now certain that he had known exactly what she had been up to since she left. As Chief of Security not much could be hidden from him, regardless of which side of the wall the events occurred on.
"Please, don't let him go below," she said in a low voice.
He let go of her shoulder.
"Things have changed. We understand now that not everyone is suitable to become wardens. Meticulous tests are conducted on every applicant. I will make sure that he won't pass, for your sake. Still, you have to accept the order of things. Some bloodlines are superior to others, and whatever course necessary to provide for us has to be taken."
Ida nodded. She knew that he was aware of her gratitude for looking after Linus without any words spoken. She also knew that she had fought her impossible battle and lost. There was nothing more to be said or done on the matter.
"We have a lot of catching up to do. Dinner tonight? I would like you to meet my wife and children. Your shift ends at seven I believe." His voice was cheery.
"I would love to," she said, a fake smile brightening her face. How easy it was to step into the personality of the old Ida. Well-born and privileged, her family line had ensured her a life of luxury. And it also put duties on her shoulders. Duties she could no longer escape.
"It might seem a bit harsh to throw you back into work after only a few days back home, but it is expected of someone with your rank."
She stood up and straightened her back. For the first time since her arrival, she looked her brother directly in his eyes, letting him know that she understood. She was preparing to leave for work when he stopped her.