Countdown to Extinction

by Louise Moss

  Hagan had not foreseen any difficulty. Within minutes of arriving in his laboratory, the Primitives had agreed to the Welsh couple but instead of returning to their quarters, Gerald had said, “We also need a midwife.”

  “The Leaders have given permission for two people only.”

  “Just the man on his own then, plus the midwife,” Gerald said.

  “The two are needed for the knowledge that they hold.”

  “Then you’ll have to bring out at least three, people preferably four – two couples.”

  Hagan paused. “I may not disobey the Leaders.”

  “You said we could choose.” Gerald’s voice was getting loud now.

  “You’ll have to tell them that things have changed now.”

  Hagan wished they would leave. “I will consult with them.”

  “I told you, you’ve got to stop trying to control people or things could go badly wrong like they did last time. “

  “I obey the Leaders’ instructions. A world where everyone did as they wished would be chaos.”

  “The Leaders can set the overall plan, but there should be a committee of people who will decide what has to be done from day to day. “You’ll need to be on the committee, as you’re the only one who can talk to the Leaders.”

  “The Leaders give me instructions. I do not question them.”

  “In that case, we’ll make our own decisions!” Emma shouted.

  “We need to run things as we used to at first, then see if there are ways our two worlds can exist together. It will take time, perhaps many generations, before we can be fully integrated into your world,” Gerald said.

  Hagan remained silent. It was all just meaningless words. Gerald was still talking. “When the Leaders see that we have much knowledge to share with them, perhaps they will see things differently.”

  The extent of the Primitives’ illusions was astonishing.

  The woman particularly needed to be controlled. She was screaming now. “You’re not going to take my baby away!”

  “The Leaders have informed me that the babies will not be taken away.”

  “You’re sure? They won’t come here and take my baby away?”

  “No, that will not happen. The Leaders wish you to stay here where you are safe.” What the Leaders had actually said was that when the population had reached sufficient numbers, the children would be removed, their minds cleansed and reprogrammed so that they could live as his own people lived. Then, at last, their parents would be eliminated.

  “We want to be free, and to go where we want,” Gerald said.

  “The Leaders wish only to avoid the difficulties of the past.“

  Hagan congratulated himself on the way he had handled the Primitives. He had avoided a possible disaster. They were unpredictable and quite capable of being violent and destroying everything in their path. Unknown to all of them, though, there was an even bigger disaster just around the corner.

  Hagan notified the Leaders about the pregnancy but before he received his orders, Gerald rushed into the laboratory, his face flushed, asking whether he had brought the new bodies out of the vault yet.

  “I am awaiting the Leaders’ instructions. I have informed them that the woman is pregnant and you have requested a midwife.”

  “Thank goodness! Don’t bring them out yet. Have you seen these? There’s hundreds, all over the Plains.” He spread something small and hard on the bench that resembled the wheat seeds. “They look like some sort of insect eggs, but I’ve never seen them before. I haven’t been able to open them”

  A message flashed up on the wall. “The system is unable to identify them,” Hagan said, moving the pellets to the secure cabinet.

  “You mean it’s a new, unknown species?”

  “That appears to be the case.”

  Gerald felt the blood drain from his face. A new, possibly deadly species. “We should kill them now. They could destroy the crops.”

  “I will carry out tests.”

  Hagan turned on the magnification and studied the creature: its body was pitted with craters in a regular pattern, but its head was smooth. Its mandibles were long, sharp, and ridged and its front legs resembled pincers. A liquid exuded from its body, and this time the system was able to identify it. Sulphuric acid.

  Gerald shook his head, “No, it can’t be.”

  “A change has taken place and a mutant has been created,” Hagan said.

  “We knew that some insects could stay in the ground, dormant, for many hundreds of years, waiting for the right conditions to emerge,” Gerald said, “But this is a new species.”

  “I believe from my studies that creatures that exuded sulphuric acid were common in your time.”

  “I don’t know, but the amount would have been very small, just enough to deter predators, nothing of any danger to humans.”

  Another message flashed onto the screen. Gerald could not understand it, but he knew what it meant. This creature produced large quantities of sulphuric acid. “We must find a way to destroy the pellets. If they hatch out on the Plains, everything will be destroyed, everything we have worked for will be gone.”

  As Hagan studied the screen, Gerald wanted to take hold of him and shake him. Didn’t he realise that sulphuric acid could burn through the safety cabinet? That sulphuric acid would destroy buildings as well as crops until there was nothing left?

  Wiping the sweat from his face with the back of his hand, he said, “What have we done? We have created monsters.”

  “You must bring the woman to the vault,” Hagan said. “I will begin tests.”

  Gerald returned with a pale faced Emma. Sitting down on Hagan’s chair, the only chair in the room, she watched him mixing chemicals in a container before saying, “We used to pour salt on slugs.”

  Gerald put his arm round her, struggling to keep his voice calm. “Slugs have a soft shell. These pellets are hard. Salt wouldn’t penetrate them.”

  Salt was the most plentiful substance on the planet. When the sea level rose in 2059, many low lying lands were flooded. Fifty years later, it retreated and dried up, leaving much land covered in salt. Salt would make no difference to this situation.

  “We had marine organisms that excreted calcite,” Gerald said. “This formed limestone, which was used to neutralize acid soils. It’s a long shot but worth a try. Do you have any limestone or calcium in the vault?”

  Hagan wished Primitives would go back to their room and leave him to get on with his tests, but they showed no sign of moving. The laboratory was crowded and fear had increased their obnoxious smell. “Very little. Limestone was mined up to the year 3505, when there were no further supplies anywhere in the world. There is a very small quantity stored in the vault. I will retrieve it.”

  To avoid alarming the Primitives, he set the system to move the limestone from the vault to his own room. He understood the man and woman enough to know that the sudden materialisation of a dish of limestone, descending gently onto the table, would cause an increase in glucose, calcium and white blood cells.

  He returned with a greyish powder in a dish and placed in the cabinet. To his surprised, the insects moved towards it, climbing over each other in their eagerness to reach it. Those that could get to the powder demolished it rapidly and searched for more.

  “Well, they liked that!” said Emma.

  “Yes, but it is unlikely to harm them or they wouldn’t have eaten it,” Gerald said, shaking his head.

  He sat with Emma, sat listening to the squeaking of the insects as Hagan continued with his experiments. Everything was pointless if these creatures could not be defeated.

  It was Emma who first realised the squeaking had stopped. “It’s quiet in there,” she said, making her way over to the cabinet. “I think they might be slowing down.”

  “Don’t get too close,“ he said, moving her gently out of the way. “I think you could be right.”

  “They’re not running around so fast. What do you think, Hagan?” />
  Hagan had all the information he needed from the system. He had no need to look.

  “Yes, you are right. Some of them have ceased moving.”

  “They can’t really be killed by something as simple as limestone, can they?” Emma said.

  “It does appear so.”

  “Do you have enough limestone to spread on the Plains?”

  “The system has identified a substance that will destroy the insects.”

  “Do you have any?” Gerald asked.

  “I will attend to it.”

  “There’s something you’re not telling us.”

  Hagan had a dilemma. The truth would send them into a spiral of fear, but withholding it would have the same effect. The woman in particular was a concern. Extended period of fear could cause the loss of the child.

  “Bones will kill the insect.”

  “Do you have a supply of bones?”

  Gerald sat down hard on the chair. He had retrieved the answer from Hagan’s mind. ”Let’s leave Hagan to it, he knows what he’s doing,” Gerald said, taking Emma’s arm.

  “I’m not leaving here until you tell me the truth,” she said, her hand on her hip. “You’re hiding something.”

  “It would be better if you did not know.”

  “You’re frightening me now.”

  “All right, I’ll tell you, but sit down here first.” When she was seated, he said, “The only supply of bones is from the people killed in the riot.”

  “You can’t use those!”

  They sat in silence except for a few squeaks from the dying insects. Eventually Gerald asked, “What did you do with the bodies?”

  Suddenly Zorina appeared in the door. “Tell them or we all die.”

  “Very well. The bodies were burned in a pit.”

  Emma shuddered. “Like those cattle with mad cow disease?”

  Only a slight trembling in his voice betrayed Gerald’s horror. “Where is it?”

  “Some distance away.”

  Gerald buried his head in his hands. “We can’t do it. Take human bones and—”

  Hagan did not need the Primitives. It would be quicker on his own.

  “Zorina and I will bring the bones back,” Hagan said, although he doubted whether Zorina would agree to go Outside and anyway, it needed more than the two of them to complete the task quickly.

  Emma shook her head. After a moment, she took Gerald’s hand. “It’s the only way,” she whispered, “We’ll have to do it.”

  “I will get the trailer,” Hagan said. “Meet me outside. I will bring protective suits.

  Zorina followed Hagan out. “I cannot go outside again.”

  “I cannot do this without you. These insects will destroy the planet. We cannot let that happen.”

  “I do not know how I can do this, but I see that it is necessary and I will try.”

  “I have stopped the revival of the Primitives but it is not without its risks.”

  “The Leaders will understand if they have to be discarded from the programme.”

  Gerald and Emma were waiting at the exit. They put on the suits Hagan had brought for them and went outside where the trailer was waiting. The men took hold of the handles and pulled, while the women pushed. Progress was slow. Neither Hagan nor Zorina were used to such work. Muscles stood out on their necks as they pulled and pushed the trailer over the pitted ground.

  Reaching the Plains, they paused to catch their breath. The insects that had hatched flew into the protective suits, bouncing off the surface unhurt, but leaving tiny holes where the sulfuric acid had burned through the material.

  Emma batted the insects away furiously. One landed on her eye mask.

  Zorina slumped to the ground awkwardly. “She’s just fainted,” Emma said, crouching down. They pulled her up into a sitting position and propped her against the back of the trailer.

  “It is difficult for her,” said Hagan.

  “It’s difficult for all of us,” Emma snapped.

  Zorina opened her eyes. Three faces peered down at her. She pushed Emma and Gerald away before turning to Hagan. “I cannot do it,” she said.

  Emma stamped her foot. “She’s not pulling her weight. She never has.”

  “It won’t help getting annoyed with her.”

  “Zorina cannot walk,” Hagan said, helping her into the trailer. “We must carry her.”

  “If you’re carrying her, you should carry me as well,” Emma said.

  “Please, get in the trailer and we will carry you also,” Hagan said.

  Emma shook her head. “I’m not a slacker like her,” she said, looking menacingly at Zorina, who had her eyes firmly fixed in the opposite direction.

  They could smell the pit before they reached it, the stench of rotting bodies blowing across the Plains on the wind. As they drew nearer, they caught a glimpse of hundreds of blackened, burned bodies piled up in the pit, maggots covering the top layer of bodies. Gerald and Emma fought the urge to vomit. If they had to remove the protective head gear, the result would be hundreds of painful burns.

  Hagan said, “Wait here. I will collect the bones. You two can load them onto the trailer.”

  Zorina stirred and climbed out of the trailer, descending into the pit to tear limbs away from bodies. The other two turned away until they heard a thud behind them. Have some respect, Gerald thought, but realised the futility of it.

  They picked up the charred, blackened bones covered in crisp, bubbling flesh, trying to push away the images that crowded into their minds of the riot and the killing frenzy. These people had been brutally murdered, but their deaths would not be in vain. As they laid them one by one in the trailer, Emma thanked each one for their sacrifice. Turning at the sound of a thick thud, they saw a skull landing on the edge of the pit, the white teeth bright against the burnt flesh and the mouth open in a hideous grimace.

  “No,” Emma screamed.

  “No heads!” Gerald cried, and this time spoke the words he’d only thought before. “Have some respect.”

  The trailer with its macabre load was heavy and difficult to move over the rough ground. From time to time the wheels got stuck in a rut and the trailer had to be lifted out.

  “I don’t think you should be doing this,” Gerald said. Emma shrugged her shoulders. She was scared she might have a miscarriage, but if they didn’t destroy the insects there would be no world for her baby to come in to. Next time the trailer slewed into a rut, she let the others lift it while she collected some heavy stones to break up the bones.

  Her face was ashen. “Let me rest a while,” she said, sinking to the ground and closing her eyes.

  They let her sleep while they crushed the bones and laid them over the plains. There was nothing more they could do.

  15

  Gerald opened the door to the outside cautiously. Out on the plains, there were still a few insects flying haphazardly, as if they were drunk, but most of them had died; the ground crunched beneath his feet with a layer of red carapaces.

  “We must clear the dead insects from ground,” he told Hagan. “They could contaminate the ground as they disintegrate.”

  “It will be done,” Hagan said, masking his annoyance at being disturbed in his laboratory once again. The machines were already on their way and would already be crawling over the plains, removing the remains.

  “The Welsh couple will be brought out of the vault once the Plains are clear,” Hagan said. “The midwife will be brought out nearer the time of the child’s birth.”

  “I’ll go and make sure the recovery room is ready.”

  Emma had done her best to make the room homely, with limited resources. She didn’t want anyone else to experience the terror she had felt when she had woken up in the clinic surrounded by strange, distorted shapes, figures who made no sense. She had asked Hagan for curtains and decorative covers, but he had refused.

  “It’s the same every time I want something,” she complained to Gerald. “Hagan says I can’t have i
t. He’s being unreasonable.”

  “You will have them one day soon, I promise. Hagan’s just doing his job.” There was something nagging at the back of his mind, but he could not quite grasp the thought that was trying to get out, but in any case, they had tools and a trailer, so surely other things existed somewhere?

  When the couple were due to be released, Gerald and Emma waited in the recovery room so they would be the first thing the couple saw. The first to wake was Michael. His green eyes darted around the room and alighted on Emma before turning to the other bed, where Susan was still slept. “Where am I?” he said in a strange, high pitched voice.

  “You are in hospital,” Gerald began.

  “What’s happened to my voice?”

  “It’s temporary, it will be fine soon,” Gerald said, although he had no idea if it was true.

  Emma poured some water into a container and helped him to drink. Susan was just stirring.

  Questions came thick and fast. Where were they, what year was it, when could they go home, had their family been to visit?

  Gerald had been rehearsing what he wanted to say to them for several days, but it still wasn’t easy. “You have been here for some time in a frozen state. There have been many changes, but here at Greycoats we are building a community.”

  Michael tried to take Susan’s hand in his but his fingers remained in a tight fist. “I can’t open them,” he shouted. “What have you done?”

  He jumped off the bed and strode over to the door. ”I’m going home.” He paused, waiting for Susan.

  She put her feet on the floor and tried unsuccessfully to stand.

  Emma moved to her side. “Let me help.”

  “I didn’t realise you were pregnant,” Susan said, visibly relaxing, as if it suddenly made everything all right.

  “Much has been destroyed. It is safer for you here for the time being,” Gerald said.

  Michael came back into the room and loomed over Gerald.

  “What aren’t you telling us?” His curious voice almost brought a smile to Gerald’s lips. “Come on, I want to know.”