‘What is it?’ she asked sharply. Before they could reply, she continued, ‘You are Family members, have you forgotten?’ First one then another shook their heads and, taking visibly deep breaths, stepped out onto the street.
Helena watched their faces as, to their palpable relief, no fiery wrath rained down on them when they emerged into the open.
‘I’m Helena Woolf,’ she said again, hoping to ease the tension. ‘We have food in the vehicle.’
The others gave her thin smiles. The man Helena took to be their senior manager introduced each of them, leaving himself to last. ‘Jens Dalgaard, Jakob Odense, Ole Smit, Malene Skarsgale and I’m Daniel Lillehavn. We appreciate you coming to get us.’
Helena did not remind them that they’d come to town for other reasons. She was fairly sure Edith had known what was going on in Skagen, but she was also certain the concubine was still to be found. Edith would care more for her sex toy than for any employee of Insel; he was her possession, after all.
‘Where’s the hovercraft?’ asked Daniel as they reached Jane and David.
‘About two clicks from here,’ said David.
The group exchanged looks. ‘That’s a long way,’ said Jens.
‘An irrelevant observation; if you want to get back to the lighthouse you’ll cover the ground just like we will,’ said Jane curtly. ‘We aren’t here for your benefit. We are not your rescue crew and no one’s being invoiced for our time.’ She turned and walked away. ‘Are you coming?’ she asked over her shoulder.
Helena smiled in spite of herself. The others followed in short order, but Helena noted David taking up the rear of the group.
The probability of Euros instigating rebellion is low except for one operator: the harrying of Indexiv, said Helena’s AI.
The possibility had occurred to me as well, she thought. However, it seems something unexpected happened.
I am watching, replied her AI.
Despite its reassurance, Helena felt edgy. The emptiness of the streets was menacing and it painted Indexiv’s arrival in a different colour. The fear she had projected onto the Normals was reflected back and focussed on their small group of refugees.
The mech crew they had passed on the way into town had gone. Jane had broken into a trot, the others following suit; the silence and simmering terror evident in the stance of their wards felt like a pressure from above, gradually infecting all of them. It was hard to resist. Helena knew giving in would only make their terror ready to explode if something went wrong, but she couldn’t disagree with Jane in front of employees from another Company.
The first Helena knew of it was the feeling of wetness on the back of her neck. The sound of exploding bone swiftly followed by the crack of a high powered rifle. Without thinking, she fell and rolled, coming up away from the rest of the group. Behind her, Jakob’s headless body had yet to hit the ground. He had been running immediately behind her. Frantically her AI extended her senses out in every direction as bony splinters and bloody droplets settled around his body. Separating herself from the human element of the situation, she instructed her nanobots to consume the blood and debris covering her back. It would provide an important source of energy if they were forced into a protracted battle.
The sweep of ecstasy associated with being able to hear the sound of Jakob’s heart, still twitching fitfully, rocked her concentration. The others had scattered; David pulled Daniel with him as they ran into the shadow of buildings on the north-western side of the street. They were separated by the wide open road. Until either she or the others knew where the sniper was, none of them was safe. Jane lay prone in the road. There was no blood. Helena’s AI informed her that Jane was well. Playing dead seemed sensible if she had not been able to run. Jens, Ole and Malene were still standing dazed in the middle of the street. Malene simply stared at Jakob’s body. Jens pulled at her arm and Helena knew what was about to happen. She watched the surrounding area for the shot. Gunfire rang out again and Ole’s body was flung across the road as his chest exploded, entirely separating his head from his body in a shower of innards.
No amount of nanobots in the world could enable someone to get up and walk away from high explosive rounds. David was frantically pointing at a location to the left and behind Helena. David and Daniel are on the wrong side of the street, she thought. She turned around and looked through a window to her immediate left. She couldn’t see anyone inside, but it was unlocked. She levered the frame open with her fingers and climbed into the building.
As she stood in someone’s lounge, another shot rang out. Helena didn’t need to turn round to know that Malene was dead. It was a good job they weren’t a rescue team, she thought sourly.
The home was big, but it took Helena just a few seconds to find her way out to the rear of the building. On emerging into a well-manicured garden, she turned and looked in the direction David had indicated, catching the scent of damp peonies on the breeze. Her destination was two buildings farther along. The homes on the street were all two storeys high, within easy reach for Helena, who bounded up onto the roof of the house she had just come through.
Moving to the ridge, she spotted David, who showed two fingers to her. He was hard to spot, having altered his skin to match the wall he was crouched against.
Helena leapt across the first building and saw a mech crew at the junction of their street. She crouched down as she realised they were scanning the street below. If she wasn’t quick, the node would soon sense that Jane was playing possum. Much as Helena was developing a distinct dislike for Jane, she wouldn’t leave her to die.
Nipping between the two roofs Helena came down at the rear of the building. She didn’t have time to be subtle so smashed her way bodily through the back door. She could hear sounds of panic from upstairs. A shot rapped out into the street. Helena thundered up the first flight of stairs to be greeted by a heavily altered Normal holding a large, Euros made, rifle. The logo glowed proudly in the stairwell’s dim lighting. Helena dived left as he let off a round in her direction. The bullet entered the wall of the stairwell leaving a crater nearly a metre across in the soft wood and plaster as it exploded. Coming up from her dive, Helena grabbed the barrel of the gun and pushed it upwards, back into the Normal’s face. Yelping in surprise, he let go, falling backwards as he lost his balance. Helena threw the rifle behind her, leapt on top of him and brought the edge of her hand down on his throat. She cried out as her hand crunched against the alloy covering that protected the upper part of his torso and lower part of his face. He was a heavy lifter, altered to work among the steel containers at the port.
Helena stood up. She stepped back from his prone body to see his eyes bulging as he vainly fought for breath. His neck brace was dented inwards, crushing his windpipe. From a cursory examination of her hand she realised it was broken, but he wasn’t ever going to get up again. As his life slowly gurgled out of him, she set her hand so her nanomachines could work at repairing the breaks.
A series of microfractures as well as two clean breaks — estimated time for recovery is three days. Mobility in three hours, said her AI.
Helena retrieved the discarded gun and, noting the panic in the Normal’s eyes as he realised his life was over, his hands scrabbling helplessly against the metal in which he was encased, she approached the window to see the damage he’d inflicted.
Seeing her at the window, David stepped away from the wall with Daniel just behind him. Five bodies lay in the street, but one of them was Jane’s, another Jens. Helena had forgotten about him. The infrared showed that he was alive as well.
The mech gang were leaving the corner, heading away from the scene. They had undoubtedly been part of the ambush. Helena was torn between following them back to their destination and re-joining the others. She knew what had happened was a complete disaster. A single Normal had killed three of them using their own weapons. The Euros branded gun in her hand alluded to something catastrophic. Vaulting through the open window, gun in hand, Helena le
ft the Normal sniper to drown in his own phlegm.
She was greeted by Daniel and David, both of whom looked understandably edgy. Helena felt the same and wished the remaining Insel staff had the energy to run.
Jane prised herself off the ground, dusted herself down and gazed at the shattered bodies around her with a detached look. She played with spots of blood on her own clothes, tutted unhappily. Helena recognised the signs of shock. Jane would be of little use to them for hours to come. More of a handicap than Daniel and Jens, she thought. She detested Jane for a moment before regaining control. I am not jealous of her, she told herself.
The node’s signal has changed. Statistically likely he is calling for aid, her AI added into the mix of her thoughts.
‘We’ve not got time to hang around,’ said Helena.
‘I agree,’ said David, surveying the devastation. Daniel was absently rubbing his right arm but said nothing.
‘Jane, are you OK?’ tried Helena. Jane looked around but didn’t focus on her; after a moment, she nodded.
‘OK,’ said Helena, ‘let’s go.’ She started to move away from town when Jens, who had been listing slightly, collapsed to the ground in a heap. Jane knelt down and rolled him over onto his back, checking for wounds.
She flinched and looked up at Helena; something was wrong.
‘He wasn’t hit by a round,’ said Helena, wishing away the burden of another injured soul upon them. Jane said nothing but pointed to a patch of blood on his chest, just beneath his heart.
Helena crouched, ripping apart his clothes to find an open wound. A splinter of bone from Ole’s body had pierced an artery. Jens’ nanomachines had staunched the flow of blood, but it was clear he did not have the energy reserves to heal himself completely. A small, dark skeined bubble appeared as blood was pumped through the patchwork recovery.
His temperature appeared normal but her secondary AI informed her he was weakening and would die without medical attention. Helena asked her AI to do a quick calculation of whether he’d live if they could get back to the lighthouse while she tried to access his tertiary AI. His intelligences refused her. She was from a rival Company, and they regarded her probing for access as industrial espionage. There was no way they would let her in. She had no way of countermanding his own primary AI’s instructions to task his nanotech to use any fuel source it could find in order to heal him. She stopped looking for a way in lest they follow protocol and kill him rather than let her gain confidential information.
You do not have the energy reserves to both run and heal this human, said her AI. The best she could hope for would be to run with him slung over her back until they reached the hovercraft.
‘Jane, carry Jens,’ said David. Jane reached across Helena and took a firm hold on his body. Helena stood aside to let her pick him up.
Daniel tried to come forward, to take the burden himself, but David put a hand on his shoulder. ‘You don’t have the energy to take him.’
‘What about the others?’ asked Daniel.
‘This is not the time to be sentimental,’ said Helena. She was still operating with her senses stretched out thinly across the block. From perhaps a hundred metres beyond where the mech crew had disappeared round the corner, she heard the flapping of feet on earth.
‘It’s time to go,’ she said and, slinging the reclaimed rifle across her back, moved off into a loping gallop, just slow enough to allow the other three to catch up with her. As they did so, she nodded to David, who took point. She dropped back behind Jane to bring up the rear.
They quickly outdistanced their pursuers and made it back to the hovercraft. She regretted not camouflaging their vehicle when they’d originally arrived in Skagen. It had stood alone in broad daylight since they’d left it parked up near the church building.
The street was as empty as the rest of the town. Helena’s senses did not pick up the presence of anyone else in the vicinity. She was painfully aware that this didn’t preclude someone from sitting a few hundred metres away with another rifle, watching them approach their escape route.
The others arrived moments before her. Jane was laying Jens on the ground. Helena saw David activate the hovercraft from a few metres away as Daniel approached the passenger side.
Caution, said her primary AI, as her tertiary AI detected an unusual signal from beneath the craft.
‘Get away!’ she shouted. David, immediately understanding her, grabbed the collar of Daniel’s shirt and wrenched him backwards. Jane, who was ten metres away with Jens, drew them both to a halt by holding up her hand.
The explosion ripped upwards, spraying ugly, jagged shards of earth, metal and polymer past Helena. She collapsed backwards, the worst of the debris passing over her. Her broken hand jarred on the pavement. She gasped with the pain, barely aware of the wave of heat that rolled over her.
David and Daniel had been flattened by the force of the explosion but they clambered to their feet unharmed. Jane was also OK. Jens lay quietly at her feet. The wrecked hovercraft lay on its roof, twisted and charred. The blast had blown itself out.
‘They didn’t need to catch us,’ said David ruefully and turned to Helena. ‘What on earth made you monitor the vehicle?’
‘Fortune,’ said Helena, not wanting to go into details about the node.
‘Ironic that all our plans didn’t help us one iota,’ he said in response.
‘What do we do now?’ asked Daniel.
‘We walk,’ said Helena. ‘Jane, what’s Jens condition?’
‘I’ve no medical knowledge, but I don’t need any to tell you he’s dying Helena.’
It had taken them half an hour in the hovercraft to reach the outskirts of Skagen. With Jens prone, it would take them near to four hours to get back on foot. Helena looked over at Daniel; there was no telling how long ago he’d last slept or when he’d last eaten. He was beginning to show signs of wear, his clothes were no longer being automatically cleaned. With her senses stretched out, she could smell sweat on him. His secondary AI would be working hard to maintain his body fat and resources for more efficient energy gathering.
All things being equal, his nanomachinery should keep him ticking over. He’ll decline over a number of days instead of the hours a Normal could last, thought Helena. The nearest food is at the lighthouse and Daniel’s already someway along the path to complete exhaustion. Regardless of his state he wouldn’t die, which was all that mattered to Helena right then.
‘Shall we go?’ asked David, looking directly at Helena. She began walking out of town. He smiled at her decisiveness and followed.
‘Someone will have been watching that,’ he said, matching her stride.
‘Has Jane got Jens?’ asked Helena.
‘Yes and it will hopefully stop shock setting in until we’re safe,’ replied David.
‘We can’t do anything about being seen to have survived. I doubt what they did was well enough planned to have had a contingency in the case of failure,’ said Helena.
David didn’t say anything; they had lost half the party to bad planning.
Helena wiped a rivulet of rainwater from her face and looked to the sky. The clouds ran out to sea as far as the horizon. Her secondary AI advised her to rein in her senses and, with regret, she allowed herself to be limited once again. The rain hardened into a crisp, clear downpour as they paced towards the woodland at the edge of town.
HELENA and David took it in turns to drop behind the others as they marched across the flat landscape of the peninsula towards the lighthouse. After their third rotation, they concluded that they weren’t being followed. From then they stuck with Jane and the Insel employees. Jane began to emerge from her shock. She refused to let Helena or David carry Jens. I guess it gives her something to do while she deals with the aftermath of the ambush, thought Helena.
They did not stop on the way. It was simple: if Jens survived the journey to the house, he would live. A kilometre out from Skagen, Helena thought that if he couldn’t eat they did n
ot have the equipment to help him. I expect Edith will have transport on its way, she told herself. With a bit of luck, Jens wouldn’t be her responsibility by the end of the day.
Eventually the compound came into view and the small group of survivors quickened their pace across the last stretch back into camp.
Three of the concubines were waiting to greet them and hurried to carry Jens and Daniel into the manse. The rest of them wearily followed as the gates swung shut behind them, the sound muffled by the splatter of rain.
The house was roasting. They found warm drinks waiting in the kitchen. One of Edith’s men, covered in an apron and nothing else, was cooking. The smell of garlic and rosemary wafted through the rooms. As Helena warmed her hands on one of the cups of coffee, the chef informed them that Edith was waiting in the library.
Helena was about to ask where the library was when Jane, whose eyes were concentrated on the drink in her hands, said she knew. As they filed out of the kitchen, the chef cheerfully gave them each a small loaf of freshly baked bread and then returned to his cooking.
The return to camp had been sodden and slippery. Even with her stamina being what it was, Helena felt mentally tired and in need of recharging. She was grateful her mother had been thoughtful enough to prepare for their return, but there were questions which needed answering.
Helena found Daniel sitting quietly, looking out of the window, a table just to his left with a half-eaten chocolate cake on it. He had eaten most of the cake by himself. The room was cooler and the air dryer than in the kitchen, where the ovens had been working hard and sauces gently simmered.
Edith was sitting in a large armchair in the left-hand corner, facing the window across from the centre of the room. In her lap she had an ancient hardbound book with a bookmark laid at the centre of the open pages.
‘You’re back,’ she said as they saw her. ‘But there are only two of them.’
A People's War (The Oligarchy Book 2) Page 12