by Malcolm Rose
“What?” the voice of The Authorities snapped. “You will report to us for repair and to receive new duty programs.”
Malc replied, “I am still under instruction from Forensic Investigator Luke Harding...”
“Impossible. His case has been concluded satisfactorily and he is unconscious.”
“Confirmed. But he gave me a final instruction. I will complete the task.”
“I’m overruling any such instruction. You will report...”
“I will report for reassignment once my final command is concluded,” Malc insisted.
“Immediate recall. It seems your systems were more badly damaged in the explosion than your self-diagnosis estimated.”
“I have logged your task for completion when I have spare resource.” With that, the Mobile Aid to Law and Crime terminated the transmission.
If Malc had tried to order an electric cab to travel on his own, The Authorities’ agents would have eavesdropped on his request and stopped him right away. Malc had to try a different tactic. Once he had explained his mission to Elisa Harding, she used her identity card to call him a cab.
Speeding towards Sheffield, Malc did not know The Authorities’ procedure for dealing with a fugitive robot. His databases did not include any previous example of a renegade mobile aid to law and crime. It just did not happen. He assumed that agents would have already been assigned to the task of hunting him. To do so, they would probably be monitoring his location through his global positioning unit, but there was nothing he could do to stop that. Shutting down such a vital unit was impossible.
When the cab pulled up outside the ornate building of the Sheffield Music Collective, Malc did not hesitate. He requested access to interview Jade Vernon.
There was a delay of one minute and forty-one seconds before he got a response. Presumably Ms Vernon had agreed to meet him because the door slid back, allowing him to enter. Malc did not get as far as her mixing studio. She came out into the passageway and stared at the tattered mobile with her mouth open.
“Luke Harding has an inoperable brain tumour. He ordered...”
Jade shook her head and put up her hand. “What? You can’t... I don’t understand. There’s some sort of mistake. I’m working on a new song for him.”
Malc was doing all that he could. He was incapable of tact. “The song may not be required. It may be curtains. He is seriously ill in York Hospital.”
“But...”
At the end of the corridor, a team of agents clattered noisily through the door.
Realizing the urgency, Malc began, “Luke Harding ordered me to tell you...” But he didn’t get any further.
The leader pointed some sort of metal probe at him and fired. At once, Malc lowered himself to the floor and his systems shut down.
“Sorry, Ms Vernon,” she said. “This mobile’s malfunctioning. It’s been recalled for repair with immediate effect. Sorry to bother you.”
“But he... it... was delivering a message.”
“No chance,” she said. As her team bundled the useless machine away, she explained, “Any communication wouldn’t be valid. It might even have been garbled. The machine’s programming got screwed up in an explosion. It was refusing to obey The Authorities. Unheard of. There’ll be a big inquiry. It’ll be dismantled bit-by-bit to see what went wrong.”
Jade watched them retreat and swallowed her tears. She rushed back to her room to use the telescreen. On Friday, Luke had told her that his father’s name was Peter Sachs and that he was a doctor at York Hospital. That was enough to get in contact and find out what was happening. That’s what she needed most. News of Luke.
She should have been devastated that she had not heard his final message, but she wasn’t. It was enough that Malc had defied The Authorities in an attempt to tell her. Besides, she knew exactly what Luke would have said to her.
****
Luke found himself in a familiar place. He was lying down and above him was the stunning night sky, dotted with stars. There wasn’t a murmur. No wind, no movement, no noise. Nothing. It was neither cold nor hot. He felt calm and peaceful as if he’d abandoned all responsibility for himself. He was in someone else’s hands now.
Then there was something. A sound. A melancholy series of chords, full of space. Sad but soothing. For a moment Luke thought that he was going to hear Jade’s voice, but it wasn’t that. It was internal. It was music in his head and his own diseased brain was conjuring the words. Beautiful words about stars. Worrying words about his life.
Before they die
They make the sweetest sound
Just for a moment
Then they’re gone
When I die
She’ll make the saddest sound
And then the world just carries on...
The lyrics ended abruptly but the music grew louder in his left ear, burning his brain with its intensity.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
In a private room, Peter Sachs looked at Jade across the motionless form of his son and said, “We wanted to meet you but... not like this. Sorry.”
Jade was kneeling at Luke’s bedside with both hands clutching his left arm. “You don’t have to say sorry. It’s not your fault.”
Elisa was about to add something but swallowed her words. She looked pale and tormented.
“It’s no one’s fault, “ Jade said. “It’s just... the way things are.”
When Oscar Hislop walked into the room, all three of them gazed at him in anticipation. Their faces revealed different degrees of fear and impatience.
“Well?” Luke’s father prompted.
Oscar didn’t reply instantly so Jade leapt in. “Is he going to be all right?”
“Before I tell you what I think,” Oscar said to Peter, “let me show you the before and after brain scans.” Glancing occasionally at the telescreen, Oscar fiddled with the controller in his hands. “Ah. Here we go.”
Two views of Luke’s brain appeared side-by-side on the display. They were marbled grey with splashes of red and black. In perfect unison, the images zoomed to the area above his left ear and rotated.
Jade did not know what to look for. She didn’t know good news from bad. Instead, she stared at Peter. With relief, she saw the anxiety in his face drop away as he examined the scans.
Peter turned towards Oscar and cried, “It’s gone!”
Oscar nodded proudly. “The ultrasonic probe. I told Luke – it’s the future for tricky tumours. I didn’t know then that he’d be the first.”
“Surgery couldn’t have done anything like this,” Peter muttered. “It’s... fantastic.”
Elisa stepped forward and gazed at the new brain scan as if it were an artistic masterpiece, as if she were in awe of it. “Is it all over, then?”
“No one can guarantee it won’t come back – in time,” Oscar answered. “But, if it did, it’d just need another treatment. That should be the end of it.”
“But when he wakes up,” Jade said, “will he be... you know... the same? He’s got a hole in his brain, hasn’t he? Will it affect him?”
“I don’t know,” Oscar admitted. “That’s not my field. All I can tell you is he’s got his life back. He’s going to pull through.”
Jade turned towards Dr Sachs.
“We’ve got to be grateful he’s still with us, Jade. He might be exactly the same but, yes, his brain’s been damaged. He might be... a bit different.”
“How do you mean?”
Peter shrugged helplessly. “We’ll have to wait and see.”
“But tell me he’ll still be Luke. He’ll still know me, won’t he?”
Elisa put her hand on Jade’s shoulder. “Why don’t you put the headphones on him again and play him some more of your music? I’m sure he can hear it and it’ll guide him back. He won’t be so scared. He’ll know he’s not alone.”
Peter nodded in agreement. “If he’s listening to your music, he won’t forget you.”
****
The tun
e in Luke’s head had changed. The sound reminded him of something bright yellow and round. He found it comforting. Eyes still closed, he murmured, “Turn it up, Malc.”
Instead of an instant response to his instruction, there was a gasp like the sharp intake of human breath.
“Did you get that message to Jade?”
“No, he didn’t. He tried, though,” a voice answered. “You’ll have to tell me yourself.”
Luke’s eyelids felt as if they’d been glued shut. He had to force them open. He was in a room. It took several seconds for a plain white ceiling to come into focus. “Where are the stars?” he asked. Then he levered himself up onto his elbows and looked around.
“Malc’s not here,” Jade said. “It’s me.” She clutched his bare arm and said, “See? Skin, not metal.”
Luke gazed at the girl, puzzled. She seemed to be on the point of laughing or crying. He wasn’t sure which. “Your hair’s red.”
She nodded. “That’s how you like it best.”
“Do I?”
“Yes.”
“The colour of pomegranates and blood. And the noise a fire makes.”
“Luke. I think you’re a bit.... Do you know who I am?”
He hesitated. He was about to admit that he didn’t when his mind suddenly cleared. It was like a new dawn. The sun engulfed him with light and warmth. “Jade!”
“Good to have you back, FI Harding.” She was smiling and sobbing at the same time now. “How’s tricks?”
“I’m...” He thought about it for a moment, then he flung his arms around her. “I’m flying.”
The Next Case
Murder Club
Forensic Investigator Luke Harding has left York Hospital after surgery on his damaged brain. Before he’s fully fit, he’s given a new case – and a new Mobile Aid to Law and Crime. It’s not a difficult investigation. He soon learns who strangled Kiki Smallpiece, a young and controversial worker for The Authorities. But why was she killed? Was the murderer really responsible when his fingers tightened around her throat? If he wasn’t, who was really behind her death? Has her fate got anything to do with The Authorities? And why has Luke been told to investigate when he’s still suffering the after-effects of surgery?
There’s another question on Luke’s mind. Will The Authorities finally allow him to be paired with his girlfriend, Jade Vernon?
Read MURDER CLUB for more forensic crime-solving with Luke and Malc.