Feed the Machine

by Mathew Ferguson

The sweet pastry and coffee coiled in Nola’s stomach and threatened to come back up. She closed her eyes but could not escape the smell. Small bits of Garrick were still on the griddle, burning.

  “I’ll tell you, please, I’ll tell you.”

  Candle turned her around to face Fat Man. Behind her she heard the thin man step down from his stool and start scraping the griddle with his tongs.

  “Garrick gave me the map. His voice went all strange. His accent changed. It was like someone else. They told me the power was going off in ten minutes and would be out for an hour. I asked him a question but then it was like he was drunk. He was slurring his words and didn’t seem to know what happened. Please, that’s the truth.”

  Fat Man leaned forwards.

  “Do you know Ella?”

  Nola shook her head and then remembered to answer. “No, I don’t. Who is she?”

  “Are you sure? Garrick is looking hungry.”

  “I don’t know anyone called Ella!”

  He leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers over his stomach.

  Fat Man stared at her for a minute more before hauling himself up. He nearly didn’t make it in one try, waving an arm to steady himself. He looked over Nola’s shoulder at the thin man and Candle.

  “Get rid of Carter. Have her take care of Garrick with the other knife. Leave her in here with the bodies to think about things.”

  He looked at Nola then.

  “After that you’ll go back to the bar. I won’t put you in the brothel.”

  Gardner snorted from the corner but shut up when Fat Man looked at her.

  “There have been some wonderful new developments today and I’m feeling very excited for the future. Even a little merciful.”

  Then his face turned to stone.

  “Don’t steal from me again or I’ll chain you in a dark room with endless bottles of heal and all you’ll eat for the rest of your life will be bloody chunks of your own family who will never die.”

  He bashed on the door and the guards slid it open.

  Behind her, Carter gave a soft gasp. She heard him hit the floor. Candle turned her around again. The thin man had slit his throat. His blood gushed from his throat. A moment later he was dead, his legs jerking and then becoming still.

  “Knife please,” Gardner said. The thin man handed it over. He returned to his griddle and turned it off. He left the room without another word.

  Gardner held the knife in front of Nola so she could see it.

  It was soaked in Carter’s blood but the handle was still legible.

  Wire Pub

  Gardner knelt down in front of Nola.

  “So, this is how it works. I’m going to give you the knife and you’re going to kill Garrick there. He is still full of that black heal so you need to get it in his heart and hold it there until he’s dead. Then we’re going to leave you here until tonight. If we return and he’s still alive then, well, you heard the gourmet. Yum yum Rose family.”

  She dropped the knife on the floor and moved over to the door. Candle followed. They both took shocksticks from the guards.

  “Get it done,” Gardner hissed and hit the shockstick against the metal door. It arced, small sparks dropping to the ground.

  “Please, please,” Garrick whispered. His eyes were half-closed and his head lolled as though he didn’t have the energy to hold it up.

  “See, he’s begging for it. You have two minutes before I shock you, take the knife and lock you in here with your hands and feet tied. The idea of you eating your family until you all die of old age sounds fun.”

  Nola picked up the knife and stood. Her body was aching but the sweet pastry and coffee had revived her somewhat.

  “Don’t do anything stupid,” Gardner warned.

  Nola looked at Garrick. He was crying silent tears. They were trickling down his bloody face, tingeing pink as they went.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. She drove the knife into his chest, stabbing his heart. Garrick gasped. His body shook and then he went limp.

  The thin man had left the metal tongs resting on the griddle. Nola grabbed them and whirled around to face Gardner and Candle.

  “Now lock the fucking door,” she commanded, holding the tongs out in front of her.

  Gardner laughed. They left the room, the guards locking the door behind them.

  The moment it clanged shut Nola dropped the tongs. She gripped the knife sticking out of Garrick’s chest and started pulling on it. It was stuck in the bone.

  “C’mon you fucker,” she grunted.

  Chapter 48

  Silver

  The first bomb had detonated on time, just before dawn. Silver had smiled to herself at the sound of the explosion. Hello, Kin and Raj were moving like perfect game pieces across the board that was Cago.

  After Hello had told her that Nola had been captured last night trying to escape, Silver had to change her plans. She whispered a message to a bug and told Hello to tell Kin to see Gress. Then she gave Hello the bug and he flew away.

  She’d wanted to get the gold first—there was a risk Miss Honey wouldn’t deliver it if there were bombs exploding—but she couldn’t wait. Her sister had been caught trying to escape. That meant something bad was going to happen to her. Silver couldn’t allow that.

  When she got to the lab, Ed and Michael were already there working away on the inhibitor chip problem. Michael was still deeply hurt and Ed wasn’t talking to her in solidarity. Silver didn’t like it.

  You’re sad because they are your friends and they are upset with you.

  She nearly answered the voice back aloud. If they knew what she knew then they wouldn’t be upset! Besides, she was smarter than both of them. It was obvious. Why would they get upset about that?

  You’ll never understand, will you?

  The voice seemed less angry today now that there was a plan in motion. It was gleeful at the thought of what might come next.

  Silver sat down and got to work on the shockstick modification. She’d removed the main circuitry and recased it yesterday. Now she checked the final wiring she’d added and the armband.

  She’d written some calculations on her pad, making a guess at her weight and other variables. If this worked she maybe had thirty shocks before it died. If it didn’t work… well, the first shock would kill her.

  Miss Honey swept into the room beaming like the sun. In her hand she held a long gun made of vivid green plastic.

  “Good morning beautiful people! Look what I have here!”

  She took the gun to the central table. Silver left her shock project and went over. Ed and Michael deliberately stood on the other side.

  “Oh, before I forget, Silver here is your gold.”

  She took a chuck of gold out of her pocket and passed it over to her. It was small and square. It looked like it had been sliced off a much larger bar.

  Ed watched it go, his lips trembling to say something but he stayed silent.

  “Now. This is a type of laser weapon. It fires one shot every three seconds. We need to make it faster. Be careful, it’s very dangerous. I’ll bring in some more once they become available but for now you’ll have to share.”

  They’re going to kill everyone.

  Silver couldn’t argue against the voice. The shocksticks were bad enough. If you got zapped enough you could die. But now laser weapons?

  “How many shots does it have?” she asked.

  Miss Honey shrugged and smiled at her. “They’re still finding out. These are very new. I know they’ve fired one at least four thousand times.”

  A few of these they could kill everyone in Cago. A few more and it’s the entire Scour.

  “Miss Honey, can I show you something?”

  She smiled at Silver again. She was so full of joy and happy it was possible to forget she worked for an evil tyrant.

  Silver returned to her bench and slipped the wristband on. She pulled it up her arm and tightened it. Miss Honey walked over to stand beside her. She sm
elled sweet and pure.

  “What have you made my lovely one?” she asked, brushing her hand on Silver’s neck.

  “I modified the shocker so you don’t need the stick.”

  Silver pressed the button and felt a tingle run through her body.

  “Oh that’s—”

  Miss Honey touched her and fell to the ground, her teeth clenched and feet kicking.

  Ed and Michael looked up from the laser in shock.

  “Follow me. Take the gun and find somewhere safe to hide in Cago.”

  “Why why why did you do that?” Michael said.

  Silver looked down at Miss Honey. She was unconscious. On her hand she had a small burn mark from where she touched Silver. The power must be a little higher than she estimated.

  “We’re the good ones. They’re the bad ones. We can be better. Now follow me or bad things will probably happen to you.”

  Ed picked up the gun. Michael took it from him and a second later shot the ceiling in a flash of red. The gun made a cracking sound, like a bone snapping. He dropped the gun on the table and looked at the smoking hole in the ceiling.

  “Take the gun Ed! Don’t touch me. Follow. Now.”

  Silver rushed for the door and her two friends followed.

  Outside there were two guards. Zap zap and they were down before they could react.

  Down the corridor and another around the corner. Silver ran at him and hugged his leg. He toppled forward, nearly falling on her. The next guard heard the noise and came around the corner, shockstick in hand, but Silver was too fast. She dodged it and tapped him with her palm. He dropped in a shaking heap.

  Two more beside the door to the outside world holding shocksticks, ready to fight.

  An enormous explosion that shook the ground and distracted them.

  Zap. Zap.

  You killed your brother.

  Silver pulled the door open and stepped out into the street, blinking in the light.

  “He’s fine. I sent him a bug.”

  “Over here!”

  Hello squawked and swooped down from a rooftop. Silver ducked him before he could land on her shoulder.

  “Don’t touch me, it’s dangerous!”

  Hello landed on the ground instead.

  “Some thanks I get,” he muttered.

  “Where’s the tablet?”

  “Over there.”

  Silver turned the shock bracelet off and scooped Hello up.

  “I’m wearing a shock thing that could kill you. It’s off now.”

  “Okay, fine,” Hello grumbled but then rubbed his beak against her face. She let him go and he fluttered to the ground.

  Another explosion, this time from inside one of Fat Man’s warehouses. A gout of fire plumed into the sky.

  Ed screamed and threw himself on the ground, the green laser in his hands.

  All around them was chaos. Guards were running and shouting—none of them seemed to care about remaining at their posts. Kin and Raj had done well stealing the bombs from the Collector. It seemed they were far more powerful than she thought.

  She turned around to Michael. He was helping Ed up.

  “Find somewhere on the far side of Cago to hide. The slums. Look for a house with a blue door. Don’t. Come. Out.”

  “Okay, okay, okay,” Michael said. He and Ed took off.

  Silver followed Hello to a nearby building. Under it was a small bag with her tablet inside. She searched for Nola and found her. She wasn’t far away. Then she searched for the collars. They were still locked in the same place. She put the tablet back in the bag and slipped the slice of gold in there too before sliding it back under the house.

  “Don’t touch me from now on,” she warned Hello.

  She turned the shock bracelet back on and ran to find her sister.

  Chapter 49

  Nola

  It had taken twenty minutes of pulling at the knife, swearing, begging, threatening, pleading before it came free from Garrick’s chest.

  It had slipped out all at once and Nola fell backwards, thudding to the ground. She got to her feet and looked at the wound. It was wet and red and bloody.

  Then it glimmered silver and closed over.

  Nothing happened after that. Garrick hung there like a dead piece of meat. Nola went to the wall and found the mechanism to lower him but it was locked. It took breaking the tongs and the knife to disable it so she could get him down. He fell on the floor, still.

  Nola rolled him over and pressed her ear against his chest. Silence.

  “Shit,” she swore, sitting back from him. His body was cooling rapidly.

  Nola left him on the floor and explored the back room. It was empty, only used for holding the torturer’s griddle. The knife and tongs were broken. The only things useful in the room were the griddle (battery flat), two chairs and the chains she took off Garrick (still welded to the wall).

  Nola picked up the broken knife blade and tried it in her hand. She couldn’t hold it for it to be any use. Fat Man’s chair was soft and fabric-covered but she couldn’t get enough weight on the blade to cut into it.

  She was pondering stripping off her uniform to hold the knife when the first explosion hit. The room shook, dust motes falling from the ceiling. The guards outside started talking but stayed put. Then there was another explosion. It sounded closer. The guards started arguing. See what it is versus stay here.

  Nola went over to the door and bashed on it.

  “Hey, let me out! I killed him!”

  “Shut up,” one of the guards said, his voice muffled.

  “Let me out! Something bad is happening! We could all die!”

  The guard didn’t answer. She heard one of them say something and then there was a heavy thud.

  “Nola?”

  “Silver? Is that you?”

  Fear shot through her heart. They’d dragged her little sister here to torture her some more. Nola gripped the knife blade in her hand. It didn’t matter if it would hurt her—the people who had her sister were going to die. Hopefully it was Candle and Gardner.

  The lock disengaged. She heard Silver grunting.

  “Silver, are you okay?”

  “I can’t get the door open.”

  Nola dropped the knife and grabbed the door. She heaved it as hard as she could. It barely moved.

  “Pull together,” Nola grunted. “One, two, three!”

  They heaved again. A centimeter if they were lucky.

  And again. Again. Again.

  The door gave way, sliding open. Nola and Silver both fell over. Nola was up in an instant, hugging her sister.

  “Careful I have a shocker on my arm,” Silver said, trying to pull free.

  Nola let go. The two guards who had been arguing were unconscious. Silver lifted her arm to show the device to Nola.

  “It shocks people. Don’t touch me now.” She pressed the button on it.

  Nola picked up one of the shocksticks and turned it on. The end began crackling.

  “We need to leave.”

  Silver shook her head. “No, we’re getting the collars.”

  She turned and ran back down the corridor. Nola looked back at Garrick. He wasn’t moving. She clenched the shockstick in her hand and followed her sister.

  They ran into one guard on the way out—he must have been returning to his post. Silver ran into him and he dropped to the ground. Nola shocked him again for good measure.

  Outside it was a sunny and beautiful day—bright and clear and warming.

  People were yelling and running around and thick black smoke rose from spreading fires.

  “This way!”

  Nola followed Silver down a street and around a corner to another of Fat Man’s nondescript buildings. The door was ajar and there were no guards. They rushed inside into the gloom. It was poorly lit—something wrong with the lighting—and cold. Silver led the way, moving down the darkened corridors without hesitation. They ran into four guards all at once and Silver threw herself at the
m. They collapsed on top of her and she had to turn off her shock bracelet so Nola could pull her free. They turned the last corner. At the end was a solid metal door guarded by two men. They held their sparking shocksticks and came down the corridor.

  Nola felt the blood pulsing in her head. The rage overcame her. She ran at them, brushing aside their attacks. Both of them hit the ground, shaking and gritting their teeth.

  The metal door was unlocked.

  “Fat Man must have thought all those guards were enough,” Nola said to Silver.

  “I need to go,” Silver replied.

  “What?”

  “Get the collars.”

  Silver bolted around the corner and away.

  Nola nearly went after her but then stopped herself. She couldn’t tackle Silver to the ground when she had that shock thing on her arm. And with that she’d be fairly safe.

  Another explosion, somewhere distant. A thud, a gentle rumble.

  “Fuck it,” Nola said and pushed the door open.

  A small weak light flickered to life as she entered the room. The walls were covered in collars. They were labeled with multiple paper notes tied to them.

  There were hundreds of them.

  Nola rushed to the wall and grabbed as many as she could. It wasn’t much. Then she realized she could loop them over the shockstick and carry them out that way. She turned it off and began dropping them over the stick. The collars were lightweight and she nearly cleared an entire wall before they grew too heavy. She held the stick upright, clenching her fists on both ends and carried the collars out.

  There were no guards between her and the exit (none conscious anyway). She pushed the door open with her foot and walked outside. She spotted a huge plume of smoke, over near the Machine, and took off towards it.

  The rage that had risen in the corridor facing those two men hadn’t faded away. If anything, finding the collars, finding proof was helping it burn even hotter. She didn’t want to run into Gardner or Candle until she had a good weapon in her hands but part of her did want that. She wanted to leap at them with clawed fingers and tear their eyes out.

  There were no guards around as she left Fat Man’s district. She found herself collecting citizens as she approached the Machine, all of them staring amazed at the collars, yelling questions.