Crash Deluxe

by Marianne de Pierres

  ‘Swing us around.’

  Mal managed the manoeuvre, bringing us into a direct line of sight with the peeping Priers.

  Without conscience or warning I scrambled back inside and booted Bau squarely in the back.

  She fell, grabbing desperately at the ’copter’s struts.

  ‘Fuck you . . .’ she screamed.

  I stamped at her grasping, frantic fingers but she resisted me.

  Tearing the jig off, I lay flat on the floor with my head and shoulders hanging down. I stared down into her face. ‘No,’ I bellowed, ‘I think it’s you who’s fucked.’ Then I began slashing her hands with the bottle.

  She fell, but her final words whipped back at me in the rotor wind. ‘Killing . . . me . . . won’t stop it . . .’

  Right about then hell opened its gates and welcomed me in.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Islammed the ’copter’s door and we lifted away a little. Priers converged into the airspace above Bau’s fallen body, a plague of them as busy as wasps around a nest intruder.

  ‘What now?’ said Mal.

  ‘Over to you.’ I gave her the grimmest of smiles and went back to staring fixedly out of the window at Bau’s body.

  She was alive, her back broken, I guessed.

  The shape-changers crept up on her, driven by their hunger despite the cacophony above.

  Mal grunted. ‘The Priers aren’t even trying to help her.’

  ‘They never do,’ I said dully.

  ‘I can keep us alive while they’re camming, if I stay down here among them. But when they’ve finished, her Militia will most likely incinerate us.’

  ‘I knew that.’

  I crawled into the seat next to Mal. I didn’t say sorry. She’d signed on for this bit, so I guessed she was ready.

  ‘My story . . . do you think anyone listened?’ I asked.

  Mal pulled a face.

  We laughed and continued to hover, Mal with her thoughts and me turning Bau’s last words inside out, over and over, until . . .

  ‘Shit, Mal,’ I said, softly. ‘We have to get out of this. There’s something I still have to do.’

  Her jaw dropped at my demented optimism. ‘Well, I think you’ve left it too late.’

  I looked around desperately for some reason to hope to materialise.

  For once, just for once, it did.

  ULs thronged in around us as cover - and as an escort.

  Bau’s Militia buzzed and roared above them like leashed guard dogs straining to get at a prowler. Even they couldn’t risk the LTA coverage of a massacre of innocent spectators.

  I switched the screen to CommonNet. It was crazy with cheering and wild rumour. A book was already running on whether the Banks would adopt me as royalty. The Tert had claimed me as its own sort of hero. I flicked back to OneWorld. The reportage was sombre, unable to deny the horror of Dis. Already links to Sera Bau were being unearthed.

  I let it flow over me, drinking in the power of rumour and scandal.

  Mal kept us hovering tight among the ULs like a queen bee at the centre of her swarm.

  The UL armada worked on my psyche in the same way as the bikes powering across the waste had - the thrill of being in a pack. But this was better. This pack was working for me.

  They shepherded us towards the grey beach of Fishertown while Bau’s Militia paced us overhead, waiting for a chance, and the net traffic went into a frenzy of accusations.

  Then it stopped.

  Just like that.

  All nets.

  All frequencies.

  Mal gave a shout of triumph.

  I felt a smile trying to crease my face. The first real one in so long that my jaw wouldn’t cooperate. You wanted a revolution, Gerwent. I sent my thought silently to the dead man. Well, maybe you got one.

  Mal came to her senses first. ‘We need to get down. Quick. Before the Militia decide to take a chance at wasting us.’

  She dumped us hard and fast on a patch of beach where Mama was waiting, shaven head looming above the crowd, fat belly pushing folk aside.

  I fell out of the ’copter into his arms. ‘I’ve got to talk to Teece.’

  ‘You look like dog meat.’ The ex-sumo was not impressed despite the cheering on every side. ‘Didn’t I say you had it coming?’

  I burst into tears.

  He held me at arm’s length, relenting. ‘You take a bike later, after dark. Those bastards be gone by then.’

  I squinted into the sky as three Militia bats swept low over the beach. ‘How do you know that?’

  ‘’Cos tonight the city be going to the shit.’

  Mama was right: the bats kept us guessing until sunset. Then they disappeared, leaving the skies eerily quiet.

  From the entrance of his tent I watched them go.

  Outside, his women were cooking fish and damper and shouting at their children. Despite the evening noises and rowdy celebrations something was missing. Net flicker. As if the noisiest person had just left the party.

  Even somewhere as poor as Fishertown, the disappearance of the energy of a continual flow of information had left the place feeling hollow.

  ‘You did this, Plessis?’ Mama stared mournfully at the blank, lifeless screen under the canopy of his tent.

  ‘I-I guess so.’

  He sighed. ‘You better get moving on soon, then. Some of these people gonna hate you.’

  I watched those people drinking and laughing, not sure what he was talking about.

  Later on, after the wrestling and skulling matches had finished, I saw what he meant. As though by reflex each person drifted to a nearby screen, stopping to stare, willing something to show.

  ‘You think it will be that bad?’ I asked.

  One of Mama’s wives handed me the hot bread and some greasy fish.

  I thanked her and watched him fiddle with a small flat box.

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘Wireless. Hobby.’ He puffed between each word as he scraped corrosion off a flat metal plate inside it.

  ‘Listen,’ he hissed, punching the frequency finder.

  After a while we caught something. A young voice, frightened.

  ‘. . . Couldn’t get any Net. Dad went to find out what’s happening. He hasn’t come back. He told me to keep the doors locked. I can see someone lighting fires but I can’t . . . What’s happening out . . .’

  The reception floated away into the night. Mama kept punching the frequency finder but the other signals were too weak.

  I finished the plate of food and tipped the fish bones into the hot ash. A fight had broken out at the next campfire. Sand kicked into the breeze sprayed over us.

  Mama roared a warning at the brawlers and then rounded on me.

  ‘We’ve had this stuff in our life so long now. You take it away and it’s like someone cut your eyes out.’

  I got a cold feeling that told me it was time to move. ‘You said I could have a bike?’

  He wasn’t letting me go without a lecture. ‘What about all them wetheads? What happens when they can’t do their thing?’

  I thought about Merv, the Prince of Vreal. How was he faring?

  ‘You think you’ve fixed things, Parrish Plessis? Well, you fixed them all right. The whole world’s gonna go to shit now. Not just this place.’

  The panic in my throat was making it hard to breathe. ‘Gimme a bike, Mama.’

  He held out a key card for the lock on the compound. ‘You go get one. Leave the key inside. I got another. Then you go sort out this mess. I want my wrestling channel back.’

  He bellowed threats at another fight that had started up on the edge of the water and turned back to his wireless.

  I convinced Mal that she should stay behind. She argued for a while but there was nowhere else for her to go and I think she’d taken a shine to Mama. That, or she fancied beating him in a wrestle.

  ‘I have to sort some things out.’

  ‘Yes, Plessis. You’re good at that.’ Her heavy sar
casm bore no malice.

  I rode the waste slowly, without headlights, thankful for some moonlight. Thankful - more or less - to still be alive.

  I got to the other side, woke Teece’s new man and left the bike with him. The first one that I’d left intact.

  I walked through the night to Torley’s. No one stopped me. No one noticed me.

  But I noticed them. The restlessness on the pavements. The absence of screen flicker and drone.

  Muenos were playing cards outside my door. When I turned up they crossed themselves as if I was a spirit from the dead.

  I went inside and checked all the rooms.

  They stood in the doorway, watching me awkwardly.

  ‘Where’s Teece?’

  ‘He has a place with his woman now,’ one of them said.

  My heart dropped.

  ‘Go get him. Tell him I’m back. Tell him it’s not over,’ I said and shut the door, feeling the rush of relief that came with being home.

  I stripped off and showered. My closet didn’t have much in it. But what it did contain was mine. I climbed into some well-worn fatigues and spare boots. They felt better than armour.

  Teece didn’t take long.

  I guessed that, like everyone else in The Tert, he was having trouble sleeping.

  I waited for - wanted - a hug, a slap on the back, some physical contact to confirm to myself that I was alive and home.

  But he closed the door behind him and stood back from me.

  ‘It’s you?’

  It seemed like a stupid thing to say, but I understood what he meant.

  ‘For the moment,’ I said slowly. ‘I have something else I need to do.’

  There was a knock at the door. Teece opened it and took a tray from someone I couldn’t see. Shawarmas and beer.

  I got a lump in my throat.

  He put the tray down on the table near the couch. ‘Lu’s not open yet. No sweet dough. Sorry.’

  I laughed and wiped a tear on my T-shirt.

  He waited while I ate, studying me.

  I noticed now how pale he was. ‘How much did you see on the net?’

  ‘We saw you take the Bau woman at the celebration. Then the ’copter flight. What has happened in Dis? We saw you push her out. She got eaten, Parrish.’ Teece’s voice was hoarse and brimming with revulsion. ‘You told me about it, I know. But I didn’t . . . couldn’t . . . understand.’

  I nodded, swallowing the last of the meat.

  ‘What’s happened to the net now? People are scared,’ he said.

  I told him about Gerwent Ban’s plan. And about Monk. And about what we suspected Brilliance had become. Then I drank the beer and told him about Merv and Glorious and Mal.

  Teece whistled low. ‘I’ve heard talk of shadows and things but I thought it was all spook stuff. Wetheads are crazy superstitious bastards. And the shiver - I figured it was just a rogue program.’

  ‘Maybe not.’

  ‘The King’s plan worked, then. You’ve shut her down.’

  ‘For the moment. I thought that would be a good thing. Now I’m not so sure.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I have to find Brilliance. At least her biological part.’

  He raised an eyebrow.

  ‘Teece.’ I watched him to see his reaction. ‘Bau said something to me at the end. I’m not sure that I did the right thing.’

  He drew a sharp breath. ‘If you want a confessional, Parrish, you’ve come to see the wrong guy. We’ve seen now how they live in Viva. And what’s happened in Dis.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I mean that the Cabal and the Muenos want to change things now.’

  ‘The Cabal? But what about Loyl?’

  ‘Daac is somewhere in Viva chasing dreams - and women, no doubt. The Cabal has had enough of his antics. Pas and the Muenos are sick of waiting for you. They want to meet to discuss a war with the city.’

  No.

  Yes.

  ‘You can’t,’ I said.

  ‘We can. Especially now that the net is down. There’ll be chaos in Viva. We can use the underground pipes you came through to get there unnoticed. Once we’re in the city they won’t know us from the rest. It’s the right moment to change things - while there’s panic and no communication.’

  ‘It’s suicide. Do you know how many people there are in Viva?’

  ‘Millions. But they don’t know the sharp end of a knife from the blunt. We’ll target the public utilities. After that, the rest will be easy pickings.’

  ‘What happened to you while I was away?’ I demanded. ‘What happened to “anything for the quiet life and a view of the waste”?’

  Teece gave a short, dry laugh. ‘I musta been hanging with the wrong crowd. Loyl was right about one thing, you know. We shouldn’t have to live like this. Not when they’ve got so much.’

  I saw stubbornness in his eyes. And something new - a conviction that hadn’t been there before.

  Could he raise an army?

  What had I done?

  ‘Just give me a little time,’ I said.

  ‘What’s time got to do with it?’

  ‘I need to find out if the bio component really exists. Maybe it was behind MoVay.’

  Teece folded his arms. ‘So now it’s about you getting it right?’

  ‘Yeah.’ I searched his face for understanding and couldn’t find it.

  He picked my last beer up off the tray and opened it, handing it to me. ‘You said no one knew where her bio part is - or even if it exists.’

  I swallowed a few mouthfuls, savouring my next thought as much as the beer swirling around in my mouth. ‘Actually, I think I do.’

  He grabbed back the beer and took a deep swig. ‘Well?’

  ‘I think she’s hiding here, Teece. In The Tert.’

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  ‘Ridiculous.’ ‘Why? Why shouldn’t she pick the place where no one wants to live?’

  Teece glanced at his wrist p-diary. ‘I have to go. I’m meeting with Billy Myora and Pas soon.’

  ‘Billy Myora?’

  ‘The Cabal has been divided over who should give guidance. The younger ones support Loyl. The elders say that Billy Myora has right of way. When Loyl ran off to Viva this time, Billy convinced them to back him.’

  ‘Where are you meeting them?’

  ‘At Hein’s. Lu Chow’s bringing breakfast across. You still hungry?’

  I grinned. ‘What sort of a question is that?’

  Pas and a horde of Muenos were already there. He welcomed me with a low, forehead-scraping bow.

  ‘Oya. You live and you have opened our eyes. It is time to stake our claim for a better life.’

  I bit my tongue. Pas’s florid dramatics usually hid another agenda. What actually scared me, though, was the presence of his wife, Minna. Mueno custom did not include wives at a war council. She stood at his shoulder, her eyes downcast yet her whole bearing radiating staunch resolution.

  ‘This is craziness, Pas.’

  He puffed out his fat cheeks. ‘There comes a time when everyone must face judgement. When I face mine I wish to have enough credits.’

  From anyone else it would have been funny, but Pas did not joke about honour.

  Behind me the door swung open. Thirty or more Cabal members entered, painted in ceremonial colours, each carrying explosive spears. More waited outside.

  They must have scared the jeez out of anyone out and about on the pavements.

  Billy Myora entered last, dressed in a faded pinstripe, his face streaked in thick layers of ochre and white. He didn’t seem surprised to see me.

  ‘Plessis, this is not woman’s stuff.’

  I lifted my chin, ready to argue, but Pas intervened.

  ‘Muenos do not hold with women at war council yet I have brought my own woman to listen and to speak. Our numbers are too few. We cannot do this without them.’

  Billy glowered in my direction but let it pass, looking to Teece.

  ‘We wil
l plan a strategy but we must move quickly. While there are no comms the time is right.’

  He projected a map of Viva into the centre of the circle.

  ‘You can’t expect to win a war against such sophistication. ’

  Billy froze me with a stare. ‘Their sophistication is nothing when they have no eyes. Anyone can seize a blind man.’

  ‘Teece,’ I pleaded, ‘why are you doing this?’

  He stared me straight in the eye. ‘Because, Parrish, I have my child’s future to make better.’

  His words were a body blow.

  I took a long, slow breath in an effort to absorb them, aware that everyone was waiting for my reaction.

  ‘Then,’ I said slowly. ‘I’d better make sure that you have a chance.’

  I walked out of the meeting.

  Teece and Honey were going to have a child. The shock of it ripped through me, leaving me feeling nauseous and weak. But at least I understood the new determination in Teece’s eyes.

  Everyone needed a reason.

  Maybe I couldn’t stop this slaughter from happening but I could make sure that they stood a chance.

  Brilliance has to stay out of action, I thought.

  A pain in my feet was making it hard to walk, spiking up my legs with each step. Whatever the cause it was worsening.

  ‘Oya?’

  Link and Glida. Shadowing me. Twin masks slung around their necks.

  ‘Did you find Wombebe?’

  I nodded slowly and touched the scale along my cheekbone. It was shrinking. ‘She’s safe now.’

  Glida read my face and my gesture and didn’t ask any more.

  ‘I need your help.’ My voice was hoarse with too many emotions.

  ‘We’ve pledged all our bio weapons to the Cabal. Anything else, Oya, is yours,’ said Link.

  Oh, my God. ‘I’m searching for something. Some bio-ware. Very powerful bio-ware that doesn’t want to be found.’

  They looked at each other - a silent consultation between friends that eased some of the pain and guilt I felt over Roo’s death.

  ‘For that you need Ness. She is the oldest now that Vayu has gone. She has the most power.’

  I nodded.

  They followed me as I limped back to my room. ‘You are hurt?’ Link said.