All The Frail Futures: A Science Fiction Box Set

by J Battle

  ‘Maybe,’ he said, slowly, ‘maybe The Wall has influenced our dreams, in some way. But how? By offering us a symbol of security in anxious times? Does its warmth and darkness remind us of the womb in some subconscious way?’

  ‘Doctor, if it is making you have dreams that make you love the wall and hate the ship, then I think it must be acting in a much more direct way.’

  ‘What, you think The Wall is in some way sentient? That it is manipulating our dreams for its own purposes?’

  ‘Is that what I’m saying? I don’t know about all that psycho stuff; I’m just a technician. I do know that something very strange is going on here. Look at this picture I took last night.’

  He held out his palm top to the doctor, who leaned towards him, but wouldn’t touch the disgusting creation.

  ‘What is it?’ he said, peering.

  ‘It’s all seven of you, cuddling up to the wall.’

  Doctor Pascal could see it clearly now, a line of people stretched along the base of The Wall, each with their left hand up, grasping at The Wall, their faces pressed into the angle between it and the ground.

  ‘Does that look natural to you, Doctor?’

  Pascal had to agree that it didn’t.

  ‘I need your help,’ he said, after a long moment.

  ‘I’m going to close my eyes, and I want you to take my arm and pull me into the AEC.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Yes, I am sure. And ignore anything I say. If I start to argue, just keep pulling. Okay?’

  ‘If that’s what you want, Doctor.’

  The doctor put one hand over his eyes, and stretched out the other towards Jones. Without giving him a chance to reconsider, Jones grabbed his arm with both hands and pulled him towards the open doorway of the AEC.

  Pascal allowed himself to be led without any resistance, until his knee bumped against the side of the AEC. He jerked back, and almost broke free, but Jones was ready for him. Remembering his old wrestling tricks from the many contests with his brothers, he adjusted his footing and flipped the doctor over his hip, into the AEC.

  The doctor lay on his back in the airlock of the AEC. He took his hand away from his eyes and looked around.

  If he hadn’t been so winded, he would have screamed.

  Chapter 24

  The rain poured down, snapping at the rock as it threw itself against him. He was half-blinded by the onslaught, but he could see all he wanted to see. The tall red ape had patted the small ape on the shoulder, as if to say, well done. There was no other explanation for the gesture. Well done, to the beast that had broken the rules and killed his friend. Well done, to the ape that had snatched victory from the cats, by foul means. Well done, to the ape that was doing its master’s bidding.

  Lus was untutored in anything other than the skills of battle; he knew no letters or history, he made no pretence of understanding The Wall; he left those exotic learnings to others. He did know, however, when something was not right, when someone had not followed the rules that governed all of their lives, whether they be cat or ape. He did know evil when he came upon it, and there it was before him, almost invisible in the torrent of water falling between them, but as clear as the fur on the back of his paw.

  And one other thing was just as clear to him.

  Something had to be done about it.

  *********

  ‘What do you think?’

  ‘I think they are very strange, but they do respond to The Wall. That fact alone has significance. When we get back to Hellion, I will have to study the scriptures closely to decipher its meaning. But I don’t know, at this point, if their presence is in any way a confirmation that the end days are here.’

  ‘No. I mean, what do you think about eating one of them? There’s quite a few of them; they might not miss one. And I’m starved; I haven’t eaten properly since I met you.’

  ‘I’ve told you already, we can’t eat them. They are people, just like us.’

  ‘They’re not much like us. They’re more like apes.’

  ‘Nevertheless, we don’t eat intelligent creatures. ‘

  ‘They don’t seem very intelligent, to me,’ moaned Deylus.

  Then Jones walked in, supporting another of the humans.

  ‘Hi, Perdus. Hi Deylus. This Dr. Pascal.’

  ‘Hi. Jones. Hi Dr.Pascal.’

  ‘Going town. Food. Walk.’

  Perdus tilted his head to one side and watched Jones open cupboards and drawers, gathering together parcels of what he assumed to be food for the journey. The other creature didn’t take part in the proceedings; he merely sat on a seat with his eyes closed, his lips moving silently.

  Deylus nudged him and gestured towards the still human. Perdus was sure that he was drooling.

  ‘No,’ he said, quietly but firmly.

  Deylus sighed and settled down for a doze.

  ‘When. Leave?’ asked Perdus.

  ‘Soon as we can. Early, make good distance before nightfall.’

  ‘Danger. Night.’

  ‘I know. Not listen to me.’

  Perdus didn’t understand every word that Jones spoke; they had grown to talking in a mishmash of each other’s languages with much guessing and assumption, but usually the meaning was communicated. Or at least, so it seemed.

  The mixed band of humans and cats set off on their arduous journey a little later, with only Jones looking back with concern at the AEC. If they were to survive on this new world, they were going to need the little ship and the tools it contained; of that he was sure.

  Captain Cockerall led the party, with Milligan striding beside her. Following them were Armstrong and Miles, holding hands when they thought Helen wasn’t looking. Behind them were Jones and the cats, fairly chatting away as they walked. Last of all were the Millett twins, J and D, coughing at the dust raised by their companions.

  With the wall on their left, they started to climb the foothills, walking across the rough, uneven, dead ground. The height of the wall made the mountains ahead seem much smaller than they actually were, but Helen knew that they had a true trial of endurance ahead of them. None of them were experienced mountain climbers, though apparently the twins claimed some proficiency at indoor rock climbing in their local gym, for all the help that would be.

  After walking for half an hour or so, she stopped and turned to Jones.

  ‘Can you see if you can achieve something from the amount of time you’ve spent on your friendly moggies and find out if there is a pass or shortcut across these mountains? I’d prefer not to have to climb them; we’re not dressed properly and we don’t have the requisite skills.’

  ‘I’ve already asked them, Sir. It seems they walked along the top of the wall and they don’t know the mountains themselves at all. They have told me that we should stay close to the wall as it will keep us warm and the air will sustain us better when we get to higher levels.’

  She nodded and absentmindedly patted the wall.

  ‘Okay, that might help a little, but there’s still the climbing problem.’

  In a fashion, the climbing problem solved itself. Three hours from the AEC, they saw a great vertical slab of rock blocking their way. As they got closer, it seemed to get taller, reaching a third of the way up the wall, its surface smooth, grey andun-climbable.

  Armstrong put one hand against the shear edifice.

  ‘It looks like a recent feature; maybe only a couple of thousand years ago some tectonic activity pushed this lump of rock out of the ground. There hasn’t been enough time since for atmospheric conditions to bring out its fault lines enough to offer aid to climbing it.’

  Sometimes Jones thought that Armstrong loved the sound of his own voice. Then he caught the look in Miles’s eyes as she looked up at her hero and judged that he was not alone in that devotion. Maybe one day, he thought, casting his eyes over towards the captain.

  ‘How long would it take to walk around it, do you think?’ asked the captain, not expecting a helpful answer, as
she looked at the mountain range stretching to her right.

  ‘It’ll take us weeks to walk around,‘ said Jones, moving closer to her, ‘we won’t have enough food for that. Surely it’s time to reconsider?’

  ‘Will the cats hunt for us? This is their land. They must be able to survive here.’

  ‘They live on the other side of these mountains, so this is not their land. And, if you don’t mind me saying, Sir, just look around; there’s nothing here. Nothing grows here, so there will be no game for the cats to hunt. And we haven’t seen any sign of surface water. If we don’t find any, after tomorrow we’ll be dry, and we can’t carry on like that.’

  ‘We’ll take a break here,’ said Helen.’ To consider our options.’ Her eyes were focused on the rough land to the west.

  When they’d all had a drink and a light snack of ship’s rations, she called the twins to her.

  ‘We need to know what conditions are like away from The Wall so I want you to march for two hours due west of here. Keep The Wall directly behind you and you won’t get lost. There is a chance that the land you find will be more healthy, as the shadow of The Wall won’t reach that far. You’re looking for vegetation, animal life and surface water. Anything that will enable us to get to the other side of these mountains without having to climb them. Understood?’

  ‘Yes. Ma’am,’ said Millett, either J or D; she was never sure which was which, now that they’d lost their name badges.

  Without another word, they set off side by side, their long strides in perfect synch.

  Jones watched them go. Inside, he was shaking his head. They were putting off the inevitable. Sooner or later, the captain would have to agree that their only sensible choice was to return to the AEC and take a ride to the cats’ city.

  The other concern that sprang to mind was the time. It was early afternoon now. By the time the twins reached their destination and searched for signs of life, they would be very lucky to get back before it got dark. He had half an idea that the wall was offering them some protection from the clickerclackers, ridiculous though that idea was.

  But, out there on their own, what protection would the twins have?

  Chapter 25

  For the Ceremony of the Field, Beschlick had his chest hair dyed bright red, to represent the blood shed by the victorious army in the cause of the Apes. To offset the red, his back was dyed yellow and his arms a fetching shade of blue. Of course, he couldn’t proclaim his part in the victory in public, so he stood back and was happy to have General Durlick claim the plaudits for his masterful tactics. Even Elmdor Lizack was allowed a portion of the praise for his peerless super-apes, though Beschlick felt that was hardly deserved. His so called super-apes were losing to a mangy little cat until Beschlick stepped in to save the day.

  Still, on a day like today, he would allow him his moment in the sun, however brief it might turn out to be.

  The General marched towards the Field, his Thousand lined up in perfect formation behind him, made up of the nine hundred and two survivors from the battle, and ninety-eight reservists. Between the general and the Thousand, marched the one hundred officers, whose numbers had not needed supplementing, for obvious reasons. Behind the soldiers, were thousands more apes; non-combatants who were here on the cats’ side of the river just for the celebrations.

  The Field stretched from the low dusty foothills at the base of the wall to the banks of the river. It started where the barren lands finished, two leagues north of the road and continued for another ten leagues. Altogether it was one hundred square leagues of the most fertile land known to cat or ape. And it was the grand prize for the victorious race.

  For another three years, the apes would have full use of all of the Field’s produce, harvested and delivered across the river by the cats, in their more and more accustomed role of The Defeated. It was now nine years since a cat victory, and it would be another three before they had another chance. Twelve years during which they were denied access to the Field’s single crop.

  Already it was noticeable that the health of the cat nation was deteriorating. There were more small litters, and sometimes only two or three kittens survived to adulthood. It was unusual now to see a cat in its fifth decade that was healthy and possessed of all of its wits, and not drooling away in some corner of Hellion, telling all and sundry of its glory days and falling asleep mid-sentence.

  Without the benefit of the Heavenweed, they would never be able to reverse their inevitable decline.

  As they reached the Field, Beschlick was delighted to find that there were still cats working in the field; hoeing and raking, nipping and plucking, for their lords and masters. What a treat!

  ‘Great apes. Listen to my words.’ Beschlick groaned inwardly, as unendurable Durlick began his speech. ‘We have fought the good fight on this memorable day, and we have proved victorious!’

  There was a muted cheer, as if the crowd already knew how much of their day was going to be taken up by this interminable speech.

  ‘And we have fought with honour and dignity, following all of the rules of combat that have been in place for so many years. As did our fallen foe. The battle is over, and we were victorious; we are victorious. And peace will now reside with us, until it is time again to pit our honour against each other once more. So reach out to your neighbours, these valiant cats, and let them know that we understand their loss and that we know that ….’

  Beschlick stopped listening then. He had heard it all before. It was the very same speech he’d used the last time. Darling Durlick was always one for recycling things; if it worked once, it’ll work again. Very much a mind-set for the times, he thought.

  As his mind wandered, and his eyes drifted across the crowd, he failed to notice a blood-stained cat, sitting by itself, its green eyes fixed on his multi-coloured body. Without shifting its eyes or moving its head, it brought one paw up to its mouth. When the paw was suitably moistened, Lus began to clean his fur.

  Chapter 26

  The twins marched over the dusty, naked ground, their heads forwards, their shoulders straight.

  ‘D’you think she’s still watching?’ said J.

  ‘You bet she is, and giving us poor marks for style,’ replied D.

  ‘I’m going to spin on my heels and give her the finger, just to show her.’

  ‘Go on, then. If you’ve got the balls.’

  J laughed and spun around, his hand high, one finger sticking up. But they had marched too far to say if Captain Cockerall still had her beady eyes on them. After holding the pose for a moment, he dropped his hand and pulled his backpack off, dumping it on the ground and taking a seat. D joined him on his own backpack.

  ‘What do you think?’ he asked.

  ‘We’re screwed,’ replied his brother, returning to a subject that had occupied their minds much over the preceding weeks, ’Captain Frosty Knickers isn’t going to give us a second look; Milligan’s going to be in there, trust me. And Jolly Jo Miles has only got eyes for the Prof. Nothing left over for you, me or the Doc; not even sloppy seconds. The last time you had sex is actually going to turn out to be the last time you have sex.’

  ‘I meant what do you think about this trip?’

  ‘Don’t know, and I don’t care, Bro. I just do as I’m told, no matter how stupid it may turn out to be.’

  ‘So, you think we’re wasting our time?’

  ‘It’s all we have left to waste.’

  D twisted his bottom on the backpack and looked across the empty land.

  ‘When was it, by the way?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You know. The last time you had sex.’ J smiled as if he already knew the answer.

  ‘A gentleman doesn’t discuss that sort of thing.’

  ‘It’s hardly going to matter now. It’s not as though I can tell anyone who’d be interested.’

  ‘Well, it was that time when you went on that course. What was it? Scuba diving?’

  ‘But that was nearly six months
before we left.’

  ‘I know; I’ve been going through something of a dry spell.’

  ‘Dry spell? More like the Sahara desert!’ laughed J.

  ‘Well, whatever. That was the last time, with June.’

  ‘June? Which one was June? No! Not June! I hope it was dark, at least.’ J pushed his brother’s shoulder.

  ‘No, it wasn’t like that. We just got talking one night, and then we went out a few times. She’s really nice when you get to know her. Then it happened, and you got back, and then there never seemed to be the time to, y’know; take it further.’

  ‘You poor bastard, if that’s the last time you ever have sex.’ J shook his head. ‘Well, ask me then.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘The last time I had sex, of course!’

  ‘I’m not really interested, if I’m being honest. Not at all.’

  ‘You’re going to be, when I tell you who it was.’

  Despite himself, D had to ask.

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Julie and Anne.’

  ‘What, together?’

  ‘Yes, together. We all got pissed one night, a week before we left, and they wanted to give me a going away present. Who was I to disappoint the poor girls?’

  ‘Both of them? Bloody hell!’

  ‘What a way to go, hey?’

  D shook his head.

  ‘Time to get going, I think. We better see what we can find.’ D stood up and pulled his back pack onto one shoulder.

  ‘There’s nothing out there. Just more of this shit.‘

  ‘You may be right. But we won’t know unless we look, will we?’

  ‘Alright, then. If it stops you getting your knickers all twisted.’

  They left their synchronised marching behind them, along with the captain’s watchful stare, and strolled along; kicking at the dust and the few dry twigs they came across.

  ‘Could you screw a cat? A female one, I mean. They must have them.’

  ‘J, will you just stop talking about sex! If I can’t have sex again, it’ll be much easier if you’d shut up about it for five minutes. Surely the doctor can give you something for it.’