Sending

by Carmody Isobelle

  ‘Did you … send the flamebirds to the Eden Facility?’ asked Cassy, making a visible effort to seem nonchalant.

  Doktaruth gave her a sympathetic look. ‘Only the two that were put into cryosleep pods at the suggestion of Petr Masterton. I think he saw them as no more than the product of a failed experiment that could be useful. But he could not say so after all the publicity about flamebirds being virtually extinct got into the feeds.’ She gave a small grimace. ‘Naturally once the public learned there were flamebirds here being experimented on, there was a huge outcry. The government explained that it was because they were in danger of extinction that experiments had been conducted. Not a mention of them wanting to find out if paranormal abilities could be stimulated in the flamebirds because of their unusual cortex structure. The spinners claimed that the multiple brain tumours that killed off so many birds were the reason for the experimentation, not the result of it. Which stopped anyone pointing out that if the government had not taken so many flamebirds from the wild in the first place, they would never have been in danger of extinction. Anyone trying to poke into it was shown your drawings, which were presented as symbolic of the genuine concern the government has for such rare and irreplaceable creatures …’

  Cassy flinched and the older woman looked contrite. ‘I’m sorry, you told me most of this yourself. And of course you are bitter that your work was put to such use by those whose sole interest is in hiding the truth. But think of this, it was because of the quality of your art that the government got so much attention when they proclaimed themselves concerned and caring, which meant they had to be seen to be so. Hence the remaining pair of flamebirds that were put into the sleep pods were sent to the Eden Facility, despite the policy of only installing healthy breeding specimens. Without your drawings, they would simply have been destroyed.’

  ‘What about the other one?’ Cassy asked urgently.

  ‘It is to be kept here with other control subjects and put into cryosleep for varied periods, revived and then tested. We have very little research data on the long-term effects of stasis on the minds and bodies of living organisms, and we will need it to ensure that the creatures frozen can be revived safely. I would have argued to exempt the flamebird, since it is the last of its kind as far as we know, but the periods of frozen sleep will actually prolong its life. Of course, at some point we are going to have to put it in full, open-ended cryosleep, or it will die of its tumours. When that happens, I promise I will ensure that it is transferred to the Eden Facility.’

  ‘Will you go there?’ Cassy asked.

  Doktaruth shook her head. ‘Erlinder will live there with a team and continue to collect and store genetic material. That is his main area of interest. He is building a computer program that will tend the cryosleep pods, so that he can focus on collection of data. I need to remain here to supervise the next stage of the project.’

  Again the older woman looked uneasy, which Cassy must this time have noticed, for she asked, ‘What is the next stage of your program? You said before that more pods were being installed.’

  The older woman nodded. ‘They are a good deal larger than the old pods because the next stage of my research will be conducted on human subjects. They will be volunteers with life-threatening illnesses, but I am not happy to be progressing so swiftly. We did a good deal of experimentation on the effects of short-term cryosleep on mice and birds and more recently on monkeys and pigs, and we were able to awaken all of our test subjects without physical harm, but it is impossible to accurately assess the effect of cryosleep on their brains and on their minds, and there is no way to measure its effect on anything over a period beyond ten years. That is the longest we have had an animal in stasis and that was a rat. It lived to a ripe old age. The nearest to human was a monkey called Herod. He was put into cryosleep for just over seven years, and he woke fine, but he died of an embolism about six months later. We don’t know if that was the result of the stasis or natural causes.’

  ‘So all of the animals and birds you sent to Eden …’

  ‘Will be able to be revived in the short term, but beyond that we can’t truly know,’ Doktaruth said. ‘Of course, the idea is that the animals will be awakened and replaced every ten years, except for an animal whose species goes extinct. And we will be constantly monitoring the process and improving the science and technology of cryosleep so that the safe periods will grow longer.’

  Cassy said rather abruptly, ‘I don’t suppose I could look at the last flamebird one more time.’

  The older woman laughed. ‘If it were up to me, Cassandra, I would let you pet the bird to your heart’s content. But it is being kept in the live animal enclosure, and I need my security pass to enter it. That pass of your father’s would get you in, but your visit would be recorded and all hell would break loose. I promise, when they bring the bird to me, I will send word and you can come and see it.’

  ‘You promise?’ Cassy asked urgently, looking suddenly younger.

  Doktaruth gave her a pitying look. ‘You are not responsible for what they have done to these birds just because you painted them.’

  ‘I know … it had to be this way, I know,’ Cassy said distractedly.

  It must have sounded as odd to the older woman as it did to me, for she gave Cassy a searching look, then she said, ‘I will see if I can get the bird here sooner. Say I have some tests to run. It might not be too difficult this week, with all the fuss around the completed Sentinel program being uplinked to the Balance of Terror arsenal for the first time. All the top government people from the five powers will be here for it, not to mention the spinners and the press. There will be so much additional security that we won’t be able to take a step near the thing without being interrogated, but the rest of our projects ought to be under less scrutiny than usual. Of course they will watch strangers like hawks, but you and I do not fall into that category.’

  Cassy looked taken aback. ‘I hadn’t realised they were going to link Sentinel to the Balance of Terror weapons. I thought it was just a ceremony about the completion of the project.’

  ‘Oh, don’t look so worried,’ Doktaruth laughed. ‘The uplink will only be partial because a complete link would lock us humans out of the loop. But after a barrage of tests – and assuming they are successful – the development phase will be at an end and the program will be installed in a permanent terminal in a remote high-security facility. Then a full uplink to the BOT computers will be established. But speaking of security, I think you have been here long enough. I don’t want Lei to come sauntering in and see you.’ She glanced down at the small bracelet on her wrist. ‘I will walk you back to the cafeteria and grab a sandwich. I haven’t eaten since breakfast and I can use my pass to get you out.’

  As they walked down the passage together, Cassy asked, ‘Do you think it is the right thing to do, putting all of those weapons in the hands of a computer program?’

  ‘I think, given the number of so-called accidents that are said to be the result of human error, that we can’t afford not to put those weapons in better hands. Sentinel is the most sophisticated and intelligently responsive computer program ever devised. It goes way beyond the information-gathering and learning capacity of the Ines program that revolutionised technology all over the world in the last century. It is said to be the first computer program with the capacity for true intellectual development.’

  ‘And you think that will stop the powers being aggressive to one another?’ Cassy asked.

  The other woman frowned. ‘If the threat of destruction inherent in the Balance of Terror arsenal is not enough to stop us then maybe we will deserve Sentinel’s response.’

  ‘What about plants and animals and insects? Will they deserve it?’

  The other woman gave her a quick, sympathetic look. ‘The Eden Project was set up to ensure that any species that dies out can be brought back. For the last few years, Erlinder has even been collecting habitat samples so that the original habitat of any reanimated
creature can be re-established. People like Erlinder and I never have the power of ultimate life and death, you see. We are not the ones who use weapons, though we might be involved in the work that goes into their creation. We don’t have much say over how our research is used and the only real control we have is to refuse to take part in a project. Think of it as equivalent to being a painter who might choose not to paint if she cannot choose where her work will hang. I choose to paint, rather than not to paint. I guess what I am saying is that I can’t see the point in having an opinion about the morality of something like Sentinel, over which I have no power. I do what I do as best I can and take comfort from the fact that even if humans do die out, Eden will retain the potential for animals and plants to regenerate.’

  ‘And if there is no one left alive to bring them back?’

  ‘Theoretically the computer program that will monitor the pods will be capable of restoring the habitats and waking the animals without human input. Of course, right now, there is no program at Eden sophisticated enough to do that, but Erlinder’s sister has been working on the Sentinel Project, and according to her, its program is complex enough to instruct the Eden computers to wake the sleepers, which means that the capability does exist. It is not an outlandish notion to think of linking the two, after all, especially if, as rumour has it, the Sentinel Facility is to be located on the same continent as Eden. The trouble is that any link between the two facilities would have to be established at the same time as Sentinel is linked to the BOT program, because thereafter it will be inviolable and it is unlikely anyone connected to the Sentinel Project is going to want to hold off.’ She glanced at Cassy and smiled. ‘Just the same, Erlinder’s sister is in the process of writing a formal proposal to link the two facilities with a program that will enable Sentinel to watch over and, if necessary, to operate the Eden computers. She is calling it the Guardian Addendum – you know that was the name of the Sentinel Project originally?’

  ‘Guardian?’

  ‘The Guardian Project, but I suppose it sounded too passive,’ the other woman said drily.

  Cassy frowned. ‘I feel like we just passed the ball by giving the responsibility to a computer program instead of trying to figure out how to handle ourselves better. Or, ideally, getting rid of weapons altogether.’

  ‘That was tried and tried and it just never worked. Either countries stockpiled weapons or they developed them in secret, each mistrusting the other’s avowals of disarmament,’ said Doktaruth.

  The warm touch of a hand on my cheek brought me to consciousness so swiftly that I gasped. I opened my eyes to find Ceirwan bending over me, holding up a lantern.

  ‘I am sorry, Guildmistress. I tried to farseek ye but ye were too deeply asleep,’ the guilden said. ‘A host of riders has come through the pass an’ they are like to arrive shortly. It’s rainin’ hard an’ we only have this much warnin’ because Catrin was on her way down to relieve one of th’ watch an’ saw the riders in time to turn tail an’ ride back here. There are not so many, but if it is the gang of renegades that raided th’ store in Guanette a few days back, they might have more of the black powder they used to break open the storage doors.’

  I got up and drew on my shawl, pushing my feet into my slippers. ‘If they do have black powder, some of the gang must be Hedra who escaped capture when Dardelan’s forces mopped up in Saithwold after Malik fell.’

  ‘Might be some of Malik’s men,’ Ceirwan conceded. ‘Remember Vos had barrels of it an’ I bet Malik had his own store as well. After he was taken, one of his men might have figured out where it was. There were five or six of them that dinna surrender to Dardelan’s armsmen.’

  I glanced across to the window. It was too dark to see anything but I could hear the rain hammering down hard. I turned back to Ceirwan. ‘Go down and rouse Roland. I assume Catrin will have woken Gevan by now. Leave the futuretellers and empaths asleep if no one has got them up. There is no point in waking everyone until we know what we are dealing with. I’ll join you as soon as I am dressed.’

  6

  Those waiting in the entrance hall held lanterns so that their shadows jerked and wavered, making it difficult to see their faces. It was hard to hear, too, with the constant rattle of rain. All the doors to the passage were open into the entrance foyer and cold draughts swept in from several directions, making me glad of the thick green gown I had belted over my nightdress, though I probably ought to have taken the time to change into trews and replait my hair, which had come unravelled in sleep.

  ‘Where are the coercers?’ I asked, when I reached Ceirwan.

  ‘Gevan is disposin’ them on the roof an’ in the upper balconies that face the entrance, poor sods,’ Ceirwan said.

  ‘The coercers are armed?’

  ‘Quivers and arrows and darts since they canna’ use their Talents in this curst rain, an’ poles are no use at a distance. They will not use them unless they must.’

  ‘Good, for these riders may not be enemies,’ I said.

  He nodded. ‘I sent Aras to ask Louis an’ Alad to organise food an’ stable space for horses, an’ I sent Freya to warn Javo that porridge an’ toast might be in order,’ Ceirwan assured me. ‘We mun hope for the best an’ be prepared fer the worst.’

  ‘Let’s hope that we’re soon sitting down to firstmeal, and news,’ I said, somewhat taken aback at how readily we had gone from a state of peace to this anxious vigilance. Was it because, underneath all the optimism and hope of this new age of freedom, no Misfit could ever quite believe that the bad times were over?

  ‘Linnet is on her way here now,’ Ceirwan broke into my thoughts. ‘She bade me tell ye an escort of knights will accompany ye if ye gan out to greet th’ riders. Even if they are ruffians, they might want to parley.’

  I sighed at the thought of a formal escort, but there was no use arguing, since the knights were sworn to protect the master of Obernewtyn and in Rushton’s absence that was me. At least having knights about me would ameliorate the bedraggled picture I was like to present trailing drenched skirts and straggling hair.

  ‘Ye could try to lure them inside with the offer of a fire an’ food but if they mean harm they are like to insist any parley take place in th’ rain,’ Ceirwan said.

  ‘You assume they will know that rain inhibits our Talents?’ I asked.

  The guilden shrugged. ‘If there are Hedra among the riders, they did enough foul experimentin’ on our kind to ken everything about us.’ There was an edge to Ceirwan’s tone that reminded me of his horror when I had told him about Misfit children being reduced to mindless nulls by Ariel’s foul experiments in the Norselands.

  ‘Are we to have any warning that they have arrived?’ I asked.

  The guilden nodded, saying the young farseeker novice Leander was stationed outside the door. The minute he saw the riders, he had instructions to rap on the door. I did not envy him or the coercers on the roof for it was a foul night, truly. Tucking my long trailing sleeves into my belt, I wondered if there was time enough to send for boots. My slippers would be ruined if I had to go out into the muddy wash that was the drive.

  Linnet arrived and said without preamble, ‘I just saw Gevan. He says Declyn can see the riders and reckons their number at thirty. It’s impossible to tell if they have barrels of black powder but if they do, it’ll be useless in this rain, and without it, there are more than enough coercers and knights to deal with them.’

  ‘If there are Hedra among them, they may have weapons that the rain won’t hinder,’ I said, remembering the golden liquid called honeyfire that I had seen demonstrated in the mind of a Herder priest. Once ignited, it would burn anything and it could not be extinguished with water. The effect of it would be unthinkably horrifying were it to be thrown onto a person.

  ‘The only one close enough to be hurt will be you, mistress, if they seek parley, which is why we will precede you out the door. Whoever would speak with you had better be prepared to dismount and put their hands atop their heads.�
��

  Ceirwan stiffened and after a distracted moment, he said, ‘That was Lina. Alad sent her because he thought we might need a beastspeaker who can also farseek, since you are likely to be too busy to deal with the horses. She just farsought me to say that Jaygar and some of the other horses are going to come through the farm gate and round to the front entrance so that they can communicate with the riders’ horses in case they have been demon-banded. If they have, Lina will go out and make physical contact with Jaygar to find out what he has learned.’

  ‘Why do you speak of demon bands?’ I asked. ‘Surely they have long since been rounded up and put in caves where the taint-devouring insects can cleanse them?’

  Catrin came to join us. She was wet to the skin, hair slicked against her scalp. ‘I might as well have bathed fully clothed!’ she muttered, wiping a sodden sleeve over her face.

  ‘The demon bands were all collected just as all the barrels of black powder were disposed of,’ Linnet said. ‘Yet black powder was obviously used in that attack in Guanette a few nights back, which tells us that some of it slipped through the net. All we can say of the black powder and the demon bands is that most were turned in because we circulated the information that the black powder is unstable and likely to explode and the demon bands contained tainted matter that would eventually affect the wearer. But the renegade soldierguards and Malik’s men who were not captured in Saithwold would likely have dismissed our warnings as a trick to disarm them. And if there are still Hedra at large, as rumoured, they might have arranged to have caches of both stashed away by Malik before ever they came here. That could be one of the reasons they rigged his mind so that if anyone tried to probe him, he would die.’

  ‘I still don’t get how they did that unless they had coercive powers of their own,’ Catrin said.