The Gaia Project

by Claire Buss

  'Huh.'

  'What?' Jed looked at the screen on the dashboard.

  'There's no force-field.'

  'On alert people.' Jed called back to the rest of his team. 'We don't know what we're going into.' Jed pressed the comm channel to speak to the other transporter. 'Kira? Pick up please.'

  'Yes, Jed? We're here.'

  'The city force-field is down so we're going in on high alert. I want you to stay inside your vehicle at all times. It's armoured for your protection.'

  'Uh... okay.' Kira looked at her fellow passengers in alarm, but Max and Dina seemed relaxed about the news and smiled reassuringly so she tried to push her unease away.

  Jed watched the dashboard as Ash ran through all the usual checks. There was no response to their hails. The force-field was down. Comms were unresponsive. Power signatures were negative. It looked like there was no-one there at all.

  The two vehicles passed through the open gateway and followed the empty road towards the middle of the city. There were no skimmers, no lights, no people. No signs of life at all.

  'Where is everyone?' murmured Ash. Every building scan was coming up empty.

  'If we knew that, we wouldn't be here.' Jed felt like they were walking straight into a trap and he'd brought his wife and child along for the ride. He glanced back through the rear-view to reassure himself the second vehicle was still there. It was.

  They arrived at the central plaza. Still devoid of life. Jed gave out the orders.

  'Alpha Team, I want you to use your rebreathers and fan out. Do a block-by-block check, out to ten blocks then report back. Scan the buildings but don't enter them. Report in if you see anything suspicious. Stay together.'

  There were confident assurances from the team. The operatives were used to working together and the four of them left the skimmer eagerly to explore what was happening in City 15.

  'Ash, run a diagnostic on what is working here. There has to be some sort of signal somewhere. The rest of Beta Team, with me.' Jed left the skimmer, confident that Ash would check everything that could be checked. He was a solid team member, you could always count on his level-headedness in a crisis.

  When Jed got to the second skimmer, Kira popped out to see him straight away.

  'I thought I told you to stay in the vehicle at all times.'

  'Jed! What's going on? Where is everyone?'

  'I don't know, love. We're running scans and checking what we can. I need you to stay here and stay safe, okay?' He kissed her on the cheek then beckoned to Max to move within speaking range.

  'Max. I need you and Dina to run some air quality tests. I don't know why we haven't met anyone yet, but just in case I want to make sure the atmosphere isn't toxic.'

  'Of course. We'll go find a water sample as well. Best to be on the safe side.'

  'Do you have your rebreathers with you?' Jed asked.

  'Yeah,' Max fumbled in his bag and drew out a pair. Kira looked on, wide eyed as Dina and Max put on the rebreathers and left the skimmer to begin running their tests.

  'I don't have a rebreather, neither does Grace,' she told her husband in a small voice.

  'Which is why you are staying in the vehicle.' Jed gave her a quick kiss and pushed her gently back into the skimmer. 'Let us run these initial tests. Make sure everything is safe before you come out.' He closed the skimmer door, leaving Kira to stare after him as he put on his rebreather and led Beta Team across the opposite side of the plaza to start scanning the buildings in that direction.

  'Well, I guess that leaves us on our own then, Gracie.' Kira spoke aloud but the little girl didn't stir, the skimmer journey having lulled her to sleep. All Kira could do was watch the two teams of City Guard operatives venture out into the city and her friends standing in the middle of the plaza, scanning the air quality. It didn't take that long before Max took off his rebreather and gave Kira a thumbs up signal. She sighed. She probably ought to stay in the skimmer. Frig it. Grace was fast asleep and it wasn't like she was going to go far. She carefully opened the door, closed it behind her and escaped into the plaza.

  'Air's alright then?' Kira smiled up at Max.

  'Yep. Nothing going on that I can tell. There's no insect life though, which is peculiar. We'd expect to register something at least.' He tapped his handheld a few times. 'We need to find a water supply now - any ideas, Kira? You've been to City 15 before haven't you?'

  Kira shook her head. 'No, but I did some research on the city before we left. If this is Central Plaza then...' She spun round and pointed at a large, imposing building behind them with what looked like marble columns around huge wooden doors. 'That is the Academy Library - there will be a public water supply in there. Let me get Grace and I'll come with you.'

  Dina frowned. 'Didn't Jed tell you to stay in the skimmer?'

  Kira stared at Dina until she laughed self-consciously and raised her hands in defeat. Kira stalked away. She wasn't some fragile touchscreen, she was more than capable of looking after herself and her child. When she got back to the skimmer, Grace was beginning to stir. By the time Kira had checked her nappy and gathered together all the paraphernalia she needed to take with her, Max and Dina were standing outside, bored expressions on their faces. Kira felt even more irritated. People without children had no idea how long it took to do the simplest of things. Securing Grace into her carrier, Kira slammed the skimmer door shut and began walking towards the Academy Library. Max and Dina scrambled to catch up with her.

  'Got everything?' Max asked.

  'Yep.'

  He took longer strides in order to get in front of Kira. 'I think I ought to go into the building first, you know? Just in case.'

  Kira was still feeling annoyed but she knew he was right. She didn't want to walk head first into danger and she certainly didn't want to put Grace in harm's way. Dina linked her arm through Kira's and smiled tentatively. Kira relaxed; she was overreacting. She squeezed arms with Dina and looked ahead to see what the library had to offer.

  It was impressive. As Max swung the doors open, the interior gleamed in the light. Obviously the library wasn't full of actual books, they were kept safe in Archive but, there were rows and rows of info booths with mounted screens and a variety of seating options from percher stools to full on recliners so students could browse the extensive cache of information in comfort. Max swept the general area with his handheld and turned back to the others.

  'There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the atmosphere. No heat signatures either. There's no-one here.'

  'No-one?' Dina was surprised. She thought the citizens would've come here for safety from whatever had happened in City 15.

  Kira walked over to the nearest touchscreen and tried to activate it. Nothing. The screen remained blank. 'Looks like there's no power here, either. Dead.'

  They all jumped as the door banged behind them and Jed strode in with the rest of Beta Team. They took their rebreathers off when they saw the others weren't wearing them.

  'I thought I told you to stay in the vehicle?' He ran an anxious glance over Kira and Grace.

  'We're fine. Max checked the atmosphere, it's all clear here. No toxins. No people either, apparently.' Kira swept an arm over the interior of the library and pointed to the touchscreens. 'All dead.'

  Jed nodded. 'We've found nothing either. All building sweeps are coming up empty. I'm waiting for Alpha Team to check in and then I'll report to Martha.'

  Max cleared his throat. 'What's our next step here then?'

  'Well, we'll release a couple of drones to do a more thorough sweep of the city, in case our initial once over missed anything. I'll program one to do the perimeter as well, see what we can find. It's up to Governor Hamble what we do after that.'

  'Right.' Max nodded thoughtfully but whatever he was going to say was interrupted by the return of Alpha Team.

  'Nothing to report, Sir,' said the Alpha Team leader.

  'Right, let's head back to the skimmers and set up a makeshift camp. I want a pe
rimeter with lookouts. We still don't know what happened here,' Jed said.

  The City Guard operatives nodded and moved with purpose back to their skimmer to unpack the equipment and sleeping pods. Max, Dina and Kira trailed behind. This wasn't turning out to be quite the field trip they had expected.

  'Ash, anything to report?' Jed poked his head into the front of the skimmer with the comms system.

  'It's not good, Sir. The city mainframe has been locked out, just like ours, so there's no way of communicating with 42 or accessing 15's supply manifest. The best I can do is tell you where their Med Centre is then we can go and see if there's anything left to salvage.'

  Jed nodded. 'Can you release a couple of drones on a city-wide sweep, include the city perimeter? I want to make sure we haven't missed anything.'

  'Yep, doing it now.'

  'And get me a link to the governor's office, will you?' Jed waited while Ash tapped quickly into his console and barely noticed the whine of the drones leaving the skimmer. Where could an entire city of people go? he thought. Why wasn't there anyone here?

  'Here you go, Sir.'

  'Thanks, Ash.' Jed looked at the small vid screen in front of him. The connection jumped twice before Martha's face appeared.

  'Jed! You made good time. How is City 15? Have you met with the city officials yet?'

  'Er no, not exactly.'

  'Not exactly? What do you mean? What's happened?' Martha asked anxiously.

  'There's no-one here. At least no-one obvious. We did a preliminary scan on approach, the city's forcefield was down. Upon entering we have been unable to establish any contact. There are no signs of life, Martha. Nothing.'

  Martha looked blankly at Jed, trying to process the information. He waited for her to say something but nothing was forthcoming.

  'What do you want us to do?' he asked. Still no reply. 'Look, Martha, we're sending out some drones to do a city-wide scan, it might show something we missed. The air is clean so we'll send some teams out to investigate the medical centre, see if we can't find out what's happened.'

  Martha fixed her gaze on him, finally coming to. 'Yes, yes, do that. Look for them, Jed. They can't have all disappeared. Not the entire city.'

  'We will, Martha. I'll let you know as soon as we find anything. Over and out.' The connection jumped twice again as it disconnected making Jed suspicious. 'Was that a secure line, Ash?'

  Ash looked up from his console. 'Secure into the governor's office but anyone with the right clearance could've listened in.'

  'Can we try and get a more secure line next time? I don't know what we're going to find here and the less people involved the better.'

  'Yes, Sir,' said Ash.

  Jed left him monitoring the drones and went to find the others.

  Max was setting up a makeshift camp site for the non-operatives. It was nothing fancy, a few chairs and a small fold-up table. Somewhere for them to sit and wait a bit more comfortably than the inside of a skimmer. Kira had popped up Grace's play cube and the little girl was happily swiping at the walls, playing her interactive games without a care in the world. Dina handed Kira a cup of synth-caf which she took gratefully.

  'What do you think has happened here?' Dina asked.

  'I have no idea. It's all so...' Kira gestured round at the empty streets. 'So odd. I mean, where does an entire city go?'

  They lapsed into silence, sipping their drinks and waiting. No-one sure what else to say.

  It took about an hour for the full sweeps to come back. Ash called Jed over to the skimmer console.

  'The entire city is empty, Sir. As expected, but see this shape here on the perimeter sweep?'

  Jed nodded.

  'That's a biomass signature. It's faint but it's large. Hopefully that will give us an idea of what's happened or at least where everyone has gone.'

  'How far away is it?' Jed asked.

  'About twenty minutes, in that direction.' Ash pointed south. The opposite side to the city from where the expedition team had entered.

  'Alpha Team - on me. We're heading out - full gear, two minutes!' Jed barked then lowered his voice to speak to Ash again. 'I want you to stay here, keep monitoring the scans, let me know if anything changes. Beta Team are on lookout patrol so you've got fire power if anything happens. We'll radio in every half an hour.' He glanced over to Kira. 'Keep them safe, Ash.'

  Ash nodded.

  Jed picked up his gear and jogged over to the civilians. 'I'm heading out with Alpha Team, the perimeter sweep picked something up on the south side.' He addressed Max. 'Want to come, Doc?'

  'Er, yeah, of course. Let me get my pack.' Max shoved his analyser into a nearby backpack and smiled crookedly at Kira, leaning in to kiss Dina on the head. 'Back soon!'

  'What about me?' Dina was put out.

  'I need you to stay here, with Kira and Grace. Keep monitoring the atmosphere. Let us know if anything changes but I'm sure we won't be long.' Jed gave Kira a quick hug and ruffled Grace's hair as she played in her cube before heading out with Max and the team of operatives.

  'Do you think they'll be alright?' Dina asked watching them leave.

  'Any synth-caf left?' asked Kira.

  Dina looked at her in surprise then nodded and poured a fresh cup.

  'Keep an eye on Grace would you?' Kira took the cup and marched over to the skimmer where Ash still sat, eyes glued to his console. 'Hey, Ash, want some synth-caf?' Kira beamed at him.

  'Er, yeah, sure. Thanks Ma'am.'

  'Oh call me Kira. We know each other well enough now. How are you doing?'

  'Good thanks.' Ash smiled back at Kira, wondering why the sudden interest in his welfare.

  'Family is important, isn't it Ash?'

  'Yes, yes of course it it. Is everything alright - is Grace okay?' Ash asked in alarm.

  'Oh, she's fine, thanks. But it's important to know what our family is up to isn't it? So we can help to keep them safe.'

  The penny dropped. 'You want to know where Alpha Team have gone. Here, look.' Ash showed Kira the dark shape on the perimeter of City 15's wall and Kira's stomach tightened in dread.

  'Can we get a visual?'

  'Um, yeah, I'm sure it will be alright.' Ash pushed a few buttons and Jed's cam feed sprang into life on the dashboard screen. Through a dark screen, it showed the skimmer passing buildings. They were still travelling to the southern side of the city. Ash and Kira watched the screen in silence.

  'It's not exciting I'm afraid.'

  'That's alright, Ash. This makes me feel like I'm there with him. Do you mind?' Kira gestured to the empty seat next to him and climbed into the skimmer. The passing buildings on screen began slowing down. Alpha Team had arrived at their destination.

  Jed's voice sounded tinny as he ordered the operatives out the skimmer and into standard formation, with him in the lead. They passed through the southern wall gateway and Kira cried out in surprise.

  Chapter 8

  'What the...' Jed looked at the scene in front of him in disbelief. Bodies lay on the ground. Not moving. His eyes darted frantically. There lay an elderly couple, nestled into each other on the brown, stubbly grass. Beyond them, a young couple with a small baby, recipients of recent collection. A group of Academy students were clustered together, handhelds still in their hands but screens wiped black. And over there, a familiar profile. It was Agent Devereaux. Dead with the rest of City 15. It didn't look real. It was as if every citizen had come outside the city walls and lain down to die. There was no blood, no wounds, no immediately obvious signs of distress. Just groups of people.

  A crow landed on one of the bodies and walked up to the face where it proceeded to peck at the corpse. The bird raised its head triumphantly, a bloody eyeball hanging from its beak. There was a retching sound to Jed's left as one of the City Guard bent over to empty his stomach.

  'Sorry, Sir.'

  Jed waved away his apology. He didn't feel too clever either. 'Max, what happened here?'

  Max's usual sunny dispos
ition had vanished, he looked pale under his permanent tan and was carefully scanning the area. 'Can you see this grass?'

  Jed looked down at his feet in confusion. 'Yeah, there's grass. What of it?'

  'What colour is it?'

  'It's green, Max. For frig's sake! Don't we have bigger things to worry about than the colour of the grass?'

  Max nodded to himself. 'Yes, it's green here but it's brown over there. As if it's been treated with something. Some kind of chemical maybe. But not airborne.' He checked his handheld. 'No, no toxins in the air.' He looked around swiftly. 'No immediate water supply either. So, were they doused from above?' He looked up. 'Possible, possible.'

  'Max, what happened here?'

  'Hmm?' Max didn't appear to realise he had been thinking out loud. 'I'm sorry, Jed. I don't know. I have a few theories but I need to gather some samples and it's delicate work. Could you go back for Dina for me? She's good in the field. I'll be fine here.'

  Jed nodded and moved away reluctantly. He signalled for the Alpha Team Leader. 'Take the skimmer back and collect Dina please. Brief her on the situation and make sure she brings any and all equipment she needs. Take Hudson with you. I don't want his delicate stomach getting in the way. And don't, under any circumstances, bring my wife back with you.'

  The operative saluted crisply and barked an order at Hudson. Without delay, the two men piled in the skimmer and sped away.

  'The rest of you, I want a droid security perimeter set up outside the city wall. You lot watch inside the city. There may still be survivors,' said Jed.

  'Sir, what happened here?'

  'That is what we are going to find out. Now, get to work.'

  The operatives fanned out, perimeter drones didn't take long to set up and Jed's team knew what they were doing. He was confident they would get on with it without the need for him to oversee them. He went back to Max.

  'Max, I mean, have you ever...'

  'Seen anything like this? Can't say I have, Jed. The only positives I can give you at the moment is that it looks like no-one suffered. But why they're dead I can't tell you.' Max shook his head. 'Without further tests, it's hard to say. It may be that time of death is fairly recent. I just don't know. I'm sorry.'