Star of Hope

by Moira McPartlin

  ‘Take it,’ he said and the bowl of broth vanished along with the boy.

  ‘We were deemed traitors. We were all to be executed. No hearing, no trial, no prison. We were lined up. I was ready to go. And then at the last minute I was taken from the line but was forced to watch the others die. OK, sometimes we had hated each other in business. Rivals, you know, but we had a common goal, to make the best machines in the world and we did. We did. Our job was done.’

  ‘Except it wasn’t.’

  ‘No. I was taken to Bieberville to be held.’

  ‘Why?’ Merj asked, suddenly interested.

  ‘I know why,’ Ishbel said. ‘In case they switched themselves on again.’

  He nodded. ‘Or someone else switched them on.’

  ‘Vanora has some good men but they don’t know where the main servers are,’ she said.

  ‘No one does, honey.’

  ‘Except you,’ Merj said.

  ‘The Military must,’ Ishbel chipped.

  ‘Must they?’ Skelf raised his eyebrow, clearly enjoying himself. ‘Why?’

  ‘Because they know everything,’ Ishbel said.

  That smile was back. ‘Oh Ishbel, you know nothing.’ She felt her face burn at his patronage. ‘The Military destroyed most of the servers during the first purge. It was mayhem. They took sledgehammers to them, it was Ludditeville all over again. These simple soldiers went radge at the sight of a machine. Smash, smash, smash.’ There was the beginning of a tear in his eye. Ishbel wondered if he thought of these machines as his children. It was a bit like Dr Frankenstein and his monster.

  Skelf peered into the distance and the small smile appeared again. ‘There is one they do not know about.’

  ‘Take us there and we’ll make you king,’ Merj said. ‘If we can get our hands on it we can take over the world.’ She saw a raw passion in Merj’s eyes. Was it really that easy?

  The two men looked at each other and a horrible chill ran down Ishbel’s back.

  ‘What if the same thing happens again?’ she asked.

  ‘What?’ Merj snapped.

  ‘What if the machines take over again?’

  ‘He won’t let that happen,’ Merj said pointing to Skelf.

  ‘You couldn’t stop it before,’ she said to Skelf.

  ‘I’ve been here at the Bieberville border for twenty-five years. The machines are old. I won’t let it happen again.’

  ‘Then why doesn’t the State get you to switch it back on?’

  ‘Because, my dear Ishbel, like your Vanora, the State has its own network with just enough piddling capability to run its affairs and to ensure its members have enough of a luxurious life. The masses are starving, the masses are deprived, and the masses are dying of disease with no clean water. As far as the State is concerned, for every native who dies it is one less mouth this depleted planet has to feed.’

  ‘I get that,’ Ishbel said. ‘What I don’t get is why you’re not protected? I would have thought you would be held in a high security prison. And yet you’re living in this settlement free as a bird.’

  ‘Free, you say. How long did it take you to get here and how are you going to get away from here?’

  ‘He has a point, Ishbel,’ Merj added, switching sides.

  ‘No, honey, we’re here for the long haul. The State knew exactly what it was doing by placing me up here. There’s no easy way out. So when you had that touching dance up there you were planning to kidnap me, yes?’ He held out his hands to both Merj and Ishbel. ‘Go ahead. If you can get me out of here alive I will go with you gladly. All you need to do is work out how to get out of here.’

  ‘Ask Keats,’ Merj said, snapping his fingers at the small man as he waltzed past, straining his arms to whirl a tall elderly lady. Keats stopped, scowled at Merj, but he bowed to the lady and joined them at the table.

  Ishbel smiled at Keats. ‘How are we going to get out of here?’

  ‘It’s no use asking him,’ Skelf said. ‘I’ve been asking him since I arrived here. If there’s an easy way, don’t you think I’d have found it by now?’

  Keats rolled his shoulders back and tried to sit a bit taller but failed.

  ‘Some of these settlers stay here because this is their home. Their families have been here for generations. Why should they move?’ He glowered at Skelf. ‘We never asked for you.’ He turned to Ishbel. ‘The resistance delivered him here months ago, then left.’

  Skelf ignored the scowl. ‘No matter, old man.’

  ’What about your supplies? The Noiri. How often do they come?’ Ishbel knew she was clutching at straws.

  ‘The Noiri come here very infrequently. Twice a year at most. The majority of our supplies are dried. Our vegetables, for what they’re worth, are grown in season and kept frozen.’

  ‘And there is no craft around here?’ she asked.

  Keats shook his head. ‘No, no craft’

  ‘What about the one that shot at us? Where did that come from?’ Merj nipped.

  ‘Oh that,’ Keats said.

  ‘Yes, oh that,’ Merj said.

  ‘There is a small base about six kiloms south of here. It’s on the border. For the patrol. Not very effective,’

  Ishbel looked at Merj. ‘We go for that? Can you fly?’ she asked him.

  ‘I did a bit during my Military training. Not that small thing, a big Transport.’

  Ishbel shrugged. ‘How hard can it be?’

  ‘OK then, we go in the morning.’ Merj said.

  ‘No, we go now. We’ll be better travelling in darkness. Six kiloms isn’t that far.’

  ‘It will be for him,’ Merj said, pointing at Skelf who was now examining his nails as if the conversation didn’t involve him.

  ‘In that case,’ Keats said. ‘I will give you something to help your journey. One moment please.’ He disappeared through the back shop and returned seconds later with three fur jackets. ‘Much better to keep you warm.’

  ‘More forbidden skins.’ The comment was out her mouth before she thought.

  ‘Oh, for snaf sake.’ Skelf said under his breath.

  Keats rolled his eyes at him. ‘And who is going to enforce it? You? No, Ishbel, these same animals belong to the northern people. We know what we are doing. We will not hunt them to extinction. Most of that damage had already been done with the Land Reclaimists’ crazy policies.’

  He pulled Ishbel aside. ‘I could not avoid overhearing your conversation earlier, about the machines. Be careful. Since the Switch-Off our environment has recovered. Despite the short-sighted policy of destroying and banning all domestic animals, our stocks of bears and elks have increased. Nature is repairing itself up here. Be careful with that power.’

  She felt it was an odd comment but said, ‘The Prince is a responsible leader.’

  Keats raised his eyebrows. ‘That would be a first.’

  He handed Merj and Ishbel their coats and one to Skelf, who did not move to take it.

  ‘I’m not going with them.’

  ‘You said you would come without force.’

  ‘Go get the Transport. I’ll wait here.’

  Ishbel bit back her comment. His hips hung looser than his tongue and face. He didn’t look as though he could walk the length of his shadow in twenty-five years.

  She nodded agreement. ‘No, best you stay here, you’ll just hold us up.’

  They left by the south gate. When they stepped out onto the tundra again, out of the protection of the dome, the chill wind bit its teeth into Ishbel’s face. She pulled the fur hood closer with the help of the two toggle strings. Her comms was fully operational again and she prayed to her ancestors to guide her well. She pinged the map to Merj’s comms so that hopefully if one did fail they had a backup. And she still had her paper map on which Keats had marked the border posts and the likely locatio
n for a Transport. The pinging of the comms guided them smoothly over the expanse of tundra. The cold made breathing hard so they remained silent, but Keats’ jacket helped against that cold.

  It didn’t take them long to reach the nearest border post. A thin thread of light appeared in the black night.

  Ishbel heard it first. ‘Music,’ she said to Merj. ‘Listen.’

  It was a lone melody, no accompaniment, a deep, mellow timbre playing a slow air. A wooden fiddle. The instrument of the native. It didn’t matter how scarce wood was, the wooden fiddle was a sacred instrument and no matter how desperate the owner became, it would never be burned. Every native knew of fiddles hidden with care and handed down, along with tunes, through generations. The beauty of the slow air played on this forbidden instrument almost made Ishbel cry. Almost, but not quite. And then out of the dark mass shone thin strips of lights and they could make out the shape of a window.

  ‘The Transport’s there,’ Merj whispered to Ishbel, pointing to the front of the hut.

  Ishbel crept nearer to the window and peered through the crack. A young boy with his feet up on a fire fender, lazed back in a chair, fiddle under chin and played. The ecstasy on his face was pure, oblivious to the fact that he was alone in this isolated border post on a barren arctic tundra. Ishbel felt a pang of envy even though she knew his life would not be easy here.

  ‘He’s on his own.’ On the far corner of the room Ishbel noticed a light flashing on a control panel. This was an alert, picking up the signal from their activated comms. The boy was oblivious to that too.

  Merj tugged her arm. ‘Come on.’ They crept along the side of the cabin. Merj stopped.

  ‘There’s another Transport parked round the corner.’

  ‘I knew he couldn’t be here on his own,’ Ishbel whispered.

  ‘You’re right, he’s not,’ a male voice said in her ear, a gun jammed into her side.

  Merj whipped round. Ishbel kicked back and crouched at the same time. She felt a sting as gunfire reverberated through the air, swallowed by the wind. A warm trickle ran down her hip to her leg. Her assailant had been thrown off balance by her kick and lost his gun. She spun on her heels and dived from him before he had a chance to recover his weapon. A pain in her hip ripped through her. She grabbed the gun and prayed Merj had reached the Transport. She threw herself at the man as he staggered to his feet. A light flashed across the snow, the boy stood in the doorway.

  ‘Knut?’ he called out.

  She knew he couldn’t see them. The man struggled beneath her, she took the gun handle and smashed it on his skull. He grunted, then fell silent.

  ‘Knut?’ the boy called again. She saw him take a tentative step out the door. She knew she should disable him too but he looked about Sorlie’s age. Why send children on these missions?

  The Transport’s engine sparked. Ishbel saw the boy run out the door. She sprang to her feet, pushing back the pain of her screaming hip. The green lights illuminated the cockpit and she saw Merj look at her as the Transport started to rise off the ground. He was going without her.

  Ishbel dived for the Transport and clasped her hands on the bottom rail, just as it cleared the ground. The wind whipped her face, she scrabbled with the door handle but it wouldn’t budge. A bullet whistled past her ear and dinged off the bulkhead. Merj flew low and steady. Ishbel clung on.

  It took minutes to reach the dome and as Merj brought the Transport to a hover she tucked her screaming leg and flattened herself to the machine. When he touched down Ishbel yanked open the door.

  ‘What the snaf are you playing at?’

  ‘You were injured. I thought you were a goner. I had to get out before the boy shot.’

  ‘You left me.’

  ‘I’d have come back for you.’

  ‘Snafin liar.’

  Sorlie

  ‘Tell us about the bees, Dawdle?’

  ‘Of course, you’ll no ken. They dinnae teach ye stuff like that in taught history, dae they?’

  ‘They teach ye nuthin in camps,’ Reinya said.

  ‘Well, they disappeared years ago,’

  ‘What does it matter?’ I asked. They were stinging insects as far as I could tell.

  ‘Aw, Sorlie, son, ye’ve nae idea. These wee insects pollinate, help tae feed the world.’

  Reinya snorted.

  ‘It’s true. Ye see, they lift pollen fae wan plant and spread it tae others.’ He rummaged his hand through his hair. ‘Ah’m no explainin it aw that guid. It’s like makin babies.’

  Rienya picked up a handful of dirt and chucked it at a lavender bush.

  ‘Sorry, hen. Ye see, plants need pollinated. Bucketloads o our past food crops couldnae produce fruit without these wee mites pollinatin them. So when bees disappeared many o our food plants disappeared wi them. That’s why we hae tae exist on boufin grainer bars.’ He flapped his hand at us and stood up. ‘And that’s aw ah ken. If ye want mair intel on bees, ask Scud or yer Pa, they’re bound tae ken.’ He let out a huge breath as if the lecture cost him more than words.

  ‘Where’d they go?’ I asked him.

  Dawdle shrugged. ‘Poison, pesticides, changin weather patterns. Ah dinnae really ken. Naebudy dis. They disappeared and everythin changed.’

  ‘Like the Switch-Off?’ I couldn’t get my head round it.

  ‘Like, but different.’

  ‘So how come they’re back?’

  ‘Does it matter how? The main thing is they’re back. Ma guess is they manufactured them in a lab. Like they did wi that Noni.’

  ‘Where is Noni?’ Reinya asked.

  We’d been so engrossed in the lavender that we didn’t notice Noni had dropped back. She was sitting cross-legged at the side of the field, gazing in wonder. Tears rolled down her dirty face. I walked back to get her and as I reached the lip of the plateau my comms buzzed. A new instruction appeared. It was a map with co-ordinates. The instructions were to break into a secure site. According to the map the site wasn’t too far away; possible to see from here. I searched the landscape. On the other side of the field, just beyond the trees, a small mound rose in the earth. Behind that loomed an odd-shaped hill.

  ‘Instructions,’ I said. I pointed to the hill. ‘We go in there. Instructions don’t say what it is –only that we break in and take control. I’m assuming this is the source Pa spoke of.’

  ‘Ah hate aw this cloak-and-dagger shite,’ Dawdle said. ‘Why can they no just tell us the whole story?’

  ‘You know why.’

  ‘So, we’re no ‘ere to destroy?’ Reinya asked.

  ‘No, just take control.’

  ‘Until the cavalry arrive,’ Dawdle said. Sometimes he made no sense.

  The clouds had been absent since morning, making the sun’s rays relentless.

  ‘Go even further south,’ Dawdle told us, ‘and you reach the desert states – truly unbearable heat. No water, no plants, only sun, sand and solar fields. Horrible.’

  ‘So, you’ve been there before, then?’

  Dawdle just looked at me and blinked. ‘Let’s go.’

  I reckoned it was about a kilom to the end of the lavender field and maybe another to the hill.

  ‘Let’s get across the field and stop at that mound over there.’ The others agreed. I helped Noni to her feet but she still seemed a bit stunned by the beauty. ‘We’ll come back later,’ I assured her, ‘but we’re sitting ducks out here. Crouch low and run at the same time,’ I said, showing her how to combat run.

  ‘Don’t be soft, Sorlie,’ Reinya said. ‘We’d be faster runnin at full pelt to take cover by the trees.’

  And before I could argue with her she was off, and had covered half the field before I could get Noni started again. I took Noni’s hand and dragged her – no easy task. When we collected at the trees I looked back across the field. The lavender looked und
isturbed as if the dry air had closed in right behind us as we passed through. A faint breeze stirred up some plumes of red sand that separated each row. The bees hummed louder. Something was wrong.

  ‘This place is weird. Where is everyone?’ So Reinya felt it too.

  ‘It’s so still, apart from the bees.’

  ‘What dae ye want? Natives workin in the fields. These things take care of thirsel.’ The buzz seemed to increase.

  ‘Those bees sound angry.’

  ‘That’s nae bee,’ Dawdle hissed at us. ‘Get down on the ground and dinnae move.’

  Our clothes were pretty dusty from the climb up to the Plateau but Dawdle began throwing handfuls of dust over us and himself.

  ‘Try tae blend in.’

  The buzzing increased and suddenly I knew what it was. A drone flew low from the north, cleared the trees above our heads and began a low sweep over the field. We crawled round to the back of the trees and watched as it performed its tracking up and down the rows. Every now and then it would sweep down and disturb the earth then move onto the next row.

  ‘What’s it doing?’ I whispered.

  Dawdle shrugged. ‘Weedin, ah guess.’

  After it completed its sweep of the whole field the drone rose and returned over our heads. We watched it make a plumb line for the mound, and disappear round the back of it.

  ‘We probably didnae hae tae hide,’ Dawdle said, ‘It wis clearly a worker drone, but they dae hae cameras, so better safe, eh?’

  ‘So that’s why thurs no natives in the fields,’ Reinya asked.

  ‘It’s true then. Pa’s tale about the techs and giving all the jobs to robots. But that was before the Switch-Off and yet here’s one working in the field. Does that mean someone’s switched something on?’

  ‘Naw,’ Dawdle said. ‘That’s small scale. Remember, they hud drones at Black Rock.’

  ‘The seekers, how could I forget? Their wherrying sound nearly fried your brain.’

  ‘Well, this’ll be the same small scale. Military or somethin.’

  Something about the way he said it made me think Dawdle knew more about this operation than he let on.