Star of Hope

by Moira McPartlin

  ‘How far is the server site from here?’

  He pointed across the expanse of field. ‘Do you see that high land ahead?’

  There was a small mound at the end of the field and behind that the land rose steeply and at strange angles to the rest of the landscape.

  ‘The strange-looking mountain?’ Ishbel said.

  ‘Yes. It is a strange shape, but you see the mound in front? That is where the server is housed. It’s right under the nose of the Military.’

  ‘In what way?’

  ‘The land behind houses a black box. You can’t see it from here but it’s there all right.’

  ‘What’s in the black box?’

  Skelf looked at Ishbel. ‘Don’t you know? If not, there’s not really much point in us being here.’

  ‘But you said the servers were there.’

  ‘Oh yes, the servers are there, but servers are no good without an enormous amount of power to get them going.’

  ‘And where will that power come from?’

  ‘The black box, stupid.’ Merj said.

  ‘Ah, there’s a surprise. Wonderboy knows.’

  Ishbel looked back at the landscape. ‘It can’t be.’

  ‘It is. That, my dear Ishbel, is the source you seek’

  ‘The Star of Hope,’ she whispered.’

  Skelf chuckled, ‘If you say so. Unless that starts up, no amount of trying will get the silos working. We must get your Star working first.’

  ‘I don’t think we need to.’

  ‘Why’s that?’

  ‘Because Sorlie is in there.’

  Sorlie

  We crabbed through the door, backs to the wall. I held my useless knife. Dawdle had his gun drawn.

  ‘There’s no need to be cautious. There are no defences here.’ The voice crackled from the surveillance unit above the door. ‘Walk through reactor hall,’ it said. Noni shrank to the floor, wide-eyed and staring at this talking machine. I moved to help her to her feet.

  ‘That’s right, Sorlie. Ever the gentleman,’ the voice said. What the snaf? He knew my name.

  ‘Who are you?’ Reinya said. ‘’ow’d you know Sorlie?’

  A laugh came from the surveillance and a chill ran down my spine. I knew that laugh. It was a laugh I’d heard so many times before, back at the Base, but always in the safety of my Game Space. It was a laugh I shouldn’t be afraid of, so why were my guts swinging like a trapeze?

  ‘Don’t talk tae it,’ Dawdle said.

  ‘Oh, that’s right,’ said the voice. ‘Listen to Dawdle, the darling of Base Dalriada.’

  ‘You’re fae the Base then?’ Dawdle said.

  ‘Yes I am and I know all about you and Sorlie’s darling native.’ Dawdle clenched at the mention of Ishbel.

  ‘Where is the reactor hall?’ I asked.

  ‘Just keep walking straight.’

  Suddenly I knew where we were and why we were here. I didn’t need any more instructions from the Blue Pearl. I knew what the source was. It had been a lesson in taught history. Fusion power. At the turn of the century it had only been a dream but the scientists had cradled the code and managed, for a short while, to create commercial electric energy from fusion reactors. The Land Reclaimists had shut them down after one exploded, killing a handful of people. But that was ancient history. I just had one thing to deal with first.

  The walls of the reactor hall were high. It was like being in one of those ancient cathedral things. The ceiling was made of some sort of metal and glass. In the middle of the hall, filling most of the space, floor to ceiling, was a cylindrical unit with pipes sprouting from it like spiders’ legs – or a star. The unit itself was sealed and secret. A balcony above us surrounded the unit and again I had that exposed feeling. The walls rang to the harmony of our boots walking across the polished stone floor. Harmony that is, except for Noni who was dragging her heels as I pulled her along. The situation was bad enough without Noni creating.

  ‘What’s wrong with her?’ I asked Reinya.

  ‘Bad vibe,’ Dawdle said.

  ‘She’s claustrophobic.’ Reinya knew her best. ‘Bein inside.’

  Noni stared at me with those innocent eyes. There seemed to be no one around except the nutter on the other side of the surveillance camera and there were lots of cameras all trained on us. I knew we were walking into a trap but I also knew who was at the other side of the camera, I just didn’t know what he wanted.

  ‘Up the stairs!’ the voice instructed.

  We climbed the stairs to the balcony. Ahead was a door with a sign that read CONTROL ROOM. Reinya looked across at me, her eyes alert. I could see she was ready to spring to action the minute anything kicked off. It was reassuring to have her on my side. Dawdle I wasn’t so sure about.

  When we reached the door at the other side of the hall we all hesitated. My comms buzzed with another instruction, loud and echoing – Noni squealed.

  ‘What was that noise?’ the voice said.

  ‘Nothing. My comms playing up. Different temperatures I think.’ It was a plausible excuse – the hall was chilled compared to the blazing heat outside.

  ‘Open the door and come in,’ the voice boomed over a hundred tannoys. Delusions of grandeur or what?

  Dawdle moved to open it but I stepped in front of him and placed my hand on the door first.

  ‘No, this is my fight.’ I tugged the door open. My body pulsed with adrenalin; fight or flight. I knew this was a fight I was ready for.

  The control room was different from the one at Black Rock which was small with only security monitors. This one, with one curved glass wall, looked out to the huge cylinder that I now knew was the Star of Hope. It dominated the scene to the extent that at first I did not notice the black chair in one corner of the room. When I stepped forward the chair swung round. I expected him to hold a weapon and I was right.

  ‘Jake, how nice to see you again after all this time.’

  ‘Place your weapons on the ground.’ We did as we were bidden.

  ‘It’s u kid.’ Reinya said.

  ‘He’s the same age as me,’ I corrected her. ‘He was my classmate and my wrestling buddy at the Base.’ Jake smiled at us. He waved his gun and signalled us into the other corner of the room. ‘What’s going on, Jake? Why aren’t you at Political Academy?’ During our assessment Jake had been selected for great things, whereas I was just mediocre with mediocre prospects.

  ‘Why do you think?’ he said.

  I shrugged. ‘No idea. You were always better than me at that sort of thing. Better at combat too.’

  ‘Better at wrestling you mean, Sorlie. I always beat you.’

  Until that last time when I beat him, but I thought it best not to remind him. He hadn’t forgotten though.

  ‘Do you remember your last words to me?’ I did, but stayed quiet, watching his gun. His crazy eyes blazed.

  ‘“Jake the snake, loser”, you said.’

  ‘It was a game, Jake.’

  He stared at us. Gun still trained on me.

  ‘What do you want from us?’

  He remained silent. It was as if he had planned our capture and then couldn’t pull it off. He wore a Military uniform. Mid rank.

  ‘Sorlie, look in the corner,’ Reinya said, nodding her head to the left.

  A suit of armour hung from a peg. The brute who had terrorised Steadie, blown up the prison ship and chased us in Beckham City was really this puny kid.

  ‘Why have you been trying to kill us?’

  ‘Don’t you know?’ he said at last.

  ‘No idea. You went to Political Academy, right? But now you wear a Military uniform.’

  ‘You don’t know? You’re a liar.’

  ‘I know nothing. How could I? I’ve been an outlaw for a year.’

  ‘But you know
what happened after you and your native bint disappeared?’

  ‘No.’

  Noni started swaying and moaning. Sweat broke out on her forehead.

  ‘What’s wrong with that?’ Jake asked.

  ‘She’s claustrophobic – never been inside before,’ I explained.

  ‘Shut her up before I do.’

  Reinya placed an arm around Noni but I noticed that as she did so she moved a bit closer to Jake’s chair. She tried to get Noni to sit on the floor.

  ‘No,’ he screamed. ‘Keep standing.’

  ‘Let ‘er sit, you moron,’ Reinya said. He fired the gun and we all ducked.

  ‘Woah, Jake. This isn’t her fight.’

  Reinya touched the top of her head. ‘You almost ‘it me.’

  ‘It was a warning. I’m a very good shot.’

  ‘Could u’ve fooled me.’ Sometimes Reinya didn’t know when to shut up. She cuddled Noni into her and the moaning stopped.

  ‘OK, can we all calm down?’ I said, even though my gut was telling me I was far from calm. ‘So you were saying. After Ishbel and I left?’

  ‘Yeah, Ishbel, that’s her. You always did fancy a bit of your native.’

  ‘She’s my aunt.’

  He showed no surprise. ‘So you’re a native. Figures. Actually that explains a lot.’ He narrowed his eyes. ‘After you left, the Military Police came to our unit looking for answers. Ma and Pa were both at home for once.’

  Jakes’ parents were High Ranking Military so were not required to mission abroad as much as my parents had.

  ‘They broke down the door even though we would have let them in. They smashed up the unit looking for clues and a connection to your father. They roared “Dougie Mayben this, Dougie Mayben that,” as if your pa was number one enemy of the State. Which of course he was, but we didn’t know it then. They said he was a traitor. Why else would he spirit his kid away in the dead of night?’ Spittle formed around Jake’s mouth and as he took a hooping breath I felt almost sorry for him. When he spoke again it was almost a whisper. ‘Ma and Pa knew nothing but the goons didn’t care about that. They stripped them of their rank and sent them to the Bieberville border where they were to serve as low rank drones. My political pass was rescinded and I was placed in the Military Academy. Our lives were ruined the night you disappeared. And it was all your fault.’

  Something in my bones warned me and I threw myself to the side, rolled and hid behind the side of the desk just as the gun went off. I heard Reinya shout my name. A gunshot fired again. I’d no idea who it was aimed at or if anyone was hit.

  ‘You cannae kill us aw,’ I heard Dawdle call. I saw him, crouched on the ground near the door, Reinya and Noni in the other corner. Dawdle was right, we were in three corners of the room.

  ‘It wasn’t my fault,’ I called out from my den. ‘Anyway, how do you know your parents weren’t connected with Pa? He had many high ranking on his side.’

  Jake’s face grew purple with rage. He was getting ready to fire again.

  ‘Is this why you’ve been following us?’ I said.

  ‘You lead a very charmed life.’

  ‘How did you get the tracker on me? I haven’t been in contact with you for over a year.’

  ‘You already had it on you, stupid. We all did at the Academy. Anyone entering or leaving the Base. Special precaution. I didn’t find out about it until I was at the Military Academy. I managed to get hold of the access code and activated yours.’

  ‘Why wasn’t it activated before, when I first disappeared?’

  ‘Maybe they didn’t give a shit about you, Sorlie. Maybe they hoped you were dead. Just as I wanted you dead. I almost got you at the tower.’

  ‘You were at the tower?’ The memory of it flashed into my head but I didn’t need to fill in the details because both Dawdle and Reinya were there that day too.

  ‘You were the one with the rocket launcher,’ Reinya said. ‘The one that destroyed the Transports?’

  ‘Yes, that was me. The Transports hit the tower first. I saw that native, Ishbel, on the boat. If she was there I knew you wouldn’t be far behind.’

  ‘Uh thought you said you were u good shot.’ He swung the gun round at Reinya’s words. ‘Don’t push me, bint.’

  Reinya held her hands up in surrender but her expression was far from convincing.

  ‘When I missed and hit the Transport I was glad,’ he went on. ‘The Military have made my life hell.’

  ‘You were the one at the Steadie raids?’ I asked.

  ‘And the one at Beckham City,’ Reinya added.

  I knew what she was doing. He was swinging the gun back and forth. He really wasn’t cut out for combat.

  ‘Yes, it was him, Reinya.’ I eased myself from my hiding place, ready to leap back at any minute.

  ‘What made the Military think your pa was involved?’ I asked Jake. ‘They don’t just make stuff up.’

  ‘They do.’

  ‘They must huv found somethin,’ Dawdle said.

  ‘They took Pa’s comms away. They said there was a plugin, a key to a secret channel. It’s a lie. My pa broke down and said Dougie Mayben forced him into it.’

  ‘Look Jake, it wasn’t like that. Lots of Military joined the Blue Pearl. They were fed up of being used to torture natives. They knew things had to change. High ranks, sympathetic to the native cause.’

  His face darkened again and I wondered at his sanity.

  ‘That’s not possible. Not my pa. He loathed natives. Especially your native,’ I heard Dawdle take a deep inhale.

  ‘Look pal, ah dinnae ken what beef ye huv with Sorlie, but we’ve a job tae dae here.’ While Dawdle spoke Reinya inched nearer to Jake. ‘Are ye gonnae spend the rest eh the day gum bumpin or are ye gonnae dae somethin?’ Jake turned the gun on Dawdle which permitted me to move closer.

  ‘Ye see,’ Dawdle held his hands up. ‘Nae weapons.’ Dawdle kept his eyes trained on Jake but I knew he had a plan. ‘Seems tae me yer precious Military huvnae been aw that fair wi you, like ye say. We’re tryin tae sort that. No just fur natives but fur Privileged an aw.’

  ‘Sorlie wus yur friend,’ Reinya piped up. Dawdle let out an almighty sigh. ‘’ow many friends do you ‘ave, Jake?’

  ‘What dae ye want is aw we’re askin.’ Dawdle said.

  ‘Revenge for my ma and pa.’

  ‘And all the rest,’ I said. ‘Jake, you have left a trail of destruction and death behind you. It’s as if you wanted to miss me so you could destroy more. Why?’

  He laughed and I saw he was truly gone. ‘Spot on,’ he said. ‘Remember all those Games Wall sessions. The thrill of blasting people to bits. Imagine my joy when the Military handed me access to the real deal.’

  ‘Boys and guns,’ Reinya said.

  Just then Noni let out a mighty scream. Jake whirled round and fired at her. I leaped onto his turned back and pulled him to the ground. He still had the gun. I wrapped my arm under his oxter and twisted his arm and his body. I arched and heaved him backwards, placing my foot between his legs and kicked out. The gun went off again, hitting the ceiling. Debris scattered around us. I chucked the moaning Jake off me and looked around. Dawdle had Jake’s gun trained at its owner. Reinya was crouched by Noni, who was huddled into a foetal pose.

  ‘Is – she – OK?’ I couldn’t catch my breath.

  ‘She’s ’it on the shoulder but uh don’t think the bullet is in there.’

  ‘There’ll be a first aid kit somewhere.’ I searched under the control panel and threw a box marked with an X to Reinya while Dawdle hauled the struggling Jake to the middle of the room.

  ‘Right, young fool, let’s get some answers. Where’s yer Transport?’ Jake looked to the roof.

  ‘There’s probably a landing pad up there. There was one at Black Rock.’

  ‘But we’d
huv seen it,’ Reinya said.

  ‘Not if he’s been here for a while. My tracker was removed. How did you know where we were?’

  ‘You guys are so stupid,’ Jake said. ‘Do you think Sorlie’s the only one with a tracker?’ Dawdle began clawing at his belly button. ‘I saw you with him at the ship. Once you were on the canal there could be only one place you could be headed. I just came and waited, watching you approach in your slow boat.’

  ‘Wait a minute though. Where’s the guards?’ Dawdle asked.

  ‘There are no guards,’ he said, lifting his chin in defiance.

  ‘Why no?’

  Jake glared at him. ‘I’m not telling you.’

  ‘Dae ye want me tae set Sorlie on ye again? Want mair humiliation?’

  ‘I’m not humiliated. I used to be able to beat you, Sorlie,’ he spat. Which made me realise, even though he had been robbed of his parents, as I had, and Jake had been taken into the Military, he had chosen the dark road to adulthood. He hadn’t been exposed to the prisoners on Black Rock and the specials of Steadie. I understood in that moment I’d been lucky to have been removed from the Base. All those times I wanted my old life back. This was life. Out among the real people of Esperaneo. People whose lives may be shit but they still had time to care for each other. I’d grown up and seeing Jake like this was like looking at a reflection of me a year ago. And with that knowledge I knew I could finish this job and free the people of Esperaneo.

  Ishbel

  ‘Is there any security or surveillance around here?’ Ishbel asked Skelf.

  He shook his head and the skin of his cheeks and chin wobbled like jellyfish. ‘Not of the human kind, honey.’

  Ishbel drew in a breath and whistled it back out through the gap in her teeth.

  ‘If no human presence then what?’

  ‘The main surveillance in the area was abandoned many years ago and because the State didn’t know the existence of the server farm it kept its surveillance trained on the source plant, a few kiloms away. We should be OK for a while.’ He held out his hand. ‘Help me sit, why don’t you?’

  Merj had disappeared back over the lip of the canyon. She suspected he was searching for Sorlie, looking for clues. He was bound to find the canoe. She should watch her back but she had to concentrate on getting Skelf to the server farm. She took his arm and squirmed at the rolls of skin covering his meagre skeleton. She eased him to the ground.