by J P Waters
“Is that coming from the courtyard?”
“I believe so,” said Mona.
“Let’s go.”
The pair bolted out of the apartment and towards the high rise’s central courtyard, which contained a garden area, a pool, and a small hardtop. When Olie opened the door to the courtyard she saw Lane running towards her with Raquel in her arms.
“Olie!” cried Lane. “Call an ambulance!”
Before Olie could respond, Mona was examining Raquel’s leg. A small roke the size of ping pong ball was attached to her leg, and as Olie’s band autodialed a dispatch service, Mona went to work prying each of the animal’s limbs free from her skin. Lane watched tearfully, setting the young girl down on the ground as the Seba worked. Raquel screamed and tears streamed down her cheeks as Mona worked separating the roke. When Mona finally managed to pull the roke free she squeezed it until it burst in her fist, black blood leaking between her fingers.
Raquel leapt into her mother’s arms and kept sobbing.
“How did that thing get in here?” asked Lane as she comforted her distraught child. “It’s one of those animals on the telesphere, isn’t it?”
As Raquel held onto her mother tightly, Mona moved over and began staunching Raquel’s bleeding with one hand. Olie didn’t want to answer Lane’s question. Lane looked up at her.
“It is,” Olie replied. “I’m sorry, Lane.”
As Raquel cried in her mother’s arms, Lane shook her head and asked, “Don’t be sorry. Your Seba just got that thing off my child.” She then placed a hand on Mona’s shoulder. “Thank you. Thank you so, so much.”
“You’re welcome. I’d advise vacating the premises as you wait for medics to arrive. There may be others.”
Lane turned to Olie. “Really? Do you think more got in?”
Olie couldn’t bring herself to confess to Lane that this was all her fault. Raquel had been attacked because of her, and potentially exposed to venom or some kind of disease for all they knew. This was quickly getting out of hand.
“Unfortunately, I do. Get Raquel out of here and call the police—we’ll keep searching here until they arrive.”
“Okay, Olie… just promise me you’ll be careful. Both of you.”
“We will. Please hurry.”
Lane stood up with Raquel in her arms. The young girl was still whimpering as her mother carried her out of the facility.
Once they were gone, Olie turned back to Mona, “Are you able to pick up anything on the other two?”
“Yes. The nymphs’ increased body temperature can be detected on my scans. According to a thermal survey of the area, however, there are at least four others in this garden.”
“Four? But we only found three eggs in the apartment!”
“It’s likely another adult laid eggs in the vicinity. They appear to be omnivorous as opposed to carnivorous.” Mona narrowed her eyes as she moved toward a flowering plant. “Look at this columbine. It’s been devoured to the root.”
“Shit,” Olie said, pulling out her dart gun. “Let’s find them.”
“I can handle the procedure from here.” Mona reached into a bush and took hold of a small roke, popping it in her hand. “Their teeth are still too immature to pierce my body’s coating, and they’re too small to fire on accurately. Best not to risk their latching on to you.”
Great. Not only had Olie unleashed the threat on her neighbors, now she was a liability in its removal. As Olie watched Mona mechanically search out and destroy the remaining roke nymphs, she listened to the telltale police and ambulance sirens approaching the building. Once Mona was confident that she’d eliminated the remaining creatures, the pair took the elevator down to the medics below.
A mobile crisis unit was onsite, and officers in SWAT gear rushed past them into the elevator as they climbed off. Olie considered telling them that things were already taken care of but thought better of it—they needed to be triply sure the infestation didn’t spread to other parts of the building. Depending on how far the nymphs were able to travel, there was a decent chance that adults had made their way into the complex as well.
“How is she?” Olie asked, approaching Lane outside the ambulance as she waited for her daughter’s release.
“She’ll be fine. More shook up than anything. They’re putting a bandage on now.”
“Good, good…” Olie replied, relieved that it wasn’t more but still wracked with guilt. “It looks like they’re attracted to the gardens. We scanned the area and eliminated what we found, but it might be best to be careful for a while. You know… in case of adults. They’re harder to find and much more dangerous. Older, bigger, sneakier. They’ve had time to learn how to hide.”
Lane nodded, a grim look on her face.
“Can I check on her?” Olie asked. Lane nodded again, deep in thought.
Olie climbed into the mobile unit with Lane. “Hey, Raquel, how are you feeling?” Olie asked. The EMT sat back from the young girl before moving to the front of the van.
“I’m okay,” said Raquel with a sniffle. “But it was really, really scary.”
“I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s okay. Mom, said we could get some sugar ice.”
“She did?” said Olie, smiling. “Is it okay if I come sometime?”
“Yeah,” said Raquel as she began to stroke her leg above the wound. “Everybody can have some sugar ice.”
Olie laughed. “Okay, it’s a date.”
“Will you bring your friend?”
“Mona?”
“She rescued me.”
“She did, didn’t she?”
“Yeah,” said Raquel. “She’s amazing.”
Lane appeared in the doorway and climbed into the van. “Are you going to the hospital?” Olie asked.
“They don’t think it’s necessary, but we’re going to err on the side of caution,” Lane said. “To be honest, Jayson’s Seba saved the day. The bite wasn’t that deep, but it could’ve been way worse.”
Olie couldn’t help but shudder. “I’ll let you go, then. Just remember what I said, okay? Be careful.”
“Of course, Olie. You’re a good friend—we can’t thank you enough.”
“I know you’d do the same. Us space-farers, right?”
“Right,” Lane replied, cracking a barely visible smile.
Olie climbed out and waved goodbye. Raquel and Lane waved back until the EMT shut the door and the ambulance pulled away.
“So, you’re a hero now,” Olie said to Mona.
“I can’t be a hero. I wasn’t risking injury.”
“Sure, you were. I’ve seen a roke destroy a Seba.”
“Correct—Sebanic are destroyed, not killed. Most injuries I incur can be remedied. And if my internal memory were destroyed, only data would be lost. Sebanic have nothing to lose, so what I did cannot be seen as heroic.”
“Tell that to Raquel. She wants to share sugar ice with you.”
“Why? My tasks require no gestures of appreciation.”
“If Raquel asks you to have sugar ice with her, just do it, okay?”
“If that’s what you’d like me to do.”
Chapter Thirty-One
After a frustrating chat with the police response team—yes, she was that Olie Manning—Olie was eventually able to get them to take their nymph warnings and Mona’s advice on thermal detection to heart. Still, the pair was forbidden from assisting them in any way.
“We’ve got this, miss. Please return to your apartment until the all-clear is issued over the building’s comm system.”
Olie shook her head as she made her way back to her apartment’s living room. Stranded for the moment, she turned the telesphere on. The image was of a reporter standing outside the beach’s ‘renovation’ fences—now obvious for what they really were, a wall against roke expansion. Olie sat forward and listened carefully as the broadcaster described the death of a man who had snuck onto the site to hunt the rokes.
“It appears th
at people are taking matters into their own hands,” said Mona, who was watching from the kitchen.
“I doubt it. More likely he heard about the first mass animal sighting in a century and was trying bag a trophy. Hunters want to hunt.”
The reporter went on to suggest that people were beginning to take drastic action against the creatures as rumors spread that they were responsible for the deaths up and down the coast and on the Seattle Islands.
“Well the news is out,” said Olie, “I’m not sure Janie’s plan worked, but the news is definitely out now.”
Olie turned around. “Why was the governor keeping it a secret in the first place? Janie passed along Jayson’s report. Sure, it was anecdotal then, but after all this evidence?”
“Pandemonium, panic.” said Mona. “Wasn’t that the detective’s reasoning?”
“Pandemonium’s on its way already, whether they like it or not.” Olie looked back to the screen, now showing family photos of the deceased hunter while he was alive.
“Where are they?” Jayson asked, heading straight to the terrarium upon his arrival that night.
“The trash,” Olie answered. “Hello to you, too.”
Jayson pulled out the eggshells and passed them over to his Seba. “Mona, pulverize these, please.”
“Certainly, Jayson,” Mona replied, taking the shells in her hands and wringing them into a fine powder.
“Don’t you think that’s overkill?” Olie asked as Mona returned the dust to the bin. Jayson then flipped the switch that vacuumed the waste into the building’s mass receptacle below ground.
“Not when we understand so little about these things. Who knows if they’re coated in hormones or something? The last thing we want is to attract more.” Visibly relieved to have the shells taken care of, Jayson flopped down on the couch.
“Speaking of which, any progress on your end?” Olie asked, sitting down on the chair across from him.
“Nothing. I’ve pumped the scientific community from top to bottom, even called in some military favors, and nada. No one knows where the live rokes are being sent, or who is sending them which is even more concerning at this point. Anyone managing to keep this big of a secret must be trying very, very hard.”
“The police aren’t exactly being forthcoming either… my name is popping up way too often for them to share anything else with me. What about the army or the Coast Guard? Hasn’t this gone beyond local law enforcement at this point?
Jayson shook his head. “The governor is going to avoid that if she can. Janie keeps pushing, but all she’s getting is empty promises. There’s no political gain for her in releasing more details.”
“But why?” asked Olie. “Why isn’t anyone trying to do something more?”
“Money,” said Jayson as he grinned and took a sip of water. “That’s what everything’s about, right? That’s what Janie says anyway. The governor might take some action, but she definitely doesn’t want people to know the extent of the problem.”
“Either way, the rokes are now literally at our doorstep. According to Mona, another roke laid eggs nearby too. It wasn’t just Gerry.”
“Mona, is that true?”
“Yes, Jayson. Increased civilian threat is imminent.”
“Damn…” Jayson muttered through clenched teeth. “Well, I did have an idea. It’s extreme, and maybe a little crazy, but...”
“What?” Olie asked.
“Mona, you’re pretty comfortable dealing with rokes at this point, right?”
“Affirmative. After repeated exposure to the rokes, I’ve calculated responses to most observed attack behavior.”
“Maybe an army is what we need—an army of Sebanic.”
“But that roke destroyed a Seba,” said Olie.
“That Seba was optimized for water desalination. Imagine an entire unit armed with Mona’s experience against them.”
“Sebanic are not optimized or intended for violence,” Mona protested.
“But they’ve been used for military purposes in the past,” Jayson replied.
“Only to preserve life, not destroy it.”
“But that’s what I’m talking about!” said Jayson. “Preserving human life.”
“Rokes are also alive.”
“But you’ve killed them!”
Mona hesitated, searching for an answer, but before she could respond Olie interjected on her behalf: “A bodyguard isn’t the same as an army. Lives were in danger, and we were her priority.”
“That’s a pretty thin line.”
“So? Frederick Parker’s the one who programmed them, so it’s him you’d need to convince, not her. And fat chance of that happening.”
“Wellllll… so, about those favors I called in…”
“You have an in with Parker?”
Jayson nodded. “His first job was with my grandfather’s company, Martian Mobility. I met him when I was a kid, but Janie has seen him more recently. I managed to get his personal contact, but I’ve yet to send anything. I wanted to run it by you first.”
Olie looked to Mona. As much as Jayson’s idea was growing on her—public safety was priority one, after all, and she knew Mona’s capabilities better than anyone —the discomfort their discussion caused the Seba was palpable. Still, how much of that discomfort was Mona’s own and how much of it was Parker’s preprogrammed philosophy? Was she thinking for herself or simply toeing the company line?
“At the very least we should try. Reach out about the situation and see if we can get a meeting.”
“I agree,” Jayson replied, smiling. “Parker’s one of the great minds of our generation, and we need all the help we can get. It just doesn’t feel like anyone else is pushing the issue. Even Janie’s getting stonewalled. It might be up to us do something.”
“If Parker can’t help us, I’m not sure what we’re going to do on our own. There’s only three of us, Jayson. Mona’s not even a person! No offense, Mona.”
“None taken,” said Mona in her classic flat tone.
“I’m just saying the rokes aren’t overrunning us yet. We still have time to do something.”
“They are not overrunning you yet,” said Mona in a deep, serious register—a far departure from her typical monotone. Olie and Jayson looked up with stunned expressions on their faces.
Jayson glanced at Olie before responding. “Mona, you sound different.”
“Should I not grow sterner when discussing a life or death situation? My understanding was that a shift in tone would be appropriate.”
Jayson and Olie looked at each other.
“Yeah, Mona, I think that shift in tone was appropriate,” said Olie.
Chapter Thirty-Two
While Jayson worked on arranging a meeting with Frederick Parker, Olie spent the next day trying to find out who was collecting rokes from the police. The task was proving much harder than she’d anticipated. Agents Haight and Scarborough were either busy or ignoring her calls—probably both—and the receptionist at the police office had been instructed to turn away all visitors now that the department was on high alert. Olie could hardly imagine where they were putting human prisoners, given the unending flow of rokes into cells meant to hold human criminals.
Next, she tried staking out the police building for any sign of the collection transports, but the police didn’t like having a strange car hang around their parking lot all day. An officer finally came out and told Olie to beat it unless she wanted to spend the night in a cell. Olie had to monitor activity from a distance. She found a noodle shop that had a table where she could view the backside of the police station and set up shop.
It was towards the end of the workday for most police officers, and Olie noticed a few officers walking out of the station with their bags clearly headed home for the evening. After a few hours and two bowls of noodles, she saw an unmarked semi backing its hold into the loading dock. It idled for about half an hour, and then drove away. Tinted glass betrayed nothing of the drivers, and she never
saw anyone exit the vehicle either. The bulk of the work must have been happening inside.
The following morning, Olie was prepared to tail the truck to wherever it was headed—discovery be damned—when she saw Frog pulling off the freeway and turning into work. Leaning into his nickname, the officer was riding a forest green electrocycle with matching helmet. Two frog-eye decals were affixed to the helmet’s sides. Gunning the motor, Olie followed him in Jayson’s car, hoping to catch him before he entered the building.
Frog had just crossed the parking lot with his helmet under his arm when Olie pulled up alongside him with the window down.
“Frog! Got a minute?”
“Hey, you’re that roke woman from the other day. The lone wolf, right?”
Rolled her eyes at the description, but at least he remembered her.
“Yeah, Olie. Mind if I ask you one or two roke questions really quick?”
“Jeez, I dunno… We’ve been told to stay hush-hush about this stuff, and I’m running late as it is…”
“Please, Frog—you owe me. Two captures should be worth two minutes of your time at least. Besides, it’s not like there’s much left I don’t already know.”
Frog looked nervously over his shoulder at the doors into the building.
“Okay, but just two minutes. I really do have to go.”
“Great, hop in,” Olie said, popping open the passenger-side door. “I’ll drive us once around the block.”
Once they were out of the parking lot, Olie put the car’s AI on a simple autoloop and cut straight to business.
“I want to know who’s picking up the rokes. Is it another branch of law enforcement or government contractor? Where are they taking them?”
Frog chuckled. “Haha. Sorry to break it to you but you’re asking the wrong guy. I help a few Sebanic load the truck each day, but that’s it, and they’re not the biggest conversationalists.”
Frog had just confirmed what Olie had already thought, that the truck was being loaded with rokes each day. He had also confirmed that whoever was loading them was using Sebanic to do it. That said a lot about the organization that was collecting them.