Box

by Richard J Lowe

  ‘Come. We’ll go to Jacob,’ said Dimitri.

  Simone looked at the prone ColPol officers and frowned. ‘We can’t just leave them here. They’ll die when their tanks run dry.’

  ‘I’ll make sure they’re okay,’ said Bannon. ‘Just give me a little tap, make it look like I put up a struggle.’

  Kevin clasped Bannon’s forearm and patted his shoulder. ‘Sorry about this.’

  Bannon chuckled. ‘You’ll enjoy hitting me. Admit it.’

  ‘You got me. I might enjoy it a little bit.’ Kevin released the man’s arm, stepped back and swung at the side of Bannon’s face. His hand connected with a loud slap. ‘There. Good enough, it will leave a mark.’

  ‘Just get out of here before they wake up,’ said Bannon.

  Daniel had only just opened the door of the rover when Simone said, ‘No. Not the rover.’

  ‘I’m not bloody walking,’ said Dimitri.

  Daniel was confused. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘We can’t leave the Box,’ said Simone.

  ‘The what?’ asked Daniel. He couldn’t recall exactly when things had stopped making sense.

  ‘The Box. It’s what we’ve been calling the artefact Kev found,’ said Simone.

  ‘Come on, we need to hurry.’ Kevin started to lead them all back towards the elevator.

  ‘Are you crazy? We’ll be trapped down there,’ said Dimitri.

  ‘Trust me, Dimitri,’ said Kevin.

  Dimitri looked at Daniel, then Kevin, then back to Daniel. ‘Do we go with your crazy son?’

  Daniel decided that one more crazy thing to add to the big list of craziness he was already involved with wouldn’t make much difference. He nodded to Dimitri and closed the rover door.

  ‘You’re all crazy.’ Dimitri stood with Bannon for a moment, then slapped the man on the back. ‘Maybe I’m crazy too, eh?’ He followed the others into the elevator.

  CHAPTER 27

  ‘Box, open the door.’

  A hole suddenly appeared in the side of the artefact, allowing access to the interior.

  ‘Holy shit,’ said Dimitri.

  Daniel agreed with the sentiment.

  ‘Come on,’ said Simone. She stepped over the threshold and Kevin and Connie followed.

  Daniel hesitated.

  ‘Come on, Danny. No point standing around out here.’ Dimitri was next to enter the artefact.

  Daniel, ignoring his sense of foreboding, followed the others.

  Once inside, he took stock of his surroundings. There were four doors leading out of the room, a large screen displaying an external view dominated one wall, and Simone was sitting on a battered grey sofa. He did a double take. That was his furniture. He recognised the slight tear on one of the arms.

  ‘What the hell?’

  Kevin removed his mask to reveal a wide smile. ‘Oh, you’re going to love this, Dad.’

  Daniel looked behind him. He could still see the rocky wall of the observation area through the hole. Kevin had taken his mask off and was breathing easily. Daniel pointed at his mask. ‘How?’

  Simone had also taken her mask off. ‘The Box contains a breathable atmosphere. The technology also maintains pressure, despite the egress point being open.’ She gestured at the opening leading outside. ‘Some sort of gas exchange barrier.’ She smiled. ‘And no, I don’t know how it works.’

  ‘Aliens,’ said Kevin.

  ‘Right.’ Simone nodded sagely. ‘Box, close the door.’

  Now that the opening was closed, Daniel removed his mask. Despite the obvious evidence that his mask had been safe to remove while the door was open, he felt much safer with it shut.

  ‘It obeys voice commands?’ he asked.

  ‘Only Simone or someone she authorises,’ said Kevin.

  ‘The AI clearly has good taste,’ said Simone.

  ‘All very interesting,’ said Dimitri. ‘But now we are all here – now what?’

  ‘Now, you tell me where Jacob is and we go and pick him up.’

  ‘He is with Lula at agri-dome six,’ said Dimitri.

  ‘Do you know it?’ asked Kevin.

  ‘Yes. I think I can get the Box to take us outside one of the smaller airlocks.’

  ‘You can?’ asked Daniel. He was finding all of this hard to process.

  ‘Better make it maintenance airlock 3C,’ said Dimitri.

  ‘Box, take us to agri-dome six, maintenance airlock 3C,’ said Simone.

  ‘Now what happens?’ asked Daniel.

  ‘We go and get Jacob.’ Simone pointed at the screen which was now showing a small maintenance airlock set into the wall of an agri-dome.

  ‘Holy shit,’ said Dimitri.

  Kevin was still smiling, he seemed to be enjoying himself. ‘Yeah, pretty much.’

  ‘Let’s go,’ said Simone. She stopped Kevin before he could don his mask. ‘I think you should stay here. Just in case. Dad, Connie, you can both stay too.’

  Connie nodded. ‘Okay.’

  ‘How about taking a camera with you?’ asked Kevin.

  ‘Good idea,’ said Simone. ‘Box, give me a body-cam, please.’

  Simone attached the freshly made body-cam to her therms, and Kevin made sure he could see the picture on the screen. Then Dimitri and Simone left the Box leaving the others sharing the battered grey sofa and watching the camera feed on the screen.

  Kevin leaned forward and rested his forearms on his legs. The feed was showing Simone and Dimitri’s progress through the narrow maintenance passages in the agri-dome. He glanced to his left and saw that Connie and his Dad had both assumed similar positions to him.

  ‘How far is it do you think?’ he asked.

  His Dad shifted back. ‘Not much further.’

  ‘I hope ColPol haven’t got to them,’ said Kevin.

  ‘We could just call them,’ said Daniel.

  ‘And risk giving ourselves away? I’m pretty sure they’ll be monitoring our cuffs.’ Realisation dawned on Kevin. He looked accusingly at his cuff. ‘Shit.’

  ‘What?’ asked Connie. She didn’t look away from the screen.

  ‘Our cuffs. That’s how they found us.’

  Kevin activated his cuff and called Simone. They saw her raise her arm on the screen as she checked who was calling and then the call connected.

  ‘What is it Kev?’ asked Simone.

  ‘Simone, we need to switch our cuffs off,’ said Kevin.

  ‘What?’

  ‘That’s how they knew we were at the mine. The cuffs give us away when they log onto the colony network.’

  ‘Shit,’ said Simone, echoing his assessment of the situation.

  The call ended.

  Kevin turned off his cuffs power and then watched the screen as Simone did the same.

  Daniel thumbed the power icon on his cuff. ‘They’d better hurry.’

  The screen showed Simone obligingly start to hurry, the camera view bouncing up and down in time with her footsteps. Dimitri rounded a corner and stopped. Simone almost ran into him and for a few moments all the screen showed was Dimitri’s back. Then Dimitri ran forwards and knelt on the floor. Kevin couldn’t make out what he was doing. A laptop lay on the floor nearby, its screen cracked and broken.

  Then Simone turned, the camera unevenly panning around. Kevin heard Daniel gasp next to him.

  Jacob was slumped against the side of a plastic vat, his chin resting on his chest at a strange angle. Simone rushed over and the cam showed her lifting his head. Jacob’s hair was sticky with blood and his eyes stared directly into the camera, his mouth slightly open.

  Kevin saw his sisters finger hunting around on Jacob’s neck for a pulse. Then, the camera view was pushed into Jacob’s coverall as she gathered her husband into her arms. The camera started to move with what could only be Simone’s sobs.

  ‘No,’ whispered Daniel.

  ‘Oh, Sim,’ said Kevin.

  Connie calmly walked to where her rifle was resting against the wall and picked it up. ‘Where’s the
ammunition?’

  Kevin pulled the magazine box from a pocket in his coveralls, looked at it a moment, then tossed it to Connie. She deftly plucked it from the air and slammed it home.

  ‘Dad, stay here.’ Kevin stood up and put on his mask. ‘Box, open the door.’

  Kevin and Connie moved as fast as they could, following the same path through the cramped maintenance tunnels that Dimitri and Simone had taken minutes earlier. Rounding the final corner, Kevin saw Simone holding Jacob. She was still sobbing, her breath coming in short gasps. Dimitri, however, was on his feet over the prone figure of Lula. His fists were clenched as he stared at an orange clad figure in front of him.

  ‘You fucking animal. I will end you.’ Dimitri’s voice was a low growl tinged with barely contained rage.

  Eric laughed unpleasantly. He held a shovel in his hands. Blood was smeared along one side of its blade. ‘You wanted to keep her for yourselves. Too bad.’ His eyes flicked from Dimitri to the two new arrivals. His gaze lingered on Connie. ‘Oh, dessert.’

  Connie levelled her rifle at the man.

  His eyes widened with surprise. ‘Is that what I think it is?’

  ‘You bet. Drop the shovel,’ said Connie.

  ‘Here, catch.’ Eric threw the shovel at Connie then hurled himself at Dimitri.

  The shovel arced through the air and hit the rifle. The gun spun out of her hands and there was a deafening crack as the gun discharged.

  The two men crashed to the ground. Dimitri’s head hit the floor stunning him, and Eric put his hands around Dimitri’s throat and squeezed.

  Kevin aimed a kick at the man’s head but missed as Eric swayed back, dodging his clumsily aimed foot. Kevin overbalanced and had to steady himself on the nearby table to stop himself falling over.

  There was a second loud bang behind him and the sounds of struggle stopped. Kevin turned to see Simone holding the rifle. She was pointing it at Eric who had fallen backwards off Dimitri and was lying in a growing pool of blood, his hands clutched to his side in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding. He looked up at her, blood bubbling from his lips. ‘Help...me...’

  Then his head exploded as Simone pulled the trigger again.

  The rifle clattered to the floor and Simone fell to her knees beside it. Connie knelt by his sister, put her arms around her and whispered something in her ear, holding the other woman as she rocked back and forth.

  Kevin couldn’t imagine what his sister must be going through. Or Dimitri. He looked at his friend as he crouched over Lula. All Kevin could see of the man’s wife was her legs; Dimitri was obscuring the rest of her. Her coverall had been dragged down to her knees; the grey cloth was ripped. Kevin felt physically sick.

  Dimitri struggled to pull up Lula’s coverall, lifting her body so he could pull it all the way back up to her shoulders. Her head flopped from side to side as he moved her, and Kevin was overcome by a sense of dread.

  ‘Is she…’ Kevin found himself unable to finish the question.

  Dimitri looked up at Kevin, his eyes were bloodshot and his voice trembled. ‘Fuck this place.’

  Kevin felt lightheaded. Everything felt unreal.

  ‘Kevin, we need to go,’ said Connie. She had an arm around Simone’s shoulders as she helped his sister to her feet.

  Kevin knew she was right. Their cuffs had logged onto the network here at the agri-dome. ‘Right. Yes. Dimitri?’

  Dimitri gently gathered Lula in his arms, then stood up. She was limp and unmoving. ‘We go,’ he said.

  ‘Jacob,’ said Simone. Her voice was choked with tears.

  ‘I’ve got him,’ said Kevin.

  ‘Let me help.’ Connie moved to the other side of Jacob and together they lifted him, holding him upright between them.

  By the time they navigated the maintenance passages and returned to the Box, Kevin’s muscles were burning with fatigue. Connie had taken most of Jacob’s weight, her Earth trained muscles making light work of carrying the body.

  Daniel was waiting in the Box. Kevin could see his father was concerned with Simone’s wellbeing as he hurried her into a chair and fetched her a drink of water.

  Kevin and Connie gently set Jacob’s body down on the sofa. Dimitri did the same with Lula. The pair almost looked as if they were taking an afternoon nap if you ignored the angle at which Jacob’s head was resting.

  ‘Simone. We have to go,’ said Kevin.

  His sister looked up at him. Her eyes were hollow. ‘Go?’

  Kevin could feel his sisters hurt. ‘Somewhere that’s not here.’

  Connie went to Simone, putting her arm around her shoulders. ‘He’s right. We should go to Kev’s world.’

  If Dimitri or Daniel found anything strange with a place being named after Kevin, they didn’t show it. Kevin wasn’t even sure Dimitri was aware of the people around him. His friend was sitting on the sofa stroking Lula’s hand and murmuring to himself. Or maybe to her. It was hard to tell.

  ‘Not Earth?’ asked Kevin.

  Connie snorted. ‘A place ravaged by polly and the plague?’

  ‘Yes. You’re right.’ Simone wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘Box, take us to Kev’s world.’

  CHAPTER 28

  Kevin could hear the roar of the waterfall in the distance. Hazy sunshine cast a matching pair of shadows from the two white wooden crosses hammered into the ground. They marked the fresh dug earth of the two graves of Jacob and Lula. Back on Mars the pair would have been destined for the recycling facility. But they weren’t on Mars, and Connie had insisted this was how things should be done. His father, Daniel, had haltingly said a few words of farewell to the departed before joining Kevin a few paces back from the graves.

  Simone was staring at Jacob’s marker; her cheeks were damp with tears. Connie was next to Simone, holding her hand.

  Dimitri stood alone and in silence.

  Kevin shook his head slowly. ‘Christ, Dad. Where do we go from here?’

  ‘There’s something I need to tell you,’ whispered Daniel.

  Kevin looked at his father questioningly.

  ‘It’s not good I’m afraid. It’s about your mother’s accident.’

  ‘What?’

  Daniel looked at Simone hesitantly then backed away further from the burial site. He beckoned Kevin to come closer.

  ‘What is it, Dad?’

  ‘Your mother’s accident. It wasn’t an accident.’

  Kevin took a sharp intake of breath. ‘What?’ He thought the question bore repeating.

  ‘Lula found evidence. The ColPol report had been tampered with.’

  ‘Christ. Do you know who did it?’

  ‘Lula set an AI on finding out who before she—’ Daniel looked over at the graves. ‘It sent me the results back on Mars. It was Webb.’

  ‘Webb? Does Sim know?’

  ‘We can’t tell your sister.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘She has enough to deal with in her condition,’ said Daniel.

  Kevin leant in closer. ‘Her condition? What do you mean?’

  ‘Ah. Well, she’s pregnant.’

  ‘That’s why the ColPol officer was going on about an unlicensed pregnancy. Jesus Christ.’

  ‘Jacob told me they gene-edited the baby.’

  ‘What does that mean?’ asked Kevin.

  ‘It’s the Program. Simone and Jacob decided to ignore the council and perform a human trial on their own child.’

  Kevin looked at his sister again, trying to imagine the new life growing inside her. He felt he should say something. ‘Wow,’ was all he could manage.

  ‘She doesn’t know that I know. So you shouldn’t, you know, tell her you know that I know.’

  ‘Wait. What?’

  His father sighed. ‘Just keep it to yourself for now, Kevin.’

  ‘Christ. I’m going for a walk.’

  His father nodded. ‘Don’t go too far.’

  Ten minutes later Kevin was at lakeside. He had spent a couple of minutes hunting
around the shore looking for flat stones. Now he had a fistful, he was sending them in a low arc across the lake, trying to send them skimming. Mostly they were sinking without a trace. It was harder than it looked in the movies but he was slowly getting the hang of it.

  Kevin was worried. Worried about his sister. Worried about his father. Worried about the whole messed up situation in general. Still, he could worry about all that later. Now it was time for the wake. They had fabricated a picnic table, chairs and enough martian wine to stay drunk for a week.

  He sighed and threw the last stone which skipped twice and then sank beneath the water’s surface leaving nothing but a few ripples to mark its passing.

  Daniel was angry. Angry that he and his children were wanted by Colpol. Angry with whoever had killed his wife. But most of all, he was angry with himself for helping Eric escape to kill Jacob and Lula. He morosely sipped his glass of martian chardonnay and looked around at his companions.

  Dimitri was sitting alone on the grass working his way through his second bottle. Simone and Connie were talking in hushed tones at the other end of the table, their drinks barely touched. And Kevin? Kevin was sitting next to him. He hadn’t said much after returning from his walk.

  Daniel emptied his glass in an attempt to empty himself of rage. So far he had only managed to blur the focus of his anger and was now feeling angry at the universe in general.

  Kevin silently filled both their glasses.

  Dimitri staggered over to the table. ‘Lula would not want us sitting around with these long faces. We must drink and be merry!’ He slammed his bottle of wine on the table, punctuating his assertion.

  Daniel saw Kevin smile in response to Dimitri’s now quite manic grin. Dimitri was right. Sitting around being angry wasn’t helping Jacob or Lula.

  Dimitri raised his bottle. ‘To Jacob. I hear he was a great husband.’

  Simone looked down at the table.

  Dimitri paused a moment, looking around at everyone. ‘And Lula. The best damn woman in the colony.’

  Everyone raised their glasses and echoed the toast. ‘To Jacob and Lula.’

  The afternoon stretched into evening on the alien world. When the conversation turned to hobbies and Dimitri mentioned that he used to play the guitar, Simone had the Box fabricate one. After a few minutes of discordant strumming and fiddling with the tuning keys, Dimitri launched into a passable rendition of Stairway to Heaven.