“The food's gone,” Brenner said.
“What do you mean 'gone'?”
“I mean, it's freakin' gone,” she snapped. “We've looked everywhere.”
“But … it was here last night.” Evelyn's mind was reeling. How could the food be gone? Without it they'd have to … She didn't know what they'd have to do.
“You were the last one up, right?” Nelson said. It sounded to Evelyn remarkably like an accusation.
Before she could answer, Matthew stepped forward. “She and I came up together,” he lied. “The food was still there when we went to bed. Someone must have come down in the night and, I dunno, moved it or something.” Evelyn noticed him glance sidelong at Seren.
“So, any sleepwalking problems we should know about?” Kenji asked, trying in vain to lighten up the mood.
“Somebody here moved the food,” Brenner said, her breathing heavy as she glared around at them. “I don't know which one of you it was and I don't know why, but whatever stupid game you're playing: it's not funny.”
“How do we know it wasn't you?” Kenji pointed out. “Jus' sayin',” he added, when she turned her wilting gaze on him.
“Let's just hope that whoever it was realizes the error of their ways very soon,” Nelson said, tapping his fingers steadily on his folded arms. Evelyn was left in no doubt as to what would happen to the culprit if such was not the case.
“Has anyone checked outside?” she asked.
“Outside?”
“You said you've looked everywhere in here. It was a lot of food, right? A year's supply? It wouldn't be easy to hide it in the shuttle.”
Matthew sighed. “She's right. We should check. I'll get a suit.”
They all watched while Matthew entered the airlock. The inner door closed him in and he hit the button for the outside door. It slid up, allowing the morning sunlight to creep inside. Evelyn raised a hand in front of her eyes to block the light while her pupils adjusted, and when she lowered it Matthew was staring at something on the ground. His shoulders slumped. “Um, guys? We have a serious problem.”
Beyond him, littering the trampled grass in front of the shuttle, were hundreds of shiny silver wrappers glinting in the sun.
The food that had been inside them was nowhere to be seen.
“Okay,” Matthew said, pacing up and down the room while the others sat around the shuttle. Anger seethed through his words. “As of now, none of us does anything alone, okay? Because for some reason one of you has decided to try and kill us all.”
Evelyn watched the others as he spoke, an acid feeling of betrayal building in her stomach. Holly looked shaken. Nelson looked annoyed. Clove and Kenji looked worried. Seren looked the same way she always did; calm and serene.
Brenner spoke. “For all we know it was you.” She glared at Matthew. “Haven't exactly proved your trustworthiness, have you?”
“Which is why I said none of us.”
“Fine. What are we going to eat?”
“Won't the NAMs keep us alive?” Evelyn looked at Matthew. “You said they can build anything from anything.”
“I don't know … But if they could they'd still need energy. It's gotta come from somewhere. I guess we could just lie in the pods and let the shuttle keep us alive forever but …”
“But what would be the point of that?” Seren finished for him. She uncrossed her legs, re-crossing them the other way. “I have an idea.”
Everyone looked at her.
“Let's hear it, then,” Matthew said.
“The birds.”
“What about them?”
“There are many.”
“And?”
“Birds are edible …”
“Okay ... do you know how to catch birds?”
“I'm sure we can think of something. We're innovators, after all, are we not?” She smiled her little smile at the reference to Reyner's description of them, and Evelyn suddenly thought she looked quite detestable with her smooth, round, hairless head and brows. She desperately wanted to hear the message from Matthew's father again and learn who the AI was and why they shouldn't trust it.
“Guys, I don't know if I could eat a bird,” Holly said, pulling a face. “Wouldn't we have to, you know, kill it?”
“Um, yeah we'd have to kill it,” Kenji replied. “I don't think anyone wants to eat a live bird.”
“It just … seems so cruel. Back home all the meat was grown in labs. It was more humane.”
“We're fresh outta labs, Holly,” Matthew said. “And food. So unless we want to starve, we need to start thinking a little differently about what we eat and how to get it.”
“Have any of you wondered how this shuttle landed here without creating a crater?” Seren interrupted, the sudden topic change throwing everyone off balance.
“I suppose you have.” Matthew glowered at her.
“There's a pretty standard explanation actually,” she continued as though she hadn't heard him. “It used a parachute, which incidentally is still attached. I noticed it over on the other side of the shuttle. We could use it to make a bird trap.”
“If you have a plan just tell us,” Matthew grumbled.
“I do. I was hoping some of you would come up with your own ideas, though. It's like you said. We need to start thinking differently. There are no supermarkets here, no convenience stores. We need to rely on ourselves, on our brains. The sooner you all realize that the sooner we can start establishing ourselves on this planet.”
“Wow, Seren,” Brenner said, aghast. “Doesn't it bother you?”
“I'm a little peckish, yes.”
“Not being hungry, dammit. This!” She waved her hands around at the shuttle. “This whole situation. We're stuck here millions of miles from home, a home we'll never see again, and you're – what? – telling us to pull ourselves together? What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Nothing is wrong with me. I'm a person of logic. And you're quite right: we will never see home again. So why dwell on it?” She got up and went into the room with the protective suits. “If anyone wants to join me I'll be outside catching some lunch.”
Evelyn got up. She didn't trust Seren, and was beginning to dislike her too, but she was hungry, and apparently the girl had a plan. She also agreed with Matthew; none of them should do anything alone. Especially Seren, since as far as Evelyn was concerned she was suspect number one in the case of the missing food stores. As she passed Matthew she leaned in and whispered, “Get Brenner to try and fix up that message from your father while we're outside. We need to know what we're dealing with.”
He nodded. “I'll try and get the reconnaissance drones out as well.”
“I think I'll come with you guys,” Nelson said, following Evelyn into the storage room. “I want to take a better look around, see if there's any kind of vegetation we might be able to eat. We can't survive on birds alone.”
“That's the spirit,” Seren smiled at him as she passed holding a protective suit. “And you might want to grab some weapons.”
“She's probably right.” Nelson said as they entered the room. “So far the life on this planet doesn't seem all that friendly.”
Evelyn found a drawer containing four small hunting knives and two machetes. Presumably Reyner had known they'd have to rely on finding their own food sources eventually. He had given them the means to kill things. She briefly wondered if there were guns somewhere in the room, then decided she didn't want to know.
As they pulled on their gear in the main room, Seren turned to Clove. “It's Clove, right?”
“Uh, that's right.”
“Why don't you join us? We'll need bait for the trap.”
“You want to use me as bait?” Clove looked taken aback.
Seren blinked. “No. I want you to catch some bugs.”
“Oh. Right. Um, okay ...” she got up nervously, and Evelyn got the impression she had no desire to go outside. “I'll just go put on one of those suits then.”
“Do you guys
really need those?” Kenji asked, indicating the suits. “Holly seems fine, and she was out there for ages without one.”
“I'd rather not take any chances,” Seren said.
Evelyn felt the same way.
When they were all suited up Seren turned to her, Nelson, and Clove.
“Ready?”
They nodded.
Evelyn followed Seren into the airlock, warily eyeing the ax in her hands. “So, what's your plan?” she asked, as the door closed behind them.
“It's quite simple. The parachute is made from a high-strength polymer thread. It's very fine, very strong. If we can fray it it'll create a kind of tangled netting, almost like cotton wool.” Evelyn wondered how she knew all that. As if reading her mind, Seren added, “I checked it out yesterday.”
The outer door opened up and they took a good look around to make sure no dangerous beasts lurked nearby. There was nothing but birds and insects. Evelyn hopped to the ground after Seren.
Seren continued relaying her plan. “We'll lay out the frayed parachute and scatter some bugs on it. When the birds land to eat them, their claws and feet will become caught in the tangle.”
It was so simple. “That's a really good idea,” Evelyn said, mostly to fill the silence.
“It's based off a trap the indigenous tribes of the South American rain forests used to use to catch exotic birds alive for the pet industry. I read about it once.”
They made their way around the shuttle and Evelyn noticed that the grass had been flattened all around it and several trails led off in different directions. Apparently the elephant creature was not the only one of Janus' inhabitants to have taken an interest in the shuttle. She hoped they'd all satisfied their curiosity for now.
The parachute Seren had mentioned lay loosely spread upon the grass, flapping gently in a light breeze. Seren immediately set to work, crouching down and using the ax to fray its fabric. Evelyn did the same with her knife. The thread was strong indeed, and required considerable effort to fray, but the resulting tangle was like Velcro.
Clove and Nelson joined them a moment later. They waded into the long grass in different directions, Nelson stopping every few feet to study a shrub or bulb, and Clove squinting distastefully at the fat bugs that hummed around her head.
“I'm not really sure how I should …” she left the words hanging.
“Just grab them.” Seren said patiently. “Your suit has gloves, remember? You won't get stung or anything”
“Yeah.” Clove visibly steeled herself and then swiped her hand through the air at a large dragonfly-like insect that danced out of her reach easily. “Damn. They're too fast.”
With a sigh, Seren placed down her ax and strode into the grass, looking around. Her eyes landed on a beetle the size of a chicken's egg perched on a blade of grass. Like lightning, her hand whipped out and snatched it. “Go for the ones that are sitting.”
She strode back to the parachute, leaving Clove looking embarrassed. Evelyn heard a light crunch as Seren crushed the beetle's head between her fingers and tossed it into the tangle she had already made. There was definitely something unnerving about the girl's apparent disregard for animal life, and Evelyn found herself looking for any signs of in-humanness. “Where were you born, Seren?” she asked, trying to keep her tone one of innocent curiosity.
“Does it matter? We were all born yesterday inside that shuttle as far as I'm concerned.”
Her answer surprised Evelyn. She'd expected a perfectly rehearsed story about a cute family and a small town. “Don't you think we should remember where we came from? I mean, I get it: you don't want to dwell on the past. But our history is what makes us who we are. I think it's important.”
“We are what we make ourselves.” Seren didn't raise her eyes from her task.
Evelyn tried a different approach. “Sorry, but ... why don't you have any hair?” She didn't want to be rude, but she had to know. It would make sense to build a robot without hair. Synthetic hair would degrade, fall out, become dirty.
“I have a genetic disorder. It's very rare.”
“I see.” She was lying. Evelyn was almost certain. She eyed the ax-head in Seren's right hand: its blade passed very close to the fingers of her left as she chafed away at the parachute. One little slip and it would slice her hand… All it would take was a bump, an accidental nudge from Evelyn as she rose to stretch.
A robot wouldn't bleed.
Evelyn inched a little closer.
Seren put down the ax. “Well, I think that should do it. And here comes our bug hunter.” She smiled at Clove, who was walking towards them pulling a face.
“The last one burst.” She held out her hands, clutching four insects of various species. One looked like a deflated balloon, and there was yellowish goo all over her gloves.
“It doesn't matter.” Seren took the insects and placed them around the trap, making sure they were nicely caught up in the tangle of fibers. “Now we go away. It shouldn't take long.” She glanced up at the sky full of birds.
Nelson joined them as they walked around to the other side of the shuttle.
“How are we going to kill them?” Evelyn asked. She'd never had to kill anything before. She suspected none of them had.
Seren held her fists out in front of her and jerked them in a twisting motion.
Evelyn swallowed. She wasn't sure how she felt about taking a life, even a bird's. And then there were the feathers – they'd have to pluck them. And the guts…
Feeling nauseated at the thought, she turned to Nelson hopefully. “You didn't happen to find any zucchinis did you?”
He held up a handful of broad leaves and some kind of tuber. “I don't know what any of this is, but something's been digging for these”– he tapped the tuber –“and something else has been munching these leaves. I've taken a nibble of both of them. If I don't get sick I'll cook 'em.”
“You took off your helmet?” Clove asked.
“Yeah, just for a moment. If we're gonna be stuck here forever we'll have to get used to the idea of not wearing these suits at some point or other.”
“Speaking of cooking,” Evelyn changed the subject back to their lunch, “How exactly do we do that? I don't recall seeing a stove on board.”
“We'll make a fire,” Seren said confidently. “There are lighters and even a pair of skillets in the storage room. Guess Reyner wanted us to have a fighting chance.” Evelyn didn't miss the sarcasm in her voice, and wondered if she had put it there as a show for her sake. Was Seren suspicious that she was suspicious of her? Was she trying to throw her off by employing human mannerisms?
“I'm quickly going to get some water,” she said, hitting the button for the airlock. She wanted to check on Brenner's progress cleaning up the message from Matthew's father.
As soon as she stepped into the airlock she knew something was wrong. The others were all standing around the computer terminal talking in raised voices. Matthew paced up and down angrily. When he saw her he came over.
“I'm going to kill her,” he said furiously under his breath so only she could hear. “I'm sure it was her!”
“Who?”
“You know who. She's done something to the computer system. We can't get in. I checked in the back and there are a bunch of cut wires. I don't even know if the on-board functions are still–” The main lights in the shuttle suddenly went off, leaving them in a dim red glow. “Dammit.” Matthew's anger changed to worry. “That's the emergency power mode. She must have disconnected the generator or something.” He hurried into the power supply and computer room. Evelyn followed, removing her helmet. A panel had been removed from the generator housing, and her heart fell when she saw the mess of cables and wires within. Loose ends were everywhere.
“I don't know what any of this is,” Matthew moaned. “You?”
Evelyn was about to say 'no' but then she remembered the electrical engineering workshop she'd attended at her school one semester for extra credits. “Let me take a l
ook.”
He moved aside. She was about to take his place when a sound stopped her. It was vague but unmistakable: somebody outside was shrieking in terror.
She and Matthew glanced at each other and rushed to the airlock where Kenji and Brenner were already looking through the glass of the inner door. They could see nothing beyond the poly-carbonate paneling of the outer door. Evelyn willed it to open. It didn't move.
“Dammit. I'm going out.” Matthew pressed the button to open the inner door. He wasn't even wearing a protective suit.
The door didn't move. A red light flashed beside the button.
“There's not enough power.” He began running his hands around the door frame. “There must be a way to open it manually ...”
Evelyn was very aware that the shrieking outside had been abruptly cut off. Matthew had still found no manual override for the airlock. “I'm going to try to reconnect the power,” she said, not because she actually thought she'd be able to but because she had to do something. She dashed into the back room, dropping to her knees before the mess of wires. It was difficult to see in the dim red of the emergency lighting. Her hands reached out, picking out a red wire, then a blue one. She froze, removing her hands slowly. She had no idea what she was doing.
Or did she?
There was something familiar about this …
Evelyn … I've been waiting for you for so long ...
That voice again. She knew that voice …
She blinked. How long had she been kneeling there? She looked at her hands. She looked at the wires. Those green ones, they should be connected to the ones hanging from that inverter … Her fingers moved quickly, twisting wires together. She reconnected a power cable that had been severed. Suddenly the lights came on.
“Yes!” She ran back to the main room.
The inner airlock door was open, Matthew was already inside. He pushed the button for the outer door. “Come on!” he urged, banging his fist against it as it opened with painful slowness.
Evelyn crouched down to peer through the gap.
Outside the shuttle Nelson and Clove squatted on the grass watching in fascination as Seren plucked the feathers from a large gray and blue bird whose neck dangled gruesomely from her hands. They turned when they heard the airlock.
The Cloud Page 7
