You were kind, loving, and completely lost. I saw Petra gobble you whole when you held her for the first time and that was when I finally cracked. My certainty began to fall away in big chunks like an ice cliff falling into the sea; Petra stopped being an idea and became a living child, an independent life-form that deserved to have her own future. Anyway, I was positive that I wasn’t the relevant parent; there’d have been a sign before now.
“I didn’t know for certain that I wasn’t the relevant parent—that door hadn’t yet closed. The project had emphasized that there was no timetable for a revelation, only time and observation. They did not think that there was any substantial likelihood of confirmation before six months based on their accumulated data so observations in this period would be light. I organized a tunnel via a series of shells, manual and mechanical labour from off-system providers. I never expected to use it, simply wanted the comfort of knowing it was there. Then, this morning, our three-month old child set you on fire and I made a decision for all of us.
Spontaneous fire is one of the major signals that the project looks for, there are others depending on the baseline. We were being lightly observed, they will still have caught the spark of power and be responding to it right now. That is why we had to leave instantly. We are being actively sought and need to keep moving or we will be trapped. ”
Asher looked like she’d reached the end of the road and wanted to remain where she was. I, however, was at the start of mine. It was a foundation fact accepted by all naturals that an autonomous energy rich life form was an extinction event for them; they had a Berg the ears now the Berg would have them in its teeth. Five hundred years ago, an autonomous energy-rich lifeform was discovered in the Ghtree system, a small cluster in an outer-spiral arm. It was quickly established as a fraud, which changed nothing. Naturals, fearing annihilation, started their own version first. It took only three days for the rest of the systems to realize the danger, quarantine Ghtree, kill and then incinerate every living creature in the system. It took 30 years of non-stop transportation to gather up all the ashes and dump them in some void in space.
Petra wasn’t a fraud. This put the lives of all free bottle born citizens across the systems in mortal danger. The natural population would respond with overwhelming organized aggression and all the gains that we achieved since Radical Reason would be wiped out in a tsunami of blood. Energy was controlled in charms. Energy-rich lifeforms were turned into non-energy rich lifeforms so they were on the same baseline as Naturals. Severed our heritage, we had to slot into a functioning space within the Natural world and we’d done so. Naturals never lost their primal fear, they could never imagine forgiveness for their original sin only revenge.
Slowly, bottle-born free citizens moved into the mainstream and took a share in managing and controlling the whole process. It held down the rage, fear, frustration and desperate longing never given voice to. Slowly a new identity had emerged and solidified for the bottle born, we became ourselves. The weight of time had forced us to evolve whether we wanted to or not, cut off from our roots we sprouted branches instead and became something new. Slowly we had absorbed the details of our existence and accepted what we could not change.
The population of bottle-born free citizens had grown enormously during the interval, with equal growth in the dormant fear and anxiety of the Natural population. There could be no quarantine; there was no place that didn’t rely on charm energy to survive. Bottleborn lifeforms, at their deepest core, ached for the loss of that energy. We were a perpetually dry forest, waiting for the slightest spark, and I had a firestorm sleeping beside me. I didn’t have any idea why Action Group 5 were or what their plans were, nor did I care. The casual way they were willing to sacrifice so many lives was breathtaking. There could be no doubt they knew exactly what the stakes were, they were not bothered by the. Truth to tell I did not really care about the abstract possibility of the death of millions, possibly billions of bottle born lifeforms either. I was solely concerned by the fact that they Action Group 5 were threatening my family.
The fact that I was a involuntary part of their project subject not simply a random product of the farming process but a made to order component for a unknown plan did not really come home to me until much later. Long dark years when I felt foreign finger move my limbs and manipulate my emotions. I was designed to fall for Asher and to father Petra were the motions that raged inside me mine or the programmed responses of a puppet? Drugs helped, alcohol helped blunt the edges of the fears that cut me inside my head. Finally it was one overwhelming emotion that pulled me out of the pit, rage was purely and wholly mine. It burned hot and cold, it always burned and it helped me understand that I was a dupe but I was not a slave.
“Listen. “ I leaned forward and gripped Asher’s arm and stared into her eyes, “This Action Group 5 is going to look for us. We have to move! We can’t stay together; we’d be too visible. I’ll go to the transport station. You take Petra and head for the Circle.”
The Circle was a dumping ground for failed and unexpectedly successful experiments in Thingler, a mass of lifeforms that couldn’t find a niche anywhere else. Asher and Petra could hide for a very long time in that mess, long enough for me to determine how to move them to a safer, better life. For myself, I was going to locate this Action Group 5 and piss in their faces before I hacked them to pieces for they what they’d done to my family. I had an object for my rage and fear, I did not need anything else at that point.
I hopped to my feet and Asher did the same. She scooped up Petra and reached out to touch me, but then she whirled and walked away.
While walking for the station, I came across an arrest being conducted by a posse of Retrievers. Expressionless, they stood over an elderly lifeform on the ground.
17
Ten years later, I found myself lying on a lumpy couch with a number of anxious faces looming over me. Lincoln smiled and winked before heading away and leaving me with Asher and Petra.
Asher looked worried and brushed my cheek. Petra sat on my legs and grinned. “Why did you fall over? We were worried. Mum said it was a reaction to stress. Are you stressed? I’m not, even if we had to leave home in a hurry. I like your hair. It’s better than it was. Did you have to leave home in a hurry, too? Didn’t anyone tell you to be ready? That’s bad.”
She stared curiously, waiting for answers. Asher pulled her off. “Daddy can’t answer with you squeezing the air out of him. Give him a moment.”
Petra nodded and dragged over a chair, sat and watched, still wanting answers.
“You know who I am?” was all I could manage.
Petra rolled her eyes, then scanned my face. “Of course I know who you are. We’ve been Target Tracking for ages. Mum won’t take me on any other TTs, but I always get to go on yours. Mum says it’s really important that I know all about you, so that when we meet we’re not strangers. I couldn’t talk to you when we are on TT … because that might have spooked you and then we’d have to start all over again.”
She glanced at her mother. “Mum says you’re working for our future, that when we’re together we’ll have a different future to living in the Circle … a lovely one with the three of us.”
She smiled at me ready for the lovely future with the three of us to begin since now we were together and could talk to each other. She resembled Asher, except that she had my pale skin and twist to her mouth.
I wanted to hug her tightly and never stop, but I was terrified to actually do so. All my plans to save her were lost … and I could only lose her again. I had no idea what to do.
“Dad looks like he could do with something to drink and eat. Would you ask Lincoln what she has, my pet?” Asher smiled prettily and Petra nodded, and headed off to do as requested.
Asher sat in the chair and looked at me in silence. Our last conversation ten years before had left too many unanswered questions. Petra, however, had given me hope about the question I hadn’t asked. I considered how to ask it now
.
Asher had placed my heart in her pocket, where it still was, bruised and battered. Where was Asher’s heart, though? I knew she loved Petra, but what about me? She’d spoken of a future with me to Petra. Could it have been camouflage to maintain peace?
“I ran because of you,” she advised softly. “You walked in with that tray and you were so happy when you picked up Petra. You looked like a puzzle with all the pieces put together to create that final picture.” She shrugged limply and offered a bittersweet smile. “I realized the hollowness of the project for what it is; we were tools, nothing more. Telling you everything was awful, never mind watching as I did so. I wanted to share something … but I had to tell you what you needed to know first. Before I could, you took over and sent us away.
“When we saw you over the years, I’d stand beside you in a queue and will you to recognize me. Sometimes I was furious that you didn’t. You should have seen though my disguise. There were times you looked so lost, I had to leave quickly before I gave myself away. Other times you looked so determined, so grim, I’d sent Petra off so she wouldn’t see you looking like that.”
“Asher—”
“Let me finish, please.” She squeezed my hand reassuringly. “When Lincoln found us today, I knew who she was and I knew you’d sent her. I was so happy … until she explained the rest. She and I knew what you were doing. She didn’t ask questions, just helped us pack and come here.”
“You saw me? You stood beside me with Petra? How did you find me? “
I sat up, swing my legs to the floor and a dizzy feeling swept over me. I had thought that I was under deep cover, taking all the care needed not to be found while I investigated the project that had blown up our lives. I had spent most of the last ten years quietly moving and checking, gathering information and trying to find them before they could find me. I had found that I was not alone, there were others seeking answers or revenge. There were networks that helped and supported, everyone bearing the risk that the other was a spy or a traitor.
They worked very hard and successfully to be not visible, to blend in enough to be simply not noticed. Asher was making a big claim that she had been able to recognize me in a crowd.
“Lincoln is furious with you, when she found myself and Petra she was giving out about you. Apparently you do not have the sense of a raft of plankton. You did not trust friends who trusted you, you were going off to be stupidly heroic. In all probability you would fail at that too since she was not there to make sure that pulled the correct trigger. She stopped because Petra was getting worried about you. She said to tell you that she was not finished with you and as soon as you could stand there would be a sorting out. I was going to tell Petra something when we were on the cruiser and out of the system limits; instead you came back to us.” Then she kissed me.
I admired the brazen way she brushed off my question, I was about to repeat it when the door opened and Hiral Lakeview came into the room, followed by Petra. I have no idea of the protocols for when you meet royalty so I was stranded. Fortunately Hiral did know what to do, putting the tray down on a low table she held out her hand and with a wide smile said ”How nice to meet you Shakbout, Petra has told me a great deal about you.” Petra nodded in agreement that she had in fact been leaking information as fast as she could. Looking at Hiral Lakeview in the flesh I could see the resemblance to Lincoln that I had never registered before, it explained a great deal about Lincoln as well. Lincoln called something about the coffee spout from the other room to which Hiral simply smiled and left the room.
The sudden assault was screaming loud, just as intended, a great way to knock you off balance. A hole appeared in the wall and two battle-suited figures entered—Zusak Sedge and Mr. Hennessey. Both had copies of the Shoshone Circlet on their arms, not very good ones, which I assumed was the point. Sedge pointed at Petra who’d been knocked to the floor, and Mr. Hennessey pulled a sack over her before lifting her over his shoulder. . Mr Hennessey Turned to me and mouthed “see you later” and the pair exited.
Hiral and Lincoln burst into the room with heavy-pulse weapons in their hands and dangerous looks on their faces. Asher lifted herself up, rubbing her head to settle the impact of the noise bomb, while I managed to stand after two failed attempts.
Hiral was the first to speak, “Who did this?” she asked.
“Zusak Sedge and a friend, Mr. Hennessey. He’s a Scar Carrier. They have taken Petra. I have to find her” I said as my legs decided they would not support me quite yet and I fell back onto the couch.
“Sedge, I thought I had settled her the last time, well this time I will leave room for doubt” as Hiral was speaking Lincoln was looking at her mother as she suddenly realized just who she really was. For a fraction of a second I wished I had parents I could be surprised by.
“Which one took Petra?” Lincoln demanded. She’d recovered quickly.
“Hennessey stuffed her in a sack and left.”
“A sack? Then they don’t mean to harm her—the sack will mean safe delivery to whoever wants her. That will slow them down, because they’ll have to be careful. They won’t travel together, but split up and aim to meet later. That gives us two targets to pursue.”
“I’m going to be sick.” My body was struggling to contain itself.
“Down to the left, second door,” Hiral said, pointing, and I broke into a stumbling run to make it to the wet room before any mishaps occurred.
I just made it, pulled off my suit as I burst from every orifice; my organs has semi- liquefied, violently expelled from my body. If a tunneller jumped down my throat and exited from my arse, both ends would have been equally sore and raw.
When I stopped puking and shitting, I rested on all fours and waited for a warm and scented set of sprays to wash me, the suit, floor and walls, until everything was clean. Warm air quickly dried everything and I was ready to climb into my suit and have a few words with Mr. Hennessey.
I returned to the room where I found the wall hole had been patched. All three were ready to inflict damage on whoever made the mistake of getting in their way. Asher looked very comfortable holding the pulse weapon; the blades in her belt looked custom-made. A connection finally fired in my tired brain, Petra had spoken of Target Tracking, Asher was a Recovery Agent, and they found and recovered fugitives for a fee. It was a very high turnover profession, the survival rate was slightly better than Brewmasters. If she was doing the work for years as it appeared then she was exceptionally tough. Rather late I realized that I really knew very little about Asher.
“Here, eat this and hold this.” Hiral passed an energy slab and a track button. The slab was surprisingly delicious; usually they were like eating butter-coated rubber. “I make them myself,” Hiral said proudly. “I like to know what goes into them before I eat any. By the way, I slipped a track into Petra’s drink while we were chatting, so it won’t be found during a frisk, and they won’t risk a full scan, would take too long. It was just a precaution, given Petra’s an energetic lady, I was concerned that she would decide to explore outside on her own. Now get going. We have business of our own and don’t need any delays.”
The three set their weapons to full-blast mode. Calm, concentrated expressions crossed their faces. I swallowed the button and headed for the door as the energy surge kicked in. I followed the track in front of me and heard the trio emerge behind. Mr. Hennessey wanted me to follow him so this race was going to be on his terms unless I could figure out some way of getting ahead of him. I started to run in the trace was indicating and tried to keep my imagination shut down.
The audio pinged and Lincoln’s voice came through. I could hear the sound of heavy weapons in the background, followed by an explosion.
“Hey Screw-Top, how are you?”
“Fine thanks. Sounds like you’re busy there.”
“Turning things upside down and shaking them to see what falls out. I have to say it’s proved to be very instructive so far. No sign of Sedge yet. It seems that as
the teams were stepping into the room, our two vermin were scuttling out via the basement. There’s a strong suggestion that they had some advance notice, since they were the only ones who left. The Circlet copy was seized in Sedge’s office still in its delivery box and the recovery has cooled everyone down. Some bad news: they got the jewel box, as well as Petra, I think Sedge picked it up while everyone was watching Hennessey. “
“Fuck.”
“Totally agree—sorry. Have to go. Just saw someone I really want to talk to jump out a window. Catch you later!” She was gone and I was left to rage at my stupidity.
Petra and the jewel box, both laid out nicely, ready for collection. There was only one group with the resources to hire Sedge and Hennessey, have knowledge about Lincoln, Petra and the jewel box, and the desire to leave Asher and myself alive to jam our faces into it. Action Group 5 had seized the moment with a flourish, setting me up to give them everything they wanted on a golden platter.
I got the message from Mr. Hennessey on a public comms channel, it was a plain picture of the front door of a living space with just enough detail to be able to search and indentify the location. The detail that gripped my heart was the sack that was stretch out in front of the entrance. Mr. Hennessey was set on enjoying himself, it would take me precious time to get the location and then get to there. I was sure that it was not the final stop in our game, he would want me softened up nicely before he had the pleasure of dealing with me in person.
I did a search on the picture. It was not far away and I headed there on the run and raced up to the entrance. It was ordinary except for the fact that it was clearly open. No one left a living space open in Thingler, it wiped out your insurance. I took the invitation and stepped throught the entrance. I felt the tingle of the charm at the same time as I fell into the water. It was a large pool of crystal clear water and at the bottom I could see the outline of a door and beside it a key. I hated swimming, it is a FireDrake thing. This confirmed the involvement of Action Group 5, Mr. Hennessey would never have had the time or resources for set up like this. I took a ddep breath and pushed down to get the key.
Bottle Born Blues Page 20
