Seed

by Michael Edelson

  “…limited capacity, forcing us to make difficult choices, the most difficult decisions of our lives. The result of those choices are all of you, in this facility and the many others like it scattered throughout the former United States…”

  Yael’s body shook violently with each sob, and Alex held her tightly, just as she had held him by the walls of the cathedral. The disturbing images faded from his mind, replaced by a steadily strengthening conviction that something wasn’t right. The things he had imagined were true to some degree, he had no doubt of that, but there was something about what he was hearing that he just couldn’t accept.

  “…will soon be functional, and we will be able to provide you with additional supplies. However, our capacity for agriculture and manufacturing has been severely compromised, and over the next few years you will have to learn to grow your own food, hunt and fish as necessary. Life will not be easy, but we will survive where our enemies have not. We will prosper, and we will rebuild. The same pioneer spirit that guided the founders of this great nation is alive in all of you, and I have every confidence that we will build a new tomorrow together. I salute your courage, and your perseverance in the face of this great tragedy...”

  “I can’t…” Yael said, pulling away from him. “I can’t do this.” She started back towards her cabin.

  “Yael wait…what are you going to do?”

  “I need to be alone,” she said. “Please, Alex, let me be alone. I need to sit shiva…to mourn.” She reached up to the right side collar of her t-shirt, gripped it with both hands and pulled as hard as she could, tearing the fabric.

  Alex stopped following her and watched her walk away. He felt tears on his face, but they were not for the world, or his family—he had shed those back in Honolulu. These tears were for her. For all of them.

  “It really hit her hard,” Tom said behind him.

  “Yeah.”

  “Me too, I guess. I thought I did all my crying back at Honolulu, but this…”

  Alex nodded. “It’s official now, or so it seems.”

  “What do you mean, ‘or so it seems’?” Tom asked, a small glimmer of hope in his eyes.

  Alex turned to look at him.

  “I think it’s fucking bullshit.”

  Chapter 18

  Alex knocked on the door, and when he didn’t hear anything, he knocked again, louder.

  “Who is it?” a woman’s voice asked. She sounded weak, hesitant.

  “It’s Alex,” he said. “Um, Captain Meyer. The…uh…army guy.”

  After a few seconds, the door LED turned green. Alex waited a bit, then pulled on the handle and stepped inside. Michelle was sitting on the bed, looking at the floor. Her face was a mess of dark purple bruises and bandages. There were more bruises on her arms and legs, perhaps more still hidden under her crimson bath robe.

  “Hi,” he said, hesitantly.

  “What do you want?” she asked, without looking up. He was suddenly struck with a sense of familiarity.

  “You’re one of the girls from the beach. The ones watching when I put my team together?”

  She nodded. “Yeah.” Her voice was strained, weak. She refused to make eye contact.

  “It’s true, then?” he asked. “What Max said? About…”

  She nodded. “Please don’t ask me any questions.”

  “I won’t. And…I’m very, very sorry.”

  “For what?”

  “That I wasn’t here. To stop it.” He turned to go and was about to close the door behind him when she spoke.

  “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For giving a shit.” There was something in her voice that chilled him. He turned around and went back inside.

  “Listen to me,” he said. “We all give a shit. What happened to you…it will never happen again, not here, not while I’m alive. Don’t you do anything stupid, do you hear me?” He realized as he spoke to her that he felt a sense of responsibility that hadn’t been there before. She was one of his people, one of those with whose safety he had been entrusted. It didn’t matter that those doing the entrusting had lied to them, kidnapped them. What was important was that these people needed him, whether some of them knew it or not, and he needed to start taking that responsibility seriously.

  “What, you think I’ll kill myself?” He words suggested she wouldn’t, but her tone was not in agreement.

  “I hope that hasn’t crossed your mind,” he said.

  “What is there to live for? I watched the address on the laptop. My family, everyone that ever cared about me…they’re all dead. The world is dead.” She spoke with no emotion, which made it worse.

  Alex knelt in front of her, low enough to meet her gaze, and took her hands in his. She flinched, but didn’t pull away.

  “Listen to me,” he said. “There are people here that care about you. I care about you. The piece of shit that did this, you know what happened to him?”

  “They told me.”

  “He suffered, believe me. I was in that barrier twice. To die like that…” He shuddered. “It’s probably worse than being burned alive.”

  “That doesn’t make me feel better.” She hesitated, blinking away tears. “I didn’t want him dead, especially not like that. To suffer, to pay for what he’d done yes, but not dead. I don’t need to deal with that shit too. That bastard Max!”

  Alex raised an eyebrow at her, but decided not to press her. An odd attitude, but then what did he know? He had no idea what she was going through.

  “Michelle, just promise me you’ll hang in there for a little while, okay? Just a little while. There are good people here, people that will help you in any way they can. If you need anything, anything at all, find me and I’ll make sure you get it.”

  “Okay.”

  “Promise me.”

  “I promise.”

  “Good,” he said. “I’ll check in on you later.”

  Satisfied, he left her and headed straight for the arms room. He passed many people along the way, most of them gathered in small groups, looking glum. It had been quiet in the colony ever since Max aired the address. People were busy coming to terms with their new reality, and judging by what he saw, they weren’t having an easy time of it.

  Once he was past the airlock, he checked the arms room computer and found an update to his general orders. There was nothing new, just a more detailed and formal version of the same old thing. There was a menu that wasn’t there before, and he found that he could control the barrier and fusion reactor from his station. He messed around with the reactor menu, just to see what kind of options he had, but didn’t understand enough to work it. Just as he was about to turn away, he noticed something else—a security menu. It gave him the option to override door locks, and scanning through the list he noticed that he had access to every cabin, even Max’s. Each cabin had an assigned number and an associated name, except for number thirty seven, which was listed as vacant.

  “He’s quick,” Alex mumbled, assuming Max had updated the database to remove the rapist’s name. There were also controls for a bunch of exterior cameras, and one interior camera that covered the warehouse hallway. There were no other interior cameras, but of course he had no idea if they didn’t exist or if he just didn’t have access to them.

  Along with camera controls, the security menu had a public address option. Looking over the terminal, he found what could be a microphone.

  “Interesting,” he mumbled, though he had no use for a PA system, at least not at the moment.

  After getting what he needed, he left the warehouse and made his way to Yael’s cabin.

  “Who is it?” she asked after he knocked. He heard the dog barking excitedly and scratching on the door.

  “Alex.”

  There was a pause. “Alex, I told you I wanted to be alone.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. I just brought you some stuff. Let me give it to you and I’ll go away.” It rankled him that she didn’t want to see him, esp
ecially now that they had just started to form a connection.

  The door opened and she stood blocking the entry, just as she had the first time he visited. She was wearing the shirt she had torn earlier, along with what looked like a homemade black ribbon, also torn. The dog tried to run out, but she blocked its egress with her legs.

  He frowned. “I need to come in for this.”

  “Alex, please…”

  “Look,” he snapped. “I just want to give you something and then I’m gone, okay? I can’t give it to you out here.” She looked down at the bundle he was holding, wrapped in a camouflage shirt, and stepped aside, letting him enter. He closed the door behind him and reached down to pet the excited canine, who was jumping up onto his legs.

  “Have you heard about what happened to Michelle?” he asked. Her cabin looked very different than the last time. All of her decorations were gone, including the hanging dresses. It was also a mess, with clothing piled in heaps all over the place and unwashed dishes on almost every surface.

  “No. Who is Michelle?” She looked almost as disheveled as her cabin. There were dark circles under her eyes and her face was unusually pale.

  “One of the girls that was watching us on the beach when I was doing my test.”

  “You mean one of the ones you were ogling? What happened to her? Is she okay?”

  “She was raped, beaten.”

  Her eyes widened. “What? Raped? Here? You have to do something!”

  “It’s done,” Alex said. “Max had him executed in the barrier. And Michelle is okay, considering. I just went to see her.”

  “Oh,” she said, calming down. She looked away and wrung her hands together. “I’m glad she’s okay.” He knew what she really wanted to say, that there was something else for her to worry about now. “In the barrier you said? That’s…brutal.”

  “That’s why I’m here,” he said. “I mean the rape, not the execution. I brought you these.” He moved past her and set the bundle down on her unmade bed, then unwrapped the shirt. He removed a pistol, four spare magazines and a fixed blade combat knife.

  She stared at the items, but didn’t say anything.

  “This,” he said. “Is a 9mm. You probably used this type of weapon in your kibbutz. It doesn’t have a lot of recoil and holds a lot of rounds.”

  “I did,” she said. “Use it I mean.”

  “Good. Keep this in your cabin. Hide it. I gave you some spare magazines just in case.” He set the pistol down on the bed, then picked up the knife. “Keep this with you also. You can swim with it, get it wet, whatever.” She took it from him and set it down on her desk. “Don’t be afraid to use it. Just stab the bastard wherever you can and keep stabbing him until he stops moving, then stab him some more.”

  “You’re worried?” she asked. “That it might happen to me?”

  “A little,” he admitted. “I don’t think there’s much of a chance, I mean how many assholes can there be in a handpicked group of fifty? And after what happened to that guy…” She didn’t catch the sarcasm in his voice when he mentioned the handpicked group, but that was just as well. He had no interest in depressing her further, there would be time enough to discuss his ideas with Tom and Barbara later in the evening.

  “Why do you care so much about me?” she demanded. “I don’t want to assume anything, but the way you’ve been acting…”

  “There’s nothing to assume,” he said. “I do care about you, more than anyone else in the world, which may not be saying very much right now, but it’s all I’ve got.”

  “Why?”

  “Don’t be dense,” he said. “We don’t have to have this conversation now, but you know damn well how I feel about you.” He had intended to play it cool and let things take their natural course, but she was pissing him off with her insistence on being alone, even though he understood that she needed to do something to deal with the loss of her family. He needed to do something about his own grief, but putting it off would have to do for now.

  She looked away. “You’re right. We shouldn’t have this conversation now. I have to sit shiva, and it’s not appropriate.”

  “Fine. I’ll go. Just be careful, leave your door locked and don’t let just anyone in, especially at night.” He turned to leave, then felt a hand on his arm.

  “Alex,” she said softly. “I want to have the conversation. If you can wait until my shiva is over. It’s four days.”

  He didn’t turn around, but he was afraid his racing heart would betray his excitement.

  “I’ll wait as long as it takes, Yael. You just do what you need to do.”

  “Thank you.”

  He left her cabin and closed the door behind him.

  *

  “Here,” Tom said, handing him a plastic cup filled with water. “Don’t spill any, it’s priceless.”

  Tom was sitting under a palm tree on the outskirts of the beach. There was a plastic bowl next to him, also filled with water, and a few more cups. The sun was dipping below the western mountains and its light covered the ocean’s surface with rivulets of gold.

  “Water is free, Tom,” Alex said, taking the cup as he sat down against another tree. “I’m pretty sure the colony water system taps an underground spring or has a desalinator or something.”

  Tom grinned. “Who said anything about water?”

  Puzzled, Alex brought the cup to his nose and took a whiff. It smelled like rubbing alcohol.

  “Holy shit!” he said. “Where did you get this? Is it safe? I mean is it denatured?”

  “No, it’s not denatured,” Tom said. “There’s about a thousand gallons of the stuff in the warehouse, it’ll last us for decades. King Max hasn’t told anyone about it, but that’s never stopped me before. You should have seen the look in that douche bag Bob’s face when I walked out of there with a bowl of this stuff and said, ‘This is my one item for the next two days, your holiness.’”

  “Hi guys,” Barbara said, walking up from the beach.

  “Hey,” Alex said, sliding over to make room.

  “Hi Barb,” Tom said. “What did you do with Wawa? I half expected you to bring him along.”

  “He’s in the vacant cabin,” Barbara said as she sat down next to Tom. “I taught him to use the potty. Didn’t take long. He’s not as far gone as I thought, he must have just been confused and scared.”

  “Good deal,” Tom said. “I’d hate to see you on twenty four hour diaper duty to a fifty year old baby.”

  “That’s so nasty,” Alex said. “I need a drink just to stop thinking about it.” He exhaled, braced himself and took a sip. He almost coughed it out. “Fuck!” he swore. “This stuff is strong!”

  “Alcohol?” Barbara asked, suddenly brightening. “Is there enough for me?”

  “Sure is,” Tom said, handing her a cup. “Just be sure to get more with your ration allotment, ‘cause this stuff ain’t gonna last the night.”

  “I’ll say,” Alex said and downed the whole cup. “This is so strong it’ll probably evaporate before we can finish it!”

  “Take it easy, Chief,” Tom said. “I’m pretty sure it’s at least ninety percent alcohol.”

  “Pretty sure?” Barbara said with a grin. “You’re a pretty shitty fake biochemist.”

  “Oh? I had a good thing going before I was kidnapped.”

  “Okay,” Alex said. “Before this stuff hits my head, and before we talk about the bullshit presidential thing, spill it. Tell me why you were posing as a scientist. Who the fuck poses as a scientist?”

  Tom laughed, leaned back against the tree and put his hands behind his head. “I’m a Ripper.”

  Alex frowned. “A what?

  Barbara leaned forward. “Wait…hold on. I’ve heard that before, on TV. I think it was the news.”

  “Yeah, the news is about the only place you’d hear that stupid word. The media coined it.”

  “So what is it?” Alex asked.

  “It’s easy to explain, but hard to understand,” Tom s
aid. “To make it simple, I’m a hacker. Ripping is a way to steal money without giving it to yourself, which is how they get you. Fuck, they’ve got me using that word now. It’s kinda catchy, though, ain’t it? Ripper? Ripping?”

  “Is that more of this shit in the bowl?” Alex asked, holding up his empty cup. He was starting to feel light headed. This was potent stuff.

  “Yeah, help yourself.”

  “Thanks. So…why would you want to steal money without giving it to yourself?”

  “You can’t steal money,” Tom said. “That’s a big hacker myth.”

  “You just said…”

  “Okay, let me be clear, you can steal money, meaning you can take it out of somewhere and put it somewhere else, but you can’t give it to yourself, or you’re done. Why do you think money laundering is such a huge business?”

  “Can’t you just take it out as cash and go to Mexico?” He downed the second cup, but decided not to drink anymore, at least until after they had their conversation. Barbara was still on her first and taking it slow—she was a smarter drinker.

  “I suppose” Tom said. “But then you’d have to live in Mexico, and not for long, because they’d still find you.”

  “Okay, so launder it then.”

  “Yeah,” Tom agreed. “I suppose we could launder it, but hackers aren’t typically real criminals. I mean we steal money, yeah, but we steal from banks and other assholes that stole it from people in the first place. We don’t exactly have legions of scummy gangster friends we can turn to for money laundering.”

  “Okay, I’ll buy that,” Alex said. “So what is Ripping then, and what does it have to do with you being a biochemist?”

  “First,” Tom said. “I don’t steal money.”

  “But you said…”

  “I said that’s what Ripping is…usually. That’s how it started, but not all of us do it for money. The idea is you create an identity and give that identity the money.”

  “Like identity theft?”

  “No, we don’t steal people’s identities…we make new ones. Social security numbers, driver’s licenses, credit cards, all that good stuff. It’s hard work. You make this guy John Fucklubber, say he’s a doctor, and you give him the ten million bucks you stole from some scum bag hedge fund manager. Then you wait, three months, six months, a year. If the FBI doesn’t come looking for Fucklubber, you become Fucklubber and spend the money, living Fucklubber’s life. If they come for Fucklubber, and you’ll know because you set it up so you know, then the money is gone and you start all over, but nobody knows who the hell you are so you’re safe at home. You could have several Fucklubbers going at the same time, in case some get popped.”