Helix Nexus

by Chris Lofts

  ‘Drowned or stabbed to death?’ Helix raised his eyebrows. ‘You decide.’

  The wait wasn’t a long one. He didn’t see Brunel hit the water, but he heard the splash.

  Jogging over the bridge, Helix paused at a curve in the road as it climbed uphill.

  Sofi tapped him on the shoulder and nodded towards the river.

  ‘Seems he can swim,’ he muttered. Zooming into the bank, he watched as Brunel heaved himself out of the water and across the mud. It took the waterlogged man two attempts to mount his horse before he turned and galloped along the narrow bank in the direction of the castle. Helix shrugged. ‘I should have stabbed him.’

  Two miles further on, they left the road through a wide gap in the hedge. ‘Judging by the number of hoof prints, I’d say Chepstow is more than a one-horse town,’ Helix observed. ‘The snow hasn’t quite covered their tracks.’

  ‘Working horses, looking at the size of the hoofs.’ Sofi said, brushing aside some of the new snow. ‘They go in both directions.’

  Helix shifted his bergen on his shoulders. ‘I doubt we’ll be seeing Sheriff Issy and his posse tonight, but we should stay sharp,’ he said, sliding the last few feet down the slope through the leaf litter and onto more solid ground. The silver surface of the river glinted in the moonlight to their left, its current more serene than it had been in Chepstow. ‘That smell reminds me of when we were kids,’ he said to Sofi. ‘Wet woods and mud.’

  ‘I remember.’

  ‘What do you remember?’

  ‘How you and Ethan and Jon used to play in the woods when you were children. You told Gabrielle on your way to the hyperloop station on Remembrance Day, back in the summer.’

  Of course, she would have known that. She had access to all of the recordings, all the exchanges with Ethan and what happened at the Foreign and Commonwealth office. He snorted dismissively at the summer carnival the Government contrived to remember those who were lost in the pandemic. In less than 48 hours it would be the real Remembrance Day. 11AM on the 11th of November. The sinister significance of the date twisted a freezing knot in his stomach. Gabrielle and Ethan’s lives were on the line; he had no intention of allowing them to be added to the roll of the remembered. He leaned into the wind and moved off along the track bed of the long disused railway line.

  He turned up his collar. With the temperature falling, the snow crystallising and the leaves freezing, it was like walking through a bowl of breakfast cereal. His thoughts turned to Gabrielle with each anxious step. He couldn’t deny he was looking forward to seeing her again but any sense of excited anticipation was jaded by the reason for his being there. They hadn’t seen each other for months and now he turns up with this.

  A fork in the track brought them to a halt. A narrower path fell away towards the river. The main track carried straight on. They were at the neck of a tear-shaped peninsula where the land between loops in the river was no wider than 200 yards.

  ‘Look. The abbey is just across the river,’ Sofi said. ‘We can’t be far.’

  Helix nodded. ‘Not many signs of—’

  ‘Listen.’ Sofi held her hand up. ‘There.’

  ‘Kids.’ He laughed. ‘I’d know that sound anywhere. Kids charging around in the woods. Come on.’

  Sofi fell in beside him and they traipsed down the slope, ignoring the amount of noise they were making. The kids were bound to spot them and then scamper off to tell the grownups. The path was obvious, even in the fresh snow, winding between mature broad-leaf trees, through coppiced clearings and around piles of sawn logs and brushwood. Helix flinched as Sofi stumbled, grabbing his arm to catch herself from falling. He scrambled for traction as the ground fell away, leaves, branches and twigs cascading over them as the fell into a deep, straight-sided, water-filled pit.

  15

  40 Hours

  The cacophony of bells and scrap metal that echoed through the woods as the fragile pit cover collapsed under Helix and Sofi’s weight had reduced to an occasional dull clang on the breeze. A heavy cloud of exasperated breath drifted skyward as Helix exhaled. The eight-by-eight-foot star-filled frame overhead offered no answers. ‘Millions of pounds of technology between us and we walked into a fucking man trap,’ he said, shaking a blob of mud from his hand. He sniffed the air and suppressed a retch. The unmistakable stench of a camp latrine confirmed that what they were waist deep in, wasn’t just water.

  ‘Listen,’ Sofi whispered. ‘Somebody’s approaching.’

  Leaves and small twigs rustled and cracked as eager breaths grew louder. Clouds of breathy steam swirled above the pit’s edge. The bodies the fog emanated from remained hidden. Helix draw one of his P226s, Sofi followed his lead with her own weapon.

  ‘It’s Helix,’ he called. ‘We’re looking for Gabrielle Stepper. Is she here?’

  A giggle was admonished in a series of shushes, whispers and more rustling of leaves. ‘Any adults up there?’ he added. ‘Hello.’

  Thin streams of steaming liquid and clods of dung arced through the air from all sides of the pit adding to the rancid soup they stood in.

  ‘Get away from there,’ an older voice boomed amongst the trees.

  Giggles were snatched away in hastily taken breaths. Flashes of untamed light licked around the trees surrounding the pit, growing stronger with the measured footsteps that accompanied them.

  Helix’s eyes narrowed in the light as the flaming torch silhouetted a long-haired man who peered down into the pit. ‘We’re looking for Gabrielle Stepper. Is she here?’ he said.

  ‘She’s already told that bean counter to piss off,’ the torch bearer spat. ‘For a supposedly educated man, he’s a bit slow on the uptake.’

  ‘Bean counter?’

  ‘Nothing but trouble since she turned up,’ the torch bearer replied, his eyes searching for agreement on the other side of the pit.

  Small faces peered over the edge. Orange torchlight danced across their grubby faces and wild hair. One young visage carried a more serious countenance. Helix recognised her from the gold frame, smiling behind the cracked glass. ‘Lauren?’

  ‘Hi,’ she mumbled, brushing her straggly blonde hair from her face.

  The light increased in proportion to the swelling the crowd who jostled for space to gain a better look at the captives. ‘Helix?’ a familiar voice said. ‘Helix, is that you?’

  He spun around, his hand shielding his eyes from the torches. His breath caught in his chest as his eyes fell upon the swollen stomach of the woman who’d occupied his thoughts for most of the last six months. That was why she hadn’t written. She’d moved on.

  ‘Gabrielle?’

  Sniggers rippled through the crowd.

  ‘Ha!’ She laughed. ‘Even with a bun in the oven you still can’t tell the difference.’

  ‘SJ?’ he said, happy to take foolishness over crushing disappointment any day.

  ‘Kids. Fetch a ladder,’ she ordered.

  Helix cleared his throat. ‘Where’s Gabrielle?’

  SJ half turned, made a space between her and the torch bearer. ‘She’s coming.’

  Gabrielle’s stumbling arrival almost shoved the torch bearer into the pit with Helix and Sofi. ‘Helix.’ She clutched her hands to her face. ‘My God. I’d only just said to SJ a couple of days—’ She beamed, her eyes glassy in the light of the flickering torches.

  ‘I’d have sent a message but, well you know…’ He said, holding his hands up, pit water running from the smart-fabric. ‘This is Ethan’s… His AI.’

  ‘Sofi?’ Gabrielle said, her hand on SJ’s arm. ‘But. How?’

  A murmur rumbled through the crowd. Children were pulled back from the edge of the pit. Nervous glances were exchanged.

  Helix raised his hands. ‘It’s OK. It doesn’t bite. Not unless I tell it to.’

  ‘What’s it doing here?’ the torch bearer snapped. ‘What are you doing here? There’s been nothing but bloody trouble—’

  ‘Shut up, Walt,’ SJ snapped. ‘You’re
like a bloody parrot.’

  ‘You would say that, wouldn’t you.’ He squared up to SJ. ‘Being her sister an’ all.’

  Helix caught Gabrielle’s eye. She pulled a tight-lipped smile, folded her arms.

  ‘Walt!’

  The name echoed through the trees. Space was made for a dreadlocked man with beads in his beard. He moved alongside SJ.

  ‘It’s OK, Bo. I can look after myself,’ SJ said, pulling his arm.

  ‘It’s your turn to relieve Jess and check the other traps,’ Bo ordered, shoving Walt away from SJ.

  ‘They’ve got bells on. The same as this one. We’ll know—’

  Bo snatched the torch from Walt. ‘Just go. Everyone’s had enough of your bitching.’

  Nobody in the crowd disagreed, a few nodded.

  Bo peered into the pit. ‘Who the hell are you?’

  ‘It’s Helix,’ SJ said, looping her arm through his.

  ‘The legendary Helix?’ Bo sneered, his hands on his hips. ‘What you doing in there, Robocop, up to your chest in shit and piss?’

  SJ yanked at his arm. ‘Be nice.’

  ‘And who’s she?’ Bo added.

  ‘It’s my AI,’ Helix replied.

  ‘Whoa! Well, you can leave that bloody thing in there,’ Bo said, scratching his beard. ‘An AI robot? If that’s true, we don’t want it wandering around the camp. I’ve heard things about their so-called artificial intelligence.’

  Lauren cried out in fear and rushed around the pit to Gabrielle, wrapping her arms around her waist.

  ‘Bo,’ SJ said. ‘Give it a rest. Let’s get them out of there.’

  ‘Who sent you? The bean counter?’ Bo said.

  ‘Who is this bean counter?’ Helix said, positioning the ladder that had finally arrived. ‘It’s the second time I’ve heard that today.’ The structure creaked as he climbed. The villagers shrunk away. Was it him or the lingering pong? His clothes had repelled most of the filth. Gabrielle rushed at him, threw her arms around him and immediately stepped back.

  ‘Yeah, sorry about the um…’ he murmured.

  ‘We better get you rinsed off,’ she said. ‘Don’t want you catching anything nasty.’

  ‘Pull it up,’ Bo ordered, pointing to the ladder.

  ‘Wait,’ Helix said. ‘I’ll vouch for her.’

  The crowd exchanged nervous glances. Doubts were exchanged behind hands.

  ‘Listen. If I hadn’t told you what it was, you’d have all just assumed it was a woman, the same way I did.’

  Gabrielle pulled at his arm. ‘Helix. Is it anything like… you know?’

  He sighed. The fear in Lauren’s eyes made sense. Its previous incarnation was responsible for the murder of the kid’s mum.

  Helix dropped to one knee. ‘It’s OK, Lauren. We can leave her in the pit if you’d prefer. But I need her to help me.’

  Lauren’s blue eyes were full of questions.

  ‘If Helix says it’s safe, sweetheart,’ Gabrielle reassured, ‘it’ll be OK.’

  Lauren nodded. ‘OK.’

  Helix gestured to Sofi to climb. The crowd shuffled back a few more steps. Kids stepped from behind the security of their parents’ legs and approached gingerly as Sofi climbed out.

  Helix switched to TC. ‘Patrol the perimeter. Try not to spook the natives. Make yourself useful. I want updates every 15 minutes.’

  Sofi’s reply came back in his ear. ‘Roger that.’

  The crowd parted as Sofi moved off, a retinue of grubby kids marching along in her wake, deaf to their parents’ protests.

  ‘They’ll be fine,’ Helix reassured.

  Some didn’t look convinced, choosing to follow along or drifting back towards the camp.

  ‘So, the bean counter?’ Helix said, turning back to Gabrielle, SJ and Bo.

  ‘Justin.’ Gabrielle said, taking his hand. ‘He turned up a while back.’

  Leaving Bo and SJ supervising the re-covering of the pit, Helix listened as they walked into the village. Gabrielle filled in the details of how Justin had arrived on horseback one afternoon accompanied by four other men and again the previous night. A bend in the path carried them between banks of rhododendrons and azaleas and into a broad clearing dotted with snow-covered yurts and assorted wooden structures in differing states of repair or construction.

  ‘What did he want?’ Helix said.

  ‘Last night he was on a charm offensive, wanted to apologise and ask for my forgiveness. The time before that they were trying to barter except they hadn’t quite grasped the concept of exchanging one thing of equal value for another,’ Gabrielle said, pulling his arm closer to hers. ‘He’s only sorry for is his predicament. He doesn’t give a damn about anyone else.’

  ‘How did he know where to find you?’

  She sighed. ‘He’d seen the cards and letters I’d received from SJ over the years. She used to say how great it was out here, that it was only a short distance from Bristol. She even included a rudimentary map with one of them.’

  ‘And now he’s installed himself as lord of the manor in Chepstow castle.’ Helix laughed. ‘I can’t imagine him on a horse or getting his hands dirty living off the land.’

  ‘Living off the land doesn’t come into it. He’s clearly got contacts in Bristol. They supply most of the things he enjoys. Anything they can’t provide he takes from the communities like ours up and down the valley. Except he doesn’t take it himself. He gets his cronies to do that.’

  ‘If it’s just him and the four horsemen of the apocalypse it wouldn’t be that difficult to deal with.’

  ‘That’s what everyone else says. That was the idea of the pit,’ she said, pushing her hair behind her ears. ‘They wanted to fill it with sharpened stakes but I talked them out of it. For now.’

  ‘I could send Sofi. She, it would sort them out.’

  Gabrielle took a deep breath. ‘Let’s change the subject. How are you and how’s Ethan?’ she said. ‘I assume he’s listening as usual or watching what’s going on?’

  Helix slowed. ‘In a manner of speaking. He’s… offline at the moment.’

  ‘OK. That’s unusual, no?’

  He took both of her hands in his. ‘Yeah. I’ll fill you in on the details,’ he said. He needed to get cleaned up. At least that would give him a chance to think. He had no idea how to put it or even where to start. Should he begin with Yawlander and Blackburn? Lytkin’s kidnap of Ethan? Or her letter and Ormandy’s threat to have her arrested? ‘I could do with a shower or maybe a quick dip in the river if I have to. Is there somewhere we can talk, maybe grab something to eat?’

  16

  38 Hours

  Dodging between the two fireside chairs, Helix got as close as possible to the wood burner without setting fire to the heavy woollen poncho Gabrielle had given him. Warming his hands against the fire, he could see what she meant about nobody hogging the showers in winter. Still, as freezing as it was, it was preferable to the river and he no longer smelled like the gents toilet at the end of a department bender.

  The craftsmanship used to construct the building was impressive; the low shingled roof, the wattle and daub walls and hardwood flooring. Interior design wasn’t his thing but it looked adequate, comfortable and cosy. Heavy beeswax candles cast dancing shadows across a collection of children’s books that lay on a small table. Were they Eve’s books, the ones that Gabrielle had kept on the bottom shelf of the bookcase in the Observatory?

  An unfinished letter, the handwriting familiar, lay beneath one of the books. It was the same paper she’d used for the letter she’d sent before leaving London, although less creased, less cherished. Foreboding flooded over him, the same letter now in the Home Secretary’s possession.

  He started to read just as Gabrielle blew through the door on a hefty breeze and a flurry of snow. ‘Wind’s picking up and the snow’s getting heavier,’ she said, leaning back against the door. She slid a dish on the table. ‘It’s not a lot. Cold squirrel, a few potatoes and some bread, but I’ve got
some of our local brew to wash it—’ She broke off, her eyes on the letter.

  ‘Sorry, I wasn’t being—’

  ‘That’s OK,’ she said, her hand cool on his arm. ‘It was for you anyway. I just hadn’t got around to sending it.’

  She wasn’t expecting him to read it in front of her, was she? ‘I meant to write as well, but…’ he said, sliding it back under the book.

  ‘Shush,’ she said, reaching up and pressing her fingers to his lips.

  Her touch stirred him and chased away the chill from the shower. The candlelight imbued her with a glow that glimmered in her eyes as she slung her arms around his neck. He leaned down to meet her, their noses almost touching.

  ‘The letter says what I’ve wanted to say since that night out at Helix Towers.’

  He laughed at the memory.

  ‘Only this time, I’m not drunk or stoned and even better than that…’ She stepped away and pulled her poncho over her head, dropping it to the floor. He did the same and for a moment stood there looking into her eyes.

  Interlacing her fingers with his, she led him to the bed. His anticipation rose with each step. She tossed aside the covers and laid down, her hand smoothing the sheet beside her. She gasped at his titanium touch. He swapped hands, his apology trapped behind his lips as she pressed her fingers to them. Her stomach radiated heat against his cheek as he breathed her in, his nose and lips brushing her smooth pale skin. She unfurled beneath him, her hand urging him on, her fingers folding around him. Fleeting kisses became more urgent, more prolonged as their separate rhythms merged, becoming impatient, frantic, animal.

  ‘Fifteen-minute update,’ Sofi reported into his ear.

  ‘Not now,’ he snapped.

  ‘Jesus, Helix don’t stop!’ Gabrielle gasped.

  ‘Sorry,’ he said, picking up where he left off while trying to disable the real time feeds from his eye and integrated comms.

  Minutes later, in the breathless afterglow, he rolled to Gabrielle’s side. ‘Sorry about that, it’s been a while.’