The Owners

by Tara Basi

  Mina put her hand on Battery Boy’s shoulder. “Do you believe Eva? Tress looks wonderful. The medical AI says there’s nothing wrong with her.”

  “I can’t risk losing her again,” Battery Boy answered quietly.

  “It might be a trick. Tress might have found out something Eva doesn’t want us to know,” Jugger suggested.

  Mina kept her silence. She dreaded making another life and death decision. Battery Boy would ultimately have to choose.

  “Then why bring her back at all? I don’t care what she forgets, she’ll be back, just as she was,” Battery Boy replied with finality. He ordered the Medical AI to do what Eva had suggested before reviving Tress.

  After a wait of moments that seemed to last much longer, Tress opened her eyes. It took her a while to focus, and when she did she looked blank and confused. “How did I get back here? The last thing I remember is Harder taking me.”

  After Tress had been made comfortable and fallen into a deep sleep, helped by a strong sedative, nearly everyone returned to the conference room. Jugger sent Pinkie to another part of the base.

  Eva was where they’d left her, standing rock still. Her black suit had changed shade and she looked as if she’d been carved from flesh coloured granite. There was another difference: lying at her feet was a net bag holding two white furry spheres. Each was about the size of a beach ball. Mina guessed they must have been hidden behind her back before. Her shoulders were broad enough.

  “What’s that?” Stuff asked, looking surprised. Mina knew how he felt. The sudden appearance of something quite so comically cute was jarring on such an awful day.

  “They’re your salvation, and they’re hungry.”

  “Why are you helping us?” Jugger asked and then pointed at the netted balls lying at Eva’s feet. “And like Stuff said, what the hell are those?”

  Anton was studying Eva closely. He appeared fascinated by the muscular warrior.

  “I’m not… of this place. You cannot understand,” said Eva.

  “Try us, I’m a trained scientist, so is he,” Mina said, indicating Anton on the screen.

  Eva gave Mina a disdainful look and marched to an electronic whiteboard hanging on one wall. She filled the available space with a complex mathematical formula. “This is a tiny part of the explanation of who I am. It is in your language of mathematics, a language the Shard share. Do you understand?”

  Mina stared at the formula. It wasn’t gibberish. It was recognisably a multidimensional quantum-mechanical formula, but it was way beyond anything she could begin to fathom. “Trinity?” Mina asked, hopefully.

  “I know it’s not a recipe for cup-cakes.”

  “Anton?”

  “Give me a couple of decades and I might get somewhere.”

  Mina sighed, “We don’t understand. Who or what are the Shard?”

  Eva started pacing back and forth, smashing a fist in to her palm with every step. “Then I will tell you what I can in this limited non-mathematical language. It will be a vague approximation of the reality. Do you comprehend these limitations?”

  Mina could only shrug and nod.

  “Which means you could be lying,” Jugger said, with his arms folded tightly across his chest.

  Eva abruptly stopped pacing, and emitted a low growling sound, before very slowly starting to unsheathe one of the long swords strapped to her thigh. Mina along with everyone else took a step back. Eva’s body vibrated with power and rage as she slowly inched the sword out of the leather sheath on the side of her enormous leg. Mina was thinking of running and locking Eva in the conference room when the crazy woman slid the sword back. “Truths in your primitive language might be lies in mine, or the reverse.”

  “Whatever that means. You were ready to kill us under the Block, you don’t exactly seem very friendly now,” Mina said.

  “That isn’t me. It’s this body,” Eva answered, looking down at the straining muscles in her chest and her bulging arms. “And, it still wants to kill you all. I don’t. Mostly, I can control it… mostly. Don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”

  Mina was starting to understand how incomprehensible Eva might become. “Thanks for bringing us Tress. Why do we even need your help? We have control of the Blocks.”

  “Stupid, you’re all so stupid,” Eva bellowed, startling Mina and everyone else. Battery Boy and Jugger both moved a hand towards their sidearms. A frightened Stuff was halfway out of the door.

  Eva stared at Mina with cold blue eyes and studied her carefully as though looking for the best place to strike her with the axe hanging from her back. “Alcohol.”

  Mina wondered if she’d heard Eva correctly. “What?”

  “Strong alcohol. Bring me lots. Now!”

  That didn’t sound a very good idea to Mina. A drunk Eva might be even more volatile. If that was even possible. “Alcohol? Are you sure?”

  Eva ground her teeth and clenched her fists. “I will self-medicate. Till this body is calm. Then we’ll speak.” Eva paused, turned away from Mina and roared at the wall behind her.

  “I think this is a job for a nurse,” Trinity said. “I suggest you all leave; I’ll take care of this lovely young lady. I’ll come and get you, when it’s safe. Or… if we decide it’s never likely to be. Isn’t that right Eva?”

  Eva glared at Nurse Trinity, then bent over so her face was level with the small robot’s head and yelled, “Alcohol!”

  “Perfect, we’re in agreement.”

  Mina wasn’t going to argue, “Anton, you’ll keep an eye on things?”

  The old man up in space nodded. Mina left Trinity and Anton alone with Eva and followed the others out of the room. They went back to Tress, who was still asleep. Mina could have done with her advice. She still hadn’t recovered from the horror of finding out that most of mankind were as good as dead or Truculent had taken them. Battery Boy and Jugger were standing over a console.

  “What are you doing?” Mina asked.

  Battery Boy turned his head. “Tress is back and I’m not letting anything happen to her. Turret bots are outside the conference room, one’s protecting this medical unit and another is guarding Pinkie. That… giant’s not getting out of the conference room till we know she can be trusted.”

  Mina was surprised at how hurt she felt that the two boys had done all that without asking her. And then she wasn’t surprised at all. Her leadership had been disastrous. Both of them had done a lot of training on the base systems in the last year and they weren’t boys any more. A big part of Mina didn’t want the responsibility. Let someone else save the world.

  “So what are we going to do about her? You trust her?” Jugger asked Mina.

  Jugger’s questions were so unexpected. She thought they’d be telling her what to do. “Why are you asking me?”

  Battery Boy came to stand over Mina who was slumped in a chair. He didn’t look happy. “You’ve got responsibilities. And more experience than we’ll probably ever have. Focus. You don’t get to give up. Not yet.”

  Jugger added, “Old woman. You’ll know when we don’t need you any more.”

  Jugger’s last words bit. Mina understood. They’d retire her, she wouldn’t be getting a choice.

  Battery Boy and Jugger were still looking for her to answer their questions about Eva. The only important question was if she could be trusted. Mina’s answer was instinctive and simple. “We shouldn’t begin to trust her or anybody associated with the Blocks, and we should definitely not trust anyone who isn’t human. History and evolution tells us that. Besides, Truculent thinks we’re chickens.”

  “What about those balls, the furry balls?” They seemed to be the only things that Stuff was interested in.

  “Jesus Stuff, who cares about the damn balls,” Mina snapped and immediately regretted it. “Sorry. They could be important. We’ll ask Eva.”

  “So what are we going to do?” Battery Boy asked again.

  Mina thought things over. Tress should be up
in a little while. Mina would prefer to wait for Tress to be awake before they all tried talking to Eva the barbarian again. Nurse Trinity hadn’t been in touch, so she assumed it was still administering alcohol to keep Eva subdued. “Look,” she said, “we don’t have to trust her to listen to what she’s got to say. Next time I want Tress there. She might remember something.”

  Battery Boy immediately tensed up, “I’m not putting her in danger.”

  “She can decide for herself,” Jugger said. “Meanwhile, what’s the plan old woman?”

  “Can’t you call me Mina? I’m the same bloody biological age as Tress.”

  “Sure, Mina. So, what’s next?”

  “I want to talk to Anton, while we wait for Tress.”

  Mina approached a communicator and called the Maxinquaye. The side of Anton’s face appeared on her screen. She guessed he still had an open channel to the conference room where Trinity and Eva were. “Anton, can you tell me what’s happening?”

  Anton turned to face her. “I know she’s one of the Block monsters but I do find her fascinating. Why does she choose to look so primitive? Her mathematics were beyond genius. Beyond anything the best minds on Earth have ever produced. And to think it was just a tiny fraction of her story.”

  “I don’t understand Anton; how can they communicate with mathematics?”

  “Mina, I can only guess that at a certain level of intellectual development it’s the only way to convey information.”

  “I’m not a mathematician. I don’t understand.”

  “You’ve studied advanced physics. Right? To be in the space programme?”

  Mina nodded.

  “Then you know that it is impossible to explain something like the Higgs’ concepts using anything but mathematics. A description in English might seem to convey meaning but it’s almost certainly a distortion of the truth, if not a complete fabrication. I think that’s Eva’s dilemma.”

  Mina understood what Anton was getting at. Then she remembered, “Truculent didn’t have any trouble talking to us chickens, did he?”

  “Maybe she’s different. Trinity has been supplying her with medical alcohol. She’s drunk a litre already. Eva’s certainly calmer. I’m surprised she’s not dead by now quite frankly.”

  “Has she said anything?”

  “No, except to ask for more alcohol. I think she’s nearly done. She’s definitely slowing down.”

  “I’ll go see how Tress is. We’ll see you in the conference room, when Trinity calls.”

  Back in the medical centre Tress was up, dressed and staring at herself in a full length mirror. “If this is Harder’s idea of punishment then I’d like some more. Don’t I look great? I feel great. I feel… young.” She smiled at Battery Boy.

  “You do. You’ve never looked… so happy. It’s wonderful.” He rushed to hug her.

  “You’re… very pretty,” Stuff whispered, taking hold of Tress’s hand.

  “What happened to you?” Jugger asked, cutting to the essentials.

  “I remember Harder taking me to a dark room.” Tress paused and bowed her head before continuing. Her voice was hesitant, trembling, “There was a large glass globe… it descended from the ceiling.” Tress shivered and leant heavily on Battery Boy. He led her to a chair.

  “You don’t have to remember, forget it. Forget it all,” Battery Boy said.

  Tress shook her head, “No. I want to remember. Men. Put me in the glass ball.” Suddenly she stood up, “I was drowning.” She stopped and looked around wildly, and sat down again, looking confused. “That’s all.”

  “Whatever those bastards did to you, I’m going to do to them. One day,” Battery Boy said.

  Mina knew he meant it.

  “How did I get back here? Is everything all right?” Tress asked, recovering some of her composure.

  A call from Trinity interrupted their exchange before Mina could answer. She was relieved. Mina had no idea how she was going to give Tress the terrible news about what Trinity had found in the Blocks.

  “Eva’s ready for us. Though I can’t say we’ll ever be ready for Eva,” Trinity announced.

  “Eva? The giant woman? She’s here?” Tress asked, looking bewildered.

  “Wait. Tress needs to know what’s happened before we go back. Here, put this on.” Battery Boy handed Tress a holster with a sidearm.

  “Our Block Seven and the Owners are gone,” said Jugger. “It was full of people. There’s only a few million left alive in the other Blocks. Now let’s go.”

  It was brutal, but Mina was relieved. There was no easy way of telling Tress. The poor woman looked shocked. The blood drained from her face and she leant on Battery Boy for support.

  “Doesn’t matter how many are left. We’re getting them out,” Battery Boy said, and looked around the room daring anyone to challenge him.

  Mina nodded in support and gave Tress an encouraging smile. What she really wanted to do was lock herself in a dark room and drink herself to death. Maybe Mina had more in common with Eva than she thought. “Eva brought you back. She’s volatile. Hasn’t told us much. Trinity is helping her calm down. She’s ready to talk to us now. Do you want to come and hear what she’s got to say?”

  “Of course I do. I want to know what happened to me. To everyone. And most of all why? Why are they doing this to us?”

  “Because they think we’re chickens and they can,” Battery Boy said softly.

  Mina would never forget what Truculent had said under the Block. He hadn’t said it with any malice. For the Owner it was a simple statement of fact. They were poultry and he was the poultry farmer. “Sorry Tress, that’s probably the simple answer. What I don’t understand is why there was a negotiation at all. Why didn’t the Owners just restore the gateway and put everything back as it was before we attacked? It has to be the blood bomb formula. Maybe Eva knows why.”

  Back in the conference room Eva was sitting on the floor with her back against a wall. Her limbs were haphazardly arranged around her body, and her head was tipped to one side. A thin trickle of dribble ran down her chin from the side of her mouth. She’d lost little of her menace. There was a fear that Eva was only resting and the slightest sound would have her leaping to her feet with axe in hand. She wasn’t asleep, her ice-cold eyes were staring intently as they filed into the room. Eva seemed particularly interested in Tress.

  “You survived,” Eva said to Tress. Her speech was a little slurred but comprehensible.

  “Thank you. For bringing me back,” Tress answered.

  Eva didn’t reply, she seemed to be waiting for everyone to settle. Stuff stayed close to the door. The others drew up chairs a few metres away from the supine alien. Trinity fussed in the background collecting empty bottles and tidying them away. Anton looked on.

  “You are very fortunate. Did you know you’re now qualified for a senior role in the Inquisitors?”

  “Harder’s men? The soldiers?” Tress asked.

  Eva appeared to try to nod but the movement was barely perceptible. “I will not do this again. Risk damage to this body. It’s the only one I have. You will have to learn to cope with it, as I must.”

  “Are you drunk?” Mina asked, wondering what the hell Eva was babbling about.

  “I am not. This body and its brain are. Not for long. Everything must be discussed while we can. Ask your questions. When my body is recovered you must never interrupt when it is speaking. Never ask questions spontaneously. I would advise that you retire, consider, formulate your questions logically and in a proper sequence and then, only then, meet with my body again. Otherwise, this ancient Vigilance warrior may well kill you. Understand?”

  “We can defend ourselves,” Battery Boy said, touching his holster.

  “Stupid boy,” snapped Eva. “Don’t be fooled by my body’s obvious weapons. They are her art. It is invisible to you, but she has the best armour and personal weaponry the Vigilance Empire can provide. Do not test her.”

  “Why do you want to help u
s and why do we need it?”

  “Those are not the right questions. Those,” Eva said, glancing over at the furry balls lying on the floor in their net bag, “are the most valuable objects in all known space.”

  “What are they?” Stuff asked, edging a little closer.

  “Someone is capable of asking relevant questions. Let me speak for a while. Listen. And then ask your questions. Agreed?”

  Mina looked at the others, no one had a better idea. “Agreed.”

  “They are Channels. I am Shard. Truculent is Vigilance. The Vigilance do not know that we exist. We have manipulated them for aeons to farm Channels on a mass scale. We cannot. It is a symbiotic relationship. For themselves the Vigilance harvest an immensely important drug, HIQ, from the afterbirth of a Channel. The Shard enjoy… something else from the birth. Your blood, modified by your formula, when fed to the Channels produces a bounty for the Shard and the Vigilance that is unparalleled in both our histories. The Vigilance will never free you. You’re priceless. Truculent has put a shield around your planet. Nothing can pass through it. Except their factories. Once Truculent is sure the Crimson factory and its Channels are producing legendary quality HIQ on a consistent basis, Harder, or someone like him, will return and sterilise this planet so that no one else can have your bounty. I cannot be certain when that will be. It could be immediately after the remaining factories leave in two years or decades later. I doubt it will be before. We will have some warning. You must leave this planet with the factories. Only they can pass through the shield. Questions?”

  “You could be lying. Maybe you want our blood for yourself,” Jugger said.

  “That’s not a question. Were this body in control you might already be dead,” Eva answered.

  “What’s HIQ?” Stuff asked,

  “A question of no importance. Does your species have a death wish?”

  Despite his obvious nervousness Stuff looked like he might argue the point before Mina intervened. “Why do you want to help us?”

  “That’s a wasted question, I’ve already told you. This body won’t stay sedated for ever. Let me ask the right question for you. Why is it better to be farmed by the Shard rather than the Vigilance?”