The Owners

by Tara Basi

  Jugger stood up and started to leave, closely follow by Pinkie carrying Jugger Junior.

  Tress called after him, “Jugger, what do you think?”

  Jugger walked on without pausing, and called back over his shoulder, “Like you said, let’s hear more.”

  Tress was cheered by Jugger’s answer: he thought she’d done alright. He’d say if he wasn’t happy. “At least Eva’s honest about the why, and it’s just as you said Anton.”

  Anton smiled, “It would appear so. I’m inclined to hear more.”

  Mina didn’t say anything or even acknowledge the conversation. She had her arms wrapped tightly around her head and was rocking back and forth.

  Tress approached Nurse Trinity and whispered, “Stop making stupid jokes and do something for Mina.”

  “Nurse is, and Mina has no idea. She’s getting sleeping pills and anti-depressants. She doesn’t know it but she’s taking a course of subliminal PTSD therapy while she sleeps.”

  “What’s PTSD?”

  “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. And the jokes and the jibes are part of the therapy. Angry is good. Apathy is bad.”

  “Sorry.”

  “For what?”

  “Thinking you didn’t care.”

  “I’m programmed to care and she’s as much my Mummy, as you’re Battery Boy’s.”

  “Wish me luck for next time.”

  “It’s not luck, its instinct, and you have the right ones when it comes to Eva. So does Mina.”

  Another day. Another Eva outfit. This time Tress was relieved to find the bloody mamma was wearing a dark cloak that completely hid her body and whatever vicious weapons she might be armed with. And Eva’s face wasn’t bloodied. It was a very welcome change.

  Next to Eva an unadorned grey cube hung in the air, slowly rotating end over end. Tress studied Eva carefully and wanted to trust her, but the memories of all the betrayals kept her suspicions warm.

  “Your species needs rehabilitating, housing and the beginnings of a sustainable society, and I need lots of Channels and Three. All within two years,” was how Eva began. She waved a hand at the hovering cube, which disappeared. In its place hung a stationary grey cylinder with a small glass face plate. An unknown young woman was seemingly asleep inside. The hologram was suspended above Eva’s head and tilted forward so that the comatose occupant seemed to be looking down at them through her firmly closed eyes.

  “What is…?” Tress started to ask and immediately checked herself. Eva ignored Tress and waved her hand again.

  The tube image shrank by two thirds and moved to one side to make space for a view of a transparent Block that filled the screen. It had twenty-four floors, twenty-two of them landscaped with hills, lakes, cities and villages. Nearly a kilometre separated one floor from the next. A relatively small central core linked the floors. The bottom of the Block was a lightless cave filled with millions of the grey cylinders, endlessly stacked in rows that stretched from wall to wall. As Tress stared open-mouthed the Block rotated in front of her then the view zoomed in to provide a disorientating image of flying low over one of the landscaped floors. There was lush farmland, forests and hills that climbed to sheer cliffs as the Block wall neared. The view swerved away to fly over large lakes, small villages, towns and pristine cities interconnected by roads and a rail network which made Tress shudder. Trains had shipped the masses to the Blocks.

  Eva waved her hand again and the glass sided Block shrank to the size of the almost forgotten grey tube. It was replaced by the giant image of a slowly spinning alien planet with blue oceans and uniformly rust-red and green continents.

  Tress bit her lip. She wanted desperately to ask a myriad of questions. She was increasingly uncomfortable about where Eva was leading them.

  Eva closed her eyes and breathed deeply before speaking, doing little to hide her irritation with the slow thinking humans. “The indoctrination pods will imprint any memories you want, skills, history, identity. The re-configured factory habitat floors can be terraformed as an exact copy of any equivalent sized area of the Earth’s surface. Any ruined population centres or infrastructure on the surface will be rebuilt anew inside the factory. It can all be done within two years if we begin now. All you have to do is choose the surface areas you want copied and the memories for the implants. The factories and the janitors will take care of everything else. It will take five years once we leave Earth to reach this world, which is ideal for human colonisation. And it is very far from any Vigilance,” Eva added, stabbing a finger at the strange planet with its unfamiliar shapes and colours. For a moment the shiny martial armour she was wearing under her cloak was briefly revealed.

  Tress and the others were stunned into silence as the enormity of what Eva had so blandly proposed.

  “There will be no Control systems, such as the Band. You will have complete authority over the layout of the factory and the memory implants. There is no other planet within reach which is suitable and outside Vigilance territory. The projections can provide the details. They are somewhat sentient. We’ll meet tomorrow and begin unless you choose the Vigilance. In which case I shall give you back control of Reference and leave immediately. You will certainly fail to release most of your population before the factories leave, even with Reference’s help. You have no idea how to exploit its limited capabilities. By the time you do, it will be too late. Millions of your kind will end up being flung into space. Any that you manage to save will be annihilated or enslaved by the Vigilance when they return. And they will surely return. You’re too valuable for Truculent to leave for other Vigilance to discover. A terrible waste. There is no time for further discussion,” Eva said with obvious impatience. She walked away leaving the three overwhelming images with all their implications floating on the screen.

  Tress felt crushed. It was all too much. And Eva wanted a final answer by tomorrow. She got up from her chair and walked to the screen. She touched the big image of the alien world.

  “Ready,” said a synthetic voice.

  “Are you to be our new home?” Tress asked.

  “This planet is satisfactory,” the synthesised voice answered. “It’s most advanced life forms are millions of years from developing the basic human abilities of sophisticated tool development and language. As on Earth, you will be dominant. The environment and its indigenous species will present other challenges. Particularly from the microbial life forms. Your immune systems will take many generations to adapt. Do you require more details?”

  Tress didn’t want any more details. She turned around and faced the others. “What are we going to do?”

  Jugger answered immediately, “We’re beginning to like what Eva has to say.” He had his arm around Pinkie who looked less confident.

  “But we’ll have to abandon the Earth.”

  “What’s the choice? Stay here and let the Owners return and butcher us? Or go with her? I know what I prefer, at the moment.”

  Tress was surprised, “Now you trust her?”

  “No. I’m beginning to understand her motivation and I see… opportunities. She’s right. The Vigilance will be back. Mina, you think we can get millions out of the factories in two years without killing most of them?”

  Mina was staring at the screen as though she hadn’t heard Jugger. Tress had to ask again, “Mina, can we get them out ourselves?”

  “What?” Mina mumbled.

  Tress was losing patience, “For god’s sake Mina, can we get them out on our own?”

  Mina lifted her head slowly. Her eyes were red and swollen, her hands shaking. “No. Probably not. It would take twenty years and it’ll be chaos. Right, Trinity?”

  “Sorry to say that Mina is probably correct. And Eva is right about Reference. In my limited dealings with the factory system it is incredibly pedantic and utterly unhelpful. We would have to learn by trial and error to get it to do anything useful.”

  “Who are the janitors?” Stuff asked, surprising everyone.

  “Janito
rs?” Battery Boy repeated.

  Tress could see he was as puzzled as everyone else by Stuff’s unexpected question.

  Anton provided illumination. “Eva mentioned the janitors. They’re probably the Crawlers and there are millions of them in the factories.”

  Tress shuddered again. In all her Block experiences, after the Bands, the Crawlers were the worst horror. Eva had at least promised there wouldn’t be any Bands, mouth-spiders or earrings.

  Tress looked to Battery Boy. He hadn’t voiced an opinion. “Battery Boy?”

  “There’s only one of her. She needs us as much as we need her. Jugger may be right.”

  And so a long night of discussions, loud argument and many tears followed. Until there was only one thing to do. Tress shouted over the others, “Let’s vote, decide, and stop arguing. We need to get working on whatever choice we make.”

  Anton abstained. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll die up here. I’m too old for anything else.”

  Jugger didn’t see the point of a vote. “Fine. We’ll vote and we get three. All three are for Eva’s plan.” Pinkie touched Jugger’s arm and he added, “For now. We need to know more but either way the Earth’s had it. It’s not ours any more.”

  “Battery Boy?” Tress asked.

  “If you’re going I am.”

  “That makes five. Mina?”

  Mina had looked a little more with it as the day had worn on. Maybe Nurse Trinity’s treatment was beginning to work. Tress hoped she was capable of making a decision.

  “My heart says we should stay, my head says we should go. My heart’s not a good judge. We should probably go.”

  No one had chosen to stay on Earth, but Tress understood what Mina meant. “We’re decided then. Let’s take a break and then we’d better get back to it.” Almost as an afterthought she added, “I hope we’ll come back. One day.”

  Pinkie picked up the happily sleeping Junior from the blanket he was lying on, “I still think there’s something Eva’s not telling us. I’ve got to see to Junior and I’m dead beat. This little monster’s as demanding as his dad. I’m not getting much sleep. Jugger can stay.” Pinkie left with a bright smile and a wave.

  Tress felt a terrible pang of jealousy. She’d had so many babies taken from her. It had never been a lonely horror. Every old girl had lost children. Seeing Pinkie with Junior was good and hard to bear all at the same time. The three boys left with Pinkie to fetch refreshments. Tress decided to stay with Mina, Nurse Trinity and a sombre Anton. Mina’s body sagged with exhaustion. She looked rooted to her seat as she stared at the floor.

  Tress leant down and put an arm around her shoulder, “Are you alright Mina? Do you want to get some sleep?”

  Mina started as though she thought she was alone. “What? Oh, no. Coffee would be good.”

  “The boys will bring some back. Something you want to say?”

  Mina straightened up and took Tress’s hand. “If I started letting it all out I’d never stop. I find it difficult. To accept.”

  “Leaving Earth?”

  Mina nodded and for a moment Tress thought she might not say any more.

  “What it means. That after everything, the best we can come up with is to run away.”

  “Live to fight another day Mina,” Nurse Trinity said.

  “Will we Trinity? If we give up now, ever fight?”

  Tress didn’t think this kind of conversation was helpful. “Mina, did you see Pinkie with Junior?”

  “Sure, Tress. Why?”

  “Think Pinkie wouldn’t fight, if anything threatened Junior? Wherever we end up.”

  Mina couldn’t help herself. She smiled and nodded. “Guess we still got a lot of fight left in us.”

  Anton added, “Course you do Mina. We all do. As Battery Boy would say, I ain’t never giving up.”

  Tress and Mina were still laughing at Anton’s impersonation of Battery Boy when Stuff and the others returned weighed down with food and drink. They’d probably need it all to fuel the long night that lay ahead of deliberation, argument and probably more tears.

  “What’s so funny?” Battery Boy asked.

  His question only made Mina burst out laughing again. Tress giggled and grabbed a coffee for herself and Mina then asked, “So, where do we start?”

  It took hours, and countless more mugs of coffee to organise their thoughts and questions into some logical order under different headings; the planet, the journey, indoctrination, the logistics of moving so many people around, the landscaping of the Iowa Block.

  Tress was beginning to realise the enormity of the task which faced them. “I’d no idea there would be so many choices to make. It’s overwhelming.”

  Nurse Trinity waved its arms wildly. “Newsflash. Freedom fighters rebel at being given choices and demand that authoritarian figures be appointed to help out.”

  Battery Boy slammed his fist on the table startling Tress, “Your stupid jokes aren’t helping.”

  Tress worried that their night was going to end in argument and chaos. Mina, as she had so many times before, rescued them. “The Nurse is right. No one can help us. We have to decide. There are thousands of choices we’ll have to work through. It’ll take time, months, a year. All we have to do tonight is decide what questions we have for Eva tomorrow.”

  Anton added his own calming words. “Between myself, Mina and Trinity we can figure out the details and simplify the options. As Mina say’s, that’ll take some months. Right now I think we need to focus on how the blood tithe is going to work and the pig option.”

  “And the pod people. What’s going to be put in their heads?” Stuff asked.

  “That we saved them and we’re the Bosses,” Jugger immediately answered.

  Tress knew that another row was brewing, “Let’s leave that for now. It’s not a question for Eva. Mina, what about this pig idea, is it real?”

  “Xenotransfusion can work. It’s been done, from pigs to humans. Research and development ended a long time ago.”

  “So Eva could use pig’s blood,” Battery Boy said.

  “Why did it stop?” Stuff added.

  “Look. It’s not that easy. It solved a particular problem at the time but better ways were found that’s why interest dried up. Anton, any ideas?”

  “We’ll need to look at all the old research, and there’s always synthetic blood. If we knew exactly what properties of our blood Eva was interested in, we’d have a better chance of finding an alternative. Leave this with me, I’ll see what I can dig up.”

  Surveying the room Tress could see everyone was exhausted. “Let’s finish now, get a bit of sleep. We need to be alert tomorrow. And, Mina, Anton, I think one of you two will need to deal with Eva.”

  No one disagreed. Mina exchanged a glance with Anton, who said, “Remember, I’m not going. You’ll have to live with the choices you make. Of course I’ll help. Do everything I can.”

  Mina didn’t respond, she looked nervous and stressed. Tress decided to put off the question of who’d talk to Eva. “We’ll decide in the morning. Let’s get some sleep.”

  Chapter 16 – Truth and Reconciliation

  With growing anxiety Mina realised her role in whatever was to come was inevitable. Tress had insisted the next conversation with Eva was bound to become more technical and that Mina was best qualified. Anton had already made his position clear.

  In the end she stopped resisting and agreed to lead the coming encounter with Eva. Mina didn’t feel qualified in any other way. She was emotionally drained and borderline clinically depressed. Or so Nurse Trinity had told her. She didn’t think there was anything borderline about it. The robot’s prescription of therapy and drugs were helping her function again. Mina wasn’t sure she’d ever really recover. For a while now, she had been drinking regularly. Mostly she hid it from the others. Or wanted to believe she did. She’d always tried to be sober when it mattered. She wasn’t when it didn’t. Now she was, and it was time to tell Eva their inclination was to choose t
he Shard. A race they knew absolutely nothing about. Could they be any worse than the Vigilance?

  Eva had abandoned the cloak. It seemed she wasn’t worried about their sensibilities any more. Her body was encased in an ice-blue leather sheath, leaving her bulging arms and tree-trunk thighs bare. Two white leather bandoliers criss-crossed her chest, each holding a dozen solid metal throwing knives in the front. A double-headed battle-axe, crafted from the same metal as the knives, was strapped to her back. She was wearing white suede boots studded with short shiny spines that reached up past her knees.

  Mina shuddered inside. What if the alien ever lost the battle with her body? And how was that even possible that two personalities were occupying the same body? Maybe she was just a crazy schizophrenic. Eva didn’t say anything, she only glared at them from the screen. The images they’d been interrogating all night had disappeared when Eva’s dominating presence had returned.

  Nervously Mina spoke first, “We accept. In principle. We have some questions.”

  Eva didn’t scowl, growl or reach for a weapon. Her face contorted oddly. Was she trying to smile, Mina wondered?

  “This body is a little inebriated and has been in combat for many hours. It is somewhat relaxed. Ask your questions. After today there can be no going back, for either of us.”

  Mina didn’t particularly like the sound of that though it would be true once Eva started loading the millions into the Iowa Block. Eva didn’t look or sound that drunk and it wasn’t worth arguing about. Not yet. “We want the populations’ memories of life in the Blocks untouched. They need to know why we left Earth. And we want them to know what happened when the Vigilance came, our stories and the details of this plan.”

  “This is of no interest to me. You can fill their little heads with whatever you want.”

  “And, they must all be educated to a high standard relative to their age, given trauma therapy and one of the specialist skills we’ll choose. Is this possible?”

  Eva’s smile slipped. “This is a waste of time. Have you not interrogated the pod image?”