Gravity

by Andy Briggs

  Dev had used his synaesthesia to scan through his own body to detect such anomalies. It was a difficult process, as he was used to communicating with standard electronics. Bioengineering was a whole new ball game. However, he had seen the broadcasting signal; his synaesthesia had transformed it into pulses of colour and sound, and he had been able to shut it off.

  He hoped they were safe, for now.

  “Why here?” asked Dev, looking around at the view.

  Lot shrugged. “You said go somewhere remote. I’ve seen pictures, and I always wanted to visit.” She tapped the ramp with her knuckles. “That’s what you get for giving a girl the means to travel the world.”

  They all took a moment to gaze at the sun peeking over the horizon, and they had to admit that it was an impressive view.

  Dev had hacked the Avro’s communications system, so they had all heard the reports on the Consortium’s encrypted network that they were to bring in the fugitives at all costs. It had been depressing listening.

  Mason spoke up for the first time since they’d fled the prison. “I’ve always thought it would be cool to be a criminal on the run.”

  “And is it?” asked Lot.

  “Nah. So far it’s been a lot of sitting around and wondering what to do.”

  They both looked at Dev for answers. He was only half listening to the conversation, as his thoughts were on Kardach and the Collector’s comments. A thought was forming in his mind, and he didn’t like it. He hoped he was wrong, and that saying it aloud would mean the others would point out his mistake.

  “I think I may know who Kardach is. Or I have an idea, at least.”

  Mason spoke without thinking. “I thought he was another. . . Um. . . Like you.” He felt Lot scowling at him.

  “Synthetic person?” ventured Dev, who had spent a lot of time over the past few weeks looking through the Inventory database for a suitable term.

  Mason blushed and nodded. “’Cause of him saying he was your replacement and all.”

  Dev thought back to Tokyo and the figure in the shadows. The painful flash in his mind as he tried to deactivate Newton’s Arrow. The familiar hand gestures Kardach had performed when he silenced the alarms. It all led to one conclusion.

  “He’s like me, but better. With my ability, I have to touch things in order to communicate with them, to feel my way around them. I think Kardach can do it wirelessly.”

  “Wow, built in Wi-Fi. That’d be awesome.” Again Mason felt Lot’s gaze boring into him, silently warning him to shut up. “Well, it would be,” he muttered.

  “He’s older than you,” Lot pointed out.

  Dev had been reading up on that too. “Uncle Parker created me and the Collector, right? That means he would have had to be a little bit older than we are now when he started. From what I found out about the Collector, evil old Uncle Parker accelerated the growing time. Which means the Collector is only really a little older than us.”

  Mason frowned. “Are you sure you’re really our age, then?”

  “Mase!” This time Lot poked her fingers into his back hard enough to make him yelp.

  Dev had wondered about that himself, but avoided answering. “Back in Tokyo I felt somebody blocking my ability. I think that was Kardach.”

  “So he’s an anti-version of you?”

  Dev nodded. “The perfect defence for the Inventory if I went the way of the Collector – and now the perfect defence for Shadow Helix, wouldn’t you say? If he can stop my abilities. . .”

  “Then that makes you useless,” finished Mason. He flinched, anticipating another poke from Lot, but it didn’t happen. She was looking at Dev with concern.

  Dev snorted. “Thanks, mate.” He let Mason feel uncomfortable for a few seconds before continuing. “But I suppose you’re right. He’s protecting Newton’s Arrow from being shut down. We need to take him out if we’re going to stop the weapon.”

  “But didn’t they need the weapon just to break the Collector out?”

  Dev shook his head. Several steps into the future, that’s how their enemy was thinking. So far the team had been lagging behind, unable to catch up. They had to do something to leap forward.

  “The blue case. Whatever is in that holds the answers.”

  “But they have it already. We’ll never know.”

  Dev smiled, finished off his drink and stood up. He wiped the dust from his jeans as he took in the gorgeous red and orange hues of the sun rising over Ayers Rock. He liked Australia. It would be great to spend some time here . . . some other time.

  “There is somebody who does know. And I think he may be waking up about now.”

  Hong Kong’s sprawling harbour was filled with ships. The Avro flew low over them, an unseen ghost in the skies. A forest of huge, futuristic skyscrapers rose from the hills, covering every available space save for the wooded Peak, the highest point in the city. This meant there was very little space to land anywhere close to the city centre.

  As they circled, Lot pointed to a helicopter landing pad on top of a skyscraper, then she gently put the Avro down. Dev couldn’t help but admire how easily she had picked up flying the ship; she was a natural.

  They emerged into the warm air, but unlike Australia the atmosphere here was thick and humid. Dev ran his hand along the hull, noticing for the first time the damage they had sustained when they’d struck the prison wall. He double-checked that the cloaking device rendered the craft totally invisible before setting the vehicle to hover high in the city, but in a space that was unlikely to have helicopters buzzing through.

  *

  The morning streets were already busy with lines of taxis and delivery vans clogging the city’s arteries. With the swampy humidity, the teens were slick with sweat by the time they reached the address on Dev’s phone.

  “You’re sure this is the place?” said Mason.

  “This was what was listed in the Consortium’s files. Professor Liu founded NiGen Labs, and he lives here. He owns the entire building, in fact.”

  They gazed up at the seventy-floor tower of gleaming reflective glass. Impressed, Lot whistled under her breath.

  “So how do we break in?”

  Dev shook his head in disbelief. “Sometimes I think you want to be a common criminal.” He pushed the button on the building’s intercom, both buzzing their arrival and ensuring the security camera that was linked to it stopped recording.

  After a pause, a gruff voice answered. “Yes?”

  “We are here to talk to Professor Liu. It’s very urgent.”

  “No visitors. Go away.”

  Dev looked at the others. Mason scratched his head, gazing back up at the floors stretching skyward.

  “You should have told him it was a pizza delivery. That always works in films.”

  Lot sighed. “At eight in the morning?”

  Dev thumbed the button again, but this time he didn’t wait for an answer. “Professor Liu, is that you? We are from the World Consortium, and we don’t have much time. We need to talk to you about what you stored in your lab’s vault in Tokyo. Particularly the blue case.”

  There was a pregnant pause, then the door buzzed to allow them entrance. Dev held the door open to allow his friends to enter.

  “Sometimes the truth works just fine.”

  Their footsteps echoed through a huge marble-and-glass entrance hall that would be more at home in an international bank, yet it was completely abandoned. A glass elevator had just one button, to the penthouse floor. They ascended through sixty-eight completely empty floors. Liu was the building’s sole occupant, comfirming for them all that Professor Liu was a very eccentric billionaire.

  The doors opened into a massive penthouse. The large living space was decorated with pedestals bearing metal statues that looked like nothing but junk to Dev, but Liu obviously held them in high regard. A huge glass wall stretched from floor to ceiling, offering a jaw-dropping view across the city.

  With a whine of electric motors, Professor Liu appeared,
seated in an electric wheelchair. His face didn’t look particularly old, but his body was frail. Some sort of shiny metal device was perched on one ear, extending to his temple. Dev assumed it was some sort of hearing aid, and he made a mental note to speak slowly and clearly.

  If the professor was surprised at being visited by three teens, he didn’t show it. When he finally spoke, it was in perfect Oxford-accented English.

  “The World Consortium is recruiting younger agents each year.” His eyes flashed intelligence and youth.

  “Sir, my name is Dev Parker and I—”

  “Devon? Ha! I have met your uncle on several occasions.” The wheelchair inched closer, and Dev noticed that there were no visible controls. The old man scrutinized Dev. “So you’re his nephew, eh?”

  Dev swallowed, unsure how to answer. “In a manner of speaking.”

  Liu raised a quizzical eyebrow, then nodded. “I never much liked your uncle. Pompous, and conniving with it.” He spun the chair around and moved towards the windows, beckoning them to follow. “Would you like a drink?”

  Dev’s “No” was drowned out by Mason and Lot’s “Yes!”

  Dev tensed, suddenly feeling betrayed, when he heard a familiar noise – the sound of something heavy rolling across the marble floor. He spun around just as Eema came in from a far room, the spherical orb hurtling towards them.

  The robot stopped rolling. Arms, gleaming with some sort of high-tech weapon, extended from the body, and a familiar emoji head projected out. But the paint scheme on the husk was yellow, not Eema’s chipped blue. The only other difference to Eema was the smooth male voice with which it addressed them.

  “Apple juice, cola or tea?”

  The metal arms weren’t holding a weapon, but a silver tray with the offered drinks. Dev blinked in surprise. Lot burst out laughing and took the juice. Mason snatched the cola and rapped his knuckles on the robot’s side.

  “That tickles,” said the machine.

  “You remind me of somebody we know,” said Mason. “Except you’re much nicer.”

  Liu sent the robot away with a wave of his hand. His eyes were fixed on Dev, studying his reaction.

  “My company designed and built them. Your Eema was once mine.” He smiled at Dev’s reaction. “Oh yes, we built a lot of things for your precious Inventory.”

  Liu circled around, quizzically regarding them each in turn. “Well, I suppose that proves you are who you say you are. Nobody with an ounce of common sense would claim to be Charles Parker’s relation. You arrived sooner than I anticipated.”

  Dev wasn’t sure what he meant, but he had no time to solve cryptic riddles. “Sir, we need to know what was in the blue case that was stolen from your lab. That seemed to be the only thing the thief was interested in.”

  “You are aware of what Newton’s Arrow is capable of?”

  Dev tried to recall some of the facts from the Inventory’s database. “It uses gravitons to create gravity waves and—”

  “Very good,” cut in Professor Liu irritably. “You read the instruction book, bravo. No. I mean what gravity can really do.”

  “It sticks us to the planet?” said Mason uncertainly.

  Professor Liu gave a dry laugh. “That’s how you see it. I see it as the force that anchors us to the world beneath out feet – without it, we would be thrown out into space, to endlessly fall into the abyss of stars.” He gestured above. “Gravity remains a mysterious force, even to me. It’s all around us. It pulls galaxies together. I created Newton’s Arrow as a unique tool, yet even I still don’t fully understand it.”

  “How is that possible?” asked Lot.

  “I merely discovered the mechanics on how to manipulate gravitons. It’s as if I had constructed a canal system to channel water from a river to irrigate a field. Yet I don’t know what makes water wet.”

  “That’s not entirely helpful,” said Dev gently.

  Professor Liu raised a finger to silence him. “Being aware of one’s own ignorance is sometimes more useful than knowing the limits of your understanding. What is in the blue case, you ask?”

  Dev fought every instinct to tell the man to hurry. He took a deep breath and forced a smile. Eventually Professor Liu continued.

  “It contains the opposite.”

  “Well, thank you for that,” said Dev angrily. “You could have told me it contains unicorns, for all the help that is.”

  Dev started to turn around, but Lot grabbed his arm to stop him. “Dev! Listen to what he’s saying.” She smiled at Professor Liu. “I apologize for our friend. We had a rough evening last night. So, it contains the opposite. . . You’re talking about antigravity?”

  Professor Liu’s face lit up, making him look even younger. “Almost!”

  Dev was confused. “But we’ve had tech before that has antigravity. Aircraft, hoverboards. . .” He just about managed not to mention the Avro.

  “No, you haven’t. You have had technology that merely repels gravity. That’s what antigravity does. But negative gravity – negravity – now, that’s a different beast.”

  With a rumble, the not-Eema rolled into the room, his holographic head projecting concern.

  “Sir! My sensors have detected a gravity fluctuation.”

  “What does that mean?” asked Mason, dreading the answer.

  “Newton’s Arrow is close by,” said the professor. “As I feared, they must be coming here.”

  “Here?” cried Dev. “What do they need you for?”

  “You said they obtained the blue case. When they opened it, they would have realized they need the red one too.” The old Chinese man flashed a mischievous smile. “Rule one when dealing with people like this: always allow them the honour of underestimating you.”

  Dev didn’t need the sermon. He had assumed they’d have a lot more time. He’d thought they would have to track the Shadow Helix posse down.

  Instead they were coming to him.

  The world swirled in a halo of colours and a cacophony of sound. Kardach kept his eyes tightly closed and extended his synaesthesia further across the city. He could sense every electric cable that flashed and snapped in vivid shades. In his mind’s eye, he floated through fuzzy, warm clouds of Wi-Fi signals, the huge amount of data flashing before his eyes like fireflies.

  He was slowly building up a map of the city. Not one he could navigate with his eyes open, but one that told him where every device and electric signal was.

  “Ah, I think I have found him,” he said to Christen, who was standing behind him looking perplexed.

  It was fast becoming his permanent expression.

  Since signing up with Shadow Helix, Christen had witnessed many bizarre things, and he was still trying to get his head around the powers of his new colleague. Still, they entrusted him with the gravity gun – and he felt he knew where he stood with a gun. Even if it had been disassembled and put back in the carry case now sitting at his feet.

  Kardach smiled as he extended his mind’s eye towards a black spot in the city. Radio waves and wireless signals travelled through forests and flowed across oceans, yet here in the heart of Hong Kong he had found a place that emitted no signal. A complete dead zone, which meant it was deliberately being hidden.

  Kardach opened his eyes and sprang to his feet. “It seems Professor Liu is getting sloppy in his old age.”

  Christen reached for the case, his thumbs already pushing against the clasps to open it.

  “Not yet. This should be a simple interrogation. That’s why they sent just you and me. You’ll have your fun soon enough.”

  Kardach looked out across the city from their vantage point on the Peak’s observation platform. Tourists posed for selfies in front of the skyline and paid little attention to the two men.

  Then a man tapped Christen on the shoulder and, in broken English, asked if Christen minded taking a picture of the man and his wife with the harbour in the background.

  The South African gangster was unsure what to do; people ra
rely treated him normally any more. But Kardach gave him a wary nod, indicating he should just do it to blend in. Christen took several photos, each with his thumb clumsily obscuring the lens, before he followed Kardach to the funicular, which would take them back down into the city, towards their prey.

  Dev pleaded with Professor Liu. “We have to run. You don’t know how bad these people are.”

  “I have known worse, Dev. Besides, I am too old to run or spin my wheels.” He laughed at his own joke, then gestured around. “This was always going to be my final palace of solitude. Of course, I never wanted it to turn out this way. Breaking new frontiers of technology should be an exhilarating ride of discovery. Instead . . . other people used my creations for the wrong reasons. I turned my back on NiGen Labs, just keeping a watchful eye over them, to make sure they didn’t stray outside the moral guidelines I had set.”

  His frail body managed to look even weaker as he slouched under the weight of memories and regret. He stopped moving altogether.

  For a second, Dev thought he had died. He exchanged an alarmed look with Lot. She coughed politely – and Professor Liu suddenly sprang back into action. He whirled his chair to face Dev.

  “I created several safeguards. That’s why there are two cases. You should go and find the red box.”

  “Go where?”

  Professor Liu smiled as he adjusted a control on his “hearing aid” – the chrome clip that wrapped around his ear and pressed against his temple. Dev felt his head spin – and then he suddenly knew where the case was.

  “The power of the mind,” said Professor Liu, tapping the device. “A wholly intriguing area of research.”

  “But I still don’t know what’s in the cases.”

  “You will know, when the time is right.”

  Mason flinched as the door buzzer sounded. Everybody looked at one another, unsure what to do. Eventually, Liu used a small control pad on the side of his wheelchair to answer.