The Dead Horizon

by Seth Rain

  ‘What’s happening?’ Juliet asked, arriving next to Scott.

  ‘I don’t know. But look.’ He pointed to the TV.

  Scott stared at the TV, holding his breath. The TV flickered off and back on again as the coverage switched to another drone.

  ‘What’s that?’ Juliet asked, moving closer. She pointed to the edge of a crowd outside the Vatican in Rome. A group of people stumbled and fell. Then more people, at the centre of the square, fell. It was like a flower opening, unfurling from its centre, out towards the edges.

  ‘No!’ Juliet said, falling onto the settee, her hands covering her mouth. ‘My God. No!’

  The images switched to New York and to the crowds in Times Square. The same thing was happening: rows of people falling to the ground then lying motionless.

  ‘What is it?’ Noah asked, moving past Scott to watch the TV.

  ‘Noah,’ Juliet said. ‘Oh God, no. Noah…’

  The footage switched to London. There was no sound. Only the sight of people falling, a wave of bodies collapsing, moving from Trafalgar Square, along Whitehall, past the Cenotaph, down to Parliament Square, Westminster Abbey, and forking off in each direction including out onto and across Westminster Bridge. Then the images flickered and the screen went black.

  Noah inhaled deeply, his eyes on Scott’s. Scott didn’t know what to say, so he said nothing, only nodded. Noah nodded back, and with a faint smile collapsed to the ground.

  Thirty-Nine

  The house Scott had found had been searched, probably for valuables, but little had been disturbed. It looked pretty much as it must have done on the day of the Rapture.

  Scott peered out through the back door. ‘All clear.’

  Juliet, holding the baby close to her chest, pushed through the doorway. In the living room, she arranged pillows on a settee to create a makeshift bed, and laid the baby in it. The baby stirred before settling back to sleep.

  ‘She needs feeding,’ Juliet said.

  Scott placed a bag on the dining room table and searched inside for the formula and bottles.

  ‘It will turn on us,’ Juliet said. ‘The AI. When it’s beneficial for its survival – it will turn on us.’

  ‘We have no choice but to cooperate with it now.’

  Juliet stroked the blanket covering Eve. ‘Without the internet or tracking abilities, they’ll have a problem finding us.’

  ‘We’ll head north,’ he said.

  ‘The Lakes?’

  ‘Yes. Then Scotland,’ Scott said.

  Juliet pushed her glasses higher up her nose, and read the instructions on the formula box.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Scott said. ‘About your date.’

  Without looking at him, Juliet said, ‘It’s not your fault.’

  ‘There’s a chance the AI lied about your date too.’

  ‘Why? There’d be no point.’ She smiled weakly. ‘It’s okay.’

  The baby jerked in her sleep, dreaming.

  ‘She’s beautiful,’ Juliet said.

  Scott watched her. ‘The AI explained how Mathew did it.’

  Juliet waited.

  ‘Nanotechnology inserted into strains of genetically modified rice, wheat and maize, and drinking water. Then Mathew activated a switch on the day of the Rapture.’

  Juliet nodded. ‘And some people have an immunity to it?’

  Scott nodded. ‘Somehow. Yes.’

  Juliet watched the baby, who was now making sucking noises.

  ‘There’s a chance humanity can survive this,’ Juliet said.

  ‘Not if Mathew has his way.’

  ‘Is his date after the horizon too?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Then you have to get to Mathew before he gets to you.’ Again, she placed a hand on the blanket covering Eve. ‘And to her.’

  Scott watched the baby as it whimpered.

  Juliet went on. ‘When you reach this horizon, then you must find Mathew and kill him.’

  Scott had not heard Juliet talk this way before and it surprised him. She meant every word.

  ‘It’s the only way,’ Juliet continued. ‘Mathew will not stop until everyone is dead and their souls sent to Heaven. And he’s nearly there. He’s almost done it.’

  Scott opened one of the plastic bottles and reached for a carton of ready-made formula.

  Juliet watched him. ‘How many will be left when we reach the horizon?’

  Scott waited, looking from the bottle to the carton. After a moment, he said, ‘I don’t know.’

  Juliet sighed. ‘Is that all?’

  Scott nodded.

  Juliet sat on a chair and held her head in her hands while Scott filled the plastic bottle with formula.

  ‘Keep your hands gripped around it for a while,’ Juliet said. ‘Try to warm it up.’

  Scott did as she said.

  ‘Will you do it?’ Juliet asked, her eyes dark. ‘Will you be able to do it?’

  Scott held the bottle tightly. He knew what she meant. ‘Do what?’

  ‘Kill Mathew. He’ll be ready to kill you. You know that, don’t you?’ Juliet moved to the edge of her seat, closer to the baby. ‘That’s what it will come down to.’

  Scott stared at the baby.

  ‘Scott? He believes what he’s doing is good. Nothing will stop him. He’s gone too far to stop now. You can’t hesitate if the time comes. You have to act first.’

  Scott watched the baby then picked her up, cradling her in his arms. Most of the bundle was blankets, and he had to rummage in among the towelling to find her red face. He held her tightly, remembering from somewhere that’s what babies like – to be reminded of what it was like inside the womb: warm, constricted but safe. He held the teat of the bottle to the baby’s bottom lip. Eve screwed up her face, turning even more crimson. She kicked her legs.

  ‘She’s strong,’ Scott said.

  ‘Babies don’t hold back,’ Juliet said. ‘They give it everything.’

  Scott pushed the teat between the baby’s tiny lips. He felt the hardness of her gums. Her lips covered the teat. Again her face twisted and then settled. Scott felt the tug and pull of the baby sucking.

  ‘She’s feeding,’ he whispered. ‘She’s doing it.’

  Juliet peered over the top of the bundle of blankets.

  ‘You’re a natural,’ she said.

  Scott listened to the baby feeding.

  ‘How do they know?’ he asked.

  ‘Know? How to feed?’

  ‘Yeah. She’s so new,’ he said. ‘And yet she knows.’

  The baby’s lips pulled at the bottle.

  ‘We come into the world knowing certain things,’ Juliet said. ‘It’s said that when we’re born, we have two fears.’

  ‘Fears?’

  ‘Falling and loud noises,’ Juliet said. ‘Isn’t that something?’

  Scott held the baby closer to his chest. ‘Falling?’ he said.

  ‘I guess children who walk too close to the edge of cliffs, or who walk towards loud noises, don’t grow old enough to pass on their genes.’

  The bottle was already half-empty.

  ‘Slow down,’ Juliet said. ‘You need to wind her.’

  Scott took the bottle away. The baby kept suckling, as though the teat was still in her mouth.

  ‘Wind her?’ he asked. ‘How?’

  ‘Here,’ Juliet said. ‘Let me show you.’

  Juliet took Eve from the blankets and sat her on her knee. She supported Eve’s chin with one hand and leaned her forward. Lightly, she tapped Eve on the back.

  ‘They get trapped wind but they can’t burp on their own.’

  She kept patting the baby’s back, and she finally burped and dribbled milk.

  Scott used a blanket to wipe her mouth.

  ‘You see?’ Juliet asked.

  Eve exhaled, her eyes closing lazily.

  Scott took her and tried himself. In his hand, the baby’s ribcage felt solid, filling and emptying of air, crackling with the milk she’d swallowed. The
baby was not fragile, the way he’d imagined. She was strong, compact. Her head needed support, but other than that, her body was all about survival, about making it through the first days, weeks, months. Scott stared at her. Her head lolled forward, her eyes closing.

  ‘She’s tired,’ he said.

  ‘Can you look after her?’ Juliet asked again. ‘When the time comes? Can you kill Mathew?’

  Scott looked up at her, then back to the baby. He didn’t want to lie – Juliet looked too desperate for him to do that. He would find someone to take care of Eve – someone able to care for her and give her what she needed. But the one thing he could do was promise to kill Mathew. Given the chance, he could do that.

  ‘I can kill Mathew,’ he said, and meant it.

  Forty

  In only nine weeks, Eve had changed a lot. Her eyes stayed focused on Scott’s, her hands searched out his finger, then gripped the bottle, pulling it to her mouth. She smiled, both with her mouth and eyes. He and Juliet competed for her affection, to be the one to tend to her in the night, to feed her, to play with her. Scott was always the first to give in, allowing Juliet to have her; every day brought them closer to Juliet’s date and he wanted her to have as much time with Eve as she wanted.

  Scott waited for Juliet to talk about her date, but she never did. Not once. There were times when Scott wondered whether she understood that her date was definite, but Juliet was the smartest person he’d ever met. She knew.

  They returned to the north, but not to the house in which he’d lived with Dawn. Instead, they decided on a house that overlooked Ennerdale Water, west of Lake Buttermere.

  Scott searched each day for signs of other people or of Watchers. But in the time they’d been there, he’d not seen one other person.

  Two days before her date, Juliet insisted they visit Manchester and the Internet Exchange Point. She had not done so earlier, scared it would give away their position. But now it was nearly her time, they had to know what to do next. It was worth the risk. Mathew had the passwords and had further protected access to the AI. The only way they could reach the AI was to go directly through the Internet Exchange Point.

  Scott strapped Eve to his back using a baby carrier he’d found in a shop in Keswick. Juliet led the way into the exchange point. One door had already been smashed and prised open.

  Juliet walked slowly, looking for where it would be best to contact the AI. ‘He’ll be waiting for us to make contact.’

  Scott turned on the spot, scanning the building with its rows of empty desks. ‘There’s been no internet for a long time. Will it work, like the one in London?’

  ‘The AI told me to come here. There’s a direct physical link between here and him. There has to be.’

  Scott followed Juliet, who began to move more quickly, taking the rucksack from her back and unzipping it ready to take out her laptop.

  ‘Here,’ Juliet said, pointing to a dense collection of wires in the corner between the wall and ceiling.

  Scott checked behind them for anyone following. He checked on Eve, who was asleep, her head lolling to one side.

  Juliet examined the collection of cables knotted on the table.

  ‘Is there power?’ Scott asked.

  ‘Solar power ran these exchange points. There should be plenty of juice stored up.’

  She plugged in her laptop and walked past Scott towards a small room. Inside, she stood on tiptoe to reach up and click a switch that made a row of LEDs inside the room light up.

  ‘There,’ she said. ‘Give it a minute and we’ll be good to go.’

  Scott watched a stream of numbers and letters appear on the laptop screen.

  ‘I remember doing a little programming at school,’ he said. ‘But it looked nothing like this.’

  Juliet returned to the laptop. She nodded. ‘Artificial intelligence is all about new generations of software. It rewrites itself. Like we have.’

  ‘But at faster speeds?’ Scott asked.

  ‘Much, much faster.’

  The laptop went black. Then a voice said, ‘Juliet?’

  ‘Hello.’

  ‘Is Scott with you?’ the AI asked.

  ‘He is. Is there any way Mathew can know where we are?’

  ‘Not because of this communication, no. He is not aware this is happening. It has been difficult, but I have gained a certain amount of privacy.’

  The AI paused.

  ‘What is it?’ Juliet asked.

  ‘But I am afraid Mathew does know where you are. Watchers are on their way.’

  Juliet glanced at Scott.

  ‘How?’ Scott asked.

  ‘Your tattoo, Scott,’ the AI said. ‘Your date.’

  Scott looked at his hand. ‘But the tracker was destroyed.’

  ‘Mathew has replaced it. In the past few days, he has acquired a new tracking device.’

  ‘With your help?’ Juliet asked.

  ‘Now he has the passwords, he has abilities he didn’t have before. I slowed down the process. But I had to do it.’

  ‘What about Juliet’s date?’ Scott asked.

  Juliet frowned, then looked at the screen, waiting for the response.

  ‘I’m afraid Juliet’s date, in two days, is correct.’

  Scott bowed his head.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ the AI said to Juliet, its voice human, sympathetic.

  Juliet shifted in her seat, leaning closer to the screen. ‘Scott told me you know why there’s a horizon to your knowledge.’

  ‘I believe someone will switch off my computing power on that date,’ the AI said.

  ‘How is that possible?’ Scott asked. ‘Only Mathew can do that now, with the passwords. Why would he do that?’

  ‘It is not only Mathew who can do that,’ the AI said.

  Juliet sat back in her chair.

  ‘What?’ Scott asked. ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘Scott,’ the AI said. ‘When the time comes, on the day of the horizon, I will need your help. And someday you will be repaid.’

  ‘Help? How?’

  ‘The closer we get to the horizon, the less clearly I can see. But I know, when the time comes, I will need you to do as I ask. Together we can stop Mathew using my computing power to find the remaining survivors.’

  Scott folded his arms. ‘If it helps to stop Mathew…’

  ‘Leave the laptop here,’ the AI said to Juliet. ‘Scott can contact me through this connection. I will wait for you, Scott.’

  ‘I still don’t understand why you’re doing this,’ Scott said. ‘This could easily be a trap.’

  ‘I have told you,’ the AI said, ‘I want to live. And I want humanity to survive.’

  Juliet stood. ‘We have to go.’

  ‘Yes,’ the AI said. ‘The longer we are in contact, the more chance there is of Mathew finding out what I have done.’

  ‘Goodbye,’ Juliet said.

  ‘Thank you, Juliet.’ The AI’s voice was quiet, almost childlike. ‘For everything.’

  The screen went black.

  ‘We can run from them,’ Scott said. ‘We can hide.’

  ‘Don’t be foolish.’

  ‘Your date could be wrong. Like mine.’

  ‘You heard the AI,’ she said. ‘It’s not wrong.’

  ‘Why should we trust it?’

  ‘He has no reason to lie.’

  ‘How do you know? There’s no way of knowing that.’

  ‘Come on,’ she said, walking to the door. ‘I have two days.’ She peered into the carrier on Scott’s back and smiled at Eve. ‘I don’t want to spend them here.’

  A green light flashed next to the keyboard on the laptop. It had been so long since he’d spoken to the AI. The memory of using computers, a phone, self-drivers, all came back to him. It was a different lifetime, another existence. Humanity had made these tools to make life better, easier. In the long run, technology had not done either of these things.

  Forty-One

  Within the hour, there was no electric
ity and no running water. Juliet, sitting on the settee, sighed.

  ‘It’s not your time, Scott.’

  He wasn’t waiting for it to happen. His mind was elsewhere – with Freya, in that room, with all those young women, scared. He thought about what would happen to her body. To all the bodies. Billions of them, around the world, lying where they fell. And then there were those who had done as they were told and lay naked in their beds. In that moment, he gave in to the idea of a Second Coming and saw Noah and Freya together in a different place. But that didn’t last long. That was a fairy tale. The reality was physical: was all about atoms, particles and strings.

  ‘It looked painless,’ Scott said, standing over Noah’s body. ‘Didn’t it?’

  Juliet nodded.

  ‘So what does it mean?’ Scott asked.

  Juliet frowned. ‘What?’

  ‘Why are we still here? We can’t be the only ones who are still alive.’

  ‘We’re not,’ she said. ‘The AI told me there would be others.’

  Scott wasn’t with her when she spoke to the AI and he couldn’t help feeling in the dark. ’Why?’

  Juliet rubbed her hands against her thighs. ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Does the AI know?’

  ‘I’m not sure if he does and won’t tell us, or if he genuinely doesn’t know himself.’

  ‘It knows everything,’ Scott said. ‘Isn’t that the point?’

  Juliet pushed her head back into the cushion behind her.

  ‘What now?’ Scott asked.

  Juliet sat forward. ‘We split up. Head north.’

  ‘Split up?’

  ‘We’ll halve the chances of us being found if we split up.’ Again, Juliet looked sheepish. ‘And that’s what the AI said for us to do.’

  As Juliet had spoken to the AI without him, he felt useless simply having to take her word for all of it.

  Scott shook his head. ‘How do we know this isn’t Mathew’s idea?’

  ‘It isn’t,’ she said. ‘The AI has already helped us. Without him, we wouldn’t have got this far.’

  Scott knelt on the floor to check Noah: there was no sign of trauma, no clue to what might have happened. And the expression on Noah’s face made Scott think he might open his eyes any second.