Manifestations

by David M Henley

  And that is a good thing?

  It is what separates us from the animal inside us.

  You know what I am considering, don’t you?

  Yes.

  Will you stop me?

  I won’t go with you. I do not want to go back into darkness.

  They can help you.

  I don’t want that kind of help.

  The train next to Pete rose on its air cushion and slowly began to slide out from the platform. Through the windows he saw a face looking at him. The young man raised a metal arm and wiggled his fingers at him.

  ‘Risom.’

  ‘Where?’ Geof asked.

  ‘On that train.’

  Almost instantly the train’s movement was aborted. ‘Collect him. Do what it takes,’ Geof said.

  Arthur, you stay here.

  The squad was already landing and offloading. ‘Odds, you are on react. Evens, you are on respond,’ Ten called out. Pete gleaned that this was one of the Prime’s new protocols. A motion he put forward that the newer commanders were adhering to as it gave them two simultaneous combat strategies.

  Geof commanded the doors of the train to open and Pete stepped inside. Risom stood at the far end of the carriage, smiling at him over the crowd of passengers who were anxiously looking around for why their train had stopped.

  ‘Please exit the train through the side doors,’ a calm, monotonal voice read out. ‘We apologise for the inconvenience.’

  The people began to get up from their seats but the safety rails snapped out of their holdings and bent themselves into cages.

  ‘Hey. What is this?’

  ‘What’s going on?’

  Be silent, norms, Risom projected. The commuters lost their voices. Risom made it so.

  ‘Don’t do this, Risom,’ Pete said.

  ‘Don’t do what, Peter? Can’t I ride on the train like everyone else?’

  ‘You have to come with me.’

  ‘I don’t think I will. You can’t get in here any more.’ He tapped at his head with a metal finger. ‘Tamsin taught all of us this trick.’

  Pete took a step forward. Risom, listen to me. You have to get a message to Tamsin.

  The MUs took position outside the train, weapons locked. Risom grinned and shook their controls until their safeties locked them. They were as useless as statues until the command came to free them.

  ‘Stop,’ Risom ordered. He drew out the screws and nuts from the carriage walls, levitating them to circle before him like a juggler. ‘How many of these people do you want to die, Peter?’

  I want to get out of here. Please, Risom. Tell Tamsin I want to be rescued.

  ‘No more of your traps, traitor.’ You had your chance. Risom took a step backward. ‘Tell them to unlock the next compartment.’

  Pete: Geof?

  Geof: Waiting on the Command. You can’t take him down?

  Pete: He has a block up.

  Geof: For now we will let him go. He won’t escape the surveillance.

  The doors opened with a shush of pneumatics. Risom smirked. ‘Is that Geof whispering in your ear still? Say thanks for me.’ He moved faster than Pete’s eye could follow, moving through the carriages in a blur.

  Pete stood still as Risom made his way to the front of the train. ‘He’s going to the driver’s cabin.’

  Pete: Where does he think he can go?

  Geof: I’ve got eyes on him. We won’t lose him this time.

  Pete: Can he override the train controls?

  Geof: I’ve purged the system. Unless he’s carrying programs, he’s going nowhere.

  Pete.

  What is it, Arthur?

  Pierre is here.

  Where?

  I can’t tell.

  Are you sure?

  No ...

  Geof: Pete, your heart is skipping. What’s happening?

  Pete: Arthur says Pierre is nearby.

  Geof: Just what we need. Okay. Do not let this turn into a full-blown confrontation. The last thing we want is another manifestation. Especially not here.

  Drones from outside fired pellets through the windows, shattering the glass and releasing clouds of ruddy smoke. Almost instantly, a wind blew it back out and the carriage was clear again.

  The train began moving. Lifting on its magnetic pillow and whispering from the station.

  Pete: I thought you said he couldn’t move it?

  Geof: He shouldn’t be able to.

  Pete: What do we do now?

  Geof: Stay with him.

  ‘And, Pete,’ Geof said quietly, ‘if Pierre is there, we just need you to sight him. We can do the rest.’

  ‘You can disable him? How?’ Pete asked.

  ‘Just identify the target. I can’t give you any more information.’

  The front of the train was three carriages away. Each set of doors opened for him and closed behind. Passengers strained their eyes to look at him as he passed. Wondering who he was and if he was helping them or if he was with the rebel.

  Don’t be afraid, he told them.

  ‘Why did you come here, Risom?’ Pete shouted when the last set of doors opened. ‘You must have known that Services would find you.’

  ‘Maybe I thought I’d get lucky.’ Risom turned around to face him, nuts and ball bearings juggling around his unmoving hand.

  ‘You’re not that stupid. Why are you here?’

  ‘I’ve missed you, Peter. You were always so much fun.’

  ‘Is that what you’re doing? Having fun?’

  ‘Aren’t you?’

  ‘Services won’t let you escape.’

  Risom smiled. ‘Hey, Ozenbach. I hope you can hear me. There’s something you should know about your friend here.’ He paused, expecting a response. ‘He wants to come with me and join the rebellion.’

  ‘Stop.’ Pete ran at Risom, but he was knocked to the floor with an invisible blow.

  ‘Oh, was that your secret? I’m sorry, Peter,’ Risom said. ‘Hey, Ozenbach. There’s another thing you should hear. Listen very carefully.’

  Something small clicked. A tiny button Risom had in his pocket, only a microphone could have heard it. Then there was a boom with thunder behind it.

  The tower that represented knowledge burst apart, scattering rock and glass around the plaza. Its face twitched, breaking from its wiring and dropping nose-first towards the ground. The crowd in the plaza lost balance with the shaking and then began screaming and rushing away from the falling chunks of building.

  In the train the windows were instantly crushed into powder from the shockwave. Pete was thrown to the side as the entire carriage lifted up into the air, rising above the spreading dust of the destruction.

  ‘You’re pathetic, Peter. You really are,’ Risom gloated. ‘If you can’t handle me, I don’t know what you expect to do against Pierre Jnr.’

  He’s here, isn’t he?

  He’s here, he’s everywhere.

  The carriage around them shredded apart. Holes were torn into the sides and dropped below into the dust cloud. Soon only the passengers, Peter and Risom were floating above the chaos.

  How are you doing this? You’re not strong enough to do this.

  Aren’t you watching, Pete? It’s happening. Risom spun in the air, dancing in a boyish jig.

  They’re innocent people. This isn’t what Tamsin wants.

  Who do you think sent me?

  Geof: I’ve lost eyes. Report.

  Pete: It’s Risom.

  ‘You know it’s rude to chatter in company, don’t you?’ Risom commented.

  ‘This doesn’t help your cause.’ Don’t start a war.

  War? This is not a war, Peter. It’s us taking control.

  ‘You have to stop. You’ve done your damage. Why are you still here?’

  ‘Alright, I’ll give you a hint since you’re already too late. They call it misdirection.’ Risom pointed up into the sky.

&n
bsp; ‘What?’ Pete looked up and Risom dropped down, disappearing into the cloud below. The invisible hands that had been holding them up let go. Peter fell with the rest of them until strong arms wrapped around him and landed him safely.

  ‘You owe me your life, psi-man,’ Endo said, and then raced back into the chaos to help the victims.

  ~ * ~

  The screech and scraw of the sirens rebounded around him. Servicemen and marauders with pulsing lumens on their suits ran through the crowd, gathering the dusty, choking Citizens and ferrying them to safety. The warning bells didn’t bother Callum Sigorski. Their emergency did not fill him with the sense of alarm they intended. He was used to them.

  Which is why Callum didn’t immediately react to the shouts of the soldiers. And why he tried to push off their arms as they dragged him away. It was only when the pain hit from his crushed leg and he thought, I really felt that, that he began to look around him at what was happening.

  Dust was clearing and he could see people on the ground and there was blood everywhere he looked. Then the tower nearest him exploded, a large slab landing on the Serviceman who had been pulling him out. Another chunk of rock landed on Callum’s leg.

  A small hand patted his shoulder and he looked up into the eyes of the calmest boy he had ever seen. The boy turned to look back at something else. A young man was standing atop a cargo train as it raced from the area, holding on with a cybernetic arm as its speed increased.

  ~ * ~

  Freya Harvey wiped her brow. She couldn’t live in this dirt another day. It wasn’t just their rooms. It was the whole building she had to clean up. She hadn’t had a shower in three weeks. Something had to be done.

  When they landed they were given a choice about which faction they wanted to align with. It seemed to be a choice between tappers and benders and since Freya was a telepath, and Bobby too, Ben and Molly didn’t really have a choice.

  Desh, though ... Chiggy had saved them. He felt he had to go and the Harveys had only seen him a couple of times since.

  During the fight to get through the blockade, Desh and Ben had disengaged the shell from the base of the bus to confuse the blockade machines and they glided on a makeshift barge that was led into the city, the family holding tightly to their seats in the open air.

  When they landed there was much excitement. The psis milled around them, shaking their hands, laughing, and welcoming them to Atlantic. But after the initial greeting nobody knew what they were supposed to do.

  They were shown to a hotel, or what used to be a hotel. It was run-down, waterlogged and its most colourful aspect were the lichens that grew on every lintel and ledge. The foyer wasn’t grand, as it had been modified when the raised floor made the fifth storey the new ground level; it was actually just a pair of matched doors that were permanently open and let them into a wide corridor.

  There was nobody to meet them there either. The daylight only went so far in, and they had waited within its warmth rather than exploring the dark corridor. It was some minutes before a door opened next to the elevator shaft and a thin crinkle-faced man stepped out.

  ‘I am so very sorry for keeping you waiting. My name is Doctor Alexei Salvator.’

  ‘Doctor, what is happening here? I have brought my family to Atlantic at great risk.’

  ‘I know, I know. I’m sorry we are not better prepared but there have been matters to arrange. Your arrival has caused ... some complications for us.’

  ‘You’d better be on the level with us, doc. Tell us what is happening.’ Desh came forward to introduce his muscle to the conversation.

  Doctor Salvator pursed his lips and rolled his eyes. ‘Don’t be silly and don’t push me.’

  Desh suddenly shook his face as a slice of his forelock fell onto his nose. The doctor had kinetically cut a lock of his hair. He brushed it away, laughed, and then thrust his hand forward with a smile. ‘I like that. I’ve never seen that. I’m Desh.’

  The doctor shook the offered hand and then went around the group to make individual introductions. He even knelt down to Molly, who hid behind her mother’s leg. ‘There’s no need to be afraid, little one.’

  A man scuffled into the entryway and approached the doctor warily, keeping his eyes low. His face was bruised and a cut had dried, unwashed, on his scalp. He held a note out that

  Salvator took from him.

  ‘I’m sorry, Freya. I need you and Bobby to go downstairs.’

  ‘Us? How come?’

  ‘There is a bender outside, but she won’t come in with you here.’

  ‘What? Why?’

  ‘This is just the way it is right now. The benders don’t like having telepaths around them.’ He grimaced. ‘Please. They would just like to speak with Ben and Desh for a moment.’

  ‘No. I won’t leave my husband here,’ she insisted.

  Looks passed between the three men, not sure of what to do. Bobby put his hand on his mother’s shoulder. ‘Let’s go, Mum. They don’t want us in this.’

  ‘But…’ she stuttered. Ben came and stood close to her and kissed her cheek.

  ‘It’ll be alright.’

  Reluctantly, she let Bobby lead her to the stairwell, pulling Molly along with him. It was dark. The sconces were broken and they had to feel their way down the steps.

  Wait, Bobby projected to her. We can listen from here.

  Freya put her hand in his and shared what he was seeing through his father’s eyes.

  The doctor sent the messenger back outside. ‘Tell her she can come in. And there is a tap outside. Wash that cut.’

  No sooner had he shambled off than a short, solid woman came in through the doors, her heavy shadow lumbering towards the group.

  ‘Are the tappers gone?’ she asked.

  ‘They’re gone,’ he answered. ‘Ben Harvey, Deshiel Diaz, this is Rocks. She speaks for Chiggy.’

  ‘Chiggy wants you to come now,’ she said.

  ‘Wait, who is Chiggy?’ Ben asked.

  ‘There are two factions in Atlantic,’ Salvator explained. ‘The kinetics have formed their own group south of here. Chiggy is their leader.’

  ‘And now you are to come to him. We don’t keep Chiggy waiting.’

  ‘Why should we go with you? What if we want to stay here?’ Desh asked.

  Rocks looked at the doctor. ‘You didn’t tell them who saved their lives, then?’

  ‘I was getting to it.’

  ‘You owe Chiggy your lives. You have to come to us now.’

  ‘I’m not going anywhere. I have a family,’ Ben said. Freya squeezed Bobby’s hand and made to run back upstairs. No. Wait.

  This isn’t right, Freya thought to him. This wasn’t the new world Tamsin Grey had promised.

  We can trust the doctor, he thought back to her.

  ‘Ben has a wife and two children with him,’ Salvator informed Rocks. ‘Could you not at least let him settle his family in?’ The woman made a sour face and ruminated with deliberate swings of her head.

  ‘Okay. He can stay. The other one must come with me.’

  They all turned to look at Desh.

  ‘What? I have to go because she says so?’ he asked.

  ‘Chiggy says so,’ Rocks said. Desh felt himself pushed in the back, forcing him to take a step forward.

  ‘Hey,’ he said and shoved back at her.

  ‘Don’t —’ Salvator warned, but Desh was hit by a wave of force and dropped to his knees clutching a ringing head. The doctor knelt beside him. ‘Don’t fight. She hits like rocks, thus her name.’

  ‘Come,’ Rocks said and turned around, dragging Desh behind her.

  ‘You’re not letting her take him, are you?’ Ben asked and went to hold onto his friend. He had felt the tip tap of the word H E L P on his hand.

  ‘Rocks, wait,’ the doctor called out. ‘Let the man choose.’

  The bender stopped, letting Desh stand up. ‘If I was you, I wouldn’t deny Chiggy.�
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  ‘Desh, I know this is hard, but you should go. You just have to go there. After that you can choose to come back. Isn’t that right, Rocks?’ Sal said with emphasis.