Manifestations

by David M Henley

  ‘Idiot,’ Seven answered him. ‘This is a relocation town. All these weirdies are ex-Örjians.’

  ‘Yurhg!’ The Endo bot made a face.

  ‘So what? What’s the big deal?’ Three persisted.

  ‘Once you go in, you never leave. Can’t you read?’

  ‘What, they take you prisoner?’

  ‘No. You just don’t want to go.’

  ‘And that’s bad? I can think of a few places I never want to leave.’

  ‘That’s enough questions, Three. Read your pack, we drop in ten minutes.’ Ten stood up and began highlighting the pertinent information and assigning details. ‘The ups don’t know what’s happening down there, but, judging from the observations, this sector has deliberately gone off the radar. We are taking these two in with us to find out if it was by choice or not.’ She pointed at the two psis. ‘We’re going to do better than Magnus Towers this time, aren’t we, gentlemen?’

  Pete looked at her, trying to probe what she meant. ‘Yes, sir.’ Pete nodded.

  ‘We aren’t going to try discussing our way out of trouble, are we?’ she asked.

  ‘No, sir.’ Pete shook his head.

  ‘When you acquire a target you will pacify it?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’ Nodded.

  ‘Right. Aiko will take point and Endo will take the rear. The rest of us will form a shell around our two sniffers here. I want that thing to be a Roman fucking phalanx. Do you hear me?’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ the ten chorused.

  ‘There are ten thousand Citizens in Sector 261, and we are to do our utmost not to disturb their peace and tranquillity.’

  ‘Sir?’ Three put up his hand.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Is this Pierre Jnr?’

  ‘Three, I swear if you don’t stop —’ Ten cut herself off. She hadn’t considered it. ‘Look, we don’t know. But if it is, our job is simple. All we have to do is paint the target.’

  ‘And then what?’

  ‘It is against protocol to give high-level information to field agents. We’ll just stand aside.’

  261, like the other four hundred and fifty-five relocation sectors, was part of a vast fractal design, built to a plan that resembled a fern frond, amongst hundreds of other fronds that were part of a larger plant. They landed in the narrow tip, the centre of the sector where the street narrowed and curved to end in a circle that was kept clear for Services.

  They formed up close around the two psis and Pete could hardly see through the wall of armoured soldiers. They looked at each other. Arthur was shaking despite the drugs in his system.

  Don’t be afraid, Pete thought to him.

  ‘He’s here,’ Arthur whispered. He’s everywhere.

  Where is he?

  I... I can’t tell... so strong.

  Pete: Arthur says Pierre Jnr is here.

  Command: Do you have a direction?

  Pete: No. He must be too close. What do you want us to do?

  Command: Commence grid walk.

  Pete: All the people are looking at us.

  Command: We see that. Try not to startle them. It looks like the whole population of 261 has stopped moving.

  The topographical map showed the pings from the entire area. Ten thousand, seven hundred and twenty-two blue dots.

  Pete: I don’t think this is a good idea.

  Command: The Command is the Command.

  ‘Move out,’ Ten called and they started jogging to keep their place in the centre of the ring and not get stepped on.

  The streets were quiet with only a few people out and about; a man hunched over restacking vending machines, people in their gardens with hoses, rakes and watering cans. They stopped to watch the soldiers walking down the middle of the road.

  Ten: You two picking up anything?

  Pete: Nothing new.

  Arthur was looking at the ground and twisting back and forth.

  Pete: Arthur isn’t coping.

  Command: Focus on your task.

  As they went, the residents began listlessly trailing after the squad. Doors opened on both sides of the streets and more people came out to watch them.

  ‘How are you feeling about this, Ten?’ Nine asked.

  ‘They’re getting a little too curious for my liking.’ They stopped the march and Ten amplified her voice for the crowd to hear. ‘Citizens, please stand aside. This is Services business. We request that you stay in your homes.’ Ten’s request was ignored, and more residents began approaching the squad. ‘What is wrong with these people?’ she asked, turning to Peter.

  ‘They’re not people any more,’ Arthur hissed.

  Pete looked around, probing forward. He felt their seething rage, the constant clench of their anger and hate for themselves. The lust for destruction. Destroy, destroy. To see what survives. ‘They are messed up. They’re still conscious but ... they don’t want us to be here. It’s like a compulsion.’

  Command: Is it like at the farm?

  Pete: Yes. But not the same ... I can’t feel individuals.

  At Ten’s signal they began moving forward. Every Citizen turned their feet as they passed and shuffled into the mob that now surrounded them. The space around the soldiers was slowly decreasing.

  ‘They are even uglier up close,’ Endo said.

  ‘Check it out. They’re not even looking at us.’ Aiko was right. She waved her weapon at them, but they didn’t react. Their bodies faced them, but slack necks kept their eyes to the road.

  ‘I don’t know about you all, but I just went in my suit,’ Three joked.

  ‘Keep it down, Three.’

  ‘Just trying to lighten the mood.’

  At that moment, Arthur collapsed to the ground. He felt his insides fall to the road, and everyone in the squad then felt it as his empathy spilt out. They dropped to the tarmac, succumbing to the overflow of Arthur’s emotions.

  ‘Arthur?’ Pete knelt beside him, raising his block to cut off the feelings.

  ‘What’s wrong with him?’ Ten asked, teeth clenched.

  ‘Arthur, are you okay?’

  ‘I see him.’ Arthur was shaking all over as the symbiot saturated his system with calming chemicals. ‘Below. He is below.’

  ‘Eight. Sedate him.’

  Eight turned from his position, shot Arthur with a dart and then knelt to attach a mask. The dark wave of his emotions faded from the soldiers and they stood up. One nightmare had passed, but another was shuffling forward.

  Pete: What’s the command?

  Command: Go down.

  Pete: What’s down?

  Blueprints of the sewers and access grid rushed into their queues.

  ‘Okay, squad. There is a maintenance post fifty metres to the north. Eight, you carry Arthur. The rest of you round off the arse of this formation and hussle.’

  Together they jogged forward, Pete keeping pace so as not to get trampled by the MUs.

  The twins took offensive and defensive positions. Aiko called out, ‘Hey, what happens if they don’t move? Are we allowed to push them?’

  ‘I think these fine Citizens need to take a lie-down,’ Endo added.

  ‘We have permission to gas. Filters on.’ The soldiers flicked their helmets to climate processing and their suits went hermetic. They could now operate up to thirty metres below water if necessary. One of them handed Pete a clear mask with a gas filter over the mouth. ‘I want an equal spread. The wind will push it north into the main crowd. Odds, then evens.’

  The gas capsules spun as they flew through the air, releasing small purple pellets that began to sizzle as they touched oxygen. The gas seeds dropped on them and around them, steam rising, but the sector Citizens paid them no mind. The evens fired their volley, five more capsules loading the area with violet fog.

  ‘Yep, they’re dropping,’ Aiko reported. Pete couldn’t see it for himself, but from the soldiers he saw on infrared the bodies of the Citizens colla
psing.

  ‘Okay, now let’s get to those stairs.’ They picked up Arthur and began jogging forward again.

  ‘What the — hey, stay down!’ Endo shouted.

  ‘This is crypped. They’re getting back up.’

  One by one the Citizens stood. They were hunched more, arms dragging down, heads flopped over; like dolls with invisible fingers pulling them up from their necks. They began swaying towards the team.

  Ten: Command, are you seeing this?

  Command: Confirmed. Go defensive. Disable assailants.

  ‘Keep moving!’ Ten shouted. ‘Aiko, clear the entrance. Non-fatal only.’

  Aiko began pushing the crowd back. But each time she knocked one down, the body lifted up again.

  ‘This isn’t working.’

  Ten: We are at the door.

  Command: It’s open.

  The Services entrance was a flat metal trapdoor in the footpath. It slid to one side showing wide stairs leading down to the access level. The corridor began brightening as the lumens were activated.

  ‘Everyone inside. Girls, give us cover.’

  Command: Full defensive.

  Within a heartbeat the twinbots lit up the fog with lines of light, cutting the legs from under the front ranks of the encroaching mob. There were no cries of pain. Each of them fell to the ground, blood pumping out from their thickest arteries without even a gasp. The bodies didn’t stop. With their arms they reached forward and pulled themselves on, and behind them the crowd continued its rush.

  ‘This isn’t working either,’ Endo said, as her bot was overcome with the press of flesh. Then something else began pulling at their armour. Something strong and unseen.

  From the safety of their van, in the comfort of their lounges, Aiko and Endo lost signal to their remotes.

  ‘Kutz. I’m going to need more lives,’ Endo said.

  ~ * ~

  The dim underground was slowly getting brighter as the lights warmed up. The tunnel stretched in two directions before them. This was the Services level, where maintenance for the sectors could be performed easily.

  Three was cursing about what he’d just seen, but the others held their tongues.

  ‘Did you see that? Did you see that? I’m freaking out.’

  ‘Don’t freak out, Three. Not until we’re home.’

  ‘Where to now?’ Six asked.

  Command: We have a new strat-matrix building.

  According to the grid schematics, every home in the sector had a node that connected to the access tunnel. These looked like cages that housed the piping, gauges and controls for the house above. Omnipoles marked the line of the streets, doubling their above-ground functions with ceiling lumens that lit their way below.

  ‘I guess we continue the way we were heading. If they didn’t like that, it could be the right direction.’ Pete looked at the helmeted faces. They were just waiting on the command. They had no opinion, so long as it wasn’t up.

  In Pete’s overlay a familiar line appeared, showing them the route Command had planned, leading them to the centre of the sector.

  ‘This way,’ Ten said, leading off.

  ‘Will the door hold?’ Three asked.

  ‘Why don’t you stay and make sure?’ Five threw back, jogging with the rest of the squad.

  They passed cross tunnels as they went that led to the neighbouring sectors. ‘Everyone pin these tunnels, these will be our exits if we need them,’ Ten called out. Everyone began dropping tracking crumbs as they went.

  As they got further along, the tunnel widened out. Soon it divided into two separate passages with regularly spaced support columns between them. As it grew, it split into three sections then four, and soon they were in a vast open area broken only by the hundred or so columns.

  ‘It’s like a car park down here,’ Three said.

  ‘We’re under the pond. Reaching the storage tanks,’ Ten reported. On the schematics these showed as large circles where the sector had its water supply.

  ‘There’s nothing here.’

  ‘Ten,’ Eight said.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘I’ve got audio coming from over there. Sounds like shuffling feet.’

  ‘Great. Okay. Odds and evens.’ Ten turned to Pete and pinched his shirt in her steel fingers. ‘Which way, tapper? Take a guess.’

  ‘Is there another level below this?’ Pete asked.

  ‘Not on the plans. Can you sense something?’ Ten asked.

  ‘I swear I can ...’He put a hand out towards the ground. He imagined he was the water, flooding down.

  ‘What is it, Lazarus?’

  ‘Something is down there. Right below us.’

  ‘There’s only crawl tubes under the tanks. For bots.’

  Pete closed his eyes and felt around him. He couldn’t detect any minds outside of the squad. It was strange, though, that it wasn’t a complete void. The emptiness wasn’t totally silent. He lifted his arm and pointed. ‘I think that way.’

  ‘As you wish. Let’s light up this place, I’m tired of this darkness!’ Ten shouted.

  The squad switched on their suit lights, flooding the chamber into an artificial day.

  ‘Hey, are these footprints?’ Seven asked. Ten and Peter went to look. The floor was dusted evenly except where some scuff marks had kicked up a line.

  ‘Someone has been passing through here regularly. Which way, tapper?’

  Command: There is no record of unauthorised entry. Follow the path.

  ‘They’re coming,’ Eight called out.

  ‘Move out,’ Ten ordered.

  They hurried, following the path across the side of the chamber until it ended at a manhole. The dirty footprints led towards it from all sides. ‘This looks promising. Three, get that thing open.’

  The rest of the ten made a ring and opened fire as Three started forcing the trapdoor to open. The Citizens were shambling forward and the soldiers began disabling them brutally.

  ‘Cut through it,’ Ten ordered and Three pulled out a fist-sized arc laser.

  The manhole eventually gave in and dropped into the space below, clanging down the shaft for a few seconds before hitting bottom. A ladder led down towards a soft green light. ‘Three, then Lazarus. Go,’ Ten ordered.

  He watched it through Three’s eyes first. The soldier stepped off the ladder into an antechamber closed off by a thick vault door. Small portholes in a ring around the handle emitted the green light. Three dropped a crumb and a lumen and stood, weapon pointing at the door.

  ‘Keep moving!’ Nine shouted at Pete.

  As Peter went through the hole, his connection to the Weave was cut off. He could hear shouting from above, and intense weapons fire. Two of the soldiers started following him down and he quickly made it to the bottom and moved to get out of the way.

  There was only enough room for one more MU and Pete crouched into the corner to give them space. He put their cameras into his overlay and watched.

  He knew what was in there. He could feel Pierre’s presence through the door.

  Gingerly, Nine reached one hand forward and spun the locking handle. The vault door glided back. Green light swept over them as they stepped forward.

  On either side of a long room, aquariums containing verdant green rested on complex pedestals of diodes and tubes. There, asleep, was the face of the boy Pete saw every time he closed his eyes. In each of the aquariums floated the same human boy with the enlarged skull in different stages of development.

  In some Pierre was an infant, bulbous head the same size as the rest of his body, skin angry with growth.

  ‘Oh, mir.’ Another soldier came through into the vault. The others were silent.

  Ten was the last of the MUs to come down the ladder, firing gloop up through the hole. ‘They’re blocked for now. What is down ...’ She slowly dragged her eyes from tank to tank. ‘He’s fucking cloning himself?’

  The rest of the soldiers
blurted out their own versions of the sentiment, while Ten tried to report to Command.

  Ten: Command, are you seeing what’s down here? ... Command ... Do you read me?