Scavenger Blood

by Janet Edwards

Donnell sighed. “People often die quickly in New York. Don’t you remember how Cage killed Marsha?”

  “Yes, but Marsha was a lot older than Rogue,” said Tad. “I don’t mean that in a callous way. Marsha’s age didn’t make her death less tragic. It’s just that Rogue was nearer my own age, so his death somehow hits me harder.”

  “I understand that,” said Donnell sadly. “The Earth Loyalist Party made political attempts to halt the reckless colonization of new worlds, and I fought for their cause by singing songs. When politics failed us, I formed the Earth Resistance to fight with weapons rather than songs. Only three days later, I was standing by the dead body of a friend of my own age. I wasn’t just hit by the shock of losing her, but the sudden realization of my own mortality, and a mountain of guilt as well.”

  He shook his head. “After ten years of singing songs about being loyal until death, I was looking at the bloody reality of what a loyal death was like, and knowing that my friend had died because of my decision to raise the flag of the Earth Resistance. You’ve no idea how hard it is to have someone die for your cause, Tad.”

  “I have a bit of an idea,” said Tad cautiously. “Humanity lost the technology needed to build the old-style interstellar portals during the great exodus of resources and experts from Earth. Now the vital links between star systems are failing from age, so my cause is inventing new, simpler types of interstellar portals before civilization falls across five hundred colony worlds.”

  He grimaced. “All through my childhood, my grandfather lectured me. Telling me I’m the last man in humanity to be webbed, the only remaining hope to build new interstellar portals, so I have a duty to succeed at any cost. When I couldn’t work out how to make a simpler version of the key Rosetta component, I came to Earth to retrieve the equivalent component from my ancestor’s original prototype portal still stored in a Manhattan museum.”

  Tad groaned. “I talked Braden into coming with me because I needed a pilot, and Phoenix because I thought my research assistant might see an answer where I couldn’t. Now they’re both stuck in New York with me, and any harm they suffer here is because of me and my cause. Phoenix came terrifyingly close to dying of winter fever. I was deeply relieved when she seemed to be making a full recovery, but then she caught a secondary infection, and now she’s seriously ill again. Every time I look at her, I feel horribly guilty.”

  “You shouldn’t be blaming yourself for Phoenix being ill, Tad,” said Braden. “Phoenix and I both know how important it is for you to invent new interstellar portals, but we had personal reasons for agreeing to help you as well.”

  He paused. “Phoenix is desperate to get to Zeus in Beta sector to join her girlfriend, Livia. I’m desperate to get there to help care for my orphaned nephews and nieces. We both knew that helping you was our only chance of getting permission to make the trip, and we understood there’d be some risks involved.”

  “Yes, you understood there’d be some risks involved,” said Tad bitterly, “but not that you’d nearly die of winter fever, or be trapped in a city that’s infested with alien predators. Now Cage is shooting people with a sniper rifle as well. I wish there was something I could do to help catch him.”

  “There is something you can do to help us catch Cage,” said Donnell. “With so many falling stars hunting for prey, we think Cage must be moving around the area by walking through the old subway tunnels.”

  “Subway tunnels?” Tad’s face took on the distant expression that meant he was checking information on the Earth data net. “Oh, the old underground transport system. The New York City Subway opened in 1904 and ...”

  “Yes, that’s the transport system I’m talking about,” Donnell interrupted him. “It was abandoned about a hundred and eighty years ago. Wall did some exploring in the tunnels on this side of the river before the New York power supply was turned off. He says that the subway electrical systems were still working back then.”

  “Electrical systems.” Tad’s eyes widened. “Now that I’ve turned on the New York power supply, those electrical systems should be working again. Does your plan involve me turning on the power to the third rail?”

  Chapter Eleven

  “I have absolutely no idea what you mean by the third rail, Tad,” said Donnell. “Blaze is swaying on her feet from exhaustion. Can we go inside your hospital room and sit down to continue this discussion?”

  “Of course. Sorry.”

  Tad led the way into the oblong hospital room. When the off-worlders first got ill with winter fever and moved into this room, the only furniture had been a row of four beds and cupboards against each of the two long walls.

  Once Braden had recovered from the winter fever, he’d discovered the neighbouring store room held some spare hospital furniture as well as shelves of general medical supplies. By the end of that day, he’d removed four of the eight beds, surrounded the remaining four with wheeled partitions to give us each privacy, and brought in four armchairs and a table to form a sort of communal living area at the door end of the room.

  When Nadira discovered the transformation, she spent over twenty minutes lecturing Braden, saying that when Phoenix was well enough to be discharged from hospital, he’d have to put everything back and scrub the whole room. Knowing Nadira’s possessiveness about the hospital rooms, I felt that Braden had escaped amazingly lightly.

  Donnell dumped his stasis box on the table, and sat down in one of the armchairs. I was about to sit down too, when a faint voice called from the far end of the room.

  “What’s happening? Please, someone, tell me what’s happening.”

  The partition around Phoenix’s bed was tightly closed. Braden hurried across to open it and speak to her. “There’s nothing to worry about, Phoenix. You need to relax and concentrate on getting well.”

  “You have to stop lying to me,” said Phoenix urgently. “It’s obvious that something serious has happened. Weston has never guarded us before, and you and Tad keep talking in anxious whispers. Nadira brought my dinner as usual, but didn’t stay to do my medical checks, and I haven’t seen Blaze at all.”

  “Calm down, Phoenix,” said Braden. “Nadira didn’t do your medical checks herself today, because she’s taught me how to check your pulse and temperature.”

  “How can I calm down when I can’t trust what you say to me?” Phoenix’s voice rose a note in panic. “Where’s Blaze? Has something happened to Blaze?”

  I hurried across to stand next to Braden, and saw Phoenix was sitting up in her bed, her long blonde hair limp from sweat, and her face flushed with fever.

  “I’m here, Phoenix,” I said. “Let me help you lie down again.”

  I put an arm around Phoenix’s shoulders. As I lowered her back down onto the bed, her eyes closed, and she lay still. I thought she’d either lost consciousness or fallen asleep, and took a step backwards, but her eyes opened again. She reached out to grab my arm.

  “Don’t go, Blaze! You have to tell me what’s wrong. Has something happened to Donnell?”

  I remembered how dreadfully weak and vulnerable I’d felt when I had the winter fever. Phoenix was clearly feeling that way now, and Braden’s attempt to protect her from the truth was just making her imagine dozens of nightmare possibilities.

  “Donnell is here with me,” I said. “We’re both perfectly well, but Cage has killed Rogue of Queens Island division.”

  Phoenix brushed her right hand across her face, and frowned as if she was finding it hard to think. “Rogue is ... was ... Raeni’s boyfriend. Cage killing him is bad. It’s very bad.”

  “Yes. Cage killed Rogue to cause trouble in the alliance. Donnell and I will be busy for the next few days, keeping the situation calm and hunting down Cage. That means I may not be spending as much time with you as before.”

  “I understand,” said Phoenix. “You have to do whatever is needed to keep everyone safe, Blaze. I just want to know what’s happening, because I can’t fight what I don’t know.”

  I patt
ed her shoulder. “I’ll make sure you know everything that’s happening. Now, Donnell and I need to discuss some things with Tad and Braden for a while. After that, Donnell will be going to take charge of things in Reception, but I’ll spend the night here.”

  “Good.” Phoenix gave a soft sigh, and her eyes closed again.

  “I was trying not to frighten Phoenix,” said Braden guiltily. “When I was ill with the winter fever, I didn’t want to hear distressing news, but Phoenix is a very different person from me.”

  I nodded. “Phoenix must have had a safe, luxurious life on Adonis as Tad’s research assistant, but when she found herself trapped in lethal New York, her reaction wasn’t to give in to fear but to fight to survive. She’s too ill now to do anything physically, but she still wants to know what threats she’s facing.”

  “Yes,” said Braden. “I need to remember that I’m a pacifist, but Phoenix is a fighter. I might prefer to hide from the truth, but she has to be kept fully informed.”

  I stood where I was for a moment longer, decided Phoenix really had fallen asleep this time, and went to slump down in the armchair next to Donnell. Braden took one of the two remaining armchairs, but Tad stayed on his feet.

  “Phoenix seems even more ill today than she was yesterday,” he whispered.

  “A severe attack of the winter fever exhausts the body’s defences,” I said. “It leaves people very weak and vulnerable to secondary infections. That’s why Nadira insisted on you being so cautious during your own recovery period, Tad.”

  “Phoenix will be all right though, won’t she?” asked Tad.

  I hesitated before replying. The truth was that being hit by a secondary infection immediately after winter fever was incredibly dangerous. That was how Donnell’s previous deputy, Kasim, had died. We had a supply of medicine to treat Phoenix though, and Tad was getting advice from a doctor at America Off-world. Both of those things should help her.

  “If we keep Phoenix warm, and allow her to rest undisturbed, there’s every chance she’ll recover,” I said.

  “That’s good,” said Tad, but he still stood staring anxiously in the direction of Phoenix’s bed.

  “Sit down, Tad,” said Donnell. “We need to discuss Cage and the subway system.”

  “Oh, yes.” Tad finally sat down.

  “The subway electrical systems I was talking about were the lights,” said Donnell. “I was thinking you might be able to use the power grid control system to tell us if Cage was turning lights on or off in the tunnels. What’s this third rail you mentioned?”

  “The New York subway system used trains running along a two-railed track,” said Tad. “Originally, the trains got their power from an electrified third rail. Later, the subway changed to using an enhanced third rail system.”

  He waved both hands. “The difference between the systems doesn’t matter. The point is that there was an electrified third rail running through those subway tunnels. I assume the power to the lights was left on after the subway system was abandoned because maintenance work might need to be done down there. Did Wall mention anything about having to be careful not to tread on the electrified third rail?”

  “He never mentioned a third rail at all,” said Donnell.

  “Then the power to the third rail must have been turned off when the subway system was abandoned,” said Tad. “Wall wouldn’t forget to mention an electrified third rail, because treading on it could have fatal consequences.”

  “Do you mean that if you turn on the power to this third rail, and Cage trod on it, then it could kill him?” I asked.

  “If we’re lucky, yes,” said Tad.

  “If we’re lucky,” Braden repeated, in an appalled voice. “Tad, you can’t seriously be considering electrocuting Cage!”

  “Yes, I am,” said Tad. “Cage is a murderer with no respect for human life.”

  “The important issue here isn’t whether Cage has respect for human life, but whether we do,” said Braden.

  “I do have respect for human life,” said Tad fiercely. “That’s why I intend to do everything I can to stop Cage from killing any more people. Nobody is going to be safe while he has that sniper rifle. One of the children could go to look out of the glass wall of Reception and get shot.”

  I gasped. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

  “The glass wall of Reception isn’t a danger,” said Donnell, in a soothing voice. “The United Earth Americas Parliament complex was designed to withstand terrorist attacks, so the glass windows can resist every sort of weapon fire except a laser beam at close quarters. When the Earth Resistance took over this building, I had to sneak my way inside with the clean laundry and ...”

  Donnell shook his head. “Past history doesn’t matter now, but we should be safe inside Parliament House.”

  “Yes, but no one will be safe outside.” Tad turned to Braden. “It’s vital to hunt down Cage before he kills more people, and I know exactly who will have to do the hunting. The minute Donnell mentioned a projectile sniper rifle, I checked the specifications on the Earth data net. Given the range and accuracy of sniper rifles, the Armed Agent weapons bonded to Donnell and Blaze are the only ones the alliance has that stand a chance against Cage, and even they’ll be at a huge disadvantage.”

  Tad paused. “We’re in a simple situation here, Braden. At least one person is going to die. I want that person to be Cage rather than Blaze or Donnell. Don’t you?”

  “In an ideal world, nobody would die,” said Braden. “Cage would be captured, tried, and securely imprisoned for life, so he was no longer a threat to anyone.”

  “I was extremely naïve when we arrived in New York,” said Tad bitterly, “but now even I’ve worked out that we’re not in an ideal world. We’re with the last seven hundred people struggling to survive in an abandoned city, and there’s a murderer running loose.”

  He waved his hands in a despairing gesture. “The alliance has helped us, and I’m going to do everything I can to help them. That includes electrocuting Cage if I get the chance. If he isn’t killed before capture, he’ll end up being executed anyway. What happened the last time Cage was locked up proved there’s no way to imprison him securely.”

  Tad shrugged. “If Phoenix was awake, then I’m sure she’d support my decision.”

  Braden grimaced. “I know she would.”

  “It may not be possible for me to electrocute Cage though,” said Tad, in a calmer voice. “The third rail power supply may have failed due to old age or flood damage. If I can work out the power grid reference for the subway system, then I can use the control system to find out what’s happening down there.”

  Tad made a thoughtful, clicking noise with his tongue. “The problem is that I’ve no idea what that power grid reference could be. Reference numbers are normally allocated geographically, so I can work out the reference for a building from its location, but the subway system spreads across a large area of New York. Perhaps there’s a different reference number for each tunnel.”

  “Blaze and I will eat while you’re working that out, Tad.” Donnell took a stasis key from his pocket, opened his stasis box, and took out his meal, then leaned across to open my stasis box as well. “Wake up and eat, Blaze.”

  “I wasn’t asleep.” I hastily sat up, took my plate of food from the box, and frowned at it. “I’m too tired to feel hungry.”

  “Eat!” ordered Donnell. “Chaos, I didn’t think to collect any cutlery.”

  I held up a plastic fork. “Himeko put mine in my box.”

  “Ah.” Donnell investigated his own box. “Yes, I’ve got some too.”

  Once I started eating, I found I was hungry after all, and gulped down mouthfuls of fish and wintereat. Tad mumbled incomprehensible phrases to himself for a few minutes before suddenly shouting in triumph.

  “Found it!”

  I put my finger to my lips. “Don’t wake Phoenix.”

  “Sorry.” Tad lowered his voice. “The power grid control system has a separate
area dedicated to the subway. The references are abbreviations of the name of the particular subway line, combined with the number of the tunnel section.”

  Donnell dumped his empty plate back in its stasis box. “So you can see the power being used by each section of tunnel on a subway line?”

  Tad nodded. “Power is currently being used by thirty-six sections of tunnel on this side of the river. There are also a lot of tunnel sections that have gone power dead, meaning their power circuits are no longer functioning at all. Not surprising after they’ve been abandoned for so long.”

  “Thirty-six sections of tunnel are using power,” repeated Donnell. “Are those sections all on the same subway line?”

  “They’re scattered randomly around the subway system,” said Tad. “Most of them are using power at a low rate consistent with lights having been left switched on, but there are a dozen massive power drains. Either there’s heavy machinery working down there, or some huge power storage units are recharging.”

  “You aren’t seeing anything that could help us locate Cage?” asked Donnell.

  “Not at the moment,” said Tad. “I’ve set up a new algorithm to alert me to power fluctuations in the subway tunnels.”

  “What about this electrified third rail of yours?”

  “The electrified third rail has dedicated power circuits that are turned off system-wide,” said Tad. “I’d prefer to turn on individual tunnel sections when needed, rather than turning on the third rail across the whole subway system. I don’t want to risk hurting anyone other than Cage, or electrocuting any feral cats.”

  “Let me know at once if you find evidence that Cage is using the subway tunnels,” said Donnell. “I’d also like you to draw us a map of the local area that shows exactly where the tunnels run under the streets. I assume that information will all be on the Earth data net.”

  Tad stood up, went over to a cupboard, and got out some paper and a pencil. He then just stood there, frowning at the pencil.

  “You’ll probably find it easier to draw if you’re sitting down,” said Donnell.