Scavenger Blood

by Janet Edwards

  I looked at Major’s florid, bullying face, and remembered how he’d tried to take me hostage yesterday. “I object. I want to gag Major myself. Has anyone got a suitable length of cloth?”

  “I’ve got an old rag that would do,” called Ludmilla, and she tossed me a length of stained cloth that stank of fish.

  I smiled. “Yes, this will be perfect.”

  Donnell was frowning. He obviously thought it was a bad idea for me to get too close to Major, and he was right. Major had his hands tied in front of him, but he might find a way to use his height and weight advantage to injure me.

  I still moved forward, my eyes meeting Major’s furious glare, my nose wrinkling at the unwashed scent of him. I wasn’t sure why I was insisting on doing this. It would have been far more sensible to let Wall, Donnell, or anyone else gag Major, but I stood face to face with the man for several seconds, before moving behind him. He was tall enough that I had to stretch upwards to tie the cloth in place.

  All the time, I was expecting Major to try to headbutt me, jab at me with his elbows, or bite my fingers. He didn’t move a muscle though. As I went back to join Donnell, I saw why. Donnell had raised his right hand, and had his forefinger pointing at Major. His Armed Agent weapon had had enough time to recharge its power for the tendrils to be flashing again, and the red targeting light was focused on Major’s chest.

  Once I was standing at Donnell’s side again, he lowered his hand. “I think the group of people who went over the Unity Bridge yesterday should be the ones to escort the prisoners there today.”

  He turned to Vijay and Weston. “Get the prisoners into some old coats and hats. You’ll need to untie their hands to get their coats on. If Major so much as blinks while his hands are free, then you have my permission to kill him.”

  It was at least twenty minutes before our party and the prisoners were all assembled outside Parliament House. Major was still gagged, and the other prisoners seemed to realize that any protests would result in them being gagged too. Even Hannah was silent, but I suspected she was planning a final attempt to manipulate me when we reached the Citadel.

  “I think we’ll let Bronx division lead the way to the Unity Bridge,” said Donnell. “If any of them try to escape, then we’ll see how good they are at outrunning arrows and laser pulse weapons.”

  The prisoners had all had their wounds treated, but the more serious injuries were still healing, so we had to walk very slowly to the Unity Bridge. Only those of us who’d been in the battle with the drones had seen the metal-clad Citadel, so everyone else paused on the bridge to gaze at it in shock.

  Donnell laughed. “The Citadel’s defences were intended to keep out the world, but now we’re using them to hold Cage prisoner.”

  “I can see that,” said Deuce, in an awed voice. “How did you manage to do that?”

  Donnell smiled. “We’ll explain later.”

  We carried on across the vast expanse of Wallam-Crane Square, picking our way through debris that included fragments of drones, and stopped when we were nearing the main door of the Citadel. I saw Donnell throw a pointed look at Tad, who nodded in response.

  “How do we get Bronx division inside to join Cage?” asked Aaron.

  “The door is opening now,” said Ghost. “You can see the metal armour covering it is changing. Moving. Rippling. Doing something.”

  Everyone stared at the Citadel. Yesterday, I’d seen steel shutters extend across the windows and walls of the Citadel. Now I watched the shutters open again in the area around the main door.

  Malice let out his breath in a soft sigh. “Aren’t you going to untie us before sending us in there?”

  “We’ll untie Hannah,” said Donnell. “She can collect a few pieces of glass on her way to the door, and use them to cut your ropes when you’re inside.”

  Ghost stepped forward to cut the rope tying Hannah’s wrists together. She rubbed her wrists as if they were paining her, let her shoulders droop pathetically, and gave me an imploring look.

  “You can’t lock me inside the Citadel to die in the firestorm, Blaze.”

  This was the last-minute plea for mercy that I’d been expecting, and I had my answer ready. “There’s no reason for any of you to die in the firestorm. As soon as the alliance is clear of New York, we’ll arrange for the Citadel defences to open and let you out.”

  “But that means we’ll be days behind you leaving New York,” said Hannah.

  “Yes,” I said coldly, “but remember that Bronx division chose not to burden itself with liabilities, like small children, the elderly, or the sick, so you’ll be able to travel faster than the alliance. I strongly suggest that you don’t try following us to Philadelphia, because if you catch us up then both Donnell and I will shoot you on sight, and we’ll be warning the citizen settlements at Fence to watch out for you as well.”

  Hannah scowled at me. “You can’t warn ...”

  “Stop whining, Hannah,” interrupted Malice. “Blaze isn’t stupid enough to listen to anything you have to say. The reality here is that we lost our battle, and the alliance won, so they’re the ones who make the rules.”

  He turned to face Donnell. “If you aren’t allowing us to follow you to Philadelphia, do you have any advice about where we should go? We don’t want to become farmers. We want another abandoned city like New York, but one that won’t burst into flames.”

  “I suggest you head through Yonkers and then go north-east to reach a coastal city called Boston,” said Donnell. “That’s about twice as far away as Philadelphia, and is a smaller city than New York, but will have working portals and a river.”

  Malice nodded, and turned to lead the prisoners towards the main door of the Citadel. Hannah and Major were the last to start moving, and Major’s body language looked apprehensive.

  “Major seems worried about meeting Cage again,” I said.

  “I’m not surprised he’s worried,” said Donnell. “Cage ordered Major to either regain control of Queens Island, or force a new division on the alliance. Major has failed to carry out those orders, and Cage doesn’t like people failing him.”

  Bronx division reached the main door to the Citadel, and went inside one by one, until only Hannah was left outside. She turned to face me, put a hand to her mouth, and chewed on her glove in the familiar mannerism that she’d had since we were both children in London. I wasn’t sure if she was going to try yet another plea for mercy, or yell abuse at me, but either way it was time I ended this.

  I raised my right hand, and pointed my forefinger at Hannah, so the red targeting light of my gun focussed on her chest. “Go inside the Citadel,” I said, “or I’ll shoot you.”

  “Go pollute yourself, Blaze!” she screamed, and ducked inside the door.

  The instant Hannah was inside, the steel shutters started extending until the entire building was encased in metal armour again.

  “What next?” asked Ghost briskly.

  Donnell smiled. “We go back to the Parliament House and hold a general conclave of the whole alliance. I’ve had to keep a lot of secrets from people lately, but now I can finally tell everyone the truth.”

  “Will that include explaining how you turned the Citadel into a metal box?” asked Deuce.

  Donnell smiled at Tad. “Yes, now we explain everything.”

  Chapter Forty-three

  The alliance was gathered in the brightly lit, dark wood and gold metal glory of the United Earth Americas Parliament Chamber. Each division was clustered in its own bank of seating, while I sat with Donnell and his other officers on the raised platform in front of them.

  Donnell leaned forward to speak into his microphone. “This is a highly unusual general conclave, so I think we should make a few changes to the standard seating arrangements.”

  He glanced at where I sat on his right side. “Blaze and I will stay where we are. The rest of my officers will please move to sit in the front row of the Resistance seating.”

  Machico led the other
officers across to the Resistance seating. Donnell waited for them to sit down before speaking again.

  “Will the other division leaders and Tad please come and join Blaze and me here on the platform.”

  There was startled whispering from the alliance members as the division leaders and Tad came forward. Donnell gestured at Tad to take Machico’s seat on his left side. Ice and Wall came to sit beside me, and Ghost and Raeni beside Tad.

  Wall peered downwards. “Did you know there’s a rat hole under this chair?”

  Donnell laughed. “If a rat comes out of it, then we’ll take it to the Citadel to join its friends.” He spoke into his microphone again. “There are some important things that we’ve had to keep secret until now because we couldn’t risk Bronx division finding out about them. Please let me explain everything first, and then we’ll answer your questions between us.”

  Donnell started explaining who Tad was, why he’d come to Earth, and that he was webbed and could help us find a new home and give us a respectable background. Since I knew this already, my attention wasn’t focused on listening to his words, but on watching the changing faces of the alliance members. By the time Donnell finished speaking, those faces had gone from shock to eagerness mixed with doubt.

  “Any questions?” asked Donnell.

  A host of hands waved urgently, and Donnell pointed at where Deuce was sitting in the front row of Manhattan.

  “It’s hard to believe that Tad is the Wallam-Crane heir,” said Deuce. “Are we sure he’s not lying about this?”

  Wall grinned. “I’m totally sure, because I witnessed him blowing up one hundred and sixty drones.”

  “And six short-range tactical missiles,” added Ghost. “I don’t think we can get Tad to repeat that dramatic demonstration for the rest of you though.”

  “I’m sure Tad will be able to give you all a different sort of dramatic demonstration,” said Donnell cheerfully. “Chaos knows, it seems impossible to stop the boy doing dramatic things. Do you think you’ll be able to do some magic tricks with the New York lights this evening, Tad?”

  “I should be able to do something,” said Tad cautiously.

  Donnell pointed at London division. “Reynard, you have a question?”

  “Once we’re settled in our new home, Tad is going off-world. What happens if we need help after that?”

  “Yes, I’ll need to go to Zeus in Beta sector to work on my research into interstellar portals,” said Tad. “It could be as long as eighteen months before I’m on Earth again, but you can still call on me for help.”

  He paused. “If you send a message to America Off-world, addressed to Thaddeus Paul Wallam-Crane at the Fidelis Project on Zeus, then it will be relayed on to me via the regular data chip courier system, but remember that the varying interstellar portal schedules mean it could take anything between a day and a week to reach me.”

  “Can I ask about one detail?” asked Raeni. “If we get the children registered as citizens, would that mean they’d be able to go to one of the bright new colony worlds one day?”

  I bit my lip. I knew that Raeni was thinking of her unborn child when she asked that question.

  “Yes,” said Tad, “but they may well be better off staying here on Earth. When the first colonists arrived on Adonis, they all noticed how bright the skies were without the haze of pollution that covered Earth. That’s why everyone began referring to the colony worlds as the bright new worlds, but Earth’s vastly lower population means it’s far less polluted these days, while the colony worlds are having huge problems.”

  Raeni frowned. “What sort of problems?”

  “Donnell explained that the interstellar portals are failing,” said Tad. “The colony worlds are being cut off from each other, and they haven’t established enough of a technological infrastructure to cope alone. The hundred colony worlds in Gamma sector are in the worst state of all. Since they only had a couple of interstellar portals each to start with, breakdowns mean we’ve lost contact with half of them already. Those worlds have been left with no technology at all, only the most basic of medicines, and in many cases they’re still struggling with hostile native creatures of their worlds. Their local equivalent of things like falling stars.”

  Tad groaned. “We’ll lose contact with the rest of Gamma sector soon, and we’re losing all our Military forces along with those worlds, because they refuse to pull out of their bases and abandon the colonists.”

  Raeni didn’t seem interested in the fate of the Military forces. “You mean that life on a world in Gamma sector would be the same sort of desperate battle for survival that we’ve had in New York. What about Alpha and Beta sectors?”

  “The whole of Alpha sector is closed for colonization,” said Tad. “There are two hundred and three colony worlds in Beta sector, and about thirty of them are still taking new colonists. They’re naturally the most unpopular worlds in Beta sector, but I could research which of them are the best options.”

  Raeni nodded.

  “There must be hundreds more questions that you’ll want to ask,” said Donnell. “I suggest each division leader collects questions from their people, and we’ll answer the most common ones in another meeting tomorrow evening. The important thing is that if we all work together to leave New York, we’ve got a golden future ahead of us. In fact, all it needs to be absolutely perfect is a few chickens.”

  Tad made a choking noise. “Please don’t start talking about trading me for chickens again. I don’t know why you have this obsession with them, but if you’re serious about wanting chickens, I’m sure I’ll be able to arrange for a settlement to deliver some to you.”

  “I’m perfectly serious about wanting chickens. My grandparents kept chickens, and I used to help feed them and collect the eggs when I was a boy.” Donnell paused. “When do you want to give your dramatic display with the New York lights, Tad?”

  “I don’t want to do anything with the New York lights,” said Tad. “A lot of sections of the New York power grid overflow system have already broken down. We currently expect the power grid to go into catastrophic failure and start a firestorm this summer. If I play around turning the power on and off, then I could damage more overflow sections and trigger the firestorm right now.”

  “I totally agree that you mustn’t risk that,” said Donnell hastily.

  “I’ve thought of another light display to show people though,” continued Tad. “I hope that will happen after dinner tonight, but it depends on having a cloudless sky.”

  Chapter Forty-four

  When the alliance had finished eating dinner that evening, Donnell stood up and looked at Tad. “We’ve got the clear night sky that you wanted, Tad. Should we be getting ready for your light show now?”

  “Yes,” said Tad. “It will be over half an hour before it happens, but everyone will need to get their coats on and go outside to see this properly. People should get the best view from the path that runs between the vegetable garden and the riverbank.”

  Donnell nodded. “We’d better take plenty of flashlights with us. It’s important to prove your identity, Tad, but I’d rather no one breaks their leg in the process.”

  There was a delay while we all put on layers of outdoor clothing, and made sure the babies and children were wrapped up warmly. Vijay and Weston handed out flashlights, and then Donnell led us out into the bitter cold of the February night.

  Tad and I followed Donnell along the path that went across to the riverbank. The alliance trailed after us in a long line, the children babbling in excitement at being out after dark.

  “Now that we’ve dealt with Cage and his supporters, can you see enough hope for the future for us to have a relationship again, Blaze?” asked Tad.

  I frowned. “I’d rather have this conversation in private.”

  Tad glanced over his shoulder. “The person behind us is too far away to hear anything.”

  “The person behind us is Ghost,” I said pointedly.

  “I�
��d noticed that Ghost had exceptional eyesight,” said Tad. “He has good hearing too?”

  “Ghost can hear the sun rising.”

  “But the sun doesn’t make any noise when it rises, so ...” Tad broke off. “Ah, I see what you mean.”

  Donnell stopped when everyone was lined up between the vegetable garden and the riverbank, and turned to look at Tad. “What’s the plan?”

  Tad raised his arm and gestured across the vegetable garden. “Everyone should look at the horizon over there. You can see a lot of stars already, but a new one should appear within the next few minutes. It will be quite distinctive because it’s moving across the sky.”

  We all looked expectantly at the horizon for the next five minutes.

  “I’m still not seeing anything,” said Wall. “What are we looking for anyway?”

  “A space station,” said Tad. “It’s officially named Gateway to the Stars, but it was always shortened to Gateway Station. It was a key part of the early interstellar drop portal programme, because the probes and ships were all portalled to Gateway Station in pieces and assembled in space.”

  Tad paused. “The first manned drop portal flight to another star system was in 2306. The pilot was Major Kerr, and his ship and his mission were both called Earth Flight. Drop portals were still highly experimental back then, and the amount of power needed to fold space so the drop portal dust ring simultaneously exists at both transmission and reception point is staggering. There was a worryingly high risk that the Earth Flight ship would explode, but it arrived safely at its planned destination. Kerr said that the new world was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen, which led to my home world being called Adonis.”

  “That would be a fascinating history lesson,” said Donnell, with a cold edge to his voice, “except for the fact that everyone here over the age of thirty probably knew it already, and from the viewpoint of the Earth Resistance the discovery of drop portal technology was a very mixed blessing.”