Halcyon

by Demelza Carlton

  "Why weren't you with them?" Allie asked.

  Galen laughed. "I was. I was in the cabin we shared, while they both worked the evening shift. When I heard the alarms, I headed for the lifeboats, but I was the only one. There were no other survivors."

  The image of a sole lifeboat, floating alone in the waves, popped into Allie's head. Orphaned at fourteen and then alone at sea for so long before he was rescued. "It must have been terrible for you," she whispered.

  Galen slammed his cup down on the table. "It's just part of war, or at least that's what everyone told me. The innocent suffer, while killers go free. That's why this war had to end, and this place has to succeed. No more killing."

  Allie felt the peculiar urge to kiss him. "Absolutely. No more killing." She raised her drink in a toast that Galen seconded.

  Their pizzas appeared, and Allie waited just long enough to watch Galen take his first bite before she tried to emulate him. It was messy and unfamiliar, but by the stars, it tasted so good she didn't care.

  "Oh!" she mumbled around a slice. "We have to come back here."

  Galen grinned. "Next week? I spotted a couple of places I'd like to try, too. One that sold yiros, which I haven't had in forever."

  "Yiros?" Allie hadn't heard of that one.

  "Ah, seasoned meat and sauce and salad, all wrapped up in flatbread? Some people call them kebabs," Galen explained, gesturing with his hands.

  The mysterious kebabs. "Tomorrow, then, if they're open?" Allie suggested.

  Galen swallowed. "A third date already, and a fourth next week? Careful, you'll have all the Maintenance guys talking. They'll think you like me."

  Let them talk. People always did. Especially about her. "I do like you. I'll have dinner with you every night until we've tried every restaurant in the Main City. And the other guys can talk until they lose their voices or find something more interesting to discuss."

  Galen's eyes warmed. "I'd like that."

  "What, them not talking about us? I'll see what I can do." Allie resolved to take care of that problem tomorrow. The Metas would be easy. The Humans might take a bit more effort. Only a little, though.

  Galen shook his head. "Gossip can't be stopped. It's like radiation – once it's been released, there's no stopping it. That's why we left Earth."

  "Sure there is. It just takes time and patience. Thousands of years, in some cases, like Earth. And there are ways to stop it. Radiation shielding, for one. Every problem has a solution. It just comes at a cost. Sometimes a higher cost than we can afford, or are willing to pay." Allie bit into a slice of pizza, forcing herself to concentrate on the flavour and nothing else. She already knew there was no price too high for peace, at least from her perspective. She'd given everything she had, and she'd give more still.

  "Even peace," Galen said, like he was reading her mind. "Peace is worth any price."

  More than ever, Allie wanted to kiss him. But she couldn't do any such thing. She had a meeting with Lennox tonight, and she didn't want to start anything with Galen that she couldn't finish. Another night, perhaps.

  When dinner ended, Galen debated whether to ask Allie back to his apartment, or just kiss her goodnight and leave the invitation for another night. It was too soon, he decided, as she made no move to get close enough to him for a kiss. Instead, she waved as she stepped onto a glyder to take her home.

  Galen was tempted to step onto the hovering platform behind her, wrapping his arms around her body so they could go back to her place or his and get closer still.

  He shook his head. Not until he knew she was safe. Safe from the clutches of the siren. Until then, he'd have to content himself with explicit dreams about her. And finish his project sooner.

  Instead of taking his own glyder home, he headed back to the workshop. If he finished it tonight, he could set the bomb in place before the end of the week, let it do its damage, and hunt the siren before next week's pizza date with Allie. He'd have to buy some alcohol to celebrate. Then, he'd tell her everything about his successful hunt for his parents' killer, so she could celebrate the victory with him. War would never be over for terrorists like Halcyon. The siren wasn't reasonable the way people like him and Allie were. The siren was a crazed killer who had to be stopped before she killed again.

  And he was the man to do it, he was certain of it. What had Allie said tonight? What price was he willing to pay for peace?

  "Almost anything, except her life," Galen swore. He wouldn't let the siren take anyone else he cared about. Never again.

  "So what do you have to report?" Lennox's ice-blue eyes regarded Allie across the desk.

  She knew he expected her to sit in the client's chair across from him, but she was feeling playful this evening, so she perched on the edge of the desk instead. "Aside from the expected complaints about shoddy work done by some of the other construction people that's caused me two weeks' worth of grief with no end in sight, nothing." Allie smiled. "Your Complex is so full of happy people it even makes me cheerful. I spend so much of my day singing as I go from apartment to apartment, or business to business, fixing things, upgrading things. You know. All the things a girl has to do to keep the water running around here."

  "There have been six fights and five brawls today alone in the common areas of the Complex. That's not a sign of happy people."

  Allie shrugged. "It could be. I've met men who were happiest when they were punching or hurting someone. And there are those who enjoy the pain. It takes all sorts to make a universe." She paused, puzzled. "What do you mean, six fights and five brawls? What's the difference? Aren't they the same thing?"

  Lennox tapped his tablet and held it out as video footage appeared on the screen. "In this fight, a pair of shifters attacked a Human." While Allie watched the brutal attack in horror, Lennox continued, "A kitsune was badly beaten by what she says was a Human, but she wasn't sure. A Human and an incubus got into a punch-up over a succubus outside the strip club you invited me to this evening. In the Forest Dome this afternoon, six Humans attacked a giant. Some shifters rushed to his aid, and then some more Humans, until some fifty people, both Human and Meta, were arrested and fined for brawling in public. We're not sure what started the other brawls – sometimes the surveillance cameras don't capture everything. All we do know is the one place brawls don't happen is the Aquatic Dome. And wherever you happen to be."

  Allie wet her lips. "How many of your Intra have noticed that?"

  "I'm pretty sure all of them noticed the Aquatic Dome is peaceful. It might take them a lot longer to associate you with the unusual patches of peace, if all this unpeaceful activity keeps them busy."

  Allie breathed out a sigh of relief. "I can't be everywhere at once. And I'm not doing much, honest. Just...calming things. Putting people in a good mood. There's nothing wrong with that."

  "There are quite a few who'd argue that doing anything to control their thinking is wrong," Lennox said.

  "Only if they're aware of it," Allie argued. "They don't complain when they're being brainwashed by bigots, or warmongers, or advertising, or the smell of a new restaurant wafting down the street, enticing them inside. Having a humming plumber in their house is no different to any of those things!"

  "They can reject ideas, or advertising, or even food, but they can't resist you," Lennox said.

  "Aww, that's so sweet of you to say. Does that mean you can't resist me, either?" Allie fluttered her eyelashes and slid off the desk. She laughed, knowing Lennox was one of the few Metas she'd met who could. Maybe that's why she liked him so much. It couldn't be his sense of humour. "I'm not asking them to do anything outside their nature. I'm not controlling them. I'm simply...calming things. Bringing a little more peace into this place. Like we agreed we wanted."

  "I want you to find the troublemakers. I know there are some in here. One of the most militant anti-peace movements, the Humans First group, boasted that the Complex wouldn't last six months before someone blew it up. They have sympathisers inside the Com
plex, I'm certain of it. Find them before anyone gets hurt. Your supervisor has connections to them. What about him?"

  "My supervisor? You mean Galen?" Allie couldn't help laughing. "He's the last man I'd consider if I was looking for a terrorist. His passion for peace is only slightly less fervent than my own. There's absolutely no way he could be planning on blowing this place up. Next thing you know, you'll be trying to convince me that he's building a bomb."

  Lennox looked annoyed. "He could be. He has the technical knowledge and the tools to construct one."

  Allie shrugged. "So do I, but you don't see me doing it." She held up her hands in surrender. "All right, all right. While I'm working to keep the water running, I'll keep an eye out for terrorists. And I'll ask Galen if he recognises anyone he used to know from the Humans First group. In between singing."

  Before Lennox could ask her to do anything else, she left, humming. Galen building a bomb. Honestly. Maybe Lennox had a sense of humour after all.

  Galen finished taping the explosives to the inside the pump casing and breathed a sigh of relief. It was only half-full, even with the detonator in place – plenty of space for the radioactive payload, and yet still small enough to fit in his tool bag. If he wanted to destroy the city, all he had to do was put all the uranium rods into the casing beside the explosives and when the whole thing detonated...the city would be nothing but a radioactive crater. Not a single soul among those locked in the Complex would survive. It was a sobering thought.

  If he'd known nuclear weapons could be so small, he wouldn't have been so surprised Humans had blown up their own planet with them. In fact, he was stunned that they'd lasted as long as they had. But he had to put this somewhere a siren would place it, not a Human, to make it look like it was Halcyon's work. That meant underwater. He knew just the spot, too – where the water supply bubbled up under the Aquatic Dome from the fresh smokers deep below Lorn's surface. Without a set of Mer gills and a tail, he'd have to use a rebreather mask and fins, but he'd found plenty of those in Storeroom Five during his stocktake.

  Someone tapped him on the shoulder.

  Galen pulled off his headphones. "What?"

  "How's the new satellite doing?" Kearn asked.

  Galen stared at the grey-skinned incubus. "It's not a satellite."

  Kearn shrugged. "We've all been placing bets on what you're building. One of the other guys thinks it's some sort of anti-surveillance device, so we can have strippers in the workshop without the Intra knowing. Another one said it's a still for brewing alcohol. I figured it was a communications satellite so you could sell black market communications to the rest of the system. Guess I was wrong. Unless you're lying so you can keep all the call fees for yourself. You'd be rich by the time you got out of here."

  "It's not a satellite," Galen repeated, turning off his music player. "It's a water purifier. Some of the residents in the Aquatic Dome have reported contaminants in the water, so I'll be putting this in the pipes below the dome to see if it can fix things, or at least remove enough contaminants to stop the complaints." That was the cover story he'd thought up and he was sticking to it.

  "What sort of contaminants?" Kearn asked. "I remember one of the ships I was working on had this hideous stench to the water supply..."

  "Don't know," Galen interrupted. "Can't detect anything out of the ordinary, but the Mer insist there's a problem. This is me trying to fix it." He waved his hand over the pump casing.

  Kearn shrugged. "Good luck. Unless you need anything, I'm done for the day. Heading home for a meal. If the HVAC system has any hiccups you can't handle, comm me."

  "It'll be fine. See you tomorrow." Galen watched him go, then donned his headphones and switched the music back on.

  Allie had suggested they go to a fairy bar tonight, but she'd called to cancel an hour ago, saying she'd gotten caught up in a repair job over in one of the residential domes, so they'd have to reschedule for tomorrow instead.

  Knowing he'd almost finished the bomb, Galen had decided to bring the schedule forward and put it in place tonight, so he could celebrate with Allie properly tomorrow. He'd decided not to detonate it for a few days. Maybe he'd even set it off tomorrow, while he was on that date with Allie. He'd have a solid alibi then. Not that he should need one, but you could never be too careful.

  He'd originally planned to plant the bomb late at night, when no one was around, but he'd since realised that would look far too suspicious. Instead, he carried the modified pump in one box and the uranium rods inside his toolbox, looking for all the world like a plumber about to go replace a pump. Routine maintenance.

  Sure enough, no one in the packed zipper gave him a second glance. They glared at his burdens as he squeezed in, before shuffling aside without a word. It was a long cab ride to the base of the Aquatic Dome, but by the time he reached it, Galen was the only passenger. Once again, he wondered how the Mer got around the Complex. Did they use water-filled zippers, or did they stay in the aquatic habitat, avoiding the rest of the population? He hoped it was the second choice. Allie had pointed out different Meta races to him when they met for dinner in the evenings, and he now prided himself on being able to identify at least a dozen. She'd never pointed out a Mer, though, for which he was glad, because he wasn't sure he could hide his disgust at a species that killed so indiscriminately. Because Halcyon couldn't have been acting alone. She had to have had help, allies, maybe a whole Mer army to create the kind of body count she was responsible for. Galen still found it hard to believe that only one Mer had taken down a ship the size of the Poseidon. She must have had a team of them then, just like she'd have a team of them now. Someone to help her sneak onto the ship. Someone who knew its inner workings so she could blow it up. Someone who constructed the bomb for her in the first place, because he knew there was no way he could have built one underwater, and no siren could beat him when it came to Human technology.

  Of course, he'd done everything alone, but he was Human, capable of walking around in the air and working in precisely the right place to make and plant whatever he needed to. No Mer could do what he could. Not to mention he'd have noticed the moment one entered his workshop. He wouldn't need Allie to point them out – he'd smell them coming.

  Not that there would be any Mer in the maintenance corridors beneath their dome, Galen thought with considerable relief as he palmed open the door to the restricted area. Only authorised personnel had access. A terrorist like Halcyon would probably bribe her way in, or threaten someone into giving her illegal access. At least, that's what he'd say if anyone asked him how she'd gotten in.

  The sound of gushing water echoed through the corridors as the hatch crunched shut behind him. If he closed his eyes, Galen could almost imagine himself at sea in a lifeboat again, wishing for rescue in whatever form it came. Then, he'd even hoped the siren he'd seen would help him. Thank the universe she'd ignored his pleas for help and swum away, if she'd even heard them. Galen wasn't sure he could have lived with himself, knowing he owed his life to Halcyon.

  He shoved through the memories and strode into the bowels of the Complex. Tonight he'd lay his trap to catch a siren, and soon he'd spring it. His parents' shades could rest, knowing they'd been avenged.

  After what felt like forever, he emerged into the main pumping station. The fresh smoker erupted like a fountain in the middle of the cavern-like space, filling the room almost to the level of the catwalk where Galen stood. A labyrinth of pipework ringed the room, drawing water from the spewing source and carrying it ever upward to the apartments and farming facilities in and around the Aquatic Dome.

  Galen knew exactly where he wanted to place his package. There was a spot where a dozen inlet pipes converged, and something as small as a new water purification unit...or a nuclear device masquerading as one...might go unnoticed.

  He still had an hour before the force shields went up and curfew began, though, so it was possible that someone could walk in on him. Unlikely, but possible. Galen took the uran
ium rods out of his toolkit, and nearly dropped them, they were so hot. He managed to stash them out of sight under the steps, hoping they wouldn't melt the metal before he transferred them over to the bomb. He had to work quickly, then.

  He stripped down and donned a wetsuit, then perched on the edge of the catwalk to wedge his feet into a pair of fins. Galen left his toolbox open on the edge of the catwalk, within reach of the water, and slid into the depths. He bobbed on the surface for a moment as he adjusted his rebreather mask, tapping it until the lights glowed into life, before he submerged completely.

  Underwater was a completely different world. No wonder Mer seemed so alien to him – they didn't even breathe air, or so he'd been told. He'd never gotten close enough to see one's gills.

  Galen swam carefully around the fountain, which sounded thunderous under the surface. Visibility was low with so much turbulence, but he knew if he kept to the walls, he'd be able to follow the pipes to the nest of inlets. The pump casing hindered him at first until it filled with water, and then it was just an extra weight to tow along until he reached the spot. Just like the schematics showed, there was a perfect little alcove between three pipes, just big enough to fit the pump casing, but shadowed by the pipes overhead so it wouldn't be immediately visible. Plus, when it blew, the bomb would damage at least ten pipes within the blast radius of the explosives alone. It was a shame to destroy such an ingenious water supply station, but his team would be the ones rebuilding, so they'd soon get it back in working order, secure in the knowledge that no terrorist would target it again.

  Galen had planned to fasten the casing in place, but it fitted so snugly in its alcove that it wasn't necessary. Nothing but the blast itself or a seriously strong water current would budge it. Now all he had to do was pop the payload in and he could be home before curfew.

  He kicked off the side of a pipe, but his fin caught on the join, so it was wrenched off his foot. Cursing, Galen reached for it, but in vain – his fin sank into the depths, deeper than he could go with just a rebreather. It didn't matter. There were plenty more where those had come from – dozens to spare in the equipment store at the end of the catwalk. He peeled off the other fin and set off in the direction of the steps.