The Emerald Forge (Pilgrennon's Children)

by Manda Benson

  The sky behind had fallen dark, not with clouds or an oncoming night, but by the shadows of an innumerable number of birds.

  Dana urged the horse faster. Jananin had told her not to stop, and she’d been right. The open field was running out, and more woods approached. She crouched lower as the horse’s course plunged them into the shadows between trees. There was no proper path here, and pushing up a steep slope through nettles and undergrowth slowed the horse. Their pursuers in the air would face no such impediment. They emerged from the woods at a summit that sloped down through fields of crops, to the distant vineyards and orangeries bordering the squat, fortress-like monstrosity that was Site Twelve, with the shining glass pyramids behind it.

  The horse charged down the edge of a field of wheat. As they reached the end and jumped through a gap in the hedge into a vineyard, Dana became aware of a pressure on her ears, from the beating of thousands of wings, and a draught behind her despite the wind in her face generated by the horse’s speed. She kicked and clung on as the horse ran for the concrete cliff rising ahead. She struggled to think past the signals of animosity, to find the nearest entrance to Site Twelve and work out the fastest way to it. She mustn’t look back, not now. It took all her concentration to stay balanced and keep the horse at speed.

  They turned into a grove of genetically modified figs, and there in front of her stood the heavy metal gate she’d only left this morning with the wyvern. Two men in uniform stood behind it. “Open the gate!” she bellowed over the horse’s head as it galloped towards them. The gate didn’t open, and the horse struggled to slow as it reached the road. Gravel sparked under its iron-shod feet.

  Dana kicked her feet out of the stirrups and slid to the ground. “Let me in!” she shrieked, running for the gate. The men were gawking at the enormous flock of birds behind her. The rush of wings behind her was louder now, and mixed with it were the shrill voices of the birds, growing closer.

  “This is private property and you’ve no permission to come in here,” one of the men told her.

  There was a sign on the gate, something about the Official Secrets Act, rather similar to the one Dana remembered on Gallan Head. She didn’t have time to read it. “Please, let me in. These birds are dangerous. I’m here on Jananin Blake’s instruction. She and Rajesh Rajani are trapped in a wood.”

  The two men exchanged glances.

  Dana turned around. The sky overhead was dark with bodies, and the birds were falling from the sky towards her. The rising pressure in the air broke over her like a tidal wave. Light feathery bodies pounded against her back and sharp beaks and claws flurried around her head. She covered her face with both hands, but something struck her cheek and drew blood. Dana crouched down and tried to cover her head with her arms. She reached within herself, trying to find a horrible memory, and she recalled how she’d felt after Abigail had hit her and she’d found out there was a device implanted in her brain: shame and hopelessness and incomprehension. She forced the feeling outwards and pushed the birds back, but she couldn’t hold them off for long. Somewhere nearby the horse whinnied, and she caught sight of it rearing and thrashing, birds swirling around it.

  A woman had come out of the building to the gate. She gesticulated, her eyes wide.

  “Tarrow!”

  “Dana!” Tarrow reached through the gate and grasped Dana’s hand. “Why are you all wet? Open the gate!” she shouted at the guards.

  One of the men pulled out a device. “I’ll just call the supervisor and ask.” He began tapping the screen hurriedly.

  “Supervisor my arse! This is the Meritocracy! Open the gate man, can’t you see those birds...”

  Tarrow’s voice trailed off. She stared up past Dana into the sky, her face filled with horror.

  Dana turned to see what it was. Way up in the glare of the sun, a huge shape that must be a bird of prey plunged earthwards, cleaving the flock in two like a sword through a billowing sail. She threw herself to the ground, face down in front of the gate, waiting, imagining the feel of sharp talons raking into the flesh of her neck and shoulders.

  There came a heavy rattle of metal on metal, and someone grabbed Dana by the upper arm. She raised her head to find the gate open, and Tarrow pulling her in towards the building. She scrambled to her feet and the two of them rushed for the door. Just as they reached it, Dana looked back to see the big bird, surging up, carving the flock into disarray. Could it be the wyvern? Surely she would sense its signal from here if that were so. And it definitely looked like a bird, with a blunt bird tail and short neck. It must be a wild hawk that had happened upon the swarm of birds by coincidence.

  Or...

  She had seen one bird like that before. Prendick’s eagle.

  -15-

  TARROW led Dana back into the building where the metal in the walls blocked out the signals from the birds.

  “Please get someone to bring the horse in. Jananin and Rajesh are stuck in a car that’s broken down...” Dana began.

  “There’s someone gone out to get them, and someone will sort out the horse. Come in here and sit down.” Tarrow pushed open the door to the medical ward. Dana sat on the bed and Tarrow wiped the scratches on her cheek with a wad of cotton wool wet with an alcohol-smelling substance that stung the raw wounds.

  “Dunno what the hell Blake thinks she’s doing, dragging you into whatever’s going on and sending you home on your own.”

  Dana wanted to argue, but the chase had exhausted her, and she didn’t know what she could say that would be believable while at the same time not revealing anything about the history she shared with Jananin.

  “Now you get some rest. I’ll go and sort out a drink and some dinner for you.” Tarrow fished some pyjamas out of a drawer and lobbed them at Dana. She threw the cotton wool into a bin as she went out the door.

  Dana got changed out of her wet clothes and rearranged the pillows on the bed so she could sit up against the wall. She needed to wait until Jananin and Rajesh got back. Cale would now be in the Emerald Forge. She had to do something. Yet her body ached from staying in place on the back of the horse, and her mind was numb from the strain of concentration. Try as she might to focus, she was sliding towards sleep, heavy muscles slumping and eyes refusing to stay open. If she could close her eyes and rest for just a moment...

  *

  You’re in a dark room with the drone of a fan, and with a sinking feeling of dread, you realise you’ve seen this before.

  “They tied me to the bed again.” My voice is a plaintive whimper. “I wouldn’t take the medicine they tried to give me.”

  I flex my arms, strain my legs and arch my back with all the strength left in me, but it’s all to no avail.

  Don’t think about it, you tell me. There’s nothing else you can do. The straps binding us to the bed are made of leather, not electronics, and you can’t affect them.

  “I don’t know what time it is. I don’t know how long it will be until they will come and let me off the bed!” Panic rises, overwhelming.

  Do you remember when I said this world didn’t need to be real? That we could make another world that’s more real?

  “Yes.”

  We can do it, and we can hide there. Close your eyes.

  I obey. For several minutes, my breath shudders in and out of me, the black static behind my eyelids no less of a revelation than the dark ceiling I see with my eyes open.

  I need to ignore all the stimuli I’m feeling, the noise of the fan, the sensation of my own breathing, the pressure of the straps on my body and the feel of the mattress under my back. You help me, and slowly we sink into concentration.

  I think of empty green fields, and now I’m standing there, soft grass under my feet. I turn to scan the horizon, and nothing is to be seen, no people, no buildings. I let out a shout and begin to run, free of the world of tormenters. When I stop, you suggest we add some more features to the world. You explain to me how I can adjust the topography, making hills and valleys, and how to
make trees and boulders.

  As an example, you make as a present for me a clear lake with Koi fish in it and rafts of water lilies in deep, rich colours on the surface. All around the edges of the lake you add spring trees, their dark branches bare of leaves but festooned like candelabra with spear-shaped, soft pastel flowerbuds that glisten with dew, trees you draw from some memory you can’t quite recall.

  But I don’t like the trees and the lake. This is my world, and I’ll make it how I see fit!

  The lake explodes, throwing water and dying fish and sodden clumps of water lilies all over the landscape, leaving only a crater in the ground and the serene trees as flaming stumps.

  *

  The next thing Dana noticed was the light in the room had grown dim. When she turned her head to look at the window, the trees on the horizon stood in gloom. The sun had already set; she must have fallen asleep.

  “Tarrow!”

  Dana got up from the bed, the insides of her thighs aching as soon as she moved her legs. She winced and hobbled towards the door.

  It opened before she reached it, and there stood Tarrow with a tray.

  “Why didn’t you wake me? Where are Jananin and Rajesh?”

  “They’re fine. Came in not long after you did. They’re coming to see you as soon as you’re rested and you’ve eaten this.” Tarrow set the tray down on a hospital table on castors.

  “No! You don’t understand! I need to speak to Jananin now!”

  Tarrow’s eyes widened. “Dana, last night you collapsed and needed a blood transfusion! Today you went out who knows where and came back injured and drenched, clinging to the back of a horse much too big for you and being attacked by birds. Whatever is going on between you and Blake, your health has to take priority! Now sit down and eat your dinner!”

  Behind her the door opened, and Jananin Blake appeared.

  “What’s been happening?” Dana demanded.

  “Since the recovery vehicle brought us back, I have been in touch with the other Spokesmen discussing the matter and the recent turn of events.”

  “And what did they decide?” Dana waited anxiously for the answer.

  “That the Emerald Forge must be disabled by Compton bomb, tomorrow.”

  “No! You can’t! Cale and Peter are there!”

  “Dana, calm down,” said Tarrow. “When people talk about a Compton bomb, it doesn’t mean a real sort of bomb that explodes and kills everyone in a big mushroom cloud. It’s just a device that emits a powerful signal that disables things like computers and televisions. It doesn’t hurt people.”

  “It will hurt my brother!” Dana shouted at her.

  Before Dana could say anything else, Jananin interjected a false explanation. “Dana’s brother was born with a heart condition that resulted in him needing a pacemaker. The Compton radiation will affect the device he needs to live on. It could kill him.”

  Tarrow looked from Dana to Jananin, and then to Rajesh, who had entered after Jananin and stood with his back against the door. “But... what... Then why are you Compton bombing there? Didn’t you tell the other Spokesmen? Good grief!”

  Jananin glanced at her. “Don’t you have work to get on with?”

  Tarrow muttered something before excusing herself and leaving, Rajesh stepping out of the way and opening the door for her.

  Jananin came further into the room and sat on a chair near the end of the bed. “The Meritocracy has a policy of not negotiating with hostage takers. If we try to storm the Emerald Forge and take the hostages back, there will be real risk to the people we send in there. Two hostages do not warrant that risk. There is a very good chance a Compton blast will take out their defences and make it far easier for our forces to seize the Forge.”

  Dana couldn’t believe she was hearing this. This wasn’t what happened, this wasn’t the sort of thing that got reported on the news. Cale had been with her through her whole life, and now Jananin was saying they couldn’t get him back, that he had to die in a Compton blast, because of what Gamma had done? “But you can’t kill my brother! Talk to the other Spokesmen again!”

  “And tell them what? Unless you have any suggestions of alternative plans for stopping what’s going on at the Emerald Forge, there is little point.”

  Dana sat up on the bed and thought. “It’s the birds and things, the constructs and the animals they’ve implanted stuff in that’s the problem, aren’t they?”

  “They appear to constitute their main defence, and they seem to be what they intend to do damage with. There was no evidence of any other weapons being used at the hospital. That’s why a Compton bomb is a very effective solution with very little collateral.”

  “But there’s other ways of stopping them. They must all be controlled by Gamma. The transceivers Pilgrennon implanted in her — if it’s the same as mine — can’t broadcast over long distances. It’s just short range. I have to connect to a wLAN or some other piece of equipment that can transmit long distances if I want to access the Internet, and Gamma is the same. She would have to use something to carry her signal out there when they send the animals outside of the Forge, like when they attacked us and at the hospital.”

  “Or it could be that there is no such transmitter, and the birds communicate through a network relay of sorts, with some birds in range of Gamma and each other acting as a relay chain to carry instructions out to the main flock.”

  “I suppose so.” Dana hadn’t thought of that, but if there were enough birds, it would make sense. “But even so, that means Gamma is still controlling them all from the Forge. And that means if we can stop Gamma, we stop them all as well. It’s like a hive of bees, and Gamma’s the queen.”

  Rajesh spoke up. “I can quite see where you’re coming from, but that will not be easy when everything she controls is all around the Forge, strategically placed to defend her. It would be like playing a game of chess with the intention of taking the king without damaging any of the other pieces on the way.”

  “But there must be some way of making a diversion and sneaking someone close enough to the Emerald Forge so they can break in and try to get at Gamma. I mean, when those birds came, they chased me and didn’t hang around and try to get in the car after you, did they? If we could make a big signal or something to distract them, and I could get in...”

  “No, hold on there.” Rajesh held up his hands, palms towards Dana. “You can’t get involved in this. It’s a dangerous situation and you’re just a child.”

  An angry spike started up through Dana’s chest. “Nobody told Cale or Peter they couldn’t get involved in it because they’re children! Or Gamma! And now Cale and Peter are stuck there and they can’t do anything to help themselves, anything apart from sit there and die in a Compton bomb.” She turned imploringly to Jananin.

  After a few seconds of thought, Jananin interlocked her fingers and leaned back on the chair. “Hear her proposal first, Rajesh.”

  Rajesh gave Dana a disbelieving look, but didn’t voice any further protest.

  “I know Gamma,” Dana said. “I’ve seen everything about her in my dreams. There’s this connection we share, although she won’t let me in when she’s awake. They did awful things to her at the hospital. She’s just a person like me who has been treated in a way that has made her hate everything. If I can get in there, if I can get her alone, I think I can reason with her.”

  Jananin studied Dana for a little while. “Rajesh, I want to put an alternative suggestion to the Spokesmen. We will have the Stormcaller on standby ready to deploy the Compton bomb, however, we will send in a small task force first, a group led by you to attack the Forge and cause a diversion, while I will attempt to get Dana close enough to enter and defeat Gamma. If this strategy proves unsuccessful within a reasonable time limit or it looks as though we will incur heavy losses, we will use the Compton bomb.”

  Rajesh stared at Jananin in horror. “If you deploy the Compton bomb while Dana is still in the Forge, she’ll be killed as well as the hos
tages and Gamma!”

  “But that risk is worth taking to save Cale!” Dana shouted.

  Rajesh shook his head. “You don’t understand what you’re saying! Jananin, I can’t believe you’re prepared to even consider this! She’s a child! She’s not capable of understanding the risk and making an informed decision!”

  “Rajesh, this child is rather more capable than you might think. She managed to follow Pilgrennon’s beacon to it source alone.”

  “I know that very well, and you should never have allowed it! She couldn’t possibly have understood the risk. You exploited her to further your own agenda.”

  “I understand the risk!” Dana interrupted. “Really what it is, it’s the choice of just the hostages dying, or the hostages and me. Because you can give the command to use the Compton bomb as soon as things start to get too dangerous, if it looks like someone could get hurt or killed.”

  A deep unease had come over Rajesh. He looked again to Jananin, who again did not respond. “In theory, yes.”

  Dana couldn’t imagine going back home to Pauline and Graeme’s house, without Cale. She had come into this world with him, and he wasn’t leaving it without her. “Then that’s what you must do. Because I can’t and I won’t stay here and rest because Tarrow says I’m ill, while you go out and kill my brother and Peter. Even if it means I end up dead as well, at least I will have tried.”

  Nobody spoke for what seemed a long time, and then Rajesh said, “I am an air commodore in the Sky Forces, and it’s my job to act on the Meritocracy’s orders. If the Meritocracy orders me to do this, then I must do it, no matter what I think.”

  Jananin said to Rajesh, “I will speak with you in a moment. I want to speak to Dana in private first.”

  He looked away from her and his mouth groped for words. “Pilgrennon did you a severe wrong, and I still believe you were right in your actions to stop him, although I often thought at times vengeance played too great a part in it than I was comfortable with. I made an oath to support you in this to the best of my ability and I have always upheld it, even when it put my career and my own life at risk. I owe you a debt which I will never repay, not in one lifetime. However, if we do this, and it fails, and she is killed... I will consider that debt void.” Rajesh saluted loosely and left the room.