Digital Venous

by Richard Gohl

  Jeffery studied his veins—they were rather Napean-looking. Somewhat taken aback, he looked up, more closely at the boy’s face. He didn’t look Napean but then again, he had trouble finding the vein, tightened the tourniquet, trying to find a location for the needle. He pushed the needle in. Ryan sucked air through his teeth as Jeffery searched for blood. None was forthcoming.

  At a distance, Shane saw Ryan wince in pain, and began pounding impotently on the window.

  Jeffery jabbed at Ryan’s arm again. This time he cried out, realizing that maybe this man wasn’t trying to help him after all. One of the other boys stood up and said, “Are you okay, Ryan?”

  “He’s absolutely fine,” said Jeffery, who seemed to have hit on some of the sought-after dark fluid in Ryan’s arm. But what came out perplexed the Service official. It wasn’t blood; it was more like N.E.T. fluid.

  “Who are you, boy?”

  From outside the Service deck Shane saw Magellan, who had been slumped, semi-conscious, in a chair. In a dreamlike state, eyes half-closed, he had been silently observing the proceedings. Then he heard Shane: Magellan… let those children go! Shane saw Magellan stand, stumble to the door of the lab, go in, and begin remonstrating with Jeffery.

  “Let them go, Jeff,” said Magellan. “Can’t you see they’re… and he’s got parents—they’ll fight you for this.”

  “You’re sounding like Wing, and at any rate, I’m doing this for you.” Magellan stopped what he was doing, noticing Shane’s presence on ETP.

  Shane: Take some donor adults—voluntarily—not by …

  Jeffery was thriving on human blood: Ahhh…. Shane… again. When are you going to realize you are not in charge? Jeffery was still thriving on human blood. And right now you must do as I say, Wing, or I’ll be forced to turn you off and destroy the gardens. Do exactly as I say now or your beloved Subs will all die. As Magellan had no doubt informed you, we will be expecting Santiago, Tokyo, and Beijing, and neither you nor the Subs will survive when news of this insubordination reaches them. Find out who this child’s parents are. I want them punished. Bring me an adult—we need to revive Pato… if I cannot revive him, you, Wing, become a Service murderer… bring a real woman to the deck in ten minutes and the children are yours. This is your last chance.

  Shane knew a real woman who might relish the opportunity of meeting the men from the Service.

  Five minutes later Shane reappeared outside the Service deck entrance.

  Jeffery ordered: Leave the woman! Alia stood there and waited for the door to open. Jeffery communicated with Shane: Go back to your filthy Subs. The children will be released when she’s finished.

  The door slid open. Meekly, submissively, she shuffled across to Jeffery’s lab. “Come! Come!” he yelled. None of the boys made eye contact with her as she passed. Jeffery had all the transfusion equipment ready to go.

  She sat up on the chair, presented her arm. She saw Magellan stirring in a chair the corner.

  “Thank you for cooperating,” said Jeffery as he moved in on her, with his left hand holding the needle and right hand holding the attached tube. Then suddenly, not all that quickly, she grabbed his left arm with her left hand and, using his forward momentum, pulled him toward her. Her right hand had formed a fist and was drawn back like an arrow. He had no answer for the blow that broke his nose and, high on human blood, he felt no pain as he silently crumpled to the floor.

  Alia could see that Pato was no threat. His forehead was still flat on the ground and he was completely motionless. He looked dead. She stood up and went over to Magellan, slapping him on the face. He woke up. “Get up” she yelled. “Open the door!”

  Shane came in. “Well done!” he said.

  “Dad!” said Ryan. The other two boys stood close. They were pale and wide-eyed.

  “Alia you’re a gem,” said Shane. “Can you take these three and stay in the cabin!!”

  “Now Magellan, how do we fly this thing!”

  “It’s on auto-pilot for now. Just check everything’s secure…” he sat down on the chair and was rubbing his eyes. He sat forward. “Make sure… ohh.” Magellan was struggling.

  Shane asked Alia, “Can you give blood?”

  “To this schmuck?” she said.

  “Would you mind?” said Shane. “We need him.”

  “Don’t worry…” said Magellan quietly. “I’m not going to make it. But…” he collapsed back onto the low chair.

  “Put him up on the bed,” said Shane. “We narrowly avoided having a vampire festival in here.”

  “I know! I was on the menu!” said Alia.

  “What do we do? Magellan?” said Shane shaking the Service official. Magellan woke but was passing in and out of consciousness. “Magellan?” Shane shoved his shoulder.

  “You can’t save me now? It’s too late…” slurred the Service man. “Yes we can. We need you. Tell us what to do,” said Shane.

  “You’ve got to let some drain off… two liters… then give me two…And…”

  “What?”

  “This whole ship can be remotely controlled—Jeffery.” Magellan took a deep breath and said, “Jeffery can do it… without lifting a finger.”

  “I say we kill him now,” said Alia, “he’s far too dangerous… but then who’s flying this thing?”

  “From now on it’s pre-programmed,” said Magellan. “We… take the eye.” Magellan had his closed. “You’ll have to take it out.”

  Shane looked at Alia, who said, “I’ll be back.” She returned with Madi and Sylvana.

  “So you were the eye specialist all along,” said Shane. “I’ve been looking for you for years. Remember we don’t want to murder him.”

  “Why not?” said Madi.

  “We just want to stop him from using their Iris network…” said Shane.

  “So which one is the boss?” asked Madi. She walked over to Pato. “We won’t have to worry about this one….. looks like he’s gone already.” She prodded him with her toe.

  “The other one,” said Alia. “He was just about to drain my blood.”

  “Really?” said Madi. She grabbed Jeffery by the feet and said. “OK let’s go!” and dragged him out of the lab.

  Sylvana followed Madi into the adjacent lab leaving Alia and Shane to finish Magellan’s transfusion.

  Chapter 63

  Cleanup

  MAGELLAN’S TRANSFUSION WAS successful. Jeffery survived his eye operation but all the other Napeans were gone.

  An invisible cosmic sludge had stopped N.E.T. from working. The Nano-bots had become “lazy” and struggled to deliver hormones and nutrients to the cells of the Napeans who simply began to slow down and fade out. They became slower, weaker; reduced in every way and in a haze, had fallen into a sleep before the lights went out, permanently.

  Shane made an announcement regarding the epidemic and the demise of the Napean population—that there were only three survivors and that the condition was not contagious.

  After the initial panic came the euphoria. They were free. Finally, justice had been served. The ship was opened. A party ensued; food and drink were consumed as if it were to be their last day.

  Then there was the hangover. While the adults recovered, the children roamed free over the ship, exploring the previously forbidden Napean bow of the ship. With hushed voices, small groups of them wandered through Napean corridors and common areas leading through to cabins where they were horrified to see the contortions and twists of hundreds of Napean bodies. The children were morbidly fascinated to see what “on-board gravity” had done to the deceased. They looked like mummies: the fluids having drained to the front, side, or back of their bodies, depending on how they had been lying in their final moments.

  The children fled back to their rooms, and a quiet fell over the ship.

  Feelings of elation that they had outlasted the Napeans soon gave way to a sense of foreboding. Real people had become dependent on Napean control and the Napean routine.

  Alia m
ade an announcement that she and Shane would be taking joint command of the ship—with the surviving Service official Magellan as an advisor. The first task, she regretfully informed them, would be to clean up.

  It took several days to shoot out all the corpses.

  Shane found Charles just where he had left him—he was still sitting there by his bed, eyes open in quiet contemplation. The body was rigid, the face drawn and hard, completely drained of softening fluid. N.E.T. fluid seemed to set under the skin like resin.

  “Come on, old man.” Shane dragged him onto the trolley and covered him over. Charles was one of the last to leave. As the body was bundled into the evacuation hatch, some tears appeared. Shane wiped them off almost indignantly. Was it sadness or guilt that he had failed Charles? As if the situation wasn’t bad enough, the body wouldn’t fit in the hatch sitting up; it had to be lying down. Shane had to place one foot on his shoulder and the other on the leg to flatten it. With a crack and a creak the torso jerked backwards, prostrate.

  The clunking noise that the corpse made as it collided with the hull on exit was too horrid. And then there was the terrible vision: the incongruity of a small human body adrift in the vast blackness, arms akimbo in anticipation of some final embrace.

  Chapter 64

  Magellan

  MAGELLAN WAS REVITALIZED by the transfusion. He and Shane talked.

  “Look at me,” said Shane, “and look at you. You’re wasting away.” Magellan’s body had started consuming itself. Shane continued, “I started doing it as a little experiment on myself. Food. At first I couldn’t keep anything down… but I’m sure it’s the reason why I’m okay. Why don’t you start? It’s been a slow process, but I guess I’m partly real now.”

  Magellan asked, “How long was it before your body could process food?”

  “As soon as I could keep it down,” said Shane. “There was an immediate change in my metabolism.”

  “Incredible,” said Magellan. “We always saw food as retrograde and toxic.”

  “Well, it wasn’t my idea,” said Shane, and explained how Ryan combined both lifestyles. “Good. I’m glad he’s well,” said Magellan.

  “You’re glad? Why did you never say anything, speak out?”

  “I did in my own way, but I believe things work out of themselves.”

  “How can you be a man of science and believe in fate?”

  “It’s not fate; merely an acceptance of unseen forces.”

  “What does that mean?” asked Shane

  “There is always something out of reach, beyond our control. Fight hard, certainly, but accept the truth. You are not God.”

  “So you believe in God?”

  “I spoke metaphorically.”

  “You must have felt like a god… at times—in and out of peoples’ minds, working out how universal sources of energy and …errr… eternal life…” asked Shane.

  “Ha…well… hmmmm, that didn’t work out too well in the end, did it?” said Magellan with a smile.

  “Well, you’re still here,” said Shane.

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves… and let’s not forget, you too have done quite well for yourself—quite possibly one of the oldest humans in the universe. When were you born?”

  “2130,” answered Shane.

  “Only a hundred and forty-four...”

  “Only? How old are you?” asked Shane.

  “I was born in 2045. I am two hundred and twenty-nine. I don’t know where the time’s gone,” Magellan said in barely a whisper.

  “Who was the eldest?”

  “Jeffery, by three years. Pato was the youngest of the three of us. He was a mathematical genius. Jeffery was a geneticist—turned engineer. I guess you could say we were all linked by the world of physics—micro, macro, and nano.”

  “And you?” asked Shane.

  “My specialty has always been astronomy and space—astro-physics, which makes me responsible for this whole disaster.”

  “I think it might be one of those situations which is ‘beyond your control.’ Physics, astronomy, and space travel… we’re all glad you’re here, though!” Magellan was starting to look his age. He thanked Shane, who then asked, “What about Earth? You must know.”

  “I suspect there are many survivors. But what was true of the Earth’s climate before would be far worse now,” said Magellan.

  The two rested in silence for a few moments before Magellan spoke. “Speaking of Jeffery…”

  “What’s that?” asked Shane.

  “He locked the network,” said Magellan. “Is that a problem?”

  “The ship is set to eventually go into orbit around Remus. But nothing else can be done after that without access to the network.”

  “We need to talk him into showing you how to unlock it, ” said Shane.

  “That is the other problem…” said Magellan, his mouth opening wide to show horror and focusing his deeply set eyes on Shane, and then down at the floor.

  “Why?”

  “He’s dead.”

  Chapter 65

  System Down

  THE SHIP WAS still several months away from Sirius.

  Shane explained Ryan’s ability to perform telepathy and how he had gained entry to the network.

  “Ah, the organic user,” said Magellan, “that explains a lot.”

  Madi and Alia came up to the Service deck with Ryan in tow. Magellan stared at the child.

  Shane said, “This is Matt Magellan.” Ryan looked up at the tall man in wonder. The two women ignored him.

  ‘So,” said Alia, “network information is not just stored in the Napean brain, then?”

  “Ask the expert,” said Shane, referring to Magellan. “He’s right here.” Neither woman looked at him. Magellan gestured toward the large white round unit in the corner of the room. It was several feet high with a fist-sized light in the center and a rim of light around the top edge. There were what looked like handles attached to six wedge-shaped drawers—like a giant pie.

  “That’s all we have left. Everything you need is in there,” he said. “Detailed instructions regarding what needs to be done to journey to the surface, managing on board resources, the carrier capsule, how to leave the planet and get back to the ship—everything.”

  Madi interrupted him and, looking directly at Shane, asked, “So we have no control over the ship.” It was more of a statement than a question. Magellan didn’t notice her attempt to ignore him. He answered.

  “The ship is programmed to fly over Romulus and then orbit Remus… for as long as required. If we can access the network, you can then decide on a course of action.”

  They took Ryan over to one of the long bench seats at the side of the deck under the large windows.

  “It’s okay. You can go,” said Ryan to the women. “It’s probably better,” agreed Magellan, “if you leave.”

  Madi bristled visibly. “Actually I’ll stay. I’m his mother.”

  “Fine. Ryan you will need to lie down and follow my instruction,” said Magellan. “I’ve got to start him off,” said Shane.

  “Dad, I can do it by myself.”

  Ryan found it easy now, with the transmitter so close, to access the ETP frequency. After a short period of searching for the “hexagonal space,” he found himself in the middle room of the network structure.

  Magellan spoke. To Ryan, his telepathic voice and presence were very strong—he could almost see him standing there watching him. Magellan said to go forward and he began walking, again, in the strange artificial twilight world of the network.

  Ryan could see the small dark archways; the openings to other spaces. Magellan guided him, left and right: Now step through. Ryan remembered the bizarre feeling of being dragged through the portal. Whuuuupp! Without moving his feet he was sucked through to the next hexagonal space.

  After passing through two more openings, Ryan felt he knew where to go. In each passing section there were different configurations of three-dimensional panels, blocks
, switches, and all manner of built-in objects completely foreign to him but a part of the structure of the wall.

  Ryan described where he was. Magellan replied: Face left and go to the wall. Open the final security module by pressing the large rectangular panel. Inside there are five rods. One is vertical; turn all to the vertical position. Follow my voice back out.

  As Ryan opened his eyes, everyone was smiling—something he had not seen for a long time.

  Magellan said, “The network is active, open, and can now be projected and used collaboratively. Well done, Ryan.”

  Chapter 66

  Drive by

  The Black Sapphire powered closer and closer to its destination, Sirius. The two planets, rarely in complete darkness, swung in an elliptical orbit around the giant star. Sirius orbited its big sibling once every eight years, while the twin planets did it in less than three.

  People on board the Star Sapphire spent a lot of their time watching the two suns and the slow gradual movements of the huge astral bodies circling them.

  Now, on the sixth day of watching the spectacle, they flooded onto the Service deck, with its expansive viewing platforms and windows, as their new home finally came into sharp focus. At first all they could see was just the sublimely perfect circle: the dark outline of Remus. But as they grew nearer, and with the light of Sirius now off to one side, they could see that it was a green planet. There were maybe half a dozen circular, small blue patches spread about randomly on its surface—seas or lakes—and there were white clouds gathering in thickness around the central belt of the planet. The people pointed and chattered excitedly at many of these recognizable features.

  As they headed away from Remus, on the far side of the planet, they saw, suspended like tadpole eggs, a dozen tiny black spaceships of the Napean fleet. They cried out and hugged each other such was their excitement on seeing their fellow travellers after so many disasters and over such a long journey.

  Magellan slowly entered the room, tall and majestic in his huge cloak and with barely enough energy to walk. People stopped talking. Shane had come to be accepted, had gotten to know people individually. But Magellan represented something entirely different—many innocent people had been killed under his watch, at his command—they feared him, hated him. Shane broke the moment by saying, “We rejoin the rest of the fleet after Romulus.”