by M. R. Forbes
“It’s easier for me to show you than to tell you,” Jonas said. “We only got access to the outside network last week, and this is what made me want to come and talk to you. But Francis was convinced that was a bad idea. He said there was no way someone had deleted data from the PASS and someone in Law or Org or Engineering didn’t know about it. He was worried there were protocols in place to deal with breaches.”
“Not any protocols I was aware of,” Hayden said. “The Governor is a different story.”
“Apparently.” He tapped on the tabletop, on the projected surface. The characters flew along the display. A window opened, showing a black box. “Are you ready for this, Sheriff? It’s going to blow your shit. If the Governor knew we had this, I think he’d raze this entire Block.”
Hayden looked at Jonas. The man was determined, and angry. His best friends were dead because of this.
“Go ahead,” Hayden said.
Jonas tapped the keyboard. The dark box turned into an image. A corridor similar to the maintenance passages. Alone, it would have been unimpressive.
But the corridor wasn’t empty. It was grainy, but it was obvious. A skeleton was slumped against the wall, long hair flowing over its shoulder. A woman, then. She was wearing a jumpsuit, not unlike the one the Governor wore. She had a patch on her chest, under an insignia. “Hoskins.” The middle of the jumpsuit was torn, the material darker there. Stained.
Hayden felt his heart start thumping in his chest. He had already learned that there was more life on the other side of Metro’s perimeter, but this?
“Geez,” Sarah said. “This means that-”
“We weren’t alone on the Pilgrim,” Jonas said. “Not always.”
Hayden stared at the insignia. It matched the logo on the screen for the PASS.
“It’s more than that,” he said. “The Pilgrim wasn’t always autonomous. She had a crew. A real, live crew. This woman was a member of it.”
“That’s what we think.”
“Something killed her.”
“We believe that, too. We were hoping whatever did that was dead. It’s been a long time.”
The cuts looked familiar, but the location was wrong. The demon had always gone for the throat.
“It isn’t dead,” Hayden said. “Or they aren’t dead. I don’t know. Something took my wife. And something is wandering around Metro.”
“Something?” Sarah said. “I thought you said it was a man?”
“I lied,” Hayden said. “What I saw, it wasn’t a man. I hit it with three stunners, and it reacted by climbing to the top of one of the blocks. It had claws. I saw them.”
“It could be the same thing that killed Hoskins,” Jonas said.
“It could,” Hayden agreed.
“Geez,” Sarah said, frightened. “What the hell is this? What the hell? Seriously, Sheriff. You’re telling me there are monsters on the Pilgrim? You’re telling me the crew is all dead? Are we even supposed to be locked out of the rest of the ship?”
Hayden was surprised she asked that. He was starting to wonder the same thing.
“You said the secure hatch opened, Sheriff?” Jonas said. He was staying impressively calm and reasonable, more like an Engineer than a Cleaner.
“During the last turbs. My wife, Natalia radioed me and told me she found a body, and it wasn’t one of ours. By the time I got to her position, the hatch was closed, and she was gone. There was a bloody handprint under it. Maybe it was hers. I hope to the Universe it wasn’t. The Governor, he cleaned it all up. He made it disappear so nobody would know. I came to you because I need you to help me open the hatch. I need to get out there.”
“I don’t think you want to go out there, Sheriff,” Sarah said. “Not if there are monsters out there.”
“They took my wife.”
“How do you know she isn’t dead?”
“She isn’t dead,” Hayden snapped, so violently Sarah flinched like she had been hit. “She isn’t dead,” he repeated more quietly. “I’m sorry, Sarah. I can’t accept that. I won’t. Why do you think I took Hector’s knife?”
“Sheriff, if you can get out there,” Jonas said, pausing. “If we can get out there, maybe we can find out what happened. Maybe we can find out where we are, or how we got knocked off course. Maybe we can do something about it.”
“Are you crezz?” Sarah said. “You can’t go out there, either of you. You’ll die.”
“There’s no ‘we,’” Hayden said. “I’m going alone. Assuming we can find a way to open the hatch.”
“What about the Governor?” Sarah continued. “He’s desperate to keep this a secret. Why? He has to have a reason. Maybe a good reason.”
“There’s no good reason for killing people,” Jonas said.
“How do you know?” Sarah countered.
“Sarah,” Hayden said.
“No. I’m sorry, Sheriff. You said, don’t let anyone talk down to you, so you should listen to me. Maybe what Governor Malcolm knows that we don’t is worth killing over? Maybe he deleted the data, or one of the Governors before him did it. Maybe some things should be remembered, but there are some things that should stay forgotten.”
Hayden stared at her. He couldn’t deny that she had a point, but he also didn’t care. “My wife is out there, which means I’m going to do anything I have to to get out there.” He looked at Jonas. “Can you open the hatch?”
Jonas shook his head. “No. The camera was the only thing we were able to get access to. Every system has a different code. We weren’t sure the hatches could be opened, but I guess you have proof that they can.”
“Unfortunately, that proof is running around Metro killing people,” Hayden said.
“I’m telling you, Sheriff,” Sarah said. “Don’t go out there. Don’t try to open the hatch. What if you can’t close it again? What if you let more of those things in?”
“We need to find a way to open the hatch first, or it doesn’t matter either way. Jonas, can it be done?”
Jonas shrugged. “I don’t know, Sheriff. We were working on it for a long time. The camera was our first and only breakthrough, and look what happened since. Plus, the Governor knows we’ve been hacking the PASS now. He’s going to have all of the terminals guarded.”
“But can it be done?” Hayden repeated. “Is it possible? Yes or no?”
“Yes. It’s possible. Clearly, the hatch is functional. There has to be a control system for it.”
“You need a terminal?”
“Yes. I can plug my rig into it and run the root system. But I don’t have a way to figure out which connector is the hatch, and even if I did, I don’t have a way to get the right access code except by trial and error. It could take weeks.”
“We don’t have weeks,” Hayden said.
“I know. I want to do it, Sheriff. I really do. But we weren’t ready for this. We weren’t close to ready. Franco was right about that. I should have listened to him, maybe none of this would have happened. Maybe he would still be alive.”
“Natalia would be gone, and I would have no idea how to get to her,” Hayden said. “I thought you could help me, but maybe you can’t.”
He leaned back in the chair. He wasn’t ready to accept that there was nothing he could do. He wasn’t ready to give up. There had to be a way through that damn hatch.
“Maybe the Governor knows how to open it?” Sarah said. “I mean, it’s not like he’d admit it if he did.”
“Somebody deleted the data,” Jonas said. “It’s possible they made a copy first?”
“Somebody like the Pilgrim’s designer?” Hayden asked.
“Could be.”
“Have you heard the rumors about the Governor’s secret stash?”
“I thought that was food?” Sarah said.
“What if it isn’t?” Hayden replied. “What if it has to do with this? Maybe he has access after all? He’d never use it. Not if his position dictates he keep the truth silent at all costs.”
“What
is the truth, Sheriff?” Sarah said. “When it comes down to it?”
“My best guess? When the Pilgrim launched, there was a human crew guiding her. Only something happened, and the ship was boarded by these demon creatures. They killed the crew, but not before they sealed the city to protect the people inside. Instead of delivering these creatures to a new world, they put the ship off course and left us drifting.”
Sarah shook, her chill visible. “You think they knew we were going to die out here?”
“Eventually, yes.”
Hayden didn’t like it either, but it was what it was.
“And the Governor is going along with this?”
“He wants to keep the residents of Metro alive for as long as he can,” Hayden said. “I think you’re right. He believes he’s doing the right thing, and I can’t argue that he isn’t. But my loyalty is to Natalia first.”
“No, I wasn’t right,” Sarah said. “My life is a lie. Your life is a lie. We’re all going on for what? An end that’s sure to come if we just sit here and do nothing? Having babies so those babies can die when the power fails, or the atmospherics break, or when more of the monsters get in? Fezz that, Sheriff. I want you to get your wife back. I want to know the truth.”
“What about your mother?” Hayden asked. Her reaction was almost a complete reversal from her previous attitude.
“Fezz her, too. It’s not her decision. I’m an adult.”
“So,” Jonas said. “Where do we start?”
22
“This wasn’t what I had in mind, Sheriff,” Jonas said.
“You aren’t safe up here. Not for long. As soon as the Governor decides finding you is the top priority, this place is going to get raided and shut down.”
“But the Source pays off the deputies. They can’t renege on that.”
“They’ll have to if it means staying out of lockup. Nobody can turn a blind eye forever.”
Jonas shoved the homemade computer into a large satchel along with a few of his other possessions.
“Who does this cube belong to, anyway?” Sarah asked.
“My girlfriend. She’s downstairs.”
“It’s not Leyla, is it?”
“No. I’m not going to plan a future with a whore.”
Sarah’s face tensed, but she didn’t reply.
“What can you tell me about the Source?” Hayden asked. “I never heard that name before today.”
“He keeps a low profile. Nobody knows who he is, and word on the street is to only bring him up when in certain company. Everybody around here is so afraid of him; nobody dares fezz it up.”
“Why are they afraid?”
“He makes people disappear, and Law never seems to notice.”
“He’s also supplying you with drugs and alcohol,” Hayden said. “Where does he get it?”
“Who knows? Could be he already hacked the system and can open the hatches. Maybe he goes outside the perimeter? But I’ve heard there are chemicals in some of the systems that can be used to make stuff. Siphon it from the conduits, a tiny bit at a time. Engineering won’t notice. Law won’t notice. It’s not a new thing, but it is cyclical.”
“You mean previous generations have done the same thing?”
“Yeah. It all gets passed down word of mouth. We don’t have anything to write on down here. The recycled paper gets prioritized to the top end. So do the functional tablets. But I’m sure you knew that.”
He had never given it much thought. The Law Office was always stocked. He had been living his entire life in a bubble within Metro, never venturing too far beyond it.
“The way they tell it, sometimes there’s more illicit activity, sometimes less. But it’s always come from the Source.”
“Like the sprocket is immortal?” Sarah said.
“More like he’s having kids that carry on the tradition.” He closed and buttoned the satchel. “I’m ready, but I still think this is a bad idea.”
“Do you have a better one?” Hayden asked.
“No.”
“Come on.”
Hayden led them out of the cube and into the hallway. They were approaching the stairwell when he heard the familiar strain of the ship’s skeleton.
“Turbs,” he said, putting his hand against the wall.
The ship shuddered, the sudden pressure vibrating it. It wasn’t too bad this time, and they managed to stay on their feet.
Hayden kept walking, entering the stairwell and descending. The others inside had paused during the first turb, but only for a moment. They were acclimated to them.
The ship shook again, a little harder this time. Sarah almost fell down the steps, but Hayden grabbed her wrist, keeping her upright.
“Thanks, Dezz,” she said, careful in the company of others.
He nodded. They made it to the second-floor landing. The turbs were getting stronger, and the third hit the Pilgrim pretty hard. They all fell to their knees to keep from tumbling around.
“Bad timing,” Hayden said.
At the same time, he heard a loud clang from outside. It came from above deck. It sounded like it was right next to the Block.
“What was that?” Sarah asked.
“I don’t know,” Hayden replied.
There were no windows in the stairwell. No way to look outside.
The quaking subsided for a moment. They stood and started down the steps again.
A fourth turb hit. This one was the strongest of them all.
Hayden heard a soft hiss, and then the stairwell beneath them was engulfed in a gout of flame.
He didn’t think. He reacted by grabbing Sarah and throwing her behind him, smothering her body with his as the fire exploded through the doorway and climbed upward with the air. He heard the screams from further below, the cries of pain and agony as the explosion rocked the Block, shaking everything as hard as the turb. His eyes watered from the heat, and he could feel it licking at his back.
The fire vanished almost as quickly as it came, the heat subsiding. Hayden jumped to his feet, looking down on Sarah. She was alive and alert, her eyes watering like his. Jonas was beside her, facedown on the steps. He started to get up.
“Shit. Kylie.” He turned his head to the base of the stairs, his face distraught.
“What the hell was that?” she asked in a small voice.
“I think one of the conduits ruptured,” he said. “Do you remember Block Eight?”
He looked at the base of the stairwell. The fire had claimed a dozen kids, leaving their bodies naked and burned and motionless. He could still sense heat from below. The Block was on fire.
“Up,” he said, reaching out and grabbing Sarah’s hand. “We need to go up. Quickly.”
They started to ascend. More of the residents in the Block were moving out onto the stairwell. Gary, Hector, and his two guards were among them.
“Sheriff?” Hector said. His bravado was gone. He was just a scared kid, trying to find his way out.
“Up,” Hayden said. “Come on.”
They climbed as quickly as they could. The smoke was starting to pour into the stairwell, rising with them. Residents were moving out onto the stairwell, trying to come down, slowing the progress as the others directed them upward.
“Cover your mouths,” Hayden said. “Try not to breathe in the smoke.”
“Where are we going?” Hector asked. “Sheriff, the rooftops are locked. We’ll die in here.”
“I can open it,” Hayden replied.
The building shook again as another turb hit, causing a number of them to scream. It was smaller than the last, the shaking beginning to subside.
The damage had already been done.
The air was getting thicker with every passing second, the smoke increasing as the fire expanded upward into the floors above. Block Eight had been left a bent mess of slagged metal framework within thirty minutes, the flames eating through the unprotected innards of the space. Hayden understood the loss. Hundreds of years of hand-me-down
mementos and keepsakes were being lost, burned and gone forever. Entire family histories. Not to mention essential resources they could never get back.
More and more of the residents were coughing. A few of them started to fall, their lungs overcome by the smoke. It was hard for him to pass them by, to keep moving without stopping to help them. But there was no help. If they didn’t keep going, they were all going to die.
The first of the residents reached the door, pulling on it to try to make it open.
“Move out of the way,” Hector shouted. His friends took up the call, getting the people in front of them to clear a space for Hayden. Sarah and Jonas followed him through it, all the way up to the top.
His lungs hurt. His legs burned. He could barely breathe. He knew they all probably felt the same way. Even once they were outside, they wouldn’t have much time.
He made it to the control panel, quickly entering his access code. The panel flashed a message it him in red:
“Code Invalid.”
What?
“They locked you out,” Jonas said beside him. “Don’t worry; I know the master code. It can’t be locked out or changed.”
He tapped on the panel. The light turned green, and the door clicked. He pushed it open, letting the circulating air in and the smoke out. The scrubbers would clean the atmosphere in time, but the collected debris was going to reduce their efficiency even further.
They poured out onto the rooftop, nearly five hundred in all. It was a small amount for an entire Block. Much too small. Hayden was left hoping a lot of the residents hadn’t been in their cubes. That they were anywhere else.
“Now what?” Hector asked.
“Cross over to Block Twenty-one,” Hayden said.
“How?”
“You’ll have to jump.”
“What?” Gary said beside him. “It’s over two meters.”
“We don’t have a choice,” Hayden said. “Try to jump or die in the fire.”
“I can’t do it,” Hector said. “I’m terrified of heights.” He moved to the edge and looked over. “No way.”
Hayden didn’t know what else to do. Some of them weren’t going to make it, that much was assured. But most of them would. More than would have survived the flames that were climbing the Block.
