by Geoff Nelder
After another hundred metres walking and fending off an increasing frequency of jutting rocks, he stopped and looked back once more. He could no longer see the mine entrance. There must have been enough of a kink to deny him the exit light.
“Careful here,” Ryder said, with Dan and Jena on either side. At their feet was a sharp edge to a deep pit stretching side to side and ten metres in front. Light bulbs lit down and up, casting shadows between illuminated rock segments.
“Wow,” exclaimed Jena. “It looks like a bottomless pit. This is beautiful, Ryder.”
“It sure is,” Dan said. “Takes your breath away, the soft yellow mixed with cold greys and spooky shadows. People would pay to see this. Amazing. I take it this is where the tour ends. I can’t see an easy way round.”
“We have to get across,” Ryder said. “Because the case is in a cavern on the other side.”
“A hidden bridge?” Jena said.
“Watch and be amazed,” Ryder said. “It’s surprisingly easy to jump.”
“No way. You’ll kill yourself. And I’m only just getting to like you.”
He laughed, took a few steps back, ran to the brink, and jumped. He landed in the pit, but it was an illusion. An inch of water. The pit was a perfect reflection in a shallow pool of undisturbed water.
The two astronauts, after their initial shock, laughed and then jumped too, splashing like children at the seaside.
Across the pool, they rounded a bend to an end cavern. It had similar equipment to the isolation room, with the addition of a padlocked steel cage. Although used by miners to store their more valuable tools, it served the new owners as a safe. The padded container looked no different than when they enclosed the case with it out in orbit. A light and a camera looked at it from high up on the wall. Ryder waved and thumbed up at the camera.
“Derek is monitoring it, especially since we would have triggered a couple of motion-sensor alarms since entering the mine.”
The three stood looking at the wrapped case.
Dan started. “We didn’t get round to discussing what to do with this beastie.”
“I know what we should do with it,” Jena said. “Throw away the key to that padlock.”
Ryder dragged over a couple of wooden chairs to add to the one facing the case’s prison. They all sat while Ryder extracted a flask of hot coffee and Bronwyn-made biscuits from his rucksack. They munched and sipped in quiet contemplation.
“It needs to be opened and soon,” Dan said.
“I agree,” said Ryder. “It could be mankind’s salvation.”
“Or its end,” Jena said.
Ryder said, “Certainly humans are going to be wiped out in a year or so at the present rate. People have dropped like flies with the lack of medication to overcome their pre-ARIA conditions and post-ARIA epidemics. Soon, there’ll be none who can read or remember basic skills.”
Jena offered a wry smile. “They’ll still be able to make babies.”
“Yes, instinct and hormones will see to that,” Dan said. “But ARIA means the day after, they’ll forget they’ve had a baby, or where it is. They’ll wonder why they’re sore, look for a reason and, with luck, find a baby in a cot. How many babies will starve to death within days? Or fall prey to the packs of dogs we’ve heard about?”
“That’s sure worse than when humans dropped out of the trees,” Jena said.
“Yes,” said Ryder. “Those early humans were able to remember what they learned.”
“If it’s just down to us uninfected humans to regenerate the race,” said Jena, edging her chair closer to Ryder. “We’d better get started right away.”
“Umm,” Ryder said, “you have a point. Are you ready to be a baby factory?”
“Oh my God, I hadn’t thought this one through.” Jena edged her chair equidistant from both men.
Dan added to her angst. “Of uninfected people, we only know of this group in North Wales and Charlotte, on her own in Australia. How many is that?”
“Fourteen altogether,” Ryder said. “According to the biologists here, that is too small a base for a sustainable population regeneration since only four women here are of child-bearing age. I’m afraid I don’t fancy driving all the way to Australia to get Charlotte pregnant.”
“We could store eggs from the women before we make them pregnant,” said Dan. “Then use our sperm and cloning technology to set up a kinda human embryo factory to impregnate the four women with, say, six at a time.”
Ryder, sneaked Dan a sly wink. “Then the women would have to be more or less permanently pregnant with sextuplets.”
“Who would look after all the infants?” Jena was aghast.
“You women, of course,” Ryder said. “We’d be needed doing other physical work. Women are the natural child rearers. Of course all this might be unnecessary if, somehow, ARIA could be reversed or at least stopped in time.”
“Could be worthwhile seeing what’s in this case, then,” Dan said, winking at Ryder.
“You fuckers,” Jena said. “All this baby-factory stuff was just a ploy to get me to agree to opening the case. As if you needed my blessing.”
THEIR RETURN TO THE CENTRE CORRESPONDED WITH LUNCHTIME. Teresa’s perimeter tour group entered just as the other two groups finished their soup. Ryder looked up to see Teresa, who had linked arms with Antonio. Her face bright and smiling more than he’d seen for a long time. He fought his immediate urge to run out and pile into Antonio. If he wasn’t going to hang on to Teresa, it was because he and she weren’t right for each other. The fact that they had not considered getting married put strength to that argument. Nevertheless, as leader of the group and her lover, he cared for her. But for the time being, he had more critical decisions to make. He should be grateful she smiled, mostly.
After lunch, Ryder took Dan and Jena out on the perimeter run. They were keen to breathe fresh air as well as inspect their security from the possibility of crazed local invaders. He had a strong urge to do the whole tour by walking, but Jena had spotted Brian’s quad-bike and her playful side obliged her to insist on using it.
“Have you heard a quad-bike in action, Jena?” Brian, held onto the key, while Jena tried to grab it off him.
“Of course I have. Everyone has them on my beach in LA. No one would consider moving across the dunes without one.”
“I thought you lived in Boston.” Ryder had studied the biographies of all the crew.
“Oh, come on, Ryder. Stop being picky.”
“It’s not that I mind you having a great time.”
“Great,” Jena said. “Brian, hand ’em over.”
“But we try not to generate noise that might bring unwelcome visitors.”
“Antonio said the perimeter tour took four hours,” she said.
“Hey,” said Ryder, “if you’ve something better to do, don’t let us keep you.”
“Actually, I might have. You boys go for your hike.”
Dan took Ryder to one side. “It might not be a good idea to leave Jena to her own devices. You might have noticed that she’s a bit...”
“Volatile?”
“Excitable. Ryder, I know the quad-bike would be noisy, especially up on the ridge where the sound would travel all the way to Ireland, but I’d rather have her with us than not.”
“Hang on a moment,” said Ryder, and ran into the centre. Moments later, he came out with Megan’s mountain bike. It had the latest puncture-proof tyres, thirty-six gears, and ultra-smart suspension system.
Jena snorted in derision but after a little consideration, tried it out around the centre car park. “Pretty cool. Give it a go, Dan. On the other hand, you can’t—it’s all mine.”
“Actually, it’s me who’s allowing you to ride my bike,” said Megan at the doorway.
“Oh, thanks, Megan. Does it do zero to twenty-five thousand in ten seconds like the vehicles I’m used to?”
“Only downhill. Brian’s fixed the hooter.”
“Great. Hey, the h
ooter doesn’t work. Ah, that’s what you meant. And I suppose he’s taken the playing card out of the spokes as well, the spoilsport. Hah! Don’t worry Megan, I’ll bring it back in one piece.”
“Before you go tearing up the valley,” said Ryder, “there are a few ground rules such as keeping below the ridge, keeping quiet, get on the phone if you see a stranger within the perimeter, keep within sight of us at all times—”
“Haven’t you got one of those retractable child leashes to put on me?” said Jena
“I’ll just have to trust you. Phone?”
“Yes.”
“Helmet?”
“Get lost.” She bombed off down the narrow lane.
RYDER AND DAN FOLLOWED ON FOOT. The valley had few trees. Bracken and grasses clothed the rocks, allowing a clear view for several miles. Ryder regretted letting Jena escape by mountain bike. There was no way she would keep them in sight, and they couldn’t catch up. So, they turned uphill off the track to gain the ridge. Their view of the whole valley would be uninterrupted, and with care, they’d be able to use their binoculars on the next valley.
Dan had to keep stopping. “You’ve no idea what this hike is doing to my lungs and legs.”
“I’ve some idea, Dan. I used to spend too long cooped up in offices and studios. It’s only recently I’ve had the benefit of all this fresh air, the aroma of that lavender we’ve just brushed through, watching bees visiting the heather blossoms, and just gazing at the eddies in a mountain stream.”
“No, Ryder, I mean I’ve been in low gravity and little exercise-mode for so long, I can’t keep up.”
“Oh, sorry, Dan. Head for that rock; we’ll rest up.”
They sat and trained their glasses on Jena. A mile away, she’d left the rough lane to explore the stone remains of ancient hut circles in the valley floor.
“Before we arrived here, feral ponies wandered throughout this valley. Just a small herd but no doubt they assumed it belonged to them. Luckily, we only had to patch a few holes in fences to persuade them to find other pastures.” A splotchy brown butterfly alighted on a sun-warmed patch of rock near Dan.
Dan leant towards it. “Well now, little fellah, do you have ARIA? I guess it would be pretty difficult to compute its memory loss.”
“Since the butterfly stage only lasts a week or so, it would lose its adult memory in four hours. What would it have to remember anyway? Instinct tells it to drink, fly erratically to avoid predators, warm wing muscles on a sunny stone, mate, and lay eggs. I think it must be one of the fritillary butterflies Teresa’s excited about. They’re becoming rarer, though whether it’s global warming or habitat loss—hey, I suppose ARIA will result in them increasing. I’d like to show you the ridge. Shall we go?”
Dan took one more lingering look at the butterfly. At the ridge top, he gasped. Both out of breath and in awe of the view.
“On the horizon to the north is the Irish Sea with Anglesey to the northwest. That milestone you’re leaning on is Roman. You see a sunken grassy track here. It links ancient forts.”
“There’s a hell of a lot of history here, Ryder. Are we witnessing the end game?”
“I’ve often thought that while strolling around up here, hoping I won’t see any strangers. Yet, I get a pang of hope when I see a curl of smoke from a chimney. I certainly didn’t expect to see any more airplane trails.”
“Sure is peaceful up here. No doubt in contrast to the chaos and mayhem in the coastal cities. We need to put our mind to opening that damn case. It might be the last hope for any of us.”
Ryder agreed. “We’ll walk along this ridge for a while. I’m looking but can’t see any strangers, but you never know who, behind curtains or a bush, might see moving shapes along a skyline. We’re hidden for a mile, and then we’d better nip back down into the Anafon Valley and head towards inspecting our security gates.”
“We’re not going to be scaling Mount Everest on the south side of the centre, are we?”
“Llwtymor Mountain? Not today. There are the remains of Second World War aircraft up there.”
“This one little valley is a gem of a place, Ryder, and yet you say hardly anyone rambled over it on a daily basis before ARIA?”
“Gets to you, doesn’t it? Especially poignant now. See our new wire fencing between the gaps in the stone wall? It wouldn’t keep anyone determined out, but hopefully the signs will deter them.”
“Yeah, I wondered about the ‘Active Firing Range’ notices. Neat.”
They kept their heads below the skyline as they hiked west until following an old sheep track back down to the small lane. They soon came to a new gate.
“This is the second gate a vehicle would have to go through to reach our centre. See how there’s a rocky bluff from the mountain on this side right down to the road and a steep slope down to the river on the left?”
“I’ve waved at the camera, Ryder, but is anyone watching?”
“Si there is, Commander,” said a tinny voice, from a speaker.
“That you, Antonio? I thought this gatepost had an Italian accent,” said Dan. “Keep your hands off my dinner.”
“Ah, Dan, I let my hands take what they can, but I’ll leave your pasta alone.”
Ryder walked up to the microphone. “Is Teresa there?”
“I will seek her out.”
Ryder imagined his grinning face.
“No, don’t bother. I’ll catch up with her later,” said Ryder, but Antonio had been replaced by Brian.
“Everything all right at the gate, Ryder?”
“Yes, Brian, see you later.” Ryder stood, hands on hips. “How did you keep your hands away from punching Antonio on board the ISS?”
“Never needed to. My wife left me two years ago. If he tried it on with Jena, it wouldn’t have bothered me as long as the assignments were on target. Are you unduly worried about him and Teresa?” Dan gave the gate a tug to check how solid it was and noted the razor wire along the top.
Ryder test-kicked the bottom spar. “Logically, we need to adjust our emotions to fit the new situation.”
“Easier said than done. Though it looks as if our Jena has the hots for you, or haven’t you noticed?”
“Yeah, well. Teresa’s hard enough to handle. Could I control Jena? Isn’t she making a play for all the new men here at Anafon? Just asking?”
“Nope, I reckon she goes on full broadside for one target at a time. If you want my advice, let her have you.”
“What? Dan, that isn’t the kind of well-brought-up Godly advice I’d expect from you.”
“Hell, it’s just practical, Ryder. If you don’t, she’ll keep on and on. Anyway, she’s darn bright and a lot of fun, I guess. Difficult and independent too. Want a hot-water bottle or a wild cat?”
“All this relationship stuff does my head in. Haven’t much time for it now, have we? Let’s consider the case again.”
“Fair enough. The mine is isolated and you have sensors and remote operating facilities to check the case out during its opening.”
“You do remember the problem opening the first case by remote handling?” said Ryder.
“If I recall correctly, it wouldn’t open until a human got real close. I wonder if it was the warmth—an infrared sensor—or has it a human-contact sensor beyond our technical experience? It would have helped to have had a detailed analysis of the case after it opened. I know the situation became rapidly confused with the breached containment protocol, but before memory loss took over...”
“No, Dan, the memory loss is effective immediately. Within one hour of being in the vicinity of the open case, you’d lose two days of memory. So if his new headache and confusion let him, the techie would think—what case? The Edwards contamination started slower, but the case wasn’t opened there. Further infected people don’t display memory loss until after sleep.”
They continued walking, talking, taking delight in the aromas from the heather, damp soil, and that nostril-widening experience with clean air. R
yder leapt on a waist-high boulder and eyed his binoculars.
“Hey, Dan, I can’t see Jena anywhere. Have you?”
“No, I’ll try her cell phone. Good job you people have set up a narrow-band local network. Nope, turned off. She must be back at the centre.”
Ryder used his own phone. “The centre hasn’t seen her either, but Brian said he’d use the cameras, and if necessary, the flying cam on a drone model airplane.”
“My God, you are prepared.”
“She gave me the impression she wasn’t used to off-road biking. Suppose she’s had an accident and is unconscious?” Ryder’s irritation of her had transformed to concern.
“How much daylight do we have left?” Dan said. “We could split up and go along both sides of the valley.”
“It’s four, so we have at least two and a half hours. I don’t want to lose you too. Stay with me and I’ll get Gustav and Brian to nip out while the women operate the remote webcam.”
After fifteen minutes with no sighting, Dan, puffed again, said, “Are those paths easier?”
“You’re looking at sheep tracks, they’ll go anywhere. Hello, I’m getting a call from Megan.”
“Hi Dan, it’s all right, I caught a glimpse of Jena round the stores area back here at the centre.”
“Excellent. Thanks, Megan.”
“Hang on there, Megan,” said Dan, asking Ryder for the phone. “Did she bring back your bike?”
“I suppose so.”
“Megan, do me a huge favour, kid, and look?” asked Dan.
“Cor, I don’t know. I’m peeling bloody spuds here. Oh, all right then. It’s not far, I suppose. Be right back.”
“You are a star, Megan,” said Dan, as he and Ryder listened to Megan’s objections, Welsh-accent banter and heavy breathing. Ryder raised an eyebrow at Dan but acceded to the commander’s more insightful experience of Jena’s character.
“Right. I’m where my bike is kept.”
“And?” Dan had to drag it out of her.
“She must have put it in the wrong place. Shall I have a look around for it?”
“No, Megan,” Dan said. “Get back to your potatoes, but thanks.” He turned to Ryder. “There’s no point in Megan spending time looking for a bike Jena is still riding. Megan probably did see her. She went back there for I don’t know—a drink, her camera, a Band-Aid for a grazed knee?”
