The Gaia Project

by Claire Buss

  'And who exactly am I talking to?' Martha asked.

  'Well now, that's privileged information. If you'd stayed in the city maybe we could've built a wonderful friendship. Alas, now I must treat you as an enemy of New Corporation.'

  Dina and Kira looked at each frowning. Dina mouthed the question 'New Corporation?' but Kira shrugged. She didn't know what it meant either.

  'Why am I your enemy?' asked Martha.

  'You were instrumental in an illegal takeover, were you not? You put yourself in charge, did you not? I believe all four members of the Board delegated to look after City 42 perished, have they not? Your father amongst them. I am surprised. I never thought a lady such as yourself would have patricide listed amongst her crimes.'

  Martha reddened but chose not to answer. She knew she hadn't killed her father. The others came to stand closer to her, trying to offer moral support without saying anything.

  'What do you want?' asked Jed.

  'Ah, the newly appointed Captain of the Guard. You do realise that your new position is bogus and all the operatives you have with you have been officially listed as deserters.'

  'Corporation have no jurisdiction over Force,' replied Jed.

  'Times change. We do now. I'm afraid your Chief has stepped down from office. Ill health apparently. He doesn't have long left.'

  Kira put a warning hand on Jed's arm and he swallowed his retort. The drone continued.

  'I am here to inform you that you have two choices. You either leave Camp Eden within the next twenty-four hours and try your luck out there in the wilderness or you return to City 42 where you will be tried for your crimes against New Corporation. Make the right decision and we may show mercy. I warn you though, if you attempt to make contact with another New Corporation city you will be arrested. New Corporation does not tolerate activists.'

  'Is that why you destroyed City 15?' shouted Dina, overcome with emotion.

  Ruth turned pale as she wavered on her feet while Martha cursed inwardly. That was not how she had planned to tell Ruth about what had happened.

  'City 15 were warned multiple times. But your fearless leader sealed their fate and accelerated their decimation by attempting to reach out and make contact. We will not tolerate any alternatives to New Corporation rule.'

  There was silence. The group had a lot of questions but no-one felt like talking to the drone any further.

  'I see you are taking a moment. Let me help with that. I remind you that you have twenty-four hours to return to City 42 where the children will be confiscated and you will all be held for questioning. If we are satisfied that you are no longer a threat to New Corporation you will be security tagged, separated and assigned new roles within the city. Your children may or may not be assigned back to you.'

  Ruth surprised everyone by interrupting the drone. 'You can't do that! You can't take away my child. She's biologically mine, I grew her - no thanks to your experimentations.'

  'Be that as it may, Ms Maddocks. Your recent overdose brings into question your fitness as a parent.'

  There was a long silence. The drone remained hovering in place, watching each and every one of them.

  'Twenty-four hours,' the tinny voice announced before the drone flew abruptly away.

  Stunned, Jed looked for his wife and pulled her into an embrace. Dina was clinging to Max and Ruth had gone to stand with Martha who had a determined look on her face.

  'It's time to break camp,' she announced but Ruth blocked her path.

  'It's time for you to tell me what happened in City 15,' she said. The others gave the two women a wide berth as Martha quietly explained what had happened to all the people in City 15. Ruth shook her head at first, unable to comprehend the brutality, then as she realised Martha was telling the truth, she began to cry. It was a sombre reminder to everyone else how ruthless New Corporation were.

  'It's horrible, Ruth, I still can't believe it happened. Like it should have been a dream,' Dina said, trying to help comfort her friend with a hug as she walked with Ruth and Martha back over to some chairs. Kira came to join them with some hot, sweet tea so Martha used the opportunity to slip away and find Jed. They met in the communal tent.

  'How many men do you have, Jed? How many skimmers?' Martha's voice was all business. Internally she was deeply shaken by the casual show of force New Corporation had demonstrated. This was a different kind of Corporation to what she was used to. Yes, the previous regime had been instrumental in treating the water supply and keeping everyone sterile but she truly believed that had been a result of circumstance rather than malicious intent. What had happened in City 15 didn't feel like the Corporation she had grown up with but, she didn't have time to think about that now. She needed to focus on getting everyone to safety.

  'I've got twenty operatives so, I'd split them down the middle? Ten to each mission? I'll head up one team, put Ash in charge of the other,' replied Jed.

  'It's a pity we don't have two Ashes - we could do with his tech expertise, especially in maintaining comms between the two teams. If such things are possible,' mused Martha.

  'We might not have two Ashes but Dina is pretty quick on the uptake, she's been watching what Ash has been doing. I reckon he could get her up to speed quickly enough.'

  'Okay so... does that mean we split Dina and Max up?'

  'You talking about us?' Dina asked in a cheery voice as she joined the conversation, making Martha jump.

  'We're trying to organise the two teams,' she said.

  'Well, surely you need all of us to chip in, tell you what we think.'

  'I'm sorry, Dina. We don't have time for that kind of delegation and discussion. Jed and I are taking charge.'

  Dina's face fell. 'Will we at least have a say after you've made the decision for us?'

  Martha shook her head. 'It's not up for public debate.' She deliberately turned away from her friend, feeling awful for doing so but knowing that if they waited for everyone to have their say, the twenty-four hours deadline would come and go. Dina stalked away.

  'I'd like to stay with Kira,' Jed stated.

  'I figured as much. You and Kira can head out to City 36. Take Dina with you.'

  'So you are splitting up Dina and Max then? They won't be happy about that.'

  Martha put her head in her hands. She could feel the stress weighing down on her. 'Fine.' She looked up. 'Call everyone together, Jed. I assume your team will at least do as they're told?'

  Jed nodded and went to round the others up. It didn't take long, they had been hovering nearby.

  'Right, this is the situation,' began Martha. 'As you heard, we have less than twenty-four hours to break camp and get out of here. I don't know whether they will try to destroy us like they did City 15 but I am certainly not going to take that risk.'

  'Does this mean you've decided to let us decide for ourselves what we want to do?' Dina asked.

  Martha felt stung by Dina's words but she couldn't blame her. 'We will be splitting up into two missions, one to City 9, the other to City 36. We do not know what to expect from either city. We will be at opposite ends of the country and each team will have to deal with any problems they uncover themselves. So, if you volunteer for a particular city, you need to understand that it's not easy to turn around and go somewhere else instead.'

  The group were silent.

  'Anyone have a preference?' Martha asked.

  'I would like to go to City 36,' Kira stated calmly. 'I'll take Grace, Peter and my parents with me.' She did not mention Jed.

  'We want to go to City 9,' Dina announced, grabbing Max's hand and speaking with a slight lift to her chin, expecting some kind of disagreement.

  'I think the greater Corporation presence will be at City 9. Are you sure you feel confident enough to face that?' Martha asked.

  Dina nodded.

  'I think Ruth and Sarah should go with you, Kira.' Martha turned to Ruth for her agreement but she looked back with emotionless eyes. It didn't make any difference to Rut
h where she went.

  'What about you?' Kira asked. 'If you think City 9 is going to be a strong base for Corporation I don't think you should go there. You're a wanted woman now. We all are.'

  'Exactly why you're going to take Lucas and I'm going to City 9. And Jed is coming with me.'

  No-one said anything. Everyone waited to see Jed's reaction. Kira grabbed his hand tightly and he pulled her into a quick embrace. Then he nodded curtly and took over the rest of the discussion.

  'Ash, you're headed up to 36,' Jed said. 'Brief Dina on the comms system. Let's try and get a secure connection established now before we head out.' Then he walked off to spilt his operatives into two teams and oversee the distribution of supplies and vehicles. The team heading out to 36 would need more than those going to 9. Jed knew Martha was right but he was still disappointed. He didn't want to be apart from his wife now they'd been threatened by New Corp and he'd only just met Peter. But taking the children to 9 was too much of a risk. A small voice in his head wondered whether they were making a mistake by putting all their children together but Kira seemed certain that 36 was more likely to be out from under Corporation control. There was no tactical advantage for Corporation to have a strong foothold in a city in the middle of a remote mountain range. So the people that lived there were likely to be more self reliant than those in City 42.

  They had to try and find somewhere safe, find someone who could teach them the skills they would need to survive. The fight with Corporation wasn't over but they were woefully underprepared if the causal show of force demonstrated by the faceless drone voice was anything to go by.

  'Ruth? Ruth?' Jean called out. There was no response. 'I do not know what to do with that girl, Malcolm.'

  Her husband patted her arm in sympathy as the two of them tried to chivvy Ruth along.

  'Come along, Ruth. You need to stow your gear in the right skimmer. Make sure Sarah has everything she needs.' Jean peered up at the blank faced woman. 'You do care about your daughter, don't you?' Again, no response. Jean threw her hands up in despair and turned to go, then had second thoughts and took Sarah out of Ruth's arms. 'Come along baby girl, let's get you some milk before we have to leave.'

  Ruth made no move to stop her. She was still trying to process the fact that Sarah's father and the dozens of other people she knew from City 15 were all dead. Nothing felt real. Cigarette smoke drifted past her face, making her nose twitch. She blinked in surprise and looked beside her. Malcolm had sparked up and was offering her a drag. Ruth took the cigarette with shaky fingers, it had been months since she'd smoked. She inhaled deeply, savouring the hot smoke.

  'You know, that little girl needs you,' said Malcolm. Ruth continued to smoke in silence.

  'It's just...' she said finally.

  'Yep.'

  'And I don't know if I can.' Ruth's voice was quiet as she admitted her own fear of not being able to be there for her daughter.

  Malcolm ground the cigarette stub into the floor with the heel of his shoe.

  'None of us know for sure, love. We have to do the best we can.' Malcolm passed over the half full cigarette carton. 'Come on, we've got to find a place to hide those before Jean kills me.'

  Ruth gave a small laugh and followed him back to the tents. While she helped Jean and Martha pack up all the baby bits and pieces, Dina was getting a quick but intense tech lesson from Ash.

  'It's pretty simple, these comms are designed to work on a different frequency to the ones Corporation use but that doesn't mean they won't switch. You'll be able to tell if they are by the opening tone, listen.' Ash turned on the comms system and it clicked twice. 'Two clicks and we're okay, anymore or less and it's not a safe channel.' He dug around in his pockets for an info jack. 'This has a list of subsequent channels to try should the first one get compromised.'

  'What if they all get compromised?' asked Dina nervously.

  'We won't use the comms too often,' replied Jed, as he came to join them. 'You happy with how everything works, Dina?'

  'Yeah, I think so.'

  'Good. Go make sure you've both got everything you need. We need to get moving.' Jed watched as the camp bustled before him. They were leaving the main Camp Eden scientists behind, there wasn't room to take everyone with them and Jed was hoping New Corporation would leave them alone. After all, Camp Eden had originally been a Corporation idea. He beckoned to Max to come with him as he walked by.

  'Hey, Max. Can you run through the testing kit with Ash please? I want to make sure he knows how to test the air and water as they're travelling and once they get to City 36.'

  'Yeah of course. We've got two kits, it makes sense for them to take one.' Max hurried to get the equipment and was soon taking Ash through the basics. It was simple enough, as long as he sampled correctly the machine would do the rest.

  With everything packed, the two teams were ready to go. All that remained was to say goodbye. Jean hugged everyone, regardless of whether they were coming with her or not. No-one minded, it was comforting. Dina and Kira hugged, the children were peppered with kisses and had no idea what was going on. Max shook hands with Ash and wished him luck, Jed finished briefing the team headed out to City 36. Ruth was crying, happy and sad tears mingled together as she hugged Martha tight. Everyone was ready to go, it was just Kira and Jed left to say goodbye.

  'Are you going to be alright?' Kira asked him.

  Jed laughed softly. 'It should be me asking you that.' He paused. 'Have you got everything? For Grace? And the others?'

  'Mm, we should be alright. We've got half the dried food and a treatment system for water. All the milk for the kids. Reusable nappies. I'm confident City 36 will be able to re-supply us.'

  Jed gathered his wife in his arms and held her close. He smelled her hair and tried to take comfort in the fact that they were doing the right thing. He hoped. He wasn't going to ask what Kira would do if City 36 didn't exist anymore. His wife was resourceful.

  Chapter 19

  NEWCORP: Neural implants are now available from your local med centre. Get hooked in. Be part of New Corp.

  SMAC: The new Governor for City 42 will be announced later today.

  CORPTECH2: Plans have been drawn up for the new Tech Towers. Corp Tech will be rebuilt at the same site.

  ACAD: All retraining and Grow Your Own courses have been cancelled. New pre-approved courses will be available soon.

  Sean looked out of the window at City 42 with pleasure. They'd finally painted over that awful Gaia graffiti on the wall across from Collection. He was going to be in charge now and he would be putting New Corporation rule firmly in place. There was bound to be the odd objection but the citizens would accept the new neural implants and anything else New Corp implemented.

  'Here's your synth-caf, Sean.'

  'Thanks, Jon. Is everything ready for the meeting?'

  'Yes. Do you think we'll have to have the implants as well?' asked Jon, Sean's aide.

  'I don't think so. New Corp know we're loyal to them, it shouldn't be a problem,' Sean replied but he was slightly anxious about the implants. They were designed to dampen down independent thinking and therefore negate any thoughts about disloyalty to New Corp, keep citizens more docile and less likely to question anything. 'They'll want us able to think independently, Jon. After all, we'll be running the city.'

  'So you're going to say yes then, when they offer you the governorship?'

  Sean puffed out his chest a little. 'Of course. Hamble made a mess of things, dismantling the HER water treatment plant - telling women they could have children. Look what happened there. Nothing. Just bitter disappointment.' He turned away from the window with a smile. 'With Corp Medical back in firm control, we'll be able to neutralise any embryos created outside the designated population growth lines. People can't be allowed to just create life wantonly.' He gazed at the meeting table, then frowned. 'Shouldn't there be snacks?'

  Jon mumbled an affirmative and hurried out to get some organised. Sean checked his wristpl
ant. The New Corp board members should be arriving soon. He was sure appointment to governor after everything he'd done was a mere formality. Subduing the Chief of Force had been more difficult than expected. Minkov inspired terrific loyalty in his team, but they'd managed to remove him from office. Fortunately for Sean, the chief had been too busy promoting Jenkins and creating his ridiculous mini militia to pay full attention to the influx of Corp loyal operatives and the move to becoming Corp Security. Minkov and his handful of loyal detectives had been unable to stand up to that show of force. Ha Force. What a ridiculous name, thought Sean. That would be the first thing to change. Corp Security worked well enough in City 9, it would work fine here.

  The door to the conference room swung open. Three men and a woman walked into the room. The woman was thin, her steel-grey hair cut in a smart bob, her face devoid of any warmth. She looked at Sean then cocked a finger. One of the men on her right took out a scanner and walked towards him. Sean raised his hands in the air in submission and took half a step backwards.

  'What's this?' he asked.

  'Just checking for bugs,' the man replied.

  The woman walked around the board room. She wiped her finger across the table and seemed surprised when it came back clean. The scanner beeped once and the man pocketed the device. She looked at him and he shook his head. The woman sniffed and sat down at the head of the table, gesturing for Sean to join her.

  'My name is Clarity Jones,' she said. 'I am the Chief Executive of the Board of Directors for Corporation owned City 42. Tell me, Mr MacIntyre, why was the rebel governor not apprehended?'

  'I, uh, well, I didn't think she would leave the city and I thought...'

  'That seems to have been your problem.' Ms Jones steepled her fingers. 'I believe your instructions were clear, to initiate the vote of no confidence and dismantle the fake government. It wasn't to allow everyone to leave the city freely and go who knows where. What exactly gave you difficulty?'

  'But you sent the drone, to Camp Eden! You already know where they are.' Sean looked at the men who had entered the room with Ms Jones for support but they remained standing still, blank faced yet alert.