Digital Venous (26 page)

On Board the Star Sapphire

MOST OF THE room on the ships was taken up with living and entertainment areas, software machinery and engineering hardware. Each ship had a bio-science section full of equipment and a load of DNA micro stock containing over two million different species of Earth life-forms. Biodiversity had not been a tenet of Napea, but the Service could not be sure what they might need in the new world. Like Noah on the ark, they carried a huge genome supply as a lunch box or a first aid kit—jam-packed with DNA.

The Star Sapphire was different—it also had growing plots, a protein room, and water and air recycling units, as well as one thousand Napeans and five hundred real people. Culturing areas also produced slabs of fish, beef, and chicken—surf and turf in a test tube.

The Subs and the Napeans lived in separate areas of the ship. Both groups firmly believing that cohabitation would be impossible.

The Subs were kept in cells of six, eight, or ten. The majority of the Napean rooms were doubles located at the front two thirds of the ship.

The sixth and most outer level, both bow and stern, featured viewing and leisure areas. The Service had restricted command areas on this level at both bow and stern. Levels five, four, three, and two were all mainly living areas, with level one being used almost entirely for growing.

People were able to walk around quite normally because the Mortet funnel, the engine, created its own gravitational pull towards the central core.

The ships interior was characterized by hard, dark Lunatex softened by curvaceous angles and fixtures. Designers had countered the gothic building material with exemplary lighting. Napeans had taken lighting to a whole new level. The ship was no exception. Lighting could energize a work area, foster somnolence in another, boost plant growth in a garden, create a little piece of Tropicana or while maintaining epidermal health and vitamin levels.

The Children had grown very social and independent and were responsible for a number of smaller gardens. Today they were harvesting of a spinach plot. Parents never knew where they were. In this regard the Napeans had created a rod for their own back; a good deal of time was spent by guards attempting to manage the behavior of children.

Sylvana had taken Ryan out to meet some children from Greenhill. Alia and Madi stayed behind to rest.

“I can’t stop feeling guilty for what we left behind.” Said Alia. “You have guilt…I have hate issues,” said Madi.

“Don’t worry so do I,” said Alia.

“It’s the way they leer at you... If they’re so much better than us why do they find us attractive?”

“It’s simple—they don’t like you, they just want to have sex with you.”

“So romantic,” said Madi

“Mmmm,” agreed Alia. “Its ‘the Service’ officials I want to meet—I would literally…”

“Rip their heads off and shit down their necks?” said Madi jokingly.

“…not specifically their necks no…” said Alia smiling, then added: “just be careful… about what you say, there are …”

“Yeah, yeah…”

Alia spoke softly: “Slowly, slowly. We’re going to reclaim what is owed us—reclaim for those who couldn’t be here…” said Alia.

“…if you want to do that you won’t be here either; they’ll simply have you sucked out into the vacuum of space. Forget about it,” said Madi.

“We’re on this ship for a while. Jeffery and the others are on this ship for a while… eventually it’ll happen. I do not want the next generation of children to live like slaves.”

“We’re way outnumbered…”

“We have Shane, Charles... Ryan. We’ll find a way. Assuming Shane’s still with us…”

“Of course he is. He hasn’t forgotten what they did to him and Ryan. He knows Ryan’s more Real than ever. Did you tell him?” asked Madi.

“About his eating? I did… and Sylvana got him eating all sorts of things. He’s eating regularly now and using the hunger cycle as well right?” said Alia.

“He can find his way around the network and knows which areas to avoid; where he can see them standing around or hear snippets of conversations.”

“What do they talk about?” asked Sylvana. “He said he doesn’t know,” answered Madi.

“Could he find a map of the ship,” suggested Alia.

“It’s too dangerous for him now. If anything like that needs to be done it should be us.” Sylvana came in and asked what they were talking about. “So it’s true,” she said. “Ryan

is both. Like a … hybrid.”

“Yeah but don’t say it like that! He’s not a biology project!” snapped Madi. “Sorry,” said Sylvana

“He’s an amazing kid,” said Alia diplomatically. “He’s merged two worlds.”

“Do you think there are others?” asked Sylvana.

“No.” said Alia. “I think he’s the only one.”

Ryan and Kristina

AMONG THE SUBS, it wasn’t long before routines were established and people were getting to know each other. Being from Greenhill, many of them already did, though there were a few who had been in Greenhill with friends or relatives when the rest of the Real settlements were destroyed.

Ryan had become much better at relating to other children. Prior to understanding their gestures and facial expressions, he had been relying on his ability to hear thoughts. Humans love an attentive listener, and this, combined with his learned ability of observation and perception, was making him a standout member of the group. Ryan was soon noticed by someone he’d met during his first visit to the underworld.

Kristina had been staying with a friend’s family in Greenhill when the six underground towns were destroyed, and once again in her life she found herself without a family, cut off from the people she loved. Now there was someone who had known her home with Ginny and Ben. The sensitive boy with an odd manner who had a strange knack of seeing into her mind.

She waited a few days before approaching him. He, on the other hand, hadn’t noticed Kristina being there. One of his characteristics was that he seemed to focus on those in his immediate vicinity, as if he had no peripheral vision. He seemed to drink people in, observing them, his eyes wandering inappropriately all over their faces, settling on whatever stood out.

She remembered what he had felt like to talk to—his questioning had seemed to pre-empt her own story, and then a follow-up question would take her somewhere emotionally, uncertain. Most conversations were about things that didn’t matter; people just wanted to take comfort in the sound of another voice. She remembered that those children at Ben and Ginny’s who talked a lot were the popular ones because it made the others feel safe—if someone was speaking, you knew what they were thinking. The quiet ones always seemed as if they were up to something.

Kristina had enjoyed talking to Ryan because, even though he was younger, the conversation always seemed to go somewhere interesting—even though his forthright manner sometimes made her squirm.

In several months he seemed to have changed so much. He looked mostly the same—wavy dark brown hair—although his eyes looked browner and his skin looked tanned, tinged with the Napean shadowing. It was as if he had been spending time in the sun—which of course was impossible. The difference was more in his mannerisms. She noted that they were more regular. He seemed to have grown in confidence, joking around with some of the other teenagers in the garden; he seemed to know them all. Ryan hadn’t yet noticed her. Would he remember? Ryan and the other children had been trimming back unwanted leaves from a three-tiered spinach crop. They had stopped working and were just chatting. Ryan saw an image of himself being watched, looked up, and saw her.

“Kristina?”

“Ryan?” She feigned a double take.

“Wow! Where have you been? I haven’t seen you.” The others turned to look at the newcomer.

“I’m in F garden. They sent me here to help you guys today. ”

“That’s great,” said Ryan, conscious of his staring friends. “These are people I met just before we left—friends of my Mum’s friend, if that makes sense.” He did his best to introduce all seven of them.

“Oh yeah! Your mum. How is that going?”

“Good.” And, as he started answering the question, he knew what she was really thinking: I wish Mum was here. Increasingly, Ryan noticed that in some conversations, he kept hearing the other person’s voice even when he was talking. His natural tendency was to reply to what he had heard, but that was often inappropriate. He wanted to talk to his dad about it.

“We were lucky to get on,” said Ryan. Two blurred shapes of guards came in. There were no doors in these areas, just climate corridors and tunnels, which had been built utilizing natural pressure and temperature differences to maintain the climate of a particular space. These curved corridors and tunnels were largely transparent so someone using the walkway was visible.

Ryan said, “Come to S2-46—easy to remember—after dinner. Get out of your cabin for a while.”

“Okay. S2-46.” She smiled. “Thanks.”

Three Napean guards walked in. Shane was one of them. Ryan said quietly to her: “See you.”

The children were instructed to have twenty bales of spinach cut within the hour. As they started cutting and bundling, there was a silent conversation. Ryan wanted his father to know how the food was helping him to learn, to grow and to gain strength.

Shane:
The hunger cycle?

Ryan:
I’m doing both—you should too!

Shane:
I can’t be seen eating.

Ryan
: I’ll bring some up to your room.

Shane:
You mustn’t come up there.

Ryan:
Come to S2-46. We have food in there.

Shane: Your mother?

Ryan:
She’s fine with you. She’s often out.

Strange Fascination

ON BOARD THE star Sapphire, the Subs worked in five-hour shifts. Sleeping was a double interval and work just a five-hour segment of the roster. Recreation was also five hours.

Later, after that work segment, Ryan returned to his cabin, which he shared with Alia Sylvana and his mum. The latter two were both out and Ryan had been explaining the problem of telepathy to Alia when Shane came to the door.

“Shall I leave?” she asked.

“No, it’s better if you stay,” said Shane

“Okay,” she said with a slightly pensive face and a flashing smile. She continued, “Ryan was just saying, his telepathy seems to be getting stronger but getting in the way…”

“It’s not getting in the way—It doesn’t happen with adults so much. More with younger people. I listen to what they’re saying, but it gives me more talk than I’m supposed to have, so I sort of jump ahead in the conversation.”

“Do you find that?” Alia asked Shane.

Again Shane was struck by the intensity of her gaze. She had been smiling, but her face suddenly grew serious. He suspected that her stare was no more focused than anyone else’s but that he was just attracted to her.

“Dad?”

Shane looked at his son, brightly. “What?”

“Alia doesn’t think you look like other Napeans.”

“What?” Said Alia taken aback, laughing. “When did I say that? “She thinks you look better,” said Ryan.

“Oh,” said Shane nervously, stroking his forehead. He looked at Alia and said: “Thanks! For… thinking that… I think.”

Alia shook her head, laughing, denying Ryan’s claim. Ryan, realizing the awkwardness he’d caused said, “Ohh… sorry…. see? I did it again.”

“I think I see what you mean,” said Alia.

“Yes,” said Shane, “rampant ‘foot in mouth’—and there I was thinking you were a sensitive boy.”

“What’s a rampant foot in the mouth?” asked Ryan.

Alia laughed again and then said to Shane, “And you don’t have that problem?”

“No. Electronically, telepathy is not a multi-tasker—you learn to use it in a much more streamlined way.”

Alia was right about Shane. Even without elaborate body augmentation, a Napean man or woman, over time, grew into his or her own look. In the same way that two identical twins will be different, one will carry herself differently, or develop a mannerism or interest which over time causes a slight alteration. A less active twin might develop a slower metabolism and therefore retain a fraction more weight. One had to look closely to see the difference, it but it was there.

“Dad was going to eat. I told him how well it’s going for me,” said Ryan.

“The other thing is: does your renewal work?” asked Shane.

“I’ve been picking it up… I can get onto the network but when the cycle ended I could tell I felt like I’d had the renewal.”

“And you’re eating as well?” asked Shane.

“…and I’ve grown!” Ryan indicated two inches of growth with thumb and forefinger. “Compared to when I first met him—He’s looking well,” said Alia

“You’re a wonderful color,” said Shane to Alia. “Very Earthy. How do you get that?”

“Ohh…” Alia laughed slightly embarrassed, “my skin’s just naturally dark. It’s my

Mediterranean heritage. My ancestors came from a very sunny part of the world. And you?”

“That’s a good question!” answered Shane. “From memory I had relatives that came on boats, from various parts of what they used to call Europa.”

“Europe?”

“That’s it.”  

“Where in Europe?”

“You know I can’t remember…”

“Wow you guys are not big on history are you.”

“When your personal history starts to take on national proportions …”

“Well for someone so old you look OK.”

“Well thank you. For someone so young you seem remarkably wise.” Ryan groaned.

Shane turned slowly to Ryan and asked, “Is there a problem?”

“No…” said Ryan. “…adults are weird.”

“I’m definitely aging very rapidly,” said Alia laughing again. “I’ve had a hard life you know.”

“What’s it like, getting old?” asked Shane

Ryan groaned again, “Daaaaadd! Will you stop!” He had never seen this side to his father before. His father grinning and nodding; at somebody else! He didn’t like it. “Enough!” said Shane to Ryan. “Go and play!” Ryan sighed loudly, then left.

“Getting old…” Alia laughed, “with age comes Wisdom…” she nodded ironically, “but in my case; there’s the wrinkling and drying out and sagging of the skin, a certain soreness and stiffness in the bones; but so gradual and slow that you hardly notice it until you catch yourself in a reflection somewhere and think ‘who’s that old hag?’

Shane laughed. “I think you look fantastic.” Alia pretended not to hear. She continued. “You know when you get out of bed in the morning and you look terrible, there are lines all over your face, you’re all ruffled and creased?”

“I can relate to that.” Agreed Shane.

“When you’re young, like you,” said Alia, “the lines smooth out in the shower. When you’re old, you look like that all the time and no amount of scrubbing will wash away the cracks.”

“I’m sure you look fantastic in the morning.” Shane gave himself an internal slap for saying the word fantastic again.

“Ohh no… I hope you’re never confronted with that… I mean, well it could be OK if…” Alia mumbled. “…you know what I mean.”

Shane didn’t know what she meant and covered up with another serious ‘conversation’ question.

“I’ve often wondered,” he asked, “ with S… Real people…How do you live, knowing that, you might die?”

“Not might. Will!” she said. “I don’t think about it.”

Shane continued. “I mean the fact that you don’t know when it’s going to happen… you could be right in the middle of something…”

“Life usually!” Alia laughed, “It does happen…” her smile was infectious; Shane could feel himself grinning like a mad man.

“But,” he asked, “doesn’t that drive you crazy? Not knowing?”

“Like I said, people don’t dwell on it. Most of the time, death doesn’t happen to you, and when it does, it tends to be too late to worry about it.”

“You’re very philosophical,” said Shane. “But it’s something I can’t imagine: the possibility of suddenly dying…”

“Often it’s the most natural thing in the world. And sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it’s just a… huge, huge mistake.” The world had been pretty empty since the departure of Bes, Claire, and Wez. Shane studied her face. There was a darkness in her look, a sadness. He’d seen that in Mia’s eyes. Alia looked up from under her eyebrows and asked, “Don’t you get bored—with all this… time on your hands?”

“How could I get bored with this?” Waving both hands, he gestured at the surroundings of the cabin and then with one hand, at Alia.

She inclined her head toward him slightly, acknowledging his compliment. “You’re very charming, for a geriatric.”

“Yes, I’m old enough to be your great-grandfather.”

“Ew,” she smiled.

“But the similarity ends there—I’m actually still in my prime,” he said. “So you’re in good working order?”

“Indeed, and I have the latest ‘Bio. Ap.’ enhancer you might be interested in…”

“A what?”

“It’s a sex thing. Software that interacts with the body to make it… better. I can…” Two guards appeared at the door. “Captain, B6-10?”

Shane suddenly became formal and said to Alia: “If there are any other problems like that let me or one of these guards know immediately.” Alia nodded. There was so much more she wanted to talk about. It would have to wait.

“Goodnight,” said Shane, and left with the two guards just as Kristina was arriving. Ryan came in from the adjoining room and noticed Kristina outside the door.

“Shit,” said one of the guards, loud enough for everyone to hear. “They’re in and out of each others’ cells like flies!”

Shane turned and faced the guards, saying pointedly: “The population of this ship depends on your behavior—despite what you may feel. Treat Subs with respect at all times or you will suffer eviction. We cannot afford a rebellion.”

“Yes, Captain.” The guard looked suitably admonished, bowing his head. “If you hear or see anyone not doing this, I want to know,” said Shane. “We will, Captain.” Shane turned and walked off, followed by the other two. Kristina looked sheepish as she knocked on the open door.

“Is everything okay?” she asked, looking in the direction of the guards heading off down the tunnel.

“Hello, I’m Alia!” said the older woman extending her hand. “I’m Kristina. I know Ryan from Ginny and Ben’s.”

“Remember them?” said Ryan.

“Of course,” said Alia.

“Sit down, Kristina! Lovely to have a visitor, isn’t it, Ryan?” said Alia. “I don’t think Ryan knew who I was,” said Kristina.

“I did, but I didn’t know you were here.”    “I’ll let you two catch up,” said Alia, leaving.

“Who is that woman?” asked Kristina.

Alia is a friend of my mum’s—she sort of... they’ve known each other a long time. So how did you get on board?” asked Ryan.

“I got on with the family of a girl I knew from my street in Blackwood,” said Kristina.  “It was awful. My friend’s dad came back from work that day and said that there’d been a disaster in the southern townships. He said I would have to stay in Greenhill for a few more days until things settled down. I never went back. I never found out exactly why but… the Napeans let off some kind of poison. Ben, Ginny, everyone died! Can you believe that?”

“I know. It’s true,” said Ryan.

“And they’re still in charge. I hate them all—if I had a gun…” she said. Kristina had forgotten who Ryan’s father was.

Ryan asked her: “The people you’re with—are they nice?”

“They’re okay,” she said despondently. “Oh, listen to me. They saved my life! Without them I wouldn’t be here.”

“How were Ben and Ginny when you left?” asked Ryan.

“Same as always—trying to help everyone out. I can’t believe they’re gone. I miss them.”

“Well, you just found more friends,” said Ryan brightly. “You can come here when you get lonely.”

“Thanks,” she said, and although she really meant it, her face had grown serious. Ryan knew what she wanted to talk about. He waited for her to speak.

“I realized why I found you so weird to talk to,” she said. “Why?”

“You do that Napean telepathy thing. Don’t you?”

“Oh, not really. I’m pretty bad at it,” said Ryan.

“No, I could tell when we spoke; you could see things that I wanted to say.”

“Don t tell anyone,” said Ryan. “I could get into trouble if they found out—they don’t know I’m the same kid from Blackwood—my dad’s on board…”

“Your Dad… the Napean?”

“Yeah. He’s a guard –you probably know him.”

“And I said I hate them all. Sorry,” said Kristina.

“That’s okay. If it wasn’t for him, no one in this cabin, including me, would even be here.”

“So he taught you telepathy?”

Ryan explained that if you were actually there with someone, their thoughts were easy to find. Initially, proximity seemed to matter, and in the future you would nearly always be able to find them again, even at a distance. But if you had never heard that person before and there were other people around, there were intersecting strands of language, like a maze. Finding one person’s thoughts was like finding a clear pathway through that maze.

Ryan could hear Kristina’s unconscious anger—it was never far from the surface. He realized that many of the real people would feel the same, and what this might mean for his father.

“Don’t forget,” said Ryan, “it was the Service who killed everyone, not the Napeans or the guards.”

“They’re all the same,” said Kristina. Ryan looked at her, wondering how she could be healed. out.”

“The Earth is going to be damaged again… by solar energy,” he said. “Lucky we got “I don’t feel lucky,” she replied.

“Believe me,” said Ryan. “You are!”