The Red Queen (31 page)

They did not expect us to be in the cacti grove, which meant their attention was lax. I wondered if there was any chance I could simple slip around the Hub and dart into the door before anyone spotted me. But even as this thought came to me, I saw one of the guards sit down on the step.

‘There are too many of the Committee for you to fight, even if Gevan is right about you being one of the best he has ever trained, in spite of yourself,’ Dragon said, mimicking the Coercer guildmaster perfectly, even to his acerbic manner. ‘What you need is a
distraction
.’

Tash said fiercely, ‘I can crawl through the cacti to the path and then come along it in a great noisy flurry, saying I have seen you. I can draw them away.’

‘They won’t all go,’ Dragon said. ‘They are old and Gevan says old means wily. But if you get some of them to go away, I can distract them.’ She spoke with a calm authority that startled me, her face determined. How had she grown so decisive in such a bland place, unless the drama of the last hours had awakened her old feral instincts?

‘I am not sure you will be able to do anything,’ I said, knowing she thought to use her coercive Talent. ‘There is something in the Hub that dissolved my probe and it is likely to do the same to a coercive probe. But let’s wait a little and see what unfolds. I am very curious to know how the Tumen are supposed to get to the Hub with the Committee waiting outside.’

Dragon’s face changed. ‘You think to see how they get into Habitat?’

‘I am wondering if the Committee is expecting them,’ I said.

‘But if we wait until they come, we might not be able to stop them taking the others,’ Dragon said worriedly.

‘I don’t believe the Tumen will do anything to them here, but I do wonder how they are going to move three unconscious people out, when there are only two of them.’

‘Two?’ Dragon asked.

‘There are only two of them,’ I said softly, realising I had not mentioned this. ‘
Two men.
Tumen. I suppose the original Speci called them God’s Two Men, and somehow it got muddled into being Tumen.’

‘What if, after Tash gets some of them to follow her, I go deep into the cacti and call out,’ Dragon said, clearly fired to act. ‘They will not know how to get us . . .’

‘The Committee will send for slashers if they do not already have them to hand. They will cut through the cacti arms and come after you with the stunners,’ I said.

Tash nodded, her eyes widening. ‘They would, though I do not know how you can know that.’

‘It is what I would do,’ I said, edging forward until I had a better view of the clearing in front of the Hub. Now I could see that Sikoka was standing on the other side of the open area speaking to two men and Feyat. There was another group of men standing a little way from them, and the two talking to one another, who I had seen before. I noticed a man alone standing near the cacti and I wondered how he was resisting the scent of the flowers, which now would be thick in the air, unless he and the others also had some means of ensuring they would not be affected by the scent – perhaps some small devices procured from God. Examining the people in the clearing again, I noted that most but not all carried the small tubes that gave out widening wedges of red light.

I considered the problem of reaching the Hub as if it were a Farseeker rescue, my mind growing cool and calm in the process. At length I turned to Dragon. ‘If the Committee people were to see something . . .’

‘But you said . . .’

‘Try it,’ I urged. ‘Create something innocuous that will make anyone who sees it react. That way we can see who is unaffected, if anyone,’ I said.

Dragon considered for a moment. ‘What about an owl?’

‘Perfect,’ I said. ‘One swoop. It is just a test, and if it works, we will decide what to do then.’

She nodded and gazed beyond me, but almost at once her face fell. ‘As soon as I tried to reach past the Hub I couldn’t make a vision.’

As I had feared, the block was affecting her too. ‘You might manage it if you get far enough away from the Hub,’ I said. ‘See that man standing alone? Get away from the Hub and see if you can summon up a vision, he might be far enough away to see it. If it works on him, maybe you can provide enough of a distraction to make him distract the others.’

‘I will make him see a dragon,’ Dragon growled. Without further ado, she slithered away. The moment she was out of sight, I could hear nothing and I marvelled at her stealth.

‘What is an owl?’ Tash whispered.

‘A bird,’ I said absently.

‘What is a bird?’ Tash asked.

‘It is a small feathered flying creature,’ I said, suddenly remembering that I had not seen a bird since entering Habitat.

‘Creature . . . do . . . do you mean a
beast
?’ Tash asked incredulously. ‘There are no beasts left in the world.’

‘I assure you there are,’ I said tartly, realising the owl might startle the man rather more than we had planned.

Moments later, I heard a terrified scream. The man nearest the cacti had thrown himself to the ground and was playing his red lightstick beam wildly to and fro. The other Speci were gaping at him in astonishment.

Sikoka urged him to get up lest his antics offend God, but the man seemed not to hear him. ‘I saw an angel! We must find shelter!’ he shrieked.

‘What are you talking about, you fool?’ demanded Feyat impatiently, though she glanced up uneasily.

‘We must go into the Hub!’ the man on the ground moaned.

‘No one may enter the Hub during a taking ceremony lest God take them as well,’ Sikoka said sternly. ‘Now get up, and calm yourself.’

The man scrambled to his feet, but he was cringing, his eyes wild as he looked up into the sky, the beam of light from his tube swaying this way and that, its brightness swallowed by the vast darkness of the night, ‘Didn’t you see it!’ he gasped. ‘You must have done! It swooped right down at me! I saw its wings. Tash must have offered the red token!’

Feyat made a disgusted sound. ‘Don’t be a fool. She will not use the token until darkmoon unless she is told to, and even if she did you know very well that God would scream out a warning. You got too close to the cacti. One of your nose filters must be flawed and the blossoms have affected you.’

The man looked confused. ‘Blossoms?’

‘Their scent, man, now pull yourself together,’ Sikoka said gruffly.

‘I don’t understand,’ Tash whispered, as Dragon returned looking fiercely triumphant but also puzzled.

‘Why did he scream? It was only an owl.’

‘There are no birds in Habitat,’ I said. ‘I think he thought it was something else.’

‘An angel,’ Tash said.

I stared at her. ‘What is an angel?’

‘It is said God’s angels come if the person with the red token is a bad Speci,’ Tash said. ‘It always happens between midnight and dawn at darkmoon, when everyone is supposed to be asleep in their huts with the doors and windows shuttered. It is said a frenzy of righteousness comes over the angels when they are sent out and they will judge any Speci they find.’

This was obviously the way the man in the crops had died, and I wondered why none of the others had mentioned the token or angels. Was it yet another of the unspoken things that all born in Habitat knew, but which those resurrected when they were older must discover?

I thought of what she had said. ‘Do you mean the Tumen come to judge you?’

‘The Tumen are God’s hands, not God’s angels,’ Tash said. ‘The Tumen do not fly. They do not swarm or kill.’

‘Swarm and kill . . .’ I murmured, thinking of the owl Dragon had meant to conjure and then of the terror shown by the man in the clearing. ‘Swarm and kill . . .’ Suddenly I thought I understood exactly what the angels must be. Moreover an idea was beginning to form in my mind. ‘Tash, what happens when you offer the red token to God? I mean,
how
do you offer it?’

‘It has to be pushed into the red square at the beginning of the Cacti grove.’

‘I never saw any red square,’ I said.

‘It is on the wall.’

‘Do you have the token with you? I asked. Tash nodded. ‘How long after you . . . offer it do the angels come?’

‘We are told there will be time enough for the Speci who uses it to reflect and repent after it is offered. The one to be judged is supposed to confess their sins kneeling by the red square and then the angels will come, or they will not come, and you know God has spared you. Or the Tumen comes and God claims you.’ Her face had brightened with reverent zeal for a moment, but abruptly, she grew sad. ‘But maybe that is a lie too.’

‘Too?’

‘Didn’t you hear? It was not God that sent the red token to me.
Feyat
said that I had been given it because I spy and find out secrets I ought not to know. She is talking about her and Bondy cohabiting even though he is to make a match with Fenrick. I did know but I don’t know how. I didn’t sneak like she said. She saw me looking at them together and guessed.’

‘It was your Talent that told you, Tash, just as Dragon’s Talent let her make that man see a bird,’ I said.

‘It does not matter,’ Tash said miserably. ‘It seems as if God instructs only that the red token be given to someone, and it is the Committee who decide who is to have it. So maybe there is no being spared or being claimed. Maybe there is only the wrath of the angels.’

‘Tash, forget about Feyat,’ I said urgently. ‘I need you to run back and offer the token, but instead of waiting and praying, come straight back here. Run.’

‘Why do you want her to do that?’ Dragon asked, clearly anxious for her friend’s sake. ‘Don’t you want me to frighten the Speci?’

‘I have had a better idea of how to frighten them off,’ I said.

I looked back at Tash. ‘Can you do that, Tash? Will you?’

She looked into my eyes for a long moment, and the uncertainty in her expression faded into steadfast determination, and resignation. No doubt she thought she had nothing to lose. ‘I will do as you ask, but it is not darkmoon so perhaps the angels won’t come.’

‘But if they do come, what do you think the Committee will do?’

‘If they stay in the open they will be judged as well, but if they go into the Hub God will take them. I think they will make a run for the cacti-refining huts.’

‘That’s what I thought,’ I said.

‘I will go with you,’ Dragon said to her, then she turned rather defiantly to me and said, ‘Away from the Hub, I can protect her if we are spotted.’

‘That is a good idea,’ I said. ‘But I have the feeling the real danger will not come from the Speci or even from the Committee. Go now, both of you. Once it is done, return as fast as you can.’

A moment later they had both vanished into the cacti and I prayed that Tash was right in believing the angels would take some time to respond to her use of the red token.

Not more than twenty minutes later, a deafening unending wail split the night air. I was almost shocked, not by the noise but because
I recognised it
. I had heard it in dreams of Sentinel!

The man who had seen Dragon’s owl uttered a hoarse shriek and plunged away from the clearing to gallop along the path towards the cacti-refining huts. After a moment of wild confusion, the other Speci followed, all of them babbling in fear and alarm, or uttering cries and curses. Sikoka exchanged a look of astonishment with Feyat, then they glanced at the Hub before they hurried after the others, constantly scanning the sky. That they did not run hard suggested to me that Tash had been right, and there would be a little time.

Then the clearing was deserted.

Elated at the success of my plan, I wriggled out of the cacti and got to my feet. Willing Dragon and Tash to make haste, I scooped up one of the red lightsticks that had conveniently been dropped and ran around to enter the Hub with a feeling of indescribable relief. It was dark inside but the red glow illuminated the chamber well enough for me to see at once that the altar was bare. I moved deeper into the Hub, expecting to find Ana, Dameon and Swallow laid out neatly in a row behind the altar, awaiting the arrival of the Tumen.

They were not there.

The Hub was empty.

In a voice that struggled to be steady, I asked, ‘God, are you listening?’

‘I am always listening, Specimen Elspeth,’ answered the smooth voice of God, as the ear-piercing yowl went on and on.

‘What does that terrible noise mean? Did Tash make it happen by using the red token?’

‘The siren is part of Revision Protocol Seventeen governing the creation of Habitat. It signifies the temporary shutdown of the overhead force field that protects Habitat from carnivorous nocturnal flying mutations. That which the specimens call the red token is a breaker switch that interrupts the circuit, switching off the force field and lights within Habitat for a period of two hours. The specimens have evolved cultural practices connected to their belief that the mutations that swarm on Habitat are angels come to test the faith of the one who activated it. According to current Habitat mythology, those found slain are believed to have been judged by their deity for hidden transgressions of the Covenant.’

‘What was the original purpose of the red token? And how did the specim – Can you just call the people who live here Speci, God. It is too confusing when you call them Speci sometimes and Speci mens at other times.’

‘Elspeth, my program allows for integration and adoption of degraded or new language usage, but knowledge gained from my interactions with you is not yet fully resolved.’

‘Never mind that now,’ I said. ‘Tell me how the Speci came to use the red token. Where did it come from?’

‘The red token was introduced to Habitat by User Hannah,’ God said. ‘It is an adaptation of technology originally developed to enable moving ground and air vehicles to pass through force fields. After studying the early specimens in Habitat, User Hannah required the creation of a portable breaker and formulated the base mythology underpinning the specimens’ current belief system governing its use. She presented the original red token to the first Committee after she had entered Habitat and formed it.’

My mind reeled. ‘
Hannah
gave the Speci the red token! Why would she do that?’

‘She did not record her reasoning. But the introduction of random danger was part of a behavioural modification pattern designed to stabilise the Habitat population, Speci Elspeth,’ God said pleasantly.

‘Look, I don’t care,’ I said, beginning to worry about Tash and Dragon. ‘I want you to make the force field work again.’

‘Overriding of the protocol ruling this disruption of the force field will require the authorisation of a User or Prime User, Speci Elspeth.’

‘I am not a Speci, God,’ I said with as much authority as I could muster, ‘I am the Seeker, of whom User Hannah Obernewtyn spoke.’

God said, ‘Identification code is required for reclassification of Speci Elspeth to User Seeker.’

It wanted the code word. For a moment I felt unable to breathe because, for all my certainty that I had discovered the code word Hannah had left with God to enable me to free myself from Habitat, it was still possible that I was wrong. And yet, had not it been told to the ship fish Ari-roth and Ari-noor by the Red Queen, and she must have got it from Cassandra and Hannah.

‘Maruman,’ I said.

‘Code invalid,’ said God.

My heart sounded like a drum hammering in my ear. Then it occurred to me that Hannah had styled the word differently. ‘Merimyn,’ I said.

‘Identification established, User Seeker. Do you wish classified data left for the Seeker rendered as an aural message?’ God asked.

I had to lean on the altar to stop myself slipping to the floor, my relief was so intense. ‘Right now I want you to stop that noise and the . . . the signal light and make the force field work again. And tell me the whereabouts of the three people the Committee brought here unconscious.’

Abruptly, the wailing noise stopped. ‘Force field rebooted and signal light shut down, as required, User Seeker,’ God said. ‘The three prepared Speci delivered to the Hub are currently being processed for insertion into cryopods, User Seeker. Nullification will occur during the deepest phase of cryosleep.’

‘No! D . . . don’t hurt them!’ I was all but stuttering with anxiety.

‘The bodies of the Speci will not be harmed by the processes employed,’ God said.

‘I don’t want their minds harmed either,’ I roared. ‘They are
my friends
!’ I realised the computermachine would have no idea what that meant, so I added quickly, ‘They are my helpers . . . my technicians. I am sure User Hannah left instructions for you about them.’

I held my breath, willing it to be so.

‘She did, User Seeker,’ God said, and then there was a new voice. It sounded as if it belonged to an old woman. ‘The Seeker will have four technicians, God. They are not specimens though they may be within Habitat with the Seeker when she identifies herself. They are to be released to her on the strength of the authority I have input. She will need them for the completion of her mission, which is to avert a Class A Cataclysm: total extinction of organic life on Earth. The technicians serve the Seeker and her mission and must not be interfered with in any way that inhibits their usefulness to her.’

Then God’s voice spoke again: ‘The cryosleep preparation process initiated on User Seeker’s technicians has been aborted. The subjects will awake naturally within forty-eight hours or they can be revived immediately with a sixty-five per cent possibility of slight mental or physical impairment.’

In the midst of these words, Dragon and Tash tumbled, panting, into the Hub. I felt a rush of relief at seeing them. Both carried metal tubes from which red light flowed, but hearing the disembodied voice of God, Tash had dropped hers and fallen to her knees in terror. Dragon merely looked at me in amazement.

‘God, let my technicians be made comfortable and keep them safe until they awake naturally,’ I said.

I heard a distant babble of voices.

‘The Committee,’ Dragon said urgently. ‘The minute the siren stopped and that red light went out, Tash told me they would come back. We were afraid they would get here before we did. Two of them arrived just as I came into the Hub. They saw us but I suppose they are too frightened to come in. What are we going to do?’

‘God, we need to get out of Habitat.’

‘According to records, one of the two women with you was resurrected in Habitat as an infant,’ God said. ‘She is not one of the four technicians to which User Hannah referred. This Speci cannot be released from Habitat without government authorisation.’

‘Elspeth, they
saw
her with me and they have to know she used the red token,’ Dragon said. ‘She
has
to come with us.’

‘Dragon . . .’ I began.

‘I saw that man in the crops. They meant to do that to her,’ Dragon insisted. ‘I won’t let you leave her here!’

We both looked at Tash, still kneeling, head now pressed to the stone floor of the Hub. I wondered if she had heard anything of our exchange. Dragon crossed to the Hub door and peered out before announcing that there were more Speci outside, all of them looking towards the Hub.

‘Tash said they won’t come in until dawn, but the sky is getting lighter.’

‘God, what happens when you discover an anomaly in Habitat?’ I asked.

‘Government protocol requires that all confirmed anomalies discovered in Habitat be removed and put into cryosleep.’

‘What about anomalies who have abilities and capacities that other Speci do not possess,’ I said boldly.

‘These are classified as special anomalies and must be put into a separate high security storage.’

‘Then you must remove Specimen Tash because she is an anomaly, and it may be that she is a special anomaly.’

For the first time, there was an appreciable pause before God responded. ‘Recordings from Habitat suggest a fifty per cent likelihood that Speci Tash is an anomaly but sensors have not yet provided conclusive data. Once conclusive data has been found, Speci Tash will be tested to discover the nature of her divergence and whether she warrants being designated a special anomaly.’

‘I believe that once you listen to the conversations that have taken place in Habitat in the last hours, you will find the proof you need. But in the meantime, you must get Tash out of Habitat with us lest she be harmed by the other Speci. I know Speci don’t kill Speci, but what else is it but murder if they gave her the red token, for if she had used it at darkmoon, she would have been killed!’

‘My records suggest many Speci suspected of being anomalous have been given the red token before their status could be confirmed,’ God said. ‘Also a high percentage of those for whom nullification is required are suspected anomalies.’

‘Exactly,’ I said crisply, wondering why God had not noticed sooner that anomalies were in danger in Habitat. Perhaps it was because it could not care or fear.

‘Uh oh,’ said Dragon.

I whirled to see she was at the door again, her attention riveted to whatever was happening outside the Hub. She looked back at me. ‘Elspeth, there are too many of them to fight and its almost dawn. We have to get out of the Hub otherwise we’ll be trapped where we can’t use our Talents.’

I considered ordering God to stop blocking our powers but I did not know what words to use, nor even if it were possible. ‘Listen to me, God,’ I said through clenched teeth. ‘I am a User and you have been given orders about me and a command to help me so that I can complete my mission to stop the . . . the Cataclysm. I need to get out of Habitat and my technician must go with me. You need to bring out Speci Tash as well, because she is an anomaly and you have said you are meant to remove anomalies from Habitat. I am telling you that she is an anomaly but you can confirm that once we are out of Habitat. There is no point or need to put her to sleep, as you usually do with people being taken out of Habitat.’

Moments passed and there was no response. Was it possible for a machine to be indecisive? At last, God said, ‘I have reviewed recent Habitat recordings which suggests that you are correct in regarding Speci Tash as a special anomaly, User Seeker. Further tests will be required for confirmation of that status, but the departure of Speci Tash from Habitat outside normal protocol with User Seeker and technician can be affected in accordance with anomaly removal protocol under the acceptable variation coda. Evaluation of data required to determine the true status of Speci Tash will be undertaken at the Galon Institute.’

Elated, I turned to look at Dragon, only to discover that she had left the door and had gone to persuade Tash to get up. She was some way from the Hub entrance with her back to it when a beam of red light cut through the opening. It hit the two young women, and before I could gather my wits to cry out a warning, I saw something fly along the path. Tash screamed but it was Dragon who gave a cry of pain and crumpled to the floor. The Speci girl caught her before her head struck the stone and lowered her gently to the floor of the Hub.

‘Dragon!’ I cried in anguish, running to kneel beside her.

‘It was a throwing ball,’ Tash said, dabbing at her friend, her voice thick with relief.

I was about to ask what that was when the red light coming through the doorway ceased, then I heard a great clamour of talk and several cries from outside. Beyond these I could hear a queer whirring sound and Tash dragged Dragon frantically away from the door, giving me a look of such wide-eyed terror that the hair on my neck rose. ‘The angels are coming,’ she said.

I ran to the Hub entrance and looked out. The Speci had gathered outside but they were not looking at the Hub. They were gaping up, the wedges of red from their sticks wavering wildly to and fro, so that the darkness was divided and divided again by crossing lines of light.

‘It cannot be,’ Sikoka cried uncertainly. ‘The siren stopped. The God light is gone.’

‘They must have sabotaged it, you fool!’ Feyat screamed. ‘Look!’