BEYOND EXTINCTION - Even the concept of truth is a lie Page 9

  The open ground offers no protection, nowhere to hide, but there are trees ahead. Safety or danger? Are the tiny killers there? Can we hide there? I can feel my heart pounding, limbs weak, but I am the head of my family. I must be strong.

  I remember when the big killings began. It was not long ago when the rains lasted most of the year and the heat left us sick and enervated. That was when the tiny killers swarmed over our homes like mosquitoes; they were everywhere, destroying our food, taking our land, making it theirs, killing us if we went near them... killing us if we ate their growing food... killing us if we ignored them and just walked our ancient paths. I can feel a tear trickle down my face when I think of the family we loved and lost... the father of my children... two of our daughters... and so many of the youngest children who were trapped and could not escape... my cousin's daughter who was surrounded, hacked open and finally killed as she tried to save her son... he was already dead but she would not leave his body.

  A new storm is blowing from the way ahead... maybe it will help... or maybe not: if we get through the trees, maybe the river will be too strong this time and we will be trapped there... the children... they may be too small, too slow, even with the help of the older girls who are just babies themselves compared with my sixty years... they will die rather than leave the children.

  I slow the family to see, to listen, but mostly to scent the trail ahead... something is wrong... I can feel it, sense it, but I can't be sure. It's not the smell of the killers with spears, nor the others who never attack us. It's strangely threatening, maybe the killers with thunder... the worst... the death before we even see them.

  Forward... we must get to the trees and hope we are...

  Thunder. From our left. My sister's face disappears in blood and bone and she is falling, dying, not even a scream.

  I bellow a command to run, to follow me... more thunder... a scream, then another... but most of them are with me. The trees... thunder from there too but we must keep going... we must crush them to save ourselves.

  The trees... nearly there... pain in my head, my ear, my leg... cannot stop... must save my family... I turn the family to reach denser jungle and for a few seconds I can see behind us... it feels like a lifetime of sorrow and torture. I see my sister and three others dead on the ground... two of the children have been separated from us and are standing, crying... my sister's granddaughter and her cousin are turning back to save them... the thunder again... one of the girls falls... the children scream... then the other girl...

  I dare not look longer as I crash on, my family behind me. We are in the trees... safe... I slow... try to see through my tears... who is missing? Who is safe?

  The relief and sorrow engulf me... I must think... I must save them...

  Suddenly, thunder all around us... from the ground... from above us... they are killing us all... no one will survive...

  The pain! I must go on! I must lead my family... anger and fear crash over me… the utter desolation of death, of final death with the children destroyed and no future for our family, for our kind.

  The emotional link snaps and Jack, tears streaming down his face in his safe, quiet Dorset garden, cannot control his shaking body. He collapses in his chair amid Max's alarmed barking and that damned phone telling him, "You've really done it this time, Jack. I'm calling the Google air ambulance service. And Alice."

  *

  Galen is as pale as a lab-kept human animal, his voice full of shock. Ali is badly shaken too, but she does not carry the weight of responsibility resting on Galen's shoulders. Not directly, anyway.

  "Repeat," Galen tells the mediamat screen in his private viewing room. Only the very top echelon of the government – controllers, military security heads, spookpolice, key research leaders, most trusted advisors – are cleared to watch this video. Ali should not be in the room, much less see the video, but the spookpolice can see her through the same system and they are not stopping the transmission.

  A sea of angry, violent rioters fills the screen, smashing homes and shops, and burning vehicles. The voiceover, the familiar anchor used for all the most secret communications, says, "This is Salisbury, Wiltshire, southwest England, early last night. The city's 950,000 population is ninety-one percent numan2, controlled by six numan4 administrators, and the remainder are humans. The numan2s began their protest against food shortages and travel restrictions at 7 pm local time, 3:30 am today Numan Standard Time. Salisbury military and police units were overwhelmed."

  A penetrating ping from Ali's phone drags her back from the horror of seeing numan2s out of control. They are only hours away from us!

  "It's Jack's phone calling me," she says, but Galen is in no mood for interruptions.

  "Cut it off!" he shouts. Then, irrationally, "Why doesn't Jack buy one with a less disagreeable personality?"

  She blocks the call as Galen calms himself. Galen's behavior would have been impossible a few months ago. Not even thinkable a year ago. A chill grips her. Is the throwback crisis gripping all numans? Even numan4s like Galen? Will it get me too?

  On screen, the rioters break into a food store. Within seconds, they are killing each other as they fight over the food. The anchor says, "More than 200 numan2 rioters and thirty-three security troopers died during the night and our security forces are still not in control. This was the fourth, and worst, numan riot in FedUK cities."

  Scenes of numans attacking humans in different parts of FedUK light up the screen. "Numan deaths total more than 500, including eighty-one security staff, in two months," the anchor says. "Attacks on humans throughout the country have resulted in 2,498 human deaths in the past four months. The violence is escalating everywhere."

  "Galen, time is slipping away," says Ali. "If we can't find answers soon, we'll be too late. We're losing control of events and ourselves."

  Jack's phone barges in again, this time on an emergency link to Ali's phone. "Yes?" she snaps.

  "Jack has been playing with banya again," says the phone in a huff. "I have called the Amazon air ambulance. His vital signs are very weak. He may not survive. He is being flown to the Amazon Gold Hospital in Dorchester but his medical credit is not adequate. I have told the servant to look after Max."

  "Oh, no. Jack's been using banya again and now he's being flown to the hospital," Ali tells Galen. "He may not survive."

  "I do not care about your pet," he shouts. "We have the whole country going up in flames and the Ministry says we are the only ones anywhere near coming up with a genetic fix to stop the degeneration into human behavior. If we fail, it will not just be Jack's humans who will become extinct. We will destroy ourselves."

  She stares at him, her hands dickered like a Father Dick steeple to her lips, her mouth open as she tries to think of a reply that will get through his hostility. "What is wrong with you, Galen? If Jack dies, that's years of work lost! He may have the answer to our crisis. He could be our best chance to save the numan race!"

  The undeniable force of her argument hangs in the air for a heartbeat.

  "I agree, Balen," he says. "Go to the hospital. Authorize any medical payments. My work must be saved."

  "Immediately," she says, walking away, then looks back angrily. "And Galen, don't call me Balen. That was a long time ago. I'm a different person now and so are you."

  *

  Patti, alone in her DickStar cabin, is reviewing videos and texts on FedOz and NewLife PerthCity, where she is to be based. The videos are enticing: beautiful homes, beautiful locations, and beautiful beach resorts within easy reach. Even beautiful people, happy, well-dressed, prosperous, healthily fed. The texts, routine handout stuff for immigrants partying across the oceans to their new homes, support the videos with data like average incomes for types of work, education opportunities and house prices – not that she needs any of that personally. All her needs are being provided, and the videos show she will be living far better than the average person. It should not be important to me but somehow, now I've lo
st my position at the Center, it is.

  There is a knock on her door. "It's unlocked, Mark," she calls.

  Mark, the human who taught her how to enjoy his kind of intimate dancing, steps casually into the room and pulls up a chair to join her in front of the media screen.

  "What's this?" he asks, peering at the screen and putting a distracting hand on her leg.

  "I've been viewing where I'm going to live and work." She opens her favorite video of PerthCity to show Mark.

  "I used to work with film," he says. "There's something that just doesn't ring true with all these videos – I've watched them all. The staged shots and careful shooting angles in this one unnerve me, but the empty smiles and blank faces of the people make the whole thing look like a lie. Maybe I'm looking for problems, but film is my skill and I know genuine from fake."

  That familiar queasy sensation returns to Patti's stomach. This is something else not quite right.

  "Mark," she says, "the way you feel about these videos – that's how I feel about the whole ship."

  *

  Aleksi throws a cloak of numan calmness over his mind as he waits to see Director Galen. It is the first time he has been called to the Director's private office, but he and everyone else knows the truth of this place: "If he calls you in there, you will come out a different person." Except Ali, of course. She is always going into Galen's office. Nothing touches her.

  Aleksi blames himself. I should not have hunted through Abbotsford for Jack. I should have been more careful. Galen and Ali can punish him with stasis for unnumanlike actions, and he struggles with a humanlike resentment and rising anger that, set free, would control him. Galen will see me as untrustworthy. The four pillars of numan life: family, education, work commitment, and state duty. I have lost my family, and I am not working normally. If he knows what I asked Jack, he will question my commitment to state duty.

  Aleksi's analytical brain ranks the probable causes and outcomes. Galen may have already decided to place him in stasis – maybe here in the Center on some minor processing task. Perhaps the security officers reported that he was searching for Jack without authorization. Perhaps Jack told Ali about his questions and appalling emotional weakness. Most likely, the spookpolice were watching him all along and recorded his meeting with Jack.

  Whatever the trigger, he is finished. What will become of Aapeli? A disgraced father, no mother or family as a bedrock of life? A minor university and a dull job for life, if he is lucky enough to be given that much.

  "Good morning, Aleksi. I caught you with your mind in the clouds?" says Director Galen, sweeping into the outer office from rooms that no one else, except Ali and Galen's assistant, may enter without permission. "No matter, we must get on."

  "Yes, Director," says Aleksi.

  They wait while the assistant sets out a ceremonial display of pmeat canapés and then withdraws. Canapés? To be given such a welcome is an honor; a compliment to the receiver, a gesture of power and patronage from the giver.

  "Are you well? Are you content?" Galen asks Aleksi.

  "Yes, Director."

  "Is Aapeli well? Is Aapeli content?"

  "Yes, Director."

  "You have come here expecting stasis as a result of your unstable behavior recently?"

  "Yes, Director."

  Galen pauses, waits for Aleksi to look up and catch his eye. "It is possible, but today we are going to discuss another matter. If we can resolve that, we can eliminate the possibility of stasis."

  "Yes, Director."

  For the first time in Aleksi's experience, Director Galen shows a flash of human irritation, maybe even anger. "Stop answering me like that, Aleksi," he commands. "I want your brain, not your subservience."

  "Yes, Dir... my apologies, Galen... you have all my abilities for any purpose."

  "Good." They both linger uncomfortably in a trademark Galen pause. Neither touches the pmeat canapés. That formal informality will come later if the meeting is a success. "You are up to date on your monthly health checks? Is Aapeli up to date?"

  "Yes, Dir... Galen."

  "Nothing to report to me, no abnormal health problems? Are you or Aapeli showing any unusual emotional reactions?"

  Aleksi cannot lie. Nor can he admit something that will condemn himself and Aapeli. "This has been a difficult time, Galen."

  Galen stares at him, dissecting him with his eyes, looking into his very Father Dick soul.

  "You know the crisis we face," says Galen. "You have seen some of the reports of numan instability. This has led to violence, not just between numans and humans – numans are fighting numans. Many thousands of our people have been killed worldwide."

  Aleksi is instantly embarrassed as a weak and impolite gasp escapes him. "I did not know the extent of the crisis, Galen. Can I help solve the problem?"

  "Yes. But not directly."

  Galen holds Aleksi's eyes with his own for a long moment in the absolute silence of the office. Outside, the rain is hammering on the dome. There is a metallic taste to the air.

  "What can I do, Director?"

  "I need Aapeli."

  "Aapeli?" Aleksi blurts. "Why do you need Aapeli, Director? He is only thirteen years old. His education and experience are not enough for him to join this Center."

  "Nonetheless, I need him."

  "Director, what will he do?"

  "Nothing. He will do nothing at all except attend this Center for trials of the latest genetic engineering developments."

  Aleksi rocks back, his numan control wrecked. It is against numan principles and the law. They cannot take a thirteen-year-old boy – my only surviving son – and experiment on him like a human animal.

  "You cannot experiment on him! Why not use simulations? Or human animals."

  "Aleksi, it is a chance for both of you to rebuild your lives. No risk of stasis for you, powerful education and career friends for Aapeli."

  Galen hands Aleksi his portable mediamat screen to read a World Council emergency authorization for Galen to use any means or resources to counter the numan2 rebellion. "I need Aapeli for the trial of my latest DNA design," says Galen. "He will be one of twelve volunteers. You can see that I have the power to take him. I am giving you and Aapeli a chance to benefit from this inevitability by cooperating."

  "But Director, he is my only son! He is the only one of my family to survive. Is there no other way?"

  "No. Either bring him voluntarily or I shall have security arrest you both."

  *

  Chapter 8

  Jack is dying. His eyes are open, the lights shine powerfully down on him, people are talking about him but he cannot make sense of their words. That damned phone's voice keeps arguing and Jack wants to kill him. Then he is aware of being pulled around, something stuck in his arm, the other arm, up his nose. They seem to be using him for something, an experiment. Has Galen ordered this in revenge for Ali's attention?

  He sinks deeper, a blackness that clouds his eyes but not his mind. He can feel the change in him – the banya, the booze, the fear... deeper... through the anguish, his own and someone else's... he is in a vivisection laboratory but even the meaning of that is slipping away... he can no longer see it all, just a painful, terrifying place... he is in his cage, trapped...

  Jackbonobo looks around wildly. I am helpless! I am helpless in the hands of the apes without hair, the apes without feelings or care. They are coming for me. I must escape, must get away from them. I can't! I'm trapped. There's nowhere to hide.

  They are reaching in. They've got me! They have my arm, my leg. I can't fight anymore. I can do nothing but scream... they are carrying me to the table… no! Not the table! Anything but that!

  All the others have died. So many of my friends over the years. I don't know how long I've been here. There is never any sun , just strange, jarring light from above and sometimes absolute blackness. Like the pit of my loneliness and despair.

  I can feel my trembling, hear my cries despite the shame and hum
iliation I feel. I cannot stop myself. The straps... I cannot do anything... I am trapped, helpless... the knife, the ape is cutting into me... the knife, slicing my flesh...

  The other ape has my head! I must squeeze my eyes shut. Keep him out. No! He is forcing my eyes open, dripping something... ahh, the pain... why can't I die?

  But he didn't die, not then, thinks Jack as he swims to the surface through the banya and booze. No, he died later, slowly and in agony. An experiment for another species.

  *

  Patti, after so many nights of worry, is happy. She still hardly believes it. The cruise ship is in air range of FedOz and a VIP drone is on its way to collect her. That must indicate my new status. Surely.

  Mark sits on her bed and watches as she carefully packs her bags and gets them ready for the airlift to NewLife PerthCity. "I'm very sorry to see you go," he tells her unnecessarily but has nothing better to say. "I'll miss you."

  "We'll meet in FedOz somewhere," she says. "I will be able to find you, wherever they send you. We'll have a good life together."

  "I hadn't realized how important you are – I thought you were just another passenger, like me, hoping to survive and find a better life."

  "I am. The only difference is that I'm going to a job already arranged."

  She looks at her clothes as she packs them and wonders if they are suitable for her new environment. She will need some muted power clothes like Galen wears, unless they want her to continue the fiction of being human. The Director hasn't let me down after all. Not just a good appointment but also the prestige of being a valued executive.

  She can hear the whisper of the drone's landing rotors through the open door to her balcony and she thrills at the change in her circumstances. Let my new life begin!

  *

  "I understand from Mr. Jack's phone that you did not wish to treat him," Ali says when the doctor enters the anteroom of Jack's suite in the Amazon Gold Hospital. She stands flanked by two security officers from the Center and looks the doctor right in the eye.