Mother nods to the new orderly. He takes something from behind his back – a syringe. My mouth fills with the same metallic taste from Re-Education. My arm aches, remembering when Jared had all but shattered my bones.
Mother releases Rebekah and lets her slump to the floor. She wraps her claw around my middle and tilts her head in mock concern. ‘Now, don’t struggle. It’s so much easier if you comply.’ She points to the colored tube in the orderly’s hand. If I have to use that, you’ll spend the remainder of your days in pain.’ She moves her hand to the cylinder. ‘If I don’t, you will feel nothing but a little numb as you slowly relinquish your resources.’ The female orderly steps up with the mask, her wide eyes flitting from me to Mother.
‘No, don’t! You can’t.’ Ada jumps out from behind Mother. She grabs the mask in the orderly’s hands and pulls. The shocked orderly holds on keeping her eyes on Mother waiting for instructions.
Mother scoffs. ‘Oh, how touching. I think Ada likes you, Noah.’ She fixes her eyes on Ada. ‘Hmmm. I didn’t think they were capable of such feelings.’ She takes a step forward. ‘Let go, orderly…’ The orderly releases her grasp. Mother screams. ‘No, not you! I meant the other girl.’
‘No!’ Ada stands her ground clutching the mask as the red-faced orderly sobs. Ada tucks it under her arm. ‘No! You can’t do this.’ Rebekah stirs.
Mother’s face contorts until I no longer recognize her. She hurls her rage at Ada. ‘How dare you!’ She releases Reuben, slinging his floppy body across the floor. Mother raises her front claw over Ada. ‘How dare you, a mere orderly speak to me like…’ she coughs hard, spraying the cylinder. ‘You have…’ her body doubles over, convulsed with pain as she coughs again, ‘you have made your last mistake.’
At the edge of my vision, Rebekah moves. She crawls passed the orderly still holding the syringe, but Mother’s attention is on Ada. Mother grabs the girl’s arm and yanks her into the air, ready to toss her over the cylinder. Mother cries out, then moans as her head drops forward. I strain to see what’s caused her pain as her pincers bite into my flesh - Rebekah stands behind on her metal back. She has the tool in her hand, splattered reddish brown with Mother’s blood.
Rebekah raises the weapon and slams it down hard on Mother’s exposed neck. Mother groans, releasing Ada as her metal legs thrash at her unseen attacker. But her grip on my torso tightens – I can’t breathe. I can’t fight back. A flailing claw catches Rebekah’s midriff, knocking the air from her lungs and sends her toppling from Mother’s back. Mother stumbles forward, letting me go as she raises the claw and closes the pincers into a sharp point. She scuttles on the spot to confront her attacker, the point held high ready to drive through Rebekah.
‘Noah!’ Ada wrestles with the male orderly. ‘Here!’ She tosses the syringe. I dive forward and snatch at the tumbling tube. I hold tight and clamber up Mother’s hind leg. From her back, I see Rebekah’s feet slide from under her as she tries to scramble away. Mother lurches forward. I slip and crash into her fleshy body, almost dropping the syringe. I cling onto her clammy skin, fearing it will tear free and I’ll lose my chance. But I hold firm, pull back my hand and drive the sharp end deep into her neck. The needle snaps as it hits bone – but it’s done its task.
Mother screams. Her metal legs collapse and I’m thrown free, landing beside Rebekah. I roll onto my back. Mother’s human hands clutch at her throat as her face turns blue. The two orderlies turn and run. But their footsteps are drowned by the clatter of a dozen or more spiders.
‘Quick.’ I grab Rebekah’s hand and pull her up.
She gasps for air, pointing to Reuben. ‘I’m fine. Get him.’ She stumbles, Ada rushes forward to catch her. Reuben moans as I help him to his feet. But I’m yanked from mine. A claw clasps onto my ankle, dragging me facedown across the shiny floor. I twist onto my back, thrashing out with my hands but can find nothing to grab to resist her pull. Mother’s twitching body slumps over to the side where I’d struck. An arm swings limply as she struggles to lift me to her face. I draw level, staring into eyes ready to pop out from her skull.
She splutters. ‘Not you! You’re going nowhere, Outsider.’ She turns to the sound of the approaching spiders. ‘My makers will take you apart… bone by bone, tendon by tendon,’ she spits, ‘fiber by fiber… until there’s… nothing left.’ My vision blurs. I hear the others cry out, aware of movement out of the corner of my fading sight, but Mother won’t let go. I try to yell, to tell them to leave before the spiders catch them. But I know they won’t abandon me to Mother. I have to fight back.
‘No!’ I thrust out my hands and seize her slippery throat. I squeeze with all my remaining strength, digging my fingers and thumbs into her windpipe. Her eyes roll, her mouth drops open, she gags – I hold my breath. She tries to pull me away but I won’t let go, gritting my teeth as my fingers dig deeper into her cold neck. Her claw opens. I drop to the floor as two spiders round the bend.
Reuben grabs my hand and pulls me away. We take flight. I glance over my shoulder as we near the far wall. The first two spiders attend to Mother, but behind, a larger machine steps over her crumpled form. It lowers its quivering body, fixes all its eyes upon us, and charges.
‘In here.’ Rebekah slams her hand onto a pad. The door slides open and we tumble inside. I twist around, willing the door to shut as the spider hurtles down the aisle. I breathe out as it closes, just as our pursuer crashes against the other side.
Rebekah leans, panting with her back to the door. ‘Don’t worry. It can’t get in. Mother won’t let them in here. Too many accidents.’
I free myself from the tangled bodies of Reuben and Ada. I rub my throat and turn to face the room. Rows of liquid-filled tanks line the wall, bathing a large slab in the middle with the same sickening green light as in the main hall. I take a step.
‘Don’t.’ Rebekah grabs my arm. She lowers her voice and shakes her head. ‘Don’t look in the tanks. Trust me, you won’t forgive yourself.’
I turn my back. ‘Mother’s lab?’
Rebekah nods. ‘She brought me back because while her makers can manage much of what happens on the ship, they don’t appear to be too good at…’ she swallows and waves her hand at the walls, ‘all this stuff.’
Ada helps Reuben from the floor. He blinks, looking unsure of his surroundings. ‘Stuff? What stuff?’
I shake my head. ‘Not now.’
Rebekah holds up her hand. ‘No, it’s alright.’ She sits on the slab and turns to Reuben. ‘The stuff of making and maintaining Mother’s body… or that thing out there she calls a body.’
I sit beside her. ‘What’s happened to her? She looks dreadful.’
‘She was obsessed with having the whitest of skin and hair, not sure why, so—’
‘Seth and the others!’
Rebekah nods. ‘Yes, from what I can tell, she was experimenting up here with human… our building blocks, to come up with the right combination. But I think she meddled too much and weakened them. But,’ she grins, ‘I’ve not exactly been following her procedures, and whatever I’ve done, or not done, means her body can’t repair itself,’ she winces, ‘she’s rotting from the inside.’
Reuben wrinkles his nose. ‘Yes, we’d noticed.’
‘So why doesn’t she go back into the ship… machine, or where she came from?’
Rebekah hops off the slab and moves to a machine near the door. ‘Part of her still exists in the ship, so she can monitor the day-to-day routines, but the rest of her, the bit inside that scabby head of hers, doesn’t want to leave.’ She lifts a metal cap. ‘I think she doesn’t want to risk losing her grip on the living body. But something’s changed.’
‘In what way?’
‘She always was a bit mad, but she’s getting worse, contradicting herself as if there’s two different people in her head.’
Reuben pales, looking to me. ‘Do you think... that’s the others, you know, the death people?’
‘Who?’ Rebekah takes my arm. ‘Death people?’
‘Reapers. They’re the real enemy from Earth. Remember when you told me you thought there was something dark inside her?’ She nods. ‘Well it’s the enemy. They planted code in the ship and Namika, one of the survivors, believes they’re responsible for turning Mother into what she is now. From what you say, it could be getting stronger.’ I look to Reuben, then back to Rebekah. ‘We really don’t want them to take over from Mother.’
‘But wouldn’t it be better to get rid of her?’
‘No, it wouldn’t. If they take over the ship, we’re finished. In their eyes, they’ve completed their task using this ship to destroy the others, and…. we’re all that’s left to finish.’
Rebekah’s eyes wander to the green tanks. ‘That explains a lot.’
‘Huh.’ We look to Reuben. ‘I wonder if now she’s sort of human, the Reapers have a dilemma – now that they’re part human also.’
I pat him on the back. ‘You could have a point there. Could work in our favor.’
Ada pulls at my sleeve, then points at the door. ‘What about Mother?’
Rebekah smiles at Ada. ‘We’re okay… for now. She can’t get through with her long metal legs, and as I said, she won’t let the spiders in, well not until she realizes I’m not going to help her.’ She bends and puts her ear to the door. ‘I’ve locked it from this side but I guess she won’t be in any hurry.’
Reuben squats next to her. ‘Why wouldn’t she?’
Rebekah stands. ‘There’s no need. Look around. You won’t want to eat or drink anything you can find in here. She just needs to wait and starve us out.’
Reuben points to the tanks. ‘But we could smash the place up, destroy her work.’
Rebekah shakes her head. ‘It wouldn’t make much difference. She can easily rebuild, and,’ she swallows, ‘replace what’s in these tanks using what’s in those cylinders out there.’
My shoulders slump. ‘Great. So, there’s nothing we can do here, and as soon as we walk out, we’re all for a green bath.’ Rebekah laughs. I frown. ‘What’s so funny?’
She smiles. ‘Sorry, I’m not laughing about that, it’s… you were right all this time.’
‘About what?’
She wriggles her fingers in my face. ‘Outsiders. They do exist after all, and you’re one of them.’
‘Oh, I see. But I can tell you it’s no fun being right, not when it means Mother can do what she likes with us.’
Rebekah shrugs. ‘You and Reuben, but not me or Ada.’
‘Well not Ada, but you’ve been outside the ship.’
She rubs my shoulder. ‘Yes, but don’t forget Mother chose to bring me back. She wanted… needed me back, so that means I’ll still be under her care.’
I take her in my arms. ‘Does that help? You not being,’ I raise my eyebrows, ‘an Outsider?’
‘It could, but I can’t think how.’
Reuben clears his throat. ‘Sorry to break up you two, but what about Beth? Is she here?’
Rebekah releases her hold. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know. She couldn’t face the tasks in here, who could blame her, but I don’t know where Mother sent her.’
Reuben fold his arms. ‘Well I’m not giving in until we find her, but… can’t we just wait it out for now? If Mother’s rotting, why not wait for her body to fall apart?’
Rebekah sighs. ‘I’m afraid it won’t happen like that. She’s got spares elsewhere… probably in her own quarters, away from my prying hands.’ She rubs my arm. ‘And she’s going to need one after what you injected into her neck.’
Reuben slams his fist into the door. ‘Then what can we do? We can’t step outside the door and fight our way out.’
‘We can go this way.’ We stop and turn to Ada. She stands at the back of the room between two bubbling tanks. She points to a small, square plate. ‘I can open this.’
Rebekah strides over to the wall. ‘You can do that?’
Ada nods and holds up her thumb. She smiles. ‘I think so. It looks the same as the service shafts.’ She places her thumb on a small circle in the center of the door. To our relief, it slides open.
Reuben bends to look through. He turns slumps against the wall. ‘Great. Another ladder.’
Rebekah sighs. ‘Yeah, but there’s no flesh-tearing, metal robots waiting for you in there.’ She nudges him in the back. ‘So, get in.’
He stops at the entrance. ‘Up or down?’
I answer with barely a thought. ‘Up.’ I exchange a glance with Rebekah. ‘If we can get to Mother’s quarters on Cloud Five, we could cause some damage and allow Namika to take control of the shuttles.’
She frowns. ‘How?’
‘The sphere. I was supposed to attach the weapon to it, but perhaps we could smash it, or at least do something. And if we can find her spare parts…’ I grimace, not relishing the thought of destroying human flesh. I look up. ‘Anyway, if Namika’s right, Mother won’t know we’re coming. She has no knowledge of what happens in the shafts and vents.’
Reuben bends and crawls through the opening. His voice echoes. ‘Up it is then.’
I look down to Rebekah. ‘You’d think after surviving on New Dawn we’d be used to this cold.’
‘We must be, Ada’s struggling and needs to rest. She’ll fall if we can’t get her out of here soon.’
I check up the ladder. ‘We’ll be coming up to Cloud Four before long. We could climb out and warm up for a few minutes.’
‘What’s on Cloud Four? Is it safe?’
‘Not sure. It could be the Dream-maker.’ I shiver. ‘It would be nice to walk on that beach again.’
Rebekah smiles but it quickly fades. ‘But she’ll know if we use it. But I would like to—’
‘Ada’s slipped.’ Reuben calls up. ‘I’ve got her hand… but I can’t hold on for long.’
‘Coming.’ Rebekah scrambles down beside Reuben and grabs Ada’s flaying hand. She pulls her up. Rebekah yells back. ‘We need to find that exit. She can’t carry on like this.’
‘Wait there. I’ll see how much further.’ I take two steps and thankfully the rungs glow. ‘Ha! It’s here.’