CHAPTER 18

 

Ray sat with Bones, Sparks, and Nettle around her mother’s dinner table. It had been a while since everybody had eaten together and Ray felt sad it wasn’t under happier circumstances. Ray had delivered her news about the Dianian signals specialists and her new trainer role with CDSE. Now Sparks was delivering a sermon.

“This is our home. This is our planet, our land. If anybody owns it, it’s us. It’s crazy that CDSE can turn up now and say, sorry but we bought this. Thanks for looking after it but fuck off! How could Earth have done this to us?”

Nettle nodded, “I’m not going to be a fucking maid for some rich Earth prick,” she added, “and if I grow any food, I’m going to fucking well eat it myself.”

“And did you hear,” Sparks added, getting more agitated, “The first Life2s are arriving next week? Why are we always the last to know? They must have been in transit for years.”

“There are too many of us,” Nettle signed punctuating her speech with sharp angry jabs, “If they piss us off too much they will have a revolt on their hands, and I would be in the front line. I’d love to grab that slimy Pfeffer by her grinning lips and shove the whole lot up her skinny arse. If they are keeping secrets, they are keeping them because they know we are not going to like them. They are keeping secrets because they don’t want us to blow them all the fucking way back to Earth.”

Bones looked uneasily at Nettle and then at Ray as if considering them.

“What?” Ray signed seeing her mother’s look.

Bones surprised Ray, “Nettle’s right.”

“About what?” Ray asked.

“About keeping secrets.” She turned from Ray and spoke to the table. “I don’t trust CDSE and I don’t believe they have our best interests at heart. I hear what Nettle is saying and I agree, they are scared to tell us everything in case we cause problems for them.” She turned and looked meaningfully at Ray again.

“I have other reasons to distrust them as well. Reasons that I will tell you about when the time is right.”

Ray interjected, “Maybe we can make the best of this. We have always worked for the humans. Maybe they are just coming down heavy at the beginning but eventually they will relax. Forget to watch us so closely. Most of them are OK? The humans I mean. Besides, surely the UN are here to maintain Earth laws, right? To make sure CDSE don’t overstep?”

Nettle looked at Ray directly, “Don’t be blind. It’s not just Pfeffer and Jager and their crew. These new humans that are coming are different. They are the lords of the Earth. They have money, wealth, and power the likes of which you cannot even imagine. If you thought Pritchard and his goons were bad this lot will be worse. They are the ones that consumed the Earth to the point of killing it, they take whatever they want and don’t give a shit about the consequences. They will come here in their thousands upon thousands. We will be less to them than the mud that will stick to their shoes. They will consume Diana and they will consume all of us. We will exist only so that they do not have to see the fucking weeds that grow in their gardens or where their food comes from.”

Sparks was nodding in agreement and Bones didn’t argue. Nettle continued.

“But that is not what scares me the most. Out here we are far from the governing laws of Earth, far from help should we need it. And why would they help even if we could send a message? They no longer need us to keep them alive, to provide oxygen for them, or clean their stinking air. The people that are coming will have desires that they will expect us to meet and they will believe that there are no laws to keep them in check. This world and all of us will be their play things. They are coming here to become gods and I don’t believe that the UN will have the numbers or inclination to stop them.”

Sparks banged his fist on the tables, “We must fight this. We must stop them.”

Ray found herself nodding. Nettle had a way of saying things so that they felt true. Her words scared Ray badly. She was already sure that once her new trainer role was done she was going to be shoved out of signals work, probably to pick carrots in a field for the rest of her life or scrub some wrinkled monstrosity’s floor.

Bones nodded at Sparks and paused to look around the table,

“Yes, we could fight. We might even win. We might even drive them all out. “

Nettle was nodding enthusiastically. Bones held up her finger for attention, “But,” she signed,” Eventually we will lose.” She held each pair of eyes in turn. “Remember that we only survive here by the grace of Earth and now by the grace of CDSE. Even if we drive them out never to return, our race is doomed within one generation. Without the lung implants our children need to survive all our children will die, just like the first child, and in one hundred years we will be gone.” Every eye at the table followed Bones as she looked down at her calloused hands. “Our only chance to survive is to stay quiet and work for the humans…”

The silence was profound until Sparks banged the table once again,

“There has got to be another way.” Everybody stared at Sparks or at their hands, wishing for divine inspiration. Slowly an idea occurred to Ray.

“Hostages,” She finally signed. Nettle frowned confused.

“Hostages? Who?”

“All of them Ray replied.” Right now, we outnumber them. If it came to a straight up fight we would have a chance. In the long run, they have the advantage because they can just keep coming. Sending more and more people until we are overwhelmed. If we can close the gates so nobody else can come here, then we keep those that are already here as hostages. Force CDSE and Earth to cooperate. How are the life2s getting here? What do we know about the ships?”

“Nothing,” Nettle answered. “Nothing at all. The first one hasn’t arrived yet and CDSE don’t let Dianian tug pilots anywhere near their interstellar ships. I’ve never even got a chance to sneak a look at one of the monitors. We need more info? How many can they carry? How fast can they go? Everything. “

Nettle stopped mid flow and her face went slack as a new idea filtered across her face. Everybody stopped and waited. Nettle resumed, “We don’t need to stop the interstellar ships, ... just the shuttles.”

“How would we do that?” Sparks asked looking doubtful.

“With the nets. Close the shuttle channels through the nets. If we could get into Town Hall. Take control and lock CDSE out we could close the shuttle routes. They could fly here but they couldn’t land.”

“And nobody could leave either,” Ray added, “Nodding at the brutal simplicity of Nettle’s plan.” We don’t need to drive them out, we just need control of Town Hall.”

“And we need a Net map,” Nettle added.” We need someone who can get close to the either the CDSE personnel or the marines. Find things out. Download a current Net map.”

“What about Rose?” Ray suggested, “She is always with the humans. Maybe she knows things already.”

Nettle shook her head. “Rose is too selfish and lacks self-control, we need to be absolutely silent about this. If CDSE get wind of what is going on they will stop us for certain.”

“We could get a message to Earth,” Ray suggested. “We would have to get into Comms somehow. CDSE have confiscated all of the private ComPorts.”

Nettle and Sparks shared a look.

“That’s not entirely accurate,” Sparks signed towards Ray. “Before the humans arrived I hid mine. Sometimes paranoia pays off huh? It’s hidden out in the forest with a solar collector. The only problem is, if CDSE are paying attention, and I bet that they are, they will almost certainly detect any communication we send and find the ComPort. If we use it we may only get to use it once.”

“So, any message we send better be good,” Nettle joined in. “When we use it, we need to have enough evidence to hang CDSE. What they are doing seems unfair but maybe it’s legal. I’m not sure at all what our rights are anymore or how to enforce them. Anyway, help from Earth would be years away.”

Sparks frowned to himself. “Nettle is right. We must stop anybody else coming. Trapping CDSE and the marines here will be dangerous with them having all the weapons. Will the rest of the Dianians help fight?

Nettle answered, “Some will some won’t. The most important thing is that we involve as few people as possible in the meantime. Invite only those that we absolutely need. I am sure that CDSE will not hesitate to silence anybody that they suspect is going to cause any sort of problem, First Child forbid an uprising. We have no weapons and very little protection. We need to be sure that when we are ready to attack CDSE cannot stop us, and anybody who chooses to is free help us.” Nettle turned to Ray, “First though, we need to get access to Town Hall and we need somebody on the inside. Ray, it hast to be you. You need to reconnect with Jonah.”

Ray looked at Bones and then Sparks and then back at Bones, her fingers flexing. Everybody waited.

She hadn’t thought about him for a while. The idea of talking to him made her stomach lurch. She didn’t know whether it was nerves or excitement.

Finally, Bones broke the silence, “We all know you guys got on well. We need to find out what the marines know, if anything. It may also give you a chance to get closer to the CDSE paramilitary units or ground staff. Anyone who can tell us about Town Hall and get us close to downloading a Netmap.”

Ray looked at her hands resting on the table. Of course, Bones was right. Her hesitation made no sense. And she actually wanted to talk to Jonah anyway. She had wanted to for months now.

Nettle straightened, “I don’t think Bones is asking you to fall in love with him.”

“Shut up Nettle,” Ray responded, “Want to spar tonight?”

Nettle clapped her on the back. “Good girl, we could even ask him to teach us some of that ground fighting the marines do. Then you’d get to roll around on the floor with him.”

That earned Nettle her second punch in the arm for the day which she didn’t avoid so adroitly being trapped between the bench and the table. She grasped her bicep, “that’s gonna bruise bitch. What will the ladies in my weaving circle think?”

Sparks laughed, “If you were in a weaving circle, I’m pretty sure they would all assume you deserved a punch in the arm and probably wish they had done it first. “That earned Sparks a vicious punch to the arm that sent him tripping back over the bench. The bench toppled depositing Nettle on top of Sparks, adeptly landing with her forearm across his neck.

With Sparks momentarily disabled, Nettle pressed her advantage by licking her finger and trying to shove it in his ear. Bones and Ray laughed as Sparks struggled to avoid Nettle’s probing finger. Finally, he managed to roll her off and regain his feet, wiping a smear of Nettle’s spit off the side of face.

“Gross,” he signed, still grinning stupidly.

Ray, Sparks, and Nettle made to leave but Bones put her hand on Ray’s should to keep her for a moment. Bones waited until Nettle and Sparks had rounded the bend before she turned Ray to face her.

“I assume you have heard about the time I was injured? Before you were born?” she asked indicating the place where the livid scar ran up the side of her abdomen. Ray nodded.

“There are things about that time that still make very little sense to me, but I can’t help feeling that somehow they might be connected to what is happening now. I have almost no memory of what happened but whatever happened changed me somehow. It’s like there is wall between me and my memories. It hurts to try. I feel …” Bones broke off. Breathing hard her face suddenly shiny with sheen of perspiration.

Ray swallowed. The pain behind her mother’s eyes was evident. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

Bones checked behind as if someone might be looking on.

“I was lost for almost two months, right?” Bones halted again, her knees buckling slightly. She wiped away a stray tear with a hand shaking so badly that she struggled to direct it to her cheek.

Ray held Bones’ shoulder, “you don’t need to tell me this, it was a long time ago.”

Bones gripped Ray’s shoulders hard enough to cause pain. She managed to release one hand to continue talking.

“There is something out there. Something important. I try to remember but my mind … slips.” Bones grimaced as if in pain.” I used to have no fear. Now I full of it. I can’t go near the Sunset Ring. If I even think of it, I feel like this. It’s like a wall, a terrifying wall, stopping me from moving.

Bones gripped Ray even harder. “Don’t go there, Ray. Something happened to me. Stay out of the Darklands. “

Bones eyes were becoming bloodshot, as if she were forcing herself to keep talking, like there was some physical barrier.

“Also…Also…,” Bones eyelids flickered like she was starting to lose consciousness. “When I got back…I think…I think I was…I’m so sorry,” and Bones fell, her eyes rolling back in her head. Her fingers dug painfully into Ray’s shoulder dragging her down on top. Bones’ whole body stiffened. Ray could see only the whites of her eyes and cords stood out painfully on her neck, teeth gritted.

A huge seizure gripped Bones, lifting Ray up off the ground. Ray held on terrified as Bones started to thrash violently. Fighting panic Ray forced herself to let go and recall her med-tech training. She caste around and grabbed a cushion to put behind Bones’ head. Ray wished she could scream for help, watching her mother battering her wrists and elbows against the floor, her head smacking into the cushion. Finally, the seizure stopped, and Bones lay still, eyes and mouth open with a line of bloody spittle dripping from the corner of her mouth. Ray could not rouse her or get her to respond at all. Knowing she needed help but reluctant to leave, Ray looked around the room hoping for divine inspiration. None coming she made Bones as comfortable as possible and sprinted out the door after Nettle and Sparks.