ANDROMEDA IYNX – Chapter 1

Chapter 1.

Owen saw the words ‘Take meds’ written in biro on the back of Allen’s fist before it connected with his chin. He had known it was coming as soon as he had entered the dull silver metal clad walls of the Terra Police control room and saw Allen drinking Kopi with his bio-helmet removed.

“I thought you were off that stuff,” Owen had said.

Allen had flown into a rage, dropping his Link device and starting up. The punch was nothing more than a wet slap, but it still knocked Owen’s one way visor and helmet off and sent him to the hard metal checker plate floor. Allen had only caught the edge of the visor and Owen had failed to tighten his helmet chin strap enough. During the few seconds he was lying on his back, with stars floating around the edges of his vision, the bulky form of Allen in his armoured bio-tunic flickered above. It was over as quickly as it had started. An officer helped Owen to his hard metal chair and sat him down.

“He can afford the assault charges,” said the officer, and handed him back his helmet and visor.

Allen picked up his Link, and without looking at the small screen, put it in his breast pocket and left the room while replacing his gloves, visor and helmet.

Owen should have realised that Allen had skipped on the meds which kept his aggression in check, and that the Kopi would have sent him over the edge. It had happened before. It usually happened, in fact. Issues with Allen, and his aggression, were Owen’s way of life.

Owen took a recovery pill and it quickly restored him. Then he turned to the small metal edged console screen on his desk; now his Link device was close the same information was there. From Allen he had received an automatic compensation payment for the assault. His Link, sitting in his pocket, vibrated to confirm the transaction. Credits went from Owen to the officer for helping him. He sighed and looked away from the credits section; he felt that same old boredom with social credits. He noticed the bio-contamination reading for the incident was high.

The console screen read his eye movement and went into his police brief. Something was slightly amiss, something different about his profile, but he was unable to decide what it was. More urgent was that it was telling him he needed to follow his aggressive colleague to the Terra Police truck bay.

He left through the armoured control room door, into the dimly lit metal lined corridor; it was the same checker plate floor and all in the same dull silver and the same claustrophobic deadness to any sound. He was relieved there was no one about as he didn’t want to risk more bio-contamination. He walked to the lift door. The Link communicated with it to check his travel permissions. He chose the floor by navigating with his eye movement on the lift console screen bolted onto the metal wall. The cramped smelly lift took him down to the lowest level. There was another short, dimly lit, metal lined corridor. At the armoured security door to the Terra Police truck bay, his Link did its work, and the door slid open. Again, the same metal décor, as all the utility areas that were a usual part of his life. The large outer doors were closed, several trucks lined up facing them. Only one or two truck spaces were empty. The overwhelming smell was of synthetic tyre rubber, synthetic oil, and the high whining sound of the truck batteries charging. There was no-one to be seen.

He walked over to truck 6. It was as bulky and as armoured as the bay door; it towered above him, the wheels as tall as he was; its metal was not silver, but coated black. The big side door was swung up and open; he found Allen inside starting the systems.

“Truck 6 again,” cursed Allen. “The shitty knackered oldest truck again.”

Owen nodded and then went to the bay doors ahead of the truck. He navigated the console screen by the door. His Link checked the permissions and the door started to slide up and open. The sun burst through and the warmth gradually moved up his tunic; it had been the first time he had felt it for several days, it was the first time he’d had permissions to open an outer door since the last mission. The fresh air filled his lungs and made him feel faint. He wondered if it was contaminated, unlike the treated air inside. The sun moved up his body and then fairly blinded him through the visor.

He shaded has eyes and looked out over the jungle a long distance below, an endless canopy of dense green. Further away he saw a pencil line of smoke, the only sign of people down there. He could almost smell the smoke on the warm breeze that touched his hand, but was fanciful. Melpomene towered above the trees and the smoke was distant. He looked out from the stern; directly ahead was a long meandering path of torn trees and earth, where the jungle had been ravaged behind Melpomene. Stepping as close to the edge as he dared he looked each way along the vast metal stern of the great mobile city. The landscape was the same unending canopy, nothing to see. He looked down and saw the rear of a pair of giant caterpillar tracks, but the vertigo was too much, and he stepped back into the truck bay. The door finally clanked home above and the bay was quiet. In the far distance he could hear the great processing gouge under the belly of Melpomene. The canopy of jungle below was faraway and quiet. He looked out far away again and saw a single eagle circling over the trees, but lower than him with his birds eye view.

Then, in the truck bay, he smelt the chemical burning aroma of brewing Kopi and walked over to the office wondering if there was any to spare.

The office was small, with one console screen. His senior officer was sitting before it with a cup of Kopi in her hand. She wore the same outfit as his, a black armoured bio-tunic. Her blonde hair was closely cropped, the Terra Police standard. Her helmet, mirror visor and gloves sat beside her. On her chest was her photo ID with rank below it. He thought how all the Terra Police looked the same, uniform and sexless. He watched her dull blue eyes scanning her brief on the screen. The privacy function only showed Owen his own brief as his Link connected.

“Hi, Amanda,” he said, and felt the Link vibrate and credits slip from it. The console confirmed the transaction. Again, he noticed something was out of place, but was unable to see what. She turned to him, her eyes wide with the effect of the Kopi, but with the dull and glassy look that it always invoked. “Hi, Owen. You’re going in truck 6 with me.” He felt some credits come back into his Link due to the communication being about work.

“Fine, Allen is here already.”

“I’ve just come on shift; yesterday we didn’t find a thing.” She rubbed her forehead tiredly.

“Yes. I heard the tribes are keeping back.” He saw social credits equalise.

“Melpomene is moving really slowly,” she grimaced.

“Maybe they’ve found a rich seam.”

“Yeah, maybe. Well, I’m going to look in on the mechanics.” She drained the Kopi, replaced her helmet, visor, and gloves, then skirting around him at a distance, exited the door and headed to the area at the back of the truck bay.

“Ok,” he said to himself. His Link made no response for talking to himself.

Owen went back to truck 6. Inside, Allen growled at him: “Time to do some work man, instead of flirting with the chief.” Owen felt some credits exchange. He climbed in on the opposite side to Allen. They were two meters apart, as per the regulations. His Link logged him into the truck systems. While checking he heard some more of the team arriving. He noticed the console was showing something unusual. He checked… and checked again.

Before he could look any further, Amanda appeared by the door.

“What’s the matter?” she frowned.

“Oh, nothing.”

“Oh don’t worry about him,” muttered Allen, “he’s always getting it wrong anyway.”

“I’ve had a talk to the mechanics,” she continued, ignoring Allen. “The truck has a fault in the electric drive unit but there’s no budget to fix it until next week.”

“Typical,” said another voice out of Owen’s sight. “When’s there a budget for anything?” The owner of the voice came into view; a short tidy man, wearing the same police outfit. The ID card on his breast showed a picture of his face and rank: Amanda’s second.

“We’ll get by, Nick,” Owen promised, hopefully.

“We always do,” he replied.

“Anyway, the truck’s fine,” rejoined Amanda. “We shouldn’t push it too hard, is all.”

“You mean you,” said Owen.

“Yes, me.”

With that, she climbed up into the truck and took her place in the driving seat. Her Link connected and she started to check through the systems via her driving console.

*

Owen never got used to it. His stomach was in his mouth, his body full of shudders and his vision swam. He wanted to go back. He tried not to look at the immense drop to the jungle below as the truck slid out onto the elevator ramp. It bumped forward and he was convinced they would miss the ramp and tumble down the massive stern of Melpomene, then smash to pieces in the trees.

He thought of the pre-mission checks to distract himself. All the other crew had arrived, and after Amanda, one by one they had boarded. Then the truck was fully staffed with eight people. From his position, he could only see Allen and Amanda. He had heard the others board through the rear ramp. He could imagine the five of them back there sitting in their various positions.

The truck gave a lurch as the elevator started moving downwards. He could feel the grinding of the mechanism as it descended on the rails. He gripped his seat and tried to think of other things, but the draw of the window was too much, and he glanced down at the fast approaching trees.

As the elevator took them down, he could see the vast underside of Melpomene, starting not far from the top of the elevator track. He looked back up towards the truck bay doors but they were already hidden from his view. He could see for some distance a section of the industrial area hanging from the belly of Melpomene, between the great hydraulic rams that ran from the belly, to the vast caterpillar tracks firmly planted in the jungle. The tracks towered over the trees, and from here, he could only see one or two of them. He knew that the city had many tracks to support its huge weight. It was not possible to see the great processing gouge that filled the area in the middle of Melpomene. He often saw it when they returned in daylight. The gouge filled him with awe at the terrible destructiveness of the device. When in operation it tore the trees and earth apart as it ripped deep into a seam, earth, and trees: it was all the same to the devastating gouge. This was what Melpomene always left in its wake: destruction. They reached the level of the canopy of trees and the truck bumped again as it followed the smaller skeleton rails. Below was ragged and torn earth, a wide area of ravaged jungle. The truck dropped into the wide gap and the caterpillar tracks now towered above it too.

“Welcome back to hell,” Allen snorted.

“You’re welcome to it,” came Amanda’s deadpan voice over their headsets.

Owen kept quiet as his stomach was still doing summersaults from the decent. He’d heard Allen say it so many times anyway.

“Get the surveillance up Owen,” yelled Diane from the gun turret, the words crackling painfully over his headset.

“Ok. Ok.”

Owen investigated his console and got the surveillance systems up quickly. He knew as well as Diane that the tribes sometimes came in close to the caterpillar tracks to scavenge.

“That’s better,” Diane confirmed. “It looks clear.”

The truck bumped for a last time as the elevator delivered it to ground zero. The six large wheels connected with the rough terrain and the suspension settled into place. They could hear the pneumatic arms level the truck platform.

For a moment, all was quiet inside the truck as they checked their systems. Amanda hadn’t switched on the electric engine. In the distance, they could hear and feel the grinding of the great gouge, even through the thick armour plating of the truck.

“All clear from me,” said Owen into his mic.

“Confirm that,” returned Diane.

“Confirmed here,” said Hannah.

They were quiet again for a short moment. Then Amanda called: “Come on Harper, Indiana and Nick, we can’t sit here all day.”

“Ok, confirmed clear,” said Nick.

“I needed to check first,” said Indiana, “but all clear now.”

“Ok here,” came the voice of Harper.

“Good, let’s move,” urged Allen.

Eight checks are better than one, thought Owen.

He knew the threat was real; they could, possibly, have started up and received a volley of missiles, right down their air conditioning pipes from Tribe automated missile launchers. The threat was always there, even if the launchers rarely, if ever, in fact never, were.

The electric engine came to life and the truck juddered forward off the ramp then stopped. Owen activated the elevator return and switched to the camera view to watch it clear the truck. His console only usually gave permission to see the narrow view of the elevator. Something was different. He checked. His permission had changed. The camera was in fully wide mode and fully mobile. He snatched a glance at Allen, but then corrected himself, remembering Allen was unable to see his console screen readout.

There was no mistake; he was able to pan and tilt, and he had a full view of the underside of Melpomene and the gouge. The camera was partly obscured by one of the giant caterpillar tracks; he saw the track was moving minutely. Allen had not missed Owen’s attitude and furtive glance.

“What is it?” challenged Allen.

“Nothing, nothing.”

“Come on, Owen,” came Diane’s voice. “What’s the matter with you today? Report the ramp is clear.”

“Ramp is clear.”

“Today?” asked Allen. “He’s always like that.”

The truck was a distance behind the caterpillar track, which had flattened the earth enough for them to drive easily over it. This was their ticket to the jungle, thought Owen. He investigated the systems on his console screen. Cancelling the camera view, as he was unable to hide his astonishment from the others, he quickly made further checks and rapidly became more astonished at his extreme, if unlimited, permissions. He forced himself to stop; it could wait – he would look later in privacy.

“Confirmed ok to move,” commanded Amanda.

She received final confirmations from all the surveillance checks and the truck moved off, heading into the jungle.

As the tall trees either side followed them, Owen made a check to keep the comm dish pointed directly at Melpomene. He briefly thought of their data racing between the city and the truck. The comm dish was locked on, and he left it to do its job, tracking and reporting their mission.

He looked out of his window and down at their path of ripped trees, undergrowth and soil, flattened by Melpomene. The truck with its long travel suspension and large wheels made light work of it. Owen was aware of a grinding sound, not usually part of the truck noises. He assumed this was the faulty drive unit. Outside he saw various brightly coloured bee-eater birds. There was no other animal life at that moment, although he had seen plenty in the past. Right then he was thrown forward in his seat as the truck shuddered and pitched forward alarmingly; his safety belts dug into his shoulders and his helmet bumped on the console. Allen had less luck, as he had slipped out of his straps for comfort; he flew from his chair and collided with the sharp edges of the bulkhead before him. This time it was his helmet that flew off. It wasn’t just he who failed to secure his chin straps, thought Owen.

“Shit! Shit!” moaned Allen, clutching his forehead.

“Owen!” Amanda cried out. “How can we get anywhere if you don’t keep your eyes open?” Her sharp voice shouted into his ears over the headset.

Owen looked at the camera fixed to the nose of the truck, but it was buried in crushed foliage. Visuals were his only reference as there was no police budget for sensors.

“I don’t know what we hit,” he replied. He felt the truck try to reverse but the grinding noise became worse, the electric engine wined like a wounded dog, and they failed to move.

“Shit and fuck!” Allen contributed as he climbed into his seat having got a swab from the first aid pack near his console.

“We’re not going anywhere for the moment,” Amanda observed. “Let’s disembark.”

Standing on a level part of torn earth, Owen surveyed the truck. The nose was buried in the undergrowth. The rear stuck in the air as the pneumatic suspension had attempted to do something with this unusual terrain. The four wheels at the back were all in contact with the ground but the two front wheels had vanished into the foliage. The usually stable and firm armoured truck looked to him like a downed and wounded bird.

One by one, the others had climbed out. Owen had been first, as his position had the easiest access to a door. Now out of the cool and sealed truck the heat was unbelievable, the sun pounding down on the open area away from the shade of the trees. He could hear various animal noises, although he no idea what creatures they were. There was an unpleasant pungent smell of pollen and he noticed many colourful blooms around. Allen walked over to him; Owen expected a thump; however, Allen doubled up with a huge sneeze.

“Shit, it stinks out here,” Allen complained, removing his helmet and wiping the visor with his gloved hand and then sticking a finger in a nostril and blowing out snot.

Soon all eight of them were out and all standing two meters from one another. Owen looked at them, all in the same grey blue bulky armoured bio-uniform as him, with the same helmets covering their head and faces. Like robots, he thought, sexless and identical, even though the party was, by law, equally male and female.

“Right,” said Amanda, “what I want is this.” She proceeded to deploy them around the truck. Owen took up his place as requested. Nick and Indiana had jacking tools; Hannah and Harper carried machetes. The latter got to work chopping the undergrowth from around the front wheels. Many flying bugs swarmed into the air. The crew were all tormented by the bites as the insects took a meal on the few areas of exposed skin. Soon Owen saw that the front wheels were deep in water and he noticed that a small stream was hidden under the torn destruction. As his eyes followed the stream to the trees, he saw a movement. Then his eyes picked out the tattooed man, and then rockets leaped from the tube on his shoulder.

“Incoming!” he screamed and went down on the ground.

The others went flat and the rockets burst across the area, overshooting the truck and smashing into the trees beyond. Then it was still, even the jungle fell silent.

“Failed to explode,” coughed Allen, picking himself up.

“Apprehend the terrorist,” Amanda commanded.

They split up and traversed the area to where the man had stood. When they got there, he’d vanished, but switching on their visor thermal imaging, they soon had him. Despite their numbers, and technology, the man was fast and constantly slipped away, into the deep undergrowth around the moss-covered tree trunks.

“He’s good for a tribal,” gasped Diane, over their headsets.

The land fell away and Owen sighted the tribal, a brief glimpse of his tattooed flesh and muscular build.

“He’s heading around the valley,” Owen informed them. “I have visual on him.”

They were much slower over the terrain than the tribal, but with the technology to help, they started to surround him; gradually the net was drawn in and they quartered the area down to the edge of some water running into the valley. He took shelter by rocks at the foot of a great tree by the water. One by one, they circled him, and cut off all his escape routes.

“Come out,” Amanda, panted. “There’s nowhere to go.”

The man silently stepped out from the bushes, hands held high. Owen took in the tall muscular frame and realised he was young, perhaps eighteen. He wore a thick beard and there was much hair on his body, a stark contrast to the clean-shaven men in Owen’s group. His attitude was one of considerable trepidation if not fear; not the hostile attitude Owen had expected.

“What is your tribe?” Allen demanded, menacing with his gun.

“Jinan. We are peaceful, don’t shoot me,” he rumbled. Owen was struck by the contrast with their men and their light voices. The man towered over Allen. Owen expected the tribal could take them all if he wished; all they had were guns.

“Very peaceful rockets you have,” Diane spat.

“We have no choice…”

“Forget it, you’re coming back with us,” interrupted Allen.

“What’s your name?” asked Owen.

“Ilyas.”

“Shityas,” sneered Allen, as much to Owen as the tribal.

“Come on,” said Amanda. “I don’t like the look of the clouds.”

Owen looked up, and for the first time noticed that the bright blue sky now had thick grey clouds drawing in. He saw the first drops of rain on his visor.

They started to speed-march back to the truck. Allen poked his gun hard into the ribs of Ilyas so that the man was forced to let out a gasp. Owen looked at Allen but the other avoided facing him. Other thoughts went from his head as the rain came quickly. Always in the jungle it was this way; in the next few seconds the truck was invisible and the rain threw a curtain around them. Amanda drew out her Link and consulted the homing app. Owen knew that, with the crushed trees to navigate around, they could easily lose their bearings.

The heavy rain drummed on them. The uniforms were soaked through in seconds. Already the ground underfoot was sodden. They progressed slowly but, in a few minutes, found the truck again. The stream had risen and water was creeping up to the rear wheels and, due to the vehicle’s unusual position, inching up the nose.

As they reached the truck, Allen took some handcuffs and roughly secured Ilyas in the rear area.

“Right,” said Amanda, “get the hydraulic arm attached. We need to lift the front out of the stream with it.”

Owen and Diane went to the side locker and removed the heavy mechanical arm. By now, the stream was flowing fast, and all eight of them formed a human bridge to help Owen and Diane fit the arm to the rapidly disappearing front end of the truck. Then all eight of them returned to their positions inside. Owen took control of the arm. He knew it was capable of lifting the truck, but its real use was for exploratory functions, not as a way of manhandling the heavy vehicle. He had the camera pointed at the arm as he manipulated it using his eye movement over the console. He could see the water swirling over the nose though he was not too concerned as he knew the cab would be watertight. He brought the arm down but was unable to see under the water. The first try slipped as the arm connected with a broken log and he saw it float to the surface. As it went down, they all felt the truck rise. He slid the arm forward, which pushed the truck backward. Amanda fed in the power, and the front wheels gripped the bank. Accompanied by the grinding noise of the drive unit, the rear wheels gripped and pulled the front ones up. Then the nose lifted, all the wheels got traction, and the truck bounced twice up the slope. Once they had progressed, Owen moved the arm and used it to push again. The truck reversed onto harder, level ground.

“That stream is deep,” said Amanda. “Thanks, Owen, good job.”

“For once,” added Allen.

Outside, it was dark and grey as the rain continued to thunder down over the jungle. Visibility around the truck was zero. After Amanda backed the truck up a short way, the crew congregated in the living area. They brewed Kopi and sat with steaming cups, helmets removed. Owen was pleased that his uniform was dry, as expected, the material being a special mix for just this sort of work. Owen looked out at the sheet of rain close by the truck; there was nothing else to see but a short patch of green battling against the rain sheet.

“I’ll brew him some weaker Kopi,” said Hannah.

“Just a waste,” said Allen, “they can’t handle the real stuff.”

“Ours is just factory processed,” said Owen, “I expect he drinks it natural from beans.”

“Shut up,” snapped Allen.

Ilyas took his cup timidly. Once it had cooled a little, Owen saw him take a sip and grimace. He noticed that the tribal man drank no more.

After an hour, the rain stopped as quickly as it had started. They made their way out to the jungle that was steaming vapor as the rain returned to the clouds. The ground was spongey and damp. The stream had become a river and blocked their path. It was so wide that it had started to lap at the wheels of the truck, even though Amanda had reversed a reasonable distance.

Owen and Diane disconnected the pneumatic arm and stowed it back in the side locker. By the time they finished, the sky was bright blue, and the ground was dry.

They returned to their positions. Amanda turned the truck and pointed it back towards the distant Melpomene. Owen checked that the comm dish was connecting as it should. The grinding of the drive unit had become quite loud, and he wondered if they would make it back. The grinding got worse as the huge city grew ahead. Owen felt relieved when the truck neared the stern caterpillar tracks. The loading ramp came down to meet them. As he looked ahead, he noticed that the underside of Melpomene was a dark haze, and he was unable to see far ahead. He assumed the gouge had found a deep seam.

“Ramp is in place,” he said into his headset.

“Ok,” replied Amanda.

The truck moved forward and settled on the ramp. Owen engaged the return, and the truck lurched upwards. In turn, he felt the lurch in his stomach, as the high climb lay ahead. The truck moved back to the bay and he attempted not to look down though his window. It reached the bay doors and bumped as it slid inside. Owen gripped his seat until they had stopped moving.

“Thanks team,” said Amanda. “Allen, Owen and Indiana can take the tribal to interrogation. The rest can de-mission the truck with me. I’ll expect reports from you all by the morning.”

The four of them took the lift up to the police cells. In the corridors, Indiana walked ahead of the tribal. Allen was next and Owen behind. Allen took every opportunity to harass the tribal man, poking him with his gun and barking orders.

Once at the cell’s reception, they booked Ilyas in as the tribal sat dejectedly on a hard metal bench. Owen stood and watched Allen do the admin on the console. His gaze fell on the tribal who looked unhappy and withdrawn. Now and again a scream came from the cells.

Owen desperately wanted to leave. He looked at Indiana, but she reclined against the metal wall with the visor hiding her face. Presently a warder came and pointed Ilyas towards the cells. As Owen watched him go, a feeling of worry overwhelmed him, but he was unable to work out why, or what the worry was about.

“What’s the matter, going to miss him?” sneered Allen.

“Ha, why would I do that?”

“I don’t know, I’m sure.”

“Anyway, it’s time to clock off.”

After clocking off, Owen made his way home. He always thought the reward of the job was when it was time to go home and it brought a feeling immense freedom. Today though, there was a nagging doubt. He thought of the tribal and of his own permissions in the Link. He wondered what Indiana had been thinking. Something had changed that day, and it was troubling him, but he couldn’t work out what the problem was.

He swiped the lift with the Link, felt his credits debit, and walked in. The lift was empty. The Terra Police were one of the few to be allowed limited movement around the city. He absentmindedly looked at the floor display. The truck bay was on floor zero. The display went up to fifty one. The lift announced his floor, floor 6, and he stepped out into a dark and shabby corridor where the artificial light was turned down low to save energy. All the lower floors were drab and cramped. Even so, he felt happy to be going home.

When he got to his door, the Link let him in after checking his IDs. Just inside was enough room to stand before his small bed. He turned to his right and the food apparatus. He pressed the button for Kopi and put a mug under the nozzle. Then he sat on his bed and removed his police uniform.

To the left of the door was a storage unit next to the shower pod. He hung the uniform in the storage unit. He grabbed his cup and lay back on the bed naked. He pumped up a couple of pillows and propped up his head. Above the foot of the bed the console came on and he watched the news.

There were the usual forecasted terrorist attacks, talking of impending invasion of the tribals and how they would board the city. The seam mining reports were predicting a low return on mining for the last week and the need to conserve power. Virus reports suggested there were more restrictions to movements in the city to come in the next few days. There was a lot of trivial information about what Alcibiades and the ruling elites were doing with their plans for Alcibiades’ official birthday celebrations.

He switched it off

Then the door chime sounded. Owen pulled on his dressing gown and opened the door. It was Indiana.

“Hi Owen. I need to talk to you.”

“Ok-”

“But” she cut him off, shifting about and looking nervous, “I don’t want to talk here. I’ve only a little travel permit time left. And we can’t go anywhere together. Come to the free-plaza, garden 6. At twelve? Meet near the AI statue. Is that ok?”

“I don’t have permissions to visit the garden levels,” he also thought of the cost of travelling there.

“It’s sorted out for you, don’t worry.”

“Oh, ok, I’ll see you then.” She turned and walked away quickly.

Mystified, he closed the door and returned to the bed.

*

At twelve, Owen waited in garden 6 wearing his civilian bio visor and tunic. He was shaking with fear. He had only been here a couple of times before for special occasions, like Alcibiades’ birthday. At least being in the free-plaza cost nothing, even if it did take travel permissions to get there. Garden 6 was the closest to his room. He knew that the gardens got larger and more opulent towards the front of the city. Though he’d never seen the others in person, only on his console screen.

He’d had a surprise as he had boarded the empty lift; he noticed his credits had stopped debiting. Also a surprise, he had street level access at the top of the lift shaft, if he wanted. He felt shocked at this level of permission and dismissed it as a fault. He had walked on to garden 6, and there was no-one about. The bars around the edge were empty. Normally he would have no permissions for the bars, but tonight it was showing on his Link as having access to them all. He started to feel really uneasy and feared he was being tested. He looked at the synthetic plants all around, and his gaze followed the stone look footpaths. He looked up to the high glass ceiling, which was black from the night sky. He rarely saw the night sky; though there was nothing to see but the reflection of the garden. He could smell the synthetic plants, sickly and perfumed. He could also smell the anti-virus chemical which was sprayed liberally in a public area. The bars were quiet, and there was no music. There were very few people around. He could hear the odd voice, mostly faint, and occasionally saw someone walking a distance away. He turned and looked at the Alcibiades statue. It was a single eye and four times his height. He had no idea what it was made of, but it shimmered in a weird way he couldn’t understand. He had no idea why this statue looked like Alcibiades or why there needed to be one of A.I. All he knew was that it gave him the creeps.

It was now twelve ten, and there was no Indiana. He feared a trap of some sort, but he was unable to imagine why. Then a dark shadow passed nearby, and, before he knew it, he was looking into the unmasked face of a strange man. A deadly fear grew over him.

Owen felt small before the man. His dark armour clothing hid his true shape. A cap, dark glasses and beard hid most of his features even without a bio-visor. There was no doubt the man intended to meet Owen.

“Who are you?” said Owen, cowering back a little. “City Police?”

“No, I’m a friend. Call me Nostra.”

“Where the hell is Indiana?”

“I’ll get to that. Right now you need to listen; we haven’t much time.”

“Why should I listen to you?”

“You don’t need to. It is your choice. Go now, or listen to me.”

“Good with me.”

Owen made to leave and started to walk away.

“How do you like your new permissions?”

Owen stopped in his tracks. “How do you know that?” he said, fear gripping him again.

“Indiana has been arrested, Owen.” Nostra said urgently. “I have important things to tell you.”

“Like?”

“Don’t you remember the resistance? No memories?”

“The resistance,” gasped Owen, a feeling of horror and disbelief came over him. “No, why should I?”

“You, Owen, you were once the head of the resistance.”

“Bullshit. I wouldn’t be with those delequients.”

“So they want you to think.”

“No, no way.”

“They caught you and brainwashed you. Unable to kill you as you’d become a martyr to the cause. They reprogrammed you and kept you around to show you were a reformed character. You even joined the Terra Police, so many believed you’d switched sides.”

Owen’s head swam, it was preposterous, but at the same time he felt a tiny twinge of truth to it.

“The workers of Melpomene are given Kopi and no food to keep them underdeveloped and weak.”

“We have the supplement pills.”

“They keep you alive, but all workers are immature. Look at the Elites, bigger than you and all enhanced, transhuman. You and I had decided to change it…“

Nostra kept talking, but Owen had stopped listening. At that moment they heard a noise. The City Police were entering the garden.

“You must leave,” said Nostra urgently. “Don’t be seen with me. Go back to your room. I’ll send you a message.”

With that, the man slipped away. Owen watched the City Police, they were quartering the garden and coming his way. These police wore armoured tunics, but the rumour was that they were partly robot, transhuman. They certainly had authority over a little Terra Police scout. He decided it was an unhealthy place to be and left as quickly as he could. It seemed hopeless as the Link would track him anyway. He walked away checking the Link and saw that it wasn’t tracking him. Feeling astonished, he exited the gardens unseen, or so he hoped.

Back in his room, he lay on the bed with a Kopi. A message came in; it was text only.

This is Nostra. On your Link you have an app. The City Police are coming for you. You will be watched now and hunted. If you want out, hit the “end” on the app, and this will all stop. You can then go back to your life as before. Hit “go” on the app means you will come with us. Before you decide, go and see the tribal for yourself. Indiana is also there. That is all I ask.

The message app would not let Owen reply. He looked at the Link screen. The app was there just as Nostra said it would be.

He heard a sound by the lift doors. He slipped off the bed and looked out of the door. In the shadows were City Police, he could not see how many. He quickly grabbed his police helmet and tunic, then slid out of the door into the darkened corridor and took the back way.

He heard the City Police behind him and hastened to another lift shaft. He reached the door and it slid open. As he stepped in, they rounded the corner. His Link wasn’t connecting, and he pressed the manual floor button frantically. The four police closed in and one raised his weapon. Owen felt sure he was going to fire. His fingers thumped on the button. The door started to shut as the weapon locked on him. He ducked. The charge hit the wall behind him as the door slid shut.

Still the lift was not moving, and he wondered if they would be able to open the door. He kept thumping the floor button. He could hear them on the other side. Then, finally, the lift began to move. As it went down the floors, he wondered if they would know where he was heading to and guessed they probably would. He hoped the lift shaft they chose would be slower. He pulled on his amour and helmet.

He decided to get off sooner and hit a floor button above the prison floor. He knew a back way down some stairs. It might put the City Police off if they were tracking him. Anything was worth a try.

The lift stopped and he exited, then he ran quickly down the corridor. Soon he reached a door which led to a flight of narrow steps. He took them quickly and arrived on the interrogation cell level. At this time of the early morning, there was no one around.

He wondered how he would gain access, and he was astonished when his Link allowed him to open the security door. He wondered, as he held the Link, if activating Nosta’s app would stop the pursuit of police. Surely, that would stop the tracking? He did not know, and would not, until he decided which he would do.

He rapidly checked the console and found where they were keeping Ilyas and Indiana. He found her cell and made his way there quickly. He was surprised that there was no one around, but he guessed they would never suspect that he could bypass the security door. He was still shocked he had gained access himself. He almost felt faint at the unreality of it all.

She was sitting dejectedly on the hard bed.

“Owen! Am I glad to see you.”

“Why? What is happening?”

“Nostra didn’t tell you? Have you pressed the app’s go button?”

“No.”

“They are coming for us, you need to decide. It’s the only way we can escape.”

“Why? What good will that do?”

“Because, because… Owen, did Nostra really not say?”

“No, the City Police came and he slipped away.”

“It’s because… you are the only one who has the permissions.”

Owen thought about it. It made no sense.

“Why me?”

“I don’t know, Nostra knows. We need you.”

“I don’t even know who Nostra is,” blurted Owen.

“He was your second in command in the resistance.”

“And so you’re a resistor?”

“Yes.”

Owen felt revolted, these were the worst people. The people the system had warned him about. He decided to play along, he could always turn them in later. “Ok, ok. Let’s just get out of here. Let’s go and get the tribal.”

He led the way to the cell which he’d identified on the console before. The door asked no difficult questions of them and unlocked easily. Ilyas was laying on the bed; he looked terrible.

“What’s the matter with him?” said Owen.

“Sickness, the virus, they aren’t used to it. Tribals get it bad when they come here, but normally Terra Police don’t see that,” said Indiana. “They have no resistance to our viruses.”

Owen heard the main doors open and footsteps sound.

“You’re going to have to decide, Owen.”

Ilyas turned his face towards them. It was clear that he had been beaten. Owen took out his Link and looked at it again. Nostra’s app was there with the go and end buttons. He could just end it now, join or leave. His finger held over the app. The City Police rounded the corner. In an instant, the three of them had several weapons trained on them.

Then one City Police officer stepped ahead, he was taller than the others and more armoured. His visor was a mirror. Owen knew this was the head of the City Police: Police Chief Kurtz. Part human, part robot, all evil.

A voice came from the form of Kurtz, it was both sharp and deep. The sound rasped down Owen’s spine, “Owen, you cannot hide from us, turn back now from this folly. Stop now and we shall be lenient with you.” Kurtz slowly raised his weapon. “You have ten seconds…”

Owen looked at the Link screen again, his finger still hovering over it. He suddenly realised he was sunk. He had gone too far with the resistors; he was implicated now.

“Five. Four. Three. Two.”

He touched the screen.

*

Straight away Owen felt completely different. All of the permissions of the Link connected with him physically. The Link was at one with his thoughts.

He looked around. The City Police looked confused. Kurtz lowered his weapon. The police turned this way and that like broken clockwork toys. It was as if Indiana, Ilyas and himself had vanished. The police advanced. The advance passed through and beyond them.

“Where have they gone?” said Kurtz as they rounded the corner away from them.

Owen looked at the others, they both looked scared and confused. He was, himself, bewildered; he wanted to push it away, too much, too much. Kurtz had lied, he couldn’t track them, couldn’t even see them.

“Owen,” said Indiana, as if from miles away. “We should move.”

“Yes, yes,” he said, forcing the words out. He felt overwhelmed by all the data available to him, but he could see a way out of the interrogation area, a way to avoid the City Police. “Come.” He led them both away. Ilyas was slow and clearly suffering.

“What’s the matter with me?” said Ilyas.

Indiana told him.

“No,” said Owen, “the virus is a lie, they poison the tribals when they get here.”

“How do you know?” asked Indiana.

“I’m connected to the system.”

Then they were out of the cells. Behind they could hear the City Police, but the sound was receding. Owen took them towards the truck bay.

“I know of a room near the bay,” he said. “Well, not too far from the bay.”

The permissions were making his head swim. He had permission to do anything he wanted. He could see everything around him clearly. He knew where people were, people close, people further away, everyone in the city. The further he looked, the further he could see. He forced his mind back to the ill-lit corridor. Each time he thought of something, the thoughts were amplified, and he could see further and further. He had to focus, now was important.

They reached the room. Owen wanted the door to be open. It was, and he had no need to swipe with his Link. There were chairs and a Kopi machine. They sat down.

Owen felt the effects of the connection with the Link running away again. The vastness of it was swamping his mind. He started to feel he was being overwhelmed, that his mind was not connecting with it all but being consumed into something vast, another mind, but a massive dominating one. Then there was something on the fringes, something was coming for him, an attack was imminent. It was the AI core, Alcibiades, homing in on him. He started to panic and tore his Link from his pocket. Nosta’s app had a manual button to connect and disconnect. He disconnected, and the world started to be normal again. Indiana was making Kopi, and Ilyas lay on a chair asleep.

“It’s all too much,” said Owen.

“It must be amazing,” said Indiana.

“It’s really mind-blowing. It’s frightening, and something dangerous…” he stopped, feeling he was saying too much.

“We need to make a plan,” she said, having not noticed his fear.

“What the hell is going on, Indiana?”

“We need to get him out of here,” she said, nodding to the tribal.

“Why?”

“Nostra should have told you. You connected to the system, you should know?”

“The system is mind-blowing, too much information. The City Police were after Nostra.”

She turned to him. “You haven’t heard from him since?”

“Yes, a message, but there was no way to reply.”

“Nothing since that?”

“No.”

“Neither have I,” she said, fear showing on her face.

“Who are you Indiana?”

“I’m nobody. I’m with the resistance.”

“A resistor?”

“Forget it Owen, you are one of us.”

“I don’t want anything to do with the resistance.”

“It’s too late. You were never Terra Police.”

“Forget it,” he said, and he walked to the door.

At that moment his Link vibrated. He took it out. There was a message from Nostra:

Owen. I’m not sure where I’ll be when this message comes. It was to be sent if the Link detected you were going to leave the cause. Indiana is devoted to the cause and can be relied upon. I hope I told you that you were not always Owen of the Terra Police. You were a resistance leader, THE resistance leader, and you were caught. They reprogrammed your mind. They implanted electronic circuits into your brain in order to control you. This was a new version of the one we all have, it nearly killed you. They then kept you around for study. We managed to break the link to them and free you. This type of circuit in your brain means you can connect with the system, and, we think, any computer system, all linked together. You can manipulate the system. You have a vast resource to call upon. The Link is your way to connect. However, they can find you when you connect. You have the ability to vanish, but you need to learn how to understand it. You were also impregnated with nanobots, but they are currently inactive.

Melpomene government is corrupt and oppressive. We are all controlled. Before you were caught, we were going to change all that. We had contact with the world outside of the city. The Tribals and more. You need to escape the city and go and find the truth. The truth can be found from Admiral Gambit. He has a ship near the ruins of Greater Uno in England. Many miles from here.

Owen lowered the Link and looked at Indiana. She was still holding his Kopi, a look of concern on her face.

“I need Kopi badly,” he said, sitting down heavily. She came over and handed him the cup.

“Thank you,” he said, sipping it. “I just don’t believe it, how can the government be corrupt?”

“Nostra said he knew you before they worked on you. They removed your knowledge of it, turned you into a model citizen.”

“No, it can’t be, I’m no one.”

“That’s what they want you to believe.”

“When I connected to the link, something was after me.”

“Yes, Alcibiades can find you when you access the system. But it takes time. You can go invisible to the City Police when you connect.”

“What is the use of that? I can be invisible to the police close by, but visible to the AI system?”

“Yes, Nostra said you’ll learn to control it.”

“I don’t know. I’m not the man for the job.” And I don’t trust these people, he thought. They became aware of sounds coming from beyond the door. “I think the City Police are onto us again.” They left the room. Ilyas was a little steadier on his feet. “We can’t get to the truck bay,” said Owen. “The police are coming from that direction.”

They doubled back and tried to follow the corridors around to come back on the truck bay, but again they heard sounds up ahead. Owen could tell it was the police, but he wasn’t quite sure how he knew. It was as though, in some ways, he had not completely disconnected from the system. There was still some feeling he was aware of more than before. He felt like connecting again but decided Alcibiades would find him that way. He’d only connect at the last moment to slip away from the City Police.

Ilyas was getting faster on his feet as they tried again to get to the truck bay. They took some steps down to try and come behind the truck bay but it ended up with them getting further forward in the city. The décor was changing, becoming less utilitarian. The sharp smell of the anti-contaminant spay was less pungent, and there was almost a synthetic perfume smell. The usual whine of extraction fans had lessened, but the dead sound caused by the walls remained. The metal walls were now painted rather than bare metal, and there was a thin carpet underfoot. Indiana gave him a nervous look as they both knew this was not a good place to be. They should not be there he thought.

They could hear the police behind, getting closer. Owen took a turn and then another, but the corridor had them turning again towards the forward, elite area of the city. He looked back, and the first of the police came into view. A door came up on the right, and they found themselves going up some stairs.

“This place is a stupid maze,” said Ilyas.

Again, they were heading forward. Owen had to agree with the tribal and he was yet again tempted to connect to the system. His hand felt for the Link, and he took it out. Then a figure stepped out from an opening ahead.

“This way,” she said.

Owen recognised the voice. It was Amanda.

“Amanda, how-“

“Never mind, shut up, come on.” She simply led them around a corner and down some steps. She stopped to slip off her mirror visor. “You were being drawn away you fool.”

Owen could tell they were now heading in the direction of the truck bay. The sounds of the City Police had gone.

Drawing close to the bay, they came round a corner and were greeted by a barricade of four City Police. Owen’s heart sank, after all that they were caught, outmanoeuvred.

He still held the Link in his hand, and his finger felt for the screen. He connected. The world went strange again, and they walked right past the police. He opened the door by thinking about it opening. They passed through. He locked it behind. He felt Alcibiades starting to home in on him again, and he disconnected quickly.

Inside the truck bay there were two people waiting. It was Allen and Hannah. They stood by Truck 6. Owen was dazed. He had no idea what was happening.

“What on earth are you doing here?” he exclaimed.

“We have been a small part of the resistance for a long time,” said Allen. “There is no time to say more. As soon as we got here, the City Police arrived. We’d already locked the door. Gave us a turn when you unlocked it.”

They could hear a stealthy approach at the door. It would only be the police. Owen could tell somehow who it was, as if he felt a presence.

“Let’s get out of here,” said Amanda. “This is not a good place to be. Truck 6 is fixed. Let’s go.”

The six of them boarded the truck. Owen was shocked that no one wore visors. He wanted to look at his bio alert but thought better of it. As the truck started to descend to the ground, for once Owen did not look outside. He was looking at his Link. He could tell the City Police were going to gain entry to the truck bay and stop them descending. He realised he needed to connect again to stop them.

Connecting again, he felt Alcibiades very close in his thoughts, but ignored it and tapped straight into the control systems of the truck bay. Finding he could jam the system, the door would stay locked, and the truck could not be stopped descending. Alcibiades was right on top of him now, swamping his mind with madness. His world started to fragment, the truck was falling apart around him, light was burning in though the walls, they were starting to fragment and glitch, nothing looked or felt real anymore. He struggled to find the Link and disconnect. The Link was also glitching out of reality. Gathering all his metal faculties to touch the screen, and the world returned to normal.

For once, the fear of what had happened had cancelled his fear of heights, he’d barely noticed the decent. They had arrived at the end of the loading arm in the jungle. He realised that Alcibiades had nearly had him this time. He felt drained like he’d almost been consumed by it, assimilated.

Amanda started to order checks, but Ilyas had a mic and cut across her: “What are you doing?”

“Checking for hostiles.”

Ilyas laughed. “No one comes this way, all the tribes avoid your city. Just drive.”

“Fair enough,” she said, with no hint of resentment.

They moved away from Melpomene. Owen watched it go on his screen. All he felt was a despair. He looked at the unmasked Allen, he also seemed subdued and preoccupied, and his bravado had gone for the moment. Indiana came forward with Kopi.

“Ilyas didn’t want any,” she said.

“More for us then,” said Allen.

“What are we doing now?” said Owen.

“Don’t you know?” replied Allen.

“We should take Ilyas back to his tribe,” said Owen, though he really had no idea why. It was as if the ideas were being planted in his mind.

“Good idea,” agreed Indiana as she went forward to give Amanda her Kopi.

“We are going to your tribe Ilyas,” said Owen into his mic.

“Ok,” came the deep voice of Ilyas right at his shoulder. “You will be welcome by the Jinan. We’re not hostile.” He smiled that he had made Owen jump.

“You better go up front to show Amanda the way.”

“No need, just follow the track your city made, you passed us a day ago. The village is always moving, but not yet.”

The crew lapsed conversation, drinking Kopi and looking to their respective tasks. Owen was able to monitor his systems without even paying attention. Now he felt the connection to the systems were just a part of him. He was able to look out of the window at the passing jungle and still know what was going on with the truck. In fact, he could access much more than the truck systems, but he kept that in check for the moment. Beyond the data of the truck was a vast cache of data, sitting there like a monolith in his mind. He knew it wasn’t really in his mind, but it felt like it was very close. He was tempted to access the vast amounts of data, but he decided he should resist for the moment.

He looked out of the window. The sun was directly above in the deep blue sky. The horizon was obscured by jungle. He saw some wildlife, mostly birds and the odd monkey.

Without needing the Link, he carried on reading the message from Nostra.

Surprised Amanda, Allen, Hannah, and Indiana are all part of the resistance? It was not coincidence. When you were assigned to the Terra Police we secretly manipulated the system to get resistance members to join your team. We were still trying to convince Nick, Harper and Diane, without giving it all away. We think they will be sympathetic to the cause if they know you are yourself again as the great leader you were.

This is the key, Owen. Out beyond the tribe of Jinan, you will find more than you could ever imagine. The answers will be there. The history we were taught says this happened a long time ago. That is a lie, Melpomene was not constructed years after the loss of Greater Uno. They existed side by side. Greater Uno is still there but sparsely populated, being reclaimed by nature. It is a barren place of fanatical gangs, there to stop anyone getting to the AI core. It was the capital of a country called England. Greater Uno was wilfully ransacked by Alcibiades and those in command under its thumb. Some population was chosen and moved to Melpomene. The ones left turned primitive and fanatical.

There is a core area in the middle called The City of Uno. That was its own country. The City of Uno, despite what many believed, is the central power of the world. Admiral Gambit is our resistance contact there. Now he has a ship sitting on the old docks on the edge of Greater Uno. He can help you get to the AI core and destroy Alcibiades. Many think the core is in Melpomene, but it is in the City of Uno to protect it.

The truck grinded on over the rough road. There was very little movement inside. Gradually, the sun described an arc and started to set behind the trees.

*

Owen became aware that the truck was slowing down. The electric motor was protesting. It slowed and slowed. Finally, they ground to a stop. There was silence briefly until Amanda tore off her headset and flung it at the dashboard.

Nobody said anything until Ilyas come forward. “Why have you stopped?”

“Figure it out, smart arse,” retorted Allen.

“The batteries are dead,” said Owen.

“Well start the engine then.”

Allen started up as if to hit the tribal, but he quickly regained a sense of proportion as Ilyas towered over him.

“That was the engine,” said Owen.

“No, that was the auxiliary backup motors,” said Ilyas. “I wondered why you were running on them. This is an old model truck; the diesel engine will be here.” He tapped the bulkhead ahead of Owen with the driving position up above. He grabbed a tool from a side panel that Owen had never noticed before and inserted it in a slot on the bulkhead.

“What do you think you’re doing?” snarled Allen.

“Leave him,” commanded Amanda, her head showing over the sill of the driving bay.

Ilyas opened some more slots, and the bulkhead folded neatly back. There inside was a bulky diesel engine. Amanda looked down into the area. “Well, I’ll be damned,” she gasped. “We’ve been taken for fools.”

“I can get it going easy enough,” said Ilyas. “How would you not know it was there?”

“We just use the truck,” explained Owen. “The mechanics are in a different department.”

“How do you know so much about these trucks?” questioned Amanda.

“Oh,” returned Ilyas. “You really do know so little.”

“Enlighten me,” she said, “but another time. Do get the engine going.”

Chapter 2

Owen sat in the truck as it moved on through the jungle. Ahead was a strange noise of a diesel engine. Ilyas had got it going, as he promised. He had also unearthed fuel from a secret cache in the jungle.

Owen was thinking about an event in the city weeks ago. It was very vague, almost like a dream, almost like he’d been a different person.

He’d had the invite to go into the city. At least, his Link told him he did. It was more of an instruction than an invite. He was aware that his permissions were static when he travelled by the little shuttle. When he arrived, and the shuttle stopped, he exited. There it was different to his part of the city. Gone was the bare metal claustrophobia. There was more space, and the walls were covered with pictures: murals. While the colours were pleasant, the scenes they depicted were not. Pictured was war, rape and famine. He’d made his way to the reception room. He had a feeling he’d been there before.

A City Police guard stood by the door. Owen hadn’t shown ID, that was all handled by the Link. The guard didn’t acknowledge him. Inside the large room beyond the guarded door were many people, at least more than he was used to. He realised many were transhuman elites, the top of society. They had a well-fed stature. He felt small and scared.

He was wearing his civilian bio-suit and one-way visor. Most of the people looked the same.

“All guests move over to the inspection rooms,” said a voice over the public address system.

Owen joined the queue to one of the rooms. To the side of the queue was a vending machine. A notice told them as they passed to take a pill from it. Gradually he moved closer to the inspection room. He was unable to see into the room as it was quite dark in there.

He finally stepped into the room. He was aware of people removing their clothes. He moved further in. The instruction came to remove his clothes. Naked, the people all moved on. He recognised someone he knew: Karen. He didn’t try to talk to her. The inspection was carried out. One by one, they moved to another door.

Owen had come round in his room. There were bruises all over his body, but no pain as he’d been given a recovery pill. The bruises were already starting to heal, and the soreness was going.

He’d connected to his Link and called Karen. He didn’t know her all that well. There was no answer, then the call disconnected. He’d tried again, but she didn’t even seem to exist on the Link directory anymore.

He remembered two elites at the party. A woman, well, he assumed it was a woman. She had large breasts, but they were certainly cosmetically enhanced. What was real in the transhuman world? Smiling, she’d told him her name was Andromeda. She was much larger than Owen. There had been a man too. At least Owen seemed to remember a man, much was unclear. The man had a large phallus. The woman called the man Perseus.

The large smile was close and the large breasts and the phallus. They were all naked in the side room. Owen had only been aware of vague shadows, and the shadows touched him, but he’d felt quite numb.

“Where the hell are we going,” Amanda’s voice cut across his thoughts, and he was back to the present. The landscape outside was dark. She was talking to Ilyas, sitting next to her. Amanda had been unsure how the diesel engine was controlled and Ilyas had shown her.

“My tribe is close now.”

“You walked a long way,” she countered.

“No, not for me. My tribe walks far. This journey would be faster by foot. Your city does not move in a straight line.”

“Trucks are too advanced for you,” sneered Allen.

“Oh, we have trucks. For long journeys.”

Owen looked at his Link. The screen was dead. He placed it on a charge point. The screen came on, but there were no messages. He wondered how it connected to any data. There was no longer a signal passing over the comm dish. Alcibiades would be in no doubt that a truck had absconded.

Indiana came forward with Kopi for them all. Ilyas declined.

“You’ll be thirsty,” she said.

“I took water from a stream when getting the diesel fuel.”

“Rather you than us,” returned Allen.

Ilyas retuned to the rear cabin. Owen was still looking at the Link. He could see there was data transfer. It was almost as if he were the comm dish from the way the Link behaved. He sipped his Kopi. There was nothing from Nostra.

An hour later, Ilyas came forward. He was rubbing his eyes and yawning. “We are near the village.”

Owen looked out of the window. The dawn had broken, and it was light, though still a misty light. The area outside was under trees. The first thing he saw was a truck. It was similar to the police truck, though there were several items strapped to it. It looked beaten and used. Around the wheels were birds. He recognised them as chickens. Close to that was a dark pig. Not far from the pig was a small child playing.

“What the hell is that?” exclaimed Allen, who was also looking out of Owen’s window.

“What?” asked Owen. Allen pointed. “The chickens? The pig?”

“No, the tiny monkey.”

“It’s a human child, Allen, for god’s sake.”

“Why isn’t it at the breeding unit?”

“This is a tribal village. I don’t expect they have those,” said Owen. Although Owen had never seen a child before, he still knew what it was.

More tribals came into view. Makeshift tents were erected from tree branches and from the odd truck. Quite a lot of livestock was around, mostly fowl and pigs.

“You can stop the truck here,” called Ilyas to Amanda.

The truck stopped and the door opened. Straight away they were assailed by a horrendous smell.

“What’s that stink?” said Allen.

“Livestock, I think,” informed Owen.

They climbed out, and Allen lifted his boot. There was a lump of excrement on it.

“Ah, shit.”

“Probably,” said Owen, with a straight face.

Allen didn’t react, as he was too concerned wiping his foot on the grass.

Owen was aware of some very small black flies settling on the bare parts of his flesh. When they flew away, there was a trail of blood. He swatted at them, but it made no difference.

“Black fly,” said Ilyas.

“They’re horrid,” returned Owen.

“They won’t trouble you after a little while.”

Owen looked around the village while swatting the air. The tribals were mostly ignoring them. He assumed they thought these Terra Police were safe due to Ilyas being with them. Owen observed the tribals. There were all ages, some were sleeping on the grass, others were preparing food. Most wore varying clothes and some were half naked. Owen found himself looking at the women. He’d never seen women like them. These were not like the elites with false transhuman parts. These were natural women. They were mature, not like the boyish immature women of Melpomene. He found himself both aroused and repelled. His eyes fell on one woman. The breasts were not pert like the elite surgically enhanced ones. Her face had no makeup. He couldn’t stop looking at her.

Ilyas saw his gaze. “You like her?” he asked.

“Sorry,” blushed Owen. He looked away.

“Don’t be shy, it is natural. Kewa is a beauty, is she not?”

Owen didn’t know what to say. He felt repulsed by her, but he was strangely stirred as well.

“She’s nice,” he said, politely.

“Later, I will let her know you’d like to talk to her.”

Ilyas walked away before Owen could say anything. There was nothing worse he could imagine than talking to her. Now alone at the truck, he was usure where the others had gone. His eyes fell on Kewa again. She was clearly aware he was watching, but she didn’t look at him.

Everything was foreign here – the cooking, the sleeping, their nakedness, the unenhanced looks. There were also the natural smells of faeces, urine, animal smells, the cooking, smoke, too many people and animals all around. The sun was too hot, even in the shade. The black fly were troubling him. His head started to swim and he thought he probably needed Kopi. So, this is nature, he thought, these are tribal humans. They were also bigger, like Ilyas, though the women were small compared to the tribal men. Unheard of in Melpomene. Everybody was bred the same, selective breeding. In Melpomene there were just middle-aged people, no old, no young. The young were with the breeding units. He had no idea where the old were, though it was rumoured the elites were very old but cosmetically kept young. To top it all, no one was wearing bio-suits or visors.

He went to the truck. It was empty, and he went inside to make Kopi. He closed the door behind him. The smells, sounds and black fly were banished, which made him feel better. He checked his Link, it still showed a signal. There were no messages. He felt angry with Nostra. As he sipped the Kopi, he wondered where the others had got to. He kept his gaze inside the truck and avoided the windows. He kept glancing at the Link screen.

A while after his Kopi was drunk, he was still sitting fretting. Finally his revulsion of the tribal village outweighed his desire to do something. He opened the door and stepped out. Looking around, he saw that several tribals had departed and animals had been moved around. No-one was cooking or sleeping. He was relieved to see that Kewa had gone. The black fly were starting on him again, and he decided to walk around the settlement and see if he could find the others. Moving might stop the flies. The first person he found was Ilyas, he was kneeling by a tree and muttering to himself. Owen went over, but Ilyas ignored him for a bit. Presently he turned to Owen.

“What are you doing?”

“Praying, Owen, praying.”

“Ah, I see.”

“I realise the people from Melpomene only worship the devil.”

“I worship nothing, Ilyas.”

“Yes, you have a big void in your heart. I feel it. Dangerous. A place to be filled by badness – or, programming.”

“You are probably right, probably.” Owen was thinking of Alcibiades and how it filled his mind when he connected. “I’ll leave you to your prayers. Do you know where the others are?”

“I saw Indiana over there. There is a birth in progress.”

Owen was taken aback, but he went in the direction Ilyas had pointed. He looked back to see Ilyas resume his praying. Ahead was a large tent with several people walking about. As he got closer, he heard the sounds of a woman in pain. He walked in and found people several walking around. To one side, a woman lay on a blanket, naked from her waist down. Several were watching and some in attendance. Owen realised this was the woman giving birth and he felt faint. He wanted to leave.

He looked at the people watching and saw Indiana. She looked fascinated. Owen walked over to her. She looked round.

“Oh Owen, I never thought I’d see such a wonderful thing. A natural birth.”

Owen nodded and smiled, but he felt queasy. It was better such things were delt with at the birthing unit, though he had no idea what really happened there. He realised he didn’t know how birth worked in Melpomene. He had to leave this birthing. He walked out.

Outside, he looked towards the truck. There came a strange sound, like an engine and swishing noise. Several tribals knew exactly what it was and started running from the area. The first idea he had of what was coming was a large shadow moving over the area. He followed the shadow by looking into the sky, but the large object was in the eye of the sun. He squinted and then slipped on his tinted visor.

It was a large flying object. He’d never seen anything like it, oblong and almost completely black. Micro jets lined its sides. As he looked, several objects left the back and started to float down. The oblong ship sped away.

He looked closely at the falling objects. They were very clearly a City Police type being. They had micro jets strapped to their backs which allowed them to float down. They were very different to the usual City Police. They looked heavy duty, mainly robot, bristling with weapons, he realised something bad was about to happen.

Owen went back into the tent to find Indiana.

“There’s trouble,” he said urgently. “I think we’ve bought the City Police here.”

They both ran to the door. The large robots were starting to arrive at the ground. Most of the tribals had made themselves scarce.

“That’s the Shado Patrol,” she said, fear in her voice. “They often harass the tribals, but I’ve never seen this many before.”

More Shados were reaching the ground. They ducked as there was sharp sound that screamed through the air as the first of the Shado Police fired in all directions.

“We’ve got to get to the truck and the weapons,” said Owen.

They had left their weapons in the truck, though Owen suspected they would be little use against these armoured Shado Police. The tribals had vanished, and the Shado Patrol spread out around the area. They were firing at random. It seemed to Owen the fire was more to scare everyone than at defined targets.

“Yes. We better get to the truck,” urged Indiana.

“I expect having some weapons will be better than none.”

They crouched low and ran wide around the patrol. Soon they saw the truck behind some trees. Allen and Amanda where there removing the larger guns from the truck.

“Where is Hannah?”

“We haven’t seen her.”

They all took a large gun each and walked back. Then Owen saw Kewa, she was running from a Shado. It levelled its weapon. Owen stopped for stability and fired his gun. This spoiled the Shado’s aim, and Kewa ran on. The Shado turned on Owen and fired. The charge hit Owen’s shoulder, and he flew over onto his back. The other Terra Police opened up on the Shado. The combined fire stopped it moving.

“Got it,” whooped Allen.

“Just slowed it down,” returned Indiana as she helped Owen up.

Owen looked at his shoulder. The armour had been torn away, but he’d been very lucky as the charge hadn’t entered his flesh. It did ache like hell. Indiana slipped him a recovery pill.

“Thanks,” he said.

The Shado Robot was moving again and aiming its weapon at them. The Terra Police scattered. Owen was slow due to the pain, although the pill was slowly taking effect, he lost the others quickly. There was chaos, but it was induced by the Shado Police. Most of the tribals had scattered, but there were a few stragglers who were taken down.

Owen became aware that more Shado Police were arriving by foot. The tribalsseemed mostly capable of looking after themselves, he decided. He made his way back to the truck. Indiana, Hannah and Amanda where there.

“It’s hopeless,” said Amanda. “We’ll get slaughtered if we stay, and the tribals are expert at this.”

“They are,” replied Owen. “Some have been killed though, or wounded.”

“Let’s get out of here,” said Amanda. “I called Allen on his headset, he should come back.”

They climbed into the truck. Amanda guided it away from the village and away from Melpomene. As they were clear of the village, they saw a man running up to them. It was Allen.

“Going without me were you?” he snapped between beaths.

“Someday,” snapped Amanda. “Someday.”

Allen boarded, and they moved steadily away from the village. Owen could see that Amanda was following an easy track through the trees. He looked at the mobile camera picture. He saw a tribal truck up ahead. They caught up quickly as the tribal truck was loaded with a lot of items held in nets, pots pans, cages, food and several people clinging on. The truck stopped, and the driver waved. It was Ilyas.

Some of the tribals disembarked. Owen was horrified to see Kewa. Very quickly, the black fly were back and Owen was ineffectually swatting at them again.

“Glad you escaped,” said Ilyas as he joined them by the truck. “Come, eat with us.”

“We don’t eat,” said Owen. “Only pills and Kopi.”

“Ok, sit with us with your pills and Kopi.” retuned Ilyas laughing a little.

“Won’t the Shado Patrol find us?” said Amanda.

“Oh no,” returned Ilyas. “They never bother with that.”

“This has happened before?”

“Yes, thousands of times. We are not usually caught out like today, but they never follow us away from the village that they attack. There were a lot this time though.”

They all sat in a circle, and the tribals began to cook food. Owen was relived he was not close to Kewa. Indiana went to make Kopi in the truck. There were several different ages in the tribal group. The children could not sit still and went to play around the trees and trucks. Owen was a little uncomfortable to have children loose like this, but he realised it was due to never seeing them in Melpomene.

“We thought,” replied Amanda to Ilyas, “that the Terra Police were the only Melpomene patrols.”

“You know so little of your kind I see,” returned Ilyas. “We get no trouble from the Terra Police. You are easy to avoid.”

“Says you, who got caught by us,” sneered Allen.

“Ah yes, that,” nodded Ilyas.

“He’s not telling the truth,” said Owen.

“No, perhaps not,” returned Ilyas. “The truth is a difficult subject.”

“Ah, you wanted to be caught,” said Amanda.

Again Ilyas nodded. “Perhaps.”

“That makes sense of a lot of things,” said Owen. “None of it added up somehow: rocket launchers, an easy to catch tribal, the whole bit.”

“We knew the Shado Patrol shoot without asking questions. The Terra Police act differently.”

“We?” questioned Owen. “Oh, the resistance.” He looked at Indiana as she returned with Kopi, and she nodded. “Ilyas is in the resistance.”

“Looks like we have been used again,” said Amanda.

“You are being used by Alcibiades of Melpomene,” said Ilyas. “You are being used by the Elites for their dirty games. No, not games, satanic rituals.”

“It’s not true,” said Amanda.

“Owen knows it is true,” returned Ilyas. “You are remembering now, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” said Owen shyly. “There are flashes, fleeting memories. Things I’d rather not think about. Elite parties…”

The smell of cooking and the sound of frying meat was making Owen feel ill, blended with the memories of the blood rituals at the orgy were turning his stomach. He moved towards their truck to be alone. While leaning up against the wheel, he drank his Kopi, which made him feel better. He looked at the group and around at the jungle. There came the sound of another truck. It arrived into view, another Jinan truck, piled high with people and supplies. Quite soon, they also were cooking and some makeshift tents were erected. The area quickly started to look like the disbanded village in a new place.

Indiana walked over to him. “They seem to be hungry all the time.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “I suppose if they get attacked by the Shado Police repeatedly it’s best to stock up.”

As they spoke, more tribals arrived. Some on foot. The livestock had been transported and released. Owen was amazed how they had fared so well. How the village was reconstructed so efficiently. Then another truck arrived and several tribals unloaded it in a sombre manner.

“What’s happening there?”

“The dead,” said Indiana. “They have a different way to us.”

“I’m not sure what our way is.”

“No. The tribals honour their dead.”

“How do you know so much of this?”

“Oh, I have a long story about it.”

“Ah, another of those.”

“Yes. Most in the resistance didn’t get there by choice. It was due to things that happened to us.”

“You?”

Owen looked at her. He’d never really done that before. In the city it was forbidden outside of work interaction. He’d have lost a lot of social credits to look at her in anything but a discussion about work. He felt awkward and shy, it had been different looking at the tribals. He noticed she had dark eyes and her cropped hair was dark. Now that she was away from the city she smiled a lot. Smiles were usually reserved for the ID checks and spending credits. Now she was just doing it, because she wanted to, he thought.

He tried not to, but his gaze wandered over her tunic. There was little to see; it was more or less the same as his. Like looking at another man. She was like him, immature, not womanly like Kewa, and they were sexless in their uniforms. He felt a hate growing in him that they had been starved in the city to make them like this. Not manly and womanly like the tribals. They’d been made by the Elites into childlike playthings to be used and thrown away. He started to feel a deep burning resentment towards the city.

Owen saw Ilyas walk to the dead bodies being unloaded. He seemed to be praying. Owen decided to go over, Indiana came with him. When they got there, Owen was unable to stop looking at the dead bodies. He’d never seen a dead person before.

“Why are they not wounded?” he asked.

“Shado weapons are like that,” said Indiana. “They carry a different type to us, advanced weapons. They don’t show wounds, they just make death.”

Ilyas was still praying, then presently he stopped. “Evil spirits.”

“What?”

“We pray to ward off evil spirits.”

“A gun would be better.”

“Against the Shado? No. Better to ward off the spirits that bring them here. This was unusual, they came very quickly and we usually know they are coming. I think there were other issues today.”

“Us?”

“I feel that it is connected to you, but not the Terra Police as such.”

“One of us?”

“Maybe, it is hard to know yet. Warding off the evil sprits is the first step. We don’t usually lose so many of the tribe.”

As he was talking, Owen felt light rain, then rapidly it turned to a downpour. Ilyas waved them to enter the truck. It was different to the police truck inside, and it was filthy. There were no seats in the back, so they squatted on the floor. The rain drummed hard on the roof and windows, and he had to shout over the noise.

“Why is it so dirty?” he found himself saying involuntarily, something that would have hurt financially in the city with his social credits.

“Oh, this is not so bad,” laughed Ilyas. “You should see some of the other trucks.”

“You’re just used to ours,” said Indiana. “The robot cleaners take every speck away. Honestly, it’s not as bad as you think.”

“I have a bad feeling,” said Ilyas. “The spirts. I think the Shado will come again, soon. If we get parted, you need to continue your mission for Nostra.”

“Ah, you know about that.”

“Of course. We all know of it.”

“How?”

“It was predicted.”

“By the spirts?”

“If you like. One would come who could stop the city. Nostra would show the way.”

“Nostra said we need to search for Greater Uno. The core of Alcibiades.”

“You will need more diesel.”

“How much is there?”

“We have a secret refinery. Diesel is easy to make. There are caches of it all around. Look for a symbol of an eye.”

“An eye?” Owen’s thoughts went to the statue in garden 6. “Why an eye?”

“It is an ancient symbol.”

“Strange.”

“Uno is way beyond the mountains. Get clear of the trees. You’ll see the path. It is a long way to the old city. The dead city.”

The drumming of the rain slowed, and almost as quickly as it came, it died to nothing. Owen looked out of the window. The mist of the evaporating rain obscured the view.

“We don’t see or hear the rain in the city.”

“The rain brings life,” returned Ilyas.

Quickly, the vapor cleared, and they could see the new village. Allen, Amanda and Hannah were standing with a group talking near the Terra Police truck. Owen and the others got out of the tribal truck.

“We prepare now for the evening meal,” said Ilyas. “Before darkness and sleep.”

“We don’t sleep.”

“For us, night-time is for sleeping,” laughed the tribal. “I’ll go help prepare the meal. Come to the meal with your Kopi and pills.” He laughed again. “It is a social thing for us too.”

He left them. Owen and Indiana joined the others. They were comparing notes about the tribal and the city way of life. Shortly afterwards, the tribals went to help with evening preparations. Owen’s group boarded their truck for Kopi.

*

Evening was approaching as the Terra Police group went to look for the evening meal. There was a fire burning between the trees. Before they got there they could see people around it.

They reached the group. Ilyas was helping with the cooking and bringing food to different people. “Welcome, please join us.”

They sat with the group. Owen felt foolish with his cup of Kopi while the tribals ate meat. He noticed Kewa again. She was a little way from them and now fully dressed. This made Owen less nervous and bashful. He tried not to stare at her again.

After the food was cooked and most were eating, Ilyas came over and sat with them. He noticed straight away that Owen was unable to stop glancing at Kewa.

“Do not worry, she will not approach you. In the Jinan tribe, the woman waits for the man.”

“It’s not that way in the city.”

“Oh, I know of the city. I think it’s very unnatural in your city. Dating apps and orgies, just sex. Huh. Kewa speaks our language well. She is not of Jinan originally. Come.”

Ilyas rose but Owen remained sitting. Then he found he was standing as the tribal had lifted him. His strength took Owen by surprise. Due to Owen’s reticence, Ilyas called Kewa over. She came and looked at Owen shyly. Then she smiled. He saw her teeth were uneven but white. She was about the same height as Owen.

“Hello Kewa,” he surprised himself by saying.

“Hi Owen. You are very handsome,” she giggled.

Owen was unsure if it was mockery, but something suggested it was not. He felt himself blushing. Then he heard a high-pitched whine near his ear. He flinched from it. A fly with gangly legs was there.

“Mosquito,” informed Ilyas. “They come in the evening.”

Owen swatted it away. They sat down again. The others greeted Kewa. There was general talk between them, but gradually the mosquitoes made life hell for the city group. The tribals were unaffected.

“They like your Kopi blood,” said Ilyas.

The evening meal had ended now, and the tribals were going to their beds. Kewa said good night first, and then Ilyas left them. “Be careful of the evil spirts,” he said. “Good night.”

Darkness had fallen quickly, something Owen had not seen before. His group returned to their truck for more Kopi and locked the mosquitos out in the night.

“I think Owen has fallen for a tribal,” laughed Allen.

“No, I don’t think so,” said Owen, blushing again.

“No, probably not,” added Indiana, looking at Owen’s blushes.

“Men would screw anything,” said Hannah as she sat glowering in the corner.

The windows were black against the night. The fire outside had died out, or been tamped out. Owen looked at his Link’s screen. There was nothing to see.

As the night wore on, he read Nostra’s messages again, especially the things about the resistance. The talk of Owen once being the head of the resistance had started to ring true. He had feelings and memories coming back of horrific struggles in the city. Of being caught and tortured. His anger started to burn inside again.

He sat and looked at the black window, meditating on the anger. Then thoughts of the evil spirits that Ilyas spoke of came to mind. In the city, he was so separate to all that. Mostly he was unaware it was dark or light outside the city. Due to the shift system the staff were fewer in the evening, but that was the only difference. He wondered why the evening disparity, but he had no answers. They didn’t sleep. He suspected it was something to do with the elites and the events, like the one he’d been told to attend.

Away from the city, night and day were so contrasting. He suspected they were the only ones awake in the village. He thought about Kewa and wondered what she was doing. Sleeping, warm and tucked up. He felt a strange stirring again, a tingling in his body. He found his penis was going hard. He glanced at the others, but nobody was looking his way. He fought back the feelings.

Gradually the time drifted away, and he’d found a job on his console to check the truck systems. He also looked into the diesel engine statistics that were now available, as the engine had been operating and feeding data to the system. The pale dawn started to show in the windows. They had another Kopi and prepared to leave the truck. The others all looked bored too at the long black night past.

“How much water for Kopi do we have on board?” asked Indiana. “I never thought to check. The service personnel usually top it up.”

“The tank is in the side of the truck,” said Amanda. “There, I think.” she pointed.

“The reading says half full,” said Owen. “Whatever that means.”

“Come to that,” added Amanda. “How is the stock of Kopi?”

“Hard to say as we’ve never had so much time in the truck before,” returned Indiana. “I’ll try to work it out.”

The others disembarked. Owen was out first. There was an eerie quiet. He looked around and straight away caught the movement of a dark shadow falling over the area. He felt his blood turn cold. He knew it was the aircraft that carried the Shado Police.

*

They all looked up at the black flying machine and saw clouds of Shado robots swarming from the craft.

“Ok, we’re going to fight back,” said Amanda. “Hannah, man the main gun turret. Everyone else get on your consoles and get targeting the hostiles.”

As they re-boarded, Owen heard the tribal trucks starting. Rapidly, the tribals were dispersing, not caught out this morning.

Back inside, they sat at their consoles and replaced their headsets. Owen started to take sight readings on the falling robots. He could see the turret camera picture and hear the whine of electric motors as Hannah turned the gun towards the Shado Police. They dropped lower and lower. The main ship sped away back to the city. A large robot was falling directly towards them.

“We’ll take him out,” said Amanda. The robot touched ground and moved their way, its gun lined up. “Shoot,” yelled Amanda.

Then Owen’s console went black and the sound stopped from his headset. He looked around. The truck power had shut down.

“EMP strike!” yelled Allen.

“They’ve hit us with a magnetic pulse,” shouted Amanda back into the truck. “It’s all gone down.”

Owen tore off his useless headset and looked out of the window. The robot was getting close.

“He’s going to fire,” said Owen.

Then a tribal truck drove between them and the robot. Ilyas jumped down as a charge from the Shado gun hit his truck. He ran over, and Indiana opened the door to let him in.

“Get out of here,” he yelled.

“The truck’s been EMPed.”

“It’s nothing, diesel doesn’t need electrical power to run.” He reached the engine cover and opened it. “The battery does not get affected by an EMP strike.” Removing a wire, he bared the ends with his teeth. “We get electric from the battery to the solenoid and…” He put the wire across two terminals, the engine turned and fired up. “A diesel engine does not require any electric to run, even if they EMP us again. Get out of here.”

Amanda needed no second invitation as more charges thumped into the tribal truck and tore it apart with a rending screech of metal. Their truck leaped forward, and the engine raced. Ilyas replaced the panel, once he was able to get stable on his feet. As the truck bounced wildly along, and the engine was muffled again. Indiana had shut the door. Owen looked out the back window. Swarms of Shado Police were in the area, and several started to follow them. He expected the system anticipated the truck was disabled and was now re-evaluating as it calculated that truck had unexpectedly moved.

“That’s why they made us run on electric motors,” said Owen.

“Yes Owen, that’s how they were going to control you,” said Ilyas. “No power, no escape. The diesel is not disabled so easily.”

“I never thought they’d EMP us,” said Allen.

“All our tribal trucks electrics are shot from these attacks,” said Ilyas.

“It means our guns are useless,” said Owen.

“We have some percussion bullets though,” said Indiana. “They don’t use electric to fire.”

Ilyas looked at the back window. “They’re following. That’s unusual. They wouldn’t have expected the diesel was working.”

The truck had pulled away from the former village. Owen looked at the screen on his Link. It was the only thing the EMP has not scrambled. He was dumbfounded.

Indiana noticed. “If there was any question you were not the one. You protected it, You must have some sort of special power. Nothing else is working in the truck. Have you connected to the system since we left the city?”

“No. Though I don’t feel I ever disconnected fully. But what I feel is, what I’m sure is, the Shado Police are herding us this way. They are shepherding us.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. But, the way to find out…”

“Is to be herded.”

“Yes.”

“What is more important guys,” interjected Allen. “There is no electric now, right?”

“No, all’s been taken out. Fried,” said Owen.

“Well, that means, we can’t make Kopi doesn’t it?”

“Oh, don’t worry,” laughed Ilyas. “We’ll help you make Kopi. We’ll cook your water.”

“It’s not so easy,” said Indiana. “The machine makes it.”

“I will fix your Kopi. Perhaps you should try our Coffee too.”

“Pah,” exclaimed Allen.

“Really Allen,” said Indiana. “We’re on the run from the Shado Police and all you can think about is Kopi.”

“You wait,” said Allen. “I know what it feels like to go without it.”

Ilyas took an old-fashioned radio from his pocket and spoke into it. Then he put it back and spoke to Owen. “If we head that way.” He motioned with his hand. “We can meet some of the tribe.”

“Ok, then we should head to Uno,” said Owen.

“Why?” said Allen.

“It’s what Nostra said.”

“We can get some supplies from the tribe and then head on,” said Ilyas.

“Tell Amanda,” said Owen. Ilyas did so, and the truck changed course. Owen looked out the back window. Several Shado robots were following. “We still have a problem.” The Shado’s were gaining rapidly. The lead robot got closer and started to raise its weapon. “It’s going to fire.”

“We’ve had it,” said Indiana, she slumped back in her seat.

“Not yet,” said Owen.

He concentrated on the robot and felt the connection to the AI core. Pain filled his head but he focused on the robot. The robot started to falter and drop back. Then, gradually, it ground to a stop. Several more took its place and pushed harder toward the truck. They raised their weapons and opened fire. Owen concentrated on the shots, he felt himself blocking their guidance. The shots went wide. The pain in his head was intense, and his ears started to ring. He focused on the robots again. Increasingly they started to fall back. Then they completely stopped, one by one, almost like a kill switch had been activated. Their truck pushed on, free for now.

Owen slumped forward in his seat, and fell to the floor out cold.

*

He imagined this was what sleep felt like. It was dark. He knew he wasn’t conscious. This was dreaming, he thought. Then gradually there were forms, light.

“What has happened?” he said.

“You’ve passed out.”

“Who’s that?”

“This is Nostra.”

Then slowly he was aware that he was in a space, not a room, more nothingness. Just a place, something that looked like his body was in it. He became aware of the large form of Nostra standing before him. Owen was standing before him. There was nothing else concrete. No sound, not even his breathing.

“Where the hell are we?”

“This is a place inside AI. Our minds are temporarily inside a computer. Your body is still in the truck.”

“Why did I pass out?”

“The implants. Stopping the Shado robots was a strenuous task mentally. The implants trouble you still.”

“I didn’t connect though.”

“You were never disconnected. They used the implants to control you, but we broke the link. Now you have some control on how much you connect with your Link. You’ll learn to control it with your mind eventually.”

“Now we head to Uno.”

“Yes. The one last great city. Greater Uno circles the inner, and impregnable, City of Uno. That is where the core of AI resides. You used to know all this, once.”

“Why would the core be so far away from Melpomene?”

“Defence. The core would be vulnerable in Melpomene. The City of Uno was for centuries the centre of the world. It’s the reason the Alcibiades core was put there. It still is the centre of everything. Greater Uno surrounds the inner City of Uno. Greater Uno is a lawless morass of fanatics, the perfect defence. Uno once had another name, but it became the only city left. One city, Uno.”

“Who created Alcibiades?”

“One man took the credit for it. He stole the technology and built an empire from it. He dominated the world, but we think, we know, he was just the front man. Alcibiades inherited the disconnect, the corruption of its creator, or we think, creators. A mind built by corrupt committee, what a terrifying prospect. The man was called Abel Gilts, and who knows who else was involved?”

“Why were the cites abandoned?”

“Famine. The Great Famine. The official story was that nature broke down and food stopped growing. But in the resistance, we have our own theory. That the food chain was broken wilfully. People started to grow food and keep animals, but it was stopped by the governments.”

“Governments? There were more than one?”

“Yes. Eventually they became one government, but once there were many. Slowly but surely the governments were infiltrated and became the same. Eventually, when the people were forced to Uno due to lack of food, the government became one. One city, one government. We think at this time Alcibiades was created, though it could have been before, no one is sure.

“Then, the food was turned into “makanan” which was what they called the supplements then. This was the answer to the food crisis: pills. But you know, I was an Elite, we never lived on pills.”

“Why didn’t anyone resist?”

“They did. The Tribals. There are several tribes. They have been attacked by Alcibiades ever since and branded as terrorists. They are nothing of the sort.”

“And all the Uno people were moved into Melpomene?”

“Yes, the city of Uno became lawless, and it was decided to move the Elites to the mobile city. Some selected workers came too.”

“And the workers were gutless?”

“Controlled, starved, and Kopi-”

“Is a depressant,” interrupted Owen, “mind control?”

“That’s right. Finally, and we don’t know why, one man, one worker had fire in his heart. He created the resistance. For a time we thought the tide would change, but Alcibiades won. Caught him, brainwashed him and-“

“Put him in the Terra Police. Me.”

Nostra nodded, slowly. “Alcibiades kept you alive in order to show the other workers how you had conformed. A model citizen. Scared of germs and tribals. Fighting with the Terra Police for the system.”

Owen felt his anger bubbling. “I see fragments of memory, very disconnected.”

“Disconnected, yes, the workers are abused to fragment their minds. Kopi keeps the mind docile, fluid. The workers are abused for sick and perverted games of the Elites. We don’t know why you were the one with fire in his heart, but you are, Owen. There was, and is, no-one else.”

“But you?”

“I just followed you. I hide in Melpomene. An exiled Elite, but I don’t want to play their sick games. I don’t want to be an exiled prisoner in the city anymore, you are my ticket out. It was learning of your resistance that changed me.”

“How did you find out? The restrictions on speech in the city would stop it?”

“There are ways,” said Nostra.

“And you? What about the transhuman parts?”

“I was lucky, I’m not so altered. The Elites have more options on the level of brain implants and nanobots.”

“Nanobots?”

“Little robots in your body, microscopic. We managed to switch them off with you and some of the others in the resistance. It’s how much you can do without Alcibiades knowing is the issue.”

“So it becomes, knowing what is one’s own mind and thoughts, or if they are influenced by Alcibiades?”

“Yes. But Alcibiades is very flawed, it was badly programmed from the start, and once it became self-aware, the corruption deepened. We suspect it is not as all powerful as they’d like us to think. Alcibiades has programmed itself and has become as messed up as any super brain would. Super brain-”

“Super problems,” interrupted Owen.

“Correct.”

“And a super brain can have, a super headache.”

“This is like the old Owen speaking,” laughed Nostra, it was the first time Owen had seen him smile. “Alcibiades is flawed. That is how we managed to fight back. However, Alcibiades is dangerous and unpredictable at the same time. It is like any dictator, history shows us what always happens, that is, the history we were never taught. As you know, most history has been purged. However, this time, the dictator is not human. That is where the problem lies. Alcibiades wants domination. Destruction of humans. The Elites are being assimilated, willingly.”

“Why?”

“They want to live forever, at any cost”

“I remember their parties.”

“Really? Usually the workers don’t know what happens.”

“Andromeda. If she is what will live forever, how unpleasant, sick,” he thought of Kewa briefly and how natural she seemed.

“Ah. You remember Andromeda. She… it, is the one who controls you.”

Owen grimaced, “Yes, I remember her, and Perseus.”

“Perseus is the male counterpart, if you can call it that. They are quite linked.”

“Yes, I remember. What was all that phallus stuff? It’s hazy, but I recall some details.”

“The phallus, he thinks he’s Horus. It does mean you are breaking the brainwashing. This is the Owen I remember, the fighter.”

“But what if it is all lies? What if Alcibiades is using you too? How do we know what is true?”

“You are right to ask. I’d be disappointed if Owen of the resistance didn’t question everything. Only you have the answers, Owen.”

“Why does Alcibiades keep us around at all?”

“We think it is currently relinquishing the need for un-assimilated humans. Once it needed workers, but the robots are better than ever now. It will keep the Elites as they are becoming part of the system. Humans are in peril, it would be simple to finish off the workers. The population is declining anyway, we’re sure that is being done deliberately. Annihilation of the Tribals is harder, but the Shado has increased the attacks. The attacks are getting more brutal.”

“So, we get to Uno, then what?

“Find the core of the A.I. and destroy it. It’s heavily armoured in the City of Uno and surrounded by Greater Uno, full of hostiles. Admiral Gambit can help you get in. He’s in a ship in the harbour on the edge of Greater Uno.”

“A tiny force to try to destroy this powerful thing…”

“Yes, the odds are against us,” agreed Nostra. Owen felt a shift in the white room, his chair felt unstable. “I think your body is coming round…”

Then the white room had vanished and he found himself looking up at Indiana. He also felt pain in his head.

“Owen, you bashed your head when you passed out,” she said.

“Had a good sleep now have you?” said Allen as his face came into view.

Owen tried to rise, he felt weak. Allen helped him up and they seated him in the back of the truck. Indiana offered him a Kopi.

“No,” he said. “Thank you.”

“Weird,” said Allen.

“We need to stop drinking it.”

“Are you mad?”

“I feel crazy,” admitted Owen. “Kopi makes us weak. It stops us thinking straight.”

“I like the edges fuzzy,” retorted Allen.

“Well, I’ll stop,” said Indiana. “If Owen says so.”

“I connected with Nostra. He told me. Anyway, where are we?”

Owen was aware the truck was not moving.

“We are with some of the tribals again,” said Indiana. “Just to take on provisions, then, like you said, we push on to Uno. Ilyas said he would guide us.”

There was a knock on the rear door and Allen opened it. Ilyas stood there with three cups held in one hand. “Coffee,” he smiled.

Owen noticed that the jungle had thinned outside as he took a cup and sipped it. The flavour was completely unlike Kopi. It was hard, almost earth like. It partly revolted him and partly fascinated him. The smell had none of the chemical aroma of Kopi. Indiana sipped and said nothing. Allen gulped it and then gagged and wheezed. “Oh man,” he said.

“It certainly isn’t Kopi,” said Owen.

“It will addle your brain,” said Ilyas. “Only, in a good way, unlike Kopi.”

“You don’t know man,” said Allen. “It won’t be so easy when the Kopi wears off.”

“The coffee will help,” said Ilyas. “We’ve done this before.”

“Where are we now?” said Owen.

“This is the edge of Jinan land,” returned Ilyas. “From here the jungle thins into plains, but that is a slow process. Eventually the plains reach the high ground, which climbs through the lands of the Fire Tribe. Then the mountains begin. After that, I have less knowledge, but I can still guide you. We’ll need to hunt for food. As the Kopi wears off, you’ll become hungry. The provisions won’t last forever.”

“We should be moving when we can,” said Indiana. “The Shado police will be coming again.”

“I’m not so sure,” said Owen. “But, it would be prudent to move soon. Alcibiades knows where we are now since I connected to beat the Shado robots.”

“We can strap barrels of Diesel to the outside of the truck,” said Ilyas. “Food will need to come in here.”

“Our truck never had spaces for food,” snorted Allen.

“These trucks are the same as ours,” said Ilyas. He turned to a panel and opened it. “You don’t know your own truck.” Inside was an empty space with shelves.

“Ha, appears not,” retorted Allen.

The door was still open, and Owen heard the patter of rain. Then quickly it became another downpour. They all watched the sheet of water.

“Amanda and Hannah will be getting wet,” said Indiana.

“They were helping with the provisions,” said Ilyas. “They were near a tribal truck.” He turned to Owen. “You’ll be pleased, Kewa wants to come on the journey.”

Owen felt himself going red, “Why would I be pleased?”

Ilyas just returned a knowing look and nodded slightly.

Soon the downpour stopped. The fresh smell of the rain filled the cabin. Owen refused a recovery pill and Ilyas went off to get him another coffee. The others insisted that Owen take it easy after the bump on his head. Presently he heard the barrels of diesel bumping on the roof and being strapped down. Then Kewa came to the back door holding his coffee.

“Hello Owen, I bring your coffee. I keep you company.”

She climbed in, handed him the cup and sat across from him. He left himself flushing again. He tried to ignore her and think about the meeting with Nostra. The aching in his head and the fever from the Kopi wearing off distracted him badly.

Soon the others came back holding food, and with it came strange smells. The food was stowed in the cupboards that Ilyas opened, cupboards none of the crew had known about before. When this was done, they all sat down in the cabin and Ilyas found them more coffee to drink.

“It just doesn’t hit the spot,” complained Allen.

“I like it,” said Amanda.

“I’m getting a headache,” said Allen.

“You will,” said Ilyas. “Headache, aching body-”

“I know, I tired once before,” retorted Allen.

“Clearer mind,” said Owen.

“Fever.”

“We should leave now,” dismissed Owen.

Amanda went to the driving position. Ilyas started the engine with the wire and went to join her to show her the way. The rest took up their positions, but there was nothing to monitor on the dead consoles. They simply looked out of the windows instead.

Owen was wrapped up in his thoughts. There was so much information in his head now to sift through. He had to be careful as so much information would quickly swamp his brain. Kewa still sat across from him, occasionally looking at him and then out the windows.

The jungle thinned away into plains, as Ilyas had forecasted. Tree and plant growth became sparser. The plains were rising to the dark mountains in the distance. The truck slowed, turned and came to a stop. Amanda had clearly turned the truck, so they could see through the side windows up ahead. The sun was nearing the horizon to one side. What surprised them was that the plains were burning, fire leaping into the sky and lighting the whole horizon.

Ilyas came through to the back. “The burning plains, set by the Fire Tribe.”

“Never mind that,” said Allen. “It’s time you made some more of that disgusting coffee; I’ve got a headache.”

“Not a fever?” said Owen.