Shade’s Children

Drum looked at Ella for several seconds, then finally nodded his approval.

Gold-Eye didn’t do or say anything. He didn’t know what they were talking about. But they were his new people, his new Petar and Jemmie. He would stay with them till something happened – and if it did, he’d already decided he wouldn’t run. Better dead or even the Meat Factory, than more years of running scared, running alone.

“I’ll talk to Gold-Eye now,” said Shade. “Ella, come back in an hour and I’ll give you a full briefing. The maps will be printed out then, with the latest intelligence from my rats and Stelo’s team.”

“Stelo’s back, then?” asked Ninde, smiling. Then she said, “Oops,” and raised her hand.

Her smile slipped as Shade looked at her silently, his fingers tapping equally silently on the desk.

“Your Change Talent makes you useful, Ninde,” Shade said finally, “but that doesn’t mean you can ignore the rules – little rules or big rules. Yes, Stelo’s team is back – but I forbid you to approach him. He’s got enough to worry about without you trying out flirting skills learned from 1990s videos. If you want to sleep with someone, Ninde, put yourself in the Lottery like everyone else – and pass the contraception knowledge test, which I note you haven’t even assessed.”

“But I don’t want to be in the Lottery,” Ninde complained. “I might get anyone. I might even get Drum. Oh, sorr—”

The sharp sound and impact of a slap cut her short, and Ella was standing over her, palm as red as Ninde’s left cheek. Before the younger girl could even speak, Ella had her in a “come along” hold and was forcing her out of the room.

“Right, Ninde!” Ella tightened her hold. “You’ve been drifting a bit and now it’s time I pointed you back on course, with a little explanation about what we’re here to do and your part… which I think may not be quite what you think it is!”

Gold-Eye watched them go in wonderment. Surely there was enough trouble outside without having trouble between people here?

Drum watched too, apparently unaffected by Ninde’s outburst. When the hatch closed behind the two women, he got up and made a curious half bow that included both Gold-Eye and Shade.

“I’ll go too,” he said very softly. As he passed Gold-Eye, he paused and lowered his great round head, looming over the boy like a spreading tree. Then he spoke, voice half whistling like wind in the branches.

“Don’t worry, young one. Ninde is good at heart, but strangely unaware of the time she lives in. And Ella is perhaps too much aware. I am just a product of the time. You’ll understand it all, one day.”

Then he was gone, lumbering out through the hatch – and Gold-Eye was left alone with Shade, the rat robots, and the spider things still lurking and rustling in the shadowed corners.

VIDEO ARCHIVE – SECRET 2711 RICK #3 – FINAL

<TRANSMISSION XPACK – COMPX25

RAT-EYE BETA 10:07:41 1102006.>

Get away! Get… ah… You’re not a rat… one of Shade’s Eyes…

<SOBBING.>

The others or gone. Nelo and Tanner. We got to the observation point, but there were Trackers everywhere and Myrmidons… Pre-battle, I guess… hu… hu…

<HYSTERICAL LAUGHER.>

Hundreds of them. Pouring out everywhere. We got back to the hedges, but Trackers sniffed us out… Myrmidons took Nel and Tan… I’m in Southwest Drain Twelve, about… I don’t know… near the Big Six connection… Please send someone to get me… Look… the bone is sticking out… It hurts…

<MEDISCAN APP. CUT IN. VISUAL DIAGNOSIS. COMPLEX

FRACTURE OF HUMERUS. MAJOR BLOOD-VESSEL DAMAGE. EMERGENCY MEDICAL TREATMENT INDICATED.>

I jumped… They almost had me… but I can’t crawl further… I can’t…

<SOBBING.>

A team could get me out. Ella or Stelo, they’ll come. They’ll come, won’t they, Shade?

<MEDISCAN APP. CUT IN. PROGNOSIS: TREATMENT

REQUIRED WITHIN 134 MINUTES. PATIENT

IN SEVERE SHOCK. BLOOD LOSS SIGNIFICANT.>

It’s pretty dry down here… Maybe… maybe dry enough for Ferrets… but it’s not far… not far. They’ll get here before dark. Yeah, it’s OK, they’ll get here… They’ll get here… Shade… help me.

<INCOHERENCE. RAT-EYE BETA

RESUMES PATROL 10:09:55.>

CHAPTER SIX (#ulink_7a5fc5fe-b5be-5f98-a872-8c66b01c715d)

Shade didn’t say anything for a moment after Drum left. He just sat there behind his desk, watching Gold-Eye – who had the uncomfortable feeling that he was somehow being measured or analysed.

“Your eyes have less gold in them than they did outside,” Shade said finally. “Which is very interesting. We’re underwater here, and water does seem to have a damping effect on Change Talents, Change side-effects – and on creatures.”

“I not… creature,” Gold-Eye said hastily. He’d been accused of that before, on the rare occasions he’d met other people.

“No, you’re not,” said Shade decisively. “Just visibly affected by the Change, which is quite rare. But not unheard of. I have seen other cases. Now, Gold-Eye, I’m going to ask you some questions and I’m also going to tell you some things. OK?”

“Yes.”

“You’ve heard me talk about the Change and Change Talents. Do you know what I mean?”

Gold-Eye frowned in thought. History as such wasn’t taught in the Dorms, but there were always children who seemed to know things and would tell the others. He wasn’t sure about details, but the general picture was pretty clear.

“Before,” he replied slowly, “there lots of people, who could get old. Then the Change. Grown-up peoples go. Overlords come. Creatures come. Dormitories. Sad Birthdays. The Meat Factory…”

“Good.” Shade smiled. “That’s about right. Almost fifteen years ago, something happened or was made to happen. For an instant everything stopped. Everything moving halted, every machine, every car. In that instant every person over the age of fourteen vanished. Destroyed… translated into another reality… translocated… I don’t know… And then the Overlords came and herded the survivors into the Dorms. A few weeks after that, the first creatures appeared – built with teenagers’ brains – and the Overlords began their ritual battles…”

He paused, and Gold-Eye raised his hand, remembering the treatment meted out to Ninde for her unauthorised question.

“But you?” asked Gold-eye, after he was sure Shade had noticed the upraised hand.

Shade smiled again and leaned back in his chair, hands linked behind his glossy black-haired head.

“Yes, everyone disappeared – except me. Or including me, depending on how you look at it. You see, Gold-Eye, I’m not really a person at all!”

As he said that, Shade vanished and the lights went out. Gold-Eye shot up out of the sofa, heart drumming, then subsided back into the cushions. It was pitch-black and he knew he couldn’t find the hatch. The thought of stumbling across one of the spider robots or rat things…

Then Shade spoke again, his voice echoing from every corner of the room.

“What I am, Gold-Eye, is a human personality stored in a computer’s memory. I have the memories of that real person. I think like a real person. To some degree, I still have the feelings of a real person. But no flesh, save the holographic appearance you have seen – which I must confess is partly based on a twentieth-century actor – so I look rather better than I did in the flesh. A conceit that possibly shows my continuing humanity…