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Herons

Kilmo

    Ward glanced at the route again and tried to stop his hand twitching. The emergency cord was right next to his head, and someone had stepped on his foot again. He took a breath of body order and bad nerves and tried to make a space amongst the solid mass of commuters crammed onto the tube. By the time he’d made it to the street, he was glad of the rain hitting his face. Bodies flooded past as above city spat the last of its passengers into the Edge, and Ward plonked his arse on the nearest car wreck. He sat lotus style for a few minutes, getting his breathing under control. There’d been too many fights between him and Liv recently for him to hurry home.
    ‘Text her, tell her the bad news that way.’
     When his fingers came back up holding nothing but lint and old job center receipts. Ward put his head in his hands and tried not to move. Maybe nothing else would go wrong if he stayed still.
    ‘There.’
    Ward lurched through the puddles to the storm drain before it could disappear into the city’s guts. When a van rattled on its springs, interior lights flicking on and off his first thought was he should have known better. You didn’t hang around after dark round here.
    ‘Looters?’
    He peered into the storm; there were shapes moving in it now that had nothing to do with the bomb-scarred wrecks littering the street. Ward was quickly deciding he needed to be inside. Anywhere would do, pub, or cafe, even a newsagents would be fine so long as it was off the road.
     Ward’s feet shuffled back without him stopping as the whine of a motor struggling to cope with the weather reached his ears.
    ‘Who is it? Come on; let’s be having you.’
    Feet ticked their way over a car roof, and something landed on his back hard enough to steal the air from his lungs. He rocketed his elbow into its side and realized his mistake as stars burst across his eyes, not a bio then.
    ‘Be still. Not move. Make hurt more.’ The voice was so full of static it was hard to make out the words. ‘Subject should stay still and try not to scream; procedure will complete quicker that way.’
    The whine grew worse, and Ward felt his neck sting.
    ‘Sod that.’
    He was up and in the road a moment later, trying not to bite his tongue in two until he heard the noise he’d been praying for. Ward bucked his shoulders, and the passing vehicle took care of the rest. When the debris had finished rolling into the gutter, he fingered what was left of his jacket.
    ‘Those were my best threads.’

...

    Ward pulled the curtains back letting light flood into their tiny rundown flat. There seemed a lot of it for such a tiny place; he watched dust sift through the air as an artic rumbled past.
    ‘It’d be quicker doing ourselves in.’
    There was a whine in his voice that made him want to punch something.
    ‘Then stop being so high and mighty. The landlords on the phone every other day asking why his stately home’s rent isn’t being paid.’
    ‘Don’t be like that Liv. We did the best we could with what we had after you paid your Dad off.’
    They watched each other like cats through the sunbeams.
    ‘That’s not all.’
    Liv’s voice tailed off; the job she’d taken to keep them afloat was rubbing at her smile like sandpaper.
    ‘I’m pregnant.’
    She looked away, and when he could see her face again, her skin was taught, like she wanted to run but wasn’t sure where.
    ‘Pregnant?’ He stopped, and blood roared through his ears. When she looked up her eyes didn’t meet his.
    ‘I want to keep it.’

...

    It was Christmas before he was stood looking down at what they’d produced.
    ‘Do you think she’s beautiful?’
    Liv sounded uncertain as if for once she didn’t know what he was going to say.
    ‘Yeah, she is. I wasn’t sure I’d think that, but she is.’
    Liv gave him the smile; the one she wore when they lay on sweat stained sheets, and she slid close enough to kiss.
    Ward was watching telly when they got the visit.
    ‘Who’s there? That you Tony?’ The doorbell stopped; its noise soaking into the flats walls, ‘What do you want? Liv and the kid are asleep. You trying to give me a heart attack?’
    He made himself laugh; the landlord had been threatening them with a visit. Ward slid the chain off and peered into the darkness.
    ‘...’
    The ringing in his ears didn’t stop until he was on the floor. In the gap where his front door had been were his visitors. All he could see of one was its chest, and the high viz jacket it wore. The smaller of the two spoke first.
    ‘Good evening sir. My names Time and this is my associate, Tide. We’d have liked to be quicker, but you know how it is.’
    There was movement in the stairwell behind it, and Tide lowered its head so it could see Ward. It’s voice sounded like water hitting the hollows of a cave.
    ‘Deep water got in the way you see.’
    ‘Don’t forget the crevasses.’
    ‘That’s right, didn’t want to stay long down there, too salty. No choice, though, never a choice. Spat us out like dead fish, in the end. Spreads barnacles like a plague, the sea.’
    ‘Dry now, though.’
    ‘Yes, dry, but thirsty.’
    Time smiled at Ward, ‘You’re going to help with that.’
    It stepped through the wreckage and produced a clipboard that matched the decaying overalls hanging from its ribs. There was a little badge with the name ‘Time’ and a mug shot on a chain round its neck.
    ‘Bugger off chum.’
    ‘Not yet, Ward, we want to talk to you.’
    Ward let fly and felt his knuckles catch in the nearest’s hands with a sound like a bone snapping.
    ‘Robots? You aren’t supposed to be down here. This is residential only.’
    He went down again as a blow that felt like it could punch through brick took him in the side.
    Ward heard Time say, ‘Leave him, I hate not being able to understand what they’re saying because they’re choking on their teeth.’
    Ward flipped on his side. He could just see the bedroom from where he was. He knew what Meks down here was likely to mean.
    ‘Liv, Jesus Christ. Get the kid, and get out.’
    That got their spokesman’s attention.
    ‘Funny, you should mention that. Your daughter’s what we came to talk about.’
    Water dripped from the things joints as it flicked through the manifest in its fist. ‘No 302 isn’t it Tide?’
    ‘Yeah, let him up. We’ve got paperwork to fill out.’
    Time stepped further into the flat, and Ward got a good look at the thing in the remains of an above city employee’s uniform. It had skin the color of old fat, and when he looked closer, he could see why. It was plastic, and its eyes were as empty as the ocean floor.
    ‘What are you? You’re not the same as them.’
    He nodded at the rest of the figures in the shadows.
    ‘I’m their supervisor. I represent the Rig. We’ve come to serve notice on your daughter.’
    ‘You want to repossess her? She’s my kid.’
    ‘She was, but she’s ours now. We’ve made more than a few alterations via you. You’ve the municipality’s thanks, but we’ve full rights to her. You can see the documents. Should have stayed up to date with your payments Mr. Ward.’
    There was a low chorus of amusement from its friends.
    ‘What are you talking about?’
    ‘You destroyed our implant drone, Mr. Ward when all it was trying to do was implant the correct code. Totally unnecessary, we’ve a job to do and it isn’t helped by uncooperative sods like you. Get the bar code reader ready Mr. Tide.’ Tide produced a device in its fist as its colleague continued, ‘Now Dividends have to be paid, debts reimbursed, salaries as well. Fortunately, the procedure worked, and your daughter got what she needs; even if she doesn’t know it yet. Where she’s going, she’s going to find it very useful. Now we must be off we’ve appointments to keep.’
    It’s eyes blurred as data swept across their surfaces.
    ‘Come in here, and I’ll string you up from the ceiling.’
     ‘Of course, you will Mr. Ward. I’d do the same myself in your shoes. You see she’s quite precious to certain parties. They’re very insistent about keys and sacrifices. As far as we’re concerned its all a bit irrelevant. They’re very old fashioned when what we’re looking at is a straightforward product exchange, blood for oil; that sort of thing. It’s been going on for centuries. Without the stuff black to extract what’s the reason for living? But, your daughter’s what they want, so that’s what they’re going to get, particularly after all the others died in transit. The city’s been kind enough to donate her in return for services rendered. She should survive the transition if that’s any consolation. Whether or not she’ll enjoy her life afterward is another matter.’
    ‘Transition?’
    ‘To where we’re sending her. It’s all pretty standard stuff. We’ve got quite good at it what with all the practice we’ve had.’ Time stopped, ‘...at least the repossession part.’
    Ward’s eyes darted about looking for something he could use to take the smile off its face.
    ‘Please try and stay calm Mr. Ward. You’re only going to make things worse if you get excited.’
    There was a noise behind him.
    ‘Liv?’
    She was stood in the bedroom doorway, blinking the sleep from her eyes. He felt his heart thump.
    ‘Ward?’
    The bundle in her hands twitched, and an arm groped at the air.
    ‘Ours, out of the way.’
    Tide’s figure moved into the corridor filling it from side to side as the others flowed in after it.
    ‘No.’
    Ward felt himself lifted up and slammed into the wall so deep he must have left an impact crater.
    ‘Behave yourself, Mr. Ward. This is a quasi-legal transaction, all above board I’ll think you’ll find. You’re supposed to wait until after we’ve served notice before you attempt to make a complaint.’
    ‘What’s wrong with you, why can’t you see this is wrong?’
    ‘We’re sick, Mr. Ward, so sick with hunger it hurts. It’s been a long time since we weren’t.’
    Time’s face began to unfold, and soon Ward was looking down a tunnel made of razors.
     ‘Don’t worry Mr. Ward we’ll be quick.’

...

    Ward sat up.
    ‘Liv?’
    At least he knew who that was. His head was spinning so fast he could barely remember his name.
    She was at his side in a second; wrapping herself around him like she wanted to climb inside.
    ‘Where’s Gem?’
    ‘They took her. I tried, I really tried to stop them, but they said if I didn’t let them all they’d leave me with was her skin. What am I supposed to do with that?’
    He couldn’t see her tears, but he could feel the shudders as she let them out.
    ‘We’ll get her back; where did they go?’
    ‘They didn’t say, just that she was there’s.’
    ‘I’ll find her. They’ll be in some rat hole round here judging by the state of them, moonlighters are worse than scabs.’
    ‘How do you know?’
    ‘Where else they going to go? They’d be cleaned off the streets in seconds up above. They’re more rust than metal. They must be desperate.’
    ‘But the Edge’s huge; there’s thousands of people living here.’
    ‘I’ll ask your Dad.’
    ‘You won’t. You said next time you saw him you were going to knock his teeth out.’
    Liv’s Dad was six foot two and built like the meat factory he used to work in. Right now Ward would have fought him just for the hell of it.
    ‘He’s friends with all the scallywags round here. One of them will know where she is. Come on Liv we’ve got to try.’
    ‘What about the cops?’
    Ward laughed.

...

    ‘I can’t believe you lived in that.’
    He looked up at the peeling boards flapping from Franks tower block,
    ‘Not just me.’
    ‘I bet your Dad feels right at home.’
    When they reached his flat Ward belted the door loud enough to wake the dead, but no one appeared to find out who it was making the noise; you didn’t where Frank was concerned.
    ‘Reckon he’s in?’
    Liv got her answer a second later.
    ‘Who the fucks that?’
    ‘Your daughter, open up.’
    The sound of enough bolts being drawn back you’d have thought they were standing on the doorstep of a prison filled the corridor as Frank appeared in the darkness.
    ‘What do you want? I thought I told you not to come back here.’
    ‘You did, but it doesn’t look like I listened does it?’
    Liv elbowed past the figure in the doorway, leaving Frank and her boyfriend to stare at each other.
    ‘You.’
    Frank’s eyes narrowed to slits.
    ‘Yeah me, Frank. How’s life?’
    ‘Crap.’
     Liv’s father looked like the curries and late night violence had finally gotten to him, but the faded blue on his arms still told you what he’d been like in his glory days. Livs voice broke the deadlock.
    ‘You’re going to help us Dad.’
    ‘What’s that supposed to mean? It’s half twelve at night. I’ve told you before; stay away. You cause me enough problems as it is.’
    ‘Yeah, I remember that Frank. You stopped that pretty quick, didn’t you? With your fists.’
    For a man as big as Frank he could move surprisingly fast when he wanted. Ward found himself flattened against the wall with an arm at his neck.
    ‘Shut your mouth you little rodent. I never liked you.’
    ‘We got a visit last night, Dad.’
    ‘From who?’
    ‘They weren’t a resident, something took Gem.’
    ‘What the brat you had with him?’ Frank dropped his arm, ‘What the hell’s going to want something that came from that?’
    ‘I do, and it’s your granddaughter you’re talking about.’
    ‘If you say so.’
    ‘I thought you might be like that; course we can go it on our own, or call the cops. People might think a little differently of you, though. After all, you’re my Dad. How long do you think you’ll last if people knew you’d folded on something like that?’
    Frank gave her an odd look then, midway between exhaustion and fear, like he knew what was waiting out there where the lights didn’t reach.
    ‘Lotta young kids looking for a challenge, same as usual. I need to think.’
    Frank fingered the peeling wall paper for a second; tearing it into strips.’
    ‘Look, Frank,’ Ward made sure to try and sound reasonable, ‘You know everyone round here from before they roofed over. Just point me in the right direction. I’ll do the rest.’
    ‘You? You scrawny little runt. They’d snap your neck like a twig if you tried to throw a punch. I still can’t get my head round her falling for you. Still, I might want to do something about this; it depends. What did they look like?’
    ‘Most of them like the sort of gear you see moldering on the lower levels left overs from before they roofed over. But, I don’t think that’s what they are, and one was high tek, not a Kombattant, but close. There was too much water on them as well, and rust too. The lower levels are dry as cement dust.’
    ‘Tell him what happened when you got attacked.’
    When Ward finished, the look on Frank’s face made him want to leave right then. There was no help to be had from the old man; that much was obvious.
    ‘You’ve been poking your nose into things you shouldn’t have, haven’t you? You need to be careful. Things change, its not the same round here as when I was a lad. Back then, I pissed off a lot of things I shouldn’t, but I knew what they were. There’d be a queue right round the block if they all came visiting at the same time. Nowadays its different, I stay in here now its safer, what’s responsible for this is a sore loser.’
    ‘I’ve been waiting for you to say something like that. You know what it is don’t you?’
    Frank nodded, ‘It’s been looking for a way to get back at me for years.’
    ‘Tell me.’
    Frank headed into the lounge, by the vid box stood a half bottle of whiskey. The old man unscrewed it, and they watched his Adam’s apple pump as it brought the liquid to his gut.
    ‘They’re petrol addicts.’
    ‘They’re what?’
    Frank shrugged, ‘Some people like crack, some people like gear; then there’re others who like blood, and others still that like petrol, diesel. You name it; they’ll do it; LPG, gas, crude. Most of them are Meks, but there’s the odd Bio in the mix that’s been altered to deal with it. They’ll do pretty much anything to get to it too, gets them into a lot of trouble. There’s nowhere left above you can still nick it now the populations been upgraded. The Edge’s all that’s left. The rigs used to be on their side; they were suppliers for a long time after the collapse. At least the deep sea ones were before the oil ran out and they got fancy with all that fission cell rubbish. That white thing’s one of their automatons. You should be thankful that’s what’s got your boy not one of the spark heads. They’re a lot worse. You wouldn’t want to see the state of Gem once they’re done.’
    ‘Why do they want her?’
    ‘Probably coz I went and sold its friends a load of second-hand filters back in the day. I liked to take a risk or two when I was younger.’
    Frank’s lips twisted to reveal the gold still clinging to his teeth.
    ‘Problem was the source; I should have known better than to use Middle East surplus. They’d only been nuked the year before. Turns out Meks are susceptible to radiation as well.’
    ‘So now they’ve come for us, and my daughter in particular?’
    Frank grinned, and Ward started forward.
    ‘Calm down son; they’re out to get the oil flowing again. That’s all that’s important to them, remember that.’
    ‘Using humans?’
    ‘Oh no, they’re too frail, and its impossible anyway now the fields are dry. They want to make a bargain.’
    ‘With what?’
    ‘With things, you don’t want to mess with.’
    Franks smile was so wide now you could count the gaps in it.
    ‘Where are they then? It’s your granddaughter they’ve got.’
    ‘Hades Place.’

...

    By the time they left the block, it was dark. The warrens round Franks were well known as the worst in the estate, but neither of them could wait.
    ‘They’re going to be ready aren’t they?’
    Liv slid a hand down his cheek as he brought his face toward her.
    ‘They will.’
    ‘But, we’re going to get him back?’
    ‘We will.’
    ‘Then, why don’t I believe you?’
    ‘Because you’re not stupid. We’re going to try anyway.’
    Hades Place was where the virals had gone off back when the last of the Kombattants had been fighting themselves to a standstill. Now, all you could see through the windows were stars shining through the roofs.
    ‘He said the house was one of these?’
    ‘Yeah, don’t look like much do they?’
    Ward paused, the air felt like someone had brushed it the wrong way long enough to see sparks.
    ‘They’re in.’
    ‘Let’s go round the back.’
    The gardens were full of beams, barbed wire, and rats, and the low thump of machinery reached their ears as they went deeper.
    ‘No wonder the areas empty. Look at them.’
    Each house had a figure spread eagled figure across the girders planted in their yards.
    ‘How come no ones noticed?’
    ‘Hades Place’s empty has been for years. It’s a no-go zone. No ones supposed to live here, the contaminations too bad. Can’t you feel it?’
    Ward could, the bump where he’d been bitten was itching so bad he was surprised the skin hadn’t come off. He pulled Liv close, ‘You should go.’
    Liv looked like she was about to tell him what she thought of that when the nearest door opened, and the noise grew louder.
    ‘You’ve been waiting.’
    ‘Of course, it wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t welcome you.’
    The Rig’s puppet smiled, and Ward looked up, he’d thought the only thing the crosses held were the rain eaten corpses of the under projects former residents. He’d been wrong. Meks were crawling along the bars everywhere he looked.
    ‘Give me my daughter.’
    ‘Of course Mr. Ward. If you’d like to step this way? They’re getting impatient. It’s a long way through the muck, and they’ve been waiting a long time. You can go with her too if you like. The more, the merrier. It’s not our fault they were so specific about age. All we want is the black stuff back.
    ‘The oil.’
    ‘Need it.’
    ‘Dry without.’
    ‘Like dust.’
    The autonomon’s companions had crept close enough you could hear the ache in every word.
    Ward answered for them both, ‘We’ll go.’
    ‘Good, follow me.’
    ‘They’re going to kill us you know that, don’t you?’
    Liv sounded like she’d already worked out where all this was likely to end.
    ‘What else are we supposed to do?’
    There wasn’t much you could say to that. Their hands found each other as they stepped inside because pretty soon the sound of pistons working amongst the shattered brick drowned everything else.
    ‘Where is she?’
    ‘I’ll show you.’
    You could still see the automaton’s smile, even in the dark, each tooth gleamed like it was made of salt.
    Ward squeezed Liv’s hand.
    ‘If you get the chance, run.’
    ‘I wouldn’t do it Liv. There’s so many depths round here; so many holes to swallow the unwary, so many mouths to feed.’
    The noise of machinery was coming from a ragged hole torn through the foundations. Ward poked his head over the lip and looked down, ‘Down there?’
    ‘Yes.’
    His nostrils burned with every breath as he peered over the edge.
    ‘Gem...’
    Years back he’d seen footage of the old disasters when hydrocarbons had grown so rare they’d penalized their use. What he could see below him looked like a sea bird drowning in an oil slick, and the machines around his daughter were bleeding more from the holes in their tanks every second. As Ward stared the bindle twitched, and a ripple spread over the surface, the lake looked so weak, thin and easy to snap it put his teeth on edge.
    ‘We’re going to send your daughter through soon. It’s almost ready. With the drills striking oil again the rigs will run.’
    ‘Purpose.’
    ‘Fuel.’
     ‘Quiet now; he gets the message. We don’t want to scare them off. Wait...what are you doing?’
    The vibrations had grown stronger as more machinery came to life and Ward had used the opportunity to topple the nearest robot. He could see what he needed even in the dark as the lights began to fade, and the noise of plant kicking into life grew louder. Times fuel lines shone, fat, and full down its back just visible through rust pitted metal. He gritted his teeth and slammed his knuckles through eggshell thin metal until he held a fistful of them. In the end, Time dropped to its knees with the last of the light fading from its eyes like a flare stack going out as Ward finished ripping its spine out with a howl. He ran for Liv; the trophy clutched in one hand spilling petrol and oil like rain.
    ‘Take this.’ Ward gave her one end, ‘and don’t let go.’
    ‘It won’t reach; she’s too far down.’
    ‘It doesn’t matter, just be there when I get back.’
    He was beginning to wonder how far down the spill went. He took a breath of air that made his lungs burn, and for a moment he felt like he was in the flat when Liv had told him she had a kid inside her.
    Ward jumped.

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