Deacon realised he’d recognise her in a crowd, anywhere. Even though he suspected Mason had designed a face that would be forgettable, he’d spent so many long hours studying those images taken of her as she’d grown up on Harpers Reach at that farm. Getting to know how she smiled, frowned, laughed, cried.
Her face was perfectly normal on the left side. On the right, things had gone badly wrong. A tumour had developed beneath her right ear. It had grown to the size of an apple; a bulbous, crinkly dark purple pendulous growth pushing out from the side of her neck, from which several stunted tufts of hair had chosen to grow. Breaking the skin, he could see the pale nubs of a row of developing baby teeth. The tumorous cells had been dutifully doing their best to follow erroneous commands, doing their best to create a mouth where there shouldn’t be one.
‘Scans show the tumour has grown inwards as well. Entangling with the candidates spinal column and base of her brain stem.’ Dr Takeo-Jones pulled his gloved arms out of the soup. ‘The other candidate developed a front-cranial tumour that pretty much covers the entire face.’ He shot a glance at the Councillor. ‘It’s not a particularly pleasant sight, but if you want to have a look..?’
‘No thank you, Doctor,’ she replied.
‘So then…three out of six, dead,’ said Deacon. ‘What about the remaining three?’
‘They are still alive. They survived the onset of puberty. Although one of them is now showing signs of significant misfirings.’ He pointed to the unit at the end of the row.
‘And the other two?’
‘For the moment, at least, they appear to be perfectly normal.’ The doctor led them along and Deacon found himself looking down again at another floating body.
The girl floating in the water, appeared to be looking up at him.
‘My God…is this one awake?’ asked Councillor Hayden.
‘No. All three are being kept in an induced coma. I have halted the growth acceleration for the moment…but we can continue with it and continue to age these candidates if that’s what you wish?’
Deacon squatted down on his haunches until he was looking at the girl through the side of the tub. Her eyes reacted to his movement, turning to look at him through the foggy plastex.
‘Are you sure she’s not actually conscious?’ he asked. ‘Her eyes just followed me.’
‘Quite certain. Her eyes are following you instinctively. It’s a basic motor-reaction, I assure you she is fast asleep.’
‘I think the way we need to proceed Dr Takeo-Jones,’ said Hayden, ‘is this…I want you to destroy the dead baby candidates. The post-pubic dead one too. Incinerate them…I want absolutely nothing left of them. Do you understand?’
‘Yes, Councillor. And the others?’
She crossed her arms. ‘The one that is showing signs..? Can we conduct a post mortem on her?’
‘Uh…but she’s not dead, Councillor.’
‘Well obviously you’ll need to deal with that first. Then, I want you to dissect her. I want to know everything there is to know about her pathology.’
‘Yes, Councillor. And the other two?’
She looked at Deacon. ‘Any suggestions, Deacon?’
He stroked his chin thoughtfully, gazing at the girl’s face in the protein bath. Her eyes were locked on his. It felt like more than simple movement-detection instinct, it felt like she was studying him intensely.
What if I could communicate with her? Talk with her? What insights about the girl's psyche might I get?
‘Perhaps we should revive this one,’ he replied. ‘The other one? I wonder if it might not be a bad idea if we continue her growth cycle. Age her as far as we can before she dies.’ He looked back at Hayden. ‘Let’s look into the future, shall we? Mason may have programmed some later-developing traits in her.'
‘Yes. You’re right.’ Hayden nodded. ‘Good idea.’
‘But slow the process down now,’ added Deacon. ‘We’ll want as normal a growth cycle as possible so that we’re getting as accurate a facsimile of Ellie Quin as possible.’
The doctor nodded. ‘That’s what I would suggest.’
Deacon looked back at the ghostly face staring at him through the foggy plastex.
And you…yes, you…we’re going to become acquainted, Ellie. Finally.
CHAPTER 20
The doorway to Gray’s world cranked slowly to one side and dazzling sunlight spilled into the connecting passageway. They shaded their eyes from the glare as the doorway creaked backwards. The three of them gasped. Gray’s silhouette was revealed, standing right there in front of them, on the doorstep of his world.
‘Shit!’ blurted Jez. ‘You made us jump!’
His outline shifted slightly. Ellie blinked at the light, her eyes narrowed to filter it.
‘So?’ his casual drawl broke the silence. ‘Why the group visit?’
The first thing Ellie noticed was that ‘Hell’ was gone. Gray had obviously been very busy these last few days reconfiguring his world. The turbulent crimson sky was now a deep blue. The sea of tortured souls was now an inviting turquoise colour and lapped gently up and down a beach of almost snow-white sand with a soothing draw and hiss.
‘We’ve come to discuss something,’ said Ellie.
‘Okay.’ He shrugged. He didn’t move though, or invite them in. ‘So what do you think of my world now, Ellie? Like it?’
Shelby shaded his eyes and squinted. 'Are you…are you naked?’
‘No, Shelbs, man…I’m wearing trunks.’ He stepped to one side, now no longer silhouetted by the sun, they could see he was wearing a tiny pair of shimmering green pants.
‘I guess I should’ve warned you guys to dress for a day at the beach,’ he shrugged. He finally waved at them to step inside. ‘Come on, clunky boots off people…feel this lovely sand beneath your feet.’
They stepped into his world. Ellie felt the warmth of the sun on her face and couldn’t help a small smile. ‘Oh, this is much better than it was.’
‘It was time for a change,’ answered Gray. ‘Come on Shelbs, get your lanky ass in here and get some sun on that milky white skin.’
Jez was the first to shed some clothes, naturally. She unzipped her jacket and tossed it to one side, revealing her athletic shoulders, lean arms and flat belly. She dropped down onto her bottom. ‘I’ve never walked barefoot on a beach before,’ she said as she began to pull off her boots.
‘Mother?’ said Shelby.
Her face appeared, projected on the tropical sky. ‘Yes Shelby?’
‘My guests and I would like a little privacy please. Will you disable the audio-comms system for this world?’
‘Really? Are you quite sure, Shelby?’
‘Quite sure, Mother. If we need your assistance I will step outside Graham’s world and give you a shout.’
‘As you wish, Shelby.’
He waited a moment. Then spoke again. ‘Mother?’
Nothing.
‘Mother? It’s Shelby. Please respond immediately. This is a PRIORITY-ONE emergency!’
Gray looked at him. 'What's up, man? Why did you turn her off?'
Shelby waited again. There was no response from Mother. He turned to Gray. ‘Graham, we came here to discuss something with you. Something…that doesn’t make sense.’
‘What does make sense, man?’ He grinned. ‘Come on, at least get comfortable first.’
‘This is prettier than Hell,’ said Jez dryly. She scrunched the toes of her bare feet in the sand. 'You had a sudden personality change or something?'
He shrugged that off and beckoned them all to follow him down the beach towards the gently lapping tide. ‘Let’s go sit down and get a drink, then there’s something I need to say first.’ He nodded out towards the sea. ‘Before we discuss your thing.’
Several hundred yards away, in the middle of Gray’s mini pacific ocean was a small desert island with beaches and palm trees, a sun shade and deck chairs. He led the way, wading into the warm water up to his knees along a narrow spi
t of submerged sand that took them out to the island.
Ellie waded through the water after him, looking down through the shimmering surface at schools of colourful fish darting in between her feet and his.
Five minutes later they were sitting on the island, beneath the sun shade with tall glasses full of some ice-cold fruity punch before them.
‘Firstly, before anyone says anything else,’ Gray started, ‘Ellie…I want to apologise for what happened to you.’ He shook his head. ‘That…was totally unforgivable. If an accident like that had happened to some rich guest, this place would have been sued into bankruptcy, we'd probably be serving time in some Administration corrections camp. This whole place would have been closed down.’
‘It is closed down,’ said Jez.
‘Yeah, well…’ he shrugged, ‘point is, something went badly wrong with the safety procedures in this place, and for that, Ellie….I’m deeply sorry.’
Ellie looked down at the gel-covered stump where her hand used to be. ‘Well, I guess it’s lucky for you I’m not someone rich and important.’ She managed to offer him a conciliatory smile. ‘Don’t worry…I’m not going to ‘sue’.’
‘Well, that’s really very understanding of you. Thank you.’
‘Shelby’s growing her a new hand,’ said Jez.
‘Good.’ He nodded. ‘We’ll have you back to normal soon enough.’ He offered her a disarming pat on the shoulder. ‘And when you’ve got your hand back, you can give me a slap on the cheek if you want?’
Ellie laughed politely. ‘It doesn’t really matter.’ There was something else she wanted them to be talking about. ‘Shelby?’ She looked at him, prompting him to start it off.
‘Hmmm…indeed. Graham, Ellie made a curious discovery down on our mezzanine deck.’ He said nothing more than that and three pairs of eyes rested on Gray, gauging his reaction.
He hunched his shoulders. It seemed to Ellie he was just curious so far. ‘Well? What did you find?’
She told him about the shrine room, the personal affects of the crew, the ID tags. Shelby let her finish then he looked pointedly at his colleague. ‘Did you do that? Did you collect those things and put them down there?’
Gray shook his head. ‘No.’
‘Do you know who Helen Meade is?’ asked Jez.
He turned to look at her. Frowned then finally shook his head. ‘No. Who’s she?’
‘She was one of our colleagues,’ answered Shelby.
‘Huh?’ Gray frowned, genuinely confused. ‘What the hell are you talking about? I don’t remember a Helen Meade’
‘She was one of the crew that died,’ said Ellie.
‘No she wasn’t.’
She looked at Shelby. 'But you do remember working with her?'
He narrowed his eyes, his pale face rumpled with concentration. 'I…I actually can't recall working alongside her.' He looked surprised. 'I can't even picture her.'
'But you remember all the others?'
Shelby scowled as he silently went through their names, tried to pull something, anything, out of his head. Eventually he shrugged. 'I just remember not liking any of them.'
‘What about you,’ said Ellie turning to Gray. 'What can you remember about the others?’
He sipped slowly from his glass, spitting an ice cube back in. ‘They….’ He was silent for a long while, then finally he looked up. ‘Just that…they were….kind of annoying.' His eyes met Shelby's. 'Exactly the same as you. I got nothing but…a general impression of the bunch of them.'
Shelby nodded. ‘All I can recall are their names, what jobs they had…and that I didn’t really like any of them very much.’
Gray looked down at his feet in the sand. ‘I…’ he shook his head. ‘That’s so weird, man. I don’t really ever think about them. But now you’re asking me to…’ he looked up at Shelby, ‘I can’t recall a damned thing! A moment…an exchange…a row…working through any jobs with any of them….shit…’
‘You can’t remember a single conversation with any of them?’
He shook his head.
‘A single memory? A single interaction? Either of you?'
Gray closed his eyes and concentrated. Finally he shook his head again. ‘Jesus! That’s the strangest goddamned thing, man….not a thing.’
‘But you can remember the names?’
Gray reeled them off, counting their names off on the fingers of his hands.
'That's ten people,' said Jez. 'No Helen Meade.'
'But that's not right,' said Gray. 'There were twelve of us and-'
'And ten died, leaving you and me,' finished Shelby. 'Precisely. The computer log of that event is incorrect.'
'So that accident. What happened that day?' asked Ellie.
Both men looked at each other. They stared, Gray's eyes slowly widened. 'Shit…I think I must have been stoned or something that day. Shelby, man? What about you? What do you remember?'
'I vaguely recall….' he closed his eyes and frowned. Finally he opened them again. 'Nothing.'
Ellie sat back, exasperated. 'Are you telling me, you two have never talked about what happened? In all the years you've both been working here?'
'Not…really.' Gray shrugged. 'I…I, we both….'
'There has never been an inconsistency to discuss,' said Shelby. 'I have always 'known' what happened, well at least I thought I did; a shield failed. The team died. We survived because we weren't there and Mother dealt with the aftermath.'
Jez sighed impatiently. 'Let's cut through all this crud, shall we?' She turned to Gray. 'Did you kill them?'
'What!?'
'You did, didn't you?'
'That's insane! Jez….baby-'
'Don't you 'baby' me. I think this is your handiwork. I think you killed them and then messed with the computer records. Only you totally fregged up and logged only ten dead instead of eleven.'
'What the fu….seriously? Jez? What's with the sudden attitude?' He sat back and scratched at his mop of hair. He looked at all three of them, studying him intently. ‘Seriously?! Is that what this is? An inquisition?! You guys think…’
‘What about the fabricant that attacked Ellie?’ said Jez.
‘Jesus! That was an accident! That was a-’
Shelby cut in. ‘Graham, I had Frasier take a sample and we analysed it. The pheromone safety mechanism was tampered with. There was a last minute growth stage override. The safety mechanism was deliberately disabled.’
‘That giant scorpion thing nearly killed Ellie,’ said Jez. ‘You gonna tell us what the-freg-happened there?’
‘I…’ he swallowed nervously. He looked from one to the other, for someone who might take his side. ‘Look, guys, I really don’t know what went wrong back there! I didn’t tamper with anything! I haven’t messed with any goddamn records of staff…I…’
‘Why did you want my friend dead?’ snapped Jez. ‘Is it because I said I was going to leave WonderWorld with her when that shuttle comes?’
‘What?!’ His jaw hung open. ‘What? You think…you really think I tried to murder her?!’
Jez pursed her lips. ‘Well, it all fits. You figured without her around I’d decide to stay on here, right?'
‘That’s totally fregging crazy! Jez? Seriously? You think..? Guys, this is totally screwed up, man! You guys are being delusional! You-’
Shelby raised his hand. ‘Actually, I believe Graham is not lying about any of this.’
‘Uh?’ He turned to Shelby, his mouth slack and open.
‘I actually do believe you. I don’t think you tampered with the fabricant’s design.’
Gray’s eyebrows shot up. He hadn’t been expecting Shelby to side with him. He sat back and let out a sigh of relief. ‘Well thank fregg somebody believes I’m not a complete psycho!’ His expression of relief changed to anger. ‘And thank you…ladies, by the way, for accusing me like that! Jesus, fregging Christ, I’m not a murderer!’ He looked pointedly at Jez. ‘And thank you in particular, babe.’
 
; Jez turned to Shelby. ‘How come you’re so freggin' sure he’s not lying to us?’
Shelby didn’t reply. Instead he raised a finger to shush her, again.
Jez bit her lip, balled her fists and scowled at him. Shelby suddenly smashed his glass against the arm of his chair. Shards cascaded down onto the sand.
'What the hell?!!'
He reached down and picked up a long jagged piece of glass, stood up and took several menacing steps towards Gray. 'I am going to cut your throat, Graham.'
Gray lurched backwards, his chair toppled over and dumped him on the sand. 'Shelbs! Dude! What the fuck are you doing!'
'Graham, I fully intend to kill you now. Now please hold still while I do this!'
'OhMyGod!' cried Ellie. 'Shelby! Stop! Stop!'
He took another step forward the razor sharp point of glass held out towards Gray's face. 'What the fu…fu….what's wrong with you, man!'
Shelby advanced. 'Prepare to die Graham!' He shouted loudly.
Jez leapt forward out of her chair, grabbed his wrist and twisted it savagely, then brought a knee up into his groin. He yelped with pain then dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. He rolled on the sand, clutching his balls and moaning in agony.
'Jesus Christ!' Gray's laid back demeanour was gone. He stared up wide-eyed at the girls. 'He was gonna…he was gonna to fucking kill-'
'No!…..I…..wasn't….' cried Shelby. They all looked down at him. 'Test!…' He whimpered. 'It….was a….test!' He rolled his eyes. 'Oh, God…I think…I'm going to throw up.'
Jez kicked away the shard of glass then dropped down hard on him, astride his chest, her knees effortlessly pinning down his thin arms. 'You're the killer!' she snarled. 'You did it, right?'
'No!' he whimpered. 'It was a test!!! A TEST!'
She jammed her forearm across his throat. 'You pale-ass crud-fregg, you're under Jez-arrest! You-'
'Mother!' shouted Gray.
There was no reply. They listened to the sea gently rolling up the beach, the soft rustle of the palm trees leaves, and Shelby wheezing in Jez's stranglehold.
'Let him go,' said Gray.