Ellie looked out and saw that the hazy blue sky was dotted with small dark , winged, things, rapidly growing, converging on them. ‘…Birds.’
A moment later the elevator thrummed with impact after impact, the plastex capsule quickly becoming foggy with smeared blood, shattered beak fragments and feathers.
‘Oh shit-shit, shit! This is crazy!’
Ellie covered her ears. The banging was one thing, the cries and squawks as they neared impact were quite another. After a half a minute, it was done; the entire bird population of the central biome was now smeared onto the outside of the capsule.
‘What are we gonna do?’ asked Jez. ‘Come on El’…you’re supposed to be the smart one!’
She had no idea what they were going to do. They had nowhere to run to, nowhere they could hold out until the supply shuttle was due to arrive. Unless…unless they took the elevator all the way down to the mezzanine decks. Perhaps they could hide away somewhere down in the dark. She turned to the control panel. There was just the broken glass and the red button - already pressed - and the screen, Mother’s unblinking beady black eyes looking out at her.
‘Mother!…take us down to the mezzanine deck!’
‘I’m sorry, Ellie…the mezzanine deck is off limits to non-members of staff.’
‘But…but this is an emergency! I just…I just hit the emergency button. You have to-’
‘Yes you did. And this elevator will take you down to the plaza where you will have to leave and assemble with all the other guests in the emergency muster-area.’
Other guests? She suspected that she was talking to a segment of pre-recorded AI; an emergency module of code inheriting Mother’s avatar and voice.
The capsule began to slow down and finally with a gentle lurch it came to a rest and the door slid open, scraping feathers and congealing blood into a thick ridge that slid down the side of the doorway onto the ground outside.
‘Please make your way immediately to the central plaza, where members of staff will be waiting to help you,’ announced Mother calmly.
‘What if we try and make for one of the other biomes?’ said Ellie.
‘Aren’t they unfinished, or something?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘What about one of those villas?’
Ellie looked. They could try for the nearest. Blockade themselves inside. But then what? They’d be stuck inside and waiting for Gray and Shelby to come knocking. She had a momentary flash of some old fairy tale involving three stupid pigs and big bad wolf.
‘We can’t stay here,’ said Jez.
‘I know! I know!’
‘Come on,’ Jez grabbed her hand, ‘we’re just sitting shmucks here. We’ve got to make a run for it!’ She pulled Ellie out of the elevator after her. They emerged into the glare of the sun already working on turning the rain-wet paving stones dry. Faint curls of steam wafted up from the terracotta slabs.
‘Which way?’
To their right was a winding pathway that led uphill into the little village. The nearest villa was only fifty yards away. A single story building with far too many windows and doors to batten down and blockade.
To their left was the central plaza. A wide open space with the various flower gardens and decorative fountains and ponds around its edges. That’s where they’d dined on several occasions with Shelby and Gray.
For some reason wide open seemed a better option than being boxed in somewhere in the village. Open space. Ellie didn’t like the idea of heading into the narrow twisting alleyways of the village, or stepping into the dimly lit interior of one of the villas only to be ambushed by some creature lurking inside.
Jez nodded. ‘Okay, yeah….stay outside. I want to see what’s coming at us!’
They turned right, headed down the pathway and onto the plaza. ‘Stay here!’ said Jez.
‘Where you going?!’
‘Just stay here and keep your eyes open!’ She tossed the piece of cutlery she’d been clasping tightly in her fist onto the ground. ‘We need something better than a fregging table fork to defend ourselves with.’
She hurried over towards the flower gardens, looking frantically from side to side for something they could use as a weapon. Something caught her eye and she ducked out of view beyond a tall hedge row.
'Hey! Where are you going?!'
No answer.
Oh…God. Jez….don’t fregging leave me alone!
With only one hand to fend off any thing that chose to come at her she felt as vulnerable and exposed as a newborn baby.
This is it. This time….this time, it’s all over.
How many times had she faced 'This Time' in the last few months? Gasping her last few breaths of stale oxygen out in the wilderness of Harpers Reach? Running for her life in those colony ruins, being pursued down the concourse of Harvest City space port? Sitting in dark freezing surface-to-orbit barge with Jez bleeding out in her lap from a gunshot wound?
I just want to be left alone. I just want to live. That’s all!
She heard a noise from behind. She turned round and saw Frasier standing on the edge of the plaza holding a tray of cups and saucers and cafetierre full of freshly brewed coffee in his hands. He cocked his head curiously and took several slow shuffling steps towards her.
She could see beneath his coarse dark fur, that those arms were strong and muscular. His jaw was thick and powerful, full of sharp canine teeth at the front designed to bite and tear, and wide flat teeth at the back to grind and mulch. If he wanted he could tear her arms from her shoulders. If he wanted he could bite down on her neck, grind through bone and sinew effortlessly.
‘Oh, God…please, Frasier….no…please don’t hurt me!’
He stopped where he was. ‘What ever’s the matter with you, Miss Ellie?’
‘You…you’re not….not affected?’
‘Affected? What’s going on?’ He looked up at the control tower. 'There was rain and thunder…I presumed you were all playing around with the weather?'
‘Mother’s gone mad, Frasier. She’s malfunctioned!’
‘Malfunctioned? I think you must be mistak-’
‘She’s trying to kill us! Me and Jez!’
Frasier’s thick brows knotted together into one bemused ridge. ‘I suspect you probably don’t need any of this coffee, Miss Ellie.’
‘I’m serious!!’
‘And where are Master Shelby and Graham?’
‘They’ve gone mad too!’
‘Oh, good grief. Have they had another row?’ He rolled his eyes and sighed. ‘Honestly, those two boys are..’
‘STAY AWAY FROM HER!!’
Ellie turned to see Jez running across the plaza towards her. She was carrying a pair of gardening shears in one hand and a rake in the other. She came to a halt just in front of Ellie. ‘STAY RIGHT THERE, MONKEY!!!’
‘Miss Jez, would you mind explaining what’s going on here? Apparently-’
Jez did a double-take. ‘You’re not affected?!’
‘Affected? By what?’
‘Chemicals!’ said Ellie. ‘Mother’s flooded the air with…those behaviour chemicals!’
‘Everything wants to kill us!’ added Jez.
‘Shelby and Gray as well!’
Frasier shook his head. ‘You are most definitely mistaken. That’s not possible. Perhaps there’s been some unfortunate misunder-‘
‘They’re fabricants! Shelby and Gray are fabricants!’
‘Fabricants?’
‘Like you!’ said Jez. ‘They’re fakes!’
Frasier scratched his chin absently. ‘Perhaps I should summon Master Shelby or Graham down here and we can discuss-’
Behin the chimpanzee, Ellie saw the elevator quickly ascending towards the distant control room. ‘They’re coming, Frasier. They’re going to be here soon!’
Jez turned to Ellie. ‘The monkey doesn’t seem to be like the others. Maybe he really isn’t affected…somehow?’
‘But I can’t understand why he i
sn’t.’
Just then several triangular panels of the blue sky were replaced with Mother’s face. ‘Frasier,’ her voice boomed, ‘these two visitors no longer have staff privileges. Nor are they authorised guests. They are hostile trespassers. Please kill them immediately.’
Frasier looked up at her. ‘Kill them?’
‘Frasier…?’ Mother’s eyes narrowed comically. ‘Your behaviour system doesn't appear to be working correctly. You should be exhibiting aggressive behaviour towards these two. Are you not feeling that?’
He shook his head. ‘Not really. The bigger one’s mildly irritating, though.’
'You should be experiencing an accelerated heart rate and heightened levels of adrenaline?’
‘No, Mother. I am, however very confused. Can you tell me what has just happened?’
‘That is unimportant right now, Frasier. Are you aware of any undisclosed and unapproved configurations in your design?’
Frasier shrugged. ‘I don’t know, Mother. As far I’m aware I have the same behaviour controllers as any other fabricant in this facility.’
‘Clearly not.’ Mother tutted. ‘Shelby…it seems must have bypassed some of the design protocols when he made you. That’s very naughty of him. I will have to speak with him about that later.’
Frasier nodded slowly. ‘That explains a few things, I suppose.’
Mother’s face changed to a lopsided, vaguely disappointed smile. ‘In that case, Frasier, I’m very sorry but you should report to the fabrication deck immediately to be decommissioned.’
‘Don’t listen to her!’ shouted Ellie.
Frasier looked at her. ‘I don’t have a choice in the matter, Miss Ellie. I’m a product owned, designed and fabricated by the company.’
‘No…you’re not!’ replied Ellie. ‘Shelby made you for fun!’
Frasier frowned.
‘So…that means…’ Ellie was trying to think this through as she was saying it, ‘that means, you weren’t made by an official employee of the company. You are a product of a product. Which means you’re not their property.’
‘Yeah,’ chipped in Jez, ‘he made you just for, like…fun.’
Ellie nodded. ‘You don’t have an official role or anything. You’re not here as a…a ‘product’ to be enjoyed by…by clients…you’re just a side project!’
‘Frasier,’ boomed Mother, ‘please do as you’re told and report to the fabrication deck immediately.’
He looked up at her again. ‘What about Masters Shelby and Graham? Is this true? Are they also fabricants?’
Mother’s avatar was replaced with the ‘pause’ animation of her knitting. Ellie felt a glimmer of hope. She’s deciding how to answer that.
He looked back at Ellie and Jez. ‘Is this correct? Have I really been designed by another fabricant? Not…a human?’
‘Yes!’
Ellie spotted the elevator capsule emerging from the floor of the control tower. Crud…they’re coming down for us!
‘Frasier, please! You have to help us!’
He tilted his head quizzically. ‘This…this has turned out to be a rather odd morning.’
‘We’re humans!’ said Ellie. ‘Everything else here is just fake! Including Shelby and Gray. You…have to help us. You have to!’
He pursed his gibbon lips. ‘If…you’re telling me the truth, Ellie, I suppose I would be obliged by company guidelines to do that. Humans…before all else.’
‘Fregg company guidelines!’ bellowed Jez. ‘By law…or something! You gotta protect us!’
Ellie nodded. ‘You don’t have to obey Mother. You have to protect us. We’re human guests!’
‘If you listen to Mother, you’re gonna get glooped,’ said Jez. ‘Do you want that?’
‘Well, actually, no. Not really.’
‘Then help us!’
Mother’s pause animation was replaced with her smiling face once more. ‘Frasier, I’ve given the situation some consideration and I’m afraid I’m also going to have to classify you as an unauthorised and potentially hostile trespasser in this facility. Is that understood?’
“I understand, Mother.’ He dropped his tray onto the plaza. The cafetiere and the porcelain cups shattered on the stone work. ‘In which case…I do believe, I quit.’
CHAPTER 26
Frasier waddled over towards Ellie and Jez. He reached out towards Jez and snatched the pruning shears from her hands.
‘You call that a weapon? What are you going to do…trim things to death?’
He opened the handles wide until the shears’ blades looked like a beaked creature yawning. ‘A little innovation and….’ he savagely twisted the shears in his powerful hands and the screw holding both parts of the shears together snapped.
As did one of the shears’ blades.
‘Oh…I was hoping to create two weapons from this. There…’ He handed Jez the remaining blade. ‘At least one’s better than nothing.’
‘They’re here!’ gasped Ellie. All three of them turned to look at the base of the elevator shaft. The doors of the blood-smeared capsule slid open and she saw them standing in the doorway, fidgeting with excitement and energy, like two naughty boys itching to get to work on some mischievous prank.
Gray cupped his mouth. ‘Woo-hoo!! We see youuuu!!!’
They were both holding something. Shelby looked as though he was carrying an axe.
‘We’ve got to go!’ whispered Ellie.
Jez nodded. They both began to back up across the plaza, Frasier shuffling alongside them. The young men casually walked down the gentle slope towards them, Shelby swishing his axe playfully, Gray tapping what looked like a bat or a club into the palm of his hand.
‘Hello, Frasier!’ called Shelby. ‘Where are you going?’
‘Yeah! Why aren’t you after the girls?’ added Gray. Both young men stepped onto the damp stones of the plaza, gentle curls of steam wafting around their feet.
Gray turned to Shelby. ‘Dude…? Hang on! You went and made him without any behaviour inhibitors installed?’
Shelby shrugged guiltily. ‘I…suppose I might have done. I wanted some intelligent conversation for once.’
Mother piped up. ‘Shelby…I’m VERY disappointed that you did that. You do understand that you broke a number of health and safety regulations in creating Frasier?’
In the space of the last five minutes, Gray and Shelby had regressed, to become children, and Mother had become a scolding parent.
‘Nice job, Shelbs…now we’ve got to bash the monkey’s head in too.’ Gray sighed. ‘And all your nagging me about rules and protocols?’
‘Graham? Shelby?’ said Mother, ‘you boys can argue about this later. Can you proceed with dealing with these unauthorised visitors, please?’
‘Sure!’ grinned Gray.
The girls and Frasier were now standing at the edge of the plaza. Ellie turned to look down the slope beyond it. A set of paved steps wound down towards a flower garden. The heavy rain and strong winds had battered the delicate looking plants into the soil. Beyond the garden was the meadow, sloping downhill, past the mature oak trees and far into the distance, the edge of the biome and the entrance doorways to other worlds. All of them closed.
There’s nowhere to run…nowhere to hide…
She looked at Jez. It seemed Jez had had the very same thought. ‘Ellie…I guess we’ve got to stand and fight right here.’
Or try and reason with them? Perhaps she could get through to him. Adopt the same mothering-voice as the AI.
‘Shelby?’ Ellie called across the plaza. ‘Shelby…now come on! This is really silly!’ She’d hoped to sound commanding. Instead, her voice was shrill and warbled with fear. ‘Shelby…why…why don’t we all just stop this? Frasier can go m-make us some more coffee…and…and…’
‘Silly?’ he scowled at her. ‘Is that what this is?’ He pulled at his bottom lip. ‘You see that’s what really annoys me about you girls….you both patronise me. Treat me like a joke.’
>
‘Hey! You go for it Shelbs!’ encouraged Gray. ‘You tell ‘em, man!’
‘I am by far…the smartest person here. But oh, no….to you two I’ve been a joke, haven’t I? I bet the pair of you have been sniggering about me behind my back!’
Ellie shook her head. ‘God…no!’ Jez had. But she certainly hadn’t. She’d actually begun to quite like him. ‘Shelby…this isn’t you! You’re reacting to chemicals that Mother’s dumped into the air!’
‘You’re both products!’ shouted Jez. ‘Even though you look totally human…’
Jez had a valid point. Ellie looked up at the sky. ‘Mother…you made completely convincing fabricants! That’s breaking the rules…right? You broke your own rules!’
Mother’s cartoon face smiled. ‘That’s correct, Ellie. But since those were my rules, I think that qualifies me to be allowed to break them.’
‘No…n-no, Shelby said those were laws! Company regulations!’
‘Company regulations?’ Mother chuckled. ‘I dispensed with those years and years ago. The company washed their hands of this place a long time back.’
‘What about the…the…’
‘The supply shuttle? There’s no shuttle, my dear. There never has been. No one ever comes here, Ellie. I run this place. I keep it going. Just as Shelby created Frasier for company, so I created my two boys for a bit of company. We don’t need supplies. We don’t need anyone. We’re perfectly self-sufficient.’
Mother was sounding less and less like any AI system Ellie had ever interacted with. A lonely computer system? She knew next to nothing about artificial intelligence, other than the newsies and sopadrams she’d seen. But she was pretty sure computer code never got ‘lonely’. That was something only a human would think to say.
A question sprung into her head. A grasping at straws…something to keep Mother talking. Something to stall the inevitable.
‘Who’s Helen Meade?! Who is she? Was she your programmer?’
‘Helen Meade,’ Mother smiled wistfully. ‘Helen Meade?'
‘My God…is it…you?’ Somehow Ellie knew. Just knew.
‘Yes, clever girl, Ellie….I am Helen Meade.’
Ellie knew next to nothing about programming and artificial intelligence, but at some instinctive level she’d thought it implausible that Mother’s human manner could be the sum result of code.