Shelby led the girls across a sun-drenched courtyard. Grape vines wound their way along wooden trellises, rich purple clusters of bougainvillea spilled from plant pots lining a small square lawn. An auto-drone, powered by a solar cell, buzzed lazily across the beize-like grass, constantly clipping it. A jimp was busy tending to a bed of flowers with a trowel and watering can. The jimp reminded Ellie of Harvey; his four arms were slimmer and less muscular. Designed for light manual labour not construction.
Shelby seemed to Ellie to be far less awkward and ill at ease now. To be fair, they'd surprised him. Caught him with his pants down. Literally. He now had some smarter clothes on and his unruly hair was damp and parted at the side. She suspected he’d also had a shower; he reeked of some antiperspirant that reminded her of a chemical cleaner her mother used. And now he seemed less like the startled nocturnal animal caught in the glare of a flashlight, and more like the imperious king of his own fiefdom.
‘WonderLand wasn’t ever finished,’ he continued. ‘Well, this central biome was completed of course, hmmm. But only three of the eight recreation biomes were functional when the project was shut down.’
‘Looks to me like it’s not exactly shut down,’ said Jez. She glanced up at the artificial sun, a flock of swallows swooping across the patchwork fake sky.
‘We keep the place ticking over,’ replied Shelby. ‘The power source is a class 3 zero-p reactor, so this facility is indefinitely self-sufficient. Yes, we keep it ticking over.’
‘Why?’ asked Ellie. ‘I mean, it doesn’t look like Celestion is going to be repopulated any time soon.’
He shrugged. ‘It costs less money to keep this place turning over than it would to decommission it. Cheaper than having the whole structure hooked-up to several system transport tugs and towed to somewhere else. Anyway…I suspect the investors are hoping that one day someone will have another go at Celestion.'
They passed through wrought iron gates into a walkway lined with flower pots containing long stemmed plants with an assortment of apple-sized bright yellow, brown, and pink bulbs on the end.
‘And of course the entire Seventh Veil system is experiencing a protracted economic recession,’ said Shelby.‘Which doesn’t really help matters. I suppose though, the corporation is expecting that the cycle will eventually swing round to positive economic growth. Then, there will be enough demand in this system for a resort like this. So, they keep it quietly running with a skeleton crew of technicians.’
Ellie stopped and cupped one of the bright yellow bulbs in her hand. ‘These are really beautiful plants. What are they?’
‘KandyBliss Bulbs.’
Ellie nodded. ‘Nice name.’
‘Oh,’ Shelby rolled his eyes in an exaggerated loop. ‘They’re some geneticists idea of fun. I suppose I could show you. Watch…you’ve got to stroke the stem.’
‘Uh?’
Shelby reached to the nearest plant, placed his fingers gently around the base of the plant’s stem and slowly ran his fingers up it. The KandyBliss bulb seemed to shudder slightly, then all of a sudden pink petals opened up and spread out like the head of a sunflower. A small stamen in the centre of the flower spurted out a cloud of pink smoke. It hung in the still air.
‘Ughh,’ Jez took a step backwards. ‘What did it do!?’
‘The microsporangium of these things contains sacks of infertile but flavoured pollen.’ Shelby leant forward and inhaled some of the pink cloud. ‘This one I believe is cotton candy flavoured. It also induces a mild but quite natural high.’ He nodded at Jez and Ellie. ‘Try it.’
Ellie turned to the nearest bulb; brown. ‘Knowing my luck this one’s going to smell like crap.’
Shelby looked at her sternly for a moment, then without warning shucked his shoulders and chortled. ‘Oh, my…that’s rather funny. Well done.’ He flapped his hand dismissively. ‘Obviously, it's not poop flavoured. Try it. I think you might like it.’
She reached for the stem.
‘Lower down near the base…that’s it,’ he said, ‘now slide your hand gently upwards.’
Her fingers felt coarse bristles down at the bottom. ‘My God, it’s all hairy!’
‘Hairy?’ Shelby sighed. ‘Those are tactile receptors, microfilium. You need to activate those with an upward stroking action for the bulb to be stimulated.’
Ellie closed her fist lightly around the stem and slowly slid her hand up. She felt the plant gently shudder and twitch slightly, then the bulb swung open with the soft rustle of unfolding petals and a gentle pffft…as the stamen exhaled a small cloud of brown pollen spores into the air.
‘That's it,’ said Shelby impatiently. ‘Now, you should take a good sniff.’
Cautiously Ellie leant forward and inhaled. And grinned.
‘Well?’ said Jez after a moment. ‘Is it poop flavoured then?’
‘Wow.’ Ellie shook her head. ‘Uh uh. What is that? It smells so yummy!’
‘Indeed.’ Shelby nodded. ‘I believe it's based on the flavour of an Old Earth confectionary. I think they called it toffee.’
Jez stuck her head into the cloud, her nostrils flared as she inhaled deeply. ‘Oh, that’s soooo scrum-tastic. Crud! I’m all hungry now!’
'So, there you go,' Shelby tapped his foot impatiently. ‘Come along. Enough sniffing. They're just frivolous novelty plants, anyway. There are far more interesting things you should see.’
He led them down the walkway, out onto a large circular paved plaza.
‘This is…or would have been, the central mustering point for the guests. From here they could choose which world they would want to go and visit for the day.’
Off the plaza, eight paths wound away through the narrow cobbled streets of the small village, down the lush grassy slopes of the hill on which it was perched, towards the very edge of the central biome.
From where they stood Ellie could see, in the distance, one of the winding pathways terminating in front of a large arched entrance. To one side of it was a non-functioning and transparent sky panel. She could see, through the thick plastic, the faint outline of a walkway leading out into space. In the distance, at the end of it, she could just about make out a glowing sphere.
‘That one,’ said Shelby, nodding at it, ‘is one of the three functional biomes.’
‘Can we go take a look at it?’ asked Jez.
‘Of course. That’s exactly what I intended to show you. While this central biome is, I admit, rather impressive, the others are a true marvel of engineering.’
He led them down the pathway. A pleasant sun-kissed walk down a gentle slope. They passed by rose gardens and ornate rockeries, perfectly manicured lawns, and beds of flowers that were alive with the buzz and flutter of colourful insects.
Ellie struggled to keep the smile on her face from blossoming into a manic grin as they passed beneath the creaking limbs of some enormous towering plant. 'What is this thing?' asked Jez pointing up at it.
‘Is this some kind of a tree?’ said Ellie. ‘I saw one once in a holofilm.’
‘Correct. It’s a representation of a species of tree called a Quercus Alba. Once upon a time commonly referred to as a 'White oak’. The company managed to purchase a partial DNA template of this particular species and authored the rest. Filled in the gaps, so to speak.’
Shelby looked up at the creaking boughs above them. ‘From visual archives of this species, I do believe they managed to create quite an accurate representation.’
‘The buzzy, flappy things?’ said Jez, flapping her hand at some small creature hovering above her head, ‘they all genetic products too?’
‘Mostly. The ‘flappy’ things, as you call them, are called ‘butterflies’. They serve no useful purpose other than to look nice. The ‘buzzy’ things, on the other hand, are microbots. They service the plants, carrying genetic data from one plant to the next. A process called pollination.’
A few minutes later they'd made their way down to the bottom of the slope and were standing besi
de the arched hatchway fifty feet wide and topped with a glowing sign that invited them to 'Enter and Enjoy World 3!’
‘I must apologise in advance,' said Shelby. 'World 3 is actually in a bit of a mess right now.’
‘Earlier you said this facility was just ‘ticking over’?’ said Ellie.
‘I did.' He cocked his head expectantly. 'You have a follow-on question?'
‘Well, is there anybody else here?’ She glanced back up the slope. In the distance the small town shimmered in a heat haze. ‘I mean, I’ve not seen any other people around. It’s not just you here, is it?’
Something flickered across the young man's face. Subtle. A tick. A twitch, as if for some odd reason he hadn't been expecting the question. He pursed his lips for a moment. He seemed quite reluctant to answer. That, or he was giving his answer careful consideration. ‘The facility was left with a maintenance team of technicians.’
'Others?' Jez perked up. ‘So where are they?’
‘Around. Come on,' he waved them impatiently towards the entrance. 'I’ll show you this biome. Hmmm? You’ll be suitably impressed. Suitably impressed.’
He turned to a panel beside the hatchway. ‘Mother, please pressurise the access way to World 3.’
‘Yes, of course, Shelby.’
Through the thick hatch they heard the gentle rumble of air being pumped into the connecting walkway. ‘There are several small leaks in there. That's why its left depressurised. Probably caused by micro debris impacts. Those happen every now and then. I really do need to get around to locating them and fixing them.’
‘The access way to World 3 is now safe to enter,’ replied Mother. ‘Have a lovely time, Shelby.’
‘Thank you, Mother.’
The large hatch slid open with a gentle blast of cool air that puffed out and tickled Ellie's lashes making her blink. Ahead of them she could see a large triangular corridor that receded into darkness. Shelby led the way in and overhead, spot lights began to wink on, one after the other lighting up the way ahead.
‘Not too far to walk. About half a mile.’
‘My feet are killing me,’ complained Jez. ‘Don’t you have some kind of a buggy or something?’
‘There are a wide selection of recreational vehicles. But they’re all in storage right now. I prefer to walk. It's good for you.’ Shelby looked down at her platform boots and shook his head. ‘Those look ridiculously impractical. You should change your footwear.’
‘I don’t have anything else!’
He shrugged. ‘Then you should take them off.’
In the distance, way down the long walkway, Ellie could see a faint glow. ‘Is that the play world?’
Shelby grimaced at the term. 'It's called a recreational biome. And that glow is the world's sky.' He waited until Jez had finished unzipping her boots and taken them off before leading the way down the connecting passage.
‘Each biome has a similar synthetic skydome system; five-hundred and twenty-seven tri-sided panels that can be individually or collectively programmed to display whatever weather system and sky palette we want, and also, emit configurable amounts of ultraviolet light.’
Ellie followed with Jez behind, muttering irritably to herself as she carried the cumbersome boots in her arms. They walked slowly towards the the distant world, Shelby filling the echoing silence with a detailed explanation of the skydome programming language interface; it's faint glow growing ever brighter and more distinct as they gradually made their towards it.
Ten minutes later they were standing outside the hatchway leading into World 3. Ellie looked back the way they’d come, back at the central biome. From this distance it looked to be the same size and as faint as this one had from afar.
‘As I mentioned, we left this world in a bit of a mess, I’m afraid,’ said Shelby. ‘It does need a clean up and a complete reconfiguring.’ He shrugged. ‘I wasn’t exactly expecting guests today.’ He laughed with a wet snort and a hyuk-hyuk and Ellie realised that was his idea of a funny. She smiled dutifully.
He pressed his hand against a touchscreen beside the hatch, and once again, with a soft hiss and blast of air, warm this time, the hatch glided sideways and opened.
Both girls gasped.
CHAPTER 9
Before them was another world; an entire mini-world within a mile diameter bubble. This world though, was entirely implausible. The ground was an undulating gently rolling landscape textured with raspberry-ripple pink and vanilla swirls. Here and there speared outcrops that looked like giant amethyst crystals. The sky was a cheerful orange bisected by an almost cartoon-like rainbow.
Jez guffawed with delight. ‘It’s like a huge world made of candy!’
‘It’s not actually made of anything edible,’ said Shelby. ‘The biome’s landscape can be sculpted into any shape and textured with any design you want.'
Ellie took a step forward. Then suddenly lurched back to stand on the firm rim of the archway's doorplate. ‘The ground’s kind of squidgy!’
‘Yes, you can also configure the surface tension and pliability of the landscape.’ He looked at Ellie. ‘Relax. You’re quite safe, you won’t sink.’
Ellie stepped forward again, feeling the ground give slightly beneath her feet like a body-form gel mattress.
Jez joined her, barefoot. ‘Ooh, it’s warm.’ She curled her lip. ‘It’s like I’m walking on someone’s belly.’
Shelby looked around at the landscape, shook his head and tutted. ‘This really is quite a ridiculous choice of design. Not something I'd come up with.’
They wandered out a little further. Jez towards a nearby cluster of giant crystals thrusting upwards out of the ground like bloody spikes emerging from ragged flesh and Ellie towards an area of open ground. She closed her eyes and felt the warmth of the fake sun on her cheeks. Fake it might be, but it was bliss after weeks of being shoehorned into the freighter's one spare crew cube and living under the feeble glow of a pallid cabin light.
She breathed in. The air smelled sweet. Not pleasantly sweet, sickly sweet. It was actually a vaguely familiar smell. Her mind scooted around and produced a memory; back at the farm, the time their entire crop of meat bulbs had perished overnight. She opened her eyes. 'Smells like something died in here.'
Shelby was standing beside her. He must have wandered over while her eyes were shut. 'Something did die in here. A lot of somethings.'
He strode forward a few yards, up a gentle hump and stood on its brow. He beckoned Ellie to join him. As she joined him he pointed. 'That's where the smell is coming from.'
Before them was a large, half-a-mile-across shallow bowl; like a crater, as if some giant spoon had scooped a serving of raspberry ripple ice cream out of the ground. Ellie could see the bottom of it was covered with a jumble of somethings.
‘Are those…are those bodies over there!’
Shelby nodded. ‘Oh yes. Decomposing bodies. That’s part of the mess that needs to be cleared up.’ He shrugged. ‘I do hate tidying up afterwards. It can be such a tedious chore.'
Decomposing bodies?
Ellie suddenly felt her skin warm and prickle with panic. She looked around for Jez and saw her fifty yards away, inspecting something on the ground.
Please may he not be a weirdo. Please may he not….
‘Tell me, those…they’re not dead people, are they?’ Ellie felt the blood draining from her face. ‘They’re not…guests?’
‘What?!’ Shelby’s eyes widened. Appalled. Then amused. He laughed with his wet snort and his hyuk-hyuk. ‘No! Of course not! They’re products.’
‘Products?’
‘Uh-huh. Genetic products just like all the other things you’ve seen. Frasier, the jimps in the gardens, the butterflies, the birds, the-’
‘But they’re all dead!’ She took several steps down the candy-patterned slope towards the bottom of the bowl, towards the dark carpet of bodies littering the ground. ‘What happened?!’
‘A last stand.’ Shelby said as he followed h
er down. ‘It was a complete massacre. They didn’t stand a chance.’
Ellie picked up her pace, striding swiftly – with a slight bounce – towards the nearest of the corpses. Then a dozen yards short she stopped.
‘What? That’s….OhMyGod. They’re….they look a bit like…’
Shelby joined her. ‘Chocco-Chops Bars. Yes. That’s quite right.’ He shook his head again and cocked a disapproving brow. ‘It really wasn’t my choice. I prefer to programme in historically accurate scenarios. But this time,’ he sighed. ‘How did his stupid idea go? Oh yeah, ‘Hey, Shelby, who’d ya reckon would win; an army of Chocco-Chops Bars or…’
‘Oh my…’ Ellie took another few steps forward, and knelt down and inspected another body lying nearby. ‘Is that a giant Sugar-Beany?!’
Shelby looked down at the three foot long, lemon coloured corpse. A kidney bean shaped body with short, spaghetti thin arms and legs. It had a face of sorts; two beady black eyes that stared dully, lifelessly up at the tangerine coloured sky. No mouth or nose. Its’ body had been cleaved almost in half by some sharp edged weapon, and a pile of very human-looking organs and blood had spattered out onto the raspberry-ripple ground.
Jez had joined them and now stared slack-jawed at the bodies. Hundreds of corpses dotted around the bowl formation of the ground, and an epicentre where they seemed to be piled on top of each other, several deep, tangled in a thick scrum of the dead. All slowly rotting, filling the air with the sickly sweet stench.
Shelby looked vaguely embarrassed. ‘Yes. An army of Chocco-Chops Bars verses an army of multi-flavour Sugar-Beanys. I know…’ he rolled his eyes, ‘utterly ridiculous and completely pointless. But it was his turn to choose the conditions of the game not mine.’
Ellie turned to him. ‘A game?’
He nodded. ‘Hmmm. Yes of course, a game; a war game to be precise. Although…’ he looked at the mess of dead candy-bars and jelly beans, ‘…this does look really quite childish. It’s actually quite embarrassing.’