Outside, the world lay gripped by darkness. Elsa heard the song of the dead rise in volume. A lyrical swell of notes that sent wave after wave of icy shivers through her body. Still no one heard it. Yet, Elsa’s nerves throbbed at the haunting note of its call. At that moment she seemed to exist in two worlds. One where the unearthly music resonated throughout the entire cosmos. And a second world that became strangely unreal. In this one Paul railed against Dominion with his limbs of different hues, and the monstrous form of the Brigadier with the pulpy body clad in a sheet. Paul’s final question appeared to fix itself in the air. Not so much a question now, but a challenge: Where have they gone?
The Brigadier turned to Dominion. ‘This where I find myself saying, “Gather round.” There was never any reason for you to hear the truth; you worked for the cause, but now there’s no need to keep the truth from you.’
‘You mean we’ve been kept in the dark all along?’ Beech’s voice rose in disbelief. ‘Why didn’t anyone explain the purpose of all our work?’
‘The reason,’ the Brigadier continued in that grave voice of his, ‘is explained by what happened a few nights ago. Government troops destroyed your transit station. Most of the staff and patients were murdered. No doubt some, however, were taken away for interrogation.’
‘So you couldn’t trust us with the truth?’
The Brigadier continued, ‘Transients are not permitted to harm human beings through action or inaction. It’s our monster law. We’re also obedient to humanity’s wishes. How long would it be before you told the humans everything you knew?’
Paul was still suspicious, ‘And you’re going to reveal the truth now, because?’
‘Because, the fates willing, you will escape here with your lives. You should have faith in your future.’
‘If we escape there’s nowhere to go. All the transit stations will be wrecked. No government on earth is going to offer a single God Scarer asylum. Wherever we go we will be hunted down.’
This time it was Dominion who spoke. ‘That’s not true. There is a place …’ He rubbed his forehead as his eyes appeared to gaze at some distant horizon.
The Brigadier nodded. ‘Dominion is starting to remember. I wondered how long it would take. But then again, he’s been through more than any of us.’
Elsa said, ‘You described Dominion as a warrior. And that you both lost your lives after your aircraft was shot down.’
‘And not only that,’ the Brigadier told them. ‘Unlike you, we’ve been through the transition process more than once.’ He regarded Saiban who muttered as delirium gripped him. ‘Largely, we’ve made it through the regenerator successfully. Although, it didn’t work out well for me this time.’ He held up a bloated hand with its sausage-like fingers. ‘So this is the truth. You know the history of our people. Originally, the intention was that once the dead were returned to life they would go back into the community; there they’d devote their second lives to helping humanity. We would be something like a latter-day order of monks and nuns. We’d renounce worldly goods; we are sterile so we wouldn’t procreate; nothing would matter to us but the good we could do in our communities. Of course, humanity resented us. They envied our healthy bodies. They were suspicious of what we’d do in the future. And, even on a basic level, there is an instinctive disgust. Human beings found it repellent to shake hands with a corpse. They found our presence sickening. You know what happened next. We withdrew from society to work in our communities. However, our priority was still to help humankind. But no matter how much we accommodated their wishes they continued to discriminate against us.’
‘And now they kill us,’ Beech said.
‘Exactly.’ The Brigadier sighed. ‘The United Nations have banned member states from regenerating their dead. This country permitted it under draconian regulations but it became a pariah state. No other country would recognize its sovereignty. Trade with it was forbidden. Now the old government has fallen …’ He shrugged. ‘You know the rest.’
‘Which means we’ll soon be extinct.’
‘No. Not yet.’ The Brigadier’s gargoyle of a face managed a faint smile. ‘You’ve wondered what happened to all those thousands of people processed by the transit station down through the years. What happened to them? Where did they all go now they’ve been rejected by their own homelands?’
Dominion looked up. ‘The desert.’
‘Indeed the desert.’ The Brigadier nodded at Dominion.
Paul frowned. ‘You mean all the God Scarers have somehow wandered off into the wasteland?’
‘Not wandered. Thirty years ago we did reach a secret agreement with the UN. All transients that weren’t required for duties in transit stations would be shipped out to Africa. The deal was, we’d work out of sight of humanity so as not to offend them. Our goal was to settle in an area of absolute waterless nothingness – a barren hellhole on the borders of Mali and Algeria. There we sank boreholes four miles deep until we reached water that had been locked down there in limestone aquifers fifty million years ago. There are billions of gallons of water. It’s not fit for human consumption, but adequate for us and enables our people to irrigate the desert and make it green and fertile. That area of land, fifty miles wide and two hundred long is lush with crops, and meadows and new forests. Living there are twenty million individuals just like you. And that, ladies and gentlemen is our homeland. It’s what Dominion and I have been fighting to protect.’
Elsa shook her head. ‘But the monster law dictates we can’t—’
‘Can’t fight. Yes, I know.’ The Brigadier smiled again. ‘But now you’ve seen what Dominion can do you’ll know that law no longer applies. We have our sanctuary now … our homeland … however, the UN has passed resolutions to drive us from it into another barren wasteland while they settled it with their own favorites. But why should we hand over a paradise that we made from dust?’
A hush settled on the room. Even those songs of the dead that haunted Elsa receded into the background. At last Paul broke the silence. ‘We knew nothing about any bolthole in Africa.’
‘If you’d been told the knowledge would have been dangerous to us. The irrigation project was top secret. Most of the world’s population didn’t know about its existence either. Now we not only want them to know, we demand that they accept the transients’ right to exist.’
‘But the other countries don’t agree.’
‘No, so we’re embroiled in one of those dirty wars,’ the Brigadier told them. ‘The kind that are invisible to the rest of the world. We’re constantly attacked by special forces or bands of mercenaries. Dominion and I were engaged in secret negotiations with UN representatives when our plane was hit by ground fire. We’d even taken prisoners of war along with us to prove we were prepared to negotiate a peaceful settlement. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the truth.’
‘That’s part of the truth.’ The voice came as a hoarse whisper. Saiban rolled on to his side and pushed himself up on one elbow. He winced as he looked down at the wood protruding from his chest. ‘Were these necessary, or are they there to torment me?’
‘They stopped you from bleeding out,’ Elsa told him. ‘You’ve Paul to thank for saving you.’
‘Thank? I curse him. I didn’t want to live again.’
‘Saiban.’ Dominion didn’t waste any time. ‘What do you know?’
‘I know more than the Brigadier, that’s what I know.’ Saiban coughed.
Dominion slapped his thigh in frustration. ‘Then tell us, Saiban, it’s important.’
Elsa went to steady the figure on the table. ‘Can’t you see he’s too sick to talk?’
‘He’ll have to talk, damn him,’ Dominion snapped. ‘What Saiban knows might save more than our lives. Saiban?’
Saiban nodded; the mournful face sagged with exhaustion. ‘Yes, I know my duty. It used to be absolute devotion to humankind. Now I serve our cause. My abiding regret is I failed. When the transit station came under attack I sent a message to the c
ommand centre. They didn’t have time to reply before I had to flee like the rest of you.’
‘You mean you were in contact with these people out in Africa?’
‘Let him talk, Beech.’ Elsa spoke quickly. ‘He’s very tired.’
Saiban managed a faint smile. ‘You mean I might not live long enough to get to the end of my little speech before I go and die all over again. For the third time. OK. Here goes. Dominion here is the First Man. The first of a new breed of transient.’
The Brigadier added, ‘His body was rebuilt using the limbs and internal organs from the prisoners in the plane.’
‘No. You don’t know the full story, Brigadier. When Dominion arrived at the transit station central command had to have someone in place who knew what Dominion is. True, just like Frankenstein’s monster he is an assembly of different parts from different bodies. He’s stronger than us. Once the assembly of organs and flesh knit together he will be more durable.’
The Brigadier chuckled. ‘He will be a stronger warrior.’
Saiban shook his head. ‘Wrong again. He’s not intended to be a warrior. He’s to be a thinker, a debater, a negotiator. The real improvements are in here.’ He touched his own head. ‘Not only is Dominion’s body an assembly of disparate parts his brain is an amalgam. A human brain weighs just three pounds. Dominion’s weighs eight. Our scientists grafted additional mass to the frontal lobe. It’s not just his body that has the stature of a giant. The cerebrum has, too.’
Paul frowned. ‘Why didn’t you try and save Dominion after we escaped the soldiers at the transit station?’
‘How could I? What means did I possess to carry him away to our sanctuary in the Sahara?’ A fever sweat glistened on his forehead. ‘No. My orders from Central Command were precise. If there was a danger that Dominion would fall into the wrong hands I should destroy him. The surgical work on his brain is still raw. And yet he has vast amounts of information about our strategies stored inside his head. In his confused state he could have talked to the human authorities and ruined our chances of survival. It was better that I persuade you to surrender to those local peasants. They wouldn’t have cared anything about intelligence gathering. They’d have burned us all alive. Dominion included. Then at least our most important secret would die with us.’
The Brigadier was troubled. ‘But I understood Dominion would fight our enemy. The plan was to force the UN to accept our right to a homeland.’
Saiban sighed. ‘Twenty million of us against the entire population of the globe? How could we win? Our best option was to build ourselves the supreme negotiator, not the supreme warrior. Dominion is brain, not brawn.’
Elsa gazed up at Dominion. His eyes were distant as if he digested what Saiban had told them. ‘So Dominion’s purpose is to bring transients and humanity together again?’
‘Yes, and in that skull of his he knows it. He’s just got to find the right mental connections. Once the intellectual circuitry is complete …’ A coughing fit racked Saiban’s body. The wooden spikes shook to the rhythm of the spasms.
‘Does Central Command know that Dominion is still alive?’
‘I saw Dominion myself when he ran from the building. I communicated that, too. Although whether they actually received the message or not …’ The cough returned.
Elsa shook his arm. ‘By why did you kill Luna? And you tried to kill me?’
‘A mercy …’ He could barely speak through the coughing fit. ‘A mercy, that’s all. The humans would have … tortured you before killing you. Now … you should consider the same. Kill yourselves before you fall into their hands.’
‘No!’ This was Caitlin. ‘They can’t hurt us in here. If they try to break in Dominion will destroy them. Isn’t that right, Dominion?’
Dominion’s eyes snapped into sharp focus as they swept round the room. ‘What’s happened to the priest?’
37
The Dammed
Paul followed Dominion as he ran out into the courtyard. Behind him, more God Scarers spilled out into the night.
Dominion called back, ‘Didn’t anyone see the priest leave the room?’
Paul responded with, ‘If you hadn’t noticed we were hanging onto Saiban’s every word. Monsters at war with humanity? A Garden of Eden in the Sahara? This is all news to us poor bloody fools! We’re only the handle-crankers at the cadaver factory!’
Dominion flashed him a look that clearly meant, Don’t start an argument now. ‘We need to find the priest. He’s our bargaining chip.’
A figure emerged from the gloom at a run.
‘West, have you seen the priest?’
‘He was in the room with you,’ West retorted.
‘You’re meant to be keeping watch in the town.’
‘Yeah, that’s exactly what I have been doing, now I’m coming to report that things are starting to happen.’
Dominion’s eyes had been scanning the courtyard in search of the vanished priest, but West’s comment made him pause. ‘What kind of things?’
‘Bizarre things. It’s getting weird.’
‘Have they come back?’
‘Sort of.’ West took a deep breath. ‘They’ve not used the steps. About a dozen vehicles have been driven up the cliff road. They’re only advancing slowly. For some reason they’ve erected timber boards on top of them. They’ve also mounted searchlights.’
‘Boards to protect them against your stone throwing,’ Paul told Dominion. ‘Searchlights to dazzle us.’
‘Wait, there’s more. I keep hearing an aircraft. Now one thing you don’t hear these days are planes.’
‘What kind of aircraft?’
‘Apart from guessing it’s military I haven’t a clue. Maybe a helicopter. I’m not sure.’
Paul caught Dominion’s arm. ‘If these people have managed to interest the army in us then they might be flying in one of their commando squads they used against the transit stations.’
‘Then we need to find the priest.’
‘Dominion, what the fuck will the priest be able to do?’ Paul’s rage boiled. ‘Is he going to send us away with his blessing? Those people out there are going to tie us to a dirty great pile of wood and bake the bloody marrow in our bones! Does that great thick head of yours understand what I’m saying?’
Dominion pulled his arm out of Paul’s grip so savagely that Paul nearly tumbled onto the cobbles. ‘I intend to save your lives.’ Dominion’s voice was cold. ‘We use the priest to negotiate our way out of here. We will exchange their holy man for a boat.’
‘How do you think one of those wrecks in the harbour will make it to the Sahara? Sprout wings and fly?’
‘Where?’ West’s expression was the embodiment of amazement. ‘The Sahara?’
Paul nodded. ‘That’s the God Scarers’ Promised Land, isn’t it, Dominion? All green and lovely. We stayed here to be martyred. For heaven’s sake, why didn’t you build transit stations out there?’
Dominion wasn’t going to be drawn. ‘Listen. You must find the priest.’ He announced this to the others who watched the argument in a daze. They were still trying to absorb tonight’s revelations.
Paul added, ‘When you do, Dominion here with his eight-pound brain is going to talk the saps into giving us a free ticket out of here.’
Dominion grabbed Paul by the collar, then thrust his own face forward. Paul felt the giant’s breath jet from the flared nostrils. ‘You talked about the strength of your faith in helping human beings. Redirect that faith into helping your own kind.’
Caitlin called down from the walkway. ‘He’s over there! By the tower!’
The figure appeared to be black on black – black clothes against black sky. For a moment all Paul could really see were the gleam of the man’s eyes shining at them from the darkness.
‘There’s your bargaining chip,’ Paul told Dominion. ‘Go negotiate.’
After releasing his grip on Paul’s collar Dominion bounded up the stairs that led up the inner wall to the walkway.
Paul followed with West just behind him. Even as he ran he heard a faint sound mixed with the hiss of the surf. A distant aircraft motor. A suggestion of rotor blades chopping the night air. It only lasted a second before the throaty roar of a truck motor killed it. As the surge of revs pounded the air a searchlight blazed. It struck the figure in black.
Paul saw the priest had managed to climb onto the coping stones that ran along the very top of the battlement. It must have required an effort of staggering magnitude on the part of the priest. He’d only emerged from the regenerator a few hours ago. He’d be weak for days. Even standing would require a huge effort of will. Now he stood bolt upright in the glare of the light from below. His long black coat caught the night breeze – a raven appearance of wings flapping. His balance was imperfect as he teetered there on the wall, his feet clamped to the stone blocks. With one hand he steadied himself against the wall of the tower which soared above him.