Pandora's Star

  ‘Holy Christ,’ Napo grunted.

  Mark closed the cable box, and pressed the reset button. ‘How’s that?’ he called up to the driver. The woman gave him a thumbs up. ‘You get along to the next bus,’ he told Napo.

  Napo gave Mark’s hunting laser a dubious glance. ‘He can’t make you, you know.’

  ‘I know.’ Mark looked towards the two vast clouds of steam squatting over the Trine’ba, obscuring the ships. The surface was still reeling from their splashdown, with big waves rolling ashore, washing over the wall that ran alongside the promenade. ‘But he’s right. People need time to get clear.’

  Dudley Bose gave Mellanie a panicked look as they approached the bus. The crowd was pressing in tight around them, carrying them forward.

  ‘Do you think there’s room?’ he asked. The bus already looked full, with people squashed into the seats, and more packing the aisle.

  ‘If not this one, then the next,’ she told him. ‘You’ll be fine.’

  ‘I . . .? What about you?’

  ‘I’ll grab a later one.’ She could barely see Dudley, her virtual vision was displaying so many symbols and icons. Very little of the dataflow made any sense. She’d glimpsed some standard information amid the mad rainbow swirls, which seemed to be some kind of sensor data. Her newly activated inserts were scanning the steam clouds on the Trine’ba, analysing the ships hidden inside. She was trying to remain aloof from it all, be a true impartial reporter, but the adrenaline flushing through her blood was making her heart pound away and giving her the shakes. The SI kept telling her to relax. It was tough; this most certainly was not what she’d expected when she made her deal with it.

  ‘No!’ Dudley cried. ‘No, you can’t leave me. Not now. Please, you promised.’

  ‘Dudley.’ She put her hands on either side of his head, holding him steady, then kissed him hard amid the jostling. Concentrating on calming him was subduing her own apprehension. ‘I’m not going to leave you. I promised that and I’ll keep that promise. But there are things I have to do here that no one else can. Now get on the bus, and I’ll follow the convoy.’

  They’d reached the door. She let go of his head, and smiled with winning reassurance. It was a truthful smile, because there was no way she was going to relinquish her hold over him for the moment, he was her ace now, making her a real player. Though given the scary abilities the SI’s inserts were providing she was beginning to wonder if she even needed Alessandra and the show any more. She didn’t know if she could operate them independently, but just knowing they were there was giving her a kind of courage she admitted she’d never had before. Before this, she would have been first on the bus, clawing children and little old ladies out of the way.

  The crowd pushed Dudley up the stairs, and she wriggled free. He looked back frantically as he was shoved along the aisle. ‘I love you,’ he bellowed.

  Mellanie made herself smile at him, and blew a kiss.

  Liz and Carys were waiting by the pick-up. Mark smiled and waved at Barry and Sandy who were in the back seat with Panda. ‘I’m going to help Rand,’ he said. ‘Take Barry and Sandy up to the Highmarsh.’

  ‘I’m with you,’ Liz said.

  ‘But—’

  ‘Mark, I really hope you aren’t going to come out with any crap about this being a man’s job.’

  ‘They need a mother.’

  ‘And a father.’

  ‘I can’t abandon Rand. This is our life they’re destroying. At the very least I owe the people this. Some of us have to get away, that’s the only way we can rebuild afterwards.’

  ‘Agreed. And I’m helping you.’

  ‘Carys?’ he appealed.

  ‘Don’t even think about involving me in this argument. But if you two crazies are going to join up with Rand’s guerrilla army I’ll take the kids out of here in the MG.’ She patted a heavy bulge in her jacket. ‘They’ll be safe with me, I promise. And we’ve got the arrays, we can stay in touch.’

  Mark nearly questioned when his family suddenly became gun-toting survivalists. Instead, he gave Carys a quick kiss. ‘Thanks.’ Then he and Liz had the really difficult job of coaxing the kids into the MG, promising them Mom and Dad would be following along right behind.

  *

  Dark specks zipped out of the cloud that squatted over half of the Trine’ba. They arrowed round to line up on Randtown, accelerating hard.

  ‘They’re coming,’ Liz called.

  Mark was backing the pick-up into the Ables Motors garage workshop where it would be hidden from view. David Dunbavand was standing behind the truck, helping to guide him in with shouts and frantic hand signals. Mark had never appreciated how difficult it was to drive without micro radar providing a proximity scan.

  ‘That’s enough,’ David said. ‘Let’s go.’ He slipped the safety off his maser wand as they left the back of the garage. Like most buildings, it had taken a pounding in the Regents’ blast. The office along the front was missing all its windows, and the external walls were shredded; but the main framework was intact. It would be easy to rebuild, given a little time and money.

  That was the kind of thinking, visualizing a future of complete normality, which allowed Mark to keep going. He squatted down next to Liz behind a thick stone wall that lay along the side of the Libra Bar’s beer garden. The blast had hurled the garden’s wooden tables and chairs across the lawn, smashing them against the wall of the Zanue car rental franchise next door. There had been many summer-time evenings when he and Liz came here for a meal and a drink, sitting out in the garden with friends where they could watch the boats come and go from the quays along the waterfront.

  Now they had the same clear view of the waterfront through their weapon sights. The rain had subsided to a light drizzle laced with a few slim trails of grey smoke from the dying fires. Mark could see the alien flyers skimming towards him just a few metres above the wavelets.

  ‘Stand by,’ Simon’s voice said from the hand-held array. ‘They look like they’re slowing. Could be plan A.’

  There had been a lot of shouting about that when Simon assembled his ragtag band of two dozen guerrillas in the passenger waiting lounge. Plan A envisaged the aliens landing in the town, which would allow the guerrillas to snipe at them, slowing their advance. Plan B, the worst-case scenario, would have them flying over the town to attack the convoy directly, in which case they’d have to fire a fusillade of shots at the craft as they went overhead and hope to hit some vital component. Everyone knew that would be next to useless. As always, Simon had prevailed.

  Mark looked over his shoulder. The last of the buses were visible on the highway at the base of Blackwater Crag, travel-ling far too fast for anything that didn’t have working arrays and safety systems. They only needed a few minutes more and they’d be turning into the Highmarsh.

  Looking at the approaching alien flyers, Mark wasn’t convinced that the big valley was going to be the refuge Simon had claimed. In his private vision of the future, Mark had envisaged the aliens coming ashore in boats, taking days to reach the Highmarsh.

  ‘Carys, where are you?’ Liz asked.

  ‘We turned onto the Highmarsh road a couple of minutes ago.’

  ‘They’re in aircraft. Looks like they’re landing here, though.’

  ‘Okay, let me know if any are coming our way. I’ll need to get off the road fast.’

  ‘Will do.’

  Mark glanced at the unit’s screen. Their signal was routing through the still-functional sections of the district’s network. Several nodes along the Highmarsh were operating, allowing them to extend their fragile contact around the mountains. He was pretty sure it wouldn’t last long once the aliens landed and started running sensor sweeps.

  The first of the alien flyers arrived at the shoreline. It hovered just above the water, spindly metal legs unfolding from beneath its cylindrical fuselage. After a moment of hesitation it landed on the broad promenade next to the Celestial Tours quay, the aft section knocking into th
e wall and demolishing a five-metre length, breaking the long single line of poetry.

  ‘Wait,’ Simon’s voice urged them with soft confidence. ‘We need most of them down first, then we can begin our harassment campaign.’

  Mark wondered where Simon had gained so much combat experience. He certainly sounded like he knew what he was talking about. More likely it was all from TSI dramas. He glanced out at the lake again, startled by just how many flyers were now heading their way.

  ‘Ho boy,’ David muttered.

  Doors had opened on the flyer sitting next to the Celestial Tours quay, allowing aliens to lumber down.

  Mark’s personal predictions had faltered at this point. But he certainly hadn’t expected anything quite so . . . robotic looking. Maybe they were robots? Watching them spread out, he quickly changed that opinion. They moved fast, heading straight for cover. Within seconds they were infiltrating the buildings that faced the promenade.

  Twelve flyers landed along the waterfront. The second wave flew over to circle the town park at the back of the General Hospital before extending their legs and sinking down. Some flyers were heading towards Blackwater Crag and the start of the highway.

  ‘Stand by,’ Simon said. ‘Don’t expect our weapons to penetrate their force fields, aim for maximum disruption around them. And fall back immediately.’

  Mark gave Liz a look. She stretched her lips wide, mimicking a smile. ‘Okay,’ she mumbled.

  He carefully raised his head above the wall, and brought the laser rifle up. Several aliens were slipping quickly across the open ground of the promenade to the first line of buildings. He suspected Simon was right, his rifle wouldn’t get through that armour. Instead he shifted his aim to the buildings, wondering if he could knock out some of the framework, and collapse the roof.

  Somebody else fired. He actually saw the air sparkle around an alien as the energy beam was deflected by its force field. Their response was terrifyingly swift. The Bab’s Kebabs franchise on Swift Street exploded.

  Mark ducked down as smouldering fragments spun through the air. ‘Shit!’

  Four of the flyers heading for Blackwater Crag turned sharply and flew back low over the town. Masers lashed down, scoring a long line of fire and vapor across the rooftops.

  ‘Hit them,’ someone yelled out of the hand-held array. ‘Hit them. Shoot back.’

  Two more buildings exploded, sending broken lengths of framework girders spinning through the air. Composite panels cartwheeled down the street like tumbleweed. Laser shots, ion bolts, and even bullets peppered the buildings along the waterfront. The force fields around two of the overhead flyers flickered briefly with static.

  ‘They’ll slaughter us.’

  ‘Shoot them, kill them all, kill the bastards.’

  The air above Mark emitted a sibilant sizzling. A line shimmered faint violet. Flames burst out of every gaping window in the Babylon Garden restaurant behind him.

  ‘Fall back. Get the fuck out of here.’

  ‘No! They’ll see us. Knock down the flyers.’

  ‘Where’s the convoy? Are they clear?’

  ‘Hey, yeah! I got one, I saw a wall fall on it. Oh shit—’

  There must have been twenty buildings burning vigorously now. Three more detonated in quick succession.

  ‘God, no. What have we done?’

  ‘Simon, you motherfucker. This is all your fault.’

  ‘Stay calm. Stay under cover.’

  Mark looked at David, who was pressed up hard against the wall. His eyes were closed as he whimpered a prayer.

  ‘You want to make a break for it?’ Mark asked Liz.

  ‘Not in the pick-up,’ she said. ‘They’ll see that.’

  ‘All right.’ He brought the hand-held array up. ‘Carys?’

  Liz’s hand closed tight around his upper arm. ‘I don’t goddamn believe it.’

  Mark twisted round, following Liz’s disbelieving stare. ‘What in God’s name . . .?’

  Mellanie was walking down the street past the Ables Motors garage, heading towards the waterfront. She kept to the centre of the road, avoiding the worst of the debris. Her hair and shoulders were damp from the earlier rain, otherwise she was as perfectly groomed as usual. Dense-packed silver OCtattoos flickered over her face and hands, as if they were her true skin emerging into the light.

  ‘Get down!’ Mark screamed at her.

  She turned her head and gave him a small sympathetic smile. A near-subliminal golden fractal pattern spiralled out around her eyes. ‘Stay there,’ she told him calmly. ‘This isn’t something you can handle.’

  ‘Mellanie!’

  She’d gone another five paces when four aliens burst out of Kate’s Knitwear ten metres ahead of her, smashing straight through the remaining aluminium wall panels. Their arms curved round to line up their weapons on her. The motion slowed then stopped. All four of them stood perfectly still in the middle of the road.

  Mark realized that all the flyers in the air were gradually lowering themselves to the ground. Out over Trine’ba, the flyers rushing to Randtown dipped gently, angling down to strike the water hard. Big plumes of spray cascaded upwards, falling away to reveal the craft bobbing low on the surface.

  ‘Mellanie?’ Mark croaked. ‘Are you doing this?’

  ‘With a little help, yes.’

  He clambered slowly to his feet, trying to stop the tremble in his legs. Liz stood beside him, gazing warily at the young girl. David poked his head above the wall. ‘Jesus,’ he spat.

  ‘Take their weapons,’ Mellanie said. Her face was almost completely silver now, with only a few slivers of skin remaining around her cheeks and brow.

  ‘You’re joking,’ Mark said.

  The four aliens dropped their weapons onto the road.

  ‘You’re not joking.’

  ‘You should be able to shoot through their force fields with those,’ Mellanie said. ‘You’ll probably need to when they come after you again. This standoff won’t last for ever. But I’ll keep them here as long as I can.’ She took a deep breath, closing her chrome eyelids. ‘Leave now.’

  Mark glanced down, her voice had come out of the hand-held array as well.

  ‘Everybody, get in your vehicles and fall back,’ she ordered. ‘Join the convoy.’

  ‘What’s happening?’ Simon’s voice asked.

  Mark brought the array up to his mouth. ‘Just do it, Simon. She’s stopped them.’

  ‘Stopped them how?’

  ‘Mark’s right,’ someone else said. ‘I can see a whole bunch of them. They’re just standing there.’

  ‘Go,’ Mellanie said. ‘You haven’t got long. Go!’

  Mark looked at the weapons lying on the tarmac as if it was some kind of school dare. The aliens still hadn’t moved.

  ‘Come on,’ Liz said. She darted forwards.

  Mark hurried after her. The weapons were bulky, too heavy to carry easily, let alone aim. He pulled up a couple, giving the tall silent immobile aliens a cautious look as he scrabbled round at their feet, as if this might be the act which finally broke the spell, goading them into motion and retaliation. David came up beside him, and picked up one of the chunky cylinders.

  ‘Let’s get out of here for Christ’s sake,’ Liz said.

  Mark managed to hold on to a third weapon. He scooted the hell away from the bizarre tableau.

  ‘What now?’ Liz asked Mellanie.

  ‘You go.’

  ‘What about you? Will you be all right?’

  ‘Yes.’ She gave Mark one of her menacingly erotic smiles. ‘Quits?’

  ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘Quits.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Liz said.

  The three of them raced for the pick-up. They slung the purloined alien weapons in the back, and Mark slammed the accelerator to the floor. He snatched one last glimpse of Mellanie in the rear-view mirror. The silhouette of a small human girl standing defiantly in front of four big armoured aliens, waiting, watching, as silent as the army she had s
tilled.

  *

  Mellanie’s inserts were feeding her a fresh image of the world; no longer data but an extension of her ordinary senses. She could actually see the electromagnetic emissions flooding out of the aliens as they stormed ashore. Each one blazing bright in this black spectrum. Long, complex, and slow signals slipped between them, a conduit of tight-packed analogue sine waves dancing and crackling around each other. They formed net-works, brief, transient patterns that were forever rearranging themselves, connecting individual aliens, then switching back and forth between the flyers who relayed them in new combinations to the big conical ships floating on the Trine’ba. Huge columns of information streamed out of both ships, twisting up through the atmosphere to vanish inside the trans-dimensional vortex of the wormholes above.

  It made a striking contrast to the abridged electronic network of Randtown, with its slender lines of carefully packaged binary pulses zipping purposefully around her. Where the human systems were neat and efficient, these alien outpourings were crude. Yet, she acknowledged, they possessed a certain integral elegance. As it was with all organic forms.

  Mellanie concentrated on the rush of strange waveforms radiating out of a Prime flyer as it manoeuvred above the promenade, ready to land. A new batch of woken inserts buzzed with electric vibrancy inside her flesh. She knew of the SI’s presence inside them, analysing what she discovered for it, teasing apart the oscillating signals to discover their meaning. As the flyer’s emissions coursed through the inserts she heard a harsh unintelligible voice at the back of her mind, it bloomed to a whispered chorus. Then there were the images, leaking out of the signals like some long-forgotten dream. A confused multiple viewpoint of motiles emerging from a congregation lake, millions of them pressed together, slipping and sliding as they waded ashore. Next to them was the towering mountain clad in rooms and chambers where it was centred, all of life in the star system. A mountain where long ago light used to shine in the morning. Now the sky was permanently dark beneath the heavy clouds, an everlasting night split only by the incessant flash of lightning bolts, revealing the filthy rain and sleet which fell across the protective force fields. A black sky also seen from the asteroids orbiting far above, shielding the whole planet, its turbulence illuminated to insipid grey by sunlight and blazing strands of fusion flame. Life still thrived beneath the veil, woven inseparably to groupings of itself as it seethed and survived everywhere, on small cold planets, moons encircling gas-giants, and far asteroid settlements. A life that now extended to other stars and their planets. A life that had flown through the wormholes to reach Elan where it was spreading out over the lake to touch the land.