Aneka Jansen 3: Steel Heart (34 page)

‘Yeah.’ She turned slightly, pointing to the body they had dragged over to join his three dead friends. ‘That’s him.’

Linden wandered over to the bodies, looking down at the figure of the ogre. Abigail, who had come back up with him, walked over to stand beside him. ‘Dad, didn’t the one who took…’

‘That’s the one. The sledge is one thing, but I’ll remember that face until the day I die.’

Abigail looked back at Aneka and Ella. ‘The one who took my mother used a sledgehammer. He shattered Dad’s knee with it before carrying Mum away.’

That explained the limp. He turned, looking back at Aneka. ‘I owe you doubly for your work today.’

‘Why do they take women?’ Ella asked.

Linden glanced at her. ‘It’s thought their own women cannot carry to term. They steal Human women to mate with and then, so the legends say, they eat the children who come out too Human.’

‘Hence the name,’ Ella said, nodding. She shivered and looked to Aneka. ‘I am going to have to think of a special reward for you for this one.’

~~~

‘Is this my special reward?’ Aneka asked. She was head down in the large sink in the kitchen while Ella washed the fake blood out of her hair.

‘You’re lucky the blood matted your hair over the wound,’ Ella said in reply. ‘He split your skin right down to the bone. I can see metal through there.’

‘It’s healing already,’ Aneka told her. ‘Come morning it’ll be good as new.’

‘Uh-huh, and your hair should hide it tonight, but make sure Abigail doesn’t get a good look at the back of your head.’

‘I think I can manage that.’

‘And no, this is not your special reward. We’ll get to that later.’

Aneka straightened up, feeling water cascade over her breasts and down her back. Ella handed her a towel. ‘Going to give me a hint?’

‘No. That would spoil the surprise.’

‘Huh.’ Aneka started out of the kitchen rubbing at her hair and being careful not to disturb the wound. She was heading for the stairs to get a clean shirt from their room when Abigail came in carrying her basket. ‘Hey, Abigail. Bringing dinner?’

For a girl who seemed slightly uncomfortable with same-sex relationships, Abigail was fascinated with Aneka’s breasts. ‘Uh-huh,’ she managed to get out, still staring.

Suppressing a grin, Aneka walked on, moving her towel to cover the back of her head as she turned. ‘My shirt’s covered in blood. I’m just going to get a fresh one.’

Freed of her optical paralysis, Abigail started for the kitchen. ‘I’ll wash that for you. My mother taught me a great trick for getting blood out of cotton.’

‘Okay, thanks.’ The shirt looked like cotton, but was actually Bi-weave bioplastic. It would clean itself given a bit of time, but Aneka was not going to tell Abigail that. Instead she spoke silently through her connection to Ella. ‘Abigail’s on the way to the kitchen, you might want to put your dress back on.’

‘Too late. The girl’s got a breast fixation.’

‘Just as long as she’s not the special reward.’

‘Not my plan. You could likely have her if you wanted. Glass of wine and those sex pheromones you can give off…’

Aneka dug through her rucksack and pulled out another beige shirt. ‘I am not going to use chemicals to seduce that poor girl. She would feel terrible in the morning.’

‘I know. I was just joking. I’m here to observe these people, not to educate them in the joys of Sapphic sex.’

‘I’m glad to hear it. How’s the food looking?’

‘Looking good. You know, I’m sure there’s a little more than usual. And there’s two bottles of wine.’

‘I guess Linden thought we should have a special reward too.’

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Things had started getting a lot better the morning after the incident with the ogres. Townspeople had started coming to the cottage to be interviewed by Ella not long after the sun was up. They varied in age, sex, and profession so she got a broad cross-section of the town’s population, and they all seemed to be a little nervous but quite happy to be volunteering their time. Word had, apparently, got around that this Citizen was not quite like the ones they were used to.

Aneka had busied herself making tea for Ella and their guests, and letting Gillian listen in on, and watch, the interviews as they went on. And she was doing the same again the following morning.

‘It would appear,’ Gillian said over the radio, ‘that your actions in the field have gained a considerable degree of trust.’

‘Seems like it,’ Aneka replied. ‘We’ve had several people calling us “Manu Dei’s Blessing” or something like that. Little old ladies smile at us in the street.’

‘Manu Dei?’

‘Not sure. Sounds like Latin, and my Latin’s not that good. Uh, “Dei” sounds like it’s to do with God… Son of God, maybe? Might be a reference to Jesus.’

‘It seems to be a reference to the person who leads the citizens,’ Ella said. ‘Maybe a title, but definitely referring to a living person.’

‘Are we getting any further on this “Prime City” they’ve mentioned?’ Aneka asked.

‘Not really,’ Gillian replied. ‘There is, or was, a city in the south. London, I assume. However it was badly damaged during the Xinti attack. The Hyde’s sensors are showing significant radiation even after this time. The bombs must have been enhanced to give particularly long-lived fallout. The central part of the city is little more than a hole about two kilometres across. The ruins stretch out a long way.’

‘Could they have built under London?’

‘If they have, the surface entrances are well hidden. I think that you should pull out tomorrow morning. Perhaps our best course of action would be to go down there and take a look.’

‘I’ve gathered about as much information as I’m going to here,’ Ella put in.

‘Fine by me,’ Aneka said. ‘We can tell Abigail tonight. What are Drake and Shannon up to?’

‘They’re taking a leisurely trip out to the Moon,’ Bashford replied. ‘There were several facilities up there, we think. They’re going to map it and see whether there’s anything still standing.’

Picking up the tray with its pot of tea and other crockery, Aneka started into the lounge where Ella was interviewing a woman who had to be almost ninety. ‘Well, we shouldn’t need back-up from them. I think Mrs Broadstairs here can be considered fairly safe.’

‘I suspect the worst thing we’re going to have to contend with in London is the radiation,’ Bashford said. ‘These city dwellers seem to be less than wonderful people, but we’ve seen no evidence of actual hostility.’

‘That’s assuming we can find them.’

‘I hope we can,’ Gillian replied. ‘If they have more technology they may have far better records of history since the war. I would really like to meet them.’

Aneka poured the tea. ‘I’m not sure I would, but I guess they may be more open to meeting the Jenlay. They could be the best hope for reuniting this world with the Federation.’

‘Let’s hope so.’ Gillian really did sound hopeful. Well, they would find out in a few days.

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Aneka brought the anti-gravity system online, checked its functional status, and retracted the landing struts. ‘You’re just getting me to fly this thing because it means you don’t have to, right?’ she asked Bashford who was in the seat across the cockpit from her.

‘You said yourself that you lack experience,’ he replied smoothly. ‘Now you’re getting some. Sensors are picking up no activity nearby. We’re good to go.’

Aneka’s hands shifted over the controls and the shuttle began to rise upwards on its thrusters. ‘That is just an excuse,’ Aneka persisted.

‘Yes, it is. I’m not overly fond of fiddly shuttle manoeuvring, and you are really good at it. Get us up to about a kilometre and then you can cut in the main engines.’

Aneka grinned at him. ‘Yes, Boss.’

They had left town late because Abigail had insisted on making sure they had eaten before going, and then they waited for her to get some packed food ready for them. And then Linden, David, Marie, and Mark, and several other people, had come out to say goodbye. Then, of course, they had been unable to take off until nightfall, but that had been fine because the people who had been left on the shuttle for the last few days got to try the food Abigail had made up. Also, they were in a spacecraft and getting to their intended landing site was going to take well under an hour.

‘Computer’s coming back with the genetic data,’ Gillian said over the cabin intercom as they rose into the night.

‘Anything interesting?’ Aneka asked, not really paying attention.

‘Just looking,’ Gillian replied, her voice sounding distracted by the data she was looking at.

Aneka checked their altitude, set the navigation system on a course to the general area of what had once been Luton, and powered up the big fusion engines at the back of the shuttle. The light cloud began scudding past at an ever-increasing pace.

‘Yes,’ Gillian said just when Aneka had almost forgotten the question, ‘there is something interesting. The ogres have significant genetic manipulations…’

Aneka began taking more interest. ‘Someone engineered those things?’

‘Engineered is a little extreme. They made some modifications to assist in survival and, since we know rather more about Humans than we do about sheep, I can tell you the functions of those changes. It would appear that they were modified for survival following the war. Their lungs are less susceptible to inhaling pathogens and dust. Their bodies are more resilient to radiation tissue damage. They have significantly enhanced tissue-regeneration capabilities, including the capacity to rapidly replace tissue damaged by radiation. There are also modifications to their retinas to improve their night vision. The thickened skin is from adaptations to improve cold resistance.’

‘So… someone engineered the ogres to survive the fallout from the war?’ Aneka asked.

‘No,’ Gillian replied, ‘probably not.’

‘Huh?’

‘The blood I got from David,’ Ella said, ‘is showing most of the same modifications. They’re just expressed to a far greater degree in ogres. And sheep. Now that we have the comparison data between Jenlay and modern Humans we can see several of the same gene-mods in the sheep.’

‘The ogres,’ Gillian added, ‘are likely a mutation. Either whatever caused the gene-mods had a more pronounced effect on them, or they’ve mutated since.’

‘Something modified a number of surface species to survive the fallout from the war then,’ Aneka said. ‘Someone with a more advanced technology than the stuff we’ve seen up here.’

‘Which would seem to indicate the city dwellers are responsible,’ Gillian said, ‘but that would suggest that they had extensive genetic manipulation capabilities a thousand years ago.’

‘And that’s unlikely?’

‘The planet was bombed into the Stone Age. How would they have mustered the resources, let alone the science?’

‘Fair point.’ Aneka checked their flight path. ‘Well we may know more in forty-six minutes.’

~~~

It took a little longer before they dropped down to ground level in the area Aneka had once known as St Albans just outside an irregular ring of shattered roadway which had once been the M25, the orbital motorway around London.

‘They built out further after I was taken,’ Aneka commented as she glided the shuttle in to settle on one of the embankments overlooking the dead motorway. ‘Those buildings on the other side? That was green fields in my time. Those look like big buildings.’ Or they had been once. Now they were broken concrete teeth just over the rise across the road.

‘Between fifty and sixty stories from the structural analysis,’ Ella said. ‘Composition suggests an early form of Plascrete.’

‘How’s the radiation?’

‘Here it’s fine,’ Bashford replied. ‘We’ve got increasing emissions about a hundred metres beyond that rise. We’ll dose up on the anti-rad drugs and take readings, but from here it’s not looking too bad.’

‘Not that I’d want to spend extended periods in there,’ Gillian added. ‘I suggest we wait until morning. Drake and Shannon’s mapping scans showed some life signs and thermal markers in the ruins.’

‘Things are living in there?’ Aneka asked. ‘In the radioactive ruins, on the planet where things have been genetically altered to survive the effects of radiation?’

‘Yes. And that is why I think we should wait until there’s light.’

‘Sounds great,’ Monkey said from the back. ‘I’ll break out the carbines.’

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‘I get the feeling no one has lived here in a long time,’ Aneka said. The flat they were in had long ago lost all but scraps of paint and most of the plaster from the walls. It was five stories up, in one of the buildings right on the edge of the ruins. There were two stories above them, but the building was even less secure up there than it was here and neither she nor Bashford had been willing to allow anyone higher. Only Delta and Ella were with her; the others had stayed at ground level.

‘I think you’re right,’ Ella replied, ‘but I think people were in here after the bombing.’

Aneka walked through from what had probably been a lounge to the single bedroom where Ella was. The redhead was poking at some scraps of what looked like blankets which occupied a corner of the room. There were a few empty and very rusted tins in another corner.

‘This does look a little like someone’s campsite,’ Aneka agreed. She focussed on the column of indicators on the left side of her vision field. ‘Radiation is a little lower up here than ground level. I guess it was back then too. Maybe someone came up here for that. Or they felt more secure up here and survived a little longer due to the lowered exposure.’

‘There’s definitely something living here,’ Bashford said. ‘I’ve got some form of animal droppings here. Nothing I recognise, though I’m no tracker anyway.’

‘Nothing much up here aside from cockroaches,’ Delta commented.

‘You recognise cockroaches?’ Aneka asked.

‘Huh. There are cockroaches on just about every Jenlay world. Tough little bastards.’

‘About the only places they haven’t managed to get a foothold on are the worlds where something considered them a light snack,’ Gillian supplied. ‘They’re mostly harmless, and most of the ecosystems don’t suffer because of them. There have been a couple of cases where they’ve become dangerously overabundant, but a biological control generally works when that happens.’