ARIA (19 page)

“What do you have in mind?”

“I know of two nuclear bunkers near London that have been maintained. They have their own provisions, energy, and water; like Anafon, but underground.”

“Excellent, tell your mate, Ian, to wrestle the keys off someone.”

“I will, but you know what it’s like dealing with arrogant bastards. You have to make a suggestion so they think it was their idea. By the way, Megan and the other two were on their way back in too.”

“If they organise a safe refuge, Derek, make sure they have web links with us. Other countries will have the same, won’t they?”

“I’ll mention it to Ian.”

“Don’t forget our house rule not to use the phone or mobiles. The Internet can’t back-track to here with our scrambled IP addresses.”

Ryder left Derek to reply to his e-mails while he collected some drinks for the fence thieves. He was worrying about them being seen. He found Teresa in the refectory and told her about Derek’s e-mails.

“I’ll talk to him. There are sperm and cell banks that need to be made secure. I know, people will have forgotten about them and leave them alone, but that’s not enough. They need to be monitored. If their power supply fails then zap, we have no unadulterated humans for the future.”

“Barring us, you mean?”

“Hey, don’t get that look in your eye, buddy. I don’t intend to be a mass baby producer. In any case, if I wanted to look for a virulent and strong gene stock, it might not be you,” she said, looking with admiration at Gustav as he beamed at her from the doorway.

B
OTH
IN
EAGER
ANTICIPATION
AND
FEAR
OF
FAILURE
, Ryder attempted to use a secure weblink to the International Space Station.  The crew might have abandoned the station or were infected with ARIA when they found the case even though they hadn’t opened it.

All the space missions had public websites where anyone could browse through photos and interviews, and peer at live webcams. However, you could post a message and not have anyone read it for weeks. The protocols Ryder possessed, allowed him into a members-only area of the website. On seeing Ryder’s ID, they might reject his intrusion. He tweaked the virtual gate on the website.

A green light signalled his entry.

“Hello, ISS crew. I’m just knocking on your door to see who’s in.”

The data back showed that Ryder’s protocol entry ID had been checked, so they know who had just logged in.

“Let me activate the webcam, Ryder Nape? There, now do you know who I am?”

“I confirm I am Ryder and you are either Vlad Pochenko or Dan has had a face job and learnt to speak with a Russian accent.” They both laughed, relieved to share their humour.

“How are you all up there?”

“In some dismay watching you all down there. But you’re okay?”

“You know about ARIA?”

“Of course,” Vlad said in his rich Kiev accent. “We are able to monitor TV and the Internet.”

“Obviously, none of you were infected by the case.”

“We didn’t lay a finger on it, let alone open it, Ryder. But we might as well have, don’t you think?”

“So you have a vision of doom, Vlad?”

“Don’t you? Just how long before someone breathes on you?”

Ryder tapped the side of his nose. “A small group of us are in an isolated centre.”

“Not as isolated as us, I bet. I suppose you have provisions, but do you have medical facilities and protection?”

“Why, are you thinking of joining us?” Ryder hadn’t considered that option. Anafon would have plenty of room.

“We decided to sit it out for a while, but there is a limit.”

“True, I presume you’re not getting any fresh provisions. How long can you last up there before coming down?”

“We’re on rations, but with recycling and holding our breath, we could last a few more months before finding a new home.”

“Not that you wouldn’t be welcome, but I’d have to put it to everyone here. So far, we’ve not told anyone at all—you understand why. I’m sending you a data file with our website details to pass on to anyone else you think might benefit from sharing ideas.”

“I’d have to confer with Dan and the crew. There should be a number of groups like yours. I worried that the number was zero.”

Ryder laughed at the Ukrainian’s joke but would have kept smiling anyway. He warmed to have given them hope. “I don’t suppose you’re getting anything from Mission Control?”

“We expect to from the backups in Hawaii and Australia. We’re trying tomorrow. I have to go now, Ryder. Keep in touch.”

“Have a sip of recycled water on me, Vlad.”

“Bastard.” They both laughed as they switched off.

T
ERESA
RAN
INTO
THE
CENTRE
,
EYEBROWS
RAISED
. “Ryder, come outside. Brian and Bronwyn are leaving.”

Ryder rushed out to find the couple had loaded up food and belongings in their estate car. Brian glared at Ryder.

“You can’t stop us, Ryder.”

“Come in and talk about this.” Ryder looked in their vehicle windows for Megan.

“No way,” Brian called out. “You’ve always had the better of us, giving all the orders. We’ve had enough.”

Gustav came round on Ryder’s right and stopped to take in the situation. Ryder nudged his foot at a rock and looked at Gustav with a slight head turn. He knew Brian wouldn’t have seen his feet.

Ryder tried again. “I know it’s tough here, Brian. We’re all going stir crazy. Bronwyn, you wouldn’t leave Megan, would you?” Ryder hoped to use Bronwyn’s maternal instincts even though she had no children of her own.

“She’s out there somewh–”

“Shut up, Bron,” Brian said.

“She’s inside the centre,” said Ryder, bluffing. “Come in, have a cuppa and talk.”

“No,” Brian said. “We knew you’d try and talk us out of it. We won’t tell anyone about this place. You’ll get no visitors coming back. We’d rather take our chances. Maybe ARIA’s died off anyway.”

Ryder noticed Gustav on his belly. He’d placed rocks against both rear tyres and was edging away again. Brian’s car was not going anywhere.

“I can’t let you leave, Brian. What we have is too precious. We might be the only uninfected community left on the planet. We have a duty to liaise with the ISS crew to see what we can do for mankind.”

Brian laughed. “You’re mad. It’s too late to save mankind. We’re going to take our own chances.”

Ryder noticed Gustav going back into the centre. He hoped he wasn’t going to escalate matters.

“A few more weeks, Brian. Or, I’ll tell you what, you and a couple of us will take our binoculars up on the hill and carefully move towards Llanfairfechan to see what’s going on. Only without putting ourselves at risk. How about that, Bronwyn? Take things in small steps, safely?”

Bronwyn nodded then looked at her husband who was furious.

“I knew you’d be doing this,” Brian said, and started the engine. Gustav came out of the centre carrying two rifles, he gave one to Ryder, who levelled it at Brian, while walking round to the front of the car.

“I’ll run you down, you sheep dip.”

Bronwyn cried as Brian released the brake. With the rear wheels not being able to move, the engine stalled.

Brian’s face purpled as he beat the steering wheel with his hands. He reached behind him and drew out a revolver.

“It’s useless, Brian,” shouted Ryder. “We can’t let you go. We could shoot out your tyres. Give it up, man.”

Shaking with rage, Brian aimed his revolver at Teresa. “Let us go, or she’ll be the first.”

Ryder faced a dilemma. He wanted Teresa to hit the floor so Brian couldn’t see her, but she looked transfixed. He couldn’t let them go, because they were sure to run into people. The locals knew they worked in the centre and might decide to pay a scavenging visit. All three guns wavered.

Bronwyn stopped crying just long enough to grab at Brian, who struggled with her. Ryder lowered his weapon and looked at Gustav, who had put his down and pointed at the door on Bronwyn’s side. Ryder went for Brian’s door but just as he reached it, Brian’s revolver went off. Bronwyn screamed.

Ryder opened Brian’s door. A growing red patch showed through Bronwyn’s blue jeans above her right knee. Gustav beat him to shouting to Teresa to help him get Bronwyn out and into the first-aid room.

Ryder found the revolver under the clutch pedal and threw it out into the heather.

“Come on, Brian. We’ve all been under a strain. Let’s get inside and see to Bronwyn.” Brian didn’t move. Ryder assumed he was too shocked but then thought maybe the bullet went through him too. No. He was withdrawn. Ryder stayed with him since almost everyone inside had medical training except himself. After Derek brought out two welcomed mugs of tea, laced with whiskey, and delivered the good news that Bronwyn’s wound was minor, Brian agreed to climb out. A fraught episode that Ryder knew made his own resolution all the stronger.

Sunday 3 May 2015:

Evening in Manuel’s cabin, Banff National Park, Canada.

A
FTER
A
SUPPER
OF
SAUCEPAN
-
WARMED
TINNED
MEAT
and veg, made possible after Manuel re-discovered the bottle-gas store, they luxuriated with a coffee in front of a log fire.

Jat released a squeal of delight at discovering Manuel’s working Internet, but he had to caution against a young surfer’s addiction.

“We only get enough juice in the daytime from the solar cells on the roof.”

Her bottom lip stuck out. “How are we going to remember that tomorrow?”

“Write yourself a note. Here, have a notepad, keep a diary so you won’t have to ask me my name in the morning. I have a NoteCom but I’m not sharing it.”

“Fair enough, Manuel. Tell me, do you remember arriving here?”

“No. And tomorrow I’ll remember even less. However, I think fragments of today might be recalled if we stick together. I read that memories get reinforced if constantly triggered.”

“It is weird, isn’t it? Every morning I wake up thinking it’s a year ago but also not remembering if I passed my degree exams or who I had sex with over the last year—or yesterday. Look, I have a wedding ring.” She showed him a plain gold band on her left ring finger.

Manuel took her hand. His mouth opened at the shock of how bony and white her fingers were. Bruises, scuffed knuckles, and dirty, broken fingernails all testified to her tough survival. He thought maybe it was as well she had amnesia. A paradox that ARIA allowed evil to be created and yet forgotten. He concentrated on the ring. “It’s old and you have no engagement ring. I’d say it belongs to your mother or grandmother and it doesn’t necessarily mean you are married.”

“I’ve thought that, but I don’t know, do I?”

“I don’t suppose you know if you’re er—”

“Pregnant? I don’t know. It doesn’t feel like it, and for all I know I’ve been peeing on test kits every other day for months.”

“Drugs?”

“Oh, sure.” Jat pulled up her sleeves, revealing needle marks, some recent.

“Well, I got some of those too,” Manuel said. “Recreational. I guess some of yours are from your diabetes jabs when you run out of patches or need a quick fix. AIDS? Don’t tell me. Neither of us knows much, do we?”

“You know a hell of a lot more than I do, Manuel. You and your NoteCom.”

“At what point will the NoteCom not be helpful, Jat?”

“Apart from the obvious, like when you lose it so one morning you have no knowledge of it, there would come a time when you wouldn’t recognise it for what it is.”

“You mean I won’t know how to switch it on? No problem, I’ll write a few instructions now to leave with it each night.”

“I meant if you forget the concept of gadgets as information providers.”

“No, Jat, you’d have to go way, way back. I had hand-held Personal Information Management systems back in the twentieth century. With the rate of forgetfulness, it would take—oh my God—just four months.”

“Four months from catching it, which was a month ago?” she said, getting up to make more coffee.

“Jat, let us suppose we survive for a year. My memories would relate to the life I had fifty-two years ago. I am fifty-four. By next April, I will have the knowledge and language of a two-year-old.”

“Lucky you. I’ll have the memory of a newborn in only twenty weeks. Five months, Manuel. I won’t know how to speak, clean, or feed myself. In fourteen weeks I won’t be able to write or read the notes I should be leaving to give me basic information. I’ll be completely dependent on you if we are still together. I’ll have the body with all the hormones and urges of a healthy woman but with the mind of a baby.” She shuddered at the prognosis.

“I don’t know, Jat. Just because your memory disappears, your body has had two decades of actions embedded in your muscles and nervous systems. I wonder how much of the memory loss is more related to events as opposed to learned or adaptive behaviour. Newborn babies have an instinct to grasp and suckle.”