Digital Venous (29 page)

Blood

SHANE BUZZED THE door.

Kristina had been saved from Earth by a twist of fate and shared a cabin with her friend Marika and her family. She’d been visiting them at the time of the killings. It was awkward for her living so closely with people she hardly knew. Still, she was grateful that they had accepted her.

“Kristina Hamil?” Shane had appeared at their door unexpectedly. His heart sank as he recognized her as Ryan’s little friend.

“You have a rare blood type that the doctor would like to sample. You’ll be helping the Napeans…”

“But I don’t want to help the Napeans!” Shane was taken aback for a second and tried not to show his approval.

“Kristina, please accompany me to the Service deck.” Shane wasn’t sure how best to approach her. He wasn’t used to dealing with young females.

“I don’t want to go.” She climbed backwards onto her bed, with her knees up for protection.

“Everything’s going to be okay. I promise you won’t be harmed. It’s just a sample.” Kristina looked to her friend Marika, and then at the parents, for support, but they were

terrified. A guard had never come to their cabin before, let alone summoned one of them to the Service deck.

“Do I have to go?” Kristina had guts. The family looked at her in disbelief. “They’re waiting for you; come on, you’ll be back in an hour,” said Shane.

Kristina knew when she was beaten. She got up, looking at her “family”—she could see they were just glad that it wasn’t one of their actual children.

She walked just behind Shane.

“How do they know what my blood type is?” she asked as they walked round the curved corridors and various escalators up to level 6.

“Everyone was scanned before boarding….”

“But I don’t like needles,” she said.

“It will be over quickly. All the Napeans are very sick and what you’re doing will help to fix the problem.”

As they entered the Service area, Kristina was awestruck by the broad space of the deck before her. The entire roof was transparent. The Eridani void was open, dark, and very beautiful; distant stars were visible straight above. Off to the front of the ship Sirius was almost spherical in its brightness.

“Bring her straight in!” called Jeffery. The bed was semi-upright and Jeffery was lying there, waiting.

Pato stood next to the empty bed, nodding slowly, waiting to begin the procedure. Kristina looked over at Shane and he gestured to go forward. As she stepped toward the bed and turned to sit, Pato, making no eye contact whatsoever, awkwardly, and rather roughly, pushed her backwards. She began to panic, noticing the size of the blood bag and that there were another two bags on stand-by.

“I’m giving blood to him?” she said in reference to Jeffery. “I thought it was just a small sample!”

“Relax, my dear. You’ll be finished in a second,” said Jeffery who, in anticipation, seemed to have found a new lease of energy. Pato strapped her arm to a padded rail level with the mattress and applied the tourniquet. Now that the girl was secured, Pato relaxed a little and, over-compensating in his attempt to console the girl, began patting and stroking her shoulder. As he turned around to pick up the needle, Kristina’s distress mounted. She looked out to where Shane was standing, watching; she was sensing in him her last hope. But it was too late. Pato found the vein quickly and inserted the hollow spike. Kristina’s face twisted and contorted as she looked around and saw the ruby fluid dripping into the bag. Her eyes closed and she passed out.

The bag soon filled with blood and Jeffery wasted no time in hooking himself up and using the blood. It seemed to have an immediate effect. Pato began connecting a second bag.

“What are you doing?” asked Shane.

“We’re going to need five liters…” said Pato. “I’m going to need this immediately and…”

“Five liters! That will kill her!” said Shane.

“As predicted,” said Jeffery, “this will give us the clarity we need to solve this problem—it may take several days for us to work out a way to have N.E.T. running properly.”

“Can’t you just take a little from a few?” asked Shane more desperately than intended. “There’s no time—she’s here now,” said Jeffery.

It was the coldness of the statement that caused Shane to snap. He stepped across to Kristina, jagging his elbow into Pato, sending him reeling back into the bench where he lost his balance and fell sideways onto his shoulder.

Jeffery was powerless to move and Pato was floundering around on the floor. He seemed to be having difficulty standing. Magellan, who had been in his own lab, noticed the scuffle and came in quickly.

“Stop!” he yelled. “Wing! Stop!” Shane put his left thumb down hard where the needle was inserted on Kristina’s arm and pulled it out. He picked her up and carried her out.

As Shane made his way around the spiraling passageways, a robotic female voice announced: “Children fourteen and under to B6-10 Service deck for vaccination... children fourteen and under to B6-10 Service deck for vaccination…”

Shane saw doors opening and adults appearing at doorways, looking out, questioning one another. He saw some children walking around the bend toward him.

“Go back to your cabins! There’s been a malfunction. Stay in your cabins.”

“What’s going on?” asked a man who’d been standing there talking to a group of Subs. “Keep your children safe. Do not leave your cabins!” he repeated.

“What’s wrong with her?” asked someone else, referring to Kristina.

“She’s going to be fine,” said Shane. “Just stay put and everything will be okay.” Carrying Kristina, he crashed into Alia’s room and said, “Look after her,” placing her on

the bed. “She’s had blood taken from her—keep your doors open—they may try to lock everything! Jjam them open if you have to… and stay ready!” To Alia he said, “Don’t let any of the kids leave. This could be the moment you’ve been waiting for!” He scanned the room. “Wait! Where’s Ryan?”

“Er, he went down to the gardens…” said Madi “What? Who with?”

“He was by himself…”

“Oh no!”

“He was meeting some other kids down there.”

“We have to find him.” To Alia, he said, “Stay here and look after her.”

“Of course,” she said.

They tore down the passageways, into the heart of the ship where it became warmer and warmer, down to the growing rooms. They passed several people on the way, breathlessly yelling at them to go back to their cabins.

They split up. Madi looked in at the soy shelves while Shane checked the vine rooms. Nothing. “Fuuuccck!” yelled Shane.

He yelled out to Madi, “Found him?” but his voice fell dead as the spiraling passages swallowing all sound. He went from room to room to room, calling: “Ryan? Ryan? Ryan?” Then he virtually knocked Madi over.

“Fuck! How could you do this?” he demanded. “Do what?”

“Lose him!”

“Hey! You’re the one who’s s’posed to be in command, dickhead!” yelled Madi. “You keep looking,” said Shane. “I just hope he hasn’t gone up to the Service deck!”

Shane ran all the way around to the outer levels and to the front of the ship to the Service deck, only to find the entrance locked. Looking through the small window, he saw Jeffery, with his new lease of energy, working furiously, stooped over his work bench madly trying to find a solution to save his own life.

And there in the corner of the lab sat three young boys, waiting patiently.

“Ryan!” Shane yelled. Noise could not penetrate the thick glass window of the steel door. Shane could see Ryan’s face. He looked completely at home. He was chatting with the other two boys. They were enjoying being in this special place. Then Jeffery turned to face them, smiling and talking, and to Shane’s horror, Ryan bounded up onto the bed.

Jeffery studied his veins—they were rather Napean-looking. Somewhat taken aback, he looked up, more closely at the boy’s face. He didn’t look Napean but then again, he had trouble finding the vein, tightened the tourniquet, trying to find a location for the needle. He pushed the needle in. Ryan sucked air through his teeth as Jeffery searched for blood. None was forthcoming.

At a distance, Shane saw Ryan wince in pain, and began pounding impotently on the window.

Jeffery jabbed at Ryan’s arm again. This time he cried out, realizing that maybe this man wasn’t trying to help him after all. One of the other boys stood up and said, “Are you okay, Ryan?”

“He’s absolutely fine,” said Jeffery, who seemed to have hit on some of the sought-after dark fluid in Ryan’s arm. But what came out perplexed the Service official. It wasn’t blood; it was more like N.E.T. fluid.

“Who are you, boy?”

From outside the Service deck Shane saw Magellan, who had been slumped, semi-conscious, in a chair. In a dreamlike state, eyes half-closed, he had been silently observing the proceedings. Then he heard Shane:
Magellan… let those children go!
  Shane saw Magellan stand, stumble to the door of the lab, go in, and begin remonstrating with Jeffery.

“Let them go, Jeff,” said Magellan. “Can’t you see they’re… and he’s got parents—they’ll fight you for this.”

“You’re sounding like Wing, and at any rate, I’m doing this for you.” Magellan stopped what he was doing, noticing Shane’s presence on ETP.

Shane:
Take some donor adults—voluntarily—not by …

Jeffery was thriving on human blood:
Ahhh…. Shane… again. When are you going to realize you are not in charge? Jeffery was still thriving on human blood. And right now you must do as I say, Wing, or I’ll be forced to turn you off and destroy the gardens. Do exactly as I say now or your beloved Subs will all die. As Magellan had no doubt informed you, we will be expecting Santiago, Tokyo, and Beijing, and neither you nor the Subs will survive when news of this insubordination reaches them. Find out who this child’s parents are. I want them punished. Bring me an adult—we need to revive Pato… if I cannot revive him, you, Wing, become a Service murderer… bring a real woman to the deck in ten minutes and the children are yours. This is your last chance.

Shane knew a real woman who might relish the opportunity of meeting the men from the Service.

Five minutes later Shane reappeared outside the Service deck entrance.

Jeffery ordered:
Leave the woman!
Alia stood there and waited for the door to open. Jeffery communicated with Shane:
Go back to your filthy Subs. The children will be released when she’s finished.

The door slid open. Meekly, submissively, she shuffled across to Jeffery’s lab. “Come! Come!” he yelled. None of the boys made eye contact with her as she passed. Jeffery had all the transfusion equipment ready to go.

She sat up on the chair, presented her arm. She saw Magellan stirring in a chair the corner.

“Thank you for cooperating,” said Jeffery as he moved in on her, with his left hand holding the needle and right hand holding the attached tube. Then suddenly, not all that quickly, she grabbed his left arm with her left hand and, using his forward momentum, pulled him toward her. Her right hand had formed a fist and was drawn back like an arrow. He had no answer for the blow that broke his nose and, high on human blood, he felt no pain as he silently crumpled to the floor.

Alia could see that Pato was no threat. His forehead was still flat on the ground and he was completely motionless. He looked dead. She stood up and went over to Magellan, slapping him on the face. He woke up. “Get up” she yelled. “Open the door!”

Shane came in. “Well done!” he said.

“Dad!” said Ryan. The other two boys stood close. They were pale and wide-eyed.

“Alia you’re a gem,” said Shane. “Can you take these three and stay in the cabin!!”

“Now Magellan, how do we fly this thing!”

“It’s on auto-pilot for now. Just check everything’s secure…” he sat down on the chair and was rubbing his eyes. He sat forward. “Make sure… ohh.” Magellan was struggling.

Shane asked Alia, “Can you give blood?”

“To this schmuck?” she said.

“Would you mind?” said Shane. “We need him.”

“Don’t worry…” said Magellan quietly. “I’m not going to make it. But…” he collapsed back onto the low chair.

“Put him up on the bed,” said Shane. “We narrowly avoided having a vampire festival in here.”

“I know! I was on the menu!” said Alia.

“What do we do? Magellan?” said Shane shaking the Service official. Magellan woke but was passing in and out of consciousness. “Magellan?” Shane shoved his shoulder.

“You can’t save me now? It’s too late…” slurred the Service man. “Yes we can. We need you. Tell us what to do,” said Shane.

“You’ve got to let some drain off… two liters… then give me two…And…”

“What?”

“This whole ship can be remotely controlled—Jeffery.” Magellan took a deep breath and said, “Jeffery can do it… without lifting a finger.”

“I say we kill him now,” said Alia, “he’s far too dangerous… but then who’s flying this thing?”

“From now on it’s pre-programmed,” said Magellan. “We… take the eye.” Magellan had his closed. “You’ll have to take it out.”