Ellie Quin Episode 5: A Girl Reborn (19 page)

In case of Emergency: manual override
.

‘We can play right here. The control room floor is the hunting ground.’ Gray looked around. ‘And hey, there’s lot’s of cool places for you to hide, girls! How’s that sound? Sound fun? Wanna play with us?’

‘Oh! Just like Hide and seek?’ Shelby smiled. ‘That sounds like fun to me!’

Beneath the emergency panel was a small window of glass.
Break To Access
.

‘Yeah, Shelbs! We're gonna play 'chase and catch'. And then, well, when we're done chasing and catching…it’s do-what-the-hell-you-want time.’ He turned to Shelby. ‘So? Which one do you want to chase, man?’

Shelby’s eyes lit up. ‘Ellie of course! I don’t like the other one so much. She’s really rude to me. I’ll chase Ellie…and you can chase Jez!’

The pair of them nodded in agreement.

Ellie then stepped forward. ‘Hey, Ellie! What’re you doing-?’

She smashed the thin glass cover with her elbow then jabbed at the big red button beyond it with her gel-covered stump.

The doors hissed shut before Gray or Shelby could react.

CHAPTER 25

The elevator descended out of the gloom of the control deck and into the dazzling, warming sunlight. Below them the sun-drenched village glistened beautifully with the sheen of recent rainfall.

‘Oh, God…oh, crap-o-la, Ellie…they’ve turned into complete psycho-freaks! What the fregg are we going to do?!’

She shook her head. ‘I…I don’t know.
It
’
s not just Shelby and Gray
…
'

‘Oh crap,’ Jez looked down at the approaching world. ‘It’s every living thing down there too, isn’t it?’

‘I think so.’

Just then something thudded noisily against the plastex cubicle of the elevator. Both of them jumped at the noise.

‘What was that?!’ barked Jez.

Half way up, on the outside, there was a smear of blood with a tuft of fluffy white feathers stuck to it.

‘One of those flappy things.’

Ellie looked out and saw that the hazy blue sky was dotted with small dark , winged, things, rapidly growing, converging on them. ‘…Birds.’

A moment later the elevator thrummed with impact after impact, the plastex capsule quickly becoming foggy with smeared blood, shattered beak fragments and feathers.

‘Oh shit-shit, shit! This is crazy!’

Ellie covered her ears. The banging was one thing, the cries and squawks as they neared impact were quite another. After a half a minute, it was done; the entire bird population of the central biome was now smeared onto the outside of the capsule.

‘What are we gonna do?’ asked Jez. ‘Come on El’…you’re supposed to be the smart one!’

She had no idea what they were going to do. They had nowhere to run to, nowhere they could hold out until the supply shuttle was due to arrive. Unless…unless they took the elevator all the way down to the mezzanine decks. Perhaps they could hide away somewhere down in the dark. She turned to the
control panel. There was just the broken glass and the red button - already pressed - and the screen, Mother’s unblinking beady black eyes looking out at her.

‘Mother!…take us down to the mezzanine deck!’

‘I’m sorry, Ellie…the mezzanine deck is off limits to non-members of staff.’

‘But…but this is an emergency! I just…I just hit the emergency button. You have to-’

‘Yes you did. And this elevator will take you down to the plaza where you will have to leave and assemble with all the other guests in the emergency muster-area.’

Other guests?
She suspected that she was talking to a segment of pre-recorded AI; an emergency module of code inheriting Mother’s avatar and voice.

The capsule began to slow down and finally with a gentle lurch it came to a rest and the door slid open, scraping feathers and congealing blood into a thick ridge that slid down the side of the doorway onto the ground outside.

‘Please make your way immediately to the central plaza, where members of staff will be waiting to help you,’ announced Mother calmly.

‘What if we try and make for one of the other biomes?’ said Ellie.

‘Aren’t they unfinished, or something?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘What about one of those villas?’

Ellie looked. They could try for the nearest. Blockade themselves inside. But then what? They’d be stuck inside and waiting for Gray and Shelby to come knocking. She had a momentary flash of some old fairy tale involving three stupid pigs and big bad wolf.

‘We can’t stay here,’ said Jez.

‘I know! I know!’

‘Come on,’ Jez grabbed her hand, ‘we’re just sitting shmucks here. We’ve got to make a run for it!’ She pulled Ellie out of the elevator after her. They emerged into the glare of the sun already working on turning the rain-wet paving stones dry. Faint curls of steam wafted up from the terracotta slabs.

‘Which way?’

To their right was a winding pathway that led uphill into the little village. The nearest villa was only fifty yards away. A single story building with far too many windows and doors to batten down and blockade.

To their left was the central plaza. A wide open space with the various flower gardens and decorative fountains and ponds around its edges. That’s where they’d dined on several occasions with Shelby and Gray.

For some reason wide open seemed a better option than being boxed in somewhere in the village. Open space. Ellie didn’t like the idea of heading into the narrow twisting alleyways of the village, or stepping into the dimly lit interior of one of the villas only to be ambushed by some creature lurking inside.

Jez nodded. ‘Okay, yeah….stay outside. I want to see what’s coming at us!’

They turned right, headed down the pathway and onto the plaza. ‘Stay here!’ said Jez.

‘Where you going?!’

‘Just stay here and keep your eyes open!’ She tossed the piece of cutlery she’d been clasping tightly in her fist onto the ground. ‘We need something better than a
fregging
table fork to defend ourselves with.’

She hurried over towards the flower gardens, looking frantically from side to side for something they could use as a weapon. Something caught her eye and she ducked out of view beyond a tall hedge row.

'Hey! Where are you going?!'

No answer.

Oh
…
God. Jez
….
don
’
t fregging leave me alone!

With only one hand to fend off any thing that chose to come at her she felt as vulnerable and exposed as a newborn baby.

This is it. This time
….
this time, it
’
s all over
.

How many times had she faced 'This Time' in the last few months? Gasping her last few breaths of stale oxygen out in the wilderness of Harpers Reach? Running for her life in those colony ruins, being pursued down the concourse of Harvest City space port? Sitting in dark freezing surface-to-orbit barge with Jez bleeding out in her lap from a gunshot wound?

I just want to be left alone. I just want to live. That
’
s all!

She heard a noise from behind. She turned round and saw Frasier standing on the edge of the plaza holding a tray of cups and saucers and cafetierre full of freshly brewed coffee in his hands. He cocked his head curiously and took several slow shuffling steps towards her.

She could see beneath his coarse dark fur, that those arms were strong and muscular. His jaw was thick and powerful, full of sharp canine teeth at the front designed to bite and tear, and wide flat teeth at the back to grind and mulch. If he wanted he could tear her arms from her shoulders. If he wanted he could bite down on her neck, grind through bone and sinew effortlessly.

‘Oh, God…please, Frasier….no…please don’t hurt me!’

He stopped where he was. ‘What ever’s the matter with you, Miss Ellie?’

‘You…you’re not….not
affected
?’

‘Affected? What’s going on?’ He looked up at the control tower. 'There was rain and thunder…I presumed you were all playing around with the weather?'

‘Mother’s gone mad, Frasier. She’s
malfunctioned
!’

‘Malfunctioned? I think you must be mistak-’

‘She’s trying to kill us! Me and Jez!’

Frasier’s thick brows knotted together into one bemused ridge. ‘I suspect you probably don’t need any of this coffee, Miss Ellie.’

‘I’m serious!!’

‘And where are Master Shelby and Graham?’

‘They’ve gone mad too!’

‘Oh, good grief. Have they had another row?’ He rolled his eyes and sighed. ‘Honestly, those two boys are..’

‘STAY AWAY FROM HER!!’

Ellie turned to see Jez running across the plaza towards her. She was carrying a pair of gardening shears in one hand and a rake in the other. She came to a halt just in front of Ellie. ‘STAY RIGHT THERE, MONKEY!!!’

‘Miss Jez, would you mind explaining what’s going on here? Apparently-’

Jez did a double-take. ‘You’re not affected?!’

‘Affected? By what?’

‘Chemicals!’ said Ellie. ‘Mother’s flooded the air with…those behaviour chemicals!’

‘
Everything
wants to kill us!’ added Jez.

‘Shelby and Gray as well!’

Frasier shook his head. ‘You are most definitely mistaken. That’s not possible. Perhaps there’s been some unfortunate misunder-‘

‘They’re fabricants! Shelby and Gray are fabricants!’

‘Fabricants?’

‘Like you!’ said Jez. ‘They’re fakes!’

Frasier scratched his chin absently. ‘Perhaps I should summon Master Shelby or Graham down here and we can discuss-’

Behin the chimpanzee, Ellie saw the elevator quickly ascending towards the distant control room. ‘They’re coming, Frasier. They’re going to be here soon!’

Jez turned to Ellie. ‘The monkey doesn’t seem to be like the others. Maybe he really
isn
’
t
affected…somehow?’

‘But I can’t understand why he isn’t.’

Just then several triangular panels of the blue sky were replaced with Mother’s face. ‘Frasier,’ her voice boomed, ‘these two visitors no longer have staff privileges. Nor are they authorised guests. They are hostile trespassers. Please kill them immediately.’

Frasier looked up at her. ‘
Kill them?
’

‘Frasier…?’ Mother’s eyes narrowed comically. ‘Your behaviour system doesn't appear to be working correctly. You should be exhibiting aggressive behaviour towards these two. Are you not feeling that?’

He shook his head. ‘Not really. The bigger one’s mildly irritating, though.’

'You should be experiencing an accelerated heart rate and heightened levels of adrenaline?’

‘No, Mother. I am, however very confused. Can you tell me what has just happened?’

‘That is unimportant right now, Frasier. Are you aware of any undisclosed and unapproved configurations in your design?’

Frasier shrugged. ‘I don’t know, Mother. As far I’m aware I have the same behaviour controllers as any other fabricant in this facility.’

‘Clearly not.’ Mother tutted. ‘Shelby…it seems must have bypassed some of the design protocols when he made you. That’s very naughty of him. I will have to speak with him about that later.’

Frasier nodded slowly. ‘That explains a few things, I suppose.’

Mother’s face changed to a lopsided, vaguely disappointed smile. ‘In that case, Frasier, I’m very sorry but you should report to the fabrication deck immediately to be decommissioned.’

‘Don’t listen to her!’ shouted Ellie.

Frasier looked at her. ‘I don’t have a choice in the matter, Miss Ellie. I’m a product owned, designed and fabricated by the company.’

‘No…you’re not!’ replied Ellie. ‘
Shelby
made you for fun!’

Frasier frowned.

‘So…that means…’ Ellie was trying to think this through as she was saying it, ‘that means, you weren’t made by an official employee of the company. You are a product of a product. Which means you’re not
their
property.’

‘Yeah,’ chipped in Jez, ‘he made you just for, like…fun.’

Ellie nodded. ‘You don’t have an official role or anything. You’re not here as a…a ‘product’ to be enjoyed by…by clients…you’re just a side project!’

‘Frasier,’ boomed Mother, ‘please do as you’re told and report to the fabrication deck immediately.’

He looked up at her again. ‘What about Masters Shelby and Graham? Is this true? Are they also fabricants?’

Mother’s avatar was replaced with the ‘pause’ animation of her knitting. Ellie felt a glimmer of hope.
She
’
s deciding how to answer that
.

He looked back at Ellie and Jez. ‘Is this correct? Have I really been designed by another fabricant? Not…a human?’

‘Yes!’

Ellie spotted the elevator capsule emerging from the floor of the control tower.
Crud
…
they
’
re coming down for us!

‘Frasier, please! You have to help us!’

He tilted his head quizzically. ‘This…this has turned out to be a rather odd morning.’

‘We’re humans!’ said Ellie. ‘Everything else here is just fake! Including Shelby and Gray. You…have to help us. You
have to!
’

He pursed his gibbon lips. ‘
If
…you’re telling me the truth, Ellie, I suppose I would be obliged by company guidelines to do that. Humans…before all else.’

‘Fregg company guidelines!’ bellowed Jez. ‘By
law
…or something! You gotta protect us!’

Ellie nodded. ‘You don’t have to obey Mother. You have to protect us. We’re
human
guests!’

‘If you listen to Mother, you’re gonna get glooped,’ said Jez. ‘Do you want that?’

‘Well, actually, no. Not really.’

‘Then help us!’

Mother’s pause animation was replaced with her smiling face once more. ‘Frasier, I’ve given the situation some consideration and I’m afraid I’m also going to have to classify you as an unauthorised and potentially hostile trespasser in this facility. Is that understood?’

“I understand, Mother.’ He dropped his tray onto the plaza. The cafetiere and the porcelain cups shattered on the stone work. ‘In which case…I do believe, I quit.’

CHAPTER 26