“Do they work?” Jan asked her.
“I don’t know. The suits were to be used in an emergency. If Mum and Dad had to make a journey out on the surface for some reason. But they never got a chance to use them. The plague got in here first.”
“Through the same sort of filters?” Jan asked, her heart sinking.
“I guess so,” said Ashley, reluctantly.
“Well, this is a waste of time then,” said Jan, and she unsealed the hood and pushed it back so that it hung behind her. She decided, however, to keep the suit on. Its material was reassuringly thick and would offer some protection out in the blight land.
The weapons that Carl had advised her to select from the small armoury were two rifle-like devices. One, he informed her, was a laser. The other fired explosive projectiles which, he told her, were ‘smart bullets’. “When you have your target centred in the scope on top of the weapon simply press the firing button. The image in the scope is imprinted on the projectile’s ‘brain’ and it will make all the necessary manoeuvres to reach its target. Then it explodes.”
Jan had been impressed. Surely the weapon would be more than enough to deal with Ezekiel if she should encounter the creature.
“I’ve recharged the power units on both weapons,” said Carl, but then added blandly, “The laser should function efficiently but I can’t guarantee that the ammunition in the other weapon hasn’t deteriorated to the point of being useless.”
“Oh, great,” Jan had muttered.
Now she stood in the living room, weighed down by both weapons, her sword harness and a backpack containing food and water. “All ready?” Ashley asked eagerly. She looked very excited.
“I suppose so,” Jan answered without enthusiasm.
“Carl and I will shut down now. Then a panel will open and reveal the computer console. Carl has told you how to remove the software?”
“Yes.”
“The elevator will operate automatically. Carl says there’s no sign of the cyberoid, or any Sky Lords.”
“Good,” said Jan, her mouth dry.
“Right then, here we go … Oh, and Jan, you will be very careful with the software, won’t you? I know I’m not really alive but I still don’t want to die. Again.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you.”
Ashley then vanished. There was silence.
“Ashley, Carl?” said Jan.
No answer. She suddenly felt very alone. Then she gave a start as a panel slid open in the wall in front of her with a mechanical whine. She saw a row of lights. She approached the console and pressed the two buttons that Carl had told her to press. A small glass panel slid open in the console and she reached inside and withdrew the software. Jan was surprised to see that it consisted of a small tube about four inches long and one and a half inches in width. She found it hard to believe that it contained all of Ashley’s memories, her mind and emotions, not to mention Carl as well. She carefully put it in her backpack and turned towards the elevator. As she approached it the door opened.
She hesitated when she saw Ezekiel’s mechanical hand still lying on the floor of the elevator. Then she stepped over it and kicked it out into the living room with the toe of her boot. The door closed.
When the door opened again Jan was dazzled by bright sunlight. Then she gagged as the stench of the fungus hit her. She was tempted to put the hood back on but feared it would restrict her vision and hearing. She wanted to be fully alert for any sign of Ezekiel.
The alley between the stones was empty. She emerged cautiously from the elevator, the laser in her hands. The projectile weapon remained strapped over her shoulder. Slowly she retraced her footsteps of nineteen days ago until the spot where Milo died was visible once again. She hesitated by the great block of white stone, still expecting the cyberoid to leap shrieking into view at any moment.
Finally, she approached the site of Milo’s death. There was nothing left of him but bones. Animals had eaten his flesh, insects had stripped the remaining organic matter from his bones.
His bones gleamed.
She squatted down beside them. They weren’t ordinary bones. They seemed to be made of a mixture of metal and some other material. None of them had been damaged by Ezekiel’s onslaught. Even Milo’s skull was intact. It had a bluish sheen to it, as did his other bones.
She reached out with tentative fingers and touched it. Then she came to a decision, hooked a finger through one of the eye sockets and picked it up. It was very light. She stood and, after a cautious scan of the nearby trees, took off her pack and put Milo’s skull inside it. Then she shouldered her pack again and headed towards the city.
It was mid-afternoon when she reached the outskirts of the city. She had got that far without serious incident, with the exception of an encounter with one of the big reptiles. It had come lumbering towards her through the trees, but she had fired the laser at it and the thing had abruptly collapsed into a twitching heap when it was still some fifty feet away. There had been no sign of Ezekiel, but Jan couldn’t shake off the feeling that it was near. And following her.
The outskirts of the city consisted of the ruins of private dwelling places set in their own rather spacious grounds. The fungus, she noticed, didn’t grow in the same profusion as it did in the woods. She paused to rest, sitting down on the remains of a stone wall. She propped the laser up alongside her then took one of the canteens out of the back-pack and had a drink of water.
Some minutes later she decided to push on but before she did she pulled the hood on and sealed it. Maybe it would do her no good at all, or maybe it was too late and one of the designer plagues was already at work inside her body, but it was better than nothing.
As Jan walked she kept turning to look behind her, the laser at the ready. She would give Ezekiel, or anything else for that matter, no chance of catching her by surprise. Occasionally she also looked upwards but the clear sky remained devoid of Sky Lords.
The further she penetrated into the city the less fungus there was. It was as if even those loathsome growths shunned this place of such awful death. It was hot wearing the hood and sweat streamed down her face but she was determined to keep it on. What she would do when she became desperate for a drink of water, or needed to take a pee, she would worry about later.
She was passing vehicles now. Some had wheels but many didn’t and she wondered how the latter managed to move about. She peered into their interiors occasionally, but there was no trace left of their long-dead owners apart from scraps of clothing. Yet the upholstery on the seats looked almost new.
The buildings grew higher and closer together as she continued onwards. Jan could still see the upper part of the Sky Tower looming ahead of her but it didn’t seem to be getting any closer. With alarm, she realized the sun would be going down soon.
Her footsteps on the strange surface of the roadway echoed back and forth from the walls and façades of the buildings. She kept to the middle of the road, nervously eyeing the darkened doorways and blank windows. The feeling that she was being watched was getting stronger. Jan stopped and listened carefully. Surely if Ezekiel was close by she would hear its heavy tread. But there was no sound at all. She continued on, keeping a tight grip on the laser, which provided a certain comfort.
The sun sank behind the tall buildings. Long shadows filled the artificial valley she moved through. Jan wished Milo was with her, despite everything she had felt about him. She thought of his skull resting in her backpack and wondered again why she had decided to take it. Probably because she felt she owed something to his memory. …
Her head was aching. Was it the first symptom of plague? She was thirsty too. If she was sick it wasn’t going to make any difference if she removed the hood to drink some water.