Chapter 18 as it appeared
Part 3: Evolution Bites
Authors: Gabby, PCat
Acknowledgment: Based on an idea by Ian, Extra input from BD, Kulko and Tarrok
Chapter 18: The Long Game
Malton +68
Agony. Moldering's every movement sent spasms of pain through Gabby's body. Right now, it felt like he was removing something from his insides. Probably seeing if any of Gabby's liver were left. Gabby's pain-frazzled brain suddenly thought of something - he had left without properly saying goodbye to Cat. They had gotten so used to the idea of immortality that they had never really considered losing each other to the Reaper.
And he wasn't about to start now. Gritting his teeth, Gabby closed his grip on his shotgun, dropped on the ground as he had fallen. Trying not to make any sudden movements, he turned it round and aimed it at the mutant as he gorged himself on Gabby's liver.
"Sic semper... fuck it," Gabby grunted, squeezing the trigger and firing a spray of lead into Moldering's head at point blank rage. The man let off a beast-like roar, rocked back on his haunches, and fled down the corridor, moaning and clutching the remains of his face.
Gabby groaned, reached up and grabbed a pipe protruding from the wall. As he pulled himself up, he let out a strangled cry.
"Now... which way is out?" he muttered, limping down the tunnel, leaning on the wall for support.
"Help!"
Gabby became faintly aware of an insistent cry. It was coming from down a brightly-lit corridor. He hadn't passed through any brightly-lit corridors on his way in, so that way was definitely further in than he wanted to be.
"Please, he's coming back!"
Something about the voice was familiar. Gabby felt something shift in his stomach, and reflexively shot a hand down to the hole where his liver had once been. It was healing, but not fast enough. He was in no state to rescue anyone.
He heard sounds of movement and a grunting roar.
"Oh God, please! Don't hurt me!"
Gabby gritted his teeth, and kept moving.
Joe Scalia's precise words, when he'd phoned her hotel room, had been, "I only turned my back for a minute."
Cat wished she'd had time to wait for back up, but her instincts had urged her to get into the tunnels as soon as possible. She hadn't told Joe, since he'd have pointed out something rational, like they didn't want to rescue her as well as Gabby. She'd simply passed on BD's number. He was in Washington, fund-raising for something or other. He wouldn't be here in time.
She had dataglasses adapted to infra-red, unwilling to risk a light in the tunnel complex and she'd helped herself to one of the small caches of automatic weaponry Gabby kept in a locked boxes in various parts of the world. It was a hangover from the resistance days, but experience had made them both feel safer with guns to hand, and so they'd kept the stashes going.
Something was moving in the tunnel up ahead with a strange, staggering walk. Cat took a careful bead on it and backed up against the tunnel wall. As it lurched closer it began to resolve into a more human shape and Cat realised suddenly who she was looking at.
"Gabby!" she said softly and threw herself into his arms.
"Cat? Is that you? I can't see a fucking thing."
Cat pulled off her glasses and risked switching on the small LED torch on her tac vest. Gabby looked terrible. There were streaks of dried blood on his face and what looked like a nasty wound in his stomach.
"Oh God!" she whispered. "Was that your liver?"
"I reckon, didn't get a close look." He slumped against the wall. "I don't suppose you have any sugar on you?"
Cat dumped her pack and pulled out a high energy drink. While Gabby drank it she did her best to bandage up the gaping wound. "I have to get you out of here," she whispered.
Gabby closed his eyes and then took a deep breath. "Cat, there's someone else down here."
"Besides Fox? Who?"
"I don't know. I only heard the voice but it sounded familiar. They need rescuing."
Cat gulped. "I'm not a hero, Gabby. I can't take on Fox."
"Can't leave him, whoever he is, though, can we? There's some big lab space, I think, just back there, brightly lit tunnel. I hurt Fox pretty bad. We need to try and get the poor bastard out."
"Tell me where it is," Cat whispered. "Stay here. I'll be right back." She pulled some ammunition from her pack and handed it to Gabby. "Protect yourself OK?"
"Cat?"
"Yes?"
"I love you. Just wanted you to know."
"Neither of us is going to die Gabby. Don't be like that."
"Say it anyway."
"I love you too." Her lips briefly brushed his and she was gone.
Cat entered the laboratory space. After the brightness of the corridor, the half-dark made it difficult to see more than the rough outline of benches. She switched her dataglasses back to night-vision and watched the pale shapes loom up. In the far corner was a cage with someone in it.
Cat hurried over, wanting to get out of the area as quickly as possible. There were too many places to hide.
"Who is it?" asked a voice, with an Australian accent.
Cat squinted behind her glasses, but still couldn't make out the features.
"Sy?" she hazarded.
"Cat! Watch out!"
"Well, well, well," rasped a cultured voice. "It seems I've caught someone else in my little honey trap."
Cat whirled and emptied her clip in the direction of the voice. There was a low chuckle.
"You'll have to do better than that."
Frantically Cat scrabbled to reload as something heavy barrelled into her, slamming her against the cage.
"Hold on Cat!" came Sy's voice and she felt his hands at her waist, where a backup pistol was holstered.
She lashed out at the thing in front of her with the butt of the automatic.
"Unfriendly," said Fox's voice.
There was a shot and Fox staggered back. Cat slammed the next clip into the magazine. She could see him now and fired a burst into his lumbering form. It turned and ran. There was a second shot and she heard the sound of metal squeaking. Sy was letting himself out of the cage. She couldn't see Fox anywhere.
"Where's he gone?"
"To lick his wounds. Gabby had already hurt him pretty badly. He was cursing at me before you came in. I don't think he'll trouble us again now."
Cat took a deep shuddering breath. "Good! But what the hell are you doing here?"
Gabby was only half aware of what was going on around him. The high energy drink had helped somewhat and probably given the nanites a boost, but he kept drifting into sleep. Voices were approaching.
"Come on Gabby, you've got to move love. Fox is still around somewhere." Gabby felt Cat's arms around him, hauling him to his feet.
"Here let me help you." It was the same voice as before. Gabby cracked his eyes open. Sy, of course, he should have recognised him.
"You're not much better off than he is. You're thin as a rake. Wasn't Fox feeding you?"
"Only the minimum. Didn't want me trying anything."
Gabby grunted in pain as they lifted him. Then everything was a bit of a daze until he felt a cold wind on his face.
"Jesus, we're in the middle of nowhere." That was Sy again.
"Now we're in the open, the signal should start working. They'll find us."
Gabby let himself drift away until there were bright lights and many excited voices.
"BD! How did you get here!"
"Ian sent the presidential jet, Sis. Fuck! Don't rush off like that. You nearly gave me a heart attack."
He was being strapped into some kind of bed. He was vaguely aware of Cat giving instructions - mostly involving sugar, drips and just letting him heal. In the background behind her BD and Sy were talking.
"We couldn't figure out what had happened to you." BD was saying. "We heard you were picked up, but Ian couldn't find you on any prisoner lists."
"I... I got co-opted into some government agency, under the cover of a company called Biofusion." Sy sounded hesitant all of a sudden.
Gabby felt Cat's hand tighten on his. "Biofusion? But that's the company that had Bryn."
"Yes. They did."
Then there was a lot of shouting. Cat's hand left his and Gabby struggled to sit up. Sy was on the ground with BD standing over him while Cat ineffectually grappled with her brother, her arms held tightly round his.
"You fucking traitor!" BD was shouting.
They weren't exactly a tribunal, but nor was the meeting exactly friendly. After a lot of discussion Ian had ruled that BD and Bryn should be present, since Bryn was directly effected. Sam, Vicky and Cat were invited because of their areas of expertise. Gabby had just sort of wangled his way in going on the assumption that if there were enough couples in the room, no one would think to question his presence. So far they hadn't.
Sy looked tired and Gabby couldn't help feeling sorry for him. It wasn't like Sy had had a lot of choice, though BD chose not to see it that way.
Ian opened the meeting by addressing Sy. "Thank you for restoring Bryn to consciousness. Now we're hoping you can tell us a lot more about the Biofusion research."
Sy nodded. "I've spoken a bit to Sam and Cat. Your supposition about the nanites receiving and reacting to radio signals is correct. As they guessed it turned out that the incurable nanites were a lot less mutated than ours were, so they were a good first step in the experimental process."
"And you experimented on Bryn," said BD.
"She was last. That was the best I could do. We got through a lot of others first. Fox Moldering was one of the later ones. The effects on him... well Gabby and Cat have seen him... but he has a lot of control and he's clever. He understands the research and he's experimented on himself since. Bryn was counted a success. After Bryn they started experimenting on the cured."
"They what!" shouted BD. "Who?"
"Terrorist groups mostly. I think Simon was working up the food chain, surviving RRF, the Dead, whoever he could get his hands on really. No DHPD, though I'm sure he'd have worked up to us soon enough."
"So Simon has control codes for the cured, as well as the incurable?" asked Sam.
"Some, not as many as he would have liked. Mostly he could just cause confusion and disorientation, not real control like he had on Bryn. And it all only worked at close range."
"Nothing to cause mutations like Fox Moldering though," asked Ian.
Sy looked anxious. "That's difficult to answer."
"Why?"
"The mutations weren't triggered by the signals?" asked Sam.
Sy shook his head. "They probably were, or at least they were accelerated by the experiments. But they are unique and irreproducible."
Cat paled. "Oh no!"
Gabby frowned at her. "Cat? What haven't you and Sam been telling us?"
"Well it's only a hypothesis," said Sam.
"But?" pressed Gabby.
Cat swallowed. "The nanites are proliferating."
"What does that mean?" asked BD.
"Basically there isn't much of us left," said Sam. "As our cells die they get replaced by nanites."
"We're sort of walking nanite colonies these days," said Cat. "Not really biological organisms in the traditional sense. What's more we know the nanites mutate so..." her voice tailed away into a shrug.
"Wait a minute!" Gabby poked himself in the chest. "I still feel like me. I mean the me, me. Before Malton."
"Well, even without the nanites, cells get replaced. On a physical level you wouldn't be the same you, even without them," said Cat.
"But as it is. Well, let's say the people who say we're not human aren't that far wrong," said Sam.
Sy nodded. "I'm afraid so. Necrotech had no idea what they were doing. All Biofusion really established were some temporary control codes. But they also confirmed that the nanites proliferate and mutate. Fox Moldering shows us where that's likely to go but beyond that no one knows fuck all about what's going to happen."
"None of this goes beyond this room," said Ian suddenly. "This information will cause widespread panic, far more so than the revelation of immortality did. I need to think about the implications and come up with a plan. Right now no one is to make the slightest suggestion that we are in any way not human."
Billows of pale liquid swirled in the darker red depths. Gabby sighed as he put the milk down. One of his new passions was making tea. Apparently he often stood staring into the mug for minutes on end, watching as it infused. It was a few days since the scientists had dropped a bombshell - that the immortals were no longer human, or at least, that's what Gabby had extrapolated from the briefing. The scientist lot were still discussing and arguing, but they had retreated to some lab space Ian had set up, leaving Vicky and Gabby to sit and worry outside.
"Here you go, babe," Gabby said softly, handing Vicky a mug of tea.
"Cheers. I wish I could go in."
"You could, you're a doctor."
"Yeah, but it's not really my area, and I'd only get in the way and slow things down."
"You'll just have to stay out here with the great unwashed," Gabby remarked, putting an arm round her.
"You're hardly a thickie, Gabby." Vicky leaned into his shoulder.
"Didn't graduate high school."
"True. Very true. Still, we'll just leave em to it - they'll sort it all out."
"I hope so." Gabby fell silent and sipped his tea, staring at the carpet.
"What's on your mind, Gabs?"
"What if they're all right?"
"They?"
"The wankers. What if we're not human, we really are a separate species?"
"What'll that change?"
"Everything, Vicky. We'll have different rights, different laws about us. We'll be watched, followed and mistrusted. It's not fair."
"We beat the Empire, Gabby. We'll cope."
"It's not just that... it scares me, Vicky, how few of us there are. Fifty years ago... how close did we come to fucking it all up?"
Vicky looked quizzically up at him.
"Well, for me, at least. I don't know. I came very close to alienating every immortal woman I knew. I would be alone."
"But you wisened up. And now you're happy with Cat. Gabby, what is going on in that little head of yours? Everything will be... it'll work out somehow. You won't end up alone. They can try and oppress us, but look how the last one who tried that ended up!"
"Simon didn't fall because he was mean to us. Hell, look at those anti-immortal groups. They're going up fast, Vicky! If this shit leaks... I don't want to think about it."
"Then don't," Vicky said simply, knocking her head against his. "Stop pondering, it doesn't suit you. Where's the Gabby I know and love?"
"I'm not just a pretty face, you know." Gabby pouted.
"It's nice to be outside." Bryn took a deep breath of the spring air. It was warm enough to be pleasant and the hot summer hadn't yet set in, making the place oppressive.
"We can leave any time," said BD.
Bryn smiled at him fondly. "No we can't, and you know it. Ian still hasn't decided whether I'm safe or not."
"Ian wouldn't stop us." BD was looking stubborn, hands thrust firmly in his pockets.
Bryn turned round and kissed him gently. "Let's not find out eh? I really might be dangerous, you know. Do you seriously want me on the loose, all zombied up and killing people?"
"Guess not," mumbled BD. "I'd just like to get on with our lives though."
"Always impatient." Bryn brushed her hands over his short hair. "What's the rush anyway? All of a sudden we're going to have to find somewhere to live. We'll need jobs. Neither of us are exactly in practice for settling down." She allowed herself a laugh. She hardly remembered when she'd led a normal life. BD had spent a good deal more of the past seventy years conscious than she had, but from what she gathered that had hardly been settled either. They were going to need to do some adjusting.
"If I don't rush. You might vanish again," said BD, pain evident in every line of his face.
What could she say to that? He was right, whatever the legacy was it was unknown and appeared to be rushing towards them. Sy and Cat kept having disturbing conversations about the significance of immortal livers. "If I go toothy and liver-munching, I promise I'll keep you close by," she said lightly and smiled. "You ain't getting away from me, Andrew Clark."
"I know." BD stared up at the sky and then suddenly he took both her hands and looked directly into her eyes. "Bryn?"
"Yes?"
Then he was down on one knee. "Bryn, will you marry me?"
Malton +69
"How's the Fox Moldering hunt going?" Danny asked.
He'd dropped by Joe's house. He had two weeks' leave and travel was too expensive to make it worth going far. Since he was currently posted in New Mexico, Santa Teresa seemed like as good a place as any to visit.
"It's not," said Joe glumly over his whiskey.
"How come? You guys ran him to ground pretty quickly last year."
"Then he got away in all the excitement," said Joe, lighting up a cigarette. "Fucking Gabriel Mallows going off like a loose cannon."
Danny shrugged. "Gabby's always been like that. He gets it right more often that he gets it wrong through."
"Well that time he fucked up big time. The trail's gone cold. I've not had a lead in months. Wherever Fox has gone, he's being more careful than he was."
"He'll show up. He can't be careful forever."
"Maybe not, but the lack of progress irks me."
"Patience! You can afford to wait as long as he can."
"We're expecting the first results in by about half eleven," Tarrok said, glancing at his notes. "The pundits tell me the first predictions for a winner are likely to roll in around fifteen hundred hours. If all goes as predicted Ian will be appearing to claim victory around about twenty hundred. That will be the key moment."
"You got somewhere to put me under lock and key?" asked Bryn. Her tone said she was only half-joking.
"All the immortals in the building will be given genetically locked tags. We'll be keeping track of us all and we can tell if anyone takes their tag off. That's your job." Tarrok nodded at the assembled faces. BD and Bryn were sitting side-by-side looking calm and professional. Joe and Anton sat opposite them. Kulko was slouched at the back, registering his disapproval of all the officialdom. "One of us goes rogue, then one of us hunts them down."
"What if an immortal sneaks in with the general public? It's not like we're all satellite tracked, much as the anti-immortal league would like us to be," said Joe.
"We've got detectors built into all the entrances," said Tarrok. "They'll ping a signal off the nanites. Something Sy came up with when he was working for Biofusion. There won't be any immortals sneaking in."
BD shook his head. "Fucking nanites, the more I hear about them, the more I feel like a fucking remote controlled toy."
Bryn squeezed his hand. "We've got radio signal blockers, tranquilisers, a whole armoury of other stuff Cat and Sam have been working on. It'll be fine."
"It had better be," said Tarrok. "I've got a team of humans lined up with automatics and anti-personnel weaponry. It's their job to take us out if we all go rogue."
It was only after the briefing that Tarrok realised he'd referred to mortals as humans with the tacit assumption that the immortals were something else.
Joe lurked, smoking, in the background by the security gates. Kulko stood at his elbow.
"Remember Eritrea?" he asked.
"You spotted one I didn't there," said Joe.
"You reckon anyone's going to try anything tonight?"
"I would if I were them. Too sweet an opportunity to miss."
They stared at the gates a bit longer in silence. Joe stamped out his cigarette underfoot.
"Why are you watching the gates?"
"The detectors don't work on Bryn. That means an incurable could get through."
"Fox Moldering? He wouldn't try anything would he?"
"Yes he would!" Joe straightened up. Kulko followed his eyeline to where a large man in raincoat and trilby was just coming through the gates.
"That could be anyone."
"It's Fox." Joe was already moving forwards. "Suspect at gate 3. I want security teams three and nine moving to intercept." He sub-vocalised the orders into his throat mic.
Joe had only closed half the distance when Kulko saw Fox look in their direction. His hand moved upwards, ghosted a salute in Joe's direction and then he turned and jumped.
Joe was already running forwards, shouting orders, but Fox landed on top of the security gate and jumped down the other side. People fled in all directions, while the security forces struggled to find a clear shot. Amid the chaos Kulko saw Fox break free of the crowd and begin running across the parking lot. Joe was in hot pursuit, but he dropped to one knee to take aim. Joe had one of the new automatics, small, compact, yet with considerable stopping power. Kulko watched Fox's body shake under the impact of the bullets, but he kept moving forwards. Joe was up and running after him when a car screeched up. Fox vanished inside. Joe let off a final spray of bullets but the car carried on moving out the gate.
"Fucking thing was armour plated," muttered Joe as Kulko ran up to him.
"So he's got accomplices, resources and money."
Joe spat. "He's playing with us. I hate being messed with."
"He's going to go on doing it until you get him or give up."
"Giving up isn't an option."
Malton +70
"The new album takes different directions to your previous fare. The title track is a ballad, there's a jazz standard, a blues song, there are a couple of other soppy ballads. What influenced that?"
"Well, over the past few years, I suppose I've been avoiding the Bad Apple persona. I mean, it was hardly safe at first, was it?"
"But you didn't return to it after the truth and reconciliation hearings?" the journalist said pointedly. Gabby sighed.
"No. I've been playing the rock'n'roll outcast for seventy years. I wanted to try to do some maturing. To be fair, right, check the album again. You see how the first set of songs is all straight-up Gabby rock? That's for the diehard fans who will inevitably hate change. For the people whose musical taste evolves beyond their backyard, I recorded the second lot, which, in my opinion, are some of the best things I've ever done."
"The love ballads? Whenever the Bad Apple sung about love, it was very much in keeping with your playboy reputation. Now, we've got lines like `In it for the long run' and you actually use the L word, and no, not 'lesbian'." The journalist paused and glanced at the camera, grinning smugly. "More than once, it sounds like you mean it. Is the Bad Apple dead?"
"Yes and no. I'm pretty fucking sick of people tying me to the Bad Apple. The Bad Apple isn't dead, of course not. And neither is the style. That rock music is who I am, no matter how I experiment. But Gabby the persona I've been given?"
"One could say you created that persona, or at least, you milked it."
"Fine, whatever. He's dead, yes. I've settled down. Is this really relevant to the music though?" Gabby said with a sigh.
"OK. We're now going to the next portion of the interview, in which the viewers can send in their questions - and they will not be vetted! Music 24/7 is the only channel with true freedom of speech!" the journalist said brightly. Gabby was starting to doubt his journalistic credentials. Gabby realised he was clutching the chair tightly. He had been on phone-ins before, many times. But they had always been strictly moderated. This "freedom" was a gimmick too far.
"Gabby, I love the new directions you've taken on this album. Just a question about your influences, really. I'd love to get to the roots of your music!"
Gabby grinned, relieved. He was good at music talk. Maybe the lack of moderation would mean he would be spoon-fed less controversial questions.
"Well, as you know, I'm a relic of the 20th Century. Try to check out some mid-century music, blues-rock, etc, check out some inter-war blues, sixties music. All sorts. The ballads are pure Muse. The blues... it's everywhere in what I do, to be honest."
"OK, next question!" the presenter, as Gabby was thinking of him now, said loudly, scowling at Gabby to cut off his speech before he got into it.
"Do you not think your immortality confers you an unfair advantage over other, human musicians? You have had almost one hundred years to hone your craft and cement your position. Aren't you stifling creativity?"
Malton +71
Dear Mr Brankin
I am writing to you on behalf of my client Mrs Braunwyn Clark, in response to your letter of the 25th April.
Firstly, it was established, through energetic efforts by yourself I believe, that those victims of Necrotech's experimentation in Malton were not, in any way, the property of Necrotech. Nor could the nanites placed inside their bodies be considered the property of Necrotech. The precedent would therefore appear clear that Biofusion incorporated has no claim to the person of Mrs Clark.
I believe you are aware of this since, in your letter, you make much of the fact that Mrs Clark was voluntarily placed under the care of Biofusion inc. Unfortunately Mrs Clark was not consulted on this matter. Mr. Andrew Clark, who took the action was, at that time, unrelated to Mrs Clark and a fugitive from your own justice system and therefore in no legal position to give permission for any experimentation on her person.
Mr and Mrs Clark have given me to understand that they will resist all attempts to recall Mrs Clark to Biofusion premises for any purposes whatsoever, precautionary or otherwise. Furthermore, I attach with this letter an injunction requiring yourself and all employees of Biofusion inc. to cease all contact with the Clarks.
Yours etc.
"Since when do you introduce yourself as Dr. Clark?" Gabby said suspiciously, bringing a pan into the front room and spooning pasta onto Cat's plate. He scowled at the sofa - he had forgotten a plate for himself. After a moment's deliberation, he shrugged, and flopped down next to her, eating out of the pan with the serving spoon.
"Since my PhD? I told you about it, Gabby."
"You've had a PhD for ages though, you've never exploited it."
"True. But with all the hysteria, I need to be all formal and sciencey. Ian's setting up an institute. I'm going to be a scientific advisor."
"Scientific advisor? Soon you won't have time to make me sandwiches!"
Cat hit him.
"Why didn't you tell me though, babe? I would have been happy for you."
"I just... didn't want to go on about it," Cat said with a shrug.
"Because I've spent the past seventy years pissing about, you didn't want to make me feel like an idiot?" Gabby guessed.
"Hey, I would never call your life a waste of time, you've done great things. But... you could broaden your horizons a teensy bit," Cat said softly, squeezing his hand. Gabby chewed his lip for a moment.
"I'm going to do a degree in Astrophysics."
"You what?"
"Astrophysics. Why not? It's a cool-sounding thing. Brian May did one. I'm also going to learn Spanish properly, and work on learning the piano."
Malton +73
"Those things will kill you, you know." Detective Inspector Jackson nodded towards Joe's smoldering cigarette.
"No they won't."
The man seemed about to argue and then Joe saw the penny drop. "Suit yourself," Jackson said curtly. "It's down here."
His flashlight illuminated the interior of a cellar. Joe stepped inside cautiously, switching on his own torch. The detritus of the police investigation forlornly littered the floor.
"Liver was missing, you say?" asked Joe.
"Yup! That's what made us think it might be your fella. That and the grafitti."
Joe looked at the ugly letters scrawled in blood on the walls. "Down with the RRF! Stinking Pigs go home!" His heart sank.
"It was a policeman got killed, you say?"
"Yup! Called Bobby Monroe. Someone heard tell there was a Monroe with your lot in Malton. We wondered if there was a link."
"It's a copy cat," said Joe. "Or someone trying to cover up killing your man, by making it look like it's Fox Moldering. I'd take your investigation back to whoever put the idea around that the two Monroes might have been connected. That's what whoever did this wants you to think."
"What makes you so sure?"
"Brains Monroe wasn't a part of the DHPD, who weren't called the RRF, and Fox Moldering knows all that and wouldn't get it muddled up."
"It was a long time ago," said the detective defensively.
"But we remember all the same."
"Jesus, Gabby's going to college?" Vicky repeated, sipping her drink and staring at Cat, an eyebrow raised.
"Yeah. Astrophysics." Cat rolled her eyes.
"Oh no. Are you two starting an arms race of qualifications?"
"What do you mean?"
"C'mon. You get a PhD, then Gabby suddenly goes to college. And what's that politics text book you just bought. I bet you're off to do another degree now."
"Maybe," Cat said guiltily, tipping her drink up to cover her face.
Malton +74
"Can't you rewrite the constitution so you can stay on!" demanded Gabby.
"No. I'm touched by your faith that I'd get voted in."
"But! Fuck! Ian. Both lots are talking about registers of immortals. It's fucking crazy."
"The sooner you and Joe track down Fox, the calmer it will all become."
"That's not true and you know it," interrupted BD. "This thing is going to run and run."
"Two separate species. It can't end well," said Bryn.
"I have faith."
"Fuck faith! There'll be camps! restrictions! fuck knows what. I've lived through one dictatorship. I'm not living through another," stormed Gabby.
"I've spent ten years dismantling the world government power structures. There won't be another Simon. Individual countries have lots of autonomy, even if one is hostile to us, another won't be."
"Pigs might fly," muttered BD.
Malton +75
"Gabby said you'd be in here."
Cat looked up to see Tim standing in the doorway, a bunch of flowers in his hand. His hair had gone grey and lines were deepening in his face.
"Tim! Good to see you!"
"Happy Birthday Mum!" Tim handed over the bunch of flowers and kissed her on the cheek. "What's this?" he asked, gesturing at the equipment on the bench.
"Radio transmitter, basically. We're still trying to crack the API on the nanites."
"Care to demonstrate?"
"Well we have to be a bit careful about sending random signals, and there's not many we know about that have obvious effects. Thanks to the Necrotech notes Sy saw, we know the `on switch'" Cat casually flicked one of the switches. "But since we're all `on' already there's not much to see."
She glanced up. Tim's eyes had glazed over and his body had gone rigid.
"Tim! Tim!" Cat caught him as he fell. Frantically she powered down the machine. "Gabby! Help! Something's happened to Tim!"
Malton +76
"You heard about Cat's kids," said Bryn. She sat down next to BD on their porch and helped herself to a beer from the ice box.
"Everyone's heard about the kids. It's great news. Shame they didn't find out they were immortal a little earlier but still, great news."
"I don't know. It's a bit of a horrible choice in a way. Deciding whether you want to be immortal, but having to decide when you want to be `fixed' and all the unknowns to do with the nanites."
"You've been fine. I don't think your situation is any different from the rest of us really." BD answered a different question.
"So you think the uncertainty is worth it?"
BD stared out to where the sun was setting in the distance, and put a hand out to stroke her hair. "All eternity to sit with you? Yeah, it's worth a little uncertainty."
"In which case, I've been thinking. We don't know what's coming but at the moment everything is reasonably quiet. If you wanted... well... if you wanted to start a family... I think now might be the time."
Malton +77
Bryn was doing exercises with a news feed on in the background, just to stop her mind wandering too far from the task in hand. She was halfway through the day's routine when the ominous phrase, "Members of the DHPD were both aware of and involved in the experiments," filtered into her awareness. She put down the weights carefully and reached for the controller, pulling the feed to visual and displaying it on one of the screens.
Fox Moldering's face stared out at her. He was large and physically powerful, but there was no sign of the teeth or the claws that Cat had mentioned. Bryn recognised the interviewer as Rafael Rivera. He was a serious heavy-weight journalist. This was going to be big.
Rivera turned to the camera. "Our science experts have been explaining how this new information effects our understanding of the Necrotech nanites and their operation."
The segment cut into graphics as Rivera's voice began to explain about the nanite replacement of cells and the risks of mutation. Several icons began flashing wildly in the corner of the screen, and an insistent beeping came over the speakers. Her personal computer assistant was trying to inform her that urgent messages were incoming.
"I'll bet," muttered Bryn, grabbing hold of a towel and heading for the shower. "Tell BD:" She called out the keywords for the voice recognition. "I've seen it love, I'm going to freshen up, then I'll call you back. End Tell." She glanced at the screen to check it had recognised the keywords to stop the recording. "All Messages. On Hold," she added. She was going to talk to BD first, before she spoke to anyone else.
"He's wanted for the murder of three DHPD members!" Joe shouted at the phone.
"I know Joe, I'm pulling every string I can," said Ian's weary voice.
"Then what's the problem? He's fucking poncing around in London like some kind of celebrity."
"People are very upset about the implications of his information."
"What fucking difference does that make? He's still a murderer! I'm getting on a plane to London. Fuck the expense."
"Please Joe. If we try to arrest him just now it'll look like part of the cover up. Give it a couple of months and then we can get the arrest warrant."
"In a couple of months he'll have gone to ground again and you know it. I don't believe this. I've been hunting him for ten years and he's right there on my media screen, doing chat shows! And you say I can't get him arrested?"
"He's doing chat shows in the UK, Joe, and he committed the murders in the US."
"What's the fucking world government for?"
"A lot less than it was before I dismantled most of it. The UK has it's own jurisdiction. I'm doing everything I can."
"It's not enough."
Joe hung up. He was too angry to talk to Ian any more, even though he knew it wasn't really Ian's fault. He checked his bank balance. He didn't have the money for the flight. Gabby's last couple of albums had bombed. Cat had sold up their Greek flat, keeping just a bedsit they had in London near Gabby's producers and promoters. Joe doubted somehow that she would be able to magic up any travel money for him.
"What do you say to allegations that you have murdered several former DHPD members?" asked the interviewer.
"Nothing to do with me, old bean" came Fox Moldering's educated British tones. "However the research definitely suggest the possibility of unstable mutations. I count myself lucky that I don't suffer such ill effects but it wouldn't surprise me at all if some within the DHPD ranks do."
Joe switched off the screen in disgust.
"Can I get you more wine?" Gabby offered as he wandered to the kitchen.
"Do you need to ask?" Cat stretched out her limbs and scowled at the TV. Gabby had gotten her watching some rockumentary. This one was about Jimi Hendrix. She preferred this to last night's one. It had been about some horrible metal band. Right now, Eric Clapton was saying something about Hendrix. It worried Cat, how much Gabby had rubbed off on her, music taste and all. As he slumped down onto the sofa next to her and handed her her wine-glass, nice and re-filled, she decided it was worth it.
"S'coming up to a live performance," Gabby said excitedly. Cat recognised the opening notes of Voodoo Child. The drums crashed in, and Gabby cranked the volume up.
"Gabby! What about the neighbours?"
"Fuck 'em."
Shouts drifted in from the street below. Gabby sighed and went to close the window, muttering,
"Fucking drunken wankers, shut the fuck up." He reached the window and leaned out. Bullets thudded into the wall next to his head. "Oh fuck. It's Moldering, Cat!"
"You sure?"
"Deadly. Let's move."
"Cos I'm a Voodoo Child
Cat fumbled for the remote as she got up.
"Fucking hell, Cat, drop it! Do we have guns here?"
"No! UK!"
"Motherfuck. Alright, just run."
As Gabby pushed Cat out of the room, the external wall exploded inwards, bombarding them with bricks and plaster-dust. Coughing, the two of them ran for the door. It burst open.
"Hello, Mallows, Clark. Delighted to see you!" Moldering drawled.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Gabby groaned, whirling around.
"Fire escape!" Cat suggested.
"Good idea!" Fox exclaimed. Gabby didn't look back, but the room was filled with an orange glow, and he felt the temperature rise. "Burn, my pretties, burn!"
"Jesus Christ, just run, Cat."
There was another explosion. Gabby fell sideways, yelling. He felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, and it was already growing sticky with blood. Cat lifted him to his feet and pushed her ahead of him.
"If I don't see you again in this world, I'll see you in the next one, and don't be late!"