Divided Worlds Trilogy 01 - Disconnect (7 page)

Zachary’s heart beat fast when her eyes flicked around. “Can you see me?”

Rosa squinted. “Stop ruffling your hair. You’re only making it worse. It’s so dark. Are you in a cave?”

“Kind of. I shouldn’t do this. It’s dangerous. If anybody catches me …”

Rosa’s hair hung straight with a sloped wave across her brow as she looked aside. “I thought I’d see something I recognised, other than your face. Everything seems empty. Like a blank page that’s been painted black.”

“It’s not all empty. We have piles of things out there.”

Rosa grinned. “I meant empty metaphorically.”

Zachary nodded, pretending to understand.

Her lips rehearsed without sound. “Are you always alone? Do you have any friends?”

“Just Patch. My Haulage-404 droid.”

“That’s kind of like me and Alice.”

“No way. Patch’s got one arm, no legs, and one working eye. He’s just good at decorating our wall at home. I turn him on, now and again.”

Rosa face squirmed. “A part-time friend then.”

“
Zachary!
” yelled a husky voice. Diego. He sounded close.

Pinning himself against an overturned digger, he peered outward. He couldn’t let the recruit see him with the Raptor.

Zachary grimaced. “I have to go.”

Rosa’s face shuddered. “What’s wrong? Is there someone coming? You look like you’re about to cry.”

Diego’s voice rang out again. Closer.

Zachary clenched his teeth. “Can you still call me if I wipe the memory?”

“Not if you’re going to act like this. What have I done? I thought we were getting along.” Rosa sat back, spreading her arms. Her buttoned shirt stretched across her shoulders.

“You haven’t done anything.”

“Then why the hurry to wipe the memory?”

“Because you want me to, don’t you?” he snapped.

“Fine. The password is FAIL. F. A. I. L. Go to the Settings screen and enter that code again in the Memory Reset Section. That’ll wipe the memory and deactivate the locator beacon.”

Zachary stuttered. “You have a locator beacon in here?”

“All Intercoms do.”

His hand trembled around the Raptor. It could be transmitting his position at this very moment. “Who knows I’ve got this?”

“No one, apart from me and Alice. We haven’t notified anybody of it being missing. It’s not like patrollers are going to storm in.”

“Patrollers?”

“Stop worrying about it.”

“
Stop worrying?
I shouldn’t be speaking with you.” Zachary looked through the cracks of the vehicles. Where was the recruit?

“I shouldn’t have called.” Rosa shut her eyes. “Just wipe the Raptor. Wipe it.”

Her arm bolted forward, and then the blue haze of her figure disappeared.

She was gone.

Weakened warm sensations pulsed under Zachary’s thumb as he pushed the Raptor against his cheek. Had he overreacted? Rosa asked him to trust her. She said that she hadn’t activated the locator beacon, but she should have told him about the locators at the start.

“There you are,” announced Diego, skidding to a halt next to the vehicles.

Heart lunging from his chest, Zachary yelped. He rammed the Intercom into his coat pocket.

Diego waved his tar-mucked hands. “Where have you been?”

“I told you. I had to see someone.” Zachary left the vehicles.

“What, here?” queried Diego, looking back to the rusty stack.

“Someplace else. It doesn’t matter. I’ve been to see them.” Zachary changed the subject. “Find anything else?”

As if on cue, the ceiling-embedded turbines spun clockwise. He patted Diego’s arm to observe the jutting domes. Two other turbines, a hundred metres from those above, spun. Within seconds, ten more joined in, adding to the increased vapour of particles.

“How many drops a day are there?” asked Diego.

Unease chilled Zachary. “Usually one.”

Triangular sections of the ceiling, one by one, ejected downward sending multiple wide beams of light into the Wastelands. Bewildered, Zachary covered his eyes, peering upward. Was this a malfunction?

“It’s everywhere,” he said, pointing to the sections beaming down beyond the hills into the residential areas.

Tiny shapes, clustered to the centre, rolled out of the ceiling. They scattered further apart. Floating closer, their nature became clear; sheets of paper.

“This isn’t normal,” remarked Zachary, clasping the first sheet within reach.

The light from above slimmed to darkness as the triangular sections rose back to the ceiling, but Zachary read enough to bring goose bumps up all over his neck.

“Districts One to Four to be evacuated.”

Labourers from the Far-Wall mixed within the frantic crowd in the bartering camp. Even they hadn’t escaped the paper drop.

Inside the stall, Shekhar’s head jerked like a wrenched bolt toward Zachary. “You’re back too? Is everyone striking because of some sick joke? Fine, give me your stuff and get out of here. I expect double off you all tomorrow.”

Diego submitted the bag of marbles. Sparkles off the contents almost distracted Zachary from the object beside Shekhar’s heel. A decapitated human head. Letting other scavengers pass him, Zachary lowered his gaze a little. That had to be a part of Biro’s android. Light brown skin with curled black hair, and no eyes.

Shekhar knocked a marble on the pedestal. “Either you got lucky, or Mister Connor’s taught you well. You’ll get your reward tomorrow, once I’ve assessed everything. Okay, everybody leave.” He bent down and picked up the head.

Diego struggled for breath. “What is that?”

Shekhar held it up. “An android.”

“But, it looks …” began Diego, then shut his mouth.

Shekhar shook the head. “Repulsive? But worth a lot if we get more of these.” Descending the barrel-steps, his voice trailed. “Try not to have nightmares.”

Zachary stood behind the recruit. “Are you okay?”

Diego’s tongue slithered over his lips. “Yeah. I … I didn’t think Overworld could do that. They’re not meant to – are they? There are laws.”

“There’re probably laws about not doing paper drops. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Diego seized his arm. “You’re not a bad person. Thanks for today.”

So used to being termed a boy, Zachary felt showered with responsibility from the recruit’s words. “We’re scavengers. Don’t get all sweet with me.”

* * *

Paper-fuelled fires within dugout pits lit the streets of Shantytown. Zachary ducked under the specks of tinged ash floating in the air. From afar he’d noticed the glow from the lantern inside his home.

Two well-built men sat around the table, with Marcus leaned against the partition wall. A mound of paper rested on the stove. All nodded to acknowledge Zachary’s entry.

Juan, his dad’s Far-Waller friend, rattled his knuckles on the table. As always his black hair looked slick. “It was never like this the last time.”

This has happened before
, thought Zachary, removing his coat.

He accepted the “leave-the-room” signal from his dad, and moved to his bedroom. Stopping before he reached his bed, but out of sight of his dad, he listened.

Marcus grumbled. “You make it sound like it happens all the time. Nine years ago, Juan. We had two days of papers dropping out of the ceiling. And what happened? Nothing. They dropped. They stopped.”

“And you still think it’s because Overworlders don’t like the way we live?” asked Gavin, who slurred his words between his bulging lips. Always known for getting involved in a brawl, he’d often leave with the greater amount of injuries. “I don’t understand why it bothers them. We live down here, out of their way, never getting involved in their business. We make homes out of their waste, and clean the vents. They need us to stop the Base from becoming a stinking pot.”

“This is just a sick joke of propaganda aimed at disrupting us,” added Marcus.

“What if you’re wrong, Connor? What if they mean it this time?” said Juan.

Marcus lowered his tone. “Think about it. Districts One to Four. How would you move everybody, and to where?”

Zachary heard paper crumple.

“No dates. No time. Nothing. District Five, if they’ve got any sense, will be locking down their borders. Gavin, you’ve been to Five. You know how proud they are. And don’t get me started on IOTA. Their ships. Their stock.”

“Say what you want, I’m going to leave. I got three small children and a wife who pesters and I don’t want to be around when the IOTians pile in.” Juan raised his voice. “No, Marcus, listen to me. They’re going to expand
Galilei
, and we are in their way. We’re just waste to them that needs pushing out of the way.”

Marcus said what Zachary thought. “Who will clean the Far-Wall for them?”

“Every so often, machines take over what we do anyway.” Juan sounded weary. “They’ll use them. We don’t know what the big men up there do. They might have droids to do all the digging, and you know what, it wouldn’t surprise me if the ground opened up and emptied the waste into space.”

“Okay, break it up. We need to get going or we’ll miss the start,” said Gavin.

Marcus turned the corner, catching Zachary’s feeble attempt to jump back. “There’s a meeting with the Far-Wallers. I won’t be long. There are two rats on the stove. Cook them well.” Marcus cocked his head to the rear of their home. “The Bombay’s maxed up, but don’t waste it.”

“Dad, what if it’s true?”

Marcus’s large fingers stroked the back of Zachary’s head. “We’re not going anywhere. This is the home I built, and one day it’ll be yours.” His dad paused. “And I don’t want to be carrying that heap-of-metal droid of yours through the streets.”

Zachary waited on his bed for the three to leave.

Like Shekhar, his dad sounded so sure of the drop being nothing more than a trick. How could he disagree with two Underworld veterans?

Zachary peered through the bedside cracks in the wall. The streets weren’t overflowing with people carrying their belongings. Tilting back onto his pillow, he rubbed the faint scrapes on the Raptor’s upper screen.

Rosa’s order was simple. He understood her reasons, though disobedience strengthened within him. How odd that she annoyed and intrigued him in the same breath?

Will she call again? Guilt shivered his spine at the thought of using her password. She wouldn’t know; nobody would, but then why did he feel like he was breaking an unbreakable rule?

Zachary left his bed and snuck a look at the five powered LEDs on the Bombay. His fingers shook as he thrust the energy-tube into the Haulage-404 droid.

Charged energy rippled inside Patch’s chest. “W-w-what is this?” The first Intercom clattered out of the droid’s opened hand. “I haven’t felt this g-g-good since I was last ch-ch-charged in the Contracting F-f-facility. I feel as if every part of me has been reconnected.”

“The generator’s maxed out, but that doesn’t matter. This does.” Zachary showed Patch the new Raptor. “The girl, the one we saw in the Intercom, gave me this.”

“Gave?” Patch’s deep tone showed suspicion. “You have seen her?”

“Dad had a job with Gerry at her home.”

The droid grumbled. “And you tagged along.”

“I had a chance to see her. I had to go.”

“No. You did not have to go. Why did the Kade girl give you her Intercom?”

“She felt sorry for me. Listen, she wants me to wipe the memory, but I don’t want to, because if I do, I’ll never hear from her again.”

Patch’s head tilted. “Hear from her?”

“She called me.”

“After your visit to her home?”

Sitting down on a chair, Zachary massaged his brow. “Her name’s Rosa.”

“Did Rosa Kade call to converse or to have her device’s memory wiped?”

“To have it wiped.”

“Then I am not needed to calculate the probability of her calling again.”

Zachary squeezed the Raptor. “But what if she does?”

“If she does, she will not be impressed by its continued active state.”

Feeling the stretch of his neck after his thick gulp, Zachary sighed. “I hate you sometimes.”

Patch’s single shoulder shrugged. “Likewise.”

The Raptor in Zachary’s hand beeped three times. Was that Rosa? He stared at the red message running along the upper screen. “MOSD IN PROGRESS”. The Intercom beeped again. “WARNING. REMOVE BLOCKS. PENALTIES WILL BE DEALT. REMOVE BLOCKS.”

Zachary held the Intercom to the droid.

Patch’s eye glowed brighter. “MOSD. Matter of Security Deletion. I have not seen that for eighty-nine years.”

“What is it?” stammered Zachary.

“Techniques utilised to cross-search and eradicate information considered a high-priority risk.” Patch shook his finger. “I would not be concerned with the penalty warning. It can only track back to the registered owner of the device. Rosa Kade. Her method of interference-blockage will not last. Unless protocols have changed, the MOSD requester will force a harsh delete to invade.”

“I didn’t understand a word you said.”

Zachary stared at the replaying message. What did Rosa have on her Intercom of importance? She’d said it was for her personal recordings.

“Opening message to eradicate,” whirred a voice from the Intercom.

“That is the harsh delete,” observed Patch.

A blue-tinted image burst into the air of two men separated by a vertical line. The man on the left appeared familiar. With swept back hair, his tight-skinned face looked down. He knocked back a large mouthful of fluid from a thumb-sized glass.

Rosa’s dad.

On the right sat an older man with receding hair, and a mole under his right eye. His stare remained sharp as he spoke, “You’re not confident with me?” The tone imitated the powerful accent of the Russian family across the street. “Bickering will stand in the way of progress.”

“Article 39a is entrenched in our foundations,” said Rosa’s dad.

“When did we let laws stop us? The House of Representatives still holds you in high regard, and will reinstate you, if you want.”

“The Integrated Confederation won’t look kindly.”

The Russian smirked. “They will see how we have moved on from the past.”

Her dad’s tone grew serious. “What you’re asking for was never part of the deal. It goes beyond what any reasonable man would do. I need more time.”