Digital Venous (12 page)

“I went into his room and he was lying there, on his bed, communicating with his father.”

“Mmm? You don’t think it’s wishful thinking on his behalf?”

“No, I asked him and he said his father taught him how to do it. He went into a lot of detail about how his dad did it…”

One of the older boys, Stan, poked his head up through the leaves some distance off and called out: “Do I take off all the new root sprouts? There’s a lot of ‘em… oh, hi Ginny… or do I leave a few?”

Ben replied, “Trim them all off, carefully—don’t rip the bark.”

“Whoops,” whispered Ginny.

“Yeah, forgot he was there,” whispered Ben. “Wow, so you think it’s a genuine ability?” He scratched his head. “I mean, I knew they could do it electronically, y’know, with their computers, but unaided?”

“Well, that’s just it. He said his father can’t do it unaided. Evidently he can.”

“Whatchya whispering about?” yelled Stan.

“Never you mind, big ears,” said Ben.

Later that night at a local watering hole, Stan was chatting with his mates about the new kid at the hostel and within an hour, fifteen people had heard the same story.

The next morning Ryan was up early, and he went for a walk down the long central corridor of the house. He noticed many of the rooms were like his, and that there were at least ten rooms in which plants were being grown. He saw a room full of trees or bushes laden with oranges. Beautiful green leaves strained up toward sun bright bulbs hanging from wooden beams. Two people were in the room doing something to the plants. They wore large dark goggles as protection from the light. Another room had a spinach crop. The cold dark green hands with their white veins stretched upward seeking warmth. Ryan tried to step into the room but could barely get in the door it was so full of plants.

Young real people walked quickly from room to room, and heads turned every time they passed him, yet he could feel nothing from them nor could he see what was in their minds. He was too busy watching them—all different sizes, with differently cultured hair, and most incredible of all were their faces. Each face with a different mood, a life of its own. Ryan tried not to stare but had never seen such beautiful eyes—eyes with real colors. No makeup, no tattoos, no piercings.  Some of them said “hi.” Others didn’t. One girl smiled and Ryan decided to see if he could find where she had gone.

He walked down to the social room and activities stopped momentarily as Ryan stood in the doorway. Ben appeared behind him and said, “Come in and meet some of the folks.”

Ben introduced him to the two boys and two girls sitting at a table playing a card game. Ryan had never met a group of people before, let alone been formally introduced. In the excitement of it, the names were garbled in Ryan’s ears. The boys nodded, and the girls said “hey” in unison. Ryan was mesmerized by them. Each of them had different cultured skin, eyes, and hair. Their noses and mouths had individual shapes. Ryan didn’t know that staring was rude.

“Chores all done?” Ben did a lot of nodding as if keen to encourage a response. This made his beard bounce on his chest just slightly.

“Yes, Ben,” they droned.

“How far off’s the corn, do we think?” Ben looked from one face to the next. “ ‘Nother week, I reckon.” said the older-looking boy.

“Look after this bloke,” said Ben. “Obviously he’s new, as we can all remember being…?”

“Yep,” said a boy. Ben left.

Then Ryan felt a pang of anxiety as he felt their animosity:
What am I doing here? I don’t fit it in. These kids are nothing like me.

“Wanna play?” It was the older girl.

“I don’t… can’t… I haven’t played before…”

“‘Seasy,” said the younger boy.

“… With children.” All eyes went to Ryan. “I haven’t played with children before. You children are the first children I have ever met.”

“Holy… fuckin’…” said the eldest boy under his breath. “We’re not children…” said the senior girl.

“What are you?”

“We’re adults.” They all smiled at this. Ryan knew it was a joke but didn’t get it. “Ben said you were teenagers.” Ryan looked at them all in turn.

“Well, we do everything the adults do… cook, clean, work, fix stuff… we should be adults,” said the older boy.

“What work do you do?” asked Ryan.

Again the older boy answered. “Crops. School. I’m also studying engineering. I want to be able to build my own house as soon as I move out of here.”

“Can we play now?” said the younger boy. “I gotta go anyway,” said the older boy. “Me too,” said the older girl.

“Ohhh, whatever…” The younger boy began packing up the cards, put them into a brown case, and said, “See ya. I’m in the rainbow room with Paul. We’ve got Death Warrior and Alien Menace—and stacks of others… come and have a game later if you want.”

“Thanks!” said Ryan. He knew what a game was. The elder of the two girls stayed behind.  “What’s your name?” he asked.

“Kristina.”

“How come you’re in here?” asked Ryan. “Ginny and Ben adopted me,” she said. “Why?”

“My parents were killed.”

“Oh. How?”

“Are you always this obnoxious?” Ryan didn’t know what obnoxious meant, nor was he all that familiar with criticism. He thought that maybe it was a compliment, so he continued.

“My parents couldn’t have a baby so they adopted me.”

“That’s great, but usually people settle in a bit first before they start interrogating others.”

“Sorry,” said Ryan.

“’S okay.  You’re just a little strange.”

“Sorry.”

“Stop saying, ‘sorry.’ Nothing wrong with being different. Not that you’d understand that.”

“Why?”

“Well, isn’t everyone exactly the same where you’re from?”

“I never went out. I saw people all the time, though… on the network and TV, and we had heaps of cameras in our house which showed people down on the street. Dad is a guard so he had to keep an eye on the city…”

“So your dad’s a Napean?” she asked.

And then Ryan heard the girl’s voice, and her mouth wasn’t moving. She was thinking,

Are you like me? You’re not like me at all. You’re weird.

“I am like you,” said Ryan.

Kristina’s face grew serious and her eyes moved all over Ryan’s blank face. “Why did you say that? I didn’t ask you that. How can you be like me? Aren’t you a Napean?”

“I think so, ” he said.

“You kinda look like one…” Ryan hadn’t stopped staring at her face for five minutes. He had no idea a face could look so beautiful. She had long brown hair, thick dark eyebrows, fulsome lips naturally inclined to smile, and large eyes the color of ground coffee.

“Krist-ina.” said Ryan slowly. “What?” asked the girl abruptly.

“I was just practicing your name,” said Ryan. “Oh. Mmm. So, do you eat?” she asked. “Nope, but…”

“That’s really weird. Not even bread or… how ‘bout water? You must hydrate somehow…?”

“I drank milk when I was a baby.”

“Milk from your mum?”

“No. She didn’t have any. It was from a soy plant.”

“So you guys crop up there as well!”

“No, not crops,” said Ryan. “It was soy milk from the real people. My real parents couldn’t look after me here, so I got taken up there.”

“Right. So… then… what happened to your mum?”

“She died when I was a baby.”

“Ohhhh, that’s sad. Sorry, Ryan.”

“That’s okay. I don’t remember her. Dad looked after me but he wasn’t supposed to have me, so I got sent back here.”

“The world’s so screwed.” She rested her chin on her hand and she shook it in disgust. “Something terrible happened to your mum and dad?” asked Ryan.

“Yeah. They were gassed in 2262.”

“Ohhh nooo!”

“Yeah, by your crowd!”

“My crowd?” asked Ryan. “Yeah. The Napeans.”

“What’s ‘gasta’?” asked Ryan.

“No, gas. There was a… conflict. You did something to us, we did something to you, and so on until… yeah, a lot of people were hurt. Killed. Thousands were killed. Down here and my parents too.” Ryan listened, shocked. Kristina continued. “I survived ‘cause I was at school. You believe that? School saved my life! School of Light—they call them that because they’re up on the surface in a transdome—well ventilated… ” She looked at a clock on the wall.

“Gotta go! Nice chatting, Ryan—come and hang with the ladies. We’re in the room with the lightning bolt on the door…”

Do I Know You?

“GROW WOOL?” RYAN asked.

“It’s the medium some of our plants are grown in. Ute’s outside; give us a hand, would you? There’s a lot of it to bring in.” Much of the traffic on the underground streets was made up of small four-wheel battery-powered utilities.

However, instead of the usual delivery person, three heavily armed women strode through the front door, closing it behind them. Alia, Bes, and Madi. It was like invasion of the amazons. Alia, with a disarming smile, asked: “Is it possible that we can see the children you have here?”

Ben, no less imposing a figure, said, “I must ask you to leave those weapons outside. Yes, we have children here and they do not need further trauma from the likes of you…” The women put their guns down. Ben continued—he had a way of speaking almost without full stops. “We provide very good care for the children. They are educated, work, and are happy here.”

“Why haven’t those children been reunited with their parents?” asked Alia.

Ginny, emerging from a crop room, knew immediately what was going on. Looking over her shoulder, she turned and ran back to the children standing in the middle of the hallway. “Into your rooms—all of you. Do not come out until these people have gone!”

The women had seen the scared faces of the children and Ben seized the moment.

“I think you should go. You obviously know nothing about what goes on here. If you did you wouldn’t be talking like this. We help these children, we love them, we give them a home… and we’re not the only house of our kind. There are a number of other places like us operating in this city. Are you even aware of that? And what th…?”

“We are looking for our own children,” said Madi.

“And you would point guns at your own children? You don’t deserve children!” hollered Ben.

Madi had a pistol in the back of her pants and, taking a step past Alia, she pulled it out, saying, “You fuck….” Alia cracked her across the forearm, knocking the weapon to the ground. A moment of quiet followed.

Bes, doing her best to salvage the situation, stepped in, saying: “Bring them out.”

Ben remained calm. “I can’t do that—to the children, this just means they’re stolen again. They’re to stay here—government orders.”

Madi, still angry, yelled, “We don’t have a government!”

“We have elected leaders who make decisions on our behalf. That’s a government.”

“Oh, you’re not still hanging onto that old idea, are you?” Madi tried to lighten a heavy situation that she had, once again, created.

Bes, though not interested in politics, joined in to support her. “Democracy is great but if you want something done you have to do it yourself.”

“Breaking into peoples’ homes and attacking them?” asked Ben.

Down the hall, doors again opened and young faces were peering around corners. Ginny, standing just behind Ben, moved back to close doors.

“Look, if you don’t cooperate, we just do this by force and you risk injury—so bring them out!” said Madi, eyes flickering.

To Alia, Ben said, “Ask your friends to wait outside so we can wrap up this conversation.”

Reluctantly, Bes and Madi agreed to wait outside.

Ben then said, “You send me the name of the parent, the age, sex, and name of the child, and we can see if anything matches up. Case by case.”

“Okay. Thank you… but as well as that there’s a kid, he could change everything for us. Down here. You have him. Ryan Wing…” Alia studied Ben’s face for a sign of recognition. When there was no denial, she continued, “Maybe you or your wife could bring him to us.”

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about. What’s so important about him?”

“He’s the son of a Napean Captain and apparently, he’s learned natural telepathy.”

“So this has nothing to do with the helping children or restoring family justice?”    “It has everything to do with that…”

“And I thought you seemed nice,” said Ben, his head inclined toward Alia.   “Napeans can use ETP because of their close proximity to a registered transmitter port, or T-dock, as they call it. If this child can access this means of communication, unaided, it means that he could access their whole network for free! We don’t have to hurt anyone to find out what we need.”

“Telepathy is dangerous. I think you know that better than anyone. Especially for a child.”

Ben was hinting at what he had heard about a certain group of female activists being the ones responsible for the anxiety bug.

In defense, Alia continued, “He’d only be using it as a point of access to their network. It could revolutionize what information we have access to down here. It could change everything. Don’t you want to know what’s happening to the climate?”

“I’m not interested in any of that. I’m a primary producer. I run a business, I have a big family to support, and… you can’t use a child in a political war.”

“This is not politics. This is survival. He could help our people get what we need: information! We know nothing! It’s getting cooler on the surface, each year. You know what that could mean for us?”

“What are you so desperate to find out? We’re not Napean. We don’t want to be Napean. So we must make the best of our situation. Causing further damage and reprisals only makes life more desperate. Your acts of sabotage in the past have only brought pain and suffering. That’s terrorism!”

“What happens if one of your kids gets a serious illness? You can’t help them, and you go to the Napeans. What if they leave or suddenly cut us off completely? They barely need us now. We could find out with access to their information network. Ryan could do this, and in complete safety.”

He rubbed his colossal beard, gave a great sigh.

Alia added, “We would like to know what has happened to all the stolen children, too.” Finally Ben responded. “I’ll do what I can to reunite a family, but I will not hand over an innocent child to be used…”

“We only want information. We’re not interested in violence…”

“Mmmm… yet you walk in here with guns. Well, I’m the authority here in my house. You want to risk damage to a child, you risk mine first. Don’t try that again.”

“Okay, Ben, I get it.” Alia allowed a gentle smile. “Can I at least see him and ask if he would be willing to help?”

“I don’t think so, no. But I’ll talk to him, and you have my word that if he’s interested, I’ll let you know.”

Alia tried to be measured and calm. “Look, all three of us lost our children—children who would now be between nine and twelve. Can’t you just humor us?”

“I told you it’s not a zoo. The children here lost their parents during Napean attacks. Aside from Ryan there is only one girl whose parents are unknown.”

“Could we see her too? How old is she?” asked Alia.

“Like I said, we don’t know anything about her life prior to here. But I suspect she is only seven…” said Ben.

“At least put our minds at ease. You keep us in the dark. You keep her in the dark too.”

“Wait there,” said Ben.

Ben disappeared for five minutes. Meanwhile Alia spoke to Madi and Bes. Removing belts and weaponry, Alia instructed them they may be allowed in if they stayed totally calm. Ben walked back out into the long hall but stopped when he saw all three of the women standing there. Thinking better of it, he then yelled, “Come!”

The three women went down into the common room. There, sitting at the table were two children: a boy of eleven and a younger girl, seven or eight. Ben said, “The others weren’t interested. This is Ryan and Rebeka.”

Ginny spoke to the children. “These three women had their babies stolen. They want to find their children and stop it happening again.”

“Eventually we will!” said Bes, smiling at the two children.

The young girl smiled back at Bes. Bes’ eyes began to fog up and with a wobbly voice she asked the girl, “How old are you, Rebeka?”

“I’m seven. Do you think you’re my mum?” Rebeka asked with a smile. “No,” replied Bes, “but I wish I was. You’re adorable.”

“She is,” said Ginny. “Smart, responsible, and charming—sky’s the limit for this one.” Madi had been standing back, staring at the boy. Ryan hadn’t thought that any of it would apply to him. He’d just been staring at all the beautiful women; except for Ginny, he’d never seen real women up close before. Their faces were not covered with makeup, and their arms and necks had a fascinating glow. The tallest one, Alia, was light brown, almost like the high Napean sky canopy. The middle one, Madi, had yellowy white hair and really pale skin. Her blue eyes seemed to look into him. The third woman, Bes, a little smaller than the others, had darker skin and eyes, which were made more striking for the dark lines around them.

Ryan’s serious eyes analyzed each woman, one after the other. They were beautiful and scary. He couldn’t help staring, but kept noticing them looking back at him with their intense faces. He huddled in a little closer to Ben.

There was a pause in the proceedings as those in the room noticed Madi move closer to the boy. Ben leaned forward watching her closely. Madi’s face grew into an almost horrified expression. She took another slow step forward, her head bending down more to look at Ryan. She said in a quiet voice, “I know your mother…”

Ginny, who had already seen quite enough of Madi, stepped in front of her. “And who might that be?”

Madi suddenly stood upright, taken aback. “Me.”