Thank you @Jack! I’m so pleased it reads as clear and concise. I do love descriptions (as you might have guessed!) but I always worry about being overly flowery so I’m really pleased to hear that!
I will try and find some faces for the remaining characters. I’d kind of stopped doing that by this point as the chapters were being posted more sporadically but I’ll see what I can do.
The Oracle did appear briefly at the end of S5 on the beach - I took my inspiration from there, it’s the same bird!
I am SO excited to finally be posting this new chapter, hot off the press! It is a massive 8 years to the day since the last chapter was posted so I want to say a massive thank you to you all for spurring me on to continue. I promise it won’t be another 8 years until the next chapter. 
Chapter 36: Sector 4
Link clenched her teeth as her leg cramped up. She was lying uncomfortably across the back seat of a car in a garage in Sector 4. It was the last place she wanted to be, but she couldn’t leave, not yet. Outside, in the garage itself, a group of Skinks loitered, the senior members seated around a small table close to the entrance grille. And they were senior; from her viewpoint through the car’s passenger side wing mirror she recognised the Skink leader himself, Draco, from the party at the mall, as well as his long-haired consort, perched awkwardly on his lap.
Whatever Draco was saying, the Skinks around the table obviously found it funny, laughing uproariously. Most of them were drunk. Draco certainly was. It was lucky for her in a way; it had been the smash of glass as they raided the casino for alcohol that had alerted her to their presence in the first place, but trust her to try and hide in the one building they decided to hang around in to sample their ill-gotten gains.
Eventually the girl with the long silver hair let out a sigh. ‘I’m bored,’ she complained. ‘Let’s just go home.’ There were some murmurs of agreement, but Draco shoved her off his knee and casually backhanded her across the face. She staggered backwards, lost her balance and landed on the floor. One of the Skinks, his eyes slightly glazed from the drink, chuckled to himself, but the rest were silent. Then one of those at the table pushed back his chair and stood up, planting his fists on the table and confronting Draco angrily.
‘Leave her alone,’ he said in a dangerously quiet – and surprisingly sober – voice. Even the laughing boy was quiet now, apart from the odd hiccup.
‘You wanna rephrase that?’ Draco smirked. ‘I’m pretty sure only one of us gives the orders around here. And it ain’t you. That right boys?’ Most of the others rushed to assure Draco that he was indeed right. Most, but not all.
‘You’re only leader because of her,’ the other Skink accused. ‘Because of who she is.’
‘Oh?’ Draco smiled, a horrible smile of yellowing teeth in a green-painted face. ‘You wanna make something of it?’ He stood, and the rest of the Skinks followed suit, most standing in support of their leader. A smaller number flanked the other Skink, and both groups were shooting daggers at each other. Link suppressed a groan.
‘Maybe I do,’ the Skink replied, and with a roar reached over the table and grabbed Draco by the collar. Others tried to wrestle him off their leader, only to be attacked themselves by their fellow tribe members, and before long there was a full-scale brawl going on. Fists flew, the table was overturned and bottles smashed to the floor, their contents pooling around the broken glass. And underneath it all came the soft sound of a girl weeping.
Something heavy crashed into the bonnet of the car and Link gave a start and a sharp intake of breath. Looking through the windscreen she came face to face with one of the green-skinned thugs, a ring through his nose and a huge plug through one of his ears. She wasn’t sure which of them was the most startled. Trapped in the car, she could only watch as the Skink opened his mouth to betray her presence, then suddenly his eyes rolled up in his head and he slid from the bonnet, unconscious. Link closed her eyes and whispered her gratitude to whoever might be listening.
When she opened her eyes again, the fight was over. Draco stood where the table had been, breathing hard and wiping blood from his lip. His faction had come out on top, of course – the numbers had always been in their favour.
‘Let’s get out of here,’ he said disgustedly, waving for his lackeys to follow him. They filed out of the garage, Draco dragging the girl up from where she still sat sobbing on the floor as he went past.
Link waited until she was sure they weren’t coming back, then she kicked open the car door and rolled out, flexing her aching muscles. Standing, she hobbled out into the sunlight, past groaning Skinks and dirty bootprints linking puddles of alcohol, staring out towards the building that was her goal. The black walls and tinted glass windows of the Pandorax facility shone with a dull glow as it rose up from the industrial estate a couple of blocks ahead. Like a moth approaching a candle she set out towards it once more, and as soon as she could run again, she did so.
The pencil lead snapped and Amber tsked in frustration, though not loudly enough to be heard over the chatter going on around her. Her office was supposed to be a refuge, a place where she could work quietly without the rest of the tribe disturbing her. Not today. Ignoring the noise, she reached for the knife on her desk and shaved away at the pencil until it was useable again. What she wouldn’t give for a plain old biro! But pens, like so much else from the old days, were becoming increasingly hard to find. She wondered how much longer they would be able to survive on the cast-offs of the adults. Would they find ways of manufacturing things for themselves? Or would they all end up like the Ecos, living solely off the land? And which of those was the better option? She had thought she knew the answer to that question, once upon a time, back when it was just her and Dal, and then later, when she became Eagle, but that all seemed like another lifetime now, a different person. How she wished Dal was still around. He had always known what to say at times like this to make her feel better and the task at hand seem less insurmountable. How best to work with the resources they had. It was thanks to him she was here at all; she had been a mess when the Virus hit, but he had pulled her through. Now he was gone, and she was still here. It hardly seemed fair.
She glanced to the side of her desk, where Bray lay sleeping in the cot that had been set up for him here in her office, one of his legs twitching. Her burden always seemed heavier around her son. How would her descendants look on her and the rest of her generation? Would they understand how she and others had tried to rebuild a functioning society, or would they just see a descent into deprivation and ‘primitive’ ways? Because that’s what would happen if she didn’t get this right. If she couldn’t stop the tribes from fighting and get them to work together. How would her son look on her when the time came to pass on the responsibility to him? Would she have paved the way for him, or would he resent the burden she had lumbered him with?
She shook her head. The problem was there was just so much to worry about, and often the important matters had to be put to one side while other more petty affairs were seen to. Across the room a large square table held a map of the city spread out over it, plastic dinosaurs and toy soldiers marking the positions of Skink mobs and her own police force. Well, May’s police force. She had done most of the work there, her and Creg. It had been a timely move making the new Mallrat deputy head of security; she couldn’t have got the patrols out so quickly after the Skink rampage without the two of them. This was the immediate crisis putting everything else on the back burner, or at least the current one. Sometimes it seemed like there was a different one every week. What really irked her about this one, though, was that it was her own tribe that had caused it – a fact she would have to keep well under wraps. If the rest of the city found out, it wouldn’t just be the Skinks rioting through the streets.
Which was why she was sharing a stuffy office with two noisy children – Lottie and Bonnie – the perpetrators of this nuisance, having played some sort of practical joke on the Skinks that had backfired spectacularly; she neither knew nor cared about the details. Make that three noisy children, if you counted Darryl, who was working on her correspondence at his own desk but occasionally chipping in to the girls’ chatter with an inane comment of his own. She sighed. She wanted them where she could keep an eye on them, but the situation wasn’t particularly conducive to working. She looked down at the page she was writing, trying to block out the noise around her while simultaneously trying to remember what it was she had been writing.
‘Hey, put that back!’ Bonnie shouted suddenly. Amber’s head shot up and she noticed Lottie playing with one of the dinosaurs that had been marking a group of Skinks on the map. She stood up.
‘Darryl!’ she snapped, failing to hide the exasperation she felt. Her assistant looked up with a start. ‘You’re supposed to be watching them!’
Darryl dropped the papers he was reading in a flustered way, knocking his chair to the floor as he got up and tried to reclaim the toy from Lottie.
‘Come on, that’s really important!’ he pleaded, pulling on the dinosaur’s tail. ‘Let go!’
‘I was only looking!’ Lottie sulked. ‘I was gonna put it back!’ She gave a tug on the toy and the tail popped out. Stumbling backwards, she knocked the table and soldier and dinosaur alike toppled over with a clatter. Finding herself still clutching the sharpening knife, Amber pushed it away before she resorted to violence against one or all of the kids in front of her.
‘Right, out, both of you!’ she yelled, thrusting her finger in the direction of the door.
‘That’s not fair, I didn’t…’ Bonnie started.
‘I don’t care, just get out of here!’ Amber replied, cutting her off. ‘I can’t work like this! Go on, go, the pair of you!’
The two girls ran off, practically on the verge of tears.
‘You too, Darryl!’ she continued. ‘Go and keep an eye on them. Some of our patrols might have made it back to the mall by now and I don’t want them letting anything slip that they shouldn’t.’
Darryl looked between the door and his papers, as if torn between duties. He opened his mouth to speak but she didn’t let him get started.
‘Just go!’
Darryl rushed out of the door as fast as she’d ever seen him move. If he’d had a tail, it would have been between his legs.
She slid back into her chair, letting out a cry of frustration before allowing her head to connect with her desk.
‘Amber?’
‘Darryl, just…’ She raised her head, but it wasn’t Darryl standing in front of her. Or rather sitting, in a wheelchair pushed by Ellie. ‘Jack!’
She had heard that Jack had been making good progress with his exercises, and had even regained some of his speech and movement, but this was the first time she had seen him since being told of his initial breakthrough. In fact, she thought it was the first time he had left his room since she brought him back from the hotel all those weeks ago.
She immediately left her desk, crouching slightly by the wheelchair to give him a hug. ‘It’s so good to see you,’ she said, genuinely meaning it. His arms raised to return the gesture but he couldn’t quite complete it. He grunted in frustration as they fell back into his lap. ‘How is he doing?’ she asked, looking up at Ellie.
‘He’s doing…fine!’ Jack replied slowly, raising an eyebrow. ‘Wish people…would stop…fussing.’
Ellie gave him a playful shove on the arm. ‘He is doing fine,’ she agreed. ‘Improving more every day. And he loves the fuss really.’
‘Always has!’ Amber laughed.
‘Hey now!’ Jack complained, though with a twinkle in his eye. ‘I didn’t…get better…just to be…abused!’
Amber smiled. He must be feeling better if he was making jokes.
Jack raised a hand awkwardly, making a gesture to Ellie. ‘Give her… the report,’ he said. Amber gave Ellie a quizzical look.
‘We ran into May on the way here,’ Ellie explained, handing over a piece of paper. Amber took it and read it through. It was a hastily written description of the groups of Skinks still terrorising the city, their locations and numbers. ‘She’d have brought it herself but she wanted to go out again straightaway to look for Creg.’
This is good , Amber thought as she perused the report. She could use these figures to fix the damage Lottie had wrought on her map.
‘There’s still…still some…ugh!’ Jack made a frustrated noise at his inability to express himself. Ellie put a hand on his shoulder and continued for him.
‘There’s still some grumbling from the city tribes,’ she said. ‘But it’s getting less and less as the Skinks move towards the outer sectors. I don’t think anybody else is going to riot now, it looks like we’re past the worst.’
‘Finally, some good news!’ Amber sighed in relief. ‘Wait, you said May had gone to find Creg. I thought they left here together?’
‘They did,’ Ellie confirmed. ‘But they came up against a gang of Skinks and got separated. The people she thought were with him were already here when she got back, but he wasn’t with them, so she’s gone back to where he was last seen.’
‘With backup I hope?’ she stated rather than asked. Ellie nodded.
Still clutching her report, she turned her attention to the city map and started rearranging the toy figures according to what May had written. The end result was encouraging, with only a few small bands of Skinks still active, and more of her police moving in to disperse them. After moving everything around she was left holding a small toy soldier general in a blue uniform, which she stood in Creg’s last known location, pursuing the Skinks out towards Sector 4.
She knew Creg could take care of himself – he had proven that more than ever over the last couple of days – but until she knew for sure she couldn’t help but worry. Just what had happened to him? How had he been separated from everybody in his patrol?
She turned away from the map, and noted that Ellie too was studying the lone toy soldier, with a thoughtful look on her face.
Adjusting her position behind a low wall that separated her from the plot of land that housed the Pandorax facility, Link sat and considered her options. She had reached the building, despite her run-in with the Skinks, but what now? There was nothing in the immediate vicinity that could confirm or refute her theory that this was where Plague had established himself. Did she dare try and sneak in to have a look around? This whole place was eerily silent – it wasn’t a part of the city that was home to any of the tribes, being miles away from any useful resources – but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t a hive of activity inside the building itself. She didn’t want to end up like Elsa or Relay.
Still pondering her next move, she was suddenly aware of footsteps echoing in the silence. Very carefully she twisted herself around and raised the top of her head above the wall so that she could just see over it. Two figures had emerged from the building. To her surprise she recognised the Mallrat Creg. What was he doing here? The question soon slipped from her mind, however, when she saw his companion. Looking thinner and more dishevelled than when she had last seen her, Data was nevertheless unmistakeable in her Techno uniform. Data, her old friend from Unit 12. This confirmed everything; Plague was here for sure.
She couldn’t quite make out what Creg and Data were saying to each other, but he seemed to thank her before making his departure, running off back towards the city centre. Link shifted, eager to make contact with Data, but by the time Creg was safely out of sight her friend had already gone back inside the facility. She wanted so much to follow, but her fears about what might lay inside still held her back. Besides, she had enough to go back to the Mallrats with now; there was no need to risk entering the building.
The scuff of a boot on concrete behind her provided just enough warning. In one move she stood, charging her zapper and aiming it at the chest of the blonde who had tried to sneak up on her. She let off a pulse, but the other girl’s reactions were faster than her torn and dusty clothing suggested. Leaping in the air she spun and kicked out, knocking Link’s arm to one side and causing her to miss her target. Crying in pain, Link stumbled and the girl quickly took advantage, shoving her to the ground and roughly forcing her arm behind her back. There was a rip of Velcro as the zapper was pulled off, and soon it was Link herself who was staring into the barrel of the weapon.
‘Walk,’ the girl ordered, gesturing with the zapper towards the Pandorax building. The authority in her tone convinced Link that she too was one of the Unit 12 Technos, and by a process of elimination – Sparks and Static having been male – she thought this must be Proxy.
She got up slowly and put her hands behind her head. As she walked towards the sleek black building she realised that once inside she would be trapped. Her only option was to make a break for it now, to try and put enough distance between her and her captor for the zapper to be useless. She took a few more steps, trying to judge her moment, the facility getting ever closer. Then she did it. She sprinted as fast as she could in another direction. Behind her, Proxy made a frustrated sound.
She cleared the perimeter of the Pandorax plot, then felt the impact of the pulse between her shoulder blades. Her body spasmed and her vision was filled with tiny pinpricks of light before everything went black.
She was unconscious before she hit the ground.
Tossing the face wipe away with a vexed sound, Gel started applying her make-up for the third time, but her heart wasn’t in it. No matter what she did, she looked terrible, unable to hide the creases in her forehead or the anxious expression in her eyes. She needed a distraction, however, from the fluttering feeling in her stomach, something to keep her fidgeting hands occupied. Something to keep her mind away from the simple fact that Creg had still not returned from the police patrol despite all reports showing that the Skinks had finally dispersed. If the danger was over, why was he still out there? Had something happened to him? She studied herself again in the ornate mirror on her dresser and sighed at the haggard face looking back at her. This was what worrying about men did to you! No wonder some of the other girls in the tribe – Ellie, for instance, or Amber – always looked so…old. Well, she wasn’t going to let that happen to her. She’d worked too hard since the Virus on keeping herself young and pretty, so that she might be spared if it ever came back, to let it all go to waste for some guy. Even if he was brave and kind and handsome and… She shut the make-up case with a sharp, spring-loaded click and put her hands to her belly in an effort to pacify the butterflies.
No. She was supposed to be working on being stronger and here she was being just as pathetic as ever. The eyes staring back at her through the mirror narrowed, and she decided that when Creg came back she would give him a piece of her mind for making her worry about him like this.
A flash of movement behind her reflection’s shoulder made her whirl around excitedly. It was him! Looking tired and dusty from a morning out in the city, but him nonetheless. Immediately forgetting her promise to herself, she sprang from her chair and wrapped her arms around his neck with such force that he had to take a step backwards, his hands on her shoulders to steady them both.
‘You’re safe!’ she gushed, then, remembering she was supposed to be mad at him, she lightly smacked his chest, which was pleasantly firm. ‘Where have you been? Everyone was worried about you… I was worried about you.’
He extricated himself from her hold and went to sit down on the couch, falling into it with a bone-weary sigh that ended in a wince. She rushed to sit by his side, concern for him winning out over concern for her best cushions rubbing against his dirty clothes. ‘Did they hurt you?’
He shook his head. Clearly he had just aggravated the injuries he had got during his last run-in with the Skinks. ‘Then where have you been?’ she asked again. ‘May went out looking for you.’
Leaning forward, he buried his face in his hands. ‘We had a near miss with a group of Skinks,’ he explained, his words muffled slightly by his hands. ‘We had to lay low for a while. Ended up getting separated. Once the Skinks started moving on I thought I’d follow them for a bit, to make sure they were really leaving.’
She rubbed his shoulder. ‘You’re always so brave,’ she told him.
He sat up again, leaning against the seat back so that she had to move her hand away, and laughed mirthlessly. ‘Hardly,’ he said, looking vacantly into the distance as if seeing something far away, beyond the walls of her room. Her heart went out to him; he looked so tired. She took his hand in hers, lacing his fingers with her own and stroking the back of it with her other hand. ‘Well I think you’re brave,’ she said, resting her head against his arm. He didn’t respond so she just sat there contentedly, stroking his hand, happy to have him back.
After a while she looked up at him and found that he still had that introspective look in his eyes. She removed her hand from his and started playing with the hair at the back of his head instead, before stretching up to give him a kiss on the cheek. He did notice her then, turning his head to regard her with a confused expression. ‘What are you doing?’ he sighed.
She smiled, continuing to twirl his hair around her fingers. ‘I’m trying to make you feel better,’ she explained. ‘You look so sad.’ She placed her free hand on his chest and kissed him again, on the lips this time.
Creg stood abruptly, awkwardly breaking the kiss. ‘Am I that repulsive?’ she asked quietly.
‘No!’ he said, clutching his hair in both hands and squeezing his eyes shut. When he opened them again there was an angry light in them, and his voice was tinged with frustration. ‘I just…I can’t do this right now!’
‘Creg…’ She rose from the couch but he waved her away, backing out of the room.
‘I just need to be alone!’ he called out as he left. What was that supposed to mean? For how long? Five minutes? Or was he breaking up with her? She tried to follow him, almost tangling herself in the curtains that served as a door in her haste to get out, but he was already running away – running! She didn’t think she had ever felt so utterly rejected and humiliated in her whole life.
Returning to her room, she came face to face with her reflection in the mirror and instinctively reached for her make-up case, but her impatient fingers struggled to undo the clasp and she threw it onto the couch in frustration. Left confronting her reflection, she screwed up her face and watched herself begin to fall apart.
‘Why do I always get everything wrong?!’ she wailed.
‘She’s coming round!’
Link groaned as she lifted her head. She ached everywhere, an after-effect from being hit by the electrical pulse of the zapper. She tried to stretch her limbs but found that her wrists and ankles were bound and tied to the chair she was sitting in.
‘I’m sorry Link! Really I am.’
As she opened her eyes she found herself face to face with Data. From this close up she could see that it wasn’t only her friend’s physical appearance that had deteriorated since her disappearance. There was something in her expression too, something in the way her eyes darted around excitedly, that made Link nervous. Her friend had always been timid, but this was more than just shyness. Experimentally, she tried pulling against her restraints.
‘Please don’t struggle, Link! You’ll only hurt yourself. Oh, but it’s so good to see you again!’ Data clapped, bouncing on her toes. ‘It’s very kind of you to come and visit.’
Link blinked. ‘Oh Data,’ she said sadly. ‘What have they done to you?’
‘I think the more important question right now,’ another voice spoke up. ‘Is what are we going to do with you ?’
Link turned to face Proxy, taking a moment to notice her surroundings. The three of them were in a small office or lab, with a tiny square window, its blind rolled partly up, providing the only light; the Technicians still hadn’t managed to restore the power to Sector 4. Behind her was a desk, the chair of which she was tied to, and in front of her a workbench hugged the remaining wall space. It was this workbench that Proxy was sitting on, regarding her coldly. Whereas Data still wore her Techno uniform, Proxy’s clothes were a complete mismatch, like she’d just put on whatever was to hand, and were dirty and torn in places. On the surface she looked more dishevelled than Data, but there was a sharpness in her eyes that Data’s had lost. Whatever they had been through since Unit 12 went missing, Proxy had fared better mentally.
‘What do you want from me?’ Link asked.
‘I want to know why you were snooping around here of course,’ Proxy replied, hopping off the bench and placing herself squarely in front of Link, her arms folded.
Link swallowed. How should she play this? Feign ignorance and hope they let her go? Or pretend she knew more than she did in the hope of scoring a little leverage? Deciding she was in too deep for the innocent act to save her, she made her choice.
‘I know all about what happened with Unit 12,’ she said defiantly. ‘I know you’re working with Plague to recreate the Virus, and that you’re spying on the Mallrats for your master. I know…’
‘You know nothing!’ Proxy laughed. ‘Oh, I’ll give you credit for finding us, that was quite impressive, but you clearly haven’t got a clue what you’ve stumbled into, which makes you even more stupid for coming here.’ She turned to Data. ‘She’s no threat to us,’ she told her colleague.
Data looked relieved. ‘Oh, can we keep her Proxy?’ she asked, then quietly added. ‘I miss people.’ Proxy’s face softened and a look that might have been pity flashed across her eyes. A noise interrupted them – was that…a baby ? – and when Link glanced at Proxy again her face was stone once more. Perhaps she had imagined that look.
Proxy glared at Data and gestured to the door with her head. ‘Sort that out, will you?’ she said.
‘Yes Proxy,’ Data nodded meekly, leaving the room.
Proxy sighed heavily, practically wilting. ‘A bit of luck for a change,’ she breathed. ‘I didn’t think I’d be able to get you on your own. If only you hadn’t tried to run…But then I’d have done the same in your shoes. No matter, it’s too late to change anything now. Look, can you get a message to the Mallrats?’
Link narrowed her eyes. ‘Oh, so it’s like that is it?’ she said, raising her chin defiantly. ‘You want to infect me with the Virus and send me out as an example, like you did to Relay.’ She struggled harder against her bonds. ‘How could you do that to him? He was your teammate! You make me sick!’
Proxy’s lips thinned. ‘A poor choice of words if that’s what you really believe,’ she replied tightly. ‘Argh, look there’s no time. Data will be back soon. Please, we need your help. The Mallrats are in danger. If we can warn them, maybe they’ll be able to stop Meta and free us from this nightmare!’ The ex-Techno’s mask slipped, her eyes pleading with Link to believe her.
Her heart and mind raced. Unless this was the mask? Some sort of trap to lull her into a false sense of security. But why? They already had her at their mercy.
‘What do you mean free you?’ she asked, trying to buy herself some time to work out what was going on. ‘I’m the one tied up here.’
Proxy glanced anxiously at the door. Link couldn’t hear anything from outside anymore. If there really had been a baby, Data must have settled it, which meant that she might be back any second. Shaking her head as if to admonish herself, Proxy hastily rolled up her sleeve, revealing small bruises and darkened veins along her forearm. Confused at first, it suddenly dawned on Link what they were – needle marks. Her eyes met Proxy’s. ‘You’re infected,’ she breathed.
Proxy nodded sadly. ‘We can’t get very far before we need another dose of the antidote,’ she explained. ‘A few times I’ve wondered…maybe I could run away. Wait for the end to come. But I guess I don’t have the courage. And what about Data? And…’ She trailed off.
Link’s heart went out to the other woman, her former colleague. They weren’t co-conspirators with Plague at all; they were his slaves, reliant on him for their very lives.
‘I’ll do what I can,’ she said.
‘Thank you,’ Proxy sighed, then immediately knelt to loosen the cords around Link’s ankles.
‘Who is he?’ she asked as Proxy worked. ‘Plague. This…Meta?’ She didn’t recognise the name, but that wasn’t unusual in the Technos.
‘A Repro,’ Proxy replied dismissively. ‘Working in Mega’s labs.’ Ellie was right! she thought excitedly. ‘I don’t know what his baseline order was, but he went rogue early. Ram should never have started mixing computer programming with neurology.’ Proxy sounded angry now, moving to untie Link’s wrists with more force than was strictly necessary. ‘He should never have started playing God.’ Link had to agree. Reprogramming had been a failed experiment. Sometimes, in the early days, Techno prisoners would be converted into new recruits. Only those who had offered no resistance on being captured, who had been seen as particularly pliable. Suggestions were artificially planted in their brains, orders that would be carried out subconsciously – the simpler the orders, the more effective they were – ensuring loyalty. Or at least that was the plan. The human brain, it turned out, was remarkably adept at trying to get around these orders, fighting against them like mental antibodies. They couldn’t be displaced completely, not until the order was completed, but sometimes the brain would find its own interpretation of the orders, causing chaos. She’d known of one Repro charged with protecting a Techno general. After a few months everyone close to the general started having ‘accidents’ until the Repro was the only one left to ‘protect’ her. The project was canned soon after. Nobody felt safe around Repros. You just never knew how they would turn out.
As she felt the tension of the cords loosen around her wrists, Link started to pull herself free, but Proxy pushed her down again.
‘No…please…’ the former Techno begged. ‘If Data knows I freed you she’ll tell him! She won’t mean to but she’s been broken; as soon as he looks at her she’ll reveal everything, and I’ll be dead! Please Link! If you just wait until Data comes back, I’ll sort everything.’
Reluctantly – more reluctantly than she thought she had ever done anything in her life – Link eased herself back into the chair as if she were still bound. As if she could read the doubt in her mind, Proxy scrabbled about on the workbench before producing a scalpel that she pressed into Link’s hands.
‘Take this,’ she said. ‘See? You can trust me. But you have to warn the Mallrats. Tell them they are all in danger – personal danger! Meta’s not just experimenting with viruses, he’s playing about with genetics too. Don’t you see? I don’t know why but it’s not about the City, it’s about the Mallrats. Personalised viruses – it’s the ultimate assassination tool! He’s nearly got all the samples he needs!’
Link gasped in shock. Ellie! Ruby! She had to warn them! She clutched the scalpel tightly, wondering if she should just make a run for it now. Then she realised something. ‘He has to get close to the Mallrats to collect DNA samples,’ she voiced. ‘But he can’t do that himself, and neither can you. Who’s he got on the inside, Proxy?’ After seeing Creg with Data earlier, she already had her suspicions.
Proxy opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by the return of Data. Instead she made a frustrated noise, which she covered by slapping Link. ‘Shut your mouth!’ she commanded. Link gripped the scalpel tightly in her hands to stop herself from reacting, and glared at Proxy in unfeigned anger. This had better not all be some sort of twisted game!
‘She’s not causing trouble, is she Proxy?’ Data asked. ‘Oh Link, you’ll be good won’t you?’ She stepped in front of her to plead her case. ‘Please Link. We can be friends again, it’ll be fun! It’s not so bad here really.’ She sounded like she was trying to convince herself.
Link glanced at Proxy, who nodded her head, her eyes conveying their own plea. Not knowing if she was doing the right thing or just ensnaring herself more tightly in their net, she cried out and kicked Data in the stomach, feeling a pang of guilt at the hurt and shock on her friend’s face as she careered backwards into Proxy, who held her steady. Springing from her seat and shaking off the loose cords, Link held out the scalpel in front of her with both hands, pointing it at the two ex-Technos.
‘You idiot!’ Proxy barked at Data. ‘I thought I told you to make her secure!’
‘I did!’ Data wailed. ‘I…I thought I did! I’m sorry Proxy!’ Outside, the crying resumed and Data squeezed her eyes shut. ‘Oh, I can’t do anything right!’ she sobbed. Link felt sorry for her but she had to get out; she had to warn the Mallrats! She was so close, but now Proxy and Data stood between her and the door. With one hand she gestured with the scalpel to her right. Proxy ushered a broken Data cautiously around the room and Link circled them just as cautiously until her back was to the door.
‘I’m sorry Data,’ she said before turning and running out of the room as fast as she could. Scanning the dark corridor, she found the route to the nearest emergency exit and followed it around a corner, where she came face to face with Meta.
Tall and slim, with dark, slicked back hair and the red and black T showing proudly on his forehead, he could have been any other Techno, but she knew it was him. She wasn’t sure which of them had been more startled by the other’s sudden appearance but he recovered first, grabbing her in a vise-like grip. No! She would not be trapped here! She would not end up like Data. Struggling in his grasp, she eventually loosened one arm enough to stab backwards with the scalpel. Meta yelled out in pain and the hold around her relaxed. Taking full advantage, she wriggled free, the scalpel hitting the floor with a clatter as she did so, and raced off back the way she had come. Seeing Proxy and Data rushing out of the room she had been held in, she hurried down another corridor.
‘What’s going on here?!’ she heard Meta demand behind her. Clearly she hadn’t injured him as much as she had hoped. ‘After her you fools! And will somebody shut that brat up!’
Berating herself for not taking him out while she had the chance, and for losing her only weapon, she ran on. Deeper into the facility.
‘May?’ Trudy called uncertainly from outside the other girl’s room. There was no reply. She tried again, then – after looking around carefully – poked her head through the curtain. Seeing that May definitely wasn’t in, she stepped back out into the corridor and looked around again. Good. Nobody had seen her.
‘Pull yourself together, Trudy,’ she scolded herself, shaking her head. Ever since she had found out that there was a spy in the mall, and that Ellie and Ruby had been suspicious of her, she had been getting paranoid about every little thing she did, in case it looked like she was acting oddly. Ironically, this meant she was now walking around with a guilty conscience and probably acting more oddly than if she had been up to something. At this rate she would probably convince herself she was a spy!
She blinked, a sudden thought occurring to her. What if she was? What if Mega had done something to her when she had stayed at the hotel that time? Could the Technos even do something like that? Make you do things without even knowing? She screamed at herself inside her head for working herself up like this. She would drive herself crazy the way she was going. But what Ellie and Ruby had said had rattled her, and it wasn’t like she could talk to anybody else about it. There was Amber of course, but she didn’t want to bother her when she had so much on her plate already, and she didn’t want to talk to Ellie and Ruby about it either. So she would just have to deal with it herself.
Although…maybe Ellie would have what she’d been looking for, what she’d come to ask May about. In all her worrying over the spy, she’d somehow managed to misplace her hairbrush. Surely one of the other girls would have a spare one she could use? Ordinarily she’d ask Gel, but she’d had some sort of falling out with Creg and was too upset to talk to anyone right now. So Ellie it would have to be. Reaching the other girl’s room, she heard voices inside. No prizes for guessing who that would be, she thought bitterly. Ruby might as well just move in.
‘Hello?’ she called from outside.
The voices stopped and there was silence for a moment before Ellie replied cautiously ‘Come in.’
She did so. As expected, Ruby was there too. Trudy gave her a brief smile that turned into a wide grin when she saw Jack sitting in his wheelchair, looking alert and being fed something by Ellie. He really was getting better every day.
‘Jack!’ she beamed. ‘How are you doing?’
He took a breath before replying, as if working up to it. ‘Getting there!’ he said cheerfully. Ellie produced another spoonful of food and he placed his mouth around it a little awkwardly, spilling some of it down his chin. ‘Mostly,’ he blushed. Ellie made as if to wipe his chin but he raised a hand to stop her, reaching for the cloth himself. It took two attempts for him to pick it up, and another three to successfully wipe his face, but he did it. ‘See?’ he said, unable to mask the pride in his voice.
‘It really is a miracle,’ Trudy smiled. ‘We’re all so glad that you’re going to be ok.’
‘No miracle Trudy,’ he replied. Just science. Much as I…hate to admit it…’ He took another breath. ‘I think…I think Spinner’s machine was just the kickstart I needed.’
‘It didn’t have to be such a rough kick though, did it?’ Ellie retorted.
Jack smiled soothingly at her and, on his second try, put his hand over hers. ‘What’s done is done,’ he said.
‘If you say so,’ she replied. ‘But she’d better not show her face around here anytime soon if she knows what’s good for her.’ Nevertheless she smiled back at him and patted his hand before turning her attention to Trudy. ‘Is there something we can help you with?’ she asked.
Trudy felt suddenly uncomfortable as three pairs of eyes began studying her intently. She cleared her throat. ‘Still a suspect I see…’ she noted bitterly.
Ruby’s expression didn’t change but Ellie at least had the grace to look embarrassed. ‘Sorry Trudy,’ she said, sounding genuine.
‘But no more than anyone else,’ Ruby added. Trudy smiled gratefully. Maybe Ruby wasn’t so bad after all.
‘I know,’ she sighed. ‘It’s just hard to believe that any of us would be so deceitful. We’re supposed to be a family.’
‘I agree,’ Ellie said sadly. ‘But let’s not talk about that now,’ she added, walking over to Trudy and holding her hands in a comforting gesture.
Trudy squeezed Ellie’s hands back and then laughed. ‘It seems silly now,’ she said. ‘With everything that’s going on. I just wanted to ask if you had a spare hairbrush. Mine’s gone missing.’
‘Let me have a look,’ Ellie replied, going over to search her chest of drawers. ‘Ah, here we go,’ she said, brandishing a hairbrush in triumph and bringing it over.
‘Thanks Ellie,’ she replied, taking the brush. ‘And sorry to bother you when you’re so busy. I went to May but she’s not around, and Gel…’ she trailed off as she noticed Ellie and Ruby giving each other a meaningful look at the mention of May. She rolled her eyes. Evidently not talking about it didn’t stretch to not thinking about it. ‘Anyway,’ she carried on, abandoning what she had been about to say. ‘Thanks for this.’
They made their goodbyes and Trudy left the room, pausing on the other side of the curtain to let out a sigh. This whole situation was fraying her nerves! Realising she’d better move on before the amateur detectives got even more suspicious of her, she set off back down the corridor. Reaching her room, she pulled open the curtain and stepped inside, then stopped dead. Creg was there, with his back to her, standing over a sleeping Brady.
‘What are you doing in here?’ she asked, a tremor in her voice. ‘Get away from her!’
Creg whirled around, startled, at the sound of her voice. ‘Trudy! I was just…I can explain!’
‘Get out!’ she hissed, brandishing the hairbrush at him. He raised his hands and sidestepped around her, stammering apologies as he hurried out.
Not caring where he went, she rushed over to check on Brady. Finding her unharmed, she sank onto her bed, shaking. Why would Creg be in her room? And watching Brady? Could he be the spy? She held her head in her hands, unable to process all the thoughts and worries in her mind. Replaying the encounter with Creg in her head, she realised now what she’d been too shocked to notice at the time; he was upset. Something in his eyes when he had turned to face her…had he been crying? As freaked out as she’d been over his presence in her room, that didn’t seem like the action of a spy. What was going on? Had she overreacted? Perhaps he was upset over his falling out with Gel and wanted to ask her advice? How she wished she hadn’t overheard Ellie and Ruby talking about the spy! It really had her spooked.
As she sat there, she noticed something sticking out from underneath the bed. Her hairbrush! How had it ended up there? Surely that had been the first place she looked. Hadn’t it? She frowned. Maybe she really was going crazy. Losing her hairbrush. Exploding at Creg. She hoped Ruby, Ellie and Jack caught this spy soon.
) (which will be first appear in the next chapter already!) That they have to be the first to be beaten… After that the Technos will still be a problem… 
The beginning again of this chapter was full of detail and made me feel I was in Slade’s shoes. Absolutely terrific, the information is so clear and concise, it’s just an absolute pleasure to read. I like the name Gale but he sounds terrifying. GULP at The Guardian! 
FYI I really like Ash as a character and you already know I find him quite easy on the eye. HAHAHA. Any chance we could get some faces off the other new characters you have introduced please? 
and 
This Meta/Plague is a fruit loop.
