The Whisper (5 page)

T
he next morning in Cape Wrath was gray and still. Waves lapped against the cliffs, and the blanket of cloud threatened only drizzle.

Mal Gorman had had a late night, but he was at his desk at dawn, flicking through the fortress cameras. The implanted army was still sleeping peacefully, and the nurses were treating its wounds. Some of the children had hypothermia and had been taken to the hospital unit, but most would be fighting fit again in a few days. It was mostly surface damage, cuts, bruises, and Creeper Net wounds, nothing worth worrying about.

Seven children had fallen from the cliffs and been lost to the sea, but Gorman wasn’t worried about those, either. He decided their deaths were a weeding-out process. If those children weren’t able to survive the cliffs like the others, it was likely they’d make similar mistakes in war.

Most of the bodies had been found. Gorman would tell the parents later. Like Ellie and Mika’s parents, they would never know what had really happened to their children.

When Gorman bored of looking at the curved backs of nurses, he ordered breakfast. Ralph appeared with a heavy tray.

“Where would you like it, sir?” the butler asked.

“In front of me,” Gorman said. “Where do you think?”

“Very good, sir,” Ralph replied. He placed the tray in the middle of the screen, over the faces of the sleeping children, and left again.

Then Gorman ate heartily.

Mika awoke to find Awen’s nose an inch from his own. The dream dog had been watching him like a sentinel since he’d fallen asleep. Mika fiddled with his ears. They were soft and warm and smelled like butter cookies dipped in tea.

“Funny dog,” he whispered.

He got up and sat on the edge of the bed. The dog made room for his legs, then yawned and settled himself on his feet, looking up as Mika rubbed the sleep from his face. There had been a time when Awen only visited in his dreams. Then he began to appear during the day, whenever Mika was in danger.

In the coming days, the dog would watch his every move.

Mika’s room in the Chosen Ones’ enclosure was small and white, with not much more than a bed to fill it. Audrey joined him while he was still sitting in darkness.

Audrey looked cute in her regulation white army pajamas. They were a bit too big for her. Her short red hair had been punked by her pillow, and her alien, fairy face was still sleepy.
But her green borg eyes were wide awake and glowed with unnatural, nuclear light: partly because it was dark in the room, partly because she was so happy to see Mika.

“I woke up at four,” she told him.

“You should have gone back to sleep,” he said.

“I tried,” she replied. “I couldn’t.”

She sat next to him, and her legs jiggled against the base of the bed. Mika grinned. He knew she’d been sitting next door, waiting for him to wake up.

“Sit still,” he said.

“I can’t,” she replied. “I missed you yesterday, and after the army woke up, they made us stay in the enclosure watching TV.”

She glanced at the camera over the door.

We could feel them connecting and disconnecting,
she thought,
and it was really difficult being stuck in here, knowing what was happening outside. We wanted to do something
.

You will do something,
Mika thought in response.
Next time the army wakes up, it will fly out of here, and we’ll be with it
.

Her eyes became earnest.
We’re actually going to do it, aren’t we? Like we talked about in the forest. We’re going to stop the war
.

Mika met her questioning gaze.
We’re going to try. But it won’t be easy. Don’t get excited yet. It’s going to be difficult and dangerous
.

I know
. She nodded.
But I can’t wait to get out of here. I hate this enclosure. I can hardly breathe. Leo was pacing around last night. The TV was driving us nuts. We’re ready now
.

But everything has to be done the right way,
Mika reminded her.
We can’t rush it. Our main objective is to make adults listen to us, on both sides of The Wall, and consider negotiating for
freedom instead of fighting for it
. He scratched Awen behind the ears.
But before the adults will listen to us, we have to make them respect us. We have to prove to them that we’re not just children and that we know what we’re talking about. So we’ll take control of the North — this fortress and all its weapons. Then we’ll take control of The Wall. Then, when we’ve proved how powerful we are, we’ll talk to the South on behalf of our people and tell them what we’ve done. Ask them for freedom without a war and explain to them why it makes sense
.

Now it was Mika who looked briefly at the camera before continuing.
But the first thing we have to do is get rid of Mal Gorman. He’s our main problem at the moment. We won’t be able to take control of this fortress while he’s sitting at the top of it
.

Audrey’s eyes brightened mischievously.
And how are we going to do that?

That’s what we need to figure out
, Mika thought.
Today. It’s not going to be easy to move him while he’s attached to that life-support system. But we’ve got a meeting with him after breakfast. We can get a good look at him then. He’s going to get the shock of his life
.

Good
, Audrey thought.
He deserves a shock. While we were stuck there staring at the stupid telly, all we could hear was the children. It was horrible, Mika. I’m so glad you’re back
.

So am I. And I’ll introduce you to Ellie when she wakes up
.

Good. Then I’ll have two of you. Twice as much
.

Three times, even. My sister’s quite a character. I think you’re going to like her
.

Mika pulled her close and breathed in her hair. If Awen
smelled of butter cookies dipped in tea, Audrey smelled of flowers in the forest. It was good to have them both so close. Awen was so much more than a dog; Audrey was so much more than a partner in a Pod Fighter game.

After Gorman finished his breakfast, he considered his first lie of the morning. He usually sent the Northern Government a progress report at this time of day, but he didn’t want the other ministers to know the army had just climbed out of bed and, of their own free will, tried to run away. It made him look like an idiot.

He summoned views from the new Houses of Parliament in the Golden Turrets. It was almost nine o’clock, but the ministers’ offices were quiet. Nothing moved but the hands on the old-fashioned clocks on their walls.

I could get away with not telling anyone,
Gorman thought,
if I threaten the fortress staff so they don’t talk
.

For when this war was won, Mal Gorman didn’t want any old mansion on the other side of The Wall. He wanted the mansion of Raphael Mose, the leader of the World Conservation Club. It wasn’t the biggest or most expensive; it didn’t have ten swimming pools and hundreds of rooms like some of the others; but this was the mansion Mal Gorman wanted. And if the government found out he’d almost lost the army, he’d probably end up in some rotting shack next to a swamp. This did not appeal to him. So he swept the empty offices away and wrote his nine o’clock report without mentioning the children’s awakening.

When this was done, he spent a few happy minutes looking at curtain and carpet samples for Raphael Mose’s
mansion. Then he summoned his Chosen Ones for their meeting.

While he waited for them to arrive, he felt a bit excited and nervous, like a lion tamer with a new crop of lions. Ralph had replaced his breakfast with a bowl of Everlife pills. He crunched them and watched the door.

Men with guns arrived and formed a line against the wall. Mika and Ellie followed and stood before Gorman’s desk.

This was the first time he’d seen them together in the flesh. For a moment they looked like part of the office, as still as the carpet, walls, and paintings. And their eyes had changed: Their black corneas had a mercurial gleam. In the light cast from his window, they looked very odd indeed. He’d never seen Ellie so quiet before, and the dark scowl that used to be a feature of her face had vanished. Mika looked put together in his new white uniform. Gorman decided, on balance, that he was pleased with them.

“Good morning,” he said.

“Good morning, sir,” Mika replied.

Audrey entered next. Mika’s gunner, and what a gunner! Probably the best in the whole army. She’d been born without eyes, but the borg eyes that replaced them were better than any human’s. Grass green and nuclear bright. Audrey was a radium fairy made by Irish and Russian blood and technology: weird, beautiful, and deadly. But she was also an optimistic child. She had none of Mika and Ellie’s languor. Gorman liked her.

Audrey took her place at Mika’s side and looked over her shoulder as the rest walked in.

Next entered Leo, the Lion Boy. He was born with a
skin-covered tail. His mix of Jamaican and Canadian bloods had bestowed on him gold skin, gold dreadlocks, and startling blue eyes. He walked toward Mal Gorman’s desk with a sinuous grace that communicated all his newly awoken power. He was a perfect mutant specimen, with incredible leadership potential.

Leo wore a gold ring on one finger. Gorman looked at this. Leo had been told to take it off when he arrived at the fortress, but Gorman decided not to mention it. Everything else about the boy was perfect. This rebellious ring could be removed later.

“Good morning, Leo,” Gorman said.

“Good morning, sir,” the boy replied.

Next entered Iman, the ebony girl, with all the streamlined grace of a Pod Fighter. This child had been given up for adoption by her parents because she grew horns when she was four.

Their loss, my gain,
Gorman thought.

This striking black girl was a brilliant strategist and another very good gunner.

Santos entered next. Santos, the Hawk Boy, with spurs that curved from his wrists. His eyes moved quickly as he took in the details of the office, and for a split second, Gorman felt dissected by his pointed stare. This boy’s intelligence had a razor sharpness that made him an expert problem solver.

Last to come was Colette, the French girl who’d been born without hands and feet. She was a good example of a child who’d once been persecuted for her mutation but was now celebrated for it. Her new hands and feet were silver, and mimicked the mechanics of real bone, sinew, and muscle. They were expertly made and eerily beautiful. Since arriving in the fortress, she’d worn them without skin gloves. Long hair
skimmed cheekbones of peaches and cream and hid the analytical mind of a chess champion. Colette was a shy one, but she was one to watch. Chosen from thousands and about to get a lot of money and time invested in her development.

Here were Mal Gorman’s Chosen Ones, the most talented and useful children in the army.

“You look well,” Gorman said.

He took an Everlife pill and crunched it contentedly. Then he looked at Iman. “Do your parents like their new home in the Golden Turrets?”

“Yes, sir,” she replied. “They think it’s beautiful.”

“That’s nice,” Gorman said. “You’re very special, Iman. Your parents deserve a beautiful home. And how are you, Audrey? What’s it like living in your new enclosure?”

“It’s nice, sir,” Audrey replied.

“Excellent. So you’re all ready to start work?”

They nodded and watched him take another Everlife pill. He put it in his mouth and crunched it with yellow teeth. So many tubes and wires punctured his skin, he looked like an accident in a spaghetti factory: swamped by his machines, frail, sitting among them. The golden light that radiated from his body ran weak into the blue of the machines. His mind was active, but the body that housed it was just barely alive.

He’ll be dead within minutes if we take him without that life-support system,
Mika thought.

Yeah
, Ellie replied.
And he’ll need medical treatment too
.

Maybe we should just take it all,
Leo thought.
Life-support machine, doctors, and half a hospital unit
.

There has to be an easier way,
Mika thought.
How are we going to hide him with all that equipment and medical staff?
And what if something goes wrong? We don’t want to risk killing him. The shock alone might do it. We have to keep him alive. He needs to know we’re not like him. That we don’t solve problems by killing things
.

“I expect you want to know what I plan to do with you,” Gorman continued, oblivious to the thought exchange. “You’ve got your crisp new uniforms now, and your new enclosure. You won’t be bored, I can assure you of that. You start your new training today. You’ll continue with exercises to develop your powers and you’ll learn how to use the new equipment that will help you survive on the other side of The Wall. And if you’re doing well next week, I’ll send you all on your first mission. To the factories where they build the animal borgs. We don’t understand the technology and we need more information about how they’re made. However, Mika, Ellie, I’m sending you over tomorrow. I have a special mission for you.”

Mika and Ellie looked at him, startled. They weren’t expecting this. They’d hoped to escape before they were sent on one of Gorman’s death missions.

“The rest of you can leave,” Gorman said.

Mika and Ellie waited while Audrey, Leo, Iman, Santos, and Colette left the room, followed by most of the men with guns. Gorman told Ellie to shut the door behind them.

When she turned around to face him again, he said, “I’m pleased with you, Ellie. You look much calmer. Do you feel better now that Mika’s here?”

“Yes,” she replied cautiously.

“Good,” Gorman said. He ate another Everlife pill.

“The mission I have for you is quite special,” he began. “You could call it a warm-up, if you like. A special favor to me. And if
you do well, I’ll give your parents ten thousand credits to spend on furniture. I believe they moved into their new apartment with only the gray sofa they brought with them from Barford North. Is that right, Mika?”