It was possible to come or go unseen as long as you had the right connections. Quartermaster Mason was not only Helix’s supplier of matériel but also his under-the-radar transport facilitator.
It was 12:45 when Helix checked the time near to the Hounslow rendezvous point. Mace had arranged for them to stow away in a freight container on a lorry bound for Bristol. ‘Shit!’ he spat, turning to Sofi. ‘There’s another bloody police patrol.’
‘The only one who knows where you are is me. After your last call with Ormandy, I modified the communications stack so they can’t triangulate your position using comms.’
Helix turned his collar up. The snow had stopped, giving way to weak sunlight that was fighting to break through the clouds. ‘OK, let’s move.’
Sofi caught his arm.
‘What’s up?’
‘How are you feeling?’
‘What?’ His brow furrowed. ‘Listen, I’d love to talk about my feelings but we need to get on that bloody truck.’
‘I meant physically. Any light headedness, blurred vision, muscle fatigue?’ She pulled him back into a doorway. ‘Give me your hand.’ She pushed away his right hand and pulled the glove from his left.
‘Jesus.’ Helix said as she bit the pad of his index finger.
Sofi worked her jaw, looking up at him. ‘Shut up, you tart. I’m testing your blood. Bend down, I want to look into your eye.’
‘Can’t this wait until we’re on the truck?’ he said, unable to resist as she clamped her hands around his neck and pulled him down to her level.
‘Open your mouth.’
He sighed, his mouth half open, eyes wide as she clamped her hands over his ears and pressed her mouth to his. Her eyes sparkled as he stared into them as if he could see the neurons triggering electrical impulses. Her hands slipped from his neck.
He glowered at her. ‘What the fu—’
‘What was the last thing you had to drink?’ she said, running her tongue over her lips.
‘Coffee, in St Swithin’s Lane,’ he said. ‘No. Hang on. Water at Mace’s. Why?’
‘Take this,’ she said, pressing a blue capsule into his hand. ‘You’ve got an infection.’
Helix held the capsule between his fingers. ‘I’m not surprised after that,’ he said, looking at the blood on the tip of his finger.
‘Nanite tracers. Your gut’s full of them. The tab will kill them. They’ll dissolve and pass out through your urinary tract.’
‘Nice,’ he said, swallowing the capsule. ‘How long?’
‘It’s fast. Sixty seconds max to kill them. Drink plenty of water and they’ll find their way out.’ She grinned. ‘It’ll be like pissing shards of glass, but you’ll survive.’
Helix opened his eyes and stared into the dark. He reassured himself by cycling the modes in his right eye. Sofi sat in the opposite corner of their shared 64 square feet, but his thermal imaging detected no heat signature. The switch to night vision rendered her pale green. Her eyes were open but unblinking as she stared into the distance.
Her voice appeared in his ear. ‘What are you looking at?’ her virtual manifestation asked.
‘Nothing. Just proving to myself that I wasn’t back in Lytkin’s chamber of horrors.’ He wished the same was true for Ethan. He killed the night vision, plunging himself back into the dark. ‘Are you any closer to identifying where they might be holding him?’
‘Negative. It could literally be anywhere. I have facial recognition sub-routines running on the locations around where you were put into that taxi.’
‘Archer?’
‘Correct. Given that we have no idea what Ulyana Lytkin looks like, I wouldn’t know what to look for.’
‘What about back to her time in Ukraine, between when she was abducted and say the next 12 to 15 years?’
‘I can try, but the likelihood of—’
‘I know, I know. The likelihood of mission success, blah, blah, blah. How about some solutions instead of an endless diet of problems for a change?’
‘I’m sorry, Helix, but—’
‘Sorry? Is sorrow one of your sub-routines too? Or didn’t Ethan get around to programming you for that one?’ He refolded his jacket, shoved it back behind his head and folded his arms. ‘What’s Ormandy doing?’
‘Her diary shows that she is attending Parliament this afternoon for Gaia’s Health of the Nation update.’
‘Let me guess. Even less work for humans to do, another recommended diet and exercise regime, life expectancy up by another month to 94 years. We used to say 80-odd was a good innings.’
‘Innings? One of the divisions of a cricket match—’
‘Exactly.’ Helix shrugged. ‘Who knows, with Gaia’s grace we might all make a century,’ he said. ‘What I want to know is what happens when it realises it doesn’t need us anymore? Maybe it’ll keep a few of us alive as curiosities.’
‘We have recently passed close to the derelict town of Swindon,’ she reported. ‘There is no police or military activity in the area. Local militias are all stood down.’
‘Good. So, we’re not being tracked?’
‘Correct. We are approximately 45 minutes from our destination.’
‘You sound like a trolley dolly.’
‘Trolley dolly? A sometimes derogatory term used to refer to a flight attendant.’
‘Hmm. Also known as the tart with the cart,’ he mumbled. ‘Thank you Miss Wiki. That’s enough. I need to think.’
When was the last time he’d been this far out of the city? The answer didn’t come but memories of what he’d seen in the pandemic’s aftermath did. Maintenance trolls kept the motorways clear now and they were welcome
