Andrea Höst - And All the Stars

Madeleine had belatedly processed the morning’s silence. "The song’s stopped, but they’re still–?"

"Yeah, it doesn’t conveniently wear off, and it doesn’t make any difference if you take them out of range. They respond to some questions, but not very usefully."

"They’re not all standing about the Spires are they?"

"I wish. Worst news first: road blocks. They did the main roads, then moved on to all the little streets, driving cars across them. A couple of cities even have footage of Greens talking together, marking off street maps. I don’t know if they’ll manage to get every street, but we can’t hope to simply drive away. Equally bad news: they’re searching the cities. Collecting bodies mainly, but also flushing out Blues. We did a lot of brainstorming about what to do if they come here – check the fridge."

A list had been added to the collection of flower and superhero drawings.

Everyone – own rooms and en suites.

Pan – TV, walkway monitor.

Min – patio & patio door.

Nash – phones, random belongings.

Emily – kitchen.

Maddie – main bathroom.

Fisher – fresh rubbish.

Noi – this list!

"It’s no good us hiding in that study if the sinks are wet, fresh food is sitting on the table, and there’s a handy monitor shrieking intruder! . So orders are to keep rooms we’re not in spotless, and don’t leave your belongings about. The second the monitor alarm sounds, clear your main room task, check your own room, then straight to the study. Strictly speaking Noi wanted us to not cook for the next few days, because, well, the cheery scent of pancakes is a bit of a giveaway as well." He lifted a sizzling frying pan. "But she also wants to use up the eggs before they go off, so I figure this is early enough in the day to be safe, and we clean up straight away. Wanna help?"

They made enormous stacks of pancakes and were washing up when the others began to drift out of their rooms. Min and Noi paused to talk by the dining table, then went out on the patio together. Min set a small statue of Buddha up against the planters, and they both lit some incense and prayed. Fisher collected pots of jam and honey and laid the table while Emily ran through the available channels on the television, but didn’t turn on the sound. They decided to let Nash continue to sleep while they worked through the pancakes, and no-one seemed to want to talk much, even after Pan told them about the body-hopping.

"I didn’t realise you were Buddhist, Noi," Madeleine said, after they’d drifted out to sit on the patio. The planter hedges thankfully shielded them from most angles, so they’d decided it was safe to venture.

"Technically, Buddhisty-Catholicy." Noi shrugged. "Usually I’m a bit laid-back about it all, but I’m having a ping-pong of faith at the moment." She gazed in through the patio door at the boys cleaning up plates and putting them away. "It helps me when thinking about the people who are gone, but it’s not so comforting when considering the ones still around. Especially Gavin."

"Do you think we have any chance?"

"Every time I look at the TV the odds seem to go down. From what we know now, yes, there’s a chance, but the body-hopping is a bad thing. If they’re specifically looking for the strongest Blues, well, you and I are some of the strongest Blues in the city. That hidden room is a big bonus, but we don’t have much time to get to it after the alarm goes off, and food-hunting is going to be a huge risk. One of the biggest dangers is boredom."

"Boredom?" Madeleine stared. Here in this luxurious home, filled with games and books, half a dozen computers, and multiple televisions screening an alien invasion?

"Yeah, boredom. The longer this goes on, the more we’ll struggle – both keeping ourselves ready to hide on short notice, and not taking more risks. Pan particularly – he’s the energetic type that finds it hard to just stay put. I’m that way myself. Don’t you want to get out, do something?"

"I want to paint you and Emily."

"Really? Not Science Boy?"

"Fisher…" Madeleine glanced quickly at the door, but no-one was close. "I need to know him better, understand what it is I’d want to paint. If I had unlimited materials, sure, but I’ve two canvases and I want to use them well. You and Emily, I could really make something."

A warm tinge deepened Noi’s skin, but she frowned. "Anyone coming into the apartment would smell fresh paint."

"If I set the easel by the patio door, and move the canvas to the safe room when I’m not working on it, it shouldn’t be an issue. And I’d work on sketches the first couple of days. They’re likely to search Finger Wharf early on, aren’t they?"

"Given who Sydney’s new alien overlord is, yeah."

Without warning she hunched down, motioning Madeleine to do the same. Madeleine slid out of her chair to kneel on the patio deck, then turned to see why they were hiding.

A grey navy ship was easing backward out of the narrow eastern part of the bay. Even though she couldn’t see anyone on the deck, Madeleine shifted underneath the edge of the patio table, and Noi joined her, making a shooing motion at Min, who was staring out at them.

"Blues escaping?" Madeleine whispered, though there was no way they could be overheard.

"Green navy waiting at the headlands for anyone sneaking out of the harbour?"

It was the more likely explanation. Madeleine and Noi waited until the ship had gained reasonable distance, then slipped back into the apartment, joining the others in watching through the glass.

"Chances are good they’ll have something similar to stop people going up-river," Noi said.

"Not an insurmountable obstacle, however." Nash hadn’t slept very late for someone who’d had most of the night watch. "A small, unlit boat in the dark would have a good chance of–"

He broke off as Pan gripped his arm, and they all stared, speechless, at a ribbon of light following the ship.

Snake-like and perhaps the length of three buses, it was widest along the front third, where what seemed to be a dozen layers of diaphanous wings marked a lazy, complicated beat. The wings were shaped like sails, triangles of light which thinned to insubstantiality, just like the long trailing tail of the thing. It swooped, lifted, glided: a dandelion seed of a monster decorating the sky.

"Is there someone riding that?"

The distance made it difficult to be sure, but there did seem to be two points of solidity near the very front, before the wings.

They watched until their view was blocked by the eastern headland, then Min said: "So, no going out on the patio except at night?"

"And I was worried they’d have possessed some survivors who knew how to fly helicopters." Noi reluctantly slid the patio door shut. "Until we have some better idea of how often those things will fly over, and whether they happen to have night vision, no going out at all."

Madeleine had taken to biting her nails, unable to settle to anything, shifting from room to room, scouring the internet for news then not wanting to read it. She had a most wondrous portrait boiling inside her and couldn’t let herself progress now the sketch was transferred, couldn’t immerse herself in paint and escape the new world. Pan wasn’t much better, debating plans of action with Min, who seemed to delight in pointing out problems with every idea, their squabbles getting on Madeleine’s nerves until she realised that Pan was less edgy after these minor spats.

The television delivered a constant stream of bad news. Stain appearing anywhere and everywhere, infection blown on the wind. Families on the fringes of dust zones where there’d been no rain, gambling with their lives when food supplies ran low. Millions of displaced overwhelming non-Spire cities. Fights over food, water, face masks. Glimpses of Moths making themselves at home while Greens buried bodies and restored services, even travelling out of their cities on errands. New religions, and established ones grown strange and angry, calling disaster a judgment, a test. Very occasionally a sighting of a creature of light, every description different from the last.