James Decker: Fallout

If the haan had begun to spread, then how could the food index be down? Even Hwong believed things would get worse before they got better, and he didn’t even know what Sillith had planned.

What are they eating?

I tried to tell myself that things had just improved with Ava in place. Sillith had hated humans. She’d blamed us for destroying her home world, as if we’d caused the disaster and not them. Ava had been born here. She understood, or so I thought. She’d made us a priority. I told myself that, but I couldn’t quite believe it.

I checked the time and gave Alexei’s shoulder a little shake.

“Up, kiddo. I’ve got to get ready to go.”

He got up long enough for me to slide off the couch, and then he lay back down on the warm spot. I headed to my room, crooking my neck to bring up my 3i implant’s holodisplay. As I closed the bedroom door behind me, I plucked Vamp’s contact icon, a beating candy red heart, from the tray.

Vamp, where are you?

Just took the gate into Tùzi-wo. The sitter show up yet?

Not yet.

I opened my closet door and pushed the hanging clothes to one side. I took the twistkey from its hook and put it in the socket of the small gate that I’d picked up on the underground market. I turned the key, and the wall at the base of the closet shimmered then disappeared. It opened into a dark concrete tunnel. I crawled through, and everything slowed to a near stop for a beat. The sound of the television faded, and the air turned cold.

On the other side, I could hear the faint howl of wind from far above me—the never-ending storm of the Impact rim, the ruins that surrounded the haan ship. I grabbed the flashlight I’d left next to the wall, and switched it on.

Your signal just got worse, Vamp sent.

I’m in the black hole drop, getting the flash.

I cast the beam down the narrow hallway that served as my off-the-grid hiding spot. It ended at a rusted metal door, which I was able to open only a little, enough to see that it opened into a much larger space. Up ahead, sitting on a cardboard box, were stacks of rations, paper money, and a passport, in case I decided I had to get out of Hangfei in a hurry. Among them, I’d stowed the flash drive with Jin’s video on it. I picked it up and dropped it into my pocket.

Okay, got it, I sent. You ready on your end?

All set. I’ll see you soon.

I headed back, through the gate and into the closet. I turned the key, and the tunnel disappeared again.

Back in the living room, Alexei had fallen back asleep on the sofa while the feed had started to cover the Xinzhongzi protest again. The crowd outside the colony had gotten massive, a sea of bodies packed into the square while security cars and news drones circled over them. The jumbo screens on the surrounding buildings showed the same footage, making the crowd seem even larger and louder.

As I watched, an A.I. adbot icon drifted on screen, hitching a ride on the news ticker. I looked away, but not fast enough.

“Sam?” the A.I. asked. It shrank the protest footage and pushed it into a small box in one corner, then brought up a digital catalog containing the upcoming batch of phase six haan goodies. I took a drag off the cigarillo, telling myself the haan could shove their gifts, but as I blew the sweet, spicy smoke from my nose I found myself staring at the thumbnail of the girl in the bikini.

“What do you think?” the A.I. asked. “Not bad, huh?”

“I’ve got the catalog already.”

The thumbnail expanded, and the A.I. used the opportunity to morph the woman’s face so that it looked more like mine but prettier. She had a killer body. I couldn’t help but want, just a little, to have a body like hers. Maybe more than a little.

She has big boobs, Alexei pointed out. The fascination, it seemed, started early.

“I can see that.”

“Phase six is just around the corner,” the A.I. said. “You could get on the list now, if you’re willing to make a down payment.”

“No, thanks.”

Hanzi and pinyin scrolled next to the fantasy image, telling all about how easy, painless, cheap, and natural the procedure would be. No barbaric surgery, no scars, nothing at all to suggest the results were anything but natural.

“We all have things about ourselves we’d like to change,” the A.I. said. “There’s no shame in it. The haan don’t want to change who you are, they only want to make you better, and happier. The BeauVisage Corporation has set up an exclusive deal with—”

“Beauty’s only skin deep,” I told it. “Isn’t that what they say?”

“Who says that?” the A.I. asked.

“I don’t know. ‘They’ do.”

“Well… I doubt ‘they’ mean it even if they do. Certainly none of the sales representatives at BeauVisage ever says that.”

“I’ll bet.”

“If not for yourself, then maybe for that special someone? Isn’t there someone you wouldn’t mind giving a thrill?”

I snorted. Vamp would, no doubt, be thrilled if I did it but it took an effort just to keep him in check now. If I showed up at his place looking like the render on the screen he’d probably go berserk and start humping my leg or something.

I flicked my finger again, and swept the catalog off the screen. I used to look forward to the catalogs like everyone else, but nowadays the new offerings worried me a little. They always promised new and better things, irresistible things. There didn’t seem to be any end to what the haan could do, or would do, as long as we kept the food, water, and power coming.

Toys, I thought. That’s how they bought us. Almost no one had any idea what the haan were all about. They didn’t care about the haan past the quality of life they let them enjoy, and the toys—shiny, spinning watches that they all stared at, hypnotized—while the truth crept by right under their noses.

A soft knock came at the front door and I jumped, my breath catching in my chest. Alexei stirred on the couch. He sat up, and I made my way to the front door as the soft knock came a third time.

I unlocked the door, turning the two extra bolts I’d installed. When I opened it, I found Yun standing in the hall, tapping away on her phone while glancing off to one side like she also had a chat going on her 3i implant. A braided lanyard dangled from the wet drive plugged in behind her left ear, sticking out from her short, spiky hair. She wore a little fake-leather jacket, and a short, frilly black skirt that fanned out from her narrow hips like a puffball perched on a pair of bean pole legs in striped stockings.

“You’re late,” I said.

“Streets are all backed up,” she said. “Security’s got everything snarled. Total gridlock.”

“No problem. Come on in.”

“Hey, Lex,” she called, stepping inside.

“Hi, Yun.” Alexei smiled. He liked Yun.

“He can’t stay up later than ten o’ clock,” I told Yun.

“Come on,” Alexei whined. I crossed the room, gave him a hug, and kissed him on top of his head.

“You’re practically passed out now. Ten.”

“Sorry kiddo,” Yun said.

“Thanks for watching him,” I told her.

“Anytime.”

“I’ll be late,” I told her. She had her phone out again, one thumb tapping away without her even looking, like it had its own tiny brain.

“Cool,” she said.

I glanced over at Alexei, who had turned the channel to some cartoon. The protest still raged in the TV’s corner inset. Yun gestured at the crowd and made a little snort.

“Look at those idiots. Why bother?”

“Not everyone likes the idea of Xinzhongzi, I guess,” I said.

“But who cares if the haan get another colony?” she asked. “No one’s going to care if people protest. They’re just going to get arrested.”