HAWK

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: AWAKENING (3/5)

Kas held up her right arm and could only just make out the tips of her fingers. There was a faint buzzing noise in the air like a faulty power outlet mixed with the sound of running water.

She started forwards, taking each step slowly and precisely like the ground might suddenly give way. Her eyes seemed to adjust to the mist because she began to see the faint silhouettes of tall and leafy plants stretching out from either side of the path. She felt like she was entering a jungle and half-expected one of Swanne's panthers to stalk out from behind a bush and block her way.

The ground started to grow soft under her feet. She looked down and saw a shallow lawn of blue grass carpeting the floor. The electric buzzing sound grew louder as a tiny black blur shot across her path. She stopped walking and tried to sharpen her focus. After a few seconds, she realised there were dozens of black dots zigzagging through the air - insects of some kind. She focused on one in particular as it flew straight towards her. It stopped barely a foot in front of her face.

The bee seemed to be as curious to see Kas as she was to see it. It wasn't a real bee, she knew, but a bio-mech - the original bio-mech, in fact.

Almost a third of a century before, Lysan had found itself in crisis when the world population of bees reached critically low levels. Bees were very important for the pollination of plants which in turn fed animals which in turn fed people. While humanity would have found a way to survive without them, the lack of bees would have led to a global food shortage which would have driven the price of food up, meaning the poor would have become poorer and the world population would have plummeted.

Sae-quin Lor more-or-less fixed this issue by himself when he created biomechanical bees. While other scientists had been trying and failing to create purely robotic insects, Lor realised he could hijack a bee's brain and simply insert commands. By giving it a mechanical body encased in carbon-fibre, it would live forever - or as good as.

The bio-mech bee in front of Kas studied her for only a few seconds before deciding she was of no interest and returning to the mist.

'I'm over here,' said an old and frail voice. Kas turned to her left where the voice had come from and spied the hazy outline of a huge tree trunk reaching upwards into obscurity. She walked towards it and found Rhaspa kneeling at its base. She stood behind him and wondered what he was doing.

'It's an aether tree,' he said. 'On Lysan, they can live for thousands of years. The air they emit is so pure that it's said to prolong life. I'm not sure on the science, but it seems to have worked for me so far. Won't you join me?'

Kas was in no mood to argue with a blind old man, so she knelt by his side and saw his eyes were closed. He took a deep breath in through his nose and let it out slowly through his mouth.

'How did you sleep?' he asked her.

'Fine,' Kas replied. 'I see even this place is not safe from bio-mechs.'

'Hmm? Oh, the bees. Sometimes I forget they're even here. Yes, they're quite critical to our way of life. We grow all of our own food here.'

'Yeah, I kinda figured that bit out. So have you worked out whether you're going to imprison me here or not?'

'Kas Balera... I don't suppose you're of any relation to Tye Balera?'

'Who?'

'He was an actor I worked with in my youth. Short man, big eyebrows. Excellent sense of smell.'

'Yeah... I don't think we're related.'

'Probably just as well. He was a terrible actor.' Rhaspa grinned but it didn't last long. He suddenly became very sad, as though he'd just remembered something awful. He opened his blind eyes and turned to her.

'I understand if you still don't trust me. Honestly, I can't blame you. I have said and done things in the past that I simply cannot defend, cannot justify. I know it's no excuse, but in the end, I am still just a human with flaws and imperfections like anyone else. I have such terrible regrets, I can't tell you.' His voice dimmed as he sunk deeper into his memories. He no longer seemed to be talking to Kas but to himself.

Kas was about to ask him why he was telling her any of this when he suddenly reached out and grabbed her hand. His fingers were bony but his grip was strong. He seemed to stare deeply into Kas's eyes then - not just past them or to the side, but directly into them.

'I know you want to leave, and I certainly don't want to keep you here if it is still your wish to go, but I wish first to make one last appeal.'

'You're wasting your time,' Kas said.

'Maybe. Maybe not. I would like to show you what we do here. It is the reason so many people have left their old lives behind to stay. If, after that, you still want to go... well, then at least you will go knowing the truth.' He let go of her hand and picked his cane up off the floor. With a shaking arm, he pushed himself onto his feet. He touched the bark of the aether tree as if he was saying goodbye to it, then turned and walked away.

Kas, who was still on her knees, immediately stood and followed after him before she lost him to the mist. She suddenly felt as though she was the blind one.