Read Online Inkers by Alex Rudall - Free Book Online Page A

not leave. She had stowed away in the back of Tom’s van, a stupid plan to get her next hit. He had found her when he arrived at the jetty on the mainland, and taken her over to the island, not knowing what to do with her, unwilling to leave a thirteen–year old girl alone in a strange place. Brian had shouted at him for hours. She had heard it from in the kitchen while Annie fed her hot chocolate. She had seen too much; if she left she would speak of the place where the ink came from, and ITSA would come and destroy everything, probably kill them all. So she had to stay, until she was old enough to keep her mouth shut, if such a time ever came. At first she hadn’t minded. Brian gave her all the ink she wanted, Annie all the food, and the island was very safe. The nightly dream of the sealed room continued, but she had had that every time she slept inside since her parents were taken. Sometimes she had watched the low black Royal Navy battleships slink past along the Firth of Clyde and fantasised about escape. Until recently she had mostly been content.
    And now, somehow, she was pregnant. She couldn’t remember much of that night. Despite how much Tom sometimes annoyed her, she trusted him completely. However much ink he took, she didn’t think he’d have sex with her. But he had been acting strangely, mutating a little, even in the night when she went to speak to him at the gate. And there were the little holes. Was it some kind of experiment? The idea made her sick. He wondered if they would ever let her leave. Ever since she had told Tom she would steal the boat he had always kept the keys on him.
    She could take Leonard’s kayak, but where would she go?
    Where would they go?
    She lifted her shirt and rested her hand on her flat, well–muscled belly. It would keep growing until it came out, alive and separate to her. She wanted to protect it. She hoped the ink wouldn’t hurt it. She tapped at the watch on her wrist, wondering if she could find some information about pregnancy on there. About how to care for it. There was the orange glow again, and then a message in the centre of the screen.
    Signal weak .
    Lily frowned and tapped at it. The screen seemed to grow in her vision until it had almost filled it. She knew it was just projecting onto her retinas, but she wasn’t used to the sensation, and she looked away, blinking. After a moment she looked back and it filled her vision again. The screen read Front Forum . There was a warning at the top – Welcome to the darknet. This forum is monitored by all kinds of security services and many dodgy fuckers, please cover your meatspace traces with care. The rest was a lot of text, like the pre–VR internet, and seemed to be constantly updating, new topics appearing at the top and pushing others down. Most of them were about a signal: the source of the signal , Chinese involvement in the signal , ITSA and the signal . She saw several references to the GSE and felt a rush of horror.
    There was a button at the top titled New Topic . She pressed it cautiously and a white box appeared. “Help,” she said, experimentally, and the word appeared in the box. “I am a prisoner in a massive ink den,” she said softly. The text obliged, filling out below Help . She continued – “I am a prisoner in a massive ink den, they make thousands of gallons of ink for experiments, and they’re experimenting on me, and I’m pregnant, and they wont let me leave!”
    Suddenly the skin on her neck prickled. She stared around.
    The island was quiet. A little bird flitted nearby, resting for half a second on a branch before fluttering away in a burst of feathers. There was nobody there.
    She looked back at the watch. Her heart jumped into her mouth —the text field was gone. Her message had saved and there were two responses underneath. Pics pls , the top one read, and the next, proof and i’ll come rescue u and the ink . Lily gasped and tore the watch off her wrist. She tapped the