The Little Red Breast Bird
Bill ducked his head out from under the rocky overhang and listened hard. Nothing. He glanced at the pocket-sized radar and saw no indicators of anything nearby. He shoved it in his back pocket, picked up the water buckets and skipped over the brush to the tree line fifty feet away. Once he got past the tree line, he slowed down to a normal pace. He looked back over his shoulder at the sunny meadow he’d just passed through. He longed to play out there in the light, or even just lie in the sunshine for a while. But his dad always said cover was safer.
He trudged down the low hill to the creek, almost a quarter of a mile away. It was always the same. Dead quiet and boring. When he was younger Shep would come with him and it had been a game for them to race across the field between the rocks and the trees and half the time Bill would tumble down the hill to the creek, sometimes even by accident, and Shep would run up to lick his face. But in the last year he had started sleeping more and didn’t like to go on Bill’s midday trips to get water.
The boy kicked a pine cone out of his way. He was so bored. With only his dad and that stupid Luke around for company, he never got to play—inside or outside. It was all chores and studies.
At the creek he climbed up between two big rocks and bent down to fill up his buckets. The creek was flowing heavily with run-off from further up the mountain, so he could have filled up his buckets anywhere, but he liked the little pool that formed between the boulders. Sometimes he even saw a fish in it.
Once he’d filled his buckets and splashed around the water a little with a boat he made out of bit of driftwood, he stood up to head back. A bright flash of color caught his eye. He looked up to a branch too high to reach. There sat a fat little gray bird with a bright red color on his chest. The little thing eyed him warily, but Bill barely moved.
“Hello,” he whispered. It had been a long time since he’s seen any birds or animals. It had been months since his last foraging hike with his dad. That was the only time he ever got to see animals, even living in the remote forest, because of the dead zone near the caves. He watched the bird, fascinated even though it barely moved. He longed to make a pet of it, to make it a friend. But it was a wild bird and his dad would be angry. Still, he wondered, if he trained it to come to him, he didn’t need to bring it home, he could just meet it out here. “I’ll come back for you,” he whispered again. He picked up his buckets and headed back up the low rise to the meadow.
He found his dad waiting inside the tree line, “What have you been doing? No dawdling, hear? Get back on up to the cave.”
Bill just nodded and took off to the cave entrance. His dad followed close behind with this rifle casually leaning against his shoulder, his long legs taking one step for every three of the heavily weighed down boy.
Bill ducked into the cave entrance, shouldering aside the blanket covering the entrance. He made his way to the back of the large oblong room, lit brightly with LED lights, to put the water into the cistern. During the rainy months and winter, the cistern filled up by itself with drip water, but it had been a hot summer and was dry. Bill had to bring up at least six buckets a day as part of his chores.
His father came in right behind him and hung up his gun on its sling then went to the wash basin to clean up. He’d been out since daybreak and would be wanting to eat soon.
Bill headed towards the entrance with his buckets, but his father stopped him. “Where are you going?”
“I thought I’d get another couple of pails” he replied trying to keep the eager out of his voice.
“I don’t think so.” He pressed the security code on the punch panel next to the entrance, closing off the cave for the night. “It’s getting late and I’m sure there is enough until tomorrow.” He turned into the little area that served as a kitchen.
“Yes, sir.” Bill knew there was no point in arguing. His dad set the stove alight and began to gather the ingredients for dinner. Bill went to the table where he’d left his Workspace and began reading a chapter of his daily assignment. The story was about a kid who goes to a shopping mall with his friends and has adventures outwitting thieves. Bill could remember shopping with his mother in a big, airy store with lots and lots of clothes, but not the shopping mall. Definitely not friends. He hadn’t been out in the world since he was four. The book meant nothing to him. Still, he was going to be tested and his dad and Luke got all angry if he didn’t do well on his tests. They got really crazy sometimes.
Dad rang the bell to tell Luke it was time to eat and a few seconds later he came up the ladder from the cave below. “Hey, Luke,” he said.
“Hey,” Luke returned, sitting down at the table. He smelled terrible. Bill was pretty sure he never bathed. But then, he never went outside and was pale as the earthworms Bill found in the deep tunnels. Bill felt like he was that pale. He looked at his hands. They were a light tan, the same color as his dad’s belly. His dad’s face was lovely burnt color from being out in the sun so much. It made crinkly lines around his eyes when he talked or smiled. Bill liked that.
He hated Luke. Things had been much more fun when Anjit had been there. But his mom had been there too then. He missed his mom. Luke had been with them for more than a year now and was as unfriendly as the day he arrived.
Dad brought a bowl of boiled grain to the table. He ruffled Bill’s hair as he went back. Bill carefully laid his Workspace to the side of the table, making a show of being careful. He’d broken two other ones and didn’t want to break a third. He thought Luke was going to pitch him in the rubbish hole last time.
His dad picked up the big sizzling skillet and three plates, he brought them to the table and dished out some of the meat and vegetables in it onto every plate followed by a scoop of the grain.
Bill tasted it. Bulgur. He hated bulgur. The meat was pretty good. It was some of the venison from the deer his dad had shot week before last. The vegetables, if you could really call them that, were awful. They were the reconstituted dry ones and were not much use at all.
After eating all the venison, Bill swirled the vegetables in the bulgur. “Eat your dinner please. Don’t play with your food.” His father said with a full mouth. When he was finished chewing he asked, “Did you get a lot of studying done today?”
“I think so,” Bill said to his plate. He’d spent half the day tinkering with his tools, playing with some wood and nails he had.
“He was barely onscreen at all,” Luke said between bites, not looking at either of them.
Bill’s mouth dropped open. How could he say something like that? It wasn’t like he was even in the same room with him at all. “That’s not true,” he protested.
“Now Bill, why would he say it if it wasn’t true?” His dad asked calmly.
“He wasn’t even up here today. I mean all day.” Bill looked at his plate. “You always take his side.”
His father laid his fork down gently. Bill cringed inwardly, knowing a lecture was in store. “Bill, we’ve talked about this before,” his voice gentle but stern. “You need to take responsibility for yourself and take responsibility for your education.”
“Yes, dad.”
“I hate to harp on this, but you have to understand how important your education is,” we went on for a while more. Bill hated it. Hated being put in the spotlight in front of Luke who just sat there chewing his food and smirking. He knew his dad was depending on him to take care of himself, but the lectures made him take no interest at all. “Because we’ll need you soon, son. We’ll need you to help with our work. It’s getting to the point that we’ll need every person we can get.”
“I know.”
“Well, if you’re finished,” Bill’s mushy food had long gone cold, “Why don’t you take your Workspace to your desk and do some more before lights out.” It wasn’t a question.
Bill reluctantly got up and, tucking his Workspace under his arm, scraped his leftovers into Shep’s bowl. The sleepy old dog lifted his head, sniffing. It was the first time Bill had seen him move since they had got back.
As soon as he could the next morning, Bill shot out of the cave with his water buckets. His father was staying in that day to help Luke with whatever it was he did in his dungeon, as Bill liked to think of it. He was down to the creek as fast as he could make it. He looked around, examined every tree branch, but couldn’t see the little bird. He was sorely disappointed.
He played about a bit in the water, tossing in bits of tree and small rocks. He liked the way the water fountained up in a circle when things hit the surface.
For a hundred yards around the cave entrance there was a dead zone that animals wouldn’t cross. But this part of the creek was just outside the zone. He always hoped to see more animals, but rarely saw anything. Since they’d started using the frequency that kept wildlife away, they had found new paths and routes to take that kept them away. Bill knew that it was meant to protect them and their home, but he didn’t quite see how a ground squirrel could be a problem, other than to drive Shep crazy.
There was another reason that his dad didn’t want the animals to come near, Bill thought. He’d never asked his dad, cause he knew he wouldn’t get a real answer, but Bill thought it had something to do with the mechanical snake.
Just the summer before, it was early summer when the nights were still cold, he had found a snake lying in the sun in the brush between the cave entrance and the sheltering trees. Bill was fascinated. It was the first time he had a snake so close. He had taken a long stick and poked it. It began wiggling away, towards the cave. Shep came out, saw it moving, and went to investigate. Shep sniffed it and it began moving faster, away from the cave. Bill had thought it seemed funny that it was running away. Didn’t snakes try to bite, or what was the word, strike?
Then Bill had felt the shivering tingle of an electro pulse. The snake went very still and Shep ran back into the cave. A minute later his dad came out carrying his shotgun. He went very white when he saw the snake and Bill standing so near to it.
“What was that dad?” Bill had asked.
His father didn’t answer, but instead picked up the snake. Bill remembered seeing little puffs of dirt fall off it as it rose in the air. Before Bill even knew what was going on, his dad broke off the end of the snake. Was that its tail? Bill was shocked by the intricate metal and plastic parts that were exposed. His dad starting cursing fiercely.
“We’ve only got a couple of minutes before this thing reboots,” he said handing Bill his shotgun. “I’ve got to get this as far away as possible.” He shot down the hill running as fast as he could, his long legs seeming to be air born, only touching down for a split second on each stride.
Later he told Luke and Bill, that he had made it to the rocky area a dozen yards past the creek just as it was rebooting. His dad had rolled a big rock over its tail end so its systems would interpret that as the danger.
Bill didn’t quite understand. He knew all about computers and network systems, but didn’t quite understand a system that would interpret outside signals. Luke had said that the systems were getting sophisticated much faster than they could out think them and his dad had nodded gravely.
After the snake incident, Bill had been wary of wild creatures, but it had soon worn off in his lonely desire for a friend of any sort. His dad had made him promise that he would tell him or Luke if he saw any creature nearby that wasn’t in a hurry to be somewhere else. That’s why he hadn’t mentioned the little bird to his dad the day before.
They were in danger from mechanical animals, not real animals, Bill understood that now, but if the bird was real, it wouldn’t do any harm. It was all for nothing though as there was no bird there to befriend that morning.
He didn’t dawdle at the creek for too long. Since his dad was in the cave that day, he would be monitoring the time Bill was away. He found Shep lying just inside the tree line in a small bright patch of sun. His tail began its slow rhythmic thump thump when he saw his boy coming up. Bill set the buckets down and squatted to give Shep a belly rub. “Full of energy today, aren’t you boy?”
Shep got up and shook himself off. He saw his dad looking for him from the cave entrance, hunched over since it was so much shorter than he was. Bill picked up the buckets and walked companionably up the low hill with Shep by his side.
Bill spent the morning pretending to study on his Workspace. His dad was down in Luke’s dungeon almost the whole morning. It was so quiet, he wanted to run around shouting and banging on things just to know he could still hear.
His dad came up to fix him some lunch, as well as plates for himself and Luke. Bill sat at the table while his dad prepared the food, talking non-stop. He was just that bored.
“I know Dad, why don’t we go fishing this afternoon? We haven’t been in months!” His dad had his back to him and was dishing out stew into bowls.
“I can’t, son. Luke and I have a lot of work to do this afternoon.” He sounded sad, but resigned. Bill knew better than to push it when his dad’s voice sounded like that.
Just then Luke poked his head up through the trap door, “I need your help now. Our counter defenses are under heavy attack.”
Bill’s dad said, “I’m coming right now.” He gave Bill a sad smile. “We’ll go out for a long hike this evening, OK?” He lowered a tray with the food to Luke and went down after him.
Bill ate by himself in silence and boredom.
When he went out for his second run for water after lunch, there was no sign of the little bird. In the afternoon he finished the book about the boy having adventures in the mall. It was boring. Then he started a book about children fighter pilots in space and he liked that one a lot more. His dad didn’t come up all afternoon, not even when it started to get dark. Bill went for his third run for water, not even bothering to check the radar before. He didn’t much care what happened if there was a blip on the screen.
But he cheered up considerably when he got to the creek and found the little bird chirping sweetly. Its red colored breast glowed prettily in the light of the setting sun.
“Hello bird,” he whispered, setting the buckets down gently. He took a step towards it, even though it was on a branch of a pine that was too high for him to reach. The bird just watched him. He took another step closer and said, “Can we be friends little bird?” The bird took two hops back along the branch.
Keeping his eyes on the bird, Bill shuffled to the side, making a wide berth. On a low branch about two yards from the bird, he sprinkled a bit of seed and meal he had pilfered from their stores. All the while watching the bird and the bird watching him. He backed away and made a long route back to his buckets.
He stood still for a long while as the bird considered him and the food he had laid out. After a few minutes the bird took a fluttering hop over to the meal and pecked at it curiously. Bill smiled broadly. “There you go. Eat up.”
The bird took a few pecks then went back to watching Bill. They considered each other. The only sound was the gurgling creek. The light was growing dim and Bill knew he needed to hurry back, but he really wanted to try to get closer to the bird.
Never taking his eyes from the bird, he reached into his pocket and took a small handful of meal out. He reached his arm in front of him slowly, so slowly, and then held perfectly still. He stood like that for what seemed like forever, his arm aching terribly. And then, the little bird took a little hop along the branch toward him. Then another. Bill was so excited, but he held his breath, willing the bird to feed from his hand.
Then a long low whoop broke the silence and the little bird fluttered up to a higher branch. Dejected, Bill let the meal fall to the ground. That was his dad’s call. He had to get back. He hastily filled the buckets and took off back up to the cave entrance.
He was out of breath when he arrived, which he realized was a good thing when he saw his dad’s stricken face. He looked so worried, but he didn’t sound like it.
“Where were you? Why were you dawdling? You didn’t even take the masking poncho with you and it’s after dark. You can’t just play around outside whenever you feel like it. Things are dangerous right now and you need to stay in to be safe.” He said all this while Bill emptied his buckets into the cistern and while making dinner. Bill’s dad continued the lecture until he had finished making dinner and took plates down for himself and Luke.
Bill was left in the quiet of the cave. A faint breeze blowing through keeping the air fresh. He knew his dad was really upset, he could tell. But it didn’t help that he’d only seen his dad today long enough to get lectures.
He only ate a bit of his dinner and gave the rest to Shep. As he went to sleep later he replayed the memory of the little bird and its fluttering wings.
The next morning he didn’t see anything of his dad or Luke. He didn’t even know if they were in the hole below or out. He dutifully did his chores and got his first batch of water—no sign of the bird. His pocket was bursting with meal for the bird. He left a little pile on a low branch
He spent the morning on his Workspace, bored for lack of anything else to do.
The bird was there when he went on his midday run for water. He was elated. Shep had been particularly sleepy that morning, and Bill was lonely for company.
He and the bird eyed one another for a few moments, then he dug out some more meal and held out his arm. The bird watched him, watched his stillness for a few minutes. With no warning, the little bird swooped from his branch to rest on Bill’s outstretched arm. He watched closely as the bird began to peck at the food in his hand. He was elated, counting this as one of the top five things that had ever happened to him.
A footstep sounded behind him and, spooked, the bird flew back to a branch. Bill whipped around to see his father fast approaching, his shotgun at the ready. He stepped into a clear line of sight of the bird and pulled the trigger. The bird exploded into a cloud of feathers, metal, and microchips.
Bill was shocked to the core. He stood, mouth hanging open, a hole in his chest from the loud burst of the gun. He stared down at the scattering of junk that had made up what he thought was a bird.
His dad kneeled down and shook him, but he wouldn’t turn away. “How long? Bill, listen to me,” he turned Bill’s face towards him roughly, “When did you first see that bird?”
Bill mumbled weakly, “Night before last.” His shock was turning to anger—anger at the bird for being a mechanical spy, anger at his dad for shooting it. “Why’d you kill it, Dad?”
His dad didn’t answer but took his hand and began to run back towards the cave. Bill’s arm was being pulled out of his socket, but he didn’t care. Fat tears began to flow down his face. He felt like he should at least gather up all the parts of the little bird and bury them.
They made it into the cave in minutes. Bill’s anger grew into fear as he watched his dad frantically pull out boxes and scatter their contents around. He found what he was looking for, a foot-long metal prong with two forks. He went to the trapdoor and pulled it off then scrambled down the ladder, not bothering to lower it after him.
Bill went and looked into the hole below. “Since Tuesday,” he heard his dad saying to Luke. “There is no way to divert their focus now.” Luke was saying, “I know man, I know man,” over and over. Bill couldn’t see anything really, so he stepped down onto the ladder a few rungs and was greeted with a greenish light that came from half a dozen each computer monitors and computer drives. For the second time in ten minutes, Bill was frozen with shock. This is what was hidden down here the whole five years he had lived here.
“We’ve got to start the emergency protocol. Who knows how long we have before they can fully block the signal.”
“I know man, I know man,” repeated Luke, his fingers gliding rapidly over various keyboards and instruments.
“I’ve got the fryer. Give me fifteen seconds to send a signal to Kaye, then start the protocol and I’ll use the fryer.”
Bill was filled with a thousand questions, but even if there were time, he wouldn’t know where to begin. Yet some of his questions, questions he had been wondering about for a long time, began to be answered.
This was why he wasn’t allowed in Luke’s hole. This was what kept Luke and his dad busy so often. As he looked at the monitors, he saw one trained on the front entrance to the cave. He saw another that had a list of words followed by green or red bars. At the bottom he saw “Bill Workspace” but there was no bar following it. Now he knew how Luke could spy on him.
His dad laid the prong next to Luke, “When the protocol is running, use this.” He turned and faced Bill still hanging on the ladder, his face melting into sadness. “I’m so sorry. I should never have . . .” He pushed Bill back up and scrambled up the ladder.
“We’ve got to be quick. Get on your sneakers and take your coat and Workspace.” He turned to the kitchen area and began pulling out the packaged food. He took two canteens and filled them at the cistern. He took his own pack off its hook on the cave wall and stuffed in the food, canteens, and other things lying around him.
Bill was truly frightened now. He had on his sneakers, which he wasn’t usually allowed to wear since they left such distinct prints on the ground, and his coat tied around his waist.
His dad finished with the pack and put in at the top Shep’s water bowl. He closed the pack, securing the catch and came over to where Bill was standing. He kneeled down, looking up into Bill’s eyes. “I’m so sorry son. I should never have kept you here with me, but I just couldn’t let you go with your mother.” He sighed and looked away. “I thought I could keep you safe here with me. This is no place for a boy.”
“No, Dad. I like it here with you. I mean it,” Bill said, finding that he really did mean it. His dad hugged him hard, his shoulder poking into Bill’s throat.
“I need to you listen carefully. I need you to get yourself to safety.” He looked Bill straight in the face. “No dillydallying, no straying off. Do you understand?” This was the dad that Bill was used to.
He nodded yes.
“Go towards the path we take for fishing. Remember the big path just beyond that I told you never to follow?” Bill nodded again. “Go there and follow it south, but do not, I mean do not, walk on the path. Follow it, but stay in the trees or off to the side. In a few hours, maybe four, you should get to a crossroads, but it looks like there are three paths. Take the middle path. Understand so far?” Bill nodded, even as he was trying to keep the directions straight. “Once it starts to get dark, you need to find a shelter and stay there until light. You know how to find a good shelter, so I won’t need to worry about that.”
“If you get started early tomorrow, you should reach a fork in the path before midday. Take the path going west, on your left.” The lights in the cave started to flicker and go out. “Follow that path straight, even if you see other branches, stay next to it. You’ll reach a parking lot hopefully by late afternoon. Your mother, I hope, will be waiting for you.”
Of all the things he’d experienced in the last twenty minutes that was the thing that surprised him most. “Mom?”
“Yes, I should never have made you stay here. She wanted to take you with her, but I wouldn’t let her. I just couldn’t let you go. But now I have to so come on.” He helped Bill into the backpack and leashed Shep. The emergency lights were the only thing lighting the cave now. Bill and his father, leading Shep, shuffled out the door. His dad check his handheld radar and swore. With more urgency than ever before, he threw the infra-red masking poncho over both Bill and Shep.
“Keep under cover at least until you reach the big path. Make sure you keep it on at night no matter how good your shelter is.” He pulled Bill into another tight hug. “I love you son.” Then Bill’s dad shoved the radar into Bill’s hand and shoved him off. “Run now, run. Don’t look back.”
Bill did as he was told. Shep must have felt the fear for he ran too, faster and harder than Bill had seen him do in years. A tree on his left, exploded into flames. He flinched, still running, and saw that what was burning was tech, not tree. There were two more explosions. Confused and scared he kept running. He began to hear a whining sound. He didn’t know what it was and it seemed to come from everywhere.
He reached the ravine that he needed to follow and had to slow to navigate the slippery slope. The whining had become louder now. Bill risked a look over his shoulder towards the cave. His dad was no longer at the entrance. Then he saw what was making the whining sound. It was a quadracepter drone and in the few seconds he watched, it launched a missile that crumbled the entrance the cave.
Losing his footing, he slid to the bottom of the ravine, pulling Shep after him. Both were a little banged up for the slide, but both boy and dog knew they had to run.
He trudged down the low hill to the creek, almost a quarter of a mile away. It was always the same. Dead quiet and boring. When he was younger Shep would come with him and it had been a game for them to race across the field between the rocks and the trees and half the time Bill would tumble down the hill to the creek, sometimes even by accident, and Shep would run up to lick his face. But in the last year he had started sleeping more and didn’t like to go on Bill’s midday trips to get water.
The boy kicked a pine cone out of his way. He was so bored. With only his dad and that stupid Luke around for company, he never got to play—inside or outside. It was all chores and studies.
At the creek he climbed up between two big rocks and bent down to fill up his buckets. The creek was flowing heavily with run-off from further up the mountain, so he could have filled up his buckets anywhere, but he liked the little pool that formed between the boulders. Sometimes he even saw a fish in it.
Once he’d filled his buckets and splashed around the water a little with a boat he made out of bit of driftwood, he stood up to head back. A bright flash of color caught his eye. He looked up to a branch too high to reach. There sat a fat little gray bird with a bright red color on his chest. The little thing eyed him warily, but Bill barely moved.
“Hello,” he whispered. It had been a long time since he’s seen any birds or animals. It had been months since his last foraging hike with his dad. That was the only time he ever got to see animals, even living in the remote forest, because of the dead zone near the caves. He watched the bird, fascinated even though it barely moved. He longed to make a pet of it, to make it a friend. But it was a wild bird and his dad would be angry. Still, he wondered, if he trained it to come to him, he didn’t need to bring it home, he could just meet it out here. “I’ll come back for you,” he whispered again. He picked up his buckets and headed back up the low rise to the meadow.
He found his dad waiting inside the tree line, “What have you been doing? No dawdling, hear? Get back on up to the cave.”
Bill just nodded and took off to the cave entrance. His dad followed close behind with this rifle casually leaning against his shoulder, his long legs taking one step for every three of the heavily weighed down boy.
Bill ducked into the cave entrance, shouldering aside the blanket covering the entrance. He made his way to the back of the large oblong room, lit brightly with LED lights, to put the water into the cistern. During the rainy months and winter, the cistern filled up by itself with drip water, but it had been a hot summer and was dry. Bill had to bring up at least six buckets a day as part of his chores.
His father came in right behind him and hung up his gun on its sling then went to the wash basin to clean up. He’d been out since daybreak and would be wanting to eat soon.
Bill headed towards the entrance with his buckets, but his father stopped him. “Where are you going?”
“I thought I’d get another couple of pails” he replied trying to keep the eager out of his voice.
“I don’t think so.” He pressed the security code on the punch panel next to the entrance, closing off the cave for the night. “It’s getting late and I’m sure there is enough until tomorrow.” He turned into the little area that served as a kitchen.
“Yes, sir.” Bill knew there was no point in arguing. His dad set the stove alight and began to gather the ingredients for dinner. Bill went to the table where he’d left his Workspace and began reading a chapter of his daily assignment. The story was about a kid who goes to a shopping mall with his friends and has adventures outwitting thieves. Bill could remember shopping with his mother in a big, airy store with lots and lots of clothes, but not the shopping mall. Definitely not friends. He hadn’t been out in the world since he was four. The book meant nothing to him. Still, he was going to be tested and his dad and Luke got all angry if he didn’t do well on his tests. They got really crazy sometimes.
Dad rang the bell to tell Luke it was time to eat and a few seconds later he came up the ladder from the cave below. “Hey, Luke,” he said.
“Hey,” Luke returned, sitting down at the table. He smelled terrible. Bill was pretty sure he never bathed. But then, he never went outside and was pale as the earthworms Bill found in the deep tunnels. Bill felt like he was that pale. He looked at his hands. They were a light tan, the same color as his dad’s belly. His dad’s face was lovely burnt color from being out in the sun so much. It made crinkly lines around his eyes when he talked or smiled. Bill liked that.
He hated Luke. Things had been much more fun when Anjit had been there. But his mom had been there too then. He missed his mom. Luke had been with them for more than a year now and was as unfriendly as the day he arrived.
Dad brought a bowl of boiled grain to the table. He ruffled Bill’s hair as he went back. Bill carefully laid his Workspace to the side of the table, making a show of being careful. He’d broken two other ones and didn’t want to break a third. He thought Luke was going to pitch him in the rubbish hole last time.
His dad picked up the big sizzling skillet and three plates, he brought them to the table and dished out some of the meat and vegetables in it onto every plate followed by a scoop of the grain.
Bill tasted it. Bulgur. He hated bulgur. The meat was pretty good. It was some of the venison from the deer his dad had shot week before last. The vegetables, if you could really call them that, were awful. They were the reconstituted dry ones and were not much use at all.
After eating all the venison, Bill swirled the vegetables in the bulgur. “Eat your dinner please. Don’t play with your food.” His father said with a full mouth. When he was finished chewing he asked, “Did you get a lot of studying done today?”
“I think so,” Bill said to his plate. He’d spent half the day tinkering with his tools, playing with some wood and nails he had.
“He was barely onscreen at all,” Luke said between bites, not looking at either of them.
Bill’s mouth dropped open. How could he say something like that? It wasn’t like he was even in the same room with him at all. “That’s not true,” he protested.
“Now Bill, why would he say it if it wasn’t true?” His dad asked calmly.
“He wasn’t even up here today. I mean all day.” Bill looked at his plate. “You always take his side.”
His father laid his fork down gently. Bill cringed inwardly, knowing a lecture was in store. “Bill, we’ve talked about this before,” his voice gentle but stern. “You need to take responsibility for yourself and take responsibility for your education.”
“Yes, dad.”
“I hate to harp on this, but you have to understand how important your education is,” we went on for a while more. Bill hated it. Hated being put in the spotlight in front of Luke who just sat there chewing his food and smirking. He knew his dad was depending on him to take care of himself, but the lectures made him take no interest at all. “Because we’ll need you soon, son. We’ll need you to help with our work. It’s getting to the point that we’ll need every person we can get.”
“I know.”
“Well, if you’re finished,” Bill’s mushy food had long gone cold, “Why don’t you take your Workspace to your desk and do some more before lights out.” It wasn’t a question.
Bill reluctantly got up and, tucking his Workspace under his arm, scraped his leftovers into Shep’s bowl. The sleepy old dog lifted his head, sniffing. It was the first time Bill had seen him move since they had got back.
As soon as he could the next morning, Bill shot out of the cave with his water buckets. His father was staying in that day to help Luke with whatever it was he did in his dungeon, as Bill liked to think of it. He was down to the creek as fast as he could make it. He looked around, examined every tree branch, but couldn’t see the little bird. He was sorely disappointed.
He played about a bit in the water, tossing in bits of tree and small rocks. He liked the way the water fountained up in a circle when things hit the surface.
For a hundred yards around the cave entrance there was a dead zone that animals wouldn’t cross. But this part of the creek was just outside the zone. He always hoped to see more animals, but rarely saw anything. Since they’d started using the frequency that kept wildlife away, they had found new paths and routes to take that kept them away. Bill knew that it was meant to protect them and their home, but he didn’t quite see how a ground squirrel could be a problem, other than to drive Shep crazy.
There was another reason that his dad didn’t want the animals to come near, Bill thought. He’d never asked his dad, cause he knew he wouldn’t get a real answer, but Bill thought it had something to do with the mechanical snake.
Just the summer before, it was early summer when the nights were still cold, he had found a snake lying in the sun in the brush between the cave entrance and the sheltering trees. Bill was fascinated. It was the first time he had a snake so close. He had taken a long stick and poked it. It began wiggling away, towards the cave. Shep came out, saw it moving, and went to investigate. Shep sniffed it and it began moving faster, away from the cave. Bill had thought it seemed funny that it was running away. Didn’t snakes try to bite, or what was the word, strike?
Then Bill had felt the shivering tingle of an electro pulse. The snake went very still and Shep ran back into the cave. A minute later his dad came out carrying his shotgun. He went very white when he saw the snake and Bill standing so near to it.
“What was that dad?” Bill had asked.
His father didn’t answer, but instead picked up the snake. Bill remembered seeing little puffs of dirt fall off it as it rose in the air. Before Bill even knew what was going on, his dad broke off the end of the snake. Was that its tail? Bill was shocked by the intricate metal and plastic parts that were exposed. His dad starting cursing fiercely.
“We’ve only got a couple of minutes before this thing reboots,” he said handing Bill his shotgun. “I’ve got to get this as far away as possible.” He shot down the hill running as fast as he could, his long legs seeming to be air born, only touching down for a split second on each stride.
Later he told Luke and Bill, that he had made it to the rocky area a dozen yards past the creek just as it was rebooting. His dad had rolled a big rock over its tail end so its systems would interpret that as the danger.
Bill didn’t quite understand. He knew all about computers and network systems, but didn’t quite understand a system that would interpret outside signals. Luke had said that the systems were getting sophisticated much faster than they could out think them and his dad had nodded gravely.
After the snake incident, Bill had been wary of wild creatures, but it had soon worn off in his lonely desire for a friend of any sort. His dad had made him promise that he would tell him or Luke if he saw any creature nearby that wasn’t in a hurry to be somewhere else. That’s why he hadn’t mentioned the little bird to his dad the day before.
They were in danger from mechanical animals, not real animals, Bill understood that now, but if the bird was real, it wouldn’t do any harm. It was all for nothing though as there was no bird there to befriend that morning.
He didn’t dawdle at the creek for too long. Since his dad was in the cave that day, he would be monitoring the time Bill was away. He found Shep lying just inside the tree line in a small bright patch of sun. His tail began its slow rhythmic thump thump when he saw his boy coming up. Bill set the buckets down and squatted to give Shep a belly rub. “Full of energy today, aren’t you boy?”
Shep got up and shook himself off. He saw his dad looking for him from the cave entrance, hunched over since it was so much shorter than he was. Bill picked up the buckets and walked companionably up the low hill with Shep by his side.
Bill spent the morning pretending to study on his Workspace. His dad was down in Luke’s dungeon almost the whole morning. It was so quiet, he wanted to run around shouting and banging on things just to know he could still hear.
His dad came up to fix him some lunch, as well as plates for himself and Luke. Bill sat at the table while his dad prepared the food, talking non-stop. He was just that bored.
“I know Dad, why don’t we go fishing this afternoon? We haven’t been in months!” His dad had his back to him and was dishing out stew into bowls.
“I can’t, son. Luke and I have a lot of work to do this afternoon.” He sounded sad, but resigned. Bill knew better than to push it when his dad’s voice sounded like that.
Just then Luke poked his head up through the trap door, “I need your help now. Our counter defenses are under heavy attack.”
Bill’s dad said, “I’m coming right now.” He gave Bill a sad smile. “We’ll go out for a long hike this evening, OK?” He lowered a tray with the food to Luke and went down after him.
Bill ate by himself in silence and boredom.
When he went out for his second run for water after lunch, there was no sign of the little bird. In the afternoon he finished the book about the boy having adventures in the mall. It was boring. Then he started a book about children fighter pilots in space and he liked that one a lot more. His dad didn’t come up all afternoon, not even when it started to get dark. Bill went for his third run for water, not even bothering to check the radar before. He didn’t much care what happened if there was a blip on the screen.
But he cheered up considerably when he got to the creek and found the little bird chirping sweetly. Its red colored breast glowed prettily in the light of the setting sun.
“Hello bird,” he whispered, setting the buckets down gently. He took a step towards it, even though it was on a branch of a pine that was too high for him to reach. The bird just watched him. He took another step closer and said, “Can we be friends little bird?” The bird took two hops back along the branch.
Keeping his eyes on the bird, Bill shuffled to the side, making a wide berth. On a low branch about two yards from the bird, he sprinkled a bit of seed and meal he had pilfered from their stores. All the while watching the bird and the bird watching him. He backed away and made a long route back to his buckets.
He stood still for a long while as the bird considered him and the food he had laid out. After a few minutes the bird took a fluttering hop over to the meal and pecked at it curiously. Bill smiled broadly. “There you go. Eat up.”
The bird took a few pecks then went back to watching Bill. They considered each other. The only sound was the gurgling creek. The light was growing dim and Bill knew he needed to hurry back, but he really wanted to try to get closer to the bird.
Never taking his eyes from the bird, he reached into his pocket and took a small handful of meal out. He reached his arm in front of him slowly, so slowly, and then held perfectly still. He stood like that for what seemed like forever, his arm aching terribly. And then, the little bird took a little hop along the branch toward him. Then another. Bill was so excited, but he held his breath, willing the bird to feed from his hand.
Then a long low whoop broke the silence and the little bird fluttered up to a higher branch. Dejected, Bill let the meal fall to the ground. That was his dad’s call. He had to get back. He hastily filled the buckets and took off back up to the cave entrance.
He was out of breath when he arrived, which he realized was a good thing when he saw his dad’s stricken face. He looked so worried, but he didn’t sound like it.
“Where were you? Why were you dawdling? You didn’t even take the masking poncho with you and it’s after dark. You can’t just play around outside whenever you feel like it. Things are dangerous right now and you need to stay in to be safe.” He said all this while Bill emptied his buckets into the cistern and while making dinner. Bill’s dad continued the lecture until he had finished making dinner and took plates down for himself and Luke.
Bill was left in the quiet of the cave. A faint breeze blowing through keeping the air fresh. He knew his dad was really upset, he could tell. But it didn’t help that he’d only seen his dad today long enough to get lectures.
He only ate a bit of his dinner and gave the rest to Shep. As he went to sleep later he replayed the memory of the little bird and its fluttering wings.
The next morning he didn’t see anything of his dad or Luke. He didn’t even know if they were in the hole below or out. He dutifully did his chores and got his first batch of water—no sign of the bird. His pocket was bursting with meal for the bird. He left a little pile on a low branch
He spent the morning on his Workspace, bored for lack of anything else to do.
The bird was there when he went on his midday run for water. He was elated. Shep had been particularly sleepy that morning, and Bill was lonely for company.
He and the bird eyed one another for a few moments, then he dug out some more meal and held out his arm. The bird watched him, watched his stillness for a few minutes. With no warning, the little bird swooped from his branch to rest on Bill’s outstretched arm. He watched closely as the bird began to peck at the food in his hand. He was elated, counting this as one of the top five things that had ever happened to him.
A footstep sounded behind him and, spooked, the bird flew back to a branch. Bill whipped around to see his father fast approaching, his shotgun at the ready. He stepped into a clear line of sight of the bird and pulled the trigger. The bird exploded into a cloud of feathers, metal, and microchips.
Bill was shocked to the core. He stood, mouth hanging open, a hole in his chest from the loud burst of the gun. He stared down at the scattering of junk that had made up what he thought was a bird.
His dad kneeled down and shook him, but he wouldn’t turn away. “How long? Bill, listen to me,” he turned Bill’s face towards him roughly, “When did you first see that bird?”
Bill mumbled weakly, “Night before last.” His shock was turning to anger—anger at the bird for being a mechanical spy, anger at his dad for shooting it. “Why’d you kill it, Dad?”
His dad didn’t answer but took his hand and began to run back towards the cave. Bill’s arm was being pulled out of his socket, but he didn’t care. Fat tears began to flow down his face. He felt like he should at least gather up all the parts of the little bird and bury them.
They made it into the cave in minutes. Bill’s anger grew into fear as he watched his dad frantically pull out boxes and scatter their contents around. He found what he was looking for, a foot-long metal prong with two forks. He went to the trapdoor and pulled it off then scrambled down the ladder, not bothering to lower it after him.
Bill went and looked into the hole below. “Since Tuesday,” he heard his dad saying to Luke. “There is no way to divert their focus now.” Luke was saying, “I know man, I know man,” over and over. Bill couldn’t see anything really, so he stepped down onto the ladder a few rungs and was greeted with a greenish light that came from half a dozen each computer monitors and computer drives. For the second time in ten minutes, Bill was frozen with shock. This is what was hidden down here the whole five years he had lived here.
“We’ve got to start the emergency protocol. Who knows how long we have before they can fully block the signal.”
“I know man, I know man,” repeated Luke, his fingers gliding rapidly over various keyboards and instruments.
“I’ve got the fryer. Give me fifteen seconds to send a signal to Kaye, then start the protocol and I’ll use the fryer.”
Bill was filled with a thousand questions, but even if there were time, he wouldn’t know where to begin. Yet some of his questions, questions he had been wondering about for a long time, began to be answered.
This was why he wasn’t allowed in Luke’s hole. This was what kept Luke and his dad busy so often. As he looked at the monitors, he saw one trained on the front entrance to the cave. He saw another that had a list of words followed by green or red bars. At the bottom he saw “Bill Workspace” but there was no bar following it. Now he knew how Luke could spy on him.
His dad laid the prong next to Luke, “When the protocol is running, use this.” He turned and faced Bill still hanging on the ladder, his face melting into sadness. “I’m so sorry. I should never have . . .” He pushed Bill back up and scrambled up the ladder.
“We’ve got to be quick. Get on your sneakers and take your coat and Workspace.” He turned to the kitchen area and began pulling out the packaged food. He took two canteens and filled them at the cistern. He took his own pack off its hook on the cave wall and stuffed in the food, canteens, and other things lying around him.
Bill was truly frightened now. He had on his sneakers, which he wasn’t usually allowed to wear since they left such distinct prints on the ground, and his coat tied around his waist.
His dad finished with the pack and put in at the top Shep’s water bowl. He closed the pack, securing the catch and came over to where Bill was standing. He kneeled down, looking up into Bill’s eyes. “I’m so sorry son. I should never have kept you here with me, but I just couldn’t let you go with your mother.” He sighed and looked away. “I thought I could keep you safe here with me. This is no place for a boy.”
“No, Dad. I like it here with you. I mean it,” Bill said, finding that he really did mean it. His dad hugged him hard, his shoulder poking into Bill’s throat.
“I need to you listen carefully. I need you to get yourself to safety.” He looked Bill straight in the face. “No dillydallying, no straying off. Do you understand?” This was the dad that Bill was used to.
He nodded yes.
“Go towards the path we take for fishing. Remember the big path just beyond that I told you never to follow?” Bill nodded again. “Go there and follow it south, but do not, I mean do not, walk on the path. Follow it, but stay in the trees or off to the side. In a few hours, maybe four, you should get to a crossroads, but it looks like there are three paths. Take the middle path. Understand so far?” Bill nodded, even as he was trying to keep the directions straight. “Once it starts to get dark, you need to find a shelter and stay there until light. You know how to find a good shelter, so I won’t need to worry about that.”
“If you get started early tomorrow, you should reach a fork in the path before midday. Take the path going west, on your left.” The lights in the cave started to flicker and go out. “Follow that path straight, even if you see other branches, stay next to it. You’ll reach a parking lot hopefully by late afternoon. Your mother, I hope, will be waiting for you.”
Of all the things he’d experienced in the last twenty minutes that was the thing that surprised him most. “Mom?”
“Yes, I should never have made you stay here. She wanted to take you with her, but I wouldn’t let her. I just couldn’t let you go. But now I have to so come on.” He helped Bill into the backpack and leashed Shep. The emergency lights were the only thing lighting the cave now. Bill and his father, leading Shep, shuffled out the door. His dad check his handheld radar and swore. With more urgency than ever before, he threw the infra-red masking poncho over both Bill and Shep.
“Keep under cover at least until you reach the big path. Make sure you keep it on at night no matter how good your shelter is.” He pulled Bill into another tight hug. “I love you son.” Then Bill’s dad shoved the radar into Bill’s hand and shoved him off. “Run now, run. Don’t look back.”
Bill did as he was told. Shep must have felt the fear for he ran too, faster and harder than Bill had seen him do in years. A tree on his left, exploded into flames. He flinched, still running, and saw that what was burning was tech, not tree. There were two more explosions. Confused and scared he kept running. He began to hear a whining sound. He didn’t know what it was and it seemed to come from everywhere.
He reached the ravine that he needed to follow and had to slow to navigate the slippery slope. The whining had become louder now. Bill risked a look over his shoulder towards the cave. His dad was no longer at the entrance. Then he saw what was making the whining sound. It was a quadracepter drone and in the few seconds he watched, it launched a missile that crumbled the entrance the cave.
Losing his footing, he slid to the bottom of the ravine, pulling Shep after him. Both were a little banged up for the slide, but both boy and dog knew they had to run.