Tonedeaf: Part 2

And now this evening's headlines: After evidence of a pre-historic civilisation was found in Mineral Mine X2 by local Clash Investigator Jon Card, major archaeological initiatives are said to be underway to document and record the discovery, however, Aves Passer from the museum of natural history has spoken of the difficulties of operating in such a hostile environment. Organisers of the bi-lunar eclipse party in Avian Square are promising the largest firework display ever seen, the light show may be seen and heard as far away as Avian 3. The orbital mission to repair the BBL Telescope is in its fourth day and repairs are said to be going well, the Telescope should be ready in time for the Eclipse on the weekend. A raid was carried out on a rave last night in the lower nests. Believed to be in connection with the illegal stimulant Din, several organisers were arrested and two known drug dealers are now in custody. Police have issued missing reports for several youths who have not been seen since the rave. The weather today will be bright again with humidity rising throughout the day, Global Harmony will be strong today with reports of over thirty decibels. Thank you for liste----

Kay knocked on the door to her brother's office and sat down opposite him, his earphones were in and his eyes were closed. After a while he opened his eyes and smiled, not in the least bit surprised or worried that someone had walked into his office.

"What brings you here?" He asked, pulling out his earphones.

"Mum wanted me to drop these off," She passed a folder across the table. Jon sighed.

"She couldn't face coming to see me herself then?"

Kay smiled forcefully, "Well it's not like you've got the courage to see her either." Jon nodded, opening the folder and pulling out photographs, he slid them onto the table - the face of a bright seventeen year old in a formal school uniform. "She wants you to look over the whole thing again and see if there's anything you can do."

"The Screech couldn't find anything - how she expects me to find something, I don't know." He shook his head sadly.

"I think she saw your moment of fame on the Harmony and had a flash of hope. If you can find evidence of a lost civilisation then maybe you could find your baby brother." Kay shrugged.

"You know where I stand on this." Jon replied quietly.

"I know. Just indulge her." Kay said, "Look, I have to go. See you soon."

She gathered her things and left quietly, leaving Jon pondering over the clinical print-offs describing his brother. 'Tall for his age, a wide smile and sparrow's eyes.' Read one description. Further down, 'possibly heretical thoughts. May have taken Din. Dealer?'. Jon tossed the pages onto the table and exhaled sharply. Fascist Screech bastards, the thought, cathartically.

"Am I disturbing you?"

Mr Oule was standing in the doorway. Jon stood up and extended his hand. Oule strode across the room and shook it eagerly. Jon smiled.

"You washed your hands."

"Yes, a small concession I'm afraid. I contemplated wearing mis-matching clothes and leaving the cologne, but..." He shuddered.

"I appreciate the gesture, thank you." Jon said, "Now, what can I do for you?"

"Well, mostly I'd like to congratulate you on your discovery. We didn't get much time to talk. My people settled your fee, with a little extra."

"Thank you - you're too generous."

"Not at all - we owe you Mr Card. In fact, we have another task for you. Now that we understand the extent of your talents, there's a small task that we'd like you to attend to." Mr Oule was watching Jon, gauging his reactions. "You're aware of the recent disappearances and murders that have crippled the lower nests. There's been little coverage of it on the Harmony, you understand that we're trying to keep the noise on this down to a minimum. If the public were aware of our suspicions there would be mass panic." He paused.

"You've also heard of the designer narcotic "Din", yes?" Jon nodded, "Good. We believe that this drug is coming into the city from the Wilderness."

Jon nodded again.

"You understand the significance of this?" Oule asked with a note of uncertainty, as if Jon had misheard him.

"Of course, it implies that there are people living beyond the city, in the Silence. It's not totally beyond comprehension." Jon replied.

"Yes - I suppose, to you it might be different."

"I know."

"Well, my department was wondering whether you'd be able to assist in the investigation."

"By going beyond the wall to find out whether or not there are people supplying the city with Din."

"Yes, partly, but we're also concerned about the reports of missing people. We'd like you to explore deep into the Wilderness to ascertain whether or not people are escaping the city, or being aided to escape."

Jon looked down at the pictures on the desk. His brother smiled back at him.

"I'll do it."

**

That night Jon wrote two letters and left them with his solicitor with instructions to deliver them to his parents and his sister should something happen. At midnight he met Mr Oule outside and got into his car. He'd packed a few odd things, but Wilderness survival was something that no one had considered before, so it was difficult to ordain what might be needed. Luckily, Mr Oule had prepared something for him.

"We're meeting some people from another department at the site to finalise your prep, then, with any luck you'll be released into the Wilderness."

"Where exactly are we going?"

"There are warehouses that run flush with the perimeter wall which belong to the government. If there are people escaping the city then we don't know how they are doing it. It was assumed a long time ago that no one would actively wish to leave the city - so there have never been armed guards along the perimeter, just a friendly watchman who could shy away the morbidly curious. But these days..."

Jon had heard the conspiracy theories about the government hiding things beyond the wall; the fact that no one could survive without the Harmony was a lie to control the masses. The Harmony itself was alive with such nonsense in certain circles. Jon knew that with a population of just over three million people there was only so 'secret' the government could get.

The means of getting to the warehouse proved to be extensive. They had to check in at several different checkpoints and verify themselves time and again of their identities. Finally they were ushered to a series of long buildings that ran against the fifty foot concrete wall. Dotted around were Harmonic Amplifiers which enhanced the broadcast - there was a fear that the Silence would interfere with the Harmony and drive the people working on the wall mad.

In the distance, the city glowed. Its high feather-like sky-scrapers stroking the sky, the domed, egg-shaped flats and apartments filling in all the spaces around them. Jon shuddered and turned away to face the cold, imposing wall.

Inside the warehouse a team of men and women were preparing a vehicle for him. It was an open top, roll-caged monstrosity that looked more like a feral animal from an illustration than a vehicle. They were busy piecing together the last of his equipment. The team all shook Jon heartily by the hand, they, if anything appeared more nervous than he was. After a brief period of instruction it was decided that Jon would leave through a purpose built driveway that led out under the wall and into the Wilderness. The soft hum of the nighttime Harmonic broadcast was meant to be soothing, and certainly the others found it a small comfort, but Jon found the high pitched buzzing distracting. At the appointed hour he was ushered out of the hangar-like warehouse, the engines of the off road beast filling the air with raw sound; down the ramp, into a short tunnel that led under the wall and out towards the Wild beyond.

**

Six months ago...

Day One:

Sol's eyes burst open and for a moment he thought he was blind. Around him he heard the indistinct sound of the Harmony. Several times, he flinched at the echoes and imperfections in the broadcast. It was as if he was hearing it from far away, then again, it might just be the hangover from the Din.

He didn't recognise his surroundings. He was in a dark, low ceilinged room with a dirt floor and, what looked like straw walls. He sat up quickly and all the blood rushed to his head. He was sitting on a bed, but around it in a circle were four poles dug into the ground, each supported a small Harmonic Amplifier. They were old, so old, they didn't even give off pheromones.

Suddenly, a door opened in the wall - a tall man walked in, dressed in overalls. His skin was bronze and his eyes dark. He was holding a plate of food. Purposefully, the man put the food down on the floor and smiled, he then walked out of the room without a word.

Sol stood up and went to walk beyond the boundary of the Harmony then stopped...

What would happen? Would it extend beyond the bed? He frowned, the Harmony is an exaggeration, he thought without much conviction, even my dullard of a brother can survive without it. But as he stepped beyond the circle he began to get dizzy, his head fuzzed up and the lack of stimulation in his ears threatened to topple him.

Determined, scared and starving he pressed on - -

Day Three:

Sol's eyes opened. He was back in the low, straw room. He felt awful; his stomach was crying out for food and his mind crying out for the Harmony, which was becoming ever more indistinct. He looked around the room - the first thing he noticed was the the circle of Amplifiers had widened, but the sounds and sensations were more quiet. For the first time in his life Sol began to grasp how the Harmony had to be maintained and how much he had taken it for granted.

The door opened again, the tall man in overalls was back. This time he was holding a flask. He tossed it into the circle and Sol dove on it instantly.

"I'd sip if I were you," the man said, his accent indistinct, "The Din has left you weak."

Sol looked up.

"Where am I?"

"If I told you that, you might believe me and you might not - it all depends on how well adjusted you are."

Sol thought back over the past few months, the disappearances, the murders and the raves. All tied in with Din - or so the authorities wanted everyone to think.

"There is a story, from something I like to call the Old World, which tells of a man who played a very sweet music. He was employed by the folk to rid their poor town of rats. They promised to pay him a large sum of money, so he played his music and drew the rats away to a river where they drowned. However, the people went back on their promise and refused to pay him - angry and vengeful the piper returned to the village and played a different tune, this one lured all the children away, never to be seen again."

Sol looked down.

"I'm not in the City, am I?"

The man smiled.

"No. You are not."

Sol took a deep breath and began to see the completeness of his capture, the walls of his prison weren't built like the walls of the city, they were built with ideas and fear. He wrung his hands around the neck of the flask.

"Where is everyone else? The other people you've kidnapped?"

"They aren't kidnapped. They are free."

Day Seven:

Sol found that he could move the Amplifiers around. By doing so he could move around the room and stretch his legs. If he moved them too far then he'd start to feel faint, but it meant he could walk around as far as they would extend. Unfortunately they didn't extend as far as the door. On the seventh day the man in overalls was surprised when he walked in with Sol's breakfast to find him standing almost in front of it.

"Good morning," Sol said.

"Ah, I see you've figured out how to manipulate our little cage."

"How can I be free if I am caged?" Sol asked, he was beginning to enjoy the conversations with the tall bronze man.

"A good question. Do you want us to take away the Amplifiers?" Sol looked away. "We didn't make the walls of your little prison."

"They don't work very well." Sol muttered, kicking the stem of the amplifier. The Harmony buzzed with static.

The man considered this, "They are old, yes, but have you thought about how we might be trying to ween you off the Harmony?"

"Yes, but at the same time you're keeping me drugged. I know what Din tastes like." He kicked one of his old plates across the dirt to the man's feet.

"Your addiction to the Din is a necessary step in the process of removing you from the city. We will also ween you off that eventually, but for now it aids in the readjustment of your perception."

The man looked up to the ceiling, adjusted a pair of protective ear covers over his ears and nodded - suddenly the Harmony became louder and louder, roaring out of the speakers until the Sol was forced to the floor with the volume, his hands covering his ears in pain.

After the Harmony receded, the man pulled off his ear muffs and Sol looked up from the floor.

"I never knew," he managed to utter, shakily.

"Knew what?"

"My brother - he has lived with constant ringing in his ears, headaches, rashes. But I never knew what it felt like." His hands were shaking and his mind felt like it had been cooked.

The man smiled, "All I hear these days is the twittering and chirping - like birdsong."

"Birdsong?"

"Yes, you will hear it too. My name was Harpia, when I lived in the city. Now my name is Walter." The man in overalls introduced himself, offering his hand in aid. Sol took it and stood up.

There was a pause.

"Walter?"

**

Midday - Day of the Lunar Eclipse.

Kay was staring at the screen of read-outs, the Harmony was whispering its commentary in her ears and through her finger tips.

She was looking at an image of the Shuttle docked to the BBL Telescope. Beyond, she could see the Luna 1, the closest moon to Earth, beyond, its orbit shadowing the first was Luna 2. She shuddered. In space, there was no Harmony - it was just another Wilderness. Somehow, that excited her.

To most of her colleagues, the space programme was a scientific oddity. The most radical of them spoke of extending the Global Harmony beyond that of the major cities using satellites. They dreamed of re-taming the Wilderness through space travel. Pipe dreams, for the most part, their ideas were beyond the realms of modern technology, science fiction fodder.

"The second solar panel arm is repaired," A voice spoke over the Harmony from the Shuttle. It was Neor Nithes speaking, the leader of the mission. One of Avian 1's famous faces, it was he who went up on the famous space flights in the twenties, ten years on he was one of the City's greatest living assets.

"Received Captain Nithes - you may begin the first test pictures."

"Understood Mission Control."

Gallie, one of Kay's colleagues leaned in closer to her from another console.

"So, what are you wearing to the Party?"

"Haven't decided - I was thinking of trying a variation on the Elation Harmony."

"I'm going with Up! - it promises to keep you and those around you high for six hours."

Kay looked away, wondering what her brother was up to - they hadn't spoken in a couple of days and he hadn't returned any of her calls. This wasn't anything new though.

"Is your brother coming?" Gallie asked, like everyone else since his discovery she was keen to meet the flavour of the moment. Kay was glad that the buzz on the Harmony mostly went over his head.

"I doubt it, he isn't really the party type. Although, if we could get him some Din then he might join."

"Don't joke about that stuff - I heard it makes your hair fall out. Besides, think of all those murderous raves." Gallie shuddered and Kay frowned. "No, he's better off without that stuff, even if he is Tonedeaf."

Kay was about to make a sharp comment when an alarm began to cry out over the Harmony. She looked down at her console - there was static coming from the Amplifiers and her screen was blank.

"We've lost contact with the Shuttle!" Came a cry from across the Mission Control hall. There was a palpable gasp that echoed across the Harmony. Kay's heart turned to ice.

It was then that the explosions started.

**

On a hill overlooking Avian 1 Jon's off road beast ground to a halt. The jolting monstrosity was beginning to make him feel ill; parking on the edge of a clearing, he decided to take a rest.

There was a continuous stream of Harmony coming from the truck, but Jon was more interested in sampling the Silence he'd been promised. Grabbing some field rations he began to wade through the undergrowth, out of the shade and into the fading evening light. He'd been out for three days and sleeping, sitting, eating and living in the truck was driving him mad. So far he'd found nothing, and for want of conversation and company, not to mention the sore rear, he decided to claim some downtime.

The city looked incredible from the hill. He'd always wondered what it would look like from afar, though he'd never imagined it looking so small. The forest and landscape beyond looked as though it was pushing the city out into the sea.

He looked down at his watch. The Eclipse should be starting soon, he thought.

Silence.

It was a strange thing; mostly, because it wasn't that silent. There was the constant sound of buzzing, chirping and general chatter from the animal life that plagued the Wilderness. It was irritating, far more than he expected it to be because it just sounded like the Harmony. All chirps and twitters.

The bird life he'd come across were by far the loudest and prominent of the animals. He watched them move and thought of the architecture of the city - it did look like one big nest. Briefly, he wondered who'd actually decided to design the city around this one idea -

He turned suddenly - there were three figures standing in the high grass. They were masked and dressed in strange cloaks. They were poised, waiting to attack when there came a cry from one of them.

"Wait!"

The stranger pulled off his hood to reveal a bronzed face - it was longer than Jon remembered, the hair dustier and longer, but it was still Sol.

"Hello brother," Sol said confidently, striding forward and clasping him by the shoulder in a hug. Dimly Jon noticed that his brother was now taller than him. He laughed.

"I thought you were dead."

"I know..." Sol replied, his face wide for grinning, "I'd hoped you'd find me. If anyone could - I knew it would be you."

Sol was quieter, more reserved. His gait was disciplined, unlike the slouchy adolescent he'd known. The days of rebellious Din parties were clearly over. His little brother had become a man.

In the distance came a roll of thunder. They looked into the distance and saw smoke coming from Avian 1.

"The city..."

In the evening light the city was burning - the sky above was streaked with lines of smoke tearing towards the city. A moment later and it was clear, balls of flame were thundering through the sky and hitting the city in waves.

"The Rain of Fire!" One of the strangers gasped. Sol was watching the display intently. Out at sea and across the Wilderness too, balls of burning rock were peppering the landscape.

"Meteors," Sol said gravely, "Come on Jon, we have to go."

"What's happening?"

"I'll explain later. We have to get underground. Quickly. How fast is that truck?"

"Fast enough. But the undergrowth is too thick-"

"Don't worry, I'll drive."

They ran from the clearing as the Eclipse began - the sky dimming slightly as Luna 1 passed ominusly in front of its sister Luna 2.