Judges: Volume Two by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Publisher: Abaddon
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

16:50

FOR THE SECOND time in a day I was in an ambulance. The two dead bodies lay side by side on gurneys, and I was positioned at the top, looking down at the ruined faces.

Stone was squeezed in on the right, and Priya and Maddox stood at the foot of the beds, with Jarek behind them. Everyone had removed their helmets except Stone. I was beginning to wonder if he slept with it on. I only knew what his entire face looked like because I’d peeked at the photograph on his file. I suppose he was embodying the Judge philosophy: it was a vocation, not a job. You were never off-duty.

A small drone camera, a slim black disc controlled by Jarek, hovered over the dead bodies. He had patched in Dr Murray, who was on speaker.

Priya had used her sniper rifle to pop the second rider through his right eye. Tears of blood streaked his face from a wet mushy hole, which led to a massive exit wound at the back of the head. The second rider’s face was a scarlet bubbling mess, with most of the features missing. Neither of them had any ID, so their fingerprints were being searched through all the databases, official and unofficial.

The ambulance crew had left the air conditioning and lights running, but they had been ejected while we conducted our ‘preliminary forensics examination.’ We’d release the bodies to our technicians when they show up.

Helen spoke first, over the link. “Maddox, do you sense anything?”

He shook his head instantly. “No, doc, they’re not generating emotion. I’m only picking up revulsion, horror and”—he inhaled sharply—“curiosity from the living.” He glanced back at Jarek. “Man, you’re weird.”

“What? This is a completely unknown phenomenon. I’m fascinated.”

Priya tilted her head to one side and regarded the dead men with a wistful expression. “This is what happens when you field-test new weapons in live situations. You discover unique ways to use them.”

She was right. I’d never considered reading a dead person, and the opportunity had never arisen before. It repulsed me.

Helen interrupted. “I’m speculating that results might diminish the longer they’re dead. Go ahead, Phoebe.”

“Lucky me,” I said, and gritted my jaw, bracing for what came next.

Bare skin on skin always intensifies the connection, so I placed my fingertips gingerly on each side of the forehead of the man shot through the eye.

It was like walking into an empty house with all the furniture removed. Utterly silent.

I withdrew my hands, and a sudden profound sadness swept over me. A life had been wiped out from the world. It had not been a good one, but it was also unique and irreplaceable. I shook my head and happened to lock gazes with Maddox. He gave me the tiniest of sympathetic smiles: he knew what I was feeling.

“Nothing,” I said.

Helen’s voice was brisk. “Perhaps due to the extent of the brain trauma. I’ll analyse the autopsy and map the areas damaged. Try the next cadaver, Phoebe.”

Cadaver. A simple way to depersonalise the man.

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