Family ties

Melanie hunched down into her leather jacket as the cold wind gusted in off the water. She was tired, hungry and confused but still angry at her parents. She'd used their laptop and downloaded and run a program she shouldn't have. Before she could stop it the program found e-mails about adoption records for a boy named Daniel. At first her parents had denied she had a brother at all, so she showed them the messages. It said he wasn't right, they couldn't cope and Daniel was a disgrace to the family so they got rid of him! That was no way to treat family! Suddenly the seemingly random video messages on her data-pad had made sense.

Melanie watched the latest video message from her missing brother for the tenth time - desperate for clues as to his whereabouts. She had to find him. The homeless man at the station had said river man might be able to help her.

She looked along the junk strewn breakwater. Tethered rowing boats bobbed in the swell. The muddy waters of the Thames lapped softly against the boards of a rickety wooden jetty. A stout wooden door edged with coils of corroded barbed wire and spikes denied access to the boats. Coloured lights from office blocks and apartments reflected in the undulating water. Melanie walked to the top step of a rusty metal staircase bolted to the wall.
"Hey girlie!" shouted a gruff voice "You can't go down there."
Startled, Melanie glanced around to see where the voice had come from. A ragged man emerged from under a pile of plastic and driftwood. She froze, uncertain where to run. The unshaven, black, tramp limped towards her, using a boat hook as a crutch. "You're a long way from Chinatown, girlie!" Realising that he couldn't chase her, she screwed up her courage to speak to him.
"Are you the river man?" her voice wavered. The man stopped.
"Who sent you girlie?" he asked cautiously.
"Padraig. At Liverpool Street." The vagrant man seemed satisfied with this. Suddenly he was racked with a coughing fit. Melanie thought the man was going to die as he spasmed and doubled over with convulsions.
"Mister are you okay?" She moved towards him, concerned.
"Just you stay back girlie!" He warned, recovering just enough to look up at her. He snorted then ejected a stream of buttery coloured liquid from his lips. Melanie cringed in disgust.
"Now what do you want?"
"I need to find my brother. He's called Daniel Tyler."
"What makes you think I know where he is?"
"Padraig says you're good at finding people."
"Only if they come to me." He pointed at the river. "Face down and swollen."
Melanie flinched.
"That's horrible. Why do you do it?"
"Gotta earn a livin' somehow."
"You steal things off dead people?"
"Let's just call it salvage rights. 'Sides they don't need `em no more. I'm lookin' for someone too. My little brother. He went uptown to get me some medicine for this damn cough. Never came back."
"What was his name?"
"Jamal Anderson." Sadness flickered across the old man's face.
"I'm sorry you lost him."
"So am I. Never should have sent him." An awkward silence arose.
"Maybe I could help you find him? While I'm looking for Daniel." She said brightly.
River man seemed lost in thought for a moment.
"So have you seen Daniel?" she asked.
"What's he look like?"

Melanie remembered the persistent video messages. Daniel had been walking round a bare metal room, banging on the walls. There seemed to be no doors or windows. She opened her data pad message inbox and cued up the latest video. Daniel was lying down and unable to move. Looking down she saw a pictogram on the back of his hand, partially obscured by the tape and shunt of an intravenous drip. She paused the video.

"Daniel's tall and skinny, he's got black hair like me. Brown eyes. He's got a tattoo. On the back of his left hand. It's a Chinese character. I think he's in hospital." Melanie held out the data-pad to show the man.
"Most people with that good fortune tattoo work for the lucky dragon tong."
"Where can I start looking?"
River-man frowned. "The city is a dangerous place for a sprawl-girl."
"I think I can handle myself." She straightened up into a bow stance and stared him in the eye. "I know Tai-chi."
"Good. I hope you know Mandarin too. But you'll need these." He fished a hypodermic and a plain cigarette pack sized box from his tattered jacket.
"What are they?"
"Gang tag and protection. You have no gang, you end up fish food." He pointed to the river. "Come here and roll up your sleeve." He raised the syringe of clear liquid to emphasize his point.
"I don't do drugs!"
"This ain't no drug, it's a key. If you don't trust me, I'll see you down there tomorrow." He glanced at the water. "Face down."

She stepped nearer; keeping her weight in her back foot, ready to kick off in case he tried anything else. She rolled up her sleeve. He grasped her wrist.
"Ow that hurts!"
"Bunch your fist. I need a vein." She complied against all her instincts. For all she knew he could be a meat trader, and that was a vial of anaesthetic. An image of Daniel leaked into her mind. Lost and helpless. It was him she was doing this for after all. And river man had lost his brother too. He was the only clue, and she had the feeling that she was running out of time.
"So what is it?"
"Mimetic tattoo."
"A what?" She watched as he tapped a vein near the crease of her elbow and watched as it popped back up.
"It's a living organism that can copy an image and display it on your skin. Right, this is going to sting a little." He pressed the needle against her taut skin. She felt the tip biting into her arm.
"Hang on! An organism!" She flinched, trying to pull her arm away.
"If you want to see Daniel again you'll need this to get in."
"Okay. Do it." She gritted her teeth as the needle pinched then pierced her skin. River man pushed the plunger. She felt the pressure of the fluid as it entered her bloodstream. She reached down to her pocket for a clean tissue to staunch the wound, but as the needle withdrew the puncture mark sealed itself up.
"How?"
"Bio-meds in the solution repair the skin. Now hold the picture on the back of your hand and crank up the contrast." Melanie did as he asked. She felt warmth spreading up her arm. It felt just like when she'd had a sedative before an operation. She grabbed the Chi-Nau pressure points on his hand and twisted. The empty hypodermic clattered to the floor.
"You liar!" she hissed through gritted teeth. River man winced with pain.
"No it's the tattoo setting up. Look!" She lifted off the data pad and glanced down at the back of her hand. A stain was gradually darkening beneath her skin, forming the lines of Jumbo's tattoo.
"Oh shit!" After a few seconds the tattoo was complete. She released the lock on River man's hand and he stepped away.

"I believe you can handle yourself. But I still think you will need this." He raised the small packet.
"A single shot touch taser. Ceramic so it doesn't show on weapon scanners." She felt like she was becoming a spy. But the images of the helpless Daniel drove her on. She was the only one who cared about him.
"Ok. How do I fire it?"
"Good contact with the target here, he indicated the black and yellow striped end of the box, " then you squeeze the sides." He handed her the box.
"Now, where do I start looking?"
"Try the clinic at 201 Wardour Street. Say you're the courier and Chow Yung hired you. Make sure whoever answers the door sees the tattoo. And be careful. They meat trade."
"How do you know all this?"
"The river brings me many things. Not just booty."
*
Melanie took the tube across town to the address that River Man had told her. She was scared at what she might find. Her net avatar told her meat trading was using humans as slaves or organs. An oil slick of fear oozed in her stomach.

She pressed the intercom buzzer on the wall by an intimidating metal door, waiting nervously. The thronging crowds of the West end were just inches behind her, but she'd never felt more alone.
"Wardour clinic, can I help you?"
"I'm the courier." She adjusted her hair with her left hand before the dark lens of the CCTV. She was startled to see the tattoo glowing bright white.
"Come in." The door opened with a click. She stepped into a narrow, metal walled lobby. A bright beam of light passed over her head to toe.

A sequence of loud clunks emanated from behind another steel door. A Chinese woman in an immaculate white nurses uniform opened the door. She looked at Melanie with a surprised expression on her face.
"You're small for a courier."
"Chow Yung hired me." The nurse seemed satisfied with this. She bowed and waved Melanie inside. A gurney stood next to the door. The smell of disinfectant made her feel queasy.

The nurse pointed to a side room. "Wait in there. I will get the merchandise." She swiped a card and the front door re-bolted itself. Melanie noticed a holstered dart gun bouncing on the nurse's hip as she walked off.

Melanie hesitated at the side room door, unsure what to do next. She picked out the small blank eyes of at least four micro CCTV cameras.

Melanie's data-pad vibrated. She read the text message. "Hello Mel! Daniel XXXX." Her heart leapt. How did he know she was here?

Another message. "Follow ->'s. Hurry!" The compass on her data-pad flashed urgently, indicating the empty corridor. Surely the nurse would see her if she left the room? She stepped outside. No alarm sounded. The arrow guided her along a series of turns. She noticed a name on a data-pad hung beside one of the doors. It read "Jamal Anderson". She checked to see if anyone was approaching. It was clear. She read the inventory on the 'pad. It was a list of organs with the names of cities against them. She recoiled in horror. Riverman's brother was meat. Meat was merchandise.

Her 'pad vibrated again, bringing her out of shock. "HELP ME OPERATION SOON!!!" She had to save Daniel. She followed the compass and arrived at a blank door. "Open it Mel!" She enabled wireless on her data-pad and triggered a hack-prog. The red led flashed green and the door popped open. She strained her eyes against the dark.

Cold anticipation filled her stomach. A figure covered in a white blanket lay strapped into a high-sided med-cot. Holographic readouts glowed on the headboard. She stepped in and a sensor-light flicked on.

A hand stretched up. She ran to take hold of it. She saw the tattoo. Joy and happiness flooded through her. It was Daniel!

"What's the matter with you? Are you sick?" Daniel shook his head, his bright eyes shining with delight. He moaned in an approximation of "hello." She understood why he never spoke in her messages, because he couldn't. His cochlea implant glinted in the light. She realized that somehow he must be wet-wired to the net, via the implant hence the messages.
"Danny!" Melanie cried. He tried to hug her but was jerked back by the straps. He cried out. Tears stung her eyes. She grabbed a strap and was about to pull it off, when he shook his head vigorously. "What?" His eyes went blank for a microsecond. A message appeared on her data-pad. Wheels squeaked on the linoleum. "Nurse coming! HIDE!"

Footsteps sounded in the corridor. Melanie darted to the side of the door.
"Hey Danny." said the nurse softly, now clad in green surgical gown, mask and cap. She pushed a stainless steel trolley loaded with instruments into the room. She pulled on a pair of long sleeved rubber surgical gloves. "Time for you to go to sleep." Un-clipping the sedative darter, she advanced on the helpless boy. Melanie ducked under the nurse's outstretched arm, thrust the touch taser into her torso and fired it. The electric shock flung the nurse and trolley crashing into the wall. She slid to the floor twitching.

Melanie retrieved the darter and sedated the stunned woman several times for good measure. Daniel sounded a victory cheer. Melanie searched the nurse and found a security keycard and a credit chip. She un-strapped Daniel and helped him up.

Together they lifted the unconscious nurse onto the bed, tied the restraints and fled the clinic into the freedom of the night. They headed back to the River Man to tell him what had happened to poor Jamal, then home.