Page 215 of The Examiner

Cameron wasn’t attacking Ludya. He was trying to get the unit back. We would later realise he was a private investigator shadowing us for RD8. Even Gela knew that much. He got a call when we were in the room, and that call changed everything. We’d later discover it was Mae Blackwell, his boss at RD8. She told him to retrieve the unit immediately. He rang off and said, ‘OK, game’s up, give it back.’

When Suzie pulled the old radio from her coat, that was when Ludya and I realised she’d stolen the tech, not just photographed it. Cameron tried to grab it from her, but she threw it to Ludya. I shouted at Luds to keep hold of it. Suzie leapt to help, tripped and hit the floor instead. Cameron was totally focused on the unit; Ludya looked to me. Her eyes asked if she should let it go. Mine told her to keep it … Patrick came out of the bathroom and, before any of us knew it, he’d swung the iron. Cameron staggered to the wall, then slid down it to the floor.

Patrick, Ludya and I stood there, stunned … But Suzie wasn’t frozen at all. She jumped up, ran to Cameron, rolled him into the recovery position, sat back and watched to see if he came round. Patrick staggered backwards, dropped the iron, sank down onto the double bed and began to wail with his head in his hands. Eventually Ludya whispered, ‘Shall I dial 999?’

‘No!’ Suzie checked Cameron’s pulse, eyes, breath. She looked at me, and that look told me all I needed to know. He was dead and there was no way we could have the emergency services here. Ludya reeled away and sat on a bunkbed, turned her back on the whole scene. Patrick joined Suzie on the floor by Cameron’s side and tapped his cheek as if to wake him up. Kept saying, ‘Sorry, Cameron, sorry’ over and over. Eventually Pat realised we hadn’t called anyone. It could only have been a matter of minutes – four at most – but it felt like an hour. The phone alarm. When it first went off, we all remembered it from that day in the studio. Again it was Suzie who had the presence of mind to act. She grabbed it from Cameron’s pocket and held it in front of his face. Silence. And from that moment on, we’ve had to do the same thing every five minutes, day and night.

As team leader, I must distribute responsibilities according to individual strengths and weaknesses. Well, only Suzie was strong enough for this task. Ludya refused, Patrick tried, but he had to keep Jem busy. So when Suzie has to sleep, it’s down to me.

Royal Hastings, University of London Multimedia Art MA *Final Project*

Candidate name: Alyson Lang

Candidate number: 0883484

My earliest memory is of an arm wrapped in a blanket. Three fingers exposed to the sun were burned dark and flaky. At five or six years old, my first instinct was to see if those fingers led to a wrist and a watch or bracelet. I was disappointed. Just a grubby knot of string, which had maybe once held a key, encircled the wrist. I pulled on the hand until the arm emerged from the blanket, severed above the elbow, a blade of shattered white bone jutting from a jagged stump. I don’t remember the smell, but I recall my fascination with those two joints: wrist and elbow. The construction of this forelimb, which could twist round independently of the main joint, was mesmerising. I flipped the hand over and back, over and back. Compared it to my own arm, which was exactly the same and a similar size. I must have shown it to my sister, but she was too young to appreciate the weirdness.

At some point an adult picked their way past us. ‘Give it!’ The arm was snatched away and that was that. Strange how in my memory they said the words in English. Is that because I’ve forgotten Mandarin? The arm was whisked off into the distance, and my sister and I carried on looking for scraps of metal and food in the rubbish that regular people threw away.

Royal Hastings, University of London Multimedia Art MA *Final Project*

Candidate name: Jonathan Danners

Candidate number: 0883482

There’s one problem with the active deterrent system: the other side has a Dead Hand too.

Thanks to my mother and her generation of scientists and engineers at RD8, those missiles planted beneath the sea, trained on the enemy, now belong to a different era.

Instead they developed technology that ‘drops’ a silent, invisible ‘bomb’. It charges the atmosphere with positive ions to devastate towns, cities, countries – whole continents – on a molecular level. You’ll never know the attack has happened until, perhaps, everyone around you is dying from cancer or lung disease or suicide. Until you see the polluted rivers, decaying plant life, a dying ecosystem.

These weapons are deployed secretly to weaken a region, nation or continent. A silent invasion. When the area is devastated enough, ground forces go in and neutralise any existing defence systems. You destroy them, without them destroying you. Kiss … goodbye.

When Mum went back to work after I was born, she was exposed to the atmospheric tech at the very start of its evolution, before anyone realised how dangerous it was. As a result, my sister was born with complex disabilities that meant she didn’t die, but didn’t live, either. If it weren’t for RD8, my mother would be alive today and my sister a perfectly healthy, happy twenty-seven-year-old. You might think the company would take responsibility, but at that level accountability doesn’t apply. And you can’t sue a department that doesn’t officially exist.

AetherGen is committed to disrupting big business that invests in climate destruction. Ludya and Suzie are both passionate activists. Ludya for her kids, and Suzie because despite being rescued from the rubbish tip where she was born, she will always kick against authority, fighting to survive, like the abandoned child she still is inside. But for me it’s always been personal. Whatever happens after tonight, I want it to be known – this was all for Mum and Sophia.

Metropolitan Police digital evidence log/Case no. 4617655/24/ files retrieved 5 September 2024

AetherGen WhatsApp group members Jonathan Danners, Suzie Danners and Ludya Parak, 30 May 2024:

Jonathan

When the promo film ends, we go into the room and calmly wheel the head away.

Ludya

The event will still be going on. The kitchen is getting ready to serve more canapés.

Suzie

If anyone asks, give them a line. Say we need to protect it from damage and packing it up takes ages. They can explore the tunnel all they like.

Jonathan

Hold your positions while the presentation takes place. I’ll be by the entrance doors.

Jonathan