Third Transmission by Jack Heath Page B

through the tinted glass. A nightmarish roar boomed from the lower regions of the rocket, the parts that were kilometres below the ground.Six barely felt Ace grab his arm, as though she might lose him in the cacophony.
    Everything shook and squealed and for a second it felt like the universe itself was
alive
, and squealing with pain as something twisted it inside out ...
    And then there was silence.
    The change came instantly, like waking up from a dream, or like a scene change in a movie. Or like sudden death in a plane crash, after a long, tumbling descent. The silence was so immediate that the ringing in Six’s ears took a moment to catch up.
    Sight and sound returned. The auditorium was the same as it had been. The guests were unharmed, though many of them looked a little shaken. Allich herself didn’t have a hair out of place. She was staring at the glass chamber.
    Six followed her gaze. Inside the tube, there was a girl in a white hospital gown, scraggly red hair smothering her eyes. She was on the floor, slumped against the wall. As Six watched, she slowly raised her head. After a second, she clambered to her feet groggily.
    â€˜No way,’ Ace whispered.
    Six nodded grimly. Allich had worked out how to transmit people.

    It took Six a minute to notice that there was something wrong with the girl’s eyes. Her gaze was tilted up and toher right, like she was trying to look at someone without them noticing – a constant sidelong glance.
    â€˜This is TM4,’ she said, in Allich’s voice.
    Six was stunned. What was going on?
    â€˜She was scanned two weeks ago,’ Allich said, but Six saw that the girl was mouthing the words as Allich said them, eyes still turned aside. Six felt a chill run up his spine.
    â€˜Or, rather,’ Allich continued, ‘her original form was. She has no memory of that, of course. But physically, she is indistinguishable, and completely healthy.’
    She held up a syringe. ‘To transmit live subjects, I’ve used a cocktail of drugs and radioactive isotopes. Mostly technetium-99m, so the circulatory system can be mapped by the scanners, and cadamine to stop the subject going into shock.’
    As Six stared around at the other faces in the audience, he caught Nai’s eye. She smiled, and then dragged one finger slowly across her throat. Six looked away.
    Allich was attaching electrodes to the girl’s back. The picture on the screen changed, displaying a complex EKG. Heart rhythm, respiratory rate, and a whole series of other charts Six didn’t recognise. He nudged Ace.
    She nodded. ‘Standard readings. Heart rate up a little, but otherwise completely normal.’
    The girl, ‘TM4’, walked to the back of the stage. She took a yellow envelope out from under the folds of her gown, and put it down on the bench. Then she walked back to Allich. There was no fear in her face, but Sixthought he saw thinly veiled despair. He had the sudden impression that this was not a willing volunteer.
    â€˜Who has the card?’ Allich asked.
    A guest held it up, and passed it to the front. Allich took it, and slipped it into an envelope identical to the one on the bench. Then she passed it to the girl, who put it inside her gown where the other one had been.
    Six frowned. Why was the subject getting the card? Shouldn’t Allich keep it? Perhaps there was more than just congratulations scrawled in there – he should have looked closer.
    â€˜Incredible, isn’t it?’ the tanned man sitting next to Six said.
    It took Six a moment to realise that the man was talking to him. ‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘Chemal has really excelled herself this time.’
    The man smiled. ‘It’s strange – in a way, the rest of the demonstration is a formality. We already know she’ll succeed. But she has to do it anyway.’
    The rest of the demonstration? Allich was going to send the girl back!
    â€˜I left my brief at the