Glad handed Norman an overnight bag. ‘Some things for your weekend away so you won’t have to borrow from Tim.’
‘Cool, thanks Mum.’
She kissed the top of his head and waved the Cadillac off.
‘You have a nice mum,’ Alkemy said.
‘Thanks. I think so. What are your parents like?’
Alkemy was silent for a moment. ‘Always busy. They have not much time for us.’
‘Busy?’ Tim said. ‘I didn’t think Eltherians had to work. Can’t you just make whatever you want with nanomachines?’
‘Of course. The nanomachine mean people are free to do what interest them most.’ Alkemy paused. ‘But our parent are not so much interest in us. Maybe they just find a new hobby.’
Tim thought about Albert, their guardian, and wondered how common it was for children to have syntho minders on Eltheria.
‘What do they do?’ Norman asked.
‘For the last few years they study archaeology. Research ancient civilisations on other planets.’
‘That sounds cool.’
‘Yeah, cool,’ Alkemy sighed, her gaze fixed out the window.
Tim recalled how she and her brother had set out to visit their parents for the Eltherian equivalent of the school holidays and ended up crashing in Earth’s solar system. There hadn’t been any search parties, and Albert had been forced to rebuild their ship on his own. It had taken years.
The rest of the trip passed in silence. Albert drove steadily. Alkemy kept her eyes on the passing countryside. Tim sensed a sadness in her. That she was looking at this stretch of road for the last time and trying to hold on to the memory of it. With the scanner block plan a failure, they’d have to move on, try to keep one step ahead of the Sentinels, and try to come up with some other way of communicating with their mothership.
Albert slowed as they neared the reserve, then sped up again, accelerating round the bend in Rata Road and sending a slew of gravel and dust over the turn-off.
‘What’s up? What was that about?’ Tim said.
‘There’s someone there. A film crew.’
‘Really?’ All he’d seen was a glimpse of green station wagon.
Albert’s eyes narrowed on the road ahead. ‘And what’s Ludokrus doing out here?’
‘Ludokrus?’
Tim squinted, but it was at least another two hundred metres before he caught sight of a faint speck lounging by a stand of cabbage trees near the farm gate. The speck straightened and waved as they drew nearer, resolving itself into the shape of his friend. Tim glanced at Albert, guessing he must have some sort of built-in telescopic vision.
‘You see the TV peoples?’ Ludokrus called. ‘They wait for Tim. Want to interview.’
‘Me?’ Tim said.
‘Your uncle and your sister also wait.’ He gestured towards the house.
‘Well if it’s all the same to you, I’ll let you off here,’ Albert said. ‘I think Alkemy, Ludokrus and I will do a little touring. In the opposite direction.’
Ludokrus took their place as Tim and Norman clambered out and headed up the drive.
‘Ah, there you are,’ Frank said. ‘I thought I heard the Caddy.’ His hair was slicked back and he was wearing a smart, neatly pressed shirt and tie over the top of his black singlet. It wasn’t tucked in and he wore his usual tatty shorts and gumboots.
‘My new look,’ he said, seeing their surprise. ‘What d’you think?’ He held up his arms and turned left and right like a model on a catwalk.
‘Um ...’ was the best Tim could manage.
‘Radio, now TV. A star is born. I might have to give up the farm.’
‘I take it they only filmed your top half?’
‘Yeah, like those newsreaders. You don’t think they bother with trousers, do you?’ Frank rubbed his chin. ‘At least I hope they only filmed my top half.’
Coral bustled down the steps. ‘Hurry up! Crystal Starbrite’s waiting for us at the reserve. Uncle Frank’s going to drop us off.’
‘Is that why you’re all dolled up?’
‘I’m not dolled up. I just had a wash and changed my blouse.’
‘You’ve done your hair too. And are you wearing make-up?’
‘None of your business. You should do something about your own hair. Ever heard of things called combs?’
Frank whistled to them from the ute. ‘All aboard the Interview Express.’
‘Can we ride on the back?’ Norman said.
‘I don’t see why not.’
Coral travelled in the cab with Frank while Tim and Norman crouched on tray, hanging on tightly, the wind in their faces. To Coral’s disgust, it made even more of a mess of her brother’s hair.
The first part of the interview took place near the intersection of Rata Road, right where they’d been when they saw the explosion. Tim and Coral repeated their walk, describing what they’d seen to Crystal Starbrite, while the cameraman moved backwards, filming them. Then they paused and answered questions.
Coral loved it, chatting easily with the reporter, and Tim was happy enough till the attention turned to him and he was asked to describe the flash he pretended to have seen moments before the nonexistent meteorite hit the ground. It was bad enough lying to his aunt and uncle. Doing so on national television seemed even worse.
‘Let me get some shots of you by the crater,’ Eric said. ‘Fill-in stuff. No sound.’
‘Can I be in it?’ Norman said.
‘I don’t see why not.’
‘You weren’t even there!’ Coral hissed.
‘I’m here now,’ he grinned.
Eric took shots from several different angles. The three of them standing on the crater rim looking down. Tim pointing, tracing the path of the imaginary meteorite through the sky. A view from the bottom of the crater looking up. The whole scene from a distance.
‘That’s great. Thanks everyone.’
Back at the farmhouse, they found the Cadillac in the drive and Albert, Alkemy and Ludokrus on the veranda chatting with Em, their arms full of provisions — a tray of eggs, vegetables from the garden, a bag of freshly dug potatoes. Albert loaded up the car and headed off, telling his two he’d see them back at the caravan.
‘Maybe you will start on dinner,’ Alkemy called.
‘I’ll start on something,’ he called back.
‘Still nothing on the scanner?’ Norman saw it protruding from Alkemy’s backpack.
She shook her head.
‘It’s all our fault,’ Tim sighed. ‘If only we hadn’t talked about your you-know-what problem in front of you-know-who. Where is she, by the way?’
‘Have not seen her since we arrive.’
‘Smudge!’ Coral exclaimed. ‘I almost forgot. I locked her in my room just before the TV people arrived. She’s been in there for ages.’
‘What did you do that for?’ Tim said.
‘I never told you, did I? About my evil plan?’