The sun busted holes through the morning clouds, spreading patches of blue above the almost pearlescent domeshield.
‘It’s like we’re inside a huge soap bubble.’ Except Alida knew she’d be the one to pop if she touched this bubble. She chucked a leaf at the shimmering barrier and it crisped like a mosquito in a bug zapper.
Rhea rose up and down on the balls of her feet. ‘Are they in place yet?’
‘They’re on their way.’
Today was the day. Alida plonked onto the lawn before her legs gave out. The weirdly identical blades of grass tickled the palms of her hands. Not a single rebellious weed or wildflower messed up the perfection. The mansion loomed above the greenhouse behind them.
An alert came through on Alida’s implant. Shuqba, Graycie and Rhea’s Rewilder family were close. Alida sent a message through to Shuqba. We’re outside, pretending to be working in the greenhouses. I’m ready for the visual feed. If anything went wrong Gray could be hurt or nabbed by the transhumanists.
A blur of trees and bushes burst onto the feed rectangle on the left side of Alida’s vision panel. Graycie’s bright blue eyes and gappy teeth filled the screen for a second and then she was off, gunning down enemies with an imaginary gun.
‘Kid, you need to shut up now,’ said a male voice somewhere to the left of the screen. Alida wanted to bust Tod’s nose, even though he was right.
A jigsaw of the front of the mansion appeared through some leaves, all its slick lines and creamy rendering dreamily distorted by the domeshield. Alida’s guts were in a tangle. To top it all off she needed a shit. Anxiety was truly the best laxative. She pressed her knuckles into her belly. She’d shit her pants before bolting back into the mansion in search of a dunny.
Rhea darted from one greenhouse to another, peering around at the back door of the mansion and muttering some prayers.
‘Someone’s gonna clock you acting so suss,’ Alida whispered as loud as she dared.
Rhea gave her a dirty look and kept on darting.
‘They’re not gonna kill Kiama and Vinod, are they?’ Alida asked for about the hundredth time. They’d all been so cagey about it during the planning. The goons weren’t all that bad. This was just a gig for them. They hadn’t done anything nasty – to her, anyway.
‘It’s in God’s hands now.’ Rhea squatted on the grass beside her. ‘They’re keeping us prisoner here. They have to answer for their sins. You just worry about your sister.’
How Tod and Nanzee’s decision to shoot or not to shoot the goons had anything to do with God Alida didn’t know, but Rhea was kinda right about one thing: she needed to concentrate on Gray.
Shuqba whispered through the feed, ‘Once Tod and Nanzee are in position I’ll send Graycie out to the driveway to attract attention. As soon as the domeshield’s down I’ll retrieve her and run. I won’t let any harm come to her, okay?’
‘Okay. Can I have a quick chat to her?’
Graycie pressed her snub nose against the screen, distorting the rest of her face. Alida wished she could give her a hug and hold her hand through it all and calm her fears like she had in the old days, before Mum carked it and their whole world disintegrated.
‘Be brave, little bird, okay? And bolt when Shuqba says.’
‘I know. Shuqba has been over it with me a bazillion times.’ Graycie rolled her eyes and the feed shifted back to the mansion.
‘What’s happening?’ Rhea tapped the side of her fist against the thick plastic of the greenhouse.
‘They’re getting in place. Any minute now.’
Shuqba’s voice came through the feed. ‘It’s time, Graycie. Remember, don’t touch the domeshield, just wave your arms around close to it and the security system will detect you. As soon as the domeshield falls, run back to me.’
Alida imagined Graycie rolling her eyes again.
Graycie walked away from the screen. Her blonde hair was knot-free and in a plait down her back. There was no way Alida could ever thank Shuqba enough for everything she’d done for them. She held her breath and tensed all her muscles.
Shuqba’s arm shot into the frame, pulling Graycie back and jerking around the feed. ‘Something’s coming … a vehicle,’ she whispered.
Alida shot to her feet. ‘Who is it?’
‘What’s going on?’ Rhea dug her fingers into Alida’s upper arm.
‘I dunno. A vehicle just rocked up.’ Alida shook Rhea off.
‘Standby,’ Shuqba whispered. ‘We may have to retreat.’
‘Let me see what’s happening.’
An armoured van with tinted windows crunched the rocks of the driveway under its tyres, stopping a few metres back from the domeshield. Alida gulped. It looked a hell of a lot like the van Freel had rocked up in just a few days before. The back doors opened and two of Freel’s thick-necked goons emerged with guns dangling over their guts. She knew it. There was no way Freel would stand for being turned away. The front doors opened and out stepped Ganya and Freel, without a care in the world despite the fact they were messing up her life again. Alida held her breath; she didn’t want to give away Shuqba and Graycie’s position with any sound.
Freel and co walked up to the domeshield. Freel didn’t seem quite as chill as the last time he was there. He looked just as cocky though, hands on his hips and crotch thrust forward like he was going to piss on everyone who’d ever messed with him. Graycie whispered something in the background. Shuqba shushed her. Ganya turned her head and gave the bush a looking-over, her gaze passing just above the screen. Alida gasped as though it were her standing only metres from her former pimps.
‘What in God’s name is happening?’ Rhea’s reeking breath was in her face.
‘Those intruders from the other day are back.’
‘Where are Tod and Nanzee?’
‘I can’t see them. They’ll be fine.’
‘Holy heck.’ Rhea punched the greenhouse.
One of the goons slapped something that looked like a thick black pipe into the palm of his hand.
‘An EMP blaster,’ Shuqba whispered through the feed. ‘Get ready to move. They’re taking the domeshield down.’
Ganya scanned the bush again, only this time she zeroed in on the screen and saw straight through it into Alida’s eyes like she bloody knew. Alida cut the connection in a panic. Her titchy grip on Graycie slipped away. Everything was out of her control yet again.
The domeshield in front of her pulsed red and an alarm blared. ‘Assault detected on domeshield quadrant A,’ HIS repeated between blasts of the alarm.
‘What’s happening?’
For a Rewilder Rhea relied a lot on Alida’s tech. She should stop whining about the evils of technology and get her own bloody brain implant.
‘Electromagnetic pulse. Domeshield’s going down.’ And Graycie and Shuqba might have been spotted. She hoped Ganya had more important things to do, taking the mansion and all that, and didn’t bolt after them.
A grid of tiny lines appeared in the shield. Rhea pogoed up and down like an athlete limbering up for a sprint. A sharp crack and the domeshield was down. Gunshots punctuated the blaring of the alarm. Alida was glad she no longer had the feed. She didn’t want to know if Kiama and Vinod had been shot. She’d just pretend for the rest of her life that they were fine and everyone had a happy ending. Except for the plastic-faced transhumanists. They could rot.
‘Let’s go.’
Alida and Rhea ran through the flimsy layer of air where the domeshield had split their world only seconds before.
Rhea soon pulled ahead. Alida’s breath crashed like waves and her feet thudded against the dirt. She’d worn through the soles of heaps of shoes walking the Demi-Settlements and the burbs all her life, but running was something her body wasn’t sweet on. The bush was a lot messier and scratchier than it looked from a distance. Fallen branches, rocks and dead plants made it impossible to run in a straight line. She weaved and ducked her way through, all the while having shit-all luck reconnecting to Shuqba’s screen. They would be okay. Shuqba wasn’t dim. She would’ve got Graycie away. Up ahead Rhea stopped, not puffing at all. All that obsessive exercising was paying off for her.
Alida leaned forward with her hands on her knees, gulping in air.
Rhea climbed a tree. ‘I’ve never been to the bunker from this direction before. I just need to check we’re going the right way.’
‘What? Are you lost?’ Aw, hell no. Rhea’s only contribution to this rescue was getting them to the bunker. She’d asked Rhea for the coordinates so she could plug it into her implant location services and Rhea had said that she and God’s will were the only location services required. Once this was over, Alida never wanted to see Rhea ever again.
‘No and shut up.’ Rhea reached a fork about three-quarters of the way up the tree and turned herself slowly in a full circle. She shimmied down. ‘You know your Neo friend will probably be dead by now, right?’
‘What?’
‘There’s no way Tod would let a Neo live. Don’t worry. You and Graycie are welcome to come with us. Transhumanists aren’t the only ones building their communities right now. This way.’ Rhea took off in the direction Alida reckoned they’d just come from.