February 2014
And then there is no more Eilidh.
She vanishes one day, just like that. Vita goes to Glastonbury that morning to sort out a crisis that has arisen there, and Lucien is locked in his quarters, meditating, so only Uri is in charge. Ursola, coming down to check on her when she fails to show in the Infirmary for her shift, finds her bed made, her box beneath it and all her clothes still hanging at the end of her bunk, only her medallion gone, and after a few hours of calling and searching they give up and stop speaking of her, take over her tasks as though she had never been. And Somer finds Romy crying silently behind the godowns for her lost friend, but you never talk of the ones who’ve gone, so she just gives her a consoling pat and moves on with her duties.
They don’t see Vita for another week. On the seventh day, as Somer and Ursola are sharing a jar of peppermint tea in the corner of the orchard – how well she is beginning to be reaccepted, since she became a Leader – Somer hears the Guards’ radio network crackle, and moments later Uri strides across the orchard towards the road gate with thunder on his face. He stands in the middle of the drive, folds his arms and waits.
Vita crests the hill in the car, sees him in her way and pulls up. Gets out, and the shouting begins.
They don’t need to eavesdrop. They’re near enough, and invisible enough, and, even if Uri and Vita have noticed that they’re there, it seems that their emotions are running so high that they don’t care. Ursola sits rigid beside her, slows her breath. Perhaps they want this to play out in front of witnesses. For the rumour of discord to sweep the compound. It must be in someone’s interest, though whose is anybody’s guess.
‘Where is she?’ he asks.
‘Gone,’ Vita replies.
‘Gone where?’
‘Gone. I took her out of here. I’m not having it.’
‘Not having what?’ he sneers.
‘You know. Jesus, Uri. You think I’m blind? Even your father ...’
A laugh from Uri. Not a nice one. ‘Well, aren’t you the clever one?’
‘That poor girl. Jesus. Can’t you keep them under control?’
He laughs again. ‘Who says I want to?’
‘They’re not ... toys. They’re not bloody treats for your robots. And Jesus, Uri, she’s your sister.’
‘Half-sister.’
She shakes her head as if in disbelief. ‘I don’t believe you. What the hell has happened to you?’
He folds his arms again. Doesn’t answer. Then: ‘He’s furious, you know.’
‘I doubt he’s even noticed.’
‘I don’t suppose he would have,’ he says, ‘if I hadn’t told him.’
Now she folds her arms, too. ‘Oh, you are the funny one. I suppose you think that’s going to undermine me.’
‘Well, I’ll enjoy watching you explain.’
‘It won’t take much explaining, Uri. If their Father can’t keep them safe, their Mother will have to. Simple as that. And you know what? He’ll accept that, because I’ve been running this place for years.’
‘Bullshit,’ he says.
‘Oh, come on,’ she says. ‘Who do you think’s been keeping this place going? Your father?’
Somer realises that Ursola is looking at her. Turns and sees that her face is tense. She’s as uncomfortable as I am, she thinks. I’ve never seen Vita this passionate before. She’s the calm at the centre of our world. The eye of the storm. What’s happening?
‘Well, if you think you’re in charge, you’re even more deluded than I thought,’ he says. ‘It’s me, Vita. He’s just been waiting for me to get old enough and strong enough. You’re nothing. You’re a ... a ... placeholder. If you were in charge they’d all be dead on day three.’
‘Wow,’ she says, ‘you really think that highly of yourself?’
‘Just ask him,’ he says. ‘You just ask him.’
‘Oh, kiddo,’ she says. ‘How old are you? Thirty-five? And you still haven’t worked out that your father will say anything as long as it makes people like him? Are you ever going to grow the hell up and figure out how things really work around here?’
She starts back towards the car.
‘Things are going to change,’ she tells him. ‘Your little personality cult has got way out of hand. This is the final straw, Uri, I’m telling you. It was bad enough when it was just you exerting your droit de seigneur. You can’t have a whole pack of them created in your image.’
To Somer’s surprise, Uri responds with a laugh. ‘Just extending the privilege,’ he says.
Vita stops, a hand on the door handle, and looks up. ‘What’s that meant to mean?’
‘Like you haven’t been his personal procurer for years. Why, Vita? You need to ask yourself that. Are you really so scared of him leaving you that you have to pimp for him?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous.’
He folds his arms again, waggles his shoulders.
‘There were plenty of women,’ she says, ‘who were ready to mother the One.’
Somer feels sick. I don’t want to hear this, she thinks. I don’t. I don’t want to hear it.
An explosion of mocking laughter rings out across the orchard. ‘Yeah,’ he says. ‘That really was a stroke of genius, my love. It’s been such a sacrifice for him, making all those babies.’
Vita slams the car door. Marches back across the sward. ‘You know what, Uri? You’re way too confident. Way. This place wasn’t founded on tyranny and it won’t survive on it. You can rule people with fear for a while, but you can’t rule that way forever.’
‘Oh, you stupid old woman,’ he says. ‘You stupid old woman. You’re a fucking relic.’
‘Well at least I’m not a fucking rapist,’ she snaps. Gets back into the car and slams the door.
Somer doesn’t speak until Uri has marched away towards the Guard House. ‘So Eilidh’s gone, then,’ she says.
Ursola nods. ‘Yes.’
‘Another victim of solstice?’
Another nod. Somer feels a stab of anger. No one smuggled me out, she thinks. No one showed me anything but scorn.
‘Somer?’
She turns to look at Vita’s deputy. ‘Yes?’
‘I think something’s coming,’ says Ursola. ‘I think this place is changing and it’s going to get worse.’
Somer considers what to say. Words like this from someone so deeply embedded in the higher ranks of the Ark are two things at once. Flattering, to be taken into confidence after all these years. And frightening. For all she knows, this could be a test.
‘We’re all here by Father’s grace,’ she replies eventually. ‘Uri as well.’
And one day Father will no longer be here, she thinks as she drinks her tea. And someone else will lead. And he said it himself, over and over again. There can only be One. Not two.