WE KEPT WATCH OVER WILLEM, sitting on the floor beside him to keep him from falling off the narrow bench. We didn’t talk much, and when we did we whispered. Sometimes he stirred.
Mac came back, checked Willem and nodded. ‘He’s doing fine. We’ll be arriving in ten minutes. He’ll be in hospital quick smart after that.’
Marba said, ‘Mac, I’ve been thinking – should we make that crate the same weight it was when Willem was in it?’
‘Put you in it instead, you mean?’ Mac slapped his leg and chortled. ‘Don’t worry, laddie. We’re not stupid. Everything’s under control. You just stay put until I come to get you. Meantime, stay out of sight. No peeping through the blinds.’
When the door shut behind him, the three of us grinned at Marba and chanted, ‘Don’t worry – laddie!’
The laddie wasn’t bothered by the name. ‘They’d better have it under control. It’s our future on the line here.’
The sound of the train changed.
‘We’re slowing down,’ Paz said. ‘Can’t be ten minutes yet, though.’
Silvern grumbled about wanting to see out. I sat on the floor, hugging my knees. Paz beat a tune on the seat with one hand. Marba watched us.
Minutes later we stopped. Sounds came from the luggage compartment on the other side of the door. Were they emptying it out? It took a long time for the noise to stop. Silvern crouched on the bench opposite Willem, her head tilted as she tried to make sense of every sound filtering in. It was impossible to work it out. And the wait seemed endless.
‘So much for getting Willem to hospital quickly,’ I muttered, but just then the door opened and we were scrambling out of the way of a team of people in white uniforms. They ignored us as they checked Willem before loading him onto a stretcher. Only then did one of them say, ‘Mac says to sit tight.’
So we sat tight, grumbling now and then about being hungry, bored and fed up.
‘Don’t talk about feeding,’ Paz sighed. ‘My gut is killing me.’
Eventually Mac came to get us. ‘Follow me.’
‘Where to? And can we have some food?’ I was sick of being ordered about, sick of being treated like an imbecile, of being told nothing.
‘You’ll see, and no.’
‘I might faint,’ Silvern remarked.
Mac jumped down onto the platform and kept walking. We followed, forgetting our stomachs for the moment as we looked about us.
‘Oban!’ We charged towards him, colliding in a flurry of hugs and questions – what … do you … why …?
‘It’s so good to see you! Where’s the mountain? When …?’
But Mac turned around and bellowed at us. ‘Get a move on!’ He pointed at Oban. ‘And you – scarper.’
Oban linked arms with me and Silvern. ‘I am one of the leaders of our community, sir. I’m coming with them.’
Mac glared, frowned, then strode off. We followed.
Silvern giggled. ‘Mr High and Mighty himself, are you?’
Oban grinned. ‘Yep, that’s me, so watch yourself.’
We bombarded him with questions as we walked. Yes, he liked New Plymouth. And when all this was over he intended to climb the mountain.
‘Will you live here?’ I asked, feeling suddenly cold despite my warm coat. He would leave us, I realised. Vima would too.
‘Probably. There’s a uni I can go to, work here I can do. Interesting stuff.’ He gave my arm a squeeze. ‘We won’t be staying together, Juno. You know that. We’ll have to go where we can work. All of us.’
Maybe I had known it, but all the same it hit me hard hearing it spoken aloud. ‘But families might be split.’ I didn’t want to think about that.
‘Grow up, Juno,’ Silvern snapped. ‘This is Outside. Where you were so desperate to escape to. Remember?’
Cow. I leaned around Oban to smile at her. ‘I remember too how hunger always makes you snarky.’
‘Shut up, both of you,’ Marba ordered. ‘Looks like we’ve arrived.’
We shut up and hurried after Mac into a building with the sign New Plymouth Police Station.
My stomach churned with nerves as well as hunger. Mac handed us over to a man in a blue uniform. We barely had time to bid Mac a hurried goodbye and thank him before the uniformed man was ordering us to follow him. He led us up some stairs, knocked on a door, then ushered us in.
‘The Taris people, ma’am.’
A woman stood up to greet us. ‘Detective Inspector Marion Whitely. Please sit down.’
Oban introduced us, then said, ‘With respect, Detective Inspector – these four haven’t eaten today.’
She grinned, and immediately looked much less intimidating. She pushed a button on her desk and snapped out an order to bring us food. I stopped shivering and relaxed.
DI Whitely seemed keen to talk. She leaned back in her chair, smiling and joking, but the questions she put to us weren’t idle chatter. She wanted to know about us, about Taris. I could almost see a pair of scales in her mind: this piece of information on the guilty side, that piece on the innocent side.
Paz tried a couple of questions of his own. ‘Do you know who kidnapped Willem? And what were they hoping it would achieve?’
DI Whitely said, ‘We’re working on it.’
So much for getting any information out of her.
Even when our food arrived, she kept on chatting, asking questions and waiting for our answers as we wolfed down hamburgers and chips.
Only after we’d drunk our tea and spoken our thanks did she snap into official mode. ‘Tell me what happened. Start from why you stowed away on the train.’
Oh bliss, here it was again – the Hera question. Whether to tell or not. None of us spoke. Silvern, Paz and I looked at Marba.
‘We didn’t know we’d stowed away,’ he said after a moment. ‘We didn’t think about tickets either, which was foolish because we do know you need tickets on the city transport.’
DI Whitely waved that away. ‘Why did you get on the train? How did you know Willem was on it?’
Marba turned to me, his eyebrows raised. I nodded. There was no way to avoid telling her about Hera.
So he told her everything, including how Hera had gone out alone in the dark to try to find Willem. How Mother was attacked when she went looking for her.
‘Hmm,’ said DI Whitely. She stared at the ceiling and said nothing for several long moments. Then she fixed her eyes on us. ‘Will you submit to a lie-detector test?’
We gaped at her. ‘You think we’re lying?’ Silvern demanded.
DI Whitely said blandly, ‘It’ll be useful to have the test results.’
‘We don’t want Hera to be part of this,’ I protested. ‘She’s only two. We have to protect her.’
‘But she is part of it. We’ll do our best to protect her, but that’s all I can promise.’ The DI was calm. ‘Do you consent?’
We looked at each other. Should we do it? What would be the consequences if we didn’t? The decision seemed to be up to me. I shut my eyes, striving for rational thought. I hoped a lie-detector test wouldn’t be painful but if we refused to take it then she would assume we were lying, that we were hiding some guilty secret. Beyond my rational mind too was that same feeling of urgency I’d had about coming on this journey.
‘Okay. We’ll do it.’
Oban said, ‘Detective Inspector, can you promise the results won’t be used unless it’s essential?’
‘Absolutely.’ She gave me the suggestion of a smile. ‘Now, which of you will take the test?’
‘I’ll do it,’ Marba said.
Of course he would. Any chance to see how the mind worked and Marba was there.
The DI stood up. ‘Excellent.’
The rest of us stood up, but she motioned for us to sit down again.
‘We only need one of you …’
I interrupted. ‘No, I think you need more than one.’ I stopped talking, trying to chase that urgent nagging. ‘I think you need to test all of us.’
She raised her eyebrows but didn’t say anything.
Silvern and Paz stood up again. ‘Let’s go then.’
Oban came with us as we followed the DI from the room. ‘I can just about hear her mind chewing on that,’ Silvern whispered. ‘I bet she’s not sure if you’re crazy or a genius.’ She tilted her head, her eyes asking questions I didn’t know the answers to.
I shrugged. ‘Dunno. It’s just a feeling. Probably just nerves.’
I didn’t think so though, and by the sparkle in her eyes Silvern didn’t either. I wished I could see life as one big drama the way she did – so much easier to get excited about uncertainty and danger than worrying about it the way I seemed doomed to do.
The DI took us to a waiting room and gave us instructions. During the test we were to keep as still as possible; we could answer only yes, no or I don’t know. After the test we would be taken to a different room so we couldn’t communicate with those of us still to be tested. We weren’t to talk to each other before the test either, and an officer would stay in the room to make sure we complied.
Marba went first, followed by Paz and then Silvern. The wait seemed interminable, though it could’t have been much more than a half hour or so. When it was my turn to go to the testing room, I felt a complete bundle of nerves. The clinical feeling of the room didn’t help either.
The man in charge had an easy manner that calmed me down a little. ‘Now, Juno, I’m guessing you’re like the other three and have never seen a lie-detector test before.’
No, it wasn’t technology we’d had on Taris, although it would have saved us so much grief if we had.
‘Briefly,’ he said, ‘we do a scan of your brain. If you give an untrue answer, a particular part of your brain is activated. If you tell the truth, a different part shows up.’
He instructed me to lie on a narrow bed which he then rolled forward so that my head was inside a kind of globe.
‘Okay?’ he asked.
‘Yes.’
He laughed. ‘No, you’re not. What’s wrong?’
I gasped. ‘I feel like I can’t breathe. But I want to do this. Can we start?’
He pulled me out. ‘You’re probably a little claustrophobic. Keep your eyes closed and we’ll try again.’
He waited for a few minutes, chatting about nothing, then rolled the bed back under the machine.
‘Better?’
This time I waited, testing whether it was better. Yes, I could breathe properly. ‘I’m fine,’ I said.
‘Good girl. Here’s the first question. You found Willem on the train. Did you know he would be on it?’
‘No.’
‘Did you think he was already in New Plymouth?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did you know the train was the only way to get to New Plymouth?’
‘No.’
‘Did you know Willem was in danger?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did your sister Hera tell you he was in danger?’
‘Yes.’
‘Do you believe Willem is a good and honourable man?’
‘Yes.’
‘Okay, Juno, that’s it.’ He helped me up. ‘I’m impressed – usually with a claustrophobic reaction people can’t take the test and we have to use old technology.’
I thanked him and left the room. The other four were waiting for me without a police minder. When I sat down, I was still feeling shaky.
Oban gave me a searching look, but Marba bounced on his toes. ‘Fascinating. I’m going to find out all I can about it. I wanted the guy to ask me something I could lie about, but he wouldn’t.’
‘He caught me out in a lie,’ I said, then hurried to explain because they looked so horrified.
‘Man!’ Marba shook his head. ‘Why aren’t I claustrophobic?’
We laughed but I said, ‘You know — it wasn’t claustrophobia. It was more as if it all kind of crowded in and there was no room left for me.’
An officer opened the door. ‘Come on. The DI wants to see you again.’ But DI Whitely didn’t invite us to sit down.
‘Did we pass?’ Paz asked.
She smiled slightly. ‘You did. One hundred per cent. You’re free to go.’
Where could we go? We looked at Oban, but he shook his head. ‘I’ve got to get back to work – I’m already later than I said I would be.’ He turned to the DI. ‘Do you think somebody from Willem’s school could look after them until they can get the train back to Wellington?’
The DI organised it with one phone call, but she’d overlooked one vital detail.
‘We can’t get the train,’ Silvern said. ‘No money, no travel pass.’
The DI sighed but made another phone call. ‘Okay, you can travel on the train this evening.’
Her goodbye implied I don’t want to see you again in a hurry. Get out and let me get on with the important stuff.
We left, hugged Oban, then climbed into the car the DI had ordered. We had lots of questions.
‘How far’s the school?’
The driver wasn’t chatty. ‘A fair way. You’ll see soon enough.’
His terseness affected us. We rode in silence, but the day was fine and there was much to see. New Plymouth was a very different-looking city from Wellington: swathes of land filled with gardens surrounded groups of houses so that it was made up of little communities all interconnected by the roads.
‘I wonder if it was always like this.’ I stared hard at the back of our driver’s head, hoping he’d answer. He didn’t.
We gazed mostly at the mountain though. Bigger than our Taris mountain, it looked less friendly, further away. Cloud covered its summit as well.
At the edge of the town, the car turned into a long driveway, stopping in front of a low building. We were here? The driver didn’t say anything, so we got out of the car. But Paz was riled. Before he shut his passenger door, he leaned down and said to the driver, ‘Mate – how about you go back and do some research? Find out if there’s real evidence that we brought that killer virus.’ He slammed the door and dusted off his hands.
The man revved the engine and took off.
‘Bastard!’ Paz yelled.
Silvern said, ‘Don’t worry about him.’ But she picked up a pebble and hurled it after the vanished car.
It was hard not to worry. First Mac, then the cop. Ninety per cent of the population of the country were probably against us.
Marba called us to order. ‘We have to find out who’s behind all this if we want things to get better. Willem’s the priority right now, so let’s find out if we’re actually at the right place.’
There was nobody around, but there was a notice board set in a small garden bursting with yellow flowers. ‘Damn it!’ Marba hit his head with the flat of his hand. ‘We’re going to have to up the reading skills. What’s it say, Juno?’
I scanned it. ‘The school is called Fairlands – a whole lot of guff about the aims. About its history.’ I shrugged. ‘At least we know we’re in the right place.’
Silvern pointed to a single word on a door to our right. ‘Off-ice. Office? Come on, let’s go.’
I thought about what I’d read as I tagged along after them. Willem’s school taught mind development in addition to the normal curriculum. It had started fifteen years ago in 2070 because quite a few parents were asking for help in dealing with their children who seemed to have some sort of extra perception.
‘Come on, Juno. Quit the dreaming,’ Paz ordered. ‘Come here and tell us what this says.’
But Marba had already worked it out. He sounded triumphant as he read the sign aloud. ‘If unattended, ring the bell.’
I couldn’t resist it. I asked, ‘How does it feel, Marba, to be able to read the sign?’
He didn’t even glance at me. ‘Great. It feels great. I shall practise this reading lark.’
‘But where’s the stupid bell?’ asked Silvern.
Paz thumped his hand on a button. ‘Let’s hope it’s this, otherwise I might just have blown the whole place apart.’
A door opened at the back of the office and a woman hurried through. ‘Oh goodness!’ She shook her head at us, dislodging a tumble of bright hair from its knot. ‘We’re not open today. I’m so sorry, but you’ll have to come back another day.’
I half turned to leave, but Silvern’s voice halted me. ‘Is it because of Willem? He’s going to be all right, isn’t he?’
The woman gasped, her hand going to her mouth. ‘But how … nobody knows … we thought it best not to …’
‘But he’s still alive?’ Silvern demanded.
‘Yes.’ The woman’s voice wobbled. ‘He’s very ill though. The hospital thinks he’ll be in a coma for some days. They must have given him a massive dose of whatever it was.’
‘But will he be okay?’ Marba asked. ‘Will he get better?’
‘They think so. They just can’t say definitely.’
Silvern leaned forward to clasp the woman’s hands. ‘We’re so sorry. He’s been so good to us.’
The woman’s face lit up. ‘Oh! You’re the Taris youngsters! You’re the ones who rescued him.’ She ran back to the door. ‘Wait there. I’ll be right back.’
‘Youngsters,’ Paz whispered. ‘We’ve never been youngsters before. I wonder if they feed youngsters?’
Silvern poked a finger at his stomach. ‘You can’t be hungry again.’
We didn’t talk about Willem. But our thoughts were with him. Don’t die. Don’t die.
We waited quietly, watching Marba work his way around the lobby, reading all the notices. I wondered if he’d ask for help but he didn’t.
‘Listen!’ Paz turned towards the double doors at the side of the lobby. ‘What …?’
But right then a group of adults, a few kids about our age and several younger ones poured through doors and we were surrounded.
‘Come with us. You are so welcome, indeed you are. We’re honoured to meet you.’ The words ran into each other and we found ourselves being led away in a swirl of goodwill. Some of the crowd were wiping their eyes.
I didn’t like it, being in the middle of so many strangers. The way they surrounded me made it hard to breathe. I wanted to push them away, wanted to hold onto Marba, Silvern and Paz. I choked back the shout in my head: Don’t leave me. Don’t go away.
Then suddenly the crowd parted, giving me space so that I could catch up with my friends. The panic faded and I could breathe again. I shook my head. So stupid. I knew these people would do us no harm, that they believed we were innocent of the evil laid on our shoulders.
I kept my head down, kept my eyes on Silvern’s feet, looking up only when we stopped. We were in a big room filled with low chairs and couches. ‘Please, sit down.’ It was a man speaking. He was quite young, maybe a bit older than Mother and Dad, and he had a smile that tipped up at one corner and down at the other. His name was Jethro Steele, he told us, and he was the head of the school.
‘But isn’t Willem the head?’ Marba asked.
‘He started it,’ Jethro said. ‘It was his baby. But he’s been retired for a few years now, although he’s still very much our mentor.’
The woman with the tumbling hair – Christina – was one of the teachers. Jethro told us the names of a few more. Then the kids all said who they were, and again I was overwhelmed with too many people battering at me. It was all I could do not to scuttle backwards into a corner and hide under a sofa. I shut my eyes and tried to breathe slowly.
A quiet shushing of feet moving made me look up. All the people except Jethro, Christina and a scrawny boy of about ten were leaving the room.
Christina smiled at me. ‘I’m so sorry. We should have realised you’re not yet used to crowds of strangers. It’s just that we’re so grateful to have the four of you here, to be able to thank you.’
I gaped at her. How did she know that the world had been about to crush me?
She smiled again. ‘That’s what this school is all about – being aware of the world beyond the five senses.’
I refused to look in Marba’s direction. He’d be sitting up, eyes gleaming, begging for more.
‘Will you tell us your names?’ Jethro asked.
Marba introduced us. The boy told us his name: Thomas.
‘Can you tell what we’re thinking?’ Silvern demanded. She stuck her chin out, ready to fight anyone who tapped into her mind.
Thomas sniggered. ‘I can tell you’d be steaming furious if we could.’
Christina sent him a look. He apologised, but he wasn’t even a smidgen sorry. He sat there grinning at us. Christina shook her head at him but he just kept right on with the grinning. Silvern turned her back on him.
But Thomas hadn’t finished showing how smart he was. ‘You’d better be careful, Silver girl. Getting angry makes you sick, and I can see that you get angry a zillion times a day.’
‘Thomas!’ Christina spoke sharply. ‘Remember your manners.’
‘Sorry,’ he said again, grinning like a clown.
Silvern kept her back to him.
‘We don’t read thoughts,’ Jethro said after a moment. ‘But we are trained to be aware of feelings.’ He smiled at me. ‘Yours were very strong, Juno, and when we became aware of the reason we acted to alleviate the problem.’
‘Thanks,’ I muttered. Thomas smirked. It was as if he was saying, Cowardy custard, scared of a few kids. He made me feel small, as if I wasn’t as smart as him. I shut him out of my mind.
Jethro turned to Marba. ‘I’m aware that you want a whole lot more information, but can you bear with us for the moment? We’d very much like to know how it was you were able to rescue Willem.’ He looked next at Paz. ‘We’ll sweeten the telling for you by providing food and drink.’
Paz gave a grunt of laughter and relaxed back on the sofa. We waited in silence for a few moments until two of the older boys brought in a tray of food and pots of tea.
The food was good. I ate a small cake and thought about the telling of our story. At least this audience would believe Hera’s part in it, although I didn’t want Thomas to hear it. Could he sense that, I wondered. I didn’t look at him.
When the boys had cleared away, Marba began the story. All the time I was aware of Thomas processing the information, curling his lip over Hera’s part in it as if he was dismissing her abilities as inferior. Why was he here? Why was he the favoured one who could remain when all the other kids left? It couldn’t have been a reward for good behaviour.
Marba finished our story, and Jethro drew breath to speak, but I beat him to it. ‘Thomas, why are you here? Why aren’t you with the other kids?’
Marba, Silvern and Paz swivelled round to look at him. ‘Good question,’ snapped Silvern. ‘What’s so special about a little sniveller like you?’
His mouth dropped open. ‘You’re angry with me!’
She clapped her hands. ‘Golly gosh, how clever of you to work that out.’ She leaned forward. ‘For what it’s worth, I think you’re a rude, smarmy, up-himself little git. And that’s just for starters.’
Marba, Paz and I watched him, glancing too at the adults. Their faces were calm and they said nothing.
Thomas kept gaping at Silvern, kind of gasping for breath every few seconds.
‘What?’ she snapped. ‘Hasn’t anyone ever told you what a pathetic human being you are?’
He shook his head. ‘No. No. They haven’t.’ He stopped to think. ‘They just tell me to be more thoughtful. But I didn’t realise, I didn’t get it that …’ He sat still for a moment, and even without raised awareness I could practically see lights pinging on in the darkness of his mind. ‘I thought people didn’t like me being cleverer than them, but it’s not that, is it?’
‘Damn right it’s not,’ Silvern snarled. ‘It’s because you tramp all over people’s feelings, make them feel stupid, and it’s all just to prove how really, really smart you are.’ Then she added, ‘Not.’
The boys and I tried not to laugh, although Paz couldn’t quite hold back a smile. But Thomas surprised us. ‘I understand now.’ He sat up all earnest and serious. ‘You’ve done me a favour, you know. Everybody here is kind and gentle but I think I really needed somebody to yell at me.’ His face turned red. ‘I’m sorry. I truly am.’
Silvern flapped her hands. ‘For the love of Taris – go beat yourself with a big stick, why don’t you?’
Jethro and Christina shrieked with laughter. ‘Silvern, I think we’ll put you on the staff,’ Jethro said.
She came down off her high horse. ‘Any time you want somebody yelled at, I’m your woman.’ She turned back to Thomas. ‘So answer the question: why are you here?’
Suddenly he seemed frightened. Christina said gently, ‘Tell them, Thomas. None of it was your fault.’
We stared at her, then at Thomas. ‘What?’ Marba asked. ‘This is most mysterious, Thomas. Please put us out of our misery.’ He grinned at the kid. ‘You may have picked up that I’m not good at waiting for mysteries to be revealed.’
But the joking only seemed to make Thomas more frightened. He jumped up and ran to Jethro. ‘You tell them. Please. I’ll leave, I don’t want to listen …’
Jethro pulled Thomas down beside him on the sofa. ‘I’ll tell, if that’s what you want. But best you stay, Thomas.’
Silvern, Paz and Marba sat straight in their seats, eyes bright, faces alert. I tried not to shrink back, tried not to cringe from whatever was coming. I wanted to run from the room, from Thomas, from what was to come, which felt heavy and dark and full of dread. I shut my eyes and strove for calm. Now was the time for Jethro to pick up my feelings, to stop the conversation before it started, but neither he nor Christina spoke to me. I opened my eyes as he began to speak.
‘Thomas’s father, his genetic father, was Gavin Hilton.’
And this was supposed to mean something to us? I felt weak with relief – what a welcome let-down. We glanced at each other, eyebrows asking questions.
Thomas, though, was zinging with tension. ‘His other name. Tell them his other name.’
‘Of course. Sorry.’ Jethro shook his head. ‘You knew him as Hilto.’
That slammed us back in our seats, and my head reeled with the impact of the news. Hilto? Thomas was the genetic son of Hilto?
Marba, as always, focused on the logic of it. ‘But how? Did he leave genetic material here before he went to Taris?’
Thomas shook his head.
Christina took up the story. ‘He sent it back with the last ship to call in at Taris. About eleven years ago now.’
‘What?’ Paz screeched. ‘That’s a load of garbage! There hasn’t been a ship since I can remember, and I’m sixteen. I’d have remembered that. Believe me.’
‘That’s true,’ Marba confirmed. He looked stunned, unable to process the logic of it.
But I felt the certainty of it. ‘What if it is true?’ I could hardly speak. I felt winded.
Silvern jumped up and strode around the room. ‘If it’s true, then Hilto, Majool and Lenna were even more vile than we thought they were.’ She shot a glance at Thomas, who was cowering against Jethro, and held her tongue. She flopped down again. ‘Sorry, Thomas. Go on with the story.’
Christina said, ‘It wasn’t a supply ship. It was a ship that deviated from its intended route in answer to a request from Hilto and Majool. It was risky for Taris, because the ship had a case of measles aboard. Risky for the ship because of the extreme weather at that latitude.’
We couldn’t speak. There had been a ship from Outside during our lifetimes. A secret known only to those three.
‘A request?’ Silvern hissed at last. ‘What request?’
I squashed down a surging sickness. ‘A child. They wanted their immortality.’
‘Was that it?’ Paz demanded. We couldn’t take it in, but it was true.
Jethro and Christina nodded, sympathy in their eyes for us, for Thomas.
We stared at him – we couldn’t help it. He huddled against Jethro who tightened his arm around him. There was nothing now of the smart-mouthed kid. ‘Bear up, old soldier. Nearly there now.’
Marba recovered first. ‘But Majool didn’t have a child.’
Neither Christina nor Jethro asked how we knew, but Silvern explained, ‘When Juno’s parents chose the genetic parents for Hera, Majool wanted a child so badly that he broke into the gene centre and substituted his own sperm for that of the father they’d chosen, but that embryo wasn’t viable.’
Christina said, ‘He had a daughter, but she and her mother died in the last pandemic.’
‘I still can’t believe it!’ Paz pushed his hands through his hair. ‘We could have been rescued years ago. We could have …’ he broke off, shaking his head.
Christina projected a wave of calm towards us, but we weren’t calmed. She said, ‘There were only three of them left on Taris. That’s what they told the world. Just three of them left. They didn’t want to leave. They said they’d grown to love the place – wanted to live out the rest of their lives there.’ She smiled at us. ‘We can show you if you like?’
We nodded, beyond surprise by now.
Jethro got up, let down a screen, and put something into a machine. There in front of us were Hilto, Majool and Lenna. Silvern hissed, but snapped it off as she remembered that Hilto’s son was in the room with us. His leavings. That’s what Hilto had called Hera when he’d thought she was Majool’s child.
We watched as Hilto, looking all brave and noble, asked for the chance to leave a child behind him. He was almost as good at the dramatics as Silvern was. If we hadn’t known him, hadn’t suffered from his wickedness, then we’d have believed in his act. ‘This is our last request to the world beyond Taris,’ he said, looking all saintly and selfless. ‘Should there ever be a ship close enough to call at Taris, we ask for the chance to send back genetic material so that Majool and I at least can die knowing we each leave a child behind us.’
Majool and Lenna were just as bad. Lenna somehow managed to make her eyes water as she said, ‘I wish so much that it wasn’t too late for me to do the same.’
‘Damn lucky it was,’ Paz muttered.
I couldn’t take it in. We could have been rescued eleven years ago. We could have been Outside for nearly all the years of my life.
We kept listening as Hilto, Majool and Lenna told how everyone except the three of them had died. According to them, no children had been born for several years. ‘No parent wanted to bring a child into such an uncertain world,’ Lenna said, squeezing out a couple more tears which she let dribble down her cheeks. ‘You know our history, but can you understand how terrible it was for us during the epidemic to watch our friends sicken and starve to death? The lack of food …’ She actually gave a reasonable sort of sob. ‘There was so much suffering and we felt so helpless.’
Lie after lie spilled from them, and all through it they looked noble, sacrificing and sincere.
Jethro switched the images off. Into the silence he said, ‘You can understand why there were women who wanted to fulfil the wishes of Gavin Hilton and Martin Julong.’
Thomas looked relieved to have the worst over. ‘My mother’s nice. She’s a good person and I love her.’ We almost heard him add so there.
Silvern gulped in several deep breaths then squatted down in front of him. ‘Listen, buddy. I’m sorry I was so tough on you back then. You’re you, not him. Okay?’ She jabbed his knee with a finger. ‘But if you get smart, we yell at you. Deal?’
He sniffed, swiped at his eyes, then giggled. ‘Okay. Deal.’
Christina said, ‘Would the four of you like to go for a walk around the school grounds. It’ll give you a chance to absorb what you’ve heard.’ She smiled. ‘You’ll have more questions, I’m sure.’
We were so numb, we simply did as she suggested. Jethro led us through the buildings, but rather than showing us to the playing fields he took us to farmland and gardens, then left us alone. ‘Wander anywhere you like and come back when you’re hungry. You’ll want some time to yourselves.’
We started walking, then Paz took off. ‘Gotta run or I’ll smash something.’
Then we were all running – running away from treachery, lies and betrayal. Were we ever going to be able to escape our past?
Have you heard? People are coming back to the Centre. They’ll be back as soon as they’re out of quarantine.
Have you heard? Sheen’s really worried about her dad. She says Danyat looks like a shadow of himself.
Have you heard? Creen says it’s hard staying inside their quarters with nothing to do. Kalta made a chart so they can cross off every hour.
| www.warningtheworld.blogspot.com | Another news story BoatBoy |
| and his trusty gang | |
| might do well to read | |
| Big Coincidence?? |