‘Tanka’s here!’
‘They’re all here, Tanka, the Gatekeeper, Anubis. They’re up at the Ground Station working on the drone. Somehow Director Hedrick found out we were coming back to the village so he sent Tanka back to help us.’ As he spoke, Daniel started the engine and pulled away, turning the car around and driving out of the village.
‘But… how could he know?’
‘No idea. Maybe Mo tracked us in the drone data. Anyway, let’s keep it to ourselves until we know what’s going on.’
Amy held Charlie tightly as Daniel drove up the winding lane towards the Ground Station. They both had a feeling of déjà-vu as he parked the car. The building that had been ripped apart by the angel Rampel stood unscathed. ‘Stay here,’ he said, getting out of the car. As he walked towards the visitor’s entrance he heard the passenger door slam closed behind him. He turned to see Amy following him, cradling Charlie in her arms. ‘Leave this to me, Amy,’ he whispered forcefully, as though the Ground Station occupants could hear his voice through the rebuilt walls. Without replying, Amy walked forward and pressed the call button on the intercom then, stood, looking up into the security camera lens. ‘Oh shit,’ Daniel said under his breath.
Anubis was lying on the floor under the drone, tightening the last bolt securing the rebuilt energy convertor, ‘What about the seat straps?’ Orion asked, taking the spanner from Anubis’ outstretched arm.
‘What about the straps?’ he snapped back.
‘You promised Tanka we’d fit them. He’s terrified he’s going to slip out of his seat again.’
‘I haven’t got time for that, he’ll just have to hold on tighter.’ As Anubis spoke the door-buzzer sounded. The unexpected noise made him jump, striking his head against the gimbal arm. ‘Who the fuck’s that?’ he shouted, rubbing the crown of his head, ‘Go get the door! Whoever it is… tell’em to fuck off!’
If poltergeists had hearts, Orion’s would have sunk as he recognised the faces staring at him from the screen of the security monitor. This was going to be a bad day. ‘Who’s at the door?’ Anubis shouted, thrashing around like a landed fish, trying to extricate himself from under the drone.
Orion quickly tried to weigh up which name would irritate him least, Daniel’s or Amy’s. ‘I’m not too sure,’ he said unconvincingly, ‘I’ll go and see.’ A minute later Orion led the family in, expecting Anubis to explode with rage. But he didn’t; for several seconds he stood in contemplation, staring at Amy cradling the baby. Then, he walked up to her and pulled the blanket aside to examine the infant’s face. The others stood in silence waiting for his reaction but, before it came, the door-buzzer sounded again and Mrs. Perkins’ face looked up at them from the security monitor.
As usual, the solution to a delicate situation was to brew a pot of tea, which Mrs. Perkins placed along with a plate of Garibaldi biscuits, in the centre of the table. As she filled the mugs she addressed the gathering, trying to put a positive spin on the new arrivals, ‘Whether we like it or not, the only way we’re going to get off this planet is to work together. And now that Daniel’s back, that’s going to take the pressure off.’
‘It’s not finishing the drone that’s the problem,’ Anubis replied. ‘It’s Haamiah’s extraction wave. Have you noticed how bright the night sky’s getting?’
Amy interrupted, ‘I don’t believe it! Haamiah told the Director that-’
Daniel cut the sentence short, frowning at Amy as he spoke, ‘It’s probably just the time of year. The night sky’s always brighter in the summer.’
Anubis laughed, ‘Daniel, the optimist.’
‘Maybe, I am. What’s the point in worrying about something we’ve got no control over? Let’s just concentrate on getting the drone working.’
Fixing the drone’s nothing, security’s the big issue. We need to start thinking about that,’ Anubis replied.
‘You’re worried about security? Nobody’s going to come up here and steal the drone,’ Tanka quipped, as Mrs. Perkins dunked a biscuit into her tea.
‘I’m not talking about the drone. It’s the breakdown of law and order I’m concerned about. Once these lifeforms realise they’ve only got weeks to live, there’s going to be chaos. All the utilities; electricity, water, TV and radio will stop running, the food chain will breakdown, and their society will fall apart. There’s an article in today’s paper querying why everybody who questions the explanation for Stevenson’s Halo either disappears or meets with some unforeseen accident.’
‘What sort of accident?’ Daniel asked.
‘The fatal sort, it’s the only way they can keep it under wraps. That kid, Stevenson, was killed by a hit-and-run driver on his way home from school. The subject’s virtually disappeared from the TV’s news. The light from the extraction wave’s going to increase exponentially. It’s gonna be hell on earth. A place like this, the village and the Ground Station, is exactly where they’ll come to escape the cities.’
Mrs. Perkins sat opened-mouthed, staring at Anubis and hanging on his every word, ‘For Creation’s sake, why didn’t you say? If we can’t stay in the village, what are we going to do? Where are we going to go?’
‘The cavern!’ Orion announced. ‘We move everything back up to the cavern. With Daniel’s help we should have the drone working in a few days. That’ll give us plenty of time before the marauding hordes arrive, searching for food and weapons.’
‘What about the village?’ Amy asked, uncovering her breast to let Charlie suckle.
‘I guess they’ll hit that first. Next, they’ll search the surrounding farm buildings, and then they’ll come up here. We’ve got no option. We either go to the cavern or we stand and fight.’ Silence fell over the group as they contemplated Anubis’ revelation.
Then, with a trembling voice, Amy asked, ‘But what about Charlie?’
Anubis got up from the table and walking over to the workbench said, ‘I suggest we kill it now! A quick whack on the back of its head - that should do the trick.’
Seeing the claw hammer swinging from Anubis’ hand, Daniel jumped up and blocked his path, ‘Amy and I will decide what happens to the baby!’
‘Will you now?’ Anubis said, launching the hammer in a rising arc that caught the side of Daniel’s jaw, sending him staggering back into the kitchen table, scattering the tea pot and mugs onto the floor. He approached Amy, waving the hammer as he spoke, ‘Right, BITCH, you’re next!’
The first swing missed Amy’s temple by the width of a hair and carried on to strike Mrs. Perkins on the back of her shoulder. ‘ANUBIS… STOP! Have you gone mad?’ she screamed.
As Daniel staggered to his feet, Amy grabbed the kitchen knife from the counter and held it at arm’s length, like a lance. Anubis turned and went for Daniel again, but before he could raise the hammer, Orion hurled him across the room, sending him crashing into the workbench, to fall, unconscious, onto the floor.
Cursing with pain and gingerly rubbing his bloodied chin, Daniel hobbled over to Amy who was crouched down, kitchen knife in hand, her body shielding their baby, ‘Is Charlie okay?’ Nodding, she looked up and sighed with relief that Daniel's injuries were not far worse.
Standing up, she lay Charlie over her shoulder, and examined Daniel’s chin, ‘You okay?’
‘Yeah, I’m getting used to it.’
‘Maybe Anubis is right,’ Tanka said, rolling her shoulders to relieve the pain. ‘It’ll be less traumatic for the baby if it goes now… quickly. He probably can’t come with us anyway. Drones can only transport essence… does Charlie have any? I suspect not.’ Amy was speechless, she couldn’t believe what Tanka was saying.
Orion joined the group, ‘Maybe I should look inside the infant? It’s possible that when the human egg was fertilised-’
‘You mean Charlie’s could have essence?’ Amy asked excitedly.
‘Why are you giving them false hope? Tanka snapped. She paused for a moment, studying the pathetic couple, so desperate to save their only child. ‘Okay... We
take the infant with us. But, if Orion’s wrong, you’re going to have to-’
‘Watch him die.’ Amy said, completing the sentence. ‘We’ll take that chance.’ She gave Daniel a reassuring smile, reaching up to kiss his wound better. Charlie’s response was to belch up his milk, which ran down the back of Amy’s blouse and onto the floor.
40
The Gathering
When Anubis came round, he had no option but to go along with their decision; the infant, Charlie, would be going with them. After all, without Daniel’s cooperation, he would suffer a far worse fate than the other life-forms on this doomed planet. As an angel entombed in creationist essence, the planet’s destruction would be a fast-track to Purgatory for him. That evening, all but Orion returned to the pub. They sat together in the snug bar, enjoying Mrs. Perkins’ lamb casserole, washed down with several jugs of Peter’s home-brewed cider. Anubis was amusing and charming during the meal, paying special attention to Charlie, just like a doting uncle. By the time the third jug of cider had been consumed you’d have thought they were a group of friends, reunited for the first time since their college graduation, reminiscing about their adventures, which now seemed bizarrely humorous.
As usual, Peter was standing in the centre of the main bar, cradling his pint of beer, watching the TV news channel. As they left the snug he tried to engage Daniel in conversation, offering to buy him a pint of Monk's Habit bitter, predicting it would put hair on his balls, as well as his chest. Daniel couldn’t stop himself laughing at the comment but declined, and led Amy through the bar into the back lobby and up the stairs to their room. Together they bathed Charlie and dressed him in a fresh, blue sleepsuit. Daniel was lying on the bed, lightly rocking the crib with his outstretched arm even though Charlie had been asleep for several minutes. Amy called him to the bathroom, and as he walked through the door he found her standing by the sink holding a pair of scissors, which she used to direct him to sit down on the toilet seat. Without either of them speaking, she attacked his full, black beard with the scissors, cutting whole chunks off at a time. Once or twice he flinched as the scissors caught his skin, but soon the job was done. She lathered a bar of soap under the running tap and smoothed the foam over the remaining stubble. Then, taking his razor, she drew the stubble away leaving Daniel clean shaven, with the exception of one or two bleeding nicks. She smiled at the result and, bending forward to kiss him on his forehead, said, ‘We’re home now, there’s no one you need to hide from here.’
Back at the White House, the president was attacking his breakfast, ‘You’re telling me that with a budget of fourteen point eight billion dollars we can’t track this guy down.’
‘But, Mr. President, they’ve only got that hotel picture and your description to go on.’
‘Don’t you try and blame this on me, Tom. You were the one who let him escape!’ The president took his irritation out on the remaining slice of bacon, stabbing it with his fork and burying it in scrambled eggs before shovelling it into his mouth.
‘We’ve got every agent working on this one, sir, but there’s just not enough to go on.’
The president pushed the plate to one side and drew the stack of morning newspapers towards him. It was the anniversary of the nine-eleven attack on the world trade centre and the front pages were covered in iconic pictures, including those of Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. The president pointed at the faces, ‘Jesus, Tom, we managed to track down these fuckers, didn’t we?’ Tom knew he was fighting a losing battle and stood in silence letting the president’s tirade wash over him. ‘You just don’t get it do you? Pandora’s about to open her box and when she does we’re all fucked.’ The president was sliding each newspaper off the pile, inspecting every headline, ‘What’s missing?’ he said, glancing up at Tom over the brim of his reading glasses.
‘Missing, Mr. President?’ Tom asked, knowing that whatever he said wasn’t going to satisfy his boss, who had been in a foul mood ever since he had arrived in the Oval Office that morning.
‘Why do I have to do everybody’s job for them? Look, Tom! There’s no mention of him on any of the front pages, there’s nothing on the TV news either. What the fuck’s happening?’
‘The story’s old news, Mr. President. But, I think there’s a piece on page fourteen of the Times.’
‘Page fourteen! For fuck’s sake, Tom, we’ve gotta get it back on the front page, make it new news, offer a reward or something. Somebody, somewhere’s got to know where this guy is, we’ve just got to encourage them to spill the beans.’
‘We announced a reward over a week ago, sir, fifty thousand dollars, but there’s been no response.’
‘I said a reward, Tom, not chicken shit! A hundred million dollars, now that’s what I call a reward. You’ll have every lowlife on the planet looking for him. Poor bastard won’t stand a chance.’
‘But, Mr. President, it’ll take weeks to get that approved, it might even have to go before the Senate Appropriations Committee.’
‘I’m surrounded by fucking idiots! Tom, we haven’t got weeks! Who cares a fuck whether they approve it or not. If we don’t track him down, they’re not going to be around to impeach me anyway! They’re going to get roasted alive, just like the rest of us. That Big Bang, or whatever it is, is coming back to eat us all up, Tom. And the only person who knows anything about it, you let escape. I want that guy in front of my desk by the end of the week. No excuses! Now just do your fucking job and find him.’
Peter was sat in the farmhouse kitchen drinking a mug of tea. He had just finished the morning’s milking and his wife was at the sink peeling the vegetables for that night’s dinner. It was Wednesday, which dictated a menu of grilled pork chops, mashed potatoes, cabbage, carrots and a thick, dark, glutinous gravy. The counter next to the table was covered with livestock medication and the implements for administering it. Buried amongst these was a small, dust-covered television displaying the morning’s news. The big story was the huge reward the President of the United States was offering for the capture of the most wanted man on the planet. A fuzzy, out-of-focus picture of Daniel filled the screen, overlaid with the hotline telephone number to be used if he was sighted. Peter laughed as he drank his tea, ‘That bloke looks just like Daniel, from down the pub.’
‘That’s what I told the man on the telly,’ she said, tossing the last of the peeled potatoes into the pan.
Peter started to cough uncontrollably, choking on a mouthful of tea. It took some time and several slaps on his back before he could speak again. He looked up at his wife through tear-filled eyes, ‘You did what, woman?’
‘What’s wrong? I only left a message.’ she said, surprised by his reaction.
‘I’ll tell you what’s wrong, you stupid woman. We’re going to have all sorts of official types turning up now, checking this and checking that. You stupid woman!’ He got up and grabbed his coat from the back of the chair.
‘Where ya going?’
‘I’ve got to move those unregistered cattle out of the top field. And then, dismantle the still in the barn and dump all the hooch down the drain... You stupid woman!’
Anubis stopped talking mid-sentence and set his mug of coffee down on the table. He was staring open-mouthed over Tanka’s shoulder at the TV on the bar wall. They had been discussing what supplies they would need to take up to the cavern. Mrs Perkins turned to see what had distracted him, just in time for Tanka to catch a glimpse of Daniel’s picture. Her head spun back and for a second she too was speechless. The back lobby door opened and Amy came into the bar followed by Daniel carrying Charlie over his shoulder. ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.
‘Daniel’s face, it’s all over the TV news again,’ Anubis replied, pointing at the news banner replaying the story.
‘The Americans are offering a huge reward for him. They’re saying, he’s the most wanted man on the planet,’ Tanka added.
‘Someone’s bound to talk. In a couple of hours the village’ll be crawling with bounty hunters
.’ As Anubis spoke, his demeanour started to change again.
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Amy replied, ‘I’ve only just cut his beard off. Nobody’s going to be looking for him here… unless somebody reports seeing him… and who would do that?’
The bar door latch lifted with a clunk and it slowly opened to reveal a sheepish-looking Peter standing in the doorway, ‘Mrs. Perkins, do you think I could have a word?’ he said timidly, avoiding eye contact with Daniel.
‘Is it important, Peter? I’m rather busy.’
‘I think it probably is,’ he said nodding towards the TV. The news stories had rolled around and Daniel’s face filled the screen again. ‘You see, my wife… stupid woman, thought that the face on the TV news looked a bit like Daniel’s, so she phoned the telephone number and told them.’
‘She told them Daniel was here, in the village?’ Amy said, her voice trembling with rage.
‘Not exactly, it was one of those computer jobbies that answered the phone. You know, press button one for this and press button two for that. Anyway she pressed a few buttons and left a message.’
Anubis stood up from the table, ‘That’s it! We’ve got no option now, we have to leave.’ He looked across at Daniel, ‘Go and get whatever you need for the infant. We meet here in ten minutes, and we won’t be coming back.’
‘I didn’t know you were leaving, Mrs. Perkins. The pub just won’t be the same without you. Is there anything I can do to help?’ Peter said.
Anubis put his arm around his shoulder, ‘How very kind of you, Peter. Maybe you could help Mrs. Perkins and Sally load their car.’ He glanced back to the others, ‘Don’t just stand there, GO!’ Amy grabbed Daniel’s arm and dragged him into the back lobby. They ran up the stairs back to the bedroom. Daniel laid Charlie in the crib and, pulling open the wardrobe doors, started to throw the hanging clothes onto the bed. Amy got down on her knees and dragged the holdalls from under the bed, ignoring the one stuffed with banknotes. She got up and ran into the bathroom, grabbing only the basic items they would need from the sea of bottles and tubes. As she returned, Daniel almost collided with her en-route to the dressing table, where he scooped Charlie’s essentials into Amy’s backpack. Only single word answers were given to each other’s questions, Do we need this? No. What about this? Yes.
Creation- The Auditor’s Apprentice Page 35