by Meg Buchanan
She leans one elbow on the bar, chin on her fist. “Typical loud mouth Aussie.”
“Do you want to try talking to him?”
She looks doubtful. “Why?”
“See if you can find out anything.”
Ela butts in. “Will that be safe?”
“Mum’s only going to talk to him.”
Mum smiles at Ela. “I can handle any Casanova. I’ve been doing it for years. Don’t worry about me,” she says.
*
“Why didn’t you take off when the others did?” I ask Ela. We’re back upstairs in the kitchen getting food, and I’ve been thinking about that trolley story of hers. She should be in Re-Education at least after all that.
“Isabelle got hurt when the trolley fell over. Lucan and I stayed with her.”
“How did you get away with it?”
“Amon’s dad is a lawyer, and he got them to drop the charges.”
“How?” The fridge is full of leftovers. I gather them up and stick them on the table.
“They had no evidence.”
“Why not? There are DroneCams everywhere in that City of yours.”
“The Drones didn’t get any Vid of us.”
“Why?”
“We had an App.” Ela hauls her Com out of her pocket. She slides her finger across the screen and goes all shimmery. I can just sort of see her. A bloody HazeApp.
“Turn it off. You’ll get us killed.” I check outside the window for Stealth Hovers materialising out of the dark. “Where’d you get that?”
The shimmery arm moves, and Ela reappears.
“Amon stole it.” Ela gathers up plates and cutlery then sits down and starts making herself a sandwich.
Bloody Amon again. Still his App looks like it could come in handy.
“Does it just make you and your clothes invisible?” When Ela hazed I could see the outline of her, but nothing around her changed.
“It makes anything close to you invisible. We tried it when Amon first got it. A tennis ball in your hand hazes, but the edges of a book you are holding still show.” She slaps a slice of bread on top of a layer of cold stew.
“Can you put it on my Com?” I haul the Com out of my pocket.
She takes it and passes it across hers.
I see the flash when they connect.
She touches her screen, and the App icon appears on my Com. Ela hands it back to me.
I shove it in my pocket and get back to assembling some food too.
“So, what happened after Isabelle came out of the trolley?”
“I crouched beside the fallen trolley trying to catch my breath. My Com had smashed so I’d unhazed. I didn’t know what to do. Then the other trolley pulled up and Lucan leapt out, he’d turned his haze off. He felt around and turned Isabelle’s off too. She was lying in a crumpled heap. He tried to help her stand. Izzy cried out and collapsed back onto the ground.”
Ela grabs another slice of bread. “The Eco was in bad shape too. A huge dent and deep scratches down the side. The trolley that made the scratches was lying beside it. We had to get out of there right then. We couldn’t afford to be caught. Three strikes and it’s a long spell at Re-Education. And Amon was on two.”
“So, what did you do?”
“We tried to help Izzy. Jadah ran up with Damus. Both were still an absent shimmering. Their trolley was sitting in the light in the middle of the parking bays. Jadah looked at me like she couldn’t figure out why she could see me. I knelt beside Lucan to help him with Isabelle. This time he carefully helped Isabelle sit, and she rested against him holding her wrist, it looked like it was broken. I moved to the other side, and tried to help her up. We had to get away from there. An injured girl, a fallen trolley, two others scattered around the parking area and a badly damaged Eco would be too hard to explain away, and Vector couldn’t find out about the stolen HazeApp either. Amon stood my trolley up and started to push it away from Isabelle. Then a shout came from the entrance of the Mall. I glanced around the front of the Eco and saw two men running towards us across the parking area, then a muffled whomp, whomp, from above. A black StealthHover materialised, the V stretching from wing to wing, then two more Hovers.”
“Bloody hell,” I say.
“Yeah, Damus didn’t wait, he faded away with Jadah. Lucan tore the Com off his wrist and gave it to me and told me to go. He said he’d get Isabelle to hospital.”
Ela looks over the table at me. “But Lucan was slurring, so I didn’t know how much sense he would make after all the Bliss he’d had. And Isabelle wasn’t much better, so I stayed. Then the guards took Lucan, Izzy and me. to the hospital where Mum works.”
Ela wipes the crumbs off her clothes. “Mum is in charge of the Humicrib at the hospital. The Administration have built this huge hospital and university in the City. Now there is only room left for apartments and HyperMalls. Humicrib cares for the PreBorns. In that wing there are these massive rooms, all warm and softly lit, filled with thousands of small plastic cribs. A tiny baby in each one. The babies curl up around their umbilical cords. Sometimes they stretch or suck their thumbs or give a little smile. Mum talks about how they care for the PreBorns until they are viable. It’s nice. Usually I like being at her mum’s work, but not that time.”
Ela stands up and starts putting the dishes in the dishwasher. “The Vector Guards had had no trouble working out who our parents were. So, when Mum got the Connect she must have contacted Amon’s dad even before she had a clear picture of what had happened. Amon’s dad’s clout. He’s Eugenics Corps head lawyer. Mum and Luc’s dad have clout too, but even top research scientists and medical administrators need help when their kids are in that much trouble. Somehow Amon’s dad talked the guards into leaving us in Mum’s office with the Vid from the DroneCams, and we watched a Vid of three trolleys racing across the carpark pushed by vaguely human shaped emptiness.”
“Did they wipe the Vid?” I ask.
Ela shakes her head and sits down again. “No, there wouldn’t have been any point, there would have been copies. Amon’s dad decided the best way to contain the situation was to say the DroneCam was faulty, that it was fading in and out of focus. So, the Vid wasn’t admissible as evidence. He was worried if any of it went to trial it could get serious, because everyone would know what we’d used to disappear and how we would have got it. Hacking into the Administration’s computer and stealing stealth technology is probably punishable by death, at least.”
“Lucky Amon’s dad was onto it,” I say.
Ela shrugs. “I don’t think he did it for us. He had to know Amon would have been the one who stole the App, that was the sort of thing he did. If Amon had been convicted, it wouldn’t have done Mr Baker’s career any good. That’s probably why Amon left. The only authority Amon has any respect for is his father and it’s the sort of respect that’s verging on fear.”
Ela leans her elbows on the table. “Amon’s dad looks nothing like Amon. Amon is all blond hair and green eyes and tall. His father is short and sort of ginger-coloured with freckles.”
That isn’t surprising. Nobody looks like their parents now. Especially Elite. It isn’t possible to have your parents’ genes anymore. Not that this had anything to do with gene tampering.
Ela grins at me from the other side of the table. “Lucan’s dad collected up all our Coms and stuck them in the hospital incinerator, so no one could prove we had the App. Lucky I had all the data on my Com backed up on my Tablet.”
“So, you got away with it?”
Ela nods. “Mum and Lucan’s dad and Amon’s dad managed to smooth things out. Mum offered to pay for the damage to the Eco and the trolley. All our parents are pretty important, so I think Vector backed off.”
“The poor little Elite got her mum to buy her out of trouble,” I say, and think I’ll get a laugh.
But Ela just gives a bit of a shrug, stays quiet, and looks out the kitchen window into the dark. Then she looks back at me and she’s teary again.
I can’t keep up with her. What’s upset her now?
Maybe she’s just tired. I’ve just seen her run for two hours straight carrying a rifle.
She sniffed, then wiped the snot with her hand. So much for Sweet and Elite. “When we got home, I could tell Mum was worried about what we’d done. What Amon did was probably sensible. Leaving like that meant he didn’t spend hours being hovered to the hospital, having his retinas and fingerprints scanned, having DNA swabs taken, and waiting while the adults were called like I did. Mum said I couldn’t keep getting into trouble, and because she was going to Paris she couldn’t protect me if Amon’s dad couldn’t make this all go away. That’s why I had to come here to Jacob’s.”
Chapter 12
THE NEXT MORNING, we’re downstairs in the pub. Ela’s in the running clothes again, and those factories wasted even less fabric on today’s outfit.
She’s all glossy and Elite. Silver eyes with charcoal lashes. Hair so dark, it almost looks black.
“I’m all set to do what Jacob wants.”
I’ve just got back from checking out Jacob’s place. We can finally go to the drill site.
“I can see.” I can see a hell of a lot. Tiny shorts, tinier top, slim hips, attitude.
“What’s wrong with this?” she asks, arms out a bit, looking down at herself.
“Nothing. Come on.” We go outside, and she hops in the passenger side of the Land Rover. I check my rifle is in the rack still then climb into the driver’s side. We go out of town towards Karangahake then along an old mining road and pull into a carpark beside a stand of kauri.
*
She gets out of the Land Rover and starts to put the Com into her shorts pocket.
“Put it in the glove box,” I say. “Your Com will have a Locate on it and we’re not meant to be here.”
“What are you doing with your Com?”
I open the back door and let the dog out then turn back to Ela to answer her question. She’s half in half out of the vehicle.
“Didn’t bring it.”
Mon does a lap around our feet. Then runs up the road to the corner and back. I get my day pack out and the rifle, sling them over my shoulder, and make sure all the doors are locked.
“Why are you taking your rifle?” Ela asks.
“Might run into some vermin.”
“There are no vermin left.”
“Still deer,” I say. “You saw one yesterday.”
“But this close to town.”
“Yep.” I start walking up the road. After a few seconds, Ela runs a bit to catch up. I adjust the way the pack is sitting. Settle the rifle more comfortably on my shoulder. Then walk to the locked gate.
The day is one of those hot humid ones, sky heavy with cloud. I take off the rifle and the pack, lean them against the fence. I put my hand on the top of the post and leap over the stile.
Monsanto wiggles under the gate.
Then Ela climbs up on to the stile. I put out my hand to help her. She takes it and steps down to the first cross bar. Then she steps down to the next level with those legs. She watches me with those eyes, then steps down onto the grass.
And it hits me. Jacob is completely wrong. She’s not pretty. She was pretty when she was a kid. Now she’s hot.
I’m still holding her hand. I decided to ignore that insight. I finally remember to let go her hand.
Ela just stands there watching me, looking puzzled. I go to my pack and rifle. Lift them over the fence. Settle them back on my shoulder. Signal the dog and walk away.
The road I’m heading towards winds up the side of the mountain. Mon keeps stopping and looking back at her.
“Wait,” she calls out and runs to catch up with me and Monsanto. “Where are you taking me?” she asks.
The dog shoves between us. “Get out, Mon,” I say. Monsanto looks hurt, stops, goes to the side of the road and starts sniffing the weeds.
I keep walking.
She waits for me to answer.
I don’t.
She can’t stand the silence. “Well?” The road winds through the bush like a wide, mustard coloured ribbon. The bush crowds in on both sides, the mountain rises to the right and drops down into the valley on the left.
“I’m taking you around to the back of the mountain. Jacob and I were there about two weeks ago, and we came across a clearing in the bush that had been used to land a helicopter. There were a lot of tracks, so we followed them and found a series of sites where someone has been taking core samples.”
“Don’t DoE do that to check for rogue plants?” She’s good with the questions.
“No, they take plug samples and they use Hovers. These look like prospecting sites.”
“How do you know?” She has to run a few steps again.
“Dad has worked in the mining industry for years,” I say. “He used to take me with him and show me what they did.”
“Where?” she asks.
“In Mackay, Australia.”
“Does he live there?”
“He lives in Sydney and Hovers out there when he’s working.”
“What was he doing?”
“Prospecting for a firm there. I used to stay with him.”
“Are you allowed to travel?”
“Not anymore.”
Ela nods. At least that shows she knows a little bit about the way we have to live.
“Do you think that’s what someone is doing here?” she asks.
“Yeah, but it shouldn’t be happening. Mining was stopped here years ago.” We walk along. Ela’s quiet for a while.
“How does that relate to Jacob?” she asks.
“The sites go onto the back of his farm.”
“You think someone is prospecting on our farm?”
I nod. “And every time we check, the sites have moved further around the mountain.” Before she has the chance to ask more, I hear the sound of a vehicle coming towards us. I stop and look back down the road. Put my arm out to signal for Ela to stop and move to the side. She looks back along the road we have just walked up. Monsanto growls, hackles rising.
I take the day pack from my shoulder. Put it under a tree by the side of the road. Fish in my pocket for a round, then I take the rifle, open the bolt and slide the round in.
Ela watches me. “What are you doing?” she asks.
“Just a little precaution. Stay by the edge of the bush.” I’m holding the rifle in front of me, across my body, balanced in both hands, relaxed but ready. A silver ute comes around the corner and slides to a stop beside us.
Henry Willis winds down the window and leans out. He has a black cap on a shaved head, a cigarette in his mouth, red in the face. Pretty much the way he usually looks when he meets up with me. Pretty sure he’s followed us from the pub.
“Why are you here, Fraser?” he snarls, eyeing the rifle.
“Just going for a walk, Bruce.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Nice day for a stroll,” I say.
Charlie Willis leans across Henry.
“Hey, you’re the bird at the pub. Come for a ride with some real men,” he says to Ela.
Henry pushes him back out of the way, gives him a warning look and then turns around. Puts his hand on one of the two rifles lying in the parcel tray. I change my grip, adjust position so the butt of my rifle is pressed against my hip and the end of the barrel is aimed at Henry.
“Get your hands back on the steering wheel,” I say slowly, with each word emphasised. “I don’t mind putting a hole in you, but it would be a pity to damage the ute.” Henry hesitates. Looks like he might take his chances. His hand hovers over the rifles. Pauses. Thinks better of it. Then does as he’s told and puts his hands back on the steering wheel.
“What are you doing out here?” I relax and move the rifle, holding it the way I was before. It’s a good question, but he could probably ask the same one of me and Ela.
“Mind your own business.” Henry puts the vehicle in gear, revs up a bit, then th
e wheels skid on the metal as he takes off in a cloud of dust. We watch the cloud move up the road.
“What was that all about?” asks Ela. “It was like something out of a wild west Vid.”
“That’s the Willis brothers.”
“Really? Bruce Willis?”
“No, he’s Henry, but calling him Bruce makes him mad.” I keep walking.
“Why are they here?” Ela’s still trying to keep up with me.
“Hunting I guess.”
“For what?”
“Pigs.”
“Pigs too?” she asks like she doesn’t believe there are still wild pigs here anymore than she believed in the deer. She nods at the empty space on the road the Willises left. “I guess that was the vermin?”
“Yeah, real lowlife.” I stop at a sign on the edge of the road. It’s faded and cracked. You can just make out the words. Dubbo Track 6km to top of mountain. A track winds its way up the hill and into the bush. “We’re going up here.” I turn onto the narrow track and start to climb up the bank.
We scramble up the steep part and then as it levels out walk in single file. It is difficult to talk, so we trudge along in silence.
*
In the bush it is dark and moist like another world. Every now and then we get a glimpse of the mountain, through the trees, surrounded in heavy cloud and mist. The top isn’t visible. I survey the mist.
“It will probably rain soon.”
Ela stops to look at the cloud that is causing the humidity. Brushes a couple of leaves away from her shoulder and wipes the moisture off her arm.
“It will get easier as we get higher,” I say. Ela turns and catches me watching her. She smiles as if she is still half puzzled, half friendly. I start walking again and carry on working my way up the track expecting her to follow. Monsanto bounces around running ahead and then dropping behind to check things out.
We climb for an hour or so then come to a clearing, a small undulating piece of grass surrounded by manuka and ferns. On one side there’s a fence and farmland with huge black and white cattle in the paddock, and on the other the bush starts again, going straight up the mountain.
“Is this it?” Ela looks around, strands of hair stick to her face. She pushes them back.