by M C Rooney
“Lieutenant Doyle,” the angry man said, “second in command to Captain Abercrombie.”
“Well, what do you want?” Michelle wanted to know. “And why do you look like you have a pinecone shoved up your clacker?”
Michelle had looked outside the salon and decided a well-placed insult was required to give her time to think.
The angry lieutenant glared at Michelle but turned to Molly and said in a tight voice, “The governor wishes to see you.”
“The governor?” Michelle said in surprise. “When did he arrive?”
“Twenty minutes ago,” he said. “You were probably too busy being … pampered to take notice,” he finished with disdain.
“Pampered we were,” said Michelle, “and don’t think I didn’t notice you looking at Molly’s legs.”
Molly almost covered her legs with her hands. The idea of this angry man looking at her in any way gave her the creeps. Perhaps she should ask Michelle to find her some longer dresses.
“Are you coming or not?” Doyle said in exasperation.
“We are coming,” Michelle said. “No need to get your panties in a twist.”
Molly wondered what Michelle was saying half the time. But it was obvious that the goal was to annoy Lieutenant Doyle as much as possible, and from the expression on his face, it was working.
Michelle dragged Molly over to where they had stored their clothes. “I’m sorry, Molly,” she whispered, “but your suit is a powerful weapon.”
“Do you mean he wants it?” replied Molly in shock.
Michelle again looked outside the salon and saw the dozens of soldiers looking in. If Molly didn’t go willingly, she would be forced. “He’s a soldier. Edward is a soldier; even the governor is a soldier,” Michelle replied.
“And it’s a weapon,” Molly whispered. “I have been so naïve, Michelle,” she finished in despair.
“We all have,” Michelle muttered to herself. “We should have seen this coming.”
“Yes, we should have,” Molly agreed.
“Go with him,” Michelle continued with tears in her eyes again. “I will find Roland and Jeremy. Maybe they can see a way out of this.”
Because you can’t, Molly finished the sentence in her mind.
Molly gathered her suit and boots in her arms, which was her only other form of clothing, as her fur clothing had been burned by the hairdresser on Michelle’s instructions, and walked over to the angry man.
“The governor it is, then,” she said quietly.
Doyle led her out the door and onwards towards the building where the governor was waiting.
Michelle waited a moment longer, then ran to Roland as fast as she could. He would know what to do.
Maybe.
Molly entered the governor’s current residence, which was a sandstone building that was said to date back to the early white settlement days. Molly was still not used to houses of any kind, as what she had always lived in was various forms of tents or simple caves. She had an escort of two dozen soldiers surrounding her, led by the grumpy lieutenant, but as she walked in the front door, only Doyle accompanied her.
Walking down the hallway, he wordlessly took her arm and guided her through a door, into what was called a dining room. In this dining room sat three men in what looked to be very comfortable chairs. A fourth chair sat empty, obviously this was meant for Molly, or maybe Lieutenant Grumbles over there, she wondered as she looked back at Doyle.
The first two men looked almost identical, except they were clearly of a different generation in age, and the third man was Edward Abercrombie.
“Please take a seat, dear Molly,” he said, standing up and flashing that charming smile of his, but his eyes did linger a bit too long on the silver suit she carried in her arms.
He hasn’t even noticed my hair or my new clothes, she thought.
“I hope my man here was not too rude to you,” said the middle aged gentleman with a nod towards Doyle.
“Indeed,” said the younger man. “It is just that the realisation of how and where the electric power comes from has thrown our world upside down.”
“I’m sorry to be the herald of such bad news,” replied Molly as she stood in the middle of the room.
“Please forgive my manners,” the young man said as he stood up. “I am Todd Abercrombie, and this is my uncle, Governor George Abercrombie.” He indicated the middle aged man who was still sitting. “Of course, you know my cousin, Ned Abercrombie.”
Molly was shocked. If she had to guess, she would have said that Todd Abercrombie was the governor’s son as well.
“I guess this is all about my suit,” Molly said. Best to be clear from the start, she thought.
“I see you are a straight talker,” said the governor. “Well, yes, it is indeed all about your suit and the tower.”
“This suit is mine,” Molly replied with all of her stubbornness. “The Professor made one for my grandfather and one for my father, who passed it on to me.”
The governor looked thoughtful for a moment, then turned his attention to Doyle. “Lieutenant, would you be so kind as to carry out the other orders I have given you?”
Doyle bowed his head to his governor and left the room.
“Ned,” he said to his son, “the lights please.”
Edward walked over to the wall and flicked a small switch. Even though it was daylight, the room got brighter as the lightbulb did its work.
Molly stood in wonder. She had seen the professor make lightning before, but never had she seen a singular and constant form of light.
“What is it?” she asked.
“You don’t know?” the governor replied in confusion.
“No,” she replied. “I have never lived in a house before.”
The governor exchanged looks with his nephew.
“It is called a lightbulb, and there are fewer and fewer of them, as they eventually burn out from the inside,” said the governor as he indicated to his son to turn the precious light off.
“We do know, however, how to make them,” said his nephew. “It’s just, we don’t have the equipment or the material to make them here on the East Coast.”
“And you believe that these lights are powered by the tower?” asked Molly as she blinked her eyes from the lost light.
“What do you believe?” the governor asked.
Molly thought about her suit and the lightning it dragged from the ground. The professor said the tower was as deep in the ground as it was high in the air. So it was very possible for the electric waves, which the professor said was at a high frequency as something called a radio and television, to be both in the air as well as underground.
There was, however, one question she needed to ask.
“Is this town within a hundred kilometres of the tower?”
“Yes,” the nephew replied. “Why do you ask?”
“The tower only works in a hundred-kilometre radius,” she replied.
“Is that how you survived?” Edward asked.
“Yes,” she replied. “I could lose them for weeks in that area of land.”
“Why were you fighting those men?” Todd asked.
“They were on my land,” she replied. “My family is buried there.”
The governor had just witnessed another example of the girl’s stubbornness. He admired it, but he had to do what was necessary to protect his own people.
“Would the Professor teach us how to make these towers?” asked the nephew. “We could build as many as possible, spread the knowledge, and then the whole island would have the same power as us.”
“We would still have to meet with the Professor first, though, Todd,” the governor said to his nephew.
“And he is surrounded by a thousand savages, Cousin,” said Edward, who gripped at his sword by his side.
“I just wanted to avoid any … unnecessary complications,” Todd said with a sad sigh.
“I appreciate your intentions, Todd. I really do,” the governor said, “but we have
to play this game out with the cards that we have been dealt. We have to approach this with our strength, and our strength is in our numbers.”
“The diplomacy risk is too high, Cousin,” said Edward.
Todd looked at the floor in dejection.
Molly was trying to keep up with the conversation; they were talking to her, but parts of what they were saying seemed to be for their ears only. She looked at Ned who strangely liked to call himself Edward, and that handsome face and odd mannerisms. He was unconsciously fingering the now sewn-up hole in his jacket. Todd was worried about complications, and the governor … the governor was looking at her with a steely determination.
“You mean to fight your way in,” she said in shock.
“Why, yes,” the governor replied. “I’m surprised you have any objections to this, as you have fought with those people yourself.”
“But that was for my land,” she said.
“And this is for my people,” the governor replied in a firm voice as he stood up. “Don’t go all holier-than-thou on me, young Molly.”
What did he mean by that? Another saying she had no idea how to decipher.
“You have killed many people in the defence of your land,” he continued, “so don’t be shocked when I say I intend to protect my people.”
“You could get the Professor killed,” she argued.
“We intend on rescuing him,” Edward replied as he looked at her suit once again. “Will you help us?”
“You want me to fight for you?” she asked.
“She could do that,” Todd said in hope.
The governor and his son shared a look.
“No, I’m sorry, Todd,” the governor finally said. “I want my son to be the owner of that suit from now on.”
Edward smiled in anticipation.
The bastard, Molly thought in anger. The professor always said that men and women in power made decisions for the people, but they weren’t averse to gaining some personal advantages on the side.
“This is my suit,” she said in anger. “I know you can physically take it away from me, but I’ll be damned if I will show you how it works.”
“I thought that may be the case, Molly,” the governor said as his nephew hid his face in his hands in shame. “So I sent Doyle out to provide you with some incentive.”
“Look out the window, Molly,” Edward said mildly.
Molly walked slowly to the window and looked out at the home’s surrounding gardens. Doyle was there with his angry face, along with twenty of his soldiers, and kneeling down in front of them with their hands on their heads were Michelle, Roland, and Jeremy.
Doyle had his sword up against Michelle’s throat.
“Don’t think I’m bluffing,” the governor said. “I would do—”
“Yes, anything for your people, I know,” Molly spat out. “You and yours are not worthy of the name Diggers.”
The governor’s face jerked as if she had slapped him.
“Nevertheless,” he continued with a red face, “you will give your suit to my son, Ned, and you will teach him everything about its use. Otherwise, the woman is first.”
Molly looked at her friends. She really had no choice. They were the only friends she had ever had, apart from the professor. And she knew that she was a hypocrite for advocating peace when she had killed so many of the Westerners herself. She now felt ashamed for what she had done.
“The suit is yours, and I will teach Edward,” she said. “But I want your word of honour that none of my friends will be harmed.”
“I give my word,” said the governor.
“Of course, you will need to teach me everything; otherwise, we will kill them,” said Edward in a matter-of-fact tone.
You smug pig, Molly thought angrily. He knew she had dug that trench for Rodent, so Molly guessed she would have to teach him that trick. But she would keep a few of the remaining secrets to herself in the hope that it would come in handy one day, one day very soon.
Tasmanian Lower Midlands
Alex and his men kept Rodent moving southwards, but it turned out to be quite an ordeal.
“He’s hiding again,” said Ian, who had decided to have another crack at finding that elusive green gold in his nose.
“He can’t be that dumb?” one of their companions, a man named Chris, said, giving Ian a disgusted look and a wide berth.
“Yes, he can,” Alex said with a huge sigh. “Go past him … again, then swing around … again, and rejoin us … again.”
“Okay, Alex; let’s go, Chris,” Ian said as he patted his friend on the shoulder with a hand that included the offending finger.
“Oh for fuck’s sake.” Chris muttered quietly. He then ripped up some long grass from the ground and spent the first hundred metres running and wiping at his shoulder at the same time.
What a dumb bastard Rodent is, Alex thought in amazement. Ian may be a bit slow, but Rodent took stupidity to a whole new level.
Rodent was heading south, towards Sam. He was doing that just fine. But whenever he saw or heard anybody behind him, he would literally dig himself into a sinkhole and hide.
This meant that instead of waiting for him to come out of that sinkhole, Alex and his men would have to pretend that they lost contact with him and run past him so he would eventually come out and continue southwards. He must have thought there were literally hundreds of them following him. He wouldn’t exactly head directly south each time as well, Alex thought with a grimace, so he and his men had to sort of nudge him in Sam’s direction. A bit like herding a cow; however, he did think the cow may just be a tad smarter.
He turned and saw Ian and Chris running up behind him after completing their circuit.
“I could see Sam when we ran,” said Chris, who was a childhood friend of Sam’s, and even had the same strange haircut his brother had.
Alex looked on the horizon, and about three hundred metres in front of them was a small lot of trees.
“In the trees?” asked Alex.
“Yes. I think he may have prepared some snare traps under the trees,” replied Chris.
“Is he sure that would work?” asked Alex.
“I’m not sure; maybe he believes if you get Rodent off the ground, he won’t be able to draw on any more power.”
Alex pondered on this for a moment. This was a risk. There was no telling how long it took for the power to drain away.
“I wonder how long he will take this time?” Ian said, still puffing from his fast run.
“Usually five minutes,” replied Alex. “He floats up, and then he releases all the built-up energy in small doses, so he does not attract too much attention.”
“Rather small doses than what he did before,” said Ian. “That was way too loud.”
“It was,” replied Alex. That power unnerved him, but he still had to do what his brother ordered.
“Here he comes,” said Ian as they watched the silver man rise from the depths.
“Down,” Alex whispered, and the other seven men all crouched behind the high native grass.
They watched as Rodent was again thrown out of the sinkhole on the shoulders of that blue light. Expecting him to slowly release the energy from his hands as he walked south, Alex was shocked when Rodent started to spin around like a child and then suddenly stop, turn, and look in their direction.
What is he doing? Alex wondered and had yet another moment of shock as Rodent lifted his arm and pointed.
The electricity bolt he sent was huge, accurate, and hit one of his men in the chest, killing him instantly. The following bolts had Ian, Chris, and Alex running for their lives.
Rodent was again hiding in a sinkhole, wondering how many men his bloody father had sent after him. There must be at least a hundred of them prowling the Lower Midlands in search of him. Why couldn’t they just leave him alone? Oh yes, he suddenly remembered as he flicked a random button on his sleeve in anger, they are after the bloody suit.
He waited another minute a
nd decided to use his levitating trick with the blue lightning, but paused for a moment as he felt like his whole head was vibrating, or maybe it was just his eyes. He took off his helmet and the vibrating stopped, but when he put the helmet back on, he felt the vibration behind his eyes again.
“Maybe it’s just the goggles,” he muttered to himself, and decided it was best to get above ground and breathe in some fresh air.
As he was elevated by the blue lightning, he noticed that the random button that he had switched on earlier was still on. Maybe this was causing the vibrations, but before he could switch the button off, he was thrown out of the sinkhole.
Rodent soon gained his balance and looked around him. Everything he saw seemed to be startling in colour, the trees, the sky, even the long grass seemed to be more beautiful than he ever remembered. The vibration in his suit was making everything look like a scene from one of those wonderful children’s books he remembered reading way back last year or maybe from that time when he innocently ate one of those wild mushrooms.
He did a quick spin on the balls of his feet and caught a fleeting glimpse of what looked to be the shape of a human. However, on a second glance, he noticed the supposed human was not out in the open but appeared to be hidden behind some of the long grass in this open field. Why could he see both the full human and the grass at the same time? He then became aware that there were about eight human shapes altogether, crouching about fifty metres behind him.
Holy shit, Rodent thought in amazement, I think I can see through the long grass. Not thinking the situation through properly, Rodent did what he always did. He struck out violently.
The first bolt was a massive one, due to the built-up power of his levitation trick, and hit the target and threw the figure back and into the air. He was vaguely aware that the vibrancy or colour seemed to diminish from the figure after being hit. But he still wasn’t sure whether he was hitting anything living or was having a psychotic episode, so he sent another bolt at another shape and was rewarded with a very distinct and realistic human scream.
“This is real, this is real, and I’m not crazy,” he shouted with a maniacal laugh. I can’t believe these suits! Was there anything they couldn’t do? This is why that fucking bitch Feral stayed alive for so many years.