3004

by Murray, Natasha

  The policeman pulled out two extension platforms from the sides of his scooter and then pulled up handlebars from each of them, one for Rowan and one for Prozac.

  As Rowan travelled beside the officer on the scooter, he stared miserably up at London’s hazy sky. Light cloud had covered up the sun. As the apartments whizzed by, Rowan searched around every corner for any sign of a welcoming committee or, at the very least, for his mentors, Sarah and Dale. They did not appear and Rowan’s heart felt heavier than before.

  ‘Not much of a homecoming,’ Rowan called out to Prozac. ‘I thought that we’d be welcomed back as heroes.’

  Prozac nodded sadly. ‘Where do you think we’re going?’ he asked after a while.

  ‘You’re both off to the Decam Centre,’ chuckled the officer. ‘Heroes indeed! You shouldn’t have listened to the stories you were told. The only welcome you too are going to get is a scrub down and your memory wiped. You’ll be lucky if you’ll remember who you are!’

  Rowan was furious. A rush of emotions coursed through his veins. He felt like he had been kicked in the teeth. He was dying to see Sarah and Dale and go back to normality but he wasn’t going to have anyone mess with his mind again. He had to find his own way back to his mentors, by himself. He couldn’t wait any longer; he would jump off the hover scooter and run for it, away from the coastline and into the streets of London. Rowan tried to leap off the scooter. His hands came away from the handlebars but his feet were stuck to the footplate. Rowan fought to keep his balance and grabbed hold of the handlebars again to steady himself.

  ‘What are you doing?’ shouted the police officer. ‘I wouldn’t move too much; you’ll unbalance the scooter.’

  ‘I can’t move! Can I?’ yelled Rowan angrily. ‘You’ve locked me on to this thing.’ Defiantly, Rowan shook his body to prove a point. The scooter lunged dangerously to the right

  ‘Stop that!’ shouted the police officer.

  Rowan, seeing an opportunity to overturn the scooter, rocked himself forwards and backwards, trying his utmost to unbalance it. The scooter twisted and contorted until it finally went off the path and hit a rock. The scooter overturned and sent the officer flying over his handlebars and down a grassy bank towards the edge of the shield.

  Rowan and Prozac lay in a heap on the path, their feet still stuck to their footplates.

  ‘What did you do that for?’ asked Prozac, rubbing his arm.

  ‘You don’t want to be turned into a vegetable, do you? You don’t want to forget everything you’ve been through?’

  Prozac looked close to tears. ‘I don’t know what I want, do I? All I know is that I want this nightmare to end.’

  ‘Look, I’m not staying here. Let’s get this scooter up and get out of here. I can hear the officer coming back,’ said Rowan urgently. ‘I’m going back to my home but all in one piece. I’ll drop you off somewhere if you want.’

  Reluctantly Prozac helped Rowan stand the scooter up with their feet still attached. Rowan leaned over and could just reach the main handlebars and the controls. The police officer was nearly at the top of the bank. Rowan twisted the right handlebar back and the scooter shot forward just as the officer stepped back onto the path. Rowan turned his head and saw the police officer yelling. He held his fist in the air and shook it angrily at them.

  The scooter was awkward to guide and Rowan really needed to somehow release his feet to make steering it easier. He pressed each button on the dashboard, carefully avoiding the stop button.

  After scrolling through a few screens Rowan found the controls for the extensions and unlocked his and Prozac’s feet. Rowan moved onto the main platform and felt like he was in control of his life again. He felt exhilarated. This was the best decision he had ever made. Nobody ever again would be able to tell him what to do. His destiny was in his own hands.

  ‘We’re going to be in so much trouble when we get home,’ said Prozac gloomily.

  ‘I think it’s time you got off the scooter,’ replied Rowan, slowing the scooter down. Prozac did not hesitate. He jumped off the scooter and started to walk back towards the police officer.

  ‘Loser!’ shouted Rowan as he sped off towards his apartment.

  28

  It was a good feeling being back in London. They had waited for the shield to lift for what seemed like ages, hidden by the long grass in the sand dunes. Eventually, when Kayleb had all but given up all hope, the shield had started to move away from the ground.

  Kayleb looked at the apartments as they walked through the streets of London. The roofs and courtyards were bulging with vegetables and fruit bushes. The authorities would be pleased with the home-grown crops this year.

  Max was interested in the plants in the streets too and Kayleb had to pull him away from them several times. There were strict rules about keeping dogs in London and Kayleb did not want Max to be taken away from him for damaging property. Kayleb thought of his own produce section back at his mentors’ apartment and wondered how it was doing. He had been tending it virtually by himself as Conrad always worked late and Helen was too weak to help.

  ‘Doesn’t anyone have a car around here?’ Indigo asked Kayleb. ‘You have a road system, but not a very good one though; just this white powdery surface. It’s chalk, I think. What’s that rusty metal groove running along the middle of the road?’

  Kayleb looked intently at Indigo. ‘Look, I know you said you were a time traveller or an alien but I am really having trouble getting my head around it all. Are you mad or something?’

  Indigo looked crestfallen. ‘I ... I know it’s hard to understand. Ask David, he’ll know if I am from another planet. Why can’t I be from another time? Why can’t you believe me?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ replied Kayleb. ‘It sounds a bit far-fetched.

  Maybe you’ve got amnesia. Look cars are not necessary as people use solar trams to get around. The trams run in the mornings and take the mentors and children to work or school and again in the evening when everyone returns home. Only the police use vehicles, cars or hover scooters; Conrad’s got both. They’re run on solar, kinetic and electric cells,’ Kayleb added.

  Indigo looked around him. There was no one about. ‘Where are the mothers with their babies or the old people walking their dogs?’ Indigo asked.

  Kayleb sighed. ‘As I said, everyone is at work. The babies are kept at the Labour Centre until they’re three and the old people work until they’re unable to. When people become too old, they’re taken to the retirement centre and sent to a better place.’

  ‘That sounds ominous. Where are the retirement centres?’ asked Indigo.

  ‘I don’t know,’ replied Kayleb. ‘I’ve never seen one.’

  ‘That’s barbaric!’ cried Indigo, outraged.

  ‘I know,’ said Kayleb quietly. He had never really thought about what really happened to old people. The retirement homes were meant to be places of great beauty and tranquillity and, once inside their walls, no one ever wanted to come out as they did not want to leave paradise. Kayleb had always thought that this was true and now he realised that this was just propaganda and he dared not think what really happened to the old.

  ‘What about sick people?’ asked Indigo angrily. ‘Are they terminated too?’

  ‘No!’ Kayleb tried to remain calm; Indigo was starting to get on his nerves. ‘If you’re ill, then a support unit is brought to your apartment, you’re hooked up to it and the unit administers treatment. Helen is using one for pain relief but it doesn’t help much; there’s no proper treatment for AIDS II yet. If you need an operation or have an injury that needs treating then you go to the hospital. Surely you’ve heard of a hospital?’

  ‘Yes, of course I have! I just can’t believe the future is going to be like this,’ replied Indigo. ‘So clinical and unfeeling! It’s a wonder mankind has not died out. It’s like a ghost town here, yet I have the eerie feeling that we are being watched. I feel like I am going to be gunned down at any moment! God, I hope I can get ba
ck home to Robin!’ Indigo sighed.

  Kayleb shuddered. He realised that their every move was being recorded on digi-cam and the chip in his heel would show the authorities where he was. He knew that anyone seen out in the streets breaking the rules was soon dealt with as their criminal act was always captured on camera. He reckoned that it would not be long before the authorities would descend on them and all David’s plans would be cut short. Kayleb looked for David. He was walking with Cornwall. He was smiling as he chatted and seemed unaware of the danger they were all in. Kayleb ran up to him.

  ‘David, we’re in danger. The police will catch us; they can see us on the street cameras. We shouldn’t be on the streets when everyone is at work. My chip will give us away too.’

  ‘Do not worry, Kayleb,’ said David. ‘We have not been seen by anyone. I have avoided those blue bulb-like monstrosities on the street corners; I have seen their 360-degree eyes turning around. I guess they’re some sort of camera but I would know if we were being watched; I would sense it.’

  ‘Some cameras are disguised in plants on the roofs. We have one on our apartment,’ said Kayleb, unconvinced.

  ‘I don’t know if you have noticed but we have been zigzagging our way through the streets on our way to London,’ continued David. ‘Your chip is a bit of a problem. I think that the authorities will probably have plenty of chip errors to process on their database. We should have achieved our goals by the time they realise you are here.’

  Kayleb was unconvinced and looked at David suspiciously; he wondered if David realised that they were already in London.

  ‘Yes, I know what you are thinking, Kayleb,’ said David. ‘I know we are in London. I need to get to the centre, to the main control centre.’

  ‘Oh!’ said Kayleb, trying not to think in case David homed in on his mind again; it was becoming irritating to be so transparent.

  ‘No one, not even Conrad knows where the Think Tank computer is. He is in charge of the authority department but the programmers of the Think Tank are secret members of society. Conrad is in contact with one of them but only by computer.’

  ‘I know, Kayleb. I knew you were connected to the police authorities when I met you. It was a bit of luck bumping into you,’ added David.

  ‘I don’t know if Conrad would help you. He wouldn’t want to lose his job and be thrown into the wilderness.’ Kayleb was starting to worry now; he suspected he was being used.

  ‘You worry too much, Kayleb. All I need to do is get into the digi-vision broadcasting department within the police headquarters, so I can transmit a message to everyone when they return home from work. I need to show everyone that I am not a threat and will be able to give them a wealth of knowledge in return for accepting refugees from Veenah. We couldn’t just land here without an explanation; I do not want to create mass hysteria. I know everyone here has been moulded and manipulated to conform with the program. There will always be resistance to change but, because I know the human spirit so well, I know that it will always fight its way out of oppression and break the chains of this dictatorship. Sadly, though, humans are essentially herd animals and seek guidance, whether it is good or bad,’ sighed David. ‘Nothing in life is simple but hopefully I can show everyone a better way to live. We need to turn left here; there’s a camera further ahead.’

  Before turning left, Kayleb looked up the street to see if he could see a camera scanning the cityscape for trouble, but he couldn’t. He walked along quietly, thinking about David’s plans.

  Cornwall caught up with Kayleb and Indigo as they followed David. David led the group with confidence and at a faster pace, eager to reach the police headquarters before everyone came home from work.

  ‘I can’t believe I’m in London, Kayleb,’ said Cornwall. ‘It’s so beautiful here. There’s so much food growing. I did not imagine London to be like this. Everything looks so clean and tidy; there’s not a weed to be seen.’

  Kayleb was taken aback. He looked at Cornwall and then at Indigo; it was like walking with children. Max, however, trotted alongside them, confident in his new surroundings.

  ‘London may look like paradise to you. The food supplies look good this year but sometimes there’s a new crop disease strain and everything dies including the animals on the meat farms. Some years there’s not enough to go around and people die from hunger.

  If you asked people how they’re feeling, they would say how unhappy they were; it’s hard to watch people die. They would not tell you that, of course, for fear of being thrown out.’

  ‘Oh dear,’ said Cornwall.

  ‘Let’s hope David’s plan works,’ replied Indigo.

  ‘So do I,’ said Kayleb, ‘but it’s not going to be easy. If the crops were dying then people might listen to him, but as there’s plenty of food about I doubt if they will pay attention. I don’t know what David’s going to say to convince them to follow him. People will not convert to his way of life without a struggle, even if it is for the better.’

  Indigo nodded. ‘Yes, I know what you mean. Even after the credit crunch of 2009, everyone just hoped the government would get things right, but they have been let down time and time again and many have lost faith in the political system. Goodness knows what we are going to do! Not much, by the look of things.’

  Kayleb shook his head and thought that perhaps Indigo was from another time. Indigo did not look like a waster or a typical student from 3004. The clothes he had been wearing when they first met were far too colourful and, if the authorities had seen him walking around London like that, he would have been arrested.

  29

  It was early evening and the solar trams were in full flight, dropping off mentors and their charges in each street. Everyone was wearing simple, neutral-coloured uniforms as they headed for their apartments, happily chatting to each other about their days. Some of the mentors and children stared at David and his group as they were all wearing white and stood out from everyone else. All the Londoners went straight to their crop areas and began to tend their plants. They glared uneasily at David’s group as they passed by. Kayleb felt tense. They had managed to avoid the cameras so far but he knew that it would not be long before a Londoner reported them to the authorities.

  Kayleb caught up with David. ‘We need to take cover. Someone is bound to tell on us and then we will get caught by the police.’

  ‘I did not realise things were so bad here,’ said David sadly. ‘I feel a sense of fear and mistrust. Is it a crime to walk down a street in London? We’d better lie low and wait. I will have to broadcast my message tomorrow. Here we are. There’s a field over there; we can hide amongst those plants and rest.’

  David led his group into the field. The maize was shoulder-high and swallowed up all eight of them easily, shielding them from curious eyes.

  Everyone sat quietly, eating the fruit, bread and sausage from their ration packs, and waited for the night to come. They could hear people in the distance tending their crops and chatting as they collected ripened fruit and vegetables ready to load onto the tram in the morning, for the authorities to collect from their work stations. Luckily nobody seemed to notice, or to care, that there were strangers hiding nearby in a field of maize.

  Kayleb could feel the warmth of the sun seeping through the gaps between the leaves of the plants. He felt confused again. Here he was back in London, his home, yet he could barely remember his life before his task. Life before was a blur, a distant memory; it was almost like a lost dream. Kayleb stroked Max, who had found an old bone and was gnawing on it enthusiastically.

  Kayleb’s daydreaming was disturbed by Cornwall, who was urgently looking inside her rucksack for something. She frantically searched through everything, looking for the missing item. Kayleb wondered what Cornwall was looking for. She looked perplexed.

  ‘Just tip the bag upside down, Cornwall,’ called Kayleb. ‘You’ll find what you’re looking for then.’

  Cornwall looked up. She looked shocked that Kayleb had been
watching her.

  ‘Never mind,’ she said. ‘It wasn’t important.’

  Cornwall put her bag down and then sat looking up at the sky, breathing deeply. Kayleb thought that she might be feeling faint; there wasn’t much air circulating through the maize.

  ‘Are you all right, Cornwall?’ Kayleb asked.

  Cornwall nodded. At that moment the sound of a jet could be heard approaching. Cornwall’s eyes darted back to her bag and she grabbed it and turned the bag upside down. The contents scattered around her and she wildly searched through everything until she found a large black pebble. Clumsily she picked it up, placed it between her hands and twisted it open. The pebble split in two and a red laser light shot up into the sky, just as the jet flew over.

  Kayleb’s mouth opened, horror-struck.

  ‘You ... you’re letting them know where we are ... Why?’ Kayleb shouted. ‘What’s going on? Who are you?’

  Cornwall smiled slyly as she twisted the two parts of the stone back into place. Indigo, David and the others came over to see why Kayleb had been shouting.

  ‘You are all fools if you think you can change anything here,’ said Cornwall sourly. There was no hint of a French accent now.

  ‘They know everything about you, David; they know about your plans to sabotage our system and invade us. You will all be arrested and turned back out into the wilderness where you belong.’

  David smiled. ‘I knew that one of us was a bad egg but I didn’t think it was you, Cornwall! You are the one person I couldn’t read, I should have realised. You are so naïve, Cornwall,’ he said. ‘Your society is far from perfect; the human soul cannot be controlled by brainwashing and fear. People will become intolerant and will rebel against this barbaric system; everything will change and there is nothing you can do about it. How can you be so blind? You have seen how the wasters and lifers live in the wilderness and how these poor souls exist trapped in this superficial bubble.’