Kayleb stared at the gilth. It looked real enough. A pang of guilt ran through him. David was genuine, genuine as the gilth, and he had seen him do many amazing things. He now felt guilty for not standing up for him more in the broadcasting room and wondered if David was lying in his cell or if he had already been cast out of London.
‘You’re wrong about David,’ Kayleb said to Conrad. ‘He’s not a madman. Please just wait until tomorrow evening before you expel him. He could have really saved Helen.’
Conrad looked uncomfortable. Kayleb could see that it hurt Conrad to hear her name. ‘She was always talking about you, Kayleb; you meant a lot to her. It was Helen that got me to get Cornwall to keep an eye on you. Helen wasn’t in pain when she died. She just shut her eyes and it was almost as if she was asleep when she went.’
‘I miss her,’ said Kayleb sadly.
‘I know, Kayleb; we all do. Try and get some sleep. I’ve got to get into work early tomorrow in case we have another terrorist attack. I’ll send a police car over in the afternoon to take you to the Decam Centre. You’ll be fine, I promise. Don’t go out. It’s the weekend and everyone will be out and about. I don’t want you to get attacked. I’ll send an officer round to protect you.’
Conrad looked at the crystal. It was glowing brightly now. ‘Can I borrow this crystal? I want to run some tests on it,’ Conrad asked Kayleb.
‘Yes,’ said Kayleb, settling down to sleep. He had no intention of staying in and planned to slip out of the apartment before the police officer arrived. In the morning, he was going to find his way to Green Park to watch David’s people land. He would try to find a way to convince Conrad not to send him to the Decam Centre.
Kayleb woke with a start. Max was by his bed and was whimpering. Max was happy to see him open his eyes. He wagged his tail and then barked at Kayleb.
‘What’s the matter, Max? What do you want?’
Max ran to the door and looked at Kayleb. Kayleb slowly got out of bed. It was just light and the birds were beginning to sing. Kayleb looked at Max. He was puzzled and wondered what he wanted. Quickly Kayleb dressed himself and hoped that Max had not woken up Conrad. He put on a cap and tucked his hair into it, he didn’t want to be recognised when he left the apartment.
Kayleb found his rucksack and some food for himself and Max and then quickly left the apartment, The dog eagerly followed him and barked as Kayleb opened the door. Kayleb looked back at Conrad’s room and was relieved to find that he had already left for work.
Max was glad to be outside and ran around the courtyard of the block looking for a place to urinate. Fortunately, he did not go in the vegetable area. Kayleb realised that he would have to teach Max to go in the drain holes like the other dogs in the neighbourhood.
It was a windy morning and the clouds in the sky promised rain. Kayleb couldn’t remember the last time it had rained. As he walked along the street, gusts of wind hit him squarely in the face and tugged at his cap. Kayleb pulled his hat down firmly. The wind turbines on every roof turned energetically as Kayleb walked past them. The apartments would have power for free for a while. The wind reminded him of the time he had spent on the boat when they crossed the Channel. That part of his life felt like a very long time ago.
Kayleb looked up at the windows. Everyone was still fast asleep. He wondered how long it would take before Conrad realised that he had left the apartment unguarded. He then thought about the microchip in his heel; it was probably bleeping away now, marking his route out to the authorities. At any moment, they would sweep on him and drag him off to the Decam Centre. Kayleb was tired of being watched, tired of having to conform. He wondered how they had all come to live their lives this way. Their lives were now so unnatural that humankind was on the verge of extinction and all because their way of life had become so contrived and tampered with. Humans had only themselves to blame for their demise. David and his people were now humankind’s only hope.
Kayleb had been to Green Park many times with Helen and Conrad when he was little and he had always enjoyed his outings there. Most of the park was cultivated but the water features and statues had been preserved and cordoned off for the public to see. Kayleb remembered seeing the pigeons strutting about in front of the statues, confident in the knowledge that, under the rules, they couldn’t be captured and fried later.
Kayleb kept looking behind him, checking for police cars. He hoped that all the police had been deployed in and around Green Park and were only watching out for terrorists and not runaway boys.
The park was unusually crowded. Kayleb thought that this was odd and wondered why so many people were waiting there. He had not thought that anyone would believe that they would see aliens land. Kayleb began to feel conspicuous and wished that he had worn a better disguise, but nobody seemed to be looking at him and he tried to look like he was strolling through the park, just like he would on any other weekend.
Kayleb stopped by a statue of Wellington sitting on his horse. The pigeons were there as usual pecking at invisible crumbs. A little girl stood near Kayleb and watched the pigeons with him.
Her two mentors were chatting. The girl pulled the sleeve of one of her mentors and asked. ‘Liana, when the aliens come, will they kill all the pigeons?’
Liana turned towards the little girl. ‘No, Euro,’ she said. ‘You saw Commander Heinz on the digiscreen last night. He said that you mustn’t be afraid of the madman or that silly boy. There are no aliens coming here. That poor old man and boy will be taken to hospital and made better. Commander Heinz is a good man and would not lie to us.’
‘OK, Liana. The pigeons will be safe, then,’ Euro said, looking at Kayleb for reassurance. Euro looked at Kayleb and screamed.
Her piercing cry made everyone’s head turn to see what had happened. Kayleb wanted the ground to swallow him up. Euro was pointing directly at him. She had obviously recognised him from the broadcast the previous evening.
Kayleb looked around him for an escape route but Euro’s pointing finger had moved upwards, above his head. Everyone was now looking up towards the sky. Kayleb’s heart was pounding. He turned around to see what was in the sky and then saw hundreds of sparkling, spearhead-shaped space carriers flying through the sky, high above the protective shield. The ships left a trail of fire. They were still glowing after entering the Earth’s atmosphere. Everyone looked on silently at the shocking spectacle. Only Euro cried, her sobs echoing in the silence.
35
The digiscreens around Green Park sprang into life. Their blank screen was now ablaze with colour and slowly Conrad’s face came into focus. Kayleb could see apprehension in Conrad’s eyes.
‘You must all go home. There is nothing to fear,’ he said. ‘You must all leave the park immediately until the situation has stabilised. Our protective shield will stop any terrorist attack. You are safe but you must all return to your homes. This is not a request; it is an order. Police officers will be sweeping through the crowds shortly and anyone found loitering will be punished.
There will be another broadcast in twenty ...’
Conrad paused and looked startled. David appeared on the digiscreen alongside Conrad. Kayleb and others nearby inhaled sharply with surprise. David had been beaten and his face was battered and bruised. Kayleb felt ashamed, ashamed that he had let this happen to David and ashamed that Conrad was his cruel mentor.
‘What are you doing here?’ Conrad asked David. ‘Who let you out? What happened to you ... Who did this to him?’ Conrad asked those around him, invisible to everyone in the park. Kayleb felt a little better. At least Conrad had not ordered David to be beaten but Kayleb was still concerned about David’s condition.
David began to talk. Conrad tried to push him out of the camera’s view but was unable to, as David had shielded himself from those around him. He looked very old and weary and was having difficulty maintaining his shield as he spoke.
‘I am sorry that you are all afraid,’ said David, addressing the crowds in Green Park. ‘You must not
be. I promise that no harm will come to you. The first craft will enter the shield soon. Please stand back when it lands. The craft is still hot and you will be burnt if you touch it.’
Kayleb looked at everyone’s faces in the park. They looked frightened and angry. An older man standing near one of the screens shouted out. ‘You bastard! There are thousands of you coming. We won’t stand for it!’ The man picked up a hardened lump of earth from the edge of a planting area and hurled it towards a digiscreen. The sod of earth hit the screen, striking the image of David’s head. David flinched with pain.
Kayleb watched as others in the crowd grabbed what they could and with anger threw it at the digiscreens too. David did not move. He held up his arm to protect himself from the assault. Kayleb watched on in horror as David sank down to the floor as a metal rod harpooned the screen. It was almost as if it had speared David in his chest. Kayleb couldn’t understand how David could be feeling the blows when he was over in police headquarters in the broadcasting room. Conrad looked confused. He couldn’t understand what was happening to David. He looked like he was being attacked by an invisible assailant or was having a heart attack.
The crowds around Kayleb were acting like animals. He couldn’t understand their mentality. The police began to move among them and were using their stun guns on anyone acting in a threatening way. Men and women dropped to the ground as they were knocked out by the stun guns. People were beginning to run from the park. Kayleb looked around him. He knew that he needed to run too; he did not want to be stunned. Some of the screens were beginning to explode. Green Park was a dangerous place to be. Kayleb turned to run and then saw a familiar face. Rowan was running towards the same gate as him; he didn’t seem to be with anyone. Kayleb caught Rowan up by the gate. Kayleb called out Rowan’s name but he did not hear him. Kayleb called again and this time Rowan turned to look at him.
‘Rowan, it’s me,’ said Kayleb.
Rowan looked blankly at Kayleb.
Kayleb was puzzled. Rowan did not look himself. ‘It’s me, Kayleb. We did our task together. You remember, don’t you?’
Rowan shook his head. He did not remember Kayleb but then he smiled.
‘Oh I remember you. You used to go to the same school as me. You were in my class, weren’t you?’
Kayleb stared at Rowan. He was getting nowhere. Rowan really had lost his mind and then it dawned on Kayleb that he must have been to the Decam Centre and his memory must have been cleared.
The last digiscreen exploded. It was just over their heads. Sparks rained down on them both.
‘I know it’s hard for you to believe it,’ continued Kayleb. ‘But you really did do your task with me and you have met David too, that old man we just saw on the screen.’
Rowan looked confused. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never met that man in my life. I have done my task. My mentors said that I returned home a hero and it was a wonderful moment for them. The reason I can’t remember it is because I must have had a knock to the head when I was fighting a beast in the wilderness.’
‘You really don’t remember anything, do you?’ asked Kayleb.
‘No,’ said Rowan. ‘I’ve been feeling very tired lately. What was your homecoming ceremony like?’ Rowan asked Kayleb but he did not let him answer. ‘The police will get us if we stay here. My mentors have gone; they were with me a moment ago. I must get home. Look at all the people around us who’ve been stunned. They’re bound to be thrown out into the wilderness. God knows what will happen to them out there. I was lucky to get home in one piece.’
Kayleb was beginning to get annoyed with Rowan and couldn’t believe that he couldn’t remember anything about his task. ‘Surely you remember something of your task? Indigo, the meat store on the Isle of Wight, David and Cornwall ... Surely you remember Max and being in the stud pen?’
‘No, I just remember eyes, green eyes ... Sometimes when I’m dropping off to sleep I see them staring at me,’ Rowan said but then his eyes widened with fear. He was looking behind Kayleb.
Kayleb twisted around and saw a police officer running towards them. The police officer was holding a stun gun and was ready to fire. It was Cornwall. She was in full combat uniform. Her fair hair was tied back and, although her visor was pulled down over her face for protection, her green eyes were clearly visible beneath.
‘Quick, run!’ Kayleb shouted to Rowan.
Max barked, sensing impending danger.
Cornwall was approaching fast. She had recognised both Kayleb and Rowan. Kayleb started to run but Rowan stood still and stared at Cornwall, transfixed.
‘Nooo!’ Rowan shouted out. ‘Keep my nightmare away from me.’
‘Then run!’ shouted Kayleb. ‘For God’s sake, run!’
Kayleb, Max and Rowan fled from the park with Cornwall close on their heels. It was difficult to run through the crowds.
Kayleb saw an ICE centre across the street. It seemed a good place to hide, as there were always crowds of people in there at the weekend. They ran through the reception area unnoticed, as all the staff were at the window watching the gilth spacecrafts that now littered the sky like a snowstorm of ice crystals.
Kayleb couldn’t run as fast as Rowan and his lungs felt like they were about to explode from running. He knew that he would have to stop soon. Cornwall fired her stun gun at Kayleb. It just missed him. He felt the pellet brush his ribcage. He dropped to the ground as if he had been hit and lay still at the entrance of an ICE room as if he had been stunned. Max stopped, too, and nudged Kayleb’s arm, whimpering. Cornwall didn’t stop.
She continued to chase Rowan and looked determined to catch him.
Rowan ran for his life. His mind was racing. He remembered everything the moment he had seen Cornwall’s eyes. He was livid. He had come full circle and was back where he had started. He didn’t want to remember his task. He had been quite happy before he had bumped into Kayleb and now here he was with his life in ruins again and with a psychotic police officer chasing him. He hated Cornwall. She was a blemish on London’s perfect society and he wasn’t going to give her the chance to manipulate him again.
Rowan ran down a corridor at the back of the ICE centre towards a fire exit. The corridor ended here and there was no other way to go out, other than by the fire exit door, Rowan hoped that the door would open easily. He looked over his shoulder and saw Cornwall at the other end of the corridor. He couldn’t see Kayleb and he hoped that he hadn’t been stunned. Rowan knew that he was in firing range and he wondered why Cornwall had not opened fire. He was an easy target. Rowan reached the fire exit door and slammed his hands on the panic bar to open it.
‘Rowan, wait!’ called Cornwall as she lowered her stun gun. ‘Rowan, listen. I’m not going to hurt you.’
‘Like I believe that!’ Rowan said defiantly.
‘I wouldn’t hurt you, Rowan. You belong to me!’ she said, trying to draw breath.
‘You’re sick, Cornwall! I don’t belong to you and never will!’
‘You don’t understand,’ said Cornwall. ‘I love you!’
Rowan looked at Cornwall with disgust. His head hurt, his body had pins and needles all over and he felt sick.
‘You’re pure evil, Cornwall Keyboard. You need help!’
Rowan pulled up the panic bar and saw Cornwall raise her stun gun again. Quickly he flung the door open, fled out of the building and then slammed the door shut behind him. He heard the stun shot hit the door. He felt really ill. His whole body was shaking and he could feel cold beads of sweat running down his face. He felt like he was going to faint and he knew he wouldn’t have the strength to hold the door shut if Cornwall tried to open it. Rowan leant against the door, shut his eyes and leant forward, hoping that the dizziness would pass so he could run again.
Moments later Rowan opened his eyes again. He had recovered and felt very calm, almost as if he had not felt ill at all. He looked up at the sky: there wasn’t a cloud to be seen. He was surprised that such a grey da
y could suddenly change so dramatically. Rowan looked down at his clothes. They were not what he had been wearing moments ago. Rowan breathed in and out slowly. He knew instinctively that this wasn’t the same day but in fact, a day that he had spent before. Rowan looked around him to see if he could remember exactly which day it was. The sun was low in the sky, so it was almost evening, and then he suddenly remembered being in the same square in London the day before his sixteenth tubeyday. He had been waiting for his mentor, Dale, to come out of the ICE centre and had been wondering what it would be like to experience an ICE. He was going to try a sporting trial experience.
Rowan looked across the square. Dale’s work colleague had waved to him and, just as he remembered, he saw him wave.
The enormity of what had just happened to Rowan was sinking in. This was the exact time that Indigo had set for him to go back in time. The police officer had opened the coffin lid just as the computer had completed its task and had somehow set an emergency time delay because of the interruption. Rowan was fifteen years old again and tonight he would be taken to the bottom of the well in France with Kayleb to complete his sixteenth-year task. Kayleb looked at the exit of the ICE centre. Dale would be out at any moment. Rowan was eager to get back home, so that he could prepare himself for the task. He would go to bed fully clothed wearing walking boots on his feet and have his pockets filled with every gadget he could find to help him carry out his task. His plan would be to get back to London by himself and go straight to the Decam Centre to have his memories of the task erased. He wished he had done this before.
This time he would leave Kayleb in the well. If Kayleb came with him then he would only slow him down and he would also avoid Cornwall, she had been no end of trouble. Rowan smiled for the first time in months. Life was going to be so much better from now on.
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Kayleb and Max left the ICE centre and walked back into the street. Max’s tail wagged happily: he was overjoyed to see Kayleb back on his feet again. Kayleb hoped that Rowan had managed to escape from Cornwall. Kayleb really wanted to see the spaceships land. He did not want anything dreadful to happen to David’s people and decided that Rowan would be able to outrun Cornwall. He would try and find him later; he knew where he lived.
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