by Mark Lingane
“Two?”
“One for each arm.” She rocked back the mechanism, and it clicked with engineered precision.
“You vill have no arms free. How vill you open doors?”
The manic smile flashed across her face once again.
“I don’t trust Kerry and Ralph,” Nikola said. He was on the fifth floor in Number Two’s office, pacing back and forth.
Number Two sat behind the large oak desk, watching Nikola’s frenetic pacing. Nikola’s white hair stood even more on edge than usual.
“Yet we live in a time when our allies grow thin. Do we have the luxury of such non-conclusive emotions?” Number Two said.
“I don’t think our allies are growing thin. It’s the population in general. We all have a common enemy.”
“But we hear of some settlements where there has been integration. Have we misjudged them?”
“We hear of them, but not from them. As you just said, let’s not guess at what we don’t know. And we haven’t misjudged them. They attacked us yesterday.”
“It appears they now know what we have and are afraid we’ll use it.”
“Is there any point in asking what Number One thinks?” Nikola stopped his pacing.
“You already know the answer to that.”
Nikola sighed. “One day he’ll find out. I don’t know if I can keep him in the dark forever. And if the paradox is completed, who knows what will happen.”
“All we know is that it will be worse than losing to the cyborgs.”
“I thought the mayor of Carranbine was Whyte. I’ll send a reconnaissance team down to ask around the area.”
“Is that wise? The people came here because their town was invaded. There will only be death and cyborgs there. No answers.”
“I understand. But I think it’s worth the risk. If I send a small party of some good men with the latest offerings from Albert, they should be able to get there and back in relative safety.”
Number Two looked worried. “Can we afford to send good men? Would fewer troops still be able to accomplish the task?”
“Maybe, but I’d rather it was done right. A good soldier is worth twenty juniors.”
“In that case, what about Ralph Constantine filling in as mayor? Can it hurt to give him a try? You’re not well and you need assistance. He may turn out to be a good man. We can always get rid of him if it doesn’t go well.”
Nikola looked at Number Two. He did his best not to convey his thoughts, but this was most unusual. He wondered if there was something Number Two wasn’t telling him. But then there were hundreds of things Number Two didn’t tell many people, including him. In the end he put it down to his own fatigue, but also filed it away at the back of his mind for later examination.
“I think the Ralph Constantine option needs more debate before proceeding,” Nikola said. “Let me ponder it.”
“And regarding the recon mission. I suggest we put it on hold for the moment.”
Eventually Nikola nodded. “I will do as you instruct.” But I’ll still send someone down to Carranbine, he thought.
17
SEBASTIAN HAD GOTTEN bored listening to the technical debate between Melanie and Albert so he went for a walk. He reached the piazza and saw that the daily influx of refugees had started. He watched as the bleak faces of the visitors from regional areas brightened once they saw the complexity and size of the city, which filled them with hope.
That was the way to spot a newbie in town. They were the ones full of optimism. They had come to the city because it would protect them. Little did they realize the Academy attracted far more devastating battles than those anyone experienced out on the plains.
He followed a young family up the main street before they turned off toward Section 18, the newest of the inner-city compounds.
There were one thousand people in each section. That meant the city had grown by twenty thousand people. The strain had been great. Feeding, sheltering, and taking care of the hygiene needs of so many people presented the city council with daily challenges. There had been minor riots when food had run out in Section 6 two months ago, and guards had to be sent in to remove the troublemakers. This was quickly followed by the first of a weekly game of soccer that helped to diffuse the highly charged environment.
He watched two men talking hurriedly, with furtive glances over their shoulders. New people often brought with them different ethics, not always for the best. One of the men was old and the other young. They shook hands and parted.
Sebastian frowned. The meeting he had just witnessed could be a sign of trouble.
A middle-aged and slightly portly lady, wearing the widest hat he had ever seen, stepped out into the street. Someone placed a crate in front of her and she stepped up onto it. She coughed and various passing people turned their attention to her, hoping for some entertainment to combat the mid-morning boredom.
A brief tap on his shoulder disrupted Sebastian’s thoughts. He wheeled around to find no one behind him. He turned back and was confronted by a friendly face.
“Merv,” he cried, “you’re back.” Joy exploded on his face, and his whole body felt like it lifted two inches off the ground.
“Hey, little tike, except not so little now. Joshuz, you’ve grown, boy. What’ve you been eating?” Merv shot back a sly smile and gave him a punch on the shoulder.
“Merv, you don’t know how totally and utterly fantastically great it is to see you.”
“No need to overdo it. Hey, come along, I’ve got the ball and chain here and someone who’s going to be very excited to see you.”
“Why are you and the family here? Is the farm all right?”
“It’s not good, but we can talk about that later.”
“Cyborgs?”
Merv nodded but remained steered away from the subject.
Merv led him through the streets. Sebastian expected him to turn off to one of the sections, but he kept going into the heart of the city and up toward the high point.
“Where did they put you?” he said.
“In some old place called The Rise.”
“Really? That’s normally for VIPs, out-of-town dignitaries, and people with large stomachs and lots of gold around their necks.”
“Dunno about that. When we turned up they put us here.” He indicated an impressive three-story townhouse. It even had a small garden out front. “Said something about recognizing our efforts in the last battle,” he said as he unlocked the front gate.
“Yeah, you were a bit of a hero.”
“Nah, didn’t do anything any other blokes wouldn’t have done. But next time I reckon I could be more organized and a bit more useful.” He gave Sebastian a conspiratorial wink over his shoulder as they made their way inside. “Hey, love, put the kettle on, we’ve got company.”
The hallway was large, with a wide staircase on one side leading up to the second story. The floor was covered in a tiled pattern of black and white diamonds. An open doorway led into a bright and airy front room containing two sofas. At the back of the hall was a small staircase leading downward. An umbrella stand contained a selection of rifles.
From the rear staircase bustled Sheila, looking slightly disheveled. Her face broke out into a wide grin. Her hair was longer, and her faced looked like it had seen some difficult nights.
“Oh my, look at you.” Sheila rushed forward and gave him an enveloping hug. “What a handsome young man you've become. Have you been eating proper? You’re looking a little pale.”
“It's one of the side-effects of being a tesla,” Sebastian said. “It drains something out of you, probably vitamin D. But I'm all right. How are you? Is Bindi okay?”
“Little Misses,” Merv shouted.
With a motherly eye, Sheila looked over Sebastian’s body. “It’s hard to believe you’re the same boy who came running from the bushes, chased by those cyborgs.”
“I’m sorry about the farm. Did you manage to rebuild it okay?”
“As good a
s new,” Merv said.
“Bindi was the center of attention at school. It gave her some wonderful stories to tell. Cyborgs. Destruction. Shootouts. Dad saving the day.” Sheila smiled at Sebastian. “And how wonderful you were, of course.”
Sebastian blushed with embarrassment.
“Little Misses,” Merv shouted again.
“What?” came the shouted response.
The three of them glanced up the stairs.
“There’s someone here you need to meet.”
“I’m not interested if it’s one of your sports mates. I’m in the middle of my book.”
“It isn’t.” Merv gave Sheila a smile and she grinned back at him.
There was a long pause.
“Hey,” Merv shouted.
“What?” came the response.
“Get down here now.”
There was the longest groan Sebastian had ever heard followed by the stomping of heavy, inconvenienced feet descending the staircase.
“I was just at a totally exciting place and now you’ve ruined …” The stomping feet produced a set of legs, followed by a tightly laced corset, followed by a vision. The vision stopped and gasped.
“Love, it’s Seb. How about that?” said Sheila. She waved her arm in his direction, presenting the young man.
Sebastian waved at Bindi and gave her a small smile.
Bindi stood a few steps from the bottom of the stairs unable to move. Her face had gone crimson and was in imminent danger of self-combusting. Her mouth forgot its function.
“Well, say hello,” Sheila said.
Bindi squeaked.
“Wow,” Sebastian said. “Look at you, all citified.”
She squeaked again.
“Come on down, love.” Sheila beckoned her down.
Bindi took an unsteady step forward and nearly fell down the remaining steps.
“Wow, you’ve grown tall,” Sebastian said.
She stood shyly, barely able to look him in the eye. She had been several inches taller than him when they had first met a year prior, but even after his own rapid growth she was still above him.
“Don’t you worry, sport, she’s done her growin’. Just like her mother.”
“Too right, Sebby,” Sheila said. “I hit my present height when I was just thirteen. The only way I’ve gone since then is outwards.” She looked slightly crestfallen when she said that, with a wistful look in her eye.
“Damn straight, love, and I wouldn’t have it any other way” Merv said, grinning from ear to ear.
“You’re a darl, love.” Sheila caressed Merv’s face with her palm. “As you can see, Sebby, she no longer needs a training bra.”
“Mom!”
Merv turned to Sebastian. “Do us a favor, sport. Me and the missus need to unpack, so could you take Bindi out and show her around the town?”
“Are we gonna be walking out together?” Bindi asked.
“Er, yes,” Sebastian said. “It’s the only way to get around most of the city.”
Bindi giggled then mumbled something unintelligible. Sebastian looked at Sheila, wondering what was going on that he didn’t understand.
“I think Sebby meant walking around, not out, love.”
“Oh.” Bindi hid her face behind her fan and fluttered it in an attempt to cool her face.
“There’s a difference?” Sebastian said.
“More than you could possibly know, love.” Sheila gave him a wink.
Sebastian smiled and shook his head. “I think we’ve all been through enough together for me to say this, but you’re all mental.”
The two went to the door. Sebastian, unsure of what to do, held out a crooked arm. Bindi smiled at him and took his arm.
“Don’t hurry back,” were Merv’s last words as the door closed behind them.
18
HE TOOK HER around the various points of interest in the city, including the remains of his old school, where they ran into Oliver. Oliver was very charming and complimentary, the tesla tower that collapsed on him, where he repelled the dragon, and various other sites of intense carnage.
They were making their way toward the city square with the famed statue of city founder Joshua Richards when they ran into Isaac. He was dangling a string into a storm-water drain in an attempt to catch something. He nodded as Sebastian approached.
When Bindi stepped out from behind Sebastian, Isaac’s face went blank. His mouth fell open and his eyes went wide.
“This is Isaac,” Sebastian said. Isaac mumbled a response. His face remained unchanged. “I’m showing Bindi around the city, want to come along?”
Isaac let out a little squeak and frantically nodded his head.
“I’m sorry, he does normally speak,” Sebastian said to Bindi. “I’m not sure what’s gotten into him. Anyway, up here’s the brewery. A dragon destroyed it, but it blew up and destroyed the dragon as well. For some reason it was the first building rebuilt. Down here we had a massive battle where about fifty cyborgs …”
And so he went on with the macabre tour, with an enthralled Bindi and Isaac in tow, but for different reasons.
Isaac managed to find his voice, but unfortunately could not control its range as it oscillated between octaves, much to his intense embarrassment. “Hi, I’m Isaac,” he said to Bindi.
“Yes, Sebby said.”
“Are you, er, new in town?”
“Yeah, we only arrived three days ago.”
“That’s an interesting accent you’ve got. Where are you from?” He trotted beside her, almost capering.
“What do you mean ‘interesting’?”
“Well, it sounds exotic. Not like the boring accents around here.”
“Hey, I’m talking here,” shouted Sebastian from some way ahead of them.
Bindi hurried to catch up with him. “Sorry, I was distracted.”
“No worries. You want to see the industrial zone? It’s not that exciting, but they sometimes make some pretty cool stuff, like our steambikes.” He indicated himself and Isaac.
“You have a steambike? Ohmygod, how totally cool.”
“We’ve both got one. Custom made for us.”
“Can I come for a ride?”
“I’m not sure—”
“I’ll give you one,” blurted Isaac.
“—if it’s safe.”
She looked skeptically at Isaac, who looked eagerly back.
“Maybe we could all go a bit later,” Sebastian said.
Both Isaac and Bindi’s faces lit up.
“Today?” Bindi said.
“Er, maybe not today.”
Bindi’s face fell.
“They need to be serviced. We pushed them pretty hard when we were being chased by the cyborgs and sullivans. Right, Isaac?”
“It was very scary.”
“You’s so brave, Sebby.”
“Well, Isaac was there as well. It’s not so bad when there are two of you. Now, let’s see if they’re building anything exciting.”
He led Bindi, who led Isaac, through the collection of oversized and over-powered machinery. The monorail trains swooped overhead and had Bindi gasping at their sleek, golden forms speeding past.
As he led them through the ironworkers and their noisy production methods, he heard a familiar voice ringing out over the racket. He followed the sound of swearing and found Melanie in deep discussion with the lead blacksmith. She was wearing a strange sleeveless top made of leather that exposed her arms. The blacksmith had views on this and was expressing them.
In the heat, her arms were glistening, her lean muscles taut as she clutched the blacksmith by his heavy apron.
“Melanie,” Sebastian shouted over the sounds of nearby pounding.
“Sebastian. Isaac and …” She raised an eyebrow at Bindi. She let go of the blacksmith, who shook his apron so it was straight and went on with his measurements.
“This is Bindi, and this is Melanie.” He looked into Melanie’s face. “Is there something wrong with you
r eyes? You’re squinting.”
“Is this the girl you spoke about? From the farm?”
“Yes, why?”
Melanie’s face broken into a smile as warm as an ice cube and as genuine as a used-SUV salesman.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Melanie lied with no hint of jealousy in her voice.
“Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. I’ve heard all about you, Melanie.”
“Really?”
“Yes, Sebby’s been telling me all about your battles around the city.”
“Yeah, we’ve had exciting times, him and me. Together.”
“Yeah, good times,” Sebastian agreed a little uncertainly.
“Maybe there are some good times we can share,” Bindi said to Sebastian, her face full of expectation.
“Um.”
“Sebby, I’m off to see Albert to finish off the gun-machine. Do you want to help?”
“Totally. Oh wait, I need to take Bindi back.”
“I’ll do it,” Isaac said at a speed matched only by debt collectors.
Bindi didn’t look convinced.
“Then maybe we can meet up later,” Sebastian said to Bindi.
That seemed to do it. Everyone had grins on their faces. He gave Isaac the address and the party split. “Isaac, we’ll see you at the training grounds,” he said. There was no response.
19
“WHAT DO YOU think of her?” Sebastian asked Melanie as they walked down the industrial streets toward the training grounds.
The great, bronzed compression chambers loomed behind them, with the groaning pistons, each the size of a horse, pumping away. The occasional blast of steam erupted from the chambers and sent fluffy white clouds of scalding death high into the air, which regularly condensed into liquid and rained down onto the cobbled streets, turning them muddy.
The north circle train roared overhead on the suspended monorail, its sleek and majestic golden form shining in the sun and steam. The rail crossed over the south circle several hundred yards away, and the noise as the train came through the City Central station reached a crescendo during peak times.