by Mark Robson
‘I don’t know what got into him. He’s never done anything quite so idiotic before. I think he was bored and a bit hacked off with Dad for going off and leaving us with nothing to do. Dad had promised to take Sam and Callum out fishing, but then he went off in the car on his own instead.’
Kitty nodded. ‘So tell me a bit about your dad, Niamh. What’s he like?’
For the next two hours, Niamh talked. To begin with, it was all about the family relationships. Kitty seemed to have endless patience and interest, exploring many of Niamh’s family memories. Time and again, she would repeat cogent points back and use them to raise yet more questions.
When she talked about her mental link with her brother, Niamh noted that Kitty’s eyes widened. Aggie let out a snort of disbelief, but Kitty gave her a look that stopped her from interrupting. Lots of questions followed about the link that Niamh struggled to answer. It was not an easy thing to put into words.
‘So can you feel him now?’ Kitty asked eventually.
Niamh closed her eyes for a moment and concentrated. ‘Not clearly,’ she said after a long pause. ‘All I can tell you about him right now is that he’s alive, but wherever he is, Sam has been in danger several times since he and Callum disappeared. That’s when I feel him most clearly – when he is experiencing particularly strong emotions like extreme fear. Believe me, I wish I could tell you where he was, but I can’t.’
They moved on to talking about Sam’s decision to take the boat out, going over and over every last detail that Niamh could remember about what was said and who was where. Eventually, it was Kitty who called for the break.
‘Niamh, you’ve been brilliant so far. Thank you. Let’s take a break for a bit. We’ll have a bite to eat and a drink and come back to it fresh in about half an hour. Is that OK?’
‘Is there much more to talk about?’ she asked. ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t see how this is really helping to find the boys.’
‘Well, there are some more areas that I’d like to cover,’ Kitty said, neatly dodging the question. ‘Don’t worry though. You’re doing absolutely fine and the more people who look at the details of what happened, the more chance there is of someone seeing a clue that the rest of us may have missed.’
When they resumed, Aunt Aggie elected not to come in with her and waited in the other room. Niamh quickly realised that there was a lot more to come, as Kitty started diving into all sorts of tangential lines of questioning: who was this Geoff that her father had gone flying with? When had the family friendship with Moira and Mitch begun? Where had her father bought the boat and when? Details, details, details. It seemed endless, and Niamh was more than a little relieved when a halt was finally called at nearly six in the evening.
‘Are we all done then?’ she asked, eager to get away.
‘I think so,’ Kitty replied, stepping forward and shaking Niamh’s hand. ‘Thank you for being so brilliant about answering all my questions today, Niamh. If I missed anything, we’ll get back to you. It’ll take a while to go back through the tapes and collate the information properly, but I think we managed to cover most things pretty well. Try not to worry too much about the boys. Everyone is still searching for them out in Florida and the US coastguards are a very thorough lot. If you’re right and the boys are alive, I’m sure someone will find them soon. Is there anything you want to ask me?’
‘Thanks, Kitty,’ she replied. ‘There is just one thing. Can you tell me where Dad is being held? My aunt doesn’t want to tell me for some reason.’
Kitty looked at her for a moment, considering the request.
‘I don’t see why not,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘He’s in Woodhill High Security Prison in Milton Keynes. Why won’t your aunt tell you?’
‘She doesn’t want me to visit him. Apparently, prison isn’t a suitable place for young ladies to visit,’ Niamh said, mimicking her aunt’s voice.
Kitty laughed. ‘She does have a point. It’s not pleasant and you won’t be able to visit without her, you know. You need to have an adult with you if you’re planning to go and see him. What about your uncle? Wouldn’t he take you?’
‘Good idea. I’ll try talking to him,’ Niamh replied, smoothly glossing over the fact that her uncle had been away the entire time since she had returned to the UK.
* * *
Niamh felt incredibly stiff as she walked out to the car with her aunt. Although the chair had been comfortable, she was not used to sitting still for such long periods of time. It seemed amazing to think the interview had taken nearly as long as the flight to America. Despite having talked all day, Niamh felt an overwhelming desire to ring Beth and tell her all about what had happened. She missed having her best friend around to share things with. In fact, she’d never felt so alone in her life. Perhaps she could arrange to go and see her, or Beth could come and visit. Beth was lovely and even Aunt Aggie would have difficulty finding fault with her.
‘I’m afraid dinner will be a little late this evening,’ Aggie said as they climbed into the car. The way she said it made a late dinner sound like a heinous crime in itself. What was more, it appeared Aggie placed the blame for this on Niamh for being so long in the interview room.
Oh, great! she thought. That’s all I need! Now I’ve messed up her routine. She’ll never forgive me for that!
‘Not to worry, Aunt Aggie,’ she said. ‘Why don’t we do something quick like noodles or something? We can do that by seven easily. I can help if you like.’
Judging by the stony look she received at her suggestion, Niamh realised that she was not making things any better.
‘Don’t talk nonsense, Niamh! After a day like that you need more than noodles to eat, young lady. No, I’ll cook you a proper meal when we get home, but we’ll just have to reschedule eating this evening, that’s all.’
Don’t talk nonsense, Niamh, she mimicked silently. Don’t be so silly. Do this. Don’t do that. No wonder poor Archie is the way he is.
The traffic lights ahead turned red and Aggie brought the car gently to a stop. For a moment, Niamh was tempted to jump out of the car and make a run for it. It would be easier for her to survive on the run here in England than it had been in America. She had places she could go, friends she could stay with. Maybe she could even find a way of getting back across to the United States and continuing the search there.
Use your common sense, the voice inside her head chided. Wait. There will be a better time.
Biting her lip, the voice of the old, sensible Niamh won her over. She would just have to bide her time living at Aunt Aggie’s. Besides, now that she knew where he was, the most important thing was to find a way to visit her dad and tell him about her theories on Sam’s disappearance. She was sure he would know what to do. But how could she find a way to see him when her aunt was so against the idea?
CHAPTER NINTEEN
The door hissed open at David’s touch. Nathan and Sherri were through it in a flash, followed closely by Callum and Sam. The raptors, Newton, Edison and Crick, went next, with David last to enter.
No sooner had Nathan and Sherri crossed the threshold than their guns began spitting death. The two raptor guards nearest the door went down instantly, pounded to the ground by a hail of bullets. The rebels split. Nathan went forward and left, angling towards the flying machines in the middle of the large open space inside. Sherri went right with Sam and the others behind her. She hugged the wall of the building and fired one short burst after another at three more incoming raptors.
Callum’s heart raced as he followed Nathan, his rifle butt held tight into his shoulder. He’d released the safety catch, but made no attempt to shoot at anything as he ran. That would be a last resort, he decided. As far as possible, he would leave the fighting to those better suited to it; unlike Sam, he hadn’t quite come around to the idea of shooting a gun at a living target.
‘Don’t shoot at the machines!’ David warned everyone as he sprinted in through the door and chased after Callum and Nathan. ‘If y
ou damage them, I can’t guarantee they’ll fly.’
Callum ran round the wing of the nearest machine and dropped to a crouch. He glanced back just in time to see Sam lift his rifle to his shoulder and loose a volley of bullets at an incoming raptor guard. The expression on his face held a mixture of anger and determination. He looked different from the friend that Callum knew; this was a harder, stronger Sam and if he was afraid, he was showing no outward sign of it. It was scary to think how quickly circumstances here had changed Sam, and Callum couldn’t help but wonder if he would have reacted the same way if Claire had been his mother. The thought of shooting to kill still turned Callum’s stomach, but Sam appeared to have lost all inhibition and it was perhaps just as well that he had. The raptor twisted as Sam’s bullets hit, but it did not stop. It snarled, exposing its teeth, and launched into a flying leap at the boy.
Callum took a sharp intake of breath. No number of bullets from Sam’s gun could possibly stop the momentum of a leaping raptor, but just as it looked certain that Sam would be mauled, Newton intercepted the incoming guard with a flying attack of his own. He impacted the guard shoulder to shoulder at an angle that deflected him away from Sam and sent him sprawling across the floor and into the wall. Before the guard had a chance to regain his feet, Newton touched a black fork-like device against his torso. There was a blinding flash that left Callum seeing spots. When he looked back, the raptor guard was writhing on the floor in a rapid series of violent, jerking convulsions.
It was then that Callum noticed Crick and Edison were holding similar devices. Judging by what he had just seen, he guessed they were something akin to tasers. The raptor scientists were not fighters like Nipper and Grunt, but it appeared they had thought to create technology that would give them an edge in any close-quarters confrontation.
The hangar was nowhere near as large as ones that Callum had visited with his dad when they had gone gliding, nor was the roof as high, but it was still a sizeable building. The two small aircraft looked almost lost in the middle of the large open space.
‘OK, Callum. Let’s get you set to go,’ David said, taking him by surprise. The young man looked more animated than Callum had ever seen him.
‘But the guards. . .’
‘Are not our problem,’ David interrupted. ‘Quickly. Put that gun down and climb into the harness. Let’s get you strapped in. Here’re your goggles. Put them on over your glasses if you must, but they are important. They’ll give you more protection against the wind.’
Callum did as he was told. It was a struggle to settle them over his glasses in a way that was comfortable, but he decided that a bit of discomfort was probably better than not being able to see properly. ‘How do I get in?’
Gunfire blazed behind him. It was hard to concentrate, but Callum did his best to focus on the job at hand.
‘It’s a bit awkward the first time. Use the steps to get to the harness. That’s it. Now turn your body round to face the front of the machine and reach back with your right foot until you feel the harness. Great. Now, slide yourself back until your arms fit comfortably through these loops,’ David directed. ‘It should mould to your body. That’s it. Don’t worry. I’ll adjust the straps for you. They’re set for a raptor at the moment. It’ll take me a moment to get you comfortable. Feet back a bit more – that’s it.’
A thrill of excitement ran through Callum as he settled into the harness. He looked at the structure around him and the shining, silver-coloured wings above and below. Suspended in front of him was a small panel with three instruments on it. One he recognised as an artificial horizon. The other two clearly measured something – probably speed and altitude, Callum decided, but without any clear units displayed, it was unclear as to which was which.
‘How does that feel?’ David asked, his eyes shining.
‘Fine. I don’t feel as though I’m going to fall out.’
‘Good. OK, very simply, this is the control bar,’ he said, putting Callum’s hands on to a parallel bar just in front of and below his face. ‘It acts in the same way as a column: pull back to go up, push forward for down. Move it left and right to turn in the usual way.’
‘Cool. I think I can cope with that. So what makes the fan go?’
‘These two switches turn on the magnetic converters,’ David explained. ‘Don’t put them on yet, because they also have a built-in battery pack to get you moving. Wait for Nathan to open the doors. They work in the same way as the rest of the raptor technology, by converting magnetic energy into electricity. The electricity drives the fan. I installed limiters on them, because the faster you go, the more lines of magnetic force you cut and the more electricity you generate. Without the limiters, the fan would just accelerate to destruction.’
‘OK. I recognise this instrument showing the artificial horizon, but what are the other two?’
‘Yes, the artificial horizon was recovered from a crashed Cessna and converted. This one here is your altimeter. The unit of measurement is one devised by the raptors, but a rough conversion would be one complete revolution of the large needle is approximately 600 metres. . .’
‘Which is somewhere between 800 and 2000 feet,’ Callum calculated.
‘If you say so. So long as you have a rough idea. You zero it using this knob like this. Just remember that having set zero on the gauge before take-off, because it’s a static pressure instrument, it doesn’t measure how high you are above the ground; it simply tells you how high you are above the zero-line pressure you set before take-off.’
‘Got it. Exactly the same as the ones we use in gliders. And this one?’
‘That’s your airspeed indicator,’ David said. ‘Again, the measurement won’t mean a lot to you, which is why I coloured it with a green zone for the raptors. As a basic rule, so long as you keep the needle in the green zone, you won’t fall out of the sky. If you manoeuvre hard, then it is possible to stall the machine even with the needle in the green. For cruising, stay in the middle to top end of the zone, but when you want to land, turn off the magnetic converters and as you get close to the ground, try to stay as low in the green zone as possible. Happy?’
‘Yes, I think I’ve got it,’ Callum said.
‘Any questions?’
‘About a million, but they can wait. I’ll just try to follow you. Where are we flying to?’
‘We’ll head east, back towards the cave and look for somewhere sensible to land as close to it as we can. Good luck.’
‘Thanks. You too.’
Callum watched as David sprinted the short distance to the second machine. Nathan followed him, scanning for any further signs of trouble. It was then that Callum realised the shooting had stopped. He had been so focused on what David had been telling him that he had not noticed. Looking over his shoulder, he could see the rest of the party gathering at the back of the hangar. They were watching the holo-projection flickering in the air there.
From what he could see, Sam and the others were all fine. He counted seven raptor bodies unmoving on the ground. Was that all of the guards down? Nathan and Sherri in particular still looked very alert. They were both scanning the hangar for signs of movement. Sam’s attention was fixed on the glowing images of the holo-projection. It wasn’t hard to work out what was being shown. Had Nipper made it to the capital in time to make his challenge? It was no good. No matter how hard he tried, Callum couldn’t see the glimmering image clearly enough to see any detail.
David had crawled into the harness of the other machine and was busy adjusting the straps. Callum shivered as he watched. In a few minutes, he was going to take off and fly solo for the first time in a machine that was nothing like any aircraft he had ever seen before. Would his gliding experience be enough to keep him from crashing? Suddenly, he didn’t feel so sure. He moved the control bar around, trying to get a feeling for how sensitive it was, but there was no way of telling until he got into the air. All he could do was wait until David gave the signal for them to go.
Callum didn’t hear David tell Nathan to open the doors, but he did see the bearded rebel suddenly get up from where he had been kneeling next to the other flying machine and run across to a panel to the left of the main doors. Throwing the large lever on the wall there, Nathan raised his gun back to his shoulder as electricity surged through the motors and with a loud rumble, the doors began to slide open.
‘Switches on!’ David called to Callum, reaching up and turning on his magnetic converters.
Callum flicked the two switches and felt the thrum of power surge through his machine as electricity began to flow. David’s machine was already moving, accelerating slowly towards the opening doors. A few seconds later, Callum’s began to creep forward as well.
‘OK, steering this thing in the air I understand,’ he muttered. ‘But how the heck do I control it on the ground?’
It was one of the many questions he had neglected to ask and unless he changed direction soon, he would crash into the left door before it had a chance to open fully. Callum felt his heart begin to pound still harder, but he didn’t panic. Instead, he looked to see what David was doing and began experimenting by shifting his weight around. He quickly realised that David was a clever designer. The control bar didn’t do anything to change his direction, but the foot supports had somehow been linked to a nose-wheel steering mechanism, making directional control on the ground as instinctive as he knew it would be in the air. Stretch back with the left foot and he went left. Stretch back with the right and he went right. Easy.
He steered right until he was directly behind David’s machine and followed him out through the doors and on to the grass meadow outside. The field was long and wide with the great wall of the city to the right, woodland to the left and scattered trees some distance ahead opening into another meadow beyond. As he left the building and trundled across the grass, the machine began to bounce and shake on the uneven ground, making his sling-like harness rock, twist and bounce uncomfortably.