Cloud Field

by A M Russell

  I glanced at Jules. He stood impassively, his hand were relaxed at his sides. Whatever power this Doctor had it was impressive. I thought that we still stood a good chance of talking ourselves out of this situation.

  The four security men came and stood behind us in a way that suggested they hadn’t been given any specific orders but were just there to keep the peace.

  ‘I think there has been some mistake,’ said Dr Rhodes coolly, ‘they have been booked in for a week on this visit.’

  ‘Oh!’ said another voice, ‘you must mean this.’

  From out of another door on the right slid the last person any of us expected to see.

  I saw Jules visibly stiffen. The doctor was unimpressed; ‘This is nothing to do with you Mr Hanson.’

  He came towards her waving a piece of paper.

  ‘Oh… but I think it is. You see, we did a bit of checking on your log outs. You seem a little lax on that front.’

  ‘Sometimes I do leave by the door on the medical corridor.’ She tilted her chin in a challenging way.

  ‘Interesting,’ said Hanson, ‘how you managed to log in twice on the same day. But not log out. Funny that….’ He came past us and stood facing her. Jules stepped back next to me and Sam.

  Hanson glanced up. The security people melted away from behind us.

  ‘Come now.’ said Hanson, ‘let’s discuss this rationally.’ He smiled ingratiatingly. Dr Rhodes was unmoved by this talk.

  ‘I’ve had a very long shift and I’m going home now.’ She stood firm.

  Mrs Cardell looked from Hanson to her and back again; unsure of what angle to take. Eventually she said: ‘I’ll just assume this sort of thing won’t happen again Dr Rhodes… and we’ll leave it at that.’ She disappeared quickly into her office with the other member of staff. Only Angelo stood by with his arms folded.

  ‘We are not going to have a scene now are we?’ Hanson spoke soothingly and quite melodiously. There was power in his voice; that voice that I had listened to so many times before. I realised that although I didn’t hate Hanson, I hated what he stood for.

  ‘I think that you can take you complaint to the directors if you have one; tomorrow.’ She was still staring at him without any visible sign of stress.

  ‘Oh dear; oh dear. Doctor Rhodes. You really think I don’t know about your little plots. Stealing University property; sabotaging research; falsifying medical reports. Need I say more? But it can all go away… if you want it to.’

  There was a flicker, a moment in her eyes. I thought she’d been hooked. But no; she glanced towards us; and with a sudden movement made for the door. As she did so, in that split second we all started to move too. But Hanson grabbed her by the wrist and swung her back round towards us. Angelo scuttled out from the right with an Epi pen. He grabbed her other wrist, clearly with the intent to inject something. Sam grabbed him and started to pull him back. I tried to help too. The injector pen dropped. Dr Rhodes pulled her hand away as Jules moved towards her. Hanson was quicker. With a vicious smack across the face, he sent her sprawling towards the kiosk. Everyone stopped then; in a tableaux of hate. She turned still sitting, blood coming out of her nose. Angelo shook off Sam. I couldn’t get any grip on him. I wasn’t fresh enough to fight.

  ‘What is it?’ I said to Angelo. The dropped pen was still in the middle of the entrance carpet. He backed off and ran down a corridor away from the scene, his role in this complete. Sam gave me a hanky. I picked the thing up with it and wrapped it up. The sharp was already retracted.

  Jules stood perfectly still. ‘How did you do it?’ he demanded.

  ‘How did I do what?’ Hanson seemed irritated by the question.

  Dr Rhodes pulled her sleeve up. Her arm was rigid and trembling. Sam knelt on the floor holding her as I stood by them both.

  Hanson looked down at her. Then he turned and looked back at Jules.

  ‘You are so unimportant, so irrelevant. You didn’t realise the opportunity you missed. And now you team up with this…. this Loony Witch.’

  Jules took a step towards him, ‘You did it how?’

  Violette looked up at Hanson in disbelief.

  ‘It’s easy. We just used the history of the first person, to rewrite the history of everything. We changed it at source. You’re the dead guy!’

  ‘I don’t care!’ Jules shouted, ‘I don’t care. Not any more… you always wanted to use people. You betrayed me! You betrayed us all. You used the modulator didn’t you…? You went and used it. The council agreed it was playing with fire. The original was destroyed. But you built another?’

  Hanson stood back and shrugged, ‘You got me. And in a few days all of this will be wiped out: the whole thing. Then I and the circle of five will have our perfect solution…. You can still be part of this. I’ll write you in as my second in command. You can be anything you choose to be.’ Hanson’s voice had dropped; it was low and soothing. A voice you wanted to listen to. It captivated my curiosity. I wanted to know so I carried on listening.

  ‘Don’t… please…’ Violette gasped still holding her arm out.

  ‘She will never have been here. She’ll be safe, back at her hospital practice, never having got involved. I can do it you know. We perfected the wave form. We can stop things repeating. Of course the geographical area will have to be enlarged.’ Hanson folded his arms; almost as if expecting applause.

  I didn’t dare speak. I looked at Sam. We helped Dr Rhodes to her feet. She had blood staining her blouse from the sudden nose bleed. Sam grabbed some tissues from the now empty reception kiosk. We started to edge towards the door.

  ‘I don’t know.’ said Jules. We edged round Hanson. He was ignoring us. We pushed on the door, then the outer door.

  The blast of cold hit us. It was snowing in horizontal streaks.

  ‘You take Dr Rhodes to her car. I’ll help Jules.’ Sam just glanced at me and took her quickly down the side of the building out of sight. I looked back. Jules looked out at me. He had a weird expression on his face. I pushed back through both sets of doors.

  ‘Jules…. Jules…. Time to go.’

  ‘You can’t win you know.’ said Hanson casually, ‘whatever you do. I can just rewrite it around you.’

  ‘Jules... Please!’ I said.

  He looked at me; ‘Is this true?’ he asked me tears streaming down his face, ‘Is this what they did with my work?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ I said, ‘But you can change it too Jules… come on. We have to leave, now.’

  Hanson made a little salute; unmoved by violence; he was relaxed, calm, letting us go.

  ‘Jules…. Please…’ I begged him, ‘We won’t go without you.’

  ‘How far do you think you’ll get, ‘said Hanson, ‘you will just be put back where I want you; where we can easily pop in and visit….It really is that simple. You shouldn’t play around with her…. She’s just… history.’

  Suddenly, with lightning speed Jules took him out with a right hook that would have dropped someone twice Hanson’s size. I'd barely blinked and Hanson was laid out across the floor like a rag doll.

  ‘Don’t you dare!’ Jules choked the words out…. then stumbled backwards towards the outside doors.

  I went and checked. Hanson was out cold. 'Bloody Hell Jules!'

  'Is he dead?' Jules began to cough, and pulled out a hanky to wrap round his hand.

  'Just unconscious.' I said, and spotting security trotting towards us from a distance. I had to drag Jules through the double doors. Outside, I grabbed his right arm with my good hand, to propel him into movement. There was no time to stand around being shocked.

  ‘I thought you had a black belt in jujitsu or something? Come on let’s get out of here.’ I said. He came out of the trance and we hurried round the outside of the building shielding our eyes as best we could.

  ‘I don’t know how much more I can handle today.’ he said.

  ‘We have to get away from here.’ I pulled him along as fast as I could, ‘if I’m ri
ght. Once we out of range he can’t do anything for now.’

  ‘You’re not a scientist!’ he yelled over the sound of the wind, ‘It’s possible it reaches a lot further than we can run to.’

  The car rose up out of the streaks of snow. We both bundled in through the passenger door. Sam and Dr Rhodes were in the back seat. I got into the driver’s seat. Sam passed me the keys.

  I started up. I headed for the security cabin. The visibility was terrible. But I picked up little details that I could discern. Jules unclipped the belt and clambered into the back. Sam slid into the front passenger seat and clipped his seat belt, and then pulled mine across too.

  ‘I’d be better driving.’ he said.

  ‘I don’t think so.’ I glanced at him, ‘trust me.’

  ‘Yes…. Alright.’ He smiled ‘You’re like….’

  ‘Jared… yes I know.’ We bumped along. Violette groaned from the back.

  ‘Alright there?’ I asked,

  ‘Where’s Hanson now?’ asked Violette in a pained and varied pitch.

  ‘I took care of it.’ Jules admitted.

  ‘What were you doing?’ I looked in the mirror, seeing if we were being followed. Nothing doing. Perhaps the weather was on our side after all.

  Sam rubbed the front windshield with the cloth sponge, and found the heating controls.

  ‘I wasn’t trying to knock him out this time.’ Jules said, then, ‘get the heat up in here will you!’ I saw them reflected in the mirror. Violette had her head back; she was clutching her arm across her chest. ‘It’s a trace shot,’ she said, ‘they need it to stay in you for just over an hour before they can get a clear location lock. It is different from George’s brew.’ she added as if reading my mind.

  ‘In what way different?’ I asked I could see the gate now. Something shimmered.

  ‘We need to leave before he changes it again.’ Violette squeezed the words out; ‘it’s rough and unpleasant. Great if you’re drunk. Gives you the most incredible perception changing thrill. Wild colours!’ she winced as we went over a bump.

  ‘It’s a hallucinogenic compound.’ said Jules, ‘do you keep any fruit lozenges in the car?’

  ‘What?’ Sam said but rummaged in the glove compartment anyway. We were at the little guards hut. Someone was inside reading the paper. He pressed something and the gate rose immediately.

  Then I felt it….. that wash of sensation. Almost like déjà vu. I kept driving. Something I could do… ‘Concentrate on what I’m doing.’ I said, ‘if I speak repeat it…’

  'You want us to do what?' asked Jules.

  'Copy him…' said Violette, 'the pattern breaks with another pattern…' she gasped as we lurched again.

  'Take it easy!' Sam gripped the dash board.

  The snow was thicker and fluffier and the road ahead had almost disappeared.

  'Everyone repeat the rhyme. We have to try…..just trust me. It will work.' I was driving blind now. But kept the peddle on as hard as I dared. I could see the back end toss and lurch as I kept peering into the driver's mirror. I could see Violette's anguished expression as the drug pumped round her system.

  'Just do it!' she said through gritted teeth.

  ‘Yes.’ said Sam, ‘let’s try it.’

  ‘Little Bo Peep…’ I sing-songed; ‘Little Bo Peep…’ they all repeated.

  ‘She lost her sheep….’; ‘She lost her sheep….’

  ‘She didn’t know where to find them, opps!’

  ‘Is that in the rhyme?’ said Sam.

  ‘No. Concentrate! I’m driving.’

  'She didn't know where to find them,'; 'She didn't know where to find them!'

  'Leave them alone,'; 'Leave them alone.'

  'And they'll come home,'; 'And they'll come home.'

  'Wagging their tails behind them,'; 'Wagging their tails behind them!'

  We hit a jolt. We were all thrown to one side. It righted and we carried on. We sang the round again, with Sam shouting out the words…. The rhyme was faster and more intense. A simple thing; focused, uniting us, moving us mentally out and up, away from them. We were nearly to the edge of the area then. We had to be.

  'She lost her sheep!'…..a rhythm like a drum beat. The fence cut across the land in front. The narrow gap was just ahead. The snow balls hurled themselves viciously again the windscreen. Silently I was desperately pleading; Dear God! Help us get out of this rat trap!

  Suddenly, every sense was burning in me. Like a fire. I could smell the hint of perfume from the doctor, I could sense, but not see Jules’ pain in his knuckles where he’d punched Hanson. I could taste the smell of snow. I could see the way out.

  And then, quite suddenly we were in another place trundling along a track with grass and mild autumn sunshine….

  Then snow again; I stopped the car. We all turned round. Something in me compelled us. The scenes of snow and the fence and the distant buildings were folding in on themselves: like origami. It was as if someone was folding a pop-up book over and over. Each dimension of the place creased and flattened until it smoothed into just a rough track and then was gone. I’d never seen it before. I was always looking the other way. Somewhere I hear a bird cry…. I wound the window down.

  ‘Seagull?’ said Jules.

  I felt exhilarated, like I had been flying on a wire. Warmth spread through me. I was the sheep, the little one they couldn’t find. And now I was back. The warmth from the left side was intense. The heater wasn’t on. Sam had flicked it off.

  ‘Blimey,’ said Jules, ‘I’m back outside.’

  Both my arms ached. ‘Shall we swap now?’ I said to Sam.

  *****

  Twenty Seven

  In the mild sunlight we travelled the autumn lanes. A village flowed and spread out around us. Sam turned into a garage.

  Jules handed Sam a twenty from Dr Rhodes purse. She was staring at it on her knee as if it would bite her.

  'Get some juice.' said Jules to Sam, 'Orange if you can get it.'

  'We need a newspaper too.' I said.

  'You come with me.' Sam opened the passenger door, 'I'll just say that you've been in India for three months and have just got back.... That's if anyone asks.'

  'Do I really look like a burned out scruff who's been on the road too long?'

  'You have probably looked better.' Sam took off the petrol cap, and put the filler nozzle in, 'If you were my friend, I wouldn't let you in my car.' he grinned, watching the dials spin.

  'How much?' I said.

  'In litres, that's fine.' Sam locked the petrol cap, 'I'll pay for this. You get a basket and get what we need. We've got an hour’s drive yet.' He pushed the twenty into my hand.

  'What time is it?' I asked him, since my watch was still set on cloud field time, and I had returned to another dimension it seemed.

  Walking round the mini supermarket felt strange. A couple of people did give me funny looks; until they saw I was with the young professional in the smart but casual clothes… then their expression turned to pity. As we got back in the car I wondered what they were really thinking. This whole world was so alien. I wasn’t ready to interact with people on the outside just yet.

  We were on our way again. In ten minutes Sam turned onto the dual carriageway. I got some of the things from the shopping bag: baby wipes, juice, cotton wool and mineral water, and passed them to Jules. I dug out the newspaper, some cigarettes for Sam, and chocolate.

  ‘Did you get the cans?’

  ‘Yeah; vimto; lemonade for Jules, and fizzy apple for you. I didn’t know what the doc wanted so I got some of that Mango stuff in a can.’ I twisted round in the seat. Jules had been wiping the blood from Violette. She kept flinching as the cold cotton wool touched her skin.

  ‘Come on doc; let me get you cleaned up.’ Jules put the used piece in a bag on the floor.

  ‘I know what’s happening!’ she said through gritted teeth, ‘and I don’t want the water snakes wiggling down my neck!’

  ‘There not snakes.’ sai
d Jules.

  ‘Of course not. It’s a hallucination! But just because I know that doesn’t make it any better!’

  ‘Violette…. It’s Ok. Look at me.’

  ‘Yes. Sure… I mean, of course.’

  ‘Just let me clean you up a bit. Would the wipes be better?’ he took one out and put it in her hand, ‘Is that ok? Is it doing anything?’

  ‘No. Well just glowing slightly blue. But it feels fine.’

  ‘Alright then. Then let me get rid of that smear there. And there. Better?’

  ‘Yes. It’s funny when the doctor is in need of care. You make a very good nurse.’

  ‘Thank you Doctor. Tell me how long it will last?’

  ‘At least six hours…. It’s supposed to incapacitate the weak minded. Angelo will tell me who concocted this!’

  ‘You’re not going back doc.’ I said. ‘I think after what Hanson said that would be most unwise.’

  She thought about this for a minute… ‘I think I’ll fall back to private practice for a while. Just a few normal mad people.’

  ‘Do all doctors talk like that about their patients?’ I asked

  ‘Behind their backs; absolutely…. Please don’t talk the top off that bottle again where I can see it. There are things coming out.’

  ‘Sorry,’ said Jules, ‘Do you want to have the can?’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Mango.’

  ‘Alright.’

  I passed it back to them. Then I took out the newspaper. Usual rubbish.

  ‘What day is it?’ said Jules.

  ‘Monday.’

  ‘No. the date.’

  ‘It’s October. The seventeenth….. Wait a minute. That can’t be right.’ I turned to Sam, who was just indicating to turn off to a side road.

  ‘Yes. It is….’ He glanced at me, then back at the road, ‘we have always seen the slippage at this level. It’s nearly two and a half days on the cloud field to every day on base… which is the same speed as outside.’