by Steve Howrie
“I’ve pretty much done everything here, Harry so anytime soon is good for me.”
“How about Sunday? Or tomorrow if you could manage that.”
“Sunday should be okay… Oh, can you take one more?”
“I don’t see why not…what’s his name?”
“Why does everyone always assume I’m picking up men!” She’s called Sara, and she’s very nice. We met in a cemetery.”
“You met where?”
“A cem… I’ll tell you all about it on Sunday.”
Harry looked to see if Jo could hear him on the phone, but she’d gone into the kitchen. He spoke close to the telephone receiver.
“Look, I was going to wait until I saw you Sandi, but I’d better tell you now: Jo’s mum died yesterday.”
“Oh god, I’m sorry. How’s she taking it?”
“She’s fine now; but cemeteries might not be such a good topic of conversation.”
“Definitely not – I’m glad you told me. Don’t worry – I’ll warn Sara.” Jo came back into the room. Harry talked normally.
“Fine, well we’ll pick you up on Sunday then… nine o’clock okay? Good, I’ll see you then.” Harry put down the receiver and smiled at Jo.
“Sandi wants to bring a friend – a woman she met in Finchley. I said it was okay.”
“No problem,” Jo replied, her mind preoccupied with other thoughts. “I did a lot of thinking last night Harry – about life and death. I want to talk to Frank when we get back. I’ve always said that I believed in life after death – we both have. But what happened yesterday showed that I didn’t really believe it – I didn’t believe that Val’s soul would be reborn in the future…”
“She may have already been reborn…” Harry added.
“Yes. Well, I couldn’t sleep last night. I just lay there for ages, thinking, going over things. And then it came to me: it’s nothing to do with me now. Val has left her body, and whatever happens next is between Val and her higher self, or whatever we call it. We’ll never know where, when or how she arranges her next life. It could be here, in the same street. Or it could be on the other side of the World.”
“Or in Orkney?” offered Harry.
“Well, you never know. But the point is that it doesn’t matter – it’s nothing to do with us now. But I do know one thing. I should give as much love to everyone I meet as I would give to Val if she walked in here tomorrow. Because you just never know who you could be talking to. The nurse who looked after mum could have been my sister in a previous life; the man who was begging for money in the street last week could have been my father. We just don’t know who we’re connected to. But in the end, aren’t we all connected to the same source?” Harry kissed Jo and warmly embraced her.
“This is why I love you Jo.”
*
That Sunday, Harry and Jo drove up to North London to pick up Sandi and Sara from Sandi’s flat in Finchley. Jo waited the car whilst Harry went to get the girls.
“Come in Harry – Sara shouldn’t be long,” said Sandi. “She coming over from Highgate.
“No worries Sandi – we are a bit early anyway. Actually, I’m glad you’re alone – there was something on my mind this morning.”
“Take a seat,” said Jo.
“Thanks.” Harry didn’t quite know how to put this. “It was about you leaving Orkney last time… do any of the others know you’re coming back?” Sandi smiled.
“No – am I going to be in big trouble?” It was Harry’s turn to smile.
“Not with me… it’s just that… I thought it might be a good idea to warn them. I could phone Frank if you like?”
“Orkney’s a big place Harry. What makes you think I’m going back to Eday anyway?”
“I just assumed…”
“Dangerous thing to do, assuming. But having said that, you’re probably right. Good idea to test the water. I was planning on taking Sara round some of the other islands first anyway. So if we keep in touch, you can let me know the temperature of the Eday water before we venture over… I don’t want to be burned at the stake.” Harry was going to tell Sandi about the others leaving Eday, but he was interrupted by the door–bell. “That’ll be Sara.”
After quick introductions, they got on the road with Harry taking the first stint at driving, and Sandi and Sara relaxing in the back. The virus had continued to spread through Greater London, and they were quite relieved to get away. Many streets were completely deserted, and Harry felt it might not be long before some areas became ghost towns. The first topic of conversation was naturally the rapid spread of the virus, though Sandi, Harry and Jo were careful not to use the word ‘alien’.
“I think you’re right,” agreed Sara. “I’ve lost count of the number of my friends that have gone down with this flu thing… and two have died already.” Sara’s comment reminded Sandi that she hadn’t warned Sara about Jo’s bereavement. She looked at Harry, whose expression indicated that everything was all right. Death was a difficult subject to avoid now that the virus was so rife.
The conversation soon turned to Orkney. Harry and Jo told them all about giving up their jobs for the good life and settling down on Eday, where they met Sandi, me and the others.
“Is Kevin still up there then?” asked Sara. “Now I’ve seen his picture, I feel I know him already.”
“Yes, he’ll be there – and his friends.”
“What are they like?”
“To be honest, I thought them a bit strange at first. But since the virus outbreak in London, I’ve changed my mind.”
“In what way?” Sara asked.
Sandi didn’t want to tell Sara too much, but she also didn’t want to hide anything. “They predicted the virus – and now they say they know how to eradicate it.”
“Does the government know?” asked Sara. Sandi felt herself going deeper into this than she could explain, but she was saved by Harry.
“What, this government? Have you ever heard them listen to anything anyone else says?” Sara smiled and nodded.
“Tell me about it.”
Despite the depressing news bulletins that Harry put on from time to time, they had a very pleasant journey up to Edinburgh. It seemed a good place to break their journey, and Jo booked them into a guest house she and Harry had used before. It was good to get away from London, and they all had an early night ready for the drive up to Orkney the next day.
***
Thirty
Sara had planned to pay for the accommodation – the least she could do, considering she was getting a free ride all the way up to Orkney. But, as it often happened in these situations, Jo beat her to it – telling Sara that the custom was to pay the next morning, but actually giving the money to the landlady before turning in for the night.
The next morning was a glorious, crisp autumn day. A clear blue sky and a bright sunny day. It took them no time at all to reach Inverness, where they stopped off for fuel. Sara had no doubts about the system for payment this time and virtually raced to the cash desk, with Sandi behind her.
“My turn! yelled Sandi.” But Sara was already at the desk, clutching her credit card. “Little sod,” said Sandi breathlessly, with a smile. “Sara grinned back in reply and handed her card to the attendant. After punching in her PIN, Sara received her card back – and Sandi caught a glimpse of her family name.
“Philby – interesting name,” Sandi observed, but thought nothing more of it.
“You probably read it in Who’s Who,” Jested Sara.
As they drove out of Inverness and headed North, Sandi and Sara chatted about their pasts. They felt very comfortable with each other now, and talking about their loved ones was something of a release.
“I feel like I’m doing this for John now… going to Orkney I mean. His great grandfather was born on one of the islands… he had a fishing company and travelled all over the North Sea before moving to Edinburgh.”
“Oh, where was he born exactly?”
“On Hoy. John and I s
aid we should go and take a look at where he used to live. He said there are still Philbys living there, people related to his great grandfather.” Harry’s ears suddenly pricked up.
“Did you say your husband’s name is John Philby Sara?”
“It was, yes. He died one year ago.”
A shiver ran down Harry’s spine.
“What did he do, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Oh, he was a property developer.”
Harry could not believe what he was hearing. John Philby was the name Frank uttered when he was talking about Kevin’s previous life! And he had been a property developer.
*
On Papay, everything was going well. The website had received over a hundred thousand hits since it was set up, and we had a mailing list of nearly five thousand. The increased activity meant more and more of our time spent updating the site and responding to feedback and queries. As I read over the latest emails forwarded to us from Sweden one morning, a thought came to me.
“Frank,” I asked, “How will the virus react to our site? I mean, will it try to shut us down?”
“Without a doubt,” he replied, not looking up from his laptop screen.
“But how will it know about the site – and how will it try to shut us down?”
Frank removed his reading glasses and looked at me squarely.
“You know Kevin, the best way to get understanding about anything is not by asking questions.” I was going to ask him what he meant by that, but thought better of it. “You’ve got to make some effort yourself first and look at the possibilities. Knowledge can be given, but understanding has to be earned.” I thought about this, and realized the sense in it. If I want to understand how to ride a bike, it wouldn’t be any good just reading a book about it. I’d actually have to get up on the saddle and start peddling. I think I knew what he meant. But just then, my mobile rang. It was Harry – he’d got my number from Sandi.
“Hello – it that Kevin?”
“Harry?”
“Yes – it’s nice to be back.”
“Where are you?”
“On Eday – with Jo.” I whispered to Frank that it was Harry. He asked me if they were alone.
“Anyone else with you?” I asked. Was this man psychic, Harry wondered.
“Yeah – someone you know.”
“Sandi?” It was the only name that came to mind.
“Spot on. I think the months back in London helped clarify some things for her – she seems fine. She wants to see you all again.”
“I’ll have to talk to the others,” I replied, looking at Frank.
“Of course. She’s not alone, by the way. She’s with a friend she met in London – Sara. She seems nice. Anyway, Sandi said she’d give you a call soon. Where are you all now by the way? If you can’t say on the phone, it’s okay.” I whispered Harry’s question to Frank, who nodded, which I took to mean it was okay to tell him.
“Papa Westray... but we might be back on Eday soon.”
“Great – give us a call when you come over... there’s something I need to talk to you about.” I said goodbye, put the phone down and told Frank about Sandi.
“She’s strong – I’ll say that much. You have to have guts to come back here after being tied to a chair by our Gareth.”
“Been there, done that,” I replied, recalling my first visit to Edinburgh.
*
With Harry and Jo back on Eday, Sandi and Sara decided to explore Orkney, starting on Mainland, the largest of all the islands. Here they covered all the main tourist sites – Scara Brae, Maes Hough, and the Old Palace in Kirkwall – then the Highland Park Distillery. Returning to Kirkwall’s Tourist Information Office, they looked at the brochures of the other Orkney islands. It was all new to Sara, so she left the choice of where to go next to Sandi. They could visit Hoy anytime.
“Okay, let’s go to the island Kevin and I really enjoyed visiting when we were together.”
“Great! What’s it called?”
“Papa Westray.”
***
Thirty-One
The next day was a huge shock. First of all, Sandi was back, and consequently everyone, except Frank, was rather edgy. This was the woman who had betrayed us (as they saw it) and at first they didn’t feel safe with her around. But Frank had a second sense in this respect, and told us not to worry: Sandi was one of us, and she would never do anything serious to hurt the group. Her return to Orkney, knowing that we would be non–too–pleased with her actions (and might do more than simply tie her up next time), indicated this. After Frank had talked us, the relief was palpable – particularly as far as Gareth was concerned; he was still very much in love with her, but didn’t want to compromise his dedication to the group by his affection for ‘the enemy’.
“Sandi, welcome back!” Frank exclaimed with open arms. “And who is this?” he added seeing Sara.
“Hi, I’m Sara,” she said.
I froze. Shivers went down my spine.
“Yes, I believe we’ve met,” Frank replied shaking her hand, “though my appearance has changed somewhat,” he smiled broadly.
Sara looked confused. My heart was now beating fast. I knew this woman – beyond any doubt.
“I, I think… I think I’ve met you too,” I stammered. “But I’ve no idea where or when.” I stared into her eyes, searching for some understanding of how I knew her.
“This is Audrey, Kate, Tony and Gareth,” Frank continued, introducing the others to Sara. “Make yourself comfortable… would you like a cup of tea, or coffee perhaps?”
Sara accepted a cup of coffee, and sat between Kate and Sandi, who was next to Gareth. I was still in a daze. I was connected to this woman, but I’d no idea how. And then Frank said, “It’s Sara Philby, isn’t it?” She was taken aback.
“Oh, how did you know that? Did Sandi tell you?”
“No… I knew your husband – John Philby. He was a property developer, but had an unfortunate accident… involving a roof, I recall. I was very sad when that happened… we were very good friends.”
Then I understood.
Sara stared quizzically at Frank. “I’m sorry, I don’t remember you…”
“Yes, this is going to be a little difficult to understand… my name is Frank Peters.”
Sara was dumbfounded. “But that’s impossible… Frank was an older man… and shorter.”
“I did say it was going to be difficult!”
Frank turned to Tony and asked him if he would tell Sara everything he understood about past lives and reincarnation.
“My pleasure Frank. Well, the first think you need to do is let go of all your preconceived ideas about life and death…”
Whilst Tony was talking to Sara and the others, Frank ushered me outside so we could talk privately. We sat on a long wooden bench overlooking a nearby pond.
"Kevin, I understand that was difficult for you, and I know you'll be very confused just now. But I can tell you beyond any doubt that you were Sara's husband before you became Kevin Lee, and you and I were close friends, very close. In fact, you and I have worked closely together ever since coming to this planet. When I volunteered for this project, I asked you to work with me – I knew you had the qualities that could help us fight the virus. We have shared many lives together in dozens of countries over a period of ten thousand years. I know this will sound like science fiction, but every word I tell you is true.
“Because of our closeness, I feel I can trust you with sensitive information. If you remember, I told you about a substance we had perfected that will destroy the virus forever. That substance will be activated very soon."
"How soon?"
"In the next few days. The good news is that the antidote will completely destroy the virus. Endless tests have been done on samples of the virus which were safely retained on our planet. It has a 100% success rate.”
“So what’s the bad news?” I asked.
“The downside is that it will ki
ll anything physically connected to the virus." Frank paused, waiting for my reaction.
"You mean that anyone who is infected by the virus will die?"
Frank nodded. "Yes, that is exactly what I’m saying. This is why we cannot tell the others – not yet."
"But they'll be safe, surely? They've all been tested, and they're negative."
"Tony, Kate, Gareth and Audrey – yes, they'll be safe. But we don't know about Sandi, Sara, Harry and Jo. They've just returned from London, a highly virulent area, and the likelihood is that they're infected – even if to a small degree. And then there's Liz and Hamish of course.
"Shit!" My mind was racing, trying to think of ways we could save them.
"I understand that you want to save people's lives, Kevin, particularly those you have a relationship with now. But just imagine if you could recall all your past lives, and the thousands of people you were close to then. Imagine if you could remember that Sara was your wife, or that... " Frank stopped himself and paused. "Well, you get the idea."
“How will it happen?” I asked. “I mean, what’s the method of distribution of this, er, substance… and where will it come from?”
“It will be seeded into the Earth’s atmosphere, and penetrate the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. It will be impossible to avoid.”
“Does anyone else know about this?”
“Only Tony. No–one else must know this Kevin, no–one.”
Frank went back inside to join the others. I reflected on what I had just heard from Frank. Although there was so much I didn’t understand, I couldn’t turn away from this now. I had witnessed so much in the last few months, and had no doubt that at least some of what I had learned from Frank and Tony was true. I desperately hoped that Sandi and the others would be okay, that they would be sufficiently free of the virus to survive the antidote, but at the back of my mind, I feared the worst.
***
Thirty-Two
Three days later, on Thursday the 29th September, it all started. I could almost taste the substance in the air. Frank said it would take five days for the full effects to be felt and instructed everyone to stay inside due to some ‘very bad weather’ that was heading our way. He also got me to secretly disconnect the internet and phone lines, and tell everyone that the lines were down due to thunderstorms on the Orkney Mainland. He didn’t want them to hear things from anywhere else. Everyone had a great respect for Frank, and never questioned his judgement. In fact, the only two people who might have queried his instructions were Tony and me… which could be one reason he confided in the two of us.