His words, although well intentioned, had the exact effect he was hoping to avoid.
‘Screw you, Charlie!’
She turned her back on him and marched out of the apartment. Charlie followed after her, but she refused to turn and engage him, leaving him to talk to her back.
‘Come on, Emmy, you know I only want what is best for you. All I’m asking is that you take your time before rushing into something you may later come to regret. Lucy probably needs some space right now. When she’s ready, she’ll call you.’
‘She’s pregnant!’
Saying those words made it seem so much more real than it had done just moments earlier. They had found Lucy’s diary and the scribbled notes in the margins confirmed that her menstrual cycle had been overdue. This put the evidence beyond reasonable doubt. Emmy now realised this was not just a problem that could be fixed over a cup of tea and a few choice words. This was life changing. Worse still – it raised so many questions about her relationship with Lucy. Had she been living another lie? There was no other explanation for it.
The hardest part was having no information to go on. No clues. No attempted contact. Nothing. It did not make sense. She went over every conversation, every interaction since Lucy had returned from her coma and there was nothing that could have foreshadowed her disappearance. She even thought of the conversation about having children. Did Lucy know or suspect then? None of it added up. The only person that could shed light on any of this was Lucy herself. But where was she?
***
The roadhouse seemed familiar. Given the hundreds of places just like it nestled alongside highways up and down the country she did not read too much into her feeling of déjà vu.
That was until the waitress came out to take her order and Lucy realised that she really had been there before. A slightly wider waist and a slightly longer hemline, but it was definitely the same woman. The change, though only minor, was enough to highlight the fact that a few months in her mind were a few years in everybody else’s.
This had been the first roadhouse she visited on her fateful trip some three years earlier. It was the same roadhouse, the same waitress and the same feelings of confusion and abandonment driving her actions.
She bought a bottle of water and a sandwich. Egg and watercress was far from her ideal choice, but given what else was on offer it seemed the wisest one. A greasy fry-up would not be good for the baby.
Christ – am I really thinking about what is best for the baby? she thought.
Following her panic to get away, this was the first time she had even considered that it was an actual life growing inside her. When she first saw the strip turn pink it felt more like she had tested positive for a terminal illness. It was the last thing in the world she needed – or expected.
She hated herself for leaving Emmy in the lurch, but for all of the love she had for the scientist, it seemed like the best thing to do. Until she understood why this had happened she had to assume that she was on her own. Nobody could be trusted – not even Emmy. Only one person would be able to help her. She did not know if she would be able to find him, but she had to try nonetheless.
Logically, the best place to start her search was the place where she had seen him last. She pulled the map out of her bag and unfolded it onto the table in front of her, just as she had all those forgotten years ago. Back then she had taken a wrong turning and happened upon the place by chance. This time she was actively looking for it.
The map had been printed only a year earlier and for that reason it did not contain her destination. It mattered not because all she needed was to find the correct turn off from the main highway. The authorities may have airbrushed the place from existence, but something had to remain. Whatever was left of it, she would find. She was going to Jackson’s Hill and once there, she would find him. He may be dead, but that had not stopped him from looking out for her before. The one person Lucy could always rely on was her father.
***
There was no longer any doubt that Lucy had left the complex. The guard at the gate confirmed she had exited as a passenger in one of the staff cars belonging to a healthcare worker at the hospital. When questioned, the woman simply stated that Lucy had requested a lift to the nearest town where she would be meeting a friend who had some personal items for her and would drop her back at the complex afterwards. It was a plausible story with just one problem – Lucy did not come back.
Emmy decided to drive to the town to search for Lucy herself and Charlie insisted on going with her. He even convinced her to let him drive. The town had a small resident population of just three hundred people, but it was also a major hub for travellers on the main Adelaide to Darwin highway, which split the country in two. Emmy’s plan was to enquire at the town’s two hostels and three hotels as well as the bus station.
‘How much money did she have?’ asked Charlie. ‘We know she has no bank cards so cash is her only option.’
‘I’m not sure,’ replied Emmy. ‘She’s due to be compensated for what happened at Jackson’s Hill, but I know for a fact that hasn’t come through yet. I gave her some cash just to make her feel like she had some independence. It was a token gesture really.’
‘Ball park figure?’
‘Fifteen hundred dollars.’
Her companion winced.
‘Enough to cover a bus to the nearest airport and a flight to anywhere in the country. She could be halfway to Hobart by now.’
‘No, she’s afraid; she’ll stick with something familiar.’
‘Could she have gone home?’
‘That’s also doubtful. Even if she has friends and family she can call on, for her to turn up unexpectedly after being thought dead and with child too. It just raises too many questions.’
‘So what does that leave us with?’
Charlie was still driving and as he rounded the next bend it brought them alongside the forecourt for a used car dealership. It operated at the bottom end of the market and was the kind of place that appealed more to backpackers than residents or wealthy tourists. Vehicles were on sale for as little as five hundred dollars.
‘She’s bought a car,’ said Emmy.
‘How do you know?’ replied Charlie.
‘Trust me, I just know. When she was a kid her dad used to take her camping in the outback. To Lucy, there’s no better place than being nestled in her swag under the night sky. It’s where she’ll feel at her most safe and secure.’
‘And do you know which campgrounds she used to visit?’
Emmy shook her head.
‘She never told me anything specific. I don’t think they used to venture out of state though. How many campgrounds do you think there are in South Australia?’
‘I think it can be best represented by the Aboriginal counting system. They stop numbering past two.’ He raised fingers as he pronounced each word. ‘One...two...many.’
Emmy looked at him quizzically. After a brief uncomfortable silence it hit her.
One too many.
‘You don’t think a search is practical, do you?’
‘South Australia is a million square kilometres in size. Even the army would take months, if not years to cover an area that large. Unless you have a way to slow time or travel at the speed of light, it isn’t possible, believe me.’
Another short silence followed, but this time they were both thinking the exact same thing. Emmy turned to Charlie, who really hoped that she was not about to say what he thought.
‘No,’ he said, pre-empting her response. ‘Absolutely not.’
‘We’ll start first thing in the morning,’ she told him.
Chapter 29
Welcome to the Northern Territory.
Crossing the state line was like receiving a deep tissue Thai massage. She could feel the stress leaving her body. If anybody had followed or was looking for her, she felt there was now a sizeable distance between them, both figuratively and literally.
She had driven all through the day and then c
arried on driving throughout the night. Tiredness no longer affected her. Since coming out of the coma she had been so full of energy. So full of life. And now she had this dark shadow hanging over her. Her head was full of questions. How and why were of only minor concern next to what now?
The road terminated about thirty kilometres from the town. Any unsuspecting traveller would assume this was the end of the route and turn around. If they consulted a map they would have no reason to think otherwise. Lucy knew that both the road and the map lied. She simply carried on driving across the red dirt until she came to the perimeter fence where she was forced to continue her journey on foot.
Signs warning of a toxic spill were posted at regular intervals. This time the lie was merely a half truth. Emmy had told her that she was immune to the effects of the psychic radiation that had infected an entire town with madness. As she squeezed her body under a gap in the fence, which had been dug by an animal, she really hoped her lover had been telling the truth. She had plenty to worry about without having to endure all manner of hallucinations on top.
After an hour of walking and seeing no sign of a town on the horizon, she worried she had taken a wrong turning somewhere along the way. Then without warning the landscape changed. She found herself walking across scorched earth.
It no longer felt like she was on the same planet. Everything around her was hostile and alien. Pieces of charred debris littered the ground and one piece of blackened wood in particular caught her eye. Its corners were at perfect right angles and much too geometric to have occurred naturally. When it was within touching distance she extended her leg, and flipped it over with her foot. Beneath the soot and the ash she could partially make out some writing.
LY FO
Lyfo? Taken on its own, the phrase was meaningless. Something about the typeface, however, was familiar. She played around with the letters in her mind and then she tried adding one to the front and one to the back.
SLY FOX
Backing away from the sign like it was a gravestone, she turned and took another look at her surroundings. She reconstructed the town with her imagination. She pictured Mindy’s pub, Davo’s garage, Ned’s butchers shop and Lucas’ police station. They had all now gone. She thought of the coma patients back at Emmy’s complex and how like her, they too had nowhere to go should they ever awake from their nightmares.
The place was making her uneasy and being there was not helping. She still felt alone. Her father was not with her. This left just one more place that he could be.
The observatory.
***
Convincing Constance to go along with her plan was going to prove difficult, so Emmy tried to delay it for as long as possible. She arranged to meet Charlie before Dr Stark was due into work and they got straight into their search. It was the first time she had used the technology to try and find a specific person and it was proving more difficult than she had anticipated.
Locating a place on the astral plane was easy. All she had to do was to think of it in her mind and her consciousness would be transported there instantly. Of course, places were by their nature fixed in space and to a certain extent, in time. People were different. Lucy was not just people, however. She was Emmy’s companion – her most loyal friend and trusted lover. They shared an unbreakable bond.
She thought of when they had first met. Their first kiss. The moment they lost each other and the moment they found each other. She thought of Lucy’s smile. Her eyes. Her long blonde hair. She thought of the fear her lover must now be experiencing.
Nothing.
‘Where are you?’
She let the memories flow freely through her mind but all to no avail. Nothing took her to Lucy. She tried visiting places that she knew were important to Lucy. Emmy got the address of her previous home and the school where she worked from a quick internet search, but neither was host to the familiar energy signature she so desperately sought. Downhearted but not defeated, she returned to her body.
‘Did you find her?’ asked Charlie.
‘Find who?’ came a reply from behind him.
The two scientists turned to see that they had been joined by the last person they wanted to share their latest project with.
‘Constance, I thought you were not due in for another hour,’ he said, trying to buy himself more time to come up with a suitable excuse for what he and Emmy were doing.
‘I decided to get an early start,’ she replied. ‘Evidently I was not the only one.’
She picked up a tablet and used it to remotely access the master control station. The data this brought up immediately aroused her suspicions.
‘Who’s in Adelaide and why are you looking for them?’
‘That doesn’t concern you,’ said Emmy, who had left her pod and was making her way to the control console to shut Constance out of the data file from the recent journey.
‘If you’re using this equipment inappropriately then I can think of a lot of people who will be concerned. This is no longer some pet project funded by your rich grandfather. Every last cent has to be accounted for.’
‘Lucy,’ blurted Charlie. ‘We were looking for Lucy. It’s all above board. I approved it myself.’
‘Why were you looking for Lucy?’ Then fixing Emmy with her most calculated stare; ‘Did you two lovebirds have a falling out?’
‘This has nothing to do with my personal life,’ Emmy told her. ‘Lucy has gone away for a few days and I thought we could use the opportunity to test out a hypothesis. We wanted to see if I’d be able to find a person simply by centring my thoughts on them irrespective of location.’
‘And this was unsuccessful?’
‘The first attempt was, but we’re going to give it a few more tries.’
‘So you’re not expecting her back anytime soon?’
‘Like I said – she’ll be gone for a few days. We’ll be conducting these tests outside of the normal mission times so you needn’t concern yourself with them.’
Emmy made sure to keep the morning’s test out of the conversation for the rest of the session. She was tense enough with Lucy missing and the last thing she wanted was to have Dr Stark asking too many questions. At that moment, only she and Charlie knew about the baby. She intended to keep it that way.
***
Lucy spotted a kangaroo on the hill. It was a seven foot red not unlike the ones she had encountered during her first visit to this part of the country three years earlier. She wondered if it could even be one of the remarkable mob that had opened her eyes to so many tantalising possibilities.
As she moved closer the silhouette of the observatory rose up from behind the animal. The building was just as foreboding as she remembered. If anything, it had actually increased in menace and malevolence. Its walls were darker than she recalled, almost like shadows; dead and cold.
The kangaroo stayed on its elevated throne until she was close enough to reach out and touch it. It was the most familiar of everything she had thus far encountered, but there was to be no repeat of her magical experience from all those years ago. The animal recoiled from her touch as if her fingertips were branding irons before hopping away from both her and the observatory. When it had put twenty feet of separation between them it briefly looked back at Lucy. Crazy as it seemed, she could not help but think it was disappointed with her in some way.
Putting her lingering doubt to one side she carried on with her plan. When she reached the door to the building she was surprised to find it was neither boarded up nor locked. It gave way to the slightest pressure, allowing her to cautiously step inside.
The interior changes hit her immediately. All of the furnishings, fixtures and fittings had been removed. Even the wiring had been torn out leaving exposed cracks running up the walls and alongside the floorboards like gaping wounds. The place was a demolition site.
No, worse than that – it was a mausoleum.
The prospect of encountering a ghost in such a Godforsaken place did not seem too unreas
onable. At least not to one who had encountered such spectres before. This was not only the place where she had learned about her father’s return, but also the last place she knew him to have visited during his unprecedented return from death.
The midday sun provided enough light through the windows to allow her to venture deeper into the compound. Following her memory, she walked along the outer corridor leading to the main laboratory. This room had originally housed the telescope before the resident scientists converted it in order to carry out their misguided experiments.
Like the rest of the building, the room was completely empty. Those who had abandoned it had later returned to strip it bare. All scientific equipment, all remnants of Jackson Fox’s work had been taken away. Out of everything she had so far encountered, this room felt the most desolate; the most barren. It was the epicentre of despair.
With the domed roof above her head it created the impression she was walking through a cathedral. The place certainly had a particular reverence to it; like she was stepping on consecrated ground. When she thought back to the horrors that had occurred there this actually seemed possible. It was not unreasonable to think that a holy man might have been brought in to exorcise the building’s demons. If so, they may also have taken away its angels, making her trip a wasted one.
She closed her eyes.
‘Dad, if you’re here – I need you. Just give me a sign. Anything to let me know you can hear me.’
There was nothing but stillness, broken only by the rhythmic beat of her heart.
‘Dad, please!’
Her only reply was in the mocking chant of an echo as it bounced from wall to wall and into oblivion. She internalised her thoughts as deep as they would go, willing herself to hear his voice or to feel his reassuring hand on her shoulder. She wanted to be able to place herself into a trance like Emmy did for her astral journeys.
There was no voice, no hand and nor did she fall into a trance. All she noticed was a very slight flutter in her stomach. The sensation was slowly rising until the flutter became pressure, which in turn became pain. There was a heat inside her. It was a flame feeding and growing on oxygen, burning her insides.
Diamond Sky Trilogy Box Set: Books 1-3 Page 79