by Trish Moran
‘And I, Miyu, originally Min,’ her twin said.
‘I am Saf, now Sakura,’ the third said.
All spoke perfect English with a trace of a Far Eastern accent.
Ruby turned to the boys.
Leon pointed to the tall blonde boy, ‘What is your name now, Url?’
‘Yuri,’ he replied. He sat very straight with a serious expression on his face.
‘And you, Pel?’ Johnny asked him.
‘Pellier! Easy to remember!’ the French boy smiled.
‘It’s lovely to meet you all!’ Ruby continued. ‘We’ll be here for a week or two, or as long as you feel you need us to help you settle in!’
‘It’s a bit tricky at first, living like a Non-Lab!’ Johnny said.
‘But you soon get used to it!’ his brother added.
‘Any questions to start with?’ Ruby asked.
The three girls looked at each other, Sakura cleared her throat, ‘Our main concern is mixing with Non-Labs and remaining inconspicuous.’
‘Well, you’re dressed appropriately, so now you just have to get used to mixing with Non-Labs. Why don’t we all go for a walk now? We can go past the university campus, too. It isn’t open for students yet, but there will be some people around,’ Ruby suggested.
Soon they were all walking around the town centre. The eyes of the girl twins widening as they saw the tall buildings in the town centre.
‘Girls! Relax!’ Johnny sidled up to them. ‘Don’t act as if you’ve never seen a building before!’
The two girls nodded as Johnny continued to advise them in a low voice.
Ruby smiled to herself, thinking of the first few trips into town she had made with the twins and their barely contained excitement.
Leon was showing Sakura, the young Japanese girl, a map of the town centre. She studied it earnestly.
‘You don’t look too worried, Pellier,’ Ruby said to the French boy.
‘No,’ he shrugged. ‘It must come from my subscriber!’
He smiled at Ruby, ‘I am looking forward to studying music. To be quite honest, life was often boring in the Caves. Except for the times when Abe had us training!’
‘Won’t it be good when all Labs can live a free life; doing the things they enjoy doing?’ Ruby said.
‘Do you think that day will ever dawn?’ Pellier asked her with a wry expression.
She looked at him, ‘Was your subscriber by any chance a philosopher?’
‘No. He is an officer in the French army. I was created from his son’s cells,’ he replied.
‘How do you feel about … being created in that way?’ Ruby asked him.
‘How do you feel about being created in the way you were?’ he shrugged again. ‘I’m here. I don’t really think about it.’
Ruby gave a smile and looked ahead to where the twins and the other three were standing. They joined them.
‘Jade was saying she’d like to try out a new instrument. There’s a music shop here,’ Leon told them.
Pellier’s eyes lit up, then he then he looked down, ‘Celia has already bought us each an instrument and a piano for the house. She told us not to waste money,’ he kicked at a stone.
‘This wouldn’t be counted as wasting money!’ Ruby told him and enjoyed watching his face light up again.
They spent an enjoyable few hours looking through the instruments and trying out several of them. The shop assistants were obviously delighted to have such talented musicians in their shop. The girls and Yuri tried out several stringed instruments. Pellier disappeared into the wind section and was soon torn between a saxophone and a bassoon. Ruby drifted in and out of the two rooms, until she realised that an impromptu performance by the three girls had drawn quite a crowd. She nodded at them to select their instruments and soon after that ushered them out of the shop. So much for being inconspicuous!
They walked back to the house with all the new students happily smiling and chatting to each other. They would probably fit in quite easily, Ruby thought. Musicians and arty types were allowed to be a bit different without arousing suspicion.
Each evening the house rang out with music, sometimes the students performed together, sometimes individually. During the day Ruby and the twins took them to the supermarket, on buses and trains, and walked around to get to know the town. She was pleased to see the girls becoming more confident. She was glad they had Pellier with them. His laid-back character never caused him to feel unsure of himself.
Once they had been attending university for a fortnight, Ruby felt she and the twins could return to their own house. On the last evening the twins cooked a special meal.
‘I am so full!’ Leon said spreading himself out on the sofa afterwards.
‘It was good!’ Pellier agreed, pressing the television remote as he sat down beside him.
‘Well done to the chefs! I’ll get us some coffee,’ Ruby said, carrying a pile of plates out to the kitchen.
She returned ten minutes later to find the others watching the television with wide eyes.
‘Why is he pulling her clothes off?’ Yuri asked as the couple on the screen exchanged passionate kisses and stumbled towards the bedroom.
Ruby gave a short laugh, ‘It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?’
Seven blank faces turned towards her.
‘Oh, no!’ she shook her head. ‘You really don’t know, do you?’
‘Could you explain, please?’ Pellier asked her.
‘Well, they’re going to …’ she glanced at the screen where the woman was now pulling the man down onto the bed beside her, ‘They’re going to … have sex!’
Leon frowned, ‘Is that when they mate?’
‘Yes,’ Ruby could feel her face burning. ‘Well, not always. Sometimes people do it for fun! Like those people!’
The girls exchanged looks as if doubting that what was happening on the screen could be fun.
‘Didn’t you talk about this at all in the Caves? At least about mating?’ Ruby asked them.
‘We did not think of mating. The Nursery Ward is full of developing young,’ Yuri told her.
Ruby steeled herself, ‘Well, now you are in the Non-Lab world, especially at parties and other social gatherings at university, you are going to need to know something, quite a lot actually, about … sex. And protecting yourself.’
‘You mean it can turn violent?’ Sakura whispered. The other girls’ hands flew to their mouths.
‘No, well, hopefully not,’ Ruby cast her mind back to the sex education lessons she had had at school over the past few years. She took a deep breath and began to explain the basics.
The next morning Ruby hugged each of them in turn as they stood beside the train to take her and the twins’ home.
‘You must telephone immediately if you need any help or advice. Anything at all,’ she told them.
‘We will,’ the girls said.
‘This new life promises to be most interesting,’ Yuri gave them a slight bow.
Ruby turned to Pellier, ‘You will all look after each other, OK?’
He gave her a solemn nod, ‘Labs always stand together!’
Chapter Six
He had woken up in the night again, calling out. She had rushed in to see him sitting upright in bed, his eyes staring unseeing ahead.
‘It’s OK, it’s OK, my love,’ she had comforted him. ‘It’s just a dream! You’re OK now!’
‘It was the same thing, but I see a bit more each time, Mom!’ he said turning to her.
‘Do you want to talk about it, honey?’ she asked gently.
‘I’m in the orange room; I can hear the humming noise; all like last time. But this time … I opened the lid …’ he said slowly.
‘What lid?’ she asked him. But he shook his head.
‘I don’t know!’
She handed him a clean pair of pyjamas, ‘Put these on while I change the sheets. You’re covered in sweat, Simon! Perhaps we should make an appointment to see Dr Flynn again tomorrow
?’
‘No, I’ll be fine, Mom,’ he said getting back into bed.
She pushed his hair back and kissed his forehead, ‘I think you’ve being overdoing it lately, Simon. You’ve never really given yourself time to get over your last accident!’
‘I’m fine,’ he had repeated sleepily.
Chapter Seven
Back at home, Ruby spoke to Celia about the time it took to settle the Labs into their new home.
‘It took us a few weeks longer than we had planned, but we wanted to be sure that they were confident to deal with life on their own. I was thinking, once the students settle in, couldn’t some of them help out with the new houses?’ she suggested.
‘Yes, that may be an option,’ Celia nodded.
‘Celia, can I ask you something?’ Ruby ventured. ‘The twins are certainly popular with the girls, aren’t they? Can Labs, have relationships, you know, close ones …?’
Celia looked at her questioningly.
‘Can Labs … mate?’ she said bluntly.
‘Oh, that.’ Celia looked thoughtful. ‘At the Centre they are able to take sperm and egg samples for further research. So, I assume Labs can. I don’t know if any Labs have tried to.’
‘And what about Labs mating with Non-Labs?’ Ruby continued.
‘We have no knowledge of this at all. I suppose we will need to explore this scenario at some point,’ Celia agreed.
Ruby sighed, ‘I think we need to think about it now! Labs are going to be meeting people on a social level in the Non-Lab world!’
She told Celia about her last evening in Manchester and her efforts to give them the basics in sex education.
‘Thank you, Ruby. I should have thought about this myself. I will speak to Abel to make sure all Labs are fully informed on the subject before they move into their own homes,’ she told her.
Two days later, Ruby and the twins set off for London to visit the two new homes set up there.
‘At the first house we will meet Zaf, Peg, Joe, and Oll; officially known now as Sophie, Megan, Joseph, and Oliver,’ Ruby told the twins.
‘I remember Zaf, Peg, and Joe! They were from the same subscriber!’ Leon said.
‘They joined us in the Caves. Oll was at the farmhouse with us,’ Johnny added. ‘Who’s at the other house?’
‘Ben and Dil – twins, Lok and Hal – also twins, and Fay and Cal,’ Ruby read from the notes Sara had given her. ‘Ben, Dylan, Lucy, Helen, Fiona, and Carla. They are all going to be studying politics. I hope they settle in as well as the others did.’
Johnny and Leon grinned at each other.
‘From our meetings at the Caves, they will have no trouble settling in!’ Johnny said. ‘They are like Abel about the Labs. What was the word Keith used?’
He turned to Leon.
‘First, firstent?’ his brow creased.
‘Fervent?’ Ruby suggested.
‘That’s it!’ his face lit up.
Ruby found both sets of students much more confident and adventurous than the group of musicians in Manchester. They quickly settled in to their new lives. Within a week they had all joined several different organisations supporting different political parties and charities.
‘We need to work to make Non-Labs aware of the unfairness of inequality amongst all people,’ Sophie told them one evening.
‘By putting ourselves in positions to have a voice for other disadvantaged groups; we hope eventually to build a network to support the freedom of our own people,’ Megan added.
‘We are enjoying our new-found freedom and are eager to free all Labs!’ Lucy said.
‘Yes!’ her sister leaned forward. ‘We hope to do so much!’
‘I’m sure they would be able to help other Labs set up houses in London,’ Ruby told Celia when she and the twins had returned to Castlewell a few days later. ‘They’re already very confident.’
‘I will speak to Abel about this when he comes tomorrow. We are planning on setting up two new homes in the north of London. They could help establish the newly freed Labs,’ Celia said.
Abel arrived the following morning as Ruby came down for breakfast. He glanced at the clock.
‘Ruby just came back from London last night. She deserves a rest,’ Keith told him.
‘Lon and Jed have already gone out to take exercise. They did not seem to feel the need for extra sleep,’ he commented. ‘Maybe they feel the need for urgency for our plight!’
‘If I had got up an hour earlier it wouldn’t make things happen any faster, would it?’ Ruby snapped at him.
Dette and Celia looked at her in surprise. Keith turned away to hide the smile on his lips.
Abel pushed back his chair and went out of the door as Ruby sat down at the table.
Ruby quickly finished her breakfast and went to get dressed. She was furious with herself for letting Abel rile her. Yet she was secretly pleased she had annoyed him in return.
‘Just because I’m a Non-Lab!’ she hissed under her breath. ‘I can do nothing right in his eyes!’
As she came back down the stairs there was a knock on the front door. She opened it to see two young girls standing there, holding tennis racquets.
‘Hi, are Johnny and Leon here? We have got the right house, haven’t we?’ one of them asked.
‘Yes. You do have the right house, but they’re out at the moment. Oh, here they come, now,’ Ruby replied as the twins jogged around the corner.
‘Johnny!’ the second girl waved at the boys, ‘We’ve taken up your challenge! We’re just off to play tennis at the park! Want to join us?’
The boys looked hesitant as Celia appeared beside Ruby.
‘Why not, boys? It’s Saturday, you haven’t any classes today!’ Ruby smiled. ‘Come in, girls. They’ll need a shower before they join you.’ She waved her hand in front of her nose, grinning. ‘Come into the kitchen and have a coffee while you wait.’
Celia gave a brief hello and then disappeared upstairs. Abel glared at Ruby before leaving the house.
The three girls chatted happily in the kitchen. Ruby learnt that they belonged to most of the sports clubs the boys had joined. She smiled to herself, wondering if that was a coincidence.
She gave the girls the version of their backgrounds they had prepared. They had all grown up together in Nottingham, and had decided to share a house for the year.
‘This area is so much nicer than where we were living. It was really industrialised. And it’s handy for my work,’ she told them. ‘The others are students. I’m sure you’ve seen Dette and Celia at college, too.’
‘Yes,’ the first girl, Jane, nodded. ‘We see them in the canteen sometimes.’
‘They seem nice, though a bit shy,’ added Sara, her friend.
‘Who’s shy?’ Johnny asked striding into the kitchen, followed by his brother.
‘Not you two, that’s for sure!’ Jane laughed.
‘Come on, then!’ Leon said. ‘Let’s beat you at tennis like we did at squash!’
‘Don’t be so sure!’ Sara cried as they left the house. ‘Jane has a wicked backhand!’
Ruby was putting the cups in the dishwasher when Dette and Celia came in.
‘Is it wise to have Non-Labs in our home?’ Celia said.
Abel appeared in the doorway his arms folded across his chest.
‘She is right. How can we feel safe? I do not want them coming here. I do not enjoy the company of Non-Labs!’
‘The more we blend in with the community, the safer we will be,’ Ruby said in a level voice. ‘Isn’t it the plan for Labs to live amongst Non-Labs freely one day? How do you feel about it, Dette?’
Dette frowned, ‘You know, these past few weeks, since we have started our college course with Non-Labs, I’ve begun to realise that there is not much difference between Non-Labs and ourselves.’
‘Except many of us are not free!’ Celia added.
‘Yet!’ Ruby said.
‘Not much difference between Labs and Non-Labs?’ Abel g
ave a snort of derision, then turning on his heels he left the room.
Over the next few weeks Johnny and Leon often invited other students back to the house and visited other homes. Celia and Dette were more reticent about inviting people, but were finding it easier to settle in at college through talking to the twins’ new friends.
One evening Jane and Sara arrived with a boy a few years older than them.
‘This is Isaac, my brother,’ Jane explained. ‘He’s not a student anymore, he’s out there in the big working world!’
Isaac explained he was a trainee reporter on the local newspaper.
‘Today Castlewell, tomorrow London!’ Jane quipped.
‘Well, we all have to start somewhere, don’t we?’ he retorted good naturedly.
‘Castlewell’s not exactly teeming with big news stories, is it?’ Sara laughed.
‘You never know what dark secrets are hidden behind those net curtains!’ Isaac gave a mock frown.
Dette let the cup she was holding clatter to the floor.
‘Oh, there goes another one!’ Ruby laughed. ‘I thought I was the only butterfingers round here! You lot had better get off to the squash court or you’ll be late!’
Chapter Eight
He sat at the window and pulled the duvet around him. Outside, far below, he could see a man walking along the dark road. He wondered who he was and why he was out so late. Perhaps he was going home after being out with some friends. Perhaps he was a shift worker. Perhaps he was troubled in his sleep, too and was taking a walk to clear his mind.
His strange dreams were becoming more and more frequent lately. He went over the last one again in his head now he felt calmer.
He’d pushed open the lid and climbed out. The room seemed vast. It was lit by a dim orange glow. Something whirred gently in the background. He remembered the floor had felt cold on his bare feet. He’d walked, slowly at first, as if each step was something new for him. He looked around him and saw …
That’s when he had woken up. He sighed. Every dream showed him a little more. And he knew there was still more to see.
Chapter Nine
The next morning Celia and Dette gave Ruby details of the next group of Labs to be settled in two houses in a London suburb later that week.