At the foot of the stairs was a large circular stone area, now full of people. Deeper into the cavern beyond this reception area was a ramshackle collection of rooms filled with odd bits of furniture. The rooms had mud-and-brick walls to head height, but no ceilings.
‘This is our general living area where people come to read and work,’ Rosemary explained. ‘It looks like a doll’s house from up here, doesn’t it? But the rooms are actually very private and because they don’t have ceilings, they get plenty of light from above.’ Rosemary pointed up to the light globes that covered the high roof like a milky way.
‘The design makes the place less daunting,’ Rosemary said. ‘The living section creates a personalised micro-system of sitting rooms, reading areas, spaces for games.’
Lily saw that small passages wound between the rooms. To one side of the living area, against the main wall of the cavern, was an open corridor.
‘That wide passageway allows people to get to the back of the cavern without having to make their way through the rabbit warren of the living area,’ Rosemary said.
Lily nodded and started down the stairs again, allowing Rosemary to steer her deeper into the cavern along the broad corridor.
The crowd began to break up as Rosemary led Lily further into the cavern. Lily’s eyes were drawn to people who were lying in little alcoves set into the cave walls. These people all looked the same. Their limbs were withered and twisted, their hair thin and white, their joints horribly swollen and their backs bent. Yet their faces looked young and Lily was reminded of the red-headed boy on the trolley in front of her in the drainage facility. Many of these people stared at Lily as she passed with Rosemary.
Each little alcove contained beds as well as sofas and chairs, small tables and ornaments. Portable screens woven from reeds and branches were folded up against the walls, perhaps for extra privacy.
‘This seems a cruel time to tell you this, Lily, with what you’ve just told me about your brother,’ Rosemary said, putting her arm around Lily’s shoulders. ‘But you need to understand everything about our community.’
Rosemary nodded towards the people in the alcoves. ‘This is what you would have become if you’d been forced to remain at the facility,’ she said softly. ‘You weren’t there for long, judging from your physical state. You were very lucky indeed. From what we’ve seen, the worst damage happens in the first two or three months and usually results in severe physical disability. Despite that, it takes a long time to actually die. The monsters there drag it out.’ Rosemary paused. ‘Unless of course the person has a severe reaction to the draining, in which case death is immediate. It happens, but only rarely.’
This was hard for Lily to absorb. Did this mean that Daniel would probably be like these people? Or that he might not even be alive?
‘We call these people floaters,’ Rosemary continued. ‘That isn’t a derogatory term. It just refers to their physical frailty. Mentally they’re fine, but they’re undergone extensive periods of draining. Like the girl Sal just brought in. Physically, she’ll always be damaged. Floaters are one of the main reasons why our cave system can never be discovered. They can’t run; they wouldn’t be able to escape –’
‘Daniel!’ Lily interrupted. Was it possible that her brother was already here? That he might be one of these emaciated husks who could barely move even though their eyes were still young and vibrant? Rosemary followed Lily’s ungainly scramble along the walls, searching for her brother. Lily darted in and out of alcoves, leaning down to peer into people’s faces.
‘Lily, stop.’ Rosemary was holding firmly to her arm. ‘Stop, Lily. There’s no one by the name of Daniel here. I’m sorry.’
Lily slumped against the wall.
‘They took him from my parents’ house almost two months ago,’ Lily said softly. ‘Would he look like these people by now? Or would he already be, already be …’
It was hard not to think of the way the red-headed boy lying in front of her at the facility had aged so quickly. Rosemary took the end of her shirt and wiped Lily’s tears.
‘Yes, Lily, if Daniel’s still alive, he’d most probably be a floater. I’m sorry. From what they’ve told us,’ Rosemary gestured to the floaters along the walls, ‘they drain people for a couple of months, then they rest them for a while because constant draining can result in rapid death.’
‘So Daniel might still be alive,’ Lily said. That was all that mattered for now. Lily flung her arms around Rosemary and it was the sweetest thing when Rosemary hugged her in return.
Rosemary nodded, but her expression was sombre.
‘How does the draining actually work?’ Lily asked. ‘It was hard to work out exactly what they were doing while I was in there.’
‘I’m no scientist, but I can tell you what we think happens,’ Rosemary replied. ‘Human growth hormone is produced naturally by the pituitary gland. it’s rate of production peaks during adolescence, about the age you are now Lily. This is when accelerated growth happens. As people get older, their pituitary stops secreting the growth hormone. This hormone is the one that tells the body to repair cells. That’s how we age; it’s natural. A sixty-year-old man, for instance, secretes only a quarter of the growth hormone of a twenty year old.’
‘So what are you saying?’ Lily said. ‘Do you mean that the pituitary glands in people my age are being cultivated to keep the older generation from ageing?’ That’s exactly what Daniel had suspected.
‘The short answer is yes,’ Rosemary said. ‘The men on the Committee want to stay young – probably as much out of vanity as for the fear of ever having to give up power,’ Rosemary said. She smiled grimly.
‘They initially tried to make the growth hormone synthetically, but it didn’t work very well. Then their scientists found out that the best growth hormone is natural and it comes from the pituitaries of young people in their late teens – people like you, Lily.’
Rosemary paused, seeing the stricken look on Lily’s face. ‘Yes, it’s sickening,’ Rosemary said. ‘The Committee has developed drugs to force the adolescent pituitary into overdrive. Once the gland reaches it’s optimum size, they drain it and harvest the growth hormone. They’ve developed sophisticated ways to intrude on the brain and gain access to the pituitary without killing the subject. it’s something that would have been impossible not so long ago. Once they drain the pituitary, they use the raw fluid to make a serum that halts or reverses the ageing process. Did you have headaches?’
Lily nodded dismally. ‘I still do. So did Daniel – really bad ones.’ She was thinking about her younger-looking parents and about Daniel, whose body, if he was even still alive, would be withered like the floaters slumped against the cave walls.
‘Lily? You made it. Brilliant,’ a familiar voice interrupted them. Lily turned to see Merrick, the boy who’d dropped her back at the facility. His wild hair stood out around his head, backlit by a suspended light globe. One of his arms hung from his side at an awkward angle, but he was hopping from one leg to the other in a comical way.
‘Did that happen when you were rescuing me?’ Lily said, pointing to his arm.
He smiled, still hopping excitedly. ‘Well, I tried to rescue you, but I didn’t exactly succeed.’
‘What happened?’ Rosemary looked puzzled.
Merrick looked sheepish. ‘We rescued her, but then they shot me and I went and dropped her,’ he said.
He looked down at Lily’s equally limp arm. ‘Looks like you were lucky, just a glancing blow; you’ll probably completely regain use of it,’ he said.
‘She will,’ Rosemary said. She examined his arm. ‘Looks like you’ll be lucky too, Merrick. So what else happened today?’
‘Kieran and Ingie were separated from us, on the other side of the facility, where they were jamming the security systems. When the battery on the jammer started fading in and out and the Blacktroopers got wise to us, they chased me, Sal and Taddy. They didn’t realise Kieran and Ingie were there, too. So Kiera
n and Ingie went back to help her.’ He grinned at Lily, who shook her head, confused.
‘The people who do the rescues, are you all part of the same group?’ she asked.
‘More or less,’ Merrick said.
‘Anyhow,’ he said, changing the subject, ‘I heard you asking about someone. Did you say Daniel?’
‘Daniel’s my brother; he was taken from my parents’ house a couple of months ago.’
‘It may be a coincidence, but there was a Daniel in a resting section of the facility not far away from you. I saw his nametag,’ Merrick said.
‘Did you see what he looked like?’ Lily asked with a catch in her voice.
‘Sorry.’ Merrick shook his head.
‘But if it’s him and he was being rested, that’s a good thing, isn’t it?’ Lily asked Rosemary.
The older woman hesitated before nodding.
‘The resting area is where they give them a break from draining, to get them all juiced up again,’ Merrick said. ‘This Daniel wasn’t in the greatest shape, none of them were in that section. That’s why we left him. We tend to take people like you. It sounds heartless, but it’s just easier to get people over the Wall if they’re stronger. If he was your brother, I’m sorry. Sal took a girl called Pam. She’s not doing so well, unfortunately. It turns out she’s pretty advanced.’
‘Yes, I’ll go back and see Pam soon,’ Rosemary said. ‘Could it be the same Daniel, I wonder? it’s a fairly common name.’
‘Even if it’s a small chance, I have to go back,’ Lily said to Merrick. He flinched as she grabbed his injured arm.
‘We will, soon,’ he promised. ‘We also brought in someone else, a girl called Chrissie. Maybe you can have a look at her too, Rosie? She’s acting a bit strange,’ Merrick said. ‘It was weird, we found her over the Wall already. She was a bit confused and didn’t have a bracelet. I thought they’d stopped putting people over, but obviously not. She’s with Mary.’
A tall girl came up beside Merrick. Lily remembered her as Sal.
‘What’s going on?’ Sal said, slightly out of breath. She noticed Lily and her smile disappeared.
‘Oh, it’s you,’ she said, as if Lily had just crawled from under something rotten. ‘She’s bad luck, Merrick.’ Sal looked meaningfully at Merrick’s arm. ‘She’s the girl Kieran and Ingie had to leave when Shannon didn’t make it.’
There was an awkward pause. They were all staring at Lily.
‘How’s Shannon’s brother, Ric?’ Lily asked, breaking the silence.
‘How the hell do you expect?’ Sal snapped. ‘He’s gutted.’
Even scowling, Sal was stunning, with high cheekbones and thick yellow hair caught up in a loose ponytail.
‘He lost his sister, the last of his family, trying to save you and then you put everyone in danger by doing something stupid. Anyway, I can’t stand around chatting,’ Sal said. She stalked away, with a curt nod to Rosemary and Merrick and one last glare at Lily.
‘Don’t take it personally,’ Merrick said with a grin.
‘Mm, nothing personal about being called stupid.’
‘Actually, it was really brave of you to go back for Shannon,’ Kieran said, joining the group.
He’s stealthy. That must be why he’s so good at getting over the Wall, Lily thought.
‘Do you really think so?’ she said.
‘Yeah, it was silly and pointless, but brave.’
‘Tell that to Sal, she needs some convincing,’ Merrick said.
Lily smiled at Kieran. ‘Thanks,’ she said.
‘No problem,’ he grinned. ‘All clear outside,’ he said to Rosemary, and then he was gone again.
Lily gazed after him. He’d disappeared before she could remind him about his promise to help her go back for Daniel and Alice.
‘Everyone keeps putting me off,’ Lily said to Rosemary. ‘But I need to know when I can go back for Daniel. It sounds as if the sooner the better.’
‘It’s all right, Lily,’ Rosemary said. ‘Daniel won’t be forgotten. We’ll talk about that all in good time. Let’s get you sorted out first. You’re in no condition to help anyone or go anywhere right this minute. And Kieran and Merrick are right about Sal. Don’t take what she says to heart. There’s a fair bit of blame flying around this place. As you already know, there are people here who don’t want to try and help the people in the drainage facilities.’ Rosemary’s face had flushed darkly. She seemed to be on a roll. ‘And then there are others who think we should stop trying to disrupt the electricity supplies from the solar, geothermal and gas collection points. I’m not one of them.’
Disruption of electricity supplies? Lily remembered the blackouts. So the people from the cave were doing more than just rescue operations. They were defying lots of the Committees rules and systems. This gave Lily a sense of elation.
‘Settle down with the info overload, Rosie,’ Merrick said. ‘She’s just got here, she looks like she’s out on her feet. Sal’s given her a serve, typical, and she’s just found out about someone who could be her brother.’
‘It’s fine,’ Lily said. ‘Don’t worry about me. I’ll be just fine.’
She wanted to learn as much as she could, even though her head was spinning and the nausea was returning.
‘Come on, then,’ Rosemary said, ‘there’s someone you should meet before we get you cleaned up and rested.’ Rosemary steered her even deeper into the cavern, away from the floaters. Lily looked up at the high rocky ceiling. From outside, it would be hard to imagine that the dead end of the gully with it’s soaring rock face rising back up to ground level contained what amounted to a vast rock city, a haven for hundreds of people, maybe more. It was perfectly camouflaged because the entrance to the system was at the base of the deep gully, meaning that it all existed below the flat plains of the Sydney basin. Lily thought that about two thirds of the cave network must be deeply subterranean.
Although they were now deep inside the cavern, Lily still couldn’t see where it ended. The tiny globes that cast a dreamy yellow glow were like fairy lights that transformed the underground city into a magical place. The lack of daylight should have been claustrophobic, but it wasn’t.
Lily breathed deeply. The air smelled fresh, entirely different from the sterile air in her parents’ house. She looked more closely at the pipes attached to the walls and saw that they had holes cut into them at regular intervals. Perhaps they funnelled in air from the outside.
She wondered who had discovered this amazing cave system. It reminded Lily of the ancient Gothic cathedrals she had seen on her screen from the time of organised religion, when people had been allowed to gather and sing praises to something called a deity and ask for things for themselves.
Then Lily saw that the cavern did not just consist of the main space. They had arrived at a section where numerous passageways fed off the high-ceilinged central amphitheatre and it was down one of them that Rosemary now led her. The passageway, which was lit by more small globes at eye level, sloped gently downhill and Lily shivered slightly at the sensation of heading even further underground. On either side of the passage, doorways were set into the walls. Some were blocked with the same rustic woven screens she had seen in the main cavern. Other openings were draped with material and some had their screens pulled aside. Lily saw that each doorway led to an alcove which contained beds and personal effects.
‘How many people live here?’ Lily asked Rosemary.
‘Lots,’ Rosemary smiled.
They walked until they came to a plaited reed screen. Rosemary held Lily firmly by the elbow, almost as if to prevent her escaping.
Rosemary tapped on the screen, waited for a few seconds, and then pulled it aside. Behind it was a natural alcove which was sunk into the cave wall, a kind of a cave within a cave. An old man sat on the edge of a chair so large it threatened to overwhelm him. He looked ancient, though Lily was wary about making assumptions based on appearances, considering what she now knew about the dried-up young pe
ople she’d just seen in the floater section.
Tools and carving implements covered every available surface. The man’s hands rested on a small wooden harp in front of him. He cradled it lovingly. There was something eerily beautiful about the harp’s delicate shape and curves, and the way the wood glowed.
‘I can see you’re admiring the harp, Lily,’ he said. He must have heard them saying her name when she’d come in. ‘You can touch it, if you like.’
The wood was warm under Lily’s fingers. ‘it’s beautiful,’ she said.
‘Yes.’ The man ran his fingers along it’s strings.
‘What’s your name?’ she said.
‘Peter.’
‘Are you young?’
‘No, I’m as old as I look,’ he said, laughing.
‘Ageing is natural, Lily,’ Rosemary said. ‘It doesn’t frighten us and we’re free of the drugs they force-feed people inside the Wall. Drugs that make people terrified of getting old, people probably like your parents.’
Lily grabbed her arm. ‘What do you mean about my parents being terrified?’
Rosemary glanced at Peter. ‘We know that the drugs the Blacktroopers make people take have different purposes,’ she said. ‘The ones they give to the adults prevent them from really feeling their emotions.’
That must have been what Meredith was talking about, Lily thought.
‘The first time I tried to escape I met a woman,’ Lily said, shaking her head and blinking back tears. ‘She died because of me.’
There was a pause before Rosemary said, ‘it’s all right. You can tell us when you’re ready.’
Lily swallowed. ‘Her name was Meredith. She told me she’d given away her children. She kept referring to drugs and poison. I think she’d discovered what was going on by accident. When she stopped taking the Blacktrooper drugs and the serum, she aged really quickly. And she started to regret giving up her children.’
‘Yes, that happens,’ Rosemary said. ‘I’ve already told you about how they’re reversing the ageing process. But how do you persuade people to give up their children to a horrible death? Not so easy, eh? So you formulate a drug that neutralises peoples’ emotions and makes their entire world all about fear and craving. That’s the drug your parents would have been taking. And then there are different drugs for adolescents. Different pills, different colours, shapes – sound familiar?’
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