The Repossession

by Sam Hawksmoor

Julia’s mother was suddenly beside her.

  ‘Are you all right, dear?’

  Genie nodded, wiping her mouth.

  ‘I wanted to thank you for bringing Julia home to us.

  She told us what you did and how you looked after her. I don’t know what she’s been through exactly, but I just wanted to say thanks.’

  Genie blushed. She hadn’t done anything as far as she was concerned, but she smiled and accepted the remarks.

  ‘Don’t let her disappear again,’ Genie told her. ‘She loves you very much.’

  Tears welled in Julia’s mother’s eyes.

  Genie surveyed the confusion outside the church.

  Police questioning people. Everyone was bewildered, and some folks were staring at her with hostility, as if it were all her fault.

  Miller rescued her and escorted her to his car, where Renée and Rian waited.

  ‘Better?’ Rian asked.

  Genie shrugged. She wasn’t sure.

  ‘What’s going to happen to us? Where are the journalists, Miller? Where’s the TV people? I can’t believe no one’s interested, I mean this is an event, right?’

  Miller was tense. ‘I just learned that Fortransco set up a roadblock to prevent the press getting here. Someone leaked what we were doing, Genie. I’m sorry.’ He got behind the wheel and locked the doors as a precaution.

  Genie instantly realized they were in trouble. Not even the local press turned up. The Fortress had outsmarted them. Homicide were taking it seriously. But without the media asking awkward questions she knew Fortransco

  would get away with everything. She swore. This should have been the biggest story of the year.

  ‘Taking you to meet some people who’ve flown in from Vancouver,’ Miller said. ‘It includes the Deputy Commissioner of the Pacific Region and Commanding Officer of E Division. That’s like as high as it gets in the police. He’s got questions. My dad is already talking with his people.’

  ‘No TV reporters got through at all?’ Rian asked, confused.

  ‘No. I’m sorry, OK. I should have thought of that. I can’t even get through to them on the phone any more, the signal’s jammed.’

  Genie sighed. She had feared this. She realized that Miller was more upset than she was. ‘Maybe they aren’t here because it isn’t a good story if we aren’t dead. Dead teens are a news story. Stabbed teens, teens with gunshot wounds. But we’re tanned and alive, claiming to be abducted by the most respected man in Spurlake, stored on a server in a place that doesn’t actually exist on the map and teleported to the middle of a forest? Crazy talk.

  We’re probably lucky we aren’t on some tacky daytime TV

  show with people who think they’re Martians.’

  ‘You’ve suddenly became all cynical, Miss Magee,’

  Miller said, snatching a look at her. He could tell she was

  really upset, and probably a little scared now.

  Renée and Genie exchanged glances.

  ‘Perhaps with the Vancouver police involved we’ll get some protection,’ Renée suggested, but you could tell from her voice that she didn’t really believe that.

  ‘What happens now?’ Genie asked.

  ‘Marshall wants to talk to you about something,’ Miller answered mysteriously.

  Rian squeezed her hand and tried to reassure her.

  ‘We did good in there. People were shocked. Those parents will guard those kids now. I’m sure. It’s up to them now to persuade their families to leave town.’

  Genie nodded, looking out of the window as Spurlake passed by. ‘God, I need something to drink. Can we stop at the store on the way? I have an urgent need for Coke and chocolate.’

  Renée laughed, putting an arm around Genie and hugging her. ‘God, chocolate. When did I last eat chocolate? Put me down for that.’

  36

  Guiding Light

  Two days later Genie threw up for real and there was blood in the bathroom sink. Marshall was out of hospital now and recuperating at Miller’s home. He’d immediately dragged her to see his doctor. The doc did X-rays and tested her blood and urine. Said they’d found nothing wrong, but she was concerned about her blood pressure.

  She’d talked to her and asked if there was any tension in her life. Genie smiled at that. Even though the doc had given her a clean bill of health she knew Marshall was still worried about her. He drove back from the hospital in a thoughtful mood.

  ‘You have to hand it to those guys in the Fortress.

  They may not know what the hell they’re doing, but the fact that you’ve still got your nose in the right place is still pretty damn impressive.’

  Genie looked at him and frowned.

  ‘You do know they’re evil, right?’

  ‘I’m not defending them. But you’re here and your X-rays show that everything is pretty much where it’s

  supposed to be. OK, your blood pressure is a bit high, but that may have been the case before you were teleported.

  It takes a lot of skill to programme human DNA in such a way it can reform in the right order. I mean, I wrote a lot of those programmes, but it was theory, all theory. I never had a chance to make it work.’

  Genie thought about what he said.

  ‘If you were still working there, would you have tried to send me through the system? Be honest now.’

  Marshall shook his head. It was a question he’d been asking himself.

  ‘The most I was prepared to do was mice. We bred mice to do that. But I never got to send ’em. If we couldn’t send a damn clock, we weren’t going to be able to transmit a living mouse. You have no idea how complex the DNA structure of a mouse is. And keep its heart beating.’

  ‘But you wouldn’t have sent kids?’

  Marshall thought about it.

  ‘If we had sent mice and they had lived, we would have worked our way up to larger animals. At some point we would be where they are now and be looking for human volunteers.’

  Genie said nothing. Marshall snatched a look at her.

  ‘I’m trying to be honest, Genie. I’m a scientist. But to answer you, no, I’d never be part of anything that was

  illegal, dishonest and frankly criminal. None of those kids knew what they were getting into. That means they weren’t volunteers and what they did to them was murder. That’s not how you do science. Sure you take risks, but first demonstrate you can do mice. Prove the theory, then do the practice.’

  Genie understood. Marshall was one of the good guys; but only just.

  ‘I’m concerned with you throwing up. You aren’t . . . ?’

  ‘I’m not bulimic, if that’s what you’re thinking.’

  ‘Then what?’

  ‘I get all churned up. You have no idea how churned up I get. I worry about everybody. I’ve always been like this.

  About Rian, about me, about you, Moucher – hell, I can’t sleep nights because I’m worried about the pig, for Christ sakes. I mean, she’s all alone back at the farm, who’s going to feed her? I wake up worrying if I have clean underwear to wear. I throw up when I get churned up. That’s all.’

  Marshall smiled. He understood this. Anxiety churned him up too.

  ‘That pig’s fine. They love to forage. That’s why God gave her such a huge snout, help her find stuff to eat.’

  Genie smiled. Weirdly enough, Marshall’s explanation made her feel better. She could cross the pig off her list at last.

  ‘You should keep a worry diary,’ Marshall suggested.

  ‘A what?’

  ‘Y’know. Every time you throw up, keep a record of why or what came up. You’re a guinea pig, one of the first people to ever teleport. Scientists would expect you to monitor your health and that includes your mental health.

  Keep a note on changes. Just in case.’

  ‘In case of what?’

  ‘In case. That’s all. In case.’

  ‘There’s not something new I have to worry about is there?’

  ‘No. But put it this way, w
hen I lost my leg and my DNA got screwed, the doctors made me start a diary and it helped. Every time I had one of my fits, I wrote it down, and that’s how I knew not to worry about them. I discovered they come in regular cycles, I can survive them, and I can get through it because I know what it is. No surprises.’

  Genie nodded. She was still cross with him, but it was a logical idea. Particularly if something did start to go wrong.

  ‘I’ve been thinking,’ Marshall mused. ‘It was a default error that made you guys reanimate in the forest. We saw the old receptors we planted years ago functioning again.

  Most likely triggered by the storm. The area you materialized in is exactly halfway and turns out there’s

  a powerful natural magnetic manifestation there. It’s most likely that that has been interfering with the transmission programme. There was a power surge at the Fortress and fire at the very moment you transmitted. I spoke with one of the technicians who would take a risk and speak to me. That surge of power, the magnetic field and the receptors combined meant that all that digital DNA that had been sitting waiting to be delivered was just dumped, all at once, right there in the forest.’ He turned to look at her. ‘Like a lot of emails that suddenly get delivered all at once, y’understand?’

  That last bit Genie understood.

  They were slowing. They were at Miller’s home at last.

  ‘What do you think is going to happen to me, Marshall?’

  ‘Now? Or in the future?’

  ‘In the future.’

  Marshall parked and shut the engine off. He didn’t answer right away, but he didn’t get out of the cab either.

  ‘I read something about your grandmother whilst I was in hospital. Hell of a woman. Born in 1929. Inherited millions when old man Munby finally died. She never married but had a lover, or two. She gave birth to twins at the age of forty. Your mother and her sister, May. Not very socially acceptable back then, but she didn’t care.

  ‘Grandma Munby began a great civic works programme.

  She built the hospital I was in, lots of things. Spurlake has a lot to be grateful for, except they aren’t. They took her name off all the buildings when she had that altercation with your father.’

  ‘This is all in a book?’

  ‘Yep. Seems your father was a lawyer and liked the drink too much. Your grandma went to see him about that, to get him to treat your mother better and somehow he ended up dead. Foolishly he also kept loaded shotguns mounted all the way up the stairs. Your grandma claimed self-defence and got off on account of it. But of course no one took her side. Least of all your mother.’

  ‘Sounds familiar.’

  ‘But your Grandma Munby was a remarkable woman.

  She built herself a log cabin above the railway line overlooking the river. I remember it because it was like a postcard of a classic English garden, you know with hollyhocks three metres high and roses everywhere. That and the old Caboose she told fortunes in.’

  ‘I remember that Caboose.’ She closed her eyes, saw all the wind chimes that surrounded it and the dreamcatchers suspended from the roof.

  ‘Respectable people shunned her, but if you ever had a problem or were concerned about your future, that’s

  where you went. My first wife used to go see her all the time when we were first married. She had trouble conceiving. She really liked the old woman, even if she was pretty eccentric.’

  Genie had a sudden vision of herself an old grey-haired woman surrounded by flowers, telling fortunes. It wasn’t quite the future she craved.

  ‘The thing is, she spent much of her life helping people.

  I think you will too. You already have. You saved me. You saved those kids.’

  ‘I don’t want to tell fortunes.’

  Marshall smiled. ‘No, but I want you to use your gift.

  Your grandma passed it on to you. Find a way to use it.’

  ‘You really think what I have is a gift?’

  ‘I do. Some people get handed a gift of numbers or supermodel looks. The way I see it, it’s a gift from God.

  Use it well.’

  ‘What’s Rian’s special gift?’

  ‘Loving you. It’s going to be a constant challenge. Now, get out of my cab and go make me some fresh coffee.’ He looked up at the sky a moment. ‘Rain’s coming. Going to be another storm, I think.’

  Genie smiled, opening the door. She turned back momentarily.

  ‘That book still in the hospital library?’

  ‘Yeah. Munbytown. That’s what Spurlake was called when it first got started.’

  Genie nodded. She jumped down. Somehow, despite the tragic tale of her grandma’s life, she felt a lot better about being a Munby girl now.

  Moucher met her at the door with his usual enthusiasm, wagging his tail. He was recovering quickly now and although he wasn’t as bouncy as before, he was making every effort and hardly ever left Genie’s side, watching her every move. She went to the kitchen and made Marshall his coffee.

  Genie was staying in the basement and felt safe there.

  Rian was reluctantly living at his own home. Miller had insisted and she understood. Everyone had their futures to think about and things to forgive and forget. As yet there had been no mosquito attack but all of them were ready for it. The Fortress would do something. They wouldn’t just forget about them. Genie was sure of that.

  Miller had even talked to her about re-starting high school. Genie wasn’t convinced, even though she’d be able to join Ri there. Her mother wouldn’t have her back home, besides there wasn’t exactly a family home to go to anymore thanks to the flood. Genie had only one wish: to live with Rian forever; but every day she could see that

  slipping away. Mothers had a lot of pull and then again there was the law. She would have to be fostered.

  It was the same for Renée. She’d been taken back to her mother’s home. She had no choice in the matter. It was the law.

  The interrogations with the homicide detectives had been pointless. They were trained to investigate dead bodies, not live ones, and they simply refused to believe in teleportation. Miller had been right. They actually did call it mass hysteria. Of course, they couldn’t account for why the kids had been missing all this time or where they had been. Miller had flown back to the farm with the investigators and shown them remains of the two others that were transmitted, but failed to materialize. They wouldn’t even admit they were human. It seemed to Genie that no one wanted to believe them and, in fact, they were out to disprove everything that had happened.

  Worse, with no TV news or newspaper coverage, it was a non-story. The local Spurlake paper, which hadn’t even bothered turning up to Reverend Schneider’s shaming, now claimed it as a ‘miracle’. It was all going very wrong, just as she had feared. The Pope was sending investigators from Rome, for God’s sake. They had interviewed Randall and his mother and of course Randall couldn’t seem to remember anything except picking

  apples. Alien abduction, his mother told the local paper, and they had done ‘experiments’ on her poor boy.

  ‘ Look how thin he has become.’

  Genie kinda knew the truth wasn’t going to come out.

  Ever. Not now.

  Rian had already called to say that they let Mr Yates go and he was back living with his mother. It was hell in his house already. They drove him to high school every morning to make sure he went and they wanted him fitted with an electronic tag so they could track him twenty-four/seven.

  Marshall’s testimony had been ignored since he was receiving a disability pension from the Fortress; his word was ‘tainted’. No one believed anything. Not even Denis Malone. His doctor had put him on growth hormones. They said he suffered from dwarfism and that was ridiculous. They wanted him to go back to Grade Eight with kids two years younger than him now.

  It was ridiculous. No one had any interest in the truth at all.

  Marshall’s cell rang and he went outside to get better reception.

  Gen
ie left the hot coffee in the cafetière for Marshall to pour and went downstairs, Moucher clattering down the

  steps with her. She was happy that the doctor had given the all clear – and the worry diary thing seemed like a good idea. She began to hunt for a notebook to start it.

  She could hear Marshall shouting outside. Stress wasn’t good for him. She wondered what had happened.

  Moments later she registered the landline ringing upstairs. Heard Marshall’s heavy footsteps as he went to answer it. He shouted down the stairs.

  ‘Genie? There’s a phone call for you. Sounds urgent, girl.’

  Genie looked up the steep basement stairs. ‘Coming.’

  Genie gave Mouch a quick hug and went upstairs to join Marshall. She took the phone from him and put it to her ear. ‘Me.’

  ‘GET OUT NOW! RUN! They’re rounding us up. Get away now!’ Denis yelled. She could hear shouting in the background.

  The phone suddenly went dead in Genie’s hands. She began to shake.

  Beside her, Marshall had switched on the TV with a very concerned look on his face. Genie stared at the TV

  news and realized what she was looking at.

  ‘Oh my God. They let him out?’

  Marshall nodded. ‘Just happened. Insufficient evidence. Reverend Schneider is out, girl, and he’ll

  be looking for you. My son just called, everything’s unravelling fast.’

  Genie looked at Marshall. All her doubts were coming true.

  ‘What shall I do?’

  Marshall frowned. He looked crushed.

  ‘I wanted you to come back with me to the farm. I had plans to adopt you. But—’

  ‘You did?’ Genie’s heart was beating like a bird now.

  Reverend Schneider’s being out free and Denis’ news was devastating, but not unexpected.

  ‘I know you think you’re too old to be adopted, but legally you’re still a minor and I feel I owe you a lot, Genie.’

  ‘But . . .’ She felt stunned. It was the nicest thing someone had ever said. ‘Adopt?’

  ‘But now, with him out and the way things have gone. I’ve got to admit, I don’t think you’re safe, even living with me.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I was hoping that things would be different. I was hoping that you could settle down, live a normal life. But that’s not going to happen.’