The ground beneath her feet was blackened and unbreakable like fused glass. Nothing remained of the structures that once resided there. Every last brick of every building had been wiped clean off the Earth. It was if the entire area had been smote by God. Of course, this was not the handiwork of God, but it was done by those who sought her vast power. To cover their failure, the Americans had deleted the place from existence.
The road continued on to the observatory. She expected her former home to have befallen the same fate as the town, but as its foreboding domed roof rose up from the horizon, she knew this was not the case. She also realised she was no longer alone. Slowly and deliberately, shadows began to appear in her peripheral vision.
A cull was an inevitable course of action. There was not a single creature within a twenty mile radius that had not been infected. The problem was that short of a nuclear explosion there was nothing that could be guaranteed to take all of them out. Since nuclear weapons were banned in all Australian territories this was not an option. As evidenced by the makeshift entrance to the site that she had used, there were animals that survived and populations were quickly re-established.
With each step they got nearer and she had nothing with which to defend herself. All she had were the words of someone precious. She closed her eyes and those words became as clear and sharp as the edges of a diamond. She was no longer alone. Lucy’s voice could be heard so clearly it was like she was standing there beside her.
Don’t worry – they won’t hurt you. They can’t hurt you so long as your heart is pure.
‘But what about all the things I’ve done; the misery I’ve caused?’
They will not hurt you. They can see inside of you. They can see your soul.
‘But what if...?’
There are no ifs. They can see you. They can see you as I see you.
She opened her eyes, but she was still the only human being for miles around. Something had changed, however. The animals that had been gathering were no longer as close. For whatever reason, they seemed to have lost interest in her. Perhaps they really could see into her soul or perhaps there was a more scientific explanation. For all she knew, they may even have remembered her. Either way, it no longer mattered. If for the briefest of moments there had been a threat, it had now passed. It was time to continue on her journey.
A shiver ran up her spine as she approached the observatory. For many years it had been a place for her to study, a place for her to work and more importantly; it had been her home. Now it seemed alien. Just before the end, rumours spread through the town that a spaceship had crash landed in the desert. Superstitious inclinations and over-active imaginations allowed these blatantly false rumours to profligate. Three years on, they took on an ironic truth. The structure standing before her that day was alien. It was alien in the sense that it did not belong anywhere on Earth.
If the exterior of the building was unchanged then inside was a different story. All the research equipment was gone. Not only that, but every electrical appliance had also been removed. In fact, everything that could store an electrical current had been taken away. The wiring, the plug sockets and even the lighting fixtures had been stripped bare. She could hazard a guess as to why somebody thought these precautions to be necessary and was filled with utter dread. He was gone, but that had not stopped him from coming back the first time or even the second. Was it possible he could do it again?
The main laboratory had not escaped the purge. The space left by the machine was like a miniature black hole. It seemed to suck the air around it into its never ending vortex. It had been the source of everything bad that happened, yet though it was now gone, the devastation remained. The town was lost and the local wildlife changed forever.
By this time it was late in the afternoon and the sun was already beginning to set. She wanted to see for herself if things really were any different. There was an access hatch leading to the roof of the dome via a ladder. She climbed up and waited for night to fall.
After escaping from the town, she had subjected herself to every medical test known to man and none showed anything to be wrong with her. As far as she could tell, her immunity to the radiation was permanent. Where everybody else had succumbed to madness, she was completely unaffected. Internally, the poison could not harm her, but externally she believed there was still a chance she would feel its influence. That is why she had returned.
As the land darkened, the sky lit up. The Heavens were filled with the light from ten thousand stars. That was not what she had come to see, however. As her eyes adjusted, she turned her gaze downward, back to the desert surrounding her on all sides. Slowly, it too began to light up. The animals began to glow. It was not a light that could be seen by everybody. In her former life, she had travelled on an astral plane. When outside of the body, matter takes on a different appearance entirely. It becomes translucent and that is how she now saw the world – through the eyes of an astral traveller, though she herself was firmly tethered inside of her own body. The radiation was doing its job.
Energy in its purest form could not be more distinct from the matter it creates. The animals could only be distinguished by their movements. The kangaroos moved in short, staccato leaps. The snakes flowed like a meandering river. All were different, yet all were the same – just pure, compressed energy. There was more life there than she thought possible. With each passing second the brightness increased until it overpowered her.
She sensed that something was wrong. The brightness was too intense. There was too much energy.
***
Alex was not the only one unable to let go of the past. Back in the present, Jimmy was also confronting the tragedy that had befallen his home town. It was not the town itself that he was concerned with, however, but the residents who once called it their home. One resident in particular was never far from his thoughts.
She looked peaceful. Her breathing was calm and even. In fact, there were no physical signs that anything was wrong at all. To all intents and purposes, it appeared that she was merely sleeping and could wake up at any moment, completely oblivious to the drama surrounding her slumber and that of her friends, family and neighbours. Jimmy squeezed her hand, hoping she would feel something, but her body did not react.
He looked around the room. The beds were all evenly spaced in neat, clinical rows. He had seen nothing like it before other than in scenes from the movies. It was like the makeshift hospitals that so readily sprung up on the battlefields of Hollywood war films. Except that here there was no war going on and there were no pretty nurses on hand to tell him everything was going to be all right.
His powers were useless here. When he thought of the things he had done since leaving the town and all the people he had helped, he knew that he would trade it all for a chance to help the woman whose bedside he now attended at every opportunity. He would do anything just to bring his mother back from the abyss into which she had fallen.
Sometimes, he thought he could see movement in the corner of his eye, and turn, hoping to see the spirit of one of the town’s fallen. Not all of his secrets were shared with the American people. They were not aware he knew all about the experiments that had gone on at the observatory of Jackson Fox. He knew that the scientists and soldiers there had been able to travel outside of their bodies. With his enhanced senses he believed it possible that should he ever encounter such a traveller, he may be able to see them when nobody else could. Sadly, he saw no such spirits here.
***
She heard a car pull into the driveway. Adam was not due home until much later and she did not expect guests. Since arriving in town she had built for herself a social life that could be described as functional at best. She attended the mandatory school gatherings and made sure to be seen out and about with her boyfriend just enough to make the relationship appear genuine. Apart from that, she kept herself to herself. She most certainly did not entertain visitors at home.
Taking on a new identity was never e
asy. The difficulty was compounded when the old identity was being sought by people with seemingly endless resources. She could not for one moment allow her vigilance to waver. That is why she had committed the names and faces of all 2,307 of the town’s residents to her memory. A school project she had initiated based around family trees helped considerably with this. It also afforded her the ability to compartmentalise the various branches and more easily build the whole picture.
On top of the names and faces she was also aware of what everybody did for a living and where they were supposed to be at particular times. She also knew the make and colour of every car in town. Jim Canning drove an orange-beige Camry. Ed Hoyland drove a red Honda. Sheila Robinson a white Ford and so the list went on. If anything was out of place or not how it was supposed to be, she knew about it. That is why the sound of a car pulling into her driveway caused her so much alarm.
Carefully, she placed her index finger between the blinds and opened up a slither to peek through.
It was a police car. The plates were from Victoria, but also from out of town. She guessed at Melbourne or one of the outer suburbs. This told her all she needed to know. She knew it involved Adam before the policeman opened up the back door to allow her pseudo-boyfriend to get out.
The two men exchanged a few words before the one in uniform returned to his vehicle and drove away.
Various worst case scenarios battled rational explanations within the endless corridors of her imagination. Had he committed a crime or was he the victim? Had the law been broken or was this resulting from some terrible accident? Did it really matter either way?
Packing to leave would not be a problem. She always kept a small bag containing everything she would need under her bed. Whatever the case; he would have to deal with it. Her anonymity could be compromised for nobody.
‘What in Hell’s name is going on?’ she demanded, as she let him into the house (unlike her, he did not have a key to his partner’s home).
‘I’m so sorry,’ he replied, his face ashen with either worry or grief.
‘Sorry about what? What have you done, Adam?’
‘It was just a bit of fun. I didn’t know any of this would happen. Now I’m going to lose everything. I’ll get fired from work and nobody in this town will employ me ever again.’
She instinctively reacted to his body language by placing her arms around him and resting his head on her shoulder. She could feel the tears from his muffled sobs leak through into the material of her shirt. The urge to offer comfort was strong; she was, after all, a compassionate person, but she had to fight it nonetheless. Emotion was not an option.
‘Whatever’s happened, you’ll be able to deal with it. Just start from the beginning and tell me what you did that’s so bad.’
She led him into the lounge and set him down on the sofa whilst she went into the kitchen to make two cups of tea. By the time she rejoined him he had calmed down considerably and looked to have finally regained control of his emotions.
‘The police brought you here and not to a prison cell, so I’m at least guessing you’ve escaped any serious charges,’ she said, handing him his brew. ‘Whatever happens, you’ve still got a life to return to.’
‘I wish it was that simple,’ he replied. ‘Pretty soon everybody will know what I did. Or rather - who I did.’
His tone changed towards the end as if he were suddenly seeing a funny side to what had happened, but the words had the opposite effect on Alex. Once more, she could feel panic rising in her chest.
‘What do you mean; “who you did”?’ she asked.
He told her the name. It was one she had heard many times before. This man was one of the most famous sportsmen in the country. He was also in a very high profile marriage with a beautiful young pop starlet who had briefly put her career on hold in order to bring up their newborn son. Alex’s heart was now actively trying to tear itself from her chest.
‘Please tell me you’re kidding. I didn’t even know he’s gay.’
‘Nor did I before last night. Believe me, it was a big surprise for me too!’
She slapped him across the face, a shock to her as much to him. It was only the second time in her life she had resorted to physical violence. The first had been when she was being threatened by a psychopath.
‘No jokes,’ she shouted at him. ‘Just tell me what happened and who else knows about this.’
He put his cup down and rubbed his face where her palm had struck.
‘It’s my life that’s over, not yours.’
‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that, but this does affect me – more than you could ever know. Now tell me what happened and why it led to you turning up at my door in a police car.’
He told her the story. With each word she knew there would be no turning back.
He had met the gentleman in question in a popular (though little known outside of the gay community) club on the outskirts of St Kilda. One thing led to another and they agreed to go back to Adam’s hotel room. Then the other guy got cold feet. He was afraid about risking exposure in so public a place as a hotel in the centre of town. Instead, they decided to head down to the beach. The player owned a beach hut and he convinced Adam it would be a better place for them to do the deed.
When they got to the hut, it did not take them long to get down to what they had come for. They tore at each other’s clothes, eager to gain access to the willing bodies underneath. What they did not realise was that they were not alone. Somebody in the club had tipped off a paparazzo. This photographer followed them down to the beach. A burst of pictures had been taken before either of the clandestine lovers even figured out what was happening.
The man with the most to lose was the first to react. Stark naked, he charged out of the hut and leapt at the photographer in an attempt to get the camera. It was all to no avail, as in this digital age all the photos were instantly uploaded to the news desk before a standard Polaroid would have had time to dry. They were in the system and nothing would be able to stop them from coming out.
Unable to contain his rage, the sportsman continued to assault the photographer even after the camera was smashed into a hundred pieces. A passing police patrol witnessed the event and promptly arrested the sportsman and also took in Adam as a witness. The chaperone home was merely precautionary; for his protection should a gathering of reporters be waiting at his house. That was also the reason for him being dropped at Alex’s place rather than his own.
‘You idiot!’ she screamed. ‘How could you be so careless? Any moment now the media from all over the state will be mobbing us. Not just you either. As your girlfriend they’re going to want to know what my feelings are on this.’
She went to the bedroom and grabbed her bag before continuing her rant.
‘Will she stand by him? Will she leave him? Well, I’ll let you know the answer to both those questions right now because there’s no way I’m having my face in the paper.’
‘What’re you saying?’
‘Isn’t it obvious? I’m leaving. I have no choice. I can’t risk being found. This is a problem you’ll have to deal with on your own.’
‘You can’t leave. We’re in this together. Our arrangement benefits us both.’
She shook her head with disbelief.
‘You don’t need this lie – you never have. Being gay isn’t something we should hide. The reason you’re in trouble is that you’re an arsehole. Do you really think this was about my sexuality? Christ, I’d rather stand proud and let the hateful pigs expose themselves. This is...’ Her voice trailed off as she did not wish to give him too much information, especially when he had now outgrown all usefulness to her. ‘I’m through with this,’ she hastily added, changing tack.
As she turned towards the door, Adam stood and stopped her by firmly grabbing her wrist.
‘At least give me a reason,’ he said. ‘I may have fucked up, but I was never the only one with secrets. We both benefitted from this arrangement. At le
ast tell me who you are. What is your name – your real name?’
She cast her eyes downward.
‘I can’t – it’s too dangerous.’
‘Dangerous for who – are you wanted by the police?’
‘No – the people who are after me are much worse than the police.’
He let go of her wrist.
‘What did you do?’
She took a deep, calming breath. She did not have to tell him anything, but she felt she owed him something, at least.
‘Have you heard of the Manhattan project?’
‘Of course; it was the name given to America’s nuclear programme during the Second World War. It eventually led to the bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. You’re not seriously telling me you had anything to do with that, are you? That’s before even our grandparent’s time.’
‘You’re right; it was long before my time. What I was working on was no less secretive though and infinitely more dangerous. You’ll have to trust me when I say that the comparison is apt. I can’t let them find me.’
‘Let who find you? Are you talking about the Government?’
‘I’m talking about every government and a whole load of others besides. There’re things in this world you don’t want to know about. Things that make a nuclear warhead seem like a cherry bomb in comparison. If I say any more, they’ll kill you. Whoever comes calling – and somebody will come calling - just tell them everything you know about me and hope it’s enough for them to leave you alone.’
He searched her eyes for any clue as to what her real identity could be. He found none.
‘But I don’t know anything about you.’
‘Exactly.’
Chapter 9
Jimmy kept up his bedside vigil as often as his military guardians would allow. Between the interrogations and tests of his abilities this was not nearly as often as he would have liked. The colonel was obsessed with the idea of being able to control his psychic ability. He wanted Jimmy to focus on Emmy Rayne as much as possible, believing the boy’s intuition would eventually lead them to her.
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