Diary of the Displaced Box Set

by Glynn James

  Alone

  "That was more than fifteen years ago, Eleanor," The major said as he thumbed through the ragged bundle of paper on the desk in front of him. Eleanor just sat in the chair, evaluating the balding man across the desk from her. Major Samlin was her immediate superior, and one of the most well-respected officers in the Resistance Outriders, and had held that position as long as she could remember. He had been the face of authority in her life since her sixteenth birthday, the day that she had signed up to the military, even though her foster-parents had argued that she was too young to join.

  Samlin looked down at the book once more, and then at her. There was empathy in those eyes. She had felt it many times. Samlin had been one of her grandfather’s recruits a very long time ago, and he had been a friend of Andre, her father. She had no idea how old he really was, but hundreds of years probably wouldn’t have been a bad guess. To a lot of recruits, and even to a lot of experienced Outriders, Samlin was not the commanding officer to mess with, but she knew that he felt that it was his obligation to watch out for her since her whole family - all except the brothers of her grandfather - had vanished. That was why she was here, why she hoped to get what she needed. But now, seeing the expression on his face, she knew that she would get the opposite. He wouldn’t want her to go.

  "Apart from The Diary being found, no one has seen or heard anything from your parents or your grandparents in all that time, in fifteen years. No one knows where this place - The Ways - is. The Diary may have indicated how they got there, but no one has been able to find the portal entrances."

  "I know that. That's why I need..."

  "I assure you,” Samlin cut in.” I was an officer even back then, at the time of Nua'lath's death, and I was serving at the front on many of the worlds that the Resistance travelled to when we faced Nua'lath's kin. We fought them for close to three years before their numbers diminished and their efforts ceased. They were so convinced that we had their talisman. The search by our people was just as extensive. But we never even found the City of Riverfall, let alone the Ashlands, and definitively not The Ways. No one really knows how the diary came back into our hands. Some say that it was just found at one of the main highway portal entrances one day, others have said it was given to a border patrol. We couldn’t even confirm something as simple as that. If we could have found your grandparents and your mother, we would have. We had no leads. Nothing. The search went on for nearly five years. Five years whilst we were still fighting."

  Eleanor sighed. "I know that too, but I've read the diaries and the books written about them since. I know no one could find them. I know all that."

  "Then why the application for funds and the request for this... this expedition? Why start the search now? I understand your desire to see them again, and I honestly wish I could offer you some hope that you might be successful, but you must know that it's a fruitless venture? Even Halldon’s own brothers couldn’t find him with all the vast knowledge and mass of portal locations they have. It may be difficult to grasp, Miss Halldon, but this is a hopeless request."

  "I don't believe it is."

  The major looked at Eleanor, puzzled, seeking something, some reasoning.

  "What leads you to believe that you will achieve what countless others have failed to do after more than a decade?"

  "I had a dream," she said, looking away from the professor's scrutinising gaze. Why she felt embarrassed, she didn’t know. It was true. Also, everyone knew that her grandfather had possessed some sort of almost mystic ability that was tied to his dreams, but her?

  He frowned at her now.

  "A dream," he said, sighing.

  "I dreamt about one of the Maw. She was talking to me, beckoning me to go and find her."

  The major was shaking his head.

  "No one has heard from the Maw since your family disappeared. The bond was gone, the pact forgotten now that the common enemy was removed. We didn’t know it at the time, but the pact had been with your grandfather, no one else. There was no mutual bonding between the Resistance and the Maw. They chose to help your grandfather. When he was gone, they just...they vanished almost overnight and no one knows where, or how they got there. They certainly didn't go back to their homelands. People looked there."

  "She says the horde are gathering again, that they are already preparing to rampage across a distant world."

  "And yet none of the Outrider clans have seen anything like that. We’ve spent a decade just clearing up. And this...Maw...she speaks to you in your dreams?"

  Eleanor nodded, her heart jumping a little. Maybe she was winning him over, just a little, she thought.

  "Yes. She says that she can guide me, but I have to find my way to The Corridor first. To do that I need funds for equipment, and supplies to travel, and a portal permit, and an amulet, and a gun. She says that she can help me to find what happened to my parents and my grandparents, and that they may still be alive."

  But his expression was too sceptical.

  Eleanor sat silently looking at Samlin, certain now that she was facing the same brick wall that she had faced when she approached her great-uncles, the brothers of James Halldon, positive that she would have to gather the resources herself, somehow, and knowing that they were all available if she was willing to steal them.

  "I'm sorry Eleanor; you're an excellent soldier, and one of my best shooters. From what I hear you may have inherited that ability from your mother. I don't see how I can discharge you indefinitely and assign funding to let you go off on some pointless expedition. Did you approach your great uncle, the Colonel? Did Joshua have anything to say on the matter?"

  She nodded.

  "Yes. He said no."

  The major sighed, stood up and went to look out of the window.

  "I wish I could say yes, but I can't. You'd need something far more solid as evidence than a dream. How does this Maw know that they may be alive? How are you so sure that this voice in your head is even a Maw? I'm sorry but the answer is no. I think you should return to your quarters now."

  Eleanor stood up and pushed the chair away.

  "Thank you for hearing my request, sir," she said, standing, saluting and then leaving the office. As she walked down the hallway, heading out of the building and back in the direction of her barracks, Eleanor felt inside her pocket, her hand grasping the letter of resignation.

  She couldn't believe that not one of them was willing to let her try. Even with their knowledge of her grandfather's connection to the Maw. He had dreams like she did. Everyone knew that. There were far too many accounts from witnesses to make that a fable. And if he could do it, then why was it such a far-fetched idea that she could too?

  What evidence did she have? Why should she need evidence? They would have believed anything that came out of her grandfather’s mouth no matter how strange and improbable it was.

  She thought of the Maw that spoke to her every night in her dreams, and had done quietly for years, trying to reach her, so quiet, almost imperceptible, until one day when she was about fifteen years old - five long years ago - she had opened her mind just a little more, enough to hear the voice that she had known had been there talking to her all along.

  "If you will help me then I can help you to find your parents and the James man. I know where they went."

  "Where did they go?"

  "Further into darkness. Deeper into The Ways. They went to fight the greater power."

  "But where are The Ways?"

  "I cannot describe. Come to me. I'm trapped. I’ve been trapped for so long. Help me escape, and we will go where they went. We will track them and open the doors and track them and open the doors again and again until we find them. We will find them together. Come to me Eleanor."

  “How do you know my name?”

  “It was the name that the James man spoke of. And the one that DogThing told me that I must seek out when he was teaching me how to use the way of the mind-speak. He taught me that I must find the one for me.
I must find the one whom I am meant to join with. He said that there was a girl who could see like the James man saw. He said that she was very little but she would grow and become strong like her grandfather. That was you.”

  “But...how did you find me? How did you find me in my dreams?”

  “There are no places in The Phase. There is no distance. Only the ones who are there and the ones who are not. Only the minds and the voices. When you sleep, Eleanor, sometimes you drift into The Phase, just like the James man did. If you try hard, one day you will be able to speak into The Phase even when you are awake.”

  “I will? I’ll be able to do what my grandfather did?”

  “Yes. But you must first find me. Will you find me? I cannot come back from The Phase or I will die from the fall, I think. There is something below. Something that is dark, like a void. I think it is a thing that destroys. If I fall into it...but you could help me. You could stop me from falling.”

  “Yes I want to help you.”

  “I’ve been stuck here for so long.”

  "I want to help you. I will help you.”

  “Thank you.”

  "But where do I start? How do I find you? I don't know how to get to The Ways. No one ever has since my family went there when I was just a child. Were you there with them? I don't even know where to start."

  "We must begin in the dark place called The Corridor. Can you make it to there?"

  "I think I might be able to. Or I may be able to find out how to. I will find it. But they locked it up. I'll have to find a way in."

  "Then you must start your search. But you must learn much more and grow stronger before you can come here. You are only a child still. But soon...soon you will be strong. Learn everything you can and then one day you will be able to help me. And then I can help you find your family."

  "What's your name?"

  "GreyFoot."

  Book 4

  Footprints

  :: System Start up sequence initiated…

  :: Start up completed successfully

  :: Record Date 00:00:0000 00:01

  Mum! Mum! This thing works! It actually works!

  (Squeal of joy)

  (Muffled sounds)

  On no. I dropped it! Oh, it’s okay. It’s alright. It’s not broken. The light is still on. Mum! This thing is recording my voice! Come quick and listen!

  (More muffled sounds. A woman’s voice can be heard but none of the words can be made out clearly)

  It’s really cool isn’t it? It actually remembers everything I say into it, and you can play it back and everything.

  Day one. This is the diary of Connor Andre Halldon. The year is…uh… Mum, what year is it?

  (Again the muffled sounds of a woman’s voice)

  475. It’s 475 and–

  (Another muffled call from the woman)

  Oh. Oh right. I thought…okay, well. Um.

  4775! It’s 4775 and it’s May, erm, the fifth!

  Hmm. The date at the top is wrong. Lemme see if I can… Oh I got it. Mum! There’s a menu and settings as well. This is awesome. So cool.

  :: Accessing Menu

  :: Date Functions Selected

  :: Date Altered

  :: Saving

  :: Record Date 04:05:4775 11:38

  This is my diary. I mean, this is the first record log of Connor Andre Halldon. Nah…that’s too long… This is the first entry in the Journal of Connor Halldon.

  (More muffled speech from the woman)

  …Yeah just like Great-Granddad. I can keep a diary like he did. I’ll be famous!

  (More muffled speech from the woman)

  Can I keep it, though? Can I? I don’t want to hand it in.

  (Long pause and then another short speech from the woman)

  Oh, wicked! Yes! I promise I won’t. I’ll keep it secret.

  So…this is my first diary entry.

  Erm.

  Okay, so this isn’t as easy as I thought it would be.

  My great granddad used to keep a diary, but he wrote it in an old book. Anyway, I was out at the Junkyard when I found it. Me and my mate, Aaron, go out there all the time, hunting for cool stuff. It’s like this massive area surrounded by a big fence, to keep the critters out, and they store all the junk that no one has had time to sort through, stuff that got salvaged. Most of it has been there for like a million years or something, and there’s so much junk piled up you can find almost anything if you hunt for it.

  (Short pause)

  Where was I? Oh, yeah, the recorder.

  Well, I don’t think we’re really supposed to be in there, but no one stops us so it doesn’t matter, does it? Anyway, I was in there salvaging for cool stuff and Aaron had gone further along the main stretch, which is this kind of road that circles around the place with all these alleys coming off it. Anyway, Aaron had gone off to where they keep a lot of dumped bikes because the spokes on his dirt bike are broken and he wanted to find some more. I was hunting around where they keep this big haul of batteries and electronics and stuff, and I found this recorder thing in a pile of batteries.

  It’s so cool. If you press the button on the top it makes a popping sort of noise – well, a bleep or something, like a tick-bleep – and then everything you say gets remembered, and you can play it back and everything. I’ve so got to show this to Aaron. He will go mad! I thought it was a stopwatch when I found it, so I didn’t bother to show him. He’s going to be so jealous when I show him what it really is.

  Anyway. Where was I? Oh yeah! Great-granddad. Oh, I have to call him something else, that’s too much of a mouthful. He was James Halldon, this really famous guy who, who like, killed all the bad guys and had a magic dog. I know, my teacher says the dog wasn’t magic, but it could talk in his head…we’ll call him JH! James Halldon, JH, no?

  Hmm.

  Well, it works for me.

  Where was I?

  Oh yeah! JH had this magic – but not really magic – dog that could talk in his head, and my teacher – that’s Mr. Rowan – he’s a proper grumpy old guy that doesn’t smell very nice. I think he smokes those cigarette things, and I don’t think he washes very often. He’s okay though, kinda cool, really. He takes us out on trips to the Junkland and the Reaches, and teaches us all kinds of cool stuff like how to rework batteries and wire up gadgets. That’s how I fixed this voice recording thing all by myself.

  The dog could talk in his head, and if that’s not magic, then what is?

  Well, unless JH was a crazy guy.

  Maybe he was?

  I never thought about that.

  But that still didn’t stop him from killing Nua’lath, who was this monster about fifty feet tall with big claws and ten arms. JH chopped him in half with his own sword, or was it something else? I don’t really remember how he did it, but he chopped this big monster in half, and killed eight gazillion zombies and Kre’esh, and pretty much saved the whole universe.

  Well, nearly. There was the war after that, but that wasn’t JH’s fault. He just started it.

  (Muffled sounds)

  Woah. Maybe I should stand still when I’m recording my diary. I just nearly fell down the well at the back of the house.

  I wonder how deep that well is?

  (Distant sounds of a woman calling)

  But Mum! I’m recording my diary. This is important!

  :: Record Date 04:05:4775 22:34

  (Whispering)

  I have to talk really, really quiet. I’m in bed and if my mum catches me recording this she’ll do her nut and take the recorder away. And then we won’t be able to record my truly epic adventures.

  I hunted through all the stuff in my room, and I found the copy of JH’s diary that I’ve had forever. It’s kinda tatty, and this copy doesn’t look like the ones we used in school, and it’s got a completely different book cover that has a picture of a cartoon character with a little cartoon dog, and it’s called Jamie’s Mag Torch.

  (Flicking of pages)

  I think th
at’s supposed to say Magic Torch, but the cover is worn.

  (More flicking of pages)

  I’ve never heard of the book but it looks like a kids’ book. It’s kinda funny though, I think. The kid on the front has a dog and they are gonna jump through this hole that they made, like a magic portal, but they made it with Jamie’s torch. I think I’d probably like the original story but I don’t know where the pages are, and JH’s diary has been kept inside the torn out cover for forever. But it’s a bit like JH and his magic dog though, isn’t it? Except JH didn’t have a magic torch.

  I don’t remember how JH did it, some sort of magic necklace?

  Hmmm.

  (Thud of a book being dropped on the floor)

  So, they printed all the copies of JH’s diary in school, in big bold typing letters like what the print machine in the Admin Centre prints. The copy I’ve got seems to have been written by hand, or something. It’s scruffy and has a lot of ripped and crumpled pages. There are notes on some of the pages that look like someone else’s handwriting. I should ask my mum if this is a copy. Has to be. Wow. I never thought about that. Someone must have spent ages writing this out.

  I don’t remember a lot of these notes being in the books we used in school. Mr. Rowan taught us ages ago about the history of Evac City, and the war, and JH’s diary, and all the stuff that came before.

  Actually, some of the handwriting looks like my mum’s, a bit. Sort of. Maybe she made notes in her copy? I’ll have to ask her tomorrow.

  Oh, she’s coming. Erm. This is Connor Halldon, signing off.

  :: Record Date 05:05:4775 07:34

  So its morning and I have to go to school, but I’ll be reporting about my day’s activities when I get home. I’ve got maths and physics all in the same day today, so it’s going to be boring. I prefer it when we do field work – you know, useful stuff.

  I learned how to make a water purifier last week in field survival lesson. So cool. I’ve now got four of them working out the back of our house, and when it rains the water feeds into buckets I’ve placed under the overhang so only the water that goes through the filters gets kept. It works wicked, but one of the filters fell off and spilled all over the paving Mum did last year. She was not pleased and I had to clean it all up.