by Amy Lilwall
After twenty minutes, each littler was sure that Lewis would not get up again right away. In fact, they had felt that way after ten minutes but couldn’t tell each other, so they stood on his belly or his chest or his thighs with their hands on their hips, waiting for everyone to finish. Two of them went to let Video out of her cage and gestured that she should go with them.
Loop jumped into the centre of the corridor and put his hand in the air. The others followed him right into the lift where they looked for where the button should have been. Hmmm… There was one on the outside, where was the one on the inside? Fola realized that they had to press the outside one in order to close the doors. She waved to Lamb and Bonbon and they followed her. They staggered and wobbled and toenails dug into hips and backs; Fola kept slipping so Piddle took her place then Bonbon climbed up the whole swaying tower. Bonbon stretched and pushed in the button with the very tips of her fingers before being launched forward into the lift where she was caught by the waiting crowd. Piddle and Lamb zipped through the line in the closing lift doors. ‘We…,’ breathe, ‘did it…’ gasped Piddle. The others cheered then were silenced by a recorded voice that told them they were going down.
‘Is that the right way?’ asked one.
‘Don’t know,’ said another.
‘Are we going to the Next Room?’
‘No. No, we can’t be because the Next Room is above our corridor.’
‘Is it?’
‘I’m sure it’s below. Didn’t Moira say it was below?’
‘We must be going there.’
‘There was only one button,’ said Bonbon. ‘And it didn’t say where it went to.’
‘Maybe we have to go all the way down in order to go back up again?’ said another.
‘Well, then we’re bound to come across the Next Room at some point.’
Yes, they agreed, they would find the Next Room at some point… In the meantime they planned who would get out at the next floor to press the button.
‘If it is the Next Room, we have to rescue the others,’ said Windy.
‘I’m sure it’s not,’ said another.
‘But what if it is?’
‘What if Jinx isn’t there yet?’ said Bonbon. ‘We’ll have to come back for her.’
‘We can’t rescue the others now anyway; what if Moira is trying to call the lift back up? The lift would go without us,’ said Mop. ‘Our priority is to get out of here.’
‘It’s the best thing to do for the others as well…’
‘We’ll be no use to them if the plan fails and we all end up trapped.’
‘If we are free, we can help them.’
‘But… we have to get Jinx!’ Bonbon’s gaze jumped from face to face. Each pair of eyes looked at the ground, or the walls, or the ceiling. Lamb put an arm around her.
‘Think about it, Bonbon. We’re no use to them if we’re trapped.’ Bonbon thought. If she made them stop and search the room, then the lift went away and left them there, it would be her fault; the plan would have failed… She had sworn to Jinx that she would make the plan work. She held a hand out to steady herself on Lamb, her breathing so fast that her chest felt hot. ‘We will come back, won’t we?’ said Bonbon. ‘It’s a long way down but we have to come back.’
‘The doors will be opening soon; I will go out and press the button,’ said Mop. ‘Fola, Lamb, Bonbon; will you get onto my shoulders?’
They nodded, then climbed onto Mop.
They waited, eyes angled towards the door.
‘Doors opening,’ said the lift.
Hands covered cheeks and teeth bit lips as the doors ssshhhed open, the silence on the outside so thick that it seemed to push the three littlers back into the lift.
They wobbled out into a dim corridor. Bonbon let out a noise as she felt herself swaying too far one way. That was funny; how could she make a noise in the Next Room? Obviously this wasn’t the Next Room. That meant that Jinx wasn’t there! Thank goodness… It felt so horrible and dark in here; it would have been awful to get back into the lift knowing she was stuck in this horrible and dark place.
‘Gloomy,’ said the old littler. Yes, she agreed; gloomy. Hopefully nothing had to live down here at all.
She reached for the button. A face watched her from the nearest cage. One side of the face was much larger than the other and the cheeks and forehead were covered with dark hair. It lifted an arm to wave at Bonbon but there was no hand at the end of it. Bonbon stared.
‘Hurry, Bonbon,’ called Fola.
Bonbon pressed the button and was thrown back into the lift. The others caught her and placed her feet on the floor. She turned to glimpse the handless being but the doors had already closed it behind them.
‘Going up,’ said the lift.
‘So, that was the Next Room, where we would have been doomed to spend the next few months,’ said Mop.
‘That wasn’t the Next Room,’ said Bonbon. ‘Didn’t you notice when Fola spoke? The Next Room is supposed to be silent.’
The others wrinkled their heads. ‘So where was it then?’
Bonbon shrugged. ‘I don’t know,’ then: ‘What if we don’t stop at the Next Room? How will we know where it is?’
‘It must be above our corridor,’ said one.
‘It must be!’ said another.
Bonbon shook her head. ‘I really think we should rescue them as soon as we stop there.’
‘But our priority is to get out!’
‘We won’t stop there,’ said Windy. ‘Lewis didn’t stop there on the way down.’
Bonbon scrunched up her eyes. ‘But then how are we going to get back in to rescue the others?’
‘We’ll hide somewhere. Just like we said in the plan.’
‘But…’ Bonbon scratched inside her hair. ‘Don’t you think someone will notice we’re gone?’
‘Don’t start getting panicky, Bonbon,’ said Osmo. ‘We just have to hope that Moira doesn’t look in the cages, that’s all.’
‘Shit, this is risky.’
‘She never looks in the cages.’
‘But what about Video?’
‘She never looks in the cages!’
‘But Video’s cage is on the floor,’ said Bonbon.
The lift went silent.
‘Lewis is on the floor!’ shouted Bonbon. ‘This whole plan is complete shit!’
Loop came forward and put his arm on Bonbon’s shoulders while Lamb slipped hers around her waist. ‘Bonbon,’ said Loop, ‘we can’t come back for the others.’
‘What?’
‘You said it yourself, Bonbon. If we hide somewhere and try to get back in, the plan won’t work.’
‘The biggerers will be looking for us,’ said Lamb.
Bonbon watched the space just in front of her eyes. ‘A lie,’ said the littler inside her head. ‘They told you a lie.’ Her gaze focused on Windy, who looked around at all the faces trying to figure out if everyone knew about this. Tired from the meeting, she had gone to bed even before Bonbon and Jinx.
‘The plan won’t work anyway!’ she shouted in her scratchy voice. ‘Where do you think we’re going to go when the lift stops? Do you think they’re going to let us leave the building?’
‘The best chance of us getting out is if we are quick,’ Loop replied. ‘Before anyone realizes that we’re gone…’
‘But we promised her!’ shouted Bonbon; her fists clenched and the edges of her mouth pulling downwards.
The others blinked at her. ‘It would never have worked,’ said Fola, stroking Bonbon’s forearm.
‘Doors opening,’ said the lift.
‘But she’s waiting…’ sobbed Bonbon. ‘She’ll be all on her own; she’ll be…’
Bonbon closed her mouth as daylight filled up the lift. A hallway opened out in front of them. It was white and empty. Not ten metres away, glass doors closed the grey sky outside. A window in the far wall darkened slightly as whatever was behind it shifted position.
Mop tried his voice. It wo
rked.
There was nobody to hear them. They had no choice, thought Bonbon, trying to step forward but not being able to move her legs; as if Jinx was holding on to one of her ankles as she used to do at home. ‘Come back to bed for a while, Bonbon,’ she would say. Bonbon closed her eyes; as soon as she found the She-one they would come back and get her. Together.
Loop and Mop beckoned them out of the lift. Bonbon felt for Windy’s hand.
Awake. Orange lights striped across the ceiling. Something pinched at his belly.
‘Good trick that. I’m surprised she even recognized him.’
Chips sat up. Two biggerer backs gleamed white through the black glass. He leaned closer but, ouch… What was that on his belly? And ouch! Again on his thigh.
Movement drew his eye back to the window. The backs separated. An elbow stuck out from long hair and a hand covered a tiny tummy. Jinx! He leapt towards the window. His Jinx! He waved, but she was all hidden in hair. He called out to her, ‘Jinx!’ but his voice wouldn’t work. He lifted his hand to smack on the window but, ouch! His belly. He glanced down towards it, then back at her. She had pushed her hair back and he could see the up-and-down of her top lip. It wobbled and glittered with snot. He felt his ears get hot as his eyes reached the hand on her stomach and then the circle of holes on her thigh. His own thigh throbbed in exactly the same place. He looked down at it; there was nothing. An arm was raised and a metal tube swooped to the back of Jinx’s shoulder. Her wobbly mouth opened and she flopped forward. His own shoulder stung; he turned to see who had bitten it – no one, there was no one there! The heat from his ears rolled through his neck and along his arms. He pressed at the glass, his gaze flicking between his hands and Jinx. That wobbly, soundless cry. He would never forget that wobbly, soundless cry. A bumping in his chest knocked down into his stomach. He turned and strode to the other side of the cage, pressing at the bottom of the wall, then at the top, then screwing up his face and letting his whole body fall against it.
A white line opened along the bottom. Chips stopped and followed it with his eyes, along the bottom, up the corner and across the top. He pushed harder. The line grew fatter. Glancing back through the black window, he ran to the corner, held his belly in and slipped through the white line.
* * *
The tiny teacup wobbled in its saucer as Reg set it down on the table.
‘Here you go, Quail.’
‘Thanks, Reg,’ she sniffed.
‘Poor Quail. How about I get you some chocolate cake? Freshly made this morning.’
Isabel shook her head. ‘No thanks.’
‘Everything alright?’ Reg took in the sagging mouths, one by one.
‘Tickety boo, Reg,’ Watty answered. ‘Nothing we can’t handle.’
Reg winked at Watty. Understood. He hoisted up the waistband on his trousers and went back over to the counter.
Isabel took a deep breath and sat back. ‘She was just so perfect. You know, exactly the same as, as me.’ She smirked. ‘I never realized I looked like that until I saw… myself. I suppose you could say.’
‘It’s an outrage.’ Drew uttered the words without intonation. He stared at nothing.
‘Where do you suggest we go from here?’
‘We’ll expose him.’
Damp patches bloomed under Watty’s arms. Bringing Hector down would also expose Drew. ‘Now listen, Quail. Are you absolutely sure about what you saw?’
Isabel’s irises tripped in their whites, red patches trotted up her neck and across her face.
‘Alright, darling. Of course you did. I’m sorry…’
‘She was right there, on the other side of the glass. Like a reflection. And then she grinned at me just as someone scooped her up and took her away.’
‘Who took her away?’ asked Drew.
Isabel shrugged.
‘Did they see you?’
‘I think so.’
‘Was anything else said to you about all of this?’ interjected Watty.
‘No. Just… No, nothing.’
‘Mmm,’ said Drew. ‘I just don’t understand what he wants it for… And what if he makes more than one? He has to be stopped before he makes more.’
Isabel smacked her palms on the table. ‘You two do what you like. I’m going to try and talk to her.’
Drew’s eyes flicked towards her. ‘Who?’
‘The clone. I want to see her again.’
Watty opened his mouth but Drew spoke. ‘You can’t really, Quail…’
‘Why not?’
‘Because… Do you think they’d let you?’
‘If I say that I’ve already seen her, they might.’
‘Isabel, I understand exactly what you’re feeling…’ Watty began.
‘How can you?’
‘Because I brought you up!’
‘—.’
‘The fact is that, whatever you’re expecting… she will never be your friend.’
‘So, what will happen to her? He can’t tell anyone about her. She’ll just sit in a cage and rot.’ She shuffled in her seat. ‘That’s not a life.’
‘Someone else in the lab will take care of her.’
‘But I can help her!’
Watty shook his head. ‘I really don’t think you should get involved.’
‘Anything could go wrong with her, Isabel. She’s not human, not properly human.’ Drew sat back in his chair, watching his hand as it twitched on the table like a dying rodent. ‘She’s some poor hash-together of bits of your cells. She’ll be dead in months, Isabel. Maybe a couple of years… I won’t let you see that, I just won’t.’ He glanced up from his hand.
‘Isabel!’ Drew stood up and looked about him. ‘Did you see where she went?’
‘No,’ said Watty, already hanging on to the table and peering under it. ‘I was listening to you.’
‘Isabel!’ said Drew again. ‘Isabel! Isabel!’
‘What’s happened?’ called Reg.
The three of them searched the launderette, leaning over washing units and peeping into gaps between books.
‘Do you think she went outside?’ said Reg.
‘I don’t see how… She’s probably just really well hidden,’ said Watty, checking behind a pyramid of cheese scones.
Drew got up from his hands and knees. ‘I bet I know exactly where she’s gone.’
Watty read his mind. ‘Isabel, if you are here, Drew’s just about to trawl the streets for you. Do you really want him to do that?’
The three men bent down and cocked their ears. Drew stood up and shook his head. Three seconds later, he was gone.
CHAPTER 21
Jinx had never had a bath before. The only water she’d ever played in was the tile water and that had made her sick once. But this water smelled of heat and made lumpy clouds around and above her. She opened her mouth to bite one. Nothing. It tasted of nothing.
The biggerers had left her for at least ten minutes. She thought about this, as she made noises with the water by flicking her toes; they were only being nice to her because they had hurt her. And as they couldn’t hurt her again, they wouldn’t have to be nice any more… She leaned forward and fluttered her eyelashes on the surface of the water, making plopping and tinkle noises. This would probably be the last time she would have a bath. And it was only the first. She didn’t want to never have another bath…
‘Jinx.’
Jinx spun her head to the side. ‘What?’
‘Come here!’
Chips! ‘Chips, is that you, Chips?’
‘Yes.’
She stood up in the bath and turned all the way around. ‘I can’t see you.’
‘Why?’ he said.
She screwed up her eyes. A head popped out from behind a white brick-thing. Jinx sloshed out of the bath and splatted over to it.
‘Quickly, Jinx!’ he hissed as she threw her arms around his belly. ‘We have to go.’
‘Is it really you?’ Her eyes blinked at his belly. He put his hands on his hi
ps and stuck it out.
‘And your arms…’ she said, squeezing the top part of his arm. ‘I can’t make my fingers touch.’
‘And my cheeks, look how fat my cheeks are.’
She laughed. ‘You’re all crusty around your mouth!’
Frowning, he folded his lips in.
‘Doesn’t matter.’ She stood on her toes and kissed him.
He took her hand. ‘Let’s climb down to the floor and wait for the door to open.’
He turned to run, but Jinx pressed back on her heels. He stopped. ‘Come on, Jinx!’
‘It won’t work, Chips, they’ll be back soon…’
He wrinkled his eyebrows. ‘We have to try…’
‘There’s no point.’
‘But, what else are we going to do?’
Jinx understood that; doing things that didn’t mean anything. Like collecting stones or… searching for food when there was no food. She breathed a breath all the way to the bottom of her belly and nodded. ‘Okay.’
Chips went first. ‘Put your feet on the sticky-out bits. That’s where I put mine when I climbed up.’
‘I can’t believe you’re really here, Chips!’
‘You’ll have to jump at the bottom, but I’ll catch you.’
‘Okay.’
At the bottom, Chips lifted her down. Easy-peasy, she thought, with his new arms. She looked about her and pulled him into a gap between the thing they’d climbed down and a tall basket. ‘We’ll just,’ breathe, ‘wait here,’ breathe.
He put his nose against hers and looped his arms around her shoulders. ‘Let’s stay together for always.’
Jinx’s cheeks squeezed wet twinkles from her eyes. ‘But they’ll catch us…’
‘No… Don’t say it.’ Chips spread his eyes. ‘We can just pretend. Just while we’re here… Like a lie, but a good lie…’
Jinx thought for a moment. ‘A wish,’ she sniffed.
‘We’ll have a nice basket,’ he said, pulling her wet hair out to the sides to make two long ears.
‘And it’ll smell nice,’ said Jinx.
‘And we’ll have nice humcoats.’
She looked down and put her hands on his stomach. ‘And we’ll fill your belly every day with as many flakes as you want.’
She felt her cage being slotted into its place. ‘Chips.’ She made the shape with her lips as she leaned over her knees and pulled her hair around her face. She would not look to see where she was. It would all be new, and newness meant that time had pushed her forward, into a new bit of life. She didn’t want it. She wanted to go backwards, just a little way, and stay there. In that gap between the basket and the thing they’d climbed down, she and Chips, and then go forward again, but to the nice-smelling basket, the humcoats and the flakes…