Pandora Jones: Admission

by Barry Jonsberg

  ‘It’s just that . . . well, I seem to know things other people don’t. So when someone loses something I can often tell them where it is. No big deal, or anything. Lost keys, that sort of thing.’ Pan could feel her face flush. Why did I bring up this crap? she thought.

  ‘You mean you’re psychic?’ asked Nate.

  ‘N . . . No,’ Pan stammered. ‘I get hunches, that’s all. Feelings. And sometimes those feelings turn out to be . . . It’s hard to describe. Look, forget it. I don’t have any skills. Not really.’

  Silence. Then Nate laughed. He lifted his hands and made wavy motions with his fingers. ‘Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo,’ he chuckled. ‘Welcome to the Twilight Zone.’

  But it wasn’t said nastily. Pan found herself smiling, though when she glanced up she noticed a sneer on Jen’s face. There was nothing friendly about her expression.

  Wei-Lin clapped her hands together.

  ‘Okay, everyone,’ she said. ‘I think we are in need of a break. Please collect your backpacks and change of clothes and follow me. I’ll show you where we’ll all be sleeping and then take you to the canteen for what passes for lunch. I know you have loads of questions and I’ll answer as many as I can while we eat. After lunch, we’ll go to our first and last lesson of the day. Actually, it’s not really a lesson as such. I’ve arranged for us to observe a weapons-training class with Mr Gwynne to give you some idea of the curriculum. Lessons proper will start tomorrow. After that, we’ll come back here and I’ll finish this orientation by answering your remaining questions as best I can. All clear? Then let’s go.’

  They all packed the clothes, strapped on their watches and hefted the packs onto their backs. Wei-Lin led the way out of the building. A pale sun had emerged from between the clouds and caused Pan to narrow her eyes. She followed the Chinese girl down a rough track leading towards the distant wall. After a couple of minutes, Pan noticed that Nate was walking at her side. He was smiling broadly.

  ‘You find things, huh?’ he said.

  ‘Sometimes,’ replied Pan.

  ‘Excellent. I think I’ve lost my mind. Any idea where I could find it?’

  Chapter 4

  ‘This is where we girls will be sleeping,’ said Wei-Lin. ‘Dormitory D. The boys are next door in E. We’re sharing our sleeping quarters with other groups, so you’ll find most of the beds are already taken. I suggest you find yourself a bunk and put your backpack on it. Stake your claim.’

  The dormitories were grouped together, about twenty of them. A fence separated the boys’ from the girls’ areas, though it wasn’t a high fence and seemed to be more a symbolic barrier than anything else. Each building had a large capital letter printed on the roof. The dormitories were constructed of corrugated iron, each one painted a bilious primary colour.

  ‘Cheerful,’ said Nate. ‘Hey, once we’ve checked in, how about meeting up at the poolside bar and ordering a few pina coladas?’

  ‘Be sure to let me know if you find the pool,’ said Wei-Lin. ‘I haven’t stumbled across it yet.’

  ‘What’s with the segregation?’ Nate asked. ‘I thought we were a team. Live together, work together, sleep together.’

  ‘In your dreams,’ said Sam.

  ‘I mean,’ Nate continued, ‘with only a few thousand of us left, I would have thought we should all be getting on with the grim task of re-populating the planet. It’s a dirty job, but I want it placed on record that I’m prepared to do my bit for the sake of humanity’s future. I’m happy to take one for the team.’

  ‘Are you going to be making jokes all the time?’ said Jen. That hardness was back in her eyes. She put her hands on her hips. ‘Because frankly, pal, I don’t find any of this a bit funny.’

  ‘So what do you want me to do?’ Nate replied. ‘Weep, wail, tear my hair out? You need to lighten up, sister.’

  ‘What I need . . .’

  ‘Okay, guys.’ Wei-Lin clapped her hands together. ‘It’s great that we’re already bonding, but I suggest we leave this discussion for another time. Check out the sleeping quarters and meet me here in ten minutes. Then I’ll show you the shower blocks and we’ll get something to eat.’

  Pan was the first to open the door to dormitory D. The interior was dark and smelled of sweat and boiled cabbage. Even though it was fairly bright outside, the narrow, uncurtained windows did not admit much light. Pan ran her hand along the wall, looking for a light switch, but found nothing. It took her a few minutes to realise that there wasn’t one. She made her way down the centre of the room, the other girls trailing behind her, looking at the rows of beds on each side. Nearly all were made immaculately. Even in the dim light she could see that none of them had so much as a wrinkle on the flat sheets.

  Two-thirds of the way down the dormitory, she came across a number of beds that were clearly unoccupied, the blankets and sheets folded on the bare mattresses. Presumably, the pick of the beds were those closest to the door, closest to the toilets, she guessed. New students had to make do with what was left. She deliberately picked the bunk at the furthest end of the dormitory – maybe she would be given a small amount of privacy. She sat down on the bed. The mattress was firm, bordering on hard and the grey blanket was coarse and musty. Next to each bunk there was a basic locker. She opened it. Inside were a small torch, a pair of earplugs and a rough towel. She picked up the earplugs and examined them.

  ‘It can get noisy at night.’ Wei-Lin stood at the end of Pan’s bunk. She nodded towards the earplugs.

  ‘Noisy?’

  ‘Most of us suffer from nightmares. Without those, your chances of getting any sleep aren’t good.’

  Pan nodded and placed the earplugs back. She turned on the torch. It had a narrow powerful beam. For finding your way out in the middle of the night, she thought. Without electricity the room would get very dark.

  ‘Oh, yeah,’ said Wei-Lin. ‘You need to ration the use of the torch. Once the battery’s gone, that’s pretty much it, I’m afraid. We rarely get any supplies from the outside and torch batteries are not high on The School’s list of priorities.’ Pan switched hers off. ‘There are flame torches,’ Wei-Lin continued, ‘for seeing your way around the grounds at night.’

  ‘Flame torches?’ asked Pan.

  Wei-Lin smiled. ‘You’ll see,’ she said. ‘Old technology, but kinda atmospheric.’

  The other three girls selected their bunks. Pan wondered if she wore the same expression as they did. As if they were in a nightmare and losing hope that they would ever wake up. Samantha, the girl with the British accent, sat listlessly on her bed and looked out through the dusty window, even though there was nothing to see. Cara stared at the floorboards. The only one who seemed at ease was Jen. She lay on her bunk, hands clasped behind her head, gazing at the ceiling. Wei-Lin had taken the bunk next to Pan. So much for privacy, thought Pan, though it also occurred to her it could have been worse. She liked Wei-Lin and certainly did not relish the notion of being next to the aggressive Jen or the depressed Cara.

  ‘Okay,’ said Wei-Lin. ‘Tempting though it might be to soak up the luxury of our room, I need to show you the toilet and shower block and then get you to the canteen. If we are late, all the food will go, and believe me, we do not want that.’

  The boys had already gathered by the time the girls emerged from their dorm. Nate was smiling faintly. When he saw Pan he gave a thumbs up and his grin broadened. She found herself smiling back. Wei-Lin took them to two shacks about fifty metres away from their dorm. They too were made of corrugated iron. The international signs for male and female toilets were painted on the doors. Wei-Lin popped her head around the door of the female toilets.

  ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘No one here, so you boys can come in while I tell you how this works. The shower blocks are the same in both, apparently.’

  ‘I believe I know how showers work,’ said Nate.

  ‘Not these showers,’ Wei-Lin replied.

  The interior was as comfortless and practical as the dormit
ories. Six or seven cubicles were ranged along one side of the wall. The toilets, presumably, though Pan noticed that two didn’t have doors. Great, she thought. There was only one washbasin. Next to it was a large communal shower area, with four showerheads arranged evenly along the chipped and grimy wall tiles. A fifth shower head was set apart from the others. Each shower had a button at waist height.

  ‘It’s pretty simple,’ said Wei-Lin. ‘You hit this button on the wall and you get two minutes.’ She laughed. ‘Cold water. Salt water. Then you get under this shower head.’ She pointed to the one separated from the others. ‘You press this button and there’s a further twenty seconds of cold water to rinse off. Fresh this time. Welcome to the Ritz hotel.’ Wei-Lin punched the button to demonstrate. A thin trickle came from the head. Almost before it started, it dwindled and died.

  ‘What’s to stop us hitting the button again?’ Sam asked. ‘Get a decent rinse.’

  Wei-Lin smiled.

  ‘Nothing,’ she said. ‘But we don’t do that. It’s not fair. We have to conserve water. Taking more is just robbing someone else. And we are all in this together. You’ll see how things work. A small tip. Most people bring along a container of some kind, a cup maybe, to collect as much water as possible. When salt water dries on you, it’s not pleasant. Any questions?’

  ‘Let me get this right,’ said Karl. ‘These two blocks are for all the students here? There are no other showers or toilets?’

  ‘Apart from the Infirmary, this is it,’ said Wei-Lin. ‘For nearly four hundred students. So get in, get out. At least you boys have an advantage over us girls.’

  ‘Yes?’ said Karl.

  ‘There is a big outside for you guys, depending upon what you need to do. Oh, by the way. Toilet paper. There’s not much of it, so use it sparingly. Be considerate.’

  ‘Fantastic,’ said Nate. ‘I can see how this place got its four stars.’

  ‘Time for lunch,’ said Wei-Lin. ‘If you think this is bad, wait until you see the canteen.’

  ~~~

  The canteen was considerably larger yet equally uninspiring. It was about a ten-minute walk from the dormitories. Plain wooden tables and basic benches were arranged in rows. Pan guessed it could probably seat about two hundred people, and when the group walked in, it was virtually full. A long counter dominated one side and a small kitchen could be seen behind it. Five or six young people stood behind the counter, ladling something into bowls. A long line of students waited to be served.

  ‘Two shifts for each meal time,’ said Wei-Lin. ‘Breakfast at seven and seven-thirty. Lunch at twelve and twelve-thirty. Dinner at six-thirty and seven. This week, our group is on the earlier of those shifts. We alternate every week. Don’t even think about going to the later session if you miss the first. People will know and it gets ugly. Similarly, eat and get out as quickly as possible. This is not a social meeting place. Think about it as a place to stock up on energy supplies, nothing more. Anyway, once you’ve tasted the food, believe me you’ll want to get out of here. Let’s go.’

  She led the group to the end of the line. They picked up a bowl each and a spoon. At least it didn’t take long to get served. They weren’t offered a choice. Each student held out their bowl and something sloppy was ladled into it. At the end of the counter, a young boy handed out chunks of bread. He was probably ten years old or less and his face was covered in freckles. An untidy mop of red hair stuck out at strange angles. Pan smiled. Small boys, in her experience, didn’t bother much with keeping their hair tidy unless there was stern parental supervision. The implications of her thought caused the smile to freeze. Immediately she thought about her brother and tried to push the image away.

  ‘Thanks,’ she said as the boy placed a ragged chunk of coarse bread onto her bowl. The boy looked up and Pan was struck by the fierce blue of his eyes.

  ‘You’re new, aren’t you?’ said the boy.

  Pan smiled. ‘Sure am,’ she said. ‘My name’s Pan.’

  ‘If you find any kind of meat in your food and you don’t want it – you know, it doesn’t matter if it’s gristly, or anything, then can you save it for me? Please? Only meat, though. Nothin’ else.’

  Pan was as much puzzled by the intensity of the boy’s stare as by his request, but she paused, despite the jostling of the queue behind her.

  ‘Hungry, are you?’ she said.

  ‘Not me,’ said the boy. ‘Well, I am, of course. Everyone is. But it’s not for me, it’s for . . .’

  ‘Tom?’ Wei-Lin’s voice came over Pan’s shoulder. ‘We would love to stay and chat but there’s a whole bunch of people who need to eat here. Keep the line moving, will you?’

  ‘Sorry,’ said Tom. ‘Don’t forget the meat,’ he whispered as Pan moved on.

  ‘I can’t believe our luck,’ said Wei-Lin as they walked away from the counter. ‘A hot lunch. Most times we just get bread and, if the stars are aligned, a piece of cheese. You guys are privileged.’

  Wei-Lin led the group to a small table that was unoccupied and they sat and examined the contents of their bowls. A coarse and grainy stew in which meat played a bit part, if any part at all. Nate fished among the mess and finally produced a gristly lump from his serving.

  ‘Do I get a prize?’ he said, squinting at it.

  ‘I think that is your prize,’ Pan replied. ‘Hey, if you don’t want it, there’s a kid who does.’

  Nate didn’t reply, but popped the lump into his mouth. He grimaced and swallowed. Pan couldn’t find anything even resembling meat in her serving. They both mopped up the thin and tasteless gravy with a hard chunk of bread.

  ‘This is pretty good,’ said Wei-Lin.

  ‘You’re joking,’ said Karl. ‘Tell me you’re joking.’

  ‘Serious.’

  ‘Oh God.’ Karl scooped up another spoonful and put it to his mouth. His nose twitched and his mouth turned down. Eventually he swallowed, but it was an effort of will. ‘Oh God,’ he said again.

  The students around them didn’t appear to find anything strange about the food. They ate relentlessly, with a kind of grim determination, as if they weren’t sure if this was going to be their last meal. And maybe that is actually the case, thought Pan. Maybe she should treat the meal as a bonus. She tried, but it didn’t taste any better. She noticed that Cara didn’t eat anything at all. She’d pushed the stew around a little then abandoned it. The New Zealand girl had remained obstinately silent as well. Pan couldn’t remember when she had last said a word. She or that Indian boy. What was his name? Sanjit, or something similar.

  Wei-Lin glanced up. ‘You not eating that?’ she asked.

  Cara shook her head.

  Wei-Lin took the bowl. ‘Anyone want to share?’

  No one did.

  ‘You’ll be sorry,’ said Wei-Lin. ‘Eat when you can, whatever you can. Number one rule in The School.’ She shovelled the stew down and cleaned the inside of the bowl with the last of her bread. ‘Compliments to the chef,’ she said.

  Nate laughed.

  Wei-Lin glanced at her watch. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘We have ten minutes. Burning questions about The School. Any we don’t get time to cover will be dealt with after our weapons-training session. So. Shoot.’

  ‘How come the food’s so crap?’ said Karl.

  ‘Good question,’ replied Wei-Lin. ‘Obvious answer. We eat only what we grow or what is brought in. It is early days, but not much progress has been made on growing vegetables in this climate. We have an animal husbandry program, but there aren’t many chickens so far and nothing like cows or pigs. Get involved in agriculture and caring for livestock. Our stomachs will be grateful. There are no fast food outlets, so ringing for a pizza will get us nowhere. Next.’

  ‘There must be huge amounts of food just lying around out there,’ pointed out Nate. ‘Why can’t we stockpile tinned stuff?’

  ‘We do,’ said Wei-Lin. ‘The problem is not so much with the availability of food, but with its transportation. We have one helicopter –
and I can’t tell you how lucky we are to have someone who can fly it. The odds must have been astronomical. But the helicopter’s number one priority is finding survivors and bringing them back. The pilot does bring tinned food back, but it’s limited. For the rest, we rely on the people in the village – the place on the other side of the wall.’

  ‘There are people there?’ asked Nate.

  ‘Sure. Maybe a hundred, give or take a few. They are our supply route. Boats go out constantly, looking for food supplies and other essential items. But it all takes time and the boats are small. They can only bring back so much.’

  ‘What’s with the wall?’ asked Pan. ‘Why is it there?’

  ‘No idea,’ said Wei-Lin. ‘This place was, at one time, a military installation. It must have existed for a long time BV.’ She glanced at Nate. ‘That’s Before Virus, as I’m sure you guessed, Nate. Who knows why the military does what it does? Clearly this was intended as a secure place and I imagine the wall was something to do with that security, but no one here knows anything more than that.’

  ‘So how did we get here, then, if this was a military base?’ asked Sam. ‘How did anyone know it was even here? Wherever here is.’

  Wei-Lin shrugged. ‘More speculation. The best guess is that governments had contingency plans in case of disaster. You know, like in the event of a nuclear war, there are supposedly all these shelters where the privileged, the chosen, were destined to be protected. Maybe they also earmarked sites like this in case of a worldwide pandemic. That makes sense.’

  ‘So there are other places like The School?’ said Pan. ‘I mean, this area couldn’t accommodate ten thousand.’

  ‘That’s the word. According to some of the staff, there are at least ten other places like The School dotted around the world. They call them “arks”, the last vehicles for humanity in a sea of disease. In time, when we have the technology up and running, we should be able to establish contact with them. Pool our resources and ideas. In the meantime, we do what we can to make this place liveable and prepare for when we get back out into the world.’