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by Trish Moran

  He pulled into a supermarket car park. ‘We need to pick up a few things.’ Ginny stood in front of the display of sweets and snacks. ‘I can choose anything from here?’ she asked in a quiet voice.

  ‘That’s right, love. I’ll be at the checkout over there when you’ve made your mind up, OK?’ Her father smiled.

  She selected a packet of lurid pink sweets, then hesitated and picked up a second packet in bright green and sighed with indecision. She had finally made her choice and was heading towards the checkout when she heard something smashing on the floor in the next aisle. Peering around the corner, she saw a teenage boy leaning against a shelf, clutching his chest. A girl about his age, dark curly hair tied back into a loose ponytail, was pushing something into his mouth as he struggled to breathe. One of her eyes was covered with a patch and her face was decorated with several piercings. Ginny gave a gasp as the boy’s eyes met hers. She quickly turned and sprinted to her father.

  ‘Daddy! Come quickly! Come quickly! There’s a pirate trying to kill a Lab!’ she whispered urgently, pulling her father’s sleeve.

  ‘What are you talking about, Ginny?’ Adam looked up in surprise.

  ‘Please, Daddy! Just come now before it’s too late!’ Ginny urged, dragging him by the sleeve after her. ‘They’re down here by the biscuits!’

  The young couple looked up as Ginny and her father came around the corner. The boy was leaning against the girl’s shoulder. He glanced up and his eyes widened.

  ‘You’ve been letting your imagination carry you away, Ginny …’ Adam began, and then stopped as he caught the boy’s eye. ‘But you are a Lab, aren’t you?’ He smiled and walked towards them. Ginny followed half-hidden behind his back, looking warily at the girl who had stepped defensively in front of the boy, a mean expression on her face.

  ‘Hold it right there!’ she snarled. ‘Maybe Angus doesn’t want to talk to you!’

  ‘It’s OK, Zig,’ Angus said, patting her arm. He held out his hand and shook Adam’s. ‘You’re a Lab, too, aren’t you?’

  Adam nodded, rubbing the plastic strip on his wrist. ‘Yeah. I don’t always advertise it, though.’

  He flipped Angus’s right hand over and frowned at the unblemished skin.

  ‘You’re not from the Compound?’

  ‘No. I’m not,’ he replied, glancing around him nervously.

  ‘Perhaps we could go somewhere a bit more comfortable for a chat?’ Adam said.

  ‘There’s a coffee bar just across the square,’ Angus suggested. ‘Let’s meet up there in ten minutes.’

  ‘Do you think that pirate girl is dangerous?’ Ginny whispered a short while later as they settled themselves at a quiet corner table in the cafe.

  ‘She’s not a pirate, Ginny. She must have injured her eye,’ her father replied. ‘Now what kind of Lab can Angus be, if he’s not from the Compound?’

  ‘I still think she looks really dangerous.’ Ginny shuddered as the young couple came into the café.

  ‘If he’s a Compound Lab, he may be able to help you …’ Zig said softly, squeezing Angus’s hand as they made their way towards them. She sighed. ‘I care so much about you, love. If there’s a chance this guy can help us…’

  ‘Shhh! We’ll keep my problems out of the conversation for the moment.’ Angus retorted.

  They slid into the seats opposite; all exchanging wary smiles.

  Adam introduced himself and Ginny.

  ‘Zig and Angus,’ the young man nodded.

  ‘So you’re a Lab?’ Adam asked. ‘It’s funny we haven’t seen you around here before.’

  ‘We’re just staying here for a few weeks. We live in Edinburgh,’ Angus replied. ‘What brings you to this area?’

  ‘I’m researching future Lab development. Just setting up a new laboratory in the area,’ Adam told him. ‘You’re not originally from the Compound then?’

  ‘No,’ Angus replied slowly. ‘I’m one of the … Independent Labs.’

  ‘The Independents?’ Adam raised an eyebrow. ‘I’ve not heard anything about this group before.’

  ‘They …we … keep ourselves to ourselves,’ Angus replied. He noticed Adam glance at Zig.

  ‘Yeah, Zig’s a Non-Lab, but she’s been a great help to me. She’s entirely trustworthy,’ he added.

  ‘How many Independents are there altogether?’ Adam asked.

  ‘Oh, three in our group,’ he said. ‘We’re from Scotland. We’ve met another group from Cornwall, four girls, and two guys from London. They told us about a group they’ve been in touch with in New York. We were originally hoping to work together, pool our findings.’

  Adam frowned. ‘Originally?’

  Angus gave a short laugh. ‘Yes, things didn’t work out quite as we had hoped; so I’m on my own at the moment.’

  ‘Have you your own laboratory?’

  ‘Yeah. In Edinburgh …’ Angus said.

  ‘I’d love to see it. Find out what you’ve been working on. We could perhaps share our research?’ Adam said enthusiastically.

  Zig looked at Angus, ‘That would be great, wouldn’t it? Help each other?’

  Angus cracked his fingers. ‘That depends on, well, several things …’

  ‘Of course!’ Adam nodded. ‘You’re wondering if I am just going to take off with your ideas. Believe me, you can trust me. Look, why don’t you come around to my place? I can show you my laboratory. I’ve not much data set up; it’s in the early stages at the moment …’

  ‘And I’m going to do my own research on brains!’ Ginny chipped in.

  Zig laughed, ‘But you’re a kid? What are you? About four?’

  ‘Nearly five! But a Hybrid nearly five!’ Ginny sat up to her full height.

  Adam turned to Angus. ‘Are you free to come now?’

  ‘It’s a bit too late today,’ the younger man stood up. He seemed agitated, ‘We’d better get going, Zig.’

  ‘Wait a minute,’ Adam stood up too. ‘We’ll drop you off. Come on, Ginny.’

  Despite Angus’s protests Adam led the way to the car.

  ‘Look, this may be the help you need, Angus! You can’t turn it down!’ Zig whispered.

  She directed Adam to a B&B nearby.

  Angus quickly climbed out of the car and headed for the front door, fumbling with his keys.

  ‘We could meet up tomorrow,’ Adam suggested. ‘I can pick you up in the morning.’

  ‘Yeah, we’d like that.’ Zig nodded at Angus, ‘He’s just a bit nervous with strangers. We’ll be ready at nine, OK?’

  Inside their room Angus was clutching his chest again. Zig handed him two tablets and a glass of water. A few minutes later she gave a sigh of relief as the colour returned to his face.

  ‘Angus, please, let this guy help you! He’s like you, he’d understand!’ she pleaded.’ I bet they could sort out your heart problem at the Compound.’

  He shook his head. ‘What if he’s with them?’

  ‘No. Not with a kid in tow.’ She shook her head. ‘At least ask him about the ID. There was something in the papers before about the Compound Labs using fake IDs, that’s why they were able to live like … ordinary people.’

  Adam stopped the car outside the terraced house the next morning and both teenagers soon appeared. Angus gave a tentative smile as they climbed into the car.

  ‘Who created you? Lab or Non-Lab?’ Adam asked as they drove towards his own house.

  ‘Non-Lab, he passed me off as his son. He died just over eight weeks ago.’ Angus locked and unlocked his fingers.

  ‘Anyone else in the family?’ the older man continued.

  Angus shook his head.

  ‘Let’s see how we get on today. I’m happy to share my findings so far with you. When are you planning to go back to your laboratory in Edinburgh?’

  ‘There are a few complications …’ Angus once again was nervously locking his fingers. Zig cleared her throat, but looked down as he shot her a look.

  ‘If there’s anything I can do �
�?’ Adam said.

  The two men went straight to the research room while Zig followed Ginny around the house open-mouthed. She laughed as doors silently opened and closed as they walked through them.

  ‘It’s like something from a sci-fi film.’ she breathed.

  Ginny was in her element. ‘Just look at this!’ She pulled down a transparent screen and keyed in a few numbers. A metallic voice gave the temperature and humidity of both inside and outside the house.

  ‘Come and see downstairs!’ Ginny hurried ahead of Zig and led her to the basement gymnasium and swimming pools.

  ‘As everyone knows, exercising your body is as important as exercising your mind.’ the younger girl told her solemnly.

  In the conservatory, Adam was showing Angus around. ‘I’m only at the early stages, basic research. I’m aiming eventually to develop the elite in Labs and Hybrids.’

  ‘That’s what our vision is, too,’ Angus nodded. He felt more relaxed as he discussed Lab research with his new acquaintance.

  Adam looked at him thoughtfully. ‘The development of the Compound Labs is common knowledge now. How was your group … brought into existence?’

  ‘Well,’ Angus began, ‘I am a clone of Professor Angus McBride. He was a retired lecturer from Edinburgh University and he was extremely interested in what had taken place in the Centre. He created me six years ago.’ He nodded at Adam’s surprised expression. ‘Using a programme of accelerated development I reached maturity after two years. We were working with a friend of his, Dr Rajid Pounamar. Pounamar created a clone of himself a few months after I was created – Takir. The four of us worked on a cloning programme until two years ago Pounamar was killed in a car crash. The following year McBride’s health began to deteriorate. For the next six months we continued the research started under his guidance. Then Takir became impatient. He said McBride was losing his sharpness, was too conservative with his ideas. He had his own plans.

  ‘Unknown to either of us, he had already created a clone of himself – Sanjit. Shortly after McBride died things came to a head. Takir and I … disagreed over something. He and Sanjit left to join the girls down south, in the hope of making contact with other groups, too.’

  Angus sighed, ‘A few weeks later Zig and I left the house too. As I’m the supposed son of McBride I should be his sole heir. Unfortunately, when I was asked to produce ID to verify my claim I couldn’t, so I said I was too distressed and planned to spend time with some relatives in England. If I can get my ID sorted out I will be able to lay claim to it all.’

  ‘Didn’t McBride or Pounamar supply you with acceptable IDs?’ Adam raised his eyebrows as Angus shook his head. ‘Well, luckily it’s a problem easily remedied.’

  He pulled a notebook from his pocket. ‘Write down your name and supposed date and place of birth and I will arrange things for you – if we’re going to be working together as partners?’

  Angus smiled and held out his hand.

  ‘Partners!’

  ‘Does your mum ever come here?’ Zig asked Ginny the next day as they swam in the pool.

  ‘No. She doesn’t know about this house. Just about Dad’s flat,’ she replied.

  ‘You seem to keep a lot of secrets from her,’ the older girl continued.

  ‘Well, yes, but that’s OK,’ cos she’s only a Non – oops!’ Ginny looked guilty.

  ‘Yeah, just a dumb Non-Lab like me, hey?’ Zig pulled herself on to the side of the pool.

  ‘No, she’s not dumb! She’s clever. Like you.’ Ginny said brightly. ‘It’s just … Mum doesn’t let me do lots of normal things. It makes her cross. Dad lets me do things, as long as I work hard, too. Were your parents strict?’

  ‘My mum was lovely. Soft as anything. Maybe it would have been better if she had been stricter with me.’ Zig suddenly stood up, dived into the water and swam several lengths.

  ‘Hey, you’re really fast, I bet you could beat Frankie! Or even Hugo!’ Ginny said admiringly.

  Adam smiled at Angus and held out a birth certificate, a driving licence, and a letter informing him of his National Insurance number.

  ‘Now you’ve got your ID you can sort out the legalities in Edinburgh and show me around your laboratory.’ he beamed. ‘We could fly up there tomorrow morning. Why don’t you give your solicitor a call?’

  ‘I’d love to go to another country!’ Ginny joined in excitedly. ‘What is Scotland like, Zig?’

  ‘Pretty much like England, except the people talk properly.’ Zig said in a thick Scottish accent.

  The next morning Zig laughed as Ginny stood with her mouth open as they climbed into a taxi outside Edinburgh Airport.

  ‘What did that man say? Is he really speaking English?’

  ‘You’ll soon get used to it!’

  Half an hour later the taxi drew up outside a tall detached house on a quiet, tree-lined road. Inside, Adam put their suitcases down in the hallway and turned to Angus.

  ‘Let’s take a look at your laboratory, shall we?’

  The two men disappeared down the cellar steps. Zig made her way to the kitchen, followed by Ginny. She opened the fridge door and wrinkled her nose in disgust as she viewed the mouldering contents.

  ‘This’ll have to go in the bin and I’ll have to make a trip to the supermarket. There’s nothing at all to eat in the house.’ She grabbed her bag and made for the door.

  ‘Can I come with you?’ Ginny hurried after her.

  Meanwhile, the two men were peering at a screen.

  ‘So this is the programme McBride used? At what point can you input or edit features?’ Adam was asking.

  ‘It was a straightforward clone. Nothing was changed except for the speed of development. Look, that is shown here,’ Angus told him.

  ‘From McBride’s data, there was a flaw in the composition of his heart,’ Adam said. ‘Surely there must have been some alterations made to the blueprint to prevent the clone – yourself – being similarly afflicted?’

  ‘I suppose I’m lucky not to have been affected, or not yet, anyway.’ Angus gave a slight shrug, ‘We did a complete copy. We had no knowledge of altering the blueprint. I would like to learn more about this from you.’

  ‘I can upload the details that I have onto your computer. I must admit that due to a fallout with some of my colleagues, I do not have the full information I need to answer this. I have some details of the original format of my donor. Perhaps we could compare the two to throw some light on this.’

  Several hours later Zig and Ginny appeared in the laboratory.

  ‘Here, we’ve brought you some pizza,’ Zig said.

  ‘What have you been doing, Daddy?’ Ginny looked at the screen.

  Adam spread his hands. ‘Well, we’ve only been comparing notes so far. But by pooling our knowledge we have so much potential.’

  ‘If you are going to be working here all day tomorrow I’ll catch up with some friends of mine,’ Zig said.

  ‘What about Ginny?’ Adam asked. The older girl rolled her eyes at the ceiling.

  Ginny smiled, ‘I can stay and help you, Daddy!’

  ‘Maybe when you’re a bit older, Ginny.’ He pulled a wad of notes from his wallet and gave it to Zig. ‘Look, how about you two go out and have a bit of fun tomorrow. I promise tomorrow evening we’ll all spend some time together.’

  Zig gave a whistle at the amount of cash in her hands. ‘Well, I suppose we could find something to do for a few hours …’

  ‘There’s the theme park up on the coast, Zig. It’s pretty good,’ Angus suggested.

  ‘And the new shopping centre is over that way, too. Mmm, I suppose we could kill a few hours,’ she conceded.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  ‘This is sooo good!’ Ginny said for the tenth time that day as they picked their way through the crowds in the theme park. ‘Can we go on the ghost train again?’

  Zig groaned. ‘Again? Let’s try something else. How about I watch you on that little train?’

  ‘That’s f
or babies!’ Ginny snorted. She looked longingly at the Devil’s Vengeance, where a group of teenagers were hanging upside down with loud shrieks and cries.

  ‘You’re just too short for those rides yet. Maybe in a few years’ time.’ Zig caught her glance. ‘Hey, do you want me to win you one of those giant teddies on the shooting range?’

  Ginny watched in awe as Zig picked off every target. ‘You were incredible! Even the man on the stall thought so!’ she said as she walked away clutching a huge pink teddy. ‘Do you practise a lot?’

  ‘Most kids round my way knew how to shoot or use a knife.’ Zig shrugged and glanced at her watch. ‘One more ride on the ghost train, then we head back home, OK?’

  ‘And one more stick of candyfloss?’ Ginny pleaded.

  ‘I can’t believe you’ve never had candyfloss before! Still you’ve eaten enough today to make up for it.’ The older girl shook her head.

  ‘Ginny, go show your daddy the teddy,’ Zig said to her as they arrived back at the house to have the door opened by a white-faced Angus. She pulled him into the kitchen and took a bottle of tablets from his pocket.

  ‘I’ll be fine! Honest! I just lost track of the time,’ Angus said as he sat slumped on a chair in the kitchen. He took the bottle from Zig with trembling hands and sent it tumbling to the floor.

  Ginny was returning to the kitchen when she heard the noise. She peeped through the doorway to see Zig ducking down to gather up the tablets. Spotting some on the floor near her, Ginny picked them up and put them into her pocket.

  ‘You’re definitely overdoing it, you know. The guy promised you’d take a break this evening,’ Zig was saying, holding a glass of water to Angus’s mouth as he swallowed two of the tablets. Slowly the colour returned to his face. He gave her a wan smile.

  ‘I’m fine. And how did you two get on today?’

  Zig sighed. ‘Yes, that’s another thing. I didn’t come here to babysit, you know!’