Jubilee Year: A Science Fiction Thriller (Erelong Book 1)

by Gerard O'Neill

  “They’re all doing what they enjoy! And—they seem to know an awful lot. You know what I mean?”

  “You are younger than them,” she said. “You’ve lots of time to learn what makes you happy. Once you leave Coona.”

  “Getting my pilot’s license will make me happy,” he replied. “But it looks like I’m stuck here helping Mom pay off our mortgage for another year.”

  There were so many bills to be paid, he thought. The electricity and food bills for starters. Then there were Summer’s school fees. His hands tightened on the steering wheel at the thought of the bills Stella would struggle to pay without his help. The thought of it made him feel like he was suffocating.

  “Even if the government decided to make university free I could never afford the textbooks, let alone the cost of renting a room.”

  “Things will get better,” Penny said, nodding her head resolutely as if it would make things so.

  “Yeah, right!” Storm replied with unconcealed sarcasm. “That’s what Mom says too.”

  Under the car’s headlights, the centerline rushed past like a great serpent racing them into the darkness.

  When they pulled up outside the Happy Help Animal Refuge, Kay was standing on the steps of the surgery.

  “I was about to go home to eat my dinner,” she called out in greeting.

  Penny looked surprised. “You haven’t eaten yet?”

  “I haven’t even been home,” Kay replied. “It’s been a long day. I guess that’s my patient,” she added at the sound of scuffling and scraping from inside the car boot.

  “It’s moving and that’s a good sign.”

  Inside the surgery, they stood in front of the stainless steel table used for both examinations and minor operations. After ten minutes of probing and testing, Kay had locked the animal inside a cage in a room that seemed packed with wildlife.

  “I couldn’t find any broken bones,” she told them as she filled out a log book. “If it can survive the night, it will be fine.”

  “Would we have been right to leave it lying in the grass to get up in its own good time?” Storm asked her.

  Kay didn’t look up as she wrote. “Hard to tell,” she said clicking the pen and closed the book on it.

  “I wasn’t going that fast,” Storm said, a little too defensively.

  Penny blew a raspberry at him.

  “They were spooked!” He protested. “You saw them running along the side of the road. Then next thing you know they’re bouncing along in front of us,” he said to Penny, hoping for support. “C’mon, you saw them!”

  “You two wouldn’t believe what we’ve been seeing here the past few weeks,” Kay said as she reached her hand around the clinic door and flicked off the light. “The weather we’ve been having has freaked out all the critters. There have been so many animals hit by vehicles. We’ve never seen anything like it!”

  “No kidding,” Storm replied, although he wasn’t surprised.

  Just in the past couple of months, he had noticed farm stock looking lost and strung-out for no good reason. It was as if they were suffering the effects of a virus.

  “We’ve had livestock on farms getting stuck in weird places and needing to be rescued. It gets crazier and crazier,” Kay continued. “We’ve run out of foster homes for our orphans. They have all the baby kangaroos, kookaburras, snakes, and echidnas they can handle.”

  The three of them stood outside the clinic for a short while, watching the lightning break the sky into broken shards over the outback.

  “These electrical storms just never seem to stop these past few weeks,” Kay said, as she opened her car door. “It’s getting crazy, isn’t it?”

  About Time

  Pete stood on the footpath gazing at the Home for Sale sign. Since when had Stella started to think about moving? She had the house looking tidy enough. The gardens needed a little attention, but that was no deal breaker for anyone serious about buying.

  Similar For Sale signs had sprung up all over town this past year. There was no one buying. It took him several minutes before he ventured to open the gate. He slammed it shut harder than he intended. That was when he heard a screech from inside the house.

  The front door flew open and Summer ran down the path to leap into his bear hug. He swung her around in a circle before letting her gently to the ground. Stella stood on the front doorstep smiling warmly at him.

  He was moved. As he walked up the porch steps with his hand in his daughter’s, he caught the uncertainty in Stella’s eyes, but to his relief, the smile remained.

  “Hi, Pete.”

  “Hey, Stella,” he said, and he remained where he stood.

  He had imagined it would be a little easier once they were face to face. Yet, here he was. Unsure what to do or say.

  “Can I come inside?” He asked his wife.

  “Of course,” Stella replied with a nervous giggle, her hand at her mouth. “I’ll make us a cuppa.”

  She stood there a moment longer. “It’s good to see you, Pete.”

  He sat on Stella’s tattered couch and gazed around the living room. He tried to avoid looking directly at the cracked wood front of the cabinet opposite where he sat. He saw Stella’s glassware, cups, saucers, and silver spoons behind the glass had survived. A jumble of bits and pieces she had collected over the years.

  More than two years had passed since that night he threw her against the cabinet. It was the first time he had done anything like it and it was the last. He left the house of his own accord the very next day after it occurred to him the next time he might do worse.

  Summer was perched on a chair at the end of the table, a grin plastered on her face.

  “I would have thought you’d be out with your friends on a Saturday,” he ventured.

  Summer shook her head.

  “I’ve been waiting for ages to see Mom and you together. I wasn’t going to miss it for the world.”

  “Pete’s visiting, love,” her mother called from the kitchen. “We are not back together yet.”

  “It’s taken some time for me to work up the courage,” Pete called out, stifling a cough with the edge of his hand.

  “Summer, clear those magazines off the coffee table in the corner and bring it over to your dad,” Stella told Summer as she brought in a tray with two mugs of hot tea. “And find me some place mats, will you?”

  Stella pulled over a battered chair and sat opposite Pete. She glanced across Summer. That precocious smile was beginning to annoy her.

  “Sum, sweetie, do you think you could go outside for a while? Pete and I have stuff to talk over.”

  “What am I supposed to do outside?”

  “Go on a bike ride,” Stella told her daughter. “Go visit your friend down the street. What’s her name?”

  “Tara.”

  “Yeah. Go see Tara.”

  “Dunno if she’s home.”

  “For goodness’ sake! Your dad and I need time to talk—alone!”

  “Awl, Mom!” Summer protested, looking hopefully from Stella to Pete. “I want to stay with the two of you!”

  “You can, sweetie! You’re here for dinner aren’t you, Pete?”

  “Course I am,” Pete said with a laugh, and he began to relax. “See you later, Sum.”

  Stella stayed where she was, perched like a bird on the edge of her seat. Soon she heard the sound of Summer’s bicycle clanking down the driveway and she allowed herself to relax.

  “Is your tea alright?” She asked.

  He looked down at his half-empty cup. “It’s fine, Stell.”

  “It’s a while since I was last here, isn’t it?” He asked with a smile.

  “Sure is,” she said, giving him a nod of her head to underline the fact. She took a long sip of her coffee and sat back in her chair. “You know you’re not looking so good, Pete. Are you eating well?”

  He waved off the question. “What do you think of the girl Storm’s seeing?”

  “She’s lovely,” Stella
replied. “And you know Franchette’s her mother?”

  “No way!” He said with a look of astonishment.

  “Doctor Franchette Boulos,” Stella nodded. “Your doctor. So how come you didn’t know that?”

  “Storm’s never mentioned a thing about what kind of work her mom does.”

  “It makes sense that her mom’s a doctor when you consider the way she talks,” Pete said, suddenly feeling awkward. He should have known Storm would confide in his mother. But wasn’t a father supposed to give advice to his son about women? Or maybe he had that wrong too, he thought. He wondered if Storm confided in him about anything important anymore.

  “What do you mean?” Stella asked.

  “Penny speaks like she’s a doctor herself,” Pete answered. He attempted to mimic Franchette’s crisp consonants and clear vowels.

  “Yeah,” Stella said with a giggle. “I see what you mean.”

  “Seems like a nice girl though,” Pete said, taking a gulp of tea. He had begun to feel a little awkward again.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” Stella said, sensing Pete’s unease and jumping up suddenly. “I forgot you take sugar. I gave it up.”

  He shook his head. “I’m sweet enough, anyway,” he smiled.

  His cheeks burned as he realized how silly that sounded. He began to regret his decision to visit.

  “Want an ashtray?” She asked, getting up from her chair.

  “Wouldn’t mind,” he said with a nonchalant shrug.

  She watched him smoke his cigarette in silence. He did look thin. At least he was here, sitting in the living room, she thought.

  “Franchette says I need to give up my cigarettes and beer,” he chuckled, rubbing the butt into the black plastic.

  “Then, you should,” Stella told him.

  “It does get a bit hard to catch my breath at times,” he said, slapping his chest and coughing.

  “For Chrissakes, Pete!” She exclaimed. “Then give them up the smokes!”

  “I told her it’s not the ciggies,” he said steadying his breathing. “I told her it’s all the coal dust I breathed in over the years.”

  “Smoking is making it worse,” she said taking his mug and going out to the kitchen to make another brew.

  “Jeez, Stell,” he called after her. “Do I have to give up every enjoyment in life?”

  “We are raising two fine kids,” she reminded him. “There’s plenty of enjoyment in doing that.”

  “They are growing up fast, aren’t they?” He said, shaking his head and smiling. “What does Storm say his plans are for next year?”

  “He’s not saying much. I just hope he can find a full-time job. It won’t be in Coona though, and that’s for sure. I keep pushing him to sit the entry exams for university. You never know. He might pass.”

  “There sure doesn`t seem to be much of a future in the mines,” Pete said glumly.

  “I’m glad,” she replied.

  “He’s smart enough to go to university,” Pete said. “It stinks that it costs so much.”

  “Did you know Penny is a dance student in Sydney,” she told him.

  “Not much future in dance,” Pete replied. “I guess it doesn’t matter much though—not if you’re a little rich girl.”

  “Pete, you could move back in here,” Stella told him suddenly.

  He gazed down at the tired sofa. “You know we should’ve left town when my work ran out.”

  “You didn’t want to do that,” she reminded him.

  “I was wrong,” he said glumly.

  “Well, best not to look back,” she said and glanced out the window as a gust of wind caught the washing on her line.

  Pete cleared his throat. “You know, if the house sells, we could think about moving to Brisbane. I wouldn’t mind a view of the sea,” he said and laughed. “Even if we had to drive a bit before we found one.”

  Stella gave him a coy smile, running her finger around the rim of her coffee cup. “You know, Summer won’t be back for at least two hours. The two of them will be at Deakin’s riding Tara’s pony,” she said with a teasing smile.

  “Oh, yeah?” Pete stared at his wife in surprise. “What’s on your mind, Stell? Are you thinking we could start off together again?”

  “I was thinking we do need to sort through a few issues, but—”

  “By issues, you mean my issues, right?” Pete said with a wince.

  “Yeah,” she said with a shrug. “And mine as well.”

  She realized with surprise that her hands were shaking and she placed them together in her lap.

  “But all that shouldn’t stop us having a bit of a cuddle right now, should it?”

  Pete’s mouth fell open. “I didn’t think… I mean…”

  Seeing his surprise at her suggestion made her suddenly want to get up and embrace him. She could see that Pete, for all his crustiness, had not quite lost all of his boyish innocence.

  She crossed her legs, allowing her skirt to ride up her thigh. Stella still had good legs, and she was proud of the fact. She poked a finger in a run in her black stocking. “Damn, I never saw that one,” she said.

  “You know, I thought you were asking me over to tell me you want a divorce,” he said, his voice growing hoarse, as suddenly he found himself filled with desire for his wife.

  “If I wanted a divorce, I would have asked you over the phone,” she said getting up from her chair.

  She walked across the room and stood close enough her skirt brushed the whitened knuckle of his hand on his knee.

  “Are you a little tense, Pete?” She asked with a giggle.

  “I’m not as young as I used to be,” he said, rising to his feet and placing his hands on her hips. “I might disappoint you.”

  “Not anymore, you won’t,” she told him.

  He saw Stella’s eyes were the same startling blue he remembered getting lost in when they had first met.

  “I need you, Pete,” She told him and she kissed him on the lips.

  He looked up as the glass in the window frames gave a violent rattle and saw over her shoulder a plastic chair sail across the yard to crash against the side of the garage.

  “Hey!” Pete exclaimed.

  She turned to the window and saw the washing she had hung on the line early in the morning had disappeared.

  Pete was talking to her but she couldn’t hear a word.

  The noise of hail on the roof sounded like a tip truck was emptying the back tray over the house. The thunderous clatter quickly became a steady roar, and the two gazed in wonder at the golf ball sized chunks of ice bouncing high on the back lawn.

  “My clothes must be all over the yard,” she yelled, running to the back door.

  “Don’t go outside, Stell!” Pete bellowed.

  He found her sheltering under the back eve of the house. The hail had diminished, leaving the backyard glistening white with ice. The corrugated roof of the garage sagged in the center.

  Looking past the dented shed to where the river ran, they saw a tentacle forming under the center of a dark, rotating cloud mass. The funnel grew rapidly in breadth and length until it touched down on the opposite bank of the river. Where the tip licked the ground, ballooned a giant ball of debris. As they watched, the tornado jumped the water.

  A baseball-sized hailstone smashed the concrete at their feet.

  He pulled her back under the awning above the back door even as the roller door of the garage compacted inwards as if hit by a giant fist. Thew sound of breaking glass was coming from all sides. Above them, in the inky dark sky, angular objects swirled inside a maelstrom, and they watched as pieces of structure disappear upwards into the vortex.

  From out of the whirling tube of moist air and dust spun a large strip of corrugated roofing iron. It headed on a steep flight path straight toward the couple cowing in the doorway. But it fell short of the house to lodge deep in the back lawn, and there it remained upright, flexing like a sail on a yacht.

  “Oh, Summer,” Stella waile
d. “Is she going to be alright, Pete?”

  “She’s fine,” Pete muttered, staring in awe at the first true tornado he had ever seen. “It’s only a tiny twister.”

  They held on to each other for minutes after the tornado dissipated. The two of them transfixed as they listened to the cacophony of chaos. A local bushfire warning siren wailed as if an air raid was under way. The sound mixed with the shrill noise of a multitude of alarms from cars and commercial buildings to become the evening chorus. The wails, the beeps, and the chirps mixed with the howls of dogs unable to free themselves from their restraints.

  The Recruiters

  When they heard about the Army Recruitment van parked at the far end of town Storm and his best friend Ben decided to check it out. The national campaign had finally arrived in Coona and Ben had got it into his head this was their opportunity. It was the chance for a life Coona could never offer. He told Storm and their friend Ethan, he was sick of playing Call of Duty online. It was time for the real thing.

  Ethan advised Ben, outside of a decent paying job, all he needed was a girlfriend. According to Ethan, having a girlfriend solved every problem that could possibly afflict Ben. At least, any his friend was foolhardy enough to declare. Ethan was a year older than his two friends. He had done everything first, including leaving school at seventeen. At the ripe old age of nineteen, the one-year age gap seemed more like a chasm.

  In recent months, Storm and Ben had seen a lot less of Ethan. He told the two it all came down to making a real success of his studies. Later in the year, he would face an assessment on his way to becoming a fully licensed electrician. He knew the other two were disappointed, but as he told them, he had no intention of joining the Army and so there was not a lot of point in him going with them for a look.

  “I may as well stay a civvy and finish my apprenticeship,” Ethan had said.

  Ethan watched as Storm and Ben rode away on their motorbikes. He hoped he was looking casual and cool, standing with his hands in his pockets on the front lawn of the bungalow he shared with his father. He gave them a wave, then they were gone.