by Terry Tyler
He says all this in a low monotone, scarcely opening his mouth, and Tara struggles to hear every word.
"She looked at my records and discovered we knew some of the same people; she made contact during a group psych experiment. Her name's Sophie Halston."
Tara knows she's heard the name before, but she can't work out where. Her memory goes blank too often, these days.
"Her fella was taken off in a truck with a load of other men; she's hoping to find out where he is. Meanwhile, she's fucking one of the perimeter guards to keep him on side for our escape, and one of the kitchen staff in order to get messages to me. Trouble is, half the time the meals are delivered by those fucking robot things." He gives an only just audible chuckle. "She says the guard is hot, so it's not a problem, but the kitchen worker is a creepy greaseball with bad breath."
Tara smiles.
"Now, crouch down in front of me and look as though you're trying to make me talk."
She does as she's told. "Dude, come on. You're talking gibberish. You've got to hold it together in this place, or you won't survive!" Then she stands with a show of impatience, stares at him for a moment, hands on hips, pats him on the shoulder and walks off.
It's the waiting that's the worst.
During the four weeks before she sees Milo again, she experiences a five-day long reward and punishment game, in which she and fifteen others are given a reward if they allow pain to be inflicted on another.
At first, the rewards are nothing more than a biscuit, easy to forego; some give in, but the punishment is just a mild electric shock.
Slowly, it dawns on them that their only meals are protein drinks, aside from the rewards, which get better and better. Large slices of pizza, bowls of chips. And the punishments get worse.
At the end of the fifth day Tara is ill with hunger, but proud that she didn't give in. If Sophie Halston can fuck a greaseball with bad breath for the cause, she can miss a few meals.
She spends two uneventful days in her cell, then is made to suffer through a week of sleep deprivation. After this, the anxiety gets worse. Her brain, usually so sharp, becomes befuddled. She wakes up in panic, in the middle of the night.
I've got to get out of here while I'm still capable. What if I'm in the middle of an escape, and I forget what I'm supposed to be doing? What if I go insane?
It's the waiting that's the worst.
Whenever she receives her alert to spend an hour's community time, she heads down those two corridors hardly daring to hope. Walks into the lounge, scans the room for that one person she wants to see. Feels sick with disappointment when he's not there.
Today, she decides not to even hope.
So, of course, there he is.
She goes through her usual routine, then joins him on the couch.
He doesn't look up, continuing to stare at his shoes.
"Hello, mate," she says, loudly and cheerily, for the cameras.
He doesn't answer.
"Hey." She jogs his knee. "Psst! Milo!"
No reply. She can't see his face; his hair is falling in front of his eyes.
She crouches down on the floor in front of him.
"Milo?" Touches his leg. Nothing. "Milo?"
She stands, puts her hands on his shoulders gently, and pushes him back.
His head flops like a rag doll.
She takes his chin in her hand, and holds his face to look at him.
His eyes roll backwards, dead and empty.
She watches as a string of drool dribbles down his chin.
She lies on her narrow bed, and cries.
Always in her life there has been hope, but not now.
Only Sophie Halston, but she doesn't know how to find her.
Three days later, she is called for another medical test. She is too depressed to care. When the medics see her arms, red raw and bleeding in places, they put some pale green stuff on them. Cool, wonderful. She's pleased. She might even be able to sleep tonight.
When they tell her to take a pill, she does so without fuss.
As she walks back, she clings to the wall and weeps.
A robot walks past her, and smiles. She gives it the finger. Like she can't work out that it's not a real person; nobody can look that fucking serene, especially not in here.
I'll cry today, she thinks, unable to stop the tears from falling, but tomorrow I'll make a plan.
In her cubicle, she flicks a rowdy action feature onto her screen and stares at it. The noise soothes her.
The hatch opens. Must be dinner time.
Some form of chicken substitute in a creamy sauce, on rice. A piece of carrot cake. Carrot cake. The Double Shot café. Ned. Centuries ago.
The tears fall into her chicken and rice as she eats it.
At least they've given her coffee. A disposable cup with a lid. She takes off the lid to add the sugar, only to find that there's something plastic floating in it. The fuck? Can't she even have a fucking cup of coffee without them putting shit in it?
She takes the plastic out.
It's a sealed bag.
Inside is a piece of paper.
She breaks the seal, takes the paper out, and unfolds it.
Milo was given a test for a new memory erasure procedure. I think it's permanent, poor fella. But he’d already told me about you, and I've heard from Kush in MC12 and your friend Xav. I have a plan, just doing some fine-tuning. I'll be in touch in a couple of days.
Sophie Halston.
PS, chin up. This time next week, we'll be on a boat.
T H E E N D
Author's Note
If you are reading this, you have come to the end of the Operation Galton series; I do hope you enjoyed Megacity as much as Hope and Wasteland. I'd be so grateful if you could share your thoughts about the book on Amazon, Goodreads or BookBub, or even just rate it. This helps books become more visible online, so that more readers discover them. Thanks!
And on with the next … I have a dark psychological drama/thriller planned; I hope I will be on the first draft by the time you read this. I also have a vague idea for a climate change related post-apocalyptic story, but that will take a great deal of research before I can start to plan it.
Many thanks, as always, to my husband, my proofreading sister, my readers, my book blogger, writer, Walking Dead loving and other friends on Twitter, without whom doing what I do would be neither possible nor so much fun!
If you would like to follow me on any of the usual sites, the links to my profiles are all here: Linktree Terry Tyler. I am not on Facebook, Instagram or any other social media site apart from Twitter.
Thank you!
Terry Tyler
May 2021
Books by Terry Tyler
The Project Renova Series (Post-Apocalyptic)
Tipping Point
Lindisfarne
UK2
Legacy
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Patient Zero (short stories set in Project Renova world)
Blackthorn (psychological thriller set in Project Renova world)
The Visitor (murder mystery set in Project Renova world)
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The Operation Galton Series (Dystopian)
Hope
Wasteland
Megacity
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Other recent books
The Devil You Know (murder mystery)
The House of York (dark family drama)
Best Seller (novella)
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The Lanchester Series (contemporary drama inspired by history)
Kings and Queens
Last Child
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Older Books
What It Takes
Dream On
Full Circle
The Other Side
Nobody's Fault
You Wish
Nine Lives (short stories)
Round and Round (novella)
Hope and Wasteland: Recap
Hope
In 2028, many businesses in the UK ha
ve been bought up by Nutricorp, a retail conglomerate owned by the wealthy Bettencourts, the parent company of which is in the US. The founder's daughter, Mona, is married to the new Prime Minister, Guy Morrissey.
The erosion of the benefits system and increased automation in many industries mean that unemployment and homelessness are on the rise. The government comes up with a solution: Hope Villages, communal living complexes for those with nowhere else to go. This is Operation Galton, Phase 2.
Lita Stone and friends Nick and Kendall fall foul of the Nutricorp empire; they are sent to live in Hope Village 37, where Lita and Nick discover that the men are being sterilised via medication and vitamin pills. Nick is murdered, after which Lita and Kendall escape to live in Lake Lodge off-grid, run by Jaffa Taylor. Lita reveals her discovery to the press, then flees the country with boyfriend Brody.
Wasteland
Thirty years later, the UK is a very different place. Jaffa details the 'Great Shift', in which towns and villages have been emptied into the new megacities, where ninety per cent of the country's population live in blocks of apartments known as 'stacks', owned by the government; almost all industry and business is now owned by Nutricorp or the state. Within the megacities are private gated communities for the 'one per cent': the rich elite.
Citizens are chipped with a 'NuSens' biometric sensor, which tracks food and drink intake, changes in heart rate, blood pressure etc, and reports results to employers and government departments. Many also have the 'iSync' chip, which records one's vision.
Every person over ten years old has a 'smartcom', or 'com', which has the functions of a smartphone and much more, and is essential for daily life. A social credit system is in place; inappropriate language or behaviour can result in a demerit and a fine. Citizens are encouraged to report each others' transgressions, for which they are rewarded with social credits. Too low a score can mean the loss of one's job, and possible eviction to a Hope Village.
There is only one social media site, Heart, used by everyone for all online interaction.
Outside the Hopes and megacities, much of the land is given over to state-run farms. A few abandoned towns and villages still stand; these, along with unused areas, are known as the wasteland. A small percentage of the population live in off-grids, or in wasteland communities.
Some wastelanders have lived out there since beginning of the Great Shift; others have escaped, either from megacities or Hope Villages. All three domains are kept entirely separate, with no contact between them. Megacity dwellers can travel on the 'ziprail' between cities, or to approved leisure locations. They are not allowed to venture into the wasteland, or visit Hope Villages.
Rae Farrer was brought up within Megacity 12's Non-Parental Upbringing scheme, or NPU, a long-term experiment in raising children without the influence of their birth families. At the age of twenty-four, Rae discovers that she has a family outside Megacity 12. Via the underground resistance movement, Link, she sets out to find them. With Link operative Ace, she travels to wasteland settlements and off-grids, including Lake Lodge, to find her sister and brother. Lake Lodge is now owned by Kendall, as Jaffa left it to her in her will.
In the wasteland are stores of food and other supplies donated by megacity citizens, and administered by two charities. On the day that Rae and Ace leave Lake Lodge, they discover that these 'drop-ins' are closing and, a few days later, that wastelanders are being rounded up by the army, their settlements destroyed. The wastelanders are taken to assessment centres, from which they may be sold as an unpaid workforce to Russia or Eastern Europe, incarcerated in a research centre as subjects for medical and psychological experimentation, or selected for 'treatment'. This is Operation Galton Phase 10, orchestrated by Ezra Bettencourt, who works for the Department of Social Care, and Caleb Bettencourt, who ran Phase 2 and is now married to PM Freya Wilson.
Back in the megacities, many members of Link disappear.
Within a group of around forty people, Rae escapes with her sister Lilyn, and Ace, across the North Sea to the Netherlands, which has a more relaxed attitude to wastelanders. Rae and Ace fall in love.
Back in the UK, it is suggested that the Hope Villages are next on the Operation Galton agenda for 'assessment'.
Lita Stone is now in New Zealand, and talks to Kendall about her moving there. Kendall is unhappy in her marriage, and has one son: Nick.
It is revealed at the end that Ace is actually Ignace Bettencourt, who rejected the family and left for the wasteland as soon as he could.
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