by Jon Jacks
The soldiers smiled, grinned, winked. They swapped quiet jokes, both jealous and scornful of the stumbling, obviously drunken crusties.
Beth helped Gerry and Solly to sit down against the porch.
She knocked on the door.
The door was answered by the farmer’s daughter, Heddy.
‘Beth!’
As always, Heddy was glad to see Beth. She looked up to Beth, envying her freedom and individuality.
‘Come for the usual stuff? You really feeling hungry?’
‘Ah ah.’ Beth smiled, shook her head. ‘But, you know, surely we can’t go without food forever.’
She could smell coffee bubbling on the stove. She might not feel thirsty but, as Foley had predicted, she missed the taste of something in her mouth.
Perhaps that’s why Gerry continued to drink her lager? Or did she just like drifting through life in a permanent haze?
As Heddy invited her in, Beth realised that there was something different about her.
She was taller, wasn’t she?
And didn’t she look slightly older than – how old was she? Eleven?
The heavy spectacles had also disappeared. Had her eyesight improved, the way Drek’s had?
‘It’s Beth, dad,’ Heddy said, making her way to a kitchen table covered with schoolbooks, most of them open.
‘Can’t say I was expecting you just yet!’
Beth’s dad, farmer Hayart, grinned amiably.
‘Oddest thing I’ve ever seen, this thing where no one’s feeling hungry. Oh, this, by the way, is Police Commissioner Frobisher.’
A pristinely and darkly uniformed man stood towards the back of the room, admiring a large watercolour of the local hunt of over a hundred years ago.
He spun around smartly, nodding a pleasant if wary greeting.
Unusually for a police officer, he had a gun, its holster and belt strapped smartly around his waist.
‘Sorry Beth, darling,’ farmer Hayart continued, ‘but I’m afraid I can’t let you have anything just yet.’
Unlike the vast majority of other farms in the area, he didn’t mind that the crusties had set up their community on the edges of his land. In recognition of his good will towards them, Foley had decreed that nothing should be stolen from him; everything would be paid for, particularly as he only ever charged the same ridiculously low price the big supermarket chains had forced out of him.
With a turn of his head, he indicated the Police Commissioner once again.
‘They’re requisitioning everything from all the local farms.’
‘Everything? But–’
‘Yes, everything I’m afraid.’ The Police Commissioner coolly interrupted Beth. ‘Just until things improve, you understand? Which won’t be long, won’t be long at all.’
His attention returned to the Edwardian painting.
‘But how are we supposed to–’
‘Now now young girl.’
Police Commissioner Frobisher whipped around, retaining a pained smile on his face even though he was obviously irritated.
‘I’m sure you realise you’re not feeling any pangs of hunger now, are you? And I assure you this lack of any need for food will continue long into the near future.’
How would he know that?
Beth was about to ask him, but only managed to blurt out the ‘How’ before he rudely interrupted her yet again.
‘Didn’t I just explain it’s only until things improve? All our supply problems are already being sorted out. It will all soon be back to normal.’
‘But I don’t think they will, officer.’
Heddy looked up from her homework, habitually raising a hand to adjust spectacles that were no longer there.
‘What?’ Police Commissioner Frobisher’s face reddened with fury.
‘I don’t think what you call your supply problems will ever be back to normal.’ Heddy rose from her chair. ‘And I think you know they won’t.’
‘Little girl, I assure you–’
‘See, all these electrical things that are no longer working, all these computers we’ve come to rely on for just about everything, and that’re now completely useless, throwing everything into confusion – well, I think it’s all connected with that riddle. The one I’d heard you’d found, Beth.’
Beth was astonished by Heddy’s confident poise. The gawky, shy schoolgirl of a few days ago had completely vanished.
‘Riddle? Really, this is completely ridiculous–’
‘Go on Heddy.’
Heddy’s father gave the sneering Frobisher a warning frown.
Years of hard graft on the farm had granted him a formidable bulk, the rolled up sleeves of his shirt revealing thick, powerful arms.
Beth noted that the long, twisted weal that had run down his right arm (‘Ahh, that was the young, stupid me, Beth; before I’d got the sense to treat farm machinery with respect!’) had vanished.
‘Our Heddy’s top of her class in just about every subject going at her school. So I for one, Mr Frobisher, would like to hear what she has to say on all these here weird going ons!’
The Police Commissioner glowered. His lips tightened menacingly as Heddy indicated the mass of books she had gathered together on the table.
‘As school’s still shut, that’s what I’ve been working on – just for a bit of fun, you know?’
She smiled happily, like this was everybody’s idea of a good time.
‘The riddle referred to Pi, and how it was going to disappear, yes? Now, if it did, that would lead to the disruption of the wavelengths of electrical signals–’
‘Oh, this is ridiculous!’ Frobisher scoffed furiously. ‘You’re saying this girl is top of her class, when she’s not even aware that Pi is a constant and so can’t be–’
A glare from Heddy’s father silenced his rant.
‘I know it sounds impossible,’ Heddy admitted. ‘But we’ve already seen the laws of chance change, and the laws of aerodynamics, and other physical laws too, right? That’s all supposed to be impossible as well, yes? So if they can change, why not constants – well, what we always thought were constants – like Pi?’
‘All we’re suffering is an extended power cut – one we couldn’t have accounted for – that’s had a knock on effect regarding our supply systems–’
‘Power cut?’ Heddy’s father exclaimed incredulously.
His entire, thickset frame tensed with barely controlled anger as he pointed first this way then that.
‘So how does a power cut explain crops out there ready for harvesting way ahead of their season? How does your power cut explain the tales I’ve heard of the hospital, and people walking away from it like they’ve never had a care in the world? How do I explain to my poor cows, sows and mares what happened to their foals and calves that never came?’
‘There are some unusual happenings, caused by extreme weather events and electrical storms, I’ll give you that.’
Frobisher had managed to regain his confidence as Heddy’s father had given vent to his frustration and confusion.
‘But what I can’t accept is this nonsense that it all somehow points to universal laws simply vanishing! A constant like Pi can’t simply vanish! If that’s the case, why is it that we don’t see it affecting, say, the wheels of your tractor, eh farmer Hayart?’
The farmer narrowed his eyes. He turned to his daughter.
‘Heddy?’ He said it like he was expecting her to know the answer.
‘Remember how, when all those other planes were just about falling out of the sky, that military jet kept flying?’
Heddy once again raised a hand to adjust non-existent spectacles, like she still hadn’t got used to being without them.
‘It had computers that continually readjusted and compensated for all the fluctuations that were now taking place in the laws of aerodynamics, right? Those computers are also useless now, of course, so I suspect even that jet can’t fly anymore. But things like
dragonflies, birds, insects; they’re all continuing to fly. Why? Because they’re all instinctively compensating for all the changes that are taking place, without having to even think about it. We’re the same of course–’
‘We’re hardly talking tractor’s wheels here, Miss Hayart.’
The sneering Frobisher glanced at Beth and farmer Hayart in the hope that they agreed with him.
Heddy’s father glared back at him in disapproval.
Heddy turned back to the table, picking up one of the notebooks she had been writing in.
‘But when it comes to machines, something similar is happening. A lot of minute fluctuations are all taking place at once, compensating for or cancelling each other out. Sure, you might never have a true circle anymore, as it’s continually changing; but as everything else is changing with it, it’s effectively imperceptible. That’s why everything still seems so normal even though we no longer have any laws of physics, or even a law of gravity – there are some constraints. It’s just not as precise as it all was before.’
Clever girl! Inside Beth, Lynese chuckled.
‘No gravity?’ Frobisher sniggered. ‘So what’s keeping the planets revolving, eh, you stupid girl?’
But before Heddy could answer, a harsh, commanding voice rang out from just outside the front door.
‘Stop right there stupid!’
*
Chapter 36
Beth was first outside the door.
But Farmer Hayart was only just behind her, with Frobisher and then Heddy directly following him out.
One of the soldiers had his hand raised. It was a warning to the incoherently mumbling Solly that he had stepped close enough towards the armoured car.
Beth immediately took in that Gerry hadn’t been prevented from approaching the soldiers. She was lazing drunkenly against the vehicle’s side, a can of lager in her hand.
One of the soldiers quickly hid a can behind his back. Gerry had obviously shared out some of the cans from the six-pack she had brought along.
But Beth could see why the soldiers had felt nervous about Solly approaching them.
Although he was standing once again, and managing a staggered, painful walk, he was now almost zombie like in his pallor and tautly drawn skin.
His eyes popped frighteningly. The angled features of his skull were clearly visible.
The soldiers weren’t pointing their guns at him, but they had them nervously at the ready.
‘Sergeant? What’s going on here?’
Frobisher had instantaneously regained his authority.
The soldier with the raised hand fleetingly glanced Frobisher’s way.
‘Sorry sir.’
His wary gaze focused once again on the swaying, quivering mess that was Solly.
‘It’s just that – well, look at him sir. What’s he on? He looks drugged up to his eyeballs, you ask me.’
‘What with what we’ve heard about the riots in town, sir,’ said another soldier, ‘we can’t be too careful.’
Even though he was sitting inside the armoured car’s small, open gun turret, he seemed strangely unnerved by Solly.
Beth found herself swapping questioning glances with Heddy.
‘Riots?’ Heddy asked curiously.
‘There aren’t any lights, water; they’ve got problems with sewage–’
‘That’s enough soldier!’ Frobisher hissed.
Seeing the sergeant nervously readjusting his gun, Beth decided that she had better get Solly away from them as quickly as possible.
‘We have to get back now anyway.’
She moved cautiously towards Solly.
For one thing, the soldiers were already ridiculously jumpy, and she didn’t want to unnerve them anymore than she had to.
But for another, she herself was nervous of approaching Solly. He looked worse than ever, like he had just popped up from the nearest grave for a quiet stroll.
Up close, his eyes seemed dead, the only sparkle coming from an almost opaque glaze. The skin on his face and arms appeared hard and brittle, like it was ready to split like a cracked nut.
My God! What’s happening to him?
‘Sorry, sorry.’
Beth spoke as reassuringly as she could to the uneasy, wary soldiers.
She glared at Gerry, who was now so drunk she observed everything taking place around her as if it were nothing more than an interesting play.
‘Gerry, give me a hand would you?’
Spurred into action at last by Beth’s harsh tone, Gerry stumbled forward to help her support the trembling, wobbling Solly.
‘He’s come down with something, that’s all,’ Beth added unconvincingly.
‘Sure, we all look like that when we’ve got a bit of flu.’
The sergeant’s quip was rewarded with a burst of relieved laughter from his men. They all relaxed, lowering their guns into more comfortable positions.
Even though they were obviously having trouble supporting Solly, no one offered to help Beth and Gerry.
The threesome made their way as quickly as possible across the farmyard towards the gate.
‘Take care Beth!’ Heddy cried out.
*
As soon as she believed they were out of hearing, Beth whirled on Gerry.
‘What’s this about riots in town?’ she asked in an urgent whisper. ‘What’s it got to do with the way they seemed scared of Solly?’
To help Beth support Solly, Gerry had had to leave behind what remained of her cans of lager. Beth was thankful for this, as Gerry answered her in a faltering mumble that could only have got worse if she had continued drinking.
‘Well, me dearie, Foley was right wasn’t he? When he said we’d all like the pleasure of tasting something, even if we aren’t hungry or thirsty? There’s water at the farm; it’s got a well. But those soldiers, well, I can tell you they really appreciated those cans I gave them.’
Hearing the harsh, guttural choking of a car engine starting up, Gerry and Beth glanced back towards the farmyard.
Two soldiers had clambered onto the back of the armoured car. It was now unhurriedly making its way up a track running off at a slight angle to theirs.
‘Loosened their lips a bit it did too; said they’re glad they’re out here, rather than being roped in trying to get supplies running again. Seems they’re dragging out steam tractors and horse and carts from the museums. No one’s piping up oil, see? Not until they figure out how to do it without computers and all that electrical stuff.’
‘That’s more or less what Heddy said; that mechanical things can still be made to work, but nothing electrical. But what’s that got to do with riots? What’s it got to do with Solly?’
‘Well, the townies right, just like me and those soldiers back there, they’re’ missing that sort of nice little thrill you get from just letting something nice pass your lips. So they’ve stormed the supermarkets, thinking the soldiers wouldn’t really shoot.’
Beth glanced at Gerry with wide, horror-stricken eyes.
‘They…they can’t have shot them! Not…not for just trying to get something to drink!’
Gerry nodded.
‘Martial law, Beth. They shot them all right. Or so our soldiers back there heard.’
‘But why would that make them so nervous of Solly? Surely they didn’t think he was going to start a riot!’
She chuckled at the thought.
‘They had kept a wary eye on him since we’d sat down. Seems they’d also heard that a lot of soldiers had been killed. Some of the rioters were, well, just about unstoppable, they said.’
‘Unstoppable? How’s that possible? You mean they were being shot but…but what? They
just kept coming?’
Gerry shrugged, like she knew what she was about to say didn’t sound believable.
‘That’s right, Beth. They said it sounded to them like their mates were fighting zombies or something. It took ages for some of them to die.’
*
Chapter 37
Beth had noticed that, as Gerry had used the word ‘zombies’, she had fleetingly looked Solly’s way.
He was rolling along like he no longer knew how to use his legs. They seemed to be just moving automatically, with no real thought coming from him about how they should be used to ensure he moved smoothly and quickly.
No one seeing him like this would have thought he was capable of even the most basic level of thought. He stared ahead blankly.
If he started drooling, she figured, she would be high-tailing it across the fields before he even had chance to start chanting ‘Brains, brains’.
*
Beth glanced across the fields.
Oh no!
High-tailing it over there really would be out of the frying pan and into the fire, wouldn’t it?
Galilee Green was in the midst of the swaying corn. And he was determinedly heading her way.
In a panic, Beth quickly glanced about her, looking for an escape route.
But they were walking alongside a thick, impassable hedgerow of tightly clustered hawthorn and brambles.
She could hear the rhythmic chug of the armoured car’s engine somewhere off in the field beyond, yet it sounded too far away to be within calling distance.
The gate they had entered through was now way behind them, the field being far longer than it was wide.
The nearest gate ahead was farther away than Galilee Green was.
He would reach them long before Beth had a chance to reach the gate. Even if she set off running on her own.
‘Gerry, it’s that boy I told you about,’ Beth said, nodding her head in his direction.
Gerry blinked and narrowed her eyes. She drunkenly tried to focus on the boy swiftly closing in on them.
‘Hold on to Solly a moment, will you?’ Beth asked. ‘While I try and frighten him off.’
As she felt Gerry take most of Solly’s weight, Beth stepped away and turned towards the oncoming boy.
He was still confidently striding towards them.
She didn’t want to face him. But what choice did she have?
She had seen his powers when, ironically, he had rescued her from Kate.