Genus6

by Meg Buchanan

  I thought about talking to Jacob about Dad’s message, but I’d figured I was here for two weeks, I had got time.

  “Did you get your mum on the shuttle?” asked Jacob.

  “Only just, we were running late, we got caught in traffic. Mum was cross; you know how she hates to be late.”

  Jacob nodded but didn’t comment. He never talked a lot. That was one of the soothing things about staying at the farm with him.

  We went inside and he filled the kettle and waited for it to boil. He made hot chocolate for me, tea for him, in the two blue mugs we always use.

  He came back into the dining room and sat the mugs on the table beside a pile of newssheets and a jar filled with pencils. The crossword was almost finished.

  After we’ve eaten supper, I wander over to the fireplace. There is a pot gently simmering away on the top of the range, and pull-out bins that have always held the flour and sugar, it is always the same. I don’t think I would’ve minded living then if it was like this, muted colours, worn edges, everything is soft and old and nothing changes ever, cream walls, curtains with tiny bunches of flowers in the dining room, the smell of stew in the air.

  In the City we live surrounded by vid screens, SkyVids and tiles and elevators, all clean and hard and shiny, everything protected by the barrier that surrounds us, a huge man-made world to keep us safe.

  I check my Com and read Amon’s message. ‘Ela, where are you?’ it says.

  Then, ‘You have to talk to me sometime.’ I ignore them both and put the Com on the sideboard.

  Then we’re sitting by the fire watching a Vid. It’s lovely; it’s the way it always is. An ad for biofuel comes on. Eugenics Corp saved the world after the oil runs out. Again.

  “I can’t stand those lies we get fed,” says Jacob, flicking his hand so the screen dies.

  Then he leans back in his chair and stretches. “So, what do you think of Jack?” He says it sort of fake casual.

  “He was nice when I was little.”

  “Yeah, Jack’s all right. He’s good company,” says Jacob.

  I have my doubts after meeting him again this afternoon. Jack has changed, he’s taller, older and not as approachable.

  “He doesn’t want to look after me this time.”

  Jacob settles back in his chair and stretches. “I guess not but he’ll get used to it.

  I’m pleased Jacob is sure about that. “I’ve never seen anyone glower before,” I say.

  “Is that what he was doing?” Jacob sounds sort of amused.

  “That’s what it looked like. His dad had beautiful brown eyes like Jack, but his dad used to smile.”

  “Beautiful brown eyes like Jack?” Jacob says. I can tell he’s teasing me.

  I play with the thumb drive on the chain around my neck.

  Jacob spots it. “Your Mum’s given it to you. When did that happen?”

  “Yesterday.”

  “Have you watched it?”

  “Yes, heaps of times. Mum says to talk to you about it.”

  Jacob nods and looks serious. “There’s a lot to talk about. A lot of things you need to know.” He yawns like he’s trying to prove it’s late. “But it can wait until tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow’s good, I’m tired too,” I say. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night between getting arrested and dealing with Vector and Amon’s dad and then there was Isabel’s mother. She had a lot to say about Isabel getting hurt and whose fault it was. Plus, there’s something tiring about getting wet and cold then warming up again.

  I stand up and get my Com. “I think I’ll go to bed. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “See you in the morning,” Jacob says. “Beautiful brown eyes like Jack?” he asks again.

  “I never said he wasn’t cute.” I slide towards the door. “Jack should be in the Vids, Vampire Vids like they used to make.” I walk up the passage and give Jacob the slow fade. “The surly vampire, the gorgeous bad tempered one who glowers, who sits in the corner and glares.” I get to my bedroom and shut the door but can still hear Jacob laughing.

  Then I take my tablet out of my bag, turn it on, slide the memory stick into the USB port and think about Jack. His hair is almost as dark as mine, which is the way I remember it. Today it was wet and falling over his forehead into his eyes. Jeans, heavy woollen jacket, and sock, that was the way he always used to dress. I remember that.

  But what I’ve forgotten is, he’s beautiful.

  I check my com again. Heaps of texts.

  Amon again.

  Text one ‘‘Missing you.’

  Text two. ‘Where are you?’

  Text Three. ‘Are you all right?’

  Text four. ‘Calling Ela’

  Text five. ‘Are you ignoring me still?’

  I snuggle down, pull the covers around me, watch Dad and listen to the rain.

  The next morning, I wake up and the sun is shining.

  “Do you think it will rain today?” I ask Jacob while we’re having breakfast.

  Jacob shrugs. “It might.” He looks at what I’m wearing. The running gear I wear when I train with Amon. “Take a change of clothes with you then if it gets cooler, or it rains you’ll be right.”

  So, I do what he says, and pack a bag, then go into town to meet Jack so we can do the stuff Jacob wants us to do. I’m a bit worried about how today will go. Jack really didn’t look like he wanted to have anything to do with me.

  Jack is waiting for me in the bar.

  “I’m all set to do what Jacob wants,” I say.

  “I can see,” says Jack, and he doesn’t any happier than he did yesterday. And from the way he’s looking at me, I’ve even got what I’m wearing wrong.

  “What’s wrong with this?” I ask, arms out a bit, looking down at myself. I’m in shorts, top and running shoes. How can that be wrong?

  “Nothing. Come on,” says Jack. We go outside.

  “Shall we go in Mum’s car?” I ask.

  “Nope, it’s not a useful vehicle you have there, Miss Hennessey.” Jack goes to the old Land Rover, parked just in front of Mum’s car and opens the driver’s door. “I saw your mum’s car bounce from rut to rut on the loose metal on Jacob’s driveway. It won’t get us up to Curley’s house. I can’t see how it managed Jacob’s drive even.”

  “It did all right.” I climb into the Land Rover and shut the door with a bang. The leather seats are worn through. The cracked piping is probably cutting into my legs. “Does this run on biogas?” I ask. “It looks too old. It looks like it needs diesel.”

  “Yeah, Dad switched it over.” He checks the back of the Land Rover, there’s a dog, a sleeping bag and primus on a shelf. Jackets and coats are piled on the floor. The dog sniffs my shoulder.

  “That’s Monsanto,” Jack says. “He’s coming with us.”

  Monsanto lies down on the pile, rests his head on his paws. Jack slams the back door shut, gets into the driver’s side and leans his elbow out the window.

  ****

  The Willis brothers watched Jack Fraser with a girl he hadn’t seen before, come out of the pub, and he thought he knew about every girl in town.

  “That arsehole’s everywhere,” said Charlie, standing there, hands warmed by his pie.

  Henry nodded and took the first bite of his. The girl looked like an Elite. He chewed tentatively, watching the scene across the road. How did Fraser get to be with an Elite?

  Jack and the girl stood on the footpath, talked for a moment, then Jack waved to them, the arsehole, and walked around the back of the Land Rover.

  A few minutes, the old Land Rover left, then Henry and Charlie crossed the road and went into the pub.

  “Who was the bird with Fraser?” Henry asked the barman.

  “Ela Hennessey,” said Arthur, wiping a glass and putting it in the rack, “Old Jacob’s granddaughter.”

  Henry chewed over the information. More interesting than he expected. Jack Fraser was spending time with Jacob Hennessey’s granddaughter. Might
be useful. Might pass that on to Vincent. It might keep Vincent off their backs for a while. Give him something new to think about.

  Chapter 7

  Ela meets me in the pub. She’s all silver eyes with charcoal lashes, and glossy and Elite. She’s wearing running clothes like she said she would. I see Mum say something to her, then walk across to the end of the bar and push open the doors. She stands and yells into the murk and the noise.

  “Hey Jack, your date’s here.”

  That’s my mum, the smartarse. Then she goes back to Ela.

  “He’s not my date,” I hear Ela say as I get to the door.

  “I know,” says Mum.

  Ela glances around the dingy surroundings, looking a bit uncomfortable. Everything is clean, but there’s a smell of alcohol and old smoke. Maybe I shouldn’t have got her to meet me in the bar. She’s probably never been in one before.

  I go over to the bar.

  Mum says, “Be careful.”

  I shrug. “Don’t worry about me. I’m tough,” I say.

  She shakes her head. She blames the whole tough thing on Dad. For the first year after he left, I stayed with him in Australia. That was when we were still allowed to travel. It can’t happen now. Anyway, Dad would drag me around the mine sites, and he did a fair bit of drinking and fighting before he met Yvette. Then he cleaned up his act. Mum reckons the first bit rubbed off.

  “I’m all set to do what Jacob wants,” says Ela.

  “I can see,” I say, I can see a hell of a lot actually. Tiny shorts, tinier top, those factories in China don’t waste any money on fabric. Slim hips, attitude.

  We get in the Land Rover, and I’m ready to head off, when I hear a familiar soft whomp, whomp, whomp and three StealthHovers materialise in front of the pub. They slowly come down and park in the middle of the road.

  “Fuck,” I say softly as the wings of the Hovers rise, and VTroopers pour out each side. Silver Vs on the front of the uniforms. Their helmets, boots and long coats are all black. They form a circle around the Hovers lasers held ready.

  Three VTroopers go into the dairy across the road.

  “What’s happening?” asks Ela, looking over at me, all frightened eyes and dark hair.

  “The Department of Eugenics in action.” I’m pretty bitter.

  The VTroopers come out of the shop escorting Lucinda, her head down, blonde hair hanging over her face. Whatever Fitzgerald and Nick’s dad were planning for Joe and Lucinda, they haven’t moved fast enough. Her hand is on her cheek like she’s been hurt. She’s walking slowly, reluctantly.

  Her mum runs out behind them screaming, and clutches at the arm of one of the VTroopers. He turns and hits her with his gun. She flops to the ground, and Lucinda looks back frightened. The VTroopers push her towards the nearest Hover.

  “What’s she done?” Ela asks when the Hovers have gone. Like she thinks this has to be Lucinda’s fault. Typical Elite attitude.

  “Got pregnant.”

  “How?”

  And her mother’s a doctor? “You’re kidding, right?” I say and start the Land Rover then pull out onto the road.

  “I meant, why have they taken her?” asks Ela over the noise.

  “It’s illegal. We’re just sperm and egg donors to you lot. You don’t have much use for a whole foetus.” I’m angry. I’m angry at Vector, the Administration, the Elite, Humicrib, Transgenics. You name it. I concentrate on driving through the main street. Shops slide past.

  “What was really happening?” she asks.

  “I told you, they took Lucinda away because she’s pregnant.”

  “No one can get pregnant. Humicrib clones the babies.”

  “Locals can. Where do you think Humicrib gets the raw material from?”

  She ponders on that. “I hadn’t thought about it,” she says quietly, after a while. “How would Vector know?”

  “Someone informed on her.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s illegal.”

  I drive out of town, go past the old meat works building. It’s falling apart. The old cemetery is filled with weeds. Not much changes here ever. It just gets more dilapidated.

  We turn towards the Karangahake Gorge.

  “I’ve been here before,” Ela says it like she’s trying to be heard without shouting. “Jacob used to walk up Mount Karangahake with me.”

  I don’t say anything, ignore her, just keep driving. I feel Ela study me as we go across the bridge. The boards rumble under the wheels of the Land Rover.

  We would picnic at the top and then climb down and swim in one of the creeks,” says Ela. She’s looking out the window and all around is neglect. No one looks after this stuff now because no tourists are allowed in the country. The bridge is old and broken. It goes from the start of the walkway to the huge tunnel through the hill. On the other side of the road is the entrance. I ignore Ela a bit more.

  She finally gets the message. “Okay, why don’t you want to take me with you?” she asks.

  “You can tag along like you used to. Your choice.” Not true. Jacob made that clear.

  She shakes her head, looking a bit irritated by that. Tries again. “Why are you acting like this if this is what Jacob wants?” I don’t answer. “Is this because of that girl? The one Vector took away? Or because I’m Elite?” she asks.

  I still don’t answer, but she’s Elite, her mother works for Humicrib, that makes Ela part of it, and I’m stuck with her.

  I turn down a narrow, unsealed track that has a row of small houses on one side of it. I stop outside an old miner’s cottage. The veranda sags at one end.

  “Why are we here?”

  “I need to pick something up.” I get out of the Land Rover, knock on the door of the cottage and wait. The door is opened by Curley’s dad. He’s huge, and middle aged, in an old white singlet and grey track pants. The clothes and bare feet look lived in as usual.

  “Curley said he left some stuff here for Jacob.”

  From the back of the house, Curley’s mum yells, “If that’s Jack tell him we don’t want any trouble here.”

  His dad yells back. “Shut your mouth, woman,” and then looks at me. “Here it is.” He hands me an envelope. I lift the flap and look inside. A few sheets of paper, not much this time.

  “Curley said it’s the best he could do,” says his dad.

  “Tell him thanks.” I fold the flap down and go back to the Land Rover.

  Ela’s Com buzzes, another text, I guess. She got heaps while we were driving here. She reads it this time.

  “Who was that?” I ask, thinking maybe it’s Jacob.

  “A friend.” She’s sort of half smiling and fiddling with her necklace. It’s a bit of paua shell on a chain. “What was in the envelope?” she asks.

  “Some information Jacob needs.”

  “On paper? Wouldn’t emailing it be more efficient?”

  And I give in for a moment and decide to talk to her after all, because to be fair, she’s just a kid and isn’t part of it, just trapped in the middle like the rest of us. “Paper’s invisible,” I say and open the back and shove the envelope under the mat, then spread the jackets and stuff over it. “The Administration doesn’t keep track of paper copies anymore, they seem to have forgotten them, so that’s how we communicate.”

  “Because walls have ears,” she says like Jacob does and half smiles at me again. Jacob was right, she’s pretty.

  I shrug and grin back at her and get back in the Land Rover. We go out of town towards Karangahake then along an old mining road and pull into a carpark beside a stand of kauri. Ela starts to put the Com into her shorts pocket.

  “Put it in the glove box,” I say. “Your Com will have a Locate on it, and we’re not meant to be here. Better to be OffGrid.”

  “What are you doing with your Com?”

  “Didn’t bring it,” I say.

  Ela tries to open the door on the driver’s side of the Land Rover. The handle won’t work. It does that sometimes, should have f
ixed it. I watch her push and pull on it, try wiggling it up and down, but it won’t move.

  She gives up the struggle with the handle. “How do I get out?”

  I lean across to thump the door just above the handle, the same as I would have a few years ago.

  This time I pull back real quick. “Sorry, didn’t mean to squash you.” There’s a click, and the door opens when she tries the handle again.

  “That’s okay.” She smiles at me.

  I hop out and open the back door to let the dog out then turn back to Ela to answer her question. She’s half in half out of the vehicle, all long legs and perfect tan, with straight black hair hanging over her face and shoulders. And those grey eyes looking at me.

  Mon does a lap around our feet. Then runs up the road to the corner and back. I get my day pack out of the vehicle and my rifle, sling them over my shoulder, then make sure all the doors are locked.

  “Why are you taking your rifle?” Ela asks.

  “Might run into some vermin.”

  “There are no vermin left.”

  “Still deer.” I start walking up the road. After a few seconds, Ela runs a bit to catch up.

  “This close to town?” she asks.

  “Yep.” She talks a lot. I adjust the way the pack is sitting. Settle the rifle more comfortably on my shoulder. Then walk to the locked gate with a stile beside it.

  The sun is shining, but the sky is heavy with cloud. I take off the rifle and the pack, lean them against the fence. I put my hand on the top of the post and leap over. Monsanto wiggles under the gate.

  Then Ela climbs up on to the stile. I put out my hand to help her. She takes it and steps down to the first cross bar. Then she steps down to the next level with those legs. She watches me with those eyes, then finally gives a little hop down onto the grass.

  And it hits me. Jacob is completely wrong. She’s not pretty. She was pretty when she was a kid. Now she’s hot. I’m still holding her hand. I finally remember to let it go.