by Eliza Green
‘Listen, I was wondering if you’d like to grab some dinner later.’ She held her hands up. ‘As friends.’
‘No need to explain. I’d like that.’ He needed a break from everything. Maybe dinner and good company would fix it for him. ‘We’ll go to Cantaloupe. Say around seven?’
Julie grinned and nodded. ‘It’s a date.’
She left the room and him to wonder if it was just that.
32
The energy in the district gave Laura goose bumps. Her body didn’t heat up fast like the Indigenes’ bodies could, but she was wearing enough layers to not feel the cold in this underground lair. Worry and curiosity had now turned into anger. For the first time since calling District Three her temporary home, Laura feared for her safety.
Silent Indigenes passed her in the tunnels, either averting their eyes or fixing their steely gazes on her. The reaction Laura received appeared to change with age and gender. The younger males were far more brazen in letting her know their feelings. The last time she’d experienced this level of contempt was when Anton’s bomb had almost killed Stephen. In the days following the explosion and after her treatment for Seasonal Affective Disorder, her presence had sparked curiosity from the Evolvers and contempt from the older Indigenes.
Now it seemed her evolution, caused by Stephen’s treatment, had done little to change their opinion of her. In the face of this virulent threat, the Indigenes were no less racist than the humans who might threaten their survival once more.
How could the ITF resolve this long-running tension?
Laura ignored the looks and walked through the tunnels with her head held high. Determined to be useful, she found Anton and Stephen working side by side in the lab. She watched as they blurred from work bench to microscope to monitor, then back again. Neither of them noticed her.
It didn’t matter; she was no scientist. Her help would be put to better use somewhere else.
She left the pair to it and dropped in on the infirmary. Serena and Arianna stood with their backs to the door. The giant body scanner bed sat in middle of the space, taking up too much room. Medics were lifting Emile up while Clara, Maxime and Marie, sitting up and well, looked on.
The relief she felt in the infirmary provided a welcome change from the dread and mistrust beyond its confines. Laura wondered if Arianna, an empath, was keeping the mood in the room even, like Elise had taught her to do.
Emile fought against the medic who struggled to get him to the scanner bed.
‘You’re lifting me all wrong,’ muttered Emile.
The medic grunted and rolled his eyes. But then Emile sagged suddenly against him. Laura looked at Serena, who had her eyes closed. She appeared to be in deep concentration, probably using her influence to control his actions and make him more compliant.
Laura entered the room, wishing she could camp out here and enjoy the benefits of Arianna and Serena’s influence.
‘Can I help?’ she asked.
Both Indigenes spun round, shock registering on their faces.
The good mood dipped sharply and a subdued Emile became more alert. He kicked and yelled at the medic.
‘Serena...’ the medic said.
Both of them faced the bed once more, leaving Laura without an answer.
She left them to it and walked around for a while. Her lack of purpose sent her in search of Clement. He was the only Indigene not to have dismissed her help. She found him in the Central Core, surrounded by what Laura assumed were volunteers.
‘Make sure the exits are blocked,’ he said to one group. ‘The caves are also off limits.’
‘There’s more of them than us,’ said one male volunteer. ‘If they want to leave or use the Nexus, we won’t be able to stop them.’
Clement clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Do your best.’
Laura walked up to him. He, too, looked startled by her arrival.
‘Laura, there you are. I need help to organise the volunteers into groups to protect the entrances and exits.’
‘Whatever I can do to help.’ She rolled her sleeves up and got stuck in.
It didn't take long for the optimistic mood in the Central Core to wane. Laura sensed their efforts to stop the Indigenes from using the Nexus or leaving in droves would be in vain. Finding a cure for the Nexus had to be their priority now. Staying in the district would not speed up that discovery.
She pulled Clement aside. ‘I need to leave.’
He frowned at her; she caught a trace of sadness in his eyes. ‘Leave? Why?’
‘I’m not helping here.’
He gripped her arms. ‘Of course you are. I need you here.’
Clement didn’t need her for this. If anything, her presence was making things worse. But she sensed he referred to something else, something she couldn’t promise.
‘Please, Clement. I have to go back. I can do more from the ITF.’
Clement let go of her. ‘And see your husband?’
He said it so softly, it almost broke her heart.
‘I’ll probably bump into him, but that’s not why I have to leave.’
Clement nodded, his jaw tense. ‘You should wait until this evening. Things are too crazy at the moment. It should calm down later.’
Laura smiled and squeezed his arm. ‘Thanks, Clement. I owe you one.’
His expression softened for a moment, but hardened again when one of the volunteers called to him. He muttered, ‘I’ll come get you,’ before walking away.
Laura returned to her quarters—the only place where she felt comfortable these days. She packed a bag and swapped her tunic for a pair of jeans and a sweater. Then she waited. It was only 5pm. When would Clement show up?
A knock on her door surprised her. She grabbed her bag and readied to leave. But she opened the door to discover Margaux waiting.
The former elder stood with her hands behind her back. ‘Off somewhere?’
Laura faltered. ‘I uh...’
Margaux released one hand and tapped the gel mask Laura wore. ‘And take that off. You don’t need it anymore.’
Worried the former elder might rip it off, Laura protected it with her hand. She needed it.
Margaux waved her hand at nothing in particular and entered her quarters. Laura closed the door and frowned at her visitor.
‘Now’s not a good time.’
Margaux turned to face her. Her eyes were on the bag in Laura’s hand. ‘Running away isn’t the solution.’
‘Oh, this?’ Laura lifted the bag. ‘It’s not what you think.’
‘Are you leaving?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then it’s exactly what I think. I saw you talking to Clement earlier. He’s going to help you escape.’
Laura laughed. ‘You make it sound like I’m a prisoner here.’
‘Not a prisoner in the physical sense.’ Margaux tapped the side of her head. ‘Up here is a different matter.’
Laura admitted to feeling out of sorts. ‘I can’t think about that now. I’m of no use here and there’s growing hostility towards me.’
‘So you want to run when things get tough?’
Laura shook her head. She wasn’t running. ‘I can help more if I’m up top. Help Bill to figure out what’s causing the virus.’
‘Need some company?’
Laura widened her eyes. ‘What?’ Had she heard the former elder right? ‘You want to leave too?’
Margaux tucked her hands behind her back. ‘It sounds like fun and I’m only getting in the way down here.’
‘But the lockdown. You’re patient zero. Stephen would have a heart attack.’
Margaux shrugged. ‘Who’s going to tell him? Not me.’
‘I don’t know...’ Laura looked away, then back at Margaux. ‘How will you breathe?’
Margaux tapped her chest. ‘I seem able to breathe surface air well enough.’ She stepped closer. ‘How useful would it be for your doctors to have patient zero in their labs?’
Very. But she didn’t trus
t Harvey or Jameson. ‘They might not let you leave.’
Margaux jabbed her finger into Laura’s forehead, startling her. ‘You won’t let that happen.’
She would not. She would risk her life to protect the Indigenes, most of whom had made her feel like one of them.
‘So what do you say?’
‘Clement isn’t going to like it.’
Margaux narrowed her eyes. ‘You leave that pretty boy to me.’
☼
Clement arrived an hour later. He nearly fell off the stone steps when Margaux answered the door. She had returned to her room and changed into a darker outfit, something that would disguise what she was better. Over that she wore an overcoat with a hood, hiding her pale skin and hairless head beneath its folds.
‘Elder,’ he said, bowing.
Laura had forgotten Margaux had been Clement’s elder once.
Her friend recovered a little, glancing at Laura. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘You will be releasing two this evening.’
Clement’s eyes widened. ‘But, elder—?’
‘But elder what?’
‘It’s not safe for you to leave. Stephen said—’
‘You leave him to me. Laura wants to be useful, so do I.’
‘But you were sick. ‘
‘And now I’m well. How long must we stand here and discuss matters? Your task is simple: get Laura and me out of the district, unnoticed.’
Clement faltered. Whatever plan he’d had earlier appeared to be in tatters. ‘I’m not sure which entrance to use.’
‘Why not the one the young are using to escape, right under Stephen’s nose?’
That shocked Laura. ‘Where?’
‘A disused tunnel that was never sealed off properly. It leads right outside. No scanners, no triggers. ‘
‘Where is it?’ asked Laura.
‘In the western part of the district.’
Margaux exited the room and walked down the steps. ‘Come on, take us there before we’re seen.’
Clement shook his head at Laura, who shrugged. ‘It wasn’t my idea.’
‘You could have talked her out of it.’
‘No, she couldn’t,’ replied Margaux, already at the exit tunnel. ‘Keep up please.’
Margaux walked at a fast clip. Even Clement struggled to keep up.
They navigated the tunnels, managing somehow to avoid being seen. Clement took the lead, but relied on Margaux’s senses before entering a new tunnel.
She paused at the corner then said, ‘Come on, before they return.’
Their small group made it to the western part of the district and a tunnel that was plunged into black. At least Laura couldn’t see the black shadows here. Her better vision, though, allowed her to see how far it went.
Clement stopped at what appeared to be an invisible barrier. ‘This is as far as I go.’
Margaux stepped through the environmental barrier and sucked in a lungful of air. With a smile, she said, ‘Yes, this is it.’
Laura hugged Clement.
‘Thank you,’ she whispered next to his ear.
He held on tightly. ‘Be careful.’
He pulled back, his blue eyes brimming with concern.
Laura nodded and popped off her gel mask. Clement disappeared into the darkness of District Three, while she and Margaux ventured farther into the tunnel. It pitched upwards along a well-worn path and brought them to the surface.
She and Margaux emerged in the dimming light and ran for the city limits. There was just one place she needed to go. Five minutes later, they arrived at the ITF. She halted Margaux with her hand when Bill emerged from the lobby with a laughing Julie. A weight crushed her heart. Bill looked relaxed and Julie had a familiar look in her eye. It was the same one she’d had for Bill once.
Love.
Laura stepped back into the shadows, her hands two fists, breathing thickly.
Margaux surprised her by cupping her face and touching noses with her. ‘Don’t worry, he still loves you. And you him.’
She did, but she still wasn’t certain they could overcome their differences. From the looks of it, he’d moved on. And with her number one in command, no less.
She waited until the pair had disappeared around the corner. She marched on. ‘Come on, let’s wait for him to return.’
‘Where?’ asked Margaux.
‘Where else? At home.’
If Julie had ideas about getting lucky tonight, it wouldn’t be in their apartment.
33
Dinner at Cantaloupe was a surprisingly pleasant affair. Bill even tried something different to his usual steak and chips: chicken, mashed potatoes and baby carrots. It had been Laura’s first meal there before they’d started dating, back when they’d been trying to find out more about the World Government’s plans for the Indigenes. His heart hurt that those times were now over. Maybe dinner was a mistake...
Julie was talking about her old life on Earth. Bill blinked and tried to focus on what she said.
‘It was difficult at first,’ she said, ‘adjusting to the government credits, but John believed we could manage. I trusted him when he said he could get another job.’
Something about credits.
Bill blinked again. ‘I’m sorry, what?’
Julie looked at him, surprised. ‘I was telling you about my life on Earth. John, my husband, had lost his job and we had to go into regulated housing.’
Luckily, Bill had never been poor enough to live in one of those places. He gave Julie his full attention.
‘What was it like?’
Julie smiled, but it was forced and short-lived. ‘Difficult.’ She swallowed hard. ‘A lot of tense people lived in those properties. People being forced to do menial work weren’t happy about their conditions. Surviving on government credits had turned some to extortion, to make ends meet.’
It had been the government’s policy to put everyone to work. Idle hands make work for the devil. The late Charles Deighton had said that to him once, on his first day working for the World Government. Bill had never worked in the regulated housing division, but he liked to think the new settlement arrangements on Exilon 5 might erase the bad memories for some.
He leaned forward, food forgotten. ‘How long did you live there?’
Julie paused as if remembering. Or trying not to. ‘Uh, about three years.’
‘But you and John got out of there?’
‘Not exactly.’ Julie tucked her hair behind her ears, looked down at the table. ‘John was almost killed in the block. A disagreement. A demand for credits he refused to meet.’
Bill leaned back. ‘Oh shit, I’m sorry.’
She nodded and smiled. ‘Ancient history, but it spurred him on to fight against the lawlessness festering there. I didn’t have the stomach for it, to keep living in that social mess. That’s why I left Earth.’
‘So you got offered work again? Otherwise we wouldn’t have found you.’
‘Yeah, as a comms operative for about a year. Then the World Government left Earth and it fell under criminal control.’
‘How did you escape? When I hired you, you were already living here.’
Julie smiled. ‘A friend of mine from the block faked my credentials. They got me on board one of the last ships off the planet. He said my talents were wasted on Earth.’
The regulated housing areas must have been teeming with skilled people caught on the wrong side of life. To be forced out of a good life and into a worse situation was no way to live.
He reached over and patted her hand. ‘Well, I’m glad you found a way to leave.’
She looked up at him, hopeful. ‘Yeah?’
Bill pulled his hand back. ‘Yeah, I wouldn’t have been able to hire you otherwise.’
Julie’s eyes went to her plate. A soft smile played on her lips. ‘Tonight was lovely, Bill. This was a nice idea.’ She looked up at him. ‘I hope we can do it again.’
Was her idea different to his idea? For
him, it had been a dinner between friends and a way to escape thoughts about Laura.
He paused for a second before answering. ‘Sure, we should do it again.’
He called the waiter over and pressed his identity chip to the plate the waiter produced. Bill added a thirty percent credit tip to the bill.
The waiter beamed. ‘Thank you, Director Taggart.’
The maître d’ handed them their coats and they put them on as they stepped outside into the crisp evening air.
Julie hugged her frame, lingering by the door to the restaurant.
‘So...’ she prompted him with a wide-eyed look, as though she expected him to say something else.
He added, ‘This was lovely.’
Her expression fell. Perhaps he should have said something else.
‘Are you heading home now?’ she asked.
Bill nodded.
‘How about a nightcap? I’m not ready for this evening to end.’
Nightcaps and dinner dates were what people did when they moved on. Bill wasn’t there yet.
Julie’s brows lifted in anticipation of his answer.
‘Another night.’
Her face fell a second time.
‘I’ve got some work to do.’
‘Sure.’ Julie managed a smile and touched him on the arm. ‘Tonight was lovely. Thanks. See you tomorrow?’
‘Yeah, see you.’
Julie walked off, her arms wrapped tight around her, her head down. Should he have been more open to the idea? By the time he arrived back at his apartment twenty minutes later, he still didn’t know.
He jogged up the stairs to his floor, wondering how people moved on from past loves. This dating thing was hard. He wasn’t the easiest person to get to know. And the thought of letting a new person into his life brought him out in hives.
But the look of disappointment on Julie’s face played on his mind.
Should he have kissed her on the cheek, given her a hug at least? He didn’t remember dating being this difficult with Isla or Laura. His heart tugged thinking about the latter.
The panel to open his apartment door beeped when he stuck his thumb against it. The door swung open to a heavy silence. Bill jerked back from it. The alarm he’d set hadn’t gone off, sending him into a panic. He switched into military mode and darted over to the mantelpiece, where he scooped up a figurine made of metal. A noise coming from the kitchen set his pulse racing. Bill sloped across his open-plan floor, stopping short of the door leading to the next room. The sounds of rustling and beeping reached him. He listened out for the voice that would identify the intruder, but heard nothing. Whoever was in his kitchen liked to be quiet.
