Trojan Gene

by Meg Buchanan

  “We never had Genus 6 here. Now the Administration works hard to make sure that gene doesn’t get into the country. You’re only allowed to grow seeds that are on the register, nothing else. Though Jacob says the problem is really something to do with the aflatoxins and how the grain is stored.”

  We work on a few more trays, and then I realise there’s more stuff I haven’t told her.

  “These tomatoes aren’t on the register,” I say.

  “They’re rogue plants?” She stops working and turns around. “Why?”

  “Only DoE think they’re rogue plants. Nobody round here does. It’s against the law to save your own seed and grow anything that hasn’t been registered.

  But Jacob says it’s lunacy to only have one variety of each species in the world. It’s dangerous. Biodiversity stops a species being wiped out accidentally by some mistake like the thing with Genus 6, so we keep our own seeds and plant them. Besides, I think Jacob doesn’t like buying his seed from Transgene on principle.”

  “How do you get away with it?”

  “That’s where Curley comes in. He’s a computer technician for the Administration. He works at the Outpost. It’s this big complex just out of town. Concrete buildings, electrified fence, the works. It’s where DoE are based. Curley prints off the records for us, so we know where they will be working over the next month. He makes the copies secretly, disconnects the printer’s counter, so no one will question what he’s doing.”

  “That’s scary,” says Ela. “What if he gets caught?”

  I shrug. “He’s careful. It’s been going on for years according to Jacob. Me and Jacob go through the records and find out where DoE will be and get the message out. And Nick – he’s one of my mates too – he works for DoE and gets early warnings to us. When we get back to the pub, we’ll look at the papers I picked up from Curley’s yesterday.”

  “What do the growers do if DoE is coming?”

  “Destroy the plants or move them.”

  *

  Later, back at the pub, we sit on the couch in the lounge with Curley’s box between us, ready to go through it.

  I shuffle the pile of paper and bang its edges on the timber chest, so it will fit back in the box. Ela, looking tired, rubs her eyes with her fingers.

  “Why does he print the minutes?” she asks. “Why not just copy them onto a Com or a Tablet?”

  “We try to stick to paper. Jacob thinks the Elite have forgotten about paper copies. They don’t monitor them the way they monitor other stuff.”

  We spread the papers out on the timber chest in front of the couch and plough through endless minutes on renovating the public toilets and the cost of using different products. It’s always like this.

  After the cost of afternoon teas and telephone expenses, I find what we are looking for. DoE will be in the Waihi areas checking the bush and the farms next week.

  I need to warn the two farms that are growing cucumbers for Jacob. I’ll have to send them an email tonight. After old Stevens, they’ll know to hide the stuff straight away, and any OffGrid kids they have hanging around.

  “How often do you do this?” asks Ela.

  “Every week. If I find anything anyone needs to know, I make sure they know about it.” And this time there’ll be no mucking around first. Lucky everyone on the list is on the Intranet.

  Ela nods then moves on to her next question.

  “What sites did Jacob want you to take me to?”

  “They’re up the mountain. We’ll go tomorrow morning.”

  I look at what she’s wearing, short skirt, tiny top, little shoes. Not practical. Real Elite. “We have to go into the bush. You got suitable clothes in that bag you brought?”

  She thinks about it for a moment.

  “I could wear my running gear. Will that be all right?”

  “Yeah,” I say.

  As soon as Ela’s gone to bed, I use Dad’s computer to send out the warnings. Jacob said he’d run a check on Vincent. I decide to do it for him. I start an eSerch, put in ‘Carlos Vincent’. I’m a bit curious about him and the Willises and what they’re up to anyway.

  I see the Connect flash and hit the eSerch icon.

  Vincent is about the same age as Fitzgerald. That’s too old to have a Status page, but it’s old enough to still be using Facebook. I give that a go.

  Nothing.

  I do a general search. I still don’t get the thousands of hits you’d expect. In fact, nothing comes up about him at all. Not a single hit. Weird. Nobody’s that far OffGrid. He must be going to a lot of trouble to keep himself a secret.

  Chapter 8

  NICK TURNS UP at the pub way before daybreak. “Fitzgerald wants us to get the Egans out now,” he says, as soon as I open the door. He’s standing there in the false dawn, leaning in, hand on the doorframe.

  “Why?”

  “Another order from Vector. A raid like at the Stevens’. This one’s planned for this morning.”

  “I could just fire up the computer and warn them to get the hell out of there.” Not enough sleep makes me reluctant to go out in the cold in the middle of the night.

  “No. Fitzgerald doesn’t want to risk it. Thinks Vector will track where the warning came from.”

  Jacob is always worried about surveillance. Now it looks like Fitzgerald is too.

  “We need to go to the Egan place and get them away,” says Nick. “Curley says there are Intercepts on everything. He’s not even sure how safe your dad’s computer is.”

  “Okay.” I wanted to do something real for once, and it looks like this is my chance. “I’ll get dressed and get some gear.”

  Ela hovers near the door. Must have heard Nick arrive. She turns and goes back to her room without saying anything. I guess she thinks this is nothing to do with her.

  I walk down the passage to my room, and Nick follows talking fast.

  “Fitzgerald said when the order for Stevens came through Vector was at their place within a couple of hours. We’re going to have to move fast. And it’s not just the seeds. Their kids are OffGrid.”

  “What about food?” I ask as I stand up, ready to get going.

  “Mum packed some.”

  I get my day pack. Pull on jeans and t-shirt. Sit and put on some socks and boots.

  “You got a primus in that pack?” We’re heading up the passage towards the kitchen.

  “Yeah, do we take both vehicles?” From what Jacob says, the Egans are a big family. Extra transport might help.

  “Nah,” says Nick. “We’ll stick the kids on the tray of the ute. We just have to get them to a bridge near their place. Fitzgerald will be waiting there for us.”

  Nick sounds on to it. “You done this before?”

  “Yeah, a couple of times.”

  I pick my Swanndri up off the chair and see Ela come into the kitchen fully dressed. In running clothes, and, fuck, you should see what Elite wear to go running in. The factories in China don’t waste any money on fabric.

  “You’re not coming,” I say to her. “This could get dangerous.”

  “Of course, I’m coming.” Ela’s eyes are deadly serious. “I could help.”

  “Nah, you’re safer here.”

  “Jacob said I was to stay with you,” says Ela like that clinches it. Haven’t seen this side of her before and this isn’t a good idea.

  “Jacob said you should do what I tell you.”

  “And that’s going to happen.” And there’s nothing sweet and Elite about the way Ela says that. Like I said, haven’t seen this side of her before.

  Nick’s looking from her to me, me to her. “Ela Hennessey, I presume,” he says.

  “Jacob’s granddaughter,” I say.

  “I know,” says Nick.

  I turn to Ela again. “You can’t come.” I get my rifle from beside the kitchen door. Pick up my pack. Consider a ‘carry her to her room and lock her in’ manoeuvre like Jacob said. Looking at her standing there, determined to come with us, I suspect that won
’t go down well.

  “What do you reckon?” I ask Nick, and nod in Ela’s direction. Nick shakes his head like he can’t believe me. Then looks over at Ela too.

  “Get out in the bush much?” he asks.

  “Don’t get out too often in the City.” She’s quick.

  And Nick gives one of those half snorts. “Let her come.” He starts going out the door. “She can help load the stuff they’ll want to take with them.” He checks out the running gear. Tiny shorts, tinier singlet, legs forever. “Have you got something she can wear?”

  “I’ll get Mum’s Swanndri.” I go to the cupboard. Ela takes it, shrugs into it, emerging eventually. She follows us down the stairs. We get to the bottom, no one saying anything. As we go out the back door of the pub, Nick glances back at me.

  “Fitzgerald called earlier, said he wanted to talk to me.”

  I wait for Ela to get through, then lock the back door behind us. “About this?” I ask.

  “Nah, he came round later for this.” Nick’s moving across the parking area now to his ute. “Fitzgerald went to see Jacob in the afternoon. Got told to have a word with me,” he says over his shoulder.

  “About what?” I ask.

  “Guess,” he says. And it hits me. I got him into the shit letting Jacob know where I’d heard the code word.

  “I didn’t think.” I sling my pack onto the back of the ute beside Nick’s stuff. “Sorry.”

  “Yeah.” Nick gives a bit of a shrug. “But I’ll survive.”

  I let Mon out of the kennel. He leaps onto the back of the ute, settles, head on my pack like it’s a pillow.

  Ela’s waiting by the ute in the cold. Arms folded around her body, hands inside the sleeves of Mum’s Swanndri.

  Nick opens the ute door.

  “We’ll park near a layby about a couple of kilometres from the Egans’ place. I’ll show you where we’re headed then. We need to recon before we go in.”

  That makes sense. Check out the Egans’ place first. Can’t do much for them if Vector are there already like they were at the Stevens’.

  “Okay.” I hold the door open, so Ela can get in. I get in beside her, then shut the door. It’s a tight fit the three of us in the cab of the ute. I put my arm over Ela’s shoulders, pull her closer to give Nick room to change gear. She snuggles up to me the way she used to when we were kids. Having her tucked up close like that feels familiar.

  We get going.

  “You know Vector got Lucinda?” asks Nick as we’re driving along.

  “Yeah, saw it happen. Three StealthHovers and a hundred odd VTroops to take one girl.”

  “Fitzgerald said they sent an army. Joe went berserk when he found out.” Nick sounds bitter.

  “Who’s Joe?” asks Ela.

  “Nick’s brother.” We drive along in the dark a bit longer then Nick starts talking again.

  “I saw something yesterday you might want to know.”

  “What?”

  “Remember those two guys we saw with the Willises on Monday night? I’ve seen them at the Outpost.”

  “So, they’re Vector?”

  “Looks like it.” It’s not much of a surprise. They had that pumped-up, full of themselves look Vector have. But I just did an eSerch on one of them. Not good.

  “Your Com not work?” I ask Nick.

  “Coms have ears,” he says, and Ela snorts. Fair enough.

  Hopefully Curley’s wrong, and Dad’s computer is secure enough that the search isn’t picked up. I guess so, no Hovers turned up and snatched me. Maybe Jacob’s right. Nick does have more sense than me.

  “They’re OffGrid,” I say.

  “You did a search on them?” I see him turn his head a bit. Nick looks at me like I’m an idiot.

  “Yep, and got zilch.”

  “Did you spell the name right?” He thinks I’m a complete idiot.

  “How many ways can you spell Carlos Vincent?” I ask. “Anyway, what were they doing at the Outpost?”

  “Acting like they own the place. Talking to people, giving orders. They’ve even got an office.”

  “What are they there for?”

  “Don’t know.”

  *

  We get to the layby and get out of the ute. It’s cold and dark, almost a frost, grass white, fog hanging around below. There’s a bit of a glow on the horizon.

  Nick blows on his hands to warm them.

  “Whose idea was this?” he asks, boots stamping on the frozen grass.

  “Not mine.” I go around the back of the vehicle to get my gear, and Mon leaps off the tray. “Think the fog will lift?”

  “Should burn off early.” Nick wanders around the ute too. Unzips the front of his pack. Pulls out a chart and a torch. Spreads the chart on the tray.

  Mon lifts his leg beside the front tyre.

  “Likes to leave his mark that dog,” says Nick, like he’ll be washing that tyre the moment he gets home. We lean over the map. Try to get a fix on where we are. I know the general area. It’s not too far from Nick’s grandma’s place. I’ve been hunting here with him and Joe a few times.

  “We’ll follow this line. Come at the place from behind.” Nick tracks his finger up a gut then across a ridge. “We’ll walk along here and work our way up to that windfall ridge. That way, when we get to the bush line, we’ll get a good view of anything going on.”

  “Okay.”

  Ela waits near us watching and patting Mon. I turn to her, point into the gloom of the bush in front of us. I can just make out a darker shadowed area of a gully snaking up the slope.

  “We’re going up this gut,” I say, and Ela nods.

  Nick folds the map up again, stows it in his pack. Pulls the cord to close the inner lining and then clips the top flap.

  “Got your wrist shield?” he asks as he lifts the pack off the tray by its strap.

  “Yeah.” I raise my arm a bit. The Swanndri sleeve slides down. The shield glints dark and metallic in the half light.

  “Left your Coms at home?” I check. Locates on Coms can be tracked too. Nick and Ela nod.

  Then the three of us get going, and it doesn’t take long to realise that as brilliant ideas go, taking Ela with us isn’t one of them. We’re supposed to be in stealth mode, but in the bush, even in running shoes, there’s the noise of her.

  She stands on every twig and breaks every branch she passes. I can hear the rustle the leaves make as she moves her feet. She knows nothing about moving through the bush quietly. Forgot to teach her that when I was twelve. Probably couldn’t do it myself then anyway.

  Even Monsanto seems to know stealth is required. He moves at the same speed with the same care as me and Nick.

  Not Ela.

  And talk about talk. Normally when we are in the bush, Nick and I can go for hours without saying anything.

  Not Ela. “What’s a gut?” she asks as we climb steadily.

  “A small steep gully that goes up the side of a ridge.”

  “A windfall ridge?” asks Ela.

  “A place where all the trees have been blown over in a storm.” And so on.

  It takes us about half an hour to get to the top where the track disappears.

  “How do you know where to go?” asks Ela.

  “We’ll follow the ridge. Hardly anyone hunts now. That’s why the track’s grown over.”

  We walk on. Nick ahead, moving like a shadow with Monsanto near him. No loyalty that dog, goes with the one in front.

  Then Ela steps on yet another twig, and the crack reverberates through the dark. I make a rapid change of plan. Decide we have to leave her behind.

  I stop, take off my pack and put it down beside a rock. Nick sees me do it and waits just a bit ahead. He probably can guess why I’ve stopped.

  “You stay here,” I say to Ela. “I’ll come back and get you when we’re done.”

  She looks doubtful.

  “We’ll be quicker and quieter without you.”

  “How long will you be?” she asks.
It’s still not quite dawn. She might be sitting in the dark alone in the middle of nowhere for a while.

  “We should be back in an hour or so, I guess.” I try to sound like an hour’s not long. “Depends what happens. There’s a torch in the pack,” I say as some consolation.

  “Won’t you need the torch?” she asks.

  “No, there’s enough light from the moon to see where we’re going.”

  She still doesn’t look too keen on the plan. “I’d rather stay with you.” She looks around at bush looming close and dark.

  I can’t decide what to do. I’m not too keen on leaving her alone in the dark, but I have to weigh that up against being able to move fast and quiet.

  “Hurry up,” says Nick from his position away a bit from us. “We don’t have time for another lovers’ tiff.” He’s read too much into me and Ela arguing.

  I decide on a compromise. “You can come if you stay close and move like we do.”

  “And don’t talk anymore,” says Nick helpfully. “We don’t want to alert anyone until we know what we’re walking into. And you have to keep up. We can’t wait for you.” She considers that, looks from me to Nick and then down to the shadowy valley

  “I still want to come. I’ll be careful and quiet.”

  I’m still not sure it’s a good idea, but I give in. I put the pack back on.

  “Okay.” What can go wrong? We wake them up, pack them into the ute, take them to Fitzgerald.

  We start moving towards the Egans’ place again.

  Nick nods behind us at Ela. “Masterful,” he says out the side of his mouth.

  “You were no help.”

  Nick just shrugs.

  I figure he wasn’t too keen on leaving her behind either.

  Eventually we’re close to the Egans’. We stand watching the mist in the gully get pushed further back as the sun starts to come up. Behind us the hills look like black velvet against the sky. In front, I can see the farm buildings in the grey of dawn. It’s all quiet and serene. Looks like we got here on time this time.

  *

  Nick bangs on the door. And after a few seconds I can hear that scurrying and crash bang you hear when someone is trying to move fast but not wake up the rest of the household.

  Egan opens the door. His feet are half in his slippers. He’s still shrugging into his dressing gown. He looks from me to Nick.