Trojan Gene

by Meg Buchanan

I’m starting to think this is going to go on forever.

  Then Jacob finally starts to wind down.

  “If you can’t follow orders, if you do things that aren’t authorised, you’re a liability,” he snarls as a final shot. He goes quiet, leans back in the chair, and shuts his eyes.

  I’ll need to get out of his line of sight for a while. He’s capable of revving up again.

  Then Ela gets a call. She pulls the Com out of her cloak pocket. “Hi Mum,” she says. A long silence as the person on the other end talks.

  “Already?” she asks. “But you’re early.” More talking from the Com. “Here?” asks Ela. “Why?”

  Still more talking from the other end as Ela listens. “Okay. I’ll see you in a couple of hours,” says Ela reluctantly.

  She sits there focusing on the Com then she eases herself away from me. She slides to the other end of the couch and puts the Com back in her pocket.

  “That was Mum.” Ela stands up and wanders across to the window, looks out of it. “She got in from Paris this morning and she’s getting a ride with someone. She wants to stay the night here then drive home with me.”

  I can’t figure out what just happened. One minute she’s snuggling up and trying to defend me, then her mum rings, and she goes all distant.

  Really distant.

  Remote even.

  Jacob’s watching Ela like he can’t figure out what’s going on with her either. Why is she suddenly acting all Elite just because her Mum is coming in a few hours?

  I need to find out what just happened. I need to get away from Jacob but keep Ela with me.

  I stand up. “I’ll feed the dogs,” I say. “Do you want to help?” I ask Ela.

  Ela nods.

  Jacob watches us leave the room. He doesn’t comment. We go to the garage to find the dog food, like we’ve done almost every morning and evening since she arrived.

  “Your Mum’s coming to pick you up early?” I ask as I open the fridge.

  “Yes,” says Ela quietly.

  “And you haven’t told her about us?”

  Ela shakes her head. “You wanted to keep it from Jacob.” She’s still really quiet and reserved for her.

  “That’s different. You can see how Jacob is with me,” I say as I take out the dog roll. “Nothing I do is right.” I dump the roll on the board ready to cut it into pieces. “What just happened?”

  “I don’t know.” Ela doesn’t look at me.

  “Have you gone off me?”

  “No.” She touches my arm tentatively. “I care about you. I just haven’t said anything to Mum and Jacob.”

  “Are you still leaving?” I shake off her hand.

  She nods, then picks up the knife and cuts three pieces. “You know I have to go,” she says, putting the knife back on the board.

  I don’t say anything. I take the end of the roll and put it into the fridge. Slam the fridge door shut and grab the lumps of dog food. Go out of the garage and over to the dogs.

  Ela watches me go. I let the dogs off. Watch them run around the paddock for a while.

  Her mum’s arriving a day early.

  I can’t believe it.

  I take a serve from Jacob, and then that call happens. She’s going home tomorrow, and I thought we’d still have another whole day together. Now it could be months before I see her again. And she’s acting like she doesn’t want to be around me anymore. Despite what she says.

  I can’t figure her out. I stand there and think about what’s just happened.

  She was a bit quiet this morning. I put that down to a reaction to the Willises abducting her. Then she was really fierce with Jacob, trying to convince him none of what happened was my fault.

  Then she started acting real strange from the moment she knew her mother was coming to get her.

  It was the call from her mother that changed things.

  But why? None of it adds up.

  Then when I try to find out what’s going on, I snarl at her instead. I can’t figure me out either. I give my head a scratch. The dogs have done at least ten laps of the paddock before I start to work out what’s going on.

  It was the call from her mother that confused things for Ela. In her Elite world it’s all ‘talk but no do’. The Local way is the opposite. Keep the talking down to a minimum but show the other person how you feel.

  That has its advantages. Seems every time I open my mouth at the moment, I have a go at her. All her life she’s been taught sex is wrong. When she’s with me, she knows what she’s been told is flawed, that the Elite way isn’t always right.

  Then her mum made that call, and it’s like a little bit of the Elite world touched her. She’s anxious about us already, and I do my thing and upset her more.

  I know she has to go home, and I just made it harder for her.

  I need to fix things.

  Chapter 32

  IT TAKES A WHILE to work out a plan.

  I need to talk to Ela, and it needs to be when we’re not surrounded by hostile grandfathers or Elite mothers.

  I look back at the house, and there’s Ela standing on the back porch watching me.

  When she sees me look over at her, she catches her lip between her teeth and then gives a hesitant little half smile, so I walk over and lean against the post that’s holding the clothesline up, casual like, hands in my pockets.

  “Do you want to talk?” I ask. Sometimes I hope she’ll run up and throw her arms around me. But the throwing of arms has never happened. She always just smiles and waits for me to go to her.

  She never runs over or hugs me or kisses me first. Elite just don’t do that stuff. They dress sexy, but it’s all ‘look but don’t touch’.

  She nods, so I leave the post to support itself and go over to her. This time she even steps back a bit when I get close.

  I’m standing near Jacob’s back porch trying to work out what to say to make things right again. I look around, hands still in my pockets. I don’t put my arms around her. Don’t want to push my luck. Might stick with talking for a while.

  But the silence is getting bad. “Nice day,” I say.

  Ela giggles. “What are you doing?” She’s smiling, sort of thawing.

  I try again. “Do you want to come check the vault with me?”

  Ela bites the side of her lip then nods. “I’d like that,” she whispers and starts to go back inside the house. “I’ll go and tell Jacob what we’re doing.”

  I really don’t think that’s a good idea. If I let her go back inside, he might not let her out.

  “No. Just come. Let him suffer.” The way he was looking at us when we were curled up together on the couch, I might never get to see her again.

  She giggles at that. “The way he made you suffer?”

  “Something like that.”

  She looks down at what she’s wearing. “I’m not dressed for the bike.”

  She’s right. She’s all Elite from when we picked up Jacob. “Just grab your farm boots and Swanndri.” I know they’re in the laundry. She doesn’t have to go past Jacob to get them.

  “Okay,” she says. “And I’ll yell at him from the door then run. He won’t be able catch me on those crutches.”

  *

  She goes and gets the gear and, sure enough, yells that we’re going to check the vault. Shuts the door before she gets an answer, so she doesn’t think Jacob approves either.

  She comes over and hands me the boots and Swanndri. She wraps her cloak tighter around her. The air is cool, but it isn’t really cold. We walk to the shed where the bikes are.

  She looks up at me. A bit of hair falls over her face. “You know I have to leave.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t have to like it.” I reach out and tuck the curl back behind her ear. So much for sticking with talking.

  She smiles at the touch.

  I put my arm around her.

  Once we are inside the shed, out of sight of the house, I put down the boots and coat on the old trailer and hold her so s
he’s leaning against me. Her head tucked under my chin, I hold her close, and she seems happy to stay there.

  “I don’t want to go,” she mumbles into my shirt.

  I don’t want her to go either. I want us to stay like this forever. Bodies close, my arms around her, the touch and smell of her filling me.

  I lean back against the trailer, sit on the side of it, pull her still closer, so she’s standing between my legs and our faces are at the same height.

  There’s silence. As usual she can’t stand it.

  “Why were you so cross before?”

  “Your mum rang, and all of a sudden you were leaving tomorrow. I’d prepared myself for it happening in a couple of days, and suddenly it’s tomorrow.”

  She pulls back a bit, looks at me. Some shadowy light filters through the cracks in the old shed, just enough to see a small frown hover.

  “What’s changed now?” she asks, like I’m just a puzzle to her. “I still leave tomorrow.”

  I touch her face, run my fingers along the bruise on her cheek. She tips her head a bit towards my palm and closes her eyes.

  I gently brush the hair back from her face then touch her lips. Her eyes open again, and she smiles at me. I can just see her face in the gloom of the shed. Her hair falls softly on the shoulders of her cloak. Her eyes flash silver in the gloom.

  She reaches out and touches my face too. Then she slides her hands to my neck and kisses me. Her body pressed into mine.

  I kiss her back knowing by this time tomorrow she’ll be gone. I won’t see her again for ages.

  The cloak and Swanndri are in the way, but I can feel the warmth and shape of her against me. I slide my hands inside her cloak around her waist and pull her even closer. And tonight, she’ll be here, and I’ll be at home.

  We stay like that. Her standing, me half sitting, my hands on her hips, hers on my shoulders.

  Sadness leaks into me. I press my forehead against hers.

  It’s unbearable. But I’ve worked out a way I can make it nearly acceptable.

  After a while I pull away. “I’ve got a plan,” I say.

  “Really?” She looks at me sideways. “I hope this plan doesn’t involve the Willises or maps.”

  I give her a bit of an eye-roll. “I’m trying to be serious here.”

  “Sorry. What’s the plan?”

  “I apply for University. Go to the City.” They say follow your dreams. It’s just lucky the dream happens to be in the same place as Ela is going to be. “What do you think of that?” I watch her to see what she’s thinking. I can’t tell.

  “Think of what?” asks Ela.

  “Me coming to the City.”

  “Why?” She pulls away from me a little.

  “I want to be an engineer. I can train.”

  “Just so you can be an engineer?”

  “Now you’re being difficult.” I know what she wants me to say, but it just won’t come out.

  “I’m not the only one being difficult,” says Ela. “You’re going to help repopulate the world after all?”

  “It won’t be for long. Jacob says things are about to change.”

  Ela tips her head to one side, then she reaches out and touches my cheek again. “Why do you really want to come to the City?” she asks softly.

  I guess she’s figured it out but wants me to tell her. See, all talk, no do, those Elite. And there’s a fair bit of her granddad in her. He likes to over-talk stuff too.

  “Because I like you,” I say finally. “And you can make do with that for a while, and we’ll see how it goes.”

  “That’s big of you.” She really pulls away from me this time. “You like me.” She takes off the cloak, puts it on the trailer and picks up the Swanndri, and pulls it over her head. “And I can make do with that for a while, and we’ll see how it goes.”

  Her eyes laugh at me. At least she’s not cross. She sits down on the trailer beside me and puts the farm boots on. Then she stands, goes over to the bike, and climbs on.

  I get out my Com, hold it up.

  “Look over here,” I say. She looks over at me, hair flying and half of it over her face, and smiles.

  I take a picture.

  “What’s that for?”

  “Lonely nights at the University,” I say, and she giggles.

  *

  We go and check the vault, note the temperatures of the different rooms, fill in the log books, clean up the mess left after Lucinda and Joe.

  Afterwards, as we leave the glass doors whisper closed.

  “What now?” Ela’s hand creeps into mine as the rock swings shut. The waterfall tumbles into the pool beside us.

  This is the last time we’ll be alone together before she leaves. I guess her mum will have arrived at Jacob’s by the time we get back to the house. Ela won’t be coming home with me tonight.

  “I have to stay at Jacob’s tonight,” she says.

  “I know.” I turn around enough to kiss her.

  She lets my fingers go. “And you can’t stay with me.” Her hands slide up around my neck.

  “Like I’d want to, with a hostile grandfather and an Elite mother around.”

  Ela giggles and kisses me again. “I can understand that,” she murmurs, then pulls away. She crosses her arms, grabs the sides of her Swanndri, pulls it over her head, and drops it on the rock beside us. Then she takes the sides of my Swanndri and goes to lift it over my head. I raise my arms, bend and wiggle a bit to help her. My t-shirt comes off at the same time.

  She runs her fingers down my chest, kisses me again. Then sits down on the rock and starts to undo the laces on her boots.

  I figure she’s not planning on swimming this time. I kneel, move her hands away and undo the laces for her. Take off her boots, then her socks, and she sits there all long, tanned legs up to that tiny skirt she’s wearing. She leans forward and kisses me again then presses her forehead against mine. I drop my head and bury it in her lap. She curls her body over me and strokes my hair and cheek.

  *

  A pile of clothes on a layer of ferns is a fine place to make love to someone for the last time too.

  There’s not going to be any of this in the City.

  Ela says you are not even allowed to kiss there.

  There are laws against it.

  *

  By the time we get back to the house, her mum’s arrived. She’s standing on the veranda with Jacob. I’ve met her mum before, but the woman standing on the porch looks like the mother of the Ela I met in Jacob’s dining room two weeks ago. Not how she used to look when she was living here with Ela’s dad. Now she’s Elite: cloak, makeup, high heels, blonde hair piled on the top of her head.

  We walk towards them. I’m not too sure where I stand with Jacob. No idea about the mother. The mother steps off the porch and makes her way towards me, hand held out. “Jack, I hear I have you to thank for Ela’s rescue.”

  I wipe my hand on my Swanndri before taking hers. I shake without saying anything. Then she turns to Ela and just touches her arm to greet her.

  “How are you Ela?”

  “Hi, Mum. I’m fine.”

  “Oh, your poor face.” The mother turns to Jacob. “It’s good the school term is almost over. Ela will have time to recover.”

  She doesn’t mention that Ela’s been suspended, I notice. Ela’s just standing there by her mum.

  “We should go into town soon,” says the mum. “I’d like to see Patsy again and thank her for looking after you.”

  “Maybe you should leave it until tomorrow. Mrs Fraser starts work soon,” Ela says.

  “Will that be all right?” the mum asks Jacob.

  “It will be fine,” says Jacob.

  “I gotta go.” I need to go home, talk to Mum about this change of plan. Talking to Jacob can wait until tomorrow. It’s problematic again. He keeps looking at me speculatively. Like he still might have opinions he’d like to share.

  Ela nods. “Will I see you tomorrow?”

  “Y
eah, I’ll come here early.” We’ve talked the plan through and think it will work. I’ll go to the City, and we’ll find a way to see each other.

  I open the driver’s door of the Land Rover. Monsanto leaps in ahead of me, moves across and sits up on the passenger seat ready to go. I climb in too and slam the door shut. Wave again. Then go along the driveway.

  Like none of this matters.

  Chapter 33

  AT HOME, EVERYTHING’S QUIET. Mum’s still working. I’ve got a plan, but it needs to wait until I can talk about it with her. I don’t want to sleep or watch a Vid. I don’t feel like doing anything. But I don’t feel like doing nothing either, so decide it’s a good time to check out Vincent’s room. He hasn’t been around for the last few days and I figure, if he’s gone, I might find something he’s left behind that will tell us what he’s been up to.

  I slip into the guest wing, without anyone seeing, and check the corridor. It’s empty. I activate that HazeApp, then go to the office and lift the set of keys Mum gives the cleaners. I figure she won’t miss them this late, and the cleaners won’t be back until the morning.

  I unlock the door to Vincent’s room and go in, being pretty cautious. I’m not planning on getting caught. I’ve seen Vincent in action. I’ve got the wrist guard on. Got the Locate on, my Com off.

  I look around. It’s all pretty tidy. No coffee cups left on the bench. Towels hung back up in the bathroom. But right there on the table are piles of papers. It looks like Vincent’s part way through sorting paperwork. And it looks like he’s planning on coming back.

  I’m not too surprised about the piles of paper. Vincent is a bit younger than Jacob, a bit older than Fitzgerald, and they use paper, not their Coms, for stuff. It could be habit, or it could be like Jacob said. Paper is invisible. Coms can be hacked.

  I go over to the table and flick a couple of the pages on top of the first pile. It looks like accounts. The next pile is all conversations. Some have who said what before each comment, like in a play.

  Transcripts maybe? From some sort of surveillance?

  I sit down at the table and start looking properly, start to read the first transcript. It’s a conversation between Vincent and the sidekick.