‘Hmm.’
For the next few moments we drove without talking. Then as we passed a building saying ‘Nail Boutique’, and immediately after it, a row of peeling poster walls, he said: ‘According to Josie, your old store is in this district.’
This might have been so, but the surroundings weren’t yet familiar to me. I said to him: ‘Mr Paul has spoken very frankly. Perhaps now he’d allow me, in turn, to speak frankly to him.’
‘Feel free.’
‘My old store wasn’t the true reason I asked you to drive into this district.’
‘No?’
‘When we came this way earlier today, not far from the store, we passed a machine. It was being used by overhaul men and it was creating terrible Pollution.’
‘Okay. Go on.’
‘It’s not easy to explain. But it’s very important Mr Paul now believes what I’m about to say. This machine must be destroyed. That’s the real reason I asked to be driven here. It must be somewhere nearby. It’s easily identified because it has the name Cootings on its body. It has three funnels and each of them emits terrible Pollution.’
‘And you want to find this machine now?’
‘Yes. And to destroy it.’
‘Because it causes Pollution.’
‘It’s a terrible machine.’ I was leaning forward, already looking left and right.
‘And how exactly do you intend to destroy it?’
‘I’m not certain. This is why I wished to be frank with Mr Paul. I’m requesting his help. Mr Paul is an expert engineer, as well as an adult.’
‘You’re asking me how to vandalize a machine?’
‘But first we must find it. For instance, please may we turn down this street?’
‘I can’t turn there. It’s one-way. I don’t like pollution any more than you do. But isn’t this taking things a little far?’
‘I’m unable to explain further. But Mr Paul must trust me. It’s very important for Josie’s sake. For her health.’
‘How is this going to help Josie?’
‘I’m sorry, I’m not able to explain. Mr Paul has to trust me. If we can only find the Cootings Machine and destroy it, I believe it will lead to Josie’s full recovery. Then it won’t matter about Mr Capaldi or about his portrait or how well I’m able to learn Josie.’
The Father considered this. ‘All right,’ he said eventually. ‘Let’s at least give this a try. You last saw this thing where, did you say?’
We continued to move and I spotted the RPO Building – the Fire Escapes Building beside it – rapidly approaching us. The Sun was falling behind them in the familiar way, and then we were passing the store itself. I saw again the colored bottles display and the Recessed Lighting notice, but I was so concerned I’d miss the Cootings Machine I hardly gave them attention. As we went over the pedestrian crossing, the Father said: ‘I’m wondering if this street’s taxis only. Look at them. Everywhere.’
‘This turning perhaps. Please, if possible.’
The Cootings Machine hadn’t been where I’d seen it earlier, and as the streets grew unfamiliar again, I gazed in every direction. The Sun sometimes shone brightly through the gaps between buildings, and I wondered if he was wishing to encourage me, or simply watching and monitoring my progress. When we turned into yet another street and there was again no sign of the Cootings Machine, my growing panic may have become obvious, because the Father said, in a kinder voice than any he’d so far used towards me:
‘You really believe this, don’t you? That this will help Josie.’
‘Yes. Yes, I do.’
Something seemed to change within him. He sat forward – and then, like me, he was looking left and right with urgent eyes.
‘Hope,’ he said. ‘Damn thing never leaves you alone.’ He shook his head almost resentfully, but there was now a new strength about him. ‘Okay. A vehicle, you say. One used by construction workers.’
‘It has wheels, but I don’t think it’s a vehicle as such. It needs to be towed everywhere it goes. It has Cootings written on its body and is pale yellow.’
He glanced at his watch. ‘The construction guys may have finished for the day. Let me try a few things.’
The Father began to drive more skillfully. We left behind the other vehicles, the passers-by, the storefronts, and entered the smaller streets shaded by windowless buildings, and large walls bright with cartoon writing. Sometimes the Father would stop, reverse, then steer slowly down narrow spaces beside wire-mesh fences, on the other side of which we could observe parked trucks and dirty cars.
‘See anything?’
Whenever I shook my head, he’d make the car lurch forward again, in a way that made me anxious we’d strike a fire hydrant or the corner of a building as we turned sharply around it. We looked into more yards, and once, we entered between two crookedly open gates, even though there was a sign hanging from one saying ‘Strictly No Admittance’, and drove around a yard filled with vehicles, stacked crates and a construction crane at the far end. But there was still no Cootings Machine, and the Father then took us into a shadow neighborhood with broken sidewalks and lonely passers-by. He steered into another narrow lane beside a looming Floors For Lease building, and behind this building was yet another yard bound by wire-mesh fencing.
‘There! Mr Paul, there it is!’
The Father jerk-stopped the car. The yard was on my side so I placed my head right against the window, and behind me the Father was adjusting in his seat to see better.
‘That one there? With the funnels?’
‘Yes. We’ve found it.’
I didn’t take my gaze from the Cootings Machine while the Father reversed the car slowly. Then we stopped once more.
‘That main entrance has a chain on it,’ he said. ‘But the side entrance there…’
‘Yes, the small entrance is open. A passer-by could enter on foot.’
I released the safety belt and was about to get out, but then felt the Father’s hand on my arm.
‘I wouldn’t go in there until you’ve decided exactly what you intend to do. It all looks ramshackle, but you never know. There may be alarms, there may be surveillance. You may not have time to stand around and think.’
‘Yes, you’re right.’
‘Are you quite certain you have the correct machine?’
‘Quite certain. I can see it clearly from here and there’s no doubt.’
‘And disabling it, you say, will help Josie?’
‘Yes.’
‘So how do you propose to go about doing that?’
I stared at the Cootings Machine sitting near the center of the yard, separated from the other parked vehicles. The Sun was falling between two silhouette buildings in the mid-distance overlooking the yard. His rays weren’t for the moment blocked by either building, and the edges of the parked vehicles were shining.
‘I feel very foolish,’ I said finally.
‘No, it’s not so easy,’ the Father said. ‘On top of which, what you’re proposing would count as criminal damage.’
‘Yes. However, if the people up in those high windows over there happened to see anything, I’m sure they’d be happy to see the Cootings Machine being destroyed. They’d know just what an awful machine it is.’
‘That may be so. But how do you propose to do it?’
The Father was now leaning back in his seat, one arm quite relaxed on the wheel, and I had the impression he’d already arrived at a possible solution, but for some reason was holding back from revealing it.
‘Mr Paul is an expert engineer,’ I said, turning to face him directly. ‘I was hoping he’d be able to think of something.’
But the Father kept gazing through the windshield at the yard. ‘I couldn’t explain it to Josie earlier in the cafe,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t explain to her why I hat
e Capaldi so much. Why I can’t bring myself to be civil towards him. But I’d like to try and explain it to you, Klara. If you don’t mind.’
His switch of subject was highly unwelcome, but anxious not to lose his good will, I said nothing and waited.
‘I think I hate Capaldi because deep down I suspect he may be right. That what he claims is true. That science has now proved beyond doubt there’s nothing so unique about my daughter, nothing there our modern tools can’t excavate, copy, transfer. That people have been living with one another all this time, centuries, loving and hating each other, and all on a mistaken premise. A kind of superstition we kept going while we didn’t know better. That’s how Capaldi sees it, and there’s a part of me that fears he’s right. Chrissie, on the other hand, isn’t like me. She may not know it yet, but she’ll never let herself be persuaded. If the moment ever comes, never mind how well you play your part, Klara, never mind how much she wishes it to work, Chrissie just won’t be able to accept it. She’s too…old-fashioned. Even if she knows she’s going against the science and the math, she still won’t be able to do it. She just won’t stretch that far. But I’m different. I have…a kind of coldness inside me she lacks. Perhaps it’s because I’m an expert engineer, as you put it. This is why I find it so hard to be civil around people like Capaldi. When they do what they do, say what they say, it feels like they’re taking from me what I hold most precious in this life. Am I making sense?’
‘Yes. I understand Mr Paul’s feelings.’ I let a quiet few seconds go by, then continued: ‘It seems then from everything Mr Paul says that it’s even more important that what Mr Capaldi proposes is never put to the test. If we can make Josie healthy, then the portrait, my learning her, none of it will matter. So I ask you again. Please advise me how I might destroy the Cootings Machine. I have a feeling Mr Paul has an idea how we might do it.’
‘Yes, a possibility has occurred to me. But I was hoping a better idea might come along. Unfortunately it’s looking like that isn’t going to happen.’
‘Please tell me. Something may change at any moment and this opportunity will pass.’
‘Okay. Well, here it is. That machine will contain inside it a Sylvester broad generation unit. Middle-market. Fuel-efficient and robust enough, but with no real protections. It means that machine can stand any amount of dust, smoke, rain. But if anything, let’s say, with a high acrylamide content got inside its system, for example a P-E-G Nine solution, it wouldn’t be able to handle it. It would be like putting gasoline into a diesel engine, except a lot worse. If you introduced P-E-G Nine in there, it would rapidly polymerize. The damage is likely to be terminal.’
‘P-E-G Nine solution.’
‘Yes.’
‘Does Mr Paul know how we might now obtain P-E-G Nine solution at short notice?’
‘As it happens, I do.’ He went on looking at me for a second, then said: ‘You’ll be carrying a certain quantity of P-E-G Nine. There, inside your head.’
‘I see.’
‘I believe there’s usually a small cavity. Just there, at the back of the head, where it meets the neck. This isn’t my area of expertise. Capaldi would know much more. But my guess is that you could afford to lose a small amount of P-E-G Nine without it significantly affecting your well-being.’
‘If…if we were able to extract the solution from me, would there be sufficient to destroy the Cootings Machine?’
‘This really isn’t my area. But my guess is that you might be carrying approximately five hundred milliliters. Even half of that should be sufficient to incapacitate a middle-market machine such as that one. Having said that, I have to emphasize. I’m not advocating we go down this road. Anything that jeopardizes your abilities would jeopardize Capaldi’s plan. And Chrissie wouldn’t want that.’
My mind was filling with great fear, but I said: ‘But Mr Paul believes if we could extract the solution, we could destroy the Cootings Machine.’
‘That’s what I believe. Yes.’
‘Is it possible Mr Paul has suggested this course not only to destroy the Cootings Machine, but also to damage Klara, and thus Mr Capaldi’s plan?’
‘That very thought did cross my mind too. But if I really wanted to damage you, Klara, I think there are far simpler ways. Truth is, you’ve started me hoping again. Hoping what you say might be for real.’
‘How would we extract the solution?’
‘Just a small incision. Below the ear. Either ear would do. We’d require a tool, something with a sharp point or edge. We need only to pierce the outer layer. Beyond that, well, there should be a small valve I can loosen, then tighten back again with my fingers.’ He’d been searching through the Mother’s car’s glove compartment while saying this, and he now produced a plastic bottle of water. ‘Okay, this will do to catch the solution. And here, it’s not ideal, but here’s a tiny screwdriver. If I sharpened the edge a little more…’ He trailed off, holding the tool up to the light. ‘After that, it’s just a case of walking over there and carefully pouring the solution down one of those nozzles. We should use the central one. It’s likely to connect directly to the Sylvester unit.’
‘Will I lose my abilities?’
‘As I said, your overall performance shouldn’t be greatly impaired. But this isn’t my area. There may be some effects on your cognitive abilities. But since your essential energy source is solar, you shouldn’t be affected to any significant degree.’
He lowered the window on his side and holding out the plastic bottle, emptied the water out onto the ground outside.
‘This is your call, Klara. If you want, we can just drive away from here. We have another, let me see, twenty minutes before our rendezvous with the rest of our party.’
I stared at the yard again through the wire-mesh fencing, trying to control my fear. My view of it from the car had remained unpartitioned, and the Sun was still watching from between the two silhouette buildings.
‘You know, Klara. I don’t even know what this is about. But I want what’s best for Josie. Exactly the same as you. So I’m willing to grasp at any chance that comes our way.’
I turned to him with a smile and nodded. ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Then let’s try.’
* * *
—
Sitting beside the sushi cafe’s window, looking out at the shadows growing longer outside the theater, I’d become excited by the possibility that the Sun might conceivably pour in his special nourishment straight away, through this very window, to Josie, now sitting across the table from me. But I realized how tired the Sun must be – that he’d all but finished for the day – and that it was both disrespectful and unreasonable to expect such an immediate response. A small hope continued to linger in my mind, and I watched Josie closely, but I soon accepted I’d have to wait until the following morning at the very earliest.
I’d also realized the reason I couldn’t see so clearly through the sushi cafe’s window was because it was dusty and smeared, and not so much to do with what had occurred in the yard. Indeed, despite its constant billowing in the breeze, I could still read the large cloth banner above the theater entrance saying ‘Blissfully Brilliant!’ And I had no difficulty deciphering the people arriving to join those already milling around outside the theater. Each time more people came, there would be greetings and humorous shouts. I couldn’t hear their words clearly, but there was thick glass separating us, so this too was consistent with the prevailing conditions.
Our task in the yard hadn’t delayed us unduly, but by the time the Father and I had finally located the correct sushi cafe, Josie, Rick, the Mother and Miss Helen had already been sitting for several minutes around the table beside the window. The Father had greeted everyone cheerfully, as though there hadn’t been any tension at Mr Capaldi’s, but soon afterwards, the Mother had risen and gone out to join the crowd outside, her oblong held to her ear.
Now,
across the table, the Father was turning the pages of Rick’s notebook and making appreciative sounds. But I was concerned at how uncharacteristically quiet Josie had become, and soon the Father noticed this too.
‘You okay there, animal?’
‘I’m fine, Dad.’
‘We’ve been on the go for a long time now. Do you want to go back to the apartment?’
‘I’m not tired. I’m not sick. I’m okay, Dad. Let me just sit here.’
Rick, sitting beside Josie, was also looking at her with concern. ‘Hey, Josie, do you fancy finishing this for me?’ He said this quietly, almost into her ear, as he slid the remainder of his carrot cake towards her. ‘It might give you energy.’
‘I don’t need energy, Ricky. I’m fine. I just want to sit here, that’s all.’
The Father looked carefully at Josie, then turned back to Rick’s notebook.
‘These are really interesting, Rick.’
‘Ricky, darling,’ Miss Helen said, ‘it just occurs to me. It was an excellent idea to bring your diagrams along. But perhaps it’s best you don’t offer them to Vance unless he specifically asks you.’
‘Mum, we’ve been over this.’
‘It’s just that it might look inappropriate. Too eager. This is supposed to be just a social meeting after all. A spontaneous encounter.’
‘Mum, how can this be spontaneous when it’s been so carefully set up and we’ve come in specially for it?’
‘I just mean, darling, you must try and behave as though it’s spontaneous. That’s what will work best with Vance. Only if he asks specifically to see some of your work…’
‘I understand, Mum. It’s all under control.’
Rick looked tense, and I wished to do something to give him reassurance, but I was across the table from him and couldn’t reach over to touch his arm or shoulder. The Father was again looking at Josie, but she didn’t seem to me unwell so much as simply lost in her own thoughts.
‘Drones were never my area,’ the Father said after a while. ‘But this, Rick, is truly impressive and exciting.’ Then to Miss Helen: ‘Lifted or not, genuine ability has to get noticed. Unless this world’s completely crazy now.’
Klara and the Sun Page 21
