by Meg Buchanan
But after the attack on Ela, there had been no more trouble. They’d followed instructions and got here.
He leaned his laser against the wall and took off Leach’s helmet so chatter in his ears stopped. Curly had that frequency on the monitors now so he didn’t need to listen to it anymore. Someone else could deal with it.
Ela wandered over and leaned on the wall beside him. She still had the pilot’s uniform on but had got rid of her helmet too. The short shaggy hair looked all messed up from the helmet and framed her eyes.
She really was beautiful.
She watched the next wave of kids coming into the Station, then nodded at the ones still being processed. “It’s going to be my job to remove their Locates. It’ll take forever.”
Silver eyes with charcoal lashes looked at him. It had been her eyes that he’d noticed when they first met, and it was her eyes he’d remembered most when Jacob kept them apart.
“Do you have anyone to help you?” he asked.
“Some of the girls have been doing nursing degrees,” she said. “They’ll help. And we have a good hospital space here.”
“I haven’t seen it.”
“Offer to help bandage up wrists and you will.” Ela smiled again.
He returned the smile. “I’m not sure I’m that desperate to see the hospital. Philippe’s the Medic, I’ll send him.”
Ela turned a little and took his hand. “Thanks for saving me.”
“You’re welcome.” And this time he didn’t pull away from her.
She looked at their linked hands, then smiled up at him again. “I couldn’t believe it when you charged at those kid yelling. It’s the first time I’ve seen you get angry like you used to. I thought Vector had taken that away from you too.”
He nodded. Somewhere in the back of his mind that overwhelming love he’d felt a year ago and the need to hold her flickered.
He moved his hand to her cheek; his fingers outlined the shape of her face, her eyes held his, and all the kids swirling around faded from his consciousness.
“They took a lot away from me,” he said softly. “But I think I’m getting it back.” As he’d charged to her rescue, the adrenaline surging through his body seemed to have cleared his mind.
Ela covered his hand with hers, still looking up at him. Her eyes, and the shape of her lips, and the texture of her skin familiar and welcoming, and the longing he always felt when he was with her was there in the back of his mind for a moment.
He lowered his head. “Let’s get out of here,” he suggested.
“Where to?” He could hear the same longing in Ela’s voice.
“Nick’s office?” He didn’t know any other private area in this place.
Ela nodded. He grabbed his helmet and laser then they pushed through the kids milling around.
Jack shut the office door shut, then drew Ela into his arms. None of the dread of being near her was there anymore.
His lips touched hers, tentatively, and he felt her response and the longing flared. Even in coats, compression suits and Leach’s Tablet in the pouch, her closeness and warmth were everything he wanted.
He pulled her closer. She slid her hands under his coat, then rested her head on his shoulder and he could feel his heart beating in time to her breathing.
“Do you think Nick knows what he’s doing?” she asked.
He released a breath. She really was beautiful. But she always liked to talk things to death.
“I think he’s hoping the rest of the world will help us when they know the truth if we can just hold Vector and the Administration at bay long enough.”
“Do you think they will help?” Ela asked. “There’s a theory that because nobody can have kids and the population is shrinking so fast, the world can survive now. Will people want to change that?”
Jack shook his head. “Don’t know.” Jack shrugged. “We won’t know until we try it.”
“And how are we going to feed all these kids? Nothing is working, when we run out of the food stored here, then what?”
“Don’t think too far ahead,” he suggested. Right now making love to her was as far ahead as he could be bothered thinking.
She nodded and smiled, then reached up and kissed him again.
But she was right. Even if Jacob’s plan did work, they could all starve. It wasn’t only the Administration and Vector retaliating they had to worry about.
Still, nothing had been destroyed.
Hopefully, once they’d got rid of the Quarantine, they could get everything going again and find some way to carry on.
She said quietly. “I missed you.”
“Me too,” he said, then he kissed her the way he’d been longing to for a year. He felt her fingers run through his hair.
They might have to eat Elite food for a while with the farms all destroyed, but while they were rebuilding, no one getting pregnant would be a good thing.
He looked over at the daybed and the pile blankets there. None of it looked comfortable.
“Do you have a room here?” he asked and felt her nod. “That’s where we should have gone.”
Ela nodded, her lips looked redder and softer now. She reached up and kissed him again and the missing year became a memory and everything he’d felt for her came flooding back.
He slid his hands under her coat and rested them on her hips. Compression suits were not the most convenient things to get in and out of. And the last time they’d made love, he’d been prepared, he’d had condoms in his pocket, he didn’t this time.
But Ela had been eating Elite food for the last year so did that matter?
She stepped back and slipped her hand into his. “Come on, we’ll go to my room.”
He hesitated. Someone was sure to need one of them soon. About now, the rest of the world would be getting out of bed, and they needed to get the message out there and convince the world about Genus6 before the Administration and Vector had time to get organised.
To hell with it. Ela wanted this as much as he did.
“Okay.” He turned to grab his helmet and laser and heard a Txt notification from his Com. He should ignore it.
“I thought Curly said personal Coms weren’t working,” said Ela.
He found the Com in his pocket and the read the Txt.
“Looks like Nick found a way round that.” Probably directed the link from his helmet.
Where are you? said the Txt.
He hit the Connect. “What’s up?” Nick was trying to save the world; he probably should help him.
“We need your Tablet to break back into the Administration’s system to get the message out. All the shields they put up to stop Jacob broadcasting are still there, so we need to find another way.”
“Hear that?” he asked Ela.
She shrugged then nodded. “Later?” she asked.
“Yeah later, save the world, then make love.”
“Are you sure you’ve got your priorities right?”
He laughed and picked up the helmet. “It’s a bastard.” Then he grabbed the laser and they went and found Nick and Curly.
Curly flicked through the Icons on the Tablet and tried a couple of things.
“Any luck?” asked Nick.
Curly shook his head. “Can’t find any pathways.”
“What about using Status?” Ela asked.
“Only kids use Status.” Curly stared at the code on the Screen.
“Yes,” said Ela. “But if they see the message and think it’s interesting, they’ll post it everywhere. That’s what kids do. All you want to do is get it past the Administration. They’ll do it for you.”
Nick nodded. “What do you think?” he asked Curly.
“Could work,” said Curly. He touched the Status Icon on the Screen and feeds from kids all over the world started scrolling by.
“Can you take over the feed and post Jacobs message so that’s all we see?”
“No,” said Curly. “We just have to get the kids’ attention.” He pl
ayed with the screen and brought up the Vid of Jake and Tom dying. “This’ll get their attention.” He flashed it into Status and then overlaid Jacob’s message on top of it like a commentary.
Almost immediately the number of shares scrolled faster than they could follow.
“It’s being shared,” said Curly.
“Do another one,” Nick ordered.
This time the Vid with the kids at the University being questioned and shot came up. Curly posted that to Status, with Jacobs message overlaying it, and the numbers went crazy again. Then the Locals getting shot in the main street of Paeroa
Nick straightened up and called for silence in the Coms room. When he had everyone’s attention he said quietly, “Anyone on a monitor, go to Status, find all the Vids of atrocities Vector have committed in the last year and overlay them with Jacob’s message the way Curly just did. The world won’t be able to ignore this.”
The End
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