by Mark Lingane
Then he heard the noise. The buzz of electrical life drifted to his ears from somewhere nearby, from underneath him. He realized there must be a series of underground waterways. He gasped and twisted around, looking for the source.
His boot slipped and he tumbled down into a long ravine. He bounced off the steep walls and crashed into the sand that formed a thin cover over the rock base. His leg bent and he heard a quiet crack. Pain seared through his body and his lower leg began throbbing. He rolled around on the ground holding his leg, stifling screams of agony.
He heard the uniform stomping of a cyborg patrol. He frantically looked around, but there was nowhere to hide. He crawled into a small cave in the side of the ravine and flattened himself against the rocky wall as well as he could. He had an idea, but was unsure how effective it would be. The pain in his leg was making him feel weak.
He concentrated. The sand on the floor of the cave drifted up and floated in a thin blanket over him. He heard the stomp of approaching boots. The sand shield formed a disguise, which he hoped was opaque on both sides.
The cyborgs paused at the entrance to the cave. Pain wracked his body, and he was unsure how long he could hold it in. He began to shake under the pressure. There were voices. Then a strange sound—a human voice, one he was sure he recognized, but he couldn’t identify it because of the great pain numbing his brain. Then the voice was gone and the stomping continued.
All was quiet. He relaxed and the sand slipped down off of him. The damp cave swam around him as he fought against beckoning unconsciousness.
Then he heard another set of footsteps, but quieter this time. In the darkness he made out the outline of a cyborg. Something was different. This one was smaller. The cyborg approached him. The glow from the armor showed it was a different shape. Female. She had a glowing red cross on her breastplate.
She knelt down in front of him. He held up his hands in self-defense. She reached out for his hands, lowering them. She took out a device and ran it over his body. It beeped as she ran it over his leg. She looked into his eyes. They were young, like his. There was no malice there, only green pools of concern. Her helmet completely covered her hair, and had scale-like sections that constantly moved over each other.
She removed her pack and placed it on the ground. Opening it revealed the strangest collection of items he had ever seen. She extracted a flat piece of black metal and placed it under his shoe. It expanded and various parts slid over his foot and up his leg, wrapping it in a strange black cast. Not metal. It was similar to the Kevlar he had found covering Rex. Then what felt like a thousand tiny needles jabbed into his leg and he whimpered in pain.
There was a half-buzz, half-shout from further down the ravine. The young cyborg girl snapped her head up and looked in the direction of the noise. She picked up her pack, stood up and walked away. And was gone. All that remained was the burning image of her plaintive green eyes in his memory.
The throbbing in his leg had eased and his shaking had come under control. He waited for a few minutes before trying to stand up. He eased his way upright, leaning heavily on the rock face. He tested his weight on his leg. He was surprised how much pressure he could put on it. He took a few slow steps, then left the cave and started to make his way along the ravine.
Within ten minutes he was out on the surface again. He slowly made his way around the wall until he came to the gates.
“Name.”
“I didn’t sign out.”
“What is it with you kids? Can’t you follow simple instructions? What’s your excuse for being out without signing out?”
“I got thrown out through the trash chutes.”
The guard snickered. Then chortled. Then guffawed. He slammed his hand down on the table and rocked uproariously back and forth. Sebastian waited until he calmed down.
The guard wiped away a tear from his eye. “I can smell it from here,” he managed to squeeze out between gasps for breath. He then took off on another round of hysterics. He waved Sebastian through, as he fought for breath.
Sebastian limped through the gates and into the city.
30
SEBASTIAN GLANCED AROUND the corner. All was quiet. He limped along, supporting himself with one hand against the wall. As he entered through the large doors the nurse at the front counter looked up.
“Good lord, son. What happened to your leg?”
“I fell down a ravine.”
She sat back in her chair. “You boys, always in trouble.”
“I was running from a pack of cyborgs.” He limped over and leaned on the desk.
“And such vivid imaginations, too.” She smiled and gave him a wink. “There’s no need to be embarrassed.”
He sighed. This was a conversation he wasn’t going to win. He feigned weakness.
“Sandy,” she called.
“Yes, Flo?” came the response from the unseen Sandy.
“Take this young lad into the emergency room and see to his leg.”
A young nurse scurried out from a small room to the side. She had on a crisp white uniform covered by a pale teal apron. Sebastian couldn’t help noticing several spots of blood. She hurried over to him.
“Do you need a wheelchair?”
Sebastian shook his head.
“Follow me.” She went to the side door that led to the emergency room and held it open for him as he limped through. There were several empty beds in the small room. He sat on the closest one and put his leg up.
“How old are you?” asked Sandy.
There was no response. Sebastian had slumped over and fallen asleep.
She sighed and pulled the sheet up over him, turned out the lights and left.
“I’m fourteen,” Sebastian replied as he sat upright.
A new nurse ducked her head through the door. “Hello, sleepyhead.”
“Did I fall asleep?”
“You’ve been out all night and most of the morning.” She entered the room with her clipboard. “My name is Felicity.”
“Gosh,” he replied. He laid back and looked at the ceiling.
“You’re big for fourteen. I’ll need to notify your parents.”
“Oh. Er …” He stumbled until a promise popped up in his memory. “My parents don’t live here, but my guardians are Merv and Sheila.” He rattled off their full names and address, and the nurse busily scribbled away.
“That is one strange cast. Where did you get it?”
“I was helped by a patrol outside. Maybe it’s a military one.”
“How does it come off?” Felicity ran her hands over the smooth black surface.
“I think if you press the green button …” He leaned forward and depressed it. There was a quiet whirring as the pieces slid apart, revealing his black and blue leg.
The nurse picked up one of the pieces and ran a finger over it. She yelped as a needle stabbed her. She held the piece up to the light and examined the surface. It was covered in hundreds of tiny needles. She licked her finger. It tasted of blood and something new she couldn’t place.
“Very strange. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.”
“It’s new. From those crazy inventors.”
“Indeed.” She gave him a skeptical look. “Well, it’s done some amazing healing on your leg. By the bruising it looks like it had broken, but this cast has been injecting you with something that’s accelerated the repair. Do you mind if I keep this?” She waved the piece of the cast around.
Sebastian shook his head.
“I’ll let your guardians know you’re here.” Felicity collected the rest of the cast, backed out of the room and closed the door.
He listened to the two nurses chatting quietly outside the room.
“He’s a good-looking lad. I’m sure he’ll grow up into a heart breaker,” Felicity said.
“He reminds me of your brother,” Flo said. There was a brief pause. “I’m sorry, love, I didn’t mean to bring him up. Have a seat. I’ll get you a cup of tea.”
&
nbsp; There was a long pause where he thought he heard several quiet sobs. He heard the clinking of crockery and their conversation continued.
“I had one of those new folk in today, from out in the hinterland,” Flo said. “He’d collapsed and some kind stranger brought him in. I gave him a quick examination and the results came back as low-level poisoning. His heart was going crazy, and he was sweating buckets.”
There was a pause, which ended in another clinking of crockery.
“He came to after a couple of hours and stormed out. He said the Lord would heal him. He staggered out without a word of thanks.”
“Did he survive?” Felicity said.
“No. He didn’t look as he stepped out into the street and he was killed by a cart full of pigs,” said Flo. There was a slight hint of someone suppressing a laugh.
“Did you say he was poisoned?” Felicity said.
“It was very suspicious. It could be a one-off, but remember those obscure cases from out west, around Carranbine? They had that outbreak about eighteen months ago. Bad vegetables or something.”
Vegetables! There was the proof, thought Sebastian. Vegetables were evil and should be avoided at all costs. You couldn’t trust a vegetable. You never knew where it had been.
“We need to notify the authorities,” Felicity said.
“No need to worry, love, I’ve told the mayor. You know, the new one.”
He heard the main doors open, and the heavy thud as they closed.
“Yes, young lady, what can we do for you?” Flo said, her voice full of matronly authority.
“You sent word. You have Sebastian here?”
In the dim lighting of the emergency room Sebastian smiled.
“You’re not Merv. Does that make you Sheila? Although I’m guessing you’re younger than Felicity here.”
“I’m Bindi. Mom and Dad was out.”
After a pause Flo responded. “Okay, he’s in there.”
The door opened and Bindi’s face appeared . She stepped into the room and shock was instantly evident on her face. She went white.
“Oh, Sebby, you look terrible. I feel faint. I must be seated so as not to cause a scene.”
She staggered over to the bed, somewhat overdramatically, Sebastian thought, and lowered herself elegantly into an adjacent utilitarian chair, all hard steel and straight lines. She placed her hand on his arm, with the expression on her face clearly stating this was totally inappropriate behavior. She struggled for some time before relenting and clasped her hands together on her lap.
“What happened to you? Tell me everything.” Her eyes lit up in anticipation of high adventure and romantic tales.
Sebastian recounted the story, embellishing the appropriate parts, which, in his eyes, were all of them. She sat on the chair with her mouth ajar, astonished at the alleged encounters and furious battles, although she gave him a quizzical look when he mentioned flying vampire mermaids. That might have been going too far, he thought.
“When you’s better, you must come to tea. Mom and Dad will insist.”
Bindi chatted away and the time passed pleasantly enough. Eventually the conversation faltered. There was something Bindi was not willing to talk about. She got up and went to the door. She paused as she opened it, glancing back over her shoulder at him. She gave him a warm smile.
As the door closed behind her, Sebastian felt that something had changed. Bindi was different toward him. He still felt uncomfortable with her but the feeling wasn’t as intense. The possibility of her being interested in someone else flicked through his mind. He hoped it was Isaac. They seemed great together, although their total togetherness to this point would have added up to less than a few hours.
He felt a sense of relief, like a magnifying glass had moved away from him. He also felt a little sad.
Felicity extracted the thermometer and wrote down its reading. She put down the clipboard and looked at Sebastian. He had completed another circuit of the emergency room, testing the strength of his leg.
She was amazed at how well he had recovered in what had only been a matter of hours. “Well, young man, you seem to be fine and getting better by the minute. There’s no absolute need for you to stay here if you don’t want to. Take it easy for a few days and you should be back to normal.”
He was hobbling around with relative ease now, with only a minor limp. “Great. I don’t know how to thank you.”
“You could pay us. But as we’re government workers the new mayor, after meeting the fools in his office for a few minutes, may take a dim view and consider it a bribe. Perhaps, young man, you could accidentally leave something behind.” Her gaze swiveled and landed directly on the cast. Then she looked back to him with an eyebrow raised.
He nodded. “That’s fine. Are you sure it’s enough?”
“Yes. We’d like to examine the fluid in the cast.”
He said his goodbyes, went over to the main doors and opened them. He looked hesitantly both ways down the street, and limped outside. After a moment’s pause he headed off toward The Rise.
Flo had noticed his hesitancy in leaving. “Felicity, get whatever’s left of that liquid down to Albert and see if he can reproduce it.”
“Sure, Flo. Do you think there’s something wrong with it?”
“Yes. What it does is impossible. I’ve seen it used before, but not by anyone we would call a friend. But if it can cure our boys I want it.”
31
“G’DAY, SPORT. JOSHUZ, what happened to your leg?” Merv opened the door and greeted Sebastian with his usual ear-to-ear smile.
“It’s nothing, just a small fracture. I had a bad fall earlier.”
“Sorry we missed your call, but we was out getting some food for the barbie. We’ve got some shrimps we can throw on it. Come in.”
Sebastian limped into the elegant estate.
Shelia stood next to Merv with her hands out to help Sebastian. “I heard some of the story from Bindi,” she said, “and I must say it sounded very exciting. I think she might have exaggerated some of it.”
“I might’ve done some of that myself. You know how it can get in the heat of battle.” He gave a small smile. “You can never be sure exactly how many flying zombie vampire mermaids there are.”
Merv and Sheila smiled.
“Listen, sport,” Merv said after he gave Sheila a quick glance and received the smallest nod of approval, “we think Bindi’s got some secret fella. You all right with that?”
“You okay with her having a penpal? She’s quite flush with him,” Sheila added.
“Yes. Definitely.” He nodded emphatically. “As long as she’s happy, that’s what counts.”
“Oh, you are a darl’.” Sheila gave him a hug. “I hope you find a great sheila who can do you proud.”
“Just like mine, hey?” Merv said.
They all broke out into warm laughter.
“Bindi,” shouted Merv. There was no response. “Bindi!”
“What?”
“You’s got company.”
A door slammed, echoing through the house. A long groan followed and Bindi descended the stairs. Her face lit up when she reached the first floor. “Sebby, I didn’t think you’d be out so soon.”
“They said I was fine. I just need a couple of quiet days and I’ll be right as rain.”
“Come in, sport,” Merv said. “I’ve changed things around. We’ve got a decent coolbox up here now. It got ridiculous going downstairs each time I wanted a cold one. I always needed another one once I got back up the stairs.”
“Thanks, I’d love a cold drink.”
“Would you like a beer?”
“I’m only fourteen.”
“A bourbon?”
Sebastian gave him a long, disbelieving stare until Merv’s earnest expression cracked to reveal the jester beneath. He gave the young boy a tap on his shoulder. Moments later he handed over a frosted glass full of chilled water and ice. Sebastian guzzled it down, waves of ecstasy rolling down
his throat.
“I see you have a hard-earned thirst.” Merv opened up the coolbox, took out a chilled flannel and threw it to Sebastian.
Sebastian rubbed it over his face. The dirt, dust and sweat wiped away, revealing his tired face. “That felt great,” he said. He closed his eyes and sighed heavily.
They moved into the dining room and sat down around the impressive wooden table. The ceiling fan spun quietly, blowing loose bits of paper off the polished tabletop and gently blowing Sebastian’s hair into his eyes. Sheila bustled around bringing the food out of the kitchen while Bindi helped set out the places in an effort to avoid doing her homework.
Sebastian dissolved into his seat and slouched forward as Shelia placed a huge hunk of meat in the center of the table. “I could probably eat half of that,” he mumbled.
“You’ll have to fight Bindi for it,” said Merv, scraping the edges of two huge knives together. “I’ve got no idea where she puts it.”
Sebastian found the sound of metal on metal soothing. “Those are big knives.”
“These? No, this is a knife.” Merv pulled out a large hunting knife, owing more to a sword in its heritage. One side was viciously ridged, and the other was a curved edge that shone evilly in the dim light. He brought it down and easily sliced the chunk of meat in two. He quickly looked up to see if Shelia had noticed, then wiped the blade and placed it back in its scabbard. “Don’t tell the wife I did that,” he whispered.
He picked up the two smaller knives and continued cutting the meat into chunks. He slid the large plate over to Sheila, who transferred it to smaller plates and served it.
“Help yourself to the veggies, love.”
“Thanks, Sheila, but I’m allergic to them.”
