by Benson, Tom
“Thank you very much, and now, let’s get some more work done out there.”
Fiona pulled Bill to one side a few minutes later. “Helen must have really taken it badly this morning when you explained what was going on.”
“I know she’ll be worried about those youngsters back in Aviemore, but our guys will be there soon.”
“Last night, she was telling me how much she was looking forward to another day with a certain soldier showing her around.” She paused and studied her man. “Have I told you how sexy you look with your hair short and that neat stubble instead of a beard?”
“Only four or five times, but feel free to remind me how much you like it.”
“I’ll remind you later.” Fiona winked and sauntered away.
12. Moving On
Thursday 18th August
At seven minutes into the new day, an alarm light flashed on one of the main panels in the Control Room.
“Incoming message,” Cherry said. “Achallader sub-station—that’s the signal box, isn’t it?”
“It is,” Bill said. He smiled at Helen, who was sitting opposite him in the booth. They got up and moved across the large room to stand beside the console. Cherry noted the dots and dashes and rapidly transcribed the marks into language they could read.
‘FLINT. ALL GOOD. RESTING. CNTCT NEXT AT DALWHN. FLINT’
Cherry turned. “Acknowledgement is all they need, isn’t it?”
Both Bill and Helen nodded.
Cherry quickly wrote down and sent back, ‘HELEN. OKAY. HELEN’ and then grinned at the woman whose name she’d used. “Now, if they’re having a rest, I suppose you two could afford to go and get some sleep.”
“Thank you, Cherry,” Helen said, “and you will call—”
“Bed, Helen.” Cherry smiled but raised an eyebrow.
Bill was already at the door, grinning.
At breakfast, Helen was joined by two of the community’s stalwarts.
“Helen, those two young men will make the trip in good time,” Steph said. “I have every faith that your friends will be fine too.”
“I must admit it’s heartwarming to hear so much confidence in Sandy and Flint, but, of course, I can’t help worrying about those at the farmhouse.”
Tracey said, “Didn’t you say that Bill and Cherry took your guys through shooting practice?”
“Yes, and I have a feeling that Josh’s girlfriend will have been his protector when he went to the sub-station.”
“Is it Amber,” Tracey said, “the action woman that you told us about?”
“Yes,” Helen smiled. “When our vehicle was stolen, and we’d been abandoned, my group were all sixteen years old, and Amber went completely to pieces. She’s a pretty girl, and for days at the start, she looked awful and seemed inconsolable. Of all the boys in the group, I’d never have expected it to be Josh who’d get through to her.”
Steph said, “If he’s the deep and thoughtful type, they must make quite a pair.”
“At first, Amber bit his head off. She wouldn’t accept a shoulder to cry on from any of them. There was one interest that Amber and Josh had in common, and he used it to pull a masterstroke. We had food and water supplies, and, of course, we had accommodation. We were afraid to go outside, so everybody was going stir-crazy.” She smiled. “Josh asked me if it would be okay to draw a mural on the main wall of the dining room, and I said yes.”
Tracey’s brow furrowed. “How did that help?”
“Josh created a massive, detailed line drawing of two yachts close together in a race, complete with crew. Each day he’d spend time on the drawing and said he’d paint it when we eventually got the materials. Imogen ventured to point out something in the detail one day, and she smiled when Josh whispered something to her. I didn’t think any more of the incident until the next day, I saw Amber sitting staring silently at Josh’s creation.”
Steph and Tracey sat quietly, sipping their tea, intrigued by the insight into how the teenagers had come through the early stages of their survival story.
Helen said, “Amber had hardly spoken to anyone for days, and she wasn’t eating enough. I could tell from her expression that something had been awakened in her. She wasn’t a vindictive girl so she wouldn’t embarrass anybody. Amber went over to Josh while he worked and pointed at the rigging of one of the yachts. Josh shook his head, and Amber whispered something to him. I nodded to the other three who were sitting around, and we left the room.”
Steph caught on first. “Did Josh intentionally make mistakes in the detail of the rigging, knowing that only a fellow sailing enthusiast would recognise them?”
“He did, and it worked. He continued while we had daylight, and the next morning after breakfast, he worked with Amber sitting nearby pointing out small details which would improve the scene. Amber had a proper meal that day, and when we heard her chatting quietly with Josh, the rest of us stayed out of that room. It was a slow process, but she realised that she wasn’t the only person crying themselves to sleep each night.”
Steph said, “How long did it take before it felt like you all had a new normal?”
“Many months,” Helen said, “and occasionally one of us would laugh at something and then with a sense of guilt a couple of us would burst into tears. It was at those times I think they realised that I may have been the teacher, but I was just like them—we’d all lost everything.”
Tracey nodded. “But just like us, you’d all have come to realise you had each other?”
Helen nodded. “Small children are resilient when their lives are upturned, but teenagers naturally take everything as a personal affront and are liable to rebel. I still feel guilty about us losing two of our group so early on, but as the others have tried to assure me, it was a matter of time. The boy and girl who left us were both quick-tempered and always the most rebellious of the entire group.”
Steph said, “Was there a period of not knowing who would pair off with who, or did everything fall into place for them?”
“Strangely, four of them must have recognised a mutual attraction. It took about a year before Glen and Emma came clean about their relationship, and then Quincy and Imogen. It’s a bit difficult to hide when you all live in a small complex together.”
Tracey said, “Surely with Josh and Amber hitting it off in the earlier days while the mural was being created—”
Helen smiled and slowly shook her head. “They recognised what was going on with the others long before me, but with them, their fragile friendship simply became stronger. It must have been around the time of Josh’s eighteenth birthday that the spark was ignited. Neither of them were desperate for romance, but they had a slow-burning relationship which is now as strong as any of them.”
Steph nodded. “It sounds like they recognised each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”
“They did, and over the next year or two they gelled, and they’d now fight to the death for each other … and, of course, the little ones. Imogen had her twins when she turned eighteen and Emma had her baby a year later.”
“What about you, Helen?” Tracey said. “Are you okay, or are you still keeping it together for your young companions?”
“I suppose I gave up hope for me and I’ve poured my heart and soul into making sure they’re all okay.” She smiled. “Apart from my companions, I have the three little ones to help with too, and I love spending time with them.”
“Talking of which,” Steph said, “if you’d like to help me again today, we could go and round up our kindergarten group.”
Tracey said, “I’m sure young Peter would like some extra attention since his dad has gone off for a few days.”
“He’s an adorable child,” Helen said. “Does it adversely affect him if Sandy is missing?”
“No,” Steph said, “because if one of the parents is away, we just make that particular child the focus of attention for a while. At some stage, we quietly assure them how special mum or dad is.”
“I’ll do that with Peter today, and somehow, I think I’ll find it easy.”
Norman, assisted by Harry, Craig and Fiona had segregated a small area of the loch to capture and filter the effluent from the small, standalone facility built halfway down the mountain. The toilet had been situated over a stream, fifty metres away from the western end of the shelters. Down at an inlet in the loch, the dam being constructed was by necessity, an experiment. Having four people from such different backgrounds served well to create what was needed. Archie, being the plumbing engineer had dealt with the main design and then handed over the final phase of the task to the others.
Marie led a team who continued to improve the four independent shelters which made up the hillside mini-village. At the same time, Jay-Dee, Paul and Alan worked together on the fishing pier to reinforce and extend the structure. Inside the mountain, Victoria, Anne and Louise were harvesting fruit, vegetables and honey from the various sources.
Bill was on shift in the Control Room and was joined by Calvin, Tracey and Archie. This new team had come up with a plan to give more assistance if the Aviemore security situation developed. They were studying one of the copies of the map which Bill had made using the facilities in the police station.
Calvin pointed to the ‘A’ symbols. “Bill, how clear are these markers that you guys made?”
“They’re all at least six feet in length, and if you stay true to the route, you’ll see some of them long before you reach them. For the main part, they’re built with rocks and branches and in positions to make them stand out. In each case, we constructed the apex of the ‘A’ to point in the next general direction of march. On the way back we added a few more between the originals and at Jay-Dee’s suggestion we added a vertical marker by adding a pole at the apex of the letter.”
Tracey said, “I like his thinking—a vertical pole at the marker serves two purposes.”
The others turned to the firefighter awaiting an explanation.
“If you have a pole beside the marker, it will help to see it easier, but it also means that you could squat down and use the pole to judge an aiming point in the distance for the next stretch.”
Bill grinned and nodded. “I’m impressed—that is exactly how he explained it at the time.”
“What made you think of it, Tracey?” Archie said.
“I was a keen orienteer in my previous life. One of the tricks I used in open areas was to hold the string lanyard vertically at the end of my compass. It’s a technique that can be used in a few seconds but save valuable time.”
Calvin laughed. “We really never stop learning.”
Bill said, “What did you guys have in mind if you went to Aviemore?”
Tracey said, “It’s a multi-faceted trip. Firstly, we’d be back-up for the Aviemore community if it were needed. We’d also be testing your markers and route for future teams, Calvin would get his wish to have a look at Dalwhinnie, and Archie can check out the plumbing issue with their well.”
“Are you considering what we suggested, mate?” Bill said.
Calvin nodded. “Cherry and I agree with you that it would make an ideal staging post if we had a small community there. We got talking to Anne and Craig about it, and it sounds like they’re both keen.” He smiled. “We all love this place and our community here, but it would be such an adventure.”
“Of course,” Tracey said, “there would be the children to think of too. If your family and their family went there, it would also mean you had four youngsters.”
“Possibly five,” Calvin said, “if what Craig told me is correct. It looks like Anne is having another.”
“That’s great news,” Tracey said and turned to Bill. “While we’re on the subject of who might be interested in setting up a new place, has anybody else expressed an interest?”
“I think Jay-Dee is keen.” He turned to smile at Archie, who nodded.
Tracey turned to Archie. “You would be an excellent pair to settle there. A nurse and a plumber would both be useful, not to mention Jay-Dee’s fishing skills if there is a waterway nearby.”
“There is,” Bill said, “and he checked it out already, remember when we stopped overnight.”
The four people spent a while discussing the pros and cons of establishing a new community, and the longer the conversation went on, the more achievable and logical the idea sounded.
“Hi Cherry,” Helen said as she shouldered the Control Room door open carefully. “I’ve brought you a brew.”
“Thank you,” Cherry accepted the hot drink, grinning. “I know you haven’t come to see me, but you’re welcome to sit and wait for our guys to call in.”
Helen settled into one of the operator’s seats at the console. “It must have taken you ages to learn about all this stuff.”
“We had good teachers. Des was one of the engineers who performed shifts in here and took part in some of the maintenance work. Tracey was a firefighter in the facility. Between them, they had a pretty good working knowledge of the whole place. Combined with the manuals we found, and the information kept on electronic files, we soon had a small group of us who were keen to learn more.”
Helen looked along the massive wall of monitors, switches, lights and alarms. “It’s so big.”
“A lot of it is repeated information for different areas. If it makes it a bit easier to understand, these days we concentrate on this section right in front of me. Yes, it still has a lot of things going on, but this tells us about the power being supplied to the Cairngorms area and, of course, that includes Aviemore.”
“I’m more at home with animals and crops, but I’d like to have some insight into what you can tell from all this information.”
“Okay, I’ll give you the basics, and I’ll tell you a little about the things we’ve adapted.”
“You mean you’ve added to what was here?”
“We never stop developing what we’ve got.” Cherry laughed. She sipped her tea and then gave Helen a simplified version of how the system worked out to sub-stations and beyond. She explained briefly the reason for the different coloured lights and how they devised a method to isolate a specific circuit to use for their new messaging idea.
“It’s easy to see why you’re all so happy to keep on working and improving things. Did it take long to set up the monitors and intercom system?”
“Oh, yes, those things didn’t happen overnight.” Cherry laughed. “In each case, we’d start with a theory of what we wanted to achieve, and then a handful of us would work out what we’d need to make it work. Having the equipment, the correct cable and sufficient quantity were the first considerations and then wiring the whole thing was the big test.”
“I’ve heard some tales about you adapting loads of things, and Harry sounds like a magician.”
“I’m okay on the practicalities, but Harry is the go-to guy with any strange problem regarding circuitry or a new invention. That big chunky HF radio over there is a product of his ingenuity.”
“Ah, so this is the one which he uses to keep in touch with his friends in South America and New Zealand?”
“Not only that—he stripped and rebuilt that radio when he was living in isolation in his train for months.”
“Harry’s Place—yes, Sandy showed me and told me about the recent history?”
Cherry nodded. “It took a long time for us to learn just how much each person could provide in knowledge or expertise. From what I saw when I was at your place in Aviemore, you have a smaller and younger community. It has the same spirit and camaraderie.”
“They may not have been my real family when we started our new life together, but I think of them as my family now.”
“I’ve been watching how well you—”
A red light flashed and a small alarm buzzed.
“What’s that for?” Helen said as she looked up and down the panel. “It’s only ten o’clock.”
Cherry was grinning as she reached out to lift her pen and pad. “That, my frien
d, is Dalwhinnie.” As the light flashed, she wrote down the dots and dashes. When the light stopped flashing, she rapidly transcribed the marks by printing letters underneath each. Cherry turned the sheet to let Helen read the message:
‘SANDY. ARIVD DALWH. REST BFORE ERLY STRT. SANDY’
“Good heavens,” Helen said. “How fast are those two travelling?”
“Give me two minutes.” Cherry wrote a brief message and positioned her thumb, forefinger and middle finger on the Morse key the way that Harry had demonstrated during practices. To anybody else, it sounded like a burst of little clicks. One of the green lights on the main panel assured her of the accuracy of the dots and dashes she was sending.
On her sheet, it read:
‘CHERRY. OK. FAR END SECURED. HELEN’
“That will let them know I’ve got the message, remind them that the Aviemore sub-station is locked up and that you’re here with me.”
Helen grinned. “From what I recall of twentieth-century conflicts, I think you would have fitted well into certain scenarios.”
“I was just trying to make it look interesting but easy.” Cherry laughed. “Now, regarding our two soldiers out there. I know that you’ve been joining Calvin and a couple of others in their early morning training sessions. Sandy and Flint have never ceased in their fitness training. I think it would be unnatural for those two guys to just get up in the morning and do a day’s work.”
“I get the impression from other people that Sandy has only begun to relax in more recent months. It sounds like he spent a long time with post-traumatic stress and a guilt complex.”
“Actually, I was thinking about him earlier and how his demeanour has improved even more since—”
The red light flashed again, and Cherry lifted her pen. She wrote:
‘SANDY. TAKE CARE. SANDY’
Cherry didn’t write anything down but sent back:
‘HELEN. X. HELEN’
“Wow, you did that one quick,” Helen said, “was it just an acknowledgement?”
