by A M Russell
Heelio himself stayed a little while and ate only the fruits he preferred and drank the water. I found that I was actually quite hungry and filled up readily. As the very young and the older ones of the group began to disperse, I took my cue to go back to the rooms that had been assigned to us. I was in a small sleeping alcove, curtained off from the main area. Just as I was leaving Janey stopped me.
‘Are you ignoring me?’ she asked.
The question seemed provocative, so I waited for her to qualify what she had said.
She seemed uncertain of what to do, as I didn’t get defensive. I saw it would not change anything now anyway.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said at last, ‘that you aren’t going to come with me tomorrow. Will you at least say goodbye?’
‘Goodbye Janey.’
‘I mean in the morning. The man Telios had said we must leave at eight. The clock is the sundial in the room where the weavers work.’
‘I won’t be able to see you off. We have to get the Buggy going as soon as we can. I’m sorry.’
‘Oh…’
‘You know where we’ll be first thing.’ I said.
‘Yes of course….’ She seemed a little miserable at my response. I wasn’t confused, I just didn’t want to be involved anymore.
‘You’ll be there.’ I said, ‘to say goodbye to Jared?’
‘Yes…. I need to tell him…. But will you, if I can’t?’
‘Tell him what?’ I softened then and looked into her eyes.
‘Tell him…. Tell him,’ she looked away, lost in thought, ‘I wanted him to…. It’s not going to work. Unless he wakes up. They said there is a very good chance of it.’
‘The doctors said that?’
‘Yes,’ she stared, bright eyed, ‘after all, there is always hope.’
‘Yes….there is Janey. There is. I wish you a safe Journey tomorrow.’
‘Thank you Davey. And thanks for bringing me. It was one of the best adventures I’ve had.’
‘Goodnight Janey.’ I left then, as I didn’t want to get bogged down in decisions about how to say goodbye to someone who you were close to in a way that was something I could not imagine. That weird twin thing was something I had heard about. A psychic connection that was so keen that they just knew when the other was in trouble. How on earth did that work in these circumstances? Plus I needed to find the bed and be alone with some quietness that echoed from another place. Everything else was intruding on that, and exhaustion plus dinner was making it harder to think straight.
*****
Eleven
We set of at a fair pace. I sat in the back this time. It was only nine. And apart from Heelio, Andre and Leanna no one else had been about as we left the tribe for what appeared to be the last time. They weren’t big on elaborate goodbyes. I supposed that they didn’t think of goodbye as a permanent thing. Since they accepted everything in the way of it being just part of the path that each walked. Meeting again was something that they supposed always happened with those who had a connection. And I felt then as I did a lot later, that we really hadn’t touched anything but the surface of rich and strange lives of a people who lived like no others I had ever met. Yet they seemed quite at ease with the things that they were surrounded with; living as they did in a harmony with the land and nature. We ran quite smoothly. Marcia was the driver designate for this leg. She got Jared arranged in the front with flasks and various other things readily to hand. Ever practical, she had even written down a list of supplies and equipment that we were carrying. Considering her admission of worry last night, I was seeing that she had done everything to make what we now had to do as successful as possible.
Jared on the other hand was looking strange. I had witnessed something between him and the other Janey who was leaving that made me feel I really needed to keep out of it. He had stood a little way from us, staring out into the sky and making notes with a pencil on a pad he carried when Janey (as in Harriet) came round to see him. The others were nowhere in sight. And in that raw morning light they stood together and she reached up and whispered something in his ear. He bent down to listen and she reached round with both hands and pulled him closer to her. I looked away. But being the noisy sod I am I looked again. She embraced him in a way that suggested the longing of a lover rather than the affection of a sibling. But the line with Jared and most women was pretty blurred. He was someone who seemed to inspire an kind of weak gooey devotion in girls, and I had no reason to suppose that she could be very different on one level. Every female who I had seen near him seemed transfixed with some sort of hypnotic response. I asked Jared about this much later. He said that he supposed that they saw something he couldn’t hide. That he was too emotional, too chaotic, and hadn’t got my control. I asked him about the control thing, and he just sighed and said he wished he could keep them away. It was difficult. He said, to be the tragic artist that all these crazy chicks want to bed. I asked: why don’t I get that sort of thing? And he said: because you’re better than that. I guess I didn’t think that I was better than anything. I asked him why he wanted it to be different. And he said something very odd…. He said that we all want something we cannot have; and we all want to be someone else. It’s just better when you can be around the person you want to be like, that way you can always hope it rubs off on you. You mean me? I said. Yes, you. You’re so good. And he said he wished he was better. And hadn’t wasted it all. I feel soiled; he said. But you are pure. Pure in heart….
A friend is one who thinks you are better than you see yourself as being. And if we both think that, we are both right. Because we do not live for ourselves but for everyone we have ever met. And more about Janey. She was his nemesis, he said, and his beloved. And that was it. Always like the way night falls. And his angel, and his light. He is more the poet then; but for now…. He sat and looked miserable and Marcia drove, and our Janey sat there in the back silent like a shadow that needed the sun to fall on it to bring it back into being.
Janey Amber sat in the back with me. Leanna had brought her out to us this morning. I hadn’t seen her since yesterday. She refused any food and drink that was offered to her. I didn’t understand why this was. I thought it might have something to do with trying to disconnect herself from this place. I really didn’t dare ask. So we just rode in silence. I couldn’t think of anything to thing to say. One plan had failed. I couldn’t see how this would work out. And the sense of doom that was between us, was making me edgy in a way that was a bit like the unpleasantness of last night. Leanna had reassured me about the business with the soldiers through. She said that if they came they would find nothing. And if they tried to take any of them they would just disappear: ‘For it is not known,’ she said, ‘that our power over the people of the mountain is not the slight thing that we reveal, but the stronger thing that cannot be shown. And to see what is unseen is the province of Gods and angels, and perhaps you have them here with you….’
I spoke very softly to our Janey, ‘Will you have some water?’ I offered her my flask. Surprisingly she took it and drank from it. I sensed Marcia glance into the rear view mirror but she didn’t make any comment.
Janey passed it back to me. She hadn’t said anything to me at all this morning. It was sad and unpleasant and rather disquieting. She was feeling down, that much was clear even to a clod like me. I could not know if the future in the real world could ever exist. But somehow I thought she could still be with us. My strange blind faith. She saw me looking at her intently.
‘It’s funny,’ she began, ‘I remember how it was when we set out. I remember how happy I was that day. I had some good news but I don’t remember what it is now. I just know it was like a big bubble inside that kept me buoyant for a long while. You seemed so hesitant at first. Yet you always were eager to please; even Mr Hanson.’
‘And what am I like now?’
‘Older. Mature even. A serious man. You are not like some… who just give up. There were a lot you know. They’re all ma
d or amnesiac now. And some have no idea they were ever involved. All because of one little equation.’
‘The equation, yes. I mean to ask you about that.’
‘I worked on it. Made it work. Yes. It was me.’
‘It was You Janey. This you. You can’t not be the real person because you found it. It has to be you that does get out. It has to be!’
‘I can’t steal a life that isn’t mine. I won’t do it.’
‘It is yours. I think that what happened was meant to.’
Janey smiled, ‘Heelio said something like that; Leanna said I should eat something to keep my strength up.’
‘She is right you know. Will you?’
‘Eat? Yes. If you find the things in the pack.’
The next twenty minutes of so were spent with small pieces of food being handed one at a time to Janey. She would accept me giving these things to her. I wondered why.
‘I don’t believe in myself.’ she said in a weirdly calm way, ‘But I said to myself I will do whatever you three ask. I won’t refuse you. Unless I think what you’re saying is bonkers of course.’
‘I’m glad of that. I personally need someone to check if I’m still sane at regular intervals.’ I joked. She actually smiled at me then. I looked at her face. She didn’t seem much different, but the food certainly brought a little colour back to her face. We stopped and all drank tea after that.
At Midday we had reached the little narrow cut that Andre had brought us to in the past. We decided to park the buggy deep in some bushes further up the track. The idea was to make a quick getaway.
Jared outlined his plan. It was simple enough. We got inside just as they were on their way out, and we went to find Elland and his men. We would give them some of the drugs we carried that would enable them to deal with Alexander’s people as they saw fit. Then Jared would keep his appointment. It seemed that Marcia’s fall had proved one thing, that you could make a jump as it were between two points with a fairly exact margin instantaneously. “The act of falling resolves gravity” Marcia had told me and Janey. It was easy to understand. You were not touching something therefore you could jump to something. I reckoned that we could do this again. I had a different place that I wanted to jump to. Straight into Base. I was told this was impossible by Janey and Marcia. Jared said that it would work if we all went together. It seemed to make sense. We needed to get the people out and then simply unplug the machine that had caused all this trouble in the first place. Of course it wasn’t as simple as that, these things rarely are. But at least we had a plan. It relied on Mr Alexander being a bastard, and trying to kill us; and I personally couldn’t see a flaw in that logic.
This time we didn’t wait for nightfall. We took the things we needed and started to approach the cave entrance. We knew they could see us. But Jared’s deal meant that perhaps they weren’t looking for us quite this early. I saw Marcia slide her hunting knife out of the sheath. She certainly was looking to be attacked at any moment.
As we rounded the rocks that led us into the Jungle strip I heard an odd noise. At first I didn’t recognise the sound of an engine. We all sank into the undergrowth without a whisper.
Jared risked a whisper: ‘This may be an opportunity. Marcia!’
The two of them slithered out of sight. We stayed still for several minutes, just listening. The day was becoming heavy with an oppressive electrical charge. I felt the sweat trickle between my shoulder blades. At that moment a low rumble of thunder was heard. Distant…. But for how long? The sun was seen through a hazy veil, and strange steaks of clouds could be seen on the horizon, looking back through the trees.
Jared and Marcia slid down next to us; ‘There’s a truck there with the keys in the ignition. I think it’s a delivery for the lab.’ Jared was amused, and added, ‘there is a certain satisfaction in knowing that whatever happens, the post will always get through.’
‘We’re not going to steal the truck?’ I asked.
‘No point. I would be fun though.’ Jared pointed at the entrance, as soon as he comes out for the next package, we’ll go in. then we keep out of his sight. There is a turn on the corridor that we can use to get into those back alleys that Elland’s people use.’
We eased ourselves out of the deep green hollows and quickly slipped in. At once that sense of oppression doubled. The air in this particular corridor was stale and uncirculated. It might only be that it was rarely used, but that didn't seem to square with the number of tracks at the entrance. And now, come to think of it where had all the vehicles gone?
Marcia prodded me. My eyes took in the distant sight of the technician with a clip board.
'Post Man?' I said.
'Quiet!' warned Jared, as the four of us sank into the shadows.
The man strolled past us whistling cheerily. He stopped, turned slightly and came towards us. As he did so Janey pulled the top lace of her right-hand boot loose.
'Oh! Hello there! Are you lot lost? I took a while to get the hang of it too.'
Jared went forward: 'Yeah,' he said casually, 'the girls left the map in the car.'
'Oh?' the man seemed puzzled, 'I didn't see another transport.'
'We got round the wrong side of the strip of jungle. We had to park at the edge of the plains.' Jared was perhaps a bit too specific. I stepped forward slightly.
'But isn't that outside the prescribed area?' the man was becoming suspicious, as Janey retied her bootlace. She glanced upwards at him.
'We really thought that's what it was,' I said 'but it must just be further along the track. The road is really churned up there.'
'Oh yeah! I know the place,' the man relaxed, 'Look, if you just take a right and a left, then second on the left past some big boxes is the quickest way in. Why it had to be such a bloody maze! I tell you what. You lads take the last parcel in for me. Ed is coming with the “milk float” in ten minutes. Then I can get off.' He shuddered, and then added, 'this place gives me the creeps.'
Jared and I followed the man back out. He seemed in quite a hurry to get out of there, and lifted the medium sized taped-up box out and handed it to Jared.
'Just keep it the right way up. It's all padded up. All these deliveries! Bosses and their big plans eh? It's always us lot who have to do the real graft.' with that he got back in the truck and roared off down the track, kicking up a cloud of dust. We returned to the girls.
'What is it?' I said to Marcia. Jared and Janey stared at me, then her. Marcia traced her finger along the eight digit code, and her eyes unfocused.
'She remembers?' asked Janey.
‘Yes, she does!’ said Marcia with a half-smile.
‘Sorry,’ Janey said, ‘I was thinking.’
‘You will do in a minute science girl. We’ve struck gold!’
‘Oh my God!’ Janey at once seemed animated.
‘Hey! Girls, I hate to point this out,’ Jared changed his grip on the box, ‘but I’m still holding this. And we’ll have company in just over five minutes.’
‘Ed and his milk float.’ I said. Jared put the box carefully down on the floor.
‘The only way to take something out without anyone noticing is to go in from underneath.’ Janey’s eyes gleamed with anticipation.
‘He said to keep it the right way up.’ I said.
‘They always say that,’ Janey prodded it with her foot, ‘but these are ninety per cent padding.’
‘Okay,’ Jared had his pack off and was fishing around inside; I have tape inside here. How much packing is loose stuff?’
‘None. It’s all connected air packs, and rubbery wrappers.’ Janey gripped the edge. I helped her. We had the box onto one edge and then completely turned over so the bottom was uppermost. Marcia careful slit the tape with her knife. She passed it to Janey, who sliced very carefully through the under packing that was behind the giant sheets of bubble wrap. A smaller taped box was inside.
‘We haven’t got long.’ warned Jared.
‘Just shut up!’ said J
aney, ‘If I do this right they’ll never know it’s been tampered with.’
‘Alright.’ Jared looked taken aback, as if this was the sister he had forgotten for long time, ‘I’ll get a few rocks to weight it then.’
‘Yes… good idea. Thanks Jared.’ She looked up then, ‘got it!’ she eased the rack containing the vials out of the pack. We all grinned at each other.
‘Quickly now.’ said Marcia. She and Jared filled the little box, and then carefully taped and rewrapped the whole thing. Janey and I folded a cloth round the wire rack and put it inside the pack I was carrying.
Jared and Marcia were already taking the box up to the pile of others along the cramped corridor.
‘We have to find the hidden latch.’ I said.
‘There really is another tunnel?’ Janey seemed animated by this piece of good fortune. Jared and Marcia returned; ‘Come on guys!’ Marcia said as the both ran their hands along the ledge above our heads.
‘He’s coming.’ said Jared, ‘or rather they’re coming!’
‘Who?’ I said, as Janey grabbed Jared’s pack, and fastened it shut.
