by Sylvia Waugh
Amy still looked doubtful. Her own code of conduct required everything to be open and above board. One day she would play hockey for the county and she already had the attitude of a true sportswoman. But loyalty ranked high too. To tell might be a breach of her loyalty to Nesta.
‘Just as long as you know I’m not happy about it,’ she said. ‘But for your sake, I’ll keep quiet.’
After school on Friday, the twelfth of February, Nesta and Amy boarded the bus to Linden Drive. Amy had a large holdall ‘packed for the holiday’. True it was only a few miles from home, but it felt exciting. It was not quite the same as camping out in the garage at Amy’s house, but both girls felt that it would be really good fun.
‘My brother lent me his PlayStation,’ said Amy, ‘and loads of games.’
She already knew that computer games were not part of the Gwynn household: Nesta sometimes complained about her parents not being ‘with it’. So Jack’s games machine would be quite a novelty.
‘Mom won’t let me have a telly in my bedroom,’ said Nesta, ‘because she says Mrs Jolly might be able to hear it and not like the noise. But there’s a portable in the kitchen. We can play with it in there.’
By the time the bus reached the corner of Linden Drive, they had thought of dozens of things to do in the week’s holiday, including the history homework that Mr Fielder had maliciously set them. There was a list of fifty famous dates to be matched up on a worksheet, going all the way from the Roman invasions to the major events of the twentieth century. ‘I doubt if you’ll want to be gallivanting in this sort of weather,’ he had said, smiling sardonically. ‘This’ll be a nice little indoor game for you.’
Nesta had felt as if he looked especially at her as he rolled out the word ‘gallivanting’, but that could have been imagination!
It was raining heavily when they got off the bus. Mrs Gwynn was waiting for them, holding her huge golf umbrella.
CHAPTER 28
* * *
Travelling North
On Monday, the fifteenth of February, Steven and Jacob set off on their trip to the North. It was a sensible, properly arranged holiday, father and son off together to visit a computer show in York and then on to another one in Sunderland. That was not even a lie. There really were computer shows scheduled for those venues, and Steven really did intend to look in on them. Lydia was used to her husband’s work taking him away from time to time. It now seemed very natural that Jacob should follow in his father’s footsteps.
The train left King’s Cross Station at ten-thirty in the morning. Father and son settled down in the seats reserved for them. Today they were travelling as far as York. Steven had decided not to go by car. He had no intention of buying anything: the computer shows were no more than a useful pretext.
‘The show’s on Wednesday,’ said Steven, ‘and we’ll head for Casselton straight afterwards. The Sunderland show is on Friday. We’ll look in on that on the way home.’
‘And in York today,’ said Jacob, ‘we’ll get to see the Gwynns.’
‘You’re looking forward to that, aren’t you?’ said his father.
‘Yes,’ said Jacob, ‘I am. You do realize that I have seen what you have never seen?’
‘Oh?’
‘I have seen another Ormingatrig face to face, here on Earth, and not just on a screen.’
‘I hadn’t thought of it that way,’ said Steven. ‘It will be strange talking to them. Till now, it has been strictly against the rules.’
The day was cold but bright. For a while, Jacob looked out of the window at the passing fields whilst Steven read the newspaper. Silence eventually gave birth to thought. Jacob asked again the question his father had failed to answer.
‘The communicator said your work had to be finished by the first of March. I asked you why. You never gave me an answer.’
Steven folded the newspaper and tucked it into the netting on the seat in front. ‘I suppose I’d better tell you now,’ he said. ‘You have a right to know.’
‘Well?’
‘Remember how I altered the dock on the Gwynns’ spaceship?’
‘Yes.’
‘I had to do the same with ours. It was an order and I was inside the ship. Even if I had wanted to disobey I was in no position to do so. You must understand that.’
‘Dad,’ said Jacob irritably, ‘so far, I understand nothing, though I’m beginning to guess.’
‘Well, then, to cut a long story short, if that’s what you want, our own spaceship is now scheduled to take off on the first of March at two o’clock in the morning.’
At first Jacob could not quite grasp what this implied. ‘Where is the ship meant to be going? How long will it be away?’
He had already seen one short trip, when Patrick Derwent was flown from Edinburgh to Casselton. All sorts of trips were surely possible? Especially for his father, the facilitator, the custodian of the Brick, the manipulator of shields.
‘Are you being deliberately stupid?’ said Steven with a flash of anger. ‘I – and you – we are meant to be going to Ormingat. There is no return ticket.’
Jacob felt breathless and sat back just staring down the carriage but not really seeing anything.
‘Say something,’ said Steven. ‘You know it now. So what do you say?’
‘I can’t say anything,’ said Jacob. ‘I don’t know what to say.’
‘Will it help if I tell you that we aren’t going?’ said his father with a smile that was more sad than happy. ‘We can stay here on Earth and let the ship go without us.’
‘Another ship going into space without passengers?’ said Jacob. ‘That doesn’t seem right or fair.’
Steven was pensive. Jacob seemed wise beyond his years. Steven felt compelled to be totally honest with him and to try, somehow, to convey some of his own deeper thoughts.
‘I know what you mean,’ he said. ‘In fact, I know better than you what a failure this is. For two hundred and fifty years, spaceships have travelled to Earth and back. Never till now has a ship returned without its passengers. And now there has been one and there will be two. The Ormingat in me, kept secret but powerful and pulling at my heartstrings, can only see it as dire failure. The system that brought us here is breaking down. Maybe it started with the crash on Walgate Hill. Perhaps it goes further back than that – when Kraylin broke the STI and no means was found to mend it. But I can’t be responsible for anybody else. My own failure is my own – just that. I am not part of a pattern.’
Jacob saw with alarm that his father’s eyes were brimming with tears. ‘Well, go,’ he said. ‘If it is so important, we can both go. I too am Ormingatrig.’
‘You too are Lydia’s son,’ said Steven. ‘Would you break her heart?’
Jacob was fourteen and could already see that the world was bigger than Heath Lane. It was even bigger than London.
‘I will be leaving some day,’ he said. ‘I love my mother, I love her very much, but if necessity says leave, then perhaps I could. And if you must go, then surely I should. It’s not easy to think about.’
‘It is,’ said Steven grimly. ‘It is very easy. I have been dishonest with myself till now. There is no way in this universe that I could ever leave your mother. She needs me.’
‘She might not,’ said Jacob. ‘What would happen if you died? She would have to manage without you then.’
‘If I died,’ said his father, ‘then she would not be my responsibility. But whilst I live and breathe I must look after her.’
‘She’s not a child.’
‘No,’ said Steven, ‘but her whole life revolves around her home and her family. I can’t destroy her happiness. She is my waif-soul. She is my Match Girl standing out in the snow. Don’t ask me again what that means. I don’t choose to tell you.’ He squeezed his eyelids together to force back his tears.
Jacob linked his arm through his father’s and leant briefly against his shoulder. ‘So the ship will go home empty?’ he said.
‘Unless I
can find some other passengers to take our place,’ said Steven in a voice that was deliberately flippant.
‘Ormingatriga?’
‘They could hardly be anything else!’
The train drew into York Station, on time for once, and Jacob and Steven descended in silence. Hardly a word passed between them as they checked into the hotel where they would be staying for two nights before travelling further north.
In silence they made their way to the bus stop outside the Museum Gardens. It was the second time Jacob had made this trip. He had been looking forward to showing his father the way, to being his guide on a real bus to a real house in a real street. But now much of the exhilaration had gone. Why did life have to be so serious?
Steven put an arm round his shoulders. ‘It’s not all that bad, you know,’ he said awkwardly. ‘Even if the ship has to return empty. I’ll guide it on its way. I expect they’ll even want me to go on working for them. It’ll be harder without the communicator. But I can do wonders with the Brick. You know I can. You’ve seen me.’
CHAPTER 29
* * *
In York
Despite the cold, Nesta and Amy spent the morning in York, looking round the shops and buying things that were cheap and cheerful. Mainly, it was things to wear; but Nesta managed to find a copper pendant that looked worth far more than she paid for it, and Amy found a juggling clown to add to her collection.
‘It’s like being a tourist,’ she said. ‘I’m pretending that I don’t live here but have just come down from Scotland for a visit. You can be my American friend, come over from the States.’
‘I think I can manage that,’ said Nesta with a grin. ‘We Yanks do so love your historic city. What say we take a trip to the Jorvik Centre?’
‘No,’ said Amy. ‘That takes time and money. Let’s pretend we went there yesterday. Today we’re into buying souvenirs for the folks back home.’
‘Stop!’ said Nesta. ‘You have your “ain folk” and are “frae the Highlands”. The “folks back home” would definitely be mine.’
A few stray flakes of snow began to fall. The girls were in Piccadilly, not far from the bus terminus. The bus for home was standing there waiting.
‘Let’s pack in for the day,’ said Amy. ‘That’s our bus over there. Let’s go home and play Tombi. No sense in getting snowed on!’
The snow came to nothing, but the girls were still pleased to be sitting in the kitchen drinking the warm cup of soup that Alison had given them and getting on with the long-running game of Tombi. They took turns holding the controller, the one without it being an eager, and often mistaken, adviser.
The object of the game was to find the pig bags and capture all the pigs, culminating with the pig boss. In that way, the evil pig magic would be defeated and the game would be over.
Finding the pig bags was practically impossible! Nesta, who had never played on a PlayStation game before, soon began to think that the game-makers were cheating and that some pig bags simply did not exist.
‘Your brother should take it back to the shop,’ she said. ‘It doesn’t work properly.’
‘It does,’ said Amy. ‘It’s just very, very difficult. That’s why people go on playing it. Give me the controller now. You’ve had your ten minutes.’
There was a ring at the doorbell. The sound of it carried to the kitchen, but the girls did not even look up from their game. They had no curiosity at all as to who might be waiting on the doorstep.
It was freezing cold. A few flakes of snow had fallen half-heartedly but soon gave up their attempt to whiten the world. Steven and Jacob stood shivering on the doorstep of Number 8 Linden Drive. Steven rang the doorbell sharply. Then, after a couple of seconds, he lifted the rapper and brought it down hard twice or thrice.
‘Give them time. Dad,’ said Jacob between shivers. ‘Their car’s in the drive. They’re nearly sure to be home.’
‘Just our luck if they aren’t,’ said Steven sourly.
And at that moment the door opened and Alison stood looking out at them with a certain hostility in her gaze. She did not like the way they had rapped at the door. She had never seen them before and had no idea who they were. The man was probably in his late thirties, sallow-complexioned, with high cheekbones and very dark eyes. The boy, obviously his son, was a younger and slightly fairer version of his father.
‘Whatever you’re selling,’ said Alison, ‘we don’t want any.’
‘We aren’t selling anything, Athelerane,’ said Steven softly. ‘We have come to talk.’
Alison drew in her breath sharply, cold breath in the cold north air. The name that Steven had given her was all the identification she needed.
‘You are of us?’ she said tersely.
Steven nodded.
‘Come in,’ said Alison. ‘Let us talk inside.’
She took their coats and hung them in the hall. As she did so, her thoughts were in turmoil. She could not construe the meaning of this visit. And the man had brought his son.
‘Come into the front room,’ she said. ‘Matthew is there.’
She opened the door.
Matthew looked up from the desk where he had been writing. It was puzzling to see two strangers standing there, a man and a boy. Was there some connection with the university, with Alison’s work? The boy looked too young to be an undergraduate. And no one from the university had ever visited before.
‘We have visitors, Maffaylie,’ she said. Then he too knew who the visitors were.
‘Come in,’ he said. ‘Do come in and sit by the fire. It’s a horribly cold day.’
He ushered them to the sofa. Then he and Alison sat down in the armchairs to either side of them.
‘This has never happened before,’ said Matthew carefully. ‘It is strictly against the code for us to meet.’
‘Many things have never happened before,’ said Steven severely. ‘You and your family should by now be on the spaceship returning to Ormingat. Your breach of the code is by far the greater.’
Jacob gave his father a look of disbelief. Surely he wasn’t going to blame these people for doing something he had every intention of doing himself?
‘To come straight to the point,’ said Steven, ‘we need to know how much damage your defection might have caused.’
Matthew looked baffled. ‘The spaceship shattered the frog,’ he said weakly, ‘but there was no real harm done, and nobody any the wiser.’
‘That is not what I mean,’ said Steven. ‘Physical damage is irrelevant. We have to know whether other Earthlings have any clue as to what happened here three weeks ago. We also need to find out what Nesta has told to her friends and to anyone she might have encountered when she ran away. We need to know much more about her meeting with Stella Dalrymple.’
‘I can answer all of that,’ said Alison, ‘but you must not question my daughter. I don’t want her to be upset.’
‘Where is Nesta?’ said Steven.
‘She’s in the kitchen with her friend. They are playing on some sort of computer game.’
Steven considered carefully what to say next. It would perhaps be better to have Jacob out of the way. What Steven had in mind would come better from one person, speaking alone. He was also unsure of what his son’s reaction might be.
‘Jacob enjoys computer games,’ he said smoothly. ‘Would you mind very much letting him join your daughter and her friend in the kitchen? He will be discreet. He would never betray our secret.’
Jacob was in two minds whether to rebel at being sent out of the room, but his wish to see Nesta overruled whatever adolescent indignation he might have been feeling.
CHAPTER 30
* * *
In the Kitchen
‘What now?’ said Nesta impatiently. ‘I can’t see any sign of a pig bag.’
Her turn with the controller was nearly up and to be stuck at this point was very frustrating. Her neck was beginning to feel stiff with looking up at the screen, but she was caught up in the challen
ge of the game, and the novelty of playing it.
‘You’ve only got a minute left,’ said Amy. ‘Then it’s my turn.’
At that moment the kitchen door opened, letting in a shaft of light from the hall. The two girls looked up, startled.
Mrs Gwynn was standing there with a strange boy by her side. He would, the girls thought, be about their age or a little older.
‘This is Jacob,’ said Nesta’s mother with a bright smile. ‘His father is here to talk business with your dad. So I thought he’d rather be in here with you. He likes computer games.’
Jacob smiled apologetically. He had a feeling that his presence was not wanted.
‘Nesta’s my daughter,’ said Alison, nodding towards her, ‘and Amy here is her friend. She’s staying over for the half-term holiday. The games machine is hers. I’m sure she’d be pleased to let you join in.’
Alison looked up uncomprehendingly at the little figures jumping across the screen, shrugged her shoulders and left the room, closing the door behind her.
Jacob stood, looking straight at Nesta and ignoring Amy as if she weren’t there. Nesta gazed back at him.
Both girls were seated at the kitchen table, the games machine between them. On a shelf above the bench in front of them was the television set. Amy had the seat nearest the hall door. To her left stood the stranger; to her right was Nesta. She looked from one to the other and had the momentary urge to snap her fingers, so trancelike did the other two seem.
‘I think I have met you before,’ said Nesta, breaking the silence. ‘I’m sure I know you from somewhere.’
Jacob smiled. ‘That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.’
For an instant the two of them looked strangely alike. Jacob’s sallow face and dark eyes were so completely different from Nesta’s pale skin, and eyes that were grey-blue and fine-lashed, that the resemblance would be hard to explain. But it was there.
