“Nice to meet you,” said one of the men. “I’m Jeremy McGowan. I teach your son, Will, at the Academy.”
“Oh, how lovely” Elsie smiled, extending her hand to him. “Which subject do you teach?”
“Combat and Weaponry,” Jeremy answered with a smile. “I’m not sure if Will thinks much of the topic, though. He seems to prefer doodling pictures of rockets on his tablet than listening to me.”
“He’s always been obsessed with spacecraft,” Elsie laughed with a roll of her eyes. “Ever since he was a child. I’ve got no idea why!”
“Well, I hear he’s an excellent flyer” Jeremy replied. “His try-out for the school racing team was said to have been quite spectacular, though I’m sure he told you all about it.”
“No, actually,” Elsie frowned. “He didn’t tell me anything.”
She glanced over at Will, still engrossed in conversation with his friends, and wondered with a slight feeling of unease what else about his time at school he had refrained from telling her.
“Sorry,” Jeremy apologised, noticing the expression on Elsie’s face. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”
“Should I be worrying?” Elsie asked, a note of panic rising in her voice. “Is racing for the school a dangerous thing to do?”
“Only if you’re bad at it,” Jeremy winked, laughter lines creasing around his dark, brown eyes. “I’d suggest Will join the Combat and Weaponry club instead but, I’m not sure you’d be any less fretful about him being taught to fight by an ex-soldier.”
“You fought back on Earth?” Elsie asked with surprise. She found it hard to imagine that such a young man with features as kind as his had ever been involved in the gruesome battles that had ravaged the Earth before The Split.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Jeremy sighed. “My whole family were in the military.”
“Well, you must have heard of him!” a stout man Elsie recognised as Pax Madden, the Head of Security, interjected. “His family are famously decorated War heroes.”
“That’s all nonsense,” Jeremy blushed. “We just did what we had to do for our country”
“I bet you have some incredible stories,” Elsie noted. “I’ve never heard much about the Wars. I was away at College while most of it was going on. It seems a bit wrong, now, to think of how much I was enjoying myself whilst men like you were fighting for our survival.”
“Our time at College wasn’t exactly fun and games, Elsie,” Alfie reminded her, cutting off her conversation with Jeremy. “We did have monstrous aliens to contend with, remember?”
“As if I would forget,” Elsie replied bluntly.
“You don’t need to feel guilty,” Jeremy continued, ignoring Alfie’s interruption. “The reason we were fighting was so that life could continue as ordinarily as possible. Besides, you were the one doing all the hard work, really. What is it that you do, anyway?”
“I’m a counsellor,” Elsie answered. “I mostly help people who are struggling to adjust after leaving Earth, but people come to me with all kinds of issues. You’d be surprised by how many problems the privileged members of our little society have.”
“I’m not sure that I would actually,” Jeremy mused, “but if you’re looking for clients from more humble backgrounds, I might be interested in coming to see you. That is, if you’d be willing to accept someone from the lowly third floor.”
“I’d be more than happy to help,” Elsie smiled.
Alfie cleared his throat loudly.
“Elsie, I just realised that I haven’t introduced you to Brett,” he said, shaking his head in an exaggerated manner. “How rude of me.”
He indicated to a middle-aged man on his left, who extended his hand to Elsie.
“How are you doing?” the man asked, his dark eyebrows knitting together in a permanent frown. “I’m Brett Baker.”
“Elsie James,” she replied, taking his hand politely. “I’ve heard your name before. You’re the new CEO of I-Tech, aren’t you?”
“That’s right,” he said, puffing out his chest with pride. “What do you make of what I’ve done with the company so far?”
“You mean all the robots?” Elsie replied. “They’re fantastic to look at, I’ll admit, but are they really necessary?”
“They’re more than necessary,” Brett answered, an underlying tone of anger in his voice. “Pax will tell you. They’ve helped tremendously with the De Havilland Initiative. They’ve arrested more Vacuous than any human Guard ever could. It’s all in their programming. They’re specially designed to detect the warning signs.”
“Yes, we most certainly wouldn’t have made as many arrests without them,” Pax noted, averting his eyes around the room. “They are extremely quick-handed when it comes to reprimanding passengers.”
“I’m sorry,” Elsie interrupted, directing her speech at Brett. “Did you say that there are ‘warning signs’ which show someone to be alien? What did you mean by that?”
“The Vacuous are attracted to human emotion,” Alfie answered before Brett had a chance to speak. “We discovered that in Krecher’s notes about the creatures back in College, remember?”
“Oh,” Elsie said. “I must have forgotten.”
“There are also some physical characteristics that can indicate a Vacuous in disguise,” Brett added. “However, I’m afraid the information regarding the De Havilland Initiative is strictly classified.”
Elsie flinched, wishing he would stop repeating the title of the investigation, almost as much as she wished Alfie had never named it after Austin in the first place. She pursed her lips, expressing her desire to change the subject through her facial expression and body language. Jeremy was quick to pick up on her discomfort, immediately electing to discuss a different topic of conversation.
“Anyway, Mr. Sommers, if you don’t mind, I’d like to remind you of what I initially came to speak to you about,” he said, flashing an almost imperceptible smile in Elsie’s direction.
“Ah yes,” Alfie replied. “You wished to know if we’ve made any progress in tracking down the Society of the Enlightened.”
“That’s right,” Jeremy nodded. “There’s been some strange goings on at the Space Academy, which I think may be connected in some way to the Society’s activity. It’s nothing to be concerned about,” he added hastily, noticing Elsie’s anxious expression. “Only students making references to their ideology. However, I think we can all agree that everyone would feel safer knowing they had been brought to justice.”
“Of course,” Alfie said pleasantly. “I have some of my best men in the Security forces working tirelessly to track them down. Naturally, this has been difficult, since they haven’t done anything publicly since their broadcast in the lobby.”
“That doesn’t mean they’re not plotting, though,” Pax frowned, his round face taut with anger. “I’ve been telling you to put me on the case ever since they first showed themselves. I’d have them found in a matter of weeks, I guarantee it.”
“You’re busy with the De Havilland Initiative,” Alfie reminded him. “I need the Mayfly’s citizens to see you making headway with that. It’ll put their minds at ease.”
“I understand,” Pax said reluctantly. “But if the Society hasn’t been found in a few months’ time, I think you should consider my offer.”
“They will be found, I’m certain of it,” Alfie replied. “Until then, I’m not convinced they pose any real threat. You know, Elsie and I were actually part of the Society of the Enlightened at College. All it involved was a lot of talking and speculating, discussing different philosophies and theories about how humanity would function after Earth. Of course, there was the conspiracy about the Vacuous which turned out to be true, but other than that, the Society itself was more of a debate club in my opinion. I’m surprised anyone would decide to continue the group here on the Mayfly. I would have put credits on them dying out with the Earth. I don’t believe for one second that a gang of attention-seeking halfwits have the guts to foll
ow through with anything they might be planning.”
“You were part of the Society on Earth?” Jeremy asked them with disbelief.
“It was more of a copycat group,” Elsie said with embarrassment. “Almost a fan club, really. We didn’t have anything to do with the real Society of the Enlightened.”
“It was our friend Austin that dragged us along,” Alfie added. “He was the one interested in all that.”
Elsie jerked her head as though she had been slapped. In the fourteen years since his death, Austin’s name had hardly ever been mentioned by Alfie, his betrayal of Elsie enough to turn him into a taboo subject. Now, it seemed that everywhere she went, Elsie heard the De Havilland Initiative mentioned, each time bringing a sharp reminder of her past. Hearing Alfie refer to Austin as a ‘friend’ only cemented her disdain for the pardon her ex seemed to have received since the exposure of the Great Conspiracy. She knew Alfie felt the same guilt that she did for not believing Austin, but she found it hard to stomach when the Captain purported to have forgotten everything that had transpired leading up to Austin’ death.
“Anyway, gentleman,” Alfie announced suddenly. “I think we’ve talked enough business for one day. It is Hallowed Eve after all.”
“Understood,” Pax nodded. “We’ll leave you to it, Sir.”
“Yes,” Brett agreed. “I’ll stop by the control room on Monday and we can continue our discussion about I-Tech’s innovations then.”
“It was nice to meet you, Elsie,” Jeremy smiled, and the three of them left together, leaving Alfie and Elsie alone.
The moment the others were gone, Alfie’s body relaxed as he sunk into himself, the pressure of performing the role of “Captain” fading away. He snapped his fingers to get the attention of a serving bot, who whizzed over on four wheels, handing both him and Elsie a flute of champagne.
“Sorry about that,” Alfie apologised. “I thought we’d never get rid of them.”
“I didn’t mind,” Elsie replied. “It’s strange to see how much power you have. To me, you’ll always be Alfie Sommers, the shy boy I met at College.”
“Things have changed since then,” Alfie grinned. “I’m not quite as hopeless as I used to be.”
“You weren’t hopeless. In fact, I think I might have preferred you back then,” Elsie teased.
“Be careful, or I’ll have you arrested,” Alfie shot back, his eyes glinting with amusement.
“There seems to be a lot of that going on at the moment,” Elsie mused, changing the subject. “How many Vacuous do you think are on the ship? It seems like another one is discovered every day.”
“Don’t worry about it, Els’” Alfie replied, glancing over Elsie’s shoulder. “We’ll find them all.”
“Well, you don’t seem very concerned,” Elsie frowned. “Doesn’t it scare you, knowing what those things are capable of?”
“Of course it does,” Alfie responded, distracted by something on the other side of the room. “Look, you’ll have to excuse me. I’ve just seen my mother talking to Wendy Weaver. I better go and stop her before she starts ranting about what she really thinks of the News Station.”
He blustered away, leaving Elsie to her own company. She sipped her champagne slowly, allowing the bubbles to seep up into her brain, giving her a warm, fuzzy feeling as she looked about the room, watching Alfie’s party guests making pleasantries with each other. Suddenly, the soft, tinkling music playing hypnotically in the background began to fade, re-placed by a song with a heavy bass, accompanied by sultry, female vocals. The Celebration Hall disappeared before her eyes, materialising into a dingy bar she recognised from her College days. Her sparkly dress had vanished, substituted with a pair of dark, denim jeans and a t-shirt, covered by the leather jacket her father had bought her for her thirteenth birthday. Her elegant up-do had fallen out, letting her long, dark hair flow freely around her shoulders as she took in her surroundings, listening to the poignant familiarity of Alfie and Austin’s voices floating over from a wooden table in the far corner, where they were each sat on cushioned stalls. Realising she had once again inadvertently slipped into her memories, Elsie’s eyes glazed over as she watched the scene from her past play out, powerless to stop it from making its vivid reappearance in the forefront of her mind.
The stench of alcohol filled her nostrils as she made her way over to where her friends were seated, careful not to spill her drink as she manoeuvred past a group of rowdy boys, shouting and jeering as they played each other on a virtual boxing machine, the beer in their glasses sloshing onto the floor as they staggered about with excitement. Arriving at the table, she sat down in between Austin and Toby, one of the peer guides from her dormitory, and did her best to follow the conversation they were having.
“Honestly, Austin, I’ve never met anyone with as little fear as you have,” Toby said, his tone half disapproving and half envious. “You’re insane.”
“What’s he done now?” Elsie smiled, flashing an accusatory look at Austin, who rolled his eyes.
“I haven’t done anything,” he sighed. “I was merely suggesting that we walk home at the end of the night instead of being chaperoned by one of the College’s cars.”
“Why do you want to do that?” Elsie asked him, confused. “Our dormitory is a mile from here. The town might be safe but strolling around out in the open is probably not a good idea.”
“Not to mention the fact there are no lights on the way back because nobody uses the road anymore,” Toby added.
“Come on, guys,” Austin implored. “Don’t you want to know what it’s like to be free? To be able to walk around like people used to do. What’s the worst that could happen?”
“Looters?” Toby suggested. “Gangs? Thieves?”
“Aliens,” Elsie interjected.
“What about aliens?” Alfie asked, overhearing their discussion.
“Austin wants to walk home instead of using the cars,” Toby informed him. “We were just listing the reasons why it’s a terrible idea.”
“There wouldn’t be any aliens around here, would there?” Alfie asked, his happy expression flickering with fear.
“There could be,” Toby shrugged. “Who knows?”
“You can’t spend your life worrying about what might happen,” Austin professed, his voice carrying over the music playing from the old Jukebox. “Sometimes you have to take a risk. See what happens.”
Elsie peered over her shoulder, noticing that Austin’s impassioned speech had caught the attention of several of the other girls in the bar, including the woman who worked there. A pretty, blonde woman with a stud in her nose made her way over to him, engaging Austin in a conversation that he looked all too happy to be a part of.
Her mood darkening, Elsie finished the rest of her drink and headed back to the bar to order another, trying her utmost not to be rude to the barmaid, who was shooting an oblivious Austin looks of adoration from across the room. Elsie leant forward, waiting for her drink to arrive and trying not to get the sleeve of her jacket wet in the puddle of beer that had been spilt on the bar’s surface. Before she was able to stew for too long, she was joined by Dylan Martinez, Toby’s best friend and fellow peer guide. He ordered himself a drink, insisting that he also paid for Elsie’s, despite her objections.
“Are you alright, Els’?” he asked her, noticing the hard expression on her face.
“I’m fine,” she lied, her eyes involuntarily flickering in Austin’s direction, betraying the truth to Dylan, who gave her a knowing look.
“Are you ever going to tell him how you feel?” he asked.
“Who?” Elsie replied, caught off-guard.
“Professor Krecher,” Dylan said sarcastically. “Austin, of course.”
“Is it that obvious?” Elsie groaned.
“Only to people with eyes,” Dylan teased her. “You should just be honest with him! What do you have to lose?”
“How about my dignity?” Elsie guffawed. “I don’t think Austin’s the ty
pe to want to settle down. If I tell him I’m just going to humiliate myself and end up losing our friendship.”
“Not necessarily,” Dylan shrugged. “It’s obvious that you two would be great together. Even if Austin hasn’t realised it yet.”
“I don’t know,” Elsie frowned, gesturing towards Austin and the blonde girl. “He seems quite distracted at the moment.”
“Don’t take it to heart,” Dylan comforted her. “Austin’s a bit like a magpie. Put something shiny in front of him, and it’s all he can see. I’m sure it doesn’t mean anything.”
“Maybe…” Elsie hesitated.
“Look at it this way,” Dylan continued. “If you do nothing, then it’s guaranteed that nothing will happen. If you do something, then you could have everything you’ve wanted since you first met Austin.”
With a meaningful look, he left the bar, balancing a round of drinks on a tray as he went. Elsie mulled his words over, her heart racing at the thought of having to confess her feelings. Her legs shaking, she returned to the table, sitting down next to Alfie and attempting to steady her nerves by acting as normally as she could manage. As Alfie began to speak, Elsie tried her best to listen, struggling to concentrate as she watched Austin over his shoulder, hoping the blonde woman that he was still deep in conversation with would hurry up and leave. Elsie observed as the girl pressed her finger into Austin’s Personal Device, transferring him her details so that he could contact her in the future, before walking away.
The moment she was gone, Dylan flashed Elsie a look of encouragement, his eyes lighting up as an idea sprung into his mind. He stood up, knocking into the table, causing everyone to abruptly stop their conversations as they turned to face him. Elsie’s heart thudded furiously in her chest, the fear that Dylan was about to announce her secret fondness for Austin to the entire group rendering her immobile as she froze helplessly in her seat.
“There’s meant to be a meteor shower tonight,” Dylan proclaimed. “I think we should all go outside and watch it.”
The Secret Society (The Mayfly Series Book 2) Page 14
