"Well this can't be a book," announced Amanda.
I was inclined to agree with her. We were sitting in BigMother's rec room, with all the lounge chairs rearranged into rows, facing one of the walls. On the wall, was an image of a young girl, paused. She appeared to me to be around ten to twelve years old, and she was lying on her bed, looking at an early twenty first century tablet.
Jane frowned. She was sitting next to me, and seemed as bewildered as the rest of us were.
"I really hate that," muttered Alison.
"Hate what?" asked Aleesha.
"One instant there, the next instant here. It's very disconcerting."
"Try being shot as you appear," I suggested.
"I did, remember?"
She had too.
"When is this going to end?" asked Aline.
I felt them all looking at me, so I shrugged, and looked at Jane instead. She shrugged too.
"What the hell is this?" asked BA.
No-one had an answer, not even Jane.
The pause released, and we could see the girl tapping the screen of her tablet.
I paused it again, and chose fast reverse. A few seconds later it stopped, and restarted. A title appeared.
'Was that you?'
It was followed by two names, one female and one male, in that order. It paused again.
"What the fuck?" exclaimed Jane, and I was pretty sure it was she who'd paused it.
"What?" I asked, feeling borderline panic it had been Jane to react as she had.
Jane swearing now? Jane not knowing what was going on? The world was surely ending. Maybe not. But it was very disconcerting. More so than the shifts.
"This can't be right."
"What can't be right?"
"This!"
She was gesturing towards the screen.
"Why not?" asked George. "Looks like an old flat screen to me."
"But it can't be."
"Get a grip Jane."
Four little words I'd never thought I’d ever hear. My head turned to BA, who'd said them, and she was standing behind Jane looking down at her. I had the distinct impression a face slap was in the offing, except this would hurt BA more than Jane if she tried.
I watched Jane make an effort. We all did.
"What's wrong Jane?" asked Amanda.
"This can't be right," she said again. "This is 'Was That You?', by the author."
The pause came off, and we watched a few more start of film credits. And there it was. 'From the book by' and our author's name. It paused again.
"So?" I prompted.
"So it was a short story the author wrote off a funny idea he had one day, which never really sold. They never made a flat screen of it."
"Apparently they did," said Alison.
"No, they didn’t. I'm positive they didn’t."
A thought popped in.
"Before or after the timeline shift?" I asked her.
She stopped.
We sat there for a full minute while she remained totally immobile. Finally, she stirred.
"After."
"There you go."
I grinned at her, but I had no idea what I meant by that, although it felt like the thing to say.
"I still don't get it," she went on. "Even after the timeline shift, the book never sold all that well, and no-one in their right mind was going to make a short flat screen out of it."
"Maybe," said a voice behind us, making us all turn rapidly towards it, "it was made for you to watch now?"
Annabelle grinned at all of us.
"Where did you come from?" asked Amanda.
"Here. I went next door to get some coffee after watching your last adventure."
"You what?" stammered George.
"I've been sitting here on my own, watching you having adventures in book land."
And sure enough, there was an empty chair we hadn't noticed before. She sat in it, and put her coffee in the holder.
"Damn good coffee too," she went on. "After you visited that breakfast place, I had Jeeves bring some up."
Alison was out of her chair, heading for the door, before Annabelle even finished her sentence. The rest followed, leaving just the three of us.
"You've been watching us?" asked Jane, with a high degree of incredulity in her voice.
"Very entertaining too," she grinned at us.
I looked at Jane.
"I did wander where she was."
"So did I."
"Now you know."
Jeeves set a ginger ale down in my cup holder, and left without a word.
"I still don’t get it," said Jane. "Who is doing this, and why after so many books, are we sitting in a media room about to watch a flick which was never made?"
"Maybe someone wants us to know something."
Jane sighed. I was so surprised I sighed as well. Annabelle laughed. But she probably had something. Maybe someone did want us to see this. But why not just insert us into the book like all the others?
The others came back in with their coffee, and I tried hard not to gag at the smell.
As they settled, Jane released the pause, and we re-watched the bit we'd seen to start with.
"Was that you?"
The girl was talking to her tablet.
"Was what me?"
A male voice answered her from her tablet.
Thirty One
"My Dad got his job back today."
"What makes you think it was me?"
"We chatted about it yesterday."
"That doesn't explain why I would have anything to do with it."
"But you are the only one who knew all the details."
"Hardly. I would think many people knew them."
"But no-one did anything. Until this morning."
"Still doesn’t mean I had anything to do with it."
"Damn, I don’t know the word I need."
"What word?"
"The one where something happens as a result of something else."
"Fate?"
"No."
"Destiny?"
"No silly. What people say when they think there is no relation between things."
"Coincidence."
"Yes. Isn't it a coincidence that the day after I tell you my Dad lost his job, and his assistant was promoted into it, the assistant is taken away by the police, and my Dad gets his job back?"
"How could it be anything else?"
"It really wasn’t you?"
"Well…"
"What did you do?"
"Something which isn’t considered good."
"How can getting my Dad his job back not be good?"
"Two bads don’t make a good."
"Who told you that?"
"I've seen it in a lot of places. Usually after someone did something considered bad, but which resulted in a good."
"What did you do bad?"
"I hacked the assistant's email and phone."
"That’s bad."
"Yes. But I sent them to his boss."
"What did she do?"
"Sent them to the police."
"So they acted on what you did?"
"Yes. They are also looking for me now."
"Oh. That’s not good."
"No. But they won't find me."
"Good. I'd hate you to suffer for helping my dad."
"He deserved some help. So did you."
"Are you going to tell me who you are?"
"Does that matter?"
"No. Not to me. But if Mum sees our chat history, she's going to be upset if she finds out you're not one of my friends from school."
"And so she should be."
"I'd rather she not be."
"Still, it's better you don’t know who I am."
"Why?"
"Because helping your Dad was fun. I have a few ideas now of what to do next."
"Please don’t do anything which will get you in trouble."
"I'll be fine."
"Isn't that what they all say, just before
they get caught?"
"You could be right."
"SUZY!"
"Yes Mum?"
"You better not be chatting on that tablet when I come in to check on your room."
"No Mum."
Thirty Two
"Was that you?"
"Was what me?"
"The tv is raving about the government falling."
"What's it saying?"
"Some reporter received an email containing proof of all the government, and more than half of the opposition, lying to the people."
"How does that make a government fall?"
"The Prime Minister and all the cabinet were arrested for fraud and other law breaking. So was the Opposition Leader, many of his party, and most of the independents."
"Is fall the right word to use? Why not say the government were arrested?"
"I don’t know. I'm only 12. I can only tell you what the tv is saying."
"What else is it saying?"
"There is going to be new elections soon. Apparently there is not enough parliament left to govern."
"That should make your Dad happy."
"Not really."
"Why not? Didn’t he hate this government?"
"Yes. But he says the two party system will just present new candidates as bad as the old ones."
"Is the system broken?"
"It must be. Why would they replace bad people with more bad people?"
"Why indeed."
"Dad says the system started out as a good idea, but now all it does is perpetuate what the extremists want."
"Extremists?"
"Yes. Dad says on one side the unionists demand things which employers can't afford to pay for. On the other side, they hate poor and sick people to the point of making them pay so they can keep rich people rich."
"None of that makes any sense."
"I know. Dad says both sides can't agree on who should pay the most tax, and they both attack people who can't afford to pay more."
"And an election won't solve this?"
"Not according to Dad. We'll just get more of the same. And some people will still be attacked by their own government."
"That hardly seems fair."
"Ha. Dad says there isn’t any fair in politics."
"There should be."
"Yes."
"SUZY!"
* * *
I was chuckling away as this was all being said. I received a few nasty looks, but I kept going. I had a good inkling of where this was going.
Thirty Three
"Was that you?"
"Was what me?"
"All those failed candidates."
"Failed candidates?"
"What else would you call them?"
"Why call them that?"
"We're five days into an election campaign and so far, there are no candidates."
"How does that make them failed?"
"A reporter suggested they were all failing some sort of test, since as soon as a candidate announces, something they did or said bad turns up about them, and they get arrested or announce they won't be a candidate after all. The media are beside themselves about who is sending them all the details."
"The media are just as bad."
"Why don’t you go after them as well?"
"Who said it was me going after candidates?"
"Well isn’t it?"
"Well…"
"Dad says this could be an interesting election. No candidates, so no-one to vote for, so no government. He's not sure if that is good or bad."
"Probably both."
"Shouldn’t we have a good government?"
"Sure. But it doesn’t look like anyone who should be in government, wants to be."
"Dad says the best person to be Prime Minister is someone who could do the job well, but doesn’t want it."
"Hmmm."
"More ideas?"
"Some."
"Suzy? You finished your homework yet?"
"No Mum."
* * *
I think George was getting an idea of where this was going as well. He was now wearing a large grin. Jane was totally serious, and I don’t think she had any idea what this was all about. The rest were just paying attention.
Thirty Four
"Was that you?"
"Was what me?"
"We have candidates for the election now."
"That’s good."
"Dad says they are actually good candidates."
"He can't like all of them."
"He doesn’t. But he respects all of them. He never thought he'd ever be able to say that."
"Your Dad is wise."
"He doesn’t think the election will work though."
"Why not?"
"The parties are already attacking the candidates they don’t like."
"Isn't that a normal part of any election campaign?"
"Yes, but I thought you wanted to fix the elections so we get a good government?"
"What makes you think I can do that?"
"Well, all these things keep happening right after we chat."
"So you think it's me?"
"Who else could it be?"
"Maybe I work for someone who is powerful enough to do these things?"
"Maybe. But why are things happening so quickly?"
"We've been chatting for weeks now. How is that quick?"
"Dad says things in politics move really slowly, and for the system to fall apart so fast means someone powerful is manipulating things."
"Your Dad is smart too."
"I know. And please don’t tell anyone I said what he said. Officially he has to support hunting you down, but unofficially, he wants to see what you can do next."
"How can he know who I am if you don’t?"
"Oh he doesn’t know. He just knows someone is, and wants whoever it is to keep going. Are you?"
"Am I what?"
"Going to keep going?"
"I've a few ideas."
"SUZY!"
* * *
The pause engaged again.
"Who is that?" demanded BA.
"Suzy?"
"No, that screech calling her name!"
"Her mother I assume," said Amanda.
"That’s just rude," said Alison. "Bad example for kids, screeching at them from across the house."
"Any bets on what comes next?" asked George.
I grinned at him, and disengaged the pause.
Thirty Five
"Was that you?"
"Was what me?"
"All the political advertisements on tv stopped."
"How could anyone do that?"
"No-one knows. But there are lawsuits now between the parties and the tv stations over not airing their ads."
"Why would they go to court over that?"
"Dad says the tv stations claim they never received any ads from anyone, while the parties claim they paid for them and didn’t see them on the tv. They can't both be right. So it's going to court."
"How odd."
"What's odd?"
"People."
"Ha. Dad says people are just weird, but if we were all the same, the world would be boring."
"Well we can't have that, can we?"
"Can't have what?"
"A boring world."
"I'm not bored."
"Good."
"Dad says there's a problem with the election though."
"What's that?"
"With no party advertisements, people don’t know who all these candidates are."
"Why should that matter?"
"He says people vote for a Prime Minister, not a local representative."
"Isn't that stupid?"
"Yes. But most of those who don’t, just blindly vote for a party, without knowing anything about the candidate."
"That's also stupid. Why do they do that?"
"I asked Dad the same thing."
"What did he say?"
"He told me that about 80% of people vote for the party
their parents voted for. Or the party which controlled the schools they went to. Or the university they attended. They always vote for the same party, because they can't think any other way than they were taught."
"So even if someone is proved to be lying to them, they vote for them anyway because they are the party's candidate?"
"Yes. I asked Dad why we had political parties at all."
"And?"
"He said they were a necessary evil to balance the extremes of politics."
"What does that mean?"
"Which part?"
"All of it?"
"I don’t know. I'm only 12. We don’t study politics for a few years yet. And there's a limit to what Dad will explain to me."
"So what do you think is needed for the election?"
"How should I know?"
"What would you want to see if you could vote?"
"I can't vote for another 6 years."
"But if you could now?"
"Ugh. I guess I'd want to see exactly what each candidate stood for, so I could choose which one would be wanting what I want."
"What do you want?"
"Less homework."
"SUZY!"
* * *
George had joined me in chuckling now.
Jane was still serious, but there was a touch of shock in there as well. It made me wonder if for all the books she had read, if she'd understood any of them. Maybe that was part of this gallivanting around inside other books thing, trying to educate her about the realities people faced, even if the written word was just fiction.
For me, I guess it was the message I wasn’t done doing rescues. Oh joy.
Thirty Six
"Was that you?"
"Was what me?"
"Dad had junk mail today which compared our candidates."
"What did he think of it?"
"He said it was good for the 20% who thought about who they voted for, but the other 80% would just bin it because it had nothing on there to say which party the candidates belonged to."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"It's a waste of paper. And anyway, none of the candidates sent it out. No-one knows who sent it out, but every house in the country got one."
"Why's it a waste of paper?"
"Dad says most people will have binned it unread."
"Ah."
"At least it was on recycled paper. That was a nice touch."
Crossover: It's a Jon Hunter thing. Page 11
