The Eternal Community

by J Meverington

  Alice’s heart broke a little, knowing her mother didn’t want her.

  Dave must have noticed her reaction. ‘I wouldn’t take it personally; she never wanted children and she never had any more.’

  ‘I feel the same way. I don’t like kids much, they’re so sticky and germy. Not to mention the noise! Do you have kids?’

  Dave laughed. ‘No, I would have loved kids, but my husband hasn’t got the right bits for it!’

  Alice laughed with him. She really liked this guy.

  ‘Anyway, Damion was ecstatic when he found out Camilla was pregnant and would love to have started a family with her. He’d always been a bit soppy like that. Camilla knew this, so she lied to him and told him she’d had an abortion.’

  Alice gasped. The thought of someone trying to kill her while she was in her womb made her shudder with fear. She might not be sitting here right now, having been flushed down the toilet like a discarded tampon. It wasn’t worth thinking about.

  What Dave didn’t tell her was that Camilla did try to abort her through the use of herbs, but he wanted to spare her the pain, He continued.

  ‘Damion dumped her immediately, thinking she’d killed his baby and he wanted nothing more to do with her. They went off to separate universities anyway, so it wasn’t too hard trying to avoid her. Then during half-term, we all met up in Oxford for drinks and Damion found out she was six months pregnant. He was over the moon, especially when she said she’d be having a little girl. Then she drove the knife in, telling him the baby, you, were to be adopted to a family in America. Damion lost it after that, he dropped out of university in Cambridge, and headed to London to work in a bar.’

  Alice clapped her hands. ‘I used to work in a bar too!’

  ‘I know! Anyway, Damion found he had a knack for designing cocktails and created a book.’

  Alice whooped. Other people in the coffee shop turned their heads and stared at her but she didn’t care. ‘I design cocktails too! How amazing is that?’

  ‘Really? It must be in the genes! Anyway, Damion opened his own cocktail bar in London. Another coincidence actually. His bar is in Soho!’

  ‘Oh... My... God... this is so exciting. I take after my dad! Oh, I want to meet him. He sounds so cool!’

  ‘He is a cool guy, and there’s a first class ticket waiting for you if you want to go to London to meet him, or he can come and meet you here. It’s up to you whether you’re up for an adventure or not!’

  Chapter 35

  ‘So, do you think Martin is still alive?’ Damion asked.

  ‘He definitely died, but I have some suspicions, and I’m not sure whether I’m ready to tell you about them yet. What we do need to do is arrange a team to keep an eye on Ethan. We need to follow his every move without him knowing about it.’

  ‘Camilla, what has Ethan got to do with this?’

  ‘As I said, I’m not ready to say, or even admit to what I suspect. The implications are too scary to think of.’

  Damion stood up. He’d had enough of Camilla and her secretive ways.

  ‘Camilla, if you’re not going to tell me what’s going on, then I’m going back to New York to find my daughter. I didn’t come all the way here just to hear a bunch of wishy-washy nonsense from you!’ He got up and stormed off.

  ‘Damion, wait,’ she called after him.

  He stopped and turned back towards her.

  ‘Okay, I’ll tell you my suspicions, but you need to prepare yourself. I don’t know if I’m correct or not, but if I am, then we could be in terrible danger.’

  Damion wanted to hear what she had to say, but on his terms.

  ‘Well, I’ll listen, as long as you don’t treat me like a naughty school kid. I’ll butt in when I like and ask questions when I like. Got it?’

  ‘Whatever. So, here are my concerns. As I mentioned earlier, when I was married to Martin, he had a fear of losing control. Everything he did in his life had to be planned to perfection. But the control factor didn’t stop there. He wanted to control his life. He wanted to be immortal; he never wanted to die.’

  ‘Well I guess he fucked up there eh!’ Damion butted in.

  Camilla glared at him, so he made a point of pretending to turn a lock on his lips.

  ‘Later on in our marriage, a new technology he’d been working on for years had its first success. I came home one day, and he was already there, excited about his achievement.’

  She stopped to take a breath, and Damion was speechless, not sure he wanted to hear what she had to say.

  ‘He told me that organ donation was well and good for a single organ failure. But what if someone had been in an accident where multiple organs were required to save a life? What if the brain suffered irreparable damage?’

  Damion thought he could see where this was going. ‘Brain transplants?’ he asked.

  ‘He had spent a lot of his life researching brain transplants. It would be a complicated procedure though, connecting the nerve fibres to the spinal cord. And then there are the memories of the donor’s brain to consider. As well as that, if someone requires a brain transplant, it could mean the rest of their body is also aging. Well, the whole thing would be quite messy wouldn’t it?’

  Damion supposed it would; he’d never really thought about it.

  ‘So this brings me back to the day I got home. Martin was excited, like a little boy on Christmas Day. He had stumbled onto something which would change the world. It would potentially allow people to live forever!’

  Damion had to admit, she was an artist of suspense. She drove him nuts though, wishing she would just spit it out.

  ‘Okay, tell me about this great idea.’ He was interested to know, but it was pointless now, wasn’t it? Martin had died over five years ago.

  Camilla continued. ‘It’s a much cleaner solution, no mess, minimal fuss. Basically just a reboot of the brain.’

  ‘Huh?’

  ‘You still haven’t got it yet have you Damion? Instead of mucking about with medical procedures such as transplants, he’d come up with the idea of a simple download.’

  Damion still didn’t understand.

  ‘Remember the file you found downloading on my computer?’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘It was a backup of Martin’s brain. All his thoughts and memories are in a computer file.’

  Chapter 36

  Alice sat in the coffee shop, excited, yet scared by what Dave had just told her. She could be going to London to meet her father! But what would she tell Charles? He’d never let her go; she had to justify her every move as it was. But London! Double decker buses, old buildings, people speaking with charming accents… it all sounded so exciting.

  ‘It’s a lot to think about. Can I let you know?’

  ‘Sure, I’ll be in New York until Tuesday next week. My husband, Chas, is meeting me here for a long weekend, then we’ll fly home together. Damion’s due to call me in a couple of days. Do you think you’ll have made a decision by then? Whether to meet him or not I mean. You don’t have to decide if you want to go to London straight away.’

  ‘Well, I can tell you now. I’d love to meet him.’

  ‘Great, I’ll tell him the good news. Have you got a phone number I can call you on?’

  ‘No, mine broke and I haven’t bought a new one yet.’

  ‘Okay, well I’ve got a spare which I keep for clients when they want to remain anonymous. I’ll bring it over to you later today.’

  He scribbled on a piece of paper and handed it to her. ‘Here’s my number, call me if you need anything. Now I’ve found you, the last thing I want to do is lose you.’

  Dave exited the coffee shop, leaving Alice alone with her thoughts. She could barely contain her excitement about the prospect of going to London to meet her father. She so badly wanted to go, but didn’t know how to bring up the subject with Charles. He had become controlling of late, and she felt trapped in the relationship. Who was he to forbid her from seeing her friends? To hell with hi
m, she decided. She needed to talk with Jenna, and that’s exactly what she would do. She’d deal with the consequences later.

  Alice headed over to her old apartment. When she arrived, Luke was frying up some eggs and bacon while Jenna lazed on the couch watching daytime TV.

  ‘Allie,’ she screeched, then jumped up to give her a hug. ‘Long time no see! You’ve had another Englishman around here looking for you.’

  ‘I know,’ she replied, smugly. ‘He came to see me.’

  ‘Already? He was only at the bar late last night asking about you. So, what’s the goss?’

  ‘He’s offered to fly me to London to meet my father!’

  Jenna screeched again, ‘Wow, London! Lucky. You’re gonna go, aren’t ya?’

  ‘Well...’

  ‘You have to go,’ Jenna butted in, ‘No buts about it!’

  ‘I’d really like to, but I’m worried how Charles will take it. I can’t imagine him letting me go.’

  ‘Fuck ’im, he doesn’t own you. You need to do this Allie.’

  ‘Yeah, it’s a bit more complicated than that, but I do want to go.’

  ‘Well, this is cause for a celebration!’

  Luke came out of the kitchen with his eggs and bacon. ‘What celebration?’

  ‘Allie’s going to London. Let’s get drunk!’

  They waited for Luke to finish his lunch, then the three of them headed to the bar downstairs. After a few vodkas, Alice was feeling far more courageous.

  ‘Yer right Jenna, fuck ’im. I’m going to London to meet my dad!’ she slurred.

  ‘Hooray,’ both Luke and Jenna shouted.

  ‘Gimme yer phone, I’m gonna call Dave and tell ’im to set it up.’

  Jenna handed her phone to Alice. She pulled Dave’s phone number from her handbag and dialled it.

  ‘Dave? Hi, Allie here. Book my flight, I’m going to London!’

  ‘That’s great news Allie. Hey, I’ve got your phone here; when can I drop it around?’

  ‘Bring it to the bar, come have a celebration drink with us?’

  Dave said he would be there in thirty minutes.

  The four of them continued to drink throughout the afternoon. It wasn’t until around 6.00 pm that Alice realised she should go home as Charles would be worried about her. She stood up, wobbled a bit and grabbed the table for support. She’d drunk too much and doubted her ability to navigate the subway, so she hailed a cab. The taxi crawled in the rush hour traffic and it took her over an hour to get home. When she finally staggered through the door, Charles was waiting for her. He was not happy.

  Chapter 37

  ‘Oh... kay,’ Damion said, ‘So how the fuck do you back up someone’s brain?’

  ‘Language, please!’ she snapped. Swearing was forbidden in the Community.

  ‘Whatever, just answer the question.’

  ‘As I said, it’s something Martin had been working on for years. I don’t know exactly how it works, but it involves recording electrical activity and pulses within the brain. He’d even come up with a way of doing an incremental backup.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘An incremental backup. He had worked out how to record only the new information in the brain since the last backup. It’s all very complex, I’ve no idea how he did it.’

  ‘So what are you saying? There’s a backup of Martin’s brain, and someone’s downloading it? Can they view it on a computer? Will they find out all about this place?’ Damion’s own brain spilled out at one hundred miles a minute. ‘Oh my God, does that mean he could have programmed a robot to perform surgery?’

  Camilla sighed, exasperated with the fact she had to spell it out for him. ‘No, not a robot Damion, a person. I suspect someone has been downloading Martin’s brain into Ethan’s.’

  Chapter 38

  ‘Where have you been?’ Charles yelled, slurring his words.

  ‘Visiting Jenna and Luke. We had a few drinks and I lost track of time.’

  ‘You bitch, I told you not to see them anymore. What do you think you’re playing at, disobeying me! I’ve been waiting here for over an hour. You’re supposed to have dinner cooked for when I get home.’

  ‘You don’t own me, and I don’t belong to you! You’re perfectly capable of getting your own dinner, so stop giving me a such a hard time! If I want to go for a drink with my friends, I will.’

  ‘While you live under my roof, you will obey my rules!’

  ‘For God’s sake, listen to yourself. I’ve been living here for over a month, and you still consider this your place. You’ve never made me feel as though it’s my home. In fact, you’ve always treated me like an imposter. Well, I’ve had enough Charles, I’m leaving.’ She stormed off towards her bedroom to pack her belongings but he grabbed her by the arm.

  ‘Ouch, that hurts. Let me go.’

  ‘You’re not going anywhere.’

  ‘You can’t stop me!’

  ‘I can, and I will. And I forbid you to see your so-called friends again.’

  ‘Get lost. You can’t control me. I’ll do what I want.’

  With that last comment, the back of his hand swiped across her face, knocking her to the floor. Her hands automatically flew up to her mouth and applied pressure in an effort to ease the pain. She pulled her hand away and noticed there was blood, a lot of it.

  She screamed at him, ‘I’m bleeding, you jerk, you’ve broken my teeth.’ Then she burst into tears. She couldn’t believe he’d hit her. Immediately he crouched next to her on the floor and apologised.

  ‘I’m so sorry Allie, it was a reflex reaction. I didn’t mean to hit you. Honest I didn’t.’

  She continued to sob as he took her in his arms. ‘I’m so, so sorry baby.’

  Once her tears subsided, he helped her up and sat her on the couch. He fetched a face cloth and a tub of warm water from the bathroom, sat beside her and proceeded to clean the blood from her face. It looked worse than it actually was.

  ‘There are no broken teeth here, honey. The blood is coming from a split in your lip where your tooth has pierced it. I’m truly sorry, I really am. Would you like me to take you to the doctor? I’ll even call the police for you, if you want to press charges. I wouldn’t blame you if you did.’

  He was so apologetic, and she sensed he was genuine in saying it was a mistake. It could easily have been a reflex reaction. He’d never shown any violence towards her before.

  ‘No, I don’t want the police here. But if you ever, ever hit me again, I’m outta here, and I’m never coming back.’

  ‘Of course, I promise you, it will never happen again.’

  ‘And while we’re at it, I’m taking a trip to London to meet my father!’

  Chapter 39

  ‘Camilla, you can’t be serious. How could they possibly download Martin’s brain into Ethan’s? We’re isolated here, there’s no electricity, internet, anything.’

  ‘I have no idea either, that’s why we need to monitor his movements twenty-four seven. We need to watch where he goes, and when. I’ve been racking my brain trying to work out who’s helping him.’

  ‘Keith?’ Damion asked.

  ‘No way, I know Keith too well, he’d never be involved in something so sinister.’

  ‘But he did help set up the Community? He knew what this place was set up for and he went along with it.’

  ‘Keith helped set up the place because he wanted an alternative lifestyle away from the stresses of modern life. He had issues growing up and I can understand why he came here. There’s no way he’s involved.’

  Damion had his doubts.

  ‘So what do we do? How do we go about monitoring Ethan? Surely he’ll notice if someone’s following him.’

  ‘I’ve got an idea. Between you, me, Josh, and Terri, I think it can be done.’

  ***

  Back at camp, Camilla filled them in on what they needed to do. Basically, they would monitor Ethan around the clock in six hour shifts. Camilla would do the morning
shift, starting at 4:00 am through to 10 am. Then Terri would take over until 4 pm. Josh would cover from 4 pm until 10 pm and Damion would follow up with the graveyard shift. He was used to working all night in his bar in London, so it didn’t bother him, and he didn’t get much sleep these days, due to the terrible dreams he’d been having. If they saw Ethan heading off anywhere, they were to alert the others, no matter what time of night. No one was to approach him alone.

  ‘What about Matty? Surely she would be the obvious one to keep an eye on him?’ Josh asked.

  ‘I’ve thought about that, but she can be scatty at times and I’m worried she might let something slip to Ethan. What I will do though, is ask her to report anything unusual about him to me.’

  ***

  Damion didn’t want to tell Leonora what they were doing, so he told her his dreams were upsetting him which was why he was up and wandering about in the middle of the night. He crawled into bed at four each morning absolutely shattered and managed a couple of hours sleep before the siren went off.

  They followed the routine for three days but there had been no untoward activity from Ethan and they felt they were wasting their time.

  Then, during Josh’s shift something happened. It was 5 pm and Josh had not long taken over from Terri, when he saw Ethan slip into the woods. He followed him along a well-travelled track, mindful not to be seen. After walking for about ten minutes, Ethan stopped at a clearing surrounded by ferns. Josh ducked into the bushes and watched him through a gap in the trees.

  Ethan held up his hand as if waving at someone, then Shelly, the new girl, came into view and he stepped in and embraced her. Josh wondered what was going on. Was he cheating on Matilda? Ethan whispered in her ear, then affectionately ran his hand over a bump on her belly.

  Josh’s blood boiled over with rage. Had Ethan got her pregnant? How dare he do that to Matilda! It took all of his willpower not to go over there and knock him out. Camilla had given them strict instructions not to approach him as it could put the Community at risk, so he contained his anger.