Genus6

by Meg Buchanan

  “Will you?”

  “No.” It’s like that’s all she wants to say about that.

  “But you’re here, not in re-education.”

  Ela nods. “The charges were dropped.”

  “But you still couldn’t go to Paris with your mum?”

  “No, Amon’s dad said I could probably have gone, but it wouldn’t look good.”

  “So, you came to Jacob’s, and your mum went to the conference in Paris?” Ela nods, looks upset. What was her mother thinking? Buggering off like that when her kid’s in trouble?

  Ela acts like she’s read my mind. “Mum had to go to the conference. It is only for two weeks, and it’s for work,” she says.

  The bitch, I still think. Mum is never going to win mother of the year, but even she isn’t that bad. “Why didn’t you stay with a friend and go to school?”

  “I’ve been suspended.” Now her voice is shaky. “Isabelle’s mother made sure of that. I’m a bad influence.” Yep, her mother’s a total bitch leaving her at the moment. Any time Mum lost the battle with the principal, she stayed so close she was like a gaoler.

  “How does that go with getting into med school?”

  “I don’t know,” whispers Ela, like she might have lost the chance to be a doctor, then everyone she cares about just buggers off and leaves her to worry.

  There’s nothing useful to say, so we sit there silently. Then I take the empty mug from her, shake the last drips of chocolate from it.

  “Are you ready to go?” She nods. I stand up, put the lunch things back in my pack. Reach down, take her hand and pull her to her feet.

  Let go her hand as soon as she’s standing this time. She might be hot, but she’s Elite. She’s a kid. She’s got problems. I’m supposed to be looking after her, and to top all that off, she’s Jacob’s granddaughter.

  I close the pack and sling it and the rifle over my shoulder. Monsanto sniffs around the edge of the clearing waiting to move on. I head off and Ela catches up and just follows along. We walk along without talking, then leave the track completely and push through the bush. Ferns and bits of branch brush against Ela’s legs and arms scratching her skin. She rubs her leg where the last branch has scratched her and drawn blood.

  “We’re nearly at the start of the holes,” I say. “We’ll be out of this in a moment.” We break through into another clearing, and in the centre, there is a huge circular area where grass has been flattened by the rotors of a helicopter. The grass is lying in one direction going around in a circle. Monsanto sniffs around the perimeter.

  I walk across to the centre, scuff the flattened grass with my boot.

  “They’ve been back. This has been used in the last few days.”

  Ela walks over and looks at the new ruts by the side of the circle. “It’s like those old pictures you see of the crop circles in England.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t think this one was made by aliens. See those tracks over there.” I point to parallel lines flattened into the grass. “They’ve been made by wheels carrying something heavy.”

  We follow the tracks for around five hundred metres, through the bush, and find a series of holes bored in the ground.

  “Is this the prospecting site?” she asks. Her hair stirs then settles back on her shoulders. I adjust the straps of the pack so they are sitting right.

  “Yeah, and if we keep following these tracks, we will find more, all spaced at half a kilometre apart. It is thorough. They seem to be working on a grid pattern.” We follow the tracks and find more sites. Monsanto does extra loops through the trees and keeps getting in the way, sniffing at the holes. “Whoever is doing this isn’t making any attempt to disguise what they’re doing.” I come to a fence and climb over it.

  Ela follows me over to the fence. “I think I’ve been here before.”

  “This is the boundary to Jacob’s place. There are more holes over there.”

  She walks to where I’m pointing and finds the holes. It is the same pattern as the earlier sites I showed her. She’s quiet, scuffing at the holes with her running shoes. “So, Jacob knows about these?”

  “Yeah. Last time we were here there were a few further along.” I point ahead of us. “It looks like they’ve been working there this time too.”

  We walk along the fence line a bit, and as we get nearer to it I can see the wires are cut. Three of the cattle have gone through the gap and are grazing on the bush line.

  “This is starting to annoy me,” I say.

  “Has it happened before?”

  “Yeah. That’s why Jacob and me first found the holes. We had to get the cattle back in the paddock. I guess they have to cut the fence to get the drill through from the landing site.”

  “Why would they do it?”

  “Trying to make sure I don’t get lazy, I guess.” I change the rifle to my other shoulder. I’m going to have to come back and fix the bloody fence. I don’t have the gear with me to fix it now.

  I whistle for Monsanto. Like a shadow, he works around behind the cattle and herds them back into the paddock. We move the whole herd into the next paddock to stop them all getting onto the mountain. By the time that’s finished, the cloud has moved further down, and we’re shrouded in mist. It is damp, starting to get cold, going to rain soon.

  Ela trips over Monsanto. I stop looking at holes in the ground and busted fences.

  “We’d better go. It is going to be dark before we get back.” Ela is standing there, arms folded, shoulders hunched, miserable. “You all right?” I ask.

  “Just a bit cold. The temperature has dropped.” She is shivering, her shorts and top damp. I drop the pack on the ground, take off my jacket and hand it to her.

  “Put this on.”

  “What about you?” she asks.

  “I’m used to it, and I’m wearing more clothes than you anyway.”

  She pulls on the jacket.

  I fish in the pack and find the flask.

  She takes the cup, wraps both hands around it, sips, then hands it back to me to finish. “Did you find out anything new?” she asks.

  “Only that it isn’t a one-off thing.” I drink the chocolate. My hair and shoulders are getting wetter. I pretend not to notice. Should have brought an extra jacket.

  We set off through the bush. It takes forever to get through it, and, when we reach the road, it’s dark and raining heavily. The drips come through the canopy and make the bush glisten. The smell of damp vegetation rises up at us as we walk through the fallen leaves.

  Chapter 10

  We’re completely saturated and freezing by the time Jack and I get to the locked gate and climb over the stile. Monsanto runs ahead of us, then he comes back and sniffs at Jack’s hand.

  “What’s the matter, Mon?” Jack pats the dog’s head, and Mon runs off again into the dark heavy rain and then stops and looks back.

  “Something’s upset him,” says Jack. Mon leads us back to the parking area, agitated. It doesn’t take long to figure out what’s happened. Someone has attacked Jack’s Land Rover. It’s standing there alone in the rain covered in deep dents, shattered glass where the windows should be. The side mirrors lie on the ground. The windscreen wipers stick out at strange angles. It’s been smashed with something heavy. They’ve hit it and hit it, deliberately breaking everything.

  Jack slams his fist against the bonnet. “I should have known I was asking for trouble leaving it here. Bloody Willises.”

  “Do you really think it was them?” I pick up a bit of the shattered windscreen from the bonnet. Heaps of it is shining in the rain, just small diamond shaped bits of glass. Pieces are inside the cab too. The glass from the back windows is scattered all round on the ground, and the side windows look like they have a spider web stuck to them.

  “Who else?”

  “What do we do now?” I’m all shivering and wet even in Jack’s coat I’m so cold.

  “Guess we drive back into town.” Jack leans through where the window should be, puts the ke
ys into the ignition and the headlights come on. “It looks like we still have lights.” He goes around the back, stows the rifle in the rack and throws the pack on the floor.

  The flask makes a clunk as it lands. He pulls out another jacket and the sleeping bag before he lets Mon get in. Mon jumps into the back, making the Land Rover wobble slightly, turns around twice and then shakes himself. Water sprays everywhere.

  “That was helpful, dog,” says Jack.

  Monsanto looks offended.

  Jack hands me the sleeping bag. “Get in and wrap this around your legs. At least we don’t have far to go.”

  “It smells of wet dog.” I take it anyway, then push the glass off the passenger seat. I look in the glove box and get my Com out. At least it’s still there. But I don’t know who I think I’m going to Connect with.

  I wrap the sleeping bag around me so just my head sticks out.

  Jack shrugs into the jacket. He struggles a bit because he’s soaked, and it sticks. Then he climbs into the driver’s side and starts the Land Rover.

  The drive back is cold and wet. The noise, the rain and the wind come through the broken windscreen.

  I start wondering why the Willis brothers would have been on the mountain. It doesn’t seem reasonable they would just have followed us there. Perhaps it was a coincidence and they were there for another reason. “Do you think they’re doing the exploration work?” I have to shout the question so Jack can hear me.

  He glances at me. “Not something I’d thought of,” he says. “But they were at the pub yesterday, and Mum said they were looking at NavMaps.” He thinks about the idea a bit. “No,” he says in the end. “They’re just cowboys. It takes money to do that sort of work.” He goes back to concentration on driving through the rain, it pours in on us through the broken windscreen.

  When we reach town, rain is still coming down in silver sheets. It catches the streetlights and magnifies them, so they look like huge Christmas stars. The tracks of the cars are parallel lines that stretch out like ribbons.

  Jack parks outside the pub and when I try to open the door it’s stuck again. Monsanto lays his wet head on my shoulder to look out the window. I push him away.

  Jack goes around the Land Rover to let me out and walks past my mum’s Eco. Something about the way that car is sitting stops him. He bends down to look at the tyres. Then goes to the side and runs his fingers along the panel.

  Finally, he walks around to the back of the car and checks there too, then opens the passenger door. “I’ve got some bad news for you,” he says.

  “What?”

  “Someone has damaged your Eco.”

  “No?” I struggle to untangle myself from the sleeping bag, get out of the Land Rover and silently walk around the Eco. The rain pours down on my hair and face as I examine the damage. I wipe at the long dents in the side as if I’m trying to wipe them away. Monsanto puts his head through the open door and watches me.

  As I stand up, I sway with tiredness. “What’s Mum going to say? Who would do this?” I’m cold and wet, and now Mum’s car is wrecked.

  “It was probably Henry and Charlie again. They remembered you from the pub. Enjoyed wrecking my vehicle so much, they came back here and did yours.”

  I nod like I’d know about that. “I don’t know what to do, I’m freezing, and smell like a dog and still don’t know what’s happening.”

  “I know the feeling,” says Jack. “Will you be all right for a moment? I’ll go into the pub and see if Mum knows anything.”

  I stand in the rain facing the road and watch an undamaged car go by. The people in it look safe, like they’re in a nice warm cocoon. The lights of the car are dipped. Behind it, red and yellow tracks reflect the streetlights.

  I check my Com.

  Heaps of texts from Amon.

  I hit delete without reading them. I stare at mum’s Eco. It looks despondent sitting there on its wheel rims. The tyres all flattened, like puppies’ feet.

  After a while, Jack comes out of the pub. “Mum says to put your Eco and the Land Rover in the garages at the back of the pub. You should stay the night here. We’ll Jacob know and we’ll deal with this tomorrow. Get in and follow me around.”

  I nod and get in mum’s car. Lucky, I thought to pack a change of clothes.

  We drive round the back, and a boy about Jack’s age is sitting in his ute in the parking area. Jack pulls up beside him.

  “What’s up?” Jack asks.

  The boy looks at the damage on the Land Rover. Then at my car and back at Jack, his eyebrows raised. He’s got fair hair and is as great looking as Jack is.

  “This is my mate Nick,” says Jack. “Nick, meet Ela Hennessy.”

  Nick nods. “Hi. What happened here?’

  “Bloody Willis brothers,” says Jack. “Give us a moment.” We get the vehicles into the garages while Nick waits.

  I grab my bag, then we all run to the back door, go inside to get out of the rain.

  “You really think they did the damage?” Nick asks.

  “Yeah.” Jack tells him how our day has gone.

  “Bummer,” says Nick.

  “Why are you here?” Jack pushes through the doors to the bar. “Thought we were going hunting tomorrow?” He goes in, and Nick and I follow him. It’s empty.

  “Got something to tell you,” says Nick.

  From the public bar, the barman calls us over. “The Willis boys were asking about Ela earlier. I thought you’d like to know,” he says to Jack.

  “What about Ela?”

  “They said they’ve seen you with her a couple of times.”

  “Did they want anything?”

  “Nah, just seemed interested in who she was and who the car belonged to.”

  “Thanks,” says Jack.

  Jack, Nick, and I go upstairs.

  “You know Vector got Lucinda?” asks Nick as we’re going up the stairs.

  “Yeah, saw it happen. Three StealthHovers and a hundred odd VTroops to take one girl.”

  “Fitzgerald said they sent an army. Joe went berserk when he found out.” Nick sounds bitter.

  “Who is Joe?” I ask.

  “Nick’s brother. He’s Lucinda’s boyfriend.”

  Nick nods and starts talking again. “I saw something at work today you might want to know.”

  “What?”

  “Remember those two guys with the Willises last night? I saw them at the Outpost.”

  “So, they’re Vector?”

  “Looks like it.”

  “It’s not much of a surprise,” says Jack. “They had that pumped-up, full of themselves look Vector have. Your Com not work? That might have been handy to know.”

  “Coms have ears,” Nick says, just like Jacob does.

  Jack is shrugging out of his jacket; he still looks as cold and wet as I feel. “They’re OffGrid.”

  “You did a search on them?” I see Nick look at Jack like he’s an idiot.

  “Yep, and got zilch,” said Jack.

  “Did you spell the name right?” Nick asks like he thinks Jack is a complete idiot. Jack heads down the passageway so we follow him, and he goes into a study.

  “How many ways can you spell Carlos Vincent?” he asks. “Anyway, what were they doing at the Outpost?” He sits down at the computer and turns it on.

  “Acting like they own the place. Talking to people, giving orders. They’ve even got an office.”

  “What are they there for?”

  “Don’t know. Are you going to do another search on him?”

  “No, not a search.” Jack waits for the old computer to fire up.

  “What then?”

  “I need to figure out another way to learn something about him without raising an Alert,” says Jack frowning. “Mum said he sounded Australian. I have contacts in Australia who might help.” He flicks onto email icon. “I’ll see what Yvette and Dad know about Vincent.”

  “Who’s Yvette?” I ask.

  “My stepmother. She’s a cop
.”

  “Why them?” Nick watches the screen.

  “If Vincent’s Australian, like Mum says, they might have heard about him.”

  In the email Jack says he’s seen Carlos Vincent and wonders if they know anything about his background. He reads it through, decides it will do, and sends it.

  

  Vincent and Kane arrive at the Willis house. Henry and Charlie let them in, and they all settle at the table. Vincent pulls a tablet from the briefcase and puts it on the table. Henry has his tablet on the table already.

  Vincent examines the information on both then asks a few questions. Henry and Charlie answer reluctantly. Slowly and the voices get louder. Vincent lays down the law, his finger stabs at the tablets on the table, rows of figures and maps with circles and crosses on.

  When the meeting finishes, Vincent and his mate leave, taking the briefcase and the two tablets with them.

  Henry and Charlie sit silently and look at each other.

  “We’ve got to do something about this,” says Henry. “We can keep him happy with the names of the kids for a while, but we need to find that bloody spring. I think we need to pay Jacob Hennessey a visit soon and see what he knows.”

  Charlie hits his palm with his fist. “Yeah, we need to talk to Jacob.”

  Chapter 11

  Before Nick goes, I sort out what’s happening tomorrow. “I’ll take Ela back to Jacobs first thing, then you meet me here.”

  Nick nods, “I guess we’re taking my ute.”

  “Yeah, unless you want to freeze to death.”

  “My vehicle it is then.” Nick and heads off.

  I pick up Ela’s bag. “I’ll show you where you are sleeping,” I say to her.

  She follows with her Com. She got a couple of texts while we were in the study. It looked like she just checked who sent them then deleted them. Then she turned the Com off as if she was too tired and just didn’t want to know. The cat is acting lonely, it curls around our legs and almost gets stood on.

  As we pass each room, I point. “Laundry, bathroom, toilet, study.”