Deborah Hockney (15 page)

Jocasta felt a little perplexed by this reply as she didn’t quite understand Lt. Wing Commander Wren’s notion of threads and stretching minds but she seemed to be genuinely trying to reassure her and for that, Jocasta was grateful. She left the classroom a little more centred than she’d originally felt.

Ed was waiting for her outside in the corridor.

‘What was that about?’ he asked, peering at the closed door as though it was going to reveal the answer.

‘Oh, just my paranoia about having my mind taken over.’ She tried to make light of her qualms. ‘Apparently, we’ll be learning blocking techniques at some point in the future. After,’ she added in a whisper, ‘we’ve all learnt to trust each other.’

‘Oh yeah well that’s likely when we’ve got the likes of Cally and Mads in our group.’

‘Oh come on,’ said Jocasta, surprising herself with her newfound generosity. ‘They’re not that bad.’

Their conversation was brought to an abrupt halt by the sight of Ed’s father glaring down at them from one of the side screens and transmitting a message for everyone to hear.

‘Cadets Jackson and Weisz you are late for my lesson, no excuse will suffice and the longer you take the more severe your punishment.’

After rushing along the corridor, fearing the worst, their punishment turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Ed and Jocasta were ordered to take the Catt filters to the decontamination room on the fifth level.

As they struggled along, one on each side of the bulky filter holder, complaining as loudly as they dared that a robot would have been more efficient, a familiar voice broke into Jocasta’s thoughts – or was it only in her mind? But it did sound very clear and not like the disturbing sensation she’d experienced before.

‘Jocasta! Are you deaf? Do I need to forcibly remove those things from you or are you just being rude and independent as usual?’

If she hadn’t already received a comline from him she probably would not have believed that Will could be standing a little way down the corridor, looking much the same as normal and rather out of place in the Elite building.

‘Will?’ she said stupidly, blinking as if he could be a mirage. ‘Is that you?’

‘Course it’s me,’ he replied, taking some of the weight of the filter holder, as if he did that sort of thing everyday. ‘Where’s this going?’

‘Just to the end of the corridor,’ Ed answered. ‘And we’d better not be long; we don’t want to be late twice in one day.’

‘I’m heading that way too,’ said Will conversa-tionally. ‘Just checking out some of my father’s equipment.’

Jocasta distractedly introduced them to each other, wondering if Will really was checking up on things for his father. She didn’t want to get into any further trouble with Major Weisz so resisted the temptation to question him more closely. And as they deposited the Catt filters in the contamination area he disappeared into an adjacent room with a friendly wink.

Luckily they were in too much of a hurry to get back to their lesson for Ed to quiz her about Will’s appearance in the Elite city.

Chapter Fourteen

There was an eerie light in the morning sky as Jocasta peered through the sky light, and out through the domed roof of Mackenzie city. The pinky, blue haze that normally filled the horizon at this time of the morning was obscured by what appeared to be dark clouds but was probably the
start of a dust storm.

She felt a twinge of excitement as she hurried along the corridors to their arranged meeting place. After her encounter with Will two days ago com messages had been flying backwards and forwards between her, Will and David: arranging where to meet. Will had been very insistent that they remember to bring his ‘gifts’ along too.

As Jocasta unwrapped the strange grey lump of plastic and turned it over in her hand, she still couldn’t fathom a use for it, but perhaps all would be revealed later that day. She tucked it into her small knapsack along with a few snacks that she’d acquired from the food station and not for the first time, wondered if it had been wise to agree to this meeting with Will. Her other concern was Ed. After they had bumped into Will in the corridor, he’d kept on at her to find out who Will was, and how he’d managed to secure a passage to Mars.

Although she knew that Ed’s relationship with both his parents was fraught with problems; they were both high-ranking Elite officers and so she didn’t want to give away the little information she had about Will’s arrival on the red planet. She’d managed to explain that Will’s father owned one of the largest companies on Mars and had intended to leave it at that; unfortunately, she’d let slip that she and David were meeting up with Will on their free Solday and Ed had made it obvious that he would like to tag along.

‘I don’t see what harm it could do,’ he’d implored her. ‘Will seems a decent enough guy, and,’ he continued, ‘I suspect I might come in useful, if what you’ve told me is true, Will likes an adventure and I know this city better than most.’

It was true. Ed had practically been brought up on Mars and had spent a great deal of his early childhood exploring the walkways with his robot companion, but Jocasta was loath to invite him along without Will’s say so. She suspected that Ed, however, would be waiting for her, as she had to pass through the check in point to gain access to the orange zone where she and David had arranged their meeting place with Will.

‘Hi Ed,’ she tried to make her voice light and carefree as she spotted him leaning against the panel. ‘Move yourself so I can sign out for my day off.’

‘Not unless you tell me where you’re going,’ he replied in an edgy voice, which almost sounded menacing. ‘I’m sure Commander Wren might be interested in your little escapade.’

‘Ed! You wouldn’t…’ Jocasta startled tones drew the attention of some nearby older cadets.

‘No, of course not,’ he spoke his soothing response in an undertone. ‘I’m just a bit jealous, I suppose. You’re going off to have some fun, and I’ll be left here all alone.’ He leaned forward, beseechingly, one corner of his mouth curved upwards in a kind of rueful smile.

‘Well…’ Jocasta began to relent a little. ‘You can come with me to the arranged meeting place but it’s really up to Will whether he lets you accompany us after that. Do you understand?’ She looked directly into his purple eyes trying to convey her seriousness. ‘Is it a deal?’

‘Deal.’ Ed replied empathically as they both did the customary sign of the two-finger salute in mid air and then quickly checked out at the orange point and made their way towards the co-ordinates Will had given Jocasta.

Watching them go, Antigone tucked a long strand of auburn hair behind her ear, and disappeared back along the panelled corridor.

‘Orange zone,’ Ed mused. ‘A strange place for a rendezvous.’

‘Why?’

‘Well this used to be the experimental area where they first tried to cultivate plants. However, a contamination leak meant it had to be abandoned and moved to gold zone. It’s only use now that I know of is as a holding area for ground machines.’

‘Well that’s what Will likes, machines and gadgets. I expect he’s got some new toy to show off to us.’

Jocasta stopped suddenly as they passed through the final door barrier.

There before them, in row after eerie row, were hundreds of strange machines. Big ones that almost touched the roof and smaller ones that shone brightly, even in the dim light.

Moreover, they all seemed to be incredibly diverse, although as they were each at different stages of construction it was hard to tell exactly what they were for; or could it be that they were being dismantled? It was hard to tell.

‘Fascinating,’ the voice rang out from the other side of a huge, rusty tractor style buggy. ‘I’m sure this must be prototype XZ, one of the first Martian zogs ever built here.’ David could not contain his excitement and started to climb into the cab.

‘Oh, no you don’t.’ A hand appeared from nowhere and grabbed his ankle pulling it away from the vehicle; a look of shock and fear surfaced on David’s face as he fell. Luckily, the fall was softened by landing on the person who had caused his loss of balance. A heap of thrashing arms and legs gradually untangled themselves amidst a few chuckles and choice expletives.

With relief Jocasta realised that the cause of the problem was non other than Will.

‘You stupid ass,’ she scolded as she pulled him to his feet. ‘You could have both been hurt. Are you ok, David?’ She turned to her other friend.

‘Well I will be, if someone can find my glasses they seem to have got knocked off by
some
overgrown chimp.’

‘Yeah, but you can see ok without them, mister monkey brain,’ retorted Will with a laugh. ‘So open your eyes and look for them yourself.’

‘Just trying to be polite,’ hissed David, screwing his eyes up ever tighter. ‘Ladies present.’

‘I see no ladies, only Casta and a strange companion…’ Will seemed to have only just registered that Ed had been standing by watching everything with a bewildered smile on his face.

‘And I don’t think,’ he paused momentarily for effect, ‘that he’s too pleased at being called a
lay-dee
.’

‘Well, if it’s only Jocasta,’ David began to say, ‘and as she knows all about my special sight perhaps she won’t mind after all.’

‘Oh yes I do,’ she quickly spun around and picking David’s glasses up placed them rather awkwardly on his nose so that they hung down in lopsided fashion, at an obtuse angle. ‘You’re not going to see my bones, guts, innards, or anything else unless it’s an emergency; and I don’t want one of those today. Although from past experience and judging by Will’s mood, perhaps I’m a little too optimistic about that.’

‘Well, you’ve already complicated matters by bring along a lady friend! According to David, anyway.’ Will nodded in Ed’s direction. ‘I don’t recall agreeing to extras.’

‘He’s not an extra,’ Jocasta retorted. ‘His name’s Ed, remember you met him just a couple of days ago!’ She carried on before anyone could interrupt. ‘And I don’t remember any instruction from you, not to bring anyone else along!’

‘I would have thought, Casta, that you would have a bit more common sense when it–’

‘Hey, hang on a minute,’ Ed interrupted. ‘It’s my fault. I threatened to blow the whistle, but we agreed,’ he cast sideways glance at Jocasta, ‘that if you didn’t want me along then I’d have to back off, and so I guess from your side of the fence that’s just what I’ll have to do.’ He took half a step back, then paused. ‘Not that I’d tell anyone. And,’ he continued, ‘I have to tell you, that if you’re planning on doing a little exploration, it would be a fool who didn’t want someone along with as much knowledge of this place as me.’

Jocasta looked from one friend to another feeling apprehensive. But then, much to her relief, Will took Ed’s hand in his firm grip and ceremoniously shook it up and down.

‘That won’t be necessary mate. Any friend of Casta’s deserves a second chance – or even a first one, but…’ Here he lowered his voice, so that the others had to move in closer to hear him, ‘I must warn you, my little adventure does have its share of danger and anyone wishing to back out should do so now.’

‘How can we, if we don’t know what we’re doing or where we’re going?’ David asked in a slightly exasperated tone. ‘Come on, Will, fill us in. We need to know what the risks are before we can decide.’

At this Will became noticeably more serious. His eyes seemed to lose their sparkle and he carefully placed his feet a few inches apart and pulled his arms behind his back.

‘Guys- and ladies, I’ve shared a lot of things with you in the past,’ he looked from David to Jocasta and then let his eyes rest momentarily on Ed and spoke directly to him, ‘I sense in you a common spirit: an understanding. Even though we have only just met.’

He paused looking straight into Ed’s strange eyes and felt his gaze returned with equanimity. ‘These two have been my best mates for several years and I trust them implicitly. I only hope I’m right, trusting you too. Several years ago there was an accident here in this very zone. It was all covered up by the authorities and nobody knows or will tell me what happened but I believe it somehow involved my mother and that’s what I’ve come here for, to find out what happened here and what happened to her.’

There was poignant silence which seemed to last for much longer than the few seconds that elapsed, and then Jocasta asked the question that they were all thinking.

‘But what makes you think that you can find out now, Will? Wasn’t it… it must be at least ten years since…’ She stumbled over her words and her voice trailed off as she tried to think of something more positive to say.

‘Yes, it’s twelve, not ten years, almost to the day, since she disappeared somewhere on this planet and I know it’s a long shot trying to find out what happened. But my dad doesn’t know, or won’t tell me and besides,’ he added with a quizzical look that Jocasta recognised from the past, ‘I couldn’t let you two get away from me that easily; it would have been so boring back at Woodbridge Hall without you.’

‘Ok,’ said David, ‘so if we’re in, what next? Remember we’ve only got a few hours before we have to check back in.’

‘So you’re all interested in my plan?’ Will waited until they had all individually nodded in agreement, Ed surprisingly seeming the most enthusiastic, his lilac eyes glowing with anticipation.