London Wild (77 page)

This is it, February thought to herself as they approached the front of the queue. Five cars in front of them,
then four, three, two, and finally just ahead, February could see a man moving around in an army uniform who clearly had a sniffer dog on the end of a leash. Two men flanked him on either side with weapons ready for use in case they found anything. February wanted to close her eyes until they were safely through the checkpoint, but she also wanted to see what was happening.

The car opened its driver side window. The dog jumped up at the window on its hind legs, but was held back from actually touching it by the soldier. The dog then hit the ground again
, and the soldier waved the car through. It was that simple, but it could have dire consequences if the spray didn’t work.

One
car ahead, the driver side window opened. The dog jumped to its hind paws. The dog got down, and the car directly ahead of them was waved through without incident. The whole thing looked well-choreographed, as if the dog and the soldier had been doing it all day, which February had no doubt they had.

George pulled his car up
to the soldier, and February began to quietly panic, trying her best to show no sign and wondering how Kitty remained so calm. She didn’t even seem to realize that their lives might be in danger.

George opened the window
, and February found herself gulping at the fresh air. The soldier seemed to notice her and stared at her for a moment. Perhaps he had guessed what she was, and yet the dog remained silent; the dog couldn’t smell her after all.

The soldier waved the car through
, and February hoped that the soldier had thought it no more than an attack of carsickness.

‘Are you alright?’ Stanley asked
, concerned.

‘Panic attack,’ February replied as she caught her breath. ‘
After everything I’ve been through in my life, I’ve never felt so helpless, so unsure of myself. I’ve done things a lot more dangerous than this, but I’ve always had some sort of control. Not this time, though. I was at the mercy of a dog’s bark, and I felt lost.’

‘Looks like we were right not to let you drive then,’ George commented over his shoulder.

‘I guess,’ February replied, calmer now, ‘but then, being in charge and knowing I could escape just by hitting the accelerator might have made all the difference to the situation.’

‘Hitting the accelerator with all the soldiers about,’ Maureen commented, ‘we wouldn’t have gotten five yards. I’m glad George is driving.’

February snapped back, ‘I didn’t mean I would, just that knowing that I could would’ve made the situation…’ She dried up; what was the point? Maureen had judged and sentenced her the moment they had met, and there was no point trying to explain anything to her.

The traffic to the north of the checkpoint was moving at a fair pace again, the vehicles leaving the checkpoint far enough apart to make a little bit of room for lane changes and speed fluctuations, for overtaking and being overtaken. February relaxed and rested her eyes
. There might be dogs at the spaceport, but now that she knew that the stuff did protect her against being detected, their presence didn’t really bother her. It was still a couple of hours before they would reach the spaceport. There was plenty of time for her to grab a quick nap. She closed her eyes, resting her head against the back of the back seat, jostling Stanley a little to get comfortable, and then waited to drift into a gentle sleep.

She was woken as they approached the turn
ing road into the spaceport. Stanley had leaned forward carefully, trying not to wake her, but had failed, and he was asking George, ‘Any idea where to park?’

‘When Kitty isn’t handed in today, they’ll come looking for me
,’ George replied in a matter-of-fact tone. ‘When they find my car here, they’ll impound it. I don’t think it matters too much where I park. However, I thought I might park in the long-term section, just in case.’

‘You know,’ Maureen piped in
(from her tone it was clear she thought February was still sleeping), ‘we could always hand February over and claim that she is Kitty. Problem solved.’

‘No,’ George replied strongly, ‘February took Kitty in and looked after her when she didn’t need to
; the least we can do is reciprocate.’

‘February is a good friend,’ Kitty added almost angrily
. ‘I wouldn’t allow anything to happen to her.’

February said nothing as she sat more upright
; there didn’t seem to be anything she could say. Instead she looked out the window at the buildings that they passed as they found the right terminal and parking for the same, reading the big friendly signs that said, ‘Welcome to Manchester Spaceport!’

Walking along the short corridors from the underground car park, February became more than a little concerned over the number of dogs that seemed to be on patrol about the terminal. The war between the Herbaht and the herd was taking place many, many miles away in London. Surely they didn’t need all these dogs here? Maybe they weren’t all trained to hunt down her kind; most spaceports also had dogs to detect the location of illicit drugs and quite probably other contraband. Looking at the security guards that held the dogs on their leashes eased her mind a little. The guards were armed with nothing more than a short truncheon each; if the dogs actually detected a Herbaht in the halls, the security guards themselves would be helpless, able to do no more than radio for help. That would give her, or anyone, plenty of time to make an escape.

None of the dogs even so much as looked in her direction as she passed
, and she decided it was best to find something else to think about. It was good that that spray had lasted so far, but how long would it be before her natural scent would claw its way through? Stenhas had claimed it was good for twenty-four hours, but he couldn’t have been sure, and it couldn’t be good that she was sweating profusely under the three tops she had put on. She decided to remove at least one of them when she was through the check-in area. She didn’t think it would matter too much if she carried it in her hand, and she could always put it on again if someone complained.

Maureen seemed to be pretty much leading the way as they walked the short distance to a fairly large open area. This seemed to be the hub of this terminal
. Escalators and elevators went both up and down from this floor, and a large stand-alone map was positioned in the middle of the area so people could find out easily where they needed to go. The area was scattered with comfortable-looking chairs, many of which were occupied by bored-looking people. They were chatting or reading books or just gazing off into the distance. Mainly they were waiting to greet friends on arriving flights. There were several pot plants, some of which seemed tall enough to touch the ceiling, while others were small enough to be placed in great number as a border around the closed sides of the escalators. There were a number of pictures, and these told the evolution of the spaceport, from its earliest days as a small field bordered by a few hangars to house biplanes to its current status as
the
spaceport for the north of the country.

A
fter a few seconds’ use of the stand-alone map, Stanley led them towards one of the down escalators. At the bottom of the escalator he led them around the back of it towards rows and rows of check-in desks, all belonging to different companies. Between two companies that catered only to European flights, he found the desks of the company for whom their tickets were valid.

Although Stanley moved fairly quickly and with a purpose, the others seemed to trail some
way behind him, most especially February, who felt uncomfortable when any of the herd were behind her anyway. She was looking about the area carefully as she walked, checking her getaway route in case she needed to escape at a moment’s notice. She was slow, although she tried not to lag too far behind the others. Nevertheless her eyes were very busy, looking everywhere, taking in everything.

The line for the check-in desk was long, but it flowed easily and soon they were at the head. They bought an extra ticket for February and had
already checked in their luggage. All they needed now was the time of their flight.

  ‘It’s a shame you added a fifth person to your itinerary,’ the check-in woman told them, as a holographic image of what was available on which flight hung in the air between them. ‘I could’ve got
ten you on the three-fourteen with just the four of you. But I assume you’d all prefer to travel together?’

‘Yes
, we would,’ February offered quickly.

‘I don’t know
, though,’ Maureen piped in. ‘If February were to catch a later shuttle, we would all be on Mars that much the sooner.’

‘No,’ February replied resoundingly. Under normal circumstances she might have agreed to such an offer, and maybe all Maureen wanted was a few hours away from her. But February didn’t trust Maureen an inch
; she could imagine the woman calling the spaceport security from the shuttle and denouncing her. She could imagine them trying to tell Kitty that she had betrayed them all and wouldn’t be following after all. Kitty was an intelligent girl, but she was still very naïve about many things.

Maureen seemed to changed tact
. ‘Or maybe I could catch the later shuttle. I don’t mind.’

‘No,’ February insisted again, ‘we all go together.’ Actually
, as Kitty would be with her, February couldn’t see what Maureen might have to gain from such an offer, but February didn’t trust Maureen enough to be willing to find out.

‘Well, the first shuttle I can get all five of you on is the seven-fourteen, but that is a long time yet. However
, I can seat you all within a couple of rows rather than scattered about the shuttle.’ The check-in woman tapped something into her desk computer. ‘Three on one row and two on the next. I was hoping to find you something a little earlier, but everything else is booked. Mars seems to be a very popular destination at the moment.’

‘The
seven-fourteen will do nicely,’ Stanley replied quickly, trying to change the subject. ‘I’m sure we can keep ourselves occupied until then.’

The shuttle was divided into three sections. Each section was divided from the next by soundproofed curtains that rather than actually being barriers were just there to demark the sections and could be pushed aside easily if necessary. Right at the very front of the shuttle were those who traveled first class. The seats here were large and luxurious, the sort of seats you could lose yourself in, plenty of room for those who were willing to pay as much as ten times the standard price of the trip, all for just a little luxury.

Then there was business class. It wasn’t as comfortable as first class by a long way. The tickets were only three times the standard price
, but to those in coach class it looked like luxury.

Stanley and company were seated in coach class. It was right at the rear end of the shuttle. Beyond this section
was only the galley, such as it was, and then the tank carrying the liquid fuel for takeoff and landing. As with the other two classes, each seat had its own holoviewa, but whereas those in first class and business class would have a small library to choose from, coach class passengers had a choice of just two, and these were both relatively old movies.

Kitty sat nearest the window and started to look through it excitedly. George sat next to her
, and then February sat on the end of the aisle where she felt most at ease. Stanley and Maureen took seats in front, apologizing to the gray-haired man who was already in his seat on the aisle as they clambered past him. Maureen sat by the window seat and almost immediately pulled the blind closed. Stanley took the middle seat, and he promptly poked his head through the gap between the headrests of his and Maureen’s seats to smile reassuringly at Kitty and also to give her a little wave. ‘This is it,’ he commented. ‘Excited?’

Kitty nodded happily at him and went back to looking through the window.

Actually this wasn’t really it, as they were still stuck on the ground until the last passenger had found their seat, and that alone seemed to take a small eternity. Then they seemed to be waiting and waiting, probably for the shuttle’s captain to go through all the control checks that were necessary before takeoff.

Finally a disembodied voice began the standard speech, the captain of the shuttle in his cabin using the intercom and repeating the same thing he said for virtually every trip. ‘Good evening
, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Justin Bowers and I will be your captain for this trip. The journey will take between three and four hours in total, our time, from liftoff to landing. It will take us approximately ninety minutes to reach a decent enough orbit from which we can engage the light speed engines and then a similar amount of time to land. You are warned not to look out of the windows at the moment when we hit light speed. There will be a reminder just before we do so.’

As one of the human stewards stepped to the front of the shuttle, while the
captain began to go through the standard safety drill, Kitty turned to the professor and asked, ‘What does he mean
our time
?’

‘Time dilation,’ George replied almost patronizingly. He then started to explain time dilation to her, but she just nodded and looked away, stopping him from continuing.