Sand Glass (11 page)

‘Hello!
Name?’

I spun round.
‘Name?’

‘Yes.’ said the
girl with a red clipboard. She held a biro poised above it. ‘Do you
speak English?’ she added clearly.

‘Yes. Of course
I do… It’s Davey Milnes.’

‘Um. Yep. There
you are!’ she smiled brightly, ‘some of the others came early.
They’ve had their first briefing session. But you’ll been on at
Eleven. Don’t worry. It’s all the boring stuff…’ she lowered her
voice; ‘to be honest I don’t see why they bother, I mean we’ve all
had so many visits anyway. As long as you know where the bar and
the beds are, who cares!’

‘I don’t
drink.’

‘Oh. Sorry. Is
it Ramadan?’

‘No.’ I really
wanted to see the list she was holding, ‘But I’ll certainly buy you
a drink if you tell me where it is now.’

She put the
clip board down and gave me directions. I glanced at it a few times
as she chatted amiably. Got them all.

‘And what do
they call you?’ I said.

‘Oh of course!
Silly me. It’s Sarah. Sarah Silver… trainee medic. But I won’t be
on this round, I’ll just be observing procedure. I’m not expedition
trained yet; just new to base. At least I know where everything
is.’

‘So Sarah..’ I
said cautiously, ‘Where would I find you; if I needed directing to
another part of Base?

She giggled in
an irritatingly girly way. ‘I’m off the main corridor in the medic
lounge. If you go out of that door and down the corridor, it’s on
the left. You can’t miss it!’

‘Thanks.’ I sat
down.

Seeing I wasn’t
disposed to more conversation she left. What on earth was going on?
I was on the list. And so was Janey, and Jared, and nearly all the
others. I breathed slowly to calm myself. I remembered the day I
had first met them all: a day like today. With a start of
realisation, I recalled it was exactly like today; except for the
irritating girl.

A few minutes
later Oliver arrived he looked at me and sat down on a comfy chair.
I was caught. Was this the Oliver I knew? Or was it the
pre-expedition Oliver? We really hadn’t interacted until on that
day with the igloo. I reckoned that I ought to wait a little. The
room filled up. We were herded into the most boring session
possible. Every face was closed off. The girl was there with her
red clip board. I glanced at it, until she turned to talk to
someone on her left and I got clearer view. They were all accounted
for. The only one that wasn’t on the list was Jules. But that was
true last time as well. He’d been added at the last minute.

After twenty
minutes of this; which was the basic intro by one of the lesser
minions, we then were taken to the canteen. A lovely buffet was
laid on. I got a cup of tea and meandered systematically round the
room looking to catch the eye of someone I knew.

I found myself
standing near Jared. It made me feel sad. It was like a kind of
special torture. What way would it happen this time? Or had the
whole thing taken on a life of its own? I was soon to find out.

‘And now! Your
attention please! Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome
to our newly appointed Base Director Mr Rimmington!’ some muted
applause followed as most people were trying to juggle tea cups and
plates of food. I wasn’t hungry. Beside I thought that there could
be something in it. I wasn’t however prepared for the shock that
awaited me in the next few minutes. The group unconsciously shunted
forward in an effort to see the esteemed director. And I had
trouble seeing past all the bodies. It was that Alexander person.
He was like Jules, but so obviously not Jules. The resemblance
seemed now quite superficial. The Mr Alexander ID must be an
affectation he had adopted when out in the field. The holes left in
people’s memories meant he could fill it with whatever he liked. I
worked my way back to Jared. He stood at the back separate from the
rest. I tried to catch his eye. He saw me staring, and with one
finger beckoned me to him. I stood next to him, waiting for him to
speak.

‘Red settee.
Five Minutes.’ He said without shifting his position or looking at
me.

I found him in
the old familiar pre-expedition lounge. The one with the plushest
upholstery.

‘Come.
Sit.’

‘Jared… I…’

‘Just sit
down.’

I did so and he
joined me; ‘we are not watched in here. The surveillance has been
deactivated. Tell me one thing. Which round are you from?’

‘Round?’

‘How many times
have you been here, do you think?’

‘I just came in
from outside. But I left over a week ago, and went home. I came
back today.’

‘Do you know
me?’ he turned sharply, as the door sprang shut into the frame. ‘I
must try not to be so jumpy.’ He added.

‘Dear Lord!
Jared…. I know you very well indeed. I can’t believe you’re here! I
can ever begin to explain what I know…. But I am here to find out
how to stop him!’ I pointed back the way I came in.

‘You are David
Jonathan Milnes. And you are from a place in the city…. “Sky”
something…’

‘Blue Sky
Designs.’

‘I see.’ He was
thinking, fidgeting with his hands in that distracted way. He took
a notebook and pen out of the casual jacket; ‘Did you have any
trouble getting here today?’

‘Not really.
Just waited twenty minutes or so in my friend’s car until it
stopped raining.

‘Raining?’

‘Yes….’

‘It was
raining. Oh dear God!’ he bent forward.

‘Jared, are you
alright?’

‘Yes. I’m
fine.’ He sat up, ‘but I’m guessing by the way you keep looking at
me that you are going to tell me that I’m another corpse or
something.’

‘Yes,’ I
swallowed, ‘Exactly that….’

‘Tell me.’

‘I can’t. You
are complicated. I need to get to the cloud field. I need to go to
the place where the magnetic fields go crazy. Where you cannot find
your direction anymore. I need to get out of here. Because I sure
as anything won’t pass the evaluation test. I don’t think I can
fake not knowing in the reaction test.’

‘It’s not
memory it’s testing. But I do see your point.’ Jared looked
thoughtful, ‘Did anyone else on the outside have any involvement in
this?’

‘Yes… including
your sister.’

‘My sister?’
Jared looked confused, then looked away, ‘I don’t remember my
sister.’

‘You know her.
But you don’t know that you two are connected in that way.’

We both
flinched then when the lounge door banged open, and a very
flustered Janey tramped in.

‘This is
preposterous! Where is the kit for the other experiments? I want
them sorting by tomorrow at the latest!’ the two technicians
scuttled away to fulfil her orders.

‘Oh! Hi there
Milnes!’ she winked at me.

‘Janey…’ I
looked from her to Jared and back again.

‘That’s a
trifle over familiar Mr Milnes! I’ll thank you to keep it a little
formal until we know each other.’

‘Janey! Stop
it! Your overacting will get us both into trouble.’

‘Yes. Sorry.
But it was good though! I’ve never seen them move so fast!’

‘Yes, very good
but what about…?’

‘What?’ she
folded her arms, I realised she was getting annoyed.

I looked
helplessly at Jared. He just stood calmly waiting for the penny to
drop down inside my head.

‘Are you going
to have any food?’

‘I guess
so.’

She came close
to me. And whispered in my ear, ‘I’m really scared Davey. I’m
really shit scared. But I’m going on that transport tomorrow even
if it kills me.’

‘Yes. Of
course. The transport. Don’t worry. We’ll be going too.’ I glanced
back at Jared hoping she would acknowledge him.

‘I’m going
through. You coming?’

‘In a minute.’
I said.

She swept out
of the room, apparently unaware of Jared; this was getting
freaky.

‘What
the….?’

‘I’m past the
point of no return.’ Jared said calmly, ‘I know that this day would
come. You’re the only one who can see me.’

‘Is it like
Aiden?’

‘Yeah…a bit.’
He turned from me, and put his hand over his face. When he turned
back his eyes were brimming. ‘She’s my sister….’ He said, ‘she’s my
sister. I’ve loved all my life. How could I forget?’

I put my hand
on his shoulder. He was quite real. Quite solid to me. ‘Jared… I
will do anything I can for you… anything. Just name it.’

‘You said you
wanted to put an end to this?’

‘Yes. I
do.’

‘Why do
you?’

‘Because it’s
hurting people. It’s destroying them. Maybe not physically. But in
their minds. It’s twisted them out of shape so long that some have
cracked. And there are people stranded out there; some in the
desert. I was told that they were some of the first to come on the
project. There is a group headed by Elland.’

‘Michael?’
Jared brightened, ‘I know him. He was on a training course I went
on about two years ago I think.’

‘Weird?’

‘What is?’ he
looked at me carefully.

‘How everyone
has some connection to all of this or each other that predates the
experiments.’

‘Yes. It’s
truly odd.’ He smiled then, ‘so you must know where I am on the
outside. Tell me. So I can go home when we’re done here.’

I looked away.
There were no words to say how I felt so I sat down. Jared followed
me. We sat on the red settee. He waited for me to “spill the
beans”. Clearly Jared for all the holes in the factual, had the
same instincts about people that were as sharp and perceptive as
they had ever been.

‘I won’t lie to
you… it isn’t good news.’ I began rather badly I thought.

‘Ok. So tell
me.’ He smiled disarmingly. It was that smile. Quiet knowledgeable,
irresistibly tempting to confess all to such a person.

‘Jared; if I
tell you, it must be all. There can be no middle ground. And it
will hurt. I’m sorry, I truly am.’

‘Let’s go to
the bar.’

‘You want a
drink?’

‘No. Not
really. But I think you need one.’

It was empty of
clients. Everyone was on one of those interminable tours designed
to lull you brain into a false sense of security. I sat down at a
little table. The bar man brought two drinks over straight
away.

‘He can see
you?’

‘Yes. Of course
he can. How do you think I get served?’ Jared grinned at me.
‘They’re not interested in the state of your existence, just
whether you’ve got the right change or not. So give it to me. I’m
ready.’

So I did. As I
spoke I felt some of the pain lift. Jared smiled at the bits about
me and my ineptness. And even laughed at the part with the blue
stuff. I spared him no detail. I felt I owed him the truth, as
anyone I knew deserved to know, but he of all people required that
of me. Without it. Without that cruel mercy I could not end this
war of ideologies. I could not stop Rimmington from murdering
someone else next time. Where would it end? I was scared too. This
Modulator was already in the wrong hands. How much longer before
these super ego people would be winning the lotteries every week,
or seducing every girl available. Corrupting innocent people with
their dreams. It was a nightmare to be lost inside this playground.
They only thing that stopped me from running away when I had
finished was the knowledge that I would be breaking a promise to
Jared in the stone chapel. I remember that feeling then, and those
visions. I told them to him also. He looked away and looked at me
again.

‘Are you
sure?’

‘About
what?’

‘The tie.’

‘I saw an
image, a vision, I don’t know what to call it. But it seemed very
strong; and the one where you were in the park. I think I know the
place.’

‘Where?’

‘It’s a place
in Yorkshire. Not down here. A town I’ve visited sometimes. There’s
a park. And sometimes there’s a band playing on a Sunday
afternoon.’

‘It’s an
appointment I would like to keep.’

‘I’m sorry to
tell you Jared. But your appointments will have to wait until you
wake up…’

‘I’m…
what?’

‘In a coma.’ I
looked to his face for a reaction, ‘I’m so sorry…’

He got up and
went straight to the bar. And came back with what looked like two
quadruple whiskeys and water.

‘Of all the
days I’ve had,’ he said and sipped, ‘There have been better.’

He turned to me
then, and putting his hands on my shoulders, spoke so quietly I
could only just hear it; ‘Thank you for telling me the truth. Thank
you for being a friend, thank you for being willing to come back…’
he paused looking down, ‘How can I leave them?’

‘Who
Jared?’

‘Janey. Our
Parents.’ He was struggling to gain control.

‘Jared… Jared.
It’s ok. I’m here. You’re here. We’re going to sort it out. And if
anyone doesn’t help, well…. they’re right off my Christmas card
list.’

He looked at me
clearly and calmly then, ‘Of course. We can do this. But who can we
trust?’

‘Marcia. And
some of our lads.’

‘Are they
here?’

‘Some.’

‘When is the
set off time tomorrow?’

‘I’ll find out.
Where will you be?’

‘Right here.
Don’t worry. In a crazy world, sometimes the only ones you can
trust are the ones that no one else can see.’

‘Right…’ I sat
and drank whisky with Jared, and told myself it all was perfectly
normal.

'So what have
we got?' Marcia was speaking. We crammed into a tiny unused office
with George and Adam. The whole thing was beginning to develop
holes. I wasn't sure if this was good or bad. Nikolas wasn't there,
neither was Curly. Dieter had come to the afternoon meeting and
told the assembled groups that there might be an indefinite delay
for setting out.

So we ran over
all the available facts. Joe and Oliver had both been seen; but
they weren't our versions. Jules was not on the list; Jared was on
but hadn't shown up. Janey was acting really strangely. James had
been about and exchanged a few words with George, but then
disappeared into the maze of the Base Kitchens. Personally I
thought he was playing it smart. Maybe he wasn't playing it at all.
We were a jolly depleted crew.