The Islanders (25 page)

Bradd tapped the top of his computer. ‘I looked it up this evening while I was waiting for you. Tremm itself is never mentioned. It’s just like the maps. The censorship has been thorough. But Yo is documented in detail and although Tremm isn’t named it’s possible to work out her connection with the island. How many offshore islands does Meequa have, for instance? Only one, of course. That’s the sort of detail that often slips past censors.’

‘So did she ever return to Tremm after she was famous?’

‘There’s no record of it. But she kept the lease going until she died. After that the title to the island reverted to the Seigniory, and it was then taken over by the people who have it now.’

Suddenly, all the lights in the bar room went out, with just the bar area itself illuminated. The other group of customers had already dispersed. Lorna and Bradd made their way out.

In the corridor Bradd said, dawdling, ‘Well, then.’

‘Thanks for everything you’ve done, Bradd. See you tomorrow at work?’

‘Lorna –?’

‘What?’ But she knew what he wanted. ‘No, Bradd.’

‘No harm would come of it. Just tonight.’

‘No. It’s not what I want. Nor do you, if you think about it.’

She turned away from him and walked towards the part of the building where the living quarters were situated. Without looking back she waved a hand as she turned on to the staircase. She half expected he would be following her, but there was no sign of him when she reached her door. She went inside quickly.

As she made herself ready for bed she could hear Patta in the other bedroom, moving around, playing music. Lorna went to see her. Patta was feeling better, but she was angry about her boyfriend now, not tearful over him. They brewed some tea and sat together companionably. After that Lorna went back and they closed the doors that lay between their rooms. It was silent in her bedroom, and soon Lorna was asleep.

She awoke suddenly, with a dread feeling that she was no longer alone. The air had moved, and something under the floorboards had creaked, a noise she recognized from whenever she moved in that part of the room.

There was a dim, residual light showing from beyond the curtained window, and Lorna saw the dark silhouette of a man standing there close to her bed. In terror she sucked in her breath, tried to make a noise, but she felt paralysed by fear. Her instinct was to sit up, but she always slept naked, so instead she threw an arm across her head, pulling up the covers from the bed, trying to hide everything of herself.

‘Lorna?’

It was Bradd – she knew instantly it was Bradd.

She managed to speak. ‘No, go away!’

‘Lorna, it’s me. Tomak. I still have a key. I didn’t want to frighten you.’

‘Tomak! No!’ She disbelieved him. But the voice was not Bradd’s. She knew it was Tomak, but the way he had come silently in the dark was still terrifying her. She could not throw that off. And for a few seconds everything was unreal. She was still half in the dream she had been in before she awoke, she was unable to move, and her breath was rasping.

She groped towards the bedside lamp, got it on. In the sudden glare of light she saw it was Tomak, or looked like him. He had thrown his arms up to cover his face.

‘No! Don’t put on the light!’ His voice was urgent with fright.

He moved quickly, bending forward with one arm still clamped over his face, the other hand fumbling for the switch. For a few moments he was within touching distance of her, but something made her shrink away from him. His hand found the lamp and he switched it off almost as swiftly as she had turned it on.

Her eyes were dazzled by the after-images from the glare.

‘Lorna – you mustn’t see me.’

‘Tomak, it really is you, isn’t it?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then hold me! Come here! Let me see you. Put the light on again.’ A sense of relief was sweeping over her, and she moved quickly so that she was sitting up. She felt one of her pillows slide away to the floor. ‘I’ve missed you so much! Why haven’t you –?’

‘Lorna, you have to trust me. I can only stay for a few minutes and I don’t want you to look at me. There was an accident last year. I was all right, not badly injured.’

‘What sort of accident? Are you hurt now? Why didn’t anyone tell me?’

‘The whole place is – we aren’t allowed to communicate off the island. I shouldn’t even be here now. If they catch me I’m in deep trouble. I can’t tell you what happened in the accident but I want you to know I’m over it. I’m all right now. I was close to an explosion, didn’t get away in time, and there was a fire. It’s healed up at last.’

‘This is terrible! Are you burned? Tomak . . . come and sit here with me!’

‘I can’t. But I wanted to tell you this myself. I had to come to see you. I know a lot of what’s been going on. On Tremm we have access to almost everything. I know what happened last year, when you were involved with that other guy, the one who works here. I understand all that. It doesn’t matter. You must be free to do what you want.’

‘Of course it matters! Where have you been and why haven’t you at least written to me?’

‘I can’t tell you. We communicate as passive receptors – you know what that means. We aren’t allowed to send. None of that is important, though.’ His voice was coming out of the dark, so familiar, but sounding sonorous, stilted, alien to her. This was Tomak, whom she had loved so long? As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could again make out his shape. He was still standing a short distance from the bed. There was never much light from outside at night, but there was enough to reveal the shape of him against the thinly curtained window. ‘I know you think I’ve run out on you,’ he added. ‘There was nothing I could do, there
is
nothing I can do about that. But I also know you’re planning to visit Tremm, and I’ve come to say you must not go there. Not under any circumstances. If you’ve made plans, don’t carry them out. It’s a dangerous place.’

‘Please, Tomak. Just sit with me for a while. I want to hold you.’

‘No.’ They were both silent for a moment, Lorna shocked by the absolute refusal. Then he said, ‘I shouldn’t even be here now.’

‘What’s going on over there? On the island? What is it that has taken you away from me?’

‘The danger. The importance of what’s being built there.’

‘Can’t you even tell me what it is?’

‘Officially, it’s a communications network. That’s all I can say.’

‘Is it something to do with the tunnels?’

‘What makes you think that?’ Tomak’s tone of voice had changed, confirming something.

‘Or the drones. You used to talk about the drones, how useful they are, the potential they have. You always used to call them passive communications devices, passive receptors.’

‘I can’t say anything. I’ve got to go.’

‘Please don’t!’ She started to get off the bed, to stand against him, but he seemed to sense what she was doing and moved quickly in the dark. She felt his hands on her shoulders, pushing her down. ‘Couldn’t you just put your arms around me?’

‘Lorna, I needed to say this personally, because I want you to believe me. It’s impossible to break it to you gently, but I won’t be coming back. It’s over. I’m really sorry, but that’s all I have to say. Stay away from the island, stay away from me.’

He was already heading towards the door, because his silhouette moved away from the curtains. Lorna swivelled around, fumbled with the light switch and threw it on. For two seconds, three seconds, she saw Tomak in the electric light as he dived hurriedly for the door. He was wearing green-grey fatigues that made him look bulky and overweight. His hair was long, rolling around his neck, but there was a bare patch on top. Something had happened to his head: it was larger than she remembered, a different shape.

As he reached the door, in the final half-second, he turned back to look directly at her and then she saw his face. Burn scars bulged and reddened and sucked at his features: he had become disfigured, scarred, broken for ever.

The door slammed behind him and moments later the outer door closed too. She heard a key pinging as it bounced across the wooden floor.

She sat there on her bed and almost at once she began to cry. The tears broke out of her, an unending outpouring of misery. She soaked half a dozen tissues, wept into her bed covers.

Then she stopped.

She remembered the time she had spent with Patta earlier that evening, consoling her friend. Quickly, her unhappiness turned to anger against Tomak, and she remained awake the rest of the night, loathing him for what he had just done and the way he had done it. Then, in distress, she would remember loving and missing him so much and for so long, and in hot confusion she would veer inwardly from rage to wretchedness.

When the sun came up she dressed and went to walk along the edge of the cliffs. Tremm lay golden-hued across the blue-white sea, glowing in the morning light.

Three weeks later, after several sweltering, steamy days of unbroken summer rainfall, Lorna and Bradd went down to the harbour in Meequa Town and loaded food and drink on to his sailing boat. It was much smaller than Lorna had imagined, but it was almost new and was fitted with modern navigation and steering devices. In particular Bradd pointed out the two main sails, which were of material that was non-reflective and almost transparent. Undetectable after dark by sight or by radar, he said, and made of the same material used on the wings of the drones.

The sun, heading down towards evening, was still radiant and waves of humid air rolled in across the harbour. Bradd pulled off all his clothes except a pair of shorts, and set to work preparing the boat to leave. Lorna also stripped down to her bathing costume, and sat half in shade, half in the blistering sunlight until Bradd said they were ready to cast off.

Once they were beyond the harbour wall there was enough wind to provide at least an illusion of temporary coolness. Tremm stood towards the horizon, green-brown in the distant shimmering marine heat.

Bradd steered the boat away from the town, hugging the coastline of Meequa, and within an hour they had reached a small secluded inlet where no other boats were moored. They anchored the yacht, then dived in and swam in the calm cove until the shadows from the setting sun were dark across the water.

Back on board, they snacked on some of the food they had brought. They both kept looking out to sea towards Tremm, where the mountains were catching much of the sunlight slanting horizontally from the west. As night fell the humidity seemed to increase. Lorna lay breathless on the prow of the boat, dangling an arm towards the water, watching the movement of phosphoresence in the shallow sea below.

Bradd went below decks and switched on his night-time navigation gear. Lorna continued to doze in the muggy air, feeling Bradd’s movements in the cabin directly beneath her but thinking yet again about Tomak, what had happened, what he had said that night, the suddenness of everything. It continued to hurt, but it also made her feel resentful of him. It was torment if she dwelt on it but she believed she was recovering at last.

When Bradd emerged from the tiny cabin she sat up to look at him, admiring his supple back, his strong arms. She watched him working one of the hand-winches, liking the calm way he moved, the compact angles of his torso, remembering the times when they had been lovers, thinking the best of him.

By some unspoken accord this trip had been arranged almost as if it had been planned in detail and agreed in advance. Bradd announced two days earlier that he was ready to sail across to Tremm, and Lorna quickly said she would go with him. They had both taken days off work, not knowing how long they would be away. Lorna told herself she needed a break, was owed some time off by the MCI.

There was only a single bunk in the confined space of the cabin. Lorna noticed this as soon as they were on board, but she said nothing. Too much had been said between them in the past. But then before they sailed Bradd casually showed her that in one of the lockers there was a hammock that could be slung on the deck in the open air. She was assuming nothing, and it seemed that neither was Bradd.

With the aid of the inboard motor they left the cove, then Bradd and she hoisted the nearly invisible sails and they began to move out to sea, silent but for the sound of the water against the hull.

Several minutes later one of the instruments gave a quiet warning signal and Bradd immediately used night-sight binoculars to scan the sea near Tremm. After staring through them he handed them to Lorna, indicating where to point them. It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the artificially enhanced image, but she was soon able to make out a long power launch, lying low in the water. Because of the foreshortening effect of the powerful lenses it appeared to be close against the foot of the Tremm cliffs. It did not seem to be moving.

Bradd took the glasses back and stared at the vessel for a long time. Meanwhile their yacht sailed slowly on, using the automatic steering device.

‘What do we do?’ Lorna said.

‘Nothing. We’re in international waters. We’ve every right to be here. In theory, we also have the right to land on that island. Every island in the Archipelago is neutral territory – that’s what the Covenant is for. But in reality the moment we cross into Tremm’s waters that launch will come out to find out what we’re up to. It’s a fast-response patrol boat, armed to the hilt. Those people have moved in, grabbed the island, and set up armed patrols to keep everyone else out. It makes me angry! They’re abusing our neutrality by making it into their domain. They do what they want and we can’t stop them, because if we tried to get rid of them they’d claim we were breaching our own neutrality by doing so.’