The Terminus (31 page)

“No, I really
am
sorry,” Gary insisted. “Only, in this place… never sure who’s with The
Agenda and who isn’t. Tell me, where’s Teeth… the Chairman?”

“Gone for
good,” she replied. “Went to meet the gee-rats with the rest of the Atlanteans.
We bundled them all into a shuttle-bus at the last minute. Tipped them out at
the Hatcheries. The place is over-run with gee-rats. The Chairman was too
trusting of Arthry! Thought we were unbrained and docile. Didn’t occur to him
we’d been practising ‘fake zombie’ in the Retreat and had gradually infiltrated
the other surfacers. Arthry’s idea. They never even considered Arthry might be
a double agent working for God after all. The Chairman let Arthry decide who he
was gonna leave behind. So he chose the Atlanteans!”

“MUMMY!”

Caitlin came
running towards them.

“Mummy, dey
want me to meet someone called Art’hry. He’s de boss, to be sure! Dey say he’ll
be so excited to have a child on his space-ship. I’m gonna show him de Paradise
Mouse… and d’you t’hink he’ll be wantin’ to meet Angelina too?”

Molly looked
with disinterest at the yellow-haired doll.

“I’m t’hinkin’
I must have upset de Holy Fader somet’hing terrible, my darlin’, to end up in dis
mad-house!”, but no one listened. Caitlin had skipped off to follow the throng
heading for the door to the centre of the craft.

“The child!
Show Arthry the child!” they cried.

The crowd that
had assembled around Caitlin now streamed the corridors before bursting into
the control room with Seamus in the lead, carrying Caitlin who carried the
little animal. Molly held Angelina and Gary followed up behind, clutching his
mag-stunner. The joyful shouting was at once replaced by stony silence as they
slowly spread out across the cavernous area.

Blinker, taken
by surprise, twitching and speechless, had one arm around Cathy’s neck. He
stepped backwards. The heavy, either oblivious of the instant crowd, or
thinking this was the signal to get to work on his first victim, Beetie, swung
back the curling lash, his arm raised high. Gary whipped out his mag-stunner
before he could strike her and turned the brute into a statue. Blinker stumbled
when Cathy struggled and kicked to break free. The girl swivelled and poked a
finger into one of the boy’s eyes. He screamed, pawing at his bleeding face as
Mike ran forwards and launched yet another kick at his groin. The boy crumpled,
in agony, to the ground and Mike shot a fist in the air!

“Goal!” he
shouted. He looked at his friend. “What took you so bloody long, Gary?”

Gary didn’t
reply. He walked over to Beetie. She turned to face him. Half-hidden by her
straggled blond hair, her cheeks streaked with tears, her lips trembled. Gary
gently brushed aside the hair, wiped away the tears with the back of his hand,
and kissed those lips. The control room echoed with the cheer that erupted from
the expectant crowd. A grin stretched Arthry’s normally expressionless face.

“Yes, Gary…
what took you so long? I promised God
no one
would touch a hair on her
body! Damned close thing!”

Gary untied
Beetie whilst Mike, using the whip as a rope, bound Blinker, who still
screamed, until the boy was secured like a trussed animal. He got dragged
backwards by the same heavy, now fully recovered and equally happy to take
orders from Mike. Blinker’s weasel-faced accomplice was quickly dealt with.

Once freed,
the girl bearing his child flung her arms around Gary then pressed her face
against his chest and sobbed. He held her close, all the time stroking her
hair, but said nothing. Mike misinterpreted his friend’s silence as the calm
before the storm.

“I was wrong,
Gary! The baby’s yours. Sorry, Beetie… only I didn’t know what was happening
back then. Had no idea God was…” He checked himself.

“Ahem!” exclaimed
Arthry, tugging at his shackled wrists. “Haven’t you lot forgotten something?”

“Sure… right!
But I didn’t think you’d need my help with those damn great biceps of yours!”
Mike chuckled before releasing Arthry. “Hope you’ve got a gym in this new
planet place to work out in, mate.”

Arthry caught
sight of Caitlin staring in wonder. The child walked towards him, tenderly
cradling the Paradise Mouse in cupped hands. Arthry crouched down, his grin
broadening.

“You’re Mr
Art’hry, aren’t you? Say hello to my animal, please,” the child said, her wide
eyes fixed on the man.

“Hello,
animal!”

“Can you
t’hink of a name for him, Mr Art’hry? He’s a Paradise Mouse.”

“Let’s call
him ‘London’, little girl. So we can take London with us, ay?”

“Do you hear
dat, London? You’re coming wid us in de space-ship! How long will it take to
get to de other world, Mr Art’hry?”

Arthry glanced
at the attaché case on the ground.

“Once upon a
time there lived a very clever man called God,” he said, slowly and
deliberately, “and because of God it’ll take no time at all for the Belindaron
to get to the other world. We’ll be entering a whole new realm of physics.”

Molly crossed
herself.

“What’s
physics, Mr Art’hry?”

“Everything,
little one.”

Another quick
sign of the cross from Molly.

“Look, Mr
Art’hry! There’s a
real
Angelina!” Caitlin exclaimed pointing to the
tearful blond girl nestled in Gary’s arms. “She’s
got yellow hair too! I
t’hink she looks like an angel girl!”

Seamus nodded.

“To be sure,
she can’t be de Holy Virgin now she’s carryin’ Gary’s child, but ‘Angel Girl’
suits her fine!”

“Would you and
London like to press the button together?” Arthry asked Caitlin. “To get lift
off? Take us to Planeta Paradisa?”

“Is de new
world really a paradise? Like heaven?”

Molly crossed
herself again.

“You can
decide for yourself when we get there, little one.”

“Caitlin!” the
child said. “My name’s Caitlin. Da says it’s spelt funny, but dat doesn’t
matter because I can’t spell.”

“We’ll soon
change that, Caitlin, but right now come with me.”

Arthry picked
up the case, and, with Caitlin and London, went over to the control desk where
Blinker had been only minutes earlier. Embedded in the desk was the Pentatron
tablet. Carefully, Arthry opened the case and removed a five-sided silver lid,
God’s activation panel, which fitted over the Pentatron Tablet with cut-diamond
precision. Immediately, the whole control desk was illuminated by an intense
glow erupting from the Pentatron Tablet. A low-pitched rumbling sound was
audible.

“Everyone into
their seats, please. And keep clear of the windows!” ordered Arthry. “Whilst
the DEC absorbs and transforms enough dark energy from out there to exit our
solar system, it’ll be like the first few milliseconds after the big bang in
reverse. The intensity of light outside would wipe out your retinas! Okay,
folks? Ready to roll!”

He turned to
the young couple, seemingly oblivious to others in their continuing fond
embrace.

“Ahem! Three
more seats here. One for Caitlin and one for each of you two. We’ll see
everyone else again when we get out of the solar system.”

Beetie helped
Caitlin with her strap before securing herself.

“I t’hink you
really
are
an angel,” the child said to the older girl.

“Oh dear! I’ll
have to mind what I say in your presence, won’t I?”

Beetie winked
at Gary.

“Doesn’t
London get his own seat?” Caitlin asked.

“You’re his
seat, my little sweetheart!” replied Beetie. “Please tell him not to be scared.
He looks terrified.”

“Don’t be
frightened, London!”

Caitlin sat
and watched the Pentatron tablet as coloured lights played patterns on their
faces.

“Caitlin…
please stay with Mummy!”

Molly was
standing with Seamus in the doorway, refusing to leave the control room without
her daughter. Seamus tugged at Molly’s arm.

“She’ll be
fine, my dearest! Come now! We must find seats for ourselves.”

“I’m not
goin’. I’ve had enough! Caitlin’s all I have now. I can’t bear to…”

Quickly,
Beetie unfastened her belt and left her seat.

“Sit here by
your little girl,” she said. “I already know how precious she must be to you!”

“Do you feel
any kicking yet?” Gary asked. “Our very own child!”

“It’s only two
days old, Mr Scientist!” She laid an arm across Gary’s shoulders and kissed his
forehead... and in her beautiful face the boy saw a kaleidoscope of happiness,
relief, wonder, uncertainty, love and, above all else, pride; the pride of a
mother-to-be. “We’ll have to wait nine months! God told me,” she added before
kissing him on the lips and leaving to join the others.

“Don’t worry
about the baby,” Arthry said, reading Gary’s mind. “What to do’s all in God’s
manual. We’ve been training people in the Retreat for everything we’re gonna
possibly need. Why did you think they were all so busy over their computer
screens? She’ll have her… now, what did you call them in the past… her
midwife
?”
A slowly-broadening grin relaxed the tension in Gary’s face. “She’ll be fine!”
Arthry reassured him.

“I can help
wid de borning of de baby too,” offered Caitlin. “My Angelina’s having babies
all de time!”

Gary and
Arthry burst into laughter and Molly crossed herself yet again.

“Are you
ready, now?” the big man asked the little Irish child, jokingly imitating her
accent.

“Yes, Mr
Art’hry!”

“Dat blue
button there. Beside de t’hing dat’s glowing. You can show us de power a little
child has in her finger. Press it!”

A small hand
reached forward, hesitant, and a beaming little face looked up at Arthry.

“Shall I?
Now?”

“After ten,”
the man said.

A childish
finger hovered over the button.

“Ten… nine…
eight… seven…”

The child
giggled and Arthry winked at her.

“six… five…
four…”

Another burst
of giggles.

“t’hree… two…
one… LIFT OFF!”

Her finger
pressed the button. The low-pitched sound issuing from the Pentatron tablet
increased in pitch and intensity to a roar; the whole
desk exploded into light and the light flashed along a strip crossing the
floor, connecting the desk to the huge central pillar to which Beetie and
Arthry had been strapped. It travelled up the pillar then fanned out across the
vast dome of the Belindaron, turning the control room into a giant light bulb.

And as the
sound gets louder and the light brighter, Gary thinks about that schoolboy
who’d come across a pair of specs in Regent’s Park just two days back… a boy
from a different world. His fingers feel the controls on the frame of the
time-specs and find one that will trap time forever in a new and wonderful
present. Press that, and on removing the specs he’ll never again see his
parents, London or Planet Earth; press it, and there’ll be no further need for
time-travel. He thinks of Beetie, of their unborn child, of Mike and of his new
friends, Seamus and Molly, and he looks at little Caitlin, and sees in her
excitement, as she strokes and comforts the little creature she named ‘London’,
all the hopes for Mankind of the future: a new Mankind… and a new world.

He presses
the control and places the time-specs carefully on the desk before him.

“Gary,
God’s made a special room for you. Called the library. Full of all his books,
his calculations… everything he’s ever done and anything else we could possibly
need. He thought, with your interest in science…”

“Sure! I’ll
enjoy browsing through all his stuff. Quite a guy, God!”

Gary
detects the hint of a smile hovering on Arthry’s lips.

“Yeah,
quite a guy!”

The
Belindaron shudders slightly before going still. The noise diminuendos to a
gentle hum, the brightness reduced to normal.

“Out of the
solar system already!” announces Arthry. “Say bye-bye to the sun, Caitlin!”

“Bye-bye,
sun!”

 An
image appears on the screen in front of them… a moving picture of mountains, a
fast-flowing river, sparkling blue, high waterfalls and lush trees festooned
with colourful flowers and heavy with fruits.

“That’s
where we’re heading for! Planeta Paradisa. Where God’s linked the Belindaron
to. Where it’s gonna start all over again. Are you ready to be our very first
child, Caitlin?”

Grinning,
Caitlin raises her small hand and Arthry high-fives with the girl.

Good reviews are important
to a novel’s success. If you enjoyed this book, please be kind and leave a
review wherever it was purchased.

Sincerely, Oliver Eade

Oliver Eade, born a Londoner and now an adopted Scot,
retired from a career in hospital medicine thinking ‘feet up and watch the telly’,
but this wasn’t to be. After waking up one night with a ghost story in his
head, he took to writing adult short stories. Over forty have been published,
several winning prizes. His first children’s book,
Moon Rabbit
, a
magical journey to Mythological China (Oliver’s wife is Chinese), was published
in 2009 (Delancey Press). It was a winner of the Writers’ and Artists’ 2007 New
Novel Competition and long-listed for the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize,
2008. The sequel,
Monkey King’s Revenge
, came out in 2011 and was
a children’s genre finalist for the 2012
People’s Book Prize
.
Northwards
,
a young readers’ dark fantasy based in Texas was published in 2010 (Austin
& Macauley).
The Rainbow Animal
is also set in North America
where Oliver’s two eldest granddaughters live (Mauve Square 2012). His debut
adult novel,
A Single Petal
, which won the Local Legend 2012
Spiritual Writing Competition, is set in Tang Dynasty China (Local Legend
Press).

A member of the Society Of Authors, the Borders Writers
Forum and the Society Of Medical Writers he was winner of the annual Wilfred
Hopkins Prize for Creative Writing from 2007 to 2012; he was also the Society
of Civil and Public Service Writers ‘Writer of the Year’ in 2010, and judge of
children’s book reviews for the Heart of Hawick 2011 Children’s Book Award.

Although not confined to any
particular genre, Oliver feels most comfortable in that magical space between
reality and fantasy; the space into and out of which children slip so easily in
their play; the place of dreams and myths and legends and deeply ingrained in
many cultures across the globe.

In
The Terminus
Oliver
returns to the city in which he was brought up; a city now changed beyond
recognition from the drab post Word War II era and which in a post-apocalyptic
time gives Mankind a second chance.

Website:

www.olivereade.co.uk

Blogs:

http://olivereade.blogspot.co.uk/
,

http://runawaywheeliebin.blogspot.co.uk/

http://childrenaswriters.blogspot.co.uk/

I’d love to hear from you!

Contact:
[email protected]

Novels by Oliver Eade also as e-books:

For young readers

Moon Rabbit:
Stevie Scott from Peebles,
Scotland befriends Maisie Wu, a new girl from China, when she when she gets
teased. Early one morning he takes her tpo the river to see the ducklings, she
falls, can’t swim andf he dives in to rescue her. They emerge in mythological
China, but have to undertake a perilous mission before they can get back
Pebles. A fun introduction to mythical Chinese beasts and legends.

Monkey King’s Revenge:
Sequel to
Moon
Rabbit
(available as print book only).

Northwards:
Strong-minded Texan schoolgirl,
Jenny Macnamara, is sent by Earth Mother on a journey to the high Arctic to
save the world from a terrifying evil force.

The Rainbow Animal:
Rachel takes her pet
hamster on a birthday ride on strange-looking animal on a local mall carousel
only to end up embroiled in a paint war between the colorwallies and
dullabillies.

For adults

A Single Petal: 
A widowed village
teacher in Tang Dynasty China links the death of his merchant friend with the
disappearance of local Miao girls, endangering himself and his daughter as he
digs more deeply into the mystery.

Plays:

The Gap:
Staged in Scotland 2012,
a
one act surreal comedy about a dysfunctional Peacehaven family split apart when
the earth divides into two along the Greenwich Meridian.

Sodden Flodden:
Short one act play as part of
a performance around the five hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Flodden,
2013.   
 

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http://www.mauvesquare.com/
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