Crossing the river was a treacherous business as the current tugged and teased at their feet making everyone unbalanced. The water waited like a hungry wolf, snapping at their heels, eager to consume those that had become complacent and stumbled.
The pigs had to be carried across the river and they were not happy about it. Rupert squealed relentlessly and Willow wriggled and fought Rowan, threatening to topple him over at any moment. Rowan struggled across with gritted teeth and was much relieved to reach the opposite bank. To impress everybody, he had taken most of the pig’s weight. Now his muscles throbbed and he found it hard to disguise the discomfort he felt.
The river crossing was exhausting and it was a while before everyone got their breath back. Rowan watched Rupert and Willow weaving their way along the bank, sniffing at this and that and then arguing with themselves over which direction to go. It seemed to Rowan that each of the pigs’ heads always wanted to go a separate way. He imagined what it would be like to have two heads and not be able to choose the path you wanted to travel along. The only time they were in perfect agreement was when danger loomed. At that moment, the pigs stopped in their tracks and squealed danger in a low growl.
‘Quick!’ whispered Rowan urgently. ‘Hide!’
This was easier said than done as ground cover was scarce. They decided to see what cover lay at the top of the bank and as they approached the brow, they could hear men shouting in the distance. Fortunately, the bank concealed them and they were able to observe the plateau below unseen.
‘What do you think is happening, Rowan?’ asked Kayleb quietly, as he lay next to him. ‘They’re not after us. They seem to be trying to pull something out of those woods over there.’
‘Look at them! I’ve never seen men that tall.’
The open land below them was lined by a wooded area and to their left was a fort held together by patches of metal, cloth and animal skin. A large number of men were pulling several crudely made wooden carts out of the woodland. They were cumbersome and it took eight men a great deal of effort, despite the men’s size, to drag the contraptions out into the clearing. Finally, ten carts were heaved out of the woods. The men themselves were huge, were dressed in animal skins and looked like giants. They were twice the height of a normal man.
Indigo was shocked and couldn’t believe his eyes.
‘Tell me I’m seeing things! They’re enormous! That’s it, I’m off. I’m history!’
‘It’s all right. I think those carts are some sort of catapult and they’re pointed at that fort, not at us,’ Kayleb said reassuringly.
‘They’re going to attack that fort.’
‘They’re Long Men,’ said Cornwall. ‘I’ve heard the Leaders talk about them. They drink from contaminated water and it makes them grow.’
Kayleb eyed the river suspiciously. He had drunk quite a lot of water that morning and his whole body ached. Was it all the walking, or was the water starting to take effect and his limbs were about to stretch to twice their length? His thoughts were disturbed as one of the older ones among the men let out a blood- curdling scream. Immediately, large boulders were loaded into the arms of the catapult and a lever was released. The boulders hurled through the air. Some hit the flimsy shell of the fort and some fell short. Surprisingly, the ones that hit did little damage, which enraged the attackers and further boulders were loaded and fired.
‘They’re not doing very well,’ said Indigo calmly. ‘There’s no sign of action from the fort. Perhaps they’re used to being attacked and just sit back and watch a film while it’s all going on. The fort reminds me of a pair of trousers. Why don’t they just walk up to the fort and tear it down with their hands; they’d make a better job of things.’
‘I think we’d better go up-river and try and sneak behind the fort before we’re spotted and they turn on us,’ said Kayleb as the Long Man leader barked out another order.
Rupert was standing on the bank behind Cornwall and, frightened by a battle cry, suddenly charged up the side of the bank, tearing past Cornwall and flew over the top of the bank. She tried to grab his ear but it was too late – he had hurtled down onto the plateau. Rupert, seeing the Long Men and their catapults, careered around the plateau panic-stricken. He tried to dodge a flurry of rocks but a large one caught him on his side. Rupert fell to the ground and writhed around in pain. He tried to get up but collapsed onto the grass and laid there motionless, blood trickling down his side.
Cornwall was about to go after him but was held back by Indigo.
‘It’s no good. They’ll get you if you go to him. He won’t have survived, that boulder was massive.’
‘But ...’ Tears welled up in Cornwall’s eyes.
‘I know, I know.’ Indigo held her for a while and she cried bitterly.
Kayleb, who had been holding his breath for the whole episode, exhaled and looked across to Indigo and Cornwall. He felt her pain. He felt like that when he thought of Helen dying. He wondered if the blood they’d taken from him had given them any clues to why he didn’t have the AIDS virus. Could he help to cure Helen? He felt anger coursing through his veins. Why had he been sent on this task when he could possibly save Helen’s life? Deep down, he had the feeling that London wasn’t really bothered whether Helen lived or died. She had been a waster and shouldn’t by rights have any help to keep her alive. What chance did Cornwall have if she had AIDS? Would they help her, or would they cast her back into the wilderness to die? No, neither Helen nor Cornwall should be allowed to die; it was inhumane. He looked at Indigo. Why was Indigo holding Cornwall? It should have been him comforting her.
Willow grunted anxiously and trotted up and down the river bank, trying to work out what had happened to Rupert. Rowan was becoming alarmed by this and feared that she, too, might bolt over the ridge, so he picked up the rope and tied it gently around her two heads. The others scuttled back down the ridge and started to walk up-river away from the fort and the pointless battle cries. Kayleb wondered why the Long Men were so angry. Did they blame the occupants of the fort for contaminating the water? He wanted to know who was in the fort. Could they help them all get back to London? Obviously they were of greater intelligence than the Long Men as the cladding on the fort, although rudimentary, was very effective. They were still quite close to the fort; maybe they could get in.
‘Wait,’ called Kayleb. ‘Stop, I think we should try and get into the fort and see if we can get help. They might take pity on us.’
‘Or kill us!’ exclaimed Rowan bluntly. ‘The only people that live out here are wasters. I would say that the fort will be full of them, with their own ideas on how to treat taskers. I think we’re safest just making our own way, don’t you?’
‘I think we should give the fort a miss, too,’ replied Indigo.
‘Rowan’s right. There’s only nutters out here. Do you know,’ said Indigo, ‘we have been walking and walking and I have seen no roads, cars, proper houses or pubs. What I’d give for a glass of wine. Where has everything gone? Everywhere, life is just grass and bushes. It’s all getting very dull,’ sighed Indigo.
Rowan pretended he was busy with Willow. He had only just started twenty-first-century history and he didn’t have an answer to Indigo’s question. He didn’t want to look stupid, especially in front of Cornwall. Kayleb spoke, much to Rowan’s relief and then annoyance.
‘I guess,’ said Kayleb, pulling at a piece of grass as he walked.
‘Cars and lorries were banned because we ran out of materials to build them and travel from one city was stopped because of terrorism and the Curfew Law. The roads out here in the wasteland have just crumbled away but in London there are roads for military traffic and for the trams to take people to work.’
‘How do you get food or do business or go on holiday?’ asked
Indigo, sounding frustrated by Kayleb’s matter-of-fact attitude.
‘You can’t seriously expect me to believe that you come from another age? Surely you know the answers to all these questions?’ Kayleb’s patience was waning. He felt they had all been humouring Indigo’s eccentricities too much. He still felt that getting into the fort was more important than answering stupid questions. Their lives were at stake. ‘Actually it’s not just wasters and wild beasts. There’s meant to be groups of aliens out here as well,’ continued Kayleb, hoping that Indigo’s curiosity had been satisfied.
Indigo looked crestfallen. He felt like an alien himself; it was so difficult to catch up with everything that had gone on since 2010. How many years had he travelled, one hundred ... two hundred ... a thousand? They were not prepared to accept that he had time-travelled, yet they were quite open to the idea of aliens living on Earth.
‘Look, I’m an alien. I know nothing about your planet, so humour me!’ said Indigo. ‘I might be able to help us all, if I know a bit more about how things work around here. I am friendly, and won’t harm you. I need to get to London as much as you do and I am sorry I ask so many questions but it will help if I know more.’
Rowan and Kayleb eyed Indigo with suspicion; they didn’t know what to think. Things were hard enough without having to trust an alien but it had to be said that Indigo had not put a foot wrong, except for the cowphant escapade.
‘OK,’ said Kayleb slowly, ‘I will explain.’
‘You can speak a little faster! I’m not stupid! I’ve managed up to now,’ exclaimed Indigo.
Kayleb continued. ‘We have to grow our own food in greenhouses on the roofs of our buildings and in every available patch of ground that isn’t built on. Each roof will provide enough fruit and vegetables to supply each family living in the block for the year. They’re productive all year as wind turbine and solar-powered heaters help them grow in the winter. Our waste products are processed in our homes and fed to the plants.
‘Meat and fish is produced humanely in free-range warehouses within London and is rationed. Most people prefer not to eat meat now because it has been genetically modified. There is some evidence that it affects our food chain as more babies are being born with two heads, despite being produced in a laboratory. They have to be born as termination has been banned. We used to be able to catch birds for meat, but this too has been banned as too many people were catching them rather than buying meat from authorities. Clothes and toiletries and food we can’t grow are rationed and are provided free but are limited as everything is recycled. What else do you want to know? Oh yes, business is done with webcams on computers, money is exchanged on the internet and there are no holidays but we all have a three-day weekend? If we need an adventure then we go to an ICE centre, that is, an Interactive Cyber Experience Centre where you can be plugged into anything you fancy once you turn sixteen. I like the ICE skateboard championship and Rowan likes white-water rafting. Mentors and their children like watching their digi-screens or going for walks at weekends and a lot of time is spent tending the crops. All children go to nursery and school all day as both their mentors work and children play outdoors in the evening and make up their own games and then everyone has to be inside by 9 p.m. when the curfew starts. Only those doing shift work are allowed to be out.’
Rowan looked up embarrassed, Kayleb had mentioned his ICE white-water rafting experience he had used as a cover story when they were in the cave to explain why he had woken up hugging a pig. Cornwall seemed to know what he was thinking and started to cry again over her loss of Rupert.
‘But what about the space aliens, what about them?’ asked Indigo.
Kayleb looked puzzled. Hadn’t Indigo just said that he was an alien? He decided to answer him nonetheless. ‘They, as you probably know, appeared many years ago, claiming that they had previously sent down Jesus to try and organise us. Apparently we were a population experiment that had got out of hand and he was sent down to try and sort us out. He didn’t do a bad job and Christianity kept us going for a while. Things went wrong again. I think the increase of terrorism was the turning point. First the Twin Towers, then the Houses of Parliament, Sydney Opera House and, worst of all, the whole of Washington, and then everyone was at war with each other. We were obviously a civilisation in decline. Fortunately, we discovered how to create a shield over our country that protects us from aircraft or any terrorist entering. The shield is like a force field no solid object can get through, only air; it has saved all our lives many times and our lives have all improved. All civilised cities have a shield too.’
Indigo was shocked. He loved London, but was always worried by the threat of terrorism and had given up going on the Tube. He hadn’t ever thought of Jesus as an alien. ‘What did the space aliens do? Did they try and help you all again?’
‘Well, you should know,’ said Kayleb. ‘The government turned them all out into the wilderness, thought they were crackpots and now we don’t know if they have gone or still live here,’ said Kayleb. ‘Terrorism has been sorted out, nobody leaves the city and nobody from another city is allowed in. Anybody who appears to be a threat is thrown out here. The shield over London and the computer programmers stop any missile hitting the cities. We all live very controlled but stable lives now.’
‘Don’t you miss your freedom?’ inquired Indigo. ‘I love to go abroad and see different cultures. Don’t you like to see how others live?’
‘We can see films on the internet and, as for freedom, I think I’ve had enough freedom out here to last me a lifetime,’ replied Rowan.
Cornwall had stopped crying. She looked admiringly at Kayleb; he knew so much.
Rowan gritted his teeth and wondered why Cornwall had smiled when she looked at Kayleb. As for Indigo, he thought, he was clearly deranged. Getting home was taking longer than he expected.
A low-pitched rumble stopped Rowan’s train of thought. Willow was squealing and tugging on her rope ‘What is it?’ whispered Kayleb urgently, turning this way and that. He scanned the horizon, looking for danger. The noise sounded much louder, more like a roar.
‘It’s a plane,’ shouted Indigo excitedly, jumping up onto the ridge.
The plane appeared on the horizon and sped towards them.
‘I’ve seen one before,’ said Cornwall, ‘I thought it was a bird. It won’t stop. It will fly over us that fast you will barely be able to see it.’
‘At last, civilisation!’ shouted Indigo. ‘Quick, flag it down! The people flying it might be able to help us.’ He started waving his arms and hands furiously. The jet was flying low. Instinctively Indigo ducked as it passed over their heads, the wind sweeping through his hair. It was heading towards the battlefield.
The others looked at Indigo incredulously. Did he think that he could stop a plane flying that fast.
‘Well, I tried! It was worth a try,’ Indigo said, looking a little sad. ‘Oh God, I’ve got to get out of this terrible place. This is too awful.’ He was now tearful. ‘I ... can’t.’
Indigo didn’t finish the next sentence, his knees buckled and he crashed down to the floor and lay there, out cold.
Kayleb looked at Indigo. Was he going to get up? He was getting used to his emotional outbursts now but why would he pretend to faint? Kayleb looked at the crumpled body on the ridge. Cornwall had gone to help him. A thin yellow mist seemed to be covering them and now she too had keeled over and lay lifelessly beside Indigo. Something was very wrong.
Rowan had disappeared with Willow; he had been here a second ago. Kayleb felt so alone and wasn’t sure whether to run or to help Indigo and Cornwall. The yellow mist seemed to reach out its icy fingers and suddenly he felt unable to move. The smoke caught his lungs and the smell reminded him of the cave they had sheltered in. Everything was becoming blurred and an incredible tiredness swept over him. As his eyes closed the last thing he remembered seeing was a man approach him wearing a gasmask and a white suit. Through the fog he could see a gold band around the man’s forehead. It caught the sun and sparkled in Kayleb’s eyes. His ears rang and then all went black as Kayleb hit the ground.