The cabin of the boat echoed with the sound of laughter. Kayleb had watched as everyone crowded around a digi-screen and all seemed unconcerned about Zordar’s murder. His death had been forgotten; it was almost as if he had never been there. Kayleb looked out at the sea. He could just see the waves, swelling and receding as they travelled towards London and he wondered if Zordar’s body was now lying at the bottom of the Channel.
Prozac was scanning the computer for news from home. David had stopped him from sending a visual mail to his mentors as he thought that it would alert the authorities that they had control of a patrol boat. Kayleb was shocked to discover that everyone’s digi-mail was scanned for terrorist activity. Kayleb moved to the doorway and stood there looking out to sea. The cabin felt too crammed full of people and hot inside. The cool breeze from the sea refreshed him. The patrolmen were still outside on the deck; they had been tied back to back. Cornwall had taken pity on them and had covered them up with thermo sheets so they wouldn’t get cold. Kayleb looked over his shoulder at Cornwall. She was looking at one of the patrolmen’s jacket she had found in the cabin. She was fiddling with the temperature controls. Cornwall put the jacket on and walked over to Kayleb.
‘You look thoughtful, Kayleb. What are you thinking about? Are you looking forward to going back home? Have you decided if you’re going back to your mentors or are you going to stay with us?’
Kayleb was thrown for a moment. He wasn’t far from London and he would soon be able to see Conrad and Helen again. He wondered if AIDS II had claimed yet another victim. Kayleb sighed. He didn’t want to leave everyone and be swallowed back into the system, to have all his tasker memories wiped clean. He wanted to remember everything.
‘I don’t want to leave everyone and I really want to help David, but I’m worried that if I don’t go back now then I won’t get to see Helen again,’ Kayleb said, trying not to look into Cornwall’s eyes.
‘I understand,’ said Cornwall sadly. ‘I miss my mother too. If you ...’
The boat shuddered as the engine’s power cut, Kayleb held the door frame to stop himself from falling. All Kayleb could hear now were the waves lapping at the sides of the boat and a seagull cry out in the darkness.
Desperately Rowan looked at the control panel. All the lights and screens were fading, the lights in the cabin went off and then everything was shrouded in darkness. The patrol boat drifted aimlessly along, buffeted by the waves and the currents.
‘The solar tank has lost its charge I think,’ said Rowan. ‘We’ll have to wait until sunrise before the cells charge up again. There must be a reserve tank on the boat but I’d doubt if the patrolmen will tell us.’
‘We’ll wait to morning,’ announced David. ‘Let’s hope we’re not spotted by another patrol boat. We should try to sleep so we have our wits about us at daybreak.’
Rowan couldn’t sleep. He looked out of the cabin window and eagerly waited for the sun to rise. He was sure that at any moment he would see the sun’s rays breaking through the horizon and clear away the night sky. The Isle of Wight seemed to be getting larger.
It was becoming obvious to Rowan that currents were pushing them towards its hostile shores. He grew more and more impatient. He couldn’t tolerate being delayed any longer from returning home. Soon he would have his normal life back. If that was what Ledbetter meant by swimming with the fishes, then so be it, he was quite happy to swim with them. He was more intelligent than Ledbetter and David knew.
The first strands of daylight had woken Kayleb. He went out onto the deck to watch the sunrise. He stood by the patrolmen; they were asleep. Kayleb stared at the Isle of Wight with a heavy heart. It was an evil place. Kayleb found himself thinking about Zordar. He felt disturbed by Zordar’s final moments. David’s decision to throw Zordar’s body over the side of the boat seemed so clinical and uncaring. Kayleb couldn’t understand why David had not tried to save Zordar’s life before it was too late; surely he could have done something to help his loyal friend? They were now very close to the Isle of Wight. If they did end up on the island, he wondered how they would get across it without Zordar.
Oddly the sun rays didn’t charge the boat’s battery cells and her engine didn’t spring back in to life. Finally, the rudder got stuck in the sand below and the boat groaned as it came to a stop. Rowan felt like the whole world had frozen, and for a moment he felt secure. It was almost a pause button had been pressed and time was standing still. Reality hit Rowan squarely on his chest when he realised that everyone had jumped from the boat into the sea and were making their way to the shore. Rowan knew he wasn’t in his surreal world anymore; this was real life, raw and ugly.
Everyone made their way to the beach. The sea was only waist deep but it was slow-going and everyone hoped that they wouldn’t be spotted by patrol boats or, for that matter, by the evil lifers on the island.
Kayleb looked cautiously along the shore as he waded through the water. He did not want to be caught by a lifer, who, he knew, would show him no mercy. The lifers took pleasure in torturing each other; they would probably enjoy torturing innocent victims even more. Kayleb looked over to David as they stepped onto the shore. He looked so peaceful and unconcerned, despite the fact they were all facing probable death; his laid-back attitude was becoming infuriating. It had become obvious to Kayleb that David did not fear death at all. Perhaps he did not feel pain or remorse, thought Kayleb, and he wondered whether David might just be some sort of lunatic after all. Kayleb could feel himself shaking, not only from feeling cold but from fear. He did not want to be on this island; he could taste death and his stomach churned.
‘Follow closely behind me,’ whispered David. ‘Be ready to link up if you see anyone. Remember, you must not let go of each other or there will be nothing I can do to help you. There is a bolthole not far from here. We’ll stay there for today; it will be better to go across the island at night.’
Rowan looked again at the sky. The sun was above the horizon. He could see clearly now and what he saw disgusted him. Along the coastline were piles of bones, both human and animal. Some of the piles formed tall symmetrical towers, while others were just thrown together in heaps. Rowan weaved his way through the towers amazed by the sheer numbers of bones and the height of the structures. He shivered. There was a smell of decay in the air. If you died in London, then you went to the Ashes Centre and were put into a furnace. After you were cremated, your remains were scattered onto the fields as fertiliser to help the crop production. Nothing was left. This, though, was perplexing and sickening.
Eventually, David stopped at one of the tower of bones. Rowan could see that he was looking for something in particular. One of the skulls in the centre of the tower had a pebble placed in one of its eye sockets, David stuck his finger in the empty socket, which made Rowan feel even sicker; he imagined what it would be like to touch a decaying brain. Slowly a rectangular slab of piled bones slid forward and David then pushed this aside to reveal an opening within the bone tower. David looked behind him to see if anyone was watching and then urged the group to enter the tower. Rowan waited until last and paused before entering, he couldn’t see where the passageway led to; it was too dark.
David looked calmly into Rowan’s frightened eyes. ‘Trust me,’ he said to Rowan. ‘Bones are nothing to fear; they’re only skin deep – there is more to man than skin and bones.’
Rowan looked at the bones around the doorway and then at David. He did not like being treated like an idiot.
‘Soon that’s all you’ll all be, is bones,’ snarled a voice behind Rowan.
Rowan whipped his head around to see who had spoken and saw a dwarf-sized man step out from behind an adjacent bone tower. The man grinned with an evil smile and showed a row of gnarled teeth. His fair hair hung in greasy strands around his scarred face. In front of him he held a huge laser gun and pointed it directly at David and Rowan. His finger twitched threateningly on the trigger.
Rowan looked at David for direction but David looked at the man in shocked silence. He had been so preoccupied with Rowan he hadn’t heard the man approach.
Rowan looked with despair at David, waiting for him to hold on to him and protect him from the monster that stood before them.
David shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, Rowan,’ he replied. I cannot protect you from Staan. I know this man. He is from my planet. He can break through my force field.’
‘I’ve been waiting a long time to kill you, David, and here you are. You’ve just walked straight into my lair. It will be a pleasure to peel you and add your bones to my collection. You!’ Staan pointed his gun at Rowan. ‘Go down into that stinking rat hole and get everyone out, or I’ll shoot your arm off ... Don’t want to waste too much fresh meat.’
Rowan looked at David in terror. David nodded. ‘You’d better get them all.’
‘That’s right, off you go!’ snarled Staan.
Rowan stumbled clumsily into the tower of bones and disappeared into the darkness. He wished he had the strength in his legs to run away from David and Staan, away from the madness, but it was too late now. He made his way down a corridor and staggered into a torch-lit cave and looked at everyone’s concerned faces.