It was early evening and the solar trams were in full flight, dropping off mentors and their charges in each street. Everyone was wearing simple, neutral-coloured uniforms as they headed for their apartments, happily chatting to each other about their days. Some of the mentors and children stared at David and his group as they were all wearing white and stood out from everyone else. All the Londoners went straight to their crop areas and began to tend their plants. They glared uneasily at David’s group as they passed by. Kayleb felt tense. They had managed to avoid the cameras so far but he knew that it would not be long before a Londoner reported them to the authorities.
Kayleb caught up with David. ‘We need to take cover. Someone is bound to tell on us and then we will get caught by the police.’
‘I did not realise things were so bad here,’ said David sadly. ‘I feel a sense of fear and mistrust. Is it a crime to walk down a street in London? We’d better lie low and wait. I will have to broadcast my message tomorrow. Here we are. There’s a field over there; we can hide amongst those plants and rest.’
David led his group into the field. The maize was shoulder-high and swallowed up all eight of them easily, shielding them from curious eyes.
Everyone sat quietly, eating the fruit, bread and sausage from their ration packs, and waited for the night to come. They could hear people in the distance tending their crops and chatting as they collected ripened fruit and vegetables ready to load onto the tram in the morning, for the authorities to collect from their work stations. Luckily nobody seemed to notice, or to care, that there were strangers hiding nearby in a field of maize.
Kayleb could feel the warmth of the sun seeping through the gaps between the leaves of the plants. He felt confused again. Here he was back in London, his home, yet he could barely remember his life before his task. Life before was a blur, a distant memory; it was almost like a lost dream. Kayleb stroked Max, who had found an old bone and was gnawing on it enthusiastically.
Kayleb’s daydreaming was disturbed by Cornwall, who was urgently looking inside her rucksack for something. She frantically searched through everything, looking for the missing item. Kayleb wondered what Cornwall was looking for. She looked perplexed.
‘Just tip the bag upside down, Cornwall,’ called Kayleb. ‘You’ll find what you’re looking for then.’
Cornwall looked up. She looked shocked that Kayleb had been watching her.
‘Never mind,’ she said. ‘It wasn’t important.’
Cornwall put her bag down and then sat looking up at the sky, breathing deeply. Kayleb thought that she might be feeling faint; there wasn’t much air circulating through the maize.
‘Are you all right, Cornwall?’ Kayleb asked.
Cornwall nodded. At that moment the sound of a jet could be heard approaching. Cornwall’s eyes darted back to her bag and she grabbed it and turned the bag upside down. The contents scattered around her and she wildly searched through everything until she found a large black pebble. Clumsily she picked it up, placed it between her hands and twisted it open. The pebble split in two and a red laser light shot up into the sky, just as the jet flew over.
Kayleb’s mouth opened, horror-struck.
‘You ... you’re letting them know where we are ... Why?’ Kayleb shouted. ‘What’s going on? Who are you?’
Cornwall smiled slyly as she twisted the two parts of the stone back into place. Indigo, David and the others came over to see why Kayleb had been shouting.
‘You are all fools if you think you can change anything here,’ said Cornwall sourly. There was no hint of a French accent now.
‘They know everything about you, David; they know about your plans to sabotage our system and invade us. You will all be arrested and turned back out into the wilderness where you belong.’
David smiled. ‘I knew that one of us was a bad egg but I didn’t think it was you, Cornwall! You are the one person I couldn’t read, I should have realised. You are so naïve, Cornwall,’ he said. ‘Your society is far from perfect; the human soul cannot be controlled by brainwashing and fear. People will become intolerant and will rebel against this barbaric system; everything will change and there is nothing you can do about it. How can you be so blind? You have seen how the wasters and lifers live in the wilderness and how these poor souls exist trapped in this superficial bubble.’
‘You can’t be serious! London life is faultless,’ said Cornwall. ‘Everyone is treated equally and fairly. You have come from the wilderness and have ideas above your station. You’re a waste of space and will be treated as such.’
Kayleb looked on in stunned silence; he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He had known Cornwall for some time and, although he knew Cornwall had some odd ways, he would never have imagined that she would turn out to be a traitor. Kayleb thought back over the past weeks; she had never given any hint of being undercover. There had been so many lies. She didn’t seem like a police officer; her ways were far too quirky. The lengths she had gone to convince everyone she was a waster were beyond belief. He wondered why she had insisted on bringing her pigs with her when they had first met in France and why she had let David cure her of AIDS. Kayleb couldn’t understand what was going on; he felt so angry with her.
‘David cured you of AIDS! How could you let him do that, knowing full well you would betray him later on,’ Kayleb asked Cornwall. ‘You’re despicable! You make me sick! Who do you think you are?’
‘Not Cornwall for a start! Can’t stand that name. Good at my job, aren’t I? I work for the special branch for Commander Conrad and am trained to search out terrorists or any group of wasters that might be a threat to London. England has always been a terrorist target. There’s always someone out there who’s greedy and wants to take what’s not theirs. I just tidy up any scum, round them up, clear their minds and release them back into the wild.
It’s a very effective way to treat filth! The authorities should be here soon. I wouldn’t run; it would just make you all look pathetic!’
Indigo stepped out from the crowd. He was furious. ‘How dare you, Cornwall, or whatever your name is,’ he shouted. ‘I have come this far and nothing is going to stop me from getting home. Look at you, standing there all smug! If you weren’t a girl I’d rip that smile off your face.’
‘Don’t get upset, Indigo,’ said David calmly. ‘She’s not worth it. You must go and find the time machine Ledbetter talked about.
It just needs a final tweak and it will work. You have time. The authorities will be more concerned about me. Get your things together, Indigo, and go, while you still have the chance. Cornwall is unarmed. I will tell you where to go; we are not far from the house.’
‘I can’t leave you all now. You’re my friends, you need help,’ said Indigo, bewildered by the situation.
‘No, Indigo, you must go back to Robin. He’s distraught; he thinks you have been murdered. Come with me. I will tell you how to get to the time machine. You do not want to be thrown back into the wilderness.’
Indigo nodded. He knew that this might be his only chance to get home.
‘Where do you two think you are going?’ Cornwall shrieked at David and Indigo as they walked away, out of earshot.
‘Oh, just shut up, Cornwall,’ shouted Kayleb. ‘Indigo is not interested in our mad world. Life here isn’t ideal. Even you have your flaws. You must have contracted AIDS sexually. I don’t think you’ve had a blood transfusion; everyone says that they don’t know how AIDS is spread in London but that’s the truth. The authorities are hardly likely to broadcast that! You like seeing the male body, don’t you, Cornwall? That’s why you took the clothes from Rowan’s back. You wanted him, didn’t you? You’re the one who’s pathetic!’
‘Piss off!’ yelled Cornwall.
Indigo joined them again and then turned to Kayleb. ‘I’m off now. I’ve got to get back to my time. I’ll write a book about what’s happened, I mean what will happen, but I’m not sure anyone will believe it. You probably don’t have libraries any more and you wouldn’t be able to read it online. It would be far too controversial for 3004 but I’ll write it all the same. Goodbye, David, thanks for all your help. You’ve got this far, I’m sure you’ll think of something.’
‘Take care, Indigo,’ said David.
‘Yes,’ said Kayleb. ‘I’ll look out for your book. There are still books, locked away, it’s true, but there are ways to get access to them.’
Indigo hugged everyone, waved and then rushed off through the tall maize to find the time machine. Cornwall did not try to stop him.
Kayleb looked at David standing there waiting for the authorities to come and wondered what he was going to do. It was pointless running. David was far too unfit and old to flee. Kayleb desperately looked around. There had to be something they could do to save themselves. Kayleb thought about Conrad. They would be taken back to the police headquarters and then perhaps Kayleb could talk to him and convince him to find a way to let David and his people come to Earth. Conrad had managed to bend the rules for Helen, then maybe he could for David too, especially if David cured Helen and proved his worth. Kayleb’s stomach was in knots. Time was running out and David just looked like he wanted to be trapped. Kayleb wondered if being caught was part of David’s plan. Kayleb was confused. Why, then, had they been trying to get to the police headquarters without being detected.
‘David,’ Kayleb said, ‘what are we going to do? We can’t just let Cornwall turn us in. You must have some idea?’
‘Don’t worry yourself, Kayleb,’ David whispered. ‘I was going to try and sneak into the broadcasting centre when we got to the city centre but now I sense from you that it would be better to talk with Conrad first. He is a compassionate man.’
‘Commander Conrad won’t give you the time of day,’ sneered Cornwall. ‘He’s far too busy to talk to scum!’
‘We’ll see!’ said David calmly.
Max began barking and growling. He could hear a vehicle approaching and sensed the desperate feeling in the air. He knew something bad was about to happen.