Kayleb sat quietly in the back of the police car and stroked Max’s head. He had managed to get him into the car and onto the back seat without any fuss. Kayleb looked out of the window at the apartments outside. It was hard to see where they were going.
There were no street lights at this time of night. There was only the dim light from the buildings to show their way. Kayleb tried not to think about David or Helen. Eventually, the police car drew up in front of their apartment. Kayleb looked up towards his bedroom, which was on the top floor. Kayleb half expected to see someone looking out of the window but there was no one. All the buildings in his street were in darkness; everyone was asleep. Kayleb felt weary climbing the stairs to their apartment. He felt shaky. Nothing seemed quite real. His heart was heavy and he did not want to face life again. Bed was the only place he wanted to be.
Kayleb slept fitfully and he had many terrifying dreams. He dreamt that he couldn’t escape from the wilderness and finally, when he did get back to London, he found himself in the brain cleansing centre. Men in white coats held him down and he shouted at them to let him go but they just grinned ominously and held him all the more firmly. They then put a black hood over his head with wires sticking out of the top and strapped him to a table.
‘No, please ... no ... let me go! I want to remember.
Nooooooo!’
‘What on earth is the matter, Kayleb?’ Conrad asked.
Kayleb awoke. He found himself sitting up in bed with sweat pouring down his face. He looked towards his bedroom door. Conrad stood there silhouetted in the dull hall light.
‘Are you all right, Kayleb? Do you want a drink or something?’ Conrad asked.
Kayleb sighed. ‘No, I’m fine. I was just dreaming. I really don’t want my brain cleared. It’s not as if there is anything to tell about the wilderness. Some people in the police know what’s it’s like out there – Cornwall, for example; she knows everything. What’s the point of having to have your brains fried? Surely if you have made it back to London in one piece, you would appreciate having good living conditions and enough food to eat,’ continued Kayleb. ‘Please don’t send me to the centre. I could work for the police authorities and be an agent or something like that.’
Conrad entered Kayleb’s room. He walked over to Kayleb’s desk and picked up the piece of gilth. It had caught his eye and he wondered what was glowing in the corner of Kayleb’s dark room. The gilth glowed brighter in the warmth of Conrad’s hand.
‘Look, Kayleb, I know this is hard for you but it really will be only a small part of your memory that will be wiped. You will feel perfectly normal when you return home. Our rules are there for a reason. In any society, there is a fine line between anarchy and peace and too much knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
The taskers who return home have their minds cleared and are compliant; that way, they’re unlikely to cause any disruption within the cities as they mature. While you are at the Decam Centre, you will have a sample taken from you for the Labour Centre and you will then be neutered. Just think, you will be responsible for our future generations! Doesn’t that make you feel proud? Man is on the brink of extinction. The y chromosome in man is fighting for survival. This is the only way we can ensure our species can be preserved and flourish. Only the strongest of us get to donate.’
Kayleb was confused and felt exhausted. He finally knew that he had just been through a cruel selection process, just as he had suspected.
Conrad was now gazing down at the piece of gilth with curiosity. It had doubled in size since he had picked it up. Kayleb did not remember David giving him the crystal in the broadcasting room and he did not remember leaving it on his desk, but then he had been in a bit of a state that evening.
‘What is this stuff, Kayleb? Where did you get it from?’
‘David had some. He told you about this on his broadcast. Gilth is not from Earth; it’s from Veenah.’
Kayleb stared at the gilth. It looked real enough. A pang of guilt ran through him. David was genuine, genuine as the gilth, and he had seen him do many amazing things. He now felt guilty for not standing up for him more in the broadcasting room and wondered if David was lying in his cell or if he had already been cast out of London.
‘You’re wrong about David,’ Kayleb said to Conrad. ‘He’s not a madman. Please just wait until tomorrow evening before you expel him. He could have really saved Helen.’
Conrad looked uncomfortable. Kayleb could see that it hurt Conrad to hear her name. ‘She was always talking about you, Kayleb; you meant a lot to her. It was Helen that got me to get Cornwall to keep an eye on you. Helen wasn’t in pain when she died. She just shut her eyes and it was almost as if she was asleep when she went.’
‘I miss her,’ said Kayleb sadly.
‘I know, Kayleb; we all do. Try and get some sleep. I’ve got to get into work early tomorrow in case we have another terrorist attack. I’ll send a police car over in the afternoon to take you to the Decam Centre. You’ll be fine, I promise. Don’t go out. It’s the weekend and everyone will be out and about. I don’t want you to get attacked. I’ll send an officer round to protect you.’
Conrad looked at the crystal. It was glowing brightly now. ‘Can I borrow this crystal? I want to run some tests on it,’ Conrad asked Kayleb.
‘Yes,’ said Kayleb, settling down to sleep. He had no intention of staying in and planned to slip out of the apartment before the police officer arrived. In the morning, he was going to find his way to Green Park to watch David’s people land. He would try to find a way to convince Conrad not to send him to the Decam Centre.
Kayleb woke with a start. Max was by his bed and was whimpering. Max was happy to see him open his eyes. He wagged his tail and then barked at Kayleb.
‘What’s the matter, Max? What do you want?’
Max ran to the door and looked at Kayleb. Kayleb slowly got out of bed. It was just light and the birds were beginning to sing. Kayleb looked at Max. He was puzzled and wondered what he wanted. Quickly Kayleb dressed himself and hoped that Max had not woken up Conrad. He put on a cap and tucked his hair into it, he didn’t want to be recognised when he left the apartment.
Kayleb found his rucksack and some food for himself and Max and then quickly left the apartment, The dog eagerly followed him and barked as Kayleb opened the door. Kayleb looked back at Conrad’s room and was relieved to find that he had already left for work.
Max was glad to be outside and ran around the courtyard of the block looking for a place to urinate. Fortunately, he did not go in the vegetable area. Kayleb realised that he would have to teach Max to go in the drain holes like the other dogs in the neighbourhood.
It was a windy morning and the clouds in the sky promised rain. Kayleb couldn’t remember the last time it had rained. As he walked along the street, gusts of wind hit him squarely in the face and tugged at his cap. Kayleb pulled his hat down firmly. The wind turbines on every roof turned energetically as Kayleb walked past them. The apartments would have power for free for a while. The wind reminded him of the time he had spent on the boat when they crossed the Channel. That part of his life felt like a very long time ago.
Kayleb looked up at the windows. Everyone was still fast asleep. He wondered how long it would take before Conrad realised that he had left the apartment unguarded. He then thought about the microchip in his heel; it was probably bleeping away now, marking his route out to the authorities. At any moment, they would sweep on him and drag him off to the Decam Centre. Kayleb was tired of being watched, tired of having to conform. He wondered how they had all come to live their lives this way. Their lives were now so unnatural that humankind was on the verge of extinction and all because their way of life had become so contrived and tampered with. Humans had only themselves to blame for their demise. David and his people were now humankind’s only hope.
Kayleb had been to Green Park many times with Helen and Conrad when he was little and he had always enjoyed his outings there. Most of the park was cultivated but the water features and statues had been preserved and cordoned off for the public to see. Kayleb remembered seeing the pigeons strutting about in front of the statues, confident in the knowledge that, under the rules, they couldn’t be captured and fried later.
Kayleb kept looking behind him, checking for police cars. He hoped that all the police had been deployed in and around Green Park and were only watching out for terrorists and not runaway boys.
The park was unusually crowded. Kayleb thought that this was odd and wondered why so many people were waiting there. He had not thought that anyone would believe that they would see aliens land. Kayleb began to feel conspicuous and wished that he had worn a better disguise, but nobody seemed to be looking at him and he tried to look like he was strolling through the park, just like he would on any other weekend.
Kayleb stopped by a statue of Wellington sitting on his horse. The pigeons were there as usual pecking at invisible crumbs. A little girl stood near Kayleb and watched the pigeons with him.
Her two mentors were chatting. The girl pulled the sleeve of one of her mentors and asked. ‘Liana, when the aliens come, will they kill all the pigeons?’
Liana turned towards the little girl. ‘No, Euro,’ she said. ‘You saw Commander Heinz on the digi-screen last night. He said that you mustn’t be afraid of the madman or that silly boy. There are no aliens coming here. That poor old man and boy will be taken to hospital and made better. Commander Heinz is a good man and would not lie to us.’
‘OK, Liana. The pigeons will be safe, then,’ Euro said, looking at Kayleb for reassurance. Euro looked at Kayleb and screamed.
Her piercing cry made everyone’s head turn to see what had happened. Kayleb wanted the ground to swallow him up. Euro was pointing directly at him. She had obviously recognised him from the broadcast the previous evening.
Kayleb looked around him for an escape route but Euro’s pointing finger had moved upwards, above his head. Everyone was now looking up towards the sky. Kayleb’s heart was pounding. He turned around to see what was in the sky and then saw hundreds of sparkling, spearhead-shaped space carriers flying through the sky, high above the protective shield. The ships left a trail of fire. They were still glowing after entering the Earth’s atmosphere. Everyone looked on silently at the shocking spectacle. Only Euro cried, her sobs echoing in the silence.