Fierce September (25 page)

I gaped at her. How did she know that the world had been about to crush me?

She smiled again. ‘That’s what this school is all about – being aware of the world beyond the five senses.’

I refused to look in Marba’s direction. He’d be sitting up, eyes gleaming, begging for more.

‘Will you tell us your names?’ Jethro asked.

Marba introduced us. The boy told us his name: Thomas.

‘Can you tell what we’re thinking?’ Silvern demanded. She stuck her chin out, ready to fight anyone who tapped into her mind.

Thomas sniggered. ‘I can tell you’d be steaming furious if we could.’

Christina sent him a look. He apologised, but he wasn’t even a smidgen sorry. He sat there grinning at us. Christina shook her head at him but he just kept right on with the grinning. Silvern turned her back on him.

But Thomas hadn’t finished showing how smart he was. ‘You’d better be careful, Silver girl. Getting angry makes you sick, and I can see that you get angry a zillion times a day.’

‘Thomas!’ Christina spoke sharply. ‘Remember your manners.’

‘Sorry,’ he said again, grinning like a clown.

Silvern kept her back to him.

‘We don’t read thoughts,’ Jethro said after a moment. ‘But we are trained to be aware of feelings.’ He smiled at me. ‘Yours were very strong, Juno, and when we became aware of the reason we acted to alleviate the problem.’

‘Thanks,’ I muttered. Thomas smirked. It was as if he was saying,
Cowardy custard, scared of a few kids
. He made me feel small, as if I wasn’t as smart as him. I shut him out of my mind.

Jethro turned to Marba. ‘I’m aware that you want a whole lot more information, but can you bear with us for the moment? We’d very much like to know how it was you were able to rescue Willem.’ He looked next at Paz. ‘We’ll sweeten the telling for you by providing food and drink.’

Paz gave a grunt of laughter and relaxed back on the sofa. We waited in silence for a few moments until two of the older boys brought in a tray of food and pots of tea.

The food was good. I ate a small cake and thought about the telling of our story. At least this audience would believe Hera’s part in it, although I didn’t want Thomas to hear it. Could he sense that, I wondered. I didn’t look at him.

When the boys had cleared away, Marba began the story. All the time I was aware of Thomas processing the information, curling his lip over Hera’s part in it as if he was dismissing her abilities as inferior. Why was he here? Why was he the favoured one who could remain when all the other kids left? It couldn’t have been a reward for good behaviour.

Marba finished our story, and Jethro drew breath to speak, but I beat him to it. ‘Thomas, why are you here? Why aren’t you with the other kids?’

Marba, Silvern and Paz swivelled round to look at him. ‘Good question,’ snapped Silvern. ‘What’s so special about a little sniveller like you?’

His mouth dropped open. ‘You’re angry with me!’

She clapped her hands. ‘Golly gosh, how
clever
of you to work that out.’ She leaned forward. ‘For what it’s worth, I think you’re a rude, smarmy, up-himself little git. And that’s just for starters.’

Marba, Paz and I watched him, glancing too at the adults. Their faces were calm and they said nothing.

Thomas kept gaping at Silvern, kind of gasping for breath every few seconds.

‘What?’ she snapped. ‘Hasn’t anyone ever told you what a pathetic human being you are?’

He shook his head. ‘No. No. They haven’t.’ He stopped to think. ‘They just tell me to be more thoughtful. But I didn’t realise, I didn’t get it that …’ He sat still for a moment, and even without raised awareness I could practically see lights pinging on in the darkness of his mind. ‘I thought people didn’t like me being cleverer than them, but it’s not that, is it?’

‘Damn right it’s not,’ Silvern snarled. ‘It’s because you tramp all over people’s feelings, make them feel stupid, and it’s all just to prove how really, really smart
you
are.’ Then she added, ‘Not.’

The boys and I tried not to laugh, although Paz couldn’t quite hold back a smile. But Thomas surprised us. ‘I understand now.’ He sat up all earnest and serious. ‘You’ve done me a favour, you know. Everybody here is kind and gentle but I think I really needed somebody to yell at me.’ His face turned red. ‘I’m sorry. I truly am.’

Silvern flapped her hands. ‘For the love of Taris – go beat yourself with a big stick, why don’t you?’

Jethro and Christina shrieked with laughter. ‘Silvern, I think we’ll put you on the staff,’ Jethro said.

She came down off her high horse. ‘Any time you want somebody yelled at, I’m your woman.’ She turned back to Thomas. ‘So answer the question: why are you here?’

Suddenly he seemed frightened. Christina said gently, ‘Tell them, Thomas. None of it was your fault.’

We stared at her, then at Thomas. ‘What?’ Marba asked. ‘This is most mysterious, Thomas. Please put us out of our misery.’ He grinned at the kid. ‘You may have picked up that I’m not good at waiting for mysteries to be revealed.’

But the joking only seemed to make Thomas more frightened. He jumped up and ran to Jethro. ‘You tell them. Please. I’ll leave, I don’t want to listen …’

Jethro pulled Thomas down beside him on the sofa. ‘I’ll tell, if that’s what you want. But best you stay, Thomas.’

Silvern, Paz and Marba sat straight in their seats, eyes bright, faces alert. I tried not to shrink back, tried not to cringe from whatever was coming. I wanted to run from the room, from Thomas, from what was to come, which felt heavy and dark and full of dread. I shut my eyes and strove for calm. Now was the time for Jethro to pick up my feelings, to stop the conversation before it started, but neither he nor Christina spoke to me. I opened my eyes as he began to speak.

‘Thomas’s father, his genetic father, was Gavin Hilton.’

And this was supposed to mean something to us? I felt weak with relief – what a welcome let-down. We glanced at each other, eyebrows asking questions.

Thomas, though, was zinging with tension. ‘His other name. Tell them his other name.’

‘Of course. Sorry.’ Jethro shook his head. ‘You knew him as Hilto.’

That slammed us back in our seats, and my head reeled with the impact of the news. Hilto? Thomas was the genetic son of Hilto?

Marba, as always, focused on the logic of it. ‘But how? Did he leave genetic material here before he went to Taris?’

Thomas shook his head.

Christina took up the story. ‘He sent it back with the last ship to call in at Taris. About eleven years ago now.’

‘What?’ Paz screeched. ‘That’s a load of garbage! There hasn’t been a ship since I can remember, and I’m sixteen. I’d have remembered that. Believe me.’

‘That’s true,’ Marba confirmed. He looked stunned, unable to process the logic of it.

But I felt the certainty of it. ‘What if it is true?’ I could hardly speak. I felt winded.

Silvern jumped up and strode around the room. ‘If it’s true, then Hilto, Majool and Lenna were even more vile than we thought they were.’ She shot a glance at Thomas, who was cowering against Jethro, and held her tongue. She flopped down again. ‘Sorry, Thomas. Go on with the story.’

Christina said, ‘It wasn’t a supply ship. It was a ship that deviated from its intended route in answer to a request from Hilto and Majool. It was risky for Taris, because the ship had a case of measles aboard. Risky for the ship because of the extreme weather at that latitude.’

We couldn’t speak. There had been a ship from Outside during our lifetimes. A secret known only to those three.

‘A request?’ Silvern hissed at last. ‘What request?’

I squashed down a surging sickness. ‘A child. They wanted their immortality.’

‘Was that it?’ Paz demanded. We couldn’t take it in, but it was true.

Jethro and Christina nodded, sympathy in their eyes for us, for Thomas.

We stared at him – we couldn’t help it. He huddled against Jethro who tightened his arm around him. There was nothing now of the smart-mouthed kid. ‘Bear up, old soldier. Nearly there now.’

Marba recovered first. ‘But Majool didn’t have a child.’

Neither Christina nor Jethro asked how we knew, but Silvern explained, ‘When Juno’s parents chose the genetic parents for Hera, Majool wanted a child so badly that he broke into the gene centre and substituted his own sperm for that of the father they’d chosen, but that embryo wasn’t viable.’

Christina said, ‘He had a daughter, but she and her mother died in the last pandemic.’

‘I still can’t believe it!’ Paz pushed his hands through his hair. ‘We could have been rescued years ago. We could have …’ he broke off, shaking his head.

Christina projected a wave of calm towards us, but we weren’t calmed. She said, ‘There were only three of them left on Taris. That’s what they told the world. Just three of them left. They didn’t want to leave. They said they’d grown to love the place – wanted to live out the rest of their lives there.’ She smiled at us. ‘We can show you if you like?’

We nodded, beyond surprise by now.

Jethro got up, let down a screen, and put something into a machine. There in front of us were Hilto, Majool and Lenna. Silvern hissed, but snapped it off as she remembered that Hilto’s son was in the room with us. His
leavings.
That’s what Hilto had called Hera when he’d thought she was Majool’s child.

We watched as Hilto, looking all brave and noble, asked for the chance to leave a child behind him. He was almost as good at the dramatics as Silvern was. If we hadn’t known him, hadn’t suffered from his wickedness, then we’d have believed in his act. ‘This is our last request to the world beyond Taris,’ he said, looking all saintly and selfless. ‘Should there ever be a ship close enough to call at Taris, we ask for the chance to send back genetic material so that Majool and I at least can die knowing we each leave a child behind us.’

Majool and Lenna were just as bad. Lenna somehow managed to make her eyes water as she said, ‘I wish so much that it wasn’t too late for me to do the same.’

‘Damn lucky it was,’ Paz muttered.

I couldn’t take it in. We could have been rescued eleven years ago. We could have been Outside for nearly all the years of my life.

We kept listening as Hilto, Majool and Lenna told how everyone except the three of them had died. According to them, no children had been born for several years. ‘No parent wanted to bring a child into such an uncertain world,’ Lenna said, squeezing out a couple more tears which she let dribble down her cheeks. ‘You know our history, but can you understand how terrible it was for us during the epidemic to watch our friends sicken and starve to death? The lack of food …’ She actually gave a reasonable sort of sob. ‘There was so much suffering and we felt so helpless.’

Lie after lie spilled from them, and all through it they looked noble, sacrificing and sincere.

Jethro switched the images off. Into the silence he said, ‘You can understand why there were women who wanted to fulfil the wishes of Gavin Hilton and Martin Julong.’

Thomas looked relieved to have the worst over. ‘My mother’s nice. She’s a good person and I love her.’ We almost heard him add
so there.

Silvern gulped in several deep breaths then squatted down in front of him. ‘Listen, buddy. I’m sorry I was so tough on you back then. You’re you, not him. Okay?’ She jabbed his knee with a finger. ‘But if you get smart, we yell at you. Deal?’

He sniffed, swiped at his eyes, then giggled. ‘Okay. Deal.’

Christina said, ‘Would the four of you like to go for a walk around the school grounds. It’ll give you a chance to absorb what you’ve heard.’ She smiled. ‘You’ll have more questions, I’m sure.’

We were so numb, we simply did as she suggested. Jethro led us through the buildings, but rather than showing us to the playing fields he took us to farmland and gardens, then left us alone. ‘Wander anywhere you like and come back when you’re hungry. You’ll want some time to yourselves.’

We started walking, then Paz took off. ‘Gotta run or I’ll smash something.’

Then we were all running – running away from treachery, lies and betrayal. Were we ever going to be able to escape our past?

I
GOT TIRED FROM RUNNING before the others did. That was what being cooped up in a tiny apartment did for your fitness. I slowed to a walk and wandered around the grounds, not really absorbing anything I saw. Hilto had had the last laugh after all. He must’ve sat in the prison we made to hold him, laughing his head off at how he’d tricked us. Little wonder Majool was so sour: Hilto had immortality but Majool’s had been snatched away from him.

Mother’s sister, Dad’s brother – both of them killed because they’d challenged Hilto, Majool and Lenna. Suddenly I wanted my mother. I wanted her to be unhurt and to put her arms around me and tell me everything would be all right.

Thomas. Just as well Silvern had yelled at him before we knew who he was. How could we see him as any old kid now? He didn’t look much like Hilto, but Hilto in my memory was old, crabbed and vicious. I couldn’t easily bring his face into my mind, just the distorted rage that came with it.

I broke into a run again, determined to push myself till the sickness left me. But I tired before that happened, so I walked, trying to concentrate on the grounds of Fairlands.