The Hunting (19 page)

‘Oh my God,’ Renée squealed. ‘She’s frosting.’

Nervous that they might be stopped for stealing the wheelchair, they got her down the walkway and away from the ferry. They parked her outside a pizza place where the oven heat positively blasted out through the open window. Renée placed a reluctant Moucher on Genie’s lap.

‘Do we call an ambulance? I mean, it’s impossible that she’s frosting, but so many things are impossible,’ Rian was saying, just not sure what the hell to do. Renée squeezed his arm, both staring at Genie as she sat in the wheelchair unseeing, barely breathing. Moucher whined. He was freezing on her lap. Didn’t like it one bit.

Level Fourteen was ice-cold and empty, a forgotten level filled with long-unused scientific equipment. She turned around and the movement triggered the overhead lights, which slowly flickered on all around her. She walked towards a wide panoramic wall, realizing just how huge this space was. Frost covered everywhere, walls and computer monitors. She slowly moved towards what looked like a map and she brushed away the icy layer covering it.

RADSPAN – Projected Completion 2000
.

Synchro One to Cascadia, which was the name given to the station she had been to with the others, and then to Whistler and beyond that to Nelson, then Banff, with others still marked under construction as far as the East Coast.

So was this Radspan Three? She wasn’t sure how one could tell one from another.

‘You look frozen.’

Genie whipped around and Cary seemed to peel off the wall. He looked dreadful, as if someone had drained all the life out of him.

‘Cary?’

He shrugged. ‘I know, I look bad. You don’t look so good yourself; you’re blue. You know it’s minus twenty in here, right? You can’t stay long dressed like that.’

Genie was shivering.

‘I like the wig though. Cute outfit too. You in disguise?’

‘Yeah. Someone called Strindberg is looking for me.’

‘Strindberg!’ Cary whistled.

‘You know who he is? His house is huge. We borrowed Reverend Schneider’s yacht and somehow ended up at Strindberg’s mansion and—’

Cary chuckled. ‘Denis hates Strindberg. He’s the one who’s got us all locked up and on life-support. He’s pure evil.’

Genie looked at Cary. ‘How’s Denis? How’s Julia?’

Cary looked at the ceiling; he didn’t really want to say. ‘None of us are going to make it, Genie. I’ve barely got the strength to get here. We’re all fading fast. Days left, if that. Randall is almost gone. We’re going out, one by one.’

‘I’m trying to figure something out,’ Genie whispered, horrified that she had done nothing for them so far.

Cary nodded. ‘That why you are here?’

‘Marshall’s coming. I think he’s got a plan.’

Cary was looking at the equipment. ‘It’s ancient. Like looking at Stonehenge and hoping it makes sense as a star map.’ He looked directly at Genie. ‘We may not make it, Genie. Don’t get yourself trapped on our account. You helped us once and you don’t deserve what’s happened to us.’

‘Marshall wants me to see something here. I don’t know what. I …’ Her teeth were chattering. ‘I can’t think, I’m so cold.’

Cary was looking at a computer monitor and he flicked a switch. Genie looked around her; this equipment was still connected. Still working after all this time. Lights started to come on around the room and somewhere a harsh buzzing sounded, which wasn’t probably a good sign.

‘Is this stuff supposed to be this cold?’

‘I think so. Well insulated. You should see the cabling. It’s like encased in huge steel pipes outside. Must use a ton of power to get it working.’

‘What are you—’

‘Transmission records. Someone was using this site for teleportation tests back in the nineties.’ He read out texts from the screen. ‘Tests ten to one thousand and six – negative. Following power and memory upgrade May 1997 from Silverlake hydro, transmission data was improved by eighty-nine per cent. The second series of tests began.’

‘Begin video playback.’ A computer voice sounded.

Genie walked over to Cary’s side and watched the video on the computer screen played on one corner. A clock counted down from ten seconds. A very scared white mouse was staked on a transmission platform. Its eyes were blinking with fear. On ‘One’ it vanished. There was applause off-screen.

A scientist’s face appeared on the monitor; he wore a label:
Dr Milan
. He was smiling. ‘As you can see from test one thousand one hundred and three the mouse dematerialized successfully, just as it was supposed to. The question remains, has it reappeared in Station Four in Nelson?’

There was a cut.

The same scientist, Dr Milan, appeared. He was no longer smiling. He looked five years older and unshaven, exhausted.

‘After the disappointments of trials two thousand and eight to two thousand and thirty-six we again revised and upgraded memory, but experienced further cooling problems. But what before had taken seconds, now would happen in nanoseconds. We know now that unless we can get speeds up to within a fraction of the speed of light, teleportation will simply not be possible. The Swiss team now building the Fortress has promised this and it seems it may be possible in theory, but we know we are very close here now.

‘Test two thousand and thirty-seven was a revelation.’

The screen showed a small white dog sitting on the transmission platform – it seemed to sense something was wrong, but couldn’t move, it was clearly drugged.

The same countdown procedure was played out and at the end of it the dog vanished. This time however there was no applause.

Cary frowned. ‘I can’t believe how many thousands of tests they did here. He was a fanatic. I’m skipping forward.’

Dr Milan was back on-screen. He looked a complete wreck and completely desperate. The date on the screen was twelfth October 1999.

‘We have just learned that Radspan Project has been terminated. Even though we have clearly demonstrated teleportation through four thousand five hundred tests that in principle material transmission can work, Strindberg, with the aid of his government friends, has shut us down.’ He looked directly into the camera; his eyes were haunted.

‘Strindberg, I hope you see this. You have no right to do this. We are just months away from a breakthrough. Just months. You are throwing away ten years of practical research.’

Dr Milan began to sob. Cary switched it off, embarrassed.

Genie was so cold now she could barely stand. Cary saw that she was going to collapse.

‘You should go back, Genie. I can’t feel the cold, but you’re making yourself ill.’

‘But I don’t know what I am supposed to discover. I have to help you.’

Cary offered only a withering smile.

‘I don’t think I’ll ever see you again. Please tell Renée to forget me. She’s—’

‘No!’ Genie shouted. ‘You can’t give up. You can’t give up, Cary. There must be a way.’

Cary disappeared. Genie spun around. She hated the way he came and left so abruptly.

She looked around the station. Where was the door? How would they even find the place up above? She saw someone had sprayed a slogan on the wall above it – something about an omelette.

She looked back at the computer. All shut down now. What had happened to Dr Milan? He looked terrified, as if he’d gone utterly crazy. Four thousand five hundred tests. How many mice and dogs had he made disappear? Someone’s much-loved pets he’d probably stolen. It was too horrific to contemplate.

A voice was calling her from far away.

‘Genie? You have to come back now. Can you hear me?’

Back where? How did they know she was here? Who was that calling? What did they mean by come back?

‘Now, Genie. Now, dammit,’ the voice shouted.

She heard barking and the station seemed to be fading around her. She felt despair. She hadn’t found anything out. Nothing at all, and Cary was dying, they were all dying.

She felt a stinging pain. She took a sudden deep breath.

Genie opened her eyes, there was a heavy weight on her chest and she seemed to be floating; it was dark.

Moucher licked her face then jumped off her.

‘I’m freezing,’ she gasped.

Rian and Renée were both staring at her wild-eyed. She seemed to be lying down someplace and it was moving. She remembered the ferry.

‘I’m so cold.’

Renée exhaled, clearly relieved to hear Genie’s voice. She tucked a blanket around Genie and lifted her head.

‘Drink this.’

Genie sipped hot coffee and felt it flow down inside her. It was a curious sensation. She could see that Rian was angry with her. She wondered what she’d done wrong.

‘I’m sorry,’ Genie croaked. ‘For whatever I did. I’m sorry.’

‘You’ve got nothing to be sorry for,’ Renée told her. ‘Ri’s just upset, that’s all. You were nearly dead. We were both upset. If Mollie here hadn’t helped I don’t know what we would’ve done.’

Genie tried to turn her head but it was too stiff. ‘Mollie?’

Mollie stood, swaying a little so that Genie could see her.

‘You’ll be all right now, my girl. Hypothermia is a dangerous thing. I’ve seen it a few times. Got you wrapped up well. You’ll be fine.’

Genie moved a little and heard an odd noise coming from her clothes. She felt under the blanket. Kitchen foil. She was wrapped like a Thanksgiving turkey. So weird.

‘Mollie lent us a blanket and wrapped you in foil,’ Renée told her. ‘You were covered in frost. It was …’

‘Remarkable,’ Mollie declared. ‘And on such a warm night.’

‘And where are we now?’ Genie asked, as Moucher put a paw out to her and sought reassurance that she still loved him. She squeezed his paw.

‘Got a ride from Mollie’s son.’

‘Hello,’ he hollered from the front.

‘He’s got this Winnebago. We’re riding in luxury, girl. I got to get myself one of these. It’s bigger than my ma’s whole house.’

‘You’ll need a lot of gas money, hon. I almost never move it now, I only moved it ’cause I had to get the roof fixed after the snow last winter.’

Genie was puzzled. ‘We’re on the road? I thought …’ She had no memories of leaving the ferry.

‘On the way to Whistler. You said Whistler,’ Rian informed her. ‘Renée said she saw a bear.’

‘Did too. It was sitting just watching the road. It looked so sad.’

‘Whistler …’ Genie mumbled. So odd that she had just come from there. She hadn’t the heart to tell them it was a dead-end. There was nothing there but freezing cold. Radspan wasn’t going to save anyone.

‘Can I have another sip?’ she asked Renée, pointing to her coffee.

Renée gave her the drink, glad Genie was showing signs of life.

‘I have a pain,’ Genie said, trying to rub it away. ‘My ribs.’

Rian looked at her, real concern in his eyes.

‘I always get it after travelling,’ Genie reassured him. But it hurt, it really hurt. She wondered why.

Rian held her hand and squeezed it.

‘You were gone a long time,’ he said. ‘You nearly turned to ice.’

Genie nodded. She felt like crying. She wished she could control things. She wished that Rian could know just how much she loved him and she chided herself for upsetting him so much.

‘Four thousand five hundred,’ Genie heard herself say.

‘Four thousand five hundred?’ Rian asked.

‘Radspan. It failed four thousand five hundred times. They were trying to teleport mice and dogs and none of them arrived whole. None.’

Rian digested the information.

‘Dr Milan was running it.’ She suddenly remembered the sign above the door in the underground lab. ‘He had a slogan written on a wall. “You can’t make an omelette without breaking legs”.’

Renée made an icky sound. ‘Gross.’

‘Dogs, mice, me, you – it doesn’t matter to them. They’ll keep trying till it works every time and then they’ll change the world,’ Rian declared angrily.

‘Or we stop them,’ Genie said.

‘Or we go away someplace really far away, Genie. I don’t want to go to this Radspan. I don’t think we can save anyone any more.’

Genie understood. He was probably right. Cary would probably agree with him. She shivered. ‘Can I have a cookie or something? I feel sick.’

Mollie offered her a selection. ‘You’re lucky. You seem to recover real fast. I’ve got no idea what happened to you, girl. Did someone lock you in a freezer?’

Genie smiled. That’s exactly what had happened. The worst of it was that she had to go back there.

‘I just got a chill, that’s all,’ Genie told her. ‘A little chill.’

Rian sat down on the floor beside her, pushing Moucher to one side. He took Genie’s hands and pressed them tight inside his own. ‘Stay with us, Genie. I love you, remember? I can’t protect you if you aren’t here.’

Genie looked at him and those soft, heart-melting eyes and felt guilty.

‘I know. I know. I know.’

M
ollie dropped them off on Village Gate Boulevard, making them promise they would go straight to the Hyatt. Renée had assured her that her uncle was coming to fetch them later at the hotel when she told him they had arrived. You could tell Mollie wasn’t convinced, but she was happy to see Genie defrosted and some colour returning to her cheeks.

‘You guys get into trouble or need a meal, I’m over at the Blackcomb Trailerpark. Can’t miss it. Two miles out of town north and Lot Twenty-nine.’

Genie gave her a hug just to reassure her. ‘Lot Twenty-nine. I’ll remember.’

‘And look after that dog. He loves you, girl, and he’s looking thin.’

‘I don’t know how, you fed him like three times.’

Mollie chuckled and shut the door on them. Her son drove off.

‘I could live in that,’ Renée told them as they watched it disappear back down to Blackcomb Way. ‘It’s got everything. Even the toilet is cute.’

‘I was thinking you were more the mansion type of girl,’ Rian teased.

‘Oh yeah, right. I so need an art gallery in my home. Bowling alley I could see, but creepy photos and statues – uh-uh.’

Moucher was busy in a ditch getting rid of all that food he’d been given and Genie felt dizzy. Rian wasn’t entirely sure how he felt, but one thing he had noticed was how busy this place was, considering it was eleven thirty p.m. Spurlake would be dead at this hour; this place was buzzing.