Fierce September Page 16

  ‘Well, lucky old you.’ I jabbed the finish button.

  Cow. Yabbering on like that when she knew I had to stay locked up.

  I went back to searching the net. For sure Silvern and the others wouldn’t be looking for clues, trying to find out who was behind the pandemic. They’d be way too busy having fun. I lay back on the floor to think. We had to keep going – the hate against us would still be there ready to flare up when something else went wrong, unless we discovered who had done this thing.

  I tried calling Silvern again. No answer.

  The next morning James rolled in for breakfast around ten. Vima had gone back to sleep after feeding Wilfred, and I was getting ready to bath him. ‘Can I do it?’ James asked.

  I watched as he deftly undressed Wilfred, threw him in the air, making him shriek with glee, then blew raspberries on his tummy. He dunked him in the water, holding him more expertly than I did.

  ‘What happened to your children?’ The words popped out unbidden.

  He just shook his head. I wanted to apologise, but the words wouldn’t come. Instead I asked what he’d like for breakfast. He fancied pancakes with maple syrup, followed by scrambled eggs on toast.

  Wilfred was lying kicking on his rug and James had eaten two pancakes when he said, ‘The last pandemic. It mostly hit the kids.’ He ate another pancake, his eyes never leaving Wilfred.

  I didn’t have the courage to ask what had happened to his wife, and he didn’t mention her.

  Vima wandered in when James was drinking a cup of black coffee. She sniffed the air. ‘That stuff smells better than it tastes.’

  James grinned at her, and it was as if he were shaking off memories. He turned to me. ‘So hit me with it. What do you wanna know today?’

  How could you know what you wanted to know when you didn’t know anything?

  Vima said, ‘I’ve been wondering how things work here.’ She shook her head. ‘I mean, on Taris we didn’t have money. We all worked at our specialised stuff in the mornings, then in the afternoons we did the physical work like gardening and maintenance.’ She waved her spoon in a semi-circle. ‘From what I’ve seen, it doesn’t work like that here.’

  ‘How can you tell?’ He leaned over the table. ‘You’ve been in the country for how long? And you’ve been shut up in here most of that time.’

  But she was right. ‘Kids don’t have to work after school,’ I said, thinking about it. ‘They’re at school for part of the afternoon, but after that they do what they like.’ They hung around the streets, worked in techno shops, played music – probably other stuff too.

  ‘So,’ said Vima, ‘who produces the food? How do people like Willem get food if they don’t have to spend time growing it?’

  James rubbed his hands through his hair and groaned. ‘Okay, quick lesson in the workings of Aotearoa coming up. Pin your ears back.’

  He talked for ages, but what it seemed to boil down to was that nobody was allowed to earn too much more than anybody else. Salaries were low, but the government still took some of the money, which they used to run hospitals, police, transport and schools. ‘That’s why people said we shouldn’t rescue you,’ he told us. ‘The government had to use money that was supposed to go towards upgrading one of the railway lines.’ He sat back and regarded us. ‘All the crew on the ship were volunteers. Did you know that?’

  We shook our heads. We didn’t know anything. Nothing.

  ‘They didn’t get paid. Had to take time off from their own work. Very difficult for some of them.’

  Vima and I looked at each other. Willem hadn’t told us. None of the others had even hinted at the sacrifice they’d made. I sent Willem a silent apology for the anger I’d held against him.

  ‘Do you mean,’ Vima said, thinking it through, ‘that the ship cost money to send?’

  James nodded. ‘They said that was all they could afford and we really couldn’t afford that.’

  I shivered. ‘Did they hope nobody would volunteer?’

  ‘Nah,’ James said. ‘They knew people would. There’s so little chance to go outside Aotearoa now that people line up for any old opportunity. They knew they wouldn’t have to pay for a crew. Cunning really.’

  I cleared away the breakfast things, thinking that none of what he’d told us added up to a motive for releasing a pandemic, and for blaming us for it. ‘Are things more or less the same now as before the pandemics started?’ I asked. ‘The same but not as big?’

  James muttered, ‘Hell no! Where to start?’ He stared at nothing for about half a minute. ‘You need a bloody social historian,’ he grumbled, ‘but they’ve vanished along with a hell of a lot of other professions.’ He leaned his elbows on the table. ‘In a nutshell, it’s like this. We haven’t got money now to support all the services we used to have. We have to be more self-sufficient. We live in smaller communities so that we know our neighbours – the idea is we help out if somebody needs it.’ He relaxed back in his chair. ‘It kind of works. Better in some places than others. There’s a lot of suffering still.’

  Just then Wilfred began to cry, but before Vima or I could move, James leapt to his feet. ‘I’ll get him. Where are the nappies? I’ll change him if you like.’

  ‘You might be sorry,’ I said, but I pointed at the cupboard where we kept Wilfred’s gear.

  James laughed. ‘I’m one brave man.’

  Vima looked at me and raised her eyebrows as he disappeared into the bedroom.

  I whispered, ‘I think he lost a baby in the last pandemic.’

  He came back holding Wilfred with one arm, cradling the baby’s head in his hand. He gave him to Vima and said, ‘Right, you two, enough of the serious stuff. This afternoon we play poker.’

  I poked him with a finger. ‘Poker?’

  So he taught us to play poker. We used dried peas for stakes. He cleaned us out and demanded dinner in place of his winnings. We didn’t cook the peas.

  ‘Would you like to go back to how things were?’ I asked when he got up to leave. ‘Back to how it was before the world went to hell in a hand basket?’

  ‘Crikey, girl! You never bloody give up, do you?’ He opened the door and was gone.

  ‘I’d take that as a yes,’ Vima said.

  Have you heard? Sina says Sheen can only sing sad songs since Grif died. Hera said, ‘Don’t be sad, Mummy.’

  Have you heard? Justa is helping the ten-and twelve-year olds to put on a play. They found the script on the net.

  Have you seen the web? There’s a new site called Dead Because of Taris. It lists the names of all the dead so far. But Grif’s and Nixie’s names aren’t there.

  www.bobbingontheocean.blogspot.com Check out these

  articles!

  Told you so(but not gloating!)

  16

  BLAME

  JAMES AMBLED IN THE NEXT morning demanding hash browns, spinach, bacon and mushrooms for breakfast. Vima shuddered and settled for porridge.

  ‘Cards,’ he said, dealing before we could object.

  Halfway through the morning Vima won a hand. She scooped up James’s mountain of peas, shoved half of them over to me and said, ‘Easy game, this. Once you get the hang of it.’

  James said nothing, but judging by the look on his face he wasn’t going to let her win again if he could help it. The next time it was his turn to deal, he flicked out the cards even faster. He dealt me a hand that made my eyes bulge. I was still gaping at it when he burst out laughing.

  ‘Poker face, young Juno. Cultivate the blank face.’

  I lay the hand down on the table, face up. A royal flush.

  After that I barely featured in the game, except to lose at every hand. Maybe James was taking pity on me, or maybe poker was better with three players, but he kept me there by dropping in small snippets about life as it had been before the world fell to pieces.

  ‘Would you go back to how it was?’ I leaned my elbows on the table and looked at him. ‘I know you’d like to – at least that’s how it s
eems to me. But would you, if you could?’

  He shuffled the cards so fiercely it was a wonder the spots didn’t fall off. ‘Are you daft? We damn near killed the planet. Going back would finish us off completely.’

  ‘But what if somebody does want to go back?’ I asked.

  He let the cards fall. ‘If they wanted that, then yes, they’d be crazy enough to let loose a rogue virus.’

  For the next few hands, our minds were not on the cards – which resulted in my winning a hand. James frowned and shook his head, muttering to himself. Then he looked up. ‘Listen, I don’t know any more than you do. But I’ll think about it. Now concentrate on the important stuff.’

  Vima won the next four hands.

  Late in the afternoon, my stratum called from Marba’s apartment. As soon as I saw the icon pop up I sighed, bracing for them to be bubbling over with their day out in the city.

  But there wasn’t a smile among them.

  ‘What?’ I demanded. ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘You’d know if you’d bothered to check the internet,’ Silvern said, her voice fierce.

  ‘Hey!’ James said. ‘Don’t shoot Juno. She’s not even the messenger.’

  She rubbed her hands across her eyes. ‘Sorry.’ She hauled in a deep breath. ‘I’m just disappointed.’

  ‘Angry too,’ Yin added. ‘I’m so fired up I could smash things.’

  ‘Deep breaths all round,’ Vima ordered. ‘Come on, hurry up. We need to know what the trouble is and none of you is in a fit state to say anything understandable.’

  Even Marba looked shaken. ‘The techno shop turned Biddo away. They said they wanted nothing to do with any Tarian. They said only the truly evil would bring a disease with them, then blame it on the inhabitants of the country that had saved them.’

  Silvern, with deadly calm now, said, ‘We split into small groups after that and sort of drifted around the city. We all heard people talking. They’re all saying the same thing.’

  Vima and I sat motionless, stunned into silence. Could we do nothing right in this new country? Now they said we brought the virus and that we were evil enough to try to blame an Aotearoa citizen for it? How could they think such things?

  James jumped to his feet. ‘Holy Saint Peter’s ghost!’ He strode around the room, hampered by its smallness, and shoved his hands through his hair again and again. ‘Okay, you lot, listen. Privately I’ve been thinking Juno was out of her mind – all this stuff about conspiracy theories. An evil genius releasing a smart virus for some hidden reason.’

  ‘Not so privately,’ I muttered, glad to focus on something understandable.

  He ignored me. ‘The only motive I can think of is to destabilise the government, so that all the laws we’ve got now about the environment can be chucked out and we’ll go back to being a consumer society.’

  ‘But that’s wicked,’ Pel gasped. ‘Nobody would want to do that if it meant destroying the planet.’

  ‘But somebody does,’ Fortun said. ‘Face the facts, Pel. We know the virus is nothing to do with us, but we’re the only ones who do know that for sure. So we wear the blame while whoever it is gets on with the master plan.’

  James gave his hair a rest, stopped striding and sank onto the sofa. ‘Don’t be so dramatic.’ He glanced at me. ‘What’s his name?’

  ‘Fortun.’

  ‘Okay, Fortun, all of you – I know you had nothing to do with it. Willem knows and so do the others who helped rescue you. I’ve been keeping an eye on the web, and all of the rescuers except Willem have put up stuff saying it’s rubbish to blame you.’ He wagged a finger. ‘So get over the moaning and start thinking.’

  ‘Well! You’ve changed your tune,’ I said.

  He snapped back, ‘I’ve been engaging the brain. Why else would I lose five hands in a row?’

  Shallym asked, ‘What do you think then? What do you reckon the master plan is?’

  My friends were all looking more alert now. I could almost see the hope swirling around them. But I still felt as if I was trudging through mud. Nothing was clear, except that menace lurked outside the door.

  Wilfred woke with a cry. Seizing the distraction, I jumped up to fetch him. I changed him, then gave him to Vima.

  ‘Oh, he’s grown,’ Brex said. ‘He’s so cute. Jovan …’ She stopped, her face flushing.

  Vima smiled at her. ‘It’s okay, Brex. I’d like to hear what you were going to say.’

  Brex took a deep breath. ‘Jovan’s got long fingers, just like Wilfred has. He’s cute too, but different cute.’

  Nobody said anything for a few seconds, but James’s eyebrows climbed high up his forehead. At last Vima said, ‘These babies, the little ones in the Centre … we have to find a way of stopping this wickedness for their sake. They’re not going to have any life at all if we don’t.’

  No, they’d be marked as the children of the bringers of destruction.

  James clapped his hands, demanding our attention. ‘Concentrate. This is what I think. Juno keeps asking if I’d like to go back to how life was before all hell broke loose.’

  I glared at him. He made me sound like a nag.

  He didn’t even glance at me. ‘The only reason I can come up with for releasing a virus, for blaming you lot, is that you’re being used as a cover for some group that wants to go back to the consumer society.’

  We couldn’t understand how or why that could work. James sighed, impatient at having to explain the obvious. ‘The government’s come under a lot of pressure to loosen the environmental regulations. There are people lobbying for controls to be eased so they can build factories to churn out stuff we don’t need. Then they’ll find ways of making us think we do. Next thing you know, the whole pollution saga will be alive and running riot in Aotearoa.’

  ‘Why?’ Marba asked. ‘Excuse me saying so, James, but that just isn’t logical.’

  James stuck his face nearer the mini-comp. ‘It is if you add in the fact that the business owners get rich. They’re powerful. They get to have the whole extravagant lifestyle, buy all the fancy appliances and lord it over the rest of us who’ll get poorer and poorer.’

  We thought about that. None of it seemed logical.

  ‘Okay,’ Vima said, ‘if we accept what you say, where do we go from here? And do we proceed with the theory that there is a master plan?’

  James flopped back and flung his hands in the air. ‘How the hell do I know?’

  Great. Thanks a bundle.

  But Silvern said, ‘That’s all very well, but where does Willem come into all this?’

  ‘Don’t be crass,’ James snarled. ‘He doesn’t, and if you knew even half of what he went through to get you rescued you’d bow your head in shame for even suggesting it.’

  ‘Calm down and stop jumping to the wrong conclusion,’ Marba ordered. ‘Juno, you explain.’

  Thanks again. As if James was going to believe Hera’s warning that Willem was in danger.

  He didn’t. He snorted and rolled his eyes when I told him what she’d said. So we told him the other stuff – about Hera’s saying the ship was coming, that her words had saved us from being blown up when the ship docked. Vima finished by saying Hera was the one who’d revealed the secret of her pregnancy.

  ‘Why was it a secret?’ James asked, then shook his head. ‘No, it doesn’t matter. None of my business.’ He frowned and we waited while he thought about what we’d told him. ‘Okay, I guess we’d better factor Willem in. Until proved wrong anyway.’

  ‘Use your famous brain!’ I snapped. ‘Somebody wants to harm him. He’s not part of the whole virus circus.’

  He rubbed his hands over his head, and his hair shot out in wild tendrils. I had a sudden vision of him on Taris, having his head shaved every week the way ours had been for so many years.

  ‘Yes, of course,’ he muttered. ‘Sorry – information overload. Hard to process in a short time.’

  ‘Willem runs a school,’ Fortun said. ‘We can’t figure out why
somebody would want to harm a schoolteacher.’

  But James couldn’t either. ‘He’s got a fairly high profile nationally, but even those who disagree with him recognise that he’s a good man. What does he say about this latest hate campaign?’

  Paz shrugged. ‘We won’t see him till tomorrow. He comes in every morning.’

  James attacked his hair again. ‘You realise that if all this is right, we’re looking at a pretty sophisticated operation?’ He ticked off the points on his fingers. ‘One: take Willem out with the virus so that he’s not around to keep up the pressure on the government to resist those who want the environment laws relaxed. Two: pin the blame on you lot so that nobody looks elsewhere for a villain. Three: whoever is responsible probably expected the pandemic to last a hell of a lot longer, and that would have weakened the government too.’

  ‘There’s the hate campaign, don’t forget,’ Biddo said. ‘It looks like somebody’s feeding stuff into it to keep it raging.’

  James held up a fourth finger.

  We tossed around a few more ideas, asked some more questions, but we were stuck.

  ‘This is useless,’ James said. ‘Bugger off, you lot. Jump on the web. See if you can discover anything that looks even vaguely relevant. We’ll talk again in the morning. Eight o’clock sharp and then again after Willem’s been.’

  Their faces disappeared from the screen and we were back to looking at each other, with nothing to do but play cards.

  Vima picked up the deck and shook her head. ‘I can’t believe I’m wishing I could go back to work, but I am. Quarantine could have us climbing the walls fairly soon.’

  ‘We could look for stuff on the net,’ I said. ‘Dunno what though.’

  James took the cards from Vima and dealt them out. ‘We’re going to play a mindless game of chance called strip jack naked. That way we’ll be occupied but our minds will be free to think.’ He slapped a card down in front of me. ‘Pretty useless looking for random stuff on the net. We need a lead or a direction, so play and think.’