Fierce September Read online

  ‘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?

  Have you heard? People are coming back to the Centre. They’ll be back as soon as they’re out of quarantine.

  Have you heard? Sheen’s really worried about her dad. She says Danyat looks like a shadow of himself.

  Have you heard? Creen says it’s hard staying inside their quarters with nothing to do. Kalta made a chart so they can cross off every hour.

  www.warningtheworld.blogspot.com Another news story BoatBoy

  and his trusty gang

  might do well to read

  Big Coincidence??

  19

  CLONE OF TARIS

  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.

  They reminded me of Taris. There were orchards, vegetable gardens, compost bins, animal enclosures. I leaned over a fence and chatted to a friendly old pig. She liked having her back scratched.

  Had Willem modelled his school on Taris? He’d have been around when it was set up. If he was the same age as my grandparents, then perhaps he’d wanted to be one of the people who settled there. I kept walking, but with a purpose now. The tool sheds would be a good place to check if I was right. Surely they would contain very different equipment from the old gear we’d had to use, unless Willem was deliberately trying to create Taris on the Outside.

  The buildings were behind a screen of trees. There were three of them: the first stored seeds and planting boxes; in the next were wheelbarrows, spades and other tools. My thoughts were churning as I tugged open the door of the third one. It was a woodworking shop without a single power tool.

  I’d found no tractor, no mechanised vehicle of any kind. They could be somewhere else, but I didn’t think so.

  ‘Juno! We’re going back now!’

  I ran to join the others. The running had calmed none of us. They looked as grim as I felt.

  ‘He’s only a kid,’ Marba said as we walked back to the school buildings. ‘We’ve got to remember that.’

  ‘Did he tell us his last name?’ Paz asked. ‘I hope to heck it’s not bloody Hilto or even Hilton.’

  I kept my thoughts about the grounds to myself.

  The people of Fairlands had prepared a feast for us but before I ate I asked if I could call my mother. Christina took me to an office and waited outside while I made the call. Sina answered, her face lighting up when she saw me. ‘Sheen is doing well, Juno. She’s asleep but I can wake her.’

  ‘No, I’ll call later. Just tell her I love her.’ I hoped she would be awake next time I called. Worry about her still nagged at me and I wouldn’t rest until I could see for myself that she wasn’t permanently harmed.

  Christina led me to the dining room where I sat at a table with her, my friends, and Jethro and Thomas. Thomas looked a mix of fright and defiance until Silvern winked at him and he broke out in a grin.

  A kid, he was just a kid.

  Paz flicked a bread roll at him. ‘Good catching, buddy. Hey, what’s your last name? Is it Hilton?’

  Thomas shook his head, defiant again. ‘It used to be, but I changed it to Polachek. That’s Mum’s name.’

  Christina held up a gentle hand. ‘We’ll keep that for later if you don’t mind. Right now it is our task to enjoy this meal.’

  The food was delicious, and there were three types of meat on the table: rabbit, chicken and pork.

  On Taris we’d had rabbits, chickens and goats.

  I tried to keep my attention on the meal, but thoughts of Hilto seeped in at the edges of my mind, chased around by the similarities between Taris and the school Willem had created in its image. Gradually, though, the atmosphere of the room calmed me. The little kids chatted and weren’t above throwing a bread roll when the teachers weren’t looking. The older kids talked across the younger ones but at the same time they kept an eye on them, helping them or giving them the odd thump if they got a bit too lively.

  After we’d eaten we headed back to the big room with Christina and Jethro. Thomas dragged his feet until Paz challenged him to a walking-backwards race down the long corridor. The two of them ended up in a laughing tangle on the floor.

  Silvern pointed to the door. ‘Crawling race. Last one there’s a frog.’

  Marba grabbed my hand and tugged me to the floor. Silvern dropped to her knees and we were off, bruising our bones on the hard floor. Thomas shrieked with laughter the whole way. Silvern chased him, elbowing him to tip him over, but he gave as good as he got. At the doorway, we picked him up by his hands and feet and swung him onto a nearby sofa where he lay gasping and giggling.

  He was Thomas. Just an ordinary little kid.

  Jethro and Christina thanked us with their smiles. Jethro hauled Thomas up and sat beside him, his arm around him again. ‘Last part of the story, Thomas, and then you’re done.’

  We sat down, rubbing our knees, waiting for what was to come.

  Thomas looked at us for a moment, but then he dropped his head and told us the rest in a rush.

  ‘I used to talk to him at night. He said it had to be at night. We talked once every month. All my life. It was exciting. He always told me he loved me. He always said he was so glad he had a son to follow him.’ He knuckled his eyes. ‘Then when I turned nine he got mean. He kept on about how I had to follow in his footsteps and be a leader. He said I had to work harder at school, and he yelled if I didn’t get good marks. I didn’t want to talk to him but Mum said he was old and it was only once a month.’ He scrubbed angrily at his cheeks.

  Christina handed him a handkerchief. ‘Nearly over, Thomas. Just the end and that’s it.’

  ‘I was glad when I couldn’t talk to him any more.’ For the first time he lifted his head and looked at us. ‘I was really truly glad. Everyone said he must be dead.’ He spat the final words. ‘I hoped he was dead. He was mean.’

  Fragments clacked around in my head, pieces of information slotting into place. ‘Thomas, can you tell us about the last time you talked with him? Did anything different happen? Can y
ou remember?’

  Silvern, Paz and Marba sat forward, their faces intent.

  ‘Yeah. I can remember. He went off his head. Just because I told him Mum was going to send me to this school.’

  Silvern frowned. ‘Yeah, we know what that’s like. Not fun, specially when you can’t yell back.’

  Thomas shivered. ‘I’m glad he was far away. He started bashing things, and then he threw something and everything went static-y.’

  Into the silence, Christina said, ‘That was the last contact anybody had with Taris. Nobody knew about that final contact except Thomas and his mother.’

  ‘We believe that Gavin went a little crazy,’ Jethro said. ‘That he damaged the communications equipment.’

  Damaged it? He completely wrecked it. I looked at the other three. Paz nodded. ‘Yeah, tell him our side of the story.’

  Thomas straightened up as though we’d pinched him. ‘What? What do you mean?’

  I kept it short. ‘Only three people on Taris knew about the communication centre: Hilto and his friends Majool and Lenna. My friend Vima and I discovered it by accident. Vima went up there one night, but Hilto found her and attacked her. He left her to die.’ I gave Thomas a brief smile. ‘She didn’t die, but after he attacked her he smashed the communication centre to pieces. He must have already been wild with fury when he started talking to you.’

  ‘Why would this school make him so mad?’ Marba asked. ‘Did he and Willem know each other?’

  ‘Oh yes,’ Jethro answered, ‘they grew up together. Didn’t like each other even when they were kids. Willem was gutted when Gavin was chosen to go to Taris and he wasn’t.’

  ‘We thought that’s what tipped Gavin over the edge,’ Christina said. ‘The news that his son was going to Willem’s namby-pamby school, as he called it.’

  ‘A school created in the image of Taris.’ I wasn’t aware I’d spoken aloud until the air went electric and I found they were all staring at me. ‘What…? Well, it is. Can’t you see it?’