CHAPTER 13
‘Again, Bas, you seem to have misunderstood your brief. You are here to monitor the energy and report your findings to the Council, you are not supposed to interpret those findings in a way that is extreme overestimation and present them here as fact.’ Austin was getting going now, Bas standing still as the words hit him, his face set, trying to keep his energy steady and resisting with all his might the urge to send a tirade of truths in Austin’s direction. ‘Frankly, Bas,’ he spat the name with disgust, ‘this is tantamount to scaremongering, and that is something that this Council must take extremely seriously, especially given the effect we all know something like that can have on the energy…’ Austin was really starting to enjoy himself when a calm, even voice cut him off mid-sentence.
‘…we can’t ignore what’s right in front of us Austin,’ said Alexander, standing up and walking towards the lectern, clearly indicating his support for what Bas had come to the Council to present. ‘Bas’ report is entirely in line with reports I’ve been getting from farmers and fishermen all over the world. The crops are failing, fish are dying, it’s only a matter of time before we start to see food shortages. I’m sure everyone in this room will be just fine; we all have means to secure food and protect it, but others, those we have a responsibility to as rulers, will not be so fortunate, and we must take action now,’ he said, turning pointedly to Austin, ‘or we’ll have a revolt on our hands.’
Austin screwed up his face. ‘This is the problem with young ruling Descendants,’ he laughed, as though they were discussing a trivial matter, ‘they have no experience of life, have never seen situations like this before, have never witnessed situations like this blowing over, running themselves out of steam. When everyone realises life will go on as it always has, regardless of whether Christiana or Peter is ruling, everything will go back to normal, the energy will stabilise and food will be in abundance once more. Now, I think we’ve had enough of these hysterics for one day. Bas, I would advise you to think carefully about what you say in this chamber during your next update, or we may have to reconsider your position here. No reflection on you of course, we have appointed you at a very young age.’ Austin smirked, enjoying the power he held, Bas about to explode with indignation. The stupid, arrogant, blind, ignorant, pompous, idiot, he thought to himself.
Alexander could easily read Austin’s and Bas’ energy, so intervened, both before Bas did anything stupid, and due to his own indignation at Austin’s arrogant stupidity. ‘No, Austin, this conversation is not over. I am a ruling Descendant with as much of a say here as you, regardless of whether you like that or not, and we must take some kind of action. You cannot use the past to predict the future, especially as you’ve never previously encountered the situation we now find ourselves faced with. People think the bloodline has been cut, that there’s no hope for freeing the world, and that isn’t something people can easily bounce back from.’
‘Well, luckily, we have three ruling Descendants, which comes in handy in moments like these.’ Austin rounded on the unsuspecting Peter, who had shrunk so far back into his seat that he looked like he was trying to escape through it. ‘Peter, we come to you for the deciding vote. More time, as the young bucks suggest, or should we move on to more pressing matters?’
Peter weighed up his options. He had no desire to piss off Austin, the cruelty that man could exact was startling, however, he did think that Bas and Alexander had a point. The energy showed no signs of perking up, and that could be the cause of untold suffering amongst the people if they did nothing, not to mention he had, after all, taken an oath. He paused to think for several moments, in the end settling on the path of least resistance. If Bas and Alexander were right, then no improvement would be seen, and at some point even Austin would have to realise action needed to be taken.
‘It seems to me, that we are here weighing the merits of youthful energy versus experience,’ said Peter, pausing, stealing himself, ‘and I often find it best to side with experience.’ Peter looked deflated as he said it and Alexander knew from his energy this was not what he really felt. Austin’s intimidation tactics had worked their magic once more, but right now he had to get Bas out of the chamber before he blew his top.
‘Well, I have no doubt this will be a topic we revisit time and again as the energy continues to drop,’ said Alexander, walking over to stand right next to Bas, ‘and when it does, we can all gain precious first hand, front row experience of the chaos that will cause. So maybe in the future, if and when this happens again, we’ll have some experience to tell us how not to deal with it. For now though, I think we’ve all had quite enough for today.’ With that, he turned and looked Bas straight in the eye, inclining his head a little in the direction of the door. Bas nodded and he and Alexander wheeled towards the doors and strode out in perfect, confident, unison, the doors opening for them as they departed. They walked quickly out through the Temple of the Spirit and almost ran straight into Anita and Marcus, who were walking towards the Temple of the Body, as they got to the entrance steps.
Anita felt them coming before she saw them, their powerful energy a strange mix of rage and comradery. ‘Hi,’ she said tentatively, as they marched down the steps, oblivious to everything around them, so consumed in their own thoughts. They looked up together, both of their energy reacting when they saw Anita and Marcus. Anita was glad Marcus was not a reader and almost laughed aloud at the energy change when they realised who it was. The rage in their energy was immediately directed at Marcus. Anita knew they didn’t really like him, but she thought this was a bit much. The comradery was extended to Anita, who felt grateful they weren’t mad with her, but this only served to further confuse her; what the bloody hell was going on? Then, to her surprise, some sheepishness crept into Alexander’s energy, which he quickly suppressed, although possibly this was a reaction to his reading Anita’s energy spike at seeing him, which she was now desperately trying to hide. Sometimes, Anita wished she was as oblivious as Marcus now was, although even he could tell something was wrong.
‘Is everything alright?’ asked Anita, tentatively.
‘No. Everything is not bloody alright,’ fired back Bas, happy he could finally start to vent some of his frustration. ‘His bloody father,’ he said, throwing an accusing look in Marcus’ direction, ‘is an arrogant, blind, fool who is about to sink the world into chaos via starvation, whilst happily ignoring his duty to do something about it.’
Marcus and Anita looked blankly back, so Alexander stepped in. ‘We’ve just had a Council meeting and Bas came to give an update on the energy. He reported the facts, which are, as you know only too well Anita, that the energy is showing no signs of bouncing back. In fact, it keeps falling, and the consequences of that are starting to become evident in failing crops and dying fish. It’s only a matter of time before the weather starts to react as well, and then who knows what might happen to, for example, the water supply, and only the Gods know what else after that. But the Council, particularly Austin, has no appetite to accept the facts, let alone do anything about them. It’s Austin’s opinion that because the energy has always bounced back in the past, it will continue to do so in the future; pompous fool.’
Anita reached out and squeezed Marcus’ hand before dropping it again. She didn’t like Austin, but it couldn’t be easy to hear others talking about him like this. Surprisingly, Marcus’ energy was remarkably stable as he took stock of what he was hearing.
‘So what happens next?’ asked Anita. ‘How bad does it have to get before they finally decide it’s time to act?’
‘Who knows,’ said Bas, ‘but the Descendants have the means to look after themselves for a great deal longer that the rest of the world, so maybe it will take starving people revolting in the streets before they finally feel the need to act. But to be honest, even if that happens, I doubt Austin would show much compassion.’
This seemed to finally tip Marcus over the edge. It was one thin
g criticising Austin’s actions to date, but to imply he was totally heartless and would have no compassion if people were suffering, was another thing all together. ‘He’s only doing what he thinks is right, based on what he and my ancestors have seen in the past,’ he said, pressing on, even though they’d all now rounded to face him square on. ‘Dad may be many things, but to imply that he’d intentionally hurt others for his own gain is pushing it too far. He would never do that.’
‘Really?’ asked Alexander brashly, ‘what makes you so sure?’ Marcus couldn’t really believe that, could he?
‘Because I know him. He is my father after all. I know he can be quite severe and difficult to deal with, but he does genuinely want what’s best for the world.’
Anita jumped in. ‘But you can’t possibly agree that what’s best for the world now is to do nothing? To take no action? To ignore the facts in front of us?’
‘What facts?’ Marcus said tentatively. ‘All we have are a few observations. We’ve had bad crop yields before; maybe this is just another bad year. Maybe it’ll pick up again next year. Who really knows?’
This was too much for Bas. ‘I thought Descendants were given a decent education and especially taught about the role the energy plays. It is fundamental to everything we do. It feeds into everything and everything feeds into it. A change in the levels like we are experiencing now will be having a fundamental impact on the world, and that is manifesting in poor crop yields. Who knows what will be next. Otherwise, you’re hypothesising that a significant dip in the energy could have no effect on the world; something we know categorically to be false.’
‘Yes, but we don’t know that the energy dip is manifesting through the crop yields and fish stocks, it could be having an impact elsewhere, on something we have yet to find, and the low yields could be simply because it’s been a bad year. We have had a lot of rain.’
Anita couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing. ‘Are you serious? It’s as clear as day to see the two are linked. You’re ignoring the evidence because you don’t want to admit your father’s wrong. Marcus, the world is on the brink of a crisis, the likes of which we have never seen. There’s nothing in the past that can help with what we’re currently facing; we need to interpret what we have in front of us and act on that information. Don’t you think we should be taking action?’
Marcus had been backed into a corner and didn’t know what he should do. To agree with Anita was to go against his father, and in essence agree with everything they were saying about him, which he obviously couldn’t do. His father may be many things, but Austin took his duty seriously; he would never do something he thought would harm the world. But then again, the evidence was mounting up that they should take action. ‘All I know is that dad wouldn’t act in a way he thought would harm the world, which means he must know something more about what’s going on than we all do. Maybe we should just trust that he’s been around for longer, so maybe he has a different perspective.’
Bas and Alexander had had enough. ‘I’ve already heard this bullshit from one member of the Mind line today, and luckily, I don’t have to stand here and listen to any more of it,’ Bas sniped. ‘Just wait and see what happens when we take no action; you’ll look like a total fool then, along with your father.’ Bas and Alexander left Anita and Marcus, and stormed off in the direction of the Observatory.
Anita stood still for a second, trying to process what Marcus had just said. She turned slowly to face him and he seemed deflated, his shoulders hunched forward, his usual confident swagger momentarily deserting him. ‘Did you mean that?’ Anita asked slowly. ‘Or were you just saying it so as not to trash your father?’
Marcus couldn’t admit he wasn’t sure, not in front of Anita. ‘Anita, nobody’s one hundred per cent sure what’s going on at the moment. We’ve never encountered this situation before, so we can’t be sure what will happen next. I don’t think the right thing to do is scaremonger about disaster and destruction; that won’t help anyone.’
‘So we should do nothing so as not to put the cat amongst the pigeons?’ Anita couldn’t believe he was still supporting Austin’s position.
‘It’s a very delicate situation. I don’t think we should do anything rash.’
‘Well I’m afraid what your father is doing at the moment is doing something rash. To not act at all is criminal, and you can’t bury your head in the sand forever.’ Anita turned away and started walking towards the Body Temple. Marcus followed her, hoping to move the conversation onto a happier topic. ‘I’ll see you later Marcus. I need some time alone,’ she said, turning towards the entrance steps.
‘You’re going to let a Council debate come between us?’
She wheeled back round to face him, a look of disbelief plastered across her face. ‘You’re going to let some ridiculous view held by your father come between us? Open your eyes Marcus, it’s a big scary world out there and daddy is number one villain.’ Anita turned away, taking the steps into the Temple two at a time.
Marcus watched her go, trying to decide what he really thought and which side to come down on. His mind raced through a mix of emotions, like it wasn’t sure quite which one to settle on. He was angry, confused, hurt, embarrassed, worried, and most of all had a deep sense of foreboding that this situation was not going to blow over as he would like it to. He didn’t want to lose Anita; it had surprised him how much he’d missed her when she’d gone away to Kingdom, and he’d seen her pretty much every day since then. But he also didn’t want to piss off his father, who had only just started to involve him in his business affairs. Nothing he’d seen so far had made him think that Austin, or indeed any of the previous Mind Descendants, had ever done anything out of line with their duty. However, now he came to think about it, it was a little strange that nobody had ever put a single foot out of line. Maybe he was being lied to? Everyone was terrified of Austin, but up until now, Marcus had assumed that was because he had a powerful position and an unpredictable temperament, but he would never purposely hurt someone without good reason. Would he?
Anita reached the top of the stairs feeling like she was going to explode; how could Marcus be so stupid? She could feel that he’d been fighting with his emotions, but he’d sided with Austin when deep down he must have known that some kind of action needed to be taken. He’d sided with Austin when he could’ve quite easily sided with her once the others had gone. She understood the political setting; Marcus couldn’t publically trash his father, especially in front of another Descendant, but surely he trusted her enough by now to tell her what he really felt? Anita felt hurt and frustrated. Not only had he not trusted her, but he’d also let her down in front of the others, so now she looked like a fool for being so close to him. She wanted to punch something.
‘Anita?’ came a voice from behind her, startling her that anyone had managed to get so close without her feeling their energy. She whirled around to see Helena standing next to a pillar, a strange look on her face, like she was almost nervous.
‘I’ll do it,’ said Anita, surprising both of them equally. Action needed to be taken by somebody, she reasoned.
Helena walked forward. ‘Er…what we discussed the other day?’ she said the words cautiously, ‘you’ll do it?’
‘Yes,’ she said, holding her breath, wondering if she was really doing this.
‘I think we should go for a run. We don’t want to be overheard,’ Helena replied in a low voice.
Helena led Anita to a small cottage around the corner from the Temples, pulled out a key and let them in. ‘Here, I’ll be back in a minute,’ she said, throwing some running tights, a t-shirt and trainers to Anita before making her way up the small spiral staircase to go and get changed.
A few minutes later they were running in the direction of the river, Anita relishing the opportunity to vent her frustration, so she pushed the pace faster and faster, her energy lifting higher and higher. By the
time they reached the river she felt really quite good; it still took her by surprise that something as simple as a fast run could make her feel so invigorated. They paused by the edge of the river, stretching and watching the lively water ripple its way down stream.
‘So what made you change your mind?’ asked Helena, pleased to see that Anita was a great deal more relaxed now than she had been earlier.
‘I realised the Descendants aren’t going to act any time soon. Austin’s too determined to make sure they don’t, but somebody has to do something, and you’ve offered me a way to help. I would be as bad as they are if I didn’t act either.’
‘And what about your relationship with Marcus?’
‘If all goes well he’ll never know about it, and we can carry on as we are, which is in a tense fashion at the moment.’ A shadow played across her face before she pushed it away. ‘What exactly do you need me to do? Where will I find this information that needs to be retrieved?’
Helena took a deep breath. ‘We don’t know. That’s part of what you’re going to have to do. All we know is that a memory was stolen from me. I obviously can’t remember what it was, as it was stolen, but it was something about the origins of the Institution, something that could be used to undermine us if we ever challenged Austin. It was stolen a couple of decades ago; that’s why the Institution went quiet around that time and we’ve had to stay that way ever since. All I know is that it’s stored in a brass cylinder, alongside but slightly set apart from other brass cylinders. We only know that much because Amelia, Marcus’ mother, managed to get inside Austin’s head once and find out. It was just before they separated. Unfortunately, Austin realised something was wrong before she could find out where the cylinders were stored and steal the memory back.’
‘So you need me to find out where Austin stores his memories, which Marcus may not even know, get him to take me there, then somehow steal the cylinder, which is easily identifiable as it is set apart from all the others, and therefore someone will notice as soon as it’s gone, sneak the cylinder out of wherever it’s stored, without Marcus noticing, and bring it to you, presumably without taking a peek inside?’
‘In a nutshell.’
‘Sounds like a piece of cake,’ Anita said sarcastically.
‘Of course, you may have to find a way to tap Amber and Austin for information on its whereabouts, or maybe some of the security guards, because as you say, Marcus may not know.’
‘Great,’ she said quietly. ‘So, just out of interest, what do you think will happen to me if they catch me?’ She said it flippantly, but she had to admit, if only to herself, that the thought was worrying.
‘I shouldn’t get caught if I were you. One thing I can guarantee is that it won’t be pleasant for you if you do. They probably won’t kill you, as you mean too much to Marcus, unless of course they find a way to do it so it looks like a genuine accident, but either way, probably best to try and avoid it. Amber can be most unpleasant.’
‘I’ll bear that in mind. Anything else to mention before I jump into the fire?’
‘No, I think that pretty much covers it. I think it’d be best if we have as little contact with each other as possible. I don’t want anyone to get suspicious. If and when you succeed, find a way to send me a message and then, as promised, I’ll tell you everything about your parents.’
‘That’s not why I’m doing this.’
‘I know. But surely you want to know about them?’
‘Not if you tell me something I don’t want to hear,’ she fired back confrontationally. ‘Of course I want to know. I’ve wondered my whole life, but I don’t want to think about that until I’ve done this, focusing on reasons entirely separate to knowing about them; focusing on taking action against a Descendancy that’s going to let the world’s population starve. When I’ve done that, I would very much like to hear all about my parents, but not as payment for what you’re asking me to do. I’m doing this because I want to, not because it’s part of a business transaction.’
‘Understood,’ Helena replied unthreateningly, ‘I just want that cylinder back in our safe hands so we can start to work on restabilising the energy. I’d love it for you to help us do that too, if you want?’
‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I could end up in Austin’s dungeon for the rest of time if I’m not careful. One small step at a time for now I think.’
‘Right you are. In which case, I’ll look forward to your message. Good luck.’
‘Thanks. I’ll probably need it.’ Helena ran back towards Empire. Anita headed in the opposite direction, found a place to cross the river, and set off for the castle. As ever, there was no time like the present.