David Mentmore nodded his head in agreement before asking “and her?”
For a moment, the man and the image of a man stared at each other. The holo looked away before looking back. Another nod. "Of course. And her."
As she watched and understood, Abigail felt her insides go cold and numb. They were talking about Tom. And herself.
There was another pause before David said “they’re the last two.”
The holo shrugged. “Collateral damage. But they won't be missed. She's just a street kid and as for him? Well, he's already missing, you made sure of that.” He leant forward. “As you say in your report, the potential for catastrophe is too high." He leant back, almost offhandedly adding, "action within twenty-four hours.” Then he vanished.
David stood, his head down, seemingly deep in thought. Then he turned, his eyes bleak and as black as pitch. He looked down at George. Looking up, Abigail felt she was beside a powerful giant. Then she sensed something profound. George was scared.
Abruptly, David Mentmore grinned. He didn’t look amiable or friendly. He appeared, and the word came easily to her, evil.
His words, when they came, pierced the eavesdropping Abigail like shards of ice. “You can say goodbye,” he said, “to your new little friend.”
Chapter 11: the Holo
Abigail checked the time. It was five to ten in the evening, and time to start moving. Hastily she ate the remains of her burger meal. It was the second she’d had in three hours. Always best to eat a lot when you weren’t sure when your next meal was coming from. Not that she needed much excuse.
There was no sign of Cathy, but that meant nothing. She’d be watching.
She was on a tight schedule, for the escape was to start at ten. That had been Tom’s idea. ‘At ten, the VFs have a scheduled reboot. Takes about two minutes. That’s when we should be able to activate our holos without them noticing.’
Ten was as good a time as any, thought Abigail. A feeling of recklessness was growing within her. Not the best mood to start an escape that would call for a cool head and rapid action. But then more and more Abigail was thinking what she and Tom were doing was, quite literally, do or die.
She walked over and picked up the P-Suit and crammed it into her pocket. She’d stayed in her Sparmy combat fatigues as the most practical thing to wear.
Now, she was ready. She went outside. As expected, Cathy suddenly popped into view. She always seemed to turn up if Abigail did anything apart from staying exactly where she was.
‘Hi!’ As usual, the VF was vibrant, full of energy. “What are we doing?”
“Looking at the moon.” Abigail had thought about this conversation. “In the streets you hardly ever see it.” She stopped and rammed her hands in her pockets before looking at the silver disc hanging low in the sky. “It’s beautiful.”
Cathy also tilted her head back. “It sure is.”
They went round the corner of the training room. There, standing in the dead spot, was her holo. Once again Abigail wondered if she really did look like that. Short, round and determined, like a grumpy bear that’s lost?
She supposed she must do. She glanced over. Cathy was still there. She should be rebooting any moment now. Carefully, Abigail hunched down, resting her back on the side of the training room. She pretended to look up at the moon, but really she was keeping at eye on Cathy. Surely she should have rebooted by now? But she was still there, her face turned towards the sky, completely motionless, as if rapt in the beauty of it all.
She wished she could ask Tom what to do, but they’d decided it could be too risky to continue to use the T-Screen, so it’d been switched off.
A minute passed. Maybe she had the time wrong. No, that wasn’t possible. Something had gone awry, but that wouldn’t stop her. Abruptly she made up her mind. She stood and looked at the VF. “Command Override. Cathy vanish.” And was instantly alone.
The Abigail holo tingled as Abigail stepped into the dead spot. It was like putting on an electric suit exactly the same size and shape as herself.
Abigail said quietly, “activate.”
Immediately the holo walked off, twinkling slightly in the silver moonlight. It really didn’t look real, but Tom had assured her it would fool a VF.
Just as Abigail was about to leave the dead spot, Cathy shimmered back into view. She looked round, and for a moment stared straight at Abigail before her gaze swept on and settled on the Abigail holo.
“Hey, Abi!” she called and went after her. The two holos went round the corner and were gone from view.
It was now time. Abigail set off for the fence at a run. She was already late.
Chapter 12: the Chimpanzee
As he watched his holo settle down to a puzzle, Tom checked he had the P-Suit safe in his pocket.
He’d nearly missed the reboot. He’d been expecting his VF to vanish, but he hadn’t. He’d just suddenly become motionless and still, like a statue. It had taken Tom perhaps ten seconds to realise what was going on, and he’d only just made it to the dead spot on time.
Now, he wished like anything they’d kept the T-Screen active. Abigail was expecting her VF to disappear, and might miss the reboot, as he nearly had. If they still had the T-Screen, he could have warned her. But now … anxiously Tom bit his lip, but in reality, he had few options. He’d stick to the plan and hope Abigail had been able to activate her own holo without being noticed. And sticking to the plan simply meant he had to wait.
She’d said it’d take her no more than ten minutes. Tom propped his crutch against the wall and settled down.
Desperately, he wanted this to work. He wanted to get back to his Dad and his room and the safe, comfortable life he’d had just over a week ago.
And Abigail! He desperately wanted to meet her. Her profile was phenomenal, almost as unusual as his own, and her messages had shown a quick, incisive, commanding personality. He hadn’t dared tell her about his leg. She might have left him behind. That blasted crutch. Of course, if he’d still got his hi-tech leg, things would have been alright. But, somewhat mysteriously, it had gone missing.
Another minute and then another, each taking longer than the one before. From the jungle, there was a roar. A lion perhaps. Then there was the whooping call of disturbed monkeys. Another three slow, slow minutes passed.
Tom started nervously shifting. He leant on his crutch and started grinding it into the ground. Where was she?
* * *
Abigail looked down at the meerkats digging under the fence. They were hard to control. Any break in concentration on her part and they’d go scampering back to their burrows. Even now, when she was standing looking down at them, it was like trying to pick up oil with her fingers.
She’d thought it would only take a few minutes. After all, she wasn’t asking a lot. Just to dig a shallow trench, dipping under the fence. Enough to allow her to scrabble her way underneath.
Ten minutes had already passed. Abigail got down on her hands and knees and scooped away at the soil with her fingers. A meerkat kicked dirt into her face. Abigail spluttered and coughed and instantly they raced away.
Abigail looked down at the trench. Becca Saunders, she thought sourly, would have been able to snake her way underneath the fence and up the other side in a matter of moments.
But Abigail was not Becca Saunders.
For a moment longer Abigail hesitated, then lay down on her back, took a deep breath and started worming her way under the fence, head first.
The narrow band of wire mesh, now thickly clogged with earth, seemed like the blade of a guillotine as slowly her head and shoulders slid underneath. But then it caught, pulling at the fabric of her clothing before digging painfully into her chest.
Abigail grunted and wiggled, managing to bend her arms at her elbows and bring her hands up underneath the edge of the mesh. She took a deep breath and heaved herself forward, at the same time pushing the wire upwards.
She slid maybe another six inches before the tensi
on became too great for her wrists. The edge of the fence snapped down, just under her ribs, expelling her breath and pinning her in place. Her elbows were still bent, but the wire was pressing down on her forearms, making it impossible to get any leverage.
She was completely stuck.
For a moment or two, she was overtaken by panic. She could be here for the rest of the night, jammed half under the fence. But of course they’d find her long before then. Tom had said, with luck, they’d have thirty minutes. Well, she’d already used up half that time and was now so wedged she might as well have not bothered.
Above, a cloud passed over the moon, sending a shadow down through the trees. Desperately, she twisted and turned, the edge of the mesh cutting into her. Trickles of earth, dislodged by her movement, ran down her back. If anything, she was more firmly stuck than before.
She shouldn't have listened when Tom suggested they turn off the T-Screens. But he'd been insistent, worried they'd notice the power leakage and trace it back. He'd been way too cautious.
Abigail took a breath. It didn't matter anyway. After all, when all was said and done, what could Tom do? What made him a Special? He could hack into computers. Oh, great! Computers couldn't move. They couldn't march up to the fence and release her.
‘Think, Abigail, think!’
Computers might not be much help, but animals? Of course! Abigail mentally kicked herself. She should have thought of it before! She closed her eyes, forcing herself to keep calm, to ignore the clock ticking away inside her head.
Rapidly, her mind touched one animal after another. A rat. No. A vole. No. A resting seagull. No. It was perhaps thirty precious seconds before she found what she wanted and took control.
Her arms were hairy and long, with knotted, strong muscles. Abigail swung down from the tree and loped across the forest floor. Suddenly she was confronted by the fence. Turning right, she raced along it until she saw the mounds of earth and then the trench. And in a moment she was looking down at her own face, smeared with mud.
Abigail grasped the bottom of the fence with the chimpanzees strong hands and heaved.
For a moment she thought the chimp was not going to be powerful enough, but then the edge curled upwards and the pressure on her arms lessened. A gap. Desperately, Abigail pushed with her legs, kicking against the earth. She moved maybe an inch and then a little more and finally her arms were released and she was free.
Gasping, dishevelled and smeared with mud, Abigail at last stood outside the fence. All around was the lush foliage of the jungle. And in her head were lights, hundreds of them, high, low, under the ground.
For a moment she waited, gathering her breath before determinedly setting off through the jungle. She had maybe a hundred and fifty yards to go to reach him. Her original plan had been to use meerkats to dig under his fence, but she knew now that would take far too long. By the time she got there, she’d need a new plan.
* * *
Tom didn’t know what to do. He’d been waiting well over twenty minutes and yet there was still no sign of her.
Something drastic must have happened. Tom bit his lip.
Another minute crawled past. Still nothing. The whole idea had been crazy. They’d probably seen the holos he’d created right away, and were now sitting watching him, laughing. A stupid little boy with a missing leg.
Tom half turned, ready to go back inside, when suddenly a small figure appeared, shambling along the ground, throwing grotesque shadows in the moonlight. An ape of some kind, perhaps a monkey. Obviously it must have scrambled over the fence. It might be dangerous. Tom backed towards the door.
The monkey stopped and made a gesture, which it repeated before scuttling away and making the gesture again.
Tom blinked. It was beckoning to him! Tom stopped, rooted to the spot. Desperately, the ape beckoned again, with both hands.
And Tom understood. Abigail! He broke into what, for him, was a run, the crutch making wide arcs before thumping down. The ape stopped for a moment, watching him. It seemed astonished.
It took nearly 20 seconds for Tom to get to the fence, and he heard Abigail’s voice for the first time. “Hurry up!” she hissed, trying to keep her voice down. “Hurry up!”
She was there, on the other side of the fence. A short, robust, determined figure, smeared with earth and mud.
Then Tom stopped for a moment, nonplussed. Beside Abigail was an elephant, its trunk wrapped around one of the fence posts.
Chapter 13: The Elephant
As she made her way through the forest, Abigail knew time must be nearly up. The original plan had been for both of them to quietly slip under their fences before, without raising any alarms, doing the same into the central compound. Then they’d board the StarStriker and fly off.
Well, there was no time for that now. No sense in being subtle when at any moment the hunt for them would be on.
She’d been very, very lucky to find the elephant. She’d known instantly what it was. That feeling of weight and power. As she set the beast in motion, a devil-may-care grin spread over her face. Sometimes you just had to be reckless.
Seen through the chimp’s eye’s, Tom was not a prepossessing figure. At first he seemed frightened, and then, when he finally understood, he didn’t break into a run. When she saw the crutch, she understood why. Why on earth hadn’t he mentioned it before?
It seemed to take ages before she spotted him with her own eyes as he made his painful looking way along on the other side of the fence.
Immediately, Abigail tightened the elephant’s trunk around the post.
“Abigail,” Tom gasped, waving towards the elephant. “Don’t-”
But whatever he was going to say was lost, as with a mighty heave, the elephant pulled the post from the ground, the mesh warping then tearing. For perhaps two seconds, the noise seemed tremendous. Startled birds flapped into the sky. And then all was quiet, with only the sound of the breeze stirring the trees.
“Get a move on!” Abigail was so hyped up she’d hardly noticed Tom was trying to say something. But he was too out of breath. He threw his crutch under the fence then bent and scrambled through.
The chimp was instantly alongside him, half helping, half pulling him through.
Abigail looked him up and down for a second, her features stern. “Was that the best speed you can do?” she said.
Dumbly, Tom nodded. “Sorry. I should have told you, but I thought-” abruptly he stopped as the elephant’s trunk wrapped around his waist, lifted him up and suspended him a few feet from the ground.
Before he knew it, they were making their way through the jungle.
“How long have we got?” Abigail demanded.
“That’s what I was trying to say,” Tom was gasping with each step the elephant took. “I don’t think they’d noticed. If we'd managed to keep quiet, we might have been OK.”
Abigail looked round at him. The tremendous racket when the elephant ripped out the post was still causing birds to squawk in the trees. “Oh, great.” Her voice was sour. “Just great.”
Even when being carried by an elephant, Tom's tone was pedantic. "Half an hour,” he said, “was only ever an estimate. It really depends on when the random reality scan ...”
Abruptly, they stopped. Abigail held up a hand and hissed. “Quiet!”
“... kicks in.” Tom finished his sentence, then fell silent.
They had reached the central complex. Through the fence they could see the barracks. All was quiet. And there, under the soft moonlight, was the StarStriker.
Abigail let out a long breath. They might have got away with it. She turned to Tom, her voice a whisper. "OK. It's looking good."
And then a soldier, yelling at the top of his lungs, ran out of one of the buildings, and all hell broke loose.
Chapter 14: Alert level 5
David Mentmore was restless. Again he had a feeling something was not right. For the third time that day he walked over to the monitoring centre, George trotti
ng along behind him. Inside was another technician with an array of V-Screens in front of him.
“Anything untoward?” David’s voice was terse.
The other man looked up. “Not really.” He scratched his chin. “One odd thing though.“ on the V-Screen in front of him there appeared a vid of Abigail and her VF, standing outside. “This happened about thirty minutes ago.” He twitched his fingers and the V-Screen increased in size. “Watch.”
David leant forward. On the V-Screen, Abigail said “Command Override. Cathy vanish.” Immediately the screens went dark.
“Now how d’you think she knew that?” The technician made a gesture and the V-Screens flipped back to normal. “I got Cathy back up ASAP,” he said. “I thought of streaming it to you, but then, nothing seems to have happened and well,” he shrugged “we all know this is the end game, so who cares?”
He looked round, expecting a response, but David had already gone.
Leaving the command centre, David walked quickly. George had to almost break into a run to keep up. Taking an old fashioned key out of his pocket, David unlocked the gate. The moon went behind a cloud and for a moment the path to Abigail’s compound seemed dark and mysterious. David locked the gate behind him and strode down it.
Somewhere, over to the right, there was a distant crashing noise as if a tree had just fallen down. For a moment David checked his step. George stopped and stood upright and alert, sniffing the air. Then he galloped ahead down the path. Frowning, David followed.
When he got to the compound, the first thing he saw was George, over to the right, sniffing around at the fence. He must have smelt something interesting. The wretched animal was always going off and being a nuisance. Dismissing George from his mind, he went over to the accommodation block and, without knocking, went in. A quick check showed It was deserted.
Irritated, and with a rising sense of panic, he clapped his hands. “Cathy come!” Instantly, a buzz of static and Abigail’s VF stood in front of him. David spoke quickly. “Where is she?”
Cathy sounded unconcerned. “I’ve just left her. She’s outside, looking at the moon.”
“The moon?” Infuriated, David went back outside, slamming the door. Cathy appeared beside him.
“Over there,” she said, pointing.
David looked, and there was Abigail, sitting on the ground, her face turned upwards. David let out a sigh of relief. She was still here. For a few minutes he’d been afraid that she’d done the impossible and managed to escape.