Wants of the Silent E-Book

Moira McPartlin

• Herausgeber: Fledgling Press
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Book 2 of the Sun Song Trilogy. This second thrilling volume of the Sun Song trilogy takes Sorlie to the floodlands of southern Esperaneo to discover that family, love and resilience can triumph against even the harshest regime. Escaping from the penal colony on Black Rock, Sorlie joins his grandmother Vanora's revolutionary army, expecting to find freedom. Instead he finds murder and mayhem. With her army in disarray and her network of supporters disappearing, Vanora chooses Sorlie to become her warrior. When Vanora is kidnapped, Sorlie becomes injured and marooned in the strange reservation of Steadie where old people and specials are hidden and protected from The State. But these outcasts are not the only secrets Steadie keeps. Why is Sorlie kept drugged for over a week? What are their links to The Blue Pearl Society? Why are they so wary of the Noiri black marketeers? And who is The Prince everyone is whispering about? The Sun Song trilogy explores life in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic Britain where society's norms have broken down and life has to be lived differently.

Leseprobe

For Colin

Acknowledgements

Book Two of the Sun Song Trilogy has been too long coming and some thanks are overdue. I am especially grateful to my regular early readers Frances Wright and Colin Baird. To Rachel Davidson and Clare Watts who scrutinised every word and to the rest of the Scoobies (SCBWI) and YA crit group who have encouraged and supported me throughout the writing of this book.

There is a smattering of Gaelic in the book and I am indebted to the lovely Maggie Rabatski for checking and correcting that smattering Huge thanks are due to everyone at Fledgling, in particular Clare Cain who took this project under her wing at a particularly difficult time.

Lastly I would like to thank my family for always being there, especially my sons, John and Gary and my sister Liz. And of course love and thanks to my husband Colin, he’s the foundation that keeps it all together.

Black Rock Island — 2089

Ishbel

Ishbel huddled on a narrow cliff ledge watching the prisoners escape. The crisp sea wind nipped her face and she breathed in the joy of it. All those years at the Military Base had robbed her of this. She was never leaving the sea again. She watched her brother Kenneth direct the loading of the wasted and mutated prisoners onto boats and submarines destined for the rebel army’s HQ. Freed at last from this island of death and experimentation.

She heard him roar, ‘This is all going very well.’ She smiled. And there was young Sorlie, her charge for so many years looking lost yet tall, older than his sixteen years. Maybe it was the infrared lens he wore over one eye, he seemed alien. He scanned the cliff top as if looking for her, but she knew that was rubbish, he would be expecting her to be on that Northern Archipelago, waiting for the submarines to arrive. How was he to know she had unfinished business on Black Rock? Before Ishbel could stop herself it was done. One short birdcall of the corncrake, her call, the one she knew he would recognise. He lifted his head, she saw his start, his stare, his joy. He had seen her. ‘No,’ she mouthed and held her finger up to her lips when she saw him move to the cliff. They mustn’t know she was there. Vanora would have her arrested and she was not ready to go back yet.

She shooed him away. ‘Go, Sorlie, I have work to do,’ she whispered. Then putting her thumb and index finger together she OK’d to him and climbed out of his sight, hoping he would get the message. She was a fool to show herself but the shine of joy on his face told her maybe her instincts weren’t so wrong.

When the last landing boat left shore Ishbel returned to the cliff. She used the cooling outlet pipe to enter the penitentiary. No one would be expecting that. The pipe was still warm from the escape and now free of algae after the descent of a thousand backside slides scoured it clean. Her coarse uniform and tough boots made easy work as she shucked up the pipe. The alarm that would have sounded during the main breakout had stopped but the main generator lights burned. This she found strange. Why would Davie bother? He would be in his library, she was sure. A prison warden, now without prisoners. She grasped the hilt of the gun in her pocket, rehearsing in her head what she would say just before she put him to death.

There was an eerie air around the reactor room, as if the building was holding its breath. The air smelled of fleeing men, their sweat, their fear. What looked like snail trails of blood painted a pathway on the floor. She drew her gun. On tiptoe, she followed the trail to the control room. She tasted cold and bitter fear in her mouth.

The door was slightly ajar. Again, bright lights shone through, as if someone was afraid of the dark. Sweat ran down her back even though her breath crackled in the chill corridor. She braced and pushed the door. There was a body on the floor. The face was blown off but she still recognised it as Davie, the tyrant of Black Rock and the father she had met only three times. The last time only yesterday. Someone had beaten her to it – her kill denied. She pushed her disappointment behind her as she stepped over the body, just to make sure. What a mess, the top of his skull blown, peppering the walls. That proud silver mane now matted in blood and brains. On the floor beside him lay his old battered gun. Ishbel couldn’t believe he’d taken his own life. She lifted the gun with thumb and index then wiped it on the bottom of her coat. This would be her souvenir, her birthright from the father who never suspected their blood tie. She would now never have the pleasure of telling him that after her mother, Vanora, had fled his fist, Ishbel was born and had lived in exile for many years. When mother and daughter returned to the ravaged State of Esperaneo thirteen years ago Vanora provided Ishbel with false papers and arranged her service as a domestic native on a Military Base. Her assigned Privileged family had welcomed her then left her in charge of their precious son Sorlie while they missioned for The State.

It was only later she discovered Sorlie’s mother was her own sister, Vanora and Davie’s other daughter, brought up Privileged. And Ishbel’s charge Sorlie was her nephew. It had seemed so simple then.

Ishbel stood over the brute’s body and spat into the gory mess. She hated him even more because he’d robbed her of the pleasure of killing him herself.

The monitors in the control room showed only blurred pictures. She realised she’d been crying, but natives were not permitted to cry. She wiped the tears with the heel of her hand and her nose on a sleeve. The infirmary monitor showed only dim lights. She squinted to make out the shapes. Saliva flooded her mouth; blood on the bed sheets, blood on the floor. Not all the prisoners had made it to the boats. Someone had massacred them, just as natives were being massacred everywhere. There was nothing she could do for them now. Another monitor showed what she guessed was Sorlie’s room, untidy as usual but empty. Another pointed to the two doors leading to Davie’s surveillance-free library. One was closed, the other open a crack and a ribbon of light shone from within. She couldn’t resist one last look. She would take a couple of the rarer books to sell to the Noiri, there was always demand on the black market for books. Maybe she’d keep one for herself.

Vanora’s thought-map escape plan of the penitentiary was etched in Ishbel’s brain, she knew the way. She crept along the corridor with her own gun in one hand and Davie’s in the other just in case the guards woke up.

Someone was near. She could almost hear their breathing in the pin-dropping silence. The floor covering was soft and yet each toe she put down seemed to crunch like broken glass.

At the side of the wooden door she flattened her back to the wall, melting into her surroundings in the way all natives could. She adjusted her grip on the guns then almost dropped them when a scratchy voice shouted, ‘You might as well come in.’

Ishbel stepped into the room and the sight of the small man sitting there almost knocked her back out.

‘Oh no, look at you.’ She couldn’t help herself.

He slouched in a leather chair, a book in one hand, a glass of illegal Mash in the other. The ill-fitting guard’s uniform made him look like a rag doll and his stubble, dirty blond hair and walnut eyes did not seem to fit his pasty skin colour. The relief in his eyes showed her he was expecting someone else, but his smile was shadowed in sorrow.

‘Ishbel, ah believe.’ His voice was slurred and she guessed he had consumed a fair whack of Mash.

‘Who are you?’ She pointed a gun not quite believing what she suspected.

‘Don’t you know, Ishbel? It’s me, Scud, Vanora’s inside man and Sorlie’s native after you left him here.’

‘No, I’ve seen your hologram.’ And yet there was something familiar about him. She wanted to move for a closer look but the sight of him repelled her. He wasn’t right.

He waved a hand down his person. ‘Look at me, ah’m Privileged now.’ His voice almost sang the proclamation ‘The DNA dilution of the native gene. It worked.’

It was true, he had the pale hair and eye colour of a Privileged, but there was still something subservient about his sly look, his skewed gaze, his drunkenness. If this change was the result of a DNA dilution then some of Scud’s native Celtic genes remained.

‘What are you doing here? Why didn’t you go with the others?’ she asked him.

‘Ah’m going to enjoy being Privileged for a while.’ He moved forward in his seat and licked his lips. ‘Did my wee man Sorlie make it out?’

‘Yes, they’ve gone.’

Ishbel tiptoed round the room touching the brickwork of books lining the walls. She holstered her gun, stuffed Davie’s in her waist belt and touched one book, pushed back another and picked up the heavy tome that lay by Scud’s side. It smelled of ancient histories: masculine and rich.

‘Ah wrote this book.’ Scud’s hand wavered towards it, as if afraid a touch would turn it to dust. ‘The foremost authority in twentieth century history and yet ah was not permitted to touch my own book.’

‘The revolution will change that,’ Ishbel said.

Scud snorted in disgust, a drop of spittle ran from his lips. Ishbel forced down her revulsion at the sight of this mutant.

‘Ah’m surprised Davie kept it, he had such contempt for me,’ Scud said.

‘Maybe he had a use for it.’ She raked the shelves, selecting a few books. The collection was astonishing. ‘Come and help, we can’t leave them to be destroyed by the State. We’ll take some with us, I’m sure the Noiri would give us good credit for them.’

‘Ah’m not leaving.’

‘Yes you are.’

Scud shook his head and took a sip of Mash, then smacked his lips. ‘Davie had only the best. The State must have been very pleased with the way the experiments were going.’

Ishbel knelt down in front of him and tried to catch his sorrowful eye.

‘You are coming with me. Why do you think I’m here?’

‘Vanora sent you?’ but she could see his doubt.

‘No she didn’t. She wants you here, I can see it was her plan all along. You were to stay and kill Davie but it looks like he took care of that himself.’ She wiped her nose of the rancid smell of him. ‘You should have gone with the others.’

Scud put the glass down and sat forward. ‘Vanora’s plan was not so great. That old bastard nearly killed Sorlie. Was that in her plan? That plug-in he used to open the cells welded him tae the controls. Couldn’t move and watched Davie move closer tae murderin him. The wee man must have been terrified. Was that in her plan? What kind of a grandmother is that? Eh?’ he said shaking his head.

Ishbel had known the plug-in design was flawed. Even the designer had tried to stop Vanora issuing it but all that earned him was a bullet in the head. Vanora had to have her way.

‘Aye.’ Scud slurped more Mash. ‘But young Sorlie turned it around. Ah don’t know what he said tae him but whatever it was it tipped the old man over the edge. Although he didn’t have far tae go. Mad as a mozzie in a jam-jar he was.’

‘I’ve disobeyed orders to get here. I’ve grown up hearing stories of the great Scud. Your sacrifices for the cause, your intellect and humour in the face of adversity. Of how you fought to save your family from being enslaved during the first purge.’ Ishbel still couldn’t believe Vanora had left Scud here to perish. ‘When I was growing up you were a god with a capital G and I’m not leaving here without you.’ She could see she had his attention now. ‘When I heard you were to be left behind, I defected, stowed away. Stole onto the island. I came to get you. You’re right, Vanora has lost her touch. She designed the plug-in so that Sorlie could not move. It was supposed to protect him. But what if Davie had got to him?’

‘He nearly did. But you’re wrong, Vanora didn’t plan to leave me. Ah chose to stay.’

Ishbel shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t be so sure. She promoted Merj to first lieutenant over me and fell head over heels for his looks and charms, but he was traitorous, I believe a little piece of Vanora knew that. But she didn’t do anything to stop him.’ Ishbel kicked herself. What was she doing rambling on about Merj and his promotion? ‘No, Scud, if we are to fight this fight we need good honest brains. I need you and so does Sorlie.’

Scud continued to shake his head. ‘Very compelling, ah’m sure, but ah don’t owe you anything. Ah’m done with it. Ah want tae spend my last few days as a Privileged.’ He looked at his communicator as if it told him the time and date of his demise. ‘Ah might not be here long but at least ah can have fun. Ah’ve been a prisoner here for twenty years. There’s nothing else going on in my life.’ He reached to refill his glass but Ishbel caught his hand.

‘What if I gave you a reason to live?’

‘And what would that be?’

‘What if I tell you I know where your granddaughter is?’

Scud struck her across the face. ‘Stop it,’ he hissed. Despite his weakened state his blow had clout. ‘They’re all dead.’

‘Reinya isn’t and I know where she is.’ She held a hand to her hot face. She wanted to hit him back but he looked like he had been through enough. ‘And I know how to get her back, Scud.’

Sorlie

The groaning of the bulkhead was a whisper compared to the shrieks of the three hundred escaped prisoners crammed into the submarine hold. Shelves erected onto the heavy metal torpedo racks provided makeshift beds. When we first descended into this sub the men had remained subdued, still dulled with the chemical cocktail Scud had administered before the escape.

The orderly fashion in which guard Ridgeway and I had led the men from their cells into the cooling system pipe, to the beach, was staggering. And even though each prisoner had a deactivated brain function that meant swimming was as a sunken stone, all but a few had calmly ploitered into the water to be picked up by boats and carried to three waiting subs. What wasn’t obvious then was the agony they would suffer during submersion. The crew tried to contain the more frantic. Some men thankfully passed out, but that didn’t stop the screams.

‘Do something,’ I said to Arkle, the crewman who seemed to be in charge.

‘It won’t be for much longer,’ he calmly informed me. ‘The sub needs to descend deep enough to remain hidden under the tow vessel’s wake. Once we’re down we can release some pressure.’

He stood with his back to the hatch and his hand on his holstered gun. ‘Once the chemicals wear thin, the calm gives way to panic and claustrophobia.’

To look at the unruly rabble it was inconceivable that Vanora had a notion to form them into a revolutionary army, a secret one whose aim was to fight the terror of the Privileged regime, to put an end to native slavery and bring equality to the State of Esperaneo. I looked at this rag-tag mess of humanity, mottled and pigmented through years of DNA dilution experimentation. They couldn’t fight a cold, never mind the might of the Esperaneo Military State.

We were heading north to Freedom, Vanora’s stronghold, but as soon as the weight of the ocean washed over the decks and pressed us down, the flat palm of the oppression held us lower than prison incarceration had. Ridgeway, the Bas guard turned superhero, said it would take a day to reach Freedom. A day seemed too long. The stink was overpowering. My own clothes reeked of pisshap and the blood and grey matter of Davie’s death.

Scud, the only success of the experiment, the only one who truly became Privileged had chosen to stay behind with the twelve drugged guards and the decaying mess of the dead tyrant who caused all this misery. Ishbel would get him out. She had to; why else was she there? The drugged guards would have recovered from their nightcap. Satan’s truth, what made Scud want to stay? It wasn’t that great being Privileged.

Someone in the corner was spewing in a bucket held by a crewman. Look at them. Vanora had wanted the prisoners released but still they’re guarded. Arkle stood smaller than Ridgeway and even though he was Privileged he seemed to give the Bas his place. Ridgeway led the escape but would they see it that way? He was still a guard. Uncle Kenneth travelled on a trawler. All right for him, lording it up there, the compensation for living in a cave for twenty-odd years and not being subjected to the Universal Chipping Programme. Even though our chips were short range, if we were above ground, they would be lighting up command centres all over the State to the point of fuse blowing. We remained undetected underwater and the sub-mariners were busy systematically working their way down the torpedo deck, deactivating the prisoners’ chips. No longer prisoners, soon to be an army. Scud had even assigned leaders for the breakout. Where were they now? They had disappeared into this great big, anonymous, needy mass that was at last starting to quieten.

Hours passed in grumblings. Rations were handed out and squabbled over. Groups huddled in corners, cliques formed. Some sort of alchemy was at work as assortments of bodies gravitated, whispering. Some stayed alone, sitting on bunks, knees pulled to chests, staring with murderous distorted eyes towards Ridgeway. One man stepped forward, brazen faced but was dragged back by a gentling hand. Ridgeway walked the length of the torpedo hall.

‘Screw.’

‘What’s he doing here?

‘He won’t be here long.’

‘Bas traitor.’

‘Davie’s bitch.’

The insults bounced off his back. It was like listening to a giant centipede waking from a hundred year sleep, shaking out its long scaly body, rattling its legs out ready to stamp on whatever lay in its way. The crewmen who weren’t deactivating chips stood round the chamber, equally spaced, watching. Ridgeway stood straight and worked his face into calm.

Metal rungs, bolted to the bulkhead, supported the men’s bunks. I had an idea.

‘Give me your gun, Ridgeway,’ I said. ‘I need to sort this.’

‘Are you mad? Let the crew deal with them. They’re restless enough without you wading in.’

‘Someone has to do something before there’s a mutiny or massacre.’

Ridgeway pulled back his shoulders in that way he does, but I could see from the pinks of his eyes that fear lay just below the surface. But there was something else. He looked ready to drop; I guessed he hadn’t fully recovered from his near-death tumble down the cliff before the escape.

‘Trust me, Ridgeway,’ I said in a clear voice. There would be no whispering in this camp. Whispering was for sneaks and cowards.

As I took the gun I noticed some of the prisoners eyeing it, eyeing me.

There was a box bolted to the middle of the hall that served as a makeshift store for extra life jackets. A vessel this size was only meant to hold a fraction of the men. The cold gun was heavier than expected and I had to heave it high enough to rattle the muzzle on the box. That got minimal attention. I ran the muzzle along the rungs of the bunk casings. A great cacophony sounded, louder than I expected. It tore into the delicate ears of the men, some held their hands up in protection, many growled louder and stepped up to meet me. My back ran with sweat.

‘Right, men, stand to attention,’ I blustered.

Their recovery was swift. A guard stepped forward but another held him back with a smirk and a nod towards me.

The first snigger happened just to my right but soon it snowballed around the hall, gaining mirth and momentum as it went, until some guffawed. My face whooshed in heat. This wasn’t happening. I was still a Privileged in their eyes and they should obey.

‘I said, stand to attention.’

‘Or what, small fry?’ a voice sounded from halfway down the hall. This wasn’t the way it happened at Academy training camp. I saw Ridgeway move to join me but Arkle stayed him and took his place.

‘What are you doing?’ Arkle asked through gritted teeth.

I looked toward Ridgeway: a Bas, a foreigner, neither Privileged nor native. Up until a couple of days ago he was guarding these men and now we were literally all in the same boat. Escapees from a prison, fugitives from the State. I was half native but these men didn’t know that. To them I was Davie’s grandson, a full Privileged, one of the ruling classes to be served and obeyed by these native slaves. The body of laughing men who stood before us were obviously native full bloods despite the DNA tampering they had undergone.

Arkle’s voice was loud enough for all to hear and yet soft, unthreatening. ‘These men have been through enough,’ he said to me. ‘They are tired, they are restless.’ He turned to the men. ‘You only have a few more hours until we reach our destination. Settle down, get some sleep. The Bas guard will not be harmed.’ It was as if he were administering another drug.

Someone murmured, ‘Aye well, it’s been a while since we’ve had a laugh, give us that, son.’

Arkle nodded to the speaker as he took my arm and led me back to Ridgeway.

‘Ridgeway was in danger. I had to do something.’

‘And you are the tyrant’s grandson. Why should they obey you?’

‘I’m Privileged!’

‘And your point is?’

‘What the snaf is that supposed to mean?’ But Arkle walked away without answering.

A few prisoners lingered in the hall, snarling at me like bears on a chain. Most were herded back to their bunks by crew. One sub-mariner, a native, stepped forward. He had two shiny buttons on his cuffs where Arkle had three.

‘OK, men, you’ve had your laugh, now step back to your bunks,’ he said to the bears. ‘You’ll be organised and debriefed when we arrive.’

As he turned and swung by me he grabbed my tunic and held it a little too tightly.

‘Try that again and you will spend the rest of the journey in the head.’

‘I was only trying to get some order.’

‘Aye, well, that’s why we’re here, laddie. Vanora isn’t dumb, you know. She knows how it is. They’ll be disciplined when we get there.’

‘How much longer?’ My schoolboy shit-whiny voice rose. I checked it.

He consulted his communicator. ‘Soon. And you know what that means.’ He tapped his ear.

The crew knew what was coming and this time they were prepared.

Most of the men did exactly as they were instructed to do. One ugly guy scarred permanently from ear to ear with a smiley, about Pa’s age but taller, strutted along the deck. A sub-mariner shouldered his zap wand but said nothing.

‘Hey, boy,’ Smiler shouted over to me. ‘What’s it like to change sides?’

‘Leave him alone, he’s just a kid,’ a small skinny guy with tufted white and black hair chipped in.

I tried to stand straight but the weight of the past few hours withered me in my boots. These guys didn’t know I’d watched my grandfather blow his brains out and wouldn’t care if they did, in fact there would be celebration. Smiler took no heed.

‘Ah only asked a question.’

‘Don’t you know who I am?’ I couldn’t help myself.

‘Aye, evil bastard’s grandson.’

‘Vanora’s grandson,’ I threw back.

The guy invaded my space, his rank breath pushing me back. ‘Aye well, we’ll have to see what colours you fly, won’t we?’ There was no mirth in his eyes but his knifed-on smile unsettled me. Then he tilted his head to one side and was about to say something else when a commotion sounded behind him and he shot his hands up to his ears.

Groans rumbled. A sub-mariner led one man to lie down in a foetal position. Two others worked up and down the hall injecting a clear liquid into the necks of each prisoner. My rage bubbled; if they had sedative all along why leave it to the last minute to use? Some pushed their dose away, others helped restrain the more rowdy. The groaning soared to the point where I too pushed my hands over my ears to deaden the pain.

Slowly the noise subsided to the low howl of three hundred stranded souls grieving a massacre of their native peoples. The sound I’d heard that first night I spent on Black Rock all those months ago. Before I knew of the DNA experiments; before I discovered I was not a full Privileged. Before I knew the truth about Vanora, Kenneth and Ishbel; the new dysfunctional family to replace my dead parents. Super.

Soon the sub settled and Arkle led me to the conning tower and for the first time in twenty-four hours we breathed fresh air. I blinked at the brightness. The sky was wide and even though the sun hid inland, the light was startling. We floated on a body of water surrounded by towering cliffs that seemed to rise out of the sea. Ahead of us were two other submarines still on tow. On one of the trawlers, a figure stood madly waving. It was Kenneth, my new-found uncle, kin who had been installed in a cave, twenty-odd years ago by Vanora, to plan this escape. How was he feeling now? Judging by his windmilling arms, he seemed elated. Maybe even a little, what was the word – tipsy?

The air tasted sweet, clean. The sky had breaks of blue slashed across it. Soon we would be meeting Vanora again.

Ishbel

Scud was more sozzled than she first thought. One minute he was squinting at her, next he was slumped in the chair snoring. She had to get him out. She filled her backpack with books.

‘Come on, we need to get moving.’ She slapped his face but his head lolled. ‘How long before the guards wake up?’

‘Uh?’

She had no clue where the drugged guards would be but hoped Scud had secured them well. Slap. ‘Scud.’

Was it only yesterday when she visited here with Vanora and Merj and planted the drugs for Scud to find and use on the guards? They’d tried to pass the thought map plan to Sorlie, but Davie was having none of it and kept Sorlie distant. Vanora had created a scene, being deliberately obtuse with Ishbel – a little game she was becoming a little too fond of. Ishbel had blotted her nonsense out by studying the books. Selecting the ones she would take when she returned. She had known she would return.

The rucksack was too heavy so she removed a couple of paperbacks before hoisting Scud onto her shoulder.

‘Uh, uh.’ His hand gestured wildly, drool spilling from his mouth. His book lay on the table. Ishbel dumped him, bagged the book and hauled him onto her shoulder again. Scud’s book weighed a ton, she knew she should ditch some others but couldn’t bear to.

‘Goodbye, dear library.’ She doubted she would ever see its like again.

Even in his emaciated state, Scud was still a dead weight; she almost had to drag him the last few metres to the reactor room. She shoved the book bag down the pipe first, then Scud, praying he wouldn’t land on it and do some damage.

Scud and the books sprawled on the sand. Ishbel twisted to project her landing away from them. Morning light lazed on the horizon, as usual the cloud cover greyed the day. The beach showed signs of great commotion. Runnels left by the army’s feet still raked the shore, even though the tide had tried to smooth out the turbulent sand. Tides were like that, wash and repair.

Scud rolled onto his knees, cradled his head in his hands and his feet dug into the sand. When he lifted his head his face split into a grimace and tears ran.

‘See. I told you. Isn’t it great to be free?’ Ishbel tried to smile but she could have punched him. They’d wasted too much time. When he started shivering she took her waterproof off and pulled it over the wasted body rattling inside the stolen guard’s uniform.

‘How? Get off?’ he slurred.

‘Same way I got here. Same way Sorlie and Kenneth got to this beach.’ She pointed up. ‘Along the cliff.’

‘Where are we?’ His wide eyes were fearful. ‘Sorlie. Davie.’ He began to scramble on the sand. He was ravelled with drunkenness or shock, hard to tell. Ishbel dug a vitpill from her pocket.

‘Here, take this, it’ll help sober you up.’

He shook his head. ‘No, the island? Got tae get off the island.’

‘I’ve a boat. I stowed away on the boat Merj used when he tried to abduct Sorlie.’ But of course Scud didn’t know. ‘At first I didn’t know what Merj was up to, but he’d been acting strange ever since he’d met Sorlie in Davie’s library, so I tracked him and stowed on the boat. I’d planned to intervene but Sorlie did a pretty good job of putting Merj in his place. I just gave him a helping hand.’ She laughed at that. It had been such a long time since she’d laughed. What was wrong with her?

‘What’s funny?’

‘While Merj was winded I threw a butterfly bomb in his path. It blew his hand off.’

Scud winced. ‘That’s funny?’

Ishbel shrugged. ‘Come on, let’s get going. The vitpill’s kicked in now.’

Scud was surprisingly nimble on the narrow ledge.

‘Where’s he now? This Merj,’ he asked as he clambered past a rock fall.

‘Dead, probably. At least he looked that way when I left him.’

‘And you didn’t try tae help him?’

‘Why should I help him? Vanora shunted me sideways to promote him.’ She worked hard to keep the bitterness from her voice. Natives were not permitted to show such emotion, yet who was going to report her now? Not Scud. ‘Come on, the boat will still be outside Kenneth’s cave.’

‘You’re weird, Ishbel, d’ye know that?’

‘You know nothing.’

Scud stood still for a minute, his back pressed to the steep cliffside. He seemed to be contemplating. ‘Yeah, you’re right, ah know nothing. One minute a god, the next nothing.’

‘Look, I’m sorry, it’s just complicated, that’s all. Come on, let’s get off this island.’

The boat was gone. The shore came into view as they reached Kenneth’s clifftop garden but there was no sign of either Merj or his boat. Even his detached hand was missing.

‘Damn and blast it to hell.’

Scud shrugged and sat on the cliff edge. ‘So what’s plan B?’ He seemed almost pleased he didn’t have to leave, but Ishbel’s brows pringled as she clocked the area searching for answers.

‘We use Kenneth’s cave, see what we can come up with. If the Military come we’ll have plenty of warning.’

‘What if the guards set out the seekers? They won’t stay knocked out forever.’

‘Didn’t you lock them up?’

Scud’s chin bumped off his chest.

‘Unbelievable.’ She bit her lip. ‘We have to take that chance. How long do we have?’

‘Another hour max.’

At the cave entrance Scud dug his heels into the sand. ‘Ah’m not going in there.’

‘Why?’

He sighed. ‘Get real, Ishbel. Ah’ll stay out here and enjoy the view.’ He sat on a rock facing the sea. They were silent for a few minutes until Ishbel noticed something different in Scud’s posture. His shoulders were tense, he was crying again.

‘Aw, Scud, don’t.’

‘Tell me,’ was all he said. Ishbel disappeared into the cave and came back carrying skins. She draped one around Scud and settled back on her rock huddled in the none too sweet-smelling skin.

‘She’s on a prison ship.’

The groan that escaped Scud tugged at her gut. ‘How?’

‘Scud, your daughter had an addiction problem, you know that.’

‘Tig was getting treatment. One of the communications told me that. Vanora had fixed it, but something went wrong. The last ah heard of them, five years ago it was, they had both died of a virus.’

Ishbel sighed. ‘That was a lie.’

‘A lie?’ She could see he didn’t believe her. ‘Why would Vanora lie to me?’

‘Because she needed you here and focused. It was for the cause.’

Anger flashed across his face then retreated as quickly as a wave from the shore. ‘If that was a lie then what’s the truth?’ He rubbed and rubbed his hands down his thighs. ‘It’s cruel, that’s what.’ His head went down. She waited. He thumped the sand and sniffed his snot back. ‘Are you going tae lie tae me too?’

‘No. Never.’

‘How do ah know?’

‘I’m not Vanora. I’m in deep trouble just being here. She could have me put to death if she chose.’

‘But she won’t.’

‘No.’ Ishbel whispered. ‘Look Scud, you have to understand what it’s like now for natives out here. Life is harder than ever. So many purged, abused, starved.’

‘Huh. Hard? Ye’ve no idea what a hard life is like.’

She sighed. ‘No point swapping hardships. The truth is, Tig fell deeper into her rotten world. Reinya cared for her in the Urbans, but Tig got into trouble. Stole some Mash, didn’t pay her dealer, got beat up. I don’t know, loads of bad stuff.’ Ishbel tried to ignore Scud’s pinched face; she had to get this tale over with and the quicker the better for them to move on. It was like being back in the Jeep, telling Sorlie his parents were dead and reclassified as traitors. Watching his snivelling pain. She knew she was being cruel but it was the only way she knew how to do it.

‘She was sentenced to two years on a prison ship. Reinya was fourteen and was to be taken to the teenage training camp, but she didn’t want to leave her mother. She snuck into the Transport with Tig, disguised as a boy. Somehow managed to make it look as though she was shackled to her. They both ended up in the prison ship. You know they aren’t too particular about IDs at that stage.’

‘We have tae get them out.’

Ishbel placed a hand over Scud’s but he snatched his back. ‘No sympathy, just tell me.’

She stood and rubbed the palms of her hands, trying to summon some warmth. ‘Tig died after only six weeks. Her chemical withdrawal was too severe – they did nothing for her except to give her more of a kicking.’ She bit her lip. ‘Reinya’s alone on the ship with the rest of the wretched.’

Scud was surprisingly calm. ‘How do you know all this?’

‘You know Vanora has spies everywhere.’ Ishbel gave a little cough, ‘And I saw them.’

‘Tell me.’

‘When I brought Sorlie here, we stopped off at the port. Vanora asked me to check they were alright. They were there, we saw them before they boarded Dead Man’s Ferry.’

‘Why would she ask you tae do that?’

‘I’m not sure – Vanora’s a control freak. Maybe there was another reason.’

Scud thumped his head with his fist and Ishbel grabbed it, stopped him hurting himself, held it tight.

‘They were there on the quay. Reinya was unrecognizable as a girl and she looked tough. She’s OK, Scud. All reports indicate she’s OK.’

She placed a hand on his shoulder but he pushed her off. ‘We’ll get her back, I promise,’ she said.

Scud’s tears dried on his cheeks. With one finger to his right then left nostril he ejected his snot onto the sand, mopping up the dew with the heel of his hand.

‘We were so proud of Tig, her mother and I, even though we were only kids ourselves when we had her. We didn’t know things would turn out the way they did. One day we had our whole life ahead of us. Ah had a good teaching job at the University of Urban G, and my Jeanie would stay at home with Tig.’

He turned his ragged mutated face towards Ishbel. ‘They took me for speaking out. Did you know that historians are the best predictors of the future? We can see the past mistakes and see them happening again. It was all there, you know. Great blind spots in history. Just look back at good people who allowed atrocities tae happen. We’re all responsible. The signs were there; the mounting hatred of the immigrants, the growing wealth gap, the total disregard for people’s human rights, the media.’ He spat. ‘The media. Why didn’t ah believe they would go so far as tae imprison the academics, the writers? Had it not happened before, many times? The purge and DNA classification, the separation of Privilege and native classes. Ah was blind. Of course they wanted rid of the native intelligentsia. It’s a wonder they didn’t kill us there and then.’

He gulped a huge breath. ‘After ah was taken Jeanie went back tae work at an oldies’ care centre, but that closed when the oldies were cleansed from the system. Jeanie and Tig were moved tae a major native camp in the east. Tig grew up in a refugee camp, did you know that?’ Ishbel nodded. ‘No wonder it all went wrong.’ The tears started again but Ishbel held her sympathy.

‘We’ll get Reinya back. I just need to work out how to get us off this island.’