The Foundling Saga: Revelation (8 page)

Keller sat on a chair in a small room. The chair was made from a material that was unfamiliar to him, but was warm to the touch. The room had clean white walls, a raised bed, table, mirror, two chairs and a storage area in which his backpack was visible. The floor was concrete but a plas mat was laid over the bulk of it and he noticed it was much warmer to stand on in his bare feet. There were no windows, just a dim light in the centre of the room.

The door to this room was solid and slid open to the side quietly whenever anyone came in. When he was on his own, Keller tried to slide this open but he was unable to. There was a plas curtain in one corner of the room behind which was a pedestal with a lid. This was a toilet. They showed him how to use it as soon as they brought him in. He felt embarrassed but they didn’t humiliate him, which was some consolation. In the same area as the toilet was a shower which they had made him wash in. It wasn’t, however, a successful wash, as afterwards they told him his hair was still ‘matted and unkempt’ and his fingernails were still as dirty as they always were.

A woman came in. He had seen her before with another man just outside the room when he was brought in. Both wore white tunics. She smiled at him.

“Come with me, please”, she indicated the door.

“Where are you taking me?”

The woman seemed to be some sort of servant to the man, but he felt that she was at least sympathetic, whereas the man had appeared to view Keller as though he was a nuisance.

“You have been designated for transport to Rayleigh – it says so on the door out front and I believe they have already told you this, Keller.” She looked at him with mild disapproval. Like a child, he thought.

“You are going to need to be cleaned up properly before anything else happens. You will not be treated with dignity until you at least look civilised. Do you know how to shave?”

“Not with one of those,” said Keller, eyeing the small contraption that the woman held up.

“I’ll help you, Keller. I am going to need to help you with your hair and nails. I promise you the attitude of senior staff here will improve once you no longer look like you live in a bush.” She saw his angry frown and added more softly “Keller, it’s a different way of life here. You will receive vastly improved treatment when I have finished with you - and you will have more control over your future. You will be granted more independence and treated as a returning foundling rather than an Outsider – it’s how we do things here. Be patient and calm - watch how people act and learn from them.”

She looked down on the mat and added “And I suggest you don’t spit on the floors here – use the toilet if you really need to spit.” She looked at him again, “Spitting spreads disease.”

The woman told him she was a nurse and looked after people whose health needed to be ‘assessed’. He guessed she was in her forty-fifth year or thereabouts. He felt trapped in this room. The nurse thought he looked uncomfortable and furtive, so she tried a less informal approach.

“You can call me Sophia, she said with a warm smile.

After Sophia starting shaving him in front of the mirror, he asked if he could take over and shave himself. This operation took several passes but eventually his skin was smooth. Sophia stood him in front of the mirror.

“Say hello to Keller,” she said admiring her work, but he only looked in the mirror at her, as though re-assessing her.

Next, Sophia helped him shower again with a proper hair wash. He didn’t seem coy, she noticed, but then the Outsiders lived in a single common room together so she didn’t expect him to be shy. Afterwards, she passed him a lightweight gown. “Until we have some clothes sorted out for you,” she said, by way of explanation.

His nails were cleaned and cut. Sophia then asked him to wait at the table for a minute or two. She left the room taking his discarded clothes. She later returned with a plas tray that smelled good. The tray had four larger sunken sections and a cup with a handle in a fifth smaller section. Each of the larger sections of the tray had a different food in it.

“Eat this. I will return shortly with some clothing,” she said.

“What about my other clothing,” he asked.

“Keller, if we didn’t cremate your other clothing I fear it would have walked out on its’ own. Your new clothes will be more comfortable and will have the same clean smell as ours.”

“You all smell like flowers, even the men,” he observed calmly.

Sophia appeared to want to respond to this but she didn’t. “Eat please,” was all she said as she left the room again.

Keller watched the door slide back. He looked down at the food. Some of it looked alien to him but he identified carrots and pear in two of the sections.

He ate, but his chewing was laboured as he tried to keep a rising feeling of panic to himself. He blinked away tears. He had never felt so lost in his life. The relative kindness showed by Sophia just served to confuse him.

He wouldn’t show them that he was suffering. He thought of his Uncle again – he would be in a bad way if he had no idea where his Nephew was. His poor mother Nola would be devastated. He thought about the events of last night.

It had been like a bad dream. He had woken in the early hours of the morning in some form of a restraint, on a plas stretcher, and was unable to speak. His mouth felt numb. His Uncle lay motionless nearby - he was breathing heavily but steadily. Keller couldn’t move his head very far but could tell that there were at least three men moving purposefully around him and moving some of his belongings out of the room. Keller was moved silently out of the dwelling by four men and taken to a relatively flat part of the old highway nearby.

A strange vehicle was waiting for them. The vehicle already had two occupants sat in the front. Two of the men climbed into the vehicle with him and secured his stretcher on the floor of the vehicle. The other two men passed over two black plas sacks to one of those inside. Keller realised that one of the sacks seemed to be the shape of his backpack and the other seemed to contain at least one of the weapons they had found. One of the men leaned over him.

“Keller, don’t be alarmed. We are taking care of you. Your Uncle is fine, but he will wake up with a headache. That’s all. Neither of you will come to any harm. You are inside a mediheli. This vehicle is going to lift into the air and take us to a safe place so that we can talk to you. No harm will come to you. We are about to lift off now.” Then the man’s face moved away and he gave a hand signal to someone outside of the craft. He then nodded at the two men in the front who seemed to be awaiting instructions.

The mediheli lifted silently and then a gentle hum began as it moved upwards into the night. Keller still couldn’t speak. His stomach lurched but he controlled himself. The craft moved off into the darkness. They would surely hit something, he thought. The other occupants’ body language suggested that they may have well been relaxing by a fire on a winter’s night; such was their lack of concern.

The face leaned over him again. “You will be able to speak again as soon as we have landed and have taken you inside. We will be back on land in about 15 minutes. We are now going to speed up and you will feel some pressure on your body.” The face moved away and this time when he sat down behind the men in front, he applied restraints across his body and tapped twice on the back of one of their seats. They shouted some instructions. Various voices around him shouted “Yes” back and then the man in front counted down from five to one.

There followed a dozen or so minutes where Keller felt he was hurtling through the air, but the men around him seemed unconcerned and he relaxed his body a little. He wondered how far and how fast he was going and where to.

Eventually the craft landed. Keller was lying in a pool of sweat on the plas stretcher that they had kept him on. More voices and more orders. The two men in front moved away. Keller was lifted out on the stretcher and taken across a perfect flat surface that reminded him of the Arpo. He was moved on to a stretcher with wheels and the two men who had taken him from the ruins handed him over to several people in white tunics. Before they left, the face who had leaned over him several times in the last hour, put his hand on his head saying “Keller, I am now handing you over to these two doctors. They are not a threat to you. Cooperate with them. You will be fine. Goodbye and Good luck.”

The face had gone. The man had several attempts to reassure him but it was the ‘Good luck’ that now worried him. Good luck for what?

The two doctors wheeled him in to a very brightly lit covered walkway and he squinted in some discomfort as they wheeled him into a room. It contained a variety of equipment all with lights and screens. The screens seemed to have changing words and numbers moving across them.

The younger doctor touched something to the side of Keller’s face. His face softened and he coughed experimentally – he knew his voice was back somehow.

The older looking doctor seemed impatient. He looked at a screen before looking back at him “Your name is Keller, Correct?” he repeated.

‘Correct’ wasn’t a term used by the Outsiders and Keller looked a little confused momentarily “Is it Correct that your name is Keller?” he asked again.

“Yes.”

“I am Doctor Maher,” said the older man, then indicating the younger doctor said “This is Doctor Williams.”

Keller was still shielding his eyes. The younger doctor noticed this and waved his hand towards the wall. The lights dimmed a little. Keller still found it bright but it was a little easier to examine his surroundings now.

Doctor Maher raised his eyes at the younger one – A look that annoyed Keller instantly – “What are you doing? Why am I here?” he had tried to shout but it was more of croak. He found his voice again. “Well, why have I been brought here?” he demanded.

“You will shortly have your restraints removed. You will find out what’s happening. Just keep calm for the moment. We are more concerned with your immediate state of health.”

Doctor Williams ignored the older man and attached a couple of small pads to Keller’s fingers. “These are going to tell us whether you have any immediate medical problems that we need to look at,” he said, himself frowning at Doctor Maher as he turned away from Keller.

Looking at the various screens, Doctor Williams glanced at the older doctor. “Apart from the understandable raised pulse, his heartbeat is fine. No alerts whatsoever here.” He angled his head to study one of the screens. After a pause he continued, “He has some Vermox in his body, but the readings show residue only. He certainly doesn’t have any roundworm alive in his body, so it did the trick.”

“That’s something then, but he certainly needs a wash,” Doctor Maher said, as though Keller wasn’t in the room.

The doctors looked at several screens together and commented on various graphs, seeming satisfied. Doctor Maher left and the younger doctor pressed a switch dimming the various screens. In less than five minutes, the doctors seem to have finished with him.

Another man came in, wearing a blue tunic. He looked at Keller and then looked at the younger doctor. “Can you give me a hand taking him to room five, Doctor Williams? We can just wheel him down the corridor on the trolley,” he said. He ignored Keller’s “What’s going on?”

They moved down the corridor, and again the glare seemed powerful to Keller, but he could see they didn’t seem to notice. He passed some clean white doors. They turned into a room and the man in blue closed the door with all three inside.

Again, the young doctor waved his hands at the wall and the lights dimmed a little.

“Keller, we are going to release the restraints. We will help you up, as you may feel a little dizzy. We are going to ask you to sit down on the chair by the table. We can then explain why you are here. I will get some water brought in for you. Do not try to do anything brave or silly when we help you up or you will be restrained again and rendered silent. Is that clear Keller?” The man in blue seemed serious so Keller nodded. He didn’t like lying down looking up at these strangers as it made him feel vulnerable.

“There is probably a lot you will want to ask. Let’s get you up first.” The man in blue then undid his straps and Doctor Williams helped Keller sit up. Keller paused before turning to lift himself down. He did feel dizzy.

They sat him on the chair and he drank some water. The young doctor removed some gloves and left. Keller tried to look at his surroundings again. The bright lights were bothering him and he kept his gaze down.

“There is a toilet behind that curtain. I will show you how to use it when you need it, as I doubt you will have experienced one of those. Just ask when you need it.”

The man in blue introduced himself as Marcus. He sat down opposite Keller who finished the water provided.

“What has happened to my Uncle? Does he or my family know where I am? Or why I have been bought here?” he demanded.

“Your Uncle was left as he was found. He will no doubt be wondering where you are but we can’t help that at the moment. He hasn’t been harmed.”

He continued “You spoke about your family. Do you know what your origins are, Keller?”

Keller began to understand. “That I was a foundling, you mean?”

“That’s what we believe.”

“It means nothing. My mother is my mother. That’s it. She brought me up. How will she know where I am? Am I going to be here for long?”

Keller’s knew his raised voice and body language would send a message of defiance, but he was angry.

“Okay. To you, your mother is Nola. We certainly can’t inform her of where you are. However, your biological mother and father weren’t Outsiders. Your DNA has been checked – and, by the way, it’s a perfect DNA. You have been investigated because an observant Regent could see that you were clearly out of place amongst the Outsiders. Your physical make-up and height stand out. Your healthy profile means that you are desperately needed to help carry on the population. Our problems are the same as the Outsiders, only not as pronounced – we aren’t declining nearly so fast but the decrease is still alarming for London and thus the rest of England. The off-worlders see us as a busy port and one worth trading with. If we decline much further, they will start to seek another alternative or even reduce the ports they visit on Earth. If they don’t stop here to trade then we have no means of continuing to provide the necessities and medicines we desperately need to keep a viable population for our future generations. Its complex, but basically we could end up being left to fend for ourselves. Some people will survive but it won’t be a pretty survival for us or the Outsiders.”

He leaned against the door, with his arms folded, and let this information sink in with Keller. Then he said “A complexity has arisen, and not even the Scouts, who picked you up, are aware of this.”

“What has complexity?” Keller asked.

“A slight problem, your DNA is from a very high profile person. It’s from the brother of our Governor.” Then he added, “It’s also from a woman who is now based on one of the off-world planets and herself is Governor on Rayleigh. Her name is Governor Katherine Whelehan. She was originally short-leased to the Governor’s brother as an advisor. They had a close relationship. You wouldn’t actually be here if they hadn’t deposited you at Suffolk Road. His wives at the time were pretty ruthless and you would have affected their family tree plans.” He paused.

“To be honest, your mother and father took a significant personal risk just leaving London at the time. Your father may have found himself unable to re-enter London. The laws controlling movement are strict and ensure contamination is minimal. These laws have saved London and, in truth, saved England.”

“Our Governor here is your biological uncle. He did a favour for his brother about a year after you were born. He recommended your mother to be one of the new wives of Governor Hassall on Rayleigh. Arranging for such a marriage was partly for her safety in case this episode came to light, but it would also secure her future. He was very fond of her. Governor Hassall knew she was capable of providing children as she had perfect DNA. His first wife was unable to conceive and became very sick. He simply wanted to continue his line. He has since succumbed to old age but your mother has inherited the role of Governor. Ironically, they didn’t have any children.”

Keller was trying to take all this in. He had heard of the Governor of London. He was the top Regent. So his father was the Governor’s brother and his mother was Governor Whelehan of Rayleigh. He knew about the off-worlders but had no concept of what this really entailed, just a vague awareness about towns being built in strange landscapes far away. A marvel, but no different to the marvel of what it must be like to live on the pacific islands which he had heard of - tiny pieces of land in the middle of thousands of miles of sea.

“Your DNA was sent to us yesterday and forwarded to the Governor’s brother. Your biological Mother has been informed via our perma-link,” said Marcus.

“I don’t know either of these people,” Keller simply said.

“I know. Your father has left this to your mother. He is glad to hear of your safety. He does have other grown children. We have agreed to transport you to Rayleigh to meet your mother, Governor Whelehan. She has requested this. Our Governor is pleased that he can at least reciprocate for her continued patronisation of London as a port of call for her traders. It was down to your mother that Rayleigh maintained this link. Keller, this link is vital to us here.”

“Rayleigh? When? For how long?” Keller was incredulous and nearly shouting. “I can’t go there, I don’t know anything about this! I am from Suffolk Road! My family are from Suffolk Road - I am not an off-worlder!”

“I don’t know for how long, Keller. We do need to prepare you for transportation. You are going to have to go. We need you to make this trip. You are going to Rayleigh to meet your mother – who clearly, desperately, wants to see you. She may be Governor but she is also a mother who has had to live with the abandonment of her child in order to keep that child from harm.”

He paused and then repeated “You are going, Keller – you and your mother can then decide together on how long your visit lasts.”

Any hopes of a swift return to his family in Suffolk Road were gone. Keller put his head in his hands. “Can I just go home, first?”

“No!” said Marcus. “Listen to what I said. Think about what I said. I will come back later tomorrow and we will talk again, but for now, just rest, get washed. Some food will be bought in. I have to leave here shortly but will be back in the morning. A nurse will be assigned to look after you.” And with that, he left.