Heart of Danger (14 page)

T
he atmosphere at the breakfast table was strained. Vima looked as if she hadn’t slept. Wilfred was cranky, picking up on his mother’s mood. James held him and watched his wife with pity in his eyes.

None of us said much and we chose to walk to the court. Wilfred went to sleep in the pram.

The courtroom had none of the drama of the day before. None of the accused was present; instead, they were televised from the New Plymouth court. The elite group who’d escaped on the boat were brought in one by one. The charges for each were the same: torture, murder, rape, manufacturing and distributing disease pathogens, kidnap, enslavement, theft, misuse of scarce resources and misuse of the internet. None of them would speak. None of them would give their names. Guards led them out of the court.

Callie relaxed when she no longer had to look at them.

The work group who’d captured me were next. They were all accused of aiding and abetting their leader to do harm to the population of Aotearoa by means of creating and releasing virulent pathogens. Unlike their leaders, they were keen to talk. And all of them pleaded not guilty.

One by one, the men and women gave their account of the cruelty of those who wielded power over them. They told of the retribution brought down on them if they rebelled in the slightest way. ‘We were lowly slaves,’ said a man with half an ear gone. ‘We had no right to take the law into our own hands.’

‘Were any of the women punished?’ Judge Maliano asked.

The oldest woman said, ‘My name is Chiquita Sanchez. We women were very careful. We made sure we did exactly what they ordered us to. We knew what they did to women who broke the slightest rule.’

A silence fell over both courts. None of the five judges looked as if they wanted to hear more. Then Judge Maliano sighed. ‘They would be raped?’

Chiquita Sanchez bowed her head. ‘Yes. It was bad. Public. Humiliating. I do not want to speak of it. The woman it happened to killed herself. She jumped into the river the next day as we crossed it to get to the work fields. We were glad she was free.’ She looked around for me. ‘We were horrified when Juno arrived. We feared for her. We knew what Secondus intended. We knew the elite were looking forward to what would happen.’ She gave a little laugh. ‘None of it went as we’d expected. Juno fought them. She saved herself, she saved her sister and she saved us.’

I felt sick, and deeply glad I hadn’t known any of this.

The court adjourned for lunch. I walked shakily over to my Taris friends, and we made our way to the waterfront to eat. I still felt sick.

Shallym pushed a sandwich into my hand. ‘Eat it. You’re safe.’

‘Think of those you saved,’ said Zill, Sina’s mother.

Vima put Wilfred on my lap. ‘Hold him with one hand and eat with the other.’

When Wilfred made a grab for my hair, I couldn’t help but laugh. I started eating too.

Shallym held out her arms. ‘Can I hold Jovan, Sina?’ She took him and kissed his head. ‘Hello, gorgeous boy.’

The babies were a perfect distraction. Vima and Jov were sitting as far away from each other as they could. The rest of us tried to act as though the air wasn’t singing with tension as we discussed the trial.

James said, ‘Have you guys joined the dots yet?’

Jidda gave a dramatic shiver. ‘I’m trying not to.’

Biddo stretched out on a bench. ‘Not going to think about that till the trial’s over.’

Jov said, ‘You’re talking about Taris? About how that Children of the Coming Dawn set-up could have been us?’

Vima nodded, looking towards him but not at him. ‘I want to know who the five were who wouldn’t let Bradwell Zagan be the supreme leader. Were they our five Governance Companions, or was it a different five altogether?’

All of us looked at Camnoon. He was his usual serene self, but his eyes smiled at us. ‘I thought you would want to know. Sooner or later. Two of them were me and Sofia Preston, whom of course you all knew as Fisa.’

Fisa, my genetic mother.

‘And,’ Camnoon went on, ‘a young man called Benedict Nixon, whom you knew as Nixie. The other two were people you don’t know. Ellory O’Fee, an older man who was an expert atmospheric technician. The final one was a young man called Abraham Lucas.’

I jumped as if the name had stung me. ‘My genetic father? That Abraham Lucas?’

Camnoon smiled at me. ‘Yes. Your genetic father. He and Sofia – Fisa – argued fiercely about everything except the leadership of Taris. They didn’t like each other. Sofia joked that she’d stayed on Taris simply because he didn’t want to.’ He watched me for a moment as I tried to get my head around this new shock. ‘He was a good man, Juno. Very bright. Very determined and opinionated. It looks as though he’s mellowed now.’

‘You mean he’s still alive?’ Shallym demanded. I couldn’t have got a single word out.

‘I believe so,’ Camnoon said. ‘I saw a publication of his online, dated a week ago. He writes these days about how to teach mathematics, as well as about the universe. Very interesting.’

That afternoon I found it difficult to keep my mind on the trial, not that my lack of concentration mattered. Nothing else was revealed that shocked or surprised us.

The judges called an adjournment mid-afternoon, and after a short break they delivered their verdicts.

Callie and the workers were exonerated and free to go. All those in the elite group, none of whom would talk or give their names, were convicted and imprisoned.

The trial was over, much sooner that anyone had expected.

‘That’s what happens if the accused keep silent and you’ve got no idea who they are,’ the D.I. said as she came to say goodbye. ‘Enjoy a few days’ holiday, Juno. You’ve earned it.’

‘What’s the betting people are going to start flooding the police website, naming the people who wouldn’t speak,’ Vima said.

‘Did that happen with those who were arrested after the bomb blast?’ Shallym asked. ‘They weren’t even on telly except when they got arrested, but they all had their faces covered.’

Jov smiled at her. ‘The pandemic broke out right after that. Their trial wasn’t even reported in the news media. Quarantine regs and all that.’

Media people waited outside the court, jostling each other out of the way as they rushed towards us, shouting out questions. ‘Who … Are you … What do …?’

James stepped in front of me, fending them off. ‘Give the girl a chance.’ When they’d quietened, he said, ‘You want to say anything, Juno?’

I just said I was relieved it was all over.

Camnoon had the final word, his dignity putting paid to further questions. ‘We of Taris believe that now we can live in peace in Aotearoa. It is the wish of all 500 of us to be good citizens and to ensure that the sacrifices made to bring us here were justified.’

They let us go.

 

We took our favourite route through the city, along the waterfront. I stretched out my arms to the wind, letting the tensions of the past few days blow away.

Camnoon called us to a halt. ‘One moment, my people.’ He waited as we huddled closer to catch his words before they were snatched by the wind. He looked at Vima, then at Jov, and said with great compassion, ‘My children, this idea of throwing you together is hard on you, and it is hard on your partners.’

This wasn’t what we’d expected. I dreaded to hear what he’d say next. But he was speaking to Vima and Jov, not to the rest of us.

‘I believe it is the right thing to do. The difficult things often are. Do this with all your energy.’ He gave them the glimmer of a smile. ‘Right now, you are both enduring, wishing this part of your lives to pass. Do the work, my children, and reap what harvest may come.’

James put his arm around his wife, who stood rooted to the spot. ‘He’s right, Vima,’ James said. ‘How about you and Jov take the babies. We’ll go on ahead. We’ll see you at the Centre when you’re ready.’

Sina handed her son to his father. She was crying and she seemed to be bracing herself for an ordeal to come.

I kept my eyes on the ground. I’d imagined a gradual process – regular picnics or some sort of gathering on neutral ground where they could work out how to be at ease with each other. I hoped Camnoon knew what he was about. As far as we knew, he had never married. What did a monk know about love?

James touched my arm. ‘Shall we go?’

I started walking. Jov would be able to hold Wilfred, see him properly for the first time. And Vima would have to hold her son’s half-brother. ‘That was cruel and kind,’ I said, half to myself.

But James heard. ‘She was killing herself slowly. The whole thing’s been eating away at Sina too. All six of us need a resolution, whatever it turns out to be.’ 

F
ergus opened the Centre door and welcomed us in. He kissed Shallym and me on our cheeks, then asked, ‘Young Hera – is she really unharmed? Is she okay?’

His face relaxed when I assured him she was, then he ushered us into the dining room. If he noticed Vima and Jov’s absence he gave no hint of it. Camnoon kept an unobtrusive watch over Sina, and it seemed to me that when he felt she was cracking under the strain he came up with a diversion. ‘Biddo,’ he said, ‘could you find out how we might contact Abraham Lucas?’ Then he looked at me. ‘That is, if Juno would like to contact him, of course.’

‘I would. I do. Please.’

Everyone laughed and Jidda said, ‘That would be a yes.’

But Shallym said, ‘Are you sure, Juno? I mean, if he and Fisa couldn’t stand each other – I’m just thinking he mightn’t be all that delighted.’

‘Why don’t you see what the rest of your mates think,’ James said.

‘Okay,’ Biddo said. ‘Probably won’t be able to get all of them though.’

I squealed with delight when Marba’s face showed up, with Brex beside him. I squeaked again when I saw Pel and Silvern with Fortun in Greymouth. Wenda and Dreeda were together in Invercargill. One by one all the others showed up on the big screen in front of us.

‘What’s up now?’ Silvern demanded.

‘How do you know anything is?’ I asked. ‘I might just want to see you all – to say thanks. Which I do want to say, actually. You guys rock.’

‘Yeah, yeah.’ She brushed it away. ‘But there’s something else, isn’t there?’ Her eyes had the familiar glint of energy.

How could she be so certain? ‘You are getting altogether too …’ I didn’t know a word for it.

‘Prescient,’ Camnoon said. ‘It means knowing without being told.’

‘It’s not hard,’ Silvern said dryly. ‘You just look as though you’re about to burst.’

We all laughed at that. Sina too.

Quickly I filled my friends in on Camnoon’s bombshell about my genetic father. ‘So the question is – should I try and get in touch with him or not?’

Pel, sitting beside Silvern, exploded with fresh laughter. ‘You’re priceless, Juno! For goodness sake, girl! If you don’t, then in about a week your curiosity will get the better of you and you’ll do it anyway.’

‘And think how you’ll feel if he’s turned up his toes and died the day before,’ Yin said.

Shallym growled at him, but he had a point. They were right. I straightened my back, took the deep breath and asked Biddo to go ahead.

‘We’ll be waiting,’ Marba said. ‘So tell all the second you know something.’

‘What’s the bet they’re all online doing the same search?’ Jidda said as soon as we’d all signed off.

But it took Biddo only a few minutes to find a contact address. I keyed it in, then clicked on the icon. There was no response.

‘Try phoning,’ Fergus said, handing me the Centre phone.

Nerves kicked at my gut. I couldn’t do it, not out of the blue and with everybody listening. But James was watching me, Sina too. Okay. For them – I’d do it for them. I pressed in the numbers.

Fergus showed me how to use the speaker function so that everyone could hear. ‘Or we could leave you in private,’ he said, indicating a door leading off the big room.

I shook my head. James and Sina – they would have what distraction I could give them.

The voice of the man who answered was unexpected. I’d imagined him old and frail and testy, but instead he sounded … kind of authoritative. ‘Good evening. Abraham Lucas speaking.’

I cleared my throat. ‘Um, hi. I mean hello.’ I took a grip on myself. ‘Sorry. This is Juno speaking. Juno of Taris.’

A big fat silence hung for what seemed like huge long seconds before he said, ‘Juno of Taris. A surprise indeed. I know your face well, of course, and before I ask why you’d be contacting an old man who knew your genetic mother and couldn’t stand her —’ he paused and we could hear the humour in his voice, ‘let me tell you that you and your friends have done this country a remarkable service.’

‘Thank you,’ I said, relieved that at least he thought well of me. He must have watched the first trial to know Fisa was my genetic mother.

‘Now we come to the matter of why you would take the trouble to seek me out,’ he said.

Oh, goodness, here it was. How could I break it to him?

Just say it, Sina mouthed at me.

‘Camnoon told us … he said you’d been on Taris at the beginning and …’ This was useless. I rubbed my eyes and took hold of my courage. ‘Look, the thing is – you’re my genetic father. Abraham Lucas, astrophysicist.’ For extra proof I recited the Hope Statement that he’d left for any future child:
It is important that those of us with superior genes pass on those genes; however, I do not want to have a child. By donating to Taris, I am able to fulfil my societal obligations.

To my astonishment he burst out laughing. ‘What a self-important prat I was!’

I gasped. He’d changed? Mellowed, as Camnoon had thought?

A fresh gust of his laughter filled the room. ‘Sofia Preston and I got to have a child together! How splendid! I hope she appreciated the irony, but I’d wager my last brain cell she did.’

‘Um, you don’t mind then?’ I asked, looking around at my friends – and saw that the rest of them too were present via the big screen.

‘Absolutely delighted,’ he said, laughter bubbling under the surface. ‘And longing to meet you. Give me your contact details, if you’d be so kind, and I’ll come and see you. If your good parents will allow it.’

‘Oh yes. They will. They’ll be happy to meet you.’ I gave him the details.

‘I’ll say farewell for the moment, Juno,’ he said. ‘I think you need time to get used to this. Just let me tell you that I’m proud to be your genetic father. Very proud indeed.’

I put down the phone and Shallym pushed me onto a chair. ‘Sit down before you fall down.’

I sat, letting the voices swirl around me, until Paz said, ‘Hey, Juno – what about Hera’s genetic parents? They might still be around too.’

Camnoon held up both hands. ‘Enough, my children. One step at a time.’ He smiled at Paz’s face on the screen. ‘You are right. But not tonight.’

‘We can look, though,’ Rynd said. ‘It’s kinda lonely by myself. I’d like to have another project to research.’

‘Getting tired of being a surfer, are you?’ Wenda asked.

His face lit up. ‘Not on your life. I really love it.’

Marba, as always, brought us back to the matter in hand. ‘With your permission, Juno, those who want to will search for Hera’s genetic parents.’

I gave my permission. Hera could yell at me when she was older if she thought I’d done the wrong thing. ‘Their names are Derrick Api and Margaretta Anders.’ They weren’t the people my parents had chosen. I’d keyed in my own choices during the few seconds of confusion immediately following an earthquake.

I spelled out the names, then we said goodbye. For a moment, nobody spoke.

‘You all miss each other, don’t you?’ Fergus said.

Yeah. Even me, and I was the one who’d been so desperate to be by myself, unknown and unrecognised. Fat chance of that happening now thanks to both the trials and the wonders of television.

James said, ‘This genetic parent thing – how many of the rest of you aren’t your parents’ genetic kids?’

‘None of us,’ Biddo said. ‘Juno’s the only one in our stratum. There are more among the younger kids.’

‘Interesting,’ James said. ‘Any idea why it was just you, Juno?’

All his attention was on me – a fierce energy designed to shut out thoughts of Vima, I guessed.

‘It must be to punish my grandparents. To deny them genetic grandchildren.’ I told him about Mother’s sister and how she’d been killed for asking questions that three of our Governance Companions hadn’t wanted answered. How Dad’s brother had been killed because he’d spoken of a forbidden matter.

He turned to Sina. ‘Do you think so? Is this reason enough?’

She nodded. ‘Yes. I’d say that’s exactly why they said Juno’s parents couldn’t have their own child.’ Her face was pale and she looked tense enough to shatter at a touch, but then she laughed. ‘I can only imagine what they must have thought when Sheen and Zanin chose Fisa for the mother of their child.’

‘Fisa aka Sofia,’ James said, as if embedding the names into his mind.

Camnoon said, ‘My children, let us eat the food that Fergus and his helpers have so kindly prepared for us.’ He smiled at James and Sina. ‘Your partners will return soon. The babies will see to that.’

But we’d been sitting at the table for some time before we heard the wail of hungry babies. Sina jumped up and ran to take her son.

Vima had been crying. She sat down beside James, fed her baby and looked at none of us.

The atmosphere was more strained than ever.

Camnoon seemed unworried. ‘Well done, my children.’ He included James and Sina in his smile. ‘Vima, Jov – I’m sure you’ll be interested to hear the latest news.’

‘More surprises?’ Vima asked.

‘You could say that,’ I said. ‘I talked to Abraham Lucas. My genetic father.’ I still couldn’t quite believe it. ‘He even laughed when I recited back the Hope Statement he’d written.’

‘Said he was a self-important prat,’ Biddo said, relishing the new word.

‘So Hera’s next for the ancestry search?’ Jov asked.

‘You’re quick,’ James said. ‘And right on the button too.’

Jov looked directly at him, probably for the first time ever. ‘I’ve always wondered. Sina has too. There has to be some pattern in her ancestry, some genetic strand that’s probably run down through the generations.’

Vima swapped Wilfred to her shoulder to burp him, but James took him from her. She sent him a swift smile and said, ‘Anyone who’s left alive now mightn’t know. If it’s something genetic, it could skip generations. Families might try to hide powers like that. They would possibly decide not to speak of their abilities if their own kids didn’t have them.’

‘So you wouldn’t try and find out?’ Zill asked, almost managing to look Vima in the face. It was hard for her and her husband. They’d wanted Vima punished, banished into silence for hurting their daughter.

Vima turned to them. ‘Like you, I would want to know. I’d do what I could to find anyone who could help us understand more about that uncanny ability.’

‘We are not so different after all,’ Zill said.

Sina reached out and squeezed her mother’s hand.

The atmosphere was easier for the remainder of the meal, but both couples excused themselves soon afterwards, saying that the babies needed to go to bed.

Zill and Harl left too, walking with Sina and Jov.

After a discussion with Fergus – and plenty of advice from him too – Biddo, Jidda, Shallym and I went into town. All of us felt unsettled and I didn’t want to say goodbye – perhaps it was the same even for the boys, because they stayed with Shallym and me as we wandered through the streets.

‘Let’s go up here,’ Shallym said, pointing at a stairway.

‘Music,’ Jidda said. ‘No way am I going to dance.’

He went to walk off, but Biddo hauled him back. ‘Nobody’s going to look at you.’ He kept hold of Jidda’s arm and marched off up the stairs.

Shallym and I followed them, holding in our laughter. Biddo, a nightclub and dancing? Who would have believed it?

There was an entry fee, but the guy on the door waved us in without asking for money. ‘We owe you. Enjoy.’

We snaked our way to a space in the crowd, Biddo still holding on to Jidda. But Biddo was right about nobody taking any notice of us. We weren’t dressed for clubbing, but since everyone else seemed to be whirling around in their own small universe it didn’t matter. I found myself jammed between a guy with a tattooed skull and a girl wearing a long dress made from multicoloured jagged strips of fabric. I shut my mind to everything else, and I danced till my feet were sore.

It was late – or maybe early – when we left.

Vima wasn’t waiting up for me when I got back, not that I’d expected that she would be – I knew she had an early lecture the next day. But she didn’t come to wake me in the morning, and when I went out to the kitchen James was there by himself.

‘She left at six,’ he said as he made tea for us both. ‘Wouldn’t speak to me. Wouldn’t say where she was going or what she was going to do.’ His voice was controlled, brittle.

‘Is she going to come back?’ I felt sick.

He shoved his hair away from his face. ‘Oh god, I hope so. Wilfred’s stuff is still here. So is hers.’ He was on his feet, striding from one end of the room to the other.

I kept my eyes on the table in front of me. ‘You love her.’ I’d never suspected, never even thought of it as a possibility. I swivelled round in the chair to look at him. ‘That’s why you married her? Not because of Wilfred?’

He came back and flopped down into the chair opposite mine. ‘No, it’s always been Wilfred. Pure, uncomplicated love at first sight with that little fella.’ He straightened up and flicked me a rueful half-smile. ‘I liked Vima from the first. Admired her too.’ He stopped and it seemed he wasn’t going to say anything more. When he did, his words were more to himself than to me. ‘God damn it to hell, but I never dreamed I’d love her. I knew the score. I went into this with my eyes wide open. She told me about Jov. Didn’t try to hide a thing. And now it looks like I’ve lost them both.’

I couldn’t speak. We’d forced her to do this, and now it seemed to be turning into a worse mess than ever.

James shoved his cup across the table, thumped a fist down on the surface, then jumped up and left the room.

A minute later the phone started ringing. I answered it only because James didn’t seem to be going to. It was Sina, wanting to speak to James.

‘I’ll try and find him,’ I said, and told her how Vima had left the house early without talking to him. I longed to ask her how things were with her and Jov, but I held my tongue and went looking for James. He was standing outside, looking up at the hills. ‘Sina,’ I said, holding the phone out to him.

About five minutes later he came back into the kitchen. ‘Sina says Jov left early too. He told her he was meeting Vima.’