Jasper Fforde - Early Riser

He opened the door to their offices and we entered a wood-panelled room about the size of a gymnasium. The staff had their heads down and were either working or speaking on the telephone in low voices. One, near the back, was typing on a telex machine.

‘I’d like to see Aurora,’ said Toccata as we walked towards the side offices.

‘That’s not possible,’ said Hooke.

‘Every single time she does this,’ said Toccata in an exasperated tone. ‘She can’t hide from me for ever.’

Actually, I thought, yes, she probably could.

‘Whilst Aurora is otherwise engaged,’ said Hooke, who looked as though he had been through this many, many times, ‘I assume all her duties, and the position of Head of Security. So how can I help you?’

Toccata pointed at me.

‘I want to know why Aurora took over responsibility for a marooned Deputy Consul, and having done so, left them to almost sleep themselves out over the past four weeks.’

Mr Hooke looked at me, then back at Toccata.

‘I have no idea,’ he said, staring at her without expression.

‘Make a guess.’

He shrugged.

‘I don’t make guesses.’

‘Give it a whirl. For me. Just this once.’

‘Perhaps,’ began Hooke, ‘she felt she was in some way to blame for Worthing’s marooning. Perhaps she was just caring for someone looking lost in the Winter. Perhaps she was just being kind.’

‘Aurora has no understanding of the word. She’s motivated only by what HiberTech ask of her.’

‘We could argue over this all day, ma’am,’ said Hooke, sounding like they probably did, quite a lot, ‘but it seems to me a simple mistake. Deputy Worthing overslept. It happens. Why don’t you just take it up with Aurora?’

‘I try, but she’s always avoiding me.’

‘She says the same about you. Now, is there anything else I can help you with?’

‘Pantry,’ she said. ‘You’ve got shitloads of it and I want some to feed to the sleep-shy.’

‘If it were up to me, I’d drown them all and then compost their remains and use it to nourish the Winter beet,’ said Hooke, ‘but we live, apparently, in more enlightened times. Why don’t you come into the office?’

He gestured us to a side office which I noted had Aurora’s name painted on the door. He invited Toccata inside, but pointed at a seat outside the office for me.

I sat down, then heard Toccata’s voice rise in volume as she started to question why HiberTech couldn’t spare any food for the rest of the Sector, and Agent Hooke’s voice coldly explaining that it wasn’t up to private companies to deal with the shortcomings of government.

‘Does this happen a lot?’ I asked a youngish-looking worker sitting quite near me. He looked up abruptly, as though he had hoped I wasn’t going to say anything.

‘All the time. It’s like a recurring gag in a sitcom, only it’s not funny.’

‘Sitcom,’ I said, ‘yes. Are there any toilets close by? I’ve been on the coffee since I woke up.’

He directed me to the second on the left down the corridor, and I thanked him and walked out of the room. I didn’t want the loo; I wanted a closer look at our driver, who was still staring ahead blankly. I was right; it was Charles Webster. The picture on the missing person’s flyer matched: he had a mole beneath his right eye.

‘Hello, Charles,’ I said. There was no reaction. I reminded myself that the connection between him and Birgitta was weak. All I had was Birgitta’s admission – before she nightwalked – that her husband vanished. That was it. No name, no idea where he vanished to or even when. I had no confirmation they were the same person, aside from the dream, which was no confirmation at all.

‘Birgitta says “hi”,’ I said, but there was no reaction. I tried again: ‘There will always be the—’

‘ — Gower, ’ said Webster, or, at least, something that I thought sounded like ‘Gower’. On reflection, it might have just been a mumble.

I heard voices from down the corridor and looked up as The Notable Goodnight attended by a gaggle of assistants walked around the corner, Lucy amongst them. I briefly heard something about deep memory reacquisition before they saw me and all stopped talking.

‘Well,’ said The Notable Goodnight, staring at me with an imperious eye, ‘Charlie Worthing. What are you doing here?’

‘Consul business, ma’am.’

‘Indeed?’

‘Yes; to do with extra food for the winsomniacs. We have fifty-four of them.’

‘Have you tried starvation? Clears them out in a jiffy, I’m told.’

Lucy whispered something in her ear.

‘I’ve been instructed to tell you that was a joke. Dark, but a joke. Funny, yes?’

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘very.’

She grunted and they all moved on except for Lucy.

‘Good to see you, Charlie,’ she said as we tapped fists. ‘Someone said you overslept. Is that true?’

I rolled up my sleeve and showed her my forearm, which more closely resembled a stick draped with furry skin.

‘Wow,’ she said, ‘you lost all that in only four weeks?’

‘Dreams,’ I said, ‘and they’re kind of still with me.’

I told her about the retrospective nature of my dreams and she nodded knowingly.

‘Narcosis can do weird things to the mind,’ she said. ‘How are you getting along with the Consuls?’

‘Sort of okay.’

‘I shouldn’t really tell you this, but be extremely wary of Toccata. She’s allowing her hatred of Aurora to cloud her judgement and invents all manner of conspiracies. HiberTech has been wanting to get rid of her for years, but it’s kind of complicated when Aurora is so valuable. Toccata can be volatile, and we don’t want any wrinkles when we roll out Project Lazarus. I can’t say much, but there’s talk of Morphenox-B being available to everyone.’

‘That’s good,’ I said.

‘It’s very exciting. Be careful, Charlie. You know you can call me if you need anything. I’ll always be a friend first and an employee of HiberTech second.’

And she gave me a hug, waved goodbye and hurried off down the corridor just as the door to the HiberTech offices opened and Toccata walked out.

‘Wanker,’ said Toccata, joining me in the golf cart. ‘I’d poison him quite happily and dance on his grave given half a chance. A compliant toady, acquiescing to Aurora at every level.’

She told Charles to return us to reception, which he did, without word, complaint or delay.

‘Have a nice Winter,’ said Josh as he saw us off. ‘May the Spring embrace you.’

‘And embrace you, too.’

‘That was interesting,’ said Toccata once we had retrieved our weapons and were walking back to the command car outside.

‘What was?’

‘That they all seemed quite uninterested.’

‘Uninterested in what?’

‘In you . HiberTech regard every unusual face as someone who is a potential RealSleep member, ne’er-do-well or loser. They paid you no heed and even allowed you to wander off – where did you go?’

‘The loo.’

‘Right – which makes me suspicious that they’ve been told to leave you alone. Why is this?’

‘I’m not sure being ignored is grounds for suspicion,’ I said.

‘You don’t know them like I do. Speak to anyone about Project Lazarus?’

I told her I knew someone there – an old friend from the Pool, and she had said that it would be a game changer.

‘In what way?’

‘Universal availability of Morphenox-B, apparently. That’s good, right?’

‘So everyone says,’ she said, ‘and it will triple the number of nightwalkers to redeploy. Greater survivability, sure, but lots of cheap labour. I’ve always been suspicious of game changers,’ she added. ‘Sometimes the game doesn’t need changing – or no one has a clear idea of which game will be changed, and for what and how much.’