Paul Hardy - The Last Man on Earth Club

She didn’t hesitate. “I agree. Of course. The others, they, they need you.”

“Thank you,” I said.

Eremis looked at me. “Shall we bring them in?”

I nodded to Eremis, who reached for a pad, and left the room. Liss watched him go.

“He’ll be back in a moment. We need everyone’s agreement,” I said. “So we’re going to talk to the whole group. You can keep the details of your involvement confidential, if you wish.”

She still looked puzzled. “The group? Now?”

“Now,” I said.

“Do they know—?”

“They know you did something foolish. I’ve asked them not to inquire about it for the moment.”

“Oh. Okay.”

I pressed a control on my pad. Kwame faded in, standing with arms folded, looking around and plainly seeing me and Liss appear in the meeting room back at the centre. Alongside him, Olivia was caught in the act of sitting down as she appeared, alarmed by the sudden manifestations. Iokan was already waiting in a seat, wearing his robe. Pew fretted as far from everyone as he could, until Elsbet materialised beside him in a hospital dressing gown, making him jump. She was still at the hospital and just as surprised to see them all.

Liss’s prison uniform drew looks of interest. “Get yourself arrested again, dear?” asked Olivia. Liss gave me an irritated look, knowing full well that my request not to talk about her situation had been pointless. But Kwame had another concern. He glared at Elsbet.

“I thought I had made it clear I had no wish to participate when Katie is present—”

“Oh, shove it up your bum,” said Elsbet.

“That’s not Katie,” smiled Iokan.

Kwame’s face brightened. “Oh. Well. In that case I owe you an apology. Welcome back, Sergeant.”

She stuck her tongue out at him and grinned at the others. I decided to try and persuade her to eat less sugar in the future.

“So what did you get us in here for?” said Olivia. “Are we just saying hello?”

“Hello!” said Elsbet, plainly thinking she was very funny.

“Yeh, yeh, hello to you an’ all.” She looked at me. “Well?”

“No, we have another reason to bring you here today,” I said. Liss looked up at me, but said nothing. “You all remember Eremis Ai of the ICT?”

“I remember,” said Kwame.

“Yes…” said Pew, taking an interest in the meeting for the first time.

“Annoying little shit,” said Olivia. Heaven only knew what he’d done to earn her displeasure, other than being born. But it made for an interesting look of surprise when he walked in the door, followed by a narrow look at me once she realised Eremis had been there all along.

“Good afternoon,” he said to them all. Various grunts and greetings came back. “I’ve asked you all to come today because of a change in your situation. As you’ve probably heard by now, the Refugee Service is engaged in the biggest evacuation it’s ever had to undertake. A billion or more refugees are going to be coming in from Ardëe—”

“What, all at once?” asked Olivia.

“No, but enough that it’s going to put a lot of stress on the resources of the IU. That means they need to use all the therapy centres they have, even the one you’re at.”

“We’re aware of this,” said Iokan. “As I understand it, the Diplomatic Service is providing us with temporary accommodation.”

“Yes,” I said. “But, unfortunately…” I tried not to glance at Liss. “…resources are even thinner than we expected. The Refugee Service need all the therapists they can get for the evacuation. They’ve ordered me to report to the Lift.”

“Well bloody say no!” said Olivia.

“I did,” I said. “But I wasn’t given a choice.”

“You’re leaving us?” asked Elsbet, suddenly anxious.

“No,” I said. “But I am leaving the Refugee Service.”

“So you are leaving us!” said Olivia.

“Not exactly,” I said. “Let me explain. The ICT have offered me a job as consulting therapist…”

“What does that entail?” asked Kwame.

Eremis spoke up. “We’re expecting many of the witnesses we speak to will be extremely traumatised. We need someone to help us assess their mental state. In the first instance because we need reliable witness statements that will stand up in court—”

“Huh,” snorted Olivia, assuming his motives were entirely mercenary.

“—and secondly, so we can arrange proper care for them. If necessary, we need to be able to provide that care ourselves.”

“Why?” asked Pew.

“Some witnesses will need protection from the people they’re testifying against.” I noticed Liss chewing her lip. With any luck, she was considering the consequences of what she’d done, and how much danger she’d put herself in. Eremis went on: “If that’s the case, we’ll need to be able to offer therapy while they’re in our custody.”

Iokan smiled. He’d already figured out what was coming next.

“As for the group,” I said, “we’re here to make you an offer. I can’t stay with the Refugee Service, and even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to stay on as your therapist. They’ll assign someone to you as soon as they can, but it might take a while, given what’s going on.”

“You’re just abandoning us, is that it?” accused Olivia.

“I don’t think that’s what we’re here for,” said Iokan. “My answer is yes. I’ll come with you.”

“What…?” demanded Olivia.

“Do you mean to say—” said Kwame, laboriously.

“You want us to come with you?” finished Elsbet.

“That’s pretty much it,” I said. “The Refugee Service is willing to transfer custody to the ICT, but only if you agree. So: how do you all feel about that?”

“I’ll do it,” said Liss before anyone else could cut in.

“So… what, are we still going to this Diplomatic place?” asked Elsbet, suddenly very tense.

“Yes, in the short term,” said Eremis. “We’ll be looking into other accommodation as soon as possible.”

“And they don’t have anything to do with this…?”

“No,” I said. “They won’t speak to you unless you ask.”

She relaxed. “Oh. Well. Okay, then.”

“That’s fine. Kwame?”

He considered it, and turned to Eremis. “Will you be able to investigate my case?”

“I can’t promise we’ll be able to give you quite what you want…”

“What I want has changed. There were events at the very end which were less… nebulous. Including several deaths. I would like to have my name cleared if nothing else.”

Pew looked up from the dudgeon he’d been in, and seemed troubled.

“Perhaps we should discuss this later, Kwame?” I asked.

“I would be glad to,” he said. Eremis nodded.

“Pew?” I asked. He didn’t look like he wanted to talk. He hadn’t wanted to talk much recently in any case. As much as he’d been a little more co-operative recently, it had all been grudgingly given and he seemed to hate the process of therapy for more reasons than just the trauma he would have to relive in order to remedy his PTSD.

“No,” he said.

“Just ‘no’, Pew?”

“Just no.”

“Can we discuss your reasons? Especially if the others might find them relevant.”

He folded his arms and looked down into them.

“Pew?”

Olivia jumped in. “Well, It’s no surprise, is it? You’ve dropped this on us all of a sudden, no wonder he’s not ready. And you’re not giving us a choice, are you? Where else is there to go?”

“Well, I have to admit there aren’t a lot of alternatives—”

“Oh, but I bet the Psychiatric Centre is one of ’em…”