Terry Neale - Jo-el

We walked down into the train station toward the unused portion of the tunnel. In the distance, along the tunnel we could see a man in dirty green pants and a brown jacket hoping from foot to foot. He was standing beyond the crowd, who were heading for the platforms. To his right was a wire fence that blocked people from entering the disused portion of the tunnel. We milled around with the commuters while I checked him out. He didn’t notice us. I pulled Sally’s arm and headed away out of sight.

“Can you put him on my screen, Sally?”

Almost immediately he appeared in front of me. His complexion was light, he looked to be mid-thirties. His mop of brown hair was greasy, his beady eyes were flicking back and forth, watching the people along the tunnel. I could see a walkie-talkie in his right hand. There was a nervousness about the way he was moving his weight from one side to the other. I wondered what they’d told him he was supposed to do and how long he’d been there.

“How long has he been there?” I asked, Sally.

“Two and a half hours, he’ll be relived in another thirty minutes.”

That gave me an idea. “Okay, let’s get the weapons and figure out a plan.”

We were back in the park before we could find a location out of sight. We bounced to the lock-up. It was pitch black, Sally found the switch. The air was stale, a layer of dust covered the lock-up but the four wooded boxes were very clean. There were other items along the wall, but Sally indicated the boxes on the ground. She blew out all the fasteners and lifted the lids. My eyes focused on the nasty looking weapons stacked to the brim of the first two boxes.

“What are they?” I asked as I tentatively picked up the top pistol and turned it over in my hands. I’d never held anything like it, I could feel the power and deadliness of the gun. It was both exciting and frightening, I realized I’d already used my power to kill people but not with a device designed just for that purpose.

“They’re MP9’s made by Brugger and Thomet in Switzerland. Nine hundred rounds per minute. The ammo is in the other two boxes.”

“How long have they been here?”

“Since yesterday, they’re being picked up in about an hour.”

I looked sharply at Sally, “an hour?”

“These things are hot merchandise, Jo-el.”

“Okay, let’s take two each and a bunch of ammo. We need a couple of shoulder bags, don’t think we should be seen strolling around with these in full sight.”

We picked up a couple of bags in one of the other lock-ups and were back in Sydney within five minutes. The man in the brown jacket was still hoping from foot to foot, more nervous than before. We kept out of sight.

“Okay, let me know where this guy’s relief is?”

Sally paused a moment, staring into space. “He’s on the train, he’ll be here in about six minutes.”

“Put him on the heads-up.”

The man in a similar brown jacket, his eyes down, looking at the floor, a black ski hat on his head, appeared on the screen.

“Does he know the guy in the tunnel?”

“No.”

“Good. When he comes into the station, knock him out and copy his appearance. I’m taking his place.”

I watched the man for a while, then he slumped over. My dress changed to match what he was wearing. “As soon as Mr. Nervous leaves we’re going down the tunnel.”

Sally nodded. She was fidgeting with her hands and fingers, which I hadn’t seen before. I put it down to the fact she now had mass. It was making her uneasy, that was for sure.

I walked toward the man in the tunnel, my weapons bag over my shoulder. As I reached Mr. Nervous I held out my hand for the walkie-talkie. At first he seemed unsure about giving it up, but my face was adamant and he handed it over. We didn’t say a word; he almost ran back down the tunnel. Sally joined me. She cut a hole in the fence and we began our walk along the deserted tunnel. It was quiet, our footsteps were loud. I stopped. I used my thoughts to communicate with Sally.

“We should fly.” I lifted off the ground, Sally didn’t reply but she did the same. I didn’t understand her mechanics but it was no time to worry about such things. There were intermittent light bulbs along the tunnel giving off a dull glow that faded to darkness before the next one threw out a few rays, enough to guide our path. Water dripped eerily down the brick sidewalls. Unintelligible graffiti shouted nonsense at us on both sides, but even that disappeared as we drifted deeper into the tunnel depths. I tested the heads-up display, but that had ceased to work. Sally took the left wall, she’d changed to an all-black one-piece outfit, her hair hidden by a black ski-hat. Only her beautiful face glowed every so often, caught by the pallid light from the naked bulbs. She held an MP9 in each hand as I did. The bag with the ammo was snuggled back-pack style behind me. We didn’t speak for what seemed a long time. I wondered what thoughts she had. To me now she was as human as any person. I couldn’t imagine her as anything else. We had made love.

The silence brought doubt to my mind. Should I be risking my life for one person? I clamped my eyes shut for a second to force out the uncertainty of my actions, but it wouldn’t go away. I felt an ardent desire for action to rescue my thoughts, but the tunnel didn’t help. It continued relentlessly in the same fashion. We reached an area of total darkness, I passed the burnt out light bulbs. The wall was faintly visible as my eyes wrestled with what was left of the light. Sally was out of sight. I felt alone. My senses were on edge, I strained to hear every miniscule sound, something to indicate that we were nearing our target. I could feel the rhythmic beat of my heart loudly in my chest, my mouth was dry, my tongue reached for out for moisture from the dank surrounds of the never-ending tunnel. I was anxious and fidgeted with the weapons in each hand. The light became brighter, which made me more nervous. I could see Sally now, she was watching me, then glancing ahead. She felt the same concern. I stopped and checked Sally to see if she had done the same. We waited unsure of what to say.

“My shield is working, right?” I said in my mind, almost as much to myself as to Sally.

There was no reply.

“Are there people ahead?”

Again nothing from Sally. I twisted my head to see her, she was looking ahead. The network had stopped working but she was still with me. I didn’t understand but I was glad she was still there.

Her senses were the same as my own now, but no better.

I moved forward a little way, straining my eyes into the distant light ahead. She followed suit along the opposite wall. I stopped again, I sensed movement, but saw nothing. There was no protection where we were. I guessed we may be coming to a disused station. I drifted over to Sally so I could speak to her.

“This isn’t working for me, Sally. I think we should fly at them at speed and scare the crap out of them.”

She looked at me, but said nothing. There was a vacant look in her eyes as if she wasn’t sure where she was or why she was there. Then she nodded, but it seemed almost involuntary. I didn’t know what was happening to her.

I sucked in air and breathed deeply, my pulse was racing and I could feel sweat on my arms and the back of my neck. I’d chosen this path, what did I expect? The feeling I had of invincibility had diminished so much, yet I still had the shield. Would it work against a barrage of fire? A niggling itch that it wouldn’t scared me. I thought about Adrianne. I didn’t even know if she was still alive. This could be a trap. I thought about Maggie and Sean, the mess I’d caused in their lives. Sally was right, this was stupid. If what she’d told me was correct I was the only person who could save the planet. I thought about that for a moment and realized what bullshit. Who was I kidding? If I died they would rescue the belt and pick someone else to carry on. Or, maybe they wouldn’t and the history of earth had just seventy or so years to run. Why did they care? It wasn’t making sense to me at that moment. I couldn’t get my mind around the real reason for the Cirion people to care.