The Chrysalid Conspiracy (60 page)

“Looking for a nice place to put the caravan,” said Rayn, with a broad grin.

“We got our eviction notice this morning,” added Bridie, smiling again. “Lorraine said to go find a spot and move in. I’d been expecting it for a while.”

“Yeah,” Rayn said ruefully. “We’ve lost the water meadows. New housing development. Still, now we are more aware of the end result it all seems pretty academic. Might as well concentrate on our problems and us. Don’t you think?”

“Too right,” agreed Amelia. “The first one being, how are you going to move your caravan?”

“Nigel and a tractor,” replied Bridie. “We’re going for a wander round to see what we can find.”

“Can I join you?” asked Amelia, as an excited Rayn jumped up and ran on ahead.

“There’s a good place up here in the woods,” she called out. “I saw it when I was floundering around in that ditch the other day.”

“Thanks for not mentioning the Homo Superior bit, Amelia,” said Bridie quietly.

“That’s okay. I don’t believe that one myself yet. Anyway, give her any more information right now and we’ll have to go and drag her back from the moon,” she answered, to Bridie’s amusement.

***

By the time Amelia arrived home again it was mid-afternoon. They’d found an ideal spot to put the caravan, although Bridie had explained, but it wasn’t a problem. “A 1,000 litre ‘bowser’ (a fresh water tank trailer) linked up to their sink unit. Install a wood-burning stove and have the chemical toilet inside the van upgraded and oil lamps and torches will be sufficient.” Bridie explained. Rayn was non-committal when her mother said it would be nice to get back to basics.

The site, on the edge of a wide clearing, was large enough for their Sunday activities and surrounded by heavy woodland. Untouched for many years, it was crammed with wildlife and ideal for their purposes. There was also a small lake, which called to Rayn like a long lost friend. Despite the drawbacks, neither of them could wait to move in. Rayn went off to feed the animals and Bridie and Amelia made their way back to the shop

Lucy and Sheila were in the living room and Amelia didn’t speak. She just went up to her mother and gave her the biggest hug she could manage.

“Just to let you know, I love you Mum,” she said, kissing her mother on the forehead and stroking her hair. Lucy couldn’t answer; she was choked up with silent tears.

Sheila wanted to know where Amelia had got to and she told her she’d just been ‘round the block’, sort of.

“Then I don’t suppose you noticed the two guys in tracksuits well behind you?” she asked.

“No. What two guys?” Amelia said.

“Tommy’s men. Assigned to keep an eye on you. They’re fit men, but they were on their knees trying to keep up with you and had to give up. They sent a car out but there was no trace of you. So, where have you been?” Sheila repeated.

Amelia relented and told her about her thirty plus mile run, and her picnic with Rayn and Bridie. “Well, if someone had told me I had bodyguards…” That was as far as she got.

“I don’t give a wallaby’s willy about those guys,” cut in Sheila. “What do you think you’re doing, pushing your body to those extremes? Especially after a period of rest. Now, get your clothes off and get on that table. I want to see how much damage you’ve done.” Sheila was really angry,

Amelia silently did as she was told and submitted to the most vigorous mauling she could ever imagine.

When they’d finished and Amelia was in the shower, Sheila turned to the two mothers. “It’s incredible you two.” She said. “That’s one hell of a job you’ve done. Not a mark or a blemish, skin like oiled silk and every muscle and tendon exactly right and working in perfect harmony. With a recovery time of almost nil it’s easy to see I’m working on two very special people. Well done!”

“You’re not doing too bad yourself Sheila.” responded Lucy. “I’m sure you’ve noticed the same thing about yourself. We parents can only take so much of the credit, you girls must take most of the credit for your dedication and attitude. You three are a matching set and you well deserve what you’ve achieved.” Sheila asked Bridie if she’d like a massage, seeing as she had all her gear out. She looked dubious, and then opted out.

“Giving me a massage would be like squeezing a sponge, I’m afraid,” she explained. “Mind you, topping up again could be fun,” she added to much laughter.

“Bridie Mgee,” Sheila complained. “You are a contradiction of everything I know. You drink too much, smoke too much, you’re exercise is only the horizontal kind and you’re life revolves around food. And yet you stand there with the looks and figure of feminine perfection. It’s just not fair on the rest of the gender. How do you do it?” she asked in desperation.

“Well,” Bridie grinned, “you must admit I work very hard at what I do.”

“Where did Amelia get those shorts?” asked Lucy. “I didn’t know her legs were so long.”

“Sorry Lucy,” answered Sheila. “My fault. All her clothes are too small and that’s all I had to lend her. I’ve been living out of a suitcase for a few years, travelling light. I’m sorry if I did wrong,” she finished, thinking Lucy was cross.

“Not at all,” said Lucy. “She looks great. Thank you for stepping in.”

“Rayn wants a pair too,” added Bridie. “I never anticipated this when she was little.”

“That’s it then,” declared Lucy. “Tomorrow we take them out on a shopping spree. Sheila, you must come too. After all, you’re family now,” and she reminded her about Maddy’s Cocktail.

“Oh, at last,” said Bridie. “I’ve dreamed of the day I could take Rayn out and let her buy what she wants, not what we can afford.”

Sheila had slumped onto a chair, stunned into silence.

Rayn wandered in, happy and smiling as usual. She went into the shower room and handed Amelia a note.

We’re OK. Don’t worry. Lots of info. See you Sunday. PS, I need another Twenty-five quid. Sorry.

Special agents Caz ‘n Claire”.

Amelia heaved a sigh of relief. “How did they get this to you?” she asked.

“Caz got in touch with her friend, Brenda.” Rayn informed her. “She got her to write the note and give it to one of the kids on the Tethers End bus with instructions to give it to the redhead waiting by the bus stop. She’d already figured out what we’d do. How about that?”

“Perhaps if it had been you waiting yesterday instead of me, we might have got this earlier,” pointed out Amelia. “Anyway, they’re okay. That’s the main thing. We can relax now.”

***

Amelia and Rayn agreed, wholeheartedly and without reservation, that Saturday was the most fun they had ever had; relieved of the worry over Caz and Claire, their restored faith in their relationships with their mothers, no financial restrictions, and the discovery that they were in fact sisters with a cousin thrown in did a lot to help. And the shopping trip helped them understand their underlying problem.

Armed with the knowledge that this was a good enough reason why they were still in the dark about a lot of things, they were free to indulge themselves in the greatest evolutionary achievement known to woman – frivolous, uninhibited and unlimited shopping. And they made the most of it, right to the hilt.

Bridie and Lucy were in fits of laughter and in raptures to see their children go crazy. No more financial restrictions allowed stupidity to reign supreme. They tore through the shops of Grabsum Moor causing havoc as if there were no tomorrow, or at least not limitless. Sheila had planned to buy just a few more bits and pieces now that she had a permanent address. However, whenever the girls offered to buy her something and she refused, they would buy her something outrageous just for the sake of it. She’d borrowed Lorraine’s people carrier, a seven-seater, and was beginning to have doubts about its capacity to get them home. They bought hats and shoes they would never wear and fashion accessories that had no right to exist. They also bought enough sports clothes to supply the entire British Olympic team.

Their mothers couldn’t believe it when they walked out of one shop loaded with denim jeans, jackets and shorts already torn and frayed. Advertised as ‘pre-distressed’, they cost twice as much as new ones.

Loading everything in the car, they went for dinner at the Hunters Lodge, where Lucy had booked a table as a surprise.

Felix was so pleased to see Lucy and the girls again, that he went completely over the top with his ministrations. Other guests stared in amazement at the army of waiters delegated to their table. Bridie was embarrassed and Sheila was nearly frightened out of her Australian accent. Felix looked ecstatic.

“All this is great fun,” Rayn remarked to the table, “but in a few years it will be deer hide loincloths, I expect.”

“Too right,” said Amelia, enthusiastically. “Zanitor here I come.”

“Amelia?” said Rayn, as she looked at her once shy and naïve friend. “You? In a loincloth?”

“Sure am,” confirmed Amelia, smiling at the disapproving look on her mother’s face. “You don’t think I’m going to wear underwear made out of something an animal has been wearing? What do you take me for?” and gave Rayn a wink. She then had to go on and explain who Zanitor was.

They made it home safely. With the entire car packed to the windows, it made driving difficult, but Sheila was very careful and it didn’t take long to get everything out of the car and into a pile on the shop floor.

Sitting round the living room table, Bridie produced a carrier bag and the chink of glass gave them all a clue as to its contents. They were all pretty well exhausted, it was quite late and they had been out all day. Amelia fetched some glasses.

“Did you say I can’t get drunk?” asked Sheila. Lucy had explained in more detail about Maddy’s Cocktail, including its uses while they relaxed, in order to help her understand the physique and metabolism of herself and the two girls.

“And no more questions please,” she had added.

“No,” said Bridie. “That goes for all four of you. Tonight somebody can put me to bed,” which, not too much later, they did. Sheila was only too pleased to be invited to sleep over. Rayn did the logistics.

“I’ll sleep upstairs on the army cot. I can get to Mum if she starts snoring. Sheila, you can have the new sofa down here with Amelia on the old one. Is that okay?”

“All that shopping today, I should have bought some pyjamas,” said Sheila. Amelia disappeared and returned a few moments later with a brand new pair of boxer shorts and a T-shirt.

“Best I can do, I’m afraid. Mum’s nightdresses wouldn’t fit you, Bridie sleeps in whatever she’s wearing and Rayn wears nothing. So this is all we’ve got,” she said.

“My mum likes to sleep ready to wake up and start running. Habit of a lifetime, I’m sorry to say,” explained Rayn.

Amelia and Sheila put Lucy to bed while Rayn made coffee. Then they sat round the table and told Sheila about their similar upbringings, the Sunday barbecues and their main function of the training, as well as the social implications.

“Do all those people know what they’re involved in?” asked Sheila.

“Some do and some don’t, but none of us know the whole picture,” Amelia said.

“That’s something Amelia and I are working on,” put in Rayn. “But how do you tell people a story like this one, let alone make it believable? Anyway, we promised not to ask any more questions, so we’re trying not to break that promise. But we’re still finding out what’s what.”

“Maddy has chosen well.” Amelia said. “I mean, I chose Joe, and he figured out something wasn’t quite right in five minutes. No, once Maddy’s made a decision, then that person gets her undivided attention.”

“The only trouble with that is, that nobody knows about it till it’s too late, and they’re in. She’s clever,” pointed out Rayn. “I mean, she’s been working on you, Sheila, for how long? Five years nearly? You had no idea and now it’s too late, I hope.”

“But how does she decide who she wants? What does she look for?” Sheila was mystified. “After all, I was an alcoholic junkie when she found me.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t carry some supernatural psychic checklist. Once she can tick all the boxes with someone, pow! They’re toast,” said Rayn.

“But that seems so arbitrary and impersonal,” observed Sheila.

“That’s something we touched on during our last…er… discussion,” said Amelia, remembering their impromptu meeting with Dr Barrenborn and Miss Collins in the forest.

“Discussion!” said Rayn, bursting into laughter. “Amelia, you nearly tore her head off. Honestly Sheila, she called her a fool suffering from her own incompetence, or something like that.”

“Anyway,” carried on Amelia, ignoring the expression of bewilderment on Sheila’s face. “The upshot was, that she not only hadn’t got an answer, but she didn’t seem to understand what we were talking about. She seems to know absolutely nothing about human relationships. Now that’s scary. Who or what the hell is she?”

The Very Reverend Andrew West was a worried man. As the Vicar of Tetherington, he sat in his office at the rectory later than usual, struggling with his sermon for the next day. The letter lying open on his desk was affecting his concentration.

“What am I doing wrong?” he kept asking himself. His plans were going well and everything was in motion. Things were starting to happen and it wouldn’t be long before he could show some serious progress and appease his benefactors (and his superiors).

He remembered when he had first become involved in the Satan Plot, as it had become known by the secret and select few who knew of Melkins’ research and its threat to the Church’s authority.

Was it really fifteen years ago now?

He’d been a latecomer, being much younger than his superiors, and still wasn’t sure why he had been invited to that first conference of ecclesiastical leaders.

They had been discussing the implications of Melkins’ forthcoming book about the lost science of a bio-organic panacea, and its possible effect on an already-declining Church. Most of all, they were concerned about their inability to stop him. He had seized the opportunity and offered a few suggestions ready to blame ‘youthful enthusiasm’ if they were rejected.