THE FOREVER GENE (THE SCIONS OF EARTH Book 1) (34 page)

"Hal," said Hal, noncommittally.

"We owe Hal a debt of gratitude.  I'm sure you can do something about his sentence when you get back to the office.  He is obviously not a bad man.  Not many people would put themselves in danger to help perfect strangers like that."

"I don't think I can commute someone's sentence just like that," said Winston doubtfully.  He dabbed gingerly at the blood on his head with a handkerchief.

"Of course you can, dear," said Connie.  "In politics there is always a way."  She turned to Hal, lowering her voice conspiratorially.  "My husband is the Prime Minister, you know."

Hal stared at the couple, perplexed.  He was about to ask what they were talking about, when he found himself thinking that Winston was vaguely familiar.  He was sure that he had never met the man, but he had seen his face somewhere before.  Come to think of it, the new Prime Minister's name was Winston…

Winston Parke.  The Prime Minister.  You have got to be kidding me.

"You can come with me if you like," he said, shrugging. If this really was the Prime Minister and his wife, then maybe they would put in a good word for him and he could apply for early parole.

"Thank you, Hal," said Connie, falling in beside him without hesitation.

"It's Haliburton Wray," he said, extending her his hand.

"Connie Parke," she replied, taking it.  "Nice to meet you."

They began to pick their way down the debris laden street, Winston huffing along wheezily behind them.

From time to time, Hal saw him check his 'link, but it seemed that the Personet was down.  The servers in the area must have been destroyed along with everything else.

"Do you know what happened?" he asked the Prime Minister.

"Not really", said Winston.  "Connie and I were at a do at The Brunswick when the missiles hit.  All the office was able to tell me before my 'link went down was that a series of intercontinental ballistic missiles had been detected entering British Airspace.  They seemed to have been launched from the United States, but the American authorities denied it.  At first, we thought it was a mistake, a computer glitch.  The Americans are our allies; why would they fire missiles at us?  Then ground reports came in, confirming the incoming missiles.

"We launched counter measures, but it was too late.  Some of the missiles got through and hit the city.  Since then, I have not been able to get any information.  I have no idea of the extent of the damage.  Most of the people at The Brunswick were killed or injured in the blast, including our security detail.  When no emergency services arrived, Connie and I decided to try to get back to Downing Street by ourselves.  When we left the shopping centre, we were seen by those thugs who chased us into the park.  That was when you found us.

"The only consolation is that the missiles were carrying conventional warheads.  If they had been nuclear, none of us would be standing here now."

He looked at his 'link again.  "I just wish I could get hold of someone.  I don't even know whether everyone at the office is alright."

"We'll find out soon, dear," said Connie, trying to comfort him.  "There is no use worrying about it now."

As they continued down Gray's Inn Road, a strange thing happened.  In ones and twos, people began following them.  At first, Hal kept glancing anxiously at them, wondering what they were after.  But then he realised that they were just ordinary people, scared and confused.  Many of them were injured.  Hal and his companions looked like they knew where they were going, so people assumed that they did.

After a couple of hours, there must have been a hundred people in the group.  When they passed a relatively intact supermarket, Connie suggested that they go in to find food and water.  It was past midday, and there was still no sign of any emergency services.  People were tired and thirsty and, although Winston baulked at the idea of taking goods without paying for them, Connie persuaded him that they had no choice.

So, Hal found himself adding justifiable theft to his other justifiable crimes, hauling bottles of water and packets of biscuits out of the store by the trolley full.  All under the watchful eye of the Prime Minister himself.

When everyone had been given something to eat and drink, Hal, Connie and Winston resumed the trudge down the street.  Hal looked back over his shoulder at the people following them.  The group was twice the size it had been when they had stopped at the supermarket.  He hoped that they would find help soon; he was not equipped to take care of so many people.

They reached Aldwych in the late afternoon and turned right into the Strand.  They were getting close to Downing Street, and the signs were not good.  On both sides of the street, the buildings had been destroyed or severely damaged and there was little sign of life.  At one point, they walked towards a double-decker bus.  From the front, the vehicle looked completely intact, and for a moment Hal thought they might be able to use it to carry some of the injured.  But when they went past the bus, they saw that its rear end was missing.

When they got to Trafalgar Square, they saw that a large number of people had converged there.  More were arriving all the time.  Hal's group joined them, people finding space to sit or lie down amongst the others already there.  Evening fell and the temperature began to drop.  From where he stood, Hal could see people shivering in the gloom.  Few of them had warm clothing and there was very little food and water to go around.  If help didn't come soon, the situation was going to get desperate.

He could see that Winston and Connie were exhausted too, so he suggested that they stay and reassure people as best they could.  He offered to go on to Downing Street and try to find someone who could help them.  They agreed and he set off on his own.

He wasn't optimistic.  It was getting dark and there were no lights anywhere.  It wasn't far to Downing Street and he was sure that he wouldn't find it magically unscathed.  The best he would be able to do, he decided, would be to find another supermarket so that he could show the people at Trafalgar Square where to find food.  Perhaps there would also be some warm clothing or blankets to get them through the night.

He reached the entrance to Downing Street as the last of the light was fading.  By then he was shivering too; his prison overall was not much protection from the cold.  The black security gates were missing; blown away by the missiles.  He picked his way down the rubble strewn street.  It was as dark and deserted as the rest of the city.  None of the buildings were intact and he couldn't see any survivors.  He carried on down the street until he reached St James' Park.  He didn't know what else to do.

Then he saw lights shining through the trees, emanating from somewhere in the middle of the park.  He lost no time hurrying towards them.  Hopefully he had found the emergency services at last and there would be some sort of field hospital or aid station.

He made his way as quickly as he could through a small wood, occasionally tripping over broken branches and bits of debris.  A few minutes later, he found himself in a large clearing.  The lights were blinding and he shielded his eyes as he limped closer.  The first person he saw through the glare was tall and stooped.  Very tall in fact, he must have been over seven foot.

When he got nearer, the person's face became visible.  He had large green eyes, a thin mouth and pointed chin.  His nose was almost non-existent and he had long bone-white hair.  In the weird light, his skin looked a greenish colour and his ears appeared to be pointed and set too high up on the sides of his head.  Hal faltered to a stop.  The face wasn't human.

For a moment he thought that he had finally succumbed to shock and exhaustion and was seeing things.  But then he realised that he had seen faces like this before; on television at the prison.  His sluggish brain eventually supplied the details; the Faerie Folk, aliens who had been found in Mongolia and who had given the world that anti-aging serum.  Faerie Blood; that was it.

"Are you in need of assistance?" asked the creature in a high-pitched voice with a slightly metallic tone.

He nodded dumbly, and was led towards a large, squat structure in the centre of the clearing.  The clearing was ringed by powerful searchlights which illuminated the area.  The glare diminished as they passed within the ring of lights and Hal saw a massive space shuttle, shaped like no shuttle he had ever seen.  It looked like a gigantic insect, sinuous and segmented, black as night.  So black that, if the lights were switched off, it would be virtually invisible.

The alien creature, Hal couldn't tell if it was male or female, showed him to a ramp which led up into the belly of the shuttle.  He saw that he wasn't alone, other people were coming into the clearing all the time, attracted by the lights.  Many of them were injured and were also being directed up the ramp.

Hal decided that he had no choice but to follow them.  He needed help, not just for himself, but for the people back in Trafalgar Square.  When he got to the top of the ramp, he was reassured to see that a large segment of the shuttle was full of stretchers and medical equipment.  Dozens of Faerie Folk in shimmering white-grey robes could be seen tending to the injured.

It was even more reassuring to see that, aside from those too badly injured to move, people were freely leaving the shuttle once they had been treated.  Waiting for his turn, he saw that some people were going through an open hatchway at the far end of the segment.  They did not come back out and Hal wondered uneasily where they had gone.  But there was no sign of anyone being coerced to do anything and he decided to relax.  He was tired and in pain and, as soon as he had been treated, he intended to go back to the square.  He couldn't abandon all those people and at least he could tell them that there was help available.

The physician that attended to him was gentle and courteous.  He, or she, spread a cooling gel of some description over his knee and ribs and, within a few minutes, he felt the pain melt away.  While the being worked on his lacerations, he decided to ask a few questions.

"There are people in Trafalgar Square," he began, "a lot of people who are injured and have no food or shelter.  If I bring them here, will you be able to help them?"

"Of course," said the physician, expertly closing a cut on his head with what looked like a wedge of cheese.  "That is what we are here for.  How many people are there?"

"I'm not sure," said Hal, "at least five or six hundred; probably more by now."

"Wait at the bottom of the ramp.  I shall arrange for a medical squad to accompany you there."

The physician finished up and moved on to the next patient.  Hal got up, feeling almost completely well again.  He was offered some food, a meaty substance which tasted like ham, and water, which he gratefully accepted.  Feeling refreshed, he went back down the ramp to wait.  Within a few minutes a group of about a dozen Faerie Folk approached him carrying portable medical equipment and a great deal of food and water.  Most of it was packed into five large metal canisters which looked heavy, but which floated unsupported in the air.

The physicians indicated that Hal should lead the way and he set off immediately.  One of them handed him a powerful torch.  With the aid of the torch, he was able to lead the detail quickly through the woods and up Horse Guards Road.  He looked back a few times, fascinated by the canisters which bobbed gently along behind, seemingly of their own volition.  He turned right into the Mall and reached Trafalgar Square a few minutes later.

The physicians spread out, offering food and water, and treating the most serious injuries.  People got over their initial surprise pretty quickly; they were in no position to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Hal found Winston and Connie.  They were cold and tired, but otherwise unharmed.  Within a couple of hours, everyone had been given something to eat and people who needed medical assistance the most had been treated.  Then the physicians began mobilising everyone, telling them that they could find shelter and warmth in St James' Park.  Hal assured Winston and Connie that, from what he had seen, the creatures were genuinely intent on helping.  Winston had met Ambassador Ba a few times and was quick to reassure everyone that, in his experience, there was nothing to fear from the Faerie Folk.

Soon the group, which was now over a thousand strong, was on the move.  It shuffled slowly along the Mall towards the park.  It was almost dawn when the stragglers reached the shuttle, Hal, Connie and Winston having hung back to assist those who couldn't move very fast.  The Faerie Folk were as good as their word, herding everyone into the warm interior of their vessel.  The medical segment was quite full by then and the uninjured were directed towards the internal hatchway Hal had seen earlier.

  He followed Winston and Connie through it, and found himself in a passenger cabin filled with row after row of tall seats.  The cabin was fully occupied and they had to go through a second hatchway into another passenger cabin before they were able to find empty seats.  The three of them clambered onto the seats and sagged back wearily, gratefully accepting the food and water which they were offered.

While they were eating, one of the Faerie Folk approached Hal.  All of the individuals he had seen up until then had been wearing white-grey shimmer robes; this one was dressed in blue-yellow.  He stared at the garment, fascinated by the interplay of the two seemingly unrelated colours.

"Are you the leader of the people here?" the individual asked.