“That’s crazy. Why doesn’t he come here?”
“Because he wants to stay away from the scene of the crime.”
“That’s a joke isn’t it?”
“Yeah, of course, Lucas. Tag will be here soon. He can help you look after the people.” Starkey walked to the door then turned, rubbing his chin. “I reckon it’s the power. There were a few flickers this morning from the unsettled weather . . . we need to install a surge protector or something along those lines. But then again, the transport channel could be affected by electrical storms. Need to ponder this further.” Starkey walked down the stairs.
Lucas walked over, leaned on the veranda rail and watched Starkey drive off. The minister probably thought his phones were bugged and tracked, so made Starkey drive to his place. Lucas went inside the house. He looked around. It was quiet—too quiet. He grabbed a pouch from one of his trouser pockets. Time for some grass. He had given up on his path to righteousness—the grass caused him no harm. And he was going to smoke it in this house while he waited for Tag to arrive. Just the thoughts of having a joint made him feel tougher, less inhibited. He told the house that he didn’t fear it, and then he thought of Mackenzie and smiled.
Comfortably seated on the couch, he blew out a smoke ring. He watched the circle go out and gradually lose its form as it drifted up to the ceiling. He thought of bubbles. Once the Professor used that as an example of how the people were transported. He explained it was like putting them all in a bubble and then placing the bubble on a conveyer belt. Everything inside the bubble was protected from the elements. The bubble was popped when it reached the destination.
He blew another smoke ring and watched the circle fly off. He wondered how someone fell out of the bubble.
<°)))><
The Brisbane Koala Bushlands are located fifteen kilometres south-east of Brisbane city, and are popular with bushwalkers.
Koalas are hard to see. Their colouring blends in with the bark of the big gum trees, making them almost invisible.
People wearing red shirts are not hard to see when spread-eagled between the branches of a tree.
A bushwalker discovered the body.
Chapter 17
GRANT WINDSOR SAT IN his South Bank apartment, his home away from home. He stared at the security monitor attached to the intercom system, watching Bruce Starke park his car and make his way to the elevator. The sound of television played out in the background. His ears picked up terms like ‘body snatchers’, ‘Armageddon’ and ‘Mars attacks’. He watched Starkey walk into the elevator and waited for the intercom to buzz.
Windsor suffered from realistic paranoia. He knew his phone calls were monitored, so the last thing he wanted to do was talk to Starkey on a phone after a major incident like this. He welcomed Starkey into his apartment. They walked over to the wall of glass windows and stared down at the Brisbane River. The river sat still with reflections of the city buildings—the stillness broken by a CityCat gliding through the water, city buildings swaying in the wake.
“It went well then, Bruce?”
“By all accounts . . . causing a bit of a commotion in the city, but that’s to be expected. But it does look like it went well, Grant. Lucas and I have communicated with the people who got transported.”
Windsor continued to stare out at the river. “A little history for you, Starkey—James Cook guessed this great river existed but it took other explorers to confirm it. The exploring of the lower reaches of the river led to the establishment of a penal colony. These colonies were used as correctional facilities. Back in England, criminals were transported to far-off lands instead of being executed. Mind you, some young children were executed for stealing bread. They used a transport system to address a justice problem. We, my friend, are the modern equivalent of that transport system. They will talk about us in the history writings.” He smiled to himself. “Notice I didn’t say history books, because who knows if books are going to exist in the years ahead.”
Windsor turned and looked at Starkey. “We will give them another dose in a few days’ time.” He looked at his watch. “In the meantime, I need to get ready for a press conference and a meeting with the Police Commissioner. Let’s meet again tomorrow to see how things have progressed and do some planning.”
Starkey was still staring out the window.
Windsor walked to his desk. “I appreciate you driving out here straight after the event. I know it’s a long trip for a short meeting but I wanted to see you in person. Are you okay about things?”
“It’s not an overly long trip, Grant . . . you know, this is the first time I’ve been in your office.” Starkey walked over to a portrait on the wall. “Is this your son?”
“Yes.”
“It will be worth it in the end, Grant. In answer to your question, considering it was the first time we did a ‘group’ deployment, we have learned a few things.”
Windsor pondered Starkey’s last point. “But was it successful?” he asked trying to draw out the doubt that he sensed.
“It was . . . although we had a minor hiccup by losing one of the ‘testers’ a few days back. I believed the adjustments I made had fixed this problem, but—”
“By testers, I assume you mean one of the street people?”
“Yes, but we also lost one of the people we transported today.”
“What do you mean by ‘lost’?” Windsor started rubbing the back of his neck.
“They just don’t turn up at the transition point.”
“Where do they go?”
“Don’t know.”
“They must drop into the ether somewhere,” Windsor said, trying to convince himself. “As long as they come to no harm and turn up somewhere, it shouldn’t present a problem.”
He watched Starkey. Windsor would prefer not to think of the negative consequences of the transporting. He had convinced himself that no deaths could be attributed to what they are doing. He changed the subject.
“Do you still believe we can automate the process by placing transition devices at all intersections?”
“Yes. I also believe we can develop drones that can monitor and execute the impounding. I also see law enforcement officers having a device to ‘impound’ people, a bit like the Taser gun they currently carry.
Windsor smiled. “You’re a smart person, Starkey. I can just see the smile on a police officer’s face when he impounds a person who breaks the law but refuses to show the respect required.” Windsor stood up and made his right hand in the shape of a gun, pointed at imaginary person and said, “Zap, you’re impounded!”
He walked over to the window from which he could see the reflections of the lights of the emergency vehicles bouncing off the buildings surrounding the incident area. The emergency services were still trying to work it all out.
“Thanks, Starkey, you’ve done a good job. I’ve organised money to be transferred over to one of your accounts. You can use that for the next phase.”
<°)))><
