Chapter 41
The Fathers
Dr Meen led us both to a table as the conversation in the shelter returned. The Face and Hanz stood close by with folded arms and stern expressions.
The J-Sphere sparked and cracked.
Strangers smiled and raised their glasses as they passed close and I felt lonely and a long, long way from home. So we sat in silence whilst Dr Meen smoked another cigarette. Lizzie, meanwhile, started to get impatient.
“So why aren’t you a different colour?” she asked Dr Meen in an attempt to break the nervousness we both felt.
Dr Meen looked long at Lizzie as if fishing for an answer. Finally he responded. “Because I’ve been sent here by The Fathers.”
Lizzie frowned. I knew what was coming.
“Who,” she asked quietly, “are The Fathers?”
The Doctor dropped the butt of his cigarette to the cracked concrete floor where it ejected sparks of its own.
“My, my. You are inquisitive aren’t you?” He paused and sighed. “The Fathers, young lady, are nothing and everything. Good and evil. War and peace. Love and hate. Beauty and beast. Light and dark. Night and day. Birth and death, etcetera, etcetera…”
Lizzie continued to frown. “That doesn’t explain anything.”
A smirk spread across Dr Meen’s creased and brown features. He shifted in his seat. “No,” he said, “I don’t suppose it does.”
Lizzie tried again. “Are they good or bad?”
The doctor thought about this then continued. “Neither, necessarily. You see, The Fathers exist inside us and around us. The Fathers give meaning to the whole universe which, in turn, can be found inside something as miniscule as a tiny atom. They dictate cause-and-effect and they control our every thought and movement. They are the reason behind your special powers and why we find it so easy to time-skip. They are with us constantly but have neither form nor shape. In short, The Fathers are everywhere.”
Lizzie didn’t seem any the wiser. “What’s an atom?” she asked.
“Ah,” said Dr Meen, “such an innocent child.” Then he leant his elbows firmly on the table in front of us and leant forward. “Hiroshima? Nagasaki?”
Lizzie continued to frown at him. Dr Meen leaned back in his chair again.
“You see, in Jay’s parents’ and grandparents’ time,” he said to Lizzie, “the world almost destroyed itself because of the discovery of the atom, something you can’t even see. We plan to make sure that threat never existed.”
The conversation ended there because before Lizzie could ask another question there was a sudden change in the atmosphere in the shelter. People had started to get to their feet and the chatter around us had risen to an excited babble.
Dr Meen stood up, scraping his chair on the concrete of the floor. His narrowed eyes followed the looks of the others, towards the far end of the shelter. I had to stand on tip-toe as the men and women stood around us were older and taller. And, as I strained to see what everybody was interested in, I caught the shortest glance of a small, frail old man and a young blonde woman. They were arm in arm and moving slowly towards a small door. She was smiling, waving and happy. He was stooped and shuffling, struggling along with a wooden walking stick.
I looked around again at the delighted faces and the raised glasses and I wondered what all the fuss was about.