‘Well, I’ll be blowed!’ David exclaimed, his eyes shining with wonder.
‘Man’s Best Friend’ was written on the front of the box. ‘Model two one five phone companion with Lilian character sim.’
‘Jeez,’ David said. ‘Not even my boss has one like this. They cost a bomb!’
Mika was surprised – he knew the prize would be a phone companion, but not one like this. Even rich kids didn’t have companions like Lilian, while most of the kids at his school had old companions handed down from their parents, with stupid cartoon characters. Mika had sat on his over a year ago and it had a big crack across the screen.
He opened the box and slotted the sim card into the side and it booted up. The screen buzzed and Lilian appeared. She was very pretty and her eyes shone as she leaned forward to have a look at him. She was an impossible, enviable age, in her late teens, maybe.
‘Hello!’ she said. ‘Pleased to meet you. I’m Lilian, your new companion. Are you ready to initiate?’
‘What do I have to do?’ Mika asked.
‘You have to initiate her so she knows you,’ David replied enthusiastically, itching to get his hands on her. He loved gadgets although they couldn’t afford any. ‘The new generation companions only work for their owner. They’re the nearest thing you can get to a human servant. Anything you want to know, she’ll find out for you. She can make appointments, make sure you get to school on time, don’t miss birthdays, all kinds of things.’
‘Would she do my homework?’ Mika asked, mischievously.
‘If you asked her to,’ David said, looking alarmed. ‘But you’re not to do that, OK?’
‘OK,’ Mika replied, smiling.
‘When you initiate her, she’ll ask you lots of questions and learn to recognize your voice,’ David said. ‘Here. Give her to me.’ He took the companion from Mika’s hands and fiddled with it.
‘David,’ Asha said gently. ‘You just said Mika has to do it.’
‘Oh yeah,’ David said, looking sheepish and giving it back.
Lilian yawned.
‘She’s tired,’ Asha said. ‘I expect she needs charging. That’s an impressive prize for a kids’ competition. What else can you win?’
‘A hover car, and a home in the Golden Turrets,’ Mika said.
‘Seriously?’ David said, his eyebrows raised. ‘You can win a hover car and a home in the Golden Turrets playing Pod Fighter?’
‘Yeah,’ Mika replied.
‘Chrise,’ David said. ‘Wish I was a kid. How are we going to find out about the holiday you’ve won?’
‘I can tell you that,’ Lilian said. ‘I’ve already got a message for you; hang on a sec . . .’
A moment later, Lilian’s pretty face was replaced by a man in a straw hat.
‘Hello, Mika Smith!’ the Hat Man cried. ‘You are one of only a hundred competitors to reach the third round of the competition!’
‘One of only a hundred,’ David interjected. ‘That’s impressive.’
‘The prize you have won is a week’s holiday in an exclusive offshore resort! The date of your departure is two weeks from today! So prepare for the time of your life! What fun you will have, Mika Smith! While your parents are sunbathing and drinking cocktails, you will be competing in the third round of the competition!’
The man spun his hat, trumpets tooted and then he disappeared.
‘It’s a shame you have to compete while you’re on holiday,’ David said.
‘I don’t mind,’ Mika said. ‘While you’re enjoying yourselves, I might win a hover car.’
‘Well, if you’re sure,’ David said, smiling happily.
‘I am,’ Mika said. ‘Just imagine if I won . . .’
His parents’ eyes turned misty and they gazed at the floor as if it was scattered with diamonds instead of the Youth Development Foundation confetti. Asha’s companion beeped. The Youth Development Foundation had sent her more information about the holiday.
‘Oh, wow,’ she said. ‘The holiday is on a Caribbean-style resort! That’s where all the rich people who live in the Golden Turrets go! And wait, there’s more, they’re giving us money to buy holiday clothes, and there’ll be palm trees and beaches and everything!’
Then her smile was replaced by a frown. ‘They say I’ve got to remind you to take the capsules. What capsules?’
‘Oh, those,’ Mika said, looking for his bag. He found the white box he’d been given the day before and put one of the capsules on the palm of his hand so his mother could look at it. It was bullet-shaped, transparent and full of white powder.
‘What’s in it?’ Asha asked, taking it from his hand.
‘Nutrients,’ Mika said, vaguely.
‘More nutrients?’ Asha replied, looking concerned. ‘I hope they don’t make you grow any more . . .’
‘I’m sure they won’t,’ Mika said, taking it back quickly, keen to stop her asking any more questions. ‘Look, you’ve got confetti in your tea.’
‘Oh yeah,’ Asha replied, looking in her cup and seeing several YDF logos bobbing around in it. ‘I suppose I ought to ask the vacuumbot to clean the ceiling and curtains again.’
The vacuumbot refused to come out of its cupboard.
‘You stupid thing,’ said Asha. ‘Why won’t you do what you’re told? Can you win a vacuumbot in this competition, Mika? I think this one has given up the will to live.’
‘No,’ Mika replied. ‘Only hover cars and apartments. But remember, you can sell the hover car if I win it. You could buy several hundred vacuumbots with the money from a hover car.’
‘We could, couldn’t we?’ Asha said, her eyes lighting up as she began to imagine what it felt like to have money. ‘Oh, wouldn’t it be great, Mika. Just imagine what we could do.’
She found a dustpan and brush and started brushing the curtains. They were so old and ragged, big lumps started falling off them, but Asha didn’t seem to notice, she continued brushing with a rapturous smile on her face. Mika quickly found a cup, filled it with water and stirred in a sachet of Fit Mix and the contents of the capsule.
‘Here’s to you Ellie,’ he whispered, as he raised the cup to his mouth.
Afterwards, he plugged Lilian into her charger and lay on the bed feeling wracked by guilt. Because of what he wanted, people who cared about him were being hurt; Helen was gone, Tom couldn’t help his mum and now he had started lying to his parents so they didn’t get suspicious. And although he knew he had no choice, the guilt was a heavy burden to carry along with his fear and his love for Ellie, and he wondered whether he was really strong enough to do it.
18
LIGHT TRAILS
In Barford North on Monday morning, the mood in school was subdued. The wind blew through the dark, damp playground, but instead of warming themselves with talk of Pod Fighter and dreams of living in the Golden Turrets, everyone shivered in their thin coats and sucked miserably on yellow YDF consolation prize lollipops. Mika felt too awkward to face their disappointment, especially since he was thinking they’d had a lucky escape, so he hovered by the school gates until the bell rang and they were all inside. When he arrived in class, everyone was drinking their Fit Mix and Mrs Fowler looked at him reproachfully for being late.
He took off his coat and sat next to Kobi. They hadn’t seen each other since Tom had left them outside the arcade.
‘How’s Tom?’ Mika whispered.
‘Not good,’ Kobi said. ‘He’s really disappointed.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Mika said, earnestly.
Kobi nodded. ‘I know. Anyway, I don’t care, I was only playing for Tom.’
Mika looked up to find Mrs Fowler watching him. She nodded towards the sachet of Fit Mix and the cup of water on his desk, so he made it up and mixed in one of the capsules with Kobi watching him curiously.
* * *
After school, Mika met Audrey in the Ra Ra Shake Bar. It was Audrey’s favourite place, the colours as acid bright as her eyes and the music funky. They sat on high sto
ols looking out over the mall and because so many people had been knocked out of the competition it was unusually quiet; the loudest noise was coming from the air conditioning units above their heads, which were pumping away as if there were hundreds of kids beneath them, not just the few milling around. The staff in the shake bar looked bored, and in the game room the simulators were as lifeless as spiders in a room with no flies.
‘Everyone in school was miserable today,’ Audrey said, gazing down the empty mall. ‘I didn’t want to tell anyone we’d got through. I hope they start playing again tomorrow. It’s not going to be much fun if we’re flying on our own all the time.’
‘I’m sure they’ll come back soon,’ Mika reassured her. ‘They’ll miss the game.’
‘Do you think Tom and Kobi will come back?’ she asked, sadly. ‘It won’t be the same without them.’
‘I don’t think Kobi will,’ Mika said. ‘He says he wants to make music with his new companion because it’s got a better composer than his old one. I don’t know about Tom.’
‘I hope he comes back,’ Audrey said. ‘I like him.’
‘So do I.’
They only had two weeks to prepare for the next round of the competition so they talked about what they were going to do, but after a while, Mika realized Audrey wasn’t listening properly. Kobi’s borg cat played on the table between them and she stared at it with a furrowed brow while it patted the straw from her drink.
‘What’s the matter?’ he asked.
‘I don’t know,’ she replied, blinking. ‘My eyes have gone weird; I think I might have to go to the borg doctor tomorrow and get them checked.’
‘What’s wrong with them?’ Mika asked, curious to know what it was like to have the eyes of a robot.
‘I can see light trails on things when they move,’ she replied. ‘It started earlier when I was in school and it’s making me feel ill.’
‘Do you want to go home?’ he asked. ‘I won’t mind if you do.’
‘No way,’ she said. ‘We need to practise.’
But she couldn’t practise. Within minutes of take-off, she felt so sick, they had to abandon the game and Mika walked her home.
‘It’s like you’re drunk,’ he said, holding on to her arm to stop her bumping into the fountain in the town square. ‘You’re all over the place.’
‘I feel awful,’ she said, miserably. ‘I think I must have caught a bug.’
He left her at her door and walked home. It was still early, so Asha was at work and David was just sitting down to watch a movie. As Mika walked in, he noticed the packet of biscuits Helen had sent him next to the sofa. They were digestives, the same kind he’d eaten with her many times, and looking at them made him feel sad.
‘You don’t mind if I eat them, do you?’ David asked, taking one out of the packet. ‘I thought they’d go nicely with my film.’
‘No,’ Mika said, gloomily. ‘I don’t want them.’
David walked to the kitchen area to put the kettle on for a cup of tea and Mika hung up his coat. But as he turned to face his father again, his eyes widened with shock as he saw that the biscuit David was holding had something stuck to the bottom of it.
‘You OK?’ David asked. ‘You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.’
‘Yeah, course,’ Mika replied, trying not to look at the biscuit. His father hadn’t noticed. ‘What’s the film about?’
‘I dunno, some adventure thing,’ David replied. ‘Someone at work lent it to me.’
He turned away and searched for a cup in the cupboard and Mika tried to get a closer look at the biscuit. Whatever was stuck to the bottom of it was square and white, but he couldn’t see it well enough to work out what it was. He opened the saucepan cupboard next to his father’s legs so he could crouch down and look at the biscuit from below. His heart leaped. The square thing was a piece of paper folded up many times and his name was written on in it in Helen’s inky handwriting. It was a letter! A secret letter from Helen stuck to the underside of the biscuit!
‘Why do you want a saucepan?’ David asked, and Mika looked up to see his father frowning at him. ‘It’s a bit late for cooking.’
‘Sorry,’ Mika said, standing up again. His heart squirmed painfully in his chest. That most precious object, a letter from Helen, had been sitting unnoticed in the cupboard for weeks! How stupid he felt, how frustrated. And how could he get the letter away from his father? As David placed his cup next to the kettle, his movement caused the paper to unfold a little, so Mika was able to read the first tantalizing sentence;
‘Dear Mika,
Last time we met, I wanted to tell you a secret but I was scared for you, so I didn’t dare. However, I’ve changed my mind because you are in terrible danger and you need to know the truth . . .’
Mika’s heart began to thump madly. He couldn’t see any more of the letter because of the way it was folded.
What secret? What terrible danger and truth? Suddenly it seemed all the things he needed to know were in his father’s hand!
‘Look!’ Mika said, pointing towards the window, hoping David would be distracted enough to put the biscuit down.
‘What?’ David replied, turning. He stared out of the window at the drizzly darkness for a few seconds. ‘I can’t see anything,’ he said.
‘Oh, it’s gone now,’ Mika replied. ‘It was one of those big freighters.’
‘Really?’ David said, still holding the biscuit and feeling perplexed; Mika hadn’t been interested in ‘big freighters’ since he was three years old. He looked at his son with a furrowed brow and started to raise the biscuit to his mouth. Desperate to stop him, Mika knocked the sugar sub over so it spilled on the carpet.
‘What’s wrong with you?’ David said impatiently. Helen’s letter was now dangling from the biscuit, but he still hadn’t noticed it. ‘How did you manage to do that?’
‘Sorry,’ Mika said again.
‘You’d better clean that up,’ David said. ‘Before your mother gets home.’
He raised the biscuit to his mouth for the second time and Mika winced, unable to think of any other tactic than grabbing it from his father’s hand and running away with it, and he was just about to do exactly that when David said, ‘Eww, I think this biscuit is mouldy, it’s got white stuff all over it.’ He took a step towards the waste chute.
‘No!’ Mika yelled. But it was too late; the biscuit left his father’s hand and flew like a mini Frisbee into the waste chute and Mika could do nothing but listen to it bang down the tube to the crusher in the basement feeling as if he was being strangled.
‘What’s wrong?’ David asked. ‘It was mouldy. It was so furry, you could have given it a hairdo.’
‘Nothing,’ Mika choked. He grabbed the packet of biscuits from the floor and ran to his room with them.
‘Don’t eat those, Mika!’ David called after him. ‘They’ll give you food poisoning! And what about the mess in here? There’s sugar sub all over the floor!’
‘I’ll do it in a minute!’ Mika shouted, tipping the rest of the biscuits on to the bed. He searched through them frantically, praying for another letter, but all the rest were just plain old mouldy biscuits. ‘You idiot!’ he hissed to himself. ‘You perping, fragging noodle brain!’ Helen had sent him a letter and all he’d seen was the beginning: ‘. . . I wanted to tell you a secret . . . you are in terrible danger and you need to know the truth . . .’ At last she had decided to tell him what he craved to know but her letter had sat in the cupboard for weeks in a packet of mouldy biscuits and now it was in the rubbish crusher and he couldn’t get it back.
How stupid he felt. How he hated himself. And the fragment of Helen’s message he’d read didn’t help him at all; it just made him feel more confused and afraid. What secret did she want to tell him? What terrible danger did he face?
* * *
Later that night, unable to sleep, Mika lay in the darkness listening to a song Kobi had sent him when they first became friends playing Pod Fighter
together. Darkness was right for Kobi’s music; it was melancholy yet so beautiful Mika felt himself lift out of his body, fly through the window and up into the night sky. The sleeping hulks of the towers beneath him looked like megaliths on an ancient plain. Higher and higher he rose until he was floating amongst the stars. When the song ended, he asked Lilian to play it again. At the end she said, ‘Do you want it again?’
‘No thanks.’
He opened his eyes and leaned out of bed to plug Lilian into her charger, and that’s when he saw it for the first time. As his hand moved towards the floor to feel around for the cable, it left a trail of golden light in its wake. He forgot about the charger and moved his hand again, waving it fast in front of his face. As it moved it seemed to emit light, as if light was leaking from it. He held his hand still and it became dark, but around it was an aura like a halo. It was as if he could see the heat escaping from his skin. He drew patterns in the air, circles, zigzags, spirals, then more circles again, and then he began to feel scared. He connected Lilian to her charger and buried his hands beneath the cover.
* * *
By the next morning, Mika was seeing light trails on everything that moved: on his mother’s hand as she mixed his Stir and Serve, his father’s as he combed his hair, and on his own as he tied up his laces so it took him twice as long to do it as it usually did.
‘Are you all right?’ Asha asked, as she watched him struggle.
‘Yeah, fine,’ he replied, but not feeling it.
He left for school and staggered along the walkway as if he was drunk. Every person that passed him left a trail of hilly light in their wake and when he reached school and walked across the dark playground, the sensation of motion sickness was heightened as thousands of kids moved around him. He closed his eyes and leaned against a wall, feeling its dampness through his clothes, resting his head until the bell rang for class.