Heredity, Chapter Two

For nearly two hours Joe and Neetra conducted a systematic search of their allocated districts, focusing rigidly on locating their quarry and keeping such conversation as there was to that subject alone. Both, however, were aware the whole time that that which they were delaying talking about could not be held off indefinitely. At last, when they reached the riverbank and agreed to take a short rest from their labours, it was Joe who broke the ensuing silence with a tentative:

“We should discuss this.”

Neetra rounded on him.

“Tidshaw and Autumn? By the two moons, Joe!” she burst out, falling back on one of her mother’s preferred exclamations. “I was picturing one little girl called something nice and normal like ‘Holly’ or something! You would want unusual names, you’ve got one, short, ordinary one and no surname I’ve ever heard of. You don’t have any idea what it’s like, getting lumbered with ‘Neetra Neetkins’ for half your life!”

“One little girl? You were not, then, anticipating twins?” Joe retorted, just as hotly. “For I hardly think I can be held responsible for that!”

A moment later, both were laughing. They sat down together on a nearby bench.

“I’m sorry,” Neetra smiled. “This is all so much to take in – even though, like you said, we’ve sort of known about them for a long time now. I just can’t believe how much easier it was to take, on the day we found out for sure this was going to happen. There I was, giggling away and kissing you without a care in the world…!”

“Perdita was at several removes,” Joe said kindly. “Tidshaw and Autumn are considerably more…immediate. It is natural your feelings would be different.”

“That’s part of it, Joe,” Neetra replied with a sigh. “But it’s not all.”

She took both his hands in hers.

“I was young,” Neetra went on simply, “back on our last day in 2596, when Perdy finally told us who she really was. You might not know this, Joe, but every little girl believes, absolutely and without question, that when she grows up she’s going to marry the boy she loves. She believes that without understanding what the words really mean. I was still a little girl then, so as far as I was concerned, Perdita wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know. And so, nothing but happiness and giggles and excitement. Darn it, I wish it could be that way now.”

“I am happy, Neetra,” Joe told her earnestly. “To see them both is happiness of a kind I never imagined.”

“That’s so for me too,” said Neetra, touching him on the cheek. “But I’m not a little girl anymore. Meeting Tidshaw and Autumn like this is a reminder that you and I, well…”

She blushed, and for the first time took her gaze away from his.

“You and I are going to have to get around to something,” she declared. “And it’s something I’ve already been thinking about.”

This time, Joe could say nothing to dispel the hush that descended. It was Neetra who spoke next, and as she did so she looked at him again, with all the tenderness of a lifetime’s love in her eyes.

“I know,” said she, shaking her head with fondness beyond measure. “You don’t do changes. You’re all about unchanging values – what our cause stands for, what Nottingham stands for, and how they’ll stand for that forever. You’ve never been able to handle the things in life that do change.”

“When we first learned of Tidshaw and Autumn – so to speak – it felt just as you describe,” said Joe, with something like helplessness in his voice. “We had but moments earlier arrived in the future, and when Perdita showed us the statue and informed us of our legacy…that, I could understand. That was in harmony with the ideals that had ever driven me, and still do. I see that I was foolish then, that I took comfort and pride in a mere abstraction without any thought as to the responsibilities and duties it entailed for me. But Neetra, you were so young when I found you, a mere child. After caring for you and protecting you for so long, how could I risk changing what we have, or even hurting you, by…?”

She gripped his hands tighter. “Not long ago, back on that day in the Castle Grounds, you said yourself how much I’ve grown since we met,” Neetra declared, gazing intently into Joe’s eyes. “I told you that little girl was still there, and she is…but you can’t keep seeing her every time you look at me. The girl sitting in front of you is who I am now, and there are things I want out of life that I didn’t before. You have to accept that we all change, Joe, and there are changes in our relationship – changes in what I need from you – that come with that.”

“I will try, Neetra,” Joe said quietly. Without further preamble he stood. “But come, we must direct our thoughts once more to Harbin.”

Giving him a comforting smile, for she understood, Neetra rose to her feet and she and Joe set off again. Though the latter tried hard to concentrate only on his mission, he could not help thinking how strange it was that evidence was sometimes not enough, even if it was evidence that lived and breathed and talked to you. Such evidence of his future Joe now had, but it did not take away his fear when he considered how that future still loomed ahead of him.

The Hero Cart was cruising high above the city with Dylan at the helm and Phoenix in the passenger section to his right. Mastering the controls had posed no problem for our hero, just as Ned had predicted, and that was not all he had learned. When he and Phoenix boarded the aircraft its starboard side had contained three seats, but Dylan had discovered that the flick of a switch on the instrument panel transformed these into one of a number of other configurations. The seats could become a static laser cannon, an impenetrable shield or a battering-ram, each form simply melting into the next in the mere blinking of an eye.

“This is unbelievable,” Dylan said with a soft laugh, swapping between the arrangements once again. “The principle of this instantaneous matter transmutation is our powers, but the way they were after immersion in Dimension Borg’s Energy Warp. Remember, Phoenix, back in 2596, how he trapped us in the Warp over Saturn? When we eventually broke free our abilities had changed, and we were able to summon up our costumes, weapons and vehicles out of thin air. This thing works in the exact same way!”

“It would be ’ard to forget ze Energy Warp,” said Phoenix. “But what does zis mean?”

“It means good news,” Dylan said firmly. “What Dimension Borg did to the caves to make them impassable to our powers was based around similar principles to his Warp. Obviously some time between now and when I build this vehicle, we figure out a way to undo that damage and so unlock the secrets of the Nottingham drill – that’s the only way I could reverse-engineer this reconfiguring process from Dimension Borg’s theories. But much more importantly, we’ll be able to confer with our cause again and ask a few long-overdue questions about the Prophecy and the Next Four!”

“Good news,” Phoenix repeated in quiet tones, looking away from Dylan and over the side of the Cart. “Thassal’s powairs, new inventions, restoring ze caves…it seems you are going to ’ave nothing to occupy you in your old age, but your work.”

Dylan had a tendency to forget even the most pressing fears in the face of new technological innovations, but at these plaintive words from Phoenix he came crashing back to the present. Immediately he brought the Hero Cart to a hover, left his seat and took her in his arms.

“Hey, honey, don’t talk that way,” he said to her in concern. “Thassal could be there for a hundred different reasons – we know nothing about where these guys come from, and it’s best we don’t find out. For all we know, one of ours is on the team and Thassal’s just filling in because he or she’s off with a cold!”

“Recent events would not lead me to zat conclusion, Dylan,” Phoenix replied, in a tiny, hollow voice. “Zey tally all too well with ze empirical data acquired today. I am only being scientific.”

Dylan’s embrace became fierce.

“Phoenix Prime’s not going to harm one hair on your head, baby, never mind what you’re suggesting,” said he. “I told you I’d keep you safe, and that’s not going to change because of anything that’s happened in the last few hours. It’d be no different if an entire dynasty of little mes and yous had come out of that rift! Nothing Phoenix Prime does is going to take you away from me.”

At the moment a telepathic message from Ned rang out in their minds, and those of their comrades elsewhere in Nottingham. “Guys! Thassal and I’ve run Harbin to ground!”

“Already?” cried Dylan. He and Phoenix disengaged and leapt into their seats, whereat Dylan brought the Hero Cart banking around in a surge of acceleration. “Great work, Ned! You’re quite the tracker!”

“It’s the beast in me,” Ned explained with a chuckle. “All of you home in on my psychic signal. Harbin’s fast, and we don’t want to let him get away!”

END OF CHAPTER TWO